Whose Line Is It, Anyway?
Hebrews 7:22-28 and Ephesians 2:1-10
Reformation Sunday
October 29, 2006
Associate Pastor Doug Forsberg
On Reformation Sunday we reaffirm the great biblical truths that Martin Luther and John Calvin, among others, raised up some 500 years ago: we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We are saved not because we perform well or pass the test, but because God the Father’s love for us is beyond measure.
It’s not everyday that I walk into a room full of people and am greeted with this question: “How many of you think that Pastor Doug deserves to be condemned to hell?” It’s also not everyday that all fifteen people in the room raise their hands with vigor, unanimity and even joy, saying “We do!”
Then one of the leaders of the group said something else you don’t hear everyday, “Isn’t it great to hang out with Calvinists?”
Now this question of my eternal destiny was not put to a group of adults in the church. Had it been we might have been faced with the awkward situation of people trying to be nice. I mean what mature adult would want to consign their associate pastor to the depths of hell . . .? Don’t answer that!
Instead, this question was posed to our youth group, and their answer told me that the Reformation is not dead. In this light moment I spent with our young people, they hit upon a truth from which we so often seek to hide: our sin creates a chasm between us and God that we cannot bridge. Our young people understood without hesitation that my calling as an associate pastor did not mean that I got bonus points from God. Our teens know that it is Jesus alone who saves us; they know that our deeds and our position in life make no difference before God’s throne, for before that throne, we are all declared guilty.
In Martin Luther’s day, people were much more concerned with their eternal destiny than we are today. In that time people were preoccupied with the following question: What must I do to be saved from the horrors of eternal condemnation? This isn’t a question that plagues our time, for both within the Church and outside of the Church we don’t speak very much of eternity. The world simply doesn’t believe in the biblical concept of eternity. Christians shy away from speaking of hell because it’s really not very nice to speak so judgmentally. Since we don’t speak of hell very much, heaven has become a fairy tale netherworld where we all go to get our wings. The biblical picture of a restored creation in which the redeemed find themselves with new physical bodies living in the presence of our most holy God has been lost, given away that we might place our hopes in the trite reward pictured in Hallmark movies.
Not that I don’t cry when I watch a Hallmark movie because I do, but isn’t it interesting that we are plagued by questions like, “Do you want to super-size that,” Can the Patriots win without Deon Branch, and should Madonna adopt a baby from Africa rather than questions concerning our eternity destiny? Yet the scriptures testify that ordinary people like you and I should be concerned with this question, for this question is put before all people and all must answer it one way or another.
If it is a fact that we are all declared guilty before the throne of God, what is our hope? We’ve already noted that our youth know that our hope cannot be placed in what we do or how nice we are. They’ve also seen clearly that our position in the church means little concerning our eternal destiny. Being a pastor, elder, deacon, even being a member of the Church does not bring about our salvation.
500 years ago Martin Luther sought to teach the Church that salvation is found by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. This is our hope. In Luther’s day the Church taught that salvation could be earned by paying the church so that ones sins and the sins of those one loved would be forgiven. The Church taught that our good deeds could balance out our evil deeds. Luther saw all of this teaching as hogwash because in his own life he simply could not follow the letter of the law to perfection. He always fell short and saw no way to live a life worthy of God. Even as a monk cut off from the temptations of the world he found that he was unable to win God’s favor through his obedience. This caused Luther to look for some other way, and thankfully he turned to the scriptures and there he found that someone else had already lived in obedience and that all that was required of Luther was to believe.
Do you believe that your salvation has been won by Jesus Christ and that it is given to you as a gift from our gracious God?
I imagine that most of us in this sanctuary do indeed believe in this Good News. If you do not yet believe, God our Father is inviting you this morning to put your faith in Christ and his gracious salvation. How will you respond?
If you do believe, I want to encourage and exhort you to continue on as an heir of the grace of God, placing your trust in the saving work of Jesus. Our passage in Hebrews this morning serves as both an encouragement and exhortation to us, for it is ever so easy to fall into the trap of seeking to earn our way into heaven and into God’s favor. The point of following Christ is not that we seek to be good, setting up a system of works whereby we can check our progress toward salvation. The point of following Jesus is that we discover over and over again how much we are loved. All of this talk of heaven and hell, salvation and condemnation, and faith and grace revolves around this incredibly simple fact: we are loved beyond our knowing or understanding by the creator of the universe. Friends, listen to the unfathomable nature of God’s love for us: “neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39) Do you have trouble believing such love exists for you? Hebrews 7:22-28 will help you.
Hebrews 7:24 tells us that Jesus lives forever. This is one of those obvious facts that can be taken for granted if we don’t pay attention to it. We all know that Jesus lives forever, that’s what the resurrection and ascension were all about, but what does it mean that Jesus lives forever? Jesus lives forever for us. He’s not living forever for his own enjoyment or so that he can play more golf, take more vacations, and invest in US government bonds into eternity. No, he’s living forever in order to serve us. Can you imagine? The King of Kings and Lord of Lords lives forever on our behalf, and we have no say in the matter. It’s not like we asked Jesus to live forever or even came up with the idea.
This Love that will not let you go is on your side and he’s everything that we can never be. Look at verse 26 which tells us that Jesus meets our need. This Jesus who lives forever remains in relationship with God the Father in a way we cannot because Jesus is holy, blameless, uncompromised by sin, and his authority reaches to the highest regions of heaven. Are you trying with all of your might to be holy and blameless? Are you running yourself ragged seeking to flee the stain of sin? You’ll never do it friends, but this one who lives forever in order to serve you has done it, which means that his relationship with God the Father is unbroken. So it is that Jesus lives forever, and his love for us cannot be broken.
We also find encouragement and exhortation to believe in God’s rich love and mercy in chapter seven of Hebrews in verse 25 when we are told that Jesus lives to intercede for us. Can you imagine that the high king of Heaven pleads with God the Father on our behalf? Who are we that Jesus should be doing such a thing, but there he is making our case before God. Jesus sits at the right hand of the throne of God and speaks our names, pleading with God on our behalf. Romans 8:33-35 ask the following question: “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died-- more than that, who was raised to life-- is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”
One of the reasons that we don’t pray to the saints is that we have direct and unfettered access to Jesus. There is no need to go through a middleman in prayer. Instead, we are invited to pray in the name of the one who intercedes for us before God’s throne. Take your cares to Jesus, for he speaks for you, and when you find yourself doubting whether or not God loves you and giving in to the temptation to earn God’s love by being so very good, remember that Jesus pleads for you before the throne of God not by referencing your good works but by referencing his sacrifice on your behalf. 1 John 2:1 is a powerful verse that speaks of Jesus’ advocacy for us: “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense-- Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.”
The story is told of a Bible translator in the Philippines who had a young boy working for him. The boy was, like many boys, prone to mischief. One day the boy was playing with a firecracker. He threw it over his shoulder meaning for it to land in water. Instead, it landed in some grass and ruined a number of shirts that had been left out to dry. The man who owned the shirts was angry and the boy was afraid of what might happen to him, so he ran to the translator.
The translator said to the boy, “Since you work for me, I will talk to the owner of the shirts for you.”
After talking about the incident, the owner of the shirts told the translator, “Because of who you are and since the boy works for you, I won’t do anything to the boy, and he won’t have to pay.”[1]
A final source of encouragement to believe in God’s lavish love is found in verse 25 when we are told that Jesus saves completely those who come to God through him. How does Jesus do this? Verse 27 tells us that Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice for our sins. We’ve already noted that he was and is always in a right relationship with God. This passage in Hebrews speaks of human high priests having to offer sacrifices for their own sin before they could offer a sacrifice for the sins of others. Jesus did not have this problem. He was pure and unblemished, and the sacrifice he made only needed to be made once. Romans 5:8-10 puts it this way, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when 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!” Nothing else needs to be done to accomplish our salvation, for Jesus has paid our debt for us.
This makes me wonder why we try to add to Jesus’ sacrifice by making sacrifices of our own. It really is such a subtle shift in our hearts that moves us from experiencing the freedom of God’s love into a self imposed slavery of earning his love. We all fall into this trap of seeking brownie points with God, but if in seeking to serve God you are striving to win your salvation you are on the wrong path. Jesus has won this for you and you cannot add to his work for his work is complete and final. The question becomes will we rest in it and allow God’s love to embrace us and move our hearts into the joy of service that flows out of our freedom and that benefits the Kingdom of God?
Brothers and sisters, it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith. Jesus lives forever for us, he saves us completely, and he pleads with God on our behalf. The biblical witness of the richness and fullness of heaven: the redeemed living in the presence of God on the New Earth and that same biblical witness of the horrors of hell should drive us to our knees in thanksgiving, for nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ.
Halleluiah! Halleluiah!
Amen.
[1] Wayne Huff ed., The Meeting Place, “Our Advocate,” Huntington Beach, CA: Wycliffe Bible Translators, 1998, p. 35.