Who's Your King?

John 18:33-37
Sam Rutigliano, one-time head coach of the Cleveland Browns and a Lutheran Christian, was scheduled to be the main speaker for a Lutheran banquet. Ed Markquart, then the senior pastor of a Lutheran congregation near Seattle, was going to the gathering, but didn’t want to go. Rutigliano would, Markquart was sure, give one of those “jock for Jesus” talks, the ones where athletes or coaches talk about all the victories Jesus has given them.

He was shocked then at the banquet, when Rutigliano spoke about his faith in Christ. As Rutigliano told it, “He and his wife were driving one evening with their two year old daughter in the back seat. Suddenly a car was upon them; there was an accident; their car rolled over; the child was thrown out; and when everything had stopped moving, their little girl was pinned underneath the car.”

Markquart waited for the standard “jock for Jesus” finish. But all Rutigliano said of his daughter was, “She was dead.”

His wife and he grieved, nothing seeming to bring comfort.

Time passed and they became pregnant again, an answer to prayer, it seemed.

The pregnancy was normal and the baby was delivered, stillborn. It was more than Sam Rutigliano and his wife could bear. Sam found himself trying to negotiate with God. “If You will do this, Lord, then I will do that.” Markquart writes that as Rutigliano prayed, “...a quiet voice spoke back to Sam’s inner spirit: ‘No deals, Sam. No deals. No manipulations. I rule over you in all times of your life.'” Even the bad ones.

Rutigliano concluded his speech: “God has called me to be his servant in my turf, the National Football League. He rules over all aspects of my life, when winning or losing, in triumphs and tragedies. How about you? Where is your turf? Does God rule you there in your turf, in your situation? Not just when you’re winning, but when you are losing. Not just during the triumphs but during the tragedies of your life? Does God rule you then?”

With those words, Sam Rutigliano sat down.

Today is Christ the King Sunday. And the question before us is this: Is Jesus Christ our king? Or do we serve other kings, like desire, success, security, popular acceptance, or, one of today’s favorites, tolerance, whose subjects believe in tolerating anyone except those who disagree with them.

Here’s what I’ve learned about the kings people choose to serve other than Jesus Christ: They’re not much good when you face adversities or griefs like the ones Sam Rutigliano experienced.

The king of desire, for example, will leave you to die when you’ve overdosed and let you fend for yourself when you learn that you have a sexually transmitted disease, or are pregnant.

The king of popularity or acceptance by others will give you a happy life so long as you live like a chameleon and go along to get along with the crowd. (Some of you young people know what I’m talking about!)

That king of popular acceptance, in fact, appears to be the king of choice even in our own Evangelical Lutheran Church in America these days.

Our leaders and members put up with and even encourage pastors, bishops, and congregations who question or deny the virgin birth of Jesus, that Jesus physically rose from the dead [1], that Jesus is the only way to life with God, and the existence of hell.

To be acceptable to one Christian denomination, our ELCA has also effectively, given up on a central teaching of the Lutheran confessions that the written word of God in the Bible is the final authority over our life, faith, and practice and accepts instead that that other denomination’s bishops and human traditions have an authority equal to that of the Bible.

In obvious deference to being accepted by others, our ELCA has also said in its public documents that authority over Christian proclamation and practice stems not just from Scripture, but also our personal experiences. That contradicts what both the Bible and the Lutheran Confessions teach.

Denominational and synodical officials, say nothing while one of our ELCA congregations plays to the prevailing opinions of Americans people that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you believe it sincerely. At Ebenezer Church, an ELCA congregation in good standing, the Lord's Prayer or their version of it isn't offered to the God Who “is in heaven.” Instead, they pray to the deity “who is within us” and displace any mention of forgiving our trespasses as we forgive the trespasses of others. The so-called prayer is ended with: “You support us in our power and we act with courage. For you are the dwelling place within us, the empowerment around us and the celebration among us, now and forever. Amen.” The problem, of course, isn't that the words are wrong, but that the theology is more American and more Asian than it is Biblical. ELCA officials not only refuse undertake disciplinary action against this congregation, a high official of the ELCA, an aide to our presiding bishop, recently spoke and worshiped at a conference there, alongside a so-called “high priestess of the goddess Isis.”

In obvious deference to being accepted by others, our ELCA has also said in public documents that sources of authority over Christian sexual morality include not just Scripture, but also our personal experiences. That contradicts what both the Bible and the Lutheran Confessions teach.

The irony is that while our denomination sounds more and more like the rest of the world, the king of popularity has abandoned us. When the going gets tough, the kings of this world always abandon their subjects. But, like Sam Rutigliano, we know a King who “will never leave [us] nor forsake [us],” from whom not even death can separate us.

This morning we gather to worship and celebrate the only King worthy of our allegiance. We worship King Jesus Christ, the Lord of everything! Jesus is different from the other kings people serve.

We see how different in our gospel lesson, John 8:33-37.  It’s part of John’s narrative about the trial of Jesus that will culminate in His death on a cross.

Verse 33: “Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called [other translations say, “summoned”] Jesus, and said to Him, ‘Are You the King of the Jews?’” Pilate has just come from a consultation with the leaders of the Jewish religion, whose country, Judea, was under the rule of the Roman Empire and of Pilate, the Roman governor. The leaders’ beef with Jesus is that He claimed to be God. They saw this as sacrilegious. But Romans called all sorts of people gods. So, in order to persuade Pilate that Jesus needed to be executed and gotten out of the way, they told Pilate that Jesus claimed to be King of the Jews. That got Pilate’s attention. He didn’t want any trouble from would-be kings. So, he asks Jesus, “Are You the King of the Jews?”


Jesus, this poor carpenter, already bruised and battered from the mistreatment He’s received since His arrest, shows Pilate Who’s really in charge of this interview by asking Pilate a question: “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?”

In essence, Jesus is asking Pilate the same question He asked His own disciples in Matthew 16:15: “Who do you say that I am?” Jesus Himself is unambiguous in identifying Who He is.

Go to John 14:9. Jesus tells Philip: “...He who has seen Me has seen the Father...”

Look at John 10:30 Jesus says, “I and My Father are one.”

Or look at John 8:58. Jesus tells His fellow Jews who want to make Him a king on their own terms: “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” (I AM--Yahweh--in the Old Testament was the Name by which God identified Himself to Moses at a burning bush some 1500 years earlier.)

Jesus isn’t one of the bitty kings people follow in this world, not the little gods of various worldly religious systems. He is the King of all creation, the One with power over life and death.

As Jesus puts it in John 11:25: “I am the resurrection and the life. [All who believe] in Me, though [they] die...shall live.”

Back in our lesson, Pilate sees himself as too important to deal with the squabbles of a conquered people. He asks Jesus in John 18:35: “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you to me. What have you done?”

But Jesus tells Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.” We must be careful here. In saying that His kingdom is not of this world, Jesus isn’t saying that His kingdom is not for this world.

If His kingdom weren’t for this world, Jesus wouldn’t have taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

When Jesus says that His kingdom is not of this world, He’s saying that it’s not from this world. He is, after all, God the Word made flesh.

Jesus is not from the world, but through His death and resurrection He conquers this world and when He returns one day to bring this world to an end, He will bring the new heavens and the new earth for all who believe in Him to reign over with Him.

Jesus goes on to tell Pilate in our Gospel lesson: “If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight...”

Jesus is saying, “If I were an ordinary king, I’d have my own army that would fight for Me. I’d have my own political platform that My followers would fight for in the counsels of government. But My kingdom is bigger than all that. “My kingdom,” Jesus says at the end of verse 36, “is not from here.”

Pilate has seen bands of rebels undertake their little wars on Rome before. He looks at the carpenter standing before him and, probably with sarcasm, asks in verse 37, “Are You a king then?” “You say rightly that I am a king,” Jesus tells Pilate in verse 37. “For this cause [the cause of bringing God’s kingdom into this sinful, dying world] I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth [everyone, in other words, who hasn’t given their allegiance to one of the puny, dying kings of this world] hears My voice.”

This echoes what Jesus says elsewhere: His sheep know His voice and will respond to no other.

Is Jesus the only voice to which you’re listening today? Is Jesus your only King?

If you can answer yes to those questions this morning, you have reason to be grateful and glad!

But let’s be clear: It’s not an easy time to be a follower of Jesus. It’s not politically correct to proclaim, as Jesus has told us, that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life,” that Jesus is the only King of the universe, the only way to life with God.

Popular culture is aligned against the followers of Jesus Christ. But this is no time to change kings. This is no time to cave into the culture of the world, of our country, or even of our denomination.

Dietrich Offeldt lived in post-World War II eastern Germany. It was clear that the people were going to trade the terrors of living under Hitler for the terrors of life under Soviet Communism, in which official atheism told the people to have no king but the state. Dietrich Offeldt was a Christian. “Leave East Germany,” his friends told him.

But he refused, explaining later: “Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. He is the ruler of my life, and he can dispose of my life in any way he chooses. I have found that every Christian finds himself or herself in a particular circumstance, a particular time, a particular place in which they live out their discipleship. My circumstance is communism;  my time is the Cold War; and my place is East Berlin. I chose to be a disciple here.”

God has given you the task of being a subject of King Jesus in this town, in this time, in this place, and, as a member of a Lutheran congregation, a member of a denomination that grows bolder each day in repudiating the teachings of the Bible and the Lutheran Confessions we say are the bedrock of our faith, that subtly denies the kingship of Jesus in favor of getting along with a pluralistic world.

You and I could choose to avoid trouble with neighbors and friends by keeping our traps shut about Jesus, our king.

If we do that long enough, Jesus will no longer be our king. We’ll be subjects of the dying world’s two favorite kings, Safety and Security, which are only aliases of Satan, ticketed for death along with every other king but the risen Jesus.

Better to take the choice made by Dietrich Offeldt. He chose, he said, “to raise my flag and show my colors, to let those around me know for sure that I am a Christian, that Christ rules my life.”

On this Christ the King Sunday, I ask you (I ask myself): “Whose colors will you fly, those of the kings of the world? Or will you fly those of the King of all kings, the Lord of all lords, the conqueror of sin and death, the One Who is with us always, even to the close of the age, and the One Who promises to one day embrace us with those nail-scarred arms as He welcomes us, scarred ourselves by all we have faithfully endured in this world as we’ve followed Him, into eternity?”

Never be ashamed of Christ the King!

Never be ashamed of the king's book, the Bible!

Let Jesus be your King now and always. Amen

[This was prepared to be shared with the people of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, during worship at both 8:30 and 10:15 this morning.]

Footnotes

[1] The PDF document cited here, by Pastor Mark Chavez, a former ELCA pastor, now general secretary of the North American Lutheran Church, addresses all of the problem areas mentioned above. It's well worth taking the time to read it.

Amazing Video of Baby Yawning in the Womb!

"We already know that unborn babies can stretch and even hiccup in the womb," says a report from The Telegraph, "but new research from the University of Durham concludes that they can also yawn." This stunning video makes that point.

Read the entire Telegraph report here.

When People Worship "Stuff"

When "stuff" is our god, the video above, shot at a Walmart where people were trying to take advantage of a cell phone sale, this is what "worship" looks like.

Worshiping false gods is inherently destructive of relationship. When we worship false gods--money, status, ourselves, dope, booze, or whatever, we destroy our relationships with God, others, and the people we were meant to be.

When the one true God of creation calls us, through Jesus Christ, to follow Him, it's a call to love the God we worship AND the neighbor God created. Move closer to Christ and you're less likely to dehumanize, take for granted, hurt, or gossip about the people you encounter.

But there's something more to getting straight about what or who will be the object of our worship.

You see, cell phones and other stuff eventually die.

God is immortal and in Christ, He has conquered sin and death for us in order to give us a life that is the opposite of the frenzy you see here.

Let Christ be your God!

What Money is For

From today's installment of Our Daily Bread: "The challenge of riches is living with thankful hearts to God and open hands to others." See here.

Money itself isn't condemned by the Bible. 1 Timothy 6:10, in the Bible's New Testament is often misquoted to claim (or accuse) the Bible of this attitude. (Even by Pink Floyd in the song, Money, on Dark Side of the Moon.) Money is not the root of all evil. The misquoted passage says that, "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains."

Jesus does say that it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the eternal kingdom Jesus came to bring to those with faith in Him. He says this to His disciples after telling a rich man to sell everything he has, give it to the poor, and follow Jesus.

But Jesus isn't saying that wealth is intrinsically bad. It just happened that money was this young man's particular idol of choice and it becomes such for lots of people.

The simple truth is that not everyone can handle wealth, no doubt far fewer than actually have wealth. The rich young man who incited Jesus to use His "camel through the eye of a needle" metaphor, was apparently not handling his wealth in a way that had him in sync with God. (Matthew 19:16-26)

Because wealth buys so much in this dying world, it's easy for the wealthy to delude themselves into thinking that they are, in a sense, gods in themselves.

Or, they can develop a material notion about life itself, thinking that anything that can't be bought, sold, touched, or manipulated, isn't real, even God Himself, Who, after all, has been revealed materially only once, in Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Savior.

Yet the Bible is filled with wealthy people who retained their faith and their wealth. Because God came first, they were able to use their wealth in a way that honored and loved God and gave practical expression to their love for others. The list includes Abraham and Sarah, Lydia, Matthew, and Joseph of Arimathea, to name just a few. And the fishermen who followed Jesus--including Peter, Andrew, James, and John--were at the least, members of the upper middle class of their time.

Each came to see their wealth as a gift from God over which they were to exercise good management. The Biblical word for this is stewardship.

In another part of 1 Timothy, on which today's installment of Our Daily Bread, quoted and linked above, is based, the apostle Paul writes:

Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy (1 Timothy 4:28).

Paul is not saying that everyone who has acquired wealth stole it. He is saying that the thieves who had come to faith in Christ needed to leave their sins behind by learning the true object for acquiring money while we live on earth.

And this is it: We acquire wealth so that we can take care of the needy.

The needy, of course, can include the neediest people of all: those who have never come to know or follow Jesus Christ. Proclaiming the good news that God so loves every person on this planet that He gave His Son Jesus, so that all who will turn from sin (repent) and believe in Jesus (surrender their lives to Him) will have everlasting life is the job of every Christian. Even our money should be marshaled in the effort to help others to fill their need for Christ.

But the needy also include the poor, whether in our own community or around the world.

The needy also include the victims of disaster, wherever they live.

Understanding why God entrusts our wealth to us, no matter how wealthy we may be by world standards, should alter the decisions we make about how we spend our money.

Followers of Jesus Christ, grateful that God has already saved them by His grace through our faith in Jesus, are set free from the temptations of money and can ask themselves each day, "God has given me new and everlasting life through Christ. God gives me my daily bread. In response, how can I use what God has given to me in order to address the needs of others?"

Maybe one day I'll be content with how my life daily answers that question. But I haven't gotten there yet. God is still working on me.

Labor Pains

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Buildings crumble and fall.

Stained glass cracks.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This should give us hope! 

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

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

 (Romans 8:18)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Prayer for Our Leaders

For Christians, praying for our leaders, no matter what their party, is our duty and joy, in addition to be an expression of patriotism. If you choose, join me in the following prayer at this time. Thanks!

Gracious God, Your Word teaches that You create earthly governments so that Christians who live voluntarily under Your Lordship will be protected from those who have no regard for You and Your will AND to give Your Church an atmosphere of peace within which the Good News of Jesus may be proclaimed by those of us who bear Christ’s Name to those who don’t yet believe in Him.

God, to these ends, bless our President, our Vice President, and the members of Congress of both parties with Your protection and Your wisdom.

Grant similar blessings to those who serve in state and local governments.

And help us to heed Your Word, including the directives of Jesus Himself, by praying for and honoring our leaders, being obedient to our laws, and rendering to You what belongs to You, while rendering to government what belongs to government. In Jesus' Name we pray these things. Amen

It's About Relationship, Not Religion (From the Pastor's Cutting Room Floor)

It’s easy to give large sums of money to the cause of God when you’re flush with cash. It takes trust to give to God when your stomach’s growling.

It’s easy to take the time to pray when time weighs heavily on our hands. It requires a Holy Spirit-inspired decision to take a break from the rat race of our busy days in order to offer God prayer, praise, and thanksgiving.

You see, God doesn’t want us to be religious; He wants to have a relationship with each one of us.

The crucified and risen Jesus, God in the flesh, grants us a relationship with God as a free gift when we turn away from sin and take His outstretched hand of grace and forgiveness.

But, here's the thing: We can't grab hold of that free gift if we insist on holding onto things that fill our agendas, fill our pockets, fill our cravings, fill our emotions or our senses, but can never fill our souls. Only Christ can do that.

Let Him.

See Mark12:41-44.


Here's a great tune by Benny Hester from the mid-1980s, To Fill Our Empty Hearts. Hester went on to work as a composer for numerous television shows in network TV. His current web site is here.

Every Moment is Known to God

Here.

The God revealed first to ancient Israel and then to all the world through Jesus Christ, is what and Who we've always been looking for!

Jay Bruce Wants to Be a Red His Whole Career

Here. That would be great by me!

Mystery Solved: Olive Oyl Has Been Found!

Olive Oyl, erstwhile girlfriend of Popeye the Sailor Man, has been missing for decades.

But, after yesterday's announcement that Xi Jinping would become the new leader of Communist China, the mystery was solved after television viewers around the world saw video clips of performances by Xi's wife, Chinese folk singer, Peng Liyuan.

"Despite efforts to conceal her identity," remarked longtime Olive Oyl fan Vince Green, a spinach wholesaler from Hoboken, New Jersey, "that voice is unmistakable! Peng is Olive alright!"

Decide for yourself. Take a look at the clips below and tell me if it isn't obvious that Olive Oyl, that seeming All American girl, defected some time ago.

First, Olive Oyl:



And now, Peng Liyuan (her solo starts at about the 1:12 mark):

 

UPDATE, November 17: I mentioned this "rumor" over on The Moderate Voice:

By the way, in a separate development, Peng, a Chinese folk singer, has announced that she will soon be recording cover versions of American folk favorites. Among those slated for the collection are: The Times, They’re Never Changing, Wanna Work on Mao’s Farm Some More, and This Land is My Land, This Land is My Land.

'The Onion': Economy Devastated by Newton-John/Travolta Christmas LP

"The blackest day on Wall Street in two decades."
John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John Christmas Album Plunges Nation Into Double-Dip Recession

[Thanks to my son for sharing this with me.]

Ready for Winter

I snapped this picture while taking a walk this afternoon. The tree here is dubbed, The Great White Oak of Logan. It's huge. (At least by the standards of southern Ohio. It's obviously no Redwood!)

After the windstorm this past July, which knocked out our power for the better part of eight days, my wife and I were concerned that the oak, said to be over 600 years old, might have been damaged. The branches of a large tree in a neighboring yard, like thousands of other trees and branches throughout Ohio, did come down during the storm. In some places around the state, the wind during that short storm measured 98-miles per hour. Fallen trees and branches brought power outages throughout the state.

But this old oak seems to have been unscathed.

Leaves fallen, it's now ready for another winter in the seventh-century of its life. It's hard to imagine all that has unfolded under its branches.

[Also see here, for a 360-degree look from beneath the tree. It gives you a good idea of its height. FYI: Logan is about a half-hour drive from Athens.]

The False Dichotomy Between Faith and Science

After quoting Elizabeth Scalia, John Schroeder comments on the false dichotomy between faith and science.

Peace with God

[This was the sermon prepared for today's 10:15 worship service with the people and friends of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio. Today was Friend Day at Saint Matthew.]

I once heard a man named Bill Hybels say that every human being, without exception, is looking for the same thing. Hybels called the thing we’re all looking for, “it.”

The ways human beings look for “it” vary.

Some think they can find “it” by living a life in which they stock up pleasure, committing themselves to, in the words of our Declaration of Independence, “the pursuit of happiness.” But “it” can’t be found by that route.

Some people look for “it” by working hard for money or power or knowledge.

Others are sure that the way to “it” is by being a good person, giving to charities, or living a lifestyle of love.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with happiness, knowledge, hard work, giving, success, money, or even love. These are all good things in themselves.

But if we look to them as the means by which we find “it,” we will be disappointed.

And if we aren’t disappointed, then we are settling for much less than we were made for as human beings.

None of us should do that!

So, what is this “it”?

A man named Augustine, who lived in the fourth century, was the preeminent scholar of his day, at a time when scholars were treated like rock stars. Augustine partook of every sinful pleasure the world had to offer.

But it wasn’t enough.

In the summer of 386, deeply unhappy, Augustine threw himself down under a fig tree in desperation. There he sensed a voice, like that of a child, repeating to him over and over, “Pick up and read. Pick up and read.”

The voice was so real to Augustine that, at first, he thought it was that of a real nearby child playing some game. Then he understood that the voice had some other source.

At that time, Augustine was staying with some monks on a retreat where he hoped he could get things together. He wasn’t interested in being a Christian, mind you. His mother was a Christian and he had no interest in becoming a religious kook!

But, weeping under the fig tree, Augustine kept hearing that voice: “Pick up and read. Pick up and read.”

He later said that he could only interpret the repeated phrase to mean that he had to run into the house where he was staying, pick up a Bible from a shelf there, and read the first words he laid eyes on. He followed his instructions.

The first passage he read was in the book of Romans, chapter 13, verses 13 to 14: “Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ...”

It was then that Augustine, to that point no believer in God, surrendered his life and will to the God revealed in Jesus Christ.

He later said in a prayer, “Almighty God, You have made us for  Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You.”

Not by any effort of His own, but solely by the effort of the God Who reached out to him and Who still reaches out to you and me today, Augustine received “it": peace with God.

You may say, “We might as well close up shop right now, preacher. I’m not at war with God. I may not pay much attention to God, but I’m not at war with God.”

Look! We are born at war with God!

We’re born wanting our own ways.

In the Old Testament, King David, a man the Bible later describes as “a man after God’s own heart,” had to admit, “I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.”

Sin is in the human gene pool. We inherit it from our parents and grandparents.

Sin is the condition of enmity toward God and of willfulness to do our own thing that caused me, when I wasn’t yet three years old, to ignore my mother when she told me not to pick up my baby sister and with Mom no more than five steps away, to pick her up and promptly drop her on her head, my very first childhood memory. Nobody had to teach me how to sin; I came equipped with that knowledge!

The condition of sin is a wall between God and us, between God and others.

It’s what makes it impossible for us, by our own reason or strength or effort, to love God or to love others as we love ourselves, even though the law of God written on our hearts tells us that living like that is what it means to be human!

Even people who have never heard of God have a sense that they were made to experience "it," what we know to be the peace of God, whether they can articulate that or not.

And some people are so desperate for peace with God that they fall for humanly-created religions like Islam, Mormonism, or Scientology.

U2 gave expression to our common desire for “it,” when they sang, “But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.”

I want to be honest with you. I don’t always live in the peace of God. I let “it” slip out of my hands.

Usually without realizing it, I go on the warpath against God.

Feelings of bitterness toward those who have hurt me get my attention. Instead of asking God to bless others, I find myself praying that God would “fix them” and make them over in an image more convenient and convivial to me.

The desire to do what I want to do instead of what God wants me to do takes first place in my life.

My sinful self, along with the sin of the world and the sinful things that Satan tempts us all to do, conspire to take over my life and rob me of peace with God.

So I come to God many times a day, to ask God to tear down the wall of sin, to help me live in peace with Him, with others, and with myself, to remember that there is no peace when we’re looking out for ourselves.

But how does peace with God come to us?

I want to share with you what’s called “the Roman road,” the way peace comes to us as described in the New Testament book of Romans, the book of the Bible from which Augustine read on that summer day when he found his rest in God. I’ll also mention a few other passages in other parts of the Bible.

How do we have peace with God? First: To have peace with God, we must realize that God loves us and He wants to have everlasting peace with Him, along with a life made new by Him, a life He wants to give to us for all eternity.

When we have bad things come into our lives, as they do in all lives, we’re tempted to think that God has it in for us. A month or so ago, when I learned I had Celiac Disease, two years after I had a heart attack that took out 40% of my heart and one year after I'd learned that my heart was so weak I needed a pacemaker and defibrillator and also had to have a small melanoma cancer removed from my leg, I confess to you that I asked God why He was piling things on.

I'm ashamed of those feelings, frankly, because the Bible teaches us that, in this fallen world, bad things happen to everyone, no exceptions.

But we can have peace with God even in hard times. Romans 5:1 says: “...having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

What does this mean? Just this: The rightful fate for everyone who has sin is death. Another passage of Romans puts it this way: “the wages of sin is death.”

Think of it like this: We are all guilty of sin. If we were tried for our sin, the evidence would be overwhelming. To be justified though, is to have the verdict of “not guilty” declared over our lives.

Anyone who is declared “not guilty” of sin is at peace with God.

It was this “not guilty” verdict that changed Augustine’s life.

God wants us all to experience that.

God loves us and wants us to enjoy peace with Him. That’s why God in the flesh, Jesus, said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). God wants to give us:

• Peace with God now in this imperfect world
• Peace with God forever in a perfect eternity.

Second: To have peace with God, we need to understand, as we mentioned earlier, that, in our natural state of being, we are separated from God. We’re at war with God. Romans 3:23 says: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

You and I aren’t machines. God didn’t program us to do whatever He wanted. God gives us the power to make choices in our lives. We can choose to return His love to Him or not.

The problem, of course, is that the condition of sin has us bound so tightly that even if we resolve to return God’s love or to be at peace with God, we can’t make the decision stick.

We’re like kids peering into a shop filled with candy that’s off-limits to us because our hands and feet are manacled, in this case by our sin.

We can’t get to peace with God by our own efforts, no matter how hard we try. As Romans 7:19 says, “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.” That's why we Lutherans say in the Order for Confession and Forgiveness: "We are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves." Even when we want to choose peace with God and obedience to His commands, we are incapable of making that choice.

Third: To have peace with God, we need to know that God intervenes on our behalf. Romans 5:8 says: “...God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

The Old Testament sacrificial law held that an unblemished lamb could represent people on the altar in the temple in Jerusalem. There, the lamb was sacrificed and the repentant believers were spattered with the blood of the lamb. The lamb took the sinners‘ rightful wages, death, and the repentant were forgiven, for that moment.

But as our second lesson for today, from Hebrews, reminds us, Jesus, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world, bears the sins of all the world, once and for all. 

Fourth: We must receive, by faith, Christ, the One Who has died and risen for us. Romans 10:9 says: “...if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” What an incredible promise!

Because of God's charitable love for us, what the Bible calls "grace," all who turn from sin and believe in Jesus Christ are saved from the condition of sin and its consequence--death and futility.

When you entrust your life to Jesus Christ, you will have forgiveness, life, purpose, and peace with God.

Now, I don’t want to simplify things. Having peace and eternity with God are free gifts God grants to all who turn from sin and trust in Jesus Christ. But they are gifts we find it easy to let go of.

Faith itself, the Bible teaches, isn’t something we can talk ourselves into, but only receive just as we receive any other gift.

And as long as we live in this world, our genetic predisposition to sin will haunt us.

Jesus was and is God in the flesh, perfect and sinless, conceived not by a sinful man and a sinful woman, but by the Holy Spirit. But if Jesus was tempted and tested, we can expect to be tempted and tested too!

Jesus says though, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Jesus also promises that “the one who endures to the end” in surrender to Him “will be saved.” They will have a peace that only the God Who became one of us, died for us, and then rose from death for all eternity can guarantee.

The God we know in Jesus Christ can be your very best friend. He can give you a peace that passes all understanding.

If you would like to claim that peace for the first time or claim it again this morning, I want to invite you to pray with me right now:

Lord Jesus, I am a sinner in need of the forgiveness only You can give. I believe that You died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead to open up eternity to all who will turn from their sins and let You be their God and King. I ask You to come into my life. Rule over me today and forever. Send Your Holy Spirit to me daily so that I can trust and follow You and live in Your peace. In Your Name I pray. Amen 

If you're like me, you may find yourself needing to pray that prayer about twenty-five times a day.

That's okay: As Martin Luther said, the problem with some "born-again Christians" is that they're not born again enough. We need to keep coming back to Christ so that our old sinful self can be crucified and the new child of God can keep rising from the ashes of our sin!

But if you prayed that prayer with sincerity, know this: The war is over!

You have the "it" you’ve wanted your whole life: Peace with God!

Amen

[The four points of "the Roman Road," found in many places, and the version of "the sinner's prayer" as presented here, are based on a helpful book that has helped me share my faith many times over the past decade: Steps to Peace with God, published by the publications arm of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, World Wide Publications. I don't know if it's still in print. A link to it at Amazon.com can be found above.]

[These passages of Scripture are mentioned in the sermon (most are hyperlinked above): Acts 13:22, Psalm 51:5, Romans 2:14-15, Matthew 22:36-40, Romans 5:1, Romans 6:23, John 3:16, John 1:1-14, Romans 3:23, Romans 7:19, Hebrews 9:24-28, John 1:29, Romans 10:9, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Matthew 1:18, Hebrews 4:15, and Mark 1:12-13]

Are Christian Conservatives the Big Losers of the 2012 Election?

A New York Times article asks, "Are Christian conservatives the big losers of the presidential election?"

My answer is, I don't know. 

But I do think that we who are charged with the proclamation of the Gospel should refrain from being identified with particular political philosophies. 

When we do so, we risk creating a false image of Jesus, turning Him into an idol made in our own images. 

We also risk conveying the false impression to the world that God endorses a particular political point of view, alienating people from God unnecessarily.

The true Christian message will alienate people. Bank on it. Jesus said so more than once. Check out His words in Matthew 10:35-38, for example.
 
But unless a government commands us to sin or to engage in idolatry, such as happened in Nazi Germany or happens in despotic states today, there shouldn't be a whiff of politics in what the Church or Christian leaders say. 

Individual Christians should be encouraged to be engaged in politics, whatever their philosophies. But the cause of Christ is too important to be made the hostage of politics.

My own denomination has made Jesus subordinate to liberal politics. 

Other Christian leaders have portrayed Jesus as marching to a conservative politics.

Both notions are lies. 

According to Pastor Ed Stetzer, an old saying has it right: When you mix politics and religion, you get politics. Politics is important. But only the faith commended by the Bible--faith that God in the flesh, Jesus Christ has died and risen so that all who turn from sin and believe in Him are reconciled with God, for now and for eternity--can change our lives.

And when the God we know in Christ changes our relationship with Him from enmity to friendship, He also will begin to transform the decisions we make and the reasons we make them. That includes political decisions. 

Will God make us more conservative or more liberal? 

The answer to that is probably, yes. 

When you dare to put yourself in the hands of the sovereign God of the universe, give Him the freedom to take charge of your whole life, there's no way of predicting where He will lead you. It makes me think of the risen Jesus' words to Peter on how Peter's life would be changed by following Him: "Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go” (John 21:18). 

Christians know that we are not in control. And that's a good thing, hard as it may sometimes be. 

That's what we mean when we Christians pray subversively, as Jesus taught us to pray, "Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

Our nation might not be in the state it's in, selfishness elevated to a paramount position, if the Church and Christian leaders were more committed to proclaiming the Gospel and less concerned about seeing their preferred candidates elected to office. 

After all, we could be wrong about who to vote for. 

But we will never be wrong in commending Jesus, "the Way, and the Truth, and the Life"!

So, I come back to the Times' original question. Were conservative Christians the big losers in last Tuesday's election? I hope so. 

I hope equally fervently that liberal Christians were the big losers last Tuesday.

I hope that anyone who would dare to take a political position and claim, "Thus saith the Lord," got burnt so badly that they'll turn in repentance to the Lord, seek His forgiveness for trivializing the death and resurrection of Jesus, and pray that God will help all of us who bear Christ's Name to proclaim the Gospel in its purity for as long as God gives us breath.

The gospel message we are called to share is too important to be intermingled with our own political notions. We owe Christ more than that.

Called to Be Faithful, Not Stupid

This was just shared by Sundries over on Facebook. It made me laugh. But then it made me think.



And this was my comment:

Mightn't the pope traveling around unprotected be a bit like throwing one's self off the pinnacle of a temple [in the belief that God will always protect us from the consequences of our stupid decisions]?

Or refusing a blood transfusion because you think it denotes a lack of faith in God?

Seen in this light, the Popemobile is an implicit confession by every pope, "God is God and I'm not."

We live in a fallen world in which caution is warranted and isn't a sign of faithlessness.

I know: I'm a party-pooper. (Or is that party-poper?)

But while I totally get the humor, the fact is that our call is to be faithful, not stupid.

An Election Day Reminder from God's Word

The psalm that many of us will be reading together this coming Sunday, Psalm 146, is perfect for this election week! (Funny how often God works out these "coincidences"!)

The psalm includes these lines:

Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals in whom there is no help. When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that day their plans perish.

Happy are they whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, Who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them; Who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; Who gives food to the hungry. (Psalm 146:3-7)

Who our president will be is far less important issue than Who our God will be.

It's only God Who can give us what we most need: forgiveness, life, and hope for today and for eternity.

The Bible makes it clear, of course, that the Christian's duty is to honor those holding the reins of political power.

Government leaders serve an important function in God's plans, battening down the chaos that would otherwise engulf the world when our sins against one another had the freedom to do its worst.

God appoints governments to coerce those unchanged by and resistant to the grace He gives through Jesus Christ to leave neighbors unmolested and to protect those who voluntarily accede to Christ as King of their lives. (Otherwise, Martin Luther once wrote, Christians would live in the world as hapless sheep among ravenous wolves.)

So, whoever is elected today should, according to the Bible, have the prayers and the loyalty of all Christians.

After all, if Jesus told His followers to render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and if Peter and Paul, in the face of persecution, could tell Christians to pray for the emperors of a despotic Roman Empire, then we Christians in America today can surely pray for and honor the democratically elected leaders of a politically free country, whether we voted for them or not!

But the really important thing for Christians to remember today and every day is that, no matter how much we may like or dislike those elected to be our political leaders, it's stupid to put our hope in governments, politics, or leaders.

The God we know in Jesus Christ has become one of us, has died on the cross, and risen from the dead. He offers life to all who throw in with Him. The God we know in Jesus Christ will still be standing when the last king or president on earth has drawn a breath.

And if we will surrender our lives to Him, accepting His offer of forgiveness for all our sins and of new and everlasting lives to all who trust in Him, we can live in the confidence that nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God, given in Jesus Christ.

That's a lot more important than an election.

Let's Go to the Ohio History Center

My wife and I are on vacation this week. We were supposed to go to France. But we had to change our plans. (More about that another time.) So, we're just taking it easy and going on day trips.

Today, we went to the Ohio History Center in Columbus. It houses the main museum and offices of the Ohio Historical Society.

If you've never been to the center or if, as was true for us, it's been a few years since you last visited, I think that you would love to see it!

To tell the truth, the place looked a bit haggard the last time we were there. But, as soon as we walked through the entrance today, it was apparent that the new OHS director has made some changes. The center didn't look at all fusty and it's less cluttered and more enticing than ever.

Ann and I wanted to see several temporary exhibits going on at the center right now. Two of them were especially good!

One is The War of 1812: Ohio on the Frontline.

This may not seem like a very sexy topic. But, even granting that I'm a history nerd, the war was an important event and not just because it was while being held captive by the British that Francis Scott Key composed The Star-Spangled Banner. Many historians believe that the independence of the infant United States from Great Britain, tenuous up to that point, was finally won by the War of 1812.

And many of the most critical battles of the war occurred either in Ohio or close to its shores on Lake Erie.

Among the most interesting items on display were gifts given by native Americans to General Anthony Wayne. Wayne was the commander of US forces at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, which occurred in northwest Ohio. Among the items were a wampum and a peace pipe.

Despite how well the War of 1812 turned out for the United States, it was an imbecilic conflict for the country to enter. Were it not for the fact that the Brits were also then involved in a war with Napoleon's France, the War of 1812 would almost certainly have resulted in a crushing defeat for the States and the reestablishment of British rule over the country.

One person who didn't want to go to war at the time was Thomas Worthington, the father of Ohio statehood and founder of the Ohio town in which we live these days, Logan. Worthington was serving in the US Senate when the US declared war on Britain. But he voted against the declaration, viewing the conflict as suicidal and unnecessary. Despite his misgivings though, Worthington served as a general in the conflict.

By the way, two books I recommend for getting a good understanding of the War of 1812 and the pros and cons of entering the conflict are James Madison (The American Presidents Series) by Garry Wills and Thomas Worthington: Father of Ohio Statehood by Alfred Byron Sears.

A second temporary exhibit at the Ohio History Center is Controversy 2: Pieces We Don't Talk About. As the OHS website explains, this exhibit:

...invites guests to explore...race stereotypes from a historical perspective. In 'Controversy 2: Pieces We Don’t Talk About', visitors are encouraged to reflect on how stereotypes influence personal identity. 

Among the items in the exhibit is a handmade set of bowling pins, each pin depicting a disparaging stereotype of various races and ethnic groups.

And if that's not disturbing enough, there also is a set of Currier and Ives prints that are grotesquely racist.

The exhibit is clearly designed to help people understand the stupidity and the destructiveness of prejudice. After walking among the displayed items, visitors come to a round open area on the walls of which are enlarged photographs of the items, hanging next to large writing pads on which visitors can write their reactions to what they've seen.

We enjoyed looking around the center's permanent exhibit areas, too. I loved seeing this Crosley automobile engineered by Powell Crosley, Jr.'s company in Cincinnati, more well known for its radios, refrigerators, and broadcast interests (starting with WLW) than its cars. I would love to have this little car or get the chance to ride in one! (You can read about the Crosleys here, the site of the Crosley Automobile Club, which has its annual gathering at the Fulton County Fairgrounds in Wauseon, in northwest Ohio.)

And, while there, we just had to see Conway, the mastodon. (He's hard to miss.) 

And Ann said she needed to get this pic of me on an old Columbus streetcar.

Fun! And educational. The two things aren't mutually exclusive, you know!

Here's more on what you can see at the History Center.

Can You Handle the Truth?

[This is the sermon prepared for this morning's 10:15 worship at Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio. Today, we celebrated one of my favorite days in the Church Year, Reformation Sunday. To learn more about Reformation Sunday, go here.]

John 8:31-36

I’ve never seen A Few Good Men, but like most people I’m familiar with one of its most famous scenes. Tom Cruise’s character yells with Marine bravado, “I want the truth!” And Jack Nicholson, on the stand, replies with even more Marine bravado, “You can’t handle the truth!”

Today’s gospel lesson asks us, “Can you handle the truth?”

The people with whom Jesus speaks in today’s lesson couldn’t.

Please turn to the lesson, John 8:31-36.

In verse 31, we read: “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed in Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.”

Truth number one, which seems to elude the people to whom Jesus is speaking, is that believing in Jesus is more than just reciting the Creed.

This is Reformation Sunday. We celebrate the simple act of a priest, monk, and Bible scholar, Martin Luther, on All Saints’ Eve (Hallowe'en), October 31, 1517, when, to the church door in Wittenberg, he nailed ninety-five theses for debate among clergy and scholars.

Luther challenged the prevailing teachings of the Church of his day, eventually unleashing a movement that pointed to the central teaching of the Bible that unrighteous, sinful human beings are made right with God not by engaging in good works, religious acts, or giving the most money to the church, but by the charity (or grace of God) through faith in Jesus Christ.

To be saved from the common human ills of sin, death, and futility, we must believe in God the Word, Who lived and died and rose among us and for us: Jesus Christ.

That’s good news!

But the truth is that believing in Jesus is more than the recitation of words or showing up for a church function.

Belief in Jesus is entrusting my whole life to Him, acceding to His total authority over my life, giving Him the first and the last word in all our decisions.

To believe in Jesus, Jesus says, is to “abide in His Word,” to live and draw our very being from Him.

Because it so decimates our pretenses of self-sufficiency, the good news of Jesus is also a tough truth.

And most people can’t handle it!

But Jesus isn’t done. Look at what He says in verse 32: “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

This verse is widely quoted and almost always misunderstood.

It’s chiseled into the marble on the front face of the Law School at Ohio State as if Jesus were saying, “If you know the facts, you’ll be free people.”

That is NOT what Jesus is talking about at all!

This only shows that most of the people who misapply what Jesus says here are as confused as the Roman governor, Pilate, was when he presided over Jesus’ illegal capital trial and asked Jesus, “What is truth?”

Please turn to John 14:6. You’ve heard this passage quoted many times, too. “Jesus said to [Thomas], ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”

And look also to John 1:14, part of the prologue or introduction to the gospel of John. It calls Jesus the Word, God the Son, and tells us: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Truth #2: Jesus is the foundational Truth on which the entire universe is built.

The universe is not as it should be because it is out of sync with Jesus the Truth.

But Jesus says that as we stay connected with Him, daily repenting of our sins, praying in His Name, reading His Word, fellowshipping with His people, and living under His grace alone, we will know the truth, we will know Him, and He will set us free.

Jesus’ original hearers, fellow residents of Judea who had come to believe in Jesus, could not handle any talk of their needing freedom. In verse 33, they protest: “They answered Him, ‘We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will be made free?’”

Jesus may have been tempted to laugh out loud at this. The whole history of the descendants of Abraham--the Hebrews, Jews, Israelites, or Judeans--had been filled with their enslavement and subjugation under other peoples. In fact, except for a brief period between 140 and 63 BC, about seventy-seven years, God’s people had been slaves of other people for centuries!

The group to whom Jesus is speaking seem to forget about that 430 year stint of slavery in Egypt or the fact that even then, at that very moment, they lived under the dominion of the Roman Empire.

If we’re tempted to laugh at their denial, we might want to check that impulse.

All of us seem to be fully equipped with the capacity to not see the obvious truths about our lives that we don’t want to see. Whether the object of their addiction is alcohol, drugs, gambling, or pornography, a common first response when confronted by loved ones is to deny their slavery. “I’m not addicted,” they’ll say. “I can quit any time.”

We all tend to respond similarly when confronted with our faults. An old Jackson Browne song puts our attitudes well, “Don’t remind me of my failures/I had not forgotten them.”

We don’t want to hear about the truth about our slavery.

But what are we slaves to?

Jesus doesn’t mince words in expressing truth #3. Look at verse 34: “Jesus answered them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you [in the Greek in which John originally wrote, Jesus is quoted as starting out here, “Amen, amen!” Amen, amen. It is so. It is so. That means you can bank on what He’s about to say.], whoever commits sin is a slave to sin.’”

This is the unpleasant truth the human race does not want to hear. Some months ago, the Columbus Dispatch carried the story of a woman long applauded for her work with a local charity but who, it was found, had stolen thousands of dollars from the charity. At first she took small amounts, but eventually she was taking huge chunks of cash. She was a slave to sin.

Lest we simply tsk-tsk about this woman, remember that Psalm 51:5 and the whole Bible tells us that we are born in sin. Sin is the condition of alienation from God and from other human beings, the enslavement to ourselves and our own desires that blocks out true, open, loving relationships with God and with others, that we’re talking about when we say in our confession together that “we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves.”

From this condition of sin, we naturally commit sins. And, as we all know, the more we commit a sin, the easier it becomes to commit the same sin again: whether it’s gossiping, actively entertaining lustful thoughts about persons other than our wives or husbands, engaging in financial sleight of hand, or whatever our favorite violation of the Ten Commandments might be.

We do not, by nature, love God or love others. We are slaves to sin. And it’s from this slavery that Jesus came into the world to free us. 

Now look at what Jesus says next, in verses 35 of our gospel lesson: “And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.”

Under the prevailing inheritance laws of first-century Judea, the son inherited all that his father left behind. The slaves had no property and no rights to the inheritance. There was nothing they could do about their circumstance. They would spend their entire lives as slaves.

Left to our own devices, sinners would have no hope of anything but eternal condemnation. Hard truth #4 isn’t specifically mentioned here, but if Jesus is speaking it to Jews who believed in Him, the first Christians, it’s true for you and me as well, and it’s truth that’s mentioned in Romans 3:23: “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”

We are all slaves who can’t free ourselves, who deserve death, as Romans 6:23 reminds us: “the wages of sin is death.” Death is what we deserve for our sin, a hard truth to handle!

Thank God for the promise that Jesus makes in verse 36 of our lesson: “...if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

When we turn from sin and turn to Jesus, when we trust Him to take our sins on His shoulders, He crucifies our old sinful selves and sets us free from their power.

Martin Luther, as you know, said that on Judgment Day, God will look out over two seas of people, both groups composed entirely of sinners.

But one group will stand naked in their sins, having chosen sin over salvation by their refusal to repent for sin and believe in Jesus. By their refusal to believe in Jesus, they will have chosen condemnation, an earthly lifetime and an eternity spent in a chosen exile from the God Who made and loved them.

But, Luther pointed out, God will also look out over another group of sinners. Because of their faith in Jesus, it isn’t them God will see. They will be clothed in the forgiveness and new life Jesus gave to them and that they received by faith in Christ.

“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This is the greatest truth of all, the truth that can set us free to be our better selves now and our best selves in eternity!

I recently read about the large number of emigres from Iran (Persia) who, in some German Lutheran congregations, are leaving the Muslim religion and coming to faith in Jesus Christ.

These Persians are making public profession of their faith in spite of the fact that in many of their ethnic enclaves, their fellow Persians enforce Muslim sharia law, which says that if Muslims become Christians, they must be killed.

Why would these converts risk their lives to abide in Jesus and be His disciples?

One convert to Christianity explained, “In this [Lutheran] congregation, I heard for the first time that God is a loving Father who desires a personal relationship with every human being. This was news to me, because Islam had taught me...[that] God [is] a distant deity...”

The fact that God wants to have a personal relationship with each of us and that this God took on human flesh in order to die for our sins and rise again in order to secure that relationship for now and all eternity for all who believe in Jesus Christ is the good news on which the Reformation was built.

It’s also the good news on which we can build our lives.

Those who build their lives on Christ will find that God is a mighty fortress, “a sword and shield victorious”!

That is a truth we can not only handle, but celebrate, today and forever!

Amen!

Always a Reason to Be Thankful!

Sometimes, in my disappointments and adversities, it's hard to remember that, no matter what happens to me, I have reason to always be thankful. That's why today's installment from Our Daily Bread was so good for me to read. Here's the link to it.