The Lutheran Hour
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"A Good Name"
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Text: Matthew 1:18-25
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! More than 2,000 years ago Jesus’ job description was written: “He will save His people from their sins.” Today, as we prepare for the coming of the Christ Child, we give thanks those words remain real. They are real for you, for me, for all who are brought to faith. May the Holy Spirit give us all such faith in the Bethlehem Child, the Christ, the Savior of the world. Amen.
Most of you don’t know my helpmeet of 40 years, my wife Pamela. Along with being my wife, she is also a minister’s wife. A minister’s wife. So easy to say, so hard to be. Without call or title she is expected to dress well, but not too well. She is expected to raise children who are to be pretty much perfect in every way. A minister’s wife is often expected to run the household with less money than other homes in her congregation. She is always supposed to be smiling, happy, encouraging, enthusiastic, involved, and supportive… but not too involved and supportive. It’s true; the path of a minister’s wife is narrow and fraught with danger. For reasons which please Him, the Lord has given me a spouse who has walked that path well.
Having said that, you may understand why I am thankful to God and for the lady who has put up with me for four decades. You may also understand why I have tried to get her a 1957 Chevy. Yup, a 1957 Chevy. Before we ever were married, before we ever dated, Pam wanted a ’57 Chev. Sadly, my salary never allowed me to purchase that classic of classics. But there was a time when I got close. That happened about 25 years ago when I visited one of my farming families. I don’t remember the reason I went but, I do recall, as they walked me to the car, I spotted, in the grove an old ’57 Chev. “Do you want to sell it?” I asked. They said, “No, Pastor. We won’t sell it, but we’ll give it to you. It doesn’t do us any good, and if you want it, we’ll bring it into town.”
The family was as good as their word. Two days later the car was unloaded alongside the parsonage. A blue, two-door ’57 Chev. The family felt good, Pam was elated, and I felt like a hero. That feeling for me lasted less than 24 hours. The next morning I walked around the vehicle. Although the Classic fins were intact, the bottom 1/3 of the car had been replaced by rust. Rust that had chewed through where shiny panels once had been. Mice had chewed up the seats and stripped the wiring. And, if the outside of the car was Impossible, underneath the hood, the situation was worse than impossible.
Every day I walked around that vehicle and tried to figure out how I could get it restored. I showed the car to a friend of mine, a real handyman. “Can you fix it?” I seriously asked. After he stopped laughing, my very-Catholic friend said, “Father”, that’s what he called me, “Father, this car doesn’t need a mechanic, it needs last rites.” His assessment proved to be correct. After two months, there was no choice but to go and tell Pam: “Honey, I can’t fix the Chevy. We’re going to have to get rid of it.”
Then without a tear, without complaint, my wife showed the stuff out of which she is made. She said, “I know. I knew it when they unloaded it. I was only waiting for you to figure it out.” Then, from her purse, she took out the phone number, the number she had ready for my day of awakening. She called the junk shop which towed the car away and dismantled it for parts. I may forget many things as I grow older, but I will always remember that day. She could have made me feel small. Instead she loved me and did that which was necessary to put things right. And someday, if the Lord wishes it, I will get her that ’57 Chevy.
Now there are two reasons I have told you this story. The first is this: when it comes to sin, you have no more chance of fixing things up between you and God than I did fixing that ’57 Chevy. You can worry, you can wonder, you can think, tinker, and try, but you will fail. It’s not part of your makeup, it’s far beyond your ability. You will be a failure at the task. And that’s unfortunate, because the penalty for being an unforgiven sinner is a terrible one. Scripture says, “The wages of sin is death.” Death, both temporal in this world and death, eternal in the next. That’s what you and I have coming.
Now, you and I know we live in a world of no-fault divorce and no-fault accidents. That’s the way courts and insurance companies look at things, but we know better. In each of our lives, absolute honesty compels us to confess many of the pains we suffer, a fair share of the problems we endure, a multitude of the sorrows and sadnesses which rob us of contentment and satisfaction are incontestable, indisputable evidence that we are sinners who are living sinful lives in a sinful world.
No home improvement plan, no amount of therapy, no New Year’s Eve resolution can purge your heart, mind, and soul of the anger, the lust, the greed, the envy, the self-centeredness which rules us all. Yes, I know the major and minor religions of the world tell you that you must try… you must keep trying… you must struggle and strive and seek for some way to shuck off that sinful nature and do your best to try and restore this broken relationship with a God Who is justly displeased with you. They tell you that you must do this and that; they will offer some suggestions on how this and that can be done… but when the bottom line is reached, they’re pretty much going to tell you that they’re not exactly sure whether the this and that they have proposed is going to work.
But Christianity is different. Only Christianity says, “You can’t change things and you most certainly can’t change them yourself. You can’t mend that broken relationship and make it whole. You are helpless, hopeless, and unable to do a single right thing with the Lord, you can’t straighten things out between you and God. Left to your own devices and resources you remain unsaved. You are not saved, because you a sinner and a sinner can’t pull himself up by his own bootstraps. That is the clear-cut message of Ephesians 2 verse 18 where it says: ‘By grace you are saved. By grace you are saved through faith and not by what you can do yourself. Salvation is a gift of God, and it does not come through a person’s attempts at good works. All of which can be summed up with this truth: If you are to be redeemed, if you are to be reconciled, if you are to be restored with God it will only be because God has made it so.'”
Which takes me to the second point. Do you remember my opening story about the ’57 Chevy? If so, do you remember Pam’s reaction to my confession of hopeless helplessness? When I said, “I can’t fix it”, she said, “I know.” So it is with God. When the Holy Spirit, the Person and power of God Who works on the hearts of men, moves you to confess, “Lord I am a dyed-in-the-wool sinner who is unable to do anything to change his lot”, God smiles and says, “I know. I’ve known all along. And I’ve done something to change things. I sent My Son to take your place. No, don’t doubt Me or ask me why I did this, it won’t make sense to you. Let Me merely say, even when you didn’t love Me, I loved you. Even when you had no use for Me, I wanted to bring you back into My family. Even while you were condemned, I did something to reverse that condition.” And if you ask your heavenly Father, “Lord, tell me what You have done?” He will say, “Go, ask Joseph. Ask the carpenter from Nazareth. Ask him and he can tell you.”
This Sunday, the Scripture readings in many churches have us visiting with the carpenter Joseph. Those who go to worship today will meet Joseph, a good man, a kindly man who was engaged to be married to a girl named Mary. Their lives might have been lived without event or notoriety if it had not been for the fact that Mary had become pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit. Of course, Joseph had no way of knowing the Divine Paternity of Mary’s Child, The only thing Joseph knew for a certainty was this: he knew he wasn’t the Baby’s father, it was physically impossible for Him to be the father of Mary’s child, Feeling let down and betrayed, Joseph decided not to accuse or embarrass Mary, Instead, he would walk the higher palh; he would put aside his anger and feeling of betrayal and walk away from the marriage.
Indeed, Joseph was prepared to do just that untillhe Angel of the Lord appeared 10 him in a dream and said, “Joseph, .. ,do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from lhe Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins,” It’s that last part that God wants you to hear, Jesus saves people from their sins, As Christmas approaches, the world is eager to approach the manger, but it refuses to stand before the cross and the empty tomb. Rather than worshipping the Savior, they prefer to put forth questions about Him, His work, His mission.
What kind of questions? Here’s one: “Was Jesus really real?” All-in-all, that’s a reasonable question. Here is a reasonable answer. Proof of Jesus’ existence is found in the Bible. There we are told much about Jesus the Savior. Much, but not all. Tacitus, a Roman historian, probably the most famous Roman historian, says, “Christ was the founder of the Christian sect (and) was put to death as a criminal by Pontius Pilate.” Pliny the Younger and others say Jesus was real. The writings of the Jewish historian Josephus have been discussed and dissected but every copy we have of this ancient non-Christian author has a paragraph which says: Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ, and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians so named from him are not extinct at this day. Antiquities 18.3.3
Yes, Jesus was real. But the world has more questions. Here’s another: “Why did Jesus’ mother have to be a virgin? What’s the big deal?” Here’s an answer for you: Centuries before Jesus’ birth, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah had promised the Messiah would be born of a virgin.” True, some people say that Isaiah really meant the Messiah would have a young girl as His mother, but logic says, a young girl giving birth in an age when most mothers were young girls isn’t much of a sign. God knew, Isaiah knew, Joseph was told that if the promised Savior had had a human father and a human mother, He would have been a human Child just like the rest of us. If the Messiah was One of us, He would be a sinner like us. And the truth is: “a sinner can’t save other sinners.”
No, Jesus had to be both the Son of humankind and the Son of God. As a human, He experienced the temptations which come to all of us. But as God’s Son, He resisted those temptations. As a human, Jesus lived under the law, but as God’s Son, He managed to avoid breaking those laws. As a human, Jesus died, but as God’s Son, He conquered death and with His resurrection, showed to all the world that He was everything He said He was: He was and is, and will always be, the Way and the Truth and the Light and the Life for all who believe. He is the Savior of the world.
With Christmas around the corner, the world wants to know, “How can anyone be sure Jesus is the Savior?” The answer is simple AND powerful. You can know Jesus is the Savior because He did everything the Savior was supposed to do. Look, over the centuries God had had His prophets record special, unique marks to identify the Savior. We have already spoken of Jesus’ virgin birth. But there was more, much more. Prophecy also said the Savior was to be born in Bethlehem. Jesus did that. Scripture said He was to be crucified between thieves. That’s a sign nobody would rush to claim. Even so, Jesus fulfilled that one, too. There are more than 100 prophecies, all of which Jesus fulfilled. This He did so you might believe, so you might know He is, beyond any shadow of a doubt, the Christ, the Son of the living God. And if anyone still has doubt in his heart and mind, there is one more event which should still that doubt. Jesus, having lived a perfect life, having rejected every temptation, having died on the cross in our stead, rose from the dead.
Understand, we’re not saying Jesus revived a few minutes after His heart stopped beating. When we say ‘Jesus rose from the dead’, we mean, He was nailed to a cross and after He had obviously died, just to make absolutely, undeniably sure, the Romans pierced His heart with a spear. From such a wound people don’t come back. Normal people don’t come back. But Jesus was the Son of God, as well as the Son of Mary. True Man and true God, three days after Jesus was buried, He made Himself unburied. After His resurrection, for about a month-and-a-half, Jesus showed the world He was alive. He ate, He walked, He prayed, He talked, He breathed, He offered His disciples the opportunity to touch Him. Did they? I don’t know. I do know the disciples, touched by Jesus, were transformed. One-time cowards the disciples went out and shared the
Savior’s story of salvation with any and all who would listen”, just as I am doing right now,
Was Jesus the Savior? Is He your Savior? The answer should be an unqualified yes, For 20 centuries hundreds of millions of people have visited the Bethlehem stable, stood before Calvary’s cross, raced to resurrection Sunday’s empty tomb, They have listened to the words of the Christmas and Easter Angels and, they have rejoiced when they were led to believe, to confess: “Jesus is my Savior for He has saved His people from their sins” They rejoice, To them, Jesus is not the world’s Redeemer, He is their Redeemer.
Dear friend, my time with you, my days as Speaker of The Lutheran Hour are drawing to an end, For nine years the supporters of The Lutheran Hour have entrusted me with the sharing of Jesus’ all-important, heaven-sent message of hope, forgiveness, and salvation, I thank them and on their behalf and at the Lord’s command, I invite you to meet your Redeemer, Jesus Chris!. If you need to know more, understand more, be directed to a church which preaches as we do, please, please call us at The Lutheran Hour. We have no greater desire than to tell you of Him, Who has saved His people from their sin, In His Name, Amen,
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers)
December 19,2010
Topic: God’s AngerAnnouncer: Love your enemies? Or annihilate them? Is God a God of love or of genocide? I’m Mark Eischer, here with Pastor Ken Klaus, responding to a listener’s question,
Klaus: Hi, Mark, Before we tackle that question, we’re going to hear once again about a special project underway at Lutheran Hour Ministries, Here tO,tel1 us is our International Director, Dr. Douglas Rut!. Doctor”,
Rutt: Today I would like to remind again our listeners of an opportunity to help us provide children’s Bibles to kids in hard-to-reach parts of the world,
For example, Sri Lanka is a country that is just beginning to recover from a civil war that’s lasted over two decades, as well as the devastating tsunami of 2004, Though the war has ended and the tsunami was six years ago, children in this country still often live without hope for the future, To bring eternal hope and comfort through God’s Word, our Lutheran Hour Ministries office in Sri Lanka started a Bible Correspondence Course this past summer, There are already hundreds of children enrolled who are very, very enthusiastic to learn about Jesus, But it is very rare for children in Sri Lanka to have a Bible of their own because of their poverty,
This Christmas season you can help provide Bibles for children in Sri Lanka as well as other children around the world who are living amidst hopelessness, A gift of $15 will provide two children with a Bible of their own,
Please call our toll-free number at 1-855-JOHN316, 1-855-JOHN316, or visit Ihm,org/Bibles to find out how you can make a donation, Help give the gift of a personal Bible for these children,
Announcer: And, thank you, Dr, Rutt. Well, from that wonderful opportunity to spread God’s love, we’re going to deal today with God’s wrath as it was poured out upon certain people and certain nations described in the Old Testament. Klaus: Which is often a stumbling block to faith for some folks,
Announcer: Our listener writes, “We all have been taught to believe God is a God of love, With that in mind, I have a difficult time figuring out why God treats the heathen nations of the Old Testament the way He does,”
Klaus: OK, For those who don’t know, he’s talking about when the people of Israel were coming into the Promised Land and God commanded them to wipe out the people who lived there and do a complete house cleaning,
Announcer: In fact, they were ordered to kill every man, woman, and child, Our listener continues, “That doesn’t seem consistent with love, It appears that God considered these
Canaanites to be so bad that they were beyond saving. What did they do that was so bad to make God treat them that way?Klaus: We can answer that question in two ways. Mark, there is a real straight-on version answer to that-that is the Canaanites really were that bad. They worshipped fertility gods, involved ritual prostitution, religiously sanctioned orgies. They sacrificed their children to their god. Burned them alive. That’s only one reason why God might command that they be wiped out.
Announcer: And that’s one reason, you said there’s another …
Klaus: There is. Mark, as you read ahead in the Old Testament, you’re going to see what happened, the ramifications which came about because the Children of Israel didn’t do what God commanded. They let the Canaanite religion live and they ended up following after that “fun” religion of the Canaanites. That’s the story of the entire book of Judges. There’s a pattern here. The people forgot the Triune God; they went worshipping these idols; the Lord got upset and punished them; the people repented and looked to God for deliverance. He sent a deliverer, they gave thanks, and then the whole process started again. In truth, the Hebrews couldn’t stay on track with God. If there was a sin or an idol available, they picked it up and they played with it like a child plays with a new toy at Christmas. I believe the Lord, knowing His people’s propensity toward sin, wanted to remove temptation from His people. By eliminating these heathen nations, He showed that He was serious about them avoiding idolatry. He wanted to make sure that He and His laws would remain uppermost in their hearts. He wanted to preserve His people because from them someday would come the promised Messiah, the Savior Who would bear the brunt of God’s wrath on the cross to redeem all people from their sin.
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
“Break Forth, 0 Beauteous Heavenly Light” by J.S. Bach. From Heirs of the Reformation: Treasures of the Singing Church (© 2008 Concordia Publishing House)
“Oh, Come Little Children” arr. Timothy Moke & Georg Masanz. From Magnificent Christmas Hymns, vol. 1 by Timothy Moke & Georg Masanz (© 2007 T. Moke Recordings)
“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” arr. Arthur Harris. From What Child Is This? by the Concordia University Wind Symphony (© 1999 Concordia University-Chicago)