St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church

Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Pentecost 14 August 21, 2005 Romans 11:33-36

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.”

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

Do you take water—good clean drinking water for granted? Do you turn on the faucet—stick your finger in the running water waiting for it to get cold enough? Then fill a glass with water—drink a few swallows—then dump the rest down the drain? In the deepest darkest part of the Amazon Rainforest they do not have clean drinking water. But there is a little man who has one of those long narrow boats that run up and down the Amazon. A long narrow boat filled with equipment to drill for clean water. Down the river he goes—deep into the rain forest. He runs his boat aground on the sandy shore. Native men help him carry the equipment deep into the rain forest where their small village is hidden. They try to help set it up—but are pretty confused by this whole nut and threaded bolt thing. A small diesel engine runs the drill—deeper and deeper into the rich soil—until they hit pure, sweet fresh clean water! Everyone lines up with their pottery drinking bowl. Water is poured into the chief’s bowl—then the fathers—then the children—lastly—the women. Together—the whole village takes a drink. Ptuuuuey! They all dump it out! What is this? It tastes nothing like the muddy brown river water they are used to! They much prefer the river water they are used to—with its germs and bacteria and parasites that will infect their bodies and bloat their children’s bellies—and make them sick! They much prefer the dirty water! We do too! We prefer the filthy water of our habitual sins—the sins we commit over and over and over again with practiced ease and calloused conscience. We much prefer the muddy water of our sinful attitudes, our whispered gossip, our self-righteous judgmental attitudes, our self-indulgent excuses for our mistakes. Today again—God’s Word is the living water that only our Savior can provide. Today again we drink deeply from that living water as we consider:

How Great Is Our God?

1. We are in awe of his wisdom

2. We are in awe of his grace.

Today is the 13^th Sunday in a row that we have been reading the words the Holy Spirit inspired the apostle Paul to write to the believers in Rome. There is no book in Scripture more rich in law and Gospel—rich in doctrine and powerful in practical applications! To read the letter to the Romans is to ponder the ugliness of our sins and the greatness of God’s grace and mercy. It is Romans that Paul wrote, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…” And again, “The righteous will live by faith.” Listen to God’s laundry list of sin. Apart from Jesus people are filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things, but also approve of those who practice them. All this powerful Scripture is from Romans chapter 1! The letter to the Romans is powerful practical comfort and encouragement to God’s people living in these end times when the devil does everything he can to frighten and frustrate and worry us!

How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! You can’t figure out God. The nation of India is a place of social standing. On the one end you have untouchables—people so looked down on—so despised—that you would not dare touch them. On the other end you have the Brahmin—people with a supposed holiness—that put them far above everyone else. India is a nation of people who are concerned about Karma—do the right thing—because what goes around comes around. They are concerned about reincarnation. When you come back--are you on the way up or the way down? When you come back in the next life will you be much better or much worse. They did not have the Gospel centered confidence of the apostle Paul who could say by grace alone—for me to live is Christ, to die is gain! The Gospel came to a Hindu village where a Brahmin—a holy man named Vejay--came to know and believe that Jesus was his Savior. He came to believe the Gospel that said—there is do difference—there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor Greek, male nor female—for we are all one in Christ! For a Brahmin to touch an untouchable? That would threaten to tear the very fabric of Indian society apart! It couldn’t be tolerated! And yet it is the truth in Christ. When word began to spread that someone from the top would touch someone from the filthy gutter—a curse was put on the holy man. He was cursed with small pox! The Christian missionaries prayed for Vejay! They prayed that the Lord Jesus would demonstrate his power and rescue—the way the LORD showed himself in power at Mt. Carmel! Surely the LORD could save his people from the curse of the godless wicked! The missionary continued his route—his circuit—preaching the Gospel. He came back to the village. Was Vejay well? No—the word came back—he had died! How could this be? How could this possibly be? The word came back—when people saw the Gospel joy and confidence at that funeral they said—surely this man believed in the one true God—the Lord of Life—their Savior from sin, too! You see, once again—our Heavenly Father doesn’t do things the way we would. Once again—our Heavenly Father knew what to do. He did the right thing!

Who has given to God, that God should repay him? What we deserve from Jesus is eternal destruction. We deserve to be thrown out into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth—how bad is that? Sometimes—when people are sleeping—they grind there teeth. There is this kind of scraping—grinding—clicking noise. But gnashing your teeth? I heard just the other day—there was a guy in the Tour de France bicycle race—who was in a crash—a terrible crash the first day of this race that more often than not is straight up the sides of steep hills and even mountains. This guy crashed and had a broken bone—by his arm—by his collar bone—and yet he got back up on his bike and kept riding. It hurt. Wow did it hurt. It hurt so badly that he gnashed his teeth—grinding 11 of them all the way down to the nerve! I can’t imagine how much that must hurt. But I do know this—it is nothing—absolutely nothing—compared to the forever hurt of eternal destruction. To be cut off from the grace and kindness and goodness of our Heavenly Father is so horrible—people gnash their teeth in pain and frustration! It’s horrible beyond words to explain! This is the punishment we deserve because of our sins. This is the punishment—the hurt of hell that Jesus endured when he died on the cross to buy us back!

Who has given to God,  that God should repay him? A very famous news anchor died the other day. He died of lung cancer. He said he started smoking when he was only 11 years old. He stole a pack of cigarettes from his grandmother. He smoked for 36 years—then quit. But then came 9/11 and he started up again. Sometimes he would hide in a bathroom to sneak a cigarette. How sad is that? He said in the end “I was weak!” Aren’t we all weak? School is about to start—and our weaknesses will be obvious. There will be the morning frustrations—people pounding on the bathroom door—while somebody is taking too long a shower on the other side. Frustration from no milk for the cereal because somebody drank the last glass the night before. Frustration when people can’t find their books or papers or keys and it’s past time to be out the door. I was weak. Sometimes we who teach have great patience as we explain with great care what we are trying to teach. And some days we are frustrated when it seems like no one understands—or worse still nobody cares. There will be weakness at the end of the day when families come home and everyone is tired—and want supper now—and help with their homework now—or need a ride here or there—now! We are weak—feeling sorry for our selves! We are weak—indulging our sinful flesh—doing what is wrong. We are saved by grace alone! Our Heavenly Father—who doesn’t owe us anything—sacrificed his one and only Son—so that we might have the gift of abundant life here—and glorious life in Heaven.

Who has given to God,  that God should repay him? Did you ever think to yourself—I think God kind of does owe me? Do you say to yourself—I go to church every Sunday! I usher—I play the organ—I go to Lord’s Supper all the time. I even go to communion when I am visiting other WELS churches—so they send this little postcard to the church office here! I bring abundant Thankofferings, I go to Church Council meetings and board of ed meetings. I teach Sunday School—I help sunbeams serve coffee on Easter morning. I go to midweek advent and Lenten vespers. I even go to church on Ascension! I wear suits and ties when it’s hot. I shine my shoes! I go to Bible Class—I read my Bible at home! That’s great! When you have done all that you can say with the apostle Paul—we are unprofitable servants>—the Greek word there is slave—we have only done our duty. We have only done what our Heavenly Father expects of his blood bought children! If the truth be told—we have failed miserably to bear the sweet fruits of faith—the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control that glorifies our Savior. We have failed to love one another any where near the way Jesus loves us—and still he does!

For from him and through him and to him are all things. Everyone belongs to Jesus. When we were in downtown Chicago—we ate at this place where they had soup and sandwiches—and lots of different juice drinks and fancy flavored coffees. They had nice tables inside—and then they had a bunch of tables outside—in the wide sidewalk. People sat out there, too, drinking snootie coffee and talking on their cell phones and working on their notebooks. Along came a homeless person. They had on layers of clothes—even though it was pretty warm—they had on layers of clothes and a scarf and a stocking hat. This homeless lady was smoking and kind of talking to herself—and kind of moving—always moving. When one of the customers was leaving—going to throw their coffee cup away—she asked for it. The customer gave it to her and left. Then this homeless person sat there—just holding this empty coffee cup—like—look at me—I’m a customer here. I bought come gourmet coffee, too. She sat there and held that cup—that empty cup. Spiritually—by nature—that’s you and me—homeless—filthy and smelly. Who would want anything to do with us? Jesus does. You see Jesus made us all—we who took showers with fruity body wash and blew dried our hair and put on sweet smelling cologne—and people who can’t remember their last bath. Jesus died for people who live on the street—because they have mental or emotional or psychological problems—and their families have abandoned them—or they have run away from their families and are only getting worse. Jesus loved them all. Jesus died for them all. Jesus wants them all to know and believe and understand that he has won for them a forever home in heaven. Jesus wants them to know—how great is our God. He has prepared a place for us in heaven. To him be the glory forever. Amen!

Rev. Anthony E. Schultz