Redeemer Lutheran
Church- Richland WA
Messages from the
Pastor
May 2011
Pastor's
Message
Therefore My Brothers
A few (long to me) weeks ago,
the Christian Church began the season of Lent by observing Ash
Wednesday. Perhaps you walked to the front of the church and had your
forehead marked with ashes. You heard the words, "You are dust and to
dust you shall return." This rite serves to remind us of our beginning:
that God created man from the dust of the earth. It also foretells our
ending: that our mortal bodies will die and decay. It is a solemn
moment; in truth, all of Lent is solemn. Yet, every Christian holds in
his heart a secret the world needs to know: "The sting of death is sin,
and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, Who gives us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:56-57). That
is the message of Easter: through Christ we have won the
victory! We wept through the night of sorrow, but morning
has come and with it the joy of the morning of eternal life (Psalm
30:5b).
We remain on earth, waiting for the fullness of that joy that will be
ours when we are in Heaven with the Savior. We are not idle while we
wait, however. After his glorious pronouncement of this victory over
death, the Apostle Paul continues, "Therefore my beloved brothers, be
steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing
that in the Lord your labor is not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:58).
These are orders for all God's servants, the "beloved brothers." First,
"Be steadfast." Day in and day out, not just on Sunday, but every day,
all day, we are steadfast, putting the work of the Lord first, keeping
uppermost in our minds that all we do is done in His strength and for
His glory. At our work and in our homes, we remember that we "are
serving the Lord" (Colossians 3:24).
We are "immovable." We don't get sidetracked. In his Gospel, Luke takes
his readers along on Jesus' journey to Jerusalem. Like the Israelites
traveling through the desert, Jesus' trip was not a straight line and
it included many stops (although not for the same reasons), but as
faithful as God was to deliver His chosen people, so "immovable" was
Jesus on His way. We, too, have a goal: to travel to eternal life doing
the Lord's work on our way. We are "immovable" in our desire to
practice faithful stewardship on our journey, and God is faithful to go
with us on that journey.
By God's grace through which He enables and equips us, we can "always
[abound] in the work of the Lord." By God's grace, we overflow with
good works. We are eager and willing to give of ourselves and our
resources that His work might be done. Even when we get discouraged, we
don't quit, because we know "that in the Lord [our] labor is not in
vain."
Pastor Todd
05/01/11