Bloghardt's Reflector

“If now I seek the forgiveness of sins, I do not run to the cross, for I will not find it given there… But I will find in the sacrament or Gospel the word which distributes, presents, offers, and gives to me that forgiveness which was won on the Cross.” (AE 40, 214)

St. John 16:2 - Easter 7 - 2009

They don’t believe, that they have a Heavenly Father that loves them in the giving up of the Son.  So they don’t know the mercy and forgiveness of God which is found only in the suffering and death of Jesus.  So, they lash out at you to destroy that which brings salvation to the world.

And do not be deceived, dear saints of God, there is no understanding or diversity.  There is no - you believe what you believe and we’ll believe what we believe and we’ll just all live together in harmony.

No, your faith is being assaulted, your children are in harm’s way.  You are being targeted and your enemy wants nothing less than your very faith destroyed.  

And the Lord’s words aren’t just for the apostles, who would indeed be tossed from the synagogues and be tortured and killed.  They are for you too!

There are daily examples of this around you.  Today, I’ll just point out this week’s:  This week... another “missing link” was found.  How many missing links have you seen in your life time?  In my short life, they’ve found enough “missing” links to make a giant chain!  

And all of them, trotted out as the final say that God couldn’t create the universe.  That He couldn’t be such a God as to get on His hands and knees and breathe the breath of life into Adam.  

So, why all the “missing” links? Because when it comes to the theory of evolution, the enemies of your faith start with the chain and then fill in the links.

But, you know from your schooling or at least from CSI on television that good science works solely from the evidence and doesn’t let our thoughts effect or shape the evidence.  

Not so in this war.  Good science isn’t what this is about.  The theory must prove that your God didn’t do what He did for you.  So, you start with the idea of what you think happened and then fill in the evidence with “missing links.”

Like that picture that we saw when we were in school that showed a monkey evolving slowly step by step into a man?  From something on all fours to a walking man.  

But, that picture is a fake.  It’s doesn’t have any evidence to support it at all!  Like the one picture that has a little baby in the the womb de-evolving into a lizard.  That’s fake too!

Now, it’s funny to me that baby in the womb is a human being when it’s de-evolving into a lizard, but it’s not a human being, not a life, when we want to slaughter it.  But, that’s a different sermon for Life Sunday.

Here, the evolutions search and search for something to prove the Father wrong.  Every year, the theories change.  Every year, someone adapts in order to try to fit whatever link is found now.  

And rather than believe we have a Heavenly Father, we are given to believe that it all started with a big bang.  As if an explosion, without anyone planning or designing will turn into this universe that you live in.

I was sitting on a plane. I always wear my collar when I travel.  You never know who you will sit next to and what conversations you will have when trapped on a moving tube for a few hours.

So, the person found out I was a Lutheran and said, “You aren’t actually one of those Lutherans who teach that God made the heavens and the earth, are you?  You seem too intelligent to be one of those?”

“Well, yes, I do believe that God made me and all creatures.  I reject the theories of Evolution and the Big Bang.  Those are theories, not fact.  Just theories.  And these theories break the laws of physics - especially the second law of thermodynamics.”  

The “what second law of what?” he said.  I said, “The second law of thermodynamics basically says that all things go from order to disorder.”  

Dear Saints of God, this battle is not faith vs. Science.  Science is a gift from God.  God created the universe.  The battle is between faith and unbelief.  Unbelief’s tool is bad science.

And because of the very puzzled look that I was receiving, I told this guy this story...  I want you all to imagine my two sons cleaning their room.  There is an explosion.  I run in to see them covered in soot and hair standing up.  “Boys, what were you doing?  Why’d you blow up your room?”

“We were trying to clean our room, Dad.  We were trying to make everything clean and tighty by means an explosion, you know, a big bang!”

It doesn’t work that way.  It takes energy to clean up your house.   And even when you do, it doesn’t stay that way.  It takes order to order the disorder.  Then, the disorder comes back and a balance is  created - which is usually a house that you think isn’t clean enough.

It takes intelligence.  It takes order.  It takes energy to create the things around you - to order the stars, the planets, the trees, you and me.  It cannot happen by accident.  That would be like order showing up from disorder.

This is only this week’s example of the battle between the world and your faith.  There is no compremise.  There is no backing down from this challenge, dear Saints of God.  For the world that will accept any faith but your faith which grabs hold of the promises of Jesus.

And since the world’s religion can’t get Father, can’t get the Son, they do you in - with jeers, mocking, and belittling.

And they do their god - whether it be the god of darwin, evolution, self-improvement, and self determination, they do whatever gods they believe in service by silencing you.

Which takes me back to that person sitting next to me on the plane.  We could have talked about thermodynamics for the rest of the flight or creation vs. Evolution.  But that never saved anyone and it wasn’t the issue behind the question.

The question is not did God make me.  They rejected that.  The real question is:  Did the same Jesus who died on the Cross actually rise again?  If He didn’t, then our faith is in vain and it doesn’t matter where we came from or what we do.

But, if the Son of God actually did die and rise again and that death is for us, then His death and life changes everything about our universe.  

It means we have a Father in heaven who loves us.  We have Son who died for us.  And a Spirit that gives us the words to say to confess Him.

It means that all our sins and crimes that we have done against each other have been answered for - not by us finding God, but by God sending His son to save us from our sins.  

And this same Jesus who died for us and rose for us, now sits at the right hand of God.  Which gives this world that we live meaning and a purpose other than living and dying and evolving.  

Christ’s resurrection means that we are here to effect those around with the forgiveness and mercy that He has given to us.  

It means that a smile given to that person next might ripple into a day that is filled with joy for those with them.   After all, Christ died for you and rose for you.  He did that for them too.

It means the love you have each other will last to generation to generation. In your homes, then in your kid’s homes, and their kid’s homes.  Love centered on a Father who gave up His Son for the sins of the world.  Love which, as St. Peter says, will cover a multitude of sins.

It means that our suffering isn’t in vain.  His death and resurrection means that though the enemies of the Gospel blaspheme Him, on our part, by our confession, the Father is glorified.

Find your meaning and purpose in this world in the Gospel, dear friends.  Set all the distractions around you - your phone, your television, the internet down and be serious and fix your ears and the ears of your children on the Word - preached, read, and prayed in your homes and in your church.  

Be attentive to be fed His Body and Blood and be enlivened to live for Him in a world without fear.  

Yes, no fear. For even if they do toss you from your church and kill your in the name of whatever god they serve.  Be of good cheer.  

For blessed are you.  For on that day, you will know that your Father not only made you and all creatures, but He also saved you in the giving up of His Son who died for you and rose for you.  

So, be aware of the war.  But, fear not.  For the One who died actually has risen from the dead.  He lives and reigns to all eternity.  You will too, in Him.  In the name of Jesus. Amen.