The Eighth Sunday After Pentecost Killing the Hostility (Some Things are Better Dead)
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen! In today’s Epistle, God says “Christ Jesus…himself is our peace, who has made us both one.” So who are you to judge the man sitting next to you, or the lady across the aisle? You do not know that person as well as you pretend. You have no idea what load he or she carries through the week. You sin when you hold against that person the things that God has forgiven in Christ. When you feel slighted or angered by that other person, beware that you do no set yourself up to be that person’s god and judge! “Christ Jesus…himself is our peace.” “Christ Jesus… has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.” How would you or I dare to rebuild the wall that Jesus has broken down? Yet wall-building is exactly what happens when we harbor resentment and draw our conclusions and write one another off. Listen again: “Christ Jesus… has broken… the dividing wall of hostility.” “Christ Jesus… [created] in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace… killing the hostility.” Stated another way, God has made hostility dead. Some things are better dead! Dear Christian friends, God’s gift of salvation through Jesus is somewhat like a flower growing in your garden. Salvation is like a flower because of the many ways you receive happiness and blessings from one single thing. Flowers are not only beautiful to the eye, but also pleasing to the nose and soft to the touch. In addition to these gifts, some flowers also keep pests away; some provide food for the cheerful birds that appear at your back window, and nearly every flower will sweeten into honey when its nectar is collected by the bees. One object—one creation from God—yet many joys and blessings! In the same way, you receive multiple gifts and blessings from God’s one act of salvation, when He crucified His Son Jesus on the cross for you. All of your sins are forgiven, which means God now holds nothing against you. As you think about your past, forgiveness may see amazing to you. It certainly seems amazing to me. But this is what God wants you and me both to hear and believe: All sins are now forgiven in Jesus. God now holds nothing against you. Were forgiveness not enough, the curse of death has also been neutralized for you by Christ’s resurrection. Death is now nothing more for you than empty threat and idle talk. Death has absolutely no bearing on any part of your life. But God’s forgiveness of sins and eternal life are just the main gifts of Jesus’ salvation, in the same way that beauty and aroma just the main benefits of a garden flower. God has given many additional benefits to you through His one act of salvation, just as a single flower can bless and gladden you in ways beyond its sight and scent! In today’s Epistle, God tells us about one of those many, additional gifts of salvation. Beyond forgiveness, beyond resurrection and life, our Lord Jesus Christ has also worked a miraculous change in the way you and I relate to one another. When God originally wrote these Words in today’s Epistle, He was mainly speaking about the ancient division between Jews and Gentiles. But the Jew-Gentile division only existed on account of sin. Sin is also the cause of all the divisions that now stand between two fellow Christians—two “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” Because sin divides us in the same way that it once divided Jew and Gentile, God’s Words in today’s Epistle were written as much for our benefit as anyone else’s. What has Jesus done, concerning the petty issues and grievances that divide us? God says in today’s Epistle that Jesus has KILLED our hostilities between one another! “For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility… thereby killing the hostility.” “Killing the hostility.” Bring these three Words to mind—force these Words to mind—the next time you feel your sense of irritation rising toward your fellow Christian. Surely you can agree that you yourself are no flower! Why would you hold your neighbor’s sins against him or her? Why would you expect some other person—someone who is totally different from you—to like the things you like or want the things you want or do the things you do? Why would you even presume to know where that person’s road takes him or her after they limp out of this sanctuary? Unless you are God, do not pretend you have the power to raise the dead. Jesus has killed hostility. Some things are better dead! Someone may ask, “What do you mean, pastor? Are we to ignore one another totally, so that we do not even rebuke one another and call one another to repentance?” By no means. You know very well that you are your brother’s keeper (Genesis 4:9), but why make it harder for your brother than it already is? That person has his or her hands more than full, simply trying to survive the day and carry out the vocation God has given. We all need to be rebuked according to the Ten Commandments. For example, one of the elders came after me the other day. He had one of the Ten Commandments in his hand (the fifth) and he was right! And I needed to repent. And I needed to apologize. But why make it harder for your brother than it already is? Why raise hostility from the dead? Do not look at your fellow Christian as someone who did not do what you wanted—as if your personal wants and desires are the most important thing. Do not look at your fellow Christian as someone who has disappointed you or who has failed your expectation or who should try a little harder. Do not look at your fellow Christian as someone who annoys you or as someone who deserves the difficult life he or she has received. Look at your fellow Christian as if he or she is a miracle worked by God. Somehow the blood of Jesus has even washed away all those sins! And, while you are looking at your fellow Christian as if he or she is a miracle worked by God, pray that your fellow Christian will look at you in the same way! That, too, would be a miracle created by the power and energy of God’s living Word. Do not roll the stone away, but keep hostility safely buried in Jesus’ tomb. Christ is indeed risen, but hostility does not need to rise. Some things are better dead. Some things are eternally dead. All sin, all death, all hostility: leave them where they lay. In Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.. thereby killing the hostility. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. That is a flower created by God Himself. Smell the flower. Place it on the dining room table. Stick it behind your ear or into your lapel. Hand it to someone else. _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list [email protected] http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
