Lent III I Corinthians 1:18 Redeemer
In Jesus Holy Name March 15, 2009
“Stumbling Over Jesus”
Not everything in the world is good. Not everything in the world is happy. Not everything in the world is beautiful. In fact real evil does exist in the world. You can pick up any newspaper and in the international section you’ll find terrorism, war and genocide. You can go to the National section and you’ll find political payoffs, elected officials who failed to pay their taxes, lies and churches set on fire or pastors shot.
In the local section you’ll find news about recent murders, robberies and abuse. If you go through the business section, you’ll find scandals and fraud. If you go through the sports section you’ll find drug abuse, illegal gambling, adultery.
No rational person can deny that evil; real evil exists.
Watch the news and you will see a wealth of wrongdoers making excuses for their sinful excesses; you will hear all kinds of justifications, explanations, clarifications, and rationalizations for every evil that mankind has conceived. What you will not hear; what you will not see is shame.
Where is the shame? Well, it is simply not there. It’s easy to understand why. If we admit we are ashamed, we are also compelled to confess that we have sins and short comings. If we have sins and short comings, then we need to find an escape. So, there are some religions that simply say: “evil does not exist”. Or “there is no eternal hell”, every body is going to one of several heavens. Or like the young girl who came to my office years ago… and said: Well, I know I have done things wrong and when I die God will show me a video of my mistakes and then send me back to live my life again…but better. Now that is a creative excuse. But it denies the “human condition.”
The Apostle Paul was very clear about this human condition. “For I know that nothing good dwells in me… for I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.”
While preparing this message I came across this quote: “We have fallen on evil times and the world has grown very wicked. Governments are corrupt and even children are no longer respectful to their parents.” Well, what do you think? Does that describe our world? Would it surprise you to find that this quote is not from a modern day politician running for re-election? No, that quote is translated from a clay tablet which is kept in a Turkish museum; a clay tablet more than 4000 years old.
If this is the condition of our world, and it is, why doesn’t God just shut it down? Why has he not pulled the plug on planet earth? Why is he letting it go on, the way people hurt each other? He sees it all. He grieves over it.
He sees people choosing to do evil against each other. Why didn’t God just pull the plug on the world? He did it once before in the days of Noah.
Even though the world we live in is broken, God is still in control. God is allowing it to continue a little while longer for one major reason….He wants to give us a choice; a choice to choose good or evil.
God wants people to have a choice. He wants you to love him because you chose to love him, not because he forced you too. God gives us human dignity, the ability to choose good. Free will is critical…for without free will you would not be able to love God.
God gives us the opportunity to express our love for him in response to the love he demonstrated for us at the cross. This is exactly what Paul means in Romans 5. “You see at just the right time, while we were still powerless Christ died for the ungodly… God demonstrates his love for us in this….while we were still sinners Jesus died for us.”
In I John 5 we are reminded: “this is how God showed his love for us. He sent his one and only Son into the world….this is love, not that we loved God first, but he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” Love that is not freely given is not love.
Christianity is the only religion that takes sin seriously. G.K. Chesterson said: “The doctrine of original sin, the fact that we are born into sin is the only theology validated by 3500 years of recorded human history.” God is aware of our human condition, the human bent towards evil but to preserve human dignity he offers every human being a choice, either to believe in Jesus or reject the cross of Jesus.
Can a 2000 year old Roman cross which once held the corpse of a carpenter’s son remove the sin, guilt and evil that clings to your heart and soul? Yes, if you accept him. Can a borrowed and empty tomb be God’s method of providing you a stepping stone into eternity? Yes, if you believe in him.
“God was pleased to have all his full deity dwell in Jesus and through his blood shed on the cross bring us peace. Once, we were alienated from God, because of our evil behavior but now…he has reconciled, restored us to himself through the physical body of Jesus, in order to present you holy, without blemish, free from accusation… if you continue in your faith…” (Colossians 1:20-23)
To the world, God’s decision to accept the blood of Jesus shed on the cross as atonement, as a cleansing agent for your sin and my sin….is foolishness.
Yes, some people consider God’s plan of salvation, foolish. We know that people do foolish things. Not so long ago, in South Dakota, the state highway department got a call from a rancher to remove the Deer Crossing sign on the road that went by his house. His thinking was too many deer were being hit by cars, and he didn’t want them crossing there anymore.”
Not too long ago, a man wanting to rob a downtown Bank of America, walked in and wrote his note: “This iz a stickup. Put all your muny in this bag.” While waiting in line to give his note to the teller, he began to worry. Had someone seen him write a note? If so, they might call the police before he could finish the robbery. He left the Bank of America and crossed the street to the Wells Fargo bank. The clerk at Wells Fargo, having read the note, figured this fellow was not the brightest bulb in the string. She told him she couldn’t accept his stick up note because it was written on a Bank of America deposit slip. She said he would either have to fill out one from this bank, or go back to Bank of America. The robber said, “OK”, and left. The police arrested the man as he was waiting in line at the Bank of America.
These are silly stories but they are true. None of us are immune from slipping on stumbling blocks. Satan loves to set up stumbling blocks. Evil does not want salvation to reach you, reclaim you, recycle and inspire you. As long as the church has been preaching Christ crucified and risen, she has watched skeptics and cynics walk away from the good news. As they walk away, some of them call over their shoulder…. “I’ve heard it all.” “When I was young religion was stuffed down my throat.” Or others say: “I’ve seen Christians. When I visited a church, they ignored me. When I heard the sermon, it bored me.”
When Paul was preaching in Athens (Acts 17:16-33) “he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. He went into the market place and reasoned with those who were there. He engaged in conversation with a group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers… so Paul told them about the God who created the heavens and earth, who did not live in temples built by human hands. In the past God overlooked such false worship, but now e commands all people to repent. For there will come a judgment day.
He talked about Jesus and how God raised him from the dead. Their response? “When they heard about the resurrection some of them sneered.” Jesus, His death on the cross and his resurrection was foolishness, a stumbling block.
I don’t know what stumbling blocks Satan has placed before you. Maybe things have not turned out as you had hoped. The future which once seemed bright looks futile. Your happiness has been scared by stress and sorrow. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
The world doesn’t want that news told. Some years ago, the pastor of a North Carolina Catholic Church placed an array of Lenten crosses on the front lawn of his little congregation. It wasn’t long before he received a call from the Chamber of Commerce. He was told, “Look preacher, we’ve been getting complaints about those crosses in your churchyard. Inside the church, who cares? But out front, where everybody can see them, those crosses are offensive. The retired people don’t like them…. they find them depressing. The tourists probably won’t like it, either. It’ll be bad for business. People come down here to get happy, not depressed.” No, the world doesn’t want to hear about the cross of Jesus.
“This is how God showed his love for us..he sent his one and only Son into the world….as a sacrifice for our sins.” Jesus had one purpose. He lived a perfect life and then offered himself on the cross to take God’s wrath against sin and evil upon himself so that all who believe in him might not perish but have eternal life.
One last story: years, ago, an executive from a soap company and a famous pastor were walking down the street together. They were to attend a meeting where they were going to be honored by their city for their contributions. With a snide sort of smirk, the soap manufacturer off handedly said, “Reverend, you know when you get right down to it, the good news the church has been preaching for a few thousand years hasn’t done that much good, has it? Take a look. Read the paper. Observe. There is still a whole lot of wickedness in the world, and a whole lot of wicked people doing wickedness, too!”
The pastor was quiet for a while. Not because he had nothing to say, but because he wanted to say his piece in the right way. They went about a half a block down the street, passing a little child who was making mud pies in the gutter. The boy’s hands were dirty. His face was dirty. His clothes were dirty. Realizing the opportunity, the pastor said, “You know, I see that soap hasn’t done much good in the world. That boy shows me there is a whole lot of dirt and a whole lot of dirty people playing in it.”
The soap executive rose up in defense and instantly replied: “Oh, reverend, you know, soap is only useful when it is used.” And the pastor said, “Exactly, so it is with the good news of Jesus crucified and risen.”
We preach Christ crucified. The old wooden cross has changed the world. Once a hated and despised form of execution, a torturous form of death, it now is a symbol of hope. Because of that cross, and the man, Jesus who died on it… God has offered to erase, eradicate all our evil thoughts, our bad behavior, the commandments we have broken if we simply “cling to the cross of Jesus” and trust in his resurrection from the grave. Amen, Amen… let it be your truth in this culture.
