We have chosen the words of our theme this morning very carefully. “Wealth management strategies.” We hear words like this quite often in our culture. There is an entire industry built around wealth management. Experts write books about it. Recognized gurus on the matter travel the land putting on 2-day seminars teaching eager attendees the “secrets” of successful wealth management.
Has it ever occurred to you that God’s love is such a special and unique thing that it has to have its own word? The word I am referring to is “grace.” “Grace” doesn’t just mean a feeling of affection for someone, but grace is affection for someone who is completely unworthy or undeserving of such affection. It is this grace of God that is the moving force behind all of his saving activity: It is by grace you have been saved…(Ephesians 2:8).
Today we have Pastor Phil Merten leading our worship services. Pastor Merten serves in the Wisconsin Lutheran Institutional Ministries program. His work involves prison ministry.
I suspect all the “A-listers” were on the guest list. Anybody who was anybody was likely invited. After all, this was dinner at the home of ranking Pharisees. We know from the verses that are not included in our text that there were legal experts in attendance and also other Pharisees. That’s why one of the guests who was invited strikes us as a bit of an outsider.
Today we welcome Pastor Jerry Ewings who is leading our worship. Pastor Ewings and his wife Lori live in Johnson Creek. Pastor Ewings served at Lord of Love from 2006 – 2017.
If I begin by saying, “The world is burning,” how do you understand what I have just said? You may understand me very literally and assume that I am referring to what is happening in California and parts of Europe with those huge, uncontrolled wildfires that are burning. Or maybe you understood what I said as a metaphor.
At the center of every religion is something called “righteousness.” For our purposes let’s define “righteousness” as the condition of being right with God. The goal of religion is to answer the question in the heart of man, “How can I be right with God?”
The family was all gathered in the lawyer’s office on the right day at the right time. It was the day for the reading of the will. No one thought they would be here. But George had died suddenly. Massive heart attack. Never saw it coming. George was leaving a huge fortune to someone in that room. His wife is there. And so are his two ex-wives. All five of George’s children are there.
“Lord, teach us to pray.” There is something very significant and profound about that little word “teach.” It confesses something. It confesses that we don’t know how to pray! It is true that every human being comes into this world with what is called a “natural knowledge of God.” People are born “theists,” not “atheists.” People know there is a God.
When you listen to our text today, what do you think about Martha? I remember as a child hearing this story. I don’t know if it was the way it was taught, or if it was just the way I processed what I was hearing, but I came away with a very negative view of Martha. Almost like she was the “villain” in the story.
