Should being a Christian change us? Should it make us a new person? Or is it just business as usual? St. Paul tells us in the Epistle Lesson to throw off the Old Man and put on the New Man. Look at Jacob in the Old Testament reading. He begins as a man who has tricked his brother out of his birthright and then runs away from his vengeful brother. But then He encounters the ladder to heaven, which is Christ, and awakens having heard the promises of God to protect and preserve him and give him the Promise. Consider also the man in the Gospel Reading. He can't even come to Jesus Himself but is carried by His friends. But how does he leave? He leaves walking with his sins forgiven! Here is the thing: contact with Christ changes a person. Heals them. Forgives them. Makes them something they were not. It is as Paul writes, an old man to a new man.
But going from Old Man to New Man is too often laid down as something WE do. If you love God, then you'll change. Give up your old habits, stop making bad choices, start living a godly life. Many preachers will lay that upon you that if you are not changing and do such and such, that is proof you are no Christian. Now let's understand something. As Christians, we are called to act differently, to live differently than the world does. We are called to love others even when they don't love us and to help others even when they don't care or appreciate it. We are called to have nothing to do with the silly philosophies and religions of this world and worship the true and living God. As a Christian, you SHOULD fight against sin. Avoid situations where temptation abounds and tries to pull you down into sin. Battle against your temper, your anger, your gossiping, your coveting. Strive to be in God's Word and learning it and applying it. DO all those things! But repent of thinking that such work is your own. Don't live thinking that putting off the Old Man is your work any more than putting on the New Man is something you can do. To go from Old Man to New Man is Christ's work. It is The Spirit's work in you through the Gospel which delivers the forgiveness of your Savior.
To think we can change ourselves is to think we have to get ourselves to God, that it's on us. In our sinfulness, we could never get to God. So God comes to us. He sends His Son. When Jacob slept at Bethel he saw the ladder connecting heaven and earth. In the Gospel of John, we hear Jesus say that the ladder is Him. HE is the connection between heaven and earth because He is God in the flesh and man who is true God. In Christ, heaven and earth are connected, God and Man are united. The Lord comes to us to save us from our sins. Jesus comes to take away our sins. To suffer for us. To shed His blood for us. To die for us. To rise for us. And He gives us that forgiveness and new life not in some abstract way. Your sins are actually forgiven. Your old way of life is actually crucified with Jesus.
When the Lord washes you with water and the Word and Spirit at the font, you are actually born again, born from above, a new creation. This is not some abstract theoretical religion. This is a real drowning of the Old Man and a rising up of the New Man. That's what our Baptism means. The Catechism says it very clearly; let's take a look: “It indicates that the Old Adam should, by daily contrition and repentance, be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.” That's God's work. YOU can't do that. The Lord does. And He does it through the forgiveness of sins that He gives to you in Holy Baptism. This is how the Lord changes us. This is how He throws off our Old Adam and puts on us the New Man in Christ. This is where the real and genuine change comes about. When you struggle against sin, the answer is never “try harder.” It's always, “More Jesus. More forgiveness. More living in your Baptism.” How do you do that? How do you “live in your Baptism?” You do it by daily acknowledging yours sins. Reflect on the Ten Commandments to show you where you have not loved God and your neighbor and confess those sins! Be sorry for them. Then hear again your Baptismal promise: Your sins are forgiven. It's what Jesus told the paralytic. It's the most important thing in the church: the forgiveness of sins. You see, the key to conquering your sins isn't overcoming them yourself. Then the devil just has ammunition to prove to you how bad a Christian you really are. Rather, to conquer your sins is to live in your Baptism which says that God has forgiven your sins and the devil has no power over you. To live in your Baptism is what throwing off the Old Man and putting on the New Man is all about. And you can never do that apart from the church where Christ and His forgiveness are being preached and His Body and Blood are being given for that purpose of strengthening the New Man.
Now why does the Lord do that? Why does He change you from Old to New? Why does He throw off your Old Man and put on the New Man in Christ? Not for YOUR sake! He does it so that you will be a blessing to others. Look at what St. Paul says next: “Speak the truth in love; don't let the sun do down on your anger. Don't give place to the devil. Work and labor so you have something for those in need.” Your salvation isn't for YOUR sake. It's for those around you. The Lord rescues you from your old, evil self because your husband or wife and kids and family and coworkers need you to be the New Man, otherwise their lives will be miserable. Repent of wanting a Baptism that just saves YOU! Rather, recognize that in and through Holy Baptism, the Lord is doing something in you for the good of others. The Old Man is all about you. So he dies and drowns at the font every day. The New Man in Christ is all about others. What they need. What helps them. What comforts them and puts a smile on their face. And that is the LORD'S work in you. Try it yourself and you will fail. But live in your Baptism and the forgiveness of sins, and the Lord does it in and through you.
So does being a Christian mean being changed? Absolutely it does! It means that the Old Man who wants to live like the rest of the world dies every day. Hold him under the water of your Baptism until he stops moving! And the New Man is brought forth by the Word of forgiveness. That is the Holy Spirit's work in you. What the Lord does in you He does. You don't. God comes to us. He works in us. He saves and forgives us. He turns us into something good for others. To live in the gifts that God gives is to live in true righteousness and holiness. That is to live in Christ. That is Christ living in you. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment