God’s Abundant Protection
06/22/08
Sermon Outline
Mt. 10:34-39
Lectionary 12
I. Intro.
How many parents or step-parents do we have in the cong. today? Show of hands
What one thing do all loving parents want for their children? That they be safe and protected. None wants to see children harmed in any way, so we do all we can to protect them.
When kids were young, summer trips to the North Shore. beautiful scenery, the Lake, the rocks, the rivers, the cliffs. Beautiful but potentially dangerous. Watched them very closely. Wanted them to have fun and experience this beauty, but we wanted them safe as well. Regardless of the ages of our children, we want them safe and to live a happy, full life.
Today, God’s Abundant Protection. Want to talk about how we understand God as our protector. As I do so, keep in mind the picture of a parent’s protective love for a child, for I think that image really does describe God’s protective love for us.
II. Body
A. Scriptural witness is that God is our protector. It’s found many places, both in the Old and New Testaments. We here it in relation to wrongdoers in the voice of Jeremiah in our first lesson: “Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers.” Better know passages such as Psalm 23, Psalm 27, “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 46, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble,” Psalm 121, “I lift up my eyes to the hills, from where is my help to come, my help comes from the Lord… “ Psalm 91, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, who abides in the shadow of the almighty, will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.”
New Testament- Today’s lesson, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul…Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Reminds us of similar words in an earlier lesson, God’s provision, “Look at birds of the air, neither sow, reap, gather into barns, yet heavenly Father feeds them.” Miracles of protection, parting the Red Sea, calming of the storm, deliverance of Peter from prison, God’s protective presence.
Been witness of so many over the years, we find it in the words of our hymns, “Children of the heavenly Father” This is my Father’s World, On Eagles Wings, so many speak of God’s protection. We receive this as a gift, a promise of God, we believe, like a loving Father or mother, God protects us. Just as you watch over your children, keep them safe, God protects us.
B. We are protected. The vast majority of us have to say that God has protected us, and blessed us, and given us full and abundant lives. Look at this morning! Gift! God has protected us. Pray with Luther, “We give you thanks, heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ your dear son, that you have protected us through this night from all danger and harm. We ask that you preserve and keep us this day also, from all sin and evil, that in all our thoughts, words and deeds we may serve and please you.”
In significant ways, most protected people on earth. One of longest avg. life spans, over 79 years for women, 74 for men. Food, water, health care, relatively safe transportation. Like a loving Father providing the best for his children, God really has provided for us. Our first response should be one of thanks and praise!
C. Now of course, although the vast majority of us are blessed with God’s protection, bad and tragic things do happen to people every day. The Bible acknowledges that. Today’s lesson, Jesus talks about every hair on head being numbered, but also that the disciples will face extreme opposition, not peace, but sword, man against father, pretty rough stuff. No pie in the sky faith. How do we reconcile God’s promise of protection, with the realities of war and accidents and murders and tornadoes and floods and cancers and everything else that brings such suffering in life?
Parent’s love for child. Love, by definition, allows for freedom. Love wants the other to know and experience all that life has to offer. Love is not control. Control may keep things safe, but it also may rob one of knowing the joys life has to offer.
Child’s first bike. It’s a step to freedom. Kids can ride around the neighborhood with friends. They can go places with you as parents. But it’s also a step into danger. And so we seek to protect in the ways we can. Have kids wear helmets, and wear them ourselves as an example. Teach how to ride, running along side, holding on, letting go, catching them, until they learn to balance, teaching rules. Despite our best efforts, there’s going to be some kind of crash along the way. Hopefully, it will be no more than a scraped knee. Bit sometimes it can be worse. It’s the risk of freedom, but a risk we’re willing to take to allow our children to grow and enjoy life. We do protect them, but within that, there is choice and risk. In the same way God does not control our every action, but allows for freedom, knowing there are also risks.
Understand the acts of God, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, etc. in much the same way. Most protected from them, most of the time. For that we give thanks. But that’s not always the case. 100 years ago Mark Twain, who knew the Mississippi well wrote about it in Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer wrote that no act of man, no engineering feat, will ever be able to tame the river. And he’s right. We’ve seen it again this summer. Human levees can only hold back so much water, then they break. The floods come. People are in the way. Lives are lost, homes ruined. In the midst of that many people are protected and experience God’s presence, but not everyone is so fortunate. Paul writes in Romans 8 that all of creation groans in travail until the coming of the Lord. These things will continue. Because God is love, God doesn’t control every aspect of life or nature. So we all need to live ready, knowing that at any time our lives may be affected, and being willing to reach out in love to others who are being affected right now.
D. We believe in God’s physical protection, we pray for it, and we thank God for it. But in the end, the teachings of Jesus and scripture go deeper than the physical. It’s the spiritual that finally matters, and in this is our final hope. “Do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” Romans 8: “For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Like a loving parent God does much to protect us. But because God is love and not control, unexpected things can happen at any time. But the floods and the tornadoes, and the wars, and the cancers, and anything else that may rob us of life, do not have the final say. There’s more to life than that. A life united with God by faith, takes the fear of those things away, for we know we have the final promise of a life with God forever. Now that’s true protection. That’s abundant protection. That’s the final protection and hope that God gives.
III. Conclusion
Today we celebrate and give thanks for all the ways God has protected us. Because God is love, and not control, we know that physical protection is not always possible at all times. And so we’re called to love those who are suffering, giving as we are able, to make life better, as we would hope others might give to us if we are in a similar situation. But most importantly, we come to connect spiritually again with God, knowing that such a connection is our ultimate and final protection. Let us pray:
“We give thanks to you, heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ your dear son, that you have protected us through the night from all danger and harm. We ask you to preserve and keep us, this day also, from all sin and evil, that in all our thoughts, words, and deeds, we may serve and please you. Into your hands we commend our bodies and souls and all that is ours. Let your holy angels have charge of us, that the wicked on have no power over us.” Amen
Mt. 10:34-39
Lectionary 12
I. Intro.
How many parents or step-parents do we have in the cong. today? Show of hands
What one thing do all loving parents want for their children? That they be safe and protected. None wants to see children harmed in any way, so we do all we can to protect them.
When kids were young, summer trips to the North Shore. beautiful scenery, the Lake, the rocks, the rivers, the cliffs. Beautiful but potentially dangerous. Watched them very closely. Wanted them to have fun and experience this beauty, but we wanted them safe as well. Regardless of the ages of our children, we want them safe and to live a happy, full life.
Today, God’s Abundant Protection. Want to talk about how we understand God as our protector. As I do so, keep in mind the picture of a parent’s protective love for a child, for I think that image really does describe God’s protective love for us.
II. Body
A. Scriptural witness is that God is our protector. It’s found many places, both in the Old and New Testaments. We here it in relation to wrongdoers in the voice of Jeremiah in our first lesson: “Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers.” Better know passages such as Psalm 23, Psalm 27, “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 46, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble,” Psalm 121, “I lift up my eyes to the hills, from where is my help to come, my help comes from the Lord… “ Psalm 91, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, who abides in the shadow of the almighty, will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.”
New Testament- Today’s lesson, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul…Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Reminds us of similar words in an earlier lesson, God’s provision, “Look at birds of the air, neither sow, reap, gather into barns, yet heavenly Father feeds them.” Miracles of protection, parting the Red Sea, calming of the storm, deliverance of Peter from prison, God’s protective presence.
Been witness of so many over the years, we find it in the words of our hymns, “Children of the heavenly Father” This is my Father’s World, On Eagles Wings, so many speak of God’s protection. We receive this as a gift, a promise of God, we believe, like a loving Father or mother, God protects us. Just as you watch over your children, keep them safe, God protects us.
B. We are protected. The vast majority of us have to say that God has protected us, and blessed us, and given us full and abundant lives. Look at this morning! Gift! God has protected us. Pray with Luther, “We give you thanks, heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ your dear son, that you have protected us through this night from all danger and harm. We ask that you preserve and keep us this day also, from all sin and evil, that in all our thoughts, words and deeds we may serve and please you.”
In significant ways, most protected people on earth. One of longest avg. life spans, over 79 years for women, 74 for men. Food, water, health care, relatively safe transportation. Like a loving Father providing the best for his children, God really has provided for us. Our first response should be one of thanks and praise!
C. Now of course, although the vast majority of us are blessed with God’s protection, bad and tragic things do happen to people every day. The Bible acknowledges that. Today’s lesson, Jesus talks about every hair on head being numbered, but also that the disciples will face extreme opposition, not peace, but sword, man against father, pretty rough stuff. No pie in the sky faith. How do we reconcile God’s promise of protection, with the realities of war and accidents and murders and tornadoes and floods and cancers and everything else that brings such suffering in life?
Parent’s love for child. Love, by definition, allows for freedom. Love wants the other to know and experience all that life has to offer. Love is not control. Control may keep things safe, but it also may rob one of knowing the joys life has to offer.
Child’s first bike. It’s a step to freedom. Kids can ride around the neighborhood with friends. They can go places with you as parents. But it’s also a step into danger. And so we seek to protect in the ways we can. Have kids wear helmets, and wear them ourselves as an example. Teach how to ride, running along side, holding on, letting go, catching them, until they learn to balance, teaching rules. Despite our best efforts, there’s going to be some kind of crash along the way. Hopefully, it will be no more than a scraped knee. Bit sometimes it can be worse. It’s the risk of freedom, but a risk we’re willing to take to allow our children to grow and enjoy life. We do protect them, but within that, there is choice and risk. In the same way God does not control our every action, but allows for freedom, knowing there are also risks.
Understand the acts of God, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, etc. in much the same way. Most protected from them, most of the time. For that we give thanks. But that’s not always the case. 100 years ago Mark Twain, who knew the Mississippi well wrote about it in Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer wrote that no act of man, no engineering feat, will ever be able to tame the river. And he’s right. We’ve seen it again this summer. Human levees can only hold back so much water, then they break. The floods come. People are in the way. Lives are lost, homes ruined. In the midst of that many people are protected and experience God’s presence, but not everyone is so fortunate. Paul writes in Romans 8 that all of creation groans in travail until the coming of the Lord. These things will continue. Because God is love, God doesn’t control every aspect of life or nature. So we all need to live ready, knowing that at any time our lives may be affected, and being willing to reach out in love to others who are being affected right now.
D. We believe in God’s physical protection, we pray for it, and we thank God for it. But in the end, the teachings of Jesus and scripture go deeper than the physical. It’s the spiritual that finally matters, and in this is our final hope. “Do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” Romans 8: “For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Like a loving parent God does much to protect us. But because God is love and not control, unexpected things can happen at any time. But the floods and the tornadoes, and the wars, and the cancers, and anything else that may rob us of life, do not have the final say. There’s more to life than that. A life united with God by faith, takes the fear of those things away, for we know we have the final promise of a life with God forever. Now that’s true protection. That’s abundant protection. That’s the final protection and hope that God gives.
III. Conclusion
Today we celebrate and give thanks for all the ways God has protected us. Because God is love, and not control, we know that physical protection is not always possible at all times. And so we’re called to love those who are suffering, giving as we are able, to make life better, as we would hope others might give to us if we are in a similar situation. But most importantly, we come to connect spiritually again with God, knowing that such a connection is our ultimate and final protection. Let us pray:
“We give thanks to you, heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ your dear son, that you have protected us through the night from all danger and harm. We ask you to preserve and keep us, this day also, from all sin and evil, that in all our thoughts, words, and deeds, we may serve and please you. Into your hands we commend our bodies and souls and all that is ours. Let your holy angels have charge of us, that the wicked on have no power over us.” Amen