This year during the season of Advent through to New Year’s Eve our theme has been “The Means of God’s Giving.” Today we rejoice in God’s gift of His Holy Absolution, that is we rejoice in God’s spoken Word of forgiveness of sins because we know that with forgiveness is life and salvation.
As we have been doing during this Advent through Christmas season and now here as we conclude this series we go back once again to Genesis. In Genesis we were reminded that before creation there was only God who lived in the eternal present. On day one God created time for us and that God in His creation of all things, living in the eternal present He was completely omniscient, all knowing, even knowing what would happen before He began creating, that His creation would sin and that He would have to live according to His commands and demands, suffer and die because His creation would be unable to do so.
And so, in the beginning we were reminded of the power and efficacy of God’s Word, such that as God spoke His creating Word all things were brought into being, were created. And as God created, all things were good and finally on the last day of creation God said that all that He created was good, even very good. In other words, according to God’s all powerful creating Word all things were created perfect and good.
Unfortunately, not only did God’s Word bring into being and create all things, God’s Word also brought a curse on the world, not that this curse was God’s desire, but was the consequence of the disobedience and sin of Adam and Eve. So, in the beginning we see God’s usual work, creation and Gospel and we see God’s alien work, justice, law and condemnation.
Yet, again we see God’s usual work in that immediately after Adam and Eve sinned, which God knew would happen, God gave His usual work in that by His Word of Gospel God brought the promise of a Savior. God did not give a time frame for His giving of a Savior, simply that He would send a Savior so that here in Genesis we see the beginning of the Christian Church, that is in God’s promise of a Messiah, a Savior, a Christened one, a Christ, the Christian Church began. All people who believed God’s promise of a Christ were a part of the Holy Christian Church. So, even in Genesis all people were saved by God’s grace through faith given to them in the One promised to come, the Christ.
How does God deliver the gifts He has promised, the gifts won and paid for by Jesus’ life, death and resurrection? As we have been hearing throughout Advent and Christmas, through His means of grace. First and foremost God gives faith and forgiveness through the waters of Holy Baptism and His name. In the Old Testament a child was made a part of the people of God through the sacrament of Circumcision. Circumcision marked the Old Testament believers as members of the body of Christ.
In the New Testament God has given us the sacrament of Holy Baptism to replace the sacrament of Circumcision. In Holy Baptism we are marked with the water and having God’s name put on us so that Holy Baptism gives us faith, forgives our sins and marks us as New Testament believers. As the Apostle Peter says so well, “Baptism . . . now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21).
As always, as with all the means of grace, as we have heard time and again, the power of Baptism is in the Word of Jesus. Jesus says, “baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” And again through Peter He tells us “baptism now saves.” What joy to be given faith, forgiveness, life and salvation, to have God’s name written on us, to have our names written in the book of Life, through Holy Baptism.
Having been brought into the Church through Holy Baptism, God gives us His Holy Supper so that we are strengthened and kept in faith. Just as the Passover Seder was celebrated in the Old Testament, pointing to Jesus, so Jesus came and fulfilled that to which the Passover pointed. In the Old Testament the unblemished lamb was selected and slaughtered. Its blood marked the homes of those to be saved and its flesh was eaten so that the lamb became a physical part of the people.
On the night in which He was betrayed, Jesus was celebrating the Passover with His disciples and from that Passover meal He gives us His Holy Supper which also points us to Him. In the Holy Supper we eat the body of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, as John the Baptists so well pointed out and we drink His blood, thus we are marked with the body and blood of the Christ so that the angel of eternal death and hell pass over us. He becomes a physical part of us. His perfect life, suffering, death and resurrection become our perfect life, suffering, death and resurrection.
Just as we see the creating power in the Word of God, so we see its power in Holy Baptism giving faith, forgiveness and eternal life, so also we see that the power of the Holy Supper is also the Word of Jesus, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. What joy is given to us through this Holy Meal.
Tonight we celebrate what is considered by some the third sacrament, and although it may not be considered a sacrament because it is missing a physical, earthly element, we do know that Holy Absolution is a means of grace, that it is a way in which God gives us the forgiveness of sins. What Jesus earned on the cross, forgiveness of sins, He gives to us through the means of Holy Absolution.
Before His ascension Jesus gives His Church and pastors the joy of giving forgive sins. When we confess our sins and the pastor speaks those words of Absolution, “As a called and ordained servant of the Word, and by His authority, I forgive you all your sins, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” then we can be certain that our sins are forgiven. That they are forgiven in heaven just as the forgiveness is pronounced on earth.
Yet, one more time we see the power of Holy Absolution is the same as that of Holy Baptism and the Holy Supper, it is the Word of Jesus. God said it and it really does not matter if we believe it or not, because God said it, that settles it. God’s Word does and gives what it says because of the power and efficacy of His Word.
What does this mean? As we agree with many Christian Churches, God’s Word is Inspired, Inerrant, and Infallible. And yet we would continue and say that God’s Word is Sufficient, that is His Word is enough. God’s Word is Clear, that is we can understand His Word as plain word. God’s
Word is efficacious, that is it does what it says and gives the gifts it says it gives. And God’s Word is powerful. God’s Word creates. Again, as you have heard me say many times, God’s Word is efficacious, it does and gives what it says. We can be sure that when God speaks His Word that we are given faith we can be sure we have faith. When God’s Word says our sins are forgiven we can be sure our sins are forgiven. When God’s Word says we have life and salvation we can be sure we have life and salvation.
While humans may and do get it wrong and fail, all the time, God is always right and never fails. God’s Word is a Word with authority, the authority He has given us in His great giving of authority in Matthew 28. God’s Word is never wrong which is why we never elevate our own human reason over God’s Word, even when there are times we may not completely understand God’s Word and when God’s Word may seem too difficult for us to handle. We simply speak what God’s says, not taking away from it nor adding to it.
For us Christians, God’s Word is the heart and power of the means that God uses to give, strengthen and keep in faith. Thus, the Holy Spirit works in and through us to have a desire and yearning to make regular and diligent us of His means of grace, being in Divine Service as often as offered, remembering our Baptism, confessing our sins and hearing His Word of Absolution, hearing His Word read and preached, partaking of Jesus’ body and blood in His Holy Supper, having personal and family devotions, reading God’s Word on our own. Indeed, God’s means of grace become most precious to us who are being saved because it is the means through which God lavishes us with all the good gifts and blessings He has to give.
It is my prayer that having heard of all the wonderful power and gifts God’s Word and Sacraments and His means of grace give that we have an even greater desire to be where and when His gifts are given out so that we might always be strengthened and kept in faith until Christ comes again. What a great God we have. What a loving God we have. What a gift giving God we have. To Him alone be all glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.