Faith and Duty: Sermons on Free Texts, with Reference to the Church-YearBuchheimer, L. B. (Louis Balthaser)
Religion
Faith and Duty: Sermons on Free Texts, with Reference to the Church-Year
Buchheimer, L. B. (Louis Balthaser)
Church year sermons; Lutheran Church -- Sermons; Sermons, American
This was a crisis in Peter's life. Hitherto he had been tended
as a sheep, henceforth he was to tend as a shepherd. Having been
converted, that is to say, having been turned again to his Master,
he is henceforth to strengthen his brethren. What hinders us from
doing likewise, pastors and teachers, educating, tending, and
feeding the flock of God? This is the privilege of the laity, not
less than of the ministry. When the laity really do their work,
they, too, are really a ministry, true shepherds. But let us
evermore keep in mind--which was the first part of our sermon--that
the essential qualification, the principle of such service, as it is
the only thing that will render your work delightful and carry you
through all difficulties, is love to Christ, "Lovest thou me more
than these?--Feed my sheep." Amen.
THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.
Neither do men, light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but
on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the
house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your
good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.--_Matt.
5, 15. 16._
The religion of Jesus Christ is the religion of everyday life. He
touched the common things, and, like a magic wand, they changed
into the finest gold. He went into the kitchen for a text, and
transfigured the meal, the dough in the bread wrought into a parable
of God's working grace. He went into the garden or the woods, and
found a lesson in the springing seed and the flowers which carpeted
the ground. "Consider the lilies," He said in His Sermon on the
Mount. He went on board the fishing boat, and the nets become a
picture of the kingdom of heaven. Here, in this immediate verse, our
Lord steps into an Eastern or Oriental house for a text and speaks
under the illustration of an article which is to be found in every
home, of a candle, or rather, a lamp.
The Apostle Peter, who was present at the original preaching, must
have carefully noted the comparison, for he speaks in to-day's
Epistle-lesson in nearly the same language as His Master when he
admonishes his hearers to let people see their good works and thus
glorify God. May we do likewise as we shall now regard, under God's
blessing, the Christian's duty to let his light shine before men,
observing, _I. How this is done_; _II. why it ought to be done_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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