+In Nomine Iesu+
Pentecost 17
St Mark 9:38-50
27 September 2009
I dont know about you, but when I read todays
Gospel I become very uneasy. To describe this text as scary
would not be an over statement. Look at the language.
Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me
to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were
hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
And then there is talk of cutting off hands and feet; of
plucking out eyes. What are we to make of this? And most
important, what is the sin that is being spoken of
here?
<>
Perhaps we can provide some clarity right at the start.
Before God, what is the greatest sin? Is the greatest sin
something we do? Murder, perhaps, or adultery? Something
like that? Or, is there something prior? Is there one
primary sin from which all other sins flow? In other words,
is there one commandment that stands over all the others?
Here, I think, is the key. One commandment does take
priority over all the rest. It is, as we might expect, the
first. You shall have no other gods. Remember how
Martin Luther explained that commandment? We should
fear, love and trust in God above all things. So, what
is the greatest sin? It is unbelief the lack of fear,
love and trust in God above all things.
<>
And here we must stop for a moment. Unbelief is not
simply to doubt the existence of God. Such thinking is but
one possible facet. To deny that God exists is to deny
there is an ordered creation. But unbelief goes far deeper
than that. Unbelief is the doubt the fear, the
suspicion, the reservation, the anxiety the wondering if
God will care for us. That what He provides for us will not
only be adequate, but best. That all He gives us all He
sends us will be for our benefit. This is the greatest
sin. Not to doubt that God exists, but to doubt that He can
be counted on. Really, unbelief is a perverse form of
faith. It is a perverseness that believes we must provide
for our self. That we must ultimately believe in our self
above all else.
<>
Now we are in a position to begin considering the concept
of sin as it is presented here by Jesus. What is He
speaking of when He warns of causing little ones who
believe in me to sin? Well, first of all, the little
ones are not simply children. They are all those who in
innocent sincerity believe that Jesus is their Savior. It
isnt a matter of children over against adults. It is all
those who believe in Jesus with a child-like faith. And
what is the sin that is warned against? To destroy that
innocent faith. To teach, or act, or live, or speak in a
way that causes others in the simple-ness of their faith
to doubt the promises of Jesus. To teach, act, live,
and speak in ways that cause others to turn from trust in
God to trust in themselves. The sin here is to cause doubt.
To cause others to leave the faith and thus deny God,
thereby becoming themselves guilty of the First
Commandment.
<>
Secondly, this same admonition is directed toward us
individually. We are to be on guard that we do not deny the
faith. It isnt so much that with our hands, feet or eyes
we do something wrong against our neighbor. Such sins are
addressed elsewhere. Rather, we are warned that our own
physical members can lead us into unbelief lead us away
from trust in the One True God who promises all good.
<>
But there is something more here, too. Hands and feet
dont cause sin, do they? If your hand causes
you to sin. Rather, they become agents of sin. They can
become the agents of unbelief. Our physical members can
lead us away from God. In the final analysis the cause of
sin the seat of sin is the heart. For out of the
heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual
immorality, theft, false witness, slander. Such sins are
the fruit of unbelief? Unbelief doubt that God will
provide what is best for us unbelief causes us to take
matters into our own hands. Its as if we say that God
cannot be trusted. God cant be counted on to take
care of me, therefore I must take care of myself. And
that thinking becomes the underlying excuse for all manner
of sin.
<>
And if hands, feet, eyes are allowed to continue as
agents of sin what results? The forfeiting of eternal life.
Either God saves us completely, or not at all. But if the
heart remains unconverted how many hands and feet must be
cut off so we will stop sinning? Answer: all of them, and
more. Thats what I mean when I say that either God saves
us completely, or not at all. Either God converts us
completely, or not at all. No amount of chopping up of
hands or feet or eyes will overcome the sinful heart.
Conversion Christianity is a matter of the heart
that exhibits itself in the hands, feet, and eyes as they
live out life.
<>
So, what do we do? Cut out our heart in order to remove
the source of the problem? No. Such only compounds the
problem. Cut out the heart and all hope ceases because life
ceases. Here we must depend upon the Great Physician.
Listen to His promise: And I will give them one heart,
and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the
heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of
flesh. . . . And they shall be My people, and I will be
their God. With the creation of a new heart, new
directions are given to hands, and feet, and eyes.
<>
There you have it. Man creates the problem. God
provides the solution. God provides for His people new
hearts. New hearts that direct hands, and feet, and eyes in
new directions. And that new heart you already have! Right
now! You have this new heart! It was implanted in you when
you were baptized. Some call it the new birth.
Better, perhaps, is the idea of being born from above. It
is all a work of God. A work that comes to you. A work on
your behalf from God.
<>
Think of it in this way, when you were baptized Jesus
took you up into His arms. As St Paul describes it, you
were baptized into the death of Jesus. Now, Jesus holds you
in His arms. Jesus died with you in His arms. He rose from
the dead with you in His arms. He ascended into heaven with
you in His arms. And now, He stands before God the Father
with you in His arms. With Jesus, you have become the
beloved Son the beloved daughter in whom God the
Father is well pleased.
<>
Perhaps now we can begin to understand the present tense
reality of our baptism. It isnt that we were baptized.
It is always that we are baptized. And every day this
baptism is meant to be a new dying to sin, and a new rising
to life again. Daily dying to sin. Daily rising to new
life.
<>
Do this when you wake up in the morning make the sign
of the cross upon yourself. The sign which Christ has given
to you the sign He has engraved upon you. And with the
sign of the cross, repeat the words of the invocation.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit. That invocation, dear friends answers a
very important question. It answers the question: Where
am I? Answer: you are in God. Being in and under the
name of God you are in and under God. Or, to use St
Pauls language, you are hidden with Christ in God.
Thats where you are. Thats your inheritance from
Jesus. Then confess the Apostles Creed. That answers
another question: Who is God? Answer: He is the
Father who created me, the Son who died for my salvation,
the Holy Spirit who teaches me how to live and how to pray.
And then, pray the Lords Prayer. Again, a question is
answered here. What does God do for me? Answer: He
makes me holy in His name He incorporates me into His
kingdom He accomplishes His will for me He provides
for all my needs He forgives me and helps me to forgive
others He never leads me into temptation He will
deliver me from the Evil One. And then? Then go about your
day. Reminded again of where you are, whose you are, and
who takes care of you.
<>
Finally, Jesus says, everyone will be salted with
fire. There are two kinds of fire. There is fire that
destroys. And there is fire that cleanses, makes perfect,
preserves. It is that second fire that fire that is
compared to salt that Jesus gives. This fire is the
Holy Spirit. You were salted with that Spirit in your
baptism for your preserving. Its an on-going
salting, really. You are salted again every time the
words of absolution are directed to you. You are preserved.
Salted again in the Lords Supper. More preserving.
Indeed, in the words of this sermon you are being salted.
Brought once again to believe that Jesus is for you. That
He continues to forgive you. Here, Sunday after Sunday, you
are being salted by Jesus in order that you may be preserved
forever.
Amen
+orate pro invicem+
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