Text: John 8:31-36/Psalm 46

Free at Last

            Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.  The text for the sermon this morning comes from the Gospel and Psalm 46 which were read earlier.

            In one of his earliest Reformation writings, Martin Luther wrote On the Freedom of a Christian Man.  The Reformation was about the question “What does it mean for man to be free?”  In our culture and society, freedom is usually associated with choice; a person is free who has the right and power to choose as he wills.  We often hear of the freedom of choice.  However, such freedom arises from the idea that man is free by way of detachment from persons and things; such freedom arises from the idea of the person as independent and autonomous.  The Bible knows of no such freedom of man.  The Bible rather reveals man as entrapped, dead in sin, and destined to death.  That man can live only if he is freed from that slavery and is reborn to the servanthood of love.

            The date is October 31, 1517.  A young professor at Wittenberg is struggling with his faith.  He has the faith which he has been taught by the Roman Catholic Church, yet he has the faith of his own heart and conscience which says that there is something wrong with the Roman Catholic Church.  That is when this young monk decided to do something.  He wrote up a document for discussion and nailed it to the town bulletin board, the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg.  That document, known as the 95 Theses, led Luther and many others to freedom.

            In our Gospel reading for this morning, Jesus tells “the Jews who had believed him” what is needed to be set free: “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  For Martin Luther, he wanted to be free: free from the false errors that were being taught by the Roman Catholic Church.  He criticized what was unbiblical, but at the time, he had no intention of splitting the Church.  His goal was to reform the Church, to correct the abuses and make straight what had gone crooked over the past few centuries.  At least, that’s how it began.

            Luther looked at the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and found flaws in them because they are teachings of man.  He was a learned man with regards to the Scriptures and saw nothing in there about the practice of indulgences.  Indulgences, as you may know, were the documents purchased from the Church that would take away the punishments for sin people thought they had to suffer after death in a place called purgatory.

            In the following years, Luther saw that the problems ran much deeper than just indulgences.  The problems dealt with the liturgy, they dealt with leadership in the Church, and, even more central, they dealt with the certainty of salvation.  They dealt essentially with these two questions: “Who rules the Church?” and “How can I find a gracious God?”  That is, the questions were about God’s Word and God’s grace.  Luther’s goal was to return authority in the Church to the Word of God.  His goal was to return to the Word of God and find therein the grace of God.

            That was and still is the heart of the Reformation.  It wasn’t about starting a new church.  It was about going back to the Word of God.  Only in the teachings of Christ will we know the truth and be set free. 

            If John’s account would have stopped there, all would have been well, but it didn’t stop there.  “They answered him, ‘We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone.  How can you say that we shall be set free?’”

            They looked at what Jesus had said only in an earthly manner; they failed to look at it in a spiritual manner.  They knew the one true God.  They had the truth.  They were heirs of the covenant of Abraham.  They were free.  So if you are free already, how can you be free again?

            We look at Jesus’ words in a worldly manner also.  We are not slaves to anyone so how can we be set free?  We are slaves and we are not free.  As Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”  We are slaves.  We are slaves because we are sinful.  We are slaves because of the sinful world that we live in.  We are slaves and there is nothing that we can do about it.  The Bible shows that once a person sins, he is no longer free to serve God, only sin.  In fact, he is now compelled to sin, because sin is personified as a harsh, domineering master that has a stranglehold on us.  Every sin only serves to bind us tighter in its lock.  And once we are slaves to sin, we cannot free ourselves.

            Jesus Christ has indeed set us free.  If the Son frees us, we are really free; free from the compulsion and bondage of sin, free to serve God as He originally intended us to do and as Jesus did.

            Martin Luther, the great reformer, relied solely upon Jesus Christ and His teaching to free us, not the false teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church.  In looking at Scripture, He saw that outside practices, while they may be good, do not bring about salvation.  Salvation has been won for us by Jesus Christ on the cross.  Where did Luther get this?  He got it from Scripture, namely Psalm 46, which is the basis for his hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.”  “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” 

            For Luther, this is what he needed to hear.  He entered the monastery because he thought by doing this, he would be able to escape the world and its sin.  Unfortunately, he discovered that even in the monastery, sin was still present.  There was nowhere that he could go to where sin would not be present.  But when Luther read Psalm 46, he was put to ease.  It didn’t matter what happened, God would be the ever-present help in trouble.  “A mighty fortress is our God,/A trusty shield and weapon;/He helps us free from ev’ry need/That hath us now o’er-taken.”  Where did Luther find the trusty shield and weapon?  He found it in Jesus Christ and Him alone: “But for us fights the valiant One,/Whom God Himself elected./Ask ye, Who is this?/Jesus Christ it is,/Of Sabaoth Lord,/And there’s none other God.” 

            Salvation is found only in Jesus Christ.  He knew from what Scripture taught that one could not find salvation in an indulgence.  He knew from what Scripture taught that one could not find salvation by praying “Hail Mary’s” and “Our Father’s.”  Salvation has been won for us by Jesus Christ on the cross.  There and only there can be forgiven.  It was here that Luther found freedom at last: freedom from sin, death, and the devil.  Salvation came by faith, not by what we did, but by the grace of God.  By grace alone, by faith alone, and by Scripture alone are we free at last.  In the name of Jesus, amen.

            Now the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus until life everlasting.  Amen.

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Text: James 4:7-12 (13-5:6)

Submission to God

            Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.  The text for the sermon this morning comes from the Epistle which was read earlier.

            Habits are a good thing to have.  They can be a very good thing.  For instance, it is a good habit to set aside money into a savings account for those unexpected circumstances.  It is a good habit to pay your bills on time so as not to incur late fees.  It is also a good habit to attend church regularly for the edification of one’s spiritual well-being.   However, it is just as easy to have bad habits as well.  For instance, it is a bad habit to neglect your spouse and children.  It is a bad habit to speak ill of others.  It is a bad habit to eat too much.  However, it is often too easy for us to fall into bad habits than it is for us to have habits that are good.

            In looking at our text for today, James is writing to the churches about something that was not only difficult for them to follow, but it is also difficult for us to follow today: “Submit yourselves, then, to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Come near to God and he will come near to you.”  By our very nature, we do not submit to God, we do not resist the devil and we do not come near to God.  We don’t know how to submit ourselves to God.  We don’t know how to resist the devil and we don’t know how to come near to God.  All of this is alien and foreign to our sinful natures.

            The same was true for the churches to which James is writing.  They had decided to give in to their habits of in-fighting and the like.  They had begun to turn their backs on God, to begin to deny who and what God has done for them and to follow the ways of the world.  It was very easy for them to do what they were doing.  It is a lot easier to give into the things of this world which you can see rather than in the mystery of God which one cannot see. 

            James is encouraging Christians to place themselves under God—to place themselves in His ranks, under His leadership and His direction, under His will and His word.  Such submission means giving oneself completely and totally, without hesitation or condition.  It means denying self and taking one’s will and desires and thoughts and words and actions and gifts and abilities—one’s entire being—and placing all of it at the disposal of God.  And, of course, that sort of self-submission will express itself in the way the Christian relates to his God and to his fellowman.

            Submission to God means resisting the devil, and vice-versa, for every evil working of Satan in his fight against Christ and the church, and every temptation which he throws like a snare before the feet of the Christian constitute nothing less than an attack on the lordship of God.  Satan would like nothing better than to have Christians arrogantly throw off that lordship and claim it for themselves.  He would like nothing better than to see God’s people refusing to submit to the Lord. 

            There are two options for the world: turn to God or turn to the ways of the world.  If we turn to the ways of the world, then what is there for you?  What comfort do you have in the world when a loved one dies?  Can the world promise you that your loved one has now been united with Christ forever?  If, however, we turn to God, we will find comfort in a loved ones death.  We will find life everlasting.  “Come near to God and he will come near to you.”  We can not come to God ourselves, but we can come to God by the Holy Spirit.  James is speaking to the Christian, encouraging him to submit himself by the power of the Holy Spirit to God by coming near in sincere repentance.  He calls for them to acknowledge the fact that, although they claim to be the Lord’s, they have turned away from Him time and again, going their own way, trying to live without the Lord in this world.

            We live in a world where the prevailing attitudes are “Be your own man, or woman!”, “Don’t let anyone tell you what to do!”, or taking an old commercial a little out of context, “Have it your way!”  The problem with these attitudes and ideas is that they’ve led us away from God.  We no longer look to Him for guidance, or for that matter even acknowledge that He has something to say about our lives.  We live our lives as if we are an island that answers to no one, nor has any effect on any of the other "islands" which exist around us.  James, in language that is fairly strong, reminds us that the truth is quite to the contrary.  He tells us to “Submit yourselves, then, to God” and “Humble yourselves before the Lord.”  Oh, but we don’t do that either do we?  Nobody likes the idea of submission or humbleness, after all, these words imply weakness, and in this world you can’t appear weak.  But we are weak and we can’t do it alone, although we often try.

            That is our Old Adam at work in us.  We somehow think that we can do it all ourselves, that we don’t need God, that we don’t need the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.  In today’s world of people telling you that you can do it yourself, that you can make the decision for Jesus, it’s no wonder many people try to go it on their own.  However much we try to live without God, it is all the more apparent that we do need God. 

            At the start of our reading James records one of God’s many promises that are found in the Bible.  He tells us, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you, come near to God and he will come near to you.”  Now we need to remember something.  This verse does not say that we choose God; we do not make the decision to follow Him.  But He has chosen us and He has given us the faith that we need to follow Him.  We, however, are capable of choosing not to anger our Lord by our repeated, an often blatant sins. Listen to these words from Romans 8 “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”  James gives us God’s promise to lift us up.  By our submission and humbleness before God, He will exalt us in heaven and earth.  The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 149, “For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.”  Those of us who turn to Him, those of us who humbly trust in Him to direct our lives, in all aspects, will be saved from the terrors of hell.  He loves us, He wants to be part of our everyday lives, and He will bless us.

            It is very hard to deny the world, especially when we are so much a part of the world.  We accept the dictates of the world for our lives rather than the Word of God.  That’s not the shocking part of it all.  The shocking part is that we don’t really care that we follow the world and not God.  It is much easier to accept what you can see over the things that you cannot.  When we follow the world, we will ultimately move away from God.  But thanks be to God, we can come back to Him and He will accept us with open arms.  That is what a loving God does.  “But if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

            As His redeemed children, we have been given the gift of His unfailing love, love that came at the expense of His Son, Jesus Christ.  When we turn our backs to God, He will still be there to accept us back in His loving arms.  That is what grace is all about.  We have a God of grace and mercy, who exalts the humblest of man, not by anything that we have done, but by what has been done for us through His Son.  By sending His Son, who took our failures upon Himself, we are no longer under submission to Satan, but we are lifted up by God above sin, death, and the misery of our sinful lives.  What better reason to submit to God can there be than this?  In the name of Jesus, amen.

            Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

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Text: Ephesians 5:8-14

From Darkness to Light

           Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.  The text for the sermon this morning comes from the Epistle which was read earlier.

            “I have seen the light!”  That’s a familiar phrase which I’m sure everyone has heard before.  But ask yourself this question: if you have seen the light, what did you see before?  Before seeing the light, you saw darkness.  In the beginning of creation, there was darkness until God created the light.  To be in darkness is not a pleasant situation.  Already in infancy, most children are afraid of the dark.  The thought of a criminal lurking in the dark evokes feelings of terror.  Metaphorically, one is “in the dark” when he lacks understanding.

            The spiritual darkness which once characterized the Ephesians was far worse than any physical or mental darkness.  They were directed by the darkening power of sin into religious and moral darkness.  Spiritually they were dead.  They were totally ignorant of divine truth.  Their spiritual ignorance guided them into acts of ungodliness and immorality, together with the consequent misery.  Paul’s words “you were once darkness” imply that the Ephesians were once instruments of darkness.  They were people whose “darkness” was evident in their behavior and speech.

            The same is true for all of us today.  From the moment that we were conceived, we were sinners.  David writes in the Psalms, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”  We are sinners.  We are in the dark.  We know sin and that is what we are comfortable with; that’s what we like.  Because of our sin, we are very much like the Ephesians, doing acts of ungodliness and immorality. 

            For some strange reason, we try to classify or rate sins, thinking that a sin like gossip isn’t as bad as killing someone.  The fact of the matter is that a sin is a sin is a sin.  It doesn’t matter what the sin is, it is still a sin and offensive to God. 

            Our lives are full of sins, regardless of how good of a life we lead, according to ourselves.  You’re a good person if you don’t kill a person right?  You’re not like all the murderers that are sitting on death row serving time for the murders they committed.  But what about that person you can’t stand, the one you just despise?  According to God, you are guilty of murder.  St. John writes “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.”  Our sins are as black as night and reflect who we are, sinners in a fallen world.

            The effects from the fall into sin are very great.  We break God’s laws, we disobey Him, and we despise Him because of our sin.  That is the way that Satan wants it.  As far as he is concerned, that’s the way it should be.  But fortunately for us, God intended it to be different.  He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to restore creation to its rightful place, as children of God.  No longer are we darkness.  “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” 

            We have seen a brilliant light.  As a light switch brings illumination to the eye, so the light of the Gospel brings illumination to the heart.  The light which has shined upon you is Jesus, the “Light of the World.”  “Those who sat in darkness have seen a great Light.”  The Holy Spirit has brought you to faith in Jesus as your Savior.  He led you to a recognition of your sins, your depravity, your need for forgiveness and the source of it.  As a “light shining in a dark place,” the Spirit used the Word of God as a bright torch to direct you in the way of truth.

            Because we were once darkness but are now light, we should “live as children of light” because that is what we are.  We have gone from being sons and daughters of darkness, children of Satan, to being sons and daughters of light, children of God through the merits of Jesus Christ.  And because of that, it means that our lives should reflect that light and not the darkness.  You belong to the household of God, individually and communally, because Jesus has redeemed you through His blood.

            Paul writes this same thing to the Corinthian Church: “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.”  When we were children of Satan, we did what came naturally to us: we sinned.  We continue to sin today because we are still sinners.  But while we are still sinners, we are also saints, made clean by the blood of the Lamb on Calvary’s cross.  Because we have been made saints, our lives should reflect that nature as one redeemed by Jesus Christ.

            We are to “have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”  The works of darkness are totally unfruitful.  What farmer would want to spend his time in a field which produces no grain?  He would want no part of it.  In the same way, the child of light will have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness.  Jesus said, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

            The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, one of the auxiliary organizations of The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, helps to expose the “fruitless deeds of darkness” while pointing unbelievers and those in need toward the illuminating love of Christ through the good deeds they do in supporting the Church’s missionary efforts at home and abroad.  The glorious light of the Gospel shines in a sin-darkened world by the faithful teachings and confessions of the LWML, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who brought light to the world and through that light, gave to us forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.

            This forgiveness of sins, life and salvation has been given to us freely by God through Jesus Christ at His expense.  We need God to come to us, because we cannot come to Him.  God is unapproachable for sinners.  He is beyond the reach of mortal man. There are those who think we have to first approach God and accept Him.  But if you are righteous enough to approach God, then why do you need a Savior?  Our Lord did not come for those who do not need Him.  He came to seek and save the lost.  He came to give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, make the lame walk, and raise the dead.

            We as sinners need Jesus, whether we think we do or not.  When we were in darkness, we were separated eternally from God.  There was no way to bridge the gap between God and His creation.  Try and see if you can bridge the gap.  It’s obvious that you can’t.  No one can, or at least not of this world.  Only Jesus Christ could bridge the gap.  Only Jesus Christ could turn us from darkness into light.  To make it even more clear what happens, we are made light in the Lord.

            We are not made light in ourselves.  Nothing in us reflects light until the Holy Spirit works faith in us and brings us to Jesus Christ.  The only thing that is reflected in us is our sin and our darkness.  What God should see when He looks at us is a person covered in the blackness of their sins.  However, that is not what He sees.  He sees us clothed in the righteousness of His Son, who took away our sins and made us clean by the blood of the Lamb.

            The saving Light of the Gospel shined upon you in the waters of Holy Baptism, as they did this morning.  As your sins were washed away in that heavenly flood, your heart and soul were filled with heavenly light.  The Holy Spirit has illuminated your soul with faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.  The light of the Gospel that shines with you comes from your gracious heavenly Father who has claimed you as His own dear child.  He has redeemed you through the blood of Jesus that you may be His servant as His instrument of light in the world; not to glorify yourself, but that through you He may be glorified.  And on the Last Day, He will raise you up to His marvelous light for all eternity.  In the name of Jesus, Amen.

            Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus until life everlasting.  Amen.

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