The Bethany Bullet Sermon Message - Week of January 27, 2019

Sermon: “Our Real, Present, God is a Keeper”

Read: Psalm 121

Psalm 46 begins, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”  These words from Scripture have given comfort and hope to countless generations since they were first penned centuries ago. 

The words of Psalm 46 form the basis for the theme of National Lutheran Schools Week that begins today and will be celebrated in nearly 2,000 Lutheran early childhood centers, elementary schools and high schools across the country. 

With an enrollment of over 200,000 Lutheran schools students across the country will encounter a Real, Present God in the days ahead, and hopefully the rest of their lives.   

With the psalmists, we celebrate the only true God who is real in the person and work of Christ and who, through the Means of Grace, is present with His people. These truths are what all Lutheran Schools strive to impart on each and every student. 

Of course this day we not only remember and celebrate with those who are currently enrolled in Lutheran education, but also those who have graduated or spent time learning in an environment where this Real, Present, God is made known.

It was many years ago, but remember with great fondness my time at St. Paul’s Lutheran school in Garden Grove, CA.  It was within the walls of that school I first heard the call to serve the Lord. 

Today we also lift up all the others who have heard the call of God to serve in Lutheran schools, here at Bethany, and across the country and we give thanks for our teachers and staff who give of themselves daily with children from 2 years old through 8^th grade. 

While Psalm 46 provides the immediate context for the theme of Real, Present, God, the entirety of the book of Psalms describes and gives praise to this Real, Present, God. 

This morning I would like to turn your attention to Psalm 121, the text of which is printed for you in the worship folder.

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in
    from this time forth and forevermore. (Psalm 121)

What an amazing description of our Real, Present, God!

Notice the underlined words in bold.  There is something that brings comfort knowing that the Lord is my keeper. 

Often times when we talk about something being a keeper, we have many different ideas.

It could be a position on the soccer pitch whose job it is to keep the ball from going into the goal.

If you were to go fishing and reel in the catch of a lifetime, you would call that a keeper.  You are not throwing that one back be it for display on the mantle or to dine at your table, it’s a keeper. 

One might say the same for a good boyfriend or girlfriend.  When you find a good one, they are a keeper, you don’t want to let that one go!

When I was in school I remember the cool folder to get was something called a “Trapper Keeper.”  All the cool kids had Trapper folders and the coveted Trapper Keeper binder.  What made these folders far superior to the boring Pee-Chee folder was that the Trapper folder would not spill its contents easily. All the papers were kept safe.  And inside the binder, all the folders were closed in with an uber safe Velcro closure. 

If you know what I’m talking about you know how cool the Trapper Keeper was.   You can still buy them from the Mead Company; so if you are in the market for a new binder, check them out. 

If history is more your thing, perhaps you are familiar with the area in a castle known as the keep.  It is a type of fortified tower built within castles and usually refers to large towers in castle that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the castle fall to an adversary. 

In this Psalm, the Lord is described as “your keeper.” 

In good Lutheran fashion, let’s ask, “What does this mean?”

First of all we see that God is a keeper of people, meaning He thinks highly enough of you to keep you.  He doesn't toss you aside or think you are not worthy.  We have a God who cares deeply about each and every life that He was willing to exchange His Son for us…but I am getting ahead of myself.

When the Psalmist describes the Lord as a keeper, it means that He keeps us safe.  Like a folder that keeps papers in order, our Lord keeps us safe and secure and binds us together with one another in the church. 

He does this by being present with us in Water and Word, Wafer and Wine, and in the Witness of one another.

God is also our keeper as He is our “refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble” as Psalm 46 says.  Just as the keep in the castle is the last refuge in attack, our Lord is our refuge from daily the attacks of the devil. But this idea of the Lord as our keeper is so much more than this. 

The fact is we are not good keepers. You don’t have to think too hard to know that try as you might; you still fall short of doing what God desires of you.  You might try and keep His law, but sooner or later you will mess up.  Scripture is clear, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." (James 2:10)

And from our second lesson on Sunday, from the book of Romans, “It is impossible to do what God’s standards demand because of the weakness our human nature has.”  (Romans 8:3a)

You are not a good keeper.  In fact, most of what we keep separates us from our keeper.

But because God sees you as a keeper He sent one who could keep the law.  Paul continues in Romans 8, “But God sent His Son to have a human nature as sinners have and to pay for sin.  That way God condemned sin in our corrupt nature.  Therefore, we, who do not live by our corrupt nature but by our spiritual nature, are able to meet God’s standards in Moses’ Teachings.”  (Romans 8:3b-4)

Don’t believe Paul?  Listen to the words of our Lord from the Gospel reading today, “I can guarantee that unless you live a life that has God’s approval and do it more faithfully than the experts in Moses’ Teachings and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  (Matthew 5:20)

But Jesus was not going to leave us alone, wallowing in sin.  His love is deep for His creation and He came to keep the law for us.  Listen again, “Don’t ever think I came to set aside Moses’ Teachings or the Prophets.  I didn't come to set them aside, but to make them come true.”  (Matthew 5:17 GW)

Or as the ESV renders this verse, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”  (Matthew 5:17 ESV)  Jesus was a keeper of the Law, but that’s not all.

Jesus is also a keeper of sins.  When He followed the will and plan of the Father, he willingly took upon himself your sin and mine, all those things you cannot keep, he kept, and then he took your punishment. 

Jesus is a keeper of sins, and by his death he separates your sin from you as far as east is from west so that he might keep you forever.  For that was the goal. 

You are a keeper in God’s eyes. Each and every life is precious to God, toddler, teen or retiree; fetus, factory worker or fashionista; prenatal, parental or professional, student, staff or supporter.

The Lord is your keeper!

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in
    from this time forth and forevermore. (Psalm 121)

Pr. Seth Moorman