Category: “Hard Truth” series

What “Matters” in This Life Doesn’t in the Next

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(Hebrews 13:1-6)

Those first two words right at the beginning of our reading from Hebrews are tough! “Keep on…” I don’t know about you, but it feels as if one of the lingering symptoms of the pandemic is the simple struggle to just “keep on.” While churches have certainly been hit by that reality, I don’t think the struggle to “keep on” is by any means limited to just matters of faith and religion. It spills over into all areas of life. 

It’s hard to “keep on” at work, where pandemic policies have bounced all over the place like a ping-pong ball. Companies are still trying to balance in-person vs. remote work schedules. Co-workers have quit or been let go, and often times those remaining have been expected to pick up the slack and do more without any additional help or any bump in compensation.

Students find it a challenge to “keep on” as classrooms have become classrooms again instead of zooms and sports and extracurriculars have been restored and student interaction and peer pressures all add up.

Even socializing is hard to “keep on,” as we realize that, like it or not, we had gotten used to an unprecedented level of isolation in our lives. Now our social lives are a tug-of-war between being able to socialize while also maybe yearning just a little bit for the days when we had the easy out of not having to make that decision because we just had to stay at home. 

And we haven’t even gotten to the part after the “keep on” yet, which is where it gets really fun! Look what follows: “keep on… loving one another as brothers and sisters” (v.1). It’s hard enough just to keep on, and now it’s gotten exponentially more difficult if the thing we’re called to “keep on” is loving one another!

As if the writer to the Hebrews anticipated this challenge for us, he spelled out a couple of concrete ways we can love others. Show hospitality to strangers. Remember those who are in prison. Honor husbands, wives, and single people by the way we respect his gifts of marriage and sex. 

These encouragements would have been uniquely challenging at the time this letter was originally written. When the church was under heavy persecution, there would have understandably been a reluctance to show hospitality to strangers, for fear that any stranger you could entertain may very well have been someone looking to turn you in for your Christian faith. Remembering those who were imprisoned simply for being Christians would have clearly associated you with Christianity, so why risk it? In other words, for Christians, back then their reasonable fear of being hospitable or caring for the imprisoned was based on a legitimate concern. If keeping on loving one another in the ways the writer describes wasn’t being done, at least they had an excuse.

But today, at least here in America, Christians aren’t under anywhere near that same type of persecution. We have no reason to worry about being turned in for showing hospitably to a stranger. So why don’t we? There’s no reason we can’t be more compassionate to those in prison. So why aren’t we? There’s no reason we can’t show higher regard than our culture does for God’s gifts of marriage and sex. So why don’t we?

I’m well aware you’ve got more than enough ammunition in your mind to offer in defense of why we aren’t doing these things more often – because I do, too. Our sinful nature specializes in doing that. But if you were to offer up those defenses to God as excuses for not keeping on loving others in the ways described, do you suppose he’d buy any of them? Not likely. So let’s just be honest about our selfishness, our inclination to love ourselves more than we love others, confess it to God, and start working on it. 

Because the writer isn’t done yet. There’s still a significant “danger” sign we have to watch out for. As difficult as it is to keep on loving one another, there’s more. The writer hits on what is often a touchy topic that we might be inclined to think has the ability to solve all of our problems. Or, at least it can provide us with a little distraction from them. 

What would make us forget about things for a little while? How about a little bit of money? Wouldn’t that do the trick? Doesn’t that always do the trick? Does a little bit more of that ever hurt? 

Unfortunately, the writer to the Hebrews brings up money, not as a solution or a possible escape, but rather as something that has the potential to cause even more problems. So just as important as that we DO keep on loving one another is the warning that we DO NOT love money. “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have” (v.5). Earlier this week I came across the story of a man whose downfall validated the concern of loving money too much. 

One thing I can appreciate about Hansie Cronje, the man from that story? His honesty. Most of us are so good at disguising our love of money that we even fool ourselves! I hit on this in my last post by emphasizing that it’s often what we associate with money that we love, so we don’t even realize the problem, whether it’s security, status, or stuff, to name a few. We think that money is the means to those and so much more. And indeed it can certainly appear that way… for this life. 

But what “matters” in this life doesn’t in the next. You’ve probably seen the images of a hearse loaded down with stuff piled on top of it while also pulling a Uhaul behind it. The reason it’s humorous of course is that it won’t ever happen. We don’t take anything we’ve accumulated in this life with us to the next. In fact, the one sure thing that you can count on is that everything you have to your name right now will someday belong to someone else.

What a sobering reminder that is to us that it was actually never ours in the first place, but rather the gracious God who entrusted it to us for a time to manage. Not only that, but no amount of money can ever buy the stuff that matters. Peace. Forgiveness. Unconditional love. Eternal life. 

Do you know why these can’t be bought? Because they’ve already been purchased. They’re already paid for. What matters for the next life, which then by extension also matters greatly for this life, has already been bought and freely doled out through faith in Jesus Christ. We cannot buy it because God insists on giving it out freely through Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus means that his selflessly obedient life and innocent death have been traded in for my selfishness and misplaced focus on so many things in this life that simply don’t matter. 

Along with that faith comes a powerful set of promises that the writer to the Hebrews tapped into at the end of verse 5 and in verse 6: “‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’  So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?’”

There is something that matters, both for this life and the next! A blood-backed promise from the One who gave himself for us. He promises that no fear of abandonment, desertion, or loneliness ever needs to fill the hearts of those who are his. He promises that whatever help we need, he is by our side to offer. 

These promises provide us with a real freedom, for they mean that we don’t have to look to something like money to provide us with the security we already have in Jesus. When I know that, verse five starts to make more sense. I don’t need money to provide what Jesus already does, and so contentment becomes a very real thing. And along with the blessing of contentment comes a healthy and fulfilling relationship with money. It no longer manages us, always deceiving us with the bottomless lie that just a little bit more would make everything better. Instead, we manage it, and start to see the amazing impact God can make in other people’s lives with it. 

Contentment allows us to start to see God’s gift of money as a resource that enables us to excel at focusing on what the first four verses called us to do: keep on loving one another. What would it look like to have a line item in your personal budget set aside for those things? “We have this much set aside for hospitality, for opening up our home to others for dinner or game night a couple of times this month.” “We have this much set aside to support a jail ministry or simply be a blessing to the needy this month.” “We have this much set aside to prioritize a weekend marriage retreat or to sponsor a young couple who would be blessed by the opportunity to give attention to strengthening their marriage.”

See the good God can do through us! His generous promises to us in Christ Jesus, promises that have already been bought and paid for by him, free us in a way that no amount of money ever could. Then we can find real fulfillment in life, not in the burden of keeping on loving others, but in the joy of it. 

Serve God WITH Money, But Not God AND Money

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(Ecclesiastes 5:10-20)

The ability to multitask is no longer regarded as highly as it once was. For a time, it was viewed as an essential key to productivity and getting things done. It was thought that being able to focus on multiple things at once would mean everything on the to-do list could be achieved in less time. While in some situations that may have been – and may still be – true, it turns out those things were not being done as well as when we simply focus on one thing at a time.

Have you ever been trying to email or text someone while at the same time holding a conversation with someone else, and you end up writing in your message the totally unrelated words that just came out of your mouth in conversation? Dads are notorious for being poor multitaskers. I remember getting a T-shirt as a new dad that showed a dad changing a diaper while his head was turned toward the TV to tune into the game. On the changing table was not the baby, but the family dog whose diaper he was changing. Meanwhile, the baby was on the floor eating out of the dog food bowl. The shirt wasn’t that far off!

Today’s hard truth takes our inability to multitask well a step further and calls it impossible in one specific area: focusing on both God and money. And the hard truth is not simply that it’s difficult to do both, but that it’s impossible! We cannot serve both God and money. But… we can serve God with money.

Pay attention to who is the author of Ecclesiastes. Not only is the author one of the wisest men to have ever lived, but he was also one of the wealthiest. It would be quite easy to dismiss these words of caution if they came from someone who never had any serious income to manage or someone who was a bankrupt fool, for what would he know? Let’s learn instead from Solomon, from someone who had a little wisdom… and see that even wisdom doesn’t inherently protect one against the allure and temptation of money and wealth.

Solomon warns us, “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless” (v.10). Solomon isn’t blasting money here. Money is not the bad guy. Rather, loving money is the issue. Allowing our hearts to become attached to it is the problem. Paul echoed Solomon’s warning in his letter to Timothy when he wrote, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Tim. 6:10). Money isn’t evil; it isn’t even the root of evil, but rather the love of money is. 

There’s a reason we are so easily deceived by money. We can easily convince ourselves that we don’t love money per se, while all along truly loving what money represents to us: security, status, and stuff. In our own minds, each of those things is different from money, but in reality, they are directly tied to money. When we say we worry about finances, what we are often expressing is that we lack the feeling of security, of knowing that we are financially secure.

When we strive for status, what we mean is that we have arrived at the ability to buy things and pay for experiences and give our children opportunities that money allows. We say we don’t love money, but we love what money buys us: more stuff that we didn’t even know we needed until we saw someone else with it.

No, a person isn’t going to walk into our homes to find us bowing down to a pile of cash and credit cards. Rather, it is all of the opportunities that pile of cash offers us that we often worship. But you can’t have one without the other. To have all of those things – security, status, or stuff – we need money.

Or do we? Actually, if God’s promises are true, then hasn’t he already assured me that I have all of those things in Jesus? Jesus reminds us that if God takes care of the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees, he’ll also take care of us. That’s real security. God tells us we are his chosen people, treasured, dearly loved, set apart, and so on and so forth. That’s real status that matters. God tells us that we’ve got more than enough stored up in heaven, where moth and rust cannot touch it. That’s real stuff that matters. Money and wealth can’t promise those things, but only the illusion of them. What God promises and provides is real. Tangible. Trustworthy. What God promises is real treasure.  

Look again at Solomon’s words and you’ll notice the way these verses break down. Verses 10-17 are generally negative. However, lest we become embittered toward the wealthy or write off the rich as all having empty, meaningless lives, let’s remember that these words of Ecclesiastes, like many of Solomon’s Proverbs, are not unyielding principles that are 100% the case 100% of the time. No, these are general truths, which means that of course there are always exceptions.

So don’t be surprised when the multi-millionaire you feel sorry for over how miserable and meaningless his life must be, drives away excitedly to his beach house in his Bentley. We should not assume that Solomon’s words here are a blanket statement that every rich person is actually internally distressed and downcast. That would be silly!

Rather, Solomon is warning against the danger of what Augustine called a disordered love. That is to say, the issue isn’t necessarily loving the wrong things, but loving the right things in the wrong order. When we love possessions more than the Provider, we become enslaved to them and driven to seek in them fulfillment and satisfaction that only the Father can provide.

What does that kind of satisfaction look like? Verses 18-20, which carry a much more positive tone, show us. But look closer and see what else is different. Where is God in the first section? Not even mentioned. Where is God in the second? He is the Giver. Let that connection sink in for you, as understanding it is essential to a right relationship not only with money and wealth, but also with everything we can own or experience. Love possessions more than the Provider and we lose out on a right relationship with both the goods and with God. But love the Provider of the possessions and we get a right relationship with both God and the goods. Which would you prefer?

Solomon highlights this truth by reminding us that God is not only the giver of every gift, but also the One who gives the gift of being able to enjoy those gifts! Consider this in light of what the world emphasizes. What makes news are box office-breaking revenues for money, celebrities making huge sums of money per movie, or athletes signing the highest-paid contracts. But why are we so enamored with the amount? Wouldn’t it be much more telling if we could somehow gauge the level of enjoyment that wealth represents? Couldn’t an athlete live as much a satisfied and joy-filled life making half-a-million a year as making $40 million a year? Does more money correlate with more joy or can the two be completely unrelated? 

That seems to be the point Solomon is making. He has seen miserable, malcontent millionaires and he’s seen paupers at peace. What accounts for the difference? “Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God” (v.19). God gives the gifts… and even the gift of being able to enjoy the gifts. 

Isn’t this true in the grandest sense as well? We could list God’s gifts all day and all week long, but there is one that surpasses them all: the gift of his Son. This is the highest gift. There is no contract or business deal that can have enough dollar signs or zeroes attached to it that can ever surpass this gift.

Do we treasure this gift enough? Do we treasure Jesus daily and realize what we have in him? Do I find joy in the gift of his perfect life in my place? Do I find joy in the payment his death provided for my sins? Do I find joy in my victory through his resurrection? This is the greatest gift we have – and likely also the most under-appreciated. When it comes to the dangers of our love of money, Solomon can diagnose the problem, but he can’t deliver us from it. Only Jesus can do that. Only Jesus has done that. 

The theme of Ecclesiastes is “Meaningless.” The question we have is, how do we ensure our lives are meaningful and not meaningless? We can’t serve God and money, but we can serve God with money. 

A peasant farmer had worked hard for his crop, and in his hand, he held what he had just rigorously yanked out of the earth: the most beautiful carrot he had ever grown. It was the perfect carrot, and he knew immediately what he was going to do with it. He was going to give it to the king. As he marveled at the carrot he held in his hand, he was overwhelmed with gratitude, knowing that, were it not for his king, he would never have been able to grow a thing.

The king provided him with the equipment he needed to plant his field, he made sure that his family was provided for so that he could focus on farming, and he knew that under the king’s protection, he didn’t have to worry about his home or field being overtaken by an enemy. So he paid a visit to the king and gave him the prized carrot as an expression of his thanks. Touched by his gift, the king granted him several additional fields to grow even more produce.  

The news had spread around the kingdom, prompting a stable owner to consider following in the farmer’s footsteps and giving the king one of his prized stallions he had bred. The stable owner thought to himself, “If the king granted the farmer additional fields to grow more crops, perhaps he will also give me additional stables so that I can breed even more horses.”

So he set out to do just that and brought one of his horses as a gift for the king. The king accepted the gift and expressed his thanks to the stable owner for it and then dismissed him. Somewhat surprised, the stable owner appealed to the news of the king’s previous generosity to the farmer in granting him additional fields to farm and wondered if he might expect something similar. To that, the king replied, “The farmer brought me his gift and gave it to me as an expression of appreciation and love for me. You, on the other hand, brought your gift out of love for yourself.”

Christ has freed us from an unhealthy relationship with money. With a love for us that surpasses our love for money, he has forgiven our greed and satisfies us with his grace in a way that wealth never will. The evidence of that is seen in the change of perspective we have about money. The joy that we used to find in making and spending money, we now find in serving Christ’s kingdom with it. We see dollar signs as seeds that can help spread the gospel, counsel the spiritually struggling, help train up children, and serve those in need. It is an endless list of joys that spring from managing God’s money for God’s purposes. As God’s grace changes our view of, and relationship with, money, he will bless our efforts at growing in the grace of giving and serving not God and money, but serving God with money. 

The Found are Left; the Lost are Found

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(Luke 15:1-10)

They gathered around Jesus for two very different reasons. One group came to Jesus to hear him; the other came to hate on him. And when you consider which groups it is, it should be rather surprising. We would expect the “tax collectors and sinners” to be the ones hating and the “Pharisees and the teachers of the law” to be hearing. If Jesus’ message was all fire and brimstone and a call to shape up our lives, the first crowd would rightly resent Jesus and his message. After all, they weren’t naive to the fact that they were the black sheep of society. 

And the Pharisees, the ones who delight in doing right – and getting noticed for it – should have clamored to hear Jesus’ message if it was all fire and brimstone and a call to shape up our lives. That would have been right up their alley! It would have reinforced their self-righteousness and puffed up their pride.

But it’s exactly the opposite. Luke describes it for us. “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them” (v.1-2). The black sheep want to hear Jesus and the self-righteous religious want to hate on him! You know what that says about Jesus? His message stood out. There was something different about it. His message must have been radical if it appealed to those it should have turned off while turning off those to whom it should have appealed. And that is exactly what his message does today. Today’s teaching is a hard truth because it forces us to face that The Found are Left while The Lost are Found. 

If the typical Christian congregation did an assessment of which category of folks received more attention – the found or the lost – which group do you suppose would come out ahead? It’s no contest. It isn’t even close. But I don’t raise that point to shame or indicate that it’s wrong to give attention to each other or to care for our brothers and sisters in Christ. It isn’t! Not at all. In fact, it’s one of the “selling points” of trying to bring others into the family of Christianity – we care for and about each other. 

But there is a need for balance in the mission Jesus has given us. Because he hasn’t only called us to care for each other, the found. He has also called us to seek the lost. If, rather than trying to pit one against the other, we instead strive to see the importance of and need for each, then we are ready and willing for Jesus to draw our attention to finding the lost. What does Jesus wish to teach us about his feelings toward the lost? His mission is personal and persistent. 

The personal concern of Jesus in going after the lost is clear in each parable. After losing one sheep, the owner of the hundred sheep doesn’t conclude, “One sheep is no big deal – I’ve still got 99, after all.” The woman doesn’t blow off her one lost coin just because she still has the nine others.

God does not write off countless lost souls just because there are many who are saved. Neither does he attach different values to different people like we so often do, based on different criteria, deeming some more worthy of saving than others. Every soul matters to Jesus. Every soul. 

It’s like the little boy walking along the sandy beach after a storm. The beach was blanketed by starfish as far as the eye could see that had washed up after the storm. He knew that if they had any chance of surviving, they would somehow have to get back into the water, so the boy started picking the starfish up. One by one, he slung them back into the safety of the ocean. An onlooker commented that the boy’s efforts would hardly make a difference, as there were far too many starfish on the beach. After bending over to pick up one more and flinging it into the ocean, the boy responded, “It just made a difference for that one.”

So personally does Jesus care about every lost soul that he will go after each and every last one!

And he’ll do it with persistence. Jesus presumes the woman will look tirelessly for the lost coin. “Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?” (v.8). Neither did the owners just take a quick peek here or there and then call it a day! The same phrase is used of both the lost sheep and the coin: the owner searches “until s/he finds it.” (v.4,8). There was no room for half-hearted effort in either case; the search would persist until the sheep and the coin was found. 

Now we can talk about Jesus’ mission being personal and persistent, but you know what that must mean, don’t you? Consider how Jesus carries out his mission of seeking the lost. He does it through you and me. He does it through believers – his church.

So Jesus doesn’t have one approach he takes on his mission while his church takes some different approach. If his mission is personal and persistent, then so is the church’s mission. So is ours. So is yours. And if your mission isn’t personal or persistent… whose mission in life are you really more interested in carrying out – Jesus’, or your own?

When Jesus’ mission is our mission, we also want to ask who are those represented by the lost sheep and the lost coin. Often this chapter of Luke 15 is limited to the areas of outreach and evangelism. While that is natural, we don’t want to limit it to that. The lost sheep and the lost coin, after all, were at one time numbered among the found. So there is also a call here to seek out those who once belonged to the found, but are either wandering toward lostness or lost already.

It’s a call to repentance. It’s a call to care about those who used to be actively among us. It’s a call to care about our friends, our spouses, our sons, and daughters, who at one time fed in the pasture of God’s Word and sacrament right alongside us, but who now are nowhere to be found. While those who have only known unbelief their whole lives are always on our radar, also on our radar should be those who previously were won to faith, but have since wandered. How do we do that?

The first step: identify them. Stop pretending they aren’t lost. Stop lying to yourself that, even though they haven’t been hearing the Good Shepherd’s voice, perhaps in years, they are still interested in following him. Stop pretending that having no involvement or engagement with their congregation and no spiritual shepherding from their elder or pastor is permissible. Also… stop pretending that they should know better and it is 100% their responsibility for being rescued again.  Instead, let’s acknowledge they’re lost and put together a search party. And let’s do it with the kind of personal and persistent passion Jesus emphasized in these parables.

Suppose a large building in your community became engulfed in flame. How would you feel about a group of firefighters who decided to ignore the alarm sounding and instead hung around the fire station snacking and glued to their screens rather than throwing on their gear and high-tailing it out of the station?

Would their actions make more sense though, if they explained to you that the building on fire was one that just earlier that week they had made a presentation on fire safety and prevention, so they weren’t worried about it? Of course not! You’d expect them to go rescue anyone in the burning building no matter how much fire safety and prevention training the occupants had had!

In the same way, who are we to sit back and leave the lost on their own because they went to our school, finished the membership class, or were previously active in the congregation? Absurd! Let’s get out there and rescue them, whether they’re merely backsliding into the darkness or were always lost in it – Jesus wants both kinds. Jesus wants them all.

And so do we. Because we rejoice daily that he has rescued us, too. We gather regularly to sing and speak words of rejoicing over knowing that he has found us and rescued us. We rejoice in the confidence of knowing that every confessed sin has already been canceled. We rejoice in knowing that every Christian soul who has departed the pasture of this world for the pasture of heaven is with Jesus, the Good Shepherd. We rejoice with the angels in heaven each and every time even just one soul is turned around in repentance and rescued for eternity. We celebrate… and then we round up the search party again and get back out to work.

The Humble Will Be Exalted; The Exalted Will Be Humbled

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(Luke 14:1, 7-14)

She knows he’s the one. Handsome, witty, intelligent – he had all the characteristics she wanted in a guy. There was just one problem: he doesn’t know she exists. You know how the rest of the plot line plays out. She enlists the help of her friend or group of girlfriends to hatch an elaborate plan to get the attention of her crush. The audience of course knows that it will end up in some embarrassingly funny scenario in which she does in fact win the desired attention, but for all the wrong reasons. She usually ends up mortified and from that point on has to work even harder to overcome that negative experience. All she wanted was to get noticed by her crush.

From childhood on up well into adulthood, that about sums it up, doesn’t it – we’re all trying to get noticed. The attention-craving toddler finds just about any reason to perform even the most menial task as if it were some monumental feat, directing mom or dad to “Look at me!” From adolescence into the teenage years, sports or studies become more than just a rite of passage, but a possible pathway to getting noticed by a coach or college. Then the next stage kicks in as we learn to navigate the ins and outs of creating an online presence through social media and other platforms to get noticed. It continues as we throw ourselves into our work and up our efforts in the dating scene. We simply want to get noticed.

The Pharisees at Jesus’ dinner party could relate. They wanted to get noticed. Jesus observed that as they arrived and readied themselves for the meal they “picked the places of honor at the table” (v.7). Depending on how many guests there were and how the tables they reclined at were arranged, the places of honor at such a dinner party would have been slightly different. Rest assured though, anyone prestigious enough to have been invited to the party of a “prominent Pharisee” knew full well where the good spots were. They knew that such spots not only communicated the political pecking order to the other guests at the party, but that the places of honor also afforded extra opportunity to rub elbows with the host and impress him with their views and ideas. 

It’s what the Pharisees were known for: being known. In that respect, they were not unlike modern-day influencers who are only popular because they’re known, and they’re only known for being popular – not because of some meaningful contribution to society. In the same way, the Pharisees wanted to get noticed.

They got what they wanted: Jesus noticed them. But beware! When Jesus uses you for a spiritual illustration to serve as a spiritual warning, that’s probably not the way a person wants to get noticed! 

We want to make sure we do not miss the point here. Realize what is happening. Jesus isn’t merely addressing a social custom of the day as a means to simply reform our behavior. We cannot, as so many do with Christianity, demean Jesus by equating him with the headmaster at some finishing school, as if his greatest concern is that his followers learn proper etiquette and behave in a civilized manner in social settings. 

On this occasion, Jesus’ primary goal was not to teach the Pharisees that they should be more humble. How can we be sure? Because even as we work toward being more humble in this life, and even as God blesses us with progress in this life, will our eternal outcome be any more secure if you are a much more humble person five years from now? 

No, absolutely not – being more humble won’t have any bearing whatsoever on your eternity! The very fact that we know there is room for us to be more humble already shows that we’ve missed the perfect mark required for heaven! So Jesus is focused on much more than just squeezing more humility out of us for our time here on earth.

Jesus’ concern – even when he personally met and addressed physical needs – was always primarily spiritual. He was concerned with the Kingdom of God, not the kingdoms of this world. He is concerned about our beliefs – not just our behavior. 

That is shown by his use of this opportunity to speak a parable, which you may remember has a very specific purpose – a spiritual one, not a social one. He uses this worldly, temporal occasion as an example to spring into a heavenly, eternal truth. “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (v. 8-11). 

The setting is slightly different in Jesus’ parable – not just a dinner party, but a wedding banquet. Jesus used a wedding banquet quite regularly in his teaching to depict heaven. So no, Jesus isn’t just using another social setting to teach the Pharisees how better to behave next time, but is making it clear in his parable that he is talking about our place in heaven. Anyone convinced that his ticket to heaven is punched on the basis of his own worth or merit will find himself humbled. No one gets into heaven by being religious enough, righteous enough, or respected enough. 

This hard truth may sound very similar to the previous one, and there is indeed a very close relationship between the first and last and the humbled and exalted. It might help to point out a slight distinction in emphasis. The emphasis then was that Jesus is the only way into heaven; the emphasis here is that we aren’t. In this parable, Jesus is saying to you and to me and to a world focused on getting noticed, that we better be aware that in heaven, there are no seats reserved for those who think they’re deserved.

If Jesus is hitting on such a key spiritual truth here, then why, after his parable concludes, does he emphasize the importance of exercising humility here on earth by turning to the party host and encouraging him, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (v. 12-14). Why does Jesus again shift from the spiritual, eternal truth, back to the physical, practical application? Because what we believe and how we live are very closely connected to each other. 

The way we treat other people is a reflection of three things: our view of God, our view of self, and our view of others. When I am finding myself concerned with getting noticed, with others taking note of me, isn’t that a reflection of a pretty high view of self, that there is something in me that surely others don’t want to miss? And if I am seeking to direct their attention to me instead of whatever they think is important, what am I saying about their views or opinions – and by extension, them? Obviously, we don’t think very highly of them if we think they should be more focused on us! And what of God? Well, sure, the Bible can talk about God’s undeserved, unconditional, forgiving grace and love for me, but honestly, how much do we truly value that right here and now if we’re looking for something more elsewhere?

How I live and what I believe are far more closely related than we think. And the more I seek to exalt myself during my time here on earth before others and even dismiss God’s opinion of me as not all that important, do I really think that when I am faced with the reality of heaven, I’ll just be able to flip on the humble switch and set aside this yearning to get noticed that I have fed and fueled my whole life? See how dangerous it is?!?

So Jesus says to put into practice now what we truly know and believe about heaven: we’re undeserving. That frees us up to serve others – no matter their status – before ourselves. And even though Jesus promised blessing when we do that, when we remember “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,” that blessing isn’t guaranteed this side of heaven, but is promised to be repaid on the other side of it, after we are all resurrected in Christ. 

You want to get noticed? You already are. You already are noticed – and have been – by the One whose opinion of you matters the most. What the Lord said to the prophet Jeremiah when he called him can be applied to each of us as well: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart” (1:5). He chose us, not because of who we were, but because of who he was and is, and because of what he wanted to make us: his. You are noticed, you are treasured in a way and to a degree that can never be matched by a crush, a parent, a boss, or anyone else. When you remember that, guess where that leaves you? In a place we call humility. Better yet, guess where that leaves you with Jesus? Exalted.

The First Will Be Last; the Last Will Be First

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(Luke 13:22-30)

Why do Jesus’ words this morning stand out so much when he claims, “Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last” (v.30)? His words grab our attention because we live in a world that doesn’t operate that way at all. The class valedictorian is not the student with the lowest GPA. It isn’t last-place competitors in Olympic trials who go on to represent their countries in going up against the best in the world. The sales rep generating the weakest sales numbers for the company isn’t on the shortlist for a bonus or promotion. Our world doesn’t work that way, and that’s what makes Jesus’ words stand out this morning.

And those aren’t his only words that make for this morning’s Hard Truth! He also warned, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to” (v.24). This, too, doesn’t jive with what most of us would like to prefer to believe is true. We want to believe that if there is a heaven, which is what Jesus is referring to here, everyone should be able to get in, regardless of any sort of differences they might have. We don’t want to see anyone left out.

Well, almost everyone. There are of course some types of people we wouldn’t expect to be in heaven. The bad ones. The ones who have done the really cringe-worthy things that are really disgusting or twisted or sick – not those people, of course.

Should we stop right here and list who would be included in our category of disgusting, twisted, or sick people? Because I’m sure we’d all agree on our lists, right (he wrote, sarcastically…)? That would make it easier for us to determine who’s in and who’s out as far as entering through that narrow door.

Did we just expose why what Jesus says is such a hard truth? We tend to hold to two ideals that also happen to stand at odds with each other. The first is that things should be equal and inclusive. This may be why some struggle with organized religion, perceiving that it thrives on judgment and exclusivity. That doesn’t sit well in our everyone-is-equal world. 

But the second sentiment is at odds with it: that of course certain types of people shouldn’t be allowed into heaven. Certain types of people should naturally be excluded. So how do we maintain inclusivity, while also agreeing that certain types should be excluded, while still also acknowledging that we don’t all agree on exactly which types of people should be excluded?

Here’s where the Christian faith is set apart from every other religion: it is the most inclusive religion there is. “Wait just a minute,” you’re thinking. “You literally just read the words of Jesus clearly saying that many who try to get into heaven will not make it through the narrow door. How is that the most inclusive religion there is???” 

There are many places in the Bible that explain it, but one of the more simple and straightforward is Romans 3:23-24: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” All people are in the same boat, as “all have sinned.” That is God’s way of saying everyone has missed the mark; we’ve all failed to live up to his expectation of a life of only bullseyes in what we think, do, and say.

But all people are also in another boat together, as “all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” That’s a wordy way of saying that even though we’ve all missed the mark of perfection in our lives, God has nonetheless declared us, “not guilty” because of what Jesus did for us. All people. Everyone. That friends, is the very definition of “inclusive!” 

While God has declared everyone “not guilty,” what God won’t do is force anyone to believe it. But what he also won’t do is accept any other alternative arrangements folks would like to make to get into heaven. That isn’t because God is some intolerant, narcissistic deity, though; rather, it’s because no other deal or payment will suffice. That’s what Jesus was warning the person who asked him, “Lord, are only a few people coming to be saved?” (v.23).

Why in his response would Jesus tell warn the man to make every effort? If God has declared all people not guilty, then it should be easy peasy, right? Yes, except that Jesus seemed to warn that some people would be in for a bit of an unexpected, embarrassing shock: the Jesus they thought they knew didn’t seem to recognize them. “Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’  Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’  But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’” (vv.25-27). 

Have you had a similar experience? A social function or class reunion brings people together who haven’t seen each other in years or even decades. Seeing a certain familiar face instantly puts a smile on yours. You eagerly approach the individual and begin to recount a memorable shared experience that you had… only to suddenly realize by the puzzled look on the other person’s face that They. Don’t. Recognize. You. At. All. After your initial shock, you immediately begin to remind them of more of the details of the story and your past experiences together, as if those will surely jar their memory and help them recall who you are. But it doesn’t matter – the other person has zero recollection of you or the experience. That’s the kind of experience Jesus was describing.

The question is, who are the people who would fall into the category Jesus is describing? Two categories come to mind: 1) those who wish to redefine God’s expectations, and 2) those who wish to redefine God. 

The first group is dangerous because it twists God’s Word into a playbook or manual to follow as the method of getting right with him. This is the category of religious folks who have been deceived into thinking it’s their self-righteousness that gets them in. They are the modern-day Pharisees who mistake their acts of religion as the badge of honor that will get them through the narrow door. They are diligently at church every Sunday, not as troubled sinners who desire to be reassured of peace and forgiveness through Jesus, but rather to get the perfect attendance sticker. They give offerings, not from a cheerful heart that is head-over-heels in love with their Savior, but because that “Give 10%” box needs to be checked off to get right with God. They read the Bible, not so that the Holy Spirit can breathe new life into them and produce faith-born fruit, but because that’s what religious people are supposed to do, and by golly, they’re going to make sure all their bases are covered.

So when they meet Jesus on that last day, they will be eager to submit their fine resumé of self-righteousness, only to hear Jesus say, “I’m sorry, who are you again?” These are the people Jesus chastised in Matthew 23:13: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.” No one who thinks the key code into heaven is the right combination of good works will ever get in. 

But the second category is equally dangerous – not because it misunderstands that man is incapable of earning anything before God; rather, because it misrepresents who the true God is in the first place. One of the dead giveaways of those who fall into this category is some expression along the lines of, “The god I believe in would never do this or that.” That may sound nice, but with all due respect, where did that version of god come from, and how do we reconcile that version of god with the person down the street who has a slightly different take on how his god would respond in a certain situation?

While we passively stand by in our “don’t-step-on-anyone’s-toes” culture and totally respect that other person’s view of god, has anyone bothered to ask God what he thinks of all of these different avatars that are supposedly representing him? By all means, please let him know how he is supposed to respond to that situation today, and this one tomorrow, and so on and so forth.

Isn’t it a little bit ironic that Christianity is sometimes labeled as unreasonable or irrational, while in the meantime, it’s not unreasonable or irrational that ten different people have ten different versions of god and we can all be fine with that? Let’s either acknowledge how silly that is or at least have the decency to come right out and admit that we don’t believe in god. That way at least there won’t be any surprise when the God who does exist doesn’t recognize those who refused to recognize him.

Whether we’re wrong about God in the first category or wrong about God in the second doesn’t matter – we don’t want to be in either category! Instead, we want to be in the third category of those who are absolutely 100% sure we’ll enter through that narrow door! How do we do that?

We can’t. Only Jesus can. Only Jesus did. So how did anyone enter the narrow door to “take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God” (v.29), as Jesus stated? 

Jesus spelled it out: “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture” (John 10:9). Entrance into heaven goes through Jesus. Those who set aside any hope of entrance based on their efforts, those who set aside any expectation of entrance based on their own arrogance or wishful thinking about who God is and how he ought to operate, and instead see Jesus as the promised Savior who through his death and resurrection forgives sin and offers a clean conscience have what it takes to enter into heaven. And oftentimes, as Jesus pointed out this morning, those are the last people we’d expect. 

So sure are we of this narrow door into heaven – Jesus – that our congregation has established and supported an elementary school to teach the next generation this good news. In addition to meeting all of the academic standards to prepare them for the next level of education, building character and confidence, and giving them the social skills to succeed in today’s world, we point them to the gate, the door, the Savior who lovingly promises that all who believe in him have nothing to fear for this life or the life to come. Our teachers not only love and care for their students enough to equip them with what they need to thrive, but also for them to be alive with Jesus by their side during this life, and to be by his side for eternal life.

We Want Peace, But God’s Word Divides

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(Luke 12:49-53)

The debate will never be resolved. Sports analysts and fans will never be able to agree on who are the greatest players or teams in any given sport. The problem goes back long before weeding through and sorting out statistics. The problem starts with the definition. How does one define “great”?

Does greatest mean the most championship rings, because there are plenty of players who were not superstars, but who had the privilege of being shuffled around and playing on multiple championship teams. Does greatest mean the best statistics? If so, which statistics matter the most, and what if someone has great statistics but no rings? Does greatest mean record-holder in any given statistical category? What if a player dominates in only one statistical category, but is mediocre, at best, in others? And what about sports where different players play entirely different positions – a great lineman on the football field cannot be compared to a great quarterback by using the same metrics for greatness. It’s impossible to nail down the greatest, because it’s impossible to agree on the definition of greatest.

Part of the reason Jesus’ words from Luke 12 are so striking is that we’re not naturally on the same page when defining the word peace. Just as rabid sports fans will become rather unruly when discussing who is the greatest, should it surprise us that issues are also going to arise if no two people are able to agree on a definition of peace? How does one define it? Absence of conflict? Tolerance? Complete agreement? Indifference? If two people cannot even agree on a definition of peace, then it is really difficult to imagine how peace could be achieved.

How does the world define peace? The world has its own version of peace, but it isn’t easy to come by. Peace, as our culture has come to define it, is what happens when you agree with me on a matter. So for peace to exist between two individuals, each requires that the other side shares their same opinion. It isn’t acceptable anymore for someone merely to keep their opinion to themselves or choose not to get involved and just let others do as they wish; no, peace will only come when you see things my way and are willing to let go of your “wrong” opinion on a matter. How likely do you suppose it will be to achieve peace with that understanding?

How do believers define it? We talk about it. We sing about it. The Bible discusses it, but that doesn’t matter too much if you have your own working definition of peace. I think we know that peace doesn’t mean that Christians will get a pass on problems in life, but still we find ourselves struggling perhaps more than we should when the going gets tough. We still slip into that transactional understanding of our relationship with God: so long as we do the things Christians are supposed to do – go to church, pray, read our Bible – that sort of thing, then God will keep the trouble off our radar and his favor flowing freely, and for the most part, we’ll be at peace. 

Or we may have a rather simplistic, hardly-scratch-the-surface understanding of peace. Peace means Jesus has forgiven my sins. This is true! But knowing it and living and breathing it are different things. If I don’t live in that peace that flows from the forgiveness of sins but shelve it instead, how much will peace really characterize my life?

When we take a hard pass on the peace of Jesus in favor of pursuing the perfect partner, do we wonder why we’re restless? When we put our family and kid schedules in place of the peace of Jesus, are we surprised that stress and chaos carry the day? When we worry endlessly about money and focus on our possessions, where does peace have a place at the table?

Are you ready to consider how God defines peace? What does his Word reveal about his definition of peace? Try this on for size: “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand” (Romans 4:25-5:2). Paul here gets right at the root of the problem by pointing out the reason Jesus had to be delivered over to death: our sins. Our sin smacks God in the face and undermines any sort of relationship with him. It is a wrong that must be made right, but as the wrongdoers, we cannot help ourselves because the only thing we’re capable of is smacking God in the face again and again with our sin. How can peace exist in such a scenario? It can’t!

Jesus had to bring it. By his death then, he righted the wrong of our sin, making payment in full, and because of Jesus’ resurrection, God determined that we are no longer guilty, since all of our wrongs have been righted in Christ. We now stand in grace, not guilt. 

So the peace we have with God is like this: imagine two circles. One circle is guilt. The other circle is grace. While in unbelief, we stand in the circle of guilt, because of our sin. But when we come to faith, believing in Jesus and what he has done for us, we embrace that God says we no longer stand in that circle – the circle of guilt. Instead, we stand in the other circle, the circle of grace. So peace with God means no guilt, just grace. 

Let’s now revisit Jesus’ words to us, the hard truth he expressed in Luke 12. “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division” (v.51). When we consider the words of Isaiah 9:6 (where Jesus is referred to as the Prince of Peace) and the rejoicing of the angels at Jesus’ birth, Jesus’ words here certainly appear to contradict them! 

But let’s apply the understanding we just gained from God’s definition of peace from Romans 4. Even though Jesus was delivered over to death for the sins of all people, allowing God to declare all sinners not guilty, those who don’t believe it remain standing in the guilty circle. However, those who believe all that Jesus has said and done as their Savior stand in the circle of grace.

Now picture that. Two different circles – one of guilt and one of grace – are filled with only two different categories of people: those who believe and those who don’t. What is the result? Division. There is a division between those who rejoice in the peace Jesus came to bring and those who refuse it. 

So did Jesus come to bring the division? Yes, because he was responsible for bringing the peace that would be rejected by many in the world. So the division is Jesus’ fault in the same way that it is dad’s fault for taking the whole family out for ice cream. One child was in a pouty mood and stubbornly decided he didn’t want any. However, after seeing everyone else enjoy theirs, suddenly he determined it wasn’t fair that everyone else got some and put up a stink about it. That division wouldn’t have come if dad had not taken the family out for ice cream! So, in that sense, yes, it’s dad’s fault.

When the division of which Jesus speaks comes into the picture then, it stems from those who don’t want the peace he came to bring, but then decide it’s not fair that others would want it or have it and puts up a stink about it. And, as Jesus described, this kind of division goes deeper than just a group of Christians and those outside in the unbelieving world. It often hits home and we experience the division right under our own roof. 

And Jesus knew that division would happen. Jesus didn’t look forward to it, but he knew it would happen. It wouldn’t be pleasant, but he knew it would happen. That’s what he meant when he lamented, “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!” (v.49-50). Jesus came to save sinners, and he knew the grueling payment that was required of him to make that happen. But he also knew something else that would be equally agonizing: in order for sinners to be saved, they must first acknowledge they need saving. The refining fire of repentance needs to do its work. But many will refuse to acknowledge their need for repentance over any wrongdoing or sin against God. That’s why wherever Jesus is, division is right there with him.

And wherever the church is doing the work Jesus entrusted to it, division will result, just as he promised. Not only is this a hard truth because it hits close to home for many of us; it’s a hard truth because it is an undeniable reality of the ministry of the church. We are called to bring peace, yet God prepares us for the hard work of ministry by telling us that our efforts will result in division. We experience that kind of division as we live out our faith and seek to bring peace to others in our own personal mission field. That division will result when certain teachings turn others off and away from a congregation. That division will happen in a school ministry when the values or beliefs of families don’t always align with the mission of the school. Ministry involves many challenges, so Jesus warns us that we can count division among those challenges as we proclaim peace. 

But as long as we proclaim peace by his definition – peace that comes from being justified (declared “not guilty”) and peace that means standing in grace – then we have nothing to worry about. Jesus himself proclaimed peace and he was rejected. Those following in his footsteps will not be surprised to experience the same rejection. And we will have thick skin when we do. Why? Because we know and believe God’s definition of peace, and that through Jesus, that is exactly what we have. About that there is no doubt and no debate.