The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 8, 2013 - Pastor Adam Moline
Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Philemon 1-21 Luke 14:25-35
Grace, mercy and
peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our text today is the Old Testament lesson, especially these words, “See, I
have set before you today life and good, death and evil.” Thus far our text.
Dear friends in
Christ. The words of our text were
spoken to the nation of Israel by the great prophet Moses, shortly before his
death, and shortly before Israel entered the promised land. It had been a long journey, most of those who
had lived in Egypt were now dead, and Moses himself will die very soon. And his last act before he dies, his last job
as the leader of Israel is to renew the covenant of God with Israel.
And the words of
the covenant are this, “Before you today are life and good, or death and
evil.” It seems that it is an easy
choice, doesn’t it? We want life. We want good.
Shouldn’t that be the easy choice?
But listen to the catch that comes along with it? To get good and life from God, the deal is
you must obey the commandments of God, hear his word, and walk in his way. If you fail to do so, and instead follow
other Gods, the result is clear, “You must perish.” You will not live. You will not receive good things from God.
And the sad part
is, the reality is this – we fail to follow God. We fail to listen to his word. We sin – every day we sin. And because of that sin, we must surely
die. We must suffer, we must get
sick. Our lives will not be good, but
instead will be toil after toil, pain after pain.
And when we look
at our world, that’s exactly what we see.
In the news we hear about pending war in Syria, war where over 100,000
people are thought to have been killed, including some 500 children. All because of the sin of this world. In Egypt, over a thousand more killed in
various ways. All because of the sin of
this world. These people are dying
because of our guilt.
And even closer to
home. In Mexico over 100,000 have died
since 2006 in the ongoing drug war, as rival cartels battle against the Mexican
military. Our own hospitals are full of
people with cancer, with dementia, with AIDS and more, and all of it because of
the sin of our world!
Dear friends, the
choice is before us, life and good, or death and evil, and in our sin, we have
chosen death and evil!
Lord have mercy
upon us! Forgive us for choosing death
over you! Forgive us our sins!
And He does. He does, not by our choice, not by our work,
but by His own son Jesus Christ. He
sends Jesus to be our sin bearer. To
live the perfect good life in our place, and ultimately to head to the old
bloody cross, and to die our evil death.
This he does, out of his mercy.
And so when Jesus bleeds, its for you.
As Jesus dies, its for you. And
Jesus’ dead body is laid in a tomb in your place.
And what’s more,
he rose again, because as he chose the perfect and holy life that we couldn’t
God gave him goodness and life for all eternity, and he chooses to share it
with you. He gives that good life to you
in baptismal waters, washing away your sin with his blood, and raising you to
new life as water is poured on your head in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit. He gives you
goodness, not in this world, but in a world yet to come, a world of eternity,
and peace, life and salvation. It is
yours when you leave this sinful world behind.
Dear friends,
Christ has made the choice for good and life from God, and he shares it with
you today. Lord have mercy upon us is
our prayer, and he does. In the name of
Jesus. Amen.
