LENT 2, C – February 28, 2010

SCRIPTURES – Jer. 26:8-15; Phil. 3:17 – 4:1; Luke 13:31-35

Remember the segment of the TV show ER that I played for you last Sunday, the conversation between the hospital chaplain and the retired prison doctor who was guilt ridden over having put to death an innocent man? “I need someone who will look me in the eye and tell me how to find forgiveness!” the doctor pleaded. But, when she had no answer for him, he screamed at her, “Get out! Get out!” Well, after she ran out one of the ER doctors found the distraught chaplain and spoke with her about what had happened. She said to him: “Doubt; it’s uncomfortable. But, certainty; I don’t think that’s real… Who really knows anything with absolute certainty? People in crisis want rules, want structure, something to lean on. I get that. But that’s not me.”

That’s not her? So what! Her life as a chaplain is not supposed to be about her, but about the people she serves. And, as a Christian chaplain, her life is above all supposed to be about Christ!

So is yours. “Zeal for your house has consumed me,” says our Introit. We have heard how it consumed Jeremiah, so that he served as God’s prophet to the wayward people of Judah; Paul, so that he traveled the world to bring the Gospel to people; and Jesus, who went to the cross for us. May it consume us, also! For:

GOD EXPECTS HIS PEOPLE TO BE ZEALOUS FOR HIM

How can we not be? God is our Maker and our Savior! He’s our heavenly bridegroom. Are you not zealous for your spouse, whom you love? “Our citizenship is in heaven.” Are you not zealous for your country? Of course we should be zealous for God!

But, if you are zealous for God, if you fervently seek to learn and believe and follow His Word, you will have enemies. Don’t be surprised. Our society opposes certainty and zeal for God, as the ER episode portrayed very well. Openness to all beliefs and ideas (which is really doubt and uncertainty about everything) is what our society praises. If you hold as certain and true teachings about God that the Bible proclaims, and then let them direct how you live, people will oppose and slander you as ignorant, unloving, and even evil. If you are in crisis, like the prison doctor, who was dying, your certainty may be excused for a while. But, you will end up being opposed. Expect this.

“Many walk as enemies of the cross of Christ,” the apostle Paul warns us. Expect opposition. But, who was he warning against? It wasn’t the society, nor those who rejected Jesus. He was warning the Philippians about Jewish converts to Christianity who were telling Gentile Christians that, if they wanted to truly please God and go to heaven, believing in Jesus wasn’t enough. They also had to be circumcised and keep the Jewish laws, such as those that stipulated what you could and couldn’t eat. Paul was warning against Christians whose teachings were wrong!

Within Christianity there are enemies of the cross of Christ. Why? What is the message of the cross? It is not what is often said. The message of the cross is not:

à        “Don’t worry about what you do, for everything is forgiven.” The cross is not an excuse for sin.

à        “God loves everyone and accepts everyone, no matter what.” Christ did not die so that people could believe and do whatever they wish.

Such messages are not the cross of Christ, and the teachers and churches that proclaim them lead people to embrace sin and not turn from it, or to honor Jesus but not worship Him as their only Savior. The message of the cross is that all supposed goodness and sincerity of yours is rejected as worthless; you cannot make up for your sins. If anyone could make up for his sins by the good things he did, then surely Jesus could! But God hates sin so much that, when His own Son was made a sinner by bearing our sins, He condemned Him to death and hell. But, God laid your sins on His Son that He might save you from being condemned for them. In Jesus’ death for you, and only in His death, there is forgiveness and the promise of heaven. That’s the message of the cross.

The cross leaves no place for any work of ours in gaining God’s favor. All is done! The life of good deeds we are to live now, the zealousness God expects, is not for us. It is for the good of others, even our enemies, whose “end is destruction,” Scripture says. Keep this in mind when you are being opposed and vilified. But, do not be glad of their end. Paul wept for his enemies; Jesus longed to gather the people of Jerusalem to Him as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. May God fill us with Christ’s love and mercy that we might zealously serve all people, even our enemies!

Zeal for God is hard when your zeal is opposed. But, rejoice! Those who are zealous for God have a glorious future. “Our citizenship is in heaven,” Scripture promises, “and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body.” What an amazing promise! The day will come when we who are afflicted here:

à        With physical sufferings – illnesses, injuries, and the aches and pains of old age;

à        With people who oppose and trouble us;

à        And with our own sins and lack of zeal;

will by the grace of God and the cross of Christ be raised from death to heaven. And there we will not only be changed; we will be like Christ and have resurrected bodies that are glorious like His! There will be no enemies, and no sins of our own to struggle with. Oh, hold onto this promise! Keep it in your heart and before your eyes. For, it not only gives hope for the future. It transforms the present.

How could Jeremiah endure being grabbed by his people and threatened with death for warning them of God’s judgment? When God had first called him He had told Jeremiah, “Before you were formed in the womb I knew you; before you were born I set you apart… Do not be afraid, for I am with you to deliver you.” Paul was given a similar promise when the risen Jesus appeared to him. Remember: you have the same Savior, the same Jesus as they had, and so the same promises and life in Him!

“Our citizenship is in heaven.” Is, not will be. What would you do if you were traveling in a foreign country and ran into trouble? You would contact the U.S. embassy, for you are a citizen of the United States of America, the greatest country in the world. The United States stands with you! “Our citizenship is in heaven.” Jesus, who ascended into heaven and is the Lord of heaven and earth, stands with you and holds you! How could we ever be anything but glad and zealous for Him?

Imagine if, when she heard Dr. Truman’s plea, “I need someone who will look me in the eye and tell me how to find forgiveness!” the chaplain in ER had responded by looking him in the eye and telling him that God Himself had taken the responsibility for his sins and paid for them by His own death. Imagine if she had actually forgiven his sins in the name of Jesus. Imagine if she had told this dying man that in Jesus “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body.” What peace and comfort he could have known!

Telling and living that message is a chaplain’s job; and, it is every Christian’s privilege. But, may it not be unreal, like a TV show. We have a real, flesh and blood Savior, whose zeal for us led Him to live and die for us. Pray that He lead you in living in Him!