Archive for November, 2008

We now begin the new church year, Series B with the three assigned readings from Isaiah 64:1-9; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 and Mark 11:1-10 or Mark 13:24-37. Chosen to preach on is 1 Corinthians 1:8, “who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Ask this question to any Christian, “Are you righteous and blameless enough to go to heaven?” The normal answer will be “no” which demonstrates the lack of spiritual understanding even among Christians. For even Christians get caught up defining words the way the world does rather than the way God does. Righteous means being very good in your works and blameless means no mistakes at all, according to the world.

However, the essence of the Christian message is that God takes ungodly people and declares them to be godly while they remain ungodly. Another way of saying that is the Christian is both 100% saint and 100% sinner at the same time. For under the Law we fail in all our works and thus are truly sinners. But under the Gospel we are forgiven all our sins and are dressed in the robe of righteousness.

This is not understood apart from faith. Thus, the purpose of every sermon is to help the listener begin to interpret reality the way God does. For the Bible is nothing other than a book explaining how God thinks which can never be figured out with natural revelation. Law and Gospel distinctions are necessary for proper understanding of God’s view of reality.

The essence of this message is that God’s understanding of being righteous and blameless is different for Adam and Eve prior to the Fall into sin and for Adam and Eve and you and me after the Fall into sin. How so? Prior to the Fall, God regarded Adam and Eve to be righteous and blameless in regard to His will because they actually were. They never sinned and obeyed God perfectly.

But that image of God was lost in the Fall. The Bible is clear that for fallen people there are two paths of existence. The one is the broad path that leads to destruction and the other is the narrow path that leads to life. While there are many analogies in the Bible in regard to these two ways (eg., self-righteousness and Christ righteousness) the essence of the two ways is the difference between unbelievers and believers.

Unbelievers follow the broad path by rejecting the grace of God choosing thereby to pay for their own sins with hell as their end. Believers by the power of the Holy Spirit are on the narrow path receiving the benefits of the forgiveness of sins and the robe of Christ’s righteousness by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Because of that gift of salvation, God recognizes believers as righteous and blameless in His sight for He now sees them through the cross of Christ.

From God’s point of view then, those before the Fall are regarded as sinless differently than those after the Fall. Adam and Eve before the Fall were declared sinless, righteous and blameless because they actually lived that kind of life. Those after the Fall will not live that kind of life until after the Day of Judgment. But the verse is clear. Prior to that Day you need to be righteous and blameless in God’s sight.

What is the answer to how sinners are regarded by God as righteous and blameless? While they cannot live a life of sinless good works they do live a life by the power of the Holy Spirit of repentance! Repentance is defined by Luke 15 as being carried back home by God. The act of repentance is done by God. The results of that action on His part in regard to us results in a life of contrition and faith.

The bottom line is this. Prior to the Fall, human beings were righteous and blameless because their works were. After the Fall, human beings are regarded by God as righteous and blameless because of repentance. The life of the Christian is one of repentance. We give all our sins to God which He exchanges for the righteous robe of Christ’s obedience and the gift of the forgiveness of sins. So that prior to the Day of Judgment, sinful human believers are regarded by God as righteous and blameless by grace, through faith, on account of Jesus Christ!

It is the last Sunday of the Church year. The listed readings are Ezekiel 34:1-16, 20-24; 1 Corinthians 15:20-28 and Matthew 25:31-46. Selected to preach on is verse 41 of Matthew 25, “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’”

And what was the apparent reason for the goats being cursed? Because they did not give food to the hungry and drink to the thirsty among others? Who in their life has not given something to eat and drink to those in need of it? Parents do so for their children; spouses for one another and the list goes on. And how do we understand the apparent conclusion that salvation for the sheep is because of their works?

How does one preach this text without giving the impression that works are the basis for salvation? Perhaps the following analogy might be helpful. School kids are walking home from school. Two of them leave the group as they walk up a porch, take out keys, open the door and go in. One of the other students says, “I didn’t know that they were the children of those parents.”

Now what made them “children of those parents”? Was it that they had keys? Was it that they could walk into the house? No, it was because they had been either born or adopted into the family. The keys and ability to walk into the house were only evidence of their already having been children of those parents through no contribution of their own.

So also, when Jesus points out the “works” of the sheep, in reality those “works” are evidence that the sheep were members of the family by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. In fact, they are not their own “works” at all but “fruit of the Holy Spirit.” The difference between the two (works and fruit) is motivation. Good works are motivated through self-centered motivation while fruit of the Holy Spirit are motivated by love of Christ. Goats (unbelievers) can never do fruit because they reject the Spirit.

The real difference between the sheep and goats is that the sheep are believers and the goats are unbelievers. The sheep have the evidence of being members of the family because as Romans 11 reveals, they were grafted on to the vine. As Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Without Me, you can do nothing.”

While the Law of the sermon would demonstrate our inability to do the works perfectly that are necessary, the Gospel is the good news that God’s judgment of us occurs as we have been forgiven all our sins and are wearing the robe of Christ’s righteousness. We are not assured of our salvation because we see the evidence of spiritual fruit as God is able to do but because we have been baptized (adopted) into the family of God through Word and Sacrament.

For the second last Sunday in the Church year, the three assigned readings are Zephaniah 1:7-16; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 and Matthew 25:14-30. The text chosen to preach on is Matthew 25, verse 25, “And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground.”

As we have noted elsewhere, a parable is not talking about what it is talking about. So if the parable is talking about shepherds and sheep, it’s not about sheepherding; if it talks about money, it’s not about money. While the parable of the talents appears to be about our use of money and other gifts given to us by God, we therefore conclude that cannot be the application.

The other important L&G principle is that when God criticizes someone, it is not only because of sin but specifically because of unbelief. And conversely, when God praises someone it is specifically because of faith. Thus, we need to discover the promise which the faithful servants believe and which the unfaithful servant does not believe.

The 19th chapter of Luke has a similar parable which helps to fill in some of the blanks in this parable. But the bottom line is that the promise found in this parable is that the lord will return. Therefore, the parables in this chapter deal with the End Times and specifically the Day of Judgment.

The disciples are under the impression that Jesus is traveling to Jerusalem to bring in the new kingdom of God. Little are they aware of the predictions from the Old Testament that Jesus is going to die, rise from the dead and then ascend into heaven not to return until He is ready.

The parable, therefore, is whether we believe that Jesus will return as He has promised. Those who regard God as a cruel Judge demanding the harvest from which He has not sown seed are those who do not have proper faith in the God of mercy and grace. Therefore, they get an eternity with the god in which they trust–the devil himself.

It is not that the servants have been profitable in what they did (The “done” of verse 21 and 23 is not in the original Greek). Rather, they have been faithful (same verses) in believing the promise that He will return and in His own good time. The gain in trading refers to the fruit of the Holy Spirit that those of faith spontaneously exhibit and which God looks for on the Day of Judgment as the evidence that the believer has truly been grafted on to the vine. (See next parable)

As we near the end of the Church year, the lessons assigned for the 26th Sunday after Pentecost speak of the Day of Judgment: Amos 5:18-24; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and Matthew 25:1-13. Preaching this week will be on Matthew 25:8, “And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’”

The normal interpretation of this parable is that the key ingredient in getting into the wedding banquet is to have sufficient oil. Such an opinion has led to all kinds of odd spiritual synonyms for the oil such as our works or our faith. The point is then made that you had better not fall asleep as the disciples did in the Garden of Gethsemane by seeing to it that your obedience to God’s command does not fall short or else you will not get into the banquet.

It does not take a genius in theology to realize that such interpretations and applications are Law. The parable is then regarded as something like Aesop’s fables in which there is a lesson to be learned and practiced in one’s life. The Bible is then seen as a book of principles of life with parables providing some of the best principles.

However, falling asleep cannot be the problem because even the wise virgins fell asleep. Yes, the foolish had not brought sufficient oil but what possibly could the oil represent on the part of our needing to bring something in preparation for the Day of Judgment?

Parables are about the way God works in the kingdom of God on earth; namely, the holy, Christian Church. This parable is not a directive as to what we are to do, say or think so we have enough oil. The lack of oil is simply a symptom of the far greater problem that the foolish virgins had.

A L&G principle is that whenever God criticizes someone, the criticism is not just directed toward the sin but the unbelief behind that sin. And conversely, whenever God praises someone, the praise is not just directed toward the good work but the faith behind that fruit of the Holy Spirit. Since God is criticizing five of the virgins there must be something lacking in their faith that is at fault.

In fact, it is not something that is lacking; it is something that is non-existent! They are not called wise and foolish in the Bible comparing smart people to dumb people or intelligent people to ignorant people or anything like that. The Bible is clear. Wisdom is a synonym for those who have faith; foolish (moron in the Greek) is a synonym for unbelievers.

It is not that the oil was insufficent. It only was a symptom of the larger problem in that the foolish virgins did not believe that the groom would be so late. They had a view of him that did not necessitate additional oil because he would come within the time frame that they regarded as appropriate. The wise, on the other hand, knew that the bridegroom was not one who could be put into a box. Therefore, they were ready for whatever decision he made.

The parable is simply differentiating that those who are ready for the return of the bridegroom are those of faith while those who are not ready are those of unbelief. There is no preparation one can make for that return on one’s own. Instead, the children of God are already prepared for the return of the Savior because faith has been planted in their hearts by the Holy Spirit.

To make it clear: the parable is not advising any of us as to how to prepare for the coming of the Judge as though we can have enough oil–whatever that is–to be counted worthy to enter the banquet. Instead, God is revealing to us that those who are ready for Judgment Day are believers while unbelievers are not ready. From God’s point of view that is clear by the way each group has or does not have the faith to trust the groom rather than attempt to put him in a box that sounds reasonable and acceptable.