Enduring The War: Living By The Spirit

This is Part 4 of the Lent Series titled, 

"The Christian's War: The Life of the Christian as Saint and Sinner."

Text: Galatians 5:16-26

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

As Christians, we must keep in mind that we are not perfectly and wholly renewed.  Now, please do not misunderstand me, our sin is indeed covered by Jesus (we are forgiven of all our sins), but this sin still lingers on in us, making us weak.  You see, our sin is real.  Our sin is no different than the sin of unbelievers. And so, we are never in the place where we can go around thinking that we are Christian superheroes who keep God’s law perfectly and fulfill it completely.[1] 

      

Contrary to what those televangelists say, we are not independently powerful, we do not have greatness within, and we certainly are not strong – the old Adam still clings to us down to the grave.    

And so, we Christians live our lives in great weakness.  We live our lives knowing that we still have this sinful nature that actively resists the Word of God and fights against the will of God.[2]  We live our lives in great weakness because the old Adam is defiant and hostile towards God. Therefore, it is impossible to live this Christian life without some “hindrance of the [old Adam].  Your [old Adam] will be an obstacle, the sort of obstacle that will prevent you from doing what you would.”[3]

So, if we Christians have this great weakness, how are we to endure?  How are we to live and walk?  In other words, we know that the old Adam with its sins should daily drown and die in repentance, as it says in the Small Catechism; however, is there anything else for us as Christians?  Yes, there is.  You see, on the one hand, we need to see the old Adam drown and die, but on the other hand, we are called to walk by the Spirit.  And in walking by the Spirit, we are told by the Apostle Paul that we will not gratify the desires of the old Adam.

Let us pause here a moment to clarify, though. 

As Christians, we are to be led not by ‘our’ spirit, implying that we are to look within ourselves, but rather, we are to look outside of ourselves to be led by ‘the’ Holy Spirit. 

It is like this, walking by the Holy Spirit should be understood as nothing more than you and I clinging to Jesus by faith.  And in this clinging to Jesus, as weak people, we are led by the Holy Spirit.  And when we are led by the Holy Spirit, we are living under the guiding influence of the Holy Spirit who works through the Word and Sacraments.    

A perfect picture of being led by the Holy Spirit is when “a child puts her hand into the hand of a beloved and trusted father.”[4]  A little girl knows that she is weak and unable to do much of anything, so she looks away from herself and her weaknesses, and places her hand into her father’s strong hand.  And there, with her father, she is gently led and protected.  The same is true for us as Christians, the Holy Spirit by a gentle and loving grasp “leads the baptized into a [Godly] orientation, He does not drive Christians to conformity to rules. . . . The [Holy] Spirit does not [harshly] demand obedience but rather produces fruit”[5] – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 

Another picture and illustration would be that of a beggar.  Yes, a beggar. 

During the last hours of Martin Luther’s life, he wrote a short meditation on a sheet of paper.  His brief reflection ended with the words, “This is true, we are all beggars.”  You see, Luther understood that if we consult our conscience, what we inevitably find is a life in conflict.  A life where the old Adam is in tension with the Holy Spirit who is at work in us.  In other words, Luther knew that within every single Christian the sinful nature remained, even though it is forgiven in Jesus.  Luther knew that every single Christian had sin and was capable of committing sin. He knew that the Christian could not freely do what he wanted to do, even though he tried with sweat and strain.[6]  Therefore, Luther said that we are beggars. 

Dear friends, we are indeed beggars who depend upon the Lord’s forgiveness – clinging to the Lord and needing to be led by the Holy Spirit.  That is to say; we are not o.k. on our own.  We need something more.  We need help. Something that is a part of us keeps sabotaging our best intentions. We do not have what it takes.  We can will it, but we can’t do it.  We can decide to do good, but we really do not do it perfectly.  We set out not to do bad things, but we then end up doing it anyway. We know God’s Law and delight in it; however, we cannot keep it perfectly. Something is indeed wrong – the old Adam is what has gone wrong, deep within us.  The old Adam covertly rebels and always tries to take the upper hand.[7]

And so, left to ourselves, nothing helps.  And that is why we must turn away from ourselves. Like a helpless beggar, we must understand that our hope and solution does not lie within, but is outside of ourselves in Jesus. 

So, we look away from our poverty of sin.  We look away from our old Adam.  We chalk it up as dead.  We confess it all as sin. We beat our chest saying,

“I am a sinner, and I am aware of my sin; for I have not yet put off my flesh, to which sin will cling as long as it lives. But I will [follow] the [Holy] Spirit rather than the [old Adam]. That is, by faith and hope I will take hold of Christ.  I will [brace] myself with His Word, and . . . I will refuse to gratify the desire of the [pathetic old Adam].”[8] 

Yes, as beggars, with hands and ears wide open, we receive the proclaimed Word of God, knowing that the Holy Spirit is at work in the Word to strengthen our faith and lead us through this vale of tears, called life.

Baptized Saints, it must be stated that being led by the Holy Spirit as a beggar is contrary to the popular religious opinions of our day and age.  Our culture and many well-intentioned (but severely misinformed) pastors tell us to look within ourselves for some untapped spiritual potential within.  They encourage the laity to look within themselves for the so-called diamond in the rough.  And so, Christians turn inward and rummage through the layers upon layers of sin, looking for potential and talent hidden within.  And then without even knowing it, these poor Christians stumble upon the sinful old Adam dressed up in potential.  And then being deceived, these Christians begin to prop up the old Adam – sowing to the sinful flesh – while taking their eyes off of Jesus.    

Lord have mercy on them; Lord have mercy on us. 

Dear friends, our theology, which is the theology of the Bible, “snatches us away from ourselves and places us outside ourselves, so that we do not depend on our own strength, conscience, experience, . . . or works but depend on that which is outside ourselves, that is, on the promise and truth of God, which cannot deceive.”[9]

Indeed, our sin only yields more sin – sin upon sin.  But the one outside of us, Jesus Christ is the fountainhead of grace, life, and truth – grace upon grace for sinners like me and like you.  And all of this is constantly given to us by the Holy Spirit through the Word and Sacraments! 

Living by the guidance of the Holy Spirit is hard, yet at the same time easy.  “It is hard because we take such great pride in our own achievements and self-sufficiency. We do not like to ask God, or anyone, for anything.”[10]  Besides, the old Adam likes the attention. As sinners, we like to be in the driver’s seat.  “Yet it is also easy because our spirituality does not depend on our performance but on our receiving from God.”[11]

And so, dear Baptized Saints, we live by the Holy Spirit not to become increasingly self-sufficient, but we follow the Spirit as beggars before God the Father in Heaven.  Indeed, we are beggars because everything about us depends solely on Christ, not ourselves. We live by the Holy Spirit because where the Spirit is present, He renews, ignites faith, and gives God-pleasing virtues to us.[12]  We live by the Holy Spirit because this new man is nothing without the Holy Spirit.  We walk by the Holy Spirit for the Spirit has “called [us] by the Gospel, enlightened [us] with His gifts, sanctified and kept [us] in the true faith.”[13]   

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

---

[1] Formula of Concord, Epitome, II:5.

[2] Ibid, II:59.

[3] Martin Luther, Lectures on Galatians – 1535: Volume 2  (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1964), 72.

[4] The Lutheran Study Bible (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2009), 2011.

[5] Jonathan Grothe, The Justification of the Ungodly: An Interpretation of Romans: Second Edition (St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada: 2012), 347.

[6] Martin Luther, Lectures on Galatians – 1535, 75.

[7] Paraphrase of Romans 7.

[8] Martin Luther, Lectures on Galatians – 1535 73.

[9] Martin Luther, Lectures on Galatians – 1535: Volume 1 (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1963), 387.

[10] John W. Kleinig, Grace Upon Grace: Spirituality for Today (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2008), 29.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, II:71.

[13] Martin Luther, The Small Catechism: The Apostles’ Creed.  

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Bondage Vs. Freedom

Text: Galatians 4:21-31

In the name of Jesus: Amen.

Baptized Saints, you are not in bondage – you are not in slavery. But instead, you are children of the free woman, not children of the slave woman.

The Apostle Paul, in our Epistle Reading from Galatians, takes an event from the Old Testament and uses it to show two ways that we human beings can function before God. That is to say; Paul talks about a lady named Hagar and another lady named Sarah. They are ‘very’ different and represent two very different paths and ways of thinking.

Long story short, Hagar was a slave, whereas, Sarah was the true lady of the house. God told Sarah that she would conceive and give birth to a child that would eventually bring about the promised Messiah. However, Sarah found herself to be barren – her biological clock had stopped ticking. So, Sarah looked to her slave, Hagar, to have the child instead with her husband. Simply stated, instead of trusting God to be faithful to His promise, Sarah took things into her own hands and Hagar the slave get pregnant with her husband instead. Sarah was trying to make God’s promise come about by her force and plan. Yes, getting her slave pregnant was Sarah’s solution and idea – it was a manmade solution to a divine promise.

So, what eventually happened, in the end, was that Hagar had a son. But then, some years later, Sarah had a son in her advanced old age as well. The birth of Sarah’s child, though, was a miracle. Sarah’s birth was God being faithful to His original promise in spite of her seeming to be barren.  And so, God was faithful to Sarah, whereas the way of Hagar was all about mankind acting without faith. 

So, what we have before us are two women and two different ways of trying to fulfill God’s promise. Hagar represents a man-centered method of making the promise of God come about, whereas Sarah represents the God’s faithfulness, in spite of barrenness and old age. In other words, the slave, Hagar, represents a life characterized by manmade solutions and the actions of mankind, whereas, the free woman, Sarah, represents a life that is characterized by God’s faithfulness to His promises in spite of impossible circumstances.

So a person going the way of trying to earn God’s approval can be considered a child of the slave Hagar – a person in slavery. However, a person that lives by faith, knowing that they cannot make anything right before God but depend upon the Lord’s grace is considered a child of Sarah – a free person. Two completely different women, with two different outcomes.  One outcome depending on mankind’s work and the other depending on God’s faithfulness.

Now, these two different ways of thinking and living are everywhere in the Bible. We see these two different ways with Cain and Abel, the Judaizers and Paul, and the Pharisees and Jesus. In fact, throughout the history of the church, we have seen this division as well. Some 1700 years ago, we saw this division between Pelagius and St. Augustine, and then 500 years ago we saw this same division between the Catholic Erasmus and Martin Luther. The list can go on and on. There are hundreds of examples of this division. Even today, we can look at churches and denominations to see that they either break the way of Hagar or break the way of Sarah. Indeed, there is nothing new under the sun.

And so today, we hear from our reading in Galatians that we are not children of the slave woman Hagar, but children of the free woman Sarah. Indeed, as blood-bought-baptized-Christians, we are not slaves, but free. We are children of the promise. We live by grace through faith, not by pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps. Jesus has done it all for us at Mt. Calvary, and the Holy Spirit has called us by the Gospel, enlightened us with His gifts, sanctified and kept us in the one true faith. All of this gift! All of it by the Lord’s promise and the Lord’s work for us. We cannot add anything to this but are simple recipients of grace upon grace.  We are children of Sarah – children of God’s promises.  We live by faith, not by trusting in our own actions.

So, because we are children of Sarah and not Hagar, this means two things.

First, we can rejoice! We can laugh with good cheer and joy. We can rejoice in God and have a smile of confidence knowing that the Lord rules and leads us.  He is in control of everything, no matter the circumstance. We rejoice because we know that our sins are forgiven in Christ. We delight in our identity as baptized saints, knowing that He has accomplished everything for us and gives it to us as a sheer gift.  Forgiveness, life, and salvation – all ours because of Jesus.   

And secondly, we must cast Hagar aside. Yes, we must drive out the teachings and ideas of Hagar from the church. This might sound cruel, but the reality is that a religion of bondage and slavery cannot coexist with the Gospel. They are like oil and water. We cannot be saved by our works and the works of Jesus. There is only room for one person on the cross. We are not baptized into our name and the Lord’s name. There is only one name into which we are baptized – the name of our Triune God. Communion is not some potluck between the Lord and mankind, where we both bring something to the table to share with each other, but instead, communion is the ‘Lord’s’ Supper for us.  There is only one host, not two.   

Dear friends, the way of Hagar injects mankind into the equation. The way of Hagar kicks the promises of God to the curb, and acts not from faith but from sin. The way of Hagar depends on mankind’s abilities and solutions; however, the way of Sarah depends on the Lord and the Lord alone. What this means is that there is no middle ground. There is no compromise. The way of Hagar and the way of Sarah cannot coexist in the church. One must go.

But here is the catch. The way of Hagar does not want to leave the church. It is like this, as soon as salvation by grace through faith alone is proclaimed, people will divide into two camps. Some will rejoice in being free and will become children of Sarah. However, others will hear and be offended and join Hagar, Cain, the Pharisees, and the Judaizers. Yes, these children of Hagar will hate the freedom of the Gospel and will defend the shackles of their self-righteousness and their man-centered prisons of spirituality. This will result in them persecuting the children of Sarah; this will result in you being attacked.

Dear Baptized Saints, this should not surprise you and me. Cain persecuted Abel. The same was true for Ismael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob, Saul and David, Herod and John the Baptized, the Pharisees and Jesus, and so forth. This is the pattern throughout the Bible and throughout history. This is how it is. Those in bondage to their self-righteousness see the freeing Gospel as a threat. Being deceived themselves, those in bondage have taken pride in their orange striped prison uniforms and would rather stay in control in their 6x8 foot cell, than be buried and raised in Christ.

And so, this means that Pastors need to fight against the spirit of Hagar when it encroaches on the church. Pastors must protect the sheep from the spirit of Hagar when it invades the flock. And parishioners must also fight against the false doctrines of Hagar as well. The reason why? We are not slaves! We are not in bondage! We are children of God! We are free in the Gospel! Because of who we are in Christ and because Jesus has done everything for us, we cannot return to slavery! We cannot return to the ways of Hagar; we cannot return to depending on ourselves and our own works! The way of Hagar is the way of death! It is a way of self-dependence and the way of fear and doubt! It is the way of apostasy!

And so, dear Baptized Saints, know this day that you are free. You are children of Sarah. You are free from the condemnation of sin, you are free from the wrath of God, you are free from the sting of ultimate death, and you are free from the pressure to self-justify yourself. You are free, lord of all, subject to none. You are freed to be a servant of all and subject to all.[1] Free to labor and love your neighbor, without fear and without self-service. You are free to do good deeds not to become a Christians, but because you already are a Christian – a child of the free woman.

Rejoice in this! Be glad that you are a Christian. And at the same time, drive out the spirit of Hagar. Fight against this toxic false doctrine and lies that seek to drag you back to bondage and slavery. Know that God has judged the spirit of Hagar and that it will be punished someday.

You are not children of the slave but of the free woman.  Rejoice and remain steadfast in this freedom.   

In the name of Jesus: Amen.

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[1] Paraphrase of Martin Luther’s main thesis of, “On the Freedom of the Christian.”

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Responding To Christians Caught In Sin

Text: Galatians 5:25-6:10

In the name of Jesus: Amen.

What is the church’s stance and attitude towards sin?

To be a little more specific, what is your stance towards sin in the life of another Christian?

Should you chase down every single sinning Christian you can find and drop the hammer on them? You know, let them have it, by blasting them with the Ten Commandments and then, as they say, drop your mic and walk away knowing that you have called them out?

On the other hand, perhaps you should turn a blind eye to sinning Christians while pretending the sin does not exist? You know, simply sweep them under the rug with their sin.

Or, maybe you could excuse sin away, by making the person a victim and then blame some oppressive system as the cause of the individual’s sin? In the meantime, leaving the individual in a poor victim status – wallowing in their sin? 

There is a fourth option, though; you could always go to them to help. Yes, instead of staying at a distance, you could go to the sinning person one-on-one to restore them. 

And what about the church’s attitude toward people who are sinning? That is to say; what should your attitude be toward a fellow Christian brother or sister who is caught red-handed in their sin?

Should you laugh and clap your hands with delight because they have been exposed of their sin?

On the other hand, perhaps you could maniacally indulge in the drama that their sin has produced, knowing that you now have something to gossip?

Should you coldly document their sin to accuse, bite, and attack them at some future point?  

Or, maybe could you drop your head and weep for them, saying, “Lord, have mercy on all of us”?

In today’s epistle reading from Galatians, we Christians are admonished by the Apostle Paul to do the latter. Indeed, we are called to ‘go to’ Christian friends and family members when they are caught in sin, and as we go, we are to ‘go’ with ‘gentleness’ and ‘compassion.’ Yes, we are to be gentle and compassionate; we are to have sympathy upon sinners, for we ourselves are sinners too.

But you may be thinking to yourself that this all sounds a little too mushy. It sounds like we might be trying to let people off the hook. And it sounds awfully like that empty ‘love-wins-slogan’ that rolls smoothly off the tongues of celebrities and entertainers these days.

We must keep in mind that the Apostle Paul is not talking about individuals who sin on purpose and work against God’s Word. Paul is not talking about hardened wicked people who have spit in the face of the church, rejected God’s Law, and cursed the name of Christ. You see, as we know from Jesus in Matthew chapter 18, a person who sins is to be confronted with his sin in a loving private conversation. If he repents, he is won over! However, if he fails to acknowledge his sin, well, he needs to be talked to again in private with a witness – a third party person. And if there is still no success with a witness, his sin is to be told to the church publicly. And if he continues in his hardness after the church has been told, he is to be treated with firmness and regarded as a pagan or tax collector. In other words, when people have hardened their heart and have refused to repent of their sins, the attitude of meekness no longer applies. A hardened heart does not need kid gloves, but the hammer and thunder of Mt. Sinai. Pearls are not thrown to swine.

But this is not who Paul is talking about in our epistle reading from Galatians. Paul is talking about another Christian who has sinned not out of an antagonistic hard heart but sinned because of their weakness. Paul is talking about Christians who have fallen into sin due to their weakness or lack of caution. They are caught and ensnared and maybe even trapped in sin without even knowing it. Yes, these weak Christian are not to be treated with harshness, but with gentleness and compassion. We neither slap the pagan label upon them nor treat them like an outsider, but assume that they have been overpowered or ensnared in temptation. 

You see, the world is slippery. The devil is also sly. And we Christians can fall quickly into sin. For this reason, Paul calls you to have sympathy for other Christians. Indeed, a godly Christian has sympathy with sinners and does not delight in digging through their sins. A godly Christian does not press their ear close to the grapevine to gather dirt on someone else to knock them down with condemnation. Christians do not collect sin as a way to enact vengeance upon other Christians, but rather, they go to them to help redeem them from their sin.

You see, if you find joy in hearing about the sins of your fellow Christian brothers and sisters and then you exaggerate their faults, vilify them, and pass the judgment of hell upon them, you are doing the work of Satan. Tragically, more often than not, when we hear the sins of other Christians, we place ourselves right alongside them by not restoring them with gentleness and compassion.

Dear friends, when our brothers and sisters in the Christian faith fall into sin, we must watch ourselves so that we might not be tempted to sin ourselves. Indeed, it is so easy to hear about sin one moment and in the next to be breaking the Eighth Commandment by assassinating another person’s character.

Lord, have mercy on all of us! Yes, Lord have mercy on you and on me. 

Dear friends, when our brothers and sisters sin, we must first of all cry ourselves, because we have either fallen into the same sin before or can fall in ways that are similar. Indeed, we must always remember what we are sinners. We are always beggars before God. Now, after remembering that we are sinners, we go, by God’s grace, to our sinning brother or sister and point out their sin. We do this so that there might be confession of sin and forgiveness of sins applied in the name of Jesus to our loved one.

Indeed, we go to restore them gently. Restoring them is calling them back, and loving them as a fellow-member of the church. Restoring them is helping them to face reality and not allowing them quietly to slip away from us, or from the truth. You see, if we do not restore our brothers and sisters from sin, that sin will ultimately prove deadly to them and often it can damage the whole congregation as well.

All of this is the nature of the church and what it looks like to be guided by the Holy Spirit. That is to say; we do not excuse sin, we do not diminish sin, and we do not celebrate sin, for that is about the most uncompassionate, rude, and hateful thing a Christian could do to another Christian. How could we leave a fellow Christian abandoned in the ditch of their sin? How could we leave a fellow Christian ensnared in sin? Furthermore, we do not use another Christian’s sin to torpedo their reputation behind their back while chuckling in our self-righteousness.  But rather, we Christians go to the person with the hopes of redemption, restoration, healing, and forgiveness in Christ. We go in the spirit of humility to restore them and possibly bear their burdens with them.  

If you think about it, this is exactly what Christ Jesus has done for you and me. This is love: Christ Jesus did not leave us caught in our sins. He did not excuse our sins, He did not diminish our sins, and He did not celebrate our sins, for if He had, He would not have gone to the cross. And if He had not gone to the cross, we would be left in our sins. And left to our sins we would be left in damnation. But because of His great love for us and His rich mercy, Jesus could not leave us in the ditch of our sins but was compelled to the cross – in love – to do something about it.  

Dear Baptized Saints, while we were yet sinners, Christ Jesus came for us and died for us. He could not leave us in the condemnation of our sins. And so, you and I being led by the Holy Spirit through the Word and Sacraments are given holy impulses to walk in this same fashion. That is right; we beat our chest, confess our sin, lament at the sins of those around us, and by sheer grace go to those caught in sin for their restoration – restoration that we all need! Yes, restoration that is freely given to you, to me, and to all.

    

In the name of Jesus: Amen. 

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Why Was Jesus Born? (Part 2)

Text: Galatians 4:1-7

In the name of Jesus: Amen.

Why was Jesus born?  Yes, why was Jesus born?

This is a simple question that we asked last Wednesday night and from this question we learned that Jesus was born to serve you and me.  In other words, we learned that Jesus was not born to ‘be served’ but rather ‘to serve.’ 

Tonight, though, we ask this question once again.  And like last week, we acknowledge that this simple question can be a bit difficult to answer at times.  For example, people will try to personally answer this question for themselves and end up with all sorts of answers.  One of the answers that may come to our mind is that Jesus was born to stand with the poor, work for justice and stand up against the powerful.  That He was born to teach us about radical love and be an example of how we should live our lives.  Now, considering this, we do need to admit that Jesus did do these things.  He did heal the sick, He did stand with the downtrodden, and He did fight against the Pharisees. But does this capture the whole reason why He was born?  Was He born to simply show us how to live our lives? 

Dear friends, while Jesus did righteous things, He did not primarily do these righteous things to show us how to live, but rather, He was born to do these righteous things for you.  That is to say; He was born to not only die for you but also to live for you! 

It may be easy to miss the point that I am making here, so let us consider the significance of this. According to our Epistle reading from this evening, we read that Jesus was born ‘under’ the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as children.  That is to say; Jesus came not to be some teacher of the Law, and He was not born to merely do some good things as a way of being some good moral example, but rather, He was born so that He could be obedient to the Law.  He was born so that His obedience to the Law might redeem you and me.  It is like this, Jesus was born to live for you by being a servant of the Law, the Law that you and I cannot keep and cannot fulfill.

God’s Law demands perfection.  Indeed, it demands perfection and holiness. It demands impeccable love towards God and flawless love towards our neighbors.  Furthermore, God’s Law never quits with its demands.  It thunders with its orders and threats, constantly coming against our thoughts, words, and deeds.  And when we are honest with ourselves, we must acknowledge that we do not do the good that the Law demands and we do the very evil that the Law says we should not do.  To the point, we do not follow God’s Law to perfection.  And this is why we need Jesus to forgive us of our sins by dying for us, AND it is the reason why we need Jesus to live perfectly under the Law in our place. 

For many years, I knew that Jesus had died for my sins and that by faith I would be saved.  However, what I did not realize was that Jesus also lived for me.  In other words, I understood for many years that Jesus forgave me of my sins, wiping my slate clean, but then I incorrectly believed that it was up to me to fill that slate with a bunch of good moral works.  Jesus got rid of my negative sin, but then it was up to me to acquire and earn positive righteousness.  My problem was not that I didn’t understand that Jesus died for me, but rather, I did not understand that Jesus lived for me as well.  Maybe tonight you find yourself confused over this as well. 

If this is the case, hear this evening that Jesus was born to die the death that you cannot die ‘and’ He was born to live that perfect life that you cannot live.  Jesus avoided the sin that you cannot avoid, and He did the good that you fail to do.  This means that Jesus was born to not only remove the guilt of your sins but also to give you His complete righteousness and goodness as a gift! 

You see, Jesus is our substitute not only in His death but in His life too. He did everything that we cannot do: He lived in perfect obedience to God and His Law.  He didn’t sin.  He maintained a perfectly righteous life under the Law and then He went to Golgotha. And there at the cross, something incredible happened. There was an exchange. All of our sins and filthiness were transferred to Jesus and Jesus’ perfect life under the Law – His righteousness – was credited to us. It was a great exchange: sin for righteousness. 

So what does this mean?  While it is true that Jesus came and did a lot of righteous things – healing the sick, comforting the afflicted, helping the poor – many of these things are not exclusive to Jesus, for many of the prophets of the Old Testament did the same things as well.  But unlike the prophets and us, Jesus did these righteous and good things to perfection to conquer the Law for you and me.

Dear friends, the Law always accuses you and me, it demands complete perfection.  It demands perfect thoughts, perfects words, and perfect deeds.  And because we are not perfect, the Law will always condemn us and threaten us and accuse us. However, this is not true for you and me when we are in Christ. 

By living perfectly under the Law for you and dying under the Law for you, Jesus has conquered and strangled the Law.  That means that you do not have to do good things to earn a right relationship with God, for Jesus is your righteousness.  It means that when you fail, that you do not have to work to acquire God’s approval by your own works, for Christ is your righteousness.  It means that when the Law crushes you for your sins, which is good, that you can run to Jesus to hear that He was crushed in your place and lived perfectly for you… and that ‘in Him’ you are not put to shame but considered righteous. 

Because Jesus Christ was born to not only die for you but to live for you, you do not have to acquire a bunch of good works to earn salvation somehow, because God is already well pleased with you on account of Jesus’ life. 

In Jesus, your chains are gone. 

In Jesus, your burden is gone. 

In Jesus you know that the very perfect, holy and righteous law that condemns you is the very law that Jesus was born under; so that by His righteousness He might fulfill it on your behalf. 

Jesus’ life completely met up to the standard of God’s holy and perfect will, which means that you meet up to the holy and perfect will of God, for you are in Christ – the one who was born to live for you.

In the name of Jesus: Amen.

Note: The final cause of the obedience of the Law by the righteous is not righteousness in the sight of God, which is received by faith alone, but the peace of the world, gratitude toward God, and a good example by which others are invited to believe the Gospel. –Martin Luther 

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What is the Christian Life Really Like: Luxury or Struggle?

Text: Galatians 5:16-24 

In the name of Jesus: Amen.

It is easy for us to take the bait.  When we turn on the radio, flip the television channel, or go online, we can hear preachers or authors telling us that if only we would turn our life over to God, life will be easy.  Their claims make it sound like becoming a Christian cures all our troubles.  They make the Christian life sound like a sure ticket to easy street.  They say, “When you become a Christian your life becomes magical and wonderful and stress-free and better. Becoming a Christian will turn your can’ts into cans.  As a Christian your life will be in a bed of roses.” 

It is easy to believe this for a while; however, sooner or later things break down.  In other words, the longer we are Christians, the more we realize that our lives are not a life of ease that we once thought or were promised. Beneath these preachers’ fake delightful smiles and underneath the pious sounding clichés about comfort, extravagance, and leisure, a different reality emerges – a reality that is much unlike the life of ease that was promised from the preacher-man on television or from that book promoted on the Oprah network. 

And what is that reality?  That reality is this: the good that we want to do and the good that we talk about, well… we don’t always do it.  And that very evil that we don’t want to do, well… we end up doing that; we find that our hearts betray us and we secretly want to do evil, when we know we should be doing good.  So, instead of finding ourselves as Christians, who are living a life that is a lap of luxury and comfort, well it is quite the reverse, we are living a life that is conflicted. 

On the one hand we rightly act and talk about our affection for others and our exuberance about life. Thankfully we develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, and being able to direct our energies wisely.  However, on the other hand and at the same time, we try to get our own way all the time, which results in dreams of loveless cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; a desire for trinket gods and magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; and uncontrollable addictions, to name a few.[1] We find ourselves doing that which is good and that which is bad, at the same time.

And so, the life of the Christian is not one of ease like so many preachers and popular so-called Christian books say, but rather, the life of the Christian is the exact opposite – it is a life in conflict.  

Dear friends, what the Apostle Paul describes in our Epistle Reading, from this morning, is that there is a conflict and struggle between the flesh and the Spirit.  We can also call this the conflict between the old Adam and the new man.  In other words, the Christian life is not experienced as luxury, comfort, or paradise, but a daily battle between your old Adam and your new man in Christ. You see, you have a dual identity.  You are fully saved and righteous and forgiven in Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death (this is what we call our new man) and at the same time you are still the same old sinner that you have always been (this is what we call our old Adam).  This means that the Christian’s life is a daily battle and conflict between the old Adam and the new man. 

During World War II there was a famous battle called the Battle of the Bulge.  It lasted some six weeks.  The Allies would push forward a few miles and hold their position for several days.  Then in a new series of events, the Germans would then counter attack and push back and reclaim any lost ground and maybe even gain a little bit.  This went back and forth in this battle.  Now, this Battle of the Bulge is an excellent picture of the Christian life.  The Christian experiences this war between the old Adam and the new man.  They are at constant war, back and forth, with constant tension.  But unlike the six week Battle of the Bulge, this internal war of the Christian begins at Baptism ‘continues’ for a whole life.  This battle for the Christian only ends at death. 

There are some Christians though that do not appreciate or agree that the Christian life is a lifelong battle.  They reject this idea of the Christian battle and would rather believe that the Christian life is all milk and honey.  You and I may be tempted to do this as well, for it is easy to get tired of the ongoing battle.  And so, there is a temptation to do one of two things. 

First, as we heard in the introduction portion of today’s sermon, we can downplay the sinful nature – the old Adam.  Either we don’t talk about our sinful nature or we pretend that it isn’t as big of a problem that it is.  If someone does talk about it, well… they are too negative or too pessimistic.  So, the plan is quite simple, if we can downplay the sinful nature, we can then supposedly remove the old Adam from the equation and eliminate the battle within.  So we say to ourselves and others, “The more you talk about negative things in your life, the more you call them in. We are going to speak victory not defeat. I’m going to start believing today that things are going to change for the better. The best days are still out in front of me.”[2]  I am o.k.  I am good.  I am at peace with myself.  No struggle with me!

The second way to try and eliminate the civil war within is to make the enemy our friend.  In other words, if the old Adam is our friend, then there will be no war within the Christian life and we can supposedly live in peace.  What happens is that we can take any sin that we are currently struggling with and then change it from the category of sin to the category of holiness.  That is to say, that which is clearly evil according to the BIble, we call good.  Therefore, if sin is moved from the category of the enemy and considered a friend, then the Christian supposedly no longer has this internal struggle, the ongoing tribulation will cease and the good life can be lived.

Beware of this!  Not only are these two temptations completely unbiblical, but they are straight from the devil himself.  You see, if we eliminate the sinful nature – the old Adam – and eradicate the war within, we have not accomplished anything except our own demise and fulfilled the plans of the devil. 

Dear friends, the devil wants to give you fake comfort – he never wants you to be shown your sin.  The reason why, if you never see your sin, then you will find righteousness and comfort in yourself. If you never experience this war with your old Adam, you will never have a need for Jesus. On the other hand, Jesus wants you to be continually shown your sin, so that you may find righteousness in Him.[3]

The reality is that this Christian life will ‘always’ have this struggle.  In secular wars, there are times for rest, such as when it is winter but here in this Christian life we will battle daily. 

This ongoing battle though is not a reason for concern. The reason being, understanding the war within is not only a mark of a Christian, but it is evidence that the Holy Spirit is at work within you.  Indeed, Christians are not those who stop sinning and live a cushy life, but Christians are those who recognize their sin, begin to despise it, and seek the grace of Jesus Christ for forgiveness and strength. 

What does this mean?  As long as the war within continues, you can be assured that the Holy Spirit is present and actively warring against your old Adam.  The time to worry is when the struggle against sin ceases, when you no longer care whether you are sinning or not.

So today, you and I can confess that we are struggling Christian – struggling Christians who belong to Jesus. 

Confessing that you and I are struggling Christians though shall not bring us to despair, for the Lord does not forsake us in this battle.  Oh no, we are not abandoned, but the Lord continually comes to us.  The Lord continually comes to you in His Word and Sacraments to daily slay your old Adam and forgive you of all your sins. 

Truly, you are daily and richly forgiven all of your sins as the old Adam is continually crucified – daily drowned in repentance and then the new man emerges in faith. 

Furthermore, while you battle with the old Adam, you await the time when your old Adam will finally be put to death and buried.  You await for the promise of the day when you will arise out of the grave with a new body that is complete and perfect, with no sin.  Yes, you and I wait for a new body that is holy and a new life in eternity, where we will be completely freed from sin, death, and evil. 

Dear Baptized Saints, you are buried deeply in the wounds of Christ.  There is no doubt about that you and I struggle in this life, but we do so in hope, knowing that despite the ongoing war with our sinful nature – the old Adam - that Christ’s grace is sufficient for you and for me and is ours forever.  

In the name of Jesus: Amen.

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[1] This section is an adaptation of Eugene Peterson’s “The Message” on Galtians 5:19-21.

[2] Two Facebook quotes from Joel Osteen Ministries Facebook Page.

[3] An adapted Facebook quote from Mark Harrison.

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