Lent 5
– April 1st and
2nd, 2017 –
Genesis 22 and John 8
In the Name of Christ the Crucified +
In the Name of Christ the Crucified +
As a
pastor who talks to other pastors, I hear about all sorts of
complaints about the Church and its preachers. “You know, churches
today are just too mean.” You are of
your father the devil. “We should be
more understanding of the world and the lifestyles people want to
lead. We shouldn’t be so judgmental.” And
your will is to do your father’s [that is the Devil’s] desires.
“Who are you to tell me what is right or
wrong, I can do as I please!” He
was a murderer from the beginning and has nothing to do with the
truth. “Well,
that might have been how they did things back in Jesus’ day, but
things are just too different today.” There
is no truth in him. “I
don’t know why you say we are sinners, we are pretty good people
after all.” When
he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the
father of lies.
One of the burdens we face today, dear friends, is the simple fact
that this world, at least as we know it in America, is becoming more
obviously and openly opposed to Christ and His Church. In reality,
this is the way it has always been, but we see it more now. Instead
of silently rejecting, the rejection is open and bold – and we
panic. We think, “What will we do – we have to do something.”
This is nothing new. In the 50s the big catch word was “relevant”
– we have to make the church relevant to the people, in other
words, whatever we think people want. And there have been other
things – the 60s and 70s gave us the folk masses set to acoustic
guitar, in the 80s there was the big push to make the Church and
worship more exciting, in the 90s the big focus was on trying to meet
“felt needs”, a decade ago everything was “extreme”, now you
see pastors running around with Hispter glasses and big beards trying
to draw folks in that way. In a few years there will be some other
gimmick. People aren’t coming – *we*
have to do something.
There
is a simple truth that we in our vanity, in our salesmanship
mentality, have forgotten in the US – people don’t reject the
Gospel because it isn’t relevant, or it doesn’t hit their felt
needs. The problem isn’t that we don’t package the Gospel
rightly – it’s something much simpler than that.
But because I tell the truth, you do
not believe Me.
People are terrified of the truth. This is what we see in our
Gospel lesson. Jesus is discussing things with the Pharisees, and He
has just told them that He is the Messiah who comes to bring truth,
that the Truth will set them free from sin. Just prior to our text,
our Lord said “If you abide in My Word,
you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the
truth will set you free. . . . So if the Son sets you free, you will
be free indeed.” And the Pharisees
don’t want any of that. They are angered by that idea. And Christ
calls them on it. Why do they not understand? Why do not they not
care? It is because you cannot bear to
hear My Word. This
is the simple fact – that sinful folk do not like to hear God’s
Word. The Pharisees didn’t like it in the text – they even plan
to stone Jesus. People don’t like it today, either.
Why?
Why don’t people like hearing God’s Word? A lot of it has to do
with the Law. God’s Law is an unpleasant thing. You want an
example of God’s Law being unpleasant – look at our Old Testament
lesson. Hear what God commands Abraham to do – Take
your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of
Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering.
. . . That’s a statement of Law right
there. Isaac is going to die. And he deserves death. Abraham can’t
argue against it – Abraham knows that he himself hasn’t done
anything to earn this child –Abraham was old, so was Sarah, they
shouldn’t have even ever gotten Isaac, and if God wants Isaac back…
well, Abraham can’t gainsay God here. If God wants Isaac dead,
well, that’s the wages of sin.
That’s
hard. That is hard to bear – that is a harsh truth. We don’t
like that truth. Think about how much work and effort people will
put into justifying themselves, into escaping the blame for something
– and even when there is no punishment, even when admitting that
you’ve done wrong only might mean that someone doesn’t think as
well of you for a few days. We will duck and dance – it’s not my
fault. Oh, how we will dance and dodge. And what about when
something doesn’t go right in our life - We will get angry and rail
– how can you do this to me God! I don’t deserve this. Eh,
that’s not true. Your toil in this life is nothing – you deserve
death. That’s what the truth is, that what God says in His Word.
That’s what gets the Pharisees so steamed at Jesus.
Abraham
trusted the Lord, though; Abraham knew that God’s Word was more
than just a word of Law – but also a word of Gospel, a word of
mercy. That’s why he’s bold to take Isaac, that’s why he tells
the servants who stay behind that they both will come back down the
mount – Abraham trusts in God’s mercy – God will provide the
lamb for the sacrifice. And we see that God does do so – a ram is
given to take Isaac’s place. Imagine the joy that Abraham would
have had at being stopped, at looking up and seeing the ram and
knowing that his Isaac would live. This is the joy that Christ
speaks of in the Gospel – Your father
Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.
Of course Abraham rejoiced – because God would spare Abraham’s
son Isaac at the cost of His own Son, Christ Jesus. This is the
heart of the Gospel – not that there are no consequences to sin,
not that our sin doesn’t matter or doesn’t deserve death – but
rather this – Christ Jesus has come and has born up the weight of
sin in our place, that He suffers and dies for us upon the Cross,
that with His death and resurrection He sets us free from sin and its
burden. This is the great and wondrous word of the Gospel – this
is what the Gospel truly is – that you are forgiven by God not on
account of your works, not on account of your effort, but on account
of the precious death and resurrection of Christ Jesus your Lord.
And
yet – the Pharisees in the text are still angry, still reject
Christ after he explains this. People today still reject it. Why?
Because the Gospel truth is this – that Jesus is our Savior. The
Gospel makes sense only if we know and believe the Law. Jesus
doesn’t get rid of the Law, He fulfills it to be our Savior. If
Jesus is our Savior – it means that we need to be saved, it means
that we lack, that we sin, that we aren’t good enough, that we
aren’t perfectly fine as we are, that we always can and ought to do
better. You can’t preach the Gospel without preaching the Law
first – because the two go hand in hand. And that is why so many
people reject the Gospel – they reject the truth of the Law – and
so they reject the truth of the Gospel as well. When do the
Pharisees want to stone Jesus – not just when He says that they are
sinners, but when He reveals to them who He is – Truly,
truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.
The Gospel is that God gets involved in your life, that God is the
one who saves you – and that involvement of God is something that
man according to his sinful nature fears – that he runs away from,
just like Adam and Eve in the garden after the fall.
So
what do we make of all of this? We see that all too many people
don’t like the truth of God’s Word. They don’t like the Law
rightly preached – calling their sin what it is – sin, and
pointing out that it is wrong and deserves punishment – my fault,
my fault, my most grievous fault, as we confessed a few moments ago.
They don’t like the Gospel either – the truth that God and God
alone is our Savior, without any worth or merit in us. First, we
need remember that this applies to us as well. It is not just people
out there who do not like God’s truth – your own sinful flesh
will rebel against it – your own pride that still clings to you
will rebel against it. That is why we have a focus on repentance,
that is why we are to daily drown our old Adam and instead be focused
upon Christ. That is why we are to come here and hear preaching,
hear absolution, receive Christ’s Body and Blood for our
forgiveness and the strengthening of our faith – so that we
ourselves don’t fall away.
But
also this. We are tempted, especially in this day and age, to soft
sell God’s truth. To try and make it more appealing to sinful man,
to accommodate people's sin. We are tempted to put what we think
people want to hear over what God says. Then, they won’t be mad at
us, or think ill of us. But dear friends – that is not the way.
Consider you yourself – you were brought to faith and you have been
kept in that faith by what – by God’s Word rightly preached and
rightly taught. That’s the same thing the people who don’t
believe right now need – the same thing your family and friends
need as well. The truth is that they are in need of God’s love –
and that God richly loves them and offers them salvation and
forgiveness. Speak them the Word, over and over again, even if they
don’t like it. That doesn’t mean be a jerk about it, but be
honest and truthful, even when the truth is difficult and hard to
hear. That’s what Christ does here – even when the Pharisees
certainly don’t like it. And He speaks over and over again – and
some never like it – but because our Lord preaches again and again
– some do end up believing. Because the Apostles preach God’s
Word in its truth, some do end up believing. Because faithful
Christians, Pastors, parents, friends spoke God’s Word in truth and
purity to you, you believe. God grant that we would speak God’s
Word rightly, so that others might know what God’s truth is, so
that the Holy Spirit might work, not through the plans we dream up,
but that the Spirit might work through the Word which He places upon
our lips.
Your
sinful flesh rebels against Christ – but thanks be to God, the Holy
Spirit has given you the gift of faith. He has worked faith in you,
made you to have life in Christ. You now know and hear God’s
truth, you see Christ for you and rejoice, just as Abraham, just as
all the faithful have. God keep us ever focused upon Christ and His
great love for us. In the Name of Christ the Crucified +
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