Transcript for 8-02-09 Closed Captioned Sermon, Zion Ev. Lutheran, Torrance, CA

Text from the Holy Bible: NIV used by permission of

Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Let us rise for the reading of this morning's sermon text

recorded for us in Mark's Gospel where we read from

Chapter 6, beginning with verse 30:

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all

all they had done and taught.

Then, because so many people were coming and going

that they did not even have a chance to eat,

he said to them, "COME WITH ME BY YOURSELVES

TO A QUIET PLACE AND GET SOME REST."

So they went away by themselves in a boat

to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving

recognized them and ran on foot from

all the towns and got there ahead of them.

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd,

he had compassion on them,

because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

So he began teaching them many things.

This is the Word of our Lord. Let us pray:

This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice

and be glad in it.

Amen. ....

The congregation is seated.

(Silent moment.)

Dear Followers

of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

What's a milestone

for you that marks

the end of summer?

We turned over the calendar page

once again and all of a sudden

we're in the month of August. And now

we start thinking ... that school's gonna start again,

and maybe you're thinking your summer is really over.

I think sometimes, in my life,

I think that once we celebrate the 4th of July,

my summer is done.

And I don't know why that is because I used to LOVE summer.

I used to LOVE to look forward to that time

when there was less work to do.

There was enjoyment. We can go to the beach. We can go to

the lake. As children we would go fishing.

We would just hang out and have nothing to do

but lay on the grass and drink some lemonade

and maybe get in a water fight.

But now summer goes by

really fast.

And it doesn't seem like it's a time of relaxation ...

and peace.

But if I truly sit down and

analyze what it is,

summer hasn't changed. Summer is still

that same amount of days it's always been.

But I just don't take the time.

I ... don't ... allow myself

the ... time ... to relax

and lay in the grass and have a glass of lemonade.

Or just go to the beach

and sit there.

How important THAT time

of relaxation is ...

of rest and renewal.

And our Lord knows that for us as well.

It was the example of creation

where God took 24-hour days

six of them and created

the entire universe and all that exists.

And on the seventh day ...

... He rested.

He took a Sabbath. And

He wanted us to know and to learn that THAT Sabbath rest

is important. It's a time

for us to NOT work.

To refocus ourselves, especially

to refocus ourselves on God

and on His Word. To come together as the family

of believers and spend time at His feet.

Relaxed.

Refreshed. Not worrying about what's gonna happen

this afternoon or running through lists in our head

of everything that's coming up this week. That's

being with the Lord.

He gave that same reminder to His disciples.

His own disciples that He had sent out

to go and proclaim the fact that the Kingdom of God

is near. And Mark's Gospel tells us

that when they came back, they wanted to talk with Jesus

about all that they had done, about all that they had

experienced. Those wonderful things

that had occurred to them as they shared the message

of the Messiah with God's people.

They came back to Jesus

accompanied by people

that they had encountered

and talked to ... who wanted to see Jesus as well.

They mobbed Jesus and His disciples.

There were so many of them and so much going on

that the disciples couldn't even eat.

And Jesus said to them: It's important for you to rest.

Let's go away. You and I

are going to go away

so we can discuss what happened.

I want to hear your war stories of proclaiming

the Gospel. I want to hear the JOY of your life

in doing what I asked you to do.

That's what Jesus wanted for His disciples and

He wants that for us as well.

He wants us as His brothers and sisters to

spend family time

together ... around the Word.

Coming to our Heavenly Father with all of our joy

with the good things that are going on in our lives

thanking and praising Him for what He's done ...

what He has accomplished through us.

Spending time together with Jesus

confessing the fact that we ARE sinful

that we realize that we're NOT perfect but we go to Him

for the comfort and the reassurance that

He has forgiven our sins. That we

are still His own and that He

STILL loves us.

And gives us encouragement in His Word, with the

reminders of His blessings,

with the joy we have in discovering, once again,

the treasures that He has recorded for us.

That time together with Him is a time

to rest with Him.

And to be family with Him.

You and I just have to admit

that we often DON'T take the time to do that.

We don't make that effort

because it really isn't that important to us.

It isn't that important to us to spend time

with our fellow believers in Christ.

We always have our own agendas and our own things to do.

But today we're reminded how important that is

to support each other. To be

with each other. To strengthen each other ...

to laugh together, to cry together,

to grieve together, to work together, TO BE

TOGETHER WITH GOD.

Because He will support us and

He will strengthen us. He will give us the

compassion that He has

for the world.

Because even knowing the importance

of rest, when Jesus and His disciples pulled up

in that boat and all of those people had run ahead of Him,

had gotten there before Him,

because they WANTED TO BE WITH HIM,

They needed to HEAR what He had to say;

they wanted to LEARN from Him.

They were there to BE WITH HIM.

He looked at them and

He had compassion.

He had compassion on them

because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

They were running around aimlessly. No one was there

protecting them. No one was there feeding them.

No one was there caring for them and He ...

began to teach them.

The compassion that He had for them,

oozed out to them ...

with Himself, with His Word ...

to tend the flock ... to bring to them the knowledge

of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

And we realize how important

that is for us as well.

How important it is to look at the world with compassion,

with the heart of Christ.

To bring to the world what

they NEED MOST, which IS

the love and the support and

the forgiveness of God.

If Jesus were here today and He looked out on the world,

how would He describe it?

A world that is truly searching for answers.

A world that's become rather selfish

and focused only on what THEIR needs are ... thinking

THEY know what is best, they can decide

the truth, they can decide for themselves everything that

they need.

Yet they can't save themselves.

They can't stop the condemnation

of sin and they're all going to die

some day.

We have ... the answers

that God has given us in His Word.

The true answers ... like for instance:

Jesus died for the forgiveness of sins.

We know that death is the punishment of sin

but for those who believe that Jesus Christ on the

cross of Calvary died to remove that punishment,

it is the passing to eternal life.

To the glories of heaven. To the joys of BEING

with our Creator and our Heavenly Father forever.

And that's the message that we bring to others

in compassion.

We're out there to proclaim the Truth of God.

The Pure Word of God,

because there is the true understanding of compassion

and what love is.

Not that we love God ...

but that He loved us.

He sent Jesus Christ into this world to

restore the relationship that was broken by sin ...

to be the Righteousness that God demanded.

That no one could produce themselves.

We HAVE

THAT wonderful message and it IS

a message of love

and compassion.

And as Jesus taught us: That should be proclaimed.

We proclaim it out of love for those people

who are lost, who need

direction and we do it in a loving manner,

in a gentle manner sometimes putting the needs of

those other people above our own needs

because we understand how important that is.

Jesus IS

the Good Shepherd who laid down His life

for the lost. He has called us His own.

He has gathered us into His flock

He tends for us. He cares for us.

May we find rest in Him.

May we find support and strength in His Word

and encouragement. May we understand

the compassion that He had for sinful

humanity ... so that we, too,

can be compassionate; so that we, too, can be loving

and SHARE the joy that we have.

We realize

that the days are short and there's a lot of work to do.

A lot of work to get done. We all have

lists of things that we want to accomplish today,

even for this week.

But the most important thing that we can never neglect

is that time of rest.

That time of rest

at the feet of our Lord and Savior.

Hearing His Word. Listening to Him.

Sharing with Him.

He tends us as the Good Shepherd.

May we find rest

for our souls. Amen.

Let us rise.

Now may the peace of God which goes beyond

all of our understanding, keep your hearts and your

minds and especially your lives in the one true faith

unto life everlasting. Amen.