Don't Fear, Follow Christ No Matter What

[Below is the message shared during both worship services with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio. 

[We were joined by Claire Brown Kriel during the announcements at the beginning of both services. Claire and her husband Shaun were with us to share updated information on the ministry Claire founded and directs in South Africa, Lydia's Mission. Living Water is happy to be partnered with Lydia's Mission, which empowers women to move out of poverty and also provides ministry to children and to the elderly. 

[If you watch the video of the 8:45 AM service, you'll note that I flubbed-up the opening of the sermon...but God is gracious!]

Matthew 10:5a, 21-33

As Christians, we take comfort from the promises of God found in places like the last verse of our second lesson for today: “​​For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

Not everyone finds comfort in God’s promises though. To be told that Jesus says, “Whoever believes in [Jesus, God the Son] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son,” arouses their anger. (John 3:17) They get angry too when they hear Jesus claim, “If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

You see, we all are born under the condemnation of the Law. The Law is, essentially, the moral law of God as given to us in the Ten Commandments which Jesus summarizes in the Great Commandment: Love God and love neighbor.

Apart from faith in Jesus and the power of His death and resurrection to save us from sin and its result, death, we human beings, incapable of perfectly obeying God’s Law, are condemned for all eternity.

People have all sorts of reactions to hearing that they live under condemnation by God’s Law.

Some deny the existence of God or of things like right and wrong. These folks try to wriggle out of responsibility for their actions when confronted with God’s will by telling Christians, “That’s your truth.” But there is only one truth. Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” (John 14:6)

Other people live in self-righteousness, convinced they are decent, righteous people whose every second is lived above reproach. A prominent Baptist theologian told of the student who, beaming, told him after class one day that it had been three years since he had been tempted to sin. The theologian told him, “That’s about the worst thing I’ve ever heard.” For the student to have been unconscious of temptation may have meant that he was so deeply mired in self-righteousness that he was insensitive to the constant temptations presented to God’s people by the devil, the world, or our sinful selves.

Other people live in constant fear of God’s condemnation. They think their salvation depends on them being perfect moral beings. Every time they become conscious of their sins, they think that until they make things right, they’re damned for all eternity. Many of these people give in to despair and give up on having life with God.

All of these folks–and you and I who are prone to falling into precisely these patterns of thinking at different times in our lives, first of all need to hear–really hear–God’s Law.

The Bible tells us that we were born in sin (Psalm 51:5) and “were by nature deserving of wrath” from the moment of our conception (Ephesians 2:3).

Lest we try to evade this truth about ourselves, we also need to hear what sin is spelled out for us.

We sin when we worship God’s creatures rather than God the Creator; when we dishonor our parents or those in authority; when we murder in thought as well as deed; when we use God’s gift of sex outside the bounds of heterosexual marriage; when we speak falsely or uncharitably of others; when we swipe what’s not ours; or when we covet what others have.

We need to hear this Law to remind us of the distance we are, by our natural inborn inclinations, from God and from life with God.

We all also need to hear the Gospel.

“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus, Who died and rose to set you from sin and death, “whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24)

We need to hear Jesus tell us again this morning: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26)

We need the Word of God for us again this morning: “...a person is justified by faith [in Jesus] apart from the works of the law.” (Romans 3:28)

In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus sends the twelve apostles out to share His Word with the people of Israel.

Their mission foreshadows the mission that you and I have, to make disciples of all nations.

Jesus says that not everyone will want to receive God’s Word, Law or Gospel. The message of Christ to repent and believe in Him always arouses opposition.

“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death,” Jesus warns. “You will be hated by everyone because of me, but [then He promises] the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:21-22)

But, how do we stand firm in our faith in the face of opposition? Jesus goes on to tell us how in our lesson.

First, Jesus tells us, “Do not be afraid of [those who come after you for following Him], for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.” (Matthew 10:26-27)

In the past few weeks alone, I’ve been called “a tool” and judgmental by different people when I’ve tried to share God’s Word in love with them.

But friends, we need not fear Christ’s opponents! The plans God has revealed to those who listen to His Word, will one day be revealed to all. Christ will return. Then death and everything that intimidates us in this world will die.

What we see today by faith through the power of God’s Word--that Christ has triumphed over sin and death, and that all who trust in Him live with God now and forever--will only then, on His return, be seen by those who reject Christ today. We take comfort from knowing that even now, we live in Christ’s eternity and we belong to Him!

Second, Jesus says, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)

Don’t be afraid of the world, Jesus says. The most it can do is kill us.

Instead, we should have a holy fear of God, the One Who can condemn people to hell.

When we die, our bodies and souls are separated. Our bodies decay in this world, but the souls of those who trust in Jesus will rest in His presence until the Day of Jesus’ return.

Meanwhile, the souls of those who refuse to trust in Jesus will be in torment.

On the day Jesus returns to this world and establishes the new heaven and the new earth, our bodies will be raised and gathered again with our souls.

Those who have refused Jesus will be sent to eternal condemnation.

But those who trust in Jesus will hear Him say, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34)

Those who trust in Christ know that nothing “in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:39)

Finally, Jesus says, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:29-31)

If you follow Jesus, you will encounter opposition, ridicule, maybe even persecution or death. But Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you. (Hebrews 13:5) Jesus says elsewhere, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

As, by the power of the Gospel at work in the Word and the Sacraments, you turn to Christ in daily repentance and faith, you live in the certainty that your sins are forgiven and you belong to God forever!

At the end of our lesson today, Jesus tells us, “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33)

Friends, I love telling you what God has called me to tell you: In Jesus Christ, all your sins are forgiven and your eternity with God is secured.

Acknowledge Jesus as your Savior and Lord by turning to Him each day for the forgiveness of your sin and for life with God.

No matter what this world may say about you, think about you, or do to you, you can trust in Christ to be Your Savior for all eternity.

Amen

Holy Baptism (Back to Basics: Revisiting the Catechism, Part 4)

[This week's online Midweek Lenten worship from Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio, focuses was on Holy Baptism, part of our series, Back to the Basics: Revisiting the Catechism. Below is the video and the text of the message.]



In Holy Baptism, God saves us from sin, death, and separation from God. 

This is what God’s Word teaches us in 1 Peter. Recalling the global flood of Noah’s day, Peter says, “only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water [the water of the flood] symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ…” (1 Peter 3:20-21)

Some Christians, confronted by the words of Jesus’ apostle, shake their heads in disbelief. “Wait a minute,” they say. “Baptism saves us? Don’t I have to do something? Don’t I have to decide to follow Jesus? ” 

Listen: Scripture teaches that all human beings are born with sinful natures (Psalm 51:5). 

Ephesians 2:3 tells us that, “we were by nature deserving of wrath.” 

I would have an infinitely greater chance of deciding to look like Matthew McConnaughey than I have of deciding to be saved or deciding to follow Jesus. 

If you were suddenly dumped into the Pacific Ocean, your capacity to yell for help, swim, or even cling to a piece of sinking flotsam could only take you so far. You could not save yourself! 

In Baptism, it’s God Who does the deciding and God has decided through Christ to save the baptized. 

At least that’s what God’s Word teaches.

So, Baptism is life-saving, life-changing stuff! Jesus tells Nicodemus in John, chapter 3: “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again…[and] Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.” (John 3:3, 5)

In Holy Baptism, God remakes us as human beings. As Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “... if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 

When God’s Word and His Holy Spirit assault chaos, including those born into the chaos of sin, new life happens. 

This has always been so! 

In Genesis 1, the Spirit moved over the waters of chaos and brought the universe into being. 

At the beginning of His earthly ministry, Jesus went to the Jordan River to be baptized by John the Baptizer. “When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. [the Bible tells us] And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’” (Luke 3:21-22) 

This is what happens when we are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God opens His kingdom to us and He sends us the Holy Spirit, the One Whose word brings the benefits of Jesus’ death and resurrection to us and we become children of God.

But how, Luther asks in the Catechism, can water do such great things? “It is not the water [the Catechism says] that does these things, but the Word connected with the water and our faith which relies on that Word. For without the Word of God it is simply water and not Baptism. But when connected with the Word of God it is a Baptism, that is, a gracious water of life and a washing of regeneration in the Holy Spirit.” 

Luther then quotes Paul’s New Testament letter to Titus: “[God] saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying.” (Titus 3:5-8a)

In Holy Baptism, God’s saving Word about Jesus comes to us and remains with us, tenaciously refusing to leave us or give up on us even when we turn away from Him, when we stop worshiping God with His people, even when we cease to believe in Him. 

God will not force the baptized to believe in Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. 

But, through the indelible commitment that God makes to us when we are baptized, He will keep bringing His saving Word to us so that we might believe in Jesus and be saved. 

This is what happened to me. I spurned God and claimed atheism as my religion for ten years. But God kept pointing me back to Jesus. God refused to give up on the commitment to be my Father and Lord and Savior that He made when I was born from above at the Baptismal font!  

Holy Baptism is the saving Word of God, embodied in the element of water. Just as I had no control over when I was born, I really have no control over when I am born anew in Holy Baptism. If we are baptized as infants, we cannot be unborn even if I walk away from God. And if a person is baptized as an adult, it will still be God Who calls them out of the darkness of sin and death into the light of His loving grace and will cause them to crave Holy Baptism. (In The Large Caetchism, Luther says that if a person comes to faith without having been yet baptized, they will "not despise" the sacrament!)

In the New Testament book of Acts, we read accounts both of individual adults being baptized after coming to faith in Jesus and of whole households, including the children, being baptized. 

In the entire New Testament, nobody says, “Before you can be baptized, you have to understand things.” 

And it doesn't say, “Before you are baptized, you have to reach a certain age.” 

Instead, the apostle Paul compares Holy Baptism to circumcision, the Jewish rite by which boys eight days old, were initiated into the faith. This happened long before they could know Who God is, long before they could understand the faith.

The evidence suggests that because God wants to give us new life and unleash His saving Word in people as soon as possible that the early Church baptized infants and children. They took Jesus’ words seriously, as we do, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:24)

In Holy Baptism, God gives all the baptized a share in Jesus’ victory over sin and death. On this point, Luther quotes Romans 6:4: “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

As good Lutherans, we know that we can only be saved by grace through faith in Christ. 

That leaves the question of whether, like the man thrown overboard in the Pacific Ocean, we will stop striving and struggling and trust in Christ. 

And how do we do that? 

We don’t. We don't do anything!

The God Who comes to us in Holy Baptism sends us His Spirit to empower us to believe. “...no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit,” 1 Corinthians 12:3 reminds us. 

And the God Who comes to us in Holy Baptism keeps sending the baptized His saving Word: “...faith comes from hearing the message [that is, the Good News of Jesus], and the message is heard through the word about Christ,” Romans 10:17 teaches.

The Small Catechism reminds us that Christ has commissioned His Church to baptize. “...go and make disciples of all nations,” Jesus commands us, “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” (Matthew 28:19) 

It also reminds us that Jesus tells us why we need to baptize. In Mark 16:16, Jesus says, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” 

However God creates faith in Christ within us, we are saved. If you've already been baptized, it is Holy Baptism that is the primary engine by which God moves us toward faith. And if you've come to faith without baptism, you will surely want to be baptized, a holy desire God will create within you. (As He did in the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts.)

Jesus commands us to baptize so that people who cannot decide to follow Him by the power of their own wills may be reborn and so that, by the power of the Holy Spirit unleashed in our lives each day, we will come to saving belief in Jesus and we will be sustained in that belief. 

That’s why Holy Baptism is so important. 

Our series ends next week with a look at Holy Communion.