3/28/10 - Palm Sunday - Luke 19:28-40

IT'S TIME TO CALL ATTENTION TO THE KING

Jesus’ ministry on this earth was unique in many different ways. He didn’t go to the usual places that a leader would go. He didn’t speak to the usual people, he didn’t preach the usual sermons, he didn’t do the usual things. Jesus was unlike anyone that the people had ever seen before. But one of the most interesting peculiarities about Jesus’ public ministry was that he went to great lengths not to call attention to himself. Yes, he wanted the people to come to him and listen to him - but only for the right reasons. He really tried to stay out of the public spotlight as much as possible and rarely did he allow his followers to tell other people about the miracles they had witnessed.
On numerous occasions when he healed people of diseases or cast out demons, he specifically told them not to tell anyone about it. Because when they did tell others about the things he did, Jesus was swarmed by such a great number of people that he couldn’t go into public places anymore but had to stay out in the more remote territories of the country. And at his transfiguration up on the mountain with Peter, James, and John, he ordered these three disciples not to tell anyone about the glorious things they had seen until he rose from dead. And when Jesus was up in the area of Galilee, Scripture records that “Jesus' brothers said to him, ‘You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.’ For even his own brothers did not believe in him. Therefore Jesus told them, ‘The right time for me has not yet come’” (John 7:3-6). Jesus was not interested in calling attention to himself with his miracles. He did not want people to gather around him simply to have their earthly needs fulfilled. In fact, when the Pharisees and the teachers of the law demanded that he show them a miracle to prove that he really was the Son of God, Jesus refused to give them any sign at all, but pointed them back to the Word of God. Jesus was completely unconcerned about the glory and the fame that this world had to offer. He had no desire to show off. And he didn’t want his followers to brag about him too much either.
For the three years that Jesus openly preached the gospel to the people of this world, that was the normal way he operated. With one exception. There was one day during the three years he spent traveling around Israel in which Jesus allowed his disciples to publically announce his arrival and to vocally praise him in front of the people for all of the miracles that he had done. And that day was, of course, the day we are celebrating this morning: Palm Sunday. This day is unique for that very reason - it is the only day the Lord allowed something like this to happen while he lived on this earth. And this event is very important because it is recorded for us in all four gospel accounts. After Jesus sent a couple of his disciples to get a young donkey that had been set aside by the Lord for this very occasion, Luke writes that, “They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’ Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples!’ ‘I tell you,’ he replied, ‘if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.’"
This had never really happened before in Jesus’ ministry. And so why did Jesus allow his followers to call attention to their King on that particular afternoon? Why did Jesus change his regular way of doing things just for one day at the very end of his ministry and almost encourage this behavior by those who believed in him? If he didn’t mind his praises being sung on Palm Sunday, why not before? Why didn’t he have Christians do this for three straight years so that as many people as possible could flock to Jesus and see who he was with their own eyes? The reason Jesus permitted his disciples to call attention to him only five days before his death was because of what he would do in the week to come. There had never been a week like the one that would follow - either in Jesus’ ministry or the thousands of years before he was born - and there would never be a week after this in which so much was done for the salvation of the world than the week following this first Palm Sunday. Nothing would be comparable to the Lord’s Supper, the betrayal, and the arrest of Maundy Thursday evening. Nothing would come close to the crucifixion, the death, and the burial of Good Friday afternoon. Nothing would be more miserable than that sad Sabbath Saturday. And nothing would be as joyous as the resurrection of Easter Sunday. Never again would there be a week like this. And Jesus wanted everyone to see it. Jesus wanted as many people as possible to witness what he was about to do. It was time to call attention to the King and he sent out his disciples before him to sing his praises and draw people to him in an uncharacteristic fashion.
Have you ever realized that the followers of Jesus really put their lives on the line by calling attention to their King on what we now call Palm Sunday? Jesus was a wanted man! The Pharisees hated him, the Sadducees hated him, the Herodians hated him, the teachers of the law hated him, many of the regular Jewish people hated him, and these people had been plotting his death for years! And now as Jesus and his following were entering the capital city of Judea where most of these enemies of Christ were, Jesus’ disciples began throwing their robes on the ground, waving palm branches in the air, and singing “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” In short, they were demonstrating their faith in the one whom powerful people wanted dead. By publically showing their allegiance to Christ that day, these followers were putting their lives in danger - especially if Jesus would ever end up being captured and murdered. But these believers couldn’t help but sing about their Lord. They were compelled by their faith in Christ to “joyfully… praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen.”
Is there a reason that we don’t usually show that kind of joy for the King in our lives? Yes, I realize that we don’t have Jesus visibly here and physically riding on a donkey into Jerusalem. We don’t have the opportunity to actually throw our coats on the road in front of Christ himself on the week of his crucifixion. But we have the exact same things to praise him for as those early Christians did and we have the exact same reason to call attention to our King: He is our Savior! He is our sacrifice! We know about the miracles he has done! We trust in the promises he will fulfill! And we firmly believe that we are fully forgiven because of the unselfish actions of our Lord! Doesn’t that make you happy? Doesn’t that give you a reason to shout, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”? It makes me happy. It gives me a reason to shout. Of course, just like many other Christians in this life, what is in my heart doesn’t always come out in my life.
How long does it take for someone to find out you’re a Christian? When someone meets you for the very first time, when does it become clear to them that you have thrown your robe in front of the King? Situations may vary and personalities may differ, but I’m guessing that it takes a little longer for you to express your faith than it probably should. But even in the conversations you have with the people that you already know, how often do you call attention to your King? You may chat with your neighbors or your friends about every topic under the sun, you may discuss politics or policies with your coworkers every day, you may run down the lists of complaints and joys with your family members and relatives on a regular basis, but how many times do you turn their attention to the King?
Even as a pastor, even as someone who is actually paid to call attention to the King, I don’t always do that very well. I wouldn’t say that I’m embarrassed of the King, but I realize that it’s a touchy subject sometimes and people don’t necessarily like talking about those kinds of things with a pastor. But I can use any number of excuses why I don’t share my joy about Christ more often than I do! And my reasons are actually pretty weak. My explanations would really be a little bit pitiful. There’s no excuse for me sitting on a plane next to someone I don’t know for three hours and completing the entire flight without them finding out who I am and what I believe. There’s no excuse for me to have a neighbor whom I don’t invite to hear God’s Word. There’s no excuse for me to talk to a friend who is having problems without sharing my overwhelming happiness that comes from the gospel. There’s no excuse for me not to rip a branch off that palm tree or to throw my coat in the road or to proudly proclaim, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” Because he came for me! He came for my forgiveness. He came because I don’t do what I’m supposed to do and I always do what I shouldn’t. He came to me because I could not go to him. He came for you on Palm Sunday to save you by Easter Sunday.
Today is technically Palm Sunday. But shouldn’t every day really be our Palm Sunday? Every day should be spent praising our Lord and pointing others to Christ’s ransom cross and deserted crypt. Because this day and the week it beings is what makes the rest of the year worth living! This week is the pinnacle of our salvation! This week should fill every minute of our lives every day. And I know it does. I know that what Christ has done fills our hearts and brings us joy. That’s why we’re here this morning. And I pray that this joy bubbles over in our lives a little more often so that others can see what we already know and believe. It’s time to call attention to the King! There’s very little time left. And the Lord wants everyone to know what he has done and what he is about to do.
The disciples of Christ back on that road coming down from the Mount of Olives didn’t quite know what was going to happen within the next seven days. They didn’t know that the Pharisees who wanted them to stop shouting Jesus’ praises on Sunday would ask them to join in shouting for Jesus’ crucifixion on the coming Friday. They didn’t know that this King who was riding on a donkey into Jerusalem would soon be carrying a cross outside of Jerusalem as a criminal. They didn’t know that the one in front of him they threw their cloaks would be stripped of his own clothing in humiliation. They didn’t know what the Savior was about to do. But they called attention to the King anyway. Because they knew who he was. And they know what he could do.
As Christians living in this era, we know exactly what Christ our King accomplished that week. We know about the bread and the wine, the Garden of Gethsemane, the trials, the beatings, the thorns, the nails, and the empty burial clothes a few days later. We know exactly what Jesus did to secure for us the salvation that those believers on the first Palm Sunday knew about only in prophetic bits and pieces. We have the full story about what happened between the Sundays of Palm and Easter. We know about the victory of the King. It’s time to call attention to what our King did this week. It’s time to let people in on what they’ve been missing. It’s time to invite. It’s time to encourage. It’s time to sing the King’s praises. The King himself wants this to happen. The King wants everyone to know about the death and resurrection that they can’t live without. It’s time to call attention to the King. Souls are at stake.
Amen.

“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” - 1 Tim. 1:17

3/21/10 - Lent 5 - Isaiah 43:16-21

THE LORD WILL FIND A WAY

The Lord has always found different ways to take care of his people - ways that may have seemed “impossible” at the time. When he destroyed the entire world with a flood, he managed to save eight believers and hundreds of animals in a homemade boat floating on top of the water for 150 days. Years later when the Arameans surrounded the city of Dothan just to capture Elisha the prophet, the Lord struck every soldier of that the army with blindness and Elisha himself ended up leading them to another town where he fed them and then sent them home. When the entire Assyrian army besieged Jerusalem during the days of King Hezekiah, the Lord struck down 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night, forcing the invaders to withdraw from the land of Israel early the next morning when they saw what the Lord had done. But perhaps the most well-known “impossible” act of preservation that the Lord carried out for his people was the famous crossing of the Red Sea on dry ground when God delivered the Israelites from Pharaoh and the Egyptians. And it’s probably well-known not only because it was a spectacular miracle and one of the first acts of deliverance he performed for the nation of Israel, but also because the people were completely out of options by the time the Lord miraculously intervened. They had no weapons, they were not trained in war, and 2/3 of them were women and children. They could not turn and fight, but they couldn’t run away either because the sea blocked their only escape. It was a situation that seemed hopeless. They were either going to be slaughtered or taken back to Egypt as slaves. There looked to be no other possible outcome. But then God asked Moses to raise his hands over the water, the sea split apart with walls of water standing up on both sides, and about two million Israelites crossed through the sea on dry ground. And, of course, when the Egyptians themselves tried to cross over after them, the Lord withdrew his hand and the waters of the sea came crashing down upon their heads. Not one soldier escaped and God’s people were saved. The Lord did the impossible. He found a way.
After this incredible event is described for us in the book of Exodus, it is referred to no less than 18 different times by the Lord and the prophets and the psalms as an example of the Lord’s power and love. The rescue through the Red Sea became the epitome of how the Lord finds ways to save his people despite the odds. Isaiah 43 is one of those instances in which the Lord points back to this event in Israelite history to make that very point. But when you listen to this portion of Scripture again, pay attention to the reason why the Lord makes references to this famous incident from the past. “This is what the LORD says — he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: ‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.’”
What does the Lord say here about this legendary rescue from the Red Sea? “Forget it! Don’t bother bringing it up again as an example of my power and love! Because you ain’t seen nothin’ yet! The path I made through the sea and the watery death I sent upon the Egyptians is nothing compared to the path I will make through the desert and the water of life I will give to my people to drink.” This “new thing” that the Lord would do would be much more spectacular than anything he had ever done in the past. This new “way” in which he would save his people would be incomparable to any way he had saved his people before. He would once again do the impossible, but it would be unlike anything anyone had ever seen.
To the east of the Promised Land sits the Arabian Desert. It covers almost one million sq. miles of the Arabian Peninsula - that’s about the size of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah combined. One third of this expanse is covered in nothing but sand. Temperatures can reach 122 degrees during the summer and during winter nights those numbers can drop below freezing. Much of this desert is considered to be impassable and it is said to be one of the most inhospitable regions on earth. Back in the days of the Old Testament Israelites, few people traveled across this desert to reach the eastern peoples on the other side; and those from the east usually didn’t attempt the journey either. In fact, if an eastern army wanted to reach Israel or a group from the west wanted to go to Babylon and beyond, they would usually go up and around the desert, adding on an extra 100 miles to their journey just to avoid the dangers that this desolate territory presented. With this in mind, listen to God’s promise one more time, “I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland to give drink to my people, my chosen.” The significance of these words was not lost on the Israelites. The Lord would do the impossible. He would find a way. He would make a path through the desert for an entire nation. He would create streams through the wasteland so that his people would be able to drink their fill. And this physical picture was not merely a prophecy about their return from exile in the country of Babylon; this was a pronouncement of their spiritual restoration in Christ. Because in the very next chapter the Lord says some strikingly similar words, “I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants” (44:3). The Lord would miraculously save his people once again - he would save their souls. And we are miraculously saved in exactly the same way.
We were in the middle of the Arabian Desert, so to speak. We were in an impossible situation. We didn’t know where to turn. We didn’t know what to do. In fact, we didn’t even know that we needed help! And it all started from the beginning: we were descendants from the very first sinners, Adam and Eve, and so we were naturally infused with corruption from the start. And not only that, but we committed our own sins and our own offenses from the moment we were born. The Bible says that these sins separated us from God, we were enemies of God because of our unbelief, we were spiritual corpses on account of our transgressions, and we were in complete spiritual darkness without a single ray of hope. We were in a situation that provided no way out. And so the Lord found a way. He found a way in which to rescue us. He found a way to make a path through the desert and provide a stream through the wasteland. He found a way to give us a drink. That “way” happened to be “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” of Christ. And that drink was the salvation he won for us on the cross.
“Whoever drinks the water I give him,” Jesus said, “will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). That spring of water that wells up to eternal life is faith in Jesus as our Savior. It is trust in his cross, forgiveness through his death, and hope instilled by his resurrection. Jesus really did the impossible! He saved us when no one else could. A normal human being could never have gone through the suffering that needed to be paid or die a death that would count for the deaths of all others. But on the other hand, God himself couldn’t die because he did not have a mortal body that he could sacrifice. And so Jesus found a way. He as true God also became a real human being. He fulfilled the requirements on both sides and won our salvation through his birth and eternity, his suffering and his perfect, his death and resurrection.
But there was still another problem that needed to be solved: we would never believe it on our own. We as sinful human beings would never place our trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins if it were up to us. We were too corrupt. We were to sinfully saturated. And so Jesus once again found a way. He had his Word written down and preserved over the centuries and then he sent his Holy Spirit to work in our hearts through that Word to give us the gift of faith. He bypassed our stubbornness in a way. He knew we weren’t going to ask for his salvation. He knew we weren’t going to be able to do anything for it. In fact, he knew we weren’t even going to want it. And so he convinced our hearts through the power of his gospel to take a drink of that living water so we could live forever. Jesus did the impossible. Jesus found a way.
Remember that tomorrow and remember that next week and remember that next year when you are confronted with a situation that seems completely hopeless. The Lord will find a way. When your back is up against the wall, when your money has run out, when all your options have been taken away, when you are left all alone, when your relationship with your loved one is in shambles, when your health failing, when you don’t know where to turn, when you don’t know what to do, the Lord will find a way. He always has for his people; he always will. He will find a way to protect you or to provide for you. He will find a way to comfort you or to heal you. He will find a way to love you. Because loving you is what he loves doing. And that’s what he does best.
Has the Lord ever failed to find a way? He split the Red Sea in half when his people needed him to do it. He struck down entire armies in one breath when his people needed him to do it. He personally came down to this earth in the womb of a virgin girl impregnated by the Holy Spirit when his people needed him to do it. God himself sacrificed his body on the cross when his people needed him to do it. He made a path in the desert, he sent a stream through the wasteland, he gave us a drink when we needed him to do it. The Lord has always found a way. And if he doesn’t find one, he makes one. Because he is the Lord and he will make sure that his will is done. And his will is that you are taken care of - especially for the life to come. Live this life with the comfort of knowing that you are in good hands. You are in the Lord’s hands. And he will do the impossible if that is what it takes. He will find a way.
Amen.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.” - Eph. 3:20-21

3/17,24/10 - Midweek Lent - Matthew 27:22-26

A BLOODY RESPONSIBILITY

Pilate was really in a difficult situation. He was the Roman governor placed in the land of Judea to oversee a historically volatile Jewish people. He was supposed to maintain order over a nation that had violently revolted before and was publically resentful of the government that was now over them. And if that wasn’t a tough enough assignment in and of itself, now a riot was starting to form in Judea’s capital city with a guy named Jesus right in the middle of it. The Jews had brought him in front of Pilate and had asked for the death sentence to be issued. Now, Pilate didn’t know much about Jesus, but he could quickly see that this prophet from Nazareth was innocent and that he was not leading a rebellion in any way, but he couldn’t just ignore the crowds. Because they were getting belligerent and if things got too out of hand, Pilate could lose his job and be banished from the kingdom by the Roman emperor himself, as had happened to a previous ruler in Judea 20 years before Pilate took the position. Pilate really didn’t want the responsibility that had fallen in his lap. He knew what he was going to be forced to do and he didn’t want to be held responsible for an innocent man’s blood.
It is rare to find a person who takes full responsibility for their actions no matter how bad they may be, a sinner who immediately and unequivocally accepts the blame and all of the consequences that come with it without a single excuse. It’s hard to find those kinds of people because accepting the blame and taking full responsibility is not natural! It’s natural to cover sins up. And it’s natural to pass the blame to someone else when those sins can’t be denied. People will do or say anything to get out of the responsibility for what they have done because no one wants to feel guilty, no one wants other people to think any less of them than what they did before, and no one wants to suffer the repercussions that they rightfully deserve. Pilate certainly didn’t want to be held responsible for what he was going to do. And so he went out to the Jewish crowds and asked, “‘What shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?’ They all answered, ‘Crucify him!’ ‘Why? What crime has he committed?’ asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, ‘Crucify him!’ When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood,’ he said. ‘It is your responsibility.’ All the people answered, ‘Let his blood be on us and on our children!’ Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and hand him over to be crucified.”
Pilate felt trapped; and so he tried to pass the blame. Pilate knew he was wrong; and so he tried to unload the responsibility onto someone else. Which isn’t anything different than what we do in our own lives. We try to deflect the accusations of our conscience onto someone or something else too - in order to convince ourselves that we shouldn’t be held fully responsible. Sometimes we conveniently blame the weaknesses of our sinful nature: “I just struggle with this particular sin; I’m going to fall into this temptation regardless and so there’s not much I can do about it. It’s not my fault that I’m more prone to this sin than other people are.” But we blame others too. “If that person hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have had those inappropriate thoughts about them… If that person hadn’t said what she said, I wouldn’t have lost my temper… If that person hadn’t done the things he did, I wouldn’t have had to insult him behind his back… It’s my coworker’s fault for dragging me into the wrong situation… It’s my family’s fault for not supporting me… It’s the situation’s fault for my bad language; I was just a little bit angry in the heat the moment...” We shirk the responsibility every chance we get. We try to avoid any accountability for our actions because, if we are able to shift some of the blame, that takes away some of the guilty feelings. If we are able to pass on some of the responsibility, then we don’t feel as bad. If there’s one thing that makes us uncomfortable, it’s that rotten, achy, sick-to-your-stomach feeling of a guilty conscience.
Pilate felt guilty. He knew he shouldn’t condemn an innocent man to death. And so he washed his hands in water in front of the Jewish crowds and said, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. It is your responsibility.” He didn’t want to be held responsible for the decision he was about to make. On the other hand, the Jewish people had no problem accepting the responsibility for Jesus’ death! “Let his blood be on us and on our children!” they shouted. They had no guilty feelings at all. They felt fully justified in their request that Jesus be crucified and they called down a curse on themselves to prove it! “If he happens to be innocent, Pilate, we’ll take the blame. We won’t hold it against you. We’ll deal with the consequences if this so-called ‘King of the Jews’ actually ends up to be who he says he is. You don’t have to worry yourself about it. Put his blood on us.”
Although these crowds didn’t know it, just a few hours after they said these words to Pilate, Jesus’ blood did settle upon them; and in more ways than one. Jesus’ blood was certainly upon them in condemnation - they were guilty beyond a doubt - but Jesus’ blood was also upon them in salvation. That’s why Jesus died in the first place! So that his blood could be upon the people. So that his blood could wash them clean. So that his blood would make their robes white. The crowds were undeniably guilty of shedding Jesus’ innocent blood, but they were also forgiven for shedding Jesus’ innocent blood. “Let his blood be on us and on our children!” they had brazenly proclaimed. But that was Jesus’ intention all along! That’s why Jesus allowed them to take his life: so that he could be held responsible for what they did to him!
Jesus held himself responsible. Pilate obviously didn’t want to be held accountable for his sin and the people never thought that they would be found guilty of any sin at all, and so Jesus took the responsibility on himself. He took Pilate’s sins of fear and selfishness, he took the people’s sins of hate and rage, he took the soldiers’ sins cruelty, Judas’ sins, Peter’s sins, his mother’s sins, and our sins, and he suffered the punishment for all of them. He allowed his Father to hold him personally responsible for every sin that has ever been committed. And he didn’t complain about it. He didn’t object. He didn’t cry out on the cross: “My people, why are you doing this to me?” No, he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus did not proclaim to those watching him die, “I am innocent!” Instead he announced to those for whom he was dying, “It is finished.” And Jesus said those words because he was guilty. He was guilty in a very real way. Jesus became responsible for all our sins so that we wouldn’t have to be held accountable for any of them.
Jesus took the blame. We were going to be called to account because of our sins and Jesus stood up when no one else would and said to his Father, “It was me! I did it. I’m guilty. And I’ll take whatever punishment is necessary.” And so that’s exactly what his Father did: he punished Jesus. He disowned his Son. He held Jesus fully responsible. And because of that intervention, the ugly and embarrassing sins that we never want to claim as our own, we don’t have to. Jesus already claimed them. He already counted them as his own and suffered severely for every offense. We no longer have sins on our conscience; we no longer have sins on our record; we just have blood on our hands. Jesus’ blood is on our hands - and not because of guilt, because of grace. Jesus’ blood is upon his people. He put it there. He wanted it there. And there it will stay. Because since he held himself fully responsible for our sins, he is also fully responsible for our salvation. Amen.

“To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy - to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” - Jude 24-25

3/14/10 - Lent 4 - 1 Cor. 1:18-25

DON'T LET YOUR MIND GET IN THE WAY

“I believe that God created me and all that exists, and that he gave me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my mind and all my abilities.” That is the opening sentence to the explanation of the first article of the Apostles’ Creed. We believe from the pages of Scripture that God has given us every kind of gift, including our minds that have the ability to reason and to logically deduce. And what a wonderful blessing that is! We are able to make sense of numbers and figures based on the rules of math; we are able to come to correct conclusions by taking into consideration the appropriate facts; we are able to comprehend some of the complexities of human language such as figures of speech, sarcasm, and irony; we are able to create; we are able to imagine; we are able to remember. And all of these abilities are rooted in the mind. The mind is one of the most intricate blessings that the Lord has given us. It cannot be duplicated. In fact, doctors and scientists and sociologists are still trying to figure out how it works. The mind is an incredible gift from God. Just don’t let it get in the way.
Don’t let your mind get in the way of the clear words of Scripture. The proper functioning of your mind is essential when it comes to living this life. Because there are many things in Scripture that your mind tells you, “It cannot be!” There are many things in Scripture that your mind would disagree with. Yes, your mind is needed to read the words of the Bible. It is needed to see the connection between two different passages in two different books. It is needed to take these truths of God’s Word and apply them to your own life. But your mind can also get in the way. The Holy Spirit understands this tension between our minds and our faith, and so he wrote these words through the pen of the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’ Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.”
Even during Paul’s day the minds of people were getting in the way of the clear message of the cross. It didn’t make sense to them. It didn’t logically follow their normal way of thinking. It didn’t correspond with what they knew from their past experiences to be true. Both Jews and Gentiles struggled with this dilemma and for two separate reasons. For the Jews Christ and his cross was a stumbling block. For the Gentiles it was just plain foolishness.
One afternoon Jesus was preaching to the people and healing the sick like he normally did, and some of the Jews there began to wonder, "Where did this man get these things? What's this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And Scripture says that “they took offense at him” (Mark 6:3). The Jews had watched Jesus grow up - they even knew his family, but the Messiah was supposed to come miraculously to his people from God himself! So Jesus couldn’t be The One, could he? The Jews were expecting a glorious king, but this Jesus looked to be just a normal man. The Jews had hopes of a grand restoration of the nation of Israel, but this guy from Nazareth seemed to avoid the fame and the popularity that would be offered to a national leader. It didn’t make any sense to them. Jesus wasn’t the kind of Savior they had been looking for. And their minds got in the way of their faith. Christ and his cross was a stumbling block to them.
But the Gentiles were no better off. Christ and his cross wasn’t really a stumbling block for them, it was just a ridiculous concept. That’s why Pilate’s soldiers threw a purple robe on Jesus’ back, placed a staff in his hand, set a crown of thorns on his head, and then made fun of him to his face on the morning of his death. They thought that the idea of Jesus being the King of the Jews was a little bit stupid - especially since the Jews themselves hated him! And that’s why years later when Paul was confessing his faith in Jesus while standing on trial in front of a man named Festus, this Roman governor said to him, “You are out of your mind, Paul! Your great learning is driving you insane" (Acts 26:24). This Gentile just couldn’t comprehend how a well-learned man like Paul could be so brainwashed into thinking that the story of Christ and the cross was actually true! How could a half-way intelligent human being in his right mind believe such a thing? And things haven’t changed.
People are still hung up on the details of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. It seems so impossible! And it would be for a mere human being. It seems like just another tall tale conjured up by somebody’s active imagination! And we can kind of see where they people who say that are coming from. But of course it isn’t impossible; it actually happened. And it isn’t a tall tale, it is 100% true. Christ as true God did come to this earth as a true man. He did die. He did rise. He did ascend. We are forgiven. And we accept this as an accurate historical record not because our minds have gathered up all the facts, weighed the evidence on both sides, and have decided that it’s true, but because God has worked faith in our hearts through these very words to convince us that it can’t be false. By faith we know that Christ and his cross have won our salvation. By faith we know that every word in Scripture is true - despite what our minds may tell us.
It’s not an easy thing to ignore what your mind whispers in your ear, is it? Your mind says a lot of things that challenge the Word of God. Your mind may suggest that maybe God didn’t create the world in just six regular days. Could it be that the word “day” here means thousands of years? After all, look at all of the physical evidence that scientists have uncovered! Isn’t it possible that God created the world over a longer period of time? It makes more sense that way; it matches up with scientific theory that way… But Scripture contradicts what our minds want to conclude. God did make the world in six regular days. God did create everything out of nothing in less than a week. The words of God in Genesis chapter one are not complicated; they just don’t sit right with the way our minds normally function.
Your mind may wonder about the Lord’s Supper: “Jesus was sitting right in front of his disciples when he gave them the bread and wine and told them that it was his body and blood. How can that be? He hadn’t yet shed his blood on the cross and he hadn’t yet forgiven their sins by dying in their place. So maybe the bread and wine are just symbolic of what Jesus was going to do for them. It’s against all logic to think that Christ’s real body and blood were present with those earthly elements then just as it’s illogical to think that they are still present with the bread and wine every time we take the Lord’s Supper today… But Scripture once again contradicts what our minds want to conclude. The bread of the Lord’s Supper is also Christ’s body and the wine of the Lord’s Supper is also Christ’s blood. This food coupled with God’s promise actually does give us the forgiveness of sins. Jesus’ words here are absolutely clear; they just don’t logically make sense to our rational minds.
Your mind might even question the results of Christ and his cross at times. And you start to worry that maybe you won’t end up in heaven after all. What if the cross didn’t work? What if this whole Christianity thing is all wrong? What if heaven doesn’t even exist? How can you really know? Whom can you ask that’s been there? What if there’s nothing after death? You’ve seen pets die and you’ve witnessed the dead bodies of people you’ve known, and your experience tells you that dead things are dead - there’s nothing more and that’s that… But Scripture clearly contradicts what your mind wants to conclude. The cross did work. There is a heaven. And you and all believers in Jesus will go there to meet up with the ones that have gone before you. The results that Christ and his cross have accomplished for us are repeated throughout the pages of Scripture. There is no doubt about the eternal life that Christ has won. It’s just that those words don’t seem to match up with what our minds have experienced.
And so don’t let your mind get in the way. Don’t place your intelligence over God’s clear words in the Bible. You aren’t smart enough to figure out the ways of God anyway! You aren’t clever enough to comprehend his plans or creative enough to keep up with his will. I know that I’m not. I’ve tried! And after years of trying I’ve finally come to terms with my Christian ignorance. I’ve finally accepted the fact that God is smarter than I am and sometimes I’m just not going to be able to understand what he does. Because who says that God has to do everything according to our way of thinking in the first place? Who says that he is obligated to dumb things down enough so that our simple minds can take it all in? The Lord doesn’t ask us to logically explain everything in Scripture; he just wants us to believe it.
And that’s a comforting thought, isn’t it? The Lord doesn’t ask us to logically explain everything in Scripture; he just wants us to believe it. If we were required to explain every detail and prove every fact and mentally grasp every concept of Scripture, we would be lost. Our minds wouldn’t be able to keep up. We would remain continually confused and constantly frustrated. Everyone would be. Because when it comes to the truths of the Bible, “Where is the wise man?” Paul says. “Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.” Christ and his cross is not a matter of the mind; it’s a matter of the heart - and the faith that God has placed in our hearts to believe it. Don’t let your mind get in the way of that. Set aside your reasoning and your intelligence and your logic and your schooling and just take God at his Word. He knows what he’s talking about. Even if you don’t.
Amen.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” - Romans 15:13

3/7/10 - Lent 3 - Luke 13:1-9

WHY?

Why? That’s everyone’s favorite question when it comes to the will of God. Why did the Lord allow this terrible thing to happen? Why did he let death take my family member? Why did he bring about this destructive catastrophe? Why did he sit back and watch me go through so much pain? Why did he find it necessary to wipe out almost an entire country? Why would a loving God seem so unloving at times? Why? We want to know the reason. We want an explanation. We want to somehow connect the dots so that this life and the horrible things that happen in it make some sort of sense. And it bothers us a little bit when we don’t get a satisfactory answer.
A 7.0 earthquake devastated the country of Haiti a month a half ago. It is estimated that well over 100,000 people died because of it and many more are still without food or water or electricity. And the question immediately asked by Christians and non-Christians alike was “Why? Why did God let this happen or even cause this mass destruction himself?” A few answers were attempted - some spiritual, some not - but any answer was just a guess. Recently an 8.8 earthquake struck Chile followed by a large tsunami and a 6.8 aftershock and then a 6.6 and then a 6.0. A few hundred people died in the quake and another 10,000 - 20,000 are now homeless. And again the question is asked: why? Suicide bombers in the Middle East, extreme poverty in Africa, physical persecution of Christians in China, thousands of babies legally aborted right here in this country every year … And we wonder, “Why, Lord? Why? Why do you let these things happen? Why do you allow your children to suffer? Why do you do things that seem to be contrary to the God you have shown yourself to be in your Word?”
And this is not just a question that has popped up in contemporary cultures. This one word inquiry of God’s will has been asked by his people for millennia. Christians have always wanted to see the blueprint behind the plan, and so when terrible things happened during Jesus’ day it was natural for his following to go to him for answers. One of the tragedies during that time had to do with the Roman government. Pontius Pilate had apparently been a little upset with a few Christians from Galilee and so he had them killed while they were offering sacrifices to the Lord. Around that same time a tower in Siloam fell and killed 18 people. And although these two tragedies were unrelated, the same question remained: why? And so the believers confronted Jesus with that very question hoping to get a satisfactory explanation.
Jesus gave them an answer, but it probably wasn’t the kind of answer they were looking for. And Jesus gives us the same answer to our “why” questions too - even though we are usually looking for something more. Because Christ’s answer here doesn’t get into the details. He doesn’t give us a bullet list of reasons that describe the specific intentions of the Lord for every person in every way in every situation. And that annoys us a little bit, doesn’t it! We are of the opinion in this world that if we can’t figure out why a person is doing something, if we can’t see the end goal, if we can’t understand the reason behind it, then it shouldn’t be done! If a parent asks a child why he/she is doing something, “because” is not a good enough answer. If a child asks a parent why a chore needs to be finished, “because I said so” does not put the child’s curiosity to rest because it doesn’t really answer their question. If “why” is asked in the business world, a financial goal better be in plain view or the plan will quickly be done away with. When “why” is asked about this world and the way things work in it, theories and best guesses and assumptions are made because “I don’t know” is an answer that is too unsettling to admit. We do not like to accept things without a convincing reason why. We want the proof; we don’t like to be left in the dark. Which really isn’t a bad thing until we begin to apply that way of thinking to what God does.
The Lord doesn’t need to run his plans by us for our approval. The Lord doesn’t need our advice, our insight, or our recommendations. The Lord doesn’t have to explain himself to us either. He doesn’t have to justify his actions to us nor is he obligated to give us enough information in Scripture so that we can understand it all. And because God has to answer to no one, we have no right to be frustrated with God when he doesn’t give us an answer we are satisfied with. We are not allowed to question his judgment, his will, or his power. We are not given the authority to determine whether or not he made a good or a bad decision. Because he is God and we are not. We are his creatures and he is the Creator. And so to demand an answer because we aren’t satisfied with what the Lord tells us in his Word is a very egotistical question to ask. Who are we to play supervisor to his decisions and demand an accounting from the Lord himself?
When God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, he didn’t explain to him the reason why, he just told him to do it. When Satan ripped every earthly possession away from Job leaving him destitute and in severe physical pain, God never told Job why his life was disrupted, he just allowed it to happen. When the Christian church during the time of the apostles was persecuted so severely that believers had to run away from the capital city of the Promised Land, God didn’t sit them down and inform them why he was letting so many of his children be murdered, he simply permitted these things to continue and pointed the rest of the Christian church back to the promises of his Word. Rarely does God give specific rationale for his actions. Rarely does he gives us a detailed explanation of his plans. But he always gives us at least one reason why. And it is the same reason he gave to the followers in Luke 13.
When the followers of Jesus told him about the Galileans who had died at the hands of Pilate, Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." Why did the Lord allow some of his children to be martyred by Pilate and other people to be crushed by the tower in Siloam? Not because they were such horrible sinners and not because they needed to be punished, but God allowed those things to happen in order to bring people closer to him! He wanted others to see these events, confess their own sins, and turn back to Christ. Now, notice that Jesus doesn’t deal with the reason for allowing these specific people to die or why he decided that they should die in these specific ways; he simply gives the reason why these events happened for the sake of others. He wanted to bring others closer to him. And this reason can be applied to every event that has ever happened in the history of this world.
Why did God ask Abraham to sacrifice his son? To bring Abraham closer to him by testing his faith. Why did God allow Satan to attack Job from every direction? To bring Job closer to him by strengthening his trust in the Lord’s love and his will. Why did God permit his new Christian church to be scattered from Jerusalem after Stephen’s death? To bring other people in other countries closer to him through the Christians who were forced to travel to those far away places. The Lord’s goal is always to bring people closer to him and his Word. And that’s exactly what he did through the things that happened to him personally while he was on this earth.
Many of his disciples and even his own brothers wondered why Jesus wouldn’t publically proclaim himself to the world through the incredible signs and miracles that they all knew he could do. The reason? People would not have been brought closer to the gospel in that way; it would have simply fed people’s greed for material blessings - as his miracles did on a number of occasions. At one point the apostle Peter critically questioned why Jesus would ever say that he would betrayed and suffer at the hands of the chief priests and elders. The reason? Because that was a way in which Jesus would bring people closer to him. And I’m sure all of the believers during the last few days of Jesus’ life were struggling with the reason why Jesus would allow himself to be arrested and tried and convicted and tortured and nailed to a cross when he could have easily prevented any of that from happening as he had done before. It wasn’t until after that fact that they figured out the reason why: that was the way in which Jesus would bring all people closer to himself. That was the way in which he would mend the relationship between sinful human beings and the perfect Father. That was the only way in which Jesus could forgive all of our sins and make it count. That was the greatest way he could show us the extent of his love.
And that’s really the reason why. When it gets right down to it, when a simple answer is needed for the reason why God does whatever he does in this life, the answer is this: Because he loves us. That is the reason behind everything that God allows, everything God creates, everything God does, and everything God decides. Because he loves us. There may very well be other specific reasons that fall under that broad category, but when it comes to God’s will with his children, you can be sure that everything he does he does because he loves you.
Why does God allow you to hurt? Because he loves you. Why does he allow you to suffer? Because he loves you. Why do you struggle or fail or lose? Because he loves you. Why don’t things work out the way you planned them? Because he loves you. Why don’t your prayers get answered with a “yes” even though they are good, godly, Christian prayers? Because he loves you. Why have you experienced the things you’ve experienced? Why have you seen the things you’ve seen? Why do you sometimes have to deal with sadness? Why are you sometimes suffocated by loneliness? Why do you sometimes feel overwhelmed? Because he loves you. God loves you and so whatever he lets you go through is meant to bring you closer to him in some way every time. It may be to remind you of your sinfulness like it was for those who witnessed Pilate’s persecutions and the tragedy of the tower in Siloam. It may be to remind you of your weaknesses so that you will trust in God’s strength and not your own. It may be to remind you of your blessings so that you thank your Lord for everything he has given you. It may be to keep you humble. It may be to give you comfort. It may be to supply you with peace. In any case, whatever God does in this world and whatever God allows in your life is because he loves you.
How do some things work out according to his love? “How” is another question - another question that God doesn’t always reveal a detailed answer to either. But the “how” shouldn’t bother us if we know the “why.” Because the fact of the matter is: there will be things that happen in this life that are ugly and unpleasant and downright painful. And we won’t always know how they will be worked out for our good. But we do know the reason why God lets them happen: because he loves us. Why would we need a better answer than that?
Amen.

“Oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” - Romans 11:33,36

3/3,10/10 - Midweek Lent - Matthew 27:1-8

HIS BLOOD BOUGHT LIFE

We have before us one of the most depressing endings to one of the most tragic figures in all of Scripture tonight. There seems to be nothing positive that one could say about this story because it is filled with such heart-breaking sorrow and irreversible mistakes. It is the account of the guilt-induced misery and the unfortunate suicide of Judas Iscariot. And it is sad. It’s awful. It’s so depressing that it’s almost uncomfortable to talk about. But even here in the midst of this appalling situation of betrayal and guilt and despair, we can still find Christ. Because although Judas could see no way out but death for what he had done, the blood he betrayed actually bought life.
1Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. 2They bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor. 3When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. 4"I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood." "What is that to us?" they replied. "That's your responsibility." 5So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. 6The chief priests picked up the coins and said, "It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money." 7So they decided to use the money to buy the potter's field as a burial place for foreigners. 8That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day.
No one wanted the money. That’s the ironic part of this sad story. In the end no one wanted the blood-money that was paid for Jesus’ betrayal. Judas himself, the one who regularly stole money from the disciples’ treasury, the one who once rebuked a woman for pouring perfume on Jesus’ feet because he wanted to keep the profits from the sale of that perfume for himself, the one who sold out his Lord for a chance to fill his pockets, threw those 30 pieces of silver on the floor of the temple in disgust after he realized what he had done. And the chief priests and the elders, leaders of the people who loved to see large amounts of money put in the collection plate, some of whom were Pharisees that Scripture says loved money and valued their expensive robes, didn’t want to touch these coins. They didn’t even think that God himself would want this money because it had been used in a corrupt and sinful way - even though they had a hand in the whole ordeal! And so they used this money to buy a section of ground near Jerusalem in which foreigners could be buried. This graveyard soon became known as the Field of Blood because Judas had used the money to betray the innocent blood of Christ.
Those 30 silver coins that nobody seemed to want certainly made a life and death impact on the events of the day. They led to Jesus’ death and supplied for the deaths of others. But they also supplied Jesus with the opportunity to buy life for all people through his blood. This “blood money” is literally the “price of blood.” And this price of blood that bought death led to the price of blood that bought life. It’s a shame that Judas didn’t understand that.
I almost feel sorry for Judas in a way. Yes, he betrayed my Savior and sold him out because of his greed - and I despise Judas for that. But he seems so pitiful and vulnerable here that I have a hard time hating him. Because in this story he truly regretted what he had done, he felt tremendous sorrow because of his sins; he felt so bad that he even hung himself in despair. Judas doesn’t seem like such a bad guy in the end. He seems more like a man who made an awful, awful mistake and just couldn’t find his way out. A sinner whose conscience bothered him so much that he didn’t know what to do to fix the problem. He tried to fix it, of course! He ran back to those who had given him the money and confessed his sins. He admitted that he was not only guilty, but that Jesus himself was innocent. And after the chief priests and the elders told him that they didn’t care about his sudden moral dilemma, he tossed the coins on the floor in a vain attempt to rid himself of the dirty money he had accepted to the Lord’s detriment. But his desperate plea to the chief priests to make things right and the immediate return of the 30 pieces of silver did nothing to soothe his guilt; it did nothing to fix the problem. Instead of throwing the coins at the feet of the elders, he should have thrown himself at the feet of Christ. Instead of confessing his sins and appealing to the ones who paid him off, he should have confessed his sins and believed in the one he had betrayed. Judas should have gone to Christ. Even though Christ was in that position because of Judas, Jesus was in that position for Judas as well. And Jesus would have loved to see him come back! He would have accepted him with open arms and would have given Judas the forgiveness he so desperately needed. But unfortunately Judas didn’t see that as an option. And this disciple regrettably hung himself for his sins just hours before Jesus hung on the cross for those very same sins.
It is human nature to try to fix a problem by ourselves - especially the problem of sin. There are times when we may look back into our past and still feel a little bit guilty about all those sinful things we did in years one by. And prompted by our uneasy conscience we try to make up for it now by being a little nicer, by helping out a little more, by walking the “straight and narrow” a little more faithfully. And it doesn’t cross our minds that we should fall at the feet of our Savior, take our sins to his cross, and ask for his forgiveness again and again and again. We know that Jesus died for our sins, of course, but when that guilt is still lingering after so many years we think that we need to do something ourselves to get rid of that nagging shame so that we can somehow feel better.
But that’s exactly what Judas tried to do! He tried to make things better by doing something himself. He first of all tried to reverse the decision of the chief priests and the elders - which was the right thing to do. And then he returned the money that he never should have taken in the first place - which was also a commendable action. But he did not take his sins off his shoulders and put them on the shoulders of Christ. He did not take the innocent blood with which his hands were stained and wash it off in that same innocent blood of the cross. Judas did not go to Christ. And so Judas died without Christ. And Jesus died without him.
Jesus was murdered probably just a few hours after Judas committed suicide. A lone hanging happened unnoticed on the south side of the city at almost the exact same time Jesus was marching out to a very public crucifixion on the north side. If Judas would have only known that Jesus’ blood on that cross would forgive his sin of betraying Jesus’ innocent blood! But it was a ransom price that Judas would never enjoy. If Judas would have only known that Jesus’ blood would buy life for him later that afternoon, but Judas would be dead by the time it happened. It is a sad story of a fallen disciple, but it is a wonderful story for us.
And it’s a wonderful story for us because this blood-money really was blood-money! These coins led to Jesus pouring out his blood on the cross! These 30 pieces of silver made it possible for our sins to be forgiven! And so because of how the Lord used Judas’ greed and the chief priests’ hate, because of how the Lord took sin and worked it out for our good, now all of our offenses, all of our mistakes, all of our errors, all of our guilt, and all of our shame have been drowned in the innocent blood of Christ. Your conscience does not have to bother you again. The weight on your shoulders has been lifted! The chains on your ankles have been shattered! The dark clouds over your head have been parted! The noose is no longer around your neck! You do not have to grieve like Judas and you do not have to die like Judas because you know what Jesus’ death accomplished later that afternoon. You know that he bought you life with his blood. And you know that you will live with him forever.
Amen.

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” - 1 Cor. 15:55-56

2/28/10 - Lent 2 - Jeremiah 26:8-15

GOD'S LOVE IS UNDETERRED

God’s love is undeterred. It is not distracted. It is never delayed. God’s love never stops loving regardless of the hate and the evil and the filth that the people of this world and we ourselves throw in his way. God’s love remains steadfast even when it fails to receive love in return. In fact, the Bible is really a book filled with stories of this undeterred love of our Lord. Adam and Eve: hand-made by God himself, created in perfection, given the world. But human beings who threw it all away because they wanted more. They ate from a tree that they knew they were not supposed to eat from because they thought by doing so they could be more like God. But God’s love for them was undeterred. He did not immediately destroy them, he patiently listened to their sorry excuses, and he gave them the promise of a Savior even before he ushered them out of the garden. Their blatant disobedience could not stop God’s love.
The Israelite nation, God’s own people, chosen, protected, blessed: constantly grumbled, continually complained, incessantly griped about God’s power and his plan. They even bowed down to a golden statue of a calf while Moses was up on Mt. Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments. But God’s love for them was undeterred. He preserved them throughout the 40 years in the desert. He guided them to the Promised Land. He drove out the Canaanites before them. He delivered them from invading peoples. And he made them into a great nation. Their open idolatry and reoccurring rebellion could not stop God’s love for them.
Judas Iscariot: one of the 12 chosen disciples of Jesus himself, a part of the Lord’s inner circle for three straight years, privileged enough to hear Jesus preach, to listen to Jesus teach, to watch Jesus perform miracles, and to experience Jesus’ grace first hand, but a man who decided to hand Jesus over to his enemies for 30 pieces of silver anyway. He betrayed his Lord, set up a time and place, gathered a mob, led them out to Gethsemane, and hypocritically kissed Jesus on the cheek when he got there. But God’s love for him was undeterred. Jesus gave Judas many different chances to repent. He confronted Judas with his sin in different ways and at different times. He longed for Judas’ life to be turned around even though he knew where this fallen disciple would eventually end up. Even Judas’ betrayal and his infamous back stabbing could not even stop God’s love. Because God’s love has always been undeterred. He will never stop loving - even those who hate him. And the story we have in front of us this morning is just one more example of this constant love that God has shown all people.
Our story from the Old Testament picks up during the time of King Jehoiakim, one of the last kings of Judah. And during his reign the nation of Israel was going downhill in a hurry because the leaders were pulling the people away from the Lord. And so the Israelites refused to worship him; they refused to read his Word, and they refused to listen to his prophets. But God’s love was undeterred. In fact, he was so concerned about the spiritual depravity of his people and wanted so much for his chosen nation to come back to him that he sent the prophet Jeremiah to call them to repentance. But despite God’s love and his patience with his people, Scripture says that “As soon as Jeremiah finished telling all the people everything the LORD had commanded him to say, the priests, the prophets and all the people seized him and said, ‘You must die! Why do you prophesy in the LORD’s name that this house will be like Shiloh and this city will be desolate and deserted?’ And all the people crowded around Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.” The people didn’t want God’s love. They didn’t want to repent. They didn’t want to hear that Jerusalem would end up like the city of Shiloh if they continued in their sins.
Shiloh had once been a very prominent city in the land of Israel. Many centuries before Jeremiah ever spoke these words, Joshua led the people of Israel over the Jordan River and into the Promised Land for the very first time. And the spot that they chose to set up the Tabernacle of the Lord was the city of Shiloh. And the worship center of the entire nation remained there for 300 years. But one day in a fateful battle during the time of Samuel the prophet, the Philistines overtook the Israelite army, captured the ark of the covenant, and destroyed the city. The ark was eventually returned, but Shiloh itself was in ruins and it would never be built up again. All of the Israelites knew what Shiloh had been and what it now was. And so when Jeremiah pronounced 450 years later that Jerusalem would become like Shiloh if the people did not repent of their sins, the Israelites wanted nothing of it. They didn’t want to listen to this harsh judgment on their beloved city. It was unpatriotic! It was almost blasphemous! And they were perfectly content to continue on in their sins and ignore the warning and love of the Lord.
And we should understand that kind of attitude because we ignore the words of the Lord all the time! If there is something we want to do and God’s Word clearly tells us not to do it, we usually try not to think about what the Bible says because we want to do it anyway. And if we dwell on Scripture’s directives for too long, we might feel a little bit guilty about our actions! Or if there is an inappropriate thought that comes to our minds or a condescending word that finds its way into our mouths - things that we know are against God’s Word - we oftentimes keep thinking about it anyway or continue to say it nevertheless because we know in the back of our minds that we won’t be immediately struck dead for disobeying God’s law just this one time. It hasn’t happened before, so why would it happen now? Indulging my sinful nature just a little bit isn’t going to make too much of a difference, is it?
And that’s exactly what the Israelites must have been thinking during the time of Jeremiah: “We have worshiped other gods and done things contrary to the book of God’s law for years now, and nothing bad has happened to us yet! There’s no urgency to reform our ways! There’s no pressing reason to do things differently! How could this great city of Jerusalem ever become like Shiloh anyway? There is no way any army could overtake our fortifications! There is no way that the Lord will ever give up the city of his king! There is no way that what we are doing is bad enough for our homeland to be destroyed!” Oh, but it was. The Lord finally did send the Babylonian army against his chosen city in the chosen country of his chosen people and he allowed that foreign nation to completely destroy it. Jerusalem eventually did end up like Shiloh. And for the very same reasons.
God does not take sin lightly. He is enraged by it. He is also offended by it. It is a personal affront to his love and mercy when his own children knowingly and willingly break his law. He is hurt by that kind of insolence and he will sometimes punish it as he did during the days of the Old Testament. Throughout the time of the judges the Israelites we constantly handed over to their enemies specifically because of their sins. At the end of that era Shiloh was eventually destroyed on account of their disobedience. And Jerusalem itself was even overtaken, not just once by the Babylonians, but a second time by the Romans a few decades after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Lord will not tolerate unrepentant sin. He will not let it slide. He will make sure that sin is dealt with one way or another. Sin will either end up being punished because of God’s justice or forgiven because of God’s love. It will not be excused. It will not be passed over. It was not be brushed aside. Every sin of every person will be handled by the Lord himself. And when it comes right down to it, the Lord always prefers to handle sin with his love.
That’s why he sent Jeremiah to the people: not because he hated them, but because his love was undeterred. And that’s why he told Jeremiah to say to them: “Reform your ways and your actions and obey the LORD your God. Then the LORD will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you.” God did not want to punish his people or make Jerusalem like Shiloh or send them into exile! He wanted them to repent! He loved them! And that’s why Jeremiah went: because his love for God’s people was undeterred as well. Jeremiah knew he would be hated for the words he was about to speak - it had happened before! And Jeremiah knew his life would be threatened - that had happened before too! But Jeremiah wanted to see his countrymen repent of their sins almost as much as God himself wanted to see it happen. The undeterred love of God filled Jeremiah’s heart for these hard-headed Israelites and he longed for their salvation. And so death threats, public ostracism, and a very meager hope of success did not prevent Jeremiah from showing the Jewish people the love of God. Centuries later, Christ himself would be in a very similar position.
Throughout Jesus’ ministry he received death threats. He was ostracized by the Jewish elite. And he knew that his success rate with the unbelievers living in the land would be meager at best. In fact, while he was there in the city on one of his many visits to Jerusalem, the Pharisees told him to leave because Herod was looking to murder him. But Jesus’ love was undeterred. He was determined to preach to the people, he was set on spreading the gospel, and he was even willing to die at the hands of its citizens because he loved them so much. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” he said, “you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gather her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing” (Luke 13:34)! Jesus longed for those who longed to see him dead! Jesus poured out his heart for those who poured out his blood! Jesus stretched out his arms to those who physically stretched out his arms for him so that they could nail them to the beams of the cross. Jesus’ love was undeterred. Their hate could not stop him. Their sinfulness would not prevent him from winning their forgiveness on a hill outside the city walls. And neither can ours.
Our sins cannot stop his love. We cannot possibly sin enough that the Lord will love us no longer. We cannot damage his law, insult his name, or disregard his will to a point where he will turn his love away from us. You will always be loved. YOU WILL ALWAYS BE LOVED BY THE LORD. And so when the Lord says to you through the prophet Jeremiah, “Reform your ways and your actions and obey the LORD your God,” it’s not so that the Lord will then love you; it’s because the Lord already loves you. He wants to see you live a life of praise to him. He wants to see his children thank him for his love. God’s love is not the end goal of your life; it is your motivation. It is not what you are trying to get; it is what you have. Because God’s love is undeterred. God’s love is always there. It is the only constant in your life. It is the only thing you can count on. It is the only thing that will never let you down.
Your spouse will die if she/he hasn’t already. Your children will not always be as dependable as you’d like them to be. Your neighbors and friends and family members and pastors will come and go. But not God’s love. That will always be there. God’s love will never leave.
God loved the people of Israel during Jeremiah’s time, even though they ended up rejecting him and killing his prophets. And he loves the people of Israel still. God loved the mockers and the blasphemers during Jesus’ day, even though they crucified him. And he loves the mockers and the blasphemers of this world still. God loved us before he created this world; he loved us at the moment we were conceived in sin; he loved us when we disobey him and when we insult him and when we ignore him. And he loves us still. God’s love for you is undeterred. Let nothing deter your love for him.
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