Don't Just Talk About Grace... Experience It...NOW!

Sermon - Oct. 5, 2008

Prayer -

Heavenly Father, we are thankful that we can gather in Your house this day and we thank you for the complete and total forgiveness that You have given us. We thank You that we are forever reconciled to You, that we can approach You, and that we can have a relationship with You. Thank You, Lord, that you care about us, and that you speak to us. And now, Lord, as You speak to us through Your words in the Bible, may Your Holy Spirit accompany Your words, may they give us wisdom and understanding so that we may know what You have to say to us this day.   And we pray this in Jesus’ Name. Amen

Scripture Readings -

Our first reading is very important particularly in view of what’s happening to our country. It seems like every week there’s another disaster. It’s so important, according to God’s Word that in times of economic problems, and Habakkuk is dealing with economic problems, people see us worshiping and praising the Lord because that will lead people to Jesus Christ.

First Reading – Habakkuk 3:17-18  Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

  Our second reading parallels the Gospel Lesson. God always keeps His analogies very straight; vineyards always refer to God’s people, the believers. God is usually the owner of the vineyard and we are the tenants, the workers in the vineyard. The point of this parable in Isaiah is that God wants his people, you and me, to produce fruit.

Second Reading   – Isaiah 5:1-7  I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed: I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.” The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

Jesus adds something more to the Isaiah reading. He tells us how the owner of the vineyard sent his son to help the people to collect fruit. This parable tells how Jesus was rejected.

Gospel – Matthew 21:33-43  “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son’, he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end”, they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.” Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone the builders rejected as become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’. Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.”

Sermon –

It’s been a wicked two weeks in this country, hasn’t it? The stock market has crashed repeatedly, there are failures of companies that the American people have counted on, there’s environmental problems, energy problems, the war, terrorism, the elections – all this stuff is happening. And when we look at all these things, we wonder what in the world is going on. However, all these problems are not the biggest problem we face. The biggest problem we face is a problem that no one is talking about; it’s a problem that separates us from God, it’s a problem that - and these are not my words, they’re God’s words – will have people spending eternity in hell separated from God.

I really became aware of this problem when I was on vacation a couple of weeks ago. Remember that God speak to us in several ways - through the Bible, through prayer, through other Christians and through circumstances in life.  I want to pass along to you a scenario that happened time and time again while I was on vacation where I felt God was speaking to me. You know how it is when you are on vacation; you meet other people and start talking. People would ask me where I was from and I told them, “New Hampshire”. Then they would ask me what I did in New Hampshire and I said that I was Pastor of a Lutheran Church. At which time they would say, “Oh, that’s so important. We go to church every Sunday, we have the kids in Sunday School, we’re active doing various things in the church, we go to denomination x, y, or z.” Then they would say, “You’re Lutheran, what’s the difference between the Lutheran Church and our church?”

If anyone ever asks you that question, don’t try to tell them what they believe in their church because chances are you will be wrong. So I said “In the Lutheran Church we believe that the Bible is the God’s Word, His revelation to us. And we believe that the Bible says we all have fallen short of what God expects of us. We believe that God has provided a solution for us - He came to us in Jesus Christ, who died on the Cross, who paid for all our sins and who rose from the dead. And we believe that if you believe in Him, you are then reconciled to God, you have God’s favor and help in your life, even through the most difficult circumstances; and you will have eternity in heaven.” And I pointed out Romans 3:21-24 that tells us we are saved by faith, not the works of the law. And people would frown and said “Boy I have a real problem with what you just said. I think that if I’m good, God will love me and I think that if I’m good, then God will take me to heaven.” And this conversation didn’t just happen two or three times, it happened over and over and over again.

This is the real danger our country faces, this is the real threat to every man, woman and child in the United States and the world. We have people living separated from God and they don’t even know it, they think they are ok with God; they think their good works are going to buy God’s favor. But the Bible says just the opposite. If we understand that, now our readings from today begin to make sense. God is pretty demanding here, right? He says, “I want fruit!” And part of what He means by “fruit” is the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. He wants that fruit because it will produce more fruit. When we have the Fruit of the Spirit amidst all the troubles, the energy problems, and the economic crises in the world, people will be lead to Jesus Christ. They are going to ask you, “With all these things going on, how can you have hope?” and you can lead them to Jesus Christ.

We can’t get the word out unless we bear fruit for the Lord and God uses crises to lead people to Jesus Christ, to be saved by faith in Him.. That’s why God is so demanding in our readings – He wants fruit! There’s a whole world facing disaster and no one is addressing it, no one is talking about it, and people are going to perish in hell. We are to make disciples of all nations, Matthew Chapter 28, and tell others, Luke 24. After Jesus rose from the dead his disciples asked him “What’s the plan?” And Jesus said, “That repentance and forgiveness of sins be preached in His name to all nations.” That’s the plan. We have to get the word out, it’s vitally important. There are people in your neighborhood and in my neighborhood dying every day, people who will spend eternity in hell because they think that if they are good enough, they’ll get into heaven. That’s the big threat! That’s the big lie! God wants fruit and we have to get the word out!

So, let’s see how well we’re doing. I have a self-evaluation tool here and it’s scary. Let’s fill it out; you won’t like the first part but you’ll like the second part.

Self Evaluation Tool

Purpose:

To better evaluate the fruit we have given to God according the Matthew 21.

1)      So far this season I’ve told _____ people that Jesus is their Savior.

2)      So far this season I’ve given _____ person(s) testimonies giving glory to God for what He has done for me.

3)      God and others are _____ seeing the Fruit of the Spirit in my life.

____ Never      ____ Sometimes         ____ Always

4)      I’m _____ quick to forgive others.

____ Never      ____ Sometimes         ____ Always

5)      I _____ practice the Four Promises of Forgiveness, ie, I will not dwell on it, I will not talk about it, I will not hold it against the person, I will treat it like it never happened.

____ Never      ____ Sometimes         ____ Always

6)      In difficulties I _____ worship and praise God according to Habakkuk 3:17 &18 (our first reading).

____ Never      ____ Sometimes         ____ Always

That’s our self evaluation tool. How are we doing at giving God His fruit? Could it be better, could we have more testimonies, could we be sharing the gospel with more people?…Always!

So what’s the solution to this? Is God going to scare the pants off of us by saying, “Unless you shape up and hit your quota, you’re out of the Kingdom?”  No, He’s going to do something that will change us around. If we are going to be leaders and lead people to Christ, there are four steps that we need to do, four things have to occur. These thoughts are from Andy Stanley. If you’re going to lead, 1) You have to have passion; if you’re bored about the message, you’re not going to succeed. Look at the political candidates; they have passion when they speak. 2) You need motivation, something to motivate you. 3) You need direction so that this is #1 on your priority list, not 10^th! and 4) You need purpose; your purpose needs to be the same as God’s purpose – to save souls!

So how is God going to work these four things in us? You will see how He will work those things in us, how you can experience the greatness of God in the next minute. Take your self evaluation tool and answer like this: 

1)      I’ve told so many people that I can’t keep track of them that Jesus is their Savior

2)    I’ve given so many people that I can’t keep track of them testimonies giving glory to God for what he has done for me.

3)    God and others are always seeing the Fruit of the Spirit in my life.

4)    I’m always quick to forgive others.

5)    I always practice the Four Promises of Forgiveness.

6)    In difficulties I always worship and praise God according to Habakkuk 3:17 &18.

This is how God looks at you! Remember you are saved, not by your good works; you are saved through faith in Christ! And what does faith in Christ get you? It gets you Christ’s perfection!! Jesus did these things perfectly all the time and because of your faith in Christ, God is looking at you right now as perfect! – holy! – acceptable! God is looking at you as though you have done these things all the time, and you always will do them! That’s how He looks at you. Isn’t that exciting? Isn’t that good news? That’s the passion, that’s the motivation, that’s the direction to make this a priority in our lives; so that we will tell others, “Look at what God has done for me! In the sight of God, I’m perfect, I’m holy, I’m acceptable! And He has done the same thing for you!” This gives us purpose. Experiencing the grace of God is what we need to get the word out, to solve this country’s biggest problem. And when people come to Christ, all those other problems will be taken care of. That’s why God wants fruit.

It’s interesting how God places certain situations in our lives to illustrate what He wants us to learn. Since I have become so incredibly elderly, I now get the AARP magazine every month in the mail. An article in this month’s magazine was titled, “Find Purpose, Live Longer”. The article says that when you have purpose, when you have passion, when you’re motivated, when you have direction, when you’re doing something, studies have shown statistically that you live longer, you’re happier and healthier. And, guess what? God has given us purpose – He wants fruit! Spread the Good News, save souls – it makes life worth living!

And now all of a sudden the disastrous two weeks we’ve had in this country begin to make sense according to God’s plan. You don’t have to get shook up about it; you can look at every failure, every economic disaster, every bad leader we have, every energy crisis, every stock market crash, differently. God is making your job and my job easier because people are asking, “What’s going on in this country? Where’s God in this? What’s God’s plan?” You can say, “Read 2 Samuel 14:14, God allows things to happen to lead people to Christ, to save souls. That’s His grace, He’s pulling the rug out from under people, and He’s shaking everything up so that people can’t trust in the things of this world anymore, so that they trust in God.”  God’s plan is that people trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior and all the disasters in the world are there to lead people to Him.

Nevertheless we have to live through it. We have to live through the stock market crashing, we have to live through the energy crisis, we have to live through the war on terrorism, and all that is no fun! But – did Jesus go to the Cross for you, did He die a gruesome death, did He pay for all your sins, did He plant the Holy Spirit in you, did He prepare a mansion in Heaven for you only to desert you in your time of need? Did He do that? Of course not! He is going to be there and He will carry you through. That’s why, as Romans Chapter 8 tells us, “In all things in all things we are more than conquers through Christ who loved us.” You are more than a conquer because you are a part of God’s plan and you fit into the scheme to bring people the message: Saved by faith in Jesus Christ. God will be with you.

Jesus said Matthew 7, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on the day the Lord returns, ‘Lord, Lord, did not we prophesy in your name, and in your name drive our demons, and perform many miracles?” People, like the people I met on vacation who said, “We were in church every Sunday, we had the kids in Sunday School, we served on the counsel, we did all this stuff for you.” believe they are saved by their good works.   To that Jesus says in verse 23, “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (verse 23).   Jesus says, “Away – you didn’t know Me, you missed the point of the Cross. I paid for your sins, receive it by faith.”   God wants fruit!

God has given us purpose; He has given us the job of getting the message out. We could solve every problem in this country, but unless people know Jesus Christ as Savior it’s all worthless. As Jesus said in Matthew 16:26, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?”

Prayer –