As those on
Wednesday night can attest, I really enjoy teaching Bible Study classes. Truthfully, I enjoy plumbing the depths of
Scripture like we do on Sunday mornings, but I love trying to present the Scriptures
in relevant ways. The reason, of course,
is that Bible Study gives me an opportunity to take the “spiritual temperature”
of those active in the congregation. I
get to hear where your struggles are, way better than I do after sermons on
Sunday morning. A few attendees on
Sunday may come in later in the week to argue with me or to share with me their
struggles, but the real wrestling comes in Bible studies. I joke that the patron saint of all Episcopalians
should be St. Jacob because we love to wrestle with God, much as did Jacob so
long ago. God does not seem to mind us
wrestling with Him too much. Sure, He
dislocates hips or cracks 2x4’s upside heads every now and again to remind us
that He is God and we are His creature.
But, overall, He shows us incredible patience. Bible Studies, to continue the analogy, give
me a chance to see where people are wrestling with God in their lives. Some will outright state that there is a sin
that plagues them or a part of His instruction to which they will not
submit. Often, though, people are really
trying to figure out what God expects of them.
I have only been
at Advent for two months, but one struggle has certainly become visible even to
this legally blind pastor. It is a
question which plagues far too many of us as a group, and it is a question
which I feel must be addressed. The
answer to the question will have ties to the reading from Romans and from
Genesis. I think it will cause a bit of
a murmur around here, as it will not be my typical sermon. You all have been very gracious in your
observations that I try to give you ways to apply the Scriptures in your daily
life and work and that I share the ways in which your friends, your co-workers,
your family, and others might see you, the world, or, most importantly, the
Gospel. This one won’t, but it
will. I will have no specific illustrations
for you to try this week; yet without this fundamental understanding, your
ability to share the Gospel and even your ability to share in the Peace that
passes all understanding will be diminished.
That all being
said, what saves us? This is not meant
to be a rhetorical exercise. I want you
to think how you understand faith and belief and righteousness and all those
fancy words that we throw about casually.
What saves us? What is it that
makes us righteous before God? This
question is of paramount importance because far too many people have
misunderstood how they are saved. In my
couple months with you, one of the big questions repeatedly asked of me is
whether I think the person in my office has enough faith to be saved. Father,
I have done this and this and this. Do
you think I have enough faith to get into heaven? Father, sometimes I struggle with this sin or
that sin. If I know it is a sin and
still sin, do you think that just confirms my lack of faith and the fact that I
will not be saved unless I get better?
Sitting there, you might think such questions ought to be coming from
our shut-in’s, as they face the decline of health. I am here to tell you that not one of our
shut-in’s have asked that question, or one like it, of me. No, it has been the people in the pews next
to you.
I daresay all the
answers tossed out earlier are correct.
All flow rightly from the teachings of the Gospel. Jesus died for us. He made us worthy to stand before God. His blood cleansed us. All those answers uttered and thought along
those lines are right. Jesus, by His
work and person, saves us from the wrath of God and bestows upon us eternal
life. Where, in all those discussions
that you were having in your head or with the person sitting next to you, does
God ever teach us that He is measuring our faith as a determining factor of whether
we are saved, admitted into heaven, or however you want to put it? Where does God say, on the scale of faith,
one to a hundred, you need 50.01 when you stand before Me? You can point to Scriptures where God
commends the faith of certain individuals, but nowhere is there a “standard of
faith” put forth in Scriptures. So I ask
again, in light of Genesis and Romans, what saves us?
The truth is we
have become sloppy Christians. That
sloppiness has led to an increase in anxiety, the very opposite of the Peace
which passes all understanding which are told to expect. Perhaps we always have been sloppy Christians
and that is why Paul wrote so many letters to churches around the
Mediterranean. We sling around words
like righteousness and faith and salvation and forgiveness like everyone knows
what they mean. But we never really slow
down to consider what should be meant by those words. Righteousness, as we see in our reading from
Genesis this morning, simply means a right relationship with God. Righteousness and unrighteousness are used in
the Bible to teach us about our relationship with God. As sinners, we are unrighteous. Sin keeps us from a right relationship with
God. Now, God has made it possible for
humans to be brought back into right relationship with Him. The torah
taught that the cost of sin was blood.
If one was a faithful Jew, one could make the appropriate sacrifice and
be brought back into right relationship with God. Paul tells us in some of his letters that he
was righteous under the law. Paul is not
bragging to the churches to whom he wrote or to us. He is stating a fact. Notice, though, Paul does not speak of
forgiveness under the law. When he
sinned, Paul made the appropriate sacrifice under the law. Because Abraham believed that God could give
him and Sarah a child, the Hebrew speaks of bringing life from death, God credits
his belief as righteousness. How do we
become righteous?
In the grand
scheme of things, nothing has really changed since Genesis 12. What makes us righteous? What restores us to right relationship with
God? If you are from a tradition that
believes in “believer” baptism or one like our own where we confirm that our
youths, of an appropriate age, accept the oaths made on their behalves. In reality, all that a believer is asked is a
simply question. Do you believe that
Jesus died for your sins and was raised by God to new life, and do you accept
Him as Lord? That’s really it. Like Abraham, do you believe that God brought
life from the dead? Here’s the great
news: it is a simple question that demands a simple answer. Either we believe it true that He died for
our sins and was raised from the dead by our Father in Heaven that wonderful
Easter morning, or we do not believe it.
It really is that simple. It is
so simple that it becomes offensive the eyes and ears of many. We are asked to respond to a yes or no
question. Whichever answer we give, that’s
it. Well,
Brian, I want to be like St. Augustine and party some more before I believe it. Fine, that’s a no. Well,
Brian, there’s so much evil in the world and Christians have done such horrible
things in history, I’m not sure I want to be included among them. Fine, that is a no. God does not make us accept Him. God gives us all free will with respect to
this choice. But nowhere, nowhere in
this covenant that He makes with us does He ever say our faith saves us.
Jesus’ faith is
what saves us. I see by the expressions
that you have never considered this. Who
had to demonstrate faith that you and I might be made righteous, made worthy to
stand before God? Jesus. Jesus is the One who came down from heaven to
do the will of the Father. Jesus is the
One who had to reject the temptations by Satan in the wilderness and continue
to do the will of the Father. Jesus is
the One who was homeless and had to have faith that the path which He was on
led ultimately to His and God’s glory.
Jesus is the One that was betrayed by the very people He came to
save? Jesus is the One who was mocked,
punched, spat upon, crowned with thorns, and nailed to the Cross. Jesus is the One who gave up His last breath
on that Cross and died, trusting that His Father, the Lord, would bring life
from this death, radiant light from this darkness. It is Jesus’ faith that God would redeem His
suffering and death that saves us. Jesus
had to have faith in God’s plan when Satan tempted Him to bypass the Cross and
aim for more temporal glory. Jesus did
the heavy lifting. You and I just have
to believe, or are free to reject, that He did.
We got the easy part of this process of redemption, salvation, and
forgiveness. Jesus did the hard
work! And that, brothers and sisters, is
why it is Gospel news! To those
oppressed, to those struggling, to those wondering whether they could be
restored to Yahweh and His blessings, this plan of redemption was
incredible. It was so incredible that it
took Paul, St. Paul—A Jew’s Jew, three years to come to grips with this
Resurrection of Jesus!
The Temple
priests got it wrong; the world got it wrong.
We cannot do anything to make ourselves righteous before God. There is no amount of money, no amount of time,
no amount of prayer, no amount of fasting, no amount of anything that we can
give that makes us deserve to be restored.
That is why it is called grace.
God offers it freely. God gives
it to all those who believe in Lord Jesus.
Young or old, rich or poor, ugly or beautiful, line worker or company
owner, all have the same requirement—Do you believe? That’s it.
It really is that easy.
Brothers and
sisters, if you are struggling with questions of whether your faith measures
up, stop! I promise you, neither yours
nor mine measures up to our Lord’s. All
He demands of us, all He asks of us, is whether we believe that He died for our
sins and was raised on that third day.
That voice that you are hearing, that voice that causes you to question
whether your faith measures up is not our Lord’s. He knew our faith long before He ever came
down from heaven. He went to that Cross
knowing the relative strength or weakness of our faith. And still He died for us, that our Father
might credit our belief in Him as righteousness, and so bless us, we who were
already dead, with eternal life!
Peace,
Brian†
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