Seventh Sunday in Pentecost B, July 15, 2012
Pastor Brian Henderson-Trinity Lutheran Church, San Diego, CA
Click here for audio of this message
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” [Ephesians 1:3, 4]
Did you hear that good news! You dear saints who have gathered here at Trinity Lutheran Church around God’s Word and Sacraments are blessed! In Christ, or because of Christ you have every spiritual blessing; you have everything that you could ever need to keep you in God’s forgiving and blessing love. But there is a condition. You must remain in Him! In whom? In the Father’s beloved Son, Jesus Christ. How? By staying in His Word and agreeing with Him in His Word. What Word is that? All of it of course, but especially this one simple word… REPENT!
What does repent mean? It means turning to God and agreeing with Him. It means admitting that God is right and you and this whole sinful world are wrong. It means turning in agreement to God and facing your only hope… Jesus Christ. Jesus is either your Savior or your judge, and which one He is for you hinges on your repentance or your lack of repentance.
So the good news, the spreading of the gospel is always flowing from the church’s message of repentance. That doesn’t sound like a very effective evangelism or outreach program does it? And because that message is so simple and so abrasive to many, an untold array of books have been written to help the “church” develop an improved outreach program. Now don’t get me wrong, social programs and strategies that will help make the church active in improving our community are important; they’re important if a congregation wants to be relevant in the eyes of a dying world, but they are not evangelism. What is? The preaching and sharing of that simple message… repent! Turn to Jesus and be saved. Agree with God that you are a sinner and receive His forgiveness.
As a congregation, we can’t ignore the message of repentance simply because many feel it’s offensive or divisive. We can’t water down that Word and replace it with something else that’s more inclusive and attractive. When we begin to turn away from the message of repentance and water down God’s Word, we will also be separating ourselves from God’s grace; from His forgiving love. When we cease speaking God’s message, we are no longer counting on God’s power and presence to preserve us a church, but instead we are trusting in our own resourcefulness. And if we do that, we will very soon discover how limited our ability really is.
If we choose to agree with the world and not God, we have failed. But if we fail we can be saved by hearing the same message we refused to speak… Repent! And when we repent, we always discover that God’s grace is sufficient for us. We discover that it’s ok to fail, as long as we keep turning to God in agreement that He is right and we are wrong; that He alone is righteous and we are sinful. We need Him always and He is with us always.
If you recall, last week in our gospel lesson, Jesus sent out His disciples in His own authority. It was an authority that backed a message that was full of power; power that would never run out, but authority and power that could be rejected. One simple Word brought the kingdom of God to sinful men and women… repent, and one simple word could refuse God’s forgiveness… NO!
If this Word of repentance was received, those who did not reject it would know God’s forgiving love, but if it was rejected, well then they would be condemned in their sins. This was a message that was entirely between the person listening and God. If it was rejected, they weren’t rejecting the messenger, they were rejecting their God.
And this was exactly the predicament that Amos found himself in, in our Old Testament lesson. God sent Amos to preach repentance; and God’s message alone is what was rejected, not Amos the messenger. The fact that the king and Amaziah rejected Amos’ proclamation of repentance is ultimately not Amos’ problem. Amos was free to live his life as he saw fit. He could return to tending his sycamore figs and the care of his sheep. Just as the disciples of Jesus when they went out and were rejected were free to shake the dust from their feet.
But Amos didn’t go back to his old way of living and the disciple of Jesus didn’t quit going out proclaiming the good news after shaking the dust off of their feet in one village. They continued to agree with God and speak God’s plan of salvation! God’s call to repentance remained as valid to them as it ever was.
God’s plan, the only way to eternal life will always be contemporary and relevant because we will always be sinners without Him. God will always be the One with the authority and power who authorizes His disciples to preach, teach, and confess His message of repentance and forgiveness of sins through His Son Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith.
It is Jesus alone who chose us… destined us in love… bestowed on us, lavished upon us, and made known to us the forgiving love of God. In other words, Jesus alone does all of this for us. He gives us the gift to fail and then hear God’s Word, His only means of correction and assurance of forgiveness. This gift of freedom of both failure and forgiveness depends entirely on Him who first chose us. His authority is always a resource that never fails.
This morning, God is asking us to trust in Him alone. Amos did, and some sinners heard and were saved. John the Baptist did, even when he knew that it would cost him his life, and the result was the preparation for ministry of some of Jesus first and greatest disciples . And we can do it too if we remember that the entire evangelism process is something that is completely in the hands of the One and only One with Authority. Jesus alone does the choosing, the empowering, the granting of authority, and the uniting of all things in Him, at the fullness of time!
So now, you may be feeling ready to go out and share your witness and tell your neighbor about God’s forgiving love through His Son Jesus Christ. You may be ready to see our little congregation grow and grow with other forgiven sinners just like you, and you may be thinking, “So how will we plan for this outreach program, and how can we motivate others to get involved. And to that God is responding to all of us: ‘Don’t you see how quickly you fell back on yourselves as a resource? Do you really think that it is your job to motivate others to get involved in building My Kingdom? Repent!’
The truth is that the One with Authority who was able to motivate a country shepherd to confront a corrupt and powerful religious government and the One who was able to collect and send out a sorry bunch of disciples who were mostly fishermen and day laborers is able to give us every spiritual blessing that we will need to leave this place of worship and go out into our community, our jobs, our neighborhoods, and even our families and use us to accomplish His perfect will in accordance to His own way and at His own time; He alone will use us “for the praise of His glory.”
Now that may not be the message that you wanted to hear. No one wants to hear that our mission may seem like a failure and that many will reject the message that we are sent out with. But remember, there are untold spiritual blessings ahead for those simply trust and follow Jesus. And it is my prayer, that as you are being obedient to God’s authority and direction you will share the message with whoever will listen, and as a result of your obedience we will begin to see many more gather here around His Word and Sacraments at Trinity Lutheran Church. I ask this in Jesus name… AMEN!
