The Lutheran Hour
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"Christ Without Compromise"
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Text: 2 Timothy 4:2-4
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! With those words proclaiming the Savior’s victory over sin, death, and grave and by God’s grace The Lutheran Hour begins her 76th year of proclaiming a changeless Christ to a changing world. From the resurrection response of the crowd, regular listeners to The Lutheran Hour have noticed that our microphone has left its St. Louis studios, and today we are recording this message at the Montana Convention Center.
The folks in Montana are special. Their pickup trucks have two rifles and two big dogs in them, and their bumper stickers talk about horses and chewing tobacco; but they’re glad to say “hello” to you on the street, even if they don’t know you. If you give these folks half-a-chance, they’re going to talk to you about snow. They’ll talk to you about a snowflake in Montana 15 inches wide and 8 inches thick. It’s a world record! It doesn’t take many of those to make up a blizzard. I could talk to you about the weather for some length here, but talking about the weather seems the kind of thing that might put most crowds to sleep. Not that that worries me a whole lot. In Deer Lodge, Montana, a cowboy evangelist once fired a bullet over the head of one of his parishioners who was snoring. I’m just giving you warning.
So what to talk about? After thinking a bit, I decided to talk to you about the numbers 3-7-77. I first saw those numbers on the badge of a Montana highway patrolman up here. I asked him what the numbers meant. He told me, “Them are vigilante numbers.” When I asked for more information, he explained: “It was way back in 1879 that a Montana liquor salesman by the name of John Denn was killed. Denn had been pretty open about his dislike of banks, and equally open about the fact that he kept his money at home, locked away in a vault. Well, on October 27 of that year, Denn went to bed and sometime during the course of the night he was awakened by a knock. Somebody wanted to buy some whiskey, so he lit a candle and let the person downstairs. He picked up a funnel and was just about ready to fill a bottle from his whiskey cask when he got clobbered on the back of the head. They found his body the next day.
Well, the people of Montana were outraged. One newspaper said, “His blood cries to heaven for vengeance,” another newspaper called for a “vigilance committee.” He didn’t have to put in the call twice. Saturday night, November 1, 1879, the numbers 3-7-77 were posted on tents, and fences, and walls in several spots around town. It was a sign for those folks in those to get on the road or face a noose. Most of the undesirables took the hint and hit the road. The ones who didn’t, paid the consequence. “Exactly what did those numbers 3-7-77 mean?” I asked the officer. And he told me, “Nobody knows.” He said, “Some folks think that they’re religious, with 3 representing the Trinity and the 7 and 77 the number of the Lord. Others say that it stands for the jobs of the vigilantes: 3 lawyers, 7 businessmen and 77 miners. Some have said if the fellows who received that 3-7-77 didn’t pay heed and move on down the road, they were gonna end up with a plot of ground 3 feet wide, 7 feet long, 77 inches deep.” “So what’s the right answer?” I asked. I was told, “Nobody knows. The Vigilantes all took an oath that they would never reveal it and the last of them died taking that secret to his grave.” But then the officer explained, “These were men who did a job that had to be done; who stood up for what they felt was right; who felt compromising and making concessions to their beliefs was only going to lead to disaster.” It’s a little wonder that here in Montana those vigilance committees are honored.
We hold in high respect those who believe in something so much they are unwilling to compromise or make concession. We honor them, but most of us are not ready to be one of them. That is because we live in a world where nothing is sure or certain; ours is an age where most people believe that nothing is worth taking a stand for, living for, or being willing to die for. Ours is a day when truth is relative, facts are fantasy, and certainty is subjective. Ours is the time that Saint Paul saw, when he, by the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, wrote: “Preach the Word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, and encourage, for the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to myths.”
This past year, itching ears perked up when a respectable scientific society suggested that they had uncovered a long-lost hidden gospel. Inquiring minds have wanted to know, “Has the Christian faith been involved in cover-ups? Has the Savior’s story of salvation been compromised? Is there salvation for all who believe on Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, as their Redeemer?” The truth was, and is, that Scripture remains firm, and the Savior still stands, but itching ears paid little attention to the Word of God which says, “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23).
In this last year, itching ears got an earful if they paid attention to the comedy that has been played out in many corners of the Christian church. How can the Lord of life be taken seriously when members of a church group from Kansas go and picket the funeral of a fallen U.S. soldier, saying that God killed that soldier, struck him down, because the U.S. is tolerant of homosexuality”? When God’s preachers are at variance with God’s divinely inspired Word, it is not shocking to find out that itching ears are absolutely convinced that faith is founded upon falsehood and saturated with uncertainty.
If that is what you believe; if that is what you believe, if doubt has set aside the Spirit’s call for your salvation; then I pray that you will pay attention to what will be said in these next few minutes. Pay attention to those words, as poor as they may be, as I try to share the God-given command to preach the Word. To preach the Word, and what shall be preached; what shall be preached? The Christ without compromise, the cross without concession. We preach nothing less than God’s true Word; His true plan of salvation; His assurance of forgiveness; and His hope for heaven. What follows now is an overly simple summary of Scripture which begins with the acknowledgement that each and every one of us gathered here, each and every one listening to my voice, are poor, miserable sinners. Set aside that philosophy, that mind-set, that foolish and false idea that says, “I’m OK, and, well, you’re pretty good too;” that tell us that the world is getting better and better and better and we can accomplish anything that our minds can possibly think of. Look within your heart and you will see the darkness, the anger, the envy, the greed, the lust, the hatred. Look at your newspapers, and you will be forced to acknowledge that humanity’s dark heart has not lightened one bit since the beginning of recorded history. We are and we remain, without Jesus Christ, lost and condemned people.
In spite of who we are, God has not let us deter Him: He is the God of unearned love and unexpected grace. That is why, when humankind fell into sin, God promised to send His Son to be our Savior. It was His promise that found its fulfillment 2,000 years ago in the Bethlehem stable. There a virgin gave birth, and God’s Son became flesh: Jesus Christ, born true God and true man. That night the angels made an announcement that the world had waited centuries to hear: “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy.” God’s Son had come to redeem us, to buy us back. Not with gold, or silver, or anything that humanity considers to be precious or of value. Jesus redeemed us from death, by His death upon the cross, and with His resurrection showed us that life was ours forever. To all who believe, Jesus redeemed us, He has bought us. Unappreciated, unapplauded, unloved, He lived. Deserted by His friends; condemned by His church; denied justice by His government, He was nailed to a cross. The earth shook and the sun was darkened as Jesus died for you, as His life was sacrificed for you.
Earth has seen many evil things; and man has committed one cruelty after another, after another, but none has ever been more dark or more cruel than the crucifixion and death of God’s innocent Son. But when all seemed lost and hope seemed gone, when death and damnation seemed to be our ultimate and inevitable end, the Christ arose in glorious victory. On the third day after they had placed His lifeless body into a borrowed tomb, Jesus came forth and showed to all the world His victory over death. On Resurrection Sunday a living Lord Jesus Christ served notice to the world: from now on, death’s reign is done and all who believe on Him will not perish but have everlasting life. This is God’s truth: the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin.
For 75 years, this broadcast on which I am only the most recent voice, has been sharing God’s good news. For 75 years it has preached Christ without compromise, the cross without concession. Speakers have come and gone, listeners have been born, lived a full life, and died, but whenever they tuned into the broadcast of The Lutheran Hour, they heard a message founded not upon personal opinion, political rhetoric, or social situation; no, they heard a Bible-based message which brought the changeless Christ into their ever-changing world. If you listen to the archived records, the tapes, the compact disks, you will hear that message being delivered in a great many forms. Some messages tried to convince, to convince people of the Savior’s love and His sacrifice; to convince them of their sinful soul’s need for salvation. Some broadcasts spoke to the questions, the questions of those who were doubting, and tried to answer those who were curious. There were some messages that carried a strong rebuke against sin. I apologize for that no more than a parent should apologize for a shouted call of warning to a child who was in danger. A call of warning to those who were given, to those who were turned away from the truth, who had locked their hearts and closed their minds to the Savior’s summons of salvation. A message of hope was extended to those who were helpless, hurting; those who found themselves caught in a quicksand of sin from which they could not escape. By the Spirit’s power, unknown thousands have been moved from darkness to light, from fear to freedom, by these Spirit-directed messages which always proclaimed God’s good news of great joy for every sinner who by the Spirit’s power has the Savior’s sacrifice. It is God’s blood-bought, sin-sacrificed salvation for you.
And though times have changed, the message here has not, and it will not be modified: we preach Christ without compromise, the cross without concession. Preach the Word, the Lord has said, and we have been glad to do so. This program, and the many ministries to which she has given birth: television and radio programs, animated specials, outreach courses being ‘offered this day to thousands in Africa and Asia, personal evangelism classes which teach people like yourselves how to share the Savior, millions of devotionals and tracts supporting programs for pastors and parishes, for and parents and for schools, mission offices in more than 40 countries of the world; they have all proclaimed Christ without compromise, the cross without any kind of concession. In every endeavor, at every opportunity, in every enterprise, we have joined with Paul in saying, “(Our) My message and (Our) my preaching are not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith will not rest upon man’s wisdom, but on the power of God (cf. 1 Corinthians 2: 4-5). Without compromise or concession the word has gone out: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.” It is God’s Word for you. Do not let this day end without saying: Jesus Christ is my Savior; Jesus Christ is my Lord. And tomorrow, what of tomorrow? As The Lutheran Hour begins the last quarter century in 100 years of proclamation, what will tomorrow bring? God has not given me the gift of prophecy, but you do not have to be a prophet to know what will happen tomorrow. Tomorrow there will be governments throughout the world who will try to silence the Savior’s story, who will try to banish God’s good news of grace from the hearts of its citizenry. Tomorrow, global religious leaders will discuss how they might prevent the Lord’s message from being proclaimed and how they might punish persons in whom the Holy Spirit has brought about faith. Tomorrow, tomorrow, the judges in courts and the professors in their classrooms will increase their commitment to keeping the Redeemer restrained and restricted. Tomorrow comedians will crack jokes about Jesus; pseudo sophisticates will scoff at the Savior; TV and radio evangelists will tell us to forget the old Gospel message; and tomorrow souls without Jesus Christ will be headed into hell. And tomorrow we shall preach the Word. We shall preach the Word, we shall preach Christ without compromise, the cross without concession. In spite of what the governments say, in spite of what the learned say, in spite of what other religions will say, we will try to place ourselves on the road to hell and with our hands placed on Scripture, pointing to the cross of Christ, we will say Here is salvation. Salvation in no one else other than Jesus Christ. Tomorrow, by God’s grace, we shall preach the Christ without compromise, the cross without concession. Tomorrow we shall bring Christ to the nations, and the nations to the Church. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for September 17, 2006
TOPIC: If God loves us, why does He let innocent people die?ANNOUNCER: And now, Pastor Ken Klaus with answers to “special” questions. I’m Mark Eischer. And, Pastor, would you first tell us what makes these questions so special?
KLAUS: Be glad to, Mark. Our listeners probably are familiar with The Lutheran Hour and how it has shared the Savior’s story of salvation with a sinful world. For 75 years we have been preaching a changeless Christ to a changing world. But lesser known are some of our other ministries, including a program called, Equipping To Share.
ANNOUNCER: Equipping To Share is an interactive workshop Lutheran Hour Ministries offers to Christian congregations, that presents timely and practical ways to help people learn how to share their Christian faith.
KLAUS: Right. Those Equipping To Share workshops have helped thousands tell others about Jesus, their Savior. But, as you said, Equipping To Share is interactive. Part of that interactivity deals with questions one might encounter when sharing their faith. The questions we’re going to answer in the next few weeks are the ones that keep cropping up.
ANNOUNCER: And it’s possible we’ve touched upon some of these questions before.
KLAUS: We have, but since some of them are so common, we’re going to try and give answers the average person can use when they share their faith with others.
ANNOUNCER: Which brings us to our first question: “Why does God allow innocent people to die?”
KLAUS: Well, that cuts to the heart of the matter, doesn’t it? That question is sort of like the child who asked his Sunday school teacher, “Why doesn’t God keep the old people He has in the world, instead of making new ones all the time?” At any rate, the answer to our question is simple: God allows the innocent to die because that’s His plan.
ANNOUNCER: And I certainly wasn’t expecting that answer. I thought God is a God of love.
KLAUS: And so He is. But God does allow the innocent to die. That happened, let me think, once in all of history. Two thousand years ago, God allowed His innocent Son to die. The Bible says, “He (meaning Jesus) bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds (we’ve) you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:4)
So that we sinners might be forgiven, Jesus became the sacrifice for sin. The prophet Isaiah wrote: “…He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)
ANNOUNCER: And why would God do such a thing?
KLAUS: Mark, the Bible answers that, too, in Ephesians. It says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). God knew that we were absolutely incapable of saving ourselves. For that reason, out of His unexplainable love for us, He had His Son pay the price for our salvation. That’s what grace is. The fact that any of us can be saved at all is the great miracle of history.
ANNOUNCER: So, compared to Jesus, no one is truly innocent. So I guess the question today then is: Why does God allow relatively good people to die?
KLAUS: Not because He’s nasty; not because He’s picking on somebody; not because He’s got it in for someone. People die because they are sinners. “The wages of sin is death,” the book of Romans says (6:23). And since all of us have sinned (Romans 3:23), all of us must die.
ANNOUNCER: We should also explain here that we’re talking about two different kinds of death. There’s physical, temporal death that results in the separation of the soul from the body. But then there’s spiritual, eternal death that is the separation of the soul from God and heaven.
KLAUS: Yeah. Once again I have to emphasize that God implemented a plan to save everybody, anyone who is brought to faith in Christ the Savior. For those who believe on Jesus, death is but a shadow. From our perspective, there are many good people, Mark. But God isn’t comparing us to each other; He’s comparing us to Himself. And when compared to God’s holiness, even the best of people look pretty bad. It’s sort of like that TV commercial where they show you a white shirt. Then, they bring out another shirt that’s been washed in the sponsor’s detergent. That shirt is really white. How do they say it, “Whiter than white.” Well, God’s goodness makes our goodness look downright dingy.
ANNOUNCER: I remember that commercial.
KLAUS: Well, that’s the way it is with God. We look around and say, “There’s a good guy, here’s a great gal.” They look downright superior… until they are compared with God and the perfection He demands. Then they look dirty, dingy, and sinful. But when we are covered with the robe of Christ’s righteousness, God sees that instead of our sin and He declares us innocent on account of Christ.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Pastor Klaus. And next week, we’ll continue with more answers to questions that’ll help us better share the Savior. 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
“God’s Word Is Our Great Heritage” arranged by Henry Gerike. Used by permission
“How Firm a Foundation” From Every Voice a Song (© 1995 Concordia Publishing House)
“Es ist das Heil” by J.S. Bach. From Orgelbüchlein & More Works by J.S. Bach (© 1997 Calcante Recordings, Ltd.)