Sermon Archive - September 5th, 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 - September 5th, 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>“Happiness and Joy”</B></div> <div> <B>Philemon 4-7</B></div> <div> <B>The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost: September 5, 2010</B></div> <div> <B>Pastor Mark Wiesenborn</B></div> <div> <B>St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Houston, Texas</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The text for our message today is taken from the Epistle Lesson, where Paul begins a rather personal message to members of a house church with these words:</B></div> <div> <B>“Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house: GRACE to you and PEACE from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Dear friends in Christ, this morning I will be talking about the importance of how we GREET one another as we arrive here and begin to prepare our hearts for worship – and also how we TREAT one another both during worship, and as we are departing.  For some people, coming to Church every Sunday has been a lifelong habit that you do without hesitation – but for many, that decision to come (or not) on any given weekend is weighed against other needs, challenges, and opportunities.  If you are one of those faithful weekly members, it might be tempting to greet some of the less regular folks with what amounts to a verbal slap in the face.  Instead of “GRACE and PEACE to you”, they may walk in the door only to be told: “Well, it’s about time you dropped by.” (or) “Would you mind signing the guest register?”</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     So for those who love the LAW, let me remind you that this is God’s house, not ours; that the church is a hospital for wounded sinners (including you and me); and that most of the time we do not have a clue as to what is going on in someone else’s life – and for that very reason we need to show each and every person the utmost respect, kindness, patience, and gentleness lest we add to the spirit-crushing weight draped around their shoulders.  Here are a few examples of those I am talking about:</B></div> <div> <B>-     Someone whose vehicle just had a major mechanical breakdown, and they don’t know how or when they will be able to pay for the expensive repairs;</B></div> <div> <B>-     Someone who just lost their job – being either laid off, or perhaps fired for a cause they are deeply ashamed of;</B></div> <div> <B>-     A pregnant woman who went to the OB-GYN for a regular checkup, only to learn that there may be a serious problem with her unborn child;</B></div> <div> <B>-     Someone whose dialysis or chemotherapy has become so difficult to bear that they are contemplating ending that medical treatment, knowing the peril;</B></div> <div> <B>-     Someone who is facing bankruptcy, or legal problems, or a messy divorce;</B></div> <div> <B>-     Someone whose family situation is filled with endless and joyless drama, so they come here hoping for just one hour with NO drama and a glimpse of joy.</B></div> <div> <B>     These are real people, and this is what is happening in the week leading up to that decision on whether to come to Sunday worship or not.  So let me give you a glimpse of real joy: “Of this we can be certain – God so loved the world that He sent His Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life!” (paraphrasing our sermon hymn) “God loves YOU dearly, loves even you!”</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     When Paul identifies himself as “a prisoner for Christ Jesus”, he may be writing this letter from prison in Rome; yet he is speaking as a man who has been set free from previous forms of spiritual bondage.  In Philippians chapter 3 he had told us:</B></div> <div> <B>“If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.  But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” [Philippians 3:4b-8]</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     And so in writing to Philemon – who appears to be a Roman citizen of wealth and influence, now worshipping in a house-based Christian church – Paul is making an important connection about the faith and hope that they share.  Paul is about to make a plea on behalf of a man named Onesimus, a runaway slave who is still legally bound by law as Philemon’s property and perhaps being sought for punishment!  He writes:</B></div> <div> <B>“I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.  For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.”</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     In their time, Roman citizens depended heavily on slaves to run their households and perform other vital tasks; setting ONE runaway slave free might set a precedent that could bring unwanted changes.  And sadly, at times we may find it easy to keep certain fellow Christians (or ourselves!) in bondage to past failures.  We resist changes of the heart.  At this point I will ask you to consider a couple of questions:</B></div> <div> <B>1)     Is the way that you TREAT others who come here to worship based on your past relationship (and history of problems) with them – or is it based upon the faith and hope that we now share?</B></div> <div> <B>2)     What would it take for you to derive much joy and comfort from the love of your brothers and sisters in Christ?</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Since our sinful human nature daily leads us to be self-centered and self-serving, we need to have a clear understanding of the difference between HAPPINESS and JOY.  Here are some observations that one pastor shares, based on his experiences:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     “I used to think ‘how could I possibly be happy?’ when all this terrible stuff is happening.  My whole world is falling apart around me and I’m supposed to be happy.  This whole Christian thing wasn’t going to work for me if I was supposed to be happy that really bad things happen.  For example, after a terrible car crash that left two promising 18-year-old girls dead, only four days after they had graduated – one of which was my daughter’s best friend and also her boyfriend’s sister – how could one possibly be happy and count it all joy?  But of course, being happy and having joy have totally different meanings.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     My point is that God will give us joy but He never promises us happiness.  There is a very distinct difference in the joy the Bible speaks of and the word ‘happy’ that we use today.  When we speak of being happy we think of outward expressions of emotional feeling in our smiling and laughing.  Most people associate happiness with temporal type things.  The word happiness as we use it today is superficial and without depth.  It comes and goes depending on surrounding circumstances and is based primarily on our feelings.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     By comparison, the word used in the Bible for joy could be understood as ‘calm delight’.  I love that phrase because when I lead worship services at the local nursing home, I can look around and see their smiles and the peace on their faces; even in spite of the pain or heartache or disappointment that some of them live with every day!  In their situations the world would tell them that you have a right to be bitter and mean and curse God for what He has done to you – but most of them have a ‘calm delight’ or a joy that the world would never understand without the love of Christ in their own hearts.  You see it in their faces when we sing old hymns and they come to life.  People who hardly move or even grunt during the week are lifting their feeble arms to praise the Lord.  The nurses are hardly able to believe how much they participate!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     I don’t think Jesus was ever not joyful about His purpose on this earth.  He knew from the beginning why He was here and although He was not always happy, that joy was set before Him – a calm delight, because He knew what was to come for eternity beyond the Cross and grave…</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Just because a slave can and should please God doesn’t mean that Paul is teaching that God doesn’t want men to be free.  Just because you can glorify God in that dark place doesn’t necessarily mean that God wants to leave you there – but your attitude must be that even if He does leave you there you will serve Him in any way possible.  If you can be free, if you can be loosed, if you can be made whole, healed, helped, or whatever, then praise the Lord.  If not, then praise the Lord too.  No matter what earthly situation you find yourself in, keep yourself in the love of God.  Sometimes the power of God is not to deliver you from a situation but to work in and through the situation itself, so others who are not Christians or who are weak in their faith can see what a mature believer can do.”</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Beginning today my Sunday morning Pastor’s Bible class will use a ten-week series of lessons focusing on “A Little Book on Joy: The Secret to Living a Good News Life in a Bad News World” by the Rev. Matthew Harrison.  He happens to be the man who was elected in our July convention as the next President of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, and who began his term of office this past week.  Pastor Harrison has spent the past ten years working for the Synod as Executive Director of World Relief and Human Care, traveling worldwide to personally show the mercy of the Church on our behalf and to administer your charitable giving to victims of tsunamis and earthquakes and other disasters.  Let me share a comment that one woman posted in a blog after reading this book:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     “I don’t like being told to be happy.  As a missionary kid, living in West Africa and attending a missionary boarding school, I heard lots of biblical advice on being joyful.  ‘God loves a cheerful giver!’ and ‘If you’re sad, it’s because you’re turning your back on God!’  It seemed every time I turned around, ‘Joy’ was a new law I had to follow.  We were told, ‘Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.’  And should we not be getting ‘the desires of our hearts,’ it was certainly proof-positive that we were failing in the ‘delighting in the Lord’ department.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Me and Joy go way back.  I have some ‘Joy’ baggage.  Because of that, I tend to steer clear of admonitions to ‘be joyful,’ whether they come from a book, a fellow Christian, or a computer-animated singing tomato.  But Pastor Matthew Harrison’s ‘A Little Book On Joy’ is something completely different than those teachings I experienced so many years ago.  He portrays joy as a gift from our heavenly Father.  What an idea!  According to Pastor Harrison, joy isn’t something we gin up from within ourselves to prove to God that we’re worthy of His blessings, as many Christian authors seem to say.  Instead, joy is something graciously bestowed upon us, by Christ, and in Christ.”</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Every day throughout the Synodical convention about 45 minutes was reserved for Bible study and worship.  One particularly memorable session focused on the original purpose of “Sharing the peace of Christ” during our worship services.  In many churches, it has turned into what they jokingly describe as the “Holy Howdy”.  But it is not meant to be an intermission or seventh-inning stretch during our time of divine worship.  There are more meaningful ways to spend it than talking about the big game this weekend, or discussing the highlights of a vacation, or complimenting one another’s hair and clothing.  These are worldly things that might be better discussed during Fellowship time while you enjoy a cup of coffee and a doughnut, rather than in this holy time and place of worship.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Here in this Sanctuary, we have an all-too-brief moment every Sunday morning to share our joy in Jesus Christ with those who desperately need to be reminded of who He is, what He came to do for us, and how He is daily at work in our hearts and lives.  For this very reason, we have moved the “Sharing of the peace” to the end of the service so that you have more time to do exactly what I mentioned at the beginning of this sermon: to show each and every person the utmost respect, kindness, patience, and gentleness that we have learned from following Jesus.  People may not reveal their burdens or share their needs, but the love of Christ that YOU share can make an enormous difference in helping some to be lifted up in His joy!  May God bless you with the desire and the opportunity to be a blessing to others in this way, not only today but in the weeks and years to come.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen!</B></div> <div> <B> </B></div> <div> <B>EPISTLE LESSON – Philemon 4-7 [ESV]</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     4 I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints,</B></div> <div> <B>6 and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. 7 For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.</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>