What a Christian is [Easter Sunrise]

* * * T E X T  O N L Y ~~ N O  A U D I O * * *

 READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Isaiah 25:6-9

• 1 Corinthians 15:1-25

• St. John 20:1-18

To my true children in the common faith: Grace and Peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior (Titus 1)
 
Who speaks to you on this day from His Gospel heard, saying:

“Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

 
All of His work being finished, Jesus now gives this strange warning and command to St. Mary. This is included by God, in His Word in order for us to ponder why we are here on this particular Sunday and what it means that we call ourselves Christian. Jesus wants to point us to certainty in Him not ourselves, that we are Christian because of Christ. Therefore we should love our name’s sake and love His Church.
 
What makes a Christian? Can you just say “I am a Christian and it be true”?
The world and our sinful nature fight for supremacy on this point. The world wants Christianity to be just another religion, able to be relegated to a mental disability corner, but dangerous enough to be persecuted and eliminated. And our sinful nature wants nothing more than for Christianity to be of that same world.
 
It is a strange relationship, to be sure. On one hand, the world is trying to absorb Christianity into its nothingness and on the other, so-called Christians are doing their best to be doing the things of the world. And I’m not just talking about sinful behavior, “of the world”, stuff. I’m talking about changing doctrine and sacrificing truth.
 
For example, we know the reason that unbelievers don’t want Christians involved with politics. What we don’t always think about is why self-professed believers don’t want the Church involved with the government, because its the same reason. They both want to be able to do whatever they want, that’s the bottom line. They both want to interpret the Bible however they want, with no repercussions or discussions. “Imagine”, they say, “if the law of the land were ‘baptism is for babies’”. I don’t believe that. How unbiblical! What a horrible world that would be.
 
Not all who claim the title of Christian or even Lutheran are what they say they are.
 
So what makes a Christian?
Better yet, we should start again by asking “What is Christianity?”
“Christianity is the life and salvation God has given us in and through Jesus Christ.”, says our Small Catechism (LSCE, 47). This definition is primarily dependent on God’s service to us in Jesus Christ, because without Him giving us Jesus, there would be no life or salvation.
 
Christianity, then, is not merely knowing certain facts, doing certain things, or pledging allegiance to certain groups.  It is, rather, receiving the Lord of Life who is among us as One Who Serves.  The faith He gives us, then, will have its own effect on what we say and do and how we live.
 
What is this service God supplies?
For one thing, He provides new clothes. A Christian is one who has been covered and clothed by the sweet exchange. 2 Corinthians 5:21 is the foundational verse: "For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the Righteousness of God in Him".
 
What else could cover our sin, but His righteousness? To be a Christian is to be the recipient of a divine substitution. A Christian is someone whose guilt is overwhelmed by the Holy One’s merit. It is not our pious decisions that makes us Christians, but that "holy and wonderful" moment where our iniquity is hidden in His righteousness. This hiddenness is what we term Justification.
 
Therefore, what makes a true Christian is being unable to do any of that. This is the meaning of Galatians 4:4, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son”.  You see, God was waiting for 2 things, first, that our wickedness reach its peak and second, that our inability be clearly shown, in order that there be no reason to boast.
 
Some argue that we must do what is in ourselves in order to prepare for Grace. Titus 3:5, however, speaks of no preparation whatsoever saying, “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own Mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit”.
 
A Christian is not found in nature, nor is he born by nature. He must be reborn by Grace. A Christian’s righteousness in external to himself, received by faith alone. His internal renewal are the good works that follow, but never earn salvation.
 
God does not reward any of our efforts with grace. Instead, He surprises us with benefits surpassing all our expectation. Grace is not the "capstone" of a human process; it is a "sudden" and "unsearchable operation" done to us. It is not that we sought God, but that "He Himself took on Him the burden of our iniquities" when we were "unworthy". All in order to make us worthy.
 
For Jesus, even Easter morning is not yet time to cling to Him and become a part of Him, as He says to St. Mary, “Do not cling to me”. Not, “don’t ever cling to me”, but don’t cling to me yet. After Jesus has ascended, then we may cling to Him. And His ascended Self is this: that His Word be preached through His Apostles and that we be devoted to the fellowship, the breaking of the bread, and the prayers (Acts 2:42).
 
We do not find Jesus in nature. He came down, as He said, “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh” (John 6:51).
He does not wait for an invitation, but interrupts our fatal rebellion.
 
St. Augustine says, "Man, when he was created, used his free will badly and lost both himself and it." (Enchiridion IX:30). St. Bernard of Clairvaux comments that, “God is the Author of salvation; the free will is only capable of being saved” (On Grace and Free Will, p4-5). Grace does not find a prepared heart, rather it creates a new heart.
 
All this is why our Lutheran Confessions state that the chief worship of God in the Gospel is the desire to receive forgiveness of sins, grace, and righteousness (Ap IV(II): 49).
And Faith is that worship which receives God’s offered blessings (Ap IV(b):189).  These blessings God has located in His Word and Sacrament as witnessed to by Acts 2:42.
 
So a true Christian worships, in this way. A true Christian doesn’t just “go to church”, but gathers together with the risen Christ and His church to receive His gifts of forgiveness and life.
 
A Christian, therefore, is a "miracle of grace" who lives as a stranger on earth because he has been wrapped in the righteousness of Heaven. A Christian is "made" not by an upward climb of the soul, but by the downward descent of the Son into our helplessness. A Christian is "passive" in his justification. To suggest we must "prepare" for grace is to say that the sick man must heal himself before he can visit the Physician.
 
“For by a single offering”, says Hebrews 10:14, “He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Heb 10:14).
He Who? Jesus. Who is in charge? Jesus. Who’s religion and Church is it? Christ’s. Its right there in the name, “Christ-ianity”.