Courage. What’s your take on it? Are you like the Lion in the Wizard of Oz?
Yeh, it’s sad, believe me, Missy; when you’re born to be a sissy
Without the vim and verve.
But I could show my prowess, be a lion not a mou-ess
If I only had the nerve.
Maybe it’s Captain Courageous, flying around some city taking down bad guys. Maybe courage to you are the guys raising the flag on Iwo Jima or the high school student sending in his essay on why Harvard University should accept his application and he writes only five words, “Future Billionaire Harvard Alumni Donor.”
I would put before you today that each of us can show courage without a medal from the Wizard, without a cape or without a pending college application. We can show
Courage Through Christ
1. To say “No” (1-9)
2. To say “Yes” (10-15)
3. No matter what (16-19).
King Asa displays courage in our text for today--a courage each of us can relate to, even though we aren’t royalty. His courage came through Christ and allowed him to say no.
Soon after he and his army had returned in triumph to Jerusalem after their crushing victory over Egyptians, the Holy Spirit moved a prophet to go to King Asa and publicly give him a message. “The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you (2).” Then the prophet gave a summary of the terrible history of Israel up to the time of Asa—nations at war, insecurity, crime, genocide in a complete spiritual vacuum, because people didn’t give a rip for the Word of the Lord. Now comes that Gospel promise. “But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded (7).”
Forsaking the Lord means being forsaken by the Lord. We know that. There were times in our lives when we acted like we were the insurgents, indignant that God had invaded our territory. Underhanded, gossipy, sneaky, deeds under the cover of darkness, and when we were confronted by friends, parents, teachers, the law—we lied. And we suffered. Punishment on earth, loss of friends, losing our driver’s license, but we suffered an even worse punishment in turning our nose up at God’s offer of mercy and forgiveness. Jesus on the cross was just for chumps, for those who couldn’t find ways around things.
When we had dug ourselves into a hole so deep the sun couldn’t even shine on us at noon—really! Remember how miserable we were, how we wasted youthful days, stupid enough to fight our way out of relationships—then God in his grace came to us and forced us to our knees. “I’m sorry. I was a jerk. I have sinned. Forgive me.” And he did. And with that forgiveness came a power, a drive to do better. With that Gospel of Jesus came a spiritual courage. We could say “no.”
“When Asa heard these words and the prophecy, he took courage. He removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns he had captured in the hills of Ephraim. He repaired the altar of the Lord that was in front of the portico of the Lord’s temple (8).”
It was an act of courage for Asa to say no to the false worship gripping his nation. The holy historian calls them detestable idols. We know them as the Baals and Ashoreths, Father Sky and Mother Earth, the sex gods, oops, I should use the respectable term, the fertility cultic deities. They were worshipped with whoppeee. At least in America we’re honest. When our fine citizens want to hang one on or establish a long-term, meaningful relationship with someone for at least a couple of hours, they don’t hide behind religion. Asa did the unthinkable. He didn’t put a tax on love, but he did rip down every structure where people worshipped these disgusting, false gods. He did the same in the new territory he had acquired along his northern border. “If you are going to be my subjects, you are going to worship my God, the one, true God.”
Far from plummeting in the polls, Asa prospered. Remember what the Lord had told him? “I will be with you. Your work will be rewarded.” Judah’s population swelled as God moved believers from the northern kingdom to emigrate and live under good King Asa in Judah.
It is hard to say no. You know that. I know that. Borat knows that. He’s the comic who posed as a foreign journalist from Kazakhstan and made a movie, “Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.” Sometimes he behaved terribly and filmed the Americans awkwardly putting up with him. Sometimes he cajoled Americans to behave terribly, actually singing songs ridiculing and threatening to toss a minority member into a well! Forget peer pressure from a group. Borat was so good he could single-handedly pressure people into doing bad things.
But isn’t saying “no” part of being a Christian? We say “no” to that sinful self that wants everything in the world, but is unwilling to give anything to anyone else. Not you? Ever heard yourself brag about how little you work and how much you get paid? Ever listened to how arguments start between you and the spouse? Always Johnny-on-the-spot to do your homework or chores to make Mom and Dad happy? Golly, we’re not even talking drugs and sex and saving the cheerleader to save the planet. Our God tells us true heroes show true courage every day in the inner struggle between God and evil inside.
We say “no” because we want to say “no.” Jesus said “no” to the temptations of sin that he could lay his perfectly holy life down on the cross. God the Father said “no” to the devil as he was stretching his slimy, rotting claws towards our necks to drag us down to heaven with a shake and a death grip. The Holy Spirit said no to the evil inclination inside us before we became believers and created faith in our hearts. We have heard those saving words and promises of our God. They have changed us. We show courage through Christ to say no and to say yes.
King Asa gets his subjects together at Jerusalem for a lavish religious festival. Thousands of animals brought back as plunder from the war were sacrificed for the festive meals of the people. “They took an oath to the Lord with loud acclamation, with shouting and with trumpets and horns. All Judah rejoiced about the oath because they had sworn it wholeheartedly. They sought God eagerly, and he was found by them. So the Lord gave them rest on every side (14-15).”
Asa took the lead in saying “yes” to the Lord. He led his people in worship. He led his people in an exemplary life led for God.
If there’s one thing I hope the pastors of our WELS churches in Nevada teach people is that you can’t say Christians are a bunch of stuffed shirt, Sad Sacks who starch their underwear. As a group, we love life, have a sense of humor, can identify with the prodigal son and the lost lamb—a must in this town. Christians say “no” to sin, but the life God has given us all is so wonderful we have to say “yes” to it and embrace it.
We say “yes” in taking the lead in worship. It is not kid stuff. It is not just for the women. The original idea behind the liturgy, that order of service we have, is “the people’s work.” It is man’s work. It is noble women’s work. It is thrilling kids’ work to worship God, to raise up prayers for self and others to God, to be highly regarded enough to be permitted to sit and listen to the mystery of God’s love for us in Christ, a mystery hidden from the wise and intelligent, but revealed to us by faith. That’s why in a Lutheran church there is always a striving for a music that people will sing. We can’t be spectators and call it work. That’s why new hymnals come out every 30 years or so, because each generation has its own voice and preferences. And what better example to the kids to stay close to God, to resist those youthful temptations that are so stupid to be life-changing (for the worse) or even worse, life-destroying, what better example can the Old Man give his kids than showing up in church himself, regularly, showing them that the life led with the Lord is a blessed life?
Strengthened by the Gospel found in worship, our faith moves out into the world and rolls its sleeves up in our daily lives. What craven crowds cannot do, the solitary Christian does as they say “Yes” to an outstanding life pursuing the virtues of purity, honesty, charity, generosity. It takes guts to do that, because the unbelieving world will be there, like the gang in High Noon, ready to gun us down next to Gary Cooper. But with the Lord we will be rewarded with a life of godliness and contentment.
We will show courage through Christ no matter what.
And here’s what that no matter what was for Asa. He fired his own grandmother, Maacah, as queen mother because she had been taking the lead in the Baal and Ashteroth worship. He broke down her divine little joint for jollies and publicly hauled to the landfill outside Jerusalem, in the Kidron Valley, and burned it up. How devoted to God do you have to be to take on Granny when she is the festering sore on the spiritual life of the family and nation?
The Bible says with God there is no favoritism. Jesus showed that in his life when he refused to make special accommodation for his family. At one point of his ministry, he was so popular and so many people were coming to him to hear his teachings and be healed, that he and his disciples didn’t even have time to eat or sleep. His brothers decided he was insane and wanted to take charge of him. They even force Mary to go with them as they go to where he is staying, but they can’t get into the house it is so crowded. In the middle of his teaching, somebody says to Jesus, “Your mother and brothers are outside calling for you.” And he says, “Who is my mother and my brother and my sisters?” Then he looked at them. “Whoever keeps my Word, he is my brother and father, she is my sister and mother.”
How devoted to God are we to take on our family when they are going astray? How devoted to God are we to call up a brother or sister in the faith that we haven’t seen in a while in church? How devoted to God are we to look at the man in the mirror every morning and realize he is the first one who’s got to change to make this world a whole lot better?
But we can do it.
I know we can, because we have
Courage Through Christ
1. To say “No” (1-9)
2. To say “Yes” (10-15)
3. No matter what (16-19).
Courage for Christians is not fairy-tale or make-believe super hero stuff. Courage through Christ is as much a part of our daily life as the air we breathe, the bread we eat. It’s as close to us as a prayer, as lasting as a remembered Bible story of Jesus or King Asa.
Rev. Don Pieper is a minister in the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. He has
devoted his life to sharing the Gospel of Christ to all of Gods people. For more
information about the Green Valley Evangelical Lutheran Church visit us at www.gvelc.com or call 702-454-8979 .
Ask for Pastor Don or Pastor Matt.
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