The Lutheran Hour
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"God’s Patience"
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Text: Amos 7:8
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! God’s judgment is just, His sentence of condemnation against you will be fulfilled. But this day, give thanks to God. By the Father’s plan, and the Holy Spirit’s power, the risen and every-living Lord Jesus calls dead men walking to life eternal, forgiveness, hope, and heaven. Today is the day of salvation for all who believe. Amen.
Ryan was just the kind of little boy that people just naturally had to smile at. It was impossible not to like him. When you looked at Ryan, you found yourself suddenly breaking into a silly grin. About three or four years old, Ryan had blond hair, brown eyes and an open face. He made you forget about life’s difficulties and feel good about the future of humankind. At least those were my thoughts when I first saw Ryan in the grocery store checkout line. Anybody could understand why his mother was so obviously proud of her little man.
All of us who were waiting to be rung out would have spent the rest of our lives thinking good thoughts about Ryan. We would have, if Ryan and his mother hadn’t had to run the gauntlet of candy, gum, and plastic toys which are so prominently displayed at the register. Ryan zeroed in on those treats like a bloodhound. His request came in the form of a polite: “Mommy, candy, please.” Mother, just as politely, declined: “Honey, you don’t need any candy.” Before the last syllable was out of mom’s mouth, Ryan pulled a Dr. Jeckyl-Mr. Hyde. His face darkened; his brow furrowed; his forehead flushed red and his hands clenched. Ryan’s request became a command: “Mama, candy!” Mama didn’t seem to notice her little man’s obvious change. She was still sweet when she said, “No, honey, I don’t think so.”
Ryan’s wrath kicked into gear. “Mama, candy. Mama, candy. Mama, candy.” Although Ryan kept repeating those two words, I won’t. You understand. Mama tried to put Ryan off by saying, “Maybe next time, dear.” That didn’t work. She tried bribery: “We can stop at McDonald’s on the way home.” Mama was ignored. She tried threats: “Honey, if you don’t stop, I’m going to have to give you a time out.” Ryan remained a broken record, “Mama, candy.” Embarrassed, Mama’s voice began to rise in volume and pitch: “Do you want a time out?” Even I saw the problem with that last line. Ryan, who someday may be a lawyer arguing cases before the Supreme Court, quickly grasped the weakness of his mother’s question, and shot back: “No, I don’t want a time out, I want candy.” Tired of trying to control her son, mother called in the big gun, the ultimate threat, the court from which there was no appeal: “If you aren’t quiet right now, your daddy is going to give you a spanking when he gets home.” The lady behind me in line leaned forward and whispered, “Forget daddy, I’ll be glad to do it for her right now.” Ryan didn’t blink an eye. That’s because Ryan knew that Mom’s bark was a whole lot worse than her bite. Her threats were bluster and baloney. Ryan knew, no matter what mom said, there wasn’t going to be any consequence for his tantrum.
Over the years, it’s been my privilege to run into the occasional family whose children seem to have turned out better than just “all right.” Those parents didn’t make threats, or promises, that they weren’t ready to keep.
To be honest, my job as a pastor would be easier if God worked the way those parents did. People might take the Lord more seriously if He punished certain sins with immediate consequences. Think about it. Suppose every time you went ten miles over the speed limit, God gave you a flat tire. You’d watch your speedometer more closely. Suppose every time you took His name in vain, He gave you a toothache. You’d watch what you said. Well, God doesn’t always work that way. He doesn’t always punish us immediately… and because He doesn’t punish us immediately, many people disregard Him, disdain Him; feel free to disobey Him. Since God’s punishment isn’t always obvious and instant, many folks wrongly and dangerously conclude that God isn’t serious about what He says; they think they can negotiate with Him; they think He doesn’t care; and some even conclude He isn’t there at all. It’s a frightening thing to mistake God’s grace for indifference; to confuse His mercy with disinterest; to assume that His long-suffering patience is the same thing as apathy.
Yes, the job of a pastor, a priest, a prophet, would be much easier if God wasn’t patient. I imagine the Old Testament prophet Amos would agree with that statement. Let me tell you about Amos. Amos was a shepherd from the wilderness area of southern Judah. He was called by God to give warning to the people of the north. Now, before he ever opened his mouth Amos had two strikes against him: first, he was a blue-collar preacher speaking to a white-collar congregation. Second, Amos didn’t have the proper credentials for a prophet, the official pedigree that the people preferred. The third strike against him was called when Amos started to speak. You see, the people to whom Amos was preaching were having a grand time; they thought were doing just fine, and were content with things just the way they were.
Their king, Jeroboam, would reign for 41 years. During that time, the powerful people had prospered; a new class of wealth had come to prominence. For some, life was good. But to God, everything was overshadowed by some serious sin. True, the rich had gotten richer, but the poor had been oppressed. Even worse, the king did that which was “evil in the sight of the Lord” (2 Kings 14:24). As countless governments have done, still do, the king tried to cement the people’s loyalty to him by promoting his own religion. Wishing to turn people from God and toward him, Jeroboam, remember, that’s the evil king, encouraged the people to worship Baal, a party god, a pleasure god, a deity of sensual sacrifice.
Amazingly, God didn’t punish those people for their idolatry. Not at first. Not right away. Instead, in His grace, He sent Amos to set the people straight. “Seek Me and live” was God’s call to repentance. Your place of worship will be reduced to nothing, was the Lord’s admonition. God’s words of warning were quickly countered by the local prophets who were content with the status quo. Their calming comments were supported by the government which said if things are so bad; and God is so mad, why hasn’t He punished us before now? You see, the job of a prophet and pastor would be made easier if God stepped on sin right away. At any rate, Amos went unheard. That’s when God gave him a vision. The vision showed God standing on a wall… a stone wall, representing His disobedient people. In this vision, God asked Amos, “What do you see?” Amos said I see “a plumb line.” A plumb line was a weight at the end of a cord used by builders to check that a wall was straight and solid. In this vision, the plumb line represented God’s commandments. Knowing that the people were ignoring Him, the Lord warned: “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass by them.” It was God’s way of saying: I’ve been forgiving in the past, but no more. I’ve been patient in the past, but no more. I’ve been hoping the people would change, but no more. I’m not going to put up with it. The time is coming when the people will be punished; the day of reckoning is just around the corner; my grace is at an end. The vision of God’s plumb line said the wall of God’s people is way out of whack, and the wall is going to come down. In verse nine the Lord got specific as to what that would mean. He said: The sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste. I will rise with the sword against the house of the king. God wasn’t joking. And His warnings of destruction upon an unrepentant people soon became a reality.
On the morning of the day that Napoleon fought the battle of Waterloo, he called his generals together to go over his battle plan. After he had made sure that everyone knew what they were to do, and when they were to do it, Napoleon concluded, “And by tonight Wellington will be in our power.” The emperor had no reason to doubt the genius which had so successfully brought him one victory after another. That was when one of his generals, quite uncharacteristically, commented, “Man proposes, but God disposes.” Napoleon, confident of his conquest shot back: “Napoleon proposes, and Napoleon disposes.” You all know the disaster that came upon the over-confident conqueror. You should know, because Napoleon’s fate has been shared by every government, every world power, which thought it can replace God, revamp His commandments and disrespect His warnings.
But today, I am not concerned about nations and rulers. We can, if the Lord delays His return, speak of such matters on another day. No, I’m not anxious about nations, I am troubled about you. I am disturbed that you may not really be hearing the Lord when He says, “The wages of sin is death;” when He forewarns, “The soul that sins will die.” Are you among the millions who, having heard those heaven sent words of warning, smile, and with disdain and disregard say, “I don’t think so.” Are you numbered among the many who think God, if there is a God, is hardly going to be interested in little old you. Do you delude yourself into believing that heaven and hell are only outdated concepts being pushed by forgotten prophets and sourpuss preachers? Are you, like the populace addressed by Amos, content with the status quo, comfortable with your present circumstance and unconcerned about your soul’s eternal home? If so, you are playing with fire… eternal fire.
Did you shake your head when I said that last line? Some of you did. That saddens me and it should frighten you. A few years ago there was a movie called, Dead Man Walking. The title meant that even though a death sentence had not been carried out on a condemned criminal; even though that individual was still eating, breathing, thinking, dreaming; he was, in the eyes of the law, already dead. When Amos told God’s people that a plumb line had been set up, and God had condemned them, he wanted them to know they were already gonners. Yes, those people still went to work; they still raised their families; they still kept on laughing and crying; but they were dead people walking. They were dead, but they just didn’t know it.
And, if you disregard God, the same is true for you. All of us, every one of us, because of our sinful natures, are dead people walking. We have all sinned against God; we have all strayed from His plan of perfection and we all stand condemned. We are dead people walking. God’s sentence of condemnation has been passed; and it will be carried out. When? I don’t know. Today? Possibly. For some of those listening to me today, this will be your last day on earth. Before this time tomorrow others of us will face our Judge. I don’t know when the sentence will be carried out in your life. I only know that it will be. The day of God’s patience will, along with your earthly life, come to an end.
Which is why what I am going to say next is so very important. God doesn’t want you to die. God doesn’t want to carry out His sentence of condemnation which your sins demand. God wants to transform dead men, dead women, and dead children walking into people who can live forever, free of condemnation and damnation. God wants to set aside the devil’s accusations of disobedience; to release you from the jail of sin; to free you from the condemnation of eternal death. So all of this might happen, so you might be redeemed, God did what no reasonable person would ever do. He sent His Son, Jesus, into this world to take your place. Humanity didn’t deserve Him; we didn’t want Him; most rejected Him, some even called for His death. But so God’s judgment day plumb line might find you acceptable, God’s Son paid the price your disobedience deserved. Conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, Jesus entered this world. True man so He would be one of us, true God, so He could defeat sin, death, and devil; Jesus spent His entire life waging the battle for our salvation. When the devil tried to detour Jesus from the path to the cross; when Satan held out another route, an easier route, a less painful route, Jesus said, “No.” Always about His Father’s business, Jesus invested His life in your salvation. Rejected and disrespected, Jesus was hated rather than honored, laughed at rather than loved, He walked the painful path which would lead to your redemption.
Read through the Gospel narratives and you will see Jesus live a life of love which is beyond your understanding. Although He was innocent, Jesus found Himself condemned. Although He was gentle; He was whipped, beaten and spit upon. Although He promised only forgiveness and perfect peace, He was stricken, smitten, and afflicted. The sins that weigh you down, that demanded your damnation, were picked up by Him and carried to Calvary’s cruel cross. The King of creation, the Lamb of God was slaughtered, and there is no better word than slaughter, for what He endured. All this so you might be forgiven. All this so God’s plumb line would find believers to be in line with God’s demand for perfection. Surely He has born our griefs and carried our sorrows, wrote another prophet by the name of Isaiah. Yet, through His stripes and bruises, through His suffering and death, we are healed. Dead men walking can live. We all can live, if we have faith in a living Lord Jesus as our Savior.
The people to whom Amos spoke never understood. They thought they were OK just the way they were. Many who saw Jesus walk the dusty roads of Galilee, Samaria, and Judea, never believed. They were content with the status quo. Some who looked into Jesus’ empty tomb of resurrection, refused to receive God’s great gift of grace. They would not believe that God’s Son had defeated death and risen to life, a life that He was willing to share with all who confessed their sins and received Him as Savior and Lord. I pray that you are not one of the multitude of masses who are marching, oblivious and unbelieving into the fires of hell. I trust that you will hear the summons of the Holy Spirit to believe and be given the life of forgiveness eternal which Jesus won for you at the cost of His life. I pray that you may be saved.
Please, don’t pull a Ryan. You remember the little child in my opening story who thought his mother was bluffing? Don’t construe God’s patience for apathy, indifference, or bluff. God’s plumb line has been hung. The day is coming when you will stand before Him. And on that day, what will you, a dead man walking, say? Will you say, “I didn’t know.” He won’t buy it. You know. Today I’ve told you: There is salvation in no one else other than Jesus. There is no other name under heaven which can save you. Will you tell Him, “I thought You were just kidding.” Get serious. God wouldn’t send His Son as your sacrifice if He were joking. Will you say, “I’m sorry.” Your sorrow will not be enough; it will be too late.
On that day, I pray you will say the only words that matter, that you will say: Jesus is my Savior. He is my Lord. My friends, this is the day the Lord has made. It is the day when Jesus, with hands pierced by nails stands before you, wishing to enfold you in His love, wrap you in His forgiveness, cover you with His sacrifice. On the Day of Judgment, what will you say? By the Spirit’s power say only this to your risen, living Savior: “Lord be merciful to me a sinner.” And knowing that He, and He alone, is your Way, your Truth, your Life; knowing with your whole heart that He is merciful; let the Savior’s story of salvation be your message of hope. A living Savior for sinners. That is the message of The Lutheran Hour this day. If you need to know more about it, call us at The Lutheran Hour. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for July 16, 2006
TOPIC: Miracles or Magic? – part 1ANNOUNCER: Was Jesus more magician than messiah? That’ll be our topic for the next few minutes as we talk with Pastor Ken Klaus. I’m Mark Eischer.
KLAUS: Hi, Mark and hello to you, the listener. What’s the background on this question, Mark?
ANNOUNCER: A listener wonders whether it’s possible that Jesus was just a very clever magician and that the miracles He performed were really nothing more than tricks or illusions designed to fool the ignorant people who surrounded Him?
KLAUS: It’s been a while since I’ve heard something that cynical.
ANNOUNCER: So, that kind of comment isn’t anything new?
KLAUS: No, nothing new. You know, Mark, I remember, years ago, I was with Dr. Paul Maier and he was translating some ancient manuscripts. For those of our listeners who don’t know Dr. Maier, let me just say he’s a brilliant Christian author and historian.
ANNOUNCER: He’s also a frequent guest on this Q&A segment.
KLAUS: Yeah, one of the best lecturers I’ve ever heard. At any rate, I think he was working on a text by the ancient church historian, Eusebius. All at once he started to laugh. I asked him why, and he said: “The Bible’s right. Nothing new under the sun.” Then he explained. He said, “You know, Ken, we have all these supposedly new criticisms being directed against Christianity. At least, people think they’re new. The truth is, every modern criticism and complaint against the faith was already being said within 100 years after Jesus rose from the dead.”
ANNOUNCER: So the early church also dealt with people who said Jesus’ miracles were fake?
KLAUS: Absolutely. Let me tell you what I mean. This is from Matthew’s Gospel. Right after Jesus had been crucified and died, He was buried in a borrowed tomb. That took place before Resurrection Sunday. The Bible tells us this: The chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate (Pilate was the Roman procurator who had allowed Jesus to be crucified) and they said to Pilate, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while He was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore, order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples go and steal Him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and that last fraud will be worse than the first.”(Matthew 27: 62-64) Mark, do you see what happened?
ANNOUNCER: Well, they called Jesus an “imposter.”
KLAUS: Yeah. In the King James, the word is translated “deceiver.”
ANNOUNCER: Then they said that any claim to a resurrection would be a fraud.
KLAUS: And you will note what happened is they tried to contain any possibility of a dead Jesus performing some kind of miracle.
ANNOUNCER: They set up an armed guard, but Jesus rose from the dead, anyway.
KLAUS: And then?
ANNOUNCER: They tried to explain it by saying the body had been stolen.
KLAUS: And then?
ANNOUNCER: Then people all over the place saw a living, resurrected Jesus who appeared to any number of people including the disciples, and they touched Him and saw Him, and He ate and drank with them.
KLAUS: And then?
ANNOUNCER: And then they believed.
KLAUS: In fact, they believed so much they were ready to die rather than deny the truth of what they had seen.
ANNOUNCER: So, let’s ask the listener’s question again: is it possible for Jesus to have been a magician?
KLAUS: Let me reply this way. Take a man, beat him up, pound a crown of thorns into his head, tear his back to ribbons with a whip, deprive him of sleep, nail him to a cross, and run a spear through his heart. Have both friends and enemies certify his death. Then, three days later let him show himself alive and well. Some might say that’s magic. It’s far easier to believe it’s a miracle. I know the disciples found it far easier to believe it was a miracle. You know, Mark, I think we’re going to make this into a two-parter. But before we have to end, let me say there is only one similarity between what happened to Jesus and what goes on in a magic show.
ANNOUNCER: And what is that one similarity?
KLAUS: Surprise. Nobody expects what a magician does, and nobody expected Jesus to really rise from the dead.
ANNOUNCER: Other than that, do you see a lot of differences?
KLAUS: I do. Let me name just a few. A magician is in complete control of his surroundings. Was Jesus in complete control of the crucifixion?
ANNOUNCER: No. He was forcefully moved from one place to the next.
KLAUS: A magician has a helper or two with him on stage. Did Jesus have any helpers?
ANNOUNCER: No. His disciples all ran away.
KLAUS: A magician is assisted by controlled lighting, machinery, curtains, trapdoors. Did Jesus have any of those devices at His disposal?
ANNOUNCER: No, all He had was a wooden cross and several long nails.
KLAUS: You see how it goes. I could continue on.
ANNOUNCER: And we will continue next week. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by John Leavitt. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“In the Very Midst of Life” by Martin Luther. From Martin Luther: Hymns, Ballads, Chants, Truth (© 2004 Concordia Publishing House)
“Oh, Sing Jubilee to the Lord” arranged by Henry Gerike. From Jubilee by the Concordia Seminary Chorus (© 2000 International Lutheran Laymen’s League)
“Come, Thou Fount” by Dan Marvin. From Hymns by Dan Miller (© 1991 DSDS Enterprises)
“Oh, That I Had a Thousand Voices” by John Behnke. From For All Seasons, vol. 2 by John Behnke (© 2001 John A. Behnke) Augsburg-Fortress