date last modified: 12/31/2007
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Mt Olive Lutheran Church December Sermons
Luke 15.1-24 How do you picture your heavenly Father? Does He have a father’s heart? Do you really believe that He is always, unfailingly, present to you as loving and gracious Father? Or do you picture your heavenly Father is a STRICT DISCIPLINARIAN? Do you fear your Father in heaven? Have you learned to think of your Father as Someone who spanks you when you are bad? Jesus insisted that His Father is CRAZY WITH LOVE, that God is a kooky God who can scarcely bear to be without us. The parable that makes this truth so obvious is the prodigal son, the parable of the loving/waiting Father. The nature of God’s love is outrageous. The younger son took his share of his father’s wealth and LEFT the father’s house to go to a far country. He probably wanted to be on his own, do his own thing, be the boss of his life. HE WASTES his share of the father’s fortune in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine. He hires himself out to FEED PIGS and ate pig food to keep from starving. Then thought to himself, This is CRAZY! How many of my father’s servants have food to spare and I am starving. I will go home and say, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called you son; make me one of your servants.’” His motives were not totally pure. When the boy limped home from his lengthy binge of waste and wandering, boozing and womanizing, his motives were mixed at best. He was hungry. He stumbled home simply to survive. The waanderer weaved his way home, not from a burning desire to see his father, but just to stay alive. However, he does construct a NICE SPEECH. And the son had his speech carefully rehearsed. It was an elegant, polished statement of sorrow. When he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was FILLED WITH COMPASSION for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and couldn’t stop kissing him. The father was watching for his son. He was waiting. He ran, not walked or moseyed, not stood at the door and tapped his foot, not saw him and retreated to his pouting place. He ran. He gives him a big hug and kisses him repeatedly. Is it possible that God wants to be with us more than we could ever want to be with Him? The father receives him back with open arms before the son makes his speech. And you get the strong sense the son’s speech is not necessary. We don’t have to go into great detail about our sin or our sorrow. The prodigal’s father says in effect, “Hush, child. I don’t need to know where you’ve been or what you’ve been up to.” God’s grace is outrageous. Forgiveness precedes repentance. The sinner is accepted before he pleads for mercy. Do you think the boy gets off too easy? Would you cross-examine the boy, lecture him on wasting his life, belittle him for his ingratitude, insist on sincere sorrow and real heart-felt repentance, put him on probation? Would you crush and humiliate the boy? God alone can make forgiveness something GLORIOUS to experience. He’s so glad to absolve us that those who have afforded him that joy feel, not like disagreeable, troublesome pests, but like pampered children, understood and heartened, pleasing and welcome to him. What encouragement, consolation and comfort we find here. We don’t have to sift our hearts and analyze our intentions before returning home. Our father just wants us to show up. We don’t have to tarry at the tavern until real tears stream from our face. We don’t have to be shredded with sorrow or crushed with contrition. We don’t have to be perfect or even very good before God will accept us. We don’t have to wallow in guilt, shame, remorse, or self-condemnation. Even if we come back because we couldn’t make it on our own. God will welcome us. He will seek no explanations about our sudden appearance. He is glad we are there and wants to give us all we desire. And we FEAST. Isn’t that the best description of what life is like in the Father’s love? I like to eat. I enjoy good food. A lavish feast of God’s unending love is set before all who come home. Luke 15:28-32 WHAT WORD or expression best describes the feelings of the older brother? Angry? Jealous? Sarcastic - What good is being good? Critical - He doesn’t deserve this! Hurt - I‘m the good one. HOW ABOUT: Normal? Or Right? Maybe Reasonable? Possibly Sensible? Fair? Appropriate? Our human nature sees the father’s forgiveness and extravagant celebration as strange, wrong, irrational, crazy, unfair, and foolish. All of us can identify with the older brother. We naturally make qualifications or attach conditions to forgiveness. By nature, we all think that God’s love is cheapened if it is granted so graciously and with such uncontrolled celebration. THE ATTITUDE of the older son was the attitude of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. They resented and critiqued Jesus’ graciousness. They grumbled, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Welcoming sinners and associating with them was suspect. The Pharisees and teachers of the law believed that a man had to make movement towards God (demonstrated by sincere repentance and a commitment to reform his life) before God would bestow His favor. God’s grace was only for the deserving. A PRACTICAL CONCERN: How will we motivate people to give money or live the new life if God’s forgiveness, love, and acceptance are totally free? If God is going to throw a wild celebration for every crummy sinner who comes, why would they live conscientious and caring lives? Every religion today that makes God’s favor and grace conditional is infected with the same germ of human nature. And what happens when this infection occurs? PREACHERS shake their Bibles at us and tell us what we must do rather than what God has done. Sermons become little more than legalistic lectures or self-help pep talks. BAPTISM and the LORD’S MEAL become something we do for God rather than something God does for us. The sacraments cease to be a place where God touches us in a very special and personal way; rather, they become empty rituals that we do as a sign of our dedication. SUNDAY SCHOOL lessons teach kids about heroes of the Bible and how to imitate them; rather, than teaching about the true hero of the Bible – our gracious Father. The church becomes little different than a SERVICE ORGANIZATION like Rotary or Kiwanis. When this happens, like the older son, our LIFE LACKS CELEBRATION. When God’s amazing grace is dismissed, and life is lived on the basis of deserving, our lives become dull and boring. Or it becomes A LIFELESS TREADMILL of exhausting obligation where we wearily put one foot ahead of the other in an endless repetition. It is only God’s grace that makes life a party. Grace alone attracts us to this place. And when that is missing or mangled, we have no power, no joy, no excitement, no celebration. No wonder churches are so dull and boring, so duty-bound and legalistic. No wonder we are not attractive to most folks and even Christmas Eve becomes an obligatory trek to church. It is God’s undeserved love that brings us here. It is His OVERFLOWING CRAZY COMPASSION that causes us to celebrate. It is HIS FORGIVENESS that enables us to see ourselves in a new way. We are not guilty worthless people. We are forgiven, receiving the Father’s embrace and worthy of a wild celebration. When we see ourselves in this new way, we are empowered to live in a new and exciting way. Christians touched by undeserved love are in a festive mood. We make life a multiplication of parties, banquets, feasts, and merriment. We literally JUMP FOR JOY. We give ourselves over to joy because God’s grace has enwrapped us in His arms and given us new life. This joy is infectious and draws people to this place, a place where people experience God’s CRAZY explosive love.
Does God CARE about me? Do I matter to Him? These are particularly vexing questions that all people ask. ISAIAH, speaking the feelings of the people at a particularly dark time in their history, writes, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” [Isaiah 49:14] At such a bleak moment, God offers a response to those dark feelings. GOD WILL answer those feelings with an act of boldness, imagination, and courage that none of them could have dreamed of. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them. For unto us a Child is born, a Son is given. And His name will be Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. GOD WILL join us on planet Earth, “to write himself on the pages of history,” in the words of French philosopher Jacques Ellul. HERE on earth, for thirty-three years, God experienced in flesh what it is like to be one of us. In the stories he told, and the people whose lives he touched, Jesus answered for all time the vexing question of whether God cares. Jesus said God is like a SHEPHERD who leaves ninety-nine sheep inside the fence to hunt frantically for one stray; like a FATHER who can’t stop thinking about his rebellious ingrate of a son and then welcomes him home with open arms; like a RICH HOST who opens the doors of the banquet hall to a menagerie of bag-ladies and beggars. God loves people not as a race or species, but rather just as you and I love them: one at a time. NOVELIST Reynolds Price said there is one sentence all humankind craves to hear: “The Maker of all things loves and wants me.” The Maker of all things made me and He deems me worthy of individual attention and love. He demonstrated that love in PERSON. Jesus gives God a face. If we were in the dark about whether God cares about us, whether we matter to Him; we are in the dark no longer. ON THE HILLS of Palestine, and ultimately on a cross, Jesus turns the light of God’s love on; He lets me know that the Maker of all things loves and wants me.
John 1:14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. This is the 3rd in a series of sermons on this text. THE FIRST was given at our first Advent service. There I claimed that because Jesus is the Word, Jesus is the point and purpose of all the words of Scripture. THE SECOND was given at the second Advent service, where I claimed that because Jesus gives God a face so that we can understand His love, the purpose of worship is to communicate Jesus just as clearly, using all means available to do that. Now I want to talk about your life and THE PURPOSE of your life. I want to talk about a life that has significance. THE WORD became flesh and dwelt among us. Literally, the verse reads: The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. God became a man and was present to us as God. In the Old Testament God’s presence was primarily found in the tabernacle or temple. But WHEN JESUS came, He was not confined to a religious building or even strictly religious settings. Where did Jesus meet people and serve them? Only in the temple in Jerusalem? No. Mostly, ON THE SHORES and in the fields of Galilee. Amongst ordinary people. Jesus made all of life sacred and a place where God can be revealed. LUTHER FELT, when he joined the monastery, that only church professionals could serve God – because only they could devote themselves to prayer, Scripture reading, and meditation 24/7. But Luther asked the question: WHY did Jesus become a man? “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.” [Mark 10:45] When Luther realized that Jesus became a man to serve God and do His will by serving people; he understood that every life could serve God by serving people. HOW SO? If you are a farmer, God uses you to feed people. Clerk in a grocery store. If you are a husband or wife, father or mother, or child, God uses you to serve another. Even if you are retired and your children have left home, you have relationships in which you have opportunity to serve others. WE DO the same thing as other people, but, whereas they may do it to get a paycheck or for personal fulfillment; we do it for the sake of serving others. Jesus became a man to serve our needs; likewise, in our ordinary callings, we have countless opportunities every day to serve others. ST. FRANCIS said, “Witness to Jesus every day; use words if necessary.” Our best witness to the reality of Christ in our lives is to live as individuals and as a church with an attitude of service. God will use us wherever we are to serve others. People may wonder why we do this. They may even ask. Then I will use words to tell them about Christmas. To tell them that God loves me through Jesus and His love gives me a desire to serve others.
Luke 16:1-14 This is one of Jesus’ most practical parables for day to day living. And yet, it is one of His most profound parables, speaking of eternal effects. It is also one of Jesus’ most unpopular and unappreciated parables. The reason for this is in v. 14: Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things, and they were scoffing at Him. So, if you love money, and who doesn’t, this parable may not make it to our top-10 list. Well, here goes. Focus on Jesus’ central point. Don’t get distracted and derailed by the shadiness of the steward’s shenanigans. This parable is not encouraging us to take advantage of our bosses or to misappropriate their funds. What is Jesus’ point? Jesus says: Make friends for yourselves by means of money, so that, when it fails, that is, you die, they may receive you into heaven. Use money to make friends for your eternal future. Isn’t that cool? In a very practical and possible way, we can support outreach and mission in the Christian Church. We can invest in eternity. Be wise here. Invest in those ministries that are serious about and successful in outreach. Jesus speaks of a “very little thing” and “much.” He speaks of that which is “another’s” and that which is our “own.” God has given us much in Jesus Christ. Life, peace, forgiveness, hope, eternal life. This is ours for all eternity. Our money is what God places in our hands for only a short period of time. The Bible always speaks of our money as that which is not ours but which God allows us to manage for a short period of time. Marvel at how much God has given you in Jesus. It is yours for all eternity. God allows you to use the money He has put in your charge. And one of the best ways to use it is to invest in eternity.
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