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In the name of Jesus, amen.
To brothers and sisters in Christ, with Jesus of Nazareth standing right before him,
I can see Pontius Pilate immediately snapping back with the words,
What is truth? What is truth?
Our Lord Jesus had just answered the previous question where he was asked,
So, you are a king?
For Jesus had said, you say that I’m a king for this purpose I was born and for this purpose
I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth.
Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.
This is what we see in this morning’s readings which actually permeate all through the Holy
Scriptures.
It is the word colliding with the world about what is truth and who defines it.
There are only two possible answers to the question concerning life and death, everything
between and beyond, and all the visible and in the invisible, and one is true and the
other is a lie.
there is the absolute truth which is of God, and the other is defined and
determined by man for self.” This is the word colliding with the world. In the
Old Testament lesson, we see God calling Amos. He was a herdsman and a dresser of
sycamore figs. His home was Tekoa. It was a small town just south of Bethlehem.
And now, in our text, God sends Amos to the northern kingdom to bear witness to the truth.
As Amos says, there is God’s plumb line.
And the hearers in that place, in their wickedness of their false worship, hardened hearts, their
injustice for others, were not in line with God.
They were not in line with God’s Word.
You can sort of say they were off kilter.
They were in line with the ways of the world, in their beliefs, and in their practices.
Now in chapter 5, through his messenger Amos, God is calling the people to seek the Lord
and live.
Through these words, God was giving them the ability to return and to cling, to reveal
truth of his commands and his promises that has been proclaimed through the
generations through the forefathers. In the present state of the absence of true
faith in life, Amos speaks judgment to the people and he includes their
attitudes toward him and toward others who speak the truth. He writes, they hate
him who reproves in the gate. They abhor him who speaks the truth. Therefore you
trampled on the poor and extracted taxes on grain from him. You have built houses
of human stone, but you shall not dwell in them. And you have planted pleasant
vineyards, but you shall not drink wine from them.” Amos’ message had reached the
ears of the leadership of the religious and the secular authorities. Amaziah the
high priest and Jeroboam the second the king and they were not pleased with him
for Amos had spoken words such as Jeroboam shall die by the sword and
Israel must go into exile away from the land. Amaziah told Amos to return to
Judah. In other words, go home. And when you go home, take your words with you.
They rejected the prophecies, God’s word through the mouthpiece of, God’s mouthpiece
Amos. They denied the word of truth, the opportunity to take root in their midst,
for they had chosen to dwell in a self-determined ungodly life which they
called their own truth, which was not truth at all. It was a lie. But Amos, he
stood firm. Even though there was no worldly benefit for him speaking this
word of truth in this place, his vocation was caring for animals and he worked in
the orchards. But God called him to go north and he gave him the words to speak
the people. Finally, Amos foretold what would happen to Jeroboam in his kingdom.
Because they had rejected God in his word of truth, he will bring destruction
upon Israel. In their hearing, God made a promise through his messenger Amos, there
will be in the future, after his judgment upon this people, he will save and
preserve a remnant, a small portion from the people in exile and he will bring
them back into the land that he had given to their forefathers. What happens
to Amos? Nothing is recorded in the Scriptures. One of the traditions is that
Amaziah has killed him and Amos’ body was taken and buried in Judah. Now we turn
to the gospel. We see another story of the Word collashing with the world. God
called John the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth to stand in the wilderness of
Judea near the Jordan River to bear witness of the truth of God’s Word
revealed to him. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The wait is over.
The promised Messiah is in their midst to defeat their enemies and to usher in
his kingdom. John addressed their unbelief. John addressed their false
worship. John addressed their wicked lifestyles and the scriptures say that
the people were coming from Jerusalem and from all Judea in all the regions
about the Jordan and they were going out to him and they were baptized by him in
the Jordan River confessing their sins. John was even calling out groups like
the Pharisees and the Sadducees saying, you brood of vipers, who warned you to
flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. In his
preaching, he was even identifying specific sins like the sins of King
Herod and his wife Herodias. They were both married to other people and they
met each other in Rome and this encounter led them to leaving their spouses
without divorcing and eloping together. And now on all top of this, Herod was the
brother of Herodias’s first husband. It was all public knowledge. So John
John publicly speaks to the adulterous affair as sinful before God, and this admonition
landed him in prison.
John was bearing witness of the truth of God’s Word for the world, for all people to hear,
confess, believe, and be saved.
John stood firm.
There was no worldly benefit for him to speak this word of truth in this place.
He had ample opportunity as he appeared before Herod to speak, opportunities to
revise the message, deleting sections of the word proclaimed. He had opportunities
to reinterpret it with terms carrying different meanings that would be
non-offensive. In doing so, he could possibly deter the wrath of his captors,
but he did not. They were not his words. He was only God’s mouthpiece. Through
this word, God desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the
truth, even Herod, even Herodias. But because of Herodias’ hatred for John,
For him, calling what she believed to be right for her, wrong in the eyes of God, she so
devised a plan that is before us this morning.
Like Amaziah, she believed that if she could silence the messenger, she could be free from
the upcoming judgment.
but this is God’s Word for the world, and it is truth. This is the law and the
gospel. With this clashing of the Word with the world, speaking both the law and
the gospel, I would like for us to look at it from two perspectives. The first
one is most familiar to us, and that is being on the receiving end. The Word of
God confronting us, be it the Word in us, our reading and studying the Word, or the
Word being proclaimed to us by the pastor from the pulpit in the classroom
or in private, or the Word spoken through a fellow believer, the law
delivers the truth and it exposes that our old corrupted nature is still
hanging around, and it exposes that we are influenced by this sin-filled world,
and it exposes that the devil is always prowling around ready to entice, deceive,
and destroy. We are sinners, unable to make things right with God through our
own merits. We sin in thought, word, and deed by what we do and by what we don’t
do but the gospel. The gospel is also ringing in our ears. This is the gospel
and it teaches us what God has done and is still doing in Christ Jesus for our
salvation. So we confess and in confession there are two parts. With the
contrite heart, sorry for our sins, we confess them, be it in general, be it in
specific bid both, and the second is that we receive absolution. That is the
forgiveness of our sins, and where there is forgiveness, there is salvation and
eternal life. Now the second perspective is being the one who bears witness of
the truth of God’s Word in the world. As a bearer of the Word, you will find
yourself clashing with the world. As Jesus prays to his father in what is
known as the high priestly prayer in reference to his disciples, he said, I
have given them the word. They are not of the world just as I am not of the world.
He also said in another time in another place to those gathered around
him. If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples. You will know the
truth, and the truth will set you free.” Adds new creations in Christ. You. You
possess something that the world cannot comprehend. And in our various vocations
in this world, the light of Christ shines in you and through you. Paul writes to
the church in Corinth, for the word of the cross is folly. Folly means it’s
foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the
power of God. As you bear witness of the truth of God’s Word, delivering both the
in the gospel through your daily lives, it will clash with the world and their
definition of truth. When you find yourself in the situation, speak the
truth of God’s Word boldly and in love. With the help of the Holy Spirit, be
steadfast. Remember Jesus said, if the world hates you, know that it has hated
me before it hated you.
If you were of the world, the world will love you as its own, but because you are not of
the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.”
We are His, and He is ours.
We know this.
And we know this, that He is the Word that clashed with the world when He, the Creator,
entered his creation taking on flesh and becoming a man true God and true man in
the person of Jesus and he came with the mission he came to provide the way of
salvation from sin death and the power of the devil and the only way was the
offering of a perfect substitutional sacrifice in our stead for our sins
during his three-year ministry, Jesus preached the law, exposing the sin of
people while proclaiming the gospel that he is the fulfillment of the promised
Messiah, the Savior of the world, and those who cling to his words and works
of truth, for them, by faith, will be saved. The climax of his mission is to
hang on the cross and to die in your place and to pay the cost for your
sins. Through his bloodshed you have forgiveness of your sins and salvation
and eternal life. On the third day he rose from the dead and those who are his
own will also rise on the last day to everlasting life. Then the King will say
to those on his right, come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. So it is truth. Jesus, King of
kings and Lord of lords. He said, for this purpose I was born and for this purpose
I have come into the world to bear witness of the truth. He is the way, the
truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him because God
has given you this gift of faith, you truly know, you truly know the truth, you
know the peace that passes all understanding, which keeps your hearts
and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
