If you were a parent, and if you had a little child who had just been born,

and if you thought to yourself, "It is my number one goal and duty to see to it that I do everything within my power that this child will someday be in Heaven,"

and if then, as a parent, you took that child to the waters of holy Baptism, where that child was brought to saving faith in Christ, as his/her Savior,

and if you took that little baby that God had given to you, and you sang "Jesus Loves Me" to that little child, and the first day you heard that child actually respond right back with those same words, your heart thrilled that your little one was beginning to sing hymns to Jesus,

and if everyday you took that little child, and put his/her hands together and began to teach that child to pray to his/her Savior,

and if you took that child to Sunday School,

and if, when that child had its first Bible story that he/she had colored, you put it up on the refrigerator and were so happy to see that,

and if you saw to it that when that little child got old enough, you sent him/her to Christian Day School,

and if, when that child was going to Christian Day School, you memorized along with your child the memory verses from scripture, so that together you were storing up in your hearts the treasures of God's Word,

and if you saw to it that your child was confirmed in the Christian faith, stood before the altar, and promised to be faithful to God all of his/her life,

and if you faithfully brought that child to the house of God weekly for church services,

and if you faithfully handed down before that child, and laid in front of that child, the great heritage, the heritage of the Christian faith, the heritage of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, if you faithfully laid down the heritage of Jesus to that child,

and if one day, when that child grew old enough, that child began to push away Jesus, began to push away that great heritage, and began to say in his/her own heart, "He's not for me. Jesus is not for me. I don't need to go to church. I don't need to hear God's Word. I don't need to pray."

And if you were able to sit down with your child, and were able to have a heart-to-heart conversation with them,

and if he/she was able to tell you why is it, why he/she was pushing Jesus away,

what if your child said, "God's Word is boring. Church is boring. It is boring to go to church. We hear the same thing over, and over, and over. It is boring to hear about sin. It is boring to hear the Gospel. I have heard it a million times. It is boring. The sermons are boring. The hymns are boring. The liturgy is boring."

Has boredom happened to you? Has it ever happened to you that in boredom you thought about something else, during church? Has it ever happened to you that you got up on a Sunday morning and you thought, "Church is boring. Maybe I won't go today."

I want you to look at what happened to Jesus, in His own hometown. In His own hometown, Jesus, God, grew up among all the boys and girls His age. In today’s reading, we find Him on the Sabbath day in the synagogue. Scripture says, "on the Sabbath day He went into the synagogue, as was His custom." It was His custom to go to church. And here we find Jesus, in church, where he regularly went. This time He was in His hometown, in Nazareth.

He had been in His ministry for about a year. Fame about Him was spreading far and wide. He had performed miracles. And now, for the first time He was back in His hometown, in the village, the little village of Nazareth.

As was custom in His day, any male over thirty years old, in good standing, was invited to come up and read from scripture. And so, Jesus went up and read from scripture. He read from the book of Isaiah. "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor." After He read it, He sat down in the Rabbi's seat. The Bible says, "The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on Him." They wondered what He was going to say. Then He said,

"Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

He was saying, "I am the Messiah. I am the One who was spoken about in the book of Isaiah, the One who has come to free the prisoners, release the captive." And, the Bible said they "were amazed at the gracious words that came from His lips."

I don't think that was very boring to be there and to hear Jesus preach a sermon. In fact, the Bible says every eye, "the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on Him."

But, despite that fact, what happened next? Jesus, who knew the hearts of the people, His hometown people, said to them, "Surely you quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’"

In other words, "Jesus, do some miracles. Give us a thrill. Do something exciting. Give us a little ‘bling’ (as the young culture says today). Give us something exciting."

But, Jesus did not give them something exciting. He didn't do any miracles in Nazareth. He didn't give them something thrilling. He did not give them the ‘bling.’ All He gave them was His Word. The Bible tells us, "All the people in the synagogue were furious, when they heard this."

And, what did they do? They took Him to the edge of the cliff, to throw Him off!

Our sinful nature

wants to do the same thing

to Jesus and His Word!

Brothers and Sisters, it is a fact in scripture that the only thing the Holy Spirit promises to use,

to strengthen you in your faith,

to give you faith,

to keep you in your faith,

to cause you to grow in your faith,

to cause you to be motivated to live for your Savior,

the only thing, the only thing, the only means the Holy Spirit uses is the Gospel in Word and Sacrament.

That is it.

It is our sinful nature's nature not to want to hear the Word of God. Remember, your sinful nature is opposed to anything that God loves and anything that is dear to God. Our sinful nature is very easily bored with the Word of God. Think about it. The Word of God tells our sinful nature, "You are a sinner." Do you think your sinful nature wants to hear that? Do you think your sinful nature wants to hear that Sunday, after Sunday, after Sunday, after Sunday, after Sunday?

What does our sinful nature say? "That is boring. It is boring to hear that I am a sinner."

God's Word tells us that Jesus died on the cross to pay for all of the sins we have committed. But, our sinful nature does not think our sins are so serious. Our sinful nature does not think we really need a savior from all of our sins. And so, when our sinful nature hears, over, and over, and over, that Jesus died for the sins of the world and Jesus died for your sins, what does our sinful nature say? "That's boring. BORING!"

Our sinful nature grows bored with the Word of God. Our sinful nature certainly would love to find something else to be excited about.

But, Brothers and Sisters, it is not the Word of God that is dull.

It is not the Word of God that is dull!

It is our sinful nature that is dull.

And the dullness of our sinful nature is not satisfied with the simple, plain, changeless Word of God. The dullness of our sinful nature is always looking for something new, something thrilling, something exciting, something with emotion to really get me wrapped up. God does not promise to work through anything, but the changeless Word of God. The very thing that our sinful nature is bored with is the very thing that you and I find our deepest comfort, our deepest security, our deepest council in.

Consider this: The Word of God does not change. It is changeless. It remains firm. Our sinful nature is bored with things that do not change. The Word of God is a rock that stands secure. And, it is a changeless fact. It is a changeless fact, and it has been changeless from the day you were born and will be until the day you die. It was changeless before you were ever born and it will be changeless far after you die. It is a changeless fact that every one born into this world is a sinner. You are a sinner. You deserve eternal condemnation. That is a changeless fact in scripture. It will not change. It will never change, not so long as we are on this earth.

And, we find our greatest security in the fact that God's Gospel is changeless. How troubling it would be if God's Word did change. I would never know, "What does God think of me today? Is He happy with me today? Does He care about me today? Does He forgive me today?"

No, Brothers and Sisters. The Word of God is changeless.

Jesus Christ

the same yesterday,

today,

and forever!

I can find my greatest comfort, my greatest security, in knowing it is an objective fact, a changeless fact that Jesus came to this earth. He took on human flesh. Jesus is the Savior of the world.

It is a changeless fact that Jesus went to the cross.

It is a changeless fact, and it will never change, that on the cross, Jesus paid for all sins, of all people, of all time.

It is a changeless fact. It will never change. Jesus died for my sins. And that will never change.

It is a changeless fact that God takes the forgiveness of sins that was won by Jesus Christ, and He distributes those to us, through His Word.

It is a changeless fact that when a fellow Christian declares absolution, "By the authority of God, I declare unto you the gracious forgiveness of all your sins," it is a changeless fact that the promise is true. Your sins are forgiven.

It is a changeless fact that in the waters of holy Baptism and the Word of Baptism, the promises of scripture were delivered to you personally. And, Jesus was declared to be your Savior from your sin. And that is a changeless fact.

It is a changeless fact that when you come up here to the Lord's Supper, Jesus is here.

It is a changeless fact that He gives you His body and His blood. It is a changeless fact that there He declares, "This is my body and my blood for the forgiveness of your sin." It is a changeless fact that you receive that gift of forgiveness, through those words in the Lord's Supper.

Those are the changeless facts that you and I, Brothers and Sisters, cling to, for the sake of Jesus, our Savior. Oh, our sinful nature grows bored of those, but they are not dull. They are not dull teachings. That is where we go to find our security.

And so, Brothers and Sisters, if you find yourself growing bored with the Word of God, know that is your sinful nature. Know that is your sinful nature. And, find your greatest comfort in the very changeless Word of God, that will not change, that will remain firm, and will stand.

God's Word is our great heritage.

And shall be ours forever;

To spread its light from age to age

Shall be our chief endeavor.

Through life it guides our way;

In death it is our stay.

Lord, grant, while worlds endure,

We keep its teachings pure,

Throughout all generations.

Amen.