St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church-WELS
Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz
Psalm 34 Pentecost 12 August 27, 2006

Taste and see that the LORD is good, blessed are they who take refuge in him. The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them. The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them, he delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit. The LORD redeems his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

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

We went for a ride the other day—down to south central Illinois to a little town called Roanoke. That’s where I lived when I was really little. 508 North Main Street—the first address I memorized when I was little. If I was completely lost and alone—dependent upon the kindness of strangers and they said, “Hey, little boy—where do you live?” I was supposed to say, “508 North Main Street!” We went back to 508 North Main Street—to this little white house—not quite on the corner. You see—on the corner of the next block—was Roanoke Motors—the local car dealer and repair. So—on our block—was this strip of gravel—two rows of used cars for sale. There was also this part of the gravel parking lot—where they would tow in the wrecks—the totaled cars—the huge clumps of mangled steel and shattered glass that once was a car! I still remember—when I was little—when they towed in a particularly bad wreck. And then what I really remember—was a young man who came and leaned on that broken car and cried. He cried because his friend had died in that car—in that accident. Can you imagine that sadness? Can you imagine that heart ache? It happens again and again—in this world spoiled and infected by sin—that people we love are hurt and sometimes even die. It is the precious priceless comfort of the Gospel—that Jesus died and rose again—to overcome sin and death and the grave. That’s why the Psalmist can say today:

The LORD Is Our Refuge!

1. The LORD watches and listens

2. The LORD forgives all our sins.

As always—with God’s Word—it’s important to remember the context—the circumstances that surround this part of Scripture. Psalm 34 says at the beginning—Of David. We might say—by David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left. Everyone knows the story of David and Goliath. How big was Goliath? Sometimes it’s kind of confusing—with all the shekels and bronze greaves and weaver’s rod spear with an iron point. Perhaps it’s enough to remember Goliath was over 9 feet tall. Imagine a professional football player—more than 1/3^rd larger! He was immense—a professional killer—trained in hand to hand combat—utterly fearless! By the power of the LORD—the Great I AM—the Holy One of Israel—David brought Goliath crashing down. Goliath was dead! The people cheered. 1 Samuel chapter 17 is David and Goliath. 1 Samuel chapter 18 is Saul’s Jealousy of David. 1 Samuel chapter 19 is Saul Tries to Kill David. How sad is that? David is forced to run for his life. 1 Samuel chapter 20—Jonathan is a true friend. That is to speak up for his friend—to defend him when he is falsely accused—even by his own father—King Saul. When David is missing—Saul flies into such a paranoid rage—he hurls a spear with murderous intent—at his own son Jonathan. David is forced to run for his life. David runs to a place called Nob—to the Tabernacle—the tent/temple near Jerusalem--by a Priest named Ahimalech. Ahimalech literally trembled when he saw David. Why are you here—all alone? David lies! Why do we do that? Why do we lie? To cover up the truth—thinking we have to lie—to save our self when we think there is danger—to avoid punishment? David is hungry. He has nothing to eat. And Ahimalech has nothing to offer either—except the special loaves of bread—baked as offerings for the LORD—lawful only for the priests to eat. Remember? Jesus pointed to this example—when the Pharisees and chief priests and teachers of the law criticized and complained—when Jesus healed the sick on the Sabbath? Jesus said—remember Ahimalech—the priest and David and the consecrated bread? Ahimalech helped David—and he would end up paying with his life. In a paranoid rage—King Saul ordered his soldiers to put to death Ahimalech the high priest—and the 84 priests who served with him. When they wouldn’t—could not murder the priests—then Doeg the Edomite—Saul’s head shepherd—put to death 85 faithful men—then their wives and their children—infants—their babies—and then their cattle, donkeys and sheep! How horrible is that? Is there no justice? David wrote about Doeg the Edomite in Psalm 52—“Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin; he will snatch you up and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living!” Justice and judgment and vengeance belong to the LORD. And when the LORD judges the wicked and the evil—God’s judgment—his blistering white hot anger will burn forever!

The danger is obviously real—swords and spears and arrows—murderously real danger! The question is—what do you do—when you are in danger? David—in a time of fear and weakness—sought refuge by a Philistine King named Abimelech! David was looking for help in all the wrong places. And when he became afraid of Abimelech—he resorted to pretending he was having a nervous breakdown—drooling on his own beard! How embarrassing is that? How embarrassing—to have your sinful weaknesses and mistakes recorded in Scripture for people to read about 3,000 years after the fact? Have we done the same—looking for relief from stress in cans of beer or bottles of hard lemonade or expensive martinis and Scotch whiskey? Have we looked for escape from financial troubles by taking money that wasn’t ours—or telling lies—to avoid responsibility for our painful mistakes? Have we looked for hugs and kisses from someone else—to replace missing hugs and kisses in our marriage? Learn from David—that the LORD’s forgiving love is our only real sanctuary when everything in our life seems to be going sour!

Taste and see that the LORD is good, blessed are they who take refuge in him. Taste and see. Try it. You’ll like it! Have a sample! Read your Bible. Maybe don’t start with Genesis and plow ahead until you get bogged down in Leviticus or Numbers. But read the Gospel of John—then Ephesians and Philippians—then Romans and Corinthians—or read some Psalms! Do you have the stress of school starting and your little kindergartner is going to have trouble climbing that huge first step to get on the bus? Are you starting high school or starting college—and you wonder if you are going to be smart enough to do college math. I saw a t-shirt at the grocery store the other day—all black with white lower case letters. It said simply math is hard! It is! Do you have stress at work? Your boss is getting pressure from above and so he is putting pressure on you? I don’t care how much you sold last week, last month, last year—right now you need to sell more! We have a truck in our driveway. My dad who visited the other day said—did you hear there is a recall on those trucks? No? So I tried to look it up on the Internet. The Internet site has about 45 different trucks from the same company. The directions said—pick your truck—then pick the year—and click and we will tell you about all the recalls! If you are to blame for a million trucks being recalled to repair an expensive part—do you still get to keep your job? My dad said his van was recalled the other day—danger of the steering wheel falling off! I’m not kidding! Stress! Do you have that? Taste and see that the LORD is good, blessed are they who take refuge in him!

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit. When we have troubles or problems—the devil tempts us to think Jesus isn’t by us. The devil tempts us to think maybe Jesus has abandoned us—turned his back on us and walked away from us. The devil tempts us to think Jesus doesn’t know or Jesus doesn’t care. That’s wrong. The devil tempts us to think if something bad is happening to us—Jesus must be punishing us for something we did that was wrong. That can’t be right! Our Heavenly Father punished Jesus on the cross for all our sins and mistakes! So if you are feeling broken hearted—because you loved someone—and they used you and abused you—then emotionally threw you away like an empty soda can. Know that Jesus loves you with the purest forgiving love. Jesus will put you shattered and splintered heart back together—better than new! Jesus will make you strong enough to forgive the most horrible hurt and painful betrayal! Jesus saves those who are crushed in spirit. As school is starting—you hear a lot about self-esteem and building children up. It is a precious gift of God—a fruit of the Holy Spirit—to have the gift of encouragement! Self-esteem does not come from sweeping sins and mistakes under the carpet. Self-esteem comes from knowing we are children of God—rescued by Jesus forgiving blood. We are not perfect—far from it. But we are forgiven by Jesus of Nazareth—the holy One of Israel.

The LORD redeems his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

Do you feel guilty? I read about a man named Kevin. Kevin has a rap sheet. You’ve seen those on TV—the paper that lists all the times you have been arrested. Kevin’s rap sheet is a whole manila folder. It’s 43 pages long! Kevin has been arrested 226 times! Kevin was guilty of theft, trespassing, assault, resisting arrest, assault on a police officer, possession of drug paraphernalia and child abuse. This last time he was arrested with burglar tools and for being in possession of stolen property from 4 different cars. This time—they say—they may lock him up for 60 years! Finally—they may lock up this career criminal. And yet—Kevin could say—I’m not the worst! There are people--also in Lincoln, NE who have been arrested more than 500 times! Surely—they must be worse than I am! The fact is—Jesus came to redeem sinners of whom I am the worst. Jesus came to forgive sinners like me—who have never been arrested—only got one ticket—one parking ticket—yet deserves forever punishment for all my sins. Jesus died to save sinners just like us!

The LORD redeems his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

Jesus died and rose again—to buy us back—so all our sins are forgiven and heaven is our forever home! I went to the hospital in Milwaukee the other day—to visit my friend—just 37 years old—with an inoperable brain tumor! The door to my friend’s room was shut—so I asked a nurse—how is my friend doing? And she didn’t know what to say. She literally stammered and stuttered—today he is going to… And then she didn’t know what to say. Sometimes they use the word expire. It’s technically correct and true. But we can do much better. We can say—today we will come home to heaven. Today we will see Jesus face to face. Today Jesus’ nail marked hands will reach out and hold me. Today I will hear angels sing. Today I will come home where there will be no more death or grieving—no more crying—no pain or hurt—ever again.

The LORD redeems his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

The world was at war—from 1914 to 1918—the great war—the terrible war—the first world war. During that war there was a British soldier—a soldier named Harry—25 years old. Harry fought for his country—in the trenches by the mud and barbed wire—the mustard gas and chlorine gas and more. Harry fought bravely for his country for better than 2 years—until finally he couldn’t! He was exhausted. He suffered from combat exhaustion—from shell shock. His commanders didn’t understand. They charged Harry with being a coward and ordered him executed! And he was. Harry’s daughter—now 93 years old—has been arguing her whole lifetime—that her father was innocent. Finally—finally—Harry was pardoned! He was forgiven by the country he served so faithfully! The fact is Jesus understands! God’s Word says, For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Hebrews 4:15 Jesus understands all our weaknesses—our failures and shortcomings. Jesus understands how difficult even painful temptations can be. Jesus suffered and died on the cross for all the times we fall into temptation. Jesus died to forgive us every mistake—not by force of lawyers and appeals but by the power of his forgiving blood. Jesus died in our place to make us forever free. That’s why he is our only Refuge and Redeemer. Amen!

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