Sunday of Moses (Ps) October 6th

Psalm 81:1-16

¹  Sing aloud to God our strength;

shout for joy to the God of Jacob!

²    Raise a song; sound the tambourine,

the sweet lyre with the harp.

³    Blow the trumpet at the new moon,

at the full moon, on our feast day.

⁴    For it is a statute for Israel,

a rule of the God of Jacob.

⁵    He made it a decree in Joseph

when he went out over the land of Egypt.

       I hear a language I had not known:

⁶    “I relieved your shoulder of the burden;

your hands were freed from the basket.

⁷    In distress you called, and I delivered you;

I answered you in the secret place of thunder;

I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah

⁸    Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!

O Israel, if you would but listen to me!

⁹    There shall be no strange god among you;

you shall not bow down to a foreign god.

¹⁰    I am the Lord your God,

who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

¹¹    “But my people did not listen to my voice;

Israel would not submit to me.

¹²    So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,

to follow their own counsels.

¹³    Oh, that my people would listen to me,

that Israel would walk in my ways!

¹⁴    I would soon subdue their enemies

and turn my hand against their foes.

¹⁵    Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him,

and their fate would last forever.

¹⁶    But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat,

and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

Our Father, you who are in heaven.

⁶⁰What is this? Answer:

With these words God wants to entice us, so that we come to believe he is truly our Father and we are truly his children, in order that we may ask him boldly and with complete confidence, just as loving children ask their loving father.

May your name be hallowed.

What is this? Answer:

It is true that God’s name is holy in itself, but we ask in this prayer that it may also become holy in and among us.

How does this come about? Answer:

Whenever the Word of God is taught clearly and purely and we, as God’s children, also live holy lives according to it. To this end help us, dear Father in heaven! However, whoever teaches and lives otherwise than the Word of God teaches profanes the name of God among us. Preserve us from this, heavenly Father!

Let Us Pray

Almighty, eternal God, in the Word of Your Apostles and prophets You have proclaimed to us Your saving will.  Grant us faith to believe Your promises that we may receive eternal salvation; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Sunday of Moses (OTA)

Isaiah 29:13-21

¹³ And the Lord said:

“Because this people draw near with their mouth

and honor me with their lips,

while their hearts are far from me,

and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,

¹⁴ therefore, behold, I will again

do wonderful things with this people,

with wonder upon wonder;

and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,

and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”

¹⁵ Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,

whose deeds are in the dark,

and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”

¹⁶ You turn things upside down!

Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,

that the thing made should say of its maker,

“He did not make me”;

or the thing formed say of him who formed it,

“He has no understanding”?

¹⁷ Is it not yet a very little while

until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,

and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?

¹⁸ In that day the deaf shall hear

the words of a book,

and out of their gloom and darkness

the eyes of the blind shall see.

¹⁹ The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,

and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.

²⁰ For the ruthless shall come to nothing

and the scoffer cease,

and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,

²¹ who by a word make a man out to be an offender,

and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,

and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right.

It is often confused in this world the difference between the creator and the created. Many of us like to build things. Many of us like to make something. It is just a little creativity. The problem is when we think that what we make, fix, destroy, or develop is our own doing. God is the creator of everything.

Likewise, our greatest sin is the lack of listening. We do not listen to the wisdom of God. We do not listen to the counsel of God. It is much easier to live in this world when we listen to the counsel of this world. It is much more comfortable to go with the flow, even when it is flowing down the drainpipe.

God is coming in Judgment of this world. I am confident that it is not my place to tell someone homosexuality is bad for his or her health, but God is going to come in judgment of all sexual immorality. It is not the church that judges people, but proclaims the judgment of God.

The Church does not only proclaim judgment and condemnation. Just like not only the nice people will rise to everlasting life. God sent his only begotten Son into the flesh to save the world from sin. God shares this good news with people. God tells people that they are listening to the wrong voices. They are listening to the World. When we should listen to the Word of God, it is there we receive the forgiveness of sins.

Sunday of Moses (GA)

Luke 12:8-12

⁸ “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, ⁹ but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. ¹⁰ And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. ¹¹ And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, ¹² for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

Why do I care what the angels in heaven think of me? Why should I care what you think of me? Isn’t it more important that God thinks I am okay? Well maybe a little more than okay? It is interesting how many people in the Bible are anxious about speaking the truth. Whether you go back to Adam in the garden, or Sarah laughing in the tent, or even Moses being commissioned, you have people denying what they know to be true. They even do it before the face of God.

Jesus talks about acknowledging you before the angels of God. I guess I would rather make sure he acknowledges me before God the Father, but these angels are most likely in the presence of God the Father, so maybe it is the same thing. But the fact remains in order for this acknowledgement to happen we must first acknowledge him before men.

Jesus will often talk about his disciples falling under persecution. They will be lead before all kinds of people. You can even listen to St Paul standing before Governors at the end of Acts. They stand up and faithfully confess their faith. They do this not because of all their great learning, but because the Holy Spirit gives them the proper words.

We can write and prepare all kinds of speeches, but it is not about our speaking skill, or great rhetoric. It is about God calling his people through the words that he places in our mouths. It was God who put his Words in the mouth of Moses, and Aaron. Jesus tells us God will do for you the same thing. He will give you the power to speak.

Sunday of Moses (NTA)

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

¹⁸ For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

²⁰ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. ²² For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

²⁶ For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹ so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. ³⁰ And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, ³¹ so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

St Paul talks about wisdom as a bad thing. The wise are not good. People should seek after wisdom. God gives Wisdom to people. The problem really is the understanding of wisdom. If i think I am wise, is it wisdom of the World or is it wisdom of God.

St Paul concludes with boasting in the Lord. This can really give insight into our wisdom. If you have the good wisdom given by God then you can not take pride or confidence in that wisdom. If your wisdom comes from yourself or the fallen creation, then you have nothing of real meaning. Many people want to use the reason of a fallen creature with the logic of a fallen creation to develop an understanding of God, or who God should be.

God shames the fallen creature. God shames the fallen creation. God reminds us that sin has corrupted God’s perfect creation. The only thing unaffected by sin is God himself. Therefore, he uses the weak, the less intelligent, the uninformed, and the foolish with respect to this world to shame the wise of this world.

There are many people in the world today that call Christians foolish, unenlightened, and incompetent. They do this with regard to the reason, or wisdom, of this world. But the truth is that these people have fallen short. They will be put to shame by those who can actually believe in the truth. The truth is that Christ died for the forgiveness of sins.

Sunday of Moses (NT)

2 Corinthians 5:1-10

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. ² For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, ³ if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. ⁴ For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. ⁵ He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

⁶ So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, ⁷ for we walk by faith, not by sight. ⁸ Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ⁹ So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. ¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

This tent is full of destruction. The fallen creation is going to be destroyed. Jesus Christ is going to return and restore creation to perfection. It is the human creatures who have destroyed this wonderful gift. But God still offers his Spirit as a guarantee for your eternal salvation.

It is very difficult to walk by faith. Many people think it is like walking down a street blindfolded, while cars are headed straight for you. This makes it very difficult to imagine a brave future, or a perfect future. The world around us is full of corruption, suffering, death, and disease. It is that way because of sin.

We walk by faith, not by sight. We look at the world around us and say it is sunshine and roses. We do not say that because it actually is that way, but because we look forward to the resurrection of the dead. We have faith in what is unseen. Jesus Christ died for the forgiveness of sins. He is risen as the firstfruits of our own resurrection. God even gives us a down payment, guarantee, for our future eternal life, and it is perfect.