​10th Sunday after Pentecost – B (Proper 12)                                                 LSB #’s 906, 809, 924
Text – Genesis 9:16
 
When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it & remember the everlasting covenant between God & every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.
 
THE EVERLASTING COVENANT
 
 
During the 4 years, one month & 9 days that I was stationed onboard the submarine, we made numerous voyages out into the deep blue sea.   It was a mostly tedious & boring existence filled with the monotony of the endless repetition – work, sleep & eat, work, sleep & eat.   The only time it got interesting is when the danger of dying became very real. 
We trained on a regular basis for disaster to strike, so that if it did, we’d know how to respond.  In order for the training to be real, it had to involve danger.  Anything short of that & the training was not worthwhile.  We had to experience the fear in order to learn how to control it & still do our job.   During a real emergency, there would be no do-overs if we failed. 
During the other 99.9% of the time we suffered from mind-numbing boredom.  When my enlistment ended on May 10th, 1984, I never looked back.  I wanted nothing to do with going to sea ever again.   Then, I visited the Ark Encounter down in Kentucky. 
Deep inside, at one end of the boat, there is an incredible sound system that vibrates the structure with the pounding of the waves & the crashing of thunder.   The area is dimly lit & it’s easy to imagine the destruction happening outside the ship.  The power & hazardous nature of life at sea brought back to mind the adrenaline rush of the battle against it. 
It was the first time in over 30 years that I could feel the sea beckoning me to join the battle.  What an amazing experience it would have been to be on the ark with Noah as the flood waters raged upon the earth.   Yet, when considering the utter devastation that Noah saw once he got off the ark, it makes sense that God gave him the rainbow as a promise.  Most all the picture books & toys based on the Ark portray the hopeful happy ending of the story.  Lions, giraffes & all sorts of cute animal figures are popping out of the Ark every which way.  They skip over the multitudes of people gasping for breath as the relentless rising waters force them desperately to seek rooftops or high ground, only to ultimately die. 
Over the course of studying for this sermon, I read some comments suggesting that Noah failed to reach all those who would be lost in The Flood.   That is not the way that Holy Scripture portrays this.  According to Genesis, they were not innocent victims trapped in a natural disaster.  The Torah explains that the entire civilization was corrupt & violent & deserved to die. 
Do you   deserve to die?   True followers of Jesus all agree that they do.  I’d venture to say that most Americans today completely reject what the Bible teaches in that regard.  Though the 2nd half of Romans 6:23 says, “…but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord,” most people are unwilling to accept the 1st half, “For the wages of sin is death.” 
It’s one thing to think about the verse, “all have sinned & fall short of the glory of God,” in a generic sense.   It is quite another to think of that verse in a personal sense, “I have sinned & fall short of the glory of God.”  (Romans 3:23 ESV)    When people truly accept that reality, they appreciate God’s intention & purpose for the rainbow. 
We consider now that the colors of the rainbow have been coopted by a movement that is proud of its rebellion against God.  That’s the same attitude which brought The Flood in the 1st place.  In Greek mythology, Iris was a messenger of the gods & she wore a garment made of the colors of the rainbow.   Iris is the Greek word for rainbow. 
In Revelation 10:1, John uses the Greek word iris to describe the rainbow-like halo around the upon the head of a mighty angel coming from heaven.  God will take back His rainbow to let mankind know that there is a real & true messenger, not of pagan gods, but who represents the true God & Creator of all life.  This God has bound Himself to His creation in an everlasting covenant, regardless of our unfaithfulness to Him.  His messenger demonstrates & reflects the glory & the mercy of Yahweh.  God’s rainbow reminds people that after destroying the earth due to sins of men, He will now cover their sins when He sends Messiah. 
John sees this as part of the vision of heaven that he is given.  God is connecting Genesis to Revelation.  In Jewish theology, the rainbow was a reflection of God’s glory – holy & sacred.  Whenever the rainbow appeared, God’s people should praise Him as their Creator.  You could think of it this way, when you see the rainbow, your eyes are meeting the gaze of God. 
People looking at the moon like to think that friends thousands of miles away are looking at the same moon.  It helps them to feel connected.  When you look at a rainbow, God is looking at that same rainbow at the same time.  People today encounter a rainbow with wonder, yet without thinking of its proclamation of God & His mercy.  
In previous generations, children were taught to stop & pray the Our Father when a rainbow appeared, in acknowledgement of its divine origin.  In Revelation, the rainbow appears not only as a reminder of God’s promise never to destroy creation again, by a flood.  It is also a sign of God’s salvation by grace for us & for the entire creation to be made beautiful again. 
The rainbow is a picture of the beauty of heaven.  That’s in stark contrast to the wars going on in Ukraine & Gaza.  It’s horrific to hear about & to see pictures of the devastation.  Now, imagine how Noah & his family felt after everyone in the world was destroyed, & all of the earth with it.  They were the only people who accepted God’s mercy & forgiveness. 
After The Flood, sin & evil will still be allowed to have their day, but God will work from within such a world to redeem it, not overpower the world from without.  The Son will take on human flesh to become part of His creation & save it from within, by the shedding of His blood.  The essence of the rainbow sign is this contrast: its brilliant, sublime radiance & beauty against the dark, threatening clouds in which it appears.  The rainbow’s appearance, then, is not unlike the joy & splendor of the resurrection of Christ against the backdrop of the darkness of Good Friday & the tomb. 
Since God decided to endure a wicked world, while continuing to open up His heart to that world, means that God’s grief is ongoing.  Yahweh thus determines to take suffering into His own heart & bear it there for the sake of the future of His creation.  The cross of Jesus is on the same trajectory as God’s promise never to destroy the world again with a flood. 
“When I bring the clouds,” God says, “& when I see the bow in the clouds, I will remember the everlasting covenant between me & all that is in the earth.”  Still, the rainbow also serves as a sign for us, reminding us of God’s promises first & foremost, reminding us that God remembers & has not abandoned us, even when He afflicts us for our good. 
The rainbow is a sign that God’s memory is more powerful than our forgetfulness, that God’s desire for resurrection & new life overcomes our appetite for destruction & death.  All of us deserve to die, but God desires that we would be saved. 
Because we deserve to die, we should be led to take human sin & God’s judgment seriously.  Faith in Jesus as Savior regards His present   patient   preservation of the world (promised by the rainbow) with humility & gratitude.  A 2nd world catastrophe is coming & its suddenness & extent will be “just as it was in the days of Noah.”  (Luke 17:26) 
Until then, our lives will be much like we read in Psalm 107, a favorite of sailors who trust in Jesus: “Those who go down to the sea in ships, Who do business on great waters, They see the works of the Lord, And His wonders in the deep.  For He commands & raises the stormy wind, Which lifts up the waves of the sea.  They mount up to the heavens, They go down again to the depths; Their soul melts because of trouble.  They reel to & fro, & stagger like a drunken man, And are at their wits’ end.  Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, And He brings them out of their distresses.  He calms the storm, So that its waves are still.  Then they are glad because they are quiet; So He guides them to their desired haven. 
Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men!”  (Psalm 107:23-31 NKJV)  All of God’s provision in our lives is under the umbrella, so to speak, of the rainbow.  His everlasting covenant is part of His plan to bring us home in heaven.  Amen. 
 
 
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father; there is no shadow of turning with Thee.   Thou changest not:  Thy compassions, they fail not; as Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.   Pardon for sin & a peace that endureth, Thine own dear presence to cheer & to guide;   strength for today & bright hope for tomorrow, blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!   Great is Thy faithfulness!   Great is Thy faithfulness!   Morning by morning new mercies I see; all I have needed Thy hand hath provided; Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!  Amen.  LSB 809:1, 3.
   

​8th Sunday after Pentecost – B (Proper 10)                                                   LSB #’s 650, 545, 746
Text – Ephesians 1:13
 
In [Christ] you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, & believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. 
 
THE WORD OF TRUTH
 
 
A highway billboard, near a casino, advertised, “A good clean place to get filthy rich!”   It’s a clever slogan with a nice play on words.  In some respect it’s even true, although the average odds of winning are stacked against you 37 to 1.  In other words, out of every 37 tries, you should win one time, & there’s no guarantee that one will make you filthy rich. 
When it comes to gambling, far more people walk away broke than those who walk away filthy rich.  Is that the kind of truth you feel comfortable relying upon?   In baseball, an excellent batting average is 300.   37 to 1 odds have you batting 27.   In the realm of sinful human beings, truth, & not just beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. 
You have your truth & I have mine is how our culture likes to speak of truth.   Two thousand years ago, in His trial before Pontius Pilate, Jesus stated, “For this purpose I was born & for this purpose I have come into the world – to bear witness to the truth.”  (John 18:37c ESV)  To which Pilate replied, …“What is truth?”  (John 18:38a ESV) 
Truth has been a complicated issue for human beings since Adam & Eve agreed with Satan that God was not being entirely truthful with them.   During an election cycle where lies are broadcast every day as news, in a world where it’s impossible to know the truth, the whole truth & nothing but the truth, God sends His Holy Spirit to us with the Word of truth. 
And what is that word of truth?   Some religions teach that you find truth through meditation.   Some believe that you find truth in the unspoiled expanses of nature.   Every single human version of truth finding is centered in the heart, mind or soul of human beings.  In other words, it’s a very self-centered, self-absorbed & therefore very narrow-minded truth.  When someone says, “You have your truth & I have mine,” they are not telling you the truth.  Truth is not something you are able to discover on your own.   Sin has utterly destroyed our ability to discover truth anywhere,     anyplace,    or anytime. 
If you struggle to accept that, just look at the human track record.  Look at all the lawyers & judges & courts that are overwhelmed with work.   Look at the biological men competing in women’s sports.  Look at the lie of evolution & imagine that every single thing in the universe came into being by accident & random chance.  Sin has cut us off from truth. 
Only God, who created us, can reconnect us to Himself.  That’s why the heavenly Father sent His Son to be born at Bethlehem.  God became man to reconnect the human race to its Creator.  After living the perfect life in our place, never committing a single sin, Jesus suffered, died & rose from the dead to pay the penalty that you & I can only pay in hell for eternity. 
That good news is the gospel of your salvation.  That good news is God’s Word of Truth.  All sinners have been reconciled to their Creator.   He is no longer angry with us in any way.  That good news of our reconciliation is our compass.  That Gospel is our anchor.  The Word of Truth is our hope, & it is an everlasting hope. 
That is the message St. Paul brings to the people of Ephesus.  Prior, they had only the chaos of false religion with gods powerless to bring hope & peace into the tragedy of life in a broken,   sinful world.  We should relate to that in our time.  More & more, the young people of our nation are being raised with nothing but false gods, that fail to bring peace or hope. 
Yesterday, a man only 20 years old, tried to assassinate Donald Trump.   It’s a high-profile version of many of the shootings going on across our nation.  From our distance, the chaos seems to be random, often with no apparent rhyme or reason.  All we see is the anger & the hatred.  It is into that scenario that St. Paul speaks to each of us today, here & across our nation.  Will the men, women & children of our country listen to the Word of truth?   In spite of the tragedy of all the shootings, there’s been no obvious movement of people returning to the Lord.  It appears more like our people are growing numb & insensitive to the brutality. 
Make no mistake, that is Satan’s desire for every one of us.  Whether it’s a violent person with a gun, or a very kind & sincere person who is leading others into false teaching, Satan’s goal is always the same – steal, kill, destroy.   In light of our frailty, how are we to confront our fears of the devil’s destruction?   St. Paul gives the answer:
“In [Christ] you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, & believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.”  (Ephesians 1:13 ESV)   The last phrase is the key – “were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.”   In baptism, the Creator of the universe claimed you as His own.  He put a spiritual mark on you to prove His ownership. 
However, it’s not ownership as people used to own slaves.  Paul wrote in Galatians 4: “So you are no longer a slave, but a son, & if a son, then an heir through God.  (4:7 ESV)   In the rite of baptism, that’s represented as the pastor says to the candidate:
“…receive the sign of the holy cross both upon your forehead & upon your heart to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified.”   Are you listening to the Word of truth?   It is nothing less than the good news that God has redeemed you from sin, death & the devil.  It is not something you can discover on your own.  It has to be revealed to you by God Himself. 
Everyone of us is powerless to save ourselves, & powerless to bring order out of chaos.  Behind every assassination attempt, or mass shooting, lies a human soul, twisted & corrupted by sin.  All the human big talk is about eliminating guns.  You almost never hear about the human soul behind them that Jesus came to save.   That is where the problem lies.  That is where the Word of truth needs to sink in & take root.  Nevertheless, “…the gate is wide & the way is easy that leads to destruction, & those who enter by it are many.”  (Matthew 7:13 ESV)  Our culture no longer wants to consider why so many souls end up wanting to commit murder, because our culture wants nothing to do with the solution, which is the good news of our salvation in Christ. 
If we know nothing else as children of God, we can know Jesus Christ as our Savior from all the lies of this world, as well as from all the lies of our own heart.  God sent the Word of truth to us that we might find peace & joy even in this life, & perfectly & forever in the next. 
In fact, the only truth that exists in this world comes from the heavenly Father, & He offers it to us freely as a gift.  We need that gift to counteract all the destruction caused by sin.  The Word of truth is the antidote to the poison of sin.  Through that Word, Yahweh is constantly at work reuniting His children with the perfect kingdom of God.  In that you can rest.  Amen. 
 
 
 
Word that caused blind eyes to see, speak & heal our mortal blindness; deaf we are:  our healer be; loose our tongues to tell Your kindness.   Be our Word in pity spoken, heal the world, by sin now broken.     Word that speaks God’s tender love,  one with God beyond all telling,  Word that sends us from above,  God the Spirit,  with us dwelling,  Word of truth,  to all truth lead us;  Word of life, with one bread feed us.  Amen.  LSB 545:3-4. 

​7th Sunday after Pentecost – B (Proper 9)                            LSB #’s 612 tune 400, 583 tune 451, 573
Text – Ezekiel 2:3
 
And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me.  They & their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day.”
 
THEY & THEIR FATHERS
 
 
Have you seen a young boy walking alongside his father & then realized that the two of them walk exactly  alike?     Have you seen a girl caring for her younger siblings & thought to yourself, “She speaks just like her mother”?   Those circumstances are not all that common, but it happens enough to cause people to wonder, “Is it nature,  or is it nurture?” 
In other words, do genetics determine if a child acts  exactly like a parent,  or is it the nurture, the training of the child,  that causes it?   Script writers have picked up on the theme in movies.  Often, it’s the son of a criminal   wondering if he’s doomed to a life of crime because of who his father is.  Do we break free & chart our own path,  or  do we follow  in their footsteps? 
With God’s chosen nation,  the people of Israel & their fathers had broken the very first commandment & followed after false gods.  Since their fathers worshipped idols, for hundreds of years,  it was natural for the children to follow in their footsteps.  Genetics played a role, because all of them were sinful to begin with, but God’s intention is for nurture to counteract it. 
Not that training & instruction in the ways of the Lord can erase the effects of sin,  but through them  the Holy Spirit can work to bring about repentance & humility.  Such instruction & training,  in the commands of God,  is emphasized in Deuteronomy 6:
“You shall teach them diligently to your children,  & shall talk of them when you sit in your house,  & when you walk by the way,  & when you lie down,  & when you rise.   You shall write them on the doorposts of your house & on your gates.”  (6:7 & 9 ESV)    God suggests  that constant instruction & training in His word is the appropriate way to raise children, to nurture them in the ways of heaven.    Do you know why?   The heavenly Father sees  that Satan also  is constantly working to lead you & your children  astray.  In fact, the Devil is successful at it every single day,  because not a day goes by  that you & I do not  sin.  To make things worse,  you & I are so acclimated to sinning  that often  we barely notice  when we do. 
We are quite aware of the evil we do.  It’s the good we leave undone  that escapes our attention most of the time.   When children are not trained in the word of God,  & when parents are not doing that training, the family will drift  far away,  & after generations of that drifting  faith is completely lost.  Those are the people to whom God was sending Ezekiel:
“Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel,  to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me.  They & their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day.”  (2:3 ESV)   Their transgression was violating God’s 1st commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me.”  (Deuteronomy 5:7 ESV)   Two verses after the commandment, God expands upon it:
“You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers  on the children  to the 3rd & 4th generation of those who hate me.”  (Deuteronomy 5:9 ESV)   The children of Israel were faithless, because their parents were faithless.  It becomes a vicious circle that perpetuates itself unless a higher power intervenes. 
They & their fathers had drifted from, & then rebelled against, faith in Yahweh.   It became a vicious circle that bred contempt for the Creator’s authority.  Jesus encountered similar attitudes in the Gospel reading, where the people of His hometown, “…took offense at Him…  And [Jesus] marveled because of their unbelief.”  (Mark 6:3c & 6:6a ESV) 
Originally, God’s Word in Ezekiel applied to the Jewish people of 590 B.C.,  but increasingly those words apply to all of Western civilization today.  For years, the United States was bringing up the rear in the decline of Christianity.  In many respects we are now leading the charge.  Christian thought & teaching is being labeled as hate speech.  Christmas hymns are sung less often by public school choirs.  Science class no longer offers support to the teaching of God as Creator.   It has substituted evolutionary theory as The Cause.    Government support of marriage no longer focuses upon one man & one woman in holy matrimony. 
Each of those aberrations from Christianity are part of God’s judgment upon our nation’s people.  A sure sign  is how blind we are to our rebellion.   We’re like an alcoholic who denies that he has a drinking problem.  There is no hope for such an individual.  The United States have entered a vicious circle that perpetuates itself  unless a higher power intervenes. 
God did intervene, sending Ezekiel, to foreshadow Jesus.  In the fullness of time God sent His Son, to intervene in the disastrous affairs of sinful human beings.   The difference is that, while Ezekiel foreshadowed God’s rescue mission, Jesus fulfilled it.  There are no more prophets on their way.   The reconciliation is finished,  yet the danger of unbelief is still  too real. 
Satan is constantly working his deceptions, & since Ezekiel was a sinful human being, like the rest of us,  this is how God called him: “‘Son of man, stand on your feet, & I will speak with you.’  And as [God] spoke to me,  the Spirit entered into me & set me on my feet...”  (Ezekiel 2:1-2 ESV)   Ezekiel, on his own, cannot even stand.  Neither can we. 
Ezekiel is under the same judgment because he too is in exile.  The intervention is entirely God’s work,  & the text records this intervention  in a world suffering under His judgment.  Yahweh sends a prophet to call this people back to Him,  as He judges them  in order to save them.  If our nation is under God’s judgment,  it is also that God may save His people. 
Are we willing to be saved?   Or,  will we continue to serve our own gods?  The false god of politics is constantly in the news this year.   Certainly, our own wants & desires continue to take precedence over the true God & His plans for us – plans like being in His house every seven days  to receive His blessings of forgiveness,  life & salvation.   After this sermon, God will be calling forward the officers & board members of this congregation to receive His blessings for their service to Him & to our community.  Are we willing to be saved  in order that we might serve?   As the OT lesson comes to its end, God tells Ezekiel:
“The descendants also  are impudent & stubborn: I send you to them, & you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’  And whether they hear  or refuse to hear (for they are  a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.”  (2:4-5 ESV)    Around the year 597 B.C.,  Ezekiel prophesied the fall of Jerusalem. 
Ten years later, Nebuchadnezzar sent his armies to destroy the city & it was then that the people knew that Ezekiel had been a prophet among them.   The Fall of Adam & Eve from Paradise  to a world totally corrupted by sin, dwarfs the fall of our own nation & that of Israel.  
In the face of sinful rebellion, throughout human history,  God’s faithfulness led to His ultimate intervention through the life,  death  & resurrection of His Son.    His Father’s complete judgment for our rebellion  was placed upon Christ in order to set free   you & me  from the vicious circle of sin that has engulfed every generation of mankind. 
By the grace of God, all who believe are those who know that,  in Christ,  a prophet has been among us.  When Jesus returns on The Last Day,  then,  even those who rejected the Holy Spirit’s efforts to stand them up  will know that a prophet has been among them.  “…at the name of Jesus every knee will bow…”  (Philippians 2:10 NASB) 
As children of God by His work,  our lives are characterized as both the righteous & the rebels.  Any word of faith & hope that we offer to others  must first be the Word of God for us.  His Word is a two-edged sword, yet God’s law & gospel, always seek to promote life.  As God’s Word convicts us & brings us to life, then we can offer that witness to others in genuine humility & love.  We carry that Word not to condemn, but to bring life.   It is Jesus who will bring final judgment on those choosing to remain eternally in the category of They & Their Fathers.  The same word of Yahweh that spoke all the universe into existence, will also bring about the reality of heaven & hell.  He sent Jesus to save us from sin because He desires that all would be saved. 
His Word will bring life or death  depending on how each person receives it: “And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.”  (Ezekiel 2:5 ESV)   There was no hope for any of us,  unless Jesus took on human flesh to redeem our race from sin. 
Now, through His Word & Baptism & Holy Communion,  God continues to nurture those who believe to keep us humble & repentant.  He works through the means of grace that we might be the light of the world & the salt of the earth.  He does this to counteract the effect that sin still has  even on the children of God. 
Just as Ezekiel & Christ faced stubborn audiences, St. Paul wrote, “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions & calamities.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  (2 Corinthians 12:10 ESV)   Sin makes us weak, but that weakness, combined with the means of grace,  shows us our need for a Savior. 
Then, the Holy Spirit ‘sets us on our feet’  that we might be strong in Christ.  Amen. 
 
 
 
God has spoken by His prophets,  spoken His unchanging Word;  each from age to age proclaiming God, the one, the righteous Lord.  In the world’s despair & turmoil,  one firm anchor holds us fast: God is king, His throne eternal;  God the first,  & God the last.    God is speaking by His Spirit,  speaking to our hearts again,  in the ageless Word declaring  His own message,  now as then.   Through the rise & fall of nations  one sure faith yet standing fast;  God abides, His Word unchanging;  God the first,  & God the last.  Amen.  LSB 583:1 & 3.