Saint Luke's Lutheran Church

One of the first words that children learn to say is "No." It is because they hear this word so often - and usually in duplicate: "No, no. No, no." Now, I know that some parents today want to find ways not to say "No" to their children. While I appreciate the concerns underlying this school of thought, I still believe that teaching your child the meaning of "No" is a good thing. When a child is reaching for a burning candle or a hot iron, it is good to have a word that will stop her in his tracks and give the parent a chance to prevent a burn. When a child is about to pull himself up onto the top of an 8-foot stepladder or is teetering at the top of the stairs, it is good to have a word that will stop him in his tracks and give the parent a chance to prevent a fall.

Neither of my parents was reluctant to say the "No" word. But there was a difference between them. My father did not say "No" very often, but when he said it, it meant "No," and we knew it. There was little chance of reconsideration. My mother, on the other hand, said "No" a lot. In fact, "No" was her initial response to almost every request, but it was seldom her final answer. We so learned how to talk my mother into changing her "No" into a "Yes."

In our lesson for today, Paul says that God does not vacillate. God's word to us is not "Yes and No," but it is always "Yes!" In Christ Jesus, God says, "Yes!" to every one of God's promises. After the Flood, God promised Noah that he would never again destroy every living creature. So when God looked down on a world infected with sin and with death, he sent Jesus to suffer and die for the sins of the world. The cross of Jesus is God's "Yes!" to those who seek God's forgiveness. The resurrection of Jesus is God's "Yes!" to those who must face suffering and death. After God called Abraham to go to the land which he would show him, God promised to bless Abraham and make him a blessing to all nations. Jesus is God's "Yes!" to that promise, for in Jesus all people are blessed.

In this reading from 2 Corinthians, Paul also says that God has anointed us, and sealed us, and poured out his Spirit into our hearts. Here Paul is talking here about baptism. In baptism, God says "Yes!" to each one of us by name. This morning we heard God say, "Yes!" to Samuel Colby and to Brendan Rhodes, and to Jessica Morris, and we were reminded of how God said, "Yes!" to us. In baptism God says, "Yes, you are my child, you belong to my family." In baptism God says, "Yes, you are loved and you are forgiven." In baptism God says, "Yes, I give you eternal life, and I will be with you always."

This divine "Yes!" is this reason, Paul says, that we say, "Amen." "Amen" is our "Yes" back to God. When God says, "Yes" to us, God wants us to say, "Amen." Now, I want you to know that Paul was not just writing this to the Baptists and the Pentecostals. What Paul writes here he says also to Lutherans. When God says, "Yes," it's appropriate for us to say, "Amen." And we can say that even if it isn't printed in the bulletin. And we can say that right in the middle of the sermon - we don't have to wait until the end.

God says, "Yes!" to you. Now, what do you say? What do you say? Do you mean that? Do you really mean that? I hope you do, because Jesus does not want us to vacillate. Jesus does not want us to say, "Yes and No." In the book of Revelation, Jesus chastises the church at Laodicea because they are neither cold nor hot. Because they were lukewarm Christians, Jesus said he would spit them out of his mouth. How did Jesus know that they were lukewarm? Because he knew their works - he knew what they did. It's one thing to say, "Yes" with your lips, and it is another thing to say, "Yes" with your life.

Today, February 23, is the commemoration for two people who said "Amen!" to God's "Yes" - and said it with their lives and with their lives. Polycarp was the bishop of Smyrna in the second century. As a young man, he had studied under the Apostle John. As an old man he lived at a time when the persecution of Christians was heating up in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). In Smyrna and other cities, Christians were being thrown into the arena with wild animals and torn limb from limb.

The Romans called the Christians "atheists" because they did not worship the Roman gods. And they considered the Christians unpatriotic because they did not honor Caesar as Lord. One day at the stadium in Smyrna, a bloodthirsty crowd began to clamor for Polycarp. The proconsul sent the police to take Polycarp into custody. Now Polycarp was a kindly old man of 86 years, and the proconsul was reluctant to put him to death, so he tried to convince Polycarp to renounce his faith and say, "Caesar is Lord." But Polycarp replied: "Eighty-six years I have served him, and he never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?" The proconsul had no choice and sentenced him to be burned at the stake.

Polycarp was not willing to say "No" to the God who had said "Yes" to him. I doubt that any of us will ever be forced to speak such a clear, dramatic, and fateful "Yes," but every day in countless little ways we are forced to choose between the Christ who died for us and the culture in which we live. Every day we are forced to choose between our faith and our fears. Every day we are forced to choose between the ways of God and the paths of least resistance. God says, "Yes!" to us. What do we say to God?

Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg was a German Lutheran who in 1706 responded to an appeal from the King of Denmark to go as a missionary to the southeast coast of India. He and his colleague were the first protestant missionaries in that country. Their work was opposed not only by the Hindus, but also by the Roman Catholics who were there first and even by the local Danish authorities. After ten months of preaching and teaching, they baptized their first converts. The next year Ziegenbalg spent four months in prison because the authorities said that by converting the natives he was encouraging rebellion. Ziegenbalg also had conflicts with the Copenhagen Missionary Society because he was not content simply to preach the Gospel without also showing concern for the physical welfare of the Tamil people.

Ziegenbalg understood that for the mission to prosper the Tamil people had to be able to read the Gospel in their own language. This led him to study Tamil and to publish studies on the Tamil language and culture. He translated the New Testament into Tamil and set up a press to print it. At the same time, Ziegenbalg also established schools -- a Tamil school for the Indians, a Portuguese school for those of mixed descent, a Danish school for the children of the Europeans, and a seminary for the training of Indian pastors. He accomplished all of this within just 13 years and died at the age of 36. Oh, yes, in the midst of all this he still found time to get married.

Ziegenbalg said "Yes" to God's call to faith, and he said "Yes" to God's call to be a missionary. I doubt that many of us will be called to go so far and to give so much in the service of Jesus Christ, but God continues to call us to mission and to ministry. When God said "Yes" to you in the waters of baptism, God ordained you to be a minister in the church of Jesus Christ. As a minister, you are called to serve and to keep on serving for as long as you live. As a minister, you are called to share your faith with others - testifying to the "Yes" of God in your life and inviting others to meet Jesus. As a minister, you are called to help others learn more about the "Yes" of God and grow in their Christian faith. As a minister, you are called to reach out to help those who are in need - the hungry and homeless, the sick and lonely, the hurting and hopeless. As a minister, you are called to support the ministry of your church with your time and your money.

I don't mean to suggest that we have to say "Yes" to everything we are asked to do, but it does mean that we need to say "Yes" to something - to something significant, to something in each area of this ministry. So what's it going to be? Will you say "Amen" to God's "Yes"? Will you also live it?