The Lutheran Hour
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"Proclaim His Glory"
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Text: John 5:30-47
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Prayer: Almighty God, since You have called Your church to witness that in Christ You reconciled us to Yourself, grant that by Your Holy Spirit we may proclaim the Good News of Your salvation and that all who hear it may receive the gift of salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (“Lutheran Worship,”collect 102).
I recently heard William Willimon speak. He is dean of the chapel and professor of Christian ministry at Duke University. Dean Willimon asked if we had ever wondered why the pews in churches are bolted down. I had never thought about that before. Have you? “Why is it that the pews are bolted down?” His answer? They’re bolted down because you need to hang on because of what happens in church. You shouldn’t leave church the same person who came in. Hang on, because what you hear will change the story of your life.
Every now and then I get letters complaining that I tell stories in these messages “Just give us the Word,” they say. Please, save your postage money! Life is about the stories of people. Your life is a collection of day-in and day-out stories that are being put together in one important volume, “The Story of Your Life.” Yes, of course, we need the Word of God but face the obvious fact, that Word is filled with the stories of people and the greatest story of the Bible is that God put skin on. The coming of Jesus Christ is God putting skin on to save you. So, hang on! When you go to church, you can expect Him to change the story of your life.
The story of your life should not be the same as the stuff of your life. By “stuff” I mean the things that happen in your life: Going to school, falling in love, getting married, having children or living a single life; getting a job, losing a job, retiring; being healthy, being sick; having a good marriage, having a troubled marriage; having money, wanting money. These things are the “stuff” of life. Too often we resign ourselves to whatever happens to us. We shouldn’t. The ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus said, “Men are disturbed not by things that happen, but by their opinions of the things that happen.” The stuff that happens in your life should not become the story of your life.
Take, for example, Aaron Montgomery Ward. Late last year newspapers reported the firm he founded was closing after 128 years in business. You and I would never have heard of Wards if Aaron Montgomery Ward thought the stuff of life was the story. Ward was a travelling salesman for a St. Louis dry goods company. He became convinced he could sell merchandise through the mail. That was as revolutionary in the 19th century as e-commerce has been in ours. Ward used his money, and probably borrowed a good chunk, too, to build up an inventory for his new mail-order business. He stored that inventory in a warehouse in Chicago. The year was 1871. Does that year and the mention of Chicago suggest anything to you historians? In 1871 Chicago burned to the ground. Over 17,000 buildings were destroyed and Aaron Montgomery Ward’s inventory went up in smoke. If he had let that become the story of his life, we would never have heard of Wards. Aaron Montgomery Ward started over and pioneered the mail-order business.
Some stuff in your life is good; other stuff is bad. The pews are bolted down because God is coming at you to turn your story-there’s the key word for this sermon- God is coming at you to “turn” your stuff into a great story. I chose the word “turn” for a reason. The more popular word these days is “spin.” “Spin City.” “Spin doctors.” The word “spin” suggests an outlook that may not be true. But when God turns the stuff of your life for good, it’s real.
The “turn” suggests repentance, which in the language of the Bible is a turning, a turning away from sin and to God. Sin is bad stuff, evil. I don’t need to go into a long lecture about sin. It’s all about us. Sin is breaking God’s commands by what we say, think, or do. Sin is all about us because it multiplies. For example, King David coveted his neighbor’s wife. Sin multiplies. He committed adultery with her. He murdered her husband. Sin multiplies. Sin is all about us. Sometimes we feel the effects of sin even when we have not committed some specific sin. A person driving according to the rules is hit and killed by a drunk driver. Or you may have perfect health habits but a debilitating, even fatal disease strikes you through no fault of your own. Ours is a broken, imperfect world. Sin fills our lives with bad stuff.
But God turns this. That’s the great glory of God to us sinners. God’s great glory is that He sent His willing Son Jesus to the cross to forgive all your sins and to break the power of sin in your life. You can overcome guilty feelings and you don’t have to stay stuck in wrong conduct. Jesus rose on Easter, replacing despair with real hope and emptying death of its power, offering us life. This Jesus says, “Come, unto Me all you who labor and are heavy laden” (Matthew 11:28) with the stuff of life. This Jesus says, “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63). Jesus is coming at you! Not in a bad, threatening way. He didn’t come into the world to condemn the world. He’s coming at you to take the stuff of your life and turn it into a great story. We know the Word of Christ never returns void. So, hang on!
That seems unbelievable. It would be if it weren’t for the words of Jesus that are spirit and life. In the Good News of Christ God gives us the faith we need. Like the God who gives it, Christian faith is living and active. Because it is, the power of God in faith enables you to start shaping your own story. As a Christian you are a story-maker, a positive story-maker. It’s that lemon thing, you know. If life gives you a lemon, you turn it into lemon aid. When life gives you a stumbling block, turn it into a stepping stone. Why shouldn’t the Gospel produce this result-that you shape the stuff of your life into a positive story? “I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord in Jeremiah 29:11, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). St. Paul asked in Romans, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). Shakespeare wrote, “We are such stuff as dreams are made on.” The power of God that is active in the Gospel of Jesus Christ can take the stuff of your life and turn it into a great story and a real story. No spin here!
Now what good is a story if you can’t tell it? My daughter Katie called me the other day on her cell phone. She was ecstatic because she had gotten a great sale price on some clothes. That’s the way it is for all of us. Everyone has a story to tell. And that’s the way it is with people whose lives have been turned around by God. It’s like the apostles said, “We cannot help but speak about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). But let me now make one more point using this word “turn.” When you and I tell our faith stories, let’s make sure sooner or later we turn the focus away from ourselves and turn it to Jesus Christ. The psalmist said, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us but unto Thy name give glory for Thy mercy and for Thy truth’s sake” (Psalm 115:1). In other words, proclaim His glory, not ours.
That problem of getting hung up on ourselves showed up many times in Jesus’ conversations with His religious opponents. In John chapter 5, for example, Jesus is talking-He’s not talking with, He’s talking at His opponents telling them they are wrong not to accept Him as the Messiah. Search the Scriptures, He said, but not to find the story of Me, your Savior. You are religious, He granted them, but your religion is simply a way for you to promote your own glory in the eyes of others. The religion you are practicing has nothing to do with the religion God wants from you. You’ve had John the Baptist, Jesus said. You’ve seen My miracles, He said, and still it’s all about you, isn’t it?
Here are some of Jesus’ exact words from John chapter 5. “If I testify about Myself, My testimony is not valid. There is another who testifies in My favor. The very work that the Father has given Me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent Me. And the Father who sent Me has Himself testified concerning Me. You have never heard His voice nor seen His form, nor does His word dwell in you, for you do not believe the One He sent. You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life. I do not accept praise from men but I know you. I know you do not have the love of God in your hearts.”
Again, those words of Jesus to His opponents are from John chapter 5. The fact you are listening to this program tells me you are not an opponent of Jesus. However, we Christians can fall into a similar trap. Talking about our lives, our Christian walk and not turning -there’s that word again-not turning the focus toward Jesus. I’m not suggesting we shouldn’t talk about our lives. Every merchant knows a satisfied customer can be most convincing. St. Paul, for example, often wrote about his own experiences. We can do that too, for the incarnation of Jesus Christ is about God changing human stories. Your story is worth telling. I’m simply saying, don’t stop with your story, with your Christian experience. Sooner or later, turn the focus onto the goodness of God in Jesus Christ. It’s the word of Christ, not your experience. The word of Christ is woven into your story through which God can come to others.
Two years ago I attended a large gathering of Christian communicators. One of the functions of this gathering was to honor my predecessor on this program, Dr. Oswald Hoffmann. I’ve been on this program for 12 years but many of you can still hear his voice clearly and fondly in your memories. It happened that I was walking with Dr. and Mrs. Hoffmann to the banquet hall where he was to be honored. As we walked he asked me how things were going. “Fine,” I replied and then added, “You know, I’ve noticed something about this gathering.”
“Oh, what’s that?” he asked with his unique voice.
“I’ve noticed they talk a lot about the Lord’s work they’re doing but I haven’t heard anyone talk simply about the Lord.”
“Is that right?” he replied and said nothing more. So much for my observation, I thought.
Later Dr. Hoffmann was honored and gave a short response. He told a couple of his favorite jokes and then, guess what? He said nothing, absolutely nothing about the Lord’s work but spoke wonderfully about Jesus. The place was rocking! He got two standing ovations-not for him but for the clear presentation of the goodness of God that comes to us in our Savior Jesus Christ.
Of course, we are to search the Scriptures but we search them for Jesus. The One who turns the stuff of our lives into the great story of salvation. And yes, it is good to tell our real life religious stories. God help more of us to speak the faith that is in us! But we are storytellers who strive to turn our listeners to the Gospel. Proclaim His glory, not ours. That’s why we bolt down the pews in church. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for February 4, 2001
ANNOUNCER: Welcome to the question and answer segment. I’m Mark Eischer. Joining me is Dr. Dale Meyer. Today’s topic concerns homosexuals and the church. We received an e-mail that says, “We need to recognize that homosexuals are God’s children and need our love as much as anyone else.”
MEYER: The writer is correct. We are all children of God, and we all desperately need the love He has given to us in Jesus Christ. But in this case how exactly is that going to be practiced? That’s a tough issue, and I can guarantee we are not going to exhaust the subject in the next couple of minutes. So I’d like to propose that we come back next week and talk about it again.
ANNOUNCER: Sure, but to begin with, we should make sure when we say “love” we don’t really mean approval.
MEYER: Let’s keep those two words in mind. Love and approval. Living in a democracy, we are encouraged to be approving of one another, whatever that person happens to be doing. Now I’ll grant you some states have laws against sodomy and so on, but I think the prevailing attitude these days is when it comes to sexual practices, do whatever you want in the privacy of your own bedroom just as long as no one is hurt. Well, you know that suggests a question. Is there an absolute truth? Might there be a moral standard that applies, even if you are in the privacy of your home and no one is being hurt? Historically, Christians have said, “Yes there is.” And I have to point out most folks in Canada and the United States historically have identified with the Christian religion. I’m not saying these are Christian countries. By law they are not. We have been oriented that way and that means historically most of us have been conformed toward the Bible. The Bible has some very clear statements on this and I’ll just read one, an extremely difficult passage. 1 Corinthians 6: 9 and 10: “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders will inherit the Kingdom of God.” I know for a fact the homosexual listener right now is offended by hearing that. And I’ll also admit that loving family members, who have a homosexual in the family circle, have to be torn apart by hearing a strong passage like that. But this is the conflict a Bible-believing Christian faces. How do I love a practicing homosexual and yet stay true to what God has told me about how to live life in His Word?
ANNOUNCER: This discussion today is being framed, I think, in such a way that it is really asking us to choose between love and truth as if they were mutually exclusive.
MEYER: One of the fascinating things about studying the Bible, and therefore studying about God, is that God cannot be divided. He is one whole, undivided God- meaning the truth of God and the love of God are in harmony with one another. We as Christians have to study those Scriptures and find a way through this thorny issue in which love and truth are harmonious and not compromised.
ANNOUNCER: How would this relate to your message for today?
MEYER: You remember I talked about all the stuff that happens in our lives. In this day and age the issue of homosexuality is significant for many people. We’re going to leave it on this hopeful note that God can turn this stuff into a great, great story. When we come back next week, we’ll talk about how God can do that.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Dr. Meyer. This concludes our broadcast for another week.