The Lutheran Hour
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"Choose Life"
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Text: Deuteronomy 30:15-20
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Today the living Lord Jesus, the crucified and risen Lord Jesus, calls you to salvation. Look and see the wonders of His love and what He has done for your salvation. Look, see, repent, believe, and be saved. God grant this faith to us all. Amen.
The other day I heard a debate between a Christian seminary professor and an Imam or leader of Islam. Each man presented the tenets of his faith as he believed them.
The Christian believed Jesus was the Son of God; the Muslim thought Jesus was only a prophet. The Christian believed Jesus died on the cross to take away our sins and the Muslim felt Jesus had been spared from the cross by their god. The adherent of Islam felt that every person has to justify himself before the Creator, and the Christian held our sins are so thoroughly corrupting we are lost without Jesus being the sacrifice to win our salvation.
Christianity holds that, before God, there is no difference between a man and a woman as both are sinners, both are loved by God and both are redeemed by the Savior. The imam reluctantly confessed Islam feels that women are markedly inferior. They could only touch on their differences between hell and heaven. All-in-all, I thought the lecture was pretty well done and both men had done a good job in summarizing their chief doctrines and differences.
However, it was not the debate which was most interesting. What grabbed my attention took place during the question and answer segment which followed. Both men expressed their willingness to field inquiries from the college kids. The first three or four questions were nothing special. But then a young man got up and said, “Excuse me, but from what I’ve read in the past and heard today, aren’t I right in saying even though there are some small differences between you; in the final analysis, don’t you pretty much believe the same thing?” I noticed that a percentage, a very large percentage, of the audience was nodding in agreement.
I quickly turned my attention from the young man and his supporters to the men on stage. I wish I had had a camera to get a picture of their faces. Actually I needed a movie camera because you could see both men, for the first time that day, were in harmony. First, they showed their surprise at the question; then they registered shock at what the young man had asked and, lastly, they were saddened everything they had said had been so misunderstood. The men exchanged a look of sorrow and sadness and then as gently as they could, they explained their faiths were not in agreement. They tried to explain that if one of them was right, the other had to be utterly, absolutely, and completely wrong.
As much as a 60-year-old-in-a-group-of-college-kids is able, I tried to be inconspicuous and listen to the reactions of the young people as they left the assembly hall. While I certainly didn’t hear all, or even most, of what the students had to say, I did hear enough to know those learned lecturers hadn’t made their point. Most students felt these guys were just being stubborn. After all, didn’t both faiths believe in a Supreme Being; didn’t they both believe in Jesus and hadn’t both said there was a heaven and a hell?
Since that afternoon I’ve spent a lot of time wondering how these students, bright, intelligent young men and women missed what seemed pretty obvious to me. Eventually I concluded the problem was this: the entire education of these students had been designed to help them miss the obvious… at least when it comes to religion and morality. For most of these young people there was no such thing as moral black or white; everything was a varying and subtle form of grey. For them there was no such thing as absolute right and absolute wrong, since everything depended upon a person’s perspective and the circumstances in which he found himself. For them there was no such thing as pure good and total evil as that would be a judgment call based entirely upon the personality and opinion of the person making the call. In truth, these students had, for years, been indoctrinated with the idea that what is good and right for me may be bad and wrong for you. Further, they had been told that all conflicting opinions and differing perspectives were to be respected and honored.
Have I left you scratching your head with what I’ve just said? I’m sorry. Here, let me give you an example. Suppose I asked these young people to shoot a little child, a pretty, nice, well-behaved little child at point blank range. Would they do it? Of course they wouldn’t. Almost to a person they would say shooting a pretty, nice, well-behaved little girl would be wrong. Now here’s where it gets interesting. If I asked those same students, “Would it ALWAYS be wrong to shoot a pretty, nice, well-behaved little girl?” most of them would hem and haw and hesitate. Some of the bolder ones would say, “I can imagine a circumstance where shooting a child would be the right thing to do.” “Suppose a terrorist was holding hostage an entire school of children. Suppose that terrorist said he was going to blow up those children in five minutes.” Suppose the terrorist then said, “I will spare all of the children if you will shoot this one pretty, nice, well-behaved little girl.” Many people, many of these students would believe if it meant saving a lot of lives, killing that one child would be the right thing to do.
You see, such thinking means there is a loophole in God’s commandment: “Thou shalt not commit murder.” In fact, there are a lot of loopholes in this law and every law and command that the Lord has given to humankind. Yes, brides still wear white dresses and grooms still suffer through their misfitting tuxedoes, but the vows they make are changed, all too often they are contingent. You will never hear a wedding party commit themselves to vows which have built in escape clauses, but they’re there. Bride and groom may make a commitment which will say they’ll stay together in sickness and in health, in richer and in poorer, in glad times and in sad times, but the reality is those vows are only binding as long as they both feel the way they did on the day they got married. If the other person lets them down long enough or hard enough; if the other person ceases to make them deliriously happy, well, there’s nothing to be done for it but to go separate ways. Of course they will say their farewells cordially and amicably. They will do so and show their non-judgmental sophistication about the sad state of affairs by bragging to their circle of acquaintances that they are still going to remain the ‘best of friends.’ How could they say anything else? In a world where nothing is right all the time or wrong all the time, it would be foolish to think wedding vows would be effective all the time… or at least until death us do part.
Oh, did I say those folks live in a world where nothing is wrong or right all the time? That’s not quite accurate. You see that kind of thinking is only applied to things spiritual or values moral. Do you doubt me? Please don’t. Look to the table of elements which still hangs in most science classrooms. Those elements don’t change. They are always as they are shown on the chart. Water is always H20. It is never H10 or H140. In the science lab things can be right or wrong. I’ve watched entire congregations grimace when a soloist sang a high note which was ½ step too high or too low. It was a painful experience. In music things are right or they are not.
There is a right and wrong when it comes to paying your taxes. Yes, I know it feels like taxes are ALL wrong all the time, but if we’re being honest, we know they’re not. The law says you have to pay so much based on what you’ve earned. The government doesn’t want you to pay more and it certainly doesn’t want you to pay less. There is a right and a wrong, and not everything is painted in a shade of grey. Which may be news to those who say since God can’t be measured or discovered by scientific means and since we can’t figure Him out logically, then everything about Him, everything He says, everything He does must become a matter of personal preference and random selection. Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, or Christianity. To many people it’s like Burger King, McDonalds, Hardees, or Wendy’s. It doesn’t make much difference which one you pick, they pretty much serve the same menu.
Would it surprise you to know that God doesn’t like that kind of thinking? It’s true. God, the Creator of all things has a tough time of it when people He has made, whom He has formed; begin to question Hm. It’s disgraceful, ungrateful, and just plain wrong. Many years ago the church codified its beliefs in statements of faith called creeds. The Apostle’s Creed, so called because it is based on the Word of God and the teachings of the first church fathers, starts out this way: “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.” Centuries later, the great German reformer, Martin Luther, sat down and explained just what it means to believe in God the Father Almighty. He wrote this: “I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true.”
To thank and praise, to serve and obey Him. What a far cry that is from the position of this world. Very few people think much about God until after a disaster, also known as “an act of God.” Many never thank the Lord for His gift of health which lasts 60, 70, 90 years. But when an illness strikes, when a cancer comes, we are quick to ask, ‘Dear Lord, why are you doing this to me?” When a river floods, an earthquake shakes, a volcano blows, a hurricane smashes, we lay the destruction at the feet of God Whose original plan of perfection for us has been dismantled and destroyed by our ancestor’s disobedience.
To thank and praise, to serve and obey Him. That is all the Lord has ever wanted from His people. Listen, after the Triune God had, through some mighty miracles, managed to set the Children of Israel free from slavery in Egypt; after He had saved them from Pharaoh’s chariots; after He had daily fed them and clothed them, immediately before He was to give them the land which had been promised to their forefathers, the Triune God inspired Moses to speak to the Children of Israel. Moses began reiterating, reviewing what God had done and the ongoing blessings He had bestowed, Moses then laid out what should be the attitude of a respectful, grateful, reverential people. In the words of Luther, they were to thank and praise to serve and obey their God. Then, with prophetic insight, with sorrow and sadness, Moses said that this probably would not happen. He warned the people who were present, as well as generations who were yet to be born, that it was human nature to forget God’s mercy and love. He said it was our sinful human nature which disregards God’s laws and turns right and wrong into grey. He warned how the people would pursue other gods and play footsie with them. He warned how they probably would convince themselves everything which had been done had been done on their own initiative. He said they probably would end up dislocating their shoulders as they patted themselves on their own backs. Forgotten would be any attitude of gratitude toward God.
Moses said there was such a thing as truth; there was such a thing as right and wrong; there was such a thing as good and evil. He concluded by saying, “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey… by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land… I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him…” To thank and praise, to serve and obey Him.
If you read the rest of the Old Testament, you will see the fulfillment of Moses’ words of warning. Again and again people went from faithfulness to faithlessness. God would punish his unfaithful children and they would repent. Then the Lord restored them. It was a cycle repeated again and again for thousands of years. Indeed, it is still being repeated. It is being repeated in our own age as our history books are being rewritten so the Lord’s hand might be excluded; it is being repeated as the true God is relegated to being an interchangeable part with the gods of human imagination and invention; it is being repeated as God’s people think they can sit in judgment upon their Maker rather than it being the other way around.
It’s true. Many in our nation have forgotten what God has given; and even more of us have forgotten what Jesus has done for us. And if you wonder what God has given, then I would say, “Look around.” You may be living in some financially tough times, but most listeners to the Lutheran Hour have not gone without food for days at a time. Most of us still have more than one change of clothes; most of us have reasonable health and reasonable wealth. These are all, they are all gifts from God. Yes, I know you worked for that which you have, but I also know the impoverished and starving of the world work hard too. God has given you what you have as a blessing so you can thank and praise, serve and obey Him.
And what shall we thank Him for? This sermon would be a worthless tangle of words if it did not mention THE reason, THE foundation for your thanks and praise. Jesus Christ, God’s sinless Son, is your cause for rejoicing. Even though we are all ungrateful wretches, God still loved us enough to send His Son into this world to save us. Without any merit or worthiness in us Jesus Christ was born and lived a life of perfection. He resisted all temptation; He stayed away from sin. This He did for you. But there’s more… oh, so much more. Jesus allowed Himself to be arrested, beaten, whipped, and crucified. Don’t think for a moment that any man, or any group of men could have kept Him on the cross against His will. Jesus allowed Himself to be sacrificed, to die your death so you might, someday, be able to stand before God and hear Him declare you innocent of all wrong.
Are all religions interchangeable? Look as you will, you will not find another where the Son of God pays the ransom, the redemption price for lost souls. Only in Christianity can you hear how God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that whoever believes on Him will not perish, but have everlasting life. You see, God sent His Son into the world not to condemn us but to save us. He is the reason we thank and praise; why we serve and obey Him. Yes, my friends, there is a difference in religions. We do not all preach; we do not all say the same thing. There is truth; there is right and wrong and the whole world is not colored grey.
I conclude as Moses concluded thousands of years ago, I say to you today, “I call heaven and earth to witness that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, by the Holy Spirit’s power, choose life, that you and your offspring may live as you do: loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him…” Hold fast to Jesus, your crucified and risen Lord. To that end, if we can help, please, call us at The Lutheran Hour. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for September 5, 2010
Topic: Judgment DayAnnouncer: Now, Pastor Ken Klaus answers questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer. Pastor, sometimes you describe the forgiveness of sins by saying, “Jesus wipes our slate clean.”
Klaus: That does sound like something I would have said.
Announcer: However, the Bible says that on Judgment Day we must all stand before God and give an account. So the question today is, were our sins temporarily forgiven, only to be brought up again? How does complete forgiveness here and now square with having to give an account on Judgment Day? Isn’t there a contradiction here?
Klaus: Well, there’s no contradiction. Maybe it would be best to say that “wiping the slate clean” is a shorthand version of what happens when the Holy Spirit creates faith within our hearts.
Announcer: And, implied within that phrase is the idea that the Holy Spirit works faith, makes us the people of God and cleanses us from sins.
Klaus: Yes, it would imply all of those things and, I think, a bit more. It would also include all that Jesus has done for us. He lived His entire life without ever violating one of God’s commandments. He resisted all the temptations of the devil. He carried all our sins to the cross. He died the death our sins deserved. Then, of course, there is the resurrection from the dead on the third day after He had died. A person should believe in all of these things. We’re not talking about just believing Jesus lived as an historical Figure; we mean He lived as God’s Son, the world’s Redeemer and Savior.
Announcer: OK. So that’s the shorthand version of what you meant when you said: Jesus wipes the slate clean. But what’s the longhand version?
Klaus: The best way I can answer that would be to say the Bible often depicts our Judgment as a courtroom scene. Everybody has their place in that scene. The Judge would be God the Father.
Announcer: And we are the defendants.
Klaus: Good. There also needs to be a prosecutor.
Announcer: I can think of a couple. God’s Law would accuse us, along with the devil. He would love to see us condemned.
Klaus: Oh, indeed. But we also have a Defense Attorney.
Announcer: And that would be our Savior and Advocate.
Klaus: Excellent. Now, here is the way it plays out. We are all sinners. Our disobedience of God’s laws can’t be denied. On Judgment Day we have to appear before the Judge Who is going to make us give an account.
Announcer: That’s when the devil shows up with his big list of sins.
Klaus: Oh yeah. I think of it as being a scroll that kind of goes on the floor, out the door, around the corner… The devil holds up this long list of sins and says, “Judge, this person appearing before you… he’s obviously guilty. He deserves to go to hell. That’s the Law. That’s Your law. The wages of sin is death. The soul that sins will die.
Announcer: But, then God says, “Wait a minute, Mr. Devil, I can see you’ve got a big list of sins there, but I don’t see how any of those sins are connected to this person.”
Klaus: Yeah, and at that the devil is really going to go nuts. He says, “But Your Honor, these sins have to be paid for!” That’s when Jesus, our Defense Attorney speaks up. He says, “Father, those sins were indeed done. But I took those sins and carried them to the cross. This person standing before You right now, free and clear of any charges. He believes in Me and as such, the penalty price has been paid. What’s more, they receive by faith a credit for all the good things I did–so they should be commended, not condemned.”
Announcer: And then our Judge will say He finds no fault whatsoever in this person who’s been saved by grace through faith in Christ.
Klaus: Yeah, it’s at that point when we’re really set free to enter into heaven.
Announcer: But what about those people who don’t believe? What happens to them?
Klaus: Ahh, there’s the rub. See, Jesus died to take away their sins, too, but these folks never wanted Him to be their court-appointed Defense Attorney. They thought they could do it all on their own. So, when it comes to that time of trial, Jesus isn’t standing there by their side. They stand before the Judge all alone and when the devil accuses them; there is nobody there to speak on their behalf.
Announcer: So they are judged for their sins and sent to hell, even though they might have been really nice people. Isn’t that a bit unfair?
Klaus: There are nice people in hell. Unfair? In what way? God has made it so they could have been forgiven. They’re the ones who didn’t take advantage of that free gift which would have saved them. You can’t hardly blame God for that.
Announcer: 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
“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” From Hymns for All Saints (© 2004 Concordia Publishing House)
“Lord Jesus, Think on Me” arr. Peter Prochnow. Used by permission.
“All Depends on Our Possessing” arr. Timothy Albrecht. From Grace Notes by Timothy Albrecht (© 1997 ACA Digital Recording, Inc.) Augsburg-Fortress/SESAC