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Preaching as Craftsmanship; Communicating Christ as an Artform…
Devotional THought of the Day:
27 God’s plan is to make known his secret to his people, this rich and glorious secret which he has for all peoples. And the secret is that Christ is in you, which means that you will share in the glory of God. 28 So we preach Christ to everyone. With all possible wisdom we warn and teach them in order to bring each one into God’s presence as a mature individual in union with Christ. 29 To get this done I toil and struggle, using the mighty strength which Christ supplies and which is at work in me. Colossians 1:27-29 (TEV)
Communication works best when your audience can tell that you love what you do. Don’t take yourself too seriously, and dare to be lighthearted from time to time. It won’t affect your message negatively— quite the contrary. Look how often humor is used in commercials. Think of the end of Return of the Jedi. Would you have preferred a long, philosophical monologue by Luke Skywalker about the dangers of the dark side to the joyful celebrations after the defeat of the Empire? If so, you seriously should consider trying out the light side of the Force. You’ll have a lot more fun! (1)
This afternoon I was asked to respond to a pole – which would I rather be, a skilled theologian, or a skilled apologist. My instinctive answer is neither, I want to know God’s love, and I need to know that love is revealed in the mercy He has for me. Without that love, it doesn’t matter how knowledgable I am about the communication of magesterial attributes, or whether I can recite all of Lee Strobel’s or Josh McDowell or Rod Rosenblaadt’s work defending Christianity agains tthe atheistic and polytheistic hordes.
I can talk for hours about theology, and I do like true apologetics (the kind akin to Pascal and Chesterton and Lewis) where we give a reason for why we have hope. But without the relationship that God has made possible, it’s all worth as much as the the analysis of the 1986 budget and expenditures of the municipal region of East Ulan Ude. ( or more precisely – skulbala)
If that is true, then Paul’s words about preaching ring clear. Our message – the message of the entire Church, is about Christ crucified, about the hope that He will share His glory with us, That in His death on the cross, He has unified us with His death, and with the hope of His resurrection (see Romans 6:1-8) He endured all of this for the joy set before Him! (see Hebrews 12:1-2) This hope is what we have to be sure to communicate, for it is a matter of life and death. Eternity is there, a gift of God, to share eternity with Him.
All the theological debates, all the apolgetic wisdom bows to this simple message – that Christ dwells in us, and we in Christ, because He loves us. That news delivers all the glory of heaven to those the Holy Spirit brings to life and faith and the transformation that we call “repentance”. The change that comes when we realize God’s love, His gifts, His work in us.
Delivering that message takes as much craftsmanship as a painting of a sunset, or the composition of rock symphony. It takes more than just our minds, but like the artist, the very heart has to be revelaed, the Heart given to us by God (ezekiel 36:35ff) It’s not just a logical progression of teaching, of revealing the knowledge that we have that others do not. It’s about revealing Christ, in all His servanthood, in all His majesty, in all His love. WHich means we have to know it, we have to dwell in it,, we have to be people of prayer, men who love to meditate on, not just memorize, His words. They have to spring from us like water from Isaiah’s transformed wilderness (see Is 35)
Roderick, in a book that teaches about digital age communication, says it well. It’s about commuicating what we love. It’s about the message being more important than our dignity, more important than anything else we know.
As we worship then… as we praise God, as we preach, whether in church or across the breakfast table at Denny’s, may that message be what we hold most dear in our lives. So that we can reveal to them Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit, who has empowered us to do so, will assure the message of Christ’s love, creates and sustains life in those we share this great gift – the gift of knowing Jesus.
as we know the Lord is with us…. and loves us all.
(1) Vonhögen, Roderick (2013-09-09). Geekpriest: Confessions of a New Media Pioneer (Kindle Locations 409-413). Franciscan Media. Kindle Edition.
Related articles
- This News Strengthens Weak Hands Unsteady Legs and Racing Hearts (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Is it insane to keep doing/teaching/preaching the same thing over and over, and expecting… (justifiedandsinner.com)
A Call to Teach/Preach about Jesus with our hearts as well as our minds…
Devotional Thought of the Day…
4 Every time your name comes up in my prayers, I say, “Oh, thank you, God!” 5 I keep hearing of the love and faith you have for the Master Jesus, which brims over to other Christians. 6 And I keep praying that this faith we hold in common keeps showing up in the good things we do, and that people recognize Christ in all of it. 7 Friend, you have no idea how good your love makes me feel, doubly so when I see your hospitality to fellow believers. 8 In line with all this I have a favor to ask of you. As Christ’s ambassador and now a prisoner for him, I wouldn’t hesitate to command this if I thought it necessary, 9 but I’d rather make it a personal request. 10 While here in jail, I’ve fathered a child, so to speak. And here he is, hand-carrying this letter—Onesimus! Philemon 1:4-10 (MSG)
230 The wish to teach and to teach from the heart creates in pupils a gratitude which is a suitable soil for the apostolate.
I am blessed to be able to be at a church where I get to teach a lot. My people love studying the Bible, and so a majority of those in church stay for Bible Study, and come on Wednesday Evenings, or every other Thursday morning. I also am blessed to teach some guys who want to serve in the church, to assist their pastors, and I get to work with a guy who is in seminary.
But the more I teach, the more I realize what Christian Teaching is, and isn’t about.
It’s not like teaching history, (even when we are teaching Church History) or like teaching Math or English or even Ancient Greek. While there are things to commit to memory, you want them more to be committed to the heart. There are important details to remember – but more, you want people to know not just about Jesus, but to know Him. To trust Him, to find Him with them, whereever they are, whatever they are going through.
The challenge is that teaching to the heart requires the “instructor” to teach from the heart and mind. Or to use another concept – we isolate right and left brain and educate only one side at a time. Not just from one – but from both. In the “West” or among people where the enlightenment and rationalism have become the process of thought, this is difficult – out educational models are based in such things as the scientific process and linear thought. We even think children are not capable of cognitive thought – that happens later. Those that struggle with this go to the opposite extreme (as I often have) and try to focus on the experiential. Role play and the experience dominate – even as we realize that people can learn more from failure than from success.
Even all this analysis loses the point – we must teach them with all our heart and with all our mind when we teach them about Christ. That means opening up our heart – letting those we mentor/teach/guide see how Christ has ministered to us, we have to let them see the passion of knowing Christ’s love, the excitement and joy of exploring the depth and breadth and height and width of his love. You see this in Paul’s pastoral letters – especially to Philemon, as he wants Philemon to experience the joy of seeing Onesimus as a blessing – and the challenge of restoring him and forgiving all debt.. being the blessing of seeing ministry done by Onesimus – because God has called him to it. Such forgiveness? You can’t teach that in just a sterile classroom.
Nor should a sermon follow the norm of an educational presentation, or a technical, missional briefing. Nor should worship and liturgy be that kind of concept – dry, encoding of those who are completely passive.
It has to go beyond that – if we are teachers and preacher of the gospel want people to know Christ – we have to show them how much it means to us to know Him, to know His love. It requires us to be honest like Paul is in 2 Corinthians,
7 We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. 8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. 11 Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies. 12 So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you. 13 But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God, so I spoke.” 14 We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. 15 All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory. 2 Corinthians 4:7-15 (NLT)
This revelation, of how much pressure that Paul and crew and going through isn’t complaining, it isn’t whining…but it’s there to help the Corinthians realize God’s power and presence atwork in the life of every believer. It is teaching from the heart and the mind – allowing people to see his utter dependance on God and His love. A bit hard for us guys to do, yet, for their sake, it needs to be done… and perhaps for ours – for we have to realzie our need for Christ. This isn’t about him… it’s about Christ, and the hope and power Jesus brings and generates in us, for He abides in us.
Such teaching is powerful – not because it is emotional, but because it is real. It cannot be programmed into a lesson, or a service, and it goes beyond manipulation.
It simply is our heart – resonating with the heart of Christ… bringing others to resonate with it as well. For they will – far more than they will resonate to logic and dictated presentations….for in our healing in Christ – they find the hope of healing as well…..
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 1159-1160). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
The Core of Pastoral Preparation: The Cross (Evangelical Catholic XVI)
Devotional thought of the Day:
15 I do not call you servants any longer, because servants do not know what their master is doing. Instead, I call you friends, because I have told you everything I heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me; I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit, the kind of fruit that endures. And so the Father will give you whatever you ask of him in my name. 17 This, then, is what I command you: love one another. John 15:15-17 (TEV)
For unless a man is a radically converted Christian disciple— one who, in gazing upon the Cross, knows himself to be looking at the great truth at the center of human history— he will not be able to bring to the world, through his ministry, the truth that “God so loved the world that he gave his Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” [John 3.16].
As I continue reading through Weigel’s Book, Evangelcial Catholicism< I am once again both pleased and disturbed by what I read. ( I am disturbed because one again, I find him so in agreement with Luther – and yet we are still divided )
English: Christ on the Cross (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The quote above comes from the section on the priesthood – how the movement that started to reform the church and resulted in Vatican II and is still trying to come to its fullest fruit. Weigel shows the idea that the priesthood is not some kind of clerical caste, some kind of special profession – but it is above all, focused on the cross – and therefore missional. (I’ve written about this elsewhere – numerous times – we are not, pastors and priests – professionals…. we serve alongside our Lord.)
Everything changes because of the cross – everything in history focuses on that point.
And its that which is the center then of our ministry – as we bring people to Christ’s cross – so that the sin in us can be killed off, so that we can be brought to life in Him (again – see Ezekeil 26:25ff and 37, Romans 6 and Colossian 2-3) That is the core of our ministry, whether we pastor a church of 10,000 with a television ministry, or we pastor a church that is simply a few families. The only thing we can offer people is simple – it is the love and mercy of Christ that meets them where they are at, and transforms us. Anything else but that at the center of our ministry is simply unacceptable. It is not the calling that has been placed n our lives – the calling we have is to reveal Christ, to make Him known, to show the cross as the way in which He brings us to share in His glory.
As we prepare to preach and to hear our pastors and priests preach this weekend… may we remember why we do what we do… that all would come to know God, and be transformed by His love! Amen
Weigel, George (2013-02-05). Evangelical Catholicism (p. 140). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.
Related articles
- Being in Ministry: a Profession or a Vocational Life? (Review of Evangelical Catholic pt. XV) (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Who should lead our churches? Evangelical Catholic Review #12 (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Are pastors professional leaders, or servants? ( Evangelical Catholic XIV – plus some Luther) (justifiedandsinner.com)
We Don’t Lecture about Christ, We proclaim His Love and Crucifixion
Discussion/Devotional Thought of the Day
16 I have complete confidence in the gospel; it is God’s power to save all who believe, first the Jews and also the Gentiles. 17 For the gospel reveals how God puts people right with himself: it is through faith from beginning to end. As the scripture says, “The person who is put right with God through faith shall live.” Romans 1:16-17 (TEV)
I have been thinking of all the priests throughout the world. Help me to pray for the fruitfulness of their apostolates. ”My brother in the priesthood, please speak always about God and, when you really do belong to him, your conversations will never be monotonous.” (1)
Fifteen years ago this summer, I went from being a vacancy pastor at a church – to being the pastor at my first church. (and five years since I’ve been here..wow)
Those people were quite patient with my preaching – for back in those days, I thought a bit differently about preaching – and about worship. I probably knew more back then, and was excited to transmit the knowledge, the theology, all the great ways we can…and do… serve God. We would talk about Heaven, and the Book of Romans and the Book of Revelation. And I probably bored them all to tears. And, looking back at a couple of the video tapes I have from the days… well – I spoke in a monnnnn oooooo tonnnne. Our “motto” back then was Christ Centered Preaching – and I have to admit – while He was at the center – we spent most of our time preaching around Him.
Basically, I lectured people for 30-45 minutes about our faith.
Over the years, (at least I hope!) my preaching has matured – and gotten simpler – and become conversations that focus on the gospel – this incredible power of the word that reveals Christ’s love – so demonstrated on the cross. So demonstrated as He claimed our lives as His – as He bought the rights to our lives, our souls, from whatever evil we had give ourselves over too. And as St. Josemaria says – when you realize that you belong to Christ – no more does Satan, or sin or anxiety of death own and control you – you cannot be flat affect and monotone. We are right with God! We have been made right – God has put us to right. He has rescued us from drowning, He has given us…life – life lived with Him, in His glory, in His presence, purified, cleansed, His.
May we never, whether pastor/priest in front of the congregation, fathers teaching our children in our homes, or with friends over a meal together, not talk about our Lord’s love for us, and why we trust in Him, and the hope, the expectation we have… because we know His love.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 3402-3405). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Revealing rather Lecturing: Evangelical Catholicism II
Devotional Discussion Quote of the day:
Yet the hard fact is that “The Church teaches . . .” is language destined to fall upon deaf ears in twenty-first-century cultures of radical subjectivity, in which the highest authority is the imperial autonomous Self. “The Gospel reveals . . .” is a different matter. “The Gospel reveals . . .” is a challenge in answer to the critique of the very idea of “revelation” mounted for the past two centuries by the high culture of the West. “The Gospel reveals . . .” is a challenge not unlike the challenge posed by Jesus to his disciples on the road to Caesarea Philippi: “Who do you say that I am?” [Mark 8.29]. By throwing down a gauntlet in the form of a proposal, “The Gospel reveals . . .” demands a response. That response may, initially, be skepticism, even hostility. But it will likely not be indifference. Moreover, if the truth, proclaimed clearly and fearlessly enough, has its own power— as two millennia of Christian history have shown—“ The Gospel reveals . . .” may, at the very least, be a conversation starter— unlike “The Church teaches . . . ,” which sets off every modern and postmodern and antiauthoritarian alarm bell in minds and hearts formed by the ambient culture of the twenty-first-century West. Evangelical Catholicism understands that there is an inherent connection between divine revelation and the Church: “The Gospel reveals . . .” eventually leads to “The Church teaches . . .” But it gets to the latter from a distinctive starting point. Evangelical Catholicism begins from an unapologetic confession of Christian faith as revealed faith—“ the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us” [1 John 1.2]. 5 That eternal life, that Word of God that has come into history in search of us, is “what we have seen and heard” [1 John 1.3]. (1)
I’ve had 11 courses in preaching – from 4 in my junior and senior years of Bible college, to my Master’s program – to 5 Doctoral Level courses where I was paired up with a mentor who was a mega church pastor. (the ratio in those classes was 5:1) In a lot of those courses, the style of preaching was similar. We preached the word “authoritatively”, that is, we were the experts. We knew the Greek and Hebrew. We were trained to dissect the text, and put it together in a way that would apply to the lives of those people. Indeed, one of the best classes was in how to comprehend the lives of our people. Often times we included quotes from the great preachers, John Chrysotom, Martin Luther, the Wesley’s, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the modern guys like John Stott, or Chuck Swindoll, or Ken Korby or and of course Spurgeon – using their wisdom and ability to thread words together into beautiful tapestries and shore up our weak points.
Some lessons ran counter to that… and those are the ones that make the above quote resound
My first preaching teacher, Doug Dickey, told me once that every sermon has to share the love of Christ, to not worry about being brilliant, but simply show those listening about Jesus.
Juan Carols Ortiz, my mentor in the doctoral level program, told me not to lecture, but to tell a story, that walks the people along the road with Jesus, allowing them to get to know Him, to feel His love, His gentle correction, and even the joy that He feels, as we respond to that love.
And WMC introduced me to the style of preaching that is considered the distinctive approach of Lutheran preaching – to afflict those comforted in their sin, and comfort those afflicted by their sin. (see Walther’s “The proper distinction between Law and Gospel”)
Those rules can work within a standard presentation, whether it is a sermon, or over a glass of diet coke/coffee/tea/beer. But in each of those roles, we are pulled out of the model of the lecturer, the one who says the Church (whether Catholic or Lutheran ro Calvary Chapel or Baptist) says… (or its stars say) to reveal to those we are in dialogue with the incredible person of Jesus Christ, the One who is the way, the truth and the live. Not as what I think of him, but as how He has revealed himself to us, through the scriptures, through the very word of God, given to prophets and apostles, that they would reveal to us the living Christ, to invite us into His presence.
There is a big difference there, that as Wiegel says leaves the post-modernist and the skeptic with something that strips their post-modernism and leaves them, a human being needing to get to know this Person. It causes the one who says they want to be spiritual but not religious with the insight that you can’t divide your knowledge and practice – because God gave us both, in order to be in a relationship with us, revealing in us each – our ability to trust Him, and that we are entrusted to Him.
So my brothers who preach, and to all who share the gospel, it is time for the Apocalypse – no, not the end of times horror stories of novels. But what the word really means – to unveil the Lord Jesus Christ, to reveal the height and depth and breadth and width of the Love of God revealed to us, to the people who so desperately need to know it.
And may all who do this, whether Lutheran or Catholic, Reformed or Wesleyan, Baptist or Pentecostal, rejoice as Christ is made known…
(1) Weigel, George (2013-02-05). Evangelical Catholicism (p. 30). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.
Sharing God’s Love
Devotional/Discussion thought of the day:
27 God’s plan is to make known his secret to his people, this rich and glorious secret which he has for all peoples. And the secret is that Christ is in you, which means that you will share in the glory of God. 28 So we preach Christ to everyone. With all possible wisdom we warn and teach them in order to bring each one into God’s presence as a mature individual in union with Christ. 29 To get this done I toil and struggle, using the mighty strength which Christ supplies and which is at work in me. Colossians 1:27-29 (TEV)
671 Jesus says: “He who hears you hears me.” Do you still think it is your words that convince people?… Don’t forget either that the Holy Spirit can carry out his plans with the most useless instrument. (1) (referencing Luke 10:16)
It is amazing to me, as I sit in an apartment overlooking a city of 12 million people in China, that God uses people like me to tell of His love for you. If you saw us, those who are called to be pastors, as we are, simple fallen human beings, then you would be amazed as well.
We toil and struggle, sure, but so does every other believer. We are trained, but it is not the training that makes a man a pastor, or an evangelist. In my case, I have known since I was a child, yet, I still wonder about that.
Not because I doubt God, or the call, but because I look in the mirror. It is at those times I have to remember the incredible grace of God, which flows through me – like water through a pipe. The pipe doesn’t add anything to the water, to the conversation, and if it does – well – you don’t want to drink. that water! It is about the source, the message of God’s love – and that He will do whatever is required to communicate it. As St Josemaria says, the Holy Spirit can use the most useless instrument. You see that recognition in both Paul and Peter, in their epistles, in their actions – the source of their words is run home.
This idea – that people are hearing God, hearing Jesus when a pastor speaks, isn’t just about pastors though. Each of us has been called to share – to be a light in the world, salt – bringing flavor and preserving those with whom we interact. Remember though – the words are to be His – the words that reveal Him. The words that bring people the comfort of the Holy Spirit (and reveal their need for that comfort and peace.)
So today, talk of God’s love – to those around you. For they need to hear it as much as those that hear Pr. Bernie preaching for me in Cerritos… or my sermon here in Mei Lin…
Let His mercy reign in us! AMEN
Three Sermons, Three Servants, One Passage:
On Sunday, three of the men I get to work with, two vicars and a deacon served people by proclaiming the Gospel. All three wrote solid sermons, and I couldn’t pick one over the other two, so here are all three. Enjoy and be blessed!
From Vicar Mark:
Mark 10: 17-22
Greetings brothers and sisters in the name of Christ who considered it pure joy to go to the cross for our sin and in whom we now live forever!
Alleluia, amen!
You ever have one of those days that seem like a perfect day and nothing can go wrong?
You think you’ve got it all figured out. Everything is firing on all eight cylinders, the coast is clear. All systems are go!
In the words of Marsha Brady, “The birds are blooming and the daffodils are singing!”
Then things hit the fan and you realize you have locked your keys in the car and your not in it or that perfect dessert you made for the church potluck and are so proud of is now face down on a street somewhere because you left it on the roof of the car and forgot to load it.
Maybe you crammed and studied like crazy for that test and you know that you are going to ace it until you realized when you get to class that you studied the wrong chapters.
You sound like that young, wealthy ruler who thought he had everything in his pocket and under control and then meets Jesus on the road and asks Him,” Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
What must I do?
You, you, you. Me, me, me. I.I I.
Between this account in the Gospel and you and I it appears to be all about us! Tell me what to do and I’ll make it happen, I think. Did he really want to know or did he want confirmation that he had already done it by his own accord?
Jesus answers this self-confident young wealthy ruler by saying, “ Why do you call me good? No one is good but One-God.”
Right away Jesus keys in and tells this guy that no one is good except for God! Only God is righteous and Holy. No matter what this guy says or thinks he falls short in his ‘goodness’.
Jesus tells him, “ You know the commandments: do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, don’t defraud and honor your father and mother.”
I’m sure at hearing this; the wealthy, powerful young man had to be thinking, “Not a problem, I got this. It’s a homerun!”
He answers Jesus, “ Teacher, I have kept all these from my youth.”
Well this is where things go bad for the rich guy in his way of thinking. After what Jesus says next, our boy’s day is going to be a dreary dismal day for sure in his eyes!
As Jesus looks at him, Mark tells us something else that is incredible. We learn that not only did Jesus look at him but Jesus loved him as He says, “ You lack one thing, Go and sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have your treasure in Heaven. Then come, follow me!”
Jesus didn’t look at him with scorn and ridicule or sarcasm but instead looks at him with love in the same way that He looked at those who hung Him on that cross and said, “ Father forgive them.” He looks at him the same way he looks at us when He says, “Follow me!”
Upon hearing this Mark records that He was disheartened, he was stunned by what Jesus tells him and he went away grieving because he had many possessions.
So in order for you to follow Christ, you must sell everything and give it to the poor.
Is that what Jesus is saying here?
Yes and no.
Three things really come to the forefront in this account.
- A. Goodness. As the man raced to ask Jesus, he called him Good Teacher and Jesus responded that only God is good.
Only God is perfect, righteous, holy and good. No matter how good and how hard we try to be good by what we think we do and by trying to keep the commandments, we are not righteous, holy and good by and on our own.
Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Thus young ruler thought that he had kept the commandments since he was a youth and maybe he did in deed or action but throw in thought and word and he like us was not able to keep those commandments. He wasn’t good and neither are we.
So that brings us to the second thing.
2. Idols.
An idol is anything that becomes your god, a false god and takes the place of and prevents you form seeing God. It can be anything from football or your job or your kids or pride in yourself and your accomplishments. It can be things even at church.
For the young man it was his possessions and his wealth. Basically it boils down to Jesus telling him and us that if anything gets in the way of your view and focus of God, dump it, get rid of it. It’s garbage! For the real treasure, follow Christ.
Matthew 6: 20 says, “But lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”
This brings us to the third point and the most important part.
The relationship.
Did you notice in our Gospel today that something was missing? When the young man asked Jesus and Jesus quoted the commandments back to him, he left the first three out. Jesus quoted what is commonly referred to as the Second Table or the Commandments for living and dealing with your fellow man. Why would he do that being God and all, did He forget them?
No, not at all!
You see the first three Commandments or the First Table tell of our relationship with God. They confront our basic belief and structure about God. They talk about the perfect relationship that God created for His children. It’s an invitation to a give and take relationship. Don’t we see that in the Sacraments? “Take and eat and take and drink.” He willingly gives us forgiveness of sins, salvation and eternal life through this gift given to us through His Son as we gatheris SonH and we as His called and redeemed children thank, praise and glorify His name calling on Him for everything because He is our loving Father and because He is God.
This rich man’s relationship was lacking in this because he was focused on the idol of himself and his idol of wealth and fortune. So Jesus told him to dump it and follow Him in that perfect relationship of grace, peace and love bought and paid for with His holy blood. Jesus tells us that exact same thing and we hear it and read it in His Holy Word. Our relationship with God has been rewon and regained and taken back from the sin that we caused to break it in the first place. Through our High Priest who is the Christ, perfect atonement and fulfillment of that priestly sacrifice we are now made His. It is only through Christ that we can ask Him to smash those evil and unholy idols that prevent us from the very relationship with Him. It is only through Jesus that we have the strength given to us in our Baptisms and shared with us in the foretaste of the feast to come found in that meal of Holy Communion.
It is only through the glory found at the cross that any of this is possible and that we are now counted as righteous and holy and good enough to be in the sight and presence of God.
Think about what’s been done for you. God says call him by His name, YAHWEH, then we Have Jesus tell us and His Father that he is not ashamed to call us brothers and we because of YAHWEH’s plan of redemption through Jesus are now heirs of Heaven.
The rich young man didn’t get it that when Jesus called him to follow, He ws calling him to inherit gifts far beyond the measure of a mortal man.
Instead he went away dejected, stunned and disheartened because he couldn’t let go of his idol while the Good Teacher set His face like flint and proceeded to walk that path to the cross, “ Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2.
He walked that path in complete obedience knowing what was waiting for Him.
Was it death and destruction? Yes, through Jesus dying for our sin and idol worship it was the destruction of death and the grave and through Jesus dying for all it was the death of the power that sin had on us. We now have abundant life that no idol could ever give us but only through what God can give us and keeps on giving to us.
So I guess the final question again comes down to this. Do you have to get rid of everything you have to follow God?
Quite simply yes, if it has become an idol to you and prevents you from seeing God and His goodness, grace and love for you.
We can only truly trust and have faith in He who claims us as His knowing with certain hope and confidence that we who confess Christ as King and Savior will all gather at the throne with Him for eternity and that will be the perfect day where only things go perfectly right!
“Come and follow me!”
Alleluia, amen!
From Vicar Eddie
Sermon 10-14-12
Mark 10:17-22 (using HCSB)
Concordia, Cerritos
The story of the rich young ruler causes some to pity the man…he was so close…if only he had trusted Jesus more…if only he knew. But perhaps there is more to this story if we scratch the surface…if we scratch the surface we might see that we are more like the rich young man than we would like to admit.
Right from the start this story is different than most accounts in the Bible of people coming to Jesus…usually those that approached Jesus were looking for healing either for themselves or a loved one…or they were trying to find fault with the teachings of Jesus. But this man asks a completely different question…maybe one you yourself have contemplated during your life…he approaches Christ, calls him “good teacher” and then asks how he might attain eternal life…AND, he is not asking what he has to do…he is not asking where he can buy it…but how should he align his life, what should his purpose in life be so that he might inherit eternal life…inherit eternal life. How do I get this gift that can only come from God? How do I get eternal life? Jesus knew this young man was on to something, so He asks him, “Why do you say I am good?” Only God is good…are you saying I am God? Are you saying I can give you the gift of eternal life? And then Jesus skips the commandments that have to do with God and lists the commandments that have to do with other people, and the young man says he has kept all of them close to his heart. Jesus accepts this… He does not call him a liar but instead hits him right between the eyes…very well then… sell everything, give the money to the poor and follow me. Stunned…shocked…flabbergasted… he realizes Jesus is asking him to give up the one thing he knows he cannot give up… his treasures! Why did it have to be that? Why couldn’t it be spending more time at the synagogue? Why couldn’t it be helping out those less fortunate? Why couldn’t it be spending more time in scripture? No… he asked the young man for his wealth…a dark cloud comes over the man and he went away dejected, sorrowful, he went away grieving. It is indeed sad…some might say that the young man rejects Jesus, that he turns his back on Jesus, but the young man was seeking God, the young man was looking for a closer walk with God, and yet there was a barrier…a barrier so large that it kept him from fully experiencing the grace and mercy of Christ. A barrier so large that it kept him from the inheritance he so desperately sought… and so that begs the question…What barrier have we created? What keeps us from fully experiencing the grace and mercy of Christ?
You see this story is not just about a rich young man… this story is about us…each one of us has put up barriers that keep us from fully experiencing the love and grace of Christ; we have all created barriers that keep us from having a closer walk with God and maybe that is why Jesus skipped the 1st commandment when He spoke to the young man. Jesus knew that this young man had other gods…as Luther explained the first commandment in the Large Catechism; a god is something on which we set our whole heart. Jesus knew that this man had placed his wealth ahead of God, he trusted in his wealth above trusting God…and so what have we placed before God? You see it doesn’t always have to be wealth…it can be anything that we treasure in our hearts above God. And it can take a numerous of forms – it can come in a bottle that we desperately need after another rough day; it can be the football games that keep us from worshipping God with our brothers and sisters on Sunday mornings, it can come in the form of a keyboard; a keyboard that logs us into facebook for hours on end instead of spending time in scripture, or it can be staying up late to view adult material and feeling ashamed that we do, so we draw away from others for fear they might discover our dark habit. Really we can fashion anything into a barrier between is and God; even something we would find good, like family, exercise or even work. These things that God has given us to bring us joy, relaxation and a sense of accomplishment can become so important in our lives that they interfere with our relationship with God. They draw us away from God.
I worked for many years with a company that had such an outstanding president of sales. We used to say that she could sell ice to eskimo, and we knew she worked hard, but we didn’t realize to what extent. During a sales meeting in New Jersey, her husband called and told her that he wasn’t feeling good…that he really wanted her to come home. This was very odd behavior on his part – they talked often when she would go away on trips, and as president of sales, she traveled extensively, but he had not once ever asked her to come home. She said, she couldn’t leave…this sales meeting was too important and that she would be home the next day. Well, he didn’t make it the next day and she never forgave herself for not going home. Work had become her god, above family, above her own health and even above God.
Certainly we know we are going to have activities outside of church, certainly we know we will have other interests and certainly we know that we can’t keep all of God’s commands perfectly, but it comes down to priorities. Is God a priority in my life? Or is God an afterthought…a parachute we grasp only when we run into problem; when our life seems to be spiraling out of control? In Luke 9:23 Jesus tells us “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” This is not to say that we need to try to bear the weight of our sins and thus by our own power overcome our sinfulness, but instead we are to daily surrender our sinful and lustful desires to Christ…and follow him.
But our story of the young man does not end there. Yes, the young man goes away dejected, lost and maybe even ashamed, but what about Jesus? We know that Jesus was on His way to the cross of Calvary and we know that in His death and resurrection we find the very thing that young man sought…life everlasting…eternal life. And Jesus did this with JOY! Hebrews 12:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
You see God knows that we cannot of our own accord lift ourselves over the barriers we have created; He knows that we cannot overcome the sin that keeps us from Him. At the cross which is meant for torture and death we find life…at the cross we find the gift of eternal life. And this gift is not just for that young man, it is not just for those of us that showed up this Sunday morning…no this gift of eternal life is a gift God has given to the whole world. Just as Jesus invited the young man to leave behind those things that hindered Him from fully experiencing the love, grace and mercy of God, Jesus extends that offer to the entire world even today. Jesus stands ready to walk with you, each and every day of your life. With joy Jesus went to the cross, knowing He was breaking the bondage of sin that impeded this man from fully experiencing the love, grace and mercy of God. So, we have a choice…we can either walk away with our baggage…those things that bring us shame and draw us away from God, or we can leave them at the foot of the cross and walk with Jesus…Jesus invites you to walk with Him each and every day of your life…will you walk in the JOY of Jesus today?
and from Deacon Don
