Hebrews 4:1-11
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’” And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “And on the seventh day God rested from all his work.” And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.” It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.

True Rest Is Found Only in Christ
I. Don’t Fight It
II. Fall Into It

Dear fellow redeemed in Christ, in desperate need of rest,

How does an all-expenses paid vacation sound to you? A chance to just get away from all of the hustle and bustle and cares and worries of this life. And take as long as you want. I think that would sound pretty good to most, if not all, of us. We like our times of complete rest, whether it’s a weekend, holiday, or vacation. And yet our times of rest and relaxation are not perfect. I was able to go to Israel at the end of this past May, but I got a little sick at the end, maybe you’ve had similar experiences… Or sometimes the car breaks down, that’s usually what happened to my family growing up… and even if it’s the most perfect vacation, with no bumps along the way, it eventually comes to an end. We have to go back to work, our worries and concerns are still there when we get back, and we end up just anxious for our next vacation. Well in our text today, the author speaks of the rest that we find in Christ our Lord. All too often we fight it off, but if we’ll just let ourselves rest in His arms, this is the most perfect rest we could ever want, and it lasts forever. This true rest is found only in Christ.

I. [Don't Fight It] The problem is, and always has been, that we have a tendency to fight off God’s rest. We do this by our disobedience. And when we do this, we create our own problems and, essentially, our own hell. The author C.S. Lewis wrote an interesting book about this called The Great Divorce. The book does not have the best theology. For example, it seems to teach purgatory. But he makes an interesting point in saying that we create our own hell when we fail to obey God’s law.

This dates back all the way to the Garden of Eden. God created a perfect world and we had perfect, harmonious rest with Him. Adam and Eve obeyed Him in everything and life was great. And how did we lose that perfection? Adam and Eve decided they were going to do things their own way and disobey the one command He gave them. And our perfect, harmonious rest with God and each other was broken and now we see the world we live in.

This situation repeated itself when the Israelites went up to take possession of Canaan. Now their possession of the Promised Land Canaan, was not the same as the perfect harmonious rest of heaven, but their possession of it was to be a relief from their time in bondage under the Egyptians, and relief from their time wandering the desert. And yet they rejected it, too, initially. They didn’t trust that God would give it to them and so He said, “They shall never enter My rest” and all who were 20 years older or more (except for Joshua and Caleb who had believed) died before they entered the promised land. And more important than the fact that they failed to believe God’s promise of Canaan, was their failure to believe in the promise of a Savior. This promise of a Savior was the most important promise given to their forefather Abraham. God rejected them from the promised land at this time for their failure to believe that promise. But more importantly, He rejected those who didn’t believe in His promised Savior for eternity, and that continues today.

I’ve done quite a bit of research over the last few years on eating disorders. And one of the major aspects of the eating disorder is the need for control. The girl or guy (usually a girl but not always) feels like she’s not in control and she wants something that she can control, like her weight. And I say this in regard to eating disorders, but it could really be for most addictions and sins for that matter. We want to be in control of things. Forget what God says, I know what’s best for my life. I want to feel better so I’m going to turn to this vice, turn to that vice, do this, do that, and make myself feel better. I know God says not to, but I think I have a better idea of how my life should work.

And so we do what we want and create our own problems. For those who are addicted to something, they become dependent on something that isn’t even good for them. Those who aren’t loving discover that others aren’t loving towards them. Those who care too much about money, about making it and spending it only on themselves, find that their families and friends suffer. We create our own problems; we create our own hell.

God isn’t some cruel overseer who just tortures people He doesn’t like. He loved us from the start. We are responsible for the problems of the world and for our complete lack of rest. And those who are punished after death have earned that for themselves through a life of completely disregarding God’s guidelines, laws, and love. What applied to the Israelites, applies to us as well. The writer to the Hebrews writes, “Those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience.” And this disobedience is a symptom of an even greater problem, a lack of faith. As we read, “the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.” Yes, Christ died for our disobedience. But continuing to disobey God’s laws and rejecting His love is a sign of unbelief, just as it was for the Israelites when they were kept out of Canaan.

C.S. Lewis puts it this way: “There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, “Fine, have it your way.” And when we “have it our way,” we disrupt and give up the beautiful, peaceful rest God wants to enjoy with us. This is why Pharaoh’s heart was hardened when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. This is why we fail to have rest and peace in our hearts or lives today. And this is why people end up missing out on God’s love and His rest. It is because they want to do things their own way, and they’ve given up God’s rest.

And so, ever since the Garden of Eden, because we have spent our time fighting off God, fighting off each other… We bruise, we bleed, we hurt, and we see as our bodies gradually get weaker to the point of death, which is the wages of sin. And on the way to death, we feel lonely, sad, frustrated, bitter, and our bodies and souls just cry out, asking for some relief! And we yearn for just a little rest from this life.

II. [Fall into It.] The author of Hebrews here tell us not to let that be our fear. Rather, he writes, “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest.” We’re weary, we’re tired. The people of this world spend so much time fighting each other and fighting God that we’re just worn out. And so the author here tells us to not follow Israel’s example of disobedience, but rather live a life of faith, following our Father’s will. He created us, He’s given us instructions on how to live our lives, and He knows what He’s talking about. If we’re loving towards others, they’ll often show love in return. If we offer our time and talents to others, we’ll find that they often offer theirs to us. That doesn’t mean that this is our main motivation. Our motivation is our love for God and for our fellow man. But they’ll often return it. They won’t always. We live in a sinful world. But God sees it and when it seems like no one cares, we take comfort in the knowledge that we are glorifying our Father in heaven and that our reward is guaranteed in heaven. And so we are to follow our Father’s will and sleep and then also to rest in his arms.

In the same way that we need to sleep and rest at the end of a long day, just to recharge, we need to rest in our Father’s arms. He is always there for us to fall back on. Yes, He rested on the seventh day of creation after all of His works were completed. But it wasn’t because He had was on vacation or had nothing left in the tank. When we read that on the seventh day, God rested, we are to understand that he took great satisfaction in His works. Moses writes that He saw all that He had made and it was very good. As I mentioned before, we lived in perfect harmony with each other and God and, as I mentioned before, we were the ones who broke this perfect rest. But already on that first day that we broke that harmony, God set in motion a plan to restore that perfect rest and harmony for us. He designed to send His very own Son, many years later, to die as the sacrifice for our sins. And Jesus fulfilled His part perfectly. He lived a perfect life and died a completely innocent death. He did this so that we might once again have the sure hope of perfect harmony with God and so that we might have true rest with God.

The writer of Hebrews here describes this rest as a “Sabbath-rest.” That’s how God pictured it for His people in Old Testament times. That’s the Third Commandment, isn’t it? “Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.”[1] The Israelites were to work for six days, but on the seventh, on the Sabbath, they were to rest from their labors, and just enjoy God’s labors and their relationship with Him. This was a picture of the perfect rest that we, through faith, would have with our Father in heaven. This would be made possible by that perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ which I mentioned just a moment ago. We heard about it in the Gospel reading when Matthew wrote that Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”[2]

And so we have great rest here on earth. We can rest from all of our struggles to earn our way to heaven by our own good works. That won’t get us rest. And we can rest from our worries that we haven’t done enough to enjoy that rest. Christ has completely taken care of it for us. We’ve been given a new man so that, with God’s help, we can now live a God-pleasing life. And we can trust and rely upon God in every problem in this life. We know that Jesus has experienced them all during His life on earth, and we can see that He has always kept his promises, and even given His life for us.

Now as long as we live in a sinful world, we can’t have perfect rest. But we can cast all our anxieties upon God because He hears us[3], as St. Peter says. And what’s the way to keep the Third Commandment regarding our Sabbath rest? What is Luther’s explanation of this commandment? “We should fear and love God, so that we not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.” The best way to fall into our Savior’s arms and find rest is to read and study God’s Word, and come to the Lord’s Supper, and constantly be reminded of God’s love and rest which He offers to us completely free of charge. And with God’s help we can give up the control that we so desperately try to have in our own lives. Realize that God has the control anyway, and that’s best for us because He knows and wants what’s best for us. And all that we accomplish by fighting for our own control is to wear ourselves out.

And when is the proper to time to stop fighting God? To fall into His love? The author says it twice in these verses: Today. Today is the day to let Yourself rest in Your Savior’s love.

IV. Conclusion: Much more than the fact that we all need a vacation, we all need a Savior. And thank God, we have a perfect one. When we go through life, fighting for control, we never find rest. Let go. Fall into your Savior’s arms, into His love, and into His rest. Take the nourishment He gives you, allow yourself to be fed by His Word, and rest secure in the knowledge that you are loved and saved. Peace and rest be with you. Amen.

[2] Matthew 11:28

[3] 1 Peter 5:7

Matthew 10: 34-42

Some of us are reading through a book in our Santa Rosa Bible class.  It’s written by a pastor who had a big aha.  What I mean is he realized that what the American church sometimes portrays as following Jesus is a far cry from what Jesus describes.

I once lived across the street from a church which called itself the Church Triumphant.  I always wanted to go across the street and ask if they had already gone to heaven.   Because Jesus tells us that following him will not be a life of one joy, one happy moment, after another.  This world will not permit it.

But that hasn’t been my experience, pastor.   I am a Christian and things are going just fine. Well then let me ask you, dear Christian.  How close are you following your Savior?  Are you following Him at a distance, a safe distance that arouses no attention from the world., your friends or family.  Are you following him at a distance, a dangerous distance that makes you easy prey for Satan.   How close are you following?   Do you walk with Jesus just one hour on Sunday morning?   If someone were to watch you over the course of your day, could they accuse you of following Jesus as your Lord and Savior?   Maybe that’s why you haven’t experienced what Jesus tells his disciples here.

But I suspect you have.  You know what comes with following Jesus in an unbelieving culture—in your workplace, even in your own families.  It’s a struggle not just in places where you take your life in your hands by saying: I believe in Jesus. We  may not have someone wanting to jail us or take our lives. Yet it’s still a struggle to persevere in following Jesus.  It’s still a struggle that too many abandon on the way.

Here Jesus helps us look beyond the struggle.  To see that the cost is worth it, by far.  So we say,

Christian, Bear the Strain
I.  Yes, it will cost you to follow Jesus
II.  Yes, but follow on to  rich reward.

Jesus is sending the 12 disciples out.  He tells them . As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ ⁸ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.  Wow, the kingdom is near.  Sounds like good times are just around the bend. So the disciples thought.  Like many, they thought that the coming of the Christ meant peace.  The Romans would be gone.  A great new king would take charge. Great expectations, kind of like those Christians who believe that Jesus will return and reign on the earth for a thousand years- a millennium of peace.  Great expectations, but wrong expectations.

³⁴ “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.  Wait a second.  What about the Christmas angels?  Didn’t they sing of peace on earth at Jesus’ birth?  Yes they did. Didn’t Jesus say, Peace I leave with you.  My peace I give you. Yes he did. And he does.  He offers a very special peace that only He can give.

The other day in Oslo, Norway a bomb went off.  A peaceful day was horribly changed into death and destruction.  That’s what sin does to our relationship with God.  It’s like a bomb that brought death and destruction to something so good -  and we were the bomb makers.  And did you see that street in Oslo?  Debris everywhere.  That’s what sin does.  It makes debris out of the love that we owe each other, out of unborn children, out of marriages meant to last. And worst of all sin makes debris out of our relationship with God.               But for some strange reason beyond my understanding, God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.  He gave us Jesus who then lived for you and  took your guilt to a cross where he paid the price for us all.  Every sin.  Every sinner.  It is finished. And how can we be so sure?  Jesus rose from his grave.  And now through faith in Jesus, God’s word declares, we have peace with God. In Christ, God is your dear Father and you are his dear child.  Never will he leave you or forsake you. His love will never fail you, even when you breathe your last breath on this earth. That’s the peace Christ gives in the gospel of peace.

But what happens wherever that gospel is preached.  Some believe it.  Others reject it.  That’s the sword that Jesus speaks of here.  Think of a sword.  It cuts.  It divides.  When God’s Word draws people to Jesus, there comes a great divide.  God spoke of it in the Garden of Eden when he said:  I will put enmity between your offspring and hers.  Jesus speaks of it when he said to his disciples:  If they hated me, they will also hate you.

With Jesus comes a great divide.  Sometimes that divide results in terrible things done to Christians.  I often sense it in the way that people act when they find out I am a Christian pastor.  There’s a divide. And sadly that divide sometimes runs right through a family. Jesus speaks of it here:  “ ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— ³⁶a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household (35b,36)

Well who wants that?  These are people near and dear to us.   If my faith in Christ turns my loved ones against me, that a serious price to pay.  No one wants to be at odds with family.   We want peace and good relations.  But sometimes that is what it will cost you to follow Jesus.  What does Jesus say?  ³⁷ “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; Yes it will cost you.

And then Jesus adds³⁸ anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. When Jesus disciples heard that word cross it must have shook them to the core.  The crosses they knew were not pretty jewelry hanging on a golden chain.  They were ugly instruments of torture.

But Jesus wasn’t telling people to go around carrying a heavy wooden cross. He’s talking about the things that make it hard to follow Jesus. From the teasing of friends to a job lost because you refuse to go against God’s Word , all the way to a Christian mother in prison condemned to death in Pakistan because of her faith.

Yes it will cost you to follow Jesus.  And for some that cost is too much to bear.  They’d rather live their life and not deal with those things.  But how sad.  Such a person has struck a terrible bargain in walking away..  Jesus says it this way.   ³⁹ Whoever finds his life will lose it.  Or as Jesus says elsewhere:  What good is it for a man to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul.

So you, Christian, bear the strain, no matter how hard.  For yes it will cost you to follow Jesus.  If you are faithful, it will cost you.  But follow on, follow on to rich reward.

I’m reading a book by the late Pastor Richard Wurmbrand.  When he was in prison in Rumania, he met a man he had led to Christ but now was in prison for his faith while his wife and children were starving.  Pastor Wurmbrand said to him.  Do you hold it against me that I told you about Jesus and now you are in prison?  To which the man then said.  If you had not told me, I would not have known about our wonderful Savior.  Here was the kind of man Jesus was talking about when he said:  Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

You see, to follow Jesus is to lose our life in Him.  Before he came to us in baptism, we belonged to this sinful dying world in all its ugliness.  We were without God and without hope.  Our lives were set on a different course with a whole different set of values.  But we have lost that life in Jesus.  In fact, sometimes that life is taken from us by those who hate Jesus.

But we have lost that life only to find another.  He who believes in the Son has eternal ,life. And when we believe, we find life.  Real life.  Life with God.  Life that even death cannot destroy.  Life that offers a rich reward.   And not just to that man in prison.  All of us who follow Jesus regardless of the cost.  We follow on to rich reward.

And how do we do that?  We listen to those he has sent.  We listen and take to heart the message Jesus has given them in this Word.   It started with just these twelve men.  But it goes on to this day through those he has called to his service. For what does Jesus remind them here?  They do not speak for themselves.  They point you to Jesus and urge you to follow.  So  listen closely to what Jesus says to them.   ⁴⁰ “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me.

Now I’d like to skip down to the last verse of our text. ⁴² And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”  Whenever I read this I think of two very special people years ago.  I was going through their neighborhood knocking on doors, introducing myself as Pastor Smith of a new church in the area.  It was a hot desert evening.  I came to their neighbor’s door.  I knocked., He opened up, listened for a few moments then yelled at me and slammed the door.  But before I could leave, he opened the door again and asked if I had any kids.  I told him two — and one on the way.  He muttered that’s too bad and slammed the door even harder.

I trudged over to the next house not sure if I wanted to knock.   Ed and his wife answered.  They soon realized I was a Christian pastor, invited me in, listened to my story, encouraged me in my ministry and then brought me a very welcome glass of cold water. They probably thought it was nothing but it meant a lot coming from these two people who followed Jesus and honored his gospel. They helped me to bear the strain as we should help each other.

But here’s the thought.  If I have my way when I get up to heaven, Ed and his wife will be in for a surprise.  Here is one person who will greet them with one big hug.  I suppose there will be a lot of that going on.  So Christian bear the strain of following Jesus.  Yes it is hard at times.  But  follow on to a rich reward — and more.  Yes, more.  Amen.

Matthew 22:34-46

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” “The son of David,” they replied. He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,” ‘The LORD said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.” If then David calls him ‘LORD,’ how can he be his son?” No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.

“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, our Rock and our Redeemer” (Ps 19:14).

Theme: Christ redirects our focus

I. From our bondage in sin

II. To salvation in Him

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ -  misdirected by nature, but redirected by the grace of God,

When I was in high school track, my big event was the triple jump. I didn’t really give it a committed try until my junior year when it was only two friends of mine who were doing triple jump that year and they talked me into joining them. I tried it and actually made state that year already, so my senior year I worked only on improving my triple jump so I might medal at state.

The weird thing was that as my senior track season passed, my jumps got shorter and shorter, I got worse and worse. I couldn’t understand it because I had worked out for it all year and I was working on all the mechanical adjustments my coach told me to make. Finally, at conference, my coach redirected my focus. He said, “Just run your heart out. You’re focusing so much on all of the fundamentals and mechanics that you’ve slowed down a ton, and it’s really hurting your jump.” A redirection in focus can make all the difference in the world. In the same way as I had to refocus in my triple jumping, we all have to have our focus redirected for salvation. Today we consider how Christ redirects our focus… from our bondage in sin, to salvation in Him.

The encounter between Jesus and the teachers of the law, in today’s text, takes place during the last week of our Lord’s life on this earth before his crucifixion. The Pharisees, along with their rival group of teachers of the law, the Sadducees, had been just bombarding Jesus with questions in an attempt to trick him into misspeaking and giving cause for a revolt against Him. Why did they want this so badly? Because the Pharisees’ pride and joy was their obedience to the law. And then Jesus comes along and tells people that keeping the law is not the way to heaven, because they can’t do it – He’s the way to heaven. And so the Pharisees hate Him, and they come to Him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” The trick is that no matter which law Christ chooses, he trivializes the importance of others and, in doing so, gives the Jewish people reason to turn on Him. Do we ask the same question? “Which laws are most important for us to keep?”

Let’s look at our Lord’s response. He says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest commandment. And the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Every commandment can be placed in one of these two categories: loving God with all our heart, loving our neighbor as ourself. Let’s look at the first one: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

This would cover the first three commandments. But let’s just look at the first one, you shall have no other gods, because that one is basically a paraphrase of what Jesus means when he says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” You see, anytime we DON’T love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind, it’s because we’re making idols, making our own gods. Whatever is pulling our trust away from God is becoming more important than God. So what is it for us? Is it worry? Do we spend our time overconcerned about what he might not provide for us, rather than remembering that He promises He will and, He’s always kept His promises, and He has a much better plan for our lives than we could ever have? Is it priorities? “God, I want to dig into your Word, have personal and family devotions, but there’s just a lot going on right now. When I’m caught up, then I’ll study the Bible!” I think we’d all have to confess that we have not loved God with all our heart, soul, and mind.

What about the other part of the law, “Love your neighbor as yourself?” This’ll cover the last seven commandments: Honor your father and mother, you shall not murder, commit adultery, steal, give false testimony, or covet. Have we done this? Have we loved them as much as ourselves? The Pharisees certainly hadn’t. They thought they were much better than other Jews because they, the Pharisees, were very moral and led very righteous lives. To think more of yourself, less of others is certainly a violation of this commandment. But are we any different? Have you ever stopped in a gas station and seen the guy in front of you just waste his money and thought, “Wow, what a loser. Glad I don’t have that problem.” The implication is because I’m better and have always been a better steward of the money with which the Lord has blessed me. We might not say it, but that’s the logical implication, isn’t it? Have we ever hung out with friends, tearing down other people… to make us look better…? So people think we’re funnier? I think we’d all have to confess that we have not loved our neighbor as ourself, either.

And so we’ve broken both parts of Christ’s law, though even if we had only broken one, we’d have broken the whole thing. In fact, if we’ve broken what may seem to be the slightest of the commandments, in even the slightest way, we’ve broken the totality of God’s law. Moses wrote this down in numerous places for God’s people: “Be holy, because I, the Lord, am holy.”[1] And holiness doesn’t leave any room for little mistakes. The Hebrew word for “holy” that is used here is vdq. which is literally translated as “to be completely separate from sin.” If we’re apart from sin, we can’t be touching it in even the slightest way. If even the deepest corner of our mind thinks even the slightest sinful thought, we have broken the totality of God’s law. If we cast even the quickest lustful glance, that no one else could possibly see, we’ve broken the totality of the Law. Because at that point, we are no longer “separate and apart from sin.”

And how can we ever hope to earn our salvation if the only way is to live a perfect life, apart from sin, in a world so riddled and littered with it?  In a world where it’s at the tip of our fingers and on the tip of our tongues? We’re at a loss, we’re damned eternally. There is no hope… in ourselves.

But after Jesus has finished telling them, and us, that the totality of the Law is what’s important, He redirects our focus from our hopeless bondage in sin to  salvation in Him. “There, I’ve told you what’s the most important law. The whole thing, and you can’t keep it by yourself. Now let me ask you a question. ‘What do you think about the Christ?’ For there is the answer, where you should look to when asking this question. Stop looking at the law and how you can pull this off by yourself, because you can’t. What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?”

“The son of David,” they reply. The Christ was to be a man, and a direct descendant of King David. They had no problem saying this, they had no problem saying this psalm was authored by David, and they had no problem saying that Jesus was from the line of David. TODAY people have no problem saying this. I taught a World History course at a public high school in Madison a few years ago, and my cooperating teacher was very upset because I would not say that “evolution is a scientific fact.” But he had no problem with me teaching that Jesus was a man who lived on earth in Israel 2000 years ago.

Now don’t get me wrong. This is great news! Because it’s necessary for our salvation that Christ came to earth as a man, that He lived here as our brother, and that He can relate to us in our troubles and hardships. And when He came to earth, He submitted Himself to the law of God, and the need to fulfill the law perfectly. And it’s only because Jesus did this that we ARE saved. But if he’s just a perfect man, then he’s just a perfect man, and there’s no implication for us. Just because one man on earth lived a perfect life, that doesn’t mean God forgives the rest of us.

We need more and Christ gives us more. He continues, “Why does David call him Lord then, in Psalm 110, where David writes, “The LORD God said to the Messiah, my descendant, my Lord….”

I can’t imagine referring to any of my descendants as my lord. Yes, I want to make this world a better place for my children and descendants, and I care about what happens to them, but I don’t know of anyone who would call their descendant “lord.”  And David, he’s the king of Israel, the greatest king of Israel. He doesn’t call anyone “Lord” except God. And that’s the answer Jesus is trying to teach. But the Pharisees can’t answer. Or they don’t want to answer. You see. They know that if this Jesus guy IS true God, then He IS the Messiah about which David speaks. And they know that they’re His enemies. And they heard Christ when He quotes David in saying that God has promised to make his enemies a footstool, to put them under His feet. And so, there are too many scary implications to answering the question.

And yet those scary implications are such beautiful implications for those of us who DO know Christ as the Savior. Because  not only was Christ the Son of David, who lived as our brother and kept the law perfectly for us, but as true God, His death on the cross had sufficient value to atone for our sins. And His perfect life is now what God sees when he looks at our lives. Luther puts it this way:

[Christ] satisfied the Law; He fulfilled the Law perfectly, for He loved God with all His heart, and with all His soul, and with all His strength, and with all His mind, and He loved His neighbor as Himself. Therefore, when the Law comes and accuses you of not having kept it, bid it go to Christ. Say: There is the Man who has kept it; to Him I cling; He fulfilled it for me and gave His fulfillment to me. Thus the Law is silenced.

This righteousness becomes ours only because Christ was more than a man, He was God. He is the Son of David, and so our brother, but He is also God, and so our Savior.

And according to the words of Psalm 110, God the Father has now said to his son, “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.” Now the Pharisees probably thought they were the enemies talked about here. The enemies here are actually generally considered to be the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh. And these won’t be completely put away and made Christ’s footstools until the Last Day. For now they’re still permitted to roam the earth and haunt and tempt us. But the comfort for us is that they have no power over us! Christ has defeated these enemies and we no longer have to fear them.  We no longer have to fall victim to the sinful world around us because we’ve been given Christ’s garment of righteousness to cover our lives of sin. And our flesh is no longer slave to that sin that surrounds us, but as a new man, we can live a life that’s pleasing in God’s sight. We can choose to build our brothers and sisters up, rather than tear them down. And we can choose to make God our top priority.

And our brother Jesus has ascended into heaven in order that we might also one day leave this life and body of sin and ascend to eternal paradise. And so we too will rise to be with him eternally, whether it’s on the Last Day, or when we pass away. This is the beautiful message that nullifies the Pharisee’s foolish, self-seeking question. What’s the most important commandment? It’s the whole thing, God demands perfection, and we have not and cannot keep it. But there was someone who did. Look to him because only here can salvation be found.

For most of us, our focus was first redirected towards this salvation in baptism when our sins were forgiven and the Holy Spirit worked faith in our hearts. And our focus is again redirected and we are comforted every time we remember our baptism, and every time we read, study and hear God’s Word; and every time we join together in the Lord’s Supper and partake of Christ’s flesh and blood, both human and divine, which were given for us. It is at this time that we receive our Savior in both his human and divine nature, and all of the blessings which that entails – forgiveness of sins, a new life here, and eternal life in heaven. What a joy we have! We have a Savior who lived for us, loves us, and who still rules over and in us.

When I redirected my focus in triple jump, it made a huge difference and I finished the year strong. How much stronger will our change of focus in salvation make us? I pray that we always keep our eyes focused on the cross of Christ, the source of salvation for you, me, and the whole world. Amen.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, SHALL keep your hearts and minds, through faith, in Christ Jesus.

ELH: 484

CW: 490

Text:  Matthew 9: 9-13

In some ways, Christianity has always been a kind of scandalous religion. Think about the first followers of Jesus.  Among them was a man known as Simon the Zealot.  That’s what he had been; a kind of radical Mideastern revolutionary.  Or think about the apostle Paul.  This great missionary of the Lord Jesus admits he had been a vicious persecutor.  And this same apostle would later write of Jesus’ followers coming from the ranks of the:  the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexual offenders, thieves greedy, drunkards, slanderers, swindlers.  Scandalous some would say.

Here in Petaluma when someone applies to be a police chaplain, they do an extensive background investigation by a former FBI agent followed by a lie detector test.  Things we had tried to forget about in our lives had to be disclosed.  Things we were ashamed to admit.  And in one instance the police department did a double take.  One very dedicated pastor disclosed his involvement with drugs years before.  Twice he had used LSD.  Scandalous some would say.

And what about us here today.  Most of us have some kind of skeletons in our closet.  And all of us have at times wiped our feet on God’s holy will for our lives.  If not outwardly for others to see, then inwardly, in our hearts that God has seen.

That seems surprising to some.  Scandalous even.  It did to these Pharisees in our text.  But it shouldn’t be.  For whom did our Savior come?  Whom does he call to follow?  Jesus tells us here as he reaches out this man named Matthew.  And thank God that he does.  Jesus seeks sinners, people who realize that their hearts and lives are fouled with sin.  He seeks after sinners whose hearts yearn for what only he can give.

So should we be surprised to find such people, us people, in Jesus’ church. For this is something that people forget.  The church is not a showcase for gold plated saints.  The church is a refuge for recovering sinners.  It is not a place for the proud, religious person to strut his stuff.  No, the church is a place where Christ comes to fallen sinners in His Word and sacrament.  He comes to rescue us from ourselves.  He comes to reclaim us as God’s own.  He comes to change us with his amazing grace.  And he calls us sinners to follow him.  In facts, sinners are the only ones he calls.  Sinners are the only ones he seeks.  One might even say it this way:

WANTED:  FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST;

ONLY SINNERS NEED APPLY

⁹ As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.  If you asked a Jewish person of Jesus day, who is the most low down slimy person you can think of,, many would say, a tax collector.  And for good reason.  The Romans would hire Jews to collect the taxes from their people.  It worked like this,  The Romans expected a certain sum of money.  Beyond that, the tax collector got to keep for himself.  So in their greed, they often made their people pay more than they owed.  In effect they robbed their own people.  It’s no wonder tax collectors were put out of the Jewish synagogue.

Matthew’s tax booth was in Capernaum, the center of Jesus’ ministry. No doubt Matthew has heard about Jesus, his miracles and message even without Twitter or internet.  Maybe Matthew was in the audience when Jesus preached.  In any case, the Holy Spirit was at work in Matthew’s heart when Jesus came to him and said:  Follow me.

You can almost read Matthew’s mind here.  You mean me?  You want me, a tax collector to follow you and be your disciple? What are we told?  Matthew got up and followed him.  He left his tax booth and a very good income.  He turned his back on his former way of life.  And he followed Jesus.  And not just for an hour or a day.  He followed him for the next three years.  He listened to Jesus teach his way through the land.  He saw Jesus heal people who had never seen the light of day or their mother’s smile. He heard him call sinners like himself to repent and believe the good news of God’s forgiveness.  And then he would mourn Jesus’ death like the others—but only for a time.  For Matthew would rejoice to see his Savior alive, risen from death.  Matthew would rejoice to know what God had done for him in His own Son.

We do not know where Matthew went after the day of Pentecost.  Maybe he stayed right there in his homeland.  For today we read from the Gospel he wrote for his own Jewish people.  Think about that.  Once Matthew had stolen from his people.  But here in this Gospel, Matthew became God’s chosen instrument.  In fact, the the name Matthew means, gift of God.  That he was.  The Holy Spirit made Matthew God’s gift to bring his people a great treasure in his Word- Jesus and the life he gives.

¹⁰ While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. ¹¹ When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?  Luke helps us picture this occasion.  He tells us this was a big banquet with Jesus as the honored guest.  But Matthew wanted to do more than feed Jesus a nice meal.  He wanted the people he knew to meet Jesus, those sinners.  He wanted them to know the joy and peace that Jesus had given him.

So do we.  We want the people we know to meet Jesus.  We want them to share in what he has given us.  We want them to join us in following him.

But how?  We can’t have Jesus as our honored guest.  Or can we?  Jesus says, where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them. We have Jesus as our honored guest when we gather around His Word.  And that’s what I want to encourage you to do.  The vicar and I will be talking about it more.  Look to your friends, your loved ones, those you know who don’t know Jesus or have wandered away.  Look to our Friendship Sunday this fall.

But maybe the first place to invite them is not the church but to your home or someone else’s.  We’re going to talk about forgiveness.  Can you come?  We’re going to talk about marriage?   Can you come? And why not do as Matthew did.  Enjoy some food together.  It doesn’t have to be banquet.  Enjoy some food together as we help others to know our Savior.

But what Matthew saw as a blessed opportunity for his friends to meet Jesus, the Pharisees saw as a scandal.  They asked Jesus disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” Here you see why Jesus would later call these men, blind guides.  These super religious men could not see why Jesus would have anything to with this scum.  Their only response to such people was to keep their distance and shake their heads at them.

But  think of Jesus’ answer. Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” What was Jesus telling them?  Why shouldn’t I reach out tot these people?  They are sick with sin.  They need mercy.  That’s why I have come.  For them.  For sinners.

Yet there’s something else here.  Jesus words exposed a terrible ugliness inside.  They were not merciful because they did not know God’s mercy themselves.  They saw no need for it because they were righteous and respectable in their own eyes.

You know our Lord once said. It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. People well off face a special danger in thinking they have all they need without Jesus.  Well it seems to me the same could said for the respectable.  How hard it is for those whose lives are pretty good to enter the kingdom of God. They love their spouse and children.  They give to the United Way.  They are good employees and friends.  They are respectable people like these Pharisees.  How hard it is for them to see that they too are sick.  They too are sinners in need of God’s mercy.  They too need Jesus and the forgiveness he made possible by his suffering death.  They too need Jesus and the gift of life that is found in Him.  But until they realize this, until we realize this, Jesus has nothing for us.  So we say:  Wanted Followers of Christ, Only sinners need apply.

You see, it comes down to this.  I have two glasses up here.  One is full right to the brim.  There is no room left in this glass.  Some people are like that.  They are full of something that leaves no room for Jesus.  I was like that for a time in my life.  My problem was that I could not see that I was empty.  Without God and without hope.

Now look at this glass.  It is empty.  How blessed we are to know its empty.  How blessed we are to know what Matthew did.  He knew he was a sinner in need of God’s grace.  He needed Jesus.  And you know that too.  That’s why we are here.

And Jesus doesn’t disappoint us.  Like this glass, he fills us.  He fills us with forgiveness and hope.  With strength to go on.  And yes our glass leaks because we still are sinners.  But follow Jesus and he will give you all you need.  Amen.