Sermon Tone Analysis

Pentecost 2, Father’s Day, Friendship Sunday

Mark 2: 23-28, Deut.:5:12-15

June 18, 2006

*“This is the Day that the Lord has Made”*

Introduction: This is a special day.

Certainly it is special because it’s Father’s Day, and yes, it is special because it is Friendship Sunday, when we invite friends and family to come to church with us.

But this day is most special because it is Sunday.

Most certainly we can say with the person that wrote a Psalm or song to God, “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Now for some people they think that coming to church on Sunday is something that they must do.

It is a matter of law.

After all what does the third commandment of God and our Old Testament text say, “You shall remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.” Wow, that sounds like law doesn’t it.

If we are good Christians, or if we want to be good Christians, we better be in church, whether we want to be or not.

I am often asked the question, “Why don’t people come to church?”, or, “Why don’t they come to church more often?”

Some times the question is asked in a judgmental tone of voice, as if to say, I come to church why don’t they?

“I am faithful, why aren’t they?”

But other times the question is asked with sincere care and compassion.

I can answer the question of why people don’t come to church, why they come infrequently and why, even for those people that come regularly, they come out of compulsion and sense of duty, as if they are fulfilling or obeying some kind of law.

It is simply that they don’t understand.

And even those who come to church don’t understand.

This day, Sunday, the Sabbath, was made for us.

It is our special day.

It is our day of rest, and peace and quiet.

“This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.

We all know what it is like to be tired.

We all know that there isn’t enough time in the day.

And I think we are all glad that God didn’t make the length of the day any longer.

Life is often lived holding our breath, waiting for the weekend, like the poster of the cat hanging by its claws with the caption that reads, “Hang in there baby, Friday’s coming.

But then the weekend comes and we work just as hard.

How many of us have held our breath to reach retirement only to find that we are working just as hard, with less energy, and yes we are still tired and there isn’t enough time in the day to get done everything that needs to get done.

As the slogan for McDonald’s says, “You need a break today.”

They are right.

Today is a day designed by God to give us a break, to let us catch our breath.

Sunday isn’t a matter of law, it is a matter of God’s love and grace shown to us in a time of rest.

Of course Jesus understood this.

That is why he said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

We all need this rest.

A Donkeys’ Experience: The London costermongers (that is people that sold fruits and vegetables from carts in the streets) learned that their donkeys which rested one day in seven could travel thirty miles a day with their loads, while those donkeys that worked seven days a week could only travel fifteen miles a day.

So you lose seventy-five miles of travel each week by working your donkey every day, and have a sick, seedy-looking donkey in the bargain; resting your donkey allowed you to gain 3,900 miles of travel in a year, and have a sleek, nice-looking donkey.

As our Old Testament lesson reads, on the Sabbath, “You shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock… Our lord knows that we all need rest.

And what is good for man is also good for beasts such as the donkey.

—Illustrator[i]

            Our Lord knows that we need more than a day off.

Otherwise we might be better off right now spending time at the beach, walking in the park, taking time to smell the roses.

This is where our lack of understanding comes in to play.

We often hear people say, I don’t need to go to church, God is wherever I am.

I can see his glory in the things around me.

While this has some truth to it, it is not the complete truth.

Pastor Kurt Ziemann wrote a column for the Newspaper the Statesman.

In it he talks about rest and relaxation.

He talks about seeing the splendor of God in His creation and the joy and peace that can be had sitting in a boat waiting for a big bass to bite his bait.

Then he goes on to say, “You know, in all the years I’ve been catching fish, never once have I heard one of them tell me about Jesus.

In all the years I’ve heard the wind blow or the loud thunder in a storm, or saw the grandeur of the mountains, never once did the they tell me the Good News (sic that God loves me).

These things and many others may show me the Creator, but they will not introduce me to the Savior.

No, if I want to find Jesus and the salvation He brings, I’m going to have return to my church.

This is where the Word of God is spoken and the sacraments are given.

Somewhere out there is a nice five pound smallmouth with my name on it.

Somewhere out there is an unexplored trail through a woods waiting for me.

And while these things give me pleasure and rest, they will not satisfy my soul.

Only Jesus can fill the void.

Only Jesus will matter when it is all over.

Our rest is always tied to the salvation that God has given to us.

In our Old Testament lesson God reminds His people, “remember you were slaves in the land of Egypt.”

In other words you were a people without rest, without peace, utterly exhausted by all the things that oppress us in this life.

Then God goes on to say, “remember the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.”

Of course this salvation pointed to a greater salvation that would be for all people.

We may all be tired at times.

But there is a weariness that goes beyond being physically or mentally tired.

It is the exhaustion of the soul that is weary trying to find meaning in this life.

There is emptiness in man that longs to be filled.

There is a restlessness that comes from a lack of knowing true love.

Until we find it there is no rest, no matter how many days off, no matter how many vacations we take, retired or not.

Our Lord understands this too.

He longs for us to be fulfilled, to be satisfied and to be at rest.

He longs for us to know His love.

He comes to us to save us.

That is why He sent His Son Jesus into our world.

For to know Him is to know life and salvation.

His Word gives us life and it gives us rest for our souls, knowing that God if for us, that He is with us, and no matter what happens to us in this live he will guide us home to heaven where we will truly no what rest is like.

For now, as the Apostle Paul said, ‘For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;”

          Our salvation comes from God who saves us with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.

Whose hands save?

Whose arms were stretched out?

It was Jesus hands and Jesus arms.

For His hands were pierced with nails that would hold him to the cross.

It was His arms that were stretched out to embrace death, taking death into Himself so that death would be consumed by life that only God has within himself.

In Him we see God’s love for us as He restores us, gives us life and hope through the forgiveness of sins.

Because of this we can truly rest.

Our lives have purpose and meaning for we have God’s love and we have the hope of eternal life.

“This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

This is the message that we want to share, the reason we have a friendship Sunday.

This rejoicing is always connected to God who rescues us and gives us peace and rest.

In that same Psalm we hear these words also, “118:1 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

Let Israel say, "His steadfast love endures forever."...Out of my distress I called on the LORD; the LORD answered me and set me free….

The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.

What can man do to me?

The LORD is on my side as my helper; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man….