{"id":9538,"date":"2023-12-12T06:44:57","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T13:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=9538"},"modified":"2023-12-12T06:44:57","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T13:44:57","slug":"what-it-means-to-believe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=9538","title":{"rendered":"
What it means \u201cto believe.\u201d<\/div>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

John 1:6-8, 19-28<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sermon for the Third Sunday in Advent<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year on the First Sunday of Advent we had the verse from Isaiah that Luther lifted up repeatedly: \u201cAll our righteous deeds are filthy rags\u201d (Isaiah 64:6). Then the Second Sunday of Advent we had that Advent message: \u201cWake, awake for night is flying.\u201d Wake up. But we don\u2019t wake up and we can\u2019t. Rather, God does it. As we can see there is a real progression in this season of Advent \u2013 our best works are sinful, we don\u2019t wake up as we should \u2013 which means that we are now faced with a huge question: Since God does it, does that mean that everybody is saved? We can quote Scripture, for example, 2 Peter 3:9 that God\u2019s will is that \u201cnone should perish.\u201d Or does this mean, as the Psalmist says, that if the Lord would count iniquities, who could stand? None of us. Is there then really no hope?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are really talking about the basic problem of what it means \u201cto believe\u201d and how God saves us. There are certain illustrations we have from Scripture and from the words \u201cfaith\u201d and \u201cbelieving\u201d as they are popularly understood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, it is that faith is a gift. This is found in Romans 3:24 as well as many other places. We get caught in the idea that of course it\u2019s a gift, but we have to accept it. This is the Roman Catholic view of how this works, and it is caught up in the idea that yes, we\u2019re 99% sinful, but there is still that 1% in us because of the image of God, that we have to be responsible, that we do have to accept it, otherwise we don\u2019t understand it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second picture that is used is that faith is like an elevator that comes down and lifts us up, but we have to step on the elevator. That of course means that one is doing something to make it work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another illustration is that of a child getting an operation, but because the child is not old enough to sign the release for the operation, the parents do it. By this analogy faith is something that happens through the family. That raises the problem: Do you believe through the family? That\u2019s the Reformed\/Presbyterian view of Baptism. The family carries the child in faith; the family believes for the child until the child is old enough to believe on his or her own. There are Bible verses that speak to this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gospel text for today from the Gospel of John is about John the Baptist, who comes to bear witness to the light, to point to Christ. At the beginning of Mark\u2019s Gospel, after John the Baptist is arrested, Jesus begins his ministry, announcing: \u201c[T]he kingdom of heaven is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel\u201d (Mark 1:15). There are many places in the Gospels where it says: \u201cYour faith has saved you.\u201d \u201cYour faith has made you well.\u201d Or \u201cIf you believe, you shall be saved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who can blame those who complain about us Lutherans, saying: \u201cDon\u2019t Lutherans know what Scripture says?  Don\u2019t they know what\u2019s there?\u201d There are Bible verses which say: \u201cYou are saved by believing.\u201d \u201cYou have to have faith.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Challenges like this are the first volley in the game of: \u201cI\u2019ve got a Bible quote that trumps your Bible quote.\u201d If we\u2019re going to play that game now and someone says: \u201cYou are saved by believing,\u201d here\u2019s a Bible verse to shoot right back: 1 Peter 3:21: \u201cBaptism saves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do we do when the Bible says one thing here and another thing there? First, the way out of the \u201cMy Bible quote trumps your Bible quote\u201d game is to look at the basic point: Anything that takes away from the sole sufficiency of the cross is to be questioned.<\/strong> \u201cThe cross alone is our theology,\u201d as Luther pointed out. Otherwise, the cross is less important, not what it is. That goes along with Isaiah 64:6: \u201cAll our righteous deeds are filthy rags.\u201d It\u2019s like two sides of a coin: The cross alone on one side. All our works, including our good works, are sinful on the other side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, all that is well and good, but we are still caught by our modern way of thinking. Our modern way of thinking says is that what is real and true must be something I can feel, experience, and decide about. Whatever is real has to be real for me. It has to involve my experience, my feelings, and my decision. We think we have to see and know how the Holy Spirit is working. We assume we can and should be able to see and know how the Holy Spirit is working and what the Spirit is doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here we always keep in mind what Paul writes in 2 Cor 11:14: \u201cEven Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any idea that we can see the Holy Spirit at work is subject to the question: How do you know? How do you sort that out?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This brings us to the third point: We think we can sort that out. We think we have to judge whether we have faith, whether we have this experience, and it\u2019s real. We think we can judge ourselves, whether we\u2019ve decided the right question in the right way. The problem therefore is: How do we know that we have judged correctly? How do we know that we have done it rightly and earnestly enough?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luther faced this problem as did Paul before him. Luther points to Paul\u2019s answer in 1 Cor 4:3-4, where Paul, in conflict with his opponents, writes: \u201cIt is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means that it is the Lord who says what is and what isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This goes even for \u201cfaith\u201d and \u201cbelieving.\u201d It is God\u2019s doing. The best example of this is infant Baptism. That tells us what it is like. God is the one who makes it happen. The tiny baby doesn\u2019t believe, doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s happening, but the child is saved and given faith and eternal life. As Isaiah 61:10 says: \u201cHe has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This goes for adult Baptism, too. Adult Baptism is simply delayed infant Baptism. Baptism is the means by which the Lord reaches down and saves us from the abyss, saves us from the jaws of the evil one. God does it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, we have to watch out for those who say: \u201cWe can\u2019t accept the gift of faith, but we can reject it.\u201d That of course is to play another game, a word game that really means if we don\u2019t explicitly reject it, then we have implicitly accepted it. But sorting out what \u201cfaith\u201d is and isn\u2019t is not that kind of word game either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What it is about is that everything depends on the promise of the Lord. There\u2019s a new word going around; it\u2019s \u201cuhopia,\u201d instead of utopia. You hope it happens, you hope it works, you hope, you hope, you hope, but who knows? It\u2019s all kind of iffy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We remember, of course, what is different about the Lord\u2019s promises. The Lord\u2019s promises are not like our promises. They are not iffy, not conditional. They are not dependent on feelings, experiences, decisions. His promises are sure, and what he says he does. Therefore, when he says to us: \u201cI make you my own,\u201d that happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, we say: \u201cI don\u2019t understand this!\u201d Of course not. But this is where we have certainty. The certainty, the clarity is that God does it, and he does it this way, his way. As I Thessalonians 5:24 states: \u201cHe who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.\u201d To be sure, it doesn\u2019t depend on us, our decisions, our feelings, our experiences. Thank God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about other people then? That\u2019s his problem. When we take on his problem as our problem, then we\u2019re playing God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, there is only one point. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the preaching of Christ, as it says in Romans 10:17. How does it happen? It happens by the hearing of the preaching of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since that\u2019s the way it happens, there is only one thing left to think about and that is: \u201cHow do we get the word out?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We call it mission. How do we get the word out because otherwise people haven\u2019t heard? We don\u2019t know what happens to people who haven\u2019t heard, but think of the amazing message \u2013 the clear, certain message about being saved in Jesus Christ. Amen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Good Christian friends, rejoice With heart and soul and voice;
Now ye need not fear the grave; Jesus Christ was born to save!
Calls you one and calls you all To gain his everlasting hall.
Christ was born to save! Christ was born to save.\u201d]

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John 1:6-8, 19-28<\/p>\n

A sermon for the Third Sunday in Advent<\/p>\n

This year on the First Sunday of Advent we had the verse from Isaiah that Luther lifted up repeatedly: \u201cAll our righteous deeds are filthy rags\u201d (Isaiah 64:6). Then the Second Sunday of Advent we had that Advent message: \u201cWake, awake for night is flying.\u201d Wake up. But we don\u2019t wake up and we can\u2019t. Rather, God does it. As we can see there is a real progression in this season of Advent \u2013 our best works are sinful, we don\u2019t wake up as we should \u2013 which means that we are now faced with a huge question: Since God does it, does that mean that everybody is saved? We can quote Scripture, for example, 2 Peter 3:9 that God\u2019s will is that \u201cnone should perish.\u201d Or does this mean, as the Psalmist says, that if the Lord would count iniquities, who could stand? None of us. Is there then really no hope?<\/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":[1,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9538","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=9538"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9542,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9538\/revisions\/9542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}