Archive for June, 2008

On June 29, 2008, the three assigned readings for the 7th Sunday after Pentecost are Jeremiah 28:5-9, Romans 7:1-13 and Matthew 10:34-42. Chosen to preach on that Sunday AT Faith Lutheran Church in Washington, MO is Romans 7:10, “And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.”

Strange indeed that the purpose of God giving the commandmentts was to bring life but instead Paul found it brought death. An important ingredient toward proper interpretation of the Bible is to make the proper distinctions. And what else, but the proper distinctions between Law and Gospel will help us understand this verse?

The first distinction to keep in mind is that Paul is not talking about Adam and Eve before the Fall but Paul himself and all people who are conceived and born in sin. We could understand how Adam and Eve remained in proper life through obedience to the commandment. But sinners after the Fall are unable to do so. So how does the Law bring life for those after the Fall.

The next distinction which advances us forward is that between Christianity and every other religion in the world. Only the Christian faith reveals a use of the Law for sinners not found in any other religion. For in every other religion the Law is helpful in knowing what to do, think or say in order to get in a right relationship with god. Only Christianity rejects such a teaching to get right with God.

Paradoxically, the Law is used by God to bring life for the sinner by pointing out that there is nothing the sinner can do to produce life within himself. By negating the possibility for self-righteousness, the Law accomplishes its works in killing the old Adam within us which craves for affection and credit. As both a mirror to show our true selves and as a hammer to beat down any kind of self-righteousness in regard to being saved, the Law is preparing us for life through faith in Jesus Christ Who did what we are inacapable of doing.

When the Law is preached properly it results in our acknowledgement that we are poor, miserable sinners deserving nothing but temporal and eternal punishment. The sinner is now ready to hear the Gospel. The Gospel proclaims the good news that Jesus, the Christ, has taken upon Himself all the punishment we should have received for our sin on that accursed cross. We are free from the curse of the Law.

However, every other religion in the world imagines its good works to be suitable for meriting salvation. It is not just sin that keeps one from getting to heaven; it is attempting to use our good works to appease or placate an angry God which He regards as sin. For God cannot be manipulated by us or our good works. He is not the god of justice who gives us what we deserve; He is both the God of mercy Who does not give what we deserve and the God of grace Who gives us what we do not deserve.

For the sixth Sunday after Pentecost, the three readings are Jeremiah 20:7-13; Romans 6:12-23 and Matthew 10:5a, 21-33. Chosen to preach on this coming Sunday at Christ Lutheran Church in Augusta, MO is Romans 6:14, “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”

The passage begins with verse 12, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.” Every theological passage in the Bible may be taken in one of two ways–the wrong way and the right way. The wrong way is the way of the theologian of self-glory; the right way is the way of the theologian of tghe cross. In other words, the wrong way is me doing it; the right way is God doing it.

Most people, including some Christians, will conclude from verse 12 that the way you stop from sin reigning in your mortal body is simply to stop sinning. However, that can’t be correct since even the most mature of Christians are sinners deserving of nothing but temporal and eternal punishment. The key word in verse 12 is “reign” which means that sin is not just present but rules your life.

Verse 14 clarifies that sin is still present with the Christian. But the verse reveals that there is a way that it no longer has dominion because you are not under law but under grace. What does that mean? To be under law is not the same as living according to the law. Rather, it refers to being under the thumb of law in the sense that what you say, think or do here on earth makes the difference as to whether or not you go to heaven or hell.

Living under the law is living with the assumption that your own obedience will be the criterion for your salvation. Living under the Gospel is living with the Good News that it is Christ’s own obedience that will be the criterion as to whether or not you are saved. For through faith in Christ, the Christian receives the benefit of not having our result in eternal damnation. It is not that sin is taken away. Just look in a mirror to demonstrate that. It is instead that the punishment for your sin, which you richly deserve, has been transferred to the cross.

When verse 22 speaks of “having been set from sin” it is not talking about no longer sinning. Rather, it is being set free from the eternal consequences for our sin which Jesus took upon Himself on the cross with the words, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Answer: “Because you have taken upon that cross the sins of the whole world!”

Good works, in the form of fruit of the Holy Spirit, do take place in the life of the Christian. However, such fruit never precedes salvation; they always follow our being totally saved by grace through faith on account of the life, death and resurrection of our merciful Savior, Jesus the Christ!

The 4th Sunday after Pentecost includes the following readings from Hosea 5:15-6:6; Romans 4:13-25 and Matthew 9:9-31. We will be looking at Romans 4:22, “And therefore ‘it was accounted to him for righteousness.’”

The phrase “forensic justification” or “imputed righteousness” is not well understood by most Christians even though it reflects a key point of the 16th century Reformation. The apostle Paul puts it this way, “and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” In this we have a unique perspective that only the Christian faith reveals.

Paul explains in this pericope that it was not because Abraham was so righteous from obeying God’s commandments that he received the promise of the Messiah through his son. No, for Abraham was not considered righteous by what he did but rather by what he believed.

Ask anyone you know if he or she is righteous enough to go to heaven. The answer will most often be “no.” And that is because for most people, being righteous is synonmous with being good. And who among us believe that we are good enough to merit heaven as a reward? While that is the teaching of every other religion in the world that speaks of a personal god, the Christian faith reveals that salvation is not through works but through faith.

The question then is how a person who is regarded as a sinner can be declared by God to be righteous in His sight? It is one thing for God to regard Adam and Eve as righteous before their Fall into sin because they were perfectly obedient to the will of God. But how can God regard anyone as righteous if sin continues each and every day?

Perhaps we need to look deeper into the concept of being righteous beyond being obedient to God’s Will. After creating the world out of nothing, God inspected His work and declared that “indeed it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31) What did that mean? It meant that everything was operating as God intended it so to do. The trees brought forth proper fruit; the weather was perfect and human beings were obedient.

But then came the Fall into sin. However, God made a promise that through the seed of Eve, One would come to declare sinners righteous. How is it possible if being righteous means being sinless? But in the Garden of Eden being obedient was not the essence of being righteous. The essence of being righteous was knowing not only the place of human beings in the work of creation but also the place of God.

In their desire to become like God, they became disobedient. Their righteousness was lost not because righteousness was replaced with disobedience but because Adam and Eve rejected the orders of creation God had instituted. They wanted to be like the true God.

It is true that when someone is saved he does not begin to be perfect in all he does. Instead, he is turned from his life of self-centeredness to one of praising God and giving Him the glory. In true repentance (sorrow over sin and faith in Jesus Christ) God again regards the believer as being good. For the believer has repented of his desire to become like God and is content to be like Adam.

True righteousness is a restoration back to again being human as God so intended. In repentance the believer recognizes the separation between himself and God in the sense that he is human and God alone is divine. That recognition is how a sinful creature can be regarded by God as good again. Because our new attitude flows from the faith that God has given to us in light of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God can indeed declare us to be righteous in His sight. For once more we are keeping the separation between human and divine. Righteousness is not equivalent to being obedient; it is equivalent to being human as God originally intended.