In Jesus Holy Name July 15, 2018
Text: Mark 6:14 ff & Luke 3:19-20 Pentecost VIII Redeemer
“Truth or Consequences”
Truth or Consequences was the long-running wild & wacky game show (1941 on the radio) 1951-1988 off and on with different game hosts). Contestants were selected from the studio audience. They were brought up on stage and were asked a question. They could either tell the truth when a question was asked, or be forced to pay the consequences, which was to perform a stunt.
On the show, the question was always an intentional trivia question. (Usually an off-the-wall question that no one would be able to answer correctly or a bad joke). They had two seconds before "Beulah the Buzzer" was sounded.
The syndicated Truth or Consequences became the first successful game show.
Ralph Edwards the first host said, "Most of the American people are darned good sports."[ When Bob Barker hosted Truth or Consequences, his sign-off ended with the phrase, "Hoping all your consequences are happy ones."
In our bible story to day John the Baptist told the truth about Herod. The consequences were arrest and a beheading. No, things don’t always work out the way we expect nor the way we had hoped. John the Baptist tells the truth, the consequences to truth telling were a dungeon and death. So, even while we affirm that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life… we also must recognize that it may get you ostracized, arrested and killed. Jesus was himself rejected in his home town. (read Matthew 10:17-22)
John the baptizer, however, was uncompromising in speaking the word of God’s truth about marriage to Herod, who had taken up with his brother’s wife. John had to have known that criticizing political authority was no way to get ahead. It could only turn out badly.
“While most of us think we should live happily ever after, in a sinful world life very seldom turns out like we planned, as we had hoped, as we had dreamed. The person of your dreams turns out to be a nightmare; your best friend-forever shows they weren’t your best friend today. The job of a lifetime sends you to the unemployment line. Although you feel fit as a fiddle, the doctor solemnly informs you that your fiddle is sadly out of tune. No in a sinful world life very seldom turns out like you planned, as you hoped, as you dreamed, or as you expected.
Remember the story of the Children of Israel and they escape from Egyptian slavery? They thought they had it made in a shade. A quick stroll through the wilderness and, TADA, they would take possession of the Promised Land. A land flowing with milk and honey. That didn’t work out the way they expected. The stroll turned into 40 years of wilderness wandering in which they complained about food, water, leadership and just about anything people can complain about. Sometimes they looked at each other and said: “You know, things weren’t that bad in Egypt. What are we doing here?” (phrase from Rev. Ken Klaas))
When Jesus asked the disciples to follow Him, it sounded like a wise decision. Be a body guard. Never worry about getting sick. Since fishing and tax-collecting was an iffy proposition, following Jesus seemed like a wise choice. How could you not be overwhelmed by a Fellow who turns water into wine; who heals lepers; gives sight to the blind; mobility to the lame and restores dead people back to life?
In a sinful world life very seldom turns out as you planned, as you had hoped, as you dreamed, as expected. I once thought I’d finish my ministry career in quiet Merced. Vicar Wright thought he would finish his career in law enforcement but now he is leading the ministry in a very small church in Dinuba. Jim never thought he would be preaching funerals, leading worship in a Lutheran church.
In the gospel of Matthew, Matthew tells us that while John is in prison he sent some of his disciples to Jesus and asked: “Are you the Messiah?” It was “the” important question then and remains the important question today. When Jesus took the disciples up a mountain in northern Galilee He asked the disciples: “Who do people think I am?” They said: “Some, like Herod, think you are John the Baptist come back from the dead. Others think you are Elijah or one of the prophets.” Then Jesus asked: “What about you? Who do you say that I am?”
This was John’s question. “Jesus, I know you are my relative…but are you the long expected Messiah?” Are you the Savior? Has my life of telling the truth
been worth it? Jesus sent this answer back. “Tell John what you see and hear. The dead are raised to life. The deaf hear. The lame walk. The sick are healed.”
A decision about Jesus as “the Savior” had to be made on the evidence. It is the same question the Pharisees, the religious rulers asked Jesus. Are you the long promised Messiah? Are you the Savior who will forgive sins and give eternal life? Jesus said….”you have seen the evidence” The lame walk. The sick are healed. The deaf hear. The dead are raised to life. These are the miracles that tell you who “I Am”.
Earlier this year our small group bible studies studied the book by Lee Strobel. “The Case for Christ.” People you and I know are still searching for life’s answers. People are thinking about their own pending funeral every time they read the local obituaries or attend a funeral. Is there hope for something more when my heart stops beating and my brain waves are stilled?
`When Jesus was born the angel told Joseph and Mary to give their newborn child the name: “Jesus” because he will save people from their sins. Even in this 21st century people want to have God as their friend…. But too many people continue to ask the wrong question which leads to the wrong conclusion, and thus the wrong consequence. They ask: “how many good deeds will erase my failures?” Is there a “balance” scale for me? Am I good enough?
Everyone knows…we do not measure up to a holy and righteous God. Too many failures. Too many broken ethical values. Too many broken commandments. And we all have experience the consequences. Broken friendships. Broken marriages. Alienation from God, facing an eternity in hell. By the way. It doesn’t do any good to make up your own religious philosophy, by telling yourself that “there is no hell” or “God is just going to wink at evil behavior.
Read Colossians 1:19-23
Jesus knew that he was bound to challenge political power of Rome as he stood before Pilot the Roman Governor. He knew that His miracles, would challenge the “do it yourself, genetic heritage” religion of the Pharisees. When Jesus rode in triumph through the streets of Jerusalem it was regarded as dangerous by the religious leaders. They put into motion a plan to have this “truth teller”, this God imposter to death.
One of His disciples was bribed into betraying Him. He was arrested. The rest of the 12 deserted Him and went into hiding. I have little doubt that in their fear…they talked about how life in a sinful world very seldom turns out like they had planned or hoped or expected. Even though Jesus had told them the reason for their trip to Jerusalem; they still did not understand that this was His plan from the beginning of human history when Adam and Eve’s made that one fatal mistake.
The cross and crucifixion of Jesus is a reminder that our bad deeds are not winked at by God. Not overlooked by God. Nor do they go unpunished. Jesus took our consequences! Jesus was rejected for telling God’s truth about where forgiveness was to be found. Not in the temple….but on His cross.
You might recall a few years ago when the U.S. was part of a coalition to invade Iraq and depose Saddam Hussein. Not all Americans were in favor of that war. I recall seeing some protestors on the news. They interviewed one angry young man and asked him why he opposed the war. His answer was one that I haven’t been able to forget. He said, “Nothing is worth dying for!” I disagree.
Chuck Colson told the story of a group of World War II American Prisoners of War who were made to do hard labor in a Japanese prison camp. Each had a shovel and dug all day. They were required to return their shovels each evening.
One evening, twenty prisoners lined up by the guard and the shovels were counted. The guard counted only nineteen shovels. He turned in rage toward the POWs and demanded to know which prisoner had kept his shovel. No one responded. The guard drew his pistol and said he would shoot five American prisoners if the guilty prisoner didn’t confess.
After a moment of tense silence, a nineteen-year-old prisoner stepped forward with his head bowed. The guard pointed his gun at the prisoner’s head and fired. As the young man’s body fell to the ground the guard warned the others that they must always return their shovels. Then the guard recounted the shovels and found that all twenty were accounted for. He had simply miscounted earlier. The young soldier had died for his friends.
Would you like to have a friend like that? You have one. His name is Jesus. It was not some split-second decision. Jesus planned to die for you from the foundation of the world. He laid down His life for you, His friend. His death and resurrection restores your friendship with your Creator.
We know that after Jesus was arrested, placed on the Roman cross of death, the disciples kept themselves… behind locked doors. That’s where they were when Jesus rose from the dead. That’s where they were when Jesus the risen Lord appeared to Mary Magdalene and the other women who had come to Joseph’s garden to complete the burial rites for their dead Friend.
Yes, Peter and John ventured to the tomb of Jesus. It was empty. Hardly any body believed in the story the women shared. It took an appearance, numerous appearances, of Jesus to convince the disciples tht Satan’s hold on death had been broken. Sin had lost it’s power to hold people in the fear of death and coming judgment.
It took even longer for the disciples to receive the Holy Spirit and become the powerhouse witnesses who turned the world upside down with the story of the Savior who had given His life so that all who believe on Him would not perish, but have eternal life. They continued to tell the truth about God’s love in Jesus.
As things turned out you might believe they lived happily ever after. From then on you might think, their lives turned out the way they had planned, as they had hoped, as they had dreamed and expected.
You might think that, and you would be right if you understand that telling the story of salvation was so important to these men and women that everything else held valuable became unimportant. You might agree with the Apostle Paul when he wrote: “Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Jesus Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus…. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them rubbish, in order that I know the power of His resurrection, even to the point of sharing in His sufferings…..” (Philippians 3:7-11)
So did the disciples live happily ever after? By human standards the answer to that question would be, “no”. After all, they were, with the exception of one, martyred for telling the truth about Jesus.
Stephen was preaching the gospel in Jerusalem on the Passover after Christ’s crucifixion. He was cast out of the city and stoned to death. About 2,000 Christians suffered martyrdom during this time (about 34 A.D.).
James, the son of Zebedee and the elder brother of John, was killed when Herod Agrippa arrived as governor of Judea. Many early disciples were martyred under Agrippa’s rule, including Timon and Parmenas (about 44 A.D.).
Philip, a disciple from Bethsaida, in Galilee, suffered martyrdom at Heliopolis, in Phrygia. He was scourged, thrown into prison, and afterwards crucified (about 54 A.D.).
Matthew, the tax-collector from Nazareth who wrote a gospel in Hebrew, was preaching in Ethiopia when he suffered martyrdom by the sword (about 60 A.D.).
James, the Brother of Jesus, administered the early church in Jerusalem and was the author of a book in the Bible. At the age of 94 he was stoned to death.
Peter was condemned to death and crucified at Rome. Jerome, an early church historian, wrote that Peter was crucified upside down, at his own request, because he said he was unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord.
Paul suffered in the first persecution under Nero. Because of the converting impact he was having on people in the face of martyrdom, he was led to a private place outside the city where he gave his neck to the sword.
Since the beginning of Christianity, there have been countless stories of martyrdom and costly discipleship. There are thousands of stories and testimonies of Christian martyrs, of men and women have walked into the fire (like Jan Hus a Czech Priest 100 years before Martin Luther) for the cause of Christ.
If you chose to live for Jesus you will be unwelcomed by some. Jesus told his disciples to expect rejection. It happens to many Christian teens who are entering college away from home. Their faith is being openly attacked by students and professors. Courtney Ellis, of Princeton New Jersey talks about her days when she attended graduate school…. “There were many occasions,” she said, “When my fellow students openly ridiculed the name of Jesus. To my great detriment, she said, I too often stayed silent. I was quite vocal about my belief in Jesus with my friends at church….but in college I was terrified of what might happen to my reputation of people found out I believed in Jesus. Most of them had not even met a Christian before.
Back in 2002, Ron Brown was a University of Nebraska Assistant Football Coach. The Daily Nebraskan reported that he was denied the head coaching job at Stanford University because of his religious beliefs. ….Alan Glenn, Stanford’s assistant athletic director said to the student newspaper that Ron’ Brown’s religion “was definitely something that had to be considered…We’re a very diverse community,” he said, “with diverse alumni.”
Ron Brown said: “They had no problem telling me it was because of my Christian beliefs.” But Stanford’s rejection will not silence my belief. “You cannot compromise truth whatever the job.” Remarkably several newspapers across the country applauded Stanford University for its decision. (Mark Simon, columnist at SF Chronical)
It seems that in our culture, tolerance extends to everyone but Christians, few things have changed.
