Category: Sermons

The Bread of Life for Eternal Life

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(John 6:35-51)

You are at the drug store looking for something to provide relief and recovery from certain symptoms you’re experiencing. While in the aisle you are scanning everything, sorting through what seems like an endless assortment possibilities. What exactly are you looking for? Something that not only claims to be able to provide the relief you’re looking for, but will effectively do so. You aren’t looking for a placebo. You aren’t looking for something that is cheap and ineffective. How do you know what will work? You read the box, assess the claims it makes, and end up purchasing the one that holds out the most promise to get the job done. 

As we continue giving our attention to Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse, we see a number of very bold claims on the part of Jesus. And his claims are not fuzzy. They do not cause confusion by lacking clarity, nor are they hidden in some mysterious verbiage that requires special enlightenment to understand.

No, just as you’d expect to see on the product in the drug store, Jesus clearly states who he is and what he’s able to do. When you find that, what you need, what not only claims to work, but which actually does, you take hold of it. You don’t keep on looking for something inferior that underpromises. You take what works. Jesus, the Bread of Life, reveals this morning that where nothing else works, he does.

The first part of Jesus’ teaching, which we looked at in the first post in this series, drew our attention to that which doesn’t work. Not only what doesn’t work, but what actually will end up doing more harm than good. Jesus emphasized the importance of not making our lives about food that spoils.

We do well to carry out a routine review in our lives to guard against slipping back into sloppy spiritual habits that find us favoring the pursuit of food that spoils instead of food that sustains and endures: Jesus, the bread of life. When any busyness of life that we have chosen prohibits us from feeding more on the Bread of Life in our own lives, we had better be aware: prioritizing a diet of food that spoils is going to leave us spiritually malnourished and potentially starved. Keep allowing the food that spoils at your own risk!

In this middle portion of Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse, we see the focus shift from avoiding the stuff that spoils to highlighting why we have every reason to purse the food that endures to enteral life. Similarly, parents don’t just warn their children against eating too much junk food; they also make sure they eat their fruits and vegetables and the stuff that’s actually good for them. There is nothing better for us than that which is best for us, Jesus, the Bread of Life.

The more I have reflected on these words of Jesus from John 6, the more I am convinced this might be one of the best places to direct a skeptic of Christianity. Why? Because these words of Jesus provide a great opportunity to simply put Jesus’ words to the test. 

Suppose someone recommended some superfood or nutrition that is going to improve your health and make you feel so much better. If they urged you to try it and you were reluctant, you’d probably look into it a bit more. You might ask some others if they’ve heard of it or know anything about it. You’d undoubtedly Google it to find out more about it. While you can do all of those things, and there is wisdom in doing so, you’ll probably come away with so much information on both sides – for or against the recommendation – that it hasn’t really helped you make a decision. You end up doing what you could have just decided right away: you try it. Assuming there are no dangerous side effects or risks, the worst that could happen is it doesn’t deliver what was promised.

But… what if it does? And what if the benefits of trying it far surpass even your wildest expectations? What if it’s life changing and positively impacts your daily mood and energy in a way that you could never have imagined? Well, you’d never know unless you tried it. 

These words of Jesus serve as an invitation to try him out. Read, study, and reflect on what Jesus is saying in all this talk about bread. Then you can make an informed decision on who this Jesus really is. And, as others have pointed out, there are really three possible conclusions to arrive at about Jesus. He must be an off-his rocker lunatic, a deceiving, fork-tongued liar, or he is the Lord God himself. He cannot be all three; only one.

I believe these words of Jesus to be powerful enough to set himself apart as the Lord God, the Bread of Life. He alone is able to provide what we cannot find anywhere else at all. So let us try him out. Let us, as the psalmist encourages us to do, taste and see that the Lord is good!

Let’s start with Jesus’ bold promise in the first verse of this section. “Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty’” (v.35). Since this teaching of Jesus came on the heels of his miraculous feeding of the 5,000, it would be natural for the crowds to understand Jesus to be speaking literally, as if referring to his miracle as proof of being able to provide unlimited food and drink.

Even if that were the case, however, the word “never” says more than that. I can personally make a promise to others to do this or that, but I cannot attach a “never” to it, because I won’t always be around to see it through. My days are numbered, so I cannot make promises of “never.” So Jesus’ claim that those who come to him will “never” go hungry or thirsty is on a different level. It sets him apart from your average Joe.

Another straightforward statement of Jesus highlights very directly what is different about him. “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me” (v.38). Hard to confuse that one, isn’t it? Who would make such a claim as to have come down from heaven??? 

Jesus’ statement is so bold that it might be natural for the modern reader to force some other interpretation of his words of here. However, the response of Jesus’ listeners indicates that they knew exactly what he was claiming, and it didn’t sit well with them. “At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven’” (v.41).

They thought Jesus was crossing a line. Healings and miraculous feedings and all that were one thing, but to have the audacity to claim heaven as one’s hometown? That was too far! So they knew full well exactly what Jesus was claiming. And in their minds, things only got worser from there. 

Their reaction provides insight in how to address the common argument from skeptic’s today who claim that if God existed, all he would need to do was appear and it would be all the proof they’d need. If he just made himself visible then they’d believe. Is that too much to ask?

Well, it isn’t too much to ask, but it’s pretty shallow thinking for a person in denial about God’s existence to contend that he’d suddenly believe if God just showed up. After all, that’s an atheist, an unbeliever, we’re talking about; but those listening to Jesus were Jews who already believed in a God. Not only did they believe there was a God, but they were about as devout as could be when it came to worshipping him! And if those who already believed in a God refused to believe that Jesus could be him, then it would be a far greater stretch for a God-denying atheist to believe so even if God showed up as he insisted.

Back to Jesus’ teaching. Those listening to him began to resent him. They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” (v.42). It just wasn’t adding up for them. They couldn’t fathom how Joseph and Mary’s son could be what he was claiming. They knew the family. They saw little Jesus grow up. They possibly even heard stories of the unique details about the day he was born. Certainly someone who was born didn’t just beam down from heaven! They made up their minds. Jesus was just another local citizen, albeit a wise teacher with the power to perform miracles. But that wasn’t unique – God had often permitted his prophets in the past to do such things. But none of them had ever claimed to come from heaven. So what could be so special about Jesus?

His claims. Jesus’ claims don’t line up with the claims of ordinary men. Multiple times in this teaching he made a claim that no ordinary human being could ever have made. We see one of the most profound in verse 40. “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day” (v.40).

We cannot miss the three bold claims woven into this statement. Jesus says that the Father’s will is for all to look on and believe in the Son – in Jesus! Remember that the Jewish people were monotheistic – worshipping only one God was a BIG part of their religion It set them apart from so many other religions with multiple gods to worship and please. They believed and worshipped in one God, but now Jesus’ claim was that that one God desired for them to believe in his Son, in Jesus, for eternal life!

He didn’t stop there. He also claimed to be the one to raise up believers on the last day. That kind of ability surpassed that of a doctor; it belonged only to the divine. People don’t rise from the dead alone; only God raises them or gives others the ability to do so!

Finally, we can’t miss the timing. Note that Jesus wasn’t talking about raising the dead yesterday, today, or tomorrow, but on the last day. How could man, whose life is determined by decades, not only raise anyone from the dead, but still be around on the last day to do so?!?

There is no misconstruing or confusing what Jesus is saying here. His words are not convoluted or complex. He is making clear, yet bold claims that are beyond the reach or ability of any human being.

So to the argument which some make that Jesus never claims to be God in the Bible, what other conclusion are we to draw about Jesus’ words here? There is no alternative! Jesus, the Bread of Life, is the ultimate manna from heaven. “Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die” (v.47-50).

What a difference! The Israelites ate the bread from heaven, manna, and they died. But Jesus, the true Bread from heaven, died, so that all who eat him may live!

How could all of this be? How could Jesus make such a promise?

Because he had in mind the very sacrifice he was going to offer to make it all possible. “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (v.51). Jesus was foreshadowing his crucifixion, where he gave himself up so that the world could have life. The Living Bread willingly died so that the spiritually dead – all people – could live. Only Jesus offers what cannot be found anywhere else: eternal life. 

Do we forget that God originally created us to live eternally? There was no death in his design of things. The word “eternal” only had to be added to describe eternal life after sin and its separation from God changed everything.

So the same way jokes are made asking whether it’s called “Chinese” food if it’s in China or if the French call them “french” fries or just “fries,” there was no need to call it “eternal” life when God first created Adam and Eve, because that’s what life was originally. Sin and eternal death necessitated the distinction between “life” and “eternal life.”

Jesus has reversed that. Jesus restored eternal life, because the sinless One suffered and died and served the sentence for us. Jesus forgave our sins – including every time we sinfully slip into searching for food that spoils again and again.

But with the debt of our sin cancelled, the path to eternal life has been reopened. And it comes only through Jesus, the Bread of Life. Next time, as we close out Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse, we are faced with the question of how we will respond to Jesus’ invitation to feed on him as the Bread of Life. 

Ministry Means Care & Compassion

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(Mark 6:30-34)

“I don’t care.” The meaning attached to those words can vary, depending on the circumstances under which they’re spoken. They are spoken when it comes to avoiding having to make a decision. “There are plenty of options, just choose one, and I’m good with any of them. I don’t care which one.” Those words can also be spoken to convey that a certain issue doesn’t matter to one person as much as it does to another.

Whatever the context, the one place we want to avoid those words is when it comes to ministry, because meaningful ministry means caring; it means having compassion. We see that care and compassion expressed in different ways in the short verses from Mark 6. 

We’ll start with the most obvious way Jesus demonstrated compassion, highlighted by the Gospel writer Mark in how he sets the scene and builds tension that needs to be resolved. Jesus and his disciples had been putting the pedal to the metal, ministry-wise, and they needed some down time. As they stepped out of the limelight briefly to recalibrate, Mark sets up some potential conflict. “But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them” (v.33). Jesus and the disciples needed rest, and the crowds that had tracked them down threatened that. How would Jesus and the disciples respond?

Jesus and the his apostles were in need of food and rest, and they made a deliberate attempt to step away for a bit to find it. But no sooner had they found it then the crowds once again found them! So much for a little R&R! Knowing how irritable we can become when we get hangry, it would have come as no surprise to see the apostles flare up and shoo the crowds away for a bit. Or, even a polite request for some alone time would have been completely understandable.

It should be no surprise to us at that Jesus showed how much he cared. “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things” (v.34). This is ministry. This is what gospel-geared, Savior-like service looks like in action. Meaningful ministry is not driven by convenience, but by compassion.

That means ministry is not limited to normal business hours. Since ministry is serving people and addressing their spiritual needs, those situations may arise at any time. When they do, we don’t shut the door and ask someone to come back during normal business hours. No, we serve as we’re able to, when we’re able to. 

Jesus’ compassionate heart got the better of him. He couldn’t turn them away, for when he looked, he didn’t see a bunch of time-sucking vampires always in need and draining him physically, mentally, and emotionally. Instead, he saw sheep without a shepherd. So, as the Good Shepherd, he sought to give these shepherdless sheep, these aimless wanderers who didn’t know what they didn’t know, the priceless gift of the Scriptures. He taught them timeless truths that would open their eyes to see Jesus as both their Good Shepherd and the perfect Lamb of God, who came to take away the sins of the world. 

How desperately we all need such a compassionate Savior! And not only because we need someone to care so deeply about us, but also because we need someone to care so deeply about others in our place. Even the most tender-hearted and compassionate among us fails to reach the level of perfect concern that Jesus has in his heart for all people. So to see him not only patiently put up with the crowds hunting him down like paparazzi, but to genuinely long to meet their needs – Jesus is out of our league! Jesus is what we are not. His righteousness is demonstrated through his untainted, selfless concern for his neighbor. How essential for our salvation that in Jesus we don’t just have the Savior we need from sin, but also the Substitute who characterized compassion so beautifully for us. 

Oh to view people in need the same way! Instead, we so easily see people as a hindrance to the task at hand. When my plans are put on hold or scrapped altogether because of someone else’s time of need, I don’t look at myself and see the compassion Jesus demonstrates here. Instead, the audible huffing and puffing of reluctance and resentment or the snarky jab that accompanies my begrudging service are much more common. Jesus saw people in need and his heart ached; we see people in need and are annoyed. 

Imagine if Jesus harbored similar sentiments in his heart toward people in need – no way would he ever have made it to the cross! By that point he would have been sick and tired of serving all the needy souls that chased him down! Then, to take it to another level and be tortured and crucified for the same lot of destitute crowds? Not a chance… if it was you or me in that position.

Thankfully, it wasn’t. It was Jesus. Caring Jesus. Compassionate Jesus. Always, at all times. For us, no matter how much in need we may ever find ourselves to be.

And you know exactly what he longs to do with that compassion which he extends to us; he desires to express it through us to others in need. Ministry that is meaningful takes into account what is meaningful to my neighbor in his time of need. It sacrifices my own wants and plans and preferences when care and compassion for others overrides everything else. When compassion calls us to meet physical needs, we do what we can. When those needs are emotional, we support as we’re able. When those needs are spiritual, we jump at the opportunity to point the lost and the hurting to their healing, caring, compassionate Savior.

Jesus didn’t just show care and compassion to the crowds in this account, but also to his coworkers. Remember, it was the needs of his coworkers in ministry that prompted Jesus and the disciples to get away in the first place. Jesus cared about their physical well-being, too. “Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’ So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place” (v.31-32). While it is absolutely the most rewarding thing we ever get to be a part of, that doesn’t mean ministry is easy. It isn’t, always. It can be exhausting. It can be draining. It can include long days. So we need to be aware of that for each other, as most of us here aren’t full or even part-time paid coworkers, but volunteers. 

There is of course the personal ministry that we carry out in our daily lives, but there is also the congregational ministry that goes on. We want to be sensitive to that for each other, so that we don’t discourage taking care of one’s self or including margin in our schedules. And when you do serve in some capacity, you must always know that it’s good and wise to say no, too, when necessary. Even when it comes to ministry, God has created our bodies and souls to need breaks, to need rest, to need restoration. Let’s make sure we’re giving that to each other, especially because sometimes, as we see this in this account from Mark, that rest can be rather short-lived!

We actually see the final example of care and compassion first in Mark’s introductory description of this account. Those sent by Jesus to carry out meaningful ministry were now reporting on that ministry, and Jesus cared enough to listen. “The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught” (v.30).

There are really two takeaways here: first, when we carry out meaningful ministry, a trust has been given to us. Since God calls us to carry out this work faithfully, we are responsible for holding ourselves accountable to others. Most often that takes the form of some sort of reporting, either formally or informally. If you belong to a church that has called a pastor to serve you with the gospel, you have every right to hold him accountable in carrying out that ministry. Just as the apostles did to Jesus, so also pastors report all that they are doing and have done in ministry.

You, too, are accountable for participating in this ministry as well. That is, after all, one of the most significant reasons we join a church – to use our gifts to participate in ministry.

Church membership isn’t like a trip to Costco, where I am solely a consumer filling my cart with more things than I need. You aren’t responsible for stocking the shelves at Costco. You don’t check out customers or scan their receipts. At Costco you are simply a customer.

But church is not Costco! At church you are a customer and a coworker. So when you take up a task, when you are involved in ministry, a part of that means caring enough to be held accountable to do what you said you were going to do.

That’s the first takeaway – reporting and accountability.

The second is simply that Jesus listened. They were reporting to Jesus what they had done. Now when you picture this taking place, do you imagine Jesus being the hardline boss, waiting to jump down the throat of us his employees? Probably not. More likely, he listened and offered encouraging feedback and direction to use the opportunity as a teachable moment to equip them for future ministry. 

We can do the same! When we are willing to serve in some official capacity as we carry out our ministry together, this is no small thing to which we have agreed! We are agreeing to give our best for the best, and rather than holding to the “they should be grateful I’m serving” attitude, we want to be eager to provide updates and progress. And on the other side, we want to eagerly hear such reports, so that we might encourage and uplift each other in service, and offer assistance or guidance whenever it’s needed.

Those serving care enough to hold themselves accountable, and those to whom they report care enough to listen and provide support. While it’s not the big picture idea from these verses, it is one more way that meaningful ministry involves caring for each other.

Meeting the needs of others is not the occasional good deed that we’re willing to do when we put “real” ministry on pause; meeting the needs of others is the ministry, the gospel-geared, Savior-like service to which we’re called. It isn’t an inconvenience; it’s our calling. It isn’t a hindrance to getting ministry done; it is how ministry is done as we serve to open doors through compassion that ultimately permit us to point others to their compassionate Christ. 

Is now a good time to consider how your congregation might extend the reach of care and compassion to more in the community? Could care and compassion be a calling card of your congregation? Could you offer grief support or a resiliency ministry for those struggling with addictions? Could you partner with other community organizations already involved in such things to enhance what is already being done?

We don’t have to look very far to see outlets for care and compassion. Could we put Jesus’ care and compassion into practice by meeting more of those needs? Meaningful Ministry is service that is willing to ask those questions and to provide answers as the Lord enables us to. May the Lord grant us such willing spirits.

Hold Firmly

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(Titus 1:5-9)

Last week, at the start of this Meaningful Ministry (aka, gospel-geared, Savior-like service) series, we began with the reminder that our efforts will not always be appreciated by everyone. In fact, we can expect our efforts to be opposed, sometimes with even great effort. Nevertheless, we carry on with ministry because it’s what God calls us to do. 

Now we find the confidence we need in remembering whose authority backs our ministry, and where we find that authority. As one pastor writing to another, Paul reminded Titus that “He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it” (v.9). Therefore, as we continue to consider what meaningful ministry looks like, we must cling to the truth that meaningful ministry is that which holds firmly to the trustworthy message. Meaningful ministry holds firmly to the Word.

If I may say so, although the title of this post is “Hold Firmly,” some of you are, quite frankly, holding rather loosely to the Word of God. That might hurt a little bit to hear, but if so, thank God that his Word – specifically the law – is doing what it is supposed to do. We might be inclined to push back against such a statement (because after all, what about all the others who are not reading this or who don’t regularly attend church?!?), and to do so wouldn’t necessarily be wrong. But those Christians not reading or listening to sermons aren’t alone in their loose grasp on the Word of God – there are plenty more right there with them who have a rather soft grip on the Word. 

That can happen if Sunday morning worship or reading the occasional sermon online is about as engaged as one ever gets in ministry. If there is one thing that believer and unbeliever alike know about Christianity and Sunday mornings, it’s that Sunday mornings are for worship. While the unbeliever obviously doesn’t see any need to be there, the danger for the believer is to see worship as the bare minimum in his affiliation with the church. Yes, one of the greatest blessings God has given to his church as it carries out meaningful ministry is the blessing of worship; but even that blessing can become a bottleneck to anyone who severely shortchanges ministry by defining it as nothing more than going to church. Such a view is a soft grip on the Word. 

Imagine an actor just showing up for the performance. No study of the storyline or character. No rehearsing lines or any thought on how they might be delivered. Or an athlete just showing up for the games. No practice. No drills. No preparation or game-tape on the other team. Very few could pull either off, and to do so with such little effort beforehand not only reflects poorly on the craft, but also fails to set a high standard or raise the bar in that field.

Why would Christians settle for mediocrity in our ministry, settling for less than our best in carrying out Christ’s calling? Why would some idea of minimal means of grace involvement ever be satisfactory? No, we want to practice like we play. Prepare. Be in the Word. Deeply.

There is great reason to hold firmly to this Word of God. We do so because through it God sends us and serves us. Meaningful ministry is our lot, not because we wisely figured out on our own that Jesus might be good for people to know about, but because Jesus sends us, just as he sent his disciples. They went out with his backing, with his authority. And they went out not because they were qualified in and of themselves, but because they were called. He was the one sending them.

He is the one sending you. Not because you are qualified in and of yourself, but because you were called. You carry out ministry with his backing, with his authority. That started when he made you what you are today, when he gave you your most precious status and title: his. You belong to him. You are his. He made you his when he paid with his life and then gifted you with the faith to believe it. 

I most commonly close my emails with that very signature, “His.” It reminds me of the title that carries more weight than any other ever could. My worth and my value and my significance and my purpose are all wrapped up in the One to whom I belong. In a very real way, one of the simplest little hymns many of us ever learned to sing as children still holds dear in our hearts: “I am Jesus’ little lamb, ever glad at heart I am.” I have different titles. I have various responsibilities and roles. Like an umbrella over them all at all times is the precious truth that I am his – and I always will be. 

And he, dear friends, is the One who sends us. When we forget that bond, that relationship, and all that God did to establish it, ministry is less meaningful. That is when it becomes a job, nothing more than a series of tasks, as if the boss just gave you a list of things he needs you to get done. To lose that bond, that connection with our Savior, and allow it to fray, easily turns ministry into misery. I think you’d agree that Miserable Ministry would be a significantly different sermon series. So remember why we hold firmly to this Word: it is a constant reminder of the One who sends us.

It is also the way he has chosen to serve us. This might be the most significant hurdle that keeps many Christians away from more meaningful service: a willingness to continue to be served by God through holding firmly to the Word. Remember, ministry is gospel-geared, Savior-like service. Another reminder: you are incapable of carrying that out on your own. It must be worked into you through the Word. So there is no, “Jesus did this for me, and now I’d like to graduate beyond that and get busy with all of the work of his kingdom.” No, there is only, “Jesus did this for me, and now he will do this through me.”

So we do not busy ourselves with church work while avoiding church Word & worship. They are inseparable. Service is prompted by being served, and if I don’t have the humility to continue being served a steady diet of Word and Sacrament, then my service will be short-lived and running on fumes in no time. It will become about me. It will become a burden. It will burn me out. It will turn me against other Christians as I begin to resent them for not doing what I’m doing. When I am at that point, I fail to notice how much I have come to resemble Martha, begrudging the others who are too preoccupied with the Word in worship and Bible study to actually do the work to which we’ve been sent.

At that moment we are reminded of why it’s so essential to hold firmly to the Word: my jaded heart daily needs its forgiveness and renewal. In the Word alone do I find what my heart longs for: grace for my misguided ministry that somehow turned what is God’s around and made it all about me. That joy of salvation renews me, taking my me-minded ministry and making it captive to Christ. His sacrifice and salvation for me prompts my sacrificial service to others for the sake of that same salvation. It makes ministry meaningful again.

When I hold firmly to the Word of God at work in all of this, I see that same Word of God at work in me. 

In these verses, Paul laid out quite the list of qualifications for ministry to Titus. While this standard of expectations certainly applies to all Christians, there is an especially important reason Paul emphasizes it for a pastor: because the pastor is understandably associated most directly with God and his authority. As one called by Christians to serve them with the gospel in Word and Sacrament, he is God’s representative. But just as surely as all of these qualifications apply to all Christians, so does the call to hold firmly to the Word of God apply to all Christians. 

In fact, without this final point in this section of Paul’s words to Titus, what precedes is purposeless. Why? Because apart from the Word at work in us, there’s no innate desire to embody the qualifications Paul lists, nor is there any ability to carry them out.

Take note of how Paul refers to the usage of teaching and doctrine, which as often as not seems to get a pretty bad rap – even within the church these days. Many view doctrine as divisive (despite the reality that it is actually what unites). Many view doctrine as a hindrance to Christian living (despite the reality that Christian living flows from it).

But see how Paul touches on it! He uses the word “encourage.” To remain faithful to the Bible’s teachings, to hold the view that doctrine is so very important and matters greatly – this is encouraging. What is discouraging is to see it downplayed, to hear the point of view that only the Jesus and salvation stuff really matters, and we can politely agree to disagree on all the other stuff. The problem with that view is that all of the “other stuff” flows from the Jesus and salvation stuff; it isn’t some add-on or take-it-or-leave-it a la carte menu. It all ties to Jesus, and for that reason, it is encouraging, as Paul maintained. 

So hold firmly to that Word of God – all of it. Our Meaningful Ministry will be blessed as we do so. For it is through the Word of God that he sends us and serves us. And as he does, he will serve us and equip us with everything that we need to carry out faithful, meaningful ministry.

Defying Death Is Not Death-Defying

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(Mark 5:21-24a, 35-43)

Have you noticed the shift in the way we discuss death and prepare for it as a society? A friend recently shared an article from a rabbi regarding death. The article had some good insights in preparing for death that would be very beneficial for anyone to consider. He presented a number of thought-provoking questions that could probably help anyone struggling with the reality of death. The general approach he took in his article was to emphasize the importance of making sure you’re living the life you want to live right now that lines up with your priorities.

Ironically, what his article on death did not address, is what actually happens to us when we die. More and more, this seems to be the trend regarding death and end-of-life issues – we avoid the death part. Certain practices that are becoming more prevalent, like holding “Celebration of Life” events in place of funerals or memorial services, or even a living funeral that allows the person to participate in their own funeral before they die, reflect this avoidance of death. Our aversion to discussing death isn’t necessarily a surprise, as it likely comes from either a fear of what that might be, or the uncertainty that prompts us to keep our collective heads in the sand and avoid the topic altogether.

But if there is anyone in our society who should have no problem taking the lead in discussing this topic that applies to everyone, it should be Christians. Death does not need to be a taboo topic for those of us who by faith cling to the One who undid death and its terrifying threats. Death is different for the children of God than it is for the children of this world. Jesus reminds us why in this section of Mark’s Gospel, and as the current series (“A Top-Down Faith”) concludes, we thank God for the top-down faith that allows us to see death differently – not as the world does, but as it really is.

The man named Jairus would never view death the same. We don’t know much about Jairus outside of this account. His position as synagogue leader would have been similar to someone serving on a church council or even as the church president. He was responsible for overseeing and managing the synagogue. When his daughter became sick, Mark details for us how he approached Jesus. “Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. He pleaded earnestly with him, ‘My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live’” (v.22-23).

The disciples in the boat last week could have taken a page from the synagogue leader’s request in how to appropriately approach Jesus! We see in Jairus two things that are noteworthy. One, he demonstrates a confident trust that Jesus was able to heal his daughter, and two, the manner by which he asks displays an endearing measure of humility. Unlike the disciples, Jairus didn’t arrogantly conclude in the midst of his own personal storm regarding his daughter’s terminal illness that Jesus must not have cared. Instead, he humbly expressed his confidence in Jesus by politely asking him to heal her.

Jesus obliged. He then accompanied Jairus to his home. However, tragedy struck while they were on their way. Before they had arrived, they were met with the devastating news that it appeared to be too late. His daughter had already died. The messengers reasoned that there was no point in having Jesus continue on to the house anymore since she was already dead.

But Jesus had other plans. “Overhearing what they said, Jesus told [Jairus], ‘Don’t be afraid; just believe’” (v.36). When you have a miracle of this magnitude where a dead person is raised to life, it isn’t surprising for that kind of a thing to generally grab all the attention in the narrative. But we would miss out on so much if we neglected to delve more into the details of Jesus’ response to Jairus!

“Don’t be afraid.” Fear surrounding death comes in all shapes and sizes. There is a fear of the unknown surrounding death. While the Bible makes it clear what happens when believers die, it doesn’t walk us through the actual experience of dying itself, nor do we always know how we’re going to die. There is also a fear of the unknown regarding the remaining family members after a death. How will they handle it? How will they be cared for? How will they get through x/y/z without this person? And to all of these fears, the unbeliever can add another: the fear of uncertainty in not knowing where he is going, or even the intuitive awareness that her life has not measured up, and she will have to face the consequences. 

Of those fears just mentioned, only the last one is justified, for if nothing changes for the unbeliever, there is no more legitimate fear than that of suffering in hell for eternity! To the other fears, though, just as Jesus said to Jairus, so he says to us: “Don’t be afraid.”

Let your anxious fears be drowned in those words. Do not insist on following them with a “but…” or a “how…” or any other uncertainties for which we might be inclined to seek out an answer. Just take Jesus’ words to heart.

He didn’t explain to Jairus why he didn’t need to be afraid. He didn’t lay out his plans for raising his daughter so that it made sense to Jairus why he didn’t need to be afraid. He just eased his aching heart with the assurance that he had nothing to fear. In fact, instead of being afraid, Jesus encouraged Jairus to replace that fear with something else: faith.

“Just believe,” Jesus said. It’s the easiest thing in the world. It’s also the hardest thing in the world.

On the one hand, since the work of conversion, of coming to faith in Jesus, is entirely and completely the work of the Holy Spirit through and through, it couldn’t be easier! He did that work in us. We have no claim to make or any role to play in coming to faith. It is all God’s work, not ours. We did nothing – that’s easy!

However, having been brought to faith in Jesus and now being aware of all of the gracious promises he gives us in his Word, it becomes more difficult to “just believe.” That’s because we start to see how often our own thoughts and experiences in life seem to test our trust in those promises. It is easy to say I believe in Jesus; it is hard to live in his promises by faith. It’s hard not to demand knowing the answer when we’re at a crossroad in life. It’s hard not to insist on being in control of challenging situations. It’s hard when things don’t work out the way I want them to or think they should. Regardless of whatever the circumstances may be, to look to and lean on every word and promise of God – this is a hard thing! 

But it gets easier the more we do it. Rather than trying to understand why it’s reasonable or makes sense in this or that scenario to believe, just believe. Just listen to Jesus. It doesn’t have to make sense first. I don’t have to see the clear, logical path first. I don’t have to have the answer or solution first. No, first, believe. Then, faith will see what happens next. For example, a dead daughter being raised back to life.

Notice that Jesus didn’t raise Jairus’ daughter because Jairus understood it or could explain to the crowds what Jesus was about to do. No, Jesus raised her because… Jesus raised her. Because he could. Because he cared. Because there are no limitations to what God can do. He is capable of doing anything at any time. Just believe.

Some didn’t. Some didn’t believe. In fact, not only did they not believe Jesus, they took it a step further and ridiculed him with laughter. “When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, ‘Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.’ But they laughed at him” (very.38-40). They did not, as Jesus had encouraged Jairus, “just believe.” And for their lack of faith, they weren’t allowed to witness the miracle first hand. Jesus dismissed them and cleared out the home.

But Jairus, who had already displayed the confidence that Jesus could powerfully intervene on behalf of his daughter, saw his faith rewarded, and along with him his wife, who likely shared his trust in Jesus. Together with the three disciples of Jesus’ inner circle, they all witnessed the impermanence of death when Jesus is involved. “He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished” (v.41-42). Jesus didn’t disappoint. 

Neither does our faith in Jesus. 

A faith in Jesus that fully trusts what he is capable of doing does not have to insist that he do it. What I mean is this. Sometimes people – even Christians – make the measure of their faith conditional. Their faith is dependent upon whether or not God acts on their behalf in accordance with their desired outcome in any situation. If he doesn’t, their faith diminishes. But that sort of a faith doesn’t really have much of a foundation.

Rather, a faith that fully believes that God can do something, but also remains intact – strong even – in the times when God chooses not to act in accordance with our desires or wishes – now that is faith! To believe that God can heal my loved one dying of this or injured by that, but nonetheless embracing the outcome by faith even if he doesn’t – this is the faith we’re after! Because it is a faith that really sees death as it is: temporary. A nap. Nothing more than restful sleep.

Doesn’t it stand out how casually Jesus treats death in this account? There was no special potion or concoction that needed to be crafted, no ritual or rite that needed to take place. There were no steps to carry out beforehand for it all to work out. Jesus simply told a little girl to wake up from her nap. That is what death is to Jesus! What do we, who are in Jesus, have to fear?!?

So let us apply this to our own death, and to the deaths of those we love who are in Christ. When facing what appears to be imminent death, is God able to intervene and hold off death? Absolutely. We know he is. But will he choose to do so just because he can? Not always, for he personally knows two things that we can’t fully grasp.

One, he knows how much more incredible it is for the believer to cross the finish line home into heaven. What a great reminder for us to shift away from speaking of those who have died as being “taken from this world.” Death is not being taken from this world; rather, it is being brought into the presence of Jesus!

Two, Jesus fully knows that death is a short-lived sleep from which all physical bodies of believers will be raised. We will be glorified to live eternally in the new heaven and earth that is coming. And it will be one without cemeteries.

Therefore, we can face death fearlessly. Having been washed in the waters of our baptism, having been fed a steady diet of Word and Sacrament, having heard the absolving words of Jesus from the pages of Scripture and from the lips of fellow believers, “you are forgiven,” death is nothing more than a peaceful sleep, a restful nap, that does more than just open a window into pleasant dreams, but ushers us into the perfect reality of home in heaven. 

The raising of Jairus’ daughter was not the headliner – just the opening act. The real performance was Jesus’ own death and resurrection! Because of that, death and fear do not go hand-in-hand for the believer.

Here is a reminder from Hebrews to cement this truth in your hearts. “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14-15). In Christ, God took on a body so that the power of death could be broken and that we would be freed from death and freed from being enslaved by the fear of death.

Defying death is not death-defying. There is no danger or risk in dealing confidently with death. You know and believe in the One who undid death. So be unafraid to discuss death with others, and alleviate their fears by pointing them to Jesus, who defied death for us.

Real Rest Is God-Given

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(Mark 2:23-3:6)

Are you well-rested? Typically when that question is asked of us, we take it to refer to whether or not we got a good night’s sleep. Certainly that matters when we gather in God’s house for worship. Running on a few hours of sleep or a restless night of tossing and turning presents a very real challenge to remaining alert and fully engaged.

While there is a place for speaking about the importance and benefits of sleep for our bodies, we gather for worship in search of a different type of rest. So I ask again: are you well-rested – spiritually?

We aren’t bound to the Old Testament mandate that worship had to take place on Saturday, which was known as the Sabbath. However, is there perhaps something lost in our not associating that biblical term more frequently with our Sunday morning worship? Its meaning is a good reminder of why we gather, for the word Sabbath means “rest.” That is why we gather worship with God’s people around Word and sacrament – so that God might provide rest every week for sinners stumbling into his house, saddled with a surplus of sins from yet another week. In worship, we find spiritual rest for our souls.

But is it just spiritual rest that God offers us? Are physical and spiritual rest as unrelated as we might think? Consider Jesus, Peter, and Paul in the New Testament. They worked tirelessly for the gospel, so often willing even to put their lives on the line and to stretch themselves physically beyond what the average person is capable of. Do you suppose that was because they had three nutrition-packed meals a day, exercised regularly, and got a full night’s sleep each night? We acknowledge those things are all important, but it isn’t likely an accurate description of their typical day! And yet they had energy and zeal to carry out the work given to them. Why was that?

Might it be that they knew the source of real rest? They had the spiritual rest that flows from the good news of the gospel, the absolute forgiveness and freedom they had through faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. Could that kind of rest have the benefit of providing what is needed to not only function, but to thrive – even when physical rest is lacking and the body might otherwise feel depleted? Could it be that the benefits of the rest God gives go well beyond the realm of the spiritual and extend into the physical as well? After all, Jesus does invite us to, “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Mt. 6:33). Is it too limited a point of view to presume that his promise referred only to tangible blessings like possessions, or could that promise be stretched to include even the physical rest our bodies need? Maybe that point merits further discussion for another time.

Nonetheless, because spiritually we are like the stubborn toddler refusing to go down for nap time even though he’s exhausted, we always need reminders of why spiritual rest is so important and where we are to go to find it.

Sadly, we have an example of where not to seek out that rest in Mark 2. Rest is not found in a rigid adherence or disciplined obedience to the law. Rest is not earned, as the Pharisees thought of it was. Their upbringing and understanding was that rest was waiting on the other side of righteous living. 

They could not have been more wrong. To approach the law as if it could possibly serve that purpose is to grossly misunderstand the law.

Have you ever played the game of Operation? The goal is to remove all of the bones/ailments without allowing your tweezers to touch the metal rim surrounding each area of “surgery.” Otherwise, the electric buzzer sounds the alarm of failure, which only startles and stresses you out all the more. Yet as stressful as that game may be, at least someone can win it. It has an end.

But there is no end, no way to win when it comes to keeping the law, because it’s a never-ending thing. All day, everyday, the buzzer sound of God’s law is constantly going off, signaling yet another failure on our part, and with no end in sight. What a far cry from rest that is! 

And so instead, to fabricate their own little “wins,” the Pharisees would do primarily two things: 1) add extra laws that they could keep on occasion to boost their ego and confidence, or 2) draw attention to how miserably others failed to keep the law by comparison. How easily they deceived themselves! They believed that either course of action was somehow providing the ever-elusive rest they sought in the law. In reality, all either one of those options ever achieved was to distract and deceive them from a real awareness of their own epic failure at keeping the law. That’s because the law can’t achieve what they wanted it to. It cannot offer peace. It will never bring rest. It only accuses, condemns, and kills.

Jesus clearly demonstrated this for them one day in the synagogue. Appealing to their deep affinity for the law, while also showing them how far off they were from understanding it, he introduced his miracle by calling their understanding of the law into question. “Jesus asked them, ‘Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?’” (v.4). He plainly asked the experts of the law what their understanding of it was, and their response spoke volumes: “But they remained silent.”

The law is summed up in one simple four-letter word: love. And yet, they refused to grasp what Jesus was saying because their own loveless hearts were so attracted to their twisted misunderstanding of the law that it blinded them to the neighbor in need right in front of them. Not only that, but their understanding of the law was so corrupted that they couldn’t even rejoice in the merciful miracle of healing that Jesus had carried out; instead, they went out and plotted how they might murder the loving Healer!

The law can never provide us with rest, because that is simply not a path it provides. The law’s path provides just one purpose: to show us how loveless we are. Do you understand that?

That is why you will be disappointed when using the law as a metric for anything other than judgment within the Christian faith. Judgment is all the law can bring. So if we seek rest through the law, we either end up like the Pharisees, choosing from those two options of either creating extra laws or focusing in the inability of others to keep the law. The greatest danger of either option is that we end up driven away from Christ and Christianity altogether. That is because rather than ending up at the cross, where God desires his law to lead us, the one who rejects the cross in favor of remaining on the path of the law will always and only end up at a spiritual dead-end.

This happens gradually. It happens subtly. It happens when more and more, we put the acknowledgment of our own sin on autopilot, as if confession is merely a prerequisite for focusing our attention on the real problem: how bad everyone else is. While we sin, others sin in worse ways AND they don’t even admit their sin like we do!

In this way, instead of the awareness of our own sin leading us to deep sorrow and contrition, we actually pridefully spin our awareness of our sin as proof that we’re on a level above other sinners who not only do worse stuff than we do, but they’re so bad that they don’t even acknowledge it!

While we might deceive ourselves into thinking that short-term satisfaction is a rest that comes from repentance, it isn’t at all. Instead, it’s the temporary high of a puffed-up pride that wants to cling to the false rest of being a higher-class sinner than other low-life sinners. Eventually, though, it all comes crashing down. Eventually we are set straight by the realization that the very thing that we looked to for temporary relief from sin – zeroing in on other worse sinners, is not relief at all! On the contrary – it is actually more condemnation and guilt! Because now we must heap yet another sin onto the existing pile of our own sins: the sin of pride, for thinking ourselves to be superior to other sinners! Mark my words: there is no rest in the law!

Jesus set us straight with two truths from his profound words in verses 27 & 28. “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” First, the Sabbath was not given to man as another religious ritual that was required, but rather as rest to be received. It was not another item on some perceived to-do list that God required as a prerequisite to rest. No, it wasn’t “do this, then rest,” but rather, “ rest, for all is done for you.” 

But who could make such a claim? Only the One who is “Lord even of the Sabbath.” What does it mean to attach the title of “Lord” to some activity or achievement? It means that the one named is the owner, the supreme, the authority, the master of that thing. The “lord” of anything means he’s over it and oversees it.

So if Jesus is Lord – master – even of Sabbath rest, then where else would anyone turn for rest? Where else, other than to the One who is over it, who owns it, who determines how to dispense it? If Jesus is the master of rest, then, dear friends, go to him alone for it!

Rest in the waters of your baptism, water that was poured over your pride and washed away the heavy burden of your sin! Hear the words of the Invocation at the beginning of worship and let them take you back to the baptismal font. There the Triune God placed his name on you, and when he did, he purified you from all sin and made you his family member. Rest easy in your identity as a baptized child of God, a reality and a status that cannot ever be stripped from you.

Rest in the words of the absolution that fall upon sinners’ ears to set the tone for our worship every Sunday! Don’t just mindlessly mumble the opening confession of sins each Sunday like a bunch of brain-dead zombies. Prepare for worship beforehand each Sunday by reflecting on the past week and all of the things your sin damaged or destroyed and all of the ways your sin sabotaged the good blessings that God would otherwise have worked through you in the lives of others. Think on those sins and as you do so more and more and their weight grows heavier and heavier, bring them with you to God’s house and leave them their in confession. Then, rest, as through the lips of your pastor and your brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus himself speaks the assurance of your forgiveness in the words of absolution.

Rest in his body and blood in, with, and under the bread and wine in the Supper, for there he provides food that feeds and strengthens weary souls! The forgiveness that has touched our ears and hearts already in worship then also touches our lips, that we might taste the reality of our forgiveness, even as we remember the very sacrifice that was made to offer it. With this sacred meal he feeds us forgiveness and rest follows. Just as dinner on Thanksgiving Day begs to be followed by even a brief rest, so this sacred Dinner of Thanksgiving in Holy Communion is followed by the spiritual rest which flows from it.

Dear friends, are you well-rested spiritually? You are when you run to the Lord of the Sabbath, the master of rest, for what we are so eager to receive, and he is so eager to give.

Not Alone

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(John 15:26-27; 16:4b-11)

They might be among some of the most damaging and destructive words we can hear. They have the power to turn someone’s world upside down.

“I’m leaving.”

Those words might be spoken by the coach or a player to his college or professional team, informing them that he has signed or taken an offer from another team. These could be the words coming from a long-time business partner who wants out or desires to pursue new ventures. And of course, perhaps among the most dreaded, these words might be the bombshell one spouse drops on the other.

So we try to understand the impact Jesus’ words had on his disciples when he informed them that he was leaving. Through the ups and downs of their three-year training during Jesus’ ministry, he had always been there. Even their slow-to-get-it faith at times wasn’t enough to lead Jesus to throw up his hands in frustration and be done with them. Even after he had rebuked them he had always reassured them in their continued commitment to ministry together. Nothing was ever so extreme that Jesus felt compelled to “clean house” and bring in an entirely new crew of disciples to turn things around. They all were with him from the beginning, and he had remained with them.

But soon that would change. Jesus informed his disciples, “Now I am going to him who sent me” (v.5a). He had come from the Father and was now going to be returning to the Father. On Christmas we celebrate Jesus’ arrival as the Savior born in Bethlehem. On Ascension, Jesus departed and carried out these words by returning to his Father in heaven. He would no longer be physically present in person to mentor and equip his disciples for ministry as he had been for the past three years. 

Nevertheless, Jesus also assured his disciples that his departure would bring blessing. “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away” (v.7a). That actually might be the more surprising element of Jesus’ words; not just that he was leaving, but that it would be for their good!

Yet, think of certain scenarios involving the relationship between children and parents. We can see how quickly a situation that looks to be like an undesirable case of departure can turn into something positive and exciting. Parents leave… to pick up grandma from the airport, or to bring home pizza for dinner. dinner. They aren’t leaving for good; they’re just leaving for something good, which will make the return even better! 

So it is with Jesus. He wasn’t leaving for good; he was leaving for something good, and that will ultimately make his return on the last day even better! Why? Because in the meantime he has sent the Holy Spirit to carry out his work.

And what does this gift, the Holy Spirit, do? He keeps our attention where it needs to be, on Jesus, our greatest gift. The disciples weren’t alone – Jesus gifted them his Holy Spirit to assure them of it. We need the same assurance that we aren’t alone. And in the Holy Spirit we have it!

It isn’t just cases of desertion or abandonment; isolation in general is leaving us reeling as a society. We have more ways than ever to connect with other people, yet we remain as disconnected as ever. We have fewer friends than we have in the past. We socialize and spend less time together with them than we have in the past. Sure, there are many contributing factors, and there’s plenty of room for healthy debate about why we’re seeing this trend, but there is little disagreement about the conclusion: it is negatively affecting us. We were not created nor are we wired to be alone or isolated.  

When God created Adam, his creation was good – flawless, perfect, lacking nothing in terms of how God had created him. Yet for Adam to function optimally, God gave him a companion – another human being. Even in our pet-loving society, God didn’t intend for animals to replace the role of human interaction that would enable Adam to thrive. So God gave Eve, his absolute best companion to Adam, to bring his creation to completion.

Even though Adam’s relationship with God was in perfect harmony, not marred in any way by sin, God went a blessed step further, guarding Adam from loneliness and isolation by giving him another human being. And even though our sinful self-centeredness after the Fall forever changed our relationships and how we interact with other people, we still need each other. In fact, one might contend that loneliness and isolation are even more dangerous threats because of the Fall. 

So today we find needed assurance in the Pentecost promise that we are not alone. Single? You aren’t alone. Empty nesters? You aren’t alone. Battling cancer by yourself? You aren’t alone. Surrounded by people but still feeling as lonely as ever? You aren’t alone. New job? New school next year? Not alone. You aren’t alone. 

Hear Jesus’ promise to you again: “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me” (v.26). What is Jesus promising the Holy Spirit will do? “Testify about me,” he said! Jesus wasn’t going to become an afterthought at all! Quite the opposite – he was going to be receiving even more attention.

Recall how many times Jesus followed up a miracle by telling those healed not to tell anyone about it. Well that time had passed! Now that Jesus was promising to send the Holy Spirit, the Spirit’s whole work is to make Jesus and his salvation known to everyone. The Spirit’s message was that in Jesus, we have a Savior for life, a Savior for eternal life, a Savior who will never leave us. The Spirit and the Savior are on the same team, comforting us with that simple promise: you aren’t alone.

Even the title applied to the HS – Advocate – indicates as much. Think of what it means to have an advocate, to have someone speak up for you is to have someone for you, and someone can’t be for you if they’re not with you, if they don’t know you. That’s what we have in the HS. What is the greatest way the HS can speak up for us as our advocate? By pointing us to Jesus! By reminding us we’re not alone. That is what he does in his Word. That is what he does in baptism. That is what he does in Communion. 

And this assurance doesn’t just apply to us when others have left or deserted us; it also applies when we’re the reason for our loneliness or isolation. It could be as simple as withdrawing and making no effort on our end to engage or connect with others, slowly turning sour because “no one ever cares enough about me to reach out and check on me.” Or, when others do reach out to connect, we’re always too busy or have other priorities.

Sometimes it’s worse than that. It’s our words or actions, our habitual behavior, our sin, that drives others away, leaving us isolated. Then, rather than make the effort toward reconciliation that would require our repentance, we keep to ourselves, ruminating on the situation that caused all of it. We allow it to linger and fester, and we spin the narrative in our own heads. This leads us to end up justifying our behavior and refuse to pursue peace and reconciliation because we dig in our heels waiting for the other person to initiate it. And we wonder why we’re isolated or lonely when we’ve manage to plug our noses to the stench of our own sin! 

And on top of all of that there is the guilt, the guilt we have from our own neglect of our relationships. Of course relationships with others matter, but we can only maintain so many of them. So when we don’t keep in touch with others and feel like a crummy friend, guilt settles in. When we don’t call our Mother’s on Mother’s Day, and we feel like horrible children. We can’t seem to follow through with that “let’s get together” that’s been going on for months or even years with someone else.

So on top of the isolation we feel, often self-imposed, our own actions have heaped a pile of guilt on us as we languish in our loneliness! But see what the Spirit reminds us of; see what he came to do and how he points us to the solution. “When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness,  because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned” (v.8-11).

Sin doesn’t smother those who believe in Jesus, because in him it is washed away. In its place he grants us his righteousness. Judgment doesn’t crush us when we’re in Jesus, because look who stands condemned – it is not your name that Jesus inserts there, but the prince of this world, Satan. See how the Holy Spirit reminds us of the victory we have in Jesus! We aren’t cut off from him, even for cutting off others with our sin. It is forgiven and paid for in Jesus, and the Holy Spirit will never tire of testifying that truth.  

And just as the Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would testify about him, so too, do we. “And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning” (v.27). Yes, we testify to others by imitating the Holy Spirit and directing the attention to Jesus – through our words, of course. But often times, for our words to hit ears willing to listen, they must be preceded by action. 

Through our actions, we become the antidote to isolation and loneliness. We don’t need pills, we need people. We need each other. When we see that we understand the joy John expressed in his letters in seeing God’s people walk together in Christian lives filled with love and truth. Event planning brings together like-minded moms who not only maximize their efforts to organize a fantastic event, but keep loneliness at bay by connecting together in the process. Individuals separated by states connect online on a weekly basis to check in and dig in to the Word. The weakened body of a live alone cancer patient requires a hair cut and a light switch, to say nothing of company. In his church family he finds what he needs and isolation is avoided. A motorcycle repair job between two guys is a channel for teamwork and connection, offsetting loneliness in the process. We need each other, and we can give ourselves to each other because we’re not alone. 

And that time spend together, both internally with one another, but also in the important relationships we have with those outside the Christian faith, by our actions gives us permission to speak in a way that follows up our actions. And we can testify as the Holy Spirit did, that in Jesus we have what we need. We are not alone. We have Jesus. The Holy Spirit guarantees it.

Real Triumph

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(1 John 5:1-6)

“Jesus Crushed” might have been what the headlines would have read on Good Friday as the story started to spread. To those present, whose eyes had watched the most unjust death sentence ever carried out in all of history, it would have felt like an appropriate description. To those whose ears were filled with his final agonizing cries as God’s Son died, “Jesus Crushed” would have felt like an appropriate breaking news headline for what they witnessed firsthand. It certainly appeared that way.

But Easter Sunday exposed the headline as fake news – or entirely incomplete, anyway. The headline had to be extended to accurately reflect the truth: “Jesus Crushed… the Serpent’s Head!”

Jesus wasn’t defeated on Good Friday; rather, he was delivering the death blow to his enemy. Jesus was unraveling all of Satan’s plans to leave mankind culpable and condemned by sin. Jesus hadn’t been overcome by the plans his enemy had carried out. Instead, by those very plans he had overcome the enemy and won the ultimate victory, guaranteeing forgiveness and eternal salvation. No, Jesus hadn’t been crushed; he had carried out the crushing blow. He had overcome. 

That understanding provides some context to John’s words in our verses. “Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is theSon of God” (v.4-5). The victory, the triumph is real, and it belongs to those who belong to Jesus by faith.

The certainty of our connection to Christ and his victory on our behalf is one of the beautiful blessings of baptism, spelled out for us in Romans 3, where Paul wrote, “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:3-4). Just as surely as he died and rose, so in baptism we have died and risen with him. He has overcome; so, therefore, have we!

But what are we talking about? Really, what does it mean for us as believers to have the assurance of this victory, this triumph? What does it mean that we who are born of God “overcome the world?”

Admittedly, it does sound like a pretty pumped up pep talk to know that we’ve overcome the world, but that elation will fade pretty quickly if it doesn’t translate into understanding for us. Otherwise, it would be like flipping through channels to stumble upon some infomercial that grabs our attention because of the guy’s energy level and excitement. While we pause because we are drawn to that energy and excitement, if after a few moments we still can’t figure out what product he’s peddling, then we’ll just resume flipping through the channels. So for this confidence that we “overcome the world” to resonate with us, we really have to understand what John is telling us. 

Let’s not overthink it. Take that word “overcome” and flip it around. We know what it’s like to be overcome by something. Someone trying to explain their out-of-character behavior might chalk it up to being overcome with emotion. Parents watch their child’s team play a great game, only to see the other team overcome them in the end and steal the victory. 

Perhaps another common word speaks to us a little more clearly: overwhelmed. When we talk about being burdened or overcome we are saying that we’re overwhelmed. It’s too much. We have too much on our plate. We can’t keep our head above water. We aren’t getting done everything that needs to get done, or at least aren’t getting it done as well as it needs to get done. We’re failing. We’re suffocating. We’re overwhelmed and overcome. Sometimes it may even just be a feeling or emotion we’re experiencing and aren’t sure why. One way or another, we’ve all experienced that overwhelm to some degree! So how do we get the upper hand when we’re feeling overwhelmed, overcome? We tell ourselves the truth.

A pastor friend shared an insightful encouragement that he had recently come across that he found helpful to pass on to others: “Talk to yourself more than you listen to yourself.”

Think about it. Nobody talks to you on any given day more than you talk to yourself. The conversations, the dialogue – it’s going on non-stop in your head. It’s the thoughts you have about another person who enters the room. It’s the way you react when you read something online. It’s the memory that is narrated in your head when a nostalgic aroma arises.

Every experience we have throughout the day involves some back and forth inside our minds. That’s fine – so long as we realize we’re in control of what we tell ourselves. We determine the narrative. And we can tell ourselves either the lies that the devil would have us repeat or we can tell ourselves the truth that God reveals to us in his Word.  

So hear again the truth that God reveals to us in his Word for any who for any reason whatsoever are feeling overwhelmed and overcome in this world: “Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is theSon of God” (v.4-5). Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God? Then the world doesn’t overcome you; rather, you overcome the world. In and through Jesus, we have victory. We will triumph. 

Let’s also understand what this does not mean. It isn’t a guarantee that he’ll get the girl or that she’ll get the guy. This is not a blank-check promise that you’ll land the job of your dreams or get accepted into your first choice for college. This is not the promise of some divine forcefield that will shield you from every financial woe or sickness. 

No, it’s actually better than all of that. John’s promise that we overcome is directly connected to some of the most powerful, peace-possessing words our Savior ever spoke. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

I absolutely love these words of Jesus! He tells us like it is. He doesn’t pretend to hide the ugliness of our broken world with some flowery greeting-card language, but gives it to us straight. Yes, ours is a dysfunctional and distraught world… and Jesus has overcome it. This world’s troubles are not permanent. The best is yet to come, and it is ours because he has overcome. Take heart! Have peace!

Occasionally at a sporting event, you may hear the players or fans cheering a familiar chant at some point in the game. They’ll repeat the words, “We believe that we will win. We believe that we will win.” Each refrain gets louder and more intense, as the players do their best to rally and win. Such a chant can inject the confidence needed to pull out the victory. 

As Christians we can chant something similar. But we need to change it slightly because we already know the outcome. “We believe that we have won! We believe that we have won!”

We have. We know where we’re going. We know the worst of this world is temporary. We know we overcome. We know it. How can we be so sure?

John provides proof to eliminate any doubts that may exist. He points to the evidence in verse six. “This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.” Even though there are a number of ways these words could be interpreted, any way we take them, John’s purpose is the same – he’s pointing to proof that Jesus was and is who he claimed to be. The Messiah. Our Savior. Our Redeemer. 

One interpretation takes John’s words to refer to his own eyewitness testimony of Jesus’ crucifixion. To make sure Jesus was dead, when his side was pierced, John’s Gospel points out that not just blood, but blood AND water flowed from the wound. Jesus had really died.

A second interpretation takes the water to be a reference to the start of Jesus’ public ministry at his baptism and the blood to refer to the completion of his ministry by his sacrifice on the cross.

A third interpretation takes the water, blood, and Spirit to picture the means of grace. The water refers to baptism and the blood to Holy Communion. Together with the powerful promises of the Word, the Holy Spirit uses those means to testify and proclaim the truth of the gospel, by which he creates and strengthens faith.

Whichever interpretation one takes, they all serve the same purpose of the author here: to provide proof that we can know beyond mere speculation or feelings or emotions that because of Jesus’ completed work as our Savior, we overcome. We have the assurance of real triumph. Live in that triumph as you remember your baptism. Celebrate that triumph through the Supper. 

In light of our triumph, our victory, consider some of the differences between the behavior of the losing side versus the winning side. Losers are dejected. Losers make excuses. Losers blame the refs. Losers give up. Losers complain about it not being fair.

We aren’t losers. In Christ we are triumphant. We win because he wins. Winners are joy-filled. Winners celebrate each other. Winners keep working hard. Winners give credit where it’s due. Winners love God by carrying out his commands. Live like it! Love others like it. That’s how we celebrate that Jesus crushed the serpent’s head and has overcome. That’s how we celebrate real triumph!

Real Love

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(1 John 4:7-11, 19-21)

Who is it for you? An organization or a cause? A political candidate or political party? When you know the topic is love, you already know there isn’t going to be some profound revelation or new discovery regarding what the Bible has to say about love. It’s simple. Love God. Love others. Why? Because God loves you. There’s no way around it, and that will be the same message about love that you will hear from the Bible as long as you keep on reading it, listening to it, and studying it.

But it would be quite naive of us to think that just because we know what the Bible tells us about loving others that we would somehow arrive at a point when we wouldn’t need to hear it again. By that line of reasoning, a parent should only have to tell a child to go to bed at bedtime once and it should never be an issue again, right? At most, none of us should ever get more than one speeding ticket, if that, because once the officer informs us that we’re breaking the law when we exceed the speed limit, it shouldn’t happen again once we have that information. If doing what we’re supposed to do was merely a matter of information, then life would be a piece of cake!

Ah, if only it were that simple. But loving others isn’t merely a matter of transferring information; it’s a matter of transformation. If we are to carry out the kind of love God calls us to, a pretty monumental change has to take place. Where? In us.

We actually do know how to love. That isn’t the problem. We’re actually really good at it naturally. The problem just happens to be where our love is directed. I love me. And you love you. And everything in our own little personal bubbles essentially revolves around that. So if I am instead going to redirect that love toward others, as God would have me do, well, that’s unnatural. So something has to change. Something supernatural.

That’s really the message we need to keep hearing, and John repeats it for us. “God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (v.8-11). It isn’t likely new news to anyone reading this that God is love. We’ve all heard it before. We’ve seen it on wall art or displayed on the back of the car in front of us or any number or places. But for those three words to hit home, we have to personally apply them. That God who is love doesn’t just love everyone; he loves me.

Me who knows what it’s like to feel unappreciated and unloved… by my own parents. Or my children. By my supposedly close friend. By my own family. By my coworkers or classmates. By my teacher. By my coach. By my spouse. By my boss. We all have our own list, which may change for us in different seasons of life, but we all know too well, whether it’s reality or our perception, what it’s like to feel unloved. 

And these words from John remind us that that feeling is never actually reliable, because the “God-is-love” God is the God who loves me. And you. And always will.

What makes this love difficult for us to embrace and accept is that deep down inside, we know how undeserving we are of it. We have a pretty good of how many daily reasons we give for God not to love us – through our thoughts, works, and actions. Verse twenty hits just one of them, and there are so many more. John warned, “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen” (v.20). I might think “hate” to be too strong a word to describe me, but John expands it to include any failure of loving our brother or sister, or anyone for that matter. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it makes us out to be liars to claim to love God while loathing someone else. 

And you’ll notice there are no disclaimers or allowances or exceptions. God doesn’t say we’re off the hook if it’s someone who is really hard to love. Or someone who posted something nasty online about you or someone you care about. Or someone who stole from you. Or even if it’s someone who has really hurt us or traumatized us or messed with our heads and hearts.

There are no love loopholes. We are called to embody Jesus’ perfect love to all people. And we don’t. And our guilty consciences tell us what we deserve when we don’t. 

The awareness of this guilt is evident to me as a pastor. One of the most common fears people share with me is wondering where they really stand before God because of a person or relationship they can’t bring themselves to love. Or, they agonize over how much of a struggle it is. So yes, our own consciences convict us of not loving others perfectly or completely.

And if we have somehow managed to fleece or foil our own conscience into thinking that we have no problem loving others, God’s Word makes clear what the consequence is for anything less than 100% complete and total love for others. Just one chapter earlier in this very letter John wrote, “Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him” (1 John 3:15). There’s no way around it – we know what even our lukewarm love deserves!

Yet… still God loves us!

How can we know? That’s the part of John’s description we must never tire of hearing. “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (v.10). God’s Son was not sent into this world only for those who love well, not for those whose love has never faltered, and not even for those who are pretty convinced their love for God meets his expectations. If those were the type of people God had sent his Son into the world for, he would have come up empty-handed. No such person has ever existed. No, Jesus came into this world to render the payment necessary for the pervasive lack of love. 

Jesus offered up himself as the atoning sacrifice for our sins, including but not limited to our lack of love. Jesus has restored our relationship with God that had been totaled by our sin and he has shown us what sacrificial love in action looks like. His love for others – for you and me and all people – was not deterred by selfishness or self-love. He loved – and loves – perfectly.

He loved you by never faltering in the face of temptation. He loved you by loving his enemies perfectly in your place. He loved you not just with words and speech about loving his neighbors, but by showing them in so often meeting their physical needs and healing their hurts. He loved you all the way to the cross and out of the empty tomb. The Resurrection reality is that in Jesus Christ we not only see what real love looks like; we also see that real love is ours. That real love is for us. 

So, we can now love others, too.

Why does it matter so much that we pour ourselves into loving others? So that others may come to know the source of that love. “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God” (v.7).

Yes, God is love. You know that. I know that. Others may have heard the phrase, but they don’t know what we’ve just been talking about. They don’t know that kind of radical love. In his Gospel and all of his letters in the Bible, John more than any other writer stresses how important it is for us as Christians to love – so that the source of love can be made known. So that others, through our love, would come to know the One from whom it all emanates: God their Savior. 

Without knowing that kind of love, the world’s understanding and definition of love is really quite pitiful.  Somebody suggests a fun activity together and we’d love to. We love this place or that place to eat. We’re in love with this store or that style. We love your outfit. We love it when that happens. We love that book/movie/song/etc. We love so many things so much that we’ve diluted love altogether to essentially strip it of any real meaning. 

So let’s show a better love. A real love. Let’s love the erratic driver with a prayer for him. Let’s love the protestor who cares enough about a cause to do something instead of just spewing snarky words from behind a screen or behind closed doors. Let’s love the walker or hiker with the never-ending stories by taking the time just to listen to them on occasion. Let’s love the neighbor whose language and customs and culture are so different from ours. Let’s, even after a drama-filled, mentally and emotionally exhausting day ourselves, love our children with the gift of time together. Let’s love our spouse with more yeses and fewer excuses. Let’s love our coworker by letting them receive the praise for the project. Let’s love the addict by trying to better understand what his world is like. Let’s love by offering the ride even when it is utterly inconvenient. Let’s love by opening our home more often for meals with others. 

When we love in these ways and so many others, we take the world’s diluted love and saturate it, making it something special. When we love in these ways we demonstrate another kind of love that only finds its source in Jesus. And our prayer – and God’s intent – is that through our love others would eventually be channeled to the source of that excellent love that we find only in Christ. 

Then, like dominoes, Christ’s love begins to flow through their lives as well. Secured with the gifts of peace, joy, forgiveness, and the assurance of eternal life, they are free to love others, too. And the cycle continues, always seeing love draw others to Christ like a magnet, to show them a radical love that lasts into eternity. Not like the best kind of love the world could ever offer, but far better: real love. 

Real Assurance

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(1 John 3:18-24)

We are no strangers to pharmaceutical companies promoting the latest ground-breaking medication or treatment for everything under the sun in commercials filled with active people living their best lives filled with joyful smiles. Of course the commercials all end with the same disclaimer, listing every possible side-effect from those that are inconvenient up to and including some that may even be life-threatening. 

But perhaps what is more commonly overlooked is that oftentimes in the commercial, the intended results of the medication or treatment cannot make the reliable claim that it will work in all the people all of the time. Instead, the results are couched in language that indicates possibility without making promises. “Some participants experienced positive results.” “A certain percentage of those treated noticed a difference.” “Patients may respond well to the treatment.” Whatever the language, rarely is there a guarantee that something is effective all of the time. In fact, it isn’t just pharmaceutical companies; we’ve gotten used to products across the board the really do nothing more than offer the possibility of improvement in one way or another.

While that may be the new norm for a culture who is used to being marketed to nonstop, there’s one area that we cannot ever find peace in merely the possibility of or high percentages. We cannot rest easy unless nothing but a full guarantee is provided. Only REAL assurance will do. To what am I referring? Our status before God. 

John grabs our attention as those interested in this assurance with a phrase from our verses. He addresses how we can “set our hearts at rest in his presence” (v.19). That’s what we want! That’s what we’re after! The peace of mind of not having to worry if we should be stressed in his presence, but can be confident of rest in his presence. We don’t want guesses. Not wishful thinking. Not possibility. Just real assurance. And it’s found only in Christ.

Outside of Christianity, optimism and possibility are the best offers anyone will find. Like the pharmaceutical companies, the best other religions can offer is possibility if you’ve lived a good enough life or tried hard enough. Maybe a higher being or god will be satisfied enough. But only Christianity says that’s not good enough. You can be assured of being at peace with God. You can be confident that your soul has every reason to be at rest in his presence – because of Jesus Christ.

Now that we’re paying attention to John, we’re listening to what he says next to find out how our hearts can be at rest in his presence. He writes, “If our hearts condemn us” (v.20). Doesn’t that apply to us all? We all have or even right now are dealing with heart that condemns us.

And there are different reasons for that. If your heart condemns you, in many cases there is probably a reason why! You’ve probably done or thought or said something deserving of such condemnation! When we did something wrong, when we broke a rule, our conscience accuses us. We know we weren’t entirely truthful with our spouse, and so our heart condemns us. That’s what the conscience does.

But it’s not just always because we’ve done something wrong. Sometimes our hearts go over the top in tearing us down. They convict us with feelings of guilt. Feelings of shame. Feelings of inadequacy. Feelings of insecurity. They’re all there, sometimes justifiably; other times not. But while your heart doesn’t care why those feelings or emotions are there, it definitely will make sure that you’re aware of them. That’s what John meant by the phrase, “If our hearts condemn us” (v.20).

We show that we recognize when our hearts accuse and condemn us because we try to address it. I could try to pretend what I did wasn’t that bad – but my own heart won’t be fooled. I could try to rationalize my wrong to someone else, but I still know why I really did it. I could try to shift the blame entirely onto someone else, but it would still linger because that never entirely lets me off the hook. I can try to imagine that God doesn’t really exist or that there’s no such thing as sin or wrong doing, but there’s too much in the world that seems to indicate otherwise. If so many billions have been convinced that there is a God, can I really be so confident that they’re all wrong and I am in the very small minority who is right? No, there is nothing we can do to get to that place of having a heart that is free of self-condemnation. 

John had an answer for when our hearts condemn us, as he continued, “If our hearts condemn us we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything” (v.20). God knows everything. Wait, God knows everything??? How is that a comfort for when my heart condemns me? You mean I cannot hide from God what I think I can hide from my parent, my teacher, my spouse, my friend, anything that God doesn’t already know about? How terrifying! How is that a comfort that God knows everything?

Because God knows something else that is even more important that all the sin that we could never hide from him. He knows the solution to that sin because he himself is the solution to that sin. It was John who quoted Jesus in his Gospel with saying that very thing! “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned…” (John 3:16-18). Whoever believes is not condemned. Believing in Jesus = no condemnation! I don’t know about you, but that’s the kind of confident assurance I want before God! Jesus didn’t come into this world to condemn me but to rescue me.  

That’s why John emphasized the need for faith in Jesus in the verses from 1 John. He wants us to realize how and why we can actually be in a place of confidence before God where our hearts don’t actually condemn us. There is only one path that ends up in that place, and John highlights it in verse 23. “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ.” Believe in Jesus Christ, and you are no longer condemned. That’s his command. So if we think God is most concerned with how we live or how we behave, we’re missing what matters most: what we believe and who we believe in for our assurance. Believing in the Son means we have assurance that we do not stand condemned before God.

Imagine if you had that level of confidence in approaching your boss about a concern or a request. Imagine having that level of confidence about a tough conversation you need to have with your spouse. Imagine having that level of confidence with the officer approaching your driver’s side window who just pulled you over.

With God, you don’t have to imagine, you just believe, and it’s the reality! You know exactly where you stand before a holy and righteous God thorugh faith in Christ Jesus. And where you stand is “not condemned.”

Not condemned.

Living in this kind of real assurance of eternal life is also one of the most freeing things a person could ever experience. And what does it change us to do? “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” (v.18). Real assurance means we can be real with others. There’s enough that’s fake in this world. There are enough pretenders. Yes, sometimes it’s us, too. We scroll past them on social media. We see them on the news. We get emails from them. We don’t need more artificial intelligence, but more real assurance. When we find that real assurance in Christ, we can then be real with others. Often times that means we can go beyond words, as John encourages us, and make a real difference with actions and truth.

To better appreciate what this means, let’s start by acknowledging how exceptional we are at manipulating words. For example, in an effort to soften the blow or avoid conflict or more pressure from someone else, even though we are virtually 100% committed to not following through or attending, we tell others we’ll try or see if we can make it work or get back to you. Be honest – those are empty words. They mean nothing and carry no weight, and we really only throw them around pretending we’ve let ourselves off the hook. We use verbal sleight of hand to avoid the words that would more accurately reflect what we actually mean.

Instead of all of that, we can be honest about what we really mean by speaking the truth. We can spend more time in action instead of a lot of mental time hiding our intentions or wishes with verbal camouflage. And where we struggle in any of these areas, let us take advantage of the added blessing that comes with the real assurance we have in Christ: the privilege of prayer.

“Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask…” (v.21-22). Because we have complete assurance of where we stand before God, we also have direct access to God, with the added promise that he will hear and answer our prayers. When we ask of God what God wants for us and others, he’ll grant it.

And guess what? God just made it clear what he wants for us and others: to love with actions and truth instead of words or speech. If that’s what God wants and our prayers are tied to making that happen, then count on God coming through. In other words, if you genuinely want to grow in loving others with real action and in truth instead of being fake or pretend, you need only to ask. The God who assures you that he hasn’t condemned you also assures you that he will complete your requests. Unlike the website that times out or the app that cannot complete the requested action, God hears – and answers – your prayers. Really.

That’s the blessing of real assurance. If you want it, stop paying attention to your heart. Don’t listen to it. Don’t follow it. Don’t let it guide you. God is greater than your heart, and he says what your heart can never know on its own: in Jesus Christ, you are not condemned. Believe it, it’s true. Then, go live in that truth by putting your faith and love into real action. 

Real Threats

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(1 John 4:1-6)

Whether you’re driving around a relatively new car or still chugging along in one that’s been around for a decade or two, chances are good that you’ve had the opportunity to become familiar with the dash board indicators that light up when something is wrong. When those light up, indicating that something has failed or needs maintenance, it’s probably best to schedule an appointment with the mechanic sooner rather than later. The mechanic can then run a diagnostic test to determine with more precision exactly what needs to be fixed. Then he can put together a plan and estimate to let you know how much he’s going to overcharge you to fix it 😁.

No matter how much you may dislike car trouble or dealing with mechanics, it would be foolish to ignore the warning and just keep driving your car. Doing so would likely cause more damage or could even end up leaving the vehicle unable to be driven. The indicators are there for a reason. They tell you something’s wrong so that it can be tested and fixed.

Car trouble is one thing. Spiritual trouble is quite another. Even in a worst-case scenario when it comes to your car, you could manage to get by without it for a time by depending on others.

But that’s not the case spiritually. The ramifications of spiritual trouble going unchecked or neglected are potentially eternal. So John provides us with a warning that is to be taken very seriously – and not to be avoided or put off the way we might an auto repair. “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (v.1). 

With he uses the word “spirits,” it might sound as if John’s writing belongs in a Halloween story involving ghosts and spooky things. However, that’s not the use of the word spirit that John is employing here. With that term he means to include any and all groups or individuals that claim any sort of religious responsibility or authority. Examples of this today could include the online promo for this conference or that webinar sponsored by such and such ministries. Or any book or devotional by an author with a faith-related theme or goal. Or a clip or YouTube Channel of someone preaching or teaching anything from Scripture. Any group or individual speaking on a biblical topic/theme is included with that term spirit.

Why does it matter that we test these spirits? Two reasons: 1) they aren’t all from God, and 2) there are “many false prophets.” 

There is a clear conclusion we need to draw about every spirit that is not from God. If a spirit is not from God, then where is it from? Don’t be fooled into thinking there is some wide range of answers to this question. There are no teachers in this category (those who are not from God) who are more harmless or less harmless than others. This isn’t a multiple choice question. If a teaching is not from God, then it is harmful, because it is from only one other place, from the one who opposes God: Satan. John later identifies this type of teaching as “the spirit of the antichrist” (v.3). 

And lest we think this might just be a case of a few bad apples ruining the whole bunch, John’s warning clarifies that there are “many false prophets [who have] gone out into the world” (v.1). What does that mean when it comes to the discernment we exercise in listening to other religious authors/teachers/singers/preachers? Perhaps a little more caution is in order. Maybe rather than simply presuming that we’re in safe waters every time the words “Christian/church/faith/pastor/etc.” are involved, our first step ought to be to exercise caution and tread lightly. 

While I was growing up in our WELS, it was generally frowned upon to read books or use materials that were not produced by our own WELS Northwestern Publishing House. While that sentiment isn’t as wide-spread today as it was then, the longer I’ve been in ministry, the better I understand the reason for that concern (especially given the circumstances of that time – our church body was navigating the waters of having officially declared ourselves to no longer be in fellowship with another Lutheran church body that had a different spirit about it than it had in the past when we shared a common blessed unity and fellowship for many decades). False prophets that stand in opposition to God are everywhere.

And if they are everywhere, that means you also have a responsibility to test me. Yes, I have been called by Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran to be a pastor, under shepherd to the Good Shepherd. Yes, I have received some of the best theological training available at our Martin Luther College and Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. Yes, I have twenty years of pastoral ministry under my belt this year. And yes… I am also capable of falling into the very category of spirits John is warning you about. So when he says to test the spirits, I must be included among them. 

But you might be feeling inadequate. After all, who are you to be qualified to do such a thing? That’s where you do well to follow the rest of the guidance John provides. “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God” (v.2-3).

There is a specific doctrinal teaching here, the incarnation, which refers to the Bible’s teaching that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. However, we are not doing a disservice to John’s words here to stretch that teaching to include anything and everything about Jesus Christ. If God in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ is the litmus test John wants us to use to identify real threats, then every teaching that pertains to Jesus Christ is fair game to help us expose threats. And by extension, since the whole reason we have the Bible is so that it can point us to Jesus, then all of Scripture is useful in helping us steer clear of those spirits that are not from God. 

It’s like pulling a thread on a sweater. It doesn’t matter where you pull the thread from. The sleeve. The collar. The front or back. The hem. Wherever you start to pull on that thread, eventually it will do damage to the whole sweater.

So it is with Scripture. Any attack on Scripture is an attack on Jesus. Therefore, any attack, any false teaching that is unchecked, will eventually undermine the whole point of the Bible – to show us our salvation in Jesus.

That is a tall order! There is so much contained in the Bible and so many different ways it could be twisted or maligned. How can we ever really know for sure if what we’re hearing or reading is true or false? 

You’re more qualified than you may know. If you’ve ever been to a professional theater production of a popular play or musical, you know what it means once the lights start to dim. It’s exciting because you know the show is about to start!

But did you ever stop to think why the lights are dimmed in a production like that? Wouldn’t more light – not less – enable everyone to better see everything that’s happening on the stage? One might think so.

However, depending on where everyone is seated in the audience, it’s not always easy to clearly see which actors are doing the speaking or singing. But when the lights are dimmed, it allows the spotlight to draw everyone’s attention to the appropriate actors carrying out the dialogue or song. The audience isn’t left scanning the stage to try and figure out which actor is speaking at any given time. The spotlight makes that obvious.

It’s also how we identify spirits that aren’t from God. When someone’s teaching, speaking, singing, preaching, etc. does not shine the spotlight on Jesus Christ, it is a different spirit. Take caution. Be aware. When the spotlight isn’t on Jesus, that ought to give us pause. 

And to be more precise, I don’t just mean paying lip service to Jesus, as if he gets a few mentions here and there. Specifically, I mean proclaiming the good news that Jesus Christ is our Savior from sin. He became man (here’s why the incarnation matters…) so that as one bound to the same law that we are all bound to, he could keep it perfectly for us. He became man so that he could die, and by his death on the cross suffer not only physical, but also the spiritual punishment our sins deserved. Though he himself was without sin, he took our sin upon himself so that real payment for sin could be offered up. And in this season of Easter, we celebrate that he really rose in that same physical body. That means that the payment for sin has been accepted by the Father and the sentence of eternal death has already been served for us. We have nothing to fear!

When that Jesus is not central to the message of anyone you are listening to, then it’s time to tune that message out. And whatever confidence we lack in being able to do so is restored to us through the Resurrection, which proves to us how powerful God is. Listen to John’s encouragement. “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood” (v.4-6). 

Our confidence comes in knowing that through Jesus Christ, God has overcome. He is greater than the evil one running roughshod over the world. That confidence allows John to implore his audience to keep listening to him. That isn’t arrogance on John’s part, but rather a confidence that his message is always going to be centered on Jesus Christ our Savior. 

As it will be here on this site and in my preaching. I know that because it is the promise I made (along with all pastors in our church body) when I was ordained into the pastoral ministry. We make a promise to remain faithful to the Scriptures and what they teach as confessed in our Book of Concord. That promise is no more and no less than faithfully preaching and teaching Jesus Christ lived, died, and risen as our Savior.

And I am confident that Jesus will continue to be my main message because here his sheep know his voice and long to hear it. Ears will perk up if some voice that does not belong to the Good Shepherd begins to be heard. So then, never tire of listening to the Good Shepherd’s voice. Hear it frequently, announcing your forgiveness in the absolution and Supper, and claiming you as his very own sheep through the water of baptism. For so long as you listen to his voice and believe it, you have nothing to fear.