The Lutheran Hour
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"I Am Weak, But He Is Strong"
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Text: 2 Corinthians 12:8-9
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! The gracious and all powerful Triune God has, in His love, sent His Son to live for us, die, and rise for us. By Jesus’ blood-bought forgiveness we are given salvation, our lives are transformed and our futures are made perfect. God grant these gifts to us all. Amen.
The brothers Grimm: most of you have heard of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm who, in the early 1800s, decided, as an act of patriotism, to collect the folktales of Germany. You sort of know some of the stories they told: Snow White, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella. You know these stories begin, “Once upon a time,” and they end: “and they lived happily ever after.” You know these stories, sort of; and you have told them to your children, kind of. I add those qualifiers because most of us aren’t really acquainted with the original tales the brothers Grimm recorded. If those brothers had transcribed the story of Goldilocks, and they didn’t, the story might well have had Goldilocks being served up for supper and the bears being turned into rugs by a hunter.
Folks, if you’re looking for a sweet, tender tale to calm your children and gently send them off to sleepy-sleep, you don’t want to read them an original copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. If you do, your child, having heard those stories, which describe life as being both capricious and cruel, will probably have nightmares. It was only when the Grimms saw the commercial value of their stories; when they realized people wanted “happily-ever-after” endings, that they gentled the tales, made them easier on a child’s ear and transformed them into the kind of moral narrative Disney could make into a cartoon.
And they lived happily ever after. How’s that going for you? Are you living happily ever after? Years ago, when I was teaching a Sunday Bible class, we had a couple hundred people in attendance. Someone asked, “Will we know each other in heaven?” Since some people don’t want to be recognized in heaven, and some wives and husbands don’t want to know their spouses in paradise, I worded my answer carefully. I told them since we redeemed were no longer going to be weighed down by the ravages of sin, and since we would, because of Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection be given glorified bodies, there would be a transformation. Even so, Scripture says nothing about losing our individuality and becoming nondescript heavenly clones. Indeed, I told them, it would appear Scripture strongly implies we will keep our distinctive identities.
As I looked around the group for any follow-up questions, I spotted one of the very special ladies of my congregation. Her head was down and a steady stream of tears slowly slid down her cheeks. She was crying. Not a something-got-in-my-eye kind of crying. After class, I sought her out. “Are you OK?” “I’m OK.” “You were crying.” “Yes.” “But you’re all right now?” “Yes.” I let it go at that. She didn’t. Later in the week, this wonderful woman who had the best of lives showed up in my office. The tears began again as she shared how, more than 60 years ago she had lost a two-day-old son. I hadn’t known that. She spoke of her heartache; of her pain as she drove past the cemetery; of how, for more than 50 years, she had wondered if she would recognize her son in heaven. Afraid she might get an answer she didn’t want to hear, she had never asked the question: “Will I know my son in heaven?” The woman, who appeared to be living “happily ever after,” wasn’t.
And they lived happily ever after. How’s that happily-ever-after been going for you? I really don’t have to ask, do I? Some of you may say, “As good as can be expected”; others will reply, “Not so bad.” A few will tell me their litany of pains and problems, while more than a few religious folks will say, “We all have our crosses.” What would your reply be? Would you say, “I can’t complain,” or would you try to put on a brave face and jauntily joke, “Couldn’t be finer”? Some of you might even believe that. Still, if I could X-ray your hearts, do a CAT scan of your memories, I would find pains and problems, and difficulties and sadnesses over some things which had been done and others left undone. In almost every person I would find moments and days and months of hurt. You may keep those things in a super-secret vault, locked away so no one, not even those who are closest to you have any inkling they are there, but they are very, very real, aren’t they? As Anthony Robbins once observed, “The only people without problems are those in cemeteries.” Which means, if you’re listening to this message, you’re alive, and if you’re alive, you’ve got problems.
And they lived happily ever after. Almost all of us feel we ought to live happily ever after. The commercials on TV tell us their product can help us live happily ever after. Politicians promise they will help us live happily ever after. Romance novels whisper love will help us live happily ever after. There are men making the lecture circuit who tell their followers how to capture happily-ever-after, and even some preachers tell their people God is obligated to give them everything they want, that they have a right to be happy and problem-free all their days. These guys say these things because they know, deep down,almost everybody thinks they ought to be happier than they are. We all believe happily-ever-after shouldn’t be reserved for some fixed-up German fairy tale.
We want to know, “Who is to blame for life’s unfairness; who is responsible for the fact that we aren’t living happily ever after?” Many people, having struggled to find an answer to that question, conclude: God’s the Guy who is falling down on the job. C.S. Lewis defined the logical thought process of those who are discontented and disenchanted. Lewis wrote something like: ‘If God is good, God would want to make His people happy. If God is almighty, God can do what He wants. But since people aren’t happy, it logically follows that God is not good, or He is not all-powerful, or He isn’t good or all-powerful.’
That makes perfect sense doesn’t it? Can any of you see a breakdown, a flaw, a failing in those statements? We are forced to conclude: if God wants us to live happily ever after, and it is within His power to make that happen, He ought to do it. Since we aren’t happy, it must mean God doesn’t care, and if He does care, He doesn’t have the power to pull it off. I have to tell you, many Christians, although they wouldn’t say so out loud, think those statements make sense. That’s why, when some become ill, they silently ask: “Why is God doing this to me? I’ve tried to lead a good life.”
Now this is the point in the message where I’m supposed to refute those statements; this is the moment where I’m supposed to explain where the logic breaks down. Unfortunately, I can’t. The reasoning is solid and the statements are true, as far as they go, quite true. For example, there is nothing wrong with the statement: God cares and wants people to be happy. He does. When the Triune God created the universe and all that it contains, He made everything perfect. When He put our first ancestors in the Garden of Eden, they found themselves surrounded by excellence. God made things this way so His grateful children might live happily ever after forever. Yes, God cares and He wants us to be happy.
So, if God really does want what is best for us; if He really does want us to live happily ever after, then we are forced to conclude He doesn’t have the power to make that happen. Is that what you think? Is that what you believe? Surprisingly, if you believe that, you are absolutely right. As near as I can tell, the Lord’s power isn’t able to make human beings, sinful human beings happy all of the time. Think about it. How can God possibly make happy the child molester and the parent who is trying to protect that child? How can God make happy the spouse who is wandering and the one who remains faithful? How can God make happy the person who loves to swear and the person whose ear revolts against the abuse of God’s name? How can God make happy the shoplifter and the store owner? Look at this sorry, sad, sinful world and you will quickly be forced to concede: God cannot make sinners happy.
And that, you see, is the problem. When Adam and Eve sinned, they said, “Lord, we don’t want the happiness You have so graciously given; if it’s all the same to You, we want to forge our own happiness, we want to create our own contentment.” And with that thought humankind started out on a search, a hopeless, a futile, fruitless, impossible search to live happily ever after. Am I putting that too strongly? Not near strong enough. How many parents in this world are unable to feed their children? How many years have we seen young men march off to war never to return? Yes, I know some of those wars needed to be fought. They were noble, they were necessary. Even so, the necessity of conflict is a sign people are not living happily ever after. Look at the courts of the world trying to bring about justice; visit prisons filled to overflowing with folks who have broken society’s laws; look at the forsaken, the forlorn, the frightened.
The search to live happily ever after continues as one generation after another searches for satisfaction and fulfillment in the wrong places. Can wealth provide the brass ring of happiness? How about fame, or power, or success, or education? Each of these has been pursued and pursued with enthusiasm and eagerness. Still, in the final analysis, the history books tell us the wealthy soon find money is unable to provide them with that which their hearts most desire; the famous find themselves forgotten, the powerful are confronted by their mortality, the successful end up failing to find contentment, and the educated, for all their learning, find themselves unable to answer life’s ultimate questions. No, God can’t make it so sinners, sinners like you and me, are able to live happily ever after. The best any of us can expect is to be sort-of-happy-some-of-the-time.
And lest you miss the point, sort-of-happy-some-of-the-time is a far cry from living happily ever after. You know it, and I know it, and more importantly, God knows it. Now if up to this point in time you have found this message to be pretty hopeless, pretty dark, and overwhelmingly depressing, I am compelled to agree with you. I agree, but I can’t change the truth of what is said – and you can’t, either. Thankfully, there is a Person who can change things, who wants to change things, who has changed things. That Person, as you might expect, is the almighty God, the Triune God, the God of Christianity.
And this is where you say, “I thought you said God wasn’t able to make it so sinners could live happily ever after.” I did, I did. And that’s the point. God can’t make it so sinners can live happily ever after, but because that statement is true, that doesn’t mean you should write God out of the equation. You see, when our first ancestors sinned and set out on their own, God didn’t stop loving them. He didn’t say, “Fine, go ahead, see if I care. Don’t come crying to me when your search proves to be unsuccessful.” You and I might have done that, but God didn’t. God looked at His sinful, silly, searching children and said, “Look, you may not love me, but I still love you. Even more than that, I want to make it so you can live happily ever after.” And that was when He promised to send His Son to save us, to take our place.
It was a promise He kept. 2,000 years ago, His Son, Jesus Christ, according to prophecy and promise, was born in Bethlehem. True God because He had been conceived by the Holy Spirit, true Man because He had the Virgin Mary as His mother, Jesus came to save us from ourselves. His entire life was dedicated to saving sinners. It was a monumental task, a job which called for Him to unfailingly do and be all the things which sin wouldn’t allow us to do or be. So humanity could be brought back into harmony with the Lord, Jesus’ days were spent rejecting those temptations which are, is there any way of saying it, so deliciously tempting to sinful souls. Jesus perfectly kept every commandment we have broken.
Sadly, as we’ve said, a perfect God can’t make sinners happy. Which is why those who surrounded the Savior responded to Him as they did. He healed the sick and they said He had done it on the wrong day. He fed the hungry and they wanted to make Him into a Grocery Store. He lifted up the downtrodden and reached out to the lonely and they accused Him of associating with the wrong kind of people. Eventually one of His best friends betrayed Him with a kiss; His other disciples deserted Him, and rejected by those He had come to save, Jesus, with all of our sins in tow, was nailed to a cross and died in our stead. On Calvary’s cross, sinful humanity did its worst and in that same place God did His best. Three days after His lifeless body had been placed into a borrowed tomb, a living Lord Jesus came out and told the world, “forgiveness, hope, happiness, heaven are God’s gracious gift to all who believe on Me as their Savior.” Truly, Jesus had done what we could not: He had made it so we could live happily ever after.
To which you might say, “But Christians don’t seem to be living happily ever after.” It’s a valid point. That, dear friends, is because while Christians are forgiven by Jesus’ blood-bought sacrifice, they are still sinners living in a sinful world. Still, I can say: happily-ever-after in heaven waits for all who believe on Jesus as their Lord. And I will go even farther and add: the closer Christians come to living their lives in harmony with the Lord’s perfection and will, the happier and more content is their time in this world. That is what the Lord said to St. Paul who was chaffing under his unnamed “thorn in the flesh.” God said, “Paul, my grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in your weakness.” Understanding what God had said, Paul could say to the Galatian church (Gal. 1: 3-5): “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever.”
Some years ago, I heard of a boy who had broken his back when, at the age of two, he had fallen down some stairs. It was an injury which forced him to the hospital for lengthy stays. When a guest chaplain visited the young man for the first time, he asked, “Son, how old are you?” “Sixteen.” “And how much of that 16 years has been spent in a hospital?” The boy thought, “About 10, I would guess.” Before he could catch himself, the young chaplain blurted, “Ten years! Do you think that’s fair?” A longer pause, then the boy, the Christian boy quoted Scripture, parts of Romans 8. He said, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us….I am sure that neither death nor life… nor things present nor things to come… nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus….” The Lord is using that boy’s weakness to show His strength; He blessed the lad’s infirmity and by the Holy Spirit’s power is slowly bringing him to “happily ever after.” This gift of God is one which also is intended for you. By God’s grace and the Holy Spirit’s power you can also believe our all-caring, all-powerful, all-loving God wishes to let you live happily ever after. Through Jesus Christ the wish becomes reality. By faith God’s wish becomes truth. We have a good God who has the power to help you live happily ever after. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for July 5, 2009
Topic: Living TogetherAnnouncer: Now, Pastor Ken Klaus continues our discussion about a couple living together before marriage. I’m Mark Eischer. Last session, we tried first to get rid of the unimportant stuff-the extra baggage, you called it.
Klaus: And we talked about the reasons people give for living together and what God says about it in His Word.
Announcer: Now the situation is that a pastor has refused to officiate at the wedding of a young couple because they’re already living together. The bride-to-be said they were trying to correct their sin by getting married.
Klaus: Yes, which is another problem.
Announcer: What problem is that?
Klaus: We don’t correct our sins. The Savior does that. We can repent of our sins… and that involves turning from the old, wrong ways and leading a new way of life.
Announcer: But, this young lady and her fiancé say they’re trying to do just that-by getting married.
Klaus: Well, they are ready to lead a new life… but I don’t know if they really are turning from the old, wrong way of living.
Announcer: What could they do?
Klaus: Well, I know one pastor who said, “If you’re truly repentant, let’s go into church and I’ll marry you right now. You can have the reception later on.” Another pastor said, “Move apart until after the wedding.” Another said, “Refrain from the sexual part of your relationship.” All of them were saying, “Don’t say you want to change, and then go back to your present way of life after you leave my office. If you really are repentant, then you will change now. Not in six months or a year, but now.”
Announcer: And I think now we are getting to the heart of our listener’s question. She thinks that kind of attitude is unfair. She believes the pastor is being unnecessarily harsh and she thinks he doesn’t understand.
Klaus: Yes, I’m sure she does feel that way.
Announcer: What can you say about that?
Klaus: I can say, “Your pastor does understand your situation. He probably also understands what you are trying to do.”
Announcer: So where is the breakdown here? Nowadays, it’s not unusual for a bride and groom to go “church-shopping” and they’ll find someone who will do the wedding. They find a church and pastor who accepts them as they are and they go ahead and get married at that church.
Klaus: Yes, I’ve heard that. I’ve experienced it, too. It’s sad. It’s always sad when a pastor who is trying to serve the Savior and be guided by Scripture gets shot down by those people he’s trying to help.
Announcer: But, once again, where is the breakdown now between this pastor and this couple?
Klaus: OK, it breaks down on a number of areas. First, the pastor, if I read him correctly, is trying to serve the Lord first and trying to encourage the couple to a fuller and deeper understanding of repentance. That pastor probably knows he will someday answer to the Lord for what he does, or doesn’t do, with this couple.
Announcer: You said there were other reasons…
Klaus: Yes, I did. Like many brides and grooms, this couple is thinking about their wedding and their wedding alone. The pastor doesn’t have that luxury. He has a greater responsibility. He has to look at the message he sends to every couple in that church. If what this couple does is OK, then it’s OK for every couple. If living together is OK for every couple, then what really is the purpose of marriage… where does God’s will fit into this?
Announcer: And that’s a particularly important point.
Klaus: It is. A pastor must always consider how his decision and his congregation’s choice will reflect upon the Savior. Think for a moment, what will he teach his young men and women in confirmation? That marriage is just a piece of paper? An elective? Something to do only after you’re pretty sure you’re going to be kind of OK together? No, the pastor has to think of those other folks who will someday be coming to him or the person after him.
Announcer:Anything else?
Klaus: Yes. If the pastor doesn’t respect Scripture and God’s intentions, who’s going to?
Announcer: And, you know, we see precious little respect for the Lord and His Word nowadays.
Klaus: A pastor should be the Lord’s spokesman and that means He has to be faithful-and that doesn’t mean necessarily popular.
Announcer: Sort of like a parent has to do what’s right, but not always what will make his kids happy?
Klaus: Yes. Absolutely. You are right on the money.
Announcer: But how about that part where the lady feels she is being punished for trying to do the right thing?
Klaus: I can understand why she feels that way. She wants to get married and rather than her pastor being enthusiastic, It seems he is reluctant. It seems she is being condemned for trying to do good. If that’s what she feels, she should know her pastor, I believe, loves her very much. She is in a wonderfully unique position. She can do as the Lord wishes, the way the Lord wishes or she can rebel and try to get God to approve of something He won’t. The Lord wants to create a new heart within her.
Announcer: 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
“Oh, Sing Jubilee to the Lord” arr. Henry Gerike. From Jubilee by the Concordia Seminary Chorus (© 2000 Lutheran Laymen’s League)
“Let All Things Now Living” by Robert A. Hobby. From Thine Is the Glory by Robert A. Hobby (© 1997 MorningStar Music Publishers)
“Prelude in C” by J.S. Bach. From Johann Sebastian Bach Organ Works by Per Fridtjov Bonsaksen (© 1995 Vanguard Classics)