BE CHILDISH
It is no coincidence that the catechism we still use today was put together at the height of the Reformation. It is no coincidence because the Catechism contains the main teachings of Scripture that the Reformation was all about. It is a summary of what God says in his Word and that was what the Reformation was bringing people back to. And so as the leaders of this Great Return to God’s Word realized that more and more Christian people and entire congregations were beginning to come back to the clear and simple teachings of Scripture, they knew that their children would have to be taught these truths as well. And so in 1529, Martin Luther gathered up all of the sermons and treatises he had written on the Ten Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, confession and forgiveness, and he put these summaries of the Bible’s words into a book that we now call the Small Catechism. And from then on, for the next 480 years up to this present day, genuine Lutheran churches all over the world have used this summary of Scripture to train their children in the main and most important teachings of God’s Word. The Small Catechism is one of the greatest blessings that the Lord has preserved for us out of the Reformation of 16th century Germany. And it is a great blessing not because the Catechism is simply a nice historical document. And it is not a blessing because it is a book of Lutheran teachings, but because it is a book of Scriptural teachings.
Sadly, the majority of the people in this world do not believe the scriptural teachings that so many children have been taught over the last five centuries. Even the brightest individuals around us fail to see the truth. There are scholars in this life that know the Greek and Hebrew of Scripture inside and out. The have gained their doctorates in the languages of the Bible and are immersed in the words of God every day. But despite all of their learning, many of them refuse to believe a basic truth found in the Apostles’ Creed: that Jesus is the Savior of all their sins. They deny something that the smallest of children know is true. What Jesus said about those who lived in his day is still true in ours: “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.”
There are intelligent people in many different fields that are the best at what they do. They are the geniuses of our time. They are the ones looked to for answers and advice and solutions. But despite all of their knowledge, many of them fail to recognize the Lord as the only true God, the only true Creator, the only source of everything good. They ignore the very 1st Commandment - a command that little children across the world know by heart. What Jesus said about people in his day is certainly still true today: “You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.”
There are people in our lives that are blessed with an extraordinary amount of natural wisdom. They are never surprised. They know exactly how things work. They know exactly what to do, exactly how to do it, exactly what to say, and exactly how to say it. But despite all of their talents, they scoff at the teachings of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. They dismiss as ridiculous the idea that God would forgive sins through water and bread and wine if they are combined with the right words of Scripture. They laugh at something that little children have no problem agreeing with. “You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.” And it will always be that way. The supposed “intelligence” of people, their learning, their ability to reason deductively, their logic, their desire for scientific proof will always get in the way of believing the clear words of God in the Bible.
And so I encourage you today to be childish. Be childish when it comes to the teachings of Scripture. Don’t grow up! Don’t graduate from these truths that we find in the Catechism! Don’t think you know them so well that you can now leave them behind and move on to the bigger and more complicated things that God says! Because although these summaries of Scripture found in the Small Catechism were originally written for children, they were not written only for children. They were written to be learned at childhood and then to be studied for the rest of our lives. Even Martin Luther, the author of the Catechism, the one who gathered up these main teachings of Scripture and put them in book form, said, “I must still read and study the Catechism daily, yet I cannot master it as I would like, but must remain a child and student of the Catechism. This I do gladly.” If Martin Luther had to remain a child when it came to the basic teachings of the Bible, we probably should too. And so be childish. Study these teachings laid out for children. Review them. Memorize them. Cling to them just as a child would. Because less childish we become, the more our faith suffers.
When we are told as children that the 4th Commandment means that we should “honor serve and obey” parents and all those in authority, we don’t question that directive. We as children might not be able to carry that out perfectly, but we know and believe that we were supposed to honor and serve and obey anyone who is placed over us. There is no debate. But as we grow up, and as we begin to see the faults and sins of those who are placed over us, that Commandment to serve and obey all those in authority is a little tougher to swallow, isn’t it? My boss is an idiot, so why should I listen to him? My government is unfair, so why should I pay all of the taxes that I don’t agree with? My parents are getting older and more senile, so why do I have to honor them and respect them when they don’t even know what they are talking about anymore? The older we get and the less childish we become with the teachings of Scripture, the harder it is to accept the things we so firmly believed in when we were younger.
In the Apostles’ Creed we were taught and we still confess that “God still preserves me by richly and daily providing… all I need to keep my body and life. And God also preserves me by defending me against all danger, guarding and protecting me from all evil.” And when we were children, it was not a problem for us to believe that. If God said he would provide and protect and defend us, we knew he would, we didn’t worry about it at all! But as we grow older, and the more we run into sinful people and sinful disasters, the harder it is to trust that this promise of God is actually true. We start to worry about the bills - Is God really going to preserve me? because I can’t see how I’m going to get out of this mess! We start to become discouraged about our health - Is God really going to guard me against sickness? because this pain is unbearable and he won’t take it away! We start to stress out about the future - Is God really going to protect me and those I love? because this situation doesn’t look like it will turn out for the good! The older we get and the less childish we become with the clear teachings of Scripture, the harder it is to believe what we so firmly trusted in years ago.
As children, we heard that when every-day water was connected with specific words of Jesus, our sins were forgiven. And we were taught that when normal bread and wine were connected with Jesus’ words of institution, the bread and wine also became Christ’s true body and blood - and again for our forgiveness. And we were fine with that! We didn’t question the logistics of the sacraments as children. We didn’t try to figure out how something so impossible could be true. We simply took the Lord at his Word. But his words about baptism and the Lord’s Supper don’t make sense to a logical mind. They don’t fit any formula of scientific proof. In fact, what Scripture teaches about baptism and the Lord’s Supper seems to defy everything we have come to know about this world and how it works. And so the older we get and the less childish we become with the clear teachings of Scripture, the harder it is to believe what we so firmly trusted in when we were kids. There are many times that we fail to be childish with the Bible. We question, we doubt, we scrutinize, we waver, we even criticize the Lord’s Word and his will at times. That is not being a child of Scripture; that is being an enemy of Scripture.
And so thank the Lord that he still treats you like a child! He does not treat you like an adult: like one who can handle things and who is held responsible for problems when things go wrong. He treats you like a child who is completely dependant on his Father. He does not demand that you keep his commands and believe his Word perfectly in every respect. He does not ask you to earn your keep if you are to remain on his good side. He does not require you to be able to explain every teaching perfectly in order to get to heaven. He does not tell you to take the first few steps and he will carry you the rest of the way. Nor does he give you a jump start as long as you do your part in the end. Rather, instead of treating you like you can do it yourself, the Lord says, “You can’t keep my commandments perfectly? Then I will come down to this earth and keep them perfectly for you. You can’t take the punishment that your sins deserve and survive? Then I will take the punishment your sins deserve and be victorious. You can’t die and rise from the dead? Then I will die and rise from the dead so that you will be able to do that one day as well. You can’t fight off all of the temptations in this life, guard yourself against all of the evil, protect yourself from all of the pain, and deliver yourself from all of the dangers? Then I will fight of the temptations in this life. I will guard you from the evils. I will protect you from the pain. I will deliver you from the dangers. And I will do this for you because I am your Father and you are my child. I am your Father. You are special to me. I am your Father. You are precious in my sight. I am your Father and I will never let you down.”
In the Small Catechism there is an explanation for each part of the Lord’s Prayer. The explanation for the very first phrase, “Our Father who art in heaven,” says this: “With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that he is our true Father and that we are his true children, so that we may pray to him as boldly and confidently as dear children ask their dear father.” The Almighty God, Creator of the Universe and everything in it, is also my dear Father. And he has sent his Son who, the Catechism says, “has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with his holy precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death.” And not only that but he has sent his Holy Spirit who “has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith… [And] on the Last Day he will raise me and all the dead and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.” This is most certainly true! It is a fact! It will be done! It is what I believe. It is what you believe. And we believe these things because this is what God tells us in his Word. He does not say these things to the wise and intelligent. He does not whisper these things in the ears of the brilliant and the scholarly, but to you and to me - his children.
And so keep being childish. Never let go of these precious truths of Scripture that secure your salvation. Take that Catechism off the shelf and use it as part of your personal or family devotions. It is not necessary to do so, but it will be very beneficial to your faith. And if you do not own a catechism or if your catechism has long been placed in a box never to be found again, ask me, ask Pastor Haberkorn, ask Pastor Cornelius. We will find you one. We will be more than happy to order you a Small Catechism as well as the Large Catechism for you to use, for you to study, for you to soak in as often as possible. It would give us no greater joy than to see God’s children being childish. It is my prayer that none of you ever grow up when it comes to God’s Word. I hope I never do either.
Amen.
“May the Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.” - 2 Thess. 2:16-17
Monday, October 26, 2009
10/25/09 - Pentecost 21 - Mark 10:17-27
HOW GOOD IS GOOD ENOUGH?
- We are never good enough
- Only Christ is good enough
It is always an unpleasant thing to be told that you aren’t good enough. Whether you apply for a job and are told that you just aren’t qualified for the position or you hope to go to a certain college but are not accepted because of your grades or upon entering a contest of some kind you quickly find out that all of your work and all of your talent does not stack up against the who will come in first - it is an unpleasant thing to be told that you aren’t good enough. Even something as simple as reading the eye chart at the ophthalmologist’s: “Sorry, you missed too many; that’s not good enough. You’re going to have to get glasses.” Or getting the tests back from your routine checkup at the doctor’s office: “The results aren’t good enough. Your health is not where it should be. You’re going to have to go on a diet.” It is hard to hear that you aren’t good enough especially when you’ve actually put in a lot of effort to do well!
This morning we run across a story about a man who put in a lot of effort to do well. And not just at one thing, but in everything. He genuinely tried to do everything that the Lord commanded as best as he possibly could and he actually thought that he had done fairly well over the years. He had been conscientious, he had been careful, he had been faithful to the laws of Scripture, and he was hoping that his efforts would not go unnoticed. He had done his very best and now he wanted to know if his best was good enough. And so he ran up to Jesus one day, fell to his knees, and asked the Lord, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” It seems that this man truly wanted to know if he had done enough to get to heaven. And if there was something else, he’d do it! He was willing, he was ready. “Just tell me what it is, Lord! I’ll do anything you say!” “You know the commandments,” Jesus told him. “Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.” But Jesus’ response did not satisfy the man’s question. Instead of realizing that the Lord had just given him a whole plate-full of things to do that he could not keep according to the standard set by God’s law, this man says to Jesus in complete sincerity, “Teacher, all these I have kept since I was a boy.” [“I’ve done those things, Lord. I know I’m supposed to keep the commandments and so I’ve spent my entire life following them. Is there anything else? What’s left? What haven’t I done that I should do?”] And so Jesus, knowing this man’s heart, gave him something to do that cut to the crux of the matter. “One thing you lack,” Jesus said to him. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” And the gospel writer Mark says that when this man heard Jesus’ words, his “face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth.”
This man who had diligently committed his life to following the laws of Scripture, a man who had zealously pursued everything that was good and morally upright, a man who truly thought he had been able to keep all of the commandments of God, could not even keep the very 1st Commandment. He did not fear, love, and trust in God above all things because he loved his possessions more. And he went away sad, not only because he couldn’t get himself to do what Jesus asked him to do, but because he finally realized that he had never been able to keep the most important commandment of all: “You shall have no other gods.”
The 1st Commandment isn’t anything too complicated, is it? It is simple and straightforward. It is something we learn right away in catechism class and a command that we will never forget even if we forget everything else. We are supposed to fear (honor and respect) God above all things. We are supposed to love God more than anything else. We are supposed to trust in God more than we trust in any blessing or any person in this life. This commandment is completely understandable. There is very little gray area when it comes to this law. We know what to do and we know what not to do. And yet despite of its simplicity, we still don’t keep it. When it comes to the 1st Commandment, we aren’t good enough! We have proved ourselves to be incapable of keeping this command just as the rich man in our story was. And for the very same reasons: we are impressed with the blessings of this life so much at times that those blessings become more important to us than the one who gives us those blessings.
And don’t fool yourself. Don’t try to convince yourself that you’ve actually kept the 1st Commandment fairly well throughout your life - because that’s simply not true. You may have never bowed down to a golden calf before and you may have never prayed to Mary or one of the so-called “saints” in your life, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t abuse the 1st Commandment every day. When you’ve encountered sicknesses in your life, have you ever trusted in the medicine you were taking or the doctor who was treating you or your own body’s immune system to fight it off without trusting in God himself who works through those things for your ultimate healing? Has love for your children or your spouse or your parents ever given you more joy and happiness than your love for the Lord and for the reading and hearing of his Word? When you’ve faced troubles in this world have you ever relied on your own ability to fix them before you went to the Lord in prayer and asked him for help? Have you ever been a little greedy for something when you should have been content with what the Lord had already given you? Have you ever treated a guest in your house with more attention and care and respect than you have treated the Lord himself in his own house at times? Have you ever been proud of what you’ve done or what you have or who you are instead of being proud of what the Lord has done for you?
If you have ever broken the 1st Commandment in any of these ways at any time, you are not good enough. Based on the sins you have committed against this commandment and every other, you are not good enough to be accepted into heaven. And you never will be good enough to be rewarded with eternal life. And neither will I. Because we can’t make up for the sins we’ve committed in the past. We can’t get God to overlook our punishment based on good behavior. We can’t convince him to make an exception. We cannot do anything to inherit eternal life. We simply are not good enough. And not matter how hard that is to hear, that’s the truth.
The rich man didn’t want to hear it either. But he had to finally accept it. Because he knew that he couldn’t do what Jesus asked of him and, more importantly, he hadn’t done what Jesus had asked of him. The rich man was forced to admit that he could do nothing to inherit eternal life. Jesus’ own disciples even understood that concept. After the rich man walked away, Jesus said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” And the disciples were amazed at what Jesus said and they wondered, “Who then can be saved?” They got it! They knew what Jesus was saying. If this rich man who had seemed to do everything correctly could not be saved, then who could? Who could live his life better than this man whom Jesus turned away? And that was the point. That was the point Jesus was trying to make. “With man this is impossible,” Jesus told them, “but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
Jesus used this opportunity to show his disciples that what is undoable for man is simple for God. What is unattainable for man is easy for God. What is unfeasible for man is effortless for God. Even as something as big and as complex as salvation for sinners, Jesus has no problem achieving. The Lord wanted his disciples to know that despite the rich man’s failures it was even possible for him to be saved. And despite their failures it was possible for them to be saved. and despite our failures it is possible for us to be saved. How? How could a sinner who had all failed to keep the very 1st Commandment - let alone every other commandment - be saved? The answer to that question is found in a short little sentence right in the middle of our story. Jesus had just reminded the rich man of the 10 Commandments and this man had boldly and self-confidently said to Jesus, “Teacher, all these I have kept since I was a boy.” And the very next thing that Mark writes is the key: “Jesus looked at him and loved him.”
My brothers and my sisters, my fellow sinners, this is your salvation. This little sentence in Mark 10:21 is one of the most beautiful sentences in all of Scripture. Because this sentence is nothing but God’s grace for sinners. “Jesus looked at him and loved him.” This man had just shamelessly told Jesus that he had kept God’s laws perfectly! This man had arrogantly thought that he was actually good enough to earn his way into heaven all by himself as long as he was made aware of everything he was supposed to do! This man was not looking to Jesus as his Savior but as his instructor. And yet Jesus looked at this rich man and loved him anyway. Jesus’ heart went out to him. Jesus wanted this lost soul to be brought to faith. He truly longed for this man to inherit the eternal life he was so desperately seeking. And so out of love Jesus revealed this man’s sinfulness. Because without a knowledge of his sin, this man would never see the need for his Savior. Without being confronted with his failures, this man would never truly understand why Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem that day.
Jesus had been making his way to Jerusalem when this rich man stopped him. And it was going to be Jesus’ final trip to the capital city. Just a few days after this incident Jesus eventually reached Jerusalem and he did so on the back of a donkey on what we now call Palm Sunday. Five days after that this “Good Teacher” was lying dead in a grave with holes in hands and feet, a gouge in his side, gashes in his back, and multiple puncture wounds in his head. He was lying there in a tomb of a rich man to save a rich young man he had met hardly a week earlier. Jesus was motionless on a slab of stone because that rich man couldn’t keep the laws etched on two stone tablets. Jesus was dead because the rich man deserved to be. And Jesus rose back to life because the rich man needed him to be.
We don’t know if the rich man ever came to faith in his Savior, but we do know this: Jesus died and rose for his sins. Because that is what Christ’s love does. It sacrifices - even for sinners. Especially for sinners. Only for sinners. Christ’s love is set aside for sinners like you and for sinners like me. He looks at us and loves us just as he looked at that rich young man and loved him. Because when he looks at us he sees sinners who aren’t good enough on their own and who are in dire need of a Savior. When Jesus looks at us he sees lost souls who need him. And he is more than willing to give himself up for us. And because of that sacrifice we know - we are guaranteed - that we will inherit eternal life. We don’t even have to bother asking the question: “What must we do to inherit eternal life?” because we know that’s the wrong question. No one can “do” anything to “inherit” something else. You can only inherit something if the person who dies leaves it to you. Jesus died once. And he left his inheritance to you. Jesus rose once as well to make sure your inheritance would last forever. You have eternal life right now. There is no doubt. Not because of what you have done and not because of what you can do - you aren’t good enough! You have eternal life right now because of what Christ has done. And that - that is good enough.
Amen.
“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father - to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.” - Rev. 1:5-6
- We are never good enough
- Only Christ is good enough
It is always an unpleasant thing to be told that you aren’t good enough. Whether you apply for a job and are told that you just aren’t qualified for the position or you hope to go to a certain college but are not accepted because of your grades or upon entering a contest of some kind you quickly find out that all of your work and all of your talent does not stack up against the who will come in first - it is an unpleasant thing to be told that you aren’t good enough. Even something as simple as reading the eye chart at the ophthalmologist’s: “Sorry, you missed too many; that’s not good enough. You’re going to have to get glasses.” Or getting the tests back from your routine checkup at the doctor’s office: “The results aren’t good enough. Your health is not where it should be. You’re going to have to go on a diet.” It is hard to hear that you aren’t good enough especially when you’ve actually put in a lot of effort to do well!
This morning we run across a story about a man who put in a lot of effort to do well. And not just at one thing, but in everything. He genuinely tried to do everything that the Lord commanded as best as he possibly could and he actually thought that he had done fairly well over the years. He had been conscientious, he had been careful, he had been faithful to the laws of Scripture, and he was hoping that his efforts would not go unnoticed. He had done his very best and now he wanted to know if his best was good enough. And so he ran up to Jesus one day, fell to his knees, and asked the Lord, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” It seems that this man truly wanted to know if he had done enough to get to heaven. And if there was something else, he’d do it! He was willing, he was ready. “Just tell me what it is, Lord! I’ll do anything you say!” “You know the commandments,” Jesus told him. “Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.” But Jesus’ response did not satisfy the man’s question. Instead of realizing that the Lord had just given him a whole plate-full of things to do that he could not keep according to the standard set by God’s law, this man says to Jesus in complete sincerity, “Teacher, all these I have kept since I was a boy.” [“I’ve done those things, Lord. I know I’m supposed to keep the commandments and so I’ve spent my entire life following them. Is there anything else? What’s left? What haven’t I done that I should do?”] And so Jesus, knowing this man’s heart, gave him something to do that cut to the crux of the matter. “One thing you lack,” Jesus said to him. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” And the gospel writer Mark says that when this man heard Jesus’ words, his “face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth.”
This man who had diligently committed his life to following the laws of Scripture, a man who had zealously pursued everything that was good and morally upright, a man who truly thought he had been able to keep all of the commandments of God, could not even keep the very 1st Commandment. He did not fear, love, and trust in God above all things because he loved his possessions more. And he went away sad, not only because he couldn’t get himself to do what Jesus asked him to do, but because he finally realized that he had never been able to keep the most important commandment of all: “You shall have no other gods.”
The 1st Commandment isn’t anything too complicated, is it? It is simple and straightforward. It is something we learn right away in catechism class and a command that we will never forget even if we forget everything else. We are supposed to fear (honor and respect) God above all things. We are supposed to love God more than anything else. We are supposed to trust in God more than we trust in any blessing or any person in this life. This commandment is completely understandable. There is very little gray area when it comes to this law. We know what to do and we know what not to do. And yet despite of its simplicity, we still don’t keep it. When it comes to the 1st Commandment, we aren’t good enough! We have proved ourselves to be incapable of keeping this command just as the rich man in our story was. And for the very same reasons: we are impressed with the blessings of this life so much at times that those blessings become more important to us than the one who gives us those blessings.
And don’t fool yourself. Don’t try to convince yourself that you’ve actually kept the 1st Commandment fairly well throughout your life - because that’s simply not true. You may have never bowed down to a golden calf before and you may have never prayed to Mary or one of the so-called “saints” in your life, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t abuse the 1st Commandment every day. When you’ve encountered sicknesses in your life, have you ever trusted in the medicine you were taking or the doctor who was treating you or your own body’s immune system to fight it off without trusting in God himself who works through those things for your ultimate healing? Has love for your children or your spouse or your parents ever given you more joy and happiness than your love for the Lord and for the reading and hearing of his Word? When you’ve faced troubles in this world have you ever relied on your own ability to fix them before you went to the Lord in prayer and asked him for help? Have you ever been a little greedy for something when you should have been content with what the Lord had already given you? Have you ever treated a guest in your house with more attention and care and respect than you have treated the Lord himself in his own house at times? Have you ever been proud of what you’ve done or what you have or who you are instead of being proud of what the Lord has done for you?
If you have ever broken the 1st Commandment in any of these ways at any time, you are not good enough. Based on the sins you have committed against this commandment and every other, you are not good enough to be accepted into heaven. And you never will be good enough to be rewarded with eternal life. And neither will I. Because we can’t make up for the sins we’ve committed in the past. We can’t get God to overlook our punishment based on good behavior. We can’t convince him to make an exception. We cannot do anything to inherit eternal life. We simply are not good enough. And not matter how hard that is to hear, that’s the truth.
The rich man didn’t want to hear it either. But he had to finally accept it. Because he knew that he couldn’t do what Jesus asked of him and, more importantly, he hadn’t done what Jesus had asked of him. The rich man was forced to admit that he could do nothing to inherit eternal life. Jesus’ own disciples even understood that concept. After the rich man walked away, Jesus said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” And the disciples were amazed at what Jesus said and they wondered, “Who then can be saved?” They got it! They knew what Jesus was saying. If this rich man who had seemed to do everything correctly could not be saved, then who could? Who could live his life better than this man whom Jesus turned away? And that was the point. That was the point Jesus was trying to make. “With man this is impossible,” Jesus told them, “but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
Jesus used this opportunity to show his disciples that what is undoable for man is simple for God. What is unattainable for man is easy for God. What is unfeasible for man is effortless for God. Even as something as big and as complex as salvation for sinners, Jesus has no problem achieving. The Lord wanted his disciples to know that despite the rich man’s failures it was even possible for him to be saved. And despite their failures it was possible for them to be saved. and despite our failures it is possible for us to be saved. How? How could a sinner who had all failed to keep the very 1st Commandment - let alone every other commandment - be saved? The answer to that question is found in a short little sentence right in the middle of our story. Jesus had just reminded the rich man of the 10 Commandments and this man had boldly and self-confidently said to Jesus, “Teacher, all these I have kept since I was a boy.” And the very next thing that Mark writes is the key: “Jesus looked at him and loved him.”
My brothers and my sisters, my fellow sinners, this is your salvation. This little sentence in Mark 10:21 is one of the most beautiful sentences in all of Scripture. Because this sentence is nothing but God’s grace for sinners. “Jesus looked at him and loved him.” This man had just shamelessly told Jesus that he had kept God’s laws perfectly! This man had arrogantly thought that he was actually good enough to earn his way into heaven all by himself as long as he was made aware of everything he was supposed to do! This man was not looking to Jesus as his Savior but as his instructor. And yet Jesus looked at this rich man and loved him anyway. Jesus’ heart went out to him. Jesus wanted this lost soul to be brought to faith. He truly longed for this man to inherit the eternal life he was so desperately seeking. And so out of love Jesus revealed this man’s sinfulness. Because without a knowledge of his sin, this man would never see the need for his Savior. Without being confronted with his failures, this man would never truly understand why Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem that day.
Jesus had been making his way to Jerusalem when this rich man stopped him. And it was going to be Jesus’ final trip to the capital city. Just a few days after this incident Jesus eventually reached Jerusalem and he did so on the back of a donkey on what we now call Palm Sunday. Five days after that this “Good Teacher” was lying dead in a grave with holes in hands and feet, a gouge in his side, gashes in his back, and multiple puncture wounds in his head. He was lying there in a tomb of a rich man to save a rich young man he had met hardly a week earlier. Jesus was motionless on a slab of stone because that rich man couldn’t keep the laws etched on two stone tablets. Jesus was dead because the rich man deserved to be. And Jesus rose back to life because the rich man needed him to be.
We don’t know if the rich man ever came to faith in his Savior, but we do know this: Jesus died and rose for his sins. Because that is what Christ’s love does. It sacrifices - even for sinners. Especially for sinners. Only for sinners. Christ’s love is set aside for sinners like you and for sinners like me. He looks at us and loves us just as he looked at that rich young man and loved him. Because when he looks at us he sees sinners who aren’t good enough on their own and who are in dire need of a Savior. When Jesus looks at us he sees lost souls who need him. And he is more than willing to give himself up for us. And because of that sacrifice we know - we are guaranteed - that we will inherit eternal life. We don’t even have to bother asking the question: “What must we do to inherit eternal life?” because we know that’s the wrong question. No one can “do” anything to “inherit” something else. You can only inherit something if the person who dies leaves it to you. Jesus died once. And he left his inheritance to you. Jesus rose once as well to make sure your inheritance would last forever. You have eternal life right now. There is no doubt. Not because of what you have done and not because of what you can do - you aren’t good enough! You have eternal life right now because of what Christ has done. And that - that is good enough.
Amen.
“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father - to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.” - Rev. 1:5-6
Monday, October 12, 2009
10/11/09 - Liturgy Sunday - James 4:7-10
COME HUMBLY, LEAVE FORGIVEN
There will always be debate over what a worship service should be like. Should it be traditional - and however you define that word - or should it be contemporary - and however you define that word? Should it involve mostly singing, mostly speaking, mostly reading, or the same time set aside for each? How involved should the congregation be? Should the people be spectators as an audience is to a play being performed or should the congregation play an integral part in what is being done? What kind of mood or ambience should a worship service have? Serious? Joyful? Awe-inspiring? Meditative?
Hundreds of years ago a Christian worship service in almost any denomination was mainly on the solemn side. Something important was happening and the worshipers respected the gravity of the situation. But there was little joy, little happiness in those services. Nowadays many Christian churches have a service that is completely upbeat and positive, but maybe a service that loses a little bit of the solemnity and the majesty in the process. There were times throughout history when the congregation played a very small role in worship services: they mainly listened and watched. In our culture that is still true in some church bodies, but other groups do almost nothing without having the entire congregation involved and interacting in some way. At the time of the Reformation in 16th century Germany a worship service was carried out almost entirely by memory - it was the same service week in and week out. Today it is not uncommon to find a congregation that has no two worship services that are alike.
There is really no right or wrong answer - it’s not cut and dry. The Lord doesn’t give us specific directives about exactly how to run a worship service. He leaves the style of worship up to the group of Christians gathered around his Word - guided, of course, by various biblical principles he has laid out for us in Scripture. No matter what style is chosen, however, and no matter how much the congregation is or is not involved, and no matter what mood is being set, it is probably not a bad idea for worshipers to come humbly to God’s house. Not in sorrow or in fear, but in awe and respect. Because we are sinners coming before a perfect God. At least one part of the worship service should address the critical situation that the apostle James talks about in his book: “8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” To be fair: James isn’t talking about a formal worship service here, but he is talking about worship. When we come here before God every week, we are coming stained from seven days of sin. We are entering the house of the Holy Surgeon wounded. We are arriving at the door of our spiritual Doctor completely sick. We are coming to be cured! We must be healed before we ever sing an hallelujah. We must be cleansed before we can ever cry out a word of praise.
And so at the beginning of our liturgy this morning, and in fact at the beginning of both liturgies that involve the Lord’s Supper, the confession of sins is on the very first page. And there’s a reason for that: we as sinners need our hands washed, James says. We as doubled-minded Christians need our hearts purified. That’s why within the first few minutes of our worship service in God’s house this morning we spoke together, “Merciful Father in heaven, I am altogether sinful from birth. In countless ways I have sinned against you and do not deserve to be called your child. But trusting in Jesus, my Savior, I pray: Have mercy on me according to your unfailing love. Cleanse me from my sin, and take away my guilt.” We came humbly. We admitted our what we’ve done and who we are. We made no excuses. We spread out all of our ugliness and all of our secrets on the Lord’s table in full view of a God who hates sin and we asked him not to get mad at us but to take our sins away. We began our worship this morning by throwing ourselves at the feet of an Almighty God and we begged for his mercy.
Did it seem like begging to you? I know you said the words with me and your fellow Christians here, but did you really take those sins you’ve committed this morning and this last week and this last month and this last lifetime and spread them out on the table before your Lord? Or did you just repeat the words like we do every Sunday? We have gone through this confession of sins so often and we have used the regular liturgies in front of our hymnals so many times, that the confession of sins is almost a no-brainer, isn’t it? We say the words of confession, we hear the words of forgiveness, and then we just move on to the next part of the service. And we don’t always stop to think about how serious each and every one of our sins is. We don’t pause to ponder that every sin we commit is condemnable; any sin is damnable. We forget that we are here to be healed! We aren’t standing shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters every Sunday to simply memorize a few lines and go through the motions! We are here with dirty hands outstretched to be cleansed in Christ’s blood. We are here with sickly hearts desperate to be purified. We are here each week as failures of what God has asked us to do. We come here needing the Lord’s pardon again and again and again. But many times our worship is mindless and our confession is mechanical. We don’t treat our sins with the severity they demand and so we also don’t appreciate Christ’s forgiveness even when it is spoken to us by the Lord himself. This confession of sins in our liturgy is not just tradition. It is not just to fill up space. It is not just to give us as the congregation something to say. It is essential to a Christian’s life. It is a necessary prelude to the rest of the service. It is something significant. It is something serious.
And if you begin to forget how serious your sins are, just ask Jesus what it was like to hang on a cross. Imagine what it was like for the Lord to have to go to hell itself for our sins. He knows how serious our sins are. That’s why he was there bleeding to death: because our sins are that serious. Our sins have done that much damage. Jesus wouldn’t have had to hang on the cross or go into the trenches of hell if our sins were excusable or understandable or not all that harmful. But they were. And they are. Each sin that we commit is wicked and unacceptable. Each sin is a direct violation of God’s perfect law and deserving of the punishment God promised. Our sins are the most serious thing about us. God himself had to die because we are sinners.
But God died not only because we are sinners; God died because we are also his children. And because we are his children and because he cares for us more than anything else in this world, he didn’t want us to have to find out how bad the punishment of our sins could get. Jesus did not want us to have to suffer the consequences of our actions. He would rather shoulder every punishment and every torture all at once than to allow us even a second’s worth of that pain. And so Jesus marched to that cross with a clear understanding of what it would take. And he hung there for hours in the sun, abandoned by his people and mocked by the leaders, knowing full well where he would have to go for our forgiveness. And then he burst from that tomb three days later to seal what he had accomplished. Christ was serious about our salvation. He was going to make sure that it was all taken care of before we were ever born. And so now because Christ took our sins and our salvation so seriously, after we confess our sins together every Sunday, I can turn around from this altar and I am able to say - not just to you but to myself as well, “God, our heavenly Father, has forgiven all your sins. By the perfect life and innocent death of our Lord Jesus Christ, he has removed your guilt forever. You are his own dear child. May God give you strength to live according to his will.” Doesn’t that almost make you blush? “You are his own dear child.” He doesn’t call you his servant. He doesn’t call you his attendant. He doesn’t call you his creature. He calls you his own dear child because he has granted you forgiveness. And he gives it to you every week. He does not withhold it. He does not take it away. He never decides that you weren’t sincere enough or not sorry enough or not good enough. He simply forgives you. And every time you hear those words you can be assured that your hands are clean. Your hearts are purified. And so are mine. And now in the peace of this forgiveness we can praise the Lord.
In the liturgy we are using this morning - “The Service of the Word” - we joined in a song of praise to the Lord after we heard the announcement of his forgiveness. And from then on the entire rest of the service was and will be focused on Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. We sing songs about his power and love, we listen to his holy Word, we confess our faith in him, we give our offerings to him, we join in prayer to him, and we marvel in the blessing he gives to us at the end of the service. We look to Christ in every section, in every song, in every hymn, in every word. In everything we do every Sunday we look to Christ. We keep our eyes focused on him because he is the one who has healed us. He is the one who has made us whole. He is the only one who has shed his blood. Christ is our focus because nothing else can be. Nothing else matters.
And I realize that concentrating on every word of the liturgy and every word of the sermon and every word of every hymn every Sunday is hard to do. I struggle with that each week myself. And I know that it is sometimes easy to forget how serious our sins really are and appreciate what the Lord had to go through because of them. But the good thing is: Jesus forgives those sins too. And he keeps inviting us back to his own house see him again, to receive his forgiveness again, to praise and thank him again. And he doesn’t want us to leave our dirty shoes outside the door, he wants us to wear them on in. In fact Christ asks us to bring all of our dirty laundry so that he can make it clean. That’s what a worship service is all about. That’s worth coming back for. And so enjoy the rest of this morning’s worship service about Christ. And next week eagerly come back with your sins in hand so that you can place them at the feet of your Savior one more time. We have done that already today. We have laid out our sins and they have been washed away. We came humbly. We can leave forgiven.
Amen.
“May God be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.” - 1 Peter 4:11
There will always be debate over what a worship service should be like. Should it be traditional - and however you define that word - or should it be contemporary - and however you define that word? Should it involve mostly singing, mostly speaking, mostly reading, or the same time set aside for each? How involved should the congregation be? Should the people be spectators as an audience is to a play being performed or should the congregation play an integral part in what is being done? What kind of mood or ambience should a worship service have? Serious? Joyful? Awe-inspiring? Meditative?
Hundreds of years ago a Christian worship service in almost any denomination was mainly on the solemn side. Something important was happening and the worshipers respected the gravity of the situation. But there was little joy, little happiness in those services. Nowadays many Christian churches have a service that is completely upbeat and positive, but maybe a service that loses a little bit of the solemnity and the majesty in the process. There were times throughout history when the congregation played a very small role in worship services: they mainly listened and watched. In our culture that is still true in some church bodies, but other groups do almost nothing without having the entire congregation involved and interacting in some way. At the time of the Reformation in 16th century Germany a worship service was carried out almost entirely by memory - it was the same service week in and week out. Today it is not uncommon to find a congregation that has no two worship services that are alike.
There is really no right or wrong answer - it’s not cut and dry. The Lord doesn’t give us specific directives about exactly how to run a worship service. He leaves the style of worship up to the group of Christians gathered around his Word - guided, of course, by various biblical principles he has laid out for us in Scripture. No matter what style is chosen, however, and no matter how much the congregation is or is not involved, and no matter what mood is being set, it is probably not a bad idea for worshipers to come humbly to God’s house. Not in sorrow or in fear, but in awe and respect. Because we are sinners coming before a perfect God. At least one part of the worship service should address the critical situation that the apostle James talks about in his book: “8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” To be fair: James isn’t talking about a formal worship service here, but he is talking about worship. When we come here before God every week, we are coming stained from seven days of sin. We are entering the house of the Holy Surgeon wounded. We are arriving at the door of our spiritual Doctor completely sick. We are coming to be cured! We must be healed before we ever sing an hallelujah. We must be cleansed before we can ever cry out a word of praise.
And so at the beginning of our liturgy this morning, and in fact at the beginning of both liturgies that involve the Lord’s Supper, the confession of sins is on the very first page. And there’s a reason for that: we as sinners need our hands washed, James says. We as doubled-minded Christians need our hearts purified. That’s why within the first few minutes of our worship service in God’s house this morning we spoke together, “Merciful Father in heaven, I am altogether sinful from birth. In countless ways I have sinned against you and do not deserve to be called your child. But trusting in Jesus, my Savior, I pray: Have mercy on me according to your unfailing love. Cleanse me from my sin, and take away my guilt.” We came humbly. We admitted our what we’ve done and who we are. We made no excuses. We spread out all of our ugliness and all of our secrets on the Lord’s table in full view of a God who hates sin and we asked him not to get mad at us but to take our sins away. We began our worship this morning by throwing ourselves at the feet of an Almighty God and we begged for his mercy.
Did it seem like begging to you? I know you said the words with me and your fellow Christians here, but did you really take those sins you’ve committed this morning and this last week and this last month and this last lifetime and spread them out on the table before your Lord? Or did you just repeat the words like we do every Sunday? We have gone through this confession of sins so often and we have used the regular liturgies in front of our hymnals so many times, that the confession of sins is almost a no-brainer, isn’t it? We say the words of confession, we hear the words of forgiveness, and then we just move on to the next part of the service. And we don’t always stop to think about how serious each and every one of our sins is. We don’t pause to ponder that every sin we commit is condemnable; any sin is damnable. We forget that we are here to be healed! We aren’t standing shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters every Sunday to simply memorize a few lines and go through the motions! We are here with dirty hands outstretched to be cleansed in Christ’s blood. We are here with sickly hearts desperate to be purified. We are here each week as failures of what God has asked us to do. We come here needing the Lord’s pardon again and again and again. But many times our worship is mindless and our confession is mechanical. We don’t treat our sins with the severity they demand and so we also don’t appreciate Christ’s forgiveness even when it is spoken to us by the Lord himself. This confession of sins in our liturgy is not just tradition. It is not just to fill up space. It is not just to give us as the congregation something to say. It is essential to a Christian’s life. It is a necessary prelude to the rest of the service. It is something significant. It is something serious.
And if you begin to forget how serious your sins are, just ask Jesus what it was like to hang on a cross. Imagine what it was like for the Lord to have to go to hell itself for our sins. He knows how serious our sins are. That’s why he was there bleeding to death: because our sins are that serious. Our sins have done that much damage. Jesus wouldn’t have had to hang on the cross or go into the trenches of hell if our sins were excusable or understandable or not all that harmful. But they were. And they are. Each sin that we commit is wicked and unacceptable. Each sin is a direct violation of God’s perfect law and deserving of the punishment God promised. Our sins are the most serious thing about us. God himself had to die because we are sinners.
But God died not only because we are sinners; God died because we are also his children. And because we are his children and because he cares for us more than anything else in this world, he didn’t want us to have to find out how bad the punishment of our sins could get. Jesus did not want us to have to suffer the consequences of our actions. He would rather shoulder every punishment and every torture all at once than to allow us even a second’s worth of that pain. And so Jesus marched to that cross with a clear understanding of what it would take. And he hung there for hours in the sun, abandoned by his people and mocked by the leaders, knowing full well where he would have to go for our forgiveness. And then he burst from that tomb three days later to seal what he had accomplished. Christ was serious about our salvation. He was going to make sure that it was all taken care of before we were ever born. And so now because Christ took our sins and our salvation so seriously, after we confess our sins together every Sunday, I can turn around from this altar and I am able to say - not just to you but to myself as well, “God, our heavenly Father, has forgiven all your sins. By the perfect life and innocent death of our Lord Jesus Christ, he has removed your guilt forever. You are his own dear child. May God give you strength to live according to his will.” Doesn’t that almost make you blush? “You are his own dear child.” He doesn’t call you his servant. He doesn’t call you his attendant. He doesn’t call you his creature. He calls you his own dear child because he has granted you forgiveness. And he gives it to you every week. He does not withhold it. He does not take it away. He never decides that you weren’t sincere enough or not sorry enough or not good enough. He simply forgives you. And every time you hear those words you can be assured that your hands are clean. Your hearts are purified. And so are mine. And now in the peace of this forgiveness we can praise the Lord.
In the liturgy we are using this morning - “The Service of the Word” - we joined in a song of praise to the Lord after we heard the announcement of his forgiveness. And from then on the entire rest of the service was and will be focused on Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. We sing songs about his power and love, we listen to his holy Word, we confess our faith in him, we give our offerings to him, we join in prayer to him, and we marvel in the blessing he gives to us at the end of the service. We look to Christ in every section, in every song, in every hymn, in every word. In everything we do every Sunday we look to Christ. We keep our eyes focused on him because he is the one who has healed us. He is the one who has made us whole. He is the only one who has shed his blood. Christ is our focus because nothing else can be. Nothing else matters.
And I realize that concentrating on every word of the liturgy and every word of the sermon and every word of every hymn every Sunday is hard to do. I struggle with that each week myself. And I know that it is sometimes easy to forget how serious our sins really are and appreciate what the Lord had to go through because of them. But the good thing is: Jesus forgives those sins too. And he keeps inviting us back to his own house see him again, to receive his forgiveness again, to praise and thank him again. And he doesn’t want us to leave our dirty shoes outside the door, he wants us to wear them on in. In fact Christ asks us to bring all of our dirty laundry so that he can make it clean. That’s what a worship service is all about. That’s worth coming back for. And so enjoy the rest of this morning’s worship service about Christ. And next week eagerly come back with your sins in hand so that you can place them at the feet of your Savior one more time. We have done that already today. We have laid out our sins and they have been washed away. We came humbly. We can leave forgiven.
Amen.
“May God be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.” - 1 Peter 4:11
Sunday, October 04, 2009
10/4/09 - Pentecost 18 - Mark 9:30-37
AN ATTITUDE OF SERVITUDE
- A Christian is the least of all for the sake of all
- Christ became the least of all for the sake of all
How would you describe yourself? If I asked you to describe yourself with one word, what would it be? Patient? Caring? Considerate? Loyal? Trusting? Hard headed? Pessimistic? Optimistic? Maybe a better question would be: How would someone else describe you? If I asked someone who knew you well to describe you with just one word, would they pick them some word you would? Would they think of a positive characteristic that you have or a negative one? Let me ask you this: Would you or anyone else describe you with the word “servant”? I don’t think anyone that I know would think of me as a “servant” before anything else. And I don’t think I would automatically describe myself as a servant if I only had one word to choose. And isn’t that kind of sad? Isn’t it kind of sad that no one I know what think of the word “servant” when they thought of me? Especially since Jesus himself says, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” Jesus calls on us to be servants. Christians are supposed to be servants. But that description doesn’t seem to fit most of us at all.
And I think that’s partly due to the fact that we don’t want to be servants! We don’t grow up hoping to be a servant. We don’t dream about being a servant one day for the rest of our lives. We want to be honored and respected. We want to be looked up to and asked for our advice. We want to get to a point in our lives where we don’t have to do the mundane and menial tasks - but that they are done for us. We would rather be the foreman than the day-laborer. We would much rather be the boss than the employee. Being a servant might be where we have to start but it certainly isn’t where we want to end up.
Jesus’ twelve disciples were just as averse to being a servant as we are today. That position was looked down upon 2000 years ago in the land of Israel as it is in 2009 in the United States. The disciples didn’t want to be servants. The disciples were Jesus’ Chosen Twelve, after all! They wanted to be honored and respected. They wanted to be looked up to and asked for advice. And so as the disciples were walking down the road one day, they began to argue. And their argument was about which one of them was the greatest.
Doesn’t it surprise you sometimes that Jesus’ own disciples would say things like this? Isn’t it surprising how far they could fall from the gospel that Jesus always proclaimed? But considering the things that had happened recently in the lives of the disciples, it really isn’t all that surprising that they would be talking about what they were talking about along the road that day. Because not too long before this incident, Jesus had predicted his death and resurrection for the first time. And when Peter took him aside to discourage him from going through with it, Jesus turned around and rebuked Peter in front of the rest of the disciples. Peter had been the leader of the twelve. But now that Jesus had verbally chastised him and even called Peter “Satan” himself, some of the other disciples probably started to question Peter’s leadership credentials. Maybe someone else was better qualified to lead this group. Maybe Peter should keep his mouth shut and someone else should step into his place... And then to add fuel to that fire, just six days later Jesus was transfigured on top of a mountain. But if you remember that story, only Peter, James, and John were allowed to go up there with him. And if the disciples were as sinful then as we are today, I can imagine that this special privilege caused a little bit of haughtiness in these three disciples and a little bit of jealousy in the other nine. There may have been a little bit of tension within the group. And so now, on the road to Capernaum, the air is finally cleared. Who’s better? Who’s greater? Who’s more popular? Who’s better equipped? Who has more natural talent? Who’s going to be the leader once Jesus is gone? Who’s number one in rank and who’s number twelve? There’s no mention of Jesus’ future sacrifice in their conversation, just a whole lot of selfishness. There’s no talk here about being a servant, only about who was superior. It is a sad scene in the lives of the disciples. A scene that would come up again. It is a scene that could be taken right out of our own lives, couldn’t it?
Because an attitude of servitude is hard to come by? Being a servant is seen as demeaning, even degrading at times. Being a servant means purposely lowering yourself beneath others and treating them as if they were superior. And because that’s such an unthinkable thing for human beings to willingly do, we rarely do it, even as Christians. Instead of lifting others up, we tend to put others down. Instead of helping them with their faults, we like to expose them. Because we love to compare, don’t we? We love to evaluate others and see how we stack up against them. We even do that with our fellow Christians. “That person is so annoying. I’m certainly a little more likeable than they are.” “That person is completely self-centered. I’m much more caring and considerate of others.” “That person is nowhere near reliable. At least I’m dependable enough that people can count on me and I do the things that I say I’m going to do.” Of course, that’s not an attitude of servitude at all; that’s an attitude of superiority. That is placing fellow brothers and sisters in Christ underneath us because of the apparent faults that we have perceived.
And unfortunately that kind of attitude affects the way we view how we think they should live their lives as well. One Christian will think, “I’m at every function of this congregation, helping out with every project, present at every opportunity… but this other person who is also a member of the same congregation is never here, never helping out, never participating in anything that we try to do. Who do they think they are? How can they claim to be a strong Christian if they don’t do what they are supposed to do? Why don’t they pick it up a bit if they really claim to love the Lord?” But then on the other side a Christian might say, “That person is such a hypocrite. He/She claims to do all these things for the Lord, but they just want to look good. I’m sure they have ulterior motives. I’m much better off just staying away from them.” These kinds of thoughts are not all that uncommon, are they? We like to evaluate whether or not someone’s life measures up to the faith they claim to have. We like to question their motives. We like to doubt their sincerity. My friends, stop it. Stop comparing yourselves to others. Because that is not an attitude of servitude; that’s an attitude of superiority. It does no good trying to match up your life with the life of another because fruits of faith will always differ from Christian to Christian. And one fruit of faith does not make one person more “Christian” than another; it simply shows that we are different and unique and sinful human beings who might struggle with one aspect of godly living more than another. A Christian’s life is not about who can come out looking better. A Christian’s life is about serving those who are no good at all.
Take a look at the life of Christ. He was not interested in his superiority over us - even though he was superior in every way! Instead, the God of all “made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Philippians 2:7). The King of the universe became a subject of earthly rulers. The Lord of lords was arrested by a midnight mob. The Almighty himself was condemned and killed as a common criminal. Jesus was not set on subjecting this world to himself; he was set on subjecting himself for the world. He came not to gloat, but to give. And he showed that attitude of servitude in many different ways at many different times: at the wedding at Cana when he turned the water into wine to help out the host, by helping countless individuals whom society despised, by healing the sick and helpless who were outside of the nation of Israel, by washing his disciples feet in the upper room, by healing the servant of the high priest when his ear was cut off in the Garden of Gethsemane, and ultimately by giving up his life on the beams of the cross for none who deserve it, but for all who don’t. Jesus came to serve. The Greatest came to be the Least. And that is what he did. Not so that he would look good, but so that you would be forgiven. That was all he wanted: that your sins would be completely washed away. And so he sacrificed himself for you. And he did that because he did not want anything for himself; he wanted everything for you.
And you’ve got it. You’ve got it all. You have forgiveness and salvation and peace and joy and you will one day reign in heaven with your Savior because one day 2000 years ago the King of heaven became your Servant. You’ve got it all. And now that you’ve got it all, now that you’ve been given everything, give everything to everyone else. Now that the Lord has lifted you up to his right hand, bend down on your hands and knees to do whatever it takes for others to see their Savior as well. Serve them. Sacrifice for them. Do everything you can for them because Christ has done everything for you. That is what being a servant is all about. That is what being a Christian is all about.
“If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” That is hard to do. It is difficult to consciously and purposely make an effort to be the least, to be the lowest, to be the servant of everyone in every way. Because that would mean you would not have any time left for yourself. You would always have to be helping. You would always have to be caring. You would always have to be sacrificing. You would always have to be acting like Christ. You would always be acting like a Christian. And that is hard to do. In fact, it’s impossible to do perfectly. But it’s a joy to do well. Because it is pleasing to your Lord. Continue to strive to be a servant. And pray to your God that he might grant you an attitude of servitude for the rest of your days. Ask him that he would make you the most humble servant there ever was. Pray that after you leave this earth, those you leave behind will remember you as a kind and caring servant, and nothing more. Because in serving others you are serving the Servant himself. And what a joy it is to be able to do something for the one who has already done everything for you.
Amen.
“You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” - 1 Cor. 6:11
- A Christian is the least of all for the sake of all
- Christ became the least of all for the sake of all
How would you describe yourself? If I asked you to describe yourself with one word, what would it be? Patient? Caring? Considerate? Loyal? Trusting? Hard headed? Pessimistic? Optimistic? Maybe a better question would be: How would someone else describe you? If I asked someone who knew you well to describe you with just one word, would they pick them some word you would? Would they think of a positive characteristic that you have or a negative one? Let me ask you this: Would you or anyone else describe you with the word “servant”? I don’t think anyone that I know would think of me as a “servant” before anything else. And I don’t think I would automatically describe myself as a servant if I only had one word to choose. And isn’t that kind of sad? Isn’t it kind of sad that no one I know what think of the word “servant” when they thought of me? Especially since Jesus himself says, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” Jesus calls on us to be servants. Christians are supposed to be servants. But that description doesn’t seem to fit most of us at all.
And I think that’s partly due to the fact that we don’t want to be servants! We don’t grow up hoping to be a servant. We don’t dream about being a servant one day for the rest of our lives. We want to be honored and respected. We want to be looked up to and asked for our advice. We want to get to a point in our lives where we don’t have to do the mundane and menial tasks - but that they are done for us. We would rather be the foreman than the day-laborer. We would much rather be the boss than the employee. Being a servant might be where we have to start but it certainly isn’t where we want to end up.
Jesus’ twelve disciples were just as averse to being a servant as we are today. That position was looked down upon 2000 years ago in the land of Israel as it is in 2009 in the United States. The disciples didn’t want to be servants. The disciples were Jesus’ Chosen Twelve, after all! They wanted to be honored and respected. They wanted to be looked up to and asked for advice. And so as the disciples were walking down the road one day, they began to argue. And their argument was about which one of them was the greatest.
Doesn’t it surprise you sometimes that Jesus’ own disciples would say things like this? Isn’t it surprising how far they could fall from the gospel that Jesus always proclaimed? But considering the things that had happened recently in the lives of the disciples, it really isn’t all that surprising that they would be talking about what they were talking about along the road that day. Because not too long before this incident, Jesus had predicted his death and resurrection for the first time. And when Peter took him aside to discourage him from going through with it, Jesus turned around and rebuked Peter in front of the rest of the disciples. Peter had been the leader of the twelve. But now that Jesus had verbally chastised him and even called Peter “Satan” himself, some of the other disciples probably started to question Peter’s leadership credentials. Maybe someone else was better qualified to lead this group. Maybe Peter should keep his mouth shut and someone else should step into his place... And then to add fuel to that fire, just six days later Jesus was transfigured on top of a mountain. But if you remember that story, only Peter, James, and John were allowed to go up there with him. And if the disciples were as sinful then as we are today, I can imagine that this special privilege caused a little bit of haughtiness in these three disciples and a little bit of jealousy in the other nine. There may have been a little bit of tension within the group. And so now, on the road to Capernaum, the air is finally cleared. Who’s better? Who’s greater? Who’s more popular? Who’s better equipped? Who has more natural talent? Who’s going to be the leader once Jesus is gone? Who’s number one in rank and who’s number twelve? There’s no mention of Jesus’ future sacrifice in their conversation, just a whole lot of selfishness. There’s no talk here about being a servant, only about who was superior. It is a sad scene in the lives of the disciples. A scene that would come up again. It is a scene that could be taken right out of our own lives, couldn’t it?
Because an attitude of servitude is hard to come by? Being a servant is seen as demeaning, even degrading at times. Being a servant means purposely lowering yourself beneath others and treating them as if they were superior. And because that’s such an unthinkable thing for human beings to willingly do, we rarely do it, even as Christians. Instead of lifting others up, we tend to put others down. Instead of helping them with their faults, we like to expose them. Because we love to compare, don’t we? We love to evaluate others and see how we stack up against them. We even do that with our fellow Christians. “That person is so annoying. I’m certainly a little more likeable than they are.” “That person is completely self-centered. I’m much more caring and considerate of others.” “That person is nowhere near reliable. At least I’m dependable enough that people can count on me and I do the things that I say I’m going to do.” Of course, that’s not an attitude of servitude at all; that’s an attitude of superiority. That is placing fellow brothers and sisters in Christ underneath us because of the apparent faults that we have perceived.
And unfortunately that kind of attitude affects the way we view how we think they should live their lives as well. One Christian will think, “I’m at every function of this congregation, helping out with every project, present at every opportunity… but this other person who is also a member of the same congregation is never here, never helping out, never participating in anything that we try to do. Who do they think they are? How can they claim to be a strong Christian if they don’t do what they are supposed to do? Why don’t they pick it up a bit if they really claim to love the Lord?” But then on the other side a Christian might say, “That person is such a hypocrite. He/She claims to do all these things for the Lord, but they just want to look good. I’m sure they have ulterior motives. I’m much better off just staying away from them.” These kinds of thoughts are not all that uncommon, are they? We like to evaluate whether or not someone’s life measures up to the faith they claim to have. We like to question their motives. We like to doubt their sincerity. My friends, stop it. Stop comparing yourselves to others. Because that is not an attitude of servitude; that’s an attitude of superiority. It does no good trying to match up your life with the life of another because fruits of faith will always differ from Christian to Christian. And one fruit of faith does not make one person more “Christian” than another; it simply shows that we are different and unique and sinful human beings who might struggle with one aspect of godly living more than another. A Christian’s life is not about who can come out looking better. A Christian’s life is about serving those who are no good at all.
Take a look at the life of Christ. He was not interested in his superiority over us - even though he was superior in every way! Instead, the God of all “made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Philippians 2:7). The King of the universe became a subject of earthly rulers. The Lord of lords was arrested by a midnight mob. The Almighty himself was condemned and killed as a common criminal. Jesus was not set on subjecting this world to himself; he was set on subjecting himself for the world. He came not to gloat, but to give. And he showed that attitude of servitude in many different ways at many different times: at the wedding at Cana when he turned the water into wine to help out the host, by helping countless individuals whom society despised, by healing the sick and helpless who were outside of the nation of Israel, by washing his disciples feet in the upper room, by healing the servant of the high priest when his ear was cut off in the Garden of Gethsemane, and ultimately by giving up his life on the beams of the cross for none who deserve it, but for all who don’t. Jesus came to serve. The Greatest came to be the Least. And that is what he did. Not so that he would look good, but so that you would be forgiven. That was all he wanted: that your sins would be completely washed away. And so he sacrificed himself for you. And he did that because he did not want anything for himself; he wanted everything for you.
And you’ve got it. You’ve got it all. You have forgiveness and salvation and peace and joy and you will one day reign in heaven with your Savior because one day 2000 years ago the King of heaven became your Servant. You’ve got it all. And now that you’ve got it all, now that you’ve been given everything, give everything to everyone else. Now that the Lord has lifted you up to his right hand, bend down on your hands and knees to do whatever it takes for others to see their Savior as well. Serve them. Sacrifice for them. Do everything you can for them because Christ has done everything for you. That is what being a servant is all about. That is what being a Christian is all about.
“If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” That is hard to do. It is difficult to consciously and purposely make an effort to be the least, to be the lowest, to be the servant of everyone in every way. Because that would mean you would not have any time left for yourself. You would always have to be helping. You would always have to be caring. You would always have to be sacrificing. You would always have to be acting like Christ. You would always be acting like a Christian. And that is hard to do. In fact, it’s impossible to do perfectly. But it’s a joy to do well. Because it is pleasing to your Lord. Continue to strive to be a servant. And pray to your God that he might grant you an attitude of servitude for the rest of your days. Ask him that he would make you the most humble servant there ever was. Pray that after you leave this earth, those you leave behind will remember you as a kind and caring servant, and nothing more. Because in serving others you are serving the Servant himself. And what a joy it is to be able to do something for the one who has already done everything for you.
Amen.
“You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” - 1 Cor. 6:11
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