Our h.s. youth that attended the Higher Things conference in Nashville last month sang two verses of the Conference Hymn O God, O Lord of Heaven and Earth as part of this service. I used the text of that hymn to drive the sermon direction. Pr. Ron Rock Zion, Beecher, IL
We Were There! Sermon Text Hebrews 11:17-31; 12:1-3, LSB #834 Sun. & Wed., August 15 & 18, 2010 Pentecost 12, Proper 15, C Old Testament Reading Jeremiah 23:16-17, 23-29 Epistle Reading Hebrews 11:17-31; 12:1-3 Gospel Lesson Luke 12:49-53 Zion Lutheran Church, Beecher, IL Dear friends in Christ Jesus, We were there! Yeah for all 15 of us for 4 great days it was like we were we were in heaven itself! What am I talking about? The high school youth sitting in the choir loft along with their chaperones they know exactly what Im describing. 12 youth and 3 sponsors went to the Higher Things Youth Conference in Nashville in mid-July. There, for four days, we mingled with 1,104 other youth and their sponsors. We went to classes and breakout sessions that discussed a wide variety of topics that helped the youth consider our world and their place in it. They were able to hear presentations on Creation, the Liturgy, Religious Cults, the parables told by Jesus. Really the topics were seemingly endless and each person could choose the classes to attend that were of most interest to him or her. Besides the classes, the youth had free time where they could play games, meet other Christian youth from all over the country, or simply explore the beautiful campus at Vanderbilt University where our conference was held. But but the greatest part of the conference the best part of the week was spent in worship. And thats not just me saying that! No! Ask the youth. We all thrilled each time we entered the auditorium that served as our chapel. By the way we had ten ten formal worship services in those four days! And oh how we sang. Boys and girls men and women we lifted our voices in hymn, chant, and high thanksgiving to our great God and Lord who created us and has saved us by the blood of His one and only Son. Notice the insert in your bulletin. There youll find listed all the hymns that we sang that week. Theres no fluff or silliness to be found there; rather, the hymns that we sang were solid testaments of the Christian faith that have or will easily stand the test of time. In the opening Divine Service, we sang 15 yeah you heard that right we sang 15 hymns and the youth belted out each one of them with an eagerness that made what hair I have on my head to stand up with joy! After we returned home we took a poll of the youth. The hands-down favorite was the overall Conference Hymn. That hymn is in our hymnal, but before today wed never sung it here at Zion. The words to the hymn are fantastic and the gorgeous tune (although a bit difficult) makes the entire hymn to be a majestic statement of faith of praise and of the sure and certain hope to be found in the eternal promises of the Lord our God. As weve done on other occasions, well allow the text of the hymn to drive the direction of our sermon. Youre encouraged to open your hymnal to #834 and consider the words during the course of the sermon. Verse 1 begins: 1. O God, O Lord of heavn and earth, Thy living finger never wrote That life should be an aimless note, A deathward drift from futile birth. Our youth did and all of us for that matter can take great comfort in these first words. Here the fact is reiterated that from the beginning the Lord of All never wanted life for humankind to be aimless with no real point to it. So many in our world say that The purpose of life on earth is to pay taxes until you die. How sad that philosophy of life is! And here in stanza one we have pointed out to us once again that the Lord never intended such a life for us humans the preeminent of His visible creatures. Please consider this from our high school students standpoint. How great these words were for them to hear and sing 4 times over during the conference. Lets face it, things in our world and in our nation are pretty tough right now. It would be ever so easy to get down and depressed when you consider the state of things both economically and politically. But this great hymn opens the eyes of our youth and each of us to the fact that our Creator has far from a futile life in mind for us! Verse 1 concludes: Thy Word meant life triumphant hurled In splendor through Thy broken world. Since light awoke and life began. Thou hast desired Thy life for man. With these words were told that our loving Father in heaven wasnt satisfied to leave His beloved ones leading a life of futility. As we hear in the Gospel reading each Christmas morning Jesus, became Flesh (John 1:14 , ESV) came into our broken world to bring life and light where there was only death and darkness. Please follow in your hymnal as our youth sing the first stanza. The words of the second verse get our undivided attention. The cause of humankinds damnation to hell is clearly and succinctly stated: 2. Our fatal will to equal Thee, Our rebel will wrought death and night. We seized and used in prideful spite Thy wondrous gift of liberty. Its true, isnt it? We have no one to blame but ourselves. Just like Adam and Eve. we too desire to equal God. Just like our first parents, were rebels who think that we know better than God whats the best course for our lifes conduct. God gave us the gift of liberty free will as we usually call it and we misuse it and abuse it to selfishly obtain that which satisfies our base wants and desires. We callously do this regardless of who it hurts those around us or even even God, Himself! Verse two concludes: We housed us in this house of doom, Where death had royal scope and room, Until Thy servant, Prince of Peace, Breached all its walls for our release. There we were mired in sin with only eternal death in hell awaiting us. St. Paul describes it: but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind & making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Rom. 7:23-24, ESV) Our youth will now sing verse 2. As they conclude this verse notice the hint of rescue for Paul and for you! Verse 3 is pure Gospel! It speaks of Jesus and His giving, saving, loving work for our youth for you for me for the whole world! Devour these words with your ears: 3. Thou camest to our hall of death, O Christ, to breathe our poisoned air, To drink for us the dark despair That strangled our reluctant breath. How beautiful the feet that trod The road that leads us back to God! How beautiful the feet that ran To bring the great good news to man!! Jesus, the righteous Author of Life, came into our world of evil and death in order to conquer it for us! The only acceptable way to do that was for Jesus to undergo the death that we deserved. In other words, He entered our world to live among us to fulfill the Law of God perfectly in our place. He breathed our poisoned air and drank deeply of the cup of Gods wrath so that we need not. He did that on a certain Friday outside the gates of Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago. It was there that Jesus true God and true Man was punished unto His death suffering the equivalent of eternal death in hell for everyone who would ever live on this earth! Through faith in Jesus given to us through contact with the means of Grace in Gods Word and His Sacraments such as in Baptism for little Nora Gunning a few minutes ago through faith in Jesus, God considers it that your sins every one of them have been punished in Jesus and thereby God considers you as one of His very own for time and eternity! And so, how beautiful indeed are the feet of those messengers who bring this Good News to us. It begins with Jesus feet He the Prophet who first brought the Good News to man. That idea continues with anyone else whom Jesus uses to bring the Good News to His people telling generation after generation of Gods love and forgiveness found only in His Son. Our youth repeatedly heard the Good News throughout their week in Nashville. And that Good News gave comfort to their soul and put joy in their heart. They now ask you to join them in singing their favorite hymn. They ask you to abandon any false, self-conscious notion that you might have thinking that you have a poor voice. They ask that you join them in singing the words of verse 3 that speak of their Savior and yours! Sing sing like a prisoner thats just been released for thats exactly what you are! The last verse is a prayer. Its a prayer that the Spirit of Christ would bless His Church on earth so that it might forever be used to bring the Gospel to mankind. Its also a prayer asking that those within His Church motivated by the Gospel would live each day of their earthly life in high tribute to our Great God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Here are the words: 4. O Spirit, who didst once restore Thy Church that it might be again The bringer of good news to men, Breathe on Thy cloven Church once more, That in these gray and latter days There may be those whose life is praise, Each life a high doxology To Father, Son, and unto Thee. That week in July, our youth and leaders once again saw with crystal clarity what it means to be a Christian. They saw that the Church of Jesus Christ continues on, generation after generation, in the same way that it always has by bringing sinful man into contact with Gods love and forgiveness through Word and Sacrament ministry. They came away from that conference with a deep understanding that the writer to Hebrews was dead-on correct that its by faith by faith in Jesus that God gives eternal life to them and to you. They plan, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to lead their lives in a high doxology ever giving glory, honor, and praise to the God who created them who sustains them and who knows each of them as one His precious own! As a group theyre placing $500 into the churchs offering today. They do that, trusting that God will bless that offering and use it to advance His kingdom. They do that, hoping that as a result of that money being put to use, more and more people will join them in heaven and say along with them: We are there! Were in heaven beside our Savior surrounded by His love for all eternity! Thanks be to God! [Amen.] Please stand and join our youth in singing the final stanza of our hymn. ` ____________________________________________________________ Obama Urges Homeowners to Refinance If you owe under $729k you probably qualify for Obama's Refi Program http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/4c698eb1e9bee798e8fst02vuc
