PENTECOST 3, A – June 1, 2008

SCRIPTURES – Ps. 92; Deut. 11:18-21,26-28; Rom. 3:21-28; Matt. 7:15-29

Yesterday Lorayne and I celebrated 22 years of marriage. Over that time I have learned well the husband’s methods of communication: the grunt of, “Uh, huh” while reading the paper in the morning that acknowledges her words without actually listening to them; the promise of, “I’ll get to it,” that doesn’t commit to when; the focused gaze that gives the impression of interest while leaving the mind wide open to consider other things. Not to be outdone, I know that Lorayne does similar things, as well.

Many of you have been listening to me preach here for nearly 14 years now. You’ve heard Christ’s words, and other words of the Bible, for many more years. Are you listening? Would you notice erroneous interpretations of them if they crept into my sermons? Does it matter?

Jesus says:

"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

It matters! Our lives depend upon Christ and His words.

And yet, listening to Jesus and laying up in our hearts and souls the words of the Bible can be very difficult. One the one hand, there are many opportunities to do so today, many preachers of Christ and His words to whom we can listen. But, among them are those who twist God’s words. When Jesus says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves,” He’s not warning of preachers of other religions, but of those who falsely preach Him. In so doing they cause confusion and make some people not want to listen to any preaching. For instance, we’ve heard plenty over the past couple of months from Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church of Christ, Barack Obama’s church in Chicago, and recently from Father Michael Pfleger, who preached there last week. Their race baiting and preaching of hatred is offensive and divisive; but, worst of all, it is a despising of Christ and His sacrifice of Himself to save all people. A storm of judgment from God will fall upon them if they do not repent, and great will be their fall.

But, many hang on their words, and they would say: “Rev. Wright’s and Father Pfleger’s preaching is just a different style of preaching! They are simply speaking God’s words in a culturally different way – just like Jesus did in His preaching!” Is that all they are doing? Actually, the biggest problem is that they are making their hearers comfortable with themselves. Revs. Wright and Pfleger are not pointing out the sins of the people in the congregation, but the sins of others, and so making their congregants feel good about themselves in comparison. This is not the preaching of Jesus.

What is the preaching of Jesus? What are the words of the Bible that we must lay up in our hearts and in our souls? They are words and preaching that point out our sins and call us to turn from them – from ourselves, really – and to Christ and His sacrificial death on the cross as the payment for and only forgiveness for our sins.

Jesus is not a plastic surgeon who performs a nip here and a tuck there so that we might look more attractive and feel better about ourselves. He’s a surgeon who cuts deep in order to save our lives. By crying out, “Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven,” He is warning us of complacency and trust in our own goodness. Such sins are seen in our grunting, “Uh, huh” instead of listening carefully to Christ’s words and taking them to heart, as well as in the fact that only 1/3 of LC-MS members are in church on any given Sunday.  

You will stand before Jesus one day and answer for how you listened to His words, His preaching. We will all stand before Him, and our eternal destiny will be determined by Him. We had better listen and take His words to heart!

When He says that we will stand before Him, Jesus is calling Himself God, the only God and Savior. True and right preaching names Him this. Preaching that avoids saying this is false and leads to damnation. True preaching also seeks to make us uncomfortable with ourselves and calls us not to rely on what we do – “for there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” – but to rely on what Jesus has done for us. He came to bear our sins and take the responsibility for them. The storm of God’s judgment of them fell on Him. We cannot make up for our sins by doing good. We cannot gain God’s favor by being better than others. We are all sinners facing God’s judgment for our sins. We can only be saved by looking to Jesus and putting our trust in Him, in His holy life of obedience and His sacrificial death for our sins. Only then will the coming storm or God’s eternal judgment pass over us; only then will the new day of heaven dawn brightly upon us.

Jesus is also not a preacher of prosperity and comfort. He doesn’t say that the rains will not fall upon and the storm not beat against the house built upon the rock. They will. What He promises is that that house will not fall. We will endure many trials in our lives, trials far worse than having to pay over $4 a gallon for gas. Just look at what the Ruhnke’s have had to endure these past couple of weeks, with Chris’s fall and brain injury! Preachers of prosperity and success, who promise that things will go well if you follow Jesus and interpret trials as punishments for sin, are liars. They are not preachers of Jesus. Do not look upon events and happenings in this world as signs of God’s favor or disfavor. Look upon the Son of God on the cross, shedding His blood as the propitiation, the payment, for your sins. Store up His words, the message of the cross, in your heart and mind. Your life will then be built upon the Rock, Jesus Christ, and no matter what storm may come, sickness or injury or loss or any other trial, Christ will hold you up.

And not only hold you up. He will fill your life with good years, years of gladness and joy, as He has done for Lorayne and I throughout the 22 years of our lives together, and for Mike and Marie Russo throughout their 60 years together. Christ will keep you, until your years with Him here end, and He takes you to where there will be only joy and gladness forever, to His Father’s presence in heaven.