Sermon Sunday, Mar 22 2009
Fourth Sunday in Lent
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our Lord Jesus comes to us today with a harsh Word. He comes to us with a judgment. In fact in verse 19 of the Gospel lesson, John writes “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.” John says that all who do evil, hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.
Well there is no doubting that the exposing of evil deeds can have devastating effects on the way we live our lives. Just look at the economy. In the midst of the current economic crisis we have seen the light creeping into the crevices and hidden areas of some of our largest financial institutions and it has revealed predatory lending, negligent oversight and outright embezzlement.
But this light that creeps into the darkness and exposes evil, sin, and wrong-doing does not shine only on wall-street billionaires. It shines on all of us. The judgment is that we all love the darkness, and that we hate the light and do not come to the light. But perhaps you think “Wait a minute. I don’t walk in the darkness. I am here in church.”
And granted you are here in church. You are receiving God’s Word. Your Lord is coming to you once again in the proclamation of His Good news. Your faith is being enriched, nurtured and sustained in you. But what of when you leave here? Will you keep your faith to yourself? Will church be just that thing that you do on Sunday for an hour or so? Will you bring this faith home; to your family-to your kids, to your spouse, to your neighbor?
The Light has come into the world but people loved darkness. So do we love this light that exposes us for the sinners that we are? Do we love this light that confronts us with the reality that by ourselves we are simply wandering around in the dark. Or do we love this dark world that says to us “You keep that light to yourself?” Do we fear rejection and possible embarrassment from this world of darkness more than we love the Light of God?
But those things that we fear-those things that we cling to that keep us in the darkness really just scrape the surface. The things that we fear in this world; whether it be the loss of our financial stability through an economic crisis or simply the fear of rejection and embarrassment from our friends and neighbors or whatever worldly matters we allow to have rule over our lives; it all just amounts to nothing in light of the real crisis that is at hand in our wandering around in the dark.
For the real crisis is in the fact that what is ultimately at stake is God’s judgment. Our love of the darkness leads us away from God and into unbelief and idolatry. And it’s even worse because it’s not just us doing this to ourselves. Paul writes of this state of walking in darkness in the lesson from Ephesians, and he gets right down to the real terror of what it means to walk in darkness.
Paul refers to this state of walking in darkness as a state of following the course of this world and following the ruler of the power of the air-the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. So it is not just our own inherent disobedience that leads to us wandering around in the dark, but it is the temptation that the devil and this sinful world throw our way. Our hearts are ruled by the passions of our flesh and the empty promises and threats of Satan.
And we are powerless to this. We know that we are powerless to this because in this passage from Ephesians our Lord tells us that left on our own, walking in darkness, bound to the passions of our flesh, we are dead through our trespasses and sins. The wages of sin is death, Paul tells us in Romans, and that is the state that this darkness that we love leaves us in.
And so as we cling to this darkness that we love too much we are already dead, we are destined for wrath and condemnation. Dead through our trespasses and sins, we are as good as declared guilty at the judgment to come. It seems there is no hope for us, for we are dead. Dead people cannot save themselves. It’s going to take someone to intervene on our behalf. It’s going to take someone pulling us out of our darkness of sin and despair. Radical intervention is what it takes to bring dead sinners back to life.
But we have a God who is willing to intervene on our behalf. He has shown this throughout history. He intervened on behalf of the Israelites when they were in their own darkness. But just as today, the light had to enter into the darkness of their sin and despair. The Israelites were wandering around in the darkness of their own grumbling and despair, wanting to actually return back to their bondage and slavery in Egypt. And then God sent to the Israelites a light of judgment in the form of poisonous serpents and their sin and bondage was exposed to them, as many of them were bitten by the serpents and died.
And in repentance they appeal to Moses to pray to God to take away the serpents. And God tells Moses to take a poisonous serpent and put it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at the serpent and live. And so Moses does as he is told and sure enough when someone looked upon the serpent upon the pole they were healed. The very thing that was killing them was now healing them.
And so the very Light of Christ that comes to us, revealing our sins to us and exposing us as the dead sinners that we are, now comes to you making you alive together with Christ. For when you look up at the cross and see Christ Jesus, laying down His life for you, you are seeing the wages of your sin; the very thing that was killing you, being paid for.
When you see His holy and precious blood dripping from His hands and feet you are seeing God’s great and glorious mercy being extended out to you, out of the love with which your Lord loves you. When you look to Christ Jesus on the cross you see your Lord coming to you when you were dead in your trespasses and making you alive together with Christ Jesus.
And so today He continues to come to you in Word and sacrament; through the proclamation of the Good news, through the confession and absolution, through the eating and the drinking of the body and blood of your Lord Christ Jesus in the bread and the wine of Holy Communion and in the waters of baptism-in all of this the Light of Christ continues to come in the darkness of the passions of our flesh, as we follow the desires of our flesh and senses- the Light comes exposing our sins to us-exposing that we fear the wrath of embarrassment and rejection from our neighbor and the world, more than we fear the wrath of our Creator.
And He calls you to look upon Christ Jesus in repentance and believe upon Him and what He has done for you and is doing for you. Through the Word being proclaimed to you in the words of my mouth Christ is assuring you of your forgiveness, that the blood He shed on the cross was for you and your justification and that His resurrection was for your salvation. He is daily raising you up with Him in the heavenly places.
And so, having been freed from the darkness of sin, death and the devil-the darkness of the passions of the flesh-through faith in Christ Jesus you no longer need to fear the wrath of God. You don’t even need to fear the wrath of embarrassment or rejection from your neighbor. You are no longer dead through your trespasses and sin, you are alive with Christ. You have been rescued from the darkness and placed in the light. So go forth from here walking in the Light, spilling forth with that Light to your neighbor and doing in faith and freedom the good works prepared beforehand for you-hearing in faith the call of your Lord as He keeps you in the Light of eternal life in the heavenly places with Him.
Amen
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our Lord Jesus comes to us today with a harsh Word. He comes to us with a judgment. In fact in verse 19 of the Gospel lesson, John writes “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.” John says that all who do evil, hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.
Well there is no doubting that the exposing of evil deeds can have devastating effects on the way we live our lives. Just look at the economy. In the midst of the current economic crisis we have seen the light creeping into the crevices and hidden areas of some of our largest financial institutions and it has revealed predatory lending, negligent oversight and outright embezzlement.
But this light that creeps into the darkness and exposes evil, sin, and wrong-doing does not shine only on wall-street billionaires. It shines on all of us. The judgment is that we all love the darkness, and that we hate the light and do not come to the light. But perhaps you think “Wait a minute. I don’t walk in the darkness. I am here in church.”
And granted you are here in church. You are receiving God’s Word. Your Lord is coming to you once again in the proclamation of His Good news. Your faith is being enriched, nurtured and sustained in you. But what of when you leave here? Will you keep your faith to yourself? Will church be just that thing that you do on Sunday for an hour or so? Will you bring this faith home; to your family-to your kids, to your spouse, to your neighbor?
The Light has come into the world but people loved darkness. So do we love this light that exposes us for the sinners that we are? Do we love this light that confronts us with the reality that by ourselves we are simply wandering around in the dark. Or do we love this dark world that says to us “You keep that light to yourself?” Do we fear rejection and possible embarrassment from this world of darkness more than we love the Light of God?
But those things that we fear-those things that we cling to that keep us in the darkness really just scrape the surface. The things that we fear in this world; whether it be the loss of our financial stability through an economic crisis or simply the fear of rejection and embarrassment from our friends and neighbors or whatever worldly matters we allow to have rule over our lives; it all just amounts to nothing in light of the real crisis that is at hand in our wandering around in the dark.
For the real crisis is in the fact that what is ultimately at stake is God’s judgment. Our love of the darkness leads us away from God and into unbelief and idolatry. And it’s even worse because it’s not just us doing this to ourselves. Paul writes of this state of walking in darkness in the lesson from Ephesians, and he gets right down to the real terror of what it means to walk in darkness.
Paul refers to this state of walking in darkness as a state of following the course of this world and following the ruler of the power of the air-the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. So it is not just our own inherent disobedience that leads to us wandering around in the dark, but it is the temptation that the devil and this sinful world throw our way. Our hearts are ruled by the passions of our flesh and the empty promises and threats of Satan.
And we are powerless to this. We know that we are powerless to this because in this passage from Ephesians our Lord tells us that left on our own, walking in darkness, bound to the passions of our flesh, we are dead through our trespasses and sins. The wages of sin is death, Paul tells us in Romans, and that is the state that this darkness that we love leaves us in.
And so as we cling to this darkness that we love too much we are already dead, we are destined for wrath and condemnation. Dead through our trespasses and sins, we are as good as declared guilty at the judgment to come. It seems there is no hope for us, for we are dead. Dead people cannot save themselves. It’s going to take someone to intervene on our behalf. It’s going to take someone pulling us out of our darkness of sin and despair. Radical intervention is what it takes to bring dead sinners back to life.
But we have a God who is willing to intervene on our behalf. He has shown this throughout history. He intervened on behalf of the Israelites when they were in their own darkness. But just as today, the light had to enter into the darkness of their sin and despair. The Israelites were wandering around in the darkness of their own grumbling and despair, wanting to actually return back to their bondage and slavery in Egypt. And then God sent to the Israelites a light of judgment in the form of poisonous serpents and their sin and bondage was exposed to them, as many of them were bitten by the serpents and died.
And in repentance they appeal to Moses to pray to God to take away the serpents. And God tells Moses to take a poisonous serpent and put it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at the serpent and live. And so Moses does as he is told and sure enough when someone looked upon the serpent upon the pole they were healed. The very thing that was killing them was now healing them.
And so the very Light of Christ that comes to us, revealing our sins to us and exposing us as the dead sinners that we are, now comes to you making you alive together with Christ. For when you look up at the cross and see Christ Jesus, laying down His life for you, you are seeing the wages of your sin; the very thing that was killing you, being paid for.
When you see His holy and precious blood dripping from His hands and feet you are seeing God’s great and glorious mercy being extended out to you, out of the love with which your Lord loves you. When you look to Christ Jesus on the cross you see your Lord coming to you when you were dead in your trespasses and making you alive together with Christ Jesus.
And so today He continues to come to you in Word and sacrament; through the proclamation of the Good news, through the confession and absolution, through the eating and the drinking of the body and blood of your Lord Christ Jesus in the bread and the wine of Holy Communion and in the waters of baptism-in all of this the Light of Christ continues to come in the darkness of the passions of our flesh, as we follow the desires of our flesh and senses- the Light comes exposing our sins to us-exposing that we fear the wrath of embarrassment and rejection from our neighbor and the world, more than we fear the wrath of our Creator.
And He calls you to look upon Christ Jesus in repentance and believe upon Him and what He has done for you and is doing for you. Through the Word being proclaimed to you in the words of my mouth Christ is assuring you of your forgiveness, that the blood He shed on the cross was for you and your justification and that His resurrection was for your salvation. He is daily raising you up with Him in the heavenly places.
And so, having been freed from the darkness of sin, death and the devil-the darkness of the passions of the flesh-through faith in Christ Jesus you no longer need to fear the wrath of God. You don’t even need to fear the wrath of embarrassment or rejection from your neighbor. You are no longer dead through your trespasses and sin, you are alive with Christ. You have been rescued from the darkness and placed in the light. So go forth from here walking in the Light, spilling forth with that Light to your neighbor and doing in faith and freedom the good works prepared beforehand for you-hearing in faith the call of your Lord as He keeps you in the Light of eternal life in the heavenly places with Him.
Amen
posted by Steve at 2:33 PM
1 Comments:
I liked the interplay between light and darkness and how outside of Christ, we live only in darkness. Good use of the OT lesson to illustrate what Paul and Jesus was saying (you know I love that!) I really liked the line on how the same thing that killed them, saved them and tied that into Christ's own death on the tree
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