Wheat, Weeds, and the Harvest

[Below, you'll find the text of the message shared during both worship services of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio today. You'll also find live stream video of both the traditional and modern worship services.]

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

I once heard the pastor of a megachurch describe two questions he used to prepare all of his so-called “sermons”: “What do I want them to know? What do I want them to do?” It’s no surprise then, to learn that his messages were basically TED TALKS, motivational speeches with an occasional side of Jesus. He saw himself and the Church as being in the business of telling people what they would look like if they were holy disciples of Jesus and then giving them the steps, the ladder they could climb, to make themselves look like holy disciples.

There are at least three big problems with this approach. The first problem is that the focus isn’t on Jesus Christ and what He has done for us through His death and resurrection. And the focus isn’t on what He’s doing for us today–the means by which He promises to come to us and give us saving faith in Him–in His Word, in Holy Baptism, in Holy Communion, or in the fellowship of believers.

The focus in this approach, which is endemic to the United States these days, is turned away from the God revealed to us in Jesus and instead, is put on us: what we’ve done, what we’re doing, what we’re accomplishing.

But, friends, if we could attain the forgiveness of our sins or a holiness that would make us fit for eternity with God, then Jesus would not have needed to go to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.

Christian faith isn’t a self-improvement project. It is not about becoming or being a moral person, because none of us is capable of obeying God’s moral law perfectly. Is that not correct.

Christian faith is about God coming to us in the crucified and risen Jesus to give us His forgiveness, His life, and His righteousness even though we don’t deserve any of these things.

The apostle Paul reminds us of this: “When we were still helpless [that means unable to save ourselves or make ourselves holy], Christ died for the wicked [that’s you and me] at the time that God chose.” (Romans 5:6, Good News Translation)

We are saved and we are made holy by Jesus alone and not by our Christian self-improvement efforts!

Quickly, the two other problems that this approach leads to must be clear. It leads either to spiritual pride or to spiritual despair. 

People who take this false preaching to heart will either be certain that they are holier than others because of all the good things they think they do or they will look at their repeated failures to free themselves of sin and temptation and give up on the Christian life altogether.

Either way, they are driven away from Christ and the life of righteousness only He can give to us. And that’s eternally tragic!

Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel lesson that it is the evil one himself, the devil, who works to delude us through the false gospel of Christian self-improvement and thereby, turn us away from reliance on Christ alone for our forgiveness and life with God.

In the lesson, Jesus tells a parable, which He leaves obscure and uninterpreted for the crowds looking for a religious how-to lesson. He then explains the parable to the disciples, people like you and me who turn to Jesus for forgiveness and new life with God.

In the parable, Jesus talks about the Kingdom of Heaven, that is, the Church, where the Gospel is rightly proclaimed and the Sacraments rightly administered. Until the day of Jesus’ return, what the Bible calls the Day of the Lord, the Kingdom of Heaven comes to us in God’s Word and the Sacraments, within the fellowship of the Church. 

In Jesus’ parable, a Sower, who is Jesus, the Son of Man, plants good seed in the world.

The good seed are disciples who trust that, Jesus is the way and the truth and the life and that there is no other way to forgiveness and life from God but through Jesus. (John 14:6)

The weeds are people on the membership rolls of Christian, even Lutheran Christian, churches who are like that megachurch pastor; they think that being holy is all about doing religious works which they’re sure they do.

Weeds are like the Pharisees who were horrified that Jesus spent time with sinners, proclaiming God’s forgiveness of their sins.

Weeds have been the cause of much evil in Christ’s Church. They start church fights, accuse fellow members of not being real Christians, work to rid their churches of what they regard as undesirables.

The enemy who plants these weeds among the wheat, of course, is Satan. 

In this parable, Jesus is warning Christians of a truth: The devil’s number one target for chaos, division, and false teaching is the Church, the Kingdom of heaven on earth.

Also in Jesus’ parable, servants, concerned that the Master has allowed his enemy to plant weeds among the wheat–that is, false disciples among the true–ask if the Master–Jesus Himself–wants them to pull up the sprouting weeds.

If the megachurch pastor were asked that question, he probably would answer, “Yes.” But, Christ the Master says, No. There’s no need for you to be vigilante harvesters, He basically says, “because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest.” (Matthew 13:29-30)

Jesus later explains that there will be a harvest. On the Day of His return to usher in the new heavens and the new earth, His angels will be the harvesters of His Church. They will yank up all the weeds, those who have trusted in their own righteousness, rather than trusting Christ’s righteousness, and send them to the fire of hell for all eternity. The angels will also bring the wheat, Christ’s disciples, sinners, like you and me, made righteous through their faith in Jesus, into eternity with God!

So, what are we in the Church to do about the weeds in our midst within the Church?

Sometimes, we’ll have to fight against their false teaching and point to Jesus and that He gives His righteousness to those who trust in Him.

Sometimes, we’ll leave one church or church body to be united with Christ through a different church or church body.

But, Jesus tells us today, our call isn’t to rid the Church of those we suspect of being fake Christians, weeds.

You see, even if a church is forced to excommunicate someone for spreading false doctrine or living in unrepentant sin, the excommunication should be done in the hopes of bring such folks back into the fellowship of Christ’s Church.

Why is that?

For one thing, we could be wrong in our judgments about our fellow church members. We may mistake wheat for weeds. God told the Old Testament judge, Samuel: “People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 6:7)

Another reason we shouldn’t presume to tear those we think are weeds from the Church is that the Word of God–faithfully given in preaching, teaching, witnessing, Holy Baptism, and Holy Communion–can change weeds into wheat. (Isn’t that what He’s done and is doing to you and me? I know that I can be more weedy than wheaty sometimes.)

The Gospel Word of Jesus can leave even notorious weeds to confess, as The Small Catechism confesses: “I believe that Jesus Christ–true God…and also true man…has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, and has freed me from sin, death, and the power of devil…with His holy and precious blood and his innocent suffering and death…” It all depends on Jesus alone!

Until Jesus returns, our call as the Church is to proclaim the Good News, the Gospel, to wheat and weeds within and to the world outside the Church.

We share what the apostle Paul told his fellow Jews in Antioch: “...through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.” (Acts 13:38-39)

We are made righteous not by anything we do, but solely by what Jesus Christ has already done for us. Jesus promises in today’s lesson that those made “righteous [by Jesus and His grace] will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” (Matthew 13:43)

Friends, in Jesus Christ, you are eternally right with God. You are right with Him now!

I declare to you that, through Him, all your sins are forgiven, eternally buried by Christ.

By grace through faith in Jesus, you are righteous.

Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise!

Those who have ears, let them hear.

Amen

Do Not Be Troubled

[Below, you'll find livestream video of both May 7 worship services from Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio, as well as the message presented during the services. Have a blessed week!]

John 14:1-14

Our Gospel lesson today takes us back to the room in which Jesus and the apostles observe the Passover on the night of His arrest, just before His suffering, death, and resurrection.

The disciples are troubled for several reasons.

One reason is that they’re in Jerusalem. Not long before, Jesus has raised Lazarus from the dead, and, alarmed by His power over death, the leaders of the Jews from Jerusalem had vowed to get Jesus killed by the Romans. In Jerusalem, Jesus is easier to seize.

Also troubling to the apostles is Jesus’ announcement that one of them would betray Him.

Peter is troubled because Jesus insists that Peter will deny knowing Jesus before the rooster announces the new day by crowing three times.

None of the apostles can imagine turning their backs on Jesus.

Or that they, faithful men of Israel, would be so disloyal and sinful toward the One they said was the Messiah.

You and I may be troubled by many things about our world today.

Abortion used as birth control.

Almost daily mass shootings.

The LGBTQ+ agenda being crammed down our throats.

Misogyny and violence against women.

The ideology that tells us one’s gender can be chosen.

Racial injustice.

These troubling things are all expressions of our fallen, sinful human nature that befoul the cosmos in which you and I live.

But, like the apostles, something else might trouble us.

Our sin.

Our disloyalty to God.

Our betrayal of Christ.

Our denial of Him.

This is evidenced in our thoughts, words, or deeds daily.

The apostles thought they were righteous because they were Jews who did the right thing. We tend to have the same self-righteousness.

But Jesus and all of God’s Word tell us that if we think God is going to judge us righteous because we think we’ve led pretty good lives, we are deluding ourselves.

God’s judgment of us for our sin is clear.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 tells us, for example, “Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous…”

And Paul, the apostle of grace, puts things even more pointedly: “...do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men[ nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10) If we’re honest, that list pretty much takes in the whole human race in one way or another, including you and me.

But to us who are troubled by the ills of the world and might be troubled by the horrors of our own sin that separate us from God and mark us as unrighteous from our births and worthy of condemnation, Jesus tells us, as He told the apostles on Maundy Thursday: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-3)

Now, I’ve always known that these three verses from John 14 presented a Gospel Word, a Word of promise from our Savior. But I used to think that the promise was that after He died, rose, and ascended to heaven, Jesus would get a house in heaven ready for us to occupy after we die and rise. I pictured Jesus remodeling heaven to accommodate us.

But, it isn’t heaven or the kingdom of God that need to be changed though. It isn’t God that needs changing, it’s us! We need to be made righteous, because in our inborn state of unrighteousness, we’re not fit for life with God, now or ever.

So, this is how Jesus prepares a place for you, how you can live with untroubled hearts: Jesus goes to the cross for us, the righteous God of all creation taking on human flesh, offers His sinless life to take the damnation and death we deserve so that all who trust in Him have the very same life God the Father restored to Jesus on the first Easter Sunday!

When did Jesus go? When He went to the cross!

When did He come back? When He rose!

And when we’re able to trust in Jesus, we know there’s already a place for us in God’s vast and gracious kingdom!

This is God’s Gospel Word for you and me, a Word that the Bible speaks to us repeatedly.

“At just the right time, when we were still powerless,” Romans tells us, “Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6)

And Peter reminds us: “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” (1 Peter 3:18)

And in Ephesians, we’re told, “In [Jesus] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.” (Ephesians 1:7-8)

Of course, one day, this creation’s last day, Christ will raise those who have died while believing in Him and welcome them into His new heavens and new earth. All our grief, tears, and troubles will be behind us. But already, all who have been baptized into Christ and who have, by the power of His Word. come to believe in Him, live in His kingdom, live in the certainty that through Christ, all our sins are already and eternally forgiven.

By His death and His resurrection, Jesus has already prepared a place and given us a place with Him. Right now!

This is what the Bible means when it says, “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

People say, “How can I know I’m saved? How can I be sure?” Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Yes. That’s how you know. If your heart, in response to the Holy Scriptures and the witness of the Holy Spirit can believe and if your mouth can declare that Jesus is your Lord, then you know you are saved!

So the next time someone asks you, “Are you born again?” you can say, “Yes! I was born of water and the Spirit according to the Word and will of Jesus as expressed in John 3, at my baptism. And, by the power of the Holy Spirit Who has been unleashed in my life since then, I know that Jesus Christ is my Lord. Now, get behind me, Satan.”

When Luther was taunted by the devil and temptation, he would declare, “But I am baptized!” It doesn’t matter how I feel, my salvation comes down to what God has done for me. Jesus has prepared a place for you. It’s already furnished.

Through His Word and His Sacraments, the crucified and risen Jesus comes to you today and promises that wherever He is, in heaven or on earth, there He is, triumphant over sin, death, darkness, weeping, and sorrow, with you!

Sin no longer condemns you, friends.

Jesus has destroyed its power over you, Don’t let the devil try to convince you otherwise because the devil has been a liar from the beginning. This is how He has prepared your place in God’s Kingdom.

Because He has, you can be assured that He is with you now and as His Holy Spirit empowers you to trust in Him, you are His now and forever.

Jesus has freed us to believe in God and in the Son He sent to spare you an eternity in hell. You need not be troubled.

By grace through faith in Christ, you belong to God, now and eternally. Amen.

Lord, Don't Let Me Cause Others to Stumble!

[These are reflections from my quiet time with God earlier today.]

Look: “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come.’” (Luke 17:1)

Because of our sinful nature, the fallen world, and the incessant meddling of the devil, temptations are inevitable in our lives.

Jesus knew all about this. The great gamble of the Incarnation--God the Son coming into the world as a human being--is that, during His time on earth, Jesus was constantly subjected to the temptation to sin.

Yet, in order to be the effective sacrifice for our sin, Jesus had to be a new human (Paul calls Jesus “the new Adam”), a sinless member of the human race Whose unjustified execution opens salvation to the rest of us by God’s the power of God’s grace to create within us faith in Jesus. Jesus, the Bible says, “has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15) “...at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6) I’m grateful that Jesus resisted temptation and won life with God for all who trust in Him.

In Luke, the conqueror of sin over us, warns His disciples--including modern day disciples, those who confess Jesus as Lord--not to put the eternal lives of others at risk by conduct or words that tempt them to sin. Jesus goes on to day in Luke 17:2-3: “It would be better for [disciples who cause others to stumble into sin] to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. So [disciples,] watch yourselves.”

Listen: There are so many ways we can be the serpent to others, luring people into sin, even when that’s not what we think we’re doing.

In the New Testament, Paul tells Christians not to eat food offered to idols in the presence of those who are weaker in the faith. It wasn’t, he said, that Christians weren’t allowed to eat such food; all food is clean to the Christian. But those weak in the faith, Paul asserted, might derive the wrong impression from seeing mature Christians eating food offered to idols and be tempted into believing that a Christian could also worship false deities. But there’s only one God, the One definitively revealed to us in Christ.

In my own life, there are people with whom I won’t have a glass of wine because I suspect or know that they have issues with alcohol. I refuse to be an instrument of their temptation even though drinking an occasional glass of wine isn’t forbidden by God.

On the other hand, I must confess that I have sometimes caused people to sin. This has happened when I’ve said things I shouldn’t have or when I’ve become obsessed with my own grievances or desires. When we engage in this kind of behavior, we in effect, give permission to those who witness it to cave into temptation and sin too.

I ran across this quote from Martin Luther the other day: “Christ desires nothing more of us than that we speak of Him.” When we, in loving and appropriate ways, commend Christ to others, there’s no opportunity for me to become the instrument of temptation and sin in others’ lives. When we speak of Christ, it’s gratitude for grace, the peace of knowing Christ, and the call to others to experience saving faith in Christ that comes through.

Respond: Father, in the name of Jesus, I ask You to forgive me the obsession with self, the grievances, and the selfish desires that lead me away from Your will and have caused me to unwittingly tempt others to sin.

Give me Holy Spirit-saturated wits, Lord!

Today, speak of Christ to others through me. Make me an instrument of Your grace and the faith to which You call all of us and not an instrument of temptation or sin.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen

[The illustrated quote from Martin Luther was published this past week by the Institute of Lutheran Theology.]

[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church.]

A Deluge of Grace, Grace, GRACE!

Here are reflections from my morning quiet time with God today. To see how I approach quiet time, see here.

Look: “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5, NIV)

“And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.” (Romans 5:3-5, The Message)

“Deep and wide / Deep and wide / There’s a fountain flowing deep and wide.” It’s the words of that old Sunday School and camp song that come to mind as I read these amazing words of Paul, beautifully rendered by Peterson in The Message.

In the first two verses of Romans, chapter 5, Paul comes to one of his important therefore statements: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.”

When I compare my life and how I conduct it to the Law of God, I fall short (Romans 3:23). As we confess on Sunday mornings, “We have not loved You with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.” But, just like Abraham, the patriarch of Biblical faith, Paul says, we are accounted righteous by God through faith in God, Who has now revealed Himself to all the world--Jews and Gentiles--through Jesus, true God and true man. God graciously offered His Son for us so that all who believe in Jesus--Jew and Gentile--share in His victory over death and enjoy eternal reconciliation with God (Romans 5:10).

Paul says that I not only can now boast in my hope of a life of perfect righteousness beyond my grave because of Jesus and my faith in Him, I can even boast about Jesus in the midst of my sufferings.

Why? Because, God forges my character and fits me for authentic human living in this world and in eternity in the midst of suffering as I keep following Jesus!

This results in hope that doesn’t disappoint or put me to shame.

When I go through the worst that this life dispenses, when I experience God’s grace and forgiveness even when I am my own worst enemy and the creator of my own heartaches, I know that God is real. I experience, intimately and first-hand, that God’s grace is real. I know that Jesus’ death and resurrection were for me too.

This is how I have experienced You, God: As the gracious Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Who still loves me, still hears my prayers, still stands by me when I have failed You and I turn back, when I suffer and I rely on You.

It’s through the dark times, as we cling to Your hand, that deeper peace, deeper hope, deeper certainty, and deeper faith are won.

I have come to realize that You love me in spite of me--”...at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). Wow!

Listen: All of which is why, Peterson’s rendering in The Message caused me to stand up and take deeper notice of Your Word in Romans 5:3-5 today.

When my suffering--real, imagined, or attributable to the devil, the world, or my sinful self--leads me to a deeper walk with You and often in my life, hopelessness is dealt a fatal blow.

Grace gets the last word over my sin.

Life gets the final say over death.

I find myself, as Peterson renders Paul’s letter to the Romans “...standing where [I] always hoped [I] might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting [my] praise.”

When I trust in You, You set me free to be who You made me to be--Your son--and do what I was made for--reflect Your glory and goodness.

You grant a life-giving tidal wave of living water, slaking my troubled soul with grace. Grace. Grace. Grace! GRACE! 

When I connect with You each day, I find that taking in Your grace and love is far more challenging than the proverbial drinking water from a fire hose. It’s like trying to take in an ocean of fresh water in one gulp. You bring a deluge of grace that Paul talks about in Romans 5:5, observing (in Peterson’s rendering): “...we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!” (A particular challenge for us who are simple jars of clay or paper cups, 2 Corinthians 4:7.)

And, amazingly, that’s in the midst of suffering, as Your grace uses that suffering to forge our characters and deepen our hope. (In the Peterson rendering, “alert expectancy,” is hope, a fantastic way of portraying Christian hope.)

As You daily prove Your faithfulness to me, Lord, I find myself increasingly empowered to live today and am given to standing on tip-toes in alert expectancy of what You are going to do today, tomorrow, and in eternity.

I have often disappointed You, others, and myself. I have sinned. I am a sinner who sins. But when I place my life in Your hands, the hope that You create within me never puts me to shame (Romans 5:5). I, by my actions and thoughts, am the only one who can shame Mark Daniels. But, I thank You, God, that my shame need not define my life nor my eternity. When I trust in You--Peterson renders it as opening the door to You--my shame is erased. My sins are forgiven. You give me new starts. (Romans 5:2, The Message)

Respond: Thank You, God, for undeserved grace. Thank You, Christ, for setting me free from sin and death. Thank You, Holy Spirit, for incessantly pounding through this thick skull of mine that my life is not about what I do, it’s about what You, the three-in-One God have done and are doing for me, doing in me, and my trust in You. I surrender. Now let me bathe in Your deluge of grace. Amen

[Blogger Mark Daniels is pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]

Listen!

Matthew 17:1-9
Transfiguration Sunday
The key verse in today’s Gospel lesson is Matthew 17:5 in which the voice God the Father calls out from heaven to Peter, John, and James with a message about Jesus: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

Why did the three apostles who accompanied Jesus to the top of a mountain need this message?

And why do you and I still need to be reminded to listen to Jesus?

In a way, these words from the Father come as a direct rebuke to Peter. Back in Matthew 16, Jesus had asked the apostles, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter gave the right answer, one that Jesus said came not from Peter’s good sense and insight, but from Peter’s openness to the Holy Spirit’s witness about Jesus. Peter said: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” [Matthew 16:15-19] But then Jesus explained that He as the Messiah, God in the flesh, was going to Jerusalem to be rejected by the Jewish religious authorities, the Roman government, and the people, suffer death on a cross, and rise from the dead.

Peter was horrified! Peter thought that the Messiah would come into political power, vanquish the Romans, and establish a trouble-free reign of prosperity for God’s people. Jesus’ words didn’t compute for Peter. Crucifixion for the Messiah? “Never, Lord!” [Peter] said. “This shall never happen to you!” [Matthew 16:22]

At this, Jesus let Peter have it with both barrels: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

It was Satan, you’ll remember, who tried to tempt Jesus into avoiding the mission of His life on earth, the mission of offering Himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sin. Now, Jesus was saying that Peter, who had just confessed that Jesus was Messiah and the Son of God, God in the flesh, was acting just like Satan. “Peter, be quiet,” Jesus was saying. “Knock off your religious-sounding talk. Wait to speak until after you understand Who I am.”

Six days later, our Gospel lesson for today shows, Peter still had some learning to do.

As members of the inner circle of Jesus’ first followers, Peter, John, and James were terrified to see Jesus appearance “transfigured,” or “transformed.” A cloud came down from heaven filled with the blazing light of God and there Jesus stood talking with Moses, the giver of God’s Law in the Old Testament, and Elijah, Israel’s greatest prophet.

Imagine how overwhelming this all must have been for these three fishermen from Galilee!

But Peter, it seems, was never at a loss for words. Even when he should have been. Matthew 17:4 tells us: “Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’”

On the face of it, this is a religious-sounding thing for Peter to say. But it demonstrates that he just doesn’t quite get it. Peter has called Jesus the Son of God, yet he wants to build shrines of apparently equal importance for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah.

Back in chapter 16, when Peter tried to educate Jesus on Jesus’ job as Messiah and Son of God, it was Jesus Who set Peter straight. Now, on the Mount of Transfiguration, it’s God the Father’s turn to thunder!

In effect, the Father, in verse 5 of our Gospel lesson is telling Peter: “Peter, put a muzzle on it, man! Listen to My Son. Moses and Elijah, great though they were, are Jesus’ inferior. You won’t find life and salvation in Moses or Elijah. (Or in Buddha, Allah, or a big fat bank account, for that matter)’ Life and salvation can only be found in Jesus. So, button it up and pay heed to Jesus only!” “Peter, this is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

Poor Peter, always trying so hard to say and do the right thing. But that’s the problem. He’s trying way too hard. He thinks he’s being faithful by spouting religious talk.

But, in talking about building these shelters, he shows that he isn’t really listening to Jesus or to His Word.

Christ’s Church today is filled with a lot of well-meaning Peters. I can be among them. We say things that sound religious, but show that we really haven’t been listening to God’s Word or to Jesus.

Last night, I jotted down three things that I hear well-meaning Christians say, but that, according to God’s Word, just aren’t true.

One thing well-meaning Christians say is, “Follow your heart.” Wrong!

Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.” So, if my heart is going to deceive me and lead me into a deceitful life, a life apart from God, why would I follow my heart?

Jesus never says, “Follow your heart.” Instead, Jesus says, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” [Matthew 16:24] Follow Jesus: Turn from sin and trust in Him to save you for all eternity and to guide you always. Keep following Jesus.

Another false thing said by well-meaning Christians is, “God helps those who help themselves.” This is a whopper!

The Bible actually says that God helps those who cannot help themselves. And that’s all of us! Romans 5:6 tells us: “...at just the right time, when we were still powerless [or, helpless], Christ died for the ungodly [those of us born in sin...and that's all of us].” God helps those who recognize that they need Jesus as our King and Savior.

A third common falsehood uttered by Christians is, “Everything happens for a reason.” That’s another big fib!

I once heard a woman at a funeral visitation tell a father that his young son had died because God needed another angel in heaven. It would have been better for that woman to have shut her mouth than utter such unbiblical rot. When believers die, they don’t become angels. Humans are made in God’s image, angels aren’t! Human beings are of higher importance to God than angels are! Christ didn’t die and rise for angels; He died and rose for people!

Besides, the very notion that God would decide to take a boy’s life to sate His desire for more angels turns God into a monster, unrecognizable from the God we meet in Jesus!

The tragedies that happen in this world can’t be explained away as part of some master plan by God. Bad things happen to faithful people because we live in a fallen world in which sin, death, and darkness are on the loose. It was these things that Jesus came to conquer for us. That’s why Jesus says in John 16:33: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Death and tragedy don’t have the final word over the lives of those who entrust their lives to Jesus; it’s the resurrection Jesus has won for us that will have the final, eternal say over our lives!

If Peter had listened to God’s Word in the Old Testament or if he had listened to Jesus, he wouldn’t have said foolish things like He did at the Transfiguration.

If Christians today listened to God’s Word--not just on Sunday mornings, but everyday of their lives--they wouldn’t say untrue things like the three I just mentioned.

More importantly, when we listen to God’s Word, meet the God we know in Jesus in His Word each day, we will know God intimately.

As Jesus promises, the Holy Spirit will lead us into all of God’s truth [John 16:13]. When we listen to Jesus, we experience the amazing promise He makes in John 15:5: “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” That’s a stunning promise!

To be friends with Jesus, God in the flesh, means that we trust in Him, we trust in the power of what He accomplished for us on the cross, we trust that He can bring us God’s forgiveness, we trust that He can give us life with God, however blurry this world may sometimes make it, and life with God in perfection in eternity.

When we are friends with Jesus, we live in the assurance that, as He promises to all who follow Him in Matthew 28:20, He is with us always!

All of this comes to us when we listen to Jesus. Paul summarizes the power of what happens when we listen to Jesus and the Word about Jesus in this way: “...faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” [Romans 10:17]

So, how can we listen to Jesus? You might want to pull out a pen or your smart phones right now and note a simple method for listening to Jesus each day--one I've learned from our friends at Navigators, as I've mentioned before, and a way of listening to Jesus that I have found to be powerful. Here’s how to listen to Jesus each day.

First, stop. Find a quiet place, away from the laptop and the iPad, away from the TV or the PlayStation. Ask Jesus to meet you as you read a chapter from a Biblical book like Matthew or John.

Second, look. Read that Word and ask Jesus what He wants to tell you that day.

Third, listen. Consider what Jesus has told you and what truth He wants you to grasp from Him that can guide you that day or the next day.

Fourth, respond. If there’s some sin for which you need to repent or a sinful habit you need to jettison, lay it honestly before Jesus, asking for His forgiveness and help with living differently that day or the next. If there’s some act of love you feel compelled to undertake, ask Jesus for the Holy Spirit’s power to do it. Give Jesus glory for His death and resurrection for you; ask Him to guide you in the next twenty-four hours; pray for those who need God’s help; ask God to fill you with His wisdom; and ask God to help you be part of His mission of making disciples that day.

I want to underscore how freeing and important it is to listen to God each day and to help you with that day. How many times have we realized some sin or deficiency in our character, some bad habit we'd fallen into, and said something like, "From now on, Lord, until the end of my days, I will...so and so." How has that worked for you?

Let me put the question in another way: Do you remember what your New Year's resolutions were for this year? 

You know, the power of the Twelve Step program is that it calls people to recognize their need and get help for that day alone. It's easier to trust in Jesus one day at a time after we've spent time in His Word and then spend time with Him again the next day and the next, than it is to trust Him without ever listening to Him again. This is why it's important to spend daily time with God in addition to the time we spend together once a week in worship.

From the cloud that overshadowed the mountain somewhere in Caesarea Philippi, God’s voice commanded Peter and the other disciples, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

That's our command today. May we obey it. May we listen to Jesus and so, live under the grace and forgiveness, power, wisdom, guidance, and love of God all of our lives. Amen!

[Blogger Mark Daniels is pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio. This is the message that was shared this morning during worship.]