May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of
God and of Jesus our Lord. (2 Pet 1)
Who speaks to you this evening, from His letter to the
Romans, saying:
“But now the
righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law…through faith in
Jesus Christ for all who believe.”
From the Father’s heart appears to be the theme for the
4
th stanza of our Lenten hymn we are studying. Our first three
stanzas pointed out our slavery to sin. What prompts a liberation? Only God’s
own mercy and the sacrifice of Jesus, for you. From the Father’s heart comes
the Father’s Will.
The 4
th stanza, one more time:
But God had seen my wretched
state
Before the
world's foundation,
And mindful of
His mercies great,
He planned for
my salvation.
He turned to me
a father's heart;
He did not
choose the easy part
But gave His
dearest treasure.
If there is one thing that unites both believers and
non-believers alike, it is the future. Whether we talk about it in terms of
“what does God want for my life” or “what does the universe have in store for
me”, there is ever the anxiety of the coming future. This is because the future
is closed to us, just as the past is. We are present creatures only, knowing
only the now.
But God knows everything, so it makes sense that we either
ask Him about it, or if He remains silent, attempt to eke out His inscrutable
will for us on our own. Unfortunately for us, inscrutable means impossible to
understand and in our sin, this is how the Bible presents God’s Will to us.
Yes, God created all things, but was it in seven literal
days or were they days that spanned millions of years? Though we would take
“evening and morning” as 24 hour days, you can make an argument for something
called “creative evolution”. That God used evolution to get us to where we are.
Very uncertain.
Or why was there so much violence and degeneracy in the Old
Testament? Didn’t God have a conscience back then? We are expected to hear it
as God’s Word, but how to understand it? We feel we must excuse God for His
oversights and explain away His actions.
The big one is heard in Psalm 73, where King David prays,
“I
was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked”…”Their
eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish”. Truly,
in light of this,
“I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in
innocency” (Ps 73:3, 7, 13)
There just is no telling what God’s will is. He appears
flighty and temperamental. He appears as a hypocrite. In our experience, God
just does what He wants, when He wants.
“He has mercy on whom He wills, and
whom He wills He hardens” (Rom 9:18). And all we can say to that is “the
Lord works in mysterious ways”.
What is even more unbelievable is this mystery appears to be
a comfort for us. If God is so mysterious that we can’t figure Him out, then we
can excuse unfairness in life as not God’s doing. If His will is a mystery,
then His Will can be whatever our will is. If His ways are hidden, then we can
fleece thousands of dollars by sounding smart, “God will reveal it to you in
time, my child”.
In sin, we do not want to know God’s Will, if only because then
we lose control over it. If God’s Will is known publicly, then we can’t make it
up anymore. More than that, we cannot excuse His actions, because now we know
the true motives behind them.
Thus, when Jesus comes to do just that, reveal God’s Will,
He is hated without cause. He comes to preach and teach “God thinks this” and
“God says that” and “God wills this”, revealing what had been hidden from the
ages. This offends the sinner. When God was silent, we could pull the strings.
Now that God is His own man, with His own thoughts, words, and deeds, we are in
trouble and have lost our grift.
What is God’s disposition towards me, we ask? God’s Law
accuses us, our sins accuse us, and our heart condemns us. In our experience,
as in the Psalm, God is against us and must be our enemy.
That is, if our heart is the only judge. Fortunately, Christ
is the only Judge and it is His Office to make God certain. Meaning, it is the
Son’s job to reveal the Will of the Father. One of my favorite verses is the
opening of the letter to the Hebrews:
“Long ago, at many times and in many
ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has
spoken to us by his Son” (1:1-2).
No man is now a gatekeeper to God’s favor. We do not have to
find Moses, or Joshua, or even St. Peter. As in, we put no trust in their
flesh, or ours for that matter, to reveal the things of God to us. God has come
down directly Himself, with His own fleshy mouth, to declare Himself to us and
reveal His Will outside of us.
What is that will? Yes, it may seem confusing when we go
through this messy life, but the Truth is God keeps it very simple. His Will is
our sanctification, as we heard from the Epistle this past Sunday. He wills our
salvation.
His will is done, says our Small Catechism, when He breaks
and hinders every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful
nature, which do not want us to hallow God’s Name or let His kingdom come; and
when He strengthens and keeps us firm in His Word and faith until we die. This
is most certainly true.
That’s it. That’s what our hymn sings and teaches, such
that, whenever you are in doubt about God’s plans and Will for your life, just
sing it and you will be reminded. That, from before creation, your heavenly
Father had seen your wretched state and fatal plight and did not sit on His
thumbs. He planned, He schemed, He thought heavily about His History of
Salvation, for you.
And because of His merciful goodness and because of the sacrifice
of His Greatest Tresure, the Son of God Jesus Christ, He acted. He did not wait
for me to be born and make the right decision or choose the right path. He did
not even wait for the prophets and the Apostles to prepare the way for Him. He
prepped His own path, paved His own Way, and came to do His own work.
The Father’s heart is laid open in the suffering and
crucifixion of Jesus Christ. That is the plan. That is the will. Literally,
when Jesus is scourged, crucified, and poked with a spear He is opened to all.
His saving Blood is poured out for all. That is as open as one can get and He
dies because of it.
And this is “not choosing the easy part” we sang of. Because
He cannot just die, as God, and leave everything behind. He somehow has to live
after the work is done. And He does. He rises again, confirming and completing
His greatest work for you.
God has come down Himself, with no middle man. He has
revealed and opened to us the most profound depths of His fatherly heart and
His pure, unutterable love. For this very purpose He created us, so that He
might redeem us and make us holy. Moreover, having granted and bestowed upon us
everything in heaven and on earth, He has also given us His Son and His Holy
Spirit, through whom He brings us to Himself.
Because, we could never come to recognize the Father’s favor
and grace were it not for the Lord Christ, Who is a mirror of the Father’s heart.
Apart from Him we see nothing but an angry and terrible judge”, teaches our
Large Catechism.
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