On my family’s recent trip to Nebraska, we listened to an audio recording of the book, The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini, an Afghan immigrant. He mentions in the book that one of the cultural differences between Afghani people and Americans is that Afghans love to hear how a story ends, even if they’ve never read the book, but Americans despise being told the ending of a story before they’re done the reading it themselves. Well, in this one instance, at least, God is much more like an Afghan than an American: He enjoys telling you the end of the story, how all the suffering, drama and conflict is resolved. And so, in keeping with this attitude, I have decided to tell you how this sermon is going to end even before I get there. I’m telling you the last page of the book, so to speak, the final scene of the movie, the last episode. Before you were born, before the foundation of the earth, God chose to love you completely in Jesus Christ. He promises that after all the suffering, drama and conflict in your life, you will live with him in heaven forever as a forgiven sinner, as his beloved child. End of story.
Now that might sound like very wonderful news . . . and it is. But as soon as you get to thinking about it, about the consequences of this statement, about what it all means, you might in fact decide that it doesn’t sound very wonderful at all! In fact, I can honestly say that this little statement didn’t sound all that great to me for a long time and, truly, I hate this statement a great deal of the time. In fact, it was people’s hatred, anger and defiance against this wonderful promise of God’s that created the entire narrative written down in the Bible. But before I become any more confusing or cryptic, let me give you one word that can describe what it is that we all hate about this wonderful promise from God; that word is predestination.
Predestination. It is a word that we hate, despise and will argue against forever. Predestination is one of the longest four letter words in the dictionary. Why? Well, because it appears to fly in the face of everything we believe in as people and, especially, as Americans. Because if there is such as a thing as predestination, then where is our FREEDOM!?
I’m looking at the reading from Ephesians today. Let me read for you just a few of the verses again, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.” Don’t be misled by the English translation that reads “he destined us” rather than calling it predestination because it is the same Greek verb used in Romans 8 where Paul argues that, “Those whom God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the imagine of his Son.” It’s the same verb and it means the same thing. God has had plans for you for a long time.
But now that you have heard the final chapter, the last lines in the story of God’s love, let’s get right down to the arguments against it. Ephesians says, “God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.” But is that fair, that God can just choose me? No, it’s not fair. But don’t I get a choice? Yes, you do. Can’t I choose God myself? The truth is that you won’t. But don’t I get a say? No. Can’t I use my free will? No. Just a little bit? No, not even a little bit. But can’t I choose to say no? Yes, you can. Won’t that make all the difference then? No, not at all. But God can’t just choose me without asking for my opinion can he? Well, yes, he already has. But doesn’t that just make us puppets? Well, no, there are no strings attached.
Predestination is a very scary word but, simply put, God has decided where your destination is before you get there. But even more importantly than that, he is telling you where that destination is. Ephesians 1:9, “He has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” Romans 8 says this in another wonderful way, “Those whom God predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
Sometimes certain theologians have argued for something called “double predestination”; that is, some people are destined for heaven and some people are destined to hell. Of course, what I have always found puzzling is that not only can those people tell with certainty who is in heaven because of Christ (without telling them), but they can often point out who is going to hell, apart from Christ. The Lutheran Reformers argued against this understanding citing scripture as the reason why. They maintained that no one was to discuss foreknowledge or predestination apart from the preaching of Jesus Christ. “Predestination, sometimes called election, is not to be probed in the secret counsel of God but rather is to be sought in the Word, where it has also been revealed.” “It is an article of comfort when properly treated,” they said. They argued that, “we are not to make judgments regarding our election [or someone else’s] on the basis of reason nor on the basis of God’s law. Instead, the true meaning of election must be learned from the holy gospel of Christ. It clearly states, God imprisoned all in unbelief that he may be merciful to all’ and that he wants no one to be lost but rather that everyone repent and believe on the Lord Christ.”
In other words, it is not our job to tell people that they are destined to hell because of something that they have done or have not done. As the gospel of John states, “those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” We are called to give them the good news of their true destination, “Your sins are forgiven. Repent and believe in the good news! You are Jesus’ destination and you will live with him forever”
But no matter how comforting predestination might be, it is often argued against most vehemently by those of us who want to keep our supposed freedom intact. Doesn’t God expect us to follow his laws? Yes, he does. Doesn’t God say that we must repent and believe? Yes, indeed. Doesn’t God want us to accept Jesus as our Savior. Yes, of course. But the real question comes from God’s point of view. What must he do when you don’t follow his laws? When you neither repent nor believe? When you don’t accept Jesus as your Savior? When you start doubting him? When you reject him or become lukewarm in your faith? What must God do then?
Well, as I have said before, he has already done it in Jesus Christ. Romans chapter three explains that “no human being will be justified in the sight of God by deeds prescribed by the law. “There is no one who is righteous, not even one; there is no one who has understanding; there is no one who seeks God. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Martin Luther pointed out in his Heidelburg Disputation, “Free will, after the fall, exists in name only, and as long as it does what it is able to do it commits a mortal sin. It has the power to do good only in a passive capacity, though it can always do evil in an active capacity.” When we argue for our freedom, we end up arguing against God’s gift of grace and arguing for our right to do evil things. For it is only in God’s promise that you are given the Holy Spirit that gives you a new heart and a new spirit created for good works.
Then does predestination mean that you and I are just puppets? No. There are no strings, remember? In fact, even if you decided, philosophically, that everything were determined by God beforehand and that you had no freedom even to decide to eat Wheaties or Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast, once you were finished deciding that, wouldn’t you go and eat a donut anyway? Determinism is an interesting idea, but it doesn’t really change anything. Just like believing that everyone is saved is a nice idea, but if they haven’t heard, how are they to believe? Predestination, however, is not determinism. Again, it is best described in Romans chapter 8, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” God knows his destination for you. He promises to give you Jesus Christ. He promises to give you forgiveness. He promises to give you heaven. In between now and then, you might get cancer. You might win the lottery. You might have ten children or have five miscarriages. You might go to church every Sunday or come not so often for awhile. You will, one day, die. But throughout all this suffering, all that drama and conflict, God promises that he will be at work for you and lead you to the destination he has created for you—to live with him forever. Predestination is not an idea, but a promise for you from God.
You see, as I said at the beginning of this sermon, God has already written the last page for you and then told you all about it. Before you were born, before the foundation of the earth, God chose to love you completely in Jesus Christ. He promises that after all the suffering, drama and conflict in your life, you will live with him in heaven forever as a forgiven sinner, as his beloved child. That’s God’s last word for you. Amen.
Showing posts with label Election. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Election. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Sermon for July 13th
It is election season. Now that the Republican and Democratic primaries are over, we are in the midst of the presidential election. No decision will finally be made until November, but as Americans it is not too difficult to eat, drink and breathe election talk day and night. Between CNN on television, the ticker on CNN.com, MSNBC, Fox news and radio talk shows, you can hear every side, every viewpoint, every criticism and every pundit day and night. Who will be chosen to be the next president of the United States? It is an election year and everybody wants to know who will be chosen.
It is also election season in the church. Did you know that? No? Well, it’s true. It is election season. Election season in every church in every denomination, or non-denomination, in every country in every language and wherever the gospel of Jesus Christ is being spoken whether in a building or not. And everybody wants to know who will be chosen.
But as you’ve probably guessed, there are differences between these two elections. While we have political elections once a year, every two years or every four years, as is the election season in the church is much different . . . it can happen anytime. It happens all the time. But the most important difference between political elections and the election season in the church, concerns who does the choosing and how.
As you well know, America prides itself on being a democracy. Every vote counts and only counts once. That’s the ideal anyway. We strive, as a democracy, to give everyone a voice so that the will of the majority will be enacted. As long as 50.0000001% of people agree, we can all go along with the decision believing that democracy is pretty much alive and well. We know that there are problems, of course, but we are always are striving for the ideal
This is not a natural way of running a system, it must be worked at to get to work properly. For instance, I’ve been to the Dineen’s house out there on Popple Swamp and seen their chicken coup. There are many hens, but only two roosters, Hank and Rufus, but let me tell you, no matter how much of a majority the hens have there, Hank and Rufus will always get what they want—it is not a democracy.
Or think about a field of crops, this might even make sense in your garden if it is big enough. My uncle Gary is a farmer in Nebraska. He goes out every year and evenly plants corn, beans and milo seeds in the dirt. He prepares the fields, he tills the soil, he plants the seeds, he sprays for bugs and often he has to irrigate. He tries to do all this in a very equal way so that his fields of crops all do equally well. However, when it comes time to harvest, no field is alike. In fact, the end of a row might look very different than its beginning. Sometimes water will have sat and drowned out some plants. Sometimes, there will be a whole dead patch of dry dirt where plants should have grown. Sometimes, despite the majority of corn plants and equal distribution of pesticides, a big ol’ weed will crop up and hassle some plants out of the way. A field of crops is not a democracy.
We can learn a lot about the church’s election season from watching the roosters, Hank and Rufus in their coup, or from the corn harvest corn in Nebraska. It is not a democracy. Your salvation is not decided by majority vote. In fact, none of us get a vote, not even one. Salvation is not going to look “fair” to you if you judge it by the standards of democracy. Salvation is not going to look “right” to you if you are striving for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This is a divine election where God alone gets one vote and it is the only vote that counts.
God has made his choice and his choice is you. He elects you as his beloved. He doesn’t ask you for your opinion in the matter. Why not? Because he knows you just as he knows all people. You would never vote for him. You would never choose him. There is no one who is righteous, not even one. There is no one who has understanding, there is no one who seeks God. So, God seeks you out and elects you as his chosen one. He finds the biggest sinner that he knows of and seeks you out to tell you that it is election day and he has made his choice. You. You are God’s choice.
But that isn’t fair, you might cry out. Well, no it’s not. You have sinned against God in thought, word and deed by what you have done and by what you have left undone. God has no reason to forgive you for that. It’s not fair. God sent Jesus, his only son, to announce the forgiveness of your sins and he was killed for it. Is it fair for God to have to forgive us for that sin? No! We shouldn’t act the way we do. We shouldn’t lie the way we do. We shouldn’t be so selfish. We shouldn’t be so arrogant. But we are and so he does . . . what? Well, he does the only thing that is left to do when you and I are held captive to sin and death, he holds an election. He elects. God chooses you and says, “You, yes you, the one who doesn’t deserve it. I elect you. It is election day and I win . . . you.”
I remember waiting up until about two o’clock in the morning on November 3rd, of the year 2000, wondering about the results of the presidential election between Al Gore and George W. Bush. I finally went to bed because I had to work in the morning, but I still didn’t know who had won. Then all week long I remember updating my CNN.com screen to see how many votes had come in from Dade county Florida until I finally just got sick of waiting to hear the news. How do you find out the election results each year? You must be told.
Do you know how people find out the election results of God’s divine election? Well, they also must be told. Sometimes they are very happy about it. Sometimes they are not. But, believe it or not, a lot of people still don’t know. Or, they think the results have changed based on something they did. They’ve been waiting for a long time wondering if anyone loves them. Maybe, they’ve heard that God judges them guilty, which is true. Maybe, they’ve heard that God isn’t happy with them for the choices they are making, this is also true. But they’ve never been told the election results. They’ve only heard the bad news and never heard the good news. God has chosen to forgive sinners and now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Madeleine L’Engle writes, “We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe. By telling them how wrong they are and how right we are. But by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.”
If you see or know someone with a broken down heart, or a broken down relationship, or a broken down life, do you have to tell them about your faith. No. You don’t have to. You also don’t have to tell them about God’s election. You don’t have to tell them that God has chosen them as his very own. You don’t have to tell them that God loves them more than they love their sins. You don’t have to tell them that God forgives their sins and you don’t have to encourage them to repent of their bad choices to God. You don’t have to do any of this. It’s not mandatory. You won’t get in trouble. So if you don’t want to, then don’t, alright? Alright.
But if you ever find yourself wondering, imagining, wishing you could tell someone you know about God’s election, here are a few things to keep in mind. God’s words of forgiveness, come from God mouth and goes out of your mouth. You don’t have to argue with someone, or convince them or force them to believe. God promises that his words, the words from his mouth, his election, shall not return empty, but will accomplish their purpose. God will accomplish faith, not you or I or them.
But you might ask yourself, why me? Why do I know about God’s election while there are people in the world who haven’t? Is that fair? No, it’s not fair as I’ve said before. Not only did you not deserve to hear it, but they still may not have heard about it. That’s not fair at all. So the next time you consider how unfair it is that God has not elected a particular person, it may be the time to get their address and give them the good news of God’s election yourself—in person. The less you think someone deserves God’s election, the more sure you can be that they deserve to be told of the results. Repeat after me, “Jesus loves you.”
What if you aren’t seeing any progress? What if they’ve never gone to church? What if you keep inviting them and they still don’t come? Tell them again. That’s something interesting about my uncle Gary. No matter how many times the corn has been flooded or blown over or not produced well, he keeps planting year after year. Tell them again and again and again. Tell them about God’s love for you and God’s love for them. Invite them to hear God’s election results here at church. Remember, in the church, it is always election season.
But most importantly, today is election day for you. I need to let you know again the results of God’s divine election. Jesus says, “I choose you. Yes. You. The one who doesn’t deserve it. You are precious in my sight. It is election day and I won . . . you. I win you.” Amen.
It is also election season in the church. Did you know that? No? Well, it’s true. It is election season. Election season in every church in every denomination, or non-denomination, in every country in every language and wherever the gospel of Jesus Christ is being spoken whether in a building or not. And everybody wants to know who will be chosen.
But as you’ve probably guessed, there are differences between these two elections. While we have political elections once a year, every two years or every four years, as is the election season in the church is much different . . . it can happen anytime. It happens all the time. But the most important difference between political elections and the election season in the church, concerns who does the choosing and how.
As you well know, America prides itself on being a democracy. Every vote counts and only counts once. That’s the ideal anyway. We strive, as a democracy, to give everyone a voice so that the will of the majority will be enacted. As long as 50.0000001% of people agree, we can all go along with the decision believing that democracy is pretty much alive and well. We know that there are problems, of course, but we are always are striving for the ideal
This is not a natural way of running a system, it must be worked at to get to work properly. For instance, I’ve been to the Dineen’s house out there on Popple Swamp and seen their chicken coup. There are many hens, but only two roosters, Hank and Rufus, but let me tell you, no matter how much of a majority the hens have there, Hank and Rufus will always get what they want—it is not a democracy.
Or think about a field of crops, this might even make sense in your garden if it is big enough. My uncle Gary is a farmer in Nebraska. He goes out every year and evenly plants corn, beans and milo seeds in the dirt. He prepares the fields, he tills the soil, he plants the seeds, he sprays for bugs and often he has to irrigate. He tries to do all this in a very equal way so that his fields of crops all do equally well. However, when it comes time to harvest, no field is alike. In fact, the end of a row might look very different than its beginning. Sometimes water will have sat and drowned out some plants. Sometimes, there will be a whole dead patch of dry dirt where plants should have grown. Sometimes, despite the majority of corn plants and equal distribution of pesticides, a big ol’ weed will crop up and hassle some plants out of the way. A field of crops is not a democracy.
We can learn a lot about the church’s election season from watching the roosters, Hank and Rufus in their coup, or from the corn harvest corn in Nebraska. It is not a democracy. Your salvation is not decided by majority vote. In fact, none of us get a vote, not even one. Salvation is not going to look “fair” to you if you judge it by the standards of democracy. Salvation is not going to look “right” to you if you are striving for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This is a divine election where God alone gets one vote and it is the only vote that counts.
God has made his choice and his choice is you. He elects you as his beloved. He doesn’t ask you for your opinion in the matter. Why not? Because he knows you just as he knows all people. You would never vote for him. You would never choose him. There is no one who is righteous, not even one. There is no one who has understanding, there is no one who seeks God. So, God seeks you out and elects you as his chosen one. He finds the biggest sinner that he knows of and seeks you out to tell you that it is election day and he has made his choice. You. You are God’s choice.
But that isn’t fair, you might cry out. Well, no it’s not. You have sinned against God in thought, word and deed by what you have done and by what you have left undone. God has no reason to forgive you for that. It’s not fair. God sent Jesus, his only son, to announce the forgiveness of your sins and he was killed for it. Is it fair for God to have to forgive us for that sin? No! We shouldn’t act the way we do. We shouldn’t lie the way we do. We shouldn’t be so selfish. We shouldn’t be so arrogant. But we are and so he does . . . what? Well, he does the only thing that is left to do when you and I are held captive to sin and death, he holds an election. He elects. God chooses you and says, “You, yes you, the one who doesn’t deserve it. I elect you. It is election day and I win . . . you.”
I remember waiting up until about two o’clock in the morning on November 3rd, of the year 2000, wondering about the results of the presidential election between Al Gore and George W. Bush. I finally went to bed because I had to work in the morning, but I still didn’t know who had won. Then all week long I remember updating my CNN.com screen to see how many votes had come in from Dade county Florida until I finally just got sick of waiting to hear the news. How do you find out the election results each year? You must be told.
Do you know how people find out the election results of God’s divine election? Well, they also must be told. Sometimes they are very happy about it. Sometimes they are not. But, believe it or not, a lot of people still don’t know. Or, they think the results have changed based on something they did. They’ve been waiting for a long time wondering if anyone loves them. Maybe, they’ve heard that God judges them guilty, which is true. Maybe, they’ve heard that God isn’t happy with them for the choices they are making, this is also true. But they’ve never been told the election results. They’ve only heard the bad news and never heard the good news. God has chosen to forgive sinners and now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Madeleine L’Engle writes, “We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe. By telling them how wrong they are and how right we are. But by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.”
If you see or know someone with a broken down heart, or a broken down relationship, or a broken down life, do you have to tell them about your faith. No. You don’t have to. You also don’t have to tell them about God’s election. You don’t have to tell them that God has chosen them as his very own. You don’t have to tell them that God loves them more than they love their sins. You don’t have to tell them that God forgives their sins and you don’t have to encourage them to repent of their bad choices to God. You don’t have to do any of this. It’s not mandatory. You won’t get in trouble. So if you don’t want to, then don’t, alright? Alright.
But if you ever find yourself wondering, imagining, wishing you could tell someone you know about God’s election, here are a few things to keep in mind. God’s words of forgiveness, come from God mouth and goes out of your mouth. You don’t have to argue with someone, or convince them or force them to believe. God promises that his words, the words from his mouth, his election, shall not return empty, but will accomplish their purpose. God will accomplish faith, not you or I or them.
But you might ask yourself, why me? Why do I know about God’s election while there are people in the world who haven’t? Is that fair? No, it’s not fair as I’ve said before. Not only did you not deserve to hear it, but they still may not have heard about it. That’s not fair at all. So the next time you consider how unfair it is that God has not elected a particular person, it may be the time to get their address and give them the good news of God’s election yourself—in person. The less you think someone deserves God’s election, the more sure you can be that they deserve to be told of the results. Repeat after me, “Jesus loves you.”
What if you aren’t seeing any progress? What if they’ve never gone to church? What if you keep inviting them and they still don’t come? Tell them again. That’s something interesting about my uncle Gary. No matter how many times the corn has been flooded or blown over or not produced well, he keeps planting year after year. Tell them again and again and again. Tell them about God’s love for you and God’s love for them. Invite them to hear God’s election results here at church. Remember, in the church, it is always election season.
But most importantly, today is election day for you. I need to let you know again the results of God’s divine election. Jesus says, “I choose you. Yes. You. The one who doesn’t deserve it. You are precious in my sight. It is election day and I won . . . you. I win you.” Amen.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Sermon for June 22nd
I once led a memorial service for a guy I had met only once or twice at church but never really knew at all. It really wasn’t until his funeral preparations that I got to know this man and his family. But once I got to know him, I just couldn’t believe all the things this guy had done! The family started telling stories and memories about him and they just got worse and worse and funnier and funnier. This man was a real sinner. Everybody there knew it. He pulled some of the most horrific pranks and freaked people out constantly in his life. I just kept looking over at his wife, with this look of amazement on my face, as family members recounted event after event—any of which could have led to a divorce just based on the sheer danger recounted, or selfishness exhibited, or stress involved. How had this nice lady ever been married so long to such a crazy guy like this?
Now, at most memorial services that I have attended, people don’t often mention the dead person’s favorite sins; instead, they often try to build up their good deeds, their positive traits and their Christian attributes. But this memorial service was very different in that regard. While most people miss loved ones because of how sweet and loving they could be; it seemed that many family members and friends at this memorial service might miss this guy partly because of what a jerk he could be at times. And by the end of the service, people were saying the same things. Well, but, he’s gone now, and won’t be able to do that crazy stunt any more. Or they might say, I wish that he would just get up and start yelling at me, but, he can’t.
“Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it?” These words, written by the apostle Paul in the book of Romans, reflect the same experience people had at this memorial service. Could this man, remembered at the service, a father, a husband, a friend, and a brother continue all the crazy and horrendous acts he had done in his life? “By no means!” Paul says. Put into more modern language, we might say, “Well no. Duh! He’s dead. He can’t do much of anything now can he?”
Perhaps I am stating the obvious here, but when you are dead, all your expectations and your plans, whether they are virtuous or not, come to an end. Even if you want to do something good. Even if you desire to do something bad. Tough luck. You are dead and it aint gonna happen.
There is a book called The Hammer of God. In it there is a story about a young pastor in Sweeden named Fridfeldt who goes to visit Frans, a man who is dying. The pastor, Fridfeldt knows that this man, Frans, is a godly man and a true believer. But on arrival Frans is only halfway conscious and begins relating sin after sin from his youth as well as his contemporary naughty thoughts and desires. All the while, Fran’s daughter cries beside the bed as her father relates one embarrassing detail after another. I’ll continue the story from the book:
“Friedfelt could not help thinking how alike we all are within, after all. The same jealousy, the same pride, the same unloving heart. He also thought about how it would now go for Frans. As long as he was conscious he had faith. That seemed quite evident. But beneath the thin shell of his conscious faith this evil still dwelt within the heart. ‘Just as it is with me’, mumbled Fridfeldt. The only difference was that he was still in possession of his full senses, and in the interest of his good reputation must cover tightly all the uncleanness within. As for the poor old man, his lid had fallen off, and everything lay bare.” The man later dies and his daughter asks, “Tell me Pastor, do you believe he died a blessed death?” What do you think?
“Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore, we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” Could this man, who had been baptized in Christ Jesus, have somehow separated himself from God’s love long ago? Could this man, who had been baptized in Christ Jesus, have sinned a little too much in later life? Could this man, who had been baptized in Christ Jesus, have let his lid fall off a little too soon and lost his faith? “By no means!” Paul says. Again, using more modern language. “Well no. Duh! He died. He was buried into with Jesus at his baptism! He couldn’t do anything about that. He died!
Perhaps I am stating the obvious here again, but when you are dead, all your expectations and your plans, whether they are virtuous or not, come to an end. Even if you want to do something good. Even if you desire to do something bad. Tough luck. You are dead and it aint gonna work. This is true the day you die as well as sixty years after you have died. This is true when you have died with Christ at your baptism.
This last week was a week full of graduations. I feel rather knowledgable about graduations because I have done it four times if you include high school and college. This is what I know. You have to go to school until you graduate and, while you are at school, you have to go to classes and do the work and do it well or else you won’t get your diploma. That’s just how school works. But what if, on your first day of elementary school, or high school, or college, or medical school, or seminary, the president, or superintendent told you that you didn’t need to worry about graduating anymore. It was all taken care of and he, or she, handed you your diploma saying, “Congratulations!”
It didn’t matter how hard you worked in school, how many classes you went to, how much you sucked up to the teachers, you were going to fail this school miserably. This president, or superintendent, expected no more than a 0.0 grade point average from you. But, the superintendent loved you. They loved you and gives you your diploma, free of charge, as a gift, before you could ever succeed or fail. How would you feel about this? Cheated? Offended? Guilty? Unbelieving? Thankful? Free?
“Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore, we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” Your baptism was your graduation. You received your diploma, your promise of eternal life, free of charge from God who loves you. Jesus understands that in this life, you will sin against him again and again. Jesus understands that in this life, you will sin against one another again and again. In the school for the salvation, you will all be given a 0.0 grade point average. He knows all this, but he loves you and he forgives you. Therefore, you may consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
When this passage from Romans, that you heard today, is read, we often think that Paul is trying to guilt trip us into becoming better people. We like to believe that the jury is still out on us and God is watching for us to succeed or fail in this Christian thing. That way, if you really wanted to, you could sin enough and thwart God’s decision that has already been made for you. We want that choice! We want that freedom! Not to choose God, no, we know what would happen then. But how far would we have to go to reject him! “Shall we continue in sin in order that grace may abound?”
The apostle Paul says, “By now means! Well no. Duh! How can you, who have already died, go on living in sin? It doesn’t work that way. Jesus Christ has already made his decision about you. When you were baptized in Christ Jesus you were baptized into his death. You didn’t just die, you were buried! Buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”
Your lid has already popped off and everything was laid bare. You died. Your memorial service is over. Jesus has already handed you over a promise of eternal life. “We know that our old self was crucified with Jesus so that the body of sin might be destroyed and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin.” You have died and your life now hidden with Christ in God.
Does this mean that you’ll still make bad decisions and sin against God and one another. Yes. In this life on earth you can count on it. But. In God’s eyes you have already died. Just like his son Jesus. Everything is accomplished already. “And since we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So, you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Now, at most memorial services that I have attended, people don’t often mention the dead person’s favorite sins; instead, they often try to build up their good deeds, their positive traits and their Christian attributes. But this memorial service was very different in that regard. While most people miss loved ones because of how sweet and loving they could be; it seemed that many family members and friends at this memorial service might miss this guy partly because of what a jerk he could be at times. And by the end of the service, people were saying the same things. Well, but, he’s gone now, and won’t be able to do that crazy stunt any more. Or they might say, I wish that he would just get up and start yelling at me, but, he can’t.
“Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it?” These words, written by the apostle Paul in the book of Romans, reflect the same experience people had at this memorial service. Could this man, remembered at the service, a father, a husband, a friend, and a brother continue all the crazy and horrendous acts he had done in his life? “By no means!” Paul says. Put into more modern language, we might say, “Well no. Duh! He’s dead. He can’t do much of anything now can he?”
Perhaps I am stating the obvious here, but when you are dead, all your expectations and your plans, whether they are virtuous or not, come to an end. Even if you want to do something good. Even if you desire to do something bad. Tough luck. You are dead and it aint gonna happen.
There is a book called The Hammer of God. In it there is a story about a young pastor in Sweeden named Fridfeldt who goes to visit Frans, a man who is dying. The pastor, Fridfeldt knows that this man, Frans, is a godly man and a true believer. But on arrival Frans is only halfway conscious and begins relating sin after sin from his youth as well as his contemporary naughty thoughts and desires. All the while, Fran’s daughter cries beside the bed as her father relates one embarrassing detail after another. I’ll continue the story from the book:
“Friedfelt could not help thinking how alike we all are within, after all. The same jealousy, the same pride, the same unloving heart. He also thought about how it would now go for Frans. As long as he was conscious he had faith. That seemed quite evident. But beneath the thin shell of his conscious faith this evil still dwelt within the heart. ‘Just as it is with me’, mumbled Fridfeldt. The only difference was that he was still in possession of his full senses, and in the interest of his good reputation must cover tightly all the uncleanness within. As for the poor old man, his lid had fallen off, and everything lay bare.” The man later dies and his daughter asks, “Tell me Pastor, do you believe he died a blessed death?” What do you think?
“Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore, we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” Could this man, who had been baptized in Christ Jesus, have somehow separated himself from God’s love long ago? Could this man, who had been baptized in Christ Jesus, have sinned a little too much in later life? Could this man, who had been baptized in Christ Jesus, have let his lid fall off a little too soon and lost his faith? “By no means!” Paul says. Again, using more modern language. “Well no. Duh! He died. He was buried into with Jesus at his baptism! He couldn’t do anything about that. He died!
Perhaps I am stating the obvious here again, but when you are dead, all your expectations and your plans, whether they are virtuous or not, come to an end. Even if you want to do something good. Even if you desire to do something bad. Tough luck. You are dead and it aint gonna work. This is true the day you die as well as sixty years after you have died. This is true when you have died with Christ at your baptism.
This last week was a week full of graduations. I feel rather knowledgable about graduations because I have done it four times if you include high school and college. This is what I know. You have to go to school until you graduate and, while you are at school, you have to go to classes and do the work and do it well or else you won’t get your diploma. That’s just how school works. But what if, on your first day of elementary school, or high school, or college, or medical school, or seminary, the president, or superintendent told you that you didn’t need to worry about graduating anymore. It was all taken care of and he, or she, handed you your diploma saying, “Congratulations!”
It didn’t matter how hard you worked in school, how many classes you went to, how much you sucked up to the teachers, you were going to fail this school miserably. This president, or superintendent, expected no more than a 0.0 grade point average from you. But, the superintendent loved you. They loved you and gives you your diploma, free of charge, as a gift, before you could ever succeed or fail. How would you feel about this? Cheated? Offended? Guilty? Unbelieving? Thankful? Free?
“Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore, we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” Your baptism was your graduation. You received your diploma, your promise of eternal life, free of charge from God who loves you. Jesus understands that in this life, you will sin against him again and again. Jesus understands that in this life, you will sin against one another again and again. In the school for the salvation, you will all be given a 0.0 grade point average. He knows all this, but he loves you and he forgives you. Therefore, you may consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
When this passage from Romans, that you heard today, is read, we often think that Paul is trying to guilt trip us into becoming better people. We like to believe that the jury is still out on us and God is watching for us to succeed or fail in this Christian thing. That way, if you really wanted to, you could sin enough and thwart God’s decision that has already been made for you. We want that choice! We want that freedom! Not to choose God, no, we know what would happen then. But how far would we have to go to reject him! “Shall we continue in sin in order that grace may abound?”
The apostle Paul says, “By now means! Well no. Duh! How can you, who have already died, go on living in sin? It doesn’t work that way. Jesus Christ has already made his decision about you. When you were baptized in Christ Jesus you were baptized into his death. You didn’t just die, you were buried! Buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”
Your lid has already popped off and everything was laid bare. You died. Your memorial service is over. Jesus has already handed you over a promise of eternal life. “We know that our old self was crucified with Jesus so that the body of sin might be destroyed and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin.” You have died and your life now hidden with Christ in God.
Does this mean that you’ll still make bad decisions and sin against God and one another. Yes. In this life on earth you can count on it. But. In God’s eyes you have already died. Just like his son Jesus. Everything is accomplished already. “And since we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So, you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
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