Oct. 1, 2017 – LWML Sunday Text: 2 Timothy 4:1-4
Dear Friends in Christ,
Man, do my ears itch? How about you? Just saying the word “itch” gets us to thinking. You want to scratch somewhere, right now, don’t you? It is like two weekends ago both at Holden’s high school football game and Karson’s college football game where they made an announcement that someone had lost their keys. What did everyone do? Start patting their pockets, checking their purse. I resisted, at least, until a few minutes later.
On this LWML Sunday, to say we have “itching ear” disease is a little like saying President Trump likes to Twitter. Unless you are in a coma, I have just stated the obvious. Let’s hit the disease head on this morning and . . .
“BE READY TO CONFESS”
Brother Timothy and Brother Paul worked as Pastors in a time when this disease was spreading. People were finding church leaders who spoke their language, didn’t call them to account for their sins and changed the truth of the gospel. They needed each other and the early church leaders so that they would be ready to confess.
It is within the framework of the sermon text of today where I could go off on those removing Christ from the public square, those denying God as Creator and the worldly decimators who think they know what a Christian is all about.
But to me that is not the root of the disease. People who say they are Christian cause this cancerous growth. Sure the charlatans of media, academia and Hollywood have their spin, but are they the most dangerous?
As a Pastor of some experience now, people get led away from worship and the church because they start to believe in a different gospel. A gospel that says believe in a higher being and all your problems will be solved – scratch. A teacher that says let me entertain you into believing – scratch. A fellow Christian who stands idly by as you live together before marriage – scratch, scratch. So-called Biblical colleges who teach that yea you were a monkey before becoming a human being – scratch. Worldwide white smoke pontificators who care more about global warming than what Christ did on the cross – scratch, scratch, scratch. Man, do I itch.
Doctrine, the teachings of Scripture, is the only tool for reproving, rebuking, and exhorting. Yet, doctrine must be taught with long-suffering, knowing that people will not always accept what is taught or that acceptance might take a long time.
That last part – it might take along time – is hard for us impatient people. But I encourage. Confess Jesus. Confess the Gospel. Confess the truth. Confess Word and Sacraments. Confess faithfulness in worship. Confess marriage. Confess God as Creator. Sometimes in our pity, we wonder does it make a difference? Recently you know that Toni, Holden, and I went back to the first church I served in Texas. What God allowed me to see in that 30-hour period is that confessing Christ makes a difference even though we may not see it until years later. Confirmands you thought weren’t paying attention, now confessing Jesus in their lives. Little shavers when you left now being leaders in their churches. A young woman with two out of wedlock births now married, husband as elder and involved in their LCMS Church. It does matter what you confess. Stop the itching. God’s Word puts the disease, the devil and the world in remission. It’s His timing, not ours.
The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League knows a little about timing. They decided to form at an odd time in history – 1942. Men were fighting overseas, women were joining the workforce, the challenges were daunting. Yet on July 7 & 8 of that year over 100 women met in Chicago and established the LWML. They probably had the “itching ear” crowd wondering why establish a mission society during a war. They pressed on with their confession of Jesus and the mission of the church. The League has blessed the mission efforts of congregations, districts, and synod in powerful ways. They listened to the truth and have encouraged each other.
Our Lutheran confession has always struggled against the intrusion of false teaching. You can’t have the Law hammer people into the free gift of salvation. From a purely theological insight we have seen that this week. The more you tell someone what to do, the less likely they are to it. You remember childhood, don’t you? We preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified for our sins and raised for our justification. Induced by this Gospel, the Spirit of the Lord leads men and women and children to this healing balm that takes away the itch of the world. I don’t feel the need to scratch, how about you?
In simple words, our faithful God keeps His promises and we pray this Sunday and always that He will enable us to BE READY TO CONFESS.
Amen.