Sermon manuscript:
Marketers are always trying to get people to buy their
products. Perhaps you remember a couple often used phrases by the inventor Ron
Popeil. With his kitchen gadgets he would say, “Set it and forget it.” And when
he was working on his pitch he would say, “But wait, there’s more!” Consumers
want things that will make their life easier. They want to get as much as they
possibly can for their money. Marketers try to make the consumer believe that
their life will be better by buying their product. They’ll be happier, have
more time, and save money.
Church membership is something that can be marketed. A
person can make a pitch that belonging to this church or that church will make
a person happier. The folks of Ron Popeil’s generation seemed to understand
this. That was the generation that tried to make church feel like movie
theaters, sound like soft rock concerts. They added coffee bars and book
stores. Coming to church was supposed to feel like going to the mall—a place
that many people would rather go to than to a church.
But the marketing doesn’t have to be so intense and
expensive. The marketing can be that the people are really friendly, and a
person can make friends there. 100 years or so ago, being a member of a church
and coming to a church was a way to make business connections and get
customers. That made it beneficial to be the big church in town with the
prominent, rich members.
This kind of stuff works in a sense. If a marketer is
perceptive enough and clever enough then the church can turn into the hot new
thing. But you always need to have that clever marketer. Where is Shopko? Where
is Sears & Roebuck? At one time these places were on the cutting edge. Now
they don’t exist. They didn’t keep up with the times. So if a church decides
that it wants to play that game, it better be ready to constantly reinvent
itself.
But these sorts of things are really like those people who
were selling merchandise in the Temple. Jesus drove them out with a whip,
overturning their tables. He said, “It is written, ‘My house is to be a
house of prayer,’ but you have made it into a den of robbers.” The Temple itself
saved no one. The merchandise saved no one. What was important about the Temple
was that it was a place to have fellowship with God. So also, church membership
at this place or that place saves no one. Church membership at this
congregation does not save you. There is only One who can save you. The
Scriptures say, “There is no other name given under heaven by which we may
be saved than Jesus.”
So churches are not supposed to exist for their own sake. If
churches exist for their own sake—to get bigger, to get famous, etc.—then they
have lost sight of the reason why they exist. Christian congregations exist so
that the saving truth may be made known, so that people may believe that truth,
and through faith in that truth be saved. What belongs in our congregations is
truth and nothing but the truth. If people believe that truth, then God be
praised. If people do not believe that truth, then so be it.
Altering the truth so as to make people believe it might be
good marketing. It might make the congregation grow. But no earthly
congregation exists forever. What will exist forever are the people whom we are
called to serve with the truth. All those people will either live forever in
heaven with Jesus, or they will be thrown into the lake of fire—which is where
we all deserve to go, but Jesus has saved us from that fate. What is important
is that we be a place of truth, not a place that caters to whatever a person
might want to hear.
So let’s hear the truths that our Scriptures have to teach
us this morning. In our Old Testament reading we are told that God is
compassionate. His mercies are new every morning. And yet we will bear a yoke.
Our face may be thrust down into the dust. We may be filled with disgrace. But
even though the Lord brings grief, he will show compassion on the basis of his
great mercy. He does not afflict us from the heart. His intentions are good
towards his children.
In our epistle reading we are given a very plain truth. It
is very plain, but hard to believe—perhaps for the very fact of its plainness:
“You are children of God now.” Think about what that means. God looks
upon you as he looks upon his Son Jesus, whom he loves. You are children of God
and you will see God. Plain and simple.
In our Gospel reading Jesus is counseling his disciples on
the night when he was betrayed. Now they see him. Soon they won’t. And it is
going to be awful. They are going to weep and wail. But Jesus gives them a
promise: You will see me again. That’s truth right there: You will see me
again. And when you see me again you will rejoice like a mother of a newborn.
No one will take your joy away from you.
All these things are truths, straight from the horse’s
mouth, but I’m not sure how well they might sell. Perhaps the easiest is the
epistle reading: “You are children of God now.” That sounds pretty good.
Maybe I’ll pick up one of those. But then there’s that seeing God part. I’m
okay with seeing my dead relatives again, but seeing God? That sounds a little
intense.
Both the Old Testament reading and the Gospel reading look
like duds. Both of them talk of suffering. Being thrust down into the dust,
being struck, being disgraced—no thank you. Being filled with sorrow, weeping
and wailing—yuck! Isn’t there a pill I can take for this? Isn’t there some
anesthesia that can be given? We don’t want pain.
But I’m not selling you anything. I’m not asking you to buy
anything. I’m not presenting you with an offer that you can consider, and then
you can decide for yourself whether you want to get on board or not. I’m simply
telling you the truth. This is how things are. You can love it or you can hate
it, that doesn’t matter. It doesn’t change the nature of the situation. So my
recommendation to you is that you quit evaluating it and judging it—seeing
whether you like it or not—and learn from it instead. What is said here is very
practical information.
As John says, you will see God, whether you like it or not.
If you like it not, then it will be a terrible experience. If you want to see
Jesus (and every last person on earth should be encouraged towards this, for
Jesus has died for all), then it will be the best thing that has ever happened
to you. Either way, you will meet your Maker. That is as practical as practical
can be.
The other two readings are also very practical. It is flatly
stated that you will have troubles. That’s just the truth. However, in the
midst of those troubles you also have these truths: The Lord does not afflict
from his heart. Though you have trouble now, and you cannot see Jesus, as it
were, you will see him again, and your heart will rejoice.
You do well for yourself if you listen carefully to what is
said here. We do whatever we can to get rid of our troubles. If there is a pill
or a surgery or some other fix, then great! That’s best. But even if these
things are not available we’ll still live in this kind of make believe state.
We’ve been trained to do so. We say, “The sun will come out tomorrow.” “Don’t
worry, everything will get better.” “I’m sure the doctors will have some
miracle cure.” Sometimes even our prayers take on this character. Folks figure,
what the heck, I might as well try praying.
All of this and more is an effort to deny reality because
the reality is so sad that we don’t want to live in it. This can happen right
up until the time of death. Some people won’t call the pastor until the person
is unconscious and there’s little to be done. There is a holding out of hope
that somehow, some way things will get back to normal. If the pastor gets
called, then we have come to the end.
Of course, the presence of the pastor is not what is
important. What is important is that God’s Word interpret the situation for us,
giving us guidance in what we should believe in. Listen again to what Jesus
says, “For a little while you will not see me. You will weep and wail. … You
will become sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.” Remember, I’m not
giving you a sales pitch. Jesus isn’t selling anything. He’s telling it like it
is. Every Christian will go through times of sadness. If nothing else, you will
die one day. Our sadness can be such that there is even weeping and wailing.
But with Jesus that sorrow will turn into joy, and no one will be able to take
that joy away from you. That’s a promise from Jesus. Your sorrow will turn into
joy, and no one will be able to take that joy away from you.
As I said, this is very practical. This might be happening
to you. Or if it isn’t happening now, it could happen to you in the future.
I’ve known some members of the congregation who have had some very sad times. Perhaps
they’ve gotten a disease that cannot be cured. Perhaps their pain cannot be
alleviated. Perhaps some parts of their body have quit working so that living
from one day to the next is very difficult. What might a person do in such a
situation? Believe in some new drug or some new surgical technique with all
their heart, soul, strength, and mind? Unfortunately, that’s what ends up
happening for a lot of people, because they have nothing else to believe in.
There is a fear of reality.
How many times does it say in the Bible: Do not be
afraid? When that is said, it is said
precisely because of the reality that is pressing down upon the frightened
creatures. You are free to acknowledge the truth of the pain. You are free to
acknowledge the truth of the fear. You are free to acknowledge that it is the
Lord God who is afflicting you. You are free to say to God that you are sad. You
can weep and wail. The Scriptures speak the truth, and the Scriptures say that
these kinds of things happen. The Scriptures say that God, even, is the one who
does them.
But we must also remember what else the Scriptures say.
These are no less true: “The Lord does not cause affliction from his heart.”
“By the mercies of the Lord we are not consumed, for his compassions do not
fail. They are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness.” Or, as Jesus
says, “Your sorrow will turn into joy. You will rejoice, and no one will
take your joy away from you.”
We’ve been speaking of mainly bodily ailments. All the other
disorders that the devil and our own sins have brought upon us can be dealt
with in the same way. Perhaps you have been abused. Perhaps you have been an
abuser. Perhaps you have been estranged from members of your family. Perhaps
you’ve been disgraced. Perhaps you’ve disgraced yourself.
All of these things and more are the things for which Christ
died. All disorders of body and soul, heart and mind have been made right by
Jesus purchasing you and redeeming you from them by his own bloody death. That
is why Jesus can speak so confidently when he says, “Your sorrow will turn
into joy.” He knows that everything that causes sorrow has been defeated.
He has defeated them.
Perhaps you are sad now. Perhaps you will be sad in the
future. Either way you have Jesus’s promise. He speaks the truth. Thus you can
be patient in your troubles while you wait for the Lord to keep his promises.
I’d like to close today with a Psalm that you might use to
help you to pray in hard times. It is Psalm 130:
Let us pray:
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
O
Lord, hear my voice.
Let
your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O
Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
that
you may be feared.
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and
in his word I hope;
My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for
the morning,
more
than watchmen for the morning.
O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is
steadfast love,
and
with him is plentiful redemption.
And he will redeem Israel
from
all his iniquities.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and
to the Holy Spirit
as it was in the beginning,
is
now and will be forever. Amen.
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