God Makes Reconciliation Personal

Romans 5:6-11

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

God Makes Reconciliation Personal

Do you know how long it’s been since I stood Bible in hand and preached to real live people? 115 days! It was still Lent when we were all together last. I’ve preached 19 sermons to an empty room and have sung far too many solos for my taste. I pray that we never have to go that long without worshiping together again.

But as hard as these 115 days have been, there was always a light at the end of the tunnel. We knew that eventually this day would come and we’d all be back together. Well, this day has come and here you are! It’s been a long 115 days and who knows what the world will look like 115 days from now, but here you are, and for that I boast in God.

Liam, Jaidan, Ashleigh, it’s been a long 2 years. Do you know how many lessons we’ve studied together in Confirmation Class? 90! At one time or another, you memorized all 14 pages of Luther’s Small Catechism. It wasn’t always fun. Scheduling an extra afternoon class was tricky. There were forgotten assignments, make up lessons, stressful deadlines.

But all of those long hours and lessons were preparing you for this day – for the day that you would stand in front of your church family and confess your faith, for the day that you would take ownership of that faith and willingly accept responsibility for it. I don’t know what the next 2 years will look like for you, but you’re here now and for that I boast in God.

There are moments like this in all our lives when God gives us the opportunity and the clarity to look to the past in order to find hope for the future and purpose for our present. Really, as Christians, this is our daily task – to look to what God has done for us in the past which gives us hope for the future and purpose for our present. That’s what we just read from Paul’s letter to the Romans.

He starts by talking about our past, and in not so glowing terms. At various points he calls us powerless, ungodly, sinners, even God’s enemies.

It doesn’t take much to make us feel weak, does it? Just try answering all 85 questions I threw at our confirmands last week, or surviving a 4-month (and counting) global pandemic. There are ways that God takes all control out of our hands and reminds us just how powerless we are. But the picture that Paul paints for us when he uses that word – powerless – is not that heaven is on a hill and we lack the cardio to climb it. It’s that there is a chasm between us and God – a separation of our own doing.

The other 3 words Paul uses – ungodly, sinners, enemies – all describe an actively hostile relationship against him. Ungodly people despise God; they would just as soon spit on him as bow down and worship him. Sinners don’t measure up; they miss the mark; they fail to do what God tells us to do and do the things God forbids of us. Enemies actively work against God.

Now, it’s worth mentioning that Paul is writing to believers here. He’s not penning a letter to the local penitentiary, or to the regional chapter of the atheist society. He’s writing to believers and he’s writing about himself. “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless… while we were still sinners… while we were God’s enemies.”

By nature, we were all ungodly sinners and God’s enemies. No one is neutral. It’s not that we didn’t have a relationship with God. It’s that we had a bad one. It’s not that we were too weak to maintain a good relationship with him. It’s that we didn’t want to. Every fiber of our being rebels against God.

That’s why we’re so quick to fall into temptation, to lash out against internet trolls, to pour ourselves into recreation and ignore worship of God. That’s why we let lust and anger rule our hearts and get defensive when people call us out.

Paul doesn’t paint a very pretty picture of our past. But, I’m going to lean on you confirmands, what’s the answer to every question in confirmation class? When in doubt, just say, “Jesus.” Even for people who were rightly called powerless, ungodly, sinners and enemies, Jesus died. In fact, Paul takes it one step further. He says, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

This Summer we’re looking at the Christian faith, one word at a time. Today’s word is “reconciliation.” Like atonement two weeks ago and righteousness last week, these are all synonyms for how Jesus saves us. But the flavor of this word – reconciliation – is so much more personal.

Atonement refers to the bloody sacrifice Jesus made to pay for the sins of the whole world. Righteousness is a courtroom word; it’s the technical explanation for how guilty sinners like you and me can go to heaven. These words are all beautiful in their own right, but reconciliation makes it personal.

Your individual relationship with God was broken. Your sin separated you from him. Your sinful desires turned you against him. But while you were still powerless, ungodly, sinful enemies, Christ died for you. He made it personal. Reconciliation isn’t a global decree. It’s God taking you by the hand, looking you in the eye and saying, “I forgive you.”

You may not deserve it – in fact, you’ve done everything to disqualify yourself from it – but God took the initiative and restored your broken relationship. His love took action and his Son took up a cross, so that you could know the depth of his dedication to you.

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. There is power in Paul’s past tense, isn’t there? We were powerless, ungodly, sinful enemies of God, but that’s not our identity in Christ anymore. Now we are his dearly loved children because Christ died for us. It’s done. There’s nothing left for us to do to be reconciled to him. He has done all the work. It’s finished. It’s over.

Now, when we look to the past, we can see how sin used to separate us from God; but we can also see our Savior. Now, when we look to the past, we can see how God has reconciled us to himself through the blood and death of our Lord Jesus. And that look to the past gives us hope for the future.

If God went to all those lengths to save us from our sin, you better believe that he’ll finish what he started. Because of the past, we have a future. We don’t know what the world is going to look like in 2 years or in 115 more days or even tomorrow. We live in so much uncertainty with so many unanswered and unanswerable questions.

There are so many questions that sometimes doubt can begin to seep into our hearts, but that’s why Paul writes these words: “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!”

If you’re facing trouble, hardship, sorrow in your life right now, it’s not because God hates you. The pandemic isn’t his way of punishing you. Your sin was paid for by Jesus in the past to give you a future made certain by his grace.

Liam, Jaidan, Ashleigh, sometimes I feel bad for you, because your high school years are going to be so much more difficult than mine were. You’re going to have to answer questions that nobody thought to ask 20 years ago. And my heart breaks to think of the problems that you’ll face because of it. But I don’t fear for your future, and neither should you, because you know the past.

If, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

God sacrificed his Son for you to secure a future for you. He didn’t let Jesus die to win a few good years for you here on earth. He was in it for the long haul, for eternity. And you can bank on it. Whatever happens in the Fall, next year, or tomorrow, you know where you’ll be when Jesus comes again. You’ll be in the good graces of God because of the love he demonstrated by sacrificing his Son to save you.

And because of that, we boast. We have reason to rejoice! That’s what boasting is, after all, isn’t it? You boast and brag about something because you’re so happy that you can’t keep quiet about it.

I hope that’s how you feel, on reaching your Confirmation Day. It’s amazing that you get to receive for the first time today the Lord’s Supper – Jesus’ true body and blood in bread and wine given and poured out for you for the forgiveness of your sins. That’s reason to rejoice.

I hope that’s how all of you feel, being together again gathered around God’s Word and hearing about his reconciliation. I want to boast about that! My God died for me! And it’s not about me. It’s not because I’m great. In fact, there are many ways that I’m not great, but my God is and I will boast in the Lord until the day he takes me home.

When I know what God has done for me in the past and the hope he makes certain for my future, it gives me purpose in the present – to give voice to the goodness and love of God; to go out like those Twelve disciples freely giving what we have freely received; to reach the lost and proclaim the good news that while we were still powerless, ungodly, sinners and enemies God, Christ died for us. He made his reconciliation personal. It is mine by grace and it belongs to everyone who believes.

Whatever tomorrow may bring, I pray you always know what God has done for you in the past, the future he has made certain for you in Christ, and the purpose he gives to your present. May we all boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Amen.

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The Power of Hope Lies in the Promises of God

Romans 4:18-25

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” 23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

The Power of Hope Lies in the Promises of God

The closest I’ve been to a courtroom is standing out in the hallway. I was called to be a character witness a couple years ago. I was never summoned, never testified, so I never saw the inside of that courtroom. But I have to tell you, I was shaky and nervous and sweaty anyway. Courtrooms can be scary places, even if you’re not the one on trial, even if you know you’re innocent.

Now, imagine that you’re not. You’re guilty. There are eyewitnesses. There is material evidence linking you to the crime. The prosecuting attorney not only has an ironclad case but he also has a personal vendetta against you. How would you walk into that courtroom? How much hope would you have to walk out that courtroom acquitted, all the charges dropped, completely free to go?

Paul says that you should have all the hope in the world, and Abraham is the reason why. “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed.”

Someone told me this week that spirituality, especially Christianity, is sometimes considered a sign of mental illness. You’d have to be crazy to be a Christian. And, you know what, I’d agree. There is an irrationality to our Christian faith that just doesn’t make any sense at all. Abraham is a great example.

The man was 100 years old. His wife was 90. They had been trying for 25 years to have a child together, but their bodies were functionally dead in the baby-making department. By all accounts, they’d be crazy to believe that they’d have a baby. But that’s exactly what Abraham believed.

“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations.”

Abraham was no dummy. He knew the obstacles that were in his way. He was not blind to the fact that no one in their nineties gives birth. But Abraham believed, not in himself, not in biology, not in the power of positive thinking. Abraham believed the promise God had made him.

One night, when Abraham was still a young buck of about 75, God took him for a walk and showed him a sky full of stars. He was talking about Abraham’s future and, among other promises, he said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars – if indeed you can count them. So shall your offspring be.” To childless Abraham and his barren wife, Sarah, God promised innumerable descendants. It was literally a laughable promise; both Abraham and Sarah giggled when they heard it. But against all hope, Abraham in hope believed.

Could you do that? I don’t know too many 100-year-olds, but if you were one, could you believe that you’d have a child in your old age? Could you see all the evidence and all the reasons why you shouldn’t believe that something will happen but still believe it anyway? That’s kind of the Christian life, isn’t it?

So many of the facts that we face in this world ought to rob us of hope. We’ve endured months of isolation and fear as we’ve helplessly watched the death toll rise from a global pandemic. We’re still hurting as a society from pains and prejudices that were begun hundreds of years ago. And that’s just page one of your local newspaper.

Then there are the kinds of things you would only read in your diary. The strained relationships. The shrinking wallet. The cancelled plans. The hospital visits. The anxiety and depression. The frustration and disappointments.

How can a Christian have hope in a world that offers precious little? The same way Abraham did.

Abraham had hope where the situation looked hopeless because he trusted in the promise of God, and God doesn’t make promises the way that humans do. God doesn’t lie to us. He doesn’t forget his promises or change his mind. He doesn’t promise us anything outside of his ability to accomplish. Abraham was fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised, and that faith proved to be well placed.

Finally, when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah 90, they had their first and only child, Isaac. God kept his promise! God made the impossible possible. Although it must have seemed crazy to everyone around them, God proved that their hope was not misplaced. He proved that he had the power to do what he promised.

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed. He was strengthened by God’s promises and fully persuaded by God’s faithfulness. It wasn’t that Abraham was a superior believer who had better faith than anyone else. When Abraham began to waver and weaken, God was there with his word of promise to reassure him and remind him that God would be the one to do the impossible. All Abraham had to do was wait and have faith, and God credited that faith to him as righteousness.

There’s that word for the day – righteousness! If you recall from the beginning of our service today, we said that righteousness is a forensic term, i.e. it’s the kind of word you’d use in a courtroom to describe a person who is upright, blameless, no fault can be found with them. That’s what God considered Abraham, not because of anything Abraham did, but because of his faith.

I could tell you stories about Abraham that wouldn’t make him sound so good. I could call witnesses to the stand who would tell you about Ishmael, the son Abraham had with a servant girl in a moment of weakness and panic and fear that God wouldn’t fulfill his promise. We could lay out exhibit after exhibit proving Abraham’s guilt, but God would still slam the gavel and call him righteous because of his faith, because Abraham didn’t rely on himself – his reason, his health, the strength of his body; he relied on God and his promises, and those never disappoint.

I asked you earlier how you would feel walking into a courtroom knowing full well how guilty you are and that the prosecuting attorney has the evidence to prove it. That will happen to you. We call it Judgment Day. You will stand before God, the Righteous Judge, who has a perfect standard for obedience; he doesn’t tolerate a single infraction. You will hear Satan make his case against you, citing sins that you did in secret and didn’t think anyone else knew. You will hear testimony from the people you hurt in your life or the ones whose needs you neglected. Anyone in their right mind would expect nothing other than a guilty verdict. You’d be crazy to think you could walk away scott free. But against all hope, knowing your own sin, you can still believe it, because it’s God’s promise to you.

You can put your faith in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. Our situation was hopeless. We were and are guilty of trespasses and sin. As we confessed to start this service, we have done what is evil and failed to do what is good. But that’s why Jesus was delivered over to death – for our sins. That’s why he was raised to life – for our justification.

The devil can present all the damning evidence of your sin to the court, but at the end of that day all God will see is Jesus. Our Judge will see the perfect righteousness of Jesus and his innocent death he endured for our sins and he will be delighted to declare you not guilty. Because even though you are guilty, Jesus has paid the penalty for your sin. His death on the cross has forgiven you, and his resurrection from the grave gives you hope of everlasting life with him in heaven.

This world can tell you that you have no reason for hope. The devil can parade your sin in front of you to try to get to despair of your worthiness of God. Human reason would tell you that you should believe them and abandon all hope. But God promises you forgiveness and life in Jesus. He promises you that although you have trouble in this world, Jesus has overcome and will redeem you from it. God promises you that he is watching over you and protecting you and that he sends his angels to guard over you. God promises you that no matter how this life unfolds – no matter how much uncertainty, pain or fear you experience here – you can look forward in hope to heaven, where there will be no more weeping or mourning or crying or pain, just Jesus and his righteousness that has been credited to you by faith in him.

Does that mean that if you can just muster up enough hope in your heart, then anything is possible? No. Abraham and Sarah didn’t conceive Isaac because of the power of their positive thinking. Sarah gave birth when she was 90 years old because God promised it and they believed the promise. The power of hope lies in the promises of God. So, listen to what he tells you.

Listen when he says that your sins are paid for. He condemned his Son to death so that you can live in righteousness, i.e. acquitted, set free, your sin not held against you anymore. Listen when he says that he loves you, even if it doesn’t feel that way in the moment. Listen when he tells you about the future he has prepared for you in heaven, even if it doesn’t feel like you can get through the rest of the day.

The world may think you’re crazy to be Christian, and, in a sense, they’re right. You can tell me all the reasons I shouldn’t have hope. I’ll tell you the story about Abraham and Sarah and how our God makes the impossible possible. I’ll show you Jesus and tell you about his promises of forgiveness and salvation and life.

The power of hope lies in the promises of God. Listen to them. Amen.

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