Sermon for the Fourth Sunday After the Epiphany TORAH
Do you—or does anyone you know—wish that everyday life could seem to be happier than it now is right now? God wants your perspective to change. God promises you in today’s Introit Psalm that His LAW makes you happy, or to use another word, God’s LAW makes you “blessed” (Psalm 1:1). Do you feel as though your life could stand to be a bit more prosperous than it is at the moment? God wants you to look differently at your life. God assures you that His LAW brings prosperity to you, so that you right now and always shall be “like a tree planted by streams of water” (Psalm 1:3). Happiness and prosperity: according to today’s Introit psalm, these are the gifts that God your heavenly Father both promises and delivers to you and to all who “delight…in the LAW of the LORD” (Psalm 1:2). Dear Christian friends, Take a walk through a creek or a moving stream on a hot summer day. If you try to look down through the rippling waters, everything below the surface will seem blurry and out of focus. You will see much more clearly if you look into the water through a drinking glass, a Mason jar, or something similar. By using the glass jar as a lens, everything in the water will come into clear focus and beautiful detail. With the glass jar guiding your eyesight, you will see many things in the streambed that otherwise would remain blurry and hidden beneath the surface of the water. Think of God’s Holy Scriptures as being like that creek or stream. God has written countless blessings and benefits for you into the pages of His Bible. Like a stream of moving water, not all of these blessings and benefits are immediately easy to see and understand. You need a lens—a Mason jar (so to speak)—that will help you bring God’s blessings and benefits into clear focus and beautiful detail for you. If God’s Scriptures can be compared to a creek or stream, then you could think of your Mason jar or drinking glass as being the simple definition of one of the Words you see written in the page. Stated another way, unless you understand what a particular Word means in God’s Bible, you will never get a clear picture of the blessing and benefit God has for you beneath the surface of that Word, so to speak. If we do not know the meanings of individual Words in God’s Bible, we will not benefit from reading the book! God promises happiness and prosperity to all who “delight…in the LAW of the LORD” (Psalm 1:2). In order for you to realize and benefit from this happiness and prosperity that God gives to you through “the LAW of the LORD,” it is absolutely essential for you to understand what the Word LAW means in this important verse! A right definition of the Word LAW will be the Mason jar that allows you look below the rippling surface of this Word, so to speak, so that you may see the beautiful gifts that God is right now delivering to you through this Word. When God speaks about delight “in the LAW of the LORD,” He is not speaking about the Ten Commandments alone. Yes, the Ten Commandments are included in God’s delightful LAW, but by themselves the Ten Commandments are totally unable to give you the happiness and prosperity God promises you. Independently and by themselves, God’s Ten Commandments · give you sorrow, not happiness. The Ten Commandments expose your sin and your shame and the guilt you share with all people everywhere. Who could possibly want to feel happy about that? · impoverish you by laying out for you in graphic clarity everything that you are not and everything that you are unable to do. The Ten Commandments strip you of what little you might think you have. The Ten Commandments expose everything that you hate about yourself and about your neighbor, and these commandments display for you every reason you have to fear and loathe your God. No, there is much more to this Word LAW here in Psalm 1 than the Ten Commandments alone. When God speaks about His delightful Law in this Psalm, He uses the Hebrew word TORAH, which so much more than “commandment” or “demand.” Although most Bibles usually translate the Word as “LAW,” the Hebrew word TORAH means infinitely more than merely LAW. Torah means something more along the lines of “LAW and GOSPEL.” Torah might be better translated as “God’s threats and promises taken together” or “the full counsel of God into a book and declared to you.” “Blessed is the man… [whose] delight is in the LAW of the LORD.” That is to say, Blessed—happy—is the man whose delight is in the TORAH of the LORD, the Law and Gospel of the Lord, the full counsel of the LORD’s Words. God wants you to know that when you have the TORAH of the LORD—the counsel of God—at work in your heart and in your mind, you are like a tree planted by streams of water. God wants you to know that when you have the TORAH of the LORD, you are HAPPY and you are PROSPEROUS right here and right now in this struggle we call daily life. Blessèd is the man… [whose] delight is in the law [the Torah] of the LORD, and on his law [Torah] he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. Use this word TORAH as your Mason jar, so to speak, which allows you to look beneath the surface and see the blessings that God for you in this Psalm. Do you—or does anyone you know—wish that everyday life could seem to be happier than it now is? God calls you HAPPY when you have the TORAH of the LORD, · Not because the Ten Commandments crush you and break you with their obligation and demand, but because the living Words of God knock you down so that they may raise you up again. · God calls you HAPPY because His TORAH first exposes your sin but then wipes away and forgives all your sins for the sake of your Lord Jesus Christ. What can be happier for you than sins forgiven? Think of this analogy: you might not feel terribly happy to hear that there is a snake hiding under your bed. However, it is good, happy, and even delightful news to hear that the snake has not only been found, but also killed and removed from your house. In the same way, it is not a terribly happy thing to realize your sin and guilt. It is, however, a wonderfully happy thing to hear that this sin and guilt that God exposes in you shall never be held against you. That is why God says to you today, “Blessed—happy—is the man… [whose] delight is in the TORAH of the LORD.” Do you feel as though your life could stand to be a bit more prosperous than it is right now? Look again through your Mason jar! God promises and assures you today that, because you have the TORAH of the LORD, you are right now … like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. In all [YOU] do, [YOU] prosper. With these Words, God wants you to know that, because His powerful and miracle-producing TORAH has entered your heart and mind, the good and healthy fruit of faith abounds in your everyday life. God is not speaking here about whether or not your life has measured up to your own expectations or hopes and dreams. God is not speaking about whether you feel productive or prosperous or even useful. God is describing to you what He does for you each and every day through the TORAH of the LORD. · In the same way that a tree continually absorbs life-giving moisture from a nearby stream, you also continually draw benefit and life from the streams of God’s living Word. This happens, not merely when you hear a sermon or when you receive Holy Communion, but also when the living Word of God continues to exert its good work on your heart and mind throughout your week. · Just as a tree naturally produces good fruit according to its own kind, you likewise are continually producing the holy fruit of good works, even when you really only feel able to focus on the frustrations and hardships in your life. Blessèd is the man… [whose] delight is in the law [the Torah] of the LORD, and on his law [Torah] he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. Happiness and prosperity are now yours through the miracle-producing power of TORAH. Happiness and prosperity are the gifts that God your heavenly Father is giving to you and producing in you right now through the miraculous TORAH of the LORD. For the moment, you might not be able to see your prosperity or feel you happiness as fully or as completely as you might like. Do not worry. You shall at last see with your eyes what you now believe by the power of TORAH. The peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen. ___________________________________________________________________ 'CAT 41 Sermons & Devotions' consists of works that are, unless otherwise noted, the copyrighted property of the various authors; posting of such gives members of this list implied consent for redistribution _with_attribution_ unless otherwise specified by the author (as long as no charge is made for the work and it is not made part of a compilation), as well as for quoting or use in a congregational setting _with_or_without_attribution_. Note: This list's default reply is to the *poster*, NOT the list. Do *not* reply to the list with your comments, but to the poster. Subscribe? Send ANY note to: sermons...@cat41.org Unsubscribe? Send ANY note to: sermons-...@cat41.org Archive? <http://www.mail-archive.com/sermons@cat41.org/> For more information on this or other lists offered by Confess And Teach For Unity, you can contact the CAT 41 list administrator at: Rev. Fr. Eric J. 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