Archive for November, 2007

December 2, 2007 begins the new church year and the 1st Sunday in Advent with the following three readings assigned: Isaiah 2:1-5 (Mountain of the Lord); Romans 13:8-14 (Love fulfills the Law) and Matthew 2:1-11 (Wise Men to Bethlehem)or Matthew 24:36-44 (Judgment Day hour). The text for the sermon is Romans 13:10, “Love does no harm to the neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

It is our custom to point out that every theological passage in the Bible can be understood in two ways–the wrong way and the right way. The wrong way is the way of the Theologian of Glory who desires to be in authority in contrast to the right way of the Theologian of the Cross who bows to the authority of Jesus Christ. The two theologians understand love differently.

Ask the world about love and it will speak of married couples falling out of love which means a divorce. No such concept of love is found in God Who loved you prior to your being converted (John 3:16). God’s love is not dependent on something in us but rather is part of His nature. In contrast to the world that considers love to be an emotion, God’s love is an attitude that does not wane or disappear on the basis of his objects of love being so unloving.

In every other religion of the world, the goal is to appease or placate a god that is not in love with you so that it might begin to love you and choose you to be saved. In Christianity, God already loves you. There is no need to appease His wrath by merit but only to recognize that because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God’s love pours out toward us in forgiveness, peace and eternal life.

While a superficial reading of the text might lead one to conclude that a loving action takes place when one does no harm to a neighbor, such a conclusion has it backwards. For love is not defined by how we treat the neighbor but rather whether or not our actions are in line with God’s Will (the commandments as verse 9 clarifies). If one obeys God’s will, then by definition whatever one does is an act of love. Love, therefore, is not some nice thing we do that results in our keeping the commandments but rather the opposite. Keeping the commandments is in reality the only way that the true God defines love.

Every action of Jesus was therefore, by definition, an act of love whether it was feeding the 5,000 who still didn’t get it or chasing out the money changers from the temple with a whip. But the greatest act of love was His death for you. Indeed, those determined steps to Jerusalem and the cross resulted in the Father expressing His love towards His Son with the words, “This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased!”

For the Last Sunday in the Church Year, the three assigned readings are Malachi 3:13-18 (complaints about the wicked); Colossians 1:13-20 (Delivered from darkness) and Luke 23:27-43 (Fall on us!). Chosen to preach on is Malachi 3:14, “You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God, what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance?’”

As the Last Sunday in the Church Year emphasizes the Day of Judgment, the text echoes the thoughts of many Christians that there is not much of an advantage (profit) in serving God. Take a look around the world and often the proud appear to be more blessed than the Christian, those who do wickedness are raised up and those who tempt God go free! God Himself quotes these words from some in the nation of Israel as examples of those who, as He says, “have been harsh against Me.”

This is a common problem for the Theologian of Glory who lives under the Law and views all reality through the lens of “me first.” Such a self-centered attitude looks around and finds that it appears that there is little advantage in being a Christian. For the unbelievers appear to have as many benefits (blessings) as do Christians and in fact, seem to get away with murder.

The interpretation is clear for the day of Malachi. However, how do we apply this message today? The same attitude is found in Christians who imagine that the more they obey God, the more blessings they will receive. And it is found in those who decide to do a good work to please God. Such motivation is in reality a form of manipulation on our part to get God to bless us more.

That Christians are confused over their blessings is apparent when asked this question, “Think of three blessings you received this past week.” Then ask them to raise their hand if they are NOT thinking of something positive. Few, if any hands, will be raised. Why? Because Christians understand blessings differently than did the apostle Paul who listed as blessings being shipwrecked, imprisoned, alone, hungry and so forth.

The fact is that because God is working out all things for the good of the Christian believer, there is really no time here on earth that God is not blessing us. Even discipline according to Hebrews 12 is a blessing from God. Of course, the greatest event in His story (history) is the cross of Christ. While not recognized by the disciples at the time as a blessing, their minds certainly were upgraded to God’s mind three days later.

The sermon should help the listener realize that while the Theologian of Glory lives by interpreting his experience, the Theologian of the Cross lives under the Gospel in trusting in the promises of God for which there is no evidence except the Word of God. Indeed, for the Christian that great and terrible Day of Judgment that the world fears is coming, will instead be the great blessing of being transferred from this vale to tears to an eternity of bliss and joy in the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the 3-year set of readings, the readings for this coming Sunday, November 18, 2007 are Malachi 4:1-6 (Sun of Righteousness); 2 Thessalonians 3:1-13 (Lord is faithful) and Luke 21:5-36 (Fall of the Temple). Chosen as the text for the sermon is Luke 21:13 which reads, “But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony.”

The theologian of glory not only assumes that salvation is by works that please God but also that he can figure out God’s attitude toward him by what he is experiencing. That makes Luke 21 for hard reading as Jesus prophecies that the future holds wars and commotions, nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom, great earthquakes along with famines and pestilence along with persecution and death to the faithful.

Doesn’t sound like a very rosy picture, does it? But the theologian of the cross refuses to decipher God’s attitude about himself by examining what he is experiencing. That was the problem with three of Job’s “friends” and his wife who could not understand that apparently bad things do happen to good people.

Many in the congregation are experiencing similar events in their own lives and wonder whether God has left them. That is why verse 13 which explains God’s reason for such calamities is so difficult to comprehend. It reveals that all these things will happen so that Christians will have an occasion for testimony. Sometimes we can create such occasions; other times God places them in our laps.

An example of the former is a truck driver who, after listening to the Law and Gospel radio broadcast on Maundy Thursday (kfuo.org), affixed the following sign to his 18 wheeler. “Hoc Est Corpus Meum” Translated as “This Is My Body” it refers to the teaching of Jesus Himself that in, with and under the forms of bread and wine are the true body and blood of Jesus Christ. We can only imagine the multitude of truck-stop conversations in regard to the Lord’s Supper due to that sign.

Calamities and tragedies are opportunities for testimony but not about us. Proper witnessing focuses on Jesus and Him alone as the hope for the future. For what hope was held out to those who witnessed the crucifixion on Friday only to be jolted back to reality in regard to the events of three days later?

As we near the end of the church year for 2007, the 24th Sunday after Pentecost for November 11 provides these three readings: Exodus 3:1-15 (Burning Bush); 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8, 13-17 (Coming of Jesus Christ) and Luke 20:27-40 (God is God of the living). The sermon text is Exodus 3:14, “And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.”

You can understand Moses’ reluctance to return to Egypt to free Israel from bondage when he has a price on his head for murder. First he tells God that he is not capable of doing this himself. God replies that He will certainly be with him. Moses realizes that the people of Israel will ask who gave Moses these orders so he asks God what is His name. God replies, “I AM WHO I AM.”

From a L&G point of view, the task of the preacher is to indict every member of the congregation with the accusation of Law that all are like Moses. But what exactly is Moses’ problem? Is it really that he does not think himself capable of bringing the people out of Egypt? No, his problem is that at this time he doesn’t believe that even God is capable of bringing His people out of Egypt.

Thus, if there is Gospel in this text, God’s answer must hold the key. How is the name of God Gospel? First, what does “I AM WHO I AM” signify. Just as most names have some meaning–my last name Baker probably originates with someone who baked bread–so also the name of God has important significance. The preacher’s task is to help the members of the congregation understand the significance of God’s name for their lives.

Does “I AM WHO I AM” simply refer to the fact that God exists? So what? To answer that question is really the goal of a sermon. The listeners are asking “So What” to your sermon because what good is it if it has no relevance to life? They already know that God exists so providing that meaning for the name of God is not helpful. The task of each sermon is to supply an analogy that clarifies what at this point is somewhat unclear.

There is a cartoon character that comes to mind who uses a similar phrase to the name of God. His name is Popeye. First time I heard him use it was when Olive Oyle had agreed to go on a date with Popeye but then Bluto, the big bully, said he was taking her out instead. Popeye replied, “No you are not.” Bluto said, “Who is going to stop me?” Popeye retored, “I yam who I yam!” puffing on his pipe with great vigor.

What did he mean? Popeye was telling Bluto that he had already promised Olive Oyle that he was taking her on a date and no one, including big bad Bluto, was going to stop him from keeping his promise. The name of God is not just for the purpose of having something to call upon in prayer. It means that God will keep His promises.

The “I AM WHO I AM” is a form of the copula verb “to be”. It is the word “Yahweh” with a guess that the vowels are “a” and “e” because the original Hebrew was without vowels. A bad transliteration is the word “Jehovah” which is the result of not realizing that the vowels finally put over the 4 consonants were from the word “adonai” which means small capital “lord.” The Israelites were so hesitant to use the name for God that the vowels for “adonai” were put there instead reminding them to say “adonia” rather than the real word “YHWH”.

The paraphrase I find helpful is “I fulfill what I promise.” For behind the name is the promise of God to Abraham that the people of God would populate the promised land of Canaan. And no one, including big bad Pharoah, could possibly get in the way of God keeping His promises. What is so interesting is that the sign which God gives to Moses that God will keep His promise is that Moses will return to this mountain (Sinai)AFTER the people are freed!

The members of the congregation, like Moses, daily sin much deserving nothing but temporal and eternal punishment primarily because they do not believe that God will keep His promises. That needs to be flushed out during the sermon depending on the particular personality of the congregation and how sin commonly raises its poisonous head in a way common to these people. Then the signs of God’s faithfulness connected to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ need to be stressed which, of course, are the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. In this way, both the accusation of Law and the good news of the Gospel are applied during the sermon.