The Lutheran Hour
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"The Right Name"
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Text: Acts 2:21
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed. So many do not like Him; some religions even hate Him; millions do their best to ignore Him. Even so, Jesus’ resurrection makes Him the world’s Savior and our only Source of forgiveness and salvation. This day the Holy Spirit invites you to come and worship Him, to call upon the Name of the Lord Jesus and be saved. Grant this salvation, Lord, to us all. Amen.
For 20 years, Charlie and Janie have owned eight Victorian chairs on which no one is allowed to sit. No one is allowed to sit on the chairs because the person from whom they had bought them, an antique dealer in Greenville, South Carolina, told Charlie and Janie that the chairs had once been owned and used by Abraham Lincoln during his term in the White House. Indeed, the store owner brought out an old lithograph showing Lincoln sitting in a chair which looked remarkably like the ones he was selling. Charlie and Janie took a gamble and laid out $6,000 for the eight chairs.
Over the years the husband and wife tried to research those chairs. They came upon other pictures from Lincoln’s presidency which showed chairs which were similar…very similar. Pictures were interesting, but they were hardly the absolute proof they needed. Charlie and Janie found out that Matthew Brady, one of Lincoln’s favorite photographers, had a chair which matched theirs. They wondered, “Did the chairs belong to Brady or did they belong to Lincoln?”
The experts said if those eight chairs had belonged to Lincoln during his years as the President, they would be worth about $12,500. That’s $12,500 each. Those chairs would be worth $12,500 if they were associated with the right man. But if the Lincoln family never sat in those chairs, you can scratch out the $12,500 and substitute $500.00. Those chairs would take on a new value if they were associated with the right person.
Years ago an artist needed a loan. He went to his friend Kevin and borrowed $1,500. The collateral for his loan was a napkin. Yes, you heard that right, a napkin. Of course this was a special napkin, this was a decorated napkin. According to the artist, the three butterflies drawn on the napkin had been put there by the most famous pop-artist of the 20th century: Andy Warhol. To make a long story short, the artist never came back to redeem his napkin and Kevin was left with a food-stained, butterfly-adorned napkin which he shut away in a drawer. There it stayed until, years later, he tried to have his napkin appraised.
“It’s not important what I think”, said the appraiser, “you have to get the Andy Warhol Foundation to appraise it. If they say it’s legitimate, it is.” So Kevin sent away his napkin to be evaluated, and he waited, and then he waited some more.
You need to be connected to the right Name. I’ve seen Elvis enthusiasts go positively euphoric when they sat behind the wheel of one of the King’s custom Cadillacs. The thought that Elvis had actually sat where they were now sitting; that his hands once gripped the wheel that they were now holding, it took them to a different dimension.
Now it occurs to me, that if being associated with the right person is important when it comes to putting a value on a 150-year-old set of chairs, or a dirty napkin, or on an Elvis Cadillac; being associated with the right Person ought to be incredibly important when it comes to our eternal salvation. It ought to be, and it is. Please, let me explain. Today is a very big, a very special church festival day. It is called Pentecost. For right now it’s enough to say Pentecost is the day the Christian Church celebrates its birthday.
Now a lot of you folks may be thinking, ‘Doesn’t the Church’s birthday come on December 25th? It seems I remember somebody celebrating their birthday right around then.” There are other folks who have seriously suggested the birthday of the church ought to be counted from the 1st Good Friday, that is, from the day Jesus died in our stead and paid the punishment price our sins demanded. Believe me when I say, “Good Friday is a day of considerable importance to Christians, but it is not the beginning of the church.” Why? Because everybody who could have begun the church was locked away and in hiding.
If somebody asked me to suggest a date to celebrate the birthday of the church, I’d probably say, ‘Resurrection Sunday.” Truly, the day when Jesus came out of His grave is the most important day, the most significant hour this world has ever seen. Jesus’ triumphant exit from His tomb shows to all the world that death has been defeated, Satan’s stranglehold on our souls has been broken, and all who believe on Jesus as Savior are forgiven and free. Yes, Resurrection Sunday could work as the birthday of the church… but there is one small problem with using that day. On Resurrection Sunday Jesus’ people still didn’t get it; they still didn’t believe. The women who went to Jesus’ tomb were going to anoint a dead body, the disciples who first heard the story of a living Jesus had to go look for themselves. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus; they didn’t believe; Thomas didn’t believe, nobody believed. Disbelief, doubt, denial, skepticism, cynicism are the reasons Easter shouldn’t serve as the day when the church was born.
Which is why today, Pentecost has become the official birthday of the Christian Church. On this day we remember how, according to Jesus’ promise, the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, came to Jesus’ followers. His arrival was first noted by the sound of a rushing, mighty wind which filled the place where Jesus’ followers had gathered. The sound was accompanied by a visual display as tongues of fire danced upon their heads. That was all interesting, but it is what happened next which had the greatest impact on the day. Jesus’ followers began to speak, to speak in different languages.
A crowd had come together to investigate the sound of the mighty wind and they stayed to hear the sermon. If you had been a Parthian, you would have heard one of the disciples tell you how Jesus had died to save you from your sins. Were you a Mede; did you hail from Mesopotamia, Judea, or Cappadocia? Through the cacophony your ears would have discerned someone shouting the story of Jesus’ resurrection. Men from Pontius, women from Asia, people from Phrygia, Pamphilia, Egypt, Libya; visitors from Cyrene and Rome, all of them heard that God loved the world so much that He sent His Son to take their place, to fulfill the law, to resist temptation, and die in their stead to take away their sins.
The mystery from weeks before, the mystery of, “What has happened to Jesus’ body?” that was explained as the emboldened disciples told their listeners how, on the third day, Jesus had risen from the dead. The disciples would have explained that once, they too, had been doubters, but then a living Lord Jesus had showed them the nail holes in His hands, the wound from the spear’s thrust in His side. And although most of these disciples were uneducated, and none of them had studied a foreign language, that day, in the languages of the world, they told of the salvation of the world. They told the world that God loved them so much He had given His only-begotten Son. This He did so that all who believe on Him would not perish but instead would be forgiven and be granted everlasting life.
Pentecost was the first proclamation of God’s grace which can wash the darkest misdeed from the soul of the believer. Pentecost was the first time a damned world had heard it was a redeemed world. Pentecost was the first time the power of the Holy Spirit set into motion the resurrection message which would allow God’s light to dispel humankind’s darkness; His peace to soothe sin-saddened souls; His resurrection victory to become our victory. On Pentecost the message of a living Christ had dealt a death blow to the gods of Olympus and made the ancient deities of Egypt tremble. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection was a reality which the venerated philosophers of Greece could not rationalize or rebut. Jesus had done that which only the Son of God could do: He had restored the broken bridge between perfect heaven and sinful earth.
That Pentecost day, a new reality was preached to the world. Jesus had once said, “Because I live, you shall live also” (John 14:19), and that day the Holy Spirit touched hearts and thousands knew Jesus’ words had come true. They knew that: “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Everyone. It made no difference if you were Jew or Gentile, man or woman, slave or free, emperor or leper. All are saved when the Holy Spirit gives faith in the power of Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection victory. It was a new message which shook the ancient world; it remains a message which continues to rock the world with God’s Good News of all-encompassing love and grace.
Of course, the Pentecost message has not gone without challenge. That is
understandable. Not even the most naive would expect our old masters, sin, death, and
devil to give us up without a fight. No one could reasonably, rationally, expect them to
turn over the battlefield for the souls of humankind uncontested and unchallenged. And
challenge us they have. Once, long ago, the Roman Emperors persecuted the followers
of Jesus. In ways too terrible to share on this family broadcast, they tried to push Jesus
back into His grave. But do not think this is a history lesson from long ago and far away.
You need only look to the nations of the Mid-East and you will see governments who
have banned the name of Jesus; who will not allow His cross to be placed on any
building; who will imprison or execute any citizen who believes on the Savior. Look to
some of the countries of the Far East where anyone who calls on the Name of the Lord
Jesus is immediately demoted into a second-class citizen. Still, and in spite of all the
persecutions and jihads, the gospel still touches lives, it still heals souls and the
message goes out: whoever believes on the name of the Lord will be saved.And in North America, what can be said? Here there is no persecution; there is no
prejudice against Christians, is there? It must be admitted, Satan and the world do not
use the same techniques here as they use elsewhere in the world. Here they are not so
direct; here they are not so obvious; here they are not so sure of themselves, not so
confident that they can frighten us into a denial of the Savior. But it is a grave mistake to
think that the Pentecost message is going unchallenged. What did the disciples preach
that Sunday so many years ago? They promised: ‘everyone who calls upon the name of
the Lord shall be saved.’Oh how those words have been turned and twisted, confused and challenged. No longer do many people believe that they need saving. They feel pretty good about themselves and they think that God is being way too picky if He doesn’t like them just the way they are. God is not their judge; on the contrary, they have become His. If He expects them to calion His Name, if He expects them to come to Him, then He had better be ready to supply them with what they want. If He can’t give them what they want, when they want, and as much of it as they want, then, saved or no, they’re not going to calion His Name.
Yes, the Pentecost message has been turned and twisted. Call upon the Lord and be saved. That was the message of the church, but now people want to know, “Just who does God think He is judging me or anybody else. And does He really think I’m scared of hell: eternal fire, wailing, gnashing of teeth. No, God who is filled with love and He would never send anybody to such a terrible place. If that’s the kind of God He is, I don’t want to worship Him. Besides, as near as I can tell, aren’t all gods, at heart, really the same? Sure they have different names, but they’re all the same ….. all their heavens are the same … all religions are the same. They all expect the same thing: they want us to do good to others and if we do, we’re going to heaven. And those heavens … yeah, those heavens are all the same, too. And I think everybody is going to go there… if they try hard enough.
“And as long as I’m talking about trying to do good, why does God punish good people with all this nasty, bad, terrible stuff? I think He ought to leave the good guys, like us, alone and work on the bad guys. Which, come to think of, there just aren’t that many bad guys. Science has shown there aren’t that many bad guys because there aren’t that many sins. Most of the sins the Bible talks about are sicknesses … or the result of bad genes. We can’t help ourselves. If you can’t help yourself, you don’t have to call on the Name of the Lord to be saved. He owes it to us. He has to save us.” NO … HE .. .DIDN’T …
God didn’t have to save you. God didn’t have to send His Son to be the Substitute Who would suffer and die in your stead so that you could call on Him and be saved. God didn’t have to take you to heaven, but He will if you believe. What joyous news that is.
God will take you to heaven if you believe. Remember, God is God, and you are not. That is the message of Pentecost. Do you wish to be saved? Good, God wants that too. But your salvation will only come on His terms; not on yours. Call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. That’s the plan. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don’t trust in your works or your logic. That is the plan. By grace you are saved through faith. That is the plan. That is God’s plan and it is still in force.
Call upon the Name of the Lord and be saved. This is not a generic God; it is not any kind of Lord. It is the Triune God Who saves, and it is Jesus Christ Who is the reason you can be saved. At the beginning of this message we talked about some old, chairs. We said those old chairs would become incredibly valuable and special if they were connected to Lincoln’s name. We talked about how a dirty napkin might be worth something if it were connected to the name of Andy Warhol. I did forget to tell you how that one turned out, didn’t I? Let me remedy that. The Andy Warhol Foundation did meet. They did reply. They did say the napkin was a piece of art which was done by Mr. Warhol. In that moment the napkin went from being a dirty cloth to a treasure which could be worth more than $30,000. All because of a name … a specific name … the right name. So it is with you. Without the Name of Jesus you are worth … well, what is a lost sinner worth? Certainly less than a dirty napkin. But with Jesus, when the Holy Spirit connects you with Jesus, you are forgiven; you are saved; you are transformed. It is a wonderful thing to be connected to Jesus. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers)
May 23,2010
Topic: Is Anger a Sin?Announcer: Is it a sin to be angry? Pastor Ken Klaus responds to questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer.
Klaus: Thanks, Mark. I see this question came to us in the form of a letter with an actual stamp on it!
Announcer: That’s right, hats off to the Postal Service!
Klaus: Thinking back, I guess we do tend to answer a lot of questions that come to us through e-mail.
Announcer: But we don’t want to exclude listeners without Internet access.
Klaus: Indeed. So, should we give them our regular address?
Announcer: We can do that. You can address your questions to: Pastor Ken Klaus at Lutheran Hour Ministries, 660 Mason Ridge Center Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63141.
Klaus: Thank you. So, our topic is anger.
Announcer: Our listener writes, “I know Jesus is the sinless Son of God. On the other hand, I read in Matthew 21 how Jesus cleared the moneychangers out of the temple because they had turned it into a den of thieves. From this, I would conclude Jesus was very angry with these people. So, my question is, how can Jesus be sinless and yet be so angry as to take violent action against these people?” The Bible says He turned over their tables and drove them out.
Klaus: OK. If I hear the question rightly, it translates into being, “Is it a sin to be angry?” Our listener is quite right in saying Jesus is the sinless. Son of God. If Jesus was angry, then either He’s not perfect or anger isn’t always a sin. There aren’t any other choices that I can see. So, was Jesus angry? Some would say Jesus wasn’t “angry” … He was upset. He was filled with righteous indignation. That, sort of, seems to be begging the question. Was Jesus upset, even angry? I have to GUESS and this is a guess, He was angry.
Announcer: But is it wrong to be angry?
Klaus: I would not say ALL forms of anger are wrong. Now, we see examples of God’s anger in the Old Testament, for example, His judgment against Sodom and Gomorrah or when Moses describes God’s “burning anger” that consumed the Egyptians when they oppressed the Children of Israel.
Announcer: But is that just in the Old Testament?
Klaus: It’s not true that the Old Testament depicts a God of wrath while the New
Testament presents only a Gospel of love. Grace and forgiveness are God’s proper
work; it’s how He would prefer to deal with us-owe must never lose sight of what we call
God’s alien work, His wrath over sin. God’s grace and wrath exist side-by-side
throughout the entire Bible.Announcer: But Jesus said we were supposed to love our neighbor.
Klaus: Exactly. And we’re not supposed to let the sun set on our anger. But we need to
recognize the difference here.Announcer: OK, now it’s starting to get complicated.
Klaus: OK. I hope not. The Lord recognizes and hates sin. So that this world might be saved from sin and its consequences, the Father sent us His only Son. Through Holy Spirit-given faith in Jesus as our Redeemer, we are rescued from sin, death, and devil. This is the message of grace which comes to us only through Jesus Christ. Angels in heaven rejoice whenever a sinner repents and receives this Gospel message. On the other hand …
Announcer: I thought there might be another side to this.
Klaus: And so there is. The Lord is most displeased when His grace is disregarded and people prefer to stay in the darkness of their sin. That is what happened to the ancient world before the flood. They rejected Noah’s warnings and were destroyed. God became angry when the Children of Israel didn’t trust Him as He led them into the Promised Land. Jesus was upset with the Pharisees who thought they knew better than God. God’s anger burns against those who willfully disobey … and prefer their ways to His.
Announcer: And how does that apply to us and the way we live?
Klaus: The thing to keep in mind is this, while Jesus is perfectly capable of being angry without sinning, we aren’t. In fact, we’re often incapable of even being nice without sinning, of doing good for the right reasons. That’s the difference. We should not take this as an example for us to follow and allow our anger to get the best of us. In this case, Jesus is showing us something about respecting the house of God because it’s a place to hear God’s Word and receive God’s gifts. We should not use this as an excuse to get mad and throw our opponents out of the house, so to speak.
Announcer: Thank you, Pastor Klaus. 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
“The Church’s One Foundation” arranged and performed by Dave Horn. Used by permission.
“The Church’s One Foundation” arranged and performed by Peter Prochnow. Used by permission.
“Holy Spirit, Ever Dwelling” arr. Timothy Moke & Georg Masanz. From Magnificent Christian Hymns, vol. 2 by Timothy Moke & Georg Masanz (© 2005 T. Moke Recordings)