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April 14, 2024 - 1 John 3:1-7
A couple of weeks ago, it was a beautiful morning. I came to church ready for worship. I entered the church when I always do and someone was sitting in my seat. It’s a good seat. It’s my seat. I’ve been there for years. Right there in the center. Not too far back, but not too far forward. But then there was this person sitting right there. To make myself perfectly clear, I like my seat. It’s a good seat. But I could sit somewhere... Couldn’t I? It’s not that big of a deal. I’m not the kind of person who is going to get all bent out of shape over a seat. And I’m also not the kind of person who would ever hold a grudge. But it was April 4th that this person took my seat. I had never done anything against this person and I believe they have their own seat somewhere else. I don’t know what they were thinking. But now, I feel like I need to come several hours early to make sure I get my seat. This is how social injustice begins. Some pushy person, not thinking about anyone other than themselves, sits down in an innocent persons seat. This is the way seeds of revolution sprout. Where’s it going to end? First it’s my seat. Next it’s my parking spot. And then, because of where you sat and parked, you are going to get to Letty Lou’s before me and order my burger. And then what? My house, my car, my money. world order is in shambles. I think you know what I’m driving towards. No one likes… change. “Come wheel come woa, my status is quo.” Don’t mess with my seat, my parking spot, my schedule, or the way things have always been done. The only person who like change is who? A baby with a wet diaper. Well, brace yourselves. Today’s text is going to challenge you. It’s going to be about change. Not superficial change. It is about real lasting fundamental change. We have after all transitioned into the Easter Season and as I’ve said, “Easter changes everything”! Last week John wrote, “The life, that is Jesus Christ, WE have seen it and testify to it, and WE proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to US.” The resurrection is transformative. In other words, it changes us… Today we are going to talk more about that. Last week, John said WE have seen. This week John calls for US to “see”. It is an imperative verb. Meaning it is not an invitation. It is a command. Come sit next to me. See what I see… Open your eyes and see how the resurrection has changed our relationship with God. I admit, a lot of times it doesn’t feel different. It may not look different. Just this past week, I had a sewer back up in my basement, again. I had two broken washer machine. And I still have a broken car I can’t get fixed. I look at my messy life, and all the pain going on around me, and I feel nothing has changed with me or God. I’m still on the outs. I still feel rejected, unwanted, unloved. I’m going to go home and eat rocks. Then I’m going to walk around with a chip on my shoulder and a sour attitude because He promised me change and nothing has changed. Open your eyes and behold, what John says. “See how great a love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called Children of God; and that is what we are.” Baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, children of God, that is what we are; and your relationship with God has forever changed. Paul put it like this, “because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, therefore we can cry, “Abba! Father!” All of our insecurities, comparisons, and competitions, all of our jealousy and envy, all of the ways we try to validate ourselves, all of that melts away when we see the kind of love the Father has lavished on us. What kind of love. It’s Forgiven love. It’s costly love. It’s Calvary love. It’s blood bought love. It’s death and resurrection love. It’s real love... that has no end. John calls it lavished love. I’d compare it to going to Baskin Robbins and asking for a double scoop cone. “I don’t know what I want… you decide the best flavor.” The person behind the counter hands you a cone with a scope of all 31 flavors on it and it is staked a mile high. That’s lavished. We will never change in our relationship with God, if we see God as a nickel and dime kind of God. God is cheap. God only gives us gifts when it’s on clearance. And God only gives me handy downs from Dollar General and Walmart. But that is not what the Bible says. John writes, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. That whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” The Psalmist says, “My cup runneth over.” He is not having to save for a rainy day. God lavished on us. And this is fundamental to understand all the change God wants to bring to your life. So understand, you are not unwanted. You are not rejected. You are not unloved. You are Baptized. Therefore, You belong. And you can sit wherever you want. Now here’s the deal, because our relationship with God has changed, our relationship with the world has also changed. John says, “the world does not know us because the world did not know Him.” This sound like John, John also said, “The light has come into the world, but the darkness did not comprehend it.” How come the world doesn’t agree with us. Why can’t the world see what I see? Come on world! The reason why the world looks at us and thinks we are wasting our Sunday mornings is because the world does not know the real Risen Jesus. Being called a child of God in Church is a great honor. Being called a child of God in the world, no one cares. The world does not know you because just as Jesus was different, you are different. How? You understand the love God has lavished upon you. You understand what Christ has done to save you. You have different schedules, different goals, different priorities. You have a different life style, and therefore, our relationship with the world has changed now and into the future. “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” Sometimes, I think the future has nothing good for me. “The future ain’t what it used to be.” The future is more despair, more darkness, more death. John says no way José. John says we are now and not yet Christians. We are now children of God, but the best is yet to come. We will be like Jesus. In the words of Paul, one day our perishable bodies will put on imperishability. One day our moral flesh will put on immortality. But even now God is making us more like Jesus. He is shaping us to live like Jesus, love like Jesus, act like Jesus, but there is more to come. For Jesus, who rose from the dead, is going to return for us. In the meantime, our relationship with sin is forever changed. That does not mean we never sin anymore. Back in Chapter 1 John had wrote, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Now in Chapter 3, John says, “everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself.” What does that mean. What is the hope? First of all, Biblical hope is not like a lottery ticket. I hope I’ll win. Biblical hope is not wishful thinking but a verifiable certainty. The hope is in Jesus who rose from the dead, and because he rose from the dead, we too will have a resurrection like his. Not because of ourselves, but because Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. Meaning, he took our sins onto himself. He took our punishment. And because of that, we are able to live like Jesus even now. Our relationship with sin has changed that dramatically. But ask the man on the street what is sin. He would say, anything that is fattening and fun. John defines it as “lawlessness”, or having no law, or rejecting the idea that God can give me rules for my life. I don’t care what you say. I’m the CEO. I’m the captain of the ship. I’m the president. I do what I want, when I want, end of discussion. That is what sin is. It is a stubborn rejection of God. But John says, “You know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins.” In other words, Jesus hates sins. He despises sins, because of what it does to our lives. He hates it so much he has come to take it all away. 1 John 3:5 echoes John 1:29 when John the Baptist said, “See, behold, Jesus the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” That is who Jesus is. He takes sin away. He takes away its guilt. Its shame. And someday soon he will take it away completely. But what is he getting at when he said, “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.” It could be interpreted that Christians don’t sin. But the theological word for that interpretation is Bologna. We sin. We sin much. We sin daily. We confess we are poor miserable sinners as we began the service. But what John is saying is a person who lives in Jesus, who sees Jesus, who experiences Jesus, sin is not our identity. You might still sin, but sin does not define you. Your relationship with Jesus means your relationship with sin has changed. Jesus hates sin… therefore I hate sin. Martin Luther said “we are sinners, and now and then we fall into sin; but if a true Christian falls, he soon comes back, turns about, and fights against sin, lest it burst forth into a stumbling block for his neighbor. Although it is difficult to avoid being wounded in war, it is a disgrace to yield.” We are to confess sin, renounce sin, despise sin, turn from sin, but never get used to it. John says, “dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray.” When your relationship with Jesus changes, your relationship with God, your relationship with the world, and your relationship with the future, and your relationship with sin changes… for the better. Of course we all know hard change is. Who wants change… I do! Who wants to change, everyone puts there hand down. Now, who wants to lead the change? That’s a good way to vacate a room. I don’t want to change, I want you to change. That’s a good way to destroy your marriage. It is a good way to destroy any relationship. Change, not fake change not superficial change, it is God’s gift to us today. Where do we start? How about with these words “Thy will be done.” “You are the potter… we are the clay.” Mold me and shape me, at your will. I will go where you lead and I will sit in the seat you have provided.
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April 7, 2024 - John 20:19-30
This morning I’d like to begin by saying this: I believe, so help me God, that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. I believe, so help me God, that Jesus Christ is alive. And more than that, that I have a relationship with my dead but risen Savior by faith. I know that beyond a shadow of a doubt that my relationship with Him has changed my sorry and fearful life. How about you? Do understand John Chapter 20 is about you. Often times I say this text pertains to you but it is not about you. That was true about the entire season of Lent. Maybe so, but this text is about you, John makes it that way. “I have written these words that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” The goal of John 20 and this sermon is that you might believe. John wants your belief to suspend your doubt. And very appropriately, he wants your belief to suspend your fear. Did you know the Second Sunday of Easter also goes by the name “Low Sunday”? It is true. I read it in the Catholic Encyclopedia. I’m not really sure when the name originated, but if you look around and consider the crowd last week, I’m sure you can understand why it’s called Low Sunday. If you consider where our text left off last week, and where our text this week begins, it really is not all that surprising how the Second Sunday of Easter got the name. Recall Mark 16:8 “And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” In John 20 it is eight days later. “On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews.” Today might be Low Sunday, but don’t get confused by the name because I think what you will find is that John Chapter 20 might just be one of the most important texts for your life. Have you ever heard of the name Tom Landry? Wikipedia says Tom Landry is ranked as one of the greatest and innovative NFL Football coaches in the history of Football. Tom Landry was also a devout Christian and I found something he said interesting. Landry said, “At 33 years of age, I came to a cross roads in my life. I had already accomplished and done more than I had ever intended. There was no next level, because I had already made it to the top. I was 33 with no direction and no purpose. A friend of mine invited me to a prayer breakfast. I went. Up to that point I figured I was a pretty good person… now here was the Bible saying I was a sinner as bad as anyone in the world. I had based my life on the notion that if I worked hard enough I would succeed. If I studied hard enough it would make me a winner. It seems to have been right, but now here is the Bible saying it is not my knowledge or my works that make a difference. It is only my faith in Jesus Christ.” Landry said, “At first it was odd, but the more of the Bible I read the more the pieces fit together and I soon came to the point when my faith outreached my doubts.” Where are you on your faith journey? Be honest. It does not help you to be anything less than truthful. Here we are on Low Sunday, and the message of John’s Gospel through Thomas is that even though there is in the body of Christ all kinds of faith, and levels of faith, even though we all have questions, Christ does not turn us away. I love what Carl Barth had to say about John Chapter 20. Hear what he said: he said “the empty tomb is not the Easter Message. The empty tomb is only a sign of Easter. It is not the tomb that is the object of the Christian faith. We believe in the resurrected appeared Jesus Christ.” Allow me to emphasize the phrase “we believe”. No one can convince you nor prove it to you. I can stand in the pulpit and yell “He is risen”, but never the less, the resurrection cannot be demonstrated or recreated. The only way to know that Jesus Christ is alive is for Jesus Christ to make Himself known to you. But understand this, the full and complete message of Easter is not “the tomb was empty”… It was that the resurrected Christ sought, found, and revealed himself to them. Today might be a Low Sunday. But everything becomes special when in the presence of Jesus. In the Gospel lesson, we are given what is called a double story. The first one is about faith and the second is about Jesus suspending disbelief. Earlier in John Chapter 20 there was another parallel double story. First there was a story about Mary Magdalen and second we had a story about two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Understand, there too the message was one of faith and suspended disbelief as a result of the risen and appeared Jesus Christ. And notice what He says when He appears. He does not say “you dirty low-down scoundrels of little faith”. No, instead He repeats himself three times and says “Peace be with you.” Jesus wants you to be at peace. He does not want you to be afraid or overwhelmed by doubt. He wants you to trust him. He wants you to know you are forgiven, so much so, that he gives us the right to communicate that forgiveness to each other in the first person. Through Jesus Christ “I forgive you… that means the same thing as God forgives.” I cannot think of a more dramatic way to express this point than for Jesus to address Thomas “the doubter” and say to him “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” And Thomas does it. And in that instance, Thomas saw Jesus as the One that forgives and the ONLY ONE that can deliver from unbelief, fear, and death. How did Thomas respond to Jesus? He goes from “unbelief” on to confess “My Lord and my God.” This is the boldest and most clear confession in the Gospel of John. Now… recall, this is about you and for you. So what are you supposed to do with John has written? He wants for you, through Thomas, to witness the resurrection. With the help of God, He wants you to say that I, on this day, will live by faith. He wants you to say that I will never forsake Him. And who is the HIM? He is my Lord and my God. How amazing is that? That throughout the Gospel John has shown us faith based on signs, but now John has moved beyond that to faith that needs no sign. I do hope you read the Gospel of John over and over again. In it you will encounter weak faith, shallow faith, little faith, and great faith. Above all, do understand faith is not a decision made once. Faith is an encounter with Jesus that needs to happen over and over again. That is why I worry about people who don’t come to church. I’m not saying you cannot encounter Jesus outside of church. However, what I do know is that Jesus promises to be present here in ways that he does not promise anywhere else. Thomas is one of my favorite characters in the Bible. Some call him “doubting” Thomas. Do you know in the 11th Chapter of John he courageous Thomas? In the 14th chapter he is theologically discerning and inquisitive Thomas. Thomas, by legend, is said to be the one who took the faith to India. BUT Thomas because of this one story has received the title “doubting Thomas” and it stuck. Let that not be true for you. The “disciple whom Jesus loved” writes that he himself needed no evidence. He states that He believed on account of the empty tomb (however, let it be known he wanted to see the empty tomb and he ran to see it for himself). For Thomas, he required even more. But here is the point, this text has been recorded to disparage Thomas. This text has been recorded for you. And what does it teach? It teaches faith in Jesus Christ depends upon Jesus Christ. Faith is a gift, not something you can invent, work up to, or try real hard to gain… it is a gift, and most significantly, He brings it to us wherever we are…. even if we are behind shut doors in a locked room. This is one of my favorite texts. In a nut shell it explains the difficult nature of faith. But so too it expresses the heart of God. To the afraid and the afflicted, Jesus breathed on them and said “peace be to you.” To broken sinners, Jesus says, “You are forgiven.” The word “breathed” is only used in the New Testament in John Chapter 20. The word recalls how God breathed life into dirt on the first days of creation. God can and did take dead things and He made them alive. Easter is but another sign. It is Jesus who can take dead things and makes them alive. And so too, it is Jesus and only Him who can give you faith. Have you ever considered the resurrection of Jesus Christ has been done in spite of you? It is true you know. We killed him and “by God” he came right back to life for us. Here in lies the graciousness of God. Astonishing! It’s kind of crazy and some might call it stupid. But here’s the thing: this is God’s world and Jesus loves you so much that He wants you to be a part of it. So if the call is to have faith, receive the invitation, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Stop doubting and believe!” I’m sure you remember Arnold Schwarzenegger? How could you forget the governor, the body builder, the Terminator. He said, “asa lavesta. I’ll be back.” Well, Jesus said that 2000 years before the Terminator made the phrase memorable. Recall the Gospel of Mark, “He will go before you to Galilee and there you will see him.” This past week my children thought they saw Jesus at Panera. I agreed the man did look just like that I’d expect Jesus to have looked. Adeline reminded me “He is risen and He promised we would see Him.” Unfortunately, that wasn’t him. Even so, understand He will be back for you. The Christian faith trusts in a God that believes and never forgets about you. Jesus will never stop loving you. No matter where you go and no matter what happens to you he will be back for you. You can trust in him. Even on Low Sunday, trust in Jesus Christ. Let him be your savior. Trust him to do what he says he will do… bring you peace, and most importantly, bring you the forgiveness of sins and a life everlasting. In the grace of God which surpasses all understanding trust your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus Amen.
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March 31, 2024 - Mark 16: 1-8 (Easter Sunday)
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you, from our Risen Lord and Savior. Amen. It is amazing to me, the fact that it only takes three words to speak the purest and unadulterated message of Easter. He has risen! He has risen indeed, Alleluia. In just three words I can communicate the Easter message. In just three words we can communicate the greatest news mankind has ever heard… Why do I say it is the greatest news? It is because the resurrection changed the world overnight. On Good Friday our old history ended at the cross. Easter’s resurrection ushered in a new history which sprang forth fresh like a new growing shoot from dead ground. 2000 years later I can’t help not to take in the vibrant colors, the banners, the women and children dressed in spring time hues, the smell of Easter lilies, and the sounds of a congregation singing Alleluia. All those things help us celebrate. But that is not why we are here. We are here due to these three simple words. “He has risen! He has risen indeed, Alleluia.” We say that… I assume all of you believe that, but has Easter really changed anything? I turned on the News this past week to see Baltimore devastated by the collapse of their iconic Francis Scott Key Bridge. About 2 weeks ago, Ohio was devastated by tornadoes. I saw a man on the news walk up his staircase to see the sky instead of his roof. There was a woman that walked through a pile of rubble. She put her hand deep into the pile and pulled out a baby shoe. She wiped it off and held it in her hand. She walked up to another spot and pulled a family portrait out of the rubble. All they have left is bits and pieces of a life that used to be. To one it is an iron trivet given to her by her grandma. To another it was a signed baseball caught at a game. Maybe it is silly to look for such things, but when they find it, they pick it up and hold on to it. All of the destruction, and the fear, and that loss, and sorrow, it all joins together to make a very strong grip. What are you holding on to? Memories… perhaps of Easters long since past? Fragments of yesteryears when your kids were young and you had Easter egg hunts in your back yard… when you could still fit into your blue seersucker suite? Let’s put that aside for a moment. Let’s understand, on that first Easter, the resurrection of Jesus did not bring joy or trumpets or shouts of celebration, but disorientation and fear and women who run away from the tomb terrified filled with nothing but silence. I think the liturgical commission should have put a warning in the bulletin… like the one at the dry cleaners… this bag is not a toy. Warning: this reading could very well destroy an otherwise perfectly good Easter. Because everything that we hold onto so fondly, all the cultural trappings of Easter eggs and easter bunnies, all our memories of Easters long since past; we don’t get any of that in Mark 16. He gives us something very different. Did you notice? We were not even given angels. I was so used to angels with their appearance like lightening and guards falling down as if they are dead. None of that is in Mark. Just a young man dressed in white. In Mark, there is no appearance of Jesus, no presence of our Lord, no intimate encounter thinking He is a gardener. There is no flesh on bones. No sounds of His voice. All there is is a cold stone rolled away from the tomb. Did you notice our favorite Easter proclamation is not there? They were not told to go and say “He is risen.” But to go tell the disciples and Peter “He is going before you to Galilee, just as he told you.” If we were to make a versicle from Mark, we could say “He goes before you into Galilee…. Just as he told you” Different than expected… yet perhaps in those words, we are given fragments of promise. And in those words, there is life. Do understand, I am calling for you to think theologically this morning. In other words, I’m calling for you to have God’s logic and for God to inform your understanding of what you think you know. Do you realize Christianity was born in a grave yard? On Easter the strangest news that had ever been heard began in a cemetery and spread like a wildfire. Jesus of Nazareth was raised from the dead. And no one expected it. Today, 2000 years after the fact, I, like them, have been sent, to tell you, Jesus went before you into Death so that you can have life. I would not be inclined to believe it, but Jesus’ words keep coming true. The things Jesus had said back in the garden on Maundy Thursday… there is no way I would have agreed with that either. He said, we would all desert him, one would betray him, one would deny him, he would be delivered into the hands of sinners, mocked, spit upon, and hung on a tree. And now this young man, sitting in an empty tomb, reaches down into the betrayal and the denial and the hatred and the sin and he pulls out of it one more promise of Jesus. “You will see him in Galilee, just as he said.” All of a sudden the world they thought they knew had been changed. They looked into a tomb and no wonder they are amazed, bewildered, blown away, when all of a sudden they see the kingdom of heaven where once they saw only death. I’d compare the Easter pronouncement to be kind of like a seed that carries within in a whole tree. You throw it into a place that has just been destroyed and it sprouts up and brings life. Let me explain further. Because it is Easter and although the creed affirms the resurrection triumphed over sin and death, although I know from the other Gospels the disciples did go on to see appearances of Jesus; I’m, none the less, still tempted to see and think like the world and not as God. Maybe I’m not tempted to deny it, but sometimes I wonder what difference does it make anyhow. Just look around! Even if… even if Jesus rose from the grave, how does that help me and my family? How does it help the people of Baltimore… the people of Ohio? Because truth be told deep inside me I can feel my sin as alive as ever before. I’m told Jesus rose from the dead and that supposedly changes everything, but what about all those people currently without their homes and loved ones? What difference does Easter make? Perhaps today is your chance to reconsider your life and our purpose in this world. Perhaps today is a good occasion to ask yourself where you stand in relationship to Jesus Christ, and what difference does it make… The age long statistic says that for every person born there will be a person die. Even in the age of medicine, that has not changed. What difference does the Resurrection of Jesus Christ make? It makes all the difference in the world! Death has been the ultimate victor for ages. But then on Easter all that changed. On Easter our loving God intervened. The truth is that human beings are powerless when it comes to death… that much is indisputable, but the crucial point Easter makes, is that God can and does intervene. But this morning we are given a chance to come and listen to this young man in Mark as he gives us what appears to be fragments of promises to broken sinner. I love Mark’s account of the resurrection because the young man tells the woman to go tell not just the disciples but “Peter” specifically! How gracious is our God. That He was not just raised for the loyal but for sinners… sinners, like Peter,… like me. The truth of the day is we all have the same opportunity to be redeemed and that is exactly the reason why I’m here this morning. In the book of Revelation, John tells us, that the resurrected Jesus holds the keys to eternal life. In Chapter 1 of the book of Revelation, Jesus appeared in all of his risen glory and here is what he said. He said, “behold, I am the Living One; I was dead, and now I am alive forevermore! I hold the keys of death and Hades.” In Revelation 21, “He who was seated on the throne says, I am making everything new. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” That’s the most wonderful news in the world and let me tell you why. Paul said, “Jesus had a death like ours so we too will have a resurrection like his.” “for on the final day, the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable.” In the Nicene Creed we faithfully confess: “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and to life in the world to come.” Paul says death is the last enemy. We will all face it, but we will not face it alone. We will face it with Jesus the risen Lord. Yes, even on Easter there are people who are afraid, uncertain, and even trembling. But today I am here to remind you Christ has entered our world, conquered death, and that informs our understanding of what is to come for all who believe. He has risen! He has risen indeed, Alleluia. “You will see Him in Galilee, just as he said.” Hold on to that promise… today and into eternal life. In the grace of God, which surpasses all understanding trust your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus Amen.
March 29, 2024 - John 18:33-40 (Good Friday)
Throughout the season of lent, we have spent a great deal of time reflecting on two very fundamental truths of the Christian Faith. First of all we reflected on ourselves. We recognized our sin and also the very obvious fact that because of sin, “we are dust and to dust we shall return... thus is the wages of sins.” Thanks be to God that is not the whole story, and so on Sunday mornings we reflected on Jesus and His mercy. It is true that Jesus breaks into our brokenness and it is also true that He does it in order restore even the seemingly un-restorable parts of our lives. I’m sure we would all agree when I say the Gospel of John is full of some pretty infamous sinners: People like the Samaritan woman in John Chapter 4, people like the woman caught in adultery in John Chapter 8. Earlier in the service we recalled the actions of Judas Iscariot. Out of all the sinners in the Book of John, I think hands down the most wicked and notorious was the man at the end of John 18, Barabbas. Many of you know about Barabbas. He is one the most famous prisoners in all of history. I’m sure you know it was a custom of the Roman government to free a prisoner on the Jewish Passover. What they are doing is not all that unlike our custom of our president to pardon a bunch of prisoners right before he leaves office. Of course Pilot is not leaving office and the most notable difference is that it was not Pilot’s decision who to let loose. In John Chapter 18, Pilot was following the custom of the day and so he poses the question to the Jewish people. “Who do you want to release? Do you want me to release the king of the Jews?” He asked. They said “No!” “We want Barabbas.” John Chapter 18 concludes with this statement. It says, “Barabbas was a robber.” Most translations like the ESV and KJV label him a “Robber”. The NIV calls him an “insurrectionist, a revolutionary”. The Greek word is λῃστής. It strictly means “robber” but understand He is more than a pick-pocket and worse than a guy who steals the radio out of your car at night. A λῃστής is more than a common criminal or even a second hand scoundrel, a λῃστής is as bad as they get. He is a criminal by occupation and he is a violent one at that. In Luke Chapter 10, Jesus tells the disciples the Parable of the Good Samaritan. In that text the traveler comes across λῃστής… Robbers. Notice what they do. “They stripped him and beat him and left him for dead.” That is Barabbas. He was not just out there to steal, he was out to kill, break, and destroy. He will do whatever he needs to do to get what he wants. In Mark we are told that Barabbas the λῃστής committed murder in an attempted rebellion. I wonder if that is the reason why they wanted Barabbas, rather than Jesus. Because Barabbas was a motivated revolutionary when Jesus should have been… Barabbas was a Che Guevara when Jesus was a Mahatma Gondi. Like Che Guevara he was a pretty bad dude, a guy with revolution on his mind and he’d slit your throat if you stood in his way. Just understand for our purposes, he was not a petty crook. We know this because the Romans were not about sentencing people to execution for petty crimes, that beings said, they would execute a λῃστής. A dangerous violent vocational rebel. Barabbas was a man with hatred in his heart and blood on his hands. He was a thief, a robber, a murderer, and the only thing in this revolutionary’s future was three nails, a cross, and a painful death. The Bible says that the wages of all sin is death. Paul says we are dead in our transgressions. He says we are lost, so lost we don’t even know we are lost. The Bible says we are doomed to perish. Paul says “Even our best deeds are rubbish.” “Rubbish” is a nice English word that means garbage but that does not get the meaning quite right. Paul calls his righteous works σκύβαλα meaning, escheatment, manure, feces, defecation… I’m sure you get the point. Even on your best day, you still reek. John Newton sang, “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.” One should be careful talking like that now a days. Someone might send you to a counselor for calling yourself a wretch or a piece of dung. And, to be fair, we must be better than a wretch. Misguided? Sure. Prone to miscalculation? All the time. A people who make messes? No doubt about it, but a filthy wretch… ? We may not like the idea, but Paul will not let us escape. Paul says in the Letter to the Romans “What a wretched man I am!” He says that in the present tense and he also said it after his conversion to Christianity. I wish I could say all those people out there are the ones with the problem. I wish I could say you have the problem. In all actuality, this includes me too. You may have your way and I have my own… Some people are lost in pride, others in envy, or anger, greed, or sloth, gluttony or lust. List your sins and you will see for yourself that you are a prisoner and God’s verdict is death. Let that sink in just a little and soon you will hear the executioner coming down the hall. You can hear his foot-steps. There’re getting closer and closer. All of a sudden the foot steps have stopped, and you can hear him shuffling for his keys. Seconds pass, they feel like minutes and all of a sudden the door opens and a dark figure says in an unemotional voice “it is time, follow me.” Given you cannot escape, you do what he says. You follow the figure. He leads you through the prison from chamber to chamber and he opens a padlocked door. Through the door you can see the sun. He unlocks your shackles and says “You’re free to leave. Go in peace.” I imagine those were striking words for Barabbas the λῃστής to hear from the prison guard as he was expecting to be executed the following day. You are free because Jesus has taken your place. In Genesis 22 God provided a ram to take the place of Abraham’s son Isaac. In the book of Leviticus, Israelite priests take rams and lambs and doves and substitute them for the people. I understand there is nothing particularity shocking about sacrificing an animal in our place; but it is striking that here, “The lord laid on Him the Iniquity of us all.” Paul said, “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.” Paul said, God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ took our place. Don’t miss this. Good Friday exposes the central message of Christianity. Christianity is not about having a personal God following you around to tend to all your needs. Christianity is not about charity work or about a God who loves to walk on water or still storms. Christianity is fundamentally about a God who sacrificed Himself for us. Notice, even Pontius Pilot did not think Jesus deserved death and why would He? Jesus did nothing wrong. Jesus was infinitely kind in a world fill of hatred. Jesus was full of love in a world filled with hypocrisy. Jesus was the perfect person and He substituted Himself for the world. We might think that the nails and thorns and scorning was the worst of the story, but that is not true at all. The worst thing was that the Father placed the Son in that situation. Don’t misunderstand the Gospel. The Gospel is not that you messed up and God just decided to let you off. The Gospel says that someone took your place and that person was Jesus. The part of this that changes lives is that Jesus died for “me”. Jesus felt my shame and yet He called my name. I often wonder what Barabbas did when he got out of prison. Did he go back to being a λῃστής? I have no idea, it is an interesting question. The more important question, however, is this: what about you? Now that you are free, the sentence has been dropped, and the shackles are gone what about you? Every Sunday I say the phrase, “Go in peace and serve the Lord.” One time, not at this church, someone one came up to me and told me I should not say that because it was inappropriately leaving the people at the end of a service with the law. Looking back on it now I guess I missed my opportunity to ask him if he has anything he’d like to confess and I could have absolved him right there. Either way, what he missed was the fact that once you are absolved from your sins and freed from your chains the law is no longer a command… it is a privilege. Jesus paid it all… now all to him I owe. Sin has left a crimson stain and he washed me us as white as snow. “Go in peace and service the Lord”? Maybe that is not quite right. In the words of Jesus, “I have set for you an example, now do unto others as I have done for you.” In the grace of God, which surpasses all understanding trust your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus Amen.
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March 28, 2024 - Maundy Thursday (Gluttony)
Brothers and sisters in Christ, welcome to Holy Week. Throughout the season of Lent, we have been considering some of the more common sins of the flesh. Saint John wrote, “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh (which is gluttony, lust, and sloth) and the desires of the eyes (which is greed) and pride of life (which is pride, envy, and anger)—all of this is not of the Father but of the world. Now, I hope I have made this point clear; that Lent begins with us, it pertains to us, but it is not about us. And that is good to know, because if it was about us, Lent would end with a bunch of failing sinners rather than achieving saints. Luckily for us, Lent is about self-denial… it is about turning away from “self” in order to see ever more clearly the work of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Today, I intend to finish our Lentin Sermon Series by talking about America’s most tolerated sin… the sin of Gluttony. I’ll speak for myself on this one, but I do love to over eat. I can put away more food than most people, and lucky for me, I can hide my gluttony beneath a fast metabolism. I admit this to you in order to steer you away from thinking gluttony is just a fat man’s problem. To be fair, there are many and various reasons why a person might weight too much… medically speaking, it could have little or even nothing to do with gluttony. Gluttony comes from the Latin word gluttire. It literally means to galp down, and although it does mean to over indulgence of food in particular, it could also include an over indulgence of anything. Either way, gluttony is the result of a dysfunctional understanding of what “nourishes” a human being. That beings said, what is it that fills you up as a man or woman? What is it that makes you feel satisfied? Is it what you have done? It is what you have accomplished? What you have accumulated? Is it the money you have? The strength of your personality or your ability to think? Ultimately, I hope you are nourished by who He is and what He has done. Understand, these are altogether different diets, and if you fill yourself up with the wrong things, it is as the saying goes, “you are what you eat”. The Scripture teaches us that the human story revolves around two infamous meals. In the Book of Genesis, the whole universe collapsed at the Fall during an abused meal as Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating from the forbidden tree. But although that is true, it is also true there is another infamous meal and at that meal the whole of the universe will have its restoration marked at the wedding feast of the lamb. In between those two meals, here we are on Maundy Thursday. Today we talk about gluttony yet ironically we also find ourselves at a meal. To be sure, it is not just any meal. It is a meal that looks backwards to our failure and it is also a meal that looks forward to our restoration. As far as that is true, what we are doing today is yet again partaking in a climactic meal in the history of the human story; for at this very meal our Lord brings us together, He sits us at His table, and He says, be nourished by the one who was and is, be nourished by who I am and what I have done for you. The reason why this meal is so important for Christians is because in it Jesus offers us Himself. “Take eat this is my body… take drink this is my blood… do this for the forgiveness of all of your sins.” Brothers and sisters in Christ, need I say more? To say anything more is to speculate and to say anything less is to deny. The simple truth is the importance of this occasion cannot be overstated. The truth of the matter is that on Maundy Thursday Jesus sat and served a bunch of men that had horribly failed him… it is hard to believe that on that very night Jesus served up the best meal for the worst of friends. It is hard to believe that while Jesus was offering them salvation, all they did in return was argue with him. Maybe so, but allow me to say this; Jesus did not feed and service them in order to thank them for anything. He did not do it to commend them for their merit. He did it in order to commend to them His merit and in doing so He provided to them nourishment that would last forever. I find it so very interesting the Bible condemns gluttony yet at the same time there are so many food and taste analogies in the Bible… (they are all for God himself): •"Taste and see that the Lord is good." (Psalm 34:8) •"Desire the sincere spiritual milk of the Word of God." (1 Peter 2:2) •"I am the bread of life. Come to me and you will not hunger." (John 6:35) •“I am living water and all who drink this drink will never go thirsty again.” (John 4:14) •"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food." (Isaiah 55:1-2) I hope you can see the sin of gluttony is not really about over eating; rather it is about your attempt to satisfy your insatiable appetite with something other than God. In 1 Corinthians Chapter 6, Paul says, “I will not be enslaved by food, for I have one master, Jesus Christ.” In the Book “Screwtape Letters” by C.S Lewis the head devil Screwtape is writing a letter to his apprentice Wormwood. In it he declares “His greatest achievement in the past 100 years was that the human conscience has now become deadened on the subject of gluttony” He said, “by now you will hardly find a sermon preached or a conscience troubled by it.” How true is that? How troubling is that? Peter said in 2 Peter Chapter 1, “You can escape the world’s corruption if you remember He has forgiven you.” Put in our context, if you are nourished on Christ you will not be subject to the corruption of sin…said in another way “don’t fill yourself up with things that will pass away.” The point being, “Fill yourself with things that will last forever.” It is amazing that it is on this very night, when His friends would desert Him, Peter would deny Him and Judas would betray Him, this very night, our Lord set the best table for the worst of friends. Amazing isn’t it? When Jesus’ “own” are the absolute worst, Jesus gives them the absolute best. I hope you understand the point of studying the Seven Deadly Sins. Ultimately, it was to show that the immensity of our sin truly unmasks the immensity of God’s grace. I pray that you remember the things we talked about as you come up to Communion. We are unholy sinners, and although we have no business coming to His alter, He invites us to partake with Him in a foretaste of the feast to come. I find Jesus’ love is so real and so obvious when you come to the altar for Communion. Jesus’ body and this blood was given for you and it functions as the forgiveness of all of your sins. Let His body and blood serve as your nourishment until the day when we will all participate in the wedding feast that will have no end. “Take and eat… Take and drink. Do this for the forgiveness of all of your sins.” Jesus gave up his life’s nourishment so that you might have it. May the grace of God that surpasses all understanding, trust your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Amen.
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March 24, 2024 - John 12:9-19
If I were to ask you to name a couple festival days in the church (not including Christmas and Easter), I imagine you would have named Palm Sunday, Pentecost, Reformation, and All Saints Day. I point this out to you because Palm Sunday is definitely one of the more well-known and anticipated days in the church calendar… it is also one of the most important. The reason why it is important is because of what it reveals to us about ourselves and also about Jesus. I find Palm Sunday is one of the most fascinating Sundays in the church year. For it is on this day that we see the best in us. We see that we are capably of responding to Jesus with cries of Hosanna, with shouts of joy, and laying cloaks on the ground for him to walk on. But that being said, it is also on that day we also see the beginnings of the worst in us. Unfortunately, we know the parade will continue through Sunday but the week will end on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. The chants of “Hosanna” will soon change to chants of “Crucify Him!” On Palm Sunday we see the best in us, but we also see the fickle nature of crowds. Palm Sunday is a Day in which we can see the best but we can also see worst. I think the tension of Palm Sunday is obvious and I suppose you will not be surprised to learn that the sixth Sunday in Lent is known by two names: Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday. It really does not matter which reading you pick for this Sunday. Surely it is nice to read about Palms on Palm Sunday, but even in John 12 the parade will ultimately end at the cross. Either way, expectations will be challenged. In John Chapter 12 it was Passover week. The streets were filled with pilgrims making their way into the Holy city. The scene would have looked something like being on Market Street on a game day… On that occasion Israel’s most loyal were all in town. Not all that unlike a tailgate party, the feel good factor was quickening the stride of these peasants from the north country as they joined with pilgrims from all over. Surely, it was good to be a Jew on Passover this year. I doubt they forgot the fact they were walking on Roman roads and they were a conquered people; but never the less as the pilgrims traveled they were consumed by the songs of the Golden days of Israel. They were singing the Psalms which recalled the day of David, when he was king and Israel was a superpower. Of course the days of David, although inspiring, were long since passed. Never the less, every year as they would make their pilgrimage and sing their chants; their hopes would rekindle and their dreams would burn again. “Where is the long-promised Messiah?” they would sing. “When will He rescue us from our bondage?” Understand, this year their passions were unusually stirred. As you can imagine the pilgrims making their way into Jerusalem for the Passover have heard about Jesus of Nazareth, and more than that, they have heard He was on his way to the Holy city too. I’m sure all the pilgrims from Galilee were talking about Jesus. No doubt many of them have heard about the raising of Lazarus and by now His powerful miracles had kindled hopes within them of a glorious revolution. As these patriotic pilgrims paraded down the Mount of Olives suddenly they caught sight of Jesus. When they saw him, their Messianic aspirations hit their highest; and they ran to find Palm branches and whatever else they can wave with their hands. The crowd cried out “Hosanna, Hosanna, in the highest.” “Hosanna, blessed is he who come in the name of the Lord.” Hosanna… it is a Hebrew word which means “to save.” What the crowd was saying is that “our salvation has arrived. Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord.” The crowd was quoting directly from Psalm 118 and it was one of Israel’s favorites, especially during festival weeks because it was a patriot Psalm about God’s Messiah coming to conquer Israel’s enemy. But notice what they added to that verse. I find it interesting that the crowd is quoting directly from this Psalm of assent but they have added the phrase “King of Israel.” “Hosanna, Hosanna, save us King of Israel!” As the thousands of Pilgrims waved their branches and chanted their Messianic expectation I’m sure the crowd’s chorus was deafening, their passion tangible, and their cries heartfelt. Perhaps when you look at your own life, you too might want to shout the same things out to God. “Hosanna, Jesus, deliver me from my struggles.” Hosanna, Jesus, save me from my crooked boss at work who is making my life miserable. Come save me from my marriage crisis. Come save my parents who are old and frail. Come save my children who are rebelling and lost their way. Come save me from the abyss of depression. If we are honest, we are not any different than the pilgrims in our text. They, too, have urgent and cascading needs and they would like nothing more than for Jesus to be the solution. To this end Jesus is a miss understood king. Jesus has come to rescue us but His primary goal is not rescue us from the urgent needs around us. Ultimately, Jesus has not come to be my personal miracle worker. He is not my lucky rabbit’s foot or my genie in a bottle there to take my wishes. Jesus has come to be my Savior. My Savior from what? My Savior from sin. You see, the people wanted nothing more than to be set free from Roman bondage. They wanted nothing more than to be set free from political oppression. They wanted to feel good about being a Jew again and there is nothing wrong with that, it is just if that is all you want from Jesus, Jesus is going to leave you feeling disappointed. That is exactly why their cries of “Hosanna” changed to “crucify him”… because sadly all they wanted was for Jesus to bring them pleasantries of daily life. Jesus did not come to save us from their daily needs… and He never promised He would. His promise in the Gospel of John is that He was sent be the light of the world, to save us from the darkness that dwells in your soul and mine. John records this text so that you might know the King Jesus has come. He has come to save us from our sin… and that is why Jesus matters. If Jesus’ mission was any less than that, if His mission was just to save the Jewish people and restore Israel’s land, that would be literally insignificant for us living here today. But don’t miss this, Jesus has come to offer something better. He has come to offer you Himself. The tension of Palm/Passion Sunday is that Jesus entered the Holy City like the pilgrims but He did not leave the city like the pilgrims. Jesus on that Passover become the Passover Lamb so that He might reconcile us to God. Our study of the Seven Deadly Sins on Wednesday evenings has shown us we are no different than the fickle crowd. I hope you can see why it needs to be a constant prayer of ours that Jesus would continually deliver us from sin, from our error, and most importantly, from ourselves? I mean we need to be rescued… there is no other way. You see, within me lives a darkness. The darkness that is expressed in selfishness and pride. It is instinctively greedy and envious, deceitful and self-centered. It is a force which we cannot control on our own. And it causes anguish, breaks apart relationships, makes us angry, and it fills our hearts with empty longings. Even though we were made in the image of God, sin has tarnished that design and it has also made us blind to God and it made it so we don’t see nor appreciate what He has done for us. But although Jesus is not a magic charm to hang on your car rear-view mirror to save you from life’s challenges, understand He is your Savior who hung from a cross in order to save you from your sin. My prayer for you as you progress through Holy Week is that you take the time to have honest reflection on yourself, but I also pray that you take to heart the words of Isaiah, that “He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquity.” The punishment of death will soon be upon Him and ironically it will also bring us life. The truth is our sinful nature makes us fickle, but Jesus is not. Hosanna, in the highest. Blessed is he who come in the name of the Lord.” In the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, which surpasses all understanding, trust your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus Amen.
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