The Lutheran Hour
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"Give Me Life?!"
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Text: Matthew 10:39
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Lord God Almighty, we are blessed not only with life physical, but through You, O Jesus, through faith in You alone can every single human being have life now and for eternity in Your presence. Please help each of us to grasp and come to rejoice in the truth that life, real life, is only found in giving up what we think we have all for Your sake, and thus finding true life in You, our crucified and risen Lord.
It’s not every year that you turn 162 years old. May we in Canada rejoice in the years we’ve been given by the one true God and that relying on Him and His Word be blessed with another 162, and the joy of sharing the truth about whom it is who really is behind the blessings we daily enjoy. And to our family to the south, may you be blessed on Tuesday as you celebrate your 246th Day of Independence. Lord, with all these years between us all as a gift from You, may we be wise in all that we think and say and do.
The text for today’s message is Matthew 10:39. “Whoever finds his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Life is actually a fairly large topic to deal with in one sermon. However, Jesus in our text and its context takes us into life with all of its unrest and conflict and then shares with us that it’s a losing cause to search for life on our own terms, but a true blessing to lose what we think we have for the real life Jesus freely gives. Life, we all have it in different places with different callings, dreams, and desires. We live our lives out in a world that is seemingly about life, discovering life, finding ourselves. Truth is people look in a plethora of places to find out who they are and what they think life is all about.
Even on this weekend, as we Canucks yesterday celebrated our 162nd anniversary of Confederation and you, our neighbors to the south rejoice this Tuesday at your 246th Independence Day. Congrats to both by the way! Truth is, though we seem old we really are the new kids on the world’s block and our countries are always on the path of finding or rediscovering ourselves. It wasn’t always the case, you know. Way back when, way back at the very beginning when our first parents walked with God in the cool of the day, Adam and Eve didn’t have a urge to find themselves. Why? Because they were complete. They were full, not of themselves, but joyously filled with God, perfect in His image, holy, righteous, eternal. To say the least, it was good. It was very, very, very good.
And then into the whole joy of life, real life comes a fallen being who wasn’t content with life, with the life he’d been perfectly gifted, to be the one he’d been perfectly made to be, the highest of all the ranks of God’s angels. This one wanted more out of life, so he thought, than the perfect life he’d been blessed with. And with such thoughts, he truthfully no longer knew the truth about himself. And getting in way over his head, starting a literal battle with God. He got himself booted from God’s eternal perfection and presence and found himself here on God’s perfectly created earth with us, in the Garden of Eden. None too happy with his demotion, Satan’s entire life took on the desire to tempt us to seek life on our own terms, away from God and His love, just as he’d chosen. And in such, invite us to forfeit God’s gift of perfect bliss, living in the completeness and presence of the one true eternal God.
Since that very moment, when we decided to live our gifted lives on our own terms, following a new and sinister leader, we have been in a never-ending cycle of trying to find ourselves and the truth we knew about life, the selves we were when we walked in the garden alongside our Creator. And now, as since that very rebellious day, all people have been looking for life in all the wrong places. I guess Johnny Lee was correct when he wrote his 1980 song, “Lookin’ for Love,” with his catch line, “Lookin’ for love in all the wrong places.” History is full and each of our lives also with stories of trying to find love and meaning of attempting to answer the main questions of life of “Who am I ?” and “What really is the meaning of life?” And yet God tells us plainly, our search is a waste of time. Whoever finds his life will lose it.
Great. Just great. We’re doing all this searching and it’s all for naught if God is speaking truth. And He is, for the truth is the only language, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit know. We know God is speaking the truth for He has proven Himself in spades. He promised just after our mess-up in the garden to send Someone, to send one Person to free us, and this He has fully completed in sending His one and only Son to live perfectly in our place, die horribly as foretold, and then to rise again to prove that His sacrifice to pay for us in full was completely accepted by the Father. All this to buy us, the crown of His creation, his handcrafted-kids-become-rebels back to Himself.
For most of humanity, those yet attempting to find themselves in all the wrong places, they will never find themselves. Why? Because the only way to find oneself, we are truthfully told, is to lose oneself, to lose ourselves, our life for Jesus’ sake. And in such, there it is, true life staring us right in the face. As Jesus said, “Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” What? The world in each of us if we’re truly honest are not at all into losing ourselves for anyone unless that anyone is ourselves. If it has to be, we’ll lose life only for self. None of us has to look too deep to find examples where we’ve lost ourselves in greed or unforgiveness, work, or sports—or simply fill in the blank. Such is also the ever-growing in popularity selfish exit plan of euthanasia. If I have to give this life up, it’ll be on my own terms. Thank you very much.
And prayerfully before the end of this dead-end pursuit, but sadly so often not, will a person come to see that life, true life, real life here in ourselves in this messed-up world is not to be found. For life as it was created to be is only found outside of the mess that we had made.
Back in mid-February, makes me cold just thinking of it, on a flight home to northern Canada after a meeting out east, the Lord worked it out that I would sit in seat 8B and Luke would sit in seat 8A. I had never met Luke before, nor he me. Being an extrovert who paints pictures with his words and one who loves to paint pictures of Jesus, I said, “Hello, my name is Keith. What’s yours?” Luke was not at all afraid to engage and share his name, and at that moment when he shared his biblical name, I knew I had an in with love and respect to investigate and possibly share with him about true life, which doesn’t come from us, but through the true Life-giver.
Luke was flying from New York City, New York, your largest U.S. city to Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. I don’t think we even cracked Canada’s top 40. Talk about a change of pace. Why was he headed north? To find out about himself. That is to see if a certain young lady in northern Canada might be someone to complete his life. I asked if he had ever been to the Great White North. He said, “What’s that?” “Canada, I said.” “Oh, no,” he said. I asked him what he knew about Canada and what he’d been taught about us, and he shared with me not much other than it’s cold up there. I said, “Welcome to there.” Remember, this was February in northern Canada, so full marks to Luke for the factoid about the time of year: cold. He totally got that one right.I taught him how to spell toque. For all you all down south, that’s T-O-Q-U-E. That knitted thing we wear on our heads to keep our brains from freezing. And we talked about snowmobiles and cross-country skiing. He knew about hockey. Though he didn’t know it, that fact alone actually made him half-Canadian. After all, hockey made Canada, not Canada hockey, so the commercial goes.
About 20 minutes into our short 55-minute flight, I asked him if he knew where his name came from. He said he’d been named after the famous Luke Skywalker. I chuckled and asked him if he knew whom Luke Skywalker had been named after. He looked at me with an inquisitive look and then laughed when I said, “I’m quite sure he was named after Luke of the Bible.” I told him, “Luke is from the Greek Lucas. Just as Luke in the Bible, a previous Gentile living in darkness came to see Jesus as the Light of the world. So Luke Skywalker, whose father, the very dark, the one and only Darth Vader leaves the dark side to search for the light.”
Luke told me that he was an IT guy living with his sister and brother-in-law in New York, that he studied at Purdue and worked in their library. He then asked me what I did in Fort McMurray. I gave him my typical answer, I work for the guy who put all the oil in the ground. Once again, that inquisitive look. After about 15 seconds, he said, “I don’t get it.” I told him that I was a Lutheran pastor working for the Creator of the universe, the Author of life. Shortly after he shared that he’d grown up in the church, going to worship on Sundays and Wednesdays, but that he hadn’t been there in a long while. I asked him why, and he said he didn’t know. I asked him if he’d ever read the Bible. He said he had a bit. I thanked him for his honesty and for sharing his time with me.
With about 15 minutes remaining in the flight, knowing he’d had a library job, I asked him if he’d ever read Homer’s Iliad. He looked at me with a smile and said, “Yeah, I have.” I asked if he knew how many manuscript copies of the book there were. He said, “Got me there.” I said, “I’ve read that there are about seven in the world, and that the one written closest to Homer’s original was from about 500 years after the fact.” Then I said, “Would you venture a guess as to how many manuscript copies we have for the New Testament?” “More than seven?” he said. “Correct. We have about 5,000 copies of various New Testament books within the first 300 years, with the earliest fragments being from the early second century when eyewitness accounts could be checked with those whom the authors had shared them.” I shared with Luke what I’d hoped he’d already heard early in his life about Jesus, his Savior, and him giving up His life for Luke, myself, and all of humanity.
It was a blessing to talk a bit about Jesus’ perfect life and horrid death to forgive us and that His resurrected body had been seen by over 500 eyewitnesses and that no historian today doubts Jesus lived and died. And even more, Jewish and Roman historians had written about Jesus’ death and resurrection, to which once again his look of amazement returned. All of those manuscripts, eyewitnesses, and enemy accounts got Luke thinking.
As we were descending, I encouraged him to read a Bible. I said, “Biblegateway.com has many to choose from. I use the English Standard Version, ESV for short. The point is to begin with the Gospels, the four first books of the New Testament, and see for yourself who this Jesus is, who willingly gave up His life so that you could have true life.” As we landed and knowing he was only planning to be in Fort McMurray for a week, I shared my card with him, which offers a free cup of coffee, though I shared, “New York is a bit too far away to deliver.”
Where is Luke today? I have no idea. But I do know that he heard the truth about true life for him in Jesus and true life for all. My prayer is that Luke and all the Lukes of the world, and Jims and Jennys and Ludmilas, as well as you and I would pick up God’s Word daily and believing the truth of Jesus’ cross work for us be strengthened to lose our lives for Him, our resurrected Lord and Savior. And in such, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that we truly have been re-gifted with life, the renewed life we tossed in the garden and being fully cleansed by Jesus, be used to speak to others about life, life in the One who has freed us to truly live, for Him now and forever. “Whoever finds his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Amen and Amen.
Reflections for July 2, 2023
Title: Give Me Life?!Mark Eischer: You’re listening to The Lutheran Hour and joining us now, here’s Lutheran Hour Speaker, Dr. Mike Ziegler.
Mike Zeigler: Hi, Mark.
Mark Eischer: Pastor Haberstock’s message talked about a witnessing opportunity he had—took place on a short hop flight up in Canada, and what struck me was how he picked up on certain elements of his seatmate’s story and wove that into the conversation. For example, Luke’s name, where did that come from? His previous church background. He worked in a library, so he was acquainted with ancient literature. He presented a case for the historicity and the reliability of the Bible when compared with other ancient documents. Why do you suppose that’s important when we speak with others about Jesus?
Mike Zeigler: Well, first, like you said, it really helps that Pastor Keith’s a friendly, likable guy, outgoing and takes the non-confrontational approach, like you said. He showed genuine care and interest and concern for Luke. So that’s an inviting way to start a conversation. And then he so naturally invited Jesus into the conversation. And we can do this with that non-confrontational confidence because we know we’re not just spouting off our own opinions. We’re not talking about some privately held secret religious belief or something like that. We’re talking about something public here, something historical, a real Person, about the real Creator of the universe, the Guy who put all the oil under the ground, as Pastor Keith likes to say. So I think that’s why it’s important.
Mark Eischer: He was talking about Jesus’ words that we find in Matthew 10 about losing one’s life in order to find it. Dr. Nadasdy last week on this program dealt with that as well. And if you the listener happened to miss that program, but you’d like to hear it, you can find all past sermons at lhm.org or on the Lutheran Hour app. What does it mean to lose one’s life in order to find it?
Mike Zeigler: What Jesus is talking about there is losing a false life, an imitation or a counterfeit life that is separated from God. Because God is the Creator, not only of all the oil and everything else that we depend on every day, He’s also the Creator of us individually, knit us together in our mother’s wombs, so He knows the truth about us. He alone knows the truth. So you could say God designed us to run on Him. He’s the fuel that we need, but He’s more than that. He designed us to live in fellowship with Him and with others. He designed us for life with Him. So without Him, nothing’s ever going to feel right. Nothing is ever going to work right. Nothing ever is going to be right without Him. So that’s why it’s a counterfeit life. It’s life already on the way to eternal death without God. So that’s what Jesus has come to take away from us. It’s something that’s harming us ultimately so that He can give us something better, true life in Him as He’s always intended for us to be—the crown of God’s creation, as Pastor Keith said, His handcrafted kids won back from the power of the devil.
Mark Eischer: And speaking of the devil, the way Pastor Haberstock described him, Satan was not content with the perfect role God had created for him. He rebelled against that life and he lost everything.
Mike Zeigler: Exactly. Satan was rebelling against life itself, true life. And I wonder if Satan likes to cast himself as a freedom-fighter, someone who’s leading a revolution or independence. And it seems to be a common trick of his to get us to believe that God is withholding something from us, something better, or that God’s trying to keep us down under His thumb. But like Pastor Keith said in the sermon, if we reject God, we are rejecting the Source of life. So again, it’s like an engine refusing oil, like a flower refusing to face the sun, a lonely person who cuts themself off from the community that is going to sustain them. But God knows the truth about us. He designed us for community in and with Him. And so when God gives Himself in Jesus, He gives us true life, eternal life, starting even now. We don’t have to wait till we’re dead. We can have it right now through faith in Jesus.
Mark Eischer: And finally, Pastor Haberstock mentioned the national birthdays, both of Canada and the US. Why don’t we close with a prayer for our two countries?
Mike Zeigler: Let’s do that. Please pray with me.
Almighty God, our Father, You have given Your people many good lands. Today, we give You thanks for Canada’s 150 years of confederation, and we thank You for preserving the union of these states to Canada’s south that so many of us call home. Our nations haven’t been free from sin, but Your grace and mercy continues upon us. Forgive us, help us to remember and reflect Your mercy and generosity. Bless our lands with honest industry, truthful education, and an honorable way of life. Save us from violence, discord, confusion, arrogance, and every evil course of action. Grant that we who have come from many nations and many different languages may be a peaceful people united in shared civility. Most of all, let the Good News of Jesus, Your Son, have free course in our lands so that all would share in the unity, love, and power of Your eternal fellowship, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Music Selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by Chris Bergmann. Used by permission.
“Take My Life, O Lord, Renew” arr. Henry Gerike. Used by permission.
“God Bless Our Native Land” arr. Peter Prochnow. Provided courtesy of the Hymnal Project of the Michigan District, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
“Let Us Ever Walk with Jesus” From The Concordia Organist (© 2009 Concordia Publishing House) Used by permission.