- Psalmody: Psalm 27:7a, 9b; 1a; Psalm 84:9a, 8a; Psalm 31:1–2a; Psalm 16:7a, 8; Psalm 27:4ab
- Lection: 1 Kings 19:11–21; 1 Peter 3:8–15a; Luke 5:1–11
In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
How good has it been for 250 years to live in the land of the free? Could it be that freedom itself has become our god? I speak no blasphemy about our blessed nation on its “holy day” weekend, because I do give deep and sincere thanks to God for allowing us to live in the United States of America. I love it and desire it to remain for a long time to come. We all have it good here, real good, contrary to the poisonous narratives incessantly fed into our eyes and ears by those who equate our founding morality as hindrance and are opposed to the way of a godly life as is built upon people loving the God Who loves them and Who has established the societal building block of union of a man and a woman, as He has made them, in marriage, with the intent of other godly generations being fruitfully multiplied and raised up to fear, love and trust in the Lord above all things. We have drifted upon the sea, content with merely being afloat as a party boat; unconcerned about having neither destination nor rudder; conditions seen not only among the unbelieving world, but also Christians, for the freedom fault has become an idol even among God’s people.
We believe freedom to be a virtue, and indeed it can be, as properly understood and governed by God’s Word. Yet, unfettered freedom is disastrous in the hands of sinners, so when you pray for us to remain free in these United States, pray for freedom to come about us in the way God desires. Our collect from last Sunday gives a great example for such a prayer: Grant, O Lord, we beseech Thee, that the course of this world may be peaceably ordered by Thy governance, and that Thy Church may rejoice in quiet devotion. (Collect, Trinity 4) Christians pray for freedom not so that we can do whatever we want, but we pray that we are given the freedom to do what is good in accordance with the Word of God, observing all that He has commanded, enjoying ultimate freedom from sin and its bondage. Too much of our great nation’s freedom and prosperity has gone to the detriment of the Christians that call it home. We now freely fear, love, and trust in elections, doctors, bank accounts, news channels, and losing our earthly pleasures more than we do God. We call upon our indulgences and desires to sustain our way of American life more than we call upon His name, in times both of trouble and of gain. We use our freedom to blow off the Sabbath day instead of remembering it and keeping it holy. No Christian can expect a nation so in love with itself as its own god to turn from its wicked ways when the Christian Church herself is half-hearted about what she claims to be important. When God’s judgment comes with great ferocity, we shall have no ground upon which to feign surprise. While there is still daylight, the faith to which we now sow, or neglect to, will be the measure of what we lean upon in the time of great tribulation. Make the most of the time while you can.
The Lord has given us plenty of temporal trials to awaken us spiritually, to repent, to turn from our complacency toward Him as a part-time god, to instead flee to and to cling to Him all the more devotedly than all our yesterdays; to live good lives. So, do we? In the face of any threat to health or life, those who know Him Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and where He is found and gives Himself to us, those who know Him and His heart toward sinners, they don’t fear or distance from Him, but rather crowd closer to Him, all the time. Perils and threats to life are calls to flee all-the-more regularly and dependently to the only One able to provide in this life and the next, not to avoid Him as if our own strength, wisdom, and determination can preserve our lives, because by those we certainly cannot, not even in the exploited personal, idolatrous freedoms of our prosperous nation and individual lives that we’ve established within her borders. No cocoon can ward off death. It comes to all. But Jesus has overcome death. To fear it is to make it, or at least any hope of avoiding it, or any light iteration of it in germs, disease, or illnesses, another one of our precious, sure-to-fail-us-like-all-the-rest idols. From whom or what do we seek our good, our protection, our provision?
Return to the Lord. Seek Him, for just as the crowd in Luke five had discovered great worth in Jesus’ teachings, so, too, have you been enlightened by the gifts of the Holy Spirit to know and believe the Gospel and to find and enjoy life therein. Not only did they see the holiness of the Lord, but also did St. Peter, and in him you can see how your sanctification is dependent upon hearing the Lord regularly as you are free to do, because God has much work to do on all of us. Our entire baptismal life is one of ongoing sanctification as the Lord intends to strengthen faith in Him by how He leads us in His truth, through the feeding of His Word and Sacrament. Outside of such feeding, we grow weak, especially if it is done by willful neglect just because we’re free to.
We may look to the Apostles as great examples of faith to help us combat temptation. After Christ’s Resurrection and Ascension nearly all of them entered into death through martyrdom, meaning they were executed because they confessed Christ as Lord. Oh, that we all had such faith to freely give all this up for the eternal freedom of Christ! Let us pray for God to grant it to us.
But we see that the process of coming to possess a faith that mocks death isn’t instantaneous, not even for Simon Peter. For, it was just in the previous chapter of Luke that Jesus was in his home, healing Peter’s mother-in-law of a most wretched fever. Peter saw first-hand the power of God in the flesh as He gave the family a taste of the life of the world to come as would be won for them in His own death and resurrection. It was but a short time later that the Lord made His way to the lake and made use of one of Peter’s boats so that He could teach the people who need to keep on hearing Him, giving them the word from His mouth by which they would live. It is here where you see how your faith must continue to grow, just like our brother Peter’s.
He was a professional fisherman, successful enough to be in business with the brothers James and John along with his own brother Andrew. They knew the lake. They knew fishing, but their recently-finished all-night outing yielded not even a single catch. If we think that we can survive without Jesus or deem that we know better than Him by our measure of strength, possessions, wisdom, wealth, or determination, He calls us to repent and trust only in Him for all our needs, even those we’re unwilling to admit that only He can fill. There are no full nets without the Lord’s decree.
When Jesus had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing…” (Luke 5:4-5) Peter had the freedom to refuse Jesus’ word, to neglect it, or to put it in the words of the Catechism, to despise preaching and His word. The Lord doesn’t give irresistible grace. Even Christians can refuse to listen to the Lord, they can even refuse to come to church to hear Him, to do what He says. That is your freedom. But again, unfettered freedom proves disastrous in the hands of sinners. Peter denied the flesh and listened to the Word of the Lord saying, “nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.
We pray for the good portion to be preserved always among us; the good portion of hearing the Lord and trusting that what He ordains is always good. We pray that the Lord sustains a freedom in our land that allows us to come to church on the Lord’s Day so that we can freely worship Him in glad adoration, with eternal thanksgiving, and without fear of persecution or death. Yet even among those threats is it worth the risk to come. Nothing compares to what is received in every Divine Service; not a deadly threat; not a semiquincentennial; not a return to the “good ole days”; no, nothing compares to being near the Lord and hearing Him speak.
Let us then make good use of freedom in ways that are godly and truly life-enriching. For it is only here that we find the true God who responds to our confessing, “I am a sinful man, O Lord” with the words “Do not be afraid.” Do not be afraid of Him. Do not be afraid of this world or of losing it. Do not be afraid of the propaganda box that squawks away day and night. Do not be afraid of any news that comes upon you, for you possess and live by the Good News of Jesus Christ, the God-Man Who died and rose again for sinners like you. Do not be afraid even of death, for your Savior is the One Who overcame it, your forthcoming one included, making you alive and free in Him now, to live out a godly life. So do not submit once again to a yoke of slavery, for the abuse of freedom is bondage. True freedom is in no creation of man, no matter how great of a nation one becomes. True freedom is only in the Son of God. Indeed, we give thanks that for a day beyond a 250th Fourth of July, we can freely gather in His house to receive His gifts and praise His name. There is no better place to celebrate. We are not guaranteed such freedom in the future. We give thanks to Him for today and pray that He brings us here again next Sunday, fearing not, but trusting in Him, even above national freedoms given or taken away. Praise the Lord for the one true freedom from sin in Christ that can never be taken from us or brought to an end. Boast in godly freedom. Boast in the Lord of thy salvation.
In ✠ Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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