The Lutheran Hour
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"Foolishness"
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Text: 1 Corinthians 1:18
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! The cross and empty tomb are the fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation. Today the living Lord Jesus calls us from foolishness to forgiveness, from lostness and loneliness to hope and heaven. God grant we hear and with gladness heed that call. Amen.
Foolishness. Today, we are going to talk about foolishness.
Now I could, and quite frankly, wanted to point out the foolish things other people do. Sadly, the common consensus at Lutheran Hour headquarters was I should come clean and confess my own bouts with foolishness. Now I had never noticed myself doing any foolish things, and I wasn’t afraid to say that to my coworkers. Indeed, I challenged them to name even one foolish thing which I had done. May I tell you the staff showed a side, an unflattering side of themselves, which I had never seen before. The eagerness, the enthusiasm, the speed with which they came up with examples of my foolishness, the sheer number of examples they shared, well, it quite frankly surprised me.
One person talked about how, although I have been in our building for nine years, I still walk into the glass doors. And when I don’t walk into them, I push on the door which is clearly labeled ‘PULL” and I pull on the door when the sign says I should ‘PUSH.” My staff thinks it’s funny to see my feet still moving forward when the whole side of my face is already smushed up against the glass.
My Administrative Assistant shared how I had, quite by accident, called a wrong number the week before. It’s true, I did. But I had also apologized for having inconvenienced the individual on the other end. She admitted that I had given a proper apology. Then she added, “The first time.” She then proceeded to tell all and sundry that I had, a minute or two later, recalled the same wrong number. “But that time”, she added, “you didn’t say anything, you just hung up.” I explained, “That’s because we had already covered the niceties and we didn’t have anything else to say to each other.”
One of my good friends started talking about the time he came to my house on a Sunday to watch the football game. He thought the way I handled the TV remote control was very foolish. “Nothing foolish about it at all”, I said. “The problem with that controller is the buttons stick.” He asked, “Pastor, how old is your TV?” I said, ‘Seven years.” “And when,” he asked, “was the last time you changed the batteries in the remote?” “They’re the original batteries,” I replied. He commented, “I couldn’t believe how you worked that remote. You held down the button and you kept on pushing. I would have laughed if I hadn’t thought you were flirting with a stroke. Pushing those buttons that hard made your face turn beet red.”
Then there were the lesser remembrances of my foolishness. One spoke of how I had started my car when it was already running. The screech of the starter motor had told everyone the car was already running. “An entirely honest mistake,” I said. “I was preoccupied with important matters.” “But Pastor”, came back the smiling reply, ‘You did it three days in a row.” I guess they don’t appreciate my weighty concerns. Now if I’ve given the impression that the entire staff joined in the jocularity, that would be wrong. One lady, Edith, a trusted and respected employee had not said a thing. When I told her I was pleased she hadn’t joined in on the shenanigans, very quietly she said, “I do have something.” “And, Edith, what might that be?” I said. “My name is Evelyn.” The crowd, including Edith erupted in loud laughter and great guffaws at my foolishness.
Foolishness. The topic before us is foolishness. We are all guilty of doing things which are foolish. If you think you are the single human exception to that rule, then, please, after this message is over, ask the person who is closest to you, who knows you the best. Ask them, and listen, they’ll tell you. Now, quite frankly, some of those foolish things we do are incredibly unimportant. For example, are you one of those folks who, when looking for a snack go to the fridge to see what’s there? If you don’t find anything, do you keep coming back? Why would you do that? Folks, there’s no point in going back. There has been no miraculous materialization of munchies since you looked the last time.
Foolishness. The world is chock full to the brim with foolishness. Now, understand, I’m not bright enough to come up with that observation on my own. Actually, the Apostle Paul said much the same thing almost 2,000 years ago. Writing to the church in the Greek city of Corinth he said, “The cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Paul was saying the world is divided up into two groups. There are those who are saved, who think the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ with His life, suffering, death, and resurrection is a wonderful, a blessed, an eternity-changing event of paramount importance. In contrast there are those who believe the work done by the Son of God in taking our place under the law is so vastly overrated that anyone who believes has fallen victim to a cosmic foolishness.
Let me explain. Those of us who have been brought to faith in Jesus, who know their sins have been forgiven when He gave His life as our ransom price, cannot comprehend anything more critical than relying upon and having a relationship with the Savior. On the other hand, those who have examined themselves and think they’re pretty good folk just the way they are, who think they have no real need of a Savior, end up concluding the story of Jesus is a sad and sorry crutch for pitiable folks who don’t have the guts or gumption, the self-assuredness and self-satisfaction to stand on their own.
You know, once there was a time when these folks, the stand-on-my-own-two-feet-without-any-need-of-a-Savior-folk, were reasonably quiet about how they felt. Thinking their so-called ‘enlightened’ opinions might cause some social and professional fallout for themselves and their families, they chose not to rock the theological boats of those believers who lived all around them. But now, for any number of reasons, this is the time they feel they should take a stand. Terrible scandals from within the church, legal rulings which ban Christianity from many marketplaces, Hollywood’s constant barrages and consistent broadsides against all things moral, traditional, and Christian have given unbelievers the courage to speak out, and they are. True, some are kind and gentle in what they say, but many are letting loose a tidal wave of aggravation and pent up frustration. Sincerely, and I must say, sadly, they show a disregard for and discount of any religion like Christianity. “How can anyone”, they say, “believe in anything which is so narrow and archaic that it claims to have a monopoly on the truth? How can anyone believe the blood of Jesus Christ is the only way the Triune God offers forgiveness and heaven to His reconciled children?”
On the other side are the Christians. Taking their cue from St. Paul, they conclude that such an attitude is a sad, sorry, and tragic foolishness. The Savior’s people cannot help but concede the world is chock full of all kinds of silly, ridiculous, ignorant foolishness. But we feel there is no foolishness more heartbreaking than that of seeing a lost soul rejecting the love and freedom which comes through faith in Jesus. To what can we liken such an attitude; how can we explain how we feel? To us, the unbeliever’s position is worse than a drowning man swimming away from a life preserver; worse than the patient with pneumonia rejecting the doctor who approaches his sick bed with a shot of life-saving penicillin; it is worse than the bankrupt soul ridiculing the relative who comes with handfuls of cash to offer a free, no-strings-attached bail out; it is worse than the criminal who has been sentenced to death sneering at the governor’s offer of pardon and parole. Paul is right when he says the world is foolish. But this type of foolishness is not amusing or humorous, it is a sad, strange foolishness which leads to an earthly emptiness and away from eternal life.
So there you have it. Here you see two conflicting and incompatible positions. Knowing they both cannot be right, both are dedicated to escorting the other side into their version of the light. These are the battle lines which are now drawn up, the armies which are even now engaged in a struggle. Although we may flalter ourselves by thinking that the arguments and the causes are new to our generation, they are not. From firsthand experience Paul could write about the same battle which was fought 2,000 years ago, and if the Lord delays His return, the battle will be being fought 2,000 years from today. The participants in the struggle change, the heroes of the battle come and go, but the struggle for the hearts, minds, and souls of humanity continues on.
Now here is where things get interesting. Although you may not have thought seriously about such matters, although you may pride yourself on the fact that you never talk about religion or politics, the truth is, you will either be for Jesus or you will be against Him. Try as you will, there is no place where you can remain neutral; where you can adopt the role of an uninvolved bystander. Either Jesus will be, or He will not be, your Savior. Either you will, or you will not, entrust your eternity into His nail-pierced hands. There is no middle ground, there are no nonaligned souls. Even now, as I am speaking, you can feel a tug on your thoughts on your heart, on the way in which you are inclined.
Since this is so, I would encourage you, take a good look, think hard about these differing points of view, these perspectives which are so heartfelt and sincere. The Lord calls you to trust Him, believe on Him, and be committed to a life of thanksgiving for what He has done for you with the sacrifice of His Son. The world urges you to stand on your own two feet, not being in debt or obligation to anyone or any Deity. What will you do? Which way will you go? It is easy to see both groups cannot be right. But which one is right? With what force should you be aligned?
What side should you be on? That’s easy. You should be on the right side of course. And which is the right side? The right side is the side which believes the right thing. And no, I’m not playing mental and word games with you. I’m trying to make a point. We have two groups here, two groups both of which are making a claim to be in the right. Two groups, both of which have had heroes and scoundrels; two groups which are glad, almost eager in pointing fingers at each other’s flaws, making fun of the other side’s shortcomings, laughing at their foolishness.
What side should you be on? That’s the question, the only important question. Now, if you’re thinking clearly, you may wonder, “Is there nothing which can provide direction? Nothing simple which can give me an answer? Nothing which can offer the help that I need to make sure I am on the right side?” I am pleased to say, there is something which provides the answer to all your questions. I will not keep you unnecessarily in suspense. Instead, let me say, there was a moment, and it was a real moment in time when right was determined. That moment came before dawn on a spring day almost 2,000 years ago. The event was the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. All of Christianity’s claims about having the truth rise and fall on that single event.
If Jesus rose from the dead, then everything that faith says about itself is true and the
message of salvation given by grace through the Savior’s sacrifice can be believed. It is
almost like watching the falling of dominos. If Jesus rose, then He has conquered death.
If He has conquered death, then He is God’s Son, the prophesied Messiah of the Old
Testament. If He is the Messiah, He has, so all who believe on Him might be saved,
defeated the devil and is our Victor over sin. If He has done these things, then we ought
believe Him when He says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through me.” If Jesus has reconciled us with the Father, we are saved
and the forgiveness He won is given to us and we have the certainty of eternity in
heaven. Conversely, if Jesus did not rise from the dead, then our faith is in vain and
Christians are, as the other side would say, and we must admit, of all people the most to
be pitied.Now I know it’s fashionable to say: “Jesus never died.” Look, over the centuries the
Romans crucified thousands, tens, hundreds of thousands of people. None of those
people came off the cross alive. To let a condemned criminal live would have meant
death for those who were in charge of the execution. But there is more evidence of
Jesus’ death than past probability. An eyewitness, the apostle John records that after
Jesus was stabbed in the heart by a Roman spear, blood and water came out. That is a
condition which only happens if a person has been dead for some time. Don’t trust me;
ask anybody who is well acquainted with death.While there can be little doubt that Jesus died, many find the next question much harder
to answer and believe. That question is this: did Jesus Christ rise from the dead on the
3rd day? What can I say to help you understand? I can tell you: Jesus’ friends saw a living Lord. But, you may wonder, “Maybe what they saw was a figment of their imagination, a product of their mourning?” Good question. Here’s your answer: not only did the disciples see the risen Lord, they had the opportunity of touching Him. They heard Him. They ate with Him. Again and again, these things happened. Did Jesus rise? The disciples believed He did. It was a belief they held on to through torture and stoning and terrible deaths. According to tradition one of them had his skin peeled from his body. Would you endure such agony to defend something you knew was a lie?What can I do to help you understand? Will it help if I told you that the story of Christianity would have ended if Jesus’ body had been produced? Jesus’ corpse would have ended the preaching. But no Body was ever produced. Understand, after a few days in the heat of the Mideast, one dead body looks a lot like another dead body. But nobody came forward and even produced a pretend corpse. Why not? Because too many had seen Jesus alive. If I only had more time to share… I can tell you this: “The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is a better documented fact that any other from the ancient world.” That is what we believe and why we believe it?
And if you ask a spokesman from the other side, someone who expresses their final philosophy, I present to you a famous, a brilliant man: Bertrand Russell. For almost all his life he rejected the Redeemer. Here is what he wrote about life and death: “The life of a man is a long march through the night, surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, toward a goal which few can hope to reach and where none may tarry long. One by one as they march, our comrades vanish from our sight, seized by the silent orders of omnipotent death. Brief and powerless is man’s life. On him … sure doom falls, pitiless and dark.”
If that is the dark alternative to believing in the Savior Who is the Light of the world, I will stay with the living Lord and Redeemer. To that end, both He and I would welcome your company in the family of faith. To that end, if we can help, please, call us at The Lutheran Hour. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers)
January 23, 2011
TITLE: Judge Not?Announcer: Questions about sin and making judgments. I’m Mark Eischer, here with our speaker emeritus, Pastor Ken Klaus.
Klaus: Thanks, Mark-and thank you, listeners, for your questions.
Announcer: And one of these listeners writes, “It used to be the most commonly-quoted
Bible passage was John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” And that’s from the
English Standard Version.Klaus: You know, I think there might be some other passages that could give that one a
run for being most popular. The 23rd Psalm, for example, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I
shall not want.”Announcer: Very true. Our listener continues, “But nowadays it seems that people really love to quote from Matthew 7, where it says: “Judge not, lest ye be judged.”
Klaus: I’ve noticed that, too.
Announcer: And, while we’re at it, here’s another idea that’s often stated, although it’s not found in the Bible the idea that: “God hates sin, but loves the sinner.”
Klaus: Yup, also heard that one.
Announcer: Our listener concludes, “It seems these are used as ways to somehow
diminish sin … and to separate the sinner from responsibility for their sin.”Klaus: The listener would be right in what he or she is saying. Today it’s politically incorrect to judge someone and condemn them for their sin. That would be putting yourself in a position of superiority and that other person in a position of inferiority. Similarly, “God loves the sinner, but hates the sin”–well, I may hate the dirt on my child, but it’s still the child who’s gonna get a bath! When something is that closely connected to you, it’s hard to separate the two. God may love the sinner, but if a person dies with that sin unforgiven, it is he, not the sin, who is going to be in hell.
Announcer: OK. And there’s more to our letter.
Klaus: Please, proceed.
Announcer: Our listener notes, “There are those who maintain that all sins are the same, and that one sin can never be deemed any worse than another. According to this way of thought, the type of sin doesn’t make any difference to God, because He’ll just forgive! We might make distinctions between various types of sins, but God doesn’t.”
Klaus: Yeah, that philosophy is not as prevalent as those about which we’ve been speaking, but it is, most certainly, out there.
Announcer: So, are we saying, “We’re all sinners, but we’re not all really bad sinners. We’re actually pretty good people who just mess up now and then?”Klaus: Well, if a person thinks that’s the way God feels about sin, they really don’t get it. God says, ‘the soul that sins will die.’ The penalty for sin is death, eternal death and punishment in hell. God doesn’t care if it’s only what we might call a little sin or a sin we only committed once back in 1938. One sin, like one pen which leaked onto a white shirt, is enough to make a complete and total mess. You don’t wait until the shirt is completely covered in ink before you say, ‘Hey, I think this thing is ruined.”
Announcer: And I suppose some of us have cleaner shirts than others, but that doesn’t cut it with a God Who demands perfect obedience.
Klaus: Yeah, perfect obedience-that is what Christ rendered to God the Father on our behalf. In effect, He gives us “the shirt off His back,” His perfect robe of righteousness that covers all our sins and our stains. That’s how God sees everyone who is brought to
Him through faith in Christ.Announcer: And, our listener concludes their letter by saying, “Just where do we get all those wrong ideas about sin?”
Klaus: The idea of a “not too bad sin” has been around for a long time. In fact, just about almost every doctrinal aberration and heresy that we have today, if you look, you can find it back in the first century of the church. SI. Paul, he had to address the problem of people who wanted to sin more so they would enjoy more of God’s grace. They didn’t understand what Jesus’ sacrifice was all about. So, too, with these false ideas. They are just one more trap laid by Satan.
Announcer: And, are these false notions about sin being taught at seminaries nowadays?
Klaus: Oh, easiest question of the day. The Seminaries of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod are not coming up with this stuff. They still teach that sin is sin-and forgiveness comes through faith in Jesus Christ, alone.
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
“Who Trusts in God, a Strong Abode” From Heirs of the Reformation: Treasures of the
Singing Church (© 2008 Concordia Publishing House/SESAC)“O Christ, Our True and Only Light” From The Concordia Organist (© 2009 Concordia
Publishing House) Used by permission.“Sent Forth by God’s Blessing” arr. John Behnke. From For All Seasons, vol. 2 by John
Behnke (© 2001 John Behnke) Concordia Publishing House