"Finding Our Joy"

Luke 10:20

Pastor Tom Johnson, September 28, 2014

This morning we are talking about finding our joy in stewardship; that is discovering and cultivating a passion for using our gifts of time, talent, and treasure for the Kingdom of God. The Scripture texts for today for St. Michael and All Angels gives us fertile ground. Daniel discovers his call to put fear behind him—to not let fear and the unknown rob him of finding his joy. Daniel is called to be humble, to rely on the Word of God, and to know that there are many spiritual realities that are hidden and invisible to us at work on our behalf. The archangel Michael and other angels serve God perfectly without much recognition. They serve us as well without much awareness on our part. The Book of Revelation also is meant to encourage us that a spiritual battle is being won on our behalf even though we cannot witness it. And that the angels have conquered by the blood of the Lamb. Daniel says that we will one day shine as brightly as the midday sun reflecting the perfect glory of Christ. “Rejoice then, you heavens and those who dwell in them” says our Scripture from Revelation. And Jesus, in our Gospel, “Rejoice that your names are written in heaven!”

At first it may seem as simple as God telling us to simply cheer up. Or that finding our joy is as easy as just making up our mind to be happy and care-free. The cynic in me gives me pause. Is it worth it to try to convey a message about joy? There are so many unanswered questions that I have. I suspect you also have your own. There are so many challenges in this world. There is so much suffering. To ask of myself to find joy—to ask for you to embark on a journey to discover joy—sounds awfully trite and shallow. Thankfully, it’s not.

Consider the context of Daniel’s vision. He is the victim of human trafficking. His family and friends were enslaved, brutalized, and killed by Babylonian soldiers. He was torn away from his homeland and taken by his Babylonian captors into a strange and foreign land. Daniel needed meaningful and profound joy. Consider the context of John’s Revelation. He is in exile on the Island of Patmos. Christians all across Rome are sent away from their homeland, arrested, imprisoned, and killed by the emperor. Both John and God’s people needed a joy that could thrive even in the face of the palpable evil of this world. Jesus actually safeguards his disciples against triumphalism—that is, he does not want them to derive their happiness from a few successful confrontations with the spiritual forces of evil. Good does not always triumph over evil in this world. There will be days when our demons will get the best of us. If Daniel can find joy in his Babylonian captivity, John in his exile, and the disciples in the face of persecution; you and I can also find joy that is real. Our Scriptures challenge us this morning to rejoice—to find and express our joy. Have you noticed that in each of our texts, joy is something that proceeds from heaven to earth—from what is invisible—from what is hidden from our human eyes—from something that time and space cannot rob us of? Joy is a gift of God.

And just what is joy anyway? Have you noticed yet that I have not defined what joy is? I really don’t want to. And I don’t believe I even could if I tried. Dictionaries, encyclopedias, and “Googling it” seem to fall short. Talking about joy or defining it falls short of what it truly is. It is like the difference between seeing musical notes on a page and hearing a master violinist make her bow dance on the string. It is like the difference between reading the stats of a football game in the newspaper and seeing the soaring spiral of a 30 yard pass live that seems to find its own place in the cradling arms of a runner. Joy is caught not taught. Joy is taking the risk to trust God. Joy means the courage to not be paralyzed by the fear of failure. Joy requires openness to new ideas and ways of perceiving things. It takes living by faith and not by sight. Joy is curiosity about the world around us that we experience every day. Joy is curiosity about those things that we cannot see, hear, taste, smell or touch. “Do not rejoice that demons obey your commands; rejoice that your names are written in heaven!” Find your joy—derive your joy from timeless, spaceless eternity.

It would be good to remind ourselves that heaven is not how we may often think of it—as some merely future reality—as a place that is far off in the corner of our galaxy just behind the Milky Way. Heaven is God’s present reality—the eternal now. Jesus is the great I AM—the One who is, who was, and who is to come. And heaven is not a piece of real estate somewhere in our universe. It is God’s Kingdom presence everywhere. That is why God’s Word can say such bold and mind-boggling things like God has loved us since before Creation. Or that Jesus is the Lamb of God who was slain before the foundation of the world.

Our names are written in heaven! Wow! God’s unconditional love for us is so secure that he has inscribed our names into the stone walls and jewel encrusted pillars of the New Jerusalem! That is the reality of our joy in the Kingdom—and in our King, Jesus. God’s love is inscribed into the hands, feet, and side of his Son. He used Roman nails and a sword for his stylus. It is there we find triumph over evil. It is there we find our joy.

“The Offensive Generosity of the Master”

Matthew 20:1-16

Pastor Tom Johnson, September 21, 2014

I love the bold, outrageous economics of the Master. He likes to provoke thought and reflection as he manages his small business. Not only that, he gets an emotional reaction out of those he interacts with. At the break of dawn he goes out to recruit some workers. He negotiates a daily wage. Let’s just say for the sake of our understanding that they agree to work a full day for one hundred dollars. And so they begin their work day.There are so many grapes ready to be harvested, that they need to be picked, sorted, and brought to market even more quickly. So the master goes out again mid-morning and hires more ensuring them he will pay them fairly; though with them he does not mentions an exact sum of money. They agree. There are still too many grapes still on the vine. He goes out again at noon and hires some more. He does the same thing again mid-afternoon. And then at the close of the day, he goes out again.

I love the question he asks the unemployed workers loitering. They may as well stand around and socialize because they have nothing better to do. “Why are you standing here idle all day?” he asks. Do you remember the Master of Creation when he walks through the Garden of Eden? He asks Adam and Eve who are trying to hide from him, “Where are you? …Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” Do you remember the Master on the road to Emmaus who approaches the two depressed disciples grieving the death of their promised Messiah? They only hear rumors of his resurrection. And the Master draws near and asks, “What are you talking about? What has you so troubled in your spirits?” “Why are you standing here idle all day?” the master of the vineyard asks. And they reply, “Because no one has hired us.” And the master says, “You’re hired.” And they work for an hour along with those who have worked a few more, a handful more, and many hours more.

As the sun begins to disappear behind the horizon and the grapes are no longer visible for picking, the master gathers the workers to receive their pay. Those who only worked for an hour are first in line. They each receive $100. “Awesome!” thought those in back of the line who were soaked in sweat and smelling as ripe as the grapes they picked. “Since we have been here all day, the outlook is good that we will receive more than what the master promised.” But as each of the workers receive their money, they see that the pay does not increase with those who worked more hours. Instead, the master fans off hundred dollar bills indiscriminately from his fistful of cash to each worker. The ones who worked all day are upset. Either they could have worked a lot less or have been paid a lot more. But they are being paid exactly what they agreed to.  Let’s be clear: the master gives more money than he must. Those who worked less have not earned or deserved it. It is unfair. But the balance of unfairness tips toward the master's generosity. He errs on the side of graciousness. Those who worked more cross the line when they despise the master’s graciousness.

The master’s question, “Are you envious because I am generous?” names their offense: Covetousness. They have broken the 10^th Commandment. They covet their neighbor’s pay. But it also names another of their offenses: Pride. The master’s question “Are you envious because I am generous?” gets to the heart of their sin. It is not that they do not have the money they were promised; it is that they are jealous of those who did less work. They now are in competition with one another instead of gladly serving the master together.

This is like the Kingdom of Heaven in so many ways! God hired out Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob thousands of years ago. And their descendants are the beneficiaries of the promises and blessings of the Master of Creation. And now God has gone out of this spiritual vineyard through the ministry of Jesus who recruited Samaritans, Syrophoenicians, and Cyrenians. The Apostles will go out later and will call Ethopians, Greeks, and Romans. The Early Church will go out later and conscribe Northern Europeans, North Africans, and Central Asians. Through this expansion, God will employ East Asians, Aboriginals, First Nations peoples of North, Central, and South America. And here is the rub: even though we may, as a people, be latecomers to the vineyard of God’s mercy and grace, we still get the full day’s wage. Like the laborers at the end of the day, we too have not earned it. We have not deserved it. None of us do. The master forgives all our sins and he assures us of eternal life. Even though we as individuals may have neglected the dawn, midday, afternoon, and twilight of our years, it is never too late for us to be gainfully employed by the Master. It seems that deathbed conversions are in order—like the thief on the cross just hours before his death was assured, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

God is like this master of the vineyard. His grace and mercy are burning a hole in his pocket! He smiles at the irony of fanning off one hundred dollar bills of his unconditional love to those who have not earned it—whether they have worked every hour or just the fleeting moments of the dusk of their lives. My cup runneth over” says the worker in his Kingdom. He has overpaid me and everyone else! We are unworthy but he nevertheless says, “Well done good and faithful servant” (Matt 25:21).  And now we get to—not have to—we get to serve the Master and his Kingdom until the last hour with the assurance that we will receive our full inheritance in Jesus Christ. Instead of envying the spiritual prosperity of others and despising the outrageous grace of God toward sinners, we celebrate it. Come on, it’s payday! No one will be short-changed of God’s gifts. God’s grace super-abounds to all creation.

“The Foolishness of the Gospel”

1 Corinthians 1:18-31



Pastor Tom Johnson, September 14, 2014

The message of the Cross is both simple and profound. We wear the cross as jewelry, make the sign of the cross on our breasts, and set this symbol high on our walls and buildings. From time to time, it’s good to remind ourselves of its effect on our faith life as well as those around us who may not share our faith. It’s no surprise that the message of the Cross is foolishness to the world. That’s why Paul quotes the Hebrew Scripture. Long before the Cross of Christ, the prophet Isaiah wrote down what God promises to do: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” To put it in today’s terms: “I will confuse the philosophy of philosophers. I will disrupt the theology of theologians. I will frustrate the academics of academicians. I will defy the science of scientists. I will annoy the agnosticism of the agnostics. I will upset the atheism of atheists. I will trouble the Lutheranism of Lutherans.”

God is Lord and Creator of heaven and earth! He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and ever present. Compared to God, who among us is truly wise? Christianity is not anti-intellectual but there are limits to human intelligence and observation. Human learning, exploration, and discovery are worthy endeavors and essential to our shared life together. But isn’t it also true that life also includes things that we cannot explain such as mystery, the supernatural, and divine? God knew all along—since the beginning—that the message of the Bible would appear to be a foolish, ridiculous, and even irrational to the world. And, I believe, God even gets a chuckle out of the fact that its message defies worldly wisdom. Paul reminds us that some people will not believe the Gospel until they experience something sensational. Others will not believe until they satisfy their every curiosity. Some will not believe until religion fits into a nice, tidy, rational box. But our job is not to try to impress people with miracles or try to explain away every mystery of our faith. “We preach Christ crucified,” Paul says. Our message is about God the Father who reveals his love for the world; he sends his Son to confront sin, evil, and death on a Roman cross.

Paul does not want us to forget that this simple message has profound implications and is a challenge for many people to understand and accept. We believe in one God; we believe he is three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is a stumbling block to rationalists. We confess that God sent His Son from heaven to earth; this does not fit neatly into astrophysics. We believe Jesus was born of a virgin; this is certainly an obstacle for biologists. Jesus taught about a Kingdom without borders and ethnic divisions; this frustrates nationalists. Instead of calling a legion of angels and human armies, Jesus willingly died on the Cross—confounding militarists. By His death, He defeated death; by His resurrection, He assures us of a new creation of peace and eternal life baffling all the world.

But for us the message of the Gospel is power. The story of Jesus is wisdom. Yes, it surpasses human comprehension. And that it should because its origin is not human but divine. That is why I am so grateful for our partnership here at First Saint Paul’s. Our mission on the back of the bulletin is first and foremost to proclaim Christ. We need each other’s support in this divine endeavor. We need each other’s prayers. It’s why our conversation and community is so vitally important. God calls us to humility—humility about our own human potential for strength and wisdom. The power does not come from us but the Cross. Even though some critics may say that we embrace religion because we are too weak-minded to live in a world full of ambiguity and unanswered questions, God gives us true peace, comfort, and faith that surpass understanding. He gives us assurance of his grace and his love—not in a way that gives us glory or makes us look attractive to the world—but in a way that is humbling—where we are reminded that we are flawed, weak, and foolish apart from Him.

Instead, we lift high the Cross of Jesus Christ. For there we see the heart of the narrative of our salvation. We see God’s Instagram of his love for us. It is a picture that tells the story of our Creator who loves all the world—so much so that he sent his Son Jesus to be lifted up high. On the Cross of Calvary he overcomes all the things that keep us from a loving relationship with our heavenly Father. There we are forgiven, accepted, and assured of eternal life. Ridiculous? Foolish? Absurd even? Perhaps. But most certainly true, comforting, beautiful, powerful, and powerful for our living.

"The Watchman"

Ezekiel 33:7-20

Pastor Tom Johnson, September 7, 2014

In the day of Ezekiel, a sentinel or watchman was indispensable. During harvest season, someone would stand on high ground or a temporary structure to look over the crops so that no one would rob or destroy them. That was rural Israel. In urban Israel, a watchman was also indispensable. All year around, the people needed watchmen. Larger cities had fortified walls with walkways and towers on them. A watchman would scan the landscape day and night—all year around. A watchman would look out on the horizon for bad news—danger, threat, and the enemy. And when the watchman cried out the danger, he did so in order to protect and prosper those under his watchful eye. A watchman would also look out for good news—the king’s return, soldiers returning from battle, and a messenger with glad tidings. The watchman had the privilege of announcing a message that would give cause for celebration! Watchmen were the surveillance satellites of the ancient world—the radar scanners scanning hills, seas, and skies. Some watchmen were called to protect a particular farmer’s crop. Some watchmen were called to a particular city such as Jerusalem. 

Ezekiel is called to be “a watchman for the house of Israel”—a whole nation! No tower is high enough to give him a view of the whole nation! Even from a window in the international space station a watchman cannot see the necessary detail. And so it is for the watchmen of Christ’s Church—even for us who serve the church as pastors, teachers, DCEs, officers, or Sunday school teachers. It is an impossible task. There is no lofty tower to view the lives of all of God’s people. There is no extra sensory perception to read the human heart. There is no way for the watchman to see the threat of danger lurking behind every shadow. There is no way to anticipate extraordinarily good news. The human eye cannot gather the information needed for the task. Like all servants of God, the watchman is unworthy. No one is capable of doing it alone. The good news is that God does not expect for Ezekiel or any watchman to see all that needs to be seen. He doesn’t even expect Ezekiel to use his eyes at all. God is calling him to use his ears.

The landscape this watchman looks over is not the hills, valleys, plains, and seas of Israel but the landscape of the Word. We scan the Scriptures, listen and then speak—not our opinion but God’s changeless Word. We are not free agents. We are not opinion columnists. We speak what we hear in the Word of God. When we hear this Word, we hear and recognize the voice of our Good Shepherd. He is the true Watchman we assist him “with the help of God” and “by the grace of God” as we say in our baptismal vows, confirmation vows, and the vows of church officers and ordination. God’s ultimate appeal for us is to live—to turn back—to get off a path of danger and destruction—and to enjoy the journey of life and the way of peace. At the very core of the watchman—deep in his heart is a yearning to protect his people. This is good news! God sends his word to promote life, health, and peace. When God warns of danger, it is not to beat us down, belittle us, or cramp our style. When God warns, he does so to preserve and protect our lives.

As Psalm 127 puts it: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” Here is an encouraging thing—the Lord builds the house—the Lord watches over the city! It is God who can see all the activities of humankind—even under the cover of darkness. It is God who can hear what is whispered in the corners. It is God who can read the thoughts in every human heart. He watches—not to keep a record of wrongs—but watches over us as our Advocate, Savior, and Friend. “He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked.” He takes pleasure, rather, in those who escape the dangers of the devil, the world, death, and even our own tendency to stray away from his watchful care. He takes pleasure in our having peace, comfort, and the assurance of grace.

As the great Watchman—our heavenly Father—looks over the landscape of humanity, he sees our many and deep troubles. He sees the wolves threatening us, his sheep. But he does not just watch over us—he saves and sustains us. He sent us his Son, Jesus. And like a good watchman, Jesus was lifted up high—high on a hill right outside of Jerusalem—the hill’s name is Golgotha, Calvary, the place of the skull. And there up high upon the cross, he not only sees and hears the sinfulness of the world, he carries the full weight and burden of it. He lays his life down to bring us forgiveness, life, and salvation. He ascended to the Father. And there from his heavenly throne, he watches over us, prayerfully intercedes for us, sends his holy angels, calls and equips us to serve one another, and promises to be with us for the length of our journey: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”