THE HARVEST OF YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS

By Dr. Eric C. Stumpf, Senior Pastor

St. Paul’s Ev. Lutheran Church – Munster, IN

25 & 26 November 2009 + National Day of Thanksgiving +

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

                 In the book The Fall of Fortresses, Elmer Bendiner describes the World War II Allied bombing of Nazi Germany in 1943.  His B-17 was hit by anti-aircraft fire over Kassel.  Even though the gas tank was hit the plane did not explode.  After a safe landing in Bedford, England, the pilot, John Fawkes asked the mechanics if they could recover the round in the tank for a souvenir.  They didn’t find just one, but eleven 30 mm unexploded rounds.  The rounds were taken to a ballistic expert to be defused.  To their surprise, as each round was opened no explosive charge was found.  However, in one round they found a carefully rolled piece of paper written in Czech.  The translation read, “This is all we can do for you now.”

                Do you think the crew of that B-17 was thankful to God or did they congratulate themselves on their luck?  If one does not believe in God’s grace and mercy, then all you have is so-called luck.  Luck then is just a meaningless capricious happenstance.  Why be thankful about anything, it was all dumb luck.  However, we confess – “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth” which fills us with thanks, joy, appreciation for God’s daily grace and tender mercies.

                Our goal is to be a thankful church and thankful people.

 O Give Thanks To The Lord

                Each year I scout the newspapers to get a sense of where people are concerning thankfulness.  One editorial struggled with the idea of promoting positive thinking to prepare for a day of thanks.  “We’re taking the opposite route.  Complaining…is an essential component of the lead-up to Thanksgiving.” (Chicago Tribune, Nov 25, 2009, section 1, p. 20)  Another article explained how customers at a bakery last year began shoving and shouting in line.  This year the bakery hired a security guard to keep the peace. (WSJ, Nov 25, 2009, p. 1) Still another editorial suggested that we be thankful because it “makes us healthy and happy. For entirely selfish reasons, it seems, we need to show lots of gratitude as we go through life.” (Ibid, p. A17) Garrison Keillor in his commentary “United We Gather,” observe the same sentiment, “Our consumer society is all about need and craving, and politics is so much about complaint and resentment, and here is a day devoted to something else.” (Chicago Tribune, p. 21)  The picture emerging is complaining is good, lack of civility is expected, and giving thanks for self-centered benefits is a good goal.  Perhaps turkey for Thanksgiving is a good metaphor, a dish most love on Thanksgiving, but not enough to be a mainstay in our life, with turkey bacon, turkey burgers, and smoked turkey sausage the exception.

                If these are our sentiments we need to repent so true thanksgiving can be in our life.

A Thankful Church

                The world can be seen in many different ways, depending on a person’s perspective. Our Lord saw a field ready for harvest. This demonstrated the great love God has for his creation. We all know the familiar Bible verse from John 3:16, For God so love the world… It is hard to imagine the power and vastness of such love for a world torn by sins and atrocities; yet, God gave his one and only Son to die for those sins.  At the November Voters Meeting I reported about the many opportunities to minister and the rich resources God gave to this congregation to carry out his will.

                The Lord of the Church, Jesus Christ, has words of life for us.  These words call us to act. First, God calls us to support this ministry, make all grace abound to you (v. 8) Christians see this as a holy privilege and partnership with God that is completely undeserving, but a great honor to be included.  Second, God supplies us with the tools to do this great work, v. 10.  There is nothing more frustrating than to be given a task to do and know you are ill equipped to do it. It would be like building a house, with only a screwdriver.  It would be impossible. At the very least we need tools, the knowledge to use them, and the materials to build a house. God supplies everything we need.  Third, the Holy Spirit, working through the Word, brings people to faith, vv 35b-38.  We celebrate the privilege of participating.  At my first call in North Dakota, Linda and I received a phone call inviting us for lunch…at 11:30 in the evening.  It was harvest time and the farmers worked the field until dark.  Only then did they eat their last meal of the day, and they called it lunch.  This one was special because Rollie Harmel finished his harvest.  Even though we were getting ready for bed, we quickly got dressed and joined them.  I wondered why they would include me in their celebration.  Rollie said, “After all pastor, you prayed for the good weather and the crops, you feed us God’s Word, you assure us God’s blessings, you have a part in this harvest.”  God’s work is done through many hands.  In order to have a thankful church, we must have thankful people.

Thankful People

                True thankfulness begins with God’s work in us. God did not give us a present from Himself; He gave Himself as the present.  It is not by gold or silver, cash or credit cards, salvation was purchased, but by Jesus’ precious blood for us on the cross. His death for our sins were accepted when God raised his son from the dead. It marked “paid” across our account, and Jesus’ perfect righteousness was credited to us.

                The power of God to turn hearts to him also results in hearts dedicated to do His work. In John 3:16 it says, God so loved the world…He gave His only begotten Son…. To love is to give. When we individually support and together encourage the mission of the Church by our prayers, time, treasure, and talents, we see God at work among us. First, it produces praise in others, v. 11. New members who come to St. Paul’s often tell me it was their children that brought them to join. They see the great spiritual things in their children’s lives and desire that for themselves. Second, it produces prayers in other people, v. 14. And, third, it produces love in others, v. 14. The other day I visited a shut-in.  I knocked at the door and was told to come inside. There I found one of our members visiting. Unknown to me this caring person makes the rounds visiting elderly members. This is a Christ like love God produces in people. I know others deliver meals, take people out to lunch, help with light repairs, and so on.

        In Christ we give thanks to the Lord in what we say and do. Lord increase our thanks.  Amen.

  SDG