Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour "Cost of Salvation" for Sunday, 1 February 2015

Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour "Cost of Salvation" for Sunday, 1 February 2015

But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. [Romans 5:8-9]
The time it takes for me to read this devotion is three minutes and ten seconds.
Now I'm not saying they will, nor even that they should, but I wanted you to know that if Lutheran Hour Ministries wanted to run this devotion on the Super Bowl, it would cost our organization approximately $28.5 million.
That's right. The Super Bowl ads this year cost $9 million for a minute of time. If your company can't afford one minute worth of Super Bowl air time, you can go on the cheap and buy 30 seconds for $4.5 million. Certainly, $150,000 a second would be a bargain in anybody's book.
Now I'm going out on the limb and am willing to gamble that you won't see this devotion being aired on the Super Bowl. On the other hand, if you watch the Super Bowl, you will see ads for
* a 30-second ad for avocados from Mexico;
* two 30-second ads for Doritos;
* an ad in the third quarter of the game for Jublia, a toenail fungus treatment;
* ads for Snickers candy bars, which will be balanced out by an ad for Weight Watchers.
Now I would not minimize or make mockery of the need for the public to be able to identify a trustworthy name in the toenail fungus-fighting field. Fighting fungus is always an important thing.
Still ... in the cosmic scheme of things, getting rid of toenail fungus is of small value compared to getting rid of sin. Yet, neither The Lutheran Hour, nor any other Christian organization is going to cough up the $9 million necessary for an ad on the Super Bowl.
All of this means if people are going to know about Jesus and the wonderful work He has done for them, they won't hear about His life, suffering and death on Dr Phil, or Oprah, or on reruns of Gilligan's Island.
No, they are going to need to hear it from you.
It's true, my friends, you are the Lord's advertisers, and for 2,000 years God has depended on His saved souls to tell the many lost souls of the world what He has done through His Son. That the Christian faith is the biggest organization the world has ever seen is a mark to their commitment and service. It is a commitment which needs to continue.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, I rejoice that others have told me about the wonders of Your love and the greatness of the Savior's commitment to saving us. Now may I do all I can to make sure others know how Jesus' life was paid as the price to save sinful souls. Then, by the Holy Spirit's power, may others be brought to faith. In Jesus I ask it. Amen.

In Christ I remain His servant and yours,

Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Through the Bible in a Year
Today Read:
Genesis 36-38; Matthew 21:1-22

Genesis 36: Esau’s descendants

1 These are the descendants of Esau, that is, Edom. 2 Esau married Canaanite women: Adah the daughter of the Hittite Elon; Oholibamah the daughter of Anah son of the Hittite Zibeon,[a] 3 and Basemath the daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth. 4 Adah gave birth to Eliphaz for Esau, Basemath gave birth to Reuel, 5 and Oholibamah gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are Esau’s sons born to him in the land of Canaan.

6 Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and everyone in his household, and his livestock, all of his animals, and all of the property he had acquired in the land of Canaan; and he moved away from the land of Canaan[b] and from his brother Jacob. 7 They had so many possessions that they couldn’t live together. The land where they lived as immigrants couldn’t support all of their livestock. 8 So Esau, that is, Edom, lived in the mountains of Seir.

9 These are the descendants of Esau, the ancestor of Edom, which lies in the mountains of Seir. 10 These are the names of Edom’s sons: Eliphaz son of Esau’s wife Adah, and Reuel son of Esau’s wife Basemath. 11 Eliphaz’s sons were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. 12 Timna was the secondary wife of Eliphaz, Esau’s son, and she gave birth to Amalek for Eliphaz. These are the sons of Esau’s wife Adah. 13 These are Reuel’s sons: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the sons of Esau’s wife Basemath. 14 These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, Zibeon’s son:[c] she gave birth to Esau, Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

15 These are the tribal chiefs from Esau’s sons. The sons of Eliphaz, Esau’s oldest son: Chief Teman, Chief Omar, Chief Zepho, Chief Kenaz, 16 Chief Korah, Chief Gatam, and Chief Amalek. These are the tribal chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; they are Adah’s sons. 17 These are the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son: Chief Nahath, Chief Zerah, Chief Shammah, and Chief Mizzah. These are the tribal chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom; they are the sons of Esau’s wife Basemath. 18 These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: Chief Jeush, Chief Jalam, and Chief Korah. They are the tribal chiefs of Esau’s wife Oholibamah the daughter of Anah. 19 These are the sons of Esau, who is Edom, and these are their tribal chiefs.

20 These are the sons of Seir, the Horite, who live in the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These are the Horite tribal chiefs, Seir’s sons, in the land of Edom. 22 Lotan’s sons are Hori and Heman, and Lotan’s sister was Timna. 23 These are Shobal’s sons: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. 24 These are Zibeon’s sons: Aiah and Anah. Anah is the one who found water[d] in the desert while pasturing his father Zibeon’s donkeys.

25 These are Anah’s children: Dishon and Anah’s daughter Oholibamah. 26 These are Dishon’s[e] sons: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. 27 These are Ezer’s sons: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan. 28 These are Dishan’s sons: Uz and Aran. 29 These are the Horite tribal chiefs: Chiefs Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 30 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These are the Horite tribal chiefs, listed according to their chiefs in the land of Seir.

31 These are the kings who ruled in the land of Edom before a king ruled over the Israelites. 32 Bela, Beor’s son, ruled in Edom; his city’s name was Dinhabah. 33 After Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah became king. 34 After Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites became king. 35 After Husham died, Hadad, Bedad’s son who defeated Midian in the countryside of Moab, became king; his city’s name was Avith. 36 After Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah became king. 37 After Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth on the river became king. 38 After Shaul died, Baal-hanan, Achbor’s son, became king. 39 After Baal-hanan, Achbor’s son, died, Hadar became king; his city’s name was Pau and his wife’s name was Mehetabel the daughter of Matred and granddaughter of Me-zahab.

40 These are the names of Esau’s tribal chiefs according to their families, their locations, and their names: Chief Timna, Chief Alvah, Chief Jetheth, 41 Chief Oholibamah, Chief Elah, Chief Pinon, 42 Chief Kenaz, Chief Teman, Chief Mibzar, 43 Chief Magdiel, and Chief Iram. These are Edom’s tribal chiefs according to their settlements in the land they possessed. This is Esau, the ancestor of the Edomites.

Joseph dreams of power

37:1 Jacob lived in the land of Canaan where his father was an immigrant. 2 This is the account of Jacob’s descendants. Joseph was 17 years old and tended the flock with his brothers. While he was helping the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, Joseph told their father unflattering things about them. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons because he was born when Jacob was old. Jacob had made for him a long[f] robe. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of his brothers, they hated him and couldn’t even talk nicely to him.

5 Joseph had a dream and told it to his brothers, which made them hate him even more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had. 7 When we were binding stalks of grain in the field, my stalk got up and stood upright, while your stalks gathered around it and bowed down to my stalk.”

8 His brothers said to him, “Will you really be our king and rule over us?” So they hated him even more because of the dreams he told them.

9 Then Joseph had another dream and described it to his brothers: “I’ve just dreamed again, and this time the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

10 When he described it to his father and brothers, his father scolded him and said to him, “What kind of dreams have you dreamed? Am I and your mother and your brothers supposed to come and bow down to the ground in front of you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father took careful note of the matter.

Joseph’s brothers take revenge

12 Joseph’s brothers went to tend their father’s flocks near Shechem. 13 Israel said to Joseph, “Aren’t your brothers tending the sheep near Shechem? Come, I’ll send you to them.”

And he said, “I’m ready.”

14 Jacob said to him, “Go! Find out how your brothers are and how the flock is, and report back to me.”

So Jacob sent him from the Hebron Valley. When he approached Shechem, 15 a man found him wandering in the field and asked him, “What are you looking for?”

16 Joseph said, “I’m looking for my brothers. Tell me, where are they tending the sheep?”

17 The man said, “They left here. I heard them saying, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.

18 They saw Joseph in the distance before he got close to them, and they plotted to kill him. 19 The brothers said to each other, “Here comes the big dreamer. 20 Come on now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns, and we’ll say a wild animal devoured him. Then we will see what becomes of his dreams!”

21 When Reuben heard what they said, he saved him from them, telling them, “Let’s not take his life.” 22 Reuben said to them, “Don’t spill his blood! Throw him into this desert cistern, but don’t lay a hand on him.” He intended to save Joseph from them and take him back to his father.

23 When Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped off Joseph’s long robe, 24 took him, and threw him into the cistern, an empty cistern with no water in it. 25 When they sat down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with camels carrying sweet resin, medicinal resin, and fragrant resin on their way down to Egypt. 26 Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and hide his blood? 27 Come on, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites. Let’s not harm him because he’s our brother; he’s family.” His brothers agreed. 28 When some Midianite traders passed by, they pulled Joseph up out of the cistern. They sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver, and they brought Joseph to Egypt.

29 When Reuben returned to the cistern and found that Joseph wasn’t in it, he tore his clothes. 30 Then he returned to his brothers and said, “The boy’s gone! And I—where can I go now?”

31 His brothers took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 They took the long robe, brought it to their father, and said, “We found this. See if it’s your son’s robe or not.”

33 He recognized it and said, “It’s my son’s robe! A wild animal has devoured him. Joseph must have been torn to pieces!” 34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put a simple mourning cloth around his waist, and mourned for his son for many days. 35 All of his sons and daughters got up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, telling them, “I’ll go to my grave mourning for my son.” And Joseph’s father wept for him. 36 Meanwhile the Midianites had sold Joseph to the Egyptians, to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s chief officer, commander of the royal guard.

Tamar’s place in Judah’s family

38:1 At that time, Judah moved away from his brothers and settled near an Adullamite named Hirah. 2 There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite whose name was Shua, and he married her. After he slept with her, 3 she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, whom she[g] named Er. 4 She became pregnant again, gave birth to a son, and named him Onan. 5 Then she gave birth to one more son and named him Shelah. She was in Chezib when she gave birth to him.

6 Judah married his oldest son Er to a woman named Tamar. 7 But the Lord considered Judah’s oldest son Er immoral, and the Lord put him to death. 8 Judah said to Onan, “Go to your brother’s wife, do your duty as her brother-in-law, and provide children for your brother.” 9 Onan knew the children wouldn’t be his so when he slept with his brother’s wife, he wasted his semen on the ground, so he wouldn’t give his brother children. 10 The Lord considered what he did as wrong and put him to death too. 11 Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, “Stay as a widow in your father’s household until my son Shelah grows up.” He thought Shelah would die like his brothers had. So Tamar went and lived in her father’s household.

12 After a long time, Judah’s wife the daughter of Shua died. Then, after a period of mourning, he and his neighbor Hirah the Adullamite went up to Timnah, to those who were shearing his sheep. 13 Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is now on his way up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” 14 So Tamar took off the clothing she wore as a widow, covered herself with a veil, put on makeup,[h] and sat down at the entrance to Enaim on the road to Timnah, since she realized that although Shelah had already grown up, she hadn’t been given to him as a wife.

15 Judah saw her and thought she was a prostitute because she had covered her face. 16 He turned to her beside the road and said, “Let me sleep with you,” because he didn’t know she was his daughter-in-law.

She said, “What will you give me for sleeping with you?”

17 He said, “I will give you a kid goat from my flock.”

She said, “Only if you give me some deposit, as security to guarantee that you will send it.”

18 He said, “What kind of deposit should I give you?”

And she said, “Your seal, its cord, and the staff in your hand.” He gave these to her, slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.

19 Then she got up, left, and took off her veil, dressing once again in the clothing she wore as a widow. 20 Judah sent the kid goat with his neighbor the Adullamite so he could take back the deposits from the woman, but he couldn’t find her. 21 He asked the locals of that place, “Where’s the consecrated worker[i] who was at Enaim on the road?”

But they said, “There’s no consecrated worker here.”

22 So he went back to Judah and said, “I couldn’t find her. The locals even said, ‘There’s no holy woman here.’”

23 Judah said, “Let her keep everything so we aren’t laughed at. I did send this kid goat, but you couldn’t find her.”

24 About three months later, Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has become a prostitute and is now pregnant because of it.”

And Judah said, “Bring her out so that she may be burned.”

25 When she was brought out, she sent this message to her father-in-law, “I’m pregnant by the man who owns these things. See if you recognize whose seal, cord, and staff these are.”

26 Judah recognized them and said, “She’s more righteous than I am, because I didn’t allow her to marry my son Shelah.” Judah never knew her intimately again.

27 When she gave birth, she discovered she had twins in her womb. 28 At birth, one boy put out his hand, and the midwife took it and tied a red thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” 29 As soon as he pulled his hand back, his brother came out, and she said, “You’ve burst out on your own.” So he was named Perez.[j] 30 Afterward, his brother with the red thread on his hand came out, and he was named Zerah.[k][Footnotes:

Genesis 36:2 LXX, Sam, Syr; MT daughter

Genesis 36:6 LXX, Sam; MT to a land

Genesis 36:14 LXX, Sam, Syr; MT daughter

Genesis 36:24 Syr; Heb uncertain

Genesis 36:26 Sam, Syr; MT Dishan’s

Genesis 37:3 LXX many-colored

Genesis 38:3 Sam, Tg; MT he

Genesis 38:14 Or perfumed herself or wrapped herself up

Genesis 38:21 Traditionally cultic prostitute

Genesis 38:29 Or bursting out

Genesis 38:30 Or dawn]

Matthew 21: Entry into Jerusalem

1 When they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus gave two disciples a task. 2 He said to them, “Go into the village over there. As soon as you enter, you will find a donkey tied up and a colt with it. Untie them and bring them to me. 3  If anybody says anything to you, say that the Lord needs it.” He sent them off right away. 4 Now this happened to fulfill what the prophet said, 5 Say to Daughter Zion, “Look, your king is coming to you, humble and riding on a donkey, and on a colt the donkey’s offspring.”[a] 6 The disciples went and did just as Jesus had ordered them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and laid their clothes on them. Then he sat on them.

8 Now a large crowd spread their clothes on the road. Others cut palm branches off the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds in front of him and behind him shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord![b] Hosanna in the highest!” 10 And when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up. “Who is this?” they asked. 11 The crowds answered, “It’s the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Cleansing the temple

12 Then Jesus went into the temple and threw out all those who were selling and buying there. He pushed over the tables used for currency exchange and the chairs of those who sold doves. 13 He said to them, “It’s written, My house will be called a house of prayer.[c] But you’ve made it a hideout for crooks.”

14 People who were blind and lame came to Jesus in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and legal experts saw the amazing things he was doing and the children shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were angry. 16 They said to Jesus, “Do you hear what these children are saying?”

“Yes,” he answered. “Haven’t you ever read, From the mouths of babies and infants you’ve arranged praise for yourself? [d]” 17 Then he left them and went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.

Cursing the fig tree

18 Early in the morning as Jesus was returning to the city, he was hungry. 19 He saw a fig tree along the road, but when he came to it, he found nothing except leaves. Then he said to it, “You’ll never again bear fruit!” The fig tree dried up at once.

20 When the disciples saw it, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree dry up so fast?” they asked.

21 Jesus responded, “I assure you that if you have faith and don’t doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree. You will even say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the lake.’ And it will happen. 22  If you have faith, you will receive whatever you pray for.”[Footnotes:

Matthew 21:5 Isa 62:11; Zech 9:9

Matthew 21:9 Ps. 118:26

Matthew 21:13 Isa 56:7; Jer 7:11

Matthew 21:16 Ps 8:3 LXX][Common English Bible]

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