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The Message for Oct 25, 2015
John 8:31-36
The Comfortable Cross
Rob Miller, Pastor
Prayer
When I read about Jesus I realize - he was focused not on preservation and comfortbut ontransformation and sacrifice. He was committed to changing lives for good…
When I read about Paul in the early church I realize - he was focused not on preservation andcomfortbut ontransformation and sacrifice. He was committed to changing lives for good…
When I read about Luther and the Reformers I realize - they were focused not on preservation andcomfortbut ontransformation and sacrifice. The Reformers were committed to changing lives for good…
When I think about this sermon series by Kyle Idekman to be followers and not just fans of Jesus I realize –this series isfocusednot on preservation and comfortbut on transformation and sacrifice. We are to be about changing lives for good…
Today we celebrate the Reformation – even the word itself suggests transformation not preservation. We are Lutheran Christians and we are to be about changing lives for good. We always have been.
Luther and the Reformers had some issues with the false teaching of the church in their day. The church had become the most powerful political and religious institution on earth and the powers-that-be wanted to keep it that way by selling forgiveness…
Luther had a problem with that. So he sat down and made a list of the false teachings in the church at the time. When he was finishedhe had come up with a list of 95 things or as it was known 95 Theses. Copies are available on the table…
Food and Fellowship following worship today. You are invited to aLuncheon and video at 11:30 to learn more about Luther and the Reformation. We hope you can be there…
Luther wanted people to know the truth about God and what God did for us through the cross of Christ. Jesus came to redeem us.
“We are saved by grace through faith and not by good works.” That’s the truth,unfortunately the church in Luther’s day was teaching otherwise. There is a temptation for us in the church today to teach otherwise. That’s why our Gospel reading for today is so important…
John 8:31-36
If you had a choice between aTempurpedic mattress ora box-spring - which would you choose?
If you had a choice between your favorite pair of tennis shoes or wooden clogs – which would you choose?
If you had a choice between a weekend at a spa clinic or a weekend camping in the desert at the hottest time of the year – which would you choose?
Of course,these are loaded questions. And yet, they all have one common denominator -- comfort.
Our society puts a high priority on comfort. A lot of money is invested in products that enhance our comfort. And there is a lot of money to be made from those creature comfort products.
- Memory foam for your bed,
- Lazy-boys for your living room,
- body pillows,
- Snuggies - they even makes Snuggies for pets now -- got to keep them comfortable to.
- Heated seats in our cars and trucks.
- We’ve even turned steel into wool for in the kitchen.
There are a lot of things onTV that play into our love of comfort.
Have you seen the TV show Dirty Jobs hosted by Mike Rowe? It’s a show where Mike travels the country to document some of the world’s filthiest, most uncomfortablejobs. We sit on our comfy couch, laughing or wincing, all the while grateful that we don’t have to dothose dirty jobs.
Kyle writesin his book, “Not A Fan” – which this sermon series is based on. There’s a danger in loving comfort too much, and I don’t just mean putting on extra pounds. It seems that as we put more and more of an emphasis on being comfortable, our faith has followed suit. We’ve become Christians accustomed to comfort. We come to our buildings warm in the winter time and air-conditioned in the summer time. Our pews and chairs are padded. Even our Bibles are soft, leather bound books, easy on the hands. And before you know it, it’s not just the pews that are padded. The messages are padded with easy teaching. The doctrine becomes lifeless and leathery, and eventually the message of the Messiah becomes moral coded mush.
I don’t think Jesus intended it to be that way. Do you? Jesus says in Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after me, they must deny themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow me.” That doesn’t sound like comfort to me…
Fans crave comfort and avoid the truth of the cross.
Followers crave Christ and live in the shadow of the cross.
It’s hard to avoid the cross when you’re a Christian. I’m not talking about the cross being in our buildings, or on T-shirts, or some kind of jewelry. And I’m not talking about how we throw around the phrase that refers to even the most menial task or everydayinconvenience by saying “Oh… that’s the cross I haveto bear.”
I’m talking about sacrifice – real sacrifice. And that’s a tough sell. The cross is a tough sell. It’s bad enough that Jesus had to die on the cross, but why doesinsist we all end up with our own cross?
If you think about it…
The cross calls for sacrifice.
The cross calls for death.
The cross ruins our hope for being appealing to unchurched people.
The cross hinders our ability to do what we want to do.
The cross is a turn off.
We are supposed to put our best foot forward, right? We want more people to come to Jesus and his church, don’t we? And yet… there’s the problem. Over the years - myself included - we’ve tried to make Christianity sound appealing and easy breezy…we’ve sacrificed something in return… Listen to how Kyle puts it in this video…
Video - Sermonette 4
That is so well said… I don’t’ want to cheapen Jesus and what he expects from us… Or he might send us packing…
Back to the cross… Listen to what St. Paul saysin his letter to the Corinthian church, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
Fans see the cross as foolishness.
Followers see the cross as a guide forreal life.
In the first century the cross was the ultimate symbol of weakness. For many people, then and now, the message of the Gospel – that God came to earth in the form of human being and was crucified – is complete foolishness.
I can see why people would think this way. Why would God use a symbol of torture, and death, and weakness to save the world? It doesn’t make sense. Over the centuries - we’ve tried to make the cross more appealing. It’s no longer used to execute people. If it was we probably wouldn’t use it as an ornament, or a decoration, or a prettypiece of jewelry.
In the first century if someone saw a cross hanging on our walls or around our necks, they would think we were sick. Imagine people walking around with a guillotine hanging around their neck or an electric chair dangling from their ears.
In the first century the cross meant weakness. And that’s the point. That’s what makes the cross so beautiful.
God takes what seems to be foolish- from our perspective...
God chooses what has no glory and carries no honor- from our perspective…
God finds the least likely symbol for love and life and says, “I’ll use that.”
God takes what the world sees as foolish, demeaning, and shameful, and says “watch this” and God turns it into the power of salvation.
St. Paul continues in his letter to the Corinthians… “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles…for the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”
When we are weak, God is strong.
- Who else but God could take a cross that represented defeat and turn it into a symbol of victory?
- Who else but God could take a cross that represented guilt and turn it into the symbol of grace?
- Who else but God could take a cross that represented condemnation and turn it into a symbol of freedom?
- Who else but God could take a cross that represented pain and suffering and turn it into a symbol of healing and hope?
- Who else but God could take a cross that represented death and turn it into a symbol of life?
No one else could –God can.
Here’s the truth. And if you don’t remember anything else from this message I hope you remember this. What God did for the cross God can do for you…
When you are at the weakest in your life, that’s exactly where you need to be for God to be strongest in your life. The upside-down truth of the cross is that when you are weak, you are strong. It’s not that God used the cross in spite of its weakness, God chose the cross because of its weakness.
Throughout the Bible God chooses the weak over the strong. Here are a few examples:
Abraham was old,
Jacob was insecure,
Leah was unattractive,
Joseph was humiliated,
Moses stuttered,
Gideon was poor,
Samson was proud,
Rahab was immoral,
David had an affair,
Elijah was suicidal,
Jeremiah was depressed,
Jonah was disobedient,
Naomi was a widow,
John the Baptist was eccentric to say the least,
Peter was impulsive & hot-tempered,
Martha worried a lot,
the Samaritan woman had several failed marriages,
Zacchaeus was unpopular,
Thomas had doubts,
Paul had poor health,
Timothy was timid.
The Bible is full of imperfect misfits who discovered that in weakness there is strength. O God, do for us what you did for the cross.
It seems backward and upside-down. It doesn’t make sense. When we think we’re strong we’re really weak. When we acknowledge our weakness and humble ourselves before the Lordwe put ourselves in a position to receive God’s strength.
That’s faith. Faith defies all reason and all rational understanding. There is nothing rational about faith. Faith is faith and for followers there is no other way.
Followers accept our own weaknesses.
I don’t know anyone who is glad for their weaknesses. Most of us go to great lengths to hide our weaknesses.
On a job interview and they ask the question, “What’s your greatest weakness?” You don’t tell them your weakness – because if you do, they aren’t going to hire you. You don’t say, “I’m never on time – I constantly procrastinate – I have trouble getting along with coworkers – I am not sure how to turn on a computer.” You don’t say things like that.
But you have to say something. So you come up with a weakness that sounds more like a strength, I can be a little bit of a perfectionist. Or – I tend to be a bit of a workaholic.Or – I’m a fast learner.
Why do we do that? Because in our world, in our culture, weakness isn’t strength – strength is strength.
Oddly enough, there are some 2000 self-help books published every year that communicates one message – You can do it. You have what it takes. Look deep within yourself and find the strength.
St. Paul says the truth is,real strength comes when we realize our weaknesses. And when we do, we find freedom. We find strength from God. God can do for us what God did for the cross.
Followers trust God with their weaknesses. Followers can let go of our need for comfort, or our need to be in control, or our need for praise, or our need for glory in our strength, or accomplishments, or paycheck, or trophies, or coworker’s approval, or whatever keeps us from trusting God.
God can do for us what God did for the cross. God takes followers who are hanging by a thread and lifts their spirits. God takes followers who are at their weakest moment and uses them for enormous kingdom good. God takes followers who are all but defeated and turns their story into a life giving message of hope. All of this is for God’s glory…
O Lord, do for us what you did for the cross. Do for this church, do for this city, do for this nation, do for this world what you did for the cross, so that we might begin to understand why you would choose such an uncomfortable means of self-sacrifice for life. Do for us, O Lord, what you did for the cross. Reform us. Amen.