Date last modified: 11/05/2007
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Mt Olive Lutheran Church April Sermons |
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Luke 19:41, 44 THIS IS Palm Sunday. Only in Luke’s Gospel do we have the lament of Jesus for Jerusalem as He descends the Mount of Olives. “If only you had known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes. You did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” JESUS, THRU TEARS, sighs, “If only . . . you had known on this day what would bring you peace.” A BOOK I READ a few years back claimed: “We can have a single goal of peace of mind and a single function of practicing forgiveness. In so doing, we can learn to heal our relationships, experience peace of mind, and let go of fear.” MOST PEOPLE go through life, being pushed and pulled through it kicking and screaming, angry and upset. WE BLAME our lack of peace on external circumstances, the world around us, and the difficult people in our lives. So our goal is to change our external circumstances, be in control of our space in the world, and get rid of or manage the difficult people in our life. Yet, we do not seem to be able to change other people or to change ourselves by changing our situation. We need to change our goal and our actions. EVEN AFTER obtaining all the things we thought we wanted in terms of job, home, family, money, there is still an emptiness, an unsettled feeling inside. Mother Teresa calls this phenomenon spiritual deprivation. Our goals have all been outer and our problem is inner. SO, TO ACHIEVE PEACE, we must make peace our goal and forgiveness the means to acquire it. Can we really forgive all the slights, hurts, and pains of the past inflicted on us by other people? We are such sensitive and self-centered people. The least slight or hurt and we harbor frustration, anger, and worse. Why are we so sensitive and self-focused. We are afraid. We are afraid and scared that we are not worthwhile people and the least little thing can poof a spark of fear into a blazing, raging fire of resentment and hatred. If only, God could take away our fear of being worthless and insignificant in His unlimited love and forgiveness.? CAN WE FORGIVE ourselves? Yes, when we understand that we are born with this wound of feeling worthless. “Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted. From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness – only wounds and welts and open sores.” (Isaiah 1:5-6) This wound arises from the fear of hurt or rejection. We go through life limping. We may try all kinds of options to heal our wound. It may be an addiction. Or sex. Or a gang. Or something more dangerous, like the Pharisees – putting others down for the sake of puffing ourselves up. If only God’s love and forgiveness would heal that wound? BACK TO OUR TEXT. “You did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” Jesus could have come to town with the lightning of heaven flashing and the swords of 72,000 angels gleaming. He could have set the world straight, starting in Jerusalem. That is what the Jews wanted and the disciples expected. But that would have accomplished nothing. “If only you had know what would bring you peace.” IT WILL TAKE the cross. They could not have expected this. Or wanted it. But only when God takes upon Himself all the fear of our world and overwhelm it with His love. Only in the power of His love will we find the secret to peace. Forgiveness.
This is THE MESSAGE OF EASTER. “Because I live you shall live also.” Jesus died a horrible death. He was dead dead. He defeated death and rose again. Now, all who have a relationship with Him will likewise be resurrected to live beyond death. I HAVE DONE EXHAUSTIVE RESEARCH. I have studied history. People die People have very brief lives and then they die. For example, only four American soldiers who fought in WW I are still alive. The youngest is John Babcock, 102, from Puget Sound. A hundred years is just a blip on history’s radar screen. But it is considered a long life. AND WE DON’T LIKE DEATH. Elton John celebrated his 60th birthday in Madison Square Garden on March 25. He opened with an old song entitled “60 Years On.” The original lyrics were “I’ve no wish to be living 60 years on.” He changed them to “I wish to live 60 years on.” In other words, another 60 years. Good luck with that! ADDED TO THAT, WE TRY TO AVOID DEATH. We don’t like getting older. We don’t like anything that hints of aging and death. On a Good Morning America show recently, we saw girls as young as 19 years old getting botox injections. INFOMERCIALS and commercials abound promising six-pack abs, tighter backsides, thinner figures, ageless faces. We are held captive to the idea of youth. Now let me tell you A LITTLE KNOWN SECRET. I came to Mt. Olive 18 years ago. I was 40 years old. Now, I am 58. I am getting older. I have given up down-hill and x-country skiing. I don’t jog anymore. The same year Elvis died, my twin brother and on went on two long hikes in Grand Teton National Park. The first was 19 miles and just two days later the second was 26 miles. I doubt I will do that again. I wonder whether I will ever see Amphitheater Lake again, which is 8 miles in and, surprisingly, 8 miles out. The Resurrection including a new and non-wearing out body sounds like a good idea to me. LUKE THINKS SO TOO. He wants us to know Jesus’ resurrection is not a fabricated story. If you were going to make up a story, you would do a better job of it than this. Notice that the first witnesses of the empty tomb were women. Jewish courts did not accept the testimony of female witnesses. Then, the text tells us the disciples thought their words were nonsense. So much for a conspiracy by the disciples to claim Jesus was alive if He really wasn’t. AND JESUS APPEARANCE to the disciples is not a collective hallucination or group wishful thinking. Nor is He a ghost. Jesus invites them to touch Him. And then He takes a piece of broiled fish to prove He is real flesh and bones. That broiled fish gives me a lot of hope. Because I believe in Jesus, heaven will not be wisps and shadows, clouds and fog. I will have a real body. I will have an eternity to hike my beloved mountain trails. I will ski again. JONI EARECKSON TADA is my age. She was paralyzed at age 19 in a diving accident. She too anticipates hiking and skiing again. She says something in her book – “Heaven is My Home” – that always grabs me. “Let's not get too settled in, too satisfied with the good things down here on earth. They are only the tinkling sounds of the orchestra warming up. The real song is about to break into a heavenly symphony.” Before the orchestra plays, they tune. The first violin plays a note and then a cacophony of sounds. Kinda confusing; not very entertaining. Then, once tuned, they play and beautiful music sounds forth. This short life – sometimes confusing – is the orchestra warming up. Our resurrection life in heaven is the orchestra playing. I want to be part of that beautiful music that will go on forever with each day better then the day before.
JUDGE NOT. More difficult words were never spoken by our Lord. If you are a visitor, studies tell us you have already pretty much sized up your worship experience – you made up your mind within 10 minutes whether you will return or not. If you are a member, you can hardly wait to get to your car to criticize something or someone in worship today. How can Jesus honestly say, “Stop being critical of others?” IT IS OUR NATURE. We criticize people who disagree with us or do things differently than we would do them. We criticize people if they do not do what we expect. We criticize people who criticize us as a way of defending ourselves. You have all perhaps heard my NOT TOO KIND LUTHERAN JOKE. How many Lutherans does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: Four. One to change the light bulb and three to stand around and criticize the way he did it. How can we CHANGE OUR NATURE? We can’t. We are as stuck as the leopard – who can’t change his spots. ONLY JESUS can do that. So we best listen to His words. First, He says: “Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” This is good advice. This is the way life works. If you are forgiving; others will be forgiving of you. If you are generous to others; others will be generous to you. If we believe we have to protect ourselves and preserve our sense that we are right and others are wrong; guess how other people will treat us? Sounds like fun, doesn’t it. We criticize them. They criticize us. We criticize them for criticizing us. They criticize us for criticizing their criticism of us which was really a response to our criticism of them. Sometimes we even throw in the word “constructive;” we are offering constructive criticism. There is no such thing. Criticism is criticism. Then there are our attempts to offer compliments, however rare. We find it difficult to sincerely and honestly accept someone and to thank them. We always offer thanks conditionally, something like what someone once said to me: “That was a really good sermon; better than most of your sermons.” So, first of all, Jesus says, “If you want a life where people accept you and graciously forgive your faults; accept them and forgive them.” However, if you want a life of constant criticism, just keep doing what you are doing. Jesus advice is good advice; but, like most advice, it does not have the power to truly change us – inside – where it counts. That comes in HIS NEXT WORDS. “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the beam in your own eye? First, take the beam out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Jesus paints a silly picture. Imagine a speck of dust, the kind you see floating in the air when sunlight shines through a window. Now imagine a wooden beam sturdy enough to be the main support for a whole house/barn; I like to think of the main support beam at Camp 18. Who, with a huge beam in their eye would even attempt to remove the tiniest of speck from someone else’s eye? But HOW DO YOU REMOVE this huge chunk of wood from your own eye? You don’t. You can’t. Only God can do that. Only God’s forgiveness can give us new eyes and a new way of seeing the world. When God forgives us; we are able to forgive others, that is, to remove their specks. When we start accepting people because God has accepted us; life changes. It becomes a kinder, gentler place. We become less critical of others and, as a result, our life becomes fuller, more enjoyable, what God intends us to have.
Luke 6:43-49 THIS IS A PICTURE of the Virginia Tech campus. In the aftershock of the Virginia Tech tragedy, politicians and policemen, psychologists and sociologists, radio talk show hosts and average Americans are quick to offer solutions. Usually, they include better enforcement of present laws or the legislating of stricter laws. SOME SUGGEST that we tell parents how important it is to affirm their own children with generous doses of affection. ONE COUNSELOR felt that Virginia Tech and other schools should establish policies to recognize students who seem disconnected from their fellow students and take steps to establish and promote community THAT IS ABOUT ALL the world can do. Legislate and enforce laws. But this will not change a person’s heart or give them a solid foundation for their life. Ironically, the Pharisees believe that God’s law, spoken from the very lips of God Himself, has the innate power to change people and transform their hearts. Jesus, in contrast to the Pharisees, says that only a good heart produces good things. Only a good tree produces good fruit. WHEN THE WORLD encourages connection and community, they are hinting at what only Jesus can do. Only God’s love in Christ can sink deep into a person’s inner being and change their heart. Only the drastic measure of the cross can convert a selfish and shallow heart into a new heart that desires to love and serve others. JESUS ALSO USES the analogy of a building’s foundation. If you want to have a life that is rock solid, that is not shaken by torrents and hurricanes, listen to Jesus and put His words into practice. Listen to what? Put what into practice? In context - what He just said! You will need a new heart before you will be able to live a new life. I AM SURPRISED how often these two passages have been treated as if they stand on their own, with no relation to one another. If you are to put Jesus’ words into practice; this clearly means, acquiring a new heart. FORTUNATELY, WE KNOW exactly how God gives us a new heart. This is a major theme of the both the Old and New Testaments. Listen to Ezekial 36:26-27. I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. WHEN GOD GIVES us His Holy Spirit; we are given a new heart. Now I know there are all sorts of ideas about how to get and who has the Holy Spirit. Luke makes it very simple: Peter says, Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. [Acts 2:38] PAUL MAKES IT even simpler: If we cry Abba, Father, the Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. [Romans 8:15-16] Whether through baptism, hearing the Word, or the Lord’s Meal, if we hear and believe the message of God’s great love for us, if we experience a confidence in that love, if our spirits feel the warmth of God’s amazing love; that’s the Spirit. For, as Paul says in another place, God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us. [Romans 5:5] WHEN PEOPLE HAVE no inner sense of being loved by God, they are on their own. They do not have the Holy Spirit. They do not have a new heart. But, once the love of God has been poured into our hearts, when we feel loved and valued by God; our heart is made new and we acquire a new Spirit.
JESUS WAS AMAZED at the centurion and said to the crowd, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” This is the only time in Luke’s Gospel that Jesus is said to be amazed at someone’s faith. This is the only person in Luke’s Gospel who Jesus describes as having great faith. What is so amazing about this man’s faith? What is the nature of great faith? What kind of person do you think of when you hear the words “great faith?” MOST PEOPLE, most Christians, think of someone with great faith as someone who really really really believes. We can almost see the perspiration of their conviction. By this definition, we usually exclude ourselves. We might have faith, but certainly not the kind that would be described as great. I MET A WOMAN in Montana many years ago. She had terrible pain. Simple prayer provided no relief. In desperation, she went to a faith healer’s service. He told her if she had enough faith, God would remove the pain. She believed with all her might. The pain persisted. She felt she did not have great enough faith. Is that the way you feel today? If so, let us look at this centurion and his faith. WE LEARN TWO THINGS about the centurion’s faith from his words: 1) “I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you.” 2) “Say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” THE CENTURION DOES NOT DESERVE to have Jesus come into his house. In the eyes of the people, he deserves to have Jesus help him. In his own conscience, he feels unworthy. This is not false humility. This is an honest sense of unworthiness in view of God’s goodness. Did you know that grace means undeserved favor? The centurion knows. He looks at Jesus and asks, “Who am I to deserve You, Your consideration, Your coming to me, Your help?” THIS IS NOT HARD TO FEEL. Jesus is God. Do any of us deserve to have Jesus in our house, in our life, in our heart. When we honestly look at ourselves, our sins, our humanness; do we deserve God’s grace? SECONDLY, THE CENTURION RECOGNIZES that Jesus has been sent by heaven’s authority, and, therefore, he has authority over disease and death. Just say the word. As a centurion, his words had authority. He could command soldiers and servants alike. And they did what he said. Jesus’ words have authority. This is the essence of great faith. IT IS NOT THE GREATNESS of my faith. I feel that we, in the church, spend way too much time looking at ourselves, evaluating our faith, focusing on our weakness or strength. Like Norman Rockwell, in this self-portrait, we study ourselves in great detail. WE WOULD DO MUCH BETTER to focus on Jesus and His words. Jesus says lots of words. But let us focus on His most important words, and we can tell they are His most important words, because Luke’s Gospel saves them till last: “Repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached to all nations.” Repentance – new life – is a matter of turning from ourselves, our thoughts, and our ways to God’s thoughts and ways. Quit measuring your life by your deserving. Quit trusting in your goodness and greatness. Quit thinking great faith is a matter of your greatness. Look to God’s undeserved grace and peace as the source of life. That is why Jesus’ second word is so important - forgiveness. When Jesus says to you, “Your sins are forgiven,” He is saying that you are accepted and valued by God – this is what makes your faith great. This is the source of real peace and joy in one’s life, in short, this is the source of LIFE.
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