Church Sermon - October 2, 2005

FRIEND OR FOE OF THE CROSS?

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Old Testament Lesson; Isaiah 5:1-7
Gospel Lesson; Matthew 21:33-43
Sermon Text; Philippians 3:12-21

I personally do not think that St. Paul cried very often. I do not think St. Paul cried easily, at all. After all, remember St. Paul went through many, many, many trials. He was beaten and shipwrecked, along with all kinds of other things that we can only imagine, for the sake of Christ. But, St. Paul was the one who said,

"We rejoice in our sufferings."

I don’t think St. Paul cried very much, if at all, when he suffered. And, I don’t think St. Paul cried very much, if he was in want, or lack of things, or cold, or hungry, because after all, it was St. Paul who said,

"I glory in insults, in hardships, in persecutions,

because when I am weak,

then I am strong!"

I don’t think St. Paul cried much, when he suffered. St. Paul was the one who, when he was thrown into prison and locked up in chains, what did we find him doing? We find him singing hymns at midnight!

I don’t think St. Paul cried very easily, when he was suffering for his Savior. So, it is very significant in today’s scripture reading that we find St. Paul saying that he is writing with tears in his eyes. Tears! He is crying about something, as he writes this letter. Something has touched him so very deeply, and distressed him so greatly that maybe as the Philippians read the letter, they could see where the tear had dripped onto the page and the ink had blurred a little bit. St. Paul was in tears.

He explains what it is that made him in tears. He said,

"Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.

Their destiny is destruction,

their god is their stomach."

St. Paul was greatly distressed over that fact. He was concerned about the fact that there are people who are going to be in Hell for all eternity, and it troubled him greatly, as it should trouble us. But, I want you to look at the people that Paul was so desperately concerned about. They were actually people who were in the church, who were members of the church, who belonged to what we call "the outward church" and yet, St. Paul said they live, they "live as enemies of the cross of Christ."

Then he explained what he meant. "Their god is their stomach." Now, I want to ask you a question. When you look at yourself you know that you are made up of two parts. You are made up of body and soul.

Do you think that your body could lead your soul to Hell for all eternity? That is what Paul is concerned about. He is concerned about people in the church whose physical needs, physical wants, physical desires, the needs, wants, and desires of their body have become more important to them than the needs, wants and desires of spiritual needs, their need for their Savior. And so he says, "their god is their stomach." Their stomach (the needs and wants of the body) has become more important to them. Let me give you some examples.

Could it be that in the church, that there are people who are very, very regimented, very regular, seeing to it that they go out and eat on Friday night, come ‘hell or high water’? They love to go out and have a good steak, a good hamburger, a good taco, a good gyros, (or whatever meal it may be), or a good glass of beer, or a good cigar to smoke. They are very, very concerned about those things, but when it comes to coming to church, they are not as regular about it, nor as concerned about it. They are not as concerned about the things of the soul.

What has happened to someone like that? Their stomach has become their god. The things of the body have become more important than what happened on the cross of Jesus Christ. And, a steak is more important to them than what happened on the cross of Jesus Christ. Think of that! - A steak, a piece of dead meat, more important than what happened on the cross of Jesus Christ. And St. Paul says that people who live like that "live as enemies of the cross of Christ." The cross has become so insignificant that a piece of meat is more important than the cross. And the cross is really held in disdain.

Or maybe, can you imagine that there are people in the church who are more concerned about their bodily appearance than they are about the appearance of their soul? Do you think that there are people in the church who spend a great deal of time, energy, and money seeing to it that they have just the right shirt, just the right tennis shoes, just the right hair cut, who stand for hours and look in the mirror to make sure that everything is ok, who make sure they have just the right makeup, and just the right jewelry, but spend very, very little time adorning themselves, their souls, with Jesus Christ our Savior?

Oh, I am sure there are people like that in the church. And St. Paul says when we become more concerned about bodily things than we do about our soul then our stomach has become our god. And then, a pair of tennis shoes has become more important than the cross of Jesus Christ! Think about that - people in the church who are more concerned about what kind of shoes they wear, than the cross of Jesus Christ. They are treating the cross of Christ as if it is small, insignificant, nothing, and with disdain. They live as enemies of the cross of Christ.

Do you think there are people who are members of the church who are more concerned about another drink, another glass of beer, and see to it that they are regularly getting drunk, than the cross of Christ? Or, do you think there are people who are regularly turning on their computer and looking at internet pornography, hour after hour, but spend little or no time using their eyes to see the things of God that they should see?

St. Paul says that when we live like that we make our stomach, (our body, our earthly needs, and earthly wants) our god, and then we hold the cross of Christ in distain. And then, we follow after sins, (sins that were paid for on the cross at a huge price), which become more important to us than the cross of Christ. Paul with tears says, "Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ."

Do you think there are people in the church who are more concerned about the kind of vehicle they have than the cross of Christ? They put in a great deal of time, research, and study into what would fit their image best. And they spend a great deal of money to make sure that they have the right kind of vehicle. Or, they make sure they have the right kind of house, and spend a great amount of time out in their yard making sure that their creature comforts are just right. But then, they spend very little time, very little time at the foot of the cross feeding their soul with Jesus Christ.

When that happens, we live as enemies of the cross of Christ. We live as if a vehicle, (which cannot forgive our sins, cannot make us right with God), is more important to us than the cross of Jesus Christ, and hold the cross in disdain. Their god is their stomach. St. Paul says, "Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ."

Here is why he was in tears. He said,

"Their destiny is destruction."

Their end is destruction. If we live as if the needs of this body and our earthly wants are more important than the cross, then there is an end that is coming and it is destruction.

The other day I was with a group of a whole bunch of boys, and they started talking about scary movies. And, the things they were telling me were almost terrifying, just to hear about them, let alone to see them on TV or in the movie! They were talking about the frightening things they had seen - frightening, terrifying faces, and how after they saw them, they could not sleep for nights, because they were terrified. Then they got on to a video game called, "Doom." They said it is a really frightening video game where you are in a hell. You go into different rooms and see different demons. They were talking about how terrifying it is. It was petrifying!

St. Paul was in tears, because he knew that in people’s lives,

St. Paul was in tears, pleading with us not to follow after people like that, not to follow after those examples. We have them everywhere in the world we live in, the whole world. You turn on your TV, your radio, (whatever it may be), and it is a world that puts earthly needs and bodily needs far, far above spiritual needs.

If we have done that, (and all of us have at times in our life), there is only one solution. And the solution is to fall on our knees in repentance and run to the cross of Jesus Christ. Run to that cross, because on the cross, is the only place where we can be saved from our sins.

I like how Martin Luther talked about Jesus, when he said,

"Lord Jesus,

You have become what You are not,

and You have made me what I am not."

On the cross Jesus became what He was not. Jesus was holy, perfect, sinless, but on the cross He became what He was not.

He took my sin, my guilt, my shame, (all the things that we talked about earlier, that all of us have committed). He took them as His very own. And there on the cross He bore the entire anger and wrath of God against our sin, and satisfied God’s anger.

"Lord Jesus,

You have become what You are not,

and You have made me what I am not."

I am not holy. I am not perfect. I am not deserving of being in Heaven, but my Savior Jesus, because of what happened on the cross, has made me what I am not.

And, God has declared me forgiven, not guilty, and holy for Christ’s sake! And, scripture promises Heaven is ours only because of what Jesus has done for us and for no other reason – no other reason.

And so, the cross of Jesus Christ should be by far the most important thing in our life. St. Paul says in our scripture reading to be careful that you don’t follow after people who are going to lead you away from the cross of Christ, who live as enemies of the cross, who put earthly things first. St. Paul said, "Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you."

If you want to follow an example, if you want to follow somebody, Paul says, follow him. What did Paul do? Was Paul lifting himself up as some great, huge person? No, he was not doing that. Paul was saying that in his life, in Paul’s life, the most important thing was Jesus Christ and His cross. St. Paul was saying, "I cling to the forgiveness that Jesus won for me. I cling to the eternal salvation that was won on the cross. And there is literally nothing, nothing that compares in significance to clinging to Jesus Christ."

St. Paul said, "I chose to know nothing while I was with you, except Christ and Him crucified."

Jesus Christ is the most important thing and the cross of Jesus Christ. Therefore, that affected Paul’s way of living. St. Paul said, in today’s scripture reading, "But one thing I do, one thing I do," nothing else is near as important as this one thing, "one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

St. Paul said we should follow that example. Make the cross of Jesus Christ, the salvation He won, and the Heaven He won for you, make that your ultimate goal, your number one concern, your number one destiny in life. St. Paul did that, by God’s grace.

Do you know what St. Paul said, when talking about the things of his body, his earthly physical needs? He said, "I beat my body and I bring it into submission, so that after having preached, I myself might not be disqualified for the prize." St. Paul knew that our body could lead our souls away from Christ, if we start to put our concerns of our body before the concerns of our soul. St. Paul was willing to let his body be beaten. He was willing to be shipwrecked. He was willing to be cold. He was willing to be hungry. He was willing to be in need. He was willing to be in want. He was willing, because the cross of Jesus Christ was far more important than all those earthly needs. That is what scripture calls us to.

I was reading last week about a woman who lived in 305 A.D., 305 years after Christ was born. She had a little son who was 3 years old. His name was Cyricus. They lived in a city called Iconium. And the leader of Iconium declared that it was illegal to be a Christian, and you could be put to death for being a Christian.

This woman by the name of Julita, was arrested. They began to torture her, for her faith in Christ. They tortured her with her little 3-year old son, Cyricus standing there, watching what was going on.

They told her, "If you deny Jesus, then we will let you go and we will let you have your son back."

Talk about somebody who had to make a choice. What is more important, the things of this earth, and my own dear little son, or the cross of Jesus Christ?

They began to torture her. Julita cried out, "I am a Christian. I am a Christian."

And little Cyricus began to cry out, "Mama, Mama!"

Think about the torture. What torture that would be, to her ears. But, she continued to cry out, "I am a Christian. I am a Christian."

She was clinging to Jesus Christ and the salvation He won, and the eternal state of her soul was more important than anything on this earth, even her own little son. Then the leader of the city took little Cyricus and tried to comfort him. He began to rub his hand over his hair, while his mother was crying out, "I am a Christian" and she was being tortured.

With that, little Cyricus began to imitate his mother. Little 3-year old Cyricus began to say, "I am a Christian. I am a Christian." He was willing to put Jesus Christ far above any earthly need, even as a little 3-year old.

The leader of the city grew so angry he picked up little Cyricus, hurled him down some stone steps, and fractured his skull. And, little Cyricus died.

Julita, though she was sad, thanked God that her little son was now in Heaven ahead of her.

I could go on and talk about how terribly they tortured her, but it is too gruesome, other than to end it with the fact that they beheaded her. And when they did, her soul went to Heaven to be with Jesus, her Savior.

St. Paul says, "Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you." That is the kind of example to follow – a person who understands that far above any earthly need I have, or want, or desire, and the needs of my body, is my Savior Jesus.

Then St. Paul ends with this awesome thought. He says, "Our citizenship is in Heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies, so that they will be like His glorious body."

A Christian understands that on this earth, my body is but a vile body, it is a lowly body. I could eat steak everyday of the week, and I could wear the best tennis shoes in the world. But, that steak can’t forgive my sins. Those tennis shoes cannot forgive my sins. They cannot earn eternal life for me. This body will still decay. And this body will die. There is something far more important than the needs of this body. And that is Jesus Christ. And on the day He comes back, on the day He comes back, that is when the needs of the body will be ultimately be taken care of. He will change this lowly, vile body so it will be made to be like His glorious body. We will be free from the effects of sin, even in our body. Our Savior will truly, truly set us free. That is the day we long for.

Though thoughtless thousands choose the road

that leads the soul away from God,

this happiness dear Lord be mine,

to live and die

entirely Thine.

Amen.

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