Sermon Archive - July 25th, 2010

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=3 height=130 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="12ba6e903.jpg"> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="11fcbc320.jpg" border=0 width="700" height="50" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>OFFICE:  713-526-5731      5315 MAIN STREET, HOUSTON TEXAS 77004      FAX: 713-524-1709</B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="St. Matthew Lutheran Church Houston, Te"><U><B>HOME</B></U></A><B>  ~   </B><A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Worship Schedule"><U><B>WORSHIP</B></U></A><B>  ~  </B><A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Map Directions"><U><B>LOCATION</B></U></A><B>  ~   </B><A HREF="mailto:info@stmatthewhouston.org?subject=Website Inquiry" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:info@stmatthewhouston.org?subject"><U><B>EMAIL US</B></U></A><B>  ~  </B><A HREF="id452.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Site Map"><U><B>SITE MAP</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=155 BGCOLOR="#660000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="123030970.jpg" border=0 width="48" height="151" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <A HREF="id464.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome"><U>Welcome</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id465.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lutheran Beliefs"><U>Lutheran Beliefs</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id466.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="How to Join"><U>How to Join</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id467.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Local Missions"><U>Local Missions</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id468.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Global Missions"><U>Global Missions</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id508.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Parish Education"><U>Parish Education</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=280 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <div> Sermon Archive - July 25th, 2010</div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="568" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#990000" BORDERCOLORDARK="#FFCC99" FRAME="VOID" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER BGCOLOR=#FFCC99 HEIGHT= 18 WIDTH="134"><div> <A HREF="id563.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="St. Matthew Sermon Archives"><U><IMG SRC="157a270e0.png" border=0 width="39" height="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#990000 WIDTH="421"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="18" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="421" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>“Good Gifts for God’s Children”</B></div> <div> <B>Luke 11:1-13</B></div> <div> <B> Ninth Sunday after Pentecost: July 25, 2010</B></div> <div> <B>Pastor Mark Wiesenborn</B></div> <div> <B>St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Houston, Texas</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Dear friends in Christ, the text for this morning’s sermon is taken from the Gospel lesson, where we learn about the good gifts that God is eager to share with His children.  Let’s begin with a story that points out the difference between what we want, and what we need.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer’s showroom, and knowing that his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted. As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study.  His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautiful wrapped gift box.  Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather bound Bible, with the young man’s name embossed in gold. </B></div> <div> <B>Angrily, he raised his voice to his father and said, “With all your money you give me a Bible?”  And then he stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very old and thought perhaps he should go to him. He had not seen him since that Graduation Day. But before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     When he arrived at his father’s house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart. </B></div> <div> <B>He began to search through his father’s important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. His father had carefully underlined the following verses:</B></div> <div> <B>“What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”</B></div> <div> <B>[Luke 11:11-13]</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     As he read those words, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer’s name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and in large letters he saw the words: PAID IN FULL.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Friends, have you ever whispered an impudent and self-centered prayer to our Heavenly Father – knowing that He can do all things – and told Him that this was all that you wanted?  I confess that I have done that, many times; even recently!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     It never hurts to ask.  And we may as well do this BOLDLY!  After all, Paul reminds us that for those who love God all things work together for good. [Romans 8:28]</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     This morning, I want to be very intentional and also very clear about God’s abundant love for you.  He sent His only Son into the world to rescue you from sin, and death, and the power of the devil.  And Jesus himself says, “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.”</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Jesus is welcoming our prayers, encouraging us that it never hurts to ask.  But listen again to that last part: “to bring glory to the Father.”  There is no fine print, no deceptive advertising, and there are no hidden conditions.  If there is any misunderstanding, it comes from our selective listening habits.  That means: “I am already CHOOSING to ignore some of the things you are going to tell me!”</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     It happens all the time – when we listen to the evening news; when a loved one asks us to do something that is inconvenient; when the boss or the teacher or the helpful neighbor points out your mistake.  It happens when we are not in control of the circumstances; when changes are taking place that we think are misguided; when people with different opinions try to persuade us or outmaneuver us.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     And it even happens when we speak those words in the Lord’s Prayer: “Your will be done.”  Wouldn’t it be great if an hour spent in church today meant that you could have your prayer “wish list” validated by an Elder (like a parking stub), and then you would be ALL SET for the coming week?</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     I suppose that IF God chose to bless us in that way, there would be a few more people in church every Sunday.  You could call that approach “Vending Machine Prayers”, thinking that all someone needs to do is drop in a few token LORD IN YOUR MERCYs and make your final selection.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     It seems ironic that the first vending machine dates back to the first century Christian church, when a man from Alexandria named Hero invented a simple machine that accepted a coin and then dispensed a fixed amount of holy water.  Ever since Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, saying “Ask and you shall receive,” some people have become convinced that the answer to their prayer requests will always be YES.  If you want prosperity or good health or long life, some Christian preachers will exhort you to name it and then claim it!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     But if prayer really works like some of those vending machines that you have likely encountered, you would also understand that God may answer with a YES or a NO and sometimes even a NOT YET.  Just as we grow impatient listening to the mechanical clicks and hums that come from hidden places deep inside, we sometimes get frustrated by the challenges and delays that God places in our paths.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     And occasionally that frustration turns into rage against the machine!  In one manufacturing plant, the employees decided to place the beverage vending machine on a forklift and lifted it to the ceiling, where they proceeded to weld it to a steel I-beam because they were tired of losing their fifty cents.  They refused to bring that vending machine down until they received their refunds.  In other words, when some people don’t get what they want they blame God and they turn away from Him, from the Church, even from Christian friends and family members!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     It never hurts to ask – isn’t that the way it goes?  But vending machines have a way of fighting back.  Every year, a few people are killed when machines topple over on them, either while they are trying to steal them, or venting frustration on them – especially when a malfunction causes the machine to fail to dispense the purchased item or the proper change.  Someone with a dry sense of humor has noted that “change is inevitable – EXCEPT from a vending machine”.  Our Lord certainly has many ways of getting our attention, and drawing us back to Him.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     So how should we approach our God (who never changes) with the prayers that He himself has invited?  Jesus says: “Ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.”  The name of our Lord is not a secret password or a golden ticket to paradise, but a gateway that gives us access to the incredible treasures of God’s goodness.  This leads us to focus on the ways that people recognize their many blessings; whether they appreciate these as gifts from our loving God (as opposed to good fortune); and how those blessings make a difference in their lives.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The Bible teaches that there are two different types of blessings.  ETERNAL blessings are those undeserved gifts of grace – faith, forgiveness of sins, a reconciled relationship with our heavenly Father, salvation, and the promise of eternal life in heaven – that we receive in the name of our crucified and risen Redeemer, Jesus Christ.  TEMPORAL blessings include everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body.  In the  Small Catechism Luther lists such things as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.  In the Fourth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread,” we are asking God to continue supplying these temporal blessings – and also to lead us to receive them with thanksgiving!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Let me share some thoughts from Philip Yancey’s book “Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?” (page 154)</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     “A person prays, says Augustine, ‘that he himself may be constructed, not that God may be instructed.’  …Like a child who quits badgering a parent, I have sometimes found that I get an answer to my persistent request after I have learned to do without it.  The answer then comes as a surprise, an unexpected gift of grace.  I seek the gift, find instead the Giver, and eventually come away with the gift I no longer seek. …In prayer we present requests, sometimes repeatedly, and then we put ourselves in a state to receive the result.  We pray for what God wants to give us, which may turn out to be good gifts or it may be the Holy Spirit.  (From God’s viewpoint there is no better response to persistent prayer than the gift of the Holy Spirit, God’s own self.)  Like Peter, we may pray for food and get a lesson in racism; like Paul we may pray for healing and get humility.  We may ask for relief from trials and instead get patience to bear them. We may pray for release from prison and instead get strength to redeem the time while there.  Asking, seeking, and knocking does have an effect on God, as Jesus insists, but it also has a lasting effect on the asker-seeker-knocker.”</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     My friends, these gifts of grace are offered to us in His Word and through the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion, as the greatest of all good things that might satisfy the longings of your hearts.  They are more precious than silver, more costly than gold, and more beautiful than diamonds.  And nothing else we desire can compare with them! Yet they are freely given to all who ask boldly in the name of the Lord.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     For His own name’s sake Jesus came into our sinful and self-absorbed world in order to proclaim that the God we seek is real; that He loves us as His own dear children; and that His plan for our salvation from the terrible penalty of sin and death has been underway since before the dawn of Creation.  Christ’s suffering and death on the Cross was accepted by His Father as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.  After He rose from the grave and ascended to His throne in Heaven, he sent His Spirit as a counselor and encourager for our work of sharing the Good News of salvation with others.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     That is why we should recognize the sweet riches of God’s grace in the question that Abraham asks in today’s Old Testament passage, as the first missionary sent with the message of hope for even a few people out of a lost and dying generation, when he says:</B></div> <div> <B>“Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? …Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” [Genesis 18:23,25]</B></div> <div> <B>     </B></div> <div> <B>     For the sake of one man, Jesus Christ, the answer to this last question is YES.  .  God is ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and He does not forsake His children. [Nehemiah 9:17]  Hallowed be His name.  His Kingdom come, His will be done!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B> GOSPEL READING – Luke 11:1-13</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     1 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say:</B></div> <div> <B>‘Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread, 4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’?</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.</B></div> <div> <B>9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”</B></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=155 BGCOLOR="#660000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="122e30960.jpg" border=0 width="48" height="150" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <A HREF="id499.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Meet Our Leaders"><U>Meet Our Leaders</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id114.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tour Our Church"><U>Tour Our Church</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id493.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Read Our History"><U>Read Our History</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id626.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Arts and Music"><U>Arts and Music</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id136.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Special Events"><U>Special Events</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id515.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Photo Gallery"><U>Photo Gallery</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=70 BGCOLOR="#660000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <A HREF="id423.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bible Search"><U><B>BIBLE SEARCH</B></U></A><B>  ~  </B><A HREF="id99.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="LCMS Links"><U><B>LUTHERAN LINKS</B></U></A><B>  ~  </B><A HREF="id100.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Online Devotionals"><U><B>DEVOTIONALS</B></U></A><B>  ~  </B><A HREF="id563.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="St. Matthew Sermon Archives"><U><B>SERMON ARCHIVES</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> © 2011  St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Houston, TX - All Rights Reserved</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>