Saturday, May 2, 2020

Sermon May 3, 2020

Title: God gives life through his word and gifts!
Text: Acts 2:42-47

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42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Life is a matter of building. Each of us has the opportunity to build something -- a secure family, a good reputation, a career, a relationship to God. But some of those things can disappear almost overnight due to financial losses, natural disasters and other unforeseen difficulties.

What are we to do? Daniel Webster offered excellent advice, saying,

“If we work upon marble, it will perish; if we work on brass, time will efface it. If we rear temples, they will crumble to dust. But if we work on men’s immortal minds, if we impress on them high principles, the just fear of God, and love for their fellow-men, we engrave on those tablets something which no time can efface, and which will brighten and brighten to all eternity.”

DANIEL WEBSTER, secretary of state, speech to the City Council, Boston, Massachusetts, May 22, 1852.—The Writings and Speeches of Daniel Webster, vol. 13, pp. 518–19 (1903).
Morning Glory, July 3, 1993.


That is the joy and that is the goal with which we are brought to faith by our loving God that through His gifts and by communion and fellowship with Him we have a life, in Christ, by Christ and through Christ.

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

St. Luke in his book of the Acts of the Apostles gives an account of the early church. Last week in our first reading we heard of Peter’s sermon in Acts chapter 2 that cut to the heart of those who heard the Law of God’s condemnation bringing them to the point of asking, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Acts 2:37b

To which Peter replies:

“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

Now coming to faith through the Gospel brought some 3000 souls into the church through Peter’s sermon but now we hear what the church did with and for those who repented and were baptized.

They heard the word of God proclaimed which is the Apostles teaching. They had fellowship one with another both in community and in communion with that same doctrine of the word.
They celebrated the breaking of bread in fellowship meals as well as with the Lord’s Supper that, as we heard last week, opened the eyes of their understanding so that they could see who Christ Jesus truly is and what he had done and finally,
 
They prayed, which is conversation and communion with that one and same word of God – Jesus Christ.

Our Lutheran Church Missouri Synod has a mission statement called Witness, Mercy and Life together that fits this focus of the early church and our life together here at Peace as well.

The Apostle’s teaching, which is the word of God and what that word means, is the witness of who God is and what we have become in Christ.

As His children we are called by Christ to be in worship, to hear His word to know that, as sinners, we all fall short of God’s requirements, but we also know that God has made a way in the person and work of Jesus Christ to bring us back into fellowship with him. This fellowship we now have with each other as His children, celebrating our life together in communion one with another, as we together confess our sins and receive God’s holy absolution as we look forward to a time of gathering together once again.

Apart from faith it is impossible to please God or to come to him because we all are judged as sinful and unclean and separated from the love of God found only in Christ Jesus our Lord.

At times we find ourselves in tough situations. We might even think that what we are going through right now is pretty tough as we stay at home and are prohibited from gathering together for a time.

We have though been blessed to continue to hear the word of God as we have continued to meet in this virtual way to sing hymns together on Saturday night and to gather for worship on Sunday. But it has been different and we have missed the partaking of the Lord’s Supper together. Thankfully this may be soon remedied as it is my hope that we may be allowed to once again meet in person for worship and receiving the Lord’s Supper.

Thankfully we remain connected to the Lord’s word to us and our prayers and petitions to him.

Prayers … we pray them every week in our services and daily for many of us in the church. This conversation with God brings our prayers and petitions to the one who holds our life in His hands through the mediation of his son.

Prayer can be a powerful blessing and we all need to avail ourselves of this powerful blessing daily. And we can’t forget prayer, especially the faithful prayers of those, who keep and have kept us in constant prayer. I thank the Lord for all of you who have lifted me in prayer through these trying days of recent past and the joyful days looking forward.

Ill.

My friend Paul and I will often talk and remember our past and ask where the last 40 years have gone? We’ve come a long way since the days of playing 6 nights a week in our band at Captain Ahab’s bar in Wyandotte, Michigan.

Paul’s said about his mother Marian, “She was in constant prayer for us all.” You see she had two boys Paul and David. She also had surrogate sons Russ and John who played in places that I’m sure she didn’t think we should be. But like all good mothers, she couldn’t stop us from playing and gigging, but she could pray to the Lord that He would protect us and get us to where He wanted us to be.

None of us really liked the bars and the fights that might go on as well and we sure didn’t want to be there but Marian’s prayers, my mom’s prayers too mediated by Christ kept us out of trouble.

David, Paul and John all have had wonderful careers as teacher, Chemist and Lawyer.

And then there is me. God knew that if He could turn Russ Tkac into a pastor. Never in a million years would I have thought so, but God … well he is truly able to use all things for the good according to His purpose, even calling me to serve him in this wonderful way.

But he has done so many wonderful things, connecting himself to human flesh, turning water into wine, raising Himself on the third day and bringing people who are dead in sin to life and faith in Jesus Christ through the washing of regeneration with the word.

Forgive me for paraphrasing Daniel Webster but:

“If we work upon marble, it will perish; if we work on brass, time will efface it. If we build temples, they will crumble to dust. But if GOD works on men’s immortal hearts and minds, through the apostles' teaching and fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers the just fear of God, and love for their fellow-men, will be engraved on their hearts and minds as tablets of stone which no time can efface, brightening their lives and the lives of all who are called by faith to believe in Jesus Christ unto all eternity.”

God gives life through communion and the Apostle’s teaching!

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen

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