Relationship With God Is A Gift
The year was 1517, Martin Luther posted 95 Theses (propositions) on the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church as an invitation to debate the sale of indulgences for forgiveness. That event sparked a reform movement that eventually led to the Lutheran church. While there is much sorrow in the disunity which the Reformation caused, Luther did establish the idea that the Church is always in need of reform in the light of the gospel.
Luther's primary principal that Christians are justified by God's grace through faith in Christ has also found universal acceptance among denominations. Today we pray for church unity, for the purity of God's word, and for a church that is always open to reform and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Prayer:
It's really a very simply question: "How do I have a good relationship with God? And this question is followed up with another that is closely related "What do I have to do to have a good relationship with God?" Throughout the history philosophers and religious people have asked these questions.
Obviously these are important questions, and if there is a God, and there is, these questions must be answered accurately. Jesus Christ came into the world to give us a good relationship with God. This answers the first question: "How do I have a good relationship with God?" Answer: "With Jesus Christ".
And it also answers the second question as well: "What do I have to do to have a good relationship with God?" Answer: "You don't have to do anything, simply believe that Jesus Christ has done it all for you."
On this Reformation Sunday I must sadly admit that not all people even Christians believe the Gospel for it's face value. Instead of believing the Gospel many Christians still want to ask "What do I have to do to have a good relationship with God?"
This question has plagued the Christian church from the very beginning.
We ask what we have to do instead of what God has done. As those who bear the name "Lutheran" we stand with Martin Luther, the apostle Paul, and above all Jesus Christ, when "We maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from observing the law."
Few years ago, this happened to me that after three years of confirmation instructions to my pupils. I asked them on what ground would God let us into heaven? Their answer was like most people think, keep the Ten Commandments and we will get to heaven. If you do more bad things than good things, you go to hell. If you do more good things than bad things, you go to heaven.
And indeed, this may be religion, but it's not Christianity, it's not what Jesus taught or the apostle Paul, or Martin Luther. The truth is that no one will go to heaven by keeping the Ten Commandments. Paul says: "No one will be declared righteous in God's sight by observing the law." In other words, no one will be considered good in God's sight on the basis of how well they kept the Ten Commandments.
So why do people think this way? Well, first of all we don't understand that God expects his commandments to be kept perfectly. We think God only expects us to do our best. The Bible says: You shall be holy, for I the Lord God am holy. You shall be perfect just as your father in heaven is perfect. And secondly, most people including me have a poor sense of grace.
Unlike the Gospel, the law of God is part of our human nature, we don't have to be Christian or Jewish or Muslim to know the law of God. It is written on the heart of every person. That's what the Bible says. It is what we call "conscience". If you don't know the Gospel then the only way to answer the question: "How do I have a good relationship with God?"
Is with the law by what we do, by how we live. That's the natural answer. And sadly, even many Christians, who are suppose to know the Gospel, answer this question with the law as my confirmants did.
Countless Christians think that a good relationship with God depends on how well they keep the Ten Commandments. Many people live under the mistaken notion that if we only do our best God will be pleased with us.
The Bible says that all our righteousness is as filthy rags. Our best is not good enough for good. Despite what he had been taught by the church, Martin Luther learned the truth that instead of the law saving us because we keep it, the law actually condemns us for not keeping it. Paul says that the Ten Commandments make us "Conscious of sin."
It is the "conscious", that makes us aware that we have done something wrong. And when our conscience is working at its full capacity and our guilt becomes intense enough we also become aware that God will hold us "accountable" for what we have done, that is, God condemns sin and those who live under it's yoke. Here we become more aware that God doesn't expect us to do our best, but He expects us to be perfect But can we?
We are reminded that God is a holy and just God who must punish sin even as Adam and Eve found out after only one sin. Under such guilt and condemnation we are better able to understand what Paul says. That before God no one can boast about how good he / she is or how well he/ she has kept the Ten Commandments, for "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
No one lives up to God's perfect expectations. Therefore unless we have fallen into self-righteousness, the delusion that we have pleased God with our keeping of his law, we will feel the weight of guilt and despair, knowing what Paul says it true: That no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law."
This is the function and purpose of the Ten Commandments to show us the way to the Gospel. If a miracle cure for cancer is discovered tomorrow who do you think will be happier? Someone who doesn't have cancer or someone who does ?
(Ask someone and wait for the answer) The answer is obvious.
Likewise, only those who realize just how sinful they are rejoice over the good news of Jesus Christ who died to pay the debt, our debt, to God. That's what Paul says. "God presented Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement."
God didn't simply overlook our sin. He didn't excuse it. He didn't ignore it. He punished it when Jesus died on the cross. Our debt to God has been canceled, wiped out, forgiven. Paul says that in the death of Jesus Christ God "demonstrated his justice." The Gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ, Jesus has done what we could not do for our selves. He has reconciled us with God through the forgiveness of our sins and gives us eternal life. Illustration : “ DQ Banana split”
This is the righteousness Paul is talking about when he says. " But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known." Our Lord Jesus Christ has done all that is necessary for our salvation as He says in our Gospel lesson: "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." Thus God gives us the freedom to love and serve.
This righteousness of Jesus Christ becomes ours through faith as Paul says: "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe." Faith is the only way to receive a promise. A promise is a promise. You can't change someone's promise.
We either believe the promise or we don't. If we don't believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ we don't have what it promises. If we don't believe, we don't have peace with God and the search for peace on this side of heaven will continue.
If we don't believe, peace with God will elude us. But if we believe, we have all these things because faith is the hand that receives these gifts from God. These gifts of God exist whether we believe or not, but these gifts must be received to be enjoyed.
Illustration: “ When Peter to the Pearl gate, Michael said ……need 10 points to get in ” That is the function of faith. To receive what God gives us in Jesus Christ. Righteousness. And that's what Paul means when he says: "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law."
Conclusion: And this was the essence of Martin Luther's reformation of the church, which began on October 31, 1517. It is the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But sadly, survey after survey shows that even those who go by the name "Lutheran" think that they are saved by faith in Jesus and by living a good life, keeping the Ten Commandments and other rituals.
But if we add anything to faith in Jesus then we take away his glory and honor. If we add anything to faith in Jesus Christ we are saying that what he did was not good enough to save us. The cross is a visual reminder of what God did for us that we couldn't do for our selves. The cross is a place where we can say thanks to God.
And finally if we add anything to faith in Jesus we rob ourselves of peace. For we can never find peace for our troubled conscience if we think we have to live a certain way in order to be saved, for how do we know when we have ever done enough?
No, we look to Jesus Christ and to Jesus Christ alone for our righteousness and salvation as Paul says we "are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." And so, on this Reformation Sunday we once again stand with Martin Luther and confess to the world,
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—
and this not from yourselves,
not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
Amen.
Rev. Samuel King-Kabu
October 26, 2003