- - NO AUDIO - - TEXT ONLY - -
READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:
Romans 8:1-11
- St. John 14:15-27
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:
“He who raised
Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His
Spirit Who dwells in you”
In the face of arguments of logic and reason, we are often
confused. Especially when it comes to holding God to that same, sinful
standard. As in, if He doesn’t make sense to me, then I won’t believe. Our sin
makes up the rules for logic and reason, therefore, if we don’t like something,
we will argue in favor of the opposite, whether we believe it or not.
So when God says suffering produces good, we run away.
This we keep in mind as we ponder our 7th and 8th stanzas of
“Dear Christians one and all Rejoice” this evening:
7 To me He said: "Stay close to Me,
8 "Though he will shed My precious blood,
I am your rock and castle.
Me
of My life bereaving,
Your ransom I Myself will be;
All this I suffer
for your good;
For you I strive and wrestle.
Be
steadfast and believing.
For I am yours, and you are Mine,
Life will from death the vict'ry win;
And where I am you may remain;
My innocence shall bear your sin,
The foe shall not divide us.
And you are blest forever.
There should always be an interest is digging into things,
hymns, bible verses,, etc. that weren’t English to begin with. Such as when we
ponder our hymn as we have been during Lent, we should realize that it was
written in German first and translated to English.
The first line in the hymn I want to point out is in stanza
8: “be steadfast and believing”. The way it is worded now does not make the
connection I believe Dr. Luther wanted to make. As it is, it sounds like Jesus
suffering is one thing and our steadfast believing is another. Different
corners of the boxing ring.
What this leads to is false belief in a dogma that is so
popular these days. That Jesus did His work, now I do mine. He did His cross
thing long ago, today, I have to make vows in light of that and carry on the
work. Because of what use is the cross 2000 years after the fact?
Indeed, it is useful only for remembering. It is useful only
for paying respects. It is useful for my past and for my future, but what I
have to do now, today is in my hands and I’m not going to let establishment
religion get in the way of that.
But as Romans 8 teaches, Jesus’s work has to do with now
just as it had been done then, or just as if we lived then. Verse 11 says, He
will give life to our mortal bodies, today. Now. Not only then and at the end.
Life has come, will come again, and is coming right now.
Therefore an alternate translation sings, “All this I suffer
for thy good, to THAT with firm faith cleave well”. Of utmost importance is you
cleaving to Jesus’s suffering. Does He suffer for all eternity? No. He suffered
once and was finished. But it was His suffering that completed the purchase of
you from sin, death, and the devil. Not His resurrection and not His
ascension.
Thus we from teach our English translation as we are to be
steadfast and believing, everyday, that Jesus’s suffering was for our good. It
is foundational to the Christian faith. It is a dogma that must be kept close
to the heart, for there is no other work which allows us to live in His Spirit,
as the Epistle says.
Though we are not in the flesh, as the Apostle says, we
can’t help but pinch ourselves and find that we are still indeed, in the flesh.
We still wear our meat-suits day in and day out. So is St. Paul lying? Is this
proof God contradicts Himself?
It becomes important that the terrified conscience then
hears words of comfort, “to me He said stay close to me”, “hold this place next
to me. its going to be rough from here on out. I will settle all your sinful
matters, Jesus sings. I will give all of Myself up for you, I will fight your
battle. I am yours and you are mine, my place is your place, and nothing will
divide us.
But I’m going to have to suffer and bear the cross, to do
it, and that is real and scary and in the flesh. And you’re going to have to
bear your cross as well, when you follow Me. But when it happens, don’t keep
your eyes on your work or your understanding, but on the Promise I just gave
you. Cling to my suffering and dying with all the strength of faith, and you
will succeed.
For, sin is not just accumulated misdeeds and things done or
left undone. Sin is a power that holds its victims captive. Old Testament
background for the language of ransom/redeem has to do with slavery. Slaves are
under the procession of another. They belong to their owner. The law diagnoses
your captivity. It reveals who or what “owns” you.
Therefore, the work we do, any work we do, is done in
captivity. It is owed, regulated, and allowed by sin, death, and the devil.
That was the point of stanzas 2 and 3. As the Father Wills it, Jesus is sent to
Redeem those in sin’s captivity, but the Redemption is in the Blood. the holy,
precious Blood and His innocent suffering and death.
Without the cross, there is no redemption. Without Blood,
there is no sacrifice for sin (Heb 9:22). So, our hope to which we must cling
is His Blood, now delivered into our hands, in the Cup of the New Testament. In
the face of Uncertainty to God’s Word, we eat and drink the sure and certain
Promise of faith, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life. In the face of those
who would have us believe God is self-contradictory, we cling to the Body and
Blood of Jesus.
Going through this world is a roller coaster ride. One day
we are on fire for the Lord and movin’ up like George and Wheezy and the next,
the Lord sees fit to give us His hardest battles and trials. Our heart does not
take this well and move in and out of faith and doubt, trust and rebellion as
easily as we walk through a doorway.
“stay close to me”, He sings. His innocence has borne your
sin and you are His forever, through cross and trial. You have a new and
different Lord. Not sin, death or the devil but Jesus crucified and raised from
the grave, through suffering and death. You are relocated from slavery to
freedom and baptized into the Body and Blood that fought with death and won.
To this great strife of the ages, Jesus Christ contends with
the devil in our flesh and Promises that the God Who wants us alive, is the God
Who dies. So, hold that crucifix before your closing eyes and don’t blink in
the face of trial and tribulation. the Promise of God is stronger than your
doubts. The Word of God is stronger than your fears.
His Life WILL from death the victory win and in that, you
are blest forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment