{"id":7663,"date":"2022-02-02T11:37:45","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T18:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=7663"},"modified":"2022-02-02T18:09:42","modified_gmt":"2022-02-03T01:09:42","slug":"epiphany-born-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=7663","title":{"rendered":"
Epiphany, Born again<\/div>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Click here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

A Sermon on the Christian Life for the Season of Epiphany<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Lutheran woman has written an account of becoming a born-again Christian. She asks: \u201cWhat does this mean?\u201d She answers: \u201cIt means there was a point in my life where I came to the understanding that I had really offended God and that there were two ways it could go. Either through my repentance, belief, and trust in Jesus\u2019s blood, that he paid the fine for me, or through my entry into hell.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She continues: \u201cIt is important for me to try always to put him first, to think of spiritual issues, to repent of my sins daily, and to read the Bible.\u201d She asks: \u201cShouldn\u2019t everyone have an idea of when they were converted?\u201d She had heard a pastor say: \u201cIf you don\u2019t have a conversion experience, maybe you don\u2019t have a conversion.\u201d The pastor said there should be a marked change in someone. It should be noticeable even if the change is gradual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She writes about infant baptism: \u201cIt\u2019s just a ceremony like confirmation. There has to be some kind of conversion on the part of the person, some willingness to conform your life to Christ. Baptism doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re bound for heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She writes also about faith: She says faith is \u201ca gift from God but we have to receive it, reach for it, and there has to be some kind of fruit.\u201d And: \u201cSalvation is like a life-preserver but you have to grab for it, reach for it, and that it\u2019s no good otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her account is a good illustration of what the dilemmas of salvation are all about. What the Bible is about? What is salvation about?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s summed up in three major arenas: What is sin? What is faith? What is the Word?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, what is sin? The Evil One is quite clever. We mistakenly think we can see him \u2013 a red devil with pointed ears and a pitchfork. C. S. Lewis, in his famous book, Screwtape Letters<\/em>, describes how the Evil One sneaks in, and he doesn\u2019t care if you commit big sins. He just wants you to get caught. He tempts us to think that we can identify sins, we can know what sins are. That\u2019s a real temptation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, sin is in the singular. Sin is a condition we all have. We think we just have to try harder to avoid sin, but then we fall more and more into what sin is really about, which is spiritual pride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s good we don\u2019t have a baptism today because it\u2019s hard to talk about what baptism is about when a tiny baby is here at the font. What we always point out is that little one is going to die. The symptom of what sin is is death. We have a hard time realizing that sin and death are the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that sin and death are the same is explicit in scripture. In Romans 6:23: \u201cThe wages of sin is death.\u201d 1 Cor 15:56 Paul writes that the cause of death is sin, as he says: \u201cThe sting of death is sin.\u201d 1 Cor 15:26: \u201cThe last enemy to be destroyed is death.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have the false idea that death is just one of those things, when, as a matter of fact, death is what sin is about, and it\u2019s from the very beginning that we are caught in sin and therefore death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Luther often reminds us, quoting Isa 64:6: \u201cAll our righteous deeds are filthy rags.\u201d We think we do some bad things, but we do some good things, too. But all our good deeds are filthy rags, as well. What does that do to our situation?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second: What is faith?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are misled in modern culture because it sees faith as a psychological thing. We think there is some little spark of goodness or \u201cgoodness\u201d in us. Therefore we think faith is something about a dialogue between God and us, or a decision by us for God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are also caught by certain metaphors, as you can tell by this woman\u2019s account. We argue from these metaphors. The one she uses is the life-preserver. She mentions the Biblical term, that faith is a gift (Rom 3:24). Remember how the woman writes that the life-preserver is no good unless you grab it. The gift is no good unless you \u201creceive\u201d it. And so we go astray. We take these image in the wrong way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most striking is the imagery in the hymn, Rock of Ages<\/em>: \u201cNothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.\u201d These words, the beginning of the third verse, start out right, but then there\u2019s a problem. We have the idea that faith is that desperation where we are hanging on to a rope, and finally we come to the end and hang on even more tightly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, we let go of that rope, and what the Lord does is snatch us. Luther in his great Commentary on Galatians, uses that image (Luther\u2019s Works <\/em>26:387):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the reason our theology is certain: It snatches us<\/strong> away from ourselves and places us  outside ourselves, so that we do not depend on our own strength, conscience, experience, person, or works but depend on that which is outside ourselves, that is, on the promise and truth of God which cannot deceive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luther also uses this image in his Large Catechism: \u201cThus we see what a great and excellent thing Baptism is, which snatches us<\/strong> from the jaws of the devil and makes us God\u2019s own\u201d (Large Catechism, Part IV, Baptism, 83; Book of Concord, <\/em>Tappert: 446; Kolb\/Wengert 466).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord snatches us because basically sin is rebellion against God. This isn\u2019t something where even in a small way we want to work with God. No, we want to be Lord in our own lives, and the mercy of God is that he comes from outside of us, in spite of us, and grabs us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The woman writing about being born again says that conversion has to produce some kind of effect. There are places in the Bible that talk about good works: \u201cBy their fruit you shall know them\u201d (Matt 7:16).  Or \u201cFaith without works is dead\u201d (James 2:26).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real question about good works or bearing fruit is about salvation itself. If you are going to say that we have to do good works, then the question arises: \u201cWhen have I done enough? When have I done it sincerely and really?\u201d We\u2019re caught.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Evil One, just as he tempts us saying: \u201cYou can sort out sin,\u201d also tempts us into saying: \u201cNow this is good and that is evil.\u201d We then lose what faith is about. It is about what God does. Faith is a way of describing the hiddenness of what God does. Paul speaks to this in 1 Cor 4:3-4, when his accusers come to him and say: \u201cShow us in your life,\u201d and then he writes: \u201cBut with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. God alone judges.\u201d It\u2019s the hiddenness of what faith is about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third: The Word. What does Baptism do? How does it work? Remember the woman who reports being born again said that Baptism is just a ceremony in which the child is dedicated to God. Paul in Romans 10:17 speaks directly to \u201cborn againism.\u201d He writes: \u201cFaith comes by hearing. And hearing comes by the preaching of Christ.\u201d Hearing is reversed. In salvation hearing is not something we do but what God does in us. Hearing is that which the preaching of Christ produces. As Paul writes: \u201cThe Word of the cross is the power of salvation\u201d (1 Cor 1:18).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What then about having to be born again? John 3:3 says you have to be born again. Some translations say: \u201cborn anew,\u201d or \u201cborn from above.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John 3:5 says specifically what John 3:3 is about. In John 3:5 it says you have to be born of water and the Spirit. That\u2019s what Baptism is. It is God\u2019s doing. To be born again or born anew is not about having a conversion experience, naming a time when something dramatic happened to you, or making a decision for Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What it\u2019s really about is the power of the Word. It is the Word of God which produces what God is doing. It\u2019s effective because it\u2019s God work and his way of working. It\u2019s the Word of the cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, the Evil One sneaks in and says: \u201cIf you can\u2019t feel it, and you can\u2019t see it, and if you don\u2019t make it happen, then it\u2019s not real.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the whole question about what sin, faith, and the Word are about. It\u2019s only the cross that tells us what sin is. The cross points out that sin is something we can\u2019t handle and God alone handled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cross tells us what faith is about. The cross is what we cannot do. But thank God, he did it. And finally the Word of the cross is that Word that comes to us, and he comes to us in concrete ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not the water in Baptism and the bread and wine in Communion by themselves, but it is the Word and his Word does what he promises. God\u2019s promises are true in contrast to all other promises. This is what we live by, and it\u2019s very different from what is commonly thought, namely, that you have to do it, and you have to see it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, Luther in his great Commentary on Galatians addresses this confusion. He points out that the Roman Catholic way of thinking and the Baptist way of thinking appear to be different, but really they both teach you have to do it and see it. Luther writes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese wolves are joined at the tail, even though they have different heads. They pretend to be fierce enemies publicly; but inwardly they actually believe, teach, and defend the same doctrine, in opposition to Christ, the only Savior, who is our only righteousness\u201d (LW <\/em>27:149).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ, the only Savior, our only righteousness. This is the Word of the cross. This is the way the Lord has snatched us from the jaws of the devil and made us his own. Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Sermon on the Christian Life for the Season of Epiphany<\/p>\n

A Lutheran woman has written an account of becoming a born-again Christian. She asks: \u201cWhat does this mean?\u201d She answers: \u201cIt means there was a point in my life where I came to the understanding that I had really offended God and that there were two ways it could go. Either through my repentance, belief, and trust in Jesus\u2019s blood, that he paid the fine for me, or through my entry into hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Select here<\/a> to read more or here <\/a>for a pdf document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7663"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7682,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7663\/revisions\/7682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}