|
Text: Deut
26:1-11, Romans 10:8-13, Luke 4:1-13
X Invocavit (1st Sunday in Lent) Speak
Up In the name of him who faced
privation and temptation for us, dear friends in Christ: Last week we celebrated the Transfiguration
of Jesus; and in the course of the sermon message, I made the case that forward
progress in the Christian life is attained by doing little more than what each
one of us does as part of our every morning routine: namely waking up, washing up, and dressing up
– the only difference is that we need to do these things in a spiritual sense. And to expand on that a bit, I explained it
like this: because of our fallen
condition it’s as if we are spiritually asleep and dreaming most of the
time. Our focus is on the tangible and
concrete. We are preoccupied in this
life with attaining for ourselves the trappings of earthly glory like
happiness, health, prosperity, and worldly honor. Even our religious aspirations are geared
toward achieving such goals. So we try
to do what’s right, and most of the time we imagine ourselves to be basically
good people with whom God ought to be pleased.
And since he ought to be pleased, we think that it’s only right that he
reward us in this life with all those things we seek. Sure, we’re also interested in the next life
– but that’s just too far removed to really be concerned about. Besides, we figure if we’re worth rewarding
now, then we don’t have anything to worry about later. The trouble is that this distorted dreamland in which we
live has no basis in ultimate reality.
The truth is that this world and everything in it is passing away. The vast majority of what we value so much
now will one day vanish in smoke. And
when we awake to the dawn of the eternal day, we’re going to see things quite a
bit differently. All human works,
however good they may have seemed to be, will be revealed as corrupt and
shameful. The only thing counted good and right to come out of this world will be the life of
the Lord Jesus. The only glorious
triumph will be his suffering, his death on a cross, and his resurrection. And only those who trusted in him and his
work to save sinners will inherit the everlasting kingdom. That will be all that matters. And because that’s true, growing now as disciples of Jesus involves
progressively leaving behind our dreamlike self-deceptions that have to do with
our own goodness and attaining the fleeting glory of this world, and waking up
to the truth and seeing the far greater glory that is ours in Christ. And seeing it – and our sinful shame by
contrast – it motivates us to confess our sins and be cleansed more and more by
the washing of his forgiveness. And by being
cleansed in this way, we dress up in the brilliant white robe of his
righteousness. Trusting in him and in
his death for our sins we put on ourselves his glory which was briefly shown to
the disciples on the mountain. So this idea of continuously waking up, washing up, and
dressing up is a pretty good overall summary of what it means to be a follower
of Jesus Christ; but in light of today’s three readings from Scripture, I see
now that it’s missing a very important element.
Yes, every day we are to wake up to more of our Lord’s truth, wash
up in his blood-bought forgiveness, and dress up in his
righteousness; but while doing these things it’s crucial also that we speak
up. We need to open our mouths and
declare God’s truth. And to understand
why, we need to recognize that there is a war going on. It’s the war between good and evil. It’s the war between the holy God and all who
oppose him. It’s the war for the souls
of men. So the stakes are infinitely
high. And though we know for certain that
it is the Lord who will triumph in the end, what we don’t know at this point is
who will be standing with him in the final victory. Many—no, according to Scripture, most will not make it. The victorious will be only those who fought
the good fight of faith, who engaged the enemy in battle, and who remained
faithful in Christ until death. The
victory will not belong to those who consistently fled from the fight, or who made
compromises with the enemy – or who for the sake of earthly pleasures sold
themselves over to him completely. It’s
like we used to sing in the old hymn: “Who
bears not the battle’s strain, the crown of life shall not obtain.” This being the case, the question is: How does one engage in the battle? The answer is with your mouth. You know, we often discount people who said
to be “all talk and no action”, and there’s a sense it which being that way is
wrong. But the fact of the matter is
that with respect to our eternal salvation we don’t have any actions. It’s all been done for us by Christ our Lord. This is what we believe for this is what God
has said. We believe in justification by
grace through faith alone without any works of the law. So there’s nothing for us to do – except to
confess the faith through which we are saved. This, in part, is what Paul has in
mind when he says in today’s Epistle lesson “With the heart you believe and are
justified, and with the mouth you confess and are saved”. We normally think of faith as merely a matter
of the heart. It’s something that’s deep
down inside us. And while it’s true that
that’s where the roots of faith are, it’s equally true that the primary fruit
or flower of faith is what comes out of the mouth. Or say it this way: just as faith without works is dead, a faith
that cannot be articulated or that does not give rise to its verbal expression is
also post mortem. The reason for this is
that the bitter cosmic struggle in which we are engaged against all the forces
of hell is, when all is said and done, nothing more than a war of words. And no, I’m not being flip: it’s
all about words. The only weapons we
have in the fight are the Word and Spirit of God. Even God himself only fights this war only with
words: it’s what he says on one side,
and what those who deny his words say on the other. On God’s side you have Christ who is the truth
and on the other side you have Satan who is the father of lies. The question is whose words are you going to
believe and trust in? Whose words are
coming out of your mouth? The victors
are those who are fighting the war by confessing the Lord Jesus Christ and his
truth. It’s no coincidence that this Sunday
is named “Invocavit”. It’s Latin for “He
will call”. It’s from the traditional
introit for this Sunday, in which the Lord says through the psalmist, “He will
call, and I will answer him.” The idea is
that the Lord promises to come to the aid of those who speak up to call upon him for help.
The point I want you to see is that calling on the Lord is a form of
confessing the faith. When you call out
to God for rescue you are saying, “I can’t do it. I need you to save me. I’m turning to you because I know you can and
will.” This is what the saving Christian
faith is all about: calling upon God to
save from sin through Christ our Lord because we recognize that cannot save
ourselves. And as Paul says, “Whoever
calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” In our Lenten devotions this year we
are talking about prayer – which is simply another way the Christian has to
engage in the fight. It too is a form of
confessing the faith. When you pray
you’re saying, “Lord, I’m asking you for … whatever it is”; but the very
act of praying takes faith. It declares,
“Lord, I know you can hear me and that you can answer me.” So prayer is in and of itself a way to speak
up and carry on the fight in this war of words. And there are other ways in which we
are to speak up. In today’s Old Testament
lesson the Lord gives specific instructions to his people about what he wants
them to do once they occupy the land he promised to give them. He tells them, “after you’re all settled in
and enjoying the blessings I’ve given you in this new land, I want you to go to
the Tabernacle with a basket full of the firstfruits of your harvest. And here are the specific words I want you to
repeat: say, ‘My father was a wandering Aramean … and so on’.”
And what follows is a summary retelling of God’s mighty works of
salvation for his people. He wanted them
to say aloud all that had happened – all that God had done for them. And I
know I’ve mentioned before how in the Passover meal that the Lord commanded his
people to eat in order to annually celebrate and remember their rescue from
bondage in And this is why much of our worship
together involves reciting the content of what we believe. For example, together we often recite the Creeds
in which we tell again that God created us; that he sent his Son into the flesh
to save us; that he, the Son of God, was crucified, died, and was buried; and
on the third day rose again – all for us; and we confess our faith in the
person and work of the Holy Spirit. We
do this both to declare our faith and to reinforce it. Our Lutheran hymnody works the same way. It’s rarely the theologically light and
fluffy emotional stuff heard so often elsewhere. No, our hymns are for the most part biblical
texts and meditations set to music; they are accounts of what God has done for
us. And even our confession of sins is a
form of speaking up and declaring what God has done. That is, we don’t just say, “God forgive me”
but “forgive me for the sake of the innocent suffering and death of your
beloved Son.” So even in our asking for
forgiveness, we’re declaring the means by which it was already
accomplished. So we speak up to build
ourselves up in the faith. And we have yet another reason to
speak up as followers of Jesus; and that is to refute the lies and distortions
of the enemy. That’s what we see going
on in today’s Gospel lesson. Jesus,
weakened by forty days of fasting in the wilderness, is being tempted by
Satan. The devil tries various tricks
and angles with which he hopes to divert Jesus from his messianic mission and
lead him astray, all to no avail. Every time
Satan speaks, Jesus responds with, “That’s what you say. Now listen to what God says. It is written …” The point is that Jesus consistently
resists and defeats temptation by speaking up with God’s truth, and we can do
the same. I mean, it’s awfully hard to
give in to a temptation when you look it square in the eye and say, “God says,
‘Thou shalt not’” or, “No, this is wrong.
I’m certain that the Lord would not be pleased if I were to do this.” But there’s more at stake in
speaking up to refute the lies of Satan than just overcoming personal
temptations to sin. You’ve heard the
expression that all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do
nothing. That’s true. But similarly, all that is necessary for
Satan’s lies to gain the upper hand and deceive many is for those who know the
truth to remain silent. So also for the
sake of others we must speak up. When
confronted by false teaching, by distortions of Scripture, or by people bending
and twisting God’s Word to suit themselves we must say, “No, that’s wrong;
here’s what the truth is …” Love of
Christ, his truth, and our fellow man demands that we do. How can they come to a
knowledge of the truth and be saved if we don’t? And no, it isn’t always an easy thing to
do. But it’s war. It’s a war of words. And to fight it we must speak up. And as we do, we know that there is One who speaks up for us.
Seated at his Father’s right hand in glory, Jesus our Lord intercedes on
our behalf. He’s asking his Father to
keep us by his grace and power, to give us his Spirit and his Word, to forgive
our sins for his sake, and to ultimately bring us to glory with him. And because he does speak up for us we know
that there is nothing that Satan can do to harm us in any lasting way. That’s what gives us the courage and strength
to carry on in the face of adversity and temptation, and to fight the good
fight of faith by speaking up for the Lord who redeemed us by his blood. May God grant it to us for his sake. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Soli Deo Gloria! |
