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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Good morning, St. Paul Lutheran Church. Pastor Wolf Muller here. And this is the Sunday drive to church for the fifth Sunday after Pentecost, June 23, the year of our Lord 2024. God be praised for this new day and for all the Lord's gifts in it. We had last week, really kind of tree Sunday.
[00:00:20] We had the psalm one blessed is a man who delights in the law of the Lord. Like a tree planted by the streams of cool water. We had the parable of the kingdom, like a seed that's planted. If that last week was tree Sunday, this week is ocean Sunday. Really. It's the Sunday of Jesus calming the sea. And we have this theme running throughout the psalm like we almost always do, as well as the Old Testament lesson from Job 38, psalm 124, Job 38, and the Gospel lesson from Mark, chapter four, verses 35 to 41. We also continue reading through the epistle, second corinthians, chapter six. Beautiful text from two corinthians. Chapter six says one corinthians, but that's really second corinthians that's there, as well as a beautiful hymn of the day. But let's start with the collect. I think this collect is based on one Timothy two, two, where it says, men of God should raise their hands praying for those in authority. Why? So we pray for the government. For what specifically? And that is so that we might live in quiet and peaceable lives, so that when the government is bad, our lives are not quiet and peaceable, especially for the Christian. But if under good government, they are. So we're praying for that. And I think that language makes its way into the collect specifically. You can tell me if you think that's right. Let's pray.
[00:01:48] Almighty God, in your mercy, guide the course of this world so that your church may joyfully serve you in godly peace and quietness through Jesus Christ, your son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
[00:02:06] Amen. If I, by the way, was writing this collect, I would replace the word guide with the word govern. Now, nobody asked me when they were writing the collects. But in your mercy, guide the course of this world. God does that he indeed guides. But the old language that the theologians use is to govern that the Lord governs the course of this world. And it seems stronger to me, and I think this is important for us, especially in these days, where it seems like the world is out of control.
[00:02:36] That is only what it seems like. We confess that Jesus sits at the right hand of God, the father, and rules and reigns all things for the sake of his body, the church. In fact, I'm going to read you that verse. He rules and reigns all things for the sake of his body, the church. And so we can have confidence that all things are working together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purposes. That's the faith that we have, and we have to set that strongly, firmly against what appears to us to be happening, and that is that everything is chaos and falling apart.
[00:03:13] This is Ephesians, chapter one.
[00:03:17] He put, let's see, starting in verse 22, which is kind of the culmination of this prayer of thanksgiving from St. Paul. And it says, and he that is God the father put all things under his feet, that is God the son, and gave him Jesus to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all, so that Jesus fills everything and is everywhere, but his fullness is the church. And he gave all things. God the father gave all things to Jesus for the sake of his church. So that we have to look around and say that the things that are happening, even though there's so many things that are not God's will, in fact, every sin and every corruption and every bit of imperfection, is not God's will.
[00:04:05] It's not his will that people would be murdered, that things would be stolen, that people would be unfaithful, that parents would be dishonored by their parents, that his word would be taught falsely. All these things are not God's will. They're sins. And yet the Lord uses all, all things that are happening for the good of his church. So we can look around and say, this is the world that the Lord wants us to have for our own benefit. The good and the bad is all for the sake of his body, the church, so that the Lord, we pray, would guide and govern the course of this world so that the church may serve him in godly peace and quietness. That's. That's a prayer. Beautiful prayer. By the way, I'm looking, by the way, we asked, Jonathan and I were talking about the bulletins. I asked him to put a picture from our stained glass windows in there once a month or once every six weeks or something like that. So we have one in this week. It's a good one to look at with the kids and say, who does this represent? It's a window of a hand with a dagger. And we have to say, what is that about whose hand is that? And that's a great, great question. Okay, I'm into the service. Now, our opening psalm is one of these psalms of ascent. It's psalm 124. It's a. It's the.
[00:05:23] I don't know. It's a famous psalm because of the way it starts. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, let Israel now say, if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us, they would have swallowed us alive. It's almost like, you know, when you. It's. It reminds me of when I'm having catechism class, and I say, okay, kids, say it with me. And I start, and they don't start, and so you go back and you start over. That's almost how the psalmist is. If it. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, let Israel now say, if it had not been the Lord who was on our side. In other words, say it with me, team. Don't miss this one. You got to say it together. And. And here's an amazing thing to say. If the Lord had not been on our side, it said, we would have stayed. The enemies would have swallowed us up. And then verse four, we see this theme that's. That's working its way in here. The waters would have overwhelmed us. The stream would have gone over our soul, and the swollen waters would have gone over our soul. That's an amazing thing. It's not just a. It's not just temporal death that's being discussed here, but spiritual death. But the Lord is on our side, and that's why we can say our soul has escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. That's the last verse. What a psalm. It's really good. And we have that theme of the. Of the Lord being over the waters also in the Old Testament lesson from job. Now, job, boy, job. It's a.
[00:06:55] It's a complicated poem. It's a beautiful poem. It's a wonderful thing to consider. The story of Job. Horrifying, but wonderful to consider, especially because, remember, Job was the greatest of all the men of the east. And yet the devil visits him, and one thing after another is taken away from him, including all of his wealth and then all of his children, and then his own health and integrity, so that we find Job mourning the scraping, the wounds on his body.
[00:07:33] He's got nothing and still. And his wife comes to him, remember, and says, curse God and die. And job is so faithful. Naked I came from my mother's womb. Naked I shall return the Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
[00:07:53] Should we, in fact, another place, Job says, should we receive good from the hand of the Lord and not evil? And in all of this, the scripture says, job did not sin. In other words, that's the right way for us to think of it. We receive good from the Lord and evil. And I think this is marvelous, because when we're watching this drama of job unfold, we see the devil who's there plotting, haha, I'm going to wreck job. He's only righteous because he's got so much nice stuff. I'm going to take it all away. Then I'll curse God and then he'll be damned. And the devil does his greatest work. You just have to think of that. I think of the devil, like sitting there with a french painter's beret hat on and sitting back and looking at his great masterpiece of Job's affliction and, and the joe. And Job gives all the credit to God, not to the devil.
[00:08:42] The devil said, don't I get any credit at all for this? No.
[00:08:47] And JoB knows that the devil's the one behind it because JoB wrote the book. I mean, he knows what was going on, but still he gives all the credit to God. Amazing. Now, now here comes JOB's friends. Three and then a fourth, and they start this epic conversation.
[00:09:04] And while it is kind of different, nuances in the theme are developed all the way through this wonderful poem. The basic idea that JOB's friends are trying to argue is, Job, God must hate you to afflict you so much. You must have done something wrong. You must, must have caused God to hate you in some way or another. And Job says, no, look, I know what God thinks of me because I go to the altar, and there at the altar, when I offer the sacrifice, I hear the forgiveness of sins. Remember, that's maybe one of the most important parts of the book of Job that's often overlooked is when Job would offer a sacrifice in case his children would have sinned, so that the Lord would forgive their sins, so that job knows the forgiveness of sins from the altar. And so now it's the contest. It's job. Are you going to know about God from the altar? Are you going know about God from everything else, from looking around, from your circumstances, from the way things are going with you, how are you going to know about God?
[00:10:08] And the whole probably point or one of the main points of job also for us is that we are to know about God from the preaching of the altar.
[00:10:18] So you look at your own life and you see how things are falling apart, and you say, okay, what does God think of me? Is he mad? Is he indifferent? What? And then you come to church and you hear, I forgive you all your sins.
[00:10:32] That's so. So it's this contest of the voices, of the voices of our lives and circumstances, or the voice of the altar. Now, this is what's happening all the way through the book of Job until the end, when job seems to be at kind of at his wits end, arguing against his friends. And then he goes too far, and he claims a righteousness, not a faith, but of his own works. And that's when the Lord, it seems to me like seeing the danger to Job's soul, inserts himself into the conversation. And so the Lord appears to Job and says, in the whirlwind, can you imagine?
[00:11:10] Here's a tornado. And the voice of the Lord comes out of this tornado. Who is it that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man. I'll question you, and you make it known to me. Were you there when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. In other words, the Lord says, it is not your business to critique. My business.
[00:11:33] Who determines the measurements?
[00:11:36] Where were its bases strong? Who laid its cornerstone? When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? That, by the way, that verse seven of chapter 38 is the first wedding sermon that I ever preached. And it was for my brother Thomas, who got married. And.
[00:11:54] And I said, as I wanted to say, the text for the sermon for your wedding is from the book of Job. He said, job.
[00:12:03] But it says that the morning Star that's talking about the angels, the sons of God. That's another term for the angels. And here's the picture, is that while God is creating the world and laying the foundations of the world and creating all these things, that the angels are surrounding him and singing his praises.
[00:12:22] It's a beautiful picture. And the reason why this has to do with marriage is because the same thing is true. When God creates a family, when he takes two and creates now one new family, the angels rejoice in the same way at the marvel of God's creation. And then we get to the sea theme, or who shut its sea doors when it bursts out of the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness, its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it, and set bars and doors and said, thus far you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed. So the picture of this kind of unleashing, of the chaos of the oceans, out of that, almost like the earth opens up and the oceans are born and they burst forth and the Lord says, okay, here's the line. You can come this far and not any farther. And the beaches are those lines so that the proud waves are always trying to attack the earth. But the Lord has put a line there and you can't go any further. And that idea of God's power being demonstrated by the staying of the waves, that's really what's going on in the gospel text. So skipping the epistle, because remember, it's this continual reading. We'll take a look at the gospel mark, chapter four, verses 35 to 41. So the Sea of Gennesaret, that's the Sea of Galilee, or the Sea of Tiberias, all those different names. It's really a tiny lake for us. I should look this up. The Sea of Galilee is about 5 miles across and 15 miles top to bottom. And I use it as kind of a little scale. So whenever you're looking at a map of the holy land, you can tell about how far things are by using the north south of the Sea of Galilee is 15 miles and the east west is 5 miles. In other words, it's not that big compared to the lakes around here. It's really kind of a small lake, but it was the center of the life of Galilee. There's all sorts of villages that were all around this lake, including Capernaum and all these other villages that are so famous in the gospels. And they would use boats to get around from one place to another. They would use boats to fish as a famously fruitful lake or sea, where they would pull a lot of fish out of it.
[00:14:40] So one day, this is starting in verse 35. When evening had come, Jesus said to them, let us go across to the other side. Leaving the crowd, they took. They took him with them in a boat just as he was.
[00:14:53] Other boats were with him. So they had a fleet, kind of a probably fishing fleet, and they're traveling from one spot to another overnight on the sea of Galilee. These guys were. They would have known these waters and they would have known these boats. That's what they were. They were fishermen. Peter, James, John, some of the other disciples were fishers of men.
[00:15:15] They would have known the danger of these waters also because apparently it's in a valley and pretty shallow, which means when the storms come up and the winds come, it can get very violent very quickly. And that is seemingly what happens? A great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat. So the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion.
[00:15:42] And they woke him and said to him, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, be still.
[00:15:54] And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
[00:15:58] In the Greek, it's like it says, emphatic about the calmness. It goes from this huge storm to, like glass, still, peace, be still. And it does. And he said to them, why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?
[00:16:16] And they were filled with great fear. And said to one another, who then is this that even the wind and sea obey him?
[00:16:26] One of Carrie's favorite hymns has one of my favorite lines. Even the winds and waves still know the voice of him who ruled them while he dwelt below.
[00:16:38] So that the wind and the waves hear the voice of Jesus and obey it. Jesus says, peace, be still. And they are still. And notice the transfer of fear. I don't want to say too much about this, because I think this is what I'll preach about. But that it's the fear goes from the waves to Jesus. And that's always where it should be.
[00:16:59] It's part of our life of sanctification, the stewardship of our fear. What do we fear?
[00:17:05] Are we afraid of the wind and the waves? Are we afraid of the boat sinking? Are we afraid of losing our lives?
[00:17:13] No. We are afraid of Jesus. And when we are afraid of Jesus, then there is nothing to be afraid of.
[00:17:21] The hymn goes with it. Evening and morning. This great Paul Gerhard hymn. Remember Paul Gerhard?
[00:17:26] Boy, that guy had so much trouble. 30 years. War, famine. He got kicked out. I found this out today looking in up Paul Gerhardt stuff. He had a position in Berlin, and he got kicked out of Berlin. Because they passed a law in Berlin saying you couldn't hold to the formula of Concord. I don't know if there's a book that's been more maligned than the formula of Concord. We started studying it in our men's Bible study, by the way. So join us for that once a month on Saturday morning, evening and morning. This is a beautiful hymn. Evening and morning, sunset and dawning, wealth, peace and gladness, comfort and sadness, these are thy works. All the glory be thine. Times without number, awake or in slumber, thine eye observes us from danger, preserves us, causing thy mercy upon us to shine. Listen to this prayer, Father. O hear me, pardon and spare me calm all my terrors, blot out my errors, that by thine eyes they may no more be scanned, order my goings, direct all my doings as it may please thee. Retain or release me all. I commit to thy fatherly hands. You see how our lives are in the Lord's hands. And this is really this.
[00:18:41] Trusting the Lord in the midst of all sorts of afflictions is what we're getting at here, what the hymn is teaching us. There's a deep christian piety in these hymns, and this would be a beautiful prayer before the service tomorrow. Or, no, it's not tomorrow for you. You're driving to church for in a few minutes. It's him. 726 ills that still grieve me soon are to leave me. Though billows tower and winds gain power after the storm, the fair sun shows its face, joys e'er increasing peace, never ceasing. These shall I treasure and share in full measure. When in his mansions, God grants me a place to God in heaven, all praise be given. Come, let us offer and gladly proffer to the creator the gifts he doth prize. He well receiveth a heart that believeth. Hymns that adore him are precious before him and to his throne. Like sweet incense arise evening and morning pogia. That's the hymn of the week. This trust in God in the midst of affliction. Okay, one more text. We still need to talk about how we do it on time. You guys, almost here. It's two corinthians, chapter six, verses one to 13. We're continuing to read through Paul's letter to the Corinthians, and really, it's an amazing text because it's in. Paul is like job in a lot of ways. And in this epistle that really starts to come out, he's going to have one of his lists of all the bad things that happened to him. In this text, he quotes Isaiah 49. Working together with him. Then we. We appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain, for he says he is Isaiah. In a favorable time, I listen to you well, the Lord, through Isaiah, in a favorable time, I listen to you. And in a day of salvation, I have helped you. Behold, now is the favorable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry. But as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way by great endurance in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger by purity, knowledge patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love by truthful speech and the power of God with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise, we're treated as imposters, yet are true, as unknown, yet well known as dying, yet behold, we live, as punished yet not killed. As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. As poor, yet making many rich, as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
[00:21:19] What a description of the apostolic ministry and of the christian life.
[00:21:28] We're treated as imposters, yet true, as unknown, yet well known as dying. Behold, we live, sorrowful, yet rejoicing poor, making many rich, having nothing, possessing. Oh, may God grant that. That would describe us.
[00:21:44] Well, that's Sunday dread church. A couple of announcements by the oh, we have today, after the late service, the exploratory committee, town hall Q and a meeting in Noahole. I hope you'll be able to join us for that. That'll be great. To explore what the plans are for the St. Paul Academy and to discuss it. Also, please note in the bulletin there's an invitation to Sarah and Harrison's wedding on Saturday, July 20. That'll be so much fun.
[00:22:15] And I want to draw your attention to this as well. We're hosting the fourth annual digital Catacombs conference. This is a conference that discusses technology and the dangers and opportunities that it presents to the Lord's church.
[00:22:30] Chance to host that. Pastor Andy Packer, who I do a Q and a podcast with, is going to come down for that. Pastor Brian Flammey of Roswell, New Mexico. He and I worked together back at Hope. He's coming down to present for that. We have an expert in cyber security who's going to be here to give us an update on spyware, how we can protect ourselves from intrusive technologies and things like this. So that's all going to be happening on July 24, 2021, 25 and 26. That's Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And so if you can sign up for that, that'd be really, really great. I'll make sure I put up a link for that in Sunday school and make a way for you guys to sign up for that as well, because it'd be great if we had some more folks signed up for it. All right, I think that's all for the Sunday drive to church. God's peace be with you. See you in a couple of minutes.