The Lutheran Hour
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"Fools"
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Text: Luke 12:19-21
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! The angel makes the announcement which changes the world and saves the souls of all who believe. He invites everyone to come and look, to see the Savior lives and His body is not where it has been placed in death. Christ is risen and you are invited to come and look. Do not let fear or pride make you foolish. Come, repent, believe, be saved. God grant such salvation to us all. Amen.
There are advantages and disadvantages in speaking to a radio audience. One of the great advantages is: I don’t get to see my audience. I can’t tell if you’ve just found an article which is REALLY interesting in the Sunday paper. I can’t tell if you just went back to sleep. I can’t tell if you’re running around in a bathrobe which needed to be replaced 15 years ago, or if you’re yelling at the children to get up so they can go to church. I can’t hear, or reply, when you criticize something I’ve said. “Hey, Hon, that Klaus fella is getting weirder and weirder.” Yes, indeed there are definitely advantages in not being able to see you.
And there are disadvantages, too? As far as the Sunday paper is concerned… I’d tell you, look, stick with me for fifteen minutes, you’ve got the rest of the day to hammer your way through that paper. Actually, now that I think about it, the list of the advantages and the list of the disadvantages are pretty much the same. Even so, it’s probably good that I can’t look in on you. You see, I can remember when I was able to watch my congregation from the pulpit.
And if you’re wondering, “Yes, we can see you.” We can see you guys when you start to nod off. You know, your eyes grow heavy, and my words get kind of quiet and monotone and your head just sort of starts bobbing. Yes, your preacher sees that, and so do those teenagers who are sitting behind you. They’re laughing up a storm watching your head bob deeper and deeper and deeper. Truth is, I can’t keep their attention when you do that. When it comes to pure entertainment value, you are pretty much unstoppable. And you ladies, don’t think I’m letting you off the hook. We can see you, too. We can see you when you nudge your husband in the ribs because we just said something which applied to him and you wanted to make sure he didn’t miss the point. And you teens… we can see you when you’re talking, and when you’re passing notes, and when you’re evaluating what somebody is wearing, and when you’re talking about who is chasing whom and who got caught.
Yup, we can see. We can see how envious you are when somebody takes a baby out of church. We know you wish you were going along with. Yes, we can see you. We know when you took that baby out and when you brought that baby back, and we’re pretty sure it doesn’t take fifteen minutes to change a baby. We can see you. We can see you turn and give a dirty look to some child who just doesn’t know how to behave in church. We can see when your eyes glaze over and you start thinking about the roast in the oven or the relatives who are coming, or the football game whose kickoff you’re gonna miss if I keep talking on and on and on. Yes, we can see; we can see when you’re not paying attention.
In ignoring us you are hardly alone. Scripture records times when people didn’t pay attention to preachers. The book of Acts talks about a young man named Eutychus. Eutychus was listening to the Apostle Paul who, since he was leaving town the next day, had a lot of things to say to God’s people at Troas. Well the room was warm, and Paul kept going and Eutychus eventually fell into a deep sleep. Eutychus also fell out of the window. Yes, he was killed and yes, he was raised back to life, and yes, Eutychus was one of the few people in this world who could legitimately claim he had been bored to death by a sermon.
I can think of another time when somebody didn’t pay attention to a message. Look in the 12th chapter of the Gospel of Luke and you will see the story of an unnamed person who didn’t pay attention to Jesus. The Savior was preaching at that time to thousands. This day He had talked about hypocrisy and persecution, and the sin against the Holy Ghost and how valuable God’s people are. Then out of the blue, without reference to anything, a man shouted out of the crowd, “Jesus, tell my brother to split the inheritance.” Say what? Where did that question come from? It came from a guy who wasn’t paying attention to Jesus as He talked about eternal life. He wasn’t paying attention to Jesus because his thoughts were completely centered on getting what he felt was coming to Him. “Jesus, tell my brother to split the inheritance with me.” That was what the man said, and Jesus replied, “Pal, I’m not the Judge and Jury in this matter.” And then Jesus expanded His words so they included the entire crowd. “Folks”, He said, “Be careful. You need to remember that you really can’t be measured by how many dollars are sitting in your bank account; how many sheep are in your fields.”
Then Jesus told them a story. He told them about a hard-working farmer, a fellow who was smart, solid, square with the world. This guy was not only a good worker, he was blessed by God. He got rain when his fields needed rain and he got sun when his crops needed some heat. When the rain came, it was never too much or too little and when the sun shone, it was never too bright or too hot. One year the farmer did a little figuring and found out that he had a problem… although if you have to have a problem, this was the kind of problem you want to have. The Lord had blessed the man so much; his crop was going to be far bigger than the storage capacity of his barns. The man did a little more figuring and came up with a plan. He decided he would tear down his present barns and build new ones. When those barns were built, he would fill them and shut the doors and get himself a beer and turn on the TV and watch the baseball game and live happily ever after.
It was a plan. It was a great plan, but it wasn’t a perfect plan. You see, in making his plans for the future, the farmer forgot one fairly significant fact: if he was going to live happily ever after, it wasn’t going to be here on earth. People don’t live on this earth happily ever after. They get sick and they die. They get in an accident and they die. Death comes in a lot of ways, but it still always comes. That is what happened to our good farmer. That night he died. Have you ever noticed the day after your TV’s warranty is up, it will go dark? In this case that’s what happened to our farmer. He had all he needed to live happily and contentedly for a long time, but he died. Looking down, God said, at least in the story, God said, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, who will they belong to?” Well, the man wouldn’t care who got his stuff. He would be dead.
You know, every time I read that story, I just kind of have to stop and think: I’ve got a God, a Father, Who is love. He is absolutely wonderful. Long ago, knowing just how helpless I would be to save myself, He sent His Son to save me. Now don’t get all secure and sure of yourself. You are a sinner just like I am. Just like me you can’t rescue yourself. You need a Helper, a Friend, a Savior. So that we would have that Helper, Friend, Savior, God sent his Son. According to promise and prophecy, Jesus was born in Bethlehem. According to promise and prophecy, He grew and did all the things which the Father had demanded our Rescuer would do.
Now, I say those words with relative ease and in comfort, but Jesus lived out the fulfillment of those words with pain and a lot of hurt and death. Groups of people were continually trying to make Him look like an Idiot. Just about anything He said, somebody would take and twist. Even some organizations went to the trouble of sending special emissaries to question and interview Him. They wanted to get Him on something, anything… anything which would make Him disappear, or look bad, or just go away. Eventually, almost all of them decided Jesus had to “disappear.”
Now that’s pretty strong stuff when you realize Jesus had never done anything wrong. True, He had healed people from their diseases; passionately He had talked about the kingdom of heaven; lovingly He told repentant sinners that they were saved. That’s the kind of thing Jesus did and because He did it and taught it, they did their best to kill Him. And their best was good enough to get the job done. Unfair trials, perjured witnesses, changing charges all ended up putting Jesus on the cross. There, willingly, innocently, Jesus gave up His life. There, willingly, innocently, Jesus died. He died carrying your sins and my sins and everybody’s sins. Then, having done all that had been required, on the third day He rose from the dead. Amazing! Wonderful! Jesus lives and because He lives I will also live and so will all believers. You see, faith in Jesus as your Savior is really the right definition of living-happily-ever-after.
It’s a concept the hard-working farmer in Jesus’ story never would have grasped. That fellow had been so busy he never had time to take a few hours and be there to see the Christ-Child’s birth. He had been too rushed to see how Jesus reached out to those who were in pain; how He healed those who were sick in body and soul. He never heard Jesus speak of how His Father blesses the peacemakers, the faithful, those who are persecuted because of their faith in Him. The farmer never stopped. He never lifted up his eyes to see Jesus on the cross. He never looked to see how Jesus, the innocent Son of God, was dying for him, a guilty son of Adam. He had been too busy to go with the ladies to Jesus’ empty tomb on resurrection Sunday morning. He never heard the angel’s victory announcement; he never was with the disciples when the living Lord Jesus appeared to them. He never joined Thomas and touched Jesus to see if it was true… to see if sin, devil, and now death had been defeated. The rich man missed it all and because he did, when it was his time to die, according to the story, he missed going to heaven. That’s why God says to the man, “You fool.”
When I was growing up, my brother and sister and I were never allowed to call each other names like that. We were taught to respect each other, and we did. Most of the time. We were taught never to call each other names, and we didn’t….if we thought mom was listening. Amazingly, the other day I ran across a mother who is still trying to get that anti-name calling lesson through to her children. She, like other mothers before her and after her, was trying to teach her children the downside and dangers of name calling. “Don’t call somebody a name. It hurts their feelings.” That’s the kind of thing she said. She said, “It’s not right, and it’s not nice and it can get you into trouble. It can even get you beat up.” Actually, I’ve never heard a mother tell a child that name-calling can get you beat up. I found that one out all on my own.
Well, this mother had two children in tow. The younger child had done something wrong, broken some minor infraction and the older was glad to report the offense. “Mom”, she said with pride, “Jeremy just did something stupid.” Mother replied, “Darling, you know you’re not supposed to call Jeremy stupid.” “OK. Mom, Jeremy just did something dumb.” “We don’t call each other dumb, either. You know that, don’t you?” “I suppose”, came the girl’s incredibly slow and reluctant reply… “Yes, I know that, but Jeremy did do something that was dumb AND stupid.”
Well, when that farmer did what he did, when he ignored his soul, his sin, his salvation, his Savior, that was dumb and stupid too. Indeed, it was so stupid; God actually came out and said so. Now the Lord has told us not to call each other, “Fools”, but in this story, God did just that. Can’t you just hear that older sister tattling to mom and turning God in. “Mom, do you know what God just said? God just said a man was a fool. We’re not supposed to call anybody a fool are we? Calling somebody a fool is like calling that person stupid and dumb…” Well, to ignore his salvation was a foolish thing for the man to do and God calls it the way it is.
Now you should know that if you search the Scripture, you will find God doesn’t do that sort of thing very often. That’s why you can be pretty sure, if He says you’re a fool, you are. There are, of course, other ways to be a fool before God. I can share God’s short list of fools, if you’d like. It begins this way: If you have taken a look at this wonderful and complex universe and still you think it all happened by accident and no Creator was necessary, then God says you’re a fool. Not my words, His Psalm 14:1 is pretty clear when it tells us, “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” Yes, God has His list of fools, not that He wants anybody to be on that list. Well, it happens. If God tries to get through to you, and He does try… and you constantly and consistently turn your back on Him, well that makes you a fool before God. That’s what it says in Proverbs. “The fear, the respecting of the Lord that is the beginning of knowledge; (but) fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
If you’re pretty sure you’re smarter than God, that you’ve got it together better than God, and you really don’t need God, well you just qualified for the fools’ list. In Proverbs 12:15 God says, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.” Makes sense, doesn’t it? The fool starts out refusing to believe there is a God, He shuts his ears from any message the Lord tries to give Him and then he feels really content with having been obnoxious in his pig-headedness.
Most people have to work hard to stay on God’s list of fools. It doesn’t come easily. Look at Proverbs 14: 9. That verse talks about how God has given us a knowledge, a conscience, which tells us right from wrong. But there are those men and women, those fools, who think there’s no right or wrong, no heaven or hell, no salvation or damnation. There’s no joy in saying the day will come when they will be awakened to just how foolish they’ve been. On that day they’ll know. They’ll remember the many times God tried to reach out to them; the many times He tried to get their attention… and they’ll remember how heaven slipped from their grasp. What a terrible, and because of the death, resurrection, the substitution made by Jesus, what an unnecessary tragedy.
At the beginning of this broadcast I spoke of how it can be good that I don’t see you. Well, this is one of those times when not being able to look in your eye is a definite negative. With all my heart, I wish I could get in your face, look in your eyes and see what’s there. I wish I could argue with you if you don’t believe and spiritually wrestle with you and answer your questions about Jesus. And there are good answers you know. There are answers to your questions; there are answers to your problems; there is forgiveness of your sins and salvation for your soul in the Person of Jesus. If this day began without the Savior, please don’t let it end the same way. The Savior awaits, the Holy Spirit calls. If you need our help, our assistance, our encouragement, please let us know. I can’t see you, so you’ll have to let us know… call us at The Lutheran Hour. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for August 1, 2010
Topic: Are All Religions Going the Same Way?Mark: Now, Pastor Ken Klaus answers questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer.
Ken: Hi, Mark.
Mark: Today we don’t so much have a question or a comment. I think it’s more in the form of a challenge to you.
Ken: Challenges can be good.
Mark: And I’m sure this individual is expressing a position held by many today.
Ken: And that position would be?
Mark: The email reads: “While I appreciate the oratorical skills of Pastor Klaus on “The Lutheran Hour,” there are times when he sounds to me like a broken record.
Ken: I don’t think that’s true. (click) I don’t think that’s true (click). I don’t think…
Mark: That’s not the challenge.
Ken: Sorry, I really couldn’t resist.
Mark: Our listener writes, “What I hear you say in almost every message amounts to this: “Believe on Jesus Christ and you’re saved; but, if you don’t believe on Jesus Christ, you’re damned.”
Ken: I’m sorry. That’s incredibly disappointing.
Mark: How is it disappointing?
Ken: I would hope that I say words to that effect on every broadcast. If I missed a time or two, I have to offer my apologies. Nobody should ever hear a Lutheran Hour broadcast without coming away from it knowing that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to be forgiven and hence, the only way to be saved.
Mark: Now, we’re getting to the challenge. Our listener continues, “I believe Gandhi said it best when he wrote, “The various religions are like different roads converging on the same point. What difference does it make if we follow different routes, provided we arrive at the same destination?”
Ken: Wow, that’s pretty profound.
Mark: Would you agree then?
Ken: Oh, of course not, but it’s profound and it sounds really deep.
Mark: Well, tell us why you would disagree?
Ken: I think Gandhi would have disagreed with it himself.
Mark: Why would you say that?
Ken: In his autobiography, Gandhi says in his student days he was truly interested in the Bible. Deeply touched by reading the Gospels, he seriously considered becoming a convert, Christianity seemed to offer the real solution to the caste system which was dividing the people of India. One Sunday, he went to a nearby church to attend services. He decided to meet the minister, asked for instruction in the way of salvation and enlightenment on other doctrines. But when he entered the sanctuary; the ushers refused to give him a seat and they suggested that he go and worship with his own people. Gandhi left and never came back. “If Christians have caste differences also,” he said to himself, “I might as well remain a Hindu.”
You see, Mark. Gandhi was more interested in religion as an agent for social change than he was interested in it as a source of salvation.
Mark: That would make a big difference.
Ken: Oh, it’s a profound difference. Christianity has always been concerned with the inequities of this life, but it has been predominantly focused on the next life. Not all great religious leaders or religions can see or say that… that’s why a lot of people end up assuming all religions are the same. The truth is we don’t agree on the beginning or the end point of religion. So, it’s understandable that things get a little bit confusing.
Mark: And I think you implied there are other reasons why all religions are not the same.
Ken: Ah, yeah. The only reason anybody can conclude all religions are the same is if that person only looks at those things which are superficial.
Mark: What would you call the superficial?
Ken: OK. Things like there is a Divine being; we agree on that. There is good and evil in the world; we agree. Man is going to have to answer for what he has done or not done. We agree on those things. You look at just those things and you kind of conclude that we’re sort of alike and every religion has a piece of the truth.
Mark: But there’s more?
Ken: There is. In some religions the god needs to be bought off. In some religions, their god is going to do what he is going to do no matter what you manage to accomplish or don’t. Only in Christianity is there an acknowledgment that we are sinners who can never, ever work off the punishment for our sins. We’re not able to balance the scale. Only Christianity says God’s Son was sent to take our place, to pay the ransom, to win us back. Only Christianity says if you’re going to be saved it is because you believe that Jesus has done the job for you.
Mark: 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
“Sing Praise to God, the Highest Good” arr. Henry Gerike. Used by permission.
“Holy God, We Praise Your Name” From And My Mouth Will Declare Your Praise by the Children’s Choirs of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church (© 1997 St. Paul’s Lutheran Church)
“Holy God, We Praise Your Name” arr. Timothy Moke & Georg Masanz (© 2006 T. Moke Recordings)
“Allegro” by J.S. Bach. From Richard Heschke at the Hradetzky in Red Bank by Richard Heschke (© 1993 ArKay Records)