Sermon

September 9, 2007
Pentecost 15
Hebrews 13:1-8
Pastor Joel Zank

Jesus Christ Is Always the Same!

(Hebrews 13:1-8)   Keep on loving each other as brothers. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. 3Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. 4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." 6 So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" 7Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

In Christ Jesus who is the same yesterday and today and forever, dear fellow redeemed:

With the start of a new school year, I’m reminded just how much and how quickly we human beings change. The other day I spent a little time with our school’s 8th grade class, students I had in Catechism as 7th graders just last May. If I didn’t any know better, I’d say one or two of them grew an inch taller over summer. And their voices are changing too; their sounding much more like young men and women.  Of course, it’s not just the children who are changing. We all are. Not too long ago I was working on some project or another, when suddenly it dawned on me that the hands I was staring at looked more like my father’s than my own. How and when did that happen? That’s not all! Three years ago my glasses stayed on my head from the time I put them on in the morning until I went to bed at night. Not any more. Something changed. Now I’m forever taking them off to read and, then, wondering where I put them when I need them again.  I’m changing; you are too, every day. That’s true of every person you know with the exception of one, our Lord Jesus. He never changes, not one little bit. Let’s consider what impact this Bible truth has on our lives as we take up our theme: Jesus Christ Is Always the Same! Because this is true, it means that 1) His will never changes; and it means 2) His help never fails.

The Book of Hebrews was first sent as a letter to a group of Jewish Christians who were experiencing a great deal of change in their lives, and from their perspective, none of it was for the better. What was happening? Christianity, a religion once tolerated within the Roman Empire had recently been outlawed. So Christians everywhere were being persecuted – the Hebrews were no exception. Their character was being maligned, their property confiscated, and some among them were being disowned by family and former friends.  As a result, no small number of those Christians were looking for the exit. Some were thinking of abandoning Christ altogether, while others were simply wanting to “blend in” a bit better with the crowd.

You know what I mean by that, don’t you? Sure you do, because we often feel the same way. Let’s face it, some of the things that we Christians have always believed are not very popular in this ever-changing world. For example, behaviors and life-styles that were considered unacceptable, not just by Christians, but by the majority of the population just a generation or two ago, are now embraced with open arms and looked upon as liberating. So where does that leave us Christians? Obviously it leaves us in the minority. It leaves us on the outside looking in, that is, if we haven’t changed our minds about the things we have been taught and have believed.

That hasn’t happened, has it? How can we be sure, unless we go back again and again to the Scripture’s teachings? That is so important because change can be such a gradual thing. My eyesight didn’t suddenly change overnight. It slowly got worse, so slowly, in fact, that I didn’t even notice it was happening, not until I my optometrist asked me if I could read the third line of the eye chart. What had once been so clear to me was now blurred and out of focus.

Today our Great Physician, Jesus, holds an eye chart of sorts before our spiritual eyes and asks, “What do you see? Is this still clear to you? Keep on loving each other as brothers!” Keep on loving each other. Are you remembering that love is the fulfillment of God’s law? To love, is to keep the commandments – all of them. Jesus once said: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ {38} This is the first and greatest commandment. {39} And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' {40} All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40).

At the time Jesus had spoken these words, five thousand years or so had passed since he had first inscribed his law on the hearts of Adam and Eve. In all that time, over all those millennia, the Lord’s will had not changed. Now, two thousand more years have passed, and his command to love still stands, always the same, because he is always the same–yesterday, today and forever.

“Ah,” but we counter, “this is the twenty-first century! It’s a different world out there. We have to be careful and cautious with our love.” Of course we must be careful. The Bible says that God wants us to be shrewd with the life and the gifts he has given us. But I wonder how often we have blurred the line between shrewdness and selfishness and made caution a disguise for our greed? For the answer to that question we need to go back to God’s law. The Lord says to us today: “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. 3Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering” (Hebrews 13:2-3).

The love that our Lord would have us practice, is to reach out far beyond family and friends all the way to strangers, including the outcasts of society–the homeless and the helpless, the prisoners and the abused of our world.  Now are we to understand that by doing so, we might really be helping angels? That is certainly possible. But what would that mean, except that we were making the most of an opportunity to serve God himself! Right? Angels come to us from him. Isn’t this just God’s way of saying that when we show love to the stranger, we’re really showing love to God? This is what God wants, what he demands. In fact at the end of time, on the last day, when Jesus judges those on his left, he’s going to say: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”  Then they will go away to eternal punishment... (Matthew 25:45-46).

It is our Lord’s unchanging will that we be as concerned for our neighbor as we are for our own earthly and eternal well-being. His words prick the conscience, don’t they? They make us think about all those people we otherwise choose to ignore. What is worse, today we learn that our very choice to ignore them breaks God’s law of love and earns us the status of “Hell’s Most Wanted.” We’ve been on the run, fugitives from God’s justice. But here the commandments set a trap for us and we have walked right into it. We’ve been caught. What excuse shall we offer? Shall we tell God, “I’ve had no time to love the strangers of this world because I’ve been giving all my love to those closest to me?” “Really” God says, “and how well has that been going? Before you answer, let me remind you: “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure...” (Hebrews 13:4a).  You who are single and dating, has your love for girlfriend or boyfriend been perfectly pure as God demands. Or has sin convinced you that lust and love are one and the same? Husbands and wives, have you been faithful to the spouse God has given you? Or have you betrayed your marriage partner by giving your thoughts, your feelings, yourself to someone else?

Somewhere along the line, my friends, we’ve gotten the mistaken notion that God has put us in charge of our own lives – that we’re free to think and say and do whatever it is that we believe will make us happy. And as if that lie were not bad enough, we add to it still another: “What makes us happy, makes God happy.” And so in the name of all this happiness, we expect, we demand that God should not just tolerate our sin but even bless it. What a horrible surprise is in store for all who think and live this way, ”...for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral” (Hebrews 13:4b).

Neither the passing of time, nor the opinions of people have any affect on God. He is eternal. He does not change his mind about what is sin or how to punish sinners. Here’s another news flash: It is not up to us to ponder and pursue what we think will make us happy, not in matters of love or money, or anything else for that matter. God determines these things and says so right here: “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have...” (Hebrews 13:5).  Now God’s put his finger on the problem hasn’t he! At the root of all that is sin in me and around me, is a nagging discontentment that always comes from the failure to trust God. Because I refuse to believe that he knows, wants and provides what is best for me, I am constantly shoving him and his law aside and strike out on my own. But my way, your way can only lead to misery, often here on earth, but certainly forever in hell. This is the unchanging truth of God who is always the same.

There is something very sobering, very frightening about having a God who does not change. And yet, at the same time, this truth is so very comforting, for in the end, it proves to be the sinner’s salvation, yours and mine! How can that be? Because the God of absolute justice is at one and the same time, the God of unfailing love!

Today his Word convicts me of selfishness and greed, lust and lovelessness, cowardice and treason. I’m a sinful mess, through and through. So are you. Look at us! We deserve only God’s wrath and punishment, and that is certainly what we would receive, if not for God’s unchanging love.

The very same God who says, “Your iniquities have separated you from [me]” (Isaiah 59:2), has also said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). How can both be true? Both can be and are true in Jesus, our Savior and our Redeemer. It is Jesus, God’s own Son who became our helper when he came to live life here on earth in our place. As your holy Substitute, Jesus was perfect at loving God, neighbor and self every hour of every day. He showed nothing but kindness and compassion to family, friends and strangers, not just during his days here on earth, but still to this day, for still to this day he’s giving you the credit before God for all that he thought, said and did. Through faith his holiness has become your very own, your very own ticket to heaven. For along with that holiness, Jesus has given you something else, full pardon for your sins, all the ones we named today, and the many more we didn’t. This pardon comes, not because Jesus changed his mind about your sin, but because he claimed your sin and was charged before God with your rebellion, with your hate, with your adultery, with your greed, with your unbelief, with all the evil in you,  and, having been found guilty of your wrongs, he paid the price for it in hell. Now our debt is canceled, not a sin remains unpaid! Not a sin! So we say with confidence: "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid” – not afraid of God for he has made me his forgiven child, and certainly not afraid of what society might think of me for holding to God’s will and ways. What can anyone here do to me that will cause any lasting harm? Mock me? Shun me? Kill me? The one who died for us has risen. If the forces of hell could not defeat him, no power on earth can hurt him or us for we belong to him forever.

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