Monday, March 30, 2015

March 25, 2015, 6th Wednesday Lenten Service
Sermon by Pastor Emeritus Paul G. Eckert
Sermon text - Luke 23:32-43

    Three weeks ago we talked about Judas betraying Jesus for 30
pieces of silver, willing to lead into Gethsemane enemies of Jesus who
wanted to make sure that they arrested Jesus and not a wrong person.
    Why would Judas  do that?  At least a part of the answer is that he
had a problem that went back before the betrayal.  The problem was
that he loved money and was a robber, a thief.  John in his Gospel
mentions that in connection with an incident when a woman used
expensive perfume to show her love for Jesus.  John writes: “One of
(Jesus’) disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him,
objected, ‘Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the
poor?  It was worth a year’s wages.’  He did not say this because he
cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the
money bag he used to help himself to what was put into it.”   
    That is the background for the betrayal by Judas.  But that wasn’t
the last connection Jesus had with a thief.  There also were two thieves
who were crucified with Jesus.  Both of them mocked Jesus at first, as
the Gospel of Matthew tells us: “The robbers who were crucified with
him, also heaped insults on him.”   But, as we hear in our text, one of
those robbers or thieves later became a believer in Jesus and then heard
this wonderful promise from Jesus’ lips:      
“I TELL YOU THE TRUTH,
TODAY YOU WILL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE.”
I     PARADISE WAS LOST.
    1. There was a Paradise.
        a) God’s Word tells us, “In the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth.”  Politicians may not want to  acknowledge
            God’s creation when most people seem to believe in evolution.
            But we believe God is the Maker of heaven and earth.
         b) And God’s Son, Jesus, whom we see on the cross in our text,
            was there at the creation, as Scripture tells us: “In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all
things were made ---.”  What was made included the first Paradise, the
            special garden into which God placed Adam and Eve.
    2. Obviously that Paradise was gone in our text .  (33)
When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified
him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his
left.
        a) Instead of seeing a paradise, we see a killing place, a place
            called Golgatha or the Skull, whose appearance was far from
            that of a paradise garden. 
        b) Here there was abuse and mockery from people and from both
            thieves, and a terrible dying was in process.
    3. We know what explains all of this.
        a) God had given Adam and Eve the opportunity to show their
            love for Him and His creation by giving only one prohibition:
             not to eat from one tree.  They failed, and stopped being
            perfect.
        b) Then Paradise was lost.  A sinful world was ahead.
    4. We know what that means.
        a) The world now has criminals, like the two on crosses here.
        b) Pain, sorrow and dying are here - for all of us sinners.
        c) No Paradise here, not for anybody, and none in sight at all.
II     COULD PARADISE BE RESTORED?
    1. Jesus here spoke of such a place.  (43)
Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with
me in paradise.”
        a) Clearly Jesus mentioned such a place.  It exists.
        b) But where is it?  You don’t see it on any map.  Going to
            Mapquest for directions won’t help.  And the sin that lost the
            first Paradise is still in the world.  Proof of that is not only two
            thieves on crosses, but prisons loaded to overflowing, and
            constant police reports of crime.  Want more proof?  Death!
    2. What can you and I do about this?
        a) How many sins did it take Adam and Eve before they lost
            perfection?  One!  How many sins do you and I have to have in
            our lives before we fall short?  One!  Scripture says, “Whoever
keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of
breaking all of it.”  (James 2:10)
        b) Add to that the fact that we all are already sinful from birth. 
    3. Obviously we can’t restore Paradise.
        a) Restore furniture, a burned down building?  Sure.
        b) But we can’t come close to restoring or gaining Paradise.
    4. Could forgiveness be the answer?  (34)   
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they
are doing.” 
        a) How many sins do we have?  How many when we didn’t
            even know the wrong we were doing?  The answer is plenty,
            just like the two thieves on the cross, like the soldiers at the
            cross, like the many who rejected Jesus and thought it was
            the right thing to do.
        b) For all of those and our sins Jesus gives the only solution:
“Father, forgive them.”   Amazing!  Don’t reject that in unbelief.
        c) But is this really possible?  How can our heavenly Father
             forgive us, not hold our sins against us?  Listen to His Son!
III  YES, JESUS PROMISES US PARADISE!
    1. The promise goes back to the first Paradise.       
        a) After Adam and Eve fell into sin and could do nothing about
            it, God promised a Savior from sin in these words spoken to
            the old evil foe, the devil: “I will put enmity between you and
the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your
head, and you will strike his heel.”   
        b) Yes, on the cross Jesus was really getting struck, taking all of
            the punishment for our sins, so that He could crush the
            condemning power of sin, so that He could promise us
            Paradise restored.
    2. Don’t meet His promise with unbelief.
        a) Adam and Eve had not believed God when He warned them
            not to disobey Him.  That unbelief resulted in sin and loss.
        b) Today too unbelief, rejection of God’s love, will have to hear
            Jesus say, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the
eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”   (Mt. 25:41)
    3. Instead believe, and be saved.  (42)
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your
kingdom.”
        a) This thief believed, turned to Jesus, now saw Him as the
            promised Savior, as the One who had a kingdom, a kingdom
            He had left to come to this earth to be our Savior.
        b) In such faith he could look forward to the promised Paradise.
    4. This promise, like all of God’s promises, will be fulfilled.  (43)
Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with
me in paradise.”
        a) This thief died.  But what a wondrous thing for him when he
            opened his eyes and saw the glories of Paradise.
        b) In the last book of the Bible we are assured that this applies
            also to you and to me.  We are told: “He who has an ear, let
him hear what the Spirit says to the churches (note: that includes St.
Jacobi church).  To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat
from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”
        c) Can we be sure of that?  Jesus’ resurrection from the dead
            guarantees it.

    “Today.”  When will your  “Today” be?  I’ll add a personal note
here.  Next month I’ll be 84 years old.  So it might not be too long
before I hear Jesus saying to me, “I tell you the truth, today you will
be with me in paradise.”  Some here might beat me to that time.
Some of you will be waiting a longer time.
     Here is an example from two funerals last Saturday.  One was that
of John Miller who had long been a member of St. Jacobi.  He was 87
years old when he heard Jesus say, “Today.”  The other was that of
little Kaleb Fredrich who was born, was baptized and became a child
of God, and at the age of only a few hours heard Jesus say to him,
“Today you will be with me in paradise.”
      But whenever, whether hours or years, thank our gracious God that
true believers in Jesus, the Son of God, can look forward to hearing
Jesus say,   “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in
paradise.” 
   

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