240121 Sermon on what marriage is (Special Sermon Series) January 21, 2024

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Today we have begun a three week series on marriage, sexuality, and various issues that go along with these things. To do a series like this is a little unusual for us. We tend to follow the lectionary. The lectionary is a list of readings from the Bible that have been assigned for each Sunday in the Church Calendar. Pastor Bertram and I are happy to follow the lectionary. The assigned readings make sure that we hear the whole counsel of God’s Word instead of only focusing on certain favorite topics. Nevertheless, we have decided to set aside the normal readings for these three weeks so that we could focus on the topics of marriage, sexuality, etc.

To begin our look at this area of life it is good to begin with how God has created us. God made Adam and Eve in a very special way as we read about in Genesis. The way that he made Adam was by taking council within himself, deliberating within himself, gathering some earth, breathing the breath of life into Adam’s nostrils. Eve’s creation was also very special. She was not made from earth. A portion of flesh was taken from Adam. God made that rib into the woman.

None of the other creatures are described as having been created in such a way. Man and woman were created with a strong connection to God. He made them in his own image. There is also a strong connection between man and woman since the woman was taken from man. She was not created as an independent being.

When God finished making Eve, he presented her to Adam. Adam was delighted. He broke out into poetry and song, as young men are sometimes known to do. He said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.” The woman is like him, and yet not like him. The similarities and differences between him and her bring about wonder and admiration.

Here we see another important thing about how God created us. We were created to have an attraction—the male for the female, and the female for the male. God creates us with attractions and appetites. We have appetites for food and drink, for example, that are satisfied with eating and drinking. So also, a man is meant to be satisfied by being with a woman; a woman is meant to be satisfied by being with a man.

It is difficult, and a little uncomfortable, to speak about this attraction and appetite. None of us are ashamed to talk about hunger and thirst. It isn’t as easy to speak about the desire we feel for another person. This isn’t necessarily bad either. Unlike eating and drinking, what a man and woman do with each other is private. It’s supposed to be private. However, we shouldn’t be so afraid to talk about these appetites that they become taboos. We should help, especially, our children. Children eventually grow into adults. This desire awakens within them. They should not be shamed for having that God-given appetite. They need help to know that their desire can be directed in such a way that they can keep their honor.

Where their desire should be directed is toward their spouse or their future spouse. Our reading from Genesis speaks to this also. It says: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” A man is to leave his father and mother when he is ready to take a wife. The reason why he leaves his father and mother is because he is going to create a new family together with his wife. The man clings to his wife instead of clinging to his old family. The man and his wife become one flesh—they are joined together. From this one-flesh union children are created. Thus you see how God makes a new family. Husband and wife become father and mother. The new family begins with the marriage.

You see here in Genesis how God has made us—male and female he created us. He made us so that we have a desire for one another. He created marriage as the first and highest of all institutions. Family and society flow from it. Marriage is an arrangement that remains on this earth, and it will continue to remain until Christ comes. Then, as Christ teaches, the situation will be different. In the life to come we will not be married or given in marriage. We will be like the angels, Jesus says.

But our focus today is on this life. So, very practically speaking, how should a boy or a girl look at this area of their lives, and how should they look towards the future?

First of all, every boy should thank God for making him a boy, and every girl should thank God for making her a girl. The way that God has made us is wonderful, and God deserves to be praised. Praising God for making you the boy that you are or the girl that you are is important work for you to do as God’s creatures.

Later on, when boys grow into men and girls grow into women, they should be on the lookout for that person to whom they might be joined together as one flesh in holy matrimony. My advice for boys and girls is that they are never too young to pray to God for a good wife or a good husband. You parents and grandparents—you who love your children and grandchildren—should pray for good, godly spouses for them if you want what is good for them.

During the teenage and young adult years it is important to guard your body, soul, and mind from the powerful temptations to take what God has not yet given to you. If you have not yet been joined through marriage to someone, you should not pretend that you have been. Wait until God joins you together with that person.

A profound promise is asked of those being joined together. You might be familiar with this marriage vow: “I take you to be my wedded husband or wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God’s holy will; and I pledge to you my faithfulness.”

What this promise means is that you are going to forsake all others and stick with this person no matter what. That’s love! Love is not just looking out for yourself. Love is being there for the other even when it is unpleasant, painful, and no longer to your own advantage.

By having made those promises, by having been joined together, a new family is made. Within that family there is to be love, honor, service, and sacrifice. God highly approves of all of this. God loves it when a man loves his woman, and a woman loves her man. God loves it when parents love their children, and children honor their father and mother. A very good and rich life is given within this marriage and family.

Finally, we should talk about the end of the marriage. A marriage ends when death parts husband and wife. God is the one who determines the end of the marriage, just as God is supposed to be the one who determines the end of anybody’s life. If we take our own life into our own hands and end it, or if we take somebody else’s life into our own hands and end it, that’s rightly called “murder.” God doesn’t want us to do that. So also God brings about the end of a marriage by bringing about the death of one or the other spouse. This is what it means when the marriage vow says “till death us do part.” When God determines the time, he ends the marriage by bringing about the death of the husband or the wife.

Now, having described how things should go in this area of life, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were lots of questions. Some of those questions might be addressed during the next two weeks. There is not enough time for me to say much more than I already have. So I’d like to conclude with a word to those who recognize that this area of their life has not been what it should be. You haven’t done as you were supposed to do.

Remember that Jesus came to save sinners. Jesus died to set things right that have gone wrong. The work that Jesus does as Savior is not different in this area of life from the other work that we hear of him doing. Jesus went around giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, mobility to the lame. Your affliction might be with your sexuality, or the sexual sins that you’ve committed, or perhaps the sins that have been committed against you.

Jesus does not wish for you to be left alone in your sadness, disappointment, or regret. Like the blind man, who could not make himself see, or the lame man who could not make himself walk, you also cannot fix yourself. You might not be able to fix yourself for the future. You certainly can’t go back and undo what has been done. You can’t make right what has gone wrong. But Jesus can. He’s the only one who can. This is the miracle of God’s blood and God’s death. That sacrifice cleanses and atones. Fully aware of your sins, therefore, Jesus says he forgives you. He teaches you. He brings light, truth and healing in this present life. He will bring perfect healing in the life to come.

Understand, therefore, that your real enemy is not Jesus, nor is it God, with his Law. You might be tempted to believe that God with his Law is your enemy, because you haven’t kept it. But your real enemy is the devil. He is a liar. He says you don’t need those outdated, prudish laws. Live however you want! Lust after whomever you want! Be the lord of your own happiness!

That’s the enemy’s message. It sounds good. There’s a reason why so many follow his advice! It sounds like it will be just what you want. But those who follow this liar’s advice soon find out that on the other side of the supposed freedom and thrills misery awaits. You can’t fight against the way God has created us to be and expect to have no consequences.

God’s message, admittedly, is very different from the liar’s message. God doesn’t say that you should do whatever would make you happy. He requires some high and difficult things. He says we need to love. He says self-control is good. Being sexually pure and decent is good. Showing honor and respect to your wife or your husband is good. Being faithful unto death is good.

These things are good whether you have actually done these things or not. Who of us is without sin in this area of life? Nevertheless, what God requires is good. I think you know that. If only we would be the way that God would have us to be in this area of life, things would be good. It’s because we haven’t been obedient that we have the troubles that we do.  

So we’ve messed up. Jesus is the Savior of people who need help. Jesus is the Savior of sinners. Repent, believe in him, and be saved!

231231 Sermon on the importance of being redeemed from the Law (Christmas 1) December 31, 2023

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Our Gospel reading this morning tells the story of what happened not long after Jesus’s birth. The Law of God, given to the Old Testament people, required that eight days after Jesus’s birth he needed to be circumcised. Then, forty days after Mary gave birth, she needed to offer sacrifices. This marked the end of her time of ceremonial uncleanness from giving birth. Our Gospel reading describes this. Mary and Joseph went up into Jerusalem. Jesus was presented to the Lord as the firstborn, and they offered two pigeons in the Temple.

In a way, these activities were unremarkable. Jewish people had been obeying these Laws for many hundreds of years. Since Mary and Joseph were devout Jews, they did what was expected of them according to the Law.

What was unusual about the situation was that Jesus wasn’t just an ordinary Jewish boy. He was also God’s Son. Since Jesus was and is God’s Son, he is the originator of the Law. He is Lord of the Law. He was free. He didn’t need to enter under those Laws. The Israelites, on the other hand, were not free either to observe the Law or not observe the Law. If the boys and men were not circumcised, they were cut off from the people of God. If people were not made clean according to the Law of Moses, they were kept apart from the communion of saints. The God-given laws were what gave them their standing. If they were on the right side of the Law, then all was well. If they were on the wrong side of the Law, then they were cut off.

Although Jesus, the Son of God, was not compelled to be subservient to these laws, he freely did so. The reason why he entered into these laws was to set people free from the Law as determining their standing before God. He entered into these Laws to keep them on behalf of all. He satisfied what was required by the Law so that his obedience may be credited to us.

Our Epistle reading is a clear and memorable passage that sums up what Jesus accomplished. The passage reads: “In the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

Let’s briefly look more closely at these words: God sent his Son at the fullness of time, at the right time. God’s Son was born of a woman—not the normal place to find a God. God’s Son was born under the Law—not the normal place to find the Giver of the Law. The reason for all of this, though, is for redemption. That is the key word in the passage: God did these things to redeem those who were under the Law.

This redemption changes the basis for our standing. Having been redeemed, the basis for our relationship with God is no longer the Law. The Law required certain actions and forbade other actions. Instead of our relationship with God being determined by what we’ve done, we’ve been redeemed so that our relationship with God is on the basis of grace.

The language that Paul uses is that we are adopted as sons. The reason why he uses the term “sons” instead of a more general term like “children” is because we are adopted only through Jesus, who is God’s Son. We receive Jesus’s status as God’s Son when we are baptized into him and when we believe in him. It’s by being connected to the only-begotten Son that we receive adoption as God’s sons—regardless of whether we are male or female.

So, in one sense, when we look at the happenings that Luke describes in our Gospel reading, they are unremarkable. Israelites had been doing those things for a very long time. However, in another sense, and under the surface, so to speak, the most momentous things were taking place. Fulfillment was taking place. Redemption was taking place. The relationship that human beings have with God was being revealed as being upon a different basis. This relationship with God was not be on the basis of the works of the Law, but upon faith in God’s grace. Instead of having a relationship like a slave or an employee, who is only as valuable and esteemed as the work that he or she performs, we are adopted as sons of God, loved simply for the sake of who we are in Christ and for no other reasons.

There is a surprisingly practical importance of this teaching for each one of us. It has to do with what we say about ourselves. What makes you who you are? When we think about that question, the most immediate and natural answers are what you manage to accomplish for yourself: You’re hardworking. You’re smart. You’re popular. You’re moral. You’re good-looking. I could go on with many other possible positive attributes.

But even with these few that I’ve listed, doubts immediately come to mind. Are you that good-looking? Are you that moral? Are you that popular? I wonder if I couldn’t find some other specimens of humanity who might exceed the attributes and talents that you have. I bet I could.

And besides these answer to the question of what you have to say about yourself—what makes you good—we have the more important criteria that God provides. Have you loved God? Have you loved your neighbor, your fellow human being? Have you thanked and praised, served and obeyed God? Have you honored your parents and other authorities? Have you hurt someone by your words or deeds? Have you stolen, been negligent, wasted anything, or done any harm?

These commands are different. With the rat-race where everyone is trying to be the best—the best athlete, the best looking, the richest, and so on—there’s no divine command about these things. God doesn’t command you to be the best, nor does he evaluate you along these lines. Very different powers and authorities are the ones demanding you to be the best. This demand, this law, seems to have been cooked up by God’s enemies—the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh. God’s enemies do not want us to be satisfied or to give thanks. God’s enemies what us always to be covetous and never to be thankful. God’s enemies want us always to be longing to be the best and always being sorry for failing to be the best.

God isn’t like that. God won’t judge you for failing to succeed in all the stupid contests about who is the greatest. What he says he will judge you for is the way that you have treated him and the way that you have treated your fellow human beings. That is God’s Law.

Now before I get into how practical and important the change is that Jesus has brought about, I’d like to point out how little we think about God’s real Law and how much we obsess about those contests. People think a lot about how pretty or not pretty, how rich or not rich, how successful or unsuccessful they feel. These desires are much more important to us than God’s Law. There’s a good reason why we do that. We all have this belief that if only I was the best at everything, then I’d be happy. And doesn’t that make sense? It appears to be a truism according to our common sense—if only I had everything and was the best at everything, then I would be happy!

Again, this is the common sense way that the devil keeps you coveting. Your coveting makes you blind to the riches of God which are new every morning because you are desiring to be the best. Your eyes cannot see his goodness because you are always looking at the performance of your stock portfolio, or the latest workout regiment, or the newest gadgets and furnishings for your home. Your eyes don’t go so high as to contemplate God’s real Laws about love. You’re too busy believing that you need the fake measures of success that hold out the promise of happiness, but never deliver.

In any case—whether we are dealing with the fake laws for how to be the best, or the divine laws that require love, the change that Jesus brings about is for the better. God’s Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, has redeemed us so that we might receive adoption as sons. This changes the answer to the question we have been considering: What do you have to say about yourself?

I can answer that I am the recipient of God’s grace. God has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil. Now I am his own. I have been adopted as a child of God in Jesus. Since I am adopted as a child of God I am also an heir. I will inherit what God has decided to give me. If I am not already happy, then I know that I will be when the time is right.

Everything that I have just said is about God. God is doing all the actions. You are only a recipient. God is the Savior, not you. God gives the meaning to your life, not you. God is the judge, not you. This is all to say that God is in control, not you. By faith you may get on board with that and embrace it as your own.

It is no small thing to believe that Jesus is your redeemer. It sets you in opposition to other powers and authorities who would have you interpret your life in very different ways. Very different ways of attaining happiness are held out as being the sure-fire way, and their arguments can be awfully persuasive. The promise of happiness that the Scriptures make is that your happiness will be in Jesus because he puts you into a gracious relationship with God. It is good to be in this relationship with God because God is good. God is wise.

As David says in Psalm 103:

God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. … He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor does he repay us according to our iniquities. … As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.