Mon, 06 Jul 2026 17:18:38 -0400WeeblySun, 05 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.smlministries.net/sermons/as-you-are-come​6th Sunday after Pentecost – A (Proper 9)                                                     LSB #’s 699, 684, 832
Text – Matthew 11:28
 
Come to me, all who labor & are heavy laden, & I will give you rest.
 
AS YOU ARE, COME!
 
 
“Now John,  when he heard in prison the works of the Christ,  sent through his disciples, & he said to Him, ‘Are you the Coming One,   or shall we expect another?’”  (Matthew 11:2-3)   John the Baptist is waiting in prison  for what would eventually be his beheading.  Trapped in the confines of death row  can make doubt very real. 
Is Jesus of Nazareth truly  the coming Messiah?   The doubts of that opening prison scene set the stage  for the invitation Jesus extends to everyone  as the Gospel lesson draws to its close.   Why would Matthew use the Baptist in prison  as he wonders if Jesus is the One? 
Wouldn’t it be better  to highlight the paralyzed man whom Jesus healed  so he could walk again,  or the man born blind  who now could see?   To do so,  would be a classic mistake that people make  when trying to understand history.   We take our present circumstances & project them into the past  in order to interpret what people were thinking. 
It’s not easy for us to try & live in the past.  There are so many things we don’t know,  & so many other things  we just assume.  Since we believe in Jesus as Lord & Savior,  we miss how many people in His day had no clue  that Jesus  was man  & God.   We don’t grasp how many people were confused by this Nazarian carpenter  turned Rabbi. 
At Matthew 11, the opposition to Jesus was growing by leaps & bounds.  John the Baptist was in prison & Jesus performs  no miracle to rescue him.    Of the miracles Jesus does,   the Pharisees accuse Him of forming an alliance with Satan in order to accomplish them.  Jesus’ own family  does not know who He truly is,  & He is confronted with unbelief in His own  hometown. 
His disciples are increasingly nervous  that this kingdom Jesus is bringing may not be one
of earthly power & glory.   Healing the sick & helping the poor is well & good,  but how does that get rid of the hated Roman occupiers?  What of all the opposition from the religious leaders?  In response to the concerns of His disciples, Jesus teaches that the wheat & the weeds  will grow together  until Judgment Day. 
For example, Christ’s ministry has gone out to Israel.  Most of Israel has rejected it.   To His followers, everything seemed to be going so poorly for establishing the reign of God.   And it’s not only that people aren’t responding  positively.  Many stand openly against  the work of God’s reign, because it threatens their own rule  no matter how broken their “ruling” might be. 
Does that seem at all relevant  to our culture today?   It should,  because it’s rampant across our nation.  Arrogance & pride are being put on full public display.  If you don’t see it everywhere you look,  you are sticking your head in the sand.   People are laboring  & heavy laden trying to live their lives  under the burden of law. 
Human beings live under the assumption that working harder or smarter,  or today higher, can make things better.  Some of our burdens have been imposed upon us from the fallen world,  but many burdens  are  of our own doing.  We have chosen  to carry things God never intended for us to carry,  & it can be difficult to lay them down. 
In fact,  we often do not have the capacity to lay down our burdens.  The Father, the Son & the Holy Spirit  know that.  The Son came to earth in a manger at Bethlehem  in order to bring His invitation to each one of us personally: “Come to me,  all who labor & are heavy laden,  & I will give you rest.”  (Matthew 11:28 ESV)    God knows  you need it! 
In Matthew 11, Jesus calls us to quit pretending that we are strong!  Quit trying to work so hard.  As you are,  come  & surrender!  All of life, every single aspect of what you experience each day,  revolves around Jesus, by His will.   And He says, “As you are,   however you are,  come,  come to me  & I will give you rest.”   The rest Jesus offers  is life  itself.   If you do not have the rest our Creator offers, then you are not  alive.    If you do not have the rest Jesus offers  then you are dead,  even if you don’t realize it.  Without His rest,  there is no life,  no living;  all the work you do  is accomplishing nothing,   nothing,   nothing! 
You might say, “But how can I rest,  when I have so much to do?”   Yet,  if you do not have the rest that Jesus offers,  then all the work you get done  is for nothing.   It is pointless!  Whatever you do  without God’s rest  is simply an illusion  & a mirage.  God the Father  is the fountain & source of all goodness  & He delivers it to us  through His Son Jesus. 
Unfortunately,  in a sermon on coming to Jesus – calling us to lay down our burdens – laying down our burdens can become a new law itself.   Trying to lay down your burdens  can become  a new burden.  Rather, Jesus wants us to know that receiving Him is the main thing,  not the setting aside of what causes us to be heavy laden.  
We cannot use Jesus to defeat our problems,  but as we surrender to Jesus,  as He embraces us,  we discover (almost incidentally)  that we have been relieved of our burdens.  Sometimes those struggles remain,  yet we bear them under the cross in the power of our Lord & Savior’s embrace.  His grace is sufficient even  & especially   in our weakness. 
As Zechariah highlighted in the OT lesson,  humility is a trait of God’s kingdom, seen in the description of His Son, “…your king is coming to you; …humble  & mounted on a donkey…”  (9:9 ESV)    If we receive the rest that Christ offers to us,  not only do we come to life, but we will be humble  to accept His embrace,  His mercy,  & His forgiveness. 
Many in our culture today are trying to save the world  without Jesus.   They’re rejecting His embrace & the life that only He can give.  They want nothing to do with God’s mercy & forgiveness.  Their arrogance & pride is blinding them to the utter folly of attempting to help the downtrodden by giving them earthly things that are only temporary.  Arrogance & pride blind them, just like the Pharisees & Scribes were blinded,  to the rest  that all of us need from the effects of sin.  It is Yahweh alone who brings people to life  through His message that everyone is invited  to come to Him for rest.    Sadly,  many reject Him & the gift He offers. 
So, the questions arise today as they did among Jesus followers 2000 years ago: Can this be the work of God?  Is this  how things are supposed to play out?  Should our churches not look more powerful?  As questions like those set the stage,  we are ready & eager to hear the words of our Lord.  In the face of rejection & ridicule, Jesus prays:
“…I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven & earth,  that You have hidden these things from the wise & understanding  & revealed them to little children.”  (Matthew 11:25 ESV)   The wise & understanding are those who refuse to acknowledge their utter & complete need for God’s saving righteousness.  They refuse to rejoice that Jesus has come to save them  & everyone else too. 
The little children are those who know  their utter dependence upon their Lord & Creator to save them.  They bring nothing to God but empty hands & broken hearts,  as did John the Baptist from his prison cell.  We are incapable of saving ourselves,  just as helpless infants rely completely on their parents for food, warmth & safety.   We need the embrace of Jesus. 
We need the rest & the life that He offers to us, when Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor & are heavy laden, & I will give you rest.”  (Matthew 11:28 ESV)  Amen. 
 
 
“Come unto Me, ye weary,  & I will give you rest.”  O blessed voice of Jesus,  which comes to heart oppressed!   It tells of benediction,  of pardon, grace, & peace,  of joy that hath no ending,  of love that cannot cease.     “And whosoever cometh,  I will not cast him out.”   O patient love of Jesus,  which drives away our doubt,  which, though we be unworthy  of love so great & free,  invites us very sinners to come, dear Lord, to Thee!  Amen.  LSB 684:1, 4.
 

]]>Sun, 28 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.smlministries.net/sermons/serving-in-the-spirit5th Sunday after Pentecost – A (Proper 8)                                                     LSB #’s 589, 590, 579
Text – Romans 7:6
 
But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit & not in the old way of the written code. 
 
SERVING IN THE SPIRIT
 
 
Tristan Bernard was a French novelist & anarchist.  He was also Jewish.  As such,  he lived in constant terror  of Hitler’s Gestapo during WWII.     Finally,  it happened.   He & his wife were arrested & sent to the primary detention center outside Paris.  On his way to jail, Bernard said with relief, “The time of fear is over.  Now comes the time of hope.” 
What circumstances cause you to be afraid?    What circumstances   bring you hope?  Much of the time,  our fears  & our hopes  are driven by what we expect  our future will bring. Will the medical tests  reveal bad news?   Are we hopeful  that our team is good enough to finally win the big game?  
A pessimist will live in fear  much more of the time than an optimist.   Hope may spring eternal for someone with an optimistic personality.    In a world broken by sin,  neither attitude will get you through the really difficult challenges brought on by suffering & death.  Pessimism is crushed by the weight of sin.   Optimism proves to be ‘pie in the sky’ foolishness. 
Only an optimist will believe  they can earn favor by their good behavior.   A pessimist will believe  it is pointless  to try.   However,  both attitudes spring from the same root,  that of humanism,  a philosophy attaching prime importance to the potential of human beings.  At best,  humanism relegates God  to the dust bin of history. 
In the 7th chapter of Romans, the apostle Paul is writing  to totally contradict humanism, as well as to destroy  pessimism  & optimism.   Romans 7 is not,  primarily,  about spiritual improvement,  emotional honesty,  or managing your inner life  more effectively.  Romans 7  is about death.   More specifically,  it is about what happens when sinners collide headlong & honestly  into the Law of God.   The Law may curb our sinful tendencies,  but it curbs us to death.  The Law may also instruct us,  but  it will instruct us  to death.   As St. Paul wrote:
“For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.  …when the commandment came, sin came alive & I died.  The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.  For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment,  deceived me  & through it  killed me.”  (7:5, 9-11 ESV) 
In Romans 7, the refrain the Apostle is singing is this, “The Law   laws us  to death.”   It demands 100% perfection,  100% of the time.   Through the circumstances of our lives,  the Triune God wills  that we crash headlong into His Law.   When that collision happens,  death is right there  ready  to reap its harvest.  Because of our sin,  that harvest is meant to be you & me. 
That’s why the cross of Calvary is such a powerful image.  The very Son of God hanging upon that cross – naked & dead – could just as well be a picture of anyone  of us.   That  is what you & I  owe  to the holy & righteous Being who created us in His image.   We  have soiled that image with what we have done  & with what we have left undone.   It is  the ugliest picture! 
God’s Law boxes us in.  It leaves us  with nowhere to go  but eternal suffering.   That’s why true unbelievers hate Jesus so much.  They have absolutely no credit to claim of themselves.  His Law leaves them hanging naked & dead  before the world.  Not even optimists  have a right to hope for a better future   if they do not trust in the blood of Jesus  to cover  their sinfulness. 
It is impossible for us  as sinners   to “manage”  a holy & righteous God,  & His Law is simply a true representation of His being.    However,  His Word also reveals to us that God is love.  (1 John 4:8 ESV)   Because we are corrupted by sin,  God’s Law & His love seem at odds with each other.  Dysfunctional as we are,  there is no way for us to hold the righteousness & the love of God together.  They seem like totally incompatible extremes.   That’s how much  sin has damaged our heart & mind.   Apart from God’s Word  we can’t even begin  to comprehend the width & the breadth of His nature.  His Law invades our hearts & minds.  It strips away  all our defenses.   It presses & exposes.  Then,   it traps us  in our lies & our deceptions. 
On the other hand,  God’s love invites  & welcomes us,  even while  we are sinners.  Whereas children of God were once slaves to sin through His Law,  after He converts us,  we are privileged to serve in the new way of His Spirit.  Isaiah gave a hint of that already in the OT:
“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness & rivers in the desert.”  (43:19 ESV)   St. Paul reflected on that in a letter to the church at Corinth: “Therefore,  if anyone is in Christ,  he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”  (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV) 
As Paul was writing to the church at Rome, evil was growing in influence, strength & power all around in Rome.  The forces of evil were creeping in everywhere.  Jews were being tempted to build walls with the law  to protect themselves,  to keep wrong out & their people inside  where they thought  they would be safe. 
In many respects, Orthodox Judaism still functions in that way,  but it’s a trap & St. Paul is warning his church of the danger.   Today,  we also see evil growing in influence, strength & power across our nation, & across the world.  The forces of evil are on the move.  Are you aware of the danger?  Have you been tempted with optimism to think that everything will be okay? 
Only in Christ  is our hope true.  We cannot protect ourselves with the Law,  & there’s nothing we can do  to make ourselves right with God.  Jesus has done that.  Our task is simply to believe it,  but in a world full of sinful temptations,  that is not a simple  as it sounds.   Satan is working every moment of every day to lead us astray.  Optimism & pessimism are but two of his many paths  leading to destruction.  The only place we find protection from the evil in our nation,  & the evil in our own hearts,  is in Yahweh’s promise to be faithful to us.  He does that perfectly & 100% of our lives.  Once we accept that sin has killed us, then every day of life from here on  is a gift from the heavenly Father, where we serve in the Spirit. 
When the Holy Spirit does good works through us,  that is the glow of heaven shining into our current & broken world.   To that end,  our Lord & Savior does not come to us  only in pious words & good news.  No,  Jesus comes to each one of us  personally in His body & blood during Holy Communion,  because He knows the trials & suffering that we endure here. 
When we are hopeful for our future,  because of Christ’s victory over our world,  that is one way of serving in the new way of the Spirit.  Being hopeful for our future in spite of what we see & feel,  that is a sign of the new life created in us by our heavenly Father.  When we are fearful, that is a sign of the old Adam still at work.  For that we repent & believe in forgiveness. 
What circumstances cause you to be afraid?  Repent of that lack of trust in Jesus & believe that He forgives you.    What circumstances bring you hope?   If they are circumstances other than the Gospel of Jesus Christ,  repent of that misplaced trust, & believe that Jesus paid the price for that in order to renew your life in Him. 
Jesus has kept the Law for you, & He has fulfilled it completely so that it can no longer harm you in eternity.  Now, you are free to serve in the new way of the Spirit.  Amen. 
 
 
 
Baptized into Your name most holy,  O Father, Son & Holy Ghost,  I claim a place though weak & lowly,  among Your saints,  Your chosen host.   Buried with Christ & dead to sin,  Your Spirit now shall live within.         My faithful God,  You fail me never;  Your promise surely will endure.   O cast me not away forever  if words & deeds become impure.   Have mercy when I come defiled;  forgive, lift up,  restore Your child.  Amen.  LSB 590:1, 3. 
 
]]>Sun, 21 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.smlministries.net/sermons/vengeance​4th Sunday after Pentecost – A (Proper 7)                        LSB #’s 555:1-2, 4-5; 696:1-4; 555:7-10
Text – Jeremiah 20:12
 
O Lord of hosts, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart & the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause.
 
VENGEANCE
 
 
Have you noticed the amount of hatred that exists today among people of our nation for our current president?   It’s on public display almost any time you see the latest news.  Is that the kind of attitude people should have – living in constant hatred for a single human being?    Even if president Trump is evil, is that how God calls us to respond? 
Maybe you recall words to this effect: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor & hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, ‘Love your enemies & pray for those who persecute you.’”  (Matthew 5:43-44 ESV)   Then, Jesus shares the motive, “So that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”  (Matthew 5:45a ESV) 
The point is, if you allow your heart to be filled with hatred for another human being then you are in the process of rejecting your Father who is in heaven.  You’re in the process of choosing not to be His son.  Jesus is stating that it’s a binary choice, either a heart filled with hatred or a heart in relationship to the heavenly Father.   Is that a challenging teaching? 
It’s not unusual for Jesus.  One time a lawyer tried to test Him.  He asked what he must do to inherit eternal life.  “[Jesus] said to him, ‘What is written in the Law?’”  (Luke 10:26a ESV)  The lawyer answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart & with all your soul & with all your strength & with all your mind, & your neighbor as yourself.”  (Luke 10:27 ESV)    
“[Jesus] said to him, ‘You have answered correctly; do this, & you will live.’”  (Luke 10:28 ESV)   In other words, just live a perfect life.  Recognizing the burden of that challenging teaching, the lawyer said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”  (Luke 10:29 ESV)   After hearing Jesus say, “Love your enemies & pray for those who persecute you,” (Matthew 5:43-44 ESV) you & I may recognize the magnitude of that burden & be tempted to ask, “And who is my enemy?”  That is the challenge the prophet Jeremiah was facing & it causes him to pray, “O Lord of hosts… let me see your vengeance upon them…”  (20:12 ESV) 
In light of Jesus’ call to love our enemies & pray for those who persecute us, (Matthew 5:44 ESV) how are we to understand the words of Jeremiah in the sermon text?   Is it legitimate for us to pray that God will take vengeance on our enemies?   Is that what Jesus meant when He said, “Pray for those who persecute you”?    It is tempting to think that. 
We’ll take a closer look at what’s going on in Jeremiah to understand.  He was a prophet during the last years of the nation of Judah.  The northern ten tribes had already been destroyed.  Judah’s turn was coming, & Jeremiah was sent to warn them.   Judgment was on its way because of their idolatry which at times involved sacrificing their children to false gods. 
Yet, Jeremiah loved the people & prayed for them because of their sins.  Still, the people did not want to hear that unfaithfulness to God was bringing judgment.  False prophets were predicting continued peace & prosperity.  Yahweh delayed punishment, hoping they’d repent, & that brought more ridicule to Jeremiah because his prophesied judgment was not arriving. 
Once Babylon attacked, Jeremiah counseled submission to Nebuchadnezzar, since it was Yahweh who sent him to destroy Judah.  That got Jeremiah labeled a traitor.  The chapter before the OT lesson shares some of the words God commanded Jeremiah to speak:
“Because the people have forsaken me & have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods… & because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, & have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind – therefore, behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth… but the Valley of Slaughter…  I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air & to the beasts of the earth…  And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons & their daughters, & everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor…”  (19:4-6, 7b, 9 ESV) 
Imagine if those were God’s words to the people of the United States.   Believers would not receive them well, let alone the unbelievers.  As chapter 20 begins, Jeremiah is beaten & put in the stocks.  When he’s released the next day, God speaks through Jeremiah in Vs. 4-5 ESV:
“And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon.  He shall carry them captive to Babylon, & shall strike them down with the sword.  Moreover, I will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its prized belongings, & all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them & seize them & carry them to Babylon.” 
The people of Judah did not receive those words well.  Which leads Jeremiah to complain of his predicament directly to God:
“O Lord… I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me.  … For I hear many whispering.  Terror is on every side!  ‘Denounce him!  Let us denounce him!’ say all my close friends, watching for my fall.  ‘Perhaps he will be deceived; then we can overcome him     & take our revenge on him.’”  (Jeremiah 20:7, 10 ESV) 
The hatred, the people of Judah had for Jeremiah, was not something personal, like the hatred many Americans have for president Trump.  The people of Judah hated Jeremiah because of the message God sent through him.  It was actually God whom they hated.  Jeremiah seems to understand that & not take it personally.  When he prays for vengeance, listen to his motive:
“…let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause.”  (Jeremiah 20:12 ESV)  Jeremiah wants to see the will of God be done which means the enemies of God must be thwarted.  Another clue to the legitimacy of Jeremiah’s prayer is what he prefaces it with: “O Lord of hosts, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart & the mind…”  Jeremiah is acknowledging that, unlike himself, or any of us, Yahweh is able to read the human heart.  Our Creator knows our every thought & emotion, pure or unpure. 
Unlike you & me, God is able to judge fairly & accurately every time.   He’s never wrong, so Jeremiah leaves the act of vengeance in God’s hands.  St. Paul picked up on that in his letter to the Romans: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’”  (12:19 ESV) 
That requires humility on our part.  It’s something that a lot of people who hate president Trump seem to lack, especially as they personally try to destroy him.  If Mr. Trump is truly evil, they’d be far better off leaving it up to his Creator to take vengeance upon him. 
Jeremiah’s call for God’s vengeance was not motivated by selfish retaliation.  Rather, he grieved for the people of Judah & how their leaders were taking them down the path to destruction.  The words God put in Jeremiah’s heart, were breaking his heart for the people who refused to hear.  Their hearts were filled with hatred & no longer in relationship to their Creator. 
Jesus knew what it was to face mockery, hatred, retaliation & vengeance.  He bore the brunt of the world’s evil in order to pay for all the sins of mankind.  Now, our Father can show mercy instead of vengeance & still be a just God.  So, we pray that our enemies would come to know Jesus & lean upon His forgiveness. 
Nevertheless, we can also say with Jeremiah: “But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble; they will not overcome me.  Amen. 
 
Lord, let me win my foes with kindly words & actions, & let me find good friends for council & correction.   Help me, as You have taught, to love both great & small & by Your Spirit’s might to live in peace with all.  Amen.  LSB 696:4. 
]]>Sun, 14 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.smlministries.net/sermons/a-kingdom-of-priests3rd Sunday after Pentecost – A (Proper 6)                                              LSB #’s 835:1-4, 826, 660
Text – Exodus 19:6a
 
And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests & a holy nation. 
 
A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS
 
 
The current power struggles going on across our world are in the news almost constantly.  Russia vs. Ukraine,  Iran vs. the United States & Israel,  China trying to intimidate Taiwan,  & North Korea threatening South Korea, not to mention the constant, lower-level conflicts across Africa.  Our world,  & our own people,  reflect an insatiable desire for power  & control.  
Our denomination is currently electing a president  as forces,  even in the church, struggle to be in charge.  God has an entirely different plan for His people.  Rather than wrestling to be in charge,  you & I should be wrestling to serve: “And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests  & a holy nation.”  (Exodus 19:6a ESV) 
What are priests meant to do?   They are to serve,  not to rule.   Clearly,  not all priests understand  that very important distinction, however,  it is God’s design.   And  as with anything God designed for this life,  sinful creatures twist & corrupt it  to serve their own wants & desires.  You & I are completely enslaved  to the effects of sin.  No rotten apple  can make itself whole. 
Just three months earlier, the people who crossed the Red Sea had never known freedom.  Saved by God’s grace & brought into new life as His chosen people,  they arrive at Mt. Sinai.    Other than Moses & his family, everyone who was rescued from Egypt  had been enslaved their entire lives.  It was the only existence they knew. 
Because of that,  just three days after crossing the Red Sea, the people wondered if being enslaved in Egypt wasn’t so bad after all.   There were well over a million people following Moses, along with their cattle.  They needed a lot of water,  & there in the desert  they were finding none.  The land of Egypt  had the Nile River.   So, God gave them water to drink.  A month later, they were complaining that in Egypt they sat around pots of meat & ate bread to full.  So, God gave them manna & quail to eat.  Then the Amalekites attacked  but as long as Moses held up his arms the Israelites would win that battle.  God gave them many opportunities to place their trust  in His provision of all they needed.  Would they ever learn? 
Every step of the way, from Egypt to Sinai,  Yahweh was teaching & serving His chosen people.  Now, He calls to Moses out of the mountain, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, & tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, & how I bore you on eagles’ wings & brought you to myself.’”  (Exodus 19:3b-4 ESV) 
When you look back,  over your life,  what do you see?   Do you dwell upon the failures & the broken dreams?    Or,  do you recognize & give thanks for the times God carried you through those heartbreaks  to bring you to Himself  on this very morning?  In a sense,  right now,  you & I are gathered at base of Mt. Sinai,  & our Lord has carried us here on eagles’ wings.
In many ways  we are weary, broken & tattered,  yet,  our Savior has carried us here.   In that, He says, “Come to me, all who labor & are heavy laden, & I will give you rest.”  (Matthew 11:28 ESV)   We confess that we are by nature sinful & unclean.  We have sinned against our Creator in thought, word & deed, by what we have done & by what we have left undone. 
And still, He invites us to come to Him for rest from those sins  & from all the brokenness resulting from them.  Yahweh forgives our sins & heals our wounds  of heart, mind & soul.  As king David experienced that he wrote, “O LORD, I love the habitation of your house & the place where your glory dwells.”  (Psalm 26:8 ESV) 
At Mt. Sinai, Yahweh gave Moses plans for the tabernacle where His glory would dwell with them as they wandered through the wilderness.  And as they received healing there,  God called them to carry that healing out into His creation: “Now therefore, if you will indeed hear my voice & keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;  & you shall be to me a kingdom of priests & a holy nation.”   (Exodus 19:5-6a ESV)   Israel was not meant to rule God’s creation  but to serve it.  Israel was meant to tell the nations around them  about the glory of Yahweh & the healing He brings to a broken world. 
As they recognized & gave thanks for the times God carried them through their wilderness struggles, they’d bring hope to the people around them.  Those nations were worshipping gods that they had made in their own image, gods that were false & powerless to bring peace or healing to anyone. 
Once God had conquered Canaan & given them the land of milk & honey, His people grew satisfied & believed they deserved everything they had.  Then they wandered away to the very false gods the nations around them were worshipping.  They completely failed in their role as a kingdom of priests & a holy nation.  Eventually, God took the land away from them. 
They were no longer using it,  or any of their blessings, to the glory of the only true God.  They were leaving Him in the dust  in their rush to be like the pagan nations around them.  Israel failed as Yahweh’s kingdom of priests so He sent His Son to be the ultimate priest.  Jesus would serve His people to the death as He worked to re-create the true Israel of Yahweh. 
How comfortable are you with your role in God’s kingdom of priests?  Is there a lot of good that you’ve left undone in that regard?  Your heavenly Father has forgiven you on account of Jesus’ death on the cross.  Our hope for today & eternity lies in that fact.  Still,  the season of Pentecost is marked by a focus on how our life in Christ grows by the power of the Holy Spirit. 
When you are here, Yahweh is working in your hearts through His Word, through your Baptism & through the body & blood of His Son.  Though we can’t see the effects with our eyes, those means of grace are true & real,  unlike the false gods from whom we often seek fulfillment.  Our careers are all temporary.  Our homes & reputation will one day disappear  no matter how solid & real they may seem.  The people we love will leave us behind,  as many already have.  Meanwhile, Jesus is working to create the permanent & eternal reality of paradise.  Our saintly natures are already part of that reality,  but our sinful nature still weighs us down. 
The season of Pentecost marks the growth of our saintly nature as the Holy Spirit daily draws us closer to the final & perfect reality that awaits us.  We are privileged to serve in God’s kingdom as priests to the people around us,  even though that service never earns eternal life.  We serve others because our saintly nature is already part  of that eternal reality. 
Jesus did not come to earth simply to be our example.  He came to serve us  so that we could fulfill our calling as priests.  Yahweh called His people at Mt. Sinai & Jesus calls us at Mt. Calvary.  He calls us to take up our cross & follow Him,  but His yoke is easy & His burden is light (Matthew 11:30 ESV) because Jesus is doing God’s work  through us. 
St. Peter picks up the sermon text: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”  (2:9-10) 
No matter who wins the power struggles here on earth, their victories are only temporary.  Then the grave will claim them as well.  Knowing Jesus lasts forever & ever,  & He has conquered the grave for all who trust in Him.  Amen. 
 
 
Stand up, stand up for Jesus;  stand in His strength alone.   The arm of flesh will fail you,  ye dare not trust your own.   Put on the Gospel armor;  each piece put on with prayer.   Where duty calls or danger,  be never wanting there.     Stand up, stand up for Jesus;  the strife will not be long;  this day the din of battle,  the next the victor’s song.   The soldiers overcoming,  their crown of life shall see  & with the King of Glory  shall reign eternally.  Amen.  LSB 660:3-4.  
]]>Sun, 07 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.smlministries.net/sermons/love-like-the-morning-mist​2nd Sunday after Pentecost – A (Proper 5)                                         LSB #’s 981:1-3, 7; 664, 711
Text – Hosea 6:4
 
What can I do with you, Ephraim?  What can I do with you, Judah?  Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears.
 
LOVE LIKE THE MORNING MIST
 
 
The football team of Wake Forest University had just suffered a lopsided loss.  After the game, a player’s father, who usually had some positive statement to make, threw his arms around his son & said excitedly, “You guys looked great...”   The son couldn’t believe his ears.   He wondered what game he’d been watching.   After a pause, his father said, “…in the huddle.” 
This morning – you & I are in the huddle.   We look pretty good.   We sound pretty good   as we sing God’s praises & make our confession of faith.   Leaving here, we go into the world   to the ‘game’ of life & confront the other team: the temptations of the world, the devil & our own sinful nature.   We may look great now.    How about tomorrow? 
In fact, how will we look   two hours from now, once the morning is over?     Will our trust in Christ vanish like the morning mist?     When push comes to shove will we keep a record of wrongs rather than turn those hurts over to Jesus?   Will we be plotting revenge over some offense rather than relying upon faith in our Savior to work all things to God’s glory? 
It’s not difficult to ‘talk’ about Jesus, but it is a struggle to actually turn to Him in every situation.   It’s difficult even remembering to do that, let alone resisting our emotions when they tell us to do things that are not constructive or God pleasing.   Our emotions often are the culprit   when we’ve lost sight of what Jesus would have us do. 
At other times, we flat out don’t want anything to do with how Jesus expects us to live
or act.   Love like the morning mist may look pretty if you’re taking pictures,   but it doesn’t last     except in the memories captured by that photo.    And love that is only a memory   is not a very satisfying love.   It may be enough to make you look good in the huddle, but it’s tough to do battle against the forces of sin with love that has no more substance than the morning mist. 
God painted a graphic picture of the way in which Israel loved Yahweh, by commanding Hosea the prophet to marry a prostitute.  That’s someone who’s love epitomizes the morning mist.  As God’s Word applies to all people, of all times, that graphic picture applies to you & me as well.   Our love for God is also like that of a prostitute. 
Love like the morning mist is here one minute, gone the next!   It’s a superficial & shallow love.   The 1st thing that comes along takes our attention away from God.   For example, where I grew up it struck me as ironic how,   on major holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas & Easter, many of the women could not be in church.     They had too much cooking to do. 
Is food more important   than God?    The answer is an easy, “No!” when it’s someone else’s life that you’re talking about.  But when it’s your own life it’s a lot more difficult to answer questions like that with honesty.    Each of us should be able to name something that makes our love for God disappear   like the morning mist. 
If you can’t think of something   then you’re naively unaware of the battle you face each day.   As we leave the huddle we are going to confront the other team: the temptations of the world,   the devil & our own sinful nature.   To not be aware of them   is to have already lost the battle.   To not be aware of the danger we face is to love God like the morning mist. 
Parents who love their children discipline them & true discipline isn’t only about punishment.   It’s about teaching the child to be aware of their own desires; desires which make their love for God disappear   like the morning mist.   Those desires have the power to make our lives miserable, because they always lead away from eternal life, & towards eternal death.   
Each of us can give examples    where we’ve followed such desires   & come to regret it. 
In the 1st verse read from Hosea, he writes of God’s perspective, “Then I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt.  And they will seek my face; in their misery they will earnestly seek me.”  (5:15 NIV)   Sin, of itself, brings misery,   but God also sends misery as discipline for our sin.   He sends misery in order to teach us what we do not want to learn. 
In verse five our heavenly Father speaks again, “Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets, I killed you with the words of my mouth; my judgments flashed like lightning upon you.”  (6:5 NIV)   God’s Law, the things He commands us to do to please Him, is meant to prepare us for the Gospel.  His discipline highlights the gracious message of His love. 
We chafe under His chastisement, but His children also know there is no other god to whom they can turn for the cure.  “Come, let us return to the Lord.   He has torn us to pieces but He will heal us; He has injured us but He will bind up our wounds.”  (Hosea 6:1 NIV) 
Have you had cause for feeling miserable lately?   In that, have you been listening to God’s teaching?  Instead of making excuses, instead of spending time looking to place the blame elsewhere, why not look at yourself?   The view is just a mirror away.   You can use the Ten Commandments for that mirror.  You’ll see that your love for God is like the morning mist. 
As you greeted this day, this new opportunity to be alive & to enjoy all the blessings that God has given you, did you greet this new morning with thanksgiving?     Or, did your love for God not even appear in that picture?     Hosea wrote, “Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears.”   
Some of us love God so much   that we’ll only come to church when the right kind of music is being played,   or when the right preacher is in the pulpit.    Our love for God is so awesome isn’t it?      Let’s be honest,   a lot of days,   our love for God never appears in the 1st place.    That means there’s nothing to disappear.   At best our love is like a mist burned off by the sun of our worldly interests & our material, earthly concerns.  As we look to the week ahead with another seven opportunities to greet each morning, will our love again evaporate like the dew?     The answer is, “Yes,” even if our love shows up in the 1st place. 
The teaching that is most distinctive about Hosea’s prophecy is his portrayal of the God who loves   when all possibility of loving has rightly ended.   Hosea portrays the God who loves again, & again, & again.  Yahweh is like a husband who forgives the unforgivable, like a husband who keeps taking back the prostitute bride. 
Some don’t like that kind of god.   He can appear as a god too easily taken advantage of, a god not much different than the prostitute herself.    Other people want a god who chooses them because they’re better than others.    “When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors & ‘sinners’?’”  (Matthew 9:11 ESV) 
The Pharisees didn’t like the kind of God that Jesus showed them, that weak & powerless God who was not able, even, to come down from the cross.   At least, Jesus wasn’t able to come down if He was going to pay for the sins of the whole world.     How about you?    Is a god who forgives sinners   too weak a god for you?    Is that a god whom you cannot love? 
Are you looking for a god who will enforce the Law; one who will stick to His guns & paint every issue in uncomplicated colors of black & white?    Then you need only look to the cross of Jesus Christ.  That’s where God enforced the Law.  That is where He stuck to His guns.  There He painted every issue in the uncomplicated colors of black & white. 
At Golgotha, His own Son experienced hell & He did so that sinners might get into heaven – sinners being the kind of people who get under your skin & irritate you when your love has disappeared like the morning mist.    Thank God that His love never disappears.  The book of Hebrews warns us, “…Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts...”  (3:15 ESV)   There is plenty of evil & sin in our world.  If Satan has his way he’ll show you how to harden your hearts as a defense against them.   But in hardening your hearts you shut out God’s love as well.  It is a harsh reality & unnerving to realize that we cannot protect ourselves from sin or from evil.  Because of mankind’s sin, pain & suffering are part of this world. 
In order to be God’s children, in order to love others as we love ourselves, the risk of getting hurt is certain.   Loving sinners always brings that along as part of the package.  If we harden our hearts, we also prevent God’s love from entering them, & we leave God no choice but to destroy us.   Hosea 6:5 reveals God’s response:
“Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets, I killed you with the words of my mouth; my judgments flashed like lightning upon you.”  God kills us for the specific purpose of bringing us back to life, to a new life, a life in Christ & not a life in ourselves.  He said:
“Then I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt.  And they will seek my face; in their misery they will earnestly seek me.”  (Hosea 5:15 NIV)   God’s children respond, “Come, let us return to the Lord.  He has torn us to pieces but He will heal us;   He has injured us but He will bind up our wounds.”   (Hosea 6:1 NIV)  
That sounds awkward, difficult even, to trust that the very God who tears you to pieces will also heal your wounds.   That’s what faith is in Jesus Christ as Lord & Savior.   So few find the straight & narrow way because it makes no sense to the sinful mind.   The straight & narrow is painful because it involves real death on our part – death to a self-centered worldview. 
Faith believes these words, in spite of everything else it sees, “As surely as the sun rises, the Lord will appear; He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.”  (Hosea 6:3b NIV)    The Word of God brings life.  Holy Communion brings life.  Baptism brings life.  All of them strengthen us that we might live lives full of love for God & for our neighbor.   There are tangible results, already in this life, to being a Christian,    but you can’t measure them as a scientist measures the percentage of humidity in the morning mist.   In the Gospel reading from Matthew Jesus tells the Pharisees, “Go & learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, & not sacrifice.’  For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”  (9:13 ESV) 
If you realize that your love for God   & for others   is like the morning mist,    then you are recognizing that you are a sinner.   Know that Christ is calling you today to His home.   If you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts to His indescribable love. 
Jesus might not always look good to us in the huddle, but He is the eternal Victor by virtue of His death & by His resurrection from death.  Amen.
 
 
No distrust made [Abraham] waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised.  That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”  But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also.  It will be counted to us who believe in Him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses & raised for our justification.  Amen.  (Romans 4:20-24 ESV)  
]]>