Unalienable Rights

Texts:  Psalm 21; Galatians 3:26-4:7

WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

    We all recognize those stirring words.  They begin the second paragraph of our American Declaration of Independence, adopted by Congress 235 years ago tomorrow, on July 4th, 1776.  These words still resonate in us today, because our basic human rights are important to us.  They define our identity as free human beings.  We understand-- or I hope we do-- that these rights are not given to us by the government of our country; rather, they are the gift or endowment of our Creator God.  Our human rights under God are unalienable-- that is, they cannot be sold or given away, even by the one who possesses them.  The human rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are given to all people everywhere, and as the Declaration goes on to say, "to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

    Our nation was founded especially to affirm and defend these rights, and as American citizens we have to be ready to do whatever we can and must to defend them, whether the danger comes from a foreign enemy or from forces of oppression within our shores.

    But essential and important as these human rights are, as much as they are given to us by Almighty God, they pertain only to the kingdom of this world.  They belong to the order of Creation, to this present age which is passing away.  We enjoy these rights only as long as our mortal bodies stay alive.  When the children of earth die, they have no life, no liberty, they can pursue no happiness.

    But there is another kingdom with greater and better rights, a kingdom of Heaven whose citizens never die and whose dominion will never pass away.  There is a household of God, whose children enjoy their rights forever, a family from which no member ever has to depart.  And we who bear the name of our Lord Jesus Christ are citizens of that everlasting kingdom and enjoy its rights, even while we are citizens of the United States of America or of any other country under the sun. 

    Our reading from St. Paul's letter to the Galatians speaks of our rights as citizens of God's kingdom and members of His household.  We began with verse 26 of chapter 3, where it says, "You all are sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ."  We gain our rights as humans by being born of our mothers into this world; we become sons and daughters of God by the new birth that comes through trust in Jesus Christ and His atoning death for our sins. 

    Our first right in Christ is our becoming a son of God.  As it says in the Gospel according to St. John,  chapter 1, verse 12, "To all who received him"-- that is, Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh-- "to those who believed in his name, he"-- that is, God-- "gave the right to become children of God." In the kingdom of God we are more than subjects, more than servants, even more than citizens-- God has given us the right to be called His children!  And as John says in his First Letter, that is what we are!

    Our baptism was our rite of citizenship and adoption, for as Paul says in Galatians 3:27, "all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ" Again, it doesn't matter what country we were born in, it doesn't matter what race or sex we are: in Christ, God gave us the right to become His sons.  And so, as it is written, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."  Not just sons, but heirs, heirs according to the promise to Abraham!

    God promised Abraham he would inherit, many blessings, among which was the promise that all nations should be blessed through him, through the miraculous offspring God would give him.  Jesus Christ is the ultimate fulfilment of that promise; as Paul says in Galatians 3:14, "He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit."

    In verses 4:1-3, Paul illustrates how formerly we were like  underage children or slaves in the eyes of God, under the control of the Law and of the basic principles of this world, without rights and without privileges in God's household.  If we had time, we would examine more carefully what those verses mean.  But this morning I'd like to skip straight to verses 4-6, where it says, 

    But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

    "The full rights of sons."  Now that Jesus Christ has come, we have been freed, redeemed, declared independent of the law.  Jesus the Son of God and Son of Mary perfectly kept the Law in our behalf.  He fulfilled all its righteous requirements and now, in Him, we have received the full rights of sons. 

    But I ask you, what are our full rights as full-grown, inheritance-worthy sons of God?  We can't answer that question without first asking, "What are the full rights of the Son of God?"  For it is only in and through and because of Jesus Christ that we are children of God at all.  Only in Him do we enjoy and exercise our unalienable rights in the kingdom of Heaven.

    Psalm 21 goes a long way towards answering that question.  It petitions the Lord in behalf of an unidentified Israelite king, probably King David.  It might seem strange for us to deal with a royal psalm on the weekend when we celebrate our independence from all human kings.  But our forefathers knew that although no one man or woman was worthy to rule over a free people, God, the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer of the universe is still and always will be this earth's true Sovereign and Lord. 

    As we read through Psalm 21, we see that no human king could ever come up to this standard, claim all these rights, or inherit all these blessings.  Christ and His apostles all testify that David wrote as a prophet, and looked forward to the promised eternal King, great David's greater Son. In Jesus and only in Jesus, the Son of David, Son of Mary and Son of God, is this psalm fulfilled. 

    What are the rights of our Messiah and King?  Verse 1 begins:

    O LORD, the king rejoices in your strength.
               How great is his joy in the victories you give!

    Jesus has the right to victory.  Victory over sin, death, and the devil, victory over every evil force that stands opposed to God and to God's chosen people.  This right is unalienable: Jesus who died once can never die again; death has no more mastery over Him, and one day will once and for all put death under His feet.

    The right to victory is ours as sons of God in Jesus Christ.  On the cross He defeated death for us, and we, too, rejoice in the strength of God demonstrated for us.

    Verse 2 says,

    You have granted him the desire of his heart
               and have not withheld the request of his lips.

    Jesus has the right to the desires of His heart, and the granting of the request of His lips.  In the letter to the Hebrews we see that His earnest desire was that through His obedience many sons might be brought to the glory of God, so that He might be the firstborn of many brothers.

    And Jesus has granted us the right to have our prayers and petitions heard at the throne of God, as we pray them in His name and according to His will.

    In verse 3 it is written,

    You welcomed him with rich blessings
               and placed a crown of pure gold on his head.

    Jesus had the right to be welcomed into the very presence of God when He ascended into heaven, and even now He has the right to wear the crown as the Lord before whom every knee will bow and to whom every tongue will confess His sovereign worth.

    In Him we will have the right to wear crowns as rulers under Him, crowns that we will cast down before Him as we bow down in worship and love.  

    Verse 4 states,

    He asked you for life, and you gave it to him—
           length of days, for ever and ever.

    By His perfect life and sacrificial death, our Lord Jesus has the right to eternal life, length of days, for ever and ever.  He rose triumphant from the tomb on the third day, gloried, transformed, immortal.

    And now He endows us who believe in Him with His own everlasting life, so that our mortal bodies will be transformed to be like His immortal body.  In Christ we have inherited the right to the life of God that can never, never die.

    Verse 5 says,

    Through the victories you gave, his glory is great;
                  you have bestowed on him splendor and majesty.

    Jesus has indeed won the victory through the might of God the Father, and now He has the right to glory, splendor, and majesty.  This is not the transitory glory of this world; the splendor of Christ will last into all eternity.

    And so in Him we, too, will inherit glory, honor, and immortality, as Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, for we share in the inheritance of Jesus, the firstborn Son of God.

    Verse 6 affirms,

        Surely you have granted him eternal blessings
               and made him glad with the joy of your presence.

    Jesus as God's firstborn Son has the right to eternal blessing.  His store of riches is gladness in the presence of God.

    We in our sin deserved only the curse of God.  To stand in His presence with our wickedness on us would mean not joy, but misery and condemnation.  But through faith in Him Jesus has shared with us His right to take eternal pleasure in the presence of God Most High.  He has invited us even now to participate with Him in the blessings of that kingdom, where eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor mind conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.
    Verse 7 assures us,

    For the king trusts in the LORD;
                   through the unfailing love of the Most High
           he will not be shaken.

    Jesus our King has the right to trust utterly in the love of God Most High.  He has the right and assurance that His trust in His Father will never be shaken. 

    And so in Him we have the right to trust God to save us totally and completely.  Jesus has promised that He will never leave us or forsake us.  Our adoption as sons in His name will never be undone, or repudiated.  God's love to us is unfailing.  In ourselves we have no right to it, but in Christ our right to God's love is everlasting and unshakeable. 

    In verses 8 through 12 we see that Jesus our King has the right to triumph and vengeance upon His enemies.  His enemies are sin, death, and the rebellious angels, but they also include the wicked among mankind as well.  The cowardly and those who are soft on sin will say that it's mean and intolerant to want to see God's human enemies destroyed.  After all, isn't He the God of love?  But what else is God to do with those who ally themselves to the end with the devil and his demons?  What else can be the fate of those men and women who keep on plotting evil against the Lord and His anointed?  At the time of Christ's appearing in glory He will have the right to make them like a fiery furnace, with the wrath of the Lord swallowing them up.

    Until that time we hope and pray that all sinners will come to enjoy the rights of the sons of God that we inherit now in Jesus Christ our Lord.  But in the day of His appearing we will have the right to see God's vengeance on our foes, and we will know that His judgement is righteous and just.

    These are only a few of the rights we enjoy as sons of God and heirs through faith in Christ Jesus.  These rights are unalienable.  No one can take them away from us, because they are His rights first and no one can take the rights of Jesus Christ from Him. 

    Yes, but what if we fall away from Jesus Christ?  Brothers and sisters, does the Bible not teach that the rights of Christ are unalienable?  Do you not know that one of the foremost of His rights is His right to you?  He has bought you with His blood, He has claimed you through faith (which is the gift of God and not your doing at all), and no one and nothing can snatch you out of His hand or alienate Him from you-- not even you yourself.

    Brothers and sister, as we celebrate our unalienable rights in this free land, remember that we possess rights that are  greater and even more unalienable in a land that is greater and freer still.  We are citizens and children of that land even now, even we are free to exercise our rights as its sons, through our Sovereign and only King, Jesus Christ: to whom be all glory, honor, and power in God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, now and forever.  Amen.

Finding Meaning Under the Sun

Texts:  Ecclesiastes 1:1-11; Romans 8:18-27

   DO YOU EVER FEEL YOU'RE drowning in a sea of futility?  That no matter how hard you try, nothing you do in life really matters?  That it's not just you and your life than's meaningless, but all of creation besides?

    If you've never felt that way, give God praise.  But if you're like most of us ordinary mortals, you know there's times when there seemed to be no point to anything in the world. Back in the 1940s, a whole philosophy was formulated around this idea.  It was called Absurdism, and it taught that if you wanted to be happy in this life, you'd better stop looking for meaning in it.  Just enjoy yourself the best you can, because you and  everything else living is headed for death anyway. 

    Intellectuals in the mid-20th century trumpeted Absurdism as if it were something new.  But it's not.  It goes back to the days of King Solomon and the book of Ecclesiastes.  There we read how a man could reach the summit of earthly wealth, pleasure, and accomplishment, and still cry out that everything was meaningless, utterly meaningless under the sun.

    The book of Ecclesiastes is Holy Scripture and we must take it seriously and apply it correctly.  Thank God, so is St. Paul's letter to the Romans.  Like Solomon, Paul has something to say about futility in the world, but his conclusion is very different from Solomon's.  Why?  What does Paul know that Solomon for all his wisdom overlooks?

    Some Biblical scholars dispute that King Solomon actually wrote Ecclesiastes.  But even if it turns out that he didn't, the whole book is written from Solomon's point of view and matches Solomon's life experience.  So we'll assume he is the author.  In verse 1 of Ecclesiastes 1 the he introduces himself as "the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem."

    There's an absurdity right there, in light of he says in the rest of the book.  Over the centuries, the title "son of David" became an expression of hope for Israel.  It's shorthand for the promise that God gave King David that a son in his line would always be king over God's people, and even if the Lord should have to punish him for his sins, ultimately the throne of David would be established before the Lord forever.  The Jews came to understand that some sort of immortal Son of David would sit forever on that throne, and His coming would mark the fulfilment of all God's purposes in heaven and on earth.  But here we have Solomon, a man actually begotten by King David, and he has no such hope. He looks forward to no promise, and he takes no joy in the present life God has given him under the sun.  "Meaningless! Meaningless!" he cries out.  "Everything is utterly meaningless!"

    From verse 3 he critiques human activity.  What good do we humans get out of all the work we do?  Sure, you can enjoy the fruits of your labor for awhile, you might even enjoy the work itself sometimes.  But then you die.  So what was the point?  In verses 9 and 10 he takes a shot at those who try to find purpose in invention and innovation.  Are you hoping to invent something new to astonish the world?  There's nothing new under the sun, the Teacher says, it's all been done before.  Are you striving for fame and glory after you're gone?  Well, good luck, he says in verse 11.  Not too many years from now and no one will remember you've even lived. What's the point in life?  Where's the fulfilment in it all?  There isn't any!  "‘Meaningless! Meaningless!' says the Teacher, ‘Everything is meaningless!'"

    We can dispute Solomon's take on these matters.  But the point isn't whether he's strictly accurate or not.  What we need to understand is that he's observing how things are "under the sun."  That is, how things are in this natural world where we humans are born and toil and finally die.  In the cosmos of "under the sun," God is present, but in a distant way.  He is not immanent in Ecclesiastes: that is, He's not God-with-us.  He's more like a landlord who collects the rent when it's due and watches to make sure you're not trashing the place.  But you'd never have Him in for a cup of coffee-- God is in heaven and you and all your meaningless fellow-creatures are on this earth, separated from Him in your mindless futility.
 
    And nature doesn't help.  In chapter 2 Solomon writes of planting vineyards and groves, gardens and parks.  But he found it was all a chasing after the wind.  He found no meaning in the order he'd imposed on nature.  With that being the case, spending time out in wild nature with all its danger and chaos wasn't going to bring him peace and fulfilment.  Solomon was not the kind of man who'd insist that one could worship God out in the woods better than in the temple in Jerusalem.   No, even without storms and floods and natural disasters, creation only served to mock human futility. "Generations come and generations go," writes the Teacher in verse 4, "but the earth remains forever."  That's no comfort to him.  It's like saying, "We mortal men and women all die-- grandparents, parents, and children-- but it doesn't affect the earth.  Creation doesn't care."  Regardless of what we humans do, the sun goes on rising and setting, the wind keeps on blowing, the rivers keep flowing down to the sea, and the sea is never full.  What's the point of it?  Everything is futile and absurd under the sun.

    St. Paul, like Solomon, admits that just now creation is the very image of futility.  In fact, you might say he begins with a situation that is even worse.  Solomon is physically comfortable, well-fed, and in control.  He's "king in Jerusalem."  But Paul and the Christians he writes to are too often poor, they're suffering for their faith, they're the oppressed in Rome.  Nevertheless, Paul begins verse 18 of chapter 8 with the words, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us."  What glory?  We'd best go back to verses 16 and 17 to answer that. 

    There it says,

        The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

We are children of God, by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ!  We do have a purpose and a goal in this life!  And not just us, the whole creation is included in this promise of glory and hope.

    We see from the text that by "creation" Paul means "nature" not including humanity or the angels.  For humanity is the sons of God who will be revealed, or those who remain sons of the devil, as we read in Ephesians chapter 2.  The creation is mentioned in contrast to the sons of God who will be revealed, and those people who aren't among the sons of God aren't anxiously waiting for this revelation, they don't care or they actively hate the idea that someday we will be glorified in Christ and Christ will be glorified in us.  And creation does not include the angels, for the fallen ones have no such longing, and the blessed hosts of heaven were never subjected to futility, as it says in verse 20 that creation was.

    But when was creation subjected to futility?  If we go back to Genesis chapter 3, we read how after our first parents sinned, God put a curse not only on them, but on all creation.  He decreed that it should be subverted from its original state, so that the ground brings forth thistles and weeds far more easily than edible crops and only with wearisome toil can we bring good out of it.

    I purposely read the Romans reading out of the New Revised Standard Version, because of this word "futility" in verse 20.  It translates the Greek word mataiotes, which means emptiness, futility, purposelessness, transitoriness, and frustration.  The NIV uses this last term, frustration, which is good.  But it leaves the impression that if nature tried a little harder, it could reach meaning and fulfilment as it now is.  But in the curse God blocked the creation from reaching its appointed goal.  No matter what happens in nature or how beautiful and well-designed it is, without our redemption it still is ineffective, it cannot fulfil the purpose God originally planned for it.

    And in God's inscrutable providence,  that curse will ultimately turn out to be a blessing for us, whom God is redeeming by the blood of Jesus Christ.  Remember, in the beginning God gave the man and the woman dominion and rule over all of nature.  We became the head of creation, its vice-regents and representative. Then we rebelled against God and fell.  God could have kept nature perfect and removed it from under us.  But instead He chose to maintain the spiritual and physical ecology we have with this earth and all its creatures.  Despite what Solomon believed, nature is not some alien entity disconnected from us.  No, it's very futility proves that it is still connected to us.

    In His mercy to us, God willed that like us, creation might look forward in hope to the day when all things find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ.  Right now nature, like us, is in bondage to decay.  On the last day, nature, like us, will be liberated and will enjoy the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

    Meanwhile, Paul says, the whole creation is groaning together in pains like that of a woman birthing a child.  Yes, nature struggles.  Yes, there are fires, floods, earthquakes, tornados, droughts, and other natural disasters.  Nature is not what it should be.  It's not what it was created to be.  But its travail does not prove its meaninglessness; rather, those very struggles point to the renewal and rebirth God promises when we are revealed as His adopted sons and heirs.  Even when nature seems most hostile against us, the Scripture teaches us to see it as our fellow-sufferer.  And like it in its brokenness we, too, groan with longing for day of the redemption of our bodies.

    Yes, our bodies.  We will be fully redeemed only when our physical bodies are made new and we share in the life-giving resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Not till then will our full adoption be in effect.  Nature is material and for it to share in our glorification, our new bodies must be material.  This bodily resurrection is the hope in which we were saved.  This is the promise the Holy Spirit testifies to even in the worst of our struggles with the seeming futility of this present age.

    This is why Christians in a tornado-ravaged city like Joplin, Missouri, could gather to praise and worship God a week after their lives seemed utterly ruined in last month's tornado.  That's why churches in Japan can joyfully share the gospel along with food and clothing in the wake of March's earthquake and tsunami.  Unbelievers don't understand how this can be.  They mock the people of God for being delusional, for not seeing how pointless and absurd life under the sun really is.  But they don't see that God is at work even in the midst of creation's futility. The groaning of nature is great, but our God is greater.  Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of David has come into the world.  On the cross He suffered what seemed to be the most senseless, meaningless death that a human being has ever known.

    But death, decay, and futility could not hold Him and He rose triumphant from the grave.  Death, decay, and futility cannot hold us, who are called by God to be revealed as His sons.  And death, decay, and futility will not hold God's creation, which will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  The labor of creation will not be in vain.  God will see that nature finds its fulfilment in us, as we find our fulfilment in Him.

    Solomon failed to see this, because he was focussed only on life "under the sun."  True, in this world we are subject to frustration.  We do go through periods when everything seems so pointless we don't even know how to pray.  But with St. Paul we affirm that is not all there is.  God has brought heaven to us in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He lived as one of us, He died our death, and He rose again that we might share the life of the only-begotten Son of God.  Even now God the Holy Spirit is here with us and in us, bringing meaning where we find no meaning and hope where we see no hope.  He intercedes for us, He prays in us and with us, He groans with us even when creation itself seems to be falling into chaos.  According to the will of God He intercedes for us, His saints.  And the will of God is this: That we, His children, and all creation shall be brought to glorious fulfilment, according to His gracious promises in Jesus Christ our Lord, to the honor and praise of His name, now and forever.  Amen.

Christ's Resurrection and You: Noblesse Oblige

Texts:    Romans 8:9-25; John 20:19-23

        ALL OVER THE WORLD THIS PAST FRIDAY, PEOPLE were glued to coverage of the royal wedding.  Even we Americans find the British monarchy fascinating.  And I'm wondering, how would you feel, how could you act, if it could be proven that you were the direct, legitimate descendant of royalty?

    The other night, I was doing some genealogical work online.  I think it'd be fun to give my mom an updated version of her chart for Mother's Day, and I was trying to see how far back I could get.  Well, I hit paydirt with a website that had page after page of information on a branch of the family I hadn't researched much before.  I identified my three-times-great grandmother, and on her "Person Page" the notes said that, according to a book called Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants, she was the direct descendant of Edward I of England and Robert II of France.

    Wow, I thought.  Wow.  I'm descended from kings and queens!  Immediately I began to sit a little taller.  Instantly I felt more responsible, more capable.  I was filled with a sense of noblesse oblige, the conviction that I had a duty to do great and good things in my life, and not only that, that I had the ability to do them.

    There was one problem.  The fourth or fifth cousin who published this website had inserted a question mark in the middle of this note.  Oh-oh.  So I dug further.  And it turns out that this claim to royal blood came about because great-great-great grandmother Sophia's great-grandpa Matthew ran around colonial Maryland claiming to be a younger son of a certain duke or earl back in England.  There's no mystery about that; it's well-documented that that's what he alleged.  Trouble is, the records in England say the nobleman's son named Matthew died as a young boy, and the family coat of arms our Matthew sported in the colonies wouldn't have been the proper style for a younger son, even if the duke or earl had been his father.

    Oh.  So much for my royal ancestry.  It was inspiring for the half-hour it lasted!

    But then it hit me-- I am related to royalty!  And so are you!  And our relationship to the King is a lot closer than thirty or forty generations back.  And we've got a lot better proof of it than what we read on some website or in somebody's book or what some ancestor bragged about four hundred years ago.  You and I are children of the great Monarch of the universe, God Almighty Himself, and the guarantee of that relationship is the resurrection of our Elder Brother Jesus Christ and the indwelling of His Holy Spirit.

    See what it says in Paul's letter to the Romans.  If we'd had time to read the whole eighth chapter, we'd see that it begins and ends with God's solution to our sense of condemnation over our sins.  There is now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ, and because Christ is for us, no one can bring any charge against us; we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  The second part and the next to the last part tell us what life is like for those who are still under condemnation and those who through Christ are conquerors over sin.  And the center of it all shows us how we are more than conquerors.  Verses 14 through 17 assure us that we're not just victorious warriors in God's army, we are sons and heirs in God's household!

    How do we know?  We know it by the power of the Holy Spirit in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Verse 14 says that those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.  Verse 16 assures us that  "The Spirit of God testifies with our spirit that we are God's children"!  Up in verse 10, we are assured that by His Spirit the risen Christ is living in us, making our spirits alive because of His righteousness, even while our bodies are effectively dead because of sin.  This Spirit living in us is the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead, and He will also bring about the resurrection of our mortal bodies.  Christ's resurrection makes ours possible; more than that, it guarantees that we, too, will rise.

    Can we believe that?  Yes, because we are children of God, sealed with His Spirit.  And as it says in verse 17, "if we are children, we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ."  Titus 1, verses 5b-7 say that "He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life."  Our inheritance is first and foremost eternal life!  When Christ arose, He proved that He has eternal life to give.  He showed that because we are in Him, we now share the deathless life that He displayed outside the tomb that first Easter morning.

    It's important for us to keep the "sons of God" language in this passage.  In ancient Greco-Roman society, daughters did not inherit the estate from their fathers.  Of course, neither did servants or slaves.  Nor, ordinarily, did boys born out of wedlock.  It was legitimate sons who inherited their fathers' possessions and power.  And adopted sons could inherit as well.  And so Paul writes that we all have received the same spirit of sonship through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ alone is God's Son by substance and nature.  But through His blood we have been legally adopted by God. All the good things that are coming to Jesus are also coming to us.  We all will share in His glory that will be revealed at the last day, when He comes to judge the living and the dead.

    We will share in His glory, that is, if indeed we share in His sufferings.  The earthly life of an adopted royal son is not one of indulgence and ease.  In verses 5 through 8 of this chapter Paul talks about the low, deadly, hostile, and rebellious life and attitude we find in someone who isn't controlled by God's Spirit.  It makes sense that someone like that who's outside of God's favor is going to suffer for it.  But in verses 18 on, we see that we who belong to God's household by adoption can expect to suffer in this life, too. 

    Of course we can say that people who reject God suffer from His wrath, while God's children suffer from the wrath of the world.  But that's not where Paul takes us in the next part of chapter 8.  No, he seems to be telling us that just as we are bound up in Christ and share His sufferings and His coming glory, so too is the creation bound up in suffering with us and waits to be brought to glorious freedom when we are fully revealed as God's beloved sons.  We represent creation, and only with us will it be freed from its bondage to death and decay.

    So in this life we still struggle against the effects of sin, our sins and the sins of others.  We still experience the disruption of creation brought about by the Fall, we're still subject to calamities like earthquakes, floods, and deadly storms.  As children of God these disasters make us long for the day when God's purpose will be fulfilled and the promise of Christ's resurrection will be made perfect in us.  Paul writes that when His glory is revealed in us, every bad thing that has ever happened to us will be seen to be nothing, in comparison to the glory we will inherit.  But right now we're still in the middle of the war.  Our adoption as sons is not yet complete; it won't be final until our bodies are redeemed, resurrected, and renewed to be like the body of the risen Christ.  At that time all creation will be redeemed and renewed with us.

    Still, even now the Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are the children of God.  Therefore, what should be our attitude?  Since the royal shed blood and triumphant resurrection of Jesus Christ have given us life, how should we behave?

    The term was "noblesse oblige."  It literally means "nobility obliges."  Verse 12 tells us, "Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation-- but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it."  Being a child of Almighty God does not give us the right to sin up a storm on the basis that Jesus paid for it all.  It does not give us license to look down on unbelievers as if it was some virtue or attractiveness in ourselves that made Jesus save us.  Being related to God the Father by the royal blood of Christ does not entitle us to condemn others as if we ourselves did not deserve to be condemned.  That is living according to the sinful nature, and if you do that, you will die.

    No, rather, because God has made us His children through the resurrection of His Son, we struggle to put to death the misdeeds of our sinful flesh.  By the Spirit of God we do this; not on our own: He causes us to cry out to our heavenly Father and depend on Him alone.  By His Spirit He makes us more and more like His Son Jesus Christ.

    As the Spirit leads us, we grow to do the deeds that befit our status as royal children.  I think my response of responsibility and capability when I thought I might have royal ancestry was the right one, even though, I admit, it was rather silly even if it had been true. As beloved sons in the household of our heavenly Father, we do have the responsibility confidently and ably to represent our Lord wherever we are and to whomever we may meet.  A tall order for weak, sinful mortals like ourselves-- but God through His Spirit gives us the capability to do all He asks.

    When the risen Christ appeared to His disciples in the Upper Room the night of His resurrection, John says that "he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.'" This was a foretaste of the great outpouring that would come forty days later at Pentecost.  But it's important what our Lord says to them next.  He says, "‘If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.'"

    I hope you understand what a weighty obligation that puts on you.  It applies especially to us pastors and teachers, who have the responsibility of opening the word of God and declaring Christ's forgiveness out of it.  But you, the Church; you, the individual Christian, also have a noble obligation in the power of the Spirit to declare the forgiving gospel of Christ to those around you.  You have an obligation to be the face and form of the Body of Christ to those whom you meet every day.

    It's a formidable responsibility.  In our weakness we fail at it all the time.  But you are not alone.  You have God's Holy Spirit living in you, proving to you that you are His child, demonstrating that your lineage through the blood of Jesus Christ is true.  You have the power of Christ's resurrection in you, giving you life and sustaining you with His promise through all the struggles and sufferings of this life.  You have this holy Supper, where you may see, touch, and taste, and have the promise of His everlasting life confirmed to you.

    The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the risen Lord, and  we will share their jubilation when He returns with all His saints when He comes again in glory.  Until then, stand tall, walk by the Spirit, and remember who you are.  By the resurrection of your Lord Jesus Christ, you are a child of God. You are His heir, and a co-heir with Christ.  May God work in you and in all His children what is pleasing to Him, to the glory of His name.  Amen.

The Vindication of God

Texts:    Colossians 2:1-15; Matthew 28:1-10

      SEVERAL YEARS AGO, A BOOK of essays was published called God in the Dock.  It's by C. S. Lewis, and the title comes from criminal trials in Great Britain, where the defendant stands the whole time in an elevated open box, exposed to the stares and censures of everyone in the courtroom.  Lewis's argument is that we modern people no longer see ourselves on trial before God the Judge; rather, we put God on trial and act as judge over Him.

    You know how it is.  We put God in the dock for public disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, and tornados; for private suffering like disease, poverty, and murder.  This is the wrong way around, since it's our sin that disrupted creation and causes us to do evil to one another every day.  If God wanted to, He'd have every right to wipe every one of us out all at once, for the wages of sin is death, and all of us are sinners.

    But there was a time when God was really in the dock.  It was a dark Friday afternoon outside the city of Jerusalem, nearly 2,000 years ago.  On that day a Man hung on a cross, being shamefully tortured to death for the crime of claiming to be God.  At the foot of that cross, and in hiding in the city, were women and men who knew that Man had never done an unjust or wicked or sinful thing in His life.  Yet this Man was suffering the most degrading, agonizing, disgusting form of execution practiced by a civilized society, a death designed to show to everyone what a low, despicable being the crucified criminal was.  Was that Man really guilty of what His enemies charged?  Were all His friends and disciples wrong in calling Him the Righteous One?  Or was the holy God actually turning His back on a truly innocent Man? After a few hours the Man was dead and buried-- and the wages of sin is death.    Could this Man ever be vindicated?   Could God?

    We know that that Man dying on the cross outside of Jerusalem that day was Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  For the rest of that Friday, all the Sabbath, and into the eve and morning of the first day of the week, His disciples hid and mourned and simply could not understand.  God was in the dock, and it seemed as if the verdict would come in "Guilty."

    But as the Gospel according to Matthew tells us, early on the first day of the week, just as the sun was beginning to rise, Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" went to Jesus' tomb.  Matthew doesn't tell us whether the women knew that the tomb not only was closed with the customary stone, but also was sealed and guarded.  He only tells us they intended to "look at it," and very likely, to mourn.

    In any event, it didn't matter.  For as the two Marys approached the tomb where Jesus lay, a violent earthquake shook the ground and angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled back the stone, and sat on it.  His appearance so frightened the guards they fainted away  like dead men.  And Jesus' tomb?  It was -- empty.

    Empty before the stone was rolled away.  Empty before the earthquake sent the ground reeling.  Empty before the angel descended and sat and greeted the women as they approached.  "Do not be afraid," he said to them, "for I know you that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said."

    "He is risen, just as He said."  And then, as the women hurried away to tell the Eleven the incredible news, Jesus Himself met them.  As it says in verses 9 and 10, "‘Greetings,' he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.'"

    Jesus the Crucified One was risen!  He was alive!  He was risen, just as He said, risen indeed!

    Brothers and sisters, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ means many things to us, in this world and the next.  But one of the most important and magnificent things it declares is the vindication of God.  God was in the dock in the crucifixion of His Son.  But now, Jesus Christ is risen from the grave, and God the Son, God the Father, and we who believe in Him have been fully justified against any imputation of sin or censure: Divine vindication has come.

    First of all, the Man Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has been vindicated.  Did anyone think He was dying for His own sins on that cross?  No! The resurrection proves He was the Sinless One, dying for the sins of the world.  The resurrection of Christ proved that He, Himself, was totally righteous and innocent.  The grave could not hold Him, death had no power over Him.

    The resurrection vindicates Jesus' claims to be one with God, to be God Himself.  Only God has life in Himself; only God has power over death.  In John chapter 10, Jesus tells His opponents,

    The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.

Jesus had declared that He would rise, that He could rise, for He is the only-begotten Son of God the Father.  In Him all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form (Col. 2:9).  He is the head over every power and authority, including death.  And by His resurrection, His divine claims are proven true.

    The resurrection vindicates Jesus' word as the word of God: "He is risen, just as he said."  Any human can preach comfort and holiness and beautiful ethics and morality.  But only someone who was God and who spoke the very words of God could promise that He would come back to life after being crucified, and actually do it.

    The vindication of Christ our God assures us that He and His word are to be trusted.  His sinless life and death has the power to save us from death and hell.  His word is to be received as the very word of God, for He was and is God, come to us in human flesh, risen from the grave, and ascended in that same flesh into heaven. When He says He will give eternal life to whomever believes in Him, we can take Him at His word.  Jesus was no criminal blasphemer, suffering on a Roman cross for His own sins:  He was and is the glorious Son of God, and as He hung there dying (as it says in Colossians 2:15), He was [disarming] the powers and authorities, [making] a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."

    The resurrection of our Lord Jesus vindicates God the Father as holy and righteous. The dying thief whom Luke records admits that he and his fellow-thief were suffering the just punishment for their crimes, but this Man Jesus had done nothing wrong.  The disciples on the road to Emmaus, who didn't believe Jesus was already risen, asserted that He had been a godly and true prophet; in fact, they'd thought He was the Messiah sent to redeem Israel.  How could a good and righteous God allow a Man who had kept His Law perfectly to suffer death and decay like any other sinner?

    But, as Peter preached on the first Pentecost, God did not abandon Jesus to the grave, nor did He allow His Holy One to see destruction.  In raising His Son from the dead, God the Father proves that He is righteous and is on the side of the righteous.  God is vindicated against any charge that He is indifferent to evil or blind to what evil men and evil forces do.  No, even on the cross God was defeating evil, and the resurrection of Christ points forward to the Last Days when all righteousness will be vindicated and death, sin, and the devil will be crushed under the feet of our triune God forever.

    The vindication of God the Father in the resurrection of Christ assures us that the prayers of His saints are heard.  We can trust that at the right time He will rescue us from all our troubles.  And in the meantime, we can know that our sufferings have meaning and purpose.  God is our heavenly Father who loves us, and though, as Peter tells us in his first epistle, "for a little while [we] may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials[, t]hese have come so that [our] faith-- of greater worth than gold, though refined by the fire-- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."

    The resurrection of Christ is not only the vindication of God, it is also vindication from God, vindication for us sinners whom He has called to belong to Him.  God is too holy to look upon sin; we sinners cannot endure in His presence.  Our sins have earned us the punishment of eternal death.  On the other hand, He has chosen us before the creation of the world (as it says in Ephesians 1) to be adopted as His sons in Jesus Christ.  How can God the Righteous adopt unworthy sinners without violating His holy justice?  How can He maintain His holiness and still fulfill His plan to admit us into His love?
    In Romans 3, Paul writes that God presented Jesus

    . . . as a sacrifice of propitiation, through faith in his blood.  He did this to demonstrate his justice . . . at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

The resurrection of Christ proves that His death was an atoning sacrifice for our sakes.  It demonstrates that His blood totally paid the penalty for our sins, and in Him we can stand fully accepted before the throne of God, as His beloved daughters and sons.  Christ is risen, and we are vindicated before our holy God.

    In our Colossians reading, Paul reminds us that formerly, we were dead in our sins.  We were "uncircumcised in our sinful nature,"  which is to say that we were outside of the saving covenant between God and His faithful people.  But now, God has made us alive with Christ, the One who was dead and is risen again.  Now we "have been given fullness" in Him and share the divine fullness which is His.  We have "been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through [our] faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead."  Colossians 2:14 assures us that in his death, Jesus "canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross."

    When Jesus was crucified, our sins and guilt were crucified with Him.  And with them died the punishment we deserved for them under God's righteous Law.  In Christ we are fully vindicated.  All charges against us have been wiped away!  As it is written in Romans 8, who can bring any charge against God's elect?  God Himself justifies and vindicates us!  Who can condemn?  Jesus Christ, who died and was raised to life, sits at the right hand of God interceding for us!  In the resurrection of Christ we can be assured that all our sins are forgiven.  And not only that, but through our risen Saviour we also enjoy all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, knowledge of the deep, deep love of God and wisdom of how He used the shame of the cross to bring us, even us, to the joys of life eternal.

    And so, as Paul urges us in Colossians, let no one deceive us by fine-sounding arguments.  Let no one take us captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, that depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.  God is out of the dock, and in Christ, He has cleared us from all charges as well. 

    So don't allow yourself to be put in the dock again.  The basic principles of this world say that the dead do not rise.  Too bad for the basic principles of this world.  God has come from beyond this world and raised up His Son Jesus Christ and raised us up with Him, as well.  Unbelieving human tradition tries to tell us that Jesus didn't exist, or if He did, He didn't rise and it shouldn't matter to our faith if He didn't.  But Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep in death, and all our hope in heaven and on earth depend on this truth.  Human tradition says it's up to us to vindicate ourselves in the eyes of God and the world.  We have to do good deeds and keep all the rules.  But Jesus Christ is risen, and we who were dead and helpless in our sins have been raised with Him.  He and He alone has brought us into His everlasting covenant by a circumcision not done by human hands but by Christ Himself in our baptism.

    The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the vindication of God.  The women who met Him outside the tomb that morning fell down at His feet and worshipped Him. They did right, for He was their Lord and their God.  And by His blood and rising, He is ours.  Do not be afraid.  Heed the voice of the angel; obey the word of your Lord Himself.  Go quickly and spread the good news: Your full vindication has come, for Christ who died is risen, He is risen indeed!