“Head to Heart” (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 46; John 8:31-36)

Jeremiah 31:31-34
Psalm 46
John 8:31-36

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Pastor Tom Johnson, October 29, 2023

Happy Reformation Sunday. Reformation Day is October 31. It was on October 31st 1517–more than 500 years ago. On All Saints or All Hallows Eve, this German monk named Martin Luther was very upset. He was upset with a preacher. Johann Tetzel, a priest raising money for St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome was selling pieces of paper called indulgences. If you purchased one, you were able to buy your way or someone else’s way out of suffering in purgatory. “When the coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs!” Luther wrote 95 theses—95 statements against indulgences and in support of true transformation—of mind, life, and heart. Luther sparked a reformation of the church in Europe, Luther was most concerned that everyone—from the nobles to the common people—that everyone would personally know Jesus Christ.

Luther’s doctorate in theology, all his books, and teachings were not so that people would be smarter but holier—that the cry of our hearts for God would be answered—that our minds and hearts would be soothed by God.  That we would know that forgiveness, life, and salvation are a gift of God. To move us from the head to transformation of the heart. The Holy Spirit is the one who draws us into a relationship with God by grace—unmerited—undeserved.  We are received by God and receive God through faith—childlike, tenderhearted trust in our Heavenly Father—who sent his eternal Son to take on our humanity—who sent Jesus to walk with us, heal us, teach us, suffer with us, die on the Cross, and rise again in new life so that we would have new life and new hearts.

Luther was way ahead of his time and even designed his own logo. At the center is the Cross—symbolizing Jesus Christ and his work for us. The Cross is in the heart—symbolizing Jesus dwelling richly in the heart of believers. The white rose is the Holy Spirit who draws us into this life by God’s Word and Spirit. The green leaves are continued growth in our faith and trust in God. The blue background is the heavenly joy we have now. The golden ring is the never ending circle of love and life we have in Christ.

Our reading from John reminds us of the sense of entitlement we can develop if we forget that all God’s goodness, love, forgiveness, and relationship with him is a gift. God’s people say they have never been slaves to anyone—forgetting that God delivered them out of 430 years of slavery—for free—just because he loved them. It seems laughable that such a lie could spread—the lie that you could purchase God’s forgiveness and salvation with silver and gold coins? But even today, we still can easily fall into the trap of pride, entitlement, and intellectualism.  In other words, we can still fill our lives with all sorts of religious things. We can treat God like a vending machine—if we put the right coin in the slot—say the right prayers—or believe the right things, God will bless us. Or we can believe the lie that God is waiting for us to say the right thing, think the right thing, or do the right thing, then he will love us. This is transactional religion—quid pro quo theology. Our relationship with God is not transactional. It is transformational. It transforms our minds and hearts.

It’s right there in our reading from the prophet Jeremiah: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. “No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sins no more.” The Sioux nation have a saying: The longest journey is from the head to the heart. This is what the Reformation is all about—re-forming our minds, hearts, and lives—transforming our thinking, our visceral knowing, and our daily living. This is the work of the Holy Spirit who writes his Word into our hearts—who takes our hearts of stone and replaces them with hearts of flesh. He takes us on a journey from the inside out and the outside in. God takes us on a walk. And we walk—not by sight but—by faith. He leads us into the depths of our being. He reveals a whole interior world that we have neglected. By his Holy Spirit, he speaks and writes his Word into our hearts. As our Psalm says, God calls us to be still and know that he is God. 

This is a visceral knowledge. We don’t just know about God with our minds. We intimately know God. We know in our guts that he is a good, gracious, loving, giving, and forgiving. The Holy Spirit moves us on this interior journey—this epic journey—from the head to the heart. It’s a transformational journey. It’s a life-long journey. It is a relationship we now have with Christ at the center.  It’s a relationship that the least to the greatest of us have. It’s a relationship where our flaws and sins are overcome by Christ who lays down his life for us and takes it up again so that our relationship will never come to an end. 

Spirit of God, descend upon my heart;
Wean it from earth, through all its pulses move;
Stoop to my weakness, strength to me impart,

And make me love you as I ought to love.
                    (“Spirit of God, descend upon my heart,” LBW 486, vv. 1-5)

“Hypocrisy” (Matthew 22:15-22)

Matthew 22:15-22

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Pastor Tom Johnson, October 22, 2023

Jesus calls the religious leaders hypocrites 13 times. He calls out their hypocrisy 3 times. And that is just in the Gospel of Mathew. This is vitally important for us to understand: Jesus never speaks harshly toward “sinners.” He only speaks strong words toward those who think they are not sinners. Jesus’ harsh words are for those who engage in spiritual abuse—those who use religion to burden the consciences of others—those who make others feel shame, guilt, and condemnation from God.

The Pharisees are mean. They are spiritual bullies. Jesus reads their hearts and is aware of their malice. They come to Jesus with a question: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor or not?” It’s not an innocent question. The Pharisees’ egos drive them to eliminate the opposition. In this case, their competition is Jesus. He has a growing following. People are attracted to him and his teaching. The Pharisees not so much. Their question is designed to entrap Jesus—to get Jesus into trouble. If Jesus says it’s not okay to pay taxes to Rome, they will accuse him of treason. You’ll remember they’ll say to Pilate, “We have no king but Caesar?” Truly hypocrites.

If Jesus says it is okay to pay taxes to Rome, they will accuse him of treason against his own people. They will accuse Jesus of promoting idolatry since there is a graven image of the Emperor on each coin and an inscription saying he is a god. It’s a lose-lose question. It is what some would call a conundrum, a “Catch-22,” or a “darned if you do, darned if you don’t.” Jesus knows their malice. He knows they are trying to play Jesus, to lure him into a trap, and say “gotcha.” 

Jesus immediately responds by calling them hypocrites. It other words, whatever fault they are trying to find in Jesus is a fault that they carry in themselves. They are projecting their own guilt upon Jesus. And what are they guilty of? Paying taxes to the Roman Emperor. They are in the same pickle—the same unfortunate predicament and messy situation as everyone else. Rome has forcibly taken control of Israel. They must pay taxes to Rome—or else! They must pay the Jewish Temple tax. Everybody felt badly that they had to pay taxes to a tyrant—well maybe not everyone. Tax collectors maybe loved it because of how wealthy they became. And is that not ironic—that the Gospel of Matthew is written by a former tax collector?

Jesus never condemns tax collectors and sinners. He pursues them. He loves them. He lays down his life for sinners and hypocrites. He calls us to to follow him and experience the life-transforming work of the kingdom. But hypocrites—in this case the Pharisees—try to make everything black-and-white—an either/or reality. The truth is that we live in a broken world where things do not fall so easily into the categories of good and evil. That is the great insight to Jesus calling the Pharisees hypocrites. Jesus would make a great psychotherapist. At the very least, they subconsciously feel the same shame and guilt they want to project on Jesus. Jesus’ great insight is that the Pharisees are not even consciously aware of their own hypocrisy. That is a scary truth for all of us: that our judgmentalism—our bigotry—our prejudice can blind us to our own sin and maliciousness. And so by calling the Pharisees hypocrites, Jesus calls them and us to pay attention to our own judgmentalism. Why are we so zealous to point the finger at others where there are wrong? When we condemn others, what does it say about us? 

The Navajo people have a saying, “when you point a finger there are three fingers pointing back at you.” Could it be that whatever it is reminds us of what we don’t like about ourselves? Or as Jesus says in his Sermon on the Mount, “Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? …You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:3-5). Jesus’ great insight should lead us to a greater awareness of our own hypocrisy—that whatever we are most against is what we feel the most shame or guilt about. As the proverb says, “The guilty dog barks loudest.” 

Jesus response to their question is genius. He asks for a Roman coin. He asks whose depiction it is on the coin. “The emperor’s,” they say. “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” In other words, Jesus says, “We are all in this together.” Jesus gives everyone the freedom to give the emperor what belongs to him and to God what belongs to him. The punchline is that everything and everyone belongs to God—the King of kings and Lord of lords—the living and true God—the good and gracious God.

To comfort and to bless,
To find a balm for woe,

To tend the lone and fatherless

Is angels' work below.

The captive to release,

To God the lost to bring,

To teach the way of life and peace,

It is a Christ-like thing. 
                    (“We Give Thee But Thine Own,” LSB 781, vv. 4-5)

“Incomprehensible Peace” (Philippians 4:1-9)

Philippians 4:1-9

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Pastor Tom Johnson, October 15, 2023

Our Scripture from Philippians reminds us of one of the greatest threats to humanity: anxiety. But it gives us some of the greatest antidote. It begins with Paul urging two women who work alongside Paul in the work of the Gospel. They are no longer of the same mind. We do not know what the disagreement was between them. But Paul begins by urging them—pleading with them to reconcile—to be unified in heart, mind, and in the Lord.

If we lack peace in our hearts and minds, we should first look at our relationships. Harboring bitterness, resentment, retribution will rob us of peace. Jesus taught us to pray for God to forgive us as we forgive others. We cannot have personal peace without interpersonal peace. Anxious thoughts will arise when we have unresolved tension—wrongs that need to be confessed—hurt that needs to be addressed. So the toxicity between Euodia and Syntyche was threatening to rob the whole community of peace and joy.

Our Scripture begins with the first antidote to worry: joy in the Lord. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice!” Joy invites us to look around and see the goodness and greatness of God. That is one thing that never changes: God is always worthy of our wonder and praise. Joy invites us to marvel at creation. Look at the stars, the sunrise, the moon, the ocean, the forests, all creatures great and small. Find joy in creation. Find joy in the Creator. He sent his Son to take on our sin, our suffering, and death itself and rose again so that we will not be paralyzed by fear but know that our eternal future is secure. Rejoice in the Lord!

It won’t hurt our anxiety to be gentle and kind toward others—to love one another as we want to be loved and as Christ sacrificially and selflessly loved us to be compassionate and gracious like Jesus. Kindness is another antidote to worry.

“Do not worry about anything.” It’s right there in our Scripture. So it must be attainable. It is a promise: nothing should rob us of peace of mind and tranquility of heart. As Jesus says in his Sermon on the Mount, “do not worry about your life” (Matthew 6:25).

Another antidote to anxiety is prayer. Prayer is talking to God. Tell God your worries. Tell him what has us up at night and what is stealing our joy and our peace. God wants to open the floodgates of peace more than we do. He wants to remove obstacles to our experiencing his abiding peace. “Do not worry about anything…but in everything” pray “with thanksgiving. Worry about nothing. Pray about everything. Pray remembering—not what is troubling you but—what is blessing you.

The key ingredient in a worry-demolishing and anxiety-crushing prayer is gratitude. Pray with gratitude for all the gifts we enjoy. It will help us to see through all that is going wrong to recognize the good. It will re-wire our brains to not focus exclusively on the negative. It will help us to let go of the things we cannot control. When I told my grandmother about my worries, she never told me I had nothing to worry about as a teenager. She would remind me to count my blessings. We cannot have joy and peace without gratitude. We cannot say “gratitude” without “attitude.” Let’s not wait until the fourth Thursday in November to celebrate Thanksgiving. In another Scripture, Paul says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-17). 

Our Scripture is an invitation to set aside time in our busy lives for prayerful contemplation—to be intentional about what we allow our minds to focus on: “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable—any excellence and worthy of praise, think about these things.”

“And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” This is a peace the world cannot give—an unworldly peace—an incomprehensible peace. This is not a peace that we manufacture. It’s not a peace that comes from figuring out the riddle of life. It’s not a peace because all is well in the world. It’s the peace God gives. It’s supernatural peace. It’s transcendent peace. It’s a peace that does not depend on life’s circumstances. It’s a peace that can coexist along with all the demands and concerns of this world. Paul says that this peace will “guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” This is no intellectual exercise. It’s living our daily lives in prayerful connection to him who took on all the trouble and sin of the world to the Cross. It’s awareness of the peace and joy of him who rose from the dead and says, “I make all things new.” 

This is a great Scripture to challenge God to fulfill what he promises—to pray that God would open our eyes and our hearts to the wonder all around us so that we would find joy—even in the smallest things—things we might have missed—to pray and search our own lives for things to be grateful for—even the smallest things—things we might have missed—to pray through the worry and anxiety—to pray and find the peace—from the Prince of Peace—who transcends all human comprehension.

“Identification” (Philippians 3:10-14)

Philippians 3:10-14

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“Identification,” Philippians 3:10-14

Pastor Tom Johnson, October 8, 2023

Earlier this year the movie Jesus Revolution came out. The movie tells the story of how a generation of young people find their way to faith in Jesus. The main character, Greg, has a similar journey. He is disillusioned by the materialism of the day. He does not want to conform to rigid and closed-minded thinking. That’s when he meets a group of students who are non-conformists. They have found a new way to find their identity—not in their parents, the educational system, or politics. They have found their way through drugs, alcohol, and music. They are called hippies. They were trying to transcend this world and suffering. What Greg and so many realize is that their new identity does not fill the hole deep in their soul. It does not bring them the peace and meaning they seek. In fact, it becomes dangerous and deadly. The story of the movie is how they find Christ—or how Christ finds them. Blaise Pascal said, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each person which cannot be filled by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.” 

That’s what Paul is talking about in our reading from his letter to the Philippians. It is a vulnerable moment for Paul. He shares his impressive background and résumé with us. But then he says he considers this old identity of his all “rubbish.” By the way, the word rubbish is the naughty Greek word for “excrement.” All that striving to fill that empty space with ethnic pride, family heritage, education, money, things, and power—all of that making a name for himself and trying to fill that God-shaped vacuum with worldly things—it is all a load of you-know-what compared to what he now has in Jesus Christ.

This is a message we all need. It really doesn’t matter what we use to fill the emptiness. It could be harmful things like risky behavior or substance abuse. But it can even be things that can be used for good—like money, music, and influence. Or we may be neglecting the greatest gift we always have in the present moment: knowing Christ. The great insight of our Scripture today is that nothing—nothing compares with personal encounter and personal relationship with Christ. Like the old hymn says, “On Christ the Solid Rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.” So Paul says, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

And how do we enter this relationship with Jesus? How do we find our new identity in Christ and fill that God-shaped hole in our souls? By faith—trusting in Jesus—by, in Paul’s words, “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.” Letting go of the old—letting it die and fade away in memory. Just as God chooses not to remember our sins—but forgives us—so we also must let go of the past. Just as Paul has let go of his prestigious past, so we also must let go of our pride. What matters is where we go from here. What matters now is how we get used to our new identity. Paul says he wants to intimately know and experience Christ and the power of the resurrection. He wants to continue to grow in his faith and journey with Jesus. The way is counterintuitive. It’s through identifying with Christ’s suffering and death. By making his suffering and death to sin our own. And making his rising our own.

Jesus found his identity with us by taking on our humanity. He was born of the virgin Mary. The eternal Word became flesh. He intimately knows what it means to be human. He knows what it is to suffer in body and soul. He experienced death. He confronted and defeated death on the Cross and through the empty grave when he rose again from the dead. All this to identity with us—but also to rescue us from captivity to our sin and death. Scripture says he purchased us, not with gold and silver, but with his precious blood. So we are now his treasured possession. You could say that he owns us—but not as property but as his own beloved children.

I find Paul’s words in our reading so powerful: “Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” Jesus is always ahead of us. He told the disciples he is going ahead of them into Galilee. Jesus has gone ahead and already has made us his own. Hi first takes his loving hold and grip on us. “We love because he first loved us.” We strive to make him our own because he has made us his own. I love that Paul gives us no formula in how to do this—only his example, and more importantly, Christ’s example. We let go of the old unhelpful and harmful things. We let them die away. We yearn for a deeper life through a selfless, sacrificial pursuit of a relationship with our Savior and Creator. We are just trying to catch up—we are growing into the reality of how deeply and unconditionally loved we are. We are just getting used to the truth that we are worth all the suffering and death of Christ. As we die to self and rise in Christ, our Scripture says we will become like him. 

Riches I heed not, nor vain, empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always:
Thou, and Thou only, first in my heart,
great God of heaven, my treasure Thou art.
                           (“Be Thou My Vision,” WOV 776 v. 3)