Happy Thanksgiving!

Sermon notes for Thanksgiving 2011


The foundation of Thanksgiving is remembering what God has done for us, especially through His Son Jesus.  But so often it seems that what we build on that foundation is not particularly thankful.  Instead, we're picky, worried, anxious, judgmental, critical and impatient.  Sometimes these have to do with the way we feel, but more often than not they have to do with the focus of our attention.


Toward the end of his letter to the Philippians Saint Paul writes, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things."  (Philippians 4:8 NIV)


Wow!  This is different than what I usually hear from people, but I think it points us toward thankfulness pretty well.  Listen to his words again:


Think about whatever is true - how much time do you spend fretting about things that may or may not come to pass, the opinions of others, speculations and musings and wonderings?  And where do these get you?  Into worry and anxiety about the future.  How much better would it be to spend time thinking about whatever is true - the love of God for you through His Son Jesus, for instance.


Think about whatever is noble - are you drawn to celebrity scandals, stories about crime, juicy gossip?  And after a time do you find yourself commenting on just how terrible our society has been getting?  How much better would it be to spend time observing the noble all around you - the love of God working in His people as they care for others, love others, provide for others, help others.


Think about whatever is right - do you live life like a frustrated Olympic judge, always looking for ways to "take points off" from someone or something?  Whatever you observe or participate in, are you always noticing ways it could be better?  Isn't anything ever good enough?  How frustrating that must be!  And how much better and more relaxed and more grateful might you be if you were to learn to live with, "Lord, pretty good is good enough."


Think about whatever is pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy - I could go on with each of these, but I hope you get the point by now.  Our anxieties and cares and worries come to us in large part because we focus on the wrong things in this world.  We don't focus on the things God has given us, the things He has blessed us with.  If we did, we might build a better structure in which to be thankful to Him:


If we delighted in what was pure we'd spend less time fretting about movies and TV and more time being thankful for His blessings.


If we delighted in what was lovely we'd spend less time turning away from the ugly in the world and more time noticing that it is His creation behind the ugliness.


If we delighted in what was admirable, the shameful might dry up and blow away, and we might rejoice in the wonder of His grace.


If we delighted in what was excellent, we might truly be delighted in the excellent instead of being disappointed in the imperfect.


If we delighted in what was praiseworthy we would turn to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with all praise and love, giving Him thanks in all things because He alone is truly worthy of our praise and delight and thanksgiving.

Righteousness, Innocence, Blessedness

Notes from my sermon on November 13, 2011 - Matthew 25:14-30.  For an mp3 podcast of the complete sermon, go to revcahill.podbean.com

Let's begin with some problem areas in this so-called "Parable of the Talents":

• The word "talent" was a first-century word designating a certain weight of silver.  We use the word "talent" to refer to skills or abilities that we've either learned or honed to a high level.  Often when we hear this parable with the word "talent" we immediately jump to this modern meaning, and the thrust of the interpretation then seems to be "if you don't want to end up gnashing your teeth, use your talents for God's glory (and make sure you at least double His investment in you)!"  Please note:  there's not an ounce of Gospel in this interpretation!  This Sunday, I translated "talent" as "bag of gold."
• Side note:  Because Jesus said the servant with five bags brought five more and the one with two bags brought two more, don't you wonder what happens with someone who gets five bags but only brings three more, or the one who gets two bags but only brings one more?
• The "well done, good and faithful servant" sounds too much like a Performance Review phrase, as if the master is checking these guys off from the scale "3=Well Done, 2=Satisfactory, 1=Needs Improvement, 0=Gnash those Teeth."  In fact, the Greek word is just a simple positive expletive, which might just as well be translated into American English as "Cool!" or "Sweet!" - and that's how I've translated it here.

The basic problem with the way we deal with this parable, though, is that we look at if it were a story about a boss and his employees at their annual Performance Review.  When we do that, we come up with nothing but Law - no Gospel at all.  I think the foundation to getting at the Gospel in the story is to begin by looking at the way the third ("wicked and slothful") servant perceives the master.


This servant sees the master as a tight-fisted, hard-hearted guy.  He neither loves nor respects his master; he serves the master in fear or, in this case, not at all.  


How many people see the God of the Bible that way?  As a fearsome, vengeful, smiting god?  Then they decide they don't want a god like that, and refuse to believe in Him.  How much sense does that make?  If God is truly vengeful, wouldn't it make more sense to try to play up to Him?


But the God who has revealed Himself to us in the Bible and through Jesus is not that kind of God at all.  He is, instead, a kind and loving Father-God, who (in the Lord's Prayer) invites us to consider Him as a Father dear to us because He considers us to be children dear to Him.  So we approach Him with joy and excitement and love rather than avoid Him in fear, because for Jesus' sake we are His children, not His servants.


But if we insist on hanging on to the servant-master metaphor, how then shall we serve Him?  As Martin Luther once wrote of the Apostles' Creed, ". . . in righteousness, innocence, and blessedness."  We serve Him in righteousness, knowing that for the sake of Jesus who was completely righteous the Father counts His righteousness as if it were our own; now our service to Him is also righteous and everything we do for Him is without fault, but perfect.  We serve Him in innocence, knowing that for the sake of Jesus who was completely without sin the Father looks at us and sees His children as without sin as well; now our service to Him is done by people who are perfected in His sight by Jesus.  We serve Him in blessedness, knowing that for the sake of Jesus, of whom the Father said at His baptism in the Jordan River "This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased," our Baptism is our connection to Jesus' Baptism and so to the Father's blessing.


If we insist on hanging on to the master-servant metaphor, then, remember that our service is done perfectly because it is done in the righteousness of Christ; it is done by sinless people because it is done in the innocence of Christ; and it is done by blessed people because it is done in the Blessedness of Christ.  That's not a Performance Review - that's the way a dear Father and His dear children love each other. 

On Being . . . Who?

The other day while I was shopping I heard a voice behind me in the store say "It's OK, you can say 'hi' to him."  I turned around and there was a mom and her little daughter, both smiling at me.  The daughter was about four or five years old, with bright eyes and clearly excited with the possibility of saying "hi" to me.  Although I didn't recognize either of them, the mom quickly said "She wanted to say 'hi' to you because she saw your white beard and red jacket and thought you were Santa Claus!"


I laughed, the mom laughed, the little one laughed.  We did a little fist-bump, I asked her if she was good and she said yes, they went their way.  A few minutes later I caught a glimpse of them at the register while I was at the back of the store.  The little one waved, I waved back, the mom waved back, and I went on shopping.


When I got to the register, the clerk looked at me and said, "Oh, you must be Santa Claus!"


Back in May I shared a post that reflected on the people that looked at me and thought I was Jesus.  The other day - Santa Claus!  Is that a comedown?  A compliment?  Or just more big shoes to fill?  

Ready!

Notes on my sermon from Sunday, November 6, 2011.  Based on Matthew 25:1-13 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

It seems to me that people look at this Gospel lesson about the Kingdom of Heaven ("The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins") and immediately want to waste a lot of time on the questions "Who's in and who's out?" and "What do I (personally) need to do to be ready?"  It also seems to me that people look at the Thessalonians reading and immediately want to waste a lot of time discussing the (so-called) Rapture.  These discussions miss the boat and the most important aspect of these readings - the setting!


In the Parable, the guests are waiting to get into a wedding reception.  Now, think about the best wedding reception you've ever been to.  What was it like?

• Was it in a country club?  A hotel ballroom?  A VFW hall?  Outside in a grove of trees?
• Were the tables decorated fancy? Or homey?
• Did they have china plates?  Or Chinet?  Silverware?  Or plasticware?
• Did you eat chicken cordon bleu?  Or chicken BBQ?
• And how was the open bar?
• And when the wedding party was introduced, did everyone sit up to pay attention?  And when the bride and groom were introduced, did everyone stand and applaud?  And when the bride and groom came in, did everyone know that then was when the party started?

Because when we keep in mind that the Parable is about a wedding banquet, then we can keep in mind that it is about joy and anticipation for the coming of Jesus as Bridegroom, not Jesus as Judge or even King.  It is about anticipation of celebration, not judgment.  It is about joy, not dread.


And it's not about who has enough oil and who gets shut out, because for the sake of this celebration Jesus the Bridegroom Himself has given us enough to get in, enough righteousness in His blood and enough innocence in His redemption and enough blessedness in His resurrection to eternal life.  For all who believe in Jesus, the question of the lamps is really a non-issue - we get to go in to the wedding reception!


And I wonder whether the Apostles preached it this way in the early days - with excitement and anticipation and joy and celebration.  And I wonder whether that's why the Thessalonians were concerned about their dead loved ones.  If the party didn't start until the Bridegroom would arrive, and if they assumed He would arrive soon, then what about their dead loved ones who died before He showed up?  Would that mean they miss the party?


Not so!  said Saint Paul.  Because the implication of Jesus' resurrection is that all those believers who have died before the Bridegroom arrives will be raised to enter the banquet hall along with us who are alive when He comes, where we all will join the everlasting celebration together.

Shaking Souls

Revelation 18:9-13 (King James Version) 
⁹And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with [Babylon], shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
 ¹⁰Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
 ¹¹And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
 ¹²The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
 ¹³And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.

Last week I had the opportunity to attend an informational meeting on Human Trafficking.  Sponsored by the Medina County, Ohio, AAUW, the intent was to make the audience aware of the extent of Human Trafficking here in this area that is a "bedroom suburb" of both Cleveland and Akron.  Disturbing statistics were presented - a heartwrenching video was shown - passionate presenters spoke of work with victims, mostly of sex trafficking but also of labor trafficking here in Ohio.  Questions were asked and answered, refreshments were served, handouts were available.


Despite my rather ho-hum reporting of the event in the previous paragraph I don't want you to think that Human Trafficking is a ho-hum issue.  In a secular setting like the AAUW and the Medina Community Recreation Center the organizers did all that they could, and they did it well.  But Christians ought not simply to be informed about this issue - they ought to be enraged about it.  It is an issue that, in the words of a friend of mine, ought to "shake your soul!"


Whether traffickers or victims, we're talking about people for whom our Lord Jesus Christ gave His life - people for whom He shed His precious blood.  Luther's "He purchased and won me, not with gold or silver but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death" is true for every first and last human being on the face of the earth.  It's not enough to call human trafficking a problem - Christians ought to call it an affront to the Gospel.  We ought to call it a slap in the face of our gracious God.  Those who buy and sell slaves "and the souls of men" take those whom God has made His precious children through the blood of His Son Jesus and reduced them to nothing more than sheep or cattle, merchandise to be hawked in a depraved and hellish marketplace.


Let's not fool ourselves.  As comfortable as we think our life may be, even here in Medina County, Ohio, Babylon is around every corner.  But that doesn't mean we Christians hunker down, circle the wagons, and pray for Jesus to get us out of this place.  What it does mean is that we Christians, who I hope are becoming more and more like Jesus all the time, rely on His love and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to go into our local Babylons like He came into our world, to rescue and to save all who are so precious to Him.  They are our fellow redeemed - they are our brothers and sisters - they are children of the God who wants to welcome us all home.


Find out more about how you can be involved in the fight against Human Trafficking in your community - not because it's a good thing to do, but because it shakes your soul.

"Courageous"?

Last week we saw the movie “Courageous” - about several police officers who resolve together to live as the kind of fathers God calls them to be in His Word.  On this level, it’s a good challenge to Christian men to embrace their God-pleasing vocation as fathers, to care for their families and to teach their children the fear and love of God.

The outline behind the resolution and the challenge in the story seems to be this:  God is a just judge over every person.  Since every just judge judges a person based on the wrongs they have done, this is how God will judge us also.  However, He sent Jesus to pay the penalty for our sins and accept the judgment of God in our place.  Nevertheless, since in His Word He has given clear instructions as to how He wants us to live (particularly as fathers), we should accept that we are accountable to Him for that life.  The movie suggests that one of the ways we can do that is to gather together a small group of like-minded Christians to resolve to live according to God’s instruction and to hold one another accountable to that resolution.

Here’s the problem I have with this scenario:  the film proposes that the motivation for these men (and for all fathers) to accept the challenge is founded on the metaphor of God as judge – and this metaphor cannot help but hold us to a life of accountability even after we say that Jesus has taken the judgment onto Himself.  Because that’s the way the legal system works, isn’t it?  Even if someone else has paid that traffic fine, you still have to watch the way you drive so you don’t appear before the judge again on a greater charge.  So to live this way you always have to be looking over your shoulder - unless of course you can gather an “accountability group,” in which case other people can be looking over your shoulder with you.

When the filmmakers made this film they totally missed the opportunity to show us a way better and more obvious image of God– the image of God as Father!  After all, the focus of the film was on the lives and ways of the fathers, but nowhere was there any mention at all of God as Father nor a suggestion that we might live as earthly fathers not in fear of a judge to whom we are accountable but in imitation of the Father who loves us all.

There was one scene that was just a wondrous, Gospel-soaked image that I wish the filmmakers had done more with.  In it, one of the fathers takes his teenage daughter out to dinner to a fancy restaurant where he explains to her his resolution to protect her, to cherish her, to nurture her into womanhood, and to ask for her to join him in seeking the guidance and the love of God in bringing to her the man that He ultimately has in mind for her to marry.  The dad gives her a beautiful ring as a sign of that love and promise to her, and she is just enthralled with it and with him.

How like the Father that Jesus taught!  The Father who provides for His child, who cares for her (or him), who nurtures and protects and loves that child and does everything for her because He loves her.  And the child does not need to do anything to have that love – he loves her just because she is his child.  In the movie the father asks nothing from his daughter except that she accept his fatherhood over her, and this she gladly does as she accepts the ring he gives her.  And so it is with the Father that God is, too – loving any of us just because we are His child, protecting, nurturing, and asking nothing from us except that we accept His fatherhood over us, too. 

And because He has first loved us as our Father, so we turn and love our children and our families and one another in the family of God.  This is the true path of courage.

On Reformation Sunday

My sermon for Reformation Sunday, October 30, 2011, was based on this section from Dr. Martin Luther's letter to Pope Leo X, called "On the Freedom of the Christian."

". . . The third incomparable grace of faith is this, that it unites the soul to Christ, as the wife to the husband; by which mystery, as the Apostle teaches, Christ and the soul are made one flesh. Now if they are one flesh, and if a true marriage-- nay, by far the most perfect of all marriages--is accomplished between them (for human marriages are but feeble types of this one great marriage), then it follows that all they have becomes theirs in common, as well good things as evil things; so that whatsoever Christ possesses, that the believing soul may take to itself and boast of as its own, and whatever belongs to the soul, that Christ claims as his.

"If we compare these possessions, we shall see how inestimable is the gain. Christ is full of grace, life, and salvation; the soul is full of sin, death, and condemnation. Let faith step in, and then sin, death, and hell will belong to Christ, and grace, life, and salvation to the soul. For, if he is a husband, he must needs take to himself that which is his wife's, and, at the same time, impart to his wife that which is his. For, in giving her his own body and himself, how can he but give her all that is his? And, in taking to himself the body of his wife, how can he but take to himself all that is hers?

"In this is displayed the delightful sight, not only of communion, but of a prosperous warfare, of victory, salvation, and redemption. For since Christ is God and man, and is such a person as neither has sinned, nor dies, nor is condemned,--nay, cannot sin, die, or be condemned; and since his righteousness, life, and salvation are invincible, eternal, and almighty; when, I say, such a person, by the wedding-ring of faith, takes a share in the sins, death, and hell of his wife, nay, makes them his own, and deals with them no otherwise than as if they were his, and as if he himself had sinned; and when he suffers, dies, and descends to hell, that he may overcome all things, since sin, death, and hell cannot swallow him up, they must needs be swallowed up by him in stupendous conflict. For his righteousness rises above the sins of all men; his life is more powerful than all death; his salvation is more unconquerable than all hell.

"Thus the believing soul, by the pledge of its faith in Christ, becomes free from all sin, fearless of death, safe from hell, and endowed with the eternal righteousness, life, and salvation of its husband Christ. Thus he presents to himself a glorious bride, without spot or wrinkle, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word; that is, by faith in the word of life, righteousness, and salvation. Thus he betrothes her unto himself "in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies." (Hosea ii. 19, 20.)

"Who then can value highly enough these royal nuptials? Who can comprehend the riches of the glory of this grace?  Christ, that rich and pious husband, takes as a wife a needy and impious harlot, redeeming her from all her evils, and supplying her with all his good things. It is impossible now that her sins should destroy her, since they have been laid upon Christ and swallowed up in Him, and since she has in her husband Christ a righteousness which she may claim as her own, and which she can set up with confidence against all her sins, against death and hell, saying: "If I have sinned, my Christ, in whom I believe, has not sinned; all mine is His, and all His is mine;" as it is written, "My beloved is mine, and I am his. (Cant. ii. 16.) This is what Paul says: "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ;" victory over sin and death, as he says: "The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law." (I Cor. xv. 56, 57.) "

- quoted from http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/luther-freedomchristian.asp