Brothers and sisters, greetings in the name of our Savior Jesus. I invite you to meet with me Sunday for Bible study (9:00) and worship (10:30). October 5 is LWML Sunday. We thank God for the work He does through the members of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, an auxiliary group of the LCMS. As the organization’s name indicates, the LWML develops and encourages women leaders in service to the gospel. Their service and educational efforts, the gathering of relief materials, and the program to raise ‘Mite’ funds, primarily point to Jesus, helping to meet the spiritual and physical needs of people in our region, our nation, and around the world. Ask an LWML member how you can participate.
Hymns chosen for October 5 are #512 At the Name of Jesus; #685 Let Us Ever Walk With Jesus; #634 The Death of Jesus Christ, Our Lord; and a hymn not in our hymnal but often sung by LWML members, Serve the Lord With Gladness (to the tune of Onward Christian Soldiers).
Scripture readings assigned to the day are Psalm 62:1-8 ; Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4; 2 Timothy 1:1-14; and Luke 17:1-10.
Habakkuk was God’s prophet to the southern country of Judah about the same time (est. 610-595 B.C.) overlapping time with the prophet Jeremiah. God was sending the armies of Babylon to bring judgment upon the nation. The situation looked bleak. Habakkuk speaks as an intermediary, sometimes talking to God for the people, sometimes talking to the people for God. Portions of the prophecy seem almost conversational. In the passage we read Sunday, Habakkuk cries out to God in complaint. It seems that evil and violence have the upper hand. Habakkuk asks the kinds of questions we often ask in troubling times—’why isn’t God doing something??’ Habakkuk determines to take the attitude of a watchman. He will keep watch, expecting something to happen. God responds to his complaint with words of assurance: “make it plain on tablets” or said another way, ‘you can mark it in stone’. God’s salvation is coming. It may seem slow to arrive, but it will come. Ultimately, God’s promised rescue and restoration are given through Jesus. So, Habakkuk’s words also stand to encourage us amidst the troubles in our day. God’s plan of rescue is underway. It will arrive at the time God has appointed. Until them, we are to trust His promise. The outcome of the promise has been assured by the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. As God tells Habakkuk, “the righteous shall live by his faith.”
The epistle lesson is from the opening chapter of St. Paul’s second extant letter to his young co-worker, Timothy. At the time he wrote this letter, Paul was under arrest and would soon be executed. In his letter Paul expresses his fondness for Timothy, hoping to see him again, and expresses his admiration of the mature Christian faith the young man exhibits. That faith would be tested after Paul is no longer around to encourage. In the face of many similar threats, it would be tempting and easy to remain silent and not promote the gospel. Paul expresses his confidence in God’s power to save, evident in the gospel events in Jesus’s life. Faith in the gospel is a treasure, an eternal deposit given by the Holy Spirit to Paul, to Timothy, to Timothy’s mother and grandmother, and to you and all who trust in Jesus. As he urged Timothy, Paul would also encourage you to continue service to Jesus, following Paul’s habits of sharing the gospel with others even in the midst of resistance and suffering.
The Gospel lesson from Luke 17 is a continuation of a rather long series of instructions Jesus gave. Jesus’s attention is directed toward disciples as He teaches them how to live as Christians–avoid temptations (things that would cause you to stumble in your Christain walk); don’t act or speak in ways that would cause little ones (children or recent converts?) to sin; rebuke and correct those who sin; forgive those who repent, even if they were to sin against you frequently in a single day; don’t expect special favors for doing what you are called to do. If you think those instructions are impossible to accomplish, you are not alone. The apostles in Jesus’s day also cried out that He would give them the increased faith necessary to do these things that are impossible for the “natural” person. Sin clings to us, so we are too easily persuaded and misled by temptation. Our response toward those who sin against us usually ranges somewhere between seething resentment to striking out and seeking vengeance. We are generally expecting some reward or easier life for doing good. Jesus instead instructs to be humble and dutiful servants, doing what needs to be done. Like the apostles, we may not be aware that being baptized into Jesus, we have already been given the faith necessary to do impossible things for His kingdom. Pray that each of us may serve others in loving response to Jesus who has served us through His obedience, suffering, death, and resurrection. All the things Jesus instructs us are possible as we believe on Him.
COLLECT: O God, our Refuge and Strength, the Author of all godliness, by Your grace hear the prayers of Your Church. Grant that those things which we ask in faith we may receive through Your bountiful mercy; through Jesus Christ, Your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Please let me know if you have any prayer requests or questions about Sunday’s lessons. God bless you. Pastor Boster
