Fulfilling All Righteousness - Sermon for the Baptism of Our + Lord 2023

The Baptism of Our Lord 
January 8^th, Year of Our Lord 2023
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, South Dakota
Fulfilling All Righteousness 

  What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ² By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?   No, of course not.  We are Christians, baptized believers in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  We do not live in sin.  

   So then, why do we sin so much?

    Recently I was blessed by an unexpected encounter with old friends, a blessing, at least, until I ruined it.  There were four of us, and we share a lot in common, and some great memories.  One of those memories is of a mistake made by one us, we’ll call him Michael.  It was a big mistake, which thankfully had no real consequence.  However, by making this mistake amongst a group of men, Michael’s error became fodder for jokes and teasing.  At some level I’m sure Michael is glad that the mistake could be laughed about, even if at his expense.  But there should be limits, no?  If we are going to retain friendships, there have to be limits to such teasing and joking; the reminders must end. 

    Sadly, when the four of us were together recently, for the first time in years, I didn’t resist the temptation to slip in a zinger, just an indirect reference that took everyone back to the moment of the mistake, now many years ago.  I was hurtful.  It’s a tired old joke that needs to die and disappear.  I know this.  And yet I did it.  How can I, who through Holy Baptism have died to sin, still live in it?  

    Do you find yourself committing the same old sins?  Do you say hurtful things to people, friends or family members, without thinking?  Are there mean things you say or do, to your husband or wife, to your child, or to your brother or sister?  Word choices that cut, an accusatory tone of voice that brings with it a flood of bad memories, embarrassments and guilts that linger on, deep in the soul.  If you at the moment can’t think of anything like this that you do, perhaps you can think of how others do it to you.  And then, how do you respond? 

   Of course, not all the sins that we struggle to escape are relational.  But the hurts we cause to one another are visible, more or less out in the open.  In one sense are worse, because beyond the injury they cause between the two people involved, they also destroy the harmony and peace of everyone around, of the group of friends, of the family, the work group, the congregation, the classroom.  But at least there’s a better chance we’ll be held accountable when we sin openly against another person. 

    Other sins, private sins, are no less wrong, and over time they can be even more corrosive.  Maybe your personality and habits prevent you from openly harming or insulting other people.  But if in your mind you are nursing grudges and imagining revenge, the poison is just as dangerous.  And you, at least for now, are keeping it all for yourself.  Which is good for the rest of us, but it’s really bad for you. 

    Of course, there’s more.  Sadly, private sins of passive reception are endemic in our world today.  What you consume, through your mouth, or your eyes and ears, these things are certainly more and more private, in our world of solitary living, of dining alone, and of tiny screens and earbuds.  It seems we have reduced the idea of America being a free country down to the lowest possible common denominator:  “I am free to fill my mind and soul and body with whatever garbage I want, and you can’t tell me that’s not o.k.” 

   The freedom to pollute ourselves may be our reality, our 21^st century hellscape.  But that doesn’t make it good.  That doesn’t make it acceptable to the God who bled and died to give us the gift of new life through Holy Baptism.   

 

   Is it that we aren’t trying hard enough?  Probably.  Christian apathy about sin must be considered as part of our problem.  And be warned, apathy in the face of besetting sins, of repetitive sins we do over and over, such apathy is not Christian.  The Baptized are called to fight against sin, to discipline our minds and our bodies, to flee from sin, and choose the lonely way of being that weirdo who doesn’t go along with the crowd, the society, or the internet.  Apathy to sin will corrode your faith, and could make you forget and stop trusting in what Christ has taught you, in what He has done for you.   

    In this effort to live as Christians, we do not forget or deny the clear teaching of Jesus that we sinners are saved by God’s grace and action, freely, as a gift, that we receive simply by believing it.  Our works do not save us; Jesus saves us.  But if we turn this remarkable good news into a bland formula for papering over our life of sin, well, that is an eternally dangerous game to play.  

    We dare not think and live like this:  “Oh yes, I’m a sinner, I know, isn’t that unfortunate?  So I’ll be sure to blandly turn to Christ, knowing that He is forgiving, blah, blah, blah…”   The Lord clearly rejects such surface-only religion:  “Their lips cry out to me, Lord, Lord!  But their hearts are far from me.”  If we take this approach to Christian living, we should look forward to a very unpleasant surprise on the Last Day.  Like when the door was shut and the five foolish virgins hear Jesus say to them: “Depart from me, I never knew you.” 

    There’s a saying about Lutherans.  I haven’t heard it in a long time, actually, but back in the day when lots of Americans gave a rip about Biblical teaching, it was a common to hear the accusation against Lutherans that we are just “lazy Catholics.”  That is, we have a high liturgy, and history, and tradition, and we think the Sacraments are something real.  But we use our “grace alone, faith alone,” focus to avoid actually doing anything.  Roman Catholics at least are badgered by their priests to pray to Mary more, and be nice. 

    We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, apart from our own works.  This is true, and must always be proclaimed, because it is the Truth of Christ.  If you ever hear me saying or seeming to say that your salvation depends on your actions, your will, your good works, you as members of the body of Christ and of this congregation have the freedom and the responsibility to call me on it.  Because it is a lie. 

    At the same time, we can’t be lazy.  We can’t live as though how we live doesn’t matter.  We dare not think that God’s forgiveness gives us license to sin.  We are saved in order to be fruitful members of Christ’s Church, overflowing with love.  We poor miserable sinners must be and are saved by grace through faith, yes, but faith is not merely a vague mental assertion.  It is a living trust, created in sinners by the Holy Spirit.   A faith without works is a dead faith.  True faith knows and rejoices in the fact that Jesus is our only hope, our perfect hope, the One who has saved us from living in hell, today and forever and ever.     And such a faith works.  Like the little child eager to help her mommy sweep the kitchen floor, a believer is naturally eager to live as Christ has called us to live.  

    Living as a Christian who is still a sinner, and trying to be a Church which upholds the Truth of Christ, these efforts create quite the quandary.  It is certainly true that the main heresy, the main false teaching that has surrounded Lutherans since the Reformation is the admixture of human works into the formula of salvation.  

    There is the Roman way, which denies Christ is the all sufficient Savior.  Rome falsely teaches that the Christian must pay for a certain amount of their sins with their good works, before salvation is accomplished.  You’ll find out how many sins you missed, and for which you must suffer, when you die and arrive in purgatory. 

    Then there is false way of Decision Theology, which kind of is lazy Catholicism.  This works righteous error boils all of the good works required for salvation down to just one decision.  Just one choice by the prospective Christian, that is, the decision for Jesus, to invite Him into your heart or make Him Lord of your life or some such thing.  Just one work, but it is a big one, and it must be sincere.  You must really commit, they say, truly give your heart, or it doesn’t count.  Which of course is the devil’s loophole, really the gaping hole in your armor that he will continually exploit to torment you.  “Did you really give your heart to Jesus?” 

    And there is the way of the strict Calvinists, all twelve of them who are left, which clearly states that you contribute nothing to your salvation.  But, and this is a very big but, good works must follow for you to prove your election, there’s no other way to know if God has picked you.  No way to God has chosen you, because they deny the reality of Holy Baptism.  This of course invites in the same monster of uncertainty. 

    Christians should reject all these works righteous errors, because they contradict the Bible, and they rob you of peace.  You and I were dead in our trespasses and sins, but God in Christ, by the work of the Holy Spirit through the Word, has made us alive again, by grace through faith in the forgiving blood of Jesus.  It’s easy to see how we Lutherans, who shouldn’t apologize for upholding Christ’s Truth, might fall into the habit of not talking about good works, of de-emphasizing them.  We are surrounded by voices that want to rob Christ of His glory and claim a part of the work of salvation for us sinners.  So we lean the other direction.  And that’s o.k.  

    And yet the Truth of Christ also includes the Scriptural teaching that faith without works is
dead.  A Baptismal faith connection to Christ naturally results in fruit – as in branches abiding in the Vine always produce fruit, the fruits of fleeing from sin and loving our neighbor.  We need to keep front and center the truth that God desires our good works, for real, right now, so much so that He has prepared them in advance, for us to walk in them.  To choose to walk around them is to hack away at your connection to the Vine.  If we are constantly falling into the same old sins, instead of doing good works, if we know all too well the sin of omission, that is, of seeing the good work that God has put in our path, but looking away and walking around it, well, can we say with a straight face that we are Christians? 

    We are caught in a struggle, and it is clear that we fail.  If we do not fail every time, certainly we fail too often.  We sin, and we sluff it off.  We pursue bad habits of imbibing the false teaching of the world, perhaps even while tut-tut-tutting to each other about how the world is going to hell in a handbasket.  But we do not disconnect our eyes and ears, let alone do we fill them up with good and right things.  We do have an alternative.  We can all imbibe more deeply the gift of God’s Word, which He promises will fill us up for life.  True life, right now, the beginning of eternal life that will one day be revealed as a forever and ever glorious celebration.  Such a faithful life will bear fruit.  We can start by doing the easy good works, practicing with those closest to us, choosing to bless and not to curse, to love and not to hurt.   

     If all this talk about your habitual sins and the need for good works has you squirming, a bit uncomfortable, well, good.  If you recognize your similar failures in the failures I have described, that’s a blessing.  If you don’t, you need to examine your life.  Honestly take a look at your thoughts, words and deeds, in comparison to the Ten Commandments.  Take an honest look at your life, even if the picture is ugly.  Consider your walk, even if it means God is going to convict you.  Because that is what you need.  It was certainly what I needed. 

    God used my friend Michael, the one I hurt, to turn me around.  In fact, I only call him Michael because this name means “he who is like God.”  Michael was God’s mask to me, the Lord’s messenger to confront me in my sin.  It wasn’t pleasant.  My friend said nothing about my hurtful words at the moment I said them.  But when a couple days later, in a text, I half-heartedly apologized for the snide remark I made, blah, blah, blah.  Well then my friend was God’s knife to cut me to the quick. “So, why? Why did you do that?  Must I hear about this long ago mistake every time I see you?  Why do you, a baptized believer in Christ, keep doing this?”   

    Woe is me.  “Dear Michael,” I texted back, “I was wrong, I apologize, please forgive me.”  There was nothing else I could say.  Praise be to God, I was cut to the quick. 

    And even greater praises, my friend, God’s instrument, is a Christian.  Michael is a little Christ, who immediately forgave me.  Not because I deserved it, no, but for Jesus’ sake.  For Jesus’ sake, Michael forgave me.  And the resolve to never repeat that sin filled my soul.   

    Consider this God we have.  There was no excuse for what I did, no way for me to wriggle out of my guilt.  This baptized Christian, a called and ordained pastor, no less, had no excuse.  What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ² By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?    But I sinned none the less.  And yet, despite the offensiveness, despite the hurtfulness of my sin, Jesus used it to draw me closer to Him.  My Christian friend suffered, because of me, which is evil.  But as He does so often, God used something evil for good.  Christ took the opportunity to wake me up, forgive me, and give me a renewed will to live differently. 

    This is also part of what Jesus meant when talked to John the Baptist about fulfilling all righteousness.  Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴ John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” ¹⁵ But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented.  Jesus has fulfilled and is fulfilling all righteousness, all the holiness and goodness and suffering needed to save us.  Jesus not only took all our sin upon Himself and bore it to the Cross.  He not only lived the perfect life of love, fulfilling the Ten Commandments in our name.  He did these things, to be sure, and yet He does more.  Through His Spirit, Christ is also actively out in the midst of His people today, leading us to good works, and also confronting us in our sins, calling us to genuine repentance, so He can forgive us, again, and draw us closer to Himself.  Christ does this, for our salvation, and for the good of our life in this world, and to give a chance for unbelievers to hear the magnificent truth of God’s love, poured out for sinners.  

   This is the promise and the call of Baptism.  God grant that it shape us all, day by day, and forever and ever, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.