"An Eternal Gospel"
Reformation Day [Observed]
Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost
October 25, 2009
John 8:31-36
A historian once said that those who do not know history are condemned
to repeat it. We all need to be historians. Because it’s true. If you
do not know history you are a slave. You have no freedom. If you’re
behind bars, it’s clear to you that you aren’t free. But if you go
through life ignoring reality and truth you think you are free when in
fact you more of a prisoner than one who is behind bars. We are
shortsighted. We often see what we want to see. Jesus has an
everlasting perspective.
He proclaims an eternal Gospel. That’s what the First reading from
Revelation says, an eternal Gospel is proclaimed. But doesn’t that
sound odd to us? Why should there need to be an eternal Gospel?
Doesn’t the Gospel only come into play when Adam and Eve fall into
sin? Why would the Gospel need to be in existence from eternity? And
isn’t there no longer a need for the Gospel when Christ returns in
glory and puts an end to this world and we reign in heaven forever
without sin and condemnation? Why does the Gospel need to remain for
eternity?
Jesus answers that question in the Gospel reading. It’s something
along the lines of, those who do not know history are condemned to
repeat it. The people Jesus was speaking to had short memories. Never
had been enslaved to anyone? Had they forgotten the Egyptians? And the
Babylonians? And what about the Roman occupiers in their own day? But
even all of this misses the point, which is why Jesus doesn’t bring it
up, as obvious as it is. Their refusal to learn from history is to not
acknowledge their slavery to sin.
Paul is forced to make this clear in his letter to the Christians in
Rome in our Epistle reading. The Law of God breaks through in this
life so that every mouth may be stopped. That doesn’t keep us from
talking though, does it? Me, a sinner? Well, yes, but I’m not really
that bad. I don’t sin all the time. And the sins I commit don’t really
hurt people that much. I could be a lot worse.
By this way of thinking we have shown ourselves to be slaves to sin.
We’re so convinced we’re not that bad of sinners we forget the root
problem: Original Sin. Yes, you don’t always do really bad things. And
some of the really bad things you do don’t come close to comparing to
the heinous acts that some, even many, people commit. But you are
bound up in your sinful flesh—you are a sinner not just because you
sin, but because you are born in sin and are enslaved to it. Those who
ignore this are condemned.
Since our memories are so short, God has a way of dealing with this
that is outside of our realm of dealing with time and figuring out
which sins are really bad and which ones aren’t as big of a deal—it’s
His eternal Gospel. It’s the truth that will set you free. If His
Gospel is from eternity and lasts for eternity there’s no way you can
wonder if your being bound up in your sinful flesh is not covered by
His grace, His mercy, His love. It is. It’s eternal. He always had in
view, from eternity, loving you and being in relationship with you.
You are free by what God has done in His eternal action of the Gospel.
Believing in Christ is abiding in this eternal Gospel, something that
is outside of yourself, from before you were ever around and that will
last forever. When the people talking to Jesus wanted to place the
ground of their faith in themselves He insisted that it must be
grounded in Him and His eternal Gospel.
Jesus says those who commit sin are slaves to sin. He doesn’t go down
a list to help them sort out whether they’re really bad sinners or
sinners who just do some bad things now and then. Those who commit sin
are slaves to sin because they are born in sin and are wrapped up in
their sinful flesh. To be freed from this you must be freed from it.
You cannot free yourself from it. You must be freed from it by
something outside of you. By someone who is not bound by sin. You are
set free by the Son who from eternity is your Savior.
It’s not easy to abide in Jesus’ Word. It means doing what we do when
we confess our sins. That we are by nature sinful. That there is
nothing good within us and nothing good we can do in the sight of God.
That we deserve His temporal and eternal punishment. There’s nothing
easy about this.
But there is something freeing about it. There’s something amazingly
revolutionary about it. Standing before God and not making a case for
yourself. Not justifying your sinful actions or rationalizing them
away. Simply confessing them. Simply saying, God, what you say is
true, I am a sinner, condemn me because it’s all that I deserve.
There’s something freeing about this, because as we stand before God
in this condition—sinful, unworthy, condemned—we are standing before a
God who tells us to lift up our head. To turn our gaze to a hill that
stood just outside of a small city. A hill upon which was another
sinner. A sinner who was crucified on that hill. A sinner who is God
the Father’s very own Son.
But this is all wrong! He’s not the sinner, I am. How is it that God
points us to the one on the cross as the sinner when we are the ones?
How it is is the eternal Gospel. Jesus becomes the sinner so that we
may be set free. Free from sin. Free from the condemnation of the Law.
Free from any notions that we’re not that bad and only need to keep
trying a little harder. And even more, freed from the Law that is
constantly beating us down that we haven’t loved enough, shared the
Gospel with enough people, haven’t been in the Word of God as much as
we should be. Freeing us up from this condemnation to simply live in
His grace. To be freed to serve in our simple, humble, often awkward
ways. Even our sometimes faltering ways.
That’s what the eternal Gospel always does. When you are freed you are
not then put under a new Law in which you must now do stuff for God.
When the Son sets you free, you are free indeed! He has had this in
view from eternity! Jesus is your Lord eternally. He is your Savior
eternally. You are free eternally. You are not condemned. You are not
bound. You are Baptized. You are fed by Your Savior Himself. His very
Body, His very Blood, placed in your mouth for you to eat and drink
and be filled and refreshed and forgiven and freed.
This is not of anything you do. Thank God! It’s everything of God and
by God, eternally, for you. 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]
___________________________________________________________________________
'CAT 41 Sermons & Devotions' consists of works that are, unless otherwise
noted, the copyrighted property of the various authors; posting of such
gives members of this list implied consent for redistribution _with_
_attribution_ unless otherwise specified by the author, as well as
for quoting or use in a congregational setting
_with_or_without_attribution_.
Note: This list's default reply is to the *poster*, NOT the list.
Do *not* reply to the list with your comments, but to the poster.
Subscribe? Send ANY note to: [email protected]
Unsubscribe? Send ANY note to: [email protected]
Archive? <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/>
For more information on this or other lists offered by Confess And Teach
For Unity, you can contact the CAT 41 list administrator at:
Rev. Fr. Eric J. Stefanski <MoM [at] lists (dot) cat41 <dot> org>
