FOUNDATIONS FOR PEACE

June 16-18, 2007
Colossians 3:18-21
3rd Sunday after Pentecost
(Father’s Day)
Pastor Don Sutton

Colossians 3:18-21
18) Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19) Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. 20) Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21) Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.

Introduction
Go back a few decades and other than their biological contribution to the conception of children, dads were not cast in a very positive light and considered unimportant in many.

But in more recent times sociologists, psychologists , educators, ministers and society at large is catching on to the fact that dads play an important role in the spiritual, emotional, educational, relational, physical, social, and vocational development and well-being of children. Recent finding are that when they become adults children with good dads on the average enjoy higher levels of spirituality, do better in school, relate better in families, cope better with challenges, and perform better in work. People who study children and their well-being are even concluding that dads generally as important as moms in the lives of children.

But God knew that from the beginning. That’s why he not only entrusted a lot to moms …God Entrusted a Lot to Dads. On this Father’s Day weekend, let’s think about this – God Entrusted a Lot to Dads. This is why God wants dads to be 1) Christ-like Husbands, and, 2) God-like Dads.

Christ-like Husbands
When I was a pastor in Lansing, MI sometimes the Ladies Aid would ask me to do discussion on certain topics, some sensitive. Sometimes my response was, “I won’t touch that with a ten-foot pole.” Maybe I should use the same approach with verse 18. But I’m not saying this. God is.

A) “Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.” In Ephesians 5:21-24 the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write, “21) Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. … 22)Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23) For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24) Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

The first things we note is that every Christian is to submit to every other Christian and carry out the Christian responsibilities we have to one another. The second thing we note is that God has appointed the husband to be “the head” of the wife. The third thing to note is that the “headship” of the husband is to be like the relationship of Christ and his Church. Christ is the servant-leader. He is a loving shepherd. He is not a cold, harsh tyrant. Therefore, the headship of the man is a leadership role where he is responsible for the well-being of his wife and family. Another thing to note is that the submission of a wife to her husband, is basically to respect the leadership role of her husband. Paul summed up his Ephesians 5 section on husband and wives – “…the wife must respect her husband (v.33).” Still another thing to remember is that this doesn’t make a wife inferior to her husband because she is equally loved by God and equally blessed in Jesus. Still another thing is that a wife is not bound to follow her husband’s lead no matter what. There are times that she will need to assert herself and say “no” when something is not good for the family and therefore, not godly. The final thing to note is that a wife’s respect for her husband as leader is to be in the context of her husband loving her.

B) “Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.” For a husband to love his wife is more than just feeling romantic toward her. (Don’t get me wrong and think that romance isn’t important in a marriage. A marriage without romance, in my book, is like a hamburger without pickles, ketchup, onions and mustard.) Again there are the words of Paul to the Ephesians outlining how husbands are to love their wives. “25)Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26) to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27) and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28) In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29) After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30) for we are members of his body… 33) However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself…”

The love of a husband toward his wife is to be sacrificial – he should be willing to die for her if need be. He also should be willing to sacrifice himself in other ways if need be to help his wife to be the best Christian woman she can be. This means that he is going to take his leadership role seriously and look out for the welfare of his wife and family. He will consider them and their needs. Even tough he is a man, he will do his best to gently learn how his wife thinks and feels, and take this into consideration before acting or reacting. He will patiently listen and lovingly not try to fix everything except for those things that are appropriate for him to fix. He will gently share with her his feelings. He will show his appreciation for all that she does by his words of thanks and encouragement.

He will do everything he can to avoid being harsh or bitter toward his wife. Even when she takes it upon herself to clean up his workplace or his desk, and she ends up undoing a tried and true system that he’s been used to forever, he won’t loose his cool and chew her out. He won’t yell at her, curse at her or call her unkind names. He will forgive her, encourage her, and love her like Christ loves him. If in a moment of weakness, he fails, dad will confess, ask mom’s forgiveness, and pray for God’s help

This is what God wants of him. This is what his wife needs from him. But this is also what his children should see in him. After all, his sons are going to school on him because he’s their trainer for being a husband. His daughters are going to school on him, because they are taking lessons on what they should look for in a man and how a man should treat them in a dating or marriage relationship. And also, if dad doesn’t respect mom, why should the kids?

You see, God entrusts a lot to dads. Therefore he wants them to be Christ-like dads. But he also wants them to be….

2. God-like Fathers
A) In verse 20 God through Paul talks about the action of children over against their parents. Children are to obey their parents. “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.” In the 4th Commandment God tells children that they are also to honor their parents. Obedience is to be given so long as children are under the authority of their parents, that is, until they become adults and are on their own. Honor is to be given parents throughout their lifetime and even until the day we children die. This not only pleases parents, it pleases God.

B) But a big help to children in honoring and obeying their parents is when their parents work hard to be godly parents. In respect to dads, a big-help to kids in being good kids is when dad is a God-like Father.
I’m not talking about dad acting like he’s GOD, but trying to exhibit a lot of the characteristics of God.

For example God loves us even though we don’t deserve his love. God is compassionate. God is merciful. He is faithful, gentle, and forgiving. God protects and provides for us. God doesn’t always give us what we want, but what we need. He cares not only for the physical welfare of his children, but also the spiritual. He is concerned not only about time, but also about eternity. He uses tests and trials to help us grow. He doesn’t hesitate to lovingly and appropriately disciple us when need be. To do so is to show love. God is the model Father. God wants dads to strive to be the kind of Father God is to us.

One of the things he warns against is embittering our children. “Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.” Dads can embitter their children on one hand by neglecting them but on the other, by constantly hovering over them. Dad’s can embitter their children by not showing affection with hugs or speaking affectionately with “I Love you’s.” Embittering can result from dads constantly nagging and seldom showing appreciation or giving commendation. A dad can embitter his children by being abusive on one hand and not lovingly, consistently and appropriately disciplining on the other. A dad may eternally embitter his children if he doesn’t teach his children about Jesus and model the importance of Christ in their lives through worship, Bible study, and prayer.

C) As I wrote this sermon I felt a lot of guilt because I could see many failures as a husband and father. Probably most dads here today have recalled failures in being Christ-like husbands and God-like dads. We could easily and justly begin to crucify ourselves. But our Lord Jesus says, “Stop.” Through the apostle Paul he reminds us, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (Gal. 3:13).” Micah reminds us that as a result of Christ, God has hurled our iniquities into the depths of the sea (Micah 7). As Jesus cries out from the cross, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me…(Matt 27:26)” he suffers the forsakenness we deserve so that we don’t have to. We are now at peace with God. So don’t crucify yourself. Forgive yourself. God has.

D) But then do those things that you need to do be the Christ-like husband and God-like Father God wants you to be. Be into God’s word so that God’s Spirit is in you helping you to be the best Christian man you can be. Pray often like Manoah who prayed for guidance in raising his son (Judges 13). Strive to give your kids what they need.

Our kids need dads to take time for them and show affection in word and dead. They need to have dad help them see their gifts and how they might use them. The need to have dad be a good example in home, in church and in the community. They need dad to teach them basic skills for survival and coping. They need guidance and modeling. They need to have dad to confront them when the go astray and hold them accountable. They need dads to comfort them when they have set-backs.

Conclusion
Dads are important. God has entrusted a lot to dads. God expects dads to work hard and promises to be with them and bless them as they do. Moreover, kids themselves appreciate good dads.

A second grade boy once wrote, “My dad is the best dad ever. He taught me how to make a wooden airplane. It was the best plane ever. We are true pals. I would kiss a pig for him.” That’s appreciation!

June 9-11, 2007
Luke 7:1-10
2nd Sunday after Pentecost
Pastor Tim Smith

In the past, God spoke to ou r forefathers through the prophets, at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.

Luke 7:1-10
1 When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2 There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3 The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” 6 So Jesus went with them.
He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” 10 Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well. (NIV)

I recently saw a TV commercial for a movie in which God asks a man in our modern times to build an ark the same way he once commanded Noah – I haven’t seen the movie, but in the punch-line of the commercial, the man’s wife asks him, “What if God meant that there will be a flood of awareness?”

I realize that this was just a joke in a soundbite. But what’s to stop us from reinterpreting the whole Bible along those lines? What’s to stop us from joining hands in unity with so many who have departed from the historic interpretation of the Bible and bring the Bible into our modern culture through a modern lens?

And more to the point, what would your reaction be if I were climb this pulpit and announce some new interpretation of Scripture? And more directly into your own every day life – as we read and meditate on the Word of God in our own homes, how should we answer that most Lutheran of questions: What does this mean?

The story of the Faith of the Centurion gives us several opportunities to look at this question from several different angles. And ever since the earliest Christians listened to the word of God, we have always maintained two truths to be important building blocks for our understanding. The first is acknowledging that what happened in the Bible actually took place in history. The HISTORY of God’s holy word is one of the things that separates the true religion from all others. As the Gospel writer Matthew pointed out: “All this took place.” These things actually happened.

Besides the historical facts of the Bible, we also acknowledge that the words in the Bible, the actual grammar, the nouns and verbs and the other words, actually mean what they say. Just as when I look at the beams of our sanctuary and see that they’re made of wood, and I look into the eyes of my four sons and see that they’re blue, and I listen to my wife’s lovely singing voice and I hear that she’s a soprano, I know that you can look at these beams, or look into my sons’ eyes, or listen to my wife sing, and you, too, will know these same truths: wood, blue, soprano.

And so when we read in the Bible that eight people were saved in the flood by means of an ark, we know that eight actual people were saved in a large boat from the water that came down as rain for 40 days and 40 nights and the great floodwaters of the deep opened.

Now, what about the times when the Bible says that something is a vision or a dream? Then we take it to mean exactly what it says – that what’s being talked about is, in this case, a vision or a dream. But even so, the visions and the dreams in the Bible happened in history exactly as the Bible says they did, and those things mean exactly what the Bible says they mean. So when in the second half of the Book of Revelation a Dragon suddenly appears in what John writes, we let the Bible itself tell us that the Dragon in Revelation is another name for the devil. It means what it says.

And when in our text we read that there was a centurion in Capernaum, we take those words in their historical and grammatical sense: There was a centurion, a soldier in the Roman army who was the highest-ranking non-commissioned officer – the equivalent, perhaps, of a sergeant or a master-sergeant in our own army – who was living or was stationed in Capernaum on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee.

This was a man used to having his orders obeyed. Think of it – when his servant was dying, he asked Jesus to heal the servant, but he told Jesus that the Lord wouldn’t need to go to his home, because he knew the power of the spoken word. When the centurion gave an order, he knew it would be obeyed. That’s power.

What’s more, he knew he wouldn’t have to define everything he said to his subordinates. If he said march to the left, he knew they wouldn’t wonder whether he was talking about the political left. When he said it was time to break camp, he knew they wouldn’t think it was a metaphor for all of them taking some new direction in their lives.

This soldier believed that the power of God was actually present in Jesus Christ. He believed that all Jesus had to do was say the word, and his servant would be healed. Now – that’s power!

I’ve spent time talking about what the Bible means in general to help all of us to better understand how we apply any Bible passage to our own lives. There was a problem among the people that Jesus exposes in this passage – and the problem is not the illness of the servant.

The problem is uncovered in the words Jesus says – and I don’t know whether you noticed, but Jesus only says one thing in this entire passage. He says, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.”

The problem wasn’t in the Centurion or in his household. Jesus used the illness of the servant to teach us about the kind of faith he wants us to have. Jesus used the experience of the Centurion to teach us that when God says a thing, he means it.

From the beginning of Creation, that’s how God has done everything. He says it, he means it, and whatever he says, is.

What does that say about us? What does that say about our faith?

When the Centurion wanted to talk to Jesus, who went for him? The elders of the Jews. This was a man who had so impressed the Jewish leaders with the quality of his life and the sincerity of his belief in their God that they were willing to go to Jesus for him to ask for help. And their opinion of this man gushes over in what they say: “This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.”

What they were looking at was his outside – the things he did for them. He “loves our nation” “he has built our synagogue.” They weren’t looking at his faith at all – or if they were, it was in what his faith had done, or more importantly, what his faith had done for them.

But Jesus was looking inside. And God still looks inside of us. What is there? Is it trust in God’s word? Is it trust in God’s message? Is it confidence that God’s message means what it says and is for our comfort?

June is a time for many weddings and many anniversaries – if you, like my wife and I have an anniversary that’s still six months away then bear with me. Just as husbands and wives need to hear that they love each other on more than just their wedding day and on more than just their anniversary, God understands that we Christians also need to hear about God’s love more than just once in a while.

We need to hear about it in part because our sinful nature likes to chip away at that message of love. The doubt that our sin generates in us wants to point at our outward lives andsay “Hypocrite! How could a Christian act that way!” But God knows about our doubt. God knows about our self-condemntation. But our condemnation has already been obliterated through Jesus.

And this is where we stand in awe, precisely because God says whatg he says and because he means what he has said: Our sins are forgiven in Jesus. One of the Apostles walking with Jesus when this happened later wrote: “Christ died for sins, once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” That’s power.

Jesus shiws us why he came into the world: to forgive sins. “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered” (Ps. 32:1). When God tells us that our sins are forgiven, we can be assured that that’s exactly what he means. They are gone from us “as far as the east is from the west” (Ps. 103:12). That’s power. That’s what its all about. Your sins are forgiven. You are at peace with God.

Amen.