Third Sunday in Lent -2024

 

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The Hymn #381         I Know My Faith Is Founded

The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16

Introit

Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

Let your moderation be known unto all men: 

the Lord is at hand.

Be careful for nothing: but in everything, 

by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, 

let your requests be made known unto God.

Psalm. Lord, Thou hast been favorable unto Thy land: 

Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.

The Gloria Patri

The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19

Collect

Lord, we beseech Thee, give ear to our prayers and lighten the darkness of our hearts by Thy gracious visitation; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.

The Epistle and Gradual

Gradual       

Thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth: stir up Thy strength and come. V. Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel: Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

The Gospel              

Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Hymn # 63                 On Jordan's Bank the Baptist Cries

The Calendar of Grace 

The Hymn # 85:1-5       From Heaven Above     - Martin Luther       

The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #657                 Beautiful Savior   

Announcements and Prayers

• December 18th - Ninth Wedding Anniversary of Corey and Abby Meyer Fagan.
• Ongoing medical care - Pastor Jim Shrader and Chris Shrader, Kermit Way, Doc Lito's family.
• Tues is Zach Engleman's Birthday.
• Next Sunday is Norma's birthday.

Epistle

KJV 1 Corinthians 4:1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. 4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

Gospel

KJV Matthew 11:2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, 3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? 4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: 5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. 7 And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? 8 But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. 9 But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. 10 For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.

Third Sunday In Advent

Lord God, heavenly Father, who didst suffer Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to become man, and to come into the world, that He might destroy the works of the devil, deliver us poor offenders from sin and death, and give us everlasting life: We beseech Thee so to rule and govern our hearts by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may seek no other refuge than His word, and thus avoid all offense to which, by nature, we are inclined, in order that we may always be found among the faithful followers of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, and by faith in Him obtain eternal salvation, through the same, Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

Stewards of the Mysteries of God 

KJV 1 Corinthians 4:1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

    This lesson might be strange and unusual, but it has precise meaning - so often ignored in the past and in these new Babylonian times. Stewards had a very high standing in royalty, among the English. A steward then was important but not the King. Uncertain rules a noble person could have a very high standing but that did not make him the King. Instead, a child could wait until he was old enough to be a young king. 

There is a vast gulf between the two. Paul is using the term for those who take care of a wealthy business but can raise no higher than steward. Notice how the unfaithful steward used money to get himself a high standard - in the parable of the Unjust Steward.

    Paul associated two terms with his work. One was "servant," meaning that he was below Christ - the Holy Trinity. And he was also a steward, a phrase often misused by clergy who parade themselves around as the real thing - and know God better than He does Himself. That has been called "airs" when someone is overwhelmed by his own pride and majesty.

    Paul addressed this because he had special privileges handed to him, such as seeing the risen Christ and being appointed as equal among the apostles. The Corinthians were a rowdy bunch who got involved in what we call Pentecostalism, stoking up feelings and makes those feelings the proof of great Christian wisdom and power. We have to love the Corinthians, because they revealed so many problems that would be repeated in the centuries to come, engaging generations in bypassing or addressing those faulty use of the Christian Faith.

    The mysteries are those pearls and jewels of God's wisdom, presented perfectly so that no one takes them for granted or misuses them. The sceptics and know-it-all of today reject or corrupt the mysteries which belong only to God -

Luther's three summaries of the mysteries are three-fold

1. The humanity of Christ - denying His human nature;
2. The divinity of Christ - rejecting Him as only a man, even if very noble and wise, but still just a man;
3. Justification by Faith in Jesus - brushing aside faith in Jesus Christ  and becoming angry about Romans 4 and its climax at the opening of Romans 5.

1. Christina was taking to the owner of a rare books store about jewelry. The owner said "I wish you could fix my pearly necklace." Christina did that and brought it back." The owner said, "They are so beautiful and I want you to have the necklace." The pearl necklace was passed on, and so should the mystery of the faith be. We are required to be faithful stewards of the mysteries of 
   God, not just Paul the Apostle, but those who those and treasure those treasures.

3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. 4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. 

The power of the mysteries is that no one is allowed to preserve and to spread them.

Or distort them. The mysteries are capsules of the Christian Faith -

The Trinity

The Spirit at work in the Word and never apart from the Word

 The three basics above, isolating the divinity or the human of Christ and distorting Justifications.

Invented and therefore false mysteries are: Mary's Assumption, her sinless life, her power to help souls in Purgatory, the scapula, Mary  (without sin) offering up Christ - serving as a priest, various ways to reduce time in Purgatory, saints, especially Mary who reduce time in Purgatory - some perhaps escaping just before the End.

5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

So, what is really important? Everyone has opinions, and we can see that the Corinthians had lots of opinions, just as the Galatians did. Opinions different from the Word of God make people fuzzy eyed, because they do not see clearly or clarify thoughts. One man told me about a church that reminded him of fish swimming in groups. "They all swim together and turn sharply with no warning, they swim more and turn sharply again. My church is just like that." He was not impressed.

What Dr. Fuhrman said about food is very close to the stewards of the mysteries of God. We can turn away from valuable food sources. No room for candy, ice cream, and pizza. But when introduced to foods that were always there (I plead guilty), those low calorie fruit, vegetable, greens, and nuts become delicious and long lasting.

I like what Luther did - dwelling on one Word or a phrase to get the complete meaning, as much as we can. Those are mysteries of God, favorites like John 3:16, going back to the serpents in the Pentateuch, raised up to cure people. God waiting until this came to be fully understood as Christ raised on the cross.