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A Lamp To Guide Our Way - Pastor Stiemke |
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The 2nd Sunday in Lent, (3-4-07)
Sir, we would see JESUS!
Emmanuel, Asheville, NC
Psalm 119: 105
In the Name of JESUS!
?¨A Lamp to Guide Our Way?Æ
?¨Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.?Æ Psalm 119: 115
Beloved in the Lord, please pray with me:
Gracious
God and Father, in Your wondrous caring for us You have indeed given us
Your holy Word to be a lamp unto our feet and a light for our path, so
that we trust Your Son, Jesus Christ, as our one and only Savior. Yet
there are times when we have not only neglected Your Word, but have
failed to live by its guidance in accordance with Your holy will. Send
us Your Spirit that by His power we are more faithful to Your Word and
live according to it, above all looking to Jesus for His pardon, grace
and help, as we also strive to reach others with the Gospel of Christ.
Amen.
In the name of Jesus, the Light of the world and our only Savior, dear friends:
Today
marks the beginning of National Lutheran Schools Week. Under the
multiyear theme: LUTHERAN SCHOOLS ?± A GREAT PLACE TO GROW, this year??s
special emphasis is, TRANSFORMING LIVES. And that precisely is their
mission under the Lord??s blessing ?± to transform lives, by enabling
children to know our Triune God and His saving grace in Jesus Christ.
Our schools also strive to equip children in their teaching and caring
ministries to be individuals throughout their lives that actively
contribute to the building of Christ??s Church on earth and to make a
positive difference in our fallen and needy world.
This
special week should go beyond our thanking the Lord of the Church for
our Lutheran schools and renew our energies in supporting them. It
should also be a vivid reminder to us of how essential Christian
Education is for the life of every Christian ?± no matter what one??s
age. Christian Education is not an option. In this fallen world all of
us need to have our faith and life regularly nourished by the precious
Word of God. It also is a mandate to all of us, given by our dear
Savior. He charged all of us to make disciples of all nations,
?¨teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you.?Æ [Cf.
Matthew 20: 28]
Our Emmanuel congregation has taken our Lord??s
mandate seriously. Almost 50 years ago the Holy Spirit led our
forefathers, including a few of you still seated in these pews today,
to establish our own Christian Day School. Through the years our Lord
has blessed our modest beginnings to where we now offer childcare for
infants and toddlers and early education classes, plus Kindergarten
through 8th grade classes. Now enrolled are 208 children, who besides
Bible studies have their other subjects taught from a Biblical
perspective. An added gift of God to us through the years is all the
talented and highly committed teachers and staff. What blessings!
But
some may wonder why invest all that money, time, and effort into a
school where only a portion of the students are our own members. It??s
because it is a major means of carrying out our dear Savior??s command
to all of us to share the Gospel with every person and to bring
children to our Savior. Think of the hundreds of lives our congregation
by God??s grace has been able to touch through these years in our
school. This year we have been privileged to baptize 3 of our school
children who might not otherwise have been baptized in the name of our
Triune God. Because from time-to-time I periodically wear a clerical
collar, people around Asheville frequently will ask where I serve. Once
I say, ?¨Emmanuel Lutheran Church and School,?Æ I fairly often meet
non-members who formerly attended our school. Each time those former
students express gratitude for the Christian education they received
here. Each and every one of our students is being or has been better
equipped to know and trust our gracious Lord in their own battle
against the devil, the world, and our flesh and to serve our Triune God
and others in the years ahead.
Emmanuel trains well and by
God??s grace transforms lives, but does that means that we can sit back
and relax? NO! We all are in an on-going battle, dear people of Christ!
Ever since Adam and Eve fell into sin, the world is a very difficult
and unsettled place, because all mankind is in the midst of a raging
spiritual war both without and within. Today we are exposed to
non-Christian cults, philosophies, and faiths, including earth
religions and witchcraft as never before. Worse yet, within Christ??s
external Church there are false teachers who among other things even
deny that Jesus Christ is Lord. The ?¨outside world?Æ with all its
corrupting allurements gets brought into the sanctuary of our homes via
modern media. The treadmill of running from one activity to another
leaves little time for family or even oneself. Too often at the bottom
of the heap in our busyness is time for God and His precious, edifying
Word, and worship. Perhaps it is only when we fall into bed exhausted
that we catch a brief glimpse of Satan??s, the world??s, and our sinful
nature??s craftiness.
Frankly because of all the evil forces
both without and within trying to undermine not only the faith of
individual Christians, but also that of the whole Christian Church on
earth, I do not envy parents trying to raise their children to live
close to our Savior and to walk on the paths of the Lord??s choosing.
Just as all of us who are adults and teens face the onslaught of all
the evil forces, it??s also a hard road for children to trust their
Savior and to be imitators of Jesus in their daily lives.
To
any parent who has had or may have a child who has gone astray I say,
?¨Don??t give up hope!?Æ Do not stop praying for a wayward son or
daughter. Witness by the example of your life! I can say that above all
because of God??s faithful promises to us in the Bible. I also say that
as a father of wayward sons who today walk by Christ??s grace and love
as recovering addicts. We have been blessed to see this return in our
lifetime. For others that restoration in Jesus may occur only after the
parent??s death. Through our merciful God there??s always hope and the
opportunity for a prodigal child to return.
What??s the point of
all this and what does what I??ve said really involve in our day-to-day
living? It points us solely to our merciful God, who provides what we
need and the solutions to our problems, above all, to our sin and
death. Our heavenly Father sent His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, as
the Light of world to dispel the darkness of our sin and to transform
death into the gateway to heaven. Christ has done everything necessary
to set things right between us and our holy God when with the Spirit??s
help we trust Him as our Savior. He also is the beacon to give meaning
and direction in our daily lives. Jesus is the Light to guide us on our
daily walk and on the path finally to heaven. To help us our Lord
graciously gives us the tools to shine His light upon us and others
through our Lutheran school, our congregation??s other Christian
Education programs and worship, as well as our Christian homes. In all
these efforts may our gracious God keep His Word, the lamp for our
feet, as our source and guide.
As a called servant of the
Lord, I cannot encourage you then strongly enough to thank God for the
beacon light of God??s holy Word which directs us to the true and only
eternal Light for this sin-darkened world, JESUS CHRIST. So that even
greater gifts and loyalty may be ours, pray for God??s blessing on our
worship and all of our Christian Education programs including Emmanuel
Lutheran School. In part, you already do so as you pray, ?¨Thy kingdom
come. Thy will be done.?Æ But today I urge you to be more specific in
remembering the Light of Christ??s grace and love coming through His
Word here at Emmanuel Church and School. What treasures of His saving
light our gracious God has given to us! For this we can certainly give
thanks and praise to the Lord Jesus, our true and living Light, while
daily turning to His Word to build our faith and direct our lives. Amen.
To GOD alone be the glory!
©The Reverend Frederick A. Stiemke, DD
Vacancy Pastor
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