Gentlemen, Lovingly Cherish Your Wives! (Ephesians 5:25-33)

Series:   What I'd Like to Know Is… (3/6)

August 12, 2012

Dear friends in Christ.

Fourteen years ago today, at this very moment, (roughly 9:30 AM)  my wife and I were probably beginning our descent into Charlotte, NC, which was where we would catch the connecting flight to Ft. Lauderdale, which is where we would continue the joyful adventure that was our honeymoon.  Though it had only been a few days since I had promised my love and my faithfulness to her, I had lovingly cherished her for the four years that we dated before we were married.  Though fourteen years have passed for us, my love for her has only grown.  I have continued to lovingly cherish my wife as the precious gift which my heavenly Father gave to me.  And yet, even though I can honestly say all of this to you, I cannot tell you that I have done any of it perfectly.  For as I studied the words of our lesson and the expectations that the Lord has placed on me as a man, and a husband and a father, I was cut to the heart to realize that though I have lovingly cherished my wife for the past fourteen years, I have nowhere near lovingly cherished my wife in the way that the Lord would have me. 

Take a look at what I mean, turn with me to our lesson in Ephesians and take a look at the responsibilities with which the Lord is charging us as men and husbands.  Paul writes, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband." (Ephesians 5:25–33, NIV84)

Wow!  These are some very powerful words.  These are some very serious responsibilities with which the Lord God, our heavenly Father is charging us as men.  And these responsibilities, though they are being proclaimed to husbands, do not only apply to husbands!  These responsibilities with which the Lord is charging husbands today are responsibilities with which he is charging every single male person; whether he is a young boy, a teen-ager, a young man, a middle-aged man, an elderly man, a husband, or a father.  If you are male, whether you are married or not, whether you are young or whether you are old, the Lord your God, your heavenly Father, is charging you to lovingly cherish your wife!  Lovingly cherish your wife through your words and actions in marriage, outside of marriage, before you are married, and especially after you have been married.

But how do I do that?  Take a look again at verse 25 and following: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." (Ephesians 5:25–27, NIV84)

With just a few simple words, the Lord lays out exactly what he wants us, as men, to do for women, and especially for our wives.  He wants us to love them.  But the love talked about here is not the love of some gushy emotion that moves us into fleshly lusts of passion like we see on TV where couples who barely know each other are jumping into bed for thrills and giggles.  No.  The Lord wants us to love our wives with the same type of self-sacrificing love with which Christ loved the church.  This is agape love; self-sacrificing love.  This is love that has nothing to do with whether that loved is deserved or not.  This is the love that moved the Lord, our God, to write our names in the Lamb’s Book of Life, even though there is not single one of us who did anything to deserve it!  This is the love that Christ bestowed upon his church, his people, each and every one of us when he loved us so deeply and so strongly that he gave up his life for us on the cross, to wash us clean of our sins, so that we could be presented to himself as a radiant, stain-free bride.  This is the kind of love that moved mothers to cover their children and moved husbands, fiancées, and even boy-friends to step between the shooter and the women who were with them, when shots rang out in that Colorado theater last month.  This is the kind of love that in some cases caused men and women to give up their lives so that others might live.

This is the self-sacrificing love with which the Lord calls husbands to cherish their wives.  This is the self-sacrificing love with which the Lord charges young men and teen-boys to cherish their girl-friends and fiancées so that they do not, in any way steal the gift of virginity which is a woman’s gift to give only to her husband on her wedding night.  This is the self-sacrificing love with which the Lord wants us to cherish our wives and the women in our lives, so that we do not give into the temptation of pornography, whether it be the soft pornography that we see on a daily basis on magazine covers in the checkout lines of stores everywhere, or it be the hard-core pornography that so many men seek out in magazines and on the internet.  This is the self-sacrificing love with which the Lord wants us to crucify ourselves and our own evil desires so that we turn to him in repentance for our sins.  This is the self-sacrificing love that moves us to no longer look for what we can get out of a relationship and moves us to no longer see our wives as nothing more than a cook, a baby-sitter, a clothes washer, and a sex partner.  Rather this is the type of love that moves us to see her as the God given treasure that she is!  A woman to be cherished, to be nurtured, and to be loved with the same self-sacrificing love with which Christ loved his church and even handed over his very life unto death for her.

Gentlemen, as sons of our heavenly Father, the Lord our God wants us to lovingly cherish our wives in the same way that Christ lovingly cherished his church, just as Paul tells us in verses 28 and following, “In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body." (Ephesians 5:28–30, NIV84)

Now, can I get a show of hands?  How many of you hate your own body?  How many of you, if given the chance, would do everything you can to purposefully hurt or harm your own body?  None of us here!  Good grief, we stub our toes and suddenly we are hopping around the living room like neurotic bunnies or collapsed in a chair weeping like little children.  We get a paper cut, and suddenly we can’t mow the lawn because the vibrations are causing too much pain for us to bear.  If our head begins to ache, or our muscles tense, it’s off to the medicine cupboard for a couple of aspirin.  If we are tired, we sit down to rest in our favorite chair.  If we’re bored, we flip on the TV to see what’s on.  If we’re thirsty we get something to drink.  If we’re hungry we get something to eat.  None of us hates our own bodies, but we take care of them, we feed them and nourish them because we love our bodies.  In truth, some of us like our bodies a whole lot more than we should, which is why the diet and nutrition industry is so huge in our country. 

But all joking aside, Gentlemen, it is very clear what the Lord is saying to us!  He is calling on us to lovingly cherish our wives.  He is calling on us to love our wives, to care for our wives, and to nurture our wives in the same way that we love, and care for, and nurture our own bodies.  He is calling on us to take the role of nurturer in our homes by feeding our families with the word of God.  That means, men, that your heavenly Father is calling on you to recognize your role as spiritual leader in your family.  It is your responsibility, men, to live as an example for your children.  It is your responsibility, men to teach your children about Jesus, to bring them to Sunday School so that they can learn about their Savior, and bring your wife to Bible Study so that the two of you can grow together in God’s Word.  It is your responsibility, men to change your habits and to teach your family that Sunday is the most important day of the week; that Sunday is not a day for sleeping in.  You can take a nap after church!  You can go to bed early on Sunday night, but Sunday is not a day for sleeping in!  It is your responsibility, men, to teach your children and your family what my father taught me, and I quote, “I don’t care how late you stay up on Saturday, you will be awake and attentive in church on Sunday morning even if I have to sit next to you and keep poking you all the way through the service.”  I know it might sound legalistic, but by my father’s example, I learned just how important it was for me to be in worship.  It is because of my Father’s example that my children are always in church.  Even if I wasn’t the Pastor, my children would be in church with me every week.  They would be in Sunday School while my wife and I attended Bible Study, and even if I wasn’t a Pastor, we would still be sending our children to the nearest WELS school we could find.  We would be doing this because my job as husband and father is to nurture my family in the word of God through my teaching, through my example, through my words, and through my actions. 

But why is this our responsibility?  Why is it important for us to lovingly cherish our wives like this?  Take a look at what Paul tells us in verses 32-33: “This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband." (Ephesians 5:32–33, NIV84) 

It is so important for us to lovingly cherish our wives, because marriage is the sacred gift that the Lord God instituted between one man and one woman.  No matter what society might say, marriage is the gift that the Lord instituted between one man and one woman.  It is important for us to lovingly cherish our wives like this because just as our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, so also our marriages are a picture of Christ and his Church.  In the same way that Christ lovingly cherished his bride, the church, so also we, as husbands are called on to lovingly cherish our brides, the women whom the Lord has given to stand by our sides; the mothers of our children; the women who have agreed to marry us, the girls and women who have entered into a relationship with us as our girl-friends. 

So then, how do we do it?  How do we lovingly cherish our wives as God would have us do?  Let me give you 10 practical ways to lovingly cherish your wives as God would have you.  These come an audio CD by Pastor Paul Tsika.  Those of you who have gone through my pre-marriage course will recognize them: 

1)    Refuse to use harsh and condescending words when talking to her.

2)    Praise her before others, especially in front of your children. 

3)    Be attentive to her and what she is saying: Stop what you are doing, look into her eyes, and really listen, with your heart, to what she is saying to you. 

4)    Ask for and consider her counsel; she is your life partner. 

5)    Provide her with resources that she needs to fulfill her responsibilities. 

6)    Never embarrass her in front of others by exposing her weaknesses. 

7)    Dwell on positive qualities as much as possible. 

8)    Never allow children to talk disrespectfully to her. 

9)    Use kindness and gentleness in all your dealings with her. 

10) Attribute the best possible motives to her actions. 

 The last three come from me. 

1)     Get yourself a copy of The Five Love Languages by Dr. Gary Chapman. 

2)     Read it and discover what your wife’s primary love language is. 

3)     Speak to her in her primary love language every single day. 

Laura’s primary love language is quality time, and every day, I make sure that I am in the kitchen with her while she is cooking supper.  I’m usually doing the dishes at that time so that we can have more quality time later.

The final thing that I have for you today on how to lovingly cherish your wife is really the first thing, and we will close with it.  Turn to the Lord in repentance for all your failings and has for his forgiveness.  Though it is not our normal practice, we will close our sermon today with our confession and God’s forgiveness.  Gentlemen, take out of your bulletins the ½ sheet insert and join me in repentant confession and forgiveness.  In this confession we will be confessing some very specific sins, like pornography.  Though we all struggle with different sins, let us all boldly confess each of these sins so that our joint confession might be a blessing and a source of strength for our brothers and even our sisters who are dealing with these specific sins.

P:        Let us confess our sins to the Lord God, our heaven Father,

P/C:           Almighty God, merciful Father, I, a troubled and repentant sinner, confess that I have sinned against you in my thoughts, my words, and my actions.  I have not loved you with my whole heart; I have not loved others as I should; I have not lovingly cherished my wife as you would have me.  I have not selflessly loved her, nor have I loved her with self-sacrificing love.  I have committed adultery by lusting after others.  I have been tempted by pornography and allowed it to inspire other lusts in my mind.  I have not loved my wife as I love myself, nor have I always recognized or seized my position as the spiritual leader of my family.

Silence for personal confession.

P/C: I am troubled by my sins, and I renounce them before you.  I renounce my sins to you and seek to go and leave my life of sin.  Lord Jesus, I ask your forgiveness on each and every one of my sins; those I remember and those I do not.  I ask you to cleanse me of my sins, my body, my soul, and my spirit; my heart, my mind, and my will.  Send your Holy Spirit into my heart to assure me of your forgiveness and to help me receive the forgiveness that you so willingly pour out on me.  Help me amend my life and live as your dearly loved son, lovingly cherishing my wife as you lovingly cherished me and gave yourself up for me.

P:        Jesus says to his people; “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven.”  His death has paid for the guilt of your sins, and indeed the sins of the entire world.  Go now and live in this forgiveness to the glory of our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

C:      Amen.

P:        And the peace of God, which comes through the forgiveness of sins, the peace that goes beyond all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds through faith in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN

Confess Your God before the World! (Acts 17:22-31)

May 29, 2011


Dear friends in Christ.

Have you ever wondered why we take time out of each service to confess our Christian faith with the words of either the Apostles’ or the Nicene Creed? Well, if you ever have wondered why we do this the answer I’m about to give you might surprise you just a little, because the reason we confess our faith in our God is not because our God needs to be reassured that we do truly trust in him. It’s not because our God needs to be encouraged by our faith or have his ego built up by knowing that his followers do truly trust in him and believe in him. Instead, the reason we confess our faith each and every week is so that we might build each other up in our faith and our trust in our God. It is so that we can build each other up in our confidence that we do indeed believe in the all-powerful Lord our God who cares for us and watches over us. It is so that we might assure each other in our belief that the Lord is our God. Well this is exactly what the Apostle Paul is doing in our lesson today; he is confessing his faith in the Lord in front of, essentially, all the world. He is confessing the Lord as his God before the people of Athens who have gathered to hear the “new teaching” that Paul was brining to the people. In short, Paul is confessing the Lord as the God of all and the Savior of all people as he stood before the people of Athens in the Areopagus. Just as Luke records Paul speaking in our lesson today; Paul says, “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now 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.” (Acts 17:22-24).

Now, for the Athenians, to hear that the God who had made the world and everything it was the Lord of all, would have been a bit of a surprise to them. After all the people of Athens, indeed all the people of the Greek Islands had an entire Pantheon of gods who were responsible for any number of the aspects of their lives. In fact, according to the Greek Myths, the gods that they were currently worshiping were not the gods who had made the world. Rather they were the gods who had taken over from the previous godly government of the Titans. So hearing Paul confess that the Lord God was indeed the Lord of all would have been a surprise to them. After all, the Athenians were indeed a very religious people. They were a people who lived in a city filled with shrines, and temples, and statues dedicated to all sorts of gods and goddesses. They lived in a city where every square had its own little shrine and every gate had its own protecting gods. They were a community where every house had its own shrine and each person who lived there in worshiped their own personal protecting god or goddess. But the most remarkable part of the city was the statue of the goddess Athena which had been built in the Acropolis, a hill towering 150 feet over the city. This was a 75 foot tall statue, with face, and hands, and feet carved from the purest ivory. This was a statue that was draped in coverings of glittering gold. This was a statue which the sailors used as a land mark as they sailed near the city. This was a statue that the people of Athens worshipped as one of their many gods and goddesses.

Just imagine the scene as Paul confessed the Lord before the people of Athens. There he was, standing before a group of maybe 500 men who had gathered to hear him. Maybe 50 feet to the South East of where he was stood the Acropolisthe impressive temple and fortress designed to protect the citywhere the great statue of Athena stood. Then, below the Acropolis, the city with all its temples, and shrines, and household gods, and here was Paul making his confession before the people that God is the Lord of all. Here was Paul saying, “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. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ ” (Acts 17:24-28).

In the same way that Paul confessed the Lord before the people of Athens in our lesson today, he is confessing the Lord before you and me today. He is reminding us that the Lord our God is indeed the Lord of all, and he is encouraging us to make the same bold confession before the world today, because we too, are living in a world that is also filled with all sorts of religious ideas. We are living in a world where the teachings of reincarnation are becoming widely accepted. Though this was once an Eastern philosophy, there are many people in America who not only believe that they have lived previous lives, but they also believe that when they do die they will be reincarnated and return to the world in some other form. We are living in a world where more and more people are putting their faith and their hope in angels, rather than in the Lord their God. We are living in a world where people are more worried about being spiritual than they are worried about being religious. We are living in a world where more and more people are turning from the worship of the true God to the worship of false gods like Buddha, Confucius, the Dalai Lamma, Allah (the god of Islam), their own ancestors, the saints in heaven, and yes, there are even some who have such regard for the pope that they essentially worship him as a god on earth. Not only that, but we are living in a day and age where people are looking for guidance from spirits, spirits who they believe come to them and guide them in their lives.

It is because of all of this that the Apostle Paul is calling on us to confess our faith in the Lord our God and confess it to the world. He is calling on us to confess our God to the world lest we be deceived by any of these false teachings. He is calling on us to confess our faith to the world so that we might not be taken in by the generic ideas of God that are so pervasive in our society today! He is calling on us to make a clear confession of the Lord our God and our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior, because there is so much false teaching in the world that wants to group all Christians into one big category, even though there are very clear differences between churches of different denominations. This is why Paul is calling on us to confess the Lord our God before the World, so that all the world might know that Jesus is the Lord our Savior who has freed us from our sins. This, in fact, is the very clear confession that Paul made as he stood before the members of the Areopagus and said: “Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone--an image made by man's design and skill. 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 17:29-31).

Though in what Luke records for us, Paul never had the opportunity to specifically mention Jesus Christ as their Savior, he gave a clear confession when he called them to repent. He gave a clear confession when he told them that the Lord has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he appointed. He gave them a clear confession when he stated that God had raised this man from the dead. If Paul had not been interrupted by some of the members of the Areopagus at that moment, you can sure that Paul’s next sentence would have been, “And that man is Jesus Christ, the Savior of us all!” But even though he was never able to say those words, there were many people who repented of their sins that day. Even though he was not able to say those words, there were a number of people who came to faith in Jesus Christ that day. Even though he was not able to mention Jesus as the Son of God, there were many who came to realize that the Lord Jesus was their one and only Savior that day, through Paul’s clear confession.

This is the same confession that Paul is making to us today when he calls on us to repent! For he is calling on us to repent of our many sins! He is calling on us to repent of the times that we have not made a clear confession of God as Lord. He is calling on us to repent of the sins we have committed in being lax in our gathering for worship. He is calling on us to repent of our stubborn refusal to study his Word. In short he is calling on us to make confession of every sin and iniquity we have committed before our God. Then, as we stand before the Lord exposed and naked, Paul reminds us that the Lord our Savior has removed our sins. Though he may have never spoken those words in our text, he clearly brought them to memory when he spoke about the man whom God raised from the dead. For in raising Jesus from the dead, he assured us that all our sins have been forgiven. Every sin we’ve ever committed! Our laxity in attending worship for the strengthening of our faith; it has been forgiven. Our stubborn refusal to study his Word; it has been forgiven. Even our failure to utter a clear confession, it has been forgiven. All our sins have been forgiven by the Lord Jesus who is our Savior. This, then, becomes our confession which we want to bring to the world. Not merely that our sins have been forgiven. Rather, the confession that all sins have been forgiven by the Lord who is our Savior.

What better message could there be for us to carry to the world than the clear message of the Gospel. After all, our world today is not that different from Athens in Paul’s day. As a people we are very religious, or at least, very spiritual. There are many different people who believe many different things. Some people clearly believe and teach that we must live a good life in order to be saved. Others have clearly believe and teach that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere in your believe. Still others believe and teach that there are many roads that lead to eternal life. Clearly there are many people who need to know what we know. There are many people who need to hear the clear confession of the Lord our God and Jesus our Savior. There are many, many people in our world who are in serious need of the message that Jesus Christ, their Savior, is the only way to eternal life. There are many people who need us to bring this message to them. This is our mission, to spread the message that the Lord is the Savior of all. This is now our challenge, to confess our Lord before the world. So as you step out those doors today and enter the mission field before you, make the most of every opportunity that the Lord gives you to make your clear confession of Jesus as the Savior of all, by inviting someone to worship with us. Go out and make that clear confession, by talking to someone about their Savior. Go out and make that clear confession by talking about your faith when someone asks you about the hope you have. Only don’t be silent! For when we are silent, our confession is not heard. But when we active our confession about the Lord our Savior is heard loud and clear.

Though today we will not be confessing our Christian faith after the sermon, we were all built up when we confessed it together earlier. For it is through our confession of faith that we build each other up in faith in the Lord of God. But it is also through that same confession that we bring to the world that the world may come to know God who is the Lord and Savior of all.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church -Le Sueur, MN

Raise your hearts in fervent prayer (Matthew 6:9-13)

Sermon Hymn 410: Our Father, Who from Heaven Above
Tune: Vater Unser Im Himmelreich, Der Du: 88 88 88

1. Our Father, who from heav'n above Bids all of us to live in love
As members of one family And pray to you in unity,
Teach us no thoughtless words to say, But from our inmost hearts to pray.

2. Your name be hallowed. Help us, Lord, In purity to keep your Word,
That to the glory of your name We walk before you free from blame.
Let no false doctrine us pervert; All poor, deluded souls convert.

Dear friends in Christ.

A story has long been told about two monks who were discussing the Lord’s Prayer and their ability to pray it completely while concentrating on it fully. The first monk said with sorrow and frustration, “I can’t do it! I try and I try, but invariably somewhere in the middle of the prayer my mind wanders and I start thinking about other things.” “Really,” said the second monk. “I have no problem praying the Lord’s Prayer or concentrating on what I am saying.” The first monk looked quizzically at the second and said, “I don’t believe you! I’ll bet you my horse that you cannot say the Lord’s Prayer without being distracted and thinking about something else.” So the second monk took the bet. He took a deep breath to help clear his mind and focus his thoughts. He folded his hands, closed his eyes, bowed his head, and began praying. But before he even reached the petition asking that the Lord’s will be done on heaven and on earth, he stopped, looked at the first monk and said, “I guess you were right. Everything was going fine. I was focused and concentrating on what I was saying, and then I suddenly wondered if the saddle would come with the horse.”

How often doesn’t the same thing happen to us? How often don’t we begin speaking the words of the Lord’s Prayer when suddenly three or four different thoughts crowd their way into our minds and we simply stop paying attention to the words we are speaking? How often doesn’t it happen that we hear the Pastor say something like, “We join to pray the prayer that Jesus taught, and the next thing we realize is that we are saying, “Amen” and we are continuing on with the Communion liturgy or sitting down to sing the next hymn? How often haven’t we simply taken the Lord’s Prayer for granted? How often haven’t we simply prayed it without considering what we are praying for? How often haven’t we been upset because we were in a church that used that other version of the Lord’s Prayer, the one with which we are not so familiar, and we had to open our hymnals and read it, and think about the words we were saying; instead of simply reciting it verbatim without a care in the world? We’ve all done this! We have all failed to focus on what we were praying as we fervently prayed the Lord’s Prayer. It is for this very reason that we want to take a closer look at the Lord’s Prayer today so that we might grow in our understanding of what we are praying, and so that we might be better able to focus our attention on what we are so fervently praying to the Lord with these words.

To our text! Take a look at Matthew 6:9” “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,’” (Matthew 6:9, NIV). With these words, Jesus himself is inviting us to believe that God is our one true Father in heaven and that through faith in him and his Son Jesus, we are his true children. With these words, Jesus is teaching us that we can pray to the Lord God our heavenly Father as boldly and confidently as children speak to their parents here on earth. With these words, Jesus is teaching us that we can bring any problem, hardship, frustration, concern, item of joy or praise to our heavenly Father at any time and he will hear us, he will listen, and he will answer our prayer as we fervently pray to him and ask that his name be kept holy.

Now, if you think about it, God’s name is already holy in itself, even without our asking. But when we are praying that the Lord’s name be hallowed, we are asking that we too might keep it holy. We are asking for his help and his blessing in keeping his name holy, because God’s Name is hallowed, when his Word is taught in its truth and purity. God’s Name is hallowed when we, as God’s children, live holy lives according to his Word, and as we pray that his name be kept holy, we are asking our Father in heaven to help us do that very thing so that through our lives others might see our faith and have the opportunity to learn about their Savior through the message of the Gospel. This is God’s will for our lives that his kingdom comes to us and many others through the message of his Word. Join me in singing about his kingdom and his will in stanza’s 3 and 4 of hymn 410:

3. Your kingdom come, we humbly pray, That Christ may rule in us today
And that your Holy Spirit bring Still more to worship Christ as King.
Break Satan's pow'r, defeat his rage; Preserve your Church from age to age.

4. Your gracious will on earth be done Just as in heav'n around your throne,
That patiently we may obey Throughout our lives all that you say.
Curb sinful flesh and ev'ry ill That sets itself against your will.

Such beautiful words the hymnist uses to expound what we are praying in those two very beautiful petitions form Matthew 6:10: “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10, NIV). How strange it is that we as Christians should be praying such a petition as, “your kingdom come.” After all, we know that God’s kingdom will certainly come even without our asking, but when we speak these words, we are asking that God’s kingdom would come to us and to many others through the Holy Spirit whom the Father sends into our hearts through his Word and Sacraments. We are asking our heavenly Father to send his Holy Spirit into our hearts and the hearts of many others so that we all might believe his Word and lead a holy and godly life here on earth, through faith, and forever in heaven by God’s grace. This is God’s good and gracious will for our lives!

Again, God’s will would certainly be done without our prayer! Yet, whenever we pray, “Thy will be done;” we are praying that the Lord our God would break down and defeat every evil plan and purpose of the devil, this sin-filled world, and even our own sinful flesh. We are asking the Lord to strengthen us and keep us strong in our faith and firm in his word so that we might keep his name holy with our lives and his kingdom might come to others through our words and actions. That is God’s good and gracious will for our lives, that satan would be defeated, that the Lord would use us to spread his word to the nations, and that he would call many others to faith in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

This is our fervent prayer to the Lord as we speak the words which our Savior has given. Though the petitions, to this point, have been rather straight forward and easy for us to speak, as we come to the Fourth and Fifth Petitions, we find ourselves in a little more difficult territory. Though these words roll off the tongue so easily without a thought, when we stop to consider their meaning, they become that much more difficult for us to speak. Join me in singing these petitions from stanzas 5 and 6 of hymn 410:

5. Give us today our daily bread, And let us all be clothed and fed.
From hardship, war, and earthly strife, From sickness, famine, spare our life.
Let selfishness and worry cease That we may live in godly peace.

6. Forgive our sins, Lord, we implore, That they may trouble us no more;
We, too, will gladly those forgive Who hurt us by the way they live.
Help us in our community To serve each other willingly.

So how did you feel as you sung the words of these two stanzas? Did you find these words easy to sing or did you find them a little more difficult than you expected as they so clearly expounded on what Jesus tells us in verse 11 and 12 of Matthew 6: “Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (Matthew 6:11-12, NIV). But why is it that these petitions are so difficult for us? The answer is quite simple; because we are asking our God not only to teach us to rely on him for all things, but to live in love and forgiveness for each other. In fact, just think about what we are saying when we ask our God to give us our daily bread. We are asking him to provide everything that we need for our body and life on a daily basis. We are asking him to help us realize that he graciously gives us all these things and more, even without our asking, even to those who are wicked. But we are asking him to help us realize that all our blessings come from him and that he will provide all that we need, which is something that so few of us do because it is so contrary to our human nature. All we have to do is look at our budget and calculate how much we are paying in credit card interest and other deferred payments for things that we may not have needed but simply felt that we couldn’t live without in order to find our level of trust in the Lord’s ability to know what we need and provide all that we need every day.

Yet even as we have sinned against the Lord by not trusting him, we are asking him to forgive us. Yet this is also where it becomes difficult for us. Though it is easy to pray that the Lord would forgive our debts, our sins; it is not as easy to pray, as we have forgiven our debtors—those who have sinned against us. This, too, goes completely against our human nature. We long to hold on to our grudges and remember what this person or that person did against us. We see it as a source of pride to withhold forgiveness from someone who sinned against us. Yet we fervently pray for our God to forgive us, we are asking him for the strength to forgive others as well. We are praying that the Lord would neither look upon our sins, nor deny our prayers because of our sins, even though we sin on a daily basis and deserve only his wrath and punishment. Yet, as we approach our heavenly Father, we ask him to act in mercy because of our Savior, forgive us of all our sins, and help us to do the same for those who have sinned against us. We ask him to help us reflect the love our Savior has for us by forgiven others, even as Jesus has already forgiven all of us.

This is the forgiveness in which we all live; the forgiveness that is ours through faith in Jesus, who poured out his blood and took back his life to save us. This is the forgiveness that now moves us to live in his love, love our neighbor as our selves, and forgive those who sin against us. This is the forgiveness that no moves us to pray that the Lord deliver us from temptation and all evil, just as we sing in stanzas 7 and 8 of hymn 410:

7. Into temptation lead us not. When evil foes against us plot
And vex our souls on ev'ry hand, Oh, give us strength that we may stand
Firm in the faith, a mighty host, Through comfort of the Holy Ghost.

8. From evil, Lord, deliver us; The times and days are perilous.
Redeem us from eternal death, And, when we yield our dying breath,
Console us, grant us calm release, And take our souls to you in peace.

Just as we sang so beautifully in our hymn we pray so fervently with those words from verse 13 of Matthew 6: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:13, NIV) Though we know that God does not lead anyone into sin or even tempt them to sin, with these words we fervently pray that the Lord our God would guard us and keep us so that satan, this sinful world, and our traitorous-sinful flesh would not deceive us, or lead us into false belief, despair, or any other sins for that matter. Instead, with these words, we fervently pray that with God’s help we may overcome these and other temptations and win the victory over them as God himself delivers us from the evil one—our enemy, the devil.

This, too, is our fervent prayer that God our Father would deliver us from every evil that would threaten our body and soul, even our property and reputation. Not only that, but we also pray that when our time comes, the Lord would grant us a blessed end by calling us out of this life to his side forever in heaven. This is our fervent prayer to the Lord our God who promises to hear us, answer us, forgive us, provide for us, and deliver us from every form of evil.

Thus, we come to the end of the Lord’s prayer as recorded in the Bible. Though it was a little different in the account in Luke than it is in Matthew, there is no place where the doxology is recorded in the Scriptures. So I cannot point to you any specific passage in the Bible where you can read, “For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.” But even though they may not appear in any specific passage of Scripture, they undoubtedly echo many of the praises found in the Scriptures which describe how the Lord’s kingdom, power and glory shall endure forever. Interestingly enough, these very words were included with the Lord’s prayer in the Didache, which was essentially the Catechism for Christians back in about 100 AD. They were the words that we sang in response to the reading of the Lord’s Prayer during the communion service back when we used The Lutheran Hymnal, and they are words that have stuck. They are words of praise and glory that we proclaim before we say Amen, which is our statement of confidence that the Lord will hear and answer our prayer. Thus we say Amen at the end of our prayer, for this simple word declares, “Yes, it shall be so.” Yes, it shall be so thus declares our confidence in approaching our heavenly Father in this way, for not only has he commanded us to pray and promised to hear us, but these are the very words that Jesus has given us to pray.

So now, as we continue fervently praying the Lord’s Prayer, each and every week, I pray that this brief explanation will help you more thoroughly concentrate on what you are saying as you speak those familiar words that our Savior gave us. Thus, as we bring this sermon to a close, let us join our hearts and voices in singing the Amen from stanza 9 of hymn 410:

9. Amen, that is, it shall be so. Make strong our faith that we may know
That we may doubt not but believe What here we ask we shall receive.
Thus in your name and at your Word We say, "Amen. Oh, hear us, Lord!"

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN

Confess Your Faith in Jesus Christ Your Savior (Luke 9:18-24)

Series: Cultivate your faith in the Lord
Week 4: Confess your faith in Jesus Christ your Savior

Dear Friends in Christ,

For the past four weeks we’ve been following the series: Cultivate your Faith in the Lord. In our first week we learned a lesson about faith from the faith of the Centurion whose servant Jesus healed by merely speaking the words. In our second week we planted our faith in Jesus as the one who holds power and authority over death, as we witnessed him raise that young man of Nain from the dead. Last week, we grew in the forgiveness that Jesus bestows as we heard about the woman who came and anointed Jesus feet first with her tears and then with perfume. Today, as we come to the conclusion of series of cultivating our faith in the Lord, we have essentially come to the point of the harvest. We have come to the point where we have been well fed for the last few weeks, and now we are being given the opportunity to go out and exercise our faith, if you will, by confessing our faith in Jesus Christ our Savior.

Now, if you think about it, confessing our faith is something that each and every one of us does on a daily basis. We constantly confess our faith in some product or service to just about anyone who will listen. Whenever we get a good deal on clothes, cleaning supplies, vegetables, newspapers, magazines, or anything else we purchase, we are very quick to tell anyone about the great deal we got and encourage them to go to the same store so that they can get the same great deal. Whenever we go to see a great movie, the first thing we want to do is talk to all our friends about it, compare notes with them, confess to them our most favorite parts and encourage those who haven’t seen it to see it so that they can share in the experience with us. In fact, just think about what you’ve talked about in the last 7 days, and I’d be willing to bet you talked to someone about the BP oil spill and confessed your frustration and your annoyance about the situation and your desire that someone should do something about it. For the truth is, we are very social people at heart. We are constantly communicating and confessing our thoughts, ideas, and beliefs about anything and everything, and now that the world has changed, we are doing all this and more in the comfort and style of modern technology. We are accessible to our friends and family 24 hours a day 7 days a week. We blog and facebook, we tweet and twitter, we myspace, youtube, text, email, and socially network with each other in ways that I simply cannot keep up with. We are constantly talking on our phones, even while we are out walking, biking, rollerblading, and yes, of course driving. We even take the time to text when we’re doing those very same activities. In fact, on Friday while I was checking my facebook page, I saw a picture of a church sign that said, “Honk if you love Jesus. Text while driving if you want to meet him.”

These, are but a few of the examples of ways that we are constantly communicating with each other and constantly confessing our thoughts, feelings, ideas, opinions, moods, emotions, and beliefs with friends, family, classmates, relatives, and even with people on the other side of the world 24 hours a day. But even though we are constantly confessing things like these, how often are we taking time to confess our faith in Jesus Christ our Savior? How often, other than the hour we spend in worship, are we opening our mouths to confess our faith in Jesus as our Savior to a friend, a family member, a relative, a stranger, or even a person on the other side of the world? I’m not talking about those “religious” emails that travel around cyberspace on a daily basis. I’m not talking about those spiritual things that we post on our facebook walls. I’m not even talking about those religious pictures and ornaments that we have adorning the walls and the shelves or our homes. What I’m talking about is simply, “When was the last time that you openly confessed your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?” When was the last time you stood up for your beliefs when you found yourself in a religious conversation? When was the last time that you found yourself explaining why you belong to Grace, when you could go to any other church you wanted? When was the last time you explained that you are certain that you will have eternal life in heaven because you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior who freed you from your sins by his death and resurrection from the dead?

If we’re like most people, then the truth is it may have been some time since we have confessed our faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior in a venue other than worship. Yet, confessing our faith in Jesus our Savior, is the very thing that Jesus wants us to be doing, just as Jesus himself tells us in our text this morning. I invite you to turn with me to our Gospel Lesson, to Luke 9:18-24, and we’ll take a look at what Jesus has to say. Now, as you are looking up Luke 9:18-24, let me give you a little bit of background. The disciples had been with Jesus for nearly 2 ½ years, and life was changing. Jesus was spending more time in the wilderness between towns, spending time with his disciples, taking time to teach them the precious truths of salvation, preparing them for the service to which he would call them after his ascension, and simply cultivating their faith in him so that they would be prepared to confess their faith in him as their Lord and Savior. Luke writes, in chapter 9 beginning with verse 18: “Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?” 19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.” 20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” (Luke 9:18-20, NIV)

Now that the disciples had been with Jesus for nearly 2 ½ years, following him, witnessing his miraculous signs, and growing in their faith as they heard him preach and teach, Jesus sought to evoke a confession from them. He asked them to tell him who the people thought he was, and from the answers the disciples gave, it was clear that the majority of the people thought of Jesus as a mere man, a great prophet, most likely the forerunner to the Messiah, but not the Messiah himself. The disciple, on the other hand, had come to a different understanding of who Jesus was, and through Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, it was clear that they knew he was the divine Son of God whom the Lord had sent to be the Savior of the World. The problem, however, was the misunderstanding that the people had for the titles of “Christ” and “Messiah.” Though both titles were interchangeable because they simply meant “Anointed One” those titles were politically charged. In fact, the truth is that the majority of the Israelites had been taught that when the Messiah came, he would be a political Savior. He would be the one to overthrow the Romans and restore physical peace to Israel by reestablishing their ability to rule themselves. It was because of this, that even though Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ was true, Jesus warned him not to tell people that he was the Christ, but to confess him as Savior with words and actions. This is the very thing that Luke brings out as we continue with verse 21: “Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. 22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” 23 Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. (Luke 9:21–24, NIV)

With this strict warning, Jesus made it clear to his disciples that he wanted them to confess him as their Lord and Savior as they spoke about him. He wanted them to confess their faith in him as the one who would free them from their sins. He did not want them making a confession that would confuse or mislead people into a false understanding of who Jesus was. He wanted them to make a clear confession with their words and actions—a confession through which people would come to know Jesus as the Son of God and Savior of the world.

Well, the same thing is true for each and every one of us here today. Jesus wants us to be ready to make a clear confession of our faith in him as our Lord and Savior. He wants us to use our words and our actions in such a way that every aspect of our lives reveals our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Though there have been many times when we have failed to do this, it is Jesus who forgives us. Though there have been opportunities that slipped past us because we were either too afraid to say anything or too worried that we might say the wrong thing, it is Jesus who has washed those sins away. Though there have been times when we cowered in a corner rather than standing up for our religious beliefs, or times when we have simply run away from a religious conversation in which we knew we would be called on to confess our faith and the reason why we have the hope of eternal life, even these episodes have been expunged from our record.

Now, armed with the knowledge that our Savior has taken our hearts and submerged them in the river of his blood, allowing his forgiving blood to permeate every crack and crevice and dissolve away every spot and stain of our sins; armed with the knowledge that through his death and resurrection we have been forgiven not merely for our failure to confess him but also for every single sin with which we have ever offended him, we begin to feel the fire of faith in our hearts yearning to be let out. When we realize that Jesus, our Savior loved us so much that he willingly went to the cross in our place, our hearts begin to burn with the need to tell others about their Savior from sin and death. When we begin to realize that we may be a person’s only chance to hear the gospel of salvation we cannot help but be moved to confess our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

So now as you leave this place today, make a clear confession of your faith in Jesus through your words and actions. Set aside 15 minutes for yourself each day and sit down to read the Bible so that your faith will grow, and you will be all the more ready to confess your faith. Pay attention to the words that are coming out of your mouth and judge them according to their effect on your ability to confess your Savior. Take note of your actions. Are you one person at church and a different person during the rest of the week, or do your words, actions, and faith go hand in hand. Take a look at your budget and ask yourself, “Am I giving my first and my best to the Lord? Or am I simply giving him what’s left over after I pay my bills?” Take a look at your relationships. Do people know you are a Christian by the confession of your life? Or do they only have a vague idea that you might be? Reflect on your own life. Does your life clearly confess your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Or does your life offer an unclear or confusing confession of your faith?

Though each and every one of us has work to do in different areas of our lives so that we might continually offer a clear confession of faith in Jesus our Savior, each and every one of us has been given the tools we need to change. The greatest tool we have is the manual of faith recorded for us in the Scriptures that will lead us to catch hold of our Savior and go out and confess his name to everyone we meet. And just think about what our church would look like if each and every one of us caught hold of this message today! Just think about what this congregation would look like if we all began clearly confessing our faith in Jesus in every aspect of our lives. Just think how each of you would be encouraged in your faith not merely by what you hear on Sunday morning, but in what you hear from your fellow members who are regularly confessing their faith. Just think about how worship attendance would change as more and more of our members gathered here in worship because they were encouraged by your life’s confession of faith. Just think about how many people of our community would be affected by our confession. How many people in our community would be strengthened in their faith, built up in their faith, and even called to faith because of our confession of Christ Jesus our Savior. Just think about how your own life would be affected! You would find more time to grow in your faith, to trust in the Lord, and to look forward to the kingdom of heaven. In short, you would be on fire and excited by the work that the Lord was doing through your confession of faith and you would be ready to continue on confessing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior before anyone who would listen.

So take to heart the lessons we’ve learned over the past four weeks and continue to cultivate your faith in the Lord. Take time to learn from him, plant your faith in him, grow in him and of course, confess him as your Lord and Savior who has freed you from your sins by his death and resurrection from the dead.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church --Le Sueur, MN

Dare to Be Disciples of Christ (Mark 8:27-35)

Dear friends in Christ.



Just a little over 25 years ago, Warner Brothers Studios released a movie about a little boy named Ralphie Parker—a little boy who wanted nothing more than a Red Rider BB gun with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time. As the movie progresses, we follow Ralphie’s life as he struggles to give just the right BB gun hints to his parents, as his brother struggles to put his arms down, as he and his friends run from the neighborhood bully, and how he finally gets the gift he’s been dreaming of for the whole movie. Yet, out of all the fun this movie has to offer, there is one scene that always stands out in my mind when I think about this movie, and that is the school scene with the flag pole and the exchange between Flick and Schwartz. You may remember how it happened, all the boys standing around a flag pole during recess and Schwartz begins to dare Flick to stick his tongue to the pole. He dares Flick, he double dares him, he double dog dares him, and finally after Flick receives the triple dog dare, he gives in to the dare and stick his tongue to the pole. Though he knew he should have just walked away, rather than backing down, Flick dared to stick his tongue to a flag pole, got stuck, and as the movie goes, had to be rescued by the police and the fire department! Well, as Christians, our Savior is in some ways playing the role of Schwartz as he dares us to be his disciples. But rather than daring us to do something foolish, he is daring us to screw our courage to its sticking place as we dare to be his disciples who boldly confess his name, who boldly believe in his mission and who boldly follow him carrying our own crosses. In fact, listen to the beginning of Jesus daring us to be his disciples, Mark records, “Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ.” (Mark 8:27-29)


In his characteristically bold manor, Peter jumped forward and answered Jesus’ question for all the disciples who were there. He demonstrated that he understood who Jesus was and confessed him as the Christ. Though he didn’t fully understand what it meant for Jesus to be the Christ, Peter placed his faith in Jesus none-the-less. Though he had recently seen crowds of people turn away from Jesus and stop following him, Peter was the one who stated, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Though they had seen some of the more sever persecution that Jesus had lately faced, Peter still dared to be a disciple of Christ!


Well, this is what the Lord Jesus would have each and every one of us do. He would have us dare to be his disciples who boldly and proudly confess his name. He would have us confess our faith in him before our friends and family; before our neighbors and co-workers. In fact, our Savior would have us boldly confess his name in any and every situation in our lives. But how often aren’t we simply afraid to do that very thing? Though here in church we boldly sing our Alleluias and confess the name of Jesus Christ our Savior, how often doesn’t it happen that as soon as we walk out those doors, our daring goes away? How often hasn’t it happened that we were afraid to share our faith with our friends because we are worried that they might ridicule us for what we believe? How often haven’t we walked away from a religious conversation because we were too afraid we might say the wrong thing? How often hasn’t our courage failed us so that rather than daring to stand out as Jesus’ disciples we seek to simply blend in with the rest of humanity and hope that no one will notice who whom we belong? Sadly, these are the things that happen far too often, and I know this from experience, because I too have let my courage waver and have not dared to be a disciple of Christ or to boldly confess his name when the situation warranted.


But even though we have all faced times when our courage has failed us and we have joined Peter in denying our Savior, our Savior still offers his forgiveness. Just as the Lord forgave Peter and publicly reinstated him as a disciple after his resurrection, so also when we turn to the Lord in repentance, he is the one who forgives us. He is the one who reinstates us as his disciples. He is the one who bolsters our courage through the Holy Spirit whom he has sent to live in our hearts, and he is the one whose love emboldens our daring so that we eagerly show ourselves as his disciples who are not only bold to confess his name, but who also boldly believe in his mission.


Now, in the movie, when Flick finally stuck his tongue to the pole, he was surprised that it stuck. In fact, when you watch the movie, you will hear a couple of boys say something like, “Wow! It actually worked.” Though Flick started his mission of tongue sticking with disbelieve, he quickly began to believe from experience that a warm wet tongue will quickly freeze to a flag pole. Well, in our text today, as Jesus dares us to be his disciples, he doesn’t ask us to blindly follow him in his mission. Rather, he begins to clearly and fully lay out his mission as the Christ to his daring disciples. Though he had spoken to them many times about how his mission was to suffer many things, to die on the cross, and then be raised to life on the third day, he had always spoken about these things in a veiled manner. However, as Mark tells us “Jesus then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. ‘Get behind me, Satan!’ he said. ‘You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.’” (Mark 8:31-33)


Though moments earlier, Peter had confessed Jesus as the Christ, and all the disciples had agreed with him, they still didn’t fully understand what Jesus mission was. Though they had been with Jesus for a little over two years, they still had the false idea that the Christ was to come and be an earthly Messiah. The Christ was to come and overthrow the Roman Government, establishing an earthly kingdom which he would reign over from Jerusalem. In the disciples minds, suffering and death simply didn’t fit, and that is why Peter took Jesus aside. He took Jesus aside to try to reason with him, show him, and convince him that there was no need for him to do these. But suffering at the hands of the religious leaders and dying for the sins of the world was the very reason that Jesus had come. This was the mission he was on and this is why he answered Peter as he did.


Sadly, this is how the unbelieving world views our Savior. Very few know who he truly was or understand or believe in his mission as we, his daring disciples do. In fact, if you were to ask the people of the world you would find out that many of them think that Jesus was nothing more than a prophet who conveyed a radically new message about loving each other. Others think of him as nothing more than a good man who lived a good live and gave us a good example to follow. But when it comes right down to it, if you asked people why Jesus willingly went to the cross to die, at best most people will think that Jesus was nothing more than a martyr who so believed his message of love that he was willing to show the greatest example of love by dying for his teaching.

It is because of this that Jesus is speaking so clearly about his mission as the Christ here on earth so that we, his daring disciples, might boldly believe that his mission on earth was to suffer for the sins of the world, endure the flames of hell in our place as he was rejected by God himself, pour out his blood to atone for the sins of the world, give up his life to pay the penalty that Almighty God had demanded for our sins, and then, when all hope seemed to be lost, rise again on the third day to assure us that he had completed his mission and that our sins have been paid for! This is why Jesus speaks so clearly about his mission so that we might boldly believe in it and what he accomplished for us. For when we are reminded of Christ’s willing sacrifice for us, we who are his daring disciples, are emboldened in our faith, strengthened in our courage, and ready to go forward, boldly following him while carrying our cross.

When flick stuck his tongue to the flag pole, he quickly discovered that his daring had given him a great number of hardships, as the movie showed, he remained stuck to that flag pole while all the other children ran inside. Well the same thing is true for you and me who willingly dare to be Christ’s disciples! As soon as we put on that robe of righteousness that marks us as one of his followers, we find ourselves facing any number of hardships as we boldly follow after Christ, carrying the cross that he has given us. This, in fact, is exactly what Jesus is talking about as he says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:34, 35)


For the disciples this was the first time that Jesus clearly spoken about what was ahead for them. Though they had seen opposition as the religious leaders did everything they could to oppose him, more was to come. Though they had seen rejection as crowds of people stopped following Jesus, this was only a taste of what was to come in the future. For when they were out on their own, the disciples would face stoning, prison time, beatings, and hardships all for the name of Jesus whom they proclaimed.

As Christ’s daring disciples, we boldly follow him as we carry our own cross. We dare to follow him as disciples even though we know we may have to carry a cross of rejection. We dare to follow him even though we may face a cross of ridicule. We dare to follow him even though we may have to carry a cross of lost friends. We dare to follow him even though we might have to carry a cross of financial hardship because of what we believe. We dare to follow him even though we might have to carry a cross of being hated by our friends or even family because we have spoken up and said what was right when no one else would. We dare to follow him even though we may one day have to carry a cross of prison time because God’s Word has become hate speech. WE dare to follow him even though we may one day have to carry the cross of going underground because the world simply will not put up with the truth of God’s Word. We dare to follow Christ as his disciples no matter what type of cross we might one day have to carry, because we understand what Jesus meant when he said, “whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:35)

No matter what cross the Lord would have us carry it is designed to draw us closer to him. It is designed to make us place daring disciples who place our trust in him not relying on the things of this world, but looking to the Lord our God, trusting that one day he will deliver us from this life to our heavenly home.

Though Flick may have taken a foolish dare in the movie I’ve been describing, as Christians, we have not foolishly taken our Savior’s dare. Rather, we have boldly dared to be his disciples who willingly confess his name, believe his mission, and even carry the crosses which he, himself, has assigned to us.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church -Le Sueur, MN