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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Good morning. St. Paul Lutheran Church. It's a Sunday drive to church for Rogate who.
[00:00:04] That means Prayer Sunday, the Sunday before The Ascension, the sixth Sunday of the season of Easter. May 10, 2026.
[00:00:12] What a beautiful. Well, I don't know if I say this every time. I'm like the boy who cried. What a beautiful list of texts we have today.
[00:00:21] But it's true.
[00:00:24] It's so beautiful. This. I mean, we have the bronze serpent in the wilderness. We have the instructions from James Chapter about what true religion is. And. And then we have Jesus promising to hear our prayers. And before that we have Psalm 107. And then for the hymn of the day, we have the Luther Lord's Prayer hymn.
[00:00:45] And I was reading today, which is not today. If you're listening my today, I'm recording on Saturday. Finally, I'm getting it done on Saturday instead of a Sunday morning.
[00:00:54] That's why I sound like I'm half awake currently instead of half asleep.
[00:01:01] That's the optimist. Pessimist. Our pastor's half asleep today, but I was telling you, it's Saturday. Oh, I was reading Luther, and I think Luther is at his absolute best in his John 14, 15, 16 commentary. It is so every page is gold. I would just love to publish a standalone book. John 14, John 15, John 16.
[00:01:25] Luther's comment. It is so wonderful. I think I'll get to some of it in the sermon in a few minutes, but let's pray. Oh, God, the giver of all that's good, by your holy inspiration, grant that we may think those things that are right and by your merciful guiding, accomplish them through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
[00:01:47] Amen. I mentioned that we have the first Psalm 107. We have the first nine of the 43 verses in this Psalm. This is the first Psalm in book five of the Psalter. Sometimes we forget. I don't think it's marked in our hymnal. We forget that the book of Psalms is divided into five different collections of books. And so if you just open up your bible to Psalm 107, you'll see it says book five. It's just a convention. And my old professor, Dr. Judish, thought that the five books of the Psalms were indications of five editions of the Psalter. So that book one was the Psalms of David, and then book two, an edition by David, I think book three, he thought, was an edition published by Solomon, and then book four and so forth. And so they were adding to the collection, and he had it sorted out. But Psalm 107, traditionally thought to be of David, but we don't know who.
[00:02:45] Who it's really from is.
[00:02:48] It's a psalm of thanksgiving, and it takes us back to the wilderness, which will be really nice. So in Psalm 107, as you come into church, if you could let Psalm 107 take you back to that wandering, to the time in the desert, and then you'll be ready for the Old Testament.
[00:03:06] So it starts by the Lord rescuing the people.
[00:03:11] He redeemed them from the hand of the enemy, gathered them out of the lands, from the east and the west, from north and south, they wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way. They found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. They cried to the Lord in their troubles, and he delivered them out of their distress.
[00:03:30] Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, for his wonderful works to the children of men. He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness.
[00:03:43] This is really important and marvelous to see how the Lord works, how He.
[00:03:53] How he rescues us in our time of trouble, and how the Psalter wants us to remember all the good things that the Lord has done in the past so that we can pray for that the Lord would do them in the future.
[00:04:06] So half the time the Psalms are like, lord, remember how you rescued the people from Egypt? Well, you should do some of that rescuing work now.
[00:04:13] And it's good for us to pray that way. Okay, now we're in the wilderness, so we're ready for numbers chapter 21. From Mount Hor, they set out by the way of the Red Sea. So Mount Hor is Mount Sinai, which is also Mount Horeb.
[00:04:25] Just different names for the same mountain. And we'll remember that even though we're like, you're hearing this, you're like, numbers 21. Wow, that seems like a long way from Exodus 19 when they arrived at Mount Sinai. Maybe this is a different mountain. Remember, the bulk of the books of Moses, from Exodus 19 to Numbers 21 is at Mount Horeb. It's at Mount Sinai. It's the giving not only of the law, the ten Commandments, which the Lord does on day one, but it's also the giving of all the instructions for the tabernacle and the high priests and the daily sacrifices and the Sabbath laws and the yearly sacrifices and feasts, and all of the instructions that the Lord has for the people, how they're to Live together as God's people. All that happens at Mount Sinai. So they're there for a year, and they celebrate the Passover at Mount Sinai before they hit the road.
[00:05:21] And that's. And this is them hitting the road.
[00:05:24] And so they're in the wilderness, and the people start to really get tired of it. Why? They asked Moses. They spoke against God and against Moses, and they say, why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There's no food and water, and we loathe this worthless food.
[00:05:42] So it's not that there's no food, it's just that it's manna. And apparently they're tired of it.
[00:05:47] And the Lord was so thankful for their complaints that he sent serpents. In fact, it says fiery serpents. It doesn't say snakes of serpents. It's almost like these flaming dragons.
[00:06:00] I mean, who knows what they were? Perhaps they were a particular kind of snake that was there in the wilderness that just starts attacking the people. But it's a horrible picture.
[00:06:13] I mean, the Lord is not. And how long were they complaining? How much preaching was happening to warn them to, shh, don't complain against God like this. And they just wouldn't. So that they're approaching unbelief. So finally, the Lord sends them this discipline of the fiery serpents. We don't know that. We just know that it reached a point where the Lord, who is patient and long suffering, ran out of patience and long suffering. So he sends in the fiery serpents, and they're biting the people, and many are dying. And so now they come and repent. We've sinned. We've spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that he might take away the serpents. So Moses goes and intercedes. The chief work of the prophet and is to intercede for the people. And remember it's prayer Sunday. And so it's this intercession of Moses that's going to be highlighted here. He stands in the gap, he prays for the people. And the Lord hears the prayers of Moses and.
[00:07:11] Gives them a unique sacrament to rescue them from the serpents.
[00:07:16] So the Lord says to Moses, make a fiery serpent, the bronze serpent, set it on a pole, and everyone who's bitten when he sees it will live.
[00:07:26] So the Lord makes an antidote which is a bronze serpent fashioned to a staff, crucified there, nailed to a staff.
[00:07:37] And everyone who looks at that bronze serpent won't die, but live. So he does it. He makes a bronze serpent, he sets it on a pole. And if there's any serpent bites, they look at it and they live. It heals them instantly. And remember, the Lord Jesus himself brings this up in his conversation with Nicodemus.
[00:07:53] And he says, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. In fact, that's the background, John 3:15, of that most glorious promise in John 3:16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.
[00:08:11] So this is a picture in the wilderness of how the Lord will save us. And it might not be what the people were expecting, like Moses, Hey, I like to imagine it, that people are like, hey, Moses, we need some help. All these serpents are eating us out here. And Moses says, no problem, I got you covered. And they hear him in the tent, dink, dink, dink, dink. Like Moses, what are you doing? Like, I'm making a bronze serpent.
[00:08:34] And they say, we got plenty of snakes out here, Moses.
[00:08:38] And he says, no, this is what God told me to do.
[00:08:40] And the people say, well, could you ask again? Maybe we need, like, a snake antidote or something.
[00:08:46] Not another one. Moses says, don't trust me. The Lord told me what to do. And he brings out the bronze serpent. And he says, you got to look at this serpent, and then you'll be healed from your snake bites. And the people say, that's crazy. But what's even crazier is not looking.
[00:09:00] I mean, you're going to say, no, I'm not. I refuse to look at that bronze serpent, because that's not how you get healed from snake bites. Everybody knows that.
[00:09:09] But that's the way the Lord provided.
[00:09:12] So there's a humility in this obedience of faith to look to the Lord for our salvation and to give up the idea that we can save ourselves.
[00:09:20] It's amazing. The little woodcut picture inside the bulletin has a man praying, and there's Jesus on the cross. That's the idea. When Jesus is lifted up on the cross there, when we see him and not seeing the image, but when we trust in the One who was crucified for us, then we have the salvation that he works. It's phenomenal. James 1 is our epistle 22 to 27. There's a couple of passages. It's really two sections, two paragraphs. We see. The first is where James says, don't just be hearers of the Word, but doers of the Word. If you're a hearer. It's like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and then he leaves and forgets what he looks like, he says. But one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. This is really how Luther takes the whole commentary on John 16, which is basically like this. Look, the Lord. Well, okay, I said that a little boldly. I said Luther's whole commentary on Psalm 16 or on John 16. But I've only read the first half of his commentary on John 16:23 so far today. He has, I think, 12 pages on this one verse. Okay, so it's not his whole commentary on the whole chapter. It's everything to do with his first part of his commentary on the first verse of our reading. But it basically says this. Look, Jesus preached this beautiful sermon about everything that we're supposed to believe. His death, his resurrection, the coming of the Holy Spirit, salvation, the forgiveness of sins. But it's not just enough to know it. It has to show up in our lives in the way that we speak, in the way that we live with boldness in the face of so much suffering and affliction. But no one can just live it because there's so many obstacles.
[00:11:12] There's so many things that stand in the way of our acting, like we're destined for eternal life.
[00:11:20] There's so many things that stand in the way of our living, like we're the children of God, which we are.
[00:11:26] We don't see these things. There's so many things in the way, which is why we need to pray, so that we have to learn the doctrine that our sins are forgiven, that we're going to be raised on the last day, that all things are the Lord's, and that we belong to him, that the Holy Spirit is working in us, that the Lord isn't angry at us, but he smiles at us, that heaven is open for us, that all things are ours, like Paul says, things that are things that are to come. I mean, all these great gifts, but we have so much trouble living and rejoicing in them, because in this world we have trouble, even though Jesus has overcome the world. And that's why we have to pray.
[00:12:03] So our prayer is that is that thing that bridges the gap between our faith and our life, because we know these things are true, but we don't act like them. And we need the Lord's help to do it.
[00:12:17] So we pray, we're not just looking at the.
[00:12:22] We're not just looking at the Lord's promises and then forgetting them. I mean, this is. So here's the real practical thing, just as an example, is that pretty soon we're all going to stand here and confess together that we believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. In other words, the One who created everything is our God and Father, and he's the One who cares for us and takes care of us. And then we're going to say that together, but then we're going to leave church and act like we have to take care of ourselves and everything else.
[00:12:54] Act like we're the creators or we're the victims of some malevolent creator, or we forget that God is the One who created us. Or we're going to stand and confess that for us men and for our salvation, Christ came down from heaven, was incarnate by the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died, was buried, etc. All that for us, for us and our salvation. And then we leave and we act like we're not saved or we need to be saved or we have to help God save us or whatever.
[00:13:17] It's like a man, James says, who looks in the mirror and then leaves and forgets what he sees. It's so easy for us to forget these truths that we confess.
[00:13:28] So we want to be those who hear the word of God and it makes a difference in our lives.
[00:13:34] If anyone. This is James in chapter one, verse 26. If anyone thinks he's religious and doesn't bridle his tongue. Ooh. James has a lot to say about the tongue, but deceives his heart. The person's religion is worthless. Religion that's pure and undefiled before God the Father is this to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
[00:13:54] Now here we note that religion is a biblical word.
[00:13:58] We can just remember that when people tell us, hey, Christianity is not a religion, it's a relationship. Also, it's a religion.
[00:14:06] And there's something here too, which I just noticed studying these texts for this day, is that it says specifically religion that's pure and undefiled before God the Father. Is this to take care of people without fathers or husbands, so that.
[00:14:24] So that there's a connection between God being our Father and our life of love for those who don't have fathers or those who don't have husbands.
[00:14:33] So there's a. There's a gap that happens when, when your dad dies or when your husband dies.
[00:14:40] And religion, the assignment of the church is to try to come in and fill that gap in a different way. Remember, I mean, no one can, can, can fill the gap that only God can fill.
[00:14:57] And, and no one can step in and do the things that God has appointed.
[00:15:02] But there is a call for the church to, to.
[00:15:07] To serve in the gaps.
[00:15:09] And this is something that we probably should do. Well, to think about. I mean, just thinking about, like, what are the gaps in Austin or what.
[00:15:16] You know, the seniors group is going to study this in our next study in Titus 2, because Paul leaves Titus in Crete, which there was a lot of gaps in Cretan society. Remember, all Cretans are liars. They were a mess.
[00:15:31] And so Paul says to the church in Crete, well, to Titus, he says, hey, make sure that the old ladies are teaching the young ladies how to do these things. And make sure the old men are teaching the young men how to do these things. And the things that Paul lists, there are things that the ladies are supposed to learn from their moms and grandmas and that the young men are supposed to learn from their dads and grandpas. But Crete was such a disaster that they couldn't learn those things from them. And so the church had to step in. And I think there's something here.
[00:15:59] I think I've mentioned this a couple of times to you all that I'm really thinking about this. Titus 2. Because our own culture has some gaps. There's things that we just assume that are being passed down from generations.
[00:16:12] You know, the Lutheran Church has that assumption of generational wisdom, and our culture just doesn't have it anymore. And a lot of the people jumping into church, they don't have it either. They don't have that. They're new Lutherans. They're just been confirmed, just been baptized. They're not.
[00:16:27] They don't have this generational knowledge that they're carrying with them. So there's a gap that we step in to serve. That's what.
[00:16:35] There's a lot there. That's what James is talking about. Okay, onto the gospel lesson. Jesus is talking to his disciples. It's the night in which he was betrayed.
[00:16:42] Thursday.
[00:16:44] And he says, in this day, in that day. And he's talking about the day that you see me raised from the dead, you'll ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I said to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he'll give it to you.
[00:16:55] So Jesus is saying, all right, I've warned you about all the things that are coming how you're going to live in this life after I'm raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. And it's going to be tough. It's not going to be smooth sailing.
[00:17:08] It's not going to be cream cheese every day. You know, cream cheese is apparently the smoothest thing I can think of.
[00:17:18] I'm sure there's others.
[00:17:24] Oh, boy.
[00:17:26] I'm sure you could think of something smoother than cream. But doesn't it seem nice, like, shoosh? That's not how life is going to be. Just.
[00:17:34] It's going to be tough.
[00:17:36] So you're going to have to pray, and you can pray to the Father. You don't have to pray through me. The Father is going to hear your prayers and he's going to answer them.
[00:17:42] Until now, you've asked nothing in my name. Ask and you'll receive. That your joy may be full. So that our prayer is connected to our joy, and not just to some joy or partial joy, but to the fullness of joy.
[00:17:55] Remember, happiness is the weather, joy is the climate. Joy. We live in that joy, not apart from happiness. But it's there.
[00:18:03] He says. All right, look, I'm talking in figures of speech. The hour's coming in. And no longer I'm going to talk in figures of speech. I'll tell you plainly about the Father that day you're going to ask and you'll receive. I came to the Father. I'm leaving the world, going to the Father.
[00:18:17] And they say, you're speaking plainly. And he says, the hour is coming. Indeed it's come when you'll be scattered, each to his own, each to his own home.
[00:18:27] Leave me alone. But I'm not alone.
[00:18:29] I've said these things to you.
[00:18:32] And, boy, if you want to tattoo some words on your heart this morning, hear the words, the last part of verse 16, chapter 16, verse 33. I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace.
[00:18:47] In the world you will have tribulation.
[00:18:50] But take heart, I have overcome the world.
[00:18:56] If you want to, just think of it in your own imagination of all the things that give you tribulation in the world.
[00:19:04] And that if you just list those out tribulations and you write here, this is my trouble. This is my trouble. This is my trouble. This is my trouble. And then at the top of that list, you can just mark through tribulations and write, overcome by Jesus.
[00:19:22] These are all of these things that trouble you are things that are overcome, conquered by the Lord Jesus and that gives us peace, peace in this life and overwhelming joy.
[00:19:40] This is how our lives are to be. To be marked by this peace and overwhelming joy.
[00:19:48] We'll sing about it in the hymn of the week, which is Our Father who from heaven above. Nine stanzas. Because in the Lord's Prayer, there's an introduction and a conclusion and seven petitions. So Luther has written this as one of his catechism hymns. And so the first line. Our Father, Thou in heaven above, who bid us out to dwell in love, Brethren of one family, and so forth. I'm probably quoting the old version. That's the introduction. And then you'll notice that hallowed be thy name. Stanza two, Thy kingdom come. Stanza three, Thy will be done. Stanza four, Give us this day our daily bread. Stanza five, all the way to the end. Amen. That is so let it be.
[00:20:24] The night stanza is the concluding petition. So you pay attention to the. Pay attention to the hymn, and you will notice that Luther takes the petition and his understanding of the petition that he teaches us in the catechism and puts it to verse there.
[00:20:39] It's a. It's a wonderful.
[00:20:42] It is a wonderful hymn, especially to rejoice in.
[00:20:47] In the gift of the Lord's Prayer. So God be praised.
[00:20:51] God be praised for that. In fact, we're singing it.
[00:20:54] Our Father who from heaven above. First five stanzas as the opening hymn and the last four stanzas as the hymn of the day. Marvelous. All right. I think that's.
[00:21:06] I think that's good for the notes. Getting you to church. Remember. Oh, remember a couple of announcements. Number one, May 13th. That's this Wednesday we start our next adult catechism class. Wednesdays after evening prayer probably go from 6:45 to 8. Also remember this Thursday, May 14, the third most important feast of the church year, the feast of the Ascension, the forgotten feast.
[00:21:32] You're required to come to church at 7 o' clock to rejoice in the Ascension. And we're luring you there with the enticement of ice cream afterwards. So make sure to schedule that on your calendar this Thursday. Oh, Ascension. God be praised for that. All right, that'll do it. See you in a few minutes. God's peace be with you.