Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ (Re 1:4,5). Amen.
Maybe you heard about it. Black Friday. Didn’t the advertising begin back in July? It has almost become a national holiday. In fact, it was on the calendar on my phone. (You can check yours later.) And I didn’t put it there. The mall is not where I find myself in my free time. I even have my wife’s birthday and our anniversary to contend with in the next few days. You would think I would have taken advantage of the sales starting on Thursday.
This is the time of the year when the days of the week get names. In case you didn’t stock up on Friday. There was Small business Saturday. They were happy if you stopped in to swipe your credit card for Christmas gifts.
What about today? I am going to go with the church calendar and not the regular calendar. It is the last Sunday before we begin a new year. But it has nothing to do with shopping for deals and everything to do with saving our souls. It is Christ the King Sunday. Give glory to the King who makes us clean and who makes us calm. We read from …
Revelation 1:4-8
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus, the King of kings (Re 19:16),
A trip to an island sounds exotic and exciting. (By the way, it is.) There is sand, sun, and surf. (And no snow, shovels, or sweaters.) Perhaps it calls to mind a nice vacation get-away.
But not for the apostle John. He was on the island of Patmos. Not for enjoyment, but in exile. All because he was preaching and teaching about Jesus (Re 1:9). Instead of a sigh of contentment because of the place, there may have been one of confusion because of the persecution.
That is why Jesus came to him. In Revelation, he gives John a series of visions. The theme is Jesus wins. He is still on his throne—reigning and ruling as the King. As we look at the opening verses, we have occasion to sing his praises.
Give Glory to the King
1. Who makes us clean (4b-6)
2. Who makes us calm (7,8)
1. Who makes us clean (4b-6)
I suppose that if you have a day named after you, it is because of something significant. Christ the King Sunday. It is not just because he is a king. There have been kings who are just a name or a note in a history book. Jesus is the King. And add to that what he does. Give glory to the King who makes us clean.
John writes Revelation to seven churches located across the water from him (Re 1:4). His greeting is a familiar one. But we ought not to overlook it. “Grace and peace to you” (Re 1:4).
“grace” (Re 1:4). That is the reason for our rescue from sin. Grace is undeserved kindness that sinners don’t earn, but what we enjoy. Because God hands it to us in Jesus.
“peace” (Re 1:4). That is the result. All is right between us and God through Jesus.
“Grace and peace to you” (Re 1:4). That is ours already. John’s prayer is that it continue to be. And it is. When the guilt of your conscience is heavy: “Grace and peace to you” (Re 1:4). When the attack of the devil is hard: “Grace and peace to you” (Re 1:4).
And those two outstanding gifts come from our Triune God.
“Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come” (Re 1:4). That is God the Father. He is the changeless One—no beginning, no end (Ps 90:2; Mal 3:6). It is like what he mentioned to Moses at the burning bush: “I AM WHO I AM” (Ex 3:14).
“Grace and peace to you … from the seven spirits before his throne” (Re 1:4). That is God the Holy Spirit. He is God himself and the complete source of divine wisdom, understanding, counsel, power, knowledge, and respect for the Lord (Is 11:2).
“Grace and peace to you … from Jesus Christ” (Re 1:4,5). That is God the Son. He is the One whom God anointed to save us from our sins (Mt 1:21).
The rationale for putting Jesus last is that John goes into greater detail about our King. He describes who he is:
“the faithful witness” (Re 1:5). As our Prophet, he is dependable and reliable as he depicts and reveals the Father’s love for us (Dt 18:15; Jn 1:18). And there he was on trial in front of Pilate. He explains his purpose for appearing on earth: “For this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth” (Jn 18:37). We listen to the One who is the Truth—the only Savior who brings us into his family (Jn 14:6).
“the firstborn from the dead” (Re 1:5). As our Priest, he sacrificed himself for us on the cross on Good Friday, but God raised him from the dead on Easter Sunday. And now because he lives, we live (Jn 14:19). Because Jesus exited his grave, we will too.
“the ruler of the kings of the earth” (Re 1:5). As our King, he is in control and in command. No one is over him—no president or person—and nothing gets by him—no problem or pain. He directs everything for our good and determines all for his Church (Ro 8:28; Eph 1:20-22).
And then John designates what the King does:
“who loves us” (Re 1:5). That is ongoing and unending—continuing on and on. It is not here this day and gone the next (Jn 3:16). He hung the cross and headed out of the tomb because that is what we needed.
“who … has freed us from our sins by his blood” (Re 1:5). That is a fact because it happened. There was a payment required to release us from our wrongs. The cost was his precious blood, shed on that instrument of torture (1 Pe 1:18,19). But he has opened heaven for us by breaking the chains of sin’s punishment and power.
“who … has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father” (Re 1:5,6). His rule in our hearts has come to us (Mt 6:10). And not just an exalted position but also extraordinary privileges. We have direct access to our Father. We have a definite activity in offering our bodies as living sacrifices as thank offerings (Ro 12:1), declaring the praises of him who called us out of darkness to his marvelous light (1 Pe 2:9).
As John says that and we see that, we join him in chanting the doxology to our King: “To him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen” (Re 1:6). Yes, it is so. Give glory to the King who makes us clean—washing us from every spot and stain of sin.
2. Who makes us calm (7,8)
I suspect that if an important dignitary were to visit St. Paul, that would cause a bit of excitement in getting ready and being ready for him. The King is coming. We can be anxious in a good way. Give glory to the King who makes us calm.
Jesus is returning. The reality is not in doubt. It is the when that is in question. We are to be on alert. Recall back at Jesus’ ascension, the angels announced: “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).
John was there and now calls attention to that detail with his “Look” (Re 1:7). And what are we to note? “Look, he is coming with the clouds” (Re 1:7). The prophet Daniel also made clear the vehicle for his arrival. “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven” (Da 7:13; cf. Mt 24:30).
He will not sneak back. “And every eye will see him, even those who pierced him” (Re 1:7). How that will be we can leave to the Lord. But there will be no obstructed view like when someone stands in front of the TV.
It will be a day of miserable mourning. “All the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him” (Re 1:7). Those who have made earth their home, becoming so wrapped up in the present that they fail to consider what is in the future. Perhaps we could compare it to a shopper that concerns himself with a Christmas gift in December rather than Christ’s gift of heaven. And then it will be too late (Mt 25:41). There is an emphatic affirmation: “So shall it be! Amen” (Re 1:6). It is unmistakable and unshakable.
But that is not all. How do we know? Because the King speaks. Our King. “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty’” (Re 1:8). Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. We would comment that Jesus is "the A through Z." He is the first and the last, the beginning and the end (Re 22:13). And he is eternal, “the same yesterday, today, and forever” (He 13:8). As the psalmist had us sing: “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever” (Ps 45:6). And his might has no limit. He is over every host in heaven and army on earth. And he uses his muscle to help us, not to hurt us. He destroyed the devil and defeated death. And he hands us the victory. That is why there will not be incredible sorrow for us but extreme joy from us. The King will wipe away every tear from our eyes as he welcomes us to our heavenly home (Re 21:4; Mt 25:34). Give glory to the King who calms us with the comfort that we are his right now and forever.
It is fine if merchants have their day. I guess there is Cyber Monday yet for your next chance to spend some cash. But the Messiah will have his day too. Christ the King Sunday. Give glory to the King who makes us clean. He removes our sin with his holy blood. And he will have another day. Give glory to the King who makes us calm. He readies us for his reappearance on the last day. “To him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen” (Re 1:6).
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen (Re 1:5,6).
November 25, 2018
St. John Lutheran Church Sermons
Sunday, November 25, 2018
Thursday, November 22, 2018
Thanksgiving Meditations
Praise the Lord in the morning
It is morning. Your eyes open—slowly or suddenly. With or without an alarm.
What thoughts immediately run through your mind at that moment?
Possibly what you plan to do, hope to do, want to do. Before your head comes off the pillow or your feet hit the ground, you have plotted out the day—of course, with the assumption that you will accomplish every last thing on the list.
Or perhaps there is a question or a concern about the upcoming hours. How will I achieve my multiple goals? There is this that could interfere or that which could interrupt. There could be this situation to disrupt or that scenario to disturb.
Tomorrow it might be how long to bake or how often to baste the bird so that there is not dryness on one hand or E. coli on the other.
So many things could race through your brain.
Maybe King David could help us. He knew a thing or two about pressures and problems. It might have been during his son Absalom’s rebellion that he sang a psalm. Instead of wondering or worrying about the day, with him, we can begin with a silent or spoken prayer.
The fact that we can even pray is a gift from God. (If you are coming up with a list of things to be thankful for, that might make it. It is definitely near the top.) Only a child of God through faith in Christ can come before him. It is Jesus who paid for all of our sins that makes the privilege possible. We approach our Father as boldly and confidently as dear children ask their dear father (cf. Luther’s Explanation to the Address of the Lord’s Prayer). And God gladly and willing turns his ear like a mom drops everything to listen to her child when he calls on the phone. And she loves to hear that voice.
David reminds us that we address our requests to the LORD—the One who is changeless in his love and boundless in his grace. “In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice” (Ps 5:3). As day breaks, our voice beseeches our God …
With a prayer of thanksgiving. We have a new day of grace after a deep night of sleep. God has watched over us and woken us up again. Sometimes when someone asks, “How are you?” the casual, or comical, response is: “Still breathing.” But there is more than a simple action. Every time our lungs routinely inhale and repeatedly exhale is a gift from the Lord. Another day is a reminder of that.
With a prayer of receiving. We have opportunity to serve our God and our neighbor with our abilities—in a personal way like a mother to a professional way like an employee (unless you have tomorrow off—from work, that is, not as a parent. There are no vacations from that).
Note that Luther does a nice job in directing our attention to that. His morning prayer is worth memorizing.
It is interesting that the gospel writer Mark notes that at daybreak after a busy day of driving out a demon in the synagogue and healing many people, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” (Mk 1:35). He felt that it was necessary to spend some time talking to his heavenly Father. How much more do we?
David continues: “In the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation” (Ps 5:3). We have the opportunity to arrange our cares like you might do with your clothes on the bed—deciding on what outfit to wear. (There is another thing—we undoubtedly have more than one to choose from. Another blessing to give thanks for.) And then like an ancient watchman on the wall looking intently, we wait expectantly for the Lord’s blessing on our day.
What is a good time of day to praise the Lord? Praise the Lord in the morning. Happy Thanksgiving.
We read from Psalm 5:3:
In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.
Praise the Lord at noon
It is noon. This is fuzzy math because it depends on when you rolled out of bed, but the day is half over. The morning is in the past; the afternoon is in the present. Some things started; others ended. But there is so much more to carry out and work through. First, there is lunch. Food on the table is another occasion for appreciation to the Lord (Ps 145:15,16)
But then what? King David can lend a hand again. Once more it might be from the episode of when his son was trying to usurp the throne and he was forced to flee from Jerusalem (2 Sa 15-18). David entrusts his cause to the Lord. “Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice” (Ps 55:17).
Recall that was also the practice of the 80-year old Daniel. It was his jealous enemies who got King Darius to issue an edict that no one was to pray to any god or person for the next 30 days except to the king (Da 6:7). If anyone was caught, they would be a happy lunch for the hungry lions. Daniel did not deny his God, but lived out his loyalty. He continued his practice: “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened to Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to God, just as he had done before” (Da 6:10). Yes, he prayed at midday—one of his fixed times of devotion—along with the other two. But interesting is the content of his prayer—thanksgiving, not complaining—even it could have been the last day of his life.
That is a good thing to keep in mind. As we consider of what we are appreciative, it is usually what we like or what we enjoy. And nothing wrong with that. Every good and perfect gift comes from our heavenly Father (Ja 2:17). But even in troubling and trying times—and each of us has those, we can give thanks to God. From house arrest in Rome, Paul could pen: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Php 4:4). In another epistle, he could encourage: “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thess 5:16-18).
So as we make our way through the day, even when in sorrow we groan or in sadness we moan, we call out to God when those things occupy our attention. And like in the morning, we have the remembrance and the reassurance that the Lord listens. And God answers in his wisdom. Included in those petitions would be for strength and support to keep on with the challenges and charges of the unfinished day.
What is a good time of day to praise the Lord? Praise the Lord at noon. Happy Thanksgiving.
We read from Psalm 55:17:
Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.
Praise the Lord in the evening
It is evening. You are weary from all the effort extended and worn-out from all the energy expended throughout the day. And looking back, what is there—tasks uncompleted and sins committed? Now what?
Yet again, King David can assist us. We join those all the way to the ends of the earth who respect and revere the Lord in awe and admiration of his powerful activity. Just like God controls the waves of the ocean so that they go only so far, he limits the nations on earth (Ps 65:5-7). Think back to the Exodus when the Lord brought the nation of Israel out of their slavery so they could return to the Promised Land—the place that our Savior would be placed in a manger, hung on a cross, and raised from the dead, all for our sin and for our salvation. From the time that the sun goes up to when it goes down, the mighty acts of God from furnishing our needs day after day to forgiving our sins day by day bring happiness.
Luther captures those ideas well in his evening prayer. It is valuable to commit it to memory.
So instead of Thanksgiving being one day, Thanksgiving can be all day. It is the Lord who causes us to shout with gladness.
What is a good time of day to praise the Lord? Praise the Lord in the evening. Happy Thanksgiving.
We read from Psalm 65:8:
Those living far away fear your wonders; where morning dawns and evening fades you call forth songs of joy.
November 21, 2018
It is morning. Your eyes open—slowly or suddenly. With or without an alarm.
What thoughts immediately run through your mind at that moment?
Possibly what you plan to do, hope to do, want to do. Before your head comes off the pillow or your feet hit the ground, you have plotted out the day—of course, with the assumption that you will accomplish every last thing on the list.
Or perhaps there is a question or a concern about the upcoming hours. How will I achieve my multiple goals? There is this that could interfere or that which could interrupt. There could be this situation to disrupt or that scenario to disturb.
Tomorrow it might be how long to bake or how often to baste the bird so that there is not dryness on one hand or E. coli on the other.
So many things could race through your brain.
Maybe King David could help us. He knew a thing or two about pressures and problems. It might have been during his son Absalom’s rebellion that he sang a psalm. Instead of wondering or worrying about the day, with him, we can begin with a silent or spoken prayer.
The fact that we can even pray is a gift from God. (If you are coming up with a list of things to be thankful for, that might make it. It is definitely near the top.) Only a child of God through faith in Christ can come before him. It is Jesus who paid for all of our sins that makes the privilege possible. We approach our Father as boldly and confidently as dear children ask their dear father (cf. Luther’s Explanation to the Address of the Lord’s Prayer). And God gladly and willing turns his ear like a mom drops everything to listen to her child when he calls on the phone. And she loves to hear that voice.
David reminds us that we address our requests to the LORD—the One who is changeless in his love and boundless in his grace. “In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice” (Ps 5:3). As day breaks, our voice beseeches our God …
With a prayer of thanksgiving. We have a new day of grace after a deep night of sleep. God has watched over us and woken us up again. Sometimes when someone asks, “How are you?” the casual, or comical, response is: “Still breathing.” But there is more than a simple action. Every time our lungs routinely inhale and repeatedly exhale is a gift from the Lord. Another day is a reminder of that.
With a prayer of receiving. We have opportunity to serve our God and our neighbor with our abilities—in a personal way like a mother to a professional way like an employee (unless you have tomorrow off—from work, that is, not as a parent. There are no vacations from that).
Note that Luther does a nice job in directing our attention to that. His morning prayer is worth memorizing.
It is interesting that the gospel writer Mark notes that at daybreak after a busy day of driving out a demon in the synagogue and healing many people, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” (Mk 1:35). He felt that it was necessary to spend some time talking to his heavenly Father. How much more do we?
David continues: “In the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation” (Ps 5:3). We have the opportunity to arrange our cares like you might do with your clothes on the bed—deciding on what outfit to wear. (There is another thing—we undoubtedly have more than one to choose from. Another blessing to give thanks for.) And then like an ancient watchman on the wall looking intently, we wait expectantly for the Lord’s blessing on our day.
What is a good time of day to praise the Lord? Praise the Lord in the morning. Happy Thanksgiving.
We read from Psalm 5:3:
In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.
Praise the Lord at noon
It is noon. This is fuzzy math because it depends on when you rolled out of bed, but the day is half over. The morning is in the past; the afternoon is in the present. Some things started; others ended. But there is so much more to carry out and work through. First, there is lunch. Food on the table is another occasion for appreciation to the Lord (Ps 145:15,16)
But then what? King David can lend a hand again. Once more it might be from the episode of when his son was trying to usurp the throne and he was forced to flee from Jerusalem (2 Sa 15-18). David entrusts his cause to the Lord. “Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice” (Ps 55:17).
Recall that was also the practice of the 80-year old Daniel. It was his jealous enemies who got King Darius to issue an edict that no one was to pray to any god or person for the next 30 days except to the king (Da 6:7). If anyone was caught, they would be a happy lunch for the hungry lions. Daniel did not deny his God, but lived out his loyalty. He continued his practice: “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened to Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to God, just as he had done before” (Da 6:10). Yes, he prayed at midday—one of his fixed times of devotion—along with the other two. But interesting is the content of his prayer—thanksgiving, not complaining—even it could have been the last day of his life.
That is a good thing to keep in mind. As we consider of what we are appreciative, it is usually what we like or what we enjoy. And nothing wrong with that. Every good and perfect gift comes from our heavenly Father (Ja 2:17). But even in troubling and trying times—and each of us has those, we can give thanks to God. From house arrest in Rome, Paul could pen: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Php 4:4). In another epistle, he could encourage: “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thess 5:16-18).
So as we make our way through the day, even when in sorrow we groan or in sadness we moan, we call out to God when those things occupy our attention. And like in the morning, we have the remembrance and the reassurance that the Lord listens. And God answers in his wisdom. Included in those petitions would be for strength and support to keep on with the challenges and charges of the unfinished day.
What is a good time of day to praise the Lord? Praise the Lord at noon. Happy Thanksgiving.
We read from Psalm 55:17:
Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.
Praise the Lord in the evening
It is evening. You are weary from all the effort extended and worn-out from all the energy expended throughout the day. And looking back, what is there—tasks uncompleted and sins committed? Now what?
Yet again, King David can assist us. We join those all the way to the ends of the earth who respect and revere the Lord in awe and admiration of his powerful activity. Just like God controls the waves of the ocean so that they go only so far, he limits the nations on earth (Ps 65:5-7). Think back to the Exodus when the Lord brought the nation of Israel out of their slavery so they could return to the Promised Land—the place that our Savior would be placed in a manger, hung on a cross, and raised from the dead, all for our sin and for our salvation. From the time that the sun goes up to when it goes down, the mighty acts of God from furnishing our needs day after day to forgiving our sins day by day bring happiness.
Luther captures those ideas well in his evening prayer. It is valuable to commit it to memory.
So instead of Thanksgiving being one day, Thanksgiving can be all day. It is the Lord who causes us to shout with gladness.
What is a good time of day to praise the Lord? Praise the Lord in the evening. Happy Thanksgiving.
We read from Psalm 65:8:
Those living far away fear your wonders; where morning dawns and evening fades you call forth songs of joy.
November 21, 2018
Sunday, November 4, 2018
First Sunday of End Time - Reformation (Romans 6:23)
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ (Ro 1:7). Amen.
It is Reformation 501. Does that sound like an upper-level history course as a college elective? It would go beyond the “101 level”—an introduction to the Reformation. That class might explain definite dates like October 31, 1517—the day when Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the Castle Church door. Or explore key characters like Philip Melanchthon—his role in writing the Augsburg Confession. Perhaps Reformation 501 might digger deeper into the purpose of indulgences or dive into the politics of the Holy Roman Empire.
Whether any of that is exciting or appealing to you, that is not what I mean by Reformation 501. It is not on a curriculum, but on the calendar. Last year was the 500th Anniversary of that important event when Luther swung a hammer. I don’t mean to insult you, but one year later and it is 501. (If you got nervous when I started with history, I threw in a bit of math to make you make you more uneasy.) The celebration of the Reformation continues and so does the significance. Eternal life is the gift of God.
But we have to go back to the past for a bit. (Hang with me.) Martin Luther was an Augustinian monk. The year was 1518. That order in Germany was slated to have its triennial meeting in the city of Heidelberg on April 26th of that year. It was traditional for these gatherings to have a disputation over which one of the priests would preside. This individual would prepare the set of theses for debate. Luther got the nod. He composed 28 points to acquaint his brothers with his “new” teaching.
But we put “new” in quotation marks because it was not a novel approach to Scripture. It always has been and always will be true. It is not what we do. It is what God has done. He gives. And we get. Eternal life is the gift of God.
The apostle Paul tells us that and teaches us that in one verse. We might call it Law and Gospel 101. And those two ideas are found in the two parts of the Bible—Old Testament and New Testament.
1) The Law. Maybe you have heard of this and found it helpful. SOS—“shows our sin.” Think of the 10 Commandments. “Do this”—Honor your father and mother (4th). “Don’t do that”—“you shall have no other gods” (1st). When we fail, not if we fail, that is sin. It is going against God in disobedience and defiance. The common picture is to miss the bullseye like in archery. And we don’t come close, but we fall short as if we are shooting in the opposite direction. And so Paul comments: “For the wages of sin is death” (Ro 6:23). A Roman soldier would collect money or meat, corn or salt for his service rendered to the Caesar. he earned it. He expected it. After all, he had it coming for guarding the empire.
While payday is thrilling, this is not. “For the wages of sin is death” (Ro 6:23). We open up our paycheck or look at our pay stub and it says “death.” That is what sin shells out. We deserve it. That hurts because we were born in it. And that is hard because we live in it.
But that didn’t stop Paul from trying to please God. In his younger days, he put his confidence in himself like holding a cell phone up to take a selfie—“it’s all about me: “In regard to the law, a Pharisee [the thought was, “Hey, God, look at me and what I am accomplishing.”]; as for zeal, persecuting the church [Certainly it was a misguided fervor to stamp out Christianity.]; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless [At least in the eyes of his associates]” (Php 3:5,6). Where did that get Paul? Nowhere. He was still not right with God. He did not keep the law constantly (Ga 3:10). And for all his efforts: “For the wages of sin is death” (Ro 6:23). That is the result.
That didn’t prevent Luther from attempting to appease God. That was originally why he entered the monastery. He wanted to be in good with God because he saw Jesus only as an angry judge, waiting, perhaps even wanting, to punish him. He even once remarked: “If a monk ever got to heaven through monkery, then I too should have made it.” What did that get Luther? Nothing. He did not keep the law continually. Remember that Heidelberg Disputation? Thesis 26 states: “The law says, ‘Do this,’ and it is never done.” For all his energy: “For the wages of sin is death” (Ro 6:23). That is the remuneration.
But it makes sense to our way of thinking, doesn’t it? If I punch in at work, it will pay off at the end of the week with money in the bank. If I try hard, God will be happy. What does that get us? Nil. We do not keep the law completely. For all our exertion: “For the wages of sin is death” (Ro 6:23). That is the reminder. Sin brings death—physical [separation of body and soul] and eternal [separation from God in hell] (Ro 5:12).
But there is more, much more. We don’t want to check out now. That is only half of the verse. It comes down to a word of transition: “But” (Ro 6:23). “For the wages of sin is death, but …” (Ro 6:23). In a sense, Paul would have us consider another side like turning a coin over. “Now contemplate this.” Gospel. Good news. Eternal life is the gift of God.
2) The Gospel. We can reuse the SOS—“shows our Savior.” So Paul comforts. “But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ro 6:23). Life is the opposite of death. Sin brings death. The Savior brings life (Jn 3:16). This living, never-ending relationship with God is from God. It is not merited. It is provided—graciously and generously. It is for free. It is for nothing. Like a person looking for a handout, we have our hands out. And God puts the gift of eternal life in them. Luther summarized that in the last words that he wrote before he died. He scribbled on a slip of paper (of course, in German): “We are beggars, that is true.” But as such, we have eternal life (Jn 5:24).
And it is ours only in connection with or in the sphere of “Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ro 6:23).
“Christ” (Ro 6:23). He is the One God promised to reveal the Father to us as Prophet, to remove our sin from us as Priest, and to rule over us as King. When Luther was exhausted from trying to win God’s favor—confessing his sins over and over and beating his body again and again, it was his father-confessor, Dr. John Staupitz, who encouraged him to look to Christ: “Throw yourself into the Redeemer’s arms. Trust in him.” We do the same—turning to him as he gives us eternal life.
“Jesus” (Ro 6:23). He is Savior (Mt 1:21). He rescued us by picking up the wages of our sin and paying for them with his death on the cross. He did it all to give us eternal life.
“our Lord” (Ro 6:23). He sits at God’s right hand. There he is the Caretaker and Controller of all for his believers to whom he gives eternal life (Eph 1:22).
So Paul could announce that righteousness is from God to all who believe (Ro 3:22). What God demands—holiness—God delivers “in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ro 6:23). Heaven was his. “But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ro 6:23).
Luther could appreciate that “the righteous will live by faith” (Ro 1:17). Faith grabs ahold of this gift from God. The gates of heaven were open to him. Recall the Heidelberg Disputation: “Grace says, ‘believe in this,” and everything is already done.’” Eternal life is undeserved kindness. “But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ro 6:23).
We are aware that we are delivered from death by grace alone by faith alone (Eph 2:8,9). Scripture alone proclaims Christ alone. We have nothing to boast about or brag about except the cross of Christ (Ga 6:14). “But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ro 6:23). Eternal life is the gift of God. Cherish it. Treasure it. Happy Reformation 501. It is not about history. It is about heaven.
We read from Romans 6:23:
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you (Ro 16:20). Amen.
November 3, 2018
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