Why That Guy There?

Why did you send that guy to that place? Of all the questions I’ve got queued up for the hereafter, that one is the most frequent. I think it crosses a lot of theological assumptions we make. We make assumptions like everyone in the prophetic role intends for the good of the Kingdom. We assume that even looking at the history of the office. Just the Medici Popes might dissuade us of that. We assume that ministers correctly discern calls with the specificity of the Apostle Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles. And we do that even after observing our share of 18 month pastorates. Of course Paul himself didn’t tend to stick around that long. And maybe the toughest one to consider is our assumption that God sends the prophets in order that the people might hear and repent. And we assume that even after reading the Old Testament and seeing these cantankerous guys who seem to have no social filter doing anything but persuading. Even Jesus said the parables were so they might hear and not understand (Matthew 13:13). I’ve asked that question of many a place and privately thought, “that is an act of divine judgement.” Of course the LORD has never answered one of those questions of mine, so I can’t say with surety. It remains private speculation, and yours is just as good as mine until that hereafter.

I bring that up as a reflection upon our Old Testament reading today from Amos 6:1-7. Of all those cantankerous guys, Amos might be the most. And he seems to be specifically chosen to get under the skin of those he is sent to. One of his famous lines is “I was neither a prophet, nor the son of a prophet (Amos 7:14).” We tend to translate that line in the past tense “was”, but the Hebrew could also be rendered the present tense – “I am neither a prophet, nor the son of a prophet.” As if that office in the Northern Kingdom of Israel has become so polluted Amos would not claim it. I’m sure that went over well with the court prophets. But even more it is followed immediately by what Amos does claim he is “A herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs.” And what does that call him out as? Primarily poor. Sycamore figs were not the plump figs that we think about. They are more like crab apples compared to apples. It grows in abundance and it is edible, but you won’t find them on the tables of Kings. And one last thing about Amos, he is from Tekoa, a village near Bethlehem which is the very heart of the Southern Kingdom of Judah loyal to the line of David.

This poor crabby Southerner is sent to the heart of the rich Northern Kingdom. And he is sent at the height of the Northern Kingdom’s influence and extent. He was sent in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and Jeroboam II King of Israel. Both long ruling kings of peaceful kingdoms, Uzziah reigned 52 years and Jeroboam II 41 years. Both had extended their borders almost to the extent of Solomon and the United Kingdom. And the Northern Kingdom had become very rich. But “Jeroboam II did evil in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat (2 Kings 14:24).” You couldn’t pick someone less likely to be heard by the court of Jeroboam II than Amos. And that is exactly the response, the priest of Bethel – the Northern counter Temple to Jerusalem – tells Amos, “Seer, go, flee, prophesy there, but not here, for it is the King’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.”

What does Amos say to them? “Woe to those who feel secure on the mountains of Samaria. (Amos 6:1).” How does he classify them? As those whose every moment and thought is about leisure. “Woe to those who…stretch themselves out on couches (6:4)…who sing idle songs…and invent for themselves instruments.” And of their ways? “Who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves.(6:6).” But what is Amos’ greatest charge? “You are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph.” You can imagine the laughter that might cause. What ruin? The GDP is higher than it has ever been. Our plumbers live in ways that would have made the old Kings blush. Maybe even God has blessed us from the Temple at Bethel. Long live Jeroboam the King. But the ruin was not the wealth. The ruin was spiritual. They cared not for their fellow countrymen (Amos 8:4), and their worship was correct in form but absent of meaning (Amos 5:21ff) as it did not change their hearts.

I don’t know why some are sent. But Jesus tells the story with these lines, “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.” Do we care about the ruin of Joseph?

Quickly, Mark it to Zero

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Biblical Text: Luke 16:1-15

The text is probably the hardest parable Jesus uttered. It doesn’t come with an explanation. The context immediately before and after it doesn’t really help. Or maybe I should say it would lead to an interpretation that would feel contrary to much of the gospel. And there really isn’t a “natural’ understanding that at least sets you on a fruitful path. It is as close to the feeling that Jesus said the parables were actually about (Mark 4:10-12) as you get – “Hear but not understand.”

I’m not so foolish as to say “I’ve got it the key.” But this sermon puts forward my understanding of the Parable of the Unrighteous Manager. And I think people shy away from this because it makes a comparison between Jesus and the unrighteous manager. They also shy away from it because it is explicitly Trinitarian. But Jesus compared himself to a thief entering the strong man’s house (Mark 3:27). And we Christians really need to drop the dregs of Unitarianism that we inherited. The Creed is the Father is the source, the Son was begotten of the Father before all worlds, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. The sermon develops that and on into the parable itself.

The short key is that the Rich Man is the Father, the Unrighteous Manager is an incomplete Jesus in that he doesn’t trust the Father enough, and the debtors are us sinners. The encouragement is to trust the Father revealed by Jesus. We are never outside of the Father’s love. And there is no end to the Father’s bank account if you will. The unrighteous manager is like Abraham content with no destruction of Sodom if there are 10 righteous. We’ve all negotiated with God. It’s natural law-based thinking. And in the law we always sell God short. It’s his good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. And there we are trying to buy it. Jesus came and said to us, “write what you owe to zero.” And the Father accepted it. Because we are in his love. And it is all his anyway. You can’t empty his accounts. It’s been done, we just need to believe it.

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Subjected to Futility…in Hope

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope – Romans.8:20

I’m sorry this corner is not about one of the lessons of the day. I commend Amos to your personal piety this week. But this is something that has been in the bones for a while and I have to get it out.

If you’ve ever played team sports or especially ever coached them you will recognize this kid immediately. He’s not the fastest, or the strongest, or the meanest, or the absolute best in any category. But he will run through brick walls. He’s the first in the gym, the last guy out, and he probably goes home and does some practice there too. Absolute coach’s dream. And if you are chasing a glory story, you need that kid. When you need the ball, he will get you the ball. When you need someone to lean into the fastball, or put down the bunt, he’ll do it. And he’ll play hurt. You can’t get him off the field. You love that kid, or you think you do.

As much as I like sports movies or TV shows, sometimes they tell the truth, but more often they lie. The greatest liar in these regards was maybe the most heartfelt dream – Coach Taylor played by everybody’s all American Kyle Chandler in Friday Night Lights. He had a phrase “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose.” Absolute catnip to that kid. And it’s a great phrase. Because 95% of the time, it’s true. Maybe even 99% of the time. The Law of God is good and wise. Aristotle wasn’t an idiot. If you do this, you will become this. This being courageous, strong, whatever virtue you seek. And that kid who will run through brick walls? He’s amped up. He’s doing it. Full heart, clear eyes. Can’t lose, right?

There is another football movie that cuts closer to the truth. Keanu Reeves’ The Replacements. Gene Hackman is all his glory playing exactly that coach who assembles a team full of that kid. From the police sergeant linebacker who will get him that ball. To the former Heisman Trophy winner who is all heart. To the deaf kid who can catch anything close and will take all the pain of the hits. They are coached to run through brick walls. The Replacements is not completely honest, it’s Hollywood, so they win the game, but not before they hit the wall. Not before they have to realize it isn’t a glory story. The regulars are better. The sergeant will get bloodied and run over. The deaf kid will get separated from the ball. And all the heart in the world won’t keep you on the field. That takes grace. That takes some intervention.

If you’ve coached that kid, and you think you love him by sending him at bigger and bigger walls, eventually he is going to hit the wall. The one he can’t blow through. Because the creation was subjected to futility. God, I wish I could just preach the law. Do this and you will live. It would be so easy. And if things didn’t work out, even easier. You didn’t follow the rules. Your eyes were not clear enough. Your heart not full enough. You lose, sorry. Do better. The law makes so much sense. But it only works 95% of the time. And it usually fails at the most important moment. Because creation was subjected to futility. And if you really love that kid, you’ve got to be there to pick up the pieces. To tell him Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can lose. But this is just a finite game. And you are playing an infinite one.

Because life is not a glory story, it’s a grace story. The Replacements got to play one more game. Something every former player dreams about. Gene Hackman playing another coach in Hoosiers realizes that you can’t just “patch him up” and put your only big guy back on the court bleeding from glass cuts. And most importantly that all your plans are dust. Sometimes you have to rely on the living miracle that is Jimmy Chitwood and give him the ball. He’ll make it. Life is a grace story. We’ve already died to the law. We’ve hit that wall, hard. We’ve tasted the futility. But we’ve done that in hope. Because we have our own Jimmy Chitwood – Jesus Christ. And he’s already made it. We are already playing that one gifted game. And don’t worry, there will be more. It’s an infinite game. The creation was subjected to futility that we might see it’s not about the brick walls to run through. It’s about playing the game. You’ve already been given the victory. Enjoy the play.

Closing the Gap

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Biblical Text: Luke 15:1-10

Again, I am always amazed at how the lectionary serves up a perfect basis to preach to the day. The text really is based in Jesus’ regular habit. He ate with tax collectors and sinners. And the Pharisees hated him for it. Jesus would talk with anybody. He wouldn’t do it from a place of weakness. His proclamation was “repent, for the Kingdom is near.” He was serious about holiness. But the gap between the holy and the profane is not one we can close. That is why he came. To find the lost. To close the gap. And he did this by talking. He does this through the foolishness of preaching. He did this by a table. He does this by the table where his still gives us his body and blood. He does this by making us the body of Christ. And the parables relay to us that this is who God is. He does not give up. He keeps talking. Until every last one is found.

Of course doing this enrages the Pharisees who find their power and conception of self attacked. And while some sinners repent, others certainly feel attacked. Giving up our pet sins can feel like giving up ourselves. Even though the chasm the grows within us gets deeper and wider. Of course those who won’t stop talking are eventually killed. This is a reflection on Charlie Kirk, a man who would not stop talking. But Christ has the last word. And that last word is when we are called from our graves in the resurrection. When Christ closes the gap for all time.

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Law Used Correctly

We know that the law is good when used correctly. ⁹ For the law was not intended for people who do what is right. It is for people who are lawless and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy, who kill their father or mother or commit other murders. ¹⁰ The law is for people who are sexually immoral, or who practice homosexuality, or are slave traders, liars, promise breakers, or who do anything else that contradicts the wholesome teaching ¹¹ that comes from the glorious Good News entrusted to me by our blessed God. (1 Tim. 1:8-11 NLT)

The biblical books of 1&2 Timothy and Titus are called the pastoral epistles. They are called that because they are a basic church order book. What is the purpose of the pastoral office? Who should be placed in it? How does it carry out its purpose? How should the members of the body of Christ understand if the call is being done? (Cross reference God’s complaints in Ezekiel 34, the Old Testament lesson of the day.) The Apostle Paul makes an assertion right up front, “Certain persons, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions, have wondered into vain discussions, by swerving from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith.” I’ve rearranged the clauses there for a purpose.

There are those who simply want to be known as teachers of law. Jesus points these people out as those who “who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts (Lk. 20:46 ESV).” They like the trapping of the office, the job of the office less so. Liking the trappings of the office but not the job, they never really learn what they are saying. They don’t put in the work. They will say it very confidently, but they don’t understand what they are saying. And the inevitable path when you put such people in leadership positions is “vain discussions.”

What are “vain discussions?” They can come in a variety of shapes. We probably jump immediately to the caricature of “how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” Of course the answer is as many as God wants. The deeper answers are simply “I don’t know” and “how does this effect how we are live?” But there are other vain discussions. When someone is arguing in bad faith that is a vain discussion. When they refuse to use words as commonly defined that is a vain discussion. You think you agree, but later on find out that yes means no to them. When you don’t care about the person you are talking to as an end, but only as a means to getting something else, maybe the good seats at the table. I’m sure you have had many vain discussions in your days.

How does the called and ordained servant of the word wind up there? By swerving from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith. The holders of the office can probably often come off overly earnest. But at the root of the entire office is being willing to look personally stupid because you are preaching one thing: Christ crucified and risen. And that is not a vain discussion where resurrection means some metaphor. If it’s a metaphor, to hell with it all. I want to know the power of His resurrection (Phil 3:10).

And what do those things allow one to do? To use the law correctly. The law isn’t for a people who do what is right. If you are doing what is right, you don’t need a law. The law is for us sinners. It is a curb. Those who are in temporal offices need to arrest and punish murderers. Their job is to protect sinners from the worst of each other. The law tells us that we need a savior. It is a mirror we can look in and see our rebellious and ungodly heart. And the law is a lamp to our feet. This is the way our savior trod. This is the glorious Good News. You have a savior, Jesus Christ. And these are the good works he has laid out in advance for us to walk in following his steps.

If the office is justifying jumping the curb or those who might level it. If it is refusing to hold up the mirror. If it puts the lamp under a bushel. You might be in vain discussion. The good shepherd is honest.

The Ask

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Biblical Text: Philemon 1-21, (Luke 14:25-35 as background)

The letter to Philemon is to me almost the proof of the entire bible. There is no way this letter survives without divine shepherding. And it carries the heart of the gospel in it. Faith that there is more than this. Faith that God will provide. The Love of the Saints. The centrality of the cross. How Christianity is not just a philosophy or a religion, but it is a confession that must be lived. How the living of that confession can deepen and is always unique. In the Sermon I use the phrase “The Ask.” If you’ve done sales, or leadership of any types, you know you eventually must get to the ask. Philemon is one story of the Gospel Ask. The promises are given. Are you willing to live them?

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Temporal Blessing of the Land

“The distinction between law and gospel is the highest art in Christendom.” – Martin Luther

When modern Lutherans have thought about Law and Gospel they have tended to do so in two ways. The first is as an individual. The law condemns me; the gospel proclaims my salvation. And that is fine…as far as it goes. The second way is more troubling. We have tended to put law and gospel in contradiction to each other. Because the law condemns me we label it “bad,” while the gospel is “good” because it saves me. And anytime someone brings up the law we dismiss it because we are free in the gospel. Those two ways of pondering the distinction of law and gospel have at least been debated. There are minority reports on the 20^th and 21^st century handling of this highest art which take them to task. There is a third part that just floats under the surface like an iceberg. Everything in law and gospel has been focused upon salvation. And don’t get me wrong, salvation is important. You might even say ultimate. But we are not taken immediately out of this world (John 17:15, 1 Cor 5:10). “How then shall we live” is important. And how we shall live together is also important.

The Old Testament lesson for this week (Deuteronomy 30:15-20) comes from Moses’ final words to Israel after 40 years in the wilderness before they take the promised land. Moses’ worlds are clear law. “If you obey the commandments of the LORD you God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules…”. There are some interesting distinctions made like the gradations in the law – commandments, statutes and rules – which we might think of as the moral law, the civil law and the kosher laws of religious cleanliness. But it is the law which demands that our hearts follow it, but that law has no ability within itself to compel hearts. Israel was always a stubborn and stiff-necked people, like all sinners. But the promise that is attached to this law is neither an individual promise nor a salvation promise. If you keep it…“you shall live and multiply, and the LORD will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.” The promise, at least this one of the law, is about the here and now, and it is more about the collective.

God in his grace is giving Isreal the land. That is the gospel. God promised that to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and God keeps his promises. Ultimately that gospel promise of the land is fulfilled in the New Jerusalem and the life of the world to come. But the law of God is good and wise. If the society one lives in is one that respects the 10 commandments (commandments), and if that society has civil laws that are both upheld and respected (statutes), and if that society has folk ways that are shared (rules), things will go better. That is not a promise of a rose garden for every individual, but collectively, that is a place where people can live. They are not worried every day about murder and theft and calumny. That is a place where people would desire to have children (multiply). That is a place where “the mandate of heaven” has fallenjoyfully – “the LORD will bless you.” These are not the blessings of the gospel which come to us by grace. No amount of doing these things earns us heaven. But the way the LORD has created this world, these things are part of that natural law.

Sin of course runs in us and we are always looking for ways to take advantage. If everyone else walks in those ways, but I defect from them, I can get all kinds of private benefits. But as everyone defects, it all falls apart. “If your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land.”

The law has no ability to enforce itself. But by grace God has given us the land. God has given us the world to come, and God has also given to us this place. He has both given us salvation and everything we need to support this body and life. And our lot has fallen in a blessed place. As Moses said to Israel, “choose life, that you and your offspring may live.” That you may live in eternity, but also that God might bless our native land and firm may she ever stand.

Will Few Be Saved?

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Biblical Text: : Luke 13:22-30

Questions can come from the variety of places. Especially questions like asking Jesus “will few be saved?” And in Jesus’ answer to the man I hear at least two different assumptions about the purpose of the question. This sermon is structured around a 2×2 box of motivation behind the question. Are you truly asking about others, or are you asking about yourself? And then are you optimistic about your chances or pessimistic? It explores each one of those purposes of asking and how Jesus’ answer addresses it.

Others/Optimistic = In line with many of the promises from Abraham to Revelation

Others/Pessimistic = Redirects away from the fate of others toward yourself. Are you walking the narrow way?

Self/Optimistic = The danger square. Many will say “Lord, Lord”

Self/Pessimistic = You, come up here. The call of the gospel. The last shall be first.

And it is that last one that meshes with its spacial or directional metaphor that meshes with the Old Testament lesson of the day (Isaiah 66:18-23). That last box is also what Lutheranism is really made to address. When you find yourself as Wednesday’s child, you are very near the heart of the gospel.

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Wisdom Lit

One thing Lutheranism has always struggled with is the life of the Christian after their justification. Luther opens this bottle of 100% grace. A proof that strong had not been tasted since Paul wrote to the Galatians. And it was a necessary slug. Christians were wandering around thinking that buying an indulgence would get them into heaven faster. They were praying to relics and saints when prayer is only for God. They were doing what they could and then trusting God for the rest. Never stopping to realize that what we could do without God was nothing. If I have to do it, the work is never done. But justification is God’s works. It is already done. I just need to believe it – faith alone.

The trouble soon manifests itself though. How then do I live? And Lutherans have tended to have two answers to this. The first answer is always a bit like the hippie-commie Acts 4 commune. They all sold everything and held everything in common (Acts 4:32). Live out of the freedom of the Gospel. And like hippies everywhere, they aren’t wrong, if we were living in the fullness of the Kingdom. Unfortunately the story of Ananias and Sapphira comes next which makes plain both our sinful natures and the grace with which we trifle when we give such answers.. Most Lutherans reintroduce the law, something called the third use, as the way that God intends us to live. And this is not wrong. The law is good and wise. The problem tends to be two-fold.

Reintroducing the law after having the 200 proof grace feels like the morning after 200 proof slugs. But the greater danger is that we end up as lawyers back arguing points of the law and looking for ways we contribute. And we lose the grace again. 200 proof watered down to traces.

Our epistle lesson for the day (Hebrews 12:4-24) – focusing on Hebrews 12:12-17 – addresses this problem as Wisdom Literature. Wisdom Literature has always been trouble for the strict Lutheran Law-Gospel thinking. Because wisdom does make demands. Live this way. “Lift up drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees (Hebrews 12:12).” It feels like the law. But unlike the 10 commandments which are equally applicable to everyone, Wisdom Literature is more guideposts. You are living in the freedom of the Gospel, but watch out for this. As this it is less law, but more gospel encouragement.

“Make straight paths for your feet.” That is biblical talk that if you are feeling tired of carrying the cross, if the discipline of the Father feels heavy, walk in clear ways. Simplify. Do that “so that what is lame many not be put out of joint but rather be healed (Hebrews 12:13).” As one who has been limping around for a few weeks because I refused straight paths and things in my feet were put out of joint, I get it. Not every day is spiritual training day. Learn to recognize your pains.

The wisdom from Hebrews 12:14-17 is a bit more complex. The tension in the communal Christian life is established between “strive for peace with everyone” and “and for holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” Striving for peace is easy if you forget about holiness. Just accept everything. But what that ends up doing is denying grace. Because the Christian walk is not about acceptance, but absolution. We all sinned and all have been forgiven. And that grace puts us on the path of holiness. If we are all walking that path together, but there is one who is walking not through grace, but because their sin has just been accepted, that is the “root of bitterness.” And I’ve seen this many times. The one denied grace realizes they are not walking the same path. And often calls attention to it. Those walking under grace will often turn and ask “what about that one?” The examples given are “the sexually immoral” and “Esau who sold his birthright for a single meal”. That root of bitterness in other places might be called a scandal or a stumbling block. There is a great difference between welcoming the repentant sinner, and accepting those who despise and ignore the gathering like Esau or live proud public immoral lives.

200 proof grace is strong enough to absolve any sin. The wisdom is in how to drink it.

The Alien Work

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Biblical Text: Luke 12:49-56

The Gospel lesson for the day often gets put in the “hard saying of Jesus”, but Jesus doesn’t think it belongs there. At least if I’m reading it correctly, he is amazed that we can read the times. And what are those times? They are times of division. The Word of God is proclaimed. That Word does not return empty. It accomplishes what it goes out for. But that purpose ends up being a division. The intention or desire of the Word is the proper work of God. God wishes to “help, save, comfort and defend” his people. But God has not created robots. We have the agency to reject the word. In which care that Word accomplishes the alien work of God. That alien work is the work of the outer darkness.

It is that division of the ages that is taking place today in this world. Christ did not come to bring peace to this world, but division. Because his proper work saves us from the devil’s kingdom. But many will reject that work and demand the alien work be applied to them. The peace comes when the work is completed. It’s a passage for us to understand this existence. To not give up hope. As long as there is breath the Word might accomplish its proper work. But we should not lose heart seeing division. The division is in fact proof of the power of that Word.

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