Sep 20, 2020  SERMON ARCHIVE

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our heavenly Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen

The text for our meditation today is the Old Testament Lesson for this 16th Sunday after Pentecost, Isaiah 55:6-9. There we read these words:

“Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts;let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

We begin in the name of Jesus, Amen

Have you ever laid something down, forgot where, and then had to go looking for it. I used to laugh at my parents when they did that. I thought it was funny, a sign they were getting old and forgetful. And then............it’s not that funny.

When you find it, do you tell others that you found it in the last place you looked? Now there’s some insight! Nobody—at least nobody I know—looks for something, finds it, and then keeps on looking for it. That would just be dumb.

When you played “hide and seek,” you didn’t find everyone who hid from you and then kept on looking. You found them all, that’s it. End of game. You keep on looking, and you are gonna end up playing “hide and seek” all by yourself. People will start staying away from you.

People seek many things. They seek things that they’ve lost. They seek to reestablish communication with loved ones. They seek great deals on the things they want to buy. Some people seek fame and fortune. Many seek romance.

Everyone, to varying degrees, seeks happiness. And when the going gets tough, people seek relief. That is why the Lord wants you to seek Him. He sent the Holy Spirit to inspire the prophet Isaiah to speak and write these words of comfort to His people. Jerusalem had fallen in the sixth century BC, and the people of God were seeking comfort and hope.

The Lord extends to you, not a command, but a gentle invitation: “Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near” (v. 6). It is very good to have the Lord near you, for where He is, there are His gifts, the gifts He greatly desires to shower upon you. As we just sang in a wonderful and recently written hymn:

The gifts Christ freely gives, He gives to you and me To be His Church, His Bride, His chosen, saved and free! Saints blest with these rich gifts are children who proclaim That they were won by Christ and cling to His strong name.

The Lord Jesus does give His gifts freely, but He doesn’t give them willy-nilly. To do that would be casting pearls before swine.

What the Lord seeks of His people is repentance. He says through Isaiah in our text: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (v. 7).

God wants you to seek Him and His forgiveness and to call upon Him in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving while He is still near. Because if God departs from you, you are in seriously deep spiritual trouble. What does this mean? It means that, if you do not seek Him where He is found, you risk eternal condemnation.

And where is God found? He is found where He has willingly bound Himself for your sake. The God who is without limits has freely and willingly bound Himself to His Word and Sacraments. It is there that God gives His gifts of forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation. This is a sure, certain, and iron-clad guarantee, for God has promised this to you in His Word.

And when it comes to your souls, you need certainty. That is why when you look elsewhere for Him, somewhere He has NOT promised to be found, you will have doubt, and doubt is never a good thing where your salvation is concerned.

You’ve heard the excuses; you may have given these excuses yourselves. You may think, you can worship God when you’re on the lake or when you’re out camping. If this is true, then how do you hear that your sins are forgiven? Remember that St. Paul says that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

Or maybe you are like those who think, they can worship God in their own way. If that’s the case, then 4000 years of Jewish liturgical tradition and 2000 years of Divine Service in the Christian Church have been a complete waste of time.

It’s true that God never said, “Thou shalt have a liturgy,” but the people of God for thousands of years have gathered together in the synagogue, the temple, and now the church—gathered together around the Word of God, and that is the basis for the liturgy that has been handed down to us today. In the hymns, and in the words spoken, the church is using words that are true and sure, for these are words God first spoke to us.

The Church, in her wisdom, has preserved this order and handed it down to generation upon generation of her children, that they would hear of the love that God has for you in Jesus Christ.

In the Divine Service, in the speaking, singing, and praying the words of the liturgy and hymns, you are acknowledging before God His promises to you, and you are reminding yourselves as God comes to you in Word and Sacraments, even now in the year 2011.

Remember, God wants you to repent of your foolishness and your sinful pride. He reminds you through Isaiah, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts” (v. 9).

If you are looking for ways to seek God, look to the Psalms, the prayer book of the Church. Look to Psalm 116, our Introit for today, for from it are the words we often sing in the Offertory.

What shall I render to the LORD for all His benefits to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the Name of the LORD,
I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all His people.
I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the Name of the LORD.
I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all His people,
in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD!

King David writes elsewhere in the Psalms, “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” (Ps.34:8).

You can take refuge in the Lord at His gracious invitation, for when you are burdened by your sins, you get to come to Him for rest. It is here in the Lord’s house that He invites you to unload your burdens, burdens Jesus has already taken upon Himself all the way to the cross.

He took your wicked ways and your unrighteous thoughts—your sin—and became your sin, dying on the cross in your place.

Here dear friends, seek the Lord, and the Holy Spirit will lead you to Him. He will lead to where the Lord may be found, in His Word, just as you have heard it read and proclaimed to you. The Spirit will lead you to where the Lord is to be found in Baptism, and in the body and blood of Jesus in, with, and under bread and wine, of Communion.

The Spirit will lead you to know that you have already been found,

because Christ is Risen. AMEN