Brothers and sisters, greetings in the name of our Savior, Jesus.
As you go to bed Saturday night be sure you have set your clocks ahead one hour so you can be on time for Bible class at 9 and worship at 10:30.
If you like Cantata music, then plan to attend a performance of the Houston Lutheran Chorale at Immanuel Lutheran Church (306 E 15th Street in the Heights) on Sunday March 17 beginning at 4 pm. Note: the parking lot of Immanuel is entered from Arlington Street.
Sunday, March 10th is the fourth Sunday in Lent. We will continue to follow a modified version of the liturgy of Divine Service One beginning on page 151 in the LSB hymnal. For example, during Lent we are omitting ‘Alleluias”, substitute Hymn 422 for the hymn of praise, and add a Lenten response before the reading of the Gospel lesson..
Hymns chosen for the day are #609 Lord Jesus Think On Me; #422 On My Heart Imprint Your Image; #571 God Loved the World So That He Gave; #627 Jesus Christ Our Blessed Savior; and #745 In God My Faithful God.
Scriptures we will be reading are Psalm 107:1-9; Numbers 21:4-9; Ephesians 2:1-10; and John 3:14-21.
Before the Third Century, students of the scriptures had divided the 150 Psalms into five collections or books. Each of these books or collections ends with a doxology, ‘Blessed be the LORD (YHWH), the God of Israel’. Book Five includes Psalms 107 to 150. However, Psalms 105, 106, and 107 have a connection. They each praise God because of His help during sequential periods of Israel’s history. The words of Psalm 107 praise God for delivering the faithful of Judah out of their exile in Babylon. Verses 1 to 9 praise God for redeeming, delivering, and restoring His people. The psalm is a reminder that God sees our distress and hears our cries. He will satisfy our longing heart and fill the hungry soul with good things.
The name of the book of numbers refers to the census headcount of Israel taken after their release from slavery in Egypt, and again as they are about to enter the promised land. In the interim time, their faith in God was tested. And they often failed. They frequently complained against God. They expressed repeated said that they would rather be back, living in Egypt under slavery, instead of the freedom and Promised Land that God was giving them. Numbers 21 reports that at one point in time, God punished the complaining people by sending venomous snake who bit them and caused them to die. Realizing the dangerous situation they had caused, the people confessed their sin and cried out, asking Moses to pray to God to take the serpents away. God instructed them to make a “fiery” serpent out of bronze and put it upon a pole. Those who looked up at the serpent lived. Who would look to a model of a snake to be rescued? Those who believed God’s words. Centuries later people would look upon Jesus and His cross. Those who believed His words and actions would be saved from the attacks of the snake, that is, the devil.
In Chapter 2 of St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians He gives instruction about several key factors of Christianity. Without God’s intervention, all people are spiritually dead in their trespasses, deserving God’s wrath. As a dead man cannot save himself from drowning, neither can we save ourselves from our sinful ‘deadness’. But God in His mercy has made us alive in Christ. This is a gift from God’s grace, and we can do absolutely nothing to earn it or deserve it. We do receive the gift by believing the promise, that is, through faith. We are acquitted and declared righteous by the blood of Jesus or substitute, without any merit or effort from us. So, we do the good works Jesus calls us to perform—not to be saved, but because He has already saved us.
John 3 includes a conversation Jesus had with a Pharisee named Nicodemus. Nicodemus had questions about Jesus’ teaching regarding the kingdom of heaven. Jesus points Nicodemus to the serpent on the pole reported in Numbers 20. Jesus foretells his crucifixion with the promise that when He was lifted up, anyone who believed on Him would have eternal life. Jesus’s instruction to Nicodemus is critical to grasping the gospel. This is how God demonstrates Hs love toward us—by sending His Son Jesus into the word to save you and the rest of the world from His condemnation, and to bring you from evil’s darkness into God’s light.
COLLECT: Gracious God, our heavenly Father, Your mercies are new every morning; and though we deserve only punishment, You receive us as Your children and provide for all our needs of body and soul. Grant that we may heartily acknowledge Your merciful goodness, give thanks for all Your benefits, and serve You in willing and joyful obedience; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord and Savior, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Lenten Response: Return to the Lord, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and abounding in steadfast love.
Please let me know if you have any prayer requests or questions about Sunday’s readings. God bless you. Pastor Boster
