Dear Friends in Christ,<\/p>\n
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In last Sunday\u2019s Gospel Lesson we saw that Jesus divided the twelve disciples into teams of two each.\u00a0 Jesus then sent them out, instructing them, \u201cGo nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus wants the disciples to get some experience proclaiming the Gospel.\u00a0 He has given them signs so that people will know that they are from God.\u00a0 He has given them a specific message to proclaim.\u00a0 They are almost ready.\u00a0 Jesus has just one more thing to teach them before they leave.\u00a0 He wants them to know about the response they will receive after they proclaim the message.<\/p>\n
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The response Jesus tells the disciples to expect SEEMS totally wrong.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t seem to make sense.\u00a0 Jesus warned the disciples with words like, \u201cBrother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name\u2019s sake.\u00a0 This doesn\u2019t seem right.<\/p>\n
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To help you understand why this seems so wrong, let\u2019s take a few moments to imagine other scenarios of extreme need.\u00a0 Imagine a hurricane with a path of destruction that is miles wide.\u00a0 A team shows up with trucks carrying food, shelter, water, clothing, and so forth.\u00a0 The victims of the storm would have nothing but thanks for these kind people.\u00a0 News media would broadcast from the site of the destruction and praise the work of these rescuers.\u00a0 That is what we would expect.<\/p>\n
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Or here is a real historical example.\u00a0 Up until the middle of the twentieth century many of the diseases that we now take in stride meant death or loss of limb.\u00a0 Ear infections would leave people deaf.\u00a0 Pneumonia was fatal.\u00a0 Surgeons would often operate successfully only to have patients die of infection.\u00a0 Then Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin.\u00a0 Two other men, Ernst Boris Chain and Howard Walter Florey read about Fleming\u2019s work and developed ways to mass produce penicillin and make it available to the world at a relatively low price.\u00a0 In 1945, these three men shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.\u00a0 Once again, we see that the world honored them for their achievement.<\/p>\n
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I am sure that most of you know other examples of serious problems that were solved by dedicated teams of people.\u00a0 You can also relate how people responded in gratitude to these solutions.\u00a0 You expect people to be grateful when they have a problem and someone solves it.<\/p>\n
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Now consider the problem that Jesus solves.\u00a0 The order of Baptism in Lutheran Service Book says:<\/p>\n
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We are all conceived and born sinful and are under the power of the devil until Christ claims us as His own. We would be lost forever unless delivered from sin, death, and everlasting condemnation.<\/p>\n
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Did you hear the problem in those words?\u00a0 Lost forever means an eternity of suffering in hell.\u00a0 This is the most serious problem of humanity.<\/p>\n
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Jesus is the solution to the problem of eternal punishment.\u00a0 He is the Savior of all mankind.\u00a0 He is the Son of God who took humanity into Himself so that He could take our place and earn salvation for us.\u00a0 He lived a perfect life and then suffered the eternal punishment we deserved as He hung on a cross for us.\u00a0 In this way, He paid the dreadful price of sin so that we could have salvation for free \u2026 not just cheap, but free.\u00a0 Then He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven.\u00a0 Now He offers His salvation to all people by the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n
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When you hear this, you realize that Jesus makes us aware of our greatest problem and He provides the greatest solution for free.\u00a0 You would think that the entire world would honor Him above all others.\u00a0 That is what you would think, but the reality is just the opposite.<\/p>\n
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This hatred does not make sense to us Christians.\u00a0 After all, we are telling people that Christ has already purchased their salvation with His death on the cross.\u00a0 We are telling them that He gives this salvation to them for free!\u00a0 We are telling them that the Christ has purchased a gift that is worth more than the wealth of all nations and He is giving it away for free.\u00a0 Nevertheless, the proclamation of this gift makes people angry.\u00a0 This just doesn\u2019t make sense.<\/p>\n
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If Jesus had not given us the words of today\u2019s Gospel, sharing the Good News of salvation would be a very confusing activity.\u00a0 It would be easy to think that we were doing something wrong when people did not eagerly desire to receive this gift when we told them about it.\u00a0 It would be easy to think that we were doing something wrong when people actually fought against us and tried to destroy us when all we want to do is tell them about a gift that is more valuable than all the riches contained in the world.\u00a0 You would think that people would fill this building and line up around the block and down the street in order to get this gift, but they don\u2019t.\u00a0 They persecute it instead.\u00a0 Why!<\/p>\n
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Well, there is something fundamentally different about the proclamation of salvation in Jesus Christ.\u00a0 There is a spiritual war going on all around us.\u00a0 While we are proclaiming the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, sin, death, and the devil are fighting a war of lies against that proclamation.\u00a0 They are doing everything within their power to make truth look like a lie and to make lies look like the truth.\u00a0 Although sin, death, and the devil want to enslave us, they present themselves as a way to freedom.\u00a0 Although true freedom is in Christ Jesus, the forces of evil proclaim Christ as restrictive and domineering.\u00a0 The forces of sin, death, and the devil are the ultimate con artists.\u00a0 They pose as friends, but are really deadly enemies.<\/p>\n
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Today\u2019s Gospel is a great comfort for persecuted Christians around the world.\u00a0 It tells us that the opposition of the world is no surprise to God.\u00a0 God is not up in heaven saying, \u201cO My! The world is persecuting My people.\u00a0 Whatever will I do?\u201d No! God knows all about our situation.\u00a0 He understands that the world makes it hard to be a Christian.\u00a0 He understands that His faithful confessors will undergo hard times.\u00a0 As Paul wrote to the Corinthians: [1 Corinthians 1:23] \u201cWe preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Today\u2019s Gospel is one of many places in Scripture that tell us to expect opposition from the world.\u00a0 Today\u2019s Gospel tells us that we are not doing something wrong when the world or even our own family hates us for making a faithful confession of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
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Even with the knowledge that God understands, though, it is still hard to stand firm in the face of criticism.\u00a0 The temptation is always there for us to compromise God\u2019s teachings in order to get along with the world.\u00a0 If the world gets offended because the Bible says that all are sinners, we might be tempted to water down the message of sin \u2013 perhaps even skip it altogether.\u00a0 If the world is offended by the gruesome nature of the cross, we may want to push the cruel torture and the pain of the cross into the background.\u00a0 It is easy to talk about God\u2019s love and forget about His justice.\u00a0 It is easy to talk about Jesus as our buddy and forget about the day when He will come as the judge of all people.\u00a0 We often want to water down the message of God\u2019s Word just a little bit so that the world around us would not give us such a hard time.<\/p>\n
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Jesus warns that this attitude is very dangerous.\u00a0 He said, \u201cDo not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.\u201d The worst thing that this world can do to us is end our physical life.\u00a0 But this world is not all that there is.\u00a0 There is a judge who has the authority and power to send both soul and body to the eternal punishment of hell.\u00a0 It is His teachings that we are watering down when we compromise our confession in order to fare better in this world.\u00a0 It is His name we are blaspheming when we give way, even a little bit, to the doctrines of this world.<\/p>\n
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So, have you stood firm in the faith even in the face of the world\u2019s persecution?\u00a0 Neither have I.\u00a0 I must confess that in spite of my desire to remain faithful to the teachings of God\u2019s Word, I find that I am guilty of compromising my profession of faith.\u00a0 Once again the Law convicts with a standard of perfection that is so high that no mere human could ever keep it.\u00a0 Once again, the Law shows our sin to us and shows us our need for a Savior.<\/p>\n
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That is the reason that the Gospel is so sweet to those who believe.\u00a0 The Gospel proclaims that Jesus is the only one who never compromised God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 He is the only one who remained faithful to His calling.\u00a0 He remained faithful to His calling even when His calling led to the cross.\u00a0 He is the one who paid for our sins \u2013 even our sins of watered down doctrine \u2013 with his death on the cross.\u00a0 He faced not only the persecution of this world, but He also faced the combined guilt of all the sin of this world.\u00a0 Even then He remained faithful.\u00a0 With the victory He won with His death on the cross, He has purchased the forgiveness of sins for all people.<\/p>\n
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Jesus warned the disciples to remain faithful.\u00a0 Even so, the disciples all abandoned Jesus.\u00a0 At one point Peter even denied that He knew Jesus.\u00a0 In spite of their weak confession, Jesus took them all back.<\/p>\n
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The history of the early church tells us of the faithful Apostles.\u00a0 Of the eleven apostles who remained faithful to Jesus, only John the Evangelist died of natural causes.\u00a0 The other ten Apostles died as martyrs to their faith in Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Through the power of the Holy Spirit, they persevered to the end.<\/p>\n
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In spite of our many shortcomings \u2013 in spite of our fear \u2013 in spite of our desire to get along with the world at the expense of Christ\u2019s teachings, the Holy Spirit will continue to keep us in the faith.\u00a0 Just as the Apostles endured to the end by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will one day bring us to a blessed end here on this earth \u2013 only to take us to a blessed eternity in heaven.\u00a0 There we shall wait with all the other believers in Christ until the Last Day when Jesus will return and raise all the dead, and all who believe in Him will live forever with Jesus on a new earth where there is no sin, no sorrow, and no persecution.\u00a0 For we shall live in that place forever because Jesus has forgiven all our sins. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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