Trinity 13
Grace, mercy and peace are yours from God, our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ,
The Introit appointed for this Sunday is from Psalm 74 and
contained these words from verse 21: “let the
poor and needy praise your name.” This is our text.
We pray this because we are poor and need, and are at the
mercy of God to help us
Pray
To believe
To think
clearly.
You are poor and needy because of your sins, your fears, and
your doubts. The mercy of God for our sins is His forgiveness because of Jesus
Christ. The mercy of God for our fears of the future and your doubts that He is
in control is that He inspires you to believe and trust Him.
So we pray, “Let the poor and needy praise your name.” In
the Matins service we pray the Te Deum which starts out this way, “We
praise You, O God; we acknowledge You to be the Lord.” A big component of
Praise is to Acknowledge: to acknowledge that God is in control, that He is
loving to forgive our doubts and relieve our fears.
Praise. It’s what God’s people do. In fact, it’s what all
creatures do. Jesus tells how the birds of the air praise the Lord, by showing
that they don’t have to worry about their lives, the Lord provides for them.
And the lilies of the field praise the Lord -- they don’t have to worry what
they will wear; the heavenly Father adorns them with an appearance greater than
King Solomon’s splendor. Also, all creatures (all created beings) in heaven
praise. The angels and believers who have gone before us into heaven live an
eternal life of praise.
I’d like all Christians to find encouragement and hope, even
in the midst of horrible times, in Songs of Praise. The songs of the Church
have a content for our praise. They give a reason for our praise. And that
reason is Jesus Christ -- who He is and
what He’s done.
The Te Deum is a Creed-like, sung praise. In it we sing to
Jesus, “When You took upon Yourself to deliver man, You humbled Yourself to be
born of a virgin. When You had overcome the sharpness of death, You opened the
kingdom of heaven to all believers.”
Dear friends, you have reason to Praise God: in good days and bad days; In times of
confidence and in times of doubts; in moments of suffering, as well as, moments
of joy.
When we praise the Lord we are participating in the eternal
life of praise in heaven. The Te Deum acknowledges this, mentioning the praise
of the angels and the seraphim and cherubim (heavenly beings described in the
Bible). The words of the Te Deum remind us while we praise the Lord, those in
heaven are at this same moment, praising the Lord, it mentions the apostles and
the prophets and also, “The noble army of martyrs praise You.”
The martyrs are those who were killed, murdered, because
they believe in Jesus. Stephen was the first Christian martyr (Acts 7). He kept
talking about Jesus Christ and truth. They couldn’t shut him up, so they killed
him. Those first years of the Christian Church, there were so many talking
about Jesus, they couldn’t shut them up, until they burned them to death or put
a sword through their necks.
So it went through the ages. Some centuries there were few
martyrs. Some centuries there were many. Ups and downs. Then even last
Wednesday Charlie Kirk, a Christian, was murdered by evil.
If he’d just stopped talking, if he’d just stopped believing
in Jesus and the principles Jesus led him to believe. . . But he didn’t, he
wouldn’t, he couldn’t.
I’ve been praying the Holy Spirit of God will use this event
for His purposes in many lives: in your
lives, you who have been hearing about this, and all over the world, the people
are thinking about this, this Sunday morning.
That through this horrible thing, you would see clearly, two
things:
1.
The reality – the evil world won’t take kindly
to Christ. You see that at the cross where they killed the innocent Savior. And
the evil world won’t take kindly to you, who believe in Jesus Christ,
crucified, especially if you insist that there’s no other hope, no other life,
no other name by which we may be saved (Acts 4:12).
2.
Remember your confirmation vows.
P Do
you intend to live according to the Word of God, and in faith, word, and deed
to remain true to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even to death?
R I
do, by the grace of God.
P Do
you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer
all, even death, rather than fall away from it?
R I
do, by the grace of God.
We can talk this way with each other, we can
say this things solemnly because we believe and confess that some things are
worse than dying: falling away from
faith; apathy; false belief that leads to hell.
You have been redeemed, baptized, brought into this eternal
life that swallows up death.
Dear God, let the poor and needy praise your name.
We can praise the Lord even in the most difficult
situations.
In Acts 16, Paul and Silas were in prison, waiting for what
would come next, would they be killed for their faith? Their destiny was
uncertain. The jailer comes to check on them and they are singing hymns.
If you have witnessed evil this past week, if you have seen
evil rejoicing over the gruesome death of a Christian, praise the Lord. Live a
life of Praise – as long as the Lord gives you life. Live a life of praise with
your voice, and with your actions, what you do. Jesus tells a of a man who is
robbed, beaten and left for dead. Will anyone care about this poor guy? We who
live lives of praise do care for our neighbor.
Live a life of praise by what you don’t do, what you say
“no” to – “No, I can’t do that and still praise the Lord.”
Learn the hymns of the church and use them. Learn the
prayers of the church and pray them. Use the hymns and liturgy throughout the
week to praise the Lord.
Use the reports of evil as a warning.
Use the noble examples of martyrs as encouragement.
Paul’s example in prison of singing hymns is followed up by
his example in words in Philippians 4:8 “brothers, whatever is true, whatever
is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever
is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of
praise, think about these things.”
Many of you have taken too much time with media, mass media
– the news, and social media – the addiction. Please remember to take time to
think about what’s true, pure, noble, worthy of praise. Take time to sing your
praise to the Lord.
I wish we’d sing more. Like in the days of Little House on
the Prairie. Pa would take out his fiddle and play and the children would sing along.
But I know that time has passed. We live in an individualized time when
everyone has their own professionally produced music available electronically
and no one has to make their own music. So I have provided for you on the
church’s blog, playlists of hymns and liturgical songs.
We now rise to sing the
TE DEUM LSB 223
We praise You, O God; we acknowledge You to be the Lord.
All the earth now worships You, the Father everlasting.
To You all angels cry aloud, the heavens and all the pow’rs
therein.
To You cherubim and seraphim continually do cry:
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth;
heaven and earth are full of the majesty of Your glory.
The glorious company of the apostles praise You.
The goodly fellowship of the prophets praise You.
The noble army of martyrs praise You.
The holy Church throughout all the world does acknowledge
You:
The Father of an infinite majesty; Your adorable, true, and
only Son;
also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.
You are the king of glory, O Christ;
You are the everlasting Son of the Father.
When You took upon Yourself to deliver man,
You humbled Yourself to be born of a virgin.
When You had overcome the sharpness of death,
You opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
You sit at the right hand of God
in the glory of the Father.
We believe that You will come
to be our judge.
We therefore pray You to help Your servants,
whom You have redeemed with Your precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with Your saints
in glory everlasting.
O Lord, save Your people and bless Your heritage.
Govern them and lift them up forever.
Day by day we magnify You.
And we worship Your name forever and ever.
Grant, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let Your mercy be upon us, as our trust is in You.
O Lord, in You have I trusted; let me never be confounded.
