The text this morning is from Paul’s letter to the Galatians, the third and fourth chapters:
Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
I’ve gotten a lot of questions this week with the whole shooting in Orlando. What’s the Christian response? How am I supposed to feel? Shouldn’t we ban guns? Shouldn’t we stop all the Muslims from coming into this country? Why did this happen? Whose fault is this? What can we do?
I can’t tell you I have all the answers. I can’t. Some of these are really hard questions that are more appropriate for our politicians, and us as the voters, to decide. I can’t say that there are Biblical answers to all of these things. What I can tell you is that our response to this horrific shooting, and to all disasters, both man-made and “natural,” is the cry of Christians for millennia: “Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.”
And I can tell you that when we pray that prayer, we pray it for others and for ourselves. And He does. He does have mercy. And He leads us to understand, too, that we follow in His footsteps, and we have mercy towards others. We have mercy upon those who identify as homosexuals. We have mercy on Muslims. We have mercy on gun-toting, Bible thumpers. We have mercy on liberals. We have mercy on conservatives. We have mercy, for we have received mercy.
It’s not that they aren’t sinners. It’s not that people who struggle with same-sex attraction aren’t sinning against God’s holy Law. It’s not that people who have sexual relations outside of the bounds of holy matrimony aren’t sinning against God’s holy Law. It’s not that people who commit idolatry by believing in another religion aren’t sinning against God’s holy Law. It’s not that people who commit idolatry by putting the Constitution above the Scriptures aren’t sinning against God’s holy law. They are. And we are, too.
But as we’ve been shown mercy by God in Jesus Christ, it frees us to show mercy and have mercy on those who struggle, those who aren’t yet with us as saved Christians, those who are different than us, those who are only sinners and not yet also saints.
But, see, we are freed to do this because we aren’t stewarded by the Law anymore. It’s not that the Law has just vanished from existence. The Law is from God Himself, it is good and holy and right, and the Law, as it helps us understand how to serve our neighbor, will always remain. But, Christians aren’t stewarded by the Law, the Law isn’t there to guide us to salvation for we have that in Jesus Christ.
Here’s kinda the thing: God is going to give you what you ask for, according to the Law. God is so good that He gives people exactly what they ask for. If they want salvation by the Law, they want to be judged by the Law. And God will do that. If you want to make your own way to heaven, God is going to give you the go ahead. Go ahead and try. But, what do we know? Who of us is good enough to earn our way to eternal bliss? Who can obey the entire Law perfectly? None of us. But, if you want to be judged by whether you’re basically a good person, if you want to try to get to where God is by what you do and who you are, God is going to let you try. And you’re going to fail.
But, if you want to be judged by the Law in a different way, if you want to be judged by the Law through Christ and through His obedience to that Law, for which He desperately suffered to give to you, then you’re in a different position altogether. Then, if you’re judged by the perfect obedience of Christ, you shall earn fully the gift of eternal life, not by your works, but by the works of Christ.
Here is what Paul means when he says you have become to God like a son, like an heir, for you, by the death of Christ, inherit everything good and right and holy. You aren’t a slave of God, just to do what God says but to never earn anything for yourself. Rather, you work under God as a child does, doing that which He requires, not to win for yourself a sonship, but because you love your heavenly Father.
It’s Father’s Day today. Happy Father’s Day to everyone here who is a father, who serves as a father-figure, those who desire to be a father. Being a father is hard. Sometimes, as we all know, our fathers are excellent and we love them dearly. Some of us have had fathers who have been difficult to love. Some of us have been abandoned by our fathers. Some of us don’t know what it means to have a father. If your father has disappointed you greatly, I understand that today can be a really hard day. You are in my prayers.
But we do all have a good Father, the Father who has loved you before you were even created, who desires to give you all good things, and wants you to spend eternity with Him. He is a good Father, and He has made you His child through the waters of Holy Baptism. Being baptized, then, into the death of Christ, you have been raised into the new life of Christ. You are now God’s child, a child of righteousness. And when you have a good Father, you want to please Him.
I have a one-year old son. He’s just the best, most handsome boy you’ve ever met. He brings me so much pleasure, so much joy. I delight in every little thing that he does. When he started walking last week. When he started walking around in the kiddie pool. When he laughed. When he learned to smile. The first time he said dada. The first time he said mama. I love everything he does. But he also misbehaves. And I don’t like that he misbehaves, but I still love him through that. But, when he’s being good, he’s very good. And he does things to make me happy. He knows that when he laughs and screams, I’ll laugh. And when I laugh, he wants to do even more. My son loves the love of his father, and he tries to make me happy.
That’s what we do with God. It’s not that by my son’s obedience I love him more. I love him as best I can no matter what he’s doing. And God loves you perfectly, no matter what you do. But, God rejoices over you when you obey Him through the love you have for Him. And you’re free to do that through Christ. You’re free to do the right thing, and do it for His sake, for the sake of your neighbor even, so that you never have to do it for you.
You can’t earn a sonship. My boy didn’t earn his way into my life. He was born. And you were born from above, you were born through the waters of Baptism. God takes you and says that you are His beloved child through His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. You don’t have to earn it. You just do it.
You’re not a slave. A slave in Paul’s day would have sold themselves into indentured servitude to earn freedom from their debts. You don’t have to bargain with God to get yourself free of your debt to sin. You are freed by God to be His child. A son doesn’t earn anything through the death of the Father, they just receive. And you don’t earn anything through the death of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, you just receive all that He has.
You see, the Law is good and right and holy. And it does serve as a guardian. It tells us what to do, what not to do, how far we can go, what’s too far, how to love God, how to love our neighbor. Is a homosexual, an adulterer, a fornicator, a liar, a murderer, a hater, a Muslim, an idolater, are they breaking the Law of God? Most assuredly. And I guarantee that everyone of us fits in there somewhere.
But, the Law, if we are in Christ, doesn’t serve to condemn us any longer. It doesn’t give us a standard for us to live towards. What it does is shows us how we then take the love of Christ that we have received through His Word and Sacrament and take it to the world to serve them in love. It’s how we’re empowered to serve our neighbor. It’s how we know what a good father is. It’s how we know what a good friend is. It’s how we know what a good neighbor is. It’s how we show mercy to those who need to know of the mercy of God which is only found in Christ Jesus.
We have been redeemed from our debt to the Law, not by our work, not by our service to our neighbor, but by the love of Christ, the mercy of Christ, which caused Him to lay down His life for you, His friend, His brother, His sister. And we have been made one with Him through His death and resurrection, so that all of us, no matter how different we are from one another, will receive eternal life and be forever with Him without worry or fear. We serve because Christ Jesus first served us. And we have mercy for He has had mercy on us. We are the heirs of Christ, and you have received His holiness, His righteousness, His goodness so that you may be with Him, and we may be with each other, forever. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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