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WEEKLY DEVOTION JULY 23
Tuesday, JULY 23, 2024
Pastor Bruce Kischnick, Grace Lutheran Church, New Albany, IN
“The Damage We Do to Ourselves”
READING: Daniel 5:22-28 – But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself though you knew all this. Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praise the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription. This is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN. This is what these words mean: Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.
My brother has become the very good friend of our old varsity football coach, “The Bear”. He is about 6’3” and a big man. He played football for four seasons for IU, then was drafted by the Steelers, but blew out a knee in rookie camp. He’s 87 now but still formidable. His wife told Larry that Coach bought himself a Water-pik thinking that it would do a better job on his teeth than a brush. The first time he used the thing he had water all over the bathroom and managed to squirt himself in the face several times. The picture of Coach squirting himself in the face just cracks me up! He thanked his wife for sharing that information with Larry. I think it’s priceless.
I also heard about a young man who attended a Fourth-of-July party at a friend’s house. Everyone had a good time, and after most of the guests had gone home, he was helping his friend clean up. They were standing by the pool when without a word or warning, the young man dove into the pool. He failed to note the depth which was only three feet. He crashed his head into the bottom of the pool, his feet arced over his head, and he broke his neck. He died at the scene. What a sad and terrible loss.
People often do terrible damage to themselves, sometimes by accident, sometimes by negligence, and sometimes with full knowledge of what they are doing. Sometimes the results are comical as in the case of my old coach. Sometimes the results are tragic as in the case of the young man and the pool. We don’t always know all that we need to know. We don’t always heed the warning signs. We don’t always think things through and make informed decisions. We hurt ourselves all too often.
In our reading for today we have a man in his prime years who is king of a great empire. His father, Nebuchadnezzar, had built up the empire to unknown heights. When he died, Belshazzar inherited everything except his father’s acknowledgement of the God of the Hebrews. He was full of unfounded pride and arrogance. He disrespected Yahweh both by worshipping idols and by misusing the sacred vessels taken from the Temple. By his attitude and behaviors he set himself against the God of the Universe. He did this to himself, and the results would be tragic for him. His empire would pass into history, and he has gone down in history as a fool.
So it goes for the ones who count on their own abilities and take all the credit for their successes. Those who have no need for, thought of, or thanksgiving to the One True God stand themselves opposed to him. Sooner or later it ends tragically for them. If not in this world, then someday before the judgment seat of God. They will do the damage to themselves with no one to blame. “With my own strong right arm I have won the victory!” they seem to say. That is so often the precursor to a terrible fall.
Now, it’s not just the titans of business, sports, entertainment, or politics who are prone to this kind of damage. Just plain folks like you and me are also tempted to take the credit for our successes and pat ourselves on the back. One doesn’t need to be a king to swell up with pride and ignore “the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways.” Thanksgiving to God is a powerful deterrent to pride and arrogance. Being frequently reminded that all we have and all we do are gifts that start with our Lord and his grace helps us avoid the damage we can do to ourselves by setting ourselves against God.
Now if we could just be more aware and wiser in conducting our labors, our entertainments, and our travels. Just this week we had two broken legs, surgery to repair a broken arm, an MRI after a fall, and a hernia surgery amongst the members here at Grace. Yes, we do damage to ourselves on a regular basis. But we need not fall short of God’s blessings if remember the One who has called us by name, made us his children, and given us the promise of eternal life in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ. Under that name the damage stops. Under that name joy is given, and it is joy to the full. So, please be careful! Watch yourself! Keep your eyes open and your mind on what you’re doing. And above all remember our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. May God bless and keep you to all eternity. Amen.
PRAYER:
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
1) FRANKENMUTH BUS TRIP – September 29-October 2. Registration is now open. Find information and forms in “News & Tidbits”, online, and in the Narthex. About 6-8 seats available.
2) BARDSTOWN BUS TRIP – This trip is full with a waiting list. Join us next time.
Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/vghZRBKg04Y
PRINTABLE PDF: WDJuly23.PDF
[email protected] — (502) 797-7407
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WEEKLY DEVOTION JULY 22
Monday, JULY 22, 2024
Pastor Matthew Woods from Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, Indiana
“Written On Our Hearts”
Last Saturday, July 13th a terrible thing happened with the attempted assassination of former President Trump. The country has reacted with relief for President Trump and to horror over security and especially over the death of one husband and father who simply attended the rally, sitting in the stands with his family behind the Former President.
The reaction, however, that I would like to underscore today is the response put out by Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis. I was sent a link that I have included here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmO8q4svuak Knut, thanks for sending it to me. Ham asks simply how do we know that this was a terrible act? How do we know that this act of violence is, in the words of President Biden, “Unacceptable?” Evolution after all teaches, “a survival of the fittest.” Who then gets to decide who is fittest or what evil looks like? Ham points out that in his visit with Bill Nye at the Ark Encounter, that Nye says good and evil are decided by “the will of the tribe.” It’s subjective and therefore, interpretative. We know that doesn’t work. Judges often says, “the people did what was right in their own eyes.” That only got the Israelites into lots of trouble. It doesn’t work. As Christians this not consistent with the scriptures on what good and evil looks like and who gets to determine good and evil and what to do about good and evil. At one time George Washington was a hero of the revolution. To the English he was an insurrectionist. Right now, we are calling an attempted assassination evil and wrong but how do we know this?
Romans 2:12-16 gives us the answer. 12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) 16 This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
Two things; first no one who hears the Law is righteous. There are absolutes. God is absolute. His Law is absolute. Jesus’ death is also absolute. The last one is huge because it means our salvation in Jesus is absolute. However, with these absolutes one must obey the Law for righteousness, not merely know the Law. This is not a salvation by works thing. It is a “by their fruits” they display their faith thing. Romans 2 convicts too many Christians who only hear the Law but then do not obey it. For example, Christians know they are to Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy but don’t go to worship.
Disobedience of the Lord’s will in the eyes of the Lord is called evil. In 1 Samuel 15 Saul becomes the poster child of disobedience for not obeying the Lord. In verse 22-23 Samuel equates disobedience to the evils of divination and arrogance to idolatry. Between Romans 2 and 1 Samuel 15 it is important to be honest about ourselves and with the Lord and realize that we should do better than we do and not simply know better. One doesn’t have to know a lot. One simple is called to do what they know is right in the Lord.
Back to our point on this. What is good or evil is not for us to decide. It is God alone through His Law that has determined right and wrong. This is an absolute. He has also defined righteousness as doing His will over our own. Jesus, routinely expressed being about the Father’s will in his public ministry. Jesus was the strongest defender of the Father’s will in the Garden of Gethsemane for example. Our call in Philippians 2 is to be as humble as Jesus who was obedient even unto the cross.
The second part of this is closely connected to what we have already said. The Law is written even on the hearts of the Gentiles or the unbeliever. The Law is known at some level even to the unsaved. How else would it be said by secularists that we cannot tolerate violence of any kind. On the conscience of many there is still a knowledge that violence is at least a negative thing and should not be tolerated.
Let’s go a bit further then. How about hatred? There is a lot of talk about hatred toward this group or that group. Hatred is a political weapon these days. For at least one twenty year old man there was enough hatred in his heart to act with careful planning and determination to attempt an assassination of Trump. Hatred has as its logical end such a goal. Jesus Himself in Matthew 5 teaches that if we are angry or worse, hate our brother in our hearts we are in fact a murderer and subject to judgement. It is not a healthy thing to harbor bitterness toward others. At its least it results in belittling someone with our words and at its worst it seeks harm. Hatred is never positive and is in fact evil.
Jesus was abused worse than any other. If anyone had a reason to harbor anger toward others it was Him. But His words were, “Father forgive them” and “Today you will be with me in paradise.” What was written on Jesus’ heart was a love for humanity expressed in His sacrifice on the cross. There are plenty of evil things in our world to be disgusted with. That doesn’t mean we have to let that disgust become a houseguest in our hearts. It is also important that our conscience remains free of those lingering things that can sour our spirit toward others, even someone we deem politically unfavorable.
Let me conclude with something we should be doing that I hope we can all agree on. Please pray for the candidates. Pray for safety for the Trumps and the Bidens. Pray for our election process to be fair and safe as well.
Pray for our government that a wave of repentance might return us to the absolutes of God’s Word. Pray that we as a country move from a Romans 1 nation to a Romans 8 nation. Pray for hearts and minds to turn to the Lord more fully. Lord knows personal ambitions have spoiled our country and moved us far from the Lord. Let us check our own selves carefully before the Lord as well. I would even suggest a prayer for how we may feel toward one or the other candidate so that our own attitudes may be godly. Neither candidate for president is a saint. God in His judgement can handle both just fine without any of us. Our job is to keep our attitudes godly toward each of them.
Please pray for the health of the candidates. President Biden is clearly struggling with something big and life altering. If he were merely a member of our congregation, he would probably be on our prayer list.
Pray finally that God’s absolute will would be accomplished for the good of our nation and for His people who live here. And may the Absolute Gospel of Jesus be our ultimate answer above our politics.
Pastor Matthew Woods
John 3:30
PRINTABLE PDF: WDJuly22.PDF
Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/dGGFvGuNlWA
[email protected] — (502) 523-9327