“Dancing to Our Tune or God’s Tune”—Matthew 11.12-19, Reformation Day (October ’15)

1.        Please pray with me.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word this day we observe the Festival of the Reformation is taken from Matthew 11:12-19 and it’s entitled, “Dancing to Our Tune or God’s Tune,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ. 

2.        No matter what the Christian Church teaches and preaches, someone will object to the message and use it as an excuse for not going to worship and being in fellowship with other Christians.  John the Baptist fasted and stayed away from wine.  Because of this, some of the religious leaders of his day said that he was possessed by a devil.  Jesus went to the homes of his friends and also sat down to eat with tax collectors and other sinners, and these same people said He was a glutton and a drunkard.  By this text in Matthew 11 we learn that you can’t please everyone, especially those who are looking for something to find fault with. 

3.        What should we do then?  Nothing?  That would be the easier course.  But, that’s not a God pleasing way to face objection and criticism.  So what should we do?  Continue with patience and determination to teach, preach and carry out what God has directed us to do in His Word.  The rest we leave to God.  We’ll never be able to please everyone.  This Jesus experienced for Himself and He was the sinless Son of God.  Matthew 11:16-19 says, ¹⁶“But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, ¹⁷“‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ ¹⁸For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ ¹⁹The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”

4.        Jesus probably shook His head when He heard the criticism of His opponents.  “To what shall I compare this generation?” we hear Him say.  They act like children who say you can’t play in our yard because you don’t play by our rules.  We’ve played our music and you’ve not danced according to our tune.  This holds true today as well.  Many have played—they want an easy Christianity with preachers who say “smooth things.” (Isaiah 31:10).  Many want sin condemned as long as it’s not their own sin that’s being spoken about.  It’s fun to sit in the pew and hear the pastor shoot darts at those who are absent from worship.  But, he must not say anything against our conduct.  It’s too much when the pastor brings up that we have spoken bad things about our neighbor and tried to hurt his or her reputation.  It’s too much when he brings up how we have lusted after other people, desired things that don’t belong to us and how we have hated our neighbor in our heart.  When he says these things this strikes too close to home.  We want the pastor to dance to the tune we play.   In order better to understand Jesus’ perspective on an unbelieving world, he likens the world to children who refuse to play any game in the marketplace, whether they’re invited to mourn or dance.  Jesus Wants to Move Us from Mourning Our Sins to Celebrating Our Salvation, but will we mourn—or dance? (vv 12–17).

5.        We’ve mourned, but you haven’t lamented.  This is another tune many play.  They want an easy going Christianity.  They come to worship to be entertained and to be catered to.  And yet, they never lift a hand for anyone.  But, let them have some kind of problem, and they expect everyone to come to their rescue.  We mourn, and when we do, we want the church.  We look for an emergency device that will take all the bitter pain out of our lives.  In sickness, we want the help of the church to be near to us.  When death comes to our door, we want the services of the church and the pastor to say nice things to us.  Are we only looking for a church membership that will bring the service of the church in times of crisis?

6.        On this day we observe the Reformation we remember Martin Luther’s Ninety-five Theses that he nailed to the Castle Church at Wittenberg in 1517.  These theses were a funeral song calling the Church of his day to repentance.  Rather than face the total desperation of man before God, the need for a savior, the Church was offering a save-yourself-for-cash scheme: indulgences.  Luther declared this to be foolish, calling instead for personal repentance and faith in Christ.  But, the Church’s response was to excommunicate Luther.

7.        We can refuse to mourn when God sings the sad song of our sin, the Law.  God’s Word sadly describes the brokenness of our sinful condition (Rom 3:19–20).  God calls us to turn away from our sinfulness and to him in faith—repent.  But so often we instead cling to our sins and convince ourselves they can’t really be so bad. Surely we can make up for them somehow.

8.        We can be like children who refuse to dance to a flute (v 17a).  God plays his happy tune through the ministry of Jesus.  Jesus is the Lord and Messiah who has come (Mal 4:5).  Jesus “plays a tune” of healing and good news of forgiveness (Mt 4:23).  But, rather than believe and receive their Savior, the Jewish leaders condemned him (v 19a), finally condemning him to die on a cross.

9.        This beautiful Gospel of Christ was Luther’s great discovery.  There’s no need to invent some save-yourself scheme, for Jesus has done it all for us by his death and resurrection.  Through passages like Romans 3, Luther came to realize that we have eternal salvation by faith alone, simply believing in Christ’s work of dying for us and rising again.  But the Roman Church refused to dance to this beautiful music, even condemning to hell anyone who says that we are saved by faith apart from our works (Council of Trent).

10.    We can refuse to dance when God plays the happy tune of our salvation, the Gospel.  God’s Word clearly preaches the gift of salvation (Rom 3:24).  God calls us to trust in Jesus’ person and work for our eternal life.  But too often we take the good news of Christ as too simple to be true, thinking something more must be necessary for our salvation.

11.    God wants us to mourn and dance.  It’s not enough for us simply to hear God’s song and dance.  “Wisdom is justified by her deeds” (v 19b).  We are saved by faith alone (Rom 3:24–25).  Genuine faith will manifest itself in the lives of believers (James 2:14–26).  God wants us to mourn our sins.  He wants us to agree with him that we’ve sinned and fallen short of his glory (Rom 3:23).  He wants us to grieve over our sins so that we leave them behind.  He wants to wash away our sins through Baptism (Mt 3:6).  He wants to forgive us through the blood of Jesus (Rom 3:25).  God wants us to celebrate our salvation.  He wants us to hear the good news.  He wants us to receive the free gift of forgiveness, life, and salvation (Rom 3:24).  He wants our salvation to manifest in our lives.  He wants this message to go to every nation.

12.    John the Baptist came neither eating nor drinking, and he was faulted for his conduct.  Jesus ate and drank with tax collectors and sinners and He was accused of living a loose lifestyle.  Some people can’t be pleased they want someone to dance to their own tune and not God’s tune.  No matter what the church does, it’s wrong in the opinion of such faultfinders.  “To what shall I compare this generation?”  Jesus says.  The crowd is critical.  No matter what’s done, it’s wrong.  If we are joyful, then we are taking our Christianity too lightly.  If we’re sad, then we’re told about the joy of the Gospel.  But, these faultfinders of 2,000 years ago didn’t harm Jesus and His Gospel.  They only closed the door of salvation upon themselves.  We don’t want to make the same mistake today!

13.    The gift of the Reformation is the clarity of the good news through Martin Luther. Like Luther, generations could hear the song and dance of God clearly and without confusion. We can take comfort in the fact that we’re not saved by paying our way into heaven or by the amount of good works we can do to earn favor with God; we mourn for our sins, knowing God is leading us to celebration. We do not live with the false hope that our amended lives of good works will earn our salvation; we dance because Christ has already played the happy tune of salvation as a free gift. We dance because Jesus has already lived a perfect life, died for our forgiveness, and risen again so that we, too, will have eternal life. We have a lot to celebrate! Now we can dance to God’s tune and His gift of salvation through our Savior Jesus and not to the tune of our own sinfulness.  Amen.

“Generosity is the Hallmark” 2 Cor. 9.15, Stewards Living a God-Pleasing Life Oct. ‘15

1.                  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and may his Holy Spirit fill your heart and mind in the hearing of His Word.  That Word for today, the final Sunday of our three-week theme, “Stewards Living a God-Pleasing Life,” comes to us from 2 Corinthians 9:15 where Paul, after words with much conviction, commitment, and understanding of the faithfulness of God toward him, says, "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift," and that’s the gift of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  This is the Word of the Lord.  The message is entitled, “Generosity is the Hallmark.”

2.                  Decades ago there was a man who wanted to come to America, so he got together the money he had and checked on the price of a ticket to get on a steamship that would come to America and land in New York.  As he prepared for his journey, he decided that what he would do is take what money he had and buy a ticket, which he did, but, to save money on having to pay for the meals which he heard were very extravagant on the steamship, he bought a supply of cheese and crackers.  He bought what he thought would last him for the journey.  But, as his luck would have it, the damp salty air made his crackers soft.  His cheese got hard and some of it became rancid, and so he was living in a dilemma.  What really put the icing on the cake, though, was when a steward walked by carrying a tray of the most delicious smelling foods that you could imagine.  It was those smells from that tray that finally weakened him to the point that he counted his money again and decided to part with some of it, whatever it took to sit down in the dining room and have one meal there.  When he caught a steward a little bit later on, he stopped him and asked, "How much does it cost to go to the dining room and to sit down and have a meal there?"  The steward looked at him a little puzzled and said, "Do you have a ticket for the ship?"  He said, "Yes."  The steward said, "The meals are included, sir." 

3.                  How many of God's people are living as crackers-and-cheese Christians?  We're willing to settle for something.  We may survive on it, we may get by on it, but all the while we’re subsisting on crackers and cheese.  But, there's also this wondrous feast that’s prepared, and it’s served up to you as God's people to receive the richness of God’s grace, forgiveness, and love in Jesus Christ through God’s Word and Sacrament.  For those of you who have been on a cruise ship, you know what the meals can be like.  In fact, I hear a lot about the food when people come back from cruises - how there was a meal, then a snack between the meals and pre-meal snack and a meal, an early afternoon snack, a late afternoon snack, then there's a meal, there's a late night snack.  That's the one that really got my attention - it sounds like they kind of lay it all out there for the nighttime feast, and, if you still have any room left, you can really enjoy it.  Crackers and cheese!  Who wants to eat crackers and cheese all the time?   Well, none of us do.  They might be good.  You might like them.  Regardless of that, the point is that God is a generous giver.  He makes a feast for us every single day, and we can take in all that He has to give to us in the way of His grace, His love, and forgiveness for us, and so much more, because He also provides for us in ways that we often forget and take for granted.  He provides for us our food and clothing and shelter, so we can be able to afford those things and take those cruises, right?  God provides it all.  God truly is the most generous giver of all.  In fact, here's a word from our theme for today - it is a "hallmark" of God.  He gives so much on a daily basis in such a way that we can't help but see that He's put it there for us.  This isn’t for someone else.  This is for me and I can then share it.  There's where the generosity begins - a spirit of reflecting His light, a spirit of sharing Him with others, a real sense that God has richly blessed.

4.                  Generosity can be our hallmark also.  We have received everything we need for this life and the next.  We have feasted on His Word and Sacrament.  And, so we are able to respond joyfully by giving cheerfully and generously to those around us.  God’s love, seen in His giving, especially in the giving of His Son, motivates us to show our love through our giving.  In fact, the very word grace, charis in Greek, means underserved kindness, mercy, goodwill.  It’s God’s underserved kindness to us that even while we were still sinners, He sent His Son Jesus to die for us, for the forgiveness of our sins. 

5.                  The Israelites had feasted on God’s goodness.  He led them out of Egypt loaded with the wealth of their former masters.  He sustained them through years of wandering in the desert.  Then it came time to build the tabernacle, and Moses asked for their offerings.  The Israelites gave generously as they had been generously blessed.  In fact, their response was so overwhelming they had to be restrained in their giving.  Generosity became their hallmark.  In Exodus 36:6 we read, “Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: ‘No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.  And so the people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.”

6.                  Hundreds of years later, King David embarked on a similar project, the building of the Temple in Jerusalem.  He set the example, giving of his personal treasures, and the people followed suit, along with great rejoicing at the willing response of their leaders and their own ability to give.  “The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the Lord.  David the king also rejoiced greatly” (1 Chronicles 29:9).  Again the hallmark of their giving was generosity.

7.                  During the time of Jesus, Zacchaeus was a tax collector who loved money.  When Jesus changed his heart, Christ became his Lord and Master.  Rather than hoard his money, he gave much of it away to those in need.  Zacchaeus astounds us with his amazing generosity, a change so complete we know it’s the work of Jesus.  Here was a man whose money was his god.  As the chief tax collector, he had cheated people out of their money.  Generosity was the hallmark as he gave half of his money away to the poor.  He now saw money as a tool that could be used for good.  Money was no longer an end in itself.  Through his giving, he was honoring and praising Jesus.  His giving was an outward expression of a changed heart.

8.                  Then there was the Widow who gave all that she had.  She didn’t give like the others from her surplus because she had no surplus.  She had nothing left, but she had God’s gift of faith to trust in Jesus for her next meal.  She relied on God’s promise that He will never leave us nor forsake us.

9.                  Generosity was the hallmark of these responses, and it was made possible because these givers knew that all they had came from the hand of God.  David prayed, “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is Yours.  Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; Wealth and honor come from You . . . we give You thanks, and praise Your glorious name.”  Wow!  What a prayer!  The prayer of those who are committed to respond as they have been blessed.

10.              TODAY YOU are going to have the opportunity to make our financial commitments to God through our church.  Through our giving, we express our gratitude for who God is and what He has done and continues to do for us.  Giving is an expression of thanks, trust, and love.  In the Biblical accounts about giving that we just discussed, people gave whether they had much or little.  Giving begins with the heart and reaches to the pocket- book.  Giving for Christians is not an option; it’s expected.  Only by God’s grace can we become generous and cheerful givers.

11.              A story is told of an irate parent who phoned her little boy's Sunday school teacher.  She was very angry.  “Is it true that you told the kids, including my son, that they're crazy?”  She demanded an answer, and the teacher gave one, "No, I didn't tell them that they were crazy, but I did tell them that they needed to be committed."  Crazy or not, I pray that of us.  I pray that we will be committed.  I pray that we would show that commitment to Him and to the cross and to His love and His working in our lives.  May we be granted, by the power of His Holy Spirit, to accomplish His purpose, and may people see that it's the character of our lives that the hallmark of His work in us is that we are generous people.  Amen

12.              Prayer:  Dearest Heavenly Father, You have told us that we are God's workmanship through Christ Jesus to do good works which You prepared in advance for us to do.  Lord, don't let us miss even one opportunity to use our time and talents and treasures so that you might accomplish Your purpose.  Keep us mindful that You have given each of us unique and ordinary gifts—all of which You can and will use for Your kingdom.  Let generosity be our hallmark, also, as we eagerly give of our time, talents, and treasures.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray.  Amen.