Sermon C: 14th S Pent: Prov 25:2

The day before Labor Day, 9/2/07, is also the 14th Sunday after Pentecost with the following three readings assigned: Proverbs 25:2-10 (Do not exalt oneself); Hebrews 13:1-7 (Entertain strangers) and Luke 14:1-14 (Healing the Dropsy). Chosen as the sermon text is Proverbs 25:2, "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter."

What does that mean that God gets glory when He conceals a matter but a king gets glory when he searches out a matter? First the king. The office of being a king is one in which he receives a good reputation (glory) when he makes proper and just judgments in regard to his subjects. For example, if someone accuses a friend of the king of wrongdoing and the king ignores the charge he will have a bad reputation. But if he searches out the truth and is just and fair in his judgment regardless of what this means to his friend, the king will have a good reputation.

God, on the other hand, does not get glory by explaining to us the reason for whatever happens in our lives. Unlike the king who receives glory depending on how his subjects judge him by the evidence at hand, God receives glory because we judge Him by faith, not by sight. There is no evidence that our sins are truly forgiven and that we stand before Him as righteous and sinless human beings. But we trust in His promises connected to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ which results in our giving glory and honor to God for His merciful and gracious attitude toward us.

This is a Law and Gospel distinction. For under the Law we live by sight and make our own judgments as to who should or who should not get glory. But under the Gospel we live by faith and give God the glory at all times for He never forsakes us and always keeps His promises. This has practical ramifications for decisions we make.

It is true that for most of us almost 90% of the decisions we need to make are not informed by God's Word. What car to buy, what house to buy, what cereal to buy, who to marry, what school to attend and so on find no specific information in the Bible. The principle thus is that in regard to spiritual matters of which God has revealed, we look to His holy Word. In regard to temporal matters, we can make our own decisions, as long as they are not sin, and God will bless us.

That means that whatever we decide, He makes sure that His promises now attach themselves to our decision, such as that all things will work to our good; that He will never leaves us nor forsake us; that when we call upon Him He will answer and so on. For those in Christ, we live by faith and give God the glory for He is faithful and will never forsake us nor break His promises.

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Sermon C: 13th S Pent: Heb 12:18,22

The three assigned readings for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost are Isaiah 66:18-23 (All worship God); Hebrews 12:4-29 (2 mountains) and Luke 13:22-30 (I do not know you). Chosen to preach on this Sunday in Canada are two verses from Hebrews 12; namely, 18 and 22: "For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest" and "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels."

The purpose of this blog is not to provide a full sermon that may be preached but rather to sensitize you to the possible L&G elements that would be welcome when heard. A more complete explanation of what follows can be heard by going to kfuo.org and clicking on Law and Gospel and listening to the archived radio program for August 20, 2007. The two mountains of Sinai and Zion provide not only an excellent analogy for Law and Gospel but also a way of understanding the distinction of L&G.

For example, ask most Christians what comes to mind when they think of "Law" and they will respond, "The Ten Commandments." Though such an answer is not entirely in error, it certainly can result in a law-oriented theology in which salvation is merited rather than is inherited due to the work of Jesus Christ.

The goal of this sermon is to have another definition or synonym for "Law" which provides a fuller picture of how God understands "Law" and its impact on human beings. That concept is "Mt. Sinai." For is not Mt. Sinai the location according to Exodus 24 where Israel made a covenant with God to observe and obey all that He commanded? And is it not that covenant that fell flat on its face only a few chapters later with the construction of the golden calf? And is it not Mt. Sinai in which the sounds and sights were so overbearing that the people "begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore"? Yes, to all.

For God's purpose of the Law in regard to the spiritual realm is to put to death our faith. Not our faith in Jesus Christ but our faith in ourselves! For the Law reveals our true condition and rips away from us the shield of our good works against an angry and wrathful God. The Law is good as it strips us of all our egotistical pretentions of observing God's will as the way to salvation.

In fact, without such an understanding and application of the Law, one not only does not look forward to Mt. Zion but rejects it as unnecessary. It is not that the two mountains represent two Gods--the God of wrath and the God of mercy. No, instead, Mt. Sinai represents God in His holy wrath against humans offering Him their works to offset their sins. Mt. Zion represents God's sole work in taking care of the separation between men and God by becoming our substitute in taking the full wrath of God upon Himself so that those who trust in Jesus might be saved.

Yes, there are a number of ways that one can explain the difference between Law and Gospel. But what a clear distinction is made when "Law" refers to "Mt. Sinai" and "Gospel" reminds us of "Mt. Zion." The Law then is not regarded as advice from God as to how to appease His wrath; instead, it reminds us that nothing we do, say or think can placate the deserved wrath from God against us--except the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For He indeed is our Mt. Zion.

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Sermon C: 12th Pent: Jer 29:28

August 19, 2007 is the 12th Sunday after Pentecost. The three readings are Jeremiah 23:16-19 (False prophets' dreams); Hebrews 11:17-40; 12:1-3 (Abraham's faith) and Luke 12:49-56 (Division in families). Chosen to preach about this Sunday is Jeremiah 23:28, "The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has My word, let Him speak My word faithfully."

Most of us trust our physicians when they give us a prescription for our health. And if they make a mistake and we follow their advice, we are not held accountable to God. However, that is not true in regard to our pastors. If they teach false doctrine and we listen to them, we are held to account by God according to the 23rd chapter of Jeremiah. This is emphasized in the New Testament with passages such as Acts 17:11 in which the church at Berea checked out the teaching of the apostle Paul by searching the Scriptures.

From a L&G perspective, those the false preacher teaches his dreams "according to the imagination of his own heart" (Jer. 23:17). In contrast, the teacher of truth speaks from the Word of God. Anytime you wonder whether your pastor is teaching properly, there is a simple way to find out. Ask him this question, "Where in Scripture do you find what you just said?" And then check it out!

Much of what passes for sermon preaching today can be categorized as a kind of therapeutic moralistic deism. For many, the Christian faith is only one of many religions which has as its goal the moral improvement of the people through helping them psychologically overcome their hangups and problems by calling on a god who is not around that much except in an emergency. Psychology has replaced theology which means that the "I" has become the focus of attention rather than the "Christ."

The Law of Jeremiah 23 is that we love to hear how God appreciates us because of our spiritual works of attending worship, giving offerings and being active in our religious organization. Those were the thoughts of many in Israel when Jeremiah revealed instead that God's wrath was coming upon them for their shallow religiosity in contrast to true faith. The Babylonians are coming!

The antidote to such idolatry of making us the center of attention is a focus instead on the cross of Christ and the centrality of His death and resurrection on our behalf when we did not deserve it. The false prophets preached peace and prosperity because they could not imagine that God would permit His precious temple to be destroyed. Little did they know of this God as they preached dreams rather than the Word of God.

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Sermon C: 11th: Gen 15:6

For August 12, 2007, the Schedule C list of three readings are Genesis 15:1-6 (Promise to Abraham); Hebrews 11:1-16 (Faith is...) and Luke 12:22-40 (Where your treasure is). Selected to examine for this weeks is Genesis 15:6 which reads, "And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness."

One of the techniques of teaching God's Word is through the use of comparisons, similes, metaphors, parables and other such analogies. Normally, one can find analogies from our own experience to compare what the kingdom of God on earth is really like. For example, to offset the notion that man freely chooses to believe in Jesus and thus be saved, the analogy of "adoption" is quite helpful. For what does an infant DO in order to get adopted. Answer: Nothing!

However, the essence of Christian doctrine in regard to salvation by grace, through faith, apart from works, has no analogy to the best of our knowledge. For what the Christian doctrine professes is that when Abraham believed, his status before God changed. When Abraham believed the promise of God in regard to the One Who would be born from his flesh, God "accounted it to him for righteousness." What does that mean?

It means that from God's point of view, when a person comes to faith he is now considered righteous, sinless and pure. Can you think of any analogy from our experience that demonstrates simply by believing something your status changes? For example, on my birthday my mother sends me a check in the mail. But so far, the check had not arrived. So I phoned her and ask what happened to the check. She says she sent it to another address we have.

I believe her but I still don't have the money. I have to go to the other address, look through the mail, find the check, take it to the bank, have it cashed and only then does my status change from poor to rich. So faith alone did not do anything until I had taken some action. But in the holy Christian Church, faith alone does everything. And we can't even take credit for believing because it is a gift from God.

The idea that faith must be joined with works in order for salvation to take place is not taught in the Bible. Just as with an adopted child, the works do not make him more of a child, so also, our works can only be done when we are already fully saved. As Jesus says, "I am the Vine, you are the branches; without Me, you can do nothing."

No other religion in the world even gets close to this basic foundation of how one is saved through faith apart from works. Finally, it is important to realize that the CAUSE of our salvation is not faith; the cause is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Faith is only the vehicle through which God gives us the benefits of that death and resurrection. And as is clear from the Scripture, faith itself is a gift from God so that the holy Trinity gets all the credit for our salvation.

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