Zion Lutheran Sioux Falls

To live for earthly things “is vanity and a striving after wind,” and work that is driven by such vanity “is an unhappy business” (Ecclesiastes 1:13–14). The man who lives like that has nothing to show for “all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun … all his days are full of sorrow” (Ecclesiastes 2:22–23). So, too, your “covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5), makes a god out of that which cannot give you life or happiness. For “one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). But “Christ who is your life” (Colossians 3:4), in giving you Himself, gives you all the wealth of heaven. Instead of striving to lay up treasures for yourself, be “rich toward God” in Him (Luke 12:21).

This week it’s all about listening … to God’s word … and to living it out in compassion, integrity, and mercy … which requires listening to others. This can be harder than it sounds with all the noise that bombards us each day. That’s why the discipline of worship is so important. It gives us the time and the space to learn the practice of listening well.  As we listen to God’s message and implement God’s saving reconciling word through simple acts of mercy, compassion and a commitment to truth and integrity, that we find ourselves living out the reality of God’s reign in our lives and our world. May your listening abilities be enhanced by your worship this week.

The text for our message is from the epistle reading, Colossians 1:  “We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Daily we hold fast to the wonderful news that the battle has been fought, and the price has been paid by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that we may have freedom from sin, eternal death, and the devil. Today we hear the Spirit-inspired words of the apostle Paul from Galatians and learn more about what real freedom is, guidance for lives lived in that freedom, and the fruit freely given to us through the Holy Spirit.

When the prophet Elijah became discouraged and despaired of his life, “the word of the LORD came to him” (1 Kings 19:9b) and stood him “on the mount before the LORD” (1 Kings 19:11). The Lord made Himself known to the prophet — not in the impressive power of gale force winds, or in an earthquake, or in the fire, but in “the sound of a low whisper” (1 Kings 19:12). Today God reveals Himself to us through the frail preaching of the Gospel. The Son of Man sends “messengers ahead of Him ... to make preparations for Him” (Luke 9:52). Putting their hand to that plow of preaching, they “go and proclaim the kingdom of God,” and they do not look back (Luke 9:60, 62). What they preach is not the power of the Law with its “yoke of slavery,” but the power of God unto salvation through the Gospel of forgiveness, by which “Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1).