Sinner and Saint

"Far Out"

7^th Sunday of Easter, 2006

John 17:11b-19

“Not of this world”

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

            Have you ever noticed the way people look at you with amazement if you suggest that there is such a thing as a fixed truth, and they eye you with supreme contempt if you dare hint that the opposite of truth must be a lie. You must be some old fogy or religious fanatic, or you would never make such an observation. The sooner you are back in Noah’s Ark, the better. Someone might say that black is white, and I say it isn’t so. But it is not kind to say, “Your wrong” perhaps it would be nicer to say “Perhaps your right, dear brother, though I don’t think so lets just agree to disagree.

           Such is the world today where one must always be politically correct in how they live and talk. The world that never wants to be wrong…truth is what you make of it…if it doesn’t harm you let it be…and if it makes someone happy that is the greatest of truths. Yet as Christians and the Church we are called to proclaim and live something far different. We are chosen to proclaim the Gospel to all people…a message that the world doesn’t want to hear. Far too often we as Christians and the Church give up the gospel in order to attract more of the world. If the Church joins the world, there is no need for the world to join the Church.

            Our text begins as a prayer by Jesus for you and me; for his disciples. It was a sad occasion when Jesus was praying for he was about to leave this world; he was about to leave his disciples. Jesus was going to ascend into heaven (as was celebrated this past Thursday) to be with the Father as the disciples would be left in a world that hated them to the point of persecution and death. And so our Lord prays for the disciples who were left in the world and for you and for me.

            And what does our Lord pray for us who are stuck in this frightful mess of sinful, murderess, despairing, and stricken world? Does he pray for us to be with him at that very moment? No. Jesus does not pray for us to be plucked away from the world…but to be protected from sin, death, and the devil. He prays that we remain in God’s Word and are united as one in the truth of that Word.

            Jesus had in fact kept those that believed in him faithful by preaching and showing them the pure love of God…the grace that God would have on them. Jesus would say “While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.” (verse 12)

            Only one lost…what a great percentage if we were the ones responsible…but for God…to lose one? How could God lose anything? Judas was not lost because of Jesus or because the Word of God was ineffective! Judas was in fact warned by Jesus over and over again as to what would happen! Judas was a disciple…he did have faith! Yet Judas chose to reject Jesus! Judas did what he did deliberately. Judas intentionally gave Jesus up for blood money. Only after Jesus was taken…did Judas have guilt…guilt that he thought God could never forgive him. Guilt that led him not back to Jesus but to eternal condemnation.

            This, my brothers and sisters in Christ, is a warning not only for those who do not have faith in Jesus…but to you and to me. God warns us over and over again about the effects of our sin on others and ourselves…and we fully choose to do them. We are quite deliberate in our actions against God! And then the guilt starts to worm its way into us. The guilt of disobeying God…for turning our back on the one person that loves us no matter what; our unwavering Savior Jesus Christ. But know that God wants to forgive you…no matter how heavy a guilt you have…no matter what you may have done. God’s love never ends and never fails!

            “I am coming to you now [to the Father] but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.” (verse 13) Jesus wants us to have the full measure of his joy. Jesus wants us to have this joy continually without end. Jesus wants us to have his joy…not just any old joy…but Jesus’ own joy. This joy that he gives us is complete… its not just 50%, 75%, 99% but 100%. This joy…is not being lent to us…but is completely ours to keep. If you ever wonder if God loves you and will forgive you…look to these words for it is our Savior that gives this all to us out of love.

            Jesus said all these things for his sad followers to hear…for they thought they were losing their Lord. Often times we wonder if there is a God because we have never “seen” him. Yet we do see our Lord in God’s Word and in his precious body and blood that we receive this morning in the Lord’s Supper. Jesus said these things because he has faith that the Word of God; the Holy Scripture, will keep us in the one true faith! Jesus has chosen us and sets us apart from this world for the Father. Truly we, like Jesus, are devoted to the Father and are devoted to do His work in the world.

The Church is ever serving others. We must remember that we are in the world not of it. Many times we wonder what we can do to make Church and God more relevant to society. Yet we cannot do anything to make God’s word more relevant. God’s Word stands. His Word is for all time and for all people. Last week God told us about love. Today he tells us to go out and live the Christian life. Go out and help not only your friends and family but to help even those you don’t like. God tells us to go out and proclaim His word and show His love because He is always with you protecting you and leading you to himself through the Word.

            Jesus came into this world on that very first and glorious Christmas Day in order to die for our sins. That joyous day that we as Christians celebrate each year together with our families…exchanging gifts…in honor and remembrance of the gift that God gave us in his Son…the gift of salvation; the gift of forgiveness the gift of love!

            As each of us go into the world and are rejected for being Christian and wonder why we even bother telling others about Jesus…let me give you an example of what you are representing as the Christian. As Jesus came that first Christmas…so you may also be that first Christmas for those that have never known Christ. As you remember all the joy that you have at Christmas…know that they do not have that joy…they do not know that joy…they are yearning for that joy…the joy of Christmas that leads to the joy of Easter. May God grant us all the saving faith in His Word; the love of sharing His Word; and the joy in sharing the Good News of Jesus birth and resurrection with others…so that “His joy may be complete.” Amen.

Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Forgiveness at the heart of a True teacher.

6^th Sunday of Easter 2006

1 John 4:1-11

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

            How many of you can tell me when the first false teacher taught the first false teaching or doctrine? In case your not sure…I’ll tell you. It all began with the first sin in the Garden of Eden with our first parents Adam and Eve and the Serpent. “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die." "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:1-5)

            What words stand out the most in that first temptation…that first false teaching. For me… the words “you shall be like God” stand out the most. The way my sinful brain works…and I’m sure it’s not the only one…is that I probably wouldn’t be listening to the part of “knowing good and evil” but just the words “you will be like God.” Isn’t that the one thing we all would like to be…to have that power? It is no wonder that the 1^st commandment is “You shall have no other god’s before me” and that all sins break that commandment no matter what other commandment you may also break at the same time.

            Satan was just the first to mislead people from God; he was certainly not the last. Our Epistle Lesson begins, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” My brothers and sisters in Christ there are many false prophets in this world. Oh the teachings that we fall to in this world. Just look at how many cults there are and have been in the world…and how many people they have taken…and even the lives lost. The thousands that died because of Jim Jones…the hundreds that died because of David Koresh…but it doesn’t end there with those “wacko” cults. Today there is the cult of Mormanism. They act really nice, they are high in morals, and they claim to be Christians…what’s not to like? Yet they make the gravest error in denying the Trinity. Sure they will say that Jesus is Lord…just like any good Mormon can become if they live a good life. It is not the sin of wanting to be like God…no…but to in fact BE god.

            But once again…it doesn’t end there. Some of you might be thinking “Alright Pastor, we know you can list more cults and such…we get the picture.” Your right in that I can name many many cults and false prophets through the age…even in the movie theatres with the DaVinci Code. Even on the news when CNN quotes Martin Luther as saying that Jesus committed adultery with Mary Magdalene. Just so you know… Luther did say that… Luther also said that Jesus committed adultery with the woman at the well and the prostitute that was going to be stoned. But to leave it at that is to take it out of context. Luther said these things in the context that Jesus became sin in order to take our sins away…Jesus became an adulterer in that sense to take away the sin from the adulterer. And once again…the totality of all the false teaching and doctrines doesn’t end there.

            There are times when each one of you leads others astray but your words and actions. There are times when you lead yourself astray by your own wants and desires. By doing so you yourself become a false teacher… and by example teaching false doctrine. Christians often get blamed of being hypocrites…and rightly so. We tend to live by the rule do as I say not as I do. Parents…have you ever taught your child a bad habit? even if it was on accident? When you get angry while driving…and happen to make a bad gesture…what are you showing? When you spread rumors around …what are you showing? When you work late so that you don’t have to go home to another argument what are you showing? When you go along with the crowd when you don’t really agree with what they are doing…? When you justify a feeling or want by saying “if it feels good” why can’t I. Let me live my own life the way I want to. The list goes on and on…each and every one of our sins can lead others and ourselves astray into false doctrine.

            Churches can have the same negative effect. When churches allow false teaching to be taught as truth they indeed become false prophets. When churches ignore Scripture and allow open homosexuality, adultery, abortion and the like…they are false prophets. When Churches teach that you must decide to follow God; that you must do something to earn salvation…they are false prophets. And yes, when this comes into our own church body we become false prophets as a Church as well. It disturbs me to see other Christians and Churches going around to soldiers funerals  or anyone’s funeral and saying that God has killed that person in judgment for sin. Yes, we shall all die because of our sin but God’s wrath is spared on the believer and awaits judgment day to be cast on those that reject him.

            So how do we know when others are faithful or false teachers? How do we know when we are faithful or teaching falsehood? Our lesson tells us, “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every Spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.” (1 John 4:2-4) This is what every Christian is to use to test if someone is a true or false teacher. The true distinguishing trait of true and false doctrine falls on the teaching of the person of Christ and all that this involves.

            But do not fear O Children of God for we are told also in our text that “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one of this world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.” My brothers and sisters in Christ you have been given strength and power to overcome the falsehoods of this world from God. You have been given this strength and power in your baptism and in the very body and blood of our Lord that we receive in the Lord’s Supper.

            Our text goes on to tell us how else we know that we are in God and that God is in us. “Dear friends, let us keep on loving one another, for love comes from God. Everyone that loves has been born of God and knows God.” It is interesting that God does not require us to like each other…but to LOVE each other. This is an application of the rule to love others as we love ourselves. We don’t seem to hold grudges against ourselves…we provide for ourselves…we fight for ourselves…we comfort ourselves. And yet with all this focus on what WE do for ourselves we are reminded of what God does for us through the words of John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him shall have eternal life.” God is indeed the source of all love. It is through God’s love and forgiveness given to us that we may go on to forgive others, provide comfort, overlook shortcomings and love each other. For that is what God first did for us.

            As we go on with our lives wherever we may be in this world let us show the Love of Christ to all. We must remember in our daily lives with all people…friends, family, spouses, children…that Love always begins with the forgiveness of sins. Never forget that. Neither divine nor reflected human love is possible without the forgiveness of sins. “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning Sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us [and forgave us for Christ’s sake], we also ought to love [and forgive] one another.” Amen.

Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.