200503 Easter 4 Order of Service
Sermon Manuscript:
One of the words that Christians use in a special way is the
word “world.” Those who are not familiar with Christ’s the apostles’ teachings
might think that the globe, the planet earth, is being talked about with that
word. That is not what is meant when the New Testament speaks about the
“world.” What is meant by the word “world” has a lot to do with another special
Christian word—the “flesh.” Here, too, those who are unfamiliar with Christian
teaching might think of the butcher shop with such a word. But, again, that is
not what Christians mean with the word “flesh.”
So let’s begin by better understanding the word “flesh” as
it is used in the Bible. “Flesh” is the word that is used to talk about the way
that all people are after the fall into sin. When Adam and Eve sinned against
God it was no longer natural for them to do the will of God. Instead, they
loved themselves above everything else. What they wanted out of life was to be
as comfortable as possible. They did not want to work or have trouble or suffer.
They wanted to minimize these things as much as they possibly could, and they
wanted to maximize pleasure. The more pleasure the better. This often drags the
flesh into gluttony, drunkenness, pornography, adultery, and many other
excesses.
This is all contradictory to God’s will. It is God’s will
that we should be content with what we have and to thank God for it. It is his
will that we should love our neighbor and look out for him. We should help and
support him in whatever needs he might have. We should help him to improve and
protect his possessions and income. We should work, have trouble, and
suffer—not so that we can get filthy stinking rich, but because it is helpful
to those whom we are serving.
And so now, perhaps, we have an idea of what the flesh is
and what it is after. The flesh is greedy, lazy, deceitful, hankering after
pleasure, honor, glory, and power. With these things as the endpoints, the
goalposts, in life, all our thoughts, words, and actions are directed towards
attaining them. Our flesh acts as though we are going to live forever and so it
tries to accumulate more and more. It acts as though we will never be judged,
and so it has no scruples. Whatever it can get away with, it does. If no one is
looking, then do it. This is what is meant by the word “flesh” in the New
Testament.
What is meant by the word “world,” then, is the accumulation
of all people’s flesh. The flesh’s goals and philosophies and ways of living
are all included in the word “world.” As the accumulated wisdom of everybody’s
flesh, you might say that the “world,” that is, its philosophy and way of life,
is what comes naturally to people. People naturally understand looking out for
themselves. They naturally understand that striving after honor, glory, and
power is beneficial for a person’s quality of life. It is inconceivable to our
flesh that any other way of living is even possible, because any other way of
living is so impractical.
But it is actually the world that is impractical, for the
world cannot go on forever. It will not go on forever. Something that Jesus
points out about the people who lived at the time of Noah and at the time of
Sodom and Gomorrah was that they assumed that things would keep going on the
way they had been. The folks at those times were contentedly living their lives
as each saw fit. None of them paid any mind to their Creator or to any kind of
judgment. They thought things would go on like that forever—perhaps they
believed that they were going to build a more wonderful and advanced world. But
then judgment came.
A whole lot of people hope that there is no god. In fact,
this is what comes naturally to our flesh as David points out in Psalm 14.
People hope that there is no God so that they won’t be accountable for what
they have done. But there is a God. And he does, indeed, judge, as every calamity
and every disaster testifies to us, including the flood, and including our
present troubled times.
It is an unpleasant experience to recognize that God is
judging and punishing accordingly, for if you actually understand this, then
you will be disturbed or even terrified. Who wants that? Nevertheless it is a
very good thing for us. It is good to learn that the way of the flesh means
death and, therefore, by God’s just judgment, eternal death in hell. Adam and
Eve would have much rather continued to busy themselves in the garden with
their fig leaf clothes and making a life for themselves. They didn’t want to
hear God’s Word. With their bad consciences, they were terrified when they
sensed that God was drawing near. But it was much better for them to have this
happen than for them to continue on as they were. Why? Because God did not just
have a word of judgment; he also had a word of hope. He had a word of promised
redemption. They were not doomed to live forever stuck in a life of
selfishness, murder, and adultery. The Christ would come and he would set
things right.
And so he has. You know that you were redeemed from your
empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers. You know that you were
redeemed, that is, purchased, not with things that pass away, such as silver or
gold, but with the precious blood of Christ—a Lamb without spot or blemish. In
him, and in his resurrection, you have been born into a new way of life. With
your first birth you were born into the flesh. With the second birth, being
baptized into Christ, you have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit. You are
a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, as Peter says.
And so in contrast to living according to the flesh, you now
are enabled to walk according to the Spirit. The way of the Holy Spirit is
God’s will for us. God’s will is that we should love him with all our heart,
with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind, and to love
our neighbor as we love ourselves. Your sights are set above the horizon of
this present world. As Peter says in our Epistle reading today, we are aliens
and temporary residents in this world. This world of sin and injustice, misery
and death, cannot go on forever and will not go on forever. We do not put our
hope in any earthly thing. Our hope is in that world where our sinful flesh,
together with every other evil thing, is put under Jesus’s feet once and for
all. In heaven we will no longer be selfish, lazy, bloated, corrupt wretches.
We will be filled with love from the top of our heads to the soles of our feet.
But we do not need to wait until we get to heaven to live
this new life of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, we cannot continue to live according
to the flesh if we hope to be saved. Do not let anybody deceive you. We cannot
live according to the flesh all our lives and then, at the last moment, treat
the Gospel like a get-out-of-hell-free card. It’s remarkable how people get
what they want. Those who want to chew up and spit out their neighbor like a
peach pit are going to end up in such a place where evil people will have each
other to chew on. Those who burn with lust so as to take possession of that
which is not theirs, will burn with lust and be taken possession of eternally. They’ll
get what they want, but so will those who pray, “Create in me a clean heart, O
God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence and
taken not they Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation
and uphold me with Thy free spirit.” Those who pray for such things, will get
what they want too. And this gift will be eternal.
But, again, we do not need to wait for heaven to live this
new life of love. You may begin to love now by the gift of the Holy Spirit who
has been given to you. You may live according to the Holy Spirit instead of
according to the flesh. All the apostles urge his new life for us Christians.
Their letters would be incomplete if they did not teach those who believe in
Christ how to live a life that is pleasing to God. That is why they give
instructions for Christians, depending on their calling in life, for how they
should conduct themselves. Our epistle reading today is a portion of such a
section of Peter’s letter. Peter tells us not to live for pleasure, to be
obedient to those whom God has placed in authority over us, and specifically
addresses how slaves are to interact with their masters.
There is a lot of worthy instruction that we could do with
what Peter tells us, but with the time that we have remaining today I’d like to
hone in on one thing in particular. I think it illustrates especially well the
difference between the way of the flesh and the philosophies of the world vs.
the sanctification of our lives that takes place in us by the Holy Spirit.
It has to do with what Peter says to those Christians who
happen to be slaves. Now there is no reason for us not to simply translate what
Peter says to terms that are more familiar to us, so that is what I’ll do. I
use the terms employee and employer instead of slaves and masters.
So Peter says, “Employees: submit to your employers with
total respect, not only to those who are good and kind, but also to those who
are harsh. For this is favorable: if a person endures sorrows while suffering
unjustly because he is conscious of God.”
Such thinking, such humble actions, are totally foreign to
our flesh, as I think all of us can immediately recognize. The flesh is only
interested in those good works that are handsomely rewarded (if nothing else
than) by praise and recognition. But what about this little good work that
Peter speaks of here? You are not going to get on the six o’clock news for
cheerfully doing what your boss tells you to do. Nobody notices things like
that. Perhaps even your boss wouldn’t recognize your cheerful obedience, so how
could anybody else know about it? No monuments or statues are put up to
memorialize such actions. You won’t get a building named after you at some
university someplace. But it is especially these kinds of good works that
Christ’s apostles urge upon us Christians in our new life in Jesus’s
resurrection.
How different this is from the world! The world falls over
themselves in praising rich philanthropists and other famous do-gooders. They
have no time for little people or little acts of kindness. But while it is
probably the case that other people do not notice the little things that you do
in your callings and stations in life, God certainly sees such things. You
might not have your praise from men now, but it is much better to have your
praise from God if he should say to you, “Well done, good and faithful
servant. Enter into the joy of your master.” It is much better to receive
praise from God, because he knows what he is talking about—something that you won’t
find with the praise of men. Men are always looking for the best bang for their
buck in the good works that they do. Christians, on the other hand, love so
that they can love some more. Having loved some more, they love yet still more.
Therefore we have something very practical for you
Christians with Peter’s words here. Do you want to be a Christian? Do you want
to live a new life of love instead of your old life of selfishness? Then listen
to your boss and cheerfully do what you are told. Don’t do this just for those
who are reasonable and lavish praise upon you, but also for those who are
cranky and harsh.
But I know that a lot of you are retired, so what about you?
You also have the opportunity to love, right in front of your noses. Break
those old habits of bickering with your spouse, annoying one another. Slough
off whatever mean things are said or done to you and think about how you can do
good for them. Wives, submit to your husbands. Husbands, honor and cherish your
wives and be patient with them.
Or take children: theirs is right in from of their noses
too. The golden work for children to do is to honor their father and mother.
Again, this is totally unimpressive to the flesh and to the world. They make
disobedience to those who are in authority into a sign of independence and
manhood. But they are fools and liars. Children, make it your goal for your
parents to be glad that you are their child. Gladly serve and obey them. God attaches
a special promise to the fourth commandment: if you honor your father and your
mother it will go well with you, and you will enjoy long life on the earth.
All people, regardless of age or station in life, have
people right in front of their noses that they can love and work and suffer
for. This work that the world sneers at as servile is actually royal, noble
work, for you are following in the steps of your master, your king. Jesus
loved. His was a good life. You, likewise, will live a good life by loving
those whom God has placed into your path.
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