Proclaim His Glory

2:37 Almighty God, since you have called your church to witness that in Christ you reconciled us to yourself. Grant that by your Holy Spirit we may proclaim the good news of your salvation, that all who hear it may receive the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. I recently heard William Willimon speak. He's Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Christian ministry at Duke University. Dean Willimon asked if we had ever wondered why the pews in churches are bolted down. His answer, they are bolted down because you need to hang on because of what happens in church. You shouldn't leave church the same person who came in. Hang on because what you here will change the story of your life. Every now and then, I get letters complaining that I tell stories in these messages. Life is about the stories of people. Your life is a collection of day in and day out stories that are being put together in one important volume, the story of your life. Yes, of course, we need the Word of God. But face the obvious fact, that Word is filled with the stories of people. And the greatest story of the Bible is that God put skin on. The coming of Jesus Christ is God putting skin on to save you. So hang on. When you go to church, you can expect him to change the story of your life. The story of your life should not be the same as the stuff of your life. By stuff, I mean the things that happen in your life. Going to school, falling in love, getting married, having children, or living a single life. Getting a job, losing a job,

4:47 retiring from a job, being healthy, being sick, having a good marriage, having a troubled marriage, having money, wanting money. These things are the stuff of life. Too often we resign ourselves to whatever happens to us. We shouldn't. The ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus said, men are disturbed not by things that happen, but by their opinions of the things that happen. The stuff that happens in your life should not become the story of your life. Take, for example, Aaron Montgomery Ward. Late last year, newspapers reported that the firm he founded was closing after 128 years in business. You and I would never have heard of wards if Aaron Montgomery Ward thought that the stuff of life was the story.

5:48 Ward was a traveling salesman for a St. Louis dry goods company. He became convinced that he could sell merchandise through the mail. That was as revolutionary in the 19th century as e-commerce has been in ours. Ward used his money, and probably borrowed a good chunk too, to build up an inventory for his new mail-order business. He stored that inventory in a warehouse in Chicago. The year was 1871. Does that year and the mention of Chicago suggest anything to you historians? In 1871, Chicago burned to the ground. Over 17,000 buildings were destroyed, and Aaron Montgomery Ward's inventory went up in smoke. If he had let that become the story of his life, you and I would never have heard of Ward's.

6:50 But Aaron Montgomery Ward started over and pioneered the mail order business. Some stuff in your life is good. Other stuff is bad. The pews are bolted down because God is coming at you to turn your story. There's the key word for this sermon. God is coming at you to turn your stuff into a great story. I chose the word turn for a reason. The more popular word these days is spin, spin city, spin doctors. The word spin suggests an outlook that may not be true. But when God turns the stuff of your life for good, it's real. The turn suggests repentance, which in the languages of the Bible is a turning, a turning away from sin and to God.

7:53 Sin is bad stuff, evil stuff. Sin is breaking God's commands by what we say, think, or do. Sin is all about us because it multiplies. For example, King David coveted his neighbor's wife. Sin multiplies. He committed adultery with her. Sin multiplies. He murdered her husband. Sin is all about us. Sometimes we feel the effects of sin even when we have not committed some specific sin. A person driving according to the rules is hit and killed by a drunk driver. Or you may have perfect health habits, but a debilitating, even fatal disease strikes you through no fault of your own. Ours is a broken, imperfect world. Sin fills our lives with bad stuff.

8:51 But God turns this. That's the great glory of God to us sinners. God's great glory is that he sent his willing son Jesus to the cross to forgive all your sins and to break the power of sin in your life. You can overcome guilty feelings, and you don't have to stay stuck in wrong conduct. And Jesus rose on Easter, replacing despair with real hope and emptying death of its power, offering us life. This Jesus says, Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden with the stuff of life. This Jesus says, The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Jesus is coming at you.

9:46 Not in a bad, threatening way. He didn't come into the world to condemn the world. He's coming at you to take the stuff of your life and turn it into a great story. We know that the word of Christ never returns void, so hang on. That seems unbelievable. And it would be if it weren't for the fact that the words of Jesus are spirit and life. In the good news of Christ, God gives us the faith we need. Like the God who gives it, Christian faith is living and active. Because it is, the power of God in faith enables you to start shaping your own story. As a Christian, you are a story maker, a positive story maker. It's that lemon thing, you know.

10:46 Life gives you a lemon and you turn it into lemonade. Life gives you a stumbling block and you turn it into a stepping stone. Why shouldn't the gospel produce this result, that you shape the stuff of your life into a positive story? I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord in Jeremiah 29 verse 11, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. St. Paul asks in Romans 8 verse 31, The power of God that is active in the gospel of Jesus Christ can take the stuff of your life and turn it into a great story and a real story. No spin here.

11:41 Now, what good is a story if you can't tell it? My daughter Katie called me the other day on her cell phone. She was ecstatic because she had gotten a great sale price on some clothes. That's the way it is for all of us. Everyone has a story to tell. And that's the way it is with people whose lives have been turned around by God. It's like the apostles said, We cannot but help speaking about what we have seen and heard. Acts chapter 4 verse 20. But let me now make one more point using this word, turn. When you and I tell our faith stories, let's make sure that sooner or later we turn the focus away from ourselves and to Jesus Christ. The psalmist said, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake.

12:46 Psalm 115, verse 1. In other words, proclaim his glory, not ours. That problem of getting hung up on our own selves showed up many times in Jesus' conversations with his religious opponents. In John chapter 5, for example, Jesus is talking at. He's not talking with. He's talking at his opponents and telling them that they are wrong not to accept him as the Messiah. You search the scriptures, he said, but not to find the story of me, your Savior. You are religious, he granted them, but your religion is simply a way for you to promote your own glory in the eyes of others. The religion you are practicing has nothing to do with the religion God wants from you.

13:43 You've had John the Baptist, Jesus said. You've seen my miracles, he said, and still it's all about you, isn't it? Here are some of Jesus' exact words from John chapter 5. You diligently study the scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the scriptures that testify about me. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. I do not accept praise from men, but I know you, I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. Again, those words of Jesus to his opponents are from John chapter 5. The fact that you are listening to this program tells me that you are not an opponent of Jesus. However, we Christians can fall into a similar trap, talking about our lives, our Christian walk, and not turning, there's the word again, not turning the focus toward Jesus.

14:54 I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't talk about our own lives. Every merchant knows that a satisfied customer can be most convincing. St. Paul, for example, often wrote about his own experiences. We can do that too, for the incarnation of Jesus Christ is about God changing human stories. And so your story is worth telling. I'm simply saying, don't stop with your story, with your Christian experience. Sooner or later, turn the focus onto the goodness of God in Jesus Christ. It's the word of Christ, not your experience. The word of Christ woven into your story, through which God can come to others. Two years ago, I attended a large gathering of Christian communicators. One of the functions of this gathering was to honor my predecessor on this program, Dr. Oswald Hoffman.

15:59 I've been on this program for 12 years, but many of you can still hear his voice clearly and fondly in your memories. Now it happened that I was walking with Dr. and Mrs. Hoffman to the banquet hall where he was to be honored. As we walked, he asked me how things were going. Fine, I replied, and then added, you know, I've noticed something about this gathering. Oh, what's that? he asked with his unique voice. I've noticed that they talk a lot about the Lord's work that they are doing, but I haven't heard anyone talk simply about the Lord. Is that right? He replied and said nothing more. So much for my observation, I thought.

16:54 Later, Dr. Hoffman was honored and gave a short response. He told a couple of his favorite jokes, and then, guess what? He said nothing, absolutely nothing about the Lord's work, but he spoke wonderfully about Jesus. He got two standing ovations. The place was rocking, not for him, but for the clear presentation of the goodness of God that comes to us in our Savior, Jesus Christ. Of course, we are to search the Scriptures, but we search them for Jesus, for the one who turns the stuff of our lives into the great story of salvation. And yes, it is good to tell our real-life religious stories. God, help more of us to speak the faith that is in us.

17:52 But we are storytellers who strive to turn our listeners to the gospel, proclaim his glory, not ours. That's why we bolt down the pews in church. Amen.

18:23 Dr. Dale Meyer first broadcast in February 2001 by the way you can find this and other previous broadcasts along with lots of other free resources online at our website LutheranHour.org Glory be to you. to God the Father, glory be to God the Son, glory be to God the Spirit, praise Jehovah three in one. Glory, glory, one eternal