Archive for June, 2009

The readings set apart for the 4th Sunday after Pentecost of Series B are Lamentations 3:22-33; 2 Corinthians 8:1-9, 13-15 and Mark 5:21-43. The passage to examine for a sermon is Mark 5:36, “As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the rule of the synagogue, ‘Do not be afraid; only believe.”

Roman Catholic critics of the Reformation theme of “justification by grace through faith alone” insisted that there was no passage in the Bible that could be translated as “faith alone.” Their point was that faith did save but only if works were involved. So they teach that we are saved by faith plus works. The Reformers insisted that the context of Scripture makes it clear that faith and faith alone saved because not only does God get all the credit for our salvation but if our works were a part of our becoming saved, then we would partially merit our way to heaven and therefore it would not be by grace.

Jesus was asked by Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, to heal his little daughter. On the way to the house, a woman with a flow of blood for 12 years touched the garment of Jesus and was healed. Jesus said to her, “Your faith has made you well.” Notice that He did not say, “Your faith plus your wonderful works.” At that point the ruler of the synagogue was told that his daughter has died. Immediately Jesus said to him, “Do not be afraid; only believe.”

The word “only” which can be translated also as “alone” is found in numerous passages. For example, in Romans 16:27 Paul speaks of God with these words, “To God only wise…” Clearly, the term separates the item from anything else. When Jesus urges Jairus to “only believe” or “have faith alone” Jesus is referring to the faith that has as its object His promise. The very fact that Jesus was going with Jarius to his house demonstrates that He was agreeing with Jairus to “come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.”

The object of Christian faith is always a promise from God. It is not sufficient to believe in the historical events of the Bible for even the devils and the Pharisees knew that Jesus died on a cross and rose from the dead. What they do not trust is that His death and resurrection was for them. To say to someone “only believe” means to reject your sight and your experience and trust in the promise instead.

It is also clear that Jairus was a believer prior to his meeting Jesus. In fact, there are very few people (woman at the Samaritan well being an exception) that Jesus converted. Instead, in His ministry there were many believers whom Jesus persuaded that He was the fulfillment of their faith in the coming Messiah. Jairus was one of those who, by the power of the Holy Spirit, believed Jesus to be the Messiah and that is why he asked Him to heal his daughter. When word came that the daughter had died, Jesus told Jairus that faith and faith alone was to be grasped.

As a believer, Jairus had a choice to trust his experience or the promise of Jesus. By the Holy Spirit he grasped the promise that Jesus would heal and therefore through faith alone followed Jesus to the house. The sermon can make the clear point that while perfect faith has been given to us in our heart by the Holy Spirit, our heads often get in the way of doubting or questioning God’s promises. The purpose of the sermon therefore is not only to get people to think like God but also to get their heads caught up with their hearts.

Moving onward through the season of Pentecost, the 3rd Sunday of Pentecost readings are Job 38:1-11; 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 and Mark 4:35-41. The text selected to preach on is Mark 4:40 as Jesus says to His disciples, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”

Both Mark 4 has the disciples and Job 38 has Job questioning God to answer why they are going through such tribulation. The discples are sinking in the lake and Job is replete with sufferings and tribulations. God’s answer is similar in both situations. He doesn’t provide an answer to their questions. Instead, the problem is the lack of faith in both the disciples and Job. What is meant by that?

Is Jesus reprimanding the disciples that they should have known that the sea would be calmed? If that were so, would it be a sin for us to be worried if we were on a boat sinking into the water? What would this say about those who were on the Titanic? The answer as to what Jesus meant is found in understanding the object of faith. It is not that God promises that everything will work out as we desire. Instead, the object of faith are the promises that He provides. Then is Jesus in error to reprimand the disciples for a lack of faith?

No. Instead, Jesus is remembering the promises of the Old Testament writing that foretold how the Messiah would die. From Psalm 22 He would be pierced in hands and feet; from Isaiah 53 He would be whipped, etc. etc. In other words, the disciples should have realized that Jesus would not die by drowning in the middle of a lake. Their trust in the promises of God as found in the Old Testament were indeed weak. The disciples’ faith was not trusting that the One Who was asleep in the boat was also the One Who had created the entire world. He would have no problem with a storm.

That same Jesus would now take on the storm of our sin and the curse of the Law. He would defeat not Poseidon or Neptune as gods of the sea but Satan as god of this world. And He would do so not by putting nails into Satan but by receiving nails into His flesh. In that way, the curse of the Law is removed from us and replaced with the forgiveness of sins and the robe of righteousness. And for those with faith, we are comforted by the Good News of that Gospel.

For the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost, the three readings are Ezekiel 17:22-24; 2 Corinthians 5:1-17 and Mark 4:26-34. Chosen to preach on is 2 Cor. 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

It’s too bad that this passage wasn’t for last Sunday which was Trinity Sunday. Why? Because on Trinity Sunday most churches confess the Athanasian Creed which ends with this verse. I once read a church periodical that stated it was wrong for the Athanasian Creed to speak about being judged by works because it contradicted the Christian faith. The pastor who wrote this as well as the editor of the publication was ignorant of the fact that what the Athanasian Creed says is actually a quote from this passage of 2 Cor. 5:10.

Yet how do we understand this passage in light of other verses such as Ephesians 2 which speaks of being saved by grace through faith not by works? How on the one hand can God reveal such a gracious salvation in which works do not count and yet speak of works as the item He is looking for on the great Day of Judgment? The answer is not only the distinctions between Law and Gospel but also the context. First, let’s examine L&G.

The Law is properly preached when the commands of God first demand absolute past, present and future perfection and then reveal that such perfection is impossible for a human being to achieve even with all the help of the Holy Spirit. The Gospel therefore can be defined as fulfilling what we as human beings are unable to do. It is NOT that works are unimportant in God’s eyes. It is just that they make no difference as to whether or not you go to heaven. They are properly understood in taking place after one is fully saved.

The context of 2 Corinthians 5 backs this up. Verse 5 states that it is God Who prepares us; verse 15 reveals He died for all and verse 17 indicates that the believer is a new creation. What does this mean? It means that while good works have no place in our becoming or remaining saved, they are proper responses to the salvation gracious bestowed upon us. In fact, it is impossible to have true faith and not do fruit of the Holy Spirit from God’s point of view. Thus, on Judgment Day, the unbeliever will have no fruit of the Holy Spirit while the believer will have many fruit of the Spirit; most of which he is unware.

Yes, in the body filled with the gift of the Holy Spirit received in our Pentecost baptism, the Christian believers are confident that their sins of commission have been covered by the forgiveness of sin and their sins of omission have been covered by the robe of righteousness of our only Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. It is a message that the entire world needs to hear.

For Holy Trinity Sunday the 3 proposed readings are Isaiah 6:1-8; Acts 2:14a, 22-36 and John 3:1-17. Chosen to preach on is Isaiah 6:7, “And he touched my mouth with it, and said, ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.’”

The theme for the sermon is what does it mean to be born again. The phrase comes from the Gospel reading in which Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 3:3, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” It is amazing how so many Christians do not get the fundamental connection of the analogy of being born again. And that connection is that just as you had nothing to do with your being born originally, so also you had nothing to do in having been born again.

Yet so many Christians when asked when they were born again will say something like, “It happened on May 19, 1984 when I asked Jesus into my heart.” That kind of answer does not even fit with the analogy of adoption let alone being born! But why do so many Christians insist on cooperating with their justification? There are two reasons. The first is the reason they give and that is to protect God. How so? Because in their minds, the question of why some are saved and others are not is answered by suggesting that some choose faith and others don’t. It appears that they are unaware that having faith is as difficult as falling in love. You don’t do it; something is done to you.

The second reason for such false teaching is the old Adam (the devil within us) who can’t stand the idea of giving God all the credit for salvation. Therefore, the attempt to define being born again as something I do with the help of the Holy Spirit once more rejects the Gospel that the Holy Trinity gets all the credit for our being created, redeemed and sanctified. Even Christians hearing the sermon who disagree with inviting Christ into the heart still have views that are close to that notion. For example, they actually imagine that they will be more blessed or God will love them more or they will be maintaining their salvation if they attend church regularly, read the Bible often and pray.

The Law is preached to demonstrate that each listener falls far from the glory of God specifically by attempting to assume that we should be considered somewhat glorious because of our contribution to salvation. Of course, works then become a sign that we are saved or at least an attempt on our part to make sure that we stay saved. In either case we add to the cross our works which results in subtracting from the cross of Christ.

Note well, that Isaiah’s being born again came about because of the coal from the altar touching his lips. That connection which points to the cross of Christ is all that is necessary for our iniquity to be taken away and our sin purged. We indeed are saved by grace through faith alone.