St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church

Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Pentecost 5 June 16 & 19, 2005 Matthew 10:24-33

“A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household! So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown before my Father in heaven.”

Dear children of our Heavenly Father, precious in His sight for Jesus’ sake:

Today is Father’s Day. I did some research—the top suggestions for Father’s Day gifts. There is a hammock from the Pottery Barn! It’s for relaxing—extra wide—canvas and wood on a metal stand. Cost? $329! That’s not cheap! There’s a double locket key ring. It’s got places for 2 pretty little pictures—that you look at—every time you pick up your keys. There’s a 22 piece stainless steel grilling out tools. There’s a monster spatula—with a serrated cutting edge that can cut through the thickest slab of beef—and a bottle opener. Or—I had never heard of this—a monogrammed steaks and chops brand. You send in your initials—and they make this 11 ½ inch branding iron—that you heat up—and then brand your steaks—tssssssssssss! How cool is that? Earthly physical gifts are nice. But far more precious than anything you can buy at the Pottery Barn—are the spiritual blessings that we have through the Gospel. This Father’s Day weekend—we pray:

God Bless Our Fathers!

1. Make them more like Jesus
2. Make them respect their Heavenly Father
3. Make them missionaries

With Jesus’ permission this is the 5^th of what will be 27 weeks in a row—from now until Thanksgiving—when we will read from the Gospel of the tax collector Matthew. Remember last Sunday—Matthew—chapter 9—When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Jesus sent the apostles to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’” Jesus said, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” It will be exceedingly ugly. Jesus said, “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved…” If you could be put to death—literally lose your life for the sake of the Gospel—you would have to decide pretty quickly just what kind of a Christian you are! If you could be beaten and battered—bloodied and bruised for simply coming to Church—how determined would we be to worship? If we have air conditioning and padded pews and ample parking—how can we skip church—to mow our lawns and water our flowers? How can we skip Church to be at the head of the line at Perkins or Applebee’s or Windwood or Settler’s Bay for brunch?

It would be tempting for Jesus’ disciples to think—hey, wait a minute! I don’t deserve to be pounded for the sake of the Gospel! Before they could raise such foolish objections—before they could begin to complain and whine—Jesus said, “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher and the servant like his master.” It would not be right for us to expect to be treated better than Jesus was treated. When you read the Gospels you see how Jesus was hated—ridiculed—baited and tempted—tortured and abused and finally crucified. If that’s how sinful people inspired by the devil abused the Son of God—then we ought not be surprised—when people try to hurt us. We need to be very careful—but we don’t need to be afraid.

So do not be afraid of them. The Bible says, “Don’t be scared!”—all the time! Remember the Christmas account? “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid…” Luke 2:8,9 Literally stop being afraid. I know you are sore afraid—but you don’t need to be. “For behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord!” That first Easter morning--There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid…” again literally stop being afraid. I know you are scared but again you don’t need to be—“for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.” Here Jesus said—“So do not be afraid of them…” Jesus is saying don’t even start—don’t even begin to be afraid of them. “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.” Remember the man named Allen—from Northern Wisconsin—murdered in July 1998? His body was found—his bones were found a year and a half later—in a forest in North Carolina! Who would have thought a hunting dog would find a wedding ring—with little initials engraved in it—a thousand miles from home? Earthly courts may fail. But there is no sin—no matter how sneaky we think we are—that escapes Jesus! What Jesus said in private—the night he was betrayed—in the dark—in the night—is announced all around the world. Jesus said, “I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come back and take you to be with me—that you also may be where I am. You know the way—because Jesus is the Way! So-“do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your father…so don’t be afraid!” Jesus keeps us safe! Did you hear about the Marine jet that crashed down in Arizona? This Harrier jet—one of those jets that can take off—straight up—crashed! A plane that costs more than $23.5 million dollars. It had four 500 lb. bombs and some 300 rounds of 25 mm bullets. It crashed into somebody’s back yard. Guess how many people got killed? None! The bombs didn’t explode. The bullets went off—a bunch of them—but nobody was killed! They evacuated 1,300 homes—but nobody was killed! One person was injured—the newspapers didn’t know who—or how badly they were injured—but Jesus knows! That’s how Jesus takes care of us! We have nothing—absolutely nothing to fear—even if a plane full of bombs crashes in our backyard—we don’t need to be afraid!

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Do you know how many hairs the average person has on their head? About 100,000. That’s a lot of little hairs. When you get to be a little grandpa little hairs grow in your ears, too! When you get older your hairs can turn grey and silver and white. You can pay a few dollars and have your hairs almost any color you want—the whole hair or just the tips or you can have streaks called highlights. Some people are very concerned about their hair. They spend lots of time making sure their hair is just the way they want it to be. Some people just put on a baseball cap—and who cares? The fact is—nobody cares more about your hair than Jesus. Jesus knows exactly how many hairs there are on your head. He knows how many fell out when you shampooed this morning—how many broke when you brushed your hair—how many new little hairs started to grow today. Jesus knows. If Jesus is that careful about your hair—don’t you think he knows all about our real concerns? If Jesus is looking out for our hair—then won’t he take care of our soul—and the lives and souls of the people we love? If Jesus is taking care of our loved ones—and he is—then we don’t need to worry about anything!

Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. Did you hear about the missionaries in India—who were telling people there about Jesus? Six of them were beaten and battered and bruised and bloodied. One of them was beaten so savagely—he may actually lose his arms and his legs! Around Christmas time a few years ago—an Australian missionary and his two sons—were all killed—all murdered—because they were trying to tell people about Jesus! Imagine losing your limbs or losing your life—for confessing Jesus! The question we need to ask ourselves is—what have we done to acknowledge Jesus? Out in the real world—working in factories or restaurants or stores how do we acknowledge Jesus? Working to repair and rebuild cars or appliances—working to build homes—plumbing and wiring and hammering and painting—how do we acknowledge Jesus? Do we acknowledge Jesus in our home? Do we say our meal prayers as a family? Do we ever say that we are racing and chasing too much? Do we ever say that all the lessons and all the sports camps and all the things that we do—to the point that everyone is stressed and people are shouting at each other—because we are trying to go 4 directions at the same time—that maybe we are trying to do too much? When you hear things on TV or the radio that are just plain wrong—do we do anything about it? When people in Florida are starved and dehydrated to death—and we are told again and again—they were allowed to die—to die with dignity—are we bothered? Do we become calloused when we hear over and over again—that taking a helpless person’s life is somehow an act of compassion? Do we begin to think that choice and privacy are justification for making sinful even murderous choices—that privacy is justification for doing murderous evil? To acknowledge Jesus before people means to speak the truth in love—from hearts informed by the Gospel! If we are embarrassed and ashamed of Jesus what will he say about us on Judgment Day?

What to get your father for Father’s Day? One suggestion is a box of steaks—fillet mignon—each steak with a thick slab of bacon wrapped around it. That sounds good! Or you can get him a voice activated remote control. You use the remote like a microphone. You don’t have to read the little letters beside the tiny buttons. You just say the word and the TV or VCR or DVD or cable box do what you tell them to do. That would be neat, too. Or the movie night gift. It’s a popcorn bowl filled with popcorn, flavored popcorn salt, soda, caramel candies, red licorice, chocolate covered raisins and Milk Duds! That sounds pretty neat, too. But again—what our fathers need is far more precious than anything you can order over the Internet. What they need is the priceless treasures to be found in God’s Word! And when they read God’s Word they will be Fathers that are the spiritual head of their household—loving and protecting and building up the mom. Loving and protecting and nurturing the children. Making our nation strong—in the fear of the LORD! What all the men in our nation need is God’s Word—to make them spiritually strong—until we see Jesus face to face. Amen!