Why DID the Christ come?
August 28, 2011
Peter’s confession last week of ‘Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the
Living God’ was a key event in the Church. God the Father enabled Peter to
recognize this: it is not by our own reason and strength; nor do we make Him
“our Lord and Savior”, since Jesus is that Himself by Who He is and what He did
in His perfect life as our Substitute, then His death on the cross in our
place. But after this confession, Jesus ordered them not to tell others He is
the Christ. Why not? Why DID the Christ come?
Today’s Gospel explains why. Jesus began to show He MUST go to Jerusalem,
He MUST suffer many things, He MUST die, and MUST be raised. Peter, and many
times you and I, DON’T like that idea. He (we) want a victorious leader who
will fill our bellies (with more than 5 loaves and 2 fish!), keep healing all
our sicknesses, rule over our nation, and bring prosperity to good people who
believe like us. Peter’s thoughts and feelings were governed by fallen, sinful
notions rather than divine values.
Like Peter, we often fail to understand God’s plan for history, especially
our personal history, thinking we know better than God. Jesus knew He MUST
deny Himself, MUST take up His cross, and MUST follow His Father’s will. We
also should follow Him. Always. We don’t. This is the genuine reason why the
Christ had to come: because we DON’T follow.
You are called to deny yourself; that is, to confess always that you have
no worth before God outside of Christ. But the Old Adam in us desperately
wants to claim worth based in us. We’ve done good things for You, Lord. (John
15:5 without Me you can do nothing). We’ve left sinful ways. (1 Timothy 1:15
- Christ came to save sinners, among whom I remain chief!) We took our nation
for Jesus. (John 18:36 MY kingdom is not of this world.) We decided to follow
You. (John 15:16 You did not chose Me, but I chose you.) Fallen thinking goes
on. None of these ideas are found in the Bible; in fact, the opposite is true.
This is a reason why we find trouble so troubling.
Our sinful self expects God rewards us for our goodness and makes the
wicked suffer. But Christians suffer. God uses the sufferings to tear
Christians away from things that harm our faith. {Hebrews 12:6}. Certainly,
suffering reminds us of our own sins and the need for repentance, especially
when we suffer the consequences of our sins. Yes, God works even in suffering
so we fear, love, and trust Him more while fearing, loving, and trusting His
creation and our emotions. (Lutheran Study Bible, p.837). Suffering may be
good for you.
So a question may come: is it wrong to stop someone from suffering?
Taking an aspirin for a headache, providing food for a refugee, or visiting
someone in a hospital to give kind words are not sins - when each is done in
faith. These are good works that serve our neighbors.
But there IS suffering that comes from following Jesus. When you know and
obey the Ten Commandments rather than do-what-you-feel-like, or follow the
crowd, or obey your superior’s illegal instructions, or even go along with
unjust laws: you could suffer. When you boldly confess that all gods are NOT
the same and Jesus is the one and only Son of God: you could suffer. When you
pray and insist “no one comes to the Father except thru Jesus”: you could
suffer. These are examples of sufferings you may have to endure. Often, to
“rescue” yourself from these sufferings you’d have to sin by denying Christ
Jesus.
What IF you cut corners, deny Christ a few times, and get along? You
might make more money. You might be more popular. You might have more
friends. You might get to be with one special person. With effort, you might
gain the world and have it all. Great talent, ability, and opportunity are
yours. Except you’d be walking away from Christian faith. At the end of life,
when you face God, you will find you gained nothing. Moths ate, rust corrupted
(Matthew 6:19). All that God gave you: your body, all that is stored in your
barns, (Luke 12:20) and all you accomplished, is of no value to you before the
Lord. You can’t trade it back to God to regain your soul or the eternal life
He had given you at one time.
What can a person give in return for his or her soul? Nothing. As last
week’s Epistle says (Romans 11:35) “Who has given a gift to God that He might
be repaid?” God made all things; even you. Imagine how stupid it sounds: a
man robs a bank and takes $10 million; then, to try to satisfy the bank
president he gives him $1,000. Every stitch of clothing, every morsel of food,
every beat of your heart, every talent and opportunity, every cent you claim:
they each really belong to God. Do you think you can repay God with a small
fraction of the merchandise which is His and you claimed as your own? Even if
you gained the entire planet, that also still belongs to God. There is nothing
you can give God or do for God to receive eternal life in heaven.
It is not sinful to be wealthy or poor. It is not wicked to have or not
have awards. It is not evil to have lots of friends or few. BUT: when you
refuse to deny your own goodness and accomplishments before God, when you
refuse to take up your cross to suffer for Christ, or when you refuse to obey
God and rather follow any way your heart desires and rebel against God’s Word:
you are Peter. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, says to you, face to face: “get
behind Me, Satan!”
THIS is why the Christ came. For all your failures to deny yourself and
your boasting before God and others about how good you are: Jesus went to
Jerusalem to suffer, be murdered, and be raised. For all the times you were
afraid to pick up your cross because you did not want to suffer for Jesus and
you rather wanted to just get along and live pain free: Jesus went to
Jerusalem to suffer, be murdered, and be raised. For the many times even this
day that you have not just failed to keep God’s commandments but never even
brought them to your mind: Jesus went to Jerusalem to suffer, be murdered, and
be raised.
This is why the Christ came. He came to lose His life to find yours. He
could have gained the whole world in utter power, but then He would have lost
you and me. Our souls would be forfeit forever in the place where God’s fury
and rage remain eternally: in hell.
This is why the Christ came. The Owner sent His Son to pay all our debts
to Himself. He went to Jerusalem, He suffered many things, He died on a cross,
and He was raised for us. Any person who believes this has eternal life in
Christ. On Judgment Day (27), God will reward those who have lived the
Christian faith, and will repay each unfaithful person according to his or her
worthless works. (Matt 7:22-23)
Jesus telling and showing His disciples - then and now - ‘He MUST go to
Jerusalem, He MUST suffer many things, He MUST die, and MUST be raised’ sounds
strange and ominous to fallen ears and hearts and minds of disciples. But His
suffering, cross, and dying were not the end; they were God’s payment for all
sin.
When we suffer for following Jesus, even to the point of death, it is not
our end either. By His perfect life for us and death on the cross, we have the
certainty of heaven. You do not gain or keep heaven by feelings from a good
song, a commitment you make, living a moral life, or anywhere else. Eternal
life comes only from the message of the Gospel (Rom 10:17): Jesus died for
your sins.
“Following Jesus” is not the way to get along with the world. It means
relying exclusively on God’s salvation: by His grace alone, thru His gift of
faith alone, in Christ Jesus alone. As a consequence of your Christian faith,
of course you will struggle to deny yourself, willingly take up your cross of
suffering daily for Jesus, and follow Him. And yes, that is what we do to show
we love God. That is the Law. The Law does not save us. WHEN, not if, you
fail: your salvation remains secure because of Christ. That is the Gospel.
We are saved entirely by Christ for us.
May we, as His redeemed disciples, always live securely in the joy of His
salvation. That’s why Christ came - to save us! Amen.
Pastor Michael Harman
St. Peter Lutheran Church - Newell, IA
vacancies at...
First Evangelical Lutheran - Fonda, IA
Immanuel Lutheran Church - Pomeroy, IA
1 John 3:1a Behold! What manner of love the Father has lavished upon us,
that we should be entitled: children of God!
And so: we are!
