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Showing posts with the label path of life

Sermon on Proverbs 4:10-23, 14th Sunday after Trinity (1 Yr Lectionary), "Two Paths"

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. In several different places in the Bible, God contrasts two different paths. One is the way of the righteous, the other is the way of the wicked. One leads to freedom and life, the other, to slavery and ultimately death. Proverbs 4 is a father to son life lesson talk, from Solomon to his son. There are two different paths, and he urges him to stay on the right path, and avoid the path of the wicked. Over and over in the Bible, this theme of two paths reappears. God grant that we stay on the path to life and righteousness. First, let’s consider the path to AVOID. “Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil. Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on.” It can be sad, humorous or even tragic, when certain “Do Not Enter!” signs in life go ignored. Ignore a “Do Not Enter” sign in a hospital, and you might end up where you’re not supposed to be—but ignore a “Do Not En...

Sermon on Psalm 16 and Mark 16:1-8, for Easter Sunday, the Resurrection of Our Lord. "Path of Life"

Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Alleluia! You may or may not know that the Scriptures link up two very important events in salvation history—the Exodus, which happened about 1,400 years before Jesus’ birth, and then Jesus’ own death, burial, and resurrection. A second exodus. There are all sorts of parallels between the two events. Moses was raised up by God to rescue the Israelites, just as Jesus, greater than Moses, was raised up by God to rescue all humanity, Jews and Gentiles. The first exodus was from a physical slavery to the Pharoah in Egypt. The second exodus is from our spiritual slavery to the power of sin, death, and the devil. Scripture describes the Israelites being led across the Red Sea as being “baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea”, just as it speaks of us as being baptized into Jesus’ death and resurrection. God accomplished a great deliverance for His people, when they were trapped and seemingly helpless, walled in by the Red Sea. If you know the...