The Gift That Keeps on Giving
October 21 and 22, 2017
Psalm 145:8-21 / II Corinthians 9:6-15 /Luke 21:1-4
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.  2 Corinthians 8:9
Dear Friends in Christ,
He just kept on (giving)
No doubt you all have two or three people in your lives that have particularly impressed you and blessed you with their generosity.  One of those two or three people in my life was my father in law, Lester.  He was an early riser, a hard worker, a Green Bay Packer backer, and he could talk smart with the best of them.  There was nothing he could not fix, and there was nothing he wouldn’t do for family, for friends, and for his local church. He and Joyce would use up weeks of vacation at a time work on projects with their two daughters, their one son, and families.  It seemed to me that he didn’t have a selfish, a stingy, nor a lazy bone in his body.   He passed away over 21 years ago, and if you want to see Debi and her mom tear up, go ahead and ask them how much they miss Lester.  No doubt you could all name one or more people in your lives who are famous in your minds for giving and helping and serving and befriending whether they were being appreciated or not.  They were and are gifts that keep on giving.
In today’s sermon, we fix our eyes on Jesus Christ, who was, is, and ever shall be the gift from God that keeps on giving.  Jesus Christ is synonymous with the grace of God.  The grace of God is, by definition amazing, contagious, and generous.  There you have the three parts of today’s sermon – the grace of God is by definition amazing, contagious, and generous.
First of all, Grace is, by definition, (amazing).  Our appointed Scriptures for today make this abundantly clear.  In Psalm 145, we find the wretched sinner King David  amazed at how great, how merciful, how compassionate, how gracious, how mighty, how amazing is the one true God.   King David, famous for disrespecting the military he commanded, famous for committing adultery with a soldier’s wife, famous for trying to cover up that sexual misconduct, famous for homicide and lying repeatedly through his teeth, now forgiven, now cleansed, now declared righteous concluding this song of praise with “My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord and let all flesh bless his holy name forever.”
And then there is St. Paul the wretched persecutor of the church transformed by the grace of God into perhaps the greatest missionary of the Gospel.   In today’s Epistle we find him inviting the Corinthians to be amazed, as he is amazed, at how God just keeps on giving, amazed at how God is able to make his grace abound and then multiply out into the community and throughout all the generations.
In our Gospel lesson for today, we find Jesus Himself amazed at how the Holy Spirit could work such a faith in the heart of a widow that she would give away the very money she needed to live on.
Lesson #1 today is simply to be amazed by the grace of God, as a little girl would be amazed the first time she sees for herself the ocean.   A couple of questions for you, to chew on in these days. 

• Do I see myself to be in the company of wretched sinners like King David and Paul, or do I think myself as a cut above wretched?
• Am I constantly surprised by and delighted with the forgiveness of my sins, or have I fallen into the habit of taking it for granted?

Secondly, Grace is, by definition, (contagious).  Again, our three lessons for today make this clear.  King David is as fired up as he can be to make sure succeeding generations know how great, how glorious, how slow to anger, how compassionate, how forgiving is their God.  Paul can hardly wait for the Corinthians to show their appreciation for God’s grace by giving a generous gift for the relief of the poor saints in Jerusalem.  In our Gospel lesson, Jesus wanted his disciples to notice the widow’s sacrificial contribution and to learn from it.
Lutheran Hour preacher Ken Klaus recently told a story of a Christian church that was conducting a food drive.  Congregational members were asked to contribute non perishable items.  One mother and her six year old daughter were going through their pantry, and came across a bottle of beets.  The mom set the beets aside, along with some condensed milk and lima beans.   The mom said, “There, that will do, and we won’t miss these things, nobody here likes them.”  To which the daughter politely replied, “But if we give them only what we don’t want, aren’t they helping us?”
This story and the story of the widow giving her two small copper coins reminds us that both generosity and stinginess are contagious.  Let me repeat that, both the habit of generosity and the habit of stinginess are contagious.  Paul teaches us today that God loves a cheerful giver.   The Psalmist tells us that the Lord, who really owns everything, isn’t at all impressed with left over contributions, nor is He going to be pleased when we just go through the motions.  What the Lord wants, first, foremost and always is a Christian heart which has seen the Savior’s sacrifice and is moved to respond.  That response may be shown forth in terms of treasure, or talent, or time, but always it will find its source in a broken and contrite heart.
Lesson #2 is that God’s grace is by definition contagious, as contagious as a good belly laugh can be in a room full of people who like to giggle.  Two questions for you to chew on in these days today, as we think about which of our habits are catching on with other people.

• Am I intentionally imitating the people in my life whose generosity has spilled over into my life, or I pretty much minding my own business these days?
• When God looks into my heart, would He comment to His angels “hey there’s a cheerful giver over there!” or would He be using a different adjective to describe my giving?

Third, Grace is, by definition, (generous)  King David knew that it was by the grace of a compassionate God that he was saved, it was not because of his own good works, there was no way he could boast in his own merit. David knew what we want to know again today – the man is truly blessed whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sin is covered, and against whom the Lord counts no iniquity.  Again and again, David would plead with fellow and forgiven sinners to spend their days praising their God, to spend their days shouting for joy in the Lord, to spend their days speaking of God’s glory and power.
Paul knew what we want to know again today.  That as often as the amazing grace of God is received, that often it shows up as an amazing generosity towards others.  Generosity isn’t so much a decision that we make, it’s an attitude worked inside of us as we daily drown the old sinful nature, leaving room for Jesus Christ to rise up on the inside of us and rule.  Generosity isn’t something we can muster up by trying harder to muster it up, it’s a gift worked on the inside of us as we recognize and ask God to take away every bit of our stinginess, every bit of our self -centeredness, every bit of our foolishness. Generosity isn’t something we can manufacture, but it is something we can imitate from others, it is something we can encourage in one another, it is a gift from God that He invites us to pay forward always with the next generations in mind.
Lesson #3 is to observe the natural progression from amazing grace on the part of our God turning into an amazing generosity welling up on the inside of us and bubbling over into the lives of others.  Two questions for you to chew on in these days:

• Who are the two or three people in my life who have helped me to believe without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ loves me and is with me always?
• Who are the two or three people in my life that are watching me closely these days to see whether or not I practice what we preach in this place?

They just keep on (paying it forward).  At our recent Lutheran Educators’ conference, three of our TLS teachers were recognized for milestones in their Lutheran School teaching careers….Joan Quiram for 15 years, De Malterer for 15 years, and Louise Lund for 40 years.  Forty years!  40 years of beginning every school day with devotions and prayer, 40 years of teaching all the subjects in the context of God as Creator, Jesus as Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit as Sanctifier.  40 years of supervising recesses and lunch room – are you kidding me?  40 years of partnering with hundreds of parents and thousands of donors here at this large church in a small town.  40 years of telling the next generation of the mighty deeds of our God, or to say it another way, 40 years of paying forward the gift that keeps on giving.
When I asked Louise if there was one teacher in particular that inspired her to be a teacher, she said, yes.  Miss Peterson, her 3rd grade teacher at St. John Lutheran School in Good Thunder. Miss Peterson, she says, was ever so sweet, ever so kind, ever so ready to let her assist her classmates in their multi grade classroom. These and thousands and thousands of other teachers and parents and supporters of Christian education all over the world, this is what they are doing, they are paying it forward.  It all started with Jesus Christ paying all that was necessary to pay, and it continues as often as the next generation is invited to receive the gift of God’s grace.  God’s grace, which is by definition amazing, contagious, and generous.   In the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.
 

God’s Love for the Lost and Straying
Ezekiel 34:11-16 / Matthew 18:10-14 / II Peter 3:8-13
So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
Dear Christian Friends,
In this church year, we have been weaving our way through the Gospel of Matthew and what scholars call his five teaching discourses.  In the Epiphany season, we studied the Sermon on the Mount, in the Easter season we studied the second  / Jesus as Missionary.   This summer we studied through the third / Jesus as Story Teller.   In November, we will study the fifth discourse / Death, Resurrection, World Judgment.   This weekend and last, we focus on the fourth discourse / Life in the Community of Faith. 
Last weekend, Pastor Muther brought forth three thoughts about the Place of Children in the Community of Faith – 1) What it means to be child like,  2) Who we are and how we live out who we are will have impact both the good and the bad in people around us, and 3) The greatest thing we can  do in a day is to receive what God is trying to give us.
This morning, we focus on God’s great love for the lost and the straying.  We operate with the premise that it really isn’t our assignment to figure out whether folks are still in the faith or have been lost to the faith, it is our assignment to care about the same things our Good Shepherd cares about, it is our assignment to have this Godly desire that not one of these little ones should perish, it is our assignment to go looking for those who have been scattered from the flock and invite them back into the green pastures and near the still waters.
We might have only (one chance).  My first assignment as a pastor was to Immanuel Lutheran near Lewiston, MN.  We came there in August of 1980, and for the previous three and a half years, they had been without a full time pastor.  Some congregations have a way of struggling without the leadership of a full time pastor, but not this one, not so much.   In fact, they had established an evangelism committee, and there were a number of their members who had been trained to go out and about, knocking on doors, making Gospel presentations.  In particular, there was a man named Erwin, who was on fire for getting into the homes of people and making a full fledged Gospel presentation.  He was a bit more aggressive than most of us, to put it mildly.   On more than one occasion, my sense was that the folks really didn’t want the full load, but his philosophy was “this might be our only chance.”   He very much had this desire of our Father in heaven that no one should perish, this great desire for all to reach repentance, this great desire for the amazing grace of God to be received and unleashed into the hearts of the lost and the straying in our community.
Three truths we want to learn today about God’s amazing grace. Three truths arising out of today’s Old Testament Lesson, today’s Gospel lesson, and today’s Epistle Lesson, in that order. (The words for the first two parts of our sermon today come from a Facebook cartoon I saw recently – a lady with a frazzled and impatient look on her face declares first, “I could use some help around here.” And then secondly, with a different kind of a look on her face, she declares, “I’ll just do it myself!”)
Lesson #1 from our OT reading - I’m just going to come down there and do it (myself). 
For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. (Ezekiel 34:11)
Years ago, I can remember getting ready to do a painting project in our parsonage basement, and our daughter Michelle wanting to help.   I said sure, you can help, but the more I watched her paint, the less I wanted her to help.  I wasn’t particularly patient with her, and it wasn’t long before I suggested she go and play and I would just do it myself!
In much the same way and on a much grander scale, the more God saw the shepherds of Israel in action in the days of Ezekiel, the more he knew he would just have to come down out of heaven and shepherd the people himself. The shepherds of that day were feeding themselves, but not the sheep. The weak they were not strengthening, the sick they were not healing, the injured they were not binding up, the straying they were not bringing back, the lost they were not seeking out.  The sheep were getting scattered because there were no shepherds that cared about them.  They were wandering all over the mountains and on every high hill, and nobody was searching for them.
And so God announces what He had already declared throughout the ages, beginning with Adam and Eve and repeating to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, and to their descendants.  From heaven above to earth below, He would be coming. Ezekiel prophesied what King David had already written- Yahweh Himself would be the shepherd of His people, He would make his people lie down in green pastures, He would lead them beside the still waters, even though God’s people would walk through the valley of the shadow of death, they would not be afraid, Jesus would be with them always, even to the end of the age.
Lesson #1 today for this community of faith is spend our days rejoicing.  To keep on rejoicing  that Jesus Christ has already come down and done it all by Himself.  Keep on rejoicing that He came on a search and rescue mission, and mission has been accomplished.  When He declared on the cross that it was finished, he said what he meant and meant what he said.  Nothing we can do or say can add to what he has already done.  He came looking for us in the waters of Baptism, and He has found us.  He comes looking for us in the preaching of His Word, and He comes looking for us in the bread and the wine of the wine of the Supper, and every time we receive the gifts He is giving, the lost are found, the straying are rescued, the injured are bound up, the weak are strengthened, the hungry are fed, all is well here on earth as all is well in heaven.
If lesson #1 is to spend our days rejoicing in what our Good Shepherd has already done, lesson #2 is to be passionate about what He is still doing. If lesson #1 is to rejoice in a mission accomplished, then lesson #2 is to be passionate about the mission ongoing.   Or to say it as moms and dads often say when they are trying to teach their children the value of pitching in and doing projects together, I could use some (help) around here.
Lesson #2 comes from our Gospel reading – the words of Jesus - See that you do not despise one of these little ones….So it is not the will of my Father that one of these little ones should perish.
This is, in fact, the overarching theme of the Pentecost season, which begins 50 days after Easter and extends all the way to the end of November.  Pentecost was that day when Jesus Christ poured out His Spirit like he had never poured it out before in the history of the world.  From that day forward, the followers of Jesus were to take the Gospel to the far corners of the world, from that day forward, the Church was to be focused on making disciples of all nations by baptizing in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and by teaching all things that God has commanded. From that day forward, every little Christian congregation all over the world was to see to it that they were not despising even one of these little ones.  From that day forward, pastors and boards of elders were to have on their agenda how best to search for and rescue those who had gone astray. From that day forward, Christians in every generation were to be out and about joining Jesus on His mission to seek and to save the lost.
If lesson #1 was for this community of faith to keep on rejoicing that Jesus Christ has already done it himself, and if lesson #2 is for us to know that Jesus can use our help around here, then lesson #3 out of today’s Epistle lesson is for us to know that God’s patience with sinners is not to be confused with a lack of seriousness.
Lesson #3 is from our Epistle reading - The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance…Peter goes on to say that the day of judgment is coming like a thief in the night, the world as we know it will be passing away, believers will be saved, and unbelievers will be condemned. 
 Peter would have our Father in heaven looking us in the eyes today and saying, I’m (serious).  I’m serious about waiting for the Gospel to be preached in all the nations.  I’m serious about both Jews and Gentiles to be invited to the great banquet hall.  I’m serious about every knee bowing and every tongue confessing that Jesus is Lord.
As the shepherd who left the 99 and went searching for the one lost sheep was serious, as the woman who lost one of ten coins and searched until she found it was serious, as the father whose prodigal son came home was serious about celebrating the forgiveness of sins, so is our God serious about His Church carrying out His Great Commission.  He’s serious about the mission and ministry of Christian congregations and institutions near and far.  He’s serious about preachers preaching in faithful fashion week after week, He’s serious about children getting baptized and raised up in the discipline and nurture of their Savior, He’s serious about His cross being lifted High, His Name being hallowed, and His Kingdom of grace coming more and more in our midst.
 In closing today, we note how often it is that we get distracted from the mission of the church.   Some times we are distracted by life going well and other times by life not going well.  Some weeks, we are distracted into complacency by our prosperity and other weeks we are distracted into panic mode by crisis. This past Monday morning, we woke up to news of Las Vegas in crisis.  We watched in horror as a crazy man perpetuated unimaginable evil on hundreds of concert goers, killing 59, injuring hundreds, and outraging millions. Many of us spent time wondering where was God and how God’s Kingdom could possibly be extended in these days of tragedy.
In response, a columnist name Mike Rowe responded with an article pointing out how the spirit of Americans is (unstoppable) during crisis. quick to rise up and not be silenced.
“The world is as uncertain as the people in it, and we share this land with some very uncertain folks. But we also share it with living proof that hope will never die.
Take comfort in men who threw themselves over other people’s children. They are no less real than the killer, and they are still with us.
Take comfort in the woman who loaded wounded strangers into her car and drove them out of harm’s way.
Take comfort in the hundreds of first responders who risk their lives every day, and the hundreds of anonymous citizens who stood in line to give their blood.
Take comfort in the fact all good people are shattered, and that you are not alone.
In this very place and in this very hour, we ask for more and more of the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts, we ask for the seriousness  of those first responders and medical personnel in Las Vegas to be our seriousness, we ask for God’s desires to be our desires.
 
The kingdom of God is like a large community of faith in a small town who struggle to stay focused on the one thing needful.  They care deeply about the kingdom of God and His righteousness, but they often get distracted by all these other things in life.  But as the years go on, the Holy Spirit has a way of drawing them closer and closer to their Savior.   More and more these days they are rejoicing that Jesus Christ has done everything necessary to seek and to save the lost.  More and more they realize what a privilege it is to be part of His ongoing search and rescue mission.  As often as they come with their brokenness to their God, that often they find joy rising up on the inside of them, that often they find their eyes being opened to see what it is that God is wanting them to see.   In Jesus Name.  Amen.