Weekend Extra – Agnostic No More!
Agnostoi Theoi. This was the inscription that graced one of a countless number of altars in the city of Athens in the first century. It means, “To an unknown god.” Theoi means “to god” and we get our word “agnostic” from the word agnostoi. Though the Athenians of the first century built many altars to the gods they knew – Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Helios and, of course, Athena, the patron goddess of Athens – the Athenians wanted to leave no god un-worshipped. And so they built an altar to a god they might have missed.
The Athenians were agnostic – at least when it came to the god for whom they had built this altar. But the apostle Paul refuses to leave the Athenians content in their agnosticism. He says:
What you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising Him from the dead. (Acts 17:23-24, 30-31)
“Your agnosticism,” Paul says, “is not acceptable. The God you call ‘unknown’ is not unknown at all! He has a name – Jesus Christ!”
Importantly, Paul also says this God has “made the world and everything in it” and “is the Lord of heaven and earth.” Zeus was the god of the sky. Poseidon was the god of the sea. Hades was the god of the underworld. Helios was the god of the sun. Athena was the goddess of Athens. Jesus is the God of…everything. This makes Jesus far greater than any of these other gods. Indeed, finally, all of these other gods are not only lesser, they are not even truly gods! Paul says to the Athenians, “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious” (Acts 17:22). The Greek word for “very religious” is deisidaimon. This word can have either a positive connotation, meaning “devotion,” or a negative connotation, meaning “superstition.” Though Paul is probably appealing to the positive sense of the word out of courtesy, finally, the Greek pantheon of gods is nothing more than superstition – and a dangerous superstition at that. The word deisidaimon contains the word daimon, the Greek word for “demon.” Scripturally speaking, because there is only one true God (cf. Deuteronomy 6:4), all other gods are not gods at all, but demons. It will not suffice, then, to be merely “religious,” worshipping whatever god may suit your fancy. For there is only one true God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Every other god is a delusion of Satan.
This past weekend in worship Pastor Tucker spoke about the mission trip a group of seventy-seven Concordians took to Crownpoint, New Mexico, a Navajo Indian community nestled in the high hills of the desert Southwest. On the bus ride there, one of our college studnets spent a good deal of time in conversation with one of our bus drivers who was very spiritually confused. He spoke about everyone from Mohammed to Jesus as if they were all essentially the same. The god he worshipped was not specific or defined, but unknown. Blessedly, our student made known to him the true gospel of Jesus Christ. He followed the lead of the apostle Paul.
How about you? Will you follow the apostle’s example? Our world is full of far too much agnosticism. But people can be transformed from ambiguous agnostics to defined disciples of Christ by the gospel. Make the gospel known to someone who needs to hear it!
Want to learn more? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Tucker’s
message!
God and the Debt Crisis
It was a rough day on Wall Street. On Friday, Standard & Poors downgraded United States debt, taking it from its time-honored AAA rating to AA+, with a warning that another downgrade could be in the making. Today, the markets reacted as the Dow Jones plunged 632 points and closed below 11,000, its worst one day loss since December 2008. Though I’m no financial analyst and would never deign to give anyone counsel concerning our fiscal future, right now, the economic horizon of our country does not look particularly bright to me.
The current debt crisis has invoked a fair amount of personal reflection concerning the ethics of managing money. From greed to irresponsibility to politics to entitlements, there is much to be said concerning our pecuniary predicament. But it was an article in The Huffington Post that led me to some new and sober analysis on how we, as Americans, view our finances. The article was titled “Why Atheism Replaces Religion in Developed Countries” and was written by Nigel Barber, who holds a Ph.D. in Biopsychology. Barber’s thesis runs thusly:
Atheists are more likely to be college-educated people who live in cities, and they are highly concentrated in the social democracies of Europe. Atheism thus blossoms amid affluence where most people feel economically secure. But why?
It seems that people turn to religion as a salve for the difficulties and uncertainties of their lives. In social democracies, there is less fear and uncertainty about the future because social welfare programs provide a safety net and better health care means that fewer people can expect to die young. People who are less vulnerable to the hostile forces of nature feel more in control of their lives and less in need of religion.[1]
Barber’s argument, then, is this: The more money you have, the less religion you need. Religion is for those who cannot secure their futures via monetary means.
There are a couple of things that strike me as odd about Barber’s argument, not the least of which is its conflict with much of the empirical evidence. According to Barber, money and religion compete with each other in an inverse relationship. The more money one has, the less religion one needs. But many studies do not bear out this assertion. Take, for instance, the percentage of atheists in our nation throughout the years. In 1944, 4% of our nation’s citizens were atheists. In 1964, it dropped to 3%, remaining steady through 1994. In 2007, it crept back up to 4%.[2] Over the course of sixty-three years, through good economic times and bad, the percentage of people who self-identify as atheists has remained remarkably consistent. Indeed, the economic vitality of our country seems to have no effect on the religious sensibilities of our people. Moreover, because our nation is one of the most economically prosperous in the history of the world, one would expect to see a much higher percentage of self-declared atheists. But this is not the case. Statistically, atheists make up a small segment of our population, regardless of our economic state.
The second thing that strikes me as odd about Barber’s argument is his massive assumption that all human desire can be reduced down to a single need: the need for security. Barber’s argument runs like this: Our foundational need is to feel secure. And we will get the security we so earnestly desire one way or another. Some superstitious people get security from religion. Enlightened people, invigorated by their economic prosperity, receive security from money and the government that doles and dishes it out. But is this really true? Can money, managed by the government nonetheless, really offer the kind of security human beings desire and need? If our latest financial crisis is any indication, it cannot. Finding refuge in money is like finding security in a house of cards. The slightest jolt can send it crashing down.
Additionally, is the need for security really the only fundamental need human beings have? What about the need for purpose in life? Atheism, with its commitment to a closed and sterile universe, cannot offer the transcendent purpose that human beings seem to innately desire. Bertrand Russell, the famous British atheist philosopher, explains with clinical sobriety the view atheism has of the universe and of human beings:
In the visible world, the Milky Way is a tiny fragment; within this fragment, the solar system is an infinitesimal speck. And of this speck our planet is a microscopic dot. On this dot, tiny lumps of impure carbon and water, of complicated structure, with somewhat unusual physical and chemical properties, crawl about for a few years, until they are dissolved again into the elements of which they are compounded.[3]
Is it any wonder Bertrand didn’t make it as a motivational speaker? But Bertrand is simply honest enough to admit what so many atheists have fought so vigorously to sugarcoat and excuse: The inevitable philosophical concomitant of atheism is fatalism. If atheism is true, that means we are born, we live to struggle against the evolutionary goads, and then we die. That’s it. Our lives are merely blips against the backdrop of a cold, and ultimately triumphant, evolutionary system.
This is why atheism will finally never carry the day. Atheism will never carry the day because human beings want their lives to count for something – something bigger than money, something bigger than accomplishments, and something bigger than even this life itself. And only God can meet this want. And it seems only reasonable to recognize that if only God can meet this want, then maybe there is a God who has placed this want in human beings in the first place. Doctrinally, we call this the natural knowledge of God. And all human beings, yes, even atheists, have this knowledge – even if they fight this knowledge.
All of this leads us back to our debt crisis. The economic future of our nation is indeed frightening, but it is not surprising. After all, stocks and bonds, debt limits and balanced budget amendments simply cannot offer what God offers, no matter what Nigel Barber may assert. For capital cannot offer comfort and hope. Only God can offer that. That’s why so many in our nation continue to trust in God – through this crisis and the crises to come.
[1] Nigel Barber, “Why Atheism Replaces Religion in Developed Countries,” The Huffington Post (July 26, 2011).
[2] Matthew Hutson, “One Nation, Without God,” Psychology Today (September 1, 2009).
[3] Bertrand Russell, Sceptical Essays (London: Routledge Classics, 2004), 19.
ABC Extra – Keeping Your Cool
When it counts, I am cool, calm, and collected. When my mother-in-law passed away earlier this year, I did my best to make sure everything was covered for my family. When a dear woman wept in my office as she recounted the grievous way she had been sinned against, I offered the most sober solace I could muster.
When it counts, I am cool, calm, and collected. But then I lose my car keys…and my demure demeanor crumbles. “Where could I have put those stupid things?” I grumble as I stomp around the house, making sure everyone within a fifty-foot radius of me knows exactly how incredulous I am. “This is ridiculous! I set something down for one second and it up and disappears.” Melody, of course, tries to provide some perspective for my not so precarious plight. “It’s no big deal, honey,” she says. “They have to be around here somewhere!” But I am inconsolable. “No!” I retort. “I’m already running late to this appointment. This just makes things worse!”
In our text from this past weekend, Solomon writes, “Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense” (Proverbs 19:11). “Having good sense means having a long fuse,” Solomon says. Apparently, then, minor annoyances can cause me to check my good sense at the door. I can get far too frustrated far too fast. I not only react, I overreact. But it ought not be this way.
In the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the word for the phrase “slow to anger” is macrothymeo. This is a compound word made up of macro, meaning “big,” or “long,” and thymeo, meaning “an outburst of passion or wrath.” I remember thymeo’s meaning by thinking of a thermometer. Like a thermometer, our anger can get hot and boil and bubble over. To be macrothymeo, then, means to take a long time to get hot under the collar. It means, to borrow a phrase from bestselling author Richard Carlson, to “Don’t sweat the small stuff.”
But all too often, I do sweat the small stuff. And my guess is, you do too. In fact, maybe it’s not so much the small stuff that you sweat, but the big stuff. Maybe someone has cheated you out of what is rightly yours. Maybe someone has hurt you in a profound way. Maybe someone has sinned against you and the damage feels irreparable. It’s at times like these when we can be tempted to let anxiety and anger take over. And such anxiety and anger seems justified enough. After all, anger at sin seems not only acceptable, but called for! But Solomon says that a wise man “overlooks an offense.”
How could Solomon say such a thing? Is he encouraging us to just let sin slide? No. But he is encouraging us to let God take care of sin for us. The apostle Paul explains it like this to a group of pagans in Athens: “In the past God overlooked ignorance, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the man He has appointed” (Acts 17:30-31). Even as God overlooks the ignorance of unbelief out of His grace, we are called to overlook the offenses of others against us by God’s grace. Now this does not mean that God will not judge the world for its sin. He will. But judgment will be carried out not by you, but by “the man He has appointed.” And that man is Jesus.
Finally, God “overlooks ignorance” not because he does not care about sin, but because He is giving those who are ignorant of Him time to repent and trust in Him. As the apostle Peter says, “Our Lord’s patience means salvation” (2 Peter 3:15). This is why our God does not immediately judge sin and sinners, including you and me. This is why our God is “a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness” (Psalm 86:15). Like our God, may we too be slow to anger.
Want to learn more? Go to
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and check out audio and video from Pastor Josh’s
message!
Genesis 6:1-4 and Christian Marriage
The other day, I received a question regarding the opening verses of Genesis 6:
When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. (Genesis 6:1-4)
This passage is a perennially puzzling one because it immediately raises a host of questions. Who are the sons of God? Who are the daughters of men? Who are the Nephilim? To add to the perplexing nature of this passage, commentaries offer a whole array of conflicting interpretations, perhaps the most famous of which is that the “sons of God” are fallen angels who are perverting the daughters of men by intermarrying with them and allying themselves with an evil race of giants called the Nephilim.
I’m not sure that the interpretation of this passage needs to be nearly so esoteric. Indeed, the interpretation proffered above flatly contradicts what Jesus says about the nature of angels: “When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven” (Mark 12:25). Jesus here makes it clear that angels are not the marrying kind. Thus, when Moses writes about the “sons of God” in Genesis 6:2, he seems to be referring simply those who follow God and believe in His promise of a Messiah. Most likely, the sons of God are from the line of Seth who replaced his late brother Abel as an heir of righteousness (cf. Genesis 4:25). Conversely, the “daughters of men” seem to be those who do not follow God, most likely from the line of Cain, and are prone to wickedness and violence (cf. Genesis 4:17-24). Thus, essentially what is going on here is that righteousness is intermingling with wickedness.
The sons of God intermarrying with daughters of men is paired with a reference to the Nephilim in Genesis 6:4. Most often, the Nephilim are portrayed as giants, thanks in large part to the description of them in Numbers 13, when Moses sends out a team of spies to scout out the land of Canaan before the Israelites are supposed to enter and settle there. The spies return with this report: “We saw the Nephilim there…We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them” (Numbers 13:33). Interestingly, this is the only other reference to the Nephilim in the Old Testament. Because the spies compare themselves to “grasshoppers” in light the stature of the Nephilim, the Nephilim are often assumed to be giants. Indeed, in the Latin Vulgate, Jerome translates the word Nephilim as gigantes, or “giants.” But what Moses seems to be referring to in Genesis 6:4 is not so much the physical stature of the Nephilim, but their spiritual state. “Nephilim” is a Hebrew word meaning, “fallen ones.” That is, the Nephilim are wicked tyrants who care not for God and His Word. They have fallen into sin. In the scope of four short verses, then, we find the sons of God intermarrying with the daughters of men, an act which is portrayed as sinful, and we hear of the Nephilim, renowned as evil thugs. Sin is on the move in Genesis 6. And it is spreading like gangrene. This is why in the subsequent verses, Moses writes, “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that He had made man on the earth, and His heart was filled with pain” (Genesis 6:5-6). What follows is the story of Noah and God’s judgment on wickedness by means of a worldwide flood.
So why would I spend all this time trying to sort out the exegetical puzzle of Genesis 6:1-4? Is it out of mere theological curiosity? Though I am always theologically curious, the practical implications of a proper interpretation of this passage are enormous. For it gives us a down-to-earth look at what happens when righteousness intermingles with wickedness. For when righteousness intermingles with wickedness, wickedness all too often seems to prevail. This is why the apostle Paul later warns:
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people. Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:14-18)
Paul is crystal clear here: Our God does not want His sons and daughters to yoke themselves to the sons and daughters of this world. This has an especially poignant application to Christian marriage. Christians should not marry non-Christians…period. To do so is to try to yoke righteousness to wickedness. So to the Christian singles I say, “Marry inside the faith.” Follow Paul’s admonition: The person you marry “must belong to the Lord” (1 Corinthians 7:39).
Now, certainly it is good to share your faith with others. Certainly it is even fine to have friends who do not share your same faith commitment. But to yoke yourself to these people is a different matter entirely. For to yoke yourself to someone is to declare your solidarity and agreement with them. And solidarity and agreement with unfaith is something you cannot and should not declare.
Thus, this little passage from Genesis 6 has weighty practical implications for how we relate to others, especially in the context of marriage, and puts us on notice that the results of righteousness intermingling with wickedness are never good. Righteousness should never merely intermingle with wickedness. Rather, it should overcome it! As Paul says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). May you overcome the evil you encounter with the goodness of Christ!
Sermon Extra – Lingering Lies
Last month, Scientific American published the results of a study conducted by psychologists at the University of Western Australia. In this study, researchers asked college students to read an account of a bus accident involving some elderly passengers. The students were subsequently told that, in reality, the passengers were not elderly but were part of a college hockey team. Later, the psychologists told some of the students to be vigilant about getting this story straight when they were asked questions about it and were warned about what is called “the continued influence of misinformation,” which describes our propensity to remember and be influenced by information we first hear in a story, even if that information is later updated or corrected. In spite of this warning, however, some students continued to stubbornly cling to the lie that the people in the bus accident were elderly. For example, when the students were asked whether or not the passengers had a difficult time exiting the bus because they were frail, many students responded that they did, citing their advanced age. Ullrich Ecker, one of the psychologists conducting the study, commented, “Even if you understand, remember, and believe the retractions, the misinformation will still affect your inferences.”[1]
Lies linger. That is the upshot of this story. This is why the words you use and the truth you tell is so important. One of Jesus’ favorite sayings is, very simply, “I tell you the truth…” (e.g., Matthew 5:18, Mark 3:28, Luke 9:27, John 3:5). Jesus wants no part in telling lingering lies.
This past weekend in worship, I spoke about the importance of choosing your words wisely. In Proverbs 17 and 18, Solomon gives us four tips for choosing our words wisely. First, we must choose our words slowly. Words quickly spoken, especially in anger, later lead to regret. Think before you speak! Second, we must choose our words with counsel. In other words, we need to be willing to receive guidance and even correction from others in our words so that we learn how to choose our words better with time. Third, we must choose our words charitably. Especially when a person is not around, we must be very careful how we speak about them so that we do not malign their character. Finally, we must choose our words truthfully, for dishonestly leads only to disaster.
In a world that stretches, fudges, and hedges the truth, we are called to be truth tellers. After all, we do not want our lies to linger in the lives and hearts of others. The good news, however, is that the lies of this world, though they may linger, will not ultimately last. Solomon says, “Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment” (Proverbs 12:19). Compared to the truth of God, lingering lies are only a flash in the pan. The truth will finally carry the day. And God’s truth will endure forever. So align yourself with that which lasts!
Want to learn more? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Zach’s
message or Pastor Josh’s ABC!
[1] Valerie Ross, “Lingering Lies: The Persistent Influence of Misinformation,” Scientific American (July 18, 2011).
ABC Extra – Friend Me!
True friendship is not easy. Many people do not understand, or refuse to accept, this. Guys hang out at the bar after work. Ladies go on shopping sprees. But these times together, even if they’re fun, do not usually foster deep, meaningful relationships. When a friendship gets complicated – when a buddy runs into a problem in his marriage or when a lady struggles with her self-worth – these so-called “friends” have little to nothing to offer in the way of support or guidance. True friendship is not easy.
The Proverbs understand the burden true friendship brings. For true friendship involves many weighty things. True friendship involves sticking with someone through thick and thin: “There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24). True friendship involves loving someone even when they’re utterly unlovable: “A friend loves at all times” (Proverbs 17:17). True friendship involves pouring time, energy, and trust into a select few people, rather than being content merely to hang out with many “acquaintances” who know little about you: “A man of many companions may come to ruin” (Proverbs 18:24). True friendship involves faithfulness in saying things to a friend that may be hard for them to hear: “Faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Proverbs 27:6). True friendship is not easy.
Sadly, the term “friendship” has been largely stripped of its biblical content in our day. For many people, “friendship” means nothing more than a person they happen to know. This is not to say that it is bad to know many people, but when you are “friends” with everyone, you become close companions with no one.
One of the things I enjoy doing is checking my Facebook page. It is fun for me to keep up with a whole bunch of people, some of whom I haven’t seen in years. I like to read about what’s going on in their lives – their joys and their challenges. Sometimes, when it seems appropriate, I’ll even drop someone a note on Facebook letting them know I’m praying for them.
Currently, I have 550 Facebook “friends.” Though I do care about every single person with whom I am “friends,” I also know that I am not a friend to every one of these people, at least not in the biblical sense. For I do not live up to what the Proverbs have to say about friendship. Nor could I. I simply do not have the time, strength, or smarts to be a perfect friend to everyone. The good news is, where I fall short when it comes to friendship, Jesus does not.
“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from My Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). Jesus says these words to His disciples shortly before He is betrayed by Judas to be crucified. He calls His disciples His “friends,” even Judas, who is no friend to Jesus. And Jesus is indeed a true friend – to each and every one of His disciples – even when His disciples are not faithful friends to Him. And He is a true friend not only to His original twelve disciples in the first century, but to the countless billions of disciples that have since followed. He is a friend to you! As the song says, “What a friend we have in Jesus!”
Are you a true, biblical friend to others? If not, you are called to be. Do you have true, biblical friends for yourself? If not, you need them. We all need friends to share in our joys and support us in our sorrows. Finally, is Jesus your friend? If not, He can be. By faith, you can be a friend of Christ, for Christ wants to be a friend to you. I can’t think of a better friend to have.
Want to learn more? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Krueger’s
message or Pastor Josh’s ABC!
ABC Extra – Unbaptized Money
Though I’m almost sure it’s apocryphal, Martin Luther is credited with saying, “There are three conversions necessary – the conversion of the heart, of the mind, and of the purse.” Regardless of whether or not Luther actually spoke these words, this quote can serve to remind us of the importance our Lord places on faithful stewardship. What we do with money matters.
In his book The Money Map, Howard Dayton writes, “When the Crusades were fought during the twelfth century, the Crusaders purchased the services of mercenaries to fight for them. Because it was a religious war, the Crusaders insisted that the mercenaries be baptized before fighting. As they were being baptized, the soldiers would take their swords and hold them up out of the water to symbolize that Jesus Christ was not in control of their swords, that they retained the freedom to use their weapons in any way they wished.” Like Crusaders wielding swords in whatever unbaptized way they saw fit, many people wish to use money in whatever unsanctified way they see expedient. But God wants our money to be “baptized,” so to speak, in that He wants us to steward our money faithfully and well. And first and foremost, stewarding our money faithfully and well means being generous with others even s God has been generous to us.
In our text from this past weekend, Solomon writes, “A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed” (Proverbs 11:25). God wants us to be generous and refreshing toward others. Notably, the Hebrew verb for “refreshes” in this verse is rawah, meaning, “to water.” In Hebrew, this word is in the Hiphil mood, which is an intensive form of the Hebrew verb. Thus, when Solomon encourages us to “refresh others,” he encourages us to do so intensively. That is, we are to be as generous as we possible can be. And as we do so, we ourselves will “be refreshed.” This phrase “be refreshed” is in the Hophal voice, another intensive Hebrew verbal form. Thus, as we intensively refresh others through our generosity, God will intensively refresh us through His generosity.
Money that is not baptized by the gospel only causes harm and grief. Judas, when he sells his Lord for thirty pieces of silver, despairs and commits suicide (Matthew 27:1-5). Hezekiah, when he shows off his temple treasury to envoys from Babylon, seals the demise of his nation (Isaiah 39). And Ananias and Sapphira, when they duplicitously hold back some money from the sale of a field, claiming that they had given all the proceeds to the Church, are struck down by God (Acts 5:1-11). Money used apart from the purposes of God ends in disaster. Conversely, money that is “baptized” by the gospel can be used to illustrate the gospel itself! The apostle Paul writes, “You were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20, 7:23). What is this price? It is the price of Christ’s blood. The monetary picture of a price is used to describe our redemption. Indeed, the very word “redeemed” is monetary, for it describes how Christ purchased us “from the empty way of life” (1 Peter 1:18), that is, from the empty ways of sin, death, and the devil.
Do you allow the money with which you have been entrusted to be used at God’s pleasure and for His purposes? Or, are your finances an area in which you remain functionally “unconverted,” holding your pocketbook out of the water while the rest of you is baptized into Christ, too afraid to heed Christ’s invitation to steward your finances in a way that is commiserate with His Kingdom values? True financial joy and freedom is found only when your money is brought under the authority of Christ. Jesus has been generous enough to give you all that you have. Do you trust Him to be wise enough to use the money you have for your good and His glory?
Want to learn more? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Tucker’s
message or Pastor Zach’s ABC!
Sermon Extra – Glorious Work
Work is a blessing from God. Do you believe this? I have talked to far too many people who do not believe this – at least if the way they talk about their jobs is any indication of what they believe. Complaints about the incompetence of co-workers, the ineptitude of the boss, and the inequity of one’s paycheck are all commonplace. Granted, even Scripture admits that work involves frustration and difficulty. This is a result of the Fall into sin. God tells Adam after he has eaten from the fruit of the forbidden tree: “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food” (Genesis 3:17-19). The Hebrew word for “painful toil” is isabon, which refers to both physical and emotional pain. And certainly this can be true of our work. There are days at the office, in the shop, or on the site that are not only physically exhausting, they’re emotionally exhausting as well. But it must be remembered that the isabon of work is a result of sin and not part of God’s original design and desire for work. Work was originally created to be a privilege and joy. Indeed, work was part of creation even before the Fall. Immediately after God creates Adam, God takes “the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15). God has weaved and woven work into the fabric of His creation.
Such a high view of work is unique to Christianity. Ancient pagan literature takes a much grimmer view of labor. The ancient eighteenth century BC Akkadian Epic of Atra-Hasis has its own account of the origin of human work. The epic opens: “Great indeed was the drudgery of the gods, the forced labor was heavy, the misery too much.” The gods, according to this epic, were tired of having to work. They considered it “drudgery.” How do the gods solve their drudgery dilemma? They declare, “Let us create, then, a human, a man. Let him bear the yoke! Let him bear the yoke! Let man assume the drudgery of the god.” In Atra-Hasis, humans are created to do the work the gods do not care to do themselves. Work, in and of itself, is, in this epic, an awkward annoyance, to be pawned off and passed off by any means possible. This, however, is not Christianity’s view of work.
According to Christianity, work was not originally created to be a burden, but a high and holy privilege. It was part of the authority God graciously allowed human beings to exercise over His creation. God says in the creation account, “Let man rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground” (Genesis 1:26). The work of ruling the earth was meant to be an awesome honor, not a cumbersome curse.
The German sociologist Max Weber coined the phrase “Protestant work ethic” to refer to the premium on which Protestants, and the Puritans especially, put on work. Unfortunately, Weber understood this ethic moralistically, glorifying the “self-made man” and trumpeting the tangible rewards of hard work, rather than understanding one who works hard as carrying out his divinely ordained vocation before God for his neighbor, regardless of the earthly rewards. The true “Protestant work ethic” is wrapped up in the doctrine of vocation, which sees every job, be it stately or homely, as a gift from God as long as it is not immoral in its nature (e.g., prostitution, drug dealing, etc.). Thus, work – all work – is a gift from God to glorify Him and to help one’s neighbor. Work – all work – is meant to impart dignity, not drudgery, to human beings. In the words of John Milton:
Man hath his daily work of body and mind
Appointed, which declares his dignity,
And the regard of Heaven on all his ways.
Heaven regards your work well. So praise and thank God for your work and stand honored at eternity’s acclaim.
Want to learn more? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Tucker’s
message or Pastor Zach’s ABC!
ABC Extra – Wising Up with Christ
This past weekend in worship and ABC, we kicked off our summer message series called “Wise Up! Lessons from Proverbs.” The purpose of Proverbs is explicitly laid out for us in its prologue: “To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight” (Proverbs 1:2). The book of Proverbs was written so that we may read them, apply them, and so be wise. Of course, we do not always apply the Proverbs as we should. Even Solomon, the author of the bulk of this book, did not always follow his own advice. Solomon sings: “Rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love” (Proverbs 5:18-19). Later in his kingship, however, we read about how “King Solomon loved many foreign women…from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, ‘You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.’ Solomon clung to these in love” (1 Kings 11:1-2). Solomon did not remain satisfied with the wife of his youth. And the result was apostasy: “When Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods” (1 Kings 11:4). Thus, Proverbs ought to call Solomon – and all of us – to repentance. For none of us completely heeds its call to wise living.
Interestingly, at the same time Proverbs reveals to us our shortcomings, it also introduces us to one who is perfectly wise. Indeed, this person seems to be the very personification of wisdom. This person says:
I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion…The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His work, the first of His acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth…When He established the heavens, I was there; when He drew a circle on the face of the deep, when He made the firm skies above, when He established the fountains of the deep, when He assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress His command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside Him, like a master workman. (Proverbs 8:12, 22-23, 27-30)
This person named Wisdom is as ancient as God Himself. He was with God even as He laid the foundations of the earth. Who is this perfect personification of wisdom? The evangelist John gives us a clue: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:1-2). This incarnation of wisdom is none other than Jesus. He is wisdom personified and exemplified. The apostle Paul explains it this way: “Christ Jesus became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).
A famous theologian of the Lutheran Church, Horace Hummel, offers one of my favorite definitions of wisdom. He describes wisdom as “the ability to cope.” I like this definition a lot, partly because there is a whole genre of biblical literature known as “wisdom literature.” This genre includes Proverbs, of course, but also books like Job and many of the Psalms. Especially in the case of Job, Hummel’s definition of wisdom proves to be spot on. For Job had to cope with tragedies and terrors on every side as his life fell apart around him. And yet, through it all, he coped and hoped in God. And at the end, He got to see God. I finally appreciate this definition of wisdom because Jesus is its supreme embodiment. For when we act in unwise ways – when we sin – Jesus, as wisdom personified – “copes” with our sin through His cross. He takes us foolish sinners and saves us. By His Spirit, He then gives us the capability to cope with the trials and tests we face with wisdom that comes from God and with wisdom that finally is God. For we cope with this broken world with Christ by our side. I thank God He is kind enough to share the wisdom who is His Son with a fool like me.
Want to learn more? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Tucker’s
message or Pastor Zach’s ABC!
ABC Extra – Team Lifting
A few months back, I purchased a treadmill for my wife. The one we previously owned had worn out and it was time for a newer, more powerful, more advanced model. I was very happy with the deal I received on the treadmill. I got it for about 50 percent off the manufacturer’s suggested retail price! As I was paying for the treadmill, the customer service representative asked me, “Would you like to pay an additional $100 to have the treadmill delivered and set up?” I didn’t even have to think about it: “$100? No thank you, I’ll pass.”
A couple of days later, I returned to the store with my truck and a buddy to pick up the treadmill. It was going to be simple. We would load the treadmill in the bed of my truck, haul it home, set it up, and be done. The plan was perfect. That is, the plan was perfect until we tried to actually pick up the treadmill. It had to weigh 1,000 pounds! Thankfully, a couple of guys from the sporting goods store came out to help us. When we finally got it into the bed of my truck and drove it back to my house, we took it out of the box, piece by piece, to haul inside. After a whole lot of sweat and an aching back, I decided I should have paid the $100.
As I was trying, without success, to lug the huge and heavy box out of the sporting goods store to the bed of my truck, I noticed an icon the box’s side. It had two people picking up a hug box with these words: “TEAM LIFT for your safety.” When I saw the icon, I thought to myself, “Would anyone even think of trying to pick this box up by himself?”
In Luke 10:38-42, we meet two sisters: Martha and Mary. These sisters could not be any more different. Jesus and His twelve disciples are joining the sisters at their house for a supper, and Martha wants to make sure everything is just perfect for her guests. And so she goes about preparing a lavish feast. But with her recipe books strewn across the kitchen, pots and pans boiling over on the stove, and flour flung across the floor, Martha’s meal becomes more than she can bear. She need someone with whom she can “team lift” in preparing. But Mary, her sister, seems unable or, worse yet, unwilling to help. When Jesus and His disciples arrive, Mary simply sits at Jesus’ feet, listening intently to what He says. Finally, in exasperation, Martha complains to her Lord: “Lord, don’t You care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me” (Luke 10:40)! The Greek word for “help” is synantilambanomai. This one word is actually a compound word made up of the words: synanti, meaning “with,” or “corresponding to,” and lambanomai, meaning “to take up,” or “to lift.” Thus, when Martha asks for her sister’s help, she is asking her to do some “team lifting.”
Now surely, Jesus should empathize with Martha’s plight. After all, her hard work could break her back! But Jesus’ response to Martha is altogether surprising if not even offensive: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41-42). Jesus will not send Mary to “team lift” with her sister. Because finally, Martha doesn’t need a team lifter, Martha needs Jesus. Martha needs to learn from Jesus, like Mary. Martha needs to follow Jesus, like Mary. And Martha needs to rest in Jesus, like Mary.
Be it in friendships between children or marriages between adults, I often hear people complain that a partner in a relationship is not “pulling their weight.” These people explain that they are left all by themselves to do the heavy lifting of a relationship. Though it is true that friends and spouses certainly ought to help each other, before you complain that another person is not pulling their weight, perhaps you should first go to Jesus. Perhaps you should ask Him to heal and reconcile your relationship. Perhaps you should ask Him to give you the strength needed to maneuver your way through what can sometimes be complex and weighty relationships. Because before you need someone to “team lift” with you, you need Jesus. Because Jesus doesn’t just help you with some of your burden takes your burden and nails it to His cross. So find your strength – and your rest – in Him.
Want to learn more? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Tucker’s
message or Pastor Zach’s ABC!
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