St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church

Sermon by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

May 8, 2005 Easter 7 Mothers Day

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of suffering. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

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

Glory! It’s like the bright light that shines on you—when you raise your hands—your arms—and go tada! Glory is what will be remembered about you—when you have died. In the Boston Globe they have obituaries—where they have your name—your age—and about one sentence or two—to summarize your whole life! One sentence or two—to reduce your whole life—the essence of your existence reduced to 30 words! A Senator named Julius died on his 82^nd birthday! How neat is that? To have a birthday party—and actually see Jesus! A queen—the former wife of the late King Farouk died. A real queen—with a real crown—sitting on a real throne—with real servants who would wave those huge fan things—met the King of kings and Lord of lords! A doctor named Arthur died. It was said—he was a good listener! When they say the average physician will listen to you for 90 seconds—a minute and a half—before they interrupt—to begin to tell you—what’s what with your body—what a precious thing to have someone who was a good listener! How good a listener would you have to be—to have that be the essence of a 76 year life—a good listener? Are you a good listener? This morning we are here to listen to the very Word of God. We are here to listen with our mind and with out heart to precious good news. This Mother’s Day we are here to be reassured with Jesus’ true body and blood in Lord’s Supper—that our sins are forgiven. To be made strong—to live lives that give glory to our Heavenly Father!

Jesus Gives Us Eternal Glory!

1. Be humble
2. Be calm
3. Be self-controlled

Today is the 6^th service in a row—counting Ascension—when we have read from Simon Peter’s first letter. If you have The People’s Bible Commentary on James, Peter, John, Jude—is written by Pastor Mark Jeske—from St. Marcus in Milwaukee. Pastor Jeske talks about our living hope in a hostile world! It’s tempting to think that we live in a time when our faith is under terrible attack. I sat with a very nice grandpa at a confirmation. He told me about his co-workers who made horrible “jokes” about Jesus in the grave with the Easter Bunny! Such mockery and anger—bitterness and even physical attacks against the Gospel are nothing new. They are as old as the Gospel itself! Simon Peter’s first letter is a message of powerful promise and encouragement that Jesus makes us strong to endure! Simon Peter—Petros—Cephas—the “Rock-man” was inspired by the Holy Spirit to a Godly perspective—that our troubles now—are light and momentary—compared to the wondrous joy, peace and rest we will know in Heaven!

God’s Word says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” Pride and arrogance are nothing new. Remember King Nebuchadnezzar? God’s Word says—the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon—he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” The words were still on his lips when a voice came from heaven, “This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you. You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes.” Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird. Daniel 4:28f So swift was the LORD’s judgment on one who was arrogant and puffed up! Think about that—the next time you are sitting on your deck—looking at your back yard—the little pine trees and maple trees and clump birch trees that you planted like little shrubs and now they are taller than your house—all giving shade to your lawn so thick and green no dandelion would dare to try to grow. Think about the LORD the next time you are washing and waxing your car—rubbing Armor All on your dash board. Think about the LORD the next time you are putting rings on every finger and chains on top of chains around your neck—that the weight of the precious metals and twinkling stones—are not pressing on your heart—with greater weight than the goodness and grace of God. If we think all the “things and stuff” that fill our homes are the result of our skill and hard work and clever imagination and work ethic—we are trying to take credit for what are gifts of God’s goodness. When we become arrogant and puffed up there is the very real possibility—that because He loves us—the LORD will humble us.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand that he may lift you up in due time.” Humility—is not very common in our world. It wasn’t too many years ago—that a man named Barry Sanders played football for the Detroit Lions. Barry Sanders was exceedingly good at what he did—carrying the football. Oh, sometimes they would hand it to him. Sometimes they would throw it to him. Barry Sanders carried footballs almost 15,300 yards with some of the biggest and meanest people in the world trying to literally break his face, break his legs, destroy his knees—do anything—even cheat—if they could just make it so he couldn’t get up again. Barry Sanders played 14 games in a row—in which he gained more than 100 yards. Some 109 times Barry Sanders broke that invisible plain with the football. When he did—he didn’t do a little dance. He didn’t taunt. He didn’t spike the football. He simply found the nearest official and handed him—respectfully handed him the football. When they asked him why—he said—humbly—that making touch downs was simply his job—what he was paid to do! To humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand—waiting for him to lift us up in due time—is what Jesus has called us to do. It’s not for us to grumble and complain or feel sorry for ourselves. It is for us to glorify God—by humbly submitting to his loving will!

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. It’s kind of sad—if you go to the grocery store—all the different kinds of medications there are for when you are anxious. There are great big bottles of glop—mint and cherry—nice and frothy—promising to taste like dessert! There are tablets in fruit flavors—guaranteed not to taste chalky. There are little purple pills that promise to turn off bunches of little pumps that pump painful acid into your tummy. There are bottles of goop—that when your tummy is all upset from eating all combinations of hot and spicy food—that you will be feeling good so quickly—you can eat even more hot and spicy foods in even more deadly combinations! There are tablets, capsules, caplets gel caps and more—all designed to eliminate or at least dull the throbbing pain in our heads when stress threatens to overwhelm us! We are very good at masking symptoms while the disease—the root cause goes merrily on! Only Jesus can take our worries and fears away—by the power of his unconditional love. Only Jesus can calm our worries and fears—holding us close in his nail marked hands!

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Self control—self discipline—isn’t easy at all. International Respect for Chickens—respect for poultry day—was last Wednesday. Did you know that? Feel guilty for eating Buffalo Wings? Feel guilty for eating a bunch of drum sticks? Feel guilty for brushing some barbecue sauce of chicken breasts—on your grill—remembering that chickens didn’t want to die? They wanted to sing, “Born free!” They would make a break for it like in Chicken Run if they could? What about our sins against people? Little people need to repent of their socking and slapping their brothers and sisters. Little people need to repent of their screaming at their parents—swiping food off the tray of their high chair—complaining to their parents that they won’t eat their vegetables—grown cold on their plate. Teenagers need to repent for smoking cigarettes—becoming addicted—pulling deep into their lungs poisonous combinations of chemicals that do harm to their heart and their lungs and their liver and their stomach. Teenagers need to repent of the rebellious attitude that says I can do as I please and my parents and my teachers aren’t nearly smart enough to catch me! Workers need to repent of all the time they have squandered at work—stealing wages—being paid for time that was spent doing practically anything and everything else except work! Families need to repent for all the times mom has done the laundry—and we act like some little laundry fairy comes in the night and picks up all the dirty laundry scattered all around the house and magically makes it all clean and dry and folded and put in our dresser. Repent for all the times mom says it’s time to eat and we continue to do whatever we are doing as if it’s more important. Then eventually come to the table—only to grumble and complain and criticize and poke fun of the food—or fight and argue—instead of encouraging and building each other up! We need to repent of all the times we have ignored God’s Word—instead of gladly hearing and learning it. Repent of our sins—and trust in Jesus’ unconditional love!

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. The story is told of a lady—visiting friends 50 miles out of town. As she was about to leave—she realized she had locked her keys in her car. Nothing short of breaking a window would make it possible to rescue her keys. Finally she called her husband—said—I’m sorry—could you drive over here—and bring a key so I can get into the car? How embarrassing was that? She said—I’ll never hear the end of this! It was then she realized—the back door of the car was unlocked! She ran to call her husband to tell him he didn’t have to come—but alas he had already left. So—said her friend—which will be worse—his driving here to unlock the car—or his driving here only to find out he didn’t need to come after all? The wife reached out—pushed the little button down—and slammed the door shut! That took care of that! Wouldn’t it be nice—if we could solve our problems that quickly and that easily! You can’t make the guilt of your sins go away that fast. Not at all! Our guilt was washed away at the exceedingly high price of Jesus’ sinless life and tortured death. Only Jesus could die on the cross in our place—to wash away all our sin and shame!

To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen. A man named John died the other day. “On the job, he chased international spies, sometimes bringing a sleeping bag…” to his office—when he was working really hard. How cool is that? A man so dedicated to his work—he would take a quick nap on the floor—then back at it—because his work was so important. A lady named Renee died. She was 99 years old. She spent 3 years in a concentration camp for helping Jews escape occupied France. I wonder how many lives she saved? She said she would do it all over again—if she had to. I wonder how many people she saved believed in Jesus? How tragic to be rescued from one holocaust only to perish forever in another! A man named Hunter died. He was the guy who invented “gonzo journalism”. Gonzo journalism—do you know what that is? Gonzo journalism is not just standing there—watching something happen and then writing about it. Like when the Palestinians accuse someone of being a collaborator with the Israelis—so they tie them up then push them from a third story window—then kick them and pound them to death. Gonzo journalism says—you run and try and catch the person pushed out the window--to break their fall. Then you wrap your body around theirs—and suffer the kicks and the clubbing to try and save the life of someone you don’t even know! That’s gonzo journalism—instead of just standing there—to be willing to put yourself in harm’s way—to become so intimately involved yourself—that you become part of the story. That’s the kind of Christians we will be. Not mere observers—sitting and watching for 59 minutes once a week—but involved day by day—hour by hour—minute by minute—with the priceless work of living the Gospel and sharing the Gospel! Amen!

To God alone all glory!

Rev. Anthony E. Schultz