Showing posts with label wisdom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wisdom. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 28, 2022
Tuesday, September 27, 2022
Sunday, September 18, 2022
Living Shrewdly
[Below, you'll find the live stream video from both of the morning worship services of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio, as well as the text of the message shared at each service. I hope you find it helpful. Have a good week!]
Luke 16:1-15
Luke 16:1-15
The parable that Jesus tells in today’s Gospel lesson has caused Christians untold confusion through the centuries. So, let’s dispel the confusion right off the top!
Through this piece of fiction created by our Lord, Jesus is NOT approving stealing or dishonesty. God never contradicts Himself. So, Jesus, God the Son, isn’t using this parable to abolish the seventh commandment–”You shall not steal”--or the eighth commandment–”You shall not bear false witness.”
The rich man in Jesus’ parable does NOT compliment the dishonest manager for lying and stealing. The text itself tells us exactly what impressed the rich man in Jesus’ story. Verse 8: “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly…” (Luke 16:8) The word “shrewdly” translates the Greek word Luke uses here, φρονίμως, which can also be translated as wisely or prudently. The rich man praised his manager’s wisdom.
All of this raises a question. What made the dishonest manager in Jesus’ story wise? And, since Jesus told this particular parable to His disciples–believers in Him, like you and me–what does it mean for disciples to be wise?
First, being wise means hearing and understanding the implication of God’s Law. After the rich man fires the manager, he tells the manager that he must give an account of all he had wasted of the manager’s possessions. God’s Law tells us that we, like the dishonest manager, must give God an account of how we have managed or stewarded the gift of life He has given to us.
Folks, every minute we breathe is a gift from God Who formed us in our mothers’ wombs. The average American will live 40,498,088 God-given minutes on this earth. God’s Law demands, as Lutheran theologian Bo Giertz once noted, that we are accountable to God for our “thoughts, words, and deeds…[our] invisible desires and hidden prideful thoughts.” Every adulterous thought, every piece of gossip, every time we have spoken God’s name in vain, any time we’ve craved the possessions, successes, or blessings enjoyed by others, whenever we have been disrespectful of our parents or others in authority, are all instances of you and I squandering and mismanaging the minutes of life God gives to us.
In another of His parables, Jesus tells the story of a rich fool who wastes the minutes of his life by building bigger barns to hold all his wealth so that he can, in complete selfishness, tell himself to eat, drink, and be merry. But, Jesus says, before the fool can finish building his new barns, God steps in and tells him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you.” (Luke 12:20)
Only a fool would think that they can live a life of unrepentant sin, misusing the gift of life God has given to each of us, and not have death, the rightful punishment for sin, catch up with us. And for those tempted to think they can manage their lives in a way pleasing to God in their own power and goodness, God’s Law disabuses us of such notions. Jesus says in Matthew 5:20, “I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” And, in Matthew 5:48, he tells us, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
How many perfect people do we have here this morning? I know I’m not one.
Being wise means hearing and understanding the implication of God’s Law.
But being wise also means understanding that there’s a deeper truth God has set loose in the universe. Being wise means receiving this truth with faith acting on the basis of that truth while we still have time.
What do I mean?
In Jesus’ parable, the manager was fired one day and told by the master that he needed to bring the books to the rich man the next. What he did was not in itself commendable: He called in his master’s debtors and forgave them massively. Of the two debtors Jesus mentions in the parable, the manager took it upon himself to forgive each of these men who probably farmed on the rich man’s land, an amount equal to more than 500-days wages a piece! The manager was using his boss’ wealth to win welcoming friends for himself.
Now, this would seem to be a risky ploy by the manager! If the rich man gets wind of this scheme, he could end up not just fired, but in prison!
Of course, it turns out that the rich man does find out. And this brings the unexpected plot twist of Jesus’ story. The rich man overlooks the dishonest manager’s crimes. That’s because, even if the manager is being unscrupulous, he’s finally, maybe for the first time since the rich man hired him, actually managing the rich man’s possessions.
There appears to be a good reason the manager knew he could take such a chance. It’s this: The manager knew the heart, the character, and the kindness of his master.
Just like the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) in the parable Jesus tells just before this one in Luke’s gospel, the manager knew that his master, like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, wanted to forgive him.
And, friends, the crucified and risen Jesus, God the Son, Who died and rose for our sins, demonstrates how much God wants to forgive us our sins and give us life with God as free and gracious gifts for all who believe in Jesus! God wants to do that for us even though none of us has ever consistently managed the gift of life God has granted to us with faithfulness or wisdom.
Jesus isn’t telling us that if we lie and steal, we’ll be acting wisely. He IS telling us to wise up and understand that, even more than was true of the manager in today’s parable, we can trust in the kindness and grace of the God we meet in Jesus Himself to cover our sins! The God revealed to us in Jesus is effectively telling us again today: “The time has come…The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15)
The good news, or the gospel, tells us that while we have all failed to be good or sinless managers of our lives, God sent Jesus into the world and, according 2 Corinthians 5:21: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus bears the weight of our sin so that we can receive His righteousness!
In light of such love and grace and in light of our failure to measure up to the righteousness of God, the only action that makes any sense for us is to turn in repentance and faith to Jesus each day, to trust in Jesus for God’s charitable forgiveness of our sin, that is, for grace, and for life with God that begins now in this crumbling universe and continues into eternal perfection that death cannot destroy!
Those made wise by God’s Word know that when we daily–even moment by moment–throw ourselves on the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, all our misuse of this life is forgiven and we are made eternally clean and new!
God’s Word tells us: “..all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [but] all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:23-24)
The one who daily turns to Jesus in trust is leading a life of God-given wisdom. Amen!
Through this piece of fiction created by our Lord, Jesus is NOT approving stealing or dishonesty. God never contradicts Himself. So, Jesus, God the Son, isn’t using this parable to abolish the seventh commandment–”You shall not steal”--or the eighth commandment–”You shall not bear false witness.”
The rich man in Jesus’ parable does NOT compliment the dishonest manager for lying and stealing. The text itself tells us exactly what impressed the rich man in Jesus’ story. Verse 8: “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly…” (Luke 16:8) The word “shrewdly” translates the Greek word Luke uses here, φρονίμως, which can also be translated as wisely or prudently. The rich man praised his manager’s wisdom.
All of this raises a question. What made the dishonest manager in Jesus’ story wise? And, since Jesus told this particular parable to His disciples–believers in Him, like you and me–what does it mean for disciples to be wise?
First, being wise means hearing and understanding the implication of God’s Law. After the rich man fires the manager, he tells the manager that he must give an account of all he had wasted of the manager’s possessions. God’s Law tells us that we, like the dishonest manager, must give God an account of how we have managed or stewarded the gift of life He has given to us.
Folks, every minute we breathe is a gift from God Who formed us in our mothers’ wombs. The average American will live 40,498,088 God-given minutes on this earth. God’s Law demands, as Lutheran theologian Bo Giertz once noted, that we are accountable to God for our “thoughts, words, and deeds…[our] invisible desires and hidden prideful thoughts.” Every adulterous thought, every piece of gossip, every time we have spoken God’s name in vain, any time we’ve craved the possessions, successes, or blessings enjoyed by others, whenever we have been disrespectful of our parents or others in authority, are all instances of you and I squandering and mismanaging the minutes of life God gives to us.
In another of His parables, Jesus tells the story of a rich fool who wastes the minutes of his life by building bigger barns to hold all his wealth so that he can, in complete selfishness, tell himself to eat, drink, and be merry. But, Jesus says, before the fool can finish building his new barns, God steps in and tells him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you.” (Luke 12:20)
Only a fool would think that they can live a life of unrepentant sin, misusing the gift of life God has given to each of us, and not have death, the rightful punishment for sin, catch up with us. And for those tempted to think they can manage their lives in a way pleasing to God in their own power and goodness, God’s Law disabuses us of such notions. Jesus says in Matthew 5:20, “I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” And, in Matthew 5:48, he tells us, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
How many perfect people do we have here this morning? I know I’m not one.
Being wise means hearing and understanding the implication of God’s Law.
But being wise also means understanding that there’s a deeper truth God has set loose in the universe. Being wise means receiving this truth with faith acting on the basis of that truth while we still have time.
What do I mean?
In Jesus’ parable, the manager was fired one day and told by the master that he needed to bring the books to the rich man the next. What he did was not in itself commendable: He called in his master’s debtors and forgave them massively. Of the two debtors Jesus mentions in the parable, the manager took it upon himself to forgive each of these men who probably farmed on the rich man’s land, an amount equal to more than 500-days wages a piece! The manager was using his boss’ wealth to win welcoming friends for himself.
Now, this would seem to be a risky ploy by the manager! If the rich man gets wind of this scheme, he could end up not just fired, but in prison!
Of course, it turns out that the rich man does find out. And this brings the unexpected plot twist of Jesus’ story. The rich man overlooks the dishonest manager’s crimes. That’s because, even if the manager is being unscrupulous, he’s finally, maybe for the first time since the rich man hired him, actually managing the rich man’s possessions.
There appears to be a good reason the manager knew he could take such a chance. It’s this: The manager knew the heart, the character, and the kindness of his master.
Just like the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) in the parable Jesus tells just before this one in Luke’s gospel, the manager knew that his master, like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, wanted to forgive him.
And, friends, the crucified and risen Jesus, God the Son, Who died and rose for our sins, demonstrates how much God wants to forgive us our sins and give us life with God as free and gracious gifts for all who believe in Jesus! God wants to do that for us even though none of us has ever consistently managed the gift of life God has granted to us with faithfulness or wisdom.
Jesus isn’t telling us that if we lie and steal, we’ll be acting wisely. He IS telling us to wise up and understand that, even more than was true of the manager in today’s parable, we can trust in the kindness and grace of the God we meet in Jesus Himself to cover our sins! The God revealed to us in Jesus is effectively telling us again today: “The time has come…The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15)
The good news, or the gospel, tells us that while we have all failed to be good or sinless managers of our lives, God sent Jesus into the world and, according 2 Corinthians 5:21: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus bears the weight of our sin so that we can receive His righteousness!
In light of such love and grace and in light of our failure to measure up to the righteousness of God, the only action that makes any sense for us is to turn in repentance and faith to Jesus each day, to trust in Jesus for God’s charitable forgiveness of our sin, that is, for grace, and for life with God that begins now in this crumbling universe and continues into eternal perfection that death cannot destroy!
Those made wise by God’s Word know that when we daily–even moment by moment–throw ourselves on the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, all our misuse of this life is forgiven and we are made eternally clean and new!
God’s Word tells us: “..all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [but] all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:23-24)
The one who daily turns to Jesus in trust is leading a life of God-given wisdom. Amen!
Monday, June 22, 2020
Friday, May 15, 2020
Who's Wise?
In starting my review of Romans 12, which we'll be covering during our weeknight Bible study over on Facebook tonight, one part of one verse really struck me. It comes in verse 16. Paul says: "Never be wise in your own sight."
I think it's probably true that the moment we think we're wise, we're not.
Biblical Christian faith does not value self-sufficiency. God calls us into a community of shalom, of peace with God, with others, and with God's creation born of faith in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.
And if we consult with only ourselves over our decisions and attitudes in life, we create a self-confirming feedback loop in which we assure ourselves that what we want to do or believe is right because it's what we want to do or believe. This is a prescription for being unwise.
That's why listening is so important for Christians.
First and foremost, we're to listen to God. Not our hearts. ("The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" says Jeremiah 17:9) Not our thoughts. (There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death," we read in Proverbs 14:12, ESV). Not our preferences. (When Jesus asked God the Father that the cup of suffering He was to "drink" in His suffering and crucifixion, He also prayed, "...not my will, but yours be done." [Luke 22:42]) We need to listen to God, through His Word.
Second, we need to listen to committed disciples of Jesus Who also listen to God and will pray with us and for us.
Third, we need to listen to the wisdom of others, whatever their backgrounds, who have acquired expertise and experience from which we can benefit. All true wisdom originates with God, even when the person imparting it doesn't themselves believe in God. "For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. (Proverbs 2:6)
Above all, we should confidently ask God the Father in Jesus' name for wisdom. James 1:15 says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you."
The longer I live, the less confident I am in my own wisdom, in my own capacity to discern truth or make the right decisions. But the longer I live in relationship with Christ, the more I tune into God the Father through Jesus, God the Son, the more confident I am of the decisions and attitudes God commends me to adopt. I more deeply appreciate Jesus' words to His disciples (including me) in John 15:5: "I am the vine; you are the branches...apart from me you can do nothing." I gain a deeper confidence knowing that I have asked for God's wisdom through Christ, assured like the apostle Paul that "I can do all this through [Christ] who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13)
Just a few thoughts.
I think it's probably true that the moment we think we're wise, we're not.
Biblical Christian faith does not value self-sufficiency. God calls us into a community of shalom, of peace with God, with others, and with God's creation born of faith in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.
And if we consult with only ourselves over our decisions and attitudes in life, we create a self-confirming feedback loop in which we assure ourselves that what we want to do or believe is right because it's what we want to do or believe. This is a prescription for being unwise.
That's why listening is so important for Christians.
First and foremost, we're to listen to God. Not our hearts. ("The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" says Jeremiah 17:9) Not our thoughts. (There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death," we read in Proverbs 14:12, ESV). Not our preferences. (When Jesus asked God the Father that the cup of suffering He was to "drink" in His suffering and crucifixion, He also prayed, "...not my will, but yours be done." [Luke 22:42]) We need to listen to God, through His Word.
Second, we need to listen to committed disciples of Jesus Who also listen to God and will pray with us and for us.
Third, we need to listen to the wisdom of others, whatever their backgrounds, who have acquired expertise and experience from which we can benefit. All true wisdom originates with God, even when the person imparting it doesn't themselves believe in God. "For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. (Proverbs 2:6)
Above all, we should confidently ask God the Father in Jesus' name for wisdom. James 1:15 says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you."
The longer I live, the less confident I am in my own wisdom, in my own capacity to discern truth or make the right decisions. But the longer I live in relationship with Christ, the more I tune into God the Father through Jesus, God the Son, the more confident I am of the decisions and attitudes God commends me to adopt. I more deeply appreciate Jesus' words to His disciples (including me) in John 15:5: "I am the vine; you are the branches...apart from me you can do nothing." I gain a deeper confidence knowing that I have asked for God's wisdom through Christ, assured like the apostle Paul that "I can do all this through [Christ] who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13)
Just a few thoughts.
Wednesday, January 02, 2019
Why Jesus Threatens Rulers...and Us
This coming Sunday, January 6, brings us to Epiphany Day on the church calendar.
This day commemorates when wise men from the East followed a star to the house where the baby Jesus was living with His parents. (The word epiphany means to shine upon or to manifest and refers less to the star than to Jesus Himself, the light of the world, God revealed in human flesh.) The star was a sign to the wise men that a new king had been born, one foretold by Old Testament prophecy, with which they were familiar.
Before getting to Bethlehem, the wise men--logically--decided to stop in Jerusalem to ask the ruling king of God's people, Herod, where they could find the newborn king. But Herod had no idea about the birth. And, as they would come to understand, Herod didn't really welcome the news.
Matthew 2:3 says, "When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him." Why were the leaders of Jewish religious and political life disturbed?
It's simple. They, especially Herod himself, didn't want any rival kings. They, like the Romans and millennia of despots who followed, were rocked because Jesus' lordship trumps the governments and pretenses of all earthly kings and rulers. Those who seek to rule as gods, without accountability to God or to others, are always threatened by Jesus. That's why Hitler coerced much of the Church in Germany. It's why Communist rulers tried to destroy the Church. It's why despots like Putin, Xi, and others hate the true Church that proclaims Jesus is Lord.
Truth be known, Jesus poses a threat to each of us because of our inborn human desire to be like God, rulers of our own fiefdoms.
But, as the Old Testament reminds us, wisdom starts with the fear of the Lord, the recognition that God is God and we're not and that life is only ours when we yield to the lordship over our lives of the One revealed to all the world in Jesus.
[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
This day commemorates when wise men from the East followed a star to the house where the baby Jesus was living with His parents. (The word epiphany means to shine upon or to manifest and refers less to the star than to Jesus Himself, the light of the world, God revealed in human flesh.) The star was a sign to the wise men that a new king had been born, one foretold by Old Testament prophecy, with which they were familiar.
Before getting to Bethlehem, the wise men--logically--decided to stop in Jerusalem to ask the ruling king of God's people, Herod, where they could find the newborn king. But Herod had no idea about the birth. And, as they would come to understand, Herod didn't really welcome the news.
Matthew 2:3 says, "When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him." Why were the leaders of Jewish religious and political life disturbed?
It's simple. They, especially Herod himself, didn't want any rival kings. They, like the Romans and millennia of despots who followed, were rocked because Jesus' lordship trumps the governments and pretenses of all earthly kings and rulers. Those who seek to rule as gods, without accountability to God or to others, are always threatened by Jesus. That's why Hitler coerced much of the Church in Germany. It's why Communist rulers tried to destroy the Church. It's why despots like Putin, Xi, and others hate the true Church that proclaims Jesus is Lord.
Truth be known, Jesus poses a threat to each of us because of our inborn human desire to be like God, rulers of our own fiefdoms.
But, as the Old Testament reminds us, wisdom starts with the fear of the Lord, the recognition that God is God and we're not and that life is only ours when we yield to the lordship over our lives of the One revealed to all the world in Jesus.
[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
Sunday, July 09, 2017
At Rest in Christ
Matthew 11:25-30
A few years ago, my dad was hospitalized following emergency surgery. My sisters and I took turns staying overnight with dad during his stay. One night, when I was going to be with dad, Ann dropped me off, but stayed a bit and was talking with one of my sisters. In the meantime, dad and I talked.
My sister told Ann, “I’m so glad that Dad has Bub [that’s what everyone in my family calls me]. He knows things about Dad’s life that none of the rest of us do.” I think that’s true. Sons, maybe especially first-born sons, have special relationships with their dads. They have inside information on their fathers. They get things about their dads and can share things about their dads maybe nobody else can.
Jesus spoke of Himself and we confess Him to be the Son of God the Father. In fact, in speaking of the first Person of the Trinity, the “creator of heaven and earth,” as His Father, Jesus was speaking of God in ways that were hardly known among God’s people, the Jews.
Jesus had an intimacy with God the Father that others noticed. And when Jesus taught those who believed in Him as the Messiah and Lord, God the Son, how to pray, He taught us to address His Father as “our Father.” Jesus shows us that, despite our sins, God the Father wants us.
Jesus, to put it simply, shows us the Father.
If we’re willing to see Him.
In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus talks about who can see the Father through Him, those who can’t, and what belongs to those who do.
Our lesson begins with Jesus allowing us to eavesdrop on His praying, His intimate conversation with the Father: “At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.’” (Matthew 11:25-26)
It’s important to be careful here. Jesus isn’t here commending stupidity. He isn’t railing against learning, scholarship, or degrees.
Remember that the person the risen Jesus would later designate as apostle to the Gentiles, Paul, was among the most scholarly and learned men of his time.
Decades before, God chose to reveal Jesus’ birth to people we sometimes call “wise men,” because of their scholarship.
I think that God fully endorses it when parents tell their kids, “God gave you a brain; use it!”
When Jesus thanks the Father that the truth about Jesus as the way to life with God had been revealed to “little children” rather than to the “wise and learned,” He’s drawing a contrast between two different kinds of people.
The “wise and the learned” are people who are so wise and learned in their own eyes that they think they’re better than others. They close their eyes to the truth that sets before them. They’re like the people of Jesus’ day who saw Jesus feed crowds with a few scraps of food, raise people from the dead, cast out leprosy and demons, and still refused to believe that Jesus was God on earth.
Today, they’re people who write off answers to prayers offered in Jesus’ name; write off believers transformed by the love and grace of God; write off the faithful strengthened by God’s life-giving world. They say it’s all coincidence. Or rooted in feelings rather than facts. They ask for proof, even when surrounded by proof.
Little children, as Jesus puts it, aren’t people who are innocent or sinless. Whoever met a child who wanted a toy that belonged to another child knows that little children aren’t sinless.
But little children are open. They’re willing to acknowledge the truth of what stands before them.
It’s to “little children,” Jesus says, people who are open and willing to trust, who see Jesus for Who He is and through Him, see God the Father.
One of the things I say to atheists who wonder how I could be a former atheist who now believes, is that I came to faith after seeing Jesus in the lives of the people of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Columbus. By seeing them, I became willing to believe. The Holy Spirit took that willingness and is still weaving it into faith in Christ.
That’s why it’s important for the adults of Living Water to be involved in our youth and children’s ministries; kids need to catch your faith from you.
It’s why it’s important when you receive an invitation to be part of one of our discipleship small groups that you say yes; gathered around His Word, our faith is deepened and stirred in these intimate platoons of believers.
The Holy Spirit will give faith to anyone who is willing to have faith!
And faith is important business. Since we are saved from sin, death, and futility by our faith in Jesus Christ alone, we need, no matter how learned we become, no matter how many degrees we earn, no matter how accomplished we are, to have the openness of little children to see what God shows us in Jesus.
It’s to people like this that Jesus chooses to reveal all of “these things.” Look at what Jesus says next (He’s shifted now from praying to teaching others about the Father to Whom He’s just been praying): “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Matthew 11:27-29)
A number of years ago, in the heyday of blogging, I became acquainted, just via the Internet, with a woman who described herself as a Jewish/Buddhist/atheist. She was a writer and we both occasionally contributed articles to the same group blog. She wrote an email one Saturday and I dashed off a quick reply, explaining that I needed to spend some time working on my sermon. “I’m not sure I know what God wants me to say yet,” I explained. She wrote back: “HA! You actually believe that God inspires what you preach on Sundays, that it’s the Word of God.” I wrote back later and said, “I pray that what I preach on Sundays is the word of God. I’m sure that it is when I get out of the way and let God speak His Word through me.”
She wasn’t convinced. I think that she was too “wise and learned,” too unavailable to the possibility of belief to believe.
Jesus doesn’t call us to check our brains in at the baptismal font.
But He does call us to cede control of our lives--brains, bodies, spirits, wallets, relationships, and every other part of our lives--to Him and to trust in Him. He wants to liberate our brains, bodies, spirits, wallets, relationships, and every other part of our lives from their imprisonment to sin and death, set us free to become all that God has made us to be.
When we lay ourselves open to the God we meet in Jesus through childlike faith, we see just how incredible the God revealed in Jesus really is!
When we see Jesus, God the Son, and through Him, God the Father, we’re ready to respond to the invitation that Jesus makes at the end of our lesson. “Come to me, [Jesus says] all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
Only Jesus could claim to be God in the flesh and, at the same time, call Himself "humble" and do so credibly. Jesus voluntarily divested Himself of the advantages of His deity in order to serve and to die for us. That adds believability to His invitation.
And when Jesus addresses those who are “weary and burdened,” promising “rest,” do you picture Him speaking to you? I think that we human beings are almost born “weary and burdened.”
One of the passages we’re memorizing for our discipleship groups is Proverbs 3:5-6, which tells us: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding; in all your ways, submit to Him and He will make your paths straight.” This isn’t fatalism; it’s faith. It isn’t passivity; it’s filling up on the power for living that only the God we meet in Jesus can give.
There is rest in that even when everything in our lives goes crazy. A woman I knew had just lost her husband. It was a tremendous loss. They had loved each other very much. Everyone commented on how calm this newly-widowed woman was. I know that she had her tears, when the pain of her grief was unbearable. But I too saw that calm. She was at peace, at rest in the Lord.
Those consumed with their own wisdom, who think that they must be in control, may never see Jesus--even when they read His Word, are touched by the fellowship of Christ’s Church, or receive the sacraments. Their minds, hearts, and wills are closed.
But when we come to Jesus with a childlike willingness to see and to believe, when we are open to Him, we see God. And in seeing Him, we rest, knowing that no one and nothing can ever separate us from God our Father. I pray that childlike openness and that supernatural rest for you today and always. Amen
[Blogger Mark Daniels is pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
A few years ago, my dad was hospitalized following emergency surgery. My sisters and I took turns staying overnight with dad during his stay. One night, when I was going to be with dad, Ann dropped me off, but stayed a bit and was talking with one of my sisters. In the meantime, dad and I talked.
My sister told Ann, “I’m so glad that Dad has Bub [that’s what everyone in my family calls me]. He knows things about Dad’s life that none of the rest of us do.” I think that’s true. Sons, maybe especially first-born sons, have special relationships with their dads. They have inside information on their fathers. They get things about their dads and can share things about their dads maybe nobody else can.
Jesus spoke of Himself and we confess Him to be the Son of God the Father. In fact, in speaking of the first Person of the Trinity, the “creator of heaven and earth,” as His Father, Jesus was speaking of God in ways that were hardly known among God’s people, the Jews.
Jesus had an intimacy with God the Father that others noticed. And when Jesus taught those who believed in Him as the Messiah and Lord, God the Son, how to pray, He taught us to address His Father as “our Father.” Jesus shows us that, despite our sins, God the Father wants us.
Jesus, to put it simply, shows us the Father.
If we’re willing to see Him.
In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus talks about who can see the Father through Him, those who can’t, and what belongs to those who do.
Our lesson begins with Jesus allowing us to eavesdrop on His praying, His intimate conversation with the Father: “At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.’” (Matthew 11:25-26)
It’s important to be careful here. Jesus isn’t here commending stupidity. He isn’t railing against learning, scholarship, or degrees.
Remember that the person the risen Jesus would later designate as apostle to the Gentiles, Paul, was among the most scholarly and learned men of his time.
Decades before, God chose to reveal Jesus’ birth to people we sometimes call “wise men,” because of their scholarship.
I think that God fully endorses it when parents tell their kids, “God gave you a brain; use it!”
When Jesus thanks the Father that the truth about Jesus as the way to life with God had been revealed to “little children” rather than to the “wise and learned,” He’s drawing a contrast between two different kinds of people.
The “wise and the learned” are people who are so wise and learned in their own eyes that they think they’re better than others. They close their eyes to the truth that sets before them. They’re like the people of Jesus’ day who saw Jesus feed crowds with a few scraps of food, raise people from the dead, cast out leprosy and demons, and still refused to believe that Jesus was God on earth.
Today, they’re people who write off answers to prayers offered in Jesus’ name; write off believers transformed by the love and grace of God; write off the faithful strengthened by God’s life-giving world. They say it’s all coincidence. Or rooted in feelings rather than facts. They ask for proof, even when surrounded by proof.
Little children, as Jesus puts it, aren’t people who are innocent or sinless. Whoever met a child who wanted a toy that belonged to another child knows that little children aren’t sinless.
But little children are open. They’re willing to acknowledge the truth of what stands before them.
It’s to “little children,” Jesus says, people who are open and willing to trust, who see Jesus for Who He is and through Him, see God the Father.
One of the things I say to atheists who wonder how I could be a former atheist who now believes, is that I came to faith after seeing Jesus in the lives of the people of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Columbus. By seeing them, I became willing to believe. The Holy Spirit took that willingness and is still weaving it into faith in Christ.
That’s why it’s important for the adults of Living Water to be involved in our youth and children’s ministries; kids need to catch your faith from you.
It’s why it’s important when you receive an invitation to be part of one of our discipleship small groups that you say yes; gathered around His Word, our faith is deepened and stirred in these intimate platoons of believers.
The Holy Spirit will give faith to anyone who is willing to have faith!
And faith is important business. Since we are saved from sin, death, and futility by our faith in Jesus Christ alone, we need, no matter how learned we become, no matter how many degrees we earn, no matter how accomplished we are, to have the openness of little children to see what God shows us in Jesus.
It’s to people like this that Jesus chooses to reveal all of “these things.” Look at what Jesus says next (He’s shifted now from praying to teaching others about the Father to Whom He’s just been praying): “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Matthew 11:27-29)
A number of years ago, in the heyday of blogging, I became acquainted, just via the Internet, with a woman who described herself as a Jewish/Buddhist/atheist. She was a writer and we both occasionally contributed articles to the same group blog. She wrote an email one Saturday and I dashed off a quick reply, explaining that I needed to spend some time working on my sermon. “I’m not sure I know what God wants me to say yet,” I explained. She wrote back: “HA! You actually believe that God inspires what you preach on Sundays, that it’s the Word of God.” I wrote back later and said, “I pray that what I preach on Sundays is the word of God. I’m sure that it is when I get out of the way and let God speak His Word through me.”
She wasn’t convinced. I think that she was too “wise and learned,” too unavailable to the possibility of belief to believe.
Jesus doesn’t call us to check our brains in at the baptismal font.
But He does call us to cede control of our lives--brains, bodies, spirits, wallets, relationships, and every other part of our lives--to Him and to trust in Him. He wants to liberate our brains, bodies, spirits, wallets, relationships, and every other part of our lives from their imprisonment to sin and death, set us free to become all that God has made us to be.
When we lay ourselves open to the God we meet in Jesus through childlike faith, we see just how incredible the God revealed in Jesus really is!
When we see Jesus, God the Son, and through Him, God the Father, we’re ready to respond to the invitation that Jesus makes at the end of our lesson. “Come to me, [Jesus says] all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
Only Jesus could claim to be God in the flesh and, at the same time, call Himself "humble" and do so credibly. Jesus voluntarily divested Himself of the advantages of His deity in order to serve and to die for us. That adds believability to His invitation.
And when Jesus addresses those who are “weary and burdened,” promising “rest,” do you picture Him speaking to you? I think that we human beings are almost born “weary and burdened.”
- By things like trying to be in control in a world in which, literally, anything can happen.
- By trying to be worthy in a world where, it seems, there are lots of people who want to tear us down or push us down.
- By trying to get everything figured out.
One of the passages we’re memorizing for our discipleship groups is Proverbs 3:5-6, which tells us: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding; in all your ways, submit to Him and He will make your paths straight.” This isn’t fatalism; it’s faith. It isn’t passivity; it’s filling up on the power for living that only the God we meet in Jesus can give.
There is rest in that even when everything in our lives goes crazy. A woman I knew had just lost her husband. It was a tremendous loss. They had loved each other very much. Everyone commented on how calm this newly-widowed woman was. I know that she had her tears, when the pain of her grief was unbearable. But I too saw that calm. She was at peace, at rest in the Lord.
Those consumed with their own wisdom, who think that they must be in control, may never see Jesus--even when they read His Word, are touched by the fellowship of Christ’s Church, or receive the sacraments. Their minds, hearts, and wills are closed.
But when we come to Jesus with a childlike willingness to see and to believe, when we are open to Him, we see God. And in seeing Him, we rest, knowing that no one and nothing can ever separate us from God our Father. I pray that childlike openness and that supernatural rest for you today and always. Amen
[Blogger Mark Daniels is pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Note to Self
Note to self: For the glory of God and the love of neighbor, pray more, opine less; share Christ, not my puny thoughts; strive to show God's love, not my alleged smarts.
That's because "...the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight," (1 Corinthians 3:19) including my own supposed wisdom.
The world doesn't need another fool's version of wisdom. It needs Jesus Christ. He is where life and wisdom are found. With the apostle Paul, I've resolved "...to know nothing...except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2).
[Blogger Mark Daniels is pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
That's because "...the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight," (1 Corinthians 3:19) including my own supposed wisdom.
The world doesn't need another fool's version of wisdom. It needs Jesus Christ. He is where life and wisdom are found. With the apostle Paul, I've resolved "...to know nothing...except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2).
[Blogger Mark Daniels is pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Wisdom
[This was shared during worship with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church, Springboro, Ohio, this morning.]
James 3:13-4:10
When Muhammad Ali was heavyweight boxing champion of the world, he was supposedly a passenger on a commercial flight that developed some problems. As you know, Ali never appeared to lack confidence. He called himself, "the greatest." The airline attendant announced that because of some turbulence, all passengers needed to fasten their seat belts. “Superman don’t need no seat belt,” Ali is supposed to have told the flight attendant. “That’s true,” she replied, “But Superman don’t need no airplane either. Fasten your seat belt.”
It’s good to have confidence. I believe that God wants us to feel confident in ourselves, children made in the very image of God, redeemed by Christ so that we can claim our inheritance as God's children. But arrogance is an altogether different thing.
The wisdom of the world says that pushing your way to the top is just the way things are supposed to be. But, in our second lesson for today, James 3:13-4:10, James reminds us that such an attitude isn’t the wisdom that comes from the God we know in Jesus Christ.
He reminds us too, that this me-first, pseudo-wisdom of the world has horrible consequences. James says, starting in verse 13: “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.“
Followers of Jesus Christ know that arrogance is inconsistent with our faith.
We know, too, that Christ gives to all who turn from sin and follow Him, all who grasp God’s grace, the unshakable approval of God.
We know that we have God in our corners forever, helping us to become our best selves.
And when you’re confident of your identity as a child of God, you don’t need to resort to the pathetic crutch of arrogance. Like Martin Luther, when dogged by temptations or doubts about our value, we can say, “But I am baptized!” We belong to the crucified and risen Jesus Christ!
Yet the war in the gut that James writes about in our lesson today seems to happen inside those of us who believe in Jesus Christ as much as it does in non-Christians.
Why is that?
Why do we Christians refuse to allow the wisdom that God willingly gives to all followers of Christ, just for the asking, to guide our lives?
Some psychologists tell us that we tend to live out of certain stories that we tell ourselves about ourselves.
Sometimes, we live out of stories of arrogance.
Often, our self-told stories cause us to sell ourselves short, believing that we’re not enough.
Both are equally destructive.
James and the rest of the Bible would say that all these stories come from the devil.
But because we often believe those stories, we can make shambles of our lives, often compensating for our perceived inadequacies by adopting attitudes of arrogance.
Whether the stories we tell ourselves lead us to feelings of arrogance or inadequacy though, the result is always that we fail to tap into the power, love, and goodness of God to feel confident about who we are as children of God.
“What causes fights and quarrels among you?” James asks. “Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.”
The consequences of believing false stories about ourselves can be seen not only in the lives of individual Christians, but also in the lives of many Christian congregations.
Gerald Mann tells the true story of a pastor and his family who had something horrible happen as they were arriving in a new community, where a local church had called them. Just as they entered the town, their baby, the couple's only child had a seizure. They rushed him to the local hospital where all attempts to revive him failed. There, in the waiting room where she’d gotten the horrible news, the mother was understandably distraught and screamed out to God, occasionally uttering profanities.
One of the nurses on duty was a member of the congregation. She told the congregational leaders how the grieving mother had initially reacted to the death of her child. Those leaders, in turn, went to their denomination’s area superintendent to say that because of how “unspiritual” the pastor’s wife was, they wanted a different pastor.
The superintendent told the leaders that the members of that church needed to learn what it is to be the church, a fellowship where imperfect people can share the strength and the power to live which the resurrected Jesus gives to all who believe in Him.
The congregational leaders didn’t like that answer. And so, the president of the congregation pulled the new pastor aside and said, “Well, I guess we’re stuck with you. But don’t you ever mention the death of your son or any pain you may be going through. We hired you to make us feel good, not to join you in your family’s difficulties.”
Here you had a congregation whose members believed a false story. They believed that if their pastor had an imperfect life, it would make their lives less perfect.
He violated the false story they were telling about themselves and they didn’t want him messing the story up by telling the truth that this world isn’t always perfect even for Christians and that while followers of Christ aren’t always strong, we have a God to Whom we can go to be strengthened together.
The Church is called to be the practical, real-life laboratory where Jesus Christ gives us new eternal identities born not of looking out for number one, but of letting Number One look out for us, where God’s children look out for each other and our neighbors.
James says that we have those kinds of congregational fellowships when we ask God to help us own the humble confidence and self-assurance that belong to His children. It comes, he says, when we surrender to Christ.
That’s when we quit having to prove ourselves, can bask in God’s approval, and can look beyond ourselves.
Sometimes, it should be said, we do ask God for His help, after a fashion. James writes, starting in the middle of 4:2: “...You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
Instead, James says, starting in verse 7: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
It’s only when we utterly submit to God, taking responsibility for our sins and seeking His forgiveness for the sake of Jesus Who died for imperfect people like you and me that we have true wisdom, as well experience God’s forgiveness and new life.
In an old folk tale, a woman loses her only child. She goes to the local holy man and asks him to bring the child back to life. He tells her, “Search for the home that has never known sorrow, and, in that home, find the magic mustard seed and bring it to me. Then we will have the power to bring your child back.”
The woman’s first stop was a palace. Sure that everything would be joyful there, she knocked on the door, explaining that she was looking for a home without sorrow. “You’ve come to the wrong place,” she was told. And then the owner of that palace recounted all the sorrows that he and his family had experienced in spite of their wealth. The woman thought to herself, “Who is better able to help these people than I, who have had such misfortune of my own?” So, she stayed to comfort them.
Later, she continued her search. She went from hovels to palaces and in each place, she got so involved in helping other people through their griefs that she was able to deal with her own. In forgetting about herself, she found healing and peace.
Arrogance destroys faith, fellowship, and hope. Buying into false stories, whether they’re ones that tell us how great we are or how insignificant we are, or how aggrieved we are, creates conflicts within us and creates our conflicts with others.
Humble surrender to Jesus Christ, allowing Him to enlist us in His army of love for God and love for neighbor (1) builds faith, (2) enhances Christian fellowship, and (3) fills us with the hope of the Good News that all who turn from sin and believe in Jesus Christ have life with God for eternity.
The wisdom of this world--which is really the wisdom of hell--tells us to look out for ourselves. The wisdom of heaven says to reach up to Christ, reach in to be mutually strengthened in faith through the fellowship of Christ’s Church, and reach out to others with the good news of Jesus.
Worldly wisdom leads to turmoil within and turmoil without.
The wisdom of God, the wisdom that comes when we follow Jesus Christ, leads to peace in our souls and peace with others.
Which wisdom will you choose? Which story will you believe, your own story about you or the story Jesus Christ has created just for you? On whose wisdom will you build your life, your own or that of God?
James 3:13-4:10
When Muhammad Ali was heavyweight boxing champion of the world, he was supposedly a passenger on a commercial flight that developed some problems. As you know, Ali never appeared to lack confidence. He called himself, "the greatest." The airline attendant announced that because of some turbulence, all passengers needed to fasten their seat belts. “Superman don’t need no seat belt,” Ali is supposed to have told the flight attendant. “That’s true,” she replied, “But Superman don’t need no airplane either. Fasten your seat belt.”
He reminds us too, that this me-first, pseudo-wisdom of the world has horrible consequences. James says, starting in verse 13: “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.“
We know, too, that Christ gives to all who turn from sin and follow Him, all who grasp God’s grace, the unshakable approval of God.
We know that we have God in our corners forever, helping us to become our best selves.
And when you’re confident of your identity as a child of God, you don’t need to resort to the pathetic crutch of arrogance. Like Martin Luther, when dogged by temptations or doubts about our value, we can say, “But I am baptized!” We belong to the crucified and risen Jesus Christ!
Why is that?
Why do we Christians refuse to allow the wisdom that God willingly gives to all followers of Christ, just for the asking, to guide our lives?
Some psychologists tell us that we tend to live out of certain stories that we tell ourselves about ourselves.
Sometimes, we live out of stories of arrogance.
Often, our self-told stories cause us to sell ourselves short, believing that we’re not enough.
Both are equally destructive.
James and the rest of the Bible would say that all these stories come from the devil.
But because we often believe those stories, we can make shambles of our lives, often compensating for our perceived inadequacies by adopting attitudes of arrogance.
Whether the stories we tell ourselves lead us to feelings of arrogance or inadequacy though, the result is always that we fail to tap into the power, love, and goodness of God to feel confident about who we are as children of God.
The consequences of believing false stories about ourselves can be seen not only in the lives of individual Christians, but also in the lives of many Christian congregations.
The superintendent told the leaders that the members of that church needed to learn what it is to be the church, a fellowship where imperfect people can share the strength and the power to live which the resurrected Jesus gives to all who believe in Him.
The congregational leaders didn’t like that answer. And so, the president of the congregation pulled the new pastor aside and said, “Well, I guess we’re stuck with you. But don’t you ever mention the death of your son or any pain you may be going through. We hired you to make us feel good, not to join you in your family’s difficulties.”
He violated the false story they were telling about themselves and they didn’t want him messing the story up by telling the truth that this world isn’t always perfect even for Christians and that while followers of Christ aren’t always strong, we have a God to Whom we can go to be strengthened together.
The Church is called to be the practical, real-life laboratory where Jesus Christ gives us new eternal identities born not of looking out for number one, but of letting Number One look out for us, where God’s children look out for each other and our neighbors.
That’s when we quit having to prove ourselves, can bask in God’s approval, and can look beyond ourselves.
Sometimes, it should be said, we do ask God for His help, after a fashion. James writes, starting in the middle of 4:2: “...You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
It’s only when we utterly submit to God, taking responsibility for our sins and seeking His forgiveness for the sake of Jesus Who died for imperfect people like you and me that we have true wisdom, as well experience God’s forgiveness and new life.
The woman’s first stop was a palace. Sure that everything would be joyful there, she knocked on the door, explaining that she was looking for a home without sorrow. “You’ve come to the wrong place,” she was told. And then the owner of that palace recounted all the sorrows that he and his family had experienced in spite of their wealth. The woman thought to herself, “Who is better able to help these people than I, who have had such misfortune of my own?” So, she stayed to comfort them.
The wisdom of God, the wisdom that comes when we follow Jesus Christ, leads to peace in our souls and peace with others.
Which wisdom will you choose? Which story will you believe, your own story about you or the story Jesus Christ has created just for you? On whose wisdom will you build your life, your own or that of God?
Tuesday, July 08, 2014
True Wisdom
[This was shared during worship with the people and guests of Living Water Lutheran Church in Springboro, Ohio, this past Sunday.]
Matthew 11:25-30
Today, our topic is true wisdom.
True story: An then middle-aged white woman, a longtime follower of Christ and a devoted student of the Bible, went with women from the Methodist congregation to which she belonged to visit a group of African-American women who were members of an inner city church. They were to have a Bible study together.
The woman supposed that she and her group would do a lot of teaching during the gathering.
She and the other women of her group were amazed though, by one young black Christian whose love of Scripture and, more importantly, her depth as a follower of Jesus Christ, taught those white women more about what it means to be a disciple in a few hours than they had learned for much of the rest of their lives.
Decades later the middle aged woman, by then elderly, told a little boy who, more than twenty years later, God would, call to be a Lutheran pastor, to never confuse Bible knowledge for faithfulness, to never confuse learning about the Lord (or learning about anything else, for that matter) for wisdom from the Lord. I've never forgotten those words spoken to me by my great-grandmother.
Knowledge and worldly wisdom come from us; but true wisdom comes from God alone. And if we take our cues from the world and its ideas about what’s shrewd and smart and wise, we will end up on the wrong side of eternity.
From the wellspring of God’s wisdom given to him by God, King Solomon writes in Proverbs 14:12: “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.”
Nowhere is this more true than in the usual responses of the world to Jesus Christ.
Though the human race may not like it, Jesus, both the Bible and Jesus Himself insist, is the only way to life with God.
N.T. Wright, the Anglican scholar of the New Testament, has summarized this truth by saying that Jesus is “the window onto God.”
And five hundred years ago, Martin Luther distilled it by saying that if we want to know God and Who He is, we need to look to Christ on the cross.
Jesus is explicit about His identity as God and as the way to God in verse 27 of today’s Gospel lesson: “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
Jesus is the window to God, the doorway to eternity, God come to the earth, Who is our only means to eternity.
You may have noticed that the world isn’t always keen to accept these things about Jesus.
Accepting Jesus as the ultimate self-disclosure of God and the only Savior of human souls doesn’t play well with the prevailing prejudices of the human race.
One such prejudice challenges God in Christ to prove Himself, His existence, and His power, as though His death and resurrection are insufficient proof to silence all challenges to Jesus’ lordship.
Another prejudice comes from those who prefer that God be subordinate to them and let them choose religion over faith in Christ alone.
Then there are those who simply hate the idea of surrendering to a God Who offers them salvation as a free gift, who want to prove themselves and their own worthiness, who want their will to be done and not God’s will.
Truth is, we all exhibit these prejudices, even the most committed of Christians.
Bred deep in the DNA of every human being is the desire to be like God and the suspicion that we know better than God.
And this inherited “functional atheism” will reside in every human being until the crucifixion of death comes to this earthly flesh.
In the section of Matthew’s Gospel from which this morning’s lesson comes, Jesus has been running the gauntlet of these human prejudices, through the kind of human confidence in human wisdom that often keeps human beings from trusting in Christ as God and Savior.
Take a look at Matthew 11 with me, please (page 682 in the sanctuary Bibles), and scan the incidents that give rise to the prayer of Jesus that makes up today’s lesson.
Matthew 11:3 tells us that John the Baptist, of all people, incarcerated for readying the world for the coming of the Messiah, was having his doubts about Jesus. John instructs his own disciples to ask Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
You see, to those of a religious bent of mind, Christianity seems too simple. They find it hard to accept that God doesn’t say, “Be good and you can earn your way into my good graces.” Instead, God says, “Repent--submit to the crucifixion of your old self and all its sins--and trust in Christ--believe that Christ erases the power of sin and death over your life, and you will have life with God for eternity.”
John, being of a religious bent of mind, was confused. He thought that the Messiah would be a conquering king. But here the One he thought was Messiah was operating as God always had stretching back to the garden and throughout the Old Testament, offering salvation by grace through faith in Him.
Later, in verses 16-18, Jesus laments the fact that “this generation,” meaning the whole human race, could never be satisfied with the ways in which God reached out to them. They said that John the Baptist, who never touched a drop of alcohol, had a demon and that Jesus, because He reached out to tax extortionists and other sinners, was “a glutton and a drunkard.” The religious know-it-alls, the good church people of Jesus’ day, were certain of their wisdom.
“But wisdom,” Jesus says in Matthew 11:19, “is proved right by her deeds.”
Despite his doubts, John the Baptist was willing to submit to death for His faith in Christ, and so was proven right.
Jesus, despite His sinlessness, was willing to take our punishment for sin on the cross, then rose from death to offer life to all who follow Him, and so was proven right.
And, the Bible teaches, if we will follow Him, we too will be proven right in trusting in Him.
1 Peter 1:6-9 tells Christians: “...though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
This way of life is completely opposite to the way of life commended by the world’s wisdom.
The wisdom of this world says: “Do what seems right to you. Follow your heart. Look out for number one. Get it while you can.”
The wisdom of God tells us, “Surrender to Christ. Let God call the shots. Endure...even when it’s the last thing on earth you want to do. God will help you through the tough times. And He will give you an eternity of joy beyond all human imagining.”
Just before today’s lesson, then, Jesus denounces towns that refused to welcome Him as Lord. He says that because they were more confident in their own wisdom than the revealed wisdom of God, they would “go down to Hades,” to hell. (So much for Milquetoast Jesus.)
It’s then that Jesus prays, starting at Matthew 11:25: “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.”
The people who get the Gospel, who get Jesus and get life from Him are those who are willing to get Jesus, people who submit to becoming little children and who bow to the wisdom of God.
Jesus isn’t saying that those who follow Him are to be stupid or gullible. He’s saying that they are pliant, open to God.
In the end, faith in Christ and deepened faith in Christ cannot come as the result of human wisdom or rational argument.
Faith cannot come from the begrudging fulfillment of religious duties, of taking on the burden of religious do’s and don’t’s like the heavy yoke the farmers of Jesus’ day placed on the backs of their work animals.
Faith and the new life of freedom from sin, the freedom to say no to sin, the freedom to live as the people God made us to be, the freedom to live life God’s way, the way we were designed to live, is a gift to those who turn their backs on the wisdom of the world and embrace the wisdom of God.
Of course, we must learn as Christians to live in this world like foreigners and strangers. We're not in heaven yet. That's why Jesus says that His followers are to be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.
But we are people who live under a new wisdom, unlike the wisdom of this world.
We know that grace is free.
The Gospel is true.
And rest for the soul comes to those who follow Christ.
So, Jesus says, beginning in verse 28, issues an invitation to all people to bow to this wisdom and His lordship: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
To some, heedless of Christ’s cross and empty tomb, these words will seem like nonsense. They will refuse to believe.
And the only way to reach them is the very way Jesus reached skeptics and unbelievers, through deeds of kindness and love and service rendered in the power and in the Name of God Himself.
That’s why our missions to places like India and Haiti, our service through agencies like Service Over Self, Interfaith Hospitality Network, and the Gateway Men’s Shelter of St. Vincent de Paul, and even our kindness outreaches, are so important.
Romans 2:4 tells us that the kindness of God is intended to bring people to repentance and new life in Christ.
Christians, living in the wisdom revealed by Christ and not in their own wisdom, are freed from all anxiety about their own worthiness, so that they can perpetrate many small and large acts of kindness in Christ’s Name and Christ’s power and so, recklessly help others know the God of the cross and the resurrection.
This actually should be very good news for us this morning!
I know it does for me.
Confession: The older I get, the less I can truly say I know.
My head may be filled with lots of facts. I may have lots of experiences. But as time goes by, the less qualified I feel to function myself or to offer advice to others.
My wisdom, I realize, is non-existent. My impulses, doubtful. My maturity, questionable.
But despite having nothing of what the world counts as wisdom, I live with confidence and hope. I know that God has all the wisdom I need to live from day to day. And from God, we can have the greatest wisdom of all: faith in Christ! This is what Jesus offers to those who submit to being little children who follow Him.
James 1:5 tells us: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”
In Matthew 11:27, Jesus says: “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
Jesus has chosen to reveal God and the way of salvation and hope to those who are willing to surrender.
You don’t have to earn it.
You don’t have to be brilliant or charming or strong or beautiful or accomplished.
You just have to be willing to let Him love you and follow where He leads.
I have to warn you that that sounds easier than it actually is.
Which is why the Christian lives in what Lutheran called “daily repentance and renewal,” daily surrender to Christ, daily downloading of God's wisdom.
This is the way of life. Amen
Matthew 11:25-30
Today, our topic is true wisdom.
True story: An then middle-aged white woman, a longtime follower of Christ and a devoted student of the Bible, went with women from the Methodist congregation to which she belonged to visit a group of African-American women who were members of an inner city church. They were to have a Bible study together.
The woman supposed that she and her group would do a lot of teaching during the gathering.
She and the other women of her group were amazed though, by one young black Christian whose love of Scripture and, more importantly, her depth as a follower of Jesus Christ, taught those white women more about what it means to be a disciple in a few hours than they had learned for much of the rest of their lives.
Decades later the middle aged woman, by then elderly, told a little boy who, more than twenty years later, God would, call to be a Lutheran pastor, to never confuse Bible knowledge for faithfulness, to never confuse learning about the Lord (or learning about anything else, for that matter) for wisdom from the Lord. I've never forgotten those words spoken to me by my great-grandmother.
Knowledge and worldly wisdom come from us; but true wisdom comes from God alone. And if we take our cues from the world and its ideas about what’s shrewd and smart and wise, we will end up on the wrong side of eternity.
From the wellspring of God’s wisdom given to him by God, King Solomon writes in Proverbs 14:12: “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.”
Nowhere is this more true than in the usual responses of the world to Jesus Christ.
Though the human race may not like it, Jesus, both the Bible and Jesus Himself insist, is the only way to life with God.
N.T. Wright, the Anglican scholar of the New Testament, has summarized this truth by saying that Jesus is “the window onto God.”
And five hundred years ago, Martin Luther distilled it by saying that if we want to know God and Who He is, we need to look to Christ on the cross.
Jesus is explicit about His identity as God and as the way to God in verse 27 of today’s Gospel lesson: “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
Jesus is the window to God, the doorway to eternity, God come to the earth, Who is our only means to eternity.
You may have noticed that the world isn’t always keen to accept these things about Jesus.
Accepting Jesus as the ultimate self-disclosure of God and the only Savior of human souls doesn’t play well with the prevailing prejudices of the human race.
One such prejudice challenges God in Christ to prove Himself, His existence, and His power, as though His death and resurrection are insufficient proof to silence all challenges to Jesus’ lordship.
Another prejudice comes from those who prefer that God be subordinate to them and let them choose religion over faith in Christ alone.
Then there are those who simply hate the idea of surrendering to a God Who offers them salvation as a free gift, who want to prove themselves and their own worthiness, who want their will to be done and not God’s will.
Truth is, we all exhibit these prejudices, even the most committed of Christians.
Bred deep in the DNA of every human being is the desire to be like God and the suspicion that we know better than God.
And this inherited “functional atheism” will reside in every human being until the crucifixion of death comes to this earthly flesh.
In the section of Matthew’s Gospel from which this morning’s lesson comes, Jesus has been running the gauntlet of these human prejudices, through the kind of human confidence in human wisdom that often keeps human beings from trusting in Christ as God and Savior.
Take a look at Matthew 11 with me, please (page 682 in the sanctuary Bibles), and scan the incidents that give rise to the prayer of Jesus that makes up today’s lesson.
Matthew 11:3 tells us that John the Baptist, of all people, incarcerated for readying the world for the coming of the Messiah, was having his doubts about Jesus. John instructs his own disciples to ask Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
You see, to those of a religious bent of mind, Christianity seems too simple. They find it hard to accept that God doesn’t say, “Be good and you can earn your way into my good graces.” Instead, God says, “Repent--submit to the crucifixion of your old self and all its sins--and trust in Christ--believe that Christ erases the power of sin and death over your life, and you will have life with God for eternity.”
John, being of a religious bent of mind, was confused. He thought that the Messiah would be a conquering king. But here the One he thought was Messiah was operating as God always had stretching back to the garden and throughout the Old Testament, offering salvation by grace through faith in Him.
Later, in verses 16-18, Jesus laments the fact that “this generation,” meaning the whole human race, could never be satisfied with the ways in which God reached out to them. They said that John the Baptist, who never touched a drop of alcohol, had a demon and that Jesus, because He reached out to tax extortionists and other sinners, was “a glutton and a drunkard.” The religious know-it-alls, the good church people of Jesus’ day, were certain of their wisdom.
“But wisdom,” Jesus says in Matthew 11:19, “is proved right by her deeds.”
Despite his doubts, John the Baptist was willing to submit to death for His faith in Christ, and so was proven right.
Jesus, despite His sinlessness, was willing to take our punishment for sin on the cross, then rose from death to offer life to all who follow Him, and so was proven right.
And, the Bible teaches, if we will follow Him, we too will be proven right in trusting in Him.
1 Peter 1:6-9 tells Christians: “...though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
This way of life is completely opposite to the way of life commended by the world’s wisdom.
The wisdom of this world says: “Do what seems right to you. Follow your heart. Look out for number one. Get it while you can.”
The wisdom of God tells us, “Surrender to Christ. Let God call the shots. Endure...even when it’s the last thing on earth you want to do. God will help you through the tough times. And He will give you an eternity of joy beyond all human imagining.”
Just before today’s lesson, then, Jesus denounces towns that refused to welcome Him as Lord. He says that because they were more confident in their own wisdom than the revealed wisdom of God, they would “go down to Hades,” to hell. (So much for Milquetoast Jesus.)
It’s then that Jesus prays, starting at Matthew 11:25: “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.”
The people who get the Gospel, who get Jesus and get life from Him are those who are willing to get Jesus, people who submit to becoming little children and who bow to the wisdom of God.
Jesus isn’t saying that those who follow Him are to be stupid or gullible. He’s saying that they are pliant, open to God.
In the end, faith in Christ and deepened faith in Christ cannot come as the result of human wisdom or rational argument.
Faith cannot come from the begrudging fulfillment of religious duties, of taking on the burden of religious do’s and don’t’s like the heavy yoke the farmers of Jesus’ day placed on the backs of their work animals.
Faith and the new life of freedom from sin, the freedom to say no to sin, the freedom to live as the people God made us to be, the freedom to live life God’s way, the way we were designed to live, is a gift to those who turn their backs on the wisdom of the world and embrace the wisdom of God.
Of course, we must learn as Christians to live in this world like foreigners and strangers. We're not in heaven yet. That's why Jesus says that His followers are to be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.
But we are people who live under a new wisdom, unlike the wisdom of this world.
We know that grace is free.
The Gospel is true.
And rest for the soul comes to those who follow Christ.
So, Jesus says, beginning in verse 28, issues an invitation to all people to bow to this wisdom and His lordship: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
To some, heedless of Christ’s cross and empty tomb, these words will seem like nonsense. They will refuse to believe.
And the only way to reach them is the very way Jesus reached skeptics and unbelievers, through deeds of kindness and love and service rendered in the power and in the Name of God Himself.
That’s why our missions to places like India and Haiti, our service through agencies like Service Over Self, Interfaith Hospitality Network, and the Gateway Men’s Shelter of St. Vincent de Paul, and even our kindness outreaches, are so important.
Romans 2:4 tells us that the kindness of God is intended to bring people to repentance and new life in Christ.
Christians, living in the wisdom revealed by Christ and not in their own wisdom, are freed from all anxiety about their own worthiness, so that they can perpetrate many small and large acts of kindness in Christ’s Name and Christ’s power and so, recklessly help others know the God of the cross and the resurrection.
This actually should be very good news for us this morning!
I know it does for me.
Confession: The older I get, the less I can truly say I know.
My head may be filled with lots of facts. I may have lots of experiences. But as time goes by, the less qualified I feel to function myself or to offer advice to others.
My wisdom, I realize, is non-existent. My impulses, doubtful. My maturity, questionable.
But despite having nothing of what the world counts as wisdom, I live with confidence and hope. I know that God has all the wisdom I need to live from day to day. And from God, we can have the greatest wisdom of all: faith in Christ! This is what Jesus offers to those who submit to being little children who follow Him.
James 1:5 tells us: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”
In Matthew 11:27, Jesus says: “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
Jesus has chosen to reveal God and the way of salvation and hope to those who are willing to surrender.
You don’t have to earn it.
You don’t have to be brilliant or charming or strong or beautiful or accomplished.
You just have to be willing to let Him love you and follow where He leads.
I have to warn you that that sounds easier than it actually is.
Which is why the Christian lives in what Lutheran called “daily repentance and renewal,” daily surrender to Christ, daily downloading of God's wisdom.
This is the way of life. Amen
Wednesday, July 02, 2014
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
From Someone Who's 'Dumber Than Dirt'
The biggest regrets of my life are all associated with those times when I have impulsively decided to do what I wanted to do, rather than taking the time to seek the wisdom of God in the Bible and through prayer in Jesus' Name.
Fifty-eight years on Planet Earth have taught me that I'm not "all that" and that the mere passage of years doesn't make a person wise. Only the God we know and follow in Jesus Christ can give us wisdom. That's why I love Proverbs 9:10 in the Old Testament:
We may not always like the guidance that God gives to us, but it will always set us on the right path. I can't say that about the "wisdom" I might derive from myself or other people.
So, seek God's wisdom. Dig into God's Word, the Bible. Lift up prayers for counsel to God through prayer in Jesus' Name. Ask God to send Christian counselors to you as you make decisions. And ask God to give you the faith to walk in the paths He marks out for you.
James writes in the New Testament:
Check out these thoughts on getting wisdom from God in today's post at Our Daily Bread. Be sure to read Proverbs 2:1-9, on which it's based, first.
Fifty-eight years on Planet Earth have taught me that I'm not "all that" and that the mere passage of years doesn't make a person wise. Only the God we know and follow in Jesus Christ can give us wisdom. That's why I love Proverbs 9:10 in the Old Testament:
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,Though my use of God's wisdom has often been limited by my own egotistical resistance to taking instruction from anyone or anything besides my intelligence, knowledge, common sense, or emotional impulses, I've learned that God is not stingy about giving us His wisdom if we're humble enough to ask for it.
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
We may not always like the guidance that God gives to us, but it will always set us on the right path. I can't say that about the "wisdom" I might derive from myself or other people.
So, seek God's wisdom. Dig into God's Word, the Bible. Lift up prayers for counsel to God through prayer in Jesus' Name. Ask God to send Christian counselors to you as you make decisions. And ask God to give you the faith to walk in the paths He marks out for you.
James writes in the New Testament:
If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, Who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. (James 1:5)My wife and I often say that, in so many ways in life, we are "dumber than dirt." But we've found, often against our own wills or initial judgments, that God is a lot wiser than we are and that when we submit to Him, He helps us to make wise decisions.
Check out these thoughts on getting wisdom from God in today's post at Our Daily Bread. Be sure to read Proverbs 2:1-9, on which it's based, first.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Read Maria Shriver's Interview with Billy Graham
On her web site, Maria Shriver has an interview with Billy Graham. Graham has written a new book, Nearing Home. He talks about aging with faith, significance, and dignity. I like the interview, especially his discussion of the riotously funny and wise inscription Graham's late wife Ruth wanted inscribed on her tombstone. Read the whole thing.
Sunday, July 03, 2011
The Wisdom of Surrender to Christ
[This was shared during worship with the people of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, earlier today.]
Matthew 11:16-30
In his book, 90 Minutes in Heaven, Pastor Don Piper recounts what happened to him on January 18, 1989, on a bridge over Lake Livingston in Texas. An eighteen-wheeler hit the 1986 Ford Escort Piper was driving head-on.
For ninety minutes, Don Piper was dead.
A pastor who had attended the same conference from which Piper was driving at the time of his collision, happened on the accident scene. He asked rescue personnel what he could do.
Nothing, they said. The other drivers in the accident were unhurt. The driver of the Escort was dead.
But this second pastor, Dick Onerecker, sensed God telling him to go to the Escort and pray for the body.
Onerecker knew, of course, that you don’t pray for dead people. The dead are either with God or they’re not. No prayers can change the destinies either of those who have repented and trusted in Christ and entered into the presence of God or of those who have spurned Christ and live with the consequences of their decisions.
And yet, Dick Onerecker strongly felt the need to pray for the dead driver of the Escort.
He finally got permission to climb into the wreckage next to the body.
As he prayed, he felt led by God to pray that this lifeless body mangled beyond recognition be brought back to this life without any brain damage.
Onerecker prayed with deepening fervor and then, in desperation, began to sing, What a Friend We Have in Jesus:
But the rest of his body was horribly damaged! Since that January day in 1989, Don Piper hasn’t lived a single moment without pain. It started with an initial 105-day stay in the hospital. There have been many shorter ones since. He’s undergone 34 surgeries. To save his left leg, he underwent a gruesome procedure with a device known as an Ilizarov. It’s designed to allow bone that has been lost to grow back by stretching the affected limb through the turning of screws every few hours every day for months.
Any person who goes through agonies like Piper has gone through is bound to ask, “Why am I still living? It doesn’t make sense.”
For Piper, those questions take on more urgency because of what he experienced during the ninety minutes he was dead. He had gone, he says, to heaven. He experienced his resurrected body in heaven along with others he had known who had trusted in Jesus Christ while on earth.
But then, in answer to Dick Onerecker’s prayers, God brought Don Piper back to this world. Since then, Piper has faced a lifetime of pain. There have been times of deep depression for Piper, a depression born, in part, of doubt about God’s wisdom in bringing him back here. What was God thinking? What did God have in mind?
Can you identify with Don Piper?
I haven’t gone through anything like what he has gone through. But I understand his feelings.
Some of the worst times in my life have happened to me since I became a Christian, because I am a Christian. (Or, rather, because I thought--even though I would never say so--that being a Christian entitled me to special privileges not enjoyed by others.)
I haven't had these tough times because of physical suffering, but because God wouldn’t act as I expected Him to act. I’ve sometimes prayed, “Thy will be done,” only to be appalled by what God willed for my life.
As a young Christian, for example, I remained intent, as I had been since I was a little boy, on a life in politics. (Yes, I was a nerd!) After coming to Christ, I figured that with Jesus by my side, I could be both effective and faithful. But while I dreamed my dreams, God awakened me to His call to be a pastor, just about the last thing in the world I wanted to be! In fact, one of the most influential people in my young life, the grandfather for whom I was named, used to tell me, "Never be a pastor. Pastor's are worthless. All they do is take people's money and then don't do anything!"
I wasn’t happy at first with the change of plans God made in my life, even though I now see how wise it was.
We create all kinds of agony for ourselves whenever we pray, “Thy will be done,” while really meaning, “My will be done.”
Every believer can testify to having experienced disappointment and maybe even depression and anger with God because, in spite of all their fervent prayers, things didn’t go the way they thought they should.
At the outset of today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus—God in the flesh—expresses God’s frustration with the people of first century Judea. In words that echo a scene from the Old Testament book of Isaiah in which God puts His chosen people on trial, Jesus asks, “To what will I compare this generation?”
He says that His fellow Judeans are like little children in the marketplace, wanting to order others—in this case, wanting to order God and an emissary from God—around. “We played the flute for you and you didn’t dance!” they whine. “We wailed and you didn’t mourn along with us!” Pointing to the ministry of His earthly cousin, John the Baptist, Jesus says that John didn’t eat sumptuously and never touched strong drink and people claimed that he was demon-possessed. Jesus ate and partied even with sinners and they called His behavior scandalous. They wouldn’t be happy unless God did things the way they wanted God to do things.
Then Jesus says, in verse 19: “Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.” The Good News translation puts it this way: “God's wisdom, however, is shown to be true by its results.”
Wisdom isn’t the same as knowledge.
And it’s not what we would call “common sense.”
Wisdom is a gift from God, something that He reveals to those who seek to faithfully follow Jesus Christ.
The wisdom of God can’t be intellectually proven any more than can the existence of God. When Dick Onerecker arrived on that bridge, there was no rational, empirical reason he could offer—to others or even to himself—for going to Don Piper’s body to pray. Don Piper was dead. And yet, God impressed on Onerecker the need to do what didn’t make sense. The wisdom of doing that was vindicated when a dead man started singing, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” The apostle Paul says that even “God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom.”
Of course, we don’t have to be in extraordinary circumstances or search far and wide for the wisdom of God. All that we need to know about God, the will of God, the way to a life of purpose here, and the way to peace even in the midst of turmoil in this life has been revealed to us in Jesus Christ. (And, as we’re learning as we read the Bible together this year, the Bible is authoritative in the wisdom it gives because, from Genesis to Revelation, it reveals and points us to Christ.)
In verses 20 to 25 of our Gospel lesson, Jesus mentions two foreign cities notorious for their sinfulness—Tyre and Sidon, and an Old Testament city whose very name is synonymous with evil, Sodom. He says that even places like those would bow to the wisdom of God and bow to Him as God-on-earth had they seen the miracles He performed in some of the Judean cities and towns to which He had gone. On the day of judgment, Jesus says, those places of evil will be in better shape than the places that had seen Him and heard His call to turn from sin and believe in Him and yet spurned Him. Wisdom and salvation were revealed to them in Jesus. But they rejected them when they rejected Jesus.
The same thing happens today. Often I have conversations with people who are living unrepentantly in sin, then wonder why they have no peace in their lives. When I was called to start my former congregation, I knocked on thousands of doors. Once, I was welcomed into a beautiful home set on a golf course. Living there was a man whose father was a Baptist pastor and a woman whose father was an Assemblies of God pastor. They had both been previously married and gone through divorces. Now they were living together. They knew what they were doing was wrong. Yet they wondered why they didn't have peace in their lives. It wasn't obvious to them that anyone who knows the God revealed to all the world in Jesus Christ couldn't deliberately flout God's holy commands and actually have peace. There's no mystery in that.
Nor is there any mystery in the lack of peace committed Christians sometimes feel--and I sometimes can be included in their number--who try to tackle life's problems and challenges on our own. Without even meaning to, we can refuse to give Christ control of our lives. We would rather rely on our own intellects, our own common sense, or our own stubborn wills rather than on God. We can have no peace when we do that!
We’re just like our parents, Adam and Eve; we want to “be like God.” The result is untold and unnecessary worrying, stress, sleeplessness, and illness.
Relying on anything but God will get us nowhere.
In verse 25 of our Gospel lesson, Jesus prays: “I thank You, Father…because You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.”
Jesus isn’t telling Christians to check their brains in at the Baptismal font.
We don’t need to dumb down. But we do need to wise up!
God told King Solomon 1000 years earlier: “There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way of death.”
Intelligence uninformed by God’s revealed wisdom might tell you that since you’ve never seen God, God can’t exist.
Common sense might tell you that since there’s no such thing as a free lunch, the love and forgiveness of God couldn’t possibly come to those whose sins deserve death.
And yet, God’s wisdom has been revealed.
Through Christ, we know that the creation has a Creator and we know that Christ has paid the price for our sin, meaning that all who repent and believe in Christ can claim eternal life and forgiveness as free gifts.
God doesn’t help those who help themselves. God helps those who turn to God for help.
Are we humble enough to recognize our need of God in any situation?
And, when we rely on Christ, God can do even more than give us help in getting through life. Pull out the special insert and read verse 28 with me. Jesus says: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
God wants you to know peace. This side of heaven, we never will have all the answers. We won’t have it all figured out. And we will never be insulated from the evil that exists in this world, which lurks like thistles among the wheat. But in this world, we can have Jesus, the crucified and risen Lord Who sticks with us through everything and because of His cross and empty tomb, can promise all who trust in Him eternity with God.
God is still in the miracle business. And I still pray for miracles for those who suffer. I've seen God answer prayers for miraculous intervention too many times to believe that they're all just coincidences. When people pray humbly and helplessly in the Name of Jesus, God does things--great and wonderful things--that wouldn't happen otherwise.
But more than answers to our questions or our prayers, more than control, and more than our own ways, we need Jesus.
And when we take hold of Him, we have peace. In Jesus, even in the midst of life’s uncertainties, we can live in the certainty of His peace.
If you’ve been holding back any part of your life from Christ, turn to Him now. Tell Him, “Lord, Thy will be done. Truly, Thy will be done.”
If you’re like me, you’ll have to pray that prayer countless times every day.
But as we surrender all the pieces of our lives, the peace of Christ will come to us.
We’ll find rests for our souls.
To trust in Christ is the way of wisdom and, one day, God will vindicate all who trust in Him.
May the peace of Christ fill you now and always. Amen
Matthew 11:16-30
In his book, 90 Minutes in Heaven, Pastor Don Piper recounts what happened to him on January 18, 1989, on a bridge over Lake Livingston in Texas. An eighteen-wheeler hit the 1986 Ford Escort Piper was driving head-on.
For ninety minutes, Don Piper was dead.
A pastor who had attended the same conference from which Piper was driving at the time of his collision, happened on the accident scene. He asked rescue personnel what he could do.
Nothing, they said. The other drivers in the accident were unhurt. The driver of the Escort was dead.
But this second pastor, Dick Onerecker, sensed God telling him to go to the Escort and pray for the body.
Onerecker knew, of course, that you don’t pray for dead people. The dead are either with God or they’re not. No prayers can change the destinies either of those who have repented and trusted in Christ and entered into the presence of God or of those who have spurned Christ and live with the consequences of their decisions.
And yet, Dick Onerecker strongly felt the need to pray for the dead driver of the Escort.
He finally got permission to climb into the wreckage next to the body.
As he prayed, he felt led by God to pray that this lifeless body mangled beyond recognition be brought back to this life without any brain damage.
Onerecker prayed with deepening fervor and then, in desperation, began to sing, What a Friend We Have in Jesus:
Oh, what peace we often forfeitThen something incredible happened! Don Piper, a man who had been dead for ninety minutes, began to sing along. He had come back to life! And, in spite of being dead for an hour and a half, he experienced no damage to his brain.
Oh, what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Ev'rything to God in prayer!
But the rest of his body was horribly damaged! Since that January day in 1989, Don Piper hasn’t lived a single moment without pain. It started with an initial 105-day stay in the hospital. There have been many shorter ones since. He’s undergone 34 surgeries. To save his left leg, he underwent a gruesome procedure with a device known as an Ilizarov. It’s designed to allow bone that has been lost to grow back by stretching the affected limb through the turning of screws every few hours every day for months.
Any person who goes through agonies like Piper has gone through is bound to ask, “Why am I still living? It doesn’t make sense.”
For Piper, those questions take on more urgency because of what he experienced during the ninety minutes he was dead. He had gone, he says, to heaven. He experienced his resurrected body in heaven along with others he had known who had trusted in Jesus Christ while on earth.
But then, in answer to Dick Onerecker’s prayers, God brought Don Piper back to this world. Since then, Piper has faced a lifetime of pain. There have been times of deep depression for Piper, a depression born, in part, of doubt about God’s wisdom in bringing him back here. What was God thinking? What did God have in mind?
Can you identify with Don Piper?
I haven’t gone through anything like what he has gone through. But I understand his feelings.
Some of the worst times in my life have happened to me since I became a Christian, because I am a Christian. (Or, rather, because I thought--even though I would never say so--that being a Christian entitled me to special privileges not enjoyed by others.)
I haven't had these tough times because of physical suffering, but because God wouldn’t act as I expected Him to act. I’ve sometimes prayed, “Thy will be done,” only to be appalled by what God willed for my life.
As a young Christian, for example, I remained intent, as I had been since I was a little boy, on a life in politics. (Yes, I was a nerd!) After coming to Christ, I figured that with Jesus by my side, I could be both effective and faithful. But while I dreamed my dreams, God awakened me to His call to be a pastor, just about the last thing in the world I wanted to be! In fact, one of the most influential people in my young life, the grandfather for whom I was named, used to tell me, "Never be a pastor. Pastor's are worthless. All they do is take people's money and then don't do anything!"
I wasn’t happy at first with the change of plans God made in my life, even though I now see how wise it was.
We create all kinds of agony for ourselves whenever we pray, “Thy will be done,” while really meaning, “My will be done.”
Every believer can testify to having experienced disappointment and maybe even depression and anger with God because, in spite of all their fervent prayers, things didn’t go the way they thought they should.
At the outset of today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus—God in the flesh—expresses God’s frustration with the people of first century Judea. In words that echo a scene from the Old Testament book of Isaiah in which God puts His chosen people on trial, Jesus asks, “To what will I compare this generation?”
He says that His fellow Judeans are like little children in the marketplace, wanting to order others—in this case, wanting to order God and an emissary from God—around. “We played the flute for you and you didn’t dance!” they whine. “We wailed and you didn’t mourn along with us!” Pointing to the ministry of His earthly cousin, John the Baptist, Jesus says that John didn’t eat sumptuously and never touched strong drink and people claimed that he was demon-possessed. Jesus ate and partied even with sinners and they called His behavior scandalous. They wouldn’t be happy unless God did things the way they wanted God to do things.
Then Jesus says, in verse 19: “Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.” The Good News translation puts it this way: “God's wisdom, however, is shown to be true by its results.”
Wisdom isn’t the same as knowledge.
And it’s not what we would call “common sense.”
Wisdom is a gift from God, something that He reveals to those who seek to faithfully follow Jesus Christ.
The wisdom of God can’t be intellectually proven any more than can the existence of God. When Dick Onerecker arrived on that bridge, there was no rational, empirical reason he could offer—to others or even to himself—for going to Don Piper’s body to pray. Don Piper was dead. And yet, God impressed on Onerecker the need to do what didn’t make sense. The wisdom of doing that was vindicated when a dead man started singing, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” The apostle Paul says that even “God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom.”
Of course, we don’t have to be in extraordinary circumstances or search far and wide for the wisdom of God. All that we need to know about God, the will of God, the way to a life of purpose here, and the way to peace even in the midst of turmoil in this life has been revealed to us in Jesus Christ. (And, as we’re learning as we read the Bible together this year, the Bible is authoritative in the wisdom it gives because, from Genesis to Revelation, it reveals and points us to Christ.)
In verses 20 to 25 of our Gospel lesson, Jesus mentions two foreign cities notorious for their sinfulness—Tyre and Sidon, and an Old Testament city whose very name is synonymous with evil, Sodom. He says that even places like those would bow to the wisdom of God and bow to Him as God-on-earth had they seen the miracles He performed in some of the Judean cities and towns to which He had gone. On the day of judgment, Jesus says, those places of evil will be in better shape than the places that had seen Him and heard His call to turn from sin and believe in Him and yet spurned Him. Wisdom and salvation were revealed to them in Jesus. But they rejected them when they rejected Jesus.
The same thing happens today. Often I have conversations with people who are living unrepentantly in sin, then wonder why they have no peace in their lives. When I was called to start my former congregation, I knocked on thousands of doors. Once, I was welcomed into a beautiful home set on a golf course. Living there was a man whose father was a Baptist pastor and a woman whose father was an Assemblies of God pastor. They had both been previously married and gone through divorces. Now they were living together. They knew what they were doing was wrong. Yet they wondered why they didn't have peace in their lives. It wasn't obvious to them that anyone who knows the God revealed to all the world in Jesus Christ couldn't deliberately flout God's holy commands and actually have peace. There's no mystery in that.
Nor is there any mystery in the lack of peace committed Christians sometimes feel--and I sometimes can be included in their number--who try to tackle life's problems and challenges on our own. Without even meaning to, we can refuse to give Christ control of our lives. We would rather rely on our own intellects, our own common sense, or our own stubborn wills rather than on God. We can have no peace when we do that!
We’re just like our parents, Adam and Eve; we want to “be like God.” The result is untold and unnecessary worrying, stress, sleeplessness, and illness.
Relying on anything but God will get us nowhere.
In verse 25 of our Gospel lesson, Jesus prays: “I thank You, Father…because You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.”
Jesus isn’t telling Christians to check their brains in at the Baptismal font.
We don’t need to dumb down. But we do need to wise up!
God told King Solomon 1000 years earlier: “There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way of death.”
Intelligence uninformed by God’s revealed wisdom might tell you that since you’ve never seen God, God can’t exist.
Common sense might tell you that since there’s no such thing as a free lunch, the love and forgiveness of God couldn’t possibly come to those whose sins deserve death.
And yet, God’s wisdom has been revealed.
Through Christ, we know that the creation has a Creator and we know that Christ has paid the price for our sin, meaning that all who repent and believe in Christ can claim eternal life and forgiveness as free gifts.
God doesn’t help those who help themselves. God helps those who turn to God for help.
Are we humble enough to recognize our need of God in any situation?
And, when we rely on Christ, God can do even more than give us help in getting through life. Pull out the special insert and read verse 28 with me. Jesus says: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
God wants you to know peace. This side of heaven, we never will have all the answers. We won’t have it all figured out. And we will never be insulated from the evil that exists in this world, which lurks like thistles among the wheat. But in this world, we can have Jesus, the crucified and risen Lord Who sticks with us through everything and because of His cross and empty tomb, can promise all who trust in Him eternity with God.
God is still in the miracle business. And I still pray for miracles for those who suffer. I've seen God answer prayers for miraculous intervention too many times to believe that they're all just coincidences. When people pray humbly and helplessly in the Name of Jesus, God does things--great and wonderful things--that wouldn't happen otherwise.
But more than answers to our questions or our prayers, more than control, and more than our own ways, we need Jesus.
And when we take hold of Him, we have peace. In Jesus, even in the midst of life’s uncertainties, we can live in the certainty of His peace.
If you’ve been holding back any part of your life from Christ, turn to Him now. Tell Him, “Lord, Thy will be done. Truly, Thy will be done.”
If you’re like me, you’ll have to pray that prayer countless times every day.
But as we surrender all the pieces of our lives, the peace of Christ will come to us.
We’ll find rests for our souls.
To trust in Christ is the way of wisdom and, one day, God will vindicate all who trust in Him.
May the peace of Christ fill you now and always. Amen
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