Jesus speaks to you today saying,
“And when they had
brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.”
What passes for journalism these days is really just shock
and awe. Each and every news station is for profit and could really care less
about the truth, until it makes them money. Case and point: where has Isis gone? Where has Bruce Jenner gone?
There is no follow-up and there is no concern, because that
doesn’t sell with you. Unless you are entertained you won’t watch and nothing entertains
like the next new thing. There fore, each and every time your TV goes on, there
will be a new scandal, a new special report, and a new rewriting of history.
But that does not surprise us. Even current decisions in the
Supreme court are no surprise. In fact, the U.S.A. , for all its liberty, is
simply following the pattern of all civilizations before it. They rise and they
fall, but the Church remains.
One of my favorite revelations at Seminary came in Church
History. Men will always destroy their neighbor in the name of their own ideals.
Empires come and go, but there are always small pockets that preserve the
truth. In the many wars of Europe , it was the Church
that held onto culture and reintroduced it when the world had calmed once
again.
What do we think was happening at the time Jesus was going
fishing? Rome
was conquering the world and being very violent towards any and every other religion
and culture, not just the Jews. Political opinions were so volatile, that war
could have erupted right there on the very beach Jesus was teaching.
In the first few centuries of the Church, it was legal and
encouraged to hunt down Christians and kill them. In the next era, it was legal
and encouraged to seek and destroy so-called heretics regardless of their
innocence. Finally, in our time, it is legal and encouraged to shun and
ostracize, even to the detriment of reputation, life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness of, Christians.
Yet this is not unique to the Church. The only thing unique
about our time is that it has never been lived in before. History, barbarian
hordes, and other malefactors wash over and around the Ark of the Church and when the chaos
settles, the Church, with the Word, is the only structure remaining.
Repent. The world does not forgive, or have mercy upon, any
who do not leave everything behind and follow IT. Satan will have nothing less
than your entire life and bank accounts and your sinful nature wants nothing
but to give it all to them.
You have been fed the lie that you are independent and
self-sufficient. That you need no shepherd or overseer, but just in case there
is one, He should just accept your way of doing things, and that be that.
It matters not who rules the land, for there is one Shepherd
and Overseer of your souls (1 Pet. 2:25), that is the God-man, Jesus Christ.
Though God is the true king and ruler of all things, He had one enemy yet to be
conquered: death.
How is an all-powerful God able to conquer death? How, in
the face of many persecutions and executions of His own people, can He sit
there and declare His complete sovereignty?
History and worldly powers are not just allowed to continue
by God’s authority, but God places Himself under their authority. Jesus hides
His glory in order to bow down to earth. Under His own Law and subject to His
own creation, Jesus offers Himself, even in death. God’s suffering, humiliation
and death, make Him God and no amount of war or poor journalism changes that.
As our Overseer, or bishop, Christ cares for the Church
(Acts 20:28). He is Her Head and Her Lord. He is “above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded,
self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not
a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of
money. 4 [Jesus does] manage his own household
well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive” (1 Tim. 3).
The Apostles leave all to follow the Savior Who orders all
of history for their salvation. History does not simply consist of who won, who
had which laws, and who were guilty of which debaucheries and destructions of
society. True Salvation history consists of the Promise of God prevailing in
any and all governments and reaching you.
The prosperity of this or that nation of people has NOTHING
to do with the prosperity of the Church. Just as the prosperity of the Apostles
and their fishing, have nothing to do with the Gospel that Christ is offering
to all.
The Church will always remain, because Christ is her head
and His Word and Sacraments are her walls. Christ is eternal and His Gospel is
eternal. So, when the Church builds and gathers around these things, the
eternal comes to you and moth, thief, or rust cannot destroy this.
In leaving the things of this world behind, the Church
preaches that that which passes away is not of salvation and has no affect on
salvation. Nations can rise and fall, but the Word remains. In leaving all
things behind, you prove that your treasure is in heaven, that Jesus is the
King of heaven, and that heaven comes down to you, here.
In baptism, your evil, rebellious will was drowned and you
were born again in Christ. In hearing the Gospel, your will was sacrificed in
order that the will of Christ dominate, giving forgiveness. In the Lord’s
Supper, your entire being is placed into submission as your gifts and offerings
are placed to the side in order that you receive the true Gift and Service of
God: His Son, for your salvation.
In this rock solid and kept promise of God, you have a more
sure footing than any constitution or declaration can give. In the Lamb of God,
you have possession of the Kingdom that outlasts all kingdoms. In Christ, we
have confidence to draw
near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help
in time of need (Heb.4:16).
God is God because He suffers. God is God because He is
humiliated, dies, and rises again. God is God because His promises are true
regardless of the state of worldly things. His Church stands, receiving those
promises in the midst of violence, death, and the struggle of this world and our
own sinful nature.
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