Sermon – June 27, 2021 – Pentecost 5

Printable PDF:  6-27-2021 Pentecost 05 Sermon

Pastor David R. Clark  ~  Mark 4:35-41  ~  June 27, 2021  ~  Pentecost 5

ESSENTIAL ANSWERS WHEN WE FEAR

35That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” 39He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” 41They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

 

Dear brothers and sisters one in faith,

          You get up at the usual time and do your usual morning routine. It’s a little rushed, but not too bad. There’s gas in the car, homework is done, and no lunches are left in the refrigerator. The traffic is heavy, but not bad. You drop the kids off at school. Then you hear a 12-story building in Miami collapses for no apparent reason. Or a disturbed man is driving down Loop 101 shooting people. Or your phone rings with the results of medical tests and the doctor says, “You need to come and see me.”

          How many times haven’t we looked back and said something like this… “The day started out normally enough…”

          Every single person on earth suffers this way. And because we cannot control when or what happens, it often leads to fear. Have you ever felt yourself drowning in fear?

 

  1. Don’t you care if we drown? (verses 35-38)

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

          The Sea of Galilee would be considered a lake for most of us in the U.S. It is considerably smaller than our many freshwater lakes and much, much smaller than the Great Lakes. But it is the largest repository of fresh water in all of Palestine. There is a high ridge on the east side (Golan Heights). So when weather changes it is possible for the Sea of Galilee to become dangerous very, very quickly.

          That’s what happened to the disciples. The storm was so bad that the boat was filling with water. The disciples, some of whom were experienced fishermen, started to fear. They had seen storms like this, and they knew they usually didn’t end very well.

          They did have Jesus there. They had seen him do miracles. They knew he had the power to change things, but he just slept. How do you sleep when your boat is taking on water? Finally, they didn’t think they were going to make it, so they woke him up. “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

          There is a little (or not so little) control freak inside each of us. We have to be able to pull all the strings, know all the answers, count the cost. As a matter of good stewardship, God does expect us to use all of the resources he has placed at our disposal. Friends and family, medical personnel, our government, and our church are all there to help and be a resource in their own unique way. Making good use of them is a responsibility God expects us to carry out when it comes to living our lives and solving our problems.

          But there are times when that isn’t enough. There are times when the doctors can’t seem to heal, or the pastor can’t help the marriage we have been taking for granted for years. Then what? What do you do when you find yourself drowning in fear? Do you find yourself wondering where God is? In those moments when it is obvious that we are not in control, when we cannot affect the outcome, what about them? We have Jesus, too, but do you say, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

 

  1. Do you still have no faith?

Here is how much Jesus cares: (39-41) He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

          Jesus takes out the remote control for all of creation and presses the pause button. Suddenly everything is calm. The crisis the disciples were sure was going to end in tragedy is over. Just like that! No more wind. No more waves.

          Jesus follows up this simple act (for him) by seizing upon this as a teaching moment. He sounds a little dismayed to me. The thing that had made him so tired is that he had just spent the day teaching. If you look at the section in Mark 4 before this you will see there are four parables Jesus had taught about faith and the power of God’s word. So, maybe it’s not a surprise that he says, “Do you still have no faith?

          Brothers and sisters, “Even the wind and waves obey him.” He is the Creator of all. He has power over all. Creation is not the limit of his power, only a sample of it. In other words, his power is much greater than that.

The opposite of fear, as Jesus points out, is faith. Faith means faith in his power, faith in possibilities. It means that God could have turned the planes back from the twin towers and could make you wealthy beyond imagination in the blink of an eye or cure your terminal disease. Faith also means faith in his wisdom. Sometimes that means he will allow tragedy to come into our lives. We won’t always know why. Children never like it and rarely understand when we tell them they are not allowed to do something that we know is not in their best interest.

That’s where faith comes in. Faith is knowing that even though we don’t understand, he does. Faith means bowing to God’s reasons and God’s time line. They are always better. We put our faith in the power of prayer. We put our faith in the power of his Word. We do this because we also put our faith in his love, the love he has shown us in all creation, in his Son, and our redemption. Even when we have cause to fear, we trust in God’s power.

Being a Christian means being people of faith. It is faith in what Jesus has done and what Jesus will continue to do for us. Do not be afraid. Do not be uncertain. Believe in what he says. In the midst of our greatest fears, our faith is in Jesus. Amen.

Sermon, June 20, 2021, Pentecost 4

Printable PDF:  6-20-2021 Pentecost 04 Sermon

Pastor Jacobson  †  Pentecost 4 Sermon  †  June 20, 2021  †  Mark 4:26-34

26He said, “The kingdom of God is like this: A man scatters seed on the ground, 27and while he sleeps and rises, night and day, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28The ground produces fruit on its own: first the blade, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29When the crop is ready, he swings the sickle without delay, because the harvest has come.” 30Then he said, “To what should we compare the kingdom of God? Or with what parable may we picture it? 31It is like a mustard seed, which when sown on the ground is one of the smallest of all the seeds planted in the ground. 32Yet when it is planted, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches so that the birds of the sky can nest under its shade.” 33With many similar parables he continued to speak the word to them, as much as they were able to hear. 34He did not speak to them without a parable. But when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything to them.

LOOK AT THE KINGDOM THROUGH GOD’S EYES

How would you envision the kingdom of God? Pearly gates? A white-robed army of saints and angels singing, “Alleluia!”? Christ the King in the middle, sitting on his throne? This description is how the Apostle John describes the kingdom of God in heaven in his Revelation. This kingdom of glory looks amazing, but Jesus in the Gospel appointed for today describes the kingdom of God that is on earth and this kingdom of God, not a kingdom of glory, but a kingdom of grace, looks like a farm.

  1. We see the planting, but God sees the harvest.

Farmers don’t wear white, and if farmers do wear white, their white clothes won’t stay white for long. There are many sounds on a farm. You know what the cows and the roosters say. The cow says, “Mooo,” and the rooster says, “Cock-a-doodle-do.” They don’t sing, “Alleluia!” There’s also a distinctive smell on the farm, and we trust that smell is not also in heaven. Farming has changed over the last 2,000 years, but the essence of farming is still the same as Jesus describes it in his parable. 26He said, “The kingdom of God is like this: A man scatters seed on the ground.”

The man in this parable or story is Jesus. The seed is God’s Word, namely the gospel or Good News of Jesus Christ. The ground is the human heart. The farm is how Jesus describes his preaching and teaching ministry. This farming description, then, would also apply to our preaching and teaching ministry. Pretty simple stuff, a 3-step process: One person has the gospel message. That persons shares the gospel message with another person. The gospel message is received by that person who hears it.

We see this planting. We see this planting right now as I preach this sermon. We see this planting as the Pastors and Elders hand communicants the four elements of Holy Communion, the body and blood of Christ in, with, and under the bread and the wine. We see this planting when we have a baptism, and today in the 8:00 service we have a baptism.

Jesus continues, “27and while he (the farmer) sleeps and rises, night and day, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. My church office is very close to our preschool. And through the years I’ve seen about 100 styrofoam cups with a handful of dirt and a seed in each one. It’s a great lesson on agriculture because every one of those little farmers wonder what’s taking so long and whether or not they will ever see that seed sprout and grow. In between the planting and the sprouting there can be doubt. Is it working? Is the seed going to sprout and grow or not?

Preschool farmers aren’t the only ones who wonder about their planting. Gospel sharers wonder, too. You see the Baptism planting, but you don’t see how this baby is now a Christian when just seconds earlier the baby was an unbeliever. You see the Holy Communion planting, but you don’t see how you, the communicants, are more energized to produce new fruits of faith in their lives. You see the preaching and the teaching, but at times wonder what will come of it? And as you wonder these things the temptation exists to quit planning seeds, to stop sharing the gospel. Is bringing my child to church or having a home devotion with them worth it, when the little monster doesn’t seem to hear a word that is said? Is talking to my friends about my faith ever going to amount to anything more than ridicule or indifference?

While we wonder if the kingdom of God is working, the kingdom of God is working. Jesus teaches, 28The ground produces fruit on its own: first the blade, then the head, then the full grain in the head. God sees the fruit of faith. Sometimes we see the fruit of faith, and when you do see the fruit of faith, treasure it. Treasure it when the mouth of babes say, “Jesus loves me,” or, “Jesus died for our sins.” Treasure it when teenagers and young adults accept responsibility in the ministry of the church. Treasure it when life-long unbelievers are converted and when wayward Christians see the error of their way and return. Sometimes we see this fruit, but even if we don’t see this fruit, doesn’t mean it’s not there or will never be there. Keep planting! Keep planting until the harvest.

Jesus finishes this first parable, 29When the crop is ready, he swings the sickle without delay, because the harvest has come.” Some farmers only see a harvest twice or three times a year. Those harvesting times are big paydays, and they have to be if the farmer is going to think about planting more seeds for the next season. The harvesting of believers are big days, too. Jesus has told us, “There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” Also, even on his dying day, Jesus found joy in telling a sinner, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” Look at the kingdom through God’s eyes. Through the parable of the growing seed, we see the harvest of all believers into heaven and keep planting the gospel message on human hearts.

  1. We see the seed, but God sees the mature plant.

This planting is a big deal, and that’s what Jesus wants us to see in the parable of the mustard seeds. 30Then he said, “To what should we compare the kingdom of God? Or with what parable may we picture it? 31It is like a mustard seed, which when sown on the ground is one of the smallest of all the seeds planted in the ground. The kingdom of God looked smaller than the Kingdom of Herod or the Kingdom of Caesar and Rome. The ministry of Jesus looked less impressive than the ministry of the do-good Pharisees or the ministry of the feel-good Sadducees. And when all of those parties conspired to be rid of Jesus through his death on the cross, they saw this small and unimpressive threat to their power coming to an end, but just as the mustard seed geminates and grows into the largest of all the garden plants, so also the kingdom of God grew and is bigger and more impressive than any other worldly power on earth.

About the mustard seed Jesus says, 32Yet when it is planted, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants …” The kingdom of God includes people from every nation, tribe, people, and language. There are no borders. There are no limitations. Everyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. A believer’s death does not subtract them from the kingdom of God. The Bible says, “Whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” The kingdom of God is bigger and better than the United States of America and every other worldly government. The kingdom of God is bigger and better than any other support group or club team or do-good organization. For emphasis Jesus closes, “and puts out large branches so that the birds of the sky can nest under its shade.” The Bible says, “God rules over all things or all creation for the benefit of the church.” The opposite is also truth. The Church benefits all things. All of creation continues to spin on earth’s axis and circle the sun because God is ruling all things for the benefit of the church. The Bible also talks about how all creation will be liberated when all believers are brought into the kingdom of glory.

God sees the mature plant. God sees the kingdom of God as the biggest game changer in all the world, and through this parable of the mustard seed, God wants us, as his branches, to branch out and to make a difference in the world in which we live. And we will when we look at the kingdom through God’s eyes. Amen.

Sermon – June 6, 2021 – Pentecost 2

Printable PDF:  6-6-2021 Pentecost 02 Sermon

Pastor Mark Jacobson  †  Pentecost 2  †  June 6, 2021  †  Mark 2:23-28

 

23One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grain fields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” 25He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” 27Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

FIND REST IN JESUS

When was the last time you slept like a baby? Was the last time you slept like a baby when you were a baby? How can babies sleep the way they do, dangling like skydivers in the air or scrunched like a ball of laundry on the floor? Most of us are no longer physically able to sleep like a baby, but it is my prayer that God in his Word today would grant us that kind of rest, dangling or scrunched baby-rest, for our souls.

  1. Rest in his providing care

The Gospel appointed for this Sunday starts, “One Sabbath” and before we can go any further we must better understand the meaning of Sabbath. The Sabbath was a day of the week, the seventh day. I’m not familiar with any special names given to the first six days of the week, but in Old Testament times, the seventh day had its own special name, and that name had a purpose. The word “Sabbath” means “rest.” The seventh day earned this name because on the first six days of this world’s existence the Triune God did the work of creating everything that exists, but on the seventh day, God rested. God didn’t rest from creating because God was tired. God rested from his creating work because his creating work was done. A seventh day of creating wouldn’t have made this world any better than it already was in six days.

On the seventh day God rested from his creating work, but God never rests from his providing work. God continually provides for people day after day. From a person’s birth God provides little people like babies and children with big people, like parents and guardians. From these people of responsibility God provides the basic necessities of food and drink, clothing and shelter, everything a little person needs for life. And all the while God provides for little ones, God is also developing those young minds and limited abilities, so one day (from our perspective) they can provide for themselves. This they can do with an activity called work.  

God wants people to work. God created people to work. Even in the perfect world when there was no sin, Adam was created with the God-given ability to name animals and to take care of a garden, and Eve was created with a God-given mind to help her husband. In a perfect world, people would know when they should work and when they should stop working. In a sinful world, people are not always sure. One temptation is to not work until you have to, to ride the gravy train of your providers, providers like mom and dad or government subsidy, until they kick you off the gravy train or you’re too ashamed to stay on. The other temptation is to work, work, and work and to never stop working until you are positively sure you have enough provisions for the rest of your life. For the people of the Old Testament, this largely meant they could work all day, every day from sun up to sun down. Over a hundred ago with the advent of electricity, people could work extended hours, second, and third shifts. And today, with more modern technology and COVID, more companies are finding it advantageous to have their employees work from home so that like the homemaker, their work is never done.

No wonder people are so crabby and so cranky to each other. No wonder people wake up with worry. Whether a person’s work is motivated by worry or greed, an all-day, all-night attitude of work is bad for you and is bad for the people around you. God wants people to work, but God also wants people to rest. Rest is so important to God he not only made sure he rested himself, but he also made a law commanding people to rest. This rest would not only be good for the body, but it would also be good for the soul. The rest would remind people of God’s providing care, how God as the Psalmist says, “[He] opens his hand and provides for every living thing.” The day of rest would allow for the contemplation of the birds of air and the lilies of the field, how God clothes the lilies and feeds the birds and how God is still capable of providing for all of our needs. What a wonderful law from an always giving God! Rest! Find rest in Jesus. Rest in his providing care. And as we go forward in our lesson we learn, rest in his authoritative word. 

  1. Rest in his authoritative word

In our lesson Jesus addresses a controversy about the rest law with an authoritative word. We continue our lesson, “One Sabbath, Jesus was going through the grain fields.” We don’t know if this ‘going’ was before synagogue or after synagogue, but as Jesus and the disciples were walking, Mark shares, “they (the disciples) began to pick some heads of grain.” Again, we don’t know if this picking of grain was breakfast on the way to synagogue or if it was lunch or dinner on the way home. Whatever it was, this picking of grain became a problem for the group known as the Pharisees. And the problem wasn’t the picking of grain in someone else’s field. The disciples weren’t being accused of petty theft here. By saying to Jesus, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath,” the Pharisees were accusing the disciples of working. The Pharisees equate this hand-to-mouth eating with the harvesting of grain that was sold in the market.

The disciples didn’t break the rest law, but interestingly Jesus doesn’t argue that point. Instead Jesus argues a different point. Jesus answers, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”

The disciples didn’t break the rest law. Working was forbidden, not eating, but as Jesus answers notable men like David who would become the King of Israel and Abiathar, the high priest, did break the law. David and his companions ate consecrated bread. This consecrated bread, also known as the Show Bread was in the tabernacle. The Show Bread showed the people of Israel that God would always provide for his people, but at this particular time those 12 loaves of bread were the only food available. And in this unusual circumstance, the Show Bread was how God provided for his people and neither David nor Abiathar or anyone else or God made an issue about it. The consecrated bread was made for man, not man for the consecrated bread. And in the same way Jesus speaks an authoritative word. Then he said to them, 27“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

The purpose of worship is rest, rest for our souls. We don’t receive this rest through an outward act.  The rest Jesus wants each of us to have doesn’t come to us simply by showing up to church, sitting down, signing in, and being counted. Attendance in worship and communion is a means to an end, not the end in itself. The end is rest. We make a Pharisaic mistake if we turn worship and communion into a sacrificial act like work. I don’t get rest from my faithfulness to God in worship. In worship I rest from God’s faithfulness to me. I get rest when I hear God forgives my worry and my greed, and the crabby and cranky attitude I’ve had toward others, towards you. I get rest when I hear that God hasn’t changed his opinion of me. That he still loves me and wants me and will always love me and want me. That authoritative word gives me rest, not through the good work of my attendance (the Pharisees were really good at attending), but the gift of rest is received through faith.

It’s interesting that most of our commandments start, “You shall or You shall not,” but not the third commandment. God did NOT write, “You shall go to synagogue on the Sabbath Day.” Instead he wrote, “Remember.” In other words, don’t do something or don’t not do something, but think about this, ponder this. God rested from his work of creating and God also rested from his work of redeeming. Think about how all your sins are forgiven. No more redeeming work needs to be done.

I don’t know how babies sleep, but I know how believers can sleep. Remember, Jesus slept during the storm. Daniel slept in a lions’ den. Peter slept while chained to guards and awaiting execution. We can sleep, too. We sleep better when we hear God’s Word and take it to heart. We also live better, too. Let the Word of God, in this long season we know as the Sundays after Pentecost, dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs of the Spirit, singing to God in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Amen.

Sermon – May 30, 2021 – Trinity Sunday

Printable PDF:  5-30-2021 Trinity – p. 38

David R. Clark  ~  Isaiah 6:1-8  ~  May 30, 2021  ~  Trinity Sunday

WHAT’S DIFFERENT ABOUT OUR GOD?

1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” 6Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” 8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

 

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

          See if you know what these names have in common: Marduk, Chemosh, Dagon, Baal, Astarte. If you said they are all idols of the Old Testament, you are correct. You probably spent time in school studying Greek and Roman mythology. You know names like Athena and Venus and Zeus. Approximately ¼ of Americans see no use for any religion. A skeptic might say Christianity is no different than any other religion. Or better yet, WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT OUR GOD?

  1. Our God is three times holy. (verses 1-3)

1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

People who create idols also create the way they say they should be honored. These idols are portrayed as powerful, but having the same kind of failings that you and I have. They are gods made in man’s image rather than the other way around.

Contrast that to the God of Isaiah. Isaiah was a courageous prophet who faithfully spoke the word of God to wicked King Manasseh of Judah. He was such a courageous man that we are told he died by being sawn in half. This was no shrinking violet!

So what would make him tremble? A vision of the true God in a flowing robe, seated on his throne in heaven. Special six-winged angels called seraphim – sinless creatures – were flying before the throne of God chanting about the holiness of the one true God. Their chant was so powerful that the doorposts of the temple shook. Moses had to turn away on Mt. Sinai when the Lord passed by him because no man can see the Lord and live. And that’s where Isaiah found himself!

What will your reaction be when you stand before him? This is no idol with petty human emotions. This is our God. How will this God look at you when he knows every filthy thought or careless word you have uttered? What will God say when he knows how self-centered you have been? He is “holy, holy, holy,” and we don’t measure up.

  1. Our God takes away sin. (verses 4-7)

And our Lord knows this which also sets him apart. 4At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” 6Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

If someone worships the idol of love, what do they get out of it? A fleeting relationship? A broken heart? If someone worships the idol of success what do they get out of it? Broken relationships? Material wealth which becomes meaningless at death? If someone worships the idol of sports, what do they get out of it? Heartache when their team loses? A t-shirt when their team wins? What meaning do they have ultimately?

What Isaiah got was far different. The angel took a coal and touched his unclean lips and declared that his sins were taken away. God atoned for Isaiah’s sin and declared him righteous.

You and I have also been cleansed by our holy, holy, holy God. Our cleansing came not from a burning coal grasped in tongs by an angel, but through the precious blood of Jesus. In the waters of Baptism, you were declared holy in God’s sight. By the power of God’s word in bread and wine you have been strengthened and assured. Our God is a god who gives, not a god who takes. He is a God of grace, who removes sin.

  1. Our God calls us to do his work. (verse 8)

God does one more thing. 8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Through the forgiveness of our sins, God adopts us as his own children. He is not an angry judge against whom we can never measure up. He is our loving father because he has chosen us. He wishes us to be part of his family!

As a member of his family, he invites us to participate in the family business. He calls us to carry on his work. He does not make this invitation to angels. He makes it to you and me, just as he did to Isaiah. In a world of idols, he sends us to proclaim who the Triune God is and to offer the same forgiveness that you and I have received.

This is why we have a church. This is why we have a school. It is our purpose on earth whether we happen to be going to work, going on vacation, or playing in a Little League game. We proclaim our Triune God in all we do.

Be careful. There are still many idols in this world. They may look different than the idols of the Old Testament, but they are worshiped nonetheless. Perhaps Satan is even more devious today than then. People of this world have even made blessings like family and technology and politics idols which they worship and proclaim to all who will listen. There will continue to be idols as long as this sinful world exists, as long as Satan continues to roam. There will continue to be people who see worship of the true God as valuable only when they have a crisis or because it is a holiday tradition or because their child is being honored in some special way. But not us. Not you and me. We know who our God is and what he has done for us. So what do we do when the call comes from our Triune God? Who will go for him? Here we are. Send us! Amen.