The Lutheran Hour
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"Not Willing"
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Text: Luke 13:34
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! No matter what may happen to us in this world; no matter what evil might befall us; no matter the terrors which might stalk us, the living Lord Jesus Christ Who has conquered sin, death and devil, can be our own personal Conqueror. Christ’s nail-pierced hands provide shelter and security, for all who trust in Him as their forgiving Savior.
It was at one of my first Pastor’s conferences that I heard some retired ministers swapping “war stories.” War stories are those events from their ministry which are either poignant or humorous or both. One of the preachers reluctantly confessed how, when he was a much younger man, he had seen a group of boys sitting in a circle with a dog in the middle. Although there didn’t seem to be any shenanigans going on, he thought those boys might be up to trouble. He wandered over to investigate. He asked, “Boys, what are ya doin’ with the dog?” One of the lads, seeing a minister in his black suit, screwed up his courage and replied somewhat defensively, “We ain’t doin’ nuthin’ to the dog, Reverend. We’re just tellin’ the biggest lies we can. The guy who tells the biggest lie gets to keep the dog.”
My retired minister friend shared that he knew it was his duty to tell the boys, “how, when he was their age, the thought of telling a lie would never have entered his mind.” The young boy, the one who had first spoken, looked around the circle and with a sigh of resignation pronounced his verdict: “Fellas, we lose, give him the dog.” I guess it just goes to prove that the world is filled with lies. There are big lies, little lies, hurtful lies and seemingly harmless lies. There are unintentional and deliberate lies. There are premeditated lies, and those unplanned lies which just seem to pop up out of nowhere.
Talk show hosts have a field day trying to find out who has lied. “Are you the father of that baby,” they demand to know. “Let’s do a DNA test. Let’s find out the truth.” What’s truth? What’s not? Most of us in recent years have been to movies where fantasy seamlessly blends into reality. So real are the things I see on the movie screen, I wouldn’t be all that surprised if one day, Harry Potter and Bilbo Baggins happened to wander in unannounced, for Sunday lunch.
Little wonder people doubt that men have really walked on the moon. Who can tell? When I was growing up the great question was, “Is Adolf Hitler really dead?” Who knew the truth for sure? With the 40th anniversary of John Kennedy’s assassination, the world still wonders, “Was there one gunman or two? Was it a conspiracy, and if so, who was involved?” We don’t know. Was Marilyn Monroe murdered to keep her quiet? Was Princess Di’s death an accident? Some people, some people you know, probably aren’t sure. What’s the truth? What’s the lie?
Perhaps the greatest lie of our age, or any age, is the idea that the world cares about you and God doesn’t. That’s important enough for me to repeat. The great lie of our age is that everybody cares about you and loves you, except for the Triune God. Let me tell you what I mean. The world tells you that you can be happy, successful, fulfilled and self-actualized if you avoid carbs, calories, and sweets. The world tells you that you will find romance and a lasting relationship if you possess abs of steel, buns of platinum and a lifetime supply of Viagra. The world tells you that you deserve a break today; that you should have things done your way; what you should give when you care enough to give the very best; and what surgical stainless steel, lifetime-guaranteed, never-sharpening knife will turn you into a gourmet chef. We’re all told that contentment, true bliss can be found if we only make enough, do enough, go enough, experience enough, and believe in something hard enough. All of those great words sound so good, so right, so simple, so desirable. They also, if you think hard enough and are honest enough, sound like so much baloney. The world simply cannot supply what we need. That’s because the world simply doesn’t care. And if the world does care, it’s incapable of translating that caring into positive, powerful, permanent change.
Let me give you an example. This is just one example, in one area; there are many others. Look, do you believe the leaders of this world want peace? You do? Good. I do too. Do you believe the people of this world, the mothers, the fathers, the wives, the husbands, the children want peace? I think they do as well. Nobody wants to see his or her loved ones marching off to die somewhere in a war. Do you think that’s the way it has always been – I mean people hoping for peace? I agree. I think that the absence of war sounds like a very good thing, except to the occasional psychopathic leader. So if everybody wants peace, how come we don’t have it? If people wanted peace in the past, how come they didn’t have it? It’s because everybody wants peace on their own terms.
In the year 1014, emperor Basil II of Constantinople wanted to have peace. He decided it was time to end a war that had been going on for 40 years. In the interest of getting peace, Basil brought together all 15,000 of the Bulgarian prisoners that he held captive. Then Basil blinded all 15,000 of those captured soldiers. Well, that’s not accurate, he spared 150 of them; those he only blinded in one eye. That was so those 150 could lead the others home to the Bulgarian capital of Ohrid. When Bulgaria’s ruler, a man by the name of Samuel, heard his army was coming home, he rushed out in gladness to greet them. Confronted by thousands of sightless soldiers, Samuel suffered a stroke and died two days later. As far as peace, the fact that I’m telling you the story almost 1,000 years later, says the cruelty has not been forgotten.
Of course, that couldn’t happen today, could it? We want peace. Leaders want peace. People want peace. Nations want peace. Then why is there no peace? Why, in the last century were millions murdered, not by a foreign prince or potentate, but by their own leaders. Why are there killing fields in Cambodia and mass graves in Iraq? Why are young men and women strapping bombs to themselves and putting explosives in their cars? Why would men hijack a plane filled with innocent people and use those planes to kill thousands more? Yes, the world wants peace; people, leaders, and nations want peace, but peace doesn’t come. The best we have ever been able to do is to give ourselves a very temporary cessation of hostilities. That’s the best we can do because we are sinners – every one of us. The best intentioned of leaders, and there are many of them, are sinners. The most humanitarian of men, the most compassionate of women, are sinners.
That’s why it’s such a sad and sorry lie to believe that the world cares for you and to think the Lord does not. Believing the Lord didn’t care for them was the sin which motivated Adam and Eve to first eat the forbidden fruit. Believing the Lord didn’t care for them caused the children of Israel to constantly complain in the Sinai wilderness. Believing the Lord doesn’t care for them, has pushed millions into a never-ending search for fleeting fame rather than God’s forgiveness; a higher high instead of the Lord’s lasting hope; dollars rather than Divine deliverance; and short-lived success instead of salvation that comes through the Savior. Look around you. Look at your co- workers. Look at your family. Look in the mirror. Has the world given you what you need? Are you at peace? Are you happy? Really, truly happy? And if you, right this moment, are all of those things, are you confident that tomorrow will bring more of the same?
That’s why I say with sadness, but without fear of contradiction: the greatest lie of our age is the belief that everybody cares about you, except for God. The truth is, God cares. He cares so much that when our first parents pushed Him away in sin, He came back to promise His Son as their Savior. He cares so much that when His people wandered, He kept going after them. He cares so much that He sent one prophet after another to give them warnings, direction, hope. No matter they rejected the message and murdered the messenger, God continued to love His people.
Then one night long ago, His love became One of us. Jesus Christ, God’s Son was born in Bethlehem. There was no room for Him. No one was willing to move to the side. His king tried to kill Him. But God’s Son came and cared. He cared for the lepers that were untouchable; He cared for the prostitutes and publicans who were unacceptable; He cared for the sinners and those who had been segregated by society. He cared, and sought out the lost and the lonely, the sick and the sinner, the possessed and those whose lives had been lived in pain. To all of them, He said, “Come to Me in repentance. Forgiveness is here for all who believe.”
Little wonder, centuries ago, when Jesus looked down upon Jerusalem, filled with sheep and sacrifices, priests and peddlers, soldiers and shelters swarming with merchants, He cried. These were not an actor’s tears. He did not weep because of a false sense of sentimentality. With Divine insight, He saw the people He wished to gather together for forgiveness; and He also saw those who would reject Him, even as they had rejected the prophets who had come before Him. He knew, in this microcosm of humanity for which He was living and dying, that many of them would find it difficult to believe that He cared.
But He did care. He cared when His friends fell asleep during His hour of prayer and suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane. When one of His closest associates betrayed Him, He didn’t stop caring. When His church lied about Him; ran an illegal kangaroo court against Him; brought in lying witnesses to accuse Him, He kept caring. When justice turned a deaf ear to the truth and listened only to the cries of the crowd calling for His crucifixion, He continued to care. They whipped Him. He cared. They spit on Him. He cared. They beat Him. He cared. They pounded nails into His hands and feet, and He cared. Listen to His caring words from the cross. “Father, forgive them,” He says. That is how He calls out to those who put Him there. That is how He calls out to you. Jesus cared so much that He willingly died for you. That is caring on a scope that the world cannot comprehend. That is love that you will see nowhere else. Christ’s love cares in words, and actions, and power; power to conquer sin, death and devil; power to change the eternal destiny of all who believe in Him; power that forgives sinful souls.
A good number of years ago, two of three brothers, young teens, decided to explore the deep and forbidden, caves that were part of their father’s property. The younger boy followed the older in a descent into the darkness. Bravado pushed them along. They gave no concern as to how they would get back up. The elder boy, swinging from an overhanging rock, managed to land on an outcrop. His brother quickly followed. Only then did they realize their helplessness. Without a place to put hand or foot, there was no way out, up or down.
By late afternoon, the father had discovered his two younger sons were missing. It took a few hours more for the father accompanied by the eldest son, to find the stranded siblings. Strong ropes were found, securely anchored at the top, and the oldest son was let down over the edge to begin the rescue. With skilled hands, he offered to tie a tight knot around the first of the soon-to-be-rescued brothers. With his pride already shaken, the boy refused. He thought it better to use his own hands and hold on to the rope. The men at the top of the cave started to haul him up. As he swung out, he became afraid. He tried to swing back, but he overestimated his strength. Tragically, He died trying to get a foothold on the rock he had just left.
The youngest brother learned from what he had just seen. With a shaky voice, he said to the eldest, “I will do everything I am told to do.” The eldest said, “Do nothing. Let me tie the tight knot around you. Trust the knot. Trust your father up above. Do not try to grab a root, or a rock. Just trust us.” The boy did just that. Trusting his father, and his brother, he was quickly hauled to safety. That should be the end of the end of the story. Its moral should be plain. Trust God the Father’s love. Trust your brother, Jesus’ rescue attempt.
But the story, which is not mine, does not end here. The story was first told in New York City around the year 1888. In the original audience was a ship’s captain, a man who managed his men by using the most colorful of curses. Hearing the story, the part you just heard, the captain jumped to his feet and eagerly said, “Give me hold of that rope sir; give me hold of that rope!” The whole congregation was moved by his sincerity. But then the captain had second thoughts. The knot seemed too tight. It was too much to trust. He had always made his men fear him by swearing at them. If he became a Christian he couldn’t do that anymore. That thought made him hesitate.
Finally, the Lord really got hold of the captain. Jesus tied the knot of salvation around him, and the man let go of his worries and fears. He said something like, “Let the Lord tie a hard knot, even if I have to give up my ship.” Soon after he went on board, called his men to him, and told them he had become a Christian. He told them they wouldn’t hear him swear any longer. He invited them to join him in prayer. Although it doesn’t always work so nicely, the captain soon discovered his men were far more willing to listen to him now than they had been before. The captain made two trips to foreign ports. On the second trip, on the way back to New York he was taken sick. He died in his cabin. But the knot Christ had tied was tight. The captain was brought home to his Father.
But even that is not the end of the story. You see, the Lord is talking to you today, just as He did the captain over 100 years ago. Jesus is ready to tie the tight knot of salvation around you, just as He did the captain. Don’t stop Him. Don’t think you can get peace or salvation on your own. Don’t trust in your strength, in yourself, or anything your world can offer. Only by trusting your heavenly Father, only by believing in your loving Brother Jesus can you be saved. Today, if the Holy Spirit is motivating you to say “Give me the rope, sir; let me have hold of the rope,” that rope of life is there. Jesus Christ wants to save you. Lutheran Hour Ministries stands ready to help. Give us a call. Do not let earthly considerations hold you back. They can’t deliver. Trust God. Believe in Jesus. There is no greater truth in this world than that which says, “God so loved the world, and you, that He gave His Son so that all who believe will not die, but live forever.” God grant the knot be tied tight. Amen.
Lutheran Hour Mailbox (Questions & Answers) for March 7, 2004
Topic: Are All Religions the Same?ANNOUNCER: And now Pastor Ken Klaus responds to a listener’s comment, I’m Mark Eischer.
KLAUS: I really do appreciate it when people call in with their thoughts and concerns. So Mark, what is our topic for today?
ANNOUNCER: Well, it’s part of an e-mail we received. It says, “I truly believe we all are guided by what I call my “HP” – my “higher power,” and no matter which way we travel, we all end up believing in the same god.
KLAUS: Well as I said, I’m really glad when some of our listeners call in with their thoughts and concerns. Mark, I listened. I really don’t hear a question there.
ANNOUNCER: I guess my question is, is she right? Does it make any difference what people believe, or is it simply enough that everyone looks to some sort of HP, higher power, as she says?
KLAUS: The best way I can answer that question is to refer to the last story I told in the sermon today; remember the one about the brothers on the rock ledge?
ANNOUNCER: I remember.
KLAUS: Now suppose Mark, that you and I are the ones trapped on the ledge.
ANNOUNCER: I’m with you.
KLAUS: And somebody begins a rescue attempt.
ANNOUNCER: I’m still with you.
KLAUS: So there we are, looking, waiting, hoping. All of a sudden a large rope comes down, one that’s solid and strong. Then another line comes; this time it’s a hunk of clothesline – it’s old and frayed and three of the four strands have already broken. Lastly there comes this bit of string, about as thick as a human hair. So here we are, and there they are – three ways of escape hanging side by side. Are they equal? Mark, do you already know which one you’re going to count on for rescue?
ANNOUNCER: Well, by process of elimination, I’m certainly not going to trust the string.
KLAUS: Why not?
ANNOUNCER: It’s obviously not going to hold me; it’s going to break right away.
KLAUS: How about the clothesline?
ANNOUNCER: Well, that might look stronger and it might last for a little while, but it won’t hold either.
KLAUS: So these means of rescue, they’re not all equal. That’s true of religions too. They’re not all equal – all roads don’t go to the same place; not all gods are real, nor do all religions teach the same or possess the same degree or any degree of truth.
ANNOUNCER: So you’re saying …
KLAUS: To put it plainly, Jesus is the rope that rescues. There is no other name under heaven that can save us.
ANNOUNCER: Now many would say at this point, rock climbing is one thing, but religion is another, and many nowadays would say one religion is just as good as the next.
KLAUS: Well they might say that, but they would be wrong. If Islam is true, Christianity is wrong. If Buddhism is right, then Islam and Christianity are both mistaken. About the only person who says all religions are alike and all lead to the same place, is a person, and I don’t mean this cruelly, I mean it in the kindest way, is somebody who hasn’t done their research. They haven’t looked carefully at religions. They don’t know what they’re talking about. Mark, if you go to a nice restaurant and you order a big thick t-bone steak and the waiter brings tripe, are you going to say, “Well, you know, these are pretty much the same, they both come from a cow?” You wouldn’t do that. If you go to see Lord of the Rings, you pay your nine bucks and the usher says, “theater number two.” So you go to theater number two, and they show you a Three Stooges rerun. Would you say a movie is a movie is a movie?
ANNOUNCER: Well, no I wouldn’t. There is certainly a difference. But how do you know which religion is right?
KLAUS: Check it out. Not on the basis of friendship or who you know, or what pastor, priest, or guru you think looks good on TV. Go to the writings of those religions; check out the claims of the church; see if they hold water. Are the prophecies kept? Is the word inerrant? Check it out.
ANNOUNCER: Now did you ever check things out?
KLAUS: I did. I came away seeing that the Christian faith is the only faith that made sense. It’s the only one where God comes down to save us; rather than telling us that we have to somehow, some way, work our way up to God.
ANNOUNCER: But why did that make Christianity special?
KLAUS: I knew what kind of person I was, Mark. I wasn’t going to make it – not in a million reincarnations, if there was such a thing. There was one other thing that made me believe Christianity was unique. ANNOUNCER: And what was that?
KLAUS: We say it every Sunday. Christ is risen. The world knows, the devil knows. You can’t argue with Christ’s empty tomb. Because Jesus has risen from the dead, those who believe on Him as Savior will be saved. And those who don’t won’t.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you Pastor Klaus. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.