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Pentecost 20 October 2, 2005
READER:
Suggestion: Come to the chair by the lectern during “Glory
be to God on high...” or other song of praise in the “prayer and praise
section, p. 16,17. Go to the LECTERN
after the collect (prayer).
(Reader: a hymnal will be at the
lectern. Please Note:
If the Psalm is sung, you may be seated on the chair
opposite Pastor.)
(The Psalm of the Day): Today’s psalm is Psalm 118
on page 108 in the front part of the
Hymnal. (Pause)
The Lord has given us a day
of rejoicing. His chief glory is that he has raised that which was contemptible
to glory and great honor. This applies to us because it first applied to the
chief cornerstone, our Lord Jesus Christ. (Please return to the chair for the singing of the Psalm.)
The First Lesson is from Isaiah 5:1-7 printed in your service folder or on page 666 of your pew Bible. (Pause long enough for worshipers to find the page.)
The Lord had given his people every advantage to produce fruits of faith. To his great disappointment, he found only the rotten fruit of injustice and unrighteousness. In his righteous anger, he turned his vineyard into a wasteland again. We are well warned. Where the gospel is despised, the cries of human injustice can be heard. The judgment of God is never far behind.
From Isaiah 5:1-7, we read:
1 I will sing for the one I
love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile
hillside. 2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the
choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. 3 “Now you dwellers in
The Second Lesson is Philippians 3:12-21 printed in your service folder or on page 1140 of your pew Bible. (Pause long enough for worshipers to find the page.)
The inspired apostle puts to rest two notions that war against the gospel of our salvation. Some assert that we can achieve holiness already in this life. This arrogance excludes grace. Although we strain toward heavenly perfection, we know that our holiness in this life comes from the Savior alone. Others make a mockery of Jesus' forgiveness by using it as a license to sin. They are earthly minded. But our citizenship is in heaven, where our omnipotent Lord Jesus will transform our bodies for the ultimate perfection and freedom!
From Philppians
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 15 All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained. 17 Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
The Gospel reading is from Matthew 21:33-43.. printed in your service folder or on page 956 of your pew Bible. (Pause long enough for worshipers to find the page.)
Please stand. (Pause) In the
parable of the tenants the Lord shows incredible patience with those who abuse
their responsibility to care for the Lord's Church. God rightfully insists on
fruits. But each of his messengers met with harsh rejection until, finally, the
Son is murdered. Those who have rejected their Savior, Jesus Christ, will be
destroyed, and God will give the kingdom to others who will produce fruit.
From Matthew
33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. 35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. 38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.” 42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ”‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? 43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit (Pause)
Let us join in confessing our Christian faith in the words of the
Nicene Creed, found on page 18 in the front part of your hymnal. (Pause
briefly)
“We believe in one God, the Father, the
Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the
only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from
Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the
Father. Through him all things were
made.
For us and for our
salvation, he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the
Virgin Mary, and became fully human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate. He suffered death and was buried. On the third day He rose again in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into
heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in
glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. We
believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the
Father and the Son, who in unity with the Father and the Son is worshiped and
glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the
forgiveness of sins. We look for the
resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.”
(After the creed, motion the congregation to be seated.)
READ LOUDLY AND CONFIDENTLY. Please practice reading out loud at home. The congregation needs a voice to follow.