Proper 14A Sermon: Drinking from a Fire Hose

Preached on Job 38:4–18
The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
9 August AD 2020

Video: Click to view the YouTube video of Drinking from a Fire Hose.

Audio: Alternatively, choose Drinking from a Fire Hose to hear the MP3.

Summary: Job wanted a few swallows of understanding from God’s well of wisdom as to why he faced his troubles. The Lord instead turned on the fire hose of His might and glory, never answering the particulars of Job’s questions.

However, Job finally learned that God knows best and is in control of all that befell him. So with us: We may never know why evils enter our lives. However, we do know that we’ll never face the ultimate evil of life now and forevermore without God as long as we believe in Christ crucified for our sins and raised for our justification.

Text: [The Lord answered Job,] “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’?

“Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? It is changed like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment. From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken.

“Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.” Job 38:4–18

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.

Video: Click to view the YouTube video of Drinking from a Fire Hose.

Audio: Click Drinking from a Fire Hose to listen to the MP3.

Other Readings: Psalm 18:1–16; Romans 10:5–17; Matthew 14:22–33

Pentecost 10 Sermon: Dying with God

Preached on Job 38:4-18
10th Sunday After Pentecost— Proper 14A
13 August AD 2017

Title: Click to hear the MP3 of Dying with God.

Summary: When the Lord challenges us as He did Job, we can certainly answer one of His questions in the affirmative: “The gates of death” have been revealed to us. Christ burst them open and tore them down. We passed through them in Baptism. For in Baptism, we died with Jesus on the cross and in Baptism we crossed over to everlasting life in Him.

Text: [The Lord said to Job,] “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’?

“Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?

“It is changed like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment. From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken.

“Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.” Job 38:4-18

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 Dying with 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 18:1-6 (7-16); Romans 10:5-17; Matthew 14:22-33

Easter Day Sermon: I Know

Preached on Job 19:23-27
The Resurrection of Our Lord
27 March AD 2016

Title: I Know (MP3 Audio)

Summary: “I know that my Redeemer lives!”

Job is convinced that even in the midst of crushing loss and excruciating pain, He rests secure in God’s hands. Furthermore, he is certain of his own resurrection, no longer how long or how completely his body decays.

The agony of this righteous man foreshadows the greater agony of the completely righteous Man who would bear Job’s sorrows and sins — along with those of all mankind. Job’s confidence is ours. Jesus suffered every one of our pains, knew all of our losses, bore all of our infirmities, and carried all of our sins. Christ’s loss is our restoration, His pain our pleasure, His death our forgiveness, and His resurrection our life everlasting.

Text: “Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!

“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

“My heart faints within me!” Job 19:23-27

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 I Know.

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 118:15-29; 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 or 1 Corinthians 15:51-57; Mark 16:1-8

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