St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church
Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz
Isaiah 25:6f Pentecost 21 series A October 9, 2005
On this mountain the LORD Almighty
will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the
best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the
shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will
swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the fears from all
faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth.
People of God, rescued
from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of
God:
About this time each
year—it’s in all the papers—the new words that are being added to the
dictionary. Words like chick flick—you know what that is—a chick flick. It’s a
movie that’s all about feelings and emotions—about love and romance. It’s the
kind of movie that people say—it was wonderful—I cried 5 times! There’s the
French word amuse-bouche. Do you know what that is—amuse-bouche? It’s a
complimentary appetizer offered at some restaurants—a free little snack—to sort
of warm up your mouth—your taste buds for the really fine meal that’s coming!
Chandler Bing had an amuse-bouche and remarked—very amusing! Get it? A new word
in the dictionary is hospitalist. That’s a doctor who specializes in treating
hospitalized patients of other physicians—in order to minimize the number of
hospital visits by other physicians. If I go in the hospital that’s what I
need—because my primary physician doesn’t see people in the hospital. There are
in the dictionary some ___ million different words. Every ten years—they go
through the dictionary and throw out a whole bunch of words that nobody seems
to be using any more. The most important purpose in all the world for all the
possible combination of those ___ million words—is to share the precious good
news that Jesus took all our sins away. This Evangelism Sunday we will be
reminded:
The Gospel Is For
Everyone Everywhere!
For 4 out of 5 Sundays
we are working through the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Written down some 650
years before the fact—Isaiah wrote of Jesus’ suffering and death to save us as
if he were an eye witness. Surely he
took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows—yet we considered him stricken
by God, smitten by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our
transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought
us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed. We all like sheep have
gone astray-each of us has turned to his own way--and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. How painful to be reminded that we are like helpless
sheep—wandering and straying—doing painful harm to ourselves because we sin all
the time. The LORD called his people to repentance. The painful fact is—so many
remained in their stubborn rebellion and sin. Still the LORD always always preserved for himself a faithful
remnant. There is also good news in this—the faithlessness of people cannot spoil the goodness of God. When
the Gospel is rejected by the children of Abraham—it will be spread around the
world—to people everywhere!
God’s Word says, “On this mountain the LORD Almighty will
prepare a feast of rich food for all people, a banquet of aged wine—the best of
meals and the finest of wines.” On
this mountain. The first people who read this Word of God—would think
of earthly Jerusalem—Solomon’s Temple—the glory of the LORD—their Heavenly
Father drawing near to his people by grace alone! On this mountain—the
Temple—the most holy place—the ark of the covenant—the whole burnt
offerings—the sweet smell of incense. The thick black column of smoke that started
at dawn and continued till the sun went down. The blood of lambs and sheep and
goats and bulls—as God’s people were reminded in the most graphic way
possible—the wages of sin is death. On this mountain also brings to mind the new Jerusalem—coming down out of
heaven—prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. The new
Jerusalem is the scene of the forever wedding feast. Where the LORD Almighty
will prepare a feast of rich food for all people… How can you begin to explain
the joy and happiness of heaven? Perhaps you can begin by comparing it to one
of the happiest times we have on earth—we wedding feast. Imagine hosting a
wedding feast—where money is no object. If you could serve everyone a
salad—with all those fancy different kinds of lettuce and genuine bacon bits
and all kinds of salad dressings. Then soup with the cheese all melted on the
top and running down the sides. Then the main course—prime rib—thick slabs—plus
lobster tails—all dipped in melted butter—and some crab legs and some shrimps. Then
you could have those baked potatoes where you bake them—then dig them out and
mush them with cheese—then put them back in the skin and bake them some more.
And you could have dessert—one of those chocolate cakes with chocolate ice
cream and chocolate syrup on it. Then you could have all kinds of wine—to wash
this delightful dinner down. Imagine if you could understand—I mean really
understand and appreciate all the different kinds of wine—sweet ones and dry
ones—all the indescribable colors—from deep purple and red to pink and pale!
Imagine what it will be like—to have a feast—and everyone you love is there. At
weddings in this world—it is very often the custom to mention in the
bulletin—the names of grandparents and parents—who are remembered on that
wedding day—because they have already gone from this world—to the forever
wedding feast in heaven. We miss them here and now. But we rejoice in the
certain knowledge and confidence that we will see them again. Once you are at
the wedding feast in heaven—no one ever has to leave again!
On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations… Death is painful to
look at. So we try to cover it up. We literally put sheets or covers over dead
bodies. At the grave we put that green artificial grass over the soil. We put
flowers everywhere. Death is painful to look at. The fact is—death is
everywhere people are. In Africa people are dying from Malaria—you can separate
the death of children by no more than seconds. In Iraq people lining up for
jobs are blown up by homicide bombers. People die on highways because of drunk
drivers. Pretty girls die when people put chemicals in their drinks—then molest
them—then bury them in shallow graves. Vans have tires that blow out—and
passengers who aren’t wearing their seat belts are thrown from the vehicle and
killed. Little retired grandmas and grandpas are on a tour boat out on the
lake—when a wake pushes them over and they suddenly sink! High School football
players are struck by lightning—and the shroud of death covers them. You can be
young and strong and in a moment you die. It is only because of the Gospel of
sins forgiven for Jesus’ sake—that we don’t obsess about when and where and how
we will die. We know that ultimately Jesus has removed the shroud from us and
from everyone!
He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the
tears from all faces; When
you are born—when you first realize you are in this world that is so bright and
so cold and so loud—you cry. With the first breath of air in this world you
cry. Tears come to your eyes. Day after day you cry—when you are hungry—when
you are thirsty—when you need to be changed—when something—anything hurts and you are too small to even point to the pain—you
cry! When you look and you can’t see your mom you cry! When you get bigger—you
try harder and harder not to cry. When you are in school and you get
hurt—playing sports—and somebody knocks you down—and you go skidding on your
knees—and your hands are literally torn open and bleed—you wipe your eyes—and
look away—and pretend it didn’t hurt that hard. There used to be this idea—that
if you were a real man—really tough—you didn’t cry no matter what! Real men
were not supposed to cry about anything. But you see soldiers coming back from
Iraq and Afghanistan—with arms and legs missing. You see pictures of the
caskets covered with flags. And if that doesn’t make a lump in your throat—I
would suggest something is wrong. When you turn on the news and see the father
of a little girl that has been abducted and abused and then her little broken
body is found in a shallow grave. If you can watch that—and not have a little
salty water in the eve trough beneath your eye—I don’t understand. About once a
month there is a long wooden or metal box up in front of church. People sit in
these front pews with fists full of Kleenex. And their hearts ache. That’s all
because of sin—the sin that brings death into this world. Only Jesus could
swallow up death—by tasting death once for all—to set us free forever!
He will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD
has spoken. Disgrace comes from sin—from moral lapses. Remember
when you were little and you did something painful and hurtful and wrong. When
you were disciplined—you were told—“Shame on you!” Shame is disgrace—an aura
that says—this person did something terribly wrong! There’s supposed to be
shame on a professional athlete that tests positive for performance enhancing
drugs—says they are innocent—yet shrink to about half their size—and everybody
still wants their autograph. There’s supposed to be shame is a professional
athlete who is guilty of physical violence—a terrible fight in a game. But then
their sneaker sponsor pays their fine—thousands and thousands of dollars. And
then—when the fine is actually reduced the professional athlete actually makes
a profit from their bad behavior—and people still want their autograph! There
is disgrace on the new police chief in New Orleans. Shame that comes from 5
times being suspended. The last suspension because he took a report that a
woman was being battered and abused by her boyfriend. That she was afraid for
her life! He took her report—wrote it all down—then did absolutely nothing
about it! Not long after that—the abused woman was murdered. To this day—the
police still don’t know who did it? How do you take away that kind of shame and
disgrace? Refuse to talk about it—and pretend it didn’t happen? No—Jesus took
all that disgrace away—by his innocent suffering in our place to take away our
guilt and shame forever! Jesus paid the penalty to set us free from our shame
and guilt!
In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him,
and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be
glad in his salvation.” I drove through downtown Chicago the
other day. They have signs all over the toll road booths—“Toll road amnesty
ends October 11th!” Amnesty—is like forgiveness isn’t it? Well not exactly in
Illinois. If you have up to 25 violations—say 25 times that you drive through
the automatic-I pass lane when you don’t have an I pass—you have to pay 50%.
If you have up to 50 violations—50
times when you cheated the toll booth—you can get by by paying 60% And if you
have cheated more than 50 times—then you have to pay 75% of what you owe. If
you don’t—they are promising to come after you much harder—maybe even
impounding your car or truck! Do you know how many people cheat the toll road?
3%. That didn’t sound so bad—until you find out—there are about 2 million
transactions—2 million times when somebody is supposed to throw money out their
window. That 3% translates into some 60,000 cases of cheating every day! That’s
a lot! Jesus died on the cross—for all the cheating that is going on. Jesus
died for every sin. For the hundreds of thousands of times people tried to
cheat the Illinois toll booths. For all the times workers cheated their
employers and employers cheated their workers. Jesus die for spouses that
cheated on their spouse and children who lied to their parents. Jesus died to
pay the entire debt we owed. He did so willingly because he loves us so much.
How great is His forgiving love. That’s why we don’t fear Judgment Day—because
all our guilt is gone—for Jesus’ sake. Amen!