Pastor’s Notes for Lectionary 14 in Pentecost, A Date: 7/6/14Theme: Jesus as Wisdom’s Spokesperson Bible Ref’s: Zechariah 9:9-12; Psalm 145:8-14; Romans 7:15-25a; and Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30.

Prayer of the DayYou are great, O God, and greatly to be praised. You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. Grant that we may believe in you, call upon you, know you, and serve you, through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen

Brief Sermon Outline: “Freedom of a Christian”Focus Statement: Without the spiritual freedom we have in Christ, bodily freedoms don’t much matter.

1. We’ve spent a few Sundays now dwelling on the cost of discipleship—Jesus warns the disciples that following him is going to be tough, real tough, about denying oneself, taking up the cross of persecution, division, giving up one’s life—and if one doesn’t do this, they aren’t worthy of him.

2. And no sooner than we get to the point of saying, “Yah, I think I get that…it’s not going to be a cake walk…” then Jesus throws this tidbit at us “Take my yoke upon you & learn from me; for I am gentle & humble in heart, & you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, & my burden is light.” “So what’s it gonna be Jesus? Easy or difficult, heavy or light? You can’t have it both ways!”

3. What I’d like to suggest is that this spectrum between easy and difficult, heavy and light is, in fact, Jesus’ way of tuning us into the realities of discipleship. What Jesus is saying is that discipleship cuts both ways (easy/difficult, heavy/light) largely dependent upon the situation you face.

4. And this spectrum relates both to discerning what God is calling you to do, & then actually follow-ing through on what God is calling you to do—these things can be easy or difficult, heavy or light.

5. Starting with discernment: sometimes it’s pretty clear what God is calling you to do, maybe con-firmed in a personal, quiet moment of reflection or a sudden flash of insight. Or maybe God’s will comes to you thru a trust-ed friend or relative. Sometimes the task of discerning God’s will is easy.

6. But then there are times when you really struggle to discern what God wants you to do in a situa-tion. That flash of insight doesn’t come; the faithful people around you are just as confused and uncertain as you are. Then discernment gets difficult, you have to do some research, search the scriptures in a more intense way, listen prayerfully to diversity of perspectives w/ open heart/mind.

7. But this burden of discipleship extends not just to discernment, but to action. Perhaps the discern-ment was easy, but the follow thru will be difficult, even risky. Or maybe the discernment was hard won, a contentious time of coming to see the truth the H.S. was leading you to, having to swallow pride & change your mind, but once you get through all that, it’s an easy matter of implementation.

8. All of this is just the nature of discipleship. Jesus patiently worked w/ his disciples (as he works w/ us) revealing how the demands of discipleship vary w/ our gifts & faith maturity, w/ the church we belong to, w/ our mo-ment in world history, w/ our life circumstances & the freedoms we enjoy.

9. Which finally brings me around to the topic of Christian freedom. Because it’s important to clarify that discipleship is helped or hindered by the context in which you live. If you live in a country that denies/limits social, economic, political or religious freedoms, then that context also limits your options for growing in faith, for using your spiritual gifts, for gathering for worship, for giving freely of your time & money, for serving the needy.

10. So in this respect, it’s important that we value and celebrate the social, economic, political and religious freedoms we enjoy in this country—honor the people who serve to protect those free-doms, and honor the families of those service men/women who protect our freedoms. This guard-ing of worldly freedoms is good and noble work. When God calls us to love and serve our neigh-bor & preserve the neighborhood, God freely gives us the gifts & resources we need to do that.

11. But this freedom is not the whole picture of how God frees us to love & serve the neighbor—in fact, it’s not the primary freedom which gives us joy and compels us to serve. It is the freedom

from sin, our rescue from the bonds of death & the pit of despair through the cross of Christ—it’s THAT freedom that comes to us by grace through the faith relationship we have in Jesus Christ.

12. Without that inner, spiritual freedom we share in Jesus Christ by grace through faith, all the outer, worldly freedoms don’t much matter. In 1520, Luther wrote a little treatise called “On the Freedom of a Christian.” In it he talks re: faith having three benefits or liberties for the Christian: the first is freedom from works-righteousness, trusting the gospel promise that Christ’s work alone justifies, frees & saves us.

13. The second benefit or liberty of faith is freely giving God the honor due his name by fulfilling the First Commandment, by worshiping God before all things, consenting to God’s will. And the third benefit or liberty of faith derives from our unity w/ Christ like a marriage so that everything Christ has is also ours: his righteousness, his lordship, his spiritual freedom, yes, but also his yoke of servanthood.

14. This is where good works kick in. Luther says “Although the Christian is free from all works, he ought in this liberty to empty himself, take upon himself the form of a servant, be made in the like-ness of men, be found in human form, & to serve, help, and in every way deal with his neighbor as he sees that God through Christ has dealt & still deals with him. This he should do freely, having regard for nothing but divine approval.” May we who call ourselves Christian take THIS yoke upon us and let THIS freedom ring from sea to shining sea. Amen

Hymn of the Day: “Great is Thy Faithfulness” (WOV #771)

Children’s Sermon <Engage the children in a conversation about fireworks. Draw connections not only to celebrating the defense of the freedoms we enjoy in the United States, but to the freedoms conferred on us by grace through faith to love the neighbor and the neighborhood.>

Pastor: Good morning, kids. We just celebrated the 4 th of July a couple days ago. What special things did you do on the 4th of July? <take the kids’ answers> We live in a wonderful country where we can worship God freely and live in security. But fireworks reminds me of another freedom we enjoy because of Jesus. He promised us the Holy Spirit to light a fire of his love in our hearts. And with that fire of the Holy Spirit in our hearts through faith, we are free to do great works of love in Jesus’ name. I call that the best kind of fireworks.

Let’s pray: Jesus, we thank you for freeing us from sin, & for lighting the fire of your love in our hearts through faith. Help us by your H.S. to light your fireworks in the world. In your name we pray, Amen

The Word

(Zechariah 9:9-12) Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you;

triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow

shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

11 As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

12 Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.

(Psalm 145:8-14) 8 The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 The LORD is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.10 All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD, and all your faithful shall bless you. 11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom, and tell of your power, 12 to make known to all people your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. 13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all

generations. The LORD is faithful in all his words, and gracious in all his deeds. 14 The LORD upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down. (Romans 7:15-25a)I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. 17 But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.

21   So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, 23 but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

(Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30) “But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, 17 ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’ 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; 19 the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

25   At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

28   “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Sermon Notes

Today I would like to introduce you to Col. Jerry Goodrich of the U.S. Marines, who retired after protecting our freedoms for more than 32 years. Jerry didn't pretend to be an unusual hero, but he gave the best years of his life to help us celebrate our independence today. Jerry, like Norman we heard about yesterday, suffers from the effects of Agent Orange, but manages to come to worship and Bible study every chance he gets.

Jesus invites you and me to put our heavy burdens and weariness aside and allow him to give us rest. It is nearly 11 p.m. as I write these words, but I take the concerns of this day and hand them over to Jesus. He has won the victory for me, cleans me up as I prepare to lay down my head and promises to greet me in the morning--either in Eden Prairie, Minn., or in the home he has prepared for me.

In another sense, this is what Jerry and thousands of other women and men have done and continue to do for you and me. The world is torn apart by hundreds of wars and skirmishes. People yearn for justice and peace. That we can have our rest as a people who know peace and freedom is due in large part because of those who have given their lives that we may live to serve our neighbors without restrictions. We are a blessed people, and we celebrate this day as a thankful people. 

Lord of peace and rest, thank you for taking our weariness and brokenness into your victory. Enable us to make this a day of thanksgiving, not only to you but also to the women and men who have given us our rest as a free people. To your glory, Amen!

Hubert Nelson, Eden Prairie, Minn., Master of Divinity, 1962

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So a Christian, like Christ his head, is filled and made rich by faith and should be content with this form of God which he has obtained by faith; only, as I have said, he should increase this faith until it is made perfect. For this faith is his life, his righteousness, and his salvation: it saves him and makes him acceptable, and bestows upon him all things that are Christ’s, as has been said above, and as Paul asserts in Gal. 2 [:20] when he says, “And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.” Although the Christian is thus free from all works, he ought in this liberty to empty him-self, take upon himself the form of a servant, be made in

the likeness of men, be found in human form, and to serve, help, and in every way deal with his neighbor as he sees that God through Christ has dealt and still deals with him. This he should do freely, having regard for nothing but divine approval. He ought to think: “Although I am an unworthy and condemned man, my God has given me in Christ all the riches of righteousness and salvation without any merit on my part, out of pure, free mercy, so that from now on I need nothing except faith which believes that this is true. Why should I not therefore freely, joyfully, with all my heart, and with an eager will do all things which I know are pleasing and acceptable to such a Father who has overwhelmed me with his inestimable riches? I will therefore give myself as a Christ to my neighbor, just as Christ offered himself to me; I will do nothing in this life except what I see is necessary, profitable, and salutary to my neighbor, since through faith I have an abundance of all good things in Christ.”---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------From Martin Luther’s “The Freedom of a Christian” (November 1520) in Three Treatises, 3rd Ed., Fortress Press, 1970, pp. 304-305.

The third of Martin Luther’s major reforming treatises of 1520, appearing after his “Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation” (August 1520) and the work “Prelude on the Babylonian Captivity of the Church” (October 1520). This work [Freedom of a Christian] was written in German and developed the concept that as fully forgiven children of God, Christians are no longer compelled to keep God's law; however, they freely and willingly serve God and their neighbors. Luther also further develops the concept of justification by faith. In the treatise, Luther stated, "A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all." (Excerpted from article on Wikipedia)

‘In the last days it will be, God declares,that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,and your young men shall see visions,and your old men shall dream dreams…

And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below,

Watching fireworks doesn’t just have to be about “bombs bursting in air” to protect the freedoms we enjoy in our country; fireworks can also be a sign of the Holy Spirit that kindles in us the fire of Christ’s love for all, causing our hearts to explode with joy and thanksgiving, igniting in us a desire to brighten all nations with the good news of Jesus Christ, the Light of the world. Color these images of fireworks, then ask God how you might set off some “fireworks” of Christ’s love in your home or community