May
the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in Your
sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. AMEN.
Have
you ever read a book and when you turned the page everything changes. Not only the actions of the characters, but
the scenes, the scenery, the overall feel of the book, but especially how the
story now makes you feel? This morning,
we literally and figuratively are turning a page in our journey through the
Catechism. Having finished the review of
the Ten Commandments the landscape now changes and the tenor of the story takes
on new meaning. When we look at the Ten
Commandments, they are the Law as presented by God through Moses. The Ten Commandments were the Ten Imperatives
that God wanted His chosen people to follow.
But today, we turn the page, not only to a new chapter that is still
connected to the Law, but to a new opportunity to understand not just the flip
side of the Law, but the perfect fulfillment of the Law in the Gospel as
explained in the Apostle’s Creed. But
why are there pens, markers, glue, scissors, paper, paint and paint brushes up
front here this morning?
Before
I tell you more, let’s pull out our bulletin insert and join together and read
together in unison the What does this mean” sections as a congregation. “I
believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. What does this mean? I believe that God has made me and all
creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ear and all my members,
my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and
drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all that I
have. He richly and daily provides me
with all that I need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards
and protects me from all evil. All this
He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or
worthiness in me. For all this it is my
duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him.
This is most certainly true.”
While this sinks into our hearts, let us ask God in prayer to bless His
message for each and every one of us here today.
Let
us pray, Almighty Father, You have made heaven and earth and all of creation
from nothing, You fashioned all of us and call us to not only be Your children,
but redeem us through Your Son Jesus Christ.
Enable us today to lay claim to Your redeeming work begun in Creation
when You made the World and fulfilled in Your Son’s coming to save us from our
sins. For this is the offer You make to
us through Your Son Jesus Christ life, death and resurrection for all of
mankind, including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this
morning. AMEN.
If
we were to give a child a clean piece of paper, a pair of scissors, some glue
and a bunch of crayons and let them draw, color, cut or create anything their
minds can imagine, we would have numerous different individual creations. The depth of their imagination, the breadth
of their differing styles and abilities would make any parent excited to see
what their child made and what their imagination could create.
So
to this morning we learn not only what our God created, but clearly we have
turned a page in our journey and exploration of Luther’s Catechism. We have turned the page from the Law to the
Gospel. If you remember your learning
about Luther’s Catechism, the two most important doctrines found in scripture
were the Law and the Gospel. Like two
sides of a coin, the Law is meant to kill, but the Gospel is meant to save. This is the offer of grace that God offers to
us today of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In
the First Article of the Apostle’s Creed we begin at Genesis with the Creation
of the World, hence why I not only have pens, paper and scissors here up front,
but also why I began with the illustration of letting the children create from
their imagination. This is a window into
what God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit did when they created
the heavens and the earth. As Hebrews
11:3 states, “3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of
God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.” God through the creative process and speaking
into existence our world offers unto all of us gathered here today the greatest
gift. Not only is the gift of our world
that we live in today, but it is also the gift of salvation.
With
all foresight and knowledge God knew sin would enter into the world and because
we have free will God chose to allow mankind to sin in order to show His
ultimate love for all of mankind. God’s
love is clearly manifest in creation, but also in what He offers us through His
Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. God
offers us His Son, Jesus Christ to die in order that we might live. This gift given from the beginning of
creation was foretold by the prophets in the Old Testament, the giving of the
Law in the Ten Commandments and fulfilled by Jesus Christ when He went to the
Cross in order to die for each of us.
In
the Creation of the World, God knew what would happen and in His divine plan
God orchestrated our redemption through Jesus Christ. And not only are we given clothes, food,
drink, home, wife, children, land and all things, God even goes the extra mile of
sacrificing His Son Jesus Christ in order that we might be with Him in His
Kingdom for eternity. And we have been
called through our baptism into God’s promise and now can be partakers of
eternal life like Esther who received Christian burial yesterday.
Does
this mean we can ‘create our own story’, be God in some form or fashion? By no means, but what it does mean is that we
can lay claim to the promises of God and believe that these promises are made
to and for all of us. We cannot and do
not have the power, nor the right, nor ability to create our own
redemption. But God does call us to
believe in the redemption offered to us through His Son Jesus Christ. And this gift is made manifest when we hear,
heed and hold tight to the Gospel of Salvation offered through the work of the
Holy Spirit in each of our lives.
And
today we not only lay claim to the work of the Holy Spirit, we also celebrate
what God does for each and every one of us as we partake of His precious Body
and Blood around the table of our Lord.
As we partake of Jesus Christ Body and Blood in the Lord’s Supper we not
only affirm the belief in what God created in the heavens and earth, but we
affirm the plan of salvation offered in Jesus Christ. This gift of eternal life that is offered for
us clearly was created from the creation of the world. Not with pens, paper and glue and scissors,
but with the Word of God manifest in the Word made Flesh, Jesus Christ. This is the fulfillment in our receipt of the
Lord’s Supper of the plan of salvation which is offered to and for all of
mankind, but especially and including all of us saints that are gathered here
this morning at Emmanuel. AMEN.
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