The Lutheran Hour
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"Discerning the Divine"
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Text: Philippians 1:9-10
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! In the English language there are many beautiful and wonderful expressions of thought. In each of our personal philosophies, there are principles and paradigms by which we live. Yet, it is my hope you have the ability to discern the magnificent from the mediocre, and the silly from the sublime. Today, it is my prayer that you discern the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the presence of a living Lord in your life to be of paramount and preeminent importance. In short, I pray that, with the maelstrom of life swirling around, you may be able to discern that the Savior and the salvation He has won is best.
People have a hard time discerning what is best. A number of years ago a young couple came to me for pre-marital counseling. The young man, who had never been in a pastor’s office, was understandably nervous. After making small talk for a few minutes during which I tried to put him at ease, we began. Apparently, my efforts were ineffectual. When I asked the first question, he froze. That question was, “Are you entering this marriage of your own free will?” The pause went on. Finally, his fiancée looked at the young man with a stare of dissatisfaction and whispered, “Put down, ‘Yes.'” I’ve often wondered how they’re doing. All I can say is on that day, he hadn’t discerned what was best.
People have a hard time discerning what is best. It was a couple of years ago that a cake decorator in New Zealand was asked to put 1 John 4:18 on a wedding cake. 1 John 4:18 is a beautiful wedding passage. It reads: “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.” The decorator, not knowing a lot about the Bible, put down John 4:18. That’s an entirely different book. John 4:18 is not a good verse for a marriage. When the cake was delivered to the wedding, it read: “The fact is you have had five husbands and the man you now have is not your husband.” The decorator could not discern what was best.
At a church picnic, I watched a young mother try to convince her two-year-old son to eat his hot dog. He hemmed. He hawed. He procrastinated. She bribed. She begged. She pleaded. Then, when all else had failed, she brought out her secret weapon–a cookie. Bartholomew (the name has been changed to protect the innocent) loves cookies. She, using the wisdom of Solomon decreed, “You can have the cookie when there is no more hot dog on your plate.” Bartholomew’s gears turned for no more than half a second. With Olympic grace he swept his arm across his plate. The hot dog took flight and Bartholomew declared, “Look, mommy, no more hot dog.” Mother’s face said she hadn’t discerned what was best. Can you discern?
Businessmen agonize over the bid they should have submitted. It’s hard to discern what is best. Young people are shown movies in drivers-ed about what can happen if they drink and drive, but it’s hard to discern what’s best when everybody tells you just one beer won’t make a difference. Older folks know not to buy driveway repair from a door-to-door salesman without references, but a cheap price can be very attractive can’t it? It’s hard to discern what is best.
The tragic truth is, even people in the Bible had a tough time discerning what was best. Adam and Eve, when confronted with choosing between God’s command and the forbidden fruit, couldn’t decide what was best. Cain killed his brother rather than cleaning up his act. Cain couldn’t decide what was best. Look through Scripture and you will see everyone had a tough time discerning. Joseph’s brothers, in jealously, sold him into slavery. David, in lust, sent Bathsheba’s husband on a suicide mission. Jonah, in revolt, ignored God’s command and sailed in a different direction. Judas, for whatever reason, took 30 pieces of silver rather than follow his Savior. When Scripture introduces Paul, the author of our text, he is murdering people to the glory of God. Not very discerning! Little wonder, in the face of such evidence, Paul says to the Christians of Philippi, and to us: “This is my prayer, that you may discern what is best.”
Now most of the time it doesn’t matter whether you can discern what’s best. If you want to paint your house a color that drops the property value of the neighborhood, it makes little difference. If you want to go skateboarding at the age of 85, it’s OK by me. But there are times in your life when you absolutely, positively, must discern what is best.
The Christians of Philippi would agree. Their church had been founded by people who had discerned what was best. On his second missionary journey, Paul had made plans of the places where he wanted to go. His plans didn’t include Philippi. Those plans were interrupted when God sent the vision of a Macedonian man pleading, “Come over and help us.” Paul discerned what was best and proceeded to Philippi. Finding no house of worship to begin his preaching, he started open-air services down by the river. There, by the power of the Holy Spirit, some women discerned what was best and believed. They were among the first European Christians. They opened their homes and began the first Christian church in town. When he was imprisoned for practicing and preaching his faith, Paul discerned God knew what was best. That’s why, even from jail, he and Silas, managed to sing songs of salvation in their cell. The result was his jailer, along with his household, were converted. It’s important to discern what is best.
Now I want to take a moment and speak to each of you. No, a better way of saying it is the Lord wants to speak to each of you. Standing in this studio, I do not know your hopes or horrors, your trials, tribulations, terrors and traumas. God does. And He who loves you; who sent His Son to save you, wants to know. How is your discernment about the important things? This very day, how is it going? God, who cares enough to allow His Son to die on a cross so you might be freed from fear, has an investment in your answer. How is your discernment?
Has your life turned out the way you dreamed it would 10 or 20 years ago? Are your days filled with peace, or is there a gnawing in your stomach, an emptiness in your head, a knot in your neck, a fear in your conscience, a desperation, despondency, depression that just doesn’t go away? Even if your name occupies an honored place on the books of a church, God wants to know, “How is your discernment?”
Have you discerned what is best or do you have this feeling down deep that something is not right. Without being over simplistic, may I suggest this simple truth: the closer your discernment is aligned with God’s will and His saving Son, the better this life and the next will be. Conversely, the farther your discernment takes you from the Lord, the more hollow and empty you will find your days. If any of this describes your most inner thoughts, and I wouldn’t expect even those closest to you to know them, then I would encourage you to discern what is best. Discern. Paul knew what he was talking about when he said: ” . . . filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ–to the glory and praise of God” (Phillipians 1:11).
“The fruit of righteousness.” as Paul puts it, are the good works that a person does when he walks with Christ. Do you want to be right? Nobody can make you more right than Jesus. You may have tried becoming right on your own power. You know how that has worked. Discern what is best. You may have tried taking a poll of your friends, asking them what you should do. You know how THAT has worked. Discern what is best. You may have consulted the experts; gone to the gurus, tried the theories. All of them have left you right where you are today–in a place where you probably don’t want to be. Try to discern what is best. What is best is Jesus.
Why? Because He understands what you are feeling. Born in a Bethlehem stable, Jesus came to seek and save lost sinners. Proclaimed by angels, worshipped by shepherds, threatened by a king, God’s Son came. Living His life perfectly, fulfilling the laws that tripped all of humanity, Jesus went about the Father’s business of redeeming souls. He preached words of love; healed sores and sickness with hands of grace and called men away from their ache and anguish.
Living out God’s gracious act of love, Jesus saw humanity–every bit of it. He saw the pain of the prostitutes; the loneliness of the unloved; the heartache of the widow and widower. He felt betrayal when a disloyal disciple sold Him out. He understood loneliness. He was deserted by His friends, rejected by His church, and denied justice by His government. And then, who can see it without wonder, He continued to carry our sins to a skull-shaped hill outside Jerusalem’s city walls. There, God’s Son died to change the world. He died to save you. He died so when you see with eyes of discernment, you would see just how much He loves you.
Under normal circumstances, Jesus’ death would have been the end of the story. You would have had the warm fuzzies because somebody really loved you. But the death of Jesus was not normal. Your Father in heaven used the tragedy of His Son’s crucifixion and gave us Good News, great news, the best news. On the third day, Jesus rose. Death was defeated, the law was laid low, and Satan was stampeded. Discern what God thinks is best. On the third day, the angel rolled the stone from the front of the tomb’s entrance, not to let Jesus out, but to let a doubting and skeptical world in. Look inside the empty tomb and discern what is really, truly best. God has conquered death. If He can do that, He can conquer anything, I mean ANYTHING wrong in your life.
In the last century, there was a boy who was leading his younger sister up a rough mountain path in the Alps. It wasn’t long before the girl began to complain about the “bad old devil who had put those jagged stones on the path just to make her slip and hurt her legs.” Her brother countered, “You think those are Satan’s stumbling stones? I think they’re God’s stairs for us to climb upon.” Then the brother took his sister’s hand and helped her climb higher than she ever had before. Corny? Maybe. But that’s what happens when Jesus takes your hand and helps you. With Jesus, the stumbling blocks this sorry and sinful world have put in your path will be transformed. With Jesus, the boulders you have confronted will be changed. With Jesus, these stumbling blocks become God’s stairs to climb on. With Jesus, you will be taken higher than you ever dreamed possible.
The brief time I have on the radio does not allow me to do more than tell you this transforming truth of Jesus’ love is real. By the Spirit’s power you may be able to discern what I am telling you is the truth. You may want to know more about how the Lord can change your life. If so, dial the number given before the end of the program. Lutheran Hour Ministries, who sponsors this broadcast, won’t ask you for money. We won’t twist your arm. We merely want to share the joy we have found in Jesus. But we can’t force you to discern what is best. Call us.
To discern what is best, allow me to finish my message this way. A number of months ago, there was a little boy in the back of our church. Somehow, he managed to escape from his mother. By watching people jump up, look down and slide over, I could follow his progress as he crawled under the pews. His mother headed him off about five rows up, grabbed him by the arm and escorted him out of church. The look on her face said she was going to–well, she was going to do what many of my people were praying she would do. With each heel-dragging step, he called out, “No, momma, no, no momma, no.” Then, just before they reached the back doors, with a premonition of what was coming, he called, “Oh, somebody, please pray.” That’s the way to end; echoing the boy: “Let’s pray.”
Dear Lord, part of human nature is to want that which is not good for us. Our sinful eyes want that which is wrong; our dark hearts yearn for that which is wicked. Send Your Holy Spirit upon those who listen today. Lord, let Your love as seen in the sacrifice of the Savior, touch us, transform us, and transport us to a life of joy and gladness. Dear Lord, let us discern what is best. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) from September 22, 2002
ANNOUNCER: Pastor Klaus, a listener asks, “How can I come back to God? I’ve done some things God wouldn’t be too happy about.”
KLAUS: Mark, we have to thank the listener for writing to us with that question and comment. We have to thank them because it gives us an opportunity to talk about the fundamentals of the Christian faith and what makes what we believe about Jesus so different and so special.
ANNOUNCER: The question is, “How can I come back to God?”
KLAUS: Well, that may be the listener’s question, but I’d like to deal just for a moment with the second part. The listener said, “I’ve done some things God wouldn’t be happy about.” To that listener, all I can say is, “Welcome to humanity!” In the Old Testament it says, “There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins” (Ecclesiastes 7:20). In the New Testament it says, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Those words cover everybody. Look around. The best person you know, the most innocent, the most admired individual that has ever lived, is a sinner. The best (that) humanity has ever produced, because of original and actual sin, is leading a life far inferior from the perfection that a holy God demands of His children.
ANNOUNCER: Is that true for everyone?
KLAUS: For everybody. Look at the Bible. Sometimes God’s Word calls people “heroes of faith,” but I’ve noticed all of those heroes, including the patriarchs, prophets, apostles and martyrs, were all sinners. In the listener’s terminology, every one of them had committed a sin, numerous sins, that God “wouldn’t be too happy about.”
ANNOUNCER: That’s really not very good news.
KLAUS: No, and the news gets worse. The Bible says, “the soul that sins,” (or does something God wouldn’t be too happy about) “shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4).
ANNOUNCER: We’re not just talking here about no longer breathing and walking and talking. It’s something far worse.
KLAUS: That’s exactly right. We’re talking about a death that lasts through eternity.
ANNOUNCER: So we’re saying there really is no hope for people who do things that God isn’t too happy about?
KLAUS: That’s exactly what we’re saying. If we are left to ourselves, and what we can do, we have absolutely no hope. We have sinned. God hates sin. God’s justice says our punishment for sin is death.
ANNOUNCER: That seems final.
KLAUS: It would be final, except for the fact that God is also a God of grace. For a reason known to Him, beyond our understanding, the Bible also tells us that the Lord would have “all to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).
ANNOUNCER: So, we could also tell our listener that God wants him to come back.
KLAUS: Well, I don’t know whether I would put it that way. What I think you might want to do is not just tell him but pick him by the collar, look him in the eye, and with the biggest smile you can muster, shout out the words, “God wants you! God loves you! To bring you back, He sent His Son to remove all those things God wouldn’t especially be pleased about.” God wanted our first parents Adam and Eve back. He made them a promise. He wanted the murderers, Moses and Paul, back. He wanted the adulterer David back. He wanted the denying disciple Peter back. He wants all of us back! He wants you back! How much does God want them back? God loved the world so much He gave His only Son (John 3:16). How much is a sinner wanted back? Well, Jesus says there’s going to be a lot of rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents.
ANNOUNCER: Will God accept our listener?
KLAUS: Oh, yes. God will accept our believing listener, like a father welcomes home a runaway child. God will welcome our listener and every believing sinner home.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Pastor Klaus. The next Lutheran Hour message is titled, “It’s Not Fair.”