Our Savior Lutheran Church

Grace, mercy and peace be to you …

This past week our Golden Oldies organization had the local nationally-famous jockey, Pat Day, as their program speaker.   Did you know that Mr. Day was brought up in Colorado … and confirmed there in a Lutheran Church?

We might think that we could take some pride in that.  But actually, in a lot of ways he is an example of something that is of much concern in our church body.  The fact that Pat Day, for example, didn’t begin to live his faith until he was 30 years old. 

He is just one example of that concern.  We’re going to hear on Lutheran Hour Sunday in a few weeks that this problem of dropping out of the church is not only a concern of our denomination, it’s also phenomena that seen in the church as a whole.  The statistic is 8 out of 10 college students who grew up as Christians … flatly give up going to church.

I met with a recent graduate of Indiana University this week.  There is a Lutheran Church on campus there.  He told me that typically at the start of school there are 40 to 50 Lutheran students in worship … by end of the first quarter that has dropped to about 10.

And this not something that’s just been seen over the past few years.  Back in the day when I was confirmed along with 21 others, by the time we’d gone through high school and we were ready to move on to college, the fraction of my class that was still active and attending church was very, very small. 

Here in our congregation…. we ask this question of all our children at the time of their confirmation:  Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and church and suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it?  And then we prompt the class, not the individuals, but the class, to respond:  I do, by the grace of God..

And yet, of the over 100 children or so we have confirmed over the past ten years the number we can we count who are still active here … or maybe now active in another church body, is embarrassingly small.

So.  What’s happened?  Did God abandon them?   Did they abandon the God?   Didn’t their Baptism followed by Confirmation take??  

Let’s pursue those questions in the context of our Gospel reading for this morning … this account where St. Mark relates how Jesus went and chose His Disciples … calling them to come and follow Him.

There we see four of Jesus’ twelve disciples being called:  Andrew and his brother, Simon Peter along with James and his brother John.   We meet all four of them fully occupied in the secular vocation of fishing … earning a living … putting daily bread on their table.

And then we see that Jesus calls them to follow Him … and what happens?  They just drop what they’re doing … and follow Him. 

Now, we know that this wasn’t Jesus’ first encounter with Andrew and Peter … nor with John for that matter.  And so we can see that the word of God had already been planted in their hearts … and now was the time for that word to be harvested.

And what that looks like … in their case … is a total commitment.  Like getting married … the disciples leave their father and their mother and cleave solely to their master … the bridegroom … Jesus Christ.

Now, wouldn’t it be great that after Baptism and Confirmation that each of our children would have that devotion to our Lord and Master?  After all, by faith they have been called to discipleship, have they not?   So, why do we see the statistics that we do?

Well, it may be because we are assuming that at their confirmation the Lord is calling them the same way that the Lord called Andrew, Peter, James and John like we see in our text.   And that would be a wrong assumption. 

That call we see in our text might apply to some of us that way … but not to all.  A call to faith and discipleship is not necessarily a call to full-time ministry. 

Let’s look at a few verses from Luke, Chapter 3.  In these verses we see John the Baptist Baptizing and telling the crowds: “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance!”

Now, repentance is a word we hear from Jesus’ own lips in our Gospel for this morning … as also Repentance was the heart of Jonah’s message to the Ninevites of old.

And so then, when the crowds were being baptized hear John’s encouragement to produce fruit in keeping with repentance… we hear people in the crowd ask: “What should we do then?”   

And we hear there that John does not tell them to drop their nets, or whatever they were doing and become full-time fishers of men.  He answers them saying:

“The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one with food should do the same.”   And Luke continues:

“Tax collectors also came to be baptized. ‘Teacher,’ they asked, ‘what should we do?’  John’s answer isn’t that they give up their jobs and do something else ... but John says:

“Don’t collect any more than you are required to.”  In other words, “Do your job, but do it honorably.”

And finally some soldiers ask the same question: “And what should we do?”   And John doesn’t tell them to become pacifists but, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”

Notice the major similarity?  No one is asked to leave their vocation and leave their house and home like the four disciples were called do in our Gospel reading.  Those in the crowd were encouraged to be just who they were … and do it in such a way that they brought honor to the God they served … and Whose name they carried.

And so … how do we apply this, then, to ourselves and to our children? 

As you might have guessed … there are two paths.  The Law path and the Gospel path.  The Law says “Do this!”.  The Gospel says:  “Come and see.” 

In the context of what we have been talking about … namely continuing in the faith after Confirmation, The Law says, obey the third commandment  … Thou shalt honor the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  Or, like it or not … respect the Sabbath day by being in worship.

On the other hand … Jesus also says:  “Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” 

You see a difference?   The Law says:  Go to Church, because it’s your duty.   While in the Gospel Jesus says:  “Come unto me and allow me to serve you.”

There is a watershed between those two motivations … even though the end result visibly is somewhat the same … a person is sitting in a pew. 

But which motivation is more effective?   Unfortunately, the Law always is.   “Do this, or else!”

But, as we see, the Law remains effective as long as the “or else” is a viable threat.  The problem is… the “or else” as it was perceived at the age of 13 is not nearly as threatening as it is at the age of 20.

So, let’s check out the other path … the Gospel path … “come unto me … and I will give you rest.”   Guess what?  At the age 18, people tend to be looking to other things beside Jesus to satisfy themselves.

It’s also an age that’s seldom been fully into the depths of despair …nor has it seen the counterfeit nature of the pleasures this world.  Note:  The Prodigal son.

Pat Day didn’t learn those things about the world until he was 30.  By then he had won the prestigious honor of  “Horseman of the Year” two years running … and yet … he knew something was missing in his life. 

And that something was a personal relationship with Jesus that is only offered in the Gospel.   Something that our souls were designed to be filled up with.   You see, because our souls are eternal things, they can’t be filled up by the temporary things of this world, no matter how much of them we may get.

“Come unto me … you who are weary … and I will give you rest.”   There’s something else about that statement we also should consider.

What Jesus is saying to us … is that He’s not like a gas station where you go in and get your tank filled up …  and then go back out only think about Him when our tank runs empty again.

Borrowing from Mr. Day… If you want to get to know your sweetheart (or your spouse)  you don’t meet with him or her for just an hour, one day a week…. do you?    No.  What do you do?  You twitter… you facebook… you text … you e-mail… you go out on a date … you sit down and talk face-to-face  (imagine that!)  You build a relationship.

 That’s the invitation of the Gospel Jesus gives each of us … “Come unto me …”  His Words of love to you are no further than a Bible apt on your smart phone.   His ear is no further from you than you taking  a moment in silent prayer.

Think about this… if we … if our children … had this kind of relationship we’ve been talking about with God in Christ Jesus… a gospel driven relationship … not a do-this-or-else kind of relationship…why would any of us want to put that relationship with Him on the back burner?  

There is one reason.   Because we ARE sinners.  And because we are … we do … do that.   We put our relationship with Him on the back burner.  We put ourselves instead on the front burner … and we think about Jesus only when the sky is falling… maybe.

But the Secret is this:   Once Jesus is in our lives … He never goes away on His own accord … and He never writes us off as a lost cause. 

That’s why when people who have Jesus in their lives … and then go off  and look for love and fulfillment in all the wrong places … they often find themselves truly understanding what that word “repent” means. 

And when they do …  they can’t tell you enough about the difference their new found grace and relationship with Jesus has made in their lives.  And so …

One last thing for this morning…  I sat down with one of our 90-plus year-old members this past week … She looked me straight in the eye and said, “No matter how old you get, you never stop being concerned about your children.”

Hear that, children?  That applies to your Heavenly Father, too.  As you are Jesus’ … His love for You is always front and center.

And so … you want life to the full … through your teen years and beyond?

 Remain in His love… don’t let the Devil get you off the path for which Jesus died … “Come unto me” … He says … “and I will walk with you every day of your life.  And you’ll find the joy of living... “All for Jesus.”

In Him.

Amen.