Grace Lutheran Church Sermon Fifth Sunday in Lent, March 25, 2007

The Rev. Evan Gaertner

The Fifth Sunday in Lent “Living with Purpose”

March 25, 2007 Isaiah 43:16-21

Isaiah 43:16–21 [God’s Mercy]

Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: "Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.

Today I want to share with you a very simple and powerful message. God wants you to be a member of his family.

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth the Lord God formed us male and female. It was with his own breath that he breathed life into the nostrils of Adam. It was the Lord God that searched in the cool of the day for Adam and Eve when they were hiding. It was the Lord God that heard the blood of Abel cry up from the ground.

Your God is not just a fly on the wall observing everything that he has made. He is interested in you.

There are moments in life where you may feel that your life is too insignificant for your Lord God to be concerned about you. There are also experiences of terror surrounding death, disease and temptation that you wonder if the Lord God knows what you are feeling, because if he did how could he be letting this experience happen.

Paul wrote to Timothy to encourage him in his ministry, saying, “The Lord knows those who are his.” (2 Tim 2:19) If you are a hypocrite the Lord knows it. But on the other hand, if you are a believer, even if your faith is weak, the Lord knows you. When you may feel all alone and forgotten, trust that the most important person on earth and in heaven knows that you believe in him.

Isaiah promises, “I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.”

When you are in the middle of the wilderness and you feel there is no way out, the Lord promises he will make the way.

When you are in the desert, dry of any hope, with the horizon of frustration looming, the Lord will make springs of living water well up for you.

Recently I was told that Western New York has the largest number of foster children in the United States outside of New York City. Camp Pioneer down along Lake Erie began in the last couple of years a new ministry called Papyrus Camp. This is a program for foster children and their foster parents to find a place of love and care. These children orphaned from so many support systems like parents and home that you and I may take for granted find at Camp Pioneer the truth, God wants them to be a part of his family.

Last summer two counselors were on the deck behind Hickman with a little girl. The girl was crying on the shoulder of one of the counselors and saying, “When I go home at the end of the week I want you to be my mommy.”

Can you imagine what a powerful experience that was for that 19 year old counselor?

That girl was responding to being at a place and among a group of counselors that loved and cared for her in the way that they have been loved and cared for by their savior, Jesus Christ.

Those two camp counselors were doing what is natural for them, sharing the love of Jesus with a girl in need.

We are family. We live in this world of wilderness and desert. We live in a time when news is frighteningly full of terror. We live though also in the household of God, formed by our God into a people that may praise him. The work of God is a new thing in lives that can become so dominated by the dark clouds of frustration. This spring the first couple of sunny days are filled with people playing outside, walking their dogs, cleaning up their yards. Spring is about the newness of life returning.

The joy we have in Christ is a similar experience of leaving the cold days of winter and knowing there is hope for warm sunny days to return.

In the old movie, City Slickers, there is a scene in which three friends are together, and one of them is telling the others about how he has ruined his life. He’s lost his wife. He’s lost his child. He’s lost his job. He’s lost his self respect. He’s lost everything. He is basically telling his friends, “It’s all over. I’ve lost everything.”

To this the character played by Billy Crystal says, “No, that’s not true. You have everything to live for. It’s a fresh start. It’s a ‘do-over’.” Then Crystal reminds his friend that when they were children, playing baseball in the old neighborhood, occasionally one of them would hit the ball toward an old tree and it would get caught up in the tree and interfere with the play. All the kids would yell ‘Do over’ and they would do the play all over again.

I want you to find here at Grace Lutheran Church the good news that life in Christ is the everyday joy of living with a ‘do-over.’ In Christ we are not judged according to our mistakes, frustrations, disappointments. Through your faith in Christ your Heavenly Father judges you according to the mercy of Christ.

We praise our God today for delivering us from sin, death, and the devil. We praise our God today for finding us in our wildernesses. We praise our God today for finding us in our deserts dry of hope. We praise him for giving us life.

Jesus Christ is the Word of God born in the flesh to deliver us into the household of God.

When our heavenly father saw us lost in the wilderness and wandering in the desert, he had compassion and sent his only son Jesus Christ to come into the flesh. By the faith of Jesus Christ to the will of the father we are no longer orphans. We are family. Brothers and sisters in the faith we are part of God’s family. You have been adopted into the household of God.

Ephesians 2:19 says, “So then you are no longer strangers or aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.”

You are not alone or forgotten. The Lord knows you and has called you by name. In the waters of Holy Baptism your name was called and the Lord placed his name on top of yours.

As we go into this world we go with confidence that we are children of God, loved, blessed, and redeemed. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Go forward today confident that the Lord has gathered you into his arms so that you might praise him.

Soli Deo Gloria

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