Sermon Audio

You know it’s coming, and there’s nothing you can do about it. You’ve dealt with the pain for far too long, and nothing you’ve done has been able to settle it. It’s time to have it taken care of. The appointment was made, and good for you it is same-day. You arrive, are ushered to the back. There’s a pinch. Your breath-rate increases as you hear it; the whine of the drill. Finally, the cavity is being filled. It’s agonizing and unpleasant, but you know the end result will be good; in a little while, the pain will be gone, and you will be able return to normal oral activity.

Jesus said, “But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.” He wasn’t talking about having a cavity filled at the dentist, but what He was talking about is agonizing and unpleasant. And what He warned the disciples about, and by extension, us, will happen and does happen. “They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.”

History is replete with stories of Christians being persecuted and killed because they simply believed and expressed a faith in Jesus; of being persecuted and killed because they dared to say that Jesus is the only way to salvation. And those stories detail not only persecution and murder on the part of unbelievers, but on the part of those who purport to be Christian, even who claim to believe the same thing as those whom they persecuted and killed. “They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.”

The times have changed, but the history of being a Christian has changed little. Persecution still happens, as do killings, even in our “more civilized” times and society. Even within our own Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, as pastors rightly trained and ordained, take a stand on solid doctrine and sound practice are “fired” (though they are never really hired) for their clear and Biblical confession. You are witnesses of this, as you have rescued me from the Lutheran purgatory known as CRM, in which I found myself after standing firm on Biblical and Lutheran doctrine and practice, most especially closed communion, even against my former district, district president, and his cronies—and I thank God for you and your indulgence. Still, there are many who face the same battles I once have, and many more who have gone through it who are still in CRM limbo, have left the ministry altogether, or have taken their own lives as a result of the sheer emotional, psychological, and even physical pain that enduring (and losing) such battles puts them and their families through.

Yet, this is the kind of thing Jesus said would happen. “They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.” Let us pray for those who have been put out for standing on the truth.

Lord, have mercy. Amen.
Almighty and everlasting God, the consolation of the sorrowful and the strength of the weak, may the prayers of those who in any tribulation or distress cry to Thee graciously come before Thee, so that in every situation they may recognize and receive Thy gracious comfort, help, and peace; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

This is not an affliction solely of the clergy, however. Even faithful laymen today face discrimination, persecution, and even death for standing upon the truth. Those who stand with the “fired” pastor suddenly find themselves without a church; “If they asked him to leave for teaching what I believe, do I have a place among them?” But there are a few who find themselves in places where the truth has been abandoned who find themselves ostracized for speaking the Scriptures in those places over and against what the pastor is preaching and teaching. If they are in any kind of position of authority in those places, they find themselves squeezed out and recalled. They are shunned by the liberal majority in those places, even excluded from regular activity of the congregation. Rarely will they hear it outright, but they are being told that they are not welcome in that place—they are silently, passive-aggressively being thrown out of that place.

Yet, this is the kind of thing Jesus said would happen. “They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.” Let us pray for those who have been put out for standing on the truth.

Lord, have mercy. Amen.
Almighty and most merciful God, in this earthly life we endure sufferings and death before we enter into eternal glory. Grant us grace at all times to subject ourselves to Thy holy will and to continue steadfast in the true faith to the end of our lives that we may know the peace and joy of the blessed hope of the resurrection of the dead and of the glory of the world to come; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

The sad thing we learn about this kind of persecution and killing from within is that they firmly believe they are doing God’s work. They will cite all kinds of regulations and by-laws that make it seem like they are right. They will quote from the Scriptures to make it seem like what they are doing is God-pleasing, twisting and perverting it in the process.

What I find most striking, is that there seems to be a push among those within who stand against the truth and sound doctrine and practice to make the church into something more appealing and likable to the world outside the church. They’ll use words and phrases like contemporary, purpose-driven, seeker-driven, and seeker-sensitive to describe their work. It all has an air of legitimacy and sounds very salutary, but it’s not Jesus-driven, it rarely mentions Jesus and the Gospel (those are offensive, after all...even the Scriptures say so), and it runs contrary to what Jesus said about the world and the church:

If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:18-19)

And should you point this out to them, you will be called out-of-touch, old-fashioned, unloving, hateful, and generally be vilified for it.

Yet, this is the kind of thing Jesus said would happen. “They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.” It all makes the drill at the dentist seem that much more pleasant. Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.

Jesus has had mercy. He said, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.” The world hated Him, too, to the point of death. He was vilified by His own people so that He was executed as a common Roman criminal, crucified between two thieves. But, He was no common criminal; Jesus was the sinless Son of God, whom the Father gave as a propitiation for the sins of the world, that includes you, and that includes those who hate you. That last part may be a bit difficult to take in, but Jesus died as much for those who love Him as for those who hate Him. He is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, because He is the God who made and loved all. Therefore, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) This is the mercy of God, that the sacrifice of the Jesus covers all sins, even our hatred, and His resurrection is our resurrection from the dead to life everlasting where there is no tear, no fear, no hatred, no persecution, no sin.

For now, though, we have the Helper sent of Jesus, who comes and reminds us of His Word wherein He tells us that the world hates us because it hated Him. The Helper testifies of Jesus, crucified, risen, and ascended—given for you. He lifts us up in times of sorrow and persecution so that we can stand up in it confident in the promise of God given in Christ Jesus to come again and take us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven. (cf. Small Catechism, Lord’s Prayer, 7th Petition)

“But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble.” That’s the temptation, isn’t it. When those times of persecution come, when we are cast out from the synagogues, to stumble. This isn’t merely tripping over a bump in the road, but a falling away from the faith. You know that the world will hate you as it hated Jesus, you know that men will see their hatred of the truth as God’s work, and you know the promises of God to take you from this valley of sorrow on the last day, but you’re so easily surprised when the persecution and hatred happen—as one who has God’s favor in Christ, you are wont to expect better treatment from the world, but you hate that cross to the point that when it comes, you doubt God’s unfailing love.

These things do not mean that God does not love you. Precisely the opposite, however—these things happen because you are chosen of God in Christ, and because you bear Jesus upon your brow and heart, being marked as one redeemed by Christ the crucified, the world hates you. You will be persecuted, some even to the point of death. Take courage, though:

The Word they still shall let remain / Nor any thanks have for it; / [Christ’s] by our side upon the plain / With His good gifts and Spirit. / And take they our life / Goods, fame, child, and wife, / Let these all be gone, / They yet have nothing won; / The Kingdom ours remaineth. (A Mighty Fortress is Our God, stz. 4)

Let persecution and hatred from the world serve as a reminder that you are joined to Christ by Holy Baptism. You are His and He is yours, through life to death and into life everlasting.

Persecution and hatred is coming, indeed is come. Jesus promised it, and we, all our lives, see it and live it. But Jesus promised more. Salvation is coming. Jesus promised it:

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:51-57)

This promise is yours and for all who are of the Baptized and believe, far and near. For you are members of His Church, you are His, and He has forgiven you for all of your sins.