Changing the World: Romans 15:14-21

I can only imagine the dread that I would feel should I look up one Sunday morning and see someone enter through those doors at the back of our sanctuary clothed in body armor and wielding several guns.  I can’t imagine the horror I would experience seeing this person shooting at you as you sat in the pews; perhaps scrambling for safety; perhaps throwing stuff at the shooter; perhaps screaming in agony.  Such terrifying thoughts should never take place because such things should never happen.  But such a thing did happen last Sunday, and we are all aware of it.

As happens with such events, folks are quick to jump into the blame game.  Generally, the blame is simplistic–guns, mental health, the NRA, lack of proper laws.  We want a simple answer so that we can get a quick fix.  We just need to properly fund mental health care, and these things will stop.  We just need to pass the correct gun law, and these things will stop.  We just need to arm every single citizen, and these things will stop.  Simple problems can be solved with simple answers, and that’s what we like.

But what if the problem runs deeper?  What if the problem is more complex and more difficult to solve?  What if the problem cannot be solved by passing laws or spending money?

This is a heck of a sermon to be preaching on the day that we are confirming seven young men and women.  It would be nice to have a fluffy, happy sermon.  It would be nice to have a sermon that is simply rejoicing and full of rainbows and unicorns.  But the world is not full of rainbows and unicorns.  The world is not always just or kind or fair.  The world is oftentimes full of hatred and violence and evil.  We see this on a daily basis when we look at the news.

But there is other news that is oftentimes overlooked.  There is other news that is oftentimes ignored or relegated to superstition or called a myth.  There is other news that has power to bring change; to bring hope; to bring light into the darkness.  It is the news that we as the church have been entrusted with.  It is the news that God has begun His restoration project of the world.  God has begun the process of unleashing His kingdom, and He builds that kingdom one heart at a time.  He is building that kingdom through you; through me; through these seven young men and women; and He is expecting us to go out and help that kingdom grow.

And that is not an easy task.  It is not an easy task at all because of the society in which we live.  For you see, I believe that our society has changed.  I would argue that at one point and time in our society, most folks agreed on what was right and what was wrong.  They agreed on a basic standard of morality.  They agreed on what was shameful, and they corrected the folks who deviated from what was considered acceptable.  Now, this was not always a perfect process, and sometimes what was agreed upon was wrong, I mean, I my family would look very differently if I were living in the 1950's.  Sometimes a shaking up of the boundaries is a good thing–as long as you establish other boundaries.

I am not certain that we have any clear cut, universal boundaries in our society anymore.  I am not certain that we have any clear cut, moral values in our society anymore.  I am not certain that you can go out in public anymore and correct anyone who might be deviating from what might be considered the norm.  What do I mean by that?  Well, let’s say that you are walking around in Wal-Mart.  You are walking by the toy section, and you see a child flop down on the floor throwing a temper tantrum because he or she wants a toy.  You see the parent, bend down and say, “There, there, stop crying.  I will get you the toy.”  If you were to tell that parent, “You know, it’s probably not a good idea to give that kid a toy because he threw a temper tantrum,” what is likely to happen?

Well, that person will probably look you right in the eye and with more than a bit of anger tell you, “You have no right to tell me how I should parent.  You just mind your own business!”

Oh, and just in case you might feel morally superior to that person, reverse the roles.  Say your child was throwing a temper tantrum and you were refusing to give in.  Say that other parent walked up to you and said, “You know, you should really just give the kid a toy.  They aren’t going to be with you forever, so you should just spoil them.”  What would you say?  “You have no right to tell me how to parent!!!”  You see, it works both ways.  We want to defend “our” rights to do things as we please.  We don’t like anyone telling us what to do.

And here begins the problem.

If I don’t like anyone telling me what to do, who becomes the ultimate authority of my life?  I do.  I become the sole source of authority of what is right and what is wrong.  I become the sole source of what I think is good and what I think is bad.  I call the shots.  I make my own way.  I am my own boss.

Now, what if everyone feels the exact same way?  What if everyone believes he or she is their own boss?  What if everyone thinks no one has the right to tell them what to do or how to act?  What do you end up with?

Chaos.

You have people thinking they can do anything without any sort of correction at all.  You have people thinking that it is perfectly okay to shoot folks at a concert; shoot folks in a church; say that there is no such thing as male or female; give two correct answers to a problem on a test and say that one of them is more correct than another; and so on and so forth.  Truth becomes relative to what any one person or group of people in power say that it is.  And ultimately, the only way to resolve a conflict between differing, deeply entrenched beliefs is violence.

This is the path our society and culture is on if we continue to believe there is no greater
authority than the individual.  We can expect more shootings.  More violence.  More hatred.  More division.  Until we can agree upon a set of standards, morals, and values, these things will increase.

It’s not a pretty picture.  But it is a picture tailor made for the Gospel.

For it is the Gospel that points the way to God’s kingdom breaking into the world.  It is the Gospel that points the way to the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  It is the Gospel that says that we do not discover the Truth, but that the Truth is revealed to us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.  The Truth comes to us not as an idea, a thought, a methodology or a way of life, but it comes to us as a person–fully God and fully man.  The Gospel says that the Truth enters into our world and seeks to dwell within the very depths of our hearts.

And it is on the cross that the Truth is most fully revealed.  “For ‘twas on that old cross where the dearest and best came to pardon and sanctify me.  So I’ll cherish the Old Rugged Cross.  Where my trophies as last I lay down.  I will cling to that Old Rugged Cross, and exchange it some day for a crown.”  As the hymn proclaims–it was on the cross that Jesus took our sin unto himself and gave his righteousness to us as He suffered the death and punishment that we deserved.  He bestowed salvation upon us by sheer grace–through no work of our own.  He did not seek to claim us with power or authority or violence, but He sought to claim us with self-sacrificial love–a love that we did not deserve.

Oh what heart changing love!!!  Oh what amazing grace!!!  Oh that our hearts may be moved with gratitude and love in return!!!  Oh that our hearts may melt so that we give ourselves to Him in submission–casting aside our desires to have authority over our lives and instead living for Him and seeking His will!!

And then to behold the marvel of his resurrection!!   The marvel that all evil will be overcome with good!!  The marvel that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God.  Not even death can overcome the Truth!!! 

Oh, and what can happen when a community of people is seized by this Gospel?  What can take place when human hearts are changed and come together living in the grace and mercy of God?  What kind of kingdom is established on earth when people who are grasped by the Gospel of God and live for God?

Acts 2:43, “43 Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. 44All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”

Who does not long for such a community?  Who does not long for such a place where people gather and share?  Where people gather and care?  Where people gather in mutual harmony?  Where people have glad and generous hearts?  This is what the Gospel produces.

But how can this Gospel produce this if it is not shared?  It must be shared–not through power and violence, but through a burning desire to love the world as Jesus loved the world.  It is this burning desire that shines through Paul’s words from the book of Romans this morning.  “17In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to boast of my work for God. 18For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to win obedience from the Gentiles, by word and deed, 19by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and as far around as Illyricum I have fully proclaimed the good news of Christ. 20Thus I make it my ambition to proclaim the good news, not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on someone else’s foundation, 21but as it is written, ‘Those who have never been told of him shall see, and those who have never heard of him shall understand.’”

Is it possible for such news to change the world?  Is it possible for such news to bring about transformation?  Is it possible for us to make such an impact if our hearts were seized by the love of God in Christ Jesus?  Is it possible for our nation to once again find a common purpose; a common sense of morality; a common sense of right and wrong?  Is it possible for our nation to be transformed by the power of the Gospel–to participate in God’s kingdom being revealed?

In a few moments, seven young men and women will stand here this morning to affirm their baptism.  They will stand here to say before God and this congregation, “Yes, I believe.”  Yes, I believe I have responsibility to live out a life of faith. Yes, I believe I have responsibility to share the Good news of Jesus Christ. Yes, I believe that Jesus died for me and for the world.  Yes, I believe that God’s kingdom is breaking into our world.  Yes.  I believe.  May their statement be our statement, and may we dedicate our lives to the spread of the Gospel–the spread of the kingdom of God. Amen.

Second Class Religion

"Amid rising rhetoric and crimes against American Muslims, the White House in December broadcast a counter message about religious pluralism.  'There are no second-class faiths in the U.S.A.,' said Melissa Rogers, head of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships."  --Quoted from The Lutheran magazine, February 2016, page 6.

I find this article in the publication of my denomination a bit troubling.

One of the rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights of the Constitution in our nation is  the right of non-establishment of religion.  The government is prohibited from establishing any particular religious faith and requiring people to belong to it.  It is also, theoretically, prohibited from favoring one particular religion over another.  The first of these two ideals is quite easy to accomplish. The second is impossible, and even though it sounds good on paper, it should never be attempted.  There must be second class religions.  There must be favored religions over others.

That might sound exclusive to some.  It might sound arrogant to some.  It might sound unenlightened to some.  To those who would look down upon me for suggesting such a thing, I ask two questions.  If you say, in either question, that one religious expression is better than the other, then you have relegated one religious expression to second class status.  Keep that in mind as you read the questions:

Is the form of Islam adhered to by ISIS on the same level as the form of Islam practiced by most Muslims living in the United States?

Is the form of Christianity adhered to by the Klu Klux Klan on the same level as the form of Christianity practiced by Mother Teresa?

Seeing Before Receiving Sight

How do you know someone is telling the truth?

We live in an age of spin.  You’ve all seen it take place.  The President of the U.S. gives a speech, and less than a minute later, the media pundits start in, “Well, what the President REALLY just said was...”fill in the blank.  And if the President said something that was actually good, those on the opposing side of the fence will spin the words into something horrible.  If the President said something controversial, those who are on the same side of the fence offer any interpretation which will soften the words.  The speeches and spin leave your head reeling wondering if anyone heard the same thing you heard to begin with.

But this is not simply relegated to politics.  The quest for truth goes even further.  You are gathered here this morning listening to my sermon.  You will hear me interpret scripture in just a few moments.  There may be a few things that I say that will leave you scratching your head, so you may wonder where I am getting these things.  You could go home and do a search on Youtube for pastors who have preached on this same text.  You will find them saying some quite different things.  Which of us is right?  Which of us is telling the truth?  How can you judge?  Are we all right?  Are we all wrong?  Just for your information, as part of my sermon preparation, I will generally listen to around 10 sermons per week on a given biblical text.  I know how different these interpretations can be.  I know how well meaning most of us pastors are.  How do I discern what is true and what is not?  We’ll get there in a little while because I want to continue down this rabbit hole a little more.

In politics; in religion there is quite a bit of spin and difference given, but surely this doesn’t apply to real life.  Surely, the facts are the facts and there is no spinning them.  Right?  Wrong.  We just witnessed another horrendous shooting in California this past week.  Facts are being gathered.  Motives are being examined.  We know that one of the shooters spent a month in Syria, came back changed, and began growing his beard out.  We know he and his wife were Muslim.  Terrorist attack?  Workplace violence?  We’ve heard both–again depending upon how one wants to spin the event. Who is telling the truth?

I want to walk through this short text today from the book of Mark which recounts the healing of Bartamaeus, but I want to begin by putting it into the larger context of the book of Mark.  We have been walking through this book for some time now, and we’ve still got a ways to go.  We are actually completing a section on Mark that has focused on discipleship, and this section began with the healing of another blind person.  Several months ago, I preached a sermon about a blind man that Jesus had to “heal” twice.  This story began in Mark chapter 8, verse 22.  The first time Jesus touched him, the man responded that he could see people, but they looked like trees.  When Jesus looked at him intently and spoke, then the man was completely healed.

I talked about how this healing was not only historical, but it was also metaphorical.  It was also to help us see how oftentimes the disciples–and we–understand Jesus to be the Messiah, but we don’t see Him clearly.  Then, from Mark chapter 8:22 until today, we have seen example after example of disciples who understand that Jesus is the Messiah, that He is from God, that He is of great power and might, but they don’t understand ultimately what Jesus is all about.  The disciples and others around get caught up in power struggles; in hunger for prestige; in thinking that Jesus is too important for children; in their love of wealth; in a desire for status and privilege when Jesus comes into power.  Time and again, the disciples don’t see clearly, but today, we see someone who does.  Today we see someone who comes to a knowledge of the Truth.  Perhaps what Bartimaeus sees will help us see and come to know who speaks the Truth.

Jesus and his disciples are on the way to Jerusalem, and as they travel, they go by the city of Jericho.  Outside this city, on the side of the road is a man by the name of Bartimaeus.  He is blind, and he is begging.  If we take a moment to remember how this story is playing out, we know that the Jewish holiday of Passover is only days away.  Pilgrims from throughout Israel would travel to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, and many would pass by Jericho.  Bartimaeus knew this, so he situated himself where there would be deeply religious people passing him by–deeply religious
people who hopefully would have compassion on him.  But, as we see, there are many who don’t.

Bartimaeus hears that Jesus is passing by, and without hesitation or thought for embarrassment, Bartimaeus cries out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”  Now, what Bartimaeus says is important.  He does not simply cry out, Jesus, have mercy on me.  No.  He says, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”  You see, Son of David was a Messianic title.  Bartimaeus has no doubt heard about the things that Jesus has said and done.  Bartimaeus has come to realize something as he reflected on what Jesus had accomplished.  One of the best lines I heard this past week was this: what Bartimaeus lacked in eyesight, he made up for in insight.  He knew that Jesus was the Messiah.  He knew that Jesus was God’s anointed, and Bartimaeus addressed Jesus with this title; loudly; unabashedly; without reservation.

And the crowd tried to shut him up.  Now, granted, we don’t exactly know why the crowd tried to shut Bartimaeus up.  There could be several reasons.  The crowd could have been scared.  After all, if someone was addressing Jesus as, “Son of Man” or “Messiah” this could have been seen as seditious.  The Roman guards would have been extra cautious during Passover fearing an uprising with the gathering of so many Jews.  They would have been on alert for those who might be trying to start a revolt.  If someone was using Messianic language in such a case, the Roman guard could start arresting people just on pretense.  This is actually a pretty positive spin on why the crowd would have tried to silence Bartimaeus, but there is a negative possibility as well.

You see, as I have said before, in that day and age, there was a strong belief that if you had a physical ailment, then God had wrought that ailment upon you.  If you were blind, God was punishing you for your sin or your parents’ sin.  You were generally held in contempt by others.  You were seen as lower than low.  So, it is also a possibility that those in the crowd would have thought, “This blind, begging, sinner has no right to call upon Jesus in such a fashion.  He is being punished by God and should not be trying to get the attention of a holy man.”  Given what Mark has shown us in the previous two chapters, I think the odds are better that the crowd was not being kind to Bartimaeus.  My guess is they thought he had no business calling out to Jesus.  They tried to shut him up.

But Bartimaeus was undaunted.  Bartimaeus did not give in to the crowd’s attempts to shut him up.  This was too important.  The Son of David was at hand.  The Messiah was here.  And if Bartimaeus knew anything of Scripture, he knew that the Messiah had promised to bring about healing and restoration.  In the words of the prophet Isaiah, the Messiah “bring good news to the poor...to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  To bring recovery of sight to the blind.  Bartimaeus knew this, and he believed it.  Is it any wonder he was clamoring for Jesus’ attention?  Is it any wonder he was raising his voice when others tried to shout him down?  Bartimaeus trusted the promise!  Bartimaeus trusted that Jesus was the promised Messiah who would do what Isaiah said.  “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”

And Jesus stood still.  Mark Edwards, in his commentary says this, “How remarkable that the Son of Man allows the cries of a poor and powerless person to stop him in his tracks.”  Some people have said to me and asked me whether or not God cares about ones as insignificant as us.  Why would God hear our cries and our prayers when we are so small and insignificant compared to Him.  And yet, the Son of David, God incarnate, stops in His tracks because of the cries of a poor and powerless man.  This is the God revealed to us here–a God who deeply cares about the least and the lost.  Jesus says, “Call him here.”

How quickly the crowd changes its tune.  How quickly they discard their cries for quiet.  How quickly they suddenly accept Bartimaeus when Jesus shows him compassion.  Think this is just limited to them?  I remember once attending the ordination of a colleague.  My wife and I sat at the back of the church.  As is custom for me, I was not wearing my clerical collar.  I did not robe up.  I simply attended–a stranger in the midst of this congregation.  My wife and I were heartily ignored by all around us–until it came time for the laying on of hands.  All clergy were invited to come forward, so I whiffed out my clerical collar, put it on, and laid hands on the man being ordained.  When I returned to the pew with my wife, the reception we received was markedly different.  Because of a collar?  How quickly things change.

There is an important detail that happens next.  Bartimaeus throws off his cloak.  This might not seem like much to us, but remember that Bartimaeus is a blind, beggar.  What do you think his possessions consist of?  He has nothing–except his cloak.  The commentaries I consulted and sermons I heard made note that Bartimaeus would have spread his cloak on the ground to catch coins that people gave him.  He would have used it to wrap up in to keep warm as he had no place to go.  He would have used it to give him shade from the son.  It was the thing he used for protection; for earning a living; it was all that he had.  And he cast it off.  He comes before Jesus with nothing.  Remember the rich young man who could do no such thing?

Bartimaeus comes before Jesus, and Jesus asks him a pointed question, “What do you want me to do for you?”  I want you to remember last week when James and John sought out an audience with Jesus.  I want you to remember how these two disciples of the inner circle begged Jesus to give them whatever they asked.  I want you to remember how Jesus responded.  Do you remember?  It was with the same question, “What do you want me to do for you?”  James and John ask for power and prestige and status.  James and John don’t get the Kingdom of God.  Bartimaeus does.  “He has come to bring recovery of sight to the blind,” Isaiah says.  “Rabbouni,” Bartimaeus says, “Let me see.”

Again, let me quote Mark Edwards.  Your bulletin says, “Teacher, let me see, but the Greek word is Rabbouni which is significant.   Edwards says, “In extant Jewish literature, rabbouni is seldom used with reference to humanity, and practically never as a form of address.  It is frequently used as an address to God in prayer, however.  Its use here suggests Bartimaeus’s–and Mark’s–estimation of Jesus.”  Bartimaeus essentially offers a prayer, “Let me see.”

And Jesus says, “Go, your faith has saved you.”

What does Bartimaeus do?  He has been released from the captive of his blindness.  He now has the ability to go and work.  He now has the ability to earn a living.  He will now be seen by others to be blessed by God for he no longer carries the curse of blindness.  He can go anywhere and do anything, so what does he do?

He follows Jesus along the road.  Now, an interesting thing can be said right here because the Greek word for road is “hodos” which is also translated, “The Way.”  In the early Church, Christians were not initially called Christians.  Initially, they were called followers of “The Way.”  Bartimaeus follows Jesus along the Way.  Here is an example of discipleship at its finest.  When those closest to Jesus couldn’t see and had difficulty seeing, this once blind beggar trusts Jesus, throws off his cloak, is healed, and follows Jesus toward the cross.  He truly sees.  He has found the Truth.  How can we?

As you can see at this point, I am asking you to delve deeply into this question of truth.  I am asking you to look at Jesus to understand the Truth.  I am asking you to look to Jesus to give you the criteria in understanding how to discern the Truth.  I am asking you to see what Bartimaeus sees.

And what does Bartimaeus see?  He sees the Messiah–the one who brings about restoration.  But, as we have seen all along, the restoration Jesus brings is not by military might, but as the verse leading right into this story says, “He came to give His life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus came to be the suffering Messiah who dies on the cross to give His life for yours.  He does this because He loves you with a love beyond measure.  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him.”

Why is this so significant?  Why is this such an important thing in knowing the Truth?  Because of this: when you look at people who spin things today, they have an agenda.  They are trying to win you over to their position.  They are trying to further their own positions of power and prestige.  They are trying to get you to go along with them, and if you do not...guess what they think of you?  Guess how they treat you?  With contempt.  With scorn.  With anger.  Sometimes with hatred.  If you don’t agree with them, they want nothing to do with you.

But how does Jesus respond when you don’t agree with Him?  How does Jesus respond when you don’t like what He teaches?  How does Jesus respond when you inwardly and outwardly say to Him, “I won’t do what you say.”

Jesus stretches out His arms and dies for you.  Jesus loves you and is willing to die for you even when you don’t love Him.  How do you know if someone is telling the truth?  How do you know when someone is immersed in the truth?  When they are willing to die for you even though they know you hate them.  This is Jesus.  This is what Bartimaeus saw.  This is what I pray that we might see.  Amen.

If You Could Ask Jesus One Question...

When I returned to this Gospel text this past Monday, a thought hit me like a ton of bricks.  I read through the opening statement of this story and paused.   “As he (Jesus) was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’” You know what made me pause?  The question.  What is the question?  For this young man it was, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Look, I’ve been a pastor for just over 15 years.  I have eight years of study in theology and philosophy.  I’ve encountered hundreds of people in those 23 years, and I have never had anyone ask me a question like this.  No one.  Nada.  Nil.  In every conversation I have ever had on a message board on the internet or on my Facebook feed, no one has ever asked or even argued about this question either.  And I am going to go out on a limb here, but I think the limb might just be pretty strong.  It is my guess this morning that when you sitting here in the pews gather with your friends or your family, none of you sit around debating about what you or anyone needs to do to inherit eternal life.  I mean, really, does anyone here anticipate sitting at the Thanksgiving table and debating how a person inherits eternal life?  I am pretty sure the topics will be much more centered on the upcoming ball games and perhaps a what sales are running in the stores.

Very few people are asking the question about eternal life.  For the most part, I think most folks don’t worry about the question at all.  I think they either believe that they indeed will have eternal life, and most folks believe they will have done enough to merit it, or they don’t believe in eternal life at all so don’t worry about it.  It’s basically an issue that isn’t on many people’s agenda.  It certainly hasn’t been a topic of conversation in my career.  And here is where the rubber began hitting the road for me.  I started asking myself, “What is the question?”  What is the question that people are asking these days?  What is the dilemma that makes your brain wrestle in wonder and bewilderment?  What is the question that you would love an answer to but have not found anything quite satisfactory just yet?

I do a lot of reading, and I consult quite a few different biblical scholars and preachers.  These scholars and preachers read a lot of cultural pundits who try to read what is going on in society.  They oftentimes talk about what is on people’s hearts and minds, but they nearly always paint in very broad brush strokes.  And when you do that, there is a very real risk of missing what is going on with the people right next to you.  There is a danger of missing what the people in your community are thinking because your community is unique.  I mean, the issues important to our community right here are not the same as the issues facing those who live in downtown Houston, and that is only an hour’s drive from here.  And so I wondered: what is the question for us?  What is the question that we would ask if we could have an encounter with Jesus?

I decided to ask that very thing of our confirmation students this past Wednesday.  Before I delved into teaching class, I asked the 9 ladies and gentlemen who were there to help me with my sermon.  I wrote on the dry erase board the question that you have in your bulletin on that little slip of paper.  “If you had the chance to ask Jesus one question, what would it be?”  Let me tell you something about your sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth graders here: they are very thoughtful.  They have some great questions.  Before I get into some of what they asked, I would like to invite you to fill out that little slip of paper and give it to me before you leave this morning.  I would indeed like to know what question you would like to ask Jesus.  It will hopefully help me tremendously in my teaching and preaching here.  You do not have to sign your name.  There is no need to feel any embarrassment.  Please, simply write your question, and hand it to me.  I cannot promise that I will directly address it immediately, but I hope to wrestle with those questions in the future.

Let’s now look at what our confirmation students asked.  There were a few questions that were easily answered, but let me let you consider three: one of which I will directly address because it ties in to our text today.  Question number one: what is heaven really like?  Question number two: Why did you create us?  And question number three: What is the best thing that we can do?  Pretty deep questions, huh?  I personally thought so, and I want to focus our attention on that last question, question number three: what is the best thing that we can do?  It’s a very, very good question.  It’s a very, very important question.  And I think the answer to that question coincides with the answer Jesus gave that rich young man.  The best thing that you can do is follow Jesus.

You might wonder just how this ties in with the rich young man’s question because his question was about eternal life.  If we read through what Jesus says, particularly after His encounter with this rich man, we see something quite intriguing because Jesus doesn’t just talk about eternal life.  Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God, and that Kingdom is not simply eternal life.  It has implications for our lives right here and right now.  Let’s go to the text starting where I left off last week at verse 23.

Jesus looks around at His disciples and the crowd around and says, “Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!’ 24And the disciples were perplexed at these words.”  The disciples were perplexed for a reason because they had been heavily influenced by the surrounding Jewish culture.  Wealthy people, it was thought, had been especially blessed by God.  It was thought that those with wealth had done all the right things to receive a special blessing by God.  This idea is alive and well today with those preachers who say that if you just believe enough, and pray enough, and do enough of the right things–like cut their church a huge check–then God will rain blessings down upon you.  Not only did this thought penetrate the disciples’ brains, there was also a very practical reason the wealthy were thought to have an inside track to God.  If you were wealthy, you could afford to offer all the sacrifices necessary in the temple to atone for your sins.  You could afford the spotless sheep.  You could afford to offer sacrifice whenever your conscience was bothered.  You could afford to pay your tithes and temple taxes.  Those who were poor had no such luxury.  They could not afford all the temple sacrifices and gifts.  They were on the outside looking in.  This is why Jesus’ comment caught the disciples off guard, and so Jesus repeats and adds a little extra.

“Little children,” Jesus says–an allusion to His teaching about the Kingdom and children just a few verses earlier–“how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God.”  Notice here that there are no qualifiers.  Jesus straightforwardly says that it is hard for anyone to enter the Kingdom of God.  It is not simply achieved.  “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a person of wealth to enter the Kingdom of God.”

A couple of thoughts here.  First, there are some pundits who say that the “Eye of a Needle” was a little gate in the walls of Jerusalem that camels had to kneel down in order to get through.  Therefore, what Jesus is commenting on is the difficulty of getting in, not that it is impossible.  However, the commentaries I consult put the kibosh on this interpretation.  There is no archaeological evidence for this gate.  There is no record of this gate in any ancient sources.  One of the commentaries said it best, “A notable one identifies the “eye of the needle” with a gate leading into the city of Jerusalem before which camels had to kneel in order to get through.  But the existence of any such gate is doubtful.  As Rawlinson says, it has “no authority more trustworthy that the imaginative conjectures of modern guides to Jerusalem.”  No.  Jesus is clear here: He means a camel.  He means a needle.  He means it is impossible.  There is not much wiggle room unless you are trying to make people feel good about themselves, and Jesus is not exactly known for trying to do that.  Jesus is trying to get folks connected with God–with Himself, and He is going to try to break through the barriers which prevent that.

The disciples are still in awe about this teaching.  They are still astounded because they realize its implications.  If the rich folks can’t enter the Kingdom, then who can?  “Who then can be saved?” they ask.

Jesus responds, “For mortals, it is impossible.  For God, all things are possible.”

This leads us to sheer grace.  For us it is impossible to attain salvation.  Only through God is it possible.  Let’s kind of skip ahead for a moment. How possible is it for you and I to die and then come back to life?  Think about that for a minute.  How possible is it for us to have our hearts stop beating; to have our brain function cease, to have our lungs stop pumping, and then after a period of time–oh, say three days, to come back to life?  Impossible.  But for God...who hung on a cross, who had His heart pierced, who breathed His last and lay in a tomb for three days...all things are possible.  Yes, I have kind of given away the ending, but let’s continue for a moment because I have to get to the question of “what is the most important thing we can do?”

Peter then addresses Jesus.  It’s kind of a smug thought.  Peter tells Jesus, “Look, we’ve done what that rich, young man won’t do.  We’ve left our houses, our families, our incomes.  We’ve left everything to follow you.  What do we get?

Jesus’ response is priceless.  I want you to listen to it carefully.  ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, 30who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

Did you notice these two things: did you notice that Jesus said you must leave everything for His sake and for the sake of the Gospel?  This is quite important because it deals with our motivations.  It deals with the state of our hearts.  Many who proclaim that God will bless you if you believe enough, pray enough, and give enough, do so tapping into people’s selfish motivations.  People only give, pray and believe so that they will get something.  They don’t leave for Jesus’ sake.  They don’t leave for the Gospel’s sake.  They leave for their own sake.  They want all the goods, but they don’t want Jesus. They don’t want the Gospel.  Jesus clearly states that He and the Gospel are most important.  Secondly, did you catch that persecutions are part of the equation?  Did you catch that you will receive houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and fields AND PERSECUTIONS?  We tend to gloss over that one.  Christianity comes with a cost.  Finally, did you notice that Jesus is being very earthy with this statement?  Did you notice that these matters are rooted and grounded in this life?  This isn’t just about eternal life.  Following Jesus has consequences right here and right now.  “The last will be first and the first will be last.”

Let me quote to you Walter Wessel from his commentary on Mark here, “In eternity the rich and the powerful will have the tables turned on them.  Or perhaps it is a warning to the disciples in view of what they said, “we have left everything to follow you”.  They must not conceive of their discipleship in terms of rewards.  Discipleship entails suffering and service; it must be entered on in terms of love and commitment to Jesus, not because of what one hopes to get out of it either in this life or in the life to come.”

Let me summarize this teaching quickly.  Jesus essentially says, “If you want abundant life...life in the Kingdom of God here on earth and in the life to come...give up everything for my sake and the sake of the Gospel.  You will find persecution, but you will find great satisfaction.  Not in earthly wealth, but in a community of brothers and sisters who have homes and land who will share and welcome each other–who love one another; who care for one another; who build one another up; whose hearts have been changed; who are humble; who seek one another’s good.  If you attach yourself to your possessions and striving for such possessions, you will miss out on these things.  You will never notice the Kingdom of God which is growing right in your midst.”

How hard it is to enter into this Kingdom.  How hard it is to grasp what Jesus says right here.  It is indeed easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle because everything about our current culture tells us the exact opposite.  Everything in our culture tells us that the most important thing we can do is work to be the best.  Educate ourselves so we can get good jobs.  Get good jobs so we can earn a lot of money.  Earn a lot of money so we can enjoy life to the fullest while we work and play at a frenzied pace.  Keep earning a lot of money so that you can eventually retire and play around keeping death at bay and keeping the medical profession in business.  This is the fulfilling life.  This is the abundant life.  Work hard.  Play hard.  Become a slave to money.

But it never quite satisfies, does it?  It never quite fulfills, does it?  Something is always missing, and we try to fill it with more.  Jesus says, follow me.  Replace all that stuff with me.  Leave it all for my sake and the sake of the Gospel.  Don’t let your heart focus on all of that?

But how?  How can I not focus on all of that when it is thrust in my face over and over and over?  How can I not focus on it when Christmas is just around the corner and all the shops are telling me I will be happy with cheap stuff?  How can I focus on Jesus when my heart is captured by these things?

Jesus says, “Look at the cross.”  Look at the instrument of death and torture that hangs at the front of this building.  Look at what I accomplished for you on that cross.  It is impossible for you and your heart to walk away from these things.  It is impossible for you and your heart not to notice these things.  Your heart will continue to yearn for these things until it understands the great love I have for you.  Until you know what I am willing to do for you on this cross, you will continue to pursue these things.  Close your eyes and see me dying up here for you.  Close your eye and know that I took your place and have saved you by sheer grace.  Close your eyes and know that you don’t deserve what I am doing for you, but I willingly and gladly do it for you anyway.  Let this change your heart.  Let this change your soul.  Nothing else can love you like this.  Nothing.  For mortals it is impossible.  For God, all things are possible.  For God so loved this world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but to save it.”  And when your heart grasps this.  When your heart knows what I have done, then indeed, you will know that the most important thing you can do is follow me.   Amen.

When Troubles Beset Us...

    Perhaps you recognize the title of this post as part of the Gospel hymn “On the Wings of a Dove.”  The entire verse is as follows:

When troubles beset us; When evils come
The body grows weak, and the spirit grows numb
When these beset us; well He doesn’t forget us
He sends down His love, on the wings of a dove.

    I share this with you in the knowledge that many, many within our congregation have been beset with such troubles.  There are many who are struggling with dealing with loved ones who are sick and dying.  There are some who have lost spouses.  There are some who are fighting illness themselves.  There are some who are recovering from surgery.  There are some who have had weird life circumstances cause stumbling and falling.  One wonders why such things happen.

    There is no perfect answer.  Believe you me.  If there was, I would write the book and sit back and enjoy the royalties.  But I haven’t written that book because no answer is satisfactory.  I can tell you a couple that are flat out wrong.  Wrong answer number 1: “Jesus wants you to have victory over such matters.”  One need be reminded, Jesus’ victory came on the cross–through suffering and persecution.  The victory is won, no doubt, but not without a great cost.  Wrong answer #2: If you just had enough faith, things would turn out right.  Please, no one has enough faith.  No one.  This is why we are saved by sheer grace.  We are dependent upon the mercy of God for all that we get.  We don’t earn it by our faith.  Wrong answer #3: God is causing this to test me.  God knows you would fail.  God knows we would all fail.  Our human nature is weak.  Furthermore, if you look at the life of Jesus, you will not see God testing Jesus (that would be a bit redundant).  You will see the Enemy testing Jesus.  It is the Enemy who tries to bring about our downfall by tests.

    Which leads me to offer a few answers that I think help us grapple with trials and tribulations.  Answer #1: When you are seeking to follow Jesus and the Gospel begins to take root in your heart, the Enemy works to steal you away.  The Enemy sets up road blocks and trials to make you question your commitment to Jesus.  Over and over again, we see this plainly in scripture.  Answer #2: We cannot escape our choices.  This is not a popular answer, but it is reality.  It does not cover everything, but if you have lung cancer after smoking for 30 years, this is no surprise.  One must make a distinction between things that we have some part in and things we don’t.  Answer #3: I have no idea what-so-ever.  This is the hardest one to accept because we want a reason.  We want a clue as to why things are happening.  Sometimes, there is just no good answer, and we must hope that God is in the midst of our trials and tribulations working to bring about a positive solution.

    That last sentence is an important one because it demands trust in God.  It demands that we have hope.  It’s a hard thing to have at times, but it is central to our faith.  The cross was the darkest day for the Christian, but it was followed by the light of the resurrection.  Cross.  Resurrection.  Death.  Life.  God worked to bring hope from tragedy, and it is this that we hold onto desperately in the midst of our trials.  May that hope find its way into your heart and mind.  Amen.

Peace in a Pluralistic World

    One of the major issues confronting our world is its shrinkage.  You may scratch your head for a moment on that comment thinking, “Isn’t the earth the same size as it has been for billions of years?  There aren’t parts of it eroding into space, are there?”  No.  That’s not the kind of shrinkage I am talking about.  It’s the shrinkage that has been ongoing since the development of more types and faster types of travel and communication.  It is in this regard that I think the world is getting smaller.

    Consider this, 150 years ago, if you wanted to know what was going on half-way around the world, you had to wait days, if not weeks or months to find out.  Letters from overseas were carried upon horseback to an awaiting boat–most probably a sail boat although steam engines were beginning to arrive on the scene.  The letter would arrive and be delivered on horseback to its location, but if you were very lucky, the railroad might be able to carry it a bit faster to your location.  Communication took time–a long time.  Travel took time–much longer than it does now.  Today, we have instant communication anywhere in the world by satellite phone or internet.  We can board an airplane today and in less than 24 hours can be sitting on the other side of the world.  We can drive down to Katy in under an hour’s time whereas 100 years ago it would have taken half a day.  The world has shrunk because of technology, and that has had some consequences.

    Among those consequences is that we are now forced to rub shoulders with people who are vastly different than we are.  We are now coming into contact with people of all sorts of races, religions, worldviews and identities.  If you engage this world in any way, you will run into people who do not look like you, think like you, or act like you.  Amazingly enough, we are doing a pretty good job of coexisting in this world without destroying each other; but there is quite a bit of tension–quite a bit of tension.

    We see that tension rear its head in politics; in spirited debate; in the various wars around the world.  There is heightened tension right now between Israel and Palestine.  There is heightened tension between Democrats and Republicans.  There is heightened tension between conservatives and liberals.  There is heightened tension between those who believe in God and those who are atheist.  There is heightened tension between Christians and Muslims.  Various worldviews around the world are in a constant struggle to interact and offer people a sense of belonging and sense of understanding about the nature of reality.  And there is a struggle for truth–which worldview is true and leads us to respect and honor one another?

    Some have argued that no one worldview can have a hold on the truth.  No one worldview or religion can grasp ultimate truth if that ultimate truth even exists.  In fact, some use a rather fascinating illustration to show this.  It’s an illustration called the “Blind Men and the Elephant.” Perhaps you have heard it.  Depending on the version, five or six blind men encounter an elephant, and each of them touch a different part of the elephant.  After their encounter, the men argue about what the elephant is like.  One argues the elephant is like a rope–long, narrow, and stringy, because he touched the tail.  One argues the elephant is like a wall because he touched the torso.  One argues the elephant is like a tree truck as he touched the leg.  One argues the elephant is like a hose because he touched the trunk.  Another argues the elephant is like a spear, long and sharp because he touched the tusk.  Round and round and round they argue–all of them, in one way right, and all of them in one way wrong.  And, some argue, that’s the way with religions and worldviews.  All of them get something right.  All of them get something wrong.  Leslie Newbigin gave a rebuttal of sorts to this parable as he realized something: you cannot say that all worldviews have something right and something wrong unless you can see the entire perspective of reality yourself.  You cannot possibly know all worldviews have something right and something wrong unless you yourself know the truth!  Therefore, people who try to tell you that reality is this way are simply trying to convert you to their way of thinking!  They have no idea if it’s true or not.  It is just another competing worldview.

    The Christian worldview offers a particular way of looking at the world, and it is a way that unabashedly claims to know the truth while honoring and respecting those outside its belief system.  It seeks converts but does not seek to harm or hurt those outside the faith.  Now, that has not been the case because there are those who have warped Christianity’s teachings, but this morning, I would like to show you what Christianity teaches using this little snippet from Mark chapter nine.

    This little piece begins with the disciple John coming up to Jesus and saying, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.”  Now, keep in mind the following points: first, remember that just a few verses earlier Mark recounted how the disciples were UNABLE to cast out a demon.  So it is with no great irony that John is trying to stop someone else from successfully doing what the disciples were unsuccessful at accomplishing.  Secondly, immediately preceding John’s statement was Jesus’ teaching on greatness.  “Whoever wants to be first of all must be last of all and servant of all.”  Does it strike you how John, who is speaking for the rest of the disciples as well, doesn’t quite seem to get humility?  Finally, consider this last point which was rammed home to me by James Edwards in his commentary on this text.  I never even considered this point until I read it, and it makes absolute sense to me now.  Edwards says, “John’s report that the independent exorcist ‘was not following us’ is depressingly ironic.  We should expect him to say ‘because he was not following you.’  Is it not a little presumptuous at this stage of discipleship for John to think himself and the other disciples as worthy of being followed?”  I hope you caught Edwards’ gist there.  John and the disciples are still quite consumed with themselves.  They think they are something special because they follow Jesus.  They rank themselves with Jesus, but in reality, it’s not about them!!!  It’s never supposed to be about them or us!!  It’s always supposed to be about Jesus!!!

            Which is why Jesus replies to them, “‘Do not stop him [and the Greek gives you the sense of “do not stop him or anyone like him now or ever]; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterwards to speak evil of me.”  Now, I want to point out quickly here that the other exorcist was not casting out demons in the name of any other religion or in the name of any other god.  Some might like to take Jesus’ words and expand them to all religions here.  You cannot do that.  Jesus said plainly and clearly that this was being done in His name.  When someone does something in Jesus’ name, we are called to humbly step back.  We are called to celebrate what they are doing.  For anyone who does something in Jesus’ name is not against us.  We are working toward the same goal and purpose–if we are working in. Jesus’.  Name. 

    Of course, that now raises the question of, “Well, what if someone is not doing anything in Jesus’ name?”

    Jesus continues, “41For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.”  Some have massively misinterpreted this verse.  They have suggested that if we are doing even the littlest of actions, then we will be rewarded.  They suggest that Christianity is about doing all sorts of little things with great love, but you need to look very, very carefully at what Jesus says here.  This is not about the actions of His disciples.  This is about the actions of those who are outside the circle of Christianity.  This is about those who are not following Jesus.  “Whoever gives YOU a cup of water to drink BECAUSE YOU BEAR THE NAME OF CHRIST will by no means lose the reward.”  If there are those outside the faith who welcome you; who embrace you; who are kind to you, Jesus sees that as a welcoming of Himself.  Try to wrap your head around that for a moment.  Even if someone does not believe in Him or trust Him, when they care for you, they are caring for Jesus, and Jesus honors that.  Which means, if Jesus is honoring the actions of those who care for us in such a manner, should we not do the same?  Of course we should, and I will return to this in just a minute after dealing with the final verse.

    Jesus finishes, “‘If any of you put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.”  This comment would have called up historical precedent because the Roman army had inflicted this exact punishment some Jewish Zealots who had tried to rebel against them under Judas the Galilean (Lane 346)1.   Again, let me point out that Jesus is reinforcing the idea that we should not inhibit someone who is striving to do good in His name.  In our zealous nature to make sure everyone does everything “right” we may cause others to stumble. We may cause others to fall.  We may cause others to walk away from the faith, and Jesus says this would be cause for us to have a millstone hung around our necks and us be cast into the ocean. 

    Again, the problem confronted throughout this particular teaching by Jesus is the problem of self-righteousness.  John and the other disciples thought they were better than this other exorcist because of their close association with Jesus.  Humility was severely lacking.  If we look down our noses at those who are outside of the Christian faith and treat them as less than those created in the image of God, this again is self-righteousness.  If we go around criticizing others for trying to follow Christ in a manner that we think is wrong or undignified or less than perfect, then we are being self-righteous.  And this self-righteousness comes from thinking that religion and following Jesus focuses on our actions.

    This is exactly where Christianity diverges massively from the rest of the world’s religions.  For the rest of the world’s religions focus on what we do.  They say we must do the right things to be accepted.  We must accomplish good works or the deity will turn against us.  This leads us to either despair because we do not believe we can accomplish those works or it leads us to become self-righteous because we think we are accomplishing those works and others should do like we do.

    But Christianity says we are not saved by our works.  We are not saved by casting out demons.  We are not saved by bringing cups of water.  We are not saved by living perfectly, morally, and uprightly.  We are not saved by telling everyone else how they should or should not act.  We are saved totally and completely by sheer grace.  Let me repeat that again, you are only saved by sheer grace.  You are saved only and completely by Jesus and His actions on your behalf.  You are saved only by what Jesus accomplished for you on the cross by dying the death you deserved.  You have no righteousness to stand on.

    St. Paul put it this way in the third chapter of the book of Philippians, “If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.  7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through trust in Christ, the righteousness from God based on trust.”

    You see, Paul had every right to think that his works had guaranteed him righteousness with God, and Paul was indeed self-righteous.  He persecuted the church because he thought he could accomplish the works of the law.  But Jesus appeared to Paul and radically changed his worldview.  Paul knew that Jesus came into the world and saved him by sheer grace.  No longer could Paul trust in himself.  Paul knew he must trust in Jesus.

    And when you trust in Jesus, when you trust in His work on the cross, several things become abundantly clear.  First, you know that you have seen God.  You have seen the Truth.  For you have seen the God who became flesh.  Secondly, you are humbled because you know that you did nothing to deserve what you have been given.  Your heart is no longer hardened because you know that Jesus died for you when you least deserved it and were living in sin.  And finally, you have a heart for others.  You cherish those who work in Jesus’ name, and you see those who do not work in Jesus’ name as those created in the image of God who God longs to bring into fellowship with Him.  You long to bring them the news of what Jesus accomplished on the cross.  For even though Jesus indeed died for you, you remember John 3:16 and 17.

    “For God so loved the world–the WORLD–that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God sent the Son into the world–THE WORLD–not to condemn the world, but that the world–THE WORLD–might be saved through Him.”  If we know that Jesus came to save the WORLD, we know that means all of the people in it.  If your heart is touched by this, I invite you to delve further into the Christian worldview, for I think you will find within it the Truth who brings peace to this shrinking world.  Amen.

1. New International Commentary on the New Testament. “The Gospel of Mark”. William Lane.

This is Most Certainly True

    We do not know how to wrestle with Truth.
   
Why would I say such a thing?
   
I am going to go back a few years to 9/11 when radical Islamists hijacked four airplanes and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentegon, and intended to crash into the capitol building.  Initially, we came together as a nation to recognize this attack against us, but then we began disagreeing, sometimes vehemently, on how to respond.  There was a particular struggle in how to handle religious ideology –especially in trying to deal with a religious sect that believed it had the absolute Truth and used that belief to justify the killing of innocent people.

    There were two basic responses to this.  Fortunately, most people know that both responses in and of themselves are inadequate, but we have yet to find a happy medium–if such a thing is even possible.  Why would I say that?  Let me begin to define the problem as I see it.

    As we began to delve into the psyche of those who hijacked the planes, we began to focus on their absolute certainty in their beliefs about God.  We reasoned, “If they wouldn’t have been so absolutely certain, they would have been more humble.  They would have known that flying those planes into those buildings was wrong.  All those people would not have been killed if religious nuts wouldn’t be so certain of their beliefs and try to force them on everyone else.” 

    And so, there has been a concerted effort among some to question anyone who has certainty in his or her religious convictions.  Certainty is the enemy in no uncertain terms, and if anyone espouses certainty, then that person is close minded, arrogant, a fanatic, exclusive, or whatever derogatory term you wish to apply.  Now, there are a couple of problems with these trains of thought.

    First is the premise.  Does certainty necessarily cause people to kill others?  Does believing in God with absolute conviction necessarily lead a person to commit atrocities?  The answer, of course, is no.  As Timothy Keller once reported in his book Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, “You never hear of an Amish terrorist.”  Why?  Because the Amish believe uncompromisingly that God commands them to be non-violent.  Their firm religious conviction leads them to be passivist.  So, it’s not religious certainty that leads someone to kill others in the name of faith, there must be something else.  We will get to that in just a moment.

    The second problem with a war on certainty is that it is logically impossible.  You may wonder what I mean by that.  Just this: the next time someone comes up to you and says, “We cannot be certain about anything.”  Ask them, “Are you certain about that?”  Do you see the problem?  Even if someone wants to narrow it down and say, “We can never be certain about any claims about religion.”  Well, you have just made a truth claim about religious belief.  How can you say with certainty that we can have no certainty?  The statement is self-defeating.  Everyone believes they know something.  Everyone has to have some sort of certainty in order to simply function.  It is a requirement.

   Thirdly, can you imagine anyone preaching a sermon with no certainty?  Can you imagine what it would be like for someone to get up in front of a group of people and basically say, "Well IF God exists--now, we don't know for sure.  Maybe there is a God, maybe there isn't.--then maybe that God is good.  Again, maybe God is evil, but perhaps God is love.  And IF that God is love, then maybe, just maybe that God wants us to care for each other, but we really don't know what that God wants if God even exists.  But it might be a good idea to care for each other anyway.  I can't tell you that for certain, but it might be a good idea."  Yeah, how many of you would stick around for that kind of sermon?  Certainty is necessary. Even in religious belief.

    But if certainty is necessary, then why did religious fanatics hijack planes and kill people?  Why do some “Christians” picket funerals of military personnel and cause extra grief for families?  Why do some people of religious persuasion have a holier-than-thou demeanor and look down their noses at others?

    It’s not because of certainty.  It’s because of self-righteousness.  It’s because they believe they are better than other people.  It’s because they believe they are able to follow the tenets of a particular religion, and they believe everyone else should be able to accomplish what they accomplish.  They believe their performance makes them righteous before God, and “if I can do it, everyone else should be doing it too.”  And if they are not doing it, “then they are of less value than myself.  They are destined to hell.  They deserve punishment.”  You see, it’s not certainty that leads to the demeaning and killing of others, it is self-righteousness. 

    And so, we have these two extremes: we have those who don’t want any certainty, and they are convinced that the world would be better if no one had any convictions; and we have those who are consumed with the certainty that they are righteous and everyone else needs to get with the program.  And the reality is, there are many of us who actually jump between these two poles depending upon the circumstances.  If we don’t like something that someone tries to tell us about faith, we are happy to say, “No one can be certain.”  However, if we want others to fall into line with our own train of thought, we will gladly say, “God is (fill in the blank)...”  In some ways, we are either too open, too closed, or we gladly jump between the two extremes to suit our own agendas.

    You may be wondering just what this has to do with our Gospel lesson from the seventh chapter of the book of Mark.  Perhaps it is time to turn to that now.

    Jesus has an encounter with a man who is deaf and who has a speech impediment.  Jesus is in the midst of a journey through Gentile territory when they– bring to Jesus a man who is deaf and “mogilalon.”  Now I know that sounded strange.  I gave you the Greek word for a speech impediment, because it is an important word.  It is only used once in the entire New Testament–right here by Mark.  And there is a very important reason Mark uses this particular word. 

    It is the same word used in Isaiah chapter 35:6.  I’m going to turn to Isaiah 35 now and read verses four to six to you so that you can see what is going on here.  “4 Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear!  Here is your God.  He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense.  He will come and save you.’  5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6 then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the “mogilalos” the speechless sing for joy.”

    Mark is unequivocally tying Jesus encounter with this mogilalon to the promised coming of God in Isaiah 35.  Mark is showing us, once again, that this Jesus is the promised One–the promised Messiah–God Himself coming to earth.  And what Jesus does here to this deaf, mogilalon, speech impediment bound man is nothing short of amazing as He offers extreme compassion.

    First, Jesus takes the man aside.  I want you to contemplate this for just a moment as we remember what it would be like for this man given the culture he was in.  For you see, they didn’t have special places to care for those who were deaf and unable to speak in those days.  They didn’t have sign language.  They didn’t see people in such conditions as contributing members of society who had worth and value.  Most folks who were suffering from disabilities were outcasts; mocked; degraded; seen as burdens to the rest of people; contemptuous.  This guy could see, but he would never have been able to hear the insults thrown his way.  He would not be able to understand people’s contempt or hatred.  If he entered Jewish territory, there was then a whole other layer to contend with: for most of the Jewish religious authorities believed that if you suffered with such a malady, then you were under the curse of God. 

    So, Jesus, God incarnate, takes this man aside–away from the crowd and gives him His full attention.  Imagine being a Jew who was hearing this story.  Here is a man who would be seen under God’s curse standing before God with a private audience.  What was God going to do with this cursed individual?  What was God going to do with this man who was an outcast; on the fringes; who was looked down upon and seen as contemptuous?

    As we read through the text, we might think that Jesus is a bit gross, but as I heard in more than one sermon this past week, Jesus is doing something quite amazing.  He is communicating with this deaf, tongue tied man in his own form of sign language.  Jesus puts His fingers in the man’s ears as if to say, “I know your ears do not work.”  Jesus spits on the man’s tongue. “I know your tongue is tied.”  Jesus looks us to heaven.  “God knows your bondage.”  Jesus sighs deeply.  “I am praying to God.”  Then Jesus says, “Ephphatha” which in Aramaic means, “be opened.”  I am sure the man saw Jesus’ lips move.  He had no idea what Jesus said, but he could not mistake the meaning of the word for immediately after Jesus’ lips moved, the man’s ears were opened, and the chains fell off his tongue.  That’s the imagery Mark uses.  The man’s ears were opened and the chains fell off his tongue.  Mark’s imagery here is beautiful.  Jesus reaches out to one who was shunned.  Jesus brings him into a special place alone.  Jesus communicates with the man and shows the man He understands his problems, and Jesus heals the man and restores him to community.

    Jesus’ healing causes quite the stir, but Jesus’ response is quite intriguing.  Jesus tells everyone keep things quiet.  Don’t talk about what I have done.  But the crowd, the man who was just healed kept talking.  Jesus said, “Hush!”  Everyone talked louder.  They proclaimed, “He has done everything well!!”  Jesus said, “Quiet!!” to no avail.  Why would Jesus tell them to hush?  Why would He tell everyone to keep it under wraps?

    The best answer I came across was this: Jesus didn’t want everyone focused on Him simply being a miracle worker.  Jesus didn’t want everyone to think that He was simply here to take away people’s pain and suffering.  Jesus didn’t want everyone just to see Him as the fixer upper of a person’s personal life.  No.  Jesus was much more than that.  Jesus was not here simply to fix all of our problems and make our lives perfect.  Jesus was not here to give us a comfortable position in all that we encountered.  Jesus was about restoration.  Jesus was about mending the relationship between humankind and God–a relationship broken by our hardened hearts, our self-righteous behavior, and our desire to submit ourselves to no authority but our own.  Jesus did not come to simply open ears and tongues, but open hearts to redemption.

    And so we return to the problems of self-righteousness and uncertainty.  We return to them because these are both ways of hardened hearts.  These are both ways of selfish behavior.  I become self-righteous when I think I can follow all of the commands of God–particularly the one’s I like.  I impose those beliefs on others because they should do what I do and be like me.  Oh, but if I am confronted by another’s beliefs in God or in what they think I should do, I will respond, “No one can know for certain God’s will or mind.”  At the heart of this problem is a hardened heart–a closed heart–a heart that is closed in on itself. 

    How does Jesus open such a heart?  How does Jesus change such a heart?  What language does He speak to us to help us see our problem?

    First, He speaks by living the life we were supposed to live.  He reveals to us our own failure to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength.  Jesus reveals to us our inability to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.  Jesus does all these things well.  He does them perfectly.  He shows us the depths of our own sin.  Just like last week with the Syrophonecian woman, Jesus challenges us and shows us we deserve nothing for our selfish behavior.  Jesus becomes perfectly righteous, putting us all to shame.

    And then, revealing to us that He knows our condition–He knows our selfishness; He knows our shame; He knows our separation from God–He understands our inability to reconcile ourselves unto God, it is He who stretches out His hands and allows nails to be placed in them.  He sheds His precious blood as He hangs from the cross.  He looks heavenward and with a deep breath cries aloud, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?!”  In that moment, Jesus experienced the wrath and separation from God that you and I were meant to feel.  He experienced God’s silence as He suffered.  He bore the weight of our sin when we least deserved it.  He poured out His love while we were sinners restoring us to God.

    And because of Jesus’ actions, we have complete certainty about two things: number one we are sinful and unrighteous on our own.  We cannot look down our nose at anyone because we all fall short of the glory of God.  We cannot look at another with contempt and hatred because we deserve contempt and hatred.  We cannot kill another for a lack of believing because we lacked faith and trust in God ourselves as we trusted in our own works.  This should make us hang our heads in shame.  But that leads us to the second thing we can be certain about: that God loves us more than we can imagine.  For the Author and creator of the universe was willing to die on our behalf.  He was willing to die for us when we least deserved it.  He was willing to give of Himself to pay for our transgressions. 

    And when you hold onto these two certainties. When you hold them in dynamic tension: that you are undeserving and loved; when you are a failure yet accepted, then your heart is opened too.  Not because of what you do, but because of sheer grace.  A grace rooted in the Gospel:

    For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world may be saved through Him.  This is most certainly true.  Amen.

Why the Cross? Part 1

(Sunday morning as I was preparing for worship and preaching the following sermon, I was struck with another set of thoughts which needed to augment this piece.  Those thoughts will appear in my next sermon to be posted next week.)

    Jesus said to the disciples, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ 45Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day.

    The question that I want to deal with this morning in my sermon is this: why did the Messiah have to suffer and die?  Why did Jesus have to go to the cross?  Why is it that everything in Scriptures led up to that pivotal moment where Jesus had to die and then be raised from the dead?

    This is more than just an academic question.  It’s important because it cuts to the very heart of Christianity and our reason for existing as a Church.  It’s important in our current day and age because there are a lot, and I mean a lot of people who still wonder why Jesus had to die.  There are a lot of people who wonder why the cross was necessary. 

    The bewilderment is nothing new.  The early Church had to deal with folks’ questions about the cross.  St. Paul even says this in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 23, “23but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.”  The cross was a stumbling block to Jews because in the Law it was written that anyone who was hung on a tree was cursed by God.  If Jesus were the Messiah, then He was supposed to be blessed by God, certainly not cursed by God.  The fact that Jesus was hung on a tree caused them to stumble.  As for the Gentiles, it was utter foolishness that God would die.  God was omnipotent, and omniscient, all-powerful, all-knowing, eternal and immortal.  God certainly could not die.  The idea that He would was utter foolishness.  Even then people had a hard time coming to grips with the cross.

    Today, there is much discussion about the cross as well.  Some cannot fathom the idea that God would use such a brutal and bloody method to save the world.  God could have chosen something different.  Some believe the cross is some sort of divine child abuse and cannot grasp that the Father would send the Son to experience such a thing.  Some only give the cross worldly implications and separate the cross from any sort of significance for salvation.  Indeed the cross still spurs conversation in this manner. 

    Yet, in order to truly understand the Gospel, we have to come to grips with the cross.  We have to come to grips with its significance and the reasons, as Jesus said, “it was necessary,” for these things to happen.  Why was it necessary?

    Well, first we have to understand the nature of God.  Now, I know there are many who will say simply and truly, “God is love.”  You are absolutely right.  For the writer John says this very thing in 1 John 4.  “God is love,” John proclaims.  And some folks jump on this and emphasize love.  They then see God in our understanding of love: compassion, kindness, pouring out Himself for us, making us feel good about ourselves–kind of like a Hallmark deity.  Interestingly enough, I’ve been reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Ethics, and in this book, Bonhoeffer says something profound.   He says, we read this all wrong.  We tend to emphasize the word love when we should be emphasizing the word God.  God is love–meaning, if you want to know what love is, you look to God and not vice versa.  It makes perfect sense as the writer John continues in 1 John when he says, “for God is love. 9God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. “

    ”Love is that God loves us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”  This is the reason the cross is necessary.  You may still be wondering why?

    Here’s why.  If we need to understand love through God, then we need to understand the nature of God–and God we must understand that God is the One in whom ultimate justice and ultimate mercy come together.  God must be a God of justice, and God must be a God of mercy.  The two cannot be separated.  Here’s why.

    First, we must understand that God is a God of justice.  He has to be. If God were not a God of justice, He would not be worth worshiping.  I mean, let’s think about this for a moment.  Many of you have heard about the atrocities that ISIS is committing in Iraq and Syria.  You have heard the stories about how they have beheaded prisoners, burned prisoners alive, and raped and tortured women.  Imagine if God in heaven looked down upon this and said, “Oh, this is wrong.  You shouldn’t do such things, but hey, I’ll forgive you anyway.  I will take you to be with me and perfect you so that you will never do this again.  You will join me in paradise.”  If you were a perpetrator of such crimes, you might be very comforted by this kind of God; however, if you have even a little sympathy for those who have been victimized by ISIS, you would recoil at such thoughts.  You would recoil at such a God.  A God who forgives without justice is a God who has no compassion on victims–who is not interested in fully righting the wrongs.  Such a God might be forgiving, but such a God does not have love.  There must be justice.

    And in Scripture, it is revealed that God indeed is a God of justice.  There is a promise of recompense and punishment for those who do wrong.  God promises to look with kindness upon the widow and orphan; those who have been pushed to the edges of society.  God promises to right the wrongs that have been committed against the poor and oppressed.  God promises to let His wrath burn hot against such evil and destroy it–no matter how big or how small.

    Now, that last statement should give us pause.  God’s wrath and judgement will burn against injustice and evil no matter how big or how small.  That might cause you to scratch your head for a moment for you might think, “God will also punish small sins?  God will punish say, stealing a piece of candy or disobeying my parents when they tell me no and I do the opposite?  God will punish me if I don’t give offerings to the church?  God will punish me if I tell a little white lie to prevent pain on the behalf of another?”  Why would God do such a thing.  I mean, I’m not like ISIS and killing people or anything.  Why would God’s wrath burn hot against a little sin?

    Just this: on Easter I used the example of the Butterfly Effect or that one tiny change across the globe–a butterfly flapping its wings in Japan–could cause massive changes in Alabama by brining tornadoes.  That illustration still stands, but perhaps it’s a bit abstract.  Let me use another one which may hit closer to home, especially with all you hunters out there.

    When you are sighting in a gun at 25 yards, and you are ½ an inch off, do you say, “Well, I’m close enough.  No need to get things dead center.”?  Of course you don’t.  You can’t accept being off that much.  Why?  Well, because at 50 yards, you are going to be off even more.  At 100 yards you will be off an even greater distance.  At 200 yards you will be far away from the bull’s eye.  At 300 yards, you may miss the target altogether.  The further away you get, the further off you will be.  You’ve got to hit perfection so that as time passes and distance passes, you will still hit the target.  If you aren’t perfect, there will be consequences. 

    God knows this, and He demands perfection.  This is why He treats anger towards another person like murder.  This is why He treats lust like He treats adultery.  You could say that this seems overly harsh, but in reality it’s not.  Why?  Because anger is a condition of the heart–it’s the same condition that leads to murder.  Lust is a condition of the heart–which leads to adultery.  It all starts in the heart as far as God is concerned.  And if your heart isn’t tuned into God and His will, He will judge and let His wrath burn hot.

    You might think two things at this point. #1. You might say, “Well, my heart is tuned to God, and He should give me a break on messing up.”  I respond: If your heart is tuned to God, then why do you tell that white lie?  Why do you not give an offering to the church?  Why do you get angry at another person when you feel slighted?  Here’s why: for those moments; for that time; something else was more important to you than the love of God.  You were afraid of the consequences of telling the truth so your well being took precedence.  You didn’t give because you wanted to hold onto your money, and it replaced God.  You were more concerned with your own feelings of being wronged than offering forgiveness.  In all of these things, God took a back seat, and He did not rule in your heart.  The other thing you might say is this: #2. There is no way anyone can avoid the wrath of God.  It is hopeless.  Might as well give in and enjoy what we can before God burns us to a crisp.  That would be an appropriate response if God were not a God of mercy.

    For if God had no mercy, then we would all be in a pickle.  We would all stand condemned and under His wrath for our failure to live the lives we should live.  And we have no excuse.  I mean, every culture in the world knows and has in its code of conduct that you should treat others as you would like to be treated.  Every culture knows we should care for one another and be fair.  However, just as true of every culture in the world is the fact that it is not done.  We know what we should do, but we do not do it.

    So, God, it seems might be in a bit of a pickle Himself.  His wrath must burn hot against sin.  It must burn hot against us missing the mark.  In order for justice to be served, there must be recompense.  There must be punishment to right the wrongs.  However, if every wrong were righted; if every sin were punished, then all would be condemned and mercy could not be shown.  How can this conundrum be resolved?

    I would like you to now think about how you act when you are wronged by someone else.  I am quite sure that everyone here this morning has experienced such a thing.  You have had someone tell you that they would do something only to renege on their word.  You have had someone say an unkind thing about you.  You have had someone say something that cut you to the heart.  You have entered into an agreement with someone for services or goods and had that person take advantage of you.  How do you respond?

    Most of us cut the other person off physically or emotionally.  Most of us refuse to associate with that other person or institution any longer.  Most of us say, “That’s it.  You have hurt me, and I refuse to have anything to do with you.”  And we don’t, unless an apology is issued–unless restitution is made.  Unless someone acknowledges the pain they caused and feels bad themselves, we will not engage the relationship again.  Unless there is repayment for abuse, we will stay away from the one who harmed us.  Payment, either emotionally or physically is demanded.  It’s the way we operate.  It’s the only way we get justice.  Someone has to pay. 

    Now, if you forgive a person who has harmed you; if you continue in a relationship with another who has treated you badly; who bears the cost.  If forgiveness is extended, then you bear the cost yourself.  You bear the emotional and physical burden.  The other is forgiven, but cost is still borne.  You just take it upon yourself and do not make the other person pay.

    If you have this in your head, I would like you to think now about all the times you have missed the mark.  Think about all the times you were off, even just a little bit.  Think about all the times when you were a ½ inch off at 25 yards but then as time and distance happened you missed the target all together.  Think about such things over the entire span of your life.  Think about the vast population of the world and how they have all missed the mark.  Think about how you have grieved your heavenly Father with such actions.  Think about how much damage has been done because of how we have missed the mark in such a manner.  Think about all that pain and frustration and anger.  Add all of that up.  If you multiply such things by the billions of people who have lived, can you possibly imagine how much wrath is built up?  Can you imagine the amount of anger God must have for our failure to love one another?  What could possibly pay for it?  What could God possibly demand in order to make things right?  What kind of restitution could satisfy the damage we have done?  The price must be extremely high.

    And if God forgives?  If God bears the cost Himself?  If God takes that wrath and absorbs it what kind of payment will make satisfaction?  If God bears His own wrath on our behalf, what could it cost Him?  If God took on human flesh and bore our sin and the cost for that sin Himself, what would that look like?

    The answer can be found at Calvary on a cross.

    For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him.

    God incarnate, Jesus bore the wrath of God destined for us.  He offered Himself as payment so that we didn’t have to face what we deserved.  This is why Jesus had to die.  This is why He had to hang on that cross.  This is why the cross saves us. 

    Jesus said to the disciples, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ 45Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day.

    Thank you, Jesus for what you have done.  Amen.