Thursday, December 15, 2011

Does the Fellowship of Presbyterians Actually Make Sense (Part Two)?

In my last posting, I briefly discussed the appearance of the Fellowship of Presbyterians and the reaction it engendered among some people in the denomination. I also expressed my cautious hope that perhaps the Fellowship was truly something "new" for evangelicals in the PC(USA) to support.

Now I would like to briefly write about the first big event held by the Fellowship, the meeting in Minneapolis held in late August. Almost two thousand Presbyterians came to this meeting. Most of these were supporters of the Fellowship to some degree, but there were also some important denominational and Presbytery officials present, as well as a few skeptics (most likely). By common consent, the worship and tone of the Gathering were hailed as generally positive and uplifting.

Some harder work was also being done. During the Gathering four possible "tiers" of involvement for evangelical congregations were presented for discussion. These were, as described on the Fellowship webpage:

• Tier 1: Some who are coming to Minneapolis do not want or need to change any part of their structural reality. They are either in a healthy and nurturing presbytery or they are called to ministry where they are despite a less than healthy presbytery environment. We honor and affirm this, and will be offering ideas and options for nurturing Christ-honoring ministry in place.

• Tier 2: Some who are coming are part of a presbytery where innovation, entrepreneurial vision, and creative leadership are enabling substantive change within the current presbytery structure. A few of these models will be explained and explored.

• Tier 3: For those who need more distance and differentiation from their current presbytery or the PC(USA), new possibilities for “affiliate” congregations will be introduced. We will provide information on how this new type of relationship could work and language for possible overtures to the 2012 General Assembly.

• Tier 4: There is increasing interest in the creation of a “new Reformed body,” distinct from the PC(USA) and distinctly different from any other existing “denomination” in its structure and focus. The idea is to recapture our core identity, believing that Reformed theology has much to say to our contemporary culture, and that Calvin’s original vision for the nature and role of presbyteries offers a better way of relating to one another than most of us are experiencing now. In forming this new Reformed “body,” there is also the opportunity to move with imagination and energy into the reality of a post-denominational world.



To my recollection, Tier Two ended up being about reforming existing Presbyteries to, for example, have two Committees on Ministry and Preparation for Ministry, one of each would be evangelically-oriented. I always thought that was a very poor idea. Whoever comes through a Committee on Ministry or Committee on Preparation for Ministry will still be part of the whole Presbytery. I think we have too many committees and bureaucracy as it is.

I have had the privilege of serving on CPMs in two Presbyteries (just started serving on the CPM of the Presbytery of Florida) and the experience has been fine. The Committees are theologically diverse. Possibly I was (and am) the most conservative member on them. It doesn't seem to be so bad. And even if there was a CPM that was 100% conservative or evangelical, I would still belong to a Presbytery that would have inquirers/candidates from the "liberal" CPM. Whatever.

I think there was also discussion of forming theologically oriented Presbyteries that could cross current geographic boundaries. I think that idea might have had more merit, but it seems to be going nowhere. I have the impression that, at the General Assembly level at least, the consensus is that we must have geographic Presbyteries, except for some racial-ethnic Presbyteries. Speaking purely personally, I think that is not a good exemption. I mean, it is explicitly based on race and ethnicity! It's like soft apartheid.

Well, that is another issue. In any case, Tier Two seems to be nearly moribund.

Tier Three, if I am not mistaken, would advocate for Union Congregations, where a congregation could belong to both the PC(USA) and the "New Reformed Body" which has not yet been formed. And perhaps this Tier includes different levels within it as well ... congregation "A" affiliates with the NRB but stays a member of the PC(USA); congregation "B" does the opposite; congregation "C" belongs to both denominations.

Again, this proposal seems to be going nowhere, at least in its purest form ... congregations belonging to both denominations. And I wonder if that is for the best. Despite all of the attempts to be conciliatory on the part of the Fellowship and the leadership of the PC(USA) (and I think the General Assembly Moderator and Stated Clerk have tried strike the right tone), a new Reformed denomination would be formed necessarily in opposition to the direction the PC(USA) has been on for decades. Belonging equally to both denomination seems akin to having one foot on the train as it is leaving the station while having another foot on the station platform.

For what it's worth, our congregation is most likely to stick with Tier One, remaining engaged on our Presbytery as it is while lifting up an evangelical witness. In November we released a Statement of Dissent and Disavowal to our Presbytery and all the Sessions within the Presbytery, in opposition to the recent change in ordination standards. No one has to guess where we stand. But we are still strive to support the Presbytery in different ways. That option will not be for everyone, but it seems to work for us. And I think that is a good Tier to advocate. Of course, I think we would have done this in any case. I don't think we needed the Fellowship to give us this particular idea. Anyway, Tier One is certainly a real option.

Finally, the other likely option presented by the Fellowship is for evangelical congregations to move to a "New Reformed Body." I will concentrate on the "New Reformed Body" in my next posting.

UPDATE: I should have mentioned that this proposal of several "tiers" raised some misgivings for me, because they might serve to fracture the evangelical movement or witness in the Presbyterian Church (USA). I also have concerns about the cafeteria style of offering different options. It seems to me there are two choices for an evangelical congregation in the Presbyterian Church (USA): stay or leave.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Does the Fellowship of Presbyterians Actually Make Sense (Part One)

I have tried not to spent much time commenting on denominational issues in this blog, but as someone who identifies as an evangelical pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA), I think recent events are worth discussing. Specifically, given these recent developments, I think the question must be asked if the Fellowship of Presbyterians enterprise makes any sense. You will recall that the Fellowship began in early 2011 and was revealed by the release of a "White Paper" which diagnosed serious problems within the Presbyterian Church (USA), going so far as to call the denomination "deathly ill." The initial Fellowship leadership was a group of tall steeple church pastors of the evangelical persuasion.

My first reaction to the news was "yet another evangelical group that probably will huff and puff and go nowhere." I had in mind the Confessing Church movement, which signed up over 1,300 congregations, held a huge "Confessing Church Celebration" in Atlanta, and then ... disappeared. I also had in mind the New Wineskins group, which sounded like a group that wanted to change ministry in the PC(USA) but developed more into a transmission belt for congregations seeking to leave for the Evangelical Presbyterian Church denomination. Plus there is a plethora of conservative or evangelical groups in the PC(USA) that have been around a long time.

However, the vitriolic response to the Fellowship's initial documents from many theological progressives and PC(USA) institutional loyalists (one letter to the Presbyterian Outlook even criticized the drafters of the "White Paper" for calling it the "White Paper" because that showed racial insensitivity. Such a reaction is a self-parody.) suggested to me and others that perhaps this Fellowship was indeed proposing something that could make a difference ...

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

An Attempt at Clarity

The Presbytery of Stockton in California is trying to establish some clarity for Presbyterians when we discuss "Essential Tenets." Presbyterians say they have Essential Tenets but they never identify them (or, I should say, the national denomination never defines them, except for support of women's ordination, which is explicitly endorsed by only one of our Confessions.).

Stockton is attempting to describe some Essential Tenets as guidelines. I appreciate their hard work and irenic spirit.

Read the document for yourself.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Former President Gillespie of Princeton Seminary has died

I am saddened by Dr. Gillespie's death, although it is true he lived a full life (he was 83) and I have faith that he is with his Savior at this very moment. I was fortunate to attend Princeton Seminary when he was President. I appreciated his pastorally-oriented sermons in Miller Chapel, as well as his plainspoken nature and sense of humor. He was a success as a pastor and an academic, and led Princeton Seminary to great heights as its President (for 21 years!). He is one of those transformative figures in higher education, much like another great President, Frank Rhodes, who led Cornell University for 18 years, including my time there.

Tom Gillespie will be missed greatly. May God bless and comfort his dear wife Barbara, and their children and grandchildren, at this time of loss for them.

Princeton Seminary's current President, Ian Torrance, has written a gracious tribute to Dr. Gillespie.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Sermon on October 16, 2011

“Church and State” (Psalm 9:1-9; Matthew 22:15-22)
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Rev. John B. Erthein

How providential that these lectionary readings, which are set without regard to current events, sometimes coincide with relevant current events. I am thinking specifically of a controversy that arose when a minister who supports Governor Rick Perry for President said one should support a born-again Christian for President, such as Governor Perry, even if another candidate (meaning Mitt Romney) was a good person. The minister later said Mormonism (Romney's faith) was not Christian and was a cult.

Quite aside from whoever should be President, and quite aside from whether the Mormon faith is Christian or not, some important questions were raised in my mind as a result of this controversy. What should Christians look for in a political leader? How much can or should our political system reflect Christianity? What is the proper relationship between church and state?

I am not going to spend a lot of time on Psalm 9 this morning, except to say that it affirms the whole Word of God affirms … the God is sovereign over his creation. Nations rise and fall, but God stands forever. Everything in creation, including every government, exists under the judgment of God.

So what does that mean? For a time, it meant that God's chosen people were to live under a theocracy, where God's laws would be the law of the land. That was Israel. And it was not wrong for Israel to be a theocracy. But I have two observations to make about that. First, the theocracy frequently did not operate as God desired. There were frequent outbreaks of corruption, of abuse of power, of heresy in high places, and social unrighteousness, in which the poor and widows were not aided and where God's moral laws were transgressed. Second, the language in Psalm 9 does not, I believe, refer only to Israel, but to all nations. In other words, all nations even then were under God's ultimate authority and judgment. The people of Israel understood God as the great liberator, the One who had freed them from Egyptian oppression. God exercised his authority and judgment over Egypt. And, I would further say that, while God ordained a theocracy in the past (Israel) and will do so in the future (meaning when Jesus Christ comes again in glory to reign over us, that will be the perfected theocracy), God does not ordain a theocracy for every nation in every time. God does, however, always have the nations under observation. And no matter what kind of government exists, and no matter how powerful the country, God is the ultimate authority.

By the time Jesus walked the earth, Israel was no longer a free nation. It was under the domination of the Roman Empire. The Romans were actually religiously tolerant to a point: Jews could practice their faith, for instance. But obviously the Roman Empire was not a Jewish theocracy. Indeed, at the time of Christ the Romans were exalting their Emperors so highly that they were being seen as virtual gods. Rome was proudly pagan. It must have been incredibly galling to be a Jew living under the yoke of pagan Rome. Many Jews were hoping for a Messiah who would throw off the Roman occupiers and restore Israel as an independent kingdom. Some saw Jesus as this kind of savior.
But not everyone looked to Jesus as a political or a spiritual savior. He threatened many people, including many members of the religious establishment. We are looking at the 22nd chapter of Matthew today, which takes place after Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem and his highly controversial cleansing of the Temple of the moneychangers. There has been constant back and forth between Jesus and his detractors, giving Jesus the occasion to share some of his parables which have since become famous. Jesus' opponents have not yet been able to trap him into making any damaging statements, but that does not stop them from trying. The Pharisees send one of their number to question Jesus on the sensitive matter of taxation. I don't know of anyone who likes to pay taxes, but at least we are paying taxes to our own elected government. But the people in Israel had to pay taxes to the Roman occupiers, a source of enormous (and understandable) resentment. Notice that the Pharisee ludicrously tries to soften up Jesus by flattering him, “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful person and take no notice of anyone, since you are not impressed by people's status.” Ironically, that was a true statement: Jesus really is like that. But this Pharisee does not believe so, so he is knowingly saying something he considers dishonest.

Jesus, of course, is not someone prone to false flattery, and he calls the Pharisees “hypocrites.” One reason he says this is because of the false flattery: if the Pharisees said what they thought they would yell at Jesus being an arrogant blasphemer. But there may be another reason for the charge of hypocrisy. I am indebted to R.T France's excellent commentary on Matthew for this information. Jesus asked the Pharisees to give him a denarius coin. And as we know he pointed to the inscribed portrait of Caesar on the coin and told his listeners to give to Caesar what is due Caesar, and give to God what is due God. But Jesus is not merely using the denarius as a visual aid. Pious Jews considered the denarius an “idolatrous” coin because it carried a human portrait (thus violating the second commandment). And worse than that, it had an inscription referring to the Roman Emperor as Divi Filiuis, or “son of a god” (violating the first commandment). On the other side of the coin was the inscribed phrase “pontifex maximus,” or “high priest.” The denarius could hardly have been better designed to offend pious Jews.

But the Romans, who were often brutal but not usually irrationally brutal, actually tried to honor Jewish sensibilities (or they did not want to cause unrest for no good reason), so they allowed the Jews to coin their own, non-idolatrous copper money, which was fine for normal, everyday business; there was no need for a Jew to possess the denarius. Jesus apparently did not have one … but the Pharisees did, and within the temple at that! Since the Pharisees were using the coins with the Emperor's image on it, they could hardly object to paying tax to the Emperor. Indeed, one way of translating the Greek phrase in verse 21 is “to give back to the Emperor.” In saying this, Jesus is affirming that one can respect the pagan Emperor, but continue to worship the one true God.

Now, why would the pagan Emperor even merit respect? Certainly, among the Jews were a group called the Zealots (a word that carries meaning to this very day). They favored violent revolution. The last thing they would advocate would be respect for Rome. And yet, there were some things that the Roman Empire did that benefited people, including the Jews. The Romans provided peace and predictable laws; they built amazing infrastructure. So the tax was not just an imperial imposition, but a logical payment for services rendered.
Much of the New Testament advocated that Christians respect the ruling authorities. Paul famously wrote in Romans 13:

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God … Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment … For [the authority] is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer … For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God … Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed (Romans 13, selected verses. ESV).

Peter wrote similarly in 1 Peter 2:

Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and praise those who do good … Honor everyone. Honor the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor (1 Peter 2, selected verses. ESV).

Remember, Paul and Peter were talking about a pagan Emperor in charge of a pagan Empire. They were talking about a government that frequently did not reflect Christian values. The Romans had slavery and gladiatorial games; they were militaristic and imperialistic. And yet Christians were called upon to pay taxes to Rome, obey the Roman laws, and honor the Roman Emperor.

There are areas of the New Testament that give a much different picture of Rome, such as Revelation, during a period of persecution against the church. Christians would honor the emperor, but they certainly would not worship him. In that instance, the state was demanding too much allegiance. And in Acts, there were examples of disciples disobeying laws that prohibited them from sharing the Gospel.

So how can the Scriptural teachings be applied today? Well, I think most issues before us as Christians living in the United States of America are primarily prudential, meaning one can reach different conclusions without violating the Gospels. In other words, whoever is our President, and whatever his (or her!) program might be, we can certainly disagree if we feel the policies are wrong, but we should not assume “the church” can reflect what Jesus would have definitely said on, for example, what kind of health care reform we should have; or what our tax rates should be; or how we should reduce debts and deficits; or how we can best help the poor. There are many ways in which to do all of these things. I think the church has a better chance of influencing debate if it chooses its causes carefully. I personally dislike the hyperactivity of our denominational officials and assemblies that feel the need to address every issue that occurs to someone. My personal favorite example of this occurred at a past General Assembly (it might have been in 2004 or 2006). The Assembly actually spent time considering an overture from a Presbytery (meaning the Presbytery had spent time considering it) addressing an aspect of global warming caused by an excess number of cows … excess because we eat too much beef. Because we have so many cows, they release a disturbing amount of methane gas into the atmosphere, thus contributing to global warming. Yes, friends, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) took up the issue of cow flatulence.

That's a funny example, but what is less funny is that most overtures to General Assembly seem to concern every aspect of politics and public policy … far more so than spreading the Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ. So, what are we known for as Presbyterians? Are we known for the Gospel, or for political and social pronouncements? Now, surely politics and policy have their place, and the church should speak on some issues … but is it too much to ask for some reserve, some discernment, some recognition that when we talk about politics we are generally not talking about essentials of the faith? I mean, surely we can spend more time and effort talking about how to reach the unsaved with the message of eternal life through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ!

There are many, many important issues that perhaps deserve comment, as well as theories about church and state, but that is not really the purpose of this particular sermon … and I don't think that is the purpose of the Scriptures, either. The Bible tells us how God will grant us salvation if we come to him in faith through Jesus Christ. THAT must be the primary calling of the church … not to run the government or demand a policy to address every conceivable issue.

Now, if the government were to demand that we stop worshiping Christ and spreading the Gospel, and that we instead worship the government, then we would have cause to resist its authority. But otherwise, whatever we think of the President, whether or not we think the President is a Christian, however much we like or dislike what he is doing, his authority still comes from God, and we are called upon as followers of Jesus Christ to respect and honor the Presidency … and all other institutions of authority in our nation. Is it important to have a born-again Christian as President? Well, it would be nice … but being a born-again Christian is no guarantee that a person will make a good President. Who has the best mixture of character and qualifications to be President? That is, again, a prudential judgment.

Whoever is elected President next year, do be in prayer for that person, and for our nation, as we continue to live under God's ultimate authority. And be confident in God's providence and care for his creation, including our great country, while remembering that we also stand under his ultimate judgment. Amen.

Sermon on October 9, 2011

“Dare You Refuse the Gift?” (Exodus 32:1-14; Matthew 21:33-46)
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Rev. John B. Erthein

I would like you to imagine an attempt to reach someone you love. You have often had a difficult relationship. The one you love acts frequently distantly to you, and spurns your gestures of affection. But you love this person so much that you will do anything to show your love. You are, perhaps, a brilliant artist, and you paint or sculpt the greatest masterpiece the world has ever seen. If you tried to put a monetary value on this masterpiece, the amount would be incalculable … infinitely greater than all of the works of Michaelangelo, and Rembrandt, and van Gogh combined. You will have labored and put everything into this gift for your beloved. Finally, the day arrives when you present your gift to your beloved. And the beloved one looks at it ... and spits on it, and throws it in the dirt, and tramples it underfoot, defacing it. And then your beloved one turns his back on you, and goes and buys something that he thinks will satisfy him … maybe it's a bottle of cheap booze, or a pack of cigarettes, or maybe a porno magazine.

Can you imagine the pain of that rejection, of having your priceless best ground into the dirt, rejected by the one you love, who instead prefers to have trash? Well, God the Father has offered his people his best, both in the time of the Exodus and the time of Christ, and in fact today … and many of his people spurn his best so that they can possess something lower, and meaner, and uglier, something that reflects the lowness and meanness and ugliness of their souls.

We see that illustrated in the lesson from Exodus 32:1-14. It is helpful to remember what has so far occurred in the Exodus. The Israelites, God's chosen people, had lived in Egypt for hundreds of years. For a time they were a privileged people, but the rise of a xenophobic dynasty made their situation oppressive. They were treated with indignity, as slaves. God knew of their misery … he heard their cries. And he raised up Moses to lead them out of Egypt. God rained plagues upon the Egyptians so they would let his people go. Acting through Moses, God parted the sea and delivered his people from slavery. God provided for the Israelites in the wilderness. And God gave them his law … the sublime, perfect law, truly God's greatest gift to that time.

But it seems from the Exodus accounts that the people were frequently ungrateful. They often grumbled. They lacked trust in their great God and liberator and law giver. God did not stoke his wrath against his ungrateful people but showed them mercy. And how did the people respond to God? In this instance, we witness the people turning away from him, to worship an idol made by their own hands, the golden calf. Even Aaron, the greatest leader next to Moses, went along with this descent into idolatry.

What good did a golden calf do anyone? Did a golden calf bring the people out of Egypt? Did a golden calf feed them? Did a golden calf give them the law? No, the golden calf just stays where it is placed. And it was this thing of metal that the Israelites chose to worship. What perversity. And with what sorrow may we contemplate the futility of this people's actions.
God seems to be finally ready to strike at them, to wipe out these ungrateful, idolatrous, stiff-necked people. “Leave me alone,” he says to Moses. And God even promises to start over with Moses as the new Abraham, a replacement head of a great nation. But … Moses begs God to have mercy on them. Moses is confident enough of his relationship with God to approach him in this way. And he makes three arguments in his plea for mercy. He asks God to consider what it would mean for him to have exercised his power over the Egyptians for the sake of the Israelites, only to nullify his power by destroying his people in the wilderness. Moses builds on that by pointing out that the Egyptians would be delighted to see the Israelites destroyed, and by their own God. And finally, Moses points to God's covenantal promises to the patriarchs … to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: “I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I have promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.” God would not violate his own promise to his own people, however much they provoked him. However, God did teach the Israelites a fearful lesson, recounted in verses 34 and 35 of this chapter. He sent them a plague … a lesser punishment than destruction, but certainly not an acquittal.

You may recall that I preached on this subject some months ago. God will not foresake those whom he has chosen, but he still can chastise them. That happened to the Israelites, and it can happen to us. And this brings me to our second reading, from Matthew's Gospel. Jesus has been telling some very pointed parables to his listeners, primarily the chief priests and Pharisees. Jesus has come into Jerusalem with a lot of commotion (on the occasion we remember as Palm Sunday). He has disrupted the temple activities and challenged the authorities. And in the parable of the tenants, he implicitly compared the religious leaders to the evil tenants who threw out the owner's messengers and eventually killed the owner's son! Jesus, of course, would be the owner's son … God's greatest gift to his people.

Now, this is not a perfect analogy … God did not “create” Jesus. Jesus has existed eternally with the Father. But consider this: Jesus is the very Son of God, who was for a time clothed in flesh like ours, vulnerable like us, someone who never used his great power for himself, but only for others. The Father sent him to bring the greatest message ever heard to the people … that sins could be forgiven and salvation and eternal life received. What an incredible gift. But look at how many people spurned the gift. Consider those religious leaders (not all of them, to be sure. There were those like Nicodemus who did come to accept the Savior) who thought they would gain for themselves by killing the messenger of everlasting life, the son of the vineyard “owner.”

Again, how perverse … how tragic. Their behavior reminds me of something I read in the book “That Hideous Strength,” by C.S. Lewis, one of the “Space” trilogy. The protagonist, Mark Studdock, is on the edge of deciding to follow good or evil. He is put to a test … and he is informed it will be at the cost of his life if he fails test. A giant crucifix is placed on the floor in front of him. The body of Christ is represented in its awful agony on the cross … the body is nailed there … helpless. It is made of wood. It cannot move. It cannot speak. It can do nothing but be there. And Mark Studdock has only to lift up his foot and smash it into the helpless figure of Christ. But even though Studdock is not a committed Christian, something in that helpless figure causes him to stay his foot. How can he do it? How can he bring himself to violate that helpless figure in that way?

And the novel continues until its end, after a climatic battle between good and evil.

How many people stamp their foot on the crucifix? How many people reject the gift that is in front of them? How many people, in their pride, in their perversity, perhaps in their rage against God, do what so many people have done over the ages? How many build their golden calves and dance around them in a frenzy? How many of them kill the messenger of eternal life, the very Son of the Vineyard owner? How many of them take the precious gift of God and spit on it, and tear at it, and stamp it into the dirt? How many people turn away from the gift of hope, of peace, of life itself and settle for the filth and trash of life, thinking themselves rich when they are so desperately poor?

What are your idols? What makes you turn away from the infinitely precious gift of God? Is it pride? Is it materialism? Is it shame? Is it indifference? Is it arrogance? Is it sensuality? How often, friends, will you spurn God's outstretched hand? How much longer will you delay receiving the gift of God, which is both his perfect law and perfect grace, revealed to Moses and personified in Jesus Christ?

We learn from the Scriptures that our God is a patient God. He gives many chances to those whom he has called. But the Scriptures, particularly in Revelation, also point to an end of history, to the very end of existence as we know. We cannot know when that time will come for the world. We cannot know when this life will burn away like a morning mist before the rising sun. But the day is coming. And it is coming for each one of us. Your personal day of judgment is nearly upon you. For you will not live forever. There will come a time when your life here is completed, and you will face God.

So are you ready to face God? Do you recognize the gift of infinite value that he gives you in Jesus Christ? Will you accept the gift while there is still time? Dare you reject the gift?

Let us pray.

“Father, you present us with the gift of forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus Christ. Help us this day to accept it, the most precious gift in the world. Turn us away from our sinfulness, our arrogance and our stubborn pride. We are broken people. Accept us in our brokenness, in our humility, in our repentance. And help us, before it is too late. Amen.”

Sermon on October 2, 2011

“Saved by the Law?” (Exodus 20:1-20; Phil 3:4a-11)
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Rev. John B. Erthein

Why do we have laws at all? Essentially, because we have to. Human beings have shown that they need laws in order to live with one another. But that does not mean we really welcome the law, even the Law of God! I am going to give you a lengthy quote from the sermon titled “Grace and Law,” given by G. Campbell Morgan, because I think he really understands our attitude towards the Law:

Innately man is an anarchist; experientially, that is as a result of observation, he admits the necessity of law, and he is always anxious that the other man should submit to it. But for himself he desires freedom from it. Restraint is irksome. We would fain go our own way without any reference to law. This attitude of mind colors our thinking of the law of God, and strangely persists even in the life and experience of Christian men and women. Unconsciously to ourselves, we think of the law of God as hard and severe, the opposite of love and of grace … in so doing we prove we understand neither the law which came by Moses nor the grace and truth which came through Jesus Christ. The law of God is the expression of the love of God, and its giving, even in the midst of the old economy, was as certainly an activity of the grace of His heart as was the coming into the world of His Son.

We see the grace of God's law in its inspiration. When God gave the law at Mount Sinai, God's first words were “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” So, the law is not coming from a tyrant. The law is coming from the great liberator of his people. These words would remind the people of the great miracles God had performed on their behalf … his raising up of Moses as their leader; his raining of plagues down upon the Egyptian oppressors; the Passover; the parting of the sea; and the frequent provision of food and water in the desert. Now, when I say that God is a liberator, the first thing that may come to mind is that God liberated the Hebrews, his chosen people, from slavery in Egypt. That is true. But it is not the whole truth. God offers to liberate all of us from the power of sin that has enslaved us since the fall of mankind. His law is a reflection of his perfect will. If we kept every part of God's law, the world would be perfect.

It was an incredible privilege for the Israelites that God had selected them, among all the people of the earth, to be the keepers of the law. Most of the world languished in spiritual and moral chaos. Polytheism was the typical religious practice … hence the prohibition in the law of worshiping other gods. People were not governed by fairness towards one another, but rather by force. Whoever was stronger would rule. God set out a different path for his chosen people … a path of right worship of him, the only true God, and the right relationship of God's people with one another.

Again, the law is a wonderful and beautiful thing, God's perfect handiwork. And again, it was an extraordinary honor that God would choose the Hebrews to preserve his law. But over time, some of God's people began to misunderstand and misuse the law. Fulfilling the law became an end in itself. But the very foundations of the law … the justice, righteousness, grace, mercy and love of God … were often forgotten. Some of the people made an idol out of the law. This was the reputation of the Pharisees … zealous advocates of the law who forgot the character of the God who made the law.

The Apostle Paul had been one of the most zealous Pharisees. As he says, if anyone had the right to boast, it was he! He was the A student. He had the perfect conduct grades on his rabbinical report cards. He burned with a righteous fire to uphold the perfect law of God. You know, when he was still Saul, he, like many other Pharisees, was actually a pretty admirable man. He was serious in personality and purpose. He was energetic. He was honest. He was hard-driving and hard-working. He could probably argue any of us under the table. If Saul lived today, can you imagine him going along with our celebrity-driven culture … with the narcissism, the selfishness, the greed, the materialism, and overall lack of seriousness of our society? No. Saul was a intellectual and moral heavyweight.

And yet … he was wrong. Can you imagine what he went through after his conversion? Imagine that you are totally convinced you are doing what is right and following God's perfect will. And then, one day, without warning, God himself tells you … you were wrong. Grievously wrong. Horribly wrong. Murderously wrong. The cause to which you devoted your entire life actually contradicted God's desires. You are confronted with the shocking, terrifying reality that you have not been advancing the plan and purpose of God, but instead, the plan and purpose of Satan. Can you imagine Saul's self-reproach that threatened to become self-loathing? This formerly proud, righteous and upright man was driven to his knees, and then his face was in the dirt, and he was ashamed.

But it was then, when Saul was in the depth of despair, that salvation drew near to him. Saul became a new man, renamed Paul. Just as Abram was renamed Abraham. Paul was now God's man, and like father Abraham, he would follow God by faith. And so Paul became the great Apostle to the Gentiles. Next to Jesus himself, no man had such an impact on Christ's church. Paul became a truly great man of God out of his brokenness.

What then, does the law mean today? It means what it has always meant. The law reflects the perfection of God. But we cannot perfectly follow the law. The law comes from an infinite, perfect Creator, but we are finite and imperfect. The law is like a massive, mile high fortress of solid gold, with beautiful rubies and sapphires and diamonds encrusting its surface. But we cannot enter that fortress by own strength. We cannot storm the gates; they are impregnable. We cannot even pry a gemstone from the wall … it is fused into the wall. We also cannot replicate that fortress. We could spend our whole lives trying; but next to the beautiful fortress of God's law, the greatest works of our hands are nothing better than mud huts, or even more accurately, huts made out of dung. And when we gaze upon the sublime law of God, and compare that law to the lives we actually lead, we see how pathetic are the works of our hands, and for that matter our hearts.

Because, friends, we violate the law of God every day. We commit idolatry … not that we build statues of wood or stone, but we find other things more important than our walk with God. There are indeed other gods that command our attention … the gods of materialism, of pride, or advancement, of substance abuse, of relationships, of immorality … the list goes on and on. Our thoughts are not pure and righteous. Whenever we covet our neighbor's goods, we commit theft. Whenever we look with lust upon another person, we commit sexual immorality. Whenever we hold hatred in our hearts towards another, we commit murder.

The great mercy of God is that he sends his Holy Spirit upon his elect, and we can truly see our reality. Without the Holy Spirit, we would imagine our huts of dung to be solid homes, maybe even castles. If we were religious, but not saved, we might even think we were building the fortress of God's law, seeing walls of gold reach to the heavens. But the Holy Spirit is like the most accurate mirror held up to our faces. And instead of beauty, we see ugliness. Instead of goodness, we see evil. Instead of righteousness, we see sin. Instead of life, we see death. We realize that we are nothing better than the walking dead. That is a painful reality, like the burning sun shining in our eyes. Is it any wonder that the law can inspire dread? Isn't the darkness better? Who wants to know they are dead and decaying, after all?

But it is at precisely that moment that life draws near. The reflection of the law indicts us. And the righteous judgment of God convicts us. There is nothing left for us but to ask for God's forgiveness. And it is then that we are filled by God's glorious and gracious presence. It is then that Jesus Christ comes to us, when he enters our hearts and walks with us for the remainder of our lives. When we walk with Jesus Christ, we will see our glorious destiny ahead. And if we were to look back at our former lives, we may shudder inwardly at what we had considered to be right and true. And the other side of that abhorrence of sin and wickedness is the blazing gratitude for God's presence with us.

Walking with Jesus Christ means that we approach the great law of God, that great towering fortress of gold, soaring up to the heavens, where rubies and sapphires and diamonds sparkle in the sun. And as we approach the gate, formerly closed to us, Jesus will speak but a word, and the gate will open for us. We will no longer even desire to do those things that offend God. Won't that be amazing? Right now, as I write these words, I cannot bring myself to imagine what it would be like to live a sinless life. Sin is so deeply ingrained in me, it exists at the atomic level. How could I exist without it? And how can I heal myself of it?

Well … I cannot exist without it, and I cannot heal myself. And neither can any of you. Do you understand that? If you do, then salvation is at hand. Are you ready to turn away from sin? Jesus Christ is waiting to walk with you. And you will never need fear the law again. Amen.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Sermon for September 11, 2011

“God’s Love and God’s Justice”
Exodus 14:19-31; Matthew 18:21-35
September 11, 2011 (24th Sunday in Ordinary Time)
Rev. John B. Erthein

Does God exist? And if he does, then who is God? What is God like? People have been speculating about these questions since human beings could think. But as followers of Jesus Christ, we believe that God describes himself accurately in his Word, the Bible. Now, I think God is so infinite, so perfect, so amazing, that we will never understand everything about him. But the Bible tells us everything we need to know about God, especially what we need to know for our salvation.

So what does the Bible tell us about God? Two of his greatest attributes are “love” and “justice.” Both of these qualities are very much in evidence in both scripture readings, two of the better known ones. In the reading from Exodus, God is aiding his people, the Hebrews, as they struggle to leave their Egyptian captivity. Imagine what a daunting task that would have been. There were a huge number of Hebrews, that is true, but they were not an army. They were oppressed slaves, including the elderly, women and the very young. They did not leave in chariots; they went on foot, with all their possessions they could carry. And they would have to cross a harsh wilderness before reaching their promised land. Additionally, Pharaoh, angered at their rebellion, and seemingly learning nothing from the ten plagues that his people had suffered, sent his mighty army after the fleeing Hebrews. It seemed as if their flight to freedom would be a very short flight indeed.

But the Lord intervened! The Hebrews had been following a pillar of cloud sent by God (and just imagine what a sight that would have been, a massive, towering pillar of cloud, extending to the heavens, leading the people!). God moved the pillar to the rear of the Hebrew multitude, which hid them from the view of the pursuing Egyptians. During the night, the pillar served to keep the Hebrews and Egyptians separate. It served to confuse and confound the Egyptians. But God had not finished his marvelous works. Moses stretched out his hand and the Lord sent a mighty east wind over the water of the sea … can you imagine the fierce and howling wind? And then imagine the surface of the sea foaming and heaving, gradually being drawn apart, a depression in the surface becoming deeper and deeper until finally, the sea has been parted and dry land appears in a path across the entire sea bed to the other side. If you ever saw that spectacular movie “The Ten Commandments,” that may give some idea of what the people saw, heard and felt. If we take the text seriously, and accept it on its own terms, what happened was dramatic beyond comprehension. Two towering, seething walls of water flanked the pathway of dry land. Imagine how tall they were … if the sea bottom depth was 100 feet, the walls of water were 100 feet tall. If the sea bottom depth was 500 feet, the walls were 500 feet tall. What an extraordinary scene. And how intimidating it would have been for the Hebrews to venture down onto the dry pathway, knowing that countless tons of water were so close by, and it was only the hand of God that prevented the walls of water from flooding over them, from crushing and drowning them. But the people stepped out in faith, and crossed safely to the other side. In this way we witness the love of God.

But then the Egyptian army came in pursuit, and God allowed them to do so. But it was harder going for the Egyptians, because they were traveling with heavier equipment. The fully loaded chariots’ wheels sank into the dry but also soft sea bed. It was actually better to be on foot, as were the Hebrews. So by the time the Jews were safely on the other side, the Egyptians were still going slowly across the dry sea bed. And then, of course, came the deluge. The walls of water crashed down onto the Egyptian army, wiping out countless thousands of men. The lucky ones were crushed instantly. The unlucky ones suffered the agony of drowning. In this way we witness the justice of God.

And we witness both the love and justice of God set out in the well-known parable Jesus tells about the king, and the forgiven and yet unforgiving slave. The story is prompted by Peter’s question about forgiveness. If someone does something against you, how often should you forgive that person? Seven times? By asking that, Peter was going above and beyond the normal custom. Apparently, there had been a historical rabbinical teaching saying that three times was sufficient for forgiveness. So Peter may have thought he was being especially generous. But Jesus tells him that he must forgive far more than seven times. Different translations give different figures; either seventy-seven times or even seventy times multiplied by seven. Either number indicates that Peter is not following the way of God in his thinking. The number Jesus gave is not meant to be a specific number, but rather to be an incredible number … for the believer, forgiveness never stops.

Jesus elaborates his meaning in the wonderful story of a slave who owed his king an enormous, stupendous amount of money … ten thousand talents! To put that in perspective, a talent was a measure of money equal to six thousand denarii. A common laborer would earn about one denarius per work day, which means he would earn six denarii per week and 312 denarii per year. It would thus take an ordinary worker nearly 20 years to earn ONE talent. So after twenty years, it would be one down, and nineteen thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine to go (and that assumes the impossible feat of saving every denarius he earned.). Obviously the point of this story is to make the point that the slave can never pay off his debt, even though he promises his king to do so. So what happens then? The king would have been within his rights to sell off the man and his entire family as partial repayment of the debt. That was consistent with the laws of that time and place.

But the king does not do this. Instead, the king forgives the debtor. He wipes the slate clean. The debtor is no longer a debtor, burdened with an impossible amount to pay. Instead, he has been set free.

But how does the debtor respond? He encounters another slave who owes him money, about 100 denarii. That is not an insignificant amount. It would have been three or four months’ wages for an ordinary laborer. So the lender would be within his rights to demand payment from the debtor. Indeed, it was perfectly legal of him to have the debtor imprisoned. This action could be seen as simple justice.

But the slave who had received mercy could not legitimately demand justice, unless he was prepared to receive justice himself … and that is what he ended up receiving … justice. He was handed over to be tortured until he paid what he owed. But of course, he never could finish paying what he owed. So he would be tortured … forever. And Jesus warns his listeners that his Heavenly Father will treat them likewise.

Reflecting upon these two stories, I wonder if we prefer hearing about the love of God rather than the justice of God. God shows his love by using his great power to rescue the poor, oppressed Hebrews. That is something we can unambiguously cheer. But what about God using his power to utterly destroy the Egyptian army? How do we respond to a God who can act with such wrath. Surely other options were available, weren’t there? Could not God have found a less violent way to deal with the Egyptians?

And consider the story of the unforgiving slave. It’s wonderful that the king would forgive him. But did he really deserve an eternity of torture when he would not forgive? Wasn’t there some other way?

We have to ask ourselves what we think God owes us. God has created us. Does not the potter have power over the clay, to make one vessel unto honor and one unto dishoner? Does God owe us his mercy and grace? What have we done to earn God’s favor, really? What can we do to repay the unpayable debt? If we say we want justice, then we will receive the justice received by the Egyptians and the unforgiving slave. And in exercising his divine justice, God will be glorified. Either way, whether he exercises justice or mercy and love, God will be glorified. Indeed, for us to understand and appreciate God’s love and mercy and forgiveness, we have to understand his righteous judgment on sinners.

The good news is, it is not a hard thing to receive the love of God. He makes it freely available to those whom he has chosen, whether the people of Israel or the people of the New Covenant through Jesus Christ. You do not have to earn this love. You simply have to accept it. Does anything stand in your way? Are you disbelieving in God? Are you full of pride, thinking you are not such a sinner who needs mercy and forgiveness? Do you think your sins are too awful for God to forgive?

Whatever acts as a barrier between you and God, will you offer that up to God? Will you give it to Jesus Christ, who will gladly bear whatever it is? I am going to pray now, and I invite you, if you want a sure relationship with Jesus Christ, to pray with me now: “Lord Jesus, I confess that I have sinned against you and have grieved your Heavenly Father. I ask for forgiveness for my sins. I open my heart to you, Jesus, and ask you come into my life and lead it from this time onward. I do confess you as my Lord and Savior. Amen.”

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Billy Graham's Message After 9/11

Rev. Billy Graham gave a dignified and Gospel-centered message at the National Cathedral a few days after the terrorist attacks on 9/11/01, as part of the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance. I think Rev. Graham's remarks are worth sharing on this tenth anniversary commemoration:

We come together today to affirm our conviction that God cares for us, whatever our ethnic, religious or political background may be. The Bible says that He is “the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles.”

No matter how hard we try, words simply cannot express the horror, the shock and the revulsion we all feel over what took place in this nation on Tuesday morning. September 11 will go down in our history as a Day to Remember.

Today we say to those who masterminded this cruel plot, and to those who carried it out, that the spirit of this nation will not be defeated by their twisted and diabolical schemes. Some day those responsible will be brought to justice.

But today we come together in this service to confess our need of God. We’ve always needed God from the very beginning of this nation. But today we need Him especially. We’re involved in a new kind of warfare. And we need the help of the Spirit of God.

The Bible says, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.”

But how do we understand something like this? Why does God allow evil like this to take place? Perhaps that is what you are asking. You may even be angry at God. I want to assure you that God understands these feelings that you may have.

We’ve seen so much that brings tears to our eyes and makes us all feel a sense of anger. But God can be trusted, even when life seems at its darkest.

What are some of the lessons we can learn?

First, we are reminded of the mystery and reality of evil. I have been asked hundreds of times why God allows tragedy and suffering. I have to confess that I do not know the answer. I have to accept, by faith, that God is sovereign, and that He is a God of love and mercy and compassion in the midst of suffering.

The Bible says God is not the Author of evil. In 1 Thessalonians 2:7 the Bible talks about the mystery of iniquity. The Old Testament Prophet Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.”

The lesson of this event is not only about the mystery of iniquity and evil, but, second, it’s a lesson about our need for each other.

What an example New York and Washington have been to the world these past few days! None of us will forget the pictures of our courageous firefighters and police, or the hundreds of people standing patiently in line to donate blood.

A tragedy like this could have torn our country apart, but instead it has united us. So those perpetrators who took this on to tear us apart, it has worked the other way—it has backlashed. We are more united than ever before. I think this was exemplified in a very moving way when the members of our Congress stood shoulder to shoulder and sang, “God Bless America.”

Finally, difficult as it may be for us to see right now, this event can give a message of hope—hope for the present and hope for the future.

Yes, there is hope. There is hope for the present because the stage, I believe, has already been set for a new spirit in our nation.

We desperately need a spiritual renewal in this country, and God has told us in His Word time after time that we need to repent of our sins and return to Him, and He will bless us in a new way.

There also is hope for the future because of God’s promises. As a Christian, I have hope, not just for this life, but for heaven and the life to come. And many of those people who died this past week are in heaven now. And they wouldn’t want to come back. It’s so glorious and so wonderful. That is the hope for all of us who put our faith in God. I pray that you will have this hope in your heart.

This event reminds us of the brevity and the uncertainty of life. We never know when we too will be called into eternity. I doubt if those people who got on those planes or who walked into the World Trade Center or the Pentagon on Tuesday thought that it would be the last day of their lives. And that’s why we each must face our own spiritual need and commit ourselves to God and His will.

Here in this majestic National Cathedral we see all around us the symbol of the cross. For the Christian, the cross tells us that God understands our sin and our suffering, for He took them upon Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ. From the cross God declares, “I love you. I know the heartaches and the sorrows and the pain that you feel. But I love you.”

The story does not end with the cross, for Easter points us beyond the tragedy of the cross to the empty tomb. It tells us that there is hope for eternal life, for Christ has conquered evil and death and hell. Yes, there is hope.

I’ve become an old man now, and I’ve preached all over the world. And the older I get, the more I cling to that hope that I started with many years ago.

Several years ago at the National Prayer Breakfast here in Washington, Ambassador Andrew Young closed his talk with a quotation from the old hymn “How Firm a Foundation.”

This week we watched in horror as planes crashed into the steel and glass of the World Trade Center. Those majestic towers, built on solid foundations, were examples of prosperity and creativity. When damaged, those buildings plummeted to the ground, imploding in upon themselves. Yet, underneath the debris, is a foundation that was not destroyed. Therein lies the truth of that hymn, “How Firm a Foundation.”

Yes, our nation has been attacked, buildings destroyed, lives lost. But now we have a choice: whether to implode and disintegrate emotionally and spiritually as a people and a nation; or to choose to become stronger through all of this struggle, to rebuild on a solid foundation.

And I believe that we are starting to rebuild on that foundation. That foundation is our trust in God. And in that faith, we have the strength to endure something as difficult and as horrendous as what we have experienced this week. This has been a terrible week with many tears.

But it also has been a week of great faith. In that hymn, “How Firm a Foundation,” the words say, “Fear not, I am with thee; O be not dismayed,/For I am thy God, and will give thee aid;/I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,/Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.”

My prayer today is that we will feel the loving arms of God wrapped around us and that as we trust in Him we will know in our hearts that He will never forsake us.

We know also that God will give wisdom and courage and strength to the President and those around him. And this will be a day that we will remember as a Day of Victory.

May God bless you all.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Sermon on September 4, 2011

“The Marks of the Believer”
Exodus 12:1-14; Romans 13:8-14
September 4, 2011 (23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time)
Rev. John B. Erthein


A police officer noticed a speeding vehicle that cut off some other cars, blared its horn, and gave a very aggressive impression overall. The police officer turned on his patrol car’s sirens and flashers, pulled over the speeding vehicle, and noticed what was stuck to that car/s rear bumper. He promptly arrested and handcuffed the man who was driving and took him to the police station downtown. The man was placed in a holding cell. That was highly unusual for a traffic stop. After a couple of hours, the police officer released the man from his cell and was very apologetic. “I am sorry for what happened, I don’t normally arrest people for traffic violations. But when I saw the fish symbol on the back of your car along with the bumper sticker that said Jesus Loves You,’ I thought you had stolen the car.”

What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus Christ? What are the marks of the believer? We can discover these marks by turning to the passage in Exodus. The LORD God of Israel is establishing the feast of the Passover for his people. The elements of the Passover defined God’s people over three thousand years ago, and I would submit they continue to define God’s people today. What are the relevant marks of identification?

First, God’s people are people apart. In verse two, God instructs the Hebrews that they will live according to a different calendar than the surrounding culture. Some of the cultures of the Middle East considered the autumn season to be the start of the year, while others preferred the spring season. But instead of living by a seasonal calendar, God commands his people to live by a theological calendar, meaning that they live by a calendar centered on God’s saving actions for his people.

God also gave his people very specific commands for how they would prepare their Passover meal, from the type of food they would consume (a spotless male lamb or goat), to how it would be prepared, and indeed how it would be disposed of in case any was left. What is amazing about this ritual is that a version of it is practiced by devout Jews to this very day. The feast of the Passover is one of Judaism’s most important occasions.

God also commanded the Hebrews to display a sign of their separateness, which was to show the blood shed from the spotless lambs or goats on their door posts. The Angel of Death would “pass over” them on its way to destroying the first born of the Egyptians. Now, surely God knew who his own were. And yet he commanded the Hebrews to display a mark of their status.

So the separateness of the Hebrews is well established. But in a very important sense, they were also together. The painstaking regulations of the Passover meal were designed to bring the people together. Verses 3 and 4 demonstrate this. Moses was told that the whole community of Israel was to share the meal as households. In other words, individuals were not to eat the meal by themselves. Each household would have one goat or lamb to consume, and if the households were very small (say three people or less), verse four provides for a sharing of the meal with others. Everyone had to eat the meat, and all of the meat was to be consumed, with nothing left by dawn.

Finally, God commanded the Hebrew to be prepared. There is a lot of language concerning the preparation of the meal. This is not something that should be thrown together at the last minute, like throwing a frozen dinner in the oven or microwave. No, the lamb or goat must be chosen days before the meal, and there must be the most careful preparation. But this preparation is so that the Passover Meal can be quickly consumed, and that the Hebrews are to eat with their sandals on their feet, their belts fastened and their belongings packed up. The roasting of the meat over a fire, the use of unleavened bread, and herbs from the field, were all ways of fast preparation. And why? Because the day of deliverance is approaching.

You might be asking yourself what this has to do with you in this day and age. These regulations concern a distant people from over three thousand years ago, after all. The culture was dramatically different than ours. The very language of the Hebrews is impenetrable to most people today (and believe me, I know … I had to take a year of Biblical Hebrew in seminary and was amazed by how alien it seemed.). But the principles set out in this Exodus passage apply to followers of Jesus Christ today.

We are indeed called to be a “separate” people. Now, what does that mean? Like the Hebrews, we can display some symbols of God’s covenant with us. Jesus instituted two visible marks or signs by which we are known as his people. The sacrament of Baptism serves to mark us as Christ’s own. Now, God knows who belongs to him regardless of the outward sign. And yet this public mark of faith is something that sets the families of faith apart from others. The sacrament of communion also sets believers apart, because it is a symbolic and spiritual partaking of Christ’s Body and Blood, a remembrance of his sacrifice for us.

But our separateness does not just have to do with sacraments. It concerns the lives we lead. As followers of Christ, we are called upon to fulfill the law of God. What is the law of God for us? It is not the old Mosaic covenant, but rather the command from Jesus to love the Lord our God with everything we have and everything we are, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. That is the argument Paul sets out in the passage from Romans. Love fulfills the law. And what is extraordinary about this provision is that it includes everyone. The Christian is called not just to love other Christians, but all people. And that truly would set us apart, if we actually practiced it. It’s extraordinarily difficult. Only Jesus himself perfectly fulfilled it. But it is still what we are called to do.

Just as the Hebrews were a people together, so we are called to be a people together. Again, we can witness that in the way we come together for the Lord’s Supper. That is meant to be a communal activity. So is Baptism. There are exceptions due to emergencies or incapacity, but in the Presbyterian tradition, we generally come together around the Lord’s Table. And I think it is good to come together in other ways, too. We enjoy wonderful fellowship meals and Bible studies and prayer meetings together, united by our common bond in Jesus Christ. And we can fellowship with other believers in Christ beyond the walls of this church. I would submit to you that while our faith is individual in a sense, it is even more communal. Having a relationship with other believers is a vital aspect of our faith. That is why I just cannot affirm that watching a preacher on TV at home (and there are some TV preachers I've been blessed to watch, like Billy Graham and D. James Kennedy) is any substitute for gathering and worshiping with the people of God in the house of God.

Finally, we too care called to be a prepared people. Paul exhorts his listeners to remember that the time of salvation is drawing near. And how better prepared can we be but to live as followers of Jesus Christ? With all due respect to someone like Harold Camping, we cannot, in fact, know exactly when the time of salvation shall come. But it is good to live as if that time were imminent. Living in this way means having a robust faith in Jesus Christ, a faith that changes your life and allows you to act with love towards others.

To Him who showed us the way of faith and love to salvation, Amen.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

I Didn't Preach Last Sunday ...

... as I had a week off. I did preach the Sunday before, and didn't think it was one of my better efforts. Nonetheless, I share it here.


“God’s Sent a Savior”
Exodus 1:8-2:10; Matthew 16:13-20
August 21, 2011 (21st Sunday in Ordinary Time)
Rev. John B. Erthein


At the end of Genesis, the people of Israel had settled in Egypt, which was, at the time, a place of refuge. The patriarch Joseph had risen to the heights of power, and his wise decisions had made Egypt a place of refuge for his people, who prospered and grew in numbers. But hundreds of years passed between the events at the end of Genesis and the beginning of Exodus. A new dynasty had arisen, one that did not have the same welcoming attitude to foreigners. The rulers of Egypt had become nervous about all of these foreigners in their midst. Indeed, the dynasty under which Joseph and his people had prospered was itself foreign, known as the Hyksos. So after the “native” Egyptians had again taken control, the policy towards the Israelites began to change. Out of fear and resentment, the Egyptian Pharaohs made life more and more difficult for the people of Israel. They feared the growing numbers of Hebrews, and worried that they would be an enemy within in the event of war. Thus, they were treated as serfs, forced to work so hard that they would theoretically become exhausted and not be able to grow further in population. The native Egyptians would also benefit from the labor of the Hebrews.

But these measures did not curb the Hebrews’ population growth. The harsher their treatment, the more they grew. We can detect in this pattern the hand of God. God does not always spare his people from hardship, but nonetheless he exercises his providence over them. The early church grew during periods of persecution. So did the nation of Israel.

In response, the Pharaoh increased the pressure in a truly evil fashion. He decreed that Hebrew midwives must kill male Hebrew children as they were born. This was an incredible order to give to Hebrew midwives, but Pharaoh must have calculated that out of fear of his authority, they would comply. But these midwives feared God more than Pharaoh, and they did not obey his diabolical command. And thus the Hebrew population continued to increase. So finally, Pharaoh gave his most vile command yet: the people of Egypt were called upon directly to kill the newborn male babies by throwing them into the Nile River. It seemed as if the Israelites were now confronted with an impossible situation.

And it was into this terrible reality that Moses was born. He was in grave danger of being discovered and killed. And here is another parallel to the time of Christ, for Jesus himself was in danger as a newborn boy, thanks to Herod’s similarly diabolical order to kill all newborn baby boys. But again, from such fragile beginnings, God makes great things happen. God delivers to his people a great savior.

And so it was with Moses. His mother successfully spared him from harm by hiding him in a basket and trusting that God would guide the current of the Nile. She had to let go of her baby in the hope that he would be alright. And that is a good lesson for us today. There are times when we have to let go of a situation beyond our control, trusting that God has it in hand.
And praise God that he did have Moses in hand. Baby Moses, at the most vulnerable time of his life, was protected from harm. The Egyptian Princess found his basket and rescued the baby. She knew that the baby was a Hebrew, but thank God that she had a more tender heart than Pharaoh. In an extraordinary event of providence, she summoned a Hebrew woman, none other than Moses’ actual mother, to nurse Moses. In that way, not only was Moses’ life spared, but he could grow up in close proximity to his mother. And when the time was right, Moses would become the leader of his people, bringing them out of bondage to freedom.

Jesus came for a similar purpose, but in a much greater way. In the passage from Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus asks his disciples to identify him. First he asks what others say of him (i.e, the general public). Some think he is John the Baptist (come back from the dead). Some say Elijah. Some say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets. One commentator suggests the disciples are being diplomatic and omitting the negative things people had been saying about Jesus, such as being blasphemous or a sinner. In any case, these estimates, even the good ones, were short of the mark. So Jesus asks his disciples who they say he is. And this is the question we all face … who do you say he is? People in the world say many things about Jesus, after all. Some people deny he even lived, in other words he was a made up, purely mythical figure. Other people will admit that he lived, but that he was not the actual Son of God in any unique way (meaning that if he was the Son of God, we are all sons and daughters of God). Some people say he was a teacher, a mystic, perhaps a cynical sage, maybe a revolutionary, perhaps a misguided or mistaken idealist. There are so-called Christians, including church leaders, who believe such things (again, Sadduccees among us). Muslims believe he was a prophet, but certainly not equal to God.

As you ponder who Jesus is, let us consider what his disciples said when asked. It was Simon Peter who responded, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” That was the right answer, of course, and it had been revealed to Peter by God the Father. And so Jesus proclaims that he will build his church upon the faith of Peter, which is like a rock.

Is your answer Peter’s? Do you believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God? Are you a stone in the church of Jesus Christ? Are you part of his body? Do you accept what he offers, which is freedom? Moses offered his people freedom, as well. And doesn’t everyone want freedom?

Of course, to answer that question, one must define what is meant by “freedom?” What does a Savior do for us? Consider what Moses did for his people. He would lead them to freedom. But this was not only a freedom from the oppression of the Egyptians, but the freedom to be the people of God. The Hebrews were not released from captivity to do whatever their sinful selves desired. Instead, they were freed to observe God’s sacred laws, as he handed them down to Moses at Mount Sinai.

So what about does this mean for us? Jesus is our Savior. What does he saves us from? He saves us from the dreadful consequences of our sin and Satan’s power, which oppresses us as the Egyptians oppressed the Hebrews. But if we are set free from the power of sin and evil, for what are we freed? We are not freed to be autonomous and independent. We are not freed to pursue our own momentary desires. We are freed to lead a more meaningful life. We are freed to be the people of God. For indeed, we are fated to serve a Master, but we must consider which Master we will serve. Will it be Satan, or will it be God?

So what is your answer? Will you accept the gift of salvation as offered through Jesus Christ? Do you want to cast off the shackles of sin that are determined to weigh you down and will destroy you if they are not removed? Then turn to our Moses, our great Savior, our great Liberator from captivity, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.

To Jesus Christ, the One who has come to rescue us from sin, guilt, and death, be all glory, honor and praise, now and forever. Amen.


Monday, August 15, 2011

Sermon for August 14, 2011 (20th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

“God’s Great Mercy”
Genesis 45:1-15; Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32.
August 14, 2011 (20th Sunday in Ordinary Time)
Rev. John B. Erthein


“Lucy, you got some splainin’ to do.” That’s one of best remembered catch phrases from “I Love Lucy.” Ricky is calling Lucy to account for one of Lucy’s typically hare-brained schemes. We laugh at that, but at root it reminds us of an uncomfortable truth … it is highly unpleasant to be called to account. When you are a kid, you may worry about your parents finding out about something wrong you have done. When you are a pupil in school, you may have anxiety about going to the principal’s office (at least I hope there is anxiety, because that anxiety indicates that there is still such a thing as ‘discipline’ in that school. And without discipline, you eventually end up with riots, looting and disorder as we just saw in London, England). When you are an adult, you may have anxiety when called to the bosses’ office, or pulled over by the police … there is nothing like the flash of blue and red lights to get your heart pumping, is there?

So there are many ways in which we can be called to account, and it never feels good to anticipate those occasions. And I think the level of anxiety rises with the level of offense. If a cop pulls you over and you have been speeding, maybe 10 miles over the limit, that is one thing. But what if you are obviously intoxicated? I think you might anticipate a worse reaction. Or if you have illegal drugs in the car? The worse the offense, the worse the reaction.

I would shudder to imagine what is going through the minds of Joseph’s brothers when he reveals his true identity to them. To summarize what has happened previously, Joseph was the favored son of the patriarch Jacob. As a young man, Joseph was guileless, or arrogant, or a mixture of both. He had a dream in which his other brothers were like stalks of wheat bowing down before him … and he told them about the dream! This kind of behavior enraged his brothers, and they plotted to kill him. One of them had second thoughts about such a drastic action, and convinced the others to “merely” ambush Joseph, confine him in a pit, and sell him into slavery. Joseph ended up in Egypt as a result, and as a result of his brilliance and his closeness to God (he dreamt accurate prophecies), he rose from slavery to become, aside from Pharaoh himself, the most powerful man in Egypt, which was then the greatest empire the world had ever known. Joseph foresaw that the region would enjoy seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine. So he had a portion of grain stored during the good years, so that the people of Egypt would survive the years of famine.

People from outside Egypt even came to avoid starvation. And among those people were Joseph’s brothers. Much time had passed since they cast him away, and they did not recognize him at first. But on the occasion described in the passage from Genesis, he finally reveals his identity. As his brothers stand before him, this man they have so grievously wronged, and who now holds the power of life and death over them, what must be going through their minds? What would be going through your mind under such circumstances? I think you would be waiting for the hammer to drop … for Joseph to make a scathing denunciation of your crimes and then to have you executed or, if you were lucky, to be banished from his presence forever.

But we see that Joseph does not do that. Instead, he sends away his advisors and servants, because his heart and emotions are overflowing. He astonishes his brothers by bursting out weeping, weeping so loudly that he can be heard around the palace. He then bids them to come close. And then, he reveals who he is …” Joseph, your brother, whom you have sold into Egypt.” But he immediately counsels his brothers not to be “distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here.” If I had been in Joseph’s place, I might not have told them that … I might have said, “oh, go ahead, be distressed and angry with yourself.” But Joseph tells them otherwise, because he understands the providence of God. “God sent me before you to preserve life … to preserve a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.” Joseph then recounts what happened since his brothers ambushed him. He will not punish them for what they had done to him.

And not only that, he will provide for him. As he embraces them, Joseph tells them to bring their father Jacob and his whole tribe to Egypt, where they will be safe. He has in effect prepared a place for them.

In this scene, we witness the great mercy of Joseph, a mercy that is covered by the providence of God, a mercy that is undeserved, a mercy that not only spares one’s life, but provides as well. And we are invited to consider the character of God as shown in Jesus Christ. When we approach God, in one sense we are like Joseph’s brothers. We are sinners. In one of our Prayers of Confession we says that we have “offended and grieved” God by violating his law. Every sin we commit strikes at the heart of God. Approaching God could be a fearful experience for us, for he is the ultimate judge, who knows everything we have done or have even thought of doing. We should tremble before him,

But consider what we hear from Jesus Christ. He tells us to come closer to him. He opens his arms to us and embraces us. He tells us not to be afraid. He forgives us for our sins. And he opens the gates of heaven to us where we may enter. And why is that? I think it is because we have been adopted into God’s family. And God will not cast away members of his family. We are in the positions of Joseph’s brothers and the Prodigal Son of Jesus’ story, who sinned against his father but was nonetheless welcomed back into his father’s house with open arms.

Paul’s words in Romans, chapter 11, reinforce the idea that God does not reject those who belong to him. Paul also refers to the mysterious providence of God, which uses unlikely events to advance his purposes. Referring to the Jewish-Gentile relationship, he tells his Gentile listeners, “They (the Jews) are enemies of the Gospel for your sake …” which means the Gentiles have an opening to receive the Gospel. But God has not abandoned the Jews, because they are still in God’s family line: “But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers, for the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.” Paul also explains that God has given mercy to the Gentiles in spite of their disobedience, and will give mercy to the Jews in spite of their disobedience.

What do we learn about God? He works his providence out in ways that are sometimes hard to understand. He gives room for humans to act badly, and in so doing they can do great harm. But his purposes are certain and irrevocable. All events will lead to his providential plan for his elect people. There is no sin than can separate the people of God from the love of God. If God has elected you to his family through Jesus Christ, he will never let you go. Now, do not take that as a license to commit evil acts! A redeemed life reflects itself in good conduct. But do be assured that whatever you have done in your life, however your sins have offended God, you do not need to fear approaching him in repentance and faith. If you abhor your sins and ask for God’s forgiveness, you will receive it. I am reminded of a sermon given by Charles Spurgeon concerning the repentant thief in Luke’s Gospel. The thief admitted his guilt and confessed his faith in Christ shortly before his own death. Spurgeon wrote, that if we wonder if the thief went to heaven, do not ask if he went to heaven if he were sincere. The only right question is, if he was sincere. In other words, with his sincere repentance, the thief was guaranteed entry to paradise, as Jesus himself said on the cross. There was no more question to be asked.

And that is the hope you can have. Speaking for myself, I have a lot of respect for other Christian traditions. But I cannot belong to any church that would not affirm the assurance of salvation. The idea that you can have salvation and somehow lose it is not Biblical, it is certainly not supported in Paul’s writings. It also does not provide the blessed assurance that the Gospel should provide. If you have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior but can nonetheless lose your salvation through your own actions, what does that say about the sovereignty and power of God? What does that say about the promises of God as attested to in the Scriptures? How much sin would be just enough to tip you over into Hell rather than Heaven? You would become so preoccupied with counting your sins, and so anxious about your fate, that you could not serve Jesus Christ in the best possible way … without fear.

And indeed, there is a message for us in these passages, not just to us as forgiven sinners, but also as saints called to service. What kind of service to God can we offer? We can strive to follow the example of Jesus Christ. Even though Joseph lived before Jesus was born, he was anticipating Christ’s example in his radical, all encompassing, total forgiveness of those who had wronged him.

So, while we are given assurance, we are also given a challenge. And they are tied together. If you are willing to accept the assurance, you must be ready to accept the challenge. Are you ready? Salvation and service await you.

May the Lord Jesus Christ, who came to save us and show us how to serve others, give us the faith to accept salvation, and the character to forgive others as he has forgiven us. Amen.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Sermon for August 7, 2011 (19th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

“Why We Evangelize”
Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45; Romans 10:5-15
August 7, 2011 (19th Sunday in Ordinary Time)
Rev. John B. Erthein


What is it that makes church different from other worthy endeavors such as the Chamber of Commerce, or the Kiwanis, or any other business or charitable endeavor? As members of the church, meaning members of the Body of Christ, we are called to evangelize. The very beginning of Psalm 105 calls upon us to “give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name …” and to “make known his deeds among the peoples.” We are also exhorted to “tell of all his wondrous works!” And God’s works are wondrous indeed. Anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear understands how wondrous are the works of God. Every day, when we see the sun rise or set; or we walk through the beautiful pine trees of this area; or we experience the laughter of a baby; we truly experience the wondrous works of God. God’s work is inescapable. It is in nature, in human relationships, in all things beautiful and noble, and in our very concept of perfection. That is known as general revelation, and we are indeed called upon to point to this revelation as evidence of a great and gracious God.

But we are called even more to tell the story of God’s redemptive plan for the human race. Where does God reveal this? Well, we may be able to deduce from nature, from creation, perhaps from logic or philosophy, that there is “a” God, some kind of divine intelligence. We may even be able to understand, from the many evidences of God’s common grace, that God is a God of blessings. But the light of nature or of human understanding cannot show us what we must know for our salvation. But in the words of the 4th century church Father John Chrysostom, God has graciously condescended to us by providing his Word to us, both the Word written and the Word made flesh, meaning Jesus Christ. And so it is that we turn to consider these elements of God’s special revelation to us. And not just consider, but to evangelize, to share God’s plan of salvation with others.

Over these last few weeks we have considered together the patriarchs chosen by God, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He chose these men, and their wives Sarah, Rebecca, and Rachel, to head a new nation, Israel, who would be God’s chosen people. These patriarchs often faced setbacks, frequently of their own making. On more than one occasion, it seemed as if the line of Abraham would die out. But God was true to his covenant, made first with Abraham. This Psalm, in verses 16 through 22, makes reference to the patriarch Joseph, son of Jacob, whose self-confidence, perhaps boastfulness, enraged his brothers, driving them to ambush him, cast him into a pit, and sell him into slavery. But God showed his providence in this way: he made good come out of the evil actions of Joseph’s brothers. As a prisoner in Egypt, Joseph advanced because of his natural brilliance and leadership ability. From such humble status as a slave, Joseph was raised up by God to become the second most powerful man in Egypt. And as such, he foresaw that Egypt would face years of famine, and so he had them prepare for the famine by storing up their surplus food. And when the famine came, there was enough to feed everyone, including Joseph’s own family, even the very brothers who had hated him and cast him out! Had it not been for Joseph’s position in Egypt, the line of Jacob might have perished. So we see that while God allows his people to be chastised and humbled, he also acts to preserve them.

And why does God preserve them? Look at verse 45: “that they might keep his statutes and observe his laws.” That was the purpose of Israel, the nation of God among the pagan nations, the people of God amidst the Gentiles, a continuing witness to the law of God in a lawless and sinful world. And by God’s grace, he sent his Son to spread that message to the gentiles as well. Because of Jesus Christ, all of us, whatever our background, whether or not we descend by blood from the line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, are grafted onto the tree of Israel.

But how well did the people of Israel keep the statutes and laws of God? The Old Testament is, among other things, an account of Israel’s fidelity to God and his laws. And the record is not unblemished, to put it mildly. God both chastised and blessed his people in the continuing cycles of falling into sin and being restored to goodness. Indeed, the Old Testament is an account of these cycles. It seems as if the people of Israel never get it quite right.

But then again, do we? We are heirs to the promises made to Israel. Are we without sin? Can we fulfill the demands of the law? I submit to you that we cannot. Now, the church has held out different ways of dealing with this harsh reality. Over the centuries, into the Middle Ages, the Catholic church (which was the only church in the Western world, as opposed to the Orthodox church that existed in the East) developed an intricate sacramental system, including the sacrament of penance, to bring a believer back into God’s favor after committing a sin or sins. I am not going to deliver a dissertation on the Roman Catholic sacramental system, but I do want to say that this system did not produce a feeling of safety in God among discerning people, such as Martin Luther, who started his ministry as an Augustinian monk. He was haunted by the knowledge of his sinfulness and the agony of knowing that as soon as he confessed and was absolved of one sin, he would commit another. He was terrified of dying outside of God’s grace. Luther wanted to please God but was frustrated at his inability to perfectly keep the law of God. And it was all of this fear and frustration that drove Luther back to God’s revealed Word, uncorrupted by the centuries of tradition that served to obscure its beauty and clarity. And Luther rediscovered the central truth of the Gospel … that we are not justified by the works of the law, but rather by the grace of God through faith.

As Douglas Moo writes in his magisterial commentary on Romans, “central to the Reformers’ teaching on salvation was their distinction ‘law’ and ‘gospel.’ ‘Law’ is whatever God commands us to do; ‘gospel’ is what God in his grace gives to us. The Reformers uniformly insisted that human depravity made it impossible for a person to be saved by doing what God commands; only by humbly accepting, in faith, the ‘good news’ of God’s work on our behalf could a person be saved.” This was the message of the Apostle Paul, a devout Jew who wanted both Jews and Gentiles to come to a saving relationship with God. Paul was the Reformer of his age, proclaiming the Gospel of salvation to a people who had forgotten the importance of faith (meaning many of the Jews of the time). Paul taught that the Old Testament itself proclaims the indispensability of faith. How were Jews God’s chosen people? It was not by their adherence to the Law, for the Biblical account itself shows how often they fell short of the Law. The law could save them only if they kept it perfectly, but they could not. And so we cannot. We share that reality with the people of Israel. And so Paul’s message is that in the time of the Old Testament, the people called upon Yahweh to be saved. And “now” (meaning in Paul’s time) people may call on the name of Jesus Christ to be saved. This shows how highly Paul valued a relationship with Jesus Christ, for it was the same thing as a relationship with God … Jesus Christ was and is fully God, one with the Father. And so, Paul says that we must simply call on the name of the Lord, and to confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead. And thus we shall be saved.

This is truly good news! Paul’s understanding of the Jewish Scriptures links them to the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a consistent narrative of God’s grace for sinful people. But as Paul writes, one must receive this good news for it to be effective. How does this happen? Well, God has established the method for spreading the good news. As Paul writes in verses 14 and 15, “how can a person call on one in whom he has not believed? And how shall they believe in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” Now, when Paul refers to a preacher, I don’t think he really had someone like me in mind. In other words, when Paul wrote, there was no professional Christian clergy. There were no denominations with various ordination requirements. There were no Christian seminaries. Pretty much everyone who believed could be a preacher … not necessarily in the sense of speaking before a lot of people at one time, but in sharing what we believe with others.

Are you prepared to do that? Although the Bible contains 66 different books covering 2,000 years or so, the central message is simple. God created us. We fell into sin. We cannot save ourselves from God’s righteous judgment. But God … the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who revealed himself fully in Jesus Christ … will save anyone who calls on him. Do you believe this? If you believe it, it is the best possible news for you. Why wouldn’t you share it with others? That is what our Lord commands, to extend the invitation to salvation and a new life to all the world. What a privilege! What a joy! Will you take part?

To the One who extends his grace from Abraham through Jesus Christ be all glory and honor, now and forever. Amen.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Sermon for July 31, 2011 (18th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

“Undeserved Gifts” (Genesis 32:22-31; Matthew 14:13-21)
July 31, 2011 (18th Sunday in Ordinary Time)
Rev. John B. Erthein


It can be hard to ask something of someone, especially if you have the sense that you are asking for something unnecessary, like a privilege or luxury. I think of the man who asks his wife if he can play poker with the boys that night, and he would be out late as a result. While his wife is bathing the kids and putting them to bed, the husband would be playing cards, smoking a cigar, drinking a beer, and sharing racy jokes with his pals (the great poker playing scenes in the movie and TV series The Odd Couple comes to mind. I know I am dating myself by mentioning that).

Or the wife has everything she needs in the way of clothing, but she just has to have that new dress or hat. But since her husband is the breadwinner, she has to get his OK to buy of keep the article of clothing. And that reminds me of an episode from I Love Lucy (my tastes in TV comedy are old fashioned) where Lucy and Ethel return from a shopping trip. Lucy pulls out a box containing a pretty dress, and expresses her hope that Ricky will let her keep it. Ethel says “I hope Fred lets me keep what a bought,” and she pulls a toilet plunger out of her bag. Obviously Ricky and Fred have different ideas of what constitutes “luxury” or “undeserved gifts.”

Today we encounter two of the better known stories from Scripture, both of which illustrate the nature of undeserved gifts. First, there is Jacob’s wrestling encounter with a stranger. Jacob actually had been seeking solitude, walking around while thinking. I’ve done that myself on many occasions. Jacob is apprehensive about his upcoming reunion with Esau. You will recall that Jacob had obtained Esau’s birthright and fatherly blessing (from Isaac) by dubious means. He eventually settled in with Laban’s family for a long time, partly because he was cheated by Laban. At one point, Jacob and his family fled from Laban’s property and had a confrontation that ended well enough for Jacob, because of God’s gracious provision, but it was still a harrowing encounter.

Now Jacob is preparing to meet the brother who would have reason to hate him. He has prayed to God to spare him from his brother’s likely wrath. He then takes his wife and family members and possessions and sends them across the ford of the Jabbok river, really a stream. He remains behind. In the dark of night a mysterious man appears suddenly and engages Jacob in a wrestling match. The match lasts for hours. Jacob displays tenacity in refusing to release the stranger. The stranger cannot vanquish Jacob even when he dislocates Jacob’s hip (although in Hebrew the possibility exists that the stranger hurt a more sensitive part of Jacob’s anatomy, which makes Jacob’s persistence even more impressive.). Jacob will not let go out the stranger until he receives a blessing. This very request suggests a dawning realization on Jacob’s part that he is wrestling with an angel of the Lord, or perhaps the Lord himself! And Jacob receives the blessing. Indeed, he receives a blessing that he probably could not have imagined. This stranger tells him that he has a new name to match a new identity. No longer is her Jacob, a name that implies grasping and supplanting. Instead, his new name is Israel, which means one who has struggled with God and with men, and has prevailed. And after this amazing encounter, Jacob names the place “Peniel,” because “I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” Notice that Jacob expresses no sense of triumph over his struggle with God, but an attitude of awe and gratitude that he even survived the encounter. Slowly but surely, Jacob is learning a proper faith that is accompanied by humility.

When I think of this encounter, I think about the power of God as opposed to our power. Realistically, who among can expect to prevail over God, who is infinite in power, who created the whole cosmos and gave us life? And yet, on this occasion, God did not use his awesome power to swat Jacob away like a fly. He did not grant Jacob’s request easily, but he did grant it. I think this shows that God is willing to hear our prayers, and will indeed respond to our faith, but that we also must show patience and perseverance and even endure setbacks. A true faith is a deeply rooted faith, one that will withstand the pressures and disappointments and sorrows of life. And for all of his faults and flaws, Jacob demonstrated such a faith. His faith was the reason for God’s blessing him, not any of his works. I think one reason why God chose Jacob as a patriarch was to show that one is saved by grace through faith. God was not required to choose Jacob, and God is not required to choose any of us, by virtue of our works or character. But by God’s mysterious providence, he chooses some for salvation and service.

And we witness another example of the graciousness of God in the story of the feeding of the multitude, an event recounted in all four Gospels, indicating an especially big impact. This story provides a very interesting counterpoint to the one from Genesis. Like Jacob, Jesus is under a terrific amount of stress. In Jesus’ case, he has learned that the man who was perhaps his greatest friend, John the Baptist, was beheaded by the cruel Herod Antipas, fulfilling a reckless promise he made to his evil wife and daughter at a typically decadent dinner party.

Jesus has withdrawn to the wilderness for a couple of reasons. First, he is leaving the territory controlled by Herod. Herod thinks Jesus may be the resurrected John the Baptist. It would be potentially hazardous for Jesus to stick around. Now, we know from later in the Gospels that Jesus would willingly give himself up to suffering and death … so he was not acting selfishly in this incidence. Rather, it was not the appointed time for him to die. He still had an earthly mission to fulfill. It would have been against God’s perfect plan for Jesus to die at that particular time.

Second, Jesus is attempting to withdraw from large groups of people to have a time of relative solitude and rest. He is searching for some quiet time in the midst of great stress, something that Jacob did as well.

Of course, a great difference in the stories is that Jacob is the one who makes a request of God. Jesus is the one who receives a request. And, as Matthew’s account makes clear, it was a request that only would have added to Jesus’ stress. Jesus had wanted to get away from large crowds of people. But somehow, a huge mass of people, 5,000 men at minimum (and I say “at minimum” because it is not entirely clear whether or not they were accompanied by additional women and children). But whatever the exact number, a very large group of people decided, for whatever reason, to follow Jesus into the wilderness. And there were no provisions to be had … not a McDonald’s or even a Whataburger in sight.

Jesus had had a horrible experience, learning that his friend John had been killed. And suddenly a huge crowd shows up, anything but invited, but obviously hungry and in need of food. Jesus and his disciples have a few loaves and fishes (and when the Bible says “loaves,” these are likely not what we think of as loaves, but rather large slabs of pita bread or flat bread. There was barely enough to feed the disciples. And yet Jesus commands them to feed the great multitude. And there turns out to be more than enough for all five thousand (or perhaps ten thousand?).

Traditionally, this passage has been understood to describe a miracle … the blessing of Jesus Christ allowed the scanty amount of food to be multiplied to such an extent that everyone received his fill, and there was enough left over to fill twelve baskets
… reminds me of some of the meals we’ve had here! In recent times, with the rise of skeptical and rationalist biblical criticism, it has become fashionable in the academy to treat this event as some kind of psychological happening … that Jesus convinced everyone to share the food they had already brought. I think that reduces the story to a kind of kindergarten lesson: “see, children, it’s good to share!” But according to one of the most learned expositors of Matthew’s Gospel, R.T. France, the text does not support the idea that Jesus engaged in “psychological manipulation.” The intent of the author was to affirm that a supernatural miracle occurred! I just mention that because it disturbs me that supposed church leaders sometimes favor these rationalistic, miracle-defying interpretations, simply because that matches their own experience, regardless of what the Bible says about certain events. Their attitude reminds me of a French philosopher who once declared that if the entire population of Paris told him they witnessed a bodily resurrection, he still would not believe it because it could not occur in the natural order of things.

My comments on miracles are not merely to show my concern about modernistic interpretations of Scripture. The miracle Jesus performed showed two great things about our God. First, it showed God has the amazing power to make something great out of something very small. This is a consistent pattern of God’s. He created the universe from nothing at all. He created the line of Israel from the unpromising beginnings of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, all of whom had serious obstacles in fathering children. He brought the church into being from a small band of Jesus’ followers to the ever growing Body of Christ, a church that has immensely changed history and the very way we think about reality. God brings great abundance out of small beginnings.

God has the power to perform miracles, and God has the desire to comfort and uplift his people. Remember that his people bring nothing to the table other than themselves. That is why the miracle of the feeding of the multitude is so important. They came with nothing and God blessed them with abundance. And this was so even though Jesus was likely tired, and stressed, and desired solitude. But he placed the needs of others ahead of his own. The king became the servant. That is the God we worship and adore. He gives us everything, and expects nothing, for there is nothing we can give to him that can merit his love. He loves us because he chooses to. He provides for us because he chooses to. He saves us by grace through faith on his own accord.

So what is there, really, for us to do? There are two things we can consider. First, search your heart and ask yourself honestly, the most honestly you have ever asked yourself this question: are you truly born again? Do you truly trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Do you know that if you come to him that he will give you the food of eternal life, just as he gave loaves and fishes to the multitude in the wilderness. And do you want this in your heart? Do you want this assurance more than anything else in the world? Do you want to know this so deeply that you will cling to the promises of God and be blessed by them, much as Jacob held on fiercely to God in their struggle?

Search your heart with these questions, and may God’s Spirit bring you to the place of salvation. Amen.