For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Romans #2, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” 3:28

　

June 1, 2008 Third Sunday after Pentecost

Romans 3:21-28 [All have sinned and fall short.]

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it? the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Matthew 7:15-29 [Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord.”]

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

Romans #2, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” 3:28

How do you measure a person? You can measure height, waist size, weight, age, IQ, annual income, bank savings, credit card debt, school grades, rank, social position, etc. You can judge a person by their actions or inaction, their morals, ethics, police record. Sometimes we have to measure people. We do it when shopping for clothes, when taking college entrance exams, etc. We want to know if someone would be a good friend, a marriage prospect, someone to work with, etc?

And how does God measure us: by our faith, by our knowledge of the Bible or Catechism book, by our good works, by our love, by our baptism, by our family? We judge other people before accepting them into our club or church or company or school or circle of friends. God judges us before accepting us into heaven. If we are “just right” by God’s standards, we are “justified” or “found righteous.” Today we want to see how God looks at us and measures us.

People usually think that we will be “right with God” if we “do the right things.” That means keeping the Law of the Ten Commandments. After all, God gave us his Law and we should keep it. Love God. Love the neighbor. The trouble is, to be perfectly “right with God” we have to be as right as God Himself is, that is, 100% perfect. But we humans are in a fallen world and there is no human who has ever kept the law of God perfectly. As Paul wrote, “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That means that no one is good enough to go to heaven by his or her own works.

There is an interesting expression here: “the righteousness of God.” God is perfect and God does the right thing. And what is the perfect and right thing for God to do? It is to make a way for salvation. This way of salvation is for all, for Jews and Gentiles, because “there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The Jews are no better off than the Gentiles, for they have sinned too. Salvation is ”the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” Salvation is a gift, it is by his grace, by his mercy and love.

This salvation, this righteousness is through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross who died as a sacrifice for our sin. In this passage there are a couple of big theological terms that we need to talk about: “redemption” and “propitiation.” Both words mean “sacrifice.”

Redemption means freedom by paying a ransom. It is like the devil kidnapped us and made us his slaves, and the work we do as slaves of the devil is called “sin” and that never is right or righteous or keeping the Law. Christ paid the ransom, he set the hostages free. The ransom price is the redemption price. And the price to set free the world of sinful human beings was the blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Or we can look at redemption this way: we were hostages of the devil, but Jesus swapped places with us. We were set free and Jesus became the captive of the devil. And the devil did as he pleased; the devil killed Jesus on the cross. His death set us free. Jesus swapped places with us. It was a “sweet swap” as Martin Luther called it.

Propitiation is a bit different. It can mean to make 'satisfaction' or 'appeasement,' as if to appease the anger of God. This is of course what happens It is like buying flowers for your wife after you mess up an appointment. The word in Greek can also mean “expiation” which means to remove the object of the wrath of God, namely, to remove sin. This is of course what happens. What is also interesting here, is that this same Greek word is also used in the New Testament for the place of propitiation or expiation, the "mercy seat, " Hebrews 9:5. This is the thone of God on the Ark of the Covenant between the Cherubim. This is the place in the Old Testament where the high priest once a year on the Day of Atonement sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice to take away the sin of the nation. It was a place of mercy because the righteous judgement of God had been changed to mercy and forgiveness and love.

This is the work of God. It is redemption, freedom, propitiation, expiation, forgiveness, mercy, and love. This is all the work of God. We cannot boast that we have done anything to win our salvation. We cannot say that we are saved because we have kept the Ten Commandments. We cannot say that we are saved because we have studied the catechism. We are saved by faith. Our theme today is “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law,” Romans 3:28.

How does God measure us? Not by the ruler of the Law. God measures us according to Jesus Christ. God looks at us. If he sees Jesus Christ, then we are saved. If Jesus is in our heart, then that is what God sees. That is what justification by faith is. We have the faith that Jesus justifies us. It is not the Law of God, it is not our works, it is Jesus Christ.

What does this mean? There is the story of one old Lutheran guy who said he was sure he was saved. Why is that, he was asked. He answered, “I am sure I am saved because I have never done one good deed in my life.” I hope none of you will copy him, but I hope you have the same confidence of salvation. He is wrong because although good works do not save us, they are a natural result of faith in Jesus. In today’s Gospel lesson Jesus spoke this way. Matthew 7:18-20, “A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”

What does this mean for us? It means that we are so free that we can bear good fruit. That is the result of redemption, propitiation, expiation, atonement, forgiveness, mercy, and love. We have heard the word of God and have built our lives on the rock of faith in Jesus Christ. It is not that we ourselves have built the house, but that the temple is Jesus Christ who rose on the third day. Who would be so foolish to build on their own sin and shoddy works? As the old hymn sings, “The Church’s one Foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord,” and “Built on a Rock the Church Shall Stand.” This means that the storms of life, the troubles, the worries, the sin, the temptation, and even death, cannot destroy our faith and salvation.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church

Sermon Index