Sermon Pastor Ray Lorthioir Trinity Lutheran Church W. Hempstead, NY. Three Tiers One Faith

Transcription

1 Sermon Pastor Ray Lorthioir Trinity Lutheran Church W. Hempstead, NY Three Tiers One Faith Faith always has an object. It always confesses something something a person believes to be true. Daily we are caught in all kinds of tangles where we have to make decisions about what to believe as true and what not. This even extends to what we believe about ourselves. Therefore, the things we believe to be true whether they are actually true or not tremendously influence our daily existence. Now whatever we believe to be true about other people usually comes out in this form: He/she is fill in the blank. But there are times when we get up close and personal. And what we believe to be true comes out in this form: You are again fill in the blank. And then there is a time and a place to get really personal, as when someone might confess I love you for who you are. The same thing is true with the Creator of heaven and earth. Scripture informs us that it s Yahweh s intention to be up close and personal with us. It tells us that there are things about our Creator we are meant to confess to Him as true. It tells us that there are things He has confessed about us as true. However, there is something that mightily interferes with this relationship. Yahweh calls it rebellion and sin. For Yahweh says He is holy, righteous and completely good. He claims He is the one and only source of all goodness. There is no other. We, on the other hand, are unholy and unrighteous with a mixture of good and evil. This makes for all kinds of complications. On the one hand, by nature, we who are unholy and unrighteous resist being holy and righteous. On the other hand, by nature, we, who are unholy and unrighteous, long to be holy and righteous. In particular, we long to live in an unspoiled perfect universe. But because we are unholy and unrighteous, we have no choice but to live in a universe ruined by the twin evils of disaster and death. In addition, there s the ultimate problem. Those who are unholy and unrighteous cannot dwell with He who is holy and righteous. The terror of His glorious righteousness would drive us insane. And His anger against unrighteousness would destroy us. This is what Scripture teaches. Therefore, the only way for us to dwell with Yahweh both in this life and beyond death is for Yahweh to take remedial action. This He has done in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. John 3:16-18, 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned. The reason we are not condemned is found in 2 Corinthians 5:21, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. The only way to become the righteousness of God is to have our lives justified freely 1

2 through the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ. Through this justification it becomes possible for we who are by nature unholy and righteous to dwell with He who is holy and righteous. Now, the news of God s action to reconcile us to Himself is found in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. Both Jesus and His Apostles called this reconciliation a new birth. This new birth is freely extended to us in the Word. It is freely extended to us in baptism. It all rests on the action of Jesus in history and all the statements that Scripture makes about His work He did this, He won that. It is critical that faith believe those statements. But Yahweh also means for us to believe those statements in a very close and personal way so we may know the power of the new birth. Let s consider James 2:19, You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder. So, demons can believe that the creation has a supreme God the same as human beings can. Therefore, what separates the faith of demons from that of born again humans who have been reconciled to God and have received justification of their lives? It s a faith that s submissive to and intimate with Jesus our Savior. To begin to understand the difference we ll examine Mark 8: Mark 8:27-28, 27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, Who do people say I am? 28 They replied, Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets. Notice what people were saying: Jesus is this or that. Mark 8:29 But what about you? he [Jesus] asked. Who do you say I am? Peter answered, You are the Christ. So, take stock of the scenario. Peter was face to face with Jesus. He confessed by faith You are the Christ. Peter didn t yet understand that the Christ must suffer but that s another matter. Here we re interested only in Peter s language. He confessed faith with two most important words, You are. Those two words are critical to the new birth. Demons can confess not only by faith, but by sight that there is one God. They can say, Yahweh is God, and shudder violently at the implications. There s one thing they absolutely cannot confess by faith, however Yahweh, You are my God. Do you see? Yahweh is God and Yahweh, You are my God, are both statements of faith. And, Yahweh, You are my God depends on Yahweh is God. For, unless we know that Yahweh is God we cannot confess, Yahweh, You are my God. However, when human beings confess, Yahweh, You are my God, something has changed. There is a personal submission in that confession of faith. It s the difference between saving faith and simply believing information about Yahweh like demons do. Saving faith always responds to anything Yahweh says about Himself with a very personal, You are. You are who you say You are. Saving faith never says, Yahweh, You must be who I want You to be. Rather, it totally submits, saying, You are who You are. But there is a further criteria for saving faith. Consider Mark 1:23-24, 23 Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, 24 What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are the Holy One of God! Here we see the demon use those two very 2

3 important words, You are. The demon knew Jesus, and it knew it had to submit to Jesus, like it or not. But in no way could the demon confess Jesus as Peter did. What s the missing criteria? To understand, we ll look at Thomas confession of Christ. Remember, the Apostle Thomas was not in the upper room on Easter evening. He did not see Jesus resurrected from the dead that night. Also it s clear that he did not receive the Holy Spirit that night. If he had, then he would have believed the other Apostles when they witnessed to him that they had seen Jesus physically risen from the dead. So, let s see what happened. John 20:26-28, 26 A week later his [Jesus ] disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you! 27 Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe. 28 Thomas said to him, My Lord and my God! Notice that Thomas didn t use the words, You are. Yet, they are implied. In effect he said to Jesus, You are my Lord and my God. But the words You are were left out to emphasize the word, my. By faith Thomas not only confessed Jesus as Lord and God, by faith He confessed Jesus intimately my Lord, my God. We know Thomas did this by faith because he didn t bother to put his fingers or hands in any of Jesus wounds even though Jesus had invited him to do so. Rather, at that moment Thomas simply spoke what had hit him a Holy Spirit inspired confession of faith. This is something no demon can do. First of all, the Holy Spirit is not promised to demons. Second, demons absolutely run from any intimacy with Yahweh. So, what does it mean to be born anew? It means being able to confess what we might call a three-tiered faith as one faith. The first tier is simple, Scriptural information. For instance, Jesus is Lord and God. The second tier is personal submission. Jesus, You are Lord and God. The third tier is personal intimacy. Jesus, You are my Lord and my God. The only way sinners can confess such faith is by a work of Lord Holy Spirit. Now, as important as personal submission and intimacy are to saving faith, there are good reasons Lutheran churches make a big deal about the simple Scriptural information. Martin Luther was subject to terrible bouts of depression, despair and consequently temptation. These were so strong that they could drain all the zeal out of him. They could even drain all his faith away. In those moments he had great difficulty saying You are my Lord and my God. In those moments all that Luther had were the Scriptures that declare Jesus to be Lord and God. All he had were the Scriptures that declared him to be justified in Jesus Christ, baptized into Christ. Indeed, one time, in desperation, Luther was reduced to writing on the dust of the table, I am baptized. Therefore, when Luther preached and wrote, he absolutely stressed the external Word of Scripture over against his own inner state of feeling and over against anyone s inner state of feeling. For God s Word and Sacraments are stronger than all our fears, all our doubts and terrors. His Spirit is stronger than all our fears, doubts and terrors, although it may not seem so at the moment. For in the midst of great fear, doubt, terror and temptation, Lord Holy Spirit can bring us through by 3

4 compassionately taking us to the wonderful words of Holy Scripture and making them real to us again. Years ago, I knew a young man who was greatly concerned because he was not always sure of the state of his salvation. The reason was simple. Even though he had prayed the sinners prayer, still one day he would feel saved, and the next day not. This is precisely how fickle our inner person is. Martin Luther re-discovered the only true resource God has given us to combat such devil s turmoil His external Word. Holy Spirit takes those words that live externally in a book good for all time and makes them alive in us. Therefore, so that Holy Spirit may bring true comfort to troubled souls, Lutheran pastors, preachers and teachers put much emphasis on the external Word. There s yet another problem with inner experience by itself. Without the truth of God s Word, it can convince us of all kinds of godless and heretical things. Back in 1979, shortly after my own experience with the Lord, my family and I toured the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah on vacation. When our tour guide finished her presentation, she ended with a testimony of how she became a Mormon. I was shocked to hear the many similarities between her testimony and my own. Yet, she had converted to Mormonism. How was this possible? I finally came to the conclusion that if this young lady had kept her nose out of the book of Mormon and had put it instead in the Bible alone, Lord Holy Spirit would have led her to salvation by grace alone through faith alone. Therefore, Luther was correct in putting the emphasis on the external Word of God. The Word remains rock steady in the midst of the fiercest storms. The Word unequivocally declares Yahweh s intentions toward us namely justification and salvation, in spite of anything and everything that may happen to us in this world. Nevertheless, Luther was not devoid of the other two tiers of faith. From his writings it s very clear that He exuberantly confessed directly and intimately to Jesus, You are my Lord and my God. There is no other. It didn t matter that he could be beset by doubt, fear and anguish. Lord Holy Spirit unfailingly used the first tier of faith to get him to the other two. And that s the great benefit of Luther s understanding of the Word. Confessing the truth of the external Word of God by Lord Holy Spirit s grace gets us to the kind of intimacy with the Lord that He desires. So the three tiers of faith are this. The first tier believes anything the Word says about Yahweh. It confesses He is Creator, Our Father and Our Savior. It confesses He is the truth, love and much more. The first tier of faith is unqualified belief in the Word. Without this first tier we can t get to the other two. The second tier of faith takes anything the Word says and confesses it back personally to the Lord in submission to who He is. You are Creator. You are Father. You are Savior. You are truth. You are love. The third tier of faith takes that confession and makes it intimate. You are my Creator. You are my Father. You are my Savior. You are my truth. You are the One who loves me a sinner unconditionally and beyond my comprehension. Luther spoke of faith as a grasping, grabby thing. And at the level of saving faith, this is what faith is. It grasps God s information, submits to it and brings it home as intimate life-giving truth to the inner person. 4

5 And all this is the work of Lord Holy Spirit in us. It is Lord Holy Spirit who graciously takes human beings beyond the faith of demons. It is He who brings us to the faith of Peter and Thomas by the gift of faith. In the present time, escaping the faith of demons requires two things. First, as we noted during Lent, we need to repent of the pagan teaching we have absorbed from our education and our culture. Then, we need to seek from the Lord true faith this three-tiered faith we have examined today. In this way we can know the assurance of forgiveness of our sins in Christ, our new life in Christ, the infilling with His Holy Spirit and everything else Scripture declares. Indeed, come Lord Jesus. Cause our spirits to be hungry for You. Then satisfy us with Yourself and Your Spirit. Come dwell in us with Holy Spirit and with the Father just as you have promised. Amen. All Bible quotes are from the NIV. 5