Sermon for May 9th: Why do we have the Law?

When most people hear the words, “The Law”, I bet they think of this: (cop siren) and recount the image of a flashing light in theirr rearview mirror. You may have only been going a couple of miles over the speed limit, but cops can still write you a ticket. You can fight the law, but the law will win if it wants to. But why do we have “The Law”? Why do we have cops? The cops are there to make sure that you drive the speed limit for two main reasons: to keep you safe and to keep others safe. That’s the point of God’s law as well: to keep you safe and to keep others safe. And for the most part it works.

But in the third chapter of the book of Galatians, we hear another reason that God created the law . . . this is what it says, “The Law was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come.” Now what does THAT mean? Well, transgressions is another word for sins, so the apostle Paul is saying that God gave us laws not just to point out our sins but he gave us laws BECAUSE of sin. But why would he do that? Isn’t that like beating a dead horse?

Here’s the problem with having laws: we want to trust in them. So, when Jillian and Bob, the trainers on the TV show “The Biggest Loser” scream at people about how important it is to eat right and exercise in order to stay healthy and have a long life, I start believing them. I start believing that by running a lot and eating whole wheat pasta that I will live a really long time . . . but the problem is, that this isn’t always true. On the one hand, you’ll hear health magazines talk about how important it is to stay away from fat and to exercise, but one of my great grandmothers lived well into her eighties by eating Lard and sugar sandwiches and never working out. Laws make us want to believe that, if we follow them, we will live better because of them. And while that often works, it is not foolproof, as any number of tragedies you hear of will attest to. People often die, quite young, not because they were unhealthy, but because of accidents, or genetic problems, or rare diseases. We cannot trust in the law to give us eternal life.

So, God gave us laws for two reasons: to point out sin, like when you are speeding and putting your life and other lives in danger, but also to show that we cannot be perfect. There is nobody on the face of the earth who can stay away from sin, even if they try to follow every rule and regulation. And even if you could do everything right, you would start relying on your own strength of character to save yourself and, as God has stated clearly, no one can be made right in God’s eyes just by doing the best that they can. We need more than the law, we need more than ourselves, we need more than rules in order to find peace with God. By ourselves, no matter how good or bad we are, we are cursed—everything we do, no matter how good it looks, is under the power of sin.

Many Christians think of sin as temptations floating around in their world that they can either take in or push away, but God wants us to realize that sin is a prevalent in our lives as the air we breathe. It permeates us as much as the water in the very cells that make up our skin and bones. It is not something we can just choose to stay away from: it covers us completely.

God is just beating a dead horse by giving us rules, it’s more like putting a horse down because it is too sick. God wants to put us out of our misery, so to speak. We are people that not only do sick things, but we are actually sick. We WANT to do bad things. If you are anything like me, it’s not just that you make bad choices, but you often WANT to make bad choices. You LIKE to do it. It PLEASES you. “The good things you want to do, you don’t do, and the bad things that you don’t want to do, that’s what you do.”

I remember speeding through a town in Connecticut once to get some medicine to take care of a bad case of poison ivy when I saw the cops in MY rear view mirror. And you know what my first thought was? Maybe I should put on my clergy collar . . . would I have a better shot of getting out of a ticket if they knew I was a pastor? Should I make them believe that I was off to some important visit? Would I have to outright lie or would silence be the best trick? Well, I didn’t lie, I didn’t put on the collar and I didn’t get a ticket either . . . BUT, just because I didn’t lie, doesn’t mean I still didn’t sin. First of all, I was speeding and endangering lives. AND sin isn’t just about actions, but about thoughts, words and actions. When you start realizing how much you not only DO bad things, but how much you WANT to do them, you may come to the same conclusion that the apostle Paul comes up with: We cannot escape sin. We are all under the curse of sin.

When you realize how incredibly strong the power of sin is in your life, then God’s final purpose for having all these rules and regulations is truly revealed: God’s laws point out your need for a Savior—for Jesus. You cannot please God all by yourself, you need an advocate, a redeemer, a Savior. You cannot please God by following his rules, you please God most by following his Son and trusting in Jesus alone. “The righteous will live by faith”. When you believe that Jesus Christ has died for your sins once and for all on the cross, then you become pleasing in God’s sight.

How does this happen? Doesn’t God still care about those sins of yours? Well, of course he does, but they are not yours any longer. “Jesus Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us”—by becoming a curse for you. Jesus, the only person in the world who didn’t sin, became sin. He died so that you would live. Jesus gets your misery, your guilt, your death and you receive everything he has: life, salvation and forgiveness.

When you give up trying to save yourself, you die, you lose hope, you give up. God keeps piling up the rules until he finally puts you out of your misery (because trying to be perfect is, after all, a very miserable experience, isn’t it?) Yet amazingly, it is in that moment, when you stop trying to win God’s affection, and surrender, when you despair of doing it on your own, that you can finally believe that God loves you free of charge. It was never about what you could do, Jesus loves you—you can trust in that love, not in your own power.

Every once in awhile, one of my older children will start throwing a temper trantrum. And, depending on the situation, sometimes Kristy, my wife, ends up holding a kicking and screaming little person tightly in her arms while they do everything that they can to escape, or hurt her or burst her ear drums. But when, after a minute or two or crying out in despair and anger, they give up, they soon realize something else . . . they are in the arms of their Mother who loves them and would give up anything and everything for them. That’s a mother’s love, you see. A mother loves her children with a passion that few people can fully understand and still, a mother’s love is nothing, absolutely NOTHING compared with the loving passion that God has for you, each one of his children.

There may be a few of you here this morning that have spent your life kicking and screaming against God. You want nothing to do with him. Christianity embarrasses you. You just can’t believe that all this could possibly be true. You might even be angry with God. You seldom come to church and you are certainly not interested in committing your life and lifestyle to Jesus Christ. What might happen if you just gave up and surrendered all that anger and frustration into his loving arms, for he is already holding you with hands that will never let you go.

In some churches, they have something called an altar call, where people are called to confess their sin and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, but Lutherans have never been much for that kind of thing. That’s because it happens already each Sunday morning when you confess your sin to yourself and to God, and receive the promise that God forgives you completely. Some of you have done this so many times that you cannot remember. But for some of you, this may be the first time that you truly admit to yourself and to God your need for forgiveness and your need for Jesus Christ. No doubt you have done much that is wrong in the eyes of the world and in the eyes of God. But, I want you to be assured that God’s forgiveness is for you. Jesus already has you in his loving arms. He has been knocking on the door to your heart for a long time. I invite you to rest in his arms, now, and to believe that God can transform your life today, and give you eternal life forever. The curse is no longer yours to bear. Jesus became a curse for you. Come to Jesus and live.

"How to Read the Bible"

Last week, you heard why the Bible is so important. It is the container that holds the story of Jesus Christ: his birth, death and resurrection. The Bible’s message is inspired by God so that you might know both God’s will for your life and learn the story of your salvation. But just knowing that the Bible is important doesn’t make it any easier to read, does it? If you just open your Bible and read whatever is written there, it MAY be exactly what you needed to hear, but it may also really be confusing. That’s why you not only need a good reason WHY to read your Bible, but you need to know HOW to read it.

I learned a song in Elementary school that went like this: “Johnny could only sing one note and the note he sang was this: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!” That’s how many of us read the Bible: like Johnny one note. Do you use the Bible as a guide when you need to make important decisions? Wonderful! Does the Bible help you to grow in your relationship to God? I hope so. Does the Bible encourage you to live your life with integrity? Those are all good reasons to read the Bible. . . but they are still just variations on a theme: Ahhhhhhhhhh! The Bible calls this note: the Law.

The Law says, “Do this!” and it is never done. The Law demands that you do this and then act that way and stop doing something else or else you are not following God’s will. When you heard the Ten Commandments read this morning, what did you do? Well, you probably started making a checklist, marking off those commandments you have done well in keeping and those you have failed miserably at. Reading the Ten Commandments will often lead you to the sin of pride (because you think you are doing so well!) and then to despair (Because you can never be perfect). Following all of God’s laws is absolutely a requirement for a Christian, but if you only read that one note in the Bible, “Do this!” “Don’t do this!” “Do this!” then you will only hear one word from God. “You have not done enough.” “You will never do enough.” “And you have done much that ought not to be done.”

In the Bible, words of law are conditional. If you do this, then you get this, “If you are willing and obedient, then you shall eat the good of the land.” The law demands, “You shall not murder.” The law tells you what to do, “Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” When you hear the law, you look at yourself.

The Bible has many words of law in it; however, the law is not the only word. When you read the Bible, or hear the words spoken, it is absolutely essential that you recognize not only the demands of God, but also his promises. This is the message of Galatians chapter 2, “For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” The Gospel says, “Believe this” and everything is done already. The gospel makes you look at Jesus Christ alone who died to save you. When you hear the message each week or when you read the Bible, be careful to distinguish between when you are hearing the one note of the law and second note of the gospel. What are you being called to do by God and what is God doing for you.

In Elementary school, for gym class, I had to learn to square dance. I didn’t want to do it. I liked the girls well enough, but I did not want to “do-see-do” with them. And yet, if I did not do it, then I would receive a bad report card. Those were the conditions: dance or else! In Junior High where I attended over in Griswold, we also had dances. We all got to listen to our favorite top-40 songs with our backs glued to the cafeteria walls. As a guy, if you got up the nerve to ask a girl to dance, then you would be teased by the guys and giggled at by the girls. Those were the conditions. And, if you did get up the nerve, like I did, you would either get rejected or feel her palms wedged against your shoulder blades as she made it clear that you would not be getting any closer than arms length that night. Those were the conditions: “do it this way or else”. That’s the law. And you can’t escape the truth of this reality even if you don’t like it.

On the other hand, when I was in college, I met someone who changed the rules on me. My wife, Kristy. We fell in love. And so, dancing was no longer in the realm of the law, but now held a promise. Because I love you, therefore I want to dance with you. I didn’t even need to ask . . . we’d just start dancing sometimes for no reason at all. No conditions. That’s the gospel.

Two lovers don’t ask, “Do I have to dance with you? Do I have to kiss you?” Because of course the answer would be, well, no, you don’t HAVE to. But when you are in love, don’t you want to? When you fall in love, no one asks about whether they have to or not—they get to! There are no conditions anymore, just faith and trust in the object of one’s affection. The gospel says believe this and everything is done already. Because I love you, therefore I want to dance.

In the baptismal service this morning, you heard both laws and promises. For example, Kristy and I were told to teach Micah the Lord’s Prayer and bring him faithfully to church. If we follow these demands, Micah will grow in obedience to the will of God. However, is his eternal life based on our ability to carry out these orders? No. For that, we must trust not in the law, but in God’s promise that Micah has been named and claimed by Jesus Christ today.

The Bible is a book of life, but the two notes, the demands and the promises, speak about two different lives. Your life here on earth and your eternal life. You life here on Earth is under the power of that first note, the law. You may not like it, but you must “Do things” and “Not do things.” If you do not do your homework, then you will fail. If you try to dance with the prettiest girl in the class, then you will be giggled at. If you do not do your job, you will be fired. If you do not trust in God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength God will be angry. When you follow the law, you become a good husband, a good mother, a good friend or a good citizen.

However, Paul says in Galatians chapter 2, “We know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.” Following God’s demands cannot give you eternal life by themselves. Thankfully, you now know that there are two words in the Bible. Not just demands, but promises. “The life you now live in the flesh you live by faith in the Son of God who loves you and gave himself for you.” It’s not about what you have done, but about what Jesus Christ has done for you. Not because he had to, but because he loves you.

When you read the Bible and you hear that you must do something, do it for the sake of your family, your friends, your world and your respect for God’s authority. The Law says, “Do this!”, but you aren’t doing these things for yourself, but for others. However, when you hear a promise, stop what you are doing and just listen and believe the words of eternal life from God. God promises, “Because I love you, you have been chosen for eternal life. When you come to believe that, for you, everything is done already. Amen.

Sermon for January 24th

Today, we are going to study Psalm 19. So, I think that it would be appropriate to begin with a prayer taken from the very last lines of that psalm. Let us pray together, Dear Lord, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.” Amen

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and sky proclaims its maker’s handiwork.” The opening line says that God’s creation declares God’s glory. The apostle Paul in Romans says this: “what can be known about God is plain because even since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made.” How does creation declare God’s glory to you?

What do you see in God’s creation that astounds you? I’m reminded of a commercial I saw many years ago where a father and his daughter were sitting and watching a sunset. As the dark reddish orange sun went under the horizon he whispered to her, “Going . . . going . . . gone!” and the sun disappeared. Then she said, “Do it again daddy!” Not only are the colors and the hues of a sunset gorgeous and a credit to God’s great artistry in creation, but the performance of sunrise and sunset, day after day, is just as astounding. It is such a normal part of our lives, something that we have grown so accustomed to, that we may only grasp the awesomeness of it a few times in our life.

In his book The Denial of Death, Ernest Becker maintains that most people, in order to defend ourselves from the sheer terror of the natural world, build up psychological defenses against it. We must escape reality somehow and someway, or else we would live in fear constantly. In fact, those who are most aware and hypersensitive to this reality are often considered to have psychological problems, such as the man who shuts himself off from the world because there are billions and billions of little germs just waiting to infest his body and kill him off. When you think about it, he is exactly right and that is terrifying. Most of us have to get past this reality by forgetting about these little organisms or pretending that we are invincible to them in order to step out of our own doors and go to work every day. We don’t have the courage to ponder these wondrous microorganisms any more than we have to. God’s glory can be scary.

The writer of Psalm 19 connects God’s handiwork, the work of God in creation, to God’s law. God has not only revealed himself in creation with all its glory and terror, but he reveals himself in his teachings, his commandments and his judgments. In fact, creation and the law are very much related. Throughout the Bible, God binds himself to his creation in order to point out that just like you can trust how he orders the rising and setting of the sun, you can trust how he orders the ways of the family or of the church or of society. The order of creation is often called God’s natural law in relation to his revealed law in scripture, but they both point to the same God, the same Lord and the same creator. And just like creation, God’s law can be both glorious and terrifying.

Psalm 19: “The teaching of the Lord is perfect and revives the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure and gives wisdom to the simple. The statutes of the Lord are just and rejoice the heart; the commandment of the Lord is clear and gives light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean and endures forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” Do you give glory to God both for his creation and for his Law? If you give glory to God for the fact that your heart beats day in and day out, then you can also glorify the God who commands, “You shall not kill.” If you stand in awe of the birds that migrate to exactly the same spot on the Earth without ever looking at a map, then please stand in awe of your God that teaches you to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. If you clean your chimney regularly because of your fear of chimney fires, please do not neglect to clean your heart and mind before God whose wrath is like a consuming fire. This is the same God and he cares as much, if not more, about the trash filling your life as he does about the trash filling up our landfills. I’m not setting up discipleship in opposition to environmentalism, but while you’ll hear about living green every day in the newspapers, on the radio and on the TV, you will probably only hear the need for your repentance before God here at church or written on the pages of your Bibles.

Psalm 19 describes God’s law three ways: as a teaching or testimony, as a statute or commandment, and then finally as fear or judgment. These three manifestations of the law are connected in our lives as well. For instance, with my children, I try to teach them many things. Sometimes, in order to help them understand I’ll use testimonies from my own life in order to help them when they deal with similar situations. When my children ride their bikes, their mother and I teach them to wear a helmet, I testify to them that when I was in elementary school, I got a bad head injury (a slight concussion) in a bike accident because I wasn’t wearing a helmet.

However, this teaching doesn’t always work and so we must move to the next phase of the law: creating a commandment or a statute, what we might call in our house: a rule. Because my children do not always see the importance of my teachings, I must command them to never ride their bikes without a helmet. Whether inside or outside, training wheels or not, you must always wear a helmet. And if they break this commandment, the third phase of the law comes in: fear and judgment, what we might call consequences and punishments.

I hope that my children wear their helmets because they have been taught how important it is; however, if they don’t wear them because of that reason, they had better wear them because they are afraid of me and their mom (both because they would disappoint us and because we might get mad). Also, if we catch them disobeying our commands, they may lose bikeriding privileges for a little while and, most terrifying of all, if they disobey us and get away with it, they might feel the judgment and consequence of getting into a bike accident and sustaining an awful head injury. The law has teachings, commandments and judgments. And all are worthy of our praise.

God’s laws are beautiful. The psalm calls them perfect, sure, just, clear, clean and true. God tries to teach us and then testifies through stories about those who have benefited from following God’s law and those who have been hurt by not doing so. When people think of God’s laws, they often think of the ten commandments, but they forget about all the teaching that happens in the Old Testament stories and letters in the New Testament. God doesn’t just command: Do not commit adultery, but he tells the story of King David and Bathsheeba who have an affair that destroys their lives in many ways. God testifies to the truth, he commands us to obey and then, if we go against his rules, there are consequences. God promises that even if we do not see those consequences in our own lives, our actions affect others, and there will be a final judgment where we will have to account for all of our deeds, both good and bad, before God—the judge.

In John’s first letter he writes, “Whoever says, “I have come to know God,” but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist.” It is so important to know God’s law not only to help you take care of yourself and others in this world, but also because it makes you aware of how much you need forgiveness. That you couldn’t make it without God’s rule and that you need to be cleansed, forgiven and freed.

You have broken God’s law through your sins. But today, I declare to you the glory of God: in the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven. The God of creation, the God of the sun, moon and stars, the God that has commanded you to love your neighbor as yourself, is the same God who redeems you from the judgment of his law. There is no law that can separate you from Jesus Christ. There is no judgment that can condemn you forever. To those who believe in Jesus, he has given the power to be called children of God and bestowed on them the riches of his glory. This is your inheritance: eternal life forever and ever.

Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he gave this command to his disciples, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit AND (yes there is a second part!) AND teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. That joy of forgiveness, that joy of having Jesus as your Redeemer is only joy if you know the law—if you have heard this teaching and the commandments—if you understand the judgment. Because once you have learned all that God has freed you from, saved your from and redeemed you from, only then can you see how perfect, how sure, how clear, how clean and how true God’s law is both for you and for those around you. Then God’s law and God’s creation can truly be gifts for you. Then you are free to praise God no just for his creation but even for his commandments. Amen.

Sermon for October 25th

“While Philip and I were drinking beer, the Word reformed the church.” That’s a quote from Martin Luther referring to himself and another reformer Philip Melanchthon. It’s Reformation day and so today we will try to discern what it means to be a Christian over four-hundred years after Martin Luther famously nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenburg and started making arguments that would eventually get him excommunicated from the Roman Catholic church.

Luther explained quite rightly what all the fuss concerning the Reformation was really all about: God’s Word. It was about the God’s Word and NOT Martin Luther. Not Philip Melanchthon. It wasn’t simply about popes or indulgences or nationalism or the Roman Catholic Church. God’s Word reformed the church as it has done for centuries and it will continue to do this until Jesus Christ returns and reforms us all from dead corpses into an eternally living people of God. We always need reforming. Today is not about being a Lutheran or a Protestant; it’s about being a sinner clinging to God’s Word and being reformed through the work of the Holy Spirit. So let’s get right to it.

First off, why would anyone cling to God’s Word as we hear it in Scripture when there is so much in it that we hate, so much that scares us, accuses us and makes us run away from it? To explain this, I’d like to tell you about some experiences that I have had recently. The first thing you need to know is that I run in the mornings. The second thing you need to know is that our neighbor attained a rooster sometime this summer. And, finally, you need to understand that I despise running. I hate it, perhaps a little less than I hate beets, but still, running is never very much fun in my opinion.

So why do I run? Because I know that it is important to be healthy. I want my heart to be healthy and I want to lose weight (or at least not get overweight). So, in other words, I run because I am afraid. I am afraid of death and want to put it off for as long as possible. Now, when I began running this summer, every animal in the forest would scurry away because they heard my heavy breathing from miles off. I was still quite out of shape, you see. And every morning, still irritated that I had to wake up and go run, and already hot and uncomfortable, I would meet my next door neighbor the rooster. And he would crow at me and give me a look that only a rooster can give. And I felt that he was making fun of me. Because he knew how dumb and out of shape I looked. And I hated that rooster and how his crows would mock me.

Months have passed and I have continued running. I still hate it most of the time, but I’ve seen it in a new light. Rather than feeling like I’m going to die every day, I know that running gives me more energy and makes me feel better. I may not like running, but I like the way it makes me feel. I used to run to keep away death. Now I run for the sake of my life. It may not seem like a big difference, but in some ways it really is. Along the way, the rooster and I had gotten on different schedules I guess. I had forgotten all about him, until a couple of days ago, when I was on the way home heading up the last hill and he looked at me, with a look only a rooster can give, and he crowed at me like old times. But something was different this time. For some reason, at that moment, he did not sound like he was mocking me at all. In fact, I heard it quite differently. It felt like he was congratulating me. Cheering me on! Encouraging me. Saying, well done! Good job!

A reading from the Romans, chapter 3, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For ‘no human being will be justified in his sight’ by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.” Martin Luther saw these words in the Bible as full of judgment. These words drove him to not only hate himself for the sinner he was but to hate God for being such a harsh judge. “No human being will be justified in his sight”? Luther could not understand how he could love a God like that. Luther hated God and he hated himself even more for knowing that he felt that way.

Each day, as Luther would read scripture, he would hear God crowing his anger and judgment. The reading from Romans continues, “But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” God was a righteous judge. All were sinful. There was no escaping that fact for Luther. He could not be found holy according to the law and he could knew he could not be found holy in the sight of Jesus Christ either. Luther spent his days in misery looking for a God who could love him, but finding only a righteous God—a God crowing out death and judgment as Luther ran out the days of his life.

There are many of you who can probably relate to a part of this story. Perhaps you are too pious to say that you out and out “hate” God, but you doubt him sometimes and you doubt how he could love someone like you. I don’t know all of your stories and, even if I’ve heard parts, you probably have left out the juiciest sections, you haven’t told me your favorite sins, the worst sins, the embarrassing situations you’ve tried to forget, the memories you keep running away from, the addictions you keep running to for comfort. And, try as you might to punish yourself for not being able to get past these behaviors, the question remains, “How can God, a God of justice, a God of righteousness, love a sinner like you?”

God must follow his own law and, according to that law, you are not worthy. There is no way around this. We are all condemned. Every time I ran by that idiot rooster, it was almost like he knew what I would not admit out loud: I wasn’t good enough run. I was out of shape. I should’ve just turned around and gone home before I embarrassed myself anymore with my heavy breathing and pitted out t-shirts. Luther read the pages of the Bible and knew there was no hope for him either. Not in this life or the next. Looking at your life, honestly, would you fare any better in God’s eyes?

But then, one day, everything changed for Martin Luther. He said, “I greatly longed to understand Paul’s Epistle to the Romans and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, ‘the righteousness of God or the justice of God,’ because I took it to mean the justice whereby God is just and deals justly in punishing the unjust. My situation was that, although an impeccable monk, I stood before God as a sinner . . . . Therefore I did not love a just and angry God, but rather hated and murmured against him. Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before the ‘justice of God’ had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gate to heaven . . . .”

God’s law is true, and just, and holy, and righteous and you are expected to follow every word of it not only because God demands it but because your neighbor needs you to. However, even by following this most excellent rule of life, you cannot save yourself. It will do you no good! You cannot get closer to earning your salvation. Not even a little bit. Trusting in your own abilities only makes you look worse in God’s eyes. “But now,” as Romans puts it, “apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are not justified by his grace as a gift effective through faith.”

Reformation Day is not about Martin Luther, or Lutherans, or Protestants; it is about how God reforms sinners. God’s law accuses all of us, demanding that we live better lives for the sake of one another, but Jesus saves you through faith alone. Faith that God has worked APART from the law and gives you life, forgiveness and salvation as a gift.

So, today, we thank God for Martin Luther and the Lutheran Reformers because they had the audacity to cling to God’s Word when it wasn’t popular or pleasant to do so, so that we today you might hear the crowing of Scripture as your biggest fan rather than your harshest critic. Luther sums it up quite well, “If you have a true faith that Christ is your Savior, than at once you have a gracious God, for faith leads you in and opens up God’s heart and will, that you should see pure grace and overflowing love. This is it to behold God in faith that you should look upon his fatherly, friendly heart, in which there is no anger nor ungraciousness. He who sees God as angry does not see him rightly but looks only on a curtain, as if a dark cloud had been drawn across his face. But this must be our ground and anchor-hold, that Christ is our only perfect righteousness Therefore we must always believe and always hope; we must always take hold of Christ as the head and fountain of our righteousness. He that believes in Him shall not be ashamed.” How will God reform your life? On this Reformation Day and everyday, look to Christ alone for your salvation. Amen.

Sermon for August 30th

If you were here last Sunday, you heard me say that faith does not simply mean “thinking” about Jesus in the right way. It’s more than that. Today the reading from James points out that faith is not simply “hearing” about Jesus either. Faith comes through hearing, as Paul says in Romans, but just hearing about Jesus does not mean that you suddenly have faith. Faith involves every part of you, you mind, your heart, your ears, your hands and your feet. Yes, we can agree with James that faith without works is surely a dead faith.

But this does not mean that good works create a “living faith” either. That’s the common misunderstanding surrounding these verses of James. In fact, this has been one of the greatest misunderstandings by Christians and non-Christians alike. So much so that it’s made a overweight and manic depressive monk like Martin Luther into a hero of the church just because he pointed it out: We are made righteous by faith alone, not by works prescribed by the law. Why faith alone? Because faith involves everything of course! It’s our natural human tendency to trust in what we do (alone), our good works all by themselves—that’s the great temptation. Trusting in faith alone doesn’t mean there are no good works that will show up, a good tree will produce good fruit Jesus says, faith means we don’t have to measure our salvation by the bushel basket of good that we accomplish in life. Salvation is a free gift given to you by Jesus Christ effective by faith.

There is a story about a old Lutheran pastor who was dying and declared boastfully that he could not remember one good work that he had done. Of course, we wonder what James would say about that! “But faith without works is dead!” he might say. “Don’t’ just be hearers of the word but doers of the word! “ he might say. But imagine this wasn’t simply a story about some old Lutheran pastor but it was the story of one of your beloved family members or friend. And on THEIR death bed they happily told you that they could not remember one good work that they had done. What would you think? “What about all the diapers you changed? What about the fact that you took care of your ailing wife for years who was fighting cancer? What about the money you gave to charities? What do you mean you didn’t do any good works?”

The question is not whether a person has done any good works, but what are they trusting in? What are you trusting in? Your works or the work of God? The greatest gift from God for any person is that, on their dying day, they forget everything they have ever done, good or bad, and just trust in God’s grace. Because when you or I are lying in our graves, we will be trusting in God’s mercy to bring us out--there will be nothing left for us to trust in but that.

But what do we do before our dying day when we are trying to do what is right and keep from doing what is wrong? We know that good works do not create a living faith, but we also know that sin threatens our relationship to God. Jesus never encourages sinning just because you might get away with it. This is a part of the Christian life that we tend to turn away from, intentionally or not. We’ve heard about God’s Law, we’ve thought about it, but while we trust God to love us, we have little faith in the usefulness of God’s commandments for our lives.

Like most everyone, you probably enjoy hearing that Jesus loves you, but this love is even more radical than you might imagine. He not only loves you, but he saves you. From what you may ask? Well, from yourself. Jesus called to the crowd, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” This is a list of things that can hurt you and hurt others.

In today’s gospel story, the Pharisees were asking Jesus why it was that he and his disciples were eating without washing their hands because handwashing was an important Jewish tradition. It differentiated the Jews from the rest of the culture just as the types of food they ate and their ways of treating one another made them distinct. They followed these traditions not because they were just trying to be “religious”, but because God called them to be holy and set apart from the rest of the culture. Jesus makes the point that HIS followers aren’t going to be known for what they eat or do not eat, by what they wear or do not wear, by washing their hands or not. They will be known by their behaviors and, most importantly, by things that are hidden from view, the integrity of their hearts before God. Not what goes in, but what is coming out.

Do you remember any of the list of sins I read? Do you remember even one? There were twelve. And it’s not a comprehensive list. Some would argue that Jesus is simply pointing out our need for salvation, and they are of course correct, but we’ve all gotten into a bad habit of calling ourselves “sinners” and after looking in the mirror, and seeing all of our faults, forgetting them immediately and never even attempting to correct them. Refraining from any particular sin will not save you, but a living faith involves all that you have, including caring enough about yourself and your neighbor to look in the mirror and attempt to make a change. Was there a sin on that list that you would see in the mirror? Will you forget about it after the service or not? Do you care enough to make a change.

Of course, finally we all break all the rules somehow. I hope that you haven’t slept with another person other than your spouse, but Jesus points out that if you’ve ever thought about doing it, you have committed adultery in your heart already. Jesus raises the bar to point out your need for a Savior, but he still intends for you to reform what you’re doing for the sake of protecting and loving others.

But why should we focus so much on sins? Why should we ever talk about sins? Shouldn’t everybody be able to do whatever they feel is right in their heart? If this was a discussion of the constitution then that argument might work, but God’s laws are not about “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. It’s a different kind of life, eternal life, liberation from sin that God is interested in.

This short list of 12 sins, are mentioned because Jesus wants to give you faith. When you realize that, at least in your heart and mind, you’ve done everything wrong, I pray that you see your need for salvation. However, don’t forget that these laws are not just there to push you toward a Savior. These rules are also used for another reason, namely, to protect yourself and others. Perhaps your own self-control will only work 85% percent of the time, but isn’t other peoples’ happiness worth the effort? The law isn’t just there to point us to Christ, it is also there for our own health and protection. Don’t just be hearers of the word, don’t just listen to this list of sins and think, “Oh well, can’t be perfect, that sin ain’t so bad, others are worse, I’m only human, what the point in trying.” Instead, be doers of the word and follow the law as best you can, not for your salvation, but for the sake of others. God’s law is written to be heard AND obeyed.

In the tenth chapter of John’s gospel, a woman is caught in the very act of adultery. Jesus points out that, if anyone in the crowd has no sin, they are free to throw the first stone. When they all leave Jesus tells the woman that he does not condemn her either BUT she is to go and SIN NO MORE. What was Jesus talking about, do you think? He wanted her to stop committing adultery, of course! Baptism, forgiveness, God’s love doesn’t give you the right to sin against God’s laws without repenting. Yes, we are all in the same boat, we are sinners, but each of us needs to be aware of the particular sins we struggle with the most and try to keep from doing them, again, not for our salvation, but to love ourselves, our families, our friends and even those people we have not and will not ever meet.

Finally, though, I have to thank James for making the point that Jesus is more than simply another lawgiver. In Jesus, is also freedom from the law of sin and death. Even as you and I work on hindering our favorite sins, we are free to go forth and be doers of the word and not just hearers. Jesus, heard the word from his Father and then DID that word to people. We are called not just to hear the words of judgment and forgiveness, but to give those words of judgment and forgiveness to others as well so that they might realize their sins and recognize their salvation in Jesus Christ.

Do not simply be hearers of the word, but doers of the word. Have you heard one of your favorite sins listed out loud this morning? In the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven. God’s Judgment and God’s forgiveness have been done to you. Now, ou are free to go and do the word of God to someone else who needs to hear it. Amen.

Sermon for August 2nd

For those of you who remember, I skipped over the gospel lesson last Sunday in order to focus on lessons that talked about the gifts that God has given you for ministry. If you don’t remember that, might I suggest that one of your gifts might NOT be having a good memory. In any case, this week’s gospel lesson builds on last week’s so I’ve got to give you a quick summary of what happened in the story in order to get you up to speed.

Jesus was traveling with his disciples and was being followed by a large crowd of people. About five thousand people in all the story says. Jesus asked one of his disciples, Phillip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” Phillip admitted that six month’s wages would not be enough to feed everyone. Andrew, however, did find one boy with two fish and five loaves of barley bread. “But what are they among so many people?” He asked.

After Jesus had everyone sit down, he took the five loaves and gave it to everyone, along with the fish, and everyone ate, all five thousand of them. . . AS MUCH AS THEY WANTED it says! Let me repeat that, just in case you weren’t paying attention. According to the story, five thousand people ate AS MUCH AS THEY WANTED! And from the fragments of the two fish and five loaves they filled twelve baskets full. One full pan of deviled eggs usually can’t last through an entire potluck here, but five thousand people ate five loaves of bread and had leftovers. Amazing.

But there is a definite difference between last week’s story and this week’s. First of all, God is a God of social justice, he wants people to be fed, loved, free and respected. God doesn’t turn a blind eye to the poor, the hungry, the homeless or the oppressed. Even though he probably knew his efforts might be misunderstood, Jesus didn’t send five thousand people away when they were hungry. However, while God is a God of justice Jesus never lets it take center stage in the story “Seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” he says, “and all these things will be added unto you.”

How might we, as God’s people, be radical in our efforts to feed the hungry while, at the same time, being just as radical in our efforts to feed people who are hungry for spiritual nourishment. Most of us are more comfortable doing one to the detriment of the other. You may even have a specific gift related to evangelism, or the gift of mercy, inviting those less fortunate into your home and into your heart. But all of us as Christians are called into relationships with people where they both need to hear about Jesus and need to find a place to eat. This is a universal Christian responsibility, not just to do one, but to do both.

Pope John Paul once referred to the “gospel of feeding the poor”, but it is critical to distinguish between what we mean by “gospel” and what is meant by “feeding the poor”. Even if every man, woman and child on the face of this planet were fed, nourished and free from hunger, this does not mean that they are free with respect to sin. Life on this earth does not equal eternal life. Feeding the poor is NOT the gospel, it is the law. Bread cannot free you from hunger forever. This is why, despite Jesus’ love and compassion for the hungry masses, despite his passion for social justice, today’s gospel lesson is not about filling people’s stomachs with bread but, instead, about filling peoples’ hearts with faith in the bread of life, Jesus Christ himself.

That brings us to today’s story. What you might call Guess Who’s Coming for Dinner: Part Two. The same crowd of people that followed Jesus before is still following him. The question is: why are they going through so much trouble? For you and I we might think, well that’s obvious isn’t it? They’ve just seen the power and majesty of Jesus Christ after all! Who wouldn’t follow him after a miracle like that? But Jesus tells them, and us, the truth behind the crowd and their actions: “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus says, “you are looking for me NOT because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” In other words, when five thousand people were fed off of two fish and five loaves of bread, these people did not see this as a sign of Jesus’ divinity—they saw a free meal ticket. They saw Jesus as a walking, talking free buffet line and they were lining up to partake once again.

You know these types of people. Perhaps you are this type of person. How many times do we pray to God to get us out of a big jam (just this once!) and then we’ll start going to church, or start praying or start acting more “Christian-like” only to let the moment pass without anything changing in our lives or in our hearts. “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus says, “You are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” It appears that the crowd in the story DIDN’T actually SEE the signs. Well, they saw the sign saying “Free Buffet!”, but they didn’t really SEE who Jesus was and couldn’t appreciate what was actually happening.

We keep asking Jesus for money to pay our mortgage, or a better relationship with our spouse, or for the government to focus more on our favorite social issue. But how often do you pray for a closer relationship to God? Jesus says, “Do not continue working for the food that dies, that perishes, but work for the food that endures, the food that lives and continues all the way into eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”

The crowd asks Jesus, “What must we do then to perform the works of God?” Jesus says, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” They don’t have to DO anything—it’s a gift.

It’s hard to believe that something like eternal life or forgiveness could possibly be a gift, something given and not worked for. A few months ago, my wife and I were staying up late and she had to call customer service about a problem with a bill. She was being kind, but direct, about getting a refund that we expected to receive. After forty-five minutes of not winning this battle I felt the need to throw in MY two cents. But once I was on the telephone and felt that all of my rational arguments were not winning the day, I started getting really frustrated and angry and mean. When my rant was over, the guilt flowed over me like water pouring down from Kent Falls. Kristy’s eyes were big and I just started feeling sick to my stomach. I told the woman that I was sorry and then handed the phone back to Kristy while I began beating up on myself.

After berating myself both out loud and within my own mind for being an awful person, an awful pastor, and an awful Christian, my wife told me that she forgave me and reminded me that Jesus forgave my sins as well. He didn’t die for perfect people, but for sinners. And what did I do with that free gift of forgiveness and love? Well, I kept beating up on myself of course.

This is called penance, and even though the Lutheran Reformers thought they put it to rest in the 16th century, my own heart and mind dig it out of its grave all too often. Penance means that you can only trust God’s forgiveness if you do a little work first, say a few Hail Mary’s say a few Lord’s prayers, do community service, that type of thing. Doing the work is thought to help you know that you are truly sorry and, thus, truly forgiven. But, in fact, it only makes you trust in your own work rather than in God’s word of forgiveness.

After doing such a horrible thing on the phone, I wanted to do something, earn God’s forgiveness, so that I felt that I deserved it. But no matter how much you beat yourself up, you don’t deserve forgiveness any more than before. Jesus points out quite clearly, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one that was sent.” If you are still beating yourself up for some sin along the way: feel free to stop and believe that Jesus Christ died for that sin too. Yes, he died for even you, though you do not and never will deserve it.

In one of my favorite movies, Bruce Almighty, there is a man, played by Jim Carey, named Bruce, who feels like God hates him because God doesn’t give him everything he wants. God, played by Morgan Freeman, decides to let Bruce be God for awhile and try to answer the prayers of everybody asking for miracles each day. Bruce decides to just answer “yes” to every prayer request (there are so many after all). Within a week, everything is messed up. In one of the last lines of the film, God says this, “A single mom who's working two jobs, and still finds time to take her son to soccer practice, that's a miracle. A teenager who says "no" to drugs and "yes" to an education, that's a miracle. People want me to do everything for them. What they don't realize is THEY have the power. You want to see a miracle, son? Be the miracle.”

Today, this week, this month, this year, be radical in your passion for social justice. Work at it. Don’t just pray for a miracle from the Jesus Christ buffet line, pray and then BE the miracle. But when it comes to your salvation, take a vacation. Stop working and receive as a free gift that which is more important than anything else you could ever work for, the gift of forgiveness that is yours in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sermon for May 10th

I have a woodstove at home. It keeps us a little too hot in the Fall and Spring and not quite warm enough in the winter, but I still really like it. Every three or four hours, I have to get another load of wood into the stove in order to keep it going. If I don’t, for instance if I oversleep, I awake to find the coals not quite hot enough to get another fire going quickly and that means I have to put out a lot more effort and . . . use many more little sticks and branches.

Where I do I find these little sticks and branches? Well, mostly, my family finds them for me. They search the ground for little sticks that have fallen off trees and pile them up for me in the wheelbarrow or in a bucket or in a box so that, when the time comes, I can throw them into the fire and get it started again. Because, you see, that’s all those little sticks are good for, really, besides breaking my lawnmower or maybe for playing pretend games with outside. Those little sticks have fallen off the tree they once belonged to. They won’t produce leaves anymore. They can’t grow anymore. So, in my opinion, they are mostly good for one thing—to be burned.

Jesus compares himself not to a tree, but to a vine. He was probably referring to a grapevine. And he compares his disciples to the branches on that vine that would produce fruit. Jesus says that any one of his disciples that do not bear fruit are about as good as a branch lying on the ground. Not good for much other than burning. You also are about as worthless as this box of sticks if you do not continue and remain connected to Jesus Christ, the true vine. Jesus says that if you do not produce fruit—if you do not follow his commandments and actively love others—you’d be worth more burned up than just sitting around where you are. “I am the true vine,” Jesus proclaims. “Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.”

Jesus talks in a very organic way about faith and life. A branch on a grapevine doesn’t just “decide” one day to create a grape. It is nourished from the vine it is attached to, it abides in the vine, as Jesus puts it, resting securely, receiving everything through the vine until, after a period of time, fruit finally bursts forth. Jesus says he receives everything from his Father and gives it to us. And over time, after being nourished day by day by none other than Jesus himself, the fruits of the Spirit happen in your life. According to Paul’s letter to the Galatians, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Important stuff. Stuff worth waiting for.

As a branch on the true vine of Jesus Christ, your “nourishment” comes in two forms. Jesus gives you commandments and Jesus gives you love. “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Jesus gives you love. That love flows into you throughout your entire life. God gave you life at birth. God provides you with food. God provides you family and friends. God sent Jesus to die for your sins. The love keeps flowing and flowing into you. But if you are removed from that relationship, well, two things happen. First, that love cannot find its way into fruit. In order to get your neighbor loved, God needs you. If you do not abide in Jesus, your friends, your family and your coworkers cannot know God’s love. Second, if you did not continue receiving life or love from Jesus, you would not have love or life. One moment you would be a living branch on the true vine. The next moment you would be a dead branch, fit for the fire.

Jesus also gives you commandments. Jesus tells you what to do by giving you his words that you must fulfill. These commandments flow into you throughout your life. You are told to love God above anything else. You are told to pray to God for everything that you need. You are told not to murder. You are told to love one another. You see, sometimes we do things because we want to, we love our children and so we change their dirty diapers. But sometimes we do things, not necessarily because we want to, but because we are told to. Nurses or aides in a hospital or nursing home might rather not change a resident’s dirty diaper, if the decision were based purely on love, they might just choose not to. But they are commanded to by their bosses or else they might be fired.

These commandments of God, while not always being something we like or like to do, are extremely important in our world. Without them, diapers would sometimes not be changed. People would think they could do whatever they wanted without any consequences even if they hurt others. God’s commandments flow through Jesus into our ears and into our actions day after day, but if that relationship is cut off two things happen. First, your neighbors are no longer protected and may not be loved as they were before. Second, if you do not continue receiving commands from Jesus, you have no boundaries on your behavior. You are unprotected from others and from yourself. One moment you are a living branch on the true vine. The next moment you are a dead branch, fit for the fire.

And somehow these two things are connected. In fact, the purpose of God’s commandments is to get you to love, love is the completion of God’s commandments. But when Jesus talks about love, he is not simply talking about it like WE like to talk about it in our world. Everyone is “for” love, if you haven’t noticed. Very few religions don’t like love, right? Atheists like “love” too! Everybody likes love! But Jesus is not just talking about love the way the world works. This is a different kind of a love. A love described by none other than Jesus himself, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.” Love is about service. It is an active love that doesn’t aim at death or martyrdom, but, through the act of service, is willing to die for the sake of the neighbor just as Jesus did.

When you watch TV and movies, love is often described or connected somehow to sex and sexual relationships. Relationships between adults and youth often see the act of sex as a requirement for love: “If you really love me, you’d sleep with me.” That’s the general idea at least. Sex is even used to “fix” relationships or to “make up” after big fights. Some communes in the sixties were based on the idea that anyone could “make love” with anyone else without any jealously or so called “property rights” (at least that was the idea anyway). If you’ve ever read the book Stranger in a Strange Land you might recognize that concept of love.

The other description of “love” that is so popular today makes love equal to tolerance. Now, tolerance is a Christian ideal in many respects. We are all sinners and, as Jesus points out “judge not lest ye be judged”. However, the thing is, we are all judged by God, his words and his commandments, and so is everyone else. So while we are called to be tolerant of others and their choices in society, this doesn’t mean that people are not still punished for their bad choices. We don’t tolerate some things like murder or stealing. In the church, we must be tolerant of different ways of life, cultures and traditions, but when we break God’s laws, we aren’t called to tolerate bad behavior, we are called to forgive, just as we have been forgiven. We learn love from Jesus’ death on the cross for us, not from TV or movies. Jesus didn’t just tolerate your sins, he died to forgive you and save you from being punished for your sins.

Jesus’s statement about love in John’s gospel is different than sex and more than tolerance. In fact, it is different than any other statement that you can find in the other three gospels. John isn’t saying that you should “love our neighbor as yourself” and he isn’t talking about the “golden rule” or how to increase your pleasure in the world; instead, as the Father loves him, and as Jesus loves you, that is love. “No greater love is there than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” That doesn’t mean that everyone must die, it is not death seeking martyrdom, but all love is measured based on that gift of Jesus’. A soldier in the armed forces doesn’t serve with the intention of dying; however, they are willing to serve even if it means that they must die for the sake of loving their country and the people within it, for their protection and their freedom.

What did Jesus’ death do for you? It gives you life, forgiveness and peace. Love is life-giving, not simply pleasure seeking either for the person receiving or giving. Love is about forgiving, not simply tolerating, but forgiving specific wrongs that are being committed against people and against God. This is the love that fulfills God’s commandments. This is the love that God calls you to abide in.

Yet, even while abiding in Jesus Christ and bearing the fruit of the Spirit, sin still clings to you, for you are both a saint and a sinner. John says, “Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.” The word that John uses for “prunes” is the same as he uses for “cleanse” in the very next sentence, “You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.”. God continues to cleanse and prune you through the words of Jesus Christ so that you will continue to bear fruit. So, while you are receiving love and commandments from Jesus Christ, the true vine, you can still expect to need forgiveness along the way.

In fact, that’s how God loves you. Growing on the vine that is Jesus Christ, you are free to sprout off in whatever direction you need to for the sake of loving or serving someone else. You’ll make mistakes, no doubt about that. You’ll do the wrong thing sometimes and need forgiveness, or pruning as Jesus puts it. But that’s what God’s love is like—not only accepting you as you are, but creating you into a NEW creation. Because the goal isn’t simply to make you feel good about yourself or to help everyone get along. The goal is to serve the world, and through that, glorifying God and his Son, your Savior, the true vine, Jesus Christ—who died for you and intends to serve the world through you.

Sermon for May 3rd

The first letter of John can be a very difficult letter to read because there often seems to be a disconnect between what he is saying about Christians and what we see and experience in our lives as Christians. When we translate John’s letter into English from the original Greek language, the statements can seem so cut and dried that we are either driven to pride or despair. I’m going to read a few verses to help explain this point and I want you to consider how they make you feel, “No one who abides in Jesus sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him.” “Everyone who commits sin is a child of the devil”; “Those who have been born of God do not sin, because God’s seed abides in them; they cannot sin, because they have been born of God.” According to these descriptions, it might be very easy for you or I to fall into despair for, we sin, no doubt about it.

But in the original language, John’s statements were a bit more nuanced than they are translated. In the language of Greek, verbs, action words like “to love” or “to sin” or “to abide”, are classified into three basic types of action: a competed action, a onetime snapshot of an action and a repeated or continuing action. In John’s letter, he often uses the kind of verb that means a repeated or continuing action which, by translating it a little differently, might help us understand what he’s getting at much better.

For instance, using the same verse I read before from 1st John chapter 3 see if you can hear the difference, “No one who continues to abide in Jesus sins; no one who sins and sins and keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.” “Everyone who keeps on committing sin is a child of the devil.” Or finally, “Those who have been born of God do not sin and sin and sin, because God’s seed continues abiding and abiding and abiding in them; they cannot continue sinning, because they have been born of God.” In other words, John isn’t saying that Christians don’t sin. In fact, in the first chapter of his letter, he says that, “If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and his word is not in us.” However, John is saying that a life lived by faith in Jesus Christ looks different than a life lived apart from Christ, and if it doesn’t, well, maybe you need to hear the message again until it takes hold of you in a new way.

But here we run into another problem many of us have with reading these verses from John’s letter: we read a description and hear it as a commandment. This can become a big misunderstanding. For example, let me describe a bird for you. One characteristic of a bird is that it flies. A bird flies. If you wanted to become a bird, you might try flying. But just because you got in an airplane and flew cross-country doesn’t make you a bird does it?

In today’s reading we hear this, “All who obey God’s commandments abide in him, and he abides in them.” You might start thinking that, if you obeyed all the commandments, you would be saved, you would be a full-fledged Christian. Do enough good works and you will be loved by God. But that would contradict much of what scripture tells us, wouldn’t it? What about the part that says we are saved by faith apart from works? Just because you obey God’s commandments, do the right things, doesn’t prove that you have faith in Jesus.

But John isn’t commanding you to be a Christian, he is describing the Christian life for you, and a Christian obeys commandments, not through their own power but, as he puts it later, because God has given them his Spirit.” John says, “We love because God first loved us.” He’s not giving you a commandment saying that you MUST love because God loved you first. He’s describing the life of a Christian.

The gospel of Matthew puts this in a different way. “A good tree produces good fruit. A bad tree produces bad fruit.” You don’t have to tell a good tree to produce good fruit, it just does it because that how it was made. Sometimes we think about trusting in God as a decision we make with our minds, or with our hearts or by understanding it enough. But that’s not how John talks about it. God takes your old creation, the one that sins and hates and steals and murders, and creates a new you—you are “born again” as so many Christians put it—and this NEW you doesn’t sin because it can’t, not because you are strong enough to fight temptation. God makes you into a good tree. And when you find yourself living in a new way, not because you know you are supposed to, but because you naturally do, John says that this can reassure you can trust that God is truly doing something amazing through you instead of trusting in your own efforts.

But you may ask, then how can it be that I believe in Jesus Christ, something only the Holy Spirit can get you to do, but I still find myself sinning, something only a child of the Devil would do according to John? Because you are both. Because, as Martin Luther put it, you are simul Eustis et peccator, you are simultaneously a sinner and a saint. A sinner, in the eyes of this old world. A saint in the eyes of God. Not fifty-fifty. Not part sinner and part saint. You aren’t split down the middle. You are 100% sinner and 100% saint. For now, when you look in the mirror, you’ll often see only a sinner. But, through the eyes of faith, when you hear the forgiveness of yours sins for example, you might catch a glimpse of the saint you have become. The same picture you will see reflected in the eyes of Jesus Christ when you see him one day face to face.

This last week on NPR, I heard an interview about a man who had written a book called, “Losing my Religion.” It’s about a man who became a born-again Christian after a traumatic part of his life and got involved whole heartedly with his faith and his whole life changed. His job was writing for the Religion section of the LA Times and, in his work and research, he had to cover a lot of pretty distressing stories about Christians. Bogus faith healers, Christian hypocrites, and, if you remember, the big sexual molestation scandal and cover-up involving some Roman Catholic priests several years ago. He kept asking himself, “Why don’t Christians act any more loving than non-Christians?” “Why do they sometimes act worse?” “Why do Christians pray and still get sick or, at least, not get dramatically better every time they ask?” Eventually, he “lost his faith” as the book puts it, left the church and is now an atheist.

This is the danger in hearing the law as the final word, rather than the gospel. As John puts it at the beginning of today’s reading, “We know love by this, that Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” That’s the promise. John continues by saying that “therefore, we ought to lay down our lives for one another.” Yes, we should. But, our act of love is always secondary to Jesus’. Our act of love is never on par with his. Every person on this Earth could follow all the commandments written in the Bible and every law on this Earth and that wouldn’t prove God’s existence. It wouldn’t mean that everyone would be saved. You are not saved because of what you do, but because of what Jesus has done for you.

By faith we believe that we are saints even though all the evidence often points to the contrary. We hear that our sins, though many, are forgiven and, when we believe it, you might notice that you don’t want to go right back to those sins. By faith we believe that whatever we ask from God we will receive, even though, in this life, we may not always see the fruits of those prayers when we want them. An old professor of mine put it this way, “When we pray for healing, we are actually praying against ourselves—we are praying for our own deaths.” For only then will that broken leg be completely healed, will we finally find peace from our anxieties and will a sick child actually live apart from suffering. Even if we pray for healing and it happens right before our eyes, at that very moment, the one that has been healed will need healing again and again and again until they live with the healer himself up in heaven.

Martin Luther once explained that it would be better for us if God never healed us, or eased our suffering, or blessed us so richly so that our hearts and minds and, most importantly, our faith, wouldn’t rest on visions of glory, but would rest on the power of the cross. Yet, in his divine grace, he cannot help but shower us with love and peace and joy and so, we thank him and trust that all the troubles of the world will only finally be ended in heaven once and for all. But, for now, we will live as both sinners and saints. Praying that God would change our lives and our actions through the power of his Holy Spirit so that we might love one another and do what pleases him. Not just with words, but with actions. Not just once in a while, but always. Not because you are being told to, but because that is how God created you. Amen.

Sermon for March 22nd

The gospel reading today is the end of a conversation. The end of a conversation between Jesus and a Pharisee named Nicodemus who came to ask Jesus some questions one night. Nicodemus came to Jesus and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the very presence of God.” Jesus answered him, Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” I hope that you are already getting a sense here that Nicodemus and Jesus are talking in two very different ways. Nicodemus is talking down here somewhere and Jesus answers him on an entirely different plane, going right over his head.

But Nidodemus tries to get the conversation back onto an understandable track by saying, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answers, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Once again, Jesus’ answers are anything but easy. Christians throughout the ages have spent many a ream of paper trying to decipher what exactly Jesus meant and so, you can imagine, how Nicodemus felt hearing it for the first time.

Nicodemus finally throws up his hands and says, “How can these things be?” Jesus answers, “Are you a teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?” That’s the spot where our reading comes in today.

Now, why is this important? Because the first part of the conversation sets the stage for the second. Here is Nicodemus, a well-educated member of the elite class of theologians in Judaism and he is lost when it comes to understanding what Jesus is saying. Nicodemus is coming to Jesus for answers, maybe for a little homework to understand what he’s all about, but Jesus frustrates all these attempts and keeps talking about faith, trust and belief. It is clear that Nicodemus does not believe and THAT, much more than his lack of understanding, is the problem.

What does Nicodemus need to do? What does Nicodemus need to understand? What does Nicodemus have to believe in order to get on Jesus’ good side? These are the same questions that we are all driven to ask of ourselves. Nicodemus represents all of us and our attempts at belief. Even if we try to jump through all the hoops it is as difficult as a camel jumping through the eye of a needle, as Jesus puts it. No matter how smart we are, how diligent we are or how faithful we are Jesus puts it quite simply, “No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.” If you are confused about what to believe or who to believe or how to believe join the club that Nicodemus started that day in a conversation with Jesus. And, welcome to the human race. We are all lost.

But after listing how impossible it will be for Nicodemus, or any of us, to take heaven by storm, Jesus gives you a glimpse of your hope. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” To our ears this sounds so easy. Love. You can still hear Rodney King crying out, “Can’t we al just get along?” It should be so easy, but it’s not. When I hear talk about the world on NPR or in conversations with people, the world is a beautiful place worth saving. But the world, as the word is used in the gospel of John, is a place for of sin and death. It’s not a pretty place. It’s not a place that is easy to love. For God to love the world is a dramatic and radical step. So radical, that God’s only Son, Jesus has to DIE to save it.

If we simply start at John 3:16 and skip the first part of this conversation we miss the point. Jesus doesn’t just save a nice little pretty world of duckies and bunnies. He saved a world of sinners. He had to come because we were unable to be saved without him. We didn’t understand him. We couldn’t believe.

Verse 17, “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” The Greek word for what is translated condemn is krino and it refers to a judgment, a final conclusion about something, especially a negative decision. But the text says that Jesus was NOT sent to judge the world or sent so that God could make his final conclusion on mankind. By the time Jesus was born, the conclusion had already been made.

Verse 18, “Those who believe in him are not condemned, but those who do not believe are condemned already,(they are condemned already) because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” Jesus came to earth not to judge you or to express an opinion about you, but to save you. God’s judgment of you has already been made as far back as Genesis, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.” God’s judgment on humankind is clear, “Guilty.”

When God made that statement about the world in Genesis six, he decided to blot out every living thing from the Earth except for Noah and his family by means of a flood but, afterwards, God promised never to flood the earth again. So now, to deal with our guilt, God is doing something new in Jesus. Not killing the world because of the judgment against it, but saving it. The world isn’t in MORE trouble because Jesus died on the cross; the judgment has already been made. Jesus came to save.

Judgment Day, that event everyone is always worried about, shouldn’t really be that much of a mystery. That day will be great and terrible as the Bible tells us over and over again because we already know the judgment. We already know we are guilty. The Israelites rebelled against God and we still rebel against God. On the last day, God will tell you that judgment once again. You are rebellious. You are a sinner. As great and terrible as it is it is nothing you don’t know already. And, just like Nicodemus, nothing you can do will change this.

In other words, nothing new happened when we killed Jesus on the cross. Lots of people died before Jesus and lots of people died after Jesus. Death isn’t new. It is expected. We hear this expressed again and again in the gospels where Jesus knows he is heading for death, that he will suffer and die at our hands. The new thing, is what happens after we hide in the dark from his light. Jesus, the light of the world, finds us. Whether it is in the upper room where the disciples are hiding behind closed doors from the Jews or when Jesus finds Peter on a fishing boat. Jesus’ death is old, what happens after his death, however, is quite new. He is raised from the dead and comes after his betrayers. Not for vengeance like in some horror movie; instead, Jesus does something extraordinary. He forgives. He saves. Not only his disciples but all who believe in him.

The first part of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus is old. It’s about the law and how impossible it is for us to follow God’s demands. But the second art, from today’s reading, well, that is a promise: what God is going to do for you because he loves you.

The world is condemned already, Jesus comes to save it. Apart from Jesus there is only judgment and, since we can’t meet God’s demands, condemnation. But NOT believing in Jesus doesn’t CAUSE condemnation, do you see that? Sometimes you’ll hear people talk about belief in Jesus as a choice that if it is not made right now means you are suddenly condemned. But we are all condemned already. We have caused our condemnation based on our own sins. We are all condemned when Jesus shows up on the scene. We are all in the same boat that is capsizing, only jumping out of that boat and into the arms of Jesus can give us salvation.

You’re no worse off than you were before if you don’t believe in Jesus Christ. You’re JUST as worse off as you have always been. Living in an old world of sin and death with no hope. But Jesus is new. He comes into your system of sin, death, and judgment, breaking it all to pieces. He doesn’t put on extra demands that were not there before, but says, “Believe in me and everything is done already.” That’s why it always seems like Jesus’ words are gong over our heads just like Nicodemus. We want to understand the right way to pray, or to talk, or what the correct church is to go to, but the only reason any of that is important is because we want the old things of this world to focus our attention to the only new thing that can truly save us, “Trusting in Jesus Christ alone.”

During this Lenten season, it’s time to look not at this old world, but at the new promise you have in Jesus Christ, the promise that we will celebrate on Easter. That Jesus has not come to condemn you, but to save you from the condemnation you already experience on a daily basis. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday (February 22nd)

When a couple is first dating or going out, there is often a level of spontaneity involved. There is the excitement and the experience of the unknown that goes along with every date, every kiss and every conversation. There is a lot of give and take, pushing the boundaries and then pulling back in all parts of the relationship. A couple needs time to understand when to tell a joke, for instance, where to draw the line for intimacy and how to talk about hot-topic issues with one another. There are a lot of unspoken rules affecting a beginning relationship, places where you can take a wrong step and destroy a budding romance in one fell swoop.

And the difficult thing is that everyone has a different set of “ten commandments” that you have to figure out and live by in order to continue being in a relationship with them. Sometimes “thou shalt not kiss on the first date” or else you are a shallow pig. Sometimes, however, if you don’t at least try to steal a smooch, it shows that you are either a prude or else not interested. If you invite your new boyfriend to go see “Spamalot”, based on Monty Phython, you will either be seen as fun and eclectic or dumb and immature. Finally, in a new relationship, even going to church might be a “you shall” or “you shall not” depending on how interested a person is in religious activity.

Rules and unspoken customs help us understand one another, find common interests and, eventually, they might even help you find someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with. But once a couple has become married, the unspoken laws that helped define the relationship as valuable can begin to steal joy from that relationship. Spouses can no longer see their mutual love behind the wall of expectations and demands. Kissing is no longer a fun activity but becomes a necessary expectation of marriage. Kids are no longer dreams but demanding little nightmares. And the little things that you loved so much about your boyfriend or girlfriend years ago might annoy you now . . . a lot!

The joy, the freedom and the happiness of a marriage gets hidden beneath a bunch of other junk. Important junk. Interesting junk. Maybe even necessary junk. But its stuff that keeps you from enjoying the love you were meant to enjoy.

The Christian life can get to be the same way after awhile. You can’t see the freedom that comes with Jesus Christ behind all the rules of Christendom. You forget about the happiness you used to find at a worship service and instead only notice all the hypocrisy of those around you or the failings of the church. And the joy that used to fill your heart when you prayed to God gets overshadowed by the despair of dreams not fulfilled, prayers not answered and pain built up. Jesus is still there but you can’t see him. What is it in your life that gets in the way of your seeing God’s glory?

In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian church, he tries to get at this problem by relating it to a story these people would have known. The story of Moses and the ten commandments.

Do you know the story? After Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and out of slavery to Pharaoh, they traveled to a mountain where God led Moses up and blessed him with a special gift: the Law. Two stone tablets that held what we call the ten commandments today. But when Moses came down something was different. The story says that, “the skin of his face was shining so that everyone was afraid to come near him.” This wasn’t simply a problem with oily skin, God’s glory was reflecting off Moses’ face. So, Moses would put a veil over his face when he talked to the Israelites. It kept them from being scared, but it also hid God’s glorious reflection from their eyes. Only when Moses went in before the Lord would he take off the veil.

The apostle Paul compares this predicament in the life of Moses and the Israelites to what happens in our life and our relationship to God. When we hear the Law, God’s rules and expectations, what we are supposed to do and not supposed to do, “the veil is still there” Paul says. We can’t see past it. We get so wrapped up in following the law that we forget everything else, most notably Jesus. We can’t see God’s glory. We can’t see the end of the law.

Why is this? There are two temptations when hearing the Law. The first is pride and the second is despair. When you hear that you are supposed to love your neighbor as yourself you may give yourself a little pat on the back and say, “Hey! I already do that! Yea me!” That’s called pride. When you have decided that you are living a holy life, beyond the reach of sin and temptation, you can’t see Jesus any longer because there is an obstacle in the way—YOU! The veil covering your face is your own ego and pride and there just isn’t enough room for Jesus. It gets too crowded in your mind and your heart. When pride takes over there just isn’t a need for Jesus and his promise of salvation because you figure you’ve got the talent and strength to please God all on your own. Unfortunately, pride is usually just the first step on your way to the second temptation, despair.

Pride and despair are bosom buddies. It’s usually just a matter of time. As soon as you decide that you’ve got everything figured out life throws you a curveball and you find yourself on God’s bad side. You’ve gotta know that those who’ve made a killing in the stock market over the last several years are the most likeliest to be in a deep depression right at this moment. Not because they are worse off than anyone else in America, but because they have fallen the farthest. The same is true when we think our faith is running on all cylinders—often, rough roads appear that lead us on a collision course with suffering. One moment you are standing tall and the next you are lying flat on your backside.

Despair puts a veil over your face as well and hides Jesus from your sight just as deftly as pride does. In this case, the veil looks like money problems or marriage problems. Add to this the self-loathing for being so full of pride before and the veil over your eyes can look more like a steel curtain. Unmoveable and unbreakable. What is it in your life that hides God’s glory from your eyes?

When you hear the law, what you are supposed to do and what you are not supposed to do, you tend to forget all about Jesus and focus on what you’ve done or what you haven’t done. Only by looking at Jesus is this veil set aside, Paul says. Only when one turns to the Lord is the veil removed. Moses took the veil off of his face when he spoke to the Lord and saw his glory. In the same way, Jesus helps you see beyond the law and realize it has an end.

Here is one of my favorite Martin Luther quotes, “The Law says ‘do this’ and it is never done. The Gospel says ‘believe this’ and everything is done already.” The Law says ‘do this’ and it is never done. How many married couples can relate to THAT statement. Just insert your beloved’s name at the beginning, “Blank says ‘do this’ and then they say ‘do this’ and then they say ‘do this’ and on and on and on with no end in sight. It’s no different with God. There is always something else to do, someone else to help, some way better to feel, some time more to pray, some way to be a better person. The Law says ‘do this’ and it is never done! Never!

The Gospel, on the other hand, says ‘believe this’ and everything is done already. When you believe in Jesus Christ, you can believe that he has accomplished everything for you. When you look at Jesus Christ just remember those famous words of his, “It is finished.” That goes for every rule, every law, every expectation and every demand in the book. Even in the book called the Bible. Christ has finished it for you. The law can keep pitching the balls over and over again, non-stop, but Jesus is going to hit them out of the park for you every time—fastballs, sliders and even those pesky curveballs. It’s only when you start thinking it’s YOU who’s up to bat that you’ll find yourself striking out.

This doesn’t mean that you can pretend that the law doesn’t exist. But knowing about this veil gives you an important piece of information. One day, the law will be put out of its misery. One day, you’ll open your eyes and instead of seeing a veil you will see God face to face. Then the unaffordable house payments, the bad economy and your high blood pressure will be history and very unimportant. And every time you hear about Jesus, pray for his presence or trust in his name, you can take off that veil for a moment and realize that the glory of that day is in your future. You see, when you realize that the law has an end, you can finally start following it freely. You can allow the law to work fully, one-hundred percent, as frustrating and demanding as it can be because you know that it’s lifespan is limited to this world. It is temporal, not eternal. It is temporary, but Jesus Christ is forever.

For now, the law says, “Do this and it is never done.” But while you are running this race with all the demands and expectations God and people put on your life, keep your eyes on the prize. Not too far off in the distance is your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and he has made a promise for you. He’s finished the race already. He’s done it for you. And if you haven’t noticed, he’s also right here at your side, strengthening you to keep doing all that you are called to do. Strengthening you to keep running the race of life and faith. While you are sprinting ahead with all that God calls you to do today and this week, don’t forget that you are free to look away, at any time, take off the veil and look to Jesus in order to remember, that truly, all the work has already been done for you. In fact, it is finished. For now, enjoy the run until the day when you stand face to face before your God and there is nothing left to hide his glory from your eyes. Amen.

Sermon for January 18th

In past sermons, I have mentioned, once or twice, that God intends to use your hands and your feet to serve your neighbors and to show them love. Today’s passage from 1st Corinthians reveals that God intends to use even more than just your hands and your feet. “The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” Yes, God is the God of everything . . . even the God of sex. Sexual activity can either benefit your neighbor or hurt them. Your spouse, your partner, or a complete stranger, can either be loved or hurt depending on your choices and how you use the body God has gifted you with.

Paul says, “The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord . . . .” But what is fornication? What is Paul talking about? What does fornication mean? Does it mean all sexual activity? No. Fornication is any sexual activity outside of the blessing and relationship of marriage.

In the first chapter of Genesis, God created a man and a woman in the image of God and then he gave them their first command, “Be fruitful and multiply.” Did God say, “Go take a cold shower?” Or, “Look, but don’t touch?” Or perhaps, “Now stay away from each other?” No. “God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply.’” Let me be very clear about this: God commanded the first man and woman he created to go have sex and have babies. This is not a God who hates passion! This is not a God who is unfamiliar with desire! This is not some prudish God who despises flesh! He made flesh! He designed all the parts involved! He created pleasure! He desired passion for those he created.

But he didn’t create sex and pleasure as simply some object to obtain like just another apple from a tree in the garden. In God’s creation, sex is placed within a specific context. God created sex within a particular kind of relationship. God created a man and then, for a partner, he created a woman. The text conveys that this difference in gender is part of the created order and is something good. Sexual relations are put in this context—into this relationship. Sex is a gift, but not just for the man and not just for the woman, but for and with one another.

In Genesis 2, God makes it clear that sex is even more than a gift though. It defines this relationship in a new and glorious way, “Therefore, a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.” Marriage is not defined by having children because we, as God’s creatures, are not able to have them apart from God’s creative work. Moreover, just having a child does not a marriage make. Sometimes, through scientific methods, a child can begin life apart from any relationship or marriage at all! Even within a marriage, sexual activity might cease “for a set time” as scripture says.

So what defines a married relationship? Marriage, in the Bible, is not defined as such but is described as being between men and women in a relationship where sexual activity is given boundaries. You don’t HAVE to have sex in order to be considered married, but you have to be married in order to consider having sex. Sex in any other manner, for whatever other reason outside of this special kind of relationship, is considered fornication, something God did not create human beings or their bodies to do. God created you to love and serve your neighbor, your spouse and complete strangers EVEN when it comes to your sex life.

As with any command from God, there are a several different ways we might respond to it. I’m not telling you three ways that you might WISH to respond, but I am describing three ways that sinners, like you and I, tend to respond. For instance, you may just disagree with God’s Word and seek some other words that seem to make more sense to you, be more tolerable or feel better. When you hear that you should “shun fornication”, you might decide that fornication is an outdated rule that shouldn’t apply to you for some reason or another. You are not changed and God’s Word is not changed, but life continues on more or less the same. On the other hand, you may agree completely with God’s Word and attempt to follow his rules perfectly while pointing out how others are not doing so well. But, if you are more interested in meeting God’s demands than loving your neighbor, this is called legalism. In this case, when you are told to “shun fornication”, you might believe that you aren’t fornicating with anyone that you can think of and thank God that you are so holy. Believe it or not, no one is changed in this scenario either, not you and not God’s Word.

But there is a third way to hear God’s command. The law still doesn’t change (I hope that you are getting the gist of that) but, in this case, you are changed. When you are told to “shun fornication”, you might realize that this Word from God is talking about you. You are the one being judged. God is pointing out your sins; you can’t escape them and you can’t blame someone else.

Our society has condemned, oppressed and despised many people of the world and used the Bible, or other religious books, as justification for doing so. Prostitutes are treated like dirt by those who use them for their bodies as well as by those who disagree with their lifestyle. Homosexual people are victimized by hate crimes and mocked by stereotypes. People who have affairs are shunned by their closest friends and relatives for their poor judgment and mistakes. Child molesters are beaten and sometimes even killed in jails.

On the other hand, people living together before marriage is quite acceptable in our society today. Premarital sex is just fine . . . as long as you don’t get pregnant that is. That can sometimes be embarrassing. You can look at pornography from the comforts of your own home if you stay up late enough and have cable TV or a satellite dish. And, the cute blonde down the street? Well, you can imagine a late-night rendevouz with her without anybody ever even realizing you are thinking about it.

We view these things differently don’t we. No one would ever equate the seriousness of child molestation to a little fantasy about a movie star. However, in God’s eyes, according to his law, they are both sins. They both need to be stopped. Everything I just mentioned would be considered fornication, sex outside the boundaries of God’s blessing in marriage. God speaks the same way about it all: “Shun fornication! The body is not meant for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. For you were bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body.” You may not even have done anything, you may only be thinking it, unintentionally, or in your dreams! But throughout the Bible, God is no more lenient with men or women sleeping around with various partners than he is with people sleeping around with other gods, with other words or with other moralities. God wants us all to be perfect. And we all fail miserably. Not only in how we act in public, but even in the privacy of our own minds and bedrooms.

As I said before, God’s Word does not change, but there is a chance that you might and that is why he speaks at all. God’s law always condemns. God’s law is not compassionate. God’s law judges you and me and every single person on this earth. He tells you to shun fornication because he wants you to love and be loved without the risk of harming or being harmed. He gives his final word to all forms of sex outside of the relationship of marriage . . . and his word is “NO!” His word is final. It is difficult and sometimes gut wrenching for us to hear this. If it weren’t, we wouldn’t need a Savior.

But, in fact, we do need a Savior. You NEED a Savior. Jesus died not only for your sweet little sins that you can’t help but for the sins that you never wanted saving from. He saves you from yourself and he even died so that you might have a blessed sex life, believe it or not! So that sex in your life might be a gift, not just in the eyes of you and your partner, but in the eyes of God and your community as well.

God doesn’t tolerate your excuses. He doesn’t accept your arguments. Instead, he does something completely unexpected: he forgives you and promises that your sins, even your sexual sins, will never separate you from his love. He doesn’t just want you to feel bad, to feel guilty or to repent of your sins; he wants you to repent and then believe that he has forgiven you once and for all. So you can love and be loved freely and without fear even in your most intimate relationships. He tells you to flee fornication so that you might run into his open arms. He calls you out on your sins so that he might forgive you completely. No matter how far you have fallen, God is right there to pick you up.

Sex is a gift from God for his creatures. But it can only be considered a gift within the context of a relationship blessed by God where it is given its proper purpose. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But now, hear this: you are forgiven and I pray that God might help you glorify his name even with your body. Amen.