February 25, 2018                                                                            Text:  Romans 5:1-8

Dear Friends in Christ,

Sometimes it’s good just to go back to the basics, just to hear once again the core of what wee believe, just to listen to what brings peace, hope and joy to our hearts.  Romans 5 does just that.  The Apostle Paul is assuring us of the basic, core hope we have when he says, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (v. 1)

This sermon is about what God has done through Christ.  But first we must begin with ourselves.  We must admit that God needs to save us because we cannot justify ourselves.  Weak, sinful, and ungodly is not how we want to see ourselves.  Frankly, we want to see ourselves just the opposite.  It starts young.

In Nevada there is a school system that is changing the grading system so no one fails.  If you get A’s and B’s you are “extending.” C students are “developing.”  Those who should get an F are “emerging.”  In this school system you only succeed.  You are only described in positive terms.  That is how we want to see ourselves – as adults too.  But that is not how God sees us.  Not strong and emerging, but weak and sinful.  So we need the message today . . .

“BACK TO THE BASICS”

We have always had some controversy in our country over the posting of the 10 Commandments in our courtrooms.  But imagine sitting in God’s courtroom with Him as the judge and the 10 Commandments boldly plastered on the wall behind Him.  You stand before Him and he reads the 2^nd commandment, “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.”  No use of four letter words.  No carelessly saying or typing on your phone “Oh God” in the middle of a sentence.  No calling another a nasty name because you are angry.  Just the commandment staring you in the face, saying, “Did you keep me all of the time?” and God asking “How do you plead?”  Not in the positive even if you went to school in Nevada, “guilty as charged.”

Let’s try another one, say, “You shall not steal”?  No greed. No anxiety over money.  No buying stuff on yourself and not being generous to others.  Just the commandment staring you in the face saying, “Did you keep me all the time?” and God asking, “How do you plead?”  Not good, just guilty.  Just weak, ungodly and sinful.  No we don’t want to be in God’s courtroom where His justice would declare us to be unloving, helpless, deserving of God’s punishment.  That’s basic.

But we are not in His courtroom.  We are in His house, his church.  We are in the one place where we remember that the greatest injustice of all time has saved us from God’s punishment.  Here in the church we do not stare at God’s Law and wilt under our guilt.  No, we also see Jesus’ cross and rejoice in our justification.  That’s basic.

Remember that dark Thursday night and Jesus has gone to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray.  As the disciples awake, Jesus is arrested and he is going to trial.  The court is hastily convened.  People come forward but their charges do not agree.  Jesus is innocent.  Here is the one person inherently good and strong and godly and sinless.  No charge can stick against Him except one that is trumped up.  So an injustice is perpetuated and Jesus is sentenced to die.

Yet justice is served when Jesus is nailed to the cross – God’s justice.  Our breaking of the Ten Commandments could not be simply excused.  No, someone had to die.  Someone had to take the eternal punishment, and that someone is Jesus.  Our sin and His death combine on a cross and God’s justice is satisfied.  We are justified in God’s sight as Jesus holds onto us as our only hope.  He is the only reason for our rejoicing when we stand before God on Judgment Day.

Reader’s Digest years ago had a story about Bill who had donated 100 pints of blood.  What Bill did was kind and generous but here is what he said, “When the final whistle blows and St. Peter asks, ‘What did you do?’  I’ll just say, ‘Well, I gave 100 pints of blood, that ought to get me in.’”  A writer by the name of Joe McKeever made this comment about Bill, “Bill was probably joking.  But if he was serious…if Bill is counting on the giving of 100 pints of blood to get him to heaven, he is trusting in the wrong blood.”  Our faith is in Jesus, because His blood shed on the cross justifies us.  That’s basic to what we believe.

When you go back to the basics – that we are weak, ungodly, and sinners, yet justified because God’s love in shown in Jesus, who, at just the right time, died for us – it makes a difference in how we feel.  We rejoice.  It makes a difference in what we do.  We endure when we suffer, even more; we become people of character and hope.  We love and live for Jesus.  And it makes a huge difference in what we know.  It is deep and mysterious, yet our faith holds on to one basic truth:  God’s love was shown when Jesus stretched out his arms as wide as they could go and He died for us so that we might live.

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Yes, it is good to go back to the basics.

Amen.

February 18, 2018                                                                Text:  James 1:12-18

Dear Friends in Christ,

When Francisco Franco was leading the revolution in Spain, he originated the phrase “the fifth column.”  He was trying to capture Madrid.  He said that he had four columns marching on the city, one from the north, one from the south, one from the east, and one from the west.  And most important of all, he claimed that he had a “fifth column” within the city; namely the hearts of the people of Madrid.  In this way, the city was being attacked from every conceivable angle.  This is like the Christian life.

As children of God we are attacked from all angles.  Living in this world we are part of the Church at war.  Our flesh and blood is not immune to trials and temptations.  Daily the devil is giving a test as he makes it his business to destroy our soul.  Like Madrid, we are being attacked on every side and even from within.  Can we remain steadfast under trial so that we can receive the crown of life?  How are you doing when it comes to . . .

“PASSING THE TEST”

For most of us “passing the test” takes us to school and the exams given by our teachers.  How did you do on those?  Were you a good test taker?  Did you struggle to pass?  Did you always prepare to the best of your ability?

Most of my academic career I did pretty well on tests.  If the teacher covered just what was on the test and gave good notes I was spot on with my answers.  I could even visualize where I had the answer written in my notes.  But I remember two instances where that was not the case.  They were years apart.

The first one occurred in 2^nd grade math.  We studied the less than and more than symbols.  Today it seems so easy but back then I either didn’t pay attention or didn’t comprehend.  Anyway, I can still remember taking the test and just guessing.  What an awful feeling.  I was completely lost.

Do you ever feel like that in your trials and tests that come at you on a daily basis?  You’re lost.  You don’t know where to turn.  Less than, more than, Lord I need you help!

God is using these trials and tests to strengthen our faith.  Few Christians seem to get stronger during the easy times.  The tough times move us closer to God.  When we are lost then we are found.  You know that is God’s amazing grace.  Grace that can help us to pass the test.  Grace that provides the answers.  Grace that gives an A when we deserve an F.  It is not deserved, but a loving heavenly Father through His Son Jesus Christ provides it.

Because you see this Jesus knows a thing or two about tests.  Life tests.  From booted out of his hometown to having nowhere to lay his head to arrest, trial, beatings, nailings, a crown of thorns, a spear in the side.  He suffered beyond what we can imagine.  Yet, He always had his eyes on his Heavenly Father to sustain him during the tests.  He was the obedient child of God who passed the test and gave hope for you and I.

The second test I remember struggling at was in college at ISU.  In high school I only took one year of science because that was not a strong area for me.  In my general education studies at ISU I had to take two science courses.  I read the catalog and got into a class I thought sounded interesting.  Man, was I wrong.  The first day the professor said that the class was a beginning physics class.  Ouch, I thought to myself.  Each day I went to class the farther into the wilderness of confusion I did traverse.  Five weeks in – the first test.  I was a kid again back in 2^nd grade math.  Confusion reigned and my answers reflected that.  The grade was what I expected.  Thank God for the grace of Illinois State University.  I could drop the class and not have it affect my GPA.  The academic leaders understood.

Christ also understands.  He knows that what we see as interesting and enticing can be our undoing.  We wade into the jungle and before we even know it the lion is about to devour us.  Our own desires of what we can handle get in our way.  We are dazed and confused in the midst of a test taken.

Christ overcomes all of this for us.  In the Gospel we see the perfect gift of his sinless life.  In the command to sacrifice Isaac and the ram’s death in his place, the Father foreshadowed his Son as our sacrifice – the good and perfect death, enduring the death we owe for our sin.

The Father gives you new birth into Christ.  By the Word of truth, the Gospel, you are born into a new life.  The perfect life of Christ has been given to you.  You are the A+ student.  The supreme test taker because you have been reborn in Baptism.  Your life of obedience is sustained in word, and body and blood shed for you and finally deliverance from this broken world.  Your diploma is “the crown of life” given as a gift by the Father through Christ.

So, don’t fear the tests.  Through Christ your Savior you are at the head of the class.  The favored pu