Sunday October 26, 2008
Proper 25
Brothers and sisters
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are a people who desire to be able to see that which we believe in. When we are looking to buy a new car or house and we hear about something that sounds like it could be what we are looking for and at a price that we can afford, we want to go see it. We want to look at the house, we want to see if we can envision ourselves living happily in that house. We want to test-drive the car. We want to see how roomy it is, how noisy it is, or how it handles itself around corners. And then ultimately we want to see if it really is at a price that we can afford or if there were some hidden fees that did not get mentioned.
Indeed we desire visible signs for that which we believe in. And of course, as you might imagine, this spills over into our faith life also. We desire visible signs for the faith that is given to us in baptism. That is why books dealing with Christian apologetics, or physical evidence for the truth claims of Christianity are among the most popular selling Christian books; because we want those visible signs. And I have to say many books dealing with Christian apologetics, like The Case for Faith or The Case for Christ have been very helpful for me and can be very valuable to someone looking to grow in their faith.
But at the end of the day, the best that these books and any other "visible signs" can do is possibly shed some light on the truth of the Gospel, but they are of course not the Gospel themselves. In fact, the truth is the mere existence of these books, and the fact that they are as popular as they are really functions more as law than as Gospel. What I mean by that is the fact that we seek physical evidence for the truth claims of the Bible is more reflective of a desire to live by sight than by faith.
But this is revealed not just in the Christian books that we might buy and read, but in just about every aspect of our lives. We question the sincerity of someone claiming to be a Christian, who doesn’t go to church as often as we do. Or when confronted with the question of the sincerity of our own faith, we think not of the One who brings us faith, but instead we look to our traditions and our heritage. Like the Jews who "had believed" in Jesus in the Gospel lesson who reverted back to their identities as sons of Abraham, we base the sincerity of our faith on our religion and our traditions and our piety.
This was the trap that Martin Luther had fallen into prior to the Reformation, which we remember today on Reformation Sunday. He had fallen prey to the delusion and the deception that security in our salvation can only be found in good works; that the only way to know that you are safe from God’s eternal punishment is by your own personal good works and piety.
But that is a trap. It is what Luther would eventually come to call the state of being incurvatio; or being curved in toward ourselves. The problem is the more focused we are inward toward ourselves, the more we see ourselves for what we really are; sinners in need of a merciful God. But we do not find the gracious and merciful God we are in such dire need of by looking in toward ourselves.
When we focus in toward ourselves; again all we see is sin and a pathway to the grave. And so we react to this in different ways. For some of us, we may react like Luther and get trapped in an endless cycle of despair and anxiety as we try to find peace and comfort in our futile attempts to be faithful to God’s law. But the law does not comfort, the law does not bring peace, the law only accuses. And so, trying to find peace and comfort in the law, we find only despair and terror, and not a gracious and merciful God that we can love, but an over-bearing taskmaster God that we will resent and in some cases even hate, as Luther would later confess to feeling himself.
Another way we react is not by running to the law, but by running from the law. But when we are curved in toward ourselves, the only other place to go is to our sin and pride. And so running from the boney finger of the law, we delude ourselves into thinking that the law no longer applies. We convince ourselves into thinking that we can revise, reduce and re-define God’s Holy Word according to our desires and orientations. In doing this we allow ourselves to be seduced by the most dangerous sort of idolatry; worship of the self. And this is all a part of our desire to build our faith not on the One who sets us free by becoming a slave for us, but on a mythical, visible holiness that is impossible for us to ever fulfill.
So run from the law as we might, we cannot stop it from accusing us. For the law is no longer merely something outside of us that seeks to maintain order in society. For the days that our Lord tells us about through Jeremiah have arrived; the law has been written on our hearts. But the law is not written on our hearts to drive us to a constant state of despair and anxiety. The law has been written on our hearts for the exact reason that our Lord tells us, so that He can be our God and we can be His people.
The purpose of the law is as Paul says in the lesson from Romans, "…that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world may be held accountable to God." We cannot run from the accusing finger of the law as it exposes the futility of our endless quests for glory and visible holiness. The law serves to expose the impossibility of our trying to be justified in His sight by deeds prescribed by the law.
The law serves to show us finally that we are slaves to sin. And so as slaves, we can only face up to the reality that we do not have a permanent place in the household of our Lord. But as our Lord tells us in His word this morning, the Son has a place in the household of the Lord forever, and that if the Son makes us free we are free indeed. And the Son has indeed made you free, and you are free indeed.
But this is not simply a case of the Son vouching for you, the Son Christ Jesus became a slave for you; and took on your bondage and sin and gave you freedom and righteousness. And it is this promise and this reality that finally freed Martin Luther from the bondage that he was under. He finally realized that redemption comes only in Christ Jesus; that justification comes only by grace as a gift.
He was finally free to cast aside his futile quest for the visible holiness we are simply not capable of. Because the law had been written on his heart and exposed him for the sinner that he was, Luther could do nothing else but be still and know that God is God. He finally understood that righteousness comes only when we repent and believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is not to say that faith in Christ produces righteousness. Faith in Christ does not set us off on a quest to attain righteousness. Faith in Christ makes us righteous before God. We go forth into the world, to our neighbor, having been made righteous already by the blood of Christ.
We are free to stop searching for visible signs that will inevitably fade anyway. We have more than visible signs, we have an eternal promise from our Lord who is our refuge and strength and a very present help in trouble. We have the faith that we receive in baptism; the faith that makes us righteous.
And so we can follow the lead of Martin Luther who once he realized that Christ doesn’t just show us a path to the truth that sets us free, but that He is the truth who sets us free, Luther then abandoned all of his holiness quests and stayed focus on one thing; preaching the Gospel of Christ Jesus. We have been freed to go forth to our neighbor preaching the Gospel through Word and deed and whatever other form we feel called to. You have been freed to go forth and share with your neighbor the righteousness that you have received and been transformed by. Through faith in Christ Jesus you have been made righteous sons and daughters of God and you have a permanent place in God’s household. Go forth, with the Gospel, and share that place in the household of the Lord that you have been given with your neighbor, and like you they will be made free indeed.
Amen
Brothers and sisters
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are a people who desire to be able to see that which we believe in. When we are looking to buy a new car or house and we hear about something that sounds like it could be what we are looking for and at a price that we can afford, we want to go see it. We want to look at the house, we want to see if we can envision ourselves living happily in that house. We want to test-drive the car. We want to see how roomy it is, how noisy it is, or how it handles itself around corners. And then ultimately we want to see if it really is at a price that we can afford or if there were some hidden fees that did not get mentioned.
Indeed we desire visible signs for that which we believe in. And of course, as you might imagine, this spills over into our faith life also. We desire visible signs for the faith that is given to us in baptism. That is why books dealing with Christian apologetics, or physical evidence for the truth claims of Christianity are among the most popular selling Christian books; because we want those visible signs. And I have to say many books dealing with Christian apologetics, like The Case for Faith or The Case for Christ have been very helpful for me and can be very valuable to someone looking to grow in their faith.
But at the end of the day, the best that these books and any other "visible signs" can do is possibly shed some light on the truth of the Gospel, but they are of course not the Gospel themselves. In fact, the truth is the mere existence of these books, and the fact that they are as popular as they are really functions more as law than as Gospel. What I mean by that is the fact that we seek physical evidence for the truth claims of the Bible is more reflective of a desire to live by sight than by faith.
But this is revealed not just in the Christian books that we might buy and read, but in just about every aspect of our lives. We question the sincerity of someone claiming to be a Christian, who doesn’t go to church as often as we do. Or when confronted with the question of the sincerity of our own faith, we think not of the One who brings us faith, but instead we look to our traditions and our heritage. Like the Jews who "had believed" in Jesus in the Gospel lesson who reverted back to their identities as sons of Abraham, we base the sincerity of our faith on our religion and our traditions and our piety.
This was the trap that Martin Luther had fallen into prior to the Reformation, which we remember today on Reformation Sunday. He had fallen prey to the delusion and the deception that security in our salvation can only be found in good works; that the only way to know that you are safe from God’s eternal punishment is by your own personal good works and piety.
But that is a trap. It is what Luther would eventually come to call the state of being incurvatio; or being curved in toward ourselves. The problem is the more focused we are inward toward ourselves, the more we see ourselves for what we really are; sinners in need of a merciful God. But we do not find the gracious and merciful God we are in such dire need of by looking in toward ourselves.
When we focus in toward ourselves; again all we see is sin and a pathway to the grave. And so we react to this in different ways. For some of us, we may react like Luther and get trapped in an endless cycle of despair and anxiety as we try to find peace and comfort in our futile attempts to be faithful to God’s law. But the law does not comfort, the law does not bring peace, the law only accuses. And so, trying to find peace and comfort in the law, we find only despair and terror, and not a gracious and merciful God that we can love, but an over-bearing taskmaster God that we will resent and in some cases even hate, as Luther would later confess to feeling himself.
Another way we react is not by running to the law, but by running from the law. But when we are curved in toward ourselves, the only other place to go is to our sin and pride. And so running from the boney finger of the law, we delude ourselves into thinking that the law no longer applies. We convince ourselves into thinking that we can revise, reduce and re-define God’s Holy Word according to our desires and orientations. In doing this we allow ourselves to be seduced by the most dangerous sort of idolatry; worship of the self. And this is all a part of our desire to build our faith not on the One who sets us free by becoming a slave for us, but on a mythical, visible holiness that is impossible for us to ever fulfill.
So run from the law as we might, we cannot stop it from accusing us. For the law is no longer merely something outside of us that seeks to maintain order in society. For the days that our Lord tells us about through Jeremiah have arrived; the law has been written on our hearts. But the law is not written on our hearts to drive us to a constant state of despair and anxiety. The law has been written on our hearts for the exact reason that our Lord tells us, so that He can be our God and we can be His people.
The purpose of the law is as Paul says in the lesson from Romans, "…that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world may be held accountable to God." We cannot run from the accusing finger of the law as it exposes the futility of our endless quests for glory and visible holiness. The law serves to expose the impossibility of our trying to be justified in His sight by deeds prescribed by the law.
The law serves to show us finally that we are slaves to sin. And so as slaves, we can only face up to the reality that we do not have a permanent place in the household of our Lord. But as our Lord tells us in His word this morning, the Son has a place in the household of the Lord forever, and that if the Son makes us free we are free indeed. And the Son has indeed made you free, and you are free indeed.
But this is not simply a case of the Son vouching for you, the Son Christ Jesus became a slave for you; and took on your bondage and sin and gave you freedom and righteousness. And it is this promise and this reality that finally freed Martin Luther from the bondage that he was under. He finally realized that redemption comes only in Christ Jesus; that justification comes only by grace as a gift.
He was finally free to cast aside his futile quest for the visible holiness we are simply not capable of. Because the law had been written on his heart and exposed him for the sinner that he was, Luther could do nothing else but be still and know that God is God. He finally understood that righteousness comes only when we repent and believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is not to say that faith in Christ produces righteousness. Faith in Christ does not set us off on a quest to attain righteousness. Faith in Christ makes us righteous before God. We go forth into the world, to our neighbor, having been made righteous already by the blood of Christ.
We are free to stop searching for visible signs that will inevitably fade anyway. We have more than visible signs, we have an eternal promise from our Lord who is our refuge and strength and a very present help in trouble. We have the faith that we receive in baptism; the faith that makes us righteous.
And so we can follow the lead of Martin Luther who once he realized that Christ doesn’t just show us a path to the truth that sets us free, but that He is the truth who sets us free, Luther then abandoned all of his holiness quests and stayed focus on one thing; preaching the Gospel of Christ Jesus. We have been freed to go forth to our neighbor preaching the Gospel through Word and deed and whatever other form we feel called to. You have been freed to go forth and share with your neighbor the righteousness that you have received and been transformed by. Through faith in Christ Jesus you have been made righteous sons and daughters of God and you have a permanent place in God’s household. Go forth, with the Gospel, and share that place in the household of the Lord that you have been given with your neighbor, and like you they will be made free indeed.
Amen
posted by Steve at 6:38 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home