We Go to Church to be Forgiven

Title:   We Go to Church to be Forgiven By Pastor Lohn Johnson

Text: Luke 7:48-50   48 And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."  49 Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this, who even forgives sins?"  50 And he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

INTRODUCTION: My dear friends in Christ, Something about this text made me think of Damaged Goods. That's what the Pharisees saw, "Damaged Goods." Today you may be able to find scratch and dent places where you can get appliances at a discount.  Sometimes we can get dented cans at grocery store for a discount.  But really nobody wants damaged goods. When you go to the grocery store most people pass up dented cans and open packages. For the budget minded, in some stores you can actually go to a shopping cart filled with dented cans or cans without labels and buy them for about 10 cents apiece. But most people don't. And a lot of stores have quit bothering to put the dented cans out. They just send them back. Why?

I. Because they’re "Damaged Goods."  And nobody wants Damaged Goods.

A. In our world there are the obviously damaged goods.

1. Just like the woman in today's Scripture. She was obviously Damaged Goods.  She was obviously a sinful woman.

a. She's a public sinner--it was known by both God and man that she has broken His commandments. b. She lives a life of shame; but perhaps that shame is actually a blessing. After all, she is daily reminded that she is sinful, that her debt before God is huge and unpayable. With dishonor like that, there's no chance that she's going to believe she's okay before God. She has nothing to hide behind.

2. There were hundreds of houses scattered throughout the city, but this woman sought out only the house where Jesus was eating.

a. She had heard of Jesus. Probably heard Him teach. Maybe even had a brief moment with Him where she confessed her sin and received His word of pardon.  She comes in humility.  She comes for mercy. b. She doesn't weep and wash Jesus' feet hoping that He might be the forgiving Savior, but because she already trusts that He is! She is not seeking to earn forgiveness, but acting as one who has already been forgiven.

B. And then there are those who are not so obviously damaged.  These men at the table are all damaged goods too, every bit as much as she is. Of course Simon, the Pharisee is not quite perfect, and he realizes that he's sinful.

1. But he also believes that he makes up for his sin by the good life that he leads.

a. In other words, with the rest of the Pharisees, Simon figures that he's made up for his debt of sin. By his efforts and good works, he has balanced out most of his failings. b. And this religious idea prevents them for seeing their own sinfulness. And failing that, they fail to see Jesus for who He is – the Savior of sinners. The fact is, if you don’t think you are a sinner, then you have no need for a crucified Savior.

2. In a book, one author deals with people who have scars that nobody else can see. He uses the analogy of those beautiful giant redwood trees in the far western part of our country: "In most of the parks," says the author, "the naturalists can show you a cross section of a great tree they have cut, and point out that the rings of the tree reveal the developmental history, year by year. Here's a ring that represents a year when there was a terrible drought. Here are a couple of rings from years when there was too much rain. Here's where the tree was struck by lightning. Here are some normal years of growth. This ring shows a forest fire that almost destroyed the tree. Here's another of savage blight and disease. All of this lays embedded in the heart of the tree, representing the autobiography of its growth.” "And that's the way it is with us," the author continues. "Just a few minutes beneath the concealing bark, are the recorded rings of our lives especially our sins.

a. That’s the danger of religion. It gives you a pretense of respectability, a thin veneer of bark over our sin. We call it our “Sunday best.” We wear it when we want others to see how religious we are. Oh we wear it well. b. There was very little hope for Simon because he saw no need for change. The prostitute knew she was missing the mark; Simon was blind to the entire target. You have to get under the bark to reach him.

II. And then there’s Jesus.  He’s in that room too.

A. He’s no sinner at all.  There’s no obvious sin, no hidden sin.  No sin under the bark.   Jesus, of course, is the most righteous of them all, because He is the sinless Son of God, become flesh to die for the sins of the world; and yet He will become the least righteous, for God will make Him to be sin so that we might be delivered. B. The wages of sin is death, so Christ pays the debt to His Father by dying on the cross in our place; and having debited our sins from us, He credits us with His righteousness.

1. Jesus only wants one thing from you--your sins. He went to the cross for you, not to hear you sing His praises, but because He loves you.    2. And Christ the Savior has come to redeem us--to buy us back and set us free from sin and death.  He came to seek and to save the lost. He came to rescue sinners. He came for that damaged woman, and she believed it.

III. And you and I are damaged goods too.  We are sinners – some more obvious sinners, some with sin hidden under our bark.

A. Yes, we can be like the Pharisee and cover our sin with the bark of our religion.

1. Then we like the Pharisees won’t realize our debt of sin.

a. The sinner naturally believes that sin isn't all that bad, and that he has made up for his sin by the good works that he does. b. It can be like this: A new pastor was in his first year at a certain congregation. The congregation had traditionally had a Confession of Sin as part of their worship liturgy. This pastor’s predecessor had eliminated this confession of sin from the service. He tried to reinstate it. But resistance to the proposed change was fierce. Some members thought that a confession of sin was too morbid a thing to do in church, where one’s spirits were supposed to be lifted up. During the heat of the debate, one woman in the church exclaimed, “But I don’t need to apologize to God for anything!” The pastor was dumbfounded. “My seminary training hadn’t prepared me for this,” he said. “I thought everyone knew we had to confess our sin.” (3)

2. And this may one of the greatest tricks of the devil because if we discount the debt, we fail to appreciate the enormity of Christ's sacrifice on the cross and see little need for forgiveness.

a. It is true: You and I are debtors, and it is a debt we cannot repay. From the time of Adam and Eve, we have been sold into sin and cannot redeem ourselves. b. The payment-the wages of sin is death. Apart from Christ, we are in grave trouble and we are left only with sin and death and hell.

B. Or We can be like the woman and acknowledge our sin.   Our text does not tell us what this woman’s public sin was. We could take a guess, but if we do we miss the point. She could be any one of us, and in fact, she is all of us.

1. Since she is all of us we can imagine that we are here in the house of Simon the Pharisee, so to speak, just as she was. If you have come like this woman did, then you are richly blessed to have the proper attitude. And you will leave as she did, with God’s eternal gifts that no one can take from you.

a. When you are like this woman, and you prepare yourself to listen--hungering for God’s gracious words to you--coming to His Supper thirsting for your Savior, you will not leave disappointed. b. You will leave as she did--filled and satisfied. And you are the ones who will continue to come back to Simon’s house for more week after week.  It’s because Jesus is here.

2. You are forgiven much too. More than you realize. The commandments will tally the size of the debt, and it isn’t a small one. We too are adulterers and murderers and thieves.

a. To know the greatness of your sin is also to know the greatness of your Savior. No matter how great the sin, no matter how messed up the life, Jesus is always greater. Greater than our sin, greater than our death. b. He loves you unconditionally. He forgives you, all of you, no matter what.

CONCLUSION: We can sum up the message of the text with this: One pastor/ told a story about a pastor who saw a former burglar kneeling beside a judge, the very judge who had sent the burglar to jail for seven years. After his release this burglar had been converted and became a Christian worker. Yet as they knelt there, the judge and the former convict, neither seemed to be aware of the other. After the service, the judge was walking home with the pastor. The judge asked, “Did you notice who was kneeling beside me at the Communion rail this morning?” The pastor replied, “Yes, but I didn’t know that you noticed.” The two walked along in silence for a few more moments, and then the judge said, “What a miracle of grace.” The pastor nodded in agreement. “Yes, what a marvelous miracle of grace.” Then the judge asked, “But to whom do you refer?” And the pastor said, “Why, to the conversion of that convict.” The judge said, “I was not referring to him. I was thinking of myself.” The pastor, surprised, replied: “You were thinking of yourself? I don’t understand.” “Yes,” the judge replied, “it didn’t cost the burglar that much to get converted when he came out of jail. He had nothing but a history of crime behind him, and when he saw Jesus as his Savior he knew there was salvation and hope and joy for him. And he knew how much he needed that help. But look at me. I was taught from earliest infancy to live as a gentleman; that my word was to be my bond; that I was to say my prayers, go to church, take Communion and so on. I went through Oxford, took my degrees, was called to the bar and eventually became a judge. Pastor, nothing but the grace of God could have caused me to admit that I was a sinner on level with the burglar. It took much grace to forgive me for all my pride and self deception, to get me to admit that I was no better in the eyes of God than that convict that I sent to prison.”

He Has Overcome the World

Title:  He Has Overcome the World By Pastor Lohn Johnson

Text:  John 16:33 “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."

INTRODUCTION: My dear friends in Christ, for some reason words from an old country western song came to me as I studied this text.  They are: “I beg your pardon; I never promised you a rose garden.”  Then I came across the words again in an old movie.  The movie is about a girl who struggles with the help of a psychiatrist to emerge from an imaginary world and to enter the world of reality. But it’s a real struggle. At one point, the girl throws a bitter remark at her doctor. She cries out: “What good is your reality when justice fails and dishonesty is glossed over and the ones who keep faith suffer?” The doctor responds quickly and just as emphatically: “Look here, Deborah, I never promised you a rose garden. And I never promised you peace or happiness.” Somehow that didn’t really comfort Deborah.

I. In a way Jesus is saying something similar when He says: “In the world you will have tribulation” to His disciples.

A. One of the things that impresses me about Jesus is that he is a realist about life in this world.

1. He never promised them and he never promised us a rose garden. He never promised that life would be easy or that it would be painless.

a. In fact, almost from the day they began to follow Jesus, the disciples were in trouble. Much of the New Testament was written from prison cells. Few, if any, of the disciples died natural deaths.   b. No, Christian discipleship did not involve a rose garden. That was not the promise!

2. That word Jesus used, “tribulation,” is borrowed from the farm. When a farmer threshed his wheat, he used a “tribulum,” a contraption made of wood and rope which he used to beat down upon the stalk to separate the wheat from the chaff. That’s a dramatic image isn’t it? It’s as if Jesus is saying, “Often in life, you and I are going to take a beating.”

a. And there are no exemptions from that, not even for us Christians. Pain, difficulty, and struggle – those are normal experiences and they come to us all. We were never promised a rose garden, a painless, easy, totally successful and utterly enjoyable life.  And, anyone who promises you that is what the Bible calls “a false prophet.”   b. The Greek Orthodox Church has a unique way of illustrating this. In that Church, when a child is baptized….and by "child," I mean a real infant ….after the baptism has been performed, the priest takes the large pectoral cross that is suspended on a chain from his neck and forcibly strikes the child on its chest. The blow is so hard that it leaves a mark….so hard that it hurts the child….and so hard that the child screams. They give the child a whack. What gives?    I'll explain what gives. The symbolism of our Orthodox friends is clear. They are suggesting that any child baptized into Christ must bear the cross….and the cross is not a sign of ease, prosperity or success, but a sign of sorrow, pain and even death.    Like those Greek Orthodox babies, we Christians should not be surprised when trial and tribulation bubble up in the ebb and flow of life's river. Nor should we be seduced by phony versions of the Christian faith which suggest that once we have it, we are immune to trouble. "In this world you will have tribulation." None of us has been dealt a "get out of tribulation free" card. None of us.

B. And you’ve undoubtedly heard the questions or perhaps have asked them for yourselves, “If there is a God why does He allow….” Fill in the blank for yourself.

1. We have no simple answer. All we can say is it is the way God wishes to do things.

a. He allows the city of Man to decay and collapse under its own idolatries. Sufferings are visible all over the world.   b. And when such things happen to us, our first reaction is to ask, “Why me?” But, don’t you see, such a question comes out of a rose garden picture of life. A better question is, “Why not me?” because the experience of difficulty in life is part of living in this world!

2. Maybe one reason God allows this tribulation can be seen, though. Now you need to know that I am not big on amusement parks, given that I no longer do "heights," nor do I any longer do "fast." But one ride does intrigue me.  It’s the Rotor. Not that I’d ever ride it but it is so theologically descriptive.    The Rotor works on the principle of centrifugal force. It's like a circular barrel. You ride it standing up with your back pressed against the barrel wall. Then it starts spinning….slowly at first….then faster and faster, until all that passes before your eyes becomes a blur. And the increasing speed of the rotation forces you against the wall….pins you against the wall, really. Which is a very good thing (being pinned against the wall, I mean). Because the floor drops away, leaving your feet with nothing to rest on but air.    So you can see how the Rotor becomes a mirror of real life. There you are, on the ride of your life, and suddenly the floor falls out. Things on which you stood with confidence suddenly are gone.   Maybe God allows tribulation because it’s a bit like the Rotor Tribulation drops the floor out of all the things we tend to trust in this world.  It’s designed to drive us to the only thing we can really trust.  The only thing that goes beyond this world.

II. That’s why Jesus goes on in our text: “But take heart; I have overcome the world."

A. At the cross, Jesus faced the worst that life can do: betrayed by a friend, abandoned by his followers, put through a mock trial on trumped up charges, ridiculed, tortured, beaten, and then killed.

1. The power of evil in this world nailed Jesus to the cross and left him there to die. He knew about life’s tribulations all right.   2. But the power of evil did not have the final word – he did!

a. On that first Easter he rose from the grave and conquered those evil powers. Jesus has overcome all the evil of the world on that cross.  "I have overcome the world. I leave the world not in defeat and death, but in victory."   b. He rose and is called the First fruits of the dead; implying many will follow.  In a way you could call us the “second” fruits or those who come after Him.

B. Christ's victory is given to us in his Word, in our Baptism, and at his Table, that we might have peace in him.

1. The sin that separated us from God is forgiven.  We are reconciled to the Father; that is peace. The Means of Grace renew this to us every day.   2. But also we can note two things that Jesus did for His disciples at the Last Supper on the evening of our text. These two things He does for us too.

a. For one, He gave them the gift of Holy Communion. In that Sacrament, He gave them His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. Although they would not be able to see Him face to face, He would still be with them to the end of the age. The Lord’s Supper is how Jesus is present with His people even today.  This is how He gives us forgiveness, life and salvation.   b. But here, in our text today, He reinforces another gift: the gift of prayer.  Until He returns in glory, this is how we speak to our Lord.

-- Now, prayer is an oft-misunderstood gift among Christians, we must remember that prayer is not a means of grace – not like the Word, baptism or the Lord’s Supper.  It’s not something through which God’s gifts are given, but it’s a response to the grace we received in the Word and Sacraments.   --- As we respond to the grace we have received, we have Jesus’ promise that He hears our prayers. He doesn’t pick and choose which calls to return.  He doesn’t send most of your petitions to the junk-mail file. He hears and honors each one, and promises to answer every prayer that is prayed in Jesus’ name. He delights to hear and answer every prayer prayed in Jesus’ name. You can’t bother the Father in heaven in prayer enough.  He’s not bothered by prayer.   ---- “In Jesus’ name.” That’s the key phrase. That is what the promise and gift of prayer rely on. We pray in Jesus’ name. We go before the Lord in prayer by saying, “We are terrible sinners, and we are not worthy of Your grace or mercy or help. Therefore, we do not ask You to help us because we’re deserving. No, we ask You to hear us and to help us because Jesus has died for our sins and risen again for our salvation.  Help us because Your Son has shed His blood to make us Your children.” That is what it means to pray in Jesus’ name.   ----- Now, let us be clear: I do not mean that every prayer is good as long as we attach the three words, “in Jesus’ name,” at the end before the amen. Nor do I mean that an otherwise good prayer goes unheard because we fail to end it with those three words. This is not some sort of magic phrase. But it’s a reminder that any connection with the Father comes through Jesus’ work for us.   ---- You will be tempted to pray on your terms: “Heal me now!” “That job is perfect for me, so get it for me!” “Save this relationship!” “Save this life!” But God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts. His will is always best, and He often works through hardship to do us good. And while you may not see the benefits of His answers in the short-term, you have His promise that He hears your prayers, and answers them in the way that is eternally best for you.

CONCLUSION: We are not promised a rose garden – not here, not now.  But we do have a Savior who has overcome this world.  He gives us great gifts to carry us through all the tribulations we may face in this world.  He gives the Word, baptism and the Lord’s Supper.  He encourages us to respond to the grace we have received through prayer.  He promises to answer our prayers for Jesus’ sake in ways that are eternally best for us.  But to top it all off, Jesus gives us something better than a rose garden – an eternity in heaven. Amen.

As I Have Loved You, Love One Another

Title:  "As I have loved you, love one another." By Pastor Lohn Johnson

Text:  John 13:34-35   34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

INTRODUCTION: My dear friends in Christ, A group of boys and girls, ages 4‑8 was asked, “What does love mean?” Here are some of their answers:

“Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.” Karl - age 5 “Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss.” Emily - age 8 “Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it every day.” Noelle - age 7 “Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Brad Pitt.” Chris - age 7 “You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.” Jessica - age 8

I. Most of these kids define love on an emotional level.  Our society does the same thing.  We see it over and over in books, on TV and in the movies.

A. This view of love teaches us that love is an emotion deep down within our heart; it’s a feeling, a strong feeling that can make us do things and say things we would never say or do if we didn’t have love.

1.  And so when Jesus says in John 13, “A new command I give you: Love one another as I have loved you,” we may think to ourselves, “Jesus is requiring us to feel love for all those unlovable people around us and act on it.”

a. And we even go further, we dumb this down and think that we’re obeying Jesus’ command to love one another if we simply are nice to each other.    b. As long as we smile and put our best foot forward; hold the door; give a warm handshake…if we do these things, what more could Jesus want from us?  We’re showing love to each other, aren’t we?

2. The problem is that Jesus says, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples; if you love one another.”  Now I’ve never been inside a Buddhist temple or a Muslim Mosque, but I would expect that some of the people there would treat each other no different than what this dumbed down emotional love brings.  And they are not Jesus’ disciples.

a. In fact, they may show more love for each other there than we do here.  They may actually have more feeling for each other than we have here.   b. Do we really love each other as Jesus commands?  If an outsider were to observe the effort we put into our worship, would he conclude that we are Jesus’ disciples?  He may reach the conclusion that the Buddhists or Muslims love their god more than we love ours.  Based on the emotional view of love we Christians may not seem any different than those who are clearly not Jesus’ disciples.

B. But Love is not just an emotion.  Rather, the Bible says, “Love is the fulfillment of the Law.”

1. When Jesus says, “Love one another,” He is not commanding us to be nice to each other.  He goes much further and urges us to show our love to each other by keeping the Ten Commandments.

a. Christian parents who do not teach Jesus to their children in their home, and who do not bring their children to church, do not love their children, because they are not obeying God’s clear command.    b. Husbands and wives, who are unfaithful to each other, do not love each other, for they are disobeying God’s command.    c. Children, who disobey parents, teachers, and others over them, do not have love, for they are disobeying God’s command.    d. And don’t say that you love God if you disregard His command to faithfully hear the preaching of His Word, because love is not a feeling in your heart—it is striving to obey God’s commands.

2. “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  But we don’t love each other by this standard or any other standard.

a. And I am just as guilty as you.  I fail to love you as I should.  It doesn’t matter how nice I am to you.  What matters is that I obey God’s command to serve you as He has directed me in His Word.   b. And I fail miserably in this day after day.  There isn’t one of us who loves as Jesus commands.  Even on those days when we really strive to obey God, we always fall short.  None of us can love according to this definition or any other.

II. But here Jesus says, “I have loved you.”  That’s different from, “I love you.”  It’s in the past tense…”I have loved you.”  “Love one another as I have loved you.”

A. This is wonderful comfort and hope for us.  Jesus doesn’t say, “I love you,” as though He has strong feelings for us.  He says, “I have loved you.”

1. Love is the fulfillment of the Law, and Jesus did that for you.  He kept the whole Law in your place, and He was crushed by the Law’s penalty for you on the cross.  Jesus gave Himself up for you.  He suffered the punishments that we, by our sins, have deserved.  He died your death.  The cross of our Lord tells us who He is…He is the One who loved us by enduring hell for us.

a. Jesus’ love is unconditional: Jesus Christ went to the cross and died for your sins, expecting and demanding nothing in return.   b. It is great comfort to hear Jesus say, not, “as you love each other so will I love you,” but rather,” “I have loved you.”  Even before you were born, Jesus loved you.  While we were His enemies, He loved us.  Jesus did not look for love in your heart before He died for you.  Because of His love for you, He died.  Because our hearts were full of sin, He died.  It’s because there was no love within us that He went to the cross for us.

2. “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”  All men will know, but not Jesus.

a.  Jesus knows you are His disciple not because of your love for others, but because of His love for you—His love which poured out of His hands, feet, and side for you; His love which was sprinkled on your head in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; His love which is given to you in bread and wine.  You don’t have to prove your love to God.  He doesn’t look at what you do, but at what He does for you.  He calls you His dear child not because you love your neighbor here, but because He made you His own in your baptism.    b. Like this: One pastor tells about a rambunctious little boy named Jarek. Jarek was four years old, and the pastor was performing the marriage ceremony of Jarek’s mother, Danielle, to a man named Andy. Both Danielle and Andy had recently come to believe in Christ.  Jarek was Danielle’s son from a former relationship. Jarek didn’t know who his father was. He didn’t really have a daddy. Jarek’s skin was much darker than Andy’s, so people could tell he was not Andy’s boy. Jarek seemed to know that. Out of his fear and anxiety he was always restless and running about, never sitting still. When his duties were fulfilled as the ring bearer in the wedding, Jarek was all over the place. He wouldn’t sit still. By the time they got to the vows he was quarantined in the front row with relatives on either side holding him down.

As the pastor began to lead bride and bridegroom in the ring ceremony, with Jarek squirming and making noises, all at once Andy stopped the ceremony. “Pastor,” he said to the pastor, “I have to say something.” Andy turned around with everybody watching. Jarek was still squirming in his seat. Andy said, “Jarek.” The boy froze. “Jarek,” Andy continued, “I love you with all my heart and I will always be your daddy, and you will always be my son.” Then something remarkable happened. Jarek got still. He did not move the rest of the service. (6) Jarek was about to discover what it means to be loved.  Jesus does that to us through the Word and Sacraments.  Now we know what it means to be loved.

B. Jesus says, "As I have loved you, love one another." So now we are called upon to love as Christ has loved us.

1. What does this mean?  It means as Jesus has loved and selflessly served you, so you are moved to love and selflessly serve others.  This means that, as Christians, our lives are moved to be full of selfless service to other people.  It means that you are called upon selflessly to serve your neighbor in whatever positions God has given you.

a. Are you a mother? Then you have the holy position of motherhood.  Parents have the holy position of parenting, and children have the position of honoring their parents.  No matter who you are, you have several positions: Employer, employee, husband, wife, single, student, teacher, soldier, commander, pastor, parishioner… the list goes on and on.   b. We are tempted to view these things as the jobs we're stuck with, but that's our sinful-self talking. According to the Lord, He has put you where you are in order to do His will. This means it is within these positions that God has given, that you are to love one another.

2.  It is not a matter of making people feel good, or serving so long as we feel good; it is a matter of treating people according to God's Law and Gospel.

3. “Love each other,” He says, “As I have loved you.”  Will we?  Will you?  Will I?  Not a chance.

a. Jesus’ love is perfect.  We sinners always fall short.  But we are moved to strive to love.  We strive to love because He has loved us.  And in this others will know we are His disciples. And where we fail, He forgives.  He doesn’t forgive because we try to love.  He forgives you because He died for you.   b. We have something here that the Buddhists and Muslims do not have.  They may be nicer to each other (I don’t know).  They may be more dedicated to what they believe in.  But we have Jesus’ forgiveness.  We have His living Word which bespeaks us righteous.  We have His body and blood which gives us life in His name.

CONCLUSION: And so after each day of dealing with life’s problems; visiting with neighbors; rubbing shoulders with coworkers; interacting with the family; when we finally rest our head upon our pillow and we confess that we have not loved others as Jesus has loved us, we can take comfort in the fact that Jesus has loved us nevertheless.  And He forgives you nonetheless.  And that truth stands forever, no matter how much or how little love we have.  Amen.