Move On A Promise
This
is an outline of my sermon text for the Reformation Sunday, on October
27, 2019. I preached only at Redeemer Lutheran because it was their 65th
anniversary service. My main focus was the First Lesson, Jeremiah
31:31-34; with
a reference to the Gospel lesson, John 8:31-36. + pBRC
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
Be still, and know that I am God! (Psalm 46:1,5,10
· It
is good to see so many people here to celebrate 65 plus years of Redeemer
Lutheran Church and to pray for her future.
o
I know there are people who have travelled a
distance to be here, and I thank you, and pray for a safe journey when you head
home.
o
I know there are people who live in the City
or surrounding areas who have joined us to celebrate our anniversary, and I
thank you, and would mention that we are here EVERY Sunday at 11:30, and you
are warmly invited to join us on other Sundays.
o
IN addition to celebrating Redeemer’s
anniversary, we also remember today as Reformation Sunday.
§ 502
years ago, a German monk named Martin Luther was angry that the Roman Church
was selling indulgences. Indulgences were certificates that forgave sins.
· Luther’s
main argument was if the Church has the power and authority to forgive sins,
why sell this power; why not just do it?
o
Luther further dove into Scripture and
realized that God had already forgiven our sins through the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ, Our Savior and Lord.
o
Our sins are forgiven, and death is defeated,
not by what we do or have done, but because God is gracious and merciful.
· “By
grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is
the gift of God—not the result of works.”[1]
· We
don’t have to earn God’s love. We already have it.
o
Luther taught that we show our love to God by
loving and helping our neighbor in need, and those whom society pushed aside or
held back.
§ You
have been saved, so you can serve.
§ You
have been forgiven, so you can give.
o
God does not need our good works, but our
neighbor in need does.[2]
· The
Word of God came to the prophet Jeremiah when he was a boy.
o
God appointed Jeremiah to be a prophet to the
nations, and put words in his mouth “to pluck up and to pull down, to
destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”[3]
§ Jeremiah’s
call was to warn and condemn, telling the nation and people chosen by God they
had lost favor with God. God was going to leave them to their own devices.
Their own devices often included an invading army who would conquer and
subjugate the people of Israel and Judah.
· He
stood up and spoke out, calling on Israel and Judah to do the right thing, to
take care of those on the margins, but he was ignored and dismissed.
o
But in the midst of his despair, and the
despair of God’s chosen people, a new message came to Jeremiah.
§ “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make
a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. …
This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them. I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God. They shall be my people. …
for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.”[4]
This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them. I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God. They shall be my people. …
for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.”[4]
· Although the people have rejected and turned away from God and
God’s will, God will give them another chance.
§ The
new covenant written in our heart is that God loves us so much that killing
God’s only Son can stop God from loving us.
· The
new covenant that is written in our heart is that God loves us so much God
wants to spend all of eternity with us.
· God
doesn’t want us to try to impress God or to try to earn God’s love. We are
already loved by God. YOU are already loved by God.
o
God wants us to love one another with the
type of love that God has loved us. God wants us to share that love with the
people who have been denied love, those who have been dismissed and disdained.
· As
we celebrate Redeemer’s history, we remember great successes, times when the
congregation overcame adversity and difficulties.
o
Redeemer took up the mission of Christ to be
with the marginalized and disregarded, and was heavily involved in the Civil
Rights movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s.
o
Redeemer has been a center of the community,
and provided educational and recreational activities for children.
§ A
building improvement project included the creation of the Denise McNair
Learning Center, named in memory of one of the four little girls killed in the
terrorist bombing of Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church.
§ Redeemer
had its own encounter with terrorism on May 14, 1972, when the church was
bombed, and set on fire.
o
While rebuilding from the fire, it also was
on the forefront of trying to reform the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church.
§ Redeemer
led in the creation of the Evangelical Lutherans in Mission, the National
Conference of Afro-American Lutherans and the Association of Evangelical
Lutheran Churches.
§ While
it was a leaders in the community and in the national Lutheran church movement,
Redeemer had a banner that hung in this sanctuary, that served as a de facto
mission statement:
We move on a promise.
We move on a promise.
o
Recently, Redeemer entered into a Covenant
relationship with St. Mark Lutheran in Midwest City and Ascension Lutheran in
Del City, together collectively calling a pastor, and starting discussions on
what working together and possibly blending the churches may hold.
· Redeemer’s
history highlights successes when it boldly proclaims God’s love for those whom
society has pushed aside or held back; the least, the last, the lost, the
little ones and those who are all alone.
o
I do not wish the title or role of prophet,
but I know Redeemer’s future lies ‘out there.’ Where and what out there, I
don’t know.
§ But
we must move on a promise.
· The
promise is this. “Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you
will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’”[6]
o
Continuing in Christ’s word, is to do God’s
Work with Your Hands.
o
Being Christ’s disciples means to move on the
promise of God’s love, trusting God will provide.
§ It
moves on the promise that for I will forgive
their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
o
It moves on the promise that we have been
saved by God’s gift of grace, not by what we have done, but so we are free to
love our neighbor in need.
§ You
have been forgiven, so you can give.
§ You
have been saved, so you can serve.
o
It moves on the promise that by doing God’s
work, we will know the Lord and we will know the Truth.
§ The
truth you are beloved by God, so you can be love to others.
o
Redeemer has been at its best when we move on
a promise.
§ God’s
promise to love us is written in our hearts, and calls us to love one another,
and to help those in need.
§ It
is the work that Redeemer was created to do.
AMEN.
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