4th Sunday after Pentecost June 12, 2005

“God showed his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, ESV) This is the heart of the Gospel. This is the Gospel in it purest and simplest form. This is a powerful statement that deserves our meditation this morning. This verse can move people to tears and deep emotion as they realize the power of what Paul is saying about the love of our God.

First Paul begins by taking about dying for someone. He says that maybe a person would die for someone else if that person were good or righteous. We do see examples of this in our lifetime. We often call people who risk their lives for others heroes. The best example is the 9/11. Police and firefighters risked their lives, and many perished in the process, to try to save people of the World Trade Center. This is an act that has impacted many people’s lives and is still talked about today, four years later, as if it happened yesterday.

As heroic as this event was, it still isn’t as powerful as what Jesus did for us. The firefighters and police officers were doing their duty. They were responding to the noble cause of rescuing others in need. They did it because they felt the people were worth saving. But what does our text say about God’s love for us? And what does it say about us?

How many of you would risk your life for Saddam Hussein? How many of you would have died for Hitler? Would you but your life in danger to save someone who is robbing a bank or breaking into a home? These are people we don’t know but would probably consider enemies of our society.

Would you consider risking your life for a personal enemy? Well maybe not an enemy, but someone who drives you crazy and who you would not like to be around. You may have tried to get along with this person but it just never works. They do things that make you mad and you wish that they would just go away. You wouldn’t even give this person the time of day. So, would you die for them?

If we are honest with ourselves, as Paul said, it would be hard to die for someone we liked let alone someone we considered and enemy. But that is exactly what Jesus did for us. Because of our sin, sin that began with Adam and Eve in the Garden, we are enemies of God. We have broken His commandments. We have put other things ahead of God. We have misused the blessing God has give. We have hurt the people He has placed in our lives. We are enemies of God. There is nothing worthy in us to redeem or even die for. Yet God, in His great mercy and love for us, sent His Son to die for us.

Wow, what a Gospel message. We did everything to turn ourselves away from God. We are undeserving of His love. Yet in His great compassion for us He sent His Son to redeem us. Jesus humbled Himself and became a man. He lived the perfect life we should have live. Not only did He fulfill the Law but He also took all of our sins to the cross. Our very sins that deserve the full wrath of God – which is death – Jesus took to the cross and died for us. Not only that, He rose again in victory. That victory is given to us through the means of grace, the means by which the Holy Spirit works in our hearts and minds. The Spirit comes to us in the waters of baptism, in the meal at the Lord’s Table and in His Word as He reveals to us His great love for us.

What a great comfort this is for us. Not even death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. It puts things in perspective. If God would die for us who are enemies because of sin, what more would He do for us when we face the trouble of life. God is there for us in His love and grace and mercy! There is nothing He wouldn’t do for us!

And now, we who have been transformed from enemies to heirs are called to spread the Gospel. In our text from Matthew 9 and 10 we see Jesus calling His 12 disciples to go out and proclaim that the Kingdom of God is at hand. What was promised will be fulfilled in Jesus. The mercy of God will be made evident in Christ. The disciples were called to proclaim the Gospel and that same call is give to us today. We are sent into the world to proclaim the Gospel that has transformed our lives.

Jesus then says, “I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.” (Matthew 10:16a, ESV) On one level we can understand this passage as the fact, proven throughout history, that we will face enemies of the Gospel as we proclaim it. We are like sheep among wolves in this world. This wasn’t to scare the disciples or us, it was meant to show the reality of this world and that we need to rely on God.

But I think there is another level to this text that is important for us to see as well. Paul’s statement in Romans is that we all are enemies of God because of sin. We can say that we are wolves as well. Our sin has turned us into wolves that would devour the sheep. But God sent the great sheep – the Lamb of God – who is Jesus Christ among the wolves – us. And the wolves devoured him. The sin He bore was ours and He took it to the cross for us. We who were wolves now have been transformed by God’s grace and are called sheep – because the Lamb of God lives in us. And we now, who once were wolves, are called to be sheep in the world. That is humbling, but allows us to see that we who were wolves have been changed, so also the wolves we encounter can be changed as well by the blood of the Lamb.

“God showed his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, ESV) What a powerful statement! Meditate on these words this next week. Let them have impact in your lives and take root as you realize the power of the Gospel. And let that emotion and energy drive you into the world to proclaim Jesus. Yes you will be among wolves, but God changed you so can He change the world. And know, that even the very words you need to speak, God will give you as well.

“God showed his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, ESV) Amen