The Son Has Set Us Free!

John 8:31-36 Our text stands in the middle of a long conversation Jesus was having with Jews who were traveling with him to --and then attending-- the Feast of Tabernacles. 

During this festival the Jews remembered all that God did for them during their years in the wilderness—how he led them night and day and fed them with manna from heaven and gave them water to drink.  Every year they remembered and gave thanks to the great I AM, the LORD, for his mighty saving acts.

It is in this context, as they travelled along and attended the festival that Jesus said:  I AM the bread of life.  I AM the Light of the World.  I AM the living water.  And he capped it all off by saying, before Abraham was, I AM. 

Hearing those words and understanding what Jesus meant, some of the unbelieing Jews in the crowd picked up stones to kill him for his supposed blasphemy.  They knew he was identifying himself with the Savior God of old.  But there were also some of the Jews, who, having heard his words, believed him and came to faith in him as their Messiah. 

With believers and unbelievers surrounding Jesus, with his identity in question, the scene in our text is a microcosm of the world today.  Jesus always stands at the center of time and history and surrounding him is every person on earth.  And the only things that really, ultimately matters for each person is their relationship to Jesus:  whether they reject him or receive him in faith as their Savior. 

John said that he wrote his Gospel so that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing in him have life in his name.  God grant that saving faith in Jesus to each of us in this place today!  The Bible says:

Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

            In that great crowd of Jews around Jesus there were some who, having heard his words and teaching, came to faith that he was the Messiah promised by their prophets and sent by their heavenly Father.  They came to faith through the Words of Jesus.

We must never lose our confidence that the Word of God has the power to accomplish its saving purpose in human hearts—calling those who are dead in sin and trespass to new life in God!  So it is for every believer in every time and place that we have been born again by the living and enduring Word of God.

But it is also critically important that we hear these words of Jesus about the necessity of abiding in, remaining in his word if we are truly his disciples.  In the church of Luther’s day we see what happens when that doesn’t happen, when there is a departure from God’s Word. 

In large measure the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ was almost lost altogether as people in churches were told that their good works and their monetary offerings were what gained them heaven rather than faith in the Son of God.  As we remember that history…

There is no cause for spiritual pride on our part because we are made up of the same stuff as-- the Jews who needed to hear these words about remaining steadfast in the Word of God-- and the church of Luther’s day that needed reforming by the Word of God.

Jesus’ call to remain steadfast to his word, and especially the Gospel truth that sets the sinner free, is needed more than ever because there is a world full of people who do not understand how desperate their own spiritual condition is apart from Jesus.  The Bible says that:

They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

            Here we hear the voice of those who rejected Jesus rather than receiving him.  They rejected him because they didn’t think they needed him—after all, they were the descendants of Abraham!  These were a religious people, doing religious things, making a religious claim and yet they were profoundly spiritually deceived.

So it still is today.  Just in the last month or so I have encountered people who think they are going to be saved because, in their own words, they were heritage Lutherans—that coming from a long of Lutherans somehow makes you right in God’s sight. 

I’ve encountered an elderly man who thinks he will be saved because he has lived an outwardly moral life.  Martin Luther believed that he would be saved because he was a priest and a monk and fasted and made a pilgrimage to Rome. 

But Luther-- and the misguided folks of our own day-- and the Jews of Jesus’ day-- all have to come to terms with the judgment of Jesus:  “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.

This is why there was no peace for Luther—he knew his own sin!  This is what the person who has lived a long, outwardly moral life has to contend with:  an equally long life of not meeting God’s expectations.  This is what the so-called heritage Lutherans of our day and the Jews of Jesus’ day have to contend with:  a family connection that does not save them but condemns them because they are actually children of Adam in his sin.

These words of Jesus powerfully speak to the natural human condition of all of us:  that we were brought forth into this world in iniquity—that we are, by nature, poor sinful beings.

Please, please understand:  no family connections of ours-- and no good works of ours-- and no religious affiliation of ours is ever going to deliver us from slavery to sin and death and the power of the devil.  Only Jesus can do that.  Jesus said:

The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

            Here’s the judgment of God on all of those who are by nature, slaves to sin:  you have no lasting place in God’s house because you are not his child.  No matter your good works, no matter your lesser guilt, no matter your religious claims, no matter your family heritage—slaves remain slaves until the Son sets them free.

That is exactly what Jesus came to do!  He is the Son who was truly faithful to his Father in thought, word, and deed.  He is the Son who held fast to his Father’s Words.  He is the Son who took upon himself the form of a slave, being born in our likeness, and humbled himself into death, even death on the cross.  He is the Son who forgave our sins, conquered our enemies, and showed in his resurrection that he has the power to set us free us even from death.  He is the Son who has gone to prepare a place for us in his Father’s house so that where he is, we can be also.

We are free indeed from our sins; free indeed from Satan’s power; free indeed from the fear of death.  Because we have been set free by Jesus we are no longer slaves to sin, but we are children of God, members of his family, and we will live forever in our heavenly Father’s house. 

Now, you would think that hearing that Good News, everyone would receive it in faith and put their trust in Jesus—but they don’t.  Jesus said:

I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 

Jesus knew and understood that the people who stood before him had a physical, family connection to Abraham.  What they didn’t know and understand is that was not enough to save them.  It was not the family of Abraham that saved sinners-- but the faith of Abraham that saved sinners—faith in a Savior in whom all the world would be blessed. 

That Savior stood before them and they should have rejoiced to see the promises of God fulfilled in the person of Jesus.  But when Jesus finished speaking to the Jews around him at the feast, when he said he was their Savior God come in human flesh, the unbelievers among them picked up stones to put him to death.  And so it this hatred has gone down through the years.

When Luther told the people of his day that all you had to do to be saved was believe in Jesus, he was excommunicated from the church and would have been burned at the stake if they could have found him.  When the pastor tells people that being a heritage Lutheran won’t save you and neither will a life of good works, they become angry.  When we the church tell our friends and neighbors that all religious roads don’t lead to a life with God we are called hateful and intolerant.

And so why is there this kind of visceral, hate-filled reaction to the saving Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ?  Jesus tells us why:

I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

            Two of our hymns today, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” and “Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word” are from a section of the hymnal called The Church Militant.  In other words, the church in battle.  There is a spiritual battle that rages around us and there is not one person on earth who is not on one side or the other in that spiritual battle.

Those who receive the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and abide in him have God as their heavenly Father and those who reject the words of Jesus have the devil as their father.  There is no morally neutral, spiritual middle ground in this conflict, there are no non-combatants.     

And so then we should not be surprised that the world hates the Gospel and the world hates the Christian who hold fast to it because they hated Jesus first.  But neither should we be afraid and neither should we shrink back.  In our Lord’s death and resurrection he stands victorious over our enemies and the gate of hell will not prevail against his church as we boldly proclaim that we are saved by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone!  Amen.

Crossing Over and Going In

Crossing Over and Going In

Deuteronomy 8:18-9:3 Unless the Lord comes first, tomorrow is going to turn into today and today will become yesterday.  Ever since there was evening and morning, the first day—time has marched on—and will march on until our Lord’s return in glory to judge the living and the dead and give us all the benefits and blessings of his work on the cross.

The Lord wants us to remember that and live our lives in light of that day—but he also wants us to plan for the future and go forward in faith until that day comes.  That is what we have been talking about over these last several weeks. 

A promise made to Abraham and his children, that they would have a homeland of their own, was about to be fulfilled in the Promised Land. 

More than six hundred years had passed since that promise was made.  The children of Israel grew into a great nation but were then enslaved in Egypt.  Centuries passed.  After their deliverance they wandered in the desert for another forty years.  But now the moment was at hand for them to cross over the Jordan and go into the Promised Land.

What had always been in the future—was now the present.  And so the Lord instructed them as to how they were to plan for this day. 

They were to remember the past and how God had blessed and prospered them along the way and draw courage from their own history.  They were to make sure they were walking in the Lord’s ways so that the future would be marked by the obedience of faith.

Prepared in this way, they were to step out in faith upon the promise of God and lay hold of a new season of life in the Promised Land.  That is not always easy to do. 

When they were getting to leave Egypt and their lives as slaves, they saw the Egyptian armies behind them and they wanted to give up and return to slavery.  But Moses promised them, “The LORD will fight for you!  Go forward! “

When they grew hungry in the desert they grumbled against God and said to themselves it would have been better to die as slaves in Egypt, but the LORD their cries and said, “Behold, I am about to rain down bread from heaven for you.” 

In all these stops and starts, we see how true it is that an unknown future (even when God has promised to bless us in it) can be far more frightening than a familiar past—even when it was difficult.

We of course are made of the same stuff as the Israelites.  Their story is our story.  It can be very difficult indeed to step out on the promises of God and cross over from one day to the next and go into the future with boldness and courage. 

That is why the Lord speaks to us today as he spoke to the children of Israel and promises us that he himself will go with us to warn us and encourage us and do battle against our enemies and in these ways, prosper us in the days to come.  The Bible says:

If you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

            One of the great temptations that the Israelites would face as they entered into the Promised Land was that they would encounter those who did not share their faith in their Lord and were not walking in his ways. 

Every day they would have to make a choice as to whether they would adopt the thinking of the world around them or obey the voice of the LORD their God.

And so God warned them in the strongest possible way that he would destroy them just like he destroyed the nations around them if they did not walk in his ways and do his will and especially if they worshiped the gods of the pagans around them. 

Please understand, there were blessings without number for them in their future days in the Promised Land-- but there were also dangers-- and they needed this solemn warning if their future lives were to be everything God wanted it to be.  So it is for us.

We live in the midst of the world that does not share our faith in the LORD.  We are surrounded by people who do not walk in his ways or do his will and who worship idols.  The Lord would have us turn a blind eye and deaf ear to this unbelieving world and worship him alone and obey his voice.  This is especially true in our financial life.

The world would have us believe that it is only what we can hold in our hand that is real and valuable.  The world tells us that “the one who dies with the most toys wins”.  The world puts money first.  This way of thinking deserves, and will receive, the Lord’s judgment.

And so then, in our life as a congregation and in our life as individual Christians we are to take this warning seriously and demonstrate with our stewardship that God comes first in our life. 

We do that by following his counsel on how to manage our money and especially by putting the mission of Christ at the very top of our financial priorities and then go forward in faith and boldness, ready to confront whatever challenges lie ahead.  The Bible says:

“Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’

            After forty years the wilderness, their life there had become, if not comfortable, at least familiar.  It’s always easier to face the challenge we know than the ones we don’t know. 

But the Lord had no intention of letting them remain where they were!  They were going to face the future and go forward even though there were mighty challenges ahead.

A wandering group of tribesmen were going to face nations that were greater and mightier than them.  A people that had no cities or fortresses of their own were going to encounter that very thing in the days to come.  They were going to face enemies who had unblemished records of success in battle.

The Lord did not hide any of that from them.  But he did not want them to fix their eyes on those enemies and challenges-- but instead put their trust in his promise that they would overcome them! 

He would not let them remain where they were but instead they were to step out in faith upon his promise.

Not only for the Israelites but for us, it is easy to remain where we are.  Even with the challenges we face, at least they are familiar.  It is frightening to go forward when you don’t know the future and it is even more frightening when you can clearly see the challenges and battles that the future holds. 

In many ways that’s where we find ourselves as a congregation.  There are clear challenges that lie in the future regarding our finances.  We are an aging congregation where most of the offerings are given by the older folks and really by even a smaller group within that demographic.  It would be so easy to stop where we are and hide our head in the sand.

But the Lord will not allow us to remain where we are and he insists that we step out in faith upon his promise and go forward into the future with a courageous attitude that is ready to do his work and trust his promise to be with us and bless us.  The Bible says:

Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the Lord your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the Lord has promised you.

            Right here is what should have given the Israelites the courage and boldness to go forward in faith:  the Lord’s promise that he would go with them and he would act for them and he would give them the victory.

If they remembered the past they should have known that!  There was not one step they ever took on that journey to the Promised Land that the Lord did not lead.  There was not one moment in all those years that the Lord was not with them, blessing them and providing for them along the way. Their entire life was a testimony to his power and his presence and his provision.

And as they moved into the future, he promised exactly the same.  He knew better than they did what kind of challenges they would face and what kind of battles they would fight--but he also knew that he was greater and more powerful than all of it. 

Whatever small step of faith they took into the future, the Lord was already there to bless them along the way and accomplish his saving purpose in their lives.

We know even more than they did!  We have seen the Lord’s mighty deliverance in Jesus who died and rose to defeat our enemies.  We know that Jesus is the destroyer of Satan’s kingdom.  And we have seen how the power and the presence and the provision of our Lord Jesus Christ has advanced the church over two thousand years from 12 disciples to two billion Christians today.

Even more we have seen how all this is true in our own congregation and school and the blessings and growth we have experienced over more than 90 years.  We have absolutely nothing to fear as we plan for the future for we know the one who holds that future in his nail-scarred hands promises to bless us in the days ahead.

That is why we are taking this bold step of establishing an endowment that will help fund the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We do that with every expectation that the Lord will generously bless our efforts to step out in faith and do his will and serve him with the resources he has entrusted to our hands.

And we rely on his promise that as we cross over and go into the future, he will be with us and bless us along the way.  Amen.

Walking in His Ways

Walking in His Ways

Deuteronomy 8:6-18 After God’s people were set free from slavery in Egypt, the Lord led them to Mount Sinai where he spoke to them about how they were to live their lives as his people.  But he did not begin with a list of commands, he began with the story of their salvation.  He said:  I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 

Only then did he go on to give them the Ten Commandments:  You shall have no other Gods before me and so on.  This is ALWAYS the way the Bible talks about how we are to live our lives. 

Walking in God’s ways and keeping his commandments flows from his mighty, saving works for us.  It is because we are saved and because we are his people that we desire to do our Father’s will.  It is important for us to keep this in mind as we plan for the future regarding the stewardship of our finances. 

Walking in God’s ways and doing his will with our finances is not how we are going to earn some future blessing.  It’s what we earn for services rendered or a reward for keeping his commands.  God simply promises to bless us in the days ahead and bring us to our heavenly home. 

Instead, walking in God’s ways and doing his will with our finances, and giving, and stewardship:  demonstrates a living faith that lays hold of God’s promises-- and shows gratitude for God’s gifts-- and reminds us that we (and all that we have) belong to the Lord.  When we understand our life of faith and obedience this way, we are prepared to plan for the future.  The Bible says:

You shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him.  For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land...you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. 

            For hundreds of years Abraham’s descendants lived as slaves in Egypt.  They were born as slaves, they lived as slaves, and they died as slaves.  There was no hope for them and no future for their children.  But God heard their cries for mercy and raised up his servant Moses to set them free. 

God preserved their lives under the blood of a lamb and destroyed their enemies and gave them the wealth of their former masters.  Surely, they must have thought, this must be the pinnacle of our life as a people!

But God was not through blessing them!  The best was still yet to come as they would enter the Promised Land—a place of unimaginable plenty where all their needs would be met.

It was because they had in the LORD a God who was rich in mercy that they would walk in his ways.  So it is for us!  We have been saved from slavery to sin and death by the blood of the Lamb of God shed on Calvary’s cross.  God has sent a mighty deliverer for us in his Son Jesus who has given us the riches of life and salvation that the devil stole from us. 

But there is even more to come for us!  The future is even better than the past.  God will bring us to an eternal homeland where we will live in peace and plenty forever.  Just like for the children of Israel, the best is yet to come! 

Much too often Christians and Christian congregations think that their best days are behind them.  It is nostalgia for the past and not hope for the future that fills their hearts and minds.  But for the child God and for the Church of God, the future is always better than the past for we are moving to the fullness of god’s saving work.

And so then, no matter what challenges and trials we may have to face, it is hope and confidence that ought to be our attitude for we are headed to better days and a better place.

That is why we are called to walk in his ways and fear the Lord—that is why we keep God’s commands—that is why we follow his will:  because our lives of obedience show our faith in what God has already done for us and promises to do for us in the days to come!    

For the Israelites who were about to enter into the Promised Land, Moses reminded them of everything that God had commanded them at Mount Sinai, including those laws regarding their tithes and offerings. 

While the details of those specific laws applied only to them as a people, God still has a will for our financial lives that is revealed in his word and as a response of faith we are to walk in his ways regarding how we use the money he has given us. 

In our Sunday morning bible study over the next couple of months we are going to see what God says about various aspects of our financial life-- but the guiding principle throughout Holy Scripture—Old Testament and New Testament-- is that God comes first in our financial lives and we demonstrate that by giving an offering that is first-fruits, intentional, sacrificial and proportionate to the blessings we have received.

Our offerings to the LORD demonstrate in a powerful way that we remember and recognize that we have, in the Lord, a Savior God who has set us free and blessed us along our life’s journey.  The Bible says:

“Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied,  then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt…

            When we hear these words we are tempted to ask ourselves:  How on earth could anyone who had been on that 40 year journey in the wilderness have forgotten the Lord?!  But that is exactly what they did!   

            They saw the plagues fall upon their enemies.  They heard the screams of Egypt as the angel of God’s wrath killed all the firstborn.  They walked through the waters of the Red Sea on dry ground and saw their enemies drowned behind them.  They were led to God’s very presence on Mount Sinai but at the first opportunity they took the wealth of Egypt God had placed into their hands, fashioned an idol from it, fell down before it and worshiped it, calling it the god of their deliverance.

            Throughout their wilderness years God showed again and again that he could be trusted to meet the needs of his people and yet they grumbled about him and doubted him again and again.  They needed this warning to remember the Lord by keeping his commands and so do we! 

As remarkable as was the deliverance God provided for the children of Israel, what God has done for us (to set us free from sin and death) is even more remarkable.  He has delivered us from Sagan’s dominion and made us his people by sending his own Son to live and die and rise again for us. We are the free people of God, headed to heaven, ONLY because of what Jesus has done for us! 

And as God’s people, he has provided for us every step of our journey to our heavenly home.  We are sitting here today, fed and clothed and sheltered and loved by friends and family ONLY because of God’s gracious provision. 

When we came into this world we did not even have the shirt that is on our back and look at what we possess now!  Can it be possible that we have forgotten the Lord?  Before you answer that question too quickly, hear again how the LORD describes forgetfulness:

“Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes. 

From the Lord’s perspective, we have forgotten him, not based on whether or not we can recite the facts of salvation history (the devil can do that!) but we have forgotten the Lord when we do not walk in his ways and keep his commandments, rules, and statutes.

And so I ask you again:  is it possible that we have forgotten the LORD and his mighty, gracious salvation and provision?  What answer does our checkbook give?

What does the way we handle our finances and make our financial decisions and give our offerings say about whether or not remember that the LORD is our Savior and our Provider?  Does the LORD come first?  Do we trust him to meet our needs?  Are we seeking his counsel on how to manage the resources we have?  We should!  Because he is the one who has given it all to us in the first place!  The Bible says:

Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’  You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

            The unbelieving world around us says:  MY power, MY might, MY hand, MY wealth.  The Lord warns us that, as his children, we must not talk that way! 

He is the one who gives us the power to get wealth.  He is the one who opens his hand to satisfy the desire of every living thing.  He is the one who pours out blessings upon his children.

That is why sacrificial, proportionate, intentional, first-fruits giving is so important!  It reminds us, each time we give to the Lord, that he can be trusted to fill our hand again and again.

When we make it our first priority—both as individual Christians and as a Christian congregation-- to give to God’s mission was are making a confession of faith.  We are confessing that all we have is from the Lord.  We are confessing that he is the Creator and we are his creatures; that he is our Father and we are his children.  And finally we are confessing our faith in his provision in the days to come. 

God made a covenant with Abraham that he would bless the world through his offspring and he provided everything needed to keep that solemn promise in the person of God’s own Son, Jesus Christ.  He also promised Abraham that his people would have a homeland and now they were about to receive the fulfillment of that promise in the Promised Land.

In material blessings and spiritual blessings the LORD was and is and always will be the God of kept promises who promises to bless his people and provide for his people in this world and the world to come. 

As we plan for the future, and especially as we consider how we can best walk in God’s ways and follow his will regarding our finances, we don’t have to be afraid to step out in faith and give generously to the LORD for he is the God of kept promises who will meet our needs in the days to come!  Amen.

Remembering the Past

Remembering the Past

Deuteronomy 8:1-5 The people we encounter in God’s Word today, and over the next several weeks, were standing at a crossroads in life.  They had been slaves-- but now they were free.  They had been desert wanderers-- but now they were going to have a homeland.  They had been a solitary people in the wilderness--now they would live next to those who did not share their faith.

They were at a crossroads in their lives as a people and so God spoke to them through his servant Moses to help them Plan for the Future.

I’ve chosen the words of Deuteronomy chapters eight and nine for a three-week stewardship sermon series because I believe that we as a congregation find ourselves at just such a crossroads in our life together as the people God in this place and we need God’s counsel to Plan for the Future and go forward in faith. 

A crossroads in life is always a serious matter.  It can be a little bit frightening because it calls us to step out in faith and begin to go in a new direction.  But it can also be faith-building as we discover (in a brand new way) that the Lord (who has blessed us this far in our journey) will also be with us to bless us as we journey on.

What we are going to discover in God’s Word over the next three weeks is that Planning for the Future requires three things from us:  that we take time to remember the past; that we make sure we are walking in God’s ways right now; and that we cross over and go forward into the future with faith and courage.  The Bible says that:

“The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers.  You shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you…

            The command that Moses gave was not new—it had been given by God to the people forty years earlier at Mt Sinai.  It had been ringing in their ears for decades.  And even before that, Moses’ words harkened back even earlier in salvation history to a promise that God had made to Abraham and renewed again and again to his descendants to give them the land that now lay before their very eyes. 

That’s why this moment in time was different.  Camped on the east side of the Jordan River, they were Planning for the Future in the Promised Land.  That journey into the future began with them remembering the past. I believe that we are in much the same place as a congregation. 

If only because of the demographic realities of our own congregation, I can assure you that over the next five or ten years, we will not be the same congregation that we are today.  We have a school ministry that is younger than the church ministry and is growing-- while our aging congregation has reached a plateau.  And the community itself around us is changing.

Like the Israelites, we stand at a crossroads and face a future that is very different than the past and we need to plan for that, first of all, by remembering the past.  The Bible says:

You shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

            For the children of Israel camped along the Jordan River, when they remembered the past, they remembered God’s salvation and blessing and protection and deliverance.  They remembered all the twists and turns along the way. 

A journey that should have taken them 11 days, took them forty years.  But God was with them through it all and they knew in a powerful way that the Lord their God was a powerful God who led them along their journey as a people.  Can we say anything different?

            This congregation began worshiping in San Angelo is 1926 and was formally organized on January 2, 1927 with six charter members.  For the first two years of our existence we worshipped in another congregation’s building until the church on Kenwood was dedicated in 1929.  Over the years, additional properties and buildings in the neighborhood were purchased so make room for a growing congregation. 

In 1951 this congregation stepped out in faith and began a Christian day school and by 1957 there were 190 children enrolled from kindergarten to sixth grade.  Thirty years later a new church and school building was dedicated here on Lutheran Way.

Ninety plus years later there are over 400 people call Trinity Lutheran Church their home and 70 years later over 300 children are given a Christian education here each day. 

Along with the Israelites camped along the Jordan, and with God’s people in every place and time, in times when we stumbled and times when we were faithful, we can truly say that the Lord has led us on the way and sustained us by his Word.  The Bible says that

The Lord humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

            The Israelites left Egypt with the wealth of their former masters but in very short order that wealth became the source of their spiritual downfall.  Later they would grumble against the Lord about his provision in the desert and they would yearn to return to slavery just to eat the food of Egypt. 

By hard lessons they had to learn that their life with God was not about material things-- but about his promise to meet their needs. And so he did!  Hundreds of thousands of people had their hunger satisfied and their thirst quenched for decades in a desert—and all because God promised to care for his people. 

During all those years they learned again and again that their life did not depend on what they could see and hold and taste and touch in that moment—but on the faithfulness of their savior God who had always provided for them and promised to meet their needs in the days ahead as well.

So it is for us.  Our life together as a church and school has been sustained for over ninety years by the Word of God.  Sustained by the Word of God that guides our lives and corrects us when we go astray.  Sustained especially by the Word of God that assures us that we are forgiven and loved and cared for by our Savior God. 

That Gospel Word of God in Holy Baptism and Holy Communion—in preaching and teaching and absolution—in classroom and lunchroom and playground—has sustained and strengthened us in our life together as God’s people in this place for decades and it is important for us to remember that.

Often times when we talk about stewardship, our minds immediately go to money—and certainly the way that we use our money is important and says much about faith and life with God. 

But the most important gift God has given us-- and the most important gift we have to share with others—and our only reason for existence in this community--is the Good News of salvation that is found in Jesus Christ who has delivered us from slavery to sin and death and promised us a home in heaven.

That message of life (that man does not live by bread along but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord) we know!  What a blessing it is to say that!  And so we are charged by God with making it known to our community through the preaching of our church and the teaching of our school. 

But we also have to recognize that the fulfillment of that charge requires financial support that is faithful and sacrificial.  The Bible says that for the Israelites:  Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years.

The unimaginable provision of our Savior God!  The Israelites spent most of those decades outside in the elements, tending their flocks.  They did a lot of walking in in the wilderness over those forty years—most of it because of their own waywardness. 

But in all those years they never replaced their clothing and their feet never gave out, besides have their hunger and thirst satisfied daily.  Truly miraculous provision for their material needs!  As they gave back to God, they knew that he would meet their needs.

Now, just think about our life as a congregation.  Imagine you were one of those six founding members.  First of all, there were only six of you—not hundreds!  Your pastor was actually the pastor of another congregation.  You met in a building that was not your own. 

Could you have ever imagined over 90 years of provision that would have led to the facility and financial resources and personnel that we have now?  If they were here today they would count this place no less a miracle of God’s provision than what he did for the Israelites.

We need to remember that!  Standing at a crossroads as we are now, we have a tendency to only look ahead and wonder and worry about how we will ever meet the challenges that lie ahead—and there are challenges to be sure! 

But what we learn, as we remember, the past is that our faithful God is more than able to meet our needs in wonderful and miraculous and unexpected ways just as he always has—for he is a faithful Father who loves his children.  The Bible says:  Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.

The meaning of this Hebrew word that is translated as “discipline” in our text is much broader than that.  It means to teach and instruct and admonish.  In other words, it means that God deals with us every moment of our lives as a father deals with his children: teaching and training and disciplining and instructing and admonishing. 

As they planned for the future, God wanted the Israelites to remember that they were his children and they could count on his fatherly presence in their lives in the years to come.

Yes, there were going to be challenges.  Yes, there would be hardships.  But God would always be to them a Father who could be counted on to meet their needs and bless them in the days ahead.

So it is for us.  God does has never forsaken his children and he will not forsake us in the years to come.  Instead, he will be to us what he has always been:  a wise, generous, loving Father who desires only the best for his children.

When we remember the past, we are reminded of how true this is—in our own lives and in the life of this congregation.  And laying claim that relationship of a Father and his children, we are glad to walk in his ways, and plan for the future, and go forward in faith with courage and boldness.  Amen.