At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be a lot to talk about in our lesson from the book of Romans this morning. I mean, essentially all you have Paul doing is sending greetings. Greet such and such. Greet so and so. Greet this person who is beloved. Greet that person who is a member of that house. Over and over again–27 people worth of greetings. I mean, if that is the sum and substance of Paul’s paragraph here, what more is to be said than simply getting up here and saying, “Greet one another. Amen.?” Short. Sweet. To the point. Done. Let’s call it a day.
But let’s take a moment to dig a little deeper. Let’s go beyond the superficial and look at some of the details and see what is revealed about what it means to live a life that is convicted by the Gospel.
The first thing that stands out to me is how many people Paul actually knew in the church that he had never visited. Think about this with me for just a moment. Remember, Paul has admitted that he has never been to the church in Rome. He has yet to travel there, even though he has desperately wanted to. If that is the case, how is it that Paul knows the names of so many people? How is it that he somehow can ask for greetings for over 20 folks whom he has yet to see face to face?
This gives us some insight into the early Christian church. It tells us that in the early Church, folks knew of fellow Christians throughout the Roman Empire. They were not isolated in their little enclaves, thinking only about themselves, and connected to their small circle of friends and relatives in their communities. No. They had a much larger perspective of what the church was. They had a much larger perspective of where the Gospel was supposed to go. They knew that the church was struggling to gain a foothold in the Roman Empire. It faced trials and tribulations. It faced some persecution. It faced shortage of resources. So, people stayed in contact with each other. People prayed for one another. People in Achaia and Macedonia cared for the people in Jerusalem. People in Jerusalem prayed for the people in Rome. The early Christians knew that the church was much, much larger than their local congregations, and they made it a point to reach across the distances to get to know folks in other places.
I must confess that this is an area of growth for me. I tend to be rather short-sighted. I tend to focus right here on this community and neglect others throughout the world. I tend to forget that the church is much, much larger than Saint John Lutheran Church of Cat Spring. I tend to focus my prayers right here and forget about the rest of the world. I do not know many people outside of this congregation and the congregations I served previously. It is a challenge for me to think on a grander scale...to think about the larger church. Perhaps this is also a challenge for our congregation.
The second thing that stands out for me is the diversity of people that Paul greets. There are men and women. There are Jews and Gentiles. There are people who own houses, and there are slaves. These early house churches cut across racial, gender, and socio-economic status. When you walked into those churches, you did not see row after row of people who looked the same, had the same background, and had the same status in society. The Gospel had broken down these boundaries and replaced them with a new set of boundaries.
For you see, the Gospel proclaimed that each and every person was in Christ Jesus. Each and every person had been clothed with Christ Jesus. Each and every person had a new identity that went above and beyond any other identity conferred upon them in society. People did not cease having a Jewish or Gentile background. They did not cease being rich or poor. They did not cease being slave or free. They did not cease being male or female, but those identities were nothing compared to their identity in Christ. Therefore, there was only one status that was important in the church: that you were a child of God.
That’s it.
Nothing else.
You were not given special privilege because you were wealthy. You were not given special privilege because you were male. You were not given special privilege because you were Jewish. All of these things, which at one time did bestow privilege, were gone. You were a new creation being made into the image and likeness of Jesus.
This too has implications for the church today. For it is awfully easy to flip back into the distinctions of status and privilege. It is awfully easy to believe that our job or our title or our bank accounts or our possessions or any other distinguishing mark gives us a special privilege. This is something we must resist. When the church begins allowing these distinctions, we fall away from the promises we have inherited in our baptisms. We fail to remember how Jesus has claimed us and clothed us. We fail to remember what Christ has done for us and instead focus on, well, us. And we are not the focus of the church. Jesus has been, is, and always will be. When a church fails to focus on Jesus, distinctions get made, and we are another step further removed from the becoming the body of Christ.
Finally, in this passage, we see a deep, deep sense of love and respect between church members. Paul’s initial words about the deaconess Phoebe are a recommendation to end all recommendations. They are very, very flattering and are intended to paint her in the best possible light as she, in all likelihood, brings Paul’s letter to the church in Rome. We then see just how far members in the church are willing to care for one another in the next statement. “Greet Prisca and Aquila, who work with me in Christ Jesus, 4and who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.”
I must confess to you that I don’t think I had ever paid that much attention to this sentence the previous times when I had read through the book of Romans. Prisca and Aquila literally “risked their necks” on behalf of Paul. Whatever they did, it put them in great risk for their fellow brother in Christ. Whatever they did, it could have cost them their lives. In the early church, folks were willing to risk their lives for one another!!! Chew on that for just a minute.
Being a part of the early church literally could put your life in danger. Much like being a part of the church in Iran today, or in the areas still controlled by ISIS. Much like being a part of the church in China. Christians in these parts of the world are apt to suffer greatly at the hands of the ruling authorities, and being a part of the church there could literally jeopardize your life.
And yet, the church is actually growing rapidly in these parts of the world just as it grew rapidly in the Roman empire. There was something so deeply moving about the Christian faith that it led people to do things that were almost unthinkable. It led people to take unbelievable risks for one another–risks that were not done out of any sort of self-interest or personal gain, but risks that were taken out of great love for fellow believers.
And why wouldn’t they take such risks? They knew what Jesus had done for them. They knew what Jesus had endured for their sakes. They knew that Jesus had come into this world as God-incarnate. They knew that Jesus had lived the life that God desired of mankind. They knew that Jesus was spotless and blameless before God. They knew that Jesus offered Himself as the sacrifice for their sins. They knew that they didn’t measure up to God’s standards. They knew that they fell woefully short. They knew they deserved eternal punishment for their shortcomings before the Almighty Creator of the universe. But instead of that punishment falling on their heads, Jesus took that punishment for them. Jesus interceded on their behalf and faced hell for them. Jesus faced rejection for them. Jesus faced divine wrath for them. And then He became the first fruits of a new creation as he was raised from the dead. He became the first sign of God’s new kingdom breaking into the world and reversing all evil and hatred. He became the unleashing of God’s rule in the world where death and the devil would be defeated. These early Christians were grasped by this marvelous act of Jesus. They were grasped by this undeserved love. They were grasped by the wonder of God dying for them when they least deserved it, and their hearts were moved to love God and love one another so that they would lay down their lives for each other. They would take great risks for one another. They would sacrifice their time, their talent, and their treasure for one another. The Gospel changed them deeply from within!
And O how desperately do we need this Gospel today!! How desperately do we need to have Christ’s love poured into our hearts so that we are willing to have our lives changed again!! How desperately does the church need an infusion of God’s love reawakened within it! How desperately does the church need to rediscover its roots so that it has the energy, drive, and hope of the early church! For as the rest of the world saw how different the church was; as the rest of the world saw the changed hearts and self-sacrifice of the church; the rest of the world noticed that this change was not brought about by self-will and determination. The rest of the world saw that God had indeed touched the hearts and minds of the church. The rest of the world saw that God was real and had come to earth as Jesus the Christ. The rest of the world saw that God’s kingdom was breaking into the world, and they wanted to be a part of that kingdom as well. The rest of the world’s hearts became changed because the Gospel captured them through the love, preaching, teaching, and risk taking of the church.
Oh, my brothers and sisters, this text has so much more within it than simply greeting one another. It helps us see what the church can be when it loves God and then loves one another. May God’s love find us so that we may be the Church!! Amen.
Showing posts with label sacrifice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sacrifice. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
Monday, October 26, 2015
Cutting Off Your Hand Doesn't Work
Last week, as we read through the book of Mark, we saw how Jesus coached His disciples in dealing with those who were not members of the “in” group. An exorcist was casting out demons in Jesus’ name, but this exorcist was not a part of the inner 12. Jesus sternly said, “Do not stop him for someone who does such a deed in my name will not soon turn against me.” These are powerful words as we deal with our fellow Christians who do not believe as we believe. Jesus name is what unites us, and doing what we do in His name renders most differences moot.
Then, Jesus spoke about those who do not follow Him as a disciple. “Truly I tell you anyone who gives you a cup of cold water because you bear the name of Christ, that person will not lose the reward.” Again, hearing Jesus’ words is important because this isn’t about the things we do–this is about how people treat Jesus’ disciples. If a non-believer gives YOU a cup of cold water, then they will not lose the reward. If Jesus regards even a non-believer this highly, the disciples should as well. For Jesus came to save the world, not just a select few. Only those who blatantly reject Jesus, whose hearts are consumed by other things, who seek their own satisfaction and self-preservation will bear some serious consequences.
This is why Jesus teaches what He teaches in our snippet from Mark chapter 9 this morning. Jesus shifts the focus from those who are outside the faith, from the outer life, so to speak, to the inner life of the believer. Jesus cuts through all external things and gets to the heart of the matter. This is extremely important to grasp, especially since today is Reformation Sunday–a special day for those of us who call ourselves Lutheran Christians–a day when we strongly emphasize God’s grace and our inability to save ourselves. How does this all come together? Let’s turn to the text.
Jesus begins with some powerful, strong words: 43If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell., 47And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, 48where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.
It is important to note that in the ancient Jewish world, people literally did blame their extremities for sin. William Lane in his commentary on Mark says, “It was not a Palestinian custom to refer to an abstract activity but to the specific member of the body which is responsible for it.” So, in the culture, it was acceptable to say, “My hand sinned. My foot sinned. My eye sinned.” Jesus confronts this thinking and says, “Well, if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. If you foot causes you to sin, cut it off. If your eyes cause you to sin, pluck them out.” Jesus pushes the culture’s logic to its logical conclusion. It’s better for you to be lame or blind than to be sinful. It makes perfect sense, but it is horrifying.
Not only is it horrifying, it’s also forbidden by Jewish scripture:
Deuteronomy 14:1 reads, “You are children of the Lord your God. You must not lacerate yourselves or shave your forelocks for the dead.”
Deuteronomy 23:1 reads, “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.” (Bet you didn’t know that one was in there!)
There is a reason behind these laws for the Jews understood God to be holy and whole, complete. If you were incomplete. If you were not whole, you were seen as further away from God. You were seen as less than what you should be. For Jew to hear Jesus say, “Cut off your hand. Cut off your foot. Pluck out your eye.” would invoke absolute horror! The Jew would have thought, “You are asking me to separate myself from God–to become incomplete–to make myself less than I should be!”
But is Jesus doing such a thing? Is Jesus telling us to cut off our hands and feet or pluck out our eye. No serious scholar believes such a thing because of this pertinent fact: if you cut off your hand, you will still sin. If you cut off your foot, you will still sin. If you pluck out your eye, you will still sin. The cause of sin does not reside in your hand or your foot or your eye. The cause of sin is much deeper. Jesus knows this. Jesus has taught this. Unfortunately, it is not sinking in.
Remember way back in Mark seven, there was an exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees where the Pharisees were complaining that Jesus’ disciples were eating with unwashed hands. There’s a lot that is happening in that exchange, but eventually, we get to the place where Jesus says this, “4 Then he called the crowd again and said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.’ 17 When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18He said to them, ‘Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, 19since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?’ (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20And he said, ‘It is what comes out of a person that defiles. 21For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
It is from the human heart that evil intentions come. Hear that one more time: it is from the human heart that evil intentions come. Jesus pushes the cultural logic to its horrific conclusions to get people past the absurdity of it. Jesus pushes the cultural logic to its horrific conclusions to show that blaming hands and feet and eyes for sin is asinine. Sin is a condition, not of the extremities, but of the deepest recesses of the human heart.
It is easy to blame a hand for stealing. It is easy to blame a foot for walking into a house of ill repute. It is easy to blame an eye for looking at another person with lust in your heart. It is easy to blame the rich for all the world’s problems. It is easy to blame those on welfare for their unwillingness to work. It is easy to blame capitalism for poverty. It is easy to blame communism for destroying human rights. It is easy to blame Democrats or Republicans or conservatives or liberals. It is easy to blame teachers for kids failing to learn. It is easy to blame elected officials for failing to deal with the problems of a given community. It is easy to put the problem “out there”, residing in someone else. But Jesus won’t let us get away with that. The problem isn’t in the hand. It isn’t in the foot. It isn’t in the eye. The problem isn’t out there with any group or institution or form of government. The problem is in the human heart.
Now, most folks don’t like this. Most folks would like to blame circumstances that are out there. It absolves them of responsibility. However, the Christian faith is not about shirking responsibility. It’s about accepting it, and accepting the fact that each and every one of us is indeed sinful. We are not just people who do bad things–who are imperfect. No. We are much worse. We are rotten to the core. We are self-centered and seek our own self-preservation.
You may not like me saying that, but let me see if I can show you the depths of your own sinfulness. Why do you do most of the things that you do? What is your motivation for getting up in the morning and going to work or engaging in any sort of activity? What drives you? I am not asking you to give me a superficial answer to this question. I really want to know.
You see, I get up most mornings and exercise. I make two laps around Cat Spring doing interval training. Most of you know I have lost quite a bit of weight in the past couple of years, and I want to keep it off. Some of you know my motivation behind it. A couple of years ago, my kids and I were visiting my parents. We were going to go to the Texas State Aquarium, and my kids ran up to their grandpa and said, “Grandpa, are you going too?” Grandpa, my dad, said, “Sorry, I can’t. My knee is hurting too badly.” Now, my dad hurt his knee playing football. He is also on the heavy side. These two things came back to haunt him. I hurt my knees playing football. I was on the heavy side. I saw the future in an instant–a future that if I am blessed with grandchildren that I could face. And I did not like that picture. I did not like the idea of my grandchildren asking me if I could go with them and having to turn them down. I decided right then and there to lose the weight and hopefully save my knees. Now, who did I lose the weight for? You could say that I did it for my children and my hoped for grandchildren. But that is not the truth. I didn’t want to deal with the disappointment of my grandchildren. I didn’t want to deal with their hurt. I didn’t want to see that in their eyes because IT WOULD BOTHER ME. My reasons are selfish. They have nothing really to do with my future grandchildren. They have nothing to do with this body that was given to be by God. My motivations are purely selfish. Purely.
Do I need to give further examples? Do I need to delve into why you get up and drink a cup of coffee? It’s because you enjoy it, right? You like the taste. Would you drink it if you didn’t like it? Would you drink it if you got no benefit from it? Oh, here’s another story putting the crosshairs directly on me. When I was on internship at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Waco, I did a lot of visitation. I really enjoyed visiting the little old ladies who were all too happy to provide snack for me. They found out I liked to eat, and they were happy to spoil me. One day, I went to visit Emma. I was told that Emma tended to be on the depressed side. She hadn’t done well after her husband had died. I hoped to cheer her up. Emma and I visited, and then she said, “I have something for you. It’s some fresh banana bread.”
A little part of me died inside. I hate bananas. I really do, especially since the taste of a banana makes me gag. Literally. I will gag when I taste banana. So, here is this wonderful lady; who went out of her way to make me this bread, who was a little on the depressed side, who didn’t need her intern making any sort of negative comments; what was I to do? I choked down the bread. I did something I didn’t like in the least. Hiding my gags and chugging water, I got that darn bread down. Self-sacrifice? Hardly. I wanted Emma to enjoy the visit. I wanted her to think positively about me and what I brought to her. I choked that bread down for purely selfish reasons.
Are your motivations any different? Do you engage in activities that you get no benefit from; no enjoyment out of; no satisfaction at all, yet continue to do so because it is the right thing to do? Most of us don’t. Not in the least. In fact, most of us know the right things to do, but we don’t do them because it costs us. It costs us dearly.
Which is why Jesus says, “Everyone will be salted with fire.” Most scholars are perplexed by this saying, but interestingly enough most of them link Jesus’ saying with Leviticus chapter 2:13, “You shall season all your cereal offerings with salt; you shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be lacking from your cereal offerings; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.” These offerings were sacrificial offerings. They were offerings set forth showing a radical dependency on God. They were offerings saying, “Lord, we trust that you will get us through thick and thin, and we bring the first fruits of our grain to you to be burned in fire, with salt.”
But Jesus is taking this offering a step further. It’s not the first fruits that are offered and burned and refined and salted–it is us. We are refined and salted. We endure the fire and refinement as living sacrifices. St. Paul puts it this way in Romans chapter 12, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
This is the calling Jesus gives to His disciples. Don’t be superficial. Don’t look at your hand, your foot, or your eye. Look at the deep recesses of your heart and let the sinfulness of it be burned and refined. Offer your very self as an offering to God. Discipleship is not for the faint of heart.
Now, anyone who grasps this and understands this should be terrified. Really. If you understand what I have proclaimed to you to this point, you should be shaking in your shoes. For Jesus is demanding your entire being. He is asking you to walk away from all the desires of your heart. He is asking you to walk away from your own motivations and selfishness. He is asking you to forsake your identity and your well being to follow Him. It’s not a very good sales pitch. Most of us, if we were honest, would say no. We would say not a chance. None of us here this morning would accept such terms because they are just too difficult. The need for self-preservation and self-satisfaction is just too strong. We are unwilling to sacrifice ourselves.
But there is One who was willing. There was one who was able. There was one who did such a thing in our place. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it dozens of times, we must understand all scripture through the cross. We must understand all of Jesus’ teachings through the cross. The cross is the center of our faith and understanding, and Jesus knows you cannot and will not sacrifice yourself. Jesus knows the depths of your sinfulness. Jesus knows the hold that sin has over your heart. And He must break that hold. He must show you that following Him and trusting Him is worth the sacrifice.
And so when you could not sacrifice yourself, He sacrificed Himself. When you were afraid to face the fire, Jesus descended into Hell and faced that fire for you. When you were afraid of the pain of forsaking yourself, Jesus faced the ultimate forsakenness as the Father turned His back on Him as He hung on the cross. Jesus looked at you in the midst of your sin and in the midst of your selfishness, then looked at His Father and said, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.” Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice on your behalf.
When you could not do; when you were in bondage to your self, Jesus did. He saved you from yourself when you could not. This was not something you earned; rather it was given to you by sheer grace. And when you are moved by this, when those chains fall off your heart because you know you are deeply sinful yet deeply loved, you want to die to yourself. You want to become a living sacrifice. You want to be salted with fire. You want to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus. Your heart beats with a deep gratitude for the One who gave Himself up for you because He loves 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 might be saved through Him. This is most certainly true. Amen.
Then, Jesus spoke about those who do not follow Him as a disciple. “Truly I tell you anyone who gives you a cup of cold water because you bear the name of Christ, that person will not lose the reward.” Again, hearing Jesus’ words is important because this isn’t about the things we do–this is about how people treat Jesus’ disciples. If a non-believer gives YOU a cup of cold water, then they will not lose the reward. If Jesus regards even a non-believer this highly, the disciples should as well. For Jesus came to save the world, not just a select few. Only those who blatantly reject Jesus, whose hearts are consumed by other things, who seek their own satisfaction and self-preservation will bear some serious consequences.
This is why Jesus teaches what He teaches in our snippet from Mark chapter 9 this morning. Jesus shifts the focus from those who are outside the faith, from the outer life, so to speak, to the inner life of the believer. Jesus cuts through all external things and gets to the heart of the matter. This is extremely important to grasp, especially since today is Reformation Sunday–a special day for those of us who call ourselves Lutheran Christians–a day when we strongly emphasize God’s grace and our inability to save ourselves. How does this all come together? Let’s turn to the text.
Jesus begins with some powerful, strong words: 43If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell., 47And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, 48where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.
It is important to note that in the ancient Jewish world, people literally did blame their extremities for sin. William Lane in his commentary on Mark says, “It was not a Palestinian custom to refer to an abstract activity but to the specific member of the body which is responsible for it.” So, in the culture, it was acceptable to say, “My hand sinned. My foot sinned. My eye sinned.” Jesus confronts this thinking and says, “Well, if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. If you foot causes you to sin, cut it off. If your eyes cause you to sin, pluck them out.” Jesus pushes the culture’s logic to its logical conclusion. It’s better for you to be lame or blind than to be sinful. It makes perfect sense, but it is horrifying.
Not only is it horrifying, it’s also forbidden by Jewish scripture:
Deuteronomy 14:1 reads, “You are children of the Lord your God. You must not lacerate yourselves or shave your forelocks for the dead.”
Deuteronomy 23:1 reads, “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.” (Bet you didn’t know that one was in there!)
There is a reason behind these laws for the Jews understood God to be holy and whole, complete. If you were incomplete. If you were not whole, you were seen as further away from God. You were seen as less than what you should be. For Jew to hear Jesus say, “Cut off your hand. Cut off your foot. Pluck out your eye.” would invoke absolute horror! The Jew would have thought, “You are asking me to separate myself from God–to become incomplete–to make myself less than I should be!”
But is Jesus doing such a thing? Is Jesus telling us to cut off our hands and feet or pluck out our eye. No serious scholar believes such a thing because of this pertinent fact: if you cut off your hand, you will still sin. If you cut off your foot, you will still sin. If you pluck out your eye, you will still sin. The cause of sin does not reside in your hand or your foot or your eye. The cause of sin is much deeper. Jesus knows this. Jesus has taught this. Unfortunately, it is not sinking in.
Remember way back in Mark seven, there was an exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees where the Pharisees were complaining that Jesus’ disciples were eating with unwashed hands. There’s a lot that is happening in that exchange, but eventually, we get to the place where Jesus says this, “4 Then he called the crowd again and said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.’ 17 When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18He said to them, ‘Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, 19since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?’ (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20And he said, ‘It is what comes out of a person that defiles. 21For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
It is from the human heart that evil intentions come. Hear that one more time: it is from the human heart that evil intentions come. Jesus pushes the cultural logic to its horrific conclusions to get people past the absurdity of it. Jesus pushes the cultural logic to its horrific conclusions to show that blaming hands and feet and eyes for sin is asinine. Sin is a condition, not of the extremities, but of the deepest recesses of the human heart.
It is easy to blame a hand for stealing. It is easy to blame a foot for walking into a house of ill repute. It is easy to blame an eye for looking at another person with lust in your heart. It is easy to blame the rich for all the world’s problems. It is easy to blame those on welfare for their unwillingness to work. It is easy to blame capitalism for poverty. It is easy to blame communism for destroying human rights. It is easy to blame Democrats or Republicans or conservatives or liberals. It is easy to blame teachers for kids failing to learn. It is easy to blame elected officials for failing to deal with the problems of a given community. It is easy to put the problem “out there”, residing in someone else. But Jesus won’t let us get away with that. The problem isn’t in the hand. It isn’t in the foot. It isn’t in the eye. The problem isn’t out there with any group or institution or form of government. The problem is in the human heart.
Now, most folks don’t like this. Most folks would like to blame circumstances that are out there. It absolves them of responsibility. However, the Christian faith is not about shirking responsibility. It’s about accepting it, and accepting the fact that each and every one of us is indeed sinful. We are not just people who do bad things–who are imperfect. No. We are much worse. We are rotten to the core. We are self-centered and seek our own self-preservation.
You may not like me saying that, but let me see if I can show you the depths of your own sinfulness. Why do you do most of the things that you do? What is your motivation for getting up in the morning and going to work or engaging in any sort of activity? What drives you? I am not asking you to give me a superficial answer to this question. I really want to know.
You see, I get up most mornings and exercise. I make two laps around Cat Spring doing interval training. Most of you know I have lost quite a bit of weight in the past couple of years, and I want to keep it off. Some of you know my motivation behind it. A couple of years ago, my kids and I were visiting my parents. We were going to go to the Texas State Aquarium, and my kids ran up to their grandpa and said, “Grandpa, are you going too?” Grandpa, my dad, said, “Sorry, I can’t. My knee is hurting too badly.” Now, my dad hurt his knee playing football. He is also on the heavy side. These two things came back to haunt him. I hurt my knees playing football. I was on the heavy side. I saw the future in an instant–a future that if I am blessed with grandchildren that I could face. And I did not like that picture. I did not like the idea of my grandchildren asking me if I could go with them and having to turn them down. I decided right then and there to lose the weight and hopefully save my knees. Now, who did I lose the weight for? You could say that I did it for my children and my hoped for grandchildren. But that is not the truth. I didn’t want to deal with the disappointment of my grandchildren. I didn’t want to deal with their hurt. I didn’t want to see that in their eyes because IT WOULD BOTHER ME. My reasons are selfish. They have nothing really to do with my future grandchildren. They have nothing to do with this body that was given to be by God. My motivations are purely selfish. Purely.
Do I need to give further examples? Do I need to delve into why you get up and drink a cup of coffee? It’s because you enjoy it, right? You like the taste. Would you drink it if you didn’t like it? Would you drink it if you got no benefit from it? Oh, here’s another story putting the crosshairs directly on me. When I was on internship at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Waco, I did a lot of visitation. I really enjoyed visiting the little old ladies who were all too happy to provide snack for me. They found out I liked to eat, and they were happy to spoil me. One day, I went to visit Emma. I was told that Emma tended to be on the depressed side. She hadn’t done well after her husband had died. I hoped to cheer her up. Emma and I visited, and then she said, “I have something for you. It’s some fresh banana bread.”
A little part of me died inside. I hate bananas. I really do, especially since the taste of a banana makes me gag. Literally. I will gag when I taste banana. So, here is this wonderful lady; who went out of her way to make me this bread, who was a little on the depressed side, who didn’t need her intern making any sort of negative comments; what was I to do? I choked down the bread. I did something I didn’t like in the least. Hiding my gags and chugging water, I got that darn bread down. Self-sacrifice? Hardly. I wanted Emma to enjoy the visit. I wanted her to think positively about me and what I brought to her. I choked that bread down for purely selfish reasons.
Are your motivations any different? Do you engage in activities that you get no benefit from; no enjoyment out of; no satisfaction at all, yet continue to do so because it is the right thing to do? Most of us don’t. Not in the least. In fact, most of us know the right things to do, but we don’t do them because it costs us. It costs us dearly.
Which is why Jesus says, “Everyone will be salted with fire.” Most scholars are perplexed by this saying, but interestingly enough most of them link Jesus’ saying with Leviticus chapter 2:13, “You shall season all your cereal offerings with salt; you shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be lacking from your cereal offerings; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.” These offerings were sacrificial offerings. They were offerings set forth showing a radical dependency on God. They were offerings saying, “Lord, we trust that you will get us through thick and thin, and we bring the first fruits of our grain to you to be burned in fire, with salt.”
But Jesus is taking this offering a step further. It’s not the first fruits that are offered and burned and refined and salted–it is us. We are refined and salted. We endure the fire and refinement as living sacrifices. St. Paul puts it this way in Romans chapter 12, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
This is the calling Jesus gives to His disciples. Don’t be superficial. Don’t look at your hand, your foot, or your eye. Look at the deep recesses of your heart and let the sinfulness of it be burned and refined. Offer your very self as an offering to God. Discipleship is not for the faint of heart.
Now, anyone who grasps this and understands this should be terrified. Really. If you understand what I have proclaimed to you to this point, you should be shaking in your shoes. For Jesus is demanding your entire being. He is asking you to walk away from all the desires of your heart. He is asking you to walk away from your own motivations and selfishness. He is asking you to forsake your identity and your well being to follow Him. It’s not a very good sales pitch. Most of us, if we were honest, would say no. We would say not a chance. None of us here this morning would accept such terms because they are just too difficult. The need for self-preservation and self-satisfaction is just too strong. We are unwilling to sacrifice ourselves.
But there is One who was willing. There was one who was able. There was one who did such a thing in our place. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it dozens of times, we must understand all scripture through the cross. We must understand all of Jesus’ teachings through the cross. The cross is the center of our faith and understanding, and Jesus knows you cannot and will not sacrifice yourself. Jesus knows the depths of your sinfulness. Jesus knows the hold that sin has over your heart. And He must break that hold. He must show you that following Him and trusting Him is worth the sacrifice.
And so when you could not sacrifice yourself, He sacrificed Himself. When you were afraid to face the fire, Jesus descended into Hell and faced that fire for you. When you were afraid of the pain of forsaking yourself, Jesus faced the ultimate forsakenness as the Father turned His back on Him as He hung on the cross. Jesus looked at you in the midst of your sin and in the midst of your selfishness, then looked at His Father and said, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.” Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice on your behalf.
When you could not do; when you were in bondage to your self, Jesus did. He saved you from yourself when you could not. This was not something you earned; rather it was given to you by sheer grace. And when you are moved by this, when those chains fall off your heart because you know you are deeply sinful yet deeply loved, you want to die to yourself. You want to become a living sacrifice. You want to be salted with fire. You want to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus. Your heart beats with a deep gratitude for the One who gave Himself up for you because He loves 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 might be saved through Him. This is most certainly true. Amen.
Monday, January 20, 2014
Behold the Lamb of God!
John the Baptist cried out, “Behold, here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
Recently, I watched a debate on Youtube between an atheist philosopher and a Christian apologist. The conversation was fascinating as these two gentlemen outlined their reasons for belief and non-belief. Particularly fascinating was one of the arguments the philosopher made against Christianity. I will paraphrase what was said and will not get the quote exact.
“I don’t find the idea of taking another’s punishment too satisfactory,” the philosopher said. “Let’s say we travel back in time when caning was considered a legitimate type of punishment. We know that’s pretty barbaric now, but let’s just ride with it for the sake of argument. Let’s say a boy gets caught doing something in a class, and he is going to be caned for breaking the rule. There is a girl in the class who decides she can take the punishment and that she’s been good enough for one reason or another. She tells the teacher she volunteers to take the boy’s place. The teacher, for one reason or another, doesn’t care who he canes, so the teacher accepts the proposal. The girl gets caned for the boy and everyone is satisfied. That doesn’t seem like too compelling an argument for me.”
Unfortunately, because of the limitations of the debate, the Christian apologist isn’t allowed to respond in full. He only gets one statement in, “Arguments from analogy tend to fall short.” I wish he’d of had more time to expand on that thought. I’d have loved to hear his response. Because I’d love to hear how it matches up with my own. For if I were engaged in that debate and had the opportunity to follow up on the philosopher’s comment, I would have said thus:
I actually agree with you that your analogy isn’t exactly satisfying. It doesn’t grab one’s attention too well, and it certainly makes a mockery out of justice–at least in the form in which you presented it. But I will hold your analogy. I won’t change the basic story. I would simply like to add to it.
Let’s add the fact that the girl in the story has loved the boy who was caught breaking the rule for a long, long time. For years, she had a crush on him, and she willingly made her intentions known to him. She told him over and over of her love. She would make him gifts. She would help him at various times and places.
The boy was rather wishy-washy. At times, he would welcome the girl’s advances. At times, he would reciprocate her love. But more often than not, another girl would catch his attention, and he would go flying off. He’d come back from time to time, and the girl who loved him always took him back hoping he’d stay with her for good. Yet it never seemed to take place. The boy never could fully commit to the girl.
The girl’s friends mocked her. “You could do better. Forget that boy, he isn’t good enough for you. Give up on him. Find a better boy.” But the girl refused to do such a thing. Even though it made perfect sense to find someone else, her heart was consumed for love of this boy.
And so, when the boy was caught and would suffer caning, dreadful thoughts entered the girl’s head. She couldn’t bear the thought of her love suffering all that pain and agony. She couldn’t bear the thought of him having to go through that ordeal. She volunteered to take his place. She pleaded with the teacher until he relented. “But I won’t take it easy on you,” he said.
“I wouldn’t expect you to,” she replied.
When her friends found out what she would do, they thought her absolutely mad. “Why in the world are you doing this? Why would you put yourself through all that pain and agony? You are certifiable! He absolutely, positively isn’t worth this.” Others just shook their heads in bewilderment.
“But I love him,” was all the girl could say.
The boy, for his part was quite leery of his impending punishment. He wasn’t altogether sure he could withstand caning. He had bragged to others about how strong he was and how he’d never scream or cry out. But he had seen others caned. He knew how even the strongest would end up screaming in agony begging the punisher to stop. Dread started to fill his heart as the day drew nigh for his sentence to be carried out.
But then, he heard the news. He would receive no punishment. Someone had volunteered to take his place. Sighs of relief, but also a new sense: a sense of wonderment. Who would take his place? Who had volunteered to receive the punishment due for him?
The day of the sentence came, and the boy heard the cries of agony as the caning took place. The smacks of the cane resounded through the schoolyard. Soon, it was class time. All the students headed to their respective rooms, and when the boy entered, he saw the girl sitting hunched over in pain. He saw the red streaks of blood seeping through her shirt. He then knew who volunteered to take his punishment–the one who had professed her love to him time and time again. A love that he had played and toyed with but had never fully reciprocated.
At this point, I would pause for dramatic effect. I would shift in my seat and look at the audience in full. Then, I would continue letting every word sink in:
That boy now has a choice. A very important choice. He can simply walk away from the situation. He can thumb his nose at what that girl did for him and continue to do the same sorts of things he did before. Or, he can truly recognize this girl’s tremendous love for him. He can recognize the pain and suffering she undertook for him simply because she loved him. He can recognize he didn’t deserve what she did for him, and he can ponder all those times he let her down by playing with her and then chasing after other girls. He can realize his wrongs and then spend every day giving thanks to that girl for what she did for him and committing himself to loving her as much as she loved him.
That kind of love has a deep affect on people. It’s the kind of love God has for you and for me.
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 so that the world may be saved through Him.
“Behold! Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
Jesus took your sin. Jesus took your place. Jesus took your punishment. How you respond is how you choose to Live God’s Word Daily. Amen.
Recently, I watched a debate on Youtube between an atheist philosopher and a Christian apologist. The conversation was fascinating as these two gentlemen outlined their reasons for belief and non-belief. Particularly fascinating was one of the arguments the philosopher made against Christianity. I will paraphrase what was said and will not get the quote exact.
“I don’t find the idea of taking another’s punishment too satisfactory,” the philosopher said. “Let’s say we travel back in time when caning was considered a legitimate type of punishment. We know that’s pretty barbaric now, but let’s just ride with it for the sake of argument. Let’s say a boy gets caught doing something in a class, and he is going to be caned for breaking the rule. There is a girl in the class who decides she can take the punishment and that she’s been good enough for one reason or another. She tells the teacher she volunteers to take the boy’s place. The teacher, for one reason or another, doesn’t care who he canes, so the teacher accepts the proposal. The girl gets caned for the boy and everyone is satisfied. That doesn’t seem like too compelling an argument for me.”
Unfortunately, because of the limitations of the debate, the Christian apologist isn’t allowed to respond in full. He only gets one statement in, “Arguments from analogy tend to fall short.” I wish he’d of had more time to expand on that thought. I’d have loved to hear his response. Because I’d love to hear how it matches up with my own. For if I were engaged in that debate and had the opportunity to follow up on the philosopher’s comment, I would have said thus:
I actually agree with you that your analogy isn’t exactly satisfying. It doesn’t grab one’s attention too well, and it certainly makes a mockery out of justice–at least in the form in which you presented it. But I will hold your analogy. I won’t change the basic story. I would simply like to add to it.
Let’s add the fact that the girl in the story has loved the boy who was caught breaking the rule for a long, long time. For years, she had a crush on him, and she willingly made her intentions known to him. She told him over and over of her love. She would make him gifts. She would help him at various times and places.
The boy was rather wishy-washy. At times, he would welcome the girl’s advances. At times, he would reciprocate her love. But more often than not, another girl would catch his attention, and he would go flying off. He’d come back from time to time, and the girl who loved him always took him back hoping he’d stay with her for good. Yet it never seemed to take place. The boy never could fully commit to the girl.
The girl’s friends mocked her. “You could do better. Forget that boy, he isn’t good enough for you. Give up on him. Find a better boy.” But the girl refused to do such a thing. Even though it made perfect sense to find someone else, her heart was consumed for love of this boy.
And so, when the boy was caught and would suffer caning, dreadful thoughts entered the girl’s head. She couldn’t bear the thought of her love suffering all that pain and agony. She couldn’t bear the thought of him having to go through that ordeal. She volunteered to take his place. She pleaded with the teacher until he relented. “But I won’t take it easy on you,” he said.
“I wouldn’t expect you to,” she replied.
When her friends found out what she would do, they thought her absolutely mad. “Why in the world are you doing this? Why would you put yourself through all that pain and agony? You are certifiable! He absolutely, positively isn’t worth this.” Others just shook their heads in bewilderment.
“But I love him,” was all the girl could say.
The boy, for his part was quite leery of his impending punishment. He wasn’t altogether sure he could withstand caning. He had bragged to others about how strong he was and how he’d never scream or cry out. But he had seen others caned. He knew how even the strongest would end up screaming in agony begging the punisher to stop. Dread started to fill his heart as the day drew nigh for his sentence to be carried out.
But then, he heard the news. He would receive no punishment. Someone had volunteered to take his place. Sighs of relief, but also a new sense: a sense of wonderment. Who would take his place? Who had volunteered to receive the punishment due for him?
The day of the sentence came, and the boy heard the cries of agony as the caning took place. The smacks of the cane resounded through the schoolyard. Soon, it was class time. All the students headed to their respective rooms, and when the boy entered, he saw the girl sitting hunched over in pain. He saw the red streaks of blood seeping through her shirt. He then knew who volunteered to take his punishment–the one who had professed her love to him time and time again. A love that he had played and toyed with but had never fully reciprocated.
At this point, I would pause for dramatic effect. I would shift in my seat and look at the audience in full. Then, I would continue letting every word sink in:
That boy now has a choice. A very important choice. He can simply walk away from the situation. He can thumb his nose at what that girl did for him and continue to do the same sorts of things he did before. Or, he can truly recognize this girl’s tremendous love for him. He can recognize the pain and suffering she undertook for him simply because she loved him. He can recognize he didn’t deserve what she did for him, and he can ponder all those times he let her down by playing with her and then chasing after other girls. He can realize his wrongs and then spend every day giving thanks to that girl for what she did for him and committing himself to loving her as much as she loved him.
That kind of love has a deep affect on people. It’s the kind of love God has for you and for me.
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 so that the world may be saved through Him.
“Behold! Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
Jesus took your sin. Jesus took your place. Jesus took your punishment. How you respond is how you choose to Live God’s Word Daily. Amen.
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