Sunday, November 20, 2016 Sermon

Jeremiah 23:1-6; Psalm 46; Colossians 1:11-20; Luke 23:33-43

I am they. I have been called to preach the truth. The truth is, so are you. You are they. “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” Arrogance and pride are the root of many kinds of evil. Pride goes before the fall. Here’s what I see, in myself and in others. I like to think that ‘they’ are all the others and that I am not one of them. Do we not see this rampant in our world today? Not only does everyone do what is right in their own minds, but there is great vitriol and anger when others do not agree with us (really, me). Look at what is happening in our nation in the aftermath of the outcome of the election, only let us look at it through the eyes of the Lord. Let us imagine the outcome was opposite of what it is. I have heard the common refrain, “If we had lost, we would not go to the streets rioting.” Fair enough. But I’ve watched these elections over the forty years I’ve been voting and the attitude and heart is the same. Indeed, perhaps not outwardly acting in disappointment, but inwardly reacting up to and including the disdain and even hatred that is evident by those who act upon their feelings. Jesus said, “If you even say Raca to your brother you are guilty of murder. Listen up, this is important. The word Raca is the most trivial of dismissals that I have used and I will not accuse you, but regardless your age, I suspect you have used this attitude frequently. It is a dismissing of the other. Even calling another an idiot is a dismissing of the person created in God’s image. Here we get at the root of sin. I am more important than you. We also see the ultimate reality of why we all, and those we call the other ‘they’ sinners, so readily dismiss Jesus. The people stood by, but the leaders scoffed, mocked, jeered, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Messiah.” We’re at the root of the problem. If you are God, then this is how you should do things. There it is. If the world is good, then it should be this way. If things were fair, the outcome of the election should have been . . . If I do not get what I want, if things do not go the way I think they should go, if what I do does not produce whatever it is I think it should produce, then there is no God. Whether it is the overtly religious, or the anti-religious, the poison of pride is in us all. We do not – listen up, Jesus words, not mine – we do not know what we are doing. That includes you and me. Pride is an ingredient in the mix of who we are. It causes us to move forward, explore, try new things, learn and strive. I believe this is why God put this in the mix. But perverted, it drives us into ourselves thinking we are not like all the others, different and yes, better than others because we are whom we are. Jesus came to save us because we all need saving. There is not one who is righteous. No, not one. You and I, by declaration of God’s Word are among the unrighteous. Remember this in your attitude toward ALL others, rioters, demagogs, murders, or whomever. Every human being is created in the image of God. All are image bearers. Regardless their behavior, regardless our behavior, God loves us all, every single one of us. He does not stop loving anyone no matter what they’ve done or what their behavior is. So God comes into our midst and demonstrates that He alone has the power to create. All those miracles where Jesus gave sight, hearing, limbs and raising the dead? These were not some futuristic medical procedure. God was created what did not exist. We take something and reuse it for something else. God creates from nothing something. This is what Jesus did. Only God can truly create. We just manipulate what God has created. God tells us that we need to be saved. God tells us that Jesus on the cross is the beginning of the means by which He saves us. God further establishes two things He uses to create this new and before non-existing life that comes through what He does from the cross, baptism and communion. Through what He is doing, God establishes a new and different life. But He, for the time being, leaves in the old life. God has a reason for everything and He is doing what He alone knows He is doing. I can’t tell you how often I’ve been asked the question about salvation and those in the Old Testament like Abraham and David. Scripture gives the answer, but we often miss it. “And it was reckoned unto him as righteousness,” when Abraham believed. What Christ did on the cross He did once for all. Now once for all means just once and for everyone, past, present and future. God means what He says. The salvation comes to those who believe. I see and I accept, or else I see and I reject. In the mystery of faith, some will take the hand of Jesus while others will reject the offer of salvation. But this is where it gets muddled in our world. Yes, obedience is important. If I truly believe God, then I will do what He says I ought to do. Or at least, I try to do what He asks me to do. Obedience is important. But – and please hear this clearly – it is a response to what I now see, that Jesus is my Savior. In one sense, my obedience has nothing to do with my salvation. Jesus alone saves me through the cross. Yet, on the other hand, if I am saved, I have a new heart that realizes the way of pride and sin are the way of destruction and the way of Jesus is the way of life here, now and forever. Let me say plainly another piece of embarrassing history foisted upon true believers. Those in history who have called the Jews the killers of Christ are only partially right. I killed Jesus. You killed Jesus. As a believer in who Jesus IS, I confess plainly that if I had not sinned, Jesus would not have died. I AM GUILTY of His death! I am a murder. So are you. So as one murderer to another, we have no grounds, none whatsoever, to feel superior to another. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. To one who has had an abortion, its just another murder on top of another. To the one who has dismissed others (even the rioters in the streets), its just another murder. We are all guilty and when this hits your heart, what happens is something very simple. God, save me. And He will. Who is this that is hanging on the cross? An agony we cannot begin to imagine. Not only the physical torment, but remember, all the sins of every person, all the calamities of us hurting one another, even those secret thoughts in our hearts are heaped upon Jesus on the cross. Every single one of them. But see what God does. In the midst of the jeering and mockery, a conversation ensues between those on either side of Jesus. Which one is which? Right, left? We don’t know and it does not matter. Yes, like the Bereans study Scripture to show yourselves approved, but don’t fall back into pride thinking that you have come into knowledge that is superior to others. Sometimes the details are just details. I know the church historically has called the two on either side of Jesus thieves. The actual word used simply, calls them evil men. Evil is anything against God. I hope I’ve established in your mind the truth that we all have begun this life against God. Simply put, we do not do things God’s way. That we must learn if we truly follow Jesus. One says to the other in a Holy Spirit moment, Do you not fear God? Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Wisdom is another name for the Holy Spirit in Scripture. God is wisdom. The simple plea for every criminal, myself included is, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” Yes, we have our rites and rituals. We have our way of doing things and it is good, but it boils down to simply trusting in Jesus. This is what gives us the reckoning that is declared righteousness. I believe in Jesus. I believe He died for my sins. I believe He saves me and all who come to Him. I believe that He alone can do this and that everything I say or do is only a reaction to this simple but amazing truth that Jesus is my Savior. My heart wants you to be saved too. Why? Because Jesus gave me a new heart. My old heart hates those who do not agree with me. My new heart adopts God’s view of things. He desires that none would perish. My old heart wants you to think and do like I think and do. My new heart see that God works all things for glory according to His purpose. I stare at the cross in amazement and perplexity. Like the other criminal on the cross, I asked Jesus to be in His kingdom. I am because Jesus said so. So are all who come to Him. Without merit, without a plea, just as I am, I come to Jesus and what does He say?, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” What does this mean? It means being with Jesus. Not some earthly idea of an eternal club-med with pleasures heaped one atop another. It means being with Jesus. Being with God is paradise. Is this not what Scripture says? Immanuel? God with us. Is not being with God truly all that is needed? Yes and more. The more we cannot imagine, so let us be content with the Word thus far. Let us accept the new life Christ gives knowing that He has purpose in the old life that remains. As the two war against one another, marvel at what the Holy Spirit is doing in your life. God is always at work. God is close and present. God is saving you each and every day as He grows in you the very likeness of Christ who did not see equality with God as something to be grasped. The Savior hangs on the cross for you. There was an inscription over Jesus head. INRI. Iasu, Nazaret, Rex Iuda. Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Who are the Jews? God’s chosen people. Who are the chosen people? As many as believe. “You did not choose me, but I chose you,” Jesus said. You have been called through the water of your baptism. All are called by the Holy Spirit to look upon Jesus on the cross. What do you see? A criminal or an innocent man? A fanatic or God? One or the other, for there is nothing in between. Either the soldier who proclaimed, “truly this is the Son of God” was right, or else the jeering mockers of the cross are right. I say to you simply, behold your King. Behold the One through whom all things have been made. Behold the light shining in the darkness. Behold, He has always been shining, and although He is the light and shines in the darkness, the darkness does not comprehend it. He is there, with you and will never leave nor forsake you. He who was forsaken for us all will not do what has been done to Him. He loves you more than any of us can imagine, enough to die for you while you were completely unworthy of His attention. Behold the God who created you, loves you and desires for you to be with Him now and always. Behold the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords. Apart from Him is nothing. With Him is everything. You are on a cross too, for this life has its share of difficulties. Will you demand of Jesus what you want or will you simply live your life asking Jesus to remember you?