Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
June 29, 2008
The Rev. Charles Henrickson
Two Battles: The Battle from Without (Matthew
10:34-42)
Over today and next Sunday I want to talk to you about
Two Battles. These are two battles every Christian
is called upon to fight, from the time we are baptized
till the day we die. There is no opting out. You are
engaged in these battles whether you realize it or
not. So the thing to do is to fight them well, and
that means we need help. For on our own we would not
be strong enough to prevail.
What are these two battles? Simply put, they are,
first, The Battle from Without, that is, the world
attacking us Christians, and second, The Battle
Within, our own sinful flesh fighting against the new
persons we are in Christ. These two battles, the
conflict from without and the conflict from
within--these are inescapable for every single
Christian.
What called this to my attention is that, in looking
over and thinking about the lessons for these few
weeks that were in, I noticed that the Gospel
readings from Matthew 10 have as their theme the
attacks the world makes against the disciples of
Jesus. Meanwhile, the Epistle readings from Romans 6
and 7 focus more on the internal conflict within the
Christian, the battle of the new man versus the Old
Adam. So this got me thinking about these two tracks,
if you will, as an ongoing two-front war that we all
are engaged in. At times one battle is raging more
furiously than the other, and therefore weighing upon
us more heavily, but there is no escaping either one.
So today well take up the external battle first, and
then next week, the battle within. The battle from
without is the one Jesus has been talking about in
Matthew 10, namely, the world attacking the church.
We have been hearing Jesus alert us ahead of time of
the attacks the church as a whole and we as individual
Christians will face: We are like sheep in the midst
of wolves. Men will deliver Christians over to
courts. Brother will deliver brother over to death.
We will be hated by all because we bear the name of
Christ. Persecution, being maligned--these are the
kinds of things we have heard Jesus warning us about
the last couple of weeks.
Now today Jesus takes it further: Do not think that
I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not
come to bring peace, but a sword. Jesus says here
that the inevitable result of his coming--not the
primary purpose, mind you, but the inevitable
fallout--one result or consequence of his coming will
be conflict. Not peace, but a sword. The dividing
lines will fall along the border of faith and
unbelief, between receiving Jesus and rejecting him.
Those who receive Jesus will also receive his
disciples. Those who reject the Christ will also
reject his Christians.
And this division and rejection can happen even within
families: For I have come to set a man against his
father, and a daughter against her mother, and a
daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a
persons enemies will be those of his own household.
Even among those close to us there may be persons who
do not receive Christ but instead reject him--and thus
reject us. This is a tough thing to deal with.
People close to us in family relation may be far away
from us when it comes to faith. This puts a strain
and a rift between us. Those who ought to be near and
dear ones become instead cool and detached and
distant--and sometimes downright hostile. And the
division is really the result of Christ--or I should
say, their scorning of Christ.
Family members push us away. Friends avoid us and
talk behind our back. The world ridicules and mocks
us Christians. Lets hope this is not because we have
been Class-A jerks but rather because we have been
consistent in our faith and witness and our stand on
the word of God.
Let me give you an example. The world right now wants
us to be accepting of homosexuality. The word of God,
on the other hand, clearly condemns homosexuality as
sin. So where will we take our stand, with the world
or with the Word? This weekend in St. Louis there is
a big event called PrideFest. It is a celebration
of homosexuality--something which people ought to be
ashamed of but which now has become a source of pride.
The so-called gay lifestyle is openly approved of
and promoted by the city of St. Louis and the area TV,
radio, and newspaper outlets.
Now the fact that homosexuality is a sin does not mean
that we do not try to reach out to homosexuals and
bring them to repentance and to faith in Christ for
forgiveness. No, thats what we want to do. And a
group of Christians associated with our own Lutheran
Church-Missouri Synod has tried to do just that,
peacefully handing out flyers with a Christian message
at a previous PrideFest. But for that they were
threatened with arrest. The case went to court, and
fortunately this past week the judge sided with the
First Amendment and allowed the Christians to
distribute flyers this weekend. But the very fact
that it went this far shows the hostility in our
culture against Gods Word of both Law and Gospel. By
the way, its even worse in Canada. There you can be
hauled before a human rights tribunal if you make a
disparaging remark about homosexuality.
And there are other issues on which the world will
attack the church. Abortion comes to mind. Being
pro-life is not politically correct. Living together
outside of marriage is undoubtedly more commonplace in
our community. It is so prevalent, it seems like its
the rule rather than the exception any more. But
again, Gods Word calls this despising of marriage a
sin. So if we then do not go along with the culture
and do not approve of cohabitation, we may find
ourselves at odds with friends and neighbors and even
members of our own family.
These examples of taking a stand against homosexuality
or abortion or cohabitation--these are just in the
area of Gods Law, morality, matters of right and
wrong. But now if we come to the Gospel, there too we
can run into a buzz-saw of opposition simply for being
a consistent Christian. Because Christians sometimes
talk about--surprise!--Christ. And lots of people
dont want to hear about Jesus. It strikes too close
to home. People are reminded of their need for a
Savior, and that bothers them. Theyre reminded of
their sins and the reality of death and judgment and
eternity and their need for repentance and
forgiveness. No, thats too much! Keep Jesus away
from me! Christians, go away! Shut up! Youre
threatening my self-security.
This is the same reason why people stay away from
church. They dont want Jesus to get too close. Keep
God at arms length, keep him boxed up in a little box
I can control and look at on a shelf. People are
afraid of God getting too close and messing with their
lives--they hate God, actually, and so they lash out
at Christians and pastors and at the church.
Now what to do about all this? First of all, repent.
Yes, we who would call the world to repentance, we
need to repent ourselves. For we have more than a
little bit of the world inside each one of us. There
is that worldling inside each one of us wanting to
assert him or herself. Yeah, theres that guy inside
of me who doesnt want God getting to close and
messing with my life. Id rather keep God in a box
sitting on the shelf. This is where the outside
forces have an agent working on the inside. We are
the world--too much so, Im afraid. So repent.
And while were at it, lets repent of those times we
have been Class-A jerks about our witnessing or our
moral stands. Maybe we have been obnoxious about it,
unnecessarily. Theres a way to be firm and
consistent without being obnoxious, but its also easy
to cross over that line and become the stereotypical
cartoon Christian. God help us to keep the right
balance.
Then thats another thing. Pray for Gods help. I
think we forget this all too often. I know I do. God
has promised to hear our prayers when we call on him
for strength and help. So lets take him up on his
promise! He will help us to be strong and faithful
Christians in the face of persecution, the worlds
mockery, and the potential loss of family and friends
affection.
Repent of your worldliness. Repent of your jerkiness.
Pray for Gods help. And then--and this may sound
odd--love Jesus. Yes, love Jesus more than you love
your friends and family. This is not to say you
should not love your family and friends. Just love
Jesus more. Dont let the pressure from friends or
family members get in the way of your following Jesus.
Dont let them pull you away from coming to church
and hearing his word. Then things are out of whack,
if that is the case. Whoever loves father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves
son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And
whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not
worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Now finally--and this is the most important thing I
have to say to you today--here is why we do love
Jesus, and love him more than anyone or anything else:
Because he is our Savior. He is our life. Our life
was forfeit, it was a mess, it was a loss, a dead end,
headed for destruction. That self-life we were
holding on to--we may not be gay, but we were having a
PrideFest all our own--that defiant lostness
pervaded each one of us lost and condemned sinners.
But Jesus came, the Son of God from heaven, abasing
himself, and taking all the scorn and rejection the
world had to offer. And he suffered all this for you,
for us, for the whole human family. For there was no
other way for all the sin and hatred of God to be
taken away than for God himself, Gods Son, to take it
on his holy shoulders and carry it to the cross.
Jesus took his cross, and it was the salvation of the
world.
Homosexuals, abortionists, shacker-uppers--as well as
proud and respectable church members who have a dark
side they like to keep hidden--this Jesus died for all
of you, took all of your sins on himself and paid the
price, the big price you owe. All is forgiven. Come
home. New life, a new mind, new strength to follow
Jesus, new hope, the sure hope of the resurrection and
everlasting life--all these are yours in Christ. Yes,
Jesus is the Savior of the world--the very world that
continues to attack him and his Christians.
And so you, dear Christians, dont be afraid when the
world attacks. Expect it. Ask for Gods help and
strength to stand. Dont be afraid to fight the
battle from without. For your Savior Jesus has
already won this battle for you. Find your life--your
real life, your new life, your eternal life--in him.
Charles Henrickson
4749 Melissa Jo Ln
St. Louis, MO 63128
(314) 845-8811 (home)
(314) 779-8108 (cell)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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