Seeing the Truth

               At my last service at St. John of Cat Spring, I asked for prayer requests just before the prayers of the church.  One of my congregation members raised his hand and said, “I’d like to pray for Bethany Lutheran Church.”

                I wasn’t exactly sure what to make of that prayer request, so I started thinking about it. And suddenly, I put two and two together.  You see, right before church, one of our youth met me in the hall as I was heading to worship, and the little tyke said, “Pastor, I hate to see you go.  I want to make sure and get your address so that I can keep up with you because when I grow up and get a job, I’m going to send you some money.

                I was touched by this child’s comment but also a bit perplexed, so I asked the little guy why he was going to send me money.  He replied just as innocently as a child can, “Because my daddy says you are the poorest preacher he’s ever seen.”  Did I mention that my congregation member wanted me to pray for Bethany Lutheran Church?

                And maybe, just maybe history will bear it out that I am the poorest preacher that some of you have ever seen.  But if I am to be the poorest preacher that you have ever seen, let it be because I was not able to help you understand complicated theological concepts.  Let it be because I was not able to provide illustrations that brought the biblical passages to life.  Let it be because I am a sinner who falls far short of what God has called him to be.  Let it be because of these things.

                But if I am the poorest preacher that you have ever seen, let it not be because I didn’t work day after day to tell you about what God has done for you through Jesus Christ.  Let it not be because I didn’t try to convey to you how much God loves you and what He was willing to do to redeem you.  Let it not be because I failed to preach the Truth.

                Perhaps at this point there are one or two of you who are scratching your head and thinking, “Wait a minute. I was with you right until that last statement you made.  Are you somehow suggesting that you know what the Truth is?  Are you starting off your first Sunday sermon here somehow insinuating that you know the Truth and the rest of us don’t and that we are just a bunch of ignorant folks who you are here to enlighten?”

                No.  I am not suggesting that at all.  For the Truth I am here to proclaim is Truth that is readily accessible to each and every person.  The Truth that I am here to proclaim is very, very near to each and every one of us.  The Truth that I am here to proclaim is actually with us right here, right now for all to see.  How so, you might ask?

                Well, let’s turn now to our Gospel lesson for today to find the answer to that question.  This is actually quite a funny text to have before us on Christ the King Sunday, for our King, King Jesus is standing before Pontius Pilate as a criminal; bound; awaiting trial.  Jesus doesn’t look like a king at all.  And this is probably what is behind Pilate’s initial question.  It’s likely a contemptuous question.  “Are YOU the king of the Jews?”  Pilate knows the answer is a flat out “NO!”  Jesus is from the wrong part of the country.  He only has a hand-full of close followers, and they have all deserted Him.  He is poor; all alone; with seemingly no power or authority.  This is no king, but if he is harboring delusional thoughts of grandeur—of overthrowing the Roman presence in Judea, then, then this Jesus might just be a threat.  Better to be safe than sorry.  Better to make sure.

                Jesus responds to Pilate’s question with a question.  “Are you asking me this on your own or are you just believing the rumors that everyone is spreading about me?”

                Pilate isn’t too thrilled with Jesus’ question.  “Am I a Jew?” Pilate strongly responds.  You see, Pilate had nothing but contempt for the Jews.  He was assigned to keep the peace.  He had no use for Jewish customs or Jewish beliefs.  He didn’t care about their religious politics.  This is what is behind his response to Jesus.  In other words, Pilate is saying, “I am not a Jew.  I don’t care about your religious squabbles.  Your people handed you over to me for some reason that I really don’t care about.  I just want to keep the peace here in Judea.  Now, what have you done to make them angry?”

                Jesus responds, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”  This is such an important statement.  We could spend all morning unpacking it, but for now, let us be content to hear Jesus admit that He is a king. Let us hear that Jesus has a kingdom, but it is not like any kingdom of the world.  It is not founded in power or prestige or violence.  It is not tied to any geographic area.  It is not from or of the world, but it is for the world.  Let me say that again, Jesus kingdom is not of the world, but it is certainly for the world.  “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 did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save it.”

                Ah, but Pilate can’t hear such a thing.  Being a politician and a puppet of the emperor, he knows he must squash rebellion.  Jesus’ words sound rebellious!  “Aha!  So, you are a king!”

                In so many words, Jesus says with some amount of reluctance, “Yes. I am a king, but hear again that my purpose is a bit different from most kings.  I am a different sort of king.  For this I was born and for this I have come into the world: to testify to the truth.  Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”  Oh, let us hear Jesus’ words to Pilate.  Oh, let us understand them deeply, for in them is an invitation not only to Pilate, but to us as well.  Everyone who belongs to the Truth listens to Jesus’ voice.  Do you hear Jesus’ voice?  Do you belong to the Truth?  We will come back to this shortly.

                Pilate responds with the most ironic question in the whole Bible—at least it is ironic if you are a Christian.  If you are not a Christian, the question makes perfect sense.  I mean, indeed, what is Truth?  Does anyone really know what the Truth is?  You have your truth.  I have my truth.  Democrats have their truth.  Republicans have their truth.  If I don’t like what you say, I’ll just go find someone else who has a different understanding; a different insight; a different thought.  No one really knows the truth.  Pilate’s question ultimately is a rejection of what Jesus said.  Pilate cannot hear Jesus’ voice.  Pilate does not belong to the Truth.

                Ah, but what is Truth?  I said it was an ironic question if you are a Christian, because the answer is this: the Truth is standing right in front of Pilate.  For you see, my brothers and sisters, the Truth is not an idea; it is not a concept; it is not a philosophy; the Truth is a person—the God made flesh.  The Truth is Jesus.  Remember the story of when Jesus and His disciples were gathered in the room and Jesus told them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled, believe in God.  Believe also in me.  In my Father’s house there are many rooms.  If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ ⁵Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ ⁶Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

                Jesus is the Truth.  Do you belong to the Truth?  Do you hear His voice?  Pilate could not. Pilate was blinded because He believed that truth was found in power, in prestige, in wealth, in privilege.  Pilate’s heart was captured by these things, so he could not see Jesus for who he was: the one who had come into the world to save it.

                And it is so easy to be blinded to Jesus.  It is so easy to have our hearts captured by other things.  It is so easy to miss the Truth and become enslaved to the cares and worries of the world.  You may ask how?  Well, let me offer up this little illustration.  You see, my previous home was pretty close to that other NFL team in Texas.  Sorry, life-long Cowboy’s fan here.  But that’s not the point.  What is the point is this: there were a few folks in the community who would comment that it was too difficult to drive 10 minutes to church; it was too much of a problem to sit for an hour in worship; it cost too much to put $20 in the offering plate.  And yet, and yet, these same folks would drive an hour and a half and fight Houston traffic to attend a Texan’s game.  They’d spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a ticket for themselves and their families.  They would spend hundreds of dollars on food and souvenir items.  They’d devote three hours to watching the game, and then fight traffic to get out of the stadium and drive back home.  Their hearts were captured by their team.  Their king was athletics.

                And do you see how demanding that king was?  Do you see how much their king too of their time and energy and money?  Do you see how much their king took from them?  And what did they receive in return?  Momentary pleasure in a win.  Disgust in a loss.  The hope of another season.  A souvenir jersey that will fall apart.  A few memories to hold in their heads. Things that will all pass away and fade and leave them with absolutely nothing.  Such is the case with all false kings.  Such is the case with anything that your heart is captured by that is not Jesus.  And…here is the kicker…even though we essentially get nothing from those kings, what do they continue to do?  What do they continue to demand?  More time, more energy, more money.  They continue to make demands of you while giving you nothing in return.  Keep serving these kings, and you end up empty, restless, joyless, angry and frustrated.

                And so, let me now ask, about Jesus.  What does it mean when Jesus is your king?  What does it mean when your heart is captured by Him as the Truth?  How demanding is Jesus?  In one way, He is absolutely much more demanding than any other king.  For Jesus demands total allegiance.  He demands our entire life.  He demands that we honor and love Him with our heart, our mind, our soul, and our strength.  He demands that we love our neighbors as ourselves.  His demands are above and beyond what any other king would ever demand.  They are so great that we can never fulfill them.  And while most other kings would look upon us as failures and dismiss us for not being loyal enough; not being good enough; not being the subjects that we should be.  While most kings would cast us out of their kingdoms or punish us for our failure, our King, the Way, the Truth, the Life, instead lays down His life for us.  Our King, King Jesus redeems us with His holy and precious blood.  Our King sacrifices Himself for us to show us mercy and love.  Our King pours Himself out for us and then pours Himself into us so that we can become children of God and inheritors of eternal life.  Our King, in spite of our failures, loves us with a love beyond measure, and He shows us this sheer grace so that He may establish His kingdom in our hearts. For He longs to capture our hearts and reign in our hearts each and every day.  And once we see that; once we see the Truth standing there before us; once we see Jesus in our hearts as the Lord and King who loved us while we were still sinners; we become full of peace, love, joy, and hope.  What is Truth?  It is Jesus; King Jesus.  May He be king of your  heart this day and everyday.  Amen.

The Lord: Forgiveness (Part 3)

Today, the rubber begins to hit the road.  Today we come to the pivotal biblical teaching on forgiveness.  This teaching is actually so deep and rich that we will spend three Sundays delving into it, and hopefully, at the end of it all, we will come to a deep and full appreciation of forgiveness and find out how indeed we can forgive.

But before we get there, let me take just a moment to recap where we have been so far for anyone who might have missed the first two sermons. First, we delved into what forgiveness is.  We found that it has scientifically proven health and mental benefits.  We also found that it is commanded by God.  We found that if we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven.  Yet, despite all of this, we also found that forgiveness is extremely difficult because it means that we pay for the wrongdoing of someone else.  We bear the cost of someone else hurting us.  Our working definition of forgiveness for this series then is this: the change in our emotional state when we choose to absorb the cost of someone else’s actions that have hurt us. 

Last week, we discovered that the Bible doesn’t give much instruction on how we can forgive.  We found that it commands forgiveness; that it expects forgiveness, but there is no direct process on how it can be accomplished in our lives.  Instead, Jesus begins his teachings on forgiveness with an emphasis on first getting those who have hurt us to take responsibility for their actions.  We are called to seek out those who have hurt us to win them back–win them because they are in danger of losing their salvation.  Jesus outlines a process in doing this, but if that process doesn’t work–if those who have wronged us fail to take responsibility, then we must move on to the hard work of forgiveness.  We must move on to shouldering the cost of how we were wronged.

This leads us straight to our Bible lesson this morning from Matthew chapter 18.  Peter, the spokesman of the disciples picks up on what Jesus is saying.  He understands what Jesus is saying about forgiveness.  He knows that Jesus is asking them to pay the cost of another’s wrong doing.  So Peter asks, “Lord, how many times must I forgive someone?  Seven times?”  Now, Peter thinks that he should receive a pat on the back or two for this question.  The religious teachers of his day had talked of forgiveness as well.  They had decided in their deliberations that one was obligated to forgive another person two times.  After the third offense, one was no longer obligated to forgive.  Does this sound like someone playing baseball?  Three strikes, and you are out!!  Peter is going well above what the religious authorities taught.  He has doubled their number and then added one: seven.  Seven is also considered the perfect number–the number of godliness.  Surely this is accurate.

Jesus actually will have none of it.  Jesus says, “Not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”  Now, the Greek is a little bit difficult to parse here.  You could also translate this seventy times seven–which some of you may have been exposed to in other translations of the Bible.  Either way, Jesus is purposely expanding the number greatly–so much so, that Jesus is truly saying, “Look Peter, you don’t keep count.” If you are keeping count; if you are keeping score; you have not yet understood the idea of forgiveness.

I am quite sure that Peter was taken aback by Jesus reply.  I am quite sure that Peter looked at Jesus with those deer in the headlights eyes.  I’m sure Peter stood there for a moment with his mouth agape before trying to form the words, “But...how?”  How can I forgive someone like that?  How can I bear that much cost?  How can I bear that much pain?  How can I do such an impossible thing?

Like the Master Teacher he is, Jesus responds with a story.  It is a powerful story.  A frightening story.  A story packed with imagery and detail and a wallop of a punch.  And within this story, when we come to understand it. When we come to understand all that is being said.  When it clicks within our minds and our hearts, then, yes, then we will understand and know how to forgive. 

Oh but we need to spend some time in this story.  We need to examine it.  We need to see what this story tells us about God, about ourselves, and then about forgiveness.  And to do this, we will spend today focusing on the Master.  We will spend next Sunday focusing on the servant, and we will spend the last Sunday putting it all together.

As we look at the parable Jesus told, we first see that the Lord and Master in this parable is unimaginably rich.  How do we come to this conclusion.  Well, we come to this conclusion by seeing how much the servant owes him.  This servant is in debt to his master 10,000 talents.  Now, how much is that?  Anyone out there who is a mathematician will appreciate this.  One talent is worth 6,000 denarii, and one denarii is a day’s wage.  Day laborers generally work for $100 a day, so let’s do all the multiplication.  One hundred times 6,000 is $600,000. $600,000 times 10,000 is six billion.  The Lord’s servant owes him six billion dollars!!!  And this is not the only servant. There are more servants to go, and we know from the outset of this parable that they owe the master money as well.  Who has that kind of money to loan?  Only someone who is unimaginably rich! 

This is an important part of this parable because it leads to an important tenet of the Christian faith.  We believe and proclaim that all sin is a sin against God.  Yes, when we sin against another person, we wrong that other person, but we also wrong our Heavenly Father.  There have been a few folks in my time who I have heard who have a hard time wrapping their heads around this.  They will say, “Sure, I may have sinned against this person, but it wasn’t against God.”  I get that argument.  I understand it, but you’ve got to expand your thinking a bit.  For it’s like this: let’s say you drive down to Houston to do some shopping.  You pull into Memorial City Mall, and you see a parking spot open up–that’s a rare thing, you know!!  So you speed up a little bit, and you pull in just in time.  But another patron, who had also seen that parking spot bumps into your car and dents it.  You are not happy with the situation, and you confront the person who hit you.  You demand an apology and payment for the damages.  The person looks at you and says, “You know, I didn’t hit you.  I hit the car.  I don’t owe you and apology.  I owe the car an apology, and I don’t owe you damages.  I owe the car damages.  What is your car’s name so that I can make a check out to it?”  I know that sounds stupid. Why?  Because we all know, that if you own the car, you are due the damages.  If you are driving the car, they hit you. As the owner, you are the one who was sinned against!!! 

So here is the question: what does God own?  What belongs to God?  God is unimaginably wealthy.  God owns everything–including you; including me.  When we sin against one another, we are sinning against the one who owns us.  We are sinning against God.  We will need to remember this next week as well as we talk about the servant, but for now, let’s move on.

The second thing we see about the Lord and Master is that He is unimaginably compassionate.  He is unimaginably gracious.  The servant who owes him six billion dollars is brought before Him, and He demands payment.  The Lord has kept an account of everything owed to Him.  He knows every cent due.  He knows what is rightfully His.  Just like us when our car is damaged and we want things set to right; the Lord wants things set to right.  It is only just.  It is only fair.  You can’t have people squandering your wealth without an accounting.  You can’t have people causing damage without demanding responsibility!  Imagine the chaos such things would cause!!  Payment for the debt must be made!!! 

But how can $6 billion be accounted for?  The only way the Lord can recoup the debt is by selling the servant, his family, and all his possessions.  This is only a drop in the bucket, but the debt must be paid. 

Such a thing is devastating for the servant, so he pleads with the Lord not to do such a thing.  “Give me time, and I will repay everything!!”  We’ll talk more about this next week.

What is important to us today is to see the Lord’s response.  The Lord has compassion.  Literally, in the Greek, the Lord’s insides melted.  When the Lord heard His servant’s plea, He was moved deeply.  How deeply.  The Lord released the servant and wiped out the debt.  The wording here is very important–the slave was literally a prisoner.  He was in bondage, but he is now freed.  He is now released, and his debt is gone; wiped out; completely erased. 

But that forgiveness wasn’t cheap, was it?  Oh, it was cheap for the slave, but it wasn’t cheap for the Lord.  The Lord just incurred a $6 billion expense.  The Lord just had $6 billion erased from His net worth.  Can you imagine swallowing that much?  Can you imagine doing that for someone?  Can you imagine the generosity?  The compassion? The grace?  That is unimaginable.  No one does this.  No one. No one cancels that much debt.  No one pays that cost themselves.  Except for this Lord.  Except for our Lord.  Can you see the generosity of God?  Can you see the compassion of God?  Can you see what God is willing to do for His servants?  Oh ponder the depths of God’s grace and love and mercy!!!

Oh, and if the parable would have ended here, perhaps we could be happy.  Perhaps we could simply revel in the glories of God and His generosity.  But Jesus doesn’t simply stop with the forgiveness of the debt.  There is more.

The servant who was forgiven–who was released, seeks out a fellow servant who owes him money.  Using the mathematics of earlier.  This fellow servant owes the forgiven servant $10,000.  Not insignificant, but completely manageable.  But there is no scene of forgiveness to be played out.  There is no release. There is imprisonment.  We will speak of these things further next week, but for now, let us simply see that the one who was forgiven refuses to forgive, and that initiates another sequence of events–a sequence of events that takes us right back to the Master and Lord.

The Lord is told about the actions of the forgiven servant.  The Lord is told of how the one who was forgiven refused to forgive.  The Lord is told of how the one who was released turned around and made a captive.  And the Lord’s wrath is kindled.  “You evil slave!”  Yes, that’s the Greek word.  Wicked seems to tone things down a bit.  A judgment is rendered here, and it is not pleasant.  “You evil slave!  I forgave you because you pleaded with me.  Shouldn’t you have done the same?!” 

God is not mocked.  God’s forgiveness is not mocked.  God’s righteous anger burns against those who have been forgiven and who fail to forgive.  God’s wrath falls upon them with the heaviest possible consequences.

The $6 billion debt is reinstated.  The slave is thrown into prison.  And the slave is tortured.  That might make us squeamish hearing Jesus say those words.  That may makes our stomachs turn.  We like hearing about God’s love.  We like hearing about Christ’s love.  But judgement?  Torture?  Really?  Surely this is just over the top language.  Surely this is just an interpretation.  Surely this isn’t the “real” Jesus.

Yes. It is.  It is the real Jesus talking about the real God.  We must remember that God is a God of justice.  God’s anger and wrath burns hot against sin.  God will not let sin go unchecked.  And if you have been forgiven $6 billion dollars, it is unjust to demand payment of $10,000.  Look at it this way–if you were lucky and a hard worker, you could expect to make one talent in your LIFETIME.  This servant was forgiven 10,000 lifetimes’ worth of debt, and he refuses to excuse three month’s of wages!  Do you consider that just?  Do you consider that fair?  Do you consider that worthy of the one who forgave $6 billion becoming angry?  Of course you do.  At a deep level, you recognize the injustice.  You recognize that the punishment fits the crime.

And so, is this where we are left?  Are we left here looking at God who punishes if we do not forgive?  Are we left here now thinking, “Geez, I’d better think twice about holding onto my grudges.  I’d better think twice about not forgiving someone else.  I’d better start letting go of my anger towards others lest I end up in hell being tortured because I ticked God off.” 

Stop.  Breathe.  The long answer is no.  We do not forgive others because we are scared to death of God.  We do not forgive others because we fear ending up in hell being tortured for eternity.  There is no comfort in such forgiveness.  There is no peace in such forgiveness.  It is forced and compelled forgiveness, and it certainly is not from the heart.  We will arrive there, but today it is sufficient for us to ponder both the love and the justice of God.   Hold these two things in dynamic tension.  For to see God’s love and God’s justice in tension in this manner is an important step in the process of learning how to forgive.  Amen.

Romans 1:8-17 "God on Trial"

Today, I have titled my sermon, “God on trial.”  I have done so for a couple of reasons.  First, there are many people in the U.S. who are walking away from organized religion.  Half of those who walk away say that they no longer believe in God for various reasons.  In a very real way, they have looked at the evidence for God and about God and have found it lacking.  They have put the idea of God on trial and convicted Him of absence.  The second reason is related to the first–God’s seeming absence in the face of injustice and evil.  This has been a major problem for those who believe in God for many, many years.  The logical argument is thus: if God is all powerful and if God is all good, then why does God allow bad things to happen?  Why doesn’t God cure illness and disease?  Why doesn’t God correct the many wrongs that go on throughout the world where people in power abuse those are weak.  Why doesn’t God do something about the hatred and anger and abuse and violence that goes on in the world?  Does God care and if He does, can’t He act?  In a very real way, folks who ask these questions are putting God on trial.  In effect, they are asking the question: is God just?  Is God righteous?

As we turn to our next installment of the book of Romans, I want to begin with a little bit of a study of the Koine Greek–the language in which the New Testament is written.  Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be too detailed, but the detail I am going to reveal here is important.  The Greek word for righteousness and justice is the same word.  Therefore, whenever you read through the book of Romans or any other New Testament book, if you see the word justice, you can interchange it with righteousness, and vice versa.  This will come into play in just a little while as we talk about Paul’s words to the church in Rome.

After Paul’s initial greeting, he follows the traditional customs of letter writing in the first century Roman empire.  He offers some gracious words of thanksgiving to the people he writes to.  In one way, you could say that he was buttering them up.

Paul begins: First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world.  Paul is using some exaggeration here most likely.  Most scholars believe that the church in Rome was not large by any extent.  In fact, our membership very likely exceeds the number of Christians in Rome at the time Paul writes this letter.  At a maximum, the church in Rome may have numbered 200 people in a city of over a million.  But this is no small thing.  Rome is the center of the Roman empire–the most powerful empire in the world at the time.  It is where the emperor: Caesar, sits enthroned.  To profess “Jesus is Lord” right under the nose of those who demanded all Roman subjects profess “Caesar is Lord,” is an act of extreme bravery–something we know little about in our present situation.  But the Roman Christians’ trust in God empowered them to hold fast to their proclamation despite the threat–truly something to proclaim throughout the world.

9For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, 10asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you.  Paul then offers an intriguing oath, swearing before God that he prays regularly for the Roman church–desperately wanting to come and visit them.  Speculation is that Paul may have included this heart-felt prayer because some of the members in the Roman church felt slighted that the self-described “apostle to the Gentiles” hadn’t visited them in the heart of the Gentile world.  Paul wants to soothe their soreness as he pens some very important words to them.

11For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— 12or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.  Paul obviously feels that he has something very important to share with the church in Rome.  The jury is still out as to what he wants to share with the Christians there, but Paul quickly points out that he does not want to come simply to impart knowledge on his own behalf.  There is a mutual sharing and growth that will occur.  This is quite revolutionary for us to think about because oftentimes, our thoughts tend to trend toward the idea that “I go to church to get something.”  Certainly, when we come to church, we should receive encouragement as we face our daily lives, but the encouragement also flows from us into others.  In other words, I am not simply giving you encouragement when you come through those doors, you are giving me encouragement as well.  We mutually build one another up.  This is ideally the way the church works.

13I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as I have among the rest of the Gentiles. 14I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish 15— hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.  Paul now closes out his reasons for wanting to come to Rome as he wants to reap a harvest–meaning make converts to Christianity because he is a debtor to both Greeks and to barbarians–to the wise and to the foolish.  What does Paul mean by this?  Tim Keller offered up a very interesting way to understand what Paul is saying here.  There are two ways of becoming indebted to a person.  First, if I borrow $100 from you, then I am indebted to you until I pay you back.  Secondly, if you give me $100 and say, “Please give this to my friend.”  Then I am indebted to your friend until I pass on that $100.  Paul believes he has received something that is not his–the Gospel.  Paul believes he is indebted to the world–to Greeks and barbarians; to the wise and foolish–and he must pass the Gospel onto them.  He must pass the Gospel onto everyone.  Why?

Here is where we begin to return to my original statement about God being on trial.  Paul lays in the next two verses what he will be arguing about in the rest of the letter: 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith.’  If you just read through these words quickly, you can gloss over it and not think much about them. However, if you read through these words slowly and try to understand them, you will find yourself scratching your head.  What in the world is Paul actually saying?  Why does he have to state that he is not ashamed of the Gospel?  What and how is the righteousness or justice of God revealed?  What does through faith for faith mean?

Let me begin by reminding you that the Gospel hinges upon the person of Jesus.  Jesus would have been considered a failure from a Jewish perspective because he failed to bring about the promises surrounding the Messiah.  He did not free the Jews from oppression.  He did not usher in world peace.  He did not cleanse the Temple system.  Everything continued to run as before despite what Jesus said.  AND, Jesus was also hung on a tree–which meant, according to Jewish scripture–he was cursed.  All of this amounts to tremendous failure from the standpoint of Jews.  From the standpoint of Rome, he was also a failure.  Jesus was considered a criminal who was seditious.  He was crucified because He challenged the power of Rome and proclaimed allegiance to another kingdom–God’s kingdom.  No Roman citizen was happy about knowing someone who was crucified.  It was a source of shame.  But Paul was not ashamed of any of this.  Not in the least.  In fact, Paul saw the Gospel as power. Paul had traveled throughout the Roman empire and preached Jesus.  Whenever he preached Jesus, hearts were changed; minds were changed; lives were changed; people acted and spoke differently–all because of the story of Jesus.  A story.  Mere words changed people deep within.  One commentary even said that some must have thought this to be magical.  But Paul saw it as power because of what it revealed about God.

For the Gospel showed that God is indeed just.  God is indeed righteous.  Now, we will be spending a lot of time on this in the coming weeks, so I will try to summarize and keep things as brief as possible in the limited time we have.  First, Paul will show that humanity has rebelled against God.  No one has an excuse when it comes to knowing what God would have us do.  Deeply embedded in creation is the knowledge of right and wrong.  Deeply imbedded in our being is the idea of fairness and justice.  Deeply imbedded in the core of our being is the knowledge of the way things should be.  We know what we should do, but we do not do it.  Justice; righteousness demands that such rebellion must be punished.  Justice; righteousness demands that wrongs be made right.  Justice; righteousness demands that evil be reversed and dealt with.

Every one of us knows this deeply.  Every one of us knows what it is like to be wronged by someone else.  Every one of us knows that for the wrong to be righted, some payment must be offered up–an acknowledgment of wrong; repayment of that which was lost; the repairing of what was broken.  Until we feel satisfied with repayment; restitution; apology; we do not feel as though justice has been served–we do not feel as though all is right.

But now we run into a problem.  Two problems in fact.  First, we run into the problem of our own inability to right the wrongs.  We are incapable of righting the wrongs that we do.  You may disagree with me here.  You may say, “Yes, I do some bad things, but I also do a lot of good things.”  I understand what you are saying, but let me get you to think about this a little bit.  Let’s say that one day you are careless and you back into anther person’s car.  You are embarrassed, and the damage isn’t too terrible, so you leave the scene.  “It was just a little ding,” you say to yourself.  You know it’s wrong.  So, later that day, you see a homeless person with a sign asking for donations to get food.  You put a $20 bill in the guy’s cup.  You instantly feel better about doing some good.  Things have evened out right?  Wrong.  They other person’s car still isn’t fixed.  Until you right the wrong you committed, you are still in debt to the other person.  Until you right the specific wrong, you haven’t made things just.  And if you break God’s commands...can you become completely right?  Can you become completely just with God.  The answer, we will see is no.  We cannot become right with God.  That’s problem one, and it is certainly not Gospel–good news.

Problem number two is the amount of injustice that permeates the world.  Very, very few of the world’s people ever get justice.  Very few of the world’s people ever have the wrongs committed against them righted.  People who died as slaves never received freedom.  There are people who were murdered whose killer were never found.  There are people who have been swindled out of money who never received a dime back from it.  People who try to do the right things end up having terrible diseases are killed by natural disasters and suffer terrible loss.  The powerful take advantage of the powerless, and not much ever happens.  Things are not right.  They are not just.

What is God’s answer to both of these problems?  Jesus.

First, God’s righteousness/justice is revealed on the cross. God pays your debt that you have accumulated with Him.  Revisiting the car analogy: the owner of the car fixed the ding without asking you to pay damages.  What became free to you, cost him time and money.  And if he decides not to press charges, you have a lot to be thankful for.  When it comes to sin, God changes our status before Him.  He reveals our righteousness and our justice by paying the price for our sins.  He does this out of His great love: for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all of those who believe in Him will 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.

Secondly, God’s righteousness/justice is revealed in how Jesus lived as He announced the breaking in of the kingdom of God.  When the news of the Gospel takes root in your heart and mind, you are changed.  You are transformed.  You want to live and move differently.  You want to participate in a world where there is no more hunger, thirst, or poverty.  You want to participate in a world where all people are treated as children of God with dignity and respect.  You want to see reconciliation take place, and so you seek out others who share this view.  You seek out others who want to be a part of such a kingdom and you form a culture within a culture.  You form a church–a church which seeks to be the kingdom of God in the world; engaging the world; without becoming a part of the world.  In the church, justice/righteousness is practiced because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross.

Finally, God’s justice/righteousness is revealed in the resurrection.  For in the resurrection all the evil that had been done was undone.  All the darkness was transformed into light.  All the sadness was transformed into joy.  The promise of the resurrection is the promise that all evil will one day be overcome.  Death will be defeated.  God will reign supreme.  The resurrection says that God will have the final word, and so we live in hope.

And we put our trust in God.  We put our faith in the one who died to make us right with Him.  We put our faith in the one who has established His kingdom on earth and made us a part of it.  We put our faith in the one who will make all things new.  When you focus on God revealed in Jesus, you too can say as St. Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel.”  You can see that God is indeed just.  You can see that He is indeed righteous.  You can see that there is no need to bring God to trial.  There is simply a need to trust in what God has, is, and will accomplish.  For He transforms you through the Gospel.  He transforms the world through the church, and He will transform heaven and earth in His good time.  Amen.

Do You Want Justice?

 Perhaps you have heard the name Brock Turner.  If you haven’t let me fill you in on this boy.  Turner was caught sexually assaulting an unconscious woman at Stanford University in California.  The details are grim, but those of you with daughters, I want you to consider what you would do to a person you saw raping your daughter when she was passed out from drinking too much.  As a dad, the idea of a rusty knife, nail, old wooden barn, and lighter fluid come to mind.  I would want complete and total justice.  However, in the case of Brock Turner, he received a sentence of six months in the county jail with the high probability he will only serve three months.  He could have been sentenced to up to 14 years in prison, so he gets off very, very light.  Too light in my estimation and in the estimation of many, many people.  Those of us who believe this sentence was wrongheaded are asking, “Where is justice?”

 The cry for justice is a loud and strong one throughout the centuries.  If you read through the Old Testament, you will see over and over again the cries of God’s people for justice.  You will hear the cries of the prophets for justice.  You will see how God demands justice.  It is not without reason that God Himself declares, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”  (Exodus 21:23-24; Leviticus 24:19-20; Deuteronomy 19:21) Deuteronomy 19:21 even goes so far as to say, “Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”  Show no pity.

 True justice demands no pity.  True justice means that those who are guilty pay a price equal to what they have done.  True justice means that no matter if you are a lowly peasant or a high king, the law applies equally to both, and there is no give or take.  But justice also means that the innocent are left alone.  The innocent are protected.  Justice also means that the victims are compensated and cared for.  The Old Testament had quite a bit to say on this as well.  Care for the widow and the orphan are repeated over and over and over.  Concern for the well being of the poor and disenfranchised are highlighted by the prophets at every turn. 

 And justice isn’t just demanded in the holy Scriptures.  There is something deep within the fabric of nature that calls for justice.  There is something deep within the fabric of our beings that clamors for just behavior.  I showed a youtube video at the last senior service about what happens when two monkeys are paid unequally for performing the same activity.  One monkey is given a cucumber for handing a researcher a rock.  The second monkey is given a grape.  Guess what happens?  Here’s a hint, if you have children, give one child an apple and give the other an ice cream cone.  See what happens next.

 We long for justice.  Plain and simple.  And so, when we hear stories like Brock Turner, we recoil.  Justice isn’t being served.  Not in the least.  And when we look at Jesus’ trial, I think we should recoil as well–for justice is being mocked once again. 

 We know that the Sanhedrin, or Jewish leaders have broken nearly every rule in the book governing the trial of a criminal as they brought a sentence of death upon Jesus, but they did not have the power to put Jesus to death.  Only the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate could do that.  As the Roman empire expanded, one of the ways it kept power and control was by holding the power of the death penalty.  Local courts could try individuals, but to put them to death was reserved for the Roman governors.  Judea was no exception, so the Sanhedrin had to bring Jesus to Pilate.

 Pilate is an interesting character as far as we know.  Paul Maier wrote a very intriguing historical fiction regarding this man, and it is very eye opening.  Pilate was a social climber.  He wanted to do a good job and work his way up in the Roman empire, and this meant handling some jobs that weren’t exactly fun.  Being procurator of Judea was one of those jobs.  The Jews were traditionally stiff necked and difficult.  They had a history of rebelling.  Pilate knew these things, and he also believed he could handle them.  He encountered no small amount of difficulty, and it is safe to say that he was not on the friendliest of terms with his subjects.  Interestingly enough, he served as procurator of Judea for eleven years which is quite a long amount of time considering the difficulties he had.

 Pilate was charged with keeping the peace.  The Jews, particularly at Passover made this job very, very difficult.  As the Jews remembered how their God delivered them from the hands of oppression, they were apt to look for any reason to throw off their current oppressors: the Romans.  Pilate worked hard to keep the peace which is why he was in Jerusalem.  He normally resided on the coast, but during this time when the population of Jerusalem exploded with pilgrims, his presence was necessary. 

 This is why the Jewish leaders were easily able to bring Jesus to him for trial.  And you will note the charges the brought before Pilate.  Jesus is not being accused of blasphemy.  Jesus is being accused of calling himself the King of the Jews.  Pilate’s question in Greek can be expressed as follows, “You are the king of the Jews?”  It could be read contemptuously.  It could be read accusingly.  We don’t know for sure.  What we do know is that Pilate is not swayed by the Jewish leaders’ accusation.  Pilate knows these leaders do not respect him and would just as soon have him gone.  He can also perceive that Jesus is no king, and he really is no threat to the peace.  As N.T. Wright says, “he didn’t bother to round up any of his followers.”

 Jesus responds, “You say so.”  Mark Edwards says this about Jesus’ response, “In reply to Pilate’s question, Jesus responds, “You say so,” with emphasis on You.  It is not a direct affirmation, or else Pilate would have immediate grounds for execution.  But neither is it a denial.  The reply is suggestive, as if to say, “You would do well to consider the question!”

 And Pilate does.  He has to.  He is having to navigate a very sticky situation with the Sanhedrin, the Jewish pilgrims who are there for Passover, and a crowd that is growing as they watch the proceedings.  The Sanhedrin begins making all of their accusations. Jesus remains silent.  Pilate is amazed.  Pilate knows that Jesus is innocent of the charges being brought against him–after all, Jesus hasn’t been stirring up a rebellion.  Jesus hasn’t been putting together an army.  Roman spies would have known this, particularly since Jesus had been in public day after day after day.  Pilate knows that the Sanhedrin has it out for Jesus.  So, Pilate decides to stick it to the Sanhedrin by offering to set Jesus free as part of the Passover custom of releasing a prisoner.

 There are no other records of this Passover custom outside of the biblical accounts; although there are some accounts of similar things happening in other countries around the Roman empire at the time.  Mark tells us; however that members of the Sanhedrin work the crowd.  They begin inciting the crowd to ask for Barabbas.  Here is an interesting twist to the story.  After all, the crowd used to be highly supportive of Jesus.  The crowd used to hang on his every word.  What has changed?  How are they so susceptible to the Sanhedrin at this point?  Remember, the Jews did not believe that the Messiah would ever be arrested or tried.  They believed that the Messiah would conquer Israel’s enemies with God’s power and might.  Jesus wasn’t doing a very good job of that.  Jesus wasn’t calling down God’s power now.  It is my surmise that the chief priests were working the crowd with these facts.  The chief priests were calling Jesus a fraud.  He obviously was no messiah.  Therefore, Pilate should release Barabbas.  At least Barabbas had fought against the Romans.  At least Barabbas was trying to overthrow Israel’s enemies.  Jesus wasn’t doing anything.

 The crowd demanded Barabbas. 

 Pilate was incredulous.  “Then what should I do with Jesus, the ‘king of the Jews?”

 “Crucify him!”

 Why such hatred?  Perhaps even the Jews had their limit.  After so many false messiahs, after so much disappointment, all of their frustration and anger was poured out toward Jesus.  This fraud; this charlatan must be put to death.  It is only right.  Their disappointment can only be appeased with blood.

 “Why?” Pilate asks.  “What evil has he done?”

 There is no reasoning at this point.  The crowd is beyond reason.  They shout all the more, “Crucify him.”

 Pilate, knowing that he must choose between justice and his job keeps the peace and orders Jesus crucified.  It is a great injustice.  The innocent is sentenced to death, and the guilty goes free. 

 Now, let me read to you N.T. Wright once more at this point.  It is a long quote, but worth pondering.

 And therefore, within Mark’s story, we find also the deeply personal meaning.  The story of Barabbas invites us to see Jesus’ crucifixion in terms of a stark personal exchange.  Barabbas deserves to die; Jesus dies instead, and he goes free.  Barabbas was the archetypal Jewish rebel: quite probably what we today would call a fanatical right-wing zealot, determined to stop at nothing to bring in a version of God’s kingdom which consisted of defeating Roman power by Roman means–in other words, repaying pagan violence with holy violence.  No doubt many Christians in Mark’s community, and others who would read his book, had at one stage at least flirted with such revolutionary movements.  Reading the story of a guilty man freed and the innocent man crucified, it would not be hard for them to identify with Barabbas, and to view the rest of the story with the awestruck gaze of people who think, “There but for God’s grace go I.”

Just so, Mark is saying, God’s grace, God’s sovereign and saving presence, is exactly what we are witnessing in this story.  When we learn to read the story of Jesus and see it as the story of the love of God, doing for us what we could not do for ourselves–that insight produces, again and again, the sense of astonished gratitude which is very near the heart of authentic Christian experience.

 The guilty go free.

 The innocent gets condemned.

 The innocent dies in place of the one who should be condemned.

 This is a microcosm of the Gospel–the knowledge that Jesus takes our place as condemned sinners which allows us to go free.

 You might object to this right here.  You might object and say, “This is a travesty of justice!”  And you would be right–particularly if you neither understand your own sinfulness or the love and justice of God.

 First, our sinfulness.   You will notice that I shifted from your to our.  “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”  And this sinfulness goes much deeper than simply the things that we do.  Everyone does bad things.  Everyone makes mistakes on a regular basis.  This is hardly worthy of condemnation.  None of us here this morning have committed murder, so why do we stand condemned before God?

 Deep down in the very recesses of our hearts is a driving force that we are all born with.  Deep down in the very core of our being is a driving force that leads us to live for ourselves–to see ourselves as ultimately important; to portray ourselves as better than most; to put on facades of perfection, beauty, wealth, and independence so that we look like we have it all together; to strive for our own safety and security first and foremost and then to look at the world around us and perhaps, perhaps offer a token or two of charity toward another–but only if they meet our criteria.  Deep down, we are inherently selfish and self-serving only engaging in activities if we get some benefit or some sense of self-worth.  There is a reason biologist Richard Dawkins wrote a book entitled The Selfish Gene!  There is a reason John Stossel once did a documentary piece titled, “Greed is Good”!  This is who we are deep down, and you can deny it if you choose, but spend enough time in reflection and examination of your own motives, you will see that this is simply a fact. 

 And if you act for yourself all the time; if your ultimate motivation is your own safety and security; if your motives are “what can I get out of this”; then who in your universe is god?  The answer is: yourself.  Do you want to know why there is so much turmoil in the world?  Do you want to know why there is warfare?  Do you want to know why there is hunger and thirst and poverty?  Go no further than our inherent, selfish nature.  We are all part of this problem.  How much so?  This week I heard an interesting quote about extinction.  For it is a reality that as humanity has flourished, many species have become extinct, but if humanity were to become extinct, it would be many other species that would flourish.  Think on that for a few minutes as you consider the impact we have had on this natural world.   And what would be the just punishment for our species for all the damage we have done?

 And if God is a just God, what should He do?  If God is a God of justice, shouldn’t payment be made for this destruction?  Shouldn’t death be visited upon us for the tremendous amount of death and suffering we have caused?  If you believe in justice, true justice, you know the answer is in the affirmative.

 And death is served.  Death is visited, but not upon us, but upon the God who entered into the world.  For this is where God’s love enters into the picture.  This is where God’s love makes itself known in an amazing way.  For though we deserve death, 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.

 Jesus took our death upon Himself to satisfy the demands of Justice, and He pardoned us and allowed us to go free because of his love for us.  Justice and mercy have met singularly in the Christ event.  What transpired at Jesus trail when Barabbas was released is a foretaste of what we will experience next week as we travel to the foot of the cross–the place where God poured out His love for you and for me.  Amen.

Gay Marriage, the Law and the Church

When the Supreme Court struck down bans on gay marriage several weeks ago, I wrung my hands for exactly zero seconds.  The outcome was expected, and it was the correct legal outcome.

I do not believe it was the correct moral outcome, but it was the correct legal outcome.

I am purposely making that distinction because it is an important one.  A very important one.

I am not like some within the Christian Church.

I do not believe the U.S. is the new Israel or new Jerusalem.

I do not believe the U.S. is a Christian nation.  It could be argued well that it never has been.

I do not believe we can transform the U.S. into the kingdom of God.

I do not believe it is the Church's job to impose morality through the use of the law.

I believe that well-meaning Christians have tried to impose morality and justice and other such things by the use of the law; however, while managing to get laws passed, it has simply driven certain behaviors into hiding where they lurk until striking out.  (See, Roof, Dyllan and racism)  The changing of laws do not change human hearts.

The Civil Rights Movement

 I do want to take a moment to talk about the importance of the Church working in society for its betterment.  I am the father of two bi-racial girls.  I hazard to think about what their lives would have been like 60 years ago or so.  I hazard to imagine them being required to drink out of separate water fountains and sit apart from the rest of our family because of asinine laws like Jim Crow.  I am most certainly glad those things are outlawed!!

And I am thankful that the thrust of power that came to overturn those unjust laws came through the Black Churches in our nation.  For certain, there were many involved in the process of other religious faiths and traditions, but those represented a minority.  The public figures of the Civil Rights Movement were pastors, and Martin Luther King, Jr. was, of course, the chief figurehead.

King's genius was not simply his passion for non-violence, but also his willingness to call a nation that considered itself Christian to account.  In his "Letter from Birmingham Jail," King basically said, "You know, you say that you are Christian.  You say that you follow the Bible.  Why are you not following its basic principles of justice, fairness, and equality?"  It was and is a fantastic letter.

An appeal to such a collective conscience is a master-stroke of genius, and it worked!   It worked brilliantly!!!  To change the laws.  And to change behaviors.

But it did not change the hearts and minds of many.  Perhaps this is where the Civil Right's Movement failed.  For the prejudice that was overtly embodied in Jim Crow Laws and segregation was now driven deep into people's hearts.  And it hasn't gone away at all.

So, should another similar movement be staged today?  Do more laws need to be changed to prevent covert racism?  Should the Church strive for such a thing in this current climate?

I am highly suspect of trying to accomplish such a thing, because the climate of the U.S. has changed and changed dramatically.

A View Backward to Go Forward

The Christian Church is one of the more unique institutions in the global scheme.  90% of Muslims live in the Middle East and Africa.  90% of Hindus live in India.  90% of Buddhists live in Asia.  Only Christianity is evenly distributed throughout the globe.  Christianity has been able to survive under all sorts of governments and rulers--even those that severely persecuted the Church.  In a rather head scratching note, the more the Church is persecuted, the more it seems to grow and thrive.

Part of the reason for this, I am convinced, is that Christianity grew up in a hostile culture.  It clashed with its parent religion of Judaism and also with the surrounding Roman Empire.  It proclaimed that Jesus was God--anathema to Jews and subversive to Romans.  In both cases, the death penalty could be sought for adherents (for blasphemy or for subverting the rule of Caesar).

Yet, despite the danger, one does not see anywhere in the early Church petitions to the governments to legalize Christianity.  One does not see the apostle Paul standing before governors and asking them to change the law.  No.  Paul seeks to convert.  Paul seeks to bring people to Jesus Christ and then allow the power of God to transform those hearts and minds.

It's a far cry from how the Church tends to operate in the U.S. today.  For a brief time, the U.S. adopted our ethical framework when making decisions.  For a brief time, we could count on people being in and understanding what it meant to have a Christian ethical framework.  At one time most of the U.S. had a Christian worldview, but there has been a divorce.

Ethics are no longer rooted in God.

The source and norm for ethics in the U.S. is the Constitution, and the ethical moorings of the Constitution are...

Who knows?

An Ethical Hodgepodge

Reason according to some.
"Do whatever makes you happy as long as you hurt no one," according to others.
"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," according to more.
"Truth is what we make it; truth is relative," according to others.

We have no agreed upon ethical basis for defining truth, justice, happiness, or the like.  We have no system of ethics underpinning our national discussion.  In fact, what very often happens is a clash between ethical systems without folks even aware that such systems are clashing.

The results can be quite confusing and disheartening.  People are quick to hurl insults toward each other.  Oppressed becomes oppressor.  The opposition gets vilified.  We cry out "do unto others as you would have them do unto you!"  But the practice ends up being "do unto others as I think should be done unto them."

Lord, save us.

Thank God, He has.

Which is why I haven't done any hand wringing.

A Christian Ethical Framework

You see, the Christian ethical framework seeks the will of God.  Believing that God has indeed revealed His will to us, we earnestly believe we should seek it out.  However, when we discover what that will is, we know it is impossible to uphold.  We know we can never live up to it.

Think about this in your own life at this point.  Most of us have a certain standard of how we expect others to live.  Do we live up to our own standard?  Recently, in a discussion, I pointed out that a gentleman called out Christians for being judgmental was himself making a judgement against Christians.  Fortunately, he was of the thinking sort and realized exactly what he was doing.  "It must be a condition of humanity," he said.  I heartily agree.  A condition we cannot save ourselves from.  We need a Savior.

That Savior, according to Christianity, is Jesus who lived the life we were supposed to live--loving God and loving neighbor as self completely; and He died the death we deserved upon the cross--paying the penalty for our disobedience and inability to fulfill God's will.  Jesus did this while we were still sinners--undeserving of such radical love.

To understand that we do not fulfill the will of God...
To understand that we do not deserve God's love and acceptance...
To understand that it was given to us at great cost to God...

Humbles a heart.  It takes away pride in any sort of moral accomplishment one may perceive.  It allows one to see one's own brokenness.  One still seeks God's will, but then understand that God's will includes loving others as we were loved--broken people loving other broken people.  This is done no matter what kind of government sits in power--or what kind of ethical framework is embraced by the surrounding culture.

Gay marriage is legal.
Two consenting adults having sexual relations is legal.
Selling a rock as a pet is legal.
Making millions of dollars without sharing is legal.
Consuming alcohol to excess is legal.
Yelling at your spouse is legal.
Calling someone an a$$hole is legal.
Looking at a woman with lust is legal.

Doesn't mean any of those things are moral, but instead of pointing fingers and decrying the immorality of others, I believe Christians are called to roll up their sleeves and do some very hard work--very hard work--seek conversion of others to the Christian worldview.  To seek the change of heart and not simply the change of law.

The Need for Government

There is no doubt that we need government and we need just laws.  Without government and laws, society falls into anarchy.  There is also no doubt that Christians need to be involved in politics.  We have a duty to work for the welfare of our neighbor (How that gets played out is oftentimes a point of contention, granted.).  I cannot imagine the Church standing idly by while injustice is perpetrated upon people.

And the Church is indeed guilty of both standing by and perpetrating injustice upon people.  We have only to look into our history at the times when the Church held power (middle ages) or--for the most part--walked hand in hand with those in power (Nazi Germany).  In both of these cases, great tragedy befell minorities as the vast majority of Christians supported or turned a blind eye to injustice.

I believe this happens when the Church aligns itself with the structures of power within a given nation.  Therefore, the Church must maintain a critical distance without becoming disengaged.  The Church must have a voice within the public square without aligning itself with any group seizing power.  The Church must be a powerful voice without seeking power itself.  And, oh and this is the tricky part--the Church must not be swayed to endorse any seeking power because of a promise of favorable legislation.

It is far too tempting to allow ourselves to endorse certain candidates who promise action on particular issues to win our votes.  An appeal to our own desire of power and getting what we want through legislation can be very, very tempting.  However, I think that this does great damage to our primary calling--to proclaim Jesus and not the Law.

"For the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed.  It is the smallest of seeds, but when planted it becomes a tree so large the birds of the air long to build their nests within."

The Kingdom of God begins with the seed of the Gospel in our hearts.  It grows as more and more hearts are tuned to God--not to the Laws of a nation.  And the Gospel roots out evil intentions, hatred and prejudice--the very root causes of hatred and division within our species.  But it all begins with the change of heart--the primary focus, I believe of spreading the Gospel--of changing another's worldview.

Not an easy task, but the one mission the Church was given straight from the one who died for the world.

Who do You Trust?

    It is little wonder to me anymore as to why we fail to see miracles.  It is little wonder to me anymore as to why the church continues to decline in the U.S.  It is little wonder to me anymore as to why there is a rise of those who call themselves spiritual but not religious or the “nones.”  When you believe that everything hinges upon what you do, things will fall apart.  When you fail to trust in Jesus, everyone walks away hungry.  I hope that caught your attention.  Let’s see why.

    Today we have the only miracle story other than the resurrection that is recorded in all four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John each record this tremendous act of Jesus, and each add certain details that flesh out the whole story.  Today, we focus on Mark’s version, but we will refer to the others as well as we walk through this event.

    It is important to note that the feeding of the 5000 men comes right after Mark tells us of the beheading of John the Baptist.  In that snippet, the events play out at a banquet full of depravity: drunkenness, gluttony, power, prestige, status, empty promises, child porn, premeditated murder, and disobeying God’s commands darken that story and lead to a horrible conclusion–a conclusion that leaves everyone empty.

    And then we arrive at the beginning of our text today as the disciples return from a mission Jesus had given them.  The disciples had been charged with going out in to the community and healing the sick, preaching the Word, and casting out demons.  They return and begin giving their reports to Jesus.  However, the disciples aren’t the only ones around.  There are many people gathering around as well.  Many are coming to be healed and to hear the preaching.  They know they are witnessing something tremendous, and they want to be a part of it.  This keeps Jesus and the disciples busy.  Very busy.  How busy?  So busy they do not have time to eat.  They are empty.

    This raises some very important points as it addresses life.  First, no matter how hard you work in helping people out, there will always be a need.  There will always be those clamoring for your services.  There will always be those clamoring for your attention.  As the singer for Confederate Railroad once sang in the song, “Daddy Never was the Cadillac Kind,” “It took a while but now I’m grown.  Settled down with kids of my own. The more I give them, the more they want.”  That is not only true of kids.  It’s true of humanity.  That’s point one.  Point two is this: if you try to satisfy everyone, you will run yourself ragged and be completely empty.  You can work to heal everyone and care for everyone, but in the long run, you will run out of time and energy.  The disciples had become so busy trying to meet everyone’s demands that they were not able to eat.

    Jesus assesses this situation and says, “Okay everyone, time for a rest.  Let’s go to a deserted place.”  Jesus and His disciples get into their boat and head across the lake to find a place of seclusion.  Jesus knows His closest friends desperately need some time away.  He knows they need a break, but they are not going to get it–at least not yet.

    People see Jesus and the disciples going around the lake.  They know what Jesus is capable of.  They want to continue to be a part of this ministry, so they begin spreading the word.  People run around the lake.  They tell others in the surrounding villages.  People begin gathering.  A crowd builds as they expectantly wait for Jesus.  And as the boat approaches the shore, Jesus sees that crowd.  I can see the disciples’ eyes grow wide at this point.  I can see them in the midst of their exhaustion thinking to themselves, “Didn’t we just leave this crew?  Not only that, did they go out and bring all their friends?  How are we ever going to take care of them?  Will we ever get any rest?  Will we ever get any food?  Will we ever be filled ourselves?”

    Jesus could have had the same reaction, but He didn’t.  He looked upon that crowd and thought, “They are like sheep without a shepherd.”  Now, this phrase is very important.  It’s not just an agricultural term.  It’s not just about how sheep desperately need a shepherd–which they do.  There are some Kingdom of God principles coming into play.  Throughout the Old Testament, there are many references to God sending His promised King who will shepherd the people.  Let that sink in for a moment.  Remember, Mark has just told us about Herod’s banquet–Herod, the puppet king who was supposedly ruling over the people–dare I say supposed to be shepherding them?  He’s obviously not doing a very good job.  As Jesus looks at the crowd, He sees them as members of the Kingdom who do not have a King.  They need a King.  They need one who will shepherd them; who will lead them in paths of righteousness; who will lead them to green pastures; who will let them sit down beside still waters.  Do you hear a little bit of Psalm 23 there?  You should.  You should also hear Ezekiel 34:23 which is a lesser known passage, but still rings loudly here.  That passage reads, “I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.”

    Mark is drawing a stark contrast here between the supposed king of Galilee who is seeking power and prestige and wealth and status, and Jesus who will feed His people.  There is a contrast between Herod who only thinks of those who will help him further his ambitions and Jesus who has compassion on the multitude.  There is a sharp division.

    And the first thing Jesus feeds is their soul.  He begins by feeding them with the Word of God.  He
begins teaching.  For those of you who might complain about my sermons, please take note, Jesus preaches all day–well into the evening.  Aren’t you glad I am not like Jesus?  The hour begins getting late, and the disciples begin to wonder about provision.  The people will be getting hungry.  They need food.  There’s a lot of people.  So, they come to Jesus and think of the most compassionate thing that comes to mind, “Jesus, send them away to the surrounding villages so that they can get something to eat.”  In other words, let them fend for themselves.

    This indeed is the easy way out.  Indeed, this is the path of least resistance.  Wash your hands of responsibility.  We will take care of our needs.  Let each person take care of his or her own needs.  We do the same thing today.  Let’s not fool ourselves.  Every time we point at someone who we think should be working instead of asking for help, we are doing exactly what the disciples are doing here.  Let everyone fend for themselves.  We have our own problems to worry about.

    But Jesus doesn’t let them off the hook.  He looks at the disciples and says, “You give them something to eat.”

    Now, here is a very interesting response.  Let’s dwell on it for a moment.  Philip responds, “Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?”  Now, this was just over half a year’s wages.  John records that this would barely give everyone gathered a bite of food–surely not enough to satisfy them.  And whether or not the disciples actually had 200 denarii is questionable as well.  For we are about to find out just how much food the disciples really had.  For Jesus brushes aside the question of paying for the food by asking, “How many loaves do you have?”

    They respond, “Five loaves and two little fish.”  Now, if you remember the parallel account from the book of John, where did these five barley loaves and two fish come from?   Were they the property of the disciples?  No, they were not.  There was a little boy who was among those gathered whose mom had sent a lunch.  The food didn’t even belong to the disciples.  It was someone else’s!  Which means this: the disciples had nothing.  They had no food at all.  And what they had appropriated wasn’t even enough to satisfy one of them.  For you see, the five loaves of bread were essentially flat biscuits.  Several could be eaten in one setting.  Five loaves of these and two fish were enough to satisfy one boy.  The disciples were young men, and this would barely touch their appetites. 

    Which means this: Jesus had given the disciples an impossible command.  Jesus had told them to give the crowd something to eat.  The disciples did not have the resources to do this.  The disciples did not have enough food to do this.  They didn’t even have enough food to feed themselves.  Remember the very beginning of the story?  They were hungry and tired themselves, and now Jesus is commanding–not asking–commanding them to do the impossible.  It’s not printed in Mark, but I am quite sure the disciples were saying to themselves, “We can’t do this.  It is beyond us.”

    And it is.  It was.  It was beyond anything any of them could do.  Remember, Mark records that this crowd is composed of 5000 men.  Matthew says, this excludes women and children.  This crowd could easily have been 17 to 20 thousand.  There is no way 12 men could feed that multitude.  No way at all...if they trust themselves to do it.  Let me say that again: if they trust themselves with the task.

    Jesus orders His disciples to tell the crowd to sit down into groups of fifties and hundreds.  This detail is more important than you think, for it hearkens back to the Exodus when Moses divided the people into such groups.  It hearkens back to the promises that the Messiah would so divide the people of Israel in His Kingdom.  Jesus is presenting Himself as the Shepherd of the sheep: the King in the Kingdom of God as the people are divided into these groups.

    Then Jesus looks up, blesses the loaves and fish, and keeps breaking them.  I use the term breaking purposely because there are some who say that the real miracle is that when Jesus started sharing the food, everyone else broke out their own food and shared with one another.  The text does not say that.  The text here indicates that Jesus kept breaking the bread and dividing the fish and the disciples kept distributing it.  Jesus broke and broke and broke and the disciples gave and gave and gave.  All were satisfied.  17 to 20 thousand people were completely satisfied.

    But that is not the end.  Mark records one more small detail.  The remains were gathered, and it was enough to fill 12 baskets.  Now, these baskets were essentially traveling baskets that one carried upon one’s person.  They were like lunch kits, and there were exactly 12 of them filled up.  For who?  Remember the one’s who had nothing at the beginning of this story?  Remember the ones who were hungry and had no time to eat?  Remember the ones who had to take a little boy’s lunch just to have a meager supply?  Yes, that’s right.  The disciples now also were filled.  They now had provision.  Jesus didn’t just provide for those gathered on the hillside; He provided for those closest to Him.  ALL were now satisfied and provision was now made–not by anything that the disciples had done, but through the work and person of Jesus.

    My question to you this morning is this: when you look at the world and everything that is in it; when you see the need of people who are hungry, who are homeless, who need clean drinking water, who live in poverty, who experience oppression and racism and sexism; when you see a church declining and hurting, who do you trust to bring healing and satisfaction?  Who do you trust to bring fullness and healing?

    Be careful here, because I am not suggesting that we simply put all the responsibility with Jesus.  No.  His command to the disciples is His command to us: you take care of it. You feed the hungry.  You provide clean drinking water.  You clothe the naked.  You heal society’s wounds of racism, sexism, and the like.  This is His command to you and me.  We are not off the hook.  We are on it and cannot get off, but here is the deal.  Do you arrogantly think that you can fix the problem?   Do you look at things and say, “We can do it!”?  Or do you admit, “We can’t do it.  It is beyond us and our capability.  It is beyond the scope of any person or human entity.”

    It has become the unfortunate tendency that we look only to ourselves to fix the world’s problems.  It has become the unfortunate tendency of the church to believe everything hinges upon what we do.  Now, why would I say this?  Because of the truth of the human condition.  We do not have a hunger problem.  Let me say that again.  We do not have a hunger problem.  We have a distribution problem.  We produce more than enough food for everyone in the world to have something to eat, but it doesn’t get to those in need.  Why?  Because some believe they need more than others.  We don’t have a homeless problem.  There are so many deserted houses and buildings that we could house every person without trouble, but we fail to send the resources that direction and make provision.  We don’t have a poverty problem.  There are ample resources in this world to give everyone a sustainable life, but we tend hoard our wealth and fail to share.  These are not problems that can be completely solved by law.   These are not problems that can be solved by people lobbying the government to change the way things are handled because governments are easily corrupted by that same power and wealth.

    What must change is the heart.  What must change is the selfish nature of humanity.  What must change is the understanding that our hearts are never satisfied with wealth, status, privilege, possessions, or any earthly thing.   What must change is our own sinful nature.  And God’s command to us; Jesus command to us is “Change it!!” 

    Now, are we so arrogant to think that we can?  Are we so arrogant to think that we can change our very nature to make ourselves do the right thing?  Are we so arrogant to think that it is within our power and capability to change our own hearts?  I say arrogant because history has shown that we are sorely incapable of achieving this.  No matter how hard we work to be good, oftentimes we look with contempt upon others who do not do as good as us.  Our hearts may be compassionate toward those in need, but they are hardened and contemptuous of those we think should be doing more.  We still are selfish.  No matter how hard we try, our selfish; self-centered; self-righteous nature will rear itself.  What can break us out of it?

    Not what.  Who.  Jesus.  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.

    You see, when Jesus looked at that crowd, He had compassion on them.  When Jesus looks at us in our selfishness, He has compassion on us.  He knows the hardness of our hearts, and He knows that breaking that hardness cannot be done by command.  Only love can break such a hard heart.  And so, He allowed His body to be broken as He paid the price of our Sin.  He became the bread of life which was broken and given out to each and every one of us despite our sinfulness. 

    And He says to us, stop trying to change yourself.  Stop trying to overcome your selfishness.  Trust in my work.  Trust in what I have accomplished on your behalf by dying for you.  Place your hope in me, and you will see something marvelous happen.  You will find yourself being satisfied.  You will find yourself being full.  To the extent you put your trust in me, your selfish nature will be overthrown, and you will find that you have in abundance. 

    It is my firm belief that if we admit our inability to accomplish such change on our own–whether in our personal lives; our church life; or in society–if we accept our failure and turn to Jesus, then and only then will the world’s hunger be satisfied, and our baskets will be full as well.  Amen.

Complete Joy

    I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy
    down in my heart; down in my heart
    I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy
    down in my heart to stay.
    And I’m so happy; so very happy,
    I’ve got the love of Jesus in my heart.
    And I’m so happy; so very happy.
    I’ve got the love of Jesus in my heart.

    Isn’t it so easy to sing and lie at the same time?  I mean, I remember singing that song when I was a kid, and we’ve sang it here in Sunday School.  If memory serves me right, we also sang it at one of our Wednesday evening worship services during Lent.  It’s a catchy tune with some other cool verses, but I wanted to focus on this verse in particular because I want to do a couple of things this morning in my sermon: 1) I want to make the case that everyone longs to have some sort of fullness of joy in their lives.  2) I want to attempt to show that nearly everything we try to find joy in will leave us unsatisfied.  3) I want to try and show how Jesus is the only one who can make our joy complete or fulfilled.

    First, I believe every human heart longs for joy.  In our day and age, we often call it happiness, however.  Whatever word you use, I will define joy in this manner: a state of well being and contentment.  Gerhard Kittel said this about joy in his Greek theological dictionary of the New Testament: Joy is not just inward.  It has a cause and finds expression.  It thus aims at sharing, especially as festal joy.  It is a disposition of the whole man.  This is the point when the heart is called its organ.  So, again, joy is a state of being that is caused by external circumstances.  This means the state of joy is brought about by how you and I engage something outside of ourselves.

    And here is the kicker: how many people do you know who have such joy?  How many people do you know who have such contentment?  How many people do you know who walk around–not with giant smiley faces all the time, but a sense that they are well–they are complete, and that nothing can get under their skin?  How many people do you know who exhibit such a thing?  My guess is, you, like me, know very, very few.  Heck, I can’t even look in the mirror and say that the guy looking back at me has this kind of joy in his life.  This is why I said, I could do a pretty good job of singing and lying at the same time.  Such joy tends to escape me–a lot, but I know that I am not alone.  It tends to escape a lot of people these days.  For every exaltation you hear, you hear ten times that many complaints.  For every good deed shown by the news media, you get a hundred deeds meant to frighten and scare us.  Seriousness dominates our society and our conversation.  People get in trouble for playing practical jokes.  It seems like many are walking around with a perpetual chip on their shoulder ready to take offense at the latest thing you say or do.  Would such things be happening if people were full of joy?

    And even in the church–yes, even in our congregations, do you see many of us walking around with a sense of contentment and well being?  Do you see many of us who have a deep sense of peace about us–who are absolutely joyful with their place in this world and with their particular status?  Oh, and here is the rub: do you see many Christians who try to strictly adhere to following the moral commandments exuding a sense of joy?  Do you see many Christians who are working diligently for peace and justice exuding a sense of joy?  Really, no.  In fact, usually even amongst us who follow Jesus and work to follow His commandments, we have little to no joy.  We may have fleeting moments, but we do not have that continued state of well being and fulfillment.  Why?

    This is one of those issues that make non-churched people scratch their heads in bewilderment.  We sing of joy in the church but then act like everyone else in society.  Since there is no visible difference between those who attend church and those who don’t, some wonder, “Why the point?”  What’s the point of attending church?  What’s the point of believing in Jesus?  I can do good things–bear fruit without giving up my time or my particular belief system.  Why should I change?

    Here is why, I think.  If you try to get your joy from anyone or anything less than Jesus, eventually you will be disappointed, and oftentimes you will become angry and your heart will harden.  How so?

    Well, let me go back to the previous two examples I used regarding church folks who try to diligently follow the moral commandments and work diligently for justice.  Essentially, both of these folks are doing the same thing.  Both are trying to follow the Law, and both types of people generally feel like everyone should follow the Law in the same manner they do.  Let that sink in a moment.  Both groups are striving to follow the Law, and both groups feel like everyone should follow the Law just like they do.  What is the problem and why doesn’t this bring joy? 

    The first reason it doesn’t bring joy is that these folks will eventually find out the impossibility of following the law completely.  These folks will find that the more they try to accomplish and fulfill the Law’s demands, the more they will find they fall short.  This brings, at first, a subtle sense of dissatisfaction and then a full blown realization of failure.  This does not bring joy.  The second reason joy is not found is when such folks realize they cannot get everyone to follow the Law as they think it should be followed.  Such folks will become contemptuous and even angry at others who will not live the way they think they should live.  While their own ego may be stroked with a sense of self-righteousness, they look down their noses at others who do things differently–when you are holding another person in such contempt, and when you believe the world’s problems would be solved if everyone just lived like you–and they don’t–you do not have joy.  Simply following the rules and the commands of religion will not bring joy.  Now, this goes for unchurched people as well.  You have the same problem we Christians do, but it gets disguised.  You too believe if everyone believed like you did and followed the rules the way you do, then the world would be fantastic.  You become just as contemptuous, but it’s awfully easy to see that in others than to see it in ourselves.  And it is the reason you don’t have the fullness of joy either.  Following the rules does not bring joy.

    Neither will loving a person or an object.  You may wish to argue with me here and say, “Well, I have been in love with my spouse for x number of years.  I am completely in love with him or her.  I am happy when I am with him/her, and when I think of him/her, I find a spark of joy within. This sounds all well and good, but you are not with your spouse or loved one all the time.  Second, there are times when you are not thinking about him/her and so joy leaves. Third, no relationship is perfect.  You have conflict, and my guess is, during your times of conflict, you are not too joyful.  Fourth, your loved one will die, and speaking from experience, I know more than a few widows or widowers who became very angry at their spouse for dying.  There was no joy.

    Same goes for trying to get joy from an object–like sports or money or possessions.  There is nothing like the thrill of victory, but sooner or later you will lose.  There is always the next game and the next time.  I never ends.  Joy is not complete.  There is always another dollar to earn. There is always another gadget to buy.  There is always another rung to climb on the corporate ladder.  Achievements will cause brief moments of joy, but they will not last. 

    Now, how is Jesus the exception?  Let’s hear His words again to us this morning: 9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.  10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.  12 ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16You did not choose me but I chose you.

    At first glance this saying of Jesus looks very much like, “Follow my commandments, and you will have joy.”  It seems like we are right back to following the rules and regulations–i.e. the Law.  But that is not the case.  The starting point of this chapter is Jesus saying, “I am the vine and you are the branches.”  Toward the end of this teaching, Jesus says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” 

    I get this image of Jesus, as a vine grabbing a branch and grafting it on Himself.  “You didn’t choose me, I chose you.  Now stay there.”  Why?  Why stay there?  Because you will find deep nourishment from Jesus.  You will find deep satisfaction from Jesus.  You will get a tremendous sense of well being from Jesus–that is not based upon your performance.  You see, all the world’s religions and everything we try to find our joy in say, “If you want the rewards, you have to work at it.  If you want to be joyful, you have to make it happen.  Your joy is dependent upon your performance.” 

    Christianity says, “No, your joy is found in what Jesus has done for you already.  Your joy is found at the foot of the cross.  Your joy is found with the God who took on human flesh and lived the life you should live; who died the death you deserved; who grafted you into the vine even before you asked.”  Now, you may freely leave that vine.  You may walk away from Jesus.  That is your prerogative, but why?  Why head out and try to find joy and satisfaction in all of those things that make you work for it and eventually leave you dissatisfied?  Why turn away from the one who says, “You are imperfect.  You cannot follow my commands.  You are broken, but I accept you.  I love you.  And I show my love for you in this: I lay down my life for you.”

    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.

    You see, Jesus can’t disappoint you.  He has already given you everything.  He has promised to never leave you.  He has suffered for you.  He promises to take the evil that befalls us and transform it into good.  There is every reason to stand fast and abide in Him–for as we do such a thing, we find true joy.  We find contentment.  We find a state of good will welling up within us.  Mind you, it’s tough to stay there.  All those other things keep clamoring for our attention.  All those other things lure us with the promises of joy, but there is a place where we can come to be reminded of Jesus.  There is a place where we can come to hear about His great love.  There is a place where we can come to hear what Jesus has done and be strengthened to reject the temptations of the world: we come to worship.  For at worship our hearts get tuned to Jesus.  Our hearts abide in Jesus.  Our hearts get transformed by Jesus.  And then we go out into the world full of peace and joy.  We engage the world and follow Jesus’ commands.  We work for justice.  We strive to be moral and upright.  We bear fruits worthy of repentance because we can’t help it.  We are rooted in the source.  We are rooted in Jesus–the source of all joy.

    Let us pray: Lord Jesus, you are the source of true joy.  You are where we truly find fulfillment and completeness.  When the world tempts us to find our joy in things that are not lasting, may we hear your Word.  May we be reminded of what you have done.  May we know that our joy comes not from our performance but yours.  May we see you at the cross dying for us and showing us tremendous love while we were still sinners.  And may this change our hearts that we may bear fruit.  Amen.