Sermon From October 13th 2013 / �Thanksgiving and Mercy�

Mount Olive Lutheran Church / Rev. Ted A. Giese / Thanksgiving Sunday October 13th 2013 / 2 Timothy 2:1-13

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

          Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for:

          If we have died with Him, we will also live with Him;

          if we endure, we will also reign with Him;

          if we deny Him, He also will deny us;

          if we are faithless, He remains faithful—

          for He cannot deny Himself.

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord. Amen.

Grace peace and mercy to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Good Christian Friends. Thanksgiving comes whether you're ready for it or not. Just like the time to harvest will come and pass whether you're ready or not. In every walk of life, in every kind of work opportunities to do good come and pass, but do opportunities to give thanks come and pass? Well the thanksgiving weekend will in fact come and pass, but as Christians we are invited to give thanks regularly. In Psalm 118 the Psalmist sings his thanks saying, "Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever!"[1] Love, when we think of the word love we often think of romantic love but the love of Psalm 118 is not that sort of love, "steadfast love" will be better thought of as "mercy."

"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His mercy endures forever!"[2]

My friend Fred is in the Hospital, I went up and saw him yesterday. Fred is someone I go for breakfast with on Saturdays, and sometimes it's just the two of us, on the 5th of October he wasn't there, little did I know that he had suffered a stroke and was laid up at home, he eventually made it to the hospital and another mutual friend told me of his new condition. The doctors are optimistic and his mind is sharp, the first thing he said to me was that he was sorry that he'd be bad company, I told him, that, "He'd more than made up for it in the past" that he'd always been, "The best of company"

His voice is effected and he's in rough shape ... as we talked he asked about my wife Michelle and asked also what I was doing this weekend. "It's Thanksgiving weekend," I said. Fred says "I think I'll pass."

"But Fred, there are things to be thankful for ... this hospital, the people who are look after you?" As best as he could Fred says to me, "I have the utmost respect for people who look after people in hospital and seniors homes, because I can't do it," "maybe it's because of my mother, ... I want too, but when some little old lady comes up to me and says 'help me' and I can't, ... it breaks my heart."

"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His mercy endures forever!"

I tell him that everyone has their work to do, and we can be thankful for all of it in its way, I told Fred that "Sometimes you help and sometimes you're the one being helped. ... Sometimes you're the one who shows mercy and sometimes you're the one to whom mercy is being shown." We give thanks not just for the material blessing before us but for the intangible things too, the gentleness and kindness of help and comfort in a time when you need mercy more than anything. Be encouraged in the work God has put before you and trust in Him as you labour, trust in Him while you receive the fruits of the labours of others.  

Paul, the apostle, in our Epistle reading today is encouraging Timothy, the young pastor, to be diligent in his vocation, diligent in the work laid out before him. He compares the vocation of pastor, the work of the pastor to the vocations of Solider, Athlete and hard-working Farmer.   

When speaking of the solider Paul says, "Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him." Don't be distracted from the work you have to do. But I am distracted, you think, no sooner do I start sometime and then another thing in life grumbles that I'm not doing enough. Home and work, family and friends, children and spouse, everything is pulling in every direction, I have no balance and the demands are too great! I want to be faithful but I'm distracted, and I feel like I'm falling!   

"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His mercy endures forever!"

When speaking of the athlete Paul says, "An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules." Don't break the rules and you will have the crown of glory. But I break the rules all the time. God gave me ten to follow and I find a thousand ways to break them and I know that Scripture says "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."[3] I confess my sin, I've broken the rules and still break them, how can I ever hope to win the crown of glory?

"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His mercy endures forever!"

When speaking of the hard-working farmer Paul says, "It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops." But I don't work hard in my vocation and even when I do I sometimes do it for the wrong reason. I take the extra shift not because we're short staffed and the shift needs filled, I do it to make some extra money. Discontent and impatient for future glory I do the extra work to get the praise now for what I've done. While I look busy I'm really lazy, you think, I'm always robbing Peter to pay Paul. I work hard, I don't work hard, you think, do I deserve the love that comes with the first share of the crops?  

"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His mercy endures forever!"

We are grateful when the solider, and police officer keeps us safe and is faithful in their work and we are horrified when they abuse their authority.  We are happy when the athlete plays by the rules and wins the race, wins the match, wins the game, we are disappointed when they break the rules either on or off the court, the ice, the field; we are disappointed when they loss. It shakes our hopes in them. We are thankful when the hard-working farmer, by the sweat of his brow, puts food on our table and we are hungry and malnourished when they fail. Our love fades as our stomachs empty.

Paul gives these examples to Timothy because the pastor is to be faithful, he's always to follow the rules, and he's to work hard, but young Timothy, and every pastor, just like you and everyone else will fail in their work. We are thankful; when they do what they are commanded ... but what are we to do when they don't? What do we deserve from God when we fail to be faithful, when we fail to always follow the rules, when we too don't work hard? When everything is falling apart and "It's Thanksgiving weekend," do we simply say "I think I'll pass."

"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His mercy endures forever!"

In mercy God saves us because we cannot save ourselves; in mercy He forgives our faithlessness, our hopelessness, our lovelessness; in mercy He forgives you, "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ... God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ [Jesus] died for us."[4]

This is what Paul is driving at with Timothy and with you and with me, when he says, "Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the Word of God is not bound! [Jesus is not bound] Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for:

          If we have died with Him, we will also live with Him;

          if we endure, we will also reign with Him;

          if we deny Him, He also will deny us;

          if we are faithless, He remains faithful—

          for He cannot deny Himself."

The key here to the whole thing is this little phrase, "if we are faithless, He remains faithful."

For every time you've been faithless, Jesus is faithful; for every time you've lost your hope in the face of illness, or in the midst of breaking the law of God, Jesus was, is and ever will be full of hope; for every time you've lacked love for the work set before you Jesus had nothing but love: In Hebrews we are asked to think on Jesus, to look to Jesus "who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."[5]

"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His mercy endures forever!"

Jesus is the Mercy of God for you. He gave thanks perfectly and provides a meal for you to partake in: A better meal than any laid before you this day. As good as the pumpkin pie might be, as fine as the stuffing might taste, as moist and as well roasted as the turkey can be the better meal is the one Jesus prepared for you, once for all at the cross - by the sweat of His brow, by the tears, by the toil of the nails. In the presence of those whose sins killed Him, in our presence, in your presence, in my presence, Jesus "took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, “This is My body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way also He took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes."[6] In Christ you have a meal of thanksgiving every time you come to the rail. You receive His mercy and His mercy endures forever. In the good times and in the hard times, the mercy of Jesus, the mercy of God is always for you. Be encouraged in the work God has put before you and trust in Him as you labour, trust in Him while you receive the fruits of the labours of others, This mercy of God in Christ Jesus is for my friend Fred in Hospital, it's for you here in this place and it's for me: remember Jesus' mercy and forgiveness: "if we are faithless, He remains faithful."

"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His mercy endures forever!" Amen.    

Let us pray:

Lord have mercy on us, Christ have mercy on us, Lord have mercy on us, “take our minds and think through them, take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire; for the sake of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen.