The Goodness of the Lord

Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God, our Father and our Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ. Our text this morning is a portion of the Old Testament reading from Lamentations: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. For the Lord will not cast off forever. But, though He caused grief, He will have compassion, according to the abundance of His steadfast love. For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men." These are the words of our text.

One Sunday, I was in church with a friend of mine and his family. We were in seminary and somehow I guess - oh yeah, I was a fourth year, I didn't have to go to a field work church. I could go wherever I wanted. So, we went with my friend, and we're sitting there he, his wife, his two boys - I believe they're about third and fourth grade at the time. And during the service, every now and then, I noticed the father lean ahead and he'd go like this. And everything be still and then he'd lean ahead again and he go like this. And he'd be looking down at the end where the boys were. And then later on, he'd lean the head. And there is a three And his demeanor had changed some. Now, many of you probably know what the one, two and the thre were about. I didn't know what they were about. So, after church, I asked him. Before we got to the house, I asked "What's the deal with the one, two, three?" He says "One means you're not behaving like you should in church. Number two is you still aren't and you're getting pretty close to being disciplined. Number three was you crossed the line, and when we get home, you're going to get it." There was nothing after three.

Lamentations is often times overlooked as a book of scripture. We don't often preach on it. We don't often do bible study on it. And Lamentations is God's people lamenting their discipline from the Lord. They have finally been carried off. God, finally, gave them the Three. After years and years and the centuries of the prophets telling them to turn from their wickedness, to return to the Lord. And they would not. So finally, God said "Enough. I'm going to carry off for some discipline." And it's in this time of being away from the Holy City, the temple, they've all been destroyed. But they're lamenting their fate.

The author of the letter to the Hebrews says: no discipline at the time seems pleasant. But afterwards, it yields a harvest of righteousness. Now, I don't imagine there's anyone here who hasn't been disciplined. There may be a few that maybe don't realize they were disciplined. Or, maybe they're still so cute, like Ryan. But his day will come, won't it, Mom and Dad?

We all have been disappointed, and none of us liked it at the time. We didn't have one two, three in my day. I think I was 4 years old, I was sitting in the back: old-timers remember there used to be a sticker on there "reserved for families with young children." We were sitting in the back pew. I don't know if I was banging on the window between the pew in the narthex. I don't know. I was just being a pistol. And my mother said "Do I need to take you downstairs and get a wooden spoon?" Now that seems harsh. My mother did not beat me with a wooden spoon, but a little properly displayed pressure on the right part of the bottom of my body did get me to behave. But anyways, I thought I'm in church. This is a safe zone. There's no wooden spoons here. They're only in Mom's kitchen, they're not in church." I don't know what I said to her, but it's set her off. I could have easily have said, like Clint Eastwood, "Go ahead and make my day, Mom." She grabbed me by the wrist, tore me down. Took me down the back of the church, down the steps into the kitchen, and she knew right where she was going. And it was a big drawer. The kitchen had big drawers. Now, mind you, it's a four-year-old looking, and so, maybe they were actually not as big as they seemed at the time, but it seemed really big. It was probably about as wide as this part of the pulpit is probably about as deep as as part of the pulpit. And the height was probably about this too. And she went there and pull that door open, and she said, "Look, which one do you want?" And there's a whole drawer - I don't know - it seems like there were thousands (there probably weren't thousands), but there are a lot of wooden spoons, and that took care of it. No more wooden spoons.

But as we grew up, we moved closer to the front, and then there was still no One, Two, Three. There was mom's knuckle on the knee. Or in your side. Or the Spock hold. And dad's hand on your knee cap. And of course, everybody sitting behind us already knew we were mucking around, but then when we got it from Mom and Dad, then they saw the jerks and, you know, tremors as were in agony of the Spock hold or the knuckle or the hand on our knee. And one elder said to my father, "How do you get your kids to behave so well?" And my dad said, "Well, where do we sit?" You sit in front, a couple rows from front. He said, "Yeah, they know they have to behave because everybody behind them can see their bad behavior. And if that isn't enough to get him to settle down and behave, everybody behind them also gets to see when they're getting the knuckle, the Spock hold, or whatever else. And pretty soon, they'll get it."

And there were times when we get home, and we'd be sent to our corner, and like I said, no discipline is pleasant at it's time. And we'd be willing and grumbling lamenting our fate. What did we do? We thought we were really well-behaved this morning in church. And then Mother would remind us that we giggled at the elderly couple that was sitting ahead of us during church. Oh yeah. I guess we did do that.

See, pastors aren't so good. I've sat in the Pew. I've gotten restless. Still do. But even in the midst of that, even in the midst of the discipline, my brother and I, we knew we had our parents' love and that they were training us up. At the moment, we grumbled, but now, we look back and we say, yeah, it really did yield a harvest of righteousness for us.

And so, too, the people in captivity, they're lamenting, and I suppose some of them are feeling, you know, "Hey, where is God in this? Where is God in all this situation? Is He with us? Is He for us? Is He cuz against us?" And we've had times in our lives, haven't we, where we've maybe felt, "Where is God in my life right now? Is He with me? Is He against me? Is He for me? Or has He just left the area?" And we lament our fate.

But usually, in our lamenting, we're usually blaming somebody else or God. Cuz that's what sinners do. We never take responsibility for our own sin. We blame it on somebody else. Or something God gave us. Like Adam and Eve did.

What the author of this book of Lamentations, he wants his people who are lamenting their fate, who think Gods against them, because after all He is afflicting us, isn't He? And he says, yeah, but God doesn't willingly afflict. My mom didn't want to take me downstairs to the spoon drawer. I drove her to that spoon drawer. My parents didn't want to have to give us a Spock hold, or we called it a horse bite, but I don't know what they call it now. But we drove them to it because of our disobedience. God didn't want to carry His people off or have them carried off in captivity to discipline them but they drove Him it. They wouldn't turn. They wouldn't they wouldn't acknowledge their sin. And sometimes, yeah, maybe we have to be afflicted by God in order to realize that, hey, He just wants to get our attention. But in the midst of it, He still loves us. He still cares for us. He still extends His mercy to us. And it's in the midst of this hard time that the writer reminds the people about God's faithfulness and His steadfast love. It hasn't diminished. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. It hasn't ceased. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.

Put another way, if asked how they're doing, someone might respond to me: "Well, Pastor, both feet hit the floor. I'm standing upright. Taking nourishment, and my lungs are filling and expanding with air. So I'm doing really well this morning." What have they done? In a very long, drawn-out way, they've said God's mercies are new every morning. They just kind of highlighted the physical, physical blessings. First article of the Creed: I believe in God, the Father, maker of heaven and earth. And Luther says, in that, God gives us everything: this beautiful universe we live in. I marvel at scientist who can come up with rockets to send things into space. I'm not expecting them to find God there. And I'm hoping - and I know there are some that look at that data and they say, wow, what a marvelous, awesome God we have. We still haven't touched what there is to know of His awesomeness. But then, food, clothing, shelter. We may not like the food. We may have an issue with anchovies, or brussel, sprouts, or asparagus, but some people like those So I give thanks for them. Jobs. Vocations. Callings. Doctors and nurses and medical researchers. Teachers. A spouse and children. That's all part of what God gives us to sustain this life. And does He give it to us because we're so well behaved? And we're so faithful and true? No! We're sinners. But yet He still provides that. And not only to us here, not only those who believe in the Lord, Jesus Christ, but to everybody, even the unbeliever. God provides those blessings, but He wants to give them more. He wants them to have the second article blessings that we enjoy as believers in Jesus Christ. Those same blessings that became Ryan's this morning as he was baptised. Joined to Christ's death and resurrection. No need to fear death, Ryan. Guess what? You won't remember this. While you were screaming and fussing up here, your old self died. Someday, when the length of your days comes to an end, and God's ready to take you out of this time and space, guess what? They'll be like that little girl in the Gospel. It'll be like sleeping. Because you've already died, and you've already risen in Christ. And all that happened in those few moments up here. As it did for all of us. No fear of death. But also, knowing that our sins are forgiven. And guess what? The good news is you don't have to wait until next Sunday for me to forgive you your sins.

Now, that isn't a reason not to come next Sunday. But daily, every moment, God is forgiving our sin as we acknowledge our sin and confess it. He's there to forgive us. It's always going on. That's a wonderful peace for us, isn't it? And then, that hope of eternal life with Him and His Father and the Holy Spirit. And all those who believe that are with Him now and will be with Him on that last day. God wants everybody to have those blessings too, but they come only to those who believe.

And to that end, God sends out His Holy Spirit who calls us by the Gospel. Yes, the Holy Spirit, by the Gospel, called Ryan to come to the font this morning. Only He didn't work through Ryan, He worked through Mom and Dad. To bring their son to the font to be baptised, to be made part of God's family, to share in all those blessings. And that same Holy Spirit has gathered us here together today to be strengthened in our faith. Why does God t giv us all that? Because we're so well-behaved? Because we're so faithful? Because we're so deserving? No. Not because of any of those reasons. In reality, we shouldn't have any of those blessings.

But Luther explains, it's not out of any goodness, worthiness or merrit in myself that God bestows these gifts on me, but it's purely out of His fatherly divine goodness and mercy that He provides these things. It's His character. It's His very being to be generous and merciful. The author of Lamentations 3, he understood that, and he's wanting his fellow believers, fellow people of God to understand that even though things look dark, God is still very much for you. And He's still extending His mercy to you, even in the midst of discipline. Sometimes as my brother and I were in the corners opposite of one another, we'd get tired of looking at that corner. I mean, there's not much to look at in the corner. So, you'd want to turn around and look at each other to make faces, or I don't know what. Probably point fingers. That's your fault we're in the corner. No, it's yours. Anyway, Mother's in the kitchen. Mothers have this sense.

They know what's going on even if they're not in the room. My mother knew when we were turned around and said, "Turn around and get back facing the corner." And we're like how did she know that? She's in the kitchen. She's in the kitchen fixing Sunday, dinner. And when it was ready, she called us to the table to eat. She didn't say, "hey, you guys got to stay in the corner while Dad and I eat Sunday, dinner." No. We got invited. Our time of discipline had come to an end. Did you understand why you were in the corner? And did you learn anything from it? Cuz discipline's learning something. Otherwise it's punishment. Yes. We understand what we did, and we won't do it again. To make sure, we had to verbalize what it was we did. We shouldn't have laughed at Mr. and Mrs. Lobenstein sitting in front of us in church this morning.

Okay. Are you going to do it again? No. So every time we have the temptation to laugh at Mr. and Mrs. Lobenstein sitting in front of us, we remembered the corner, and we didn't do it. But God's mercies come to us. That's how good and faithful God is. And He demonstrates that in sending His Son into the world to be our Savior.

Who is the most faithful person you know? Don't answer. You just think about that. The most faithful person you know in this world. I don't want to shock you. But even though I don't know who you're thinking about, I bet they're not so faithful. I bet they have moments of unfaithfulness in their life. Because, if they're a human being, they're a sinner. And they won't be faithful no matter how hard they try, cuz sin will always get in the way. But Jesus Christ is perfectly faithful in your stead and my stead. That's in your place and in my place. His Father is faithful in keeping His promises. He promised the people carried off that you'll come back. Sure enough, some of them come back after the prescribed length of time for their discipline. He said He'd send a Savior to save fallen humanity from sin and the devil and death. And in the fullness of time, He sends His son. So, God gives us all of these things without our asking for it.

We repeat that same idea in the Lord's Prayer, whe we say, "Give us this day, our daily bread." And Luther says, God indeed gives us our daily bread without asking for it. Now, how many of you asked for your breakfast this morning?

You may have turned to your spouse and said, "Can you get me my breakfast?" They maybe gave you a kind of a look. Doesn't matter who it was - husband or wife. We can each give that look when we don't want to do it. And you won't ask for your lunch. Or your supper. You might suggest "how about going out." And I suppose maybe Ryan asked for his meal, but he usually probably cries and screams but the time will come when that'll stop, and he won't be asking. We don't ask for our food, do we? God gives it to us.

But, Luther says, we pray in this petition, that we might receive it with thanksgiving. Receive it with thanksgiving. Great is the Lord's faithfulness. His steadfast love never comes to an end. His mercies are new every morning. Yes, they are. And so we you pray: Yes, Lord, help us to receive these blessings, Your mercies with thanksgiving. One man had a saying, A gift is truly not received until it has been properly thanked for.

The gifts we receive from God have not been properly received until we give thanks for them. One family in the midst of hardship, was feeling, I guess, a little bit like lamenting. And they were getting downright surly toward God. And fortunately, they realized, hey, this isn't the way God wants us to be. He doesn't want us surly toward Him. Surely, He's still providing mercies and blessings every day, even in the midst of this hard trial for us, And so they decided, let's go get one of those clear plastic tablecloths, they set it out on the dining room table, some Sharpie markers, and every night at supper, each one of the family members had to write something that God had blessed them with in the day. And every day, they had to do that. They could not duplicate. So if brother put something down, sister couldn't duplicate either that day or any day. They always had to come up with something new. Well, after about a month or so, they had that whole tablecloths so full, you couldn't find a place to write. And so they thought, Mom and Dad thought well, maybe I guess the point's gotten across. The kids said no. Let's get another sheet of plastic. So they tape that one up on the wall, they could look at that stuff, and they continued till about Thanksgiving time. By that time, they had thousands of things that they were thankful for that they realized, even in the midst of hardship God was still blessing them. Maybe sometimes we mean to do that on a smaller scale, but like, spoken.

God's mercies are new every morning. His steadfast love never fails. Never ceases. Never comes to an end. Great is His faithfulness toward us. Not because we deserve it. Not because we're so well-behaved and faithful to Him. But purely out of His divine, fatherly goodness and mercy. So, let us receive that mercy and gifts with thanksgiving. And let us also take to heart the words of Saint Paul in our epistle reading, when he's talking about the churches in Macedonia. They gave themselves first to the Lord, and then to the tasks at hand.

To be truly thankful for all the blessings and mercies God gives to us, do we not also need to first entrust ourselves to the Lord? Give ourselves over to Him first. And trust that He will provide what is needful for us. That we may receive it with thanksgiving, but also glory to Him, that others might know that, no they haven't gotten those things by their own doing. But as gifts from God. The greatest gift that He wants to give them. His faith in His Son, their Savior, who became poor so that we might become rich. Not in things, but in Salvation. Amen.

Now may the grace of God, which surpasses our understanding, keep our hearts and our minds in faith in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.