Worship

Pastor Jon Enter                 SalemLutheran.org

Theme: There Is No Substitute for Jesus!

Text: Romans 9:1-5

The society we live in is accustomed to substitutes. When a pro basketball player gets gassed on the court, coach puts in a substitute. When a football team is feet from scoring a touchdown, coach subs in big, girthy players to stuff a short run. When a teacher is sick from the latest bug going around, the school calls in a substitute. When you have a basement full of your kid’s friends for a sleepover and pancakes were requested but your milk spoiled or ran out, PRO TIP you can substitute applesauce as a substitute for the milk. Our society is used to substitutes.

But we also expect the substitutes won’t be as good as the original. Back when Shaquille O’Neal played in the NBA and needed a break, anyone who subbed in for the 7’1” 316 pounder wasn’t as good. Schoolchildren all know when the sub walks in the room, it’s time to slack off a bit. And applesauce pancakes aren’t as good as the original.

But there is one Substitute that is so perfect, we couldn’t have dreamt it up ourselves. It took divine creativity and divine mercy for this Substitution to take place. Of course, I’m talking about Jesus, our great Substitute—Jesus who suffered and died in our place for our sins. Christ alone could and did save us from our sins. Therefore, we confidently proclaim at Salem Lutheran Church there is no substitute for Jesus!

But not everyone knows that truth is truth. That’s why Paul wrote our sermon text around 57 AD. At that time, Paul was wrapping up his third missionary journey. Throughout those three Jesus-proclaiming trips, Paul followed a typical pattern. Do you know what that was? When he arrived in a city, Paul went directly to the Jewish temple or place of worship. There, he spoke with believers about the promised Savior of the Old Testament. He told them the great news that their wait was over! The Savior was born! Christ Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies God made and then Jesus died removing the sins from all people of all time!

But many of the Jews violently rejected the message of salvation. In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul recalled what he willingly endured to tell others about Jesus. “Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked…I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have gone without food… Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.” (24-29) Paul’s body was brutalized and likely left disfigured. But those pains were temporary and the scars were inconsequential to him. Paul was relentlessly focused and motivated towards the spiritual welfare of the churches he started on his journeys.

Not only did Paul withstand physical pain but emotionally he was pained over those who rejected the message of salvation. Listen to what he wrote in our sermon text, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart… for the sake of my brothers, those of my race, the people of Israel.” (Romans 9:2-3) Paul knew the Jews who rejected Jesus were headed towards hell. That gave him “unceasing anguish”.

Let me unload something. When I first moved to Minnesota eight years ago, I took my family to Chatterbox Pub, a restaurant in Minneapolis with board games and original Sega Genesis gaming consoles with vintage couches. We ate and the girls played games for hours. While they were playing, they befriended a little boy named, Maximus. Max’s dad, Mike, was so taken back by the girls’ kindness he bought them ice cream and then talked with Debbi and me. Eventually he asked, “What do you do for a living?” When I said, “campus pastor at a high school”, his whole demeanor changed. “Well,” he said, “you should know that I’m going to hell. And I’m fine with it because I’m bringing beer and I’m gonna turn it into a party!” Seriously, that’s what he said! I asked him why he was so convinced he was going to hell. He told me his ex-wife and ex-mother-in-law both told him he was going to hell. So he was going. He paused and then told me if heaven had people like them there, he didn’t want to go anyway. What would you say to Mike? My heart still aches for Mike.

When I read this text, I thought of him, of Mike. Paul hurt for the hundreds who violently rejected Jesus and even tried to kill Paul. And Paul hurt for them. Who do you hurt for? Who is your Mike?

I’m convinced you know several people like Mike, maybe even dozens. Does the inescapable future that lies ahead for those who reject the free grace of Jesus cause you anguish for them? If Mike remains in unbelief, he isn’t going to take over hell and have endless kegs of cold beer delivered. If someone rejects Jesus, they’ve rejected Jesus’ forgiveness, Jesus’ heaven, and will receive the devil’s hell. Don’t let them go without a fight FOR their soul. Don’t adopt the complacent attitude of the world when it comes to religion. The world says, “Whatever you believe is okay as long as it makes you happy.” Or people reject hell even exists but that doesn’t make it go away. Did you hear ELCA Church Bishop Elizabeth Eaton recently said, “There may be [hell], but I think it’s empty.” How eternally shocked unbelievers will be when they realize God’s Word is true.

Who is your Mike? Who do you know that doesn’t yet love Jesus? Let me switch up the question. How do you act around your “Mike”? Are you cautious not to bring up your faith? Do you tiptoe around the subject of your Savior? Do you easily back down and not defend our Savior when the “Mike” in your life bashes Christian values or blasphemes Jesus? All too often we act like the lion from The Wizard of Oz. We run and hide when dangers appear. But God calls on you to be bold like Paul. We are to be like the real lions of this world that roam in the wild. They back down to no one and protect what is precious to them.

Christ, our almighty and merciful Savior, is most precious to us. He is worthy of our defense. Be careful how you defend Christ and the Bible. The Mike that I met at Chatterbox Pub is not the enemy. The “Mike” in your life is not the enemy even if that person is vilely opposed to Christ and Christianity. The unbelief that lives within and the devil who turned them away, they are the enemy. The only way those enemies are defeated and removed is with the gospel. God’s gospel is powerful and can smash apart any fortified wall the devil has built around someone’s heart.

Just because someone doesn’t believe in Christ doesn’t mean that person won’t believe in the future. Never give up on someone spiritually. And don’t get offended by their statements and actions of unbelief. How can we expect spiritual actions from those who do not know and love the Holy Spirit who is God? The devil wants you to get offended and shun/shove them away. Never give up on someone spiritually! God doesn’t. Keep witnessing to them. Keep praying for them. Keep intentionally inviting them to worship. As long as they’re still breathing, they have the ability to use that breath one day to praise the Lord. Paul once persecuted and hated the church and then he used his breath to proclaim Jesus’ name once he was brought to faith. The Lord has more “Mikes” and “Melissas” who will come to faith “The Sovereign Lord declares—He who gathers the exiles of Israel: ‘I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered.’” (Isaiah 56:8)

I told you Mike’s story. Who’s Melissa? She visited our church in Florida because she was ordered by the court to fulfill community service hours. She was full of tattoos, piercings, and had very “colorful” language. She wasn’t a Christian. In fact, when I called her after her first weekend of community service hours to set the plan for the next week, she answered her cell phone while at the abortion clinic. Sadly, she went through with the abortion. But how could I expect spiritually faithful decisions from someone who didn’t know the Holy Spirit who is God?

When I asked Melissa if she’d come to worship the next weekend, she did! And some sweet older ladies from the church just surrounded her with love and kept asking her about her tattoos. They didn’t care that she looked the part or sound Christian. They showed her love like how Jesus shows all of love despite the wrong choices we’ve all made. Mike and Melissa and you and me, WE’VE been blessed with grace from Christ we didn’t deserve. WE’VE been blessed with a perfect Substitute.

Did you catch it in our text that Paul was so distraught that his fellow Jewish brothers and sisters didn’t believe that he requested of God, “For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel.” (Romans 9:2-3) Paul asked to be their spiritual substitute, to be cursed in hell in place of his fellow Jews.

But God told Paul, “No!” He couldn’t substitute his life for the life of another. No mere sinful human could spiritually save the life of another sinful human. “No man can redeem the life of another or give God a ransom for him—the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough—that he should live on forever and not see decay.” (Psalm 49:7-9) Paul was just a human—another sinful human. I can’t substitute my life for Mike’s. You couldn’t substitute your life for Melissa’s. Psalm 49:15 reveals there is a Perfect Substitute who can and did! “But God will redeem my life from the grave; He will surely take me to Himself.” Our Perfect Substitute needed to be God for His perfect life to count as ours as He paid the ultimate price in death to pay for our sins.

Jesus is yours. Jesus is ours. Jesus is the Lamb sacrificed so that we became God’s sheep. Jesus is the Promised Messiah. There is no Substitute besides Him. Jesus stepped straight into the line of God’s wrath over sin that was pointed squarely at your heart and died so that you live. This truth changes lives and eternities. You know how true that is! Mike from Chatterbox Pub told me after spending well over an hour together. “Jon, you haven’t changed my mind. I’m still not a Christian but you changed my attitude towards Christians. Thank you for being so kind.” Melissa came to faith! I baptized her as an adult. I officiated her wedding and baptized her child that came from that wedding. And yearly she called me on the anniversary of the day I called her at the abortion clinic so I could pray with her and assure her of God’s forgiveness and peace.

Who is your Mike? Who is your Melissa? Who can you pray for to come to faith and invite to church to come to know Him who is peace? Let’s do that right now. Take 30 seconds in prayer for someone you know who doesn’t YET love Jesus. May the Spirit open their hearts. Amen.