250418 Sermon on how our enemies of sin and death are defeated (Good Friday) April 18, 2025

 Audio recording

Sermon manuscript:

Jesus said, “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life on account of me will save it.”

Back home on the farm it was not uncommon for kittens to be born around this time of year. The momma cats liked the hay mow of our barn. The old bales of hay and straw provided nooks and crannies for secluded little dens. We kids liked to find these newborn kittens and tame them. The kittens were terrified at first. Their fur would be sticking out and their claws extended, but eventually they would trust you. You could tell when your job was done when the kitten would start to purr while lying on your lap.

The image I would like to bring to your mind is perhaps one you’ve experienced. Sometimes these kittens would be a few weeks old before we would find them. Kittens grow up quickly. These older kittens would want to run away, but if they couldn’t, they would fight back. They were still quite helpless, but they wanted you to believe they were far from helpless. They would puff out their fur, arch their backs, growl, and make that weird spitting sound with their mouths as they would strike out with their paws.

This was quite intimidating. The kittens were quite harmless, but they made me think twice. It was 99% bluffing. If the kitten were facing a real enemy, all this play-acting would be futile. All the enemy would need to do is snatch the kitten up in its jaws, and that would be the end of that.

Human beings can be like those bluffing kittens when it comes to things that are stronger than us. Sin is much stronger than us. I wish we could always and easily tell sin to take a hike, but sin often gets the better of us. Our guilt is stronger than us. We accumulated so much guilt by our evil deeds. The devil is stronger. Death is stronger. We are quite helpless. We are like kittens.

However, it is not uncommon to think we can somehow defeat these enemies. If we bristle out our fur, arch our backs, and strike out, maybe we’ll be left alone. With sin and guilt, for example, the most common strategy is simply to forget about them. As time passes, the pangs of conscience lessen, but does forgetfulness really make our sin go away? Does shutting our eyes or pulling the blanket over our heads make the monster go away?

Another strategy for dealing with sin and guilt is to fight back. Maybe God’s commandments are old fashioned or impractical. Maybe you couldn’t live the life that you want to live and still keep God’s commandments. God wants us to be happy, doesn’t he? “Live and let live” is great advice for a certain kind of peaceable life. However does this make sin and guilt go away? Maybe our conscience is soothed for yet another day, but the enemy remains.

The strategies regarding death can be similar. Nothing is more common than ignoring death. Put it out of mind so that you can more fully embrace whatever good might be coming your way. This sounds like good advice, and maybe it has its place, but does it make death go away?

Or maybe instead of taking death seriously we can celebrate life. Hopefully the person in question is good enough so that we can celebrate. Hopefully they didn’t commit any gross sins—at least not publicly. Hopefully they were only guilty of the common and respectable sins that church people commit. Otherwise it might feel strange to celebrate. But, in any case, what does it matter? It is all for nothing. Even with all this bragging and story telling the person remains quite dead. A few short decades later, they will be quite forgotten.

In all our dealings with these forces we are like defenseless kittens. We do what we can. We put on a show. But nothing can really be done. It’s all play-acting. It’s all bluffing. Our very real enemies have us in their jaws whether we make a fuss or not.

I think this might help us better understand a statement of Jesus’s that can be quite enigmatic otherwise. He said on one occasion: “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but however loses his life on account of me will save it.” We might think that we have no other choice than to playact and to bluff. We have to cope somehow. But if we commit ourselves to these strategies for dealing with these very real enemies, then we will have a very different savior in our minds than Jesus—and what a pathetic Savior it is too. A kitten pretending to be a tiger? By trying to save our own life we will lose it.

But what is the alternative? The alternative is to believe in Jesus. However, this belief will be under the cross. That means we will be in unfavorable conditions and will suffer loss. As Jesus said, “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but however loses his life on account of me will save it.” We must lose our life with Jesus. What does that mean? It means that we allow whatever nasty enemies who have invaded our comfy little den to bite and devour us, while believing, at the same time, that they will not be triumphant. Though they do their worst—though they have me in their jaws—I will prevail because my God is for me and not against me. God will save me when the time is right even if I should end up in their gullet, in the belly of a large fish, or in a den of lions.

Let’s apply this to the enemies we’ve already talked about. There are a lot of ways to cope with sin, but Jesus is the only one way to be victorious. Repent and believe the good news that Jesus is the Savior of sinners. But even when we have done this, sin remains a powerful enemy. I wish that we Christians could become so strong that we could always tell sin to take a hike, but we aren’t. Seasoned Christians know that the devil has very good aim with his poisoned arrows. He can find the gap in our armor so that we fall into sin quite against our will.

Our situation with death is very similar. Try as we might, we can’t avoid it. This is true for Christians and non-Christians alike. We all die. The difference with Christians is that we believe Jesus when he says: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” The first part of that statement is clear enough. We believe that even if we should die, yet we will live because we will be resurrected. But what about the second part when he says, “Whoever lives and believes in me will never die?” The apostles died. Christians for two thousand years have died. Did none of those live and believe in him?

No. They were believers. And they didn’t die—not really. They died in the belief that this slight momentary affliction of death would last but a little while; salvation comes with the morning. Sometimes the New Testament calls death a sleep. When we go to sleep at night we do not fall asleep with horror. We know that the morning is coming. Not only will we wake up, but we will even feel refreshed and energized. So it is with those who die with faith in Jesus, the resurrection and the life.

Unfortunately, those who really will die are like foolish kittens who think that they can save themselves by playacting. They think they can stave off death or come to terms with it. They think memories or celebrations can make the person live on in some sense. This posturing and fuss and bother are as insubstantial as smoke. They don’t know how strong their enemy is. Imagine the horror the kitten feels when their show doesn’t work, but they find themselves in the jaws nonetheless. That is death.

I understand perfectly why people do playacting. It can seem like the only recourse we’ve got. It can seem defeatist to admit anything is stronger than us. We are told always to fight, and for good reason. We don’t want to be in those jaws. Playacting is a way to convince ourselves that we need not be in those jaws. The kitten is desperate not to be picked up because it doesn’t know what might happen. One thing is sure: it will lose control.

In order to be a Christian we must lose control, so to speak. We must put ourselves and our futures into the hands of a God who has told us that he has our best interests in mind even as we are going through painful or scary circumstances. And this is not like a fairy tale where the enemy is no more and can no longer hurt us. It will be like that in heaven, but not until then. The apostles said this plainly. They said, “It is only through many hardships that we will enter the kingdom of God.” We kittens have many enemies and their teeth are sharp. However, we have hope! Even if we should die, yet shall we live, and declare the praises of the Lord.

On Good Friday it is fitting to think about our enemies such as sin and death, which are more powerful than we are. Good Friday and Easter show us that Jesus is more powerful than sin and death. However, Jesus saves in a very special way. He doesn’t ignore sin and death. He doesn’t go around them. He doesn’t go over them or under them. He goes through them. The jaws clamped on him, just as they clamp on us. However, what looked like defeat, proved to be victory.

The same thing is true for us Christians. We cannot get rid of sin. We cannot avoid death. We go through these things. They bite and gnash with dreadful effects, but even while they are doing their worst, we believe that we will be victorious and they will be defeated. Jesus will see to that.

Jesus said, “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life on account of me will save it.” Amen.

250413 Sermon on Jesus's Peace (Palm Sunday) April 13, 2025

 Audio recording

Sermon manuscript:

When we use the word “peace” we often think of calmness, tranquility, the lack of fighting. There are different ways to achieve such a condition. For example, a graveyard is quite peaceful in its own way. Even though there are many people in close proximity, there is little fighting. There is also little love, little joy, but there is a kind of stillness and calmness.

Another way calmness can be achieved is through the establishment of such severe law and order that everyone becomes too scared to step out of line. Totalitarian governments come up with punishments and displays of power that intimidate the people they rule over. Almost all of the great empires of history have used these tactics.  

The Roman government, for example, once crushed a slave revolt and sent a powerful message afterwards. They crucified 6,000 captured slaves along the Appian Way. For 120 miles one person after another hung there dead on crosses. The message was clear: Don’t mess with those in power. It worked. People were frightened. There was a kind of peace.

This is one way you could understand the events of Holy Week that we have entered into today with Palm Sunday. The Jewish leaders wanted a kind of peace. Jesus had been disturbing their peace. So they solved a problem. Jesus had been getting too popular. He had raised Lazarus from the dead. Upon entering Jerusalem he went to the temple and made quite a scene. He flipped over tables and let animals loose. The Jewish leaders wanted to know who had given him such authority.

Jesus was obviously out of control. He needed to be dealt with. The usual measures of getting dirt on someone wouldn’t work with him. Nor could they turn the people against him. The people loved him more than they loved the Jewish leaders. There was only one sensible course to take, and they took it. They arrested him in the middle of the night. They immediately convicted him in their kangaroo court. They applied pressure to Pontius Pilate. By the time the people of Jerusalem were hardly finished with their breakfast Jesus was already nailed to the cross! It was already too late. Efficiency like that would make any dictator tip his beret with respect.

For some of us, though, this kind of thing really makes our blood boil. It was so unjust! The leaders were supposed to be the best of the people, but in fact they were the worst. They were vain. They were vindictive. They were cowards. They purposely engaged Jesus in an unfair fight. They didn’t dispute with him in the open. It was all arranged behind closed doors. Their dirty deeds were done with the cover of darkness. Some of us might like to take our clubs and swords and give them a taste of their own medicine.

This might have been how Peter felt. We’ve been studying Peter in our Adult Bible Study. When the Jewish leaders came to arrest Jesus in the middle of the night, Peter took out his sword and cut off the right ear of the high priest’s servant. I can’t help it: a part of me says, “Hurray for Peter!” At least one of those scoundrels felt a little pain! But that sets me at odds with Jesus himself.

Perhaps you remember how Jesus rebuked Peter. He told him to put away his sword. He said, “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me to drink?” He also said, “All who take the sword shall perish by the sword.”

Indeed, that is how it goes. History tells this story over and over. The story goes like this: The oppressors oppress until those they oppresse rise up and take away their power. But without fail, those who were formerly oppressed, when it’s their turn, also oppress whomever they can take advantage of. They, then, become the target until one day a knife is found sticking out of their backs. The situation is always unstable because hatred is just below the surface. Power is maintained only with the utmost vigilance. Knowing that they hate you, you must strike first, before they strike you. It’s kill or be killed. “Whoever takes the sword, perishes by the sword.”

The best peace to be hoped for is the peace of the graveyard. If all goes well you eliminate your opponents before they eliminate you. Then you live happily ever after. That was the Jewish leaders’ theory of peace, and they dealt with Jesus accordingly.

However, this theory did not originate with them. It is much older. It goes back all the way to the gray mists of the earliest recorded history. The first human being born in the natural way was named Cain. He had a brother named Abel. One day Cain became annoyed with his brother Abel. Abel was disturbing his peace. So Cain bashed his head in, and reestablished the peace. Problem solved. No more Abel; no more annoyance. He lived happily ever after… Except he didn’t. Maybe you remember the story. He thought that he would live happily ever after, but in fact he was haunted for the rest of his life by the dirty deeds he did in secret. This is some kind of peace, but it leaves much to be desired.

Is there another kind of peace? Most do not believe so. Jesus says, “Broad is the gate and easy is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter thereby. Narrow is the gate and hard is the way that leads to eternal life, and few there are who find it.” Most people believe what simply comes naturally to all of us: We will be better off if we are in control. We will be richer if we take what someone else has. We will be happier if we eliminate those who annoy us. Kill or be killed. This world is made up of winners and losers. See to it that you are like the Jewish leaders, who obviously won, instead of like Jesus, who obviously lost.

But did he? That is the question! This is why the resurrection is so important. If Jesus rose from the dead, then he was right and his ways are best. If he did not rise from the dead, then the Jewish leaders were right. The message would be: Let no scruples get in the way of your ambitions. If Abel didn’t want to get killed, he should have killed Cain before Cain killed him. If Jesus didn’t want to get arrested and killed, he should have dismissed Judas long ago, armed his supporters, and stormed the chief priest’s palace. The strategy is not hard to understand. Do whatever is beneficial to you, and don’t do whatever might be beneficial to others.

What is hard to understand and to learn is Jesus’s peace. To learn Jesus’s peace you have to change your mind, which is what the word “repent” means. You have to think so differently that the Bible speaks of this change as being born again, or that we must be crucified with Christ and raised with him. So much must change that it is beyond our powers. Faith is a miracle worked by the Holy Spirit. But what comes at the end is worth it. What comes at the end is peace.

Jesus spoke about this peace in those chapters in John that we talked about during our midweek series. Jesus said, “In me you have peace. In the world you will have trouble, but take heart: I have overcome the world.” Again, Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” Those are words of quiet confidence. Although he knows that is death is but hours away, he is not like a drowning rat, desperate to survive. Jesus said, “You trust in God. Trust also in me.”

Trust in Jesus because his resurrection happened. The resurrection and judgment that is coming at the end of this world is real too. This is what all those who live only for their own ambitions deliberately ignore. The resurrection is coming! When that happens, those who appeared to have won will lose. Those who appeared to have lost will win. “The first shall be last, and the last shall be first. There is nothing that is secret that won’t be revealed, and there is nothing that is hidden that won’t be exposed.” These are clear teachings of Jesus.

Now if you are like me, then you probably have your own dirty deeds done in darkness, the exposure of which would bring about intense embarrassment or perhaps even fear. To you I say, “Do not be afraid so long as your peace is in Jesus.” Your peace in Jesus will be stronger than your sins. Jesus’s righteousness speaks louder than our failings.

But don’t go on thinking that your dirty deeds of darkness will get you ahead in life. They won’t. They harm you; they don’t bless you. Even if you managed to gain the whole world by unrighteousness, the time would come when you would regret it—even if you somehow managed to make it into heaven. Change your mind; change your ways. Light, truth, life, and all other good things come from Jesus. Repent and believe the good news that Jesus has overcome the world, and his peace will reign forever and ever!