The Lutheran Hour
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"Growing Up"
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Text: 1 Corinthians 14:20
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed. The angel’s announcement of the Savior’s resurrection is beyond the understanding of the most brilliant scholar; it is past the comprehension of the greatest thinker. Even so, the Good News of the Savior’s defeat of sin, death, and devil remains God’s great gift, a gracious gift which is best received with a thankful heart and a childlike faith.
While most of us like to think of ourselves as being smooth, smart, and sophisticated; we usually show ourselves, sooner or later, to be juvenile in our judgments and childish in our lack of logic. Do you need proof? Well, here it is. A number of years ago a TV anchorman from Altoona, Pennsylvania, using his own home to demonstrate, showed viewers how they could protect their houses from burglars. On camera, he showed viewers his double locks on the doors; the windows which wouldn’t open from the outside, the burglar alarms, and all the security devices. Unfortunately, the newsman forgot his entire audience might not be composed of law-abiding citizens. A few nights later, while he was on the air, thieves successfully broke into his home and cleaned him out.
Most of us like to think of ourselves as being smooth, smart, and sophisticated; but we really are juvenile in our judgments and childish in our lack of logic. Need more proof? Well, there is the Bowling Green student who had his head bloodied when he was hit by a Conrail train. When the police investigated, the student told them he was trying to see how close to the moving train he could place his head without getting hit. Now he knows. Should I tell you about the man in Johannesburg, South Africa, who shot his 49-year-old friend in the face? Seriously wounded him, he did. How did such an accident happen? The two men were practicing shooting beer cans off each other’s heads. Then there was the Iraqi terrorist, Khay Rahnajet, who sent a letter bomb to his designated target. Unfortunately, he didn’t put enough postage on the letter bomb; so it came back stamped, “return to sender.” When he didn’t recognize the package, he opened it, and blew himself up.
Of course you may think, “Pastor, some people are stupid, but most of us aren’t that bad.” To which I reply… “Maybe.” You see, news reports have come out of Italy which tell of more than 600 people who wanted to be on the first tourist flight to Mars. Each of the 600 were willing to spend $10,000 to be on that spaceship. Maybe you’d like to sign up, too? The brochure makes it sound like a great adventure. It says you can “spend your next vacation on Mars, amid the splendors of ruined temples and painted deserts. Ride a Martian camel from oasis to oasis and enjoy the incredible Martian sunsets. Explore mysterious canals and marvel at the views.” The brochure also said that trips to the moon were also available. It’s estimated the guy who thought up the con made over $6,000,000.
On June 3, 2002, China’s Beijing Evening News managed to scoop every other newspaper in the world when it carried a shocking story from the U.S. According to the report, the American Congress had threatened to leave Washington, D.C. That’s right; the story said the government was moving to Memphis or Charlotte if the Washington city government didn’t build a new capital building… one with a retracting dome. The article even offered a quote from an Illinois congressman which said, “Don’t get us wrong. We actually love the dilapidated [old] building. But the cruel reality is, it’s no longer suitable for use by a world-class legislature. Its contours are ugly, there’s no room to maneuver, there aren’t enough bathrooms, and let’s not even talk about the parking.” It was a great story… unfortunately, it was a story which had been made up, a fabrication created by a satire magazine which was taking a humorous shot at professional sports teams.
Because we’re not so smart and sophisticated is probably part of the reason Saint Paul advised the Christians of Corinth not to be childish in their thinking. It was good advice for those folks who were living in a city which was “party central” for the ancient world. Paul wanted Christ’s followers to be found faithful and not be seduced by sin or Satan. Now, lest anyone get confused, let me make it perfectly clear, Paul was not countermanding the Christ who said we should have faith like little children. Jesus encouraged a childlike faith which trusts the Lord with all its heart, soul, and mind; which believes in the Savior who rescued and redeemed us from our sin; which relies upon and finds direction in God’s inspired, inerrant Word. These things are commanded and commended by Jesus. But just because Christians have faith like little children, that doesn’t mean they have to think like little children.
Did you get that? It’s important that you do. All too often people, including some Christians, confuse a childlike faith with childish thinking. Let me take you to Scripture and show you what I mean. The Bible says Adam and Eve were made perfect; the place where they were living was perfect; their lives were perfect; their relationship with God was perfect. Then the devil entered the picture, and recommended that if our first ancestors wanted to move up in the world, they should start watching out for number one. “Eat from the forbidden tree,” Satan suggested. “Eat from the tree and you’ll be as wise as God.” That’s when Adam and Eve got confused. They should have kept a childlike faith in God who had given them everything; who was continuing to provide them with everything. Instead, they forgot their childlike faith and became childish in their thinking. They thought to themselves, “Makes sense to us;” and they disobeyed the Lord.
Take a gander at the Children of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness. With their own eyes they had seen how much God cared for them. They had watched as God performed some mighty miracles to procure their freedom from Egyptian slavery. They had seen the angel of death pass over their homes and enter into the houses of unbelievers. Now, at the beginning of their deliverance, with every step they took, God had led them. He led them in the day with a cloudy column; at night, as they rested, He gave them light and a continuing reminder of His presence in the form of a fiery pillar. There’s no way the Children of Israel should have been able to doubt God’s care and compassion. Maintaining a childlike faith should have been easy. But when Pharaoh showed up with his chariots, the people panicked. They forgot their childlike faith and became childish in their thinking. Scripture records their words: they said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness” (Exodus 14: 11-12).
Scripture records how, on that occasion, God saved His doubting children from the chariots; just as it tells of numerous other times when He spared those whose childlike faith had been shoved aside by childish thinking. You can read the accounts for yourself. King Solomon may have been the wisest man who ever lived, but when his childlike faith was replaced by childish thinking, he got himself into trouble. Elijah was a great prophet for God, but when his faith got shoved to the side by childish thinking, he started to worry and wonder, criticize, and complain. “I’m all alone and I’m scared” (see 1 Kings 19:10). That’s the substance of what Elijah said.
What a difference can be seen when select members of God’s people hold fast to their childlike faith. When Daniel disobeyed the king and his life was threatened, childish thinking might have tempted him to compromise or capitulate. Daniel didn’t do that. His childlike faith stood him in good stead and when he was thrown before the hungry beasts, God shut the mouths of the lions and saved the man. The faith of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego could have collapsed before the king who threatened to burn them alive if they didn’t bow down before his statue. Childish thinking might have encouraged, “Go ahead, follow the requirements of your ruler; 100 years from now, who’s gonna’ know?” But because their faith was paramount and their God supreme, the blessed trio remained steadfast. Their words and their witness were: King, this we cannot do. It was a decision they did not regret, for when they were thrown into the fiery furnace, God stood by their side and they emerged unharmed, unhurt, and unscorched.
As far as I can see, childlike faith almost always stands in opposition to childish thinking. Peter and John stood before the Sanhedrin, the same court which had crucified the Christ. That day, a childlike faith inspired them to say, “We have to obey God rather than men.” A childlike faith allowed Paul to endure shipwreck and stoning, famine and frustration, imprisonment and ignorance. A childlike faith sustained the apostle John on the exile-island of Patmos where he recorded God’s promised victory to all who relied upon the Redeemer. During persecution and periods of pain, a childlike faith sustained and strengthened millions of martyrs of the cause of Christ.
Looking back over more than a quarter-century of parish pastoring, I know a childlike faith is not something confined to Scripture. Years ago, I saw one man, due to the failure of the companies at which he worked, lose three jobs in as many years. The man lived through a devastating, discouraging, and depressing time; but a childlike faith in the Savior who never left or deserted him, helped him live through those dark days. I have been with families when the banks foreclosed on the farm that great-grandpa had founded a century before. As they drove down the lane for the last time, it was a childlike faith which kept them from feeling like failures. I have seen Christians, generous souls who unselfishly supported God’s missions and His charities, lose everything they owned. When they were asked, “Don’t you regret giving away all of those tens of thousands of dollars?” they, with childlike faith, replied, “Absolutely not. The money we gave to the Lord is still doing some good. If we had kept it, we would have lost it, along with the rest.” I have been with parents who stood by the small casket of their child; I have stood with wives as they walked away from the gravesite of their spouse and their best friend. At such moments, it was a childlike faith which sustained them; which strengthened and supported them.
Those of you who don’t know Jesus may be smirking at what I am saying. You may think that a person who has a childlike faith is feeble and frail. If you believe that, look to the martyrs, people from the past as well as the present who, having suffered the cruelest of tortures, remain faithful and still find the strength to forgive. You may think a childlike faith in a Christian woman makes her boring and unexciting. How sad it is that you cannot understand the intensity of love which can be expressed by a Christian woman toward her life-long partner and her God-given children. You may believe a Christian man who has a childlike faith is a wimp, a weakling. How wrong you are; for such a man stands as an unshakable example to his children, a faithful provider and protector for his wife, and a man who can be respected and trusted in the business place. No matter what you may think; having a childlike faith in the Christ is not a flaw, a frailty, a failing. Having a childlike faith in Jesus means you have enough power to be gentle; enough wisdom to trust an all-knowing God; enough strength to be compassionate; enough confidence to care.
From the moment sin entered this world, until this very day, humanity has loved to think of itself as being smooth, smart, and sophisticated; powerful, progressive, and important. That’s what this world pretends, but the reality is, every generation, every person, sooner or later, shows himself to be juvenile in his judgments and childish in his lack of logic. We can’t help ourselves; it’s part of us, because sin is part of us. If you disagree, then answer this: why, after thousands of years, do we war against each other; why is there still prejudice; why is there hatred; why is there theft, starvation, brutality, pornography, jealousy? If we are so self-assured, self-contained, and self-actualized, why is there violence in our homes; why are so many marriages unhappy? If we are so smart, why don’t we, why can’t we change? We can’t because we’re not smart enough, bright enough, faithful enough, dedicated enough, good enough. We can’t change these things, because we are sinners.
As long as you remain an unbelieving sinner; as long as you confuse childlike faith with childish thinking, you will never realize why, rather than sleeping in, your neighbor gets up on a Sunday morning to go to worship; you will never understand why he puts his hard earned money into an offering plate; you will never comprehend why a religious education for his children is so important; you will never get why Christians take their problems and joys to the Lord in prayer. You just won’t get it, because you just don’t get the Savior.
Unless, by the Spirit’s power you see Jesus, and believe in Him, you, like those who tried Him; who sentenced Him to death, will continue to see the Savior as being weak and cowardly, a faker, a charlatan, a poor and pitiful excuse for a Redeemer. If that is what you see when you look at Jesus, then look again. In Him see God’s love which was so strong that it could not be derailed by the devil’s temptations; that it could not be short-circuited by the unbelief of those around Him. Look again and see God’s love which continued on in spite of obstacles, that journeyed on past every detour. Look again and try to comprehend the power of a love which did not strike down those who arrested Him; which did not silence the tongues of those who lied about Him; which did not destroy those who condemned Him. Look again and see the caring Christ. When His back was torn to ribbons by a whip; when His head was crowned with thorns; when a soldier’s spittle ran down His face, He did not retaliate and take righteous revenge. Look at Him. What kind of dedication was in the heart and mind of the Savior to keep Him carrying His cross to the hill of crucifixion? Look at Him and understand: all these things He did because He wanted to save you from the horrors of hell. Look at Him and know it was love, and not the iron nails which kept Him on His cross until, with a great cry of victory, He proclaimed, “It is finished.” Look at Him. Look into His empty tomb. Look at the angel who tells how a risen Christ has defeated death, your ultimate, your final enemy.
When Christians look at Jesus, these are the things they see. When we love Him with a childlike faith, it is because we know that He has first loved us. If we forgive, it is because He has forgiven us; if we reach out to you, it is because He has already reached out to us. We are not childish in our thinking, we are childlike in our gratitude to God who sent His Son to be our substitute; who allowed His Son to carry our sins; who allowed His innocent Son to die the death which we deserved. I confess it… before such love as this I am a child. I am a child because I cannot earn it; I am a child because I do not deserve it; I am a child because I cannot understand why Jesus gave Himself to ransom, to redeem, to rescue, and to restore me. I don’t understand; nor do you. The world’s deepest thinker becomes a dullard when it comes to understanding God’s grace and the Savior’s sacrifice.
In the 1800s, Queen Victoria, was crossing the English Channel on her royal yacht. During the course of the trip, her eye fell upon a tiny bird who, with fluttering wings, was following the ship. Apparently, the bird had been attracted by the brightness of the silk flag which floated at the masthead. The queen turned to her daughter and pointed to the bird. As they watched, they could see it was becoming weak and weary, darting down to the waves, then climbing back up, trying to find some place to rest. But as the bird was a fragile creature used to the woods and not the company of man, it refused to settle down on the ship. With a faint cry it rose from the waves, soared up to the masthead and, unsuccessfully, tried to rest upon the flag which had drawn it from the land, away from safety, shelter, and home.
The heart of the queen was filled with pity, and she commanded her sailors to save the weary bird. They jumped to do the job their monarch had entrusted to them. They used every art and every device to capture the bird. Sadly, all their efforts to rescue the bird only terrified it more. At last it fell upon the deck at the feet of the queen. Her majesty stooped and picked up the dead bird and held it tenderly in her hands. Victoria, queen and empress, had been helpless in her desire to spare the life of a bird. In a similar way, there are many in this world who, with good intentions would be glad to save you. They are willing, but they are not able. Nobody can save you other than Jesus. That is the Savior we would have you see. Believe in Him, and if we can help, call us at The Lutheran Hour. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for February 4, 2007
TOPIC: Is God an Enabler?ANNOUNCER: And now Pastor Klaus answers questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer. We recently received a letter from a listener who was struck by the seeming unfairness of life, and she has several related questions on that topic.
KLAUS: We’ll try to answer those the best we can. You know, Mark, it occurs to me, perhaps we ought to tell our listeners that although we may use their questions we never, ever reveal anyone’s name or identity.
ANNOUNCER: That’s right. Well, here are the questions. This listener thinks it’s unfair that the Lord appears to allow the bad people of this world to prosper. From her own personal experience, she’s known people like that. And so our first question is, “Is God an Enabler of sorts? By allowing bad people to succeed and profit in their wicked schemes, isn’t God actually encouraging them to continue with their evil life?”
KLAUS: This could get interesting. Mark, before I answer that question, could you tell me the others? Maybe there is some kind of sequential order I can put them in.
ANNOUNCER: She wanted to know if she was right in the fact that the good do not always succeed; and how should she respond to some of the bad people that she sees around her who have prospered? And lastly, she wants to know, how come God didn’t bless her?
KLAUS: OK, I’ve got it. Let’s try to deal with first things first.
ANNOUNCER: And what would the first thing be?
KLAUS: Do the evil folks in this world prosper? Mark, there is an entire book of the Bible which touches on that subject: the book of Job. Job points out that the good don’t always get rewarded in this life, and the bad don’t always get punished here, either. Jesus said the same thing when they brought the blind man to Him and asked, “Who sinned, this man or his parents that he has been born blind?” That day, Jesus said, “Neither” ( John 9:2-3).
ANNOUNCER: Well, I guess we can lay that question to rest.
KLAUS: Almost. We can’t go too far with it. We are compelled to say that evil folks in this world don’t always prosper and Christians aren’t always punished. What we can be sure of is this: First, the Lord is always in control. Second, we know our loving Father, because of Jesus, will help His people carry whatever burdens they have. Third, we can be sure that punishment, or reward, takes place in the next life, not necessarily this one.
ANNOUNCER: But can we say God is an “Enabler?”
KLAUS: Of course we can.
ANNOUNCER: That’s a surprise.
KLAUS: It shouldn’t. Being an “Enabler” in our world often carries with it negative connotations. God’s enabling is something quite different. God’s enabling is positive. God has, through Christ’s redemption, enabled us to lead a life forgiven of sin, assured of heaven. He enables us to be kind to our neighbors, whomever they might be. God enables me to be more than I ever could have been without my Savior.
ANNOUNCER: But that’s not what our listener is driving at. I think she’s saying that because God does not punish people immediately for their sins, He is therefore encouraging them to continue sinning.
KLAUS: I agree that’s what she was thinking. Mark, it would be possible for God to enforce His will upon all of humanity. For example, if you lied, He could make it so you didn’t talk the rest of the day; if you sped on the freeway, He could give you four flat tires.
ANNOUNCER: And that would certainly keep people from lying and speeding.
KLAUS: Of course it would. But, Mark, have you ever seen a puppy that has been abused by its owner?
ANNOUNCER: You mean a puppy that actually cringes or trembles every time there’s a loud noise, or someone raises a hand toward them?
KLAUS: Yeah. I don’t want a dog that only obeys me because he’s scared of me. I want the puppy to obey out of love for me. God doesn’t want us to obey Him because we’re afraid or resentful or scared to death of His punishment. He wants us to lead our lives in thanksgiving and gratitude for what He has done for us in Christ and a response for what He continues to do.
ANNOUNCER: Well, that leaves only one other question. The listener wants to know why God hasn’t blessed her.
KLAUS: I don’t know a lot about our writer, Mark, but I do know this: God has, in Jesus, been part of her life. She knows the Savior. She knows He has forgiven her. She knows how a Christian should live. Why hasn’t God blessed her? I would say He has, and He wants to bless others through her.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Pastor Klaus. 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
“Isaiah, Mighty Seer, in Days of Old” by Martin Luther. From Martin Luther: Hymns, Ballads, Chants, Truth (© 2004 Concordia Publishing House)
“Praise the Almighty, My Soul” by John Behnke. From For All Seasons, vol. 3 by John Behnke (© 2004 John Behnke) Concordia Publishing House
“I Know My Faith Is Founded” by Arthur L. Preuss. Used by permission