Text:  Deuteronomy 11:18-21, 26-28

Title:  The Blessing and the Curse.

Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun.  How many of you remember that little jingle from the McDonald’s commercial?  I was listening to an episode of Issues, Etc. recently, and did you know that more people remember that little jingle than the Ten Commandments?  It’s funny how people want the Ten Commandment posted in schools, courthouses, and public places, but why is it that very few people seem to know them?  And when people try to name them, the majority of the times, they remember things like “Thou shalt not kill,” and “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” but they keep forgetting the ones that speak of the Lord.  Those are first for a reason, you know.

But let’s just set the record straight right here and now: before this sermon gets started, we’re going to name all the commandments, and in the right order.  (1) You shall have no other gods before me.  (2) You shall not use the name of the Lord your God in vain.  (3) Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping holy.  (4) Honor your father and mother.  (5) You shall not murder.  (6) You shall not commit adultery.  (7)  You shall not steal.  (8) You shall not bear false witnesses.  (9) You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.  (10) You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.

So now we’ve gone over the Commandments.  We’re not going over the Big Mac song, though.  And I certainly hope that if someone does stop you on the street and ask you to recite the Commandments, you’ll be able to do what we did here together, and list all of them.  And while you're at it, give them the Catechism's explanation of them, too!

As our Scripture reading for this morning tells us, “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul” (v. 18).  This is what it means to be a disciple.  We hear that word all the time in Christian circles, discipleship.  And in the Gospels we read all the time about disciples.  Well, what is a disciple?  The Greek word literally means “learner” or “student”.  A disciple is someone who learns God’s Word.  That means someone who is constantly seeking to learn more from this Word right here.  Being a student of the Word is a lifetime endeavor.  You never graduate from this school.

So what kind of student are you?  Do you diligently study your Catechism and the Scriptures?  Do you diligently seek to keep putting this Word in your heart and in your mind?  And by the way, just so we’re clear, being a learner of God’s Word is a daily affair; it’s not just for Sunday mornings at 9:00am.  Yes, you should be here to hear the Word among this flock, but what about Monday through Saturday?  Are you a disciple then as well?

“And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes” (v. 18b).  This is an interesting bit of metaphor here.  The Jews took it seriously.  They would actually take little boxes and put copies of the Ten Commandments in them.  But I don’t think we need to go that far.  What this means – a sign on your hand and a frontlet between your eyes – is that God’s Word should thoroughly shape who you are.  As a sign on your forehead, it means it shapes the way you think about the world in which you live.  It constantly reminds you that God is in command.  It shapes the way you think about yourself – showing you that you are a sinner in need of redemption.  And it shapes the way you live your life – the sign on your hand.  It means that this Word demands your obedience.

And being a student of the Word, you are also responsible for teaching that Word.  The Word isn’t just for you; it’s for your children as well.  You parents, get ready, because you have a tremendous responsibility.  Yes, it is my job to instruct you, but according to the Scriptures, you are supposed to be teaching your little ones this Word as well.  You don’t have the luxury of waiting until they’re 13 or 14, and then having someone else do that for you.  The time for you to start teaching your children the Word is the day you bring them home from the hospital.

And look at when you’re supposed to teach them: when you’re at home, when you’re away from home, at night, in the daytime, sitting down, standing up, lying down, walking, running, jumping up and down, whatever it is you’re doing.  Like I said before, learning the Word is not just for church on Sunday Morning anymore.  Every moment of every day is an opportunity for you to instruct your children in the Word of God.  And, for that matter, a chance for you to learn that Word yourself.

“You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (v. 20).  In other words, the Word of God governs every aspect of your life.  It governs your home, your family, your entire household.  And also your business.  You don’t leave that Word here, or at home, but you take it out there to work and let it govern your work, your leisure time, your friendships, your entire life.

“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse:  the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today” (vv. 26f).  So you see how easy it is?  All you have to do is keep God’s Law, and He will fill your life with all sorts of rich blessings.  You believe that, right?

Well let me ask you this:  how many of you kept God’s Law today?  Or this week?  This month?  If you put your hand up, you better put it down now, because if you keep it up, you’re lying to yourself.  The Scripture says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”  Every single one of us in this room has failed to uphold God’s Law, and guess what that means: we’ve missed out on this promised blessing.

Instead, what we deserve is the curse He spoke of for disobeying His commands.  Every last one of us has failed to uphold the Lord’s Word in some way or another – maybe even in ways we’re not aware of.  We are all like that man who built his house on shifting sand, and when the storm came, lost everything.  We deserve nothing but death and punishment.

It makes me wonder, why in the world did the Lord even mention that blessing?  How in the world are we ever supposed to receive a blessing for keeping a Word that we fail to keep?  The answer to that question can be found in the very nature of the Word itself.  The Word doesn’t only reveal the Law that is impossible for us to uphold, but also the Gospel, the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ.

There has been only one human being on the face of this earth who has ever been able to keep God’s Law perfectly, and that’s Jesus.  And He kept that Law perfectly for us.  He did for us what we could not do for ourselves.  Out of His mercy, the Great Lawgiver of Heaven, the King of all creation, took upon Himself the burden of the Law.  And even though He was completely guiltless and innocent, He took upon Himself the guilty verdict that we deserved, and endured the curse of suffering and death.  He became a curse for us - as the Scriptures say, “Cursed is any man who hangs upon a tree” – and hung upon a tree for us.  And through the righteous blood He shed upon that cross, He paid the price for our weakness, our failures, our sin and rebellion.

That is why, despite our failure to keep it, we still uphold God’s Word.  Why?  Because it reveals to us our Lord Jesus Christ.  It shows us our need for redemption, and then points us to the one place where we can find it – Jesus.  This Word shows us how our God did for us what we could never do for ourselves.  It shows how He bore the curse for us, and how He grants us forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with our heavenly Father, and eternal life.  In the Law, we find that we have only the curse of death and damnation; only in Christ do we find the promised blessings of God.

And by this Word, we are placed into Christ.  And that is why we continue to uphold this Word: it places us into Christ, joins us to Him, and works faith in us to trust in Him for the gift of eternal life.

So let me urge you, cling to this Word.  Yes, even these Ten Commandments, that bring us so painfully face-to-face with the horrid, ugly, nasty evil that infects our souls.  We need to see ourselves as the sinners we truly are, so that we will all the more boldly cling to the cross of our loving Savior, who fulfills that Law for us by His own innocent bitter suffering and death.

But this Law does more than just condemn our sin.  It also shows us the perfect nature of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He perfectly loved His heavenly Father, and kept all His commands.  He perfectly loved all of us that He was willing to suffer and die to save us.

And in Christ, we can also now love our heavenly Father and uphold His Word, and in Christ, we can reach out in love to our neighbors and serve their needs.  In Christ, we can be the righteous people God created us to be under His mercy.  In Christ, we can uphold these Ten Commandments, not because we can keep them perfectly, but because we know that Christ has fulfilled them for us, doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.  Let us build our house upon the solid Rock that is Jesus Christ.  Let us hold fast to this Word and allow Christ to fulfill these Commandments within us as well.

A little back-story:  Moses tasked with leading the Children of Israel through the wilderness, as they await the time when they will inherit the Land the Lord had prepared for the.

But the Israelites were a stubborn, stiff-necked people.  Often did not listen to him, often did not trust him, often challenged his authority, and yet, they always turned to him to solve all their problems and settle all their arguments and disputes.

On one occasion, Moses had become so frustrated with trying to govern the people, he shared with his father-in-law, Jethro, all the difficulties he had as the leader of Israel.  And Jethro told him to select 72 elders, men who were respectable and trustworthy, and delegate some of his responsibilities to them.

And that seemed to work, for a time.  But then, as time went on, people once again began to blame Moses for all their problems, and expected him to be responsible for all of their needs.

And on this occasion, the people were once again complaining about food, as they so often did in their desert wonderings.  The Lord God was already providing them with manna – bread from heaven – but it wasn’t enough.  They were craving other food, and so they began to turn against Moses once again.

So the Lord instructs Moses: he tells him to gather those 70 elders and take them into the Tabernacle, saying that He would imbue those elders with the same Spirit given to Moses.  And through this Holy Spirit, God would instruct these elders in wisdom and truth, and would declare righteous judgments to the people of Israel.  In other words, through these men gifted with the Holy Spirit, He would send His Word to rule His people.

So it was on account of those unruly Israelites, who in their unbelief began to despise God’s caring provision for them – His gift of the manna from heaven – despising God’s Law and His Lawgiver, and plaguing him with all manner of troubles.

But while it might be easy for us to pass judgment on those Israelites, let us be careful.  Because, when you get right down to it, we really aren’t that different from them.  They were unsatisfied with what God had provided them.  Do we ever find ourselves dissatisfied with the tender mercies of our Lord?  Do we ever find ourselves discontent and desiring more?  And in our desire for more, do we find ourselves failing to give thanks to Him for what He has provide for us?

Don’t get me wrong, wanting good things is not in itself a sin.  But if we let that desire cause us to become discontented, or to forget to give thanks to our God, then it most certainly is sin – idolatry and greed.  And what if we let that desire cause us to ignore or neglect the Lord’s mercy toward us?  What if, like the Israelites, we find ourselves desiring the things of this world, that we forget, or even begin to despise, what the Lord has already given us?  For example, the ministry of His Word.

And just as the Lord had set Moses to govern those people, He has also given us His Law to govern our lives as well.  But how often do we break that Law?  How often do we ignore the demands of that Law and think that we’re better off without it?

And when things were not going as the people thought they should, who did they blame?  Moses.  Do you ever find yourself blaming others when things aren’t going your way?  Or even blaming God?  Let’s face it: as much as the people were grumbling against Moses, who were they really grumbling against?  And when we grumble against our circumstances, who are we really grumbling against?  When we follow our sinful desires and reject what is good, who are we really rejecting?  And when we do wrong and commit sin, who are we sinning against?

In that situation, I can’t help but feel that God had every right to be frustrated with the people.  And yet, did God send forth plagues and fireballs to completely destroy them?  No.  Instead, He tells Moses to select men who will govern the people.  Instead of giving the people what they deserved, He instead gives them what they need, namely wise rulers who would govern them and lead them.

But these rulers – these elders of Israel – were not merely to be men of great wisdom and learning and patience – in fact, I have to wonder how wise they were.  They had already been appointed leaders of Israel, but during this time of great conflict, where were they?  I can’t help but think that, wise as they were, they were imperfect, fallen sinners, just like the rest of the people.  So, in order to govern God’s people, they needed something more.  They needed to be divinely empowered so that they could overcome their own shortcomings and be the kind of men God was calling them to be.  They needed wisdom from the Lord that transcended the wisdom they knew.  God had to grant them the wisdom and power and authority they needed to be the kind of leaders who could govern Israel.  Because on their own, these elders might have been good politicians, or even decent leaders – given their previous failures, probably not great – but to be godly rulers, equipped to rule God’s people, they needed God’s wisdom and God’s power to rule their own lives and equip them in their vocations as the shepherds of His flock.

And so, the Lord has Moses gather these 70 elders in the Tabernacle, and there He puts within all of them His Holy Spirit, His own Presence, His own Breath of Life, filling them with His wisdom and granting them His strength to serve His people. God was going to be ruling through them by His Spirit.

Do you remember the Explanation of the Lord’s Prayer?  “Thy kingdom come”?  How does God’s kingdom come?

God's kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.

This was exactly what was happening here.  God’s Holy Spirit had come, and by His grace, He was ruling over the hearts and minds of these 70 men, and using them, He would rule over all Israel by His Word.  When they opened their mouths to speak, it was God who was speaking.  When they commanded the people, it was God who was doing the commanding.  When they declared righteous judgment in disputes, it was God who was presiding over the cases.

Now, let’s think about this for a moment: has the Lord appointed someone here to lead you in the same way he appointed elders to rule Israel?  Someone whom He has gifted by His Spirit to guide you?  Has he sent someone here that, when he speaks the Word of God, it is God Himself who speaks?  That when he says, “I forgive your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” he actually brings you forgiveness of sins?  And when he proclaims the Word of Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead, Jesus comes out of his mouth, and goes right into your ear, granting you forgiveness, cleansing, and new life in Christ?

But in order for this servant of the Word of God to be the kind of leader you need him to be, he needs the Holy Spirit to rule over his heart and mind as well.  He is, after all, a sinner, a fallen, imperfect, and broken human being.  And that is why you need to pray for your pastor, that the Holy Spirit will instruct him and guide him in all truth, and that the words that come out of his mouth are the words of Christ, that they always point to the crucified Savior, who alone is able to forgive sins and grant eternal life.

But, as these elders are gathered in the Tabernacle, something unusual happens.  There appear to have been two elders who, for whatever reason, didn’t show up at the meeting.  Maybe they were out trying to take care of some problems among the people.  Or maybe they were just running late.  But whatever the reason, God anointed them with His Spirit as well, and right there in the camp, among the people, they began to prophesy, to speak divinely inspired words from God Himself!

It would seem from this passage, that God’s Spirit is not limited to the Tabernacle, that, while it is great to have a sacred space and a sacred time for the Word of God to be proclaimed, that Word is not bound by that place or time, but rather transcends it.  The same is true of God’s Word today.  Yes, it is good and right that you hear it proclaimed here and now, in this sacred place and at this sacred time, but that Word belongs out there too.  Remember that old orange juice commercial, “It isn’t just for breakfast anymore”?  Well, God’s Word isn’t just for Sunday morning at church anymore.

And then we have this odd exchange between Joshua and Moses.  Joshua, not really understanding what is taking place, thinks that it is wrong for these two men to be gifted with the same Holy Spirit that was given to the other 70 elders.  And he complains to Moses about it.  And Moses responds, “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”

Well, guess what, people:  that same Holy Spirit that Moses was granted, that was also granted to those 70 elders of Israel, that was granted to those two men in the camp, is the same Holy Spirit that was granted to you and me when we were baptized into Jesus’ name.  We also have Him to rule our hearts and minds, and to make us men and women of God.  We also have His Word, and if we let Him open our mouths for us, we too can speak the Word of the Lord to this world that needs to hear it.  Like those two men, we can carry that Word out into the public sphere and boldly share it among those who do not have it.

And what is that Word that the Holy Spirit would have us speak?  It is the same Word that He revealed to us: the Word of Christ crucified and risen from the dead.  The Word that, even though we were dead in our sins, Jesus Christ demonstrated His love for us by dying for us.  And that on account of this Lord Jesus Christ, we now have forgiveness of sins, and new life in Him.  This same Jesus Christ, who suffered and died for us, rose again from the grave, and is now seated at the Father’s right hand, ruling over all creation.  And this same Jesus Christ has promised that He will be with us, even to the very end of the age, by sending us His Holy Spirit.  This Holy Spirit continues to open our eyes to see this Jesus Christ, and to open our ears so we can hear His voice calling us and leading us, and to open our mouths so we can speak His Word.

This is why we celebrate Pentecost: because our Lord Jesus Christ has not left us alone and without guidance in this life.  He has indeed sent us His Holy Spirit to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, to rule our hearts and minds, and to sanctify us to be His people.  Amazing how that works: the Son sends the Spirit, and the Spirit reveals the Son.  And this Spirit has indeed been poured out on us – we have this promise by virtue of our Baptism.  And this Holy Spirit has made us into His messengers, and through us, brings forth the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ into this fallen, sinful world.

This Pentecost Day, the Lord fill your heart and mind with His wisdom to rule over you by His mercy, and your mouth with His Word to proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of the darkness into His kingdom of light.

Before He departs into the heavens to sit at the Father’s right hand, He gives His disciples some instructions.  He tells them, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (v. 8).

Essentially, this is the same command we see Him give in Matthew 28: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

This is the task of the Church on earth: to make disciples, or, as it says in our text, to be witnesses.  There is a fancy word for that: evangelism.

Within recent years, there has been a great deal of talk about evangelism, and I think there are a lot of very strange ideas about what it is and how to go about doing it  So let me clear that up once and for all right now.  Evangelism is not about fancy marketing schemes or strategies.  It’s not about promoting your church, and trying to get people to sit in your pews – or theater seats, as the case may be.  Evangelism isn’t about trying to reinvent the church’s image, to be hip and new so we can bring in new customers.  Evangelism is not revamping our worship service to make it “seeker-sensitive”, or “consumer-friendly.”

Evangelism is Good News; it’s all about the cross.  Evangelism is nothing more and nothing less than the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ being applied cross to people’s lives.  And being a witness means nothing more than pointing people to that cross, and showing them where it can be found.

And where can the cross of Jesus Christ be found?  Right here.  You’re right in the middle of it right now, in this time, and in this place.  Jesus Christ is found in this Word, read from that lectern and proclaimed from this pulpit.  Jesus Christ is found in that font, when those waters are used to baptize a child – or an adult.  Jesus Chrsit is right there on that altar, and later we will eat Him and drink Him in that bread and wine that you eat and drink.  This is the place where Jesus is to be found.  And let me tell you, that’s something to get excited about!

So why is it that we’re not bringing in the huge multitudes of people so they can see Jesus here?  Why aren’t we as excited to bring them in?  Perhaps it is because we don’t always see Him here as clearly as we should.

In our Scripture for today, the disciples stood watching as the Lord Jesus was taken from their sight.  After forty days of being with them, instructing them and preparing them, He was gone.  Christ was no longer in their sight.  No longer would He walk among them in the flesh.  And from that point forward, they would have to learn to walk by faith, rather than by sight.  He was no longer visible among them, but still, they had to learn to trust Him, relying on His promise that, yes, He was indeed with them.

We also do not always see clearly His presence.  We do not always recognize His work among us, or even within us.  Whenever I open this book, Jesus doesn’t pop out of it and stand right there for us all to see.  When someone is baptized, we do not see Jesus walk up to that person, take out a Sharpie, and write “Property of Jesus” on their forehead.  When we gather around this altar, we don’t see Jesus laying up on it, laying on a platter, waiting for us to carve Him up like a turkey, and we don’t taste His flesh and blood present in the bread and wine.  But guess what: He is here.  In His Word, He is present among us.  When I open my mouth up here, Jesus come out of it, and goes right into your ear.  In Baptism, He is writing His name on you, and making you one of His children.  In the Holy Supper, He is feeding you Himself.  It may not look that way, but it most certainly is doing all of these things.  It is we who lack the ability to see Him.

And because we do not see Him clearly, we are often tempted to doubt His work.  We know He has given us a mission to carry out.  But when we do not trust Him to do that work Himself, we may start to think that we have to figure out how to make it happen.  We might start to think like all those church growth gurus, and think we need to invent new hip worship styles, or concoct fancy marketing schemes, or implement flashy programs – er, excuse me, not programs – Movements.  All to try to bring in the customers.  All the while, relying on our own intuition and strength, and not trusting Christ’s power to do the work that needs to be done.  It is Christ who makes disciples, and He has made it very clear: He does His disciple-making through the ministry of Word and Sacrament.  We are commanded to make disciples, not by fancy programs or slick stylish worship, but by baptizing people in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and by teaching them His Word.  That is how Jesus makes disciples, and that’s exactly how we are going to do things here.

But, something just as bad as relying on ourselves, we might begin to doubt that Christ can use us to carry out His mission.  We become timid about sharing our faith, because we look at our inadequacies, rather than trusting in His power.  We think that no one will want to listen to us, fearing rejection.  Or we think we’re not clever enough, or articulate enough to communicate the Lord’s Word.  In the end, when we fail to act as Christ’s witnesses, we are not trusting His Word to do what He promised it would.  We are actually doubting Him, not ourselves.

“The Word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.”  Are you trusting in the power of that Word to forgive your sins, to grant you eternal life?  And are you trusting in the power of that Word to bring forgiveness and new life to people that you come in contact with on a daily basis?  If you trust it for yourself, why not for others?

After all, this is the same Word that, when He spoke to the darkness, “Let there be light,” became light.  This is the same Word that, when He spoke it to a raging storm, “Peace, be still”, it became silent.  This is the same Word that, when He spoke it to a dead and rotting corpse, “Lazarus, come forth!” it stood up, and walked out of the tomb.  The same Word that said to you this morning, “Your sins are forgiven”, and caused your sins to be washed away.  Knowing the power His Word has, why do we doubt that it can make disciples out of that brother who hasn’t been to church in ages?  Or that neighbor across the street whose mother is sick?  Or that guy at work who parties too much?  Or that lady at the grocery store checkout counter who’s having a rough day?  Christ’s Word has power, power that does not depend at all on you, except that you open your mouth and speak it.  “God demonstrated His love for you in this: while you are yet a sinner, Christ died for you.”  That’s all you got to say.  “Christ died for you.”

Now, how do we know this power of Jesus’ Word works?  Because He has promised to be with us always, even to the very end of the age.  As he said in our reading for today, “for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (v. 5).  The apostles will receive that gift next week, when we celebrate Pentecost, but you and I have that gift already in Baptism.  No, we may not all of us see the wild miraculous gifts that the apostles demonstrated in their time – some of us might, but not all of us – but nevertheless, we have that promise: the same Holy Spirit given to Jesus in His Baptism has now been given to us.

And what does this Holy Spirit do for us?  We can sum up His work in us with 3 E’s.  (1) He enables us to trust in the Word of Christ.  (2)  He empowers us to speak the Words of Christ.  Remember in v. 8, where He says we will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on us, and then tells us we will be witnesses?  That’s the power of the Holy Spirit, empowering us to speak the Word of Christ.  And (3), He equips us to serve our neighbor.  It’s amazing; you’d be surprised how people are more receptive to hearing what you have to say when you’re doing something to help them in their time of need.  Don’t get me wrong, you help your neighbor because it’s the right thing to do.  But, you can also use it as an opportunity to share Christ’s Word with them.  Maybe showing how Christ served us, even as you are serving them.

And as the apostles are looking into the heavens, where they’ve just seen Jesus taken, it says that two men in white garments appeared to them to give them one final message.  And oddly enough, if you look around, you might see one of those here today, a messenger clothed in white garments sent with a message to you.  Just one, though.

And their message to the disciples:  “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (v. 11).  And that is the same message I say to you now.  We don’t have to gaze into the heavens to try to see Jesus; we know He is at work here today, in His Word, in His Sacraments, in His Holy Spirit that He has granted us.  We know that He is with us, even to the end of the age.  But now, we know the rest of the story.  And that is, He is coming back.  We have no need to fear the winds of this world, the slings and arrows our enemies will hurl at us.  We have no need to fear what man can do to us, or what man may think of us.  We have the promise of Christ.  He is with us today – making disciples of all of us by speaking to us His Word, and later by feeding us His body and blood.  And He works through us to carry His Word beyond these doors to seek out other sinners needing to be made into disciples.  And this Lord is coming back, to raise us from the dead, just as He Himself was raised, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father, and we too shall live and reign with Him to all eternity.

But in the mean time, He has given us a job to do.  So let’s get out there and do it.

“All religions are basically the same.”  Or at least that’s what Oprah Winfrey would have you to believe.  According to her, what you and I might call “God” or “Jesus”, other people might call “the Inner Light” or “Buddha” or “the Great Spirit.”

We live in a culture that honors all religious tastes and preferences; you’re perfectly free to worship whatever god you want, just don’t go around telling other people that they need to worship your god.  Because we’re all on the same path anyway.

There’s an ancient Roman proverb: “To the masses, all religions are equally true; to the philosophers, they are equally false; and to the politicians, they are all equally useful.”  And if you don’t believe that, just listen to Bill Clinton’s speech at the Southern Baptist Convention, or to Baruk Obama’s “sermon” at the United Church of Christ conference a few months back.  These men, for different reasons, are essentially using their religious affiliations to promote their own politics, and neither one of them believes in any kind of absolute truth.  Except, maybe, for their own perspective.

That was the religious climate that St. Paul found himself in when he arrived in the great city of Athens, a city dedicated to Athena, the goddess of wisdom.  And there, on the city’s acropolis, you could see the mighty temple of the Virgin Goddess overlooking the city, surrounded by temples to various other gods and goddesses.  And in the shadow of that mighty Temple of Wisdom, stood the Areopagus, or Ares Hill, dedicated to the god of war, whom we might know by the name, Mars.  And it was on this hill that the great philosophers of the ages used to gather and discuss their varying worldviews and ideologies – all in the name of Wisdom.  The great names like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Diogenes, Epicurus – great minds of history – all used to gather in that place, questioning the status quo, and expounding on great truths of life.

And it was here, among these many voices of reason and logic, that St. Paul spoke the Word of God – the Word given to him not by human reasoning or deduction, but by the Holy Spirit.  The Word that would become foolishness and a stumbling block to the great minds gathered in that place.  That Word was the Word of the Cross of Jesus Christ.

Now, among all these philosophers that were there during that time, this message of St. Paul’s was just one more among many.  And though they considered him crazy, they decided that, in the spirit of the pluralism of the day, they would give him a fair hearing.  And St. Paul took that opportunity and addressed this gathering of philosophers.  And what was his message?  In a nutshell, “You need to turn away from these idols and embrace the true and living God, the one who was crucified and rose again from the dead.”

I wholeheartedly agree that, when we are given an opportunity to engage the world in discussion of our faith, we absolutely need to take it.  But when we do, we need to follow St. Paul’s example, and not simply validate the religious ideals of the others, but rather, as he did, call for repentance, exhort them to turn from their false gods, and follow instead the one true God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified and raised from the dead.  And our message must be clear: there is no hope apart from this Lord Jesus Christ.

I sometimes wonder if we Christians are too lax in our understanding of just how exclusive our Lord calls us to be.  We are not at liberty to allow the message of the cross to be watered down, or distorted, or transmitted in any way that does not clearly point to our Lord Jesus Christ, His suffering and death, and His resurrection.

I don’t think there are any of us here today that would validate any obvious idolatry.  I don’t think any of us here would seriously consider bowing down to some statue of a pagan god, or tell someone that it’s okay to pray to some other god.  But what about when it comes to the idols of the modern church?  Are there any idols that we modern Christians sometimes exalt in place of our crucified Savior?  Are there any false gods that we sometimes worship and exalt?  And are we entirely free to validate these false ideals, and not call to repentance those who bow to them?

You’ve heard me say it before, and I will say it again now:  Theology matters, people.  St. Paul warned us that there will come a time when there will be those who do not endure sound teaching, but will instead gather to themselves teachers who tell them what their itching ears long to hear.  So when you hear someone tell you, “Oh, doctrine doesn’t matter!  These doctrinal issues that divide the church are not important!”, don’t you believe them.  Doctrine was important enough in St. Paul’s day that he actually says, “Have nothing to do with them!”

Which brings me to the first idol I want to speak about, and that’s the idol of good works.  Oh, yeah.  The Reformation was nearly 500 years ago, but guess what!  The Roman heresy – the belief that God only cares about good works – is still around.  And not just with the Pope and his cronies.  These days, the Pelagian heresy is still lurking around, only these days it goes by the name of “Purpose Driven.”  Yes, I am saying that the Purpose Driven Church is an idol.  I have to confess, at one time I was very positive toward this movement – I thought there were a lot of good ideas in it.  But I have since come to realize that all it does is make the business of church depend on us, our deeds.  And that is not the way Christ grows His church.  He grows His church the same way He told His disciples to do it in Matthew 28:  Go and make disciples by baptizing them into My name, and by teaching them to observe all my commands.  Word and Sacrament ministry.  And I thank God that Jim Roberts convinced me instead to study our Confessions, because now I have come to realize just how dangerous it is for us to shift our focus away from the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to dilute the teachings of His gospel with this man-made purpose-driven stuff.  I don’t need to be preaching purpose – I need to be preaching Christ, and Christ alone!  Christ crucified and risen from the dead!

So that’s Idol Number One: Purpose.  Idol Number Two is Marketing.  I’ve been reading a lot lately about Missions, and some of the latest fads and techniques that some pastors are using to “reach the lost” as they call it.  And quite frankly, some of it is downright silly.  One church in St. Louis spent $30,000 dollars for billboards that all say, “Jefferson Hills Church Sucks! – signed Satan.”  Another church in Florida was stirring things up by having a 30-day sex challenge.  There are other ones I’ve heard about, but they all seem to have this one thing in common: the idea of promoting their church in bizarre, attention-seeking ways.  But I have to ask one question of all these market-driven churches: what do you have to say about Jesus?  Why aren’t you trying to promote Him instead of all this other crazy stuff?  What people need isn’t a better sex life; what they need is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Idol Number Three is syncretism.  That’s the belief that you can safely blend elements of different religious beliefs together without distorting the Christian message.  I spoke before about Oprah Winfrey’s pluralistic beliefs?  Well, knowing what you know about Oprah’s belief that all gods are equally valid, would you feel comfortable attending one of her church’s worship services?  Would you allow her to pray for you, knowing that her “god” is nothing more than her “inner light”?  I would certainly hope not!  But then, why is it that we are so willing to engage in similar activities with Christians whose beliefs are contrary to our own?  Why is it that some of us want to open up our Synod’s Communion tables to all comers, knowing full well that many of them openly deny our belief in the Sacrament?  Why are we so willing to validate our fellow Christians in their unbelief, when they are often so quick to deny the faith that we hold?  Now, I’m not saying that other Christians aren’t truly Christian, but I am saying that before we just start doing what they do, we need to make sure we’re clear on what we believe, why we believe it, and whether or not what they’re doing fits in with what we believe?  If not, then it is not appropriate for us to do.

I’ll give you an example: a couple of years ago, I was sent on a retreat called the Emmaus Walk.  At the time I accepted the invitation, I thought it would be a great thing.  But when I got there, I found myself confronted with a few problems: for one thing, Communion was an important part of this retreat, but unfortunately, they do not confess the same things we do about the Sacrament, and so I had to refrain from taking it.  It did cause me no little grief, but I could not in good conscience partake of their Sacrament knowing the false doctrine they were teaching of it.  And the same is true of all of you as well: first of all, I wouldn’t encourage any of you to partake in a non-Lutheran group anyway, but if you do, at the very least, make sure they openly confess the True Presence before you do.  Otherwise, you will be going against the teachings of our own church.

Unity in the church is a good thing, but not at the expense of sound doctrine.  Given the choice, I certainly hope that you all would prefer to have sound doctrine over the false unity sometimes professed by our well-meaning but somewhat mislead brothers in Christ.

And so, there you are: three idols that confront our modern church – (1) this whole Purpose-Driven thing, (2) modern “anything goes” marketing, and (3) false unity.  And why are these idols so dangerous to us?  Because they distract us from following Christ.  The purpose-driven approach makes us focus on ourselves instead of on the Savior who died for us and rose again from the dead.  All this emphasis on wild marketing schemes makes us think that we’re the ones who grow God’s kingdom, rather than trusting Christ to do what He has promised for His Church through the ministry of Word and Sacrament.  And this heavy emphasis on Christian unity severely downplays the importance of sound Christian doctrine in the life of the believer and of the Church.

But we are charged with addressing the culture around us.  And we are charged with bringing God’s Word – the Word of the Cross – to bear in this culture, to challenge sin and to bring repentance and forgiveness through the Word of Christ.  We are not at liberty to water down the message of the Gospel, but neither are we at liberty to remain silent in proclaiming it.

We all have embraced idols in our lives; we all have practiced idolatry of one form or another, whether it be in church, or in our daily lives, or even in the privacy of our own homes.  But the Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified and raised from the dead, has now called us away from all these idols.  It is He who rescues us from darkness and brings us into light, who comes to us in our ignorance and becomes for us divine wisdom.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has given us a task – of making disciples of all the nations.  But it is not for us to decide when or how we get to make those disciples.  We aren’t the ones who have to figure out how to do it.  He has already told us: it is by the ministry of Word and Sacrament that disciples are made.  It is not deeds that make us disciples, nor is it fancy marketing schemes, nor is it accommodating every religious belief under the sun.  No, it is God’s Word and His Sacraments that make us His disciples, and it is these means that He has given us that we are to make disciples of the rest of the world.

To say the least, my attitude toward so-called "contemporary worship" turned sour.  I especially despised how everyone kept telling me how spiritual it was, and how the new generation (of which I was one) was so drawn to it (even though it failed to draw me anymore).

Basically, I saw it happening all over the place, including the church I was attending at the time.  A small group would come it, usually with the support of the pastor, and they'd start pushing for more contemporary worship.  And anyone who didn't immediately jump on board with their program (excuse me, I mean "movement") was labeled a Pharisee.

But lately, after nearly 15 years, I'm starting to see the exact same trend happening again.  Tried and true methods of sound teaching and traditional hymnody are being overthrown in favor of newer and flashier programs and marketing schemes.  Only this time, it's the very Synod I fled to in order to escape that mess that is now pushing it onto me.

And, of course, they're using the exact same arguments that the Baptists and Campbellites used 15 years ago.

And sure enough, while those of us who are more grounded in the sound teachings of Scripture are questioning the false assumptions behind this new drive, sure enough, one of its proponents brings out the old name-calling routine again, and albeit subtly, essentially equates us with Pharisees.  And not just Pharisees, but with the Papists of the Reformation period.

This time, though, I had a response to the charge.

You see, the modern church movers and shakers completely misunderstand the conflict between the Pharisees and Jesus.  They make the error of characterizing the disagreement as primarily being the Old paradigm vs. the New paradigm.  As such, they characterize the Pharisees as being the champions of orthodoxy, and Jesus being the one who was challenging their stale old orthodoxy with something fresh and new.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

The real crux of the conflict between the Pharisees and Jesus was not about the Old vs. the New.  It was about human authority vs. divine authority.

You see, the Pharisees practiced a religion that while established in the ancient teachings of Judaism in the Old Testament, was not actually based on Scripture.  Instead, they had supplanted the teachings of the Torah with their own man-made traditions.  They had attempted to hold themselves and others to a standard higher than that found in Scripture, and as a result, ended up contradicting the Scriptures in numerous places.

Far from introducing a new teaching, Jesus was in actuality trying to restore the true faith of the Torah, with he himself the central subject of that Torah (after all, the Law and the Prophets all pointed to Him).  It was Jesus who was the true Defender of Orthodoxy over and against the Innovations of the Pharisees.

Furthermore, Jesus clearly taught that it was He Himself who alone had the power to save; man could not save himself, nor could he earn God's favor by keeping a huge stack of laws, especially when those laws were of human origin rather than being the commands of God.  Jesus' clear teaching is that all authority belongs to Him, not to men (except where He grants it in accordance with His Word).

Now, if we fast-forward to the Reformation, once again, we see that the chief question is not the Old vs. the New.  It was a question of authority.  The Roman Church was not the Defender of the Old Orthodoxy; rather the Roman Church had long departed the Old Orthodoxy and had replaced it with their heresies of works salvation, veneration of the saints, and the supremacy of the papacy.  Martin Luther was not trying to introduce some new innovative teaching to the Church; he was merely trying to recover the ancient Orthodoxy of the early Church.  It was Rome's heresies that were new; Luther's teachings were only those of the ancient Christians.

And what was Luther's Orthodoxy?  Salvation is in Christ alone, by grace alone through faith alone, revealed in Scripture alone.  The ultimate authority is divine, not human, and the true Christian faith is distinctly Christ-centered and cross-focused, not man-centered or works focused.

Now let us fast-forward again, and let us ask ourselves: are the defenders of the old Orthodoxy the real Pharisees?  Let's take a look, shall we?

The contemporary church, at least it seems to me, is mostly market-centered.  Its main thrust seems to be that God's Word needs help in getting out.  Of course, what is meant by this is not so much that Christians take the Word with them in their daily vocations, but rather that changes need to be made to the worship service in order to accommodate seekers (or, as I observe, "customers").  Not only that, but in order to get those seekers into the worship service, it is necessary to implement purpose-driven teachings in order to get the people active and involved.  But while laity being active and involved is a good thing, the problem with the purpose-driven paradigm is that it makes the work of the kingdom distinctly centered around human activity rather than Word and Sacrament ministry, the means by which Christ makes His disciples.*

Not only that, but a brief perusal of the most popular books seems to reveal a distinct trend: management and leadership models used in business are the books typically employed by pastors to shape their ministry.

Meanwhile, those of us who defend the old Orthodoxy keep trying to tell people: "It's not about you, or what you do for God.  It's about Christ and what He does for His Church."  Instead of pushing new and innovative business models, we preach Christ crucified and risen from the dead.  Instead of changing our worship to draw in customers, we seek instead to faithfully proclaim the Gospel and administer the Sacraments according the Christ's Word.  To us, evangelism isn't a marketing strategy designed to bring in more pew-sitters – it's the cross of Jesus Christ applied to people's lives by the Word of the Gospel.  In short, our message and our methods are distinctly Christ-centered and cross-focused.

So, who is the real Pharisee in this equation?  Whose teachings and methodology are more in line with those of 16^th century Rome?  Is it not those who push man-made teachings and man-centered methodologies, who rely on modern leadership paradigms and flashy marketing strategies?

And who is it that is really on Jesus' side?  Who is it that trusts in, not just the authority, but also the power of His Word?  Who is it that stands side-by-side with Luther and the Reformers and points squarely at the cross on which our Lord died?  Is it not those who continue to put forth the orthodox faith as taught by Scripture, and methods that point all attention straight to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world?  Is it not we who realize that it is the Word and the Sacraments that Jesus commanded us to use to make disciples, not man-made teachings and programs?

The Word of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18).

* Please note:  the Great Commission should rightly read, "Make disciples by baptizing them and teaching them."  Most modern translations downplay the participles of means and simply treat them as subordinate verbs.

[

mood

|

sad

]

Once upon a time, there was a student at a Christian college who felt an intense desire to serve God in holy ministry.  He had enrolled in college for the purpose of learning God’s Word and preparing for that service.

He was a Baptist, a member of a rather traditional congregation at which the pastor had begun to introduce elements of contemporary worship.  This pastor had been highly influential in this student’s life, being the first person to take an interest in his spiritual development, and taking the time to instruct him in God’s Word personally.

While at this Christian college, this student began to learn about history and theology.  Under the guidance of a few rare pious scholars, he began questioning the faith in which he had been raised.  At the same time, influenced by his pastor and his fellow students, he began to embrace contemporary worship, and even to see it at God’s way of reshaping the modern church.

However, as he began to question some of the assumptions of his religious background, this student also began applying some of those same questions to the faith he had begun to gravitate toward.  He began to see the underlying assumptions to contemporary worship to be founded on faulty human reasoning.  He began to discover that the contemporary worship he had come to love was empty and hollow due to its lack of theological content.

Meanwhile, at his church, the pastor had gradually shifted his preaching from that centered on Christ and the cross, and had begun preaching an agenda firmly rooted in the contemporary tradition.  Eventually, this failure to keep Christ central led to a split within that Baptist church.

Now, did that pastor realize he had shifted his emphasis from the Gospel of Christ alone?  Of course not!  Nevertheless, it had happened.  He was convinced that what he was preaching was God's will, but in reality, he had begun preaching his own agenda.

But back to our student.  He was already questioning both the faith he had been raised with and the faith that was being proffered to him by his pastor.  He could not in good conscience hold to either anymore, nor could he remain in fellowship with either faction within his church.  In desperation, he turned to his studies of history and theology, hoping to find some way out of his predicament.

He began to see a clearer picture of the Sacraments as they were taught in Scripture.  At the same time, he found himself longing for worship founded not on style (either traditional or contemporary), but founded on sound theology.  He found himself longing for a church that was both solidly biblical in its proclamation and distinctly sacramental, one that did not merely entertain him with fluff and feelings, but rather ministered to his whole person, including his mind.

Then, one day, he decided to attend a Lutheran church of the Missouri Synod.  And he suddenly found himself home.

Now I realize my story and my circumstances and motives are unique to me.  Yet I cannot help but feel that there are others out there like me, who are not easily impressed with fluff and frills, but who are longing ever so much for substance, who would prefer meat to cotton candy.

This is the Synod that drew me in nearly 12 years ago, the Synod I dearly love and long to see grow.

My fear is, however, that the cancellation of Issues, Etc. shows a distinct trend toward the contemporary theology and methodology (and yes, the two are intimately connected) that drove me away from my previous denomination.  I can't help but feel this is exactly what had happened before.

We will never be able to compete with the Baptists – at least not on their terms.  They have to bucks, they have the profile – on the surface, they have everything, from a worldly perspective, that you need to make a church grow (assuming you’re the one growing it, and not Christ Himself).  If we’re trying to compete with them on their terms, we will lose.  How does Marc put it – “You can’t out-Baptist the Baptists”?

But perhaps what we really need to be doing is offering what the Baptists don’t have – a theology and a worship that is firmly grounded in the Word of God and the faithful administration of His Sacraments, a historic Christian faith.  There are plenty of Tom Wrights out there that are looking for these very things.  And if they can’t get them from us, where else can they turn?