Monday, June 24, 2019

June 22-24, 2019 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Luke 7:1-10 "JESUS IS AMAZED!"


PENTECOST 2

June 22-24, 2019

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Luke 7:1-10



"JESUS IS AMAZED!"

1. When God’s people grasp grace.

2. When God’s people accept His authority.



Luke 7:1-10 (NIV) "When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” 6So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 9When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” 10Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well."



          I still remember the first book I ever paid money for. I was an avid reader as a kid and mostly read whatever books my older brother was reading. I’d make weekly trips to the library to find more. But somehow an ad for a book so grabbed me that I had to part with hard earned cash to get it. It was called, “Strange stories and amazing facts.” And it was good. All sorts of short articles about true things that had my head spinning and eyes wide. I don’t think I’m the only one who likes to be amazed though. On our recent trip to the Smoky Mountains Chris and I went through Gatlinburg which is a lot like the Wisconsin Dells with the same sort of attractions like Ripley’s Believe It or Not and the Guinness World Records and many more and I remembered downtown San Antonio has those same things. People like to be amazed. I don’t know how it works for you but in order for something to amaze me it has to be something I can’t do or don’t understand. Now in God’s Word before us it tells us Jesus was amazed. That grabs our attention. There is nothing that Jesus can’t do. There is nothing beyond His understanding. What amazes Him?

          First Jesus is amazed when God’s people grasp God’s grace. Often, they do not. If you have your Bibles open to Luke’s Gospel you see that Jesus had just finished preaching what’s known as His “Sermon on the Plain.” The content is similar to His Sermon on the Mount. The location is different. He’s in Galilee by the city of Capernaum which served as His home base when he was up north. The Roman government’s presence in that city was in the form of a garrison of soldiers led by a centurion. From what Luke tells us it’s clear this centurion had converted to Old Testament Christianity and was also waiting for the Messiah and believed Jesus was that Messiah. But he had a problem. His servant was sick to the point of death. We can see how the Gospel had changed this man. Many centurions would not care about their servants this way. Most centurions would not have given money to build a synagogue.

          It’s not really surprising then that the God fearing people of Capernaum who knew him reacted as they did. “The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” 6So Jesus went with them.”  Did you pick out why the church leaders felt Jesus should help the centurion? He deserved it. Why did he deserve it? Because of the good things he had done. Now this is a very normal way of thinking, even for the people of God who know better. We judge people based on the only things we can. What they say and what they do. People who do nice things, especially nice things for us are good people. People who murder and steal and have no respect for others’ well being or property are bad people. Good people deserve good things. Bad people deserve bad. And while that makes a natural law kind of sense person to person it does not with God.

          To be a good person before God you must be a perfect person. And unless you are a perfect person the only thing you deserve or earn from God is a one way ticket to Hell. That’s why we are so thankful God has revealed He acts on the basis of grace. Grace is God’s undeserved love. It can’t be earned. So when we say or more likely think, “Well Grandma deserves to be healed of her cancer, she is such a good person,” we are showing we aren’t grasping grace. When we see a faithful believer continuing to have struggles in their lives and we say or think, “Well, that’s not really fair, God,” we are showing we aren’t really grasping grace. And when we do that our Almighty God would be well within His rights to say, “Hello, McFly, what part of undeserved don’t you understand?”

          But we can, understand. We can grasp grace. The centurion did. Look at his response. “Jesus (He) was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you.” There’s a man who grasps grace. “I’m not worthy. I do not deserve. I want your help, Lord. I need your help, Lord. But I don’t deserve it.” And Jesus was amazed.

          He was also amazed at this believer’s acceptance of authority. “But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 9When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” 10Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well." We are Americans. We value independence and freedom. We don’t live under a governing system where any one man has absolute authority. That may be why American Christians struggle so much with the Bible’s teaching on authority. A good definition that I’ve heard of authority is this. The right to have the final say so. And that definition really fits with something that amazed Jesus. This centurion’s faith. It enabled him to accept Jesus’ authority in his life. “Just say the word. If you say so Jesus. I’m just a centurion and I make things happen by saying so. You are Jesus, the Christ. Just say so and it will happen.” And Jesus was amazed.

          Brothers and sisters, you know what I find amazing here? That you and I have the ability to amaze Jesus. He can do anything. He knows everything. And we can amaze Him? Yes. How? Like the centurion when in faith we take Jesus at His word. You know that’s really what faith is, taking Jesus at His word no matter what these eyes see or don’t see. When you listen to people talk their god talk and their religion talk these days a lot of times you just have to shake your head and say, “You’re just thinking too hard.” Just take the Lord at His word. Not only does that make your relationship with God so much simpler it amazes Jesus. Some examples. When all the nice sounding arguments on why same sex marriages or relationships are all right start to hammer at your moral compass how simple to say well that’s wrong because God says so. When seemingly scientific arguments support the idol of evolution how simple to say the world was created because God says so. When you feel like a spiritual failure because you fell into that pet sin again and Satan makes you feel unforgiven how nice to say I am forgiven because God says so. When the wisdom, mercy and love of God leads Him to allow a difficulty in your life, especially the kind that make your heart hurt so you don’t feel loved or that all things really will work for the good how nice to tell your thoughts they are wrong, God does love you and will work this for the good. You know why? Because God says so.

          That’s faith. Simply taking God at His word, accepting His authority over us and all. And you know what’s really cool about this? As we let grace be grace and simply take God at His word, Jesus is amazed. With the Spirit’s blessing may Jesus enjoy reading the books about our lives. Amen.

Monday, June 3, 2019

June 1-3, 2019 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: John 17:20-26 “WHAT JESUS PRAYS FOR”


EASTER 7

June 1-3, 2019

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: John 17:20-26



“WHAT JESUS PRAYS FOR”

1.     Unity

2.     Glory

3.     Love



Sermon Text:   John 17:20-26 (NIV 1984) “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. 22I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and You in Me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me. 24“Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, and to see My glory, the glory You have given Me because You loved Me before the creation of the world. 25“Righteous Father, though the world does not know You, I know You, and they know that You have sent Me. 26I have made You known to them, and will continue to make You known in order that the love You have for Me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”



          This past Thursday we once again celebrated the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. In one sense it seems to be an odd thing to celebrate…Jesus visibly leaving. But when you understand that Jesus ascended because His saving mission was completed and that He continues to serve His Church in spectacular ways you understand why it’s something to celebrate. One of those ways is as our intercessor. Jesus intercedes on behalf of the Church for its good. He prays for us. As one verse of the great Easter hymn “I know that my Redeemer lives” puts it, “He lives to plead for me above.” That leads to a question. What does Jesus pray for? Many years ago a fad swept our country that I don’t think would fly any more. WWJD. Do you remember? It stands for What Would Jesus Do and was meant to help Christians think about their actions and decisions. While it could certainly be done right as a guide, kind of like love your neighbor as you love yourself, soon, if you recall, it got ridiculous. People started to ask questions like what would Jesus drive insinuating if you were a real Christian you would only drive an environmentally friendly car and what stores would Jesus shop at and would he really buy a coffee that came from a country where the governments were not democracies on and on it went into silliness. Some Christians shot back with WDJD.  That stands for What Did Jesus Do as they correctly pointed out that more important than what we do is what Jesus did for us. That’s true. What we do is important in that it serves Jesus and shows Him love but nothing we do gets us to heaven. Nothing saves us. What Jesus did does. With that background I would normally hesitate to answer a question like what would Jesus pray for except that the Bible tells us. The portion of God’s Word we are looking at comes from what is known as Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer. It’s part of the extended prayer He prayed in the Upper Room with His disciples the night He was betrayed. As Jesus intercedes for us today we know what Jesus prays for. We see His prayer priorities.

          First of all, unity. “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. 22I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and You in Me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.” We know what Jesus prays for as here He clearly says He is praying for all who will believe. He prays for unity among all believers. There is one Lord Jesus Christ. There is one Bible. It makes sense there should be only one Christian church on earth. Sadly we know there are several thousand different church bodies with differing teachings. What happened? The Devil did. Sinful natures did. The Devil knows the strategy of divide and conquer. The sinful nature of man never likes being told what to do or the way it is. From the beginning sinful people have felt free to substitute what they think for what God says. False teaching when it is tolerated spreads and grows and divides. Some have suggested that the way to achieve the unity Jesus prays for is to overlook doctrinal differences and ignore them and let people believe whatever they want about how the world began or what marriage is or what good Baptism does. But that’s not the unity Jesus prays for. “May they be one as we are one.” Jesus and the Father never agree to disagree. The Son submits to the Father and they are one. So how do you get unity? Jesus has told us. “Sanctify them the truth. Your word is truth. If you hold to my teachings you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Brothers and sisters, we get to be part of the answer to Jesus’ prayer. As we devote to God’s word and submit our opinions and wants to what God says and demand that all Christians worldwide do the same and refuse to join with them until they do we are working for what Jesus prays for. Unity. Real Unity.

          Jesus also prays for glory. “Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, and to see My glory, the glory You have given Me because You loved Me before the creation of the world.” Jesus prays for you to have the glory of heaven and to see Him in all His glory. What that full glory is we can only speculate but it’s important that you know Jesus is praying for you to have it and to see it and that He has already done everything needed so you will get it. It’s important that you know that because now following Jesus will not be filled with glory nor does it look like Jesus has glory. When people use the name of Jesus Christ as a curse word or words of anger and are not immediately struck dead for blasphemy He doesn’t look very glorious. When the visible Christian church declines you will wonder about the glory. When Christians try to stay faithful to Christ’s teaching and get ridiculed or shunned is marginalized it will not feel very glorious. But the glory is coming. My dad had many sayings. One oft repeated one to us boys was “Work first, then play.” He was teaching us priorities and responsibility. Do the work, the hard part first. Then have fun. Jesus’ prayer reminds us of the same. Struggle first, then glory. Live in the sin messed world for a short time and then have glory forever. Jesus prays for you to have it and so you will.

          And Jesus also prays for you to have love. “Righteous Father, though the world does not know You, I know You, and they know that You have sent Me. 26I have made You known to them, and will continue to make You known in order that the love You have for Me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” Jesus prays for the love of the Father to be in us. This is not what passes for love for so many people which is like as long as you are pleasing me or tolerate sin and say nothing. It’s the Father’s love. A commitment love. A caring for the needs of other love. It’s important that we have it. Not only did Jesus say that if we hold to his teachings we are really his disciples. He also said, “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Listen to what He had the Apostle John write in his first epistle.  Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” If we love one another—God lives in us. Look for those ways to care for another’s needs, to forgive, to sacrifice. That’s the love of the Father.

          I certainly have no desire to add more alphabet soup. I’m not suggesting that in addition to WWJD and WDJD that we have WIJPF. I do want you to know that Jesus prays for you and that His prayer priorities are unity, glory and love. Then as we dedicate ourselves to those priorities we find that we get to be an answer to Jesus’ prayers. Amen.