Greetings in Christ's name. Last week was super busy but i made it through. I preached Sunday since pastor was gone, preached Wednesday night for Lent, and then preached my first sermon on Saturday. It went pretty well, and if I get the time I will work with my manuscript to match what I preached and put it up on here. It was an unique experience though since I didn't know the lady at all, but a good experience for me to have on vicarage.
Friday I went ice fishing with a member. We spent all day on the ice to only catch three fish, but it was still a blast. A day of ice fishing with no fish is still better than a day at home or work or anywhere else. We got three crappie, but missed a lot of bites. We might go again this Friday to a different lake for some Perch. I had a different couple drop off some fresh walleye for me too. Being a vicar is good :)
My garage is getting rewired so it has lights and plug ins, then we should be able to insulate and sheet it. We also plan to build a work bench, so it will be very practical. And now that the snow is almost completely gone I am getting excited to pick the 1000000000 sticks out of my yard. I just want to be outside doing stuff again now that it is nice again.
Here is my sermon from Wednesday night on Psalm 32. I got a compliment on it from a guy who I would have bet my life savings he wouldn't have given me a compliment in my life, so that was a huge honor actually. Now I have to go to Bible Bowl, prep for Bible Study tonight, and keep rotating the four tray sof jerky I got going.
March 12th, Lent 2
Psalm 32 (Sorrow/rejoicing)
I think it’s a safe bet to say a majority of high schoolers all go through a similar experience at least once in their high school career. The experience starts by them doing something wrong. Maybe its cheating on a test, maybe its wrecking their car, maybe its vandalism, maybe its stealing something… its something that they know is wrong and no matter how they try to justify it, deep down they knew it was wrong as they were doing it. Most of the time, it takes them getting caught by a teacher, boss, cop, or somebody of authority besides their parents. They have done something wrong, they have been caught and faced with reality that they are in trouble, now they have to go home and tell mom and dad. But of course they don’t just walk through the front door and blurt out that they messed up. They think it’s better to wait for just the right time. So they come in and when mom asks how was your day, they feel the weight of their guilt double and sink inside them. Everything she continues to ask just makes the shame and guilt seem worse and worse. Dad comes home and starts talking to them and it only gets worse. They squirm in their chair as the burden of it all is so uncomfortable, finally they just want to burst and yell out their confession because at this point the punishment of hiding this secret seems worse than any punishment they will get from mom and dad. Have you had an experience like that, or been the parent in an experience like that? Maybe not through that exact experience, but you still know what it’s like to feel the burden of shame and guilt eat you alive from the inside out.
This is the feeling our psalmist is experiencing in our psalm for this evening. He states that his bones are wasting away as he remains silent. The longer he sits there just letting the guilt of his sin stew and stir inside him, the more it eats away at him, draining his strength. He knows his sins, he knows his sins are against his Heavenly Father his God. And the longer he tries to hold them in the more they weigh him down. I love the imagery he uses that his strength is dried up as by the summer heat. Working summers out on the road crew, this hits at home that the summer heat does physically drain you to exhaustion. Holding your sins, trying to bury them down deep, trying to hide them, or fix them on your own, does exactly this it drains you of energy, it eats you alive from the inside out.
So what are we to do with all of this shame, guilt, and remorse? We do exactly what the psalmist does, we confess our sins, and we do not cover our iniquities. The reason sin causes us so much shame and guilt is because we know we have messed up again, we know we have failed again, we have once again let God down, disappointed Him in the fact that we continue to sin, we continue to fall short of His glory. By going to Him in confession we have to admit that we cannot do it, we have failed again. We hate to have to admit that we failed, it hurts our pride, it hurts our ego, and it makes us feel insufficient. However, when we look at how the psalmist views confession we see it is not such a shameful thing at all. Yes, it is still admitting that we have done wrong, but we see that God does not rub it in our faces or shun us or make us feel like the failures we are. No, He forgives us. I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and then without a doubt, without a pause, the psalmist writes, and you forgave me.
Confession is a gift because we are allowed to go to God and confess our sins, letting all our faults and wrongdoings out of us, the burden, the shame, the guilt that eats away at us and drains us is all taken off of us and replaced by His forgiveness and His love. He gives us Absolution, the forgiveness our of sins, removing those sins from us as far as the east is from the west. He doesn’t hold them against us or keep track of them to bring back up later, He completely takes all of our sins away, gone forever, forgotten, and we are clean little children who have done no wrong again n His sight. He takes all of that burden and shame from us. He took it from us before we were even born and placed it on the shoulder of His Son Jesus as He hung on the cross. He put all of those sins in the tomb with the dead body of His Son Jesus, and when Christ rose from the dead and walked out of that tomb, those sins were gone forever, never to be found again. This is the gift He gives to you and me in our confession, He gives us the newness of a fresh start, a clean life, a perfect child of His again.
When we look at our Gospel reading in the parable of the prodigal son, we see this same idea. The son who leaves the father, thinks he knows how to live best, quickly realizes what a mistake he has made. He has blown his inheritance, squandered it all away on a sinful lifestyle, and instead of admitting his mistake right away, he tries to “fix it” himself. He gets a job feeding pigs, but in envious of the pigs for their food. He waits until he has hit absolute rock bottom, he tried to bury the shame and guilt of his mistakes and keep his pride by trying to fix the problem himself. This eats away at him and drains his strength. Finally, when he hits rock bottom, he realizes that His father can help him. He goes home ready to confess his sins, beg and gravel for the smallest amount of mercy from his father, willing to be a hired man working for him, knowing he no longer deserves to be his son. But the fathers’ reaction is he amazing part. He sees the son coming from a distance, and he doesn’t stand there with his arms crossed and a scold on his face making the son feel his judgment the rest of the walk in, he doesn’t even wait to hear what the son has to say for himself. No, the father runs out to his to meet him, and buries him in love with a huge bear hug.
This is exactly what our heavenly father does for us, he doesn’t want to hear our confession to make us feel insufficient or like failures, He waits for us to confess, to unload that burden and buried guilt so He can bury us with His huge bear hug and shower us with His love. He comes running to us every time we come to Him in prayer. Just as the father was waiting and watching for the return of his son, our Father is always there waiting and watching for us. As soon as we decide it’s time to stop and pray, confess those sins, He is there running to us, hugging us and embracing us in His loving arms.
So why do we wait until we have hit rock bottom, why do we wait at all? If we truly know the love our Father has for us, the gift of absolution that is there ready for us, and that all that guilt, shame, and sin will be complete removed from us, washed away from us, why do we try to hold on to it for so long? Why do we let that sin eat away at us instead of just going to our Father in prayer and letting Him give us His forgiveness and love?
Now if you feel like you have confessed your sins in prayer numerous times and you are not feeling His embracing arms around you, you have confessed your sins in church with the public general confession each Sunday and you still feel burdened by a certain sin, even after receiving the Lord’s supper knowing your sins are forgiven, but there is still a certain sin that will not leave you alone, then its time to go to private confession. Pastor Wurm not only gave me permission but encouraged me to include this in tonight’s sermon, that he will gladly do private confession with anyone whenever they desire to do so. Let the words our Father has to offer, words of absolute forgiveness, entirely cleansing forgiveness be spoken over you from the mouth of Pastor Wurm knowing it is as certain as if our Heavenly Father was Himself standing over you telling you He forgives you and loves you because you are His chosen daughter or son who he will always love and is always there when you need Him.
Then after we have received the gift of absolution, that free forgiveness and complete removal of our sins, that cleansing shower making us completely a new creation again, what is left to do but what the psalmist says in verse 11. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart. You see upon hearing the words of absolution, upon feeling the Father’s loving embrace, His arms bear hugged around you, knowing you are completely forgiven, you are now truly and entirely righteous and upright in heart. He has made you holy and righteous through His Son Jesus. So rejoice, shout for joy, and be glad in the this fresh start, this new life, this amazing undeserved love you receive again and again from your Father. That sorrow we feel in our shame and guilt, that is the sorrows of the wicked and the unbeliever, but we who surrounded by the steadfast love of our Lord, we rejoice! Rejoice because you are a holy precious child of His, be glad in the Lord who loves you so dearly to forgive you again and again.
In the name of our Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the one Triune God who loves us, forgives us, and makes us righteous and upright so that we may rejoice, Amen.
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