The Lutheran Hour
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"Not What They Seem"
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Text: John 15:26-27
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Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed! Although things may not always be what they seem, the resurrection of the Christ is God’s truth which saves. Today, by the Holy Spirit’s power, may those who have faith in Jesus be strengthened and those who keep Him at arm’s length be brought to their risen Redeemer. God grant salvation to us all. Amen.
Things aren’t always what they seem. Years ago I heard the story of a spider who tried to woo a fly into his web. To that invitation, the fly, who prided himself on his high-fly-IQ, said with a tone of suspicion, “I think I’ll take a pass. I don’t see any other flies here, and I’m not coming all by myself.” Soon after the fairly intelligent fly saw a bunch of flies buzzing away on a large piece of brown paper that was sitting on a kitchen counter. Immediately he made plans to join them. A split second before he landed, a bee called out, “Don’t be a fool. Don’t go there. That’s flypaper.” But the fairly intelligent fly shouted back, “Ridiculous. I can plainly see a big crowd of my brothers, sisters, and cousins down there. That many flies can’t be wrong.” And with that, the fly landed and met the same fate as did his fellows. No matter how many believe something, sometimes, somethings aren’t always as they seem.
That’s true for people as well as flies. Most of us have a tendency to accept appearances as authentic. If you doubt me, think of how Hollywood movies have given us a great many fake illusions and false realities. For example, you’ve seen movies that take place in Paris. Did you ever notice the Eiffel Tower seems visible in every single window? I’ve been to Paris, and that’s not reality. Have you ever been amazed that no movie hero has a problem finding a parking spot? No, he just drives up and parks in front of his destination. That’s not reality. Isn’t it amazing that in Kung Fu movies 20 guys growl and grimace, but they all politely wait their turn to attack the hero? I’m astounded that car tires always screech, even when they are on a gravel or dirt road. Things aren’t always what they seem. It surprises me that the chief bad guy in a movie, who shoots his sidekick for having messed up a mission, never runs out of henchmen. If I were one of those guys, I’d start looking for another job. I don’t know why we accept Hollywood’s absurdities, but I do know things aren’t always what they seem.
That’s certainly true when it comes to Jesus and His church. Now I’m pretty sure most of you realize this last sentence was a transition. If you think you’ve got the whole rest of this message figured out, remember the title of this sermon is, “Things aren’t always what they seem.” Even Jesus isn’t always what He seems. Ask the average Joe or Jane to describe the Savior and they will come up with a most interesting list. They will tell you He was good, kind, gentle, caring, compassionate, forgiving, and the Holder of a whole host of mild-mannered attributes.
Now, Jesus was, most certainly all of those things, but He was more, far more than the sum of those characteristics. Did it ever occur to you Jesus was crucified because those around Him thought He was too dangerous to let live? Many of the upstanding citizens who heard the Redeemer speak came away convinced He was a Devil, a Blasphemer, and a serious Party-goer. Most of you’ve never thought of Him that way, have you? The leaders of His own church plotted against Him. They successfully railroaded Him to His death. Why? They thought it better for Jesus to die than run the risk of having Him bring Roman wrath down upon their country. Pontius Pilate, the highest representative of Rome in those parts, felt it a wise course of action to have Jesus, a potential political Insurrectionist, taken out of the picture. You see, the Christ isn’t always what He seems. Not then, not now. It was Divine dedication and not servile subjection that had Him arrested in the Garden. Jesus’ fulfillment of prophecy and not incapacity or inability had Him stay silent at His trials. It was Christ’s commitment to saving you that allowed Him to be beaten, whipped, crowned with thorns, spit upon, laughed at, paraded, and crucified. It was His overwhelming courage, not cowardice, which kept Him on the cross so we might be saved. His life was not taken; it was given as a sacrifice so you might live.
Jesus was not always what people thought. That was true for His friends, as well as His enemies and adversaries. Look at the reactions of those who saw the Savior; who were blessed by His work. When Jesus fed a crowd with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish, the thousands who had been filled decided to make Jesus their King, a perpetual Provider of physical blessings and bounty. Jesus declined their offer because He hadn’t been born to feed their bodies; He had come to nourish their souls with forgiveness and everlasting life. Look at Jesus’ closest associates, His disciples. When He was physically with them, they never really figured Him out. When a storm on the Sea of Galilee threatened to swamp their boat, they didn’t believe wind and wave would respond to His word. When mothers brought their children to Jesus for a blessing, the disciples saw them as bothers and did their best to keep the lambs and sheep from the Shepherd.
At the Last Supper, after Jesus had plainly predicted His death and tried to comfort His disciples; you guessed it, they didn’t understand. They didn’t understand when He went to the Garden of Gethsemane. There, as He prayed, as the sins of the entire world, your sins, my sins, all sins, were placed upon Him, He asked the disciples to watch and offer up their own prayerful petitions. The disciples understood neither His need nor their danger and they fell asleep. When Jesus was arrested, they ran away; when He was on trial, most of them were hiding; when He was crucified, all but one of them cowered behind closed doors. They didn’t understand things aren’t always as they seem.
When Jesus was crucified, it seemed His death had to be the end of His story. It seemed as if His message had been silenced, His ideas put to rest; His promises buried with Him in a borrowed grave. It seemed as if God had lost, evil had won, and death’s reign would continue unchallenged. That is the way it seemed, and that is the way the world still wishes it would be. But things are not always as they seem. Three days after the Christ’s crucified corpse was shut away, sealed behind a great and guarded stone, Jesus came back to life. It was the singular, most spectacular, most eternity-changing event in humankind’s history. Because of a risen Christ all who believe in Him as their Redeemer, their Sacrifice, are saved from sin, Satan, and death itself.
Hearing that news the disciples should have been dancing, shouting, telling anyone, everyone who would listen. But they didn’t. Not then; not yet. When they were told about a living Lord, the disciples couldn’t grasp it. When He appeared in front of them, forced them to set aside their doubts, they knew He had returned, but they didn’t have a clue as to what His return meant. Weeks later, after numerous appearances and reassurances from the risen Redeemer, Jesus said His earthly farewells and ascended into heaven. Yet, in the moments immediately before Jesus left them, His disciples showed they still didn’t understand the Savior’s purpose. Their question, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore Israel?’ says they still believed Jesus’ kingdom was earthly, not spiritual (Acts 1:6).
There is no doubt the disciples were overjoyed Jesus was alive, but the questions as to what it all meant still remained. It stayed that way until the day of Pentecost, the day the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus’ faithful, the day they were given understanding why their Lord had been born, lived, suffered, died, and risen; the day their faith was transformed. Pentecost had begun with believers joining together in prayer; it ended with a powerful public proclamation of salvation that comes through faith in the risen Savior. Pentecost had begun with a few followers of the Savior shut off from the world, but it ended with unbolted doors, unshuttered windows, and a shout of redemption from the hearts of thousands, a shout that today is echoed by hundreds-of-millions. Today we remember the birthday of the Church, the day of the Holy Spirit, the day when Jesus sent inspiration, understanding, and faith to His followers.
Today is the birthday of the church and many of you are probably saying, “What could be more blah, more bland, and more boring? As you look around, you see nobody putting Pentecost lights on their houses; no one has sent out Pentecost cards; nobody is singing Pentecost carols; no newspaper is telling us, “Only two shopping days left until Pentecost.” There are no Pentecost parties, no Pentecost music being pumped through shopping malls and elevators; there are no children’s Pentecost cartoons on television; no Pentecost trees, no Pentecost ornaments; no Pentecost festivities, and you haven’t driven all over town to get your child or grandchildren the perfect Pentecost present. This year, May 31 may be Pentecost and Pentecost may be the birthday of the church, but many would say it’s no more special than National Macaroon Day, or Save Your Hearing Day, and less important than World No Tobacco Day all of which are remembered on May 31st. Pentecost may be the birthday of the church but to most, Pentecost may seem like the biggest unbirthday ever.
And this is where some of you grumble: “He promised this would be interesting; he asked me to wait a few minutes. Well, I waited, and I’ve wasted my time. All he has done is told me about a holiday that few people remember, fewer celebrate, and even fewer care about.” I know some of you are thinking that because, two months ago, a survey done by Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut reported a growing percentage of you have decided Jesus and the church have nothing to say to you, nothing to offer you, nothing of value for you. Yes, I can truly understand why you feel that way.
You’re no fool. You’ve been listening to the news about the church. You’ve heard the reports of children who have been abused by clergy, by men who were supposed to be honorable, trustworthy, caring, and compassionate. You have paid attention as one preacher after another confessed his sexual sins, adulteries, and drug abuse. You have been watching when the stories of financial scandals in churches were the lead off story for your evening news. Yes, I can understand. But there’s more, isn’t there? There’s much more. You watched on TV as a preacher promised the Lord would give you whatever you wanted if you FIRST gave his ministry a seed offering. When you heard that, you wondered, “Why do I have to bribe God?” You asked, “If God has the power to do something nice, why doesn’t He just do it?”
You’ve sat in irritated astonishment as various preachers hawked their special soap, special oils, special water, special prayer cloths, special incense, special dirt taken from Jerusalem, and you thought, “This sounds like an 1800’s snake-oil salesman.”
Yes, I can understand why you feel Jesus and His church have nothing to offer. I remember meeting one teenager who said, “Church is one dull, dreary person standing in front of other dull, dreary people telling them to be more dull and dreary.” You’ve run into Christians who have been as mean, as nasty, as gossipy, as nosy, as foolish, as wrong as any unbeliever you’ve ever met. I wish I could argue with you, but I can’t. What I can do is say this: “Things are not always what they seem.” Yes, you have heard of clergy scandals, but for every pastor or preacher who has been an embarrassment to the Christ, I can show you 100 who faithfully preach the story of salvation that comes through the Savior. Yes, you’ve noted the silly shenanigans of radio and TV evangelists, but right now you are listening to a Gospel program that has been on the air for 75 years. Never, never has any preacher on The Lutheran Hour ever sold anybody a bill of goods. For seven-and-a-half decades, relying completely on the financial support of Christians who care, we have, in every broadcast, every prayer, every hymn, preached Christ crucified and risen. And when money got tight, we tightened our belts; indeed, we even went off the air in some places rather than compromise the message that says humankind is saved by faith in Christ alone.
Things are not always what they seem. Yes, you may have met some nasty Christians. I’m not surprised: Christians are sinners. As long as we live in this world, we will remain sinners with all the shortcomings and failings sin brings with it. Still, there are many believers who try to witness to the Holy Spirit’s transforming power in their lives. From the many letters I receive, those caring people include mothers, fathers, grandparents, spouses who are genuinely troubled about you and where you will spend eternity. No, they may not always approach you rightly; they may not always say the right thing, or express their concern with the right tone, but they love you and they want you saved. If these caring Christians drive you crazy, their motivation is love and love alone.
Yes, Christians can be blah, bland, and boring, but Jesus is not. It is a great mistake to look at a pastor in a pulpit or the people in the pews and think they are cut from the same bolt of cloth as is the Christ. The best, the very best, the one-in-ten-million best of us is a fourth-rate, pale, poorly made imitation of the Lord Jesus Who gave His life so you might be forgiven and saved. On our best days we can be phonies, fakes, and frauds, but Jesus is real. So is the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit, Who transformed the disciples from cowards to courageous, committed Christians; Who saved their souls from sin and Satan, wishes to do the same for you. The same Holy Spirit, Who gave birth to the church in this world, wishes to give birth to faith in your heart. The same Holy Spirit, Who comforts believers in their loss; Who removes the fear of death from their lives; Who gives hope for each day and peace for each night, wishes to do the same for you. He invites you, beckons, calls you. And if you are unsure of all else in this world, you can be sure of this: the love of the Lord, the forgiveness of the Christ is exactly as it seems.
Now, you don’t know me, but in this message I have been truthful. If what I’ve said makes sense, if you need to find a church that shares the Savior’s story of salvation as it was shared today, call us. So the birthday of the church might be your spiritual birthday as well, please, call us at The Lutheran Hour. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for May 31, 2009
Topic: Unbelievers’ Prayers – Part 2Mark: Now, Pastor Ken Klaus continues our discussion about prayer. I’m Mark Eischer. Our discussion was prompted by a question from a Sunday school class in Texas.
KLAUS: Just a summary of what we’ve covered so far. They asked, “Does God hear the prayer of an unbeliever?”
Mark: And we said, “Although it sounds strange, an unbeliever may actually find himself praying to the Lord.”
KLAUS: Exactly. And we also said, “Yes, God hears those prayers. He hears them because He is omniscient, all-knowing.” When a person is all-knowing, not even the prayer of an unbeliever will escape your notice.
Mark: The last thing we explained was the difference between how an unbeliever and a believer might accept God’s answer — which isn’t always, “Yes.”
KLAUS: When a Christian gets a “No” answer or “I’ll give you something better than you ask,” he should say, “Thy will be done.” An unbeliever, more often than not, will conclude God isn’t there, or He doesn’t care.
Mark: Dangerous assumptions for the unbeliever.
KLAUS: Which brings us to today. Mark. You said there was a second part to that question.
Mark: And so there is. If it’s true the Lord hears an unbeliever’s prayer but does not necessarily answer them how is it that we sometimes hear of people who were not Christians but came to Christ as a result of some traumatic situation in which they prayed to God for rescue?
KLAUS: Ahhh! Now that is a question.
Mark: And how will you answer it?
KLAUS: This way. The Lord is our loving Father. He is a loving Father to those who are part of His family of faith as well as those who are outside of that family. On this we are agreed?
Mark: Certainly. Jesus came to us while we were yet sinners. He didn’t come into this world because we were so good, or because we wanted Him. He came to save us in spite of ourselves. So, God does love everyone.
KLAUS: And God would have all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth?
Mark: Yes.
KLAUS: And He sends His Holy Spirit to call us to repentance, to forgiveness, to salvation in Jesus through the Means of Grace?
Mark: Yes.
KLAUS: Can the Holy Spirit use special situations and circumstances to prepare our hearts to receive the grace and salvation He wishes to give?
Mark: Absolutely.
KLAUS: So, let’s put this all together. What we’ve said so far is this: God loves believers and unbelievers. God also wishes to save everyone from sin, death and devil. So that the world might be saved the Father sent His Son into this world to live, suffer, die and rise. In many different ways the Holy Spirit uses situations, which he makes into opportunities designed to lead us to see the Savior and to call us to faith.
Mark: That all makes sense.
KLAUS: Now, let me ask, in any of those steps do you see us, people, initiating the relationship?
Mark: Now that you mention it, I don’t.
KLAUS: Right! From start to finish the Lord is in control. He is the One who puts the plan of salvation into action and He is the One who will finish that same plan. Now, here’s where we answer the students’ question. Suppose a person, a supposedly “unbelieving” person finds himself in such a situation and prays to God for help. At that point, he’s really not an unbeliever anymore, is he? Now, granted, this person’s understanding of God may be rather rudimentary and probably mistaken in many respects. But suppose the Lord, as a loving Father decides a “yes” answer to that prayer is in order. Was it his prayer which did that?
Mark: No. His coming to faith was not based on his prayer, but on the work of the Holy Spirit. Faith preceded and prompted the prayer.
KLAUS: Which answers the question.
Mark: I think.
KLAUS: Let me try again. Suppose I try to give you a billion dollars. I know you need it and I’ve tried for a long time to deposit that money in your account. Suppose you have, for whatever reason, rejected that billion.
Mark: I probably thought it was one of those Nigerian e-mail scams.
KLAUS: Then, one day, the transmission falls out of your car, and you have all kinds of expenses. You say, “I wish I had a billion dollars.” To which I say, “Here it is. It’s been here all along.” Well, that’s the way it is here. God wants to give us salvation. He wants to save us. It’s not a scam, but some people, for reasons unknown, decline that offer. Then, one day, a situation occurs when we pray for help. God says, “Help is here in the Person of My Son.” It’s not the wish that puts the billion in the account, and it’s not the prayer which saves. The billion, the salvation, is a gift from a generous Giver.
Mark: This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music selection for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by John Leavitt. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“In You, Lord, I Have Put My Trust” by Samuel Scheidt, arr. by Henry Gerike. From Heirs of the Reformation (© 2008 Concordia Publishing House)
“Komm, heiliger Geist” by Dietrich Buxtehude. From Richard Heschke at the Hradetzky in Red Bank by Richard Heschke (© 1993 Arkay Records)
“Fanfare” by Charles Ore. From From My Perspective, vol. 1 by Charles Ore (© 1992 Organ Works Corporation) Augsburg Fortress