church

INI
First Midweek Lenten Services
February 18, 2010
Ascension Lutheran Church, Tacoma WA
Paul Naumann, Pastor

Lenten Shadow and Light:
"TWO FALLEN DISCIPLES"
Matthew 26:74-75, 27:3-5

Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. The two texts that we'll consider this evening are
both found in the Gospel of Matthew; chapter 26, verses 74 through 75; and
chapter 27, verses three through five, as follows:

"Then [Peter] began to curse and swear, saying, 'I do not know the man!' And
immediately a rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who
had said to him, 'Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.' Then
he went out and wept bitterly."

"Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was
remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and
elders, saying, 'I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.' And they said, 'What
is that to us You see to it!' Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the
temple and departed, and went and hanged himself." So far our texts.

In the Name of Christ Jesus, at the foot of whose cross we have once again
gathered to worship, Dear Fellow-Redeemed,

By now you've had a good look at this year's Lenten worship folder - did you
notice anything strange about it? On the top of page two it says that this year's
seasonal theme is, "Lenten Shadow and Light." That obviously tells you that
we're going to be talking about differences - because what could be more
different than darkness and light? But then you look at the themes for each
midweek service, and they don't seem like differences at all - more like
similarities! "Two Masters of Israel," "Two Romans," "Two Malefactors"...or
tonight's sermon theme: "Two Fallen Disciples." You'd think that, if we were
sticking with Lenten Shadow and Light, the theme should be: "Two Disciples -
One Who Fell, and One Who Didn't!" But that's not our theme. Tonight we're
going to look at two disciples who each fell into a terrible sin. Where the
difference comes is in what happened to them after they fell! Let's use the
magnifying glass of God's Word to examine Peter and Judas, as we contrast:

"TWO FALLEN DISCIPLES"
I. Sin drove them both to despair
II. One turned toward the cross –
one turned away!

Do you know any people, personally, who are identical twins? Two of my best
friends when I was growing up in Milwaukee were twins. Their names were
Randy and Danny. They had the same influences in their life - same home, same
parents, same friends, even the same teachers. But just because they grew up in
the same environment doesn't mean they grew up the same! We moved away
from there when I was a sophomore in High School, but a couple of years ago I
found out what happened to my two friends. Danny grew up, got married, and
settled down in the same suburb where I used to live. Randy was involved in
the armed robbery of a gas station, and went to the state penitentiary.

The disciples Peter and Judas had a lot in common. In a way, you could almost
call them twins. Both were followers of Jesus for a period of three years. Both
had seen Jesus' power demonstrated over and over again - turning water into
wine, healing people of incurable diseases, calming storms with a single word.
Both had been carefully taught Jesus' message that He was the promised
Messiah, come to offer all men the forgiveness of sins. During the dark hours of
Jesus' passion, both Peter and Judas were tempted to betray their Master. Jesus
even warned them both about the coming temptation! He said to Peter, "Simon,
Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat." Luke
22:31. "Assuredly, I say to you that today, even this night, before the rooster
crows twice, you will deny me three times." Mark 14:31. As for Judas, Jesus
said, "'Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me...' Then Judas, who
was betraying Him, answered and said, 'Rabbi, is it I?' Jesus said to him, 'You
have said it.'" Matt 26:21, 25.

But the similarity doesn't end there. Because both Peter and Judas gave in to
that temptation! Peter, warming his hands by a fire in the courtyard of the High
Priest, swore up and down to the people there that he didn't even know who
Jesus was. Judas made a deal with the Jewish elders, for 30 pieces of silver, to
lead them to Jesus so that He could be arrested. And he carried out that deal,
betraying Jesus with a kiss.

Two of the blackest sins in the history of mankind. Both men realized what
they had done, and were sorry for their sins. Peter, after his terrible denial, went
out from the court of the High Priest and cried bitter tears of regret. How did
Judas feel about the bargain he had made? Our text says, "...Seeing that Jesus
was condemned, Judas was remorseful..."

Sin drove them both to bitter despair. And isn't that the same thing that
happens to us, over and over again? We, too, have been taught to know Who
Jesus is. If I asked any one of you, you'd say, "He's the Son of God, our Savior."
We know how He wants us to live - each one of us knows the Ten
Commandments. We even have the same warnings from Jesus about the
temptation to break those commandments, and deny our Savior: "Watch and
pray," Jesus tells us in tonight’s Passion History reading, "lest you enter into
temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Matt 26:41.

And yet, despite all the warnings, we stumble. Just like Peter did; just like
Judas did. We fail, again and again, to keep God's commandments, to be true to
our Redeemer. Day after day, our sins confront us, and plunge us into despair.
Satan taps us on the shoulder and whispers, "See? You've failed again. You
don't deserve God's love - a sinner like you deserves nothing but hell!" And the
worst part about it is...he's right! We don't deserve God's love! And now we
reach the turning point. When your sins burden your heart, and plunge you into
the depths of despair, how will you answer the accusations of the devil? Here is
where we see the real contrast between the two disciples in our text, because
one of them turned TOWARD the cross, and one of them turned AWAY!

Have you ever cried, actually cried, because you were sorry for a sin you had
committed against God? If you're like me, one of the sins you have to confess is
that you're not even as sorry about them as you should be! Well, Peter didn't
have that problem. He was so ashamed and disgusted with himself that he
broke down and wept bitter tears. He was helpless in his sin. Where could he go
for relief? Who could he turn to for help in this dark hour? Peter knew the
answer. Jesus had once asked him, "'Do you also want to go away?' ...Peter
answered Him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the
living God.'" John 6:67-69. Peter looked to Jesus for forgiveness. Even now, his
Savior was suffering humiliation and torture at the hands of the Romans. Soon
He would be led away down the dark road to Calvary, to the agony of the cross.
Peter saw the drama unfolding, and in the desperate darkness of his own sin, he
looked away from himself. He looked toward that cross. And there he found
forgiveness! The days were coming, after His resurrection, when Jesus would
gently restore his beloved disciple, giving him the assignment, "Feed my sheep."
The days were coming when that forgiven disciple would write these words of
sheer joy, recorded in his first epistle, "Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again
to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." I Pet
1:3.

Peter turned toward the cross, and was forgiven. Judas turned away. Unlike
Peter, he saw no way out of his dilemma. Oh, he tried to fix it! He went back to
the elders, and tried to give back the money he'd been paid to betray Jesus,
saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." But it didn't work. They
said, "What is that to us? You see to it!" He was trapped. Condemned by his
conscience and tortured by regret for what he had done. There was a way out
for Judas, too - that same cross of Jesus held enough forgiveness to cover even
his black crime. The forgiveness was there, but Judas turned his back on it. He
looked away from the cross. He just wouldn't believe that Jesus could forgive
his sin. "Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed,
and went and hanged himself." Judas is in hell tonight, because he looked away
from the cross, instead of toward it!

What is the purpose of Lent? Why do we spend six weeks concentrating on the
grisly suffering and death of Jesus? It's to get us looking in the right
direction...toward the cross! It's so we'll have something to say to the devil
when he whispers, "You're a damned sinner!" You reply, "Yes, I am a sinner -
but a forgiven sinner, not a damned one!" The cross of Christ is the payment for
our sins, and His resurrection is the proof that that payment was enough. John
says, in his first epistle, "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all
sin." I John 1:7. From all sin! No matter what your conscience accuses you of,
no matter how terrible your sin, Jesus' blood washes you clean. The message of
Lent - the message of the cross, is an invitation to step out of the shadows and
into the light of God's grace. What a weight is lifted off your shoulders by that
grace! What a freedom you feel! And Jesus Himself said, "If the Son makes you
free, you shall be free indeed." John 8:36.

I once heard a pastor compare the life of faith to balancing a yardstick. Have
you ever tried to balance a yardstick straight up on your hand? It's not too hard
to do, if you keep watching the top of the yardstick and adjusting for the
direction it leans. But if you look down at your hand, it will fall immediately!
During this season of Lent, let's keep all eyes on the cross. If we look to
ourselves, and our own righteousness, we will fall immediately. But if we keep
looking steadily at the cross of Christ, we'll be safe in the forgiveness that it
stands for. God grant that we may look always and only to the cross of Christ
for our salvation. In His name we ask it, AMEN.