The Lutheran Hour
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"D.I.Y."
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Text: Matthew 21:28-32
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! May the loving Lord give to all of us a faith which we do not deserve but which is won for us on the cross of Calvary by our Savior, Jesus Christ. In His Name, Amen.
DIY. Are you acquainted with the acronym DIY? DIY stands for Do It Yourself. Now since I am an individual who has incredible difficulty telling the differences between a screwdriver, a hammer, and a saw, I stand in awe of those do-it-yourselfers who are unashamedly afraid to turn a swamp into a lake filled with record-breaking big-mouth bass or who, without a second thought, dismantle their car engines to find an unwanted ping. I know, and this scenario has to assume I had had a complete mental breakdown during which I lost all contact with reality, if I were to try and do the same thing to my engine, when I finished, there would be 30 to 40 extra, and to my way of thinking, unnecessary parts left over.
Do it yourself. Since changing a light bulb is a major challenge for me, I am amazed, astounded, flabbergasted by those folks who have the courage and the manual dexterity to rewire their kitchens, refinish their cabinets, and restore Grandma’s antique furniture to mint condition. DIY. There is even a TV channel with the name DIY. DIY is dedicated to showing inept and embarrassed souls like me the courage and chutzpah of do-it-yourselfers who ooze confidence as they dig an Olympic-sized swimming pool by hand; or perform an emergency appendectomy on a loved one using nothing more than a plastic spoon and a package of mint-flavored dental floss for sutures.
As amazing as these projects of do-it-yourselfism are, they are nothing when they’re compared to that idea which is suggested in a book recently given to me by my son, Kurt, a pastor in Mounds View, Minnesota. The book is called, Create Your Own Goddess. That title accurately describes the contents of the book, a book which encourages people to sculpt their own deity. So sincere are the authors in their recommendation, they have even provided a lump of special modeling clay and a tool to enable readers to design their own goddess. The book is complete, offering hints on meditation, worship, and advice on how to build your own household altar. Not surprisingly, it is suggested that if the goddess you make doesn’t come through for you, you can soak the clay in water and shape yourself a new goddess. How’s that for the ultimate do-it-yourself project?
Honestly, I’m not too surprised to see such a book in print. In one way or another, humankind has always been making up their own gods. Adam and Eve tried to take over God’s position when they shoved the true Creator to the side and listened to Satan’s encouragement to rebellion. The Old Testament is filled to the brim with stories of do-it-yourselfers creating gods out of stone, wood, and whatever else those ancients happened to have lying around their homes. Indeed, a person will be hard-pressed to find one of those 39 Old Testament books which doesn’t carry some example of God’s people trying to create and worship a do-it-yourself god. Those gods were occasionally of their own invention, but most of the time they were false deities which they borrowed from one of their next door neighbors.
Do-it-yourself-deity-making was a little bit different, a lot more subtle by the time Jesus walked the earth. There’s no doubt that the Pharisees, the religious watch-dogs of the Savior’s era, would have gone berserk if someone had suggested that they take up a hammer and chisel to fashion a god which they could worship. No, these fellas would never have done anything that crude. On the other hand, that doesn’t mean they didn’t try making their own God. For example, these Pharisees had all kinds of fun fixing the supposed mistakes they thought their Lord had made. If they thought God hadn’t covered some subject of day-to-day living thoroughly enough, these guys had no problems throwing in a few suggestions of their own and telling anyone who would listen, “This law that we’re giving you really comes to us from God and it is His will that you common people do what we, we mean, what this law tells you to do.”
Now these Pharisees did this not once, not twice, but hundreds of times. By the time they were done it was pretty hard to see where God’s religion ended and theirs began. And while the Pharisees would have been appalled if you accused them of reinventing the Divinity, over time that is exactly what they did. Constantly, consistently, continuously they put words into the mouth of the Lord. They reinvented their heavenly Father so often that He became quite unrecognizable.
Now that pretty well describes the religious climate when Jesus, and His advertising assistant, John the Baptist, began their ministries. The first things Jesus and John did was get back to basics; they cut out the Pharisaic middle-men, they eliminated the extra baggage which had been tacked on to their faith. Then, having done that, they said things the way God wanted things to be said. And just as importantly, they said those things to the people who needed to hear them. And what did Jesus and John say? They said: “You are all sinners. You have gone against God’s wishes and are deserving of His anger and eternal punishment.” Then they would have added, “In spite of all you have done wrong, God continues to love you and wishes to save you. For that reason we call upon you to repent, be baptized, be saved.”
Theirs was a simple, a serious, a saving message; and it was a message which rankled the Pharisees to their very core. They saw John and Jesus as undermining their authority, which they were. They saw them trying to take over the faith, which they were. They thought that John and Jesus were preaching a new Gospel, a Gospel of saving faith through grace. This, too, they were doing. Which put the Pharisees on the war path. In retaliation, they tried to discredit, dishonor, and disgrace these two who had been sent by God. Indeed, so strong was the poison the Pharisees poured out, in the eleventh chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus spoke to them. Basically, this is what He said: “When John came to you, he played it straight. He didn’t eat fancy food, he didn’t drink any liquor. In austerity he preached a message of repentance and your verdict about him was: ‘This guy has a demon in him.’ Then I came to you. I came in a totally different way. Rather than waiting for sinners to come to Me at the Jordan River like John had done, I spent My time going after the tax-collectors, the prostitutes, the lepers, the unclean, and anyone else who failed your moral inspection, your lifestyle investigation. Now you would think, since My style was so completely opposite that of John, you guys would applaud Me. But, no, you took one look at what I was doing, and then you shouted your condemnation. You said, ‘Hey, everybody, take a gander at the Guy Who thinks He’s God’s Son, the World’s Savior. Take a look at the Glutton, the Drunk, the sinner’s friend.'” Actually, the Pharisees called Jesus other names, names far worse than being a drunken pig, but we don’t have time to cover that here.
Now if you’re thinking, “It appears God couldn’t win”, you’d be absolutely right. The Pharisees didn’t like it when God sent straight-shooting, stay-on-task, John the Baptist who preached in a way which said he wasn’t going to sugar coat God’s word of warning or His Divine call to repentance. But they also didn’t like it when Jesus came and socialized with those whom the Pharisees considered to be serious sinners, scurrilous scum; those whom they believed to be second-rate citizens in the kingdom of God… if they were citizens at all. You see, both John the Baptist and Jesus, the Messiah got in the way of the Pharisees do-it-yourself project of creating their own god. Those Pharisees wanted a god who smiled at them and frowned at everybody else. They wanted a god who approved of all their man-made laws and rejected the thoughts and lifestyles of everyone else. They wanted a god they could control, whom they could create in their own image.
To put it mildly, theirs was an attitude which Jesus simply couldn’t stomach. If you read the Bible, you can see how Jesus went after sinners, how He loved all of them, even the worst of them. The Gospels will tell you just how much He loved them all. But His love was stretched to the limit when self-approving, self-sufficient, self-centered people tried to put words in God’s mouth so they might judge and put down others. Jesus felt so strongly about this spiritual abuse that there were times He spoke in blunt condemnation of their practices. Of course there were other times when the Savior was more gentle in His remarks. One of those more gentle times came when the Savior told a parable, a story about a man who had two sons. In Jesus’ narrative, the father asked both of his boys to go into the family vineyard and do some work. The first of the man’s sons said, You bet, I’ll go dad.”… but the lad didn’t go. The other son was rebellious, at least in the beginning. When his father asked that son, the second son to go to the vineyard, he said, “I don’t think so. No, that’s not gonna happen.” That’s what he said, but somewhere along the line, he had a change of heart, he was sorry for his refusal and he ended up going to the vineyard as his father had asked.
At the end of the story, Jesus asked His listeners, ‘Tell Me, which of those boys did the father’s will?” Well, you didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to know the right answer to Jesus question is, “The second boy… the one who, at first said, “No”, but then had a change of heart and did as his father had asked.” When Jesus got the same answer from his original audience, He made His point. He said, “You guys say you’re going to do the will of the Father, but you don’t. The sinners who hear and listen to My message of repentance are like the son who was initially disobedient, but who eventually came around. And in case you’re still missing the point, “Sinners who are sorry for what they’ve done wrong, sinners who repent, those are the ones who are really doing what the Father in heaven has asked of them.”
It was Jesus’ way of saying, “The Triune God never likes it when people think upon Him as a do-it-yourself project. God does not appreciate it when people think they can substitute their commandments for His and He doesn’t look favorably upon people who try to move Him out of the driver’s seat so they can take control. That’s because salvation has never been a do-it-yourself project. Because we are sinners we don’t have the qualifications, the skill sets, the capability of saving ourselves. To pretend otherwise is just that: a pretense, foolish, wishful thinking. Saving souls from sin, rescuing us from Satan, defeating death has always been, and will always be in God’s hands, under His control, and it will always, and I want to repeat that word, ALWAYS center on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.”
Now the reason I bring this up to you today is simple: right now there are a fair number of you who are listening to me who are spiritual do-it-yourselfers. You may not have put a lot of thought into it, but your lifestyle and your belief system say you are pretty much positive you have the ability to put together a better plan of salvation than God has. It’s true, there are still a lot of do-it-yourselfers when it comes to eternal life.
Now, lest you get worried, I’m not going to get all fiery and brimstoney and I’m not going to shout and stomp. Instead, I’d just like to spend the next five minutes or so talking to those of you who feel no need for any kind of connection to the Savior through an organized church. Understand, I know you’ve got your reasons for not joining any church. Now some of those reasons stink, but some are pretty good. Oh, you want to know some of the bad reasons? Sure, I can give you those. Here’s one: “I don’t go to church because there are hypocrites there.” Yeah, that’s a bad excuse. Why? Because there are hypocrites everywhere. Unless you are absolutely committed to living the lifestyle of a hermit, everywhere you go you’ll find a hypocrite. So, if those hypocrites don’t stop you from going other places, they shouldn’t stop you from going to church.
Want another bad excuse? Here’s one: “I don’t go to church because my parents forced me to go when I was young.” That’s a terrible excuse. Why? Friend your parents forced you to do all kinds of things when you were young. They taught you to take a shower… and drive on the right side of the road… and they forced you to be housebroken. Have you rebelled against those other things your parents forced you to do… or is your mutiny directed only against the church?
Any others bad excuses? Sure, here’s one: You don’t go because somebody treated you badly the last time you went. If that’s your reason: get over it. If you have ever dealt with a rude counter person at some fast food joint, do you swear off ever eating a hamburger again? Not likely, you just take your patronage elsewhere. Bad excuses. Here’s one: the church is always after my money. Couldn’t disagree more. Both God and the church want gifts only from hearts who love the Savior. Actually, we can’t stop those kind of folks from giving. But if you don’t see any value in what Jesus has done in living, suffering, dying, and rising so you could be forgiven, you just keep passing those plates to the next person in the pew. Bad excuses. Here’s one: there are too many different denominations. I wouldn’t know which one to join. My friend, let me give you the scoop: none of those churches are right. Not all the time. Any human institution like a church is going to do wrong things. What you want to do is find that church which, like Jesus and John, teaches what God wants. And if you wonder what God wants taught… that’s easy: look at the Bible.
Let me see; are there any more bad reasons for staying away from the Savior and His church? Well, maybe this last one: there are those of you who say “I know what I believe and that’s enough. The Bible doesn’t say you should be part of a church, and beside I can have a faith without a church.” I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard somebody say that. Well, if that’s what you believe, fine. I can’t argue with you. But if you’re looking for the truth, then you’re wrong. The Bible does say we should worship together. Hebrews 10 says, “let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. Don’t neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but (come together to encourage) one another.”
Look, Jesus, through His sacrifice for us, set us free from the law. Even so, He did ask those folks who love Him to do some things. They don’t have to, but if they love Him, they want to do those things. What kind of things? Jesus said, we should receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion together. Most folks don’t do that on their own. Jesus asked us to share His story around the world. Most folks don’t do that on their own. Jesus asked us to support each other as Christians. Most non-church goers don’t do that either. The truth is this: nowhere in the Bible, nowhere does it say, indicate, or subtly suggest that it is enough for us to believe on our own. To do God’s work, the church needs everybody pulling together. And you, my friend, are part of everybody.
So what is a good reason for not belonging to a congregation where you can meet your Savior in worship, praise, and petition? There is only one reason I can think of: you are a do-it-yourselfer and you think you can do the job better than Jesus did. And who knows, maybe you have managed to live a perfect life… and maybe you do love your neighbor as yourself… and maybe you’ve never done a bad thing, or thought a nasty thought about anyone else. If you honestly have done those things… and you can keep it up for the rest of your life, then go for it. But, if you’ve fallen short of those standards anywhere, at any time, my friend, you need a Savior.
You need someone Who came into this world to fulfill the laws you have broken and carry the sins you have committed. You need Someone Who has the ability to say “no” to temptation and “yes” to those things which please God. You need to have someone Who defeated death. You, my friend, need Jesus Christ. And today, in this message, He’s inviting all of you do-it-yourselfers to let Him-do-it-all-for-you.
Which takes me to the point where I can say this, “If you need to know more about this Savior, if you need a spiritual home, then we at the Lutheran Hour are ready to help you. Please, call us at The Lutheran Hour. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for September 25, 2011
Topic: The Whole Truth?Announcer: And we’re back once again with our Speaker Emeritus, Pastor Ken Klaus. I’m Mark Eischer.
Klaus: Hello to you, Mark. Good to be here in the Lutheran Hour studios. Especially for a new Question and Answer segment. Have you selected a good Question and Answer for us today?
Announcer: Yeah, one that I believe we’ve discussed at least one time before.
Klaus: And one that keeps cropping up?Announcer: Actually, yes. It has to do with the question of whether not telling the whole truth is really telling the truth.
Klaus: Ah, so-called ‘white’ lies?
Announcer: Something like that. Here’s the background: our listener has a neighbor who is a policeman. They got to talking about testifying in court. The neighbor said he knew of times when a police officer wanted to help get a conviction for someone they knew was guilty–so he didn’t voluntarily tell everything he knew about the situation. So, the question is: is it a sin to not tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Or could there be exceptions, like the one we described?
Klaus: What a wonderful question. And, I’m not entirely sure I have a satisfactory answer here.
Announcer: Why is that?
Klaus: You know, when I look at the Savior Who was on trial for His life–while He told the truth, some might say He didn’t tell the whole truth. One of the charges the false witnesses brought against Jesus was that He had said He could tear down the temple and rebuild it in three days. When Jesus said those words, He was referring to His resurrection from the dead, and the temple was His body…
Announcer: … but at the trial He doesn’t explain that.
Klaus: Right. Now I know, in doing what He did, Jesus was fulfilling the Old Testament prophecy which had said He would be slaughtered like an uncomplaining Lamb.
Announcer: And because Jesus’ silence continued at the other trials, Pilate, then, tried to get Jesus to speak up in His defense. He could have… but He didn’t. When others told lies about Him, He didn’t correct those false statements.
Klaus: Yeah, once again, He could have, but He didn’t. Still, Mark, I have difficulty trying to draw a conclusion for our actions by what our Savior did at this unique and pivotal point in history. In short, I don’t presume to understand the depth of Jesus’ thinking and actions. I can only give thanks He did as He did for us.
Announcer: Okay, so where can we turn? How about something from the early church fathers, maybe?
Klaus: Ah, an interesting question. The early church expected its people, when arrested and being tried for their faith, to make a confession of that faith.
Announcer: In other words, tell the truth.
Klaus: Yes. They told the truth. They admitted that they were followers of the Savior. To do otherwise would have been considered a most terrible sin. That would have been denying their Lord.
Announcer: Okay, so, that’s the answer?
Klaus: Well, perhaps not as completely as we might like. Back then, just like today, governments that oppose Christ interrogated and often tortured Christians to get them to reveal the names of other believers. Let me ask, should those folks being tortured have revealed the names of all the believers that they knew?
Announcer: You’re asking me?
Klaus: No, not really. Just as it was expected Christians would bear witness to their faith in the Savior, it was also expected that they would not turn in their fellow believers. They didn’t lie and say, “I don’t know any–but they also didn’t give the “whole truth.” By the way, Mark, as I said, that is still pretty much common practice among persecuted Christians today. They give witness to their faith, but they don’t betray others.
Announcer: And is there anything you could add from your own personal experience?
Klaus: Aw, there have been times when I have had privileged information… either said in confidence or in confession. It was not unusual for somebody, either out of genuine Christian concern or outright nosiness, to ask me to reveal details about the other person and what I knew about the situation.
Announcer: And, I take it you didn’t tell them.
Klaus: No, I didn’t. But neither did I lie and say, “What situation? I don’t know anything about a situation.” Often I stayed silent. Other times I said, “I can’t talk about this with you.”
Announcer: Okay, so, can we draw any conclusions from this?
Klaus: Maybe this: Christians must bear witness to their faith. When it comes to others we do that which is most God pleasing… and is most to beneficial to of our neighbors.
Announcer: Very good. Thank you, Pastor Klaus. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music Selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by Chris Bergmann. Used by permission.
“I Love Your Kingdom, Lord” arr. Henry Gerike. Used by permission.
“Oh, That I Had a Thousand Voices” arr. Jeffrey Blersch. Used by permission.
“How Can I Keep from Singing?” by Robert A. Hobby. From Thine Is the Glory by Robert A. Hobby (© 1997 MorningStar Music Publishers)