2/26/12 - Lent 1 - Gen. 22:1-18

THE SACRIFICE OF A SON

The Prussian Union

            Back in 1817, King Frederick William III of Prussia became so frustrated that the Lutherans and the Reformed churches could not come to an agreement on certain points of Scripture that he decided to do something about it.  And so in that year, 1817, the king put into law what is called the “Prussian Union.”  This new government-mandated state church required that the differences between the Lutherans and the Reformed had to be ignored and, in effect, the teachings of Scripture would be watered down enough so that there was no longer any division.

            Many people gave into this decree, compromising the true Word of God for the sake of an outward unity.  But a few faithful Christians did not.  A handful of believers at that time who did not succumb to the pressures of the Prussian Union became known as the “Old Lutherans.”  And because they were intent on keeping the Word of God in its truth and purity at all costs, some of them sacrificed their freedom when they were thrown in prison for refusing to agree to the king’s demand.  Others of them sacrificed their friendships and associations with those who held to the Prussian Union.  And still others decided to move to Australia and America in order to preserve the integrity of God’s Word in their lives.  Those who immigrated away from Germany made the biggest sacrifices of all.  They sacrificed their extended families by leaving them behind.  They sacrificed their jobs, their culture, and their history.  They were even willing to put their own lives on the line by traveling across the Atlantic Ocean in 1817 to a place they had never been before and hoping for a means of income and a place to live that they didn’t yet know of.  But keeping the Word of God was that important to them.  They knew that the Bible says that we are not to compromise on any teaching of Scripture, that we are to stay away from those who teach things contrary to his Word, and so those “Old Lutherans” were willing to sacrifice even the basic necessities of this life in order to follow that Word.

Abraham’s Sacrifice

            What would you be willing to sacrifice to keep the words of God?  I know that’s an unfair question: You haven’t been put into that kind of situation and it’s hard to even give an answer about what you might do unless you are actually there.  But there are still plenty of different situations in your life in which you have to sacrifice something in order to keep follow God’s Word.  For example: the Lord tells you that you are to “diligently study the Scripture” (John 5:39).  He tells you that you are supposed to show unconditional love even to those who hate you.  He tells you that you are to be completely humble and forgiving regardless of how badly you have been wronged.  What would you be willing to sacrifice to carry out these words of God?  Would you be willing to sacrifice your time just to keep a simple command of your Lord?  How about your reputation - would you be willing to sacrifice that?  Your money?  Your personal time?  Your health?  Your pride?  Your friendships?  Your happiness?  In order to keep a single command of the Word of your Lord would you be willing to sacrifice your own child?

            I ask this, of course, because we have before us today one of the most famous stories in all of Scripture: The Testing of Abraham.  It is a story that almost all of us are familiar with, a story that we have just read earlier this morning for our Old Testament lesson.  It is a story of how Abraham was willing to sacrifice his own son in order to keep the Word of God.  And not just give his son up, of course, but actually to take his son’s life!  It was that kind of “sacrifice!”  The real kind of sacrifice!  And Abraham was willing to follow through with such an unthinkable act because that’s what his Lord commanded him to do.  “Abraham!” God said to him. “Here I am,” he replied.  Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”  Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey.  He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac.

            There was no doubt that Abraham loved his son.  He had been waiting for the birth of his son Isaac for decades after all!  This was the only child he had had with his wife Sarah; this child was supposed to carry on his name; this child was supposed to produce descendants for Abraham that rivaled the grains of sand on a seashore.  His son Isaac was the most precious thing to him on this earth.  But the Bible says that Abraham got up early the very next morning and was willing to immediately sacrifice the only son he had - the son he loved more than he loved himself - simply to keep the word of the Lord. 

A Similar Sacrifice

            Thankfully, we’ll probably never be put into that kind of situation.  It is highly unlikely that the Lord will test us in that way, requiring us to physically sacrifice our child or the child of another.  But the Lord does expect the same kind of love that Abraham displayed.  Listen to what Jesus says in the book of Matthew: “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (10:37).  The Lord demands the same obedience and loyalty from you as he did from Abraham.  He may never ask you to do what Abraham was asked to do, but he certainly demands that you love him more than anything else on this earth.  He requires that you love him with a love that is willing to sacrifice everything - even those you love the most - to follow his Word, regardless of the sacrifices you must make to keep it.

            I was driving home the other day after visiting someone and as I passed by a house north-west of town there was a garbage can that was tipped over and the lid was lying in the middle of the gravel road.  And I thought to myself that maybe I should stop and pick up the trashcan and put the lid back on so that it doesn’t blow away or get run over by the another vehicle.  But then I convinced myself that I was on a tight schedule and Seth was in the car with me and the wind would probably just knock it over again anyway, and so I drove past without stopping.  I didn’t want to sacrifice the little amount of time that it would have taken or the small amount of effort that it would have required to help someone out in that simple way.

            But that’s the way our minds work, don’t they?  We know about those things that the Word of our Lord asks of us but sometimes we simply just don’t want to sacrifice what it would take to carry those things out.  We know that we are supposed to diligently study the Scriptures, but frankly that would require us to sacrifice some precious time and a little bit of mental effort and we don’t exactly what to give those things up some days!  We know that we are supposed to love and care for and bend over backwards to help those around us - but that would require us to sacrifice some of our energy for people who wouldn’t appreciate it anyway!  We know that we are supposed to have an attitude of humility and forgiveness regardless of what a person has done to us, but that would require us to sacrifice our pride and the “upper hand” we have over that person and our selfish sense of victory.  We just don’t like to sacrifice things to carry out God’s Word.  It’s easier to ignore God’s Word or pretend we don’t know God’s Word or at least put off the commands of God’s Word until there’s a time that is a little more convenient for us - maybe a time when we don’t have to sacrifice so much to put those words of God into action…  We aren’t anything like Abraham on most days.  The man who got up early the next morning to keep the Lord’s command that would require him to sacrifice his own son.  Because no matter how much he loved his son, he loved the Lord and his Word even more - despite what he had to sacrifice.

The Father’s Sacrifice of His Son

            But Abraham’s love, no matter how impressive it may be, is not the kind of love that Scripture points to as our ultimate example… “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10).  So says the apostle John in his first letter.  The Father loved us so much that he was willing to sacrifice his one and only Son.  The Father was willing to sacrifice his Son.  Sound familiar?  The Father actually sacrificed his Son for us!  Which means that, in a way, the Father loved us more than he loved his Son, because he sacrificed him for us!  He gave up his Son to gain us!  He disowned his Son to deliver us!  He was willing to send the One he loved the most to the grave so that he could save those who didn’t love him at all.  That is love.  That is “sacrifice.”  The sacrifice of a Son is love.  And not just any son, but the Son of God.  The Son who has always been with the Father, the Son who is one with the Father, the Son who is God with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  It was this Son whom the Father sacrificed for sinners.  For sinners!  And the Father went through with this sacrifice because he said he would.  The words of God had been spoken.  And so no matter how painful it was for the Lord to turn his back on the One he loved, he was not going to go back on his Word.  He was not going to turn his back on us no matter what the cost.

            During these first five Sundays in this season of Lent, we are focusing on some Old Testament stories that “hint” at Christ.  The story of Abraham is one of these stories.  Now it’s not a prophecy about Christ; and it’s not a foreshadow of Christ either.  Jesus is not mentioned in any way [with the exception of a reference in v.18 after the body of the story] and the New Testament doesn’t quote this story of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac as referring to Christ either.  But this famous event from the book of Genesis is certainly similar to some of the events of Jesus’ life.  Just as Abraham, Isaac’s father, was ready and willing to sacrifice his son out of love for the Lord, so our heavenly Father was ready and willing to sacrifice his Son out of love for us.  And what a beautiful sacrifice it was: a sacrifice of blood that washed us clean, a sacrifice of life that freed us from death, a sacrifice of a Child to make us children of his own.  It is the Father’s sacrifice of his Son that secures for us eternity.  And it is the Father’s sacrifice of his Son that moves us to sacrifice everything for him on this earth.

Our Sacrifices through Faith

            Lord willing, we won’t ever be told by God himself to actually take the life of someone we love in order to prove our love to him.  Lord willing, we will never be put in a situation where our love for God is pitted directly against the love we have for a family member.  Lord willing, we won’t even find ourselves in a situation like those Christians were back in 1817 during the Prussian Union - Christians who were forced to sacrifice their country and their livelihoods and their safety simply to keep the a command of the Lord.  But we are given opportunities to sacrifice our time and efforts, our wealth and wants every day for the Lord.  We are put in situations where we are able to give things up in order to keep God’s Word.  But is it worth it?  Is it worth sacrificing our time, our effort, our wealth, and our wants for the sake of the Word of our God?  Is it worth sacrificing what we’d like to do for what God would like us to do?  Is it worth sacrificing what we have and what we are comfortable with to simply thank our God and praise our God and worship our God?  Is it worth it?  It’s not worth it to gain salvation because our God has already given that to us free of charge.  And it’s not worth it to win God’s favor because he already loves us more than we can imagine.  But it is worth the sacrifice to show him our genuine appreciation and our undying gratitude.  Is it worth it?  Well, consider this: the Father thought it was worth sacrificing his only Son for you.  The Father actually sacrificed his Son for you.

            Amen.

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” - 1 John 4:10

2/19/12 - Transfiguration - Mark 9:2-9

WHAT KIND OF JESUS DO WE NEED?

The Kind of Jesus People Thought He Should Be

            Jesus’ brothers expected big things out of him.  Now, Jesus’ brothers didn’t believe that he really was the Savior at the time, but they came to him one day and suggested, “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” (John 7:3-4).  They thought he should be the kind of leader that showed off his amazing miracles in public so that he could become famous. 

            Of course, other people had expectations of Jesus too.  At another point in Jesus’ ministry, after he finished feeding the five thousand men plus women and children with five loaves of bread and two fish, the people there thought it to be a good idea to have this man around them on a permanent basis so that he could miraculously feed them whenever they got hungry.  But “Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself” (John 6:15).

            Even at the end of his life, while Jesus was hanging there on the cross, some of the people there scoffed, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One” (Luke 23:35).  Throughout Jesus’ life people wanted him to be a kind of leader who was well-known for his miraculous powers or a kind of king who would supply his subjects with every nice thing on this earth or a kind of prophet who would promote his own well-being and use his abilities for his own benefit.  But that’s not who Jesus was.  And that’s not who Jesus was going to be.  He wasn’t here to be popular with the crowds; he wasn’t here to set up an earthly kingdom; and he wasn’t here for his own advancement or honor.  Jesus was here on this earth for a far more important reason.  And that’s why he wasn’t the Jesus everyone thought he should be.

The Kind of Jesus the Disciples Wanted

            Jesus’ own disciples had some of those same ideas.  They would have liked a Jesus who displayed his power a little more often, someone who would also relieve them from the pains and the troubles they had to face on this earth.  And that mindset is seen on top of the mountain where Jesus was “transfigured” or transformed in front of three of them.  Notice during this incredible event what Peter says in the heat of the moment: After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them.  His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.  And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.  Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”  (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)

            Peter and, I would guess, James and John too, wanted to set up some tents for Jesus and Elijah and Moses so that they would stay a while longer.  They never wanted this amazing transformation to end!  They were standing there in front of two of the greatest prophets ever to have walked on the face of this earth!  And on top of that, Jesus was standing there as they had never seen him before: shining in his godly glory!  This was the kind of Jesus they had been waiting for!  This was the kind of Jesus that they knew he had always been!  And this was the kind of Jesus that they wanted everyone else to see!  A Jesus who looked like God!  A Jesus who glowed like God!  A Jesus who was visibly powerful and unmistakably impressive!  This was the kind of Jesus who could fix all of their problems in an instant and wipe out any one of their enemies who might possibly dare to cause them harm! This “transfigured” Jesus, this transformed Jesus was the one they wanted to come down the mountain with.  No one would doubt his teachings now!  No one would question the disciples’ own career changes anymore!

            But then the Bible says that, “A cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: ‘This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!’  Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.”  In the blink of an eye the kind of Jesus that they had been so excited to see, the kind of Jesus that had filled them with so much joy, was gone.  And all they were left with was the normal, ordinary, every-day Jesus.  The kind of Jesus that looked like a regular guy.  The kind of Jesus that walked and talked and ate and slept.  The kind of Jesus whose face didn’t shine and whose clothes didn’t gleam.  He would be the kind of Jesus to come down the mountain with them.  He would be the kind of Jesus the people of this world would see once again.  And we aren’t told what those three disciples thought about that, but I would guess that they had to be at least a little bit disappointed.  Who wouldn’t be?  After seeing Jesus reveal his majesty like that on top of the mountain, I think it’d be hard to go back down that mountain without taking that kind of Jesus with them. 

The Kind of Jesus We Would Like

            We would like that kind of Jesus sometimes, wouldn’t we?  The kind of Jesus who displays his visible and undeniable might in our lives.  The kind of Jesus who clearly demonstrates his ability to snap his fingers and make everything bad go away.  And we pray like that too on occasion.  We pray that he would completely remove all of our problems and that he would take away every difficulty and that he would fix each one of those unpleasant situations so that we would never have to deal with any trouble ever again.  But that’s just not the kind of Jesus we have because that’s not the kind of Jesus we need.  We don’t need the kind of Jesus who completely removes all of our problems or takes away every difficulty or fixes each one of those unpleasant situations.  We don’t need the kind of Jesus whose only goal is to give us a good life on this earth.  We don’t need the kind of Jesus whose sole purpose is to provide us with the nice things of this world.  We don’t need the kind of Jesus whose reason for existing is to make sure that we enjoy ourselves while we are here by acquiring the maximum amount of wealth and happiness possible.  But that’s what we want sometimes, don’t we?  We want that kind of Jesus who gives us all of those things and does for us all of those thing because then our lives would be so much easier and each day would be so much more pleasant to get through and life would be that much more enjoyable.  That’s the kind of Jesus we think we need.  Unfortunately, we sometimes want a kind of Jesus he is not.  We want a kind of Jesus he does not promise to be.  Which means we sometimes want a God other than the one he is.

The Kind of Jesus We Needed Him to Be

            I’m sure the three disciples expected big things from Jesus after his transfiguration.  But when he came down from that mountain he didn’t show his glory to his disciples again until after he rose from the dead.  In fact, soon after his transfiguration he led his disciples south to the city of Jerusalem for the final time.  Because right outside those city walls he would soon be betrayed, arrested, and handed over to the posse of the high priest.  Inside those walls he would be tried, convicted, and condemned.  Within the soldier’s headquarters he would be beaten and scourged and abused.  And on a road leading out of that city he would soon be nailed to a cross.  Because that’s the kind of Jesus they needed!  They needed a Jesus who was a real human being in every sense of the word - not a Jesus who stood high above them on a mountain top untouched by the ugliness of this life.  They needed a Jesus who was willing to suffer that severe pain and that humiliating death and that awful abandonment by his Father.  They needed a Jesus whose blood would flow, whose skin would break, whose brow would sweat, whose heart would stop.  And they needed a Jesus who would allow them to undergo some difficulties of their own.  Just as Jesus did not prevent himself from experiencing trouble and pain and torture, he did not prevent his disciples from experiencing those things either.  He could have!  He could have spared his disciples from any of the unpleasantries of those events, but that’s not the kind of Jesus they needed!  They needed a kind of Jesus who would not shelter them from the pain.  Because that pain brought them closer to him. 

            We need that same kind of Jesus.  We need the suffering Jesus, the humiliated Jesus, the Jesus who let his back be scourged, the Jesus who let his head be punctured, the Jesus who let his hands and feet be driven through.  We needed the Jesus who looked like he had lost, because that’s how we won.  We needed the Jesus who seemed as if he could not do anything to save himself on that cross because that’s how he saved us.  And in the end we also need the Jesus who allows us to undergo some painful times and terrible situations in our own lives because he uses even those events to draw us closer to him.  We need the exact same kind of Jesus whom Jesus has always proven himself to be: one who was willing to suffer and one who is willing to let us suffer; the one who was ready to give up every good thing on this earth and the one who sometimes takes away good things from us; the one who did not shy away from death and the one who lets death affect the people in our lives.  Because this kind of Jesus is not so concerned about the ease of life we have while we are here; this kind of Jesus is focused on the perfect life that we have planned for us up there.  That is the kind of Jesus we need.  And that is the kind of Jesus we still have.

The Kind of Jesus He Is

            Jesus’ mindset and his goal for us are still the same.  He doesn’t always make our pathway smooth because that wouldn’t be good for us.  Jesus doesn’t always give us what we want because that wouldn’t be good for us either.  Jesus doesn’t always physically heal us or mentally relieve us or emotionally calm us because sometimes even those things are good for our faith.  But you can be assured that we have the kind of Jesus that will do whatever is best for us at exactly the right time. 

            Peter, James, and John needed to see him transfigured on that mountain before they came back down.  But those very same disciples also needed Jesus to be the normal, ordinary, every-day Jesus by the time he reached that cross.  And they needed him to allow them to go through a few struggles of their own.  We too get a few tastes of Jesus’ power and majesty throughout our lives just like those disciples did on the Mountain of Transfiguration.  But more often than not, we must go through struggles at the bottom of that peak.  Because by going through the struggles we are forced to pray to him and lean on him and cling to him.  And as long as we need that and as long as we benefit from that, that’s exactly what our kind of Jesus is going to do.  Our kind of Jesus is going to do whatever it takes to make sure that no matter how hard this life is, we will end up in heaven with him.  That’s what a loving Jesus does, a caring Jesus, a merciful Jesus, a forgiving Jesus.  That’s the kind of Jesus we need.  And that’s the kind of Jesus we have.

            Amen.

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

2/12/12 - Epiphany 6 - 2 Cor. 1:3-7

THERE'S ONLY COMFORT IN CHRIST

Comfort Follows Suffering

            Naaman probably didn’t want leprosy.  I’m guessing that the Aramean general in the Old Testament reading this morning probably didn’t like being inflicted with a terminal skin disease.  Who would?  It was probably never-wracking for him, it was probably affecting his job, it was probably putting stress on his wife and children, and it was probably very painful.  But without it, without being inflicted with that terminal skin disease, Naaman would have never listened to what that little Israelite girl had to say; Naaman would have never gone to the land of Israel in search of a prophet; Naaman would have never washed himself in the Jordan River; Naaman would have never had any need to be healed.  But most importantly, if Naaman didn’t have to suffer like he did, he never would have experienced God’s comfort through Christ.

            We didn’t read that part of the story today, but in the end Naaman actually became a believer in the true God.  He was brought to faith in his Lord who healed him and in the Savior that his Lord had promised to one day send.  And so Naaman went back to his home country of Aram with a comfort that he didn’t have before.  After he had gone through the leprosy and the trip and the miraculous healing, he knew that his Lord would always be with him from there on out, that his Lord would take care of him, that his Lord would protect him; and that no matter what he had to face during the rest of his life - pain, defeat, maybe even another bout of leprosy - the comfort he now had because of his Savior would never leave.  His life was certainly filled with the normal kinds of troubles that everyone else has to deal with, but the comfort he had been given by his Lord gave him the peace of mind to make it through anything.

Comfort is a Mindset

            This comfort from Christ is not a cure; but it is a mindset.  Comfort from the Lord doesn’t make leprosy go away or overdue bills go away or family problems go away or health issues go away…  But the comfort from Christ about his love and his compassion and his protection does produce a mindset that helps you deal with those problems and troubles and convinces you that everything is going to be alright.  Comfort from Christ doesn’t fix your problems; it allows you cope with your problems.

            The ancient Christian congregation in the city of Corinth needed this kind of comfort because they had many different problems.  And most of them were self-inflicted!  In the apostle Paul’s first letter to this group of Christians he addresses a whole laundry list of different sins that they were committing and really lays into them with the law of God.  There are gospel sections throughout the letter too, of course, but a good portion of Paul’s initial correspondence with them had to do with conflicts within the congregation that needed to be resolved.

            But at the beginning of his second letter to this same church, Paul starts out with a different kind of tone.  He begins with words of comfort.  “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”  The Corinthians and heard some harsh words of the law, now it was time to hear some comforting words of the gospel.  Words about the Father of compassion, words about the God of all comfort, words that they could count on when things weren’t going so well in their congregation or in their everyday lives.  And the Corinthians needed that.  They needed a reminder about who their Lord was and what he would do.  It had been a tough time lately for this new group of Christians and they had to understand that their Lord was still by their side and that his comfort was still theirs to enjoy.

Empty Comfort

            Of course, this comfort wasn’t just for their own benefit.  Notice one of the reasons why they were comforted and why we are all comforted: “So that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”  We as Christians are comforted in our troubles and problems by Christ himself, not just so that we can rest comfortably ourselves and have a sense of relief and peace in this life on our own, but so that we can relay that same message of comfort to others who are going through similar problems and struggles.  We aren’t supposed to keep this comfort to ourselves!  We are supposed to share it as often and in as many ways as we can.  And we’re talking about “real” comfort here, not the kind of supposed “comfort” that is normally given in this world.

            A few months ago my neighbor across the street had a severe heart attack.  And he was old enough and weak enough that he died a few hours later.  I took his wife down to the hospital to see him while he was still alive soon after the ambulance left their house, and while I was sitting there with her in the room next to her husband who was slowly passing away, the different nurses and grief counselors that were coming in and out of the room tried offering her some “comfort.”  And so they would say things like: “I’m sure he was a good husband…”  “You must have a lot of pleasant memories together after being married for over 60 years…”  “He’s probably not in any pain right now…”  “At least he didn’t have to suffer…”  “You are lucky to have a chance to see him and talk to him before he passes away…”  And maybe the all-time favorite, “It’s going to be OK.”  But in the end, were any of those words truly comforting?  Because now she lives alone without her husband.  And although she may remember those words of “comfort” as nice gestures, they don’t really mean anything now.  Maybe she and her husband did have a long life together; maybe he didn’t have to suffer a whole lot of pain; maybe she did have a chance to say goodbye before it was over.  But so what?  Those might be nice things to look back on, but there’s no real peace there, no relief, no sense of contentment at all.

            But we say similar things sometimes, don’t we?  When someone we know has a problem or is going through a difficulty and they make us aware of it one way or the other, what comes out of our mouths sometimes?  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that…”  “I’m sure it’ll get better eventually…”  “Maybe it’s not as bad as it seems…”  “I feel so bad for you…”  “Oh, it’s going to be OK…”  But if those kinds of words are the only words that we end up saying, then why bother?  What a waste of time.  What a waste of breath.  Because those words don’t really give any true comfort at all, do they?  The real comfort and relief that we have because of Christ and his promises are more than just words, they’re facts.  But they are facts that end up being kept to ourselves far too often.  They are facts that are not shared.  Not revealed.  Hidden.  As if that person dealing with that problem wouldn’t care.  As if that person wouldn’t understand anyway.

            And I apologize if I have ever done that to you.  I know that I have left some people without comfort - people who were dealing with problems and issues and awful situations - and I ask for your forgiveness if I have ever done that to you.  Because how could I?  How could I ever let that kind of conversation end without offering that wonderful comfort we find in Christ?  Even if it was an unbeliever, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t have soothed that struggling soul with the words about our Savior!  It’s upsetting to me that I have done that on more than one occasion.  And I would think that it’s a little upsetting to you if any of you have done the same thing.

There is No Other Comfort Than Christ

            But whenever we come to the realization that we have once again failed to share the comfort of Christ with someone, the only place we can go is back to Christ’s comfort.  And pray: “Lord, I have sinned.  I didn’t say what I should have said.  I didn’t share with them the comfort that you have given me.  I’m sorry.”  And the Lord’s says to you, “I know.  I forgive you.”  “But Lord, I did a really awful thing!”  “I know,” your Savior says, “but I forgive you.”  “But Lord, I keep on sinning and keep on sinning and keep on sinning.  Not only with this situation but in everything I do every day!”  “I know, my child.  That’s why I came to this earth.  That’s why I took on every temptation and experienced every torture.  That’s why I died.  That’s why I rose.  And I forgive you.” 

            And these comforting words of your Lord don’t just apply to the sins you commit, they also apply to every other bad thing that happens in this life.  When you are weighed down with obligations or guilt, when your blood pressure is about to boil over, when you are so sad it hurts, when you are on the verge of depression, when you can’t handle the pain, when you are so worried that you can’t even sleep, your Lord grabs you with his Word, wraps you in his arms and quietly says, “Shhhhhh.  It’s OK.  Shhhhhh.  It’s really OK.  I still have everything under control.  I know what you’re going through; I went through it myself.  I know how it’s going to end; I’ve planned on it from the very beginning.  And what you are going through right now is exactly what you need at exactly the right time.   Shhhhhh.  Don’t worry.  I’m right here.  It’s OK.”

            And when your Lord says that it’s OK, he means it.  He doesn’t say it’s going to be OK.  It won’t just be OK sometime in the future.  No, even right in the middle of the terrible moments and the tough times and the difficult situations, it’s OK.  Because the Lord is right there.  The Savior who suffered for you is holding your hand as you suffer.  And he wants you to know that even if you can’t see it at the moment, this is what is best; this is how he can show you the full amount of his love; this unpleasant situation is an opportunity for him to comfort you once again.

Give Others True Comfort

            Share this comfort with others.  Please, for the sake of their souls, share this comfort with others.  Both believers and unbelievers.  From fellow Christians you know to those non-Christians you have yet to meet.  Because the fact is: you aren’t going to be able fix their problems anyway, are you?  You aren’t going to be able to solve their situation or realign their life.  You can’t even realign your own life when things go awry!   But you can give them that one thing that is able soothe their minds and put them at ease and fill them with peace: the comfort that comes from Christ.  And that comfort is this:  Christ loves you; he cares for you; he even went so far as to die for you.  He now protects you; leads you; defends you; and promises never to leave you.  And so when everything else in this life is crumbling down around you, when nothing is certain, when nothing is stable, when you can’t even depend on yourself, guess who’ll be there?  Just like he always has been.  Just like he always will be.  And there are so many people who need to hear that.  I need to hear that!  You need to hear that.  And we all have to remember that our Savior actually looks forward to those difficult times and trying situations we have to experience because he knows that they are simply more opportunities for him to prove his love to us yet once again.

            Amen.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

2/5/12 - Epiphany 5 - Job 7:1-6

A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

Job’s Life

            Job had it all.  He had 7000 sheep, 3000 camels, 500 oxen, 500 donkeys, a whole house full of servants, and 10 children of his own.  He was known as “the greatest man among all the people of the East” (Job 1:3).  And on top of all that, he was a believer.  Scripture describes him as a blameless and upright man, a Christian who feared God, someone who prayed for his children on a regular basis, a man who was not unduly influenced by the wealth and success he had been blessed with. 

            But then, of course, if you remember the story, Job lost it all.  On one day all of his donkeys and oxen, sheep and camels were either destroyed or stolen.  He lost all but a couple servants to these enemy raids, and every one of his 10 children died all at once when the house they were in collapsed on top of them.  In the span of few minutes Job’s livelihood, savings, vehicles, and family were wiped out.  And if that wasn’t enough, a short time later the Lord allowed Satan to take away even Job’s health.  He was inflicted with boils from head to toe and all he could do was scratch his sores with broken pieces of pottery while the dogs came by and licked his wounds.  Job had lost everything that he had, his own wife turned on him, his friends despised him, and he wasn’t even healthy enough to deal with it.  And in the middle of it all, he broke down.  He couldn’t handle it any more.  Listen to just a few of his words at this awful time in his life: “Does not man have hard service on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired man?  Like a slave longing for the evening shadows, or a hired man waiting eagerly for his wages, so I have been allotted months of futility, and nights of misery have been assigned to me.  When I lie down I think, ‘How long before I get up?’ The night drags on, and I toss till dawn.  My body is clothed with worms and scabs, my skin is broken and festering.  My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and they come to an end without hope.”

            Job was miserable!  And who can blame him?  After all he was going through, it’s not surprising that he says words like these!  And these aren’t even the worst of what he says.  He talks about wishing that he were never born, that he wanted to die as soon as possible, that the person who brought him into this world should be cursed.  Job was almost at the breaking point.  He was nearly drained of hope for anything to get better and he certainly could find no comfort.

            But then, by the end of the book of Job, after the Lord himself comes down and really lays into him for blaming God of being unjust, Job receives back double of everything that he had lost.  14,000 sheep, 6000 camels, 1000 ox and donkeys, 10 more children, and his three daughters were known as the most beautiful women in the land.  Job lived for another 140 years after this happened and so he was able to see his great-great-great grandchildren.  And you can bet that Job appreciated every single bit of it!  You can be absolutely sure that Job had a little different perspective now on what he had after what he had gone through!  He undoubtedly treasured his blessings a little more, valued his children a little more, thanked his Lord a little more.  That terrible part of his life had to have changed his attitude about some very important things and refocused his perspective on the real blessings that he had never lost.

Our Life

            Sometimes we might need a different perspective than what we have.  And it’s not that we are unbelievers or blatantly disregarding God’s blessings or purposely ignoring God’s hand in our lives; sometimes it’s simply that we get too comfortable where we’re at and what we’re doing and we start to take for granted the gifts that the Lord has been giving us every day and maybe even forgetting about the “real” blessings that he will never take way.

            There was a really interesting character in the Old Testament named Nebuchadnezzar.  He was the king of Babylon at the time when his armies destroyed Jerusalem and took the people of Israel into exile.  Nebuchadnezzar was the king who threw Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego into the fiery furnace.  He was the one who had those dreams that Daniel interpreted for him.  He was the one that appointed these men to high positions in his kingdom.  In chapter four of the book of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar relates an incident that happened to him in the past involving the Lord.  He had had a dream that Daniel interpreted for him.  The dream was that Nebuchadnezzar would be cast out of his kingdom, be driven mentally insane, and live with wild animals for a time unless he repented of his arrogance and pride.  Nebuchadnezzar, however, did not listen to the Lord’s warning and so the Lord did to him what he had promised: the king went crazy, he was thrown off of his thrown, and he lived in the wild with the animals until the time the Lord had set was completed.  He was then given back his throne, his sanity was restored, and he once again ruled over his kingdom.  And, not surprisingly, he had a different perspective on things after that!  “I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just.  And those who walk in pride he is able to humble” (Daniel 4:37).  It certainly was not pleasant for Nebuchadnezzar to go through what he did.  But it was good for him.  It was the best for him.  It was a way in which the Lord slapped him across the face and snapped him out of his sinful tendencies.  The king of Babylon needed a different perspective on life and the King of Heaven cared enough about him to do just that.

            There are times when we do not appreciate all of the thousands of blessings that the Lord gives us every day.  There are times when we do not bring to mind all of the ways he helps us every day.  There are times when we do not acknowledge that he is always with us and supporting us and guiding us every day.  And shame on us when we don’t.  Shame on us when we are so busy complaining that we look past the blessings.  Shame on us when we are so worried about getting something else that we forget about what we already have.  Shame on us when we are so concerned about some of the enjoyable things that have been taken away that we lose sight of those blessings that never will be.  Shame on us when we lose our perspective in this life.  Shame on us when we lose our perspective of the cross.

Blessings to Keep in Perspective

            Understand that your Lord’s number one goal is to see you in heaven with him.  Your faith in him is his primary concern and he will do everything it takes to make sure that you remained attached to your Savior until the end.  And so if your perspective on life is starting to be influenced a little too much by all of the niceties of this world, then he’ll change your perspective.  It might not be fun; it might not be pleasant at the time; but he’ll do it so that you are looking at cross once again.  If your perspective on life is starting to be hampered by self-pity and “Woe is me” despair, then he’ll change your perspective in some way.  It might not be fun; it might not be pleasant at the time; but he’ll do it so that you are looking at the cross once again.  If your perspective on life is starting to be shaded by complaining, by selfish ambition, by an unhealthy pursuit of some earthly happiness, then he might very well change your perspective if it needs to be done.  And it might not be fun for you; it might not be pleasant at the time; but he’ll do it so that you are looking at the cross once again. 

            He never wants you to forget about those blessings that he will never take away: his forgiveness, his salvation, and his eternal life.  And sometimes we have to learn it the hard way.  You will be in some extreme physical pain at certain points in your life, persistent pain, seemingly unending pain; but your Lord might allow that to happen so that you do not lose your perspective on the blessings he gives you through the pain that he went through: the beatings, the scourgings, the nails and the thorns.  You will be faced with the loss of a number of good things in this life that make you happy and content and comfortable; but your Lord may do that so that you do not lose your perspective on the blessings he gives you through what he never had on this earth: a home, a job, a family, a vacation, free time, a bank account, loyal friends…  Jesus didn’t have any of those things, but he didn’t have any of those things for you.  You will have to struggle with the death of those you love at some point if you have not had to multiple times already.  But during those difficult times the Lord never wants you to lose your perspective on the blessings he gives you through his death.  And sometimes he might use the death of someone you love to do that.  Sometimes he might take away a few of your prized possessions to do that.  Sometimes he might allow you to undergo some real physical hardships to do that.  He does not want you to be blocked from the view of his cross.  And if you are unable to see the cross clearly for some reason, he will not hesitate to change your perspective no matter how painful it might be for you at the time.

Blessings Over and Above

            It was painful for Job to go through those kinds of things.  But we don’t want to be too hard on Job today because even at his lowest point he still do not lose his faith and trust in the Lord.  And the Lord wouldn’t have done that anyway: he would have never inflicted Job with so much misery that Job’s faith would crash and burn.  And so a few chapters after we hear Job complain about his life in chapter 7, in chapter 19 we hear a beautiful confession of faith that is the basis for one of the most famous Easter hymns ever written: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.  And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another.  How my heart yearns within me!” (19:25-27).  Job never lost his perspective of the cross - even though Christ had yet to die on it.  Job knew for a fact that he would end up in heaven and that he would one day see his Lord face to face.  And because of that perspective, he was able to view the blessings he got back in a new light too.

            When we as Christians have a clear viewpoint from which we can look out and see Christ’s cross in the foreground, his empty tomb in the center of the scene, and the gates of heaven off on the horizon, all of the wonderful blessings that he gives us in this life over and above those great gifts are put into their proper perspective.  We care about them less but we appreciate them more.  We care about them less because we realize that they aren’t what is most important in this life; Christ is!  And his forgiveness and salvation and eternal life that he gives to us!  The blessings that he will never take away are what really matter!  But on the other hand, we appreciate those little, every day, earthly, temporary blessings more than we did before because we know that we don’t deserve them, that we don’t need them, that we can get by without them, and yet our gracious Lord gives them to us anyway!  Our Lord showers us with so many gifts that we can’t possibly count them all!  And we are so flattered that he would do that for us that we just can’t help but smile and almost turn red from embarrassment.  What a great Lord our God is to people like us!  What a great God he continues to be!

            Thank your Lord that he reminds you of that from time to time, that he takes things away or allows you to go through some difficulties so that you don’t forget, that he changes your perspective when it needs to be done so that you never stray too far away from his arms.  Our God is good like that.  Our God is dependable like that.  And although a change in perspective can be a painful process in the hands of our Lord, the view we are left with of his cross when it is done is never more beautiful.

            Amen.

“The Lord will rescue us from every evil attack and will bring us safely to his heavenly kingdom.  To him be glory forever and ever.  Amen.”  - 2 Tim. 4:18