Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Hosea 8:7

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From the Word: For they sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no ear; it will bear no grain. If it should yield, strangers will swallow it. (Hosea 8:7)

From the ConfessionsThe Large Catechism, The Ten Commandments

The Third Commandment

It was once the prevailing opinion that you had properly hallowed Sunday when you had heard a mass or the gospel read. Yet no one cared for God’s Word, as no one taught it either. Now, while we have God’s Word, we still fail to correct the abuse, for we endure preaching and admonishment, but listen without urgency and concern. 

Pulling It Together: Hosea’s agricultural imagery depicts the results of idolatry. It is the same as sowing your seed in the wind. The outcome is more wind, or if the seed blows to other properties, they will eat the grain. The Third Commandment would have us guard against a specific kind of idolatrous abuse. Our religious devotion can become a fanaticism that we depend upon instead of the grace of God. If we sow the seed of going to church but fail to turn our ears to the Lord, we have been sowing to the wind. If we depend upon devotional readings and rituals but do not attend to the preaching of God’s Word, that too, is idolatry, and the result is spiritual stubble, straw that is blown away in the whirlwinds of life.

Prayer: Give me ears, Lord, and a heart to hear you. Amen.

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The Great Search is a Christmas program that tells the story of those faithful travelers who made the journey to Bethlehem that very first Christmas. With the help of modern inventions, the magi, shepherds, and angels go on a Great Search to find the Christchild. This program can easily be adapted for large or smaller congregations. The congregation participates in the program through the singing of Christmas carols.


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