Notes

The Lord be with you!
Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!

This is the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, and the Catechism teaches us what it means to call upon God’s Name: from the 2nd Commandment- we call upon God’s name in every trouble, pray, praise and give thanks; and from the Lord’s Prayer, the petition Hallowed be Thy name means we should teach and lead holy lives according to the Word of God. For what should we ask? This Sunday’s Collect of the Day gives us the place to start.

Let us pray:
Almighty and everlasting God, give us an increase of faith, hope, and love, that, receiving what You have promised, we may love what You have commanded; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Deuteronomy 7:6–9
Self-esteem is a fine thing, however there’s something much more important and valuable to our eternal existence… I’ve heard it called “God-esteem”. Israel as a Bible-times nation could not point to its own personal accomplishments or its large population as a reason for its prosperity and blessings. They could only reflect on the fact that God chose them by grace as His own precious possession. He desired to lavish His undeserved love on Israel to make them a light for the nations, and the cradle for the world’s Christ and Savior. That same undeserved favor now for the sake of Jesus applies to us, His Church, the new Israel and the Lord’s treasured possession forever.

Romans 8:28–39
God is for us! There is no if! Paul wrote If God is for us as a way to make his rhetorical argument have a stronger impact on our hearts and minds. Who can be against us? Absolutely nothing can get in the way and separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, who died for us and even more, was raised and has ascended to intercede for us constantly in heaven. Take comfort! God is for you! No one can bring any charge against you, even though as a sinner you stood condemned under God’s law. You have been chosen, elected, predestined, all things work together for your good. You are justified and everything you suffer now shall be ultimately conquered. How do you know this? You know that God is for you.

Matthew 13: 44–52
Three short parables conclude Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 13. The buried treasure, the pearl of great value, and the large catch of fish all illustrate on one hand the extent of the work that Jesus did in order to save us, and on the other hand, the great joy that the Holy Spirit has placed in our hearts over being saved. Once we realize, thanks to the help we received from our Old Testament reading, that we are that treasure, that valuable pearl that Jesus went and gave up all He had in order to buy us back to Himself, we likewise think nothing of the fading joys of this present world, and look forward with Christian anticipation of the future revealing of that treasure that we already possess as God’s children.

Based on this week’s Epistle reading, here’s Hymn 746, stanza 2:
  There’s nothing that can sever / From this great love of God;
  No want, no pain whatever, / No famine, peril, flood.
  Though thousand foes surround me, / For slaughter mark His sheep,
  They never shall confound me, / The vict’ry I shall reap.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Pr. Stirdivant

Sermon for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost: July 26, 2020 jj
Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God,” Jesus says. “Search for it, don’t give up. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure or a pearl so valuable that you would sooner part with everything you have on this earth rather than to be without it.” Does He really mean what He’s saying? After all we’ve been taught about “we are saved not by works which we have done,” is our Lord saying that it is now all up to us and our decision? You know Christians of other denominations who sing songs like, “I have decided to follow Jesus.” They call would-be believers up to the front in order to pray with the ministers to show everyone else how they have made that life-changing decision in their life. Are they correct in teaching this way? It would seem like it at first glance, given what Jesus is saying in the first two parables of the treasure and the pearl of great value. It seems like we are to be like the man who found the buried treasure and then go give up all we have just so we can possess it. It appears our Lord wants us to be a spiritual pearl expert who goes to the oyster beds on the coast and actually pick and choose the way we believe.

That actually sounds like what a lot of Christians think they’re doing. People are proud of their choices—judging from just a few seconds looking through their social media sites. And they see themselves as spiritual commercial consumers, saying things like, “My religion is my own personal choice, and so I can shop around for the faith that I feel is right for me, the faith that will affirm my lifestyle, no matter what the Bible may actually say.” If you don’t like the Biblical teaching that you hear at Good Shepherd, you could just try another church until you find whatever you want to hear. Sadly, it won’t take you long to find it these days. To American eyes the churches that are the most successful are the ones who accommodate their consumers, cutting out everything that sounds intolerant or unloving, and changing their official teachings to get the most possible members, and financial supporters. Hey, it works for the politicians, right? The church would seem to be better run as a business as if it were geared to satisfy the needs and desires of its shareholders. So much for what can be gained from the two parables about the buried treasure and the valuable pearl.

And then there is the third parable. Flying in the face of all those who boast about their own personal choice of belief is the last parable on the kingdom of heaven that is recorded in Matthew chapter 13. It says the kingdom of heaven is like scooping up a bunch of fish in a big net and then the good ones will be sorted out from the bad in the end. What kind of personal choice is that? For one thing, no fish decides to swim into a net and get tangled together with who knows what. Even if a fish itself were to have a choice, it would try to swim away from a net so that it wouldn’t get caught. If it were up to sinful man to decide his own road, he would overwhelmingly choose the wide, paved freeway that leads to destruction, rather than the bumpy, narrow side-street that leads to eternal life. Left on your own without Christ your Savior, that would be the decision you would make, for the way of this world promises to be much easier and much more rewarding. It promises success to those who work the hardest and make the best decisions, and guide their own destiny. Follow your own heart and desire what you want. God will change to fit what you want Him to be. I’ll tell you now, that’s not going to end well.

You have heard rightly and some of you even may have learned it by heart, that a Christian must believe this instead, which we just confessed together from the Catechism, “I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him.” There is nothing within our sinful human nature that desires God or that would make that all-important decision to follow Jesus. It began with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They made a choice, not to remain with the Lord, who created them, sustained them and gave them life. Instead they chose to rebel against Him and go their own separate way. Like fish with a heads-up warning, they decided to avoid the net that would scoop them up. The curse of personal decision continued with Adam and Eve’s son Cain, who also made a choice: this time it was the choice he made to kill his brother Abel and forever be a wanderer in the earth. Such was what quickly became of our newly-created world once human beings started making the decisions for themselves, and consistently deciding against God. Or what about the nation of Israel? God’s own people planted in the Holy Land with His own mighty hand. Every generation of Israel’s history had witnessed a true miracle that the Lord performed for His people. Yet they continued to decide for themselves, and they followed after other gods, and gave up their rights as God’s children. You are the heirs of this long line of failed searches for personal salvation, of choosing that which you think is right for you. You, like every other sinful human being, are buried, rotten and decaying in trespasses and sins, in need for someone to dig you up and save you.

You are not the one in the parable who looks for the treasure or the valuable pearl, giving up all you have in order to purchase eternal life, as it were, from God. But it is my privilege to tell you that all of this has been done for you. For it was Jesus who sought you out and found you and rejoiced! In His great joy He willfully gave up all He had—all His power and glory—and set it aside. The Son of God allowed Himself to be carried for nine months in the womb of a virgin. He was willing to live in near poverty for most of His life. He chose to bear the burden of your sin and shame and take it with Him all the way to suffer God’s punishment, as we hear in the book of Hebrews that He, “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame.” By the overwhelming grace of your Savior Jesus, you are that pearl of great price in the eyes of God the Father. You are the treasure for which Jesus paid the price, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and His innocent suffering and death.

What God said to the Old Testament Israelites who wandered around in the wilderness in our first reading also applies to you, the new Israel, the adopted sons of the kingdom. He says: “You are a people holy to the Lord, your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set His love on you and chose you, … but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that He swore to your fathers.” So it was not because of anything good that lay within you, or because you made the right choice to be God’s child, that gave you any value to be desired. Simply stated, the Lord loves you, as He always had, and He wanted you enough to give up His own life for you. Christ the bridegroom eagerly desires communion with His bride, the Church, a Holy Communion that takes place every time we meet.

The day when Jesus found you was the day you entered into His kingdom through the waters of Holy Baptism. On that day all the host of heaven rejoiced at the treasure for which He went and sold all He had. In that same life-renewing water God gave you His Holy Spirit and Christ came to dwell within you. This is the Spirit within us that cries out to the Father as dear children would ask their dear father. This is the Spirit of Christ Himself who searched for you as for buried treasure. And now, with Christ living within you, He tells you to search for the treasure that He has already found for you. “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” And nothing will be able to separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Seek after something that has already been found? Yes, that’s right! Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” He wants you to follow Him in seeking the treasure of the kingdom of heaven. He bids you to search, not because it’s all up to you or so that you get into heaven by anything you have done—He has already done that—rather, He wishes for you to come to a fuller knowledge and experience of Him, which is truly a precious treasure. You who have been born again in the waters of Baptism and faithful to God’s Word are no longer ignorant of where this treasure can be found, because Christ Himself has given you where to look.

Look no further than the preaching of His Holy Word, for the words you hear in this place are words that come from the mouth of God Himself. Do not search for anything else besides the Holy Sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood, for these precious pearls are the great price that our Lord paid for you. These treasures are found here buried in, with, and under the common things of bread and wine, given for you to eat and drink your Risen Lord and Savior. And finally, your quest is fulfilled in your brother and sister in Christ. Because He gave up His life for them, they are your treasures as well. Love your spouse, your children, parents and neighbors with the same love our Lord has for you, because you have been found and bought back from sin and death. With them you will one day be gathered like fish in the net and finally be brought to the kingdom of heaven, that you may live forever in the presence of the Almighty God, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness. This is most certainly true.

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Deut.7:6–9 a people for Himself, a special treasure
Psalm 125 Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion
Rom. 8:28–39 If God is for us, who can be against us?
Matt. 13:44–52 a hidden treasure … pearl of great price …