About 2,000 years ago there was some husband and wife whose
wedding was greatly honored. Their wedding was the occasion for Jesus’s first
miracle. He gave them a present that is almost ridiculous in its proportions.
He gave them somewhere between 120 and 180 gallons of the best wine they had
ever tasted. Think of a 50 gallon barrel. They got about 3 of these. Jesus
wanted this couple and all their guests to be merry and joyful. Obviously the
marriage of a man and a woman is something that God approves of and is joyful
over.
But we don’t need to rely on this text alone to show us
that. This is abundantly clear elsewhere in the Scriptures. In the image of God,
God created man. Male and female he created them. When he first spoke to Adam
and Eve he told them that they should come together. They should be fruitful
and multiply. They should have children. Man and woman, marriage, sex,
children, family—these are beautiful things intimately tied up with God and his
will towards us. In fact, Paul says in Ephesians 5, that the coming together of
a husband with his wife is like the coming together of Christ, the groom, with
the Church, his bride. As a husband loves and takes delight in his wife, so God
loves his chosen people.
One of the ways that you can tell what is important for us
and for our salvation is when the devil and the demons rage against something.
I don’t think there is anything that is fought against so strongly as an
honorable marriage, where husband and wife have clean consciences, and are
eagerly in love with one another so as to make a family together. Instead, I
dare say we have all been corrupted. Snickering among children, children
telling each other new and exotic tales, pornography and sexually suggestive
television, movies, and music, masturbation, the social expectation for dating
and the sexual experimentation that is supposed to go along with it—these
temptations hit every one of us like a tidal wave (particularly when we are
young)—and it seems nobody comes out unscathed. What all these things teach
with an almost irresistible force is that sexual activity is entertainment. It
is utterly disconnected from a husband or wife and the children God gives as a
fruit of this union.
The alternative to this frenzied promotion of sex as
entertainment is something that is truly romantic. It is the single-minded affection
of a husband for his wife and a wife for her husband. They seek and win one another’s
affection. I once heard someone use a good analogy that has stuck in my head
ever since. He compared romance to the playing of a game. When you play a game
you agree to certain rules. It is always possible to cheat. It is vastly easier
to win when you cheat. But the thrill of victory for a cheater is altogether
different than the thrill of victory for someone who plays according to the
rules. So also, love and affection within marriage is harder than satisfying
your cravings in other ways, but it is higher and better. It is tied up with
our very human nature—the way that we were created to be. It even has something
to do with our salvation and the relationship that exists between Christ and
his bride, the Church. Being chaste and unadulterated, and yet at the same
time, having a burning desire for your beloved, is so good that it cannot be
gotten across by words. It is truly ideal.
In confirmation class, while the students and I are studying
the 10 Commandments together, we sing Martin Luther’s hymn, “These Are the Holy
Ten Commands.” After talking about each of the commandments in turn there are
two verses at the end that speak about the Ten Commandments all together. Verse
11 says, “We have this Law to see therein / That we have not been free from sin,
/ But also that we clearly see / how pure towards God life should be. / Have
mercy Lord!” Two things go together here. The Law shows us what is good. Today,
the Law shows us what is good when it comes to the way that God has designed us
in his image, male and female he has created us. Marital love is high and holy,
good and exciting. At the same time we see therein that we have not been free
from sin. We have all been hit by the tidal wave of sexual perversion and
temptation. None of us have come out unscathed. We all like sheep have gone
astray, each to his own way.
It is a very good thing that God has given to us his Law. No
one is justified by the Law, as Luther points out in the next verse: “Our works
cannot salvation gain. / They merit only endless pain. / Forgive us, Lord, to
Christ we flee, / Who pleads for us endlessly. / Have mercy Lord.” The Law has
not been given to pat us on the head and tell us what good boys and girls we
have been. In order to do that, the Law would have to lie. The Law points out
our perversions. Because it does this, not a single one of us is thrilled to
hear the Law. It might be okay for us to hear the Law that deals with other
people’s perversions, but not our own. But we all, together, must hear this
Word from God for otherwise we will inevitably justify ourselves rather than
finding justification in Jesus. Since the way that we have lived only merits
endless pain, we flee to Jesus, who pleads for us and our forgiveness and
salvation endlessly.
There is a lot of guilt, shame, and despair when it comes to
the sixth commandment and its requirement of a sexually pure and decent life.
This sin has a special power that perhaps Paul is alluding to when he says that
all other sins are done outside of the body, but this one is done within it.
The devil’s first strategy is to keep everybody in the dark so far as their
sins go. He wants all people to think that they are good and noble, even though
they are not. If that strategy fails and people come to know their sin, then he
will change tactics utterly. He will say that someone who has done the kinds of
things that you have done cannot possibly be forgiven. Plus, it’s impossible
that you will ever be able to change. The lusts are too strong and there’s
nothing that can be done about it, so you might as well accept it. To use Job’s
wife’s words, “Curse God and die!” There’s no hope for you. Or perhaps, “Curse
the God who condemns sin and make up a new one for yourself.” Either way the
devil is quite pleased, because you are kept from faith in Christ.
While we must continue to insist on what is right and good
when it comes to our sexuality, so also we must continue to insist that God
forgives the sins of all who repent. There are no sins for which Jesus did not
die. The reason why Jesus suffered the way that he did is because the guilt and
shame of the worst sins you can possibly think of crushed him in his
conscience. As Paul says, “You have died with Christ and your life is hidden
in him.” Have you committed adultery? Christ was branded with that sin of
yours and died as a result of it. When he died with your sin, you died too.
Have you engaged in sexual perversions that are so bad that they cannot be
mentioned? That person, who used to be you, has died. Christ died. Your old
self, with all its evil desires, has been crucified with Christ, so that it is
no longer you who live, but Christ lives within you. The life that you now live
is lived by faith in Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
There is an incredibly widespread belief that Christians who
say that homosexuality (or any other sexual perversion) is wrong, must hate
those people. This is the common view in society. It is what might get us
labeled as a hate group one day. Also, within, with our own members, there are
people who think that there are certain sins that cannot be forgiven. This is
wrong. If homosexuals can’t be forgiven, then you can’t be forgiven either.
There are a lot of people in the Christian Church who
struggle mightily against their lusts. Almost always, they are victims of their
own history. Past perversions take their toll even when a person is forgiven
and righteous through faith in Christ. This is why we should fear sin. Innocence
once spoiled cannot be gotten back. Once a person starts down a road of sin, it
is ten times harder to stand against temptation than if they had just curbed
themselves at the start. Sin is punished with more sin.
Nevertheless, when anybody hates the evil life that he or
she has lived and asks for mercy for Jesus’s sake, then that person is
forgiven. Furthermore, that Christian has the promise of cleansing. The corrupt
and evil heart is worked upon by the Holy Spirit in this life. The old Adam is
drowned and dies more and more. This is far from complete, though. Complete
healing of all wickedness is promised to those who believe in Christ in the
next life. We have to be patient. The resurrection is coming. This is our hope.
The world’s hope is that our problems will be fixed if we
ignore sin. This can be very similar to something I’ve talked to you about many
times before. People do the same thing with death. Prevailing wisdom says that
nothing can be done about such things. If nothing can be done, then you might
as well get used to it. No! Not only can something be done about sin and death,
something has been done about sin and
death. Jesus has defeated them both. We do not have to excuse sin away. We do
not have to philosophize death away. We can see them both for the ugly things
that they are. Seeing them as ugly and ghastly will help you appreciate what
Jesus went through on your behalf.
What a peculiar God we have! He is more generous and
gracious than any human being ever could be. He most certainly did not just die
for good people. He died for murderers and pedophiles, drunkards and gluttons,
misers and gossips, thieves and blasphemers. That is to say, he died for you. Believe
it! Those who are fighting so valiantly to pretend that sin isn’t actually sin
are enemies of the message of Christ the crucified. If sin is not sin, then
Christ died for no purpose. The truth, however, is that Christ died to
reconcile foul sinners to a righteous and holy God.
We do not need to make the Bible more gracious than it
already is. It can’t be any more gracious. Christ turns away no one who looks
to him for mercy. It doesn’t matter who they might be. And so all the
reinterpreting of the Bible to make all manner of perversions acceptable is a
false move. These people would have you believe in something other than Christ
the crucified Savior of sinners. Perhaps this is what they want us to believe:
Perhaps they want us to believe in them—that they are such wise and insightful
people who have discovered that something no longer is wrong. I don’t know
about you, but I wouldn’t want to appear before God with such flimsy stuff.
Sounds like fig leaves to me.
Instead, let us urge repentance and faith in Christ. This is
the repentance and faith that we need for ourselves. It is the hope we offer to
the world. Do not be ashamed of the
Gospel, for it is the power of salvation to everyone who believes.
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