Results

 Results

Isaiah 49:1-7, 1 Corinthians 1:1-9[1]

I think we all want to make a difference in this world. We want to know that what we’re doing with the time we have in life has meaning, that it makes some kind of contribution. That doesn’t mean that we all want to be in the “spotlight.” Some of us thrive there, and that’s a wonderful thing. Some of us don’t, and that’s wonderful too. Whether we’re “front and center” or working behind the scenes, what counts is that our lives “matter.” One of the challenges with wanting to make a difference in the world is that, at least in my experience, more often than not we never get to see the results of our efforts. We just don’t have the ability to see all the ways our lives may be impacting the lives of those around us. And that can leave us wondering whether we’re really making a difference in this world at all.

The sometimes frustrating truth is that this is particularly the case when it comes to what we do in the service of our Lord Jesus and the body of Christ, the church. I’ve served the church in some way all of my adult life, and I’ve found this to be true countless times. We do our best to “plant seeds” in the lives of the people we try to help, but we rarely get to see the results. As St. Paul observed, some plant, others water (and I might add that still others tend the field), but it is God who “gives the growth” (1 Cor 3:7). At times this can be frustrating, especially if you’re the kind of person who is “results-oriented.” At times it can be downright discouraging.

Two of our Scripture lessons for today give us some help with this. The first one from the book of the prophet Isaiah speaks about the work of the “servant of the Lord.” The servant, the one who chosen to proclaim God’s word to the people of Israel, begins by giving voice to his grief over his lack of success. He was given the ability to speak clearly and effectively to the people, and yet they remained closed off to God’s message and God’s ways. And so the “servant” of the LORD says, “my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose” (Isa. 49:4, NLT). He was frustrated and discouraged by the lack of results from his efforts.

In response, the prophet reminds the “servant” that God was doing something bigger through him than he could possibly imagine. The Lord says to him, “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob” (Isa. 49:6, NIV). That was not enough. He was called to a bigger task: “I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” In the face of frustration and discouragement from a lack of results, the prophet speaking in the name of the Lord reminded the servant that God’s plans were much bigger than he could even dream. Despite frustration and discouragement from the lack of results, the Lord was reassuring the “servant” that his mission would succeed. And it would succeed so well that God’s salvation would reach to the ends of the earth![2]

In our second lesson from 1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul was dealing with problems in one of the churches he had founded. After he had moved on in his service to Christ, they became confused about how they were supposed to live their lives together in Christian community. They were divided, and the factions were pulling the congregation in very different directions. Ironically, the situation at Corinth came about from the fact that the mission of shining a light to the nations was well underway, and it was causing some big problems! One of their questions was how Christians with so many differences could live together in one community of faith. 

But the Apostle began his instructions to them with the assurance that they already had everything they needed. He reminded them that all they did was built on “the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus” (1 Cor. 1:4).  He told them that they had already been fully equipped by the Spirit to carry out their work: “in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind ... so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift” (1 Cor. 1:5, 7). And just in case they had any lingering doubts, Paul reminded them that God who is always faithful would strengthen them to the end (1 Cor. 1:8).

I’ve said before that it’s a tough time to be the church. The sweeping changes in our world have certainly not left the church untouched. And while many of these changes are directly related to recent events, they are also due in part to deeper, more fundamental changes in our whole society. Churches everywhere in this country are facing the same daunting challenges that we are. And as is true here, so in most churches, we’re all working harder than ever to serve our Lord Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God. But you couldn’t tell it by the results. At least not by the results that are obvious. And that can be frustrating and discouraging. But it doesn’t mean that we’re not making a difference! Because one of the lessons we learn when we choose to serve God’s kingdom is that while we may not be able to see the result of our efforts, God can!

That’s one of the lessons we learn when we serve God’s purpose. Later in 1 Corinthians St. Paul reminds us all that “nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless” (1 Cor 15:58, NLT). We may not always be able to see the results of our efforts, but then perhaps it’s not for us to see. It’s God’s business. What keeps us going, as Henri Nouwen reminds us, is not the results we can see, but rather the hope that is firmly grounded in Christ’s victory over death itself, which demonstrates “that there is light on the other side of darkness.”[3] The cause we are all working for is nothing short of the transformation of this world so that all our lives reflect God’s will being done “on earth as it is in heaven.” That’s a bigger task than anyone can wrap their heads or their hands around. And yet we all continue to contribute to the final victory of God as we continue to serve him faithfully. And as St. Paul reminds us, God will do his part: he will faithfully give us the strength to continue serving him.

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[1] © 2023 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

[2] Cf. Christopher R. Seitz, “The Book of Isaiah 40-66,” New Interpreters Bible VI:433: “To witness to the God of Israel is not to share information with others but to be faithful to God in such a way that confrontation will occur but will not be an end in itself. The witness leaves the final accomplishment to God, assured that affliction and hardship will be the means through which ‘my salvation shall reach to the ends of the earth’ (49:6).”

[3] Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Wounded Healer (1979), 76: “A Christian leader is a man [sic] of hope whose strength in the final analysis is based neither on self-confidence derived from his personality, nor on specific expectations for the future, but on a promise given to him. … Leadership, therefore, is not called Christian because it is permeated with optimism against all the odds of life, but because it is grounded in the historic Christ-event which is understood as a definitive breach in the deterministic chain of human trial and error, and as a dramatic affirmation that there is light on the other side of darkness. Every attempt to attach this hope of visible symptoms in our surroundings becomes a temptation when it prevents us from the realization that promises, not concrete successes, are the basis of Christian leadership. … Hope prevents us from clinging to what we have and frees us to move away from the safe place and enter unknown and fearful territory.”

 

Beloved

 Beloved

Matthew 3:13-17[1]

I have a confession to make. I sometimes have a hard time believing what I preach. It’s not that I don’t believe it’s true. I’ve always viewed preaching as a sacred duty. And I’ve worked hard to preach the truth as I’m able to understand it. I don’t have any problem believing that what I am preaching is true. I’m convinced that it’s true for you. What I have a hard time believing is that it’s true for me. I firmly believe that God’s grace, mercy, and love include each and every one of you. But I sometimes have a hard time believing that they also include me. The problem is that I struggle with feeling “unworthy” of God’s love. I’m keenly aware of all the ways that I fall short. That makes it hard to think that God might be “pleased” with me. As is often the case, I suspect I’m not alone in that difficulty.

There are so many reasons for us to feel “unworthy.” Some of us grew up with the message that no matter how hard you try, your best is never good enough. Even though we may receive compliments from our friends, we may find it impossible to take them to heart. When we look around us, we can always find someone who appears to be “better.” Regardless of the category—whether it’s who we are, what we have, or what we do—when we play the “comparison game,” we always come up short. Many of us just can’t get past the fact that we’re convinced in our own eyes that we’re “unworthy.” And it’s not far from believing that we’re “unworthy” in our own eyes to believing that we’re “unworthy” in God’s eyes.

You may be wondering what this has to do with our Gospel lesson for today. It’s Matthew’s story of Jesus’ baptism by John. All the Gospels make some mention of it, but they don’t all tell the story the same way. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all describe the experience of “the heavens” being “opened” and the Spirit “descending like a dove” upon Jesus. But they differ slightly in the way the heavenly voice is worded. In Matthew, the voice says, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17). But in Mark and Luke, the voice is addressed to Jesus: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” To me, that sounds more personal, like an affirmation given to Jesus by God.

I’ve raised the question before whether Jesus would have needed that kind of affirmation. When you read John’s Gospel, it certainly doesn’t seem like it. Jesus begins his ministry knowing full well not only who he is but also that he had come to die on the cross. When you think of Jesus as “fully divine,” that makes sense. I’d say, however, that the other Gospels may present this aspect of Jesus’ life more from the perspective that he was “fully human.” There are statements in the other Gospel from Jesus about who he was, but you have to look for them. He doesn’t clearly announce that he must die on the cross until he is well into his ministry, perhaps even near the end. Maybe, just maybe, Jesus needed to hear that he was God’s beloved son as he was about to launch the kingdom of God that would turn over all the tables of the religious beliefs in his day.

The wording of this affirmation takes its cue from Isaiah 42. There God affirms his “servant,” the one who would carry out his saving purpose by saying, “He is my chosen one, who pleases me” (Isa 42:1, NLT). When you look at what Isaiah says about the “Servant of the Lord,” you can understand why there was a need for this kind of affirmation. The Servant was going to undergo suffering, rejection, and even death. But these kinds of experiences have been true of those whom God chose to carry out his saving purposes from the beginning. Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, and many others needed assurance from God, and affirmation of his support for what they were doing because they faced such hardship from those who opposed them. Given the kind of hostility that Jesus faced, it makes sense that he may have needed God’s affirmation as well.

That’s all well and good for Jesus, and for other “servants” of the Lord like Moses and Elijah. But it may not be clear to us how this applies to us. I certainly wouldn’t put myself in that company, and I’m not sure many of us would! But I’m taking a cue from one of my favorite authors here. Henri Nouwen was a Roman Catholic priest and a pioneer in pastoral care. He struggled all his life with feelings of unworthiness, a topic he writes about in many of his books. I recently picked up a copy of a daily reader composed of excerpts from his writings called, “You Are the Beloved.” In the reading for January 2, he takes this statement, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17) and reminds us that this is true of all of us as God’s beloved children, daughters and sons with whom he is “well pleased.”

Again, if you’re like me you may be asking how we can presume to take something God said to Jesus and apply it to ourselves. It’s not hard to believe that God loved Jesus and was “well pleased” with him. But it may seem inappropriate at the very least to think those beautiful words relate to us. And yet, the great Reformed theologian Karl Barth insisted that when God chose Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world, he chose us all in him (cf. Eph 1:3-10).[2] That statement rests on and implies a great deal of theological reflection. But the bottom line is that we are chosen not because of anything we’ve done or ever could do, but rather simply because it was God’s will to choose us as his “beloved” sons and daughters though Jesus. And this has been the truth about us from “the beginning,” it is the truth “now,” and it “ever shall be, world without end! Amen, Amen!”

It’s one thing to for us to hear that message and believe that it’s true. It’s another matter altogether to find a way for it to sink in so that we can really believe it. It can be difficult if not impossible to get past our own “unworthiness.” It can be difficult if not impossible to believe that God could be “pleased” with us. But the gospel message is that we are beloved by God and God is pleased with us simply because God chooses us as his beloved sons and daughters. Perhaps what we need is a way to remind ourselves of this beautiful gospel truth. You may have noticed that I wear a cross ring on my right hand. After reading the excerpt from my new book, I’ve decided to use it as my reminder that I am God’s beloved child. I would encourage you to pick something that can remind you that you are all, each and every one of you, God’s beloved children.

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[1] © 2023 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 1/8/2023 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

[2] Cf. Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics 2.2:117, where he says that Jesus’ “election is the original and all-inclusive election; … his election carries in it and with it the election of the rest.” Much of volume 2.2 of the Dogmatics is devoted to this theme.

Shepherds and Other "Undesirables"

 Shepherds and Other “Undesirables”

Luke 2:1-20[1]

In the middle part of the last century, a psychologist named Abraham Maslow proposed a theory of human well-being that came to be known as “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.” Unlike Sigmund Freud, Maslow wanted to study healthy people to figure out how we can thrive in this world. You may be familiar with the “pyramid.” At the bottom of Maslow’s “hierarchy” were basic needs for food, shelter, and safety. Then came more emotional needs for belonging and esteem. At the top of the pyramid was what Maslow called “self-actualization.” It’s a fancy word for what we know as “being all you can be.” He believed that the goal of our lives was to achieve our full potential.

If you’re like me, you grew up with the message that it was almost a “duty” to fulfill this potential. The words of then President-Elect Kennedy influenced many of us at that time: “For of those to whom much is given, much is required.”[2] He made that statement at the beginning of the 1960’s, which was a decade of great change and turmoil. But it was also a decade of great achievement. The president had announced that we would put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, and we did it. There seemed to be nothing we couldn’t achieve if we decided to try. All of this made the message of reaching one’s full potential a powerful motivation my generation.

Given that context in our culture, I wonder if our Gospel lesson from Luke this morning doesn’t leave us at least a bit confused. I think the story of the Magi coming to King Herod to ask about the one who was born as the “King of the Jews” makes a lot more sense to us. After all, we assume the birth of a king should be announced in palaces and royal courts. But that’s not what happens in Luke’s Gospel. There are no Magi in Luke’s Gospel. There is no announcement to the “powers that be,” although Luke names them in his story of Jesus’ birth. In Luke’s Gospel, the Angel’s announcement, “to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord” (Lk 2:11), is delivered not to Herod the Great, or Augustus Caesar, or even Quirinius, the Roman Governor. It was made to “shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night” (Lk 2:8). Because we’ve heard the story so many times, we might not be able to hear how strange that announcement must have been.

In the first place, we should not mistake that the “angel of the Lord” was indeed announcing the birth of a king. Jesus was to be the “son of David,” and the “Messiah.” Of course, we know he didn’t fulfill that role as “Son of David” and  “Messiah” in the way most people expected. He didn’t lead an uprising to throw off the yoke of the Roman oppressors and ascend to the throne of David as the King of the Jews. He did more than that. He gave his life for the whole world, and afterwards God raised him from the dead. But finally, Jesus was exalted to the right hand of the throne of God, where he still reigns as “Lord.”

You’d think the announcement of the birth of the one who would ultimately ascend to the right hand of the throne of God would have been made to all the most powerful leaders throughout the world. But it wasn’t. Not in Luke’s Gospel, anyway. The titles “Savior” and “Lord” were reserved for God in the Hebrew Bible, and in the Mediterranean world they were applied to Caesar. You’d think the announcement of the birth of one who would hold these titles would be made to the most important religious leaders. But it wasn’t. It was made to “shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.”

Despite our tendency to romanticize the shepherds, in that day they were peasants at the bottom of any “ladder” you could come up with. It would not be inappropriate to compare them with the “sharecroppers” of an earlier time, or the “migrant workers” of our day. They made a living, but only just. You could not say that these were people who had achieved their full potential in life. They were barely getting along by the skin of their teeth. So I would say that most people of that day would have found it incredibly strange that the birth of the “Son of David,” the “Savior” and the “Lord” would be announced to shepherds.

And yet, it’s no accident that this announcement comes to the least of the least. One of the themes in Luke’s Gospel is found in Mary’s “Magnificat”: “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly” (Lk 1:52). It’s not just a coincidence that Herod “the Great,” Caesar Augustus, and the Roman Governor all show up in the introduction to this story. They were the “key players” on the world stage at that time. But no messenger was sent to them. The “angel of the Lord” made the announcement of Jesus’ birth to lowly shepherds.

Luke tells us that they responded to the message by going to see for themselves. And they found a helpless baby lying in a feed trough in poverty and apparent powerlessness. Again, the contrast between the “powerful” sitting on their thrones and the “lowly” comes to mind. Jesus was not born in a palace, in a place of privilege and comfort. And yet, despite all appearances, Mary’s son lying in the manger is the “Savior,” the “Messiah,” and the “Lord.”  It’s telling that the angel said to the shepherds, “to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

And it was these shepherds, the lowest of the low, the least of the least, who were able to see past appearances and recognize the truth of the angel’s announcement to them. Luke tells us not only that the shepherds “made known what had been told them about this child,” but also that they “returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen” (Lk 2:17, 20). In other words, these peasants who were likely illiterate, who were the least and the last and the left out, had the insight and the faith to believe that this helpless child lying in poverty was indeed the “Savior” and the “Messiah” and the “Lord” sent by God.

There is something more than a little ironic about all of this. But I think there is a point to it: that God’s salvation is not a “reward” for those who have achieved the heights of personal fulfillment. Rather, salvation is for everyone. Part of the irony is, as St. Paul says, the message about Jesus was offensive to those looking for someone to check off all the right religious “boxes” and it was foolish to those who prized learning and power (1 Cor 1:25). But that’s because “God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength” (1 Cor 1:27). That’s why, right from the beginning, the “angel of the Lord” made the announcement of Jesus’ birth to shepherds in the field. One of the themes of the Bible is that you have to be humble enough to recognize your need for a Savior in order to be able to put your faith in him. I would say that for those of us who can get rather caught up in “being all that we can be” it means that we may need to set all that aside in order to open our hearts enough to recognize Jesus as our Savior and Lord.

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[1] © 2022 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 12/25/2022 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE. For a video recording of this sermon, check out my Pastor Alan YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/U9yeNlsjXSQ

[2] John F. Kennedy, “Address to a Joint Convention of the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” January 9, 1961. Accessed at https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/massachusetts-general-court-19610109 on 12/22/2022.

To You is Born a Savior

 To You is Born a Savior

Luke 2:1-20[1]

I saw a sign several days ago that said to “keep Christ in Christmas.” It’s a slogan that’s been around for a long time. It originated as a protest against the phrase “Merry Xmas.” So “keeping Christ in Christmas” meant spelling out the whole word, Christmas. But I really don’t know what it means more than that. It’s one of those slogans that’s been so overused I’m not sure it means anything anymore. Some of us might think it’s obvious what “keeping Christ in Christmas” means. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ, or the Messiah. So, keeping “Christ” in Christmas means making the celebration of Jesus’ birth the focus of Christmas. But I’m not sure a worn-out slogan can tell us much about how we’re supposed to do that.

In our lesson from the Gospel of Luke we heard the angel’s announcement to the shepherds, “to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” That helps us, because it tells us that Jesus was born as the “Messiah” or the “Christ” and that means he’s the Savior. Those of us who are connected with a church have at least an understanding that we need a Savior, and we celebrate Jesus’ birth because he came to be our Savior. And the angel said this message was meant to be “good news of great joy for all the people” (Lk 2:10-11). But there are a lot of folks these days who don’t see that they have any need for a “Savior.” In fact, the very language of looking for someone to “save” us or “rescue” us, is considered to be unhealthy in relationships. And rightly so. It’s a mark of health to recognize that we’re all responsible for our emotional well-being.

But while it’s good to be self-responsible, you can take a good thing too far. When we turn it into the attitude that it’s up to me whether I thrive in this world, it can lead us to think we can dispense with “God” or any thoughts of a “Savior.” When we do that, we may believe we can live our lives, make our choices, and engage in our own pursuits without giving God or Jesus Christ a second thought. But living that way is an illusion. It really amounts to an effort to avoid facing hard truths. We may succeed for the time being at avoiding what we don’t want to deal with but living our lives without any reference to God will leave us facing a deep emptiness.

I don’t believe the point of our lesson from the Gospel of Luke is to “keep Christ in Christmas.” I think it goes far beyond that. Celebrating the birth of Jesus as our Savior means “keeping” Christ as the focus for all of life. We “keep” Christ in our lives when we recognize that the only way to truly thrive is through the hope and peace and joy and love that Jesus brings us. We “keep” Christ in our lives when we recognize that we do not live our lives to ourselves alone, or solely by our own efforts. Rather we live in a world that overflows with God’s loving presence. That’s why we celebrate the birth of Jesus as our Savior. He came to fulfill the promise of “Immanuel,” or “God-who-is-with-us.” He’s our Savior because he brought us the assurance that we are never alone in this world. No matter who we are, no matter what we’ve done, because of Jesus—his birth, his life, his death, his resurrection, and his continuing presence in our lives—we are never alone, but rather we are constantly surrounded and embraced by the love of God. That’s what it means to celebrate the birth of Jesus as our Savior on this night!

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[1] © 2022 Alan Brehm. A Christmas meditation delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 12/24/2022 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE. For a video recording of this sermon, check out my Pastor Alan YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/5cHGVLyZwmo