Sermon for November 1st

I'd like to begin today by reading for you some excerpts from a story found in the book, "The Hammer of God" written by Bo Giertz.

In the corner to the right stood a pull-out bed. It was filled with blankets and pelts in wild disarray. The sick man lay with one knee drawn up. Beyond it only an arm was visible, an unnaturally thin and white arm reaching upward. It was crowned by an abnormally large hand with black pores in the rough skin cracked with calluses. The bony, knotted fingers seemed to be grasping at something. They were thrust apart with wild intensity, only to close again on nothingness; they curled like the claws of a bird of prey and then opened again, ceaselessly repeating the painfully meaningless maneuver. For the second time, Pastor Savonius pulled himself together.

For a while he sat in silence, not knowing what he should say. Then words came to his lips, he hardly knew from whence; "I wish you God's peace, God's eternal peace and blessing."

"Not for me! Not for me! Eternal damnation, punishment according to the measure of my sin, the judgment of wrath, and the everlasting flames--that is for me. To me he will say, 'Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!"

"But God is good," said Savonius quietly.

The sick man looked straight up at the ceiling. Yes, God is good, very good. It is just for that reason I am in such a bad way. Pastor, you do not know how good God has been to me. He has sought my soul and bidden me walk the way of life. But i have not done so. He has shown me heaven's purity, but I shall never win it. I sat in Ravelunda church and heard the angels sing. Then I saw my mother in the women's pew, and I thought: Mother has aged, this winter she may die; then I shall inherit the farm. And my heart wept, for I saw that, more than I loved Mother, I loved the filthy dollars. Then the pastor came to the pulpit. Potbelly, I thought. You can play cards and fish for trout, but you cannot feed God's poor little lambs with the Word. But I had not prayed for him. Was that love? That is how it is with me, Pastor. Day after day, moment upon moment, it is sin added to sin, and nothing but sin. For thirty years God has given me the opportunity to turn and repent. Thirty years I have been on that way. But I shall never reach the goal. Have I turned from the evil way? No! I have lamented and called upon God. But the heart is just as evil. Falseness and darkness within, pretense and hypocrisy on the surface.

"But confess yours sins, and God will forgiven you." Savonius tried to give his voice the ring of authority.

"Confess?" said Johannes, and his head fell back with infinite weariness. It was not terror that showed on his face now, but a dying despair that seemed almost more unendurable. "For thirty years, as Thou knowest, Lord, I have confessed my sins. And Thou didst forgive everything--the salt I stole, the grouse I snared, adultery and profanity--all was forgiven. Twenty times, fifty times I came; but I was still no better. Then the door of grace was shut. He who repents and believes will be received into the kingdom. But I did not repent."

"But you are a better and a more upright soul than anyone I have ever met." Savonius said.

But the man said, "The Judge will not judge the soul by others souls, Pastor. The book will be opened, and the dead will be judged by what is written in the book. And my doom is already sealed."




Earlier this week, on NPR, there was a discussion about the spiritual lives of people between the ages of 18 and 29. One of the people invited to discuss the topic was Greg Epstein, a humanist chaplain from Harvard who has recently written the book, “Good without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe.” What’s a humanist chaplain you might ask? Someone who supports humanists, atheists, agnostics and the nonreligious in their search for meaning in life. Humanists, like this author, make the argument that you don’t need religion to be good, to be moral, or to make the world a better place. In fact, as many atheists would argue, religion has caused or at least been used, to start most of the wars that have happened in the world.

So, during this discussion, a woman in her twenties called in and explained that she had just found out that she has a genetic disease and was considering the risk that she had now passed it on to her child. She was asking questions like, “What’s the point of life? What’s the point in trying to be good? Was it worth producing a child that would suffer throughout their life? Should she seek out a church to help her deal with this? Why would God let this happen to her so early on in her life? And now in her child’s life?

Here’s what the chaplain had to say. First off, e explained that he would acknowledge and recognize that this woman was dealing with difficult and painful issues. He would admit that there was nothing he could do or say, nothing that anyone could do or say in fact, that would magically get rid of this pain. Knowing that life is imperfect and unfair can be very liberating, he said, since it acknowledges our pain, our humanity, and that each of our fears are very real. We don’t have to try to be so perfect! He explained that while some people talk about needing to feel God’s presence during a tragedy, what he thinks people really want is the presence of another human being—a loving community. Life can be very unfair, but what can’t be taken away is our sense of dignity and that we are doing all that we can for ourselves and others; that we’re doing something for the sake of the world and you don’t need God to do that!

Today is All Saints Day, where we remember those who have died in the faith. But the question is, how do you know who has died in the faith and who has not? Does it really matter anyway? One billion non-religious people would argue that we need to get past the myth of God and start appreciating this life and this world without fanciful ideas about something that hasn’t and cannot be proven. What will happen when you die?

Like humanists and atheists, Jesus also says life is imperfect and that you are imperfect as well. Jesus would agree: life is unfair. There is suffering and pain and, yes, your fears are real. So far so good. Appreciate this life and this world to the fullest? Once again, Jesus would agree! You are dust and to dust you shall return? No arguments here. Same old same old. But now, now hear the difference. A humanist accepts death as the natural order for things. Jesus says, “Lazarus, Come Out! See! I am making all things new!” You know what’s missing from the humanist argument? Hope. Faith. Power. Jesus would agree with everything except that this old world is all there is. At that moment, Jesus would give you a promise: that is old, I am new. And it is only as true as a man dying on cross and being raised from the dead. The resurrection makes all things new. While some would argue that the new atheist movement is “modern” and “contemporary”, the truth is that it is as old as ever, as old as this fallen world.

A couple of days ago, I watched the movie “The Great Debaters” about an African-American college debate team during the 1930’s at Wiley College. After beating the odds again and again, the team eventually was able to debate the best of the best at Harvard and win, a momentous occasion for a black college at this time in America. But they had their share of trials. In one particular scene, the debate team and their coach are traveling through Texas at night when they came across a dreadful scene: A dead black man, hanging from a tree, cold, charred and disfigured, surrounded by a angry group of white men. The team escapes being attacked themselves just in time. One of the debaters, the young son of the town preacher, asks what the man could have done to deserve such a fate, but it didn’t matter what he had done! He was black and THAT is why he was burned. That is why he was hung! The young man, the preacher’s son, the happy one of the group, the idealist, has an epiphany about the man hanging in the tree: “It didn’t matter how good he was.”

“Good without God”, that book I spoke of before, is quite correct. You can be good without believing in God. You can be moral. You can be nice. You can help others. You can love and serve others in a community. But being good is NOT what being a Christian is all about. That is old. Being good is very important, but it is still a part of this old world. To be a Christian is to realize you are old and that if being “good” is your only hope, then you have no hope. Christians get their name, not because of what they do, but because of what Jesus Christ has done. You can be good without God, but, today, we are not celebrating the lives of good people. We are celebrating the promise of eternal life given through faith in Jesus Christ. All that other stuff is one day finally going to be old, dead and gone. Only Jesus is new.



Let's finish that story from the Hammer of God:

"Is Johannes already dead, Pastor?" Savonius looked up, startled. This was an altogether new voice, a woman's deep, warm alto voice. The stranger must have come from down the road. She wore a kerchief over her black hair, which was combed straight back. The face was middle-aged, wise, with soft and gentle lines under the tan. "Johannes, wake up! Katrina is here. It's Katrina, do you hear?"

The sick man was in his right mind again, "Katrina, it was good of you to come. You are kind, Katrina. God will reward you. And me, he will punish. So will He be exalted and declared righteous in all his judgments. But it will go badly for me. Katrina, I am a sinner, a great sinner."

"Yes, that you are, Johannes. But Jesus is a still greater Savior."

The sick man breathed heavily before answering. He seemed to be going over something in his mind. "Yes, he is a great Savior for those who let themselves be saved. But my heart is not clean, my mind is evil; I do not have the new spirit."

"They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. He came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

"Yes, Katrina, but it read 'to repentance." It is repentance that I lack.

"You do not lack repentance, Johannes, but faith. You have walked the way of repentance for thirty years."

"And still not attained to it!"

"Johannes," said the woman, almost sternly, "answer me this question: Do you really want your heart to be clean?"

"Yes, Katrina. God knows that I want that."

"Then your repentance is also as true as it can be in a corrupt child of Adam in this world. Your danger is not that you lack repentance, but that you have been drifting away from faith."

"What, then, shall I believe, Katrina?"

"You must believe this living Word of God: 'But to him that works not, but believes on his that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.' Up to this day you have believed in works and looked at your own heart. You saw only sin and wretchedness, because God anointed your eyes with the salve of the Spirit to see the truth. Do you have sin in your heart, Johannes?"

"Yes," answered the sick man timidly, "much sin, altogether too much."

"Just that should make clear to you that God has not forsaken you," said the woman firmly. "Only he who has the Holy Spirit can see his sin."

"But why, then, have I not received a clean heart?"

"That you might learn to love Jesus," said the woman as calmly as before."

"What do you mean Katrina?"

"I mean, Johannes, that if you had received a clean heart and for that reason had been able to earn salvation--to what end would you then need a Savior? If the law could save a single one of us, Jesus would surely not have needed to die on the cross."

"Have you anything more to say, Katrina?"

"Yes, one thing more, Johannes. 'Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world."

"Do you mean? Do you really mean that he takes away also the sin that dwells in my unclean heart?"

"Yes, he atoned for all that sin, when he died in your place."

"But I still have it with me, don't I? Yes, that's how it is," whispered Johannes.

"That is the way it has always been for us, and for all others. 'By His stripes we are healed.'

The sick man lay breathlessly quiet. Then he whispered, "One word more, Katrina, a sure word, and I will believe it."

The woman got up quietly, took the Bible that lay on the table, and sat down again. Opening the Bible she read: 'For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

"Amen. I believe!" said Johannes, in a voice that could barely be heard.



Today, as you consider those who have died. Those whom we have loved so much. When you consider your own life and death and the lives of those you love most dearly. Do not look at how good you are or what great things they did. When you are looking death in the eyes, it doesn’t matter how good anyone was or is. Look to Jesus Christ, your Savior. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. For only in Him is there hope, faith and power for old sinners like us. “He will dwell with us, we will be his people and God himself will be with us. He will wipe every tear from our eyes. Death will be no more. Mourning and crying and pain will be no more. For the first things will have passed away. And the one who is seated on the throne will say, “See I have made all things new.” Amen.