LutheranLectionary.org

Series B – Third Sunday in Lent – Sunday, March 7, 2021 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:28	the holy gospel according to saint john
0:30	the second chapter
0:32	glory to you
0:37	the passover the jews was at hand and
0:39	Jesus went up to jerusalem
0:41	in the temple he found those who were
0:43	selling oxen and sheep and pigeons
0:45	and the money changers sitting there and
0:47	making a whip of cords he drove them
0:49	all out of the temple with the sheep and
0:51	the oxen he poured out the coins of the
0:54	money changers and overturned their
0:56	tables
0:56	and he told those who sold pigeons take
0:59	these things away
1:00	do not make my father’s house a house of
1:03	trade
1:04	his disciples remembered that it was
1:05	written zeal for your house will consume
1:07	me
1:08	so the jews said to him what sign do you
1:10	show us for doing these things
1:12	Jesus answered them destroy this temple
1:14	and in three days i will raise it up
1:16	and the jews said it has taken 46 years
1:19	to build this temple
1:20	and will you raise it up in three days
1:22	but he was speaking about the temple of
1:24	his body
1:25	when therefore he was raised from the
1:27	dead his disciples remembered that he
1:29	had said this
1:30	and they believed the scripture and the
1:32	word that Jesus had spoken
1:34	this is the gospel of the lord in the
1:36	name of Jesus
1:38	all right here are the words of our
1:40	epistle text the word of the cross
1:42	you know that message that god the son
1:45	second person of the holy trinity
1:47	incarnate of the virgin mary came
1:50	suffered bled died on a cross
1:54	what a terrible ignominious death it was
1:57	in fact galatians says that cursed is
1:59	everyone who has hung on a tree which is
2:01	one of the reasons why
2:02	jews stumbled over the stumbling block
2:04	of the cross
2:06	because they thought how could Christ be
2:09	the son of god and yet was cursed in
2:11	such a terrible way as being hung
2:13	on a tree it’s not a bad question right
2:16	but you’ll note the text
2:18	says the cross is folly but folly to who
2:23	to those who are perishing
2:26	the cross is folly to those who are
2:29	perishing
2:30	now when we talk about
2:31	self-righteousness we have to
2:33	distinguish
2:34	different forms of self-righteousness
2:37	think of it this way the person who can
2:38	say
2:39	i have earned my salvation by being good
2:43	i got all of my boy scout badges or girl
2:46	scout
2:46	badges are there even girl scouts and
2:48	boy scouts anymore that seems so
2:50	politically incorrect
2:52	but yo i helped that old lady across the
2:55	street
2:56	i i it was like the movie up i got my
2:58	woodchuck badge
2:59	you got the idea right i did all these
3:02	good things therefore god is going to
3:03	bless me with salvation i have
3:05	merited the forgiveness of my sins well
3:08	that’s called self-righteousness
3:10	and if you hold your good works up to
3:12	god
3:13	and say to god aha i have earned
3:17	this your good works
3:20	will be held against you on the day of
3:22	judgment but there’s a second
3:24	more subtle if you would more subtle
3:26	form of self-righteousness
3:28	and that’s the reason why the cross is
3:31	folly to those who are perishing
3:33	because we like to think we’re smart
3:36	enough to
3:36	figure it all out all right and you’re
3:39	going to note here
3:41	there is no human philosopher in the
3:43	entire history
3:46	of philosophy who’s ever sat
3:49	down and worked it all out and said you
3:51	know what
3:55	we’re saved by the fact that the son of
3:57	god bled and died for our sins
4:00	instead all the wise human beings of the
4:03	world seem to be in some kind of a
4:04	continual
4:05	match to try to outdo each other and
4:08	overthrow the generation of
4:10	philosophers that came before them you
4:12	think of plato and then aristotle
4:14	and then every philosopher after that
4:16	right all the way down to the
4:18	current post-modern group which is
4:20	really abysmal
4:22	but you’re going to note then our text
4:24	says specifically
4:26	that god chose what is foolish in the
4:28	world in order to shame the wise so that
4:30	nobody can say aha i figured it out
4:34	in fact think of it this way tell the
4:36	greatest philosophers of our time
4:39	here’s the most important thing of all
4:42	Jesus died on a cross suffered and bled
4:45	and died for your sins
4:47	and they’re going to sit there and go
4:48	you’re just
4:50	whack that’s not going to help
4:54	anybody and that’s kind of the point
4:57	and so note here the word of the cross
4:59	is folly to those who are
5:01	perishing but to us who are being saved
5:04	it is the power of god as paul says in
5:07	romans 1
5:08	i am not ashamed of the gospel for the
5:11	gospel is the power of god unto
5:13	salvation
5:13	in romans 10 he says faith comes by
5:15	hearing hearing by the word of Christ
5:19	but you’ll note for him to have to say
5:21	i’m not ashamed of the gospel there are
5:23	plenty of people
5:24	who are and so i thought it’d be kind of
5:28	fun today
5:29	and if you don’t think it’s fun you can
5:30	let me know afterwards you could say
5:31	that wasn’t really that fun but i
5:33	thought it’d be fun today
5:34	to do a post-mortem on modernist
5:37	liberalism
5:38	he’s sitting there going huh have you
5:40	guys ever heard of harry
5:41	emerson fosdick have you ever heard of
5:44	this fellow
5:45	a hundred and three years ago he
5:48	preached a sermon
5:49	titled shall the fundal fundamentalists
5:53	win and harry emerson fosdick was one of
5:56	these fellows
5:57	who when seeing the scientific evidence
6:00	for evolution buckled
6:04	and thought you know it’s time for
6:06	Christianity to adapt its messaging
6:09	to conform with the science of the time
6:12	and one of his big arguments was how can
6:15	we
6:16	preach that Christ suffered and bled and
6:18	died for our sins
6:19	in the age of get this the electric
6:22	razor
6:26	that’s not a very compelling argument as
6:28	far as i did as far as i know
6:30	norelco is not the big enemy of
6:32	Christianity
6:33	but all of that being said in this
6:36	sermon he delivered in 1918
6:38	shall the fundamentalists win he
6:41	speaks out his contempt for of all
6:44	things
6:46	the cross
6:49	i’ll explain it’s a little deeper than
6:52	that and there’s a few nuances but we’ll
6:54	take a look at this
6:55	i’ll read portions of it out and here’s
6:57	how he begins the sermon this morning
6:59	we are to think of the fundamentalist
7:02	controversy
7:03	you know fundamentalists those are the
7:05	people who
7:06	well you know believe the bible you know
7:09	when we confess that
7:10	Jesus was born of the virgin mary we
7:13	actually mean
7:14	she was a virgin right
7:17	fundamentalists uh he says when we think
7:20	of the fundamentalist controversy which
7:22	threatens to divide the american
7:23	churches
7:24	as though already they were not
7:25	sufficiently split and riven i would
7:27	note this that scripture is very clear
7:29	in the epistle of jude it is not those
7:31	who hold to the scriptures
7:32	who are causing divisions in the church
7:34	but it is those who are bringing in
7:36	destructive heresies but he is
7:39	playing the victim here he’s a victim of
7:42	fundamentalists but i would note then
7:44	his hostility towards them because
7:46	he asked the question shall the
7:48	fundamentalist win which
7:50	really proves he was out to defeat them
7:52	in the first place
7:55	notice that those who claim that they’re
7:57	all about tolerance
7:58	are some of the most intolerant people
8:00	on planet earth
8:03	so he goes on to say this a scene that
8:05	is suggestive for our thought
8:07	is depicted in the fifth chapter of the
8:09	book of acts where the jewish leaders
8:11	hail before them peter and the other
8:13	apostles because they had been preaching
8:15	Jesus as the messiah
8:17	moreover the jewish leaders proposed to
8:20	slay them
8:21	when an opposition gamaliel speaks quote
8:24	refrain from these men and let them
8:27	alone for if this council or this work
8:29	be of men it will be overthrown but
8:32	if it is of god you will not be able to
8:35	overthrow them
8:37	lest happily ye be found to be fighting
8:39	against god
8:40	what an interesting idea here so harry
8:43	emerson fosdick in defending modernist
8:45	liberalism
8:46	basically said we need to follow the
8:48	advice of gamaliel
8:50	if this is of god we will succeed if
8:53	it’s not of god
8:54	it’ll fail and if you’re fighting
8:55	against us and that this is of god god
8:57	you’re you’re fighting against god
8:59	well 103 years 103
9:02	years later i think we can say this
9:04	wasn’t of god
9:06	because let me ask you this question
9:07	right off the top of your head
9:09	how well did modernist liberalism bring
9:14	how well did it do in making the
9:16	churches of the mainline denominations
9:18	relevant i would note
9:22	that the old line liberal presbyterian
9:25	church
9:26	they have these ginormous cathedrals
9:28	that can seat thousands
9:30	and every single sunday you have maybe
9:32	20
9:33	30 old gray-haired ladies who join for
9:36	worship in these
9:37	abandoned cathedrals liberalism
9:40	destroyed Christianity and i would note
9:42	this to invoke
9:44	gamaliel as somebody who’s teaching
9:47	innovative doctrines is a
9:49	form of twisting the scripture i
9:51	remember very distinctly
9:53	when joel osteen first came on the scene
9:56	you guys remember hit this
9:57	when his father had died he had just
10:00	taken over lakewood
10:01	and and he had written the book your
10:04	best
10:05	life now
10:08	and at the time i was teaching and this
10:11	is going to sound weird
10:12	i was teaching at a baptist church my
10:14	family can
10:15	remember this thing i was teaching at a
10:16	baptist church but they
10:18	i told them i’m a lutheran and they said
10:20	that’s not a problem
10:21	it eventually became a problem but when
10:23	when joel esteem first came on the scene
10:25	i began warning people it is not
10:28	biblical to believe that you can have
10:30	your best life now if you believe you’re
10:32	going to have your best life now
10:34	then you believe you’re going to hell it
10:36	doesn’t make any sense and i pointed out
10:38	the false doctrines and teachings along
10:40	the way
10:41	and after i had given them that warning
10:44	one of the ladies in the class that i
10:45	was teaching came up to me afterwards
10:46	and said
10:47	you know uh chris don’t you think we
10:50	should
10:50	take gamaliel’s advice that we should
10:55	not not critique him because
10:58	we might be fighting against god to
11:00	which i said no
11:01	that’s a misuse of that passage and
11:04	scripture says to mark and avoid those
11:06	who are teaching false doctrine
11:10	well coming back then to our harry
11:13	emerson fosdic fellow
11:15	he goes on to say this already all of us
11:17	must have heard about the people who
11:19	call themselves the fundamentalists
11:22	their apparent intention
11:23	is to drive out of the evangelical
11:26	churches
11:27	men and women of liberal opinions
11:31	but what does titus say rebuke those
11:34	who contradict false sound doctrine
11:38	and that god wills for them to be
11:40	silenced were the fundamentalists
11:42	off in trying to say that’s not what the
11:46	scripture says
11:47	we need to not be listening to these
11:49	fellows but he’s claiming to be the
11:51	victim here they’re gonna
11:52	they want to drive us out and so he then
11:55	goes on
11:56	and explains what it is that these
12:00	fundamentalists believe
12:01	and he’s quite quite incensed
12:05	like taken aback scandalized by their
12:08	teaching
12:08	are you ready he says it’s interesting
12:10	to note where the fundamentalists are
12:12	driving
12:12	in their stakes to mark out the deadline
12:15	of doctrine
12:16	around the church across which no one is
12:19	to pass
12:19	except for on terms of agree of
12:21	agreement and he’s not agreeing with
12:23	them he’s thinking that this is
12:24	outrageous
12:26	they insist that we must all believe in
12:29	the historicity of
12:30	certain special miracles
12:34	preeminently the virgin birth of our
12:36	lord
12:39	what a crazy thought what to demand that
12:43	you believe that scripture is telling us
12:45	the truth and i would note this that
12:48	modernist liberals
12:49	denied absolutely denied
12:53	the historicity of all of the miracles
12:55	of scripture
12:56	they claimed that it was a breaking of
12:59	natural law
13:01	as if somehow if Christ had performed a
13:03	miracle
13:04	that some natural law police officer was
13:06	going to ride up on his motorcycle
13:08	and write him up and cite him for
13:10	breaking
13:11	natural law i’m sorry mr Jesus but
13:15	um you’ve broken natural law here here
13:17	it’s going to be a 1500
13:19	fine and we’ll see you in front of the
13:21	judge next week
13:23	it’s ridiculous so in denying that
13:26	miracles are possible
13:27	that means they denied the virgin birth
13:29	of Christ but more importantly
13:32	they denied the bodily resurrection
13:36	of Jesus
13:39	but what does paul say if Christ has not
13:41	been raised from the dead
13:44	then your faith is vain
13:48	everybody who’s in Christ has perished
13:51	that’s what he says
13:52	in other words we’ve got a problem here
13:54	and so no he considers this to be
13:56	outrageous this is outrageous
13:58	that they would believe that well Jesus
14:01	was born of a virgin
14:02	not only that that we must believe in a
14:04	special theory of inspiration
14:07	that the original documents of scripture
14:09	which of course we no longer possess
14:11	were inerrant
14:14	how dare these people believe that
14:16	scripture is inerrant
14:19	and authoritative and then he goes on to
14:21	say this
14:23	and this is where the scandal is
14:27	they insist that we believe in a special
14:31	theory of the atonement that the blood
14:34	of our lord
14:35	shed in a substitutionary death placates
14:39	an
14:39	alienated deity and makes possible
14:42	the welcome return of the sinner to god
14:49	say what
14:50	[Laughter]
14:52	isn’t the gospel that paul received from
14:55	Jesus Christ
14:56	himself that Christ died
15:00	for our sins doesn’t the prophet
15:03	isaiah says that he was pierced for our
15:06	transgressions
15:07	he was bruised for our iniquities the
15:10	whole point of the mosaic sacrificial
15:12	system
15:13	was that it was a type and shadow
15:15	pointing to the
15:16	one sacrifice for our sins and in the
15:18	sacrificial system
15:20	did the sinner die no
15:24	the animal died in its place or his
15:27	place or her place
15:29	so you’ll note harry emerson fosdick
15:33	hated and i mean this
15:37	hated loathed preached against
15:41	Christ’s substitutionary death
15:44	on the cross for our sins and there’s a
15:47	reason why by the way
15:49	there’s a reason for it because in the
15:51	liberal way of thinking
15:54	that if it’s the late walter martin who
15:56	pointed this out
15:57	first that i heard but it may also go
15:59	back to jay gresham machin
16:01	that in the liberal way of thinking
16:03	they’ve taken the passage of scripture
16:05	from first john that says that god is
16:07	loved
16:08	and they’ve reversed it they believe
16:10	that love is god
16:12	and in the liberal way of thinking
16:16	love being god they’ve redefined love so
16:19	that it is anathema
16:21	to actually believe that god is wrathful
16:25	that god punishes sinners
16:29	in fact they claim that paul is
16:32	wrong when it says in scripture that we
16:35	are
16:36	saved from the wrath of god
16:39	they think it is unseemly for god to
16:42	have anger
16:42	or wrath and modern day postmodern
16:46	liberals
16:47	basically say that that is something
16:49	that humanity
16:50	project projected on god and that’s one
16:54	of the points where the scripture gets
16:55	it
16:55	totally wrong
16:59	well if Christ wasn’t suffering the
17:01	wrath of god in our place and in our
17:03	stead
17:04	on that friday afternoon outside the
17:05	city gates of jerusalem
17:08	while hanging on the cross
17:11	then i don’t know what he was doing
17:14	because he certainly wasn’t up there
17:16	singing we got to look on the bright
17:18	side of life
17:22	right so you’ll know coming back then to
17:25	our epistle text
17:29	i think our postmortem has definitively
17:31	showed that post that modernist
17:33	liberalism
17:34	was not of god our scripture text says
17:37	the word of the cross is folly it is
17:40	absolute
17:40	folly to those who are perishing but to
17:43	us who are being saved
17:45	the cross is the power of god the word
17:47	of the cross is the power of god for it
17:49	is written i will destroy the wisdom of
17:50	the wise
17:51	the discernment of the discerning i will
17:53	thwart
17:54	so where then is the one who is wise
17:57	where is the scribe
17:58	where is the debater of this age has not
18:02	god made foolish the wisdom of the world
18:05	for since in the wisdom of the world the
18:07	world did not know god through wisdom
18:09	and that’s the point
18:10	you’re not going to find god through the
18:12	philosophers
18:14	you won’t you might find a deity but not
18:18	the deity
18:20	and that’s the point
18:23	so then it pleased god it was to his
18:27	pleasure
18:28	through the folly of what we preached to
18:31	save
18:32	those who believe and you’ll note that
18:35	in our day and age it’s not just
18:36	modernist liberals those
18:38	folks have gone the way of the dinosaurs
18:41	it’s hard to find those guys nowadays
18:43	but we have post-modern liberals and we
18:45	have a whole bunch of people who are
18:46	well
18:47	how shall we say it um really kind of
18:50	ashamed of the
18:52	the gospel ashamed of the word of the
18:55	cross
18:56	i would note this takes on many
18:58	different forms
19:00	you see paul goes on to say jews demand
19:03	signs i would note that so do
19:04	pentecostals
19:05	greek seek wisdom but we preach Christ
19:08	crucified a stumbling block
19:10	to the jews and folly to the gentiles
19:13	and there’s a whole lot of guys out
19:14	there trying to save Christianity from
19:16	irrelevance
19:18	so what do they do they take the cross
19:20	and they get rid of it
19:22	they take the preaching of repentance
19:24	and the forgiveness of sins
19:26	one by Christ on the cross and they well
19:30	they tuck that away it may be
19:33	lurking as a message that they affirm in
19:36	some deep dark corner
19:38	of their website it’s hard to navigate
19:40	to it so that they could pull it out at
19:42	the right time
19:43	we believe that Jesus died for our sins
19:46	but why don’t you ever preach it
19:49	why don’t you ever preach the cross
19:52	and see when that becomes the issue then
19:55	you’ll note
19:56	that you kind of see the idea people are
20:00	ashamed of the cross either
20:02	overtly and they preach against it or
20:04	tacitly and they just
20:07	we never preach it never comes up in
20:10	casual conversation
20:12	but note then we preach Christ crucified
20:16	a stumbling block to jews
20:18	folly to gentiles but to those who are
20:20	called both jews and greeks Christ then
20:22	is the power of god
20:24	and he is the wisdom of god for the
20:26	foolishness then of god is wiser than
20:29	men and the weakness of god is stronger
20:30	than men
20:31	and that’s the point it’s through the
20:33	cross that god has chosen to make
20:36	wisdom look foolish because he does god
20:39	doesn’t come to us in power
20:41	and strength and compulsion he comes to
20:44	us
20:45	in weakness in servitude
20:49	so consider your calling brothers not
20:51	many of you were wise according to
20:52	worldly standards
20:54	and not many were powerful not many were
20:56	of noble birth and i would remind you i
20:58	come from a very sketchy
21:00	line of human beings so i i can
21:03	affirm this but god chose then what is
21:07	foolish in the world in order to shame
21:08	the wise
21:09	god chose what is weak in the world to
21:11	shame the strong
21:12	god chose what is low and despised and
21:17	the cross
21:17	is it is low and it is despised and god
21:21	chose it even though things that are not
21:26	in order to bring to nothing the things
21:27	that are in order that no
21:29	human being might boast in the presence
21:32	of god
21:33	and that’s the point you’ll note that
21:35	that’s a theme you hear regarding
21:36	self-righteousness
21:37	and works you know based on you know
21:40	justification based on works god won’t
21:42	allow it because
21:43	men will boast in god’s sight in the
21:45	same way god brings us
21:47	the message that we need to hear and it
21:50	is a despised
21:51	lowly and weak message so that
21:54	nobody will be able to boast in the
21:57	presence of god
21:58	so because of him then because of god
22:01	you are in Christ Jesus
22:03	and he has become to us wisdom from god
22:06	he has become to us
22:07	righteousness and sanctification and
22:10	redemption
22:10	so that as it is written in it is
22:12	written let the one then who boasts
22:14	boast in the lord
22:16	now the text continues so i’ll go a
22:18	little bit past our pericope
22:20	into chapter two it says then paul says
22:22	and then when i came to you brothers i
22:23	didn’t come to you proclaiming to you
22:25	the testimony of god
22:26	with lofty speech or with wisdom for i
22:29	decided to know nothing among you except
22:31	for Jesus Christ and him crucified
22:34	nothing there is nothing else
22:39	in fact if you were here last sunday
22:42	what did i preach Christ and him
22:45	crucified
22:47	how about the sunday before that well
22:49	you know Christ and
22:51	him crucified have you ever noticed i’m
22:53	like a one-trick pony
22:55	okay i got like one message Christ and
22:57	him crucified
22:59	well isn’t there anything else no
23:01	there’s really nothing else
23:02	there’s Christ in him crucified and this
23:05	is good news for us
23:06	because our problem is not that we fail
23:09	to be good enough or smart enough
23:11	our problem is is that we’re sinners
23:13	that we have all participated and
23:15	rebelled against god and here’s the
23:17	thing
23:17	each and every one of us in to one
23:19	degree or another are guilty of
23:21	actually being well you know ashamed of
23:24	the gospel of Christ
23:27	there’s different ways in which we’ve
23:28	done this and so you’ll note that lenten
23:31	season is not about them repenting
23:34	i must remind you the lenten season is
23:36	about
23:37	me repenting and about you repenting
23:41	so let us repent of all the ways in
23:43	which we have thought we know better
23:45	than god
23:45	that we think we’re smart enough that we
23:47	think that we’re strong enough
23:48	that we are not exactly so keen on
23:51	hearing
23:52	over and over again about Christ and him
23:54	crucified for our sins
23:57	and let us embrace the fact that Christ
23:59	has become to us wisdom
24:01	and strength from god let our boasts not
24:03	be in our clever thinking
24:05	in our clever ideas and the ways in
24:07	which we think we know better than god
24:09	let us instead have our boast only in
24:11	Christ
24:12	who comes to us not in strength and
24:14	power but in weakness
24:16	cursed bleeding and dying on the cross
24:19	for your sins
24:20	and mine so that we can be reconciled to
24:23	god
24:24	by grace through faith because of his
24:26	great love
24:27	with which he loves us now before we
24:30	wrap
24:30	up the sermon i told you to have him
24:34	850 marked all right
24:38	look at the bottom of 850
24:41	and tell me who wrote this hymn harry
24:45	emerson fosdick i’m gonna note something
24:48	here
24:49	fosdick wrote this as kind of an anthem
24:51	in his battle charge
24:52	against the fundamentalists who believe
24:55	the scriptures
24:56	and some enterprising lutheran thought
24:58	you know we could repurpose
25:00	this thing
25:01	[Laughter]
25:03	i love how lutherans think they’re a
25:05	little subversive and so you’ll note
25:07	that our closing hymn today
25:08	was written by harry emerson fosdick but
25:11	we’re not going to sing this against the
25:14	fundamentals of the Christian faith
25:16	we’re going to sing this
25:18	gloriously to defend
25:21	the word of the cross and make it a
25:23	prayer as we
25:25	proclaim Christ and him crucified for
25:27	our sins
25:28	so you’ll note if you think why are we
25:30	singing that one because he left it
25:32	loose enough
25:33	that you can reinterpret it the other
25:35	way so we’re going to sing it the
25:36	opposite way that he intended it so just
25:38	keep that in mind
25:39	so i love being a lutheran sometimes
25:42	it’s so fun
25:43	anyway so with all that being said
25:48	may the grace of Christ may the word of
25:51	the cross
25:52	bring you comfort this day knowing that
25:54	your sins are forgiven bled for and died
25:57	for
25:57	that your God and savior has come to you
26:00	as a servant that he was obedient to the
26:03	point of death even death on a cross and
26:04	he was cursed
26:06	so that you can be blessed of God in the
26:09	name of Jesus
26:10	amen
26:11	[Music]

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