“Are You Giving God Your Leftovers?”
[I John 3:16-18]
November 8, 2009 Second Reformed Church
Have you ever heard someone say, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch?” “Nobody does anything without an ulterior motive.” “You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours.” “Quid pro quo.” We are have become a society that expects that if you do something, you should get something, and, conversely, that if you don’t do something for me, I’m not going to do something for you. We do not look to do good for others, not expecting to get anything back from them, and we are shocked when and if someone does something for us when we have not done or promised anything to them.
So, it makes me wonder, “what motivates our giving?” Why do you and I give what we give, when we give it? Making the question about people – about relationships, we might ask, “how do you know someone loves you?”
John tells us, “By this we know love, that [Jesus] laid down his life for us.” John tells us what love is, and he tells us that we understand that Jesus loves us because He laid down His Life for us. He did something that showed us that He loves us. He did something radical – that people don’t just do for someone else.
It’s all the more amazing because we didn’t know we needed someone to lay their life down for us. In fact, we were spiritual dead, unknowing and unable to help ourselves at all: “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of the world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even while we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:1-10, ESV).
And it is even more amazing – not only did Jesus lay His Life down for us – we who were dead and unknowing of our need – we weren’t neutral – we hated God and anything to do with Him: “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” (Romans 5:1-11, ESV).
In other words, we were dead in our sin, enemies of God, and Jesus showed His Love to us by dying for our sin, raising us from the dead, giving us new life according to His keeping of God’s Law – and not only that, Jesus was not just a mere man. Jesus is fully a human being, but He is also the One Almighty God.
How unexpected is it then, that God would decide to love a people who were dead and hated Him and had nothing to offer Him, still He became a Man, lived, died, rose, and ascended, and promises us eternal life with Him? That’s love, John tells us.
I hope that still amazes you. Sometimes we sing – almost with a yawn in our mouths – “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.” “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound! That saved a wretch like me!” Do you believe it? Does it amaze you? If it doesn’t, you either have too high a view of yourself or too low a view of God. God is Holy, Holy, Holy – He cannot have any sin in His Presence. And we are sinners by nature – wretches – until He makes us His.
Think about how we were – what the Scripture tells us about ourselves compared to God. How far we were from what God requires How lost – hopelessly lost Do we begin to glimpse what kind of love that is – that Jesus laid down His Life for us?
Repeat after me: “I was a wretch. But Jesus laid down His Life for me.”
Again: “I was a wretch. But Jesus laid down His Life for me.”
Again: “I was a wretch. But Jesus laid down His Life for me.”
“So we ought to lay down our lives for each other.”
What?
What did you say? We know what love is because Jesus laid down His Life for us, so we ought to lay down our lives for each other.. What does that mean? In real life, most of us won’t ever have the need or opportunity, Lord willing, of physically dying for another person. So what does this really mean for us?
Well, John tells us: “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother [or sister] in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” John says that we can practically lay down our lives for each other by providing for each other’s needs. And if we do have enough and we have the ability to help someone meet their needs and we do nothing – that is not love. It means we may not understand what love is.
James writes, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” (James 215-16, ESV).
If we say we believe in Jesus, if we say we love Him, if we say we love our fellow Christians (in particular, here), and God has blessed us with more than we need – and God has blessed every single one of us with more than we need of something, then we ought to be willing to give whatever that is, even up to our very lives, to fill another’s need and to glorify God.
Meeting others’ needs is one way we show that we understand the love that Jesus has for us in laying down His Life. True love is more than words. True love brings about action. True love is love in deed. Love has a physical and/or material aspect to it.
As we bring this idea back to Jesus and the Church – remember we started by saying that we understand what love is because Jesus laid His Life down for us – Jesus – the Almighty God Incarnate, laid down His Life for a bunch of dead people that hated Him. Amazing!
How do we physically/materially show our love to Jesus? By loving others, and by giving of ourselves and our blessings to the Church (which is the means by which God chose to spread the Gospel to the whole world – as we are beginning to see in the book of Acts).
Right now, I would like us to consider how we show our love to Jesus – through the Church – with our money. And the obvious way we show our love to Jesus through the Church with our money is by giving money to the Church. Yet, we have often given for the wrong reasons or in the wrong way.
We are not to give to the Church in the same way that we pay any other bill. We ought not to look at our giving to the Church as paying what we owe for the week. For two reasons: first, none of us could ever give enough money to pay God back what we owe for this week – for forgiveness, for love, for life. And second, what we give to the Church is to be our gift, a token of our worship – not something we are compelled to do.
Do not misunderstand: God does require that we give to the Church. God said that our giving is to begin with ten percent of our gross income. That was the Law and that is what Jesus said as well. We are to begin by giving ten percent of our gross income to the Church. And then, as we are led by the Spirit, we are to give more. But it ought to be done cheerfully, willingly, joyfully, not like paying the phone bill or the utility bill.
We are not to give to the Church simply to pay “our share” of the expenses. While is it true that the Church has expenses and most of the money that is given to the Church is given to pay for those expenses, if you look at our church budget, you know you are not paying your share. Our budget is just under $100,000 a year. Our share would be at least $5,000 a year. We are not to give to the Church based on whether or not we liked the pastor’s sermon. I am called to speak the Word of God from this pulpit. If I am not doing that, the elders should correct me. If I am doing that, because we are still sinners, there are things I will say that you will like and things I will say that you will not like, and that is completely irrelevant to our giving. If it is the Word of God it is the Word of God. You are not paying for a show or an education.
We are not to merely give our leftovers to the Church. We have a tendency to give whatever we have left over each week to God. We give what we have in our pockets, or in our wallets, or, we look at our checkbook, and think about how much we can spare. But the biblical principle is that God gets the first cut off the top – that’s why I said a minimum of ten percent of our gross income. Most of us have taxes taken out before we receive our paycheck, or SSI, or pension, and so forth. But God will not take second place to the government. God demands ten percent – to begin with – of our entire income.
I was brought up to do that. Many people were not. And those who have not done it have a tendency to say that they can’t afford to give ten percent of their gross – and more. Some people give “x” number of dollars because that’s what their parents did, or that’s what they decided to do fifty years ago, and nothing will ever change that – except their income going down. Which means, either God is wrong, or we are.
Looking at it positively:
We are to give to the Church as part of our worship. When I ask that the ushers come forward that we might worship God with our tithes and our offerings, I am serious about what I am saying. Our giving is to be an act of worship. What we put in that plate should reflect what we believe about the worth of God – of Jesus Christ – and what He has done for us. We do not offer up our gifts to merit forgiveness, but to thank God for the forgiveness He merited for us. How much is Jesus worth?
We are to give to the Church as part of how we show our understanding of the value of Jesus’ Love. Just a few verses before this morning’s reading, John wrote, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (I John 3:1a, ESV). John was amazed at the Love of God in Jesus Christ – are we? How much do we value His taking God’s Wrath, forgiving our sin, crediting us with His Righteousness.
We are to give to the Church to see Jesus honored and believed. We give to show each other and the world that we believe that Jesus and His Gospel – salvation in Him Alone – is true – that He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the One and Only Savior.
We are to give our first and our best to the Church because Jesus’ Love is worth more than everything else – together. We give our first and best to the Church because no matter what else happens, no matter what else is lost, no matter what else goes wrong, no matter how the stock market moves or how our friends and relatives use and abuse us for our money – or shower us with financial gifts, we want each other and the world to know that Jesus is first and best and His Love is worth more than anything and everything else all together. Think about it this way: if you had a basket filled with Jesus’ Love and all the rest of your stuff, and you had to give away one thing after another until you only had one thing left, what would you want? I hope the answer is Jesus’ Love. There is no other hope than what He has done for us in His Love.
And we give to the Church to show that we trust Jesus. We give to show each other and the world that we trust Jesus when He promises to provide for all of our needs. We don’t hoard away all of our blessings and neglect giving to the Church because of what might happen. But we manage our money with the wisdom God has given us, yet we also give God what He commands and more as we are led to do so, believing in His Promises, trusting that He will provide for us. Do you believe Him?
This week, my mother gave away two food items: out of thanks to one of my sister's doctors, my mother baked a big banana streusel cake – which is apparently incredible – and gave it to the doctor, who was very thankful and told my mother how good it was. My mother also told me that she had bought this “wheat berry salad” because it was supposed to be good for you, but she didn’t like it at all, and she wondered if I would like the leftovers.
Do you know love?
Or are you giving God your leftovers?
Let us pray:
We pray to You, O God Who loved us so much that You laid down Your Life for us, and we ask that You would help us to know through Your Act what love is. Let us show our love to our brothers and sisters in doing good for them, not expecting anything in return. And let us come to worship, ready to worship You by giving, obediently, and generously, to You out of the financial income You have given us. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
"Are You Giving God Your Leftovers?" Sermon: I John 3:16-18
“Are You Giving God Your Leftovers?”
[I John 3:16-28]
November 8, 2009 Second Reformed Church
Have you ever heard someone say, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch?” “Nobody does anything without an ulterior motive.” “You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours.” “Quid pro quo.” We are have become a society that expects that if you do something, you should get something, and, conversely, that if you don’t do something for me, I’m not going to do something for you. We do not look to do good for others, not expecting to get anything back from them, and we are shocked when and if someone does something for us when we have not done or promised anything to them.
So, it makes me wonder, “what motivates our giving?” Why do you and I give what we give, when we give it? Making the question about people – about relationships, we might ask, “how do you know someone loves you?”
John tells us, “By this we know love, that [Jesus] laid down his life for us.” John tells us what love is, and he tells us that we understand that Jesus loves us because He laid down His Life for us. He did something that showed us that He loves us. He did something radical – that people don’t just do for someone else.
It’s all the more amazing because we didn’t know we needed someone to lay their life down for us. In fact, we were spiritual dead, unknowing and unable to help ourselves at all: “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of the world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even while we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:1-10, ESV).
And it is even more amazing – not only did Jesus lay His Life down for us – we who were dead and unknowing of our need – we weren’t neutral – we hated God and anything to do with Him: “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” (Romans 5:1-11, ESV).
In other words, we were dead in our sin, enemies of God, and Jesus showed His Love to us by dying for our sin, raising us from the dead, giving us new life according to His keeping of God’s Law – and not only that, Jesus was not just a mere man. Jesus is fully a human being, but He is also the One Almighty God.
How unexpected is it then, that God would decide to love a people who were dead and hated Him and had nothing to offer Him, still He became a Man, lived, died, rose, and ascended, and promises us eternal life with Him? That’s love, John tells us.
I hope that still amazes you. Sometimes we sing – almost with a yawn in our mouths – “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.” “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound! That saved a wretch like me!” Do you believe it? Does it amaze you? If it doesn’t, you either have too high a view of yourself or too low a view of God. God is Holy, Holy, Holy – He cannot have any sin in His Presence. And we are sinners by nature – wretches – until He makes us His.
Think about how we were – what the Scripture tells us about ourselves compared to God. How far we were from what God requires How lost – hopelessly lost Do we begin to glimpse what kind of love that is – that Jesus laid down His Life for us?
Repeat after me: “I was a wretch. But Jesus laid down His Life for me.”
Again: “I was a wretch. But Jesus laid down His Life for me.”
Again: “I was a wretch. But Jesus laid down His Life for me.”
“So we ought to lay down our lives for each other.”
What?
What did you say? We know what love is because Jesus laid down His Life for us, so we ought to lay down our lives for each other.. What does that mean? In real life, most of us won’t ever have the need or opportunity, Lord willing, of physically dying for another person. So what does this really mean for us?
Well, John tells us: “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother [or sister] in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” John says that we can practically lay down our lives for each other by providing for each other’s needs. And if we do have enough and we have the ability to help someone meet their needs and we do nothing – that is not love. It means we may not understand what love is.
James writes, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” (James 215-16, ESV).
If we say we believe in Jesus, if we say we love Him, if we say we love our fellow Christians (in particular, here), and God has blessed us with more than we need – and God has blessed every single one of us with more than we need of something, then we ought to be willing to give whatever that is, even up to our very lives, to fill another’s need and to glorify God.
Meeting others’ needs is one way we show that we understand the love that Jesus has for us in laying down His Life. True love is more than words. True love brings about action. True love is love in deed. Love has a physical and/or material aspect to it.
As we bring this idea back to Jesus and the Church – remember we started by saying that we understand what love is because Jesus laid His Life down for us – Jesus – the Almighty God Incarnate, laid down His Life for a bunch of dead people that hated Him. Amazing!
How do we physically/materially show our love to Jesus? By loving others, and by giving of ourselves and our blessings to the Church (which is the menas by which God chose to spread the Gospel to the whole world – as we are beginning to see in the book of Acts).
Right now, I would like us to consider how we show our love to Jesus – through the Church – with our money. And the obvious way we show our love to Jesus through the Church with our money is by giving money to the Church. Yet, we have often given for the wrong reasons or in the wrong way.
We are not to give to the Church in the same way that we pay any other bill. We ought not to look at our giving to the Church as paying what we owe for the week. For two reasons: first, none of us could ever give enough money to pay God back what we owe for this week – for forgiveness, for love, for life. And second, what we give to the Church is to be our gift, a token of our worship – not something we are compelled to do.
Do not misunderstand: God does require that we give to the Church. God said that our giving is to begin with ten percent of our gross income. That was the Law and that is what Jesus said as well. We are to begin by giving ten percent of our gross income to the Church. And then, as we are led by the Spirit, we are to give more. But it ought to be done cheerfully, willingly, joyfully, not like paying the phone bill or the utility bill.
We are not to give to the Church simply to pay “our share” of the expenses. While is it true that the Church has expenses and most of the money that is given to the Church is given to pay for those expenses, if you look at our church budget, you know you are not paying your share. Our budget is just under $100,000 a year. Our share would be at least $5,000 a year. We are not to give to the Church based on whether or not we liked the pastor’s sermon. I am called to speak the Word of God from this pulpit. If I am not doing that, the elders should correct me. If I am doing that, because we are still sinners, there are things I will say that you will like and things I will say that you will not like, and that is completely irrelevant to our giving. If it is the Word of God it is the Word of God. You are not paying for a show or an education.
We are not to merely give our leftovers to the Church. We have a tendency to give whatever we have left over each week to God. We give what we have in our pockets, or in our wallets, or, we look at our checkbook, and think about how much we can spare. But the biblical principle is that God gets the first cut off the top – that’s why I said a minimum of ten percent of our gross income. Most of us have taxes taken out before we receive our paycheck, or SSI, or pension, and so forth. But God will not take second place to the government. God demands ten percent – to begin with – of our entire income.
I was brought up to do that. Many people were not. And those who have not done it have a tendency to say that they can’t afford to give ten percent of their gross – and more. Some people give “x” number of dollars because that’s what their parents did, or that’s what they decided to do fifty years ago, and nothing will ever change that – except their income going down. Which means, either God is wrong, or we are.
Looking at it positively:
We are to give to the Church as part of our worship. When I ask that the ushers come forward that we might worship God with our tithes and our offerings, I am serious about what I am saying. Our giving is to be an act of worship. What we put in that plate should reflect what we believe about the worth of God – of Jesus Christ – and what He has done for us. We do not offer up our gifts to merit forgiveness, but to thank God for the forgiveness He merited for us. How much is Jesus worth?
We are to give to the Church as part of how we show our understanding of the value of Jesus’ Love. Just a few verses before this morning’s reading, John wrote, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (I John 3:1a, ESV). John was amazed at the Love of God in Jesus Christ – are we? How much do we value His taking God’s Wrath, forgiving our sin, crediting us with His Righteousness.
We are to give to the Church to see Jesus honored and believed. We give to show each other and the world that we believe that Jesus and His Gospel – salvation in Him Alone – is true – that He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the One and Only Savior.
We are to give our first and our best to the Church because Jesus’ Love is worth more than everything else – together. We give our first and best to the Church because no matter what else happens, no matter what else is lost, no matter what else goes wrong, no matter how the stock market moves or how our friends and relatives use and abuse us for our money – or shower us with financial gifts, we want each other and the world to know that Jesus is first and best and His Love is worth more than anything and everything else all together. Think about it this way: if you had a basket filled with Jesus’ Love and all the rest of your stuff, and you had to give away one thing after another until you only had one thing left, what would you want? I hope the answer is Jesus’ Love. There is no other hope than what He has done for us in His Love.
And we give to the Church to show that we trust Jesus. We give to show each other and the world that we trust Jesus when He promises to provide for all of our needs. We don’t hoard away all of our blessings and neglect giving to the Church because of what might happen. But we manage our money with the wisdom God has given us, yet we also give God what He commands and more as we are led to do so, believing in His Promises, trusting that He will provide for us. Do you believe Him?
This week, my mother gave away two food items: out of thanks to one of my sisters’ doctors, my mother backed a big banana streusel cake – which is apparently incredible – and gave it to the doctor, who was very thankful and told my mother how good it was. My mother also told me that she had bought this “wheat berry salad” because it was supposed to be good for you, but she didn’t like it at all, and she wondered if I would like the leftovers.
Do you know love?
Or are you giving God your leftovers?
Let us pray:
We pray to You, O God Who loved us so much that You laid down Your Life for us, and we ask that You would help us to know through Your Act what love is. Let us show our love to our brothers and sisters in doing good for them, not expecting anything in return. And let us come to worship, ready to worship You by giving, obediently, and generously, to You out of the financial income You have given us. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
[I John 3:16-28]
November 8, 2009 Second Reformed Church
Have you ever heard someone say, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch?” “Nobody does anything without an ulterior motive.” “You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours.” “Quid pro quo.” We are have become a society that expects that if you do something, you should get something, and, conversely, that if you don’t do something for me, I’m not going to do something for you. We do not look to do good for others, not expecting to get anything back from them, and we are shocked when and if someone does something for us when we have not done or promised anything to them.
So, it makes me wonder, “what motivates our giving?” Why do you and I give what we give, when we give it? Making the question about people – about relationships, we might ask, “how do you know someone loves you?”
John tells us, “By this we know love, that [Jesus] laid down his life for us.” John tells us what love is, and he tells us that we understand that Jesus loves us because He laid down His Life for us. He did something that showed us that He loves us. He did something radical – that people don’t just do for someone else.
It’s all the more amazing because we didn’t know we needed someone to lay their life down for us. In fact, we were spiritual dead, unknowing and unable to help ourselves at all: “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of the world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even while we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:1-10, ESV).
And it is even more amazing – not only did Jesus lay His Life down for us – we who were dead and unknowing of our need – we weren’t neutral – we hated God and anything to do with Him: “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” (Romans 5:1-11, ESV).
In other words, we were dead in our sin, enemies of God, and Jesus showed His Love to us by dying for our sin, raising us from the dead, giving us new life according to His keeping of God’s Law – and not only that, Jesus was not just a mere man. Jesus is fully a human being, but He is also the One Almighty God.
How unexpected is it then, that God would decide to love a people who were dead and hated Him and had nothing to offer Him, still He became a Man, lived, died, rose, and ascended, and promises us eternal life with Him? That’s love, John tells us.
I hope that still amazes you. Sometimes we sing – almost with a yawn in our mouths – “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.” “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound! That saved a wretch like me!” Do you believe it? Does it amaze you? If it doesn’t, you either have too high a view of yourself or too low a view of God. God is Holy, Holy, Holy – He cannot have any sin in His Presence. And we are sinners by nature – wretches – until He makes us His.
Think about how we were – what the Scripture tells us about ourselves compared to God. How far we were from what God requires How lost – hopelessly lost Do we begin to glimpse what kind of love that is – that Jesus laid down His Life for us?
Repeat after me: “I was a wretch. But Jesus laid down His Life for me.”
Again: “I was a wretch. But Jesus laid down His Life for me.”
Again: “I was a wretch. But Jesus laid down His Life for me.”
“So we ought to lay down our lives for each other.”
What?
What did you say? We know what love is because Jesus laid down His Life for us, so we ought to lay down our lives for each other.. What does that mean? In real life, most of us won’t ever have the need or opportunity, Lord willing, of physically dying for another person. So what does this really mean for us?
Well, John tells us: “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother [or sister] in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” John says that we can practically lay down our lives for each other by providing for each other’s needs. And if we do have enough and we have the ability to help someone meet their needs and we do nothing – that is not love. It means we may not understand what love is.
James writes, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” (James 215-16, ESV).
If we say we believe in Jesus, if we say we love Him, if we say we love our fellow Christians (in particular, here), and God has blessed us with more than we need – and God has blessed every single one of us with more than we need of something, then we ought to be willing to give whatever that is, even up to our very lives, to fill another’s need and to glorify God.
Meeting others’ needs is one way we show that we understand the love that Jesus has for us in laying down His Life. True love is more than words. True love brings about action. True love is love in deed. Love has a physical and/or material aspect to it.
As we bring this idea back to Jesus and the Church – remember we started by saying that we understand what love is because Jesus laid His Life down for us – Jesus – the Almighty God Incarnate, laid down His Life for a bunch of dead people that hated Him. Amazing!
How do we physically/materially show our love to Jesus? By loving others, and by giving of ourselves and our blessings to the Church (which is the menas by which God chose to spread the Gospel to the whole world – as we are beginning to see in the book of Acts).
Right now, I would like us to consider how we show our love to Jesus – through the Church – with our money. And the obvious way we show our love to Jesus through the Church with our money is by giving money to the Church. Yet, we have often given for the wrong reasons or in the wrong way.
We are not to give to the Church in the same way that we pay any other bill. We ought not to look at our giving to the Church as paying what we owe for the week. For two reasons: first, none of us could ever give enough money to pay God back what we owe for this week – for forgiveness, for love, for life. And second, what we give to the Church is to be our gift, a token of our worship – not something we are compelled to do.
Do not misunderstand: God does require that we give to the Church. God said that our giving is to begin with ten percent of our gross income. That was the Law and that is what Jesus said as well. We are to begin by giving ten percent of our gross income to the Church. And then, as we are led by the Spirit, we are to give more. But it ought to be done cheerfully, willingly, joyfully, not like paying the phone bill or the utility bill.
We are not to give to the Church simply to pay “our share” of the expenses. While is it true that the Church has expenses and most of the money that is given to the Church is given to pay for those expenses, if you look at our church budget, you know you are not paying your share. Our budget is just under $100,000 a year. Our share would be at least $5,000 a year. We are not to give to the Church based on whether or not we liked the pastor’s sermon. I am called to speak the Word of God from this pulpit. If I am not doing that, the elders should correct me. If I am doing that, because we are still sinners, there are things I will say that you will like and things I will say that you will not like, and that is completely irrelevant to our giving. If it is the Word of God it is the Word of God. You are not paying for a show or an education.
We are not to merely give our leftovers to the Church. We have a tendency to give whatever we have left over each week to God. We give what we have in our pockets, or in our wallets, or, we look at our checkbook, and think about how much we can spare. But the biblical principle is that God gets the first cut off the top – that’s why I said a minimum of ten percent of our gross income. Most of us have taxes taken out before we receive our paycheck, or SSI, or pension, and so forth. But God will not take second place to the government. God demands ten percent – to begin with – of our entire income.
I was brought up to do that. Many people were not. And those who have not done it have a tendency to say that they can’t afford to give ten percent of their gross – and more. Some people give “x” number of dollars because that’s what their parents did, or that’s what they decided to do fifty years ago, and nothing will ever change that – except their income going down. Which means, either God is wrong, or we are.
Looking at it positively:
We are to give to the Church as part of our worship. When I ask that the ushers come forward that we might worship God with our tithes and our offerings, I am serious about what I am saying. Our giving is to be an act of worship. What we put in that plate should reflect what we believe about the worth of God – of Jesus Christ – and what He has done for us. We do not offer up our gifts to merit forgiveness, but to thank God for the forgiveness He merited for us. How much is Jesus worth?
We are to give to the Church as part of how we show our understanding of the value of Jesus’ Love. Just a few verses before this morning’s reading, John wrote, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (I John 3:1a, ESV). John was amazed at the Love of God in Jesus Christ – are we? How much do we value His taking God’s Wrath, forgiving our sin, crediting us with His Righteousness.
We are to give to the Church to see Jesus honored and believed. We give to show each other and the world that we believe that Jesus and His Gospel – salvation in Him Alone – is true – that He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the One and Only Savior.
We are to give our first and our best to the Church because Jesus’ Love is worth more than everything else – together. We give our first and best to the Church because no matter what else happens, no matter what else is lost, no matter what else goes wrong, no matter how the stock market moves or how our friends and relatives use and abuse us for our money – or shower us with financial gifts, we want each other and the world to know that Jesus is first and best and His Love is worth more than anything and everything else all together. Think about it this way: if you had a basket filled with Jesus’ Love and all the rest of your stuff, and you had to give away one thing after another until you only had one thing left, what would you want? I hope the answer is Jesus’ Love. There is no other hope than what He has done for us in His Love.
And we give to the Church to show that we trust Jesus. We give to show each other and the world that we trust Jesus when He promises to provide for all of our needs. We don’t hoard away all of our blessings and neglect giving to the Church because of what might happen. But we manage our money with the wisdom God has given us, yet we also give God what He commands and more as we are led to do so, believing in His Promises, trusting that He will provide for us. Do you believe Him?
This week, my mother gave away two food items: out of thanks to one of my sisters’ doctors, my mother backed a big banana streusel cake – which is apparently incredible – and gave it to the doctor, who was very thankful and told my mother how good it was. My mother also told me that she had bought this “wheat berry salad” because it was supposed to be good for you, but she didn’t like it at all, and she wondered if I would like the leftovers.
Do you know love?
Or are you giving God your leftovers?
Let us pray:
We pray to You, O God Who loved us so much that You laid down Your Life for us, and we ask that You would help us to know through Your Act what love is. Let us show our love to our brothers and sisters in doing good for them, not expecting anything in return. And let us come to worship, ready to worship You by giving, obediently, and generously, to You out of the financial income You have given us. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
Friday, November 06, 2009
The Flea Market
The Flea Market is tomorrow, November 7th, from 10 AM to 2 PM (D.V.) -- please join us, take a look, shop, and support the ministry of Jesus Christ at Second Reformed Church -- thank you!
Monday, November 02, 2009
"Who Is Melchizedek?"
“Who is Melchizedek?”
Rev. Peter A. Butler, Jr.
One of the more curious characters we meet in the Scripture is one by the name of Melchizedek. We read this in Genesis:
“After [Abram’s] return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) And he blessed him and said, ‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand ’ And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. And the king of Sodom said to Abram, ‘Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.’ But Abram said to the king of Sodom, ‘I have lifted my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me. Let Aner, Eschol, and Mamre take their share’” (Genesis 14:17-24, ESV).
At the very least, we can say this is a curious passage: Abram has come from defeating some of his enemies on the way to take the land of Canaan, according to God’s Will and Command, and after he has won the battle, he meets this Melchizedek in the King’s Valley. It is certainly a peaceful meeting – they have not come to war with each other. But who is Melchizedek?
We are told that he is the King of Salem. And, curiously, (since God did not allow any other king to also be priest), Melchizedek is said to be priest of God Most High – the same God that Abram worshiped (as we see in verse twenty-two). Melchizedek offered bread and wine to Abram. And Abram offered a tenth of everything he had to Melchizedek. And they parted.
We might consider this nothing more than a curious incident if the author of Hebrews did not tell us more about Melchizedek:
“We have this [hope] as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning home from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of the name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.
“See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these are descended from Abraham. But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. In one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.
“Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe from which no on ever served at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.
“This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. For it is written of him, ‘You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.’ This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant” (Hebrews 6:19-7:23, ESV).
What in the world is the author of Hebrews telling us?
At this point in the author of Hebrews’ letter, he is arguing that Jesus is a high priest, and a greater high priest that the priests of the Aaronic and Levitical orders – the two orders of priests we find in the Old Testament (save one).
The author of Hebrews argues that the priesthood of Melchizedek (a third order) is greater than that of Aaron and the Levi because the Levitical line came out of the descendants of Abraham, and Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, so, he representatively acted as the father of the Levitical priesthood and submitted himself to the greater priest, Melchizedek, by paying tithes to him, rather than vice-versa. In other words, since Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, Melchizedek was greater than Abraham. And since Abraham was the father of the Levites (the Levites were “in” him), Melchizedek was greater than the Levites.
Now, the prophet said the Jesus is the one and only other member of the priesthood of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4). Therefore, if Melchizedek as priest is greater than Abraham and his descendants as priests, Jesus is also greater than Abraham and his descendants as priests.
But who is Melchizedek?
Figuring out who Melchizedek is reminds me of one of C. S. Lewis’ letters in which he addresses a child’s question of who Aslan is – unfortunately, I could not come across the exact quote, but he doesn’t tell the child. He asks the child to consider who Aslan the Lion might be – the Son of the Great Emperor Across the Sea, who broke the power of the White Witch by his death and resurrection – through the “deeper magic” – and came at the same time as Father Christmas.
Who might Melchizedek be?
According to the Scripture, He resembles the Son of God, He always existed and always will exist, He did not have father, mother, or descendants, He is the King of Righteousness and the King of Peace, He is the Highest and Perfect Priest, He received the offering of tithes, He offered up bread and wine, and the only other member of His Priesthood is Jesus, God Incarnate, the God-Man.
Who is Melchizedek?
There is an idea in theology called “theophany,” and in Christian theology, it specifically refers to a pre-Incarnate appearance of the Son of God. Jesus is the Incarnate appearance of the Son of God – God became man, Jesus of Nazareth. But, there are a few cases in the Scripture where there is a pre-Incarnate – visible – appearance of the Son of God.
Melchizedek was a pre-Incarnate appearance of the Second Person of the Trinity – the Son of God.
[This article is being published in Dnyndharama Issue #3, 2009 (Pune, India).]
Rev. Peter A. Butler, Jr.
One of the more curious characters we meet in the Scripture is one by the name of Melchizedek. We read this in Genesis:
“After [Abram’s] return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) And he blessed him and said, ‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand ’ And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. And the king of Sodom said to Abram, ‘Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.’ But Abram said to the king of Sodom, ‘I have lifted my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me. Let Aner, Eschol, and Mamre take their share’” (Genesis 14:17-24, ESV).
At the very least, we can say this is a curious passage: Abram has come from defeating some of his enemies on the way to take the land of Canaan, according to God’s Will and Command, and after he has won the battle, he meets this Melchizedek in the King’s Valley. It is certainly a peaceful meeting – they have not come to war with each other. But who is Melchizedek?
We are told that he is the King of Salem. And, curiously, (since God did not allow any other king to also be priest), Melchizedek is said to be priest of God Most High – the same God that Abram worshiped (as we see in verse twenty-two). Melchizedek offered bread and wine to Abram. And Abram offered a tenth of everything he had to Melchizedek. And they parted.
We might consider this nothing more than a curious incident if the author of Hebrews did not tell us more about Melchizedek:
“We have this [hope] as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning home from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of the name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.
“See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these are descended from Abraham. But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. In one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.
“Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe from which no on ever served at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.
“This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. For it is written of him, ‘You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.’ This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant” (Hebrews 6:19-7:23, ESV).
What in the world is the author of Hebrews telling us?
At this point in the author of Hebrews’ letter, he is arguing that Jesus is a high priest, and a greater high priest that the priests of the Aaronic and Levitical orders – the two orders of priests we find in the Old Testament (save one).
The author of Hebrews argues that the priesthood of Melchizedek (a third order) is greater than that of Aaron and the Levi because the Levitical line came out of the descendants of Abraham, and Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, so, he representatively acted as the father of the Levitical priesthood and submitted himself to the greater priest, Melchizedek, by paying tithes to him, rather than vice-versa. In other words, since Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, Melchizedek was greater than Abraham. And since Abraham was the father of the Levites (the Levites were “in” him), Melchizedek was greater than the Levites.
Now, the prophet said the Jesus is the one and only other member of the priesthood of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4). Therefore, if Melchizedek as priest is greater than Abraham and his descendants as priests, Jesus is also greater than Abraham and his descendants as priests.
But who is Melchizedek?
Figuring out who Melchizedek is reminds me of one of C. S. Lewis’ letters in which he addresses a child’s question of who Aslan is – unfortunately, I could not come across the exact quote, but he doesn’t tell the child. He asks the child to consider who Aslan the Lion might be – the Son of the Great Emperor Across the Sea, who broke the power of the White Witch by his death and resurrection – through the “deeper magic” – and came at the same time as Father Christmas.
Who might Melchizedek be?
According to the Scripture, He resembles the Son of God, He always existed and always will exist, He did not have father, mother, or descendants, He is the King of Righteousness and the King of Peace, He is the Highest and Perfect Priest, He received the offering of tithes, He offered up bread and wine, and the only other member of His Priesthood is Jesus, God Incarnate, the God-Man.
Who is Melchizedek?
There is an idea in theology called “theophany,” and in Christian theology, it specifically refers to a pre-Incarnate appearance of the Son of God. Jesus is the Incarnate appearance of the Son of God – God became man, Jesus of Nazareth. But, there are a few cases in the Scripture where there is a pre-Incarnate – visible – appearance of the Son of God.
Melchizedek was a pre-Incarnate appearance of the Second Person of the Trinity – the Son of God.
[This article is being published in Dnyndharama Issue #3, 2009 (Pune, India).]
Sunday, November 01, 2009
"Washed in the Blood of the Lamb" Sermon: Revelation 7:1-17
“Washed in the Blood of the Lamb”
[Revelation 7:1-17]
November 1, 2009 Second Reformed Church
Today is All Saints’ Day. And some may wonder why a Protestant church like ours would recognize the day – some of my colleagues gently tease me about it. All Saints’ Day or Hallowmas or All-Hallows (last night was All Hallows Eve, or Halloween) was instituted by Pope Boniface IV in 609 A.D. as a mass to be held every May 13th to “commemorate all those martyrs, known and unknown, who enjoy the beatific vision of God” (J. C. J. Metford, The Christian Year, 115).
For reasons that have been lost to history, Pope Gregory III changed the date to November 1st in 789 A.D. And in the Saram Missal, it was explained that on this day we give thanks to God for the merits of the saints which are applied to us and for multiplying our intercessors before God (116).
Now, we don’t believe that: Jesus Christ is the Only Intercessor between humans and God, and only Jesus’ Merits are applied to us, not the saints. We don’t worship the saints. We don’t worship the deceased. We don’t believe that any of the deceased can contribute to our salvation. Salvation is of Jesus and Jesus Alone.
So, why bother with All Saints’ Day? We do have a time to remember those who have died during the past year, but we do so not merely to remember them or thinking that in some way they can do anything for us. No, we remember those who have died because their deaths remind us that we, too, will die, and there is a life after this life – and only two places a person will spend it. For those who believe in Jesus Alone for salvation – we will spend eternity in the Presence of our God and Savior. Those who do not believe in Him will spend eternity in Hell receiving His Wrath.
This morning we turn to the seventh chapter of the book of Revelation to consider what we are told about the life after this life for all those saints who do believe in Jesus Alone for salvation. We are going to consider what this chapter tells us about the glimpse we are given of what you and I and all those who believe in Jesus Alone for Salvation will experience in the Kingdom.
Now, we are looking at the book of Revelation, and we need to keep a few things in mind as we do so:
First, the book of Revelation is written in symbolic language – it is written in a code – it is not meant to be taken word-for-word literally. For example, in verse nine, Jesus is called the Lamb. Jesus has not turned into a four-legged farm animal with curly fur. It is an image – a symbol – that has to be interpreted.
Second, whereas we struggle with interpreting some parts of this book, the original audience of this book would have understood it. John wrote the book of Revelation in this style to keep non-Christians from understanding, but the Christians of his day were suppose to understand it, and they would have. Our problem is that we do not live in the same context they did, so it takes more work for us to understand what John is saying.
Third, besides the difficulty of understanding what John means, many Christians stay away from the book of Revelation because they believe is it a terrifying work – like a Stephen King novel. But that was not John’s intent – as one reads over the whole book, it becomes obvious that John’s intent is to comfort the Church – to show them that the Promise of God is that even though things will get bad – there will be persecution – Jesus has already won. Jesus is already victorious. Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords from before time and forever and ever. So, John wants Christians to take comfort and not to be terrorized. Jesus is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against His Church, because we belong to Jesus.
And fourthly, in the time that we have left to look at this chapter, I am not going to try to decode it all – much less the entire book of Revelation. Let us look to this chapter to learn a few doctrines – teachings – that we find in the light of All Saints’ Day.
Chapter seven has John seeing four angels at the four corners of the earth holding back the wind, so the wind would not blow on the earth – they are disrupting the patterns of nature – ready to harm the earth and the sea – to punish the creation to punish humanity. And God sends another angel who calls out in a loud voice, holding the Seal of the Living God – so they know he is a legitimate representative coming to them with instructions from God – saying, “Don’t harm the creation until all of the servants of God have been sealed on their foreheads.”
Now, if you’re like me, you’re picturing movies like “The Omen” where the little kid has a birthmark of “666" under his hairline or behind his ear – which is not on the forehead, brothers and sisters!
Symbols, brothers and sisters! I have never seen a Christian with a “bought by God” symbol of any kind on his or her forehead. Don’t be confused by Hollywood and fanciful teachers. Symbols!
What is John telling his readers? God will not allow any of the elect to be lost. Every single person that God has chosen for salvation will be saved. Neither human, nor demon can keep God from receiving every one He has chosen for Himself into the Kingdom. Remember Jesus’ prayer: “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know the truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:612, ESV).
John is telling the first century Christians that though the Romans slaughter them – which is what was happening – though the world and the demons come against them – God will not allow any of His elect to be lost. Everyone whom God intends to save and bring into His Kingdom will be saved and brought into the Kingdom. No matter what happens today or tomorrow or in the days to come, everyone that the Almighty, All-Knowing God intends to come to faith in Jesus Alone will be saved. Take comfort – none will be lost You will not be lost if you believe in Jesus Alone.
John goes on to describe 144,000 being sealed – saved. The Jehovah’s Witnesses take this absolutely literally and say, “Well, yes, there will only be 144,000 people in the Kingdom.” Without going into a lesson in numerology – the numbers three, four, twelve, and ten – which are found in 144,000 are symbolic and, together, the 144,000 means that the complete, full, perfect number will be sealed – not one will be lost – all of those intended will be sealed and saved.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses explain that they are the 144,000 who will be sealed and saved. But verses five through eight say that the 144,000 are 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel – John is talking about the Jews that will come to faith in Jesus Alone. (Perhaps we might ask the Jehovah’s Witnesses we know if they were born Jews...)
There was a question in the first century about whether God had abandoned the biological Jews – and the resounding answer across the New Testament – what John is saying here is, “No God has not abandoned the Jews. The full, complete number of Jews that God always intended to come to faith in Jesus will come to faith in Him Alone and be sealed and received into the Kingdom.”
John tells his original audience, and us, there are elect from all of the tribes of Israel. God is not done with the biological Jews. All that God intended will come to faith in Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, and Him Alone – the Only Savior.
But just as there was controversy about whether God had abandoned the biological Jews, there was a question concerning whether Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, was also for the Gentiles – the non-Jews. Did Jesus come just for the Jews? And, again, John says, “No!” Verse nine: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and the Lamb.”
Jesus is the One and Only Savior of the Jews and the non-Jews, every nation, every people, every tribe, every language. As Paul wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16, ESV). It doesn’t matter who you are or what your heritage is or what you have done or how you were brought up – everyone who believes in Jesus Alone for salvation is sealed and saved and brought into the Kingdom of God – surely and eternally – without any chance of being lost.
Be comforted! If you believe in Jesus Alone – that He has paid the debt for your sins and credited you with His Holy Life – you are His forever and ever and no human or demon can ever change that – not even you. If you truly believe, it is because God planned from all of eternity to save you and make you His own. Be assured!
And then what?
John saw a great multitude dressed in white robes worshiping before the throne and the Lamb – Jesus – with palm branches in their hands, crying out, “‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb!’ And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, ‘Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.’”
That is the picture we see of life in the Kingdom – worship. The primary thing that those who have died in Christ are engaged in and the primary thing that everyone of us who dies in Christ until He returns will be doing in the Kingdom is worshiping Him. The life after this life, for believers, is a life of eternal worship of our God and Savior.
Don’t worry – there won’t be any boring preachers, sinful preachers, who make mistakes in their preaching. There won’t be any bad hymns or bad music. You and I and all those who believe will be before the Face of God, in eternal worship, before the One Who is Utter Truth, Complete Beauty, Perfect Wisdom, Perfect Harmony. It will be a far more glorious worship that we can every imagine or experience here on earth.
But one of the elders turned to John and asked him if he knew who the group was that was wearing the white robes, and John admitted that he did not know and asked the elder to tell him. These, the elder explained, are the ones who came out of the great tribulation. What kind of things did they experience? This and more, as the writer of Hebrews tells us, “Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might again rise to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even in chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in the skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated – of whom the world was not worthy – wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth” (Hebrews 11:35b-38, ESV).
Some people who follow Jesus – some people who believe in Him Alone for salvation – will suffer horribly – even be put to death. Are you willing to be one of them? We would all like to die a quick and painless death – or even to be alive when Jesus returns and be taken straight into the Kingdom. But are you willing, for the Sake of Jesus, to suffer and die horribly? It’s something to consider. In America – for now – it is unlikely that we will suffer like that. We may some day. Christians around the world suffer horribly and are put to death for their faith in the most inhuman ways today.
Here is what one of them wrote – who suffered horribly in his life – and eventually was put to death by being decapitated: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18, ESV). I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us! As horrible as things might get on this earth – if we keep our eyes on Jesus – if we look at this life through His Promises and what we know will come – whatever we suffer for Him – is not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us!
“Well, you don’t know how much I have suffered,” you may say. And you’re right. None of us know how much any other person has really suffered. But take this word from Paul as a promise – the worst that you ever suffer for Jesus is not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us That is how great life in the Kingdom is. That is what those who have died in the faith are already beginning to experience.
Why? John tells us, because they have been washed in the Blood of the Lamb. Again, that does not mean that these people were literally washed in lamb’s blood – or in the physical blood of Jesus. What it tells us is that in dying – in shedding His Blood – as the Final and Eternal Sacrifice – Jesus has merited salvation for everyone who will believe in Him. Jesus has done all the work.
In his first letter, John wrote, “If we walk in the light, as [God] is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (I John 1:7, ESV).
“Therefore, they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither shall they thirst any more; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
On that final day, when Jesus returns, all the world – those who have believed and those who have not – will see the promises of Jesus come to pass. For those who have believed – for those who have gone before us and for we who have yet to die in the flesh, listen to these words of John, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall their be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:1-4, ESV).
On this All Saints’ Day, let us be comforted and assured, remembering those who have died in Christ and considering for ourselves our future in Christ, believing what He has told us: all those God has purposed to save will be saved. God is still saving some from the biological Jews – through Jesus Alone. And He is also saving some from every type of person that ever was – through Jesus Alone.
And on that final day, because Jesus came to earth to live, suffer, die, rise, and ascend, all who believe in Him Alone are forgiven for their sins, credited with His Righteousness – destined to spend eternity in His Kingdom, in Glory – worshiping forever and ever – safe, secure, guided, at peace, without pain or sorrow.
For those of us who yet live, let us look forward to that day of being united with all of the saints in the Kingdom, and let us not forget that Jesus is with us right now, as He promised: “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b, ESV). And He meets us spiritually, unites us with Him, strengthens us and empowers us by His Grace to do His Will, through the reading and preaching of His Word, and also through the sacraments. As we soon receive the bread and the cup, Jesus, Himself, the Very One Who has saved everyone who will believe, will meet with you and minister to you, for His Sake and to His Glory. Hallelujah!
Let us pray:
Savior God, it is almost too much to believe that You would choose to save a people for Yourself, but that is Your Promise, and You cannot lie. So we rejoice that those who have died in the faith are with You right now, and the day will come when we will join them and You in joy and worship. Be with us now. Minister Your Grace to us through the bread and the cup. And lead us on in assurance and hope. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
[Revelation 7:1-17]
November 1, 2009 Second Reformed Church
Today is All Saints’ Day. And some may wonder why a Protestant church like ours would recognize the day – some of my colleagues gently tease me about it. All Saints’ Day or Hallowmas or All-Hallows (last night was All Hallows Eve, or Halloween) was instituted by Pope Boniface IV in 609 A.D. as a mass to be held every May 13th to “commemorate all those martyrs, known and unknown, who enjoy the beatific vision of God” (J. C. J. Metford, The Christian Year, 115).
For reasons that have been lost to history, Pope Gregory III changed the date to November 1st in 789 A.D. And in the Saram Missal, it was explained that on this day we give thanks to God for the merits of the saints which are applied to us and for multiplying our intercessors before God (116).
Now, we don’t believe that: Jesus Christ is the Only Intercessor between humans and God, and only Jesus’ Merits are applied to us, not the saints. We don’t worship the saints. We don’t worship the deceased. We don’t believe that any of the deceased can contribute to our salvation. Salvation is of Jesus and Jesus Alone.
So, why bother with All Saints’ Day? We do have a time to remember those who have died during the past year, but we do so not merely to remember them or thinking that in some way they can do anything for us. No, we remember those who have died because their deaths remind us that we, too, will die, and there is a life after this life – and only two places a person will spend it. For those who believe in Jesus Alone for salvation – we will spend eternity in the Presence of our God and Savior. Those who do not believe in Him will spend eternity in Hell receiving His Wrath.
This morning we turn to the seventh chapter of the book of Revelation to consider what we are told about the life after this life for all those saints who do believe in Jesus Alone for salvation. We are going to consider what this chapter tells us about the glimpse we are given of what you and I and all those who believe in Jesus Alone for Salvation will experience in the Kingdom.
Now, we are looking at the book of Revelation, and we need to keep a few things in mind as we do so:
First, the book of Revelation is written in symbolic language – it is written in a code – it is not meant to be taken word-for-word literally. For example, in verse nine, Jesus is called the Lamb. Jesus has not turned into a four-legged farm animal with curly fur. It is an image – a symbol – that has to be interpreted.
Second, whereas we struggle with interpreting some parts of this book, the original audience of this book would have understood it. John wrote the book of Revelation in this style to keep non-Christians from understanding, but the Christians of his day were suppose to understand it, and they would have. Our problem is that we do not live in the same context they did, so it takes more work for us to understand what John is saying.
Third, besides the difficulty of understanding what John means, many Christians stay away from the book of Revelation because they believe is it a terrifying work – like a Stephen King novel. But that was not John’s intent – as one reads over the whole book, it becomes obvious that John’s intent is to comfort the Church – to show them that the Promise of God is that even though things will get bad – there will be persecution – Jesus has already won. Jesus is already victorious. Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords from before time and forever and ever. So, John wants Christians to take comfort and not to be terrorized. Jesus is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against His Church, because we belong to Jesus.
And fourthly, in the time that we have left to look at this chapter, I am not going to try to decode it all – much less the entire book of Revelation. Let us look to this chapter to learn a few doctrines – teachings – that we find in the light of All Saints’ Day.
Chapter seven has John seeing four angels at the four corners of the earth holding back the wind, so the wind would not blow on the earth – they are disrupting the patterns of nature – ready to harm the earth and the sea – to punish the creation to punish humanity. And God sends another angel who calls out in a loud voice, holding the Seal of the Living God – so they know he is a legitimate representative coming to them with instructions from God – saying, “Don’t harm the creation until all of the servants of God have been sealed on their foreheads.”
Now, if you’re like me, you’re picturing movies like “The Omen” where the little kid has a birthmark of “666" under his hairline or behind his ear – which is not on the forehead, brothers and sisters!
Symbols, brothers and sisters! I have never seen a Christian with a “bought by God” symbol of any kind on his or her forehead. Don’t be confused by Hollywood and fanciful teachers. Symbols!
What is John telling his readers? God will not allow any of the elect to be lost. Every single person that God has chosen for salvation will be saved. Neither human, nor demon can keep God from receiving every one He has chosen for Himself into the Kingdom. Remember Jesus’ prayer: “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know the truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:612, ESV).
John is telling the first century Christians that though the Romans slaughter them – which is what was happening – though the world and the demons come against them – God will not allow any of His elect to be lost. Everyone whom God intends to save and bring into His Kingdom will be saved and brought into the Kingdom. No matter what happens today or tomorrow or in the days to come, everyone that the Almighty, All-Knowing God intends to come to faith in Jesus Alone will be saved. Take comfort – none will be lost You will not be lost if you believe in Jesus Alone.
John goes on to describe 144,000 being sealed – saved. The Jehovah’s Witnesses take this absolutely literally and say, “Well, yes, there will only be 144,000 people in the Kingdom.” Without going into a lesson in numerology – the numbers three, four, twelve, and ten – which are found in 144,000 are symbolic and, together, the 144,000 means that the complete, full, perfect number will be sealed – not one will be lost – all of those intended will be sealed and saved.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses explain that they are the 144,000 who will be sealed and saved. But verses five through eight say that the 144,000 are 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel – John is talking about the Jews that will come to faith in Jesus Alone. (Perhaps we might ask the Jehovah’s Witnesses we know if they were born Jews...)
There was a question in the first century about whether God had abandoned the biological Jews – and the resounding answer across the New Testament – what John is saying here is, “No God has not abandoned the Jews. The full, complete number of Jews that God always intended to come to faith in Jesus will come to faith in Him Alone and be sealed and received into the Kingdom.”
John tells his original audience, and us, there are elect from all of the tribes of Israel. God is not done with the biological Jews. All that God intended will come to faith in Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, and Him Alone – the Only Savior.
But just as there was controversy about whether God had abandoned the biological Jews, there was a question concerning whether Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, was also for the Gentiles – the non-Jews. Did Jesus come just for the Jews? And, again, John says, “No!” Verse nine: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and the Lamb.”
Jesus is the One and Only Savior of the Jews and the non-Jews, every nation, every people, every tribe, every language. As Paul wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16, ESV). It doesn’t matter who you are or what your heritage is or what you have done or how you were brought up – everyone who believes in Jesus Alone for salvation is sealed and saved and brought into the Kingdom of God – surely and eternally – without any chance of being lost.
Be comforted! If you believe in Jesus Alone – that He has paid the debt for your sins and credited you with His Holy Life – you are His forever and ever and no human or demon can ever change that – not even you. If you truly believe, it is because God planned from all of eternity to save you and make you His own. Be assured!
And then what?
John saw a great multitude dressed in white robes worshiping before the throne and the Lamb – Jesus – with palm branches in their hands, crying out, “‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb!’ And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, ‘Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.’”
That is the picture we see of life in the Kingdom – worship. The primary thing that those who have died in Christ are engaged in and the primary thing that everyone of us who dies in Christ until He returns will be doing in the Kingdom is worshiping Him. The life after this life, for believers, is a life of eternal worship of our God and Savior.
Don’t worry – there won’t be any boring preachers, sinful preachers, who make mistakes in their preaching. There won’t be any bad hymns or bad music. You and I and all those who believe will be before the Face of God, in eternal worship, before the One Who is Utter Truth, Complete Beauty, Perfect Wisdom, Perfect Harmony. It will be a far more glorious worship that we can every imagine or experience here on earth.
But one of the elders turned to John and asked him if he knew who the group was that was wearing the white robes, and John admitted that he did not know and asked the elder to tell him. These, the elder explained, are the ones who came out of the great tribulation. What kind of things did they experience? This and more, as the writer of Hebrews tells us, “Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might again rise to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even in chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in the skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated – of whom the world was not worthy – wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth” (Hebrews 11:35b-38, ESV).
Some people who follow Jesus – some people who believe in Him Alone for salvation – will suffer horribly – even be put to death. Are you willing to be one of them? We would all like to die a quick and painless death – or even to be alive when Jesus returns and be taken straight into the Kingdom. But are you willing, for the Sake of Jesus, to suffer and die horribly? It’s something to consider. In America – for now – it is unlikely that we will suffer like that. We may some day. Christians around the world suffer horribly and are put to death for their faith in the most inhuman ways today.
Here is what one of them wrote – who suffered horribly in his life – and eventually was put to death by being decapitated: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18, ESV). I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us! As horrible as things might get on this earth – if we keep our eyes on Jesus – if we look at this life through His Promises and what we know will come – whatever we suffer for Him – is not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us!
“Well, you don’t know how much I have suffered,” you may say. And you’re right. None of us know how much any other person has really suffered. But take this word from Paul as a promise – the worst that you ever suffer for Jesus is not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us That is how great life in the Kingdom is. That is what those who have died in the faith are already beginning to experience.
Why? John tells us, because they have been washed in the Blood of the Lamb. Again, that does not mean that these people were literally washed in lamb’s blood – or in the physical blood of Jesus. What it tells us is that in dying – in shedding His Blood – as the Final and Eternal Sacrifice – Jesus has merited salvation for everyone who will believe in Him. Jesus has done all the work.
In his first letter, John wrote, “If we walk in the light, as [God] is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (I John 1:7, ESV).
“Therefore, they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither shall they thirst any more; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
On that final day, when Jesus returns, all the world – those who have believed and those who have not – will see the promises of Jesus come to pass. For those who have believed – for those who have gone before us and for we who have yet to die in the flesh, listen to these words of John, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall their be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:1-4, ESV).
On this All Saints’ Day, let us be comforted and assured, remembering those who have died in Christ and considering for ourselves our future in Christ, believing what He has told us: all those God has purposed to save will be saved. God is still saving some from the biological Jews – through Jesus Alone. And He is also saving some from every type of person that ever was – through Jesus Alone.
And on that final day, because Jesus came to earth to live, suffer, die, rise, and ascend, all who believe in Him Alone are forgiven for their sins, credited with His Righteousness – destined to spend eternity in His Kingdom, in Glory – worshiping forever and ever – safe, secure, guided, at peace, without pain or sorrow.
For those of us who yet live, let us look forward to that day of being united with all of the saints in the Kingdom, and let us not forget that Jesus is with us right now, as He promised: “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b, ESV). And He meets us spiritually, unites us with Him, strengthens us and empowers us by His Grace to do His Will, through the reading and preaching of His Word, and also through the sacraments. As we soon receive the bread and the cup, Jesus, Himself, the Very One Who has saved everyone who will believe, will meet with you and minister to you, for His Sake and to His Glory. Hallelujah!
Let us pray:
Savior God, it is almost too much to believe that You would choose to save a people for Yourself, but that is Your Promise, and You cannot lie. So we rejoice that those who have died in the faith are with You right now, and the day will come when we will join them and You in joy and worship. Be with us now. Minister Your Grace to us through the bread and the cup. And lead us on in assurance and hope. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
October 31, 2009
Happy Reformation Day! Make sure to give each of the little sinners that comes to your door today a copy of Luther's Theses.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
November Sermons
D.V., I plan to preach:
11/1/09 Communion/All Saints
Revelation 7:1-17 “Washed in the Blood of the Lamb”
11/8/09 Stewardship
I John 3:16-18 “Are You Giving God Your Leftovers?”
11/15/09 Thanksgiving
Colossians 1:3-14 “We Always Thank God”
11/22/09 Christ the King
Guest preacher: Rev. Luis Perez
11/29/09 Advent 1
John 1:1-18 “The Word Became Flesh”
11/1/09 Communion/All Saints
Revelation 7:1-17 “Washed in the Blood of the Lamb”
11/8/09 Stewardship
I John 3:16-18 “Are You Giving God Your Leftovers?”
11/15/09 Thanksgiving
Colossians 1:3-14 “We Always Thank God”
11/22/09 Christ the King
Guest preacher: Rev. Luis Perez
11/29/09 Advent 1
John 1:1-18 “The Word Became Flesh”
Sunday, October 25, 2009
"Christ Lives in Me" Sermon: Galatians 2:15-21
“Christ Lives in Me”
[Galatians 2:15-21]
October 25, 2009 Second Reformed Church
Have you ever done anything wrong? Have you ever not done what you ought to have done? That’s a very simple way of explaining what sin is – it’s doing what God has said not to do and/or not doing what God says we ought to do. And God tells us, even if we do not want to admit it, we have all sinned – “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:3:23, ESV). And what happens to those who sin? God tells us that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a, ESV). And that is not just physical death, but eternal death – eternal war with God – the Eternal Wrath of God against those who are never reconciled to God (cf. I Corintthinas 6:9-10).
It would seem, then, if we really consider it, the most important question we could ask is “How does a person become right with God?” How can you – how can I – become right with God? How can we come out from under God’s Wrath and enter into His Kingdom of Life?
From the beginning of the Church, two different ideas were taught. In first century Jerusalem, there were some who taught that salvation is by faith plus keeping all of the laws of the Old Testament. Today, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that salvation is by faith plus doing enough good works and/or buying enough indulgences and/or by serving enough time in purgatory. Today, some charismatic and Pentecostal groups teach that salvation is by faith plus the good work of speaking in tongues. And some of the Seventh Day Adventists teach that salvation is by faith plus worshiping on Saturday.
The Reformers – John Calvin, Martin Luther, and others – understood that “faith plus something we do equals salvation” is not what is taught in the Scripture. God says and teaches us through His Word that salvation is by faith alone – we become right with God through faith alone. This faith by which we are reconciled to God receives and believes in Jesus and what He has done for all those who will believe in Him. Let us consider, on this Reformation Sunday, what it is that we believe and receive through faith alone through which God reconciles us to Himself.
Paul’s letter to the Galatians is, among other things, confronting the Judaizers – those who were teaching that salvation is by faith plus keeping the Old Testament Law – and telling the Galatian Christians not to believe them – that salvation is by faith alone – keeping the Law could not save anyone and it does not make what Jesus did any more effective. In fact, it makes it look as though Jesus’ Sacrifice was not enough. It makes it look as though what Jesus did was great, but it only gets us so far – we have to keep the Law, which brings us the rest of the way to being right with God. Blasphemy! Heresy!
Paul tells the Galatian Christians to remember that they were born Jews, under the Law, but they knew, even as Jews, it is not possible to be justified by works of the Law, and as David wrote, “no one living is righteous before [God]” (Psalm 143:2b, ESV).
Well, what does it mean to be justified? To be justified is to be declared legally innocent. Understand, when we are justified through Jesus Alone, we are not merely declared not guilty, but we are declared innocent – and we’ll see how that is in a moment. But it is by being justified through faith alone in Jesus Alone that we are reconciled – made right – with God.
Paul tells the Galatian Christians that they believed in Jesus Christ Alone – the He is the Promised Savior, God become Man, Who lived under His Own Law, suffered, died, rose from the dead, and ascended back to His throne – in order to be justified. They knew that every mere human being is born a sinner and therefore condemned, so no matter how much of the Law a person keeps, it can never be enough to merit perfection, which is the only way a person could “work” his way into the Kingdom.
Then Paul addresses a hypothetical question: “If Jews are justified by the Law, and not sinners, like the Gentiles – the non-Jews – does that mean that Jesus makes the Jews sinners?” You see, there was an idea amongst the Jews that it was possible for them to keep the Law and be holy without the Savior. We remember the rich young ruler who said he had kept all of the law perfectly from his youth. Paul answers, “Certainly not!” Jesus unveils our sin – He makes us understand that we are sinners – He removes our self-imposed blinders and shows us for who we truly are, but He does not make us sinners. We are sinners of our own doing.
So, in verse eighteen, Paul says if we argue that the Law justifies us – saves us – in any degree or in any part – all we do is prove that we are sinners. The Law was given to us to show us what God requires and to expose our sin. To try to use the Law to show were are not sinners backfires.
“For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ.” This is the first half of how were are justified – how we are made right with God: as we already said, the punishment for sin is death, and every mere human being is a sinner. The Law exposes our sin and condemns us. The only way we can live is if Someone Who never sinned voluntarily takes our place – as our Substitute – and receives the full punishment – God’s Wrath – on Himself. That is what Jesus has done for everyone who will believe. Jesus has taken your place and my place and your place, and suffered the punishment for your sin and my sin and your sin. Jesus acted as our Representative and Substitute before God and received the penalty we were due for our sin. So, just as we became sinners “in Adam” – because Adam was humanity’s representative at the creation, we receive new life – forgiveness for our sins – as we have been crucified with Christ. As Paul also wrote, “So you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Jesus Christ” (Romans 6:11, ESV).
That’s the first half – Jesus as our Representative – our Substitute – stood in our place – we were crucified in Jesus and with Jesus – and the debt for our sins was paid. Our guilt has been removed. We are forgiven.
But the second half is this – Christ does not just put us back in the place of Adam before the Fall – a human being who is innocent, but has the ability to sin. No, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” You see, Jesus kept the Law of God perfectly. He never sinned. He is holy. And Jesus imputes – He credits to our account – His perfect righteousness – His perfect keeping of the entire Law of God, so that when God looks at us He sees the whole Law perfectly fulfilled in us. And, as we have seen, He gives us the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit to remind us of all that He has said in His Word and to help us understand all of it.
Christ’s obedience to the Law is our comfort, because we know that no matter what our failures in this world may be, we are eternally credited by Jesus with the full keeping of the Law. And, we are also forgiven for all of our real sin, because Jesus has already taken the punishment of all of the sin we will ever commit on Himself.
How could anyone possibly think that what we do can and would add to the Work of Jesus? Now we live by faith alone – receiving and believing that Jesus has lived a Perfect and Holy Life under God’s Law, that He has voluntarily been our Substitute, taking the punishment for our sin – so we were crucified in Christ, and He has credited us with His Holy keeping of God’s Law and given us the indwelling of the Holy Spirit – so Christ lives in me – the Father sees Christ when He looks at us.
As Paul wrote, “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (II Corinthians 5:14-15, ESV).
If, Paul concludes in this morning’s reading, if we could be justified through the Law – if we could be forgiven and made holy through the keeping of the Law – then Jesus would have died for no purpose. Do you understand? If we can or have to do anything to have God declare us innocent and bring us into His Kingdom, then Jesus’ Death was worthless. If Jesus did not do it all – if Jesus did not have to do it all – then the Incarnation was worthless.
But it was not worthless, dear brothers and sisters – and that is why we celebrate Reformation Sunday, remembering the rediscovery of the biblical teaching of justification by faith alone.
We know from the Word of God that Adam sinned as our representative, so every mere human being is born a sinner.
We know that God’s Law exposes our sin and condemns us to eternal death, and no one can completely keep the Law.
So, we need a Savior. We need God to become man, live under His Own Law, suffer, die, rise from the dead, and ascend back to His throne. We need the God-Man to voluntarily take our place on the cross as our Representative – as our Substitute – and take God’s Wrath upon Himself for our sakes – for our sin. And we need the God-Man to impute – to credit us with His Holy Keeping of the Law, so we would be seen as righteous in the Eyes of God and be received into His Eternal Kingdom.
And, brothers and sisters, that is exactly what Jesus did. And if you believe in Jesus Alone by faith alone – not relying on your own good works to save you – He will save you. He will forgive you. He will make you right with God. He will prepare a place for you. And you will have an eternal home with God.
What should our response to this be? What else can it be but to thankfully obey God? How else could we show our everlasting thanks to God, but by doing those things He has commanded us to do and not doing those things that He has forbidden – not because they have any part in our being right before God, but because we are so thankful to God for what He has done for us – (because we cannot help ourselves!) – that we want to do everything we can, by the help of God the Holy Spirit Who lives in us – to please God?
We have been crucified with Christ; our sins are forgiven.
Christ lives in us; we are seen as holy by the Father.
Let us rejoice, give thanks, and live for Jesus.
Let us pray:
Almighty God and Savior, You came to us when we had nothing but sin to offer, and You chose to die for us and to give us life through You. How amazing is our God Let us be thankful and live ever more thankful lives, letting others know about the Only Savior, our Only Hope. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
[Galatians 2:15-21]
October 25, 2009 Second Reformed Church
Have you ever done anything wrong? Have you ever not done what you ought to have done? That’s a very simple way of explaining what sin is – it’s doing what God has said not to do and/or not doing what God says we ought to do. And God tells us, even if we do not want to admit it, we have all sinned – “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:3:23, ESV). And what happens to those who sin? God tells us that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a, ESV). And that is not just physical death, but eternal death – eternal war with God – the Eternal Wrath of God against those who are never reconciled to God (cf. I Corintthinas 6:9-10).
It would seem, then, if we really consider it, the most important question we could ask is “How does a person become right with God?” How can you – how can I – become right with God? How can we come out from under God’s Wrath and enter into His Kingdom of Life?
From the beginning of the Church, two different ideas were taught. In first century Jerusalem, there were some who taught that salvation is by faith plus keeping all of the laws of the Old Testament. Today, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that salvation is by faith plus doing enough good works and/or buying enough indulgences and/or by serving enough time in purgatory. Today, some charismatic and Pentecostal groups teach that salvation is by faith plus the good work of speaking in tongues. And some of the Seventh Day Adventists teach that salvation is by faith plus worshiping on Saturday.
The Reformers – John Calvin, Martin Luther, and others – understood that “faith plus something we do equals salvation” is not what is taught in the Scripture. God says and teaches us through His Word that salvation is by faith alone – we become right with God through faith alone. This faith by which we are reconciled to God receives and believes in Jesus and what He has done for all those who will believe in Him. Let us consider, on this Reformation Sunday, what it is that we believe and receive through faith alone through which God reconciles us to Himself.
Paul’s letter to the Galatians is, among other things, confronting the Judaizers – those who were teaching that salvation is by faith plus keeping the Old Testament Law – and telling the Galatian Christians not to believe them – that salvation is by faith alone – keeping the Law could not save anyone and it does not make what Jesus did any more effective. In fact, it makes it look as though Jesus’ Sacrifice was not enough. It makes it look as though what Jesus did was great, but it only gets us so far – we have to keep the Law, which brings us the rest of the way to being right with God. Blasphemy! Heresy!
Paul tells the Galatian Christians to remember that they were born Jews, under the Law, but they knew, even as Jews, it is not possible to be justified by works of the Law, and as David wrote, “no one living is righteous before [God]” (Psalm 143:2b, ESV).
Well, what does it mean to be justified? To be justified is to be declared legally innocent. Understand, when we are justified through Jesus Alone, we are not merely declared not guilty, but we are declared innocent – and we’ll see how that is in a moment. But it is by being justified through faith alone in Jesus Alone that we are reconciled – made right – with God.
Paul tells the Galatian Christians that they believed in Jesus Christ Alone – the He is the Promised Savior, God become Man, Who lived under His Own Law, suffered, died, rose from the dead, and ascended back to His throne – in order to be justified. They knew that every mere human being is born a sinner and therefore condemned, so no matter how much of the Law a person keeps, it can never be enough to merit perfection, which is the only way a person could “work” his way into the Kingdom.
Then Paul addresses a hypothetical question: “If Jews are justified by the Law, and not sinners, like the Gentiles – the non-Jews – does that mean that Jesus makes the Jews sinners?” You see, there was an idea amongst the Jews that it was possible for them to keep the Law and be holy without the Savior. We remember the rich young ruler who said he had kept all of the law perfectly from his youth. Paul answers, “Certainly not!” Jesus unveils our sin – He makes us understand that we are sinners – He removes our self-imposed blinders and shows us for who we truly are, but He does not make us sinners. We are sinners of our own doing.
So, in verse eighteen, Paul says if we argue that the Law justifies us – saves us – in any degree or in any part – all we do is prove that we are sinners. The Law was given to us to show us what God requires and to expose our sin. To try to use the Law to show were are not sinners backfires.
“For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ.” This is the first half of how were are justified – how we are made right with God: as we already said, the punishment for sin is death, and every mere human being is a sinner. The Law exposes our sin and condemns us. The only way we can live is if Someone Who never sinned voluntarily takes our place – as our Substitute – and receives the full punishment – God’s Wrath – on Himself. That is what Jesus has done for everyone who will believe. Jesus has taken your place and my place and your place, and suffered the punishment for your sin and my sin and your sin. Jesus acted as our Representative and Substitute before God and received the penalty we were due for our sin. So, just as we became sinners “in Adam” – because Adam was humanity’s representative at the creation, we receive new life – forgiveness for our sins – as we have been crucified with Christ. As Paul also wrote, “So you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Jesus Christ” (Romans 6:11, ESV).
That’s the first half – Jesus as our Representative – our Substitute – stood in our place – we were crucified in Jesus and with Jesus – and the debt for our sins was paid. Our guilt has been removed. We are forgiven.
But the second half is this – Christ does not just put us back in the place of Adam before the Fall – a human being who is innocent, but has the ability to sin. No, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” You see, Jesus kept the Law of God perfectly. He never sinned. He is holy. And Jesus imputes – He credits to our account – His perfect righteousness – His perfect keeping of the entire Law of God, so that when God looks at us He sees the whole Law perfectly fulfilled in us. And, as we have seen, He gives us the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit to remind us of all that He has said in His Word and to help us understand all of it.
Christ’s obedience to the Law is our comfort, because we know that no matter what our failures in this world may be, we are eternally credited by Jesus with the full keeping of the Law. And, we are also forgiven for all of our real sin, because Jesus has already taken the punishment of all of the sin we will ever commit on Himself.
How could anyone possibly think that what we do can and would add to the Work of Jesus? Now we live by faith alone – receiving and believing that Jesus has lived a Perfect and Holy Life under God’s Law, that He has voluntarily been our Substitute, taking the punishment for our sin – so we were crucified in Christ, and He has credited us with His Holy keeping of God’s Law and given us the indwelling of the Holy Spirit – so Christ lives in me – the Father sees Christ when He looks at us.
As Paul wrote, “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (II Corinthians 5:14-15, ESV).
If, Paul concludes in this morning’s reading, if we could be justified through the Law – if we could be forgiven and made holy through the keeping of the Law – then Jesus would have died for no purpose. Do you understand? If we can or have to do anything to have God declare us innocent and bring us into His Kingdom, then Jesus’ Death was worthless. If Jesus did not do it all – if Jesus did not have to do it all – then the Incarnation was worthless.
But it was not worthless, dear brothers and sisters – and that is why we celebrate Reformation Sunday, remembering the rediscovery of the biblical teaching of justification by faith alone.
We know from the Word of God that Adam sinned as our representative, so every mere human being is born a sinner.
We know that God’s Law exposes our sin and condemns us to eternal death, and no one can completely keep the Law.
So, we need a Savior. We need God to become man, live under His Own Law, suffer, die, rise from the dead, and ascend back to His throne. We need the God-Man to voluntarily take our place on the cross as our Representative – as our Substitute – and take God’s Wrath upon Himself for our sakes – for our sin. And we need the God-Man to impute – to credit us with His Holy Keeping of the Law, so we would be seen as righteous in the Eyes of God and be received into His Eternal Kingdom.
And, brothers and sisters, that is exactly what Jesus did. And if you believe in Jesus Alone by faith alone – not relying on your own good works to save you – He will save you. He will forgive you. He will make you right with God. He will prepare a place for you. And you will have an eternal home with God.
What should our response to this be? What else can it be but to thankfully obey God? How else could we show our everlasting thanks to God, but by doing those things He has commanded us to do and not doing those things that He has forbidden – not because they have any part in our being right before God, but because we are so thankful to God for what He has done for us – (because we cannot help ourselves!) – that we want to do everything we can, by the help of God the Holy Spirit Who lives in us – to please God?
We have been crucified with Christ; our sins are forgiven.
Christ lives in us; we are seen as holy by the Father.
Let us rejoice, give thanks, and live for Jesus.
Let us pray:
Almighty God and Savior, You came to us when we had nothing but sin to offer, and You chose to die for us and to give us life through You. How amazing is our God Let us be thankful and live ever more thankful lives, letting others know about the Only Savior, our Only Hope. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
Reformation Sunday Pot-luck Lunch
Join us for worship this morning at 10:30 AM and then stay after as we celebrate the biblical understanding of the Scripture with a pot-luck lunch. All are invited!
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