The Lutheran Hour
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"Looks Easy To Me"
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Text: Romans 8:18
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Trials, troubles, and temptations come to all humanity. But when the risen Christ is Lord in our hearts, we are able to endure the sufferings of this present time. We know His grace will give the final, the ultimate, the lasting victory. God grant this Savior lives with us all. Amen.
My father, Richard Klaus, was a very wise man. He never went to college, but he had more common sense than any other man I have ever met. This common sense was conveyed to us in the form of wise sayings, which he patiently imparted to his children. I must confess, at the time, some of his ideas seemed sort of simple and unsophisticated. Now that I have lived a little longer and seen a bit more of this world, my father’s words have taken on a new depth. I remember once, after we had driven by a state road repair crew, most of whom seemed intensely preoccupied with leaning on their shovels, I commented, “That’s the kind of job I think I’d like to have.” To which my dad laughed and said, “Ken, every job looks easy as long as you don’t have to do it.”
He was right. Every job does look easy when you’re not doing it. I recall those special days when I rode with him on the train to his blacksmith shop in Chicago’s loop. Fascinated, I watched him stoke the fire and was intrigued as he plied his trade. As a young boy, I thought blacksmithing was an easy thing. You put the metal in the fire and then you do something with it. Simple. In the years since his passing, I have realized the complexity of his work and the depth of his knowledge. From the color of the metal he knew when it was ready to be worked; how long he could pound and shape it; how to quench it so as to give it the proper temper. When he died, what he knew also passed away.
As I said, over the years I’ve come to understand he was right: every job is easy as long as you don’t have to do it. There was the time a young mom got on a plane with her three children. She was a wonderful woman, I think; able to multi-task in a way that no man-made computer ever could. She saw, she anticipated, she acted. Still, on a long flight, it was natural her children would act up. No, they didn’t scream; they didn’t run up and down the aisle. They just got antsy. When the youngest cried, you could see the anger and frustration on the faces of the people sitting around the mother and her brood. One person asked to be moved to a different seat; another whispered loudly enough so she could hear: “They shouldn’t let children on a plane.” Me, I thought, “every job looks easy as long as you don’t have to do it.”
Understand, I’m not always patient. Last week, coming back from a speaking engagement, I had to take a taxi. A person with a very long Eastern European name was my driver. His accent was thick, his dress not quite right for the weather. Our conversation was brief, strained, and punctuated by a number of “Excuse me?” “Pardon me?” “I don’t understand.” As the cabbie efficiently guided our vehicle through traffic, I thought, “I don’t ask for much. All I want is a driver who understands simple directions; why can’t they get somebody who speaks English? This is ridiculous.” It was then, from a far back memory in my head, I heard dad whisper, “Ken, every job is easy as long as you don’t have to do it.”
I talked to the man again. Are you married? Yes. How long? Fifteen years. How long have you been in this country? Two years. Is your family with you? No. They are still in Estonia. Is business good? Sometimes. When will they come to join you? That last question was harder. If I understood correctly, he said he was picking up English classes, working at another job, and driving a cab. As soon as he had the money, he was bringing his family here. Until then, he was living with friends and saving all he could. I admired that man for doing a job I never had to.
Every job is easy as long as you aren’t doing it. I think that is especially true when it comes to being God. In truth, although we might believe otherwise, God is the only one who has the necessary qualifications to do His work. He is the only one who is powerful enough to bring a hundred-times-a-hundred-million galaxies into existence with a thought. He is the only one organized enough to give His creation a rhythm which allows living things to reproduce and measure the passing of time. He is the only one who could create and use the infinite palate of colors which is shown in a sunset; who could set the tones so a songbird can sing his unique tune; who could create, control, and contain the forces of wind and wave, gravity, and mathematics. He is the only one who has a heart filled with so much love He decided to share it with humankind, made in His image. Read through the creation story and you will hear Him tell how He brought into being all that is, and how after each day’s work, He summarized the day’s accomplishments with the words, “It was good.”
And it was. It was good. The universe into which our perfect God placed us was very good indeed. If Adam and Eve had published a newspaper in the Garden of Eden, only one issue would have been necessary. Subsequent editions would only have been a repetition of day one. The headline would have said, “Today Everything is Wonderful.” Articles would have had titles like, “The Animals are Doing Fantastic” and “The Plants are Really Growing.” Inside there would be smaller pieces like: “No weeds need killing; no mosquitoes need squoosing; no poison ivy needs avoiding; no snake or spider bites are dangerous; and no one is afraid of lions and tigers and bears.” It’s not that they didn’t have weeds, and mosquitoes, and poison ivy, and spiders, and snakes, and lions, and tigers, and bears – they did. But in the perfect world God had created, those things were still very good and caused no problem. Because people didn’t die, Eden’s newspaper would never have had an obituary section; there would have been no stories about medical breakthroughs because people didn’t get sick.
That’s the way it was; that’s the way it should have stayed. It would have – but it didn’t. It didn’t stay that way because Adam and Eve thought they could do a better job at running things than the Lord. In an ungracious and unappreciative act of rebellion, they moved God and His will to the side and tried to take control of their own destinies. It was a mistake – a mistake which has been repeated. Look to the Pyramids of Egypt and see how tens of thousands were forced to labor so a Pharaoh might enter a heaven in comfort. Climb the steps of the Aztec’s sacrificial temples in the Americas. See the altars where pumping hearts were ripped from the chests of living sacrifices in an attempt to bribe their god and control their destinies. Look to the ruins of ancient Rome and see the places where mighty emperors, drunk with conquest, corrupted by power, had themselves acclaimed as living gods. It was a hollow boast, for the empire is gone and the emperors are dead. Persia and Babylon, Alexander and Hannibal, thought they could rule the world better than God, but those who were once called “great” have long since turned to dust.
It was into a world which felt it had successfully disposed of its rightful ruler that Jesus Christ was born. So that we might be saved, Jesus, who possessed the very power of creation, humbled Himself and walked among us. Conceived of a virgin, God’s Son came to earth to save a world which felt it needed no saving; to bring light where people had known only darkness; to bring hope to those whose hearts overflowed with discouragement and despair. Jesus came to redeem enslaved souls who were so blinded they couldn’t see they were being held captive by sin, death, and devil; who had no capacity or capability to free themselves. Jesus Christ, God’s perfect Son, came into this imperfect world and spoke words unlike any which had ever been heard before or since. Those who listened to His heaven-born wisdom soon realized the angry, bloodthirsty, capricious gods whom they had worshipped could and should be replaced by the Triune God of mercy. Those who saw Jesus were amazed as He lived a life which, from start to finish, showed humanity how much God wanted to rule in their hearts. Jesus, who had seen His perfect creation corrupted, returned so He could, by His sacrifice, restore that which had been lost so many years before.
Read through the Gospels and see what Jesus did. When God’s Son encountered blindness, He gave sight. When Jesus came, the lame were able to move and leap and laugh and those whose bodies harbored the living death of leprosy were made healthy and whole. Demons who had possessed human hearts were dispossessed when Jesus spoke the word. The dead were raised to life and the world saw, in His person, in His words, in His actions, in His sacrifice, the intensity and integrity of God’s great grace and goodness. The deaf were given the ability to hear how God wished to forgive them and provide them with a future in heaven. Those who were, by profession and action, outcasts and rejects from respectable society, were welcomed by Jesus and told their sins of yesterday could be erased and their condemnation set aside so they might have peace for endless tomorrows. “Believe on Me! Repent, be restored, be redeemed,” that was the message Jesus delivered when He came to earth. “Let Me free you from the shackles of sin; release you from the sentence of death; redeem you from Satan’s slavery. Believe in Me, for I have come to restore the Lord to His position of authority, to do all which is necessary for you to be brought back into the family of faith.”
My father said, “Every job looks easy if you don’t have to do it.” In many ways he was right, but nobody looking at Jesus’ life could say what He did for us was easy. Shortly after He was born, His family had to flee from the jealous rage of a mad monarch. At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, Satan approached Him with special, select enticements which were designed to redirect and reroute the Redeemer from the path that would provide salvation for lost humanity. His boyhood home refused to hear Him and His disciples seldom understood Him. His family thought He was unbalanced and the self-righteous pillars of the communities where He ministered delighted in trying to find ways to confuse and confound Him, to deny, debate, degrade, and disparage Him. The religious authorities plotted on how He might be murdered with a minimum loss in public opinion polls. The crowds, which had followed Him at the beginning of His ministry, deserted Him when they realized they could not shape Him to their needs. His government, which prided itself on the fair enforcement of justice, turned its back upon Him and set aside both integrity and honesty.
Because all of these felt they could rule their lives, their eternal destinies, better than the Son of God, they plotted against Him and had Him crucified. As our substitute, as our sacrifice, still carrying our sins, Jesus was crucified. That day, as God’s Son hung upon Calvary’s rough-hewn cross, through blackened skies the world would have been rejoicing; Satan would have been smiling; and death would have been dancing when Jesus breathed His last. Willingly, Jesus endured the sufferings of those hours for the glory which was to be revealed.
Three days later, that glory – with blinding intensity – was proclaimed. In the hours before dawn, while the world still slept, God’s Son kicked open the gates of hell, tossed aside death and damnation, and emerged from His borrowed tomb. Leaving behind the rags of death, He came forth and reclaimed the universe which had once been stolen. To those who came to pay their respects, the angel of the tomb announced, “He is not here, He is risen, just as He said He would” (Matthew 28:6). The world might have dismissed Him before that moment; those who had heard Him might have forgotten all He had said, but nobody could ignore the events of that morning. The Christ had conquered. From that moment on, from then until now, all who believe on Jesus Christ as Savior have their sins forgiven and they are given the security of knowing the rightful ruler of their lives has been restored to reign within their hearts.
No, I would not have you think – not for a moment – that being a Christian, having the Savior ruling your life, your destiny, your eternity, means your life will be easy. No matter what other pulpits may say, Jesus’ warning is clear: those who follow Him will be given crosses to carry. He promises, He warns – His people will be detested and despised; they will be put upon and persecuted. My job would be easier if this were not so; there would be more Christians if this were not the case; but I cannot tell you what Scripture does not say. God’s Word warns: those who follow Jesus will suffer. Many of Jesus’ closest friends died in terrible ways. In the 11th chapter of 2nd Corinthians, Paul tallied his cost of discipleship. Paul says he was whipped five times and three times he was beaten with rods. He said he had been stoned and shipwrecked; not once, not twice, but three times. He relates how he was set adrift at sea, how he had been threatened by rivers and robbers, his own people, and strangers, too. He confessed he had known thirst, sleeplessness, and frequent hunger, cold, and exposure.
If you asked the solid saint, “Paul do you regret your following Jesus? Are you sorry for what you’ve given up? Do you miss the respect you once had, the good times you once enjoyed?” If you put those questions to Paul, he would have given you an answer; indeed, he has given an answer. To the church in Rome, a church which was experiencing persecution and misdirected hatred, Paul wrote: “I’m sure the sufferings of this present time are nothing compared to the glory which will be revealed to us.” Paul wanted everyone to know Christ’s followers would have tough times, but he also wanted everyone to believe the day would come when they would look upon these tragedies as minor inconveniences. The day would come when, like a mother who has been blessed with a healthy child, pain would be put into proper perspective. The day would come when they would understand: on every step of the way, Jesus had been by their side; in every problem which had come, Jesus had helped them carry it. Even as Jesus had conquered death and grave, He would make His people victors too.
This, my dear friends is God’s good news of great joy which comes to believers through the life, passion, death, and resurrection of the Redeemer; through His substitution and His sacrifice. And how has the world reacted to God’s reclamation? Look around. The disaster you see, the pain you and others have experienced in the past, which will come to you in the future, the fear which stalks in the darkness of the night is all the direct result of the world’s rejection of the Christ’s redemption. The evil you experience, the sin you see, is all because this world still believes it can run the universe better, more efficiently, more effectively than God the Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier.
Look at human progress. Not so long ago the world heralded the industrial revolution, the internal combustion engine, the harnessing of atomic power. Everyone rejoiced at what we had done and experts proclaimed these advancements would change our destinies. They have, but these changes aren’t necessarily an improvement. Pollution chokes our children and cities, while we live in fear that some crackpot despot will actually use an atomic bomb. DDT did great things to clear our fields of bugs, but it also cleared our skies of eagles, hawks, and owls. Mechanization allowed whole schools of fish to be efficiently caught in a net, but it has also managed to almost deplete entire species of fish from the sea. Is there global warming? I don’t know. I do know every time sinful man thinks he can do a better job than God, He manages to mess up.
How do humans do when they think they can run the world better than God? Look at the world’s governments. Adolf Hitler thought he could rule better than God, and World War II left millions of dead, and millions more mourning the tragedy of the gas chambers and ovens. Marx and Engels thought they could do better than God, and the body count of Lenin, Stalin, and Mao may total 100,000,000 – mainly composed of the masses who were supposed to be liberated. The eugenics of Margaret Sanger and Charles Darwin tried to improve upon God’s plan so society is slowly moving from cherishing life to valuing the quality of life. There is a difference.
It is easy for individuals like you and I to think we can do a better job at running things than God. How do we challenge Him? We say: How can God be so cruel? How can He allow this? He is so unfair! We criticize because we’re pretty sure we can do better. Well, we can’t. In the last century, a brilliant philosopher, Bertrand Russell, thought he could do a better job than God in running his life. When Russell was 81, he was interviewed on the BBC. The interviewer asked Russell what he had to hang onto when death was obviously so close. Russell responded, “I have nothing to hang onto but grim, unyielding despair.”
If grim, unyielding despair is all this world can offer, I will follow the Savior who offers something more, something better. I will follow Him, because in Him there is forgiveness and eternal life. I will follow Him, because He makes is so the sufferings of this present age are not worthy to be compared to the glory and joy which is mine in a Savior who has forgiven my sins and saved my soul. If this is the Savior for you, please, call us at The Lutheran Hour. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for July 20, 2008
Topic: “White” LiesANNOUNCER: Is honesty always the best policy? Pastor Ken Klaus responds to questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer.
KLAUS: Hi, Mark. And hello to our listeners.
ANNOUNCER: Some years ago, you might recall there was a movie about a lawyer who was a very fluent liar. He managed to bend the law and the truth according to his purposes.
KLAUS: I remember the movie. It was a marvelous work of fiction.
ANNOUNCER: At any rate, that lawyer was eventually cursed by having to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth – all the time, in every situation.
KLAUS: Yes, I really do remember that movie.
ANNOUNCER: Well, that leads to our question today about what are called “white lies.”
KLAUS: You mean the kind of lies we tell, supposedly to spare the feelings of others.
ANNOUNCER: Well, that’s one way of defining them. Our listener says, “Since watching that movie, I’m wondering: Isn’t a lie always a lie? And should it make any difference if it’s a “white” lie, or a “black” lie, or a hundred different shades of “gray” lies?
KLAUS: I’d never heard of a “gray” lie before. I kinda’ like that thought.
ANNOUNCER: Well, our listener didn’t particularly like that. He wants to know, “Is it ever OK to tell a lie, or should we always tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?”
KLAUS: In other words, is it ever OK to tell a lie without sinning?
ANNOUNCER: Yes, that sums it up.
KLAUS: You know, Mark, I think this question may not be as easy as it appears at first.
ANNOUNCER: Now, it ought to be; or are you just going to go slipping around all over the place?
KLAUS: Well, that’s not my intention, although it may appear to be so. First, let me answer – do we always have to tell the whole, complete truth without leaving anything out? The best answer I can give to that is this: I have a Savior who was without sin. I have a Savior who didn’t always tell everything He knew.
ANNOUNCER: Could you give us an example of that?
KLAUS: I can. When Jesus fed the 5,000, He first instructed the disciples to feed the crowd.
ANNOUNCER: Right.
KLAUS: He said, “You feed them yourselves.” In telling that story, the Apostle John said, “He said this to test him, for He Himself (meaning Jesus) knew what He was going to do.” He knew the miracle He was going to perform that day, but He didn’t tell the disciples everything. Jesus told the truth, but He didn’t tell everything.
ANNOUNCER: OK. Well, since Jesus didn’t lie and since He didn’t tell everything, do we assume from this that there might be times we should refrain from saying something?
KLAUS: Right. If my wife says, “How do you like my new hat?” I don’t have to say, “Darling, that is, without a doubt the ugliest thing I have ever seen, and it amazes me that you would have such a lapse in judgment as to pay good money, for such a hideous creation. You’d be better off wearing a KFC bucket on your head.” No, I don’t have to say the whole truth with that kind of intensity.
ANNOUNCER: OK. Let’s answer the next question. Are we ever allowed to tell a white lie – like telling the telemarketer that my wife isn’t home, when actually she is?
KLAUS: In replying to that answer I would say – why? Why tell a white lie? Why not just say, “She is here, but she doesn’t speak to telemarketers.” Or, “I’m sorry, we don’t respond to phone solicitations.” A lie isn’t even necessary then.
ANNOUNCER: OK. Well, how about when we’re trying to protect somebody else’s feelings? Go back to that illustration you had there about your wife’s monstrously, hideously, ugly, hat.
KLAUS: Of course, you understand that illustration was made up. OK, let’s use that one. Scripture is clear – God’s people are to speak the truth. But it is also clear that we should speak the truth in love. That’s what Paul said in Ephesians 4:15. That means we select our words in such a way that will enable us to be truthful and yet loving.
ANNOUNCER: Yes, but getting back to that hat thing…
KLAUS: You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you? All right. When my wife who has just picked out a really ugly hat asks me, “Well, dear, what do you think of my hat? Isn’t it the greatest?” I could reply: “Dear, I think you’d look better with something else.” Or I could say, “It wouldn’t be my first choice.” Or I might throw myself on the mercy of the court saying, “I plead the 5th Amendment on the grounds that it might incriminate me.” There are a lot of things I could say – honest things – but gently honest things.
ANNOUNCER: Would any of them be lies – even white lies?
KLAUS: No. In fact, I could say, “Dear, in my opinion, this hat isn’t the greatest, and I’m sorry, but I just don’t care for that hat very much. I guess I just don’t understand or appreciate high fashion.” Truth in love.
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
“To Thee, Jehovah” performed by David Berger. Used by permission.
“Oh, That I Had a Thousand Voices” arr. Michael Burkhardt. From Hymn Improvisations, vol. 1 by Michael Burkhardt (© 1993 MorningStar Music Publishers)
“In Thee Have I Placed My Trust” by J.S. Bach. From Organist Frederick Hohman & Johann Sebastian Bach by Frederick Hohman (© 1988 Pro Organo)