Is Your Good News Really All That Good?

Sermon delivered on Sunday, June 13, 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: 1 Kings 21:1-21a; Psalm 5:1-8; Galatians 2:15-21; Luke 7:36-8:3.

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

What is the Human Condition?

Good morning, St. Andrew’s! Today I want to address two groups of people who might be here this morning. The first group is those who are laboring under the delusion of works-righteousness, defined as the mistaken notion that somehow if we do enough good works, acts of mercy and charity, etc., that it will tend to balance out our bad qualities or sinful nature and be good enough in God’s eyes to earn a place in his Presence both here on earth and for all eternity.

Related to this first group are those folks who struggle with the issue of forgiveness. This often manifests itself in the mistaken belief that because of something these folks have done or continue to do, that God cannot (or will not) possibly forgive them. Like the psalmist, they cry out regularly that they know their transgressions and their sin is ever before them (Psalm 51:3). This group of folks know they should be doing more and living holier lives, but no matter how hard they try, they just keep missing the mark—the very definition of sin. Because they often struggle with forgiving themselves, this group of folks cannot possibly imagine how a holy and just God can forgive them. Do any of you fall into either of those categories?

But before we tackle these issues, I want to show you a short little video titled, The Good-O-Meter. Yes, that’s right, folks. Today you are going to get to hear (and see) your first multimedia sermon from me. I am sure you are all excited about this, but I must rain on your parade a wee bit by telling you that you will have to provide your own popcorn during the video. As you watch the video, I would like you to do two things. First, see if you can identify yourself in one (or more) of the characters. Second, I want you to think about whether this video accurately portrays what you heard in today’s Epistle and Gospel lessons. [Watch video]

So what do you think? Did you see yourself in one of the characters portrayed (I could relate to the guy who only read the articles)? What did all the characters except the last guy in line have in common? In one way or another, each person had a mistaken understanding about the gravity of sin and the alienation it causes, coupled with the equally mistaken belief that there was something they could do to overcome the alienation their sin caused. In other words, to one extent or another, except for the last guy in line, each of those folks thought they could do something that would merit reward in God’s eyes and allow them to live in his Presence forever. And how did that work out for them? It didn’t, and neither will it for anyone who holds onto this mistaken notion—and if we are really, really honest with ourselves, I suspect each one of us has held this belief at one time or another and to one extent or another.

Here is a little check that we can do to assess ourselves in this matter. Consider this morning’s OT lesson. How did you react toward Ahab and Jezebel? Of course, we would all condemn that kind of egregious sin that they displayed, and that is all to the good. But did you also catch yourself saying something to the effect that, “I would never do anything like that” or “My sins aren’t that bad”? If you did, you may share something in common with Simon the Pharisee in today’s Gospel lesson by convincing yourself that you are really not all that bad and consequently don’t really need a Savior.

But this is not what the Bible tells us about the human condition, is it? No, if we read the Bible with eyes wide open, we quickly see that human sin has alienated us from God, that besides being a loving God, he is also holy and just. God finds human sin enormously grievous and is relentlessly opposed to it. God will not, cannot, allow sin or evil to abide in his Presence and when we think about it, who would disagree with this? Do you really want to deal with sin and evil in God’s New Creation?

That is why it is important for us to understand the purpose of old sacrificial system that we read about in the OT. The whole purpose of having a high priest who made atonement for the people is precisely because no one can see God and live. Why? Because we are sinful human beings and God cannot allow sin to be in his Presence. That is why only the high priest could enter into the Holy of Holies once a year to make atonement for the nation of Israel. In case you missed it, it was a sheer act of grace on God’s part. You can read about this in Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy and I encourage you to do so because the very fact that God established a sacrificial system testifies to the seriousness of our sin as well as to the fact that God is both loving and just. As Paul reminds us later in Galatians (6:7), God cannot be mocked and each one of us will be held accountable for our sins.

But the Bad News gets worse because there is absolutely nothing we can do to change our plight or our fate. We are weighed down by our flesh, our body of sin, and unless something radical is done about it, we are toast—literally. We are doomed to be separated from God, the Source and Author of all life, forever. Call it what you want. Call it hell or the final death or permanent separation from God, but make sure you understand it clearly.

Have I managed to get you good and depressed? Excellent! I say this not because I enjoy depressing you but because until we have a clear-headed view of the utter helplessness and hopelessness of the human condition, we are not ready to hear or really believe the Good News of Jesus Christ. Instead, we will still try to muck along and make it about ourselves. We will continue to delude ourselves into thinking we really can do something about our sin and the alienation from God it causes. Like the people in the video, we’ll try to make it about ourselves by doing good deeds to balance out our bad ones. But of course that is no Good News at all because it is utterly impossible for us to accomplish.

Where is God’s Grace?

However, when we finally begin to take sin seriously and fully accept the Bad News of the human condition, we are then ready to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ, and thanks be to God that there is Good News! Paul talks about it in today’s Epistle when he reminds Peter and the rest of us that we are justified not by works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. You see, apparently Peter had let himself be persuaded by the circumcision faction to believe that faith in Jesus Christ was not sufficient for eternal salvation. No, they convinced Peter that salvation depended upon obeying the law and faith in Christ.

Don’t be ridiculous, says Paul. No one is saved by the law, only condemned by it. Our one and only hope and chance is in Jesus Christ. Here Paul uses the term, justification, for the first time in his letter (and if Galatians is Paul’s first letter as many scholars think, this would be the first time he uses the term in any of his letters). But what is Paul talking about? How is justification by faith in Christ Good News? I am glad you asked that question as it will let me proceed with my sermon in an orderly manner!

Justification is essentially a legal term and it refers to that fact that because Jesus died on the cross to atone for our sins, we who deserve the punishment of death and eternal separation from God are declared not guilty in God’s sight. Just like the last guy in line in the video, Jesus has paid the price for us and because he was sinless, he stands in for us and God declares us not guilty.

And just like in court, when the defendant is declared not guilty, he cannot be declared guilty again for that crime. Justification is a one time act and it is accomplished for us by the blood of Christ, shed for us on the cross. Not only that, but it is a free gift offered to all if we will only accept it and make it our own by faith. In other words, our sins are washed clean by the blood of the Lamb. There was a time when I found that language offensive, but no more. I found it offensive because this language made it all about Jesus and not about me, and I took offense to that because after all, I really wasn’t all that bad of a person—or so I deluded myself into thinking. But by the grace of God working in me over time I now consider these words some of the sweetest I have ever heard in my life.

But all this sounds too good to be true, you say! No penalty? No consequences? Just life? Well, yes it is too good, but it also true. That is because we are dealing with a gift from God the Father who really knows how to blow our minds. And there are consequences, but God suffered them instead of making us do so.Once we begin to wrap our minds around the true plight of the human condition and the real meaning of justification by faith in Christ’s atoning work on the cross, we suddenly realize that we don’t have to be worthy to accept his free gift to us because none of us are worthy to receive this gift of life nor can we ever be! But that’s OK because justification is about God’s grace, not our worthiness to receive it. After all if we were worthy to be made clean by the blood of the Lamb, it wouldn’t be a free gift of grace would it?

And this is where I would want you who struggle with the issue of forgiveness to pay attention because there is nothing you can do to earn the gift of eternal life that is in Jesus Christ. You are not worthy. None of us are. That’s not the point! The Good News is “Good” because we have a God who loves us so much that he invites us to live with him forever. He created us to have a relationship with him, not to destroy us, and he has done the impossible for us so that we can accept his gracious invitation to live. Consequently it is no longer about you, but rather about what God has done and is doing for you. In Christ, God has overcome the intractable problem of human sin and the alienation it causes. He has done this because he loves us, despite who we are, and all you have to do is believe it and accept the gift he offers.

Here it is helpful to take our cue from the woman in today’s Gospel lesson. Luke paints a poignant scene for us, doesn’t he? Here we have a woman who desperately seeks out Jesus to find forgiveness and healing. She knows she is a sinner, as does everybody in the room with her. And thanks be to God, she finds forgiveness in Jesus because he wanted her to live and have life, just like he wants you to have the same gift. As Christ reminds us in today’s passage, the woman loved much because she had been forgiven much. She stopped making it about herself and put her whole hope and trust in Jesus and she found her reward in spades!

Many people often misunderstand what Jesus is saying here. They think Jesus is saying that because the woman loved much she was forgiven. Not so. Instead, Jesus tells us that she loved much because she was forgiven. Like the folks in Jesus’ parable who were forgiven a great debt and were grateful for it, so too was this woman.

This is what it means to have faith in Jesus. Faith is more than wishful thinking. It is a sure and certain knowledge in what he has done for us on the cross. It is a deep and abiding trust in him that he loves us and forgives us despite who we are. If we really believe this how can we struggle with a sense of forgiveness? Paul tells us in Romans 8:1 that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. If Jesus forgives you and does not condemn you, who else can? And BTW, let’s go back to the story of Ahab and Jezebel for a moment. Do you know the outcome of the story? Ahab repents of his wickedness and God did not destroy him, but rather delayed the punishment. If God can readily forgive a repentant murderer like Ahab or David, he can readily forgive you of anything you have done because he wants you to live, not die.

Furthermore, real faith must necessarily lead to good works because real faith is always made manifest in action. Again we turn to the woman in today’s Gospel lesson. Her faith in Christ made her love greatly out of a profound sense of gratitude for all that he did for her in forgiving her. I suspect her gratitude was made even deeper precisely because she understood that she was not worthy to be forgiven but yet was, again not because who she was but because who Jesus is.

Do you see the subtle but distinct difference here? When we really appropriate the Good News of Jesus Christ, really become convinced that we are washed clean by the blood of the Lamb and are declared not guilty in God’s eyes anymore, we are eager to serve and please the One who gave us this great gift. Works proceed, but they no longer proceed out of some sense of obligation or compulsion. We do good works because we are so profoundly thankful for all that God has done for us in Christ.

Moreover, as Paul reminds us in today’s Epistle lesson, we are aided in our good works by the very spirit and Presence of Christ through the Holy Spirit. That is what Paul means when he tells us that it is no longer he who lives, but it is Christ who lives in him. That the life he lives he lives by faith in the Son of God who loved him and gave himself for him. Did you catch the profound sense thanksgiving as well as hope and trust in Paul’s declaration? The same gift is available to us today if we will simply ask Christ to help us accept it.

This abiding help that is available to us through the Power and Presence of the Holy Spirit living in us and transforming us is icing on the cake, isn’t it? God knows we are weighed down by our body of sin and so has given us everything we need to overcome our sin. Will we always be able to do so? Hardly. But as we open ourselves up to the Spirit, we will be transformed by him in his good time and in a manner that he sees fit. This is what Paul was talking about when he tells us that he has been crucified with Christ, that he has died to the law. Paul is telling us that he fully understands that he is who he is, not by his own efforts but because he has accepted the free gift of Christ by faith. Are you ready to accept the same gift offered to you?

Where is the Application?

I am increasingly convinced that one of the reasons we do not have people beating down the doors of our churches is because many of us really do not possess Good News. I think this is so in part because our secular culture has done a good job in persuading us not to believe the biblical testimony about the desperate plight of the human condition and in part because we don’t do a good job in being biblically literate.

Part of having a saving faith in Christ is to understand the seriousness of sin and the human condition, and to have a Big Picture view of what the Bible says God has done and is doing about it. If we really accept the free gift that is ours through the cross of Christ, it seems to me that we should be naturally eager to read our Bibles regularly and systematically because we understand that in doing so we are going to better be able to articulate and appropriate God’s salvation story. It is a story of love for his sinful and rebellious people. Talk to folks like Alan Seitz or my wife, folks who are making a concerted and sustain effort to read their Bibles everyday and repeatedly. They will tell you that in doing so, God has better equipped them to understand his salvation story and their daily marching orders as Christians. If you are reluctant to start reading your Bible in this manner, you may want to ask yourself some hard questions about your faith in Christ or your understanding of the human condition.

Once we have appropriated a saving faith in Christ, we will also be better equipped to talk to others about it in plain terms. We will be able to articulate how the human condition is made manifest in our lives and how God has rescued us from ourselves by his sheer grace and great love for us. Suddenly the Good News becomes a matter of life and death for everybody and our faith in Christ must lead us to at least try to share God’s great gift with others. Certainly this will take courage on our part because the enemies of the cross have always found its message to be offensive and scandalous. I read a comment about the video we watched this morning and the writer stated that he didn’t know if this video was for Christianity or making fun of it. He said he probably thought it was making fun of it, which simply reinforced his belief that Christianity was an immoral religion.

I suspect that is true if you approach the Good News believing in the ability of humanity to save itself or where you do not take seriously God’s justice or the consequence of sin. I suspect that it might even appear to be immoral if a person looks at the cross as a pass to get out of jail free without consequences. But those of us who have a relationship with the Risen Lord are in a position to help correct misunderstandings like this because our faith is real and we are being transformed ever so slowly by Christ living in us. We know there are consequences for sin and he suffered them and he suffered them on our behalf! Of course, we are not responsible for those who accept the Good News and those who don’t. But if we really have Good News, we will naturally want to share it with others because it is, well, Good News!

Summary

Having Good News that really is Good means that we understand the desperate plight of our human condition and we take sin and its consequences seriously. It also means that we really do believe that we have been washed clean by the blood of the Lamb. Does this mean we will live a sinless life or never have doubts or troubles? Hardly. After all, we are weighed down by our body of sin and therefore must expect struggles in this life. But take heart and hope because the God who loved you and gave himself for you has promised to be with you to help you in your struggles. By his blood you have been declared not guilty in God’s sight and are made fit to live in God’s direct Presence forever, just like the last guy in line in our video this morning.

And did you notice the great change in the dynamics of the biblical story? Early on when God called his people out of Egypt and reestablished his covenant with them, the covenant that he originally made with Abraham, the people could not be in God’s direct Presence and live. But at the end of Revelation, things have changed, haven’t they? Now God’s saints in Christ are promised that we get to live in forever with him, and directly in his Presence! So what changed? God entered human history and did what it took to satisfy his holy justice as well as his great love for us. Our risen Savior is even now at God’s right hand, interceding for us and he has sent us his Holy Spirit to guide us until we are released from our body of sin. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you have done (or not done). It’s about God’s mind-blowing love for you made manifest in the cross of Jesus Christ. Once you begin to wrap your mind around these great truths, you will discover, through the help of the Spirit, that you really do have Good News, folks, now and for all eternity.

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