The Lutheran Hour
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"For Salvation"
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Text: John 3:16
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! In Bethlehem’s manger, on Calvary’s cross, God says, “I love you.” No matter who you are, no matter what you have done, God loves you. The risen Savior, who is the heavenly Father’s Gift of Grace, wants you to believe, in Him there is forgiveness and salvation. Grant this, Lord, unto us all. Amen.
This message is about love and is also about giving. So you may understand the concepts, I’d like to tell you a story. Ninety years ago, Communism took over Russia. During the years which immediately followed, the political leadership showed a great deal of anti-religious fervor. Some churches were destroyed, others were converted into warehouses for grain storage, others, especially those with high ceilings, were made into athletic gymnasiums; and there were more than a few houses of worship which were bombed and burned. That is what happened to the church in one small village. Still, even after the burning and the bombing, the thick, old walls of the church remained standing. Not wishing to invest more rubles in destruction, the authorities decided on another type of desecration. They ordered the church to be used as the dump for the community’s garbage. That’s the way things stayed until the entire church was filled with rubbish; that’s the way it remained until the government started to fail. It was then a KGB agent visited with the old priest of the village and said, “I’m returning the key to your church.” The Orthodox priest asked, “And along with the key, will you help me clean out the building? Will the government offer any help?” The KGB agent laughed, turned, and walked away.
The priest said to the villagers, “We have been given permission to worship in our church, but we can hold no services. The building is destroyed, it is filled with garbage, rats, and roaches.” That’s why, the next Sunday, the priest was amazed to find a bucket brigade of his people cleaning the church. Day after day, with their bare hands, God’s people passed all the accumulated refuse out of God’s house until eventually the church stood empty.
Which was a problem. The church was empty. Every Orthodox church I have ever seen has icons, beautiful images, stylized pictures from the life of Christ and the heroes of the church. It is difficult to conduct worship without these visual, traditional symbols. When the people asked, “Can we worship now?” the priest sadly said: “Our icons were destroyed when the church was bombed.” That’s when a woman whispered to her friends, “Follow me.” Her friends did follow her; they followed her right to her potato cellar. There they found the church’s icons, wrapped, boxed, salvaged, and saved. Seven decades before, when she was just a girl of ten, she and her grandmother had snuck into the church and rescued the icons by loading them into an oxcart. For 70 years the woman had kept her secret; for 70 years she had risked her life.
Now, with the icons ready to be rehung, the priest said, “As soon as we get a new roof on the church, we will resume our worship. But, without money, this may take some time.” Less than 24 hours later, one of his parishioners came to him with a small cloth bag in his hand. “Father,” the man said, “use this for a roof. We wish to worship God.” Inside the bag were the wedding rings of all of the members of his church. It was more than the amount needed to rebuild the roof, restore the church, and allow the congregation to resume worship.
I love that story; it’s a wonderful story about love, a beautiful story about giving. Unfortunately, most of the time when people hear that story, they get the warm fuzzies and come away with the idea the story is about how every human being has the capacity to love; how each and every one of us has a desire to do the right thing.
If you think that’s the meaning of my story, my friend, you’ve missed the point. Humans, without a higher calling, without a heavenly commitment, are in that story, but they’re not the caring priest and they’re not the sacrificing Christian congregation. Without a Savior, and left on its own, humanity behaves more like the Communist leaders who tried to destroy that church and succeeded in turning it into a dump for rubbish and refuse. Now I know that seems strong, but, way down deep you know I’m telling the truth.
If you need proof what I’m saying is right, all you need do is look at today’s newspaper. In the first section alone you will see how someone has mistreated, mishandled, or misused someone else; in detail you will be told how unscrupulous, unethical, and unprincipled we can be. You will read of the corrupt, the crooked, and the counterfeit, the devious, the deceitful, and the delinquent. The only thing which changes from day to day are the dates on the paper masthead and the names of the countries which are at war, the politicians who have been accused of corruption, the bank or business which have been run into the ground, and the circumstances of simple souls who have been preyed upon by the powerful.
Still, this message is about love and it is about giving. The message is about a love far beyond anything you have ever experienced and it speaks about a gift which is greater than any you could imagine. Indeed, this message is about the love of God which is ours in Christ Jesus.
Scripture tells us, “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son.” Those 12 words are the quintessence of God’s promises, His prophecies, His Son’s suffering and sacrifice to save us. “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son.” Those are 12 words which many people have heard many times; words so familiar they are almost always ignored. Yes, we think we understand, but most don’t. Most don’t understand because, as sinful, selfish souls caught up in a vicious cycle of self-satisfaction, we generally give only what we think we’re going to get and we love only when that love is going to be returned.
And that, my dear friends, isn’t real love and it certainly isn’t giving. When you expect to get something back for what you’re offering – whether that be love or a present – that’s what should properly be called “an investment.” Investing is what humans do; it’s what we understand. For example, look at the Christians in our wonderful, opening story. Do you remember them – the people who dedicated days into cleaning the garbage out of their ruined church; the lady who hid the venerated icons in her potato cellar; the people who offered up their wedding rings so a new roof could be put on their church? I would never put down these noble souls, nor put down the sacrifices they made; but each of their actions was an investment which had an expected return. Every one of those caring Christians wanted to get their church back and they made their gifts believing that is exactly what would happen. They were noble in their souls and magnificent in their actions, but when all was said and done, they were making an investment.
In contrast to the best we can do in our loving and gift giving, I’d like you to take a look at God. God so loved the world that He gave. In the beginning God loved the world and He gave our first ancestors a garden in which to live. They hadn’t deserved it, they didn’t earn it and once they had it, they certainly didn’t appreciate it or keep it. God gave our first ancestors that perfect garden because that’s who He is: the Giver of every good and perfect gift. Of course, when Adam and Eve rejected the Lord and His love, after they decided to listen to a serpent rather than their Creator, God had every right to walk away and wash His heavenly hands of His willful and wayward children. Who could blame Him? After all, His investment hadn’t paid off, had it? But when God made us, He wasn’t making an investment – He was giving us a gift, and because He still loved us He kept on loving and He kept on giving.
Just as man kept on rejecting the Lord’s gracious gifts and His everlasting love. Read through Scripture. Watch as Noah’s call to repentance went unheard by a generation of hard heads and hearts. Walk with the Children of Israel in the wilderness and see how their disobedience pushed aside God’s desire to give them the Promised Land. Read through the entire history contained in the Old Testament and you will see God’s people rejecting His love and turning their backs on His gifts of grace. And what was God’s reaction to this unthinkable, unfathomable insubordination? He was dissatisfied, He was disappointed, and He was displeased; but He never stopped loving His people and He never stopped giving to them. True, there were times in His love He gave them a plague, a problem, a punishment, but He never stopped loving them. No matter how many times God’s people wandered; no matter how many times they committed the adultery of idolatry; no matter how often they stole the praise and thanks He deserved and gave it to another; He continued to love them and gave to them and invited them back.
If you know a woman whose husband has repeatedly beaten her, you would probably urge her to get out of the marriage. If you know a man whose wife has frequently cheated on him, you would encourage him to get a divorce and move on with his life. You would say, “Don’t be a fool, don’t put up with this kind of abuse. Your marriage is dead, there is no hope.” But no one said anything like that to God and if they had, He wouldn’t have listened. You see, “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son.”
Look at it any way you want to and you will be forced to admit, God’s love and giving don’t make sense. Because no one could be inconvenienced or convinced to give up a room, the Savior was born in a barn and His first bed was a feed trough for the animals. When King Herod heard of Jesus’ birth, the jealous monarch tried to have Him killed. I don’t know about you, but if I had been Jesus, I would have spent some serious time rethinking my commitment to save humanity from their sins. As a human, Jesus might have considered it a bad investment to speak about salvation to His old friends in Nazareth. But while Jesus was 100 percent human, He was also 100 percent God; and as God, He loved those folks and tried to give them a gift – a message that might change their lives and eternity. He knew they weren’t going to listen, but He went. God so loved the world that He gave.
Similarly, Jesus knew the self-righteous Pharisees wouldn’t hear what He had to say, but Jesus still tried to reach out to them. He knew the crowds wanted bread and not salvation, but He offered them the Word which would nourish their souls for eternity. He knew that He would die in Jerusalem, but still He set His feet on the path which would end His earthly life and guarantee our eternity.
He knew He would receive the sins of the entire world when He knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane, but still He went there in obedience to His Father’s plan of love. He knew His disciples would fall asleep, but He asked them to watch with Him. He knew Judas was betraying Him with a kiss, but He spoke to that disciple and sincerely called him “friend.” He knew the priests would trump up charges against Him, would lie about Him, would have Him beaten and call for His death, but He didn’t defend Himself. He didn’t shout at the crowd which called for His crucifixion, He didn’t try to justify Himself before the Roman procurator who allowed His death; He didn’t pull Himself off the cross and let humanity fend for itself. Because Jesus loved you, He endured, He suffered, He sacrificed, and He died. Because He loved you, He gave Himself over to the whip, the thorns, the blows, the nails, and the cross. Because Jesus loved you, He gave Himself as the ransom that would give forgiveness and salvation to all who believe on Him. And with His resurrection from the dead, we know God’s gift has been given, His love is revealed and all who believe on the Christ as their suffering substitute and victorious Redeemer have eternal life.
This sermon is about love, it is about giving. It is about God’s love for you, about Him giving His Son to save you. Sadly, many of you who are listening to my voice don’t know about God’s gift which is yours in His Son. Many of you don’t know Jesus died for you, so your sins might be forgiven. You’re like the poor lady who, years ago, was deeply disturbed because she didn’t have the wherewithal to pay her rent. Anxiously she waited for the police to show up to serve eviction papers, to start the process which would remove her from her home.
When her pastor heard of her troubles, he went to her house with money to help her pay the rent. Standing before her door, he knocked. He knocked again, but received no answer. He tried the back door; he even rapped on the window. Finally, there was no other choice left but for the minister to walk away, still carrying the rent money in hand. Now the sad point of the story is this: the woman was at home all along. She thought it was a representative from the court coming with a notice of eviction, so she had locked every door and pulled the shades on all of her windows. She was so afraid of being seen, she stayed shut away in her bedroom and she never allowed herself to take a peek to see who was pounding at her doors. She never knew that it was a friend who, in love, was offering her a gift which could change her life.
Does that describe you? Has life so battered and abused you; have friends and loved ones so betrayed and deceived you that you have concluded love is a concept which should be confined to fairy tales? Do you believe every gift must come with some kind of catch? Do you wake up with bitterness in your blood; do you live your days in depression and despair; are your nights spent longing for peace and rest which never comes? Are you burdened with the guilt of past sins and troubles ongoing? Are you among the millions who, this Lord’s Day, find themselves locked behind walls of isolation imposed by sin, Satan, and self? God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son to save you.
Or, is it possible that you have a different problem? Are you like the long-term prisoner of the French prison, the Bastille? When that castle-like prison was about to be destroyed in 1789, a convict was brought out. For years he had been confined to a gloomy cell. Instead of joyfully welcoming his liberty, he begged to be taken back. It had been such a long time since he had seen the sunshine that his eyes could not endure its brightness. His greatest desire was to die in the murky dungeon where he had been held a captive. Does that describe you? Are you a person whom God is inviting into the Light, but you find the darkness more to your taste? Are you an individual who prefers the chains of sin to the freedom Christ wishes to give you? If so, know God so loved you that He gave His only-begotten Son.
To all of you, this day the Lord says, “I have loved you so much I gave My only Son, so that whoever believes on Him will not die, but will be given eternal life.” God is love, and God is the Giver of salvation and grace. Do not stay locked away when the Holy Spirit would free you. Do not remain in darkness when the Savior wishes to give you light. God has no tricks, no small print, no hidden agendas. He loves you and wants to save you. He wants to see you moved from where you are to the forgiveness and freedom He wishes to give. He loves you, but He will not force you. He has given to you, but He will not force you to receive.
God loves you and has given to you. Not so long ago, I was told about an American soldier who had been overseas for some time. When he was stationed abroad, he received a box of home-baked cookies from his wife. Now if you have ever been in service and know what it is like to be away from loved-ones, you know that such a care package is more precious than gold. As he surveyed his bounty, the soldier noticed that while some of the cookies looked delicious, others were strange, thick, lumpy, bumpy. Knowing his wife was not much of a baker the soldier made a quick decision. He would eat the good cookies and give the rest to his buddies. That was a mistake. Later on that day, whenever he got near his pals, they exchanged knowing looks and had a tough time not laughing. It took some serious investigation before one of them shared the secret.
It seems the soldier’s wife, wishing to do something special for her beloved, had baked some fairly personal love notes into some of the cookies – you guessed it, the thick, lumpy, bumpy cookies eaten by His friends. The soldier had rejected a very special gift of love. It was a decision he regretted. Today, through His Word – even through this message – the Lord is sending you a personal message of love and salvation. To human eyes God’s great gift of grace may not look like much – a baby in a manger, a prisoner on a cross, an empty tomb – but they are God’s message of love. Don’t say “no” to the Savior, you will regret it. Which is why, if we can help you see Jesus for God’s great gift of love, all you need do is call us at The Lutheran Hour. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for February 17, 2007
TOPIC: Bringing Up ChildrenANNOUNCER: Now, Pastor Ken Klaus responds to questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer.
KLAUS: Well, Mark, what’s before us today?
ANNOUNCER: A listener writes, “I recently had lunch with my daughter, who is a Christian and her friend, who is not. Her friend is now the mother of a beautiful baby boy. In the course of our conversation, my daughter asked whether the child was going to be brought up in the Christian faith. Her friend answered, ‘No, we’re going to let him make his own decision when he’s old enough.’ Sadly, I couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t have sounded confrontational. I plan to speak again with this young mother, but I want to say what’s right.” Pastor, what do you think?
KLAUS: First, I think the daughter’s friend is very blessed to have two caring, concerned Christian acquaintances. Far too many of us would hear a comment like that and just let it go and say it’s none of their business. Having those friends is the good news for today.
ANNOUNCER: That means there’s also some bad news.
KLAUS: In a way, yes. The “bad” news is this. Everything this lady says, whether she likes it or not, is probably going to come across, more or less, confrontational. The real difficulty here is that the child needs something the parents themselves don’t have.
ANNOUNCER: And Christian faith is not something we decide to acquire for ourselves. It’s a gift God wants to give, through His Word. So, our listener’s friend is really starting from the wrong place in her thinking.
KLAUS: Having said that, our listener can be gently confrontational or she might be obnoxiously confrontational, but – her words will be confrontational. That is the nature of the Gospel message. It is what theologians call the “offense of the cross.”
ANNOUNCER: Could you explain once again what that is?
KLAUS: Very briefly, it means people are willing to think of Jesus as a teacher, a pal, a philosopher, a philanthropist, a scholar, a leader, a moralist. But they get downright offended when they are told He is their Savior. The idea that they are sinners who by nature and by default are condemned and destined for hell – well, that really ticks unbelievers off! It’s true – but it ticks them off. The thought that God sent His Son to save them, to die on the cross for them, is something they find foolish, silly, and insulting.
ANNOUNCER: People were offended by the cross in the days of the apostles. I guess they still are.
KLAUS: That’s right.
ANNOUNCER: Which may well be what will happen when this lady tries to share her faith.
KLAUS: I agree.
ANNOUNCER: Pastor, you said the message could be presented gently. How might our listener do that?
KLAUS: First, our questioner can be gentle in what she says. Speaking to this new mother, she might want to begin with something like, “I’m glad you’ve thought about your child’s spirituality. It’s the responsible thing for a parent to do. You know, I used to feel a child should figure things out for themselves – and then it occurred to me, I always found myself teaching my children about the things that were important to me. If I didn’t say anything, they would assume it was an inconsequential thing.” The next thing she might say is, “Religions aren’t all the same. A lot of people think they are, but they’re not. For example, did you know that in other religions there is no absolute promise or certainty that a person is going to get to heaven? Did you know that in some religions a woman is worth only half as much as a man? I’m not trying to put anybody down, but I’ve found that the religions of the world are not the same. That means somebody is right – and somebody is wrong.”
ANNOUNCER: At this point, an unbeliever might be feeling a bit stressed.
KLAUS: I imagine so, which is why you might want to use an illustration. Something like, “You know, not all medicines are the same. If I’m sick with a specific illness, I want the doctor to give me the right medicine for what I’ve got. I don’t think all medicines are going to cure me of what I’ve got. In the same way, not all religions are going to save me.”
ANNOUNCER: How would you sum this up for our listener today?
KLAUS: If I were her, I’d say something like, “Our job as parents is to keep our children safe. We don’t let them decide if it’s OK to play in traffic, or if they should get into a car with a stranger. We don’t let them decide if they should drink whatever they find down in Dad’s workshop. There are a lot of things we teach them not to do and a lot of things we teach them to do. We have to. To not teach them would be a very dangerous thing for them. Now, if we’re willing to teach them so much about their physical health and safety, why wouldn’t we want to do the same thing for their eternal souls?
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
“Lord, Thee I Love with All My Heart” arranged by Henry Gerike. Used by permission.
“Am Wasserflüssen Babylon” by J.S. Bach. From Organist Frederick Hohman & Johann Sebastian Bach by Frederick Hohman (© 1988 Pro Organo)
“Christ, Our Savior, Who Takes God’s Wrath Away from Us” by J.S. Bach. From Organist Frederick Hohman & Johann Sebastian Bach by Frederick Hohman (© 1988 Pro Organo)