St.Luke Ev. Lutheran Church
Christian Education Sunday
August 26, 2007 Pentecost 13
Hebrews 12:2

Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles,
and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus!

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

Have you noticed on the news—there are missing people all the time? The fact is—there are lots and lots of missing people. There is a grandpa named Bob who is missing. They have his picture on the Internet. Bob is 83 years old. His wispy white hair is all messed up. The last time anybody saw Bob he was by his own home in Maryland at 1:30 in the afternoon. That was in July—over two years ago! Did I mention that Bob has Alzheimer’s—that’s he’s confused and forgetful? There’s a lady named Constance. She’s missing, too. She is only 21 years old. She was last seen at 1:30 in the morning—going at that late hour—over to a friend’s house. Except she never arrived! That was a year and a half ago—down in Louisiana. Where is she? There’s a guy named Jefferson missing. He was born the year I graduated from High School. He was with 2 of his friends on a small sail boat that capsized twice. Finally—Jefferson and his friends decided they would just swim to the nearest island. They all had on life jackets and it wasn’t that far. Jeff’s two friends saw him just a little way behind them—just over their shoulder. But when they got to the island and looked back he was gone! The Coast Guard found his life jacket. They haven’t found Jeff. That was 15 years ago this September! Jose is missing, too. He, too was just 20 years old. It was high noon—the middle of the day in the middle of August. Jose was working on his car in his own driveway—when 4 men in bandannas knocked him down—threw him into the back of his own truck and drove him away. They found Jose’s truck—all burned on the inside. That was a year ago. They didn’t find Jose! Do you know where any of these people are? Jesus knows! Do you know how desperate their families are—to somehow find their loved ones? Jesus knows! Do you know how horrible it would be just not knowing? Jesus knows! Do you know how priceless—how precious it would be to know—even if you would never ever find them in this world—to know you would see them again in heaven? Jesus does. Today—as we realize they have had school for a week at our Lakeside Lutheran High School—that Thursday people with cars full of blankets and books and computers stopped at the Kwik Trip in LaCrosse—on their way to New Ulm. That today our Church is full of parents who have brought their children to Luther Prep. That Tuesday little Kindergarteners will see their Mom and Dad have tears on their cheeks—as they go to their first day of school. Soon classes will begin at our Wisconsin Lutheran College. And not long after that—young men wearing shirts and neckties—will wake up in a dorm that looks like the Wartburg Castle—and study God’s Word in Hebrew and Greek—and labor over their first hand full of sermons! Today we are thinking about Christian Education—about our Sunday School and our Confirmation Classes and our Bible Classes—

Fix Your Eyes On Jesus!

1. Don’t Be Distracted

2. Learn All Your Life!

Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles… Imagine a lady who is in a nursing home—in a terrible physical condition. They give her medication to keep her pretty much asleep—almost all the time. They have one of those little tubes where they give her a very special kind of milk shake—to nourish her—and keep her hydrated. That’s very important—you know—to keep hydrated. There are people who are quite determined to stop feeding and hydrating this lady. What will happen if they stop feeding her—is—she will die from starvation. That’s very simply what happens when you don’t eat or drink anything—at all! The argument for taking this lady’s life is based on the concept of quality of life. You hear that all the time—quality of life! What does that mean? There is a very technical answer to the question-what determines quality of life? Did you know that? Quality of life—in the most technical sense is this—to be able to have wants, desires, even dreams—and then to have the ability to achieve them! If like is about quality of life—about having dreams and desires—and being able to accomplish them—do you see the danger? There is danger for little babies—little infants—who are too small to have dreams and desires—too small to be able to plan and accomplish that plan—to get what they want! There is danger for little grandmas and grandpas—who don’t understand what’s going on around them. There is danger for you and for me—if we are in a car accident and suffer very terrible head injuries! There is danger for our children—if they grow up—thinking life is about the quality of life—about the quality of the food we eat or the clothes we wear or the quality of the home entertainment electronics we have or how thin our cell phone is! God’s Word says life is about quantity of life first and foremost. God’s gift of time is our time of grace—to grow in faith and to share our faith. That’s what life is about—love Jesus and then love one another!

Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles… It is easy to get entangled in sin—when things go wrong and you get frustrated! Imagine a congressman—an important government official—a person—as our hymnal prayer calls—a person in a position of great public trust. Sometimes—when you have some earthly authority—and lots of times—you are used to having your own way—it’s tempting to think of yourself as more important than you really are! Imagine a congressman—at the airport—impatient for his luggage! What do you do? It would be painfully tempting to ask people, “Hey, do you know who I am? I am an important person and I want my luggage!” It would be painfully tempting to read a security sign on a door that says—authorized personnel only—and say to yourself—that doesn’t apply to me! It would be painfully tempting to actually push people that try to stop you. The sad reality would be—while you were pushing people and going where you aren’t supposed to be—where is your suitcase? You guessed it—squirting through that little opening—sliding down into the carousel—and then riding around and around—waiting for you to pick it up—which you don’t because you are somewhere else! How silly is that! We need to throw off everything that hinders—and the sin that so easily entangles our heart—and do what we need to do---to overcome the frustrations Only Jesus’ forgiving love—can make us strong enough—to be patient when we need to be—because Jesus loves us!

Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us… Life is like a race! Can you see that? Run with perseverance! That means run with determination! Run and don’t give up. I don’t watch lots of baseball games. But I was watching a Brewer’s game the other day—watching for people I knew—who were at the game. I was watching the Brewers. Do you know how much professional baseball players are paid? A lot! If you divide a couple of million dollars by the number of games they play—an above average player would get around $92,500 per game—or $23,000 each time they are up to bat—assuming 4 times at bat per game average. So they guy is up to bat--$23,000 worth—he hits a grounder to the second baseman. Our guy is running down the baseline towards first. Well—he’s kind of pretty much running—but then the second baseman puts his glove down—and he’s got the ball—and our guy slows down. The second baseman throws the ball—and our guy slows down—even more. The first baseman bobbles the ball—and actually drops it. Our guy thinks—yikes—I should run faster. And by that time-he’s out! Just barely—but he’s out. The simple fact is—if he had run as fast as he could—all the way—all the time—he would have been safe! What difference would that make? I don’t know? It could have been the start of a rally! It could have turned the whole game around. But obviously our guy wasn’t all that motivated! $23,000 was not reason enough to run as hard as you can—as fast as you can—in front of your home town crowd! I’m not surprised—are you? Motivated by money? People might be—until you have a bunch. People will do almost anything—lie, cheat, steal, prostitute—literally prostitute themselves for money. But once they have lots and lots of money—and more and more things and stuff—somewhere along the way—money isn’t enough. You need something more! You need a better reason than little green wrinkled pieces of paper to do your best! Jesus’ forgiving love is our reason to do what needs to be done—to grow in faith and to glorify Jesus!

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus! Part of how we can fix our eyes on Jesus is to read God’s Word—to simply read our Bible! There was a survey the other day—that says we Americans aren’t big readers. “I just get sleepy when I try to read!” Lots of people think that way. If they sit in a nice comfortable chair—with a nice warm light—where it’s nice and quiet and peaceful—and you yawn two times—and your eyes go shut and you sleep! They say there are 25% of Americans that did not read a single book last year—not a one! We need to read God’s Word! It will literally change your life! It will change how you deal with all the troubles and problems and frustrations of life! Oh, there are all kinds of excuses for not reading your Bible. They are exactly that—excuses! It is an excuse to say—I know all the Bible stories. I know all about Christmas and Good Friday and Easter and that’s about all there is. That’s not true. The writer to the Hebrews says, “And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. God’s Word is full of powerful examples of sinners just like us—made strong in their faith—through the troubles of this life—until they found perfect rest and peace in heaven! When you read God’s Word your faith will grow stronger and stronger. God has promised! Christian education makes your faith stronger and stronger!

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus! There are people missing! A lady named Teressa is missing. She worked as a checker at Wal-Mart. She was 26 years old with black curly hair. Her husband came home from his third shift job at 10 in the morning. He found his 2 small children home alone. Their mommy was missing. Some of her stuff was missing—but her car was still there. Where would she go? How could she leave her children all alone? That was almost 2 years ago! Daniel is missing. Daniel is almost 30 years old. He was last seen 2:30 in the afternoon on his silver Suzuki cycle—riding off down the street—like the end of a movie—into oblivion? A guy named Sashidharan was in his kayak—out on an icy cold river by Eugene, OR. Sashidharan had black very curly hair—a grey beard—very warm eyes! His kayak flipped over—but they are supposed to be able to do that! What happened to him? Did he wash out into the ocean? Jesus knows! There was a girl named Savana Ann. She was just 20 years old, too. She was very small—about 80 pounds—with kind of mussy curly hair in her eyes. Her boyfriend was murdered and they are afraid Savana Ann was murdered, too—and her body hidden. Savana Ann has a black cross tattoo on her left arm. I wonder if Savana Ann—has Jesus in her heart? Jesus knows! Jesus knows what’s in your heart and mind! It would be a terrible thing—to have someone you love so much to suddenly be missing—and you don’t know where they are or even what happened to them. It happens all the time! The best we can do—is teach our children to fix their eyes on Jesus! To read God’s Word and come to Church and Sunday school—to search the Scriptures all the time. Then through the means of grace—the Gospel in Scripture, baptism and Lord’s Supper—our faith will grow stronger and stronger and stronger. And then—no matter what happens to our body—our immortal soul will be safe by Jesus forever. Amen!

To God alone all glory! Rev. Anthony E. Schultz