Taking Care to Walk in the Way of the Lord
Fourth Sunday in Easter
Judges 2:10–23
10 And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.
11 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. 13 They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. 14 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies.15 Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.
16 Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. 18 Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. 19 But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. 20 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice, 21 I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, 22 in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.” 23 So the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, we thank for sending your only begotten Son to be our Savior. By his perfect life and holy death, he has given us the hope of eternal life. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we ask that you would lead us to repent our sins and put our trust in Christ alone. Teach us to take care to walk in the way of the Lord all our days, so that we might live with you forever. Amen!
Grace, mercy, and peace to you all,
I remember hearing a story about a church in southwestern Minnesota that had a terrible problem—bats! They had bats in the attic and at times they would even fly into the sanctuary terrorizing the members. They were quite a distraction! So, the church did everything they could to get rid of these bats, closing every possible opening, setting out buckets of water to catch them, and even using sound machines to drive the bats away. But nothing worked. They were beginning to lose hope and were at a loss for what to do. But then they got a new pastor. He was not aware of this problem when he received his call, he had no idea what he was getting into, but he was determined to solve this problem. To all the members surprise and amazement when they came to church the next Sunday, they were relieved to find out that they didn’t have any more bats in the church. In amazement, they asked the pastor— “What did you do?” He said, “It was simple, I just confirmed them.”
Of course, this is a joke. And usually with jokes we say it’s funny because it’s true. The bats left and never returned because he confirmed them. This joke would be more humorous if it wasn’t so sadly true. It’s a sad reality that all too often many of those who are confirmed in the church, shortly thereafter leave the church and rarely come back, except for occasions like Christmas and Easter, or to attend a funeral. Many confirmands confess their Christian faith before God on confirmation Sunday and then go on to do very little to keep that faith alive within them and instead conform to the pattern of this world which constantly pressures them, rather than being transformed by the renewal of their minds which can only happen through God’s Word and Sacrament (Romans 12:2).
As your Pastor, I have tried my best to prepare you and encourage you in the Christian faith, to cherish Christ as holy and his Word as precious, to see his life, death, and resurrection as yours, and his heaven as your future through faith in him. Through your study of the Small Catechism, you have learned the precious treasure that our Lord Jesus gives you through his Word and Sacrament—forgiveness of sins. And as you have learned and spoken back to me, “where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.” As your pastor, I will do all that I can throughout the rest of my life to encourage you in this life saving faith. Today, I’d like to encourage all of us as we consider for our theme, Taking Care to Walk in the Way of the Lord.
The book of Judges records the history of Israel between the death of Joshua and the first kings in Israel. During this time, the Lord was their ruler. It was a Theocracy. Yet, even with the Lord as their leader, we hear a sobering history. It only took a few generations after Joshua to have a generation of Israelites who didn’t know the Lord or walk in his ways. They forgot about all the great things that the Lord had done for his people.
The nations whom Israel failed to conquer served as thorns in Israel’s side (Judges 2:3). As we heard in our lesson, “They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger.” The two false gods mentioned were Baal and his female counterpart, Ashteroth. These false gods were supposed to give the fertility of the land, sexual pleasure, and victory in war. These false gods claimed to offer people success and protection. At the same time, these false religions ignored the commandments, sin and forgiveness, and life after death.
This was a temptation for the Israelites. Why not worship other gods in addition to your own to cover all your bases? What’s more, the God of Israel did not promise a worry-free life and earthly peace. But these gods did, or so their priests claimed. By worshipping these other false gods, they could live however they wanted and were promised earthly wealth, peace, and pleasure.
These false gods are still present today. Maybe not under the names of Baal and Ashteroth, but under new names and different forms. The promises of earthly pleasure, peace, and wealth are said to be found at the bottom of the bottle, a computer screen, following your every desire, ignoring God’s commands, or worshipping the almighty dollar. These temptations are all around us—we can’t think for a second that the devil does not have ulterior motives when he makes these things available and desirable.
St. Paul warns us, “Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” If God’s own special people, the children of Abraham who saw the great and mighty works of God, could fall away, who is to say that it can’t happen to us? None of us should be under the delusion that we are not susceptible to the temptations of this world. The devil would have us think that we can dabble in these things without compromising our faith. If we think this, the devil, that old wolf, has us well on his way to the wolf’s den. This is why the Lord urges us to walk circumspectly.
The truth is that each and every one of us has fallen for these temptations at times. You have ignored God’s word and loved something or someone more than God. You have dishonored your parents whom God has given you, gotten angry, lusted, gossiped, and coveted what belongs to another. And we have these sobering words from Scripture, “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20). The consequences of our sin is not just death of the body, but eternal death in hell. This is the devil’s goal for our life.
Those words from Ezekiel are sobering, but in our confirmation class there was another verse that I have the students learn from Ezekiel, “As I live, declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from their way and live” (33:11). The Lord wants to be our God and our salvation. When the Israelites repented and called upon the Lord, he sent judges to rescue them from their enemies. He had compassion on them. The Lord had pity on the whole world that was lost in sin, which is why he sent Jesus, God’s own Son, our great deliverer whom all the judges foreshadowed. Jesus Christ came to rescue us from our enemies of sin, death, and the devil by offering up his holy life in our place on the cross.
Scripture states, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:14–15). Just as certainly as those who were bitten by the serpents in the wilderness lived when they looked to the bronze serpent on a pole, so too do those who look to Jesus have eternal life. Jesus died on the cross, taking the venom of sin into his own body, so that he might heal us through the forgiveness of all our sins.
Our Lord Jesus offers you the forgiveness of all your sins. He earned it all by his holy life and innocent death. His resurrection is our proof and our comfort. Because he lives, so shall we. This is God’s gift to you. You don’t have to prove yourself to God, you don’t have earn his favor. “Indeed, it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9).
The Lord’s goal for your life is for you to be with him forever in paradise. In this life, we will face sorrow and hardship as Jesus described to his disciples in our Gospel lesson today. Jesus would suffer and die; they would weep and lament. But he assured his disciples, “your sorrow will turn into joy.”
As your Pastor, I can’t promise that your Christian life will always be easy. You will face hardship and trouble in this world to varying degrees. You will certainly face temptations and assaults from the devil to slowly give up your faith, ignore his word, and walk in the ways of the ungodly. I can assure you, that you will be challenged to break your confirmation promise to continue steadfast in the faith of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and to walk in the way of the Lord.
And this is why I’d like to draw your attention how we answer in our confirmation vows, “I do so intend, with the help and grace of God.” From the beginning to the end of our salvation, we need God’s help. Thankfully, we know where help can be found. Our Lord says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). He invites us to come to him with our worries and cares, our burdens and sins. When we are troubled by our sins, we go to him and confess them and receive his forgiveness. He gives you pastors who you can go and speak with and to be encouraged in your walk with God. You can come to the Lord’s Supper, where Jesus gives you the forgiveness that he earned on the cross under the bread and wine. Here, Jesus feeds and strengthens you in your Christian faith. This is where he gives you the forgiveness and help that you need to walk in the way of the Lord until you see him face to face.
Until we get to heaven, we are at the same time saint and sinner. We will struggle to fight against our sinful flesh and remain faithful to God. But we have this comfort, God is always faithful to us. When we fall, he is there to help us in our time of need. When we repent, he promises forgiveness and life. When we are weak, he is strong. Trust in his word and promises. The road the Christian travels is not always popular or easy, but it is the narrow way that leads to eternal life. This is why the Lord says through the prophet, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls” (Jeremiah 6:16). Amen.