Lessons for September 16, 2007 – Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

The first lesson

Exodus 32:7-14
 
    Then the Lord told Moses, "Quick! Go down the mountain! The people you brought from Egypt have defiled themselves. [8] They have already turned from the way I commanded them to live. They have made an idol shaped like a calf, and they have worshiped and sacrificed to it. They are saying, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of Egypt.' " [9] Then the Lord said, "I have seen how stubborn and rebellious these people are. [10] Now leave me alone so my anger can blaze against them and destroy them all. Then I will make you, Moses, into a great nation instead of them." 
[11] But Moses pleaded with the Lord his God not to do it. "O Lord!" he exclaimed. "Why are you so angry with your own people whom you brought from the land of Egypt with such great power and mighty acts? [12] The Egyptians will say, 'God tricked them into coming to the mountains so he could kill them and wipe them from the face of the earth.' Turn away from your fierce anger. Change your mind about this terrible disaster you are planning against your people! [13] Remember your covenant with your servants—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You swore by your own self, 'I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven. Yes, I will give them all of this land that I have promised to your descendants, and they will possess it forever.' "  [14] So the Lord withdrew his threat and didn't bring against his people the disaster he had threatened.  (NLT)

Psalm 51:1-10 

L.  Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love.
C.  Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. 
L.  Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.
C.  For I recognize my shameful deeds—they haunt me day and night. 
L.  Against you, and you alone, have I sinned;
C.  I have done what is evil in your sight.
L.  You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.
C.  For I was born a sinner—yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. 
L.  But you desire honesty from the heart, so you can teach me to be wise in my inmost being.
C.  Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 
L.  Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me—now let me rejoice. 
C.  Don't keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. 
L.  Create in me a clean heart, O God.
C.  Renew a right spirit within me.  (NLT)

The second lesson

1 Timothy 1:12-17
 
    How thankful I am to Christ Jesus our Lord for considering me trustworthy and appointing me to serve him, [13] even though I used to scoff at the name of Christ. I hunted down his people, harming them in every way I could. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief. [14] Oh, how kind and gracious the Lord was! He filled me completely with faith and the love of Christ Jesus. [15] This is a true saying, and everyone should believe it: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—and I was the worst of them all. [16] But that is why God had mercy on me, so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. [17] Glory and honor to God forever and ever. He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God. Amen.  (NLT)

The Gospel Lesson

Luke 15:1-10
 
    Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. [2] This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such despicable people—even eating with them! [3] So Jesus used this illustration: [4] "If you had one hundred sheep, and one of them strayed away and was lost in the wilderness, wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine others to go and search for the lost one until you found it? [5] And then you would joyfully carry it home on your shoulders. [6] When you arrived, you would call together your friends and neighbors to rejoice with you because your lost sheep was found. [7] In the same way, heaven will be happier over one lost sinner who returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven't strayed away! [8] "Or suppose a woman has ten valuable silver coins and loses one. Won't she light a lamp and look in every corner of the house and sweep every nook and cranny until she finds it? [9] And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors to rejoice with her because she has found her lost coin. [10] In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God's angels when even one sinner repents."  (NLT)