Why Are We Here?: Preaching the Word

Good morning, my brothers and sisters in Christ.  Today, I am going to continue my sermon series on “Why Are We Here?”  Last week, I laid the groundwork by talking about my experiences in a couple of large non-denominational churches and the importance of having a unified mission–a unified understanding of why we are here.  I promised that I would not give you a mission because that was something that we had to arrive at together, but I also promised that I would share with you several things that I believed were non-negotiable when it came to why the church was here.  These things must inform our mission as we move into the future.

Today, I must begin by asking for your forgiveness because as a good Christian, particularly as a good Lutheran Christian, I should begin with the Scriptures and then move into other avenues in regards to why the church is here.  But I am not going to do that.  We will most definitely get to the Bible and what it has to say about the church, but I wanted to start in a bit of a different place today.  I wanted to start with the Lutheran confessions, particularly the Augsburg Confession.

Now, how many of you have even heard of the Augsburg Confession?  Not many.  That’s not surprising.  It’s not a document that we generally reference much in our worship or even our Christian Education.  The Augsburg Confession was written during the time of the Reformation in the 1500's as Protestants were trying to define themselves and their beliefs to the civil and church authorities.  They were trying to help those authorities see how their stance was in accordance with the Bible and how they were not a threat to civil order.  The theology and practice is rich, and it has stood the test of time.  How so?  Because we and most every other Lutheran congregation directly reference it in our Constitution and By-Laws.  Did you know that?  Did you know that it serves as one of the foundational documents for what it means to be a Lutheran church here in Cat Spring?  Let me read to you what our Constitution says about it:

C2.05.This congregation accepts the Unaltered Augsburg Confession as a true witness to the Gospel, acknowledging as one with it in faith and doctrine all churches that likewise accept the teachings of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession.

C2.06. This congregation accepts the other confessional writings in the Book of Concord, namely, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles and the Treatise, the Small Catechism, the Large Catechism, and the Formula of Concord, as further valid interpretations of the faith of the Church.

C2.07.This congregation confesses the Gospel, recorded in the Holy Scripture and confessed in the ecumenical creeds and Lutheran confessional writings, as the power of God to create and sustain the Church for God’s mission in the world.

Did you catch all of that?  Did you catch and see how the Augsburg Confession, while not on the same level as Scripture, is a very, very important document in helping us understand who we are and why we are here?  It is indeed central to our identity as Lutherans, and it has something to say about why we are here as the church.

In article seven, these words appear, “It is also taught among us that one holy Christian church will be and remain forever.  This is the assembly of all believers among whom the Gospel is preached in its purity and the holy sacraments are administered according to the Gospel.” So we see two reasons for the church’s existence in this statement: the preaching of the Gospel, and depending upon which translation you use, this is also stated as the preaching of the Word, as well as the administration of the sacraments.  Today, we are going to try and cover the preaching of the Word.

We are here to preach the Word.  Now, when you hear me say preach the Word, what do you automatically think?  The Bible.  Right.  That’s what we mostly think when we hear someone say that we preach the Word, but let me try and expand your thinking just a bit because the Word doesn’t simply mean the Bible.

Do you remember the beginning words of the Gospel of John?  Let me remind you.  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”  Now, we are going to skip down a few verses where we then read, “14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”  So, what is the Word, or better yet, who is the Word here in the book of John?  That’s right, it’s Jesus.  Jesus is the Word.

But, we cannot stop there.  It might make it easy if we did, but we’ve got to go one step further.  We’ve got to understand something more about the Word of God because the Word of God is incredibly rich.  When you read through the Bible, you see something quite incredible about God.  You see that God is a God who speaks.  God is not silent.  He has spoken in the past.  He speaks in the present.  And in the future, there will be a time when He will intimately speak with those who love Him.  One of the tasks for the church today is to discern the Word of God as it is spoken to the world today and bring that word to the world.

And so, we have outlined what the Word of God is, and this matches what is in our Constitution as a church: The Word is the Holy Scriptures; The Word is Jesus Christ; the Word is God’s Word spoken through the church to the world today.  And it is our job; it is our calling; to preach that Word: to preach the Bible; to preach Jesus; to preach God’s message to our community.

This is not a calling to be taken lightly.  It is of infinite importance.  Why?  I don’t know if you know this or not, but there is a suicide epidemic in our nation right now.  Those who study the numbers tell us that there has been a huge up-tick in the numbers of people taking their own lives.  I have noticed this on a real personal level because in the past three years or so, I have counted at least five of my friends on Facebook who have committed suicide.  These folks all come from a town of about 2300, and to me, that is a huge disproportion.  Why so many suicides?  Why the increase?

Now, it is true that chronic depression can lead to suicide, but the statistics that I have read indicate that this accounts for just about half of suicides.  What about the rest of those?  Two articles that I have read helped give me a bit of insight into this.  In the first one, Clay Routledge, professor of psychology from North Dakota State University argued, “that the suicide crisis in the USA is in part a crisis of meaning. Recent changes in American society, greater detachment and a weaker sense of belonging, are increasing our existential despair. Although we try and distract ourselves (most of the time nowadays successfully) we realize that everyone we know and care about, including the person we care about the most, ourselves, will die. Despite our best attempts at avoiding it, we understand that pain and sorrow is part and parcel of life. But what is the point of life? One way in which we keep this existential anxiety quiet, Routledge argues that we “must find and maintain perceptions of our lives as meaningful”. We seek not only to live, but to have a meaningful existence. And when we don’t feel like our lives matter, then we are psychologically vulnerable.”

So, if you don’t feel like your life is meaningful, you are vulnerable.  The second article I read was in Sports Illustrated.  It had to do with budding star quarterback Tyler Hilinski’s suicide and the family’s desperate attempts to understand why it happened.  There is a lot in the article to take in, but one thing struck me because it was repeated over and over and over: Tyler thought he was Superman.  Tyler thought he was supposed to pull off the spectacular play every time.  Tyler thought he should lead his team to victory and be heroic.  But, he found out that he wasn’t Superman.  He found out that he couldn’t always pull off the victory.  After one particularly difficult game where he suffered a huge hit and a crushing loss, folks said he wasn’t the same.  The fact that he couldn’t be what he wanted to be seemed to have a profound effect on him.  Faced with limitations, he had a difficult time coping.

It seemed to me that Tyler was finding his meaning in things that were beyond his capability to grasp.  It seems to me that a lot of folks are trying to do such things.  I understand very well what is behind that.  I had a lot of hopes and dreams about what my life would look like at this point and time, but very, very few of those things have come to fruition.  If I were basing the meaning of my life on those things, I would probably be very depressed as well, but fortunately, I have found meaning elsewhere.  I have found meaning in Jesus.

The Greek word used in John chapter 1 is logos.  It is a word with deep, deep meaning in the ancient world.  The ancient Greek philosophers oftentimes used it when talking about the meaning of life; the meaning of existence; the reason for everything.  It is no stretch to think that John, when he was writing the introduction to this gospel had this in mind.  So, let’s read that introduction once more with that understanding.  “In the beginning was the reason for everything.  The reason for everything was with God.  The reason for everything was God...The reason for everything became flesh and lived among us.”  Jesus is the reason for everything.  Jesus gives meaning.  Jesus gives hope.  Jesus gives assurance.  The question is: how?

And this goes directly to the understanding of the Gospel.  Now, I know it is fashionable in some circles to use the saying attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, “Preach the Gospel at all times.  Use words if necessary.”  I used to believe it.  But I don’t any more.  Because I know now that the Gospel is news.  You cannot do news.  You can only share news.  Now, this doesn’t mean you can’t package the news up in doing good deeds.  You don’t tell a hungry person that Jesus loves them without giving them food, and you don’t just give them food and expect them to understand that Jesus loves them.  Proclaiming the Gospel involves loving our neighbors, but too often these days much of the church is guilty of either/or instead of both/and.

I mean, face it, anyone can and does acts of kindness.  The Hindu does acts of kindness.  The atheist does acts of kindness.  The Muslim does acts of kindness.  If the Gospel is simply acts of kindness, then everyone is proclaiming the Gospel.  And it would stand to reason, if everyone is proclaiming the Gospel, then why is there a lack of meaning?  Why is the suicide rate continuing to climb?

The answer is because the Gospel isn’t just about doing nice things for others.  It’s about God’s redemption of our fallen condition through Jesus’ death and resurrection.  You see, the Gospel tells us that we are all corrupted by sin.  We are not Superman.  We cannot be Superman.  We fall far short of the glory of God.  This means that we will never be like Tyler Hinski.  We will never believe that we have the capacity of doing everything right and making our team win all the time.  We know we are limited.  We know we are not perfect.  We can grapple with and understand the trials of life including losing.  Now, if we stopped here, that would be a recipe for despair.  Imperfection rules the day.  Sin actually wins.  But that is not the case because Jesus acts to redeem our sin.  Jesus acts to redeem our imperfection.  On the cross, Jesus takes our sin into himself and defeats it.  And then Jesus gives us His righteousness.  Jesus gives us His glory.  We are clothed with Christ.  Now, this doesn’t mean that everything turns out perfectly for us in this life.  No.  We know this all too well, but what this does mean is solidified in the resurrection.  For in the resurrection every evil that was done is undone.  Every wound is healed.  Every evil is made good.  Darkness is changed into light.  Sickness is changed into health.  We are reminded that God will work to do this in our lives.  God will transform everything in His time and bend everything toward our good.  This means we have hope.

Yet, there is a bit of a caveat to this, but it is an important caveat.  This only happens for those who trust in Jesus and His actions and not our own.  This only happens for those who do not try to work out their own salvation, but for those who believe their salvation is won for them on the cross.  For when we put our trust in God, we change allegiances.  We no longer live for ourselves, we live for God.  We seek God and His will in all that we do.  And this gives our lives meaning.  We know what our purpose is.  We know that we are to seek God and His will in our lives.  We know that we seek to grow in our faith.  We know we are to grow in our knowledge of God.  And we know that we are called to bring as many people to Jesus as we possibly can.  We know we are to share the good news of Jesus.  We are to preach the Gospel.

And so you see, I hope, why I started with the preaching of the Gospel.  One of the fundamental reasons and non-negotiable reasons the church is here is to proclaim it because through it we come to understand our limitations.  We come to understand our imperfections.  But we also come to understand the love of God. We come to understand what He has done in Jesus in the cross and resurrection.  We come to place our trust in Him and seek His will in all things.  We come to understand through Him how we have purpose and meaning, and in a society that is fast losing meaning and seeking perfection, we have a very, very important message to bring.  May we remember how important proclaiming the Gospel is to our mission.  Amen.

Only the Cross

I find myself in a bit of a pickle as I think long and hard about my relationship with the larger church (ELCA).  I love my church.  There is no doubt about this.  I want her to grow and thrive.  I want the God-awful state of decline she has been in to reverse itself and for people to fill her pews on a given Sunday morning.  I long for the day when all of our congregation's pews: Lutheran, Baptist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Pentecostal, and the like are filled to overflowing as people come from far and wide to worship.

I do not wish for any church body to decline and die.

And yet, many are.  Some slowly.  Some spiraling out of control.

Now, this is not some sort of "the Church must change or die" sort of post.  God knows, I've heard so many of those lectures and read so many of those blogs that I have started tuning them out.

That goes for those folks who say that we need to become more moralistic.
That goes for those folks who say that we need to focus more on justice.
That goes for those folks who say that we need to change our doctrines.
That goes for those folks who say that we need to stop being so liberal.
That goes for those folks who say that we need to stop being so conservative.
That goes for those folks who say that we need to implement more programs.
That goes for those folks who say that we need to implement less programs.
That goes for those folks who say that we need to have more "contemporary"/modern worship.
That goes for those folks who say that we need to have more "traditional" worship.

In each and every one of these things, we are focusing on ourselves.  We are trying to figure out what the surrounding culture wants and give it to them.  It's as if we believe the Church is here to satisfy the needs and desires of the culture, and if we want our pews to be full, then we need to be giving the culture what it wants.

I can see the early Church trying to take such action. 

"Well, you see those Jews over there.  They expect a Messiah who will come and establish power and peace by military force.  The Messiah will overthrow the Romans and free the nation of Israel.  Let's shun the cross and what Jesus did and talk about such power and might.  Let's give them what they want."

"Well, you see those Gentiles over there.  They want comfort and security.  They want a god who is omniscient and omnipotent who can favor them.  Let's get rid of the cross where God dies and give them a god who allows them joy and pleasure in their lives."

"For the cross is a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles."  --1 Corinthians 1:23.

Indeed, the cross still is foolishness.  It must be.  That's the only reason I can think of that it didn't make an appearance at the Synod Assembly I attended last week.  Can you imagine a Synod Assembly whose focus was intended to be evangelism that didn't mention the cross?  That didn't mention the acts of God on that cross?  Can you imagine a Lutheran Synod Assembly whose focus was supposedly evangelism--whose founder espoused and coined the phrase the theology of the cross--who didn't spend a single minute asking the question, "How do we convey the message of the cross in this day and age?  How do we talk about God's reconciling the world unto Himself in this postmodern age?"

So, what was the Synod Assembly focused on? 

Essentially, it was one giant pep-rally trying to get us to do good things.  Yep, that was it.  Work hard at being especially nice.  Work hard at listening to your neighbors.  Work hard at loving everyone.  That is evangelism.  Your works are evangelism.  What you do is evangelism.

So, you might ask, what is the problem with that?  I'd like you to read the following quote from a young man who served on a panel of young adults at the Synod Assembly.  He leans atheist/agnostic, and he offered this scathing criticism of the church:

But the part of me that lives on the edges has to stop and ask this...why?  Why is the christian church trying to recruit "youths ages 18-35 who make up the blah blah blah???  What does having more people in church do?

The people I asked to help me with this do amazing things, why doesn't the church stop trying to pull them into their crowd and instead go out and be with them? ...The question I want answered is, when will the church stop trying to make itself the center of everyone's world and go out and do something like so many 18-35 year olds are doing, because I have to tell you, we are just waiting for the day the church joins us.

What response can one give to such a scathing criticism IF the church's job is "doing good things?" 

There is no response.  The criticism stands, and the Church is convicted.  (Although to be fair, in the omitted examples this gentleman listed in his screed where he asked "Where is the Church?", in all reality, the Church was already in all of those places.  One can easily ask the question: why can't you see it there?)

In fact, as I was debriefing with one of my members, I was brutally honest.  I said, "I don't want this guy in my church.  He reminds me of myself not too long ago.  Arrogant.  Self-righteous.  He'd be a troublemaker.  But it doesn't matter if I want him in church or not.  There is One who does want Him.  There is One who wants His heart and soul."

Indeed, there is one part of the young man's criticism that is Truth: the Church should never try and make itself the center of everyone's world.  Never.  Ever!  At the center of everyone's world should be a cross with a suffering God who is stretching His arms out to suffer and die to make sure the world is reconciled to their Heavenly Father.  At the center of everyone's world should be Jesus.

If anyone in the Christian Church disputes this, then I simply think you cannot call yourself a Christian.  (Read my extended quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer from a few days ago.)  If at the center of your world is anything less than Jesus, then you are committing idolatry.  You have a false god.

And so, the answer to the young man's question is Jesus.  The Church doesn't want you, sir.  Jesus does.  The Church will go on without you too, but there is One who doesn't want to go on without you.  There is one who was willing to die for you.  I know you probably don't see that or get that.  You are completely and totally focused on your actions and the actions of the world and the Church.  You want to make a difference.  I understand that.  I really do.  I wanted to change the world myself.

But I found out something.  It was a hard lesson.  A very hard one.  I couldn't make that difference.  I couldn't change people.  I couldn't change the world.  I might be able to feed a person for a day.  I might be able to lobby government officials.  I might even be able to lead a movement to change laws, but I can never, ever change someone's heart.  I can't make people love each other.  I can't make people get along and see each other a fully human.  I can't convince people to stop looking out for their own interests and look out for the interests of another. 

I know you are a studious sort of person.  It came across very strongly in your presentation.  Read Nietzsche?  You understand, don't you, that if there is no transcendence, no God, then everything we do are simply power plays, right?  You do understand that essentially we are all working out our own wills to power even if we say we are looking out for another?  You could argue that you aren't looking out for yourself, but Nietzsche would scoff at you and say, "Yeah right.  The only reason you are trying to help others is because you get some benefit.

You see, there is One who indeed came and lived for no benefit to Himself.  Jesus didn't need anything from us.  He was totally satisfied, loved, and glorified in His relationship with His Father and the Spirit.  He needed and needs nothing from us.  Yet, He came to us for a reason--to change our hearts that we might experience the same kind of love He knows living with the Father and the Spirit.  He came that we might be able to love one another without any sort of contempt or anger towards those who are different than we are.  And He showed that not with power and might but with a cross.

It's all about Jesus and the cross.  If you can't get someone to the foot of the cross, then...well, you might be doing some good things, but you are not doing evangelism.  And if the Church exists solely for doing good things, then we have no need of worship.  We have no need for buildings and Bible Study.  All we essentially need is to have someone urge us, remind us, sometimes whip us into submission to "Love our neighbors as we love ourselves."

But Christianity isn't about that.  Evangelism isn't about that.  It's all about Jesus.  It's focal point is the cross. 

Somehow, this has been pushed to the periphery.  No longer is it at the center.  

To our detriment.

What will it take to reclaim our cross-centeredness? 

I frankly don't know, but I know what I will do from henceforth:

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. ²For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.  -- 1 Corinthians 2:1-2.

If that message changed hearts then, it will still change hearts now.  Here I stand...

I Decided to Know Nothing Except Christ Crucified

    St. Paul writes, “When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. 2For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.”

    Most of my life and in most of my time as an ordained minister, I have tried to do the exact opposite of what St. Paul says in these opening words of the second chapter of 1 Corinthians.  I hate to admit this.  I really do.  I hate to admit that for most of my career, I have tried diligently to learn as much as I can and then show how learned I am.  I have tried using lofty words of wisdom in my sermons, on my blog, in Bible study, and in conversation.  I have oftentimes been convinced that such lofty words of wisdom will convince many in today’s society of the reasonableness of Christianity.  I have oftentimes been convinced that Christianity has all the answers to all the questions that exist and that if I just learn them and articulate them, well, then I can have a tremendous impact in the lives of others.  I have oftentimes been convinced that our churches simply need to get with the right train of theological thought–the right train of wisdom, and then all will be well. 

    I don’t think I am alone in what I have done and to some extent continue to do.  It’s the way the world works.  I mean, just browse through the comments section on any particular political article.  Jump onto an internet message board and read through any particularly controversial thread.  Look at what stands out when people engage in dialogue about such subjects.  Well, first filter through the comments which are simply baseless attacks.  Then, read the more serious ones.  See what they do.  Time and again, they list: point by point; reason by reason why their “side” is correct.  Time and again, they will provide links to studies, articles, and citations to bolster their particular point of view.  Time and again, they will show statistics and numbers to prove their particular position.  All of the facts must be shown, and once the facts are presented, then one shouldn’t be able to argue with my position.  After all, I am right!  I have the facts on my side.  I have thoroughly researched this issue, and by God, I know what I am talking about.

    Oftentimes, the rebuttals are swift, and one of my favorite ones is, “So, you have a degree in whatever subject matter is at hand, I suppose?  You are a climate scientist, a social scientist, a biologist, a biblical scholar, a doctor, a political science major, a lawyer, or what have you.  The rebuttal is that unless you have studied the subject matter and have a degree in it, then you are not qualified to speak with any kind of authority on the matter.

    It’s part and parcel in the way the world works.  We love appealing to our experts.  We love appealing to those who have numerous letters behind their names.  Of course, if certain experts disagree with us, then we will find other experts, but hey, that’s the game, isn’t it?  Lofty titles.  Large degrees.  Plenty of status.  That’s what awes people into believing what you have to say. 

    I am reminded at this point of a joke I love to tell.  It’s about a church congregation president who decided to call on several members who hadn’t been in church for some time.  He goes to see Farmer Joe. 

    Farmer Joe is out in the field chopping cotton.  Bob parks his car down in the turning row and walks up to Joe.

    “Hey Joe! How’ve you been?”

    “Aiiight,” Joe replies.

    Bob continues, “Haven’t seen you in church in a while, Joe.  Thought you might like to come back.”

    Joe wipes the sweat off his brow, spits in the dirt and says, “Well, why should I come back to church?”

    Bob says, “Joe, you have got to come and hear the new preacher we got!  He’s fantastic!”

    Joe slowly says, “Well, what makes this here preacher so special?”

    Bob replies enthusiastically, “Joe, he’s got a B.S. an M.S. and a PhD!”

    Joe shakes his head and says, “Well, that settles it.  I ain’t a comin’ to church as long as that preacher’s there.”

    Bob is taken aback.  He can hardly believe his ears.  “W-w-w-why?” he stammers.

    Joe spits in the dirt and says, “Well, we all know what B.S. is.  M.S. is just more of the same.  And PhD is piled high and deep.”

    Don’t laugh too hard now.  I personally have a master’s degree.

    But there is something to be said here.  There is something to be said regarding those who try to proclaim the message of God based in wisdom and lofty words.  There is something to be said about those who claim to have special knowledge of God and how God operates.  There is something to be said for those like myself and others who have tried time and again to use knowledge and reason and other such things to talk about God–to try and convince everyone that we’ve got it down pat when it comes to knowing and understanding God and His ways.

    And that something is not necessarily pretty.  You see Paul was onto something when he proclaimed the Gospel to the Gentiles. “I didn’t come with words of wisdom.  I chose only to know Christ crucified that your faith may not rest on worldly wisdom but on the power of God.”

    You see, Paul knew it wasn’t what he knew that counted.  Paul knew it wasn’t about what he had accomplished.  Paul knew his resume wasn’t the important part of the equation.  Paul knew very well that it wasn’t about anything he had done that mattered.  If people were resting their faith on what Paul had done, there would be problems.  But if they rested their faith on what God had done, well, then that was quite a different story.  And now we must ask: what has God done?

    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.

    On the cross, Jesus died–God died–to reconcile the world unto Himself.  God died to pay the price of forgiveness–to take away our shame, our guilt, our debt to Him.  It was on the cross that the world’s redemption took place.  “When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. 2For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”

    I am beginning to change, my brothers and sisters.  I am trying to leave behind this notion that I must be filled with lofty wisdom and knowledge and understanding.  I am trying to leave behind the notion that I have to be super-knowledgeable about Christianity, the Bible, all sorts of theology.  I am working to focus on the main thing: Christ crucified and the grace that flows from the cross.  It’s all about that grace.  It’s all about what God has done.  None of us need a degree to proclaim it.  All of us can do it, and when we do, we live God’s Word daily.  Amen.

The Hardest Sermon

Next Tuesday evening, I will quite possibly be preaching the most difficult sermon I have been called to preach in my years of serving as a pastor.

I do not wish to go into the details at this moment, but if you would, please begin lifting me up in prayer. 

Coincidence?

I just finished looking over the proposed Bible texts for Sunday.

The Gospel lesson is from Luke 10: 25-37--better known as the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

It just so happens that I read a neat little commentary on this passage while on vacation from Richard Bauckham's book: Jesus: A Very Short Introduction.

Coincidence?

I think not.

Guess which lesson I will be preaching on this Sunday?  :-)