12/31/07 - New Year's Eve - Psalm 71

"I WILL EVER PRAISE YOU"
- For your sacraments
- For your Word

Hasn’t the Lord blessed us this year? Four baptisms, including one adult baptism. Six new members, some through instruction classes and others by transfer. And one among us, Mickey Strever, has been taken home by her Lord to live with him forever in Paradise. What a year! What a great year living and using and benefiting from God’s Word and sacraments and seeing some of the results of the Lord’s work! It’s a great time to be a part of Living Word Lutheran Church in Montrose, Colorado! And so, as we close out another year, it’s good for us to look back at everything the Lord has done during these past twelve months so that we can boldly sing with the author of Psalm 71: “I will ever praise you.” Tonight we praise the Lord for the blessings of his Word and the blessings of his sacraments with which he has so graciously filled our cup to overflowing.
I look at the young children who have been baptized this year, and I marvel at the Lord’s love and his power. What a blessing to know that he has brought those infants into his family through the water and the Spirit. And I look at those children of the congregation who have been baptized in years past, who are now progressing in their faith received at baptism through church services and Sunday school. I look at you, my brothers and sisters, my spiritual siblings, and rejoice because all of us were baptized by the same Triune God into the same death of Christ for the same salvation. The forgiveness of sins, a new life, adoption as his children, the robe of righteousness, faith, and salvation are all the results of this baptism in Jesus’ name. Results that are sitting right next to you and in front of you and behind you. I will ever praise the Lord for that.
And then I look at those who are new members of this congregation this year. Joining us up front for Holy Communion. Eager to celebrate this sacrament and overjoyed to stand shoulder to shoulder with sinners who share the same Savior. And together we profess our common Christian faith twice a month. Standing in respect and awe at the Lord’s Table. Eating his true body, drinking his true blood, receiving that true forgiveness, and being comforted by the blessing of his peace. What a privilege I have to say those words to you. What an honor to hand you Christ himself. What a humbling thing it is to announce your forgiveness as a spokesman of the Lord. I will ever praise the Lord for that.
There are so many things that we have reason to praise the Lord for this past year. Things that we don’t even think of. And blessings that are overshadowed by all the negatives. Because as we get older, the more pessimistic we become, don’t we? We as sin-infested creatures tend to look back on a year like this with a disappointed and cynical gaze. We almost like to dwell on the negatives! “We’re still in this storefront for another year - are we ever going to get out!” “We’ve dropped so many members from relocation and transfer and release that are numbers are going backwards!” “I can’t see how we’ll ever be self-supporting at the rate we’re going!” “There are very few kids and teenagers here and hardly any young families. How are we supposed to attract any more?” “Volunteers are scarce, so-and-so is overbearing, the red chairs are uncomfortable, and the windows make this place too bright.” These things may seem a little humorous, but it isn’t funny to the Lord. Because that kind of attitude does not reflect the attitude of a Christian - the same attitude as our psalmist tonight: “My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you - I , whom you have redeemed!” That is an attitude of thanks and praise and appreciation. Ours is usually not. Ours is too often disrespectful and unthankful and ungrateful. We can’t seem to look past the sin that invades this life to see the blessings of our Savior. We let the joy of Christ in our hearts be eaten up by the desires of this life. We notice what we want while forgetting what we already have.
And this is nothing new this year. It happens every year. To every Christian. And the Lord has to hear that pessimism all the time… I’m glad he’s patient with us. I’m glad he’s patient with me. It seems like I never learn. It seems like I never am satisfied with what he’s given to me. It’s a wonder that he keeps giving me more! It’s amazing that we live our lives in pessimism, but he still blesses us like he has this past year. It’s truly incredible that he died for us in the first place! Why would he even bother? Why would he go through all that pain and torture on the cross for ungrateful little savages like us? Love. And he’s shown his love to his people every year since the Garden of Eden. And he’s shown his love again to this small group of Christians this year as we’ve just seen. He keeps smothering us with love until we finally get it! Until we finally say, “I will ever praise you” without any hesitation or qualification or caveat. He keeps pushing our noses back into his Word so that we can see his gospel in all of its beauty and clarity. And he has given us the opportunity to hear and read and study that Word here at Living Word in a number of ways.
We ended our study of the book of Romans in Sunday morning Bible class this year. We then explored the depths of prayer found in the words of Scripture. Now we are seeing the glories of Christ and his work through the book of Colossians. We have the opportunity right now to review the basic teachings of the Bible in Luther’s Large Catechism on Wednesday nights. Before that we were edified by the book of Revelation and before that we discovered the pictures of Christ in Old Testament sacrifices. The children in Sunday School are fed the Word by faithful Christians. Three young women are taking catechism instruction every week for the first time. And at least once a week we hear Scripture lessons from the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Gospels. We confess our sins, we sing the psalms, we announce our faith, and we join together in Christ-centered hymns. The Lord has surely blessed us with his Word this year and I will ever praise the Lord for that.
And I will ever praise the Lord for bringing his children home. I remember Mickey Strever, whom the Lord brought home this last February. He worked faith in her heart through his Word. He strengthened her faith through his Word. And he gave her the comfort and the peace and the joy that only his Word can give. And so right now she is singing praises to our Lord face-to-face as we wait to do the same. What a wonderful comfort it is when we see one of our brothers and sisters makes it out of the war of this sinful life and join the saints and angels in the eternal pleasures of heaven. A permanent relocation we will all one day enjoy.
The Lord has blessed us. From the youngest of us in this building to the oldest of us, he has blessed us with his Word and sacraments in profound measure - and promises to continue to do so until our death. It is easy to see why the psalmist wrote down the words he did. He understood that the Lord’s love and mercy extended from womb to tomb. And he could not help but praise him for that. Let us close tonight by joining with the psalmist and speaking the words of our text together that are printed in your bulletin: “You have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD, my confidence since youth.
From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.
I will ever praise you.
Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.
Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.
My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you - I, whom you have redeemed.”
Amen.

“May the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.” - Psalm 134:3