Sermon in Ishpeming 01.07.2007

Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

For our text this evening we will read from the 17th chapter of the book of the Acts of the Apostles beginning with the 22nd verse on to the end, reading the words in Jesus' name.

Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and said, "Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, to the unknown God, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship; him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things, and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitations, that they should seek the Lord, if happily they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, for we are his offspring. For as much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, graven by art and man's device. In the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commanded all men everywhere to repent, because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man of whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he raised him from the dead."

And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, and others said, "We will hear thee again of this matter." So Paul departed from among them.

Howbeit certain men clave unto him and believed; among them was Dionysius and Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. Amen.

This text is appointed for today according to our church calendar. It is entitled "Thankfulness for Our Native Land."

Today our friendly Canadian neighbors to the north are celebrating their Independence Day. And on Wednesday, we in the United States of America will be celebrating and recognizing our Independence Day.

What could we say as believers concerning this special day in our homeland? First of all, we would as children of God wish to acknowledge that God has provided for you and me, brothers and sisters, a place to live, to work, to enjoy, to experience a very precious gift which is freedom.

And when we think of freedom, we would understand that there are two freedoms. The freedom we have as people of our country is that we are able to gather together as we are here this evening in freedom and with the protection of our government. And is there not much reason to be thankful? There are places in this world where such freedom is not known. People are oppressed, living in fear, fear of their lives.

So we have a very precious gift, our free homeland. And of course, as believers, even as believers we sometimes are perhaps a little complacent. We don't always realize what a precious gift it is.

So this evening we would especially wish to acknowledge this homeland that we have been given and the freedom which we have enjoyed and also the prosperity that we have enjoyed.

Sometimes it could seem a little bit scary when we have such an abundance of everything. How easily our flesh and blood is prone to attach to the things of this life when there is such abundance. And how easily our hearts and minds can turn away from our dear Heavenly Father who has not only created us but has given us all this abundance.

I try to remember the words of the Old Testament prophet who said that if or when riches increase, set not your heart upon them. And of course, we remember how Jesus also taught very preciously concerning the things of this life that they would not become more important than that treasure that we own in our hearts by faith.

When we think of our homeland, it is a temporary place. We are only here for a very short time. The scripture reminds us that we do not have here a continuing city but we are seeking one to come. Our home is in heaven.

Elsewhere in scripture it is written how that we are strangers and foreigners in a foreign land. We do not want to confuse our temporal being and our temporal lives with that treasure that we have by faith.

This text, which was appointed for this Independence Day, I read a few extra verses to kind of give a picture of where it happened and how it happened.

Apostle Paul was on one of his mission trips and he was then now here in this, as I understand it, a very big city, Athens of Greece. He noted when he came in and saw how the people there were worshipping all sorts of idols, and as God gave him strength and words, he began to explain how that God Almighty, God the Father and Creator, is not an unknown God but he is known of those who have been able to hear and receive his word and through faith believe.

As the scripture teaches us, that by his word he has created all things, that which we see and the things which are also unseen. And we heard here how the apostle then, very straightforwardly, attempted to show how they are in ignorance worshipping someone that they do not even know. He said, "Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him I declare unto you."

The apostle is now wanting to teach and explain, and I am sure with what scriptures he could use to show that God is the creator of all things. And he said, "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands."

Even today, I think that there are those we could find who have such an understanding that God is found in the synagogues or the very exclusive churches that are built without considering expense. It brings to mind how when we traveled in Ecuador and toured the big cities, and the one that I remember best is the capital city of Quito. We visited some of those big churches that were built even not so many years ago, but when you look at the location and how poorly the people lived and how these churches were built with such expensive materials and to be something that is to be honored and glorified, but in all its beauty it does not mean that God is there.

God in his mysterious ways has revealed himself to his own by and through his kingdom.

Further, the apostle said that he is neither is he worshipped with men's hands as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things.

It seems as though there are such efforts to create something that would be acceptable to God and that he would recognize it, and in turn would also find that those who were such dedicated builders would find favor with them.

However, God, who is the giver of all things, has not had a need for anyone. He has not needed, as it is written in scripture, a counselor or one to advise him when he created all things.

When we think of God as the creator of all things, we are also seeing in our day such a turning away from God even in our own country, and in doing so there is such an attempt to glorify that which man has been able to invent or devise.

When we think of all that God has created, we need to remember how at the time of creation God looked at that which he had created and he saw that it was good.

And so we, brothers and sisters, wish to humbly admit, humbly testify, and as we believe by faith, that he is the creator of all things.

The argument in our society today is whether things were by chance or whether they are by creation, or another term used is by intelligent design.

And when we look about at what God has created, it is amazing, marvelous, way beyond what we are able with our carnal minds to understand and even accept.

But by faith we believe and we rest on that. By faith we believe that God by his word created the heavens and the earth, all the things that we see and that are also unseen.

And then the apostle went on to explain concerning mankind. He says that "He hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation," and then continued that they should seek the Lord if happily they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us.

And then he says concerning their own poets that they did acknowledge that there was a higher being, but they tried to invent ways by which they could justify their own understandings and interpretations, stone or stone graven by art and man's device.

So straightforwardly the apostle is wishing to reveal to those who are gathered to hear him that God is a living God and he is making his presence through his word that they are at this particular time able to hear.

And then he said that in times and the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commanded all men everywhere to repent.

God was granting a visitation time according to his will, and we could say according to the mystery of his will he was granting a visitation time for the people of this city.

And as we heard in the end of our text, there were some, there were a couple of men or rather a man and a woman that were named and then also with others.

So then the apostle referred to the author and finisher of our faith, of living faith. He says that God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he raised him from the dead.

Jesus' name is not mentioned but God is. Apostle Paul is certainly referring to the Lord Jesus whom God had sent to this world to redeem mankind, sin-fallen man, and that is the very core of the message.

And it was my hope and prayer even this evening and having feeling stumbled through this part of acknowledging our homeland is a great gift from God for which we have much reason to be thankful, but more importantly that we have by faith a very great and precious and priceless treasure.

Our treasure is in heaven. We do not have, as we have mentioned, a permanent place here upon this earth.

We all can easily acknowledge and it seems that sometimes it's necessary to remind ourselves that our lifetime here is very, very short.

And how good it is that God has in his love granted us grace to receive that message of the gospel.

When we talk about freedom, the freedom that we, temporal freedom that we enjoy in our homeland, we have a far greater freedom.

Freedom it is freedom from sin.

Our Lord and Savior came to pay the price of your and my sins and sins of the whole world.

He in all perfection fulfilled that mission that the Father had sent him to do.

He said as he was being crucified that it is finished, and yet the last work was when God raised him from the dead.

And this is what the apostle here then referred to, how God in his infinite love and power defeated the powers of the enemy, the final enemy which is death.

Jesus is the Lord of life and he rose from the grave defeating all the powers of evil, defeating the powers of Satan.

And as the Old Testament prophet had said that the gates of hell could not hold him.

And so when we think of this, brothers and sisters, how our Lord and Savior has gained a victory for you and me and all those who believe.

This is a freedom that is beyond words. It is a freedom that is so great that we cannot in any way in depth describe it except to say that when we have been freed from our sins, we are freed.

Jesus himself was teaching at one time and he says that "When I have made you free, you are free indeed."

And so this evening what would the message be? It is the same message that we have heard over and over, the old but ever new.

It is that message of the gospel that assures us that by faith we are able to believe.

When we are able to believe by faith the forgiveness of our sins, we are freed and we have a living hope unto life everlasting.

We have a hope of one day entering into that eternal city where righteousness will reign forever and ever.

And as Apostle John has written, that God will wipe away all tears from their eyes.

All the things that are the trials and the troubles and whatever we have experienced in this life will be left behind.

Eternal peace and joy in the glory of heaven.

Is that not such a great reward that awaits us?

And this has been prepared for us because of God's great love and because through his Son he has redeemed us.

He has granted us grace to believe and to become children of his kingdom here upon this earth that will one day be lifted into the glory of heaven.

And when we think of our Lord and Master, we also want to remember, as we experienced this morning and again this evening, that very precious sacrament that our Lord and Savior established for his own.

That when we come to his grace table to eat and to drink, we are reminded of the great sacrifice that he has made for you and me and for all sinners.

He willingly gave his life and shed his life's blood on the middle cross of Golgotha, by and through which we have even at this moment the forgiveness of our sins.

So believe even now, brother and sister, and you who will especially come to the Lord's supper, come as you are, though you feel your doubts and fears and failures of the journey.

Yet the Lord of life calls you to come to eat and to drink that body and that blood which was given and shed for you.

Believe even now the forgiveness of all your faults and sins in Jesus' name and holy and precious blood.

And I too wish to ask if I can once again hear that message of the gospel for my own faults and sins and shortcomings.

And then in a few days, if God so wills, we will travel to Toronto for our summer services and meetings and ask you, brothers and sisters, to remember us as we travel and that you would remember the services that God would grant his blessing.

We have no reason to doubt that he wouldn't, but we as his children humbly ask that he would once again grant his blessings so that the children of God might once again be uplifted and refreshed.

And if there would be any who have not this hope, that they would come into the hearing and receive the grace of repentance.

I was thinking the last two or three or four days also that our brethren across the ocean in Finland have been, I am sure, enjoying their summer services and meetings.

So we remember one another in this love into which we have been called, in the unity of the Spirit and in the bond of love.

In Jesus' name, Amen.