Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

Jeremiah 23:16-29

God was a demanding God in the Old Testament. You know He didn’t allow the people to worship in any kind of convenient way. They were expected to make their way to Jerusalem for specific feasts and offer their sacrifices only there in the temple. He set forth the way things were to be and He expected the people to obey.

So, who can blame the prophets when they were only making it easier for the people? For instance, when they allowed for worship of God on any mountain that was nearby, rather than having to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem; they were only trying to make it easier for the people to worship God. Or when they began to say that Jehovah was the same God as the Bails; they were only trying to be inclusive and make it a more seamless transition for the foreigners to adopt God as their God.

And of course the relaxing of certain laws was imminent, for as the people became more enlightened, they certainly didn’t need all of those divinely given regulations any more. They belonged to cultural oddities of years gone by.

But God had a little something different to say. “Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who prophecy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord” (v16). In other words, the prophets no longer spoke prophetic words from God; and if not from Him, then who? And if the prophecy was not of God and according to His will, then it could only lead one to disfavor with God and destruction.

For such as these there is only destruction in their future according to the will of God. His wrath has gone out and will burst upon the head of the wicked (v19). The day would soon come when Judah would be overthrown and conquered and her people exiled in a foreign land. God’s justice would be delivered. The despisers of His word would not escape His wrath, nor would the unrighteous escape disaster.

The intent of the Lord’s heart is that His people would be righteous, pure, and undefiled. His laws and His divine rules were established to show the people all that was necessary for them to avoid the Lord’s wrath, but they would not listen. Instead they sought to do what was right in their own eyes and they willingly listened to the prophets that told them the sweet things that they wished to hear. And so, with the Law forgotten, there was no need of the Gospel. If all things were just fine under these smooth talking prophets, then what need was there for a Messiah? If there was no bondage, then why worry about a promise of a Savior?

The Word of the Lord is like a fire that consumes that it might purge and purify; that it might reduce and refine. Even though so many prophets said that all was well, it was Jeremiah’s prophecy from the Lord that bore true. The whirling tempest of God’s wrath went forth and burst upon the people of Judah and God purged them of the wicked. He refined Judah to the remnant that remained and returned to rebuild the walls and the temple of Jerusalem.

But the lies prophesied in the name of the Lord continued and were finally levied against His Son. It is the perfect prophet that spoke only God’s Word. It is the anointed one, Jesus Christ that prophesied of a baptism by fire. It is the righteous One, that would suffer as the unrighteous, the One that honors God’s Word that would meet disaster as a despiser of God’s Word.

God’s wrath would go out as a whirling tempest and would burst upon the head of His Son. His anger would not turn back until He had executed and accomplished the intents of His heart. It is now in these latter days that you can understand it clearly. The Christ must suffer and die as one cursed under the Law. The Law must be fulfilled and honored completely that justice may be complete. In these latter days it should be clear as God’s Word declares that Jesus is the founder and perfecter of our faith and that as the patriarch’s were justified before God through faith in the promise, so too are we justified through in that same promise fulfilled. There is no hope apart from faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. All other councils and prophecies are lies and deceptions.

It is maddening and saddening that these false prophets that distort and upend God’s Word still exist today. So many that directs God’s people to depend upon their works instead Christ’s. So many that undo God’s Law and try to defang it such that the Gospel holds no real promise of hope. Do not listen to those that prophecy and fill you with vain hopes. They speak to satisfy the visions of their own minds and not the will of God.

The intent of the Lord’s heart is that your flesh might be put to death under His wrath and that your faith in the promise would raise you to new life. This is all accomplished in your baptism, where you died with Christ and were raised with Him to new life. There is no need to add your works; Christ has already fulfilled the Law for you. There is no need to lesson the Law; Christ already suffered death as sinner under the Law for you.

That which is to be understood in these latter days is that the promise has been fulfilled. God has followed through and done all that Abraham was looking forward to see; He has fulfilled the promise. The intent of the Lord’s heart is accomplished and His desire is that it be fulfilled also for you through faith in Jesus Christ. Amen.

+ Pastor

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A Week in Prayer for August 8, 2010

I read a short history of the Wends this morning. Most of us probably have never heard of them. They are a Slavic people that once occupied much of central Europe. But as history has told us many times, people groups are often persecuted and assimilated by other peoples and societies. In the mid-nineteenth century, there was a small number of Wends that immigrated to Texas in order to escape the pressure from a Prussian government to abandon their language, culture and religion. Everything that they had was being taken from them including their land and property.

The town in which they settled in Texas is still there, but the Wend culture is only a memory. The Wendish names still survive, but the language is now all but forgotten. The property and wealth of the Wendish people is disbursed and distributed having changed hands many times over through inheritance and sale. Truly only one thing of this Wendish people still remains in tact and that is their faith. Through their striving for purity of doctrine, these Lutherans even after all else is gone, have succeeded in keeping the Gospel by which the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, keeping it with Jesus in the one true faith and preserving the Church in which He daily and richly forgives our sins.

Tonight I speak to you – most of whom have given up your homes and lives of past years in order to live here at Ashley River Plantation (an assisted living home), and I think that you can see the vanity and the striving after wind as one seeks to achieve immortality by accumulating things that do not last.

There are many former prisoners of war that will tell you that if not for their faith in God, they would not have survived. When they had been stripped of everything; their possessions, their health; their dignity – the only thing that remained was faith that Christ had not abandoned them and that His atoning blood still had purchased and won them from all sin, from death, and from the power of the devil.

All things temporal are just that – they are temporary. But faith in the true God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is a faith that leads to eternal life. It is vanity to strive after earthly wealth so that one might have pleasure for a time if hell is the reward for eternity. It is pure foolishness to neglect that which God is offering us daily in His Son thinking it unnecessary because of our great comfort in this life.

If I work only to make a dollar then my reward will last only as long as that dollar. But if I trust in the blood of the eternal Son shed for me, then that which is eternal shall remain forever.

Simple vain endeavors can be easily understood, but how can the preacher, King Solomon say that all is vanity. How can he declare that absolutely everything is vanity? Vanity of vanities! This must be understood in terms of eternity.

We are all faced with our mortality, knowing that our days are numbered; that God could call for our soul this very night. And if we go to sleep wondering if we have done all that is necessary for heaven to be ours, then it is pure vanity. For heaven will never be ours based upon our labor or our accumulation of good deeds. All that we do in this life is simply vanity if we do it to earn salvation.

Here in this obscure Old Testament text is the Gospel being given a primary role. All is vanity if we do not trust in Jesus Christ as the one who has earned salvation for us. All is vanity if we want to rely upon the temporal achievements we make instead of the eternal achievements Christ has made for us.

It is His perfect life that is spotless and without blemish. It is His death that atoned for the sin of the whole world. It is His resurrection that justifies the sinner in the eyes of God through water and the Spirit – baptism and faith.

There are all too many people that want to rely on the vanity of their own filthy rags. But as for you and me, we shall rely upon Jesus who pleases God for us that we might have wisdom and knowledge and joy.

All that we have in this life shall one day be taken away, but nobody can take away from you your Savior Jesus Christ. And as Jesus says, “No one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28). To Him be glory and honor forever and ever. Amen.

+ Pastor Sandeno

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A Week in Prayer for August 1 2010

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A Week in Prayer for July 18, 2010

Lucille Huelsman, a member of Grace Lutheran Church in Summerville, has begun her six-week missionary trip to Uganda through LCMS World Missions. The Sunday School class at Good Shepherd recently provided financial support to Lucille. Please keep her in your prayers and keep track of her progress by following along at her blog, http://lucille.huelsman.org/.

The youth have planned several events for the summer.

JUNE 13 - Youth Day in June is a planned day for bowling after church.

June 11 & 25 are days planned for volunteering at Tricounty Family Ministries and then time at Folly Beach.

This Week’s Calendar

Announcements

Hymns for June 6 – O Day Full of Grace (503); God Moves in a Mysterious Way (765); Amazing Grace (744); Just As I Am, without One Plea (570); Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart (806).

Youth Events – The youth have planned several events for the summer. Please take the time to check these on the website. Youth Day in June is a planned day for bowling after church on the thirteenth. June 11 & 25 are days planned for volunteering at Tricounty Family Ministries and then time at Folly Beach.

Installation Service – Rev. Richard Willsea will be installed at Grace Lutheran Church, Summerville on Tuesday, June 1 at 7pm. Plan to join in celebrating God’s answer to their prayer.

Lutheran Ethics Today – Grace Lutheran Church, Summerville will host Prof. John Pless, Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Mission, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN for an evening presentation on Lutheran Ethics Today on Wednesday, June 9 at 7pm. Plan to bring a friend and join the discussion on bio-ethics and other contemporary areas of ethical reflection.

National Offering – The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod will be collecting a National Offering during this summer’s convention. The offering can be designated to four different areas. We will have special envelopes available this month. Collections will be completed by June 27 and carried to convention along with the other offerings of our circuit.

SED Pre-Convention Meeting – President Diefenthaler of the Southeastern District invites all congregational leaders to attend a meeting in order to look together at the future direction of the church, both in our district and in Synod. He will share the issues he sees developing and give an opportunity to express opinions and concerns. We will be meeting on Wednesday, June 16 at 3:00pm in Florence, SC. The Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, 1900 Second Loop Road.

Please email your announcements to Pastor by Wednesday to be included in the following Sunday bulletin at pastor@goodshepherdcharleston.org.

May 25, 2010

As Memorial Day approaches in a few days, I sit in the lobby of a Crystal City hotel waiting for a room to be cleaned so that I may check in. I cannot see the now familiar skyline of Washington, DC with the memorials of Lincoln and Jefferson flanking the Washington Monument as it would appear from my location. Nor can I see the Pentagon with Arlington National Cemetery on the hills above the Potomac River. But I know they are there and tomorrow I will see them all too closely. Tomorrow we lay to rest a friend and patriot at Arlington. Neil Hawley fought a valiant battle against cancer these last several years, but this winter, the Lord, in His wisdom called Neil home to Himself in heaven. Pray with me that the Lord would continue to care for his wife and three young boys.

Neil is a veteran of the Cold War, a war that my children will only read about in history books or hear second hand stories about from teachers too young to remember the fear instilled by the drills of school children as they prepared for an atomic doomsday. Neil was a Naval Aviator that tracked Soviet submarines in the oceans of this world so that we as a nation could always account for them and pinpoint their location. He was one of those that relentlessly stood protecting our freedoms from the enemies that most Americans would never have to know.

I thank Neil and the countless others that have given so much of their lives in service to country in order to preserve a way of life that most around the world only dream about. I’m sure that each of you reading this will be able to begin listing those patriots from your family as well. I know of my grandmother’s grandfather that was a member of the Minnesota 10^th during the Civil War. I have a copy of a postcard picture with my great-grandfather “Shorty” in his Army knickers circa 1917. Then there is my grandfather and his several brothers in WW II, Korea and into Vietnam. There is my father, whom I recall dropping off at the armory for his drill weekends with the National Guard and the long Navy deployment of 1974, when I first began to understand loss. I remember not knowing how to say goodbye to my brother when he began his enlistment with the Army soon after graduating from high school. I say thanks to these men for their many years of service as well as the uncles and cousins and the many veteran members and families of both Good Shepherd and Grace congregations that I so greatly appreciate.

For the last few years my family has paid our respects to our veterans by visiting the grave of our neighbor’s son, a former Marine, by placing a bouquet and giving thanks to God for his and other veterans’ service. This year, I think it will be a Memorial Day celebrated with more earnest appreciation than in the past.

I am proud of my more than 26 years of combined civilian, active and reserve Naval service, but I was humbled during my flight home from Washington last Saturday when I was seated next to a couple with a sobering story. I made my way to the back of the aircraft in my summer whites (white from hat to shoes) when I find that the couple seated next to me are enjoying, all too much, their chocolate ice cream cones. I didn’t know if I dared sit. (For those that may not be aware, summer whites seem to act like a magnet to things like spaghetti sauce and I would assume also chocolate ice cream.) I sat and introduced myself. It was only a matter of a minute before the gate agent approached me and offered me a seat in first class, but having heard the beginning of their story, I could not leave them now.

This couple was returning from Texas where they had attended the funeral of their nephew, Corporal Jeffery Johnson, USMC. Jeffery was a 21 year old that was proud to follow in a family line of military service to country similar to mine, but Jeffery was called upon to give more than most of us ever will. On May 11, while walking point during a patrol in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, Jeffery was killed by an improvised explosive device.

It is tragic that one so young should lose his life, yet it is what each member of the service is prepared to do for the sake of love. It is love for family, country, and the elusive idea of freedom. Love also gave courage to Neil that he could fight so vigorously; love for others.

I cannot imagine the loss felt by either family. Neither can I imagine ever allowing another Memorial Day to pass without honoring our country’s fallen heroes. This past Sunday, we prayed for the Johnson family in church that God would comfort them and I know that after this week, my perspective will never be the same. I cannot imagine simply enjoying Memorial Day as a “day off.” I am compelled to honor our men and woman that have given their lives in service to our country and our way of life. I ask that you do the same.

Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Certainly, He was talking of Himself. But, as it rings true for our Savior, it also rings true for our many veterans as they willingly sacrificed their lives for their friends; their countrymen. I am forever grateful for their sacrifice. They sacrificed to preserve a way of life for us and as I am compelled to remember and speak of them, and even more so am I compelled to remember and speak of Jesus who sacrificed to provide for salvation and true peace unknown in this life

The Lord bless you this Memorial Day.   Tim

Don’t you love birthdays with all the anticipation of what the day will bring; presents, cards, or other surprises?

Yesterday I celebrated another birthday. It seems that each year they come and go with less hoopla and fanfare than the year before, but this year I received a wonderful surprise. I had a couple of wonderful cards waiting for me in strategic locations when I woke (the middle of my desk and in front of the coffee maker). They were loving and nice and the words enclosed in those warmed my heart, but my surprise this year came when I checked my online calendar.

My calendar includes the commemoration days of the Church Year and I was surprised to find all that we commemorate this week. My birthday is sandwiched between commemorations of Athanasius, Bishop of Antioch and orthodox participant in the formation of the Nicean Creed in A.D. 325; and Friedrich Wyneken, one of the foremost influences in the Missouri Synod. Pastor Wyneken was a confessional Lutheran that served in a number of congregations and enjoyed positions as a missionary to the American Indians, the second president of Synod, an instrumental portion in the establishment of a practical seminary in Fort Wayne, IN, and taking a firm stand against unionism and indifference.

It is a joy to celebrate my birthday in between days of commemoration for such great churchmen as Athanasius and Wyneken. But the week is not complete. It seems that every day of this week celebrates something, May 5 is Cinco de Mayo, May 6 is the national Day of Prayer, and May 7 commemorates our first Synod president – C. F. W. Walther. But I find one other thing to be of great significance as well. For the last couple of years, I have been able to remember also the birth of two members of Good Shepherd because they both were born in the same year as myself. One eight days before me, the other eight days after me.

It is encouraging to look at the great churchmen of years past and celebrate their victories, but it is an even greater encouragement to share the ongoing struggles and victories of the great churchmen and women that rely upon God in the midst of life. To think on and give thanks for the achievements of saints in ages past is wonderful, but to read God’s Word and share a prayer with the saints of this present age is a blessing that surpasses any commemoration.

Happy Birthday to Matthew and Beth and God’s richest blessings to all of you that continue to share yourselves with me allowing me to pray, rejoice, and mourn with you as the saints of God in Christ Jesus. My birthday reminds me that God has granted me the completion of another year in service to Him and as pastor to you. By His continued grace, He will preserve each of us in baptismal faith in His Son until we fully realize that Birthday Surprise and enjoy the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom alongside all those saints of former days.