The Lutheran Hour
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"Tossed About"
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Text: Ephesians 4:14b-15
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed. In a world where skepticism and cynicism is commonplace, and belief in absolute truth is reserved only for the weak, the ignorant, the Savior’s empty tomb calls out: here is truth; here is hope; here is forgiveness; here is heaven for all who believe.
This August 6th Lutheran Hour message is dedicated to all of our listeners who are… not sure. Not sure of what? Well, I’m really talking to those of you who find yourself not sure of… anything. Every poll, every survey says our nation is packed with people who have concluded that nothing is absolutely, totally true. Nobody can be believed; nothing can be trusted; not categorically, not completely, not all the time. Perhaps you are numbered among those who feel so lied to, so taken advantage of, so tossed to and fro, so misled, misinformed, and misdirected that this Lord’s Day you find yourself doubting… everything. Odds are, if I haven’t described you, I most certainly have painted a picture of someone you know. Think for a moment. Run over a list of your friends and family members. Isn’t there someone in that list whose ability to believe has become so battered, beaten, and abused that their perspective is suspicious and skeptical; their words cynical and sarcastic?
Those words certainly describe more than one person I know. They’ve just been so let down that they no longer can believe, they no longer can trust. I feel sorry for them. I certainly understand them. Look, I’m 57 years old. That’s hardly young, but it’s not exactly ancient, either. It is old enough to know that many of the things which I once accepted, things that I, and almost everyone else, believed beyond any shadow of a doubt to be true… aren’t. Let me tell you what I mean. When I was young my brother, sister, and I weren’t allowed to go swimming for a whole hour after we had eaten. We were told, indeed, every child was told, that if they went swimming 59 minutes after they had eaten, they would get a cramp and they would die. It was guaranteed. Sixty minutes was OK. Fifty-nine minutes was to make a date with death. So, for years my siblings and I stood by the sides of lakes and pools with a stopwatch in our hands, waiting for the magic minute to reach 60.
The years have seen the coming and going of many things which were supposed to be true and trustworthy, but weren’t. When I was 13, I shaved about five times a day. Why? Everybody knew that shaving forced your hair to grow in thicker and faster and darker. Did it work? Well, my hair is thinning and my beard is gray. I guess we can scratch that one. When I was young I was told not to swallow chewing gum. Why? Everybody knew that the sticky stuff took seven years to pass through your digestive system. Everybody knew that was true and everybody was wrong. When I was young, we all knew it was dangerous to handle a toad; handling a toad would give you warts. I once knew that sitting too close to the TV would hurt your eyes. It doesn’t. Sitting too close to the tube may mean that you are nearsighted; but that’s not the TV’s fault. For years I was sure you were supposed to feed a cold and starve a fever; or was it starve a cold and feed a fever? Forget that one, I never could remember which one was right. You get my point. With truth being so flexible, it’s hard to find anything you can believe.
Which is why this Lutheran Hour message is for folks who have been tossed to and fro, who have a tough time believing in anything. It’s hard to know what is true. Are there UFOs? Some of my listeners will say, “Of course,” others will say, “Of course not.” Which is true? When somebody whispers, “Carmakers have a super-secret pill which would enable automobiles to get 223 miles to a gallon of gas,” do you laugh in amusement, or do you nod your head in agreement? Everybody has an opinion… and other than making for interesting programming on Mythbusters or PBS, it doesn’t make much difference what you believe.
But there are times when it is important to know the truth. Once we were told that smoking made us cool, when, in actuality, it made us dead. Once upon a time, well, actually in my life, we were told that it didn’t make any difference if a pregnant woman drinks alcohol. Now we know it does make a difference, a big difference. It wasn’t so long ago that a person who was a bit “chunky” was showing the world that he was prosperous. Children were encouraged to clean their plates because there were starving people in India, China, or some remote location. Then, when the little ones grew rotund, people would pinch the child’s cheeks and admiringly say, “Isn’t he a cute little butterball?” Now we know that too much weight when you’re young translates into too much weight when you’re old.
Of course, you may be among those rare individuals who say you don’t care. But, let me ask: Do you listen when one of those investigative reports is carried on TV? Do you want to hear the real truth about why oil prices are sky high, or if there are giant alligators in New York’s sewers, or if a certain breed of is dog really vicious? Come on, be honest. Don’t your eyes scan the screamingly loud headlines of the tabloids which are prominently posted at the grocery store’s check-out line?
If you have one of those inquiring minds that wants to know the truth, your search has probably convinced you that it’s pretty hard to find the genuine article. Indeed, you may well have concluded that everything, I mean everything is a matter of personal opinion. If you are among the millions who believe that everything is subjective, slanted, and skewed; I’d like to let you know, you’re wrong. You’re wrong if that type of skeptical thinking has carried over into the area of religion.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I understand why you would feel that way. I regularly run into good people who, having heard the contradictory, clashing, and conflicting messages of radio and television preachers; having seen different church denominations construct churches on opposite street corners; having seen movies like The DaVinci Code pretend to expose the lies of the church and reveal the real truth of history; have concluded that all religion is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. You have decided that if someone wants to believe a religion, if they need a spiritual crutch to get through life, that’s fine for them. You don’t mind. They’re entitled to their opinion. But, having said that, you absolutely, totally, and completely reject any religion which claims to have a monopoly on truth for all people, in all circumstances, and for all time.
My friend, you’re neither alone, nor are you first in reaching such a conclusion. In the years immediately following the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, many people felt the same way. Surrounded as they were by Greek gods, Roman gods, Canaanite gods, Egyptian gods, secret gods, state gods, they wondered if truth could ever be found. It was to past, present, and future doubters that the Holy Spirit spoke in the Bible book of Ephesians. If you look in the fourth chapter, you will find God letting skeptics know that Jesus Christ had come so they could escape from being constantly tossed to and fro by waves of doubt, indecision, and man-made doctrines. Through the inspired Word, God lets us know that we can be delivered from the switching, swirling winds of false religions.
The Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul, spoke God’s truth in love so that all might know Jesus Christ is their Savior; He is their Lord. He wants people to be sure and certain that there was, and always will be, a God-given truth that they can trust. He wants them to know the truth: God has sent His Son to be the only Way of salvation for sinners; the only Giver of heavenly life and light, the only Truth which can deliver the lost from the darkness of damnation. Jesus Christ is Truth. Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem according to ancient prophecy; Jesus Christ, who lived His life perfectly fulfilling God’s commandments; Jesus Christ, who carried the sins we have committed and paid the debt which condemns us; Jesus Christ, who suffered and died to buy us back from those forces which enslaved us; Jesus Christ who conquered death itself in His victorious third-day resurrection is the only Truth which can save.
Do you want to know the truth? This is truth: God loved the world, and by that I mean you, so much that He sent His only Son into the world to do for us all that we could not do for ourselves. Do you want the truth? The truth is this: on your own you are doomed and damned; but with Jesus Christ, you are washed, you are cleansed, and you are forgiven; you are saved. Do you want to know the truth? The truth is this: the Holy Spirit this day is leading you to that place where you can dessert your complacency and contentment; your smug and self-assured judgment that all religions are alike. He wants you to know the truth: Jesus Christ is your Savior and Lord. The Spirit wants you to know the truth: Jesus, the same Jesus who died to save you, now waits to embrace you, to take your hand and drag you away from the fires of hell. Do you want to know the truth? This is the truth: there is nothing other than your own doubt and denial, your own skepticism and cynicism, your own reluctance and reservation which stops God’s truth from becoming your truth.
Of course, you may, even now have decided to hold fast to your doubt and stay solidly rooted in denial. I can understand. I don’t agree, but I can understand. When Jesus was on trial for His life, the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate, challenged the Savior with the question: “What is truth?” Pilate, like many of you, had been around the block. In all probability, he, like many of you, had been tossed to and fro by the conflicting claims of various faiths. He, like many of you, had been blown around by false doctrines and human foolishness. He, like many of you, had decided that truth was something for children, but not for a rational, reasonable man, such as he. As far as Pilate was concerned, there was no such thing as truth. Is it the same for you? If so, you need to know the Lord wishes to help you and heal you, to support and save you. Will you not hear? Will you not believe?
Oh. That was a long silence, wasn’t it? Let me try to guess, and that’s all I can do, is guess what you’re thinking. Those of you who know Jesus as your Savior, already are thinking, “I hope he reaches those unbelievers.” Thank you for that thought, but I would prefer you pray for me. You see, it is the Holy Spirit who calls, gathers, and enlightens people with His Word. Winning people is His department. My job is to share God’s truth as clearly as I can. That’s why I’d like you to spend the next few minutes praying I won’t get in the way of the Holy Spirit and what He is trying to do today. Pray for the people you know who really need to hear this message. If you are thinking of someone special, call The Lutheran Hour office and get a copy of this message and give it to that special person. But for right now, I want you to pray the love of the Savior will get through to the hearts of those who are doubting.
To those who are doubting. If that’s you, the rest of this message is for you. Let me ask, what would it take for you to believe Jesus Christ is the only Truth which can save you? What proof can I offer? Should I talk about the Christian Church, the organization which was founded on Pentecost Sunday, has touched more people in more places than any other human institution; would that make a difference to you? No, that probably wouldn’t help, would it. After all, both you and I know that crowds can be, and frequently are, wrong.
Maybe I could tell you how the early Christians were so sure of Jesus that they willingly died, some in horrible ways, rather than deny Him as their Savior. That evidence made a big difference to unbelievers centuries ago. Having seen countless deaths in the gladiatorial games, having seen numerous prisoners executed, they knew that people don’t die singing hymns and praying for their murderers. They knew that these Christians were different, were special in the way they lived, in the way they died. But you have probably never seen that difference, so I can’t use that argument.
What can I say? What can I say to prove that Jesus Christ is your only true Savior? Should I point to the Bible? The Bible claims to be true, but you’ll say so do the holy books of many other religions. Besides, you may believe that the text of the Bible has been doctored and distorted, perverted and corrupted. Of course, I could explain to you why that is not the case, but that would take more time than I have here. If you call The Lutheran Hour, I’ll be glad to send you information on how the Bible’s text is not the corrupted compilation that some would have you believe. For right now, let me say God’s prophecies, some made thousands of years before Jesus was born, were fulfilled in the Christ. You have to look hard to find another religious holy book that does that. In fact, you can look at every religious holy book and you will never find any other document which can make that claim. No other founder of a faith can point to an ancient prophecy about him and say as Jesus did: “Today these words are being fulfilled right in front of you.” And still, as powerful as that evidence is, it might not be enough for you.
What can I say? What can I tell you who have been convinced and certain there is no such thing as truth? Would it help if I showed you somebody who had come back from the dead? No, don’t get all kinds of skeptical with me. I want you to think about that for a minute. Would it make a difference to you if somebody came back from the dead? Would you believe then? No, I’m not talking about one of those Emergency Room episodes where somebody’s heart stops for a few seconds. I’m talking about somebody was really, truly dead. Would that convince you? Look, suppose you had an Uncle Bob. Suppose good old Uncle Bob, before he died, said he was going to come back and visit you. Would you believe him? Of course you wouldn’t. You know when a person is dead, he’s dead. You might humor Uncle Bob, but you wouldn’t believe him. When Uncle Bob died you wouldn’t keep looking over your shoulder to see if he was there. Dead people stay dead.
Now, suppose, just suppose, three days after his funeral, Uncle Bob did come and pay you a visit. Would that change your mind? Of course it wouldn’t. You would think Uncle Bob’s visit was an hallucination, a dream, an over-active imagination. But what if Uncle Bob showed you he was real. Suppose Uncle Bob got close enough so you could feel his breath; suppose he asked for something to eat and ate it; suppose he said, “Here, touch me, here,” and you did. Would you believe then? I bet you wouldn’t. Dreams can be very real. You’d probably think, “Now, I’m the one who has lost it.” It’s a logical conclusion. But what if the rest of the family had also seen Uncle Bob, had heard the same things you did at the same time. Would you stay skeptical about Uncle Bob’s resurrection? It would be hard, wouldn’t it? And suppose Uncle Bob showed up again, and again, and again, and again. You would be left with two choices: either you’re crazy, or Uncle Bob has kept his promise to come back from the dead. If you’re like most, you’d go with the second of those two choices. You’d believe. When somebody came up and said things like, “That really wasn’t Uncle Bob,” you’d confess: “Yes, it was.” And if somebody said, “Uncle Bob didn’t really die,” you’d say, “Well, he had a big hole in his heart. He was dead.” And all of your answers would say, Uncle Bob’s appearance wasn’t opinion; it was reality. It was true.
That, my friends, is what I’m saying about Jesus. Jesus, God’s Son is alive. He was dead. He was crucified. He was stabbed through the heart. He was buried; but today He is alive. He is really, physically, touchably alive. That’s not opinion. You can believe it is the truth because it is. I don’t much care about the other things you doubt and deny, but I do care about this. Your eternity rests upon whether you believe Jesus is your Savior; on whether Jesus is your Redeemer; on whether you know that Jesus’ truth is God’s truth and God’s truth is salvation for all who believe.
Not so long ago, I was at Messiah Lutheran Church in Seattle. Some of my Canadian friends came down for a visit and told me, when The Lutheran Hour broadcasts in their town, the station says something like, “The opinions brought forth on this program are that of the speaker and not necessarily those of this station.” I can understand, in this age of relativism and opinion, why a station might do that. But I don’t understand why any sinner would tell the Savior, “This is just opinion.” A risen Lord, a living Lord is more than an opinion. It is God’s truth which alone can save. If you’d like to know more about this great Truth, call us at The Lutheran Hour. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for August 6, 2006
ANNOUNCER: And now Pastor Ken Klaus answers questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer. Today’s question is: Why do Christians insist that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary. And I think what the questioner really wants to know is why was it necessary for Jesus to be born of a virgin?
KLAUS: Another one of those questions easy to ask, hard to answer.
ANNOUNCER: But is that because there isn’t an answer?
KLAUS: No, no, no. It’s because there’s so many answers. I’m going to have to be content to just touch upon a few of them. Jesus had to be born of a virgin because that was the prophecy. In his Gospel, Matthew repeats the words taken from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. Centuries before Jesus was born, under the Holy Spirit’s direction, the prophet wrote, “Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign. The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call Him Immanuel.” If Jesus hadn’t been born of a virgin, He would not have fulfilled the prophecy. If Jesus hadn’t fulfilled this Old Testament prophecy, one of many, He couldn’t be our Savior.
ANNOUNCER: Now, some who doubt the virgin birth say that this original text could also be translated as “young woman” instead of virgin.
KLAUS: Well, yes, there are a number of replies to that. Here’s one that’s easiest to understand. What would you think if the text had read, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: a young woman will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call Him Immanuel.” Would you be impressed if you heard that happening?
ANNOUNCER: Certainly not. That happens every day. And it wouldn’t be much of a sign or a miracle.
KLAUS: God wanted to give us something unique, something special, something that would not go unnoticed. The Lord wanted people to know and to be able to identify the Messiah when He was born. Because the angels said this was good news of great joy, it had to be something the world had never seen before or since.
ANNOUNCER: Now, I understand that, but Pastor you said there were a number of other reasons why Jesus had to be born of a virgin?
KLAUS: There are. If Jesus was going to be the Savior of the world, it was absolutely necessary for Him not to have a human father. If Jesus had had a human father, along with having a human mother, He would have been just a regular person; like all the rest of us. He would also have been like us, a sinner. And, Mark, sinners can’t be saviors.
ANNOUNCER: So, as we confess in the Creed, Jesus was “conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary,” which sets Him apart from our humanity at the same time that it connects Him to our humanity.
KLAUS: Because Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, it also means that He was God’s Son. It means that Jesus was born true God and true man, but without sin.
ANNOUNCER: By the way, while we’re talking about this subject, many Muslims would say that Mary is one of the persons of the Trinity.
KLAUS: They do. You know, when we talk about Islam and its idea of the Trinity, it’s kind of like asking a stranger who doesn’t know you to draw a picture of your family and it kind of comes out distorted to where you can hardly recognize who’s who. Islam does not acknowledge the Triune God. What you described is actually their perception of what they think Christians believe. They think Christians worship three gods: father, son, and Mary. In truth, we worship one God with three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
ANNOUNCER: Now, getting back to out question for today, you said Jesus was true man and true God. Why is that so important?
KLAUS: It’s important because Jesus had to be truly human. If He was going to take our place under the Law of God, He had to be truly human so He could be tempted; He had to be fully human so He could live for us, suffer for us, die for us; and be our perfect substitute and stand in our place.
ANNOUNCER: And, true God …
KLAUS: He had to be true God so He could resist those temptations. He had to be true God so He could conquer sin, death, and the power of the devil. He had to be true God so that after His sacrifice for us was complete, He could rise again on the third day. The fact that Jesus was true man and true God makes our faith unique. Every other religion of the world says sinful humankind has to work its way up to heaven. Christianity alone says that God came down to us, and did all the work for us so that all who believe might be forgiven and therefore be saved. Jesus: true man, true God, paid the entire price for us once and for all.
ANNOUNCER: 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
“Just As I Am” arranged by Henry Gerike. Used by permission
“Jesus, Priceless Treasure” by J.S. Bach, arranged by Henry Gerike. Used by permission
“My Faith Looks Up to Thee” sung by the Lutheran Hour Choir. Used by permission
“O Word of God Incarnate” arranged by Charles Callahan. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“Toccata on Old One Hundredth” by Charles Callahan. From Charles Callahan Plays the Organ of the Church of the Holy Family (© 1997 Charles Callahan) Concordia Publishing House/SESAC