Salvation: A Matter of Faith or Works?

Sermon delivered Sunday, July 18, 2010 at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, Lewis Center, OH. If you would like to hear the audio version of this sermon, usually somewhat different from the text below, click here.

Lectionary texts: Amos 8:1-12; Psalm 52; Colossians 1:15-28; Luke 10:38-42.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

What is the Human Condition?

Good morning, St. Andrew’s! This morning I want to talk to you about what a saving faith might look like. But before I do, I want to share a quick story. Last Saturday a kitten adopted my wife and me as we were riding our tandem bike [show picture of Woody]. He was in the same place two evenings in a row. He showed us he was friendly by chasing us both evenings and he was emaciated. Clearly he recognized two suckers when he saw them. So we brought him home with us and I am convinced God put him in our path so that we would take care of him.

Given my belief that God sent this pussycat for us to care for, I thought it might be a good idea if I tried out today’s sermon on him to see what kind of reaction I would get. A sign from God, so to speak. Here is Woody’s reaction to what I had to say [show picture of Woody asleep upside down]. If this pussycat is a valid indicator, I probably should be worried about proceeding.

In today’s OT lesson we see the terrible effect of sin on humans—permanent and total alienation and separation from God. When this happens, the result is inevitably death because to be separated from the Source and Author of all life means that we must inevitably die. Amos paints a ghastly picture of what happens when our alienation finally brings judgment—singing turned to wailing, dead bodies piled up, utter destruction of the land, weeping, mourning, and bitterness, and the removal of God’s word from among his people. This all happened because God’s called-out people failed to act like God’s called-out people. It seems that God’s people became part of the problem instead of being the solution. They forgot that God had called Abraham and his descendants to be a blessing for others (see, e.g., Genesis 12:2-3) by acting according to God’s good will and bringing God’s love and redemption to a sinful and rebellious world.

Instead, God’s people in the Northern Kingdom of Israel had gotten fat and sassy in their prosperity. They had forgotten all that God had done for them and they acted accordingly, falling into idol worship, perverting justice, and following their own greedy desires by exploiting the poor and most helpless in society.

As we listen to God’s judgment pronounced against Israel, we must resist the temptation to think that it only applied to them or that it gives us any right to hold anti-Jewish sentiments. We are tempted to think God’s judgment applies only to ancient Israel, in part, because the thought of God’s judgment and wrath falling on us because of who we are is too terrible to contemplate. But the fact of the matter is that this is our fate if left to our own devices. As the biblical narrative tells us repeatedly and in a variety of different ways and contexts, we humans are thoroughly infected with sin and sin always produces death because it leads to alienation from God, the Source and Author of all life. Furthermore, because we are so thoroughly infected with sin, we are utterly helpless to fix ourselves and our destiny is death.

This is nasty stuff to think about or contemplate. It is not easy to preach about either and it brings me no joy in doing so because hard as it might be for some of you to believe, I must include myself with the rest of you. But this is the reality of our situation. It is thoroughly bad news and there is no hope in it because death is our ultimate outcome. It is called “the human condition” and we would do ourselves a big favor by opening our eyes to it and acknowledging without God’s help, we are toast—literally. Oh yes. It is about this point in the sermon that I took the picture of our new kitten’s reaction to my preaching.

And although our sin and God’s judgment on it (and us) is extremely difficult and unpleasant for us to deal with, it is vitally necessary that we do so. Because until we fully grasp the desperate and hopeless situation of the human condition, until we acknowledge that without help from somewhere or Someone, our ultimate destiny is death and permanent separation from God, we will never really be ready to hear the wondrous Good News of Jesus Christ.

Where is God’s Grace?

But everything changes for us once our hopelessness and desperation force us to look outside of ourselves for help. For as Paul tells us in today’s Epistle lesson, we need not live our lives in fear, desperation, or hopelessness—thanks be to God! No, the very Creator of this vast universe has condescended himself by becoming a human being, Jesus of Nazareth. In Jesus, God bore the terrible brunt of his wrath himself. He allowed himself to be nailed to a tree so that God’s righteous judgment, the kind of judgment we read about in Amos today, could be fully satisfied once and for all so that there would be no need for further judgment for those who are in Christ.

You see, in bearing the punishment for our sins in Christ, God brought about the necessary conditions for reconciliation between us and him. In Christ, God has satisfied his holy justice and allowed him to show mercy on sinful humans. Christ bears our sins and even now intercedes for us at God’s right hand. In turn, we humans get Christ’s sinless righteousness that allows the formerly unholy to live in God’s holy and perfect Presence forever. As Paul tells us in Romans, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (8:1).

And what do we have to do to partake in this wondrous offer of grace? Paul tells us that too in today’s lesson. We simply must remain securely and steadfastly established in the faith. But it gets even better because as Paul alludes to in today’s Epistle and explicates more fully in Romans and Ephesians, we have the very Spirit of Christ living in us, helping us to remain strong in our faith and transforming us into his very likeness. As Paul tells us in today’s Epistle, we have Christ in us, the hope of glory.

Where is the Application?

But it is precisely at this point that some Christians get tripped up. What exactly is a saving faith in Christ? How do we know we have it and what might it look like? To complicate things even further, we read passages like our OT lesson with its emphasis on what we do, not about what we believe. Or what do we do with Paul’s constant admonition for us to live holy lives that are pleasing to God (see, e.g., Romans 12:1)? What about Jesus’ commandment for us to love one another (John 15:17)? What are we to make of his various parables like the parable of the ten talents (Matthew 25:14-30) or the parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46), that seem to indicate we will be judged on what we do or do not do? What are we to make of this notion that we are saved by grace through faith, and not by our works (Ephesians 2:8-9)? Or what about James’ statement that people are justified by what they do and not by faith alone (2:24)? Are the biblical writers simply confused? Is God’s word in Scripture really reliable?

I am glad you ask all these questions because it will allow me to proceed with the rest of my sermon! In fact, this notion that there is a dichotomy between faith and works is a false one. The NT writers were not confused, nor is the Bible unreliable. The NT writers were simply making complementary points because a saving faith will always manifest itself in works.

For example, Let us say that I tell you I am an Ohio State fan. I dress each Saturday in scarlet and gray, hang out the Buckeyes flag and party each week like it was 1968 or 2003. But then you watch me each week and I root for the opposing team. Worse yet, when it comes to the Michigan week, you see me root for the Evil Empire up North. What would you conclude? I tell you that I am a Buckeye fan but my behavior or works indicate otherwise.

Likewise with Christian faith and works. When we realize the awful predicament that is the human condition and the wondrous love and mercy God has offered us in Christ, it fills our hearts with thanksgiving and praise. It makes us want to do things that please God for all that he has done for us. We realize he has rescued us from sin and death and brought us into his kingdom of light. This knowledge of our hopelessness and God’s grace is called humility and it helps us realize that there is no amount of good deeds that we can do that will allow us to live with God forever in his New Creation. In other words we realize that our salvation is not about bean counting. Instead, we understand that we have this hope of eternal life because of Christ, our hope of glory. The glory about which Paul speaks is precisely God’s New Creation in which we will live with our new resurrection bodies and where there will never be any kind of bad thing to bedevil us again.

This, in turn, produces in us a desire to live lives that are pleasing to God, lives that will naturally produce good works. We believe that the best and only way to do that is to seek to get out of the way and let Christ live in us and transform us into his very likeness. This is what the NT means, in part, when it talks about putting to death our sinful nature and being “in Christ.” As a result, we will feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, bear the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, etc., seek God’s will and direction in our lives, use our talents as God directs us, love one another, bear one another’s burdens, show kindness and mercy to one another here in Christ’s Body, the Church, and much, much more. This list is not meant to be comprehensive at all.

This, of course, explains why Paul was so eager and willing to suffer for Christ’s sake and for the sake of his church. Paul knew he had Good News. He wanted to share the Good News with others because it really was a matter of life and death and Paul did not want to see anyone choose death. And part of the Good News for Paul was to become like his Lord and Savior in his suffering and death. This was also why Mary chose not to let herself get distracted like her sister Martha. Mary knew how to keep the Main Thing the main thing. Likewise for us.

Does this mean we will get it right all the time? No it doesn’t because despite the fact that we have Christ in us, the hope of glory, we are still fallen mortals who are weighed down by our body of sin. But we do not get discouraged when we fail precisely because we have faith in Christ, precisely because we have his Spirit living in us, strengthening us in our weakness and reminding of us God’s great love for us. This frees us to continue to live lives that are pleasing to God, even when we do not get it right all the time because we know we are covered by the blood of the Lamb who even now intercedes for us at God’s right hand. Of course we lament and repent when we get it wrong because we know that it brings shame and dishonor to Christ’s Holy Name and we do not want that to happen any more than we want to besmirch our own good names. After all, who wants to bring shame and dishonor to those we love?

Do you see the difference? To the outsider, who cannot read our hearts or know our motives, it may appear that we are still trying to pursue a works righteousness. But we know our hearts and our motives—and so does God, who knows our motives even better than we do. We understand that we are striving to please God because we love him and adore him for his incomparable gift to us in Christ. We realize that we are bound for heaven, not because of anything we do or because we are worthy of living with God, but because Christ has died for us to make the impossible possible. This, in turn, is hugely freeing because we do not have to worry about doing enough to get to heaven; it has already been guaranteed for us, not because of who we are but because of Who God is. This is what the NT writers mean when they talk about serving the Lord in joyful obedience. This, of course, requires a saving faith in Christ and once we have it we begin to act like we do. Therefore faith must always manifest itself in works.

Summary

The more deeply you understand and acknowledge the terrible plight of the human condition, the more deeply you will understand what God has done for you in Christ and this will naturally lead you to want to live your life in ways that are pleasing to God and in accordance to his will for you. Here is a quick way to help you assess where you are in your journey with Christ. Think back to today’s lesson from Amos. Which of the woes that resulted from God’s judgment did you find the most dreadful? Dead bodies? Wailing and weeping? Misery? A devastated land or the removal of God’s word from among his people? However you answered will indicate to you where your priorities are. Were you more concerned with the dimensions of physical well-being or about being deprived of the word of God? If you did not pick the latter, then it might indicate that you still do not completely understand the hopelessness of the human condition or what God has done for you in Christ. Or it may indicate you still are relying on yourself to make things right. This, of course, is delusional thinking and an inherent part of the human condition.

But when you understand, like Jesus did when he was tempted in the wilderness, that we do not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from God (Matthew 4:4), then this indicates that you have made real movement, with the Spirit’s help, from darkness into the light. Why? Because you understand the depths of despair that the human condition has produced and the even deeper love that God has demonstrated for you in Jesus Christ. And when you begin to plumb the depths of this wondrous truth, folks, if have not done so already, you will have Good News, now and for all eternity—and your faith will naturally cause you to act like you believe it.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.