1.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly
Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The message from God’s Word today as we observe Lutheran Hour Ministries
Sunday is taken from Romans 10:8-13, where the Apostle Paul says, "The word is near you; it is in your
mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: that
if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that
God raised him from the dead, you will be saved…for, ‘Everyone who calls on the
name of the Lord will be saved.” The
message is entitled, “Let the Word God
Forth!” Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
Do
you remember President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural speech, Jan.20, 1961? Now, not all of us were alive when that
speech was made. But, maybe you’ve read
it, heard recordings of it, or maybe you heard it live. Whenever I read or hear
that speech, it literally stirs my heart. And it’s not in hearing the most popular line
in the speech that does it, "Ask not
what your country can do for you -- Ask what you can do for your country,” It’s
in the third paragraph of the speech where he says, "Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe
alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans—born in
this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of
our ancient heritage—and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of
those human rights to which this nation has always been committed…Let every
nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price,
bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to
assure the survival and success of liberty.
This much we pledge—and more!”
3.
Kennedy's
speech was built on the belief that we as a people, unlike any before us, had
the power within ourselves and our technology to abolish all forms of human
poverty, but we also had the dangerous ability to destroy all forms of human
life, the power for good or evil within these mortal hands. Let the word go forth, was a bold challenge
to use that power, to be what God intended us to be! Unfortunately, as sinful
human beings always do, we began to neglect the things of God as we unleashed
our new found technologies. The drugs we had for fighting illness became the drugs
of our new addictions. The freedom that
we had in our relationships became the brokenness of our modern families and
society. In fact, it might be correct to say that because
of our new found modern self-confidence we forgot that God’s Word has already
gone forth or that we were to bring God’s near Word to others! The joy of that winter
morning when JFK called our American nation to service and sacrifice, shows the
power of human emotion even when one’s hope is stirred by an overestimation of
sinful humanity’s abilities.
4.
So,
imagine with me today, the power of Christ through His church committed to
proclaiming to all who will hear the fact that God’s forgiving, healing,
empowering Word has gone forth, the very power of God for salvation to all who
believe. Paul
proclaims to us, “The Word is near you;
it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are
proclaiming. You see, we’ve got Good News to share, don’t we? We
can tell a world in chaos that the healing, forgiving, empowering Word has gone
forth. In fact, God’s Word has become
flesh, the Word that created the universe has established His way for
forgiveness, salvation, peace, joy, and hope. This Word lies not within our
mortal hands to manipulate, but this Word is here now, freely available to
everyone who receives it by faith in Christ. The Word has gone forth, Jesus, the Word
Become Flesh, literally came, walked this earth, lived the perfect life in our
place, suffered our eternal punishment and gave us His eternal life. That Word has gone forth and is still going
forth through the proclamation of God’s grace in our churches around the world!
5.
Today is Lutheran Hour Sunday. And this celebration
means a lot to people like us, people who believe in Jesus the Word of God for
our salvation. In the Lutheran
Hour, this Gospel-radio program, the Lutheran Church has been proclaiming that
Good News of Jesus Christ here in the U.S., Canada, and around the globe for
over 80 years! Millions have listened to the message of this Jesus, our Savior.
Hundreds of thousands have come to faith just by listening. So, this is an important day for all of us,
for the Lutheran Hour is still that public voice, reflecting the Good News of our
churches, our church, to a world that more often than not is at arms length
from our doors. The Lutheran Hour is striving every day to not only bring
Christ to the nations, but they’re also
committed to bringing those very people to our church, to our churches around
the country and around the globe! As our digital, evangelism, outreach
resource, the Lutheran Hour is committed to marching into our community with us
until every person is reached with the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s who the Lutheran Hour is, why? Because as Paul reminds us, that’s
who Christ is, The One who came all the way to the dirt level of our lives so
that we might know Him and believe.
That’s just how He has always done things, so we seek to follow Him in
serving others the same.
6.
The Apostle Paul reminds us that “God’s Word” is a
“Near Word.” The uniqueness of the Christian message
is the proclamation that God is not far, but near! As sinners, humanity is
running from God, but He lovingly is still chasing us down with His Word of
life and salvation! People have the wrong picture of Jesus
don’t they. They think that God is standing far off, with His arms crossed like
this, making His demands of perfection, waiting for us to come to Him, to earn
our way home. It’s almost like people have this view that God enjoys the
separation and loves to keep sinners at arms length, keeping them guessing
about how He really feels about them. Wrong! The Bible’s picture of God is exactly
the opposite of that. He’s the One who leaves the comfort of His heaven,
endures the scorn of a world in rebellion, takes on flesh to become vulnerable
even to you and me. Why, to serve us
back into the joy of His Life. He’s come for you and that’s good news! When you know that you have a Word that
forgives, blesses, creates and sustains faith, hope, and charity, when you have
that Word, you want everyone to have it too, don’t you? You might say that once we
are inoculated with the life-sustaining antidote to sin, death, and the power
of the devil, we as Christians want to open up free clinics everywhere to make
sure that everyone receives the healing power of “the Way, the Truth, the Life”
serum that only comes through knowing the Word, Jesus Christ, by faith!
7.
Let
me illustrate. Can you imagine what was going through Dr. Felix Ruh’s heart and
mind? He worked with Louis Pasteur in Paris seeking to demonstrate what used to
be called the "germ theory." They were still trying to prove that germs
existed back in those days! Ruh’s granddaughter had died of black diphtheria,
and so he vowed that he would find out what had killed her. He locked himself
in his laboratory for days. He emerged with a determination to prove, with his
colleague Pasteur, that the germ theory was more than a theory. The
medical Association had disapproved of Pasteur and had succeeded in getting him
exiled. But, he did not go far from Paris. He did his experiments hidden in a
forest in a laboratory where he continued his germ research.
8.
One
day, 20 horses were led out into the forest to Pasteur and Ruh’s laboratory.
Scientists, nurses and doctors came to watch the experiment. Ruh opened a vault
and took out a large pail filled with black diphtheria germs, which had been
cultured for months. There were enough germs in the pail to kill every one in
France. The scientist then went to each horse and swabbed its nostrils, tongue,
throat and eyes with the germs. Every horse began to get sick, every horse
almost immediately died except one. Most onlookers left, thinking that the last
one would die soon. For several more days the final horse
lingered, lying on the ground. Then, several days later, While Ruh and Pasteur
were sleeping, the orderly, who had been instructed to wake them if there were
any change in the horses temp., noticed a 1/2 degree difference. At 2:00 a.m., he
awakened Dr. Ruh. By morning the temperature had dropped two more degrees. By
night the fever was gone and the horse was able to stand, eat and drink. Then, immediately, Dr. Ruh took a sledgehammer
and struck that beautiful horse with a deathblow between the eyes. The
scientist drew all the blood from its veins, the one that had contracted
diphtheria and overcome it. Ruh and Pasteur drove then as fast as they could to
the hospital in Paris. They forced their way past the guards and the
superintendent and went into the ward that housed 300 babies segregated to die
of diphtheria. With the blood of that horse they forcibly inoculated every
baby. All but three lived and recovered.
They were saved by the blood of the overcomer! They were saved because
two men shared that salvation the moment they knew it to be true!
9.
And that’s what we celebrate on this Lutheran Hour
Sunday; an overcoming word, a life-giving, life-sustaining Word has gone forth. And it’s not a political word for the moment
that will someday be forgotten, it’s not a human prescription for what ails you
now, for the big, eternal issues of life and death are bigger than our pills,
our drugs, our technology. It’s the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, the forgiving power of His blood, the eternal
life-giving power of His bodily resurrection.
That’s the Word of faith we together proclaim. On this Lutheran Hour Sunday, don’t ever
forget there is a word for the peoples of this world, from every tribe,
language, culture, and race.
10.
John
F. Kennedy was so sure that we, as modern people, had power to make a
difference that he challenged each person to rise to the occasion. Remember the words, “Let every nation know that we shall pay any price, bear any burden,
meet any hardship to assure the survival and success of liberty. This much we pledge—and more!” Well, the Lutheran Hour realizes that the
freedom that comes by faith is the foundation to all other blessings, all other
freedoms, in this world and the next and the Lutheran Hour will strive with our
church to do all in their power to make sure that this Word of Jesus Christ
continues to go forth. To bring His Good News to the nations and
the nations to the church, our church.
May God bless our work together.
Amen.
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