church

INI
Thanksgiving Day
November 22, 2012
Ascension Lutheran Church, Tacoma WA
Paul Naumann, Pastor

THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH ARE THE LORD’S
I Samuel 2:1-10

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His
abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead, Amen. Today the Holy Spirit directs our
attention to the Word of God in the First Book of Samuel, chapter two,
beginning with the first verse, as follows:

And Hannah prayed and said: "My heart rejoices in the LORD; My horn is
exalted in the LORD. I smile at my enemies, Because I rejoice in Your
salvation. 2 "No one is holy like the LORD, For there is none besides You, Nor
is there any rock like our God. 3 "Talk no more so very proudly; Let no
arrogance come from your mouth, For the LORD is the God of knowledge;
And by Him actions are weighed. 4 "The bows of the mighty men are broken,
And those who stumbled are girded with strength. 5 Those who were full have
hired themselves out for bread, And the hungry have ceased to hunger. Even
the barren has borne seven, And she who has many children has become feeble.
6 "The LORD kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings
up. 7 The LORD makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up. 8 He
raises the poor from the dust And lifts the beggar from the ash heap, To set
them among princes And make them inherit the throne of glory. "For the pillars
of the earth are the LORD'S, And He has set the world upon them. 9 He will
guard the feet of His saints, But the wicked shall be silent in darkness. "For by
strength no man shall prevail. 10 The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken
in pieces; From heaven He will thunder against them. The LORD will judge the
ends of the earth. "He will give strength to His king, And exalt the horn of His
anointed." Here ends our text.

In the Name of Jesus Christ, at Whose hand and for Whose sake we receive
every good gift from our Father in Heaven, Dear Fellow Redeemed,

Pillars are an ancient architectural device for supporting the weight of a
structure or building. The more massive the pillars, the larger the structure you
can trust them to support. The noble men and women of the Philistines no
doubt were very trusting of the sturdy pillars that supported their temple, on the
day they assembled to celebrate a feast to their false god, Dagon. Three
thousand of them gathered on the flat roof of the temple, and looked down
upon their prisoner Samson, whom they had captured and blinded. They made
fun of him, enjoying their triumph over him. Then Samson prayed to the God of
Israel, "O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this
once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for
my two eyes!" And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported
the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other
on his left. Then Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" And he pushed
with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were
in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his
life.-- Jdg 16:28-30.

Yes, the princes of the Philistines trusted in their mighty pillars. But they failed
to understand one thing – they failed to understand that that the Lord was in
control. That day Samson won a great victory by toppling the pillars of the
Philistine temple. But God was the one who gave Samson his victory. Today is
supposed to be a day of national Thanksgiving. But psychologists tell us that in
America in 2012, stress, anxiety and worry are far more common emotions than
thankfulness. How about you? You may have things going on in your life that
worry you and cause you anxiety. At times you may even feel like the very
pillars and foundations of your life are shaking, and threatening to fall. But in
our text for today, a godly woman named Hannah reminds us of something to
be thankful for: that God has His hands on the pillars of our life, and nothing
can happen to us outside of His gracious will. This morning we consider the
theme:

THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH ARE THE LORD’S

I. The LORD is exclusive and unique.
II. The LORD brings low and lifts up.
III. The Lord protects and provides for His saints.

You’re probably familiar with the Old Testament story of Hannah. She was the
wife of Elkanah, a devout Israelite of the tribe of Ephraim. She had a problem
in her life. She was barren; she couldn’t have children. And in that society
childbearing was central to the wellbeing and posterity of the family. So to be
without children was considered the worst thing that could happen to a person.
“Poor woman,” you might say, “what a bad break.” But Hannah’s situation was
no accident. In fact, chapter one reveals that it was the Lord who had closed
Hannah’s womb. She went to the temple and prayed, "O LORD of hosts, if
You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me,
and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child,
then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall
come upon his head. …And the LORD remembered her. 20 So it came to pass
in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his
name Samuel, saying, "Because I have asked for him from the LORD." -- (1Sa
1:11; 19-20.

Our text for today is the second prayer. It’s the prayer Hannah prayed after
God had given her a son. It’s a prayer of praise and thanksiving to God, and it’s
very revealing. Here’s a woman who has been through great turmoil of soul and
has learned an important lesson: God is in control. God is in control. Or, as
Hannah herself puts it in verse eight: THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH ARE
THE LORD'S. Hannah had learned first-hand that, no matter what hardships
and challenges may face you in life, it is the Almighty God who is in control. He
is the one who is supporting you and all things at all times! Hannah prayed and
said: "My heart rejoices in the LORD; My horn is exalted in the LORD. I smile
at my enemies, Because I rejoice in Your salvation.

Hannah makes some interesting claims about God in her prayer. For one thing,
she says that the LORD is exclusive and unique. You may have noticed that
exclusivity is not a very popular concept in religion these days. To claim that
the God whom you worship is the only true God - and that every other god is a
false god and an idol – is considered politically incorrect and in very bad taste.
Evidently we’re all expected to mimic the popular view that all religions are
equally valid, and that there are many different paths to the same God. And if
we refuse to do so? If we have the temerity to point out how absurd it is to say
that all these wildly varying theologies could be equally true? What happens
then? Then we are condemned as narrow-minded bigots.

But what does Hannah say in our text? That all gods are the same? That all
religions are equally valid? No, Hannah says that the true God is exclusive and
unique: "No one is holy like the LORD, For there is none besides You, Nor is
there any rock like our God.” To the humanistic skeptics, to the unbelieving
speechifiers of her age and of every age she says, "Talk no more so very
proudly; Let no arrogance come from your mouth, For the LORD is the God of
knowledge; And by Him actions are weighed.” Thankfully, we don’t have to
please everybody. We are responsible to only one Person: the Lord. We
recognize only one source of truth: His Word. There is only one criterion by
which every person will be judged on the Last Day, and our Lord Jesus tells us
exactly what that is: "He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has
that which judges him-- the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last
day. -- Joh 12:48.

As the Apostle John reminds us, All things were made through Him, and
without Him nothing was made that was made. -- Jn 1:3. THE PILLARS OF
THE EARTH ARE THE LORD'S. The second thing we notice in Hannah’s
prayer is that it is the LORD brings low and lifts up

Our text says, "The bows of the mighty men are broken, And those who
stumbled are girded with strength. 5 Those who were full have hired themselves
out for bread, And the hungry have ceased to hunger. Even the barren has
borne seven, And she who has many children has become feeble.” Hannah had
experienced this personally. In a matter of nine months – with the birth of her
son Samuel – her greatest sorrow turned into a dream come true. And it can go
both ways – sometimes the Lord humbles us and allows us to experience a
reversal of fortune. Perhaps you’ve gone through that as well. The world says,
“That’s the breaks. It’s the luck of the draw.” But we know better. God wants
us to understand that the events of our lives – even the huge changes we
sometimes have to go through – are not mere random events. For THE
PILLARS OF THE EARTH ARE THE LORD'S. Random events? You think
God’s not paying attention to what’s going on in your life? You’re wrong! Jesus
said, Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to
the ground apart from your Father's will. 30 "But the very hairs of your head are
all numbered. -- Mat 10:29-30.

Hannah goes on: It is the LORD who makes poor and makes rich; He brings
low and lifts up. 8 He raises the poor from the dust And lifts the beggar from
the ash heap, To set them among princes And make them inherit the throne of
glory. Now this could be referring to a person’s material wealth and status.
THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH ARE THE LORD’S, and He certainly can
and often does bestow great material gifts on people. He can make a pauper
into a prince overnight. You may have learned this lesson, too: that the Lord
can turn a financial disaster into a budgetary triumph in the blink of an eye, and
in the most unexpected ways. But Hannah’s words here are even more true
when applied to the spiritual realm. For it is in our faith life and in our salvation
that the true transformation has taken place. That’s where we sinful beggars
have become redeemed royalty.

And we are sinners. God's piercing Law leaves us no room but to despair of our
own worthiness. But the message of God's grace is that despite our wretched
condition, the Lord chose us for His own in Christ, "...having wiped out the
handwriting of requirements that was against us." --Col 2:14. One Christian
writer gave a striking illustration of this. I’ve used this illustration before, but I
never get tired of it: a wealthy prince announced that he would seek a bride
from among his people, who would reign with him as his queen. He searched
high and low throughout his kingdom. Finally he came to a grimy back alley,
where he found a bedraggled harlot sitting in the gutter. She was so ill-used and
ugly that no one wanted her anymore, and all that remained for her was to die.
But it was to this filthy creature that the prince kindly extended his hand and
said, "You are the one I have chosen to be my queen. Come and share the
splendors of my kingdom!"

My Christian friends, that’s our story! Your transformation and mine is no less
astounding than that. THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH ARE THE LORD’S,
and He controlled all the events of history so that you and I might be redeemed
from sin and exalted as the children of God! When the time was just right He
sent His son to be born a human Child. Scripture says, He came not to
condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. THE
PILLARS OF THE EARTH ARE THE LORD’S, and it was all part of God’s
plan. The manger in Bethlehem was part of the plan, but so was the cross on a
lonely hill outside Jerusalem. Our Savior’s suffering, His pain and His death
were all part of the plan to save you and me from our sins. And when the cup of
God's wrath over sin had been drained to the last drop, Jesus said from the
cross, "It is finished." Precious words! Not, "It is almost finished," or, "it is
finished for the time being." Jesus didn't say, "Well, My part is finished -- now
good luck with your part!" No, today we reserve our heartiest thanks and our
highest praise for the fact that our salvation is complete. Nothing remains to be
done. To Christ's finished work of redemption we need add nothing. In fact, we
dare not try to add anything lest we thereby deny the all-sufficiency of our
Savior's sacrifice. "If by grace," Paul says, "then it is no longer of works;
otherwise grace is no longer grace." --Ro 11:6.

THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH ARE THE LORD’S. He is in control. Our
sin had brought us low, but God has lifted us up in Christ. It's a real-life rags to
riches story -- it's your story and my story. What a reason for thanksgiving! Not
only has the Lord pardoned us from the certain death our sins deserved, but we
also find ourselves lifted to the exalted position of "a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, His own special people."

Yes, THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH ARE THE Lord's, and the third thing
we notice is that the LORD protects and provides for His saints.

Hannah says He will guard the feet of His saints, But the wicked shall be silent
in darkness. "For by strength no man shall prevail. To “guard the feet” means
that the Lord will be with you, every day for the rest of this year, and for the
rest of your life. He will continue to protect you and provide for you. Your
enemies – the challenges you face and the forces arrayed against you – they may
look strong, but no one is stronger than God. THE PILLARS OF THE
EARTH ARE THE LORD’S. Paul asks a question that really needs no answer:
If God be for us, who can be against us?

No one can be against us! On this day of national Thanksgiving, the evidence
of God's grace and Providence is all around us. Consider: wherein one of the
most difficult economic periods our nation has ever seen, and yet which of us
doesn't have plenty of good food to eat? Which of us doesn't have a
comfortable home to protect us from the elements? Isn't it true that, far from
providing our scant necessities, God has lavished abundance upon us! King
David said, “I have been young and now am old, yet have I not seen the
righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." Like faithful Hannah, you and I
have so much to be thankful for – and the material blessings are by far the least
of it!

Speaking of which, did you notice? Hannah’s extraordinary prayer ends with a
far-seeing prophesy, at prophesy of a coming judgment and a coming King: The
adversaries of the LORD shall be broken in pieces; From heaven He will
thunder against them. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth. "He will give
strength to His king, And exalt the horn of His anointed." Can you guess what
the Hebrew word for “anointed” is in that verse? Messiah! Many centuries
before the birth of Christ in Bethlehem, Hannah predicted the coming of the
great King above all kings, the Anointed of God! Here at Ascension, of course,
we’ll be celebrating His birth in a few short weeks. A few months after that
we’ll observe His death and celebrate His resurrection. And because of His
great redemption, at some time in the not too distant future we will hear Him
speak to us these precious words from His throne of Judgment: Come, you
blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world: -- Mat 25:34. May God hasten that triumphant day!

If you're interested in the history of Egypt, you've no doubt heard of the
Temple of Karnack. Its ruins lie near the ancient town of Luxor along the Nile
River. Among its many architectural wonders, the Temple of Karnack contains
the most massive stone pillars in the world. Each of the twelve huge pillars is
over ten feet thick and 66 feet high. Imagine pillars nearly half as wide as this
church and three times a high, and you get the idea. Thousands of years old, the
pillars of Karnack continue to astound modern-day visitors. My fellow
Christians, there is something more astounding still, if we will only consider it.
And that is the power and majesty of the Lord our God. The pillars He controls
are not made of sandstone, and their dimensions are so vast that they cannot be
calculated. For THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH ARE THE LORD'S. Today
we’ve learned that the Lord is exclusive and unique; it is the Lord who brings
low and lifts up; and it is the Lord who protects and provides for His saints. On
this Day of Thanksgiving, there is one thing you can be absolutely sure of: God
is in control. He has already given His Son for you, and His power and His love
will continue to protect and provide for you through all your life long! AMEN.