Sunday Worship Youth & Family Music Milestones Stephen Ministry The Way
This Month Archive
St. Mark's Lutheran Church

 

 2016

 Sermons



Dez 25 - The Gift

Dez 24 - God's Love Changes Everything

Dez 18 - Lonely?

Dez 18 - Getting Ready

Dez 11 - The Desert Shall Bloom

Dez 4 - A Spirited Shoot

Nov 27 - Comin' Round the Mountain

Nov 20 - Power on parade

Nov 13 - Warnings and Love

Nov 6 - Saints Among Us

Okt 30 - Reformation in Catechesis

Okt 23 - The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Okt 16 - The Word of God at the Center of Life

Okt 9 - Continuing Thanks

Okt 8 - The Cord of Three

Okt 2 - Tools for God’s Work

Sep 25 - Rich?

Sep 23 - With a Word and a Song

Sep 18 - To Grace How Great a Debtor

Sep 11 - See the Gifts and Use Them Well

Sep 4 - Hear a Hard Word from Jesus

Aug 28 - Who is worthy?

Aug 21 - Just a Cripple?

Aug 14 - Not an Easy life with Christ

Aug 6 - By Faith

Jul 31 - You can't take it with you

Jul 25 - Companions

Jul 24 - Our Father

Jul 18 - Hospitality

Jul 17 - Priorities

Jul 11 - Giving

Jul 10 - Giving and receiving mercy

Jul 3 - Go!

Jun 26 - With urgency!

Jun 19 - Adopted

Jun 12 - A Tale of Two Sinners

Jun 5 - The Laughter of Surprise

Mai 29 - By Whose Authority?

Mai 22 - Why are we here?

Mai 15 - The Spirit Helps Us

Mai 8 - Free or Bound?

Mai 1 - Let All the People Praise You

Apr 24 - A New Thing

Apr 17 - A Great Multitude

Apr 10 - Transformed

Apr 3 - Here and There

Mrz 27 - The Hour

Mrz 26 - Dark yet?

Mrz 25 - The Long Defeat?

Mrz 25 - Appearances

Mrz 24 - Is it I?

Mrz 20 - Bridging the Distance

Mrz 16 - Singing the Catechism: Holy Communion

Mrz 13 - What is important

Mrz 9 - Singing the Catechism: Holy Baptism

Mrz 6 - What did he say?

Mrz 2 - Singing the Catechism: The Lord's Prayer

Feb 28 - Pantocrator

Feb 24 - Singing the Catechism: the Creeds

Feb 21 - What kind of church, promise, and God?

Feb 17 - The Catechism in Song: Ten Commandments

Feb 14 - Available to All

Feb 12 - Home

Feb 10 - The Catechism in Song: Confession and Forgiveness

Feb 7 - Befuddled, and that is OK

Jan 31 - That We May Speak

Jan 24 - The Power of the Word

Jan 17 - Surprised by the Spirit

Jan 10 - Exiles

Jan 3 - The Big Picture: our Christmas—Easter faith



2017 Sermons      

      2015 Sermons

By Faith

Read: Genesis 15:1-6

 
Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost - August 6, 2016

The Rev. Kenneth R. Elkin

 

“Give me proof,” that's what we say.

“Prove to me that what you say is true.

I want ironclad, scientifically repeatable experiments to show it, and I want it now.”

Those kinds of demands will get us no farther than they got Abraham so long ago.

We can demand this and that, but God will only respond in his good time.

 

Back in Genesis 12, we heard the beginning of the story of Abraham: And God said, “Go from your land and I will give you a new land, many descendants, and make you a blessing to all the nations of the earth. Go.” And Abram went.

 

That is the essence of faith.

To hear a promise and to respond to the one who promises.

Faith is taking God at his word when he makes promises for the future.

Faith is an activity, a verb, a journey.

And Abraham went, trusting the promise, at least a little bit.

 

A person said to me, “Oh pastor, I have such a little bit of faith.”

“That's OK,” I responded, God begins where we are and leads us along.”

Sometimes we think that it was so easy for those larger-than-life Bible characters.

We think that it must have been so clear and straightforward for them.

Not so!

Abraham went against the traditions of his family on an uncharted journey in a relationship with a God newly revealed to him.

 

In our studies, we have a video that begins with the dramatic moment when Abraham takes the statues of the old household gods and puts them in their wooden box and slams the lid shut.

It is a shocked silence that falls over the family following this unexpected act.

And Abraham went, with only a promise ringing in his ear, and in the company of his family, servants, and small flock.

The Bible gives us stories of faith, but these are not the stories of heroes.

Heroes are witnesses to their own achievements, but the persons whom the writer of Hebrews names are some of those who live in faith, trusting God's future.

The Bible is realistic, for it also gives the harder side of things as well, the stories of doubts, when trust is hard to live.

 

Today we have in front of us the icon of the visit of the three messengers or angels to Abraham and Sarah.

Long years have passed since Abraham started out in his relationship with the Lord God.

The first promise was of land; Abraham is still a sojourner, a resident alien who owns no land at all.

The second promise was of many descendants; Abraham and Sarah remain childless, and they have set up the legal expedient of appointing a trusted slave in the household to be their heir.

The third promise was to become a blessing to the nations, and that does not seem to be any closer to happening than either of the other promises.

“Where's the proof?” Abraham must have been thinking often.

And Sarah laughed behind the tent flap when she overheard the conversation of the messengers with Abraham.

Where's the proof?

 

In our reading today from Genesis 15, we have yet another vision of Abraham.

In the middle of it, Abraham asks God again for results.

Notice that God does not respond to demands, but simply repeats the promise – “You will have a son as heir, and descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven.”

“Where's the proof?” Abraham asks.

“Listen again to the promise,” God replies.

Is it any wonder that Abraham has doubts, that Sarah laughs behind the tent flap, and that they arrange for other legal heirs...just in case...?

 

We want proof, and we get a promise.

That seems to be the way God works.

It is only much, much later, when Abraham and Sarah have given up trying to make it happen, when they know that they could accomplish nothing more on their own,...then, God chooses to act, and Isaac is born to Sarah and Abraham.

 

With our desire for instant gratification, we can hardly comprehend the wait of much of a lifetime for results.

Hardly has a “want” entered out mind until we're at the store.

Faith is that holding onto God's promise in spite of time, age, and difficult circumstances because the one who makes the promise is trustworthy.

To live in faith is to relax into a confidence that the promiser will deliver in his good time.

 

Each summer for many years, our family did the 1,200 mile drive to visit relatives in Minnesota.

We heard “Are we there yet?” countless times.

But it always amazed me when I could check the rear-view mirror and see the kids playing, reading, squabbling, and finally sleeping peacefully, with absolute trust that I knew where I was going and that I could get us there safely.

That journey took a long time, with plenty of twists and turns, stops, and detours.

There were meals along the way, and even a scenic view from a little mound in the middle of Wisconsin where we would stop to stretch our legs.

But through it all, the family trusted that it would turn out rightly.

 

That is the best image of which I can think to point to the life of faith, which is living in trust that God does know the way and the destination, and will guide us.

There are bumps and twists in our lives – health problems, employment problems, family problems, neighbor problems – just as there were with Abraham and Sarah and every person of faith since them.

There are disappointments and failures, and unsatisfactory jobs, illnesses, broken relationships, anxious new beginnings and all the rest.

But there are also high points along the way from which we can get a glimpse of our goal and make some guesses about God's plans.

There are regular meals and times of refreshment when we gather here at the Lord's table.

There are special times such as we have today to honor those who have been on the journey of faith for a long time.

They have suggested the hymns we sing today to encourage our faith-filled life together, and they will continue this in conversation and song in Fellowship Hall a bit later.

 

Faith is a journey, with a promise which is repeated again and again, as often as we need to hear its reassurance, with the risen Lord Jesus as the one making the promise.  By faith we live.

In contrast to this invitation to faith, I read of a congregation which put out this advertisement:

Sleep a little later, throw on some jeans, have a cup of coffee, listen to some great music, and get together for some wonderful fellowship.

St. (whatever) Church invites you to join us for our service with no pressure, no commitment, and no hassle. 

All we ask is 45 minutes of your Sunday.

Sounds nice! You get a little something, with no expectations afterward.

But it doesn't have much to do with the challenges of our lessons today.

God gives tremendous promises, and will make good on them in his good time.

Then he asks for the commitment of our entire lives.

And he gives faith, confidence, and endurance to step out on the journey.

By faith we live.  Let all who know this say Amen.

 

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.