The Spirit Prays for Us: Romans 8:26-27

I remember when I was training to be a pastor and working as a chaplain in a hospital as part of my requirement.  My “congregation” was one floor in the hospital, and that consisted of the Intermediate Care Unit where the folks who weren’t sick enough for ICU but still needed more care than a regular room were cared for.  On that floor was a gentleman whose heart was failing.  He had been in the hospital for several months awaiting a transplant.  I had visited him several times over the course of my training, and I won’t forget the second to the last visit I had with him.

After our conversation, I asked him if there was anything he would like me to pray for, and he responded, “I really am not trying to be selfish, but I would like for you to pray that I receive a new heart.”  I gladly prayed for such a thing.  In less than 24 hours, he did indeed receive a new heart.

I spoke with my supervisor, a seminary professor about this event, and he pointedly asked me, “Do you think that your prayer worked to get him a new heart?”

I paused before my response.  Whenever you deal with seminary professors, there is oftentimes the answer you want to say, the answer that the professor wants to hear, and several variations of that.  At this particular time, I wanted to make sure that I gave the answer the professor wanted to hear because I was in no mood for a long theological discussion.  The deepest part of me wanted to answer, “Yes, indeed my prayer made a difference.”  But I was quite sure that the conversation that followed would not be fun.  And so I said, “I don’t know.”  I figured that was the safest bet, and indeed it was.  We moved on from there rather quickly.

But as I reflect upon this scenario, I can faithfully say: I hope that my prayer was not responsible for this gentleman receiving that heart.  You may scratch your heads in wonder that I am saying that, but hear me out.  For you see, in order for that patient to receive his heart, a local husband and father lost his life on I-35 in a tragic car accident.  Would any of you like to think that your prayer caused someone to lose his life so that someone else could benefit and live?  Would you like it on your conscience that your prayer caused a wife to lose her husband and children to lose their father?  I don’t.  Not in the least.

And yet, yet wasn’t it the compassionate thing to pray for the patient to receive a heart?  What do you do?  How do you pray for such a thing?  What if you are thrust into a situation where someone needs a kidney, heart, or lung transplant and someone must die for the other person to live?  How do you pray?  What do you pray for?  Sometimes, prayer is a difficult prospect, and we need help understanding it and practicing it.

Let us now pray.  Heavenly Father, you have called your people to be people of prayer.  Jesus prayed.  Jesus taught His disciples to pray.  But what do we do when faced with such difficulties?  What do we do when words fail us?  If we are to be your disciples, teach us indeed how to pray.  Amen.

Prayer is one of those interesting subjects that even science has dabbled in.  They have set up studies to see if prayer “works.”  They have set aside two sets of subjects–who as best as they can are similar, and have one set prayed for while the other not prayed for.  Setting aside the ethics of the matter–I mean what do you say, “Oh, we are praying for you and not for you.  If you die, too bad.”–the end game is to study the results; to see if somehow prayer brings about healing or what have you.  I can remember when I first started out in my trek to become a pastor that some of the studies that had been done showed that prayer was indeed effective.  However, since that time, there have been other studies which showed that prayer was not effective, and in some cases, those who were prayed for had worse outcomes than those who were not prayed for.

Fundamentally, these studies miss the mark because they treat prayer as some sort of giant, cosmic, candy machine.  You put the prayer in.  You hope you use the right amount of currency.  You kick, shake, and rattle the machine, and you hope that something comes out.  Of course, you might get one of those plastic balls that when you open it up has a little piece of paper in it that says either yes, no, or you’ve got to be kidding me.  This is not the purpose or reason for prayer.

In fact, as I have learned more and more about prayer, I have come to understand that prayer fundamentally isn’t about changing the circumstances around my life or the lives of others.  I have come to understand that prayer isn’t fundamentally about getting a particular desired outcome.  Prayer is something we participate in to show our utter and total dependence on God.  Prayer is something we turn to so that we acknowledge that we are powerless to affect certain situations and that we place our trust in a higher source and power.

Fundamentally, this is at the heart of the prayer that Jesus taught His followers to pray.  We recite it every Sunday and we commonly call it the Lord’s Prayer.  It begins, Our Father, or our Daddy who is in heaven.  The prayer begins that we are addressing someone beyond ourselves, and yet someone who we are extremely intimate with.  Like children who go before their parents and ask and talk, we go before God.

Hallowed be thy name.  We acknowledge that God is fundamentally set apart from us and from all other false gods.  And then we get into the true dependence on our part in the prayer.

Thy kingdom come.  Can any of us fundamentally bring about God’s kingdom in full?  Can any of us make God’s rule happen here?  No.  We acknowledge that we are dependent upon Him to bring His kingdom to us.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  We are asking here that God make heaven come down to earth.  Can any one of us do this fully?  Sure, there are times when we can make things better here, but can we bring about what it means to ultimately be in God’s presence?  No. That again, is up to God alone, and we express our dependence on Him.

Give us this day our daily bread.  Can any of us make a seed grow?  Can we produce life?  Can we manufacture the things we need to survive?  No.  These things all originate with God, and we simply help after the process gets started.  Again, our dependence goes back to God.

Forgive us our trespasses.  Here again we acknowledge our inability to make ourselves right with God.  We are fallen and in need of forgiveness.  We cannot overcome our debt to God without His forgiveness.

As we forgive those who trespass against us.  How easy is it to forgive someone who has hurt you?  For minor things, maybe relatively easy, but for those who have been sexually or physically abused; for those who have had a loved one murdered; for those who have been lied to continually and a host of other things, forgiveness does not come easy in the least.  We must have our hearts changed so that we can forgive others, and that comes when we first realize we have been forgiven.  Therefore, in order for us to forgive, we are dependent upon God’s grace.

And lead us not into temptation.  Temptation bombards us at all points.  We are tempted to think of ourselves more highly than we should.  We are tempted to make all sorts of things into our god.  We are tempted by sex, money, power, fame and status. We need protection, and we recognize our dependence upon God for that protection.

And deliver us from evil.  Evil too lurks, and we are almost powerless to resist it.  If a gunman walked into this church right now, we would be at his mercy.  I mean, maybe some of you are packing heat and have concealed carry licences, but I don’t.  I would have to appeal to God for protection and deliverance because I would be powerless in its face.  Most of us are, and we recognize this with this petition.

For thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory.  Again, we acknowledge that all belongs to God.  All.  We are dependent upon Him in totality for all things.

This prayer is a model of what prayer is.  We are dependent upon God for everything, and in prayer we acknowledge this.  When we are faced with difficult situations, we acknowledge that we need God’s guidance.  When we are faced with a troublesome medical diagnoses, we go to God recognizing our need for His healing.  We submit ourselves to His power and His authority.  Almost every prayer could be summed up in the words, “Thy will be done!”  Prayer is not a candy machine where we are trying to manipulate God to give us a certain outcome.  It is instead recognizing that we have no control and place ourselves into the care of our Creator.

But even if we acknowledge this, we are still at a loss sometimes of how to pray.  How do you pray for someone who needs a lung or heart transplant?  How do you pray when you enter into a situation when words fail?  What if the Lord’s prayer doesn’t immediately address a particular situation?  What do you say?  How can you avoid coming across as selfish?

Here is where prayer becomes fascinating–at least as I read today’s lesson from Romans chapter 8.  It’s just two verses, but they are profound in what they say and in their implications for our prayer lives as Christians.

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness;

This introductory phrase is important because of the word that is used for help.  The word in Greek is only used one other time in the New Testament in Luke chapter 10 when Jesus is visiting his friends Mary and Martha.  Mary is sitting listening to Jesus while Martha is preparing a meal.  Martha gets angry at Mary’s perceived laziness and says to Jesus, “Lord, make Mary help me.”  The word means, essentially, “I’m doing my part, now get her to do her part.”  Paul says here that we have a part in prayer, but the Spirit comes and does its part to assist us.

But why do we need assistance? “...for we do not know how to pray as we ought.”  This goes back to my original story about the heart transplant.  How do you pray in that kind of situation?  Do you pray for someone to die so that another can live?  That’s tough.  It’s also tough to think deeply about why we pray for others.  Most of the time, I have a kind heart.  I hate to see people in pain.  I hate to see suffering.  So, when someone asks me to pray because they have lost a job, are suffering from illness, are grieving, or are going through a rough stretch, I gladly offer up petitions.  But why?  Yes, it’s part of my job.  Yes, because I know it’s the right thing to do.  But I know deep within that one of the reasons I pray is selfish.  I don’t want to see people suffer.  I want them to be happy.  If we take some time to reflect upon some of our prayers, I think we can see that selfishness come through as well.  It’s there when as kids we pray for certain toys or for God to hurt the school bully.  It’s there as adults when we pray that God will let us win the lottery–because you know I will use the money to do good.  So, there is some selfishness to our prayers.  And there is also those times when we just don’t know what to say.  There are times when we are confronted with something too overwhelming–too emotional that we cannot even begin to form the words.  We are at a complete and total loss.  What do we say?  What do we do?  When we mix our motivations and needs with the messiness of life, we don’t know how to pray.

“... but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”  Here is the good news.  The Holy Spirit takes our prayer.  In a sense you could say that it intercepts our prayer, and then it begins its work.  It begins to transform our prayers.  It begins to mold them and make them into something else.  It begins to intercede for us.  To pray for us.  Because we don’t know how to pray fully, the Spirit helps–does its part and transforms our prayers to bring them before God the Father.

“27And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”  What Paul says here should be terrifying and comforting at the same time.  For Paul speaks about the God who searches the heart.  The word used here for searches gives the impression of someone taking a lighted torch and going into the darkest parts of a cave and shining a light.  This is what God does in our hearts–even as we pray.  If you think about what He discovers down there–that can be terrifying.  But, remember there is the Spirit also interceding.  There is the Spirit transforming those things–transforming your thoughts into holy thoughts.  There is the Spirit transforming those prayers that are really about your will and turning them into prayers for God’s will.  There is the Spirit making your prayers acceptable to God when you don’t know how to pray.

This is a mirror of what Jesus does for us as He makes us acceptable before God.  Both Jesus and the Spirit are in the transformation business.  For just as we do not pray as we ought, we also do not live as we ought.  Confronted with the reality of life and God’s holy Law, we know that we fail to live up to it.  We know we don’t follow it completely.  We know that we don’t even follow the laws of our land as we should.  But Christ intercedes for us.  Christ takes our unholiness upon Himself, and He gives us His holiness.  He dies for our sins, so that we might have abundant life.  He takes our imperfect lives and makes them perfect–not because of who we are, but because of who He is and His love for us.  This is what we call grace.  Jesus bestows grace in life.  The Spirit bestows grace in prayer.

So, what does this mean?  What are the implications of Jesus’ transformation and the Spirit’s transformation?  It means we can be bold and be at peace.  We don’t have to live a perfect life to be accepted by God.  We don’t have to be paralyzed by trying to figure out exactly what we are supposed to do at every single juncture of life.  We can count on the transformative power of Jesus to work even when we mess up.  We do not have to be paralyzed by the fear of failure.  Likewise, we can be bold in our prayers.  We don’t have to wonder what to say.  In fact, during those times we can’t put words together, guess who is already praying on our behalf?  Guess who is transforming our silence into an acceptable prayer before God?  Go to God and pray.  Say whatever you need to say.  The Spirit is interceding.  Go out and live for God.  Don’t be paralyzed by always trying to figure out the right thing.  Jesus is interceding.  Start doing.  Start praying.  You have heavenly help.

Let’s pray.  Gracious God, you can take our weakest attempts to do your will and you can take our weakest attempts at prayer and make them acceptable.  You can take our falling down and make something good come out of it.  You can take our fumbling words and make them into the most beautiful poetry.  Remind us of the work of Jesus. Remind us of the work of the Spirit so that we can be bold in living our lives and praying our prayers.  We ask this in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Proclaiming God's Deeds of Power: Penetcost Sermon

    There’s an old joke that has gone around and around and around that still bears some truth.  What do you get when you cross a Lutheran and a Jehovah’s Witness?  Answer: Someone who goes around knocking on doors but doesn’t know what to say.

    That’s a shot at those of us who have a hard time with evangelism.  When it comes to telling the story of faith; when it comes to introducing others to Christianity, many of us become silent.  Many of us don’t know what to say or how to proceed.  We know we should tell others about Jesus, but when the rubber hits the road and we come across someone who doesn’t attend church or who doesn’t believe in Jesus, we find ourselves tongue tied.  We find ourselves strangely silent.  And then we feel guilty because we didn’t say anything to this person.  We’ve fallen down on the job, so to speak.

    And, of course, we pastors haven’t exactly been all that helpful when it comes to equipping everyone to share the story of Jesus Christ.  Furthermore, we haven’t exactly done a very good job of sharing that story ourselves.  We too are often afraid to engage people and invite them to consider becoming a follower of Jesus.  We too are concerned about offending others.  We too are concerned that we might not say the right thing.  And the advice we often offer isn’t all that great either.  We pastors will oftentimes either say, “Don’t worry about what to say, the Spirit will just give you the words.”  And if you are engaged in a conversation and you know you should say something but don’t, did the Spirit forget you?  Or, we tell you, “Just be an example of what it means to live a Christian life.  If people see how you live and how you love, they will want to be just like you and seek Jesus.”  That’s kind of a stretch for us to say something like that, isn’t it?  It took me quite a few years to realize this myself, because for most of the fourteen years I’ve been a pastor, I’ve said exactly this.  But I finally realized something–it is an impossibility to be an example of Jesus.  It is an impossibility to live out what Jesus taught.  It is an impossibility to do the things Jesus did.   Anyone here ever fed a multitude with five loaves of bread and two fish?  Anyone here ever walk on water?  Anyone here ever give up all their possessions, roam around the countryside, depend on everyone for food and drink and shelter while criticizing the religious authorities and telling everyone to repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand?  Didn’t think so.  None of us even come close to being an example of Jesus.  None of us.

    And yet, we are called to proclaim Jesus Christ.  Before He left this world and was taken up into heaven, Jesus looked at His disciples and said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”  Yes, this is the calling of each and every Christian–to make disciples of all nations.  But how do we do this?  How do we do this when we don’t know what to say?  How do we do this when we cannot be a great example?

    Let’s look at our first lesson from this morning to perhaps get the beginnings of an answer to these questions.  Our text lifts up the events of the day of Pentecost.  We see that the followers of Jesus are gathered together praying.  As they prayed, a huge rush of wind blows through their midst.  This is the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised them–the Advocate.  Tongues of flame were seen on their heads, and then something marvelous happened!  The followers of Jesus began speaking in different languages!  Words rolled off their tongues in a manner they had never experienced before!

    And we know why they started speaking in all these languages.  We know, according to Luke, that there were Jews from all over the Roman Empire who were in Jerusalem that day to celebrate the Jewish Festival of Weeks.  These Jews were part of the Diaspora.  They had been living throughout the Empire, many of them for their whole lives.  They had adopted the languages of their various cultures and lost their native tongues.  But on this day, God wanted to make sure they would understand. God wanted to make sure they would be able to know about His great deeds of power.

    And so the message is clear for each and every one of us, right?  The Spirit made the followers of Jesus talk in different languages, so we should all go out and purchase Rosetta Stone software right after worship this morning.  This part of the church can get Spanish; this part can get Czech; this part can get German; this part can get Arabic; and I’ll get Gaelic, just for the fun of it.  This is the whole meaning of Pentecost, right?  No.  I don’t think so.  The point of Pentecost isn’t for us to simply go learn other languages.  We can most certainly do that if we choose, but I think the point is stated by Luke in verse 11, “In our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.”

    Let me narrow that down a little more, “We hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.”  It’s all about God’s deeds of power.  Which deeds of power?

    For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him may not perish but have eternal life.  For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but to save it. 

    In fact, if we actually had the entire story before us this morning from Acts chapter 2, we would see that this is exactly what Peter gets into right after he makes those comments about the prophet Joel.  Here are some of Peter’s words verbatim:

    22 ‘You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know— 23this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. 24But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power.

    I’ll skip down a little more and read what happened when the crowd heard Peter’s words and testimony

    37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what should we do?’ 38Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.’ 40And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ 41So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. 42They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

    Well, you might say.  This all sounds well and good, but how does that help me with evangelism?  How does that help me in this day and age?  What does this mean for the church in its present form?  I don’t see us adding three thousand people to the church in this day and age. 

            And you are right.  We don’t see this, but that doesn’t mean that it couldn’t happen again.  And I think it could, but we are going to have to look at how we proclaim the Gospel–the good news.  For God’s deeds of power are good news.  What am I trying to get at?
    Just this: there is a difference between good news and advice.  I need to acknowledge that the following

comes from a lecture I heard given by Timothy Keller.  There is a big difference between good news and advice.  Advice givers are a dime a dozen these days.  They are all over the place.  I’ve personally been one for a long time, but I am trying to be a bearer of good news.  I am trying to be a herald.  What is the difference?

    Think of it in this fashion: a foreign army invades a country, and the king heads off to do battle.  If the king wins the battle, he sends back heralds–messengers who proclaim good news.  “The battle is over.  The enemy is defeated.  You did nothing to win the victory, but your king has conquered.  Live in the freedom of victory!”  This is proclaiming good news!!!  But if the king loses, he sends back military advisers.  “Put up the breastworks here!  Calvary over here!  Archers over here!  Prepare to fight for your lives!!!”  Big difference, right.  Big difference.

    Just about every philosophy in the world; just about every religion in the world; just about every particular political institution or club that you will join in this world sends military advisers–this is how you should live your life.  These are the things you should consider important.  These are the habits of highly effective people.  These are the things you should do to become really, truly happy.  These are the things you must do to please God.  Every one of these things is advice.  Every one of these things tries to tell you how to live; and there are many in the broader church who have taken this tract.  There are many in the church who spend a lot of time trying to tell us how we should live and the things we should do.  I’ve spent a lot of time in that camp, and it makes evangelism hard.  Because when you try to tell someone how to live and give advice, you are better off sending an example–being an example.  Living the right way.  Doing the right things.

    And none of us can do it.  None of us can be that kind of example, but the good news is that God wins the victory for us despite the fact that we are poor examples of what He would like us to be.  God wins the victory through the cross and the grave–He defeats sin; He defeats evil, and He promises resurrection while we are still sinners.  He showers His love down upon you and me even in the midst of our brokenness.  This is not advice.  This is good news! 

    And what do you do when you get good news?  What do you do when you have a piece of information that is so fulfilling; so exciting; so life changing?  You share, not because you are trying to tell someone what to do or how they should act or how they should live–you are sharing because it has made a difference in your life, and you know it could make a difference in other peoples’ lives as well. 

    God has performed great acts of power.  He has reconciled the world unto Himself.  He has died for you and for me despite our brokenness.  We are not perfect, but God loves us and He redeemed us.  This is good news!  May it be heard and shared!  Amen.

A New Thought (at Least for Me)

People who are wiser and have deeper understanding have probably articulated it before, but it never sunk in through my skull until a week ago.

On my way back from the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod Assembly (a meeting of church leaders throughout a geographical section of Texas and Louisiana), I reflected upon something I heard during one of the presentations.

"Faith isn't just believing.  Faith is action."

I think I understand this particular statement.  It's a statement born out of the understanding of cheap grace.  Cheap grace basically says, "Jesus died for me.  God forgives my sin, so I can do whatever I want to do.  I don't have to change what I do; how I act; or how I treat others."  Essentially--I believe, but I don't have to act.

Then, of course, there are those who focus on action.  Faith is action.  God demands action.  I have to do something so that my faith is apparent.  We must do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.  We must feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, etc.

So, which is it?  Belief?  Action?  A combination of the two?

I've written about faith before and its relationship to doubt, and this paragraph talking about Hebrews 11:1 where the author gives the quintessential definition of faith, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for; the conviction of things not seen.", I think, still stands:

In Hebrews 11, Christians are encouraged to live with the assurance and conviction that God exists, that Christ is risen from the dead even though they have no visible proof or evidence of such matters.  They are to live their lives following Christ with conviction and hopeful assurance that though the surrounding culture acts one particular way, they are called to a different way of life--a way of life that may face ridicule and even persecution.  This is no simple matter of opinion--it is a matter of living with the certainty of belief in Jesus Christ--a belief and faith which has consequences in life.


Perhaps stating this in much simpler terms:

Faith is not believing something in an intellectual manner.
Faith is not doing something--some sort of action.
Both of these things fall far short of the reality of faith.

Faith is, I think, a state of being.  What do I mean by that?

Faith is a state of trust in some thing or some body.  It's not an intellectual assent to something.  It's not an action of some sort.  It is a deep sense that whatever it is that I am trusting will lead me to understanding ultimate reality and ultimate truth.  It's a deep sense that whatever I am trusting will impact me to live my life in a particular fashion.  Because I trust a particular thing, it impacts how I think about the world and how I act in it.

For those of us who are Christian, faith is a deep seated trust in God.  It's more than just intellectually believing that God exists.  It's more than just believing Jesus is Lord and Savior.  It's deeper.

It's more than just what we do.  Christians certainly do not have a monopoly on doing good things.  In fact, there are more than a few organizations which do the exact same things churches do, but they do them a whole lot better.   Christians are not the only ones who feed the hungry, work for justice, seek to bring healing and so on and so forth.  Some atheists put some Christians to shame when it comes to being a moral being.  Faith is not grounded in doing.

Faith lies at the center of one's being--at the core of who a person is.  From that core comes forth belief AND action.  Belief AND action is rooted and grounded in a person's faith.  For the Christian, belief AND action is rooted in the deep faith (see trust) in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

That faith--that trust--did not come to us by any action of our own.  It did not arrive because we disciplined ourselves to achieve it.  It did not arrive because we poured over Bible verses and commentaries and the latest in Christian writing.  It did not take root in our hearts because we started doing good things and helping out those in need.

It only came from one place: from the Holy Spirit.

"No one says Jesus is Lord except by the power of the Holy Spirit," wrote St. Paul.

"I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith," wrote Martin Luther the founder of the Lutheran Church.

Faith, this deep seated trust, is a gift from God Himself.  From it flows your actions and your beliefs.  I think it is time we stop trying to talk about faith as something we believe or something we do.  I think it is time to talk about faith as something we are--those who place our trust in the God who lived and who died and who rose again and who now walks with us each and every day.

The Great Reversal or Don't Wait Until Death is Imminent

Yesterday, I had lunch with a man who is dying of cancer.

Don't get me wrong.  He's hopeful--as anyone would be hopeful.  But he also knows the facts.

His cancer is not responding to the latest chemo.

Docs told him it wouldn't be very long.

He's losing copious amounts of weight.

But, he's at peace.  He's getting things in order, but hoping he will live.

I noticed something about him that I have noticed repeatedly about folks who are facing imminent death.

There almost always is a great reversal.  Almost always.

The things once thought of as trivial become important, and the things once believed to be of utmost importance become trivial.

Maybe another way of saying this is: the things we take for granted become precious and the things we think precious become taken for granted--minor.

Family and their well being becomes prominent.  Things once argued over (what to wear, whether one is right or wrong about a minor fact, what kind of music one prefers, what kind of car one drives) all become irrelevant.  Expensive cars, good paying jobs, cheering on one's favorite team diminish in importance as time becomes a precious commodity to be spent with those who one loves.

Faith asserts itself.  Whereas prayer and times of quiet reflection seemed so tedious and superfluous, they now become profound times of healing--not in the sense of physical healing, but spiritual and mental healing--which lead to peace and acceptance of what is going on.  Marveling at the good, the beautiful of creation happens time and again throughout the day--not just on special occasions.

Why is it that for many, this only occurs when confronting one's mortality?
Why is it that we get convinced so easily that trivial things become important and important things are trivial?
What is it about this world we live in; this culture we are a part of that keeps us so focused on, well, us?

Perhaps when confronted with the final loss of "us" in death; before we go to be with God, we come to see it's really not about us.  It is about us in relationship with others.  It's not about how my needs are satisfied by what I want to pursue.  It's about how I seek the good of others as they seek my good.

One of the most interesting things I have heard to explain the nature of God--the Christian perspective of the Trinity--is that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, have lived from eternity in a mutual relationship of glorifying one another.  The Father glorifies the Son and the Spirit.  The Son glorifies the Spirit and the Father.  The Spirit glorifies the Son and the Father.  The constant glorification and love that the "persons" of the Trinity give to each other fulfills them completely.  They had no need for anyone or anything to give them glory or worship.

So why create humans?  Not to receive, but to share.  To share the wonderful sense of love and fulfillment of this relationship.

Too many times, folks only begin to understand this when their death is imminent.

Why wait?

Does God Give Warning Tickets?

Last Sunday after church [Sheriff of Austin County] Jack Brandes asked me a very good question, "Does God give warning tickets?" "You know, pastor," Jack said, "we issue a lot of warning tickets. Does God give warnings?"

Jack, of course was referencing my sermon last week about the reasons we follow Christ’s commands and God’s laws. My initial response was, "Yes, God does issue warning tickets." And I stand by that. This might seem like a rather odd topic for Mother’s Day, but bear with me. I’m trying to be faithful to the biblical texts appointed for the day and answer a really good question brought forth by one of our members.

The Old Testament is full of references of God sending warnings to His people who were disobeying the law. All one need do is read through the prophets. When the people sinned, God repeatedly sent men of faith who called Israel to repentance. "Stop worshiping false gods," they would cry out, "lest God bring forth punishment." "Thus says the Lord, stop your pious festivals because what I really desire is for you to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God. Do this, or there will be consequences."

Warning tickets. Such things are issued to get you to think about what you are doing wrong and turn around to do the right things. But what about the New Testament? Are such warnings found after Jesus’ death and resurrection? I think there are.

Let us look once again at our second lesson this morning from the book of Revelation chapter 22. This is the very end of John’s vision, and in this vision, John is being shown around heaven. John paints the picture of this reality several times in this final book of the Bible including in these last few verses, "12 ‘See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work. 13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.’ 14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. 15Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood."

"15Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood." A warning ticket. Now, those of you who read my blog know this verse was omitted by those who were choosing today’s Bible passages for some reason or another. I wasn’t happy about its exclusion, so I made sure it was printed in the bulletin. We need to see what is in scripture and be allowed to think about it, wrestle with it, and ask tough questions about it. Like, why would God keep people outside of heaven?

Now, this might not be a troubling question for some. I mean, there are many Christians who willingly accept the Christian doctrine of hell, but there are a good chunk of people who find this problematic. How could a loving God destine people to eternal punishment?

Well, let’s start with the fact that God does not destine anyone to hell. God does not destine anyone to eternal punishment. God doesn’t condemn people. They condemn themselves.

Now, that might sound harsh, but let’s go through this step by step. First off, remember that you don’t have the power to come to belief in God on your own. Some people have trouble with this concept. Some folks believe you have to consciously make a decision to believe in God and follow Jesus Christ. I respectfully disagree as Scripture is very clear. St. Paul writes that no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the power of the Holy Spirit. For those of you who want verse references, it’s 1 Corinthians 12:3. If you have an argument with me about this, you will first have to argue with St. Paul. Martin Luther, namesake of the Lutheran Church picked up on this in his explanation to the third article of the Apostles’ Creed when he wrote, "I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ or come to Him, but it is the Holy Spirit that calls me through the Gospel, enlightens me with His gifts and sanctifies and preserves me in the true faith." And now, if Andrew Newberg’s brain research is correct, we know that we are actually hard-wired for belief in God. The brain is wired for belief! In my book, that means God has predestined each and every one of us to believe in Him and have salvation.

So, why hell then? Why people sitting outside heaven? Well, because God gives us the choice to walk away. We can freely stay in a relationship with Him, or we can walk away from it. We have free will.
"But why does God give us this free will. If He loves us so much and wants us to be with Him, why does He allow us to walk away?"

Well, let’s think about that a moment. If He didn’t give us free will, then we would simply be puppets on a string. God would control us. That’s not exactly a relationship now, is it? True relationships, relationships which are built upon love and trust require freedom. They require people having the ability to say yes to each other or no to each other. It’s that simple, really. There must be a choice involved when it comes to our relationship with God, and that choice remains squarely with you and me as to whether or not we stay in that relationship. God doesn’t waver in His resolve toward us. He wants us to be with Him, and He will do everything in His power to make that relationship work. It is we who choose to walk away.

Which brings us back to those sitting outside of heaven: the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. How do we reconcile such things with grace? How do we reconcile those sitting on the outside with the knowledge that it is not by our actions that we are saved but purely by God’s love? Doesn’t God love even those who are outside the gate?

Of course. In fact, God loves them so much that He gives them their heart’s desire.

Verses 16 and 17 read, "16 ‘It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.’ 17 The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift."

Stop and think a moment about your heart’s desire. Stop and think a moment about what is at the center of your life and what your life revolves around. Consider for a moment that your heart’s desire is your thirst. Consider for a moment that your life revolves around what you believe will quench that thirst. And consider that God wants to give you your heart’s desire. God will allow you to pursue your heart’s desire for eternity. And consider now, that if your heart’s desire isn’t God, that desire will never be quenched. Yeah, that would be hell.

Now, consider the fact that the only desire that can be quenched completely when we enter into eternity, is our thirst for God. "Let everyone who is thirsty come. Drink the gift of the water of life. Be satisfied. Be filled. Enter into the peace that passes all understanding." Heaven.

What is your heart’s desire? Do we need a warning ticket? I sincerely hope not. Amen.