Sunday, April 18, 2021

Sermon -- 3rd Sunday of Easter (April 18, 2021)

1 JOHN 1:1 - 2:2

THE BLESSED APOSTLE REVEALS 
A BLESSED FELLOWSHIP.

M: Alleluia. Christ is risen!
C: He is risen indeed! Alleluia.

In the name + of Jesus.

     It was 500 years ago today—April 18, 1521.  Martin Luther had been summoned to appear at an imperial conference.  We know it as the Diet of Worms.  Luther had caused a great deal of outrage, confusion, and frustration with his writings.  The Church itself was in danger of being rent apart.  Rather than getting a chance to debate or even to defend himself, Luther was to appear before Emperor Charles V and church officials and answer two questions.  With all his booklets and pamphlets spread out on a table, Luther was asked, “Are these your writings?”  That answer was easy.  Yes, they were.  The second question was the hard one: “Will you recant them?”  He asked for time to think over his response carefully. 

     It seems unlikely that Luther was willing to change his confession; rather, he recognized what the fallout would be if he did not recant.  The church in the west was a united fellowship—one catholic (small “c” and large “C”) church.  Luther’s confession would fracture that fellowship and entity.  Was it worth it?  If Luther’s writings created outrage, confusion, and frustration, we have it even more.  Many Christians are too overwhelmed to concern themselves with the divisions in the Christian Church.  It is just easier to assume that all churches are the same and the differences don’t matter.  It is easier to think that; but it is neither safe nor right.  Factions and fighting.  Confusion and schisms.  Was it worth it?  Luther asked for time to consider that before he would make his confession.  He was given 24 hours.

     Finally, the time had come for his reply.  The full reply of Luther is in your bulletin.  The short version is this: “Unless I am convinced by the testimonies of the Holy Scriptures or evident reason…, I am neither able nor willing to recant, since it is neither safe nor right to act against conscience.  Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise; God help me!”  Luther’s allegiance was not to an entity, but to the Scriptures.  It was not the Pope, the emperor, or the Roman Church which had died to take away his sins; it was Jesus.  That is where Luther found his hope, his confidence, and his salvation.  Anyone who would dare rob him or others of that assurance was the target of Luther’s scathing pen and preaching.  If you want to argue that Luther was not very nice in this endeavor, you can make a convincing case.  However, his aim was not to take shots at people because he was mean.  He refused to let anyone detract from Jesus and his words.  He wanted no roadblocks between God’s people and his blessed fellowship.

     The blessed apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ, St. John, also wants you to know and to have a blessed fellowship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  You might think that John is nicer about this than Luther was, but John does not tap dance around the realities of this blessed fellowship either.  There are those who are enlightened by God’s word and those who are darkened and deluded by their own sinful hearts.  You either dwell in one realm or the other.  There is no middle ground, and the end result is heaven or hell.  The Scriptures do not sugar coat this reality.  Neither does St. John.  The blessed apostle wants you to be delivered out of darkness, death, sin, and hell.  John wants you to know light and life and pardon and peace.  Therefore, the blessed apostle reveals a blessed fellowship to you.

      The reality of this blessed fellowship rests on the reality of Jesus’ resurrection.  Therefore, St. John assures you that this blessed fellowship is as real as the Savior who secured it.  “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you…” (1 John 1:1-3). 

     The apostles would not have boldly preached about a dead Jesus, much less laid down their lives for him.  But Jesus lives.  He has overcome death.  He promises a resurrection to life everlasting to all who believe in him.  This was no empty promise.  It was guaranteed by Jesus when he rose from the dead.  And he was no hallucination by grieving disciples.  St. John says, “We beheld him with our eyes.  We touched him with our hands.  We inspected his wounds.  We even ate and conversed with him.  We had seen him crucified, and then we saw him very much alive again, victorious over death.  This is life which has conquered death.  This is a man who reigns over the grave.  He has given us many convincing proofs of his resurrection, and he promises this resurrection to us who are his.  As real and as bitter as death is, so the resurrection of the dead is real and all the more glorious.  This is what we proclaim to you; for we have witnessed it.”  The blessed apostle reveals this to you.

     Then he tells you why: “That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3).  This blessed fellowship was never intended to be limited to a few.  Jesus Christ took up the sins of all.  He bore the curse for all.  It does not matter what your history has been.  Your past has been wiped clean by Jesus.  Jesus presents you as blameless to the Father.  Your future has been secured by Jesus.  “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2).  If you want to remember what “propitiation” means, it is summed up well in the hymn, “In Christ Alone” which says, “Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied; for every sin on him was laid.  Here in the death of Christ I live” (In Christ Alone, 752:2 Christian Worship Supplement).  The blessed apostle reveals a blessed fellowship, and no one can tell you that Jesus rejects you from this blessed fellowship.  No sin is so bad that Jesus refused to pay for it.  No sinner is so vile that Jesus would refuse to have anything to do with him.  He is the Savior of all mankind.

     If this is the case, why would we say that there are some who will not be saved?  St. John tells you: They don’t want to be.  It may be because of ignorance, or it may be because of stubborn rebellion.  But this blessed fellowship is accessed only by faith in Jesus.  Therefore, the blessed apostle reveals this blessed fellowship to you.

     The blessed apostle warns that this blessed fellowship excludes people who reject God’s word.  “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.  If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (1 John 1:5-6).  This is the part where even the nice apostle sounds mean.  John warns us that it doesn’t matter what we believe if we live in willful rebellion to God’s word.  Throughout the Old Testament, Israelites males were all marked as sons of the covenant by circumcision.  But what good did it do them when they turned from God’s word to pursue their own selfish, godless goals?  It is the same today.  Many people who profess to be Christians confess by their actions: “It is more important for me to be happy than to follow God’s word.”  They claim a fellowship with God while their lives defy him.  But light and darkness cannot dwell together.  If you fear that this describes you, then repent.  You’ve been lying to yourself.

     The blessed apostle reveals a blessed fellowship.  In this blessed fellowship, grace is bestowed to forgive sins, not to bless them.  But for all who are grieved by their sins and fear God’s judgment, the blessed apostle declares this promise: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).  Recognize what great comfort you find in this verse!  You have the blessing of being honest with yourself and with God.  There is no bargaining, no negotiating, no defensive posturing.  You don’t have to try to convince God or anyone else that you are better than you are.  Compare your life in the light of God’s word.  When he exposes your sins, confess them.  Acknowledge that you have not done what you should have, that you have been what you should not have been.  

     Why?  Because of the promise: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).  The Lord is faithful to forgive our sins.  He has promised that the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin.  He assures us that, if we sin, we have an advocate.  Jesus Christ, who has paid for our sins, covers over our guilt, even for thinking that God’s word does not matter as much as my happiness.  He does not excuse your sins, but he does pardon them.  And he is just in doing so.  If Jesus has taken your sins away from you, how could God condemn you for them?  The payment has already been made.  Justice has already been done.  He cannot condemn you when the sentence has already been carried out.  Your sins are forgiven.

     The blessed apostle reveals a blessed fellowship.  God has enlightened you to see and to know that all of God’s word is true and right and good.  He motivates you to continue in that word so you see his truth all the more clearly and are blessed all the more richly.  He fills you with a desire to flee from everything which is sponsored by a lie, clouded in darkness, and leads to death.  You have been set free from that.  How could you willingly return to it?

     500 years ago, Martin Luther was unwilling to recant his writings for the sake of preserving an outward peace.  The Church was pointing people away from Jesus Christ, away from true fellowship with God, and away from the confidence of forgiveness and salvation.  Luther stood firm on firm promises.  He faithfully confessed the word to which God himself is faithful.  Yes, it split the church.  It was not the goal, but it was the result; for, darkness and light cannot exist together.  St. John declared the same confession, the same promises, and the same hope.  The blessed apostle reveals a blessed fellowship.  If we are in Christ and walk in his light, we have peace with God.  For the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.  That is a peace and a blessed fellowship which cannot be broken by schisms or governments or even death.  For, Jesus lives.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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