FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
JANUARY 29, 1989
ST. JOHN'S LUTHERAN CHURCH, BURLINGTON, WI
VICAR JOHN HOH
Some of you may like to go rummaging. As you rummage, you see items that appear strange and their purpose is not known to you. Or maybe you have taken the lawnmower or some other tool apart and, after putting it back together, find you are left with more pieces than you started. You may then wonder at the strange item or extra hardware and say, "What is that for? What PURPOSE does it have?" Inventors and engineers spend many hours trying to come up with ideas that will help some task or make another burden easier. In that case, the purpose is already in mind, but not the tool. God tells us Christians, through the pen of Jeremiah, that God Created Us For a Purpose. He has set each one of us apart before our conception. He also remains with us in life as we do his will.
As you go through the present Bible Class on spiritual gifts or ponder the Annual Voters' Meeting later this afternoon and you have difficulty trying to find your role in God's kingdom, ask yourself a question. Ask yourself: "Would I rather be in Jeremiah's shoes? A young man to whom no one would listen? One who would be tossed into prison for proclaiming God's Word to the idolatrous people of Judah?" I'm sure that none of us craves this type of life.
Yet we have the same message from God that Jeremiah had. All around the world one finds trite phrases like "alternate lifestyles" or "doing what's loving" and, yes, being "open-minded and tolerant" to cover up the reality of sin. And even the murder of unborn infants is considered okay because the term fetus is used. Even many in the church feel that their only obligation is to "Pray, pay and obey." Very easily the first verses of our text today could read: "The word of the Lord came to St. John's, Burlington, saying, 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.'" For God had set each of us apart as his holy people long before any of us were conceived. We were set apart as his holy people to do his holy will. Just as God calls pastors and teachers to serve in certain areas of his kingdom, so I also believe that God calls each one of you to serve in a certain area of his kingdom.
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