10/23/11 - Pentecost 19 - Matthew 21:28-32

A CHANGE OF HEART

God’s Heart Never Changes

Did Jesus love Judas - the disciple who betrayed him? Yes! Jesus had a soft spot in his heart for Judas Iscariot and gave him countless opportunities to repent of his sins before it was too late. Even after Judas had done the unthinkable and handed Jesus over to his enemies, the Lord continued to love this disciple up until the moment he died. Did the Lord love Adam and Eve even after they disobeyed him and gave up perfection for a bite of fruit? Yes! The Lord’s heart went out to this first couple of his creation and he immediately came down to this earth so that he could offer them the promise of a Savior. Did Jesus love his Jewish countrymen who not only rejected him but who even tried to kill him on numerous occasions for claiming that he was the Christ? Yes! His heart ached for those people so much that he once said, “How I have longed to gather you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” Did the Lord love his Old Testament people of Israel even after they had refused to listen to him and had forgotten his Word so many times that they were punished with an invading army and thrown into exile in Babylon? Yes! We just read in the book of Ezekiel that the Lord’s heart yearned for his people as he continued to send prophets to them so that they would not die in their sins but “repent and live.”
Does the Lord love you even after you have done unmentionable things against his clear Word, even after you have said some very inappropriate words unbecoming of a Christian, even after you have thought absolutely disgusting things that would make most people blush? Yes! Your Lord’s heart has not lost an ounce of affection for you throughout all these years you have lived on this earth. No sin, no mistake, no fault, no rebellious attitude or guilt-ridden conscience has changed the heart of your God for you. He loves you just as much now as he did when he was hanging on that cross. He loves you just as much now as he did when he hand-crafted you in your mother’s womb. He loves you just as much now as he did on the day of your baptism. God’s heart never changes. Nothing we do can make him love us more. And nothing we do can ever make him love us less.

Matthew’s Heart

The apostle Matthew was well aware of this never-changing heart of his Lord. He had once been a tax collector, after all, and he probably wasn’t used to being liked by many people. Because a tax collector in that 1st century culture was a Jewish IRS agent who worked for the Roman government, collecting taxes from his fellow citizens on behalf of a nation they didn’t like very much. In fact, tax collectors were apparently supposed to collect more than what people owed so that they could make a living themselves. Matthew was undoubtedly hated by many of his own people. But Jesus loved Matthew and opened his heart to him. And so it is not surprising that Matthew recorded for us these particular words of Christ in his gospel account. Listen closely: “There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.”
Matthew, as a tax collector, was included in that “first son” of the parable, the one who had initially refused to listen to his Father but then had a change of heart and obeyed. Matthew understood the grace of his God and the mercy that he had shown him. The heart of the Lord had reached out to him through the Word, changed his heart and drew him away from sin and to his Savior. And throughout his life Matthew undoubtedly learned to appreciate even more the unchanging heart of his Lord - because it had changed him.

A Change of Heart

The Lord’s heart never changes, but our hearts do, don’t they? We like something one minute and we dislike it the next. We have an opinion in this direction one day and think just the opposite the day following. Even in the spiritual realm our hearts fluctuate to the extreme. We are very forgiving and compassionate to a person one moment, but the next time around we are anything but. We strive to keep the Lord’s laws and commands with every bit of energy we have for an entire morning, but for the entire next week his directives never even cross our minds. We firmly trust in what he promises and completely depend on his love in one situation, but when something else comes around we doubt and we worry and we second guess what he has said to us in his Word all along. Our hearts are up and down, side to side, strong and weak; never stable, always changing. Especially when it comes to repentance. We are really really sorry for our sins at times, but then at other times we just shake our heads and shrug our shoulders and don’t think much about them. We take our sins seriously when we have to deal with those feelings of guilt, but we tend to just brush those sins off if our conscience isn’t really affected by those sins that we have committed so many times before that it’s just second nature now.
Our hearts change for the worse all the time every day and so sometimes we need a change of heart for the better. A change of heart that is affected by God and his Word. Sometimes we need the Lord to change our hearts for us because we can’t do it ourselves. We need him to convict our hearts, to grab our hearts with his law, and to shake our hearts until he convinces us of the seriousness of our sins. Sometimes we need his Word to force us to reconsider what we have done and said and thought and admit that it’s ugly and repulsive and sickening, that it’s not OK, that it’s not an “Oh well, I’m sure the Lord understands, it’s not that big of a deal.” Sin is a big deal. Sin is damaging. That’s why we publically confess our sins together every single Sunday morning. Do you remember what we said together today? “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.” This is a serious confession of sins, isn’t it? It’s serious repentance: a change of heart, an admission of our guilt and a trust in God’s mercy. And it is important for us to do that not only weekly as a congregation, but daily as individual Christians. Of course, it’s even more important to hear God’s response to our repentance. This is God’s response that we heard this morning:

A Forgiven Heart

“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.” Some more powerful words! And if I may be so bold: the single most important part of any worship service is the confession of sins and the announcement of forgiveness. But you are forgiven again! Every time! Each week you are the first son in the parable. A Christian who has sinned. A Christian who has done wrong. A Christian who has sometimes brushed off those sins and has occasionally forgotten about the seriousness of their consequences. But your heart has been changed. And so has mine. You heart has been forgiven. And so has mine. Your heart has been saved. And so has mine. We have entered the kingdom of God along with those tax collectors and prostitutes at the end of Jesus’ parable by believing in Jesus as our Savior. The Lord does not hold our past actions against us; he doesn’t even hold our future sins against us because of the incredible patience of our God, his love, and his compassion. And why would he do such a thing? Because his heart never changes.
And so we’re right back to where we started: God’s heart never changes. We need a change of heart at times, we need our hearts to be worked over and worked through, but the Lord’s heart is constantly full of love and mercy and forgiveness - and that will never change. And that’s why we are forgiven: not because of repentance but because of his love. Repentance doesn’t produce forgiveness; forgiveness produces repentance. We already know what he has done, we believe in what he has sacrificed, and so we are moved to confess our sins to him and cling to his promises. Repentance is not a prerequisite of being a Christian, it’s a product of being a Christian. Christian’s repent: humbly but joyfully, solemnly but eagerly. Because we know what’s coming after we confess our sins! And we can’t wait for his love! We can’t get enough of his forgiveness! And he can’t get enough of forgiving us again. It’s kind of a nice setup, isn’t it? We need; God gives. We fall; he picks us up. We turn away; he turns us back.
The psalm we sang today was Psalm 25. And like many of the psalms in Scripture it was written by King David - a man who needed a change of heart at times. You remember what he did: He slept with another man’s wife and then ordered her husband to be placed in the front lines of the battle formation so that he would be killed and never find out that David had gotten his wife pregnant. And for almost a year David never repented of his sins; he brushed them off; he ignored their consequences. Until that day a prophet of the Lord confronted him with his sin and changed his heart. Psalm 25 is one of those psalms that displays David’s sorrow over sin and his trust in God’s mercy. David wrote things like: “Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD… For the sake of your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great… Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart have multiplied; free me from my anguish. Look upon my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins.” David was sincerely sorry for all of the things that he had done. He was heartbroken because of the way he had treated his Lord. And just like Matthew he could have been compared to that first son in the parable: he had certainly sinned in many different ways, but he had a change of heart because the Lord’s Word had affected that change. David repented of his sins, believed in God’s forgiveness, and was saved.
The Lord’s heart has changed our hearts too, hasn’t it? The Lord has done the same things for us as he did for Matthew and David: He has worked faith in our hearts to believe in his sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection from the tomb. He has turned our hearts away from the control of our sinful nature. He has pulled our hearts closer to him. He has shielded our hearts from many of the dangerous attacks of the devil himself. He has assured our hearts that we will one day be in heaven with him forever. The unchanging heart of the Lord has done amazing things for us! He has changed our hearts through his Word for the better in every way! And he will continue to do that. Every time you come into contact with his powerful Word your heart will be affected. And through that Word you will continue to grow in your knowledge of him and your changed heart will overflow with affection for everything that he has done.
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!” - Jude 24-25

10/16/11 - Pentecost 18 - Jonah 4:5-11

SUFFER WITH THEM

The Word “Compassion”

A general rule of thumb that pastors-in-training learn in their multiple classes on writing sermons and delivering them is this: Before you preach to others, preach to yourself. And we are told this because if the law of the holy God convicts the preacher’s heart with specific accusations in Scripture then, chances are, that same pointed law will convict the hearts of others. And if the gospel of the loving God consoles the preacher’s heart with specific promises in Scripture then, chances are, that same comforting gospel will console the hearts of others as well. And if there ever was a sermon text or an overall worship theme that I needed to preach to myself before I preached it to anyone else, it’s a portion of Scripture like Jonah 4:5-11 because it has to do with compassion. I really struggle with compassion. I have a hard time understanding why someone can’t just buck up and do what needs to be done or why someone can’t just stop feeling sorry for themselves or why someone can’t just get over what has happened to them and move on. I especially have a hard time showing compassion to my kids. I expect a lot out of them; I expect that they should always act like Christians should act and, of course, that’s not always the case! And so I end up saying things like, “You’re going to be fine,” “Get a hold of yourself,” “Stop crying and deal with it!” Deal with it. Those words imply that I want them to be a little more independent; I want them to figure out a way to control their emotions and cope with this problem on their own without making a big scene about it. And although I may have a loving desire for the wellbeing of my children and I want them to be the best they can be, that’s not an attitude of compassion. Compassion is not standing back and saying, “Figure it out.” Compassion is not expecting that a person can or even should find a solution to their own problems without involving you. Compassion isn’t quick; it’s long and drawn out and messy.
Our English word compassion comes from a Latin word which is taken from a Greek word. And that Greek word has found its way into our language too as “sympathy.” And so sympathy and compassion actually come from the same root word and they both originally meant the same thing: “to suffer with.” At its core the main thought behind compassion is “to suffer with.” That’s a strong word, isn’t it? To suffer with. And so compassion is not just a warm feeling, it is an action word. When you see someone who has a problem, when you know of someone who is weighed down with troubles, when you live with someone who has come across some difficulty of their own making, having compassion on them means you don’t just feel sorry for them and you don’t just hope that things will get better for them, you actually “suffer with” them. You get down in the trenches where they are at. You take some of that burden on your shoulders. You get so involved in helping them that you know exactly what it is that they are going through. No wonder I’m so bad at showing compassion! It takes a lot of effort! It takes a whole lot of time! It takes sacrifice. And I’m kind of a selfish person and I don’t usually like making the effort or taking time or sacrificing something unless it benefits me in some way.

A Bad Example

I sound a lot like Jonah, don’t I? The prophet Jonah is usually remembered as the man who tried to run away from God, boarded a ship in the opposite direction of Nineveh, was thrown overboard during a storm, was swallowed by a large fish, sat in its belly for three days, prayed to the Lord for forgiveness, and then was spat back out on dry land. But the rest of the story of Jonah isn’t any more flattering to his character than the first part! Because after he finally did preach the word of God to the city as the Lord had told him to do and the Lord spared those people, Jonah was angry! He was physically upset that God had sent him all the way to the land of Assyria only to spare the people whom Jonah thought deserved to die. And so the Lord had to teach Jonah a little something about compassion: Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?” “I do,” he said. “I am angry enough to die.” But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?”

A Just-as-Bad Example

It’s not always easy to have compassion on someone you don’t like. Jonah did not like the Assyrians who lived in the capital city of Nineveh. They were a rival nation; they were not part of the people of Israel; not to mention that they lived a long way from Jonah’s hometown and he had to travel 700 some miles just to get there. He didn’t want to have compassion on these people. He wanted to see some fireworks! He wanted to see God unleash his wrath on these people that had indirectly made Jonah’s life so miserable as of late. In fact, Jonah was more concerned about the withered plant than he was an entire city of souls. Why? Because the plant affected his life and the future of the Ninevites never would.
Compassion for those we don’t like comes hard for us too sometimes. Why? Because we aren’t directly affected by their problems if we stand far enough back. If we distance ourselves enough than we won’t have to help them. We might not even have ever have to hear their complaints again if we walk in the other direction. Because the last thing we want to do is get involved since involvement means that we would have to stop what we are doing and we would have to give up some of our precious time and we would have to commit ourselves physically, emotionally, and psychologically to this person for an undetermined amount of time in who-knows-how-many ways. And why would we ever want to do something like that for a person we don’t get along with? Why would we ever want to “suffer with” someone who we find insufferable? Why would we want to “suffer with” a person like that? Here’s why: Because your dear Savior Jesus “suffered with” you.

The Best Example

That loving attitude, that compassion, is on display right here in the book of Jonah, isn’t it? As the Lord speaks to his reluctant prophet about compassion, the Lord’s own compassion for the Ninevites is undeniable. “Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?” The Lord genuinely cared about the people of that Assyrian capital. He wanted them to be saved. And remember: the Assyrians were the very ones who would soon destroy the northern kingdom of Israel and take God’s people into exile only 60 years later! Just six decades after Jonah’s trip to that nation, the armies under their control ransacked the people of God and treated them with unspeakable cruelty. This was the nation that the Lord was concerned about! This was the nation that he had compassion on! This was the nation that he would one day “suffer with” when he came to this earth himself. And he suffered with them in the same way he suffered with you: he because a human being on this earth to live and to die in your place.
While he was on this earth Jesus took on every pain and every difficulty and every temptation that any of us will ever experience. He was in the trenches with us. He was in the dirt and the mud. He got down on his knees and hoisted our troubles on his shoulders and carried them for us. He felt what you feel; he dealt with what you deal with. He experienced every pain and human sorrow that you undergo. He didn’t just stand back and say, “Get over it.” Or “Buck up and do what needs to be done.” Or “Deal with it.” No, he took it upon himself to deal with it. But Jesus really went above and beyond what compassion is according to that basic definition. He didn’t just “suffer with” you; he suffered for you. He went through what you could not. He experienced the direct attacks of Satan himself and the entire army of evil angels. Jesus put up with multiple religious sects trying to trick him and trap him in his words. Jesus underwent persecution everywhere he went and an intense hatred from people that he would call his fellow citizens from a common race. Jesus even experienced a full throttle torture in hell on the cross when his Father left him there to be tortured all alone. Jesus suffered all of these things for you so that you won’t ever have to. And he did that for people he didn’t even have to like. He suffered for the insufferable. He died for those who caused him to die. What a gracious God we have! What a loving God we have! What a compassionate God we have.

Compassion in Action

Now, are you going to be able to put this same kind of compassion into action? Yes, yes you will. Maybe not to the full extent that the Lord has for you and maybe not as in depth as you would like to at times, but the Lord of all compassion will fill your hearts with that same deep desire to “suffer with” others so that you will do those kinds of things that put others first above yourself. It will be a process; it will be a project. It will take a lot of prayer and a lot of time in God’s Word and a lot of messing things up on our part and a lot of forgiveness on the Lord’s part. But the Lord will help you through it and he will continue to give you the strength and the patience to do it well.
Practically speaking, how are you going to put it into practice? Try this: pick out one person - just one person - today that you don’t really like, someone you couldn’t possibly have compassion on, and pray that the Lord will move your heart to have compassion on them. Ask the Lord who suffered for you to help you “suffer with” them. Pray that his name is praised, his love is displayed, and his grace is shared through your actions. You might not get anything out of it. You might not get thanked, you might not be appreciated, you might not even be taken seriously. But that’s OK. Because compassion isn’t looking for something back. Compassion gives. Compassion sacrifices. Compassion suffers. Suffer with them, my dear brother and sisters. Suffer with them. Just as Christ has suffered for you.
Amen.

“Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.” - Psalm 68:19

10/9/11 - Pentecost 17 - Genesis 50:15-21

THE GRUDGE

The Grudge Festers

The very theme of these three worship services: “Attitude Adjustment” implies that we have attitudes that might need some adjusting. It implies that we aren’t as Christian as we ought to be. It implies that we really need some help. And with the focus of our worship this morning specifically on “forgiveness,” I think that all of us in here would agree that this is one area in our lives in which we need a lot of help - myself included. Because forgiveness is hard, isn’t it? It really is a difficult thing to do. To push aside your feelings of anger against that person who has wronged you… To suppress your desire to remain bitter against that person who has said bad things about you… To go out of your way to help that person, to care for that person, to genuinely love that person who doesn’t even care about hurting you… that is difficult. And not only is forgiveness difficult, it’s no fun either! Because we would rather hold a grudge, wouldn’t we? The grudge. A nasty festering ball of scorn that we don’t want to catch, but something that we don’t want to get rid of either once we have it. We want to remain angry. We want to remain the victim. We want to harbor bad thoughts and a hostile attitude towards that person because they don’t deserve it! They aren’t sorry! They don’t care! So why should we?
And so when we are holding that grudge and we run across passages like Ephesians 4:31: “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger,” we just try not to think about those kinds of things because we don’t want to be forced to apply those words to our lives. And then when we keep reading on to the next verse, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you,” we try to say to ourselves, “Yeah, but Paul or Jesus didn’t have to deal with anyone like this person in my life who is completely unbearable.” And when we hear those very next words in the book of Ephesians: “Be imitators of God… and live a life of love” we complain to our God, “But what about that thing they did to me! What about those words they said about me! What about me? I want justice! I want retribution! Why should they get off so easily? Why do I have to make the sacrifice for them when they are the ones in the wrong?” Forgiveness is difficult because forgiveness is selfless. Forgiveness is difficult because it means that you have to care more about that person than about yourself. Forgiveness is difficult because that means you have to let go of the grudge.

The Grudge against Joseph

Joseph’s brothers couldn’t let go of the grudge. Joseph was one of the 12 sons of Jacob in Old Testament times. But Joseph happened to be his father’s favorite out of all of his brothers. And because of that Joseph received a beautifully ornamented coat that none of his brothers received. And then on top of that Joseph told his brothers about some dreams that he had had that depicted his brothers bowing down to him in honor. And so his brothers despised him. They detested him. They held onto that nasty festering ball of scorn against him and they couldn’t let that grudge go. And so one day when he went out to them in the fields they even debated killing him. But they ended up throwing him in a well instead and then sold him as a slave to a caravan that happened to be passing by. They then dipped his beautiful coat in goat’s blood and took it to their father so that he would think that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. Their trick worked. Their hatred went undetected. The grudge was satisfied.
Years later, after Joseph went through a series of ups and downs in his life, the Lord saw to it that this young man ended up as the second in command over the entire land of Egypt. In fact, he was in charge of almost everything, including the storage and distribution of food during times of famine. And so when a severe famine hit the land of Israel, Joseph’s brothers - the same ones who had sold him as a slave when he was a kid - came down to Egypt to buy food from Joseph himself. And although Joseph knew who they were right away, his brothers didn’t recognize him at first until Joseph revealed himself as the one whom they had hated and sold and lied about so many years before.
And once Joseph told them who is was, his brothers were afraid. And why wouldn’t they be? The one they had treated so maliciously when they were younger was now in control of the most powerful kingdom of that time. He could do anything he wanted. He could get back at them for everything they had done to him and no one would be able to stop him. And so When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept. His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said. Joseph’s brothers were genuinely afraid for their lives. They knew what they deserved. They knew that if Joseph was anything like they were his desire for vengeance would be brutal. But nothing like happened. Instead: Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them. There was no punishment. There was no retribution. There was no payback. Because there was no grudge. Joseph did not hold anything against his brothers. Joseph did not want revenge. He wanted to love them. He wanted to forgive them. And he did.

The Grudge against Jesus

And I think that when many of us read this story we shake our heads and think: “How could he do that? How could he possibly let what they did to him go unpunished? How could he not be angry about their cruelty and their heartlessness? How did he get rid of that nasty festering little ball of scorn, that grudge? This is how: Joseph knew that God did not hold a grudge against him. The Lord could have held a grudge. Because Joseph certainly wasn’t the most exemplary Christian throughout his life. He seemed to be a little arrogant when he was younger, or at the very least he wasn’t as tactful or as loving as he should have been around his brothers. And he undoubtedly committed many other sins throughout his life. And so the Lord could have held a grudge against him. He had every right to. Because the Lord expects all of his people to follow what he says. He expects everyone to do what they are supposed to do and refrain from what they are not. And so a sin is not simply a mistake. Doing something that goes against God’s Word - or failing to do something that is in God’s Word - is not just an error or an oversight. Every sin is a personal attack on the character and the will of God himself. He takes it personally! He is disgusted and very unhappy about any sin that is committed. And he doesn’t forget it! He doesn’t just brush it aside! He doesn’t simply overlook it and move on. No, God actually holds a grudge for every sin that has ever been committed. But he doesn’t hold that grudge against you. Because he already held that grudge against his Son.
The Father appointed God the Son to come down to this earth. Not only to live, not only to preach, not only to set an example, but so that the Father would have someone to hold that grudge against. And all of the anger and all of the spite and all of the hatred that the Father has for sins and for those who commit them came crashing down on Jesus as he hung on the cross. The Father rejected his Son there; he despised his Son there; in a holy rage that can only come from a perfect God he loathed Jesus there on the cross. Because Jesus was carrying our sins. So the Father carried out the grudge he held against them. And it was a fierce and merciless punishment. The Father did not hold back. The Father did not let up. The Father let loose the full extent of his wrath on our Savior as he hung there in our place. Remember Jesus crying out: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” in the middle of his crucifixion? Does it surprise you why he said those words? He had been abandoned by his Father in the very pits of hell. And it was excruciating; it was terrifying; it was almost to the point of unbearable. It was so horrific, in fact, that Jesus died. Jesus actually died from the pain. But when he did, the punishment was over. The sentence had been carried out. The grudge had been satisfied.

The Grudge Gone

Joseph, who lived 1700 years before Christ, certainly didn’t know all of the details of this crucifixion that Jesus would one day perform on his behalf, but he already believed in the results. Joseph trusted that God did not hold a grudge against him for his sins and so he was more than happy to show that same kind of love to his brothers. He was so motivated by the kindness and the mercy of his God that even being sold into slavery and the raw hatred that his brothers had once shown him were not enough to dampen the forgiveness that he was thrilled to give. There was no nasty festering ball of scorn in Joseph’s heart, just love. Not because he was such a noble person but because he had been influenced by the love of his Lord and the grudge Jesus would eventually take for him. It had to have had a powerful effect on his heart to make him want to forgive his brothers for what they did. And, of course, it was powerful. And, of course, it still is.
The sacrifice of your Savior and the wrath of God he took for you because of the grudge God held against your sins is still powerful. It has forgiven you. It has worked on your heart so that you believe that you are forgiven. It comforts you with the fact that God the Father already considers you forgiven even while you are still a sinner on this earth. And with that joy in your heart and that comfort in your soul, the forgiveness that you are now to give to others can flow more freely. It can come more naturally. Because that massive amount of debt has been removed. The anger has been appeased. The grudge is gone.
That doesn’t mean forgiveness is easy. Forgiveness is still hard, isn’t it? Even if we are motivated by the forgiveness we have through Christ, the forgiveness we are to give to others is still one of the most difficult things for us to. Forgiveness is a sacrifice of sorts. It is giving up of our supposed right to be angry; it is letting go of our bitterness; it is ignoring the desire for revenge; it is the opposite of selfishness; it is an act of unqualified love. Forgiveness is difficult for us because there is no ego in forgiveness. There is no “me.” There is no grudge.
Joseph demonstrated this kind of forgiveness beautifully. Christ, of course, did more than just demonstrate it; he died for it. We, on the other hand, will probably always struggle with it. We will find it against our nature to forgive others - especially when they don’t deserve it. But know this: when you fail to forgive, you are forgiven. That is the reoccurring comfort as well as the reoccurring motivation: you are forgiven - again. You are freed from the punishment of your sins - again. You are released from the anger of that grudge that God held against you - again. And I realize that the person who has sinned against you may not deserve your forgiveness. They may not ever earn your forgiveness. But hey: neither have you. And so what is the best advice on how to be able to get over that hump and forgive those who have sinned against you? Just this: Continue to give the Holy Spirit the opportunity through his Word to work his forgiveness in your heart so that you want nothing more than to give that free forgiveness to others.
Amen.

“May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” - 2 Cor. 13:14

10/2/11 - Pentecost 16 - Ezekiel 33:7-11

SOUND THE TRUMPET

The Importance of a Watchman

City limits don’t mean that much anymore. It might mean a different set of taxes depending on what side of the city limits you are on, but the physical boundary itself is usually just marked with a sign displaying the city’s name and elevation or population. And nobody really pays too much attention to it and it’s not a big deal when you cross from one side to the other. But the city limits of a town in Old Testament times meant something a little more important than they do today. Because the “city limits” back then were not just marked with a sign or a line or a post. The city limits were marked with a wall. A thick wall made of stone and mortar and brick. In fact, a normal wall that went around the limits of a city during the time of God’s Old Testament people was at least 9 feet thick, and it could be three times that wide at its base. And the height of these walls usually ranged from about 20 to 30 feet high - short enough so that the structure could remain stable but tall enough so that it would take a little work to get up and over the top. These walls that surrounded those ancient cities were essential to the protection and the peace of its citizens. They were the first line of defense against an invading enemy - and sometimes the last. And so it was a big deal depending on what side of the city limits you were on when danger was at hand. But these walls that marked the city limits and the protection that they offered to its people would have been inconsequential if it were not for work of the city’s watchman.
The watchman was a man whose job it was to stand on top of the wall or in a corner watchtower so that he could observe what was happening around the city from all angles. His main responsibility was to stay alert and to watch out for a raiding party, an army, or an enemy of any kind that posed a threat to the citizens of the town. And if he did see an attack coming he was to sound his trumpet for everyone to hear so that those who were working outside of the city walls in the fields and the pastures could rush back in behind the gates and find protection there before the enemy arrived. The watchman could not fall asleep on the job. The watchman could not be lazy when on duty. The watchman could not arbitrarily guess when an attack was imminent, of course, but he could not hesitate when danger was detected either. He had to sound the signal loudly, clearly, and immediately because lives were at stake. The protection and the very preservation of his fellow citizens rested on how faithful he was at sounding that trumpet.

Sound the Trumpet Out of Love

You have a trumpet to sound as well. A spiritual signal. A life & death warning call to others that is much more important than the job of the watchmen back then. In fact, it is an essential responsibility of the Church at large. It always has been. Every Christian is called upon to be this kind of watchman, a watchman that holds the “keys” that were described for us earlier in Matthew 18, a duty that is also clearly laid out for us in the book of Ezekiel. The Lord said to this faithful prophet in the middle of their exile in Babylon, “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself.”
This assignment given to Ezekiel can easily be applied to the pastors and the teachers and the other spiritual leaders among us, but it doesn’t stop with them. Every Christian is a watchman. This weighty responsibility has been passed down by the Lord himself to all who believe in his name. Each one of us has been designated to man the post high up in that watchtower, to stay alert, to look for danger, and to sound that trumpet loud and clear when we see anyone at risk. Of course, sounding that spiritual trumpet means pointing out a sin; it means confronting someone with an unbiblical action or word or attitude that you have witnessed; it means bringing up a potentially unpleasant conversation with someone you care about.
But as a watchman you are to do this not to “toot your own horn” so to speak; and you are not to sound that trumpet because you are that much better than the person you are confronting; and you are not to carry out this responsibility because you dislike your fellow Christian. Rather, you put your lips to that mouthpiece and blow a clear, sure signal to save a life, to protect a soul, to turn a straying heart from the direction it’s headed and to lead that newly humbled heart back to the King inside those city walls. Your job as a watchman is crucial to the spiritual health of those around you. And so you cannot fall asleep on the job. You cannot be lazy while on duty. You cannot hesitate to sound that trumpet. Because you are the one who is held responsible.

Held Accountable for Their Blood

“I will hold you accountable for his blood,” the Lord says to Ezekiel. If one of your fellow Christian brothers or sisters has sinned, and that brother or sister is not sorry for that sin so that their faith is in serious danger because of their stubbornness, and you do not warn them, you have failed to be the watchman you have been called on to be. It is unloving, selfish, and unchristian-like to leave that trumpet hanging at your side while someone around you continues to walk towards danger with sin in hand. Because if a person sins and does not repent - that is, admit that he/she has sinned and believe in the Lord’s forgiveness - that sin is not forgiven. And just one unforgiven sin prevents entrance into the kingdom of the Lord. Just one. And if you know of that sin and look the other way, if you know of that sin and do not say anything, you are held accountable.
As a pastor, I of course am in the position where I am held responsible for the spiritual lives of many people. And throughout my ministry, as much as I hate to admit it, I have not sounded that trumpet as often or as loudly as I should have. I have sometimes blown it weakly so as not to upset someone too much. I have sometimes only given one blast on that horn - convincing myself that I have now done my duty and I don’t have to go through the trouble of sounding that trumpet again. And then there are those times when I have not even brought that trumpet up to my lips at all. Because I didn’t really feel like getting into an argument or I didn’t want that person to dislike me or I didn’t want to drive someone away… There are plenty of excuses that I have used not to sound that trumpet as a watchman. And you will be tempted to use those same excuses too. Maybe you already have. Maybe you are using some of those excuses right now right now. And the damaging thing about all of this is if the watchman doesn’t blow the trumpet, who will? If the watchman doesn’t warn that person, who will? If the watchman doesn’t care enough to say what needs to be said, who will? If the watchman doesn’t try to point a straying sinner to the Savior, who will?

Held Accountable for Your Blood

And that, that is the real reason why we sound the trumpet in the first place: not just because we are held responsible for their blood but because Christ already has been. We want that person to know that their sin is serious, but, more importantly, that Jesus himself has taken way its penalty. We want that person to realize that their Savior has already made a tremendous sacrifice of his own life for them and that their sins - no matter how awful and how unspeakable they have been - are completely forgiven through his blood. We want that person to come to know the Jesus who experienced the wrath of God for them, who took their pain, who suffered their punishment. We want that ringing trumpet blast of the Word of God to ultimately turn them back to Christ the King and pull them safely into his waiting arms.
Because that’s what he does for us, after all. Every time we sin he immediately sounds that unmistakable trumpet call in his Word, convicting us of our sins and convincing us that he has already forgiven them. That’s what repentance is: a convicting of sins and a convincing that they are forgiven. And that repentance is worked in our hearts only by the gracious hand of God through his law and gospel. It is what he desires for us all. That’s what he wanted even for his Old Testament people who had been thrown into exile because of their sins. Listen to how passionate the Lord is through his prophet Ezekiel: “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?”
The Lord did not want his people to die in their sins! He wanted them to separate themselves from their sinful actions by clinging to their Savior. “Turn! Turn from your ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?” It was a call to repentance - and it still is; it is a passionate plea to return; it is a trumpet blast that tingles the ears of sinners and moves their hearts with an incredible power and beckons them back inside the walls of his love and mercy and protection.

Sound the Trumpet to Save a Life

You are one of those who have heard this trumpet call and have been brought back inside. And now you are one of the watchmen standing on those same walls of the Church of your Lord. Look down at your side: the trumpet that you hold in your hand produces the exact same sound that you have heard from the Lord himself - because the sound it makes is the Word of God. It can be a harsh blast at times, but it is indescribably beautiful. It may be hard to listen to for some people at first, but it ends in a glorious crescendo. And so take your post, watchman. Climb the steps. Take a look around. Constantly be on your guard for the wellbeing of those all around you. And when you do see someone in danger, when you do observe someone under your watch going in the wrong direction, grip that trumpet tightly in your hands, bring it to your lips, and let that fellow brother or sister know about the danger to their souls that they can’t seem to see for themselves. It is your duty, watchman. It is your responsibility. And it is your joy. It is your joy! Sound that trumpet. Save a life. Just as the King has saved yours.
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

9/25/11 - Pentecost 15 - Galatians 6:12-16

THE CROSS WON'T CHANGE

Things are Changing

Things are changing. And I’m not just talking about the time of year as the weather changes from summer to fall and the leaves change from green to yellow. And I’m not simply referring to the regular cycle of this life either, as the times and the trends of this world change for the better or for the worse. I’m talking about the changes that are happening right here a little closer to home: the change in the location of our worship services, the changes in what we can do in our ministry to the lost, the changes we have been planning for this past year and have already begun to put into practice. And they are some exciting changes, aren’t they! A sanctuary that is almost twice the size as this one, an actual fellowship area that provides more than just elbow room for a few people, a pavilion that will be able to accommodate multiple outdoor activities, an entire facility all our own that will give us countless more opportunities to invite and encourage and welcome those around us to get to know the Lord and his Word. No more storefront. No more light fixtures dangling from chains. No more distractions from next door. Things are changing. Quickly. Whether we’re ready for them or not.
Are you proud of these changes? Does it fill you with pride to be able to invite someone you know to a nice looking building? Does it fill you with pride to have the chance to welcome someone into a brand new facility? A place that you helped build? A project that you helped support? A house of worship that you can actually call your own? It should! There’s nothing wrong with being proud of what has happened in the past 9 months and what we have been working towards for much longer than that! The Lord has blessed us tremendously! He has showered us with his grace in more ways than we could have possibly imagined at this time last year! And so don’t hesitate to tell others about all these incredible changes! Invite them to see it for themselves! Encourage them to check out what makes you so excited! But also realize this: Satan will try to use these changes against you.

Satan Uses Those Changes

The devil isn’t going to just sit back and watch. He isn’t going to quietly observe as we invite and encourage and welcome people into a House of God with all of the enthusiasm and energy of a group of Christians motivated by the love of our Lord. And he’s certainly not going to give up. Satan is going to do his best to use these blessings to undermine the Truth, to distract us from the important, to puff our chests up about the inconsequential. Because that’s what Satan does: he may not be able to stop God’s blessings from coming to us but he sure will try to twist them and skew them and take them to the extreme once they are in our hands. He will want to get us so focused and so obsessed with the “new” that we look past the “never changing.” He will want us to be so proud of what our hands have done that the accomplishments of God’s hands just don’t seem that exciting anymore. He will desperately attempt with all of his tricks and deceptions to make us focus on something else rather than on the cross.
In May of 2006 I received the call through the assignment committee of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary to Living Word Lutheran Church in Montrose, CO. And as I sat down with the district president to look over the information sent from this congregation, it was immediately stated in the cover letter that this was a mission congregation that currently worshiped in a storefront. Now, I didn’t really have any specific expectations about the congregation I would be assigned to, but I think it’s safe to say that when I, as with any young man who is studying to become a pastor within our synod… I did not imagine myself at my first congregation standing in a storefront under the sterile glow of precariously placed florescent lights on the other side of a wall from a sports bar. That’s just not the ideal picture that most men have in their minds as they anticipate their first call into the full time ministry. Was I disappointed? No, not at all. I couldn’t have been more excited to serve my God in this way no matter where I was to go. But was I proud? I can’t say I was initially proud of a storefront congregation that had been around not just for a couple years, but for almost 70 years by the time I arrived. I didn’t brag about the storefront location to others; I didn’t think it worth bringing up when people asked how ministry was going for me. And when I would talk to people in town about Living Word at first I would say things like, “We’re in a storefront now, but we’re hopefully going to be moving out soon.” “Yeah, we’re downtown temporarily, but the plan is to build our own place.” “We used to have a church building on Park Ave. but we wanted to build a bigger facility somewhere else so we moved into this storefront in the meantime.”
But why shouldn’t I have been proud? Because what was happening inside these walls? The Word of God was happening. The gospel was being preached and taught. Baptisms were being performed. The Lord’s Supper was being offered. But do you see how the devil was subtly working on me? Do you see how he was trying to get me to focus all of my attention on the outward appearance and the supposed importance of a physical structure and an external impression? Do you see how he can work on you in the same way? Playing with your pride? Diverting your attention? Making it seem like some things are much more important than they actually are?

The Cross is All That Counts

The apostle Paul was dealing with a similar attitude with the congregations in the region of Galatia. They were becoming so concerned about the externals and the impression that they were giving that they were overlooking the only thing that really counted: the cross. “Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh. May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God.”
There were not many physical church buildings that Christians were able to worship in at Paul’s time, and so that social “status symbol” of a building wasn’t too much of an issue. But there was the matter of circumcision: that Old Testament Jewish law that every male had to follow. And these Jewish Christians were apparently being coerced to be circumcised by other non-believing Jews because then it wouldn’t seem like they were turning their backs on their heritage; and it would be a little more socially acceptable if they took pride in their nationality; and they wouldn’t seem so out of place or strange compared to those around them. And so soon it didn’t matter what they believed; it mattered what people thought of them. And their pride was no longer resting on the cross of Christ, but on the precious pedigree passed down to them by their ancestors. They were losing sight of the one thing that they should have never looked away from. They were taking their eyes off the cross.
If you have been over to the new building lately, you have seen the new cross hanging in the sanctuary. Its nine feet tall and six feet wide, designed and hand crafted by a couple of the Builders for Christ out of two different kinds of wood. It’s a nice cross. A large cross. And we have nothing like it in here. The closest thing we have is that brass cross sitting on top of the altar or that old wooden cross that leans off of the side wall by a chain during Lent. But although that new cross is hanging in the new sanctuary in the new church building under new lights over new carpet surrounded by new walls and new paint soon to be looking over new altar furniture and new chairs, that cross is nothing new. It’s the same cross. It may have a new form and a new location, but the cross there is the same cross as we have always had here. Because it’s the cross of our Savior. It’s the cross of his sacrifice. It’s the cross of our forgiveness. It is the exact same ancient instrument of torture that made our Paradise possible - no matter where we are. It has been and it always will be the center of our worship, the theme of our hymns, the focus of every sermon, and the motivation for our entire life. The physical material out of which this symbol of our salvation is made might change; its form and its color and its adornment might vary from time to time; but its meaning never will. It will always mean eternal life to all who believe. It will always be the strength of our faith. It will always be the strength of our congregation. It will always be the strength of the Church.

The Cross is What We Can Boast about

And that’s something we can boast about. That is something that we can invite people to hear and encourage people to see and welcome people to experience firsthand. The cross is the one thing that is worth sharing with people no matter where we are at: a storefront, a new church building, a hospital room, a kitchen table, a coffee shop, a backyard fence. The cross is something to be bragged about! The cross is something that should fill us up with pride as Christians because it has never failed us, it has always been there for us, and it will never change. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and the eternal effects that it has produced will always stay the same. Buildings will fall, locations will dilapidate, the beautiful will turn ugly, the new will grow old. But the cross, the cross alone found in the pages of Scripture remains firm and true and ageless. And we can put our pride in that for as long as we live.
“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,” the apostle Paul said. He could have boasted that he was called by Christ himself in a special appearance on the road to Damascus. He could have boasted that he was set apart by the Holy Spirit to be a missionary to the world. He could have boasted that his efforts produced brand new congregations in multiple locations in a short amount of time. He could have boasted that he was chosen as an inspired writer of Scripture itself and had more books inserted into the Bible than any other author. He could have boasted about his calling, his abilities, his accomplishments, his status… but he didn’t. Instead he boasted about things like his weaknesses because God’s power was displayed through his faults. He boasted about things like his sufferings because God’s grace was evident through his pain. And he boasted about the cross of his Lord because that was what saved him, what rescued him, what made him who he was. Paul was a boaster - but only about those things that Christ had done on his behalf.
What kinds of things could you boast about in your life? A successful career? A good looking family? A nice house? A talented child? A likable personality? A hard working mentality? A new church building? A cross? Yes, a cross. “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” May you never have another boast. You don’t need one. The cross has given you everything you need. And that will never change.
Amen.

“Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen!” - Rev. 7:12