Archive for April, 2008

The last Sunday of the Easter Season on May 4, 2008 has the following three readings: Acts 1:12-26; 1 Peter 4:12-19; 5:6-11 and John 17:1-11. The chosen text to prepare for a sermon is John 17:3, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

The question to ask the congregation is, “Are you worthy enough in God’s eyes to enter into eternal life?” The majority of even Christians are living under the Law; that is, their old Adam interprets reality for them. They will normally answer that they do not feel sufficiently worthy to enter into eternal life. Such an answer uncovers the legalism that even exists in faithful Christians.

For the proper answer is that the Christian does not need to look forward to entering eternal life. Why? Because he is already living that eternal life. While most people imagine that eternal life does not begin until they get to heaven after Judgment Day, the Bible reveals that eternal life begins at the moment of conversion.

For the concept of “life” has at least two meanings as does the concept of “death.” “Death” can refer either to physical death in which the spirit is separated from the body or it can refer to spiritual death in which a person is separated from the holy God because of the curse of the Law, “In the day that you sin, you shall surely die!”

“Life” also can refer to a living and breathing being or it can refer to the spiritual dimension in which the believer is a member of the family of God with Jesus as his brother. A believer who is adopted by God cannot receive more life through his works anymore than a child who is adopted can do something to become more of a member of the family.

The believer therefore receives the gift of “life” which is a perfect relationship with the holy Trinity. How can this be? First of all, the curse of the Law has been removed as far as the east is from the west by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Second, the new life consists in receiving all the benefits available for the believer such as the forgiveness of sins, the peace of God, all things working for the good, etc.

So according to Jesus, eternal life is not defined in terms of what it is but how it is received. He says in John 17:3 that eternal life takes place when you know the only true God and Jesus Christ Whom the Father sent. Through that knowledge or trust in Jesus Christ, salvation takes place not because you have made promises to God but because He has made promises to you! What a difference in understanding life under the Gospel rather than when one interprets reality from under the Law.

Moving through the season of Easter, the 6th Sunday has the following readings: Acts 17:16-31; 1 Peter 3:13-22 and John 14:15-21. Chosen to preach on this coming Sunday is John 15:14, “If you love Me; keep My commandments.”

Do you love Jesus? Are you keeping His commandments? Most Christians will not answer “yes” to both of those questions. In fact, the Christian faith teaches that we are NOT saved by loving God but by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. This statement by Jesus sounds a lot like what you hear in other religions. But there is a difference.

Truly, there are only two religions in the world–Christianity and everything else. And “everything else” assumes that there is only one kind of “good works” which cover not only how you relate to God but also how you relate to the neighbor. But that is not God’s view. Instead, God reveals that there are two kinds of good works or two kinds of righteousness.

The one righteousness is that which God demands from us in order to have a right relationship with Him. The second is that which God requires from us as we relate to our neighbor. The former is impossible for us to fulfill; the latter is possible not only by the Christian but even the atheist.

First, the latter. The works God expects in the temporal world, such as obeying the traffic laws, paying your taxes, not murdering anyone, etc. can be kept by the atheist out of self-interest. Temporal works have no necessity of proper motivation. The police really don’t care why you stopped at the stop sign; they only care that you stopped!

But in regard to our relationship to Almighty God, what is demanded is not only pure outward works but also perfect motivation of love for Jesus Christ. No human being who is an unbeliever can fulfill that demand. So God, in His mercy and grace, became incarnate of the Virgin Mary for the purpose of taking our place on the cross so that the curse of the Law might be fulfilled. The curse was death or separation from God Himself which Jesus experienced with the words, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Jesus words about keeping the commandments are not directed to unbelievers but to believers in Christ. Such obedience has nothing to do with the righteousness needed to be saved. And confusing the two is a confusion of Law and Gospel. In point of fact, the works we do for our neighbor are not even taken into account on the Day of Judgment as the reason for going either to heaven or hell.

Instead, heaven is our home because of the works of Jesus Christ. To mix our temporal works in with His perfect righteousness is to disagree with His words, “It is finished” and to imagine that we somehow contribute to our own salvation. Such an attitude is indeed a contradiction to the conclusion of Christian faith that God and God alone gets ALL THE CREDIT for my salvation.

For the fifth Sunday of Easter, the three assigned readings are Acts 6:1-9;7:21, 51-60; 1 Peter 2:2-10 and John 14:1-14. The text I will be using to preach about in Nokomis, Illinois is John 14:6, “Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

To demonstrate that most Christians live under the Law, the sermon could begin by asking this question, “Do you feel that you are worthy enough to get to heaven because of the way (road) that you are on in this life?” Most Christians would not give a definite “yes” to that question because they feel that their works are still not good enough to get to heaven.

The main point of the sermon to get across can be summarized as, “Every religion in the world talks about one kind of works that not only you do in secular society but that also help you in the spiritual dimension of your relationship to God. Only Christianity speaks of two kinds of good works.”

It does??? Yes, because Christianity mirrors God’s way of looking at good works, He reveals in the Bible that there are two kinds of good works or as some would say, the “two kinds of righteousness.” There is first of all the righteousness that one has to have with God in order to be saved. Then there is the other kind of righteousness that one has with the neighbor, who could include family, co-workers, friends, relatives and even your enemy.

From God’s point of view, any time you imagine that your good works to the neighbor have any bearing at all as to whether or not you are saved, you are confusing Law and Gospel. For the only works that save you are not your works. They are the works of Jesus Christ in dying and rising for you. If you ever offer God your own good works to the neighbor as a contribution toward your personal salvation, God would prefer that you give Him a plate of worms.

When it come to your relationship to God, nothing you do, say or think has any bearing as to whether you are saved. The only item God looks for is whether or not you are wearing the robe of righteousness. And how did you earn or merit such a robe? You did not. It was given to you as a free gift through believing that Jesus Christ is your Savior.

As there are two kinds of good works God recognizes, so also there are two ways which people are on. The one is the broad way that leads to destruction because it is the road of self-centered and self-righteous works that ends up in hell. The other is the narrow road which Jesus built with His suffering, death and resurrection. Those who are saved rejoice that they believe Him when He says, “I am the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through My Way.”

For the 4th Sunday of Easter the 3 assigned readings on 4/13/08 are Acts 2:42-47; 1 Peter 2:19-25 and John 10:1-10. Chosen to preach on is 1 Peter 2:21, “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps.”

Christ an Example? Does that not contradict the other passages in Scripture that say we are not saved by any works we do including following Jesus as an Example for us? That this verse can be misunderstood was underscored this week when a TV evangelist was asked about the passage that on Judgment Day Jesus will say that He does not know some who spoke of Him and did miracles in His name. The evangelist said that only those who do good works will be saved. It’s not enough to have faith.

This is a good example of the kind of confusion that exists when the distinctions between Law and Gospel are not held. The proper answer to the question would have been that there are those who speak of Jesus but do not believe in Him–the Mormons being a chief example.

Theology is the art of making distinctions. The distinction to keep in mind in regard to Jesus as an Example is that between justification and sanctfication. There are two kinds of righteousness from God’s point of view. There is the first kind of righteousness by which we become children of God and are saved. Then there is also the other kind of righteousness in which we respond to the needs of our neighbor. That kind of behavior uses Jesus as an Example who “when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten…” (verse 23)

The sermon could begin with showing the impossibility of any unbeliever following Jesus as an Example in order to be saved. Once the Law has done its hammering of our egos down to size, then the Gospel is proclaimed as to why there is no need on our part to do anything in order to be saved! While the sermon can speak of the kind of righteousness in which Jesus is an Example for us (civic or temporal good works), the sermon should still end on a note of Gospel for we are not in control of how the Law is heard.

For the third Sunday of Easter on 4/6/08, the three assigned readings are Acts 2:14a, 36-41; 1 Peter 1:17-25 and Luke 24:13-35. Chosen to preach on is Acts 2:38, “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”

At first reading, the command to repent appears to contradict many other passages in the Bible that reveals we are saved not by anything we do but only by the grace of God that provides salvation as a free gift. How do we resolve this apparent contradiction? The answer to resolve most apparent theological contradictions is to make the proper distinctions between Law and Gospel. For then, contradictions are seen not to be real but only apparent.

The problem comes when we assume that because the verb to repent is an imperative (command) that God expects us to be able to accomplish such repentance. There are folks like Charles Finney who taught that every command from God to us is able to be observed by us, or else God is cruel and vindictive. However, proper proclamation of the Law in Christianity is not to help someone climb up to God but to make him realize that what is being commanded is impossible for him to achieve.

Then what is repentance if not something we do? The best definition of repentance is found in Luke 15 and the parable of the lost sheep. At the end of the parable Jesus reveals that there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over those who don’t think they need to repent! Repentance according to the parable is not the sheep turning around, looking for the shepherd and then jumping on his shoulders. No, repentance is the shepherd finding the sheep, putting it on his shoulders and carrying it back home rejoicing!

Returning to Acts 2, the way God does that rescuing of us from the devil is found in the verb “baptized.” For this verb is not an active verb as though you do the work of baptism. It is a passive verb which means that you receive the gifts of the forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit by grace through faith without any work or merit on your own.

Thinking of the benefits of baptism as due to our work removes baptism from the category of a sacrament through which God does everything to a category of a work we do for which we get the credit. Yes, it is true that for salvation one needs to repent. What is not true is that we are capable of such repentance on our own. Instead, God does for us what we are unable to do for ourselves.