Series - "Dinner's On Us" - 2

Thank you to Pastor John Boggs for preaching today's sermon. He is the Dean of Students at Michigan Lutheran Seminary.

In 18 minutes, I’m going to say AMEN, have you stand, and we will confess our faith in the one true God with the words of the Apostles’ Creed. If we were in OT Israel, we might instead use the words of Deut. 6:4 as our confession of faith, “hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Or, more emphatically in the Hebrew… What’s nice to know is that- whether it’s in a church in Canada or a tabernacle in Shiloh- this proclamation of faith is exactly the same: we celebrate that our Lord is GOD, cherishing the fact that he is ONE. These words help us to better appreciate this celebration, as Moses reminds both OT Israel and Christ’s NT Church, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.” 1) Teaching this truth is of utmost importance. 2) Teaching this truth is also a FAMILY matter.
I have the privilege at MLS of teaching the 9th grade students OT Bible History. I get to travel with them to the Garden of Eden; we board Noah’s ark and withstand the flood. We cross the Red Sea with the Israelites and travel through their history of judges and kings. For every Unit, I try to come up with a title to help the kids remember the material. If you wanted an overall theme, though, for our class, it could very well be, “MAN’S FAITHLESSNESS VS. GOD’S FAITHULNESS.” Perhaps no on in the OT witnessed this more than Moses. That is why he considered it so imperative to remind them at Mt. Sinai, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one”, because he knew that letting this truth fall through the cracks destroys everything. Unfortunately, even though Israel had time and time again been eye witnesses to and recipients of God’s faithfulness, this truth was so often exchanged for the adoration of false gods and/or blatant unbelief.
One of the favorite past times of my freshman class is to shake their heads at God’s OT people as they built a golden calf, fail to keep his commands, and finally abandon their faith in him completely. Unfortunately, we’ve also found that each of the bibles we bring to class is also equipped with a mirror. And every time we shake our heads in disgust at Israel, all we can see in that mirror is the disgusting image of our own sinfulness. I love reciting the Hebrew of Deut. 6 because it makes me feel smart in front of my students, and proves that I did go to school for a long time to be a pastor. Just because I can recite a little Hebrew, though, doesn’t mean I always keep in the forefront of my life the fact that, “ The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” In fact, my failures are placed right in front of God’s Law when vs. 5 says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Show of hands, how many of you have done this perfectly?! Don’t we rather fit into the category of the Apostle Paul who lamented, “For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate, I do… For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do- this I keep on doing… what a wretched man I am.” If the teaching that our God is both Lord and Savior falls through the cracks, then each of us here is all alone in a quest to earn God’s favor. And guess what> success on this quest comes only when perfection is achieved.
Listen again to verse 5, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” The same words which cause me dread because of my failures are also words that give me the greatest of joy. The reason is this> What we have not even come close to doing for our God, he has done perfectly for us. The OT believers looked forward to a promise of a Savior who was to come. We look back to a cross on which Christ hung as a payment for our sins. While we dress differently, speak differently, and live differently than those who lived B.C., our confession of faith remains exactly the same, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” It is God alone who loved us enough to send his Son to this earth as THE sacrifice for our sins. It is God alone who declares sinful ‘objects of wrath’ to instead be ‘children of God.’ It is God alone whom Peter proclaimed, “salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) Letting the truth of salvation by grace alone fall through the cracks destroys everything. Leaning on it, though, building our confession of faith in this timeless truth, gives us daily- and eternal- assurance of salvation.
One of my favorite passage in the OT is the second part of our text, “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” If the truth that “the Lord our God, the Lord is one” is the central focus of our faith, then not only believing this truth is of utmost importance, but so is also sharing it with others, as well. As Moses stresses in our text, this responsibility begins at home. You’re going to be talking about this more in the next few Sundays, so let me just say: Parents, WOW are these words FILLED with encouragement for you. In a world that promotes coaching tee ball and paying for guitar lessons as the most important things a parent can do, the BIGGEST and MOST IMPORTANT influence you can have on your child is bringing them up in the instruction of God and his Word. As this responsibility rests primarily with Parents and guardians, I can stand her before you today and honestly tell you that this is also why the worker training system of our Synod exists. MLS, one of our Synod’s prep schools, has one main purpose> to instruct and train those who are even considering serving their God in the full time preaching and teaching ministry. As a parent, you hear the words of our text and remember how Moses reminds you to use God’s Word to spiritually bring up your children, to “Impress them… talk about them… tie them… bind them…write them…” While these words are written as encouragement for each and every family of Cross of Life Lutheran Church, they are all written for the WELS, a church body which is served by those trained in our worker training system, a church body which is served by those who were trained by people who take seriously their Call to take God’s Word and “Impress them… talk about them… tie them… bind them…write them…”
The worker training system of our Synod is supported by YOUR prayers, YOUR people, and YOUR offerings. Yes, teaching the truth that “the Lord our God, the Lord is one” is indeed a family matter, beginning and ending in your homes. It is also a responsibility taken seriously by those entrusted to train our young people considering entering the pastoral or teaching ministry. I don’t come from your typical WELS background. My family was Catholic until I was in 2nd grade. I hadn’t heard of MLS or our worker training system until a few years before high school. Wow, do I praise God I did. The fact that our God works in mysterious ways isn’t taken lightly by me as I have been privileged to serve in both our synod’s prep schools as well as a home missionary in Mobile, AL. The opportunities God has given me would not have been possible without the education my parents paid for (89 grad of MLS), my professors gave me, and my God allowed me to have. That’s why I’m so excited to be here today, because teaching the truth of our Savior is a family matter> both within the walls of your home, and also within the structure of schools like MLS, LPS, MLC, and WLS. The purpose of these schools is simple: to build up in the Word in order to send out with the Word. It isn’t rocket science, but it is Scripture driven> to “impress… talk about… tie… bind… write…” There is nothing more important. There is nothing more joyous.
(Recite Hebrew) I pray that this verse drives the ministry of your congregation and your families FIC. I pray that you “write (it) on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Teaching this truth is indeed a matter of utmost importance. Praise God that teaching it is also a family matter> yours, mine, OURS. Amen.

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