Category: Sermon Page

Pentecost 15 (Proper 17), September 1, 2024 A Defiled Heart Made Clean Text: Mark 7:14–23 Other Lessons: Deuteronomy 4:1–2, 6–9; Psalm 119:129–136; Ephesians 6:10–20 Sermon Theme: God takes our defiled hearts and creates clean, fruitful hearts by his Gospel. Sermon Goal: That you confess that your hearts produce nothing but evil but that by the Gospel God creates in you new, clean hearts that desire to keep His commandments. Based on a sermon outline by Rev. Stephen K. Preus.

Sermon: “Just follow your heart.” Undoubtedly you’ve heard this popular advice from someone before. A sinful heart is the source of a sinful intellect and intuition, a sinful understanding and will. That’s the way the Scriptures speak of the heart. Thus, the solution to “Just follow your heart” cannot be “Just follow your intellect” or “Just follow your intuition.” Both of these are defiled as well. The only real solution is God acting outside of us and for our benefit. And that is what he does! God Takes Our Defiled Hearts and Creates Clean, Fruitful Hearts by His Gospel.

Every heart is by nature defiled and yields only evil. The Pharisees and scribes lived as if something else defiled people. They believed and lived as if what defiled a person is what goes into him—like the right foods eaten the right ways—which are really mere outward works, even those invented by man instead of those commanded by God.

He teaches the crowd that “there is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him” (v 15). Jesus did not want the crowd misled by the moralism of the Pharisees.

Jesus corrected the disciples’ false belief to prepare them to teach others the same. He teaches the disciples that it is not what goes into a person that defiles him, since what goes in enters not the heart but the stomach and exits to the latrine. It is what comes out of a person that defiles him, because “from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts” and so much more (v 21). Original sin causes actual sins. We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners. And this is true of us all, but not Christ. God creates new, clean hearts in us through Christ by his Spirit-filled Gospel. This clean heart has existed only in one man: the God-man, Jesus Christ. His heart was pure and holy, since he is God’s Son made flesh from the virgin Mary (Lk 1:35). From his heart came forth love for both God and man, fulfilling God’s Law for our sakes (Gal 4:4–5).

From his heart flowed water and blood as he was pierced for our defiled hearts (Jn 19:34), cleansing us by his atoning blood (cf Lev 16:30).

This shows us the Father’s heart of love for us, that he gave his only Son into death for our sin (Rom 8:32).Through the Spirit-filled Gospel, God gives us what Jesus gained on the cross.

Christ rose and sent the Holy Spirit to take what is his and “declare it to you” (Jn 16:14). So all Jesus accomplished with his holy heart, the Spirit now declares to be your own.

By the Gospel, he washes you thoroughly from your iniquity and cleanses you from your sin, making you whiter than snow and creating in you a clean heart (Ps 51:2, 7b, 10; cf Jn 15:3).

Through faith alone, our hearts are newly created by this Spirit-filled Gospel (Acts 15:9). Through faith, we receive and benefit from what Christ gained in his life, death, and resurrection and what the Spirit gives us in the Gospel. This faith God gives us as a gift of his grace alone (Eph 2:8).

With such hearts, we can approach God’s throne of grace and “draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb 10:22).

Then, with our newly created hearts, we bear fruit by the strength God alone gives. We must remember that our sinful hearts were not removed in Baptism but remain in us until we die. So in spite of our faith and sanctified good intentions, those evil thoughts and that catalogue of vices will continually seek to defile our hearts (Rom 7:18–19).

But we return to the cleansing of our baptism by confessing our sins and receiving in faith the absolution: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn 1:9).

And our newly purified hearts are zealous for good works (Titus 2:14). Just as evil thoughts flow from the defiled heart, so “the springs of life” (Prov 4:23) and “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal 5:22–23) flow from the heart that’s cleansed by the Spirit-filled Gospel (cf Mt 23:26). But we do not look to our hearts to decide what good works are. Instead, God prepared for us beforehand what those good works are to be (Eph 2:10). They are done according to his Law and lived out in our assorted stations in life within the three estates, as Scripture teaches (see Old Testament Reading).

Our strength for these works of love comes only from the heart purified by Jesus’ blood (Heb 9:14).

Paul sums it up: “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Tim 1:5).

So find strength in the purifying blood of Jesus. Once shed. Continually given in his Supper. For you. And you have a defiled heart made clean and fruitful once more. Amen.

Grace Lutheran Church (LCMS) De Soto, Missouri
121 W. Kelley St., De Soto, MO 63020 https://glcdesoto.org
14^th. Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 16) 8-25-2024
 
Hymn # 865 Lord, Help Us Ever to Retain
Divine Service, Setting Three (pages 184 ff.)
 
CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION (pp. 184-85)
Invocation/ Confession of Sins/ Holy Absolution
 
SERVICE OF THE WORD (pp. 186-93)
Psalmody: Introit (spoken responsively)
Kyrie/ Gloria in Excelsis                                                                           
Salutation and Collect of the Day
 
O.T. Reading: Isaiah 29: 11-19
Gradual: sung in unison
 
Epistle Reading: Ephesians 5: 22-33
 
Alleluia verse:
Holy Gospel: Mark 7: 1-13
The Nicene Creed
 Hymn # 575 My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less
Sermon:
 
Offertory/ Offering/ Prayer of the Church
 
SERVICE OF THE SACRAMENT (pp. 194-202)
Preface/ Proper Preface/ Sanctus/ Lord’s Prayer
The Words of Our Lord/ Pax Domini/ Agnus Dei
 
Distribution of Communion
Hymn # 596 All Christians Who Have Been Baptized
Hymn # 708 Lord Thee I Love With All My Heart
Nunc Dimittis/ Thanksgiving (right column)
Salutation and Benedictamus/ Benediction 
 
Hymn # 905 Come, Thou Almighty King
Vacancy pastor: Rev. Tim Weiser Phone: (618)-614-3961
E-Mail weisertim@yahoo.com

Pastor Tim Weiser

Old Testament: Proverbs 9:1-10
Epistle: Ephesians 5:6-21
Holy Gospel: John 6:51-69

Pentecost 12 (Proper 14), August 11, 2024 Jesus Is Enough 
Text: 1 Kings 19:1–8
Other Lessons: Psalm 34:1–8; Ephesians 4:17–5:2; John 6:35–51
Sermon Theme: We may tell God, “I’ve had enough,” but Jesus comes to give us more than enough.
Sermon Goal: That listeners will find confidence in Jesus’ resurrection in the face of life’s sorrows. Based on a Sermon Outline in Concordia Pulpit Resources by Rev. Donald O. Neuendorf,  |
Sermon: Elijah has had it! Yahweh had just given him what any faithful prophet would call his greatest triumph. At Elijah’s request, the Lord had just sent fire from heaven to show Israel who was God! Not the Baal and Asherah of those weakling prophets who couldn’t raise their gods if they’d had a megaphone or a telephone, but Yahweh. “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God,” the people had all shouted (1 Ki 18:39). Then they’d rounded up and killed those 850 pagan prophets. At least for a day, Elijah was king of the prophets!

“Not so fast, Elijah!” said wicked Queen Jezebel. “By tomorrow I’m going to see that you’re as dead as my beloved prophets.” And so Elijah runs—out of the country, out of the neighboring country, out into the desert. And when he stops and catches his breath, he prays, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life” (v 4).

     “I’ve had enough!”  Look at it from the prophet’s point of view. He has endured years of deprivation: isolation, hiding, worry, hunger, getting by on meager rations, knowing he is hunted. To everyone else he seems strong, wise, successful, but to himself he seems a failure. And so he says, “Enough!” This is how he begins his prayer to God! “Enough!”

     You are no Elijah, but I wonder if you know how he felt. To all those sitting around you, I’m sure you, too, appear confident, put together, responsible, much like Elijah.

      But how do you see yourself—after years stuck in the same job? after all this time striving to make ends meet? with the long list of troubles that you could name, but you don’t want to sound like a complainer? Much of the music we hear on the radio expresses this theme, “I’ve had enough.” Lost love, loneliness, the death of your dog, and the rust on your pickup truck all show up in the list of our miseries. Country music didn’t invent this kind of song.

      Listen to the complaints of a songwriter in the seventeenth century: “It is enough! Therefore, Lord, take my spirit from here to the spirits of Zion. . . . There is enough of the misery that crushes me! . . . There is enough of the cross that almost breaks my back; how heavy, O God, how hard is this burden! . . . It is enough” (“Es ist genug,” Bach Cantatas Website). In its original German, this hymn was called “Es ist genug”—literally, “It is enough,” taken from the very words Elijah cried out to God.

     But when Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a cantata on the last verse of this hymn, he turned this cry of despair into a hymn of hope and longing for the Savior. Today this hymn doesn’t appear in our hymnal, but the tune for it does. You know it by this title: “I Am Content! My Jesus Ever Lives” (LSB 468). To this melody of despair, we sing about the victory of our Savior over death                            

   “I am content! My Jesus ever lives.” Elijah was sustained by the “angel of the Lord” in the desert (vv 5–8).  was given enough to go on, although his problems were not immediately taken away. Elijah was revived, but he did not see the final fulfillment of his hopes.                                                                                     

     The fulfillment of God’s promise that Elijah longed to see was reserved for you. You may experience the same sense of despair. You may have the same long list of troubles. (Give possible examples.)

      But you have received help from that same angel of the Lord—when he became a man in the person of  Jesus. Jesus never said, “It is enough,” until he indeed had done enough to pay for all our sins, taking them to the cross. And that was enough! The work of saving us is finished!

     Like Elijah, Jesus has fed you with bread that sustains you. Not just ordinary bread and water but his own body and blood, which are the food of healing and life.

    And so our complaint of despair is transformed into a song of resurrection victory: “I am content! At length I shall be free, Awakened from the dead, Arising glorious evermore to be With You, my living head. The chains that hold my body, sever; Then shall my soul rejoice forever. I am content! I am content!” (LSB 468:4).

     We May Tell God, “I’ve Had Enough,”but Jesus Comes to Give Us More Than Enough. Amen.

Pentecost 11 (Proper 13), August 4, 2024 Feed Me!  
Text: Ex. 16:2–15
Other Lessons: Psalm 145:10–21; Ephesians 4:1–16; John 6:22–35  Sermon Theme: God provides the nourishment we need for our hungry bodies and souls in the bread that comes down from heaven, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Sermon Goal: That you trust that the miraculous feeding of the Israelites with the manna from heaven promises both physical and the ultimate spiritual feeding God provides in the true bread from heaven, his Son, Jesus Christ. Based on a sermon outline in CPR by Rev. Dr. Jeffrey E. Skopak
Sermon:     Food and water are basic necessities that everyone needs to survive. Without food and water, we can’t live. When the Israelites left the land of Egypt, there was hope for a future in their own land, there was a measure of fear of the Egyptian army pursuing them, and there was faith that God would lead them quickly through the desert wilderness. So when the tenth plague occurred, the Egyptians urged the Israelites to leave in haste (Exodus 12). There wasn’t time to prepare and pack the proper provisions for such a journey. This was going to be a journey that was dependent upon faith. But did the Israelites have any idea how long this journey was going to take? Did they realize how much food and water they were going to need?  When Egypt said, “Go!” the Israelites left. Fast-forward thirty days. Now the Lord had provided signs and wonders—the Passover, being led by a pillar of fire and cloud, the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, the provision of water at Marah and Elim. And still the Israelites had a problem.  Roughly one month into their journey, Israel began to complain: “And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, . . . ‘Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger’ ” (vv 2–3). The Israelites were fearful they were going to starve in the wilderness. Hunger can cause real panic—especially when everyone around you is hungry. But God Provides the Nourishment We Need for Our Hungry Bodies and Souls in the Bread That Comes Down from Heaven, Jesus Christ, Our Lord. We are starving in and because of our sin. There is no surprise that the food supply the Israelites brought out of Egypt is running out.              Nor should we be surprised that the Israelites are now complaining about their plight. They found themselves in a desolate place—a place of rocks and limestone cliffs, a place not suited to sustain the nation of Israel. How desperate did they feel? “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt” (v 3). That’s how desperate!                                             Sin was Their fear and physical hunger displayed lack of trust in Moses, Aaron, and, most of all, the Lord. bubbling from their hearts and mouths. At first glance, it’s not easy for us to relate to Israel’s predicament but look closer.

     We, too, are burdened with fear in a desert place—the desert of sin—and so much of that sin arises over material things we have or think we should have.  When confronted with the righteous Law of God and as materially blessed as we are, we see our selfish attitudes and lack of concern for others. We discover that we have continually grumbled against the Lord for what we don’t have, and we look backward or forward through rose-colored glasses to how much better things used to be or should be in our futures!

     As we wander around this metaphorical desert, we discover that we, too, need food. No, not manna and quail, but soul-sustaining food. With longing eyes and troubled souls we look heavenward and cry out to the Lord, “Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

     Thank the Lord he feeds our hungry souls! The Lord provides the spiritual food we desperately need.  Our “What is this?” is the very bread of life, Jesus Christ. It is he who says of himself, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (Jn 6:35).

      This bread of life, Jesus Christ, forgives our sins through his perfect sacrifice on the cross. It’s because the cross has taken away the sin that separated us from God that we receive all God’s good gifts, including material ones, whatever our manna and quail may be.                    

      And because Jesus’ cross has reconciled us to God, we know he’s never holding back even any material things that are truly best for us. But, of course, far more important, he’s always feeding our souls for eternity. He nourishes our faith with his Word and feeds us with his very body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar. When we cry, “Feed me!” he is always there to forgive, renew, and strengthen his dear children. Jesus himself would say, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (Jn 6:32–33).Amen.