August 30, 2015

I was surprised to realize that I had never preached on this Gospel text and this subject. I am surprised because it is one of the basic teachings of the church and of our lifestyles as Christians.

Mark 7:18-19, “18And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)”

In other words, we Christians are free to eat whatever we want to. This is not so in most world religions. For example the Jews, even today, are forbidden to eat pork and shell fish and some other foods. Muslims are forbidden to eat pork. Hindus do not eat beef. Some Buddhists do not eat any meat. Some Christian groups forbid drinking alcohol or smoking tobacco. That is probably good health advice, but they do it for religious reasons, not only for health. Some semi-Christian groups even forbid coffee and coke cola. But we Lutheran Christians, and most other Christians, too, believe Jesus when “he declared all foods clean.”

The first Christians were Jewish. They had been raised in that tradition. St. Peter was that way. He was a Christian, but he thought he had to keep the Law of Moses. The Law taught that some food was unclean, and that some people, especially Gentiles, were unclean. One day St. Peter had a strange vision from God that changed his way of thinking.

Acts Chapter Ten.
9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. 13 Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.
17 While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. 18 They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.
19 While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you. 20 So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”
21 Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?”
22 The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to have you come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” 23 Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.

Peter learned that not only all food, but all people, even Roman Gentiles, were clean, also. They were clean because Jesus died on the cross to take away the sin of the world. And this changed the mission of the church.

Later in Acts 15 there was a big church convention in Jerusalem. The topic was the mission to the Gentiles. The question was whether they had to become Jews first before they could be Christians. Did they have to keep all the rules and regulations of the Law of Moses? The answer was, “No.” They wrote down their decision in these words:

“28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.”

This is Christian freedom. Christians are free from the Old Testament dietary regulations, and the other regulations of the Law of Moses, too. I do not want to say that we are free from the Ten Commandments, but in freedom we observe them.

Freedom, however, is a dangerous thing! People can go wild. Public order can be chaotic. The world becomes unsafe. And so people have made rules. People have used religion to enforce those rules. There is little freedom in some Islamic countries where the Taliban type of people has power. Even in Christianity, the Bible is often used as a club to control other people or to judge other people because they act or believe differently. This happens all the time in American society and politics. [I do not have to give examples, because you will hear it for the next year in campaign speeches.]

Jesus declared all food to be clean. Last week we read where he said that we do not have to wash our hands before eating. Jesus has freed us from all the traditions and regulations of the Pharisees. But this freedom does not mean that we can do anything we want to do. St. Paul wrote this way in the Sixth Chapter of First Corinthians. “12 “Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food”—but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”

Christian freedom is based on the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Jesus Christ gave up his freedom to set us free. The Bible word for that is that he is our Redeemer, or Savior, or Deliverer. Although we are sinners and held bondage as slaves by sin and the devil, Jesus was arrested and willingly and freely died on the cross in our place. It was not nails that held Jesus on the cross, it was love. He had almighty power that he could have called upon twelve legions of angels; he could have come down off the cross by his own power. But he gave up his freedom to set us free. And on the third day he arose from the dead. He was free from death and the tomb. This proves that we are free from hell and sin.

We are free in Jesus Christ. And this freedom gives us the power of the Holy Spirit to live for the Lord. And this changes the attitude of Christian. We do not “have to” love the neighbor, we “get to” love the neighbor. Not, “thou shalt not kill,” but rather, “let’s make life better for others.” Not, “thou shalt not steal,” but rather, “what can I give to help others.” Not, “thou shalt not bear false witness,” but rather, “what can I say to build someone up.” This is the spirit of Christian freedom. It is the love of God in us.

Finally, a quote from Martin Luther. In his book “The Freedom of the Christian” (mid-November of 1520) he wrote like this: “A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to every one. Although these statements appear contradictory, yet, when they are found to agree together, they will be highly serviceable to my purpose. They are both the statements of Paul himself, who says: "Though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all" (1 Cor. ix. 19), and: "Owe no man anything, but to love one another." (Rom. xiii. 8.) Now love is by its own nature dutiful and obedient to the beloved object. Thus even Christ, though Lord of all things, was yet made of a woman; made under the law; at once free and a servant; at once in the form of God and in the form of a servant.”

in Christenmensch ist ein freier Herr über alle Dinge und niemand untertan.
Ein Christenmensch ist ein dienstbarer Knecht aller Dinge und jedermann untertan.
Martin Luther: Von der Freiheit eines Christenmenschen

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church

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