Sermon for 25 March 2012, Lent 5B

The Rev. Paul J Cain

Mark 10: (32-34) 35-45

Servant of All

Fifth Sunday in Lent, 25 March 2012

Immanuel Lutheran Church, Sheridan, WY

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

It sounds like something a small child would ask of a parent or grandparent: “I want you to do whatever I ask you to do.” Really? That’s your plan, James and John? They ask that their request be granted before they even tell Jesus what their request is. Guys, why not ask your mom to make the request on your behalf? Actually, that also happened, according to the additional detail given in Matthew’s account (20:20ff).

³⁵ And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to [Jesus] (him) and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” ³⁶ And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” ³⁷ And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” ³⁸ Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” ³⁹ And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, ⁴⁰ but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” ⁴¹ And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. ⁴² And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. ⁴³ But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” ^[1]

“We are able,” James and John said. Really? Do you guys really know what you’re getting into? Again, it sounds like a child asking if he or she can keep the stray cat or puppy found in the neighborhood promising, “I’ll take care of it.” Parents may want to say what Jesus does say: “You do not know what you are asking.”

They did suffer. They did eventually drink the cup of suffering that Jesus drank. So how do we get from these two brothers, the sons of Zebedee essentially praying the prayer, “Let MY will be done on heaven as it is on earth,” to both James and John suffering for their proclamation of Christ? Acts 12:2 says one of the Herods who was king executed James with the sword. The book of Revelation was recorded by John when he was exiled to the island of Patmos, near the city of Ephesus in what we now call Turkey.

How do we get from two guys who want Jesus to make them earthly princes at His right and left in an earthly kingdom to those who serve, willing to give their lives rather than compromise their confession of Christ?

There are three additional verses of the Gospel reading appointed for this day. They are usually considered optional, but should be considered very important today. These three verses precede verse 35 of Mark Chapter 10:

³² And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, ³³ saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. ³⁴ And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”

So, how does Christianity really work? Who is Jesus and what did He come to do? Jesus is the Son of Man and Son of God, the predicted Suffering Servant of the book of Isaiah, our Prophet, Priest, King, and also the Temple that would be destroyed and rebuilt in three days.

And what did He come to do? As the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, he will ransom the sheep, us. He will be delivered over, be mocked and flogged and ridiculed, will be forced to carry His own cross, suffer crucifixion, and will die.

The disciples have a bad habit that modern folks sometimes have, too. Sometimes, we only hear, remember, or want to know the bad stuff. People want the latest rumors, the nastiest gossip, the secrets that should remain secret. People guilty of a certain sin feel singled-out if someone even mentions the sin they feel guilty about. The law does that to people. It is part of our sinful human nature.

Listen to all of verse 34. What have we and the disciples missed that we should make the focus of this whole text? ³⁴ And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”

Did you hear the good news, the Gospel? And after three days, he, Jesus, the Son of man, will rise from the dead.

Jesus’ kingdom is no mere earthly kingdom. He will rule over things. He is given authority over all heaven and earth, from the kingdom of power, earthly nations, to the kingdom of grace, the Holy Christian Church, and even the kingdom of glory, heaven itself. Yet Jesus does not rule like an earthly king rules. The Lord’s ancient people were warned about it when they begged Him for a king like all the other nations. According to 1 Samuel, And Samuel prayed to the Lord.

⁷ And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. ⁸ According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. ⁹ Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

¹⁰ So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. ¹¹ He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. ¹² And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. ¹³ He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. ¹⁴ He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. ¹⁵ He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. ¹⁶ He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. ¹⁷ He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. ¹⁸ And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

Quite a warning, isn’t it? 1 Samuel 8 is very clear what earthly kings are all about. Do you remember the accounts of Saul, David, and Solomon? Didn’t they live up to the warning?

¹⁹ But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, ²⁰ that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” ²¹ And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. ²² And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey their voice and make them a king.”^[2]

And so Samuel anointed Saul. Jesus is not such a king. He says, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. ⁴³ But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus is the king promised of old. 2 Samuel proves it. 7 Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, ² the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” ³ And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.”

⁴ But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, ⁵ “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in? ⁶ I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. ⁷ In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” ’ ⁸ Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. ⁹ And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. ¹⁰ And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, ¹¹ from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. ¹² When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴ I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, ¹⁵ but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. ¹⁶ And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ” ¹⁷ In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David. ^[3]

And Jesus is THAT kind of King. Solomon is the initial fulfillment of the Lord’s promise. The fullness of the Lord’s promise of a king who will be established on the throne forever is found in Christ, just as we read in Matthew 27, where Jesus is declared to be “King of the Jews.”

33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), 34 they offered [Jesus] (him) wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. 35 And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. 36 Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. 37 And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” 38 Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left[4].

Jesus had told James and John, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, ⁴⁰ but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

Now they know why Jesus also said, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” ³⁹ And they said to him, “We are able.”

By faith in Christ and by the power of God the Holy Spirit they were able to remain faithful unto death. They received the crown of life won by Christ on their behalf.

There is one last loose end for us to address this morning. After James and John made their request of Jesus, the rest of the disciples had a visceral response:  ⁴¹ And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John.

Yes, you heard that right. Ten of the disciples were upset with James and John for making their request to sit at Jesus’ right and left because they didn’t think to ask first!

This is the temptation of the disciple of Christ, even today. There are days when we are jealous of someone else. You or I may envy the gifts, talents, possessions, family, or life situation of some other Christian. All of that is but another case of the grass looking greener on the other side of the fence. We are told to be careful what we wish for, to be careful what we pray for, for we may not like what the other person’s life is really like.

Learn to be content with what you have: your possessions, your vocations, your skills and abilities, and your spiritual gifts. As Paul reminds us all in 1 Corinthians, spiritual gifts may be given to individuals when and where the Holy Spirit wills, but all those gifts given to individuals are given so that the whole body of Christ is built up.

Don’t be jealous of James or John. James was martyred. John was persecuted and exiled. How do we get from two guys who want Jesus to make them earthly princes at His right and left in an earthly kingdom to those who serve, willing to give their lives rather than compromise their confession of Christ?

Jesus provides the answer: “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. ³⁴ And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”

This is Jesus, the ransom for all, the King of the Jews, the servant and slave of all. It is as Luther himself wrote, “A Christian is the freest lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is the most dutiful servant of all, subject to all.” For more on this Biblical paradox of the Christian life, join us as we read Luther on Christian Freedom Sunday mornings at Bible Class.

Jesus says it best: “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. ⁴³ But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” For that, thanks be to God! Amen.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

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^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Mk 10:32–45). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

^[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (1 Sa 8:6–22). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

^[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (2 Sa 7:1–17). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Mt 27:33–38). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

Sermon for 18 March 2012, Lent 4B

The Rev. Paul J Cain, Jr.

St. John 3:14-21

Lifted Up for You

Fourth Sunday in Lent, 18 March 2012

Immanuel Lutheran Church, Sheridan, Wyoming

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Dr. Luther sets the scene before us: The Lord delivers an excellent sermon to Nicodemus, a Jew, who supposed that keeping the Law of Moses offered him a way to heaven and that his own ascension into heaven depended upon his fasting, his praying, and his ascetic life. Now Christ interprets and unravels Moses to him correctly and says to him: “That will never do it. Your mode of ascension [to heaven] is not the way, but you must be born anew. Therefore listen to what I tell you. You are a Jew. I shall take your Moses and cite from him passages which you have not understood until now.” Who else [but Our Lord Jesus] would have interpreted Moses in this way before? 22:337

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life. Jesus is referring to Numbers 21.

Can you believe what the people did? Speaking against God and his man on the scene—dangerous business—playing with fire, or venomous serpents in their case. Such situations, including tragic loss, war weariness, fear of terrorism, personal disappointments, etc. often cause people to speak against God. Is God our enemy? No. The serpent is. It’s in Satan’s best interests to get you to doubt God’s love for you.

When someone’s in trouble, they often refer to that as being in “hot water.” Think about hot water. Think about the trials and difficulties and suffering you’ve weathered or are still weathering. When you put an egg in boiling water, what happens? It becomes hard—a hard-boiled egg. What happens when a potato goes into a boiling pot? It gets soft. You can easily make mashed potatoes. What happens when a tea bag goes in the pot? What happens to it? The tea bag transforms boiling water into tea.

Suffering hardens some people. They may put up barriers, pull away from previously close friends, and even their church family. Others get soft. Their confidence in God appears to fail. Doubts arise. Both eggs and potatoes are in danger of falling away. These are the people who need us. They need their pastor certainly, but you have no idea how meaningful a visit from a caring Christian friend is. God’s promises are solid and sure, especially when it feels like all of fallen creation is against you.

Back to Moses & the people in the wilderness. Luther again: The people were to do no more than believe the word of Moses; the term which the Lord employs here for this believing is “look at.”…[The people] (They) might well have thought, “ Ha, what a ridiculous medicine it is that you propose for the sting and bite of the serpents! Moses, have you lost your senses? How are we to be helped by looking at this bronze serpent which looks like those that bit us? We are so terrified that we cannot stand the sight of them! If only you would instead, give us a drink, a cooling plaster, a cooling drink, to take away the venom and the fever! What good can mere words and looking do? How can that dead and lifeless object up there benefit us? 22: 338-339

Here are thoughts of unbelief, unfaith, likely rolling around in the heads of the people in the wilderness! Here the Lord was calling them to faith, to trust in Him, and some likely remained in unbelief, choosing death by venom over the means by which God had instituted for their life and salvation. Sure, it was only a bronze snake, but it had God’s promises tied to it! That makes all the difference.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life. This text speaks of salvation by God’s grace through faith. The Son of Man was lifted up upon the Good Friday cross for you, in fulfillment of the ancient Gospel promise to our first parents, addressed as a curse upon the serpent: I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel. At the cross Our Lord bore the marks of fang-like nails in his feet and hands, yet there, amid what appeared to be defeat, Jesus crushed the serpent’s head. The old satanic foe lay defeated.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 

For God so loved the world…These words start the recordings of memory. We know how this verse goes. Many Christians have memorized this precious verse about the Gospel.

God so loved the world. The world. The whole world. You will be familiar with the Greek word here for we have brought it into English usage: Kosmos, cosmos. For God so loved the whole cosmos! He created it to love all the people in it, to give them, including you, His Gifts as part of a loving relationship that He creates.

How much did God love you? Enough to send His Son, His only Son, whom He loved. Our Heavenly Father is preparing to sacrifice His Son as Abraham readied Isaac. No reprieve this time. No ram is caught in a thicket nearby. Jesus will die, and willingly. He must be lifted up. The condemnation hanging over the head of every sinner like the sword of Damocles had to fall. Judgment and wrath had to be poured out as a punishment for sin. God’s justice, fairness, and holiness were to be upheld. In God’s love, you are spared. God mercifully doesn’t give you what you deserve—His wrath. God graciously gives you what you do not deserve—eternal life.

God sent His Son to save the world. He desires not the death of a sinner. He would that all would come to a knowledge of the truth, His truth in His Son. But Judgment is coming. When Christ came, He came as Savior. When He returns, it will be as Judge.

One of the most depressing statements I ever heard was spoken by a guest lecturer at the University of Nebraska. He was Jewish, but doubted even the existence of God. He said that when or if this Jesus ever came, he had but one question: “Have you been here before?” He had no clue that by then the question would be moot. Now is the time of God’s favor. Repent and believe the Gospel!

Jesus addresses the question of evil in terms of light and darkness: And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.  For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.  But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God."

An old story tells of a desert nomad who awakened hungry in the middle of the night. He lit a candle and began eating dates from a bowl beside his bed. He took a bite from one end and saw a worm in it, so he threw it out of the tent. He bit into the second date, found another worm, and threw it away also. Reasoning that he wouldn’t have any dates left to eat if he continued in this way, he blew out the candle and quickly at all the dates. There are many who prefer darkness and denial to the light of reality.

You know what kinds of things go bump in the night. You know what behaviors are covered by the blanket of darkness. You know, because the Old Adam of your sinful human nature is alive and well in you. There are skeletons in your closet. There are evil deeds that you would rather not come into the light. We tend to harshly judge the misdeeds of Hollywood personalities, pro athletes, Washington insiders, and other people closer to hand. Many lives are backlit by the harsh spotlights of media attention or rampant community rumor mills. Be honest. How well would you stand up under such close scrutiny?

Come Judgment Day, all the books will be opened. Every deep, dark, dirty, pitch-black sin you have committed will be exposed to the light of day. It only takes one sin to damn someone. Are you holding any outside of the blood of Jesus? He comes to shed light in every corner of your sin-darkened existence. Since your sins and my sins will be exposed anyway on the Last Day, why wait and be condemned by them? Wash your robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb! Repent and believe the Gospel! You who dwell in the land of deep darkness, look to the Light of Christ and Live!

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. So writes St. John in the first chapter of his first epistle. But if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.

Bob Woods tells the story of a couple who took their son, 11, and daughter, 7, to Carlsbad Caverns. As always, when the tour reached the deepest point of the cavern, the guide turned off all the lights to dramatize how completely dark and silent it is below the earth’s surface. The little girl, suddenly enveloped in utter darkness, was frightened and began to cry. Immediately was heard the voice of her brother: “Don’t cry. Somebody here knows how to turn on the lights.”

In a real sense, that is the message of the Gospel: Light is available, even when the darkness seems overwhelming. Darkness only seems overwhelming. In reality, Jesus Christ is the Light of the World, the Light no darkness can overcome.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

How can water do such great things? How can bodily eating and drinking do such great things? Who can forgive sins but God alone? These are not new questions. Luther posed the first two in his Small Catechism. Certainly not just the water, or eating bread, drinking wine, and a man saying nice things do this, but the Word of God, the Lord’s own promises, along with the faith which trusts those Words of God.

Our Lord calls for you to repent and believe the Gospel! Even this faith is not from yourselves. It is also the gift of God. We all have occasions to say the prayer, Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief! The Lord has promised to answer that prayer.

There is no sin that is too big that it cannot be forgiven. Perceived size does not matter to your Lord. It matters not how long you have been away. It is unbelief that damns, unbelief that trusts not God’s Word nor His precious promises. His forgiveness is for you. His forgiveness is full. Everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. Amen.

           

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Sermon for 11 March 2012, Lent 3B

The Rev. Paul J Cain

Exodus 20:1-17

Consciences Captive to the Word of God

Third Sunday in Lent, 11 March 2012

Immanuel Lutheran Church, Sheridan, WY

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

“Since then your serene majesty and your lordships seek a simple answer, I will give it in this manner, neither horned nor toothed: Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience.

“I cannot do otherwise, here I stand, may God help me, Amen.”^[1]

Martin Luther spoke these words before both Church and State at Worms in 1521, to his Prince and the Emperor, as well as his ecclesiastical supervisors.

His conscience was captive to the Word of God. What does this mean? We should fear, love and trust in God above all things. For Luther, His obedience and fidelity to the Word was a First Commandment issue: You shall have no other gods. Jesus said: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (Matthew 22:37).

Today, the Church faces a First Commandment issue that is also a First Amendment issue. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution says: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Is quoting the US Constitution as amended by the Bill of Rights political? Yes. Is it partisan? Absolutely not. Politics is the art and science of governing people, groups, and organizations in this life. Christians are to care about other people in this life. Jesus said: You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:29).

As the fundamental civil law of the land, our Constitution should be something Americans can agree about. Our public servants promise to protect and defend it from all enemies, foreign and domestic. What then, is a Christian citizen to do if religious liberty is threatened?

No one can give you permission to sin against God’s Word. No one can give you permission to break the Ten Commandments. “No one” means your pastor, your church body, your spouse, your parents or children, your teacher or students, any bureaucrat, judge, legislator, mayor, governor, president, civil servant, or candidate for office. The core truth of my point is that we must obey God rather than men.

 And God spoke all these words, saying,

² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

³ “You shall have no other gods before me.

⁴ “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷ “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

¹² “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³ “You shall not murder.

¹⁴ “You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵ “You shall not steal.

¹⁶ “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

¹⁷ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” ^[2]

Today, the Church faces a First Commandment issue that is also a First Amendment issue. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution says: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

No one can give you permission to sin against God’s Word. No one can give you permission to break the Ten Commandments. No one. We must obey God rather than men. Our consciences are captive to the Word of God.

On February 3, 2012, The Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, president of the St. Louis-based Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, issued a statement about religious freedom in light of the recent decision by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services requiring religious employers to cover contraceptives, even those that can kill unborn children.

It said in part: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) objects to the use of drugs and procedures that are used to take the lives of unborn children, who are persons in the sight of God from the time of conception, and we are opposed to the HHS’ decision mandating the coverage of such contraceptives.

“For centuries, Lutherans have joyfully delivered Christ’s mercy to others and embraced His call to care for the needy within our communities and around the world. In a nation that has allowed more than 54 million legal abortions since 1973, we must consider the marginalization of unborn babies and object to this mandate.

President Harrison continued: “In addition, I encourage the members of the LCMS to join with me in supporting efforts to preserve our essential right to exercise our religious beliefs. This action by HHS will have the effect of forcing many religious organizations to choose between following the letter of the law and operating within the framework of their religious tenets. We add our voice to the long list of those championing for the continued ability to act according to the dictates of their faith, and provide compassionate care and clear Christian witness to society’s most vulnerable, without being discriminated against by government.

He concluded: “Increasingly we are suffering overzealous government intrusions into what is the realm of traditional and biblical Christian conscience. We believe this is a violation of our First Amendment rights. We will stand, to the best of our ability, with all religious and other concerned citizens, against this erosion of our civil liberty. Come what may, we shall do everything we can, by God’s grace, to ‘obey God rather than men’ (Acts 5:29).”

On February 16, 2012, President Harrison was one of several witnesses to give testimony during the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s hearing on the Separation of Church and State. Following are Harrison’s comments to the committee in their entirety:

“Mr. Chairman, it’s a pleasure to be here. The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is a body of some 6,200 congregations and 2.3 million members across the U.S. We don’t distribute voters’ lists. We don’t have a Washington office. We are studiously non-partisan, so much so that we’re often criticized for being quietistic.

“I’d rather not be here, frankly. Our task is to proclaim, in the words of the blessed apostle St. John, the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all our sin. And we care for the needy. We haven’t the slightest intent to Christianize the government. Martin Luther famously quipped one time, ‘I’d rather have a smart Turk than a stupid Christian governing me.’

“We confess that there are two realms, the church and the state. They shouldn’t be mixed – the church is governed by the Word of God, the state by natural law and reason, the Constitution. We have 1,000 grade schools and high schools, 1,300 early childhood centers, 10 colleges and universities. We are a machine which produces good citizens for this country, and at tremendous personal cost.

“We have the nation’s only historic black Lutheran college in Concordia, Selma. Many of our people [who are alive today] walked with Dr. King 50 years ago on the march from Selma to Montgomery. We put up the first million dollars and have continued to provide finance for the Nehemiah Project in New York as it has continued over the years, to provide home ownership for thousands of families, many of them headed by single women. Our agency in New Orleans, Camp Restore, rebuilt over 4,000 homes after Katrina, through the blood, sweat and tears of our volunteers. Our Lutheran Malaria Initiative, barely begun, has touched the lives of 1.6 million people in East Africa, especially those affected by disease, women and children. And this is just the tip, the very tip, of the charitable iceberg.

“I’m here to express our deepest distress over the HHS provisions. We are religiously opposed to supporting abortion-causing drugs. That is, in part, why we maintain our own health plan. While we are grandfathered under the very narrow provisions of the HHS policy, we are deeply concerned that our consciences may soon be martyred by a few strokes on the keyboard as this administration moves us all into a single-payer … system. Our direct experience in the Hosanna-Tabor case with one of our congregations gives us no comfort that this administration will be concerned to guard our free-exercise rights.

“We self-insure 50,000 people. We do it well. Our workers make an average of $43,000 a year, 17,000 teachers make much less, on average. Our health plan was preparing to take significant cost-saving measures, to be passed on to our workers, just as this health-care legislation was passed. We elected not to make those changes, incur great cost, lest we fall out of the narrow provisions required under the grandfather clause. While we are opposed in principle, not to all forms of birth control, but only abortion-causing drugs, we stand with our friends in the Catholic Church and all others, Christians and non-Christians, under the free exercise and conscience provisions of the U.S. Constitution.

“Religious people determine what violates their consciences, not the federal government. The conscience is a sacred thing. Our church exists because overzealous governments in northern Europe made decisions which trampled the religious convictions of our forebearers. I have ancestors who served in the Revolutionary War. I have ancestors who were on the Lewis and Clark expedition. I have ancestors who served in the War of 1812, who fought for the North in the Civil War – my 88-year-old father-in-law has recounted to me, in tears many times, the horrors of the Battle of the Bulge. In fact, Bud Day, the most highly decorated veteran alive, is a member of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

“We fought for a free conscience in this country, and we won’t give it up without a fight. To paraphrase Martin Luther, the heart and conscience has room only for God, not for God and the federal government. The bed is too narrow, the blanket is too short. We must obey God rather than men, and we will. Please get the federal government, Mr. Chairman, out of our consciences. Thank you.”

[Harrison’s full transcript and video from the hearing, as well as a video message and previous statements to the church, can be found at www.lcms.org/hhsmandate]

President Harrison is an eloquent advocate and defender of Lutheran teaching and practice. I don’t have time this morning to share his pithy answers to the questions posed to him, but there are a few issues he brought up that deserve further explanation.

The Church’s task is to proclaim Jesus Christ crucified and risen for the forgiveness of your sins. We live under a Constitution that guarantees that the Federal Government will not pick a state religion. That is the original meaning of the separation of Church and State in the USA.

Lutherans have no desire to Christianize government because of our teaching about the two kingdoms. Lutherans have learned from experience the danger of state religions, where the state can tell the Church what to teach and what to practice. That is what we want to avoid again. The LCMS in particular exists because a Calvinist prince  in Prussia merged the Lutheran and Reformed churches into one. The Saxons next door wanted no part of it. They came to Missouri.

Lutherans and Roman Christians differ in many areas of doctrine and practice. We agree on life issues, but disagree about contraception.

The Roman Church opposes contraception at all times. Their reasons include both Bible and tradition as equal authorities

President Harrison was not called upon to testify about contraception. He was invited as an expert on religious liberty. Contraception is relevant to our Old Testament reading, Exodus 20, however, when it is part of people breaking the Sixth Commandment.

President Harrison referred to “Our direct experience in the Hosanna-Tabor case,” a reference to a recent nine-to-zero US Supreme Court Case in our favor. That unanimous decision affirmed “that government (at some level) does not have the right to run candidates for our pastoral, teaching, and counseling staff through its own filter.” WORLD magazine writer Joel Belz (February 11, 2012, Vol. 27, No. 3) calls the case a victory for religious liberty:

“The big surprise came in the Court's blunt caution to meddlesome government regulators... Efforts to sort out which functions are "religious" and which are "secular" will from now on find it much harder to get a hearing from the Supreme Court. The suggestion to churches, charitable organizations, and perhaps other bold souls is to get busy ensuring that the religious requirements they impose on employees are in good faith, have a religious purpose, and are made clear to everyone.

“The fact that the high court's Hosanna-Tabor decision thundered with a 9-0 majority means that future challenges on the subject will likely be less frequent and more timid.”

Finally, Harrison’s citation of Luther at the end of his statement has Bible support, as the words are a paraphrase of Isaiah 28.20. “For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on, and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.” ^[3]

Literature is full of speculative fiction about societies where God has been replaced by government. Consider Fahrenheit 451, George Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984, Huxley’s Brave New World, or even Atlas Shrugged. Recently, The Hunger Games trilogy depicts a nation where human life is of very little value to the extremely powerful central government.

Reality can be stranger than fiction. Australian ethicists called for post-birth abortions. That is infanticide! In Montana, suicide is discouraged, but it is legal for you to ask a doctor to prescribe something to kill yourself with. Reality can be stranger than fiction.

What then, is a Christian citizen to do if religious liberty is threatened?

Pray.

Speak up. Use your freedom of speech responsibly. Write a letter to the Editor and make use of the freedom of the press. Assemble peacefully to discuss or protest issues of conscience. And, “petition the Government for a redress of grievances,” a freedom the First Amendment also protects. You also have the freedom to run for office if you so choose.

In the context of the rise of a Nazi government in Germany, Martin Niemöller is reported to have said: “First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.”

Luther speaks clearly in his example: “Since then your serene majesty and your lordships seek a simple answer, I will give it in this manner, neither horned nor toothed: Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience.

“I cannot do otherwise, here I stand, may God help me, Amen.”^[4]

No one can give you permission to sin against God’s Word. No one can give you permission to break the Ten Commandments. No one can command you to sin against your conscience. We must obey God rather than men. Like Luther, our consciences are captive to the Word of God. Amen.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

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^[1] Luther, M. (1999). Vol. 32: Luther's works, vol. 32 : Career of the Reformer II (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works (112–113). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

^[2] Lutheran Service Book Three Year Lectionary. 2009. Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

^[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Is 28:20). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

^[4] Luther, M. (1999). Vol. 32: Luther's works, vol. 32 : Career of the Reformer II (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works (112–113). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.