First MidWeek in Lent (2023)

Becoming the Righteousness of God

Here we are in Lent, which is 40 days long.

As many of you may know, 40 is a significant number in the Bible. During the days of Noah, the rains came down and the floods came up for 40 days and 40 nights.

During the days of Moses, Israel spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness before entering the Promised Land.

During the days of King Ahab, Elijah traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.

And during his days on earth, Jesus spent 40 days in the desert with wild animals and Satan’s temptations before he began to preach and to bring the kingdom of God.

With these events in mind, we set aside 40 days to prepare ourselves before our annual remembrance of the Lord’s crucifixion and resurrection. We set aside 40 days to remember and reflect on our sin—both our sins and our sinful condition. We set aside 40 days to remember and reflect on the redemption God worked through his Son, Jesus Christ. We set aside 40 days also to remember and reflect on the fellowship we have with God through the Holy Spirit.

So, on this Wednesday, it’s appropriate that we remember and reflecting both on our sin and on our salvation by taking to heart a portion of Paul’s message to the church in Corinth, especially these words about our Lord Jesus Christ: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21).

1

As I just said, in Lent we remember and reflect both on our sin and on our salvation. At the risk of stating the obvious, let me say that we must give proper weight to both.

2

You see, on the one hand, if we considered our sin without acknowledging that God himself saves us freely, then we would have to conclude that at least some part of our salvation is up to us. In other words, if we consider our sin apart from God’s grace, then forgiveness would be something that we would have to attain by our good behavior or our good intentions.

The history of the church shows quite plainly the concerns of Christians regarding this problem of considering our sin without truly acknowledging God’s freely given salvation. Martin Luther met this problem head-on. He showed clearly and testified tirelessly that we are saved by God’s grace, not by our own efforts or merits. How did He know this? God’s Word.

On the other hand, if we consider God’s salvation without fully taking account of our sin—when we take our sins and our sinfulness too lightly—we risk turning God and his work for us into a sentimental story.

But we do take our sins too lightly if we don’t recognize that some see Holy Scripture as a book of options. The Law — The Ten Commandments — have become the ten suggestions. We don’t always pay enough attention to the issue, and it’s easy to see why. No one wants their lives interrupted.

There is a great eagerness of so many Christians today to say, “God is love.” “God is love” is one of the few things that Christians still seem to be able to agree upon. After all, Christians in recent years have agreed upon less and less. Christians call God “Father.” But others bearing the name Christian insist on calling God “Mother.”

Christians acknowledge Jesus as the eternal Son of God. But others who claim to be Christians insist that, although he was a great man and that God was with him in an utterly unique way, Jesus was still only a man.

Christians have traditionally regarded the Bible as the Word of God and trustworthy for all matters of faith and life. But some today see the Bible as a human record of experiences with God and therefore claim that it always needs to be followed with care and sensitivity to changing circumstances. We could go on for quite a while in this vein: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper; abortion and the death penalty; women’s ordination and homosexuality—on these matters and others, people who call themselves “Christian” can and do disagree sharply.

And why today, with all the theological and technological advancements do people disagree? Because they fail to recognize the First Holy Possession given to us by God, which is His Holy Word.

On this subject Luther say, “To be sure, not all have it in equal measure, as St. Paul says [1 Cor. 3:12–14]. Some possess the word in its complete purity, others do not. Those who have the pure word are called those who “build on the foundation with gold, silver, and precious stones”; those who do not have it in its purity are the ones who “build on the foundation with wood, hay, and straw,” and yet will be saved through fire.

Christian people are called holy; for God’s word is holy and sanctifies everything it touches. It is the very holiness of God, Romans 1:16, “It is the power of God for salvation to every one who believes,” and 1 Timothy 4:5 “Everything is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.” For the Holy Spirit himself administers it and anoints or sanctifies the Christian church with the Holy Word of God.

Many years ago, as noted above, our modern era stopped believing God’s Word by faith. For them, it had to be proven. Many of you remember the days before the formation of this congregation in the mid-to-late 1980s when Holy Scripture was under attack. A liberal view of Christianity insisted that we stop using words like “inerrant” and “infallible” in describing God’s Word. Inerrant means that it is without error. Infallible refers to the fact that it cannot fail or disappoint. As noted a moment ago, they wanted to judge the Scriptures based on the culture of the day.

But Christ Jesus left us a sign, by which the true Christian Church and people would be recognized — that is, God’s holy Word. This Word, Luther said, is to be sincerely believed and openly professed before the world. Jesus Christ says, “Every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father and his angels” [Matt. 10:32].

There are many who know it in their hearts, but will not profess it openly. Look at all the things going on in the world today, that society treats as common. Many possess this holy Word, but do not believe in it or act by it, perhaps because they are afraid of offending. Or, as many like to say, “Don’t judge me.” But the truth is, we are not judging, but this Holy Word is and has already judged. Maybe that is part of the reason why many in American Christianity refuse to say that this is the holy and inerrant Word of God, the only infallible authority for all matters of faith and life. Because, if they did, they would have to acknowledge that they do not want to keep it.

But there is a number of people — a remnant — who do believe in and act by it is small—as the parable of the seed in Matthew 13 [:4–8]. You remember the story. There are three sections of the field that receive and contain the seed of the Word, but only the fourth section, with the fine and good soil, bears fruit with patience.

Now, dear friends, wherever you hear or see this word preached, believed, professed, and lived, do not doubt that the true ecclesia sancta catholica, “a Christian holy people” must be there, even though their number is very small. For God’s word “shall not return empty,” Isaiah 55 [:11], but must have at least a fourth or a fraction of the field. And even if there were no other sign but this alone, it would still be enough to prove that a Christian—holy people—must exist there.

God’s word cannot be without God’s people, and conversely, God’s people cannot be without God’s inerrant and infallible Word. If God’s Word is suspect and can’t be believed, as some say today, then what could or would God’s people believe, if there were no word of God? In a phone conversation yesterday afternoon one young man told me that a Lutheran pastor in his are has openly denied the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The problem is, if this is what he believes and this is what he is teaching his congregation, then then Holy Possession of ours — God’s holy Word — says that we are still in our sin.

BUT, this holy, inerrant and infallible Word does what it says. It performs all miracles, effects, sustains, carries out, and does everything, exorcises all devils, mob-devils, insurrection-devils, heresy-devils, all devils which deny God’s infallible Word, also Antinomian-devils.

Luther finally said, “It is enough for us to know how this chief holy possession purges, sustains, nourishes, strengthens, and protects the church.” And St. Augustine said, “The church is begotten, cared for, nourished, and strengthened by the word of God.”

But those who persecute and condemn it identify themselves by their own fruits.

The good news, dear friends, is those who cling to the holy Word of God by, completely and totally, God declares righteous. And God desires to bring righteousness to all the world. And that’s what he was doing in your Baptism—making you his own righteous people. That’s what he does in the Lord’s Supper—giving you the body and blood of his Son for forgiveness and life. That’s what he does in absolution—forgiving you. All these and more are the Holy Possessions of every believer.

And that’s why I’ve been sent—because God is not done with bringing righteousness. Right now, God Is Bringing Righteousness— Real Righteousness—to You.

Yes, right now. God has sent me to deliver the holy Word to You.

“I, by virtue of my office, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of God to all of you.” On Christ’s behalf, as a fellow worker of God, I promise you: Your sins—all your sins—are forgiven. I promise you: There is eternal life for you. And these things I announce to you right now, for “now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” (6:2).

Amen.