Hebrews 4:14-16 • July 31, 2016

Brothers and sisters in Christ grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Several times during the year, we have an opportunity in our worship life together to step away from the rhythm of the Revised Common Lectionary cycle of scripture readings and enter into a worship series that focuses our attention on a specific theme for a few weeks. These series might be about stewardship or our shared global mission work or faith education around a topic that helps us dig deeper into what it means to be a Lutheran Christian in the world today.

This is the last week of a worship series that has centered us on the Lord’s Prayer this summer. I’m grateful for the numerous pieces of feedback that you have shared with me throughout this series – positive and negative. I sincerely hope and pray that the past several weeks have been a time of growth for you and me in our relationship with one another as brothers and sisters in Christ and with our God.

“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.” are the words that we share at the conclusion of this most significant prayer that’s been the focus of our summer worship series.

A prayer that many assume all Christians know by memory and use daily in their faith life.
Like so many of the other parts of this prayer that we have walked through over the past 6 weeks, I wonder if you and I actually live out our life of faith in ways that reflect the Lord’s Prayer or this concluding section of it.

As I’ve thought about this, I’m reminded of one of the great President Abraham Lincoln stories that I’ve heard. Lincoln was arguing with one of his political opponents.

“How many legs does a cow have?” Lincoln asked his adversary.
“Four, of course,” came the disgusted reply.
“That’s right,” agreed Lincoln. “Now suppose you call the cow’s tail a leg; how many legs would the cow have?”
“Why, five, of course,” was the confident reply.
“Now, that’s where you’re wrong,” said Lincoln. “Calling a cow’s tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.”

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory. For thine. Meaning for God. Not for Pastor Craig or for the church or for a specific race or nation or time in history is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory. For thine. For God is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever. For God.

This section of The Lord’s Prayer is called the Doxology. Doxology is one of those strange churchy words that I’m guessing you don’t use much in your everyday speech. Simply stated, doxology reflects an expression of praise to God. Again, not about us. About God.

Pastor Tom Harris states that, “This doxology with which we conclude the Lord’s Prayer answers three questions: Who has the authority? Who has the ability? Who deserves the credit?”

Think about that. What’s the leg and what’s the tail? in the Lord’s Prayer? Or may even who’s the leg and who’s the tail?

Who has the authority?

Who has the ability?

Who deserves the credit?

And furthermore, it’s important to note that answers to these kind of questions with regard to the Lord’s Prayer goes a lot further than thinking that the only “right way” to say this prayer is to say sins or trespasses or debts.

Frankly, brothers and sisters in Christ, I don’t believe that actually matters. That’s not the purpose of the prayer. I just don’t think God really cares which word we use as long as we are answering the questions about who has the authority, who has the ability, and who deserves the credit appropriately.

Martin Luther teaches us very directly about this part of the Lord’s Prayer in the Small Catechism by stating “That I should be certain that such petitions are acceptable to and heard by our Father in heaven, for God himself commanded us to pray like this and promised to hear us.”

In other words – the doxology or concluding words of the Lord’s Prayer are words of confidence. Words of confidence that we believe God is with us always, that we believe God hears us and that we believe that God does answer our prayer. And sometimes it takes the littlest of God’s children to remind us of that.

Take a look at this video clip that was texted to me during our summer worship series from one of Good Shepherd’s families.

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The great 20th century theologian Karl Barth once wrote, “Prayer is not an undertaking left to chance, a trip into the blue. It must end as it has begun, with conviction.” I think that our 3-year old sister in Christ in that video clip is praying with conviction. Or better yet, with confidence and boldness.

In our New Testament reading from Hebrews today, we heard, “Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (vs. 16)

The doxology of the Lord’s Prayer is not the culmination of our greatness or a call to action that guilts us into doing things in order for God to love us and finally pay attention to us. The doxology of the Lord’s Prayer is the culmination of the greatness of our God, the God of all creation. The culmination of the greatness of God that invites us to approach the throne of God’s grace with conviction. With confidence. With boldness.

Go, brothers and sisters in Christ, as you pray the Lord’s Prayer, pray it boldly. Pray it confidently. Pray it with conviction. And may you be reminded every single time that you pray the Lord’s Prayer that the God of all creation is with you always – in all times and all places and all situations – for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Matthew 6:25-33 • July 10, 2016

Click here to view a video of this sermon. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ grace and peace to you from God our Father and Lord of all provision, our Savior Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Whether it’s in a physical location or on the internet, sometimes I find myself buying things I don’t need. I have nothing on my list of things to get. Nothing. I simply am browsing the really good deals.

Aahhh…you smile. You know what I’m talking about.

Two of the worst places for me are Menards and an online store called 6pm.com. I don’t know why – but I always come away from these stores with things that I didn’t even know I needed.

I can go into Menards for one item and walk out with enough items to completely redo all of the electrical service in my house. I browse around the 6pm.com website for a few minutes and, for some strange reason, a few days later a new pair of shoes arrive at my front door.

I think part of the problem here is that our hearts have come to believe that satisfaction can come from things. And truth be told, we never seem to be satisfied with the things we have, so we continue to live thinking that acquiring more things will eventually satisfy us. I don’t know, does it make us any happier? Are we satisfied? Can we ever be satisfied?

Well, there is a bit of good news in all of this. We are not the first people to struggle with this. The people in Jesus’ day were just as consumed with consumption. And Jesus had a great deal of wisdom to share with them about this. In fact, in our gospel reading from Saint Matthew today I believe Jesus gets to the center of this issue. Did you hear it? Jesus says, “Do not worry.”  Worry!! Is that what this is all about??

Maybe Jesus is on to something here. Maybe you and I need to pause for a second and look deep inside and see what’s going on in our consumption crazy hearts. What need are we feeding or trying to feed? Especially in light of the fact that for nearly every person in this worship space today, you and I already have way more than we really need.

I think we’re looking for some sort of security in our lives. That’s where the “need” language of our consumption appetite is justified. Security needs things. And if we don’t have things, we’re insecure. Then we worry.

But Jesus says, “Do not worry.”

He will provide the security our hearts need to exist and even to thrive as children of God. Look around! The birds and the flowers are taken care of, so why not you? Jesus loves you and does provide for you. What can worrying do? Take a few seconds and think about how much time you have spent worrying recently? I believe that most of the things we worry about, either don’t happen at all or are not changed because of our worry. In spite of that, we still spend time and energy worrying.

And I also believe this is a bondage to a false sense of self and a sin-filled human characteristic that causes us to believe that we are in fact in charge. That we actually are in control. So, at the heart of the matter, it’s the bondage to our unbelief that causes worry or an obsession for accumulating things. Our unbelief that God actually does care for us and about us and is in fact the God of all creation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus is the one who who was sent by God, who came into the world to save us and who continues to come into our lives to break the chains of this bondage. In the last verse of our gospel reading today, Jesus says “Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Simply stated, Jesus provision is our freedom. God’s gift of a savior in Christ Jesus is our freedom.

So what might that mean to you and me as we walk through this next week? How might the freedom that we receive from God through our Savior Jesus speak to us tomorrow at work or with our coffee group or softball team or even when we are shopping.

As you pray the Lord’s Prayer this week – and I really hope that you do in fact do that – focus your attention on the fourth petition “give us this day our daily bread.” Say it over and over.

Because we don’t pray this part of the prayer to receive stuff. We pray it because we believe that God can and will take care of us. We pray it so our focus is not on us or on all the things we think we need. We pray it to remind us that God and God alone is the one who provides for us and for all things, like the birds of the air and the flowers of the fields. We pray it to refocus our attention, and call forth faith from our worry worn hearts.

Jesus’ provision is our freedom.

In our journey of faith this week, when you and I find ourselves with the compulsion to buy something that we have to actually convince ourselves that we really need, when in fact, we don’t. Call someone. That’s right. Have someone on speed-dial and call them right away! Because our heart wants relationship, and more things in our life do not give us relationship. People do. So call someone, not something. Move from something to someone to the One who gives us all the things necessary to truly love.

Jesus’ provision is our freedom.

And in addition to the call someone idea, the next time you find yourself with a compulsion to buy something that you have to convince yourself that you really need, when in fact, you don’t, buy it anyway. But not for you! Give it away. Bring it to a homeless shelter like Ruth Meier’s or Welcome House. Or stop by the Bismarck Emergency Food Pantry or Ministry on the Margins. Bless another child of God with your purchase.

In all of this, my hope and prayer is that this helps us to begin to love our neighbor as our self in new and life-changing ways. This week, as you pray the Lord’s Prayer, maybe the Holy Spirit will lead you and me to give someone else their daily bread.

Jesus’ provision is our freedom.

Think about the events of this past week in our world and the experiences that you have had in your own life. Imagine a world where you and I live for God and our neighbor, actually trusting in God to provide for our daily needs. Imagine a world in which you and I live into the idea that Jesus’ provision is in fact our freedom. That’s what it means to pray “give us this day our daily bread.”

Jesus’ provision is our freedom from the fear that betrays our compulsive buying habits.

Jesus’ provision is our freedom from the fear that keeps us gathering things rather than giving them away.

Jesus’ provision is our freedom to find faithfulness in everyday living – even as we continue to live in this broken and violent and sin-filled world.

Jesus’ provision is our freedom to, in Jesus’ own words from today’s gospel reading, to “strive first for the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.” Jesus’ provision is yours today and for all of the days to come. Amen.