Grace Lutheran Church

A sermon is a manner of oral communication and therefore words and sentence structure/order would be added, altered, or deleted at the moment of delivery.

+ In Nomine Jesu +

The Rev. Evan Gaertner

7^th Sunday after the Epiphany                                                                                     "Behold a new thing"

February 19, 2006                                                                                                                       Isaiah 43:18-25

Today we find Jesus demonstrating his authority to do the most important thing in the world.

What is the most important thing that you need? In the gospel lesson today we hear about a paralyzed man brought to Jesus. There was no room because of the crowds to get near Jesus. The four friends carrying the paralyzed man did not let this obstacle stop them. They made an opening in the roof and lowered their friend down to the feet of Jesus. Many would think that the most important thing that this man needed was to have his paralysis removed.

Why would someone go to such effort to bring their friend to Jesus? Because they believed that Jesus would make a difference. Did they know that what this man needed most was the forgiveness of sins?

I know that we don't always see the great majesty of the forgiveness of sins. Talk of forgiveness can appear as routine in the life of a congregation that goes through the motions. We have other things on our minds as we struggle against living in a fallen world of disease, disability, and failure. We want to escape our problems. Or maybe a person feels like his life is at the tipping point of greatness and just needs a little nudge. People want from their church to hear about how to live lives of purpose filled with meaning. People want the church to make a difference in their lives. How does that happen? Where is the starting line?

Jesus' actions that day in Capernaum were an echo of our Old Testament lesson from the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah proclaimed "Behold God is doing a new thing." God was not going to act according to the deeds of the people but according to his name. So even though the people of Israel were not bringing to God burnt offerings or sweet incense but only the burden of their sins and iniquities, God promised to blot out their transgressions.

When John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said, "Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin," he was pointing to the shift from us trying to carry away our sin by right behavior towards our God carrying our burdens away for us.

Our greatest need is the forgiveness of sins. The law of God works on all consciences and we cry out to God for help. One doesn’t necessarily see or understand the freedom of forgiveness but we certainly can relate to the bondage of being held to our problems or witnessing people we care about locked into self-destructive behavior. Everyday we must drown the old Adam, the sinful self, by repentance, and give thanks in Christ that we are a new creation.

Consider for a moment a court of law. You have been brought before the judge and you are guilty. There are no ifs ands or buts about it you did it. I hope that none of you are ever in that position here in our courts. But to be honest in the court of God’s judgment all of us would have no defense for why we have deserved anything more than utter destruction and reviling.

Back to that court of law were you are as guilty as a snake. You are all ready to face the judgment of the court when the doors dramatically open up and an innocent man you don’t know from Adam steps forward and says, “I will take his punishment.” The judge then says to you, the one who is as guilty as a snake, “You are free.”

God promises to do a new thing and blot out our transgressions for his own sake and remember our sins no longer.

You might slave daily in the labor of keeping God's commandments. Are you the kind of person that struggles to be perfect and live up to expectations? Do you feel beholden to the requests of everyone that asks for you? Everyday you might struggle under the burden of trying to be perfect. The promise in God is that he will carry the burden for us. We are given the gift of freedom to live no longer under the burden of obligation but the freedom to live in love. It is not that he does the chores for you or will drive your kids to hockey practice. When he blots out your transgressions and remembers them no more he has given you the freedom to see yourself not according to your failures, frustrations, or mistakes. We are children of God loved and redeemed.

Imagine an elementary school blackboard filling up with hash marks every time your true sinful self showed itself. The hash marks are so many that the person marking them on the board is getting burdened with making so many marks.

You…ten commandment mirror review…

You leave for the day and the teacher writes on the board in big letters SAVE so that the janitor would not erase the board overnight. The teacher wants your transgressions to be marked and tallied day after day. You might think she is a mean teacher but she is only treating you like your actions deserve.

But the next day you come in and a new thing has been done. It is not that the board was erased. Someone else came in and marked the board with his own actions. The teacher no longer sees your demerits on the board and instead see the work of another. She doesn’t treat you like your actions deserve but like a new person.

You might have expected that I would say the board had been erased. But consider Jesus Christ did not just come and wipe away your sins, but Isaiah uses the words “blot out your transgressions.” Jesus Christ’s blood upon the cross covers your sins very much like how a spilt bottle of ink would cover all the letters upon a piece of paper.

Your sins have been forgiven at a cost. It is greater than what you could ever repay. You have been bought from the punishment of your sins not with gold, silver, or precious gems but with the precious blood of your savior Jesus Christ.

I know that it doesn't seem that folks are really looking for forgiveness these days. A number of people want motivation and purpose. We want to live vital and important lives to God and to other people. But before we get up and take our mat and go—our journey starts with these words, "Your sins are forgiven." The starting line, everyday is where we begin.

This then is the Christian religion. One man has sinned and another makes satisfaction. The sinner cannot make satisfaction. The one that satisfies has not sinned.

Christ takes up our burdens and toils in order to set us free. He does not do this on account of our works but for his own names sake. Every sacrifice, every act of worship, every merit or righteous deed we do is of no effect upon the heart of Christ. Only on account of his own righteousness does Christ act. In arrogance you might wonder about who deserves to receive Christ. You may look at what someone has done or is doing and resolve that they do not deserve Jesus. Of course with any sort of honest self-examination we become ashamed at such a thought because looking at our own sinful selves we deserve nothing either.

Paul wrote to the Colossians, "Jesus has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him."

God cleans up our bloody mess of sin. Our sins are like the spilled plate of spaghetti and meatballs upon grandma's favorite white carpet. Everyone looks at the mess and is terrified, but God cleans up our mess. He does not glare at us during supper frustrated and disappointed that we spilled the spaghetti. He just loves you the same.

Soli Deo Gloria

-->> Home