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Mt Olive Lutheran Church May 2006 Messages |
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Luke 7:11-17 THIS AMAZING STORY takes place in Nain, on the edge of the fertile Jezreel Valley. The story begins with a Great Sadness. A widow. Her only son. Dead. She is numb from sorrow. Stunned. She lost your husband, and now she has lost her son. Tears come easily. What now? she quietly wonders. How could God allow her life to become such a wasteland of grief? In view of this, JESUS MAKES A STRANGE, ALMOST SILLY, STATEMENT. “Don’t cry,” He says. How can she not cry. All she can do is cry. Then Jesus turns to the coffin and says, “Young man, I tell you get up!” Dead men can’t and don’t get up. But the text tells us matter of factly: And the dead man sat up and began to talk. The PEOPLE ARE AWE-STRUCK. Who wouldn’t be? They praise God. “A great prophet has appeared. God has come to help us,” they say. The promise of this text is that death is NOT A DEAD END. God defeats death and that helps us. In the end, we know how our story turns out. Therefore, in the midst of tears, we can rejoice. In the midst of a dying world, we live with hope and confidence. If life is just a MATTER OF THIS MOMENT, what is the point? We might as well settle down in the mud and muck of everyday existence and cry until there are no more tears. But Jesus comes along and says, “Don’t cry.” God helps us. He gives our lives eternal significance and importance. Recently, I heard of A CHURCH LEADER TELL ABOUT DRIVING to a difficult meeting. There will be arguing and bickering, he suspicioned. Feelings will be hurt and some will leave the meeting with bruised egos, he suspected. The meeting had the possibility of blowing up and driving people apart. As he was driving, he suddenly thought to himself, “So what, I’m going to heaven. Nothing and no one can change that.” “It calmed me down,” he said. “And I was actually helpful and effective in the meeting.” IS IT POSSIBLE that God helps us by giving us victory over our biggest fear and the biggest battle of all so that we don’t have to sweat the small every day battles and fears of life? LET ME TELL YOU A STORY. Sometimes death does rob us of the joy of life, of living with purpose. It did for a young woman named Florence. At the age of thirty-seven she told her friends that her life hung by a thread that might snap at any moment. So she went to bed. And stayed there. HER DEATH PREMONITION proved true. Fifty-three years later she did die – at the age of ninety. MOST OF HER LIFE, except for three years, Florence cowered before the fear of death. But during those three years on the Crimean battlefront, she made a name for herself, relieving the pain of wounded and dying soldiers. Her name – Florence Nightingale. IS DEATH ROBBING YOU of joy and purpose in your life? What if, this widow and her son left Jesus and went home, sat in stoic silence, and bolted the doors against any possible adversity? Is the point of knowing death is defeated, to live with quiet resignation and defeat? WHAT ABOUT US? If any congregation should know God is with us and death is defeated it is Mt. Olive. If any congregation should have purpose and significance to do all they can to share the message of life, it should be Mt. Olive. We are an older congregation. Since Easter, four members of our church family have died. You hear the message of LIFE in the midst of a dying world frequently. Jesus frees you from the fear of death so you can live with abandon and courage in the service of others, especially offering them the message of LIFE in Christ. Luke 7:18-23 “BLESSED IS THE MAN WHO DOES NOT FALL AWAY on account of me.” How could anyone fall away on account of Jesus? Simple: Jesus is too gracious, too generous, too giving for most folks. REMEMBER JOHN THE BAPTIST’S WORDS: “One more powerful than I will come.” One who will bring the powerful fire of God’s judgment – that’s what John thought. WHERE IS JOHN NOW? John is sitting in a dingy dungeon in Herod’s Machaerus fortress. John must have thought, “Let’s see a little of that power now.” He didn’t want a compassionate and gentle Savior. He wanted Jesus to rescue him with vengeance, retribution, and judgment. Jesus was not what he expected. So John asks, “Are you the One who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” John’s question is spoken out of frustration. He expected and desired – especially now - something different than what Jesus was doing. Do you ever feel that way about Jesus and grace? He is just too gracious, too kind, too caring. Couldn’t he add a dash of vengeance, a smidgeon of judgment, a touch of retribution? THINK OF OUR COUNTRY. Jerry Falwell died on Tuesday. He is perhaps most famous for saying that 9/11 was a judgment on America for allowing and even condoning certain sins. Back in the 80’s, when the AIDS epidemic started in this country; many churches and pastors – instead of offering a gracious ministry of compassion and caring – said the people who got AIDS were getting the punishment they deserved for their sin. AND THEN THERE IS CHURCH. Our beloved Church body is still fighting about the Yankee Stadium prayer service on September 23, 2001. Was it appropriate or not for one of our pastors to pray in a service that included Moslems, Jews and other nonChristians. It has been said about our Synod, not “Look how they love each other,” but, “Look how they fight with one another.” THINK OF YOUR OWN LIFE. What will change your life? If pastors spit sparks and breath fire, that is, preach more law sermons about rules and punishments? Or if God comes into your life and shares the good news of Jesus with you? This is a crucial question. I attended a James Dobsen seminar on Tuesday at City Bible Church on Rocky Butte. I heard the testimony of Melissa Fryrear whose life was radically changed. What changed her life? She met a Christian, who, although he disagreed with her life-style, he treated her with respect, dignity, and love. She started attending church. And though the church could not condone how she was living, they loved her unconditionally. She started attending Bible Class and even joined the choir. Finally, she realized her life-style was not what God wanted for her life. This took months, years. Her summary of her experience: God’s kindness brought me to repentance. A WEEK AGO IN CONFIRMATION CLASS, I said, “Here is the problem. I could get the students to attend more faithfully; I could require their parents to attend church. I might win the battle but I would lose the war.” In Leif Grane’s fine phrase, “What the law requires is freedom from the law!” What God finally wants is for us to do what the law points to but can’t accomplish: the freedom, joy, and spontaneity of love. You see the law commands what it cannot give: Love God and love others. You cannot force people to love God and others, not if love is a matter of their heart. Only the good news of God’s love changes our hearts and warms them to love God and to love others. WHY WOULD A MESSAGE OF GRACE offend John or anyone else? Because our fall-back position is law, judgment, and punishment. That is human nature. It will take something radical to change our nature and give us a new heart and a transformed life. It is called grace. And we find it in Jesus.
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