WEBVTT
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Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord
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and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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I love the liturgy.
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The liturgy is chock full of God's word.
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The liturgy is good for you.
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I hope that you love the liturgy too.
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I love the liturgy.
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At the same time, loving
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the liturgy will not save us.
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And as our text shows, fasting will not save us.
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Humbling ourselves, bowing down will not save us.
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Spreading sackcloth and ashes before us will not save us.
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Our text describes a situation where the Israelites are trying to get
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God to do what they want him to do.
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They are trying to manipulate God, they are trying to coerce God.
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They're trying to use God to get what they want.
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And we can commit the same sin.
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Perhaps we want God to give us some desire of our hearts, to help us
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in a time of need.
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Perhaps we want God to take our side and to show that we are better
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than others.
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We want to be able to argue that God's with us and against my brother.
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He prefers me.
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I'm better than others.
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And so often we have this frame of mind.
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We set the grace of Jesus Christ aside and we focus on some small
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detail of liturgy or of belief or of practice, something that is
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neither commanded nor forbidden in scripture.
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And we spend all of our time and energy talking about that and about
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how we're doing it right and someone else is doing it wrong.
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You notice how when you do that, you stop talking about the grace of
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Jesus.
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You stop even applying the grace of Jesus to the person you are
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judging, because it is so tempting to treat people in this way.
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And we can quite literally be sitting in chapel taking part in the
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liturgy and be thinking about how someone else isn't doing it right.
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And so I'm better than that person.
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We can quite literally be in the process of fasting.
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We can be engaging in some act of piety.
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And at that very moment
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writing things or reading things, or forwarding things on social media
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that communicate the most vile messages about other Christians. Things
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that are purposefully inaccurate, that put the worst construction on
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the situation.
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Approaching our lives this way can be very tempting, in part because
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it's so easy.
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It requires no real work from us.
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We simply sit back and feel better than others.
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We've got that feeling of arrogance and self righteousness, that
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wonderful feeling when you judge someone else and by pushing them down
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and driving them lower, you feel better about yourself, as if there
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were no 8th Commandment.
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Know this our sinful nature is winning the day when we think we're
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making God like us more and take our side, while we are actually
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violating the 8th Commandment and sinning against other Christians and
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hurting them.
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Oh, the Lord sets the bar high with the 8th Commandment you shall not
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give false testimony against your neighbor.
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What does this mean?
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We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our
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neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend
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him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.
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And even when the Lord corrects us, as He does in this text, we can
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continue our misunderstanding.
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We can mistakenly believe that we don't win God over by fasting.
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We win God over by doing kind works to other people.
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But we're still trying to get God to do what we want.
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When you do that, you treat God like an idol.
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You treat Him like a means to an end.
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You're more concerned about what you want than what He wants.
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You may take part in the liturgy, you may fast, you may serve others,
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but you're just going through the motions to get what you want from
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God.
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And when you judge others based on the petty details that you've
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decided to focus upon, you are insisting that God judge
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you.
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You are insisting that God judge your actions and your words and your
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thoughts and your motives, and you will be found wanting.
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So let's start again.
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You are a sinner.
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I am a sinner.
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There is nothing that you can do to contribute to your salvation.
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There is nothing that you can do to make God prefer you to someone
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else.
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The only hope you ever had of being saved was that God would
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intervene.
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And that was a very good hope to have, because he has intervened.
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He has done what you could not do for yourself.
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And just a few chapters before our text, the Holy Spirit speaks
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through the prophet Isaiah and talks about just that.
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Isaiah 53 surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet
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we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.
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But he was pierced for our current transgressions.
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He was crushed for our iniquities.
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Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace.
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And with his wounds we are healed.
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He paid the debt that you couldn't pay.
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He received the suffering that you deserved, and he saved you.
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And there's more.
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Out of the anguish of his soul, He shall see and be satisfied by His
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knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be
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accounted righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities.
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He has made you to be accounted righteous.
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He has done the work.
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He has lived the righteous life.
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He has earned salvation by his behavior, and He has given his
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righteousness to you as a gift.
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The Holy Spirit has led you to faith and salvation through the gifts
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of Jesus Christ.
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And so you are living the Christian life. You live in your baptism
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each day, the Lord drowns your sinful nature and raises up a holy
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nature that He has created.
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The Holy Spirit is at work in your heart.
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The grace of Jesus is at work in your life.
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Cultivating in you a love for others and a desire
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to serve our Lord and to pray
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Lord, your will be done.
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And as a baptized child of God, when you take part in the liturgy, you
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receive the gifts of Jesus.
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We still stumble, we may get distracted, think of sinful thought
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during the service, ask the Lord for forgiveness, refocus and receive
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the gifts.
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Receive the Word, remember our baptisms, receive absolution in the
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Lord's Supper and join together with the church receiving the grace of
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Jesus Christ.
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And if you fast, when you humble yourself, when you bow down, if you
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use sackcloth and ashes, if you have some other activity that reflects
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your personal piety and your relationship with the Lord and your
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growing in that relationship, you do it as someone who has already
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been entirely saved by Jesus and knows there's nothing else to
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contribute.
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It's part of the relationship.
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It's part of what He has done for you and is doing in your life.
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And when he uses you to help those in need, it will be for the same
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reason.
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Because the Holy Spirit is cultivating in you a genuine love for your
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neighbor and a desire to be genuinely helpful, whether that is losing
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the bonds of wickedness, or sharing your bread with the hungry, or
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covering the naked.
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Jesus Christ is using you to show his love to others, to help them and
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meet their needs.
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Then your light will break forth like the dawn.
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Then your righteousness will go before you.
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Then the Lord will be your rear guard.
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Your light will break forth like the dawn, the light that the Lord has
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given to you, the light of his salvation, the light of his work in and
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through you as you love and serve others.
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Your righteousness will go before you.
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Not a righteousness based on your own works, but a righteousness based
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on what He has given to you.
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You will lead with that righteousness, and the Lord Himself will be
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your rear guard.
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He will have your back and He will care for you.
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That's the Christian life.
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We go forward in righteousness covered by the Lord.
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Receiving his grace, living in Him and serving Him.
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And when we have needs, when we have desires, our prayer is always,
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Lord, Your will be done.
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And when we are hurting, when we are broken, when we are exhausted,
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when we are discouraged, we know that the Lord is with us and that he
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is caring for us.
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When you find yourselves in these situations, you shall call and the
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Lord will answer.
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You shall cry, and He will say, Here I am.
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Amen.
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And now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep
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your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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Amen.