Archive for October, 2008

All Saints Day to be held on November 2, 2008 directs us to the following three readings: Revelation 7:2-17; 1 John 3:1-3 and Matthew 5:1-12. Chosen to preach on is Revelation 7:10, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

Two problems arise in this verse. Does not salvation belong to people who are sinners? Salvation does not belong to God, does it? And the second problem is that the verse appears to make a distinction between God who sits on the throne and the Lamb who, of course, is Jesus Christ. How do we resolve these apparent problems.

When a child is adopted as an infant, the good works that he begins to do is to eat the food he is given, sleep in the bed he is provided and wear the clothes in which he is dressed. Now while it is true that the clothes now belong to the infant, it is also true to state that they belong to the parents who bought and paid for them.

In the same way, salvation belonging to God is understood that God and God alone is the source, the foundation the essence of our salvation. Salvation is from God Who alone won it for us. And He did so not with gold or silver but with His holy precious blood and His innocent suffering and death. This understanding that our salvation has its source in God and Him alone decimates any kind of decision theology or any contribution of works on our part toward our salvation. As newborn infants in the Church, we thank and praise Him Who alone gets all the credit for saving us.

The second problem is that the verse makes it look like God is on the throne and then there is this other Lamb who may or may not be God. Here we look to the Reformation principle of Scripture interprets Scripture. One only has to return to chapter 5 of this same book of Revelation. In a number of verses there is no distinction between the worship and honor given to the Lamb and to the One on the throne.

In point of fact, verse 13 reveals that all creatures give blessing and honor and glory and power not only to Him who sits on the throne but also to the Lamb! Are we not reminded of Daniel 7 when the One Who sits on the throne–the Ancient of Days–sends the son of Man to save the world? Chapter 5 of Revelation is the return of that son of Man Who died so that we will never really die and Who lives so that we live eternally. And chapter 7 is a revelation of all the benefits that those saints who have gone on before us now enjoy in the company of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

In many congregations this Sunday the festival of the Reformation will be celebrated. The assigned readings are Revelation 14:6-7; Romans 3:19-28 and John 8:31-36. Normally the sermon text is one or two verses in length, but for this occasion the text will be Romans 3:19-28. Because of the length we will not type it out here but open your Bible to the passage to follow along.

Why is this passage so important? It not only is the crux of the Bible but it is also practical in an evangelism sense. How so? What suggestions do we have for Christians to testify of the hope that they have in Christ? Perhaps we encourage them to use one of the creeds which certainly provides a outline of our faith. Or one could use a confession of the Church; eg., Augsburg or the Small Catechism, to share what Christians believe.

However, if one is looking for a short portion of the Scripture that gets to the heart of the matter of the Christian faith, Romans 3:19-28 is marvelous. First of all, it works with the historic facts of the Bible in regard to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Second, it offers an understanding of Law and Gospel that is unique, radical and totally different than that found in any other religion of the entire world.

The two religions of the world are Christianity and everything else. And everything else uses the Law as a friend who guides you into a right relationship with a god through proper works, thoughts, words, sacrifices, offerings and so forth. But the Christian faith points forth to an understanding of God’s use of the Law that not only hinders your salvation but clearly reveals the impossibility of your doing, saying or thinking anything in order to be saved.

And the Gospel found in this passage is not some good news report in light of your increasing holy works, words and thoughts. Instead, the Gospel is that your entire salvation was accomplished by God without any help or contribution from you. You are totally saved by grace through faith on account of the work of Jesus Christ. It is a passage that destroys the hearer’s hope of salvation because of his holiness or his change in behavior or whatever else all the other religions worship.

This righteousness of God is not something to which we need to attain but is rather what we receive as a gift when we are the enemies of God. There is no experience one has that can be compared to the radical nature of God’s gift to us the unworthy. For God first declares us redeemed and then He begins the work of making us holy. In fact, no holy work can even be done until one is totally saved.

Totally saved? Who is totally saved? Certainly not those who imagine that being saved is like becoming perfect. But from God’s viewpoint, being saved is becoming God’s child which occurs through adoption for sure in the waters of baptism. And what does a child to to get adopted? Nothing. What did you do to get saved? Nothing. In fact, if you ever add something to your being saved, you have subtracted from the cross of Christ.

As an aside, along with Romans 3:19-28 as being a brilliant summary of the essence of the Christian faith, another tool one can use in witnessing is a hymn. And what is the assigned hymn for Reformation Sunday besides “A Might Fortress Is Our God?” It is “Salvation Unto Us Has Come.” In that hymn you also have a wonderful summary of the unique, radical and uncommonsensical theology of that which is the Christian faith.

The 23rd Sunday after Pentecost falls on October 19, 2008 and has the following lectionary readings: Isaiah 45:1-7, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 and Matthew 22:15-22. The sermon’s text is 1 Thessalonians 1:10: “…and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”

One possible outline of a sermon is to ask a question in order to get the listener confused and then use the text to clarify the confusion by bringing the comfort of the Gospel into play. The question for this sermon could be: “What was the purpose of the cross of Jesus Christ?” or “What did God intend to take place because of the cross of Jesus Christ?”

In our experience, there is a near unanimous agreement that Jesus died on the cross in order to take away our sins. Now sometimes they will abbreviate the answer by talking about the forgiveness of sins but it basically means the same thing. It is at this point that the second question causes the confusion: “If Jesus took away your sins at the cross, then why do you find yourself sinning when you look into the mirror of the Law?”

Once a person concludes that faith in the cross of Jesus Christ somehow reduces or eliminates sinfulness, the devil’s work is begun. For who could ever be assured of personal salvation if the evidence of one’s salvation is a reduction or elimination of sin? In reality from God’s point of view, it was and is not “sin” that separates us from God. How so?

If sin is understood as rebellion or disobedience against the intention of the created order, then the entire world has fallen into sin. Trees fall on cars; lions eat people! Yet neither trees or lions are banished to an eternal hell. That is only reserved for two parts of creation: angels and human beings. What really separates God from man is the curse of the Law which reads, “In the day that you sin, death is the result.”

We know that death is not temporal death for Adam and Eve continued to live after their sin in Eden. But it certainly was a spiritual death as they ran to hide from God where He already was. It is the consequence of the curse of the Law that separates us from God.

Now just what did happen at the cross? Did Jesus die to take away the sins of the world in the sense that we sin no more or did He die to take away the curse of the Law? Verse 10 of the 1st chapter of Thessalonians reveals that the work of Jesus was to deliver us from the wrath to come. That wrath is against all unbelief which refused to acknowledge God as the true Redeemer of mankind and instead went after other gods.

With the purpose of the cross effective when Jesus substituted Himself for you, the lack of assurance of salvation is taken away and replaced with the objective revelation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He died so that you will never really die; He lives so that you live eternally. And all that is for you out of God’s good and gracious will to those of us who do not deserve such a gift of salvation.

For the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost, the Revised Lutheran Lectionary has the following 3 readings assigned: Isaiah 25:6-9; Philippians 4:4-13 and Matthew 22:1-14. The chosen text for the sermon is Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

This is one of those verses that causes much mischief because of the old Adam of the Christian. Living under the Law in which you are the center of the Bible emphasizes the phrase, “I can do” rather than the living under the Gospel emphasis of “through Christ.” The first goal of the sermon is to demonstrate to the listeners that they burden themselves by misinterpreting this passage.

The sermon may ask the question, “In light of this verse, what is your answer as to why you sometimes cannot accomplish what you intend to do?” The answer will be, “I do not have enough faith in Jesus.” The commonsensical Christian living under the Law wonders if the promises of God are true, then why can I not do all things except for the reason that my relationship to Christ is not strong enough.

The listeners need to understand that such thinking is due to the theologian of self-glory that lurks in everyone of us. Such a theologian uses experience to make a decision as to one’s relationship with God. “If I am accomplishing great things, God is with me. If I am not, God is against me.” How sad? We are often like little children deciding whether Mommy or Daddy loves us on the basis of whether or not they are angry with our behavior.

The second goal of the sermon is to clarify first through interpretation (Scripture interprets Scripture) and then through application (distinctions between L&G) the true sense of this verse. The interpretation is found in the context. When Paul speaks of able to do all things, is he speaking of tasks and assignments he fulfills or is there something else he has in mind?

The context is clear as read at the end of verse 11, “for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.” Of what states is he speaking? Verse 12 explains. The states of being abased or abound, to be full and to be hungry, to abound and to suffer need. What Paul means by able to do all things in reality is to endure all things which the world throws at him.

The reason Christians are able to do (endure) all things, is because of the trust planted in us by the Holy Spirit in regard to the promises of God never to forsake us, to come to us when we call upon Him, etc. etc. It is NOT by being anxious for nothing that the peace of God will guard our hearts and minds (verse 7) but rather that because of the peace of God which we now have by grace, our hearts and minds will be guarded through Christ Jesus. What was once considered to be our burden to achieve, we now see through a glass darkly is to be credited totally to the work of Jesus Christ and Him alone!