SERMON NOTES

         The Fourth Sunday in Lent

              March 17, 1996

                John 6:1-15

 

"Nothing in the world so effectively hinders faith as mammon, or riches, on the one hand and poverty on the other.  He who is rich and has something simply ignores God's Word and treads it underfoot.  So the Gospel speaks of those who are invited to the great supper but 'cannot' attend because of their acre, oxen, wife, etc. (Luke 14)  He who is poor does everything that pleases the devil and the world in order to stave off poverty."

     What Luther Says, ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis:  Concordia Publishing House, 1959, I,  p. 435. John 6:1‑15; Luke 14.           

 

"How does it happen that although all of us are certainly Christians, or at least want to be such, we do not take this attitude of unconcern and neither comfort ourselves with abundance and surpolus nor are frightened by want and by worrying about it?  For if we faithfully and devotedly cling to God's Word, there shall be no want.  Christ takes care of us, and from this it must follow

that we shall have something to eat."

     What Luther Says, I,  p. 436.

 

                 Children  

"Children are the most delightful pledges of a loving marriage.  They are the best wool on the sheep."

     What Luther Says, I,  p. 137. 

 

"We should deal with children in such a way that they do not fear their parents, but that they know that they are offending God if they do not fear their parents."

     What Luther Says, I, p. 142.

 

"Chastize them when they deserve it, but accompany the correction with affectionate words so that they do not become dis-heartened and expect nothing good from you.  It is very bad if a son loves someone else more than his father. The father should give some sort of proof that there is no in-tention entirely to crush the child.  The Law alone serves no good purpose; in fact, it is intolerable."

     What Luther Says, I,  p. 142. 1533, Ephesians 6:4.         

 

            The Small Catechism

P:  Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.  What does this mean?

C:  We should fear and love God that we may not estrange, force, or entice away from our neighbor his wife, servants, or cattle, but urge them to stay and do their duty. 

P:  What does God say of all these commandments?

C:  He says thus:  I, the Lord, thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments.