John 6
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. We've been talking over the last several weeks about moralistic therapeutic deism, you've heard that definition so many times you could probably repeat it back to me, it's moralistic is that it's mostly concerned about following the rules of leading a kind of good life. Therapeutic that it is about God's gift to you is about making you feel better about yourself. And deism is that God is far away, unless you need him to solve a problem. We said that there were five different teachings or tenants of this, we've covered them over the five weeks of this series. First, it was a god exists, who created an order to the world and watches over human life on Earth. And we looked at the Old Testament and the New and learned that God is not a distant God, but one who is intimately involved in everything. And that he leads all of creation towards the redemption when Jesus returned. Second, God wants people to be good, nice and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible, and by most world religions. And we realized that this is not what the Bible teaches. Instead, Christianity is all about not making bad people into good people, but making dead people alive. Three, the central goal of life is to be happy, and to feel good about oneself. We looked at that and said that feeling happy and feeling good about yourself as a main goal basically leaves you in a moral wasteland, unable to handle any kind of suffering, or deal with reality in any kind of way. Our mission is not to be happy, but to partner with God in creation, and to hold fast to our faith, until the day of Christ's return. For God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life, except when God is needed to resolve a problem. This kind of God is your your favorite uncle, combined with a divine Santa Claus. He is far away. But he's always willing to give you a little something if you need it. This, of course, is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is not one to be far off, but nearby. He's not there to resolve our problems, but to give us eternal life. Finally, we're looking at this last one. Good people go to heaven when they die. Now, if you've been coming to church here, like most of you do, you would know that I did a sermon called good people go to hell, bad people go to heaven. Right? So I'm not going to do that sermon again for you tonight. But I thought, You know what, let's try an experiment. So I went to chat GPT, the newest AI tool and I said, Write a Christian message that refutes the idea that good people go to heaven when they die. This is what it says. I would like to address the common misconception that many people hold today, namely that good people go to heaven when they die. This idea is often called moralistic therapeutic deism. I didn't tell it to say that. And it's believed that it's not supported by the teachings of the Bible. Firstly, the Bible teaches that no one is truly good. In Romans 323, it says, All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Therefore, being a good person is not enough to earn us a place in heaven. Secondly, the Bible teaches that salvation does not based on our good works, or moral character, in Ephesians, two, eight and nine, it says, four It is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works so that no one can boast. Thirdly, Jesus himself says that no one comes to the Father except through Him. This means that salvation is only possible through Jesus Christ, being a good person is not enough to gain eternal life. Thank you, Chet GPT, you're a good theologian. Well, you know what it does, it did a pretty good job, didn't we? I mean, so I did skip the chapter where it has a mini altar call for everyone. But it does a pretty good job. So instead of doing that sermon for the next 10 minutes or so, I thought we would take a look at the way we talk about debt. Death in America, and the way we practice our funerals, so that we can examine what does our culture teach us about how we do this? To say, good people go to heaven when they die. The first thing I'd like you to do is pull out that hem thingy that I printed out for you to a couple of pieces of paper, we're going to go to the second page, and look at third page and look at Amazing Grace the hymn and now that you know that it's I've mentioned funerals, you know why it's in there, right? If you have watched a funeral on TV, on any TV in any show, do you know what him they play in the background music? It's amazing grace. This is America's national anthem of funerals. Every funeral on TV, movies, and if it's especially interesting, it's got bagpipes playing it has amazing grace. Have you ever wondered why? Why Amazing Grace? The music is nice, right? I mean, it's it's emotional and generates the right kind of emotions. But I'd like you to take a look at the words and ask yourself kind of moralistic therapeutic deist sing AmaZing Grace absolutely 100% who is doing the work in Amazing Grace Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me I once was lost but now I'm found was blind but now I see. Grace is there is there a God who dies on a cross? Does he call you to repentance? Let's try another one. The Lord has promised good to me his word my hope secures he will my shield and portion be as long as life indoors. Can a moralistic therapeutic deist saying that? Yep. Do this one. There are many dangers toils and snares I have already come his grace has brought me safe thus far. His grace will lead me home.
Where? What home?
What grace? God's kinda got your back on this one. That's about it right? Let's try number four. Yes, when this flashing heart shall fail and mortal life shall cease Amazing Grace shall then prevail in Heavens joy and peace. What prevails? Grace, Grace. What is grace? I don't know.
If you're reading the Bible, it is undeserved love of God. But if you're a moralistic therapeutic deist you don't know what it is. I mean, it's just the kind of grace that you like to sing when you're at a funeral. Number five, when we've been there, 10,000 years bright shining as the sun we have no less days to sing God's praise than when we first began. Sounds like a moralistic therapeutic to use could sing that one too, right? Now, don't get me wrong, amazing. Grace is not a bad hem when it's sung in a Lutheran funeral service. But when it's by itself, it is the perfect semi Christian song. Because you have to insert your knowledge of who God is and what he does into this song. So if if we're reading Bible readings, and you've got a sermon, and there's liturgy and prayers and you sing AmaZing Grace, everybody knows what that means. But when you when you sing it without those things you get everybody goes to heaven. Good people go to heaven when they die. I would like to compare this to a couple of other hands. Let's go to number 708. On the first page, Lord, the I love with all my heart. You know, I have to tell you this him I was introduced to this hymn at an English District Convention. And the first time I sang it, I hated it. hated it. It was the theme of our convention and then I sang it the next time I sang We sang it like six times over the course of three days and by the end I loved it because of this verse let's I'm coming to Lord the I love with all my heart the last verse number three yep Do you want to sing it together I just mean let's do it all together thank you
Lord, thee I love with all my heart;
I pray thee, ne'er from me depart,
with tender mercy cheer me.
Earth has no pleasure I would share;
yea, heav'n itself were void and bare
if thou, Lord, wert not near me.
And should my heart for sorrow break,
my trust in thee can nothing shake.
Thou art the portion I have sought;
thy precious blood my soul has bought.
Lord Jesus Christ, my God and Lord, my God and Lord,
forsake me not! I trust thy word.
Can't miss that one, can ya?
I had trouble with that last verse. Did you hear my voice? I was tearing up a little bit now if you want something maybe a little more emotional I mean that's that's kind of like a like an old Lutheran hymn melody right let's go to abide with me I know I know we're we're doing our best to make the pastor cry while we say this one gets me to verse six
Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes.
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven's morning breaks and earth's vain shadows flee;
in life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.
hold out I crossed before my closing eyes? right last one we're going to turn to the final song Jesus lives the victories won. now we could sing all of these and it would work out pretty well. But final verse again verse five
Jesus lives! And now is death
but the gate to life immortal;
this shall calm my trembling breath
when I pass its gloomy portal.
Faith shall cry, as fails each sense:
Jesus is my confidence!
Faith shall cry has failes each sense. This shall be my confidence.
You know what that saying?
As as your eyes shut down. As your ears are the last thing to work in your relatives are squeezing your hand. The faithful cry. Jesus is my confidence..
Let's compare the theology of those hymns to Amazing Grace.
These are specific. These are the kinds of things that tell you what you can hold on to how you are saved. And what you can do as us as you think about your death. Where is your confidence? Where is your hope? It's Jesus. The next step is to take a look at our funeral service. That's the packet right here. Now that we've looked at the National Anthem, of funerals, let's think about what the the funeral service looks like in American culture. And in churches, few of us actually realize I think how much of our church life is shaped by television. How many people when you think about a wedding, think, but um, dada.
Or dada, dada dot dot, dot, dot dot dot data,
right? You think those songs don't you? Pachabell is in there too, right? That's because they're on TV. We saw them on TV. They're from there. They're actually from an opera about a guy who leaves his wife after they get married. And then the other one is from A Midsummer Night's Dream, which is about everybody getting high and fooling around in the forest. It's not what Shakespeare says. It's really what it's about. And you go wait a second, is that what you really want it your wedding? Same thing is true for funerals, not the music, but how we do funerals. Think of the last funeral you saw on TV, what is in common in all of them? Giant photo of the dead person on an easel next to the pulpit. Right? There is a pastor sitting in the background. Usually not saying anything. And one or many, many people saying how great a person the deceased was. And it's just that is the thing. There might be a reading or a poem. The one that comes to mind is that one that I did not die. I'm not really here. You've heard that one right before I'm sure. What these are is these are moralistic, therapeutic deist funerals. There's no Jesus. And if Jesus is there, it's only in the background. It's mostly about remembering the person and talking about how good they were. And if the pastor gets a turn, he might give a sermon. Let's take a look at this. We're not going to read it all. We're going to take a look at what a Lutheran funeral service looks like. It begins with the remembrance of baptism where it quotes Romans chapter six. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Right. And this is applied to the disease. Next we do an intro it which is a reading, we pray and a prayer about the deceased and the gift of grace given to them.
You move on.
Like a like any worship service three readings with a psalm. The verse for Lent. If we have died with Christ, we shall also live with Him. If we are faithful to the end, we shall reign with him. There's the Apostles Creed summarizes the faith. Of course, you choose hymns like the ones we just saying. And then a lengthy set of prayers that describe and give thanks for the salvation God gives us through Jesus Christ that talks about the being nourished by the holy body and blood of the sun so we can be raised immortality on the last day that gives courage and faith to the bereaved in the certain knowledge of the resurrection of the dead and the expectation of eternal life. And then finally gives thanks for the faith bestowed on the deceased. We pray the Lord's Prayer And then we do the Nook Dimittis, which is on either side with Christ's words, I am the resurrection and the life says the Lord, He who believes in me will live even though he dies, and whoever believes in me will never die. We continue. I also included one of the one of the prayers at the committal service, which is a separate service. I'll read it because it's awesome. Almighty God, by the death of your Son, Jesus Christ, you destroyed death, by His rest in the tomb, you sanctified the graves of your saints. And by his bodily resurrection, you brought life and immortality to light so that all who die in him abide in peace and hope, receive our thanks for the victory over death and the grave that he won for us. Keep us in everlasting communion with all who wait for him on Earth, and with all in heaven, who are with him, for he is the resurrection and the life, even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. And then that is with the blessing. Notice what's missing. There's no eulogy. There's no people coming forward. It's just all about Jesus. Every step of the way, every single thing that happens in our in our Lutheran funeral service, points to Jesus and says, This is your salvation. And that's the point. We live in a world that wants to tell everyone that they're saved. Our job is to actually point them to salvation to Jesus Christ. And part of that means we have to say there are sinners who need eternal life, and the only way to get it is through him. And so we give we give this message this peace, this hope, through the joy that we can share, as we share this message not that good people go to heaven when they die. But Jesus saves sinners. In his name, amen. Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai