In Jesus Holy Name May 19, 2019
Text: Ordination Redeemer
“God Has A Story”
“Once upon a time…..In a galaxy far away…” all great stories start this way. In the movie “The Last of the Mohicans” the music pulls you into the scene before a word is spoken. Mountain and forest. Beauty. Mystery. You see three men running. Leaping across ravines. You know they are on a mission.” The beauty, the music, draws you in and leaves you craving for the meaning of the rest of the story.
Why does every great story have a rescue? Notice all the great stories pretty much follow the same story line. Someone is in distress. Someone needs to be rescued. Sometimes the hero dies.
God has a story. Adam and Eve. God has a mission. Noah. The Exodus.
Gideon. A shepherd boy name David. Rescuing the human heart is God’s mission. He has invited you to help. This day, your ordination day, is like that giant red star on the map in the Mall of America. “You are here!” You are invited to step into the next chapter.
God has a story. You have been invited to be part of His Story. Life is a story. Life doesn’t come to us like a math problem. It comes to us the way a story does, scene by scene. You wake up. The sun might be shining. It might be raining. What will happen next. Most of life is fairly routine when you begin your day. There is a journey.
Life unfolds like a drama. Each day as a beginning and an end. There are all sorts of characters, all sorts of settings. A year goes by like a chapter. Henry Blackaby in his book “Experiencing God” wrote: Intuitively we know that God is always active in human history. Sometimes we only realize it when we stop and look back over our shoulder.
Bring two people together and they will be telling stories. I read your bios. It sheds light on your lives. Giving us a little insight into God’s activity in your life. ____________, you email handle is “bookworm” tells a lot about who you are. At one time, you thought all those books on theology, in a library larger than mine, was just for your personal interest. Now you know why. God put a hunger in your heart for knowledge and spiritual truth. God has a mission. You are to tell His truth to others. God has a story and you are in it.
__________. How those childhood dreams have come true. “When I grow up I think I want to be a pastor or a musician.” Like “the last Mohican” your music set your heart on fire to love God. God used your training as a worship leader to help you overcome any fear of praying or speaking in a leadership position. Yes, there was that accidental visit to Redeemer, not to see the church but to visit a friend. It was then that God touched your heart with clarity and grace. You have the heart of a caring shepherd…. What did Jesus say to Peter? “Feed my sheep.” God has a story and you are in it.
_____________ I am so pleased that you and your congregation can join us today for your ordination. You have been serving Mt. Olive Lutheran church for just over 10 years. You are even serving a small congregation in Porterville that needs a shepherd. Your heart has always been involved in saving people’s lives, whether through the Ambulance service or volunteer fireman. God has taken your heart preparing you for this day. God has a mission and heart for people in Lindsey and Portville. God has a story and you are in it.
This is the story in which you have found yourself. Seminary classes finished. Lutheran Church Missouri Synod interviews complete. They have stamped “approval” on your “Ordination” certificates. Today another chapter unfolds. The world has lost its story.
Science has tried to answer the question: “How did it all begin?” but their answers change and the heart is left unsatisfied. There is a story that is written in every human heart…. God has planted the desire for eternity in every human heart. (Ecclesiastes 3:11) But most people are looking in the wrong place.
Jesus himself said, “For my Father’s will is that every one who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. “Jesus is the true Bread of Life that satisfies a hungry soul.”
The Apostle, Paul, writes in Romans: “No one will be declared righteous in (God’s) sight by observing the law, rather through law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God …… comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” “All have fallen short … and are justified freely by grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ who God presented as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood” … shed on the cross.
God has a story to tell. He is on a mission tell the world about His birth in Bethlehem. God, the Author of life, has told us that there is a Villain in the story who wants to hold people in the grip of the fear of death. (Hebrews 2:14) God wants people to live the abundant life.
Once upon a time…. In a galaxy far away….. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…… and the 2nd time this phrase is used: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ….
Every story has a villain. The Big Bad Wolf. Darth Vader. Longshanks and Maximus. Every story has a villain because ours does. There is evil around us. The Holocaust, genocidal governments. churches destroyed, Christians killed. Each Sunday we pray “Lord, deliver us from the evil one.” In the palace of heaven, Lucifer turned on his Creator. Evil came lurking in the perfect garden. Paradise was lost.
Now the Creator must rescue his most prized possession. Men and women created in His image. You and me. He did. The Lion of Judah became the Passover Lamb sacrificing Himself on a cross. The sun refused to shine. The Temple curtain was torn from top to bottom so that every human being could know God’s love. Forgiveness granted for all of our broken commandments. Cleansed, pure, white as new fallen snow….by the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus.
The coming of Jesus of Nazareth was far more like the opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan. A dangerous mission. A great invasion. A daring raid into enemy territory, to save the free world and to save one man. Didn’t Jesus tell the story of “good shepherd” who will seek the one lost sheep? Leaving the 99 on the hills to go to look for the one lost. It is a story about the heart of God.
On this day, your ordination day, God has called you to tell his story of love and forgiveness. It is a love story. Use His words to comfort the hurting soul. Use His words to forgive others who seek hope beyond this earthly journey. Use His promise to set hearts free from the fear of death and eternal judgment. You are part of His mission. Can you see it now?
“Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, in the early dawn morning light, the women skirted Jerusalem on the northern side. Their steps were brisk. All the tombs were in the shadows. Suddenly, a pillar of white light, bright as a blade, shot down from heaven and stood on the stone of Joseph’s tomb. The angel said: “don’t be afraid. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He is not here. Come see the place where they laid him. Run. Tell the disciples that he has risen from the dead just as He had promised.”
Now, go tell His story. God has been preparing you. It has been my privilege to be a small part of your story.
May you play your part well.
