JUNE 1, 2008  SERMON ARCHIVE

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen.

The text for our sermon meditation today is the Gospel of the Day, Matthew 7:15-29. You have that text before you in your worship folder.

Dear Christian friends:

In 1840, a young unbeliever by the name of Friedrich August Craemer took feverishly sick. In the delirium of his illness, he began to feel overwhelmed by the reality of his mortality, by the depth of his sins, and by the unshakable fear of God's wrath. But there was no Bible at hand, no hymnbook, no pastor or other Christian to speak the faith to the young Craemer. He had only the words of the Small Catechism-words that he had previously learned and rejected-but words that his mother had tirelessly planted within him many years before

In particular, the words to the explanation to the Second Article of the Creed illuminated the dark night of August Craemer's soul: 'Jesus Christ has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil.' Thus it was that a young unbeliever took to his sickbed, but when the fever broke, a Christian arose.

The powerful and life-giving words that had been planted by his mother had finally blossomed and bore fruit, fruit that would continue to flourish as Craemer grew to become a steadfast Christian, a faithful pastor, a prominent seminary professor, and one of the most profound influences upon the history of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

God's words in today's Old Testament are as damning as they are easy to understand: 'Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them to your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up' (Deuteronomy 11:18-19).

And as we gather here in the rosy glow of our Lord's divine gifts, it is easy to agree that the two things spoken of here are important: (1) that we fix God's words in our own hearts and minds, and (2) that we do the same for our children. (Surely you will want to say, as does everyone, the clich¨¦ that '...children are the future of our congregation and of our church body and we must make sure they learn what that means if they are to carry on.) Yet, how many of you are ready to admit that we all, everyone of us, we have all failed miserably-and unbelievably so-on both of these accounts. Are you willing to admit that you often fail to pray, and that you also fail to teach your children to pray, and that you fail to pray with them. Did you know that in so doing, you teach your children never to pray.

How often do you fail to study the Word sufficiently, how often do you fail to teach your children the Word? Did you know that when that happens, you are teaching your children that God's Word is not all that important-it is merely something you must endure for two years of confirmation class. Have you taken Christian teaching out of your home and handed it over to the Pastor, to me, to this congregation? Do you then proceed to work against my and the congregation's efforts by not bringing your children to Sunday School, by not making confirmation instruction their #1 priority, and by not insisting that they do their assignments faithfully and well?

Wait a minute, those of you who do study the Word regularly and who do manage to pray once in a while. You have no room to be smug.

While parents struggle to teach these things to their children, how much help have you offered? Are you willing to stand up and help with the children in Church, have you volunteered to help with Sunday School, with vacation Bible School, have you offered to assist in whatever way you can. And even if you have, would any of you dare to stand before God and claim that you have done enough?

I certainly would not-and in today's Old Testament Lesson, I look upon my own condemnation. I am sure I have not done enough as your Pastor to train and equip the children of this congregation. In fact, I am sure I have failed miserably in training each one of you in all righteousness and truth. That is why, as a body, we have failed to do the things that God has commanded here. As a body, we must work harder to learn the faith, and to impress upon our children the indelible knowledge of the faith, so that they, like August Craemer, may find peace for their own souls.

'Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them to your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up' (Deuteronomy 11:18-19). And that is why in our Gospel for today we read our Lord¡¯s own indictment: 'But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash' (Matthew 7:26-27).

By the power of God's Word, each Christian has been placed by God upon the firm, earthquake-proof foundation of salvation. As the psalmist says, '[The LORD] lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand' (Psalm 40:2). And again, 'The LORD has become my fortress, and my God the rock in whom I take refuge' (Psalm 94:22).

And from the prophet Isaiah, this promise: '[The Lord] will be a sure foundation for your times' (Isaiah 33:6).

Yet the same prophet Isaiah announces that this is not any foundation, but it is a found-ation built upon the Christ: 'See, I lay in Zion a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trust will never be dismayed' (Isaiah 33:16).

Peter says to us: 'Now to you who believe, this stone is precious' (1 Peter 2:6) for you know that this cornerstone is the crucified Christ. '

He is the chief cornerstone' Paul writes in Ephesians 2:20, '... that founds your salvation and the solid rock upon which the house of your eternal life is built.'

'The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock' (Matthew 7:25).

So, why do you, why do we, work so hard to erode the very foundation that we have been given in Christ? Why are you, how can you, and me, how can we be so inattentive to the very words that create in each heart this foundation of forgiveness and life? Why do we- through our neglect of the Word and our neglect of our children-why do we give our children the impression that life is much better down off from the rock and out on the sand?

God has given to each of you and to each of your children the forgiveness of sins that comes only through Christ. And this is a miracle. God has likewise given to each of you and to each of your children the desire to hear His Word, to take His commandments to heart, and to live your lives accordingly.

This is what Jesus means when He says, 'Whoever hears these words of Mine and puts them into practice' (Matthew 7:24) and this, too, is a miracle. And in this forgiveness of sins, and in this new love for God that you have been given, God has provided you with a shelter and a refuge; a secure place of safety.

Indeed, blessed is the man and blessed the woman who remains in the place God has established him or her, firm upon the rock, and who does not turn away toward the sand.

Dear friends, through that Word, through prayer, who knows what miracles God will graciously perform for and through your children, and you!

Remember always, and remind your children, too.

Christ Is Risen.

Fix these words ...in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them to your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up'

Christ Is Risen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.