I have a confession to make:  I fall asleep easily.  Carol says it's a gift, but it often carries a price.  I've fallen asleep at some of the most unfortunate times, in meetings and lectures, during plays.  I fell asleep in front of my best friend who'd come 1500 miles to visit me.  I'd gotten too busy with the baggage of church stuff I should have done before they came and conked out.  Once a waiter had to wake me up when he brought the food I'd ordered.  I fell asleep while a member was talking to me late at night, and when I woke up minutes later he was still talking.  In college I fell asleep standing up, leaning against a wall in a hall I was supposed to be sweeping.  And then there was the time I fell asleep during a church service I was conducting, but I don't really want to talk about that.

          Maybe it has to do with a plaque I once saw on a wall.  It said, "When I works, I works hard, when I sits, I sits loose, and when I thinks, I falls asleep."  Another memorable snooze came during a visit to Germany.  There in the shadow of the mighty Cologne Cathedral, in the very place that Emperor Claudius Caesar had defeated the tribes of Germany, I fell asleep on a museum bench.  That time it was the heavy bags I was lugging around.  Some may be thinking right now, "Pastor, I feel that way every time I sit down during your sermon."  If so, go ahead.  If coming to the Lord's House can bring you a little peace, settle back and snooze.  God's peace be with you!

          All those events happened when I was carrying too much baggage.  We all have a lot that can keep us awake these days, from Wall Street to Front Street, from too much silence to too much noise, from our friends to our enemies.  But if we're going to catch a nap, let's do it because we've found some peace, not because we're exhausted from mindless details.

          This is our final week on the theme, "Travelling Light."  I don't know if this series has helped you put down any personal burden of guilt and depression, or whether you've stopped carrying around the bags of unnecessary possessions, but I do hope you're travelling lighter now.  For sure, if your personal baggage has included any stocks on Wall Street, you're travelling 10-15% lighter now than when we started this series.

          What's the single biggest obstacle to peace in your life?  Is yours the obstacle of prideful wisdom, acting like King Solomon who seemed to know everything?  Is yours the obstacle of greed in trying to seek another Pearl of Great Price?  Or is it an unexpected obstacle that forces you into a dead-end street and makes you feel like a sheep going to slaughter?  Whatever it is, there are millions out there who feel no peace, who can't sleep unless exhausted, who have to medicate or drink themselves into oblivion just to relax.  These are people who'd give a lot to be able to fall asleep like I do.  And you may be one of them.

          Paul knew a thing or two about peace, because he knew a lot about unrest.  He'd first fought the followers of Gospel and later fought enemies of the Gospel.  He'd witnessed about the risen Christ to kings and to peasants.  But he never knew true peace until he realized Jesus had won the war, the real war against Satan.  He'd thought rules and regulations were the answer to everything, but later he'd learn to say, "The greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13:13)

          He discovered it was God's love, not laws, that changes people.  When he was arresting Christians, he thought he was doing it right, but God showed him he had it all wrong.  God knocked Paul off his high horse and in his blindness he saw a better way, the way of grace and humility.  He came to realize salvation was not up to Him, that God was in charge of his life, and that depending on Jesus was the only way.  He discovered all things do work together for good to those who love God, and then he finally could say, "What, then, shall we say in response to this?  If God is for us, who can be against us?"  Such wonderful words, words so easily overlooked.

          "If God is for us, who can be against us?"  Great thought, but how can you live by it?  How can you make that your life's motto?  By now many of you have read in our latest Newsletter the articles I wrote about the conflict within our Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.  Regardless of who you think is right or wrong, most all of you are shaking your head, wondering why something so simple as prayer with others could lead to such conflict.

          The answer is not simple, but it's necessary to seek.  In today's Gospel, Jesus tells a parable about the dragnet.  He said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish.  When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore.  Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away.  This is how it will be at the end of the age.  The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous."

          In any kind of conflict it's always tempting to label people, to call them "good guys" and "bad guys" or "liberals" and "conservatives" or my favorite terms, "Missionaries" and "Guardians".  Some people don't like to talk about it when churches get so picky, like the friend who told me, "Pastor, you're the only one who really cares about this stuff.  None of the rest of us do."  I'm not so sure about that.  I think she just didn't want to talk about it.  Even if you don't know the source of a conflict, just knowing it's out there is unsettling and robs you of peace.  Peace doesn't come from ignoring reality, but from facing it squarely, acknowledging it, and then giving it all to God.  That's the key - giving it all to God!

          And church conflict, bad as it is, is by no means the worst kind.  There's conflict with terrorists who would kill us, an economy that would sink us, and elitists who would rob us of every public word about God.  There is conflict between rich nations and poor nations, between Moslems and Christians, between evolutionists and creationists, and between those who think you can get to heaven by any road and those who know the only way is through faith in Jesus.

          Some days I can hardly stand to pick up the newspaper for what bad news it contains.  And yet a part of me can't keep from reading the latest "news."  Sometimes it seems like no one really cares about Truth, and that personal opinion has been elevated to the highest place, greater even than God's Word.  But then we must remember Paul's words of hope and peace, "If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"

          Just knowing God is fighting the important battles ought to give us some peace.  It's helpful just to know it's not all up to me - or to you - or to some church official.  God loves both the good guys and the bad guys, the liberals and the conservatives.  He loves us in peacetime and He loves us in wartime.  I don't know how, but He does, and that's good enough for me.

          We in our self-righteousness choose up sides, picking those we agree with.  God in His love chooses us all.  No one is left out.  Oh yes, all kinds of people can choose the wrong God, can follow the wrong way.  But we'd all better be sure our own house is in order before we start pointing the fingers at others, especially other Christians.  We may point the finger of distrust and blame, but God points us all to the Cross.  Trusting in His Son is all we need.  Having the right answers doesn't gain us God's love.  Nor does selfishness or greed or any other sin take His love away.  God loves us just like we are, but He won't leave us that way for very long.  Let me repeat that again:  God loves us just like we are, but He won't leave us that way for very long.

          God brings us peace when we let Him be in charge.  "If God is for us, who can be against us?" are the words of a peace-filled man.  St. Paul had his struggles, but he never forgot that God was in charge.  Even in his darkest moments, whether his conflict with other Christians or his months in prison, he rejoiced in all God had given him.  As we heard Paul tell us last week, "I have learned in all situations to be content.  I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13)

          "Let Go and Let God," we say.  That motto was meant as a foundation for life, not a bumper sticker.  It wasn't meant to take away personal responsibility or to remove any and all judgment from the actions or beliefs of others.  Some things ARE wrong when compared to God's rules.  Some things cannot and must not be tolerated if they deny Jesus Christ.  The Son of God took His stand against hypocrisy, against works righteousness, against idolatry and against unbelief in all its forms.  He was not wishy-washy about our relationship to God.  "He is the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE.  No one comes to the Father except through HIM." (John 14:6)

          But when we let go and let God, it's an act of faith, an act of living Paul's words:  "If God is for us, who can be against us?"  The world doesn't need another Savior - it already has one.  The true Church doesn't have any labels, only a Savior, Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God and son of Mary.  Jesus is for us, so who can be against us?  May God give all Christians, including all Lutherans, His peace.  And may we all learn the blessed lessons to help us Travel Light.  Amen

Copyright © 2002 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.