Worship Helps for Pentecost 12

Artwork: Shepherdess with Her Flock

Artist: Eugene-Joseph Verboeckhoven

Worship Theme: A 2011 Australian study found that after the age of 25, every hour of television reduced the viewer’s life expectancy by 21.8 minutes. (Yikes!) God’s warning for us all is far more dire than the old “slouch on the couch.” He says that by frittering time away we could slide away from him and into eternal death. Conversely, how good it will be for those whom Jesus finds busy and watching for him when he reappears.

Old Testament: Haggai 1:2-14

²This is what the Lord of Armies says. This people has said, “It is not the right time for the House of the Lord to be built.”

³So the word of the Lord came through Haggai the prophet.

⁴Is it time for you to live in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins? ⁵Now this is what the Lord of Armies says. Consider your ways carefully. ⁶You sow much seed but you harvest little. You eat but you are never satisfied. You drink but you never become drunk. You get dressed, but no one is warm. The one who makes money puts that money into a bag with a hole in it.

⁷This is what the Lord of Armies says. Consider your ways carefully. ⁸Go up to the mountains, bring lumber down, and build the House. I will be pleased with it, and I will be glorified, says the Lord.

⁹You expected much, but look, there was little. When you brought it home, I blew it away. Why did I do that?

This is a declaration of the Lord of Armies. It is because my house lies in ruins while each of you is busy with your own house. ¹⁰So it is because of you that the heavens have withheld the dew and the earth has withheld its produce. ¹¹I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the olive oil, on everything which the soil produces, on people, on livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.

¹²Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the surviving remnant of the people, listened to the voice of the Lord their God and to the words of Haggai the prophet, because the Lord their God had sent him. So the people feared the Lord.

¹³Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, spoke the Lord’s message to the people: “I am with you, declares the Lord.”

¹⁴The Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the surviving remnant of the people, and they came and worked on the house for the Lord of Armies, their God.

1. How were the Jews of Haggai’s day doing financially? How can you tell? (See 1:6 and 1:10-11.)

2. What did God want his people to do? (See 1:8.)

3. See 1:12. What attitude do we also need?

Epistle: Revelation 3:1–6  

To the messenger of the church in Sardis write:

The one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says this:

I know your works. You have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead. ²Wake up, and strengthen what is left, which is about to die, for I have found that your works are not complete in the sight of my God. ³Therefore remember what you received and heard. Hold on to it and repent! If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come upon you.

⁴Yet you have a few names in Sardis, people who have not defiled their clothes. They will walk with me in white clothing, for they are worthy.

⁵The one who is victorious in this way will be clothed in white clothing. I certainly will not erase his name from the Book of Life, and I will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.

⁶Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

4. What reputation did the church in Sardis have? By contrast, what did Jesus think? (See 3:1.)

5. In what way will Jesus come like a thief? (See 3:3.)

Gospel: Luke 12:32–40  

³²Do not be afraid, little flock, because your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. ³³Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not become old, a treasure in the heavens that will not fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. ³⁴For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

³⁵“Be dressed, ready for service, and keep your lamps burning. ³⁶Be like people waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. ³⁷Blessed are those servants, whom the master will find watching when he comes. Amen I tell you: He will dress himself and have them recline at the table, and he will come and serve them. ³⁸Even if he comes in the second or third watch, they will be blessed if he finds them alert. ³⁹But know this: If the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. ⁴⁰You also be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you are not expecting him.”

6. What attitude does Jesus encourage Christians to have about this world and the things of this world?

7. Instead of worldly things, with what should we concern ourselves?

Answers:

1. The Jews of Haggai’s day were not doing well, financially. They had planted much, but harvested little. God had sent a drought because they had been busy with their houses, not with his house (the temple).

2. God wanted them to a) give careful thought to their ways and b) go get timber and finish building his house.

3. If we are going to be properly industrious while waiting for the LORD, it will stem from revering the LORD. Such fear of God comes from the Word of God.

4. The church in Sardis had the reputation of being alive, but Jesus says they were dead.

5. Like a thief, Jesus will come not only on a day we cannot predict, but at a time when we do not expect him. (See also Luke 12:40.)

6. Christians should not be engrossed with the things of this world. Jesus goes so far as to suggest that we should sell our worldly possessions and give to the poor. The reason for Jesus’ encouragement is simple: the things of this world have no lasting worth. In time worldly things will all be exhausted, stolen or destroyed. Why waste time on the constant pursuit of such things?

7. Jesus repeatedly encourages us to set our hearts on the kingdom of God, on the eternal things that are in store for us in our heavenly home. He wants us to be ready when he comes again because he will only take those who have been waiting for him to be with him forever, like servants waiting by the door for their master to knock after a long journey.

Putting your faith into action

The order of the words Jesus uses in our gospel reading for today is very deliberate. You would think a person’s beliefs would drive his choices. But Jesus turns it around and says that the choices one makes eventually affects his beliefs. Think about it: Seemingly innocent choices of TV programs or movies with violence, or music with violent lyrics, can develop a belief that this is the way the world operates. The choice of “treasure” changes the “heart.” As stewards of God’s gifts, we can make choices about what is precious to us that can affect what we believe. Picking the wrong treasures can even destroy our faith. But picking treasures that are spiritual and eternal preserve our faith and trust in God. May we always hold the cross of Christ as most precious, and arrange our lives’ priorities around it.

A reading from the Book of Concord for Pentecost 12

We profess that the work of the Law must be begun in us, and that it must be kept continually more and more.  Our theologians not only require good works, but they also show how they can be done.  Human nature is far too weak to resist the devil by its own powers.  We may pray for the governance and defense of the Holy Spirit, that we may neither be deceived and err, nor be pushed to do anything against God’s will.  Christ has overcome the devil, and has given to us the promise and the Holy Spirit, that—by divine aid—we may overcome.  1 John 3:8 says, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”  We teach not only how the Law can be kept, but also how God is pleased if anything is done.  This is not because we satisfy the Law, but because we are in Christ.  It is clear that we require good works.  We also say: Our love for God, even though it is small, cannot possibly be separated from faith.  For we come to the Father through Christ.  When forgiveness of sins has been received, then we are truly certain that we have a God that cares for us.  We call upon Him, we give Him thanks, we fear Him, we love Him as 1 John 4:19 teaches, “We love because He first loved us.”  In other words, we love Him because He gave His Son for us and forgave us our sins.  In this way John shows that faith comes first and love follows. – Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article V, Love and Fulfilling the Law (paragraphs 15-20)

756 We Walk by Faith and Not by Sight

1  We walk by faith and not by sight;

No gracious words we hear

From him who spoke as none e’er spoke,

But we believe him near.

2  We may not touch his hands and side

Nor follow where he trod,

But in his promise we rejoice

And cry, “My Lord and God!”

3  Help then, O Lord, our unbelief,

And may our faith abound

To call on you when you are near

And seek where you are found.

4  For you, O resurrected Lord,

Are found in means divine:

Beneath the water and the Word,

Beneath the bread and wine.

5  Lord, when our life of faith is done,

In realms of clearer light,

We may behold you as you are

With full and endless sight.

Text: Henry Alford, 1810–1871, alt.