Sunday, March 27, 2011

Sermon Delivered March 27, 2011: Standing Alone

Take a quick listen to these songs, and see if you can hear something in common:

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus blood and righteousness
No merit of my own I claim
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name
On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus As soldiers of the cross
Lift high His royal banner It must not suffer loss
From vict’ry unto vict’ry His army He shall lead
Till every foe is vanquished and Christ is Lord indeed.

Beneath the cross of Jesus, I long to take my stand
The shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land
A home within a wilderness a rest upon the way
From the burning of the noontide heat and burdens of the day.

Notice any commonality within those songs? Notice how each of them in some way talked about taking a stand with and for Jesus? We’ll actually sing another such song in just a few moments: "Standing on the Promises of God." Yes, my brothers and sisters, there a thread which runs through Christianity which calls us to stand up for the principles and convictions of our faith. There is a thread which urges you and me to stand on the Word of God; to stand for what is right; to weather storms of criticism and outright assault by others who would knock us down because, by God, we know we are doing the right thing, and we should never, ever back down.

And honestly, there’s nothing wrong with talking about our faith in such a manner. There’s nothing wrong with talking about the need to stand strong in our faith. There’s nothing wrong with encouraging one another to hold fast to principle to morals to the teachings of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We need such encouragement. We need to be built up and have our faith strengthened in such a manner. It’s vitally important. Why?

Because when the rubber hits the road, it’s awful hard for us to actually take that stand. Particularly if we are alone. I am reminded of a story I once heard.

On the outskirts of town, there was a huge nut tree by the cemetery fence.

One day two boys filled up a bucketful of nuts and sat down by the tree, out of sight, and began dividing the nuts.  "One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me," said one boy.  The bucket was so full, several rolled out toward the fence.

Cycling down the road by the cemetery was a third boy. As he passed he thought he heard voices from inside the cemetery. He slowed down to investigate. Sure enough, he heard, "One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me."

This third boy knew what it was. "Oh, my!" he shuddered, "It's Satan and St. Peter dividing the souls at the cemetery!" He cycled down the road as fast as he could and found an old man with a cane, hobbling along.

"Come quick!" said the boy. "You won't believe what I heard. Satan and St. Peter are down at the cemetery dividing the souls."

The man said, "Shoo, you brat! They are doing no such thing. The last judgment is far away."

The boy was persistent, however, and after several pleas, the old man reluctantly hobbled to the cemetery.

Standing by the fence he heard, "One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me..."

The old man, with a skeptical grin, whispered, "We’ll there’s certainly some sorting going on, but I don’t think it’s Peter and the Devil. Somebody’s just playing a prank on people passing by. They don’t even know we’re here."

The third little boy was annoyed with the old man’s pompous attitude, and he whispered back, "Just you wait. It’s St. Peter and the Devil. Watch a minute, and we’ll get to see one of them."

Humoring the boy, the old man just grinned.

The two of them continued to peer through the fence, yet they were still unable to see anything. The boy gripped the wrought iron bars of the fence tighter and tighter as he tried to get a glimpse of Satan. The old man just stood there chuckling to himself. At last they heard, "One for you, one for me. And one last one for you. That's all. Now let's go get those nuts by the fence, and we'll be done."

Suddenly, the old man’s face went from a smile to a look of sheer terror. Both he and the boy bolted, and they say the old guy made it back to town 5 minutes before the boy.

As I said, it’s easy to talk about taking a stand. It’s easy to talk about holding onto our faith. It’s easy to talk about standing on our principles and our values and on the Word of God. But it’s hard to do it. If you were to ask me, I’d tell you it was darn near impossible.

Even the great St. Peter had a difficult time of it. We see that playing out in the continuing story of the passion of Christ this Sunday. Peter was resolved. He was determined. When everyone else would run away, he would not. He would not betray Jesus. He would stick with Jesus to the very, bitter end. Nothing would pry him away. If the song "Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus" had been written by this time, Peter would have sang it the loudest and strongest. But he wouldn’t have known he was a few beats off and way off key until the rubber hit the road. Because when the rubber hit the road, Peter couldn’t stand. Once, twice, three times, Peter denied Jesus. The cock crowed, and Peter wept. He couldn’t stand. He wouldn’t. The reality that he loved his life more than Jesus hit him very hard.

Now, I bet you believe I am going to start coming down on all of us right now. I bet you think I’m going to point out that we are just as weak as Peter is and that when the rubber hits the road for us, we too fall short. We too fail to stand for Jesus. We too fail to love Jesus more than our lives, our wealth, our families, our friends, our jobs, or whatever. I could go down that road, but you don’t need me to tell you this. You already know. You already know you don’t stand up for Jesus all the time. When the rubber hits the road and you are all alone and you are facing temptation, you and I both know we give in. It’s hard to take a stand.

But, there is one in this story who does. There is one in the story of the Passion who continues to stand when everyone else leaves. There is one who still is focused on the mission and ministry of God despite everyone doing everything possible to draw Him away from it. Jesus remains standing. He alone conquers the desires to run, to hide, to avoid the consequences of living a life of faith. He has been arrested; he is being tried; he is being spit upon; he is being slapped around; and he will be crucified. But He is willing to stand alone when we are not. He is willing to go the distance when we so often quit. He will see it through to the bitter end.

And furthermore, He will continue to stand by you even though you fall down as well. Jesus will not desert you even though everyone else might run. Even though you might cause everyone to become angry with you, disenchanted with you, and disappointed with you–even though you might even disappoint Christ himself with your sin, He will continue to stand next to you because He loves you, and He believes in you. He will never, ever desert you, even if He has to stand alone. He’s done it before, and He will do it again. Amen.

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