Sermon Archive - August 8th, 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 - August 8th, 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>“The Pyramid of Faith”</B></div> <div> <B>Hebrews 11:1-16</B></div> <div> <B> Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost: August 8, 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 dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  The sermon message for this morning is taken from the Epistle lesson in Hebrews, which begins with these words:</B></div> <div> <B>“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for,</B></div> <div> <B>the conviction of things not seen.” </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Dear friends in Christ, tomorrow evening you will have the opportunity to join us for a Holy Land adventure to Egypt in order to take part in Joseph’s Journey from Prison to Palace (based on the account in Genesis chapters 37-46).  You will find our Fellowship Hall, church courtyard, and Sunday School classrooms have been extensively decorated to enhance your Vacation Bible School experience.  If you have not yet decided whether to commit several evenings on Monday through Friday to come and see for yourself, please consider this a personal invitation!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     In keeping with our Egyptian VBS theme, I want to take a moment to talk about the pyramids – which for many people probably rank as the best-known features of that region.  As of 2008 a total of 138 pyramids have been discovered, most along the west bank of the Nile River.  Some had been covered up by massive shifting sand dunes and were “lost” for centuries”.  The most famous among these structures is the Great Pyramid of Giza, which was built circa 2560 BC.  It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World identified by the Greek historian Antipater, and the only one to remain largely intact.  The Great Pyramid was the tallest man-made structure in the world for over 3,800 years – and even today, being there and seeing it in person qualifies as a very memorable experience!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Here are three points I would ask you to keep in mind about the pyramids:</B></div> <div> <B>•     First, the reality of their physical existence testifies to a degree of knowledge in the fields of mathematics and architecture and masonry and engineering that are simply astonishing.  Science fiction writers have even imagined the intervention of extra-terrestrial visitors in futile efforts to account for what otherwise seems to be miraculous technological accomplishments.</B></div> <div> <B>•     Second, the Great Pyramid was built primarily as a tomb for fourth dynasty Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops in Greek) – constructed over a twenty year period through the manual labor of slaves.  According to their pagan  religious beliefs, the pharaohs were regarded as “gods” – and the practice of placing their embalmed bodies inside these structures seems to have been based on the conviction that the pyramid structure was in effect a “resurrection machine” that served as a gateway to magically launch the souls of the deceased into the heavenly abode to join with the other gods.</B></div> <div> <B>•     And finally, because the succession of Egyptian dynasties each demanded trust in these mortal pharaohs as “gods”, their royal courts typically included magicians rather than prophets or priests.  To put it bluntly, this type of magic relies on a combination of deception and dark (even demonic) forces.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Having given you this background, we now come to an odd historical puzzle.  According to timelines developed by Jewish scholars, it is believed that Joseph son of Jacob was born around 1915 BC and was sold into slavery in Egypt in 1898 BC.  His extended family and their descendents (who became known as the people of Israel) lived in Egypt for 430 years – until they were led out by Moses in the Exodus.  The Great Pyramid of Giza would have been “only” about a thousand years old by then. Both Moses (who wrote the book of Genesis) and Joseph would have had the freedom to travel freely throughout the land, where they surely would have seen it and others. Yet there is NO mention of any pyramids or equivalent structures in our Bible.  And further, in spite of Joseph’s enormous influence in saving the Egyptians from starvation, and Moses’ role as the prophet of God announcing plague after plague upon the nation, and the subsequent emigration of roughly two million people – there seem to be no records in Egyptian history that the people of Israel and their God (who is OUR God) were ever there!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  Speaking to a bunch of Christians inside these four walls this morning, I am pretty sure I know what you believe happened in Egypt several millennia ago.  But I can tell you that some of your unchurched friends and neighbors will consider the account in the Bible to be completely fictional; perhaps only allegorical in nature.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     When I teach youth confirmation classes, I have the students draw a diagram called the “Pyramid of Faith”.  It consists of a triangle divided with two horizontal lines, so that it somewhat resembles a three-layered cake.  At the bottom, which is the largest piece, is KNOWLEDGE of God which we acquire through the lifelong study of His Word in the Bible.  I don’t mind saying that after four years spent earning a Master of Divinity Degree at Concordia Seminary, I am more aware than ever of how much I still do not know.  The same goes for each of us; the challenge is for us to keep God’s Word apart from and above human opinions and traditions.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The second (or middle) layer is BELIEF in the truth and accuracy of the Bible, which only comes about by asking lots and lots of questions.  Much of the time the answers to our questions can be found in Scripture, but there are some questions – like the nature of God and His will for our lives – that we simply have to say are beyond our comprehension.  We either believe because God says so, or we reject some or all of what the Bible teaches.  We are not called to prove it or defend it, but instead to confidently and steadfastly proclaim it.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The final (or top) layer of the “Pyramid of Faith” is TRUST in God.  I want to reassure every one of you that it is normal for your life-saving, life-changing faith in Jesus Christ to still come with doubts!  This is part of the struggle that we endure in this life, as we are caught up daily in battles with sin even after we have been redeemed by the Cross of Jesus Christ and called to gaze heavenward as saints on our way to heaven.  And that is why God sends His Holy Spirit into our hearts, to help and encourage us when those doubts become particularly difficult.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     I would like to share two examples of how the combination of knowledge, belief, and trust in God can at times become a stumbling block in Christian faith.  When I was growing up, I remember stories describing how sailors long ago were afraid to travel too far into the open ocean because they believed they might “fall off the edge of the world” and perish.  Yet in the classical Greek literature of Plato and Aristotle, knowledge and also belief that the Earth was spherical in shape – and not flat – had already become widespread.  The Latin word antipodes which literally means “under the feet, on the opposite side” was used to describe “those with the feet opposite”, referring to hypothetical people living on the opposite side of the Earth. Medieval illustrations even imagined them in some way inverted, with their feet growing out of their heads, pointing upward (from our viewpoint).</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     That led to some debate concerning the actual possibility of inhabitants on the opposite side of the Earth.  The suggestion of peoples being separated from each other by an impassable torrid ocean climate were difficult to reconcile with the Christian view of a unified human race descended from one couple and redeemed by a single Christ. See what you think of these words, which were written by the highly-esteemed theologian St. Augustine [354 - 430 AD] as he argued against the philosophers and scientists of his time:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     “But as to the fable that there are Antipodes, that is to say, men on the opposite side of the earth, where the sun rises when it sets to us, men who walk with their feet opposite ours, that is on no ground credible… Since these people would have to be descended from Adam, they would have had to travel to the other side of the Earth at some point… [and then he concludes] It is too absurd to say, that some men might have taken ship and traversed the whole wide ocean, and crossed from this side of the world to the other, and that thus even the inhabitants of that distant region are descended from that one first man.”</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Of course, people eventually discovered that St. Augustine was mistaken; and when they did, it triggered some doubts about other things he had written.  Another example came as a result of the work of Nicolaus Copernicus [1473 -1543 AD].  He was the first astronomer to formulate a scientifically-based theory of the cosmos that proved the Earth is NOT the center of the universe. His book, On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres, is often regarded as the starting point of modern astronomy and the defining epiphany that began the Scientific Revolution.  And in the decades that followed, the knowledge gained from scientific advances often came into conflict with what Christians had previously believed and who they had placed their trust in.  It affected the way they thought about Creation; it challenged their understanding of God living in the heavens above our heads.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     To paraphrase the Apostle Paul: “There is quarreling among you, my brothers and sisters.  What I mean is that each one of you says, ‘I follow St. Augustine,’ or ‘I follow Copernicus,’ or ‘I follow Christ’.”  Different opinions lead to division!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     These days, instead of face-to-face debates people sometimes choose to publish their opinions in on-line journals called Web-Logs, more commonly known as “blogs”.  Here is one I recently came across, which was written as a response to Christians celebrating the birth of Jesus.  A woman writes:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     “I am an agnostic. More than that, my views on God are like that old joke about the difference between ignorance and apathy: I don’t know and I don’t care. I say ‘I don’t know’ because I don’t think I’ll ever know – not while I’m alive on this earth – whether there is a god. Besides, I think of religion and even simple abstract spirituality as something taken on faith, not forged with the certainty of knowledge.”</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     “I say ‘I don’t care’ because regardless of whether God exists, I can’t imagine living my life any differently than I do now. I am exceedingly irritated by people who exhort myself and others like me to embrace religion so that we may be guided by ‘morality’. As if the certified and complete absence of a god would turn me into a thieving, backstabbing, hateful individual. It’s not fear of punishment that keeps me from harming my fellow man – it’s my desire to be a good person, to make a positive mark on the world for the short time I’m in it. I often think about how to be more generous, how to be more understanding, and how to be more patient... whereas I hardly ever even think about whether there is a god, whether Jesus was just an exceptionally kind-hearted person or the Son of God.  Even the absence of a god does not make our lives here on earth meaningless. Indeed, if this, if we are all we have, that makes what we do here, on earth, together and for each other, so incredibly meaningful.” [http://angrypregnantlawyer.blogspot.com/2005/12/i-dont-know-and-i-dont-care.html]</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     My friends, when we are confronted by someone with beliefs like these, Christians have to resist the temptation to start an argument – and instead, to consider that we hold many beliefs and values in common with one another.  Let’s examine the hope that we share, as she expresses it in her blog:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>To be accepted for who I am, even though I want to be a “better” person (for example: it’s my desire to be good, generous, understanding, and patient);</B></div> <div> <B>To be loved by others whom I care about, even though I sometimes find it hard to love myself;</B></div> <div> <B>To do something meaningful with my life, especially because there is so little meaning in much of what I see and do nearly every day.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     The difference is where we turn as the source of that hope.  For each of us, it finally comes down to that “pyramid” of knowledge, belief, and trust that builds us up in FAITH – either relying in faith in ourselves, or placing our faith in an unseen God who loves us so much that He sent His Son to die so that we might have life:</B></div> <div> <B>“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Here is a trustworthy message: we are saved by the grace of God through faith in Christ alone.  There is no greater hope, and no greater gift that we can share with those who do not know Him; who as yet do not believe or trust in Him.  We are called to be witnesses not only with the message we speak, but also through the way we live.  Believe it or not, your acts of kindness for the sake of Jesus Christ can make an eternal difference in someone’s life as they see His love in you!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     May our knowledge that God accepts us as His children be sharpened by diligent study of His Word; may our belief that God loves us be reinforced by experiencing His power and presence at work in our lives, and sharing our joy with others; and may our trust in God enable each of us to do something meaningful with our lives, so that Jesus Christ receives the glory!     In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen!</B></div> <div> <B> </B></div> <div> <B>EPISTLE LESSON – Hebrews 11:1-16 [ESV]</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>1. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. </B></div> <div> <B>2. For by it the people of old received their commendation. </B></div> <div> <B>3. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.</B></div> <div> <B>4. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. </B></div> <div> <B>5. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.</B></div> <div> <B>6. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. </B></div> <div> <B>7. By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.</B></div> <div> <B>8. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.</B></div> <div> <B>9. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. </B></div> <div> <B>10. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. </B></div> <div> <B>11. By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. </B></div> <div> <B>12. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.</B></div> <div> <B>13. These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. </B></div> <div> <B>14. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. </B></div> <div> <B>15. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. </B></div> <div> <B>16. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.</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>