| January 30, 2000 | Accountable to the Prophet | Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Deuteronomy 18:18-19 "I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account."
In the Old Testament lesson we have the wonderful promise of the coming of a great prophet. This was made while Moses was still leading the people of God, probably about 1400 BC. Jesus was the fulfillment of this for he was not just the great prophet, but the greatest. He was the one who had the very words of God in His mouth, for He is true God. He told us everything that God commanded. He told us such things as:
I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 6:35)
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. (John 7:38)
I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. (John 11:25-26)
I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. (John 12:46)
Now that we have the words of this super-prophet before us, we are charged with the duty of sharing them. We are to share them, for anyone who does not listen to the prophet, that is, does not believe in Him as Savior, will be called to account.
Sharing the Good News is our important task. It is also the emphasis of an important project in our Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod called "Tell the Good News About Jesus." In this project, we are to spend three years in preparation, developing skills for reaching out and sharing the Good News and then ten years in making an extra effort at reaching out. It is also called the "3/10 Emphasis" because of the three years preparation and 10 years of extra effort. Our Synod committed to this at the Summer 1998 Synodical Convention, so now we are half way into and half way through the preparation period.
I must confess that I am not sure that you or I have been doing much explicit preparation. This is a shortcoming, even a sin, which I confess to my Father in heaven.
As part of the preparation for this 3/10 Emphasis, our Synod released a new videotape called "Y2Day?" This is a play on the term "Y2K," which was the scare related to the changing of the year to 2000. Remember that? Rather than Y2K, the video is Y2Day? The letter Y, number 2, and the word "day."
This video is asking and answering the question of why ought we share the Gospel with others now, today? Our church has a copy of this video and I invite you to borrow it to watch at home, or we can have a public viewing next Sunday for our Bible Study time.
The video starts by asking what our motivation is for sharing. Each of us needs to see our own state before God. We need to know the wonderful joy of the good news we have received. We, who are miserable sinners have seen the mercies of God in granting us forgiveness and salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, you must experience Christianity firsthand before you can share it. You must come to know Jesus as your personal savior, in order to share Him with others.
Thus you must come to know, first of all, that you are a sinner. Romans 3:23 says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." All of us are needing to be freed from our sins. Then the great light came to take our sins away. Isaiah 9:2 says "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." That light was Jesus Christ, who came and suffered and died so that we might be enlightened, freed from our sins and given the gift of eternal life, all by grace.
This light came to us and now we ask the important question about others, who do not yet have the light. The question comes from Romans 10:13-14: ""Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" How shall those who are in the dark and in the silence hear? How shall they come to know the Good News? Someone must tell them. This is why it is important for you and me as believers to tell others about the good news and do it today!
The video asks the question: Why today is it important that we give increased priority to sharing the Gospel of Jesus with those around us? Why should we raise the priority and lift this task up? The answer is that many people do not know about Jesus and His Good News. They need to know. We want them to be delivered to heaven for eternity also.
Why raise this priority today? It might be the last day for us or for others. It might be the last day for us to share. We do know when the end of this life will come for us, though God knows all things. It could be our last day to share with people. We need to work while it is daylight. It could also be the last day for someone with which we would share the gospel. If they die, they can no longer hear. If they die in unbelief, they are lost forever. This is why it is important to do it today.
We must all admit that we have not been as active in sharing the gospel as we could be. We may perhaps have decided the job belongs to someone else. It's the pastor's job. This is not the case, but rather the job belongs to all who believe, including both pastor and parishioners. We can't use this excuse for the neglect of the assignment our Lord gave us.
In the face of our shortcomings, it is good that we remember our Lord's "long-comings," that is His mercy and grace shone to us. Even our neglect of reaching out and sharing the good news is a sin deserving punishment, however, that very good news we are to share we ourselves need to hear and we need to know it is for us too. We need to know that Christ died for all sins, including our sins of failing to share that gospel. All our sins are forgiven.
Next the video asks: Why today is it important that we find ourselves in Scripture and in prayer, growing spiritually as we do this? This question is answered by the other main excuse people give for not sharing the good news, that they feel they do not know the faith well enough. The solution is, not to avoid sharing, but rather to take the time growing until you do know the faith well enough. Get the training. Be in the Word. Learn the truths you need to share. Request training from your pastor. Study on your own.
The final question on the video is: Why today is it important that we have a strengthened faith in Jesus Christ that we might be truly empowered to share the Good News of Jesus Christ? The answer is that we need the strength. Some will claim the excuse that they are too shy or nervous to share the faith. We feeble, weak humans need strength to share, for we may just be rejected. However, we can know that God will empower us and equip us to share the same gospel message. We also recognize that the Holy Spirit strengthens us for the work we are sent to do, through the Word and Sacrament. Here in our divine services, we are strengthened so that we might share.
The video summarizes -- Why today? 1. We have a God who has earned for us salvation and would have all men to be saved. 2. We have a God who promises to be with us as we witness to His glory and salvation. 3. There are many people who have not yet come to know Jesus and His salvation. And 4. The time is short. We are called upon to do this sharing while it is still day across our world.
Now, I invite each of you to consider what personal sharing you might do with those around you. Share with those who have no church home, but also share with the fellow members of this church. We need to share with each other, even here in this group. We are called to do this so that we might build each other up. We are built up as we are reminded and restored to the understanding that in Christ, all sins vanish. In Jesus, all punishment is taken away. Then eternal life comes as a blessing that never ends. This is the good news we hear from the greatest prophet. This is the message that we are called to hear; the message of grace from our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.