church

INI
The Second Sunday In Advent
December 5, 2010
Ascension Lutheran Church, Tacoma WA
Paul Naumann, Pastor

The Blessings of an UNOFFENDED FAITH
Matthew 11:2-6

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Our text today is found in the eleventh chapter of Matthew's Gospel, beginning
with the second verse, as follows:

And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of
his disciples 3 and said to Him, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for
another?" 4 Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things
which you hear and see: 5 "The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are
cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel
preached to them. 6 "And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”
Here ends our text.

In the name of Christ Jesus, who came once and is coming again, Dear Fellow
Redeemed,

When was the last time you felt really offended? Can you remember? Maybe it
was when somebody you knew said something critical of you to your face.
Maybe it was when a friend of yours unexpectedly used some foul language in
your presence. Maybe you can remember being offended by something you saw
recently on television. I was surprised this past week to hear how many people
were offended by a high school football referee at the state football
championships. A Tumwater player scored a touchdown, after which he briefly
kneeled in the end zone and then pointed up to heaven. As he was trotting back
to the sidelines the referee threw a flag and penalized him 15 yards for
“excessive celebration,” the penalty to be assessed on the ensuing kickoff. It got
a lot of national media attention. Obviously there were a lot of people who
were offended – not by the action of the football player, but by the action of the
referee!

When something fails to meet our expectations, when it’s worse than we
expect, or less than we expect, we're offended. We're turned off by it. This can
be a good thing, because of course there are a lot of things in today's world that
should offend us, that should make us turn away in rejection and disgust! But
our text for today describes the opposite extreme. In this section of His Word,
God warns us against the very real danger of being offended by Christ. Sound
impossible? It happens, though. Millions of people in our world are turning
away from their Savior; rejecting Him, because He's not what they want, or not
what they expect. At this Christmas season especially, it's obvious that very few
people understand who Christ really is, or what He really came to do. Our Lord
wants to help us avoid that trap. In the words of our theme, He wants us to
know:

The Blessings of an UNOFFENDED FAITH

I. It's free of false expectations
II. It's founded on the faithful Word

John the Baptist and his disciples were certainly the last people you'd expect to
be "offended by Christ" - to turn away from, or reject the Lord Jesus. As we will
hear this Wednesday evening, John recognized Jesus as the Savior even before
he was born. As an unborn child, he leapt in his mother Elizabeth's womb at
the greeting of Mary. As a young man, John was the one who preached in the
wilderness of Judea, telling people to repent and get ready for the coming
Messiah. When Jesus began His ministry, John pointed Him out to his disciples
and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world!" Jn
1:29. There wasn't any question - Jesus was the promised Messiah.

But time passed, and not much seemed to be happening. The Romans
continued to control Israel. Those hypocrites, the chief priests and Pharisees,
continued their religious stranglehold on the people. Many people were
following Jesus, but many more were ignoring Him, or laughing at Him. John (or
John’s disciples) may have begun to wonder, "What kind of Messiah is this?
Why doesn't He take over? Why doesn't he call down fire and brimstone on the
heads of the unrepentant Jews?"

Then things got even worse for the Baptist. One day he criticized King Herod
for committing adultery with his brother Phillip's wife, and the next thing he
knew he was in prison. That certainly was unexpected. Imagine, the Forerunner
of Christ thrown into jail! John the Baptist had a lot of time to think, sitting in
that prison cell day after lonely day. John may have had doubts. More likely,
though, it was John’s disciples who had doubts about Jesus, rather than John
himself. After all, Jesus once said, Of men born of women, there is none greater
than John the Baptist. It may well have been concern for his disciples that
prompted John to send them, with their questions, to Jesus. Our text says he
sent two of his disciples 3 and said to Him, "Are You the Coming One, or do
we look for another?" Perhaps they had let their false expectations about the
Messiah run away with him, and the result was doubt. Possibly they were on the
verge of being offended by Jesus; almost ready to turn away from Him -- and to
look for somebody else.

Jesus said, blessed is he who is not offended because of Me. Now, you may be
thinking to yourself: that's one thing I certainly don't have to worry about - I
could never be offended by Jesus. I could never turn away from my Savior.
--But be careful! The Apostle Peter said the same thing, remember? Peter
answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of you,
yet will I never be offended. Mat 26:33. And still, a few hours later when the
Romans came to arrest Jesus, he took to his heels just like the rest of the
disciples. And later, when the maid in the courtyard of the High Priest
recognized him, Peter swore up and down he didn't even know who Jesus was.

An unoffended faith is free of false expectations about yourself -- and about
your Savior. If you think Christ came so that you won't have any trouble or
sorrow in life, you're going to be disappointed. In point of fact, the Bible tells us
that a confessing Christian will find more trouble in this life, not less! Paul says,
"We must through many tribulations enter into the kingdom of God." Acts
14:22. Regardless of what the TV evangelists may tell you, Jesus didn't come to
make you a financial success. Regardless of what the preachers of the social
gospel say, Jesus didn't come primarily to stamp out hunger in the inner city, or
bring an end to the hostilities in the Middle East. Don't get sucked into the
dreams of modern-day preachers who think that the Gospel will one day make
war obsolete - that Christianity will eventually convince all men to love one
another and melt down all their guns into flower pots. It's not going to happen!
That's not the kind of peace our Savior came to bring. Jesus said, Think not that
I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. Mat
10:34.

Why did our Savior come to earth on that first Christmas Eve two thousand
years ago? If Christmas is really going to mean something to us, that's a question
we have to be able to answer. And if we want to have the blessings of an
unoffended faith, there's only one place to find that answer: the Bible! Because,
in the final analysis, our faith isn't founded on man's wisdom, and it isn't
founded on our own expectations of Who the Messiah should be, or what he
should do for us. An unoffended faith is founded on the faithful Word of God!

I have a weakness for the spy genre in modern literature, and I was always
fascinated by how the secret agents would set up meetings with each other.
They'd usually meet in crowded public places, so one guy would give the other
clues so that he could recognize him when the time came. Like this: "I'll be
sitting on a the park bench reading an old issue of Time magazine," or, "I'll be
strolling on the boardwalk with a rolled-up newspaper under my arm and a pink
carnation in my lapel." And that's interesting, because you know God did
something quite similar! All through the Old Testament, God gave clues about
how the Savior could be recognized when He came - what He'd be doing, and
how He'd be doing it. Isaiah predicted, Behold, your God will come with
vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you. Then the
eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing. Isa
35:4-6.

When the Messiah arrives, God was saying, this is how you'll know Him. He'll
have compassion on the poor people. He'll perform marvelous miracles. He'll
demonstrate His divine power by curing people of impossible health problems
like blindness and leprosy. He'll even raise the dead back to life (how could
anybody miss a clue like that?!) Well, these were exactly the things Jesus was
doing. In fact, the parallel account in Luke tells us that In that same hour he
cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many
that were blind he gave sight. Luke 7:21. He was fulfilling those Old Testament
prophesies right before the eyes of John's disciples!

John knew all about those Bible prophesies, of course. He knew what to look
for. He’d made the identification. But perhaps his disciples had forgotten the
signs. So when John the Baptist sent them to Jesus -- Jesus sent them back to
their Bible. Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 5 "The blind
see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are
raised up and - the most important identifying mark of them all - the poor have
the gospel preached to them.

Here was the real reason the Savior came to earth -- to bring the Gospel to
poor sinners. To bestow the riches of God's grace on the spiritually bankrupt,
like you and me. To deliver to you the Christmas Good News that all is not
lost. Yes, your sins are great! No, there isn't a single speck of goodness within
you that would merit God's favor. Yes, one one-thousandth of your sinfulness
would be enough to damn you to hell for eternity! NEVERTHELESS, Christ
came to rescue you! NOTWITHSTANDING ALL THAT, God's incredible
plan of salvation has been carried out for your benefit! All your sins have been
laid on Him! In Isaiah 53 we read, Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried
our sorrows... But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for
our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes
we are healed. Here was Jesus' answer to John’s disciples: "You can be sure I'm
the Messiah because I'm making that prophesy come true - I'm bringing the
Good News of forgiveness to poor sinners."

The testimony of God's Word is the best and only foundation for our faith.
"The Scriptures cannot be broken," Jesus said, "And these are they which
testify of Me." Our Lord's answer to John’s disciples is the same answer He
gives to your doubts and fears. Go back to your Bible; you won't be "offended"
by the Savior you find there! How could we turn away from a Savior who
comes, not as a awesome, intimidating King, but as a lowly Child in a manger?
Who could reject a Savior who comes, not to rebuke and to punish, but to
forgive and to heal? He comes, not to demand righteousness from you, but to
give righteousness to you! In our sermon of a couple of Sundays ago we heard
our Savior say, "Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek
and lowly of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls." Isn't that what we're
all looking for? Who could say no to that?!

-- I can't. And I don't think you can, either. Let's rejoice in this season of
Advent, the season of the coming of our Lord. Let's not be burdened with other
people's homemade ideas of what the Savior should be. Let’s listen to the Bible.
For it is God’s Word that tells us who Jesus truly is, and the wonderful things
He's done for us. Through that Good News, God gives us more than "a merry
Christmas and a happy new year" -- He gives us the permanent blessings of an
UNOFFENDED FAITH. In Jesus' name, AMEN.