Happily, this will be the last sermon I preach at Zion, Accident, as vacancy pastor. (I will also, of course, preach it at my congregation)
Rev. Charles Lehmann + Invocabit + Genesis 3:1-21 In the Name of + Jesus. Amen. We began our forty day journey to Easter this past Wednesday. On that night we heard solemn words from the prophet Joel which called us to repentance. Joel said, “Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants.” Joel called for a fast because the people to whom he preached were sinners who needed to repent. Fasting is always tied to repentance in the Scriptures. If I were to call for a fast, my reason would, of course, be the same as the prophet Joel's. Every last member of Saint John's is a sinner who is in need of repentance. There are no exceptions, not even in this pulpit. Fasting without repentance is useless, and that is why there was never a fast in Eden. God had put Adam and Eve in a garden filled with such abundance that if they had not sinned, they would never have wanted for the best of food. When we fast, it is to remind us of our sin. Fasting was never needed in Eden. When Adam and Eve sinned, God imposed the world's first fast on them. They were expelled from the feasting of Eden into the fast. Outside of Eden, Adam and Eve would only eat by the sweat of Adam's brow as he fought with the thorns and thistles that turned farming from pure joy into hard and painful toil. Fasting naturally leads to hunger, and hunger can be a good gift that God uses to teach us about our place in the world. Hunger makes it clear to us that we are not self-sufficient. We must eat to live, and when our stomachs complain that we're empty, they remind us that we're always moving closer to death and not further away from it. Hunger is a basic sign of our mortality. It proclaims the death that waits for us. It brings to mind that every moment of our life is a gift and that each moment we experience could be the last. When Adam and Eve ate from the tree that God had not given them, the feast was over. The flesh of that fruit moved Adam and Eve from a feast that would have gone on for eternity to the pangs of hunger and the dust of death. Before they were cast out of paradise, Adam and Eve had never wanted for anything. Now they would only eat by the sweat of Adam's brow. All that we suffer today is a consequence of Adam and Eve's theft in the Garden of Eden. But that we inherit sin from Adam does not mean that we can lay all the blame at his feet. Each of us sins daily. We live each day in active rebellion against God and His commands. It is our sins, not just Adam's, that have sent Jesus to the cross. It is our sins, not just Adam's, that have made this world one which is filled with evil, sickness, and death. Adam is dead and buried. The responsibility for the evil in the world today lies at our feet. We are all addicted to sin. The lure of sinful rebellion that we feel is stronger than addiction to any drug. Alcohol, meth, marijauna, and cocaine are nothing compared to sin. Some of us have never taken an illegal drug, but none of us are free from the taint of sin. We are filled with it even at the moment we are first conceived. We are addicted to sin because in the Garden of Eden Satan accomplished a great reversal. Satan and all the angels were created by God to do His will. On the sixth day, God gave Adam authority over all of creation. “All creation” included the holy angels. The angels, along with all other living things, were created to serve humanity. But Satan chafed at this. Satan was created with great power. We know from Isaiah that one angel was capable of killing hundreds of thousands of soldiers in one night. Satan's power gave him great pride. To Satan, it was utter nonsense that he should serve man. Satan thought that the weaker should serve the stronger. Satan thought that he should have been given dominion over Adam. In Eden, Satan managed to turn the tables. He asked Eve leading questions which led her to doubt the Word of God that she had received. All the questions were designed to lead Eve into believing that God was holding out on her. Satan wanted Eve to think that if she served him, he would be generous where God had been stingy. Satan wouldn't hold out on her. Satan wouldn't hold anything back. But we know the whole story. Though there was a small grain of truth in Satan's words, he was lying. God was holding out on Adam and Eve, but it wasn't out of stinginess. Because of His love and concern for His children, God had held back anything that might hurt them. God had not given Adam and Eve the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because it was not good for them to have it. In the flesh of that fruit was death. Adam and Eve already knew all that they needed to know. They knew God. They knew that He loved them and had provided for all their needs. They knew that they lived in paradise and had no need for anything other than what God had already given them in abundance. That was enough. When Adam and Eve believed Satan's lie, they began to believe that God's wisdom was actually selfishness instead. God was keeping the best for Himself and was forcing Adam and Eve to get by on mere crumbs. The picture of God that is painted by our sin is a cracked, stained, and false image. It is like looking at yourself in a shattered mirror. Nothing looks as it actually is. Such a fragmented reflection is really no reflection at all. Atheists sometimes call God a sky bully or the cosmic killjoy. They claim that the Christian God exists merely to keep us from enjoying our lives and doing what makes us happy. They will say that no God is worthy of worship if He threatens eternal torture to those who do not believe in Him. If those characterizations of God were accurate, the atheists might have a point. But God is not a sky bully or a cosmic killjoy. He wants you to be happy. And most of all, God is not an old west judge who wants nothing more than to hang us high. Instead, God loves us even though we sin daily. He loves us even though according to the strictest demands of his holy law, we are, every one of us, blasphemers, adulterers, murders, liars, and thieves. God doesn't run us through a kangaroo court and hang us high. Instead, God places all of our sin for which we justly deserve eternal wrath and punishment onto His own Son, and then He hangs Jesus high. Though Jesus is the only innocent man to ever live, He alone bears the punishment for all of our sin. Unbelievers do not suffer eternal torture in hell because God is upset with them because they haven't believed in Him. They suffer because eternal life and joy and peace only exist in Christ. They suffer because they have separated themselves from the source of all good in the universe. They suffer even though each and every one of their sins have been forgiven on the cross. Every person who is suffering in hell right now had their sins forgiven by Jesus on the cross. That is the measure of God's love for you and for me. Jesus has suffered and died for every sin. He has forgiven them all by living a perfect life in our stead and by taking all of our sin to the cross. We are credited with His righteousness because He has suffered the punishment for all our sin. Satan thought that he had won a great victory in Eden. The master served the slave. Adam and Eve served Satan. But where Adam and Eve fell, Jesus conquered. Though Satan tried to persuade Jesus to serve him instead of His Father, Jesus stood firm. Jesus kept the law that we have broken. He fasted for forty days, and even in that weakened condition, He conquered Satan in our stead. After Satan's temptation failed, the devil departed from Jesus, and angels ministered to him. The angels did not serve Jesus because He is God. The angels served Jesus because He is man. They served Him because serving man is what angels were created to do. Jesus has in every way become your substitute. He has been hung high because His Father loved you. Jesus has been punished with what you deserved. But Jesus loves you now even as He did as He hung from the wood of the cross. Do not let your sins cause you to despair. Your Savior is greater than all your sin. He loves you, and you are forgiven forever. In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in faith in Christ Jesus. Amen. Rev. Charles R. Lehmann Pastor, Saint John's Lutheran Church, Accident, MD http://www.stjohncove.org ___________________________________________________________________________ '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. 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