Confessing The Faith – The Blessing of the Creed

When I was in elementary school, we would begin each day with the morning announcements.  Over the PA system we would hear the following instructions broadcast into all classrooms: “Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.”  Every student would stand, face the American Flag posted prominently in each classroom, place their right hand over their heart, and recite the Pledge of Allegiance, word for word, together. 

For those of us who grew up in the era when this was still the norm, the Pledge of Allegiance still rolls off our tongues effortlessly. 

“I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” 

In such a short amount of space, volumes were said, and norms were created that both formed students in a commitment to their country and taught them basic truths about what we, as a society, believed about our country.  We pledged our commitment to our country and to our countrymen.  We affirmed that our nation is subject to and under the judgment of a higher power.  And we pledged that this bond was indissoluble for the purpose of providing liberty and justice to each of the citizens that are subject to the Republic that we shared. 

This practice began to fall out of use even when I was in school and has since been abandoned due to a series of legal challenges that cropped up through the years.  While I understand the objections to compulsory recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, I think we as a nation lost something fundamental with its abandonment.  I look today at a nation more polarized and in disagreement about even the most basic ideals that our Republic was founded upon.  I have great concern about the prospects of our ability to remain united as a nation.  

There was something to those words that made up the Pledge of Allegiance.  But fundamentally there was something much greater about us all standing side by side speaking the same words together. 

In scripture we see a similar concept. 

The New Testament word used to describe this concept is the Greek word όμολογεω.  It is a compound word made up of the pre-fix homo, meaning the same, and the verb log-e-oh, meaning to speak.  Together the word literally means to speak the same words.  We translate this concept in English using the verb to confess.

Looking at the word, the act of confessing is always within a community.  To speak the same words implies that we believe the same thing about a particular set of facts or ideas.  It is this confession that defines the community.  The act of confession therefore is an action of inclusion into the community.  By virtue of speaking and believing the same words, you announce your inclusion into the community defined by those words. 

In the Christian community, we are united by our beliefs about the nature of God, the creation, the work of Jesus Christ in redeeming His creation, and the work of the Holy Spirit in calling this community to faith and in sanctification.  It is this faith that we confess in the Apostle’s Creed. 

“I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. 

“And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.  He descended into hell.  The third day He rose again from the dead.  He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty.  From thence he will come to judge the living and the dead.

“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the dead, and the life everlasting.  Amen.” 

We are those who believe that God created and sustains all things and does so out of his grace.  We are those believe that man sinned, subjecting all men and creation to the power of sin, death, and the devil.  And yet, God the Father, by his grace, sent to us His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, fully God, that He might assume humanity into Himself, and redeem us from the power of sin by the atonement provided by His death on the cross.  He rose from the dead declaring victory to us and ascended into Heaven where he intercedes for us continually at the right hand of the Father.  We look forward to the consummation of all history when he will return to judge the living and the dead.  We are those who believe that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son and calls us to faith, works through his Church to bring us forgiveness of sins, and sanctifies us through word and sacrament.  And we are those hold to the hope of the resurrection of the dead and life everlasting through Christ our Lord. 

Our confession of faith defines who we are, even as it serves to instruct us. 

And yet, by definition, the act of confessing is also exclusive by nature.  Those who do not hold to these beliefs are, by definition, excluded from the community formed by the words which we confess together.  Even as these words form one community around them, it sets that community apart as distinct from the wider world. 

We see this within scripture.  When commissioning the disciples to proclaim the gospel to Israel, Christ instructs them as follows:

“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.  But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.” 

Jesus himself makes a clear distinction between those who confess Him as the Christ, and those who do not. 

The apostle Paul confirms that it is by this confession, that we are saved.

“That is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” 

And yet, the words we speak together as confessions of faith, go far beyond merely recitation of creeds.  They are creeds and confessions because of the belief which are invested in them.  Creeds and confessions are not just spoken, they are lived. 

When we gather together in prayer as families and communities and give thanks to God for creating and sustaining us, or to heal the sick, or to comfort the grieving or suffering, we are confessing our faith in our actions. 

When we work in our vocations to provide for our families, when we offer our time and charity to those who cannot provide for themselves, we confess with our actions that God has created us as part of his creation to exercise his dominion over it. 

When at the end of the day we examine ourselves in light of the ten commandments and realize that we have fallen short of the requirements of God’s law, we confess that we are fallen creatures in need of redemption.  And when we confess our sins and seek God’s forgiveness we confess that Christ came to atone for sins. 

When we bring our children to the Church to be baptized, and to participate in divine worship, and we do not neglect the proclamation of God’s Word, and receive the body and blood of Christ in Holy Communion, we confess that the Holy Spirit brings and sustains us in the faith. 

Even at the end of our lives, when we are publicly buried with our pastor proclaiming the hope that we have in the resurrection of the body, we confess our faith in our actions. 

Let us give thanks for the Creeds that give us the same words with which we preach, teach, confess, and live our faith.  Let us give thanks for the community of faith defined by them, united in faith.  Let us give thanks for the Triune God whom we confess, who works out our salvation through the persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

Advent – Grace Comes In A Man

This year Americans demanded justice.  Movements were founded calling for every type of justice imaginable.  Social justice, economic justice, legal justice, etc.  Hardly a headline could be seen this year that didn’t make a demand for some sort of qualified concept of justice.  Justice, Justice, Justice.  We demand justice.

The concept of justice is simple.  People receive that which they deserve based upon their conduct.  We want no legal, economic, or social barriers that restrict people from being able to receive the fruit of their works and deeds.  For example, if I engage in an employment contract with my employer and provide the labor I have agreed to give, justice demands that they compensate me for my labor in accordance with the wages agreed upon in our contact.  My faithful conduct is rewarded, and justice is maintained. 

However, there is a flip side to the concept of justice.  Retributive justice means that unrighteous conduct is punished.  For example, if I am speeding and putting other motorists at risk by my driving habits, it is righteous for a police officer to pull me over.  Justice is served.

However, I think most of us have experienced that moment when sitting in our car by the side of the road, we hope and pray that justice will not be served.  We hope that instead of getting a ticket and a hefty fine we will get off with a warning. 

Justice is a great thing when one is righteous and just.  The blessings of living rightly under the law are marvelous.  Yet justice is not so great when one is unrighteous and unjust before the law.  In that case the curse of the law is a terrible and frightening thing. 

The apostle Paul describes this paradox well in his epistle to the Romans.  In it, he says:  “For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified.”  

Our immediate reaction is to attempt to justify ourselves as righteous under the Law.  We attempt to highlight our good points, while masking our sins.  Yet, just like the faithful police officer with the mirrored shades isn’t buying our excuses for why we were pulled over, Paul isn’t having it either.  He makes plain to us that under the scorching mirror of the law, we too are sinful and deserve God’s righteous retributive justice. 

“Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.”

Busted.

Could it be that despite our loud cries for justice, we have a much deeper need for something else?  What we really seek is mercy, or put another way, we seek grace. 

Grace is a loaded word, so allow me to define it.  Grace is the unearned and unmerited favor and blessing of God.  Grace is the bestowal of mercy on the undeserving.  It is the declaration that we are set aside as holy by the Father, where we have not proven ourselves as holy by our conduct. 

Instead of marching for justice, perhaps it is grace that we should be seeking. 

In Advent, we are reminded that we don’t have to seek after grace.  In Advent we are reminded that Grace came to seek us out.  We are reminded that Grace came to us in the person of Jesus Christ. 

The apostle John drives this point home so elegantly in the prologue of his gospel. 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.  In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

“The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.  He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.  He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.  But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth…For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.  For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” 

John tells us that the pre-incarnate Christ, who has always existed, and was always with the Father, was also the means by which all things were created.  It was through the living Word of Christ, through God’s grace, that the universe, the stars, the moon, the sun, and the planets were spoken into existence.  It was through the living Word of Christ, through God’s grace that all the animals of the field, the birds of the air, and the fishes in the sea were given life.  It was through the living breath of Christ that man was fashioned out of clay and breath was breathed into his nostrils to give him life. 

It was the living Word of Christ by which God declared the man and woman he had created as “good” and made in His image.  It was the communion with Christ that nourished them in the garden of Eden, and gave them purpose to exercise dominion over the earth. 

And then, it seems that darkness entered into the creation.  Adam and Eve rebelled against God breaking communion with Him, and soiling all of creation with the stain of sin. 

God had implicitly written the requirements of his just law on all men’s hearts, and explicitly revealed his law for how we should live and order our lives through Moses.  However, sin would seemingly continue to shroud man in the darkness resulting from sin and the just curse of the law due to us for our unrighteousness. 

Yet, the darkness could not overcome the source of the light. 

For according to John, the true light, which gives light to everyone was coming into the world.  The living Word who by speech created the light, the universe, and all that is in it, was coming into His own creation. 

The living Word who created all things would be conceived by the Holy Spirit through the virgin Mary, and he would take on the very flesh that he had come to redeem.  This living Word, the Son of God, would be born as a helpless infant, and would grow to manhood.  He would be made like His brothers in every respect. 

He came to His own creation not to bring the justice that the Law demands, and we deserve, but that He might restore us to the grace that we had with Him at the founding of the world. 

Jesus Christ would go on to take our place at the cross on Calvary.  He would undergo the righteous justice that we deserve, that those who believe in Him might receive the unearned and unmerited forgiveness of sins and be restored to a position of grace and favor before the Father.  The victory over the power of sin and death would be declared to us through the Resurrection.  Through the resurrection we would have the certain assurance that the darkness has not overcome. 

And now, the Church, the body of Christ would spread the light of the gospel to all nations, that they might receive the grace given to them through when the Living Word came to us in the flesh.  This Living Word still comes to us in the flesh every time we partake of his flesh and blood in the Lord’s Supper.  Through his Church Christ continues to come to us in the flesh always. 

This Advent, may you take joy, comfort, and hope in knowing that Grace came to us in the man Jesus Christ.  Let us not clamor for justice, let us instead live in the grace given to us through communion with Christ.  

No Excuses

To the day I die, I will always remember where I was and what I was doing on July 1^st, 1996.  I was recently graduated from high school and was reporting to Beast Barracks at West Point as a New Cadet for R-Day (Reception Day).  It was a hot, humid morning when my family and I gathered with the other incoming New Cadets and their families at Holledar Sports Center.  After being ushered into the basketball arena, we were welcomed to the Military Academy, given sixty seconds to say goodbye to our parents, and then whisked away to begin the transformation from civilian to soldier.   

Over the next 24-hours I would experience a whirlwind of blurred reality where my head was shaved, I was issued enough gear and uniforms to cripple a mule, reported to the dreaded “Cadet In The Red Sash,” assigned a barracks room, and trained on basic drill and ceremony and cadet customs and knowledge. 

The first thing I learned was that New Cadets and Plebes did not speak unless spoken to, and when spoken to there were only four authorized responses that every New Cadet must use:  Yes Sir; No Sir; No Excuse Sir; and Sir, I Do Not Understand.  Lord help you if you deviated from these responses unless given permission to do so. 

For a sarcastic kid just out of high school, it was maddening to be limited to responding with, “No Excuse Sir,” for any and every offense I could possibly stumble into out of ignorance, lack of experience, or willful disobedience.  

 Yet, everything that is done at West Point is done for a purpose. 

The point of the “No Excuse Sir,” response is to teach you to accept responsibility for failure.  It is to teach you that yes, you are a spaz, woefully inadequate, and in need of training and development.  You have broken the expectations provided by regulation and tradition.  These regulations and traditions are unyielding and inflexible.  There will be no excuses, there will be no attempt to squirm your way out of responsibility for failure, and there is no justification or defense.  You are guilty.  Own it.  No improvement can be made until that fact is accepted. 

In his epistle to the mixed congregation of Jewish and Gentile believers in Rome, Paul is about to make perhaps the most succinct articulation of the gospel in all of scripture.  He is going to do so by starting off with the bad news.  He is going to do so by taking away all excuses, justifications, or defenses that we might offer and present to us the unpleasant news that we are guilty under the Law.  

“Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”

To this point in his epistle, Paul has condemned every listener in excruciating detail, using two and a half chapters to drive home the point that every person is without excuse before the Law and before God. 

Paul begins this condemnation by addressing his Gentile listeners. 

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.  For even though thy knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.” 

In other words, the Gentiles, those who did not know the God of Israel, were nonetheless guilty of idolatry.  Paul asserts that they naturally know by general revelation that God exists, that he is the creator of all things, and that he deserves their thanks and worship.  And yet, knowing this, they readily exchange the truth that man is God’s creature so that they might serve gods of their own creation, which they can fashion after themselves and control as they will. 

As a result of this idolatry, the Gentile in his original unbelieving state is bent toward depravity.  Paul gives us a pretty comprehensive list of the sins that they are all guilty of doing.  He says that they are filled with wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice.  They are gossips and slanderers, haters of God, and guilty of insolence, arrogance, boastfulness.  They are inventors of evil, they are disobedient to parents and authority.  They are without understanding, are untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. 

When we look at this list it would be impossible to say that we do not qualify as sinners under one or more of these offenses before God.  For who does not engage in envy, or malice against his brother at some time or other?  Who has not engaged in slander or gossip or rebellion against authority?  Who has not proven themselves unloving or untrustworthy or unwilling to extend mercy to others at some point? 

The Gentile is left hanging his head in shame, as are we even today.

While the Jewish listener is likely exhorting Paul on to list more and more sins of which the Gentile is guilty, Paul suddenly turns his withering gaze toward them as well. 

“Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practices the same things.” 

Paul demonstrates God’s impartiality toward the Jewish listeners in his audience, showing their hypocrisy.

“For all who have sinned without the Law (the Gentiles) will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law (speaking to the Jews who have received the Law of Moses) will be judged by the Law; for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified.”

In other words, the Jews should not feel that just because they were God’s chosen people to receive the revelation of God’s moral law through the Torah that they will be judged differently than the Gentiles.  The Law doesn’t declare one righteous just because they possess it, one must follow the Law to be declared righteous by it. 

And just as the Jews may believe they have one last shred of hope that they might be declared righteous if they keep the Law, Paul destroys that hope too by demonstrating that they do not faithfully keep it. 

“But if you bear the name ‘Jew’ and rely upon the Law and boast in God, and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself?  You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal?  You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?  You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?  You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God?” 

The implied answer to all of these questions is that, yes, the Jew also does all of these things and is declared a hypocrite by the same Law that they take so much pride in having received from God at Mount Sinai. 

Paul later quotes a series of Psalms just to seal the deal with his listeners that even the Old Testament provides a witness that they are indeed lawbreakers, every one of them. 

“There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.”

And so we arrive at our initial point.  No flesh, none, not one person will be justified thru our faithfulness to the law.  We are naked before God and guilty of sin, and we know it.  The wrath of God rests righteously upon us due to our transgressions. 

“No excuse Sir.”

There is no other response that one may utter in the court of God’s justice. 

And yet, Paul now tells us of a righteousness that comes not from faithful obedience to the Law, but a righteousness that comes from God Himself.  Not a righteousness of works, but a righteousness by faith. 

“But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.” 

It is this God that sent His Son, who though he shared equally in the divinity of the Father, humbled himself and took on flesh.  He dwelled among us and lived a righteous life.  He fulfilled the Law in His own flesh through His obedience to the Father, so that he might be presented as spotless and blameless in God’s sight for our sake.  When the fullness of time had come, Christ allowed himself to be arrested, publicly humiliated, beaten, and crucified under the condemnation of the Law.  He paid the price for our sin with His flesh and His blood so that when He had born all our sin, he could say with certainty, “It is finished.” 

After three days, Christ was risen from the grave and appeared to his disciples and many others, demonstrating his victory over the power of sin, death, and the devil. 

“This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”  

So although we stand before God without excuses, we no longer stand before God without a defense.  Our defense is that Christ has atoned for our sin.  Our justifier, the one by whom we are declared righteous, is Christ. 

We receive this righteousness not by our works or ability to fulfill the unyielding requirements of the Law, but by faith in the One who fulfilled the Law and bore the curse of the Law for our sake. 

“Where then is boasting?  It is excluded.  By what kind of law?  Of works?  No, but by a law of faith.  For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”

In Christ, we have been declared righteous by faith.  Again, although we have no excuses, we have a rock-solid defense.  We have the stone the builders rejected which has become the cornerstone.  We have Christ crucified for our sins.  Amen.

The Wrestling Match

One of the best wrestling matches I ever had occurred against an opponent from a rival high school who was ranked as one of the top wrestlers in the county.  My opponent and I had completely different styles of wrestling.  I was tall and lean for my weight class, whereas my opponent was relatively short and heavily muscled.  I was a keen technical wrestler relying on skill and endurance to wear down and outscore my opponents. My rival was strong and bullish, relying on intimidation and ferocity to take down and pin his opponents quickly. 

When the whistle blew during the first period, I realized quickly I was in for the match of my life.  My opponent quickly tied up with me and attempted to bull me across the ring.  He threw me around like a rag doll at first scoring take downs and exposing my back several times to rack up points.  He engaged in a number of dirty wrestling moves to try to intimidate me and break my will to resist.  By the end of the first period I was down 13-4.  I was covered in scratches, bruises, and mat burns.  I would go home with two black eyes and a cut nose.  I knew, however, if I could just hang on I could wear him down. 

The second period started with me taking the bottom position, as he took the top position.  Off the whistle I hit a quick reversal, putting him on the defensive.  I began the long, steady work of wearing him down.  By the end of the regulation six-minute match, I had tied our scores 18-18. 

Each of us was exhausted, bruised, and battered when the referee brought us to the middle of the mat for sudden death overtime.  The whistle blew and we tied up.  Both of us were so exhausted we could barely stand.  Both sized each other up, wondering who would make the first move.  I freed myself from his tie up, and stood straight for a moment.  My opponent, exhausted, mirrored my relaxed posture hoping for a quick breath, when I shot for his leg.  My opponent attempted to sprawl, but not before I desperately clung to his leg for all I was worth.  He tried to get free, but I methodically worked to get behind his hips until I had gained control of him.  Finally, I secured the clear advantage and the ref awarded me two points for the take down, calling the match 20-18.  After separating us, the ref raised my hand as the victor.  My desperation and endurance had gained me the victory. 

We often think that this is how we gain God’s favor.  We are often tempted to believe that through our effort and persistence we earn God’s blessing.  However, the Old Testament shows us a similar story of a wrestling match that teaches us just the opposite lesson.  In Genesis 32:22-32, we read of Jacob’s wrestling match with God. 

“The same night he (Jacob) arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.  He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had.  And Jacob was left alone.  And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.  When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.  Then he said, ‘Let me go, for the day has broken.’  But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’  And he said to him, ‘What is your name?’  And he said, ‘Jacob.’  Then he said, ‘Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel (which means strives with God), for you have striven with God and with men, and prevailed.’  Then Jacob asked him, ‘Please tell me your name.’  But he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’  And there he blessed him.  So Jacob called the name of the place Penuel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.’  The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.  Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touch the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.” 

On first impression, one might think that this story teaches precisely the point I mentioned earlier, that we often approach God as if by our effort and persistence we earn God’s favor.  But actually, when we look at this story in its context, it tells a tale of the unmeasurable richness of God’s grace received through faith. 

To put things into perspective, we have go back and look at Abraham and Isaac, Jacob’s grandfather and father, respectively. 

Earlier in the Book of Genesis, God had already promised to Abraham that he would bless his descendants, promising that He would be their God and would establish them in the land of Canaan.  Abraham who was childless believed God’s promise and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.  God further established his promises with Isaac, Jacob’s father, saying that Isaac’s descendants would be greatly multiplied, and that in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed.  This promise is carried forward to Jacob, God having revealed to Rebekkah, Isaac’s wife, mother at the birth of her twin sons, Esau and Jacob.  God had promised to her that Jacob would inherit the promise. 

Jacob started life on the wrong foot.  He was the younger twin of his father Isaac and Rebekkah.  Genesis tells us that even at his birth, Jacob began a pattern of making a mess of his life.  As Esau emerges from the womb, it is said that Jacob came out next grasping at his brother’s heel, trying to subvert their birth order.  His given name, Jacob, which means he grasps the heel, would become a Hebrew idiom to refer to a cheat or a liar. 

In Biblical times, a man’s estate would be passed on by inheritance to the eldest son.  Jacob appears to have lusted after his brother’s birthright.  As a result, one day when Esau was famished after a hunting expedition, Jacob convinced his brother to sell the birthright to his inheritance for a bowl of stew.  Later, when Isaac had grown to be quite elderly, he called for his son Esau so that he might confer on him a special blessing, the blessing received from Abraham that God would bless his offspring and give them the gift of the Promised Land.  Jacob conspired with his mother to fool Isaac into conferring that blessing upon himself.  As a result, Esau grew to hate his brother who had twice cheated him.  He breathed out threats to kill Jacob when their father had died.  Apparently, Esau was a man of his word because Rebekkah convinced Jacob to flee to her brother’s family in a distant land to deliver him from his brother’s wrath. 

And yet, even though Jacob was forced to flee from his father’s house due to his lack of character, God met Jacob in a dream, confirming His promise.  “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac.  The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.  Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east, and to the north and to the south, and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.  Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land.  For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”  Jacob pledged that if God kept his promise to return him safely to his father’s house in peace, he would trust in the Lord. 

Unfortunately, it seems that Jacob’s character did not improve even during his exile.  Jacob successfully meets with his uncle Laban and is hired on as a worker in Laban’s house.  What is more, Laban allows Jacob to marry his two daughters and provides him with sheep and cattle and other goods out of his own flocks.  Jacob agrees to work for his uncle for twenty years.  However, Jacob, greedy as always, swindles Laban and finds a way to cheat his uncle out of the strongest of his flocks.  The tension between Laban and Jacob grew to be so great that once again, Jacob is forced to flee for his life.  As Jacob flees with his family and his possessions, Laban pursues him and catches up to Jacob.  However, God intervenes with Laban and a peace is arranged between Jacob and his uncle. 

Just when Jacob thinks that he can breathe easily, his past catches up with him again.  It turns out that his brother Esau has heard that Jacob is returning to the land of Canaan.  Esau and a band of four hundred men are on their way to meet with Jacob. 

Jacob remembers his brother’s threats and assumes the worst.  He is so fearful that he divides up his possessions into different camps in the hope that if Esau attacks one camp, the other camp might have the opportunity to slip away and survive.  He packs up his wives and children and sends them back across the river where they were encamped.  Alone and desperate at the thought of facing the wrath of his brother, Jacob grasps at any straw to secure God’s deliverance. 

It is at this point, in the middle of the night, Jacob encounters a mysterious stranger whom he wrestles with all night.  As the morning begins to dawn, the stranger, seemingly toying with Jacob throughout the night dislocates Jacob’s hip with just a touch.  Though he must have been exhausted and in immense pain, Jacob desperately clings to this man, hoping that if he just holds on, this stranger might bless him and deliver him from the sins of his past. 

The stranger asks Jacob to let him go, and Jacob only assents to do so if the stranger would bless him.  The stranger does so, and in the light of the day, Jacob recognizes that it was God who had wrestled with him all night long.  It was God who had allowed Jacob to hang with him. 

In the end, God blesses Jacob and keeps the promise that he had made.  Jacob is reconciled with his brother, and is returned to his father’s household, just as God had promised so many years ago.  God had proven faithful to his promises.  In time Jacob’s descendants would be established in the land of Canaan, in accordance with His word. 

Jacob finally comes to faith in the God that was able to save him, and in the promises that God had established with him.  

It is funny.  The strangest thing about this episode to me, is that Jacob went through the exercise of wrestling with God to demand a blessing that he already had. 

As we saw, God had established his promise with Jacob even at his birth.  Jacob was wrestling with God because he was having trouble believing in God’s promises.  Jacob was really wrestling with his unbelief that God would fulfill that which he had guaranteed. 

I can sympathize with Jacob. 

As a former wrestler myself, I understand the urge to try to take matters into my own hands.  I understand the tendency to strive and beat myself to exhaustion to seize that which I want.  As a man with a past, a sinner in need or reconciliation before God and man, I understand the desperation to try to use my own strength and will to make right that which I have wronged. 

When I try to take things into my own hands though, I miss the point.  I am stepping into the ring against a foe I am hopelessly outmatched against and cannot defeat.  Like Jacob, I am striving against my sin. 

In his epistle to the Romans, Saint Paul tells us of our hopeless state in sin, and the ineffectiveness of our works in defeating sin. 

“For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, ‘There is none righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.  Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known.  There is no fear of God before their eyes.’  Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.” 

Just as Jacob knew that his sins were sure to bring about his death at the hands of Esau, the Law guarantees that the wages of sin for us is death. 

And yet, just as Jacob had received a promise from God which would deliver him from the power of death, God has made promises to us as well. 

In the gospel of Matthew, at the annunciation of the coming of Christ to Joseph, the angel reminds Joseph of the promise made to Israel through the prophet Isaiah:

“’Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save the people from their sins.’”  Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call his name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God With Us.’”

It is this Jesus who would become our champion.  He is the one who would step in the ring against the powers of Sin, Death, and the Devil.  And through his death on the cross, and his resurrection from the tomb, Christ would prove that he is the victor for us. 

Our striving is not necessary.  We only need to have faith that God has fulfilled his promise by sending His Son.  Christ lived in obedience, that through faith his obedience might be applied to us through faith.  He died upon the cross, that by his death, the curse of the law for our trespasses might be paid.  He rose from the grave that we might have the certainty of knowing that Christ is victorious against our adversary. 

Our works are useless.  As Saint Paul states:  “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”

Our only role is to confess God’s faithfulness to his promises.  Again, Paul declares:

“If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”    

Just like Jacob, we don’t have to strive with God for his blessings.  We only need to trust that He has promised to send his Son on our behalf, and that he has proven faithful to His promises.  Just like Jacob, let us go forward in confidence that God has delivered our lives from sin and death.  

"And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise." - Galatians 3:29

Unity In The Cross, Unity In Christ

For at least the past decade this country has been divided and polarized over nearly every topic under the sun.  Unfortunately, rather than finding ways to unify, the divide has only deepened.  Core values upon which the nation was founded, and which had provided some sense of unity in the past, are now being questioned and in many cases cast aside.  We find ourselves watching our nation tearing itself apart from the inside-out.  The nightly news broadcast brings us images of violence and unrest, murder, assault, arson, robbery, and vandalism. 

In this chaos, there have been precious few calls for unity and reconciliation.  Ideologies have sought to divide us by political party, race, and sex, advocating for never-ending conflict with no real hope of reconciliation.  At this point in time, there seems to be little cause for hope in our nation. 

But let this not be the case in the Church. 

For we are heirs to a gift that no ideology, political theory, or social justice construct can ever compare.  We are heirs to the true source of reconciliation, unity, and redemption.  We possess the hope that we bear in Jesus Christ.  It is this gift that Paul describes in his epistle to the Ephesians.  And it is in Christ that the Church unites around, places its hope in, and walks together with one another. 

Paul first came to Ephesus after having been driven out of the city of Corinth.  Paul arrived in Ephesus and began doing what he normally did.  He visited the synagogues and marketplaces, proclaiming Christ to any who would listen.  As a result of Paul’s efforts, a mixed Church consisting of Jews and Gentiles arose in Ephesus.  After preaching there for many months, Paul was again driven out of the city.  However, the Church that he founded there in Ephesus endured. 

Paul’s letter to the Jewish and Gentile congregation provides his answer to exactly what unifies the Church.  This is most evident in the beginning of the second chapter of Ephesians where Paul starts by laying out the common problem to all mankind. 

“And YOU were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.  Among them WE TOO all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” 

According to Paul, we began our lives as spiritually dead, hopelessly under the power of sin and Satan.  When we look at the goings on in our society today, I think there is no doubt that we are in bondage to sin.  We observe the callous destruction of persons and property over sins of malice and coveting, and it is evident what happens when as Paul says, people indulge in the desires of the flesh and the mind.  We look at these things and conclude those who engage in such actions justly deserve God’s wrath and judgment.

It would be too easy to excuse ourselves from this condemnation; however, Paul doesn’t leave that option open.  He says YOU were dead in your trespasses and sins, and WE TOO lived in like manner.  I look at the anger and hostility I feel toward my neighbor stemming from such uncertain days, and there is no way that I can deny that Paul had me in mind as well when he penned this short summary of man’s sinful anthropology. 

Though we all carry the common bond of being sinners, it is this sin that separates us one from another.  We are divided by anger, hatred, lust, greed, and coveting. 

And yet, in the next several verses, Paul will provide God’s answer to man’s slavery to sin and Satan. 

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

In God’s great mercy, he provided us with the means of redemption, his Son. 

Note the repetition that Paul makes of the role of Christ in every step of this redemption.  We were made alive together, WITH CHRIST.  He raised us up WITH HIM.  He seated us in the presence of God in CHRIST JESUS.  In the ages to come he will show us the surpassing riches of his grace in CHRIST JESUS. 

Paul goes on.  

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

Paul emphasizes that Christ is the central figure in our salvation.  Salvation is not based on who you are, what race, sex, or ethnicity you hail from.  It is not based on your works, because you are dead in sin and justly condemned under God’s law.  Every verb in that section is God’s action on your behalf.  We are not the subject of any of those actions. 

Salvation is based wholly and totally on Christ’s death on the cross for you.  It is through faith alone, gifted to you, that you benefit from the atoning sacrifice of Christ.  No one may boast on their own account because you have done nothing to merit your salvation. 

This is true for every man, woman, and child.  Paul hammers this home to his listeners, both Jews and Gentile alike. 

“Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who were called ‘Uncircumcision’ by the so-called ‘Circumcision,’ which is performed in the flesh by human hands – remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the World.”

Yet, in Christ, God is taking many peoples and making them one. 

“But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in his flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that He Himself might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.  And he came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”

In Christ we are reconciled to God.  It is through Christ’s blood that you were bought and redeemed from the power of sin and the devil.  Where formerly, in our sin, we were at war with God, Christ himself has become our peace. 

And yet, this passage doesn’t stop with our reconciliation to God.  By Christ’s blood we were reconciled to one another as well.  We went from being separate peoples to being one people.  We went from being strangers to being one household of God.  We went from being aliens to being fellow citizens and saints.  All of this begins, continues, and ends with the cross of Christ. 

And yet, when I look at the Church, I see a Church divided.  How can this have happened? 

It happened because we have forgotten that we are sinners.  I personally am hopelessly in debt to sin.  Nothing I can do of my own volition can save me from my sin.  There is no five-point sermon to being a better me that can change that reality about myself.  There is no self-help book or political ideology by which I can do enough good works to earn my salvation. 

The only way that salvation comes to me is through the cross.  I cannot free myself from the power of sin, death, and the devil.  I can only be redeemed, bought by the precious blood of my Lord, Jesus Christ. 

I cannot stand before God on my own, but must be carried to the throne of God on Christ’s whipped and shredded back, held by his nail-pierced hands, and moved along by his hole-ridden feet.  I cannot then stand before my neighbor and boast of my own holiness or merit or virtue.  The only holiness I possess is a gift, given to me by Christ.  My neighbor and I together only have standing before God through the cross. 

It is the cross, and the cross alone that gives us true unity.  It is Christ’ blood alone that reconciles me to my brother.  It is in Christ alone that we have true community.  In Christ alone do we have peace with one another. 

Let us as the Church walk in the unity of the cross.  Where we have sinned, let us approach the foot of the cross and repent.  Where we have been offended, let us forgive, knowing that we too have sinned against God and one another.  Let us present a wholly different picture of redemption, reconciliation, and unity to the world that is still in bondage to sin.  

Betting On A Sure Thing – Ephesians 1:3-14

NOTE – A couple weeks ago, I was reading through the lectionary and realized I had opened the wrong series!  However, the reading I came across stirred some thoughts.  Hope you enjoy. 

Several years ago, I used to play regularly in Texas Hold ‘Em online poker tournaments.  It was a great source of entertainment for me, and for a time I was doing pretty well for myself.  For a five or ten dollar buy-in I could play for three or four hours, and I began placing regularly high enough to get a tournament pay-out, even winning first place in a few. 

I tended to play conservatively, passing the vast majority of the time on bad or mediocre hands, while trying to make the most out of promising or good hands.  The strategy usually served me pretty well.  Play conservative and when you get a big hand, sucker the other person in so that they were committed to the pot.  Then go all-in on a Sure Thing. 

A Sure Thing bet is what every gambler wants.  He wants the hand that can’t be beaten, something you can bet everything on with the assurance that the bet will pay off.  If you can get a guarantee up front, you take it and cash it in. 

However, every person who has played Texas Hold ‘Em has experienced a bad beat or two.  This is when you have what appears to be a solid hand, a Sure Thing bet, while your opponent bets on a junk hand.  Anyone who has spent any time watching the World Series of Poker knows what I am talking about.  One player goes all-in on a pair of Aces and gets called by someone with a five-two.  The odds of winning in this situation are astronomical, and yet, the junk hand sucks out and gets a straight or a flush on the community cards.  It is absolutely maddening when it happens, but it happens.  Every poker player gets reminded frequently that there is no Sure Thing bet. 

We all experience this in life.  We are all a little skeptical. 

And yet, in his epistle to the Church at Ephesus, Paul tells us that in Christ we have a Sure Thing. 

When Paul had first come to Ephesus, he met a group of Jewish believers in John the Baptist.  They knew of John the Baptist and his message of repentance from sins and baptism.  They knew that by their sins they were condemned before the Father, and that they needed to be cleansed of those sins.  But they didn’t know of the one who would come to do the cleansing and to bring atonement.  They were ignorant of the Christ who was sent to reconcile them to the Father. 

This is how Paul began preaching the gospel in Ephesus.  He began telling them of the promise of the one to come after John the Baptist, and then baptized them into the name of Jesus.  As a result, they received the Holy Spirit and were saved.  Eventually this same message of repentance and salvation through Jesus Christ was preached to the Gentiles as well, and a Church populated by both Jew and Gentile would take root and grow there.

At the end of this time, Paul had been so successful in his proclamation of the Gospel, that many of the pagans in the city felt threatened.  They feared that he would turn the masses away from the burgeoning business of selling idols for which the city was famous.  This resulted in a great mob that arose, beat some of Paul’s followers, and threatened violence against the Christian community.  And though the mob was eventually disbursed, Paul was eventually forced to leave Ephesus.  However, the Church he had founded there continued to worship and serve the Lord under the threat of oppression. 

It is in this context that Paul opens his letter to the Church at Ephesus, which we read today:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.  In love he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise and glory of His grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.  In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which he lavished on us.  In all wisdom and insight He made known to us for the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fulness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on earth.  In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.  In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation – having also believed, you were sealed with Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.”

In his opening, Paul reminds the Church at Ephesus that their faith is founded on a Sure Thing.  Their hope is founded upon the grace and mercy of a loving God, working out His plan of salvation through the work of the Holy Trinity. 

Paul begins his case that we have a Sure Thing by starting with God.  This is the God that created all things and holds all things together.  And it is this God who is providing us with every spiritual blessing that we need.  In other words, we lack nothing because God is providing everything. 

Paul tells his readers that since before the foundation of the world, the Father has chosen for himself a people to adopt as His own children.  This chosen people would be brought to him, Holy and blameless, by the sending of His Son, Jesus Christ.  This Christ would bring forgiveness of sins and redemption through the shedding of His own blood.  And we would receive this gift by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon His Church, that He might provide apostles and pastors who would make known to us the riches of his grace that God has poured out upon us through Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Every sentence of this passage speaks of the certainty of God’s faithfulness to us through his Son. 

Jesus Christ is not God’s Plan B.  Jesus Christ has always been the means by which we have relationship with the Father, since before the creation of the world.  And it is God’s will from before all time, that He would send to us His Son. 

Later in this epistle, Paul will describe us as dead in our trespasses and sins.  We are sinners, helplessly enslaved to sin, death, and the devil. 

Yet, though we are sinners, God freely sent His Son, that we might be reconciled to the Father.  It is Jesus who was made flesh, made to be as we are, who lived a holy and sinless life, that he might bear the curse of the law that we justly deserve.  He is the spotless Lamb who takes away the sins of the world and makes atonement for us.  Through the shedding of his blood he won for us freedom from sin, and forgiveness of our debts. 

This was always the means by which we were to be adopted as sons and daughters of God, and counted as heirs to eternal life with Him.  Christ is the Sure Thing upon which God bet all for our sake. 

And yet, God’s work did not end there.  Paul reminds his listeners that it was God who revealed His will to us that we are to be reconciled to Himself through His Son.  It was He who established His Church and commissioned them to spread his gospel far and wide, to which we became obedient.  He was the one who appointed apostles, pastors, and ministers to spread the gospel of His Son.  Through the spreading of this gospel, God has given us faith in Christ, and has allowed us to take hold of our inheritance – Salvation and Eternal Life with the Father through Jesus Christ.  And just so that we might be sure that we have obtained the gifts that God has promised us through Christ, He gave us a down payment.  He gave to us the Holy Spirit. 

In our Baptism, we received the Holy Spirit and faith, the guarantee that God will grant to us what he has promised.  Just as one wins chips in a poker match guaranteeing the House will pay out at the end of the game, so the Holy Spirit was given to us in Baptism that we might know the certainty of God’s promises. 

Therefore, do not doubt or fear.  Our faith is founded on a Sure Thing. 

We can reflect upon our Baptism and know for certain that God has claimed us as his sons and daughters.  We know for certain that we were claimed as God’s children when the waters of Holy Baptism dripped down our forehead because we received the gift of the Holy Spirit.      

When we are burdened by our sins, we can rest assured that God hears our confession, and that He has provided ministers to declare the gospel message, that in Christ, we are forgiven. 

When we are unnerved by illness, unrest, or death, we can go to the Lord’s Table, beside our brothers and sisters in Christ, and receive the body and blood of our Lord.  When we eat his flesh and drink his blood we know that we are participants in the covenant that made us adopted sons and daughters in Christ, together with all the saints before us. 

We can rejoice that by God’s grace and through Jesus Christ, we possess the winning hand.  We are betting on a Sure Thing because God has made it so.  Amen.