Advent 2

Luke 17:20-30 - Advent 2 - December 8, 2013
The Kingdom of God is within You

Solomon says that there is nothing new under the sun.  From the first day that Adam and Eve disobeyed God and fell into sin until the end of the world, all things on earth remain essentially the same.  We are born; we die.  In between is a whole bunch of joy and a whole bunch of sorrow.  I suppose the race is on to make the former outnumber the latter.  But what a futile race, because ultimately it doesn’t really matter.  We are born; and then we die.  And for a thousand generations the same mundane thing takes place.  Our place, our thoughts, our accomplishments, and even our hopes and dreams are forgotten.  That’s what Solomon says, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity”  (Ecclesiastes 1:2).  Kind of a depressing picture to paint, isn’t it?  But it’s true.  And I think everyone knows it. 

Many people respond to this unavoidable fact by living for the moment.  They try to experience as much pleasure as they can before it’s too late.  This is known as hedonism, or Epicureanism and has gone in times past by the motto: “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”  A modern equivalent to this is what kids say these days: “YOLO – you only live once.”  Obviously such an outlook on life is incredibly selfish.  It encourages young people to measure the value of life by how much enjoyment they can pack into it rather than by how much good they can do for others.  This flies in the face of what St. Paul tells us in our Epistle lesson: that we should not aim to please ourselves, but to edify our neighbor.  It is true that we only live once.  But what life are we living?  Are we animals seeking carnal pleasure for some small window of time?  Or are we children of God who live forever seeking that which is above? 

Hedonism wares on you. 

Although fleshly sins and shameful lusts are certainly not lacking among the elderly, this “you-only-live-once” attitude is typically prevalent among younger people.  Young people seek the next buzz, the next new thing, the next pleasure in a never-ending pursuit for satisfaction.  But satisfaction never comes.  And if it does, it doesn’t last and leaves you burning again until you’ve been burnt out.  And that’s because true meaning cannot be found in fleeting pleasures.  Eventually those who have enslaved themselves to worldly pursuits are left empty, often feeling guilty, and used, and bitter against so many false promises of happiness.  And so in the wisdom of older age and experience, they often begin to seek something higher and more fulfilling.

“All is vanity,” says the preacher.  This is eventually confirmed in the minds of those who grow up.  And it often comes as a load of bricks.  And so it has been the primary aim of philosophers and spiritualists and religious leaders since time immemorial to find some reason not to believe this – to find some reason to believe that life has meaning.  Who wants to have lived a meaningless life – especially once your life is drawing to a close?  But where will we find our meaning?  That’s the question. 

Well, I suppose we could start with what the preacher is preaching.  Instead of Solomon’s dreary “Vanity of vanities,” perhaps he could speak something a little more inspiring. You know?  Why reduce the measure of man to his accomplishments that fade into the same dust to which he and his children return?  Why not talk instead about how God rewards our accomplishments – about how what we do has eternal significance?  By and large, for most people, this is the purpose of religion.  It serves an emotional need.  It gives meaning in the face of meaninglessness.  Lest man despair in the face of life’s futility, he persuades himself that God has something greater in store.  And it always comes back to the importance of what man does.  And so the quest for meaning just takes people around in circles. 

In the 18^th century a scoffing atheist from France by the name of Voltaire thought he was pretty clever when he quipped, “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.”  By this he meant that God’s existence was inconsequential.  Who knows what he thinks or if he’s even real?  It doesn’t matter.  What is important is what man believes about him.  The notion of “God,” although a human idea, like many human ideas, is a useful one too. 

Take a look at the religions around the world.  Do people find meaning in life?  You better believe it.  People persuade themselves so firmly that God rewards this and smiles on that that people are willing to fast, sacrifice all sorts of pleasures, and even kill for God – just to have the assurance that God is pleased and gives meaning to their lives on earth.  Voltaire had a point (albeit unwittingly).  People who do not know the true God most certainly find it necessary to invent him.  The Bible says that man does not by nature seek God.  Instead, he reinvents him in his own image.  

Well, it really does come down to what the preacher is preaching.  It always does.  Is the preacher preaching God’s truth, or what man wants to believe?  Is the preacher teaching that God’s law renders us all guilty before God, or just weak and in need of encouragement?  Does the preacher speak of sin as mistakes we make, or does he speak of sin as the deep-seated corruption it is – the self-righteousness that seeks to storm heaven with all our good works and make God pay us back for our virtues on earth?  Does the preacher preach the law? 

Does the preacher preach the gospel?  Does he present Christ as the Savior of sinners who have no hope in themselves?  Does he preach the Jesus who in love takes our place under the law – rendering to God what our lives could not render and suffering from God what the law truly threatens?  Or is the preacher preaching the Jesus who coaches and helps make dreams come true?  Is he medicating people so that they find meaning in their own lives apart from repentance?  Does the preacher twist the gospel into the good news that God shows favor to him who does the best that is in him to do?  Well, that’s a false gospel.  It’s false religion.  You can always tell which God is the invented god and which is the true God by learning how properly to distinguish law and gospel, and to recognize when it is rightly being preached to you. 

A hundred years after the French Revolution had produced an abundance of thinkers in the style of the famous Voltaire, a much more famous and influential man came to the forefront of history.  He was Voltaire’s theological and philosophical heir.  His name was Karl Marx, the father of Communism.  He once referred to religion as the opiate of the masses – a drug that common and simple-minded people use to make themselves feel better in an unjust world.  He aimed to make the world less unjust and thus free people from the need for their religious medicine.  His famous creed is stated in this way: “From each according to his ability; to each according to his need.” 

Marx located the real problem of injustice in the world to be within society – in how things were run and administrated.  He thought he could get rid of greed and the exploitation of the poor by redistributing the world’s resources more fairly – getting rid of private property and making everything public.  But he ignored the real problem.  Greed and envy, covetousness and stinginess are sins that proceed from man’s heart – every man’s heart – rich and poor alike.  They’re not simply social problems to be fixed by employing a more equitable form of government. 

But Marx promised people that a joyful utopia could be established by means of political revolution.  Because of his influence, Communism spread throughout the world with religious fervor.  People sacrificed much to serve their false god, or non-god.  Mostly they sacrificed what other people had.  They wanted to build heaven on earth.  But in the 20^th century alone nearly 100 million people were murdered in the name of this godless ideology.  The religion of Communism seeks to establish the kingdom of heaven on earth, and yet it has brought much hell.  It’s interesting that it was touted as a substitute for religion. 

In ways Marx was right that people used religion to medicate and numb themselves against sorrow.  But in the end his creed became no different from every Pharisaical religion ever invented.  Human progress was embraced; and God’s undeserved mercy was rejected – even persecuted.  Progress, whether moral, social, or spiritual, is always presented as man’s work.  It is in the end the same old self-righteousness that Jesus lambasted during his earthly ministry.  People want something they can see.  They want justice that flows from their own hearts.  They want righteousness that they can present before God and say, “Reward it!”  Only then do they see meaning in their struggles.  But it is precisely by seeking to establish their own reward in heaven that they make life so vain and meaningless on earth.  And so they prove Jesus exactly right when he said: “Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” 

The Pharisees watched Jesus.  They observed him.  They were looking for what they figured was bound to come: some grand effort to establish a kingdom on earth that would reward the good and punish the bad.  The Pharisees thought they were good, so they were especially interested to see what Jesus had up his sleeve.  But they were disappointed.  “The kingdom of God does not come with observation,” Jesus said; “nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” 

The kingdom of God is not a worldly kingdom.  It is not an earthly force.  The kingdom of God is the forgiveness of sins that is received by faith alone.  That is why it is within you.  You can’t see the forgiveness of sins.  You can only take Jesus at his word.  At his word.  That is how the Church is created.  The Church consists of all Christians who hear God’s word.  We don’t identify the Church by its outward trappings of bishops and bureaucrats.  And we don’t identify Christ’s kingdom as some earthly reign that will last a thousand years on earth.  No, we identify the Church there where we find the kingdom of God; and that is where Jesus rules us in mercy, giving to us his Holy Spirit who works faith in our hearts. 

People want something observable.  They want to see God’s power.  And they want God to be on their side.  And that is precisely why God’s kingdom comes the way it does.  Because God wants to be on our side.  He wants to be reconciled to sinners.  And so he comes in humility.  He comes to serve.  He comes not to thunder decrees and establish peace on earth by means of the law.  Rather he comes in silent meekness to fulfill the law as our substitute.  He comes to be rejected in order that he might suffer in body and soul all our guilt under his Father’s wrath. 

The question is always: where do you find God’s favor?  Where do you find God give meaning to your life?  You find it not in a hope for problems fixed here, but where God delivers to you in the means of grace all problems fixed in Christ. 

Baptism.         Lord's Supper.           Preaching.     

Here God’s kingdom comes.  We find it within us because Christ rules our hearts and conscience.  Within. 

They will say look here and there.  But don’t go.

We long to see Christ formed in us.  We long to see what we don’t feel so much.  But we do not look where the world and the utopians would distract us.  We look to what was written for our learning.  We listen to Jesus who gives us hope. 

We live once.  And the one life we live is lived under Christ in his kingdom.  Christ’s life gives ours meaning.  He lived our life for us.  No more meaninglessness because no more sin.  No more searching for meaning apart from God. 

All things will remain until Jesus comes.  Sin remains sin.  But we’re not racing to make anything new.  Instead we stand secure in our baptismal grace where we were born anew and made wholly new people through the forgiveness of sins.  He cannot forget us because he has made us his own children.  Our life is filled with meaning. 

In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.