“A permanent place in God's household”

John 8:31-36

Pastor Tom Johnson, October 26, 2014

In many ways the Reformation was about who is in God’s household. Who is truly a member of God’s family? How does someone get into the household of faith? How are we assured that we are secure there in our heavenly Father’s embrace? It may be hard for us to understand why these believers in Jesus would also put their trust in their Abrahamic heritage: “We are daughters and sons of Abraham.” “Abraham is our great grandfather. And because of that we are part of God’s household. We have been grandfathered in”…so to speak. “Father Abraham had many sons. Had many sons had father Abraham. I am one of them. And so are you. So let’s all praise the Lord.” It’s a lot easier to understand when we see this as God’s promise to all people.

God promised Abraham many sons…and daughters…so many biological children and great-grandchildren that his family would circle the globe. “All families of the earth will be blessed through you,” God said. All the families of the earth will be drawn into one Household, one Family—whom we call the holy catholic Church. This is “catholic” with a little “c.” It means what the promise to “bless all the families of the earth” means: “all the families of the earth will be blessed.” This spiritual family will be an inclusive, universal, global, complete, and whole.

Our Scripture says that Jesus was speaking to daughters and sons of Abraham “who had believed in him.” They were believers. But their faith and trust in Jesus was not complete. They were still banking on their birthright. They still put their confidence in their unique ethnic heritage. They also began to put their faith in Jesus. I think this is an important detail that we shouldn’t miss: they were somewhere on the continuum between certainty and unbelief. None of them completely doubted. None of them perfectly believed. Their trust in Abraham and being his descendants was not wrong. It simply falls short of how great God’s promises are to all tribes, peoples, tongues, and nations. And I think that is how we all ought to understand what it means to be a believer and to be a child of God. We are all somewhere along the spectrum of atheism and Christianity. We are somewhere between absolute disbelief and perfect faith. “We are American. Of course we are Christians,” we might have heard or even thought ourselves, “we have ‘In God we trust’ inscribed on our coins.” “We are Lutheran—heirs—daughters and sons of the Reformation! Of course we are part of the household of faith!” No, we are part of God’s household by God’s gift of grace.

Today is Reformation Sunday. It is not the day to pat ourselves (or Martin Luther) on the back. As one of my professors in seminary said, “It is not despise your non-Lutheran neighbor day.” It is not about celebrating the clarity and truth of the Gospel as if we have already arrived at a perfect understanding and are just reminding ourselves on the yearly vigil. No, today is not about justifying ourselves in any way. Jesus points the way in our Gospel reading. When he hears these faithful daughters and sons of Abraham and Sarah put their confidence in their bloodline and family tree, he does not crush their weak faith or limited vision of what God is doing. He doesn’t even directly confront the lie that the descendants of Abraham have never been slaves to anyone. Instead, he nudges them toward stronger faith. He leads them down a path of greater confidence of who is in the household of faith. And by doing that, Jesus enlarges our vision of who is welcome—not only these biological descendants of Abraham but descendants of the whole human race.

When we see God’s invitation like this, the good news gets even better and we are led a little further away from unbelief toward belief. We move away from confidence in our flesh and blood and confidence in the Body and Blood of Jesus. We move away from our insecurities and doubt that we are part of God’s family toward assurance and faith that we have a permanent place in his Household. To put it in the words of the Reformation—we are loved and accepted by God by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone—to God alone be the glory. Scripture alone has the final authority to speak on these matters. And the Scripture says we have a permanent place in the household because of the Son. He makes us free children of God by his life, death, and resurrection.

Have you seen our new doors? I think this recent change is a good illustration of the truth of the Gospel. The doors are more inviting. They entrance looks even bigger than before. All are welcome. God wants to expand his Household. The doors let more light in. We see more of the s-u-n sun’s presence than before. So it is with God’s household. The light of the S-o-n Son illuminates our path into God’s family. God does not want less children of Abraham; he wants more of every people, tribe, nation, and tongue. With the new doors, we look in with greater transparency. And in the center of our vision is the Cross. We are reminded that it is through the gift of his Son, Jesus that we enter. He has conquered death by the Cross. And he has purchased for us eternal life. That is how we look into God’s household. It is all a gift—not by bloodlines or by good deeds works. God has thrown the doors wide open. By grace, we have a permanent place in God’s household. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23).

"God loves a cheerful giver"

2 Corinthians 9:6-8

Pastor Tom Johnson, October 19, 2014

God loves a cheerful giver. The word love—agape is God’s unconditional, covenantal love. The word cheerful here is where we get our English word hilarious. God’s love is deep and strong toward those who give with hilarity. God loves a hilarious giver. This word for cheerful only occurs once in the New Testament; but it is used several times in the Greek Old Testament. It describes the beaming smile of King Xerxes as his queen steps into his court with her breath-taking beauty (Ester 5:2). This word describes the glisten in the eye of God when he hears his faithful pray to him (Job 33:26). This word describes the glimmer in the eye of the one who gives bread to the poor out of compassion and empathy (Prov 22:9). This cheerfulness is the facial expression that reveals a heart filled with delight and gladness. It is the hilariousness—the good sense of humor—that spills out through a smile, laughter, and tears of joy. God loves a cheerful giver.

God gets a kick out of those who get a kick out of being generous. It brings a smile to God’s anthropomorphic face when he sees the smile on ours. Laughter is contagious. God’s grace makes us laugh. And our laughter is contagious to God completing a wonderful cycle of grace—interaction—a relationship with God. You’ll remember that God named Abraham and Sara’s son Isaac—which means laughter—because Sara laughed when God said she would have a son in her old age. And so when she bore a son, God said his name will be Isaac laughter because, as you might guess, God has to have the last laugh. To put it another way, God wants us to have a sense of humor. He wants us to appreciate the ironies of the Christian life. He loves it when we get his jokes. He loves it when we participate in his divine comedy. He loves it when we see the Good News of Jesus Christ for what it is—a juxtaposition of incongruities. That is to say—what makes humans laugh are things that come together that don’t normally belong together. A person who is hilarious points out all the absurdities around us—of what we humans think, say, and do.

Jesus is hilarious when he is asked if we should pay tithes or taxes. He holds up a Roman coin with Caesar’s face and does not let himself get caught in their trap. Instead he traps them between the tension of living as dual citizens—of God’s Kingdom and our earthly kingdom. It is hilarious because even what Caesar has is not his but belongs to God. “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it” (Psalm 24:1). God even owns the Roman Emperor—the person whose picture is on the coin. God is hilarious. He does the darndest things. His creates a universe that is far bigger than we can imagine, observe, or even describe. But he takes notice of us little humans. He sends his eternal Son—his only Son—to reveal his love for all creation. Jesus is hilarious. He knows our darkest secrets. He is tempted by all the sick and twisted things in this world. He confronts evil, sin, and death—he is sentenced to die for crimes he did not do. But it for the joy set before him that he endures the cross (Heb 12:2). And the mockery Pontius Pilate puts above his head, “Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews” which was meant to ridicule the claim that he is Messiah is hilarious because it’s true—and even more so, he is King of heaven and earth! The message of Jesus is hilarious. God dies so that we can live. God rises from the dead so that he can now ridicule and mock death, “O death, where is your victory? O death where is your sting?”

When I was in a Bible study in college, I was rebuked by the pastor leading the study because I said, “Jesus has the greatest sense of humor.” I said this after we studied how Jesus interacted with the religious establishment. “Where do you get that?” the pastor said. Needless to say, I never returned to the Bible study. I will not believe in a god who has no sense of humor. I want a God who laughs with me at all my flaws, brokenness, and wretched sin because he joyfully and lovingly forgives and sets me free from its power! Let me be clear: God does not celebrate darkness in our lives; God celebrates the light he brings to overcome our darkness.

Charlie Chaplain said, “A day without laughter is a day wasted.”

Bill Cosby said, “Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it.”

Robin Williams said, “If Heaven exists, to know that there’s laughter, that would be a great thing.”

Laughter is good for the soul. It is great for our mental and physical well-being. Laughter releases serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins into our blood streams. Laughter is good medicine. God loves it when we experience the high of participating in his Kingdom. God loves it when we join our voices with the angels over one sinner who repents. God loves it when we give what is ours after we realize it is not truly ours but only ours on borrowed time. God loves it when we give—not because we have to—but because we finally have realized how much we have been given. God loves it when we Christians share this inside joke with one another in our family of faith. We are sinners and saints, mortals and immortal, receivers and givers. God’s grace and love toward us is hilarious.

"Running with Joy"

Philippians 3:4-14

Pastor Tom Johnson, October 5, 2014

This morning we are talking about expressing our joy in stewardship; that is how we manifest our joy with our time, talent, and treasure for the Kingdom of God. Last week we looked at how we discover our joy. Our reading from Philippians provides a very nice reminder of what it means to discover our joy. Paul says,  “Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own abut this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Discovering our joy is a life-long journey. Paul did not claim to have joy neatly tucked into his back pocket. Joy is something he daily pursued. And everything else paled in comparison for him. He says that knowing Christ Jesus as his Lord is the one thing in his life that has surpassing value. It is the goal. It is the prize. It is the treasure. It is the heavenly call. It is the joy of having a personal relationship with God. The challenge today is how we express that joy. Our Scripture seems to suggest that it is the inevitable consequence of discovering joy. Paul presses on to serve God because he was first served by him. He “press[es] on to make it [his] own because Christ Jesus has made [him] his own.”

Paul is using running a race as a metaphor for the Christian life. How does a runner win the prize at the end of the finish line? By forgetting what lies behind and pressing forward to the goal. You can’t move forward very fast if you are looking behind you all the time. That is bad running form to turn your head around and twist at the waist. What has happened before certainly affects where you are in the race now. But if you don’t let go of it and move on ahead, it will continue to hold you back. Paul leaves his impressive family background and education behind. He also leaves behind the more shameful things he did such as persecute Christians.

Running ahead and forgetting what lies behind takes great empathy and compassion for oneself. It means not relying on our birthright or privilege but upon God’s promises for everyone.  Running ahead and forgetting what lies behind means that we stop using failures the past as an excuse not to succeed in the future. It means letting go of the guilt and regret behind us and making a b-line toward forgiveness and reconciliation. This is joy’s greatest expression—running life’s race with confidence in the Gospel! What a joy to know that our greatest obstacles are behind us and our greatest rewards are ahead!

Many of you know that next week at this time I plan on running right by here. Our church address will not be 1301 N LaSalle for me that day but mile four. And so I hope to hear your cheers and cowbells around 8:01. I probably will be smiling then. But a few more miles will slowly wipe that smile away. Runners will tell you that they all “hit the wall” at some point in the race. It may be mile 18, mile 22, or mile 25.2. But “hitting the wall” is something all runners of the race share. This is when your legs feel like lead weights, your chest gets heavy, and one or more parts of your body begin to hurt. Your mind grows cloudy. Time seems to slow down. And there is a voice that starts to say things like, “Why did you register for this? What are you doing? Stop. Just stop. You can’t go any further.” There are two options at this point: either (a) quit the race and take the CTA back to the finish line or (b) forget what lies behind and strain forward to what lies ahead, and press on toward the goal.

That is joy—that even though the race may still have many more obstacles, we know that our Forerunner Jesus has already gone ahead and won the prize for us. That is where this analogy breaks down. Everyone is a winner who runs this race. Scripture says, “We love because he first loved us.” The love of God compels us. It is our trust and joy in God that pulls forward. Will it hurt? Yes. Will you feel like quitting? Probably. Will joy always be so obvious? Well, maybe not. But there is nothing more natural—there is nothing more freeing than to run the race with joy—to give our time, abilities, and financial resources when it is fueled by God’s great gifts. We realize that we don’t have to; we get to do these things.

It why I personally love to hear the stories we have heard in the last weeks from Jill and will shortly from Micah. All our paths are very different. How and when we discover our joy changes from person to person. But at the heart of each story of grace is the story of God who first loved us and sought us out—God who makes us his own. How we express that joy also can differ in wonderfully diverse ways. We all have different gifts, talents, and abilities. And we can all celebrate that wide range of joyful expression.

At the end of each race, most runners look forward to getting their medal and a free pint of Goose Island 312 beer and other tasty things they hand out beyond the finish line. But what runners really want to do is tell you their story. They want to hear other stories. They want to share what they saw, what they felt, what they were thinking; and how, through it all, they finished. If you listen really carefully, they are trying to convince you and themselves to run ahead with joy.