Tag: gospel

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Grace Over Guilt

Forgiving Father,
Sundays are sacred. As we gather with fellow believers for worship, may we never underestimate the amount of guilt many people bring with them into your house. There are so many burdens and so much baggage that are dragged into worship on Sunday morning. For that reason, as we fellowship and connect with one another each Sunday, help me to reinforce the good news of the gospel every opportunity I get. I want to be a part of sending off my church family for another week with forgiveness on their hearts and minds. May all those who arrive guilt-ridden depart grace-filled. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Reformation Blessings

Heavenly Father,
Sundays are sacred. Today and this week, as many congregations highlight the Reformation in their worship and joint services, use the celebration of the revealed and restored gospel to fill many hearts with great joy. Thank you for those who have gone before us and stood firmly in the face of opposition and false teaching to contend for the truth of your Word. Because of their tremendous sacrifices, guided always by your Holy Spirit, the Bible remains unchained and Jesus is boldly proclaimed. As we gather for worship to hear it, speak it, and sing it, renew our appreciation for the freedom we have to make your Word central to our worship. May we always be ready and willing to reform anything that would compromise, confuse, or hinder your gospel, so that for generations to come, it may continue to refresh weary souls and breath life into the lost.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Bless Gospel Preaching

Lord of the Church,
Sundays are sacred. On no other day do so many Christians gather together at once to be served the soul-food of the gospel. Since the gospel – the good news of salvation that is ours through faith in Jesus – not only brings us to faith, but also keeps us in the faith, see that it is clearly preached and taught. Grant preachers the clarity not only to be understood, but also to avoid being misunderstood when it comes to the good news.

Remove all barriers of unclear language, confusing illustrations, unrelated storytelling, and anything else that might obscure the gospel. Spur preachers on through the power of your gospel, so that they are energized and excited to point their hearers to Jesus, and worshipers are spared from lazy and lifeless preaching. Let the good news predominate in all worship everywhere, so that the body of Christ may be built up in faith and well-equipped for Christian living. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Bless Preachers

Heavenly Father,
Sundays are sacred. Today I pray for all of those entrusted with the noble task of preaching to your people. It is a high and holy calling to be privileged to serve as your spokesperson, speaking your Word to your people. Give preachers a spirit of bold humility, one that relies not on their own abilities, but instead finds confidence in the power of your Word. Provide a steady diet of law and gospel in sermons everywhere, so that those hearers who are comfortable in their sin may be afflicted, while those who are afflicted by their sin may be comforted.

Guard your Word from being manipulated or twisted to serve sinister motives or impure desires, but see to it that it is proclaimed faithfully and truthfully. Let the work of Jesus as Substitute and Savior be clearly proclaimed, allowing the seed of the gospel to be sown everywhere. Make fertile hearts through it, so that through your Word, much fruit may be produced through your people, building up your kingdom and amplifying your glory.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

Sow What?

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(Mark 4:26-34)

You don’t have to have a green thumb to be fascinated by seeds. When it comes to growing things, without diminishing the hard labor of farmers or gardeners, the seed is really responsible for doing all of the work. Once the seed is in the ground, it more or less takes over from there. The one tending to it may be able to control certain variables, like irrigation or fertilizer, but the seed is going to do what God designed it to do regardless: grow. 

It doesn’t always work like that, though. Consider the baker. The cake doesn’t bake itself. Multiple steps like properly following the recipe and baking it at the correct temperature for right length of time are necessary for the cake to turn out. That work does depend on the baker. Or take the software designer – if his coding is off, the software will have bugs and glitches and not work as it is supposed to. There are plenty of jobs that require constant monitoring and following the appropriate steps and procedures for everything to go smoothly. But when it comes to making a seed grow, the seed does all the work. 

The Word Works

Jesus emphasized this in his first parable. Once the seed was in the ground, look at what happened next. “Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how” (v.27). To a degree, whether the farmer works hard or hardly works, whether he puts in a full day or slacks off by sleeping in, either way, the seed is going to do what the seed is going to do: grow. And, it doesn’t need anyone’s help, as Jesus reminded his listeners: “All by itself the soil produces grain” (v.28).

Jesus’ is interested in more than just agriculture here; he is illustrating how God’s Word grows his kingdom. His Word, and his Word alone, does all the work.

The Bible doesn’t need our help to be effective. It doesn’t need to be wrapped up in a catchy sermon series or marketing. It doesn’t need to be supported by flashy professional media. The Word doesn’t work better because the church is bigger or smaller or has a cooler name. The style of worship doesn’t enhance the Word, nor does our logic or reason make it more likely to take root. It’s not anything we do at all. The Word does the work all by itself. The Holy Spirit uses it to bring life from death. He uses it to create and keep faith, faith that receives an abundance of rich gifts which he continually distributes through that same Word. 

Neither do we need to know the inner workings of the Word to know that it will work. In fact, you can’t. That’s why one individual soaking up everything about Christianity with a fervor that is contagious, suddenly becomes MIA and turns into a cold case. It’s also why the obstinate atheist unexpectedly becomes filled with faith. Why the one and not the other? I don’t know. Neither do you. God does, and we know how he does it and we know that he only does it one way: through his Word.

That’s why we understand how essential that small sentence at the beginning of Jesus’ parable is, “A man scatters seed on the ground” (v.26). If it starts with that, then we need to start with that. Nothing happens without the seed being scattered. Nothing happens to stored away seed. It won’t grow. It won’t produce. It won’t… anything.

So the Word must be sown. The seed must be scattered. The bedside Bible that is rarely opened is nothing more than another item to be dusted off when cleaning. The Bible app on your phone that never sees the light of day is only adding more clutter to your home screen. For the Word to work, just like anything else, it has to be used. If the Word is not spoken, shared, read, studied, confessed, preached, taught, passed on, etc., it will not produce. The Word needs to be communicated for it to work. The seed needs to be scattered. Are you scattering the seed?

When the stranger in line next to you opens up and ends up sharing some personal matters she is working through, are you looking for a chance to scatter the seed? When your unchurched friend returns from traveling to a family member’s funeral and expresses to you his doubts and uncertainty regarding death and the afterlife, do you scatter the seed? Your classmate is wrestling with feeling worthless and insignificant – do you scatter the seed? A church member close to you confesses something they’ve done that has left them reeling in guilt and shame – do you scatter the seed? 

Scatter the seed under your own roof, too. Fathers, are you taking the lead in this area? Are you scattering the seed of the Word in your marriage and in your home? If not, what is holding you back? If it’s your fear of having an inadequate understanding of the Bible or feeling that you aren’t qualified, look again at Jesus’ words: “Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how” (v.27). God isn’t calling you as a father to be an expert in the Word; he’s just calling you to scatter it so that he can do the work of building his kingdom. The Word works, so put it to work. And as you do, you’ll begin to notice the blessings over time.

The Word Works Big Blessings from Small Beginnings

The Word works, and it works big blessings. But it does so from small beginnings. Jesus explained, “It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade” (v.31-32). The Word’s work is like the mustard seed – it starts small, but over time grows and develops into something big.

A newborn infant and splashes of water accompanied by God’s powerful promise. God is able to grow the small seed planted there into something magnificent. A small beginning, yes, but big blessings will follow. An ongoing dialogue between two friends, one of whom is asking questions of the other about God and the Bible. A small seed is being planted, which God can grow into much bigger blessings over time. 

A sermon is shared, a service is streamed, an invitation is extended. A passage is quoted, a prayer is said. A hurting soul is comforted. A small bit of bread and wine are received. A devotion is read together. In all of it, the small mustard seed of the gospel is being scattered, and through all of it, God is causing big blessings to grow. 

But because it starts so small, and because at times it seems to take so long to grow, we must fight the urge to give up on it when we fail to see immediate results. The atom-size attention spans we have in our day and age have not helped. We hardly have to wait for anything anymore, so when we do, we become quickly irritated and give up to move on to something else. Perhaps the days of dial-up internet and rotary phones weren’t as bad as we make them out to be – at least they fostered a measure of patience in our everything-is-instant age! Regardless, keep scattering the seed with the complete confidence that from that tiny gospel seed, God will grow big blessings. 

The Word Works in Me

It isn’t necessary for us to know how the Word works to be able to trust that the Word works, since the Holy Spirit is the one doing the heavy lifting. While that is true, one of the blessings that Word produces in us is the desire to learn it, to know it, and to understand it better. Look at Mark’s description of Jesus’ teaching at the conclusion of these two parables. “With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything” (v.33-34). They grew in their learning. Jesus used parables to explain to them things they didn’t understand. And what they didn’t understand, he explained to them. And this happened on an ongoing basis!

Such is the cyclical relationship we have with the Word. The more we’re in it, the more we crave it. To those who avoid it because they don’t understand it, the solution is to be in it more – not less! – so that it will provide us with better understanding.

What did you do the last time you didn’t understand something.? Perhaps a movie ending didn’t make sense. Maybe you couldn’t explain why something that appeared to be in good working order wasn’t doing what it was supposed to. What did you do? Did you just walk away, clueless and content to remain in your ignorance? I doubt it! I’m guessing you googled it in hopes of finding an answer. You may have even texted or talked to a friend about it. You very likely took at least some step toward having a better understanding.

Why are we so reluctant to do the same with the Word? If you don’t get it, that’s fine, but getting away from it is not the solution to getting it. The solution is to scatter more seed. More, not less, and give the Word time to germinate in your heart and mind. Allow the Holy Spirit to enlighten and open up the Scriptures to you.

It’s been said that people overestimate what they can accomplish in one year, but underestimate what they can accomplish in 3-5 years. Reading the Bible in a year may not be for you, but what about reading it in three? What about finding others in whom the seed has just been planted and is starting to sprout, and committing together to keep after it for the long-term? It starts small. It takes time. But it can and will grow great things in your life, because the Word works! Scatter the seed!

A Church Willing to Say Hard Things

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(Galatians 2:11-16)

Your doctor’s office. The boss’s office. Your child’s classroom with the teacher. We don’t typically look forward to being called into any of these places, and with good reason: difficult conversations often follow. Getting called for a consult with your doctor after a recent appointment can mean he has bad news. The boss probably isn’t calling you in to praise or commend you, but to correct or discipline you. Your child’s teacher is not likely in just meeting with you to tell you what a great job junior is doing, but probably to share some concerns. Those can be hard conversations.

Like it or not (most often not!), there is also a place for hard conversations within the church. In fact, that is the kind of church that God wants – one that is willing to say hard things. What exactly does that mean and how do we carry it out?

First of all, realize the reason the church will always need to say hard things, which is sometimes forgotten: every church has in common that it is made up of sinners. That seems like it should go without saying, but sometimes we either get the idea or give others the impression that belonging to a church means we’ve somehow figured out the secret sauce to sinlessness. All the “mostly-good” people gather at church while the “not-so-good” folks out there sin rather nonchalantly as they go about their daily business.

“Sure, we might commit a few minor whoopsies on occasion, but nothing like those major whoppers everyone out there is committing left and right.” But, deny it as much as you will, the hard truth is that the ugly sinful nature that is still a part of each one of us is just as capable of carrying out the ugly sinful stuff we see in the world. So what sets us apart is not primarily the absence of sin in our lives, but the presence of the Savior who forgives it. That is why we gather as the church. 

And it is that Savior and his gospel – the good news of what he’s done for sinners – that both requires us and inspires us to say hard things. When we are discussing hard matters with fellow Christians, we do so in a safe space, because we do so in a space saturated with the gospel. When the gospel as a safety-net beneath us, we have no reason to fear having difficult or even uncomfortable conversations. We have every right to assume that our faith family cares enough about our souls to prioritize those conversations. And we can both speak and hear these hard things because we know that they are gospel-driven and gospel-guided in an effort to be gospel-guarding. That means we can check individual agendas or bones to pick at the door and stay focused on how we can apply the gospel to help God’s church thrive. 

So what exactly are the kinds of hard things that the church needs to say? We see an example in Galatians. Paul was compelled to say a hard thing, and he didn’t shy away from explaining why it had to happen: “they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel” (v.14).

The very gospel was at stake! The message on which the church stands or falls was being compromised. When Paul saw that the gospel was in jeopardy, there was no question – he knew he had to speak up and say a hard thing.

While that reason alone (the gospel coming under attack) is sufficient for speaking up, Paul went a step further to explain what the collateral damage is when the truth of the gospel is at stake: souls are at stake, too.

As much as Paul and Peter (Cephas) were both pillars of the early church, Paul showed his personal care for his brother’s soul. “When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned” (v.11). Paul wasn’t mincing words – if he didn’t address the situation, Peter’s actions could very well have led to his spiritual downfall. 

Do we forget that sin has the potential for doing so much more damage than just a little wrong here or there? We need to think of sin not like that little bit of a beverage that spilled on the counter top and can so easily be wiped up, but more like a semi tanker toppling over and spilling toxic liquid everywhere. Sin doesn’t wish to be contained. It wants to expand its reach until it contaminates everything around it, eventually rendering even faith itself ineffective. Paul had to speak the hard truth to Peter, because he was more concerned about Peter’s salvation than about Peter’s reputation. 

As an example of sin extending its reach to others, Paul recognized how Peter’s sinful actions were influencing those around him. “The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray” (v13). Others viewed Peter’s actions as thumbs up to follow his example, and their collective example then carried enough weight to cause even Barnabas to stumble. See how large the radius of sin’s reach was becoming! Paul had to speak the hard truth to Peter, because he was concerned about the impact his actions were having on the salvation of others. 

How do Paul’s actions relate to us in 2023? Does the church today still need to say hard things? Absolutely. When? What does that look like? As the gospel itself compels us to say hard things, how do we know when those hard conversations need to happen? While there’s no guarantee that saying the hard things will ever be easy, there are a number of things we can consider to guide us in this process. 

First of all, we want to make sure the situation legitimately calls for the hard truth to be spoken. Not every difference or disagreement merits this kind of attention. If we are in the realm of Christian freedom and personal preference, while there certainly may be some discussion around those matters, those aren’t usually the kind that call for a rebuke or a call to repentance. Whether we should have tri-tip or hotdogs for the barbecue does not merit any sort of confrontation. Attending Christmas Eve or Christmas Day worship does not require a rebuke. 

So what sort of criteria does? We look for anyone or anything that might either gloss over the gospel or cast aside the cross by insisting that someone or something else be the central focus. When the gospel is at stake, the church has an obligation to say hard things, because where the gospel is compromised, so is the church. Where the gospel is lost, so is the church. 

Once we are certain of the gravity of the matter, that it is in fact that serious and does require the tough conversation, we do well do run another quick assessment. We want to check our own heart. We might have correctly spotted the need to say a hard word, but we also better make sure that our heart is in the right place to initiae the conversation.

That means it isn’t looking to relish the opportunity to lay into someone else who rubs me the wrong way. That means my heart isn’t approaching this conversation as a means to bump itself up another notch closer to heaven and come away looking more favorable. That means my heart isn’t seizing this as merely a distraction from some personal repair work that needs to be done on me. If any of those things are going on in your own heart, then you’re not the right person to be saying the hard thing.

Another thing to consider: if speaking about spiritual/faith matters and matters of the heart is not normal for you, consider how it might come across to someone else who is not use to hearing you speak about such things. It could possibly cause unecessary confusion if you appear to be bringing it up seemingly out of nowhere.

The wife who has never watched a down of the NFL in her life might leave her husband feeling a little skeptical when she starts making suggestions for his fantasy football draft. A husband who doesn’t realize that Versace isn’t the name of a new Italian restaurant in town is probably going to see a puzzled look from his wife when he starts discussing fashion trends.

So if spiritual matters are not a regular part of your conversation, it might unnecessarily catch someone off guard to hear you speak up with a hard saying. The solution to that is not just to write off ever discussing hard things, but rather to take some baby steps in the direction of making your faith in Jesus perhaps a more natural part of your conversations. 

Finally, Paul spells out in a lengthier description why it matters that we contend for the gospel. “[We] know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified” (v.16). Peter was confusing the good news of the gospel. He was combining a message that is believed for salvation with works that must also be achieved for salvation. To that message of being declared not guilty (“justified”), Peter was adding the need to make sure he stuck with the kosher diet and sat at the right table apart from the Gentiles.

Since he had known previously that his place in heaven had nothing to do with what he ate or where he sat here on earth, it was causing a stumbling block for those around him to suddenly see him revert back to his old Jewish customs. 

When a brother or sister in Christ confuses the gospel in any way at all to imply that any work or effort must accompany the saving work of Jesus’ perfect life, suffering, and death, we have to speak up. We have to have a hard conversation. Their soul depends on it. Other souls will likely also depend on it. The gospel must win, and that means guarding it at all cost.

That’s the church God wants. For that reason, it’s also the church we want to be.

A King for Others

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(Luke 23:25-43)

How did the midterm elections turn out for you? Did the best people get elected? Does the right party control the Senate? the House? How will the outcome affect inflation? Will student loans have to be paid back? Where do things stand with abortion? marriage? What progress have we made in addressing homelessness? What are the implications that this election cycle has on preparing for the next presidential election? There is no small amount of pressure on the government to get it all right these days! 

If we could just figure that out, wouldn’t our country be so much better off? If we could manage to get the right people in office maybe, just maybe, we could get our country back on track, pull together, and reflect once again that we are not the Divided States of America, but the United States of America. Is it that hard to figure out? Is the answer a third viable political party? Is the solution dissolving our current political party system and coming up with something new? Maybe we should consider a monarchy and establish a king or queen. 

Before you laugh it off, ask yourself what you’re really wanting our government to be. Are we perhaps guilty of looking to earthly rulers for solutions that they can never provide? Have we gotten so accustomed to “having it our way” as a nation for so long that we have lost sight of the reality that it was never a particular political party or a perfect President who had all the answers? Whatever “better days” you remember from your past were never the result of this policy or that legislation. No disrespect whatsoever to any who serve us in our government (after all, they deserve our honor, respect, and certainly need our prayers!), but they have far less influence and impact on this country than another group: the citizens of our country. 

If, as Abraham Lincoln put forth in his Gettysburg Address, we are a “government of the people, by the people, for the people,” then is the government really to blame for whatever problems we’re facing right now? Conversely, is it fair to pin all our hopes on the government, when by design, the government is to be a reflection of the people of the country? So if the government isn’t the problem, but simply a reflection of a much more influential group – the people – then how do we address that?

We start by staying in our lane as the church. We start by disentangling ourselves from politics and stop thinking foolish thoughts that confuse the role of the government with the role of the gospel. While we have a responsibility to each as Christian citizens of this nation, we are the only ones entrusted with the gospel. So which should receive greater attention? Is it not the gospel? If the government is merely a reflection of the people and we don’t like what we see, then let’s use the tool that God has given us to change things for the better: let’s let the gospel change hearts and lives and see what happens!

What is that gospel? With some of the last words he spoke before he died, Jesus uttered the gospel beautifully to the criminal crucified beside him: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” (v.43). How could Jesus promise such a thing, especially to such a criminal? Remember that crucifixion was much more than just a slap on the wrist, so we can presume this wasn’t your garden variety shoplifter or jaywalker next to Jesus. He had committed something serious, a crime that merited both public shame and severe pain!

Still, Jesus promised him paradise. How? Not because of who the criminal was, but because of who the Christ is – King. The King makes the final decision on who is a part of his kingdom. He is the final authority. And he’s also the King who was at that very moment making the sacrifice necessary to open his kingdom to all, including the thief right next to him. 

That is what is unique about King Jesus. Unlike earthly kings, unlike worldly leaders, he didn’t come for himself. Look at how the jeers of those around him even expected him to act that way! “The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” (v.35-39). 

Everyone ridiculing him presumed that if he was truly the king he claimed to be, then he would have no problem proving it. And the foregone conclusion was that he’d prove it by saving himself. That’s what anyone in his position would do. But they had not connected the dots to realize that essential truth about Jesus: he didn’t come for himself. He came for others. 

Saving others – not self – is why he was there. An earthly king looks out for himself (CEOs and severance packages, royalty who live in luxury), but who takes that wealth and privilege and uses it to bless others first? Rarely, if ever, does that happen. Jesus didn’t oblige the requests or silence the sneering to save himself because he didn’t come for himself. He came for others.

Somehow, at some point, the Holy Spirit enlightened the thief to see and believe that. And so he made his final request of the King: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (v. 42). He pleaded for mercy from his King. What a contrast we see in the thief! Others railed on Jesus and made fun of him, but instead of mockery, the thief asked for mercy. 

Mercy does two things: it acknowledges that it deserves nothing, but it also knows where to look for mercy to be extended. The thief knew both.

He didn’t appeal to Jesus to look at the impressive track record of his life. He had already chastised the other thief for ridiculing innocent Jesus, knowing full well that he himself and the other criminal were getting the punishment their crimes deserved “We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve” (v. 41).

He asked simply to be remembered, knowing that Jesus choosing to remember him was his only hope to enter into a better kingdom, an eternal one. We don’t need to know how the thief came to this conclusion; just that he did is what matters. He knew who Jesus was – the King of a kingdom far superior to any on earth that had ever existed. Through faith in King Jesus, he knew to be true what Jesus had explained to Pontius Pilate, that his kingdom was not of this world. 

We also know what the thief did – that the only way to belong to that kingdom is through mercy. By nature, everyone is on the outside looking in when it comes to this kingdom, and as glorious as it appears, there is no way we can enter it on our own. That’s because we excluded ourselves from it. The reason Christ’s kingdom is so gloriously appealing is that it is so unlike everything we see in this world, and the reason it is so unlike everything we see in this world is because it is holy. There is no sin to ruin it.

That is precisely why we know something else the thief did – that Christ’s kingdom is not of this world. How could it be??? If his is a kingdom without sin, then surely no such kingdom could exist in a fallen world overcome by sin.

What Jesus informed Pontius Pilate of is too easily forgotten by us – his kingdom is not of this world (Jn. 18:36). If we’re looking for a heaven on earth, we won’t find it. If we’re expecting Christianity to fix politics and poverty or injustice and inequality, don’t hold your breath. Christ didn’t have his sights set on so small a thing! He was more interested in addressing the root cause than he was in trying to treat the symptoms of it. 

That is exactly what he was doing in the verses from Luke this morning: addressing the root cause of all that is wrong with every earthly kingdom. He was fixing what was broken – sinners. He did what no group of protestors, activists, cause, or movement could ever accomplish by paying the ultimate price necessary to forgive sinners. His bloodshed was the only solution for sinners that could bring about real change. It was the victory he had to win to establish his kingdom and to welcome into it the sinners he had transformed into saints. 

Do you really want to make a difference? I mean, really? If you’re serious about it, then focus on a cause that is guaranteed to yield results. Less politics, more prayer. Fewer debates, more devotions. Less worry, more worship. Less scrolling, more sacrament. Less isolation, more invitations. Fewer excuses, more evangelism. Less social justice, more Jesus. 

No, we don’t have to stop doing all of those things entirely – some of them can be ways we love and serve our fellow man. But let’s keep them in their proper place and realize their impact will be limited. They will never be able to bring about the real change that only Christ the King has.

His kingdom alone changes hearts, and changed hearts will change the community. Changed communities will change the world. So let us not only pray for Christ’s kingdom to come, as we do in the Lord’s Prayer, but let us also enable it to as we do what the people of his kingdom do and saturate a wayward world with the good gospel. 

When we faithfully focus on that, we’ll be celebrating a different election. Not an election that secured the necessary number of votes for the right party to fix everything, but an election to eternal life that will be served out in a kingdom unlike any other. It will be a kingdom ruled by Christ the King, truly a King for you and a King for others. 

Agenda Uncovered

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(Luke 4:38-44)

I know that by now Christmas is in the rearview mirror, but bear with me for one last reference. Watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation has become a Christmas tradition for many, as the movie has so many memorable scenes and plenty of quotable material. Perhaps because as a dad, I can sadly relate it all too well to it, one scene that never gets old is watching Clark Griswold put up the Christmas lights. That scene all-too perfectly captures the role of the dim-witted doofus of a dad entertainingly enduring slips and falls as he attempts to cover the whole house in lights. Of course, all of this build-up is merely setting the scene for the moment of truth when Clark is ready to plug everything in and dazzle his family with the most amazing array of lights ever. But after all that hard work and all the effort he put into it, when he goes to plug in the lights, spoiler alert: nothing happens. It’s obvious that something is wrong because the lights don’t light up. 

There are signs when something doesn’t appear to be working. Those signs may not always be as obvious as thousands upon thousands of Christmas lights failing to light up, but there are different ways of telling when something is not working. The bathroom scale reiterates that the diet isn’t working. Increased squinting and blurry signs in the distance indicate that the eyes aren’t working like they used to. Limited functionality on a phone or device reveals that something isn’t working. 

If you recall last Sunday’s account of Jesus’ preaching in the synagogue, one might make interpret the signs and conclude that his preaching wasn’t working. That certainly appeared to be the case in light of the response to his preaching! The crowd marched him to the edge of a nearby cliff with the intent of tossing him over. To a bystander assessing how effective Jesus’ preaching was, that might be all the evidence needed to conclude that his preaching wasn’t working. Otherwise, we’d expect increased crowds and more ears arriving to give a listen; not an attempt on the preacher’s life!

Sometimes it doesn’t appear like the Word is working in the local congregation, either. Are there any signs that might indicate as much? Certain mission and ministry efforts are discontinued. Familiar faces and families have either moved on to other places. Church attendance isn’t what it used to be. Bible study participation has dipped. We may not be facing the extreme of looking down the edge of a cliff, but might a combination of these realities lead us to conclude that the Word is no longer working like it used to?

What do you do when something stops working? Do you quit? Do you try to fix it? Do you ask for help? Do you try something else? Clark Griswold checked all the lights and connections. He made sure everything was plugged in. He thought through every possible problem to get those lights to work. He was determined to do whatever it took to figure it out. 

If we aren’t as persistent as Clark Griswold, we might find it tempting to quit or to try something else. Some simply stop gathering for worship, ghosting God’s house without any explanation. Others are eager to chase after what seems to be the latest fad working somewhere else. We pass along success stories from other churches and presume that someone else has figured it out, that they’ve found the secret sauce to spiritual success.

Or maybe we consider going the route Paul mentioned in our Second Reading:  “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). We entertain the possibility of altering our message to see if it draws more of a crowd. But, if we are tempted to alter our message to cater to what people want to hear rather than hearing what God says, then we miss the whole point Paul was making to Timothy.  This was not an invitation or a how-to from Paul to Timothy to help him grow his church; rather, this was a warning of how God’s Word would be received. And regrettably, that time has clearly arrived our day.

Actually, that time had already arrived even before Paul warned Timothy. It was exactly that attitude that Jesus encountered in our verses from last Sunday. So how did he respond when it appeared the Word wasn’t working? Jesus didn’t quit, even after an attempt on his life! Instead, he continued preaching. He went to Capernaum (see the verses prior to ours). Then we see him in our verses today again right where we were introduced to him last week – in a synagogue, preaching no less! Finally, at the close of our verses today, after a whole night of healing the sick and suddenly finding a crowd begging him to stay at daybreak, Jesus had this to say: “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent” (Lk. 4:43). Jesus could have catered to the crowd and stayed to keep on fixing their physical health, but he was more concerned about their spiritual health, so he had to keep on preaching the good news. And Luke closes by telling us, “And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea” (v.44). He preached the Word.

Jesus was carrying out perfectly the sound advice Paul would later write to Timothy: “Preach the Word” (2 Tim. 4:2). Give the Second Reading for this morning another look over the course of this week and notice that the entire section is essentially summarized by that encouragement to stick to the Word. When things are going great, stick to the Word. When things aren’t going so great, stick to the Word. When things are uncertain, stick to the Word. When correction is needed, stick to the Word. When growth is needed, stick to the Word. Stick to the Word. Stick to the Word. Stick to the Word.

It isn’t the expectation. When something doesn’t work, we don’t expect to keep doing the same thing and getting different results. When it appears that the Word isn’t working, it seems sensible to fall back to plan B. But that is what Jesus reveals, what he uncovers for us today – his agenda didn’t change during his ministry, and his agenda doesn’t change today as he continues his ministry through us: stick to the Word. The Word works, as the prophet Isaiah beautifully pictured: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (55:10-11). 

As our truly perfect preacher, Jesus stuck to the Word. That’s very comforting news to any man called to preach to God’s people today! Daily we pastors are reminded of our failings as God’s undershepherds. Regularly our preaching misses the mark. Too often we fail God’s people. So what a comfort to see the perfect preacher in our Gospel today, a Savior who was resolute in his determination to stick to the Word, realizing that was what he “must” (v.43) do if he was to perfectly carry out his Father’s will. The perfect preacher measures up where imperfect preachers fall woefully short. 

Jesus, though, wasn’t done there. He not only came to be our perfect preacher, obediently proclaiming the Word of God, but he came to be the Word in the flesh, to fulfill what he preached. To seal the deal on the salvation he taught about. To suffer, die, and rise again to provide the Word with its power and punch. Had the words Jesus preached not also been fulfilled by Jesus, they would have been worthless and empty – meaningless chatter! But Jesus carried out at the cross what the Word promised: forgiveness and salvation were not just a nice idea, but a reality. 

And how we need that to be a reality! For our sinful second-guessing of the Word, for every time we have passed it up in favor of some inferior alternative, the Word turns us away with is well-deserved judgment and condemnation. Yet that same Word of God draws us back with its assurances of grace and forgiveness, promising restoration with God once again because of Jesus. Forgiveness is found in unlimited capacity within the very Word we are tempted to trade in, so we are drawn back to it again and again, no matter how often we stray from it. Stick to the Word. It is life.

Clark Griswold was committed to finding out why the lights weren’t working. In the end, it was his wife who figured it out, but his determination was rewarded nonetheless. Finally, the right switch was flipped, the lights plugged in, and the Griswold home lit up like a bright star. The house became a ridiculously bright beacon of light from blocks and blocks away!

So it is with the gospel in our midst. When we stick with the Word, it lights each of us up, like those thousands upon thousands of lights on the Griswold home. As Jesus shines through us, may others be attracted to him through us. May they then have the opportunity to receive not only the temporal blessings, but the eternal blessings that come when we go with the agenda Jesus has given to his church, when we stick to the Word.

Reception Uncovered

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(Luke 4:16-30)

Perhaps you experienced it not too long ago when exchanging gifts at Christmas. You were genuinely more excited about giving a certain gift to a certain person – even more excited than you were about the anticipation of receiving any gifts. As you shopped for it, your face lit up when you came across it while thinking of the individual to whom you were going to give it. You had a beaming smile on your face while wrapping it as you imagined their reaction upon unwrapping it. You couldn’t wait for them to receive it!

And then they did.

And it fell flat.

It was not at all the ecstatic reaction you had played out in your mind. Their ho-hum reception of the gift didn’t come close to matching the eagerness with which you gave it, leaving you deflated. 

Could you imagine God feeling similarly about how his Word is received? Consider the eternal plans God had in place for our salvation and all of the details involved in carrying it out. He countered the very first death-inducing sin with the very first promise of a life-restoring Savior. To the patriarchs God personally repeated that promise numerous times. He sent his private army of prophets throughout the Old Testament, armed with the promise and his powerful Word. Rulers were raised up and brought down, empires rose and fell, language, commerce, technology – God brought all things under his control and used all of it to establish the ideal time for the Savior to be born. And it was finally happening! Jesus’ message and ministry were underway. The good news was starting to spread. God was unveiling his precious, priceless gift to the world – surely the world would receive it with eagerness and delight!

We have the same expectation, don’t we? Those of us who have been accustomed to listening to sermons for perhaps the better part of our lives expect that the natural response to the Word of God will be a positive one. Hearts that have been made alive in Christ know how precious his Word is. We expect that whenever it is preached, taught, read, or studied, it will be received with eagerness and joy. We know the Word of God is a good thing, a necessary thing, a beneficial and blessed thing. Therefore, whenever it is heard, the normal response we anticipate is a positive one. We even refer to the Bible as “The Good Book.” We keep coming back here to God’s house not primarily out of obedience or obligation, but because we find value in hearing the Word of God. It is a good thing for us and we presume the same about the others around us. So a positive reception to the Word of God is our normal expectation.

And it even seemed as if a positive reception was going to be the case initially in Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. Following his reading from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and his initial part of his message, the listeners were eating it up. “The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him” (v.20). They couldn’t take their eyes off of him as he spoke! “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips” (v.22). This was no ordinary Sabbath at the synagogue – they were hearing something special! 

But by the end of Jesus’ message, things had taken a drastic turn. “All the people… were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff” (v.28-29). What on earth happened? How had things taken a turn for the worse so quickly and to such a degree?

In short, Jesus called them out. When it clicked for them that this Jesus was no one more than the neighborhood boy who had grown up in their community, Jesus knew where their hearts were going. He knew they’d demand to see the proof that he was someone more special than just the hometown kid who had grown up a bit. Familiarity breeds contempt, and apparently, it eventually demands to see the amazing miracles that other villages and towns got to witness. For without those, all the buzz surrounding Jesus would quickly die down. Then, just as Jesus made clear to them with the examples of Elijah and Elisha, God would take his message outside of Israel to people who might be willing to listen.

Let’s not pretend we don’t know what was going on, for the hearts that beat inside our chests are every bit as capable of turning against God and his Word. Oh, the message is positive enough! It’s uplifting. It’s inspiring. It’s encouraging. Just take the words of Isaiah that Jesus quoted. They are filled with all kinds of positive pictures: “good news,” “freedom,” “recovery of sight,” and “favor.” These are word pictures and concepts that any inspiring or memorable speech is sure to include!

But its sweet taste turns suddenly sour when its intended audience is revealed. “Poor,” “blind,” “prisoners”? Wait, who are you calling “poor,” “blind,” “prisoners”? Those labels aren’t being applied to me, are they? Surely they must refer to someone else not quite as righteous as I am, for those aren’t very flattering terms!

Here’s the odd thing about the relationship we sometimes have with the law: sometimes we pride ourselves in not shying away from the law or talking about sin. We even say we crave it. We want to hear it. We want to confess it. We conclude that other larger Christian churches must only grow because they don’t take sin as seriously as we do. I have been encouraged over the course of my ministry to preach the law in this area or that, to speak more pointedly about this sin or that sin. And yes, this is necessary – the law must be preached. 

But may I provide you with some food for thought? If we want to hear the law, if we clamor for it, if we find comfort in hearing the law preached and sin condemned, then there’s a problem. If the fire and brimstone preaching of the law ever leads us to favorably cheer on the preacher, there’s a problem. If the idea of railing on the blatant and besetting sin of others around us prompts sadistic thoughts of “Yeah, give it to ‘em, pastor,” there’s a problem. If the appeal of coming to church is to get beat up by the law each week, there’s a problem!

No, the law should have the same effect on us that it did on Jesus’ listeners that day in the synagogue – it should drive us to the point of wanting to throw Jesus – or those speaking on his behalf – off the nearest cliff. It ought to make you want to forcibly tie any preacher, drive out to Sunset Cliffs, and toss him over! That’s how the law should make us feel! Because that means it has led us to connect the dots and see that the law is actually referring to me when it talks of being poor, blind, prisoners, hostile to God, etc.! 

Our relationship with God’s Word is a lot like sitting around a campfire. We can become entranced almost by the flicker of the fire, sitting in enjoyment of its warmth and cozy crackle. But if you’re roasting marshmallows and using a small stick, it requires you to be so close to the fire’s heat that it becomes unbearable. What is nice and enjoyable from a ways away becomes painful when it gets too close. So it is with the law and repentance. The law cannot deliver pleasure, but only pain!

When the law is worked properly in us, though, then those words of Isaiah breathe life into beaten-down souls. Then the message of the sweet gospel hits its mark with pictures like “good news,” “freedom,” “recovery,” and “favor.” When the law has revealed how truly enslaved and imprisoned by sin I am on my own, along comes the good news of freedom. When the law has beaten me up and left me for dead, along comes the good news of restoration and rescue. When the law shows how blind and lost I am on my own, along comes the good news of recovery of sight! When the law condemns me as forsaken and forgotten, along comes the good news that we are favored!

This was the good news Jesus came to bring! This was the salvation he came to secure! He was stripped of his freedom so that we could be free. He was arrested and chained up for our crimes. He was beaten up and left to die the death our sins deserved. He was forsaken and forgotten by the Father in our place on the cross. It was the same prophet quoted by Jesus that day in the synagogue, Isaiah, who prophesied another event Jesus would fulfill: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (53:5). That is good news, promised by God, preached by Christ, and made possible by him. The same Savior preaching the law in the synagogue is the one who came to endure the wrath of that law in our place. May we always receive that amazing news with joyful hearts!

Let us not stop there, though. Let us carry on the work Jesus started in the synagogues. Let us be proclaimers of that peace to others. You know when that becomes easier to do? When rejection – not acceptance – becomes our expectation. That’s when our view starts to shift. That’s when “no” isn’t seen as rejection, but rather as redirection. Move along and take the good news to the next person. Jesus didn’t sit and sulk in Nazareth, “But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way” (v.30). Give the Holy Spirit the opportunity to change hearts and minds from loathing God’s Word to loving it. Be patient with them so that the law can do its work of convicting and killing, so that the gospel can do its work of setting free and giving life.