February 17, 2021 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Luke 18:9-14 “HANDS OF REPENTANCE”

 

ASH WEDNESDAY

February 17, 2021

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Luke 18:9-14

 

          Our hands. They are super important. Think of the many, many ways we use our hands each and every day. Brushing your teeth. Using a spoon. Opening a door. Turning a page. Communicating. Actually our hands communicate a lot more than with typing. They can welcome or accuse. They can say victory or surrender. They tell you something about a person. If you shake my hand now you will get the softer hand of a man who does very little manual labor. If you had shaken my hand at the end of the summer I worked construction working with sun heated steel all day they would feel quite different. Because of the way our hands talk, for this year’s Lenten series we look at the Hands of the Passion. We begin with some hands that talk to us about the attitude of the entire Lenten season.

 

“HANDS OF REPENTANCE”

 

Luke 18:9-14 (EHV) “Jesus told this parable to certain people who trusted in themselves (that they were righteous) and looked down on others: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple courts to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people, robbers, evildoers, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week. I give a tenth of all my income.’ ¹³ “However the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even lift his eyes up to heaven, but was beating his chest and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ ¹⁴ “I tell you, this man went home justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

 

          Jesus told a story. Two men were at the Temple in Jerusalem. They were there to pray. One was a Pharisee. The Pharisees were the religiously elite of Jewish society. They looked to be more reverent, more obedient and more zealous that God’s law be obeyed than their fellow Jewish people. His prayer starts, “God, I thank you!” Ah this is going to be good we think. “Thank you, God,” is a great way to pray. Immediately we feel convicted remembering all the times we began our prayers with a gimme please! “God, I thank you.” If only, if only he had stopped right there. I’m reminded of the proverb “When words are many, sin is not absent” (Proverbs 10:19). His prayer went on. “God, I thank you that I am not like other people, robbers, evildoers, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” Now we are not told exactly what the Pharisees hands were doing at the time. Likely if he followed the cultural custom Paul described in his letter to Timothy he would have been looking up with hands extended up to communicate he was talking to God in prayer. I think we can tell though by his words what his hands were really doing—patting himself on the back. Thank you God that I, by my own power, am better than others. I do not steal. I do not do evil. I do not commit adultery. I do not extort money. The way the Pharisee saw it he had kept all the Commandments.

          Actually that’s not totally true. The Pharisee didn’t believe he had just kept the commandments, he blew them out of the water. He was extra. He went over and above and he reminded God of that. “I fast twice a week. I give a tenth of all my income.” The Law of Moses required faithful Jews to fast just one day a year. He was doing twice a week. He didn’t just give 10% of what he earned but 10% of what he received. We are not told why he prayed this way. Was it just following the normal sinful nature inclination to say, “Look at me! It’s all about me!?” Or was he maybe trying to convince himself he was as good as he was saying? We don’t know.

          Now our eyes turn to the hands of the other man. “However the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even lift his eyes up to heaven, but was beating his chest and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” The tax collectors of Jesus day often used their position of authority to extort money from those who owed taxes. When the people heard Jesus mention a tax collector they would want to boo and hiss. If a Pharisee was considered to be religiously elite, a tax collector would be considered religiously undesirable. We aren’t told if this particular tax collector was one of those who extorted from the people. But we are told what his hands were doing. Beating his chest. No hands upheld in prayer. No eyes up to heaven to indicated talking to God. Eyes downcast. I’m not worthy. Hands saying the same. And a prayer to match. “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” He knew who he was. A sinner. He did not deserve anything from God. He pleaded for mercy. That God in love would not treat him as his sins deserved.

          God be merciful to me a sinner. It’s a short prayer. Just 7 words in our language. But a powerful prayer. It was prayed to the almighty God and it came from a heart of faith, the kind God looks for. A broken and contrite heart he does not despise. Jesus tells us, “I tell you, this man went home justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

          Now remember when Jesus tells one of his stories called a parable, it’s important you know why he told it. He tells us why. Jesus wasn’t talking to a specific person or group of people. It was not a parable just for the benefit of tax collectors and Pharisees. “Jesus told this parable to certain people who trusted in themselves (that they were righteous) and looked down on others.” Do you know anyone like that? Parables with people kind of push you to look at yourself and say which one am I? Pharisee or Tax collector. Is the honest answer a little of both? How easy it is when we’ve gotten good at controlling the outward actions to look down on and despise the brothers and sisters who are weak in the outward things like worship or giving. As we advocate for God’s moral high ground how easy to wish people were more like us. Thankfully we have the Holy Spirit and something like the Church Year season of Lent that whispers to us again, “But unless you repent you too shall perish.” How good it is to be reminded that we have all fallen short of the glory of God and the only one who has the right to look down is God and when He does what does He see? He sees me. And all my sins. God have mercy on me, a sinner.

          Now let’s shift our eyes to the third person in the parable. Wait. What? There’s no 3^rd person. Yes, there is! The teller. Jesus. Look at his hands. His hands worshipped God perfectly all the time. His hands were used in obedience to his parents. His hands were used to keep every commandment perfectly not for his sake but for ours, for you. His hands were stretched out on a cross so he could receive punishment for the sins of the whole world, for you. His hands plead for you and me before our Father in heaven. Because of his hands we know that our prayer, “God have mercy on me a sinner,” is answered with an “Absolutely yes. I have had mercy on you and I want you to know it.” That’s why Jesus commissioned His followers1 to have hands that proclaim forgiveness. That’s why Jesus used His hands to put the power of mercy and forgiveness in the Lord’s Supper so our hands can take and eat and take and drink. And that’s why I can tell you that you will go home justified of your sins. God grant that we continue to humble ourselves before Him as we look forward to the time He will exalt us to heaven. Amen.

anuary 30-Feb. 1, 2021 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Hebrews 3:1-6 “JESUS IS BETTER!”

 

EPIPHANY 4

January 30-Feb. 1, 2021

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Hebrews 3:1-6

 

“JESUS IS BETTER!”

1.     Better than Moses.

2.     Better than ______.

3.     Better for you!

 

Hebrews 3:1-6 (EHV) “Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, focus your attention on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. ²He was faithful to the one who appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in God’s whole house. ³In fact, Jesus is worthy of greater glory than Moses, in the same way that the builder of a house has more honor than the house. ⁴For every house is built by someone, and God is the one who built everything. ⁵Moses was faithful as a servant within God’s whole house by testifying to the things that would be spoken. ⁶But Christ is faithful as a Son over God’s house. We are his house, if we hold on firmly to our confidence and the hope about which we boast until the end.”

 

          So there is this thing called “Mission Creep.” It’s when an organization, or a person, loses sight of their main goal or purpose in life by slowly focusing on other goals that aren’t their real purpose so that over time they go off mission and eventually become what they are not. An obvious example might be if a hospital emergency room department would say, “You know it’s good that we provide emergency medical care for people. They need that. But you know what they also need? A good oil change for their cars. So let’s put up an oil change shop and when people drive up we can ask what they are here for, direct them the right way. Who knows? Maybe they can come for one and stay for the other!” I think you can see that you probably don’t want to go there for medical care or an oil change. Mission creep has set in. They lost their focus.

          It gets a little more insidious if you have an enemy trying to help you lose focus. One of the silly kids’ movies my girls and I liked to watch and re watch when they were young, and still now, is called Labyrinth. For a teaser to lead you to watch it I’ll just throw out there it has a “Bog of Eternal Stench” in it. In that movie a girl needs to find her lost baby brother. But someone does not want her to. So this enemy keeps trying to divert her attention to her old favorite doll or teddy bear, anything but her baby brother. And friends we have an enemy who has been trying hard to get us to lose focus and I fear he has had some success.

          I’m talking about the Devil and of course this is nothing new. The Word of God we are looking at comes from the letter written to the Hebrews, specifically to Jewish Christians who were living sometime before 70 AD. They were experiencing mission creep, loss of focus, helped along by the Devil who was using government persecution of Christians to try to get believers to give up on Jesus. Just in this section of the letter look at the appeal to every Christian to avoid mission creep and to stay focused. “Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, focus your attention on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. ⁶But Christ is faithful as a Son over God’s house. We are his house, if we hold on firmly to our confidence and the hope about which we boast until the end.” The words are addressed to the believers individually.

          They were tending to focus more on Moses. Now if you were an Old Testament believer Moses was your hero and for good reason. You read about his leadership of Israel out of slavery. You heard how God used him to establish the nation of Israel. You know how God used him to give the Old Testament law. How could Moses not be your hero? But God had the writer make it clear. Jesus is better, better than Moses. “He (Jesus) was faithful to the one who appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in God’s whole house. ³In fact, Jesus is worthy of greater glory than Moses, in the same way that the builder of a house has more honor than the house. ⁴For every house is built by someone, and God is the one who built everything. ⁵Moses was faithful as a servant within God’s whole house by testifying to the things that would be spoken. ⁶But Christ is faithful as a Son over God’s house.” It wasn’t that their passion for Moses was bad or wrong. It’s just Jesus is better! Moses faithfully served God. He did his job. God used him as a servant. He pointed to what was coming. Bu the greater prophet he spoke of was Jesus. The one the Law of Moses showed was necessary and pictured was Jesus. Moses was a servant. Jesus is the Son. Moses gave the Law. Jesus gave salvation. Watch out for mission creep, Hebrews. Don’t be more passionate about Moses than you are Jesus. Keep your focus on Jesus. Jesus is better.

          Now I seriously doubt that any of us have Moses as our hero or that we are so enamored with the Old Testament laws we want to go back to living like that. And yet the enemy, the Devil is still working in our hearts and lives to lead us off mission, to get us to lose our focus. Please don’t misunderstand me with what we talk about next.  I’m not saying it is wrong to rally around other people or to have causes that are important to us for one reason or another. It’s just that those we rally around or the mission we take up dare not, can not, better not have a bigger place in our hearts and lives than Jesus and the mission He laid out for us. To do so is idolatry. And we are letting the Devil lead us around by the nose.

Just consider this past year. Was President Trump your hero or President Biden? Depending on what issues were most important to you one or the other may have been. And it is good for Christians to care about politics and to serve our country by being active and informed voters but if our passion for a man is greater than our passion for Jesus that is a problem. It is sin. “No one can serve two masters,” Jesus said. Whose mission gets the lead story on your social media? Or how about social issues like feeding the poor or that all people be treated as people with respect and not prejudged by a skin tone or the job they do? It’s great for us to care about the physical well being of others and to do something about it if we can, but we have lost focus, we are off mission, if we let those causes supersede people’s real need for Jesus and the mission Jesus gave us. “Be my witnesses,” Jesus told you. I was reminded of that recently when I heard a quote from atheist entertainer Penn Jillete of the famous illusionist duo Penn and Teller. He has no time for the Bible and Christians. But you know what he said? He said, “How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?” So if some social issue is getting all your attention and time and money and you are not doing more to warn sinners against Hell and to tell them about Jesus don’t sit there thinking you are such a loving person. You are not. You are a hater. Even an avowed atheist recognizes that.

Again, do not misunderstand. It’s great for us to have passion for helping others in all sorts of ways. It just cannot be greater than our passion for Jesus and His mission because Jesus is better. And he told us “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be.” Where is your treasure? What does God see as he looks at your money budget, your time budget, the content of your social media? Think about all the talk time and money that has been spent on Coronavirus. What if the good God intended this virus to be a worldwide call to repentance before the end comes? Makes you think. Repentance is sorely needed. It was nice to see at the Presidential Inauguration a moment of silence taken to remember the some 400,000 lives of mostly elderly Americans whose deaths are listed as Covid related. But you know what I missed? A moment of silence for estimated 600,000 American babies who were murdered through abortion last year. I say estimated. You know why? Because while you can fairly easily find on the CDC website the number of deaths that are Covid related in 2020 you know what you can’t find? Abortion deaths. Their last estimate was 620,000 abortion deaths in 2018. Apparently those deaths are not important enough to be tracked. What does that say about a society and a government that does not actively protect its youngest and most vulnerable citizens? It needs to repent.

You know a good example of how to be involved socially and stay on mission is WELS Lutherans for Life. Several Jacobi ladies volunteer there. In our school that is the 3^rd quarter mission project. This group not only provides pregnancy counseling and physical support for women who are in such desperate straits that they are contemplating abortion but they also do what they can to tell them about Jesus. They get it! They are on mission. Both/and but most importantly Jesus. For if we save a life for earth that is great. But to save one for eternity is better! Or don’t we believe what Jesus said, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”

          Jesus is better! Better for you. Because only Jesus takes you to heaven. You know those babies we save from the abortionist’s knife? Eventually they will die from something. If you get Covid and recover, you’re still going to die from something. Those whose earthly lives we make better by fighting poverty or hatred? Still going to die. Because the wages of sin is death and all have sinned. Only Jesus takes away sin so whatever you come up with to fill your heart, Jesus is better. He’s better for you because He takes you to heaven. He’s better for everyone else as well. He’s their only way to heaven. You know that. Others need to know that. You are a walking talking witness for Jesus.  No wonder the Devil works so hard to distract us with lesser good causes and to lose focus1. No wonder the Holy Spirit warned against mission creep. “Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, focus your attention on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.” Amen.