READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:
Isaiah 12:1-6
James 1:16-21
- St. John 16:5-15
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom 1)
Who speaks to you today, saying:
“And when He comes, He will convict the world concerning
sin and righteousness and judgment:”
Jesus causes this to be written in His Word to dispel confusion. The world is confusing and anxiety inducing because the devil sets up institution after institution to lead you away from Jesus. His institutions are all glamorous, generous, and virtuous; smoke and mirrors. He makes sure to check off all the boxes on the “what would Jesus do” list so that you begin to believe that in those places you find Jesus, instead of His Church.
The boxes he connivingly leaves blank, as preached to us today from the Gospel, are the forgiveness of sins, the righteousness of the God-man, and the final judgement. The devil copies and twists the Church in order to lead astray. The Spirit of Truth calls and confirms us by that Gospel, enlightens us with His Gifts, sanctifies, and keeps us in the true faith.
What we see in modern events is a repeat of history. Probably because we have tried so hard to erase or rewrite it. What we tackle and throw down as a false idol today, is the state and its church. Specifically, the relationship between the Church and the State.
The problem of the marriage of Church and state is not that a Roman Catholic gets elected president, nor is it that Christian values may creep into policy and opinions. The first problem is that the State hates the Church. The State sees no value in the Church except to pawn itself off as morally superior and “with the people”. In other words, to get votes and retain power.
Back in Dr. Luther’s time, the state was supposedly a defender of the Church, because the rulers were allegedly faithful churchmen and defenders of what was good and true. However, when you don’t have a good ruler, or good representation, you don’t get a good church and that bad church then has an army to impose itself on others. The result is oppression and repression of the Truth of Jesus.
Today, we see the push for “freedom from religion”. “Separation of Church and State” has come to mean the complete absence of religion, or at least what most think is religion. However, that leads to a vacuum of religion. For, without some form of religion, there is no moral high-ground. Thus, the State creates its own religion to fill that void and remain “right”.
Though this state church may call itself a “church”, it is not the Church of Christ. When you make a contract with the state to exchange funds and services, you are a state church. When you preach every political policy and every media outlet shares your views, you are a state church. When your religious platform is a steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation, not salvation, then you are a state church.
Why? For one, racial justice is code word for “some races and not others”. “Reconciliation” is code word for some conflicts and not others. “Morality” is code word for aiding some people, but not all, especially not babies in the womb. “Jesus” is not God made man, but code for caring for the poor and vulnerable who we deem are poor and vulnerable.
In this light, the “faith” of the State Church does not create more Christians, but more unbelievers. Since your “dogma” is aligned with the state, then the people who don’t agree are second class Christians at best and really don’t belong at all. Who’s going to join that? On the other side: if you only have to believe in social reform to have faith, then no Jesus is necessary for that.
That is the real danger of the State Church, that it presents false doctrine and teaching as “what Jesus wants us to do”. This then becomes “the church” to everyone who is looking for The Church. It holds up future visions and endless “progress” as the moral code, regardless if we ever reach it. God is far away, unknowable, and untouchable. A true Christian cannot tolerate such nonsense.
Where is the sanity? In today’s Gospel. Jesus is directly concerned with all the previously mentioned suffering. In order to care for us perfectly, He wants us to know where we find His morality, where we find His righteousness, and where we find His Judgement. And if you only pay nominal attention, you will note that it is not inside humans or humanitarian work, but Jesus alone.
Let’s let Jesus speak:
Concerning sin because they do not believe in me, He says. That is, sin has nothing to do with racial inequality, government standoffs, or public funding, but has everything to do with believing in the Person, Word, and Work of Christ.
Would Jesus care for the poor and vulnerable? Of course. How would He do it? By suffering, dying, rising to new life, and creating a blessed place at His side, for them, for all eternity. Can you not enter heaven if you are poor, oppressed, or persecuted? Actually, its only those groups who get in!
So what happens if you un-poor the poor? According to the state “christians”, if they are not poor, they are privileged, and if they are privileged then they are excluded from the mission of Jesus. No heaven for you.
Concerning righteousness, Jesus goes on, because they do not believe in me. This we can see from any and all fake-church statements. There is no Jesus there! They are committed to every other cause in the world, except to Jesus. Oh, they may tack on His Name to any and everything, but if He is not forgiving sins, granting faith, and giving eternal life, then the word “Jesus” doesn’t mean anything.
You can work towards social justice, racial justice, and gender justice without Jesus. You don’t get to claim He’s on your side because of some superior sense of morality. Works do not get you into heaven. The Law is ended and fulfilled in Christ. The only way your works are Christ-like is if you are being crucified for your faith.
Finally, concerning judgement, because the ruler of this world is judged. The prince of the air has certainly taken the doctrines of the Church and twisted them. Today, if you are against any public policy or law that “helps”, you are judged as not a Christian.
If you are against a certain political affiliation that is helping those less fortunate, on paper, then you are excommunicated. The devil has taken Church, run it through the State grinder, and created a monster, a beast, the Anti-church, where belief in people is the chief article on which the state church stands or falls.
We live in a world that loves to play games with words, in order to find who has the highest moral currency, in other words, to virtue signal. However, according to the Truth, all sinners are welcome; all are welcome in Christ’s Church. The prostitute ate with Jesus, but they went away changed, He did not. The tax collector drank with Jesus, but they went away changed, Jesus did not.
Instead of grandstanding, we need actual work: the work of Christ. The sinner must come to Jesus, but in repentance and will not stay the same, by virtue of the Spirit of Truth. The true work of the Church is teaching about redemption and salvation, not social initiatives. The Church defends the faith through the Kingdom of Christ Crucified, the true Ruler of this world Who was judged and deemed not fit for it.
Already in Faith, the Christian will fight for justice, compassion, and reconciliation. To get faith, the Christian must let Christ fight and do the work.
And herein lies the difference between the churches or between the kingdoms. The earthly kingdom takes and only asks for more, more, more. According to God, in 1 Samuel 8:10-18, the earthly kingdom will take your sons and daughters for service. Its economy will be taking the first fruits of your labor to increase its own.
It is obeying men rather than God and “in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day” (1 Sam 8:18). Why? Because now we have our god, our king to fight for us, and we voted for him. We do not need a Father in heaven.
The Church, the Kingdom of heaven only gives. The complete opposite. Jesus says His kingdom is not of this world, because His kingdom gives. “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Ps 51:17). This Jesus shows and gives on the cross to inaugurate His Kingdom over and against the world. The broken spirit and heart are Christ’s, because “it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand” (Isaiah 53:10).
The Church on earth is unique in that She bears the cross in order to be conformed to the Image of Christ. She suffers in order to relate to sufferers. Jesus sends His Spirit to His Church to establish His Rock, that we may physically run to it. Where the world spins, our hearts are fixed on the cross of Christ, where true joys are to be found.
The Good Shepherd cries out in the Truth of the Gospel: forgiveness for His sake alone, and we hear His voice and follow Him to His Table.
Alleluia!
Amen.
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