Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The sermon text is from Luke 13:1-9.
This weekend the First Baptist Church in Maryville is having a special memorial service for Pastor Fred Winters. One year ago during the morning service at First Baptist, a man walked down the aisle toward the altar, walked up to Pastor Winters and killed him in front of his family and church family, and today our prayers go out to those brothers and sisters in Christ, and especially his family. You may have heard this week a quote from one of the final sermons Pastor Winters preached. He said, “I would gladly give my life for just one person to come to know faith in Christ, because eternity’s at stake.”
I’m not sure we’d all have the guts to say that and mean it, but if you think about it he was exactly right. Death is always tragic – It’s “the wages of sin; the last enemy to be destroyed.” But for a believer in Christ to die – as painful as that will always be for those left behind – can’t compare to the tragedy of someone dying without Jesus. We can’t bear the thought of one person in never-ending torment, when Jesus died for all.
The Bible says when believers die, we fall asleep in the arms of the One who died and rose for us. The Bible describes a believer’s death as “being with Christ in Paradise” or “being with Christ, which is better by far.” The death of an unbeliever isn’t the end, either. It’s the beginning of eternity in the conscious, agony of eternal fire, everlasting wailing and weeping and gnashing of teeth. As Pastor Winters said even physical death for a believer would be better if one unbeliever could be spared eternal judgment.
Because hell is so awful and heaven is so perfect and free and bought and paid for in the blood of Jesus, nothing becomes more precious for us and our families than this message of life through Jesus. You’ve probably heard the old riddle: “What’s better than going to heaven and worse than going to hell?” The answer, of course, taking someone with you.
Here’s what I think about when I read our text… Have you ever watched a Presidential News Conference? The camera stays focused on the president, but you can hear a question being asked off camera, and then the president answers.
In our text, St. Luke keeps the camera focused on Jesus, if you will, and someone off camera makes a comment we can’t quite hear. Apparently, the unnamed reporter tells Jesus about some Galileans Pilate killed while they were offering their Passover lambs at the temple. It may be that the questioner expects Jesus to condemn Pilate or some such thing, we don’t know, but Jesus uses it to make a point.
Tragedy and suffering and pain and loss cannot be measured in a scale and understood and plotted on a graph, as though we with our puny wisdom can see into the heart of God and understand why this happened. Jesus says, “Do you think this happened because they were worse sinners?” Or again, “Do you think the 18 who died when the tower in Siloam fell were more guilty than others living in Jerusalem?”
We all know people – and maybe we are the people – who have a setback or go through some trial and think God did this to me because… Recently, Rev. Pat Robertson rather famously and foolishly, I think, said that the earthquake in Haiti was God’s judgment on a deal their forefathers made with the devil centuries ago. Some might look at the earthquake in Chili – 100 times more powerful than in Haiti – and say God must be a hundred times angrier at Chili. Except, fewer died. Do you see the arrogance? We don’t know, because we’re not God.
I think Jesus’ answer is a caution to us not to weigh God in our mental scale. When we deal with God, we are only on safe ground when we deal with Him as He has revealed Himself to us.
In John 9, the disciples pointed to a man born blind and asked, “Who sinned that this man was born blind – was it him or his parents?” But Jesus answered that this happened that God might be glorified in Him. God’s power was made perfect in His weakness, and God was glorified when Jesus healed his blindness. This I think is the first point to remember well: You can’t and shouldn’t judge God’s approval or disapproval by your outward circumstances. Sometimes God is using challenges to bless us in ways we might not understand at the time, or may never understand, but Romans 8 says, “God works all things for the good of those who love Him, those who are called according to His purpose.”
I think I’ll get at the 2nd major point in our text by sharing a story Red Steagall tells about a little girl sittin’ on her granddaddy’s knee and she was looking up at the wrinkles in his face and she was kind of foolin’ with ‘em with her finger. She said, “Grandpa, did God make you?” He said, “He sure did, sweetheart, a long time ago.” And she was feelin’ her face and said, “Grandpa, did God make me?” He said, “Yes, He did, baby, not quite so long ago.” She looked up at him and said, “He’s getting better isn’t He?”
Aging and wrinkles and stiff joints and doctors bills, along with things like earthquakes and tsunamis and wars, are all part of life for us sinful, dying people in a sinful, dying world. While it’s true that I can’t presume to know God’s hidden heart when I look out at the circumstances around me, it’s only half the story.
God doesn’t want you to be ignorant about the times in which you live, burying your head in the sand. I don’t have to understand why God permits such things as earthquakes in Haiti or Chili to know what Romans says is true, “All creation is groaning in the pains of childbirth… waiting for the sons of God to be revealed.” This world is not our home. God doesn’t want me to be so cozy in this life that I’m not ready to meet Him when He comes again in judgment. God doesn’t want me to be so cozy in this life that my kids never miss a ball practice or ball game but they go to hell because I starved their faith. Our sinful world is sounding warnings every day, “Jesus is coming! Repent or you too will all perish!” Every tragedy, personal or global, calls out, Jesus is coming – share Christ with those closest to you. Like Ezekiel in our Old Testament lesson (33:7-20) sound the warning while time is left.
If you lived out west in an area susceptible to huge forest fires and day after day you were warned to evacuate – to take your family and valuables – and move to safety but you stayed put, your actions would be criminally negligent. The warnings of Christ’s return are sounding all around us Godly wisdom would be for us to learn from the suffering around us and turn to God in repentance and faith. Notice our Epistle lesson from 1 Corinthians 10: “These things happened as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!”
I made two points this morning. First, we aren’t God and shouldn’t try to judge the hidden mind and heart of God with our puny brains. Second, for believers all sufferings are a call to repentance, because they’re a constant reminder – we don’t belong here – “Our citizenship is in heaven.”
Let me close by saying this – you’re only on safe ground dealing with God when you stand on what you know for sure. In other words, if you want to judge God’s heart toward you – whether He’s happy with you or angry – don’t look at your life, your sickness, your investment portfolio. If you are broken and crushed under the burden of life and wonder what God’s heart toward you is, look into the face of Jesus hanging in death from Calvary’s cross.
Our sins and weakness and death drive us to repentance, God help us – we deserve to go to hell. But look at your dying Savior, His thorn-pierced head, His bloodied brow. That’s how God feels about you. His love for you is beyond anything we can ask or imagine. Look at your Savior’s out-stretched arms.
Everything else is uncertain – if you’re having a bad day it’s not because God doesn’t love you – it may be you shouldn’t have eaten that salami before bed last night, who are you to think you know what God hasn’t told you? But this much is sure today, tomorrow, and the next day unto eternity “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
Jesus loves you. The Father sent His Son in the power of the Holy Spirit to save you forever. He died for you and now lives for you. You can bet your life on it a thousand times because He said so! He put His name on you in your Baptism. At His altar, Jesus gives you His flesh and blood for your forgiveness. And let there be no mistake, He says, “His body and blood is given for you for the forgiveness of sins.”
That’s the kind of guarantee that makes us joyful and confident to take this good news to the world! We’re not bearing witness to somebody’s best guess – we’re pointing to the most pivotal fact in all of human history: Jesus is alive – He lives and reigns for you to all eternity. Amen.
And now may the peace of God which surpasses human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.