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.
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