Righteous AND humble?

[This is the journal entry for my quiet time with God this morning. In my quiet time, I follow a format of stop, look, listen, respond. You can see more about this approach to being with God here.]

[UPDATE: Over on Twitter, @pudicat11 (Steve Martin) raises an interesting point on this post. Here's what he said: "Nice job, Mark. 

"But I certainly would never want to rely upon the genuineness (is that a word??) of ‘my repentance’.

"I know myself all too well. What I do, won’t do, and the awful thoughts I often have.

"I’m trusting in His working repentance in me. And in His forgiveness."

Great point! This post could create the wrong impression and a "new law" for salvation. But no law can save. So, here's what I wrote in response to Steve's important caution:

"Well put. I suppose what I mean by that phrase is one's intentions. Even our intentions are never pure, of course. But it's as with the Apostle's Creed: I feel sometimes that I should say, "I want to believe..." God takes that turning, I think, and turns it into faith we can't muster or manufacture, only receive."

I added: "What I meant by authentic repentance was the place of brokenness to which God takes us, inciting us to turn to [Him] in powerlessness rather than in the manner of a transaction. Think: Saul's 'repentance' versus David's; or, Peter's 'repentance' versus that of Judas."]

Look: “Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord’s anger.” (Zephaniah 2:3)

I’m preaching on Zephaniah tomorrow and ordinarily, I would avoid focusing during quiet time on a book from which I’m preaching, to avoid being utilitarian. Quiet time is meant to be a time when I commune with God, not a time for studying a book in pursuit of professional ends. But I missed reading Zephaniah earlier in the year when its three chapters were assigned. Because Zephaniah is one of what’s called “the minor prophets” (and sometimes, “ twelve”) in the Old Testament, with whom I’ve been spending a lot of time in my teaching and preaching this Advent season, I decided to read Zephaniah’s three chapters. I also decided to ask God to show me a truth He wanted me to notice today in a verse outside of the lesson appointed for tomorrow, something that He wanted me to see in my quiet time with Him.

He did.

The first thing that struck me about the words of Zephaniah 2:3 are their similarity words of repentance seen in the books of the other minor prophets.

When Jonah reluctantly proclaimed God’s Word to the people of Nineveh, the Ninevite king called his people, who had been foreign to ancient Israel’s God: “Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence,” the king said. “Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish." (Jonah 3:8-9)

And in Amos 5:15, the prophet, speaking for God, tells the people of Israel, facing judgment: “Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.”

In each of these passages, the theme is the same: God calls people to repent for our sins with authenticity, with a true turning back to God. Whether that will spare the repentant from facing the consequences of sin is completely up to God.

To repent then is to value a restored relationship with God so totally that we’re willing to face the wrath we’ve incurred for our sin. We respect God’s sovereignty.

We know that if we must face earthly punishments for our sins, it’s only because God is a loving Father and He truly regards us His children (Hebrews 12:5-7).

We know too that in the resurrection, repentant believers will live perfectly in the “image of God” which God originally intended for all human beings (Revelation 21:1-27).

So, momentary difficulties aren’t to compared to all that God has in mind for us (Romans 8:18; 2 Corinthians 4:17)

This precludes any utilitarian approaches to repentance on our parts. There’s no, “I’ll repent for my sins if God will…” element in true repentance.

The classic example of authentic repentance is King David. David authentically repented for his adultery and murder. But he accepted that there were still consequences to himself, his family, his reign, and his nation that resulted from his sins. (Sometimes there are no discernible consequences. That too must be left in the hands of the sovereign God.)

The believer who is authentically repentant leaves it all to God.

The second thing that struck me about Zephaniah 2:3 today is its call to “seek righteousness, seek humility.” Righteousness and humility are presented poetically in parallel. According to this verse then, to be righteous is to be humble and vice versa.

This doesn’t really comply with the way we ordinarily understand the word righteousness, or words like it: goodness, moral, upright, or even faultless. When we imagine someone who’s righteous, we imagine them being anything but humble.

We’re more likely to see them as arrogant, judgmental. We picture self-righteous prigs (a good word from the UK) who look down their noses at the riff-raff of the world who don’t measure up to their high moral standards.

To hear Jesus tell it, people like this are also hypocrites, people whose repentance and faith in God are inauthentic and therefore worthless for them when they come into God’s presence: I think of Jesus’ story of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14).

When God makes a person righteous--I could as easily say, “When God justifies repentant sinners,” because in the Greek in which the New Testament is written, righteousness is dikaiosune and justify is dikaioo, meaning that when God justifies a sinner, He ‘righteousfies’ us, declaring us innocent of sin despite our sin because all who repent in the name of Jesus are covered by Christ’s righteousness--it doesn’t make that person arrogant. In fact, the opposite is true: We are humbled. (I am humbled!)

Arrogance is precluded for the repentant sinner who has been forgiven and made new--made righteous--by God’s action in Christ: His sacrificial death and resurrection. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

“Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of [good] works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from [good] works of the law.” (Romans 3:27-28 ESV)

Humility and righteousness go together in authentic repentance because we know that only God can make us righteous: right with God, humble before God, humble in our dealings with others, grateful for undeserved grace, open to God and to others.

Listen: Genuine repentance precludes arrogance in dealing with others, even with those who are themselves arrogant.

As a believer, a disciple, a human being, a citizen, a family member, a servant leader, a pastor, and a dean, I am called to make judgments about people and circumstances. But I am not to be judgmental. I may judge that something a person is doing is wrong. I may, out of love, confront them for it. But I am not to judge their eternal salvation in the bargain.

I’m to keep sharing God’s Word of truth, in season and out of season (2 Timothy 4:2), Law and Gospel, because God’s Law shuts our mouths and excludes our excuses and rationalizations for sin (Romans 3:19) and because the Gospel of Jesus Christ sets sinners free from eternal punishment for their sins (Romans 1:15-16), making us righteous (Romans 5:1, CEB).

I must trust that as I trust in God, entrusting my sins and my life to Him in daily repentance and enduring faith, He will keep imparting Christ’s righteousness to me. Like an alcoholic, I am called to daily surrender to God so that He can replace my sinfulness and arrogance with Christ’s righteousness and humility, my dead ways with His life.

Repentance is essential. I must honestly wrestle with my sins and submit them (and myself) to daily crucifixion. If there is to be a new Mark, it will not be built on my working at being righteous or humble. It will only come through this constant--and often painful because crucifixion is painful--regular submission to the God revealed in Jesus.

How will I know that I’ve become a humble, righteous person? I won’t. If I suspect that I’ve become that kind of person, it will be Exhibit A in evidence against my having become a righteous, humble person.

Does that mean I’m a hopeless case? As long as we keep turning to Jesus, laying my life before Him, I’m filled with hope: He shares His righteousness and humility with me, covering me with them.

I needn’t worry about taking on the project of becoming righteous and humble: As I daily turn to Christ, He’s doing the job (and a huge job it is) for me. I simply have to receive Him as I meet Him in His Word, in congregational worship, in the sacraments, in the fellowship of believers.

Respond: Today, Jesus, I turn to You. Forgive the sins of which I’m aware. Make me aware of the ones I don’t know about so that I can submit them to You. Make me fearless in pursuing the calls You have placed on my life: husband, father, friend, pastor, dean, communicator of Your truth. And, as I turn to You with an unveiled face, transform me, whatever pain is involved, into Your mage (2 Corinthians 3:18). Even when I resist You, fill me with Your righteousness and humility so that people don’t see me, but see You in me. In Your name I pray. Amen

Stand Firm

[This was shared during worship with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church earlier today.]

Mark 13:1-13

What I know about birth pangs or labor pains is, as it can only be for any man, second-hand knowledge, from having seen my wife go through labor with our two kids. So I’m not an expert. I just know that labor is hard and I wonder if we men were the ones who gave birth whether the world’s population would be much smaller.

I bring this up because, as New Testament scholar N.T. Wright points out, the key to understanding today’s Gospel lesson, Mark 13:1-13, is verse 8, where Jesus says, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.”

In the Old Testament, especially in the writings of the prophets, the imagery of labor pains coming before the birth of God’s kingdom in people’s lives was often used.

But here, Jesus uses the image of birth pangs in this passage differently. He’s not talking about the end of the world (He slides into a discussion of that seamlessly later on in Mark, chapter 13) or about the establishment of God’s eternal kingdom, but about the end of the temple in Jerusalem. That’s an event that happened in 70 AD, about forty years after Jesus spoke these words, when the Romans tore it down.

But, as we consider the news coming out of Paris this weekend, there’s a lot for us to learn as modern followers of Jesus from today’s Gospel lesson. It begins: “As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” “Wow!” the disciple is saying, “isn’t this a great place?”

But Jesus seems unimpressed with the temple. Look at verse 2: “‘Do you see all these great buildings?’ replied Jesus. ‘Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.’”

Jesus is telling the disciple who remarked on the temple’s beauty to never confuse the eternal power of God with buildings, no matter how imposing or pretty. The worship of God cannot be confined to beautiful buildings made with human hands!

True worship is the offering of our whole lives to God everywhere we go.

Buildings crumble and fall or are brought down from explosions detonated by human sin and hatred. Only God and those who turn from sin and trust in Jesus Christ as their only hope, will endure, eternally, even after life on this fragile planet has ended.

Jesus was telling the disciples, including us, “Don’t put your trust in buildings, or traditions, or liturgies, or human beings or political or economic systems. Don’t even trust yourselves." Put your trust in Christ alone!

Go back to the lesson, to verse 3. Jesus is now sitting opposite the temple on the Mount of Olives and four of the apostles--Peter, James, John, and Andrew--have a question. Verse 4: “‘Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?’”

Notice this: In answering the four apostles' question, Jesus never actually answers their question.

Jesus isn't being evasive in not answering them. Rather, He has a more important point to make!

Verse 5: “Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.”

Every single thing Jesus describes as signs of the impending destruction of the temple are events that have been going on from the moment Adam and Eve rebelled against God and consigned all of us to our inborn bondage to sin. As Ecclesiastes 1:9, in the Old Testament, says: “..there is nothing new under the sun.” That verse doesn't say that history repeats itself. History doesn't repeat itself. One of the thing that sets Biblical faith apart from the ancient religions of the world is that, unlike them, it doesn't have a cyclical, but a linear view of history. The Bible doesn't teach that the same thing happens again and again a cycle of futility. Instead, Biblical faith believes that history is taking us somewhere. Rather, Ecclesiastes reminds us that the world is no more and no less sinful or foreboding today than it was the moment God banished Adam and Eve from the garden.

Different sins become more popular at different times. Or, as I sometimes put it, different specific sins go in and out of style. But the same old condition of sin, death, disasters, calamities, warring, and yes, even terrorism, have been going on for centuries. That reality isn't new.

The temple came down at the precise moment when Jesus foresaw that it would. But the disciples and no one else had any need to know when that would happen.

As hard as it is for we human beings to accept, there are some things we cannot know and never will know.

Actuarial tables may give us averages, but only God knows the exact moment He has appointed for the ends of our earthly lives. Psalm 31:15 says: "My times are in Your hand..."

Scientists may be able to make plausible guesses about the reasons for and the date when the destruction of the universe will happen.

But only God knows the time appointed for that to happen.

In fact, only God the Father knows when that moment will come. Jesus, God the Son, says, "...about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Mark 13:32).

So, Jesus doesn’t tell the disciples when the temple will fall or what the signs of its impending destruction will be.

His non-answer told them that they were asking the wrong questions.

What Jesus is telling them and us is that, no matter what painful or difficult things may come to us along life’s way, the future is ultimately in God’s hands. Our call is to trust in Him even in the midst of uncertainties and our own limitations.

He's also saying that all the painful things that happen in this world, no matter how calamitous are just the labor pains of God's new creation. That’s why Jesus says in verse 8: “These are the beginning of birth pains.”

Fact is, our entire life on this earth constitutes the labor pains of the new heaven and the new earth all who believe in Christ will live in and enjoy after this entire universe has fallen down, Christ returns, and the dead who have died believing in Him will rise again.

Romans 8:22 says that “the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” for that moment when, finally and fully, sin, death, and futility are put under Christ’s feet and the pain and tears of this fallen world will be things of the past. This should give us hope! Our job is to keep focused on that hope, no matter what.

The athlete who keeps her focus firmly on her goal of winning  the prize endures all sorts of difficulties--arduous training, endless practice, injuries and physical rehabilitation--in order to attain her goal. When we live each day in the certainty that God saves from sin and death all who retain their faith in Christ and have eternity with God as the prize for which they race, we can say with the apostle Paul, “ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” when, in the resurrection, we who believe in Jesus Christ will see Him face to face!

 (Romans 8:18)

But faith isn’t fatalism.

We’re not to sit around, letting life wash over us while waiting for Jesus to show up with a bunch of angels playing harps. (I personally hate harps, by the way!)

In fact, throughout Mark 13, where Jesus does go on to talk about the end of the world, Jesus tells us what we’re to do as we await the unfolding of God’s plans for our world and for our lives.

In Mark 13:5; Jesus says, “Watch out that no one deceives you.” Don’t let others tell you they know some truth about God not revealed in the Bible!

In verse 9, Jesus warns Christians to “You must be on your guard,” so that we do not give up on trusting in Him.

Then, in verse 23, Jesus tells us to watch out for people who point us to false Christs or to false versions of the real Jesus Christ and lead us away from eternal life with God.

And in verse 33, Jesus says to “Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.”

Assured of our eternal futures, God sets us free to be about the business Christ has given us to do.

We're to reach up, worshiping and praying to God.

We're to reach in, giving and deriving support for our faith journey from other believers in Christ's Church as we study God's Word and pray together.

And we're to reach out, sharing the good news of new and everlasting life for all who turn from sin and believe in Jesus Christ with others.

When Jesus offered Himself on the cross, He was the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Then He rose from the dead, opening up eternity to all who trust in Him. We don’t know what may happen to us or to the world in whatever time passes between this moment and the moment when the risen, ascended Jesus returns to bring judgment on this old world and bring the fullness of His kingdom to all who have believed in Him. But we do know that there is no safer place we can be in this world (and the next) than in the hands of the God Who holds the future of this world and of eternity itself in His hands.

A new world is being born in this messy world in which we live.

The labor pains we endure in this world are painful, even, as we saw again this past Friday night in Paris, deadly.

But if we will be patient and hold on tightly to Christ, we’ll have strength for the journey and an eternity of joy with Christ and all who, like us, have trusted in Him.

As Jesus promises at the end of today’s Gospel lesson: “...the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Stand firm!

Amen

Read the Bible in a Year (Days 12-15)

Genesis 34-45
Psalms 12-15

1. Genesis 37-50 recount the history of Joseph and Israel's migration to Egypt. The story of Joseph, next to youngest son of the third great patriarch, Jacob, is among the most poignant and important in Scripture. Not only does it explain how God's people came to live in Egypt--where they would ultimately live in slavery for 430 years, the personal story of Joseph tells us about how God can be faithfully working in the adversities and seemingly purposeless circumstances of faithful people.

2. Genesis 37: This, of course, isn't the first instance of sibling rivalry to show itself in Genesis. Because Cain resented that the offering of his brother Abel was more pleasing to God than his own, Cain killed Abel. Jacob and Esau had titanic sibling struggles. Here, Jacob's preference for Joseph breeds resentment from his older brothers.

The first commandment of the second table of the Ten Commandments (the fourth commandment, "You shall honor your father and mother") shows the important role God assigns to the family. Mothers and fathers and their families are the core building units of human existence. But the condition of sin burdens families, resulting in alienation and sinful actions.

Parents need to work hard to help their children know and submit to Christ, the One Who works reconciliation between God and humanity and among people. Martin Luther said that the family was to be a "little church."

2. Genesis 39: Wherever Joseph went, his special gifts--administration and dreams--brought him, at least at times, special notice and favor. He became the overseer of Potiphar's properties in Egypt. Here though, Joseph becomes the victim of false accusations and ends up in prison.

Later, as we'll see, Joseph will see this horrible experience as part of God's overall plan for his life. I myself often wonder when I go through far less horrible situations than the one Joseph faced, what God is up to. What good is there in it?

Some situations in our fallen and imperfect world are, of course, senseless, the result only of human beings given over to depravity doing horrible things to others. The hand of God can't be seen in things like the Holocaust or in the abuse of children, women, or the elderly--except in the faith-filled and noble ways the victims behave.

But, there are times when God allows us to endure harsh circumstances for His purposes. Joseph will affirm this later in Genesis.

On other occasions, God may use such circumstances to deepen our faith and character. Hebrews 12:4-11, has these difficult words:

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as children? It says, "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his child." Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined--and everyone undergoes discipline--then you are not legitimate children at all. Moreover, we have all had parents who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! Our parents disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. 

3. Genesis 40: How did Joseph keep from becoming bitter? The cup-bearer got his freedom and went on with his life, forgetting how Joseph had interpreted his dream and given him hope, not to mention strong reason to believe in the God of Israel.

I don't think it's a stretch to say that Joseph was sustained by his faith in God. When Potiphar's wife had pressed Joseph to have sex with him, Joseph asked, "How...could I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" (Genesis 39:9) This, from a man who had already been exiled from God's people--His family, a people for whom their relationship with God was so important they were willing to sell their own brother into slaver, even consider murdering Joseph. But Joseph held tightly to God!

Besides, Joseph the dreamer and interpreter of dreams understood that, for him anyway, dreams spoke powerfully of God's will and that the dreams he had when he was young pointed to a purpose and a goal beyond the horrors he endured in the days leading to their fulfillment. Joseph had learned from God at an early age that he was to become a ruler (Genesis 37:5-11). Later, after all that had come to pass, Joseph indicated his belief that the years of his suffering had been for a purpose. He told his brothers, fearful that after Jacob's death, their powerful brother would now get revenge on them for selling him into slavery, "Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good...." (Genesis 50:20).

Joseph would fully understood the words of Saint Paul written nineteen centuries later: "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18). Joseph trusted God and that pulled him through.

4. As to his dreams, it's important to remember that Joseph had faith in God, not in his dreams. They were simply signs he had learned could point to God.

Not every dream does that, of course. 

And not every person is granted the spiritual gift of understanding and interpreting dreams that Joseph possessed. 

But it is very true, I think, that God is reaching out to us and communicating to all of us far more often than we realize. When we cultivate a close relationship with God, there is no limit to the ways in which He might communicate with us. But always keep in mind that God will never communicate anything to us that is inconsistent with what He has revealed of His will and His character in the Old and New Testaments. 

There's a book I'd like to recommend to you along these lines: Dreams: A Way to Listen to God by Morton Kelsey. I don't agree with everything Kelsey asserts. But this is really good. 

The Blessed Life

[This was shared during both worship services of Living Water Lutheran Church in Springboro, Ohio.]

Luke 6:20-31
There are many things we Christians believe that seem outrageous to the rest of the world.

They may not seem outrageous to us because you and I are accustomed to our memorized confessions of faith.

We affirm beliefs like the resurrection of the dead, eternal life for those who believe in Jesus, Jesus’ virgin birth and bodily resurrection. All of these teachings seem outrageous to an unbelieving world.

And the truth is, left to our own devices, you and I couldn’t believe these things nor experience the joy of knowing that we have been saved by grace through our faith in the crucified and risen Jesus.

Martin Luther writes in his commentary on Galatians: “Christ’s benefits are so precious that He will dispense them only to those who need them [by which, he means, who know they need them] and really desire them.” Faith, even the shakiest of faith, comes only to those who want to believe. The Christian faith that teaches that we must die to sin and trust in Christ to raise us as the Father raised Him on the first Easter, is a scandal, an outrage to a world that likes to think it’s self-sufficient.

And then, we come to the Gospel lesson appointed for this All Saints’ Sunday.

In it, Jesus seems to move to a deeper level of outrageousness. He talks not about the outrageous things Christians are taught to believe or trust, but the outrageous ways we are to live because we believe.

In the opening verses of our lesson, Jesus talks about the blessed life, the lifestyle of a saint.

A saint, the Bible teaches, is a forgiven sinner fighting the good fight to ignore the temptations of a sinful world, the sinful self, and of the devil, to hold onto Jesus as the only way to God, our only hope in this world and the next, the only Savior Who can free us to be the people we were made to be. This, Jesus is saying in these opening words, the kind of life God blesses.

Knowing this could make us feel uncomfortable. It could even make us feel doomed.

“I can’t possibly live the way Jesus says we’re to live,” we could say, “So, why even try being a Christian?”

But Jesus’ words here are descriptive. They describe the life we can live if we keep turning from our sin and trusting in Him.

His words are not proscriptive. By that I mean, Jesus is not telling us that we have to live this way in order to earn life with God. Jesus isn’t giving a new law, impossible for us to keep. He’s describing the life we can live if we let Him live in us, in every part of our lives.

Let me show you something. Please pull out a Bible and turn to Deuteronomy 11:26-28. (Page 130 in the pew Bibles.) Deuteronomy is a long sermon given by Moses, who was soon to die, to the people of Israel, just before God allowed them to enter the promised land. Moses says: “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse-- the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.” These are proscriptive words. They’re commandments.

Now, turn to our Gospel lesson, Luke 6:20-31. (Page 720 in the pew Bibles.) Jesus says, speaking to His disciples (that is, all who had come to believe in Him): “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.”

See the difference between Moses’ words and those of Jesus? Jesus is not saying, “Do this and you will be blessed.” He’s saying if you are poor, you’re blessed. If you are hungry, you’re blessed. If you are in sorrow, you’re blessed. If people hate you because you believe in Christ, you’re blessed. Jesus is being descriptive.

But, here’s the question Jesus’ words raise for us: Who wants to sign on to be poor, hungry, in mourning, or to be hated?

And how do we react to how Jesus describes the cursed lifestyle?

Look at that description, starting at verse 24. Jesus says: “...woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.”

Now, let’s be clear about what Jesus is saying in these descriptive words.

He isn’t telling us to aspire to poverty, hunger, sorrow, or persecution.

Nor is He telling us that it’s a sin to be rich, well fed, happy, or respected by others.

Instead, Jesus is telling us that whether we have what the world calls success or happiness or not, whether we’re seen as powerful or powerless, important or insignificant, the saint--the forgiven sinner who trusts in Jesus Christ as their only Savior, only God, can live with joy,  hope, and peace.

Are you living with that joy, hope, and peace today? You can be!

Even in the midst of a world that counts faith in Christ as an outrage, an absurdity, a curiosity, a weakness.

Please turn to Philippians 4:11-12 (page 820 in the pew Bibles). The apostle Paul writes this to the first century church at Philippi: “...I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” Then, in verse 13, he says: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

A saint then, is a person who is blessed whatever the condition of their life.

They walk in confidence, no matter what’s happening to them.

A friend of mine who has been through more than any human being should have to endure, told me recently, “I am blessed.”

When saints like that make the outrageous assertion that, despite what life in this fallen world has done to them or what hurt unbelieving people--even unbelieving people within the fellowship of the Church--have done to them, and despite what temptations dog them or past sins may sometimes haunt them they are blessed, I have to confess I feel ashamed.

Too often, I bellyache and complain about my lot in life. Too often, I forget that the God Who came into this world, experienced this life, suffered and died for sinners like me, and then rose to give those who repent and believe in Christ life with Him despite the death and condemnation I deserve.

Jesus has conquered all the things I bellyache about, all the things that frighten me.

He has overcome sin and death, even my sin and death.

I forget that even when Christians are hungry, they can be filled with Christ’s goodness, grace, and power.

I forget that when Christians are poor, we nonetheless have a rich life with the Creator of the universe that will only be perfected after we have died and risen to be with Him.

When believers mourn, we know that one day, He will wipe away every tear and that even now, living with Him, He can turn our mourning into dancing.

When we are spurned or even persecuted for our outrageous faith in Christ, we can, as Jesus prompts us, “Rejoice...and leap for joy” because we know that through Him, we have a great reward in heaven.

Certain that nothing can separate us from Christ’s gracious love, we can even dare to “love [our] enemies, do good to those who hate [us], bless those who curse [us]...”

When we hold Christ in the grip of faith, we will even find ourselves sometimes capable of doing to others as we would have them do to us.

Despite our sin and disbelief, we, like saints before us, can be filled with the strength to live lives of outrageous faithfulness to Christ.

In Jesus, we follow a Savior and God Who has lived the very life He calls blessed in today’s lesson. Do you remember what Jesus prayed for the crowds who cried for His death and nailed Him to a cross on the first Good Friday? With His dying breath, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Fine, you may say, Jesus was and is God. He knew how His suffering would end. Beyond His cross lay an empty tomb. He could afford to put the most charitable construction on the actions of those who hated and hurt Him. It was easy for Him to live the blessed life, we might think.

But how to explain someone like Stephen, a disciple, the first Christian to be martyred for his faith? Stephen was an ordinary man who believed in Christ, a sinner and a saint. As he was being stoned to death for his refusal to renounce his faith in Christ, Stephen prayed, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” Stephen, unlike Jesus, God in human skin, had no power over sin or death. But he knew he belonged to the God Who does and so could pray just as Jesus had on the cross.

Jesus Christ lives in those who trust in Him.

He empowers those who dare to trust in Him to not be caught up in the ways of this world, to become, as Luther puts it, “little Christs.”

This is why the apostle Paul could write: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us.”

The saints in Christ know that this world is very important. It's a world God created, then died and rose to set free.

But saints also know that this world is not the end of the story.

No matter what the states of our bodies, our finances, or our relationships, saints know that through Jesus’ resurrection, His life is pulsating within us!

He has us in His mind and in His hands.

By His grace and our enduring faith in Him, our life with Him won’t end here.

And at those moments when we dare to give ourselves totally to Jesus and to God’s purposes for us, we gain the courage to live the outrageous life--the blessed life--that Jesus commends to us this morning.

The funny thing is that the saintly life that Jesus describes is, I believe, precisely how, in our heart of hearts, we all want to live, no matter how outraged we may sometimes feel about this lifestyle that Jesus calls blessed.

Even cynics and the persecutors of Christians want to live as saints, to be people who forgive, people who give, people who treat others as they themselves want to be treated.

By the grace of God in Christ and our openness to Christ, may the Holy Spirit teach us how to live as saints. God bless you all. Amen

3 Good Reasons for Getting People Mad at You

Everybody knows that home teams have the advantage when playing games on their own courts or fields. Home teams more frequently win.

The explanations usually offered for this seem reasonable. You know them: the home team feels comfortable in its own "friendly environs," the away team is frazzled by travel, the home team is encouraged by homers in the stands.

But according to authors Tobias Moskowitz and L. John Wertheim, writing in their book, Scorecasting, the conventional wisdom represented by those explanations is wrong.

The reason for home field advantage, they say, is the officiating. Competent, honest referees and umpires tend to give the close calls to the home team. More often than they think, the people with the whistles are cowed by the crowd.

But let's not be too hard on referees and umpires. None of us wants to get people upset with us. (I know that I hate it.)

And frankly, people who go looking for trouble are generally narcissists. They want the world to revolve around them. This attitude springs, I believe, from the inborn default mode of every human being, what the theologians call original sin.

That doesn't mean that we should avoid offending people at all costs.

As a Christian, I follow Jesus Christ, Who I believe was and is God in the flesh. Jesus got Himself into trouble with people who weren't interested in letting God be their King and Savior. And though forcefully invited to change His way, Jesus never changed His course.

For His steadfastness, He got a cross. It's fortunate for us that this happened. Jesus' death on the cross was the way He took to resurrection on the first Easter Sunday.

Because Jesus resisted the temptations offered by the crowds and the world, keeping His face on His mission of dying and rising for us, He won new and everlasting life for all who repent and believe in Him.

What about us? We're not God. But Jesus promises that all who endure in believing in Him are the ones who will be saved from their own sin and from the death sentence every one of us deserves (Matthew 24:13).

Be warned: Belief in Christ will sometimes get you into trouble.

But when you know that you belong to an everlasting Savior and King, what the crowd says doesn't matter as much.

The apostle Paul experienced rejection because of his faith in Christ. It didn't stop him. "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us" (Romans 8:18).

I can think of several good reasons for incurring the anger of others.

1. It's worth making others mad at you by standing up for the despised, neglected, or helpless.

Christians are called to stand up for the well-being of others. Psalm 82:3 says: "Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and destitute."

And Proverbs 31:8-9 says: "Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy."

2. It's worth making others mad at you by doing the right thing.

We're all going to endure the anger of others in our lives.

Sometimes, their anger will be justified. When we hurt others simply because of something we want to do, we deserve anger and condemnation.

But there also will be times we get people angry with us for doing the right things. Martin Luther, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Martin Luther King, Jr. are three people who incurred people's condemnation because what they were doing was right. So too are the countless Christians around the world trying to share the saving good news of Jesus who are thrown into prisons or executed for their allegiance to Christ.

The apostle Peter wrote to Christians in first-century Asia Minor: "For it is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly. If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God's approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in His steps." (1 Peter 2:19-21)

3. It's worth getting others mad at you because you're sharing Christ with others.

We all know Christians who spout Bible verses and Christian cliches and think that in doing so they're witnessing. If they're really intent on sharing Christ, they'd be better off praying and studying their Bibles. Look in the New Testament to see how Jesus and His first followers invited others to faith in Jesus:

• They met people where they were
• They asked questions, including how they could help those they met
• They sought to understand the people with whom they spoke and, while never changing the content of the message about Jesus, tailored the "packages" in which they gave the gift of Jesus to them

But even if, as a Christian, you exercise tact, love, and consideration for people as you let God guide you in telling others about Jesus Christ, there will be times when you'll still incite people's anger.

Is it worth the hassle?

A guy about to get himself clocked in a bar fight might rebel as you drag him away from certain injury. That's OK. Taking him to safety will be its own reward.

When we Christians share Christ with others, we may have to share tough stuff with them that they don't want to hear.

• Like "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Or, "your sins [mine too] have hidden [God's] face from you." 
• Or, that despite our sin and separation from God, which inevitably lead to death, God has created a way for us to be right with Him and to have eternal life with Him, a punch in the gut of human pride.
• Or, that way is Jesus: "...there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, Himself human..." (1 Timothy 2:5). And, "...God proves His love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). 
• People may not even want to hear it when you tell them the good news that can change their lives today and in eternity: "...[I]f you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9).

If you share these truths with some people, they'll react like the guy you pulled from the bar fight. They'll be mad. But sharing truths like these is all part of loving others. And if it makes them mad to be loved, so be it. 

As long as Christians live this life, we will be pushed and pulled to make the wrong calls, to have our actions and thoughts dictated by the crowd, to go along to get along. The Bible says that we are "aliens and strangers" in this world (1 Peter 2:11).

We should never seek anger, confrontation, or controversy, of course. But if we make people mad because we're

• doing the right thing, 
• standing for the despised, neglected, or helpless, or 
• seeking to faithfully follow and share Christ, 

we should be able to look ourselves in the mirror without guilty consciences.

We should live with humble confidence in God and His love for us, knowing that we always have a home in His Kingdom.

Labor Pains

Mark 13:1-8
What I know about birth pangs or labor pains is, as it can only be for any man, second-hand knowledge. Mine comes from having seen my wife, Ann, go through labor with our two kids.

Ann was a champ! But after seeing what she had experienced first with Philip, who was 10-pounds, 9-3/4-ounces when he was born, and then with Sarah, who was 12-pounds, 2-ounces at birth, I could well understand what she told me shortly after Sarah was born. “Mark," she said, "if you want any more kids, you’ll have to have them with your second wife.”

I bring this up because, as New Testament scholar N.T. Wright points out, the key to understanding today’s Gospel lesson, Mark 13:1-8, is its final verse, where Jesus says, “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows.”

Now, the rendering of that last phrase in the New King James Version, the translation of our pew Bibles and in our bulletin, is frankly, not very accurate. A literal rendering of Jesus’ words there from the original Greek in which Mark and all the books of the New Testament are written, arche odinon tauta, would be, the beginning of birthpangs these things are. That’s why the translation of this passage in the New Revised Standard Version, which we use in adult Sunday School class, puts Jesus’ words this way: “This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.”

I spent so much time talking about this phrase and its translation because these few words by Jesus are important!

In the Old Testament, especially in the writings of the prophets, the imagery of labor pains coming before the birth of God’s kingdom in people’s lives was often used. But Jesus uses the image of birth pangs in this passage differently. He’s not talking about the end of the world (He slides into a discussion of that seamlessly later on in Mark, chapter 13) or about the establishment of God’s eternal kingdom, but about the end of the temple in Jerusalem, an event that would happen in 70 AD, about forty years after Jesus spoke these words, when the Romans tore the temple down.

But there’s still a lot for us to learn as followers of Jesus from today’s Gospel lesson. Please turn to it, Mark 13:1-8.

It begins: “Then as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!’”

“Wow!” the disciple is saying, “isn’t this a great place?” But Jesus seems unimpressed with the temple. Look at verse 2: “And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down.”

What a downer! The disciple who pointed to the beauty of the temple probably at least thought that he was making pleasant conversation. Or more probably, he thought that he was displaying pious faith in God by being impressed with the temple.

But Jesus gives the disciple no affirmation, in effect telling him (and us) to never confuse the eternal power of God with buildings, no matter how imposing or pretty.

I have to say that when the call committee here at Saint Matthew showed me the sanctuary at the conclusion of our first interview, I probably didn’t register much delight.

It’s nice, don’t get me wrong. But Ann and I learned a long time ago that God can be worshiped in all sorts of places. The mission congregation with which I worked during my seminary internship met in a Lions' hall. When we arrived on Sunday mornings for worship, we were often met with the smell of stale cigarette smoke and spilled beer. And for twelve-and-a-half years, at the mission church I served before coming to Saint Matthew, we worshiped in a broken-down old school gym.

Corrie ten-Boom found the holiest place of worship in the concentration camp in which she and her sister were incarcerated during World War II was the garbage dump crawling with rats and smelling of human waste and rotting food. It was the only place where she and her sister could go to remember God’s Word, sing hymns, and praise the God they knew through Jesus Christ.

Buildings crumble and fall.

Stained glass cracks.

Only God and those who turn from sin and trust in Christ as their only hope live for eternity.

Jesus was telling the disciples, including us, “Don’t put your trust in buildings, or traditions, or liturgies, or human beings or their works. Don’t even trust yourselves. Put your trust in Christ alone!”

Go back to the lesson, to verse 3. Jesus is now sitting opposite the temple on the Mount of Olives and four of the apostles--Peter, James, John, and Andrew--have a question. Verse 4: “‘Tell us when all these things will be? And what will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled?’”

Now, you need to notice something here: In answering the four apostles' questions, Jesus never actually answers their questions. As we'll see, Jesus isn't being evasive in not answering them. In fact, Jesus has a more important point to make!

Look at what Jesus says, starting in verse 5: “‘Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My Name, saying, ‘I am He,‘ and will deceive many. But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled; for such things must happen, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles.”

Every single thing Jesus describes as signs of the impending destruction of the temple are events that have been going on from the moment Adam and Eve rebelled against God and consigned all of us to our inborn bondage to sin.

Can anyone name a time in human history, ancient or modern, when there weren’t wars and rumors of wars? Neither can I!

Can you think of a time in history when there weren’t disasters, earthquakes, and troubles? Neither can I! And I was a Social Studies major who is a life-long of history.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 says: “..there is nothing new under the sun.” That verse doesn't say that history repeats itself; because, quite simply, history doesn't repeat itself. But that verse reminds us that the world is no more and no less sinful or foreboding today than it was the moment God banished Adam and Eve from the garden.

Different sins become more popular at different times. But the same old sin, death, disasters, calamities, and warring have been going on for centuries.

In light of this fact, Peter, James, John, and Andrew might have said to Jesus, “But, Lord, all these things You describe as signs and events that will happen before the destruction of the temple are things that happen every day, year in and year out, and have always happened!”

And had they actually said that, Jesus could have answered, “Exactly!”

The temple came down at the precise moment when Jesus foresaw that it would fall.

But the disciples and no one else had any need to know when that would happen.

As hard as it is for we human beings to accept, there are some things we cannot know and never will know.

Geneticists, epidemiologists, and actuaries may be able to tell us our likely life expectancies, for example. But only God knows the exact moment He has appointed for the ends of our earthly lives. King David prays to God in Psalm 31:15: "My times are in Your hand..." And Job, in the midst of His pain, tells God: "A person’s days are determined; You have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed" (Job 14:5).

Scientists and climatologists may be able to make accurate projections of the moments most likely to bring the destruction of this planet. But only God knows the time appointed for that to happen. In fact, it seems that only God the Father knows when that moment will come. Jesus, God the Son, said, "...about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Mark 13:32).

So, Jesus doesn’t tell the disciples when the temple will fall or what the signs of its impending destruction will be.

His non-answer told them that they were asking the wrong questions.

What Jesus is telling them and us is that, no matter what painful or difficult things may come to us along life’s way, the future is ultimately in God’s hands. Our call is to trust in Him even in the midst of uncertainties and our own limitations.

He's also saying that all the painful things that happen in this world, no matter how calamitous are just the labor pains of God's new creation.

That’s why Jesus says in verse 8: “These [things] are [just] the beginnings...” Or, “These are just the labor pains for what’s to follow!”

In fact, the Bible says that our entire life on this earth constitutes the labor pains of the new heaven and the new earth all who believe in Christ will live in and enjoy after this entire universe has fallen down, Christ returns, and the dead who have died believing in Him will rise again.

Romans 8:22 says that “the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains” for that moment when, finally and fully, sin, death, and futility are put under Christ’s feet and the pain and tears of this fallen world will be things of the past.

This should give us hope! 

The athlete who keeps her focus firmly on her goal of winning  the prize endures all sorts of difficulties--arduous training, endless practice, injuries and physical rehabilitation--in order to attain her goal.

When we live each day in the certainty that God saves from sin and death all who retain their faith in Jesus Christ and have eternity with God as the prize for which they race, they can say with the apostle Paul, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to revealed to us” when, in the resurrection, we see Christ face to face!

 (Romans 8:18)

We have to be careful though. Faith isn’t fatalism.

Jesus isn’t telling Christians to sit around, letting life wash over them while waiting for Him to show up with a bunch of angels playing harps. (I personally hate harps, by the way!)

In fact, throughout Mark 13, where Jesus does go on to talk about the end of the world, Jesus tells us what we’re to do as we await the unfolding of God’s plans for our world and for our lives. We’re not supposed to sit, trying our best to look holy.

In Mark 13:5; Jesus says, “Take heed that no one deceives you.” Watch out that you don’t for those who tell you to hope in the things of the world--like money, power, a positive attitude, whatever--taking them as gods instead of Jesus.

In verse 9, Jesus warns Christians to “Watch out” that they not give up on trusting in Him. This applies to we Lutherans today, when our own the synodical officials in some parts of the country (not here in southern Ohio, it should be said) harasses or intimidates pastors and congregations into accepting false beliefs. We need to watch out when our own denomination ascribes the same level of authority to bishops, denominational assemblies, various church traditions, human experience, and science that the Lutheran Confessions claim belongs only to the Word of God found in the Bible.

Then, in verse 23, Jesus tells us to take heed, watch out, for people who point us to false Christs or to false versions of the real Jesus Christ and lead us away from eternal life with God.

And in verse 33, Jesus says to “Take heed, watch, and pray.” We have no idea when the end of the world may come; so we need to pray, as Jesus has taught us, that God will “deliver us from evil,” so that we don’t fall prey to sin and end up an enemy of God when we face judgment in eternity.

Jesus took back our fallen world once and for all when He offered Himself on the cross, the perfect sacrifice for our sins, then rose from the dead, opening up eternity to who trust in Him.

We don’t know what may happen to us or to the world in whatever time passes between this moment and the moment when the risen, ascended Jesus returns to bring judgment and the fullness of His kingdom to all who have believed in Him.

But we do know that there is no safer place we can be in this world (and the next) than in the hands of the God Who holds the future of this world and of eternity itself in His hands.

A new world is being born in this messy world in which we live. The labors of this world can be painful, even deadly. But if we will be patient and hold on tightly to Christ, we’ll have strength for the journey and an eternity of joy with Christ and all who, like us, have trusted in Him. Amen

[This was prepared to be shared during worship with the people and friends of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, yesterday.]