"Life in Body and Soul"
Fourth Sunday in Lent
March 22, 2009
John 3:14-21
You think we got problems in our country with our economic situation?
Just be glad you weren’t wandering out in the wilderness for forty
years. Think things are taking a downturn? Imagine if poisonous snakes
came into your house and began biting you and you died.
We have problems. And what do we do when we have problems? We
complain. We murmur against God. We ask Him why things are going
south. Or we question His providence or His care of us.
That’s what the Israelites did. And that was four thousand years ago.
Not much has changed.
But you know what else hasn’t changed? This: God loves the world. God
loved the world in this way: He sent His only Son to die for everyone.
He sent His only Son so that we may have everything we have.
Everything we have is from Him. The wealthy person may come to the
point where they have so much that they think they don’t need God. The
poor person who has almost nothing may come to the point where simply
getting food is more important to them than God.
Either way, God is not first. In both cases God is supplanted by the
things of this world.
God loved the world in this way, He gave His Son. Why did He give His
Son? To give us life. Life in body and soul.
So often when life brings us through rough patches in body we lose
sight of the blessings to the soul. So many times when we don’t have
what we think we need, or even want, for this life we place the things
we need for eternity to the side.
And we complain. We question. We search for answers outside of the
Word of God and in the work of salvation in God’s only-begotten Son.
We too often place our trust in the things of this world. Money. A
stable job. Peace of mind. Health. These things aren’t bad. They’re
good—they’re blessings from God. But we too often seek them in place
of God.
God is our source of life in body and soul. We know that because He
has given us His Son. He loved the world in this way, He gave us His
very own Son so that we may have life now and forever.
This is why we pray as we do. This is what we prayed moments ago in
the Collect: “Almighty God, our heavenly Father, Your mercies are new
every morning; and though we deserve only punishment, You receive us
as Your children and provide for all our needs of body and soul.”
So we prayed that. But how do we live it out? Do we wake up each new
day rejoicing that our Heavenly Father’s mercies are new every
morning? Or do we grudgingly go into the new day not looking forward
to having to work hard, or deal with people that make it hard to be
loving to them? Or do we think about all those things we don’t have?
Or think about those things we wish were different?
The truth is, we think we deserve a life free from hardship. At least,
we think this when we’re going through trials. It doesn’t occur to us
in those times that our problems in life are due to sin. We don’t
automatically acknowledge that we don’t deserve anything from God.
That we in fact deserve only punishment. The last thing we probably
think to acknowledge and rejoice in is that instead of punishment our
Heavenly Father receives us as His children and provides for all our
needs of body and soul.
We need help. That’s why God sent His Son. We need help not just in
body but in soul. We need help to pray. The Collect helps us out here
by concluding this way: “Grant that we may heartily acknowledge Your
merciful goodness, give thanks for all Your benefits, and serve You in
willing obedience.”
Just because it doesn’t seem like you need God, doesn’t mean you don’t
need Him. If you work hard and have gained much in this life because
of it you can easily lose sight of where your blessings come from.
Without God you have nothing, in body and soul. Just because you do a
lot to provide for yourself doesn’t mean God is out of the picture. He
is your Maker and Redeemer, without Him you have nothing.
If you don’t have much in this life you might conclude that God
doesn’t provide for you, or at least not much. But rejoice that
without much material goods in this life is abundant opportunity to
rely on Him for all you need in body and soul.
He has given you life in body and soul. How do you know? He has given
you His Son.
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of
Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.
The bronze snake had the form and appearance of the poisonous snakes,
just as Jesus was revealed in the form of our sinful flesh. Just as
the bronze snake had no poison, so Jesus was without sin. Just as
whoever looked at the bronze snake remained alive, so also every
sinner that has been poisoned by sin who looks up to Jesus, the one
lifted up on the cross, will not perish but have eternal life.
The Israelites were saved in body and soul. Looking to the bronze
snake their physical lives were spared, even as they were saved in
their souls by the very same God who spared them. God loved them in
this way: He gave His only Son to die for their sins. Jesus was lifted
up on the cross for the world, including those Israelites. The bronze
snake being lifted up pointed to that one who was lifted up in whom we
have life in body and soul.
God loved the world in this way. He loves you in this way. He gave His
Son. You have life in body and soul, now and forever. Amen.
SDG
--
Pastor Paul L. Willweber
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS]
San Diego, California
princeofpeacesd.net
three-taverns.net
It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything
except where the marks of the Church are concerned.
[Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian]
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