Sermon 3-9-08

Old Testament – Deuteronomy 11:18-21 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.

Epistle – II Timothy 3:14-16 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

Gospel – Mark 10:13-16 People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.

Sermon –

Today is Lutheran School Sunday and we have to ask a question. You parents have probably ask this question from time to time and at Trinity Lutheran Church we have also ask it from time to time. Our question is: is our school out on Maple Avenue worth it?” For the parents - there’s the big chunk of your income that goes to tuition – is it worth it? And since Trinity is a private school we can’t offer all the services a child may need – is it worth it? For the members of Trinity Lutheran Church – is having the school worth it? Each year, after the income from tuition, there is on the average an $180,000 deficit that the Church members have to pay to keep the school running. That’s a lot of money for a church with an attendance of about 200-300 people. Is it worth it?

We know what God says about Christian education from Deuteronomy Chapter 11, “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” In other words, have God’s Word before your kids all the time. That’s why at Trinity Christian School we have Bible verses posted all over the walls. God wants His Word to go out, not only to the kids but also to adults, because He works through His Word. The Holy Spirit accompanies God Word; that’s what makes the Bible different from any other book. God Himself, the Holy Spirit, works through His Word, accompanies those words and touches your life. The Bible says “God’s Word is living and active” (Hebrews 4:12) and in Matthew 4:4 Jesus said “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” We need to feed our physical body and we need to feed our spirit and soul with God’s Word. “Every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” is in the Bible. The Bible looks like any other printed word but don’t let the world deceive you, the Bible is not like any other printed word; it’s living and active and accomplishes what God desires in your life. The sky’s the limit when it comes to what God is able to do in your life but He works through His Word.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could see an example of how the Word works in the lives of kids; if we could actually experience something so we could say, “Yes, God’s word is living and active, it is working!” If it’s been a while since you have been to the school, come out and walk through the halls. You’ll see that there are no locks on the lockers; they’re all here in this wastebasket. This proves that God’s Word is living and active; that God’s Word actually does something when it comes into a person’s life. At the school we’ve had those nice blue lockers for five years or so and guess what, there are no locks on them! When my son went to the school he always used to tell me, “Dad, I can’t believe it – we have no locks on the lockers.” He had friends who went to other schools and they all had locks on their lockers. In this election year, how many promises have you heard about cleaning up crime? But cleaning up crime is an impossibility unless you have the Bible. We have had no calls from Fox, CNN, NBC, or ABC saying, “Wow! What an example of how crime can be cleaned up; there are no locks on the lockers at Trinity! That’s what God’s Word can do!” No calls, not even one! That’s not to say that the staff and kids are perfect, we’re not, we’re sinners who need the forgiveness of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. But Trinity is different, what a great example God has given us.

And just think about what God can do in other areas of your life. Here at Trinity we have a number of teachers who also teach in the public school system. This is a ministry unto itself; we pray for them all the time. Sometimes the teachers mention to me how frustrating it is dealing with the kids and their families and the problems those kids have in their lives. The teachers know that the solution is in God’s Word but by law they cannot bring that solution into the lives of the kids. Thank You, God, that in this country we can still bring Your solution to our kids at Trinity Christian School.

There are no uncertainties with God’s Word. Uncertainties become a thing of the past because you know the Truth. You know the truth about God’s love. Sometimes we want to say “Where is God’s love? I don’t see it!” You don’t see it until you confess your sins, you don’t see it until God humbles you and you go to God and say “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinful human being.” Then you begin to see God’s love, you begin to see how God came to us in Jesus Christ and how He took our sins upon Himself and paid for them through a gruesome death on the Cross. We know He paid for them because He rose from the dead three days later on Easter Sunday. That’s God’s love. So if you’re ever wondering about God’s love in this world where everything seems to go wrong, it’s right there in the Cross. And Romans 8:32 says, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all - how will he not also along with him, graciously give us all things?” Wow, what a promise! That’s what God is willing to do. That’s what God is able to do.

In Bible Class this morning we talked about why God delays in answering prayers, why God sometimes say “No”, and why God lets bad things happen to good people. The answers are right here in the Bible. Uncertainty disappears; it’s a thing of the past. You can take the uncertainty in your life and dump it right in the wastebasket along with those locks. That’s what God’s Word can do for you.

Fear, worry, doubt. Listen to those words of Romans 8:32 again, “God did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all - how will he not also along with him, graciously give us all things?” The fear, doubt, and worry need not be there. That’s the kind of God you have, a God that sacrificed His Son for you. And there are hundreds of other topics that God’s Word addresses in our lives, always giving us help, always giving us hope, always giving us strength, always giving us peace. We never ever run out of things to talk about regarding the way that God’s word speaks to our lives. God does incredible things because His Word is living, alive, and active.

Think ahead in life to when your kids get older, think about when they enter the business world, and they’re in it every day. What an advantage they will have because they have a working knowledge of God, a working knowledge of prayer, a working knowledge of understanding how God works, even in the suffering and difficulties of life, and a knowledge of how God works through events in life to do incredible things. They will know that’s the kind of God we have. That’s what will happen when God’s Word comes into your kid’s lives.

Getting back to our original question, we have a decision to make because it’s registration time again. Is it worth it? If you decide that it’s not worth it for next year, that’s ok, you’re the parent and it’s your decision. But before you leave today you may want to stop up here and pull out some of these locks and take them home with you. You’re going to need them.

Prayer-

Great God Heavenly Father, we come to You this morning and we thank You for Your Word that guides and directs us, Your Word that touches the lives of the young people, Your Word that helps them deal with everyday events, Your Word that makes it possible not to have locks on our lockers, Your Word that helps us deal with life and all its difficulties and problems.

We thank You that the laws are such that we can still bring Your Word into the lives of our young people at Trinity Christian School. Heavenly Father, we ask that You would protect and preserve that right.

We thank You for the families at Trinity Christian School and that Your Word has touched their lives. We thank You for this congregation that supports the school so that repentance and forgiveness of sins can go out into the Keene community. Heavenly Father, we ask Your continued blessing on Trinity Christian School, on the families, the students, and the staff. And we pray all this in Jesus’ Name, Amen!

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