Sermon for May 25

The reading 

Romans 3:28-30 and 5:1-11

3:28 For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.  Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also?

Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one; and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.

And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,  and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,  and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God.

For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.

But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

The message

In a few days we will mark the Ascension, Jesus departure from the world 40 days after his resurrection.  Jesus public ministry from Baptism to Ascension, start to finish stretched over about 3 years (30 -33).  From these events and work of Jesus followers after, our faith has come to us today. We can try to summarize our faith, the few thousand pages of scripture, 800 or so pages of the book of concord (the written confession of the beliefs of the Lutheran church), the countless words and ideas of those who have gone before us in faith and the experiences of God’s people of the Holy Spirit in all different ways. One attempt is about 20 words pulled from today’s reading.  For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law therefore we have peace from God. We could make it even shorter and just say “faith alone”

Of course very few people would be able to fill in the gaps, anyone new to Christianity, curious, unfamiliar with our faith, even people at church all the time, would struggle to understand that statement. I struggled with it in seminary, as I went through courses on those 800 or so pages of the book of concord, other students and I kept adding to it, including some sort of work, thinking the death and resurrection of Christ was a lot but we still a little part to do, that Jesus half, 60, 70, 80 or even 99 percent saved us, then you have to accept, decide, follow.  I wanted highlight faith alone with our bulletin cover this morning, taking off the page number, church name, the date and all the other stuff that is usually on the cover, leaving just faith alone.  On Tuesday, as we were putting together the bulletins, I was talking with Pr Sam and mentioned “hey look how clever this is, see its faith alone on the cover”.  He points out a few details that I missed, its not faith written by itself, its faith alone, it is also in latin (sole fide) and it’s in a decorative box.   We sure do add to it, little things but there is the constant pull away from Christ and the cross to other helpers for salvation.     

We continue to look at the Holy Spirit inspired, Holy Spirit driven and Holy Spirit guided work of Jesus first followers in the days, weeks and years after his death and resurrection, as we do this, we remember that Jesus first followers had the same struggle. Jesus only left his disciples a few bits of instruction, The invitation to come and see the tomb is empty, to know he is risen before doing anything else. Then there are the commands to go and tell the others, to baptize all nations in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and to fearlessly teach what Jesus taught through their words, actions, rituals and even organization.

Jesus followers are left to figure out the how part, get together answers to questions that those others would raise, to prayerfully understand what does all nations mean, to struggle against that radical inclusion which went against every thing they knew and the ways of the cities and world, to ask what does The name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit mean about the being of God, where is the best place to see the tomb is empty, who is authorized to go and tell the others.  These questions are all figured out by listening to and experiences of the Holy Spirit in the midst of them. 

Perhaps the biggest question was what exactly did the death and resurrection of Jesus do, for our salvation, our relationship with God, what about the previous ways, the covenant, the ancient promises and law that God makes with the people.

Romans Chapter 3 starts with a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.  Faith is not our work: (the Greek commentary is from working preaching) It starts with strong words, “therefore, having been justified/made righteous” (the same Greek work is translated in English as either justified or made righteous).

In the original Greek, the beginning is even more dramatic and powerful. In Greek grammar the word ‘therefore’ cannot start a sentence: the first word is, then, “dikaiothente” (having been made righteous). It sounds like a great victorious shout -- ‘having been justified’. The grammar of “dikaiothentes” indicates that Paul is describing a state of being, the condition of his hearers’ lives. The word is an aorist participle in the passive voice: this is something that has happened to the hearers.

The biggest place that this was causing tension was in the relationship with Judiasm. The question did you need to be circusimed in obedience to the covenant with Abraham, did you need to keep the social and dietary laws before being baptized. The church in Rome was founded and started by jewish converts, After a few years the Jews (Christian and not) are exiled by the Roman empire, and a group of gentiles continue the church.  After some time, Rome allows the jews to return which leads to a power and welcome struggle in the church. Paul sets faith above cultural and religious differences, and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.  This faith, to share a quote from Luther’s introduction to Romans:  Faith is a living, unshakeable confidence in God's grace; it is so certain, that someone would die a thousand times for it. This kind of trust in and knowledge of God's grace makes a person joyful, confident, and happy with regard to God and all creatures .This is what the Holy Spirit does by faith.

Chapter 5 helps us see what it means for someone to be justified by faith

Paul goes on to write a series of “so what”,  this series of Therefore, since we are justified by faith:  Therefore since we are justified by faith we have peace with God, we know this is true because of Jesus. This is not good weather news, it is all we need to endure all.  

We can share our own as well Therefore since we are justified by faith

Therefore since we are justified by faith, the church is open to all people, the gift of faith is given, the power of faith is stronger than   Therefore since we are justified by faith, we are to go out

Therefore since we are justified by faith, we can come and see the tomb is empty, we can go and tell the others, we can baptize all nations in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and we can boldly teach as Jesus taught (even when its socially, religiously, culturally offensive)

Therefore since we are justified by faith, we struggle against unfairness  Therefore since we are justified by faith, we celebrate together,