The Friendly Church vs. the Loving Church

“Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” (James 4:4)

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One extremely common truism in American Christianity is that “In order for your church to grow the members must be friendly to visitors.” This is at best a half truth, but as we know – a half truth is a whole lie. What I mean by the “friendly church” is the one that seeks to attract members primarily through their friendliness and not through the Word of God alone. This is not how a church should act. This is how a social club acts.

Holy Scripture never says that we must be friendly above all other considerations. In fact, James shows that “friendship with the world is hatred toward God.” Christ says that we must love our neighbor. Now, you might think that to be friendly is loving, but that is not always true. If a fellow Christian is openly sinning then the “friendly” Church wouldn’t dream of confronting the sinner to call him to repentance. That would seem “unfriendly.” However the loving church wouldn’t hesitate to call the sinner to repentance to save him from destroying himself. Yes, there is the risk that the sinner might become offended and break off the friendship, but it is the nature of love to take that risk in order to save the beloved.

It is no wonder that churches are abandoning their doctrines in order to gain members. They have chosen to be friends with the world rather than followers of Christ. Yes, your social club (I mean, “church”) may grow, but when you seek to gain members by being friendly, you don’t get Christ’s disciples, you get social climbers. The tyranny of filling your church with social climbers is that in order for the institution to continue you must continually keep the social butterflies happy because the minute they aren’t happy they fly off to some other social club more willing or able to slavishly indulge their fleshly desires. In this way the social club (church?) turns their members into idols and spends too much time serving their desires and too little time serving Christ. For the sake of “friendship with the world” many churches would rather be social clubs than call sinners to repentance in order to save their souls.

There are many reasons why church members would rather be friendly than loving, but all of them are sinful. It is much easier to be friendly, but that won’t lead anyone to their salvation in Christ. Loving your neighbor will sometimes make him angry at you. That can’t always be avoided. Sinners often enjoy their sin even when they know it is wrong. The loving Christian is sometimes ridiculed for calling the sinner to repent, even when they do it in the kindest possible way.

This is not to say that the loving church is unfriendly, though sometimes it may be perceived in such a way. The Good Samaritan pictured above would likely be considered friendly, but he was more than that. He not only treated his enemy as a friend, but he did so at considerable personal expense and self-sacrifice. On the other hand, both John the Baptist and Jesus (pictured to the left) lovingly preached God’s Law to unrepentant sinners and were assassinated for their trouble. Neither King Herod nor the Pharisees thought John and Jesus were friendly, but both John and Jesus were willing to die rather than let sinners continue to head toward their destruction unaware. It is likely true that King Herod and many of the Pharisees still continued in their sin to their eternal torment, but others likely repented and found their salvation in Jesus.

Another reason why Christians ought not seek to attract members simply by being friendly is that it is dishonest. Even the best Christians in the best churches are still sinners. There will be conflict and hurt feelings and all sorts of nasty sinful things going on wherever people (i.e. sinners) gather together. The church that intends to cater to the “friendly” crowd must cover up these natural occurrences of sinful human behavior. This is because when we admit we are sinners, even to forgive one another, we admit that we aren’t as good as we would like others to think we are. The loving church, however, deals with sin as if they expect people to sin against one another – even the “best” people! Most often this repentance and forgiveness occurs privately between individuals, but sometimes it must be brought out into the open. It is not unloving to call a sinner to repentance just as it is not unloving to forgive the repentant sinner. In fact, to repent and forgive is exactly why Christ established the church.

The consequences of seeking friendship with the world are also shown in James 4. The people to whom James writes have “quarrels” and “fights” among themselves because their desires are at war within themselves and they seek to indulge their sinful desires rather than control them. James says, “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions.” (v. 2-4) This is the state of “church growth” churches in American Christianity (and elsewhere). Pastors desire the big churches so that they can indulge themselves in a luxurious lifestyle such as big homes, fancy cars, etc. Church members ought to reject this worldliness, but they, too enjoy the prestige of belonging to a large, fancy church rather than something more modest.

James warns us that this will end in conflict. Seeking friendship with the world always results in conflict, though the effects are often not seen for a long time. This does not mean that there isn’t conflict from day one. Whenever false teachers come into a church and preach their lies the true believers will resist. The heretics then use various forms of spiritual violence to intimidate and silence the faithful. The “friendly” heretics often try to persuade the faithful that what they are teaching is indeed God’s Will and that by resisting the changes in doctrine and practice the faithful are resisting progress, and maybe even the “progressive” work of the Holy Spirit Himself. If the faithful stubbornly persist in their resistance (as they often do) then the friendly heretic will denounce their views, and maybe even their persons, publicly. If the faithful cannot persuade the congregation that if they follow the friendly pastor they are like the proverbial lemmings running headlong for the cliffs, then the faithful people will get discouraged or tire of the battle and leave quietly.

It’s hard to love and forgive sinners. That is why most people would rather be friendly. Yet, the power of forgiveness is greater than anything that can be gained by friendliness. It wasn’t easy for Jesus to forgive sinners either. In order for Jesus to forgive us it took Him, the Son of God, to become incarnate as a man, live a perfectly obedient life and it took His suffering and death on the cross. If you think that is easy then just imagine what it takes to kill the Son of God! Yet, the life and death of Jesus shows the greatness of God’s love and how important forgiveness is to Him. Jesus doesn’t ask us to suffer the punishment for our sins – He did that in our place – so that He could save us from that same punishment. Since Jesus did this hard work for us, can’t we forgive one another? It isn’t easy, but Jesus did the hard work, and when we forgive we show that we, too have been forgiven.

Click here to listen to the Issues Etc. Blog of the Week segment from May 28, 2010

Carrying Your Cross

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Matthew 16:24-25

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Remember that when Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me,” the “cross” was not some sanitized, gold-plated piece of fashionable jewelry. The cross was a horrifying symbol of a tortuous, shameful death. So, what Jesus was saying was that to be a Christian is to embrace that which brings you shame and death in this world.

This is a far cry from the idea that to be one of God’s people means peace and prosperity in this world. The Pharisees taught that worldly prosperity was a sign of God’s favor and poverty and disease was a sign of God’s disfavor or even wrath. The present day descendants of the Pharisees still teach these lies, and I’m not only referring to the Jewish descendants of the Pharisees, but also those “christians” who teach the same thing. This teaching* is one of the main reasons why the Pharisees rejected God and conspired to kill Jesus – they were afraid to take up their cross and follow Jesus.

Christians are not afraid to take up their cross because we do not fear death nor shame. We do not seek shame and death, but neither do we seek to save our own lives or seek our own comfort in the face of persecution (except in our sin.) Because of Jesus neither death nor shame has any power over us.

The death and resurrection of Jesus has destroyed the power that death has over those who trust in Him for forgiveness and salvation. Death cannot harm us because even if we die Jesus will raise us up and give us a perfect life which has no end. Likewise, the shame of putting our trust in a savior who was crucified, died, and was buried is completely overwhelmed by Christ’s promise that in the last judgment He will stand upon the earth in all His divine glory and proclaim that all who belong to Him through faith are completely forgiven and blessed forever. When God calls you forgiven and blessed, then all the shame of sin is gone forever, and no one can say anything against you.

* See first comment below.

The Lord is my Shepherd

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Psalm 23:1-6 (KJV)

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Once upon a time, but not so very long ago, the most memorized chapter in the Bible was Psalm 23. It is probably still the most memorized chapter in the Bible, but far fewer Americans know this Psalm than knew it in the recent past. King David’s most famous Shepherd Psalm is still a source of great comfort for faithful Christians in every part of the world, but I don’t think that the “Church Growth” types have much use for it.

The pastor of the largest congregation in the United States, Joel Osteen, seems to have little use for the Bible on the best of days, except as a prop, but Osteen is too caught up in getting his people to follow him like sheep to teach them to follow Christ. Besides, walking “through the valley of the shadow of death” is not Osteen’s idea of “Your best Life Now.” If Osteen started to preach about truly taking up your cross and following Jesus then this message would likely turn away many people who would otherwise come to see the spectacle of his church and he would not be able to enjoy the fabulous lifestyle to which he has become accustomed. Jesus preached this and many people did walk away, but instead of changing the message, Jesus kept preaching to the faithful so that they may be saved.

Likewise, the author of the “Purpose Driven Church,” Rick Warren, is not likely to emphasize Psalm 23 too much because although “becoming more sheep-like” is a valid Christian purpose, I’m sure Warren would not have sold multiple millions of his books if he had tried to teach people to be more like sheep or little children (as Jesus taught). Instead, Warren teaches people to be very much wolf-like, which is the antithesis of the 23rd Psalm and also the rest of Scripture.

It is humbling to view one’s self as a sheep who is totally dependent on a shepherd, even one as gracious as Jesus Christ. Even though it is true for all people on earth, no one likes to admit that they need Jesus the way sheep need a shepherd. This is one reason why the majority of people (worldwide) do not believe in Jesus as their shepherd unto salvation.

I must confess that although from the day I was born I have inherited the surname of Wolf(f), ever since I was baptized into the Christian faith as a baby I have been a little lamb who follows Jesus as my Good Shepherd. However, as a descendant of Adam and Eve (like everyone else) my natural inclination is to rebel against the shepherd and go live among the wolves, yet the Good Shepherd’s “rod and staff” have graciously kept me as a sheep within the flock.

Many people reject Jesus because they are unwilling to humble themselves and submit to Christ as their Shepherd. Christians know that it is much less humiliating to humble yourself now than to wait for Jesus to return in power and glory and humble you as He judges you, saying, “I never knew you.” (Matt. 7:23) Jesus may ask for our trust, but He doesn’t ask for us to suffer and die for our sins as they deserve. Instead, that is what He did for us. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, not because He is so nice He would never send anyone to hell, but because He suffered hell for us as our substitute so that all who believe in Him are forgiven and will never have to endure the hell that He suffered on the cross.

It is only because of what Jesus did for us on the cross that we can look forward to judgment day in faith as David did when he wrote, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”

Is Love Evil?

Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)

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Have you ever heard anyone come right out and say that love is evil? The sentiment is very common in our sinful world, though few people will be so bold as to say it in such crass terms, even if they believe that love is evil. It is much more common for sinful people to simply redefine love as something selfish or self centered, like an adolescent romantic feeling, rather than honestly describe love as evil. I grew up in a Christian family and I have known the blessings of love and forgiveness since infancy, so it is strange to hear people condemn love.

Love is simple to define, though our sinful world goes to great lengths to pretend that love is such a great mystery that even the great poets and philosophers have a hard time expressing in words what love is. The truth is that those whom the world praises as great poets and philosophers are so wickedly narcissistic that they would stubbornly refuse to acknowledge true love, even if God Himself became a man and endured the punishment of death in order to redeem mankind from all its sin. The so-called “great poets” redefine love in self serving ways, but what they describe is not truly love. Simply put, love means caring more for others than for yourself.

Sinners do not acknowledge love for what it is because to do so would show our own lovelessness and selfishness. The selfish person seeks his own pleasure and profit above others, so any action which would benefit others more than himself seems to him to cause personal suffering. This is why he sees love as something evil, because it costs him something or makes him suffer. Because God made man in His image we all know that it is a sin against God to love one’s self more than others. That is why so few who believe love is evil will come right out and say it in such stark terms. In my experience the people are most likely to say that they believe love is evil are militant homosexuals and other narcissists who seek to justify their perversions.

The educated Christian knows that love is a summary of God’s Ten Commandments. How do you do what God commands as good and right? Love. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength, and love your neighbor as you love yourself. How do we do this? “You shall have no other gods… etc.” Love is certainly NOT evil. In fact, true love is the very definition of what is opposite to evil. The Ten Commandments come from God and they define what is good and right and pure and holy in God’s sight. Obeying the Ten Commandments by loving God and loving our neighbor is the exact opposite of evil, even though acting in love toward God and neighbor sometimes may cause us some temporary discomfort. It takes faith to love because as we give to others we must trust that God has given us more than we need and will continue to provide for us as He has promised. The reason we don’t love as we ought is because, in our sin, we don’t trust God as we ought.

The “problem” with love is not with love itself, nor with the Ten Commandments, nor with God. Those who tell you something else are lying. The problem is that we are sinful to the core and are thus condemned by God’s commands and we prefer what is evil over what is good. This is why we have no hope of saving ourselves and must rely on Jesus to redeem us from our wickedness and sin.

Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) Though this definition is true for us, Jesus was primarily talking about Himself. We are guilty of sin in God’s sight and cannot save ourselves, much less save anyone else, but Jesus is holy and the sacrifice of His life, in love, for us saves us all from the punishment we deserve for our disobedience.

In our sin we all desire to be like God, but Jesus IS God, yet He “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but … He humbled Himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6, 8) It was a massive understatement for Jesus to say that He would lay down His life for His friends. The guilt of our sin makes us God’s enemies, not His friends, yet in His love for us God considers us His friends. It was because of God’s love for us that He became a man, obeyed His own law perfectly which we are unwilling and unable to do, and He suffered the punishment of death for our guilt in order to redeem us and forgive us and restore to us eternal life as befits only God’s friends. That is love.

“God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:7-11)

Poor in Spirit

Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)

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John the Baptizer came preaching a message of repentance. All who repented of their sins were washed in the Baptism to prepare them to meet their savior, Jesus Christ. The Pharisees also came to hear John’s message, but only to see what was drawing all the people out into the wilderness. The Pharisees thought that their “good works” were sufficient so they felt no need to repent, and did not. They were not baptized, and were subsequently unprepared to meet their savior when He began His ministry.

When John saw the Pharisees listening to his call for repentance, but refusing to repent of their sins, he proclaimed their wicked unfaithfulness to God, much to their dismay and to the surprise of the people who considered them holy. John said, “Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” (Matthew 3:7), and called them poisonous serpents.

The Pharisees wrongly felt that they were so rich in spirit that they did not need to repent, nor did they need to rely on the mercy of Christ to save them from God’s wrath, so they were unprepared to recognize their savior when He came and stood right in front of their eyes.

Lest you think that John was too harsh on the Pharisees, Jesus also came preaching repentance and He called the Pharisees “sons of hell” (Matthew 23:15) and “hypocrites” and “whitewashed corpses” among other things (Matthew 23:27).

In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) Jesus preached that God gives the kingdom of heaven those who are “poor in spirit.” The “spiritually poor” are those who recognize the poverty of their own spirit to save themselves. They know that they must rely on God’s mercy through Jesus Christ in order to escape God’s wrath over their sin, so they cling to Jesus who brings them to heaven and generously shares with them His eternal heavenly inheritance.

The Pharisees thought themselves “rich in spirit.” They believed that God favored them because they were righteous, holy people who didn’t need to repent of their sins. They rejected Jesus and their salvation because they refused to see how lost they were. This is what Jesus meant when He said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:24) Beware of those modern Pharisees who would explain away this passage as referring to some small, but passable gate in Jerusalem. It was just as impossible for a camel to go through the eye of a sewing needle in ancient times as it is today. Jesus taught that it is impossible for anyone to be saved if he trusts in his own richness of spirit instead of Christ’s works to save him.

Jesus also teaches this in the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. (Luke 18:10-14) In this story the Pharisee brags about himself before God, but his empty prayer falls on deaf ears. The tax collector, however, agonizes over his sin and pleads, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” God hears this honest, faithful prayer and forgives his wickedness. Thus, having been forgiven his sins, the kingdom of heaven is opened to him.

You are not likely to hear the popular preachers of our day telling you to proclaim to God and the world your poverty of spirit or your unworthiness for the blessings of God’s kingdom. Most popular preachers are more like the Pharisees. They tell you that God wants you to be rich and successful in this life. They tell you that the few good things you do please God enough to receive His favor, or if you aren’t good enough yet, you could be with just a little effort on your part. This is why these preachers are so popular and why it is so easy to be a Pharisee. We all want to be rich and successful. We want to believe that God favors us because we are so good, or at least that we are better than the next guy in some way. But this is all wickedness and lies which lead us to trust in ourselves and reject Christ.

The faithful preachers of today are the ones who teach us to emulate Saint Paul who called himself the “chief of sinners.” (1 Timothy 1:15-16) Yes, it goes against all sinful human logic to see how God is going to welcome you into Paradise when you stand before Him and proclaim that you are the worst, wicked sinner who only deserves punishment. But Saint Paul isn’t bragging about his wickedness as if that would save him. He is bragging about Christ’s mercy and forgiveness – that Christ would forgive such a wicked person as Paul and give him the riches of His heavenly kingdom.

It also is contrary to common sense how telling people of the poverty of their spirit would be a successful evangelism tool. It’s true that you are not likely to fill your church or get rich by telling people just how wicked they are, but neither will you save their souls by lying to them and telling them that they are (or could be) so good that they don’t need Christ to save them. It is so easy for preachers to tell the people what they want to hear. The parishioners will be glad to hear of their goodness and will reward the wicked preacher with praise and monetary blessings – at least until that day when they must stand before Jesus and explain why they think they are better than He is. Then these people won’t be so happy with their false pastors and will curse them forever. On the other hand, those people who hear the hard message and believe in Jesus will receive eternal salvation in Christ’s heavenly kingdom.

When Jesus began to teach hard things that the people couldn’t accept He didn’t soften his message to keep them in the congregation. Instead He taught harder things which seemed to only drive more people away. Then, when He saw that His disciples were still with Him, He asked them, “What about you? Don’t you want to leave, too?” Peter answered for the disciples, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:67-68)

The blessings of the Beatitudes do not come because of our worthiness. We poor sinners are blessed because Jesus has redeemed us through His perfect life and His innocent suffering and death. We should not necessarily strive to be poor, meek, persecuted, etc., instead we should only recognize that we are those things simply because we are sinners and would be condemned were it not for the salvation we have in Jesus Christ. Christ is our blessing both now and for eternity, no matter what our state or station in life.

Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews - INRI

Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). Here they crucified him, and with him two others--one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”

Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” (John 19:16-22)

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Why was Jesus crucified? Ultimately it was the will of God, the Father, that Jesus should die as a substitute sacrifice in payment for the sins of all mankind so that we might be saved through faith in Him. However, in bringing this to fulfillment God used the sinfulness of man to bring about man’s salvation from sin. That is just one of many ironies in the death of Jesus.

Neither Pontius Pilate, nor the Jewish leaders had any desire to fulfill God’s plan of salvation. They were all following their own sinful selfish interests.

When they arrested Jesus, the Jewish leaders had already prejudged Jesus as deserving death because the “whole world” was following Him (John 12:19) and they were envious of His authority, power, and popularity (Mark 15:10). Pilate, however, recognized that Jesus was innocent, but let Him be crucified in order to placate the bloodthirsty Jews who were so intent on killing Jesus that they would have started a riot. Killing Jesus was the easy way out for Pilate to keep a semblance of order in Jerusalem.

It seems odd that Jesus and Pilate would speak about kings and kingdoms, except that according to Luke’s account of the Gospel (Luke 23:2) the Pharisees had charged Jesus with subversion saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king.” John (18:30) shows the Pharisees being a little more coy about the guilt of Jesus saying at first to Pilate, “If he were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.”

Pilate must have known that their evidence against Jesus was thin so he responded, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Pharisees, however wanted Jesus crucified as a public spectacle to discourage Christ’s followers from undermining their authority.

Note that the Pharisees tell Pilate that Jesus claims to be “Christ.” It is interesting that they would use this word. The title “Christ” is a Greek word which is a translation of the Hebrew word “Messiah” which means “anointed one.” The Pharisees had to define the word for Pilate (“He claims to be Christ, a king.”) because although it had meaning for them, it had none for Pilate. They knew that Jesus was God not only because of His teaching and miracles, but because God’s chosen Christ was the true King of Israel who would reign forever (Psalm 29:10 “The Lord is enthroned as King forever.”)

It didn’t matter to the Pharisees that Jesus was God Himself in the flesh who would reign as King forever. They only cared about their own power and rule, and if they could kill God then they would take as much pleasure doing it as Friedrich Nietzsche would take proclaiming the deed nineteen centuries later (though Nietzsche made the fatal flaw of forgetting the Resurrection of Jesus).

Jesus engages Pilate in conversation and answers his question, which is somewhat remarkable. When Pilate sends Jesus to Herod for judgment Jesus has absolutely nothing to say to Herod. I take this as a sign that Jesus knew there was hope for Pilate to be saved, and out of love explained to Pilate “My kingdom is not of this world,” (John 18:36) and “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” (John 19:11) It was also out of love for Herod that Jesus did not open His mouth in response to his inquiries. Unlike Pilate, Herod was not interested in the truth. He only wanted to see a miracle. Jesus would not perform on command and so I suppose Herod was unsatisfied, but Jesus did give Herod a miracle in His death and resurrection from the dead, though I suspect that Herod didn’t appreciate that either.

Pontius Pilate was satisfied that even if Jesus was Israel’s King, He was no subversive insurrectionist. Several times Pilate declared that Jesus did not deserve to be crucified. The Pharisees were subversive insurrectionists, however, and not only were they willing to free the murderer Barabbas in order to kill Jesus, but they were beginning to start a riot against Pilate and would have continued had he not given in to their wicked demands to have Jesus crucified. Pilate showed weakness in allowing an innocent man to be killed, but in a way Jesus had already absolved him earlier saying, “the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” Jesus knew it wasn’t Pilate who was to die for the sins of all people.

Pilate, however took the opportunity to condemn the Pharisees a little bit, too. Pilate had a sign posted on the cross above Jesus’ head which read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Pilate had the message written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek so that no one would miss the message. This sign declared the reason this man was condemned to die. As far as Pilate was concerned Jesus was the King of the Jews. The Pharisees had accused Him of being a king, and Jesus had admitted it, too, saying, “You are right in saying I am a king.” (John 18:37) In effect, Pilate was saying, “If you bring this man to me claiming he is a king and insisting he be killed, then look, this is what I think of your king and your legal authority!” That is why the Pharisees objected to the wording of the sign, wanting to change it to say that this man claimed to be king of the Jews. Pilate was angry that they had forced his hand to kill an innocent man and would not change a word, saying, “What I have written, I have written.” (John 19:22)

Now, all this would only be a great injustice except for the fact of who Jesus is and why He died on the cross. As the only Eternal God, Jesus is the eternal King of Israel. Remember why the prophet Samuel was so angry in the Old Testament (1 Samuel 8) when the people asked for a king like the other nations. He recognized that they were rejecting God as their true king. Jesus said, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life–only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” (John 10:17-18) Are the Jews guilty of the murder of Jesus? Yes. Are the Gentiles guilty of the murder of Jesus? Yes. Jesus died for the sins of all people, both Jews and Gentiles. We are all guilty of the death of Jesus, but that is why He came to be born in our flesh. Jesus came to die to pay for the sins of all people, so although we are all guilty in His death, we all may also receive His forgiveness and rejoice in His resurrection.

Jesus did not die for Himself, but neither did He rise for Himself either. He died and rose for us. Jesus overcame death and the grave so that we could receive His forgiveness and also overcome our death and grave to live in Paradise with Him forever. It is important for Christians to understand that Jesus is the “King of the Jews.” Not that there is anything special about the Jews (there isn’t), but because God had chosen the Israelite people as His servants so that through them God would bring salvation for all mankind into the world through them. This He accomplished through Jesus.

The sign “INRI” on the cross is not a condemnation of the Jews (except for those who reject Jesus as God and King), but it is an acknowledgment that God has kept His promises and has brought salvation to all who trust in Jesus to save them from their sins.

50th Anniversary of Emmanuel’s Church Building

On Sunday May 3, 2009 Emmanual Lutheran Church in Dearborn, Michigan celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of our current church building.

On a beautiful Spring day we celebrated with a service of worship of Christ, as we have done as a congregation for the past 114 years. Several choirs added their voices in praise of our Lord, Jesus Christ, as people from the Sunday School, Emmanuel Lutheran Day School, and the Adult Choir used their God-given talents in praise of Christ.

In addition to the musical talents of Kantor Karen Meyer, whose musical skills bless us every week, Emmanuel’s handbell choir and brass choir added music to our worship.

The guest preacher for the service was Rev. Wallace Schulz. Pastor Schulz is a very dynamic speaker, and he gave a beautiful Christ-centered sermon. However, Emmanuel is blessed with two fine preachers who deliver Christ and His salvation to us every week, so I would have been happy to hear either of our pastors.

After worship we gathered for a fellowship meal and heard from the leaders of the congregation and saw a video presentation which chronicled the history of our current church building.

The timing of the celebration was perfect on a number of levels. As I mentioned above it was a beautiful spring day. It was warm enough to open the windows to let in some fresh air, but it was not too hot at all. If you follow the link below you will see many flowers around the church in bloom on the day of the celebration that had dropped their petals and were not blooming at all just one week later!

I was asked to take some photographs of the celebration to chronicle the event in pictures. I have posted 89 of my favorite photos from the celebration which you may find here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Paul.Wolff.4/EmmanuelSanctuary50thAnniversary