Greetings to you in the name of Jesus. I apologize, last week was very busy but not very productive. I preached the 19th and 20th as we started our winter schedule of Saturday night and two Sunday morning worship services. It was a very busy and long weekend. Pastor Ludwig was gone as well so I covered Bible study too. It gave me an appreciation for the amount of work he has been doing by himself for the last twenty years.
I preached a really fun sermon that was not my usual style. Unfortunately, it did not record at any of the three services. We are doing a small group Bible study this fall called "Not A Fan." So I preached out of the pulpit in my Husker's jersey. I went to the sacristy during the sermon hymn, and then after it was done I had the Husker Tunnel Walk music come on and I came running out in my Husker's jersey. It was quite the entrance and definitely grabbed their attention. I compared being a fan to the Huskers to my relationship with Jesus. The Bible study compares being a fan and being a follower of Jesus. So I apologize it did not record, but it was a fun sermon to preach.
Then right after both services, I went home to pack and head over to Lutheran Island Camp where we had our Fall pastors conference. It was a relaxing couple days on the island which is such an awesome place. Then I came back Tuesday night in time for Campus Ministry Bible Study. Wednesday I had men's Bible study, women's Bible study, both confirmation classes, and attended the youth night that evening as well. It is fun to see so much going on at church, but definitely makes for long days. Thursday was a little more low key as Ruth (our DCE) and I went to the High School for the Homecoming Coronation. Three of our youth were candidates and another three were escorts. One of our girls even won queen. The parents were impressed that I came to it, but it was fun for me to reminisce about the good old days in High School.
Then Friday with my day off, I ran over to see a friend in Ironwood, Michigan. He and I went fishing and it was such a gorgeous day on the lake. He has a boat we took out, and we were the only ones on the lake. It was sunny, calm, and such nice weather. The leaves were starting to turn on the trees all around the lake, and it made me think of something out of a book it was so perfect. He and I both enjoyed the day of catching up and being on the water on the perfect day. We didn't catch a ton of fish, but brought in a few.
Saturday, I had a conference all day and then before I knew it, it was Sunday morning again. We had both services, with a baptism at the second one. Pastor Ludwig preached and did Bible Study. Then I spent the rest of the day getting ready for our Bible Study opener for Not A Fan last night. We didn't have as many people as I was hoping for, but it will be a good group. Last night we covered the difference between justification and sanctification.
Pastor's sermon on Sunday was on Mark 9:42-50. When Jesus says, "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off." Pastor preached a great sermon on the seriousness of sin and how people don't take their sin serious because they don't take God or His Word as serious. I really appreciated it. Then I started thinking about what I would have preached if it would have been my Sunday. And this thought popped into my head. When we hear that statement of cut off of our hand if it causes us to sin, first of all we know we should have cut off both hands by now. We should have cut off both feet, plucked out both eyes, etc. as all our of members have been involved in many sins in our life time. But secondly, as we think about that statement, I think we romanticize it. We think about how it would stink to only have one hand. I can definitely vouch for that as I am very sick of have a cast/splint on my right hand for eight weeks now. We picture trying to go through life with this clean, healed stump instead of our hand. We completely skip over the messy, gruesome, painful procedure of the actual cutting. Picture yourself using a saw or an ax to actually cut off your own hand. Picture the blood, flesh, and bones being exposed as you keep sawing or hacking. Try to imagine the pain building and building, try to hear the screams as the pain becomes too much for you. Its a disgusting, disturbing image isn't it? But that is the seriousness of sin! We should be more willing to endure the awfully painful, gruesome experience of cutting off our hand over accepting our sin as a light thing. It would be better for us to be semi-traumatized by the extremely painful sacrifice of our own hand, then to look at our sin lightly. But thanks be to God, we don't actually have to go through this horrible experience. And why not? Because Jesus did it for us. He is the one who took all of that pain, all of that bloody, gruesome, traumatizing experience of our sin for us on the cross. He was willing to endure the FULL pain, the FULL consequences of our sin, the seriousness of our sins on the cross as He was beaten, whipped, and nailed to the wood to die. So now when you catch yourself in sin with your hands, or your eyes, or your feet, think about the pain and gory bloody experience you should be receiving as a consequence for that sin. Then remember Jesus took that full punishment for you, picture Jesus's bloody body, scarred face, His crown of thorns and try to take that sin lightly. Try to tell yourself it isn't that big of a deal to keep doing that sin. Hopefully you can't. Instead, fall on your knees, beg for God's forgiveness, and thank the Good Lord that He loves you enough to take that experience for you, to offer you forgiveness freely. And learn from that experience to not commit that sin again. Sin is serious, but salvation and eternal life that we have in Christ is even more serious. Praise be to God.
No comments:
Post a Comment