Sermon: Judging God

Preached on Job 38:1-11
Proper 7B/Pentecost 4
21 June AD 2015

Title: Judging God (MP3 Audio)

Summary: Today I had the pleasure of preaching at Shepherd of the Hills, Fayette, Missouri for the 20th Anniversary of the ordination of Andrew Etzler. Andy asked me to preach on one of the day’s appointed readings rather than a passage outside the Lectionary. We ended up standing beside Job, hearing the Lord challenging our sinful, short-sighted desire to comprehend an incomprehensible God and to second-guess, to judge, our Maker.

God told Job to gird himself like someone preparing for battle — but this fight was short and one-sided. Job was completely out of the Lord’s league in terms of knowledge and power. So also are we. Even if He did go into more details in explaining Himself and His actions, it’s doubtful that we would be any more enlightened.

However, we already know all of God that’s important for us. We know Him through His Word — through the Law’s accusations and the Gospel’s restoration. We know His condemnation of our sins and of His full, free forgiveness through Jesus. We know that even if we cannot know His mind, He knows ours. Truly, He knew us before we were born — even before He began to frame Creation.

When God says, “Dress for action,” He also provides our raiment. In Baptism, He clothes us in righteousness, dressing us in proper attire for any and all circumstances. No matter our vocations nor our various uniforms of the day, we are clad in the blood-washed clothing of the saints and are equipped to live as His children and heirs of eternal life.

Text: Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

“Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements — surely you know!

“Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

“Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from 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 shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’? Job 38:1-11

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Judging God

NB: A few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio with Windows Media Player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.

Other Readings: Psalm 124; 2 Corinthians 6:1-13; Mark 4:35-41

Sermon: Unclean and Holy

Preached on Isaiah 6:1-8
Trinity Sunday — 31 May AD 2015

Title: Unclean and Holy (MP3 Audio)

Summary: The sacred and the profane cannot abide each other. Isaiah found himself before the Lord of hosts and the seraphim and realized that he was a sinner, unclean and intolerable to the Holy One. Yet he didn’t flee because faith in his God held him until he could hear the fulness of the message.

Yes, God is a “consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29).” However, we who trust in the Son are not consumed. Instead, we benefit from the fiery trials suffered by Jesus (cf. Luke 12:49-50).

He who was consumed by death then consumed it in His resurrection, ensuring that the fires of hell would never touch those who believe in Him. Through Word and Sacrament, the Holy Spirit applies the blessings won by Christ. Thus the “holy, holy, holy” Lord God makes for Himself a holy people.

We confess with Scripture that we are sinful from conception and birth and remain sinners in thought, word, and deed. When not actively committing sin, we often passively sit by and refuse to do good, to love others as Christ loved us. We also confess that we are saints — redeemed by Jesus, brought to faith by the Holy Spirit, and children of our heavenly Father.

Unclean, yet holy ... sinners yet saints: We live day by day in this marvelous mystery of the Faith. Even as we remain in this fallen Creation, we also anticipate Christ’s return in glory, the complete and everlasting cleansing of our sinful natures, and an eternity in the blessed presence of the Almighty.

Text: In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” Isaiah 6:1-8

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Unclean and Holy

NB: A few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio with Windows Media Player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.

Other Readings: Psalm 29; Acts 2:14a, 22-36; John 3:1-17

Trinity Sunday: Visit Aardvark Alley for a bit more on the Feast of the Holy Trinity.