Midweek Lenten Sermon 13 April 2011

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: 1 John 1:7
Theme: Cleansed With Blood

Dear friends in Christ Jesus,

Forgiveness is not easy. Oh yes, if we decide there is little at stake for us, then forgiveness is easy. If we’re not really hurt or damaged or inflicted with personal pain the duty to forgive someone can be a comfortable process. But in these cases forgiveness isn’t nearly so essential or restorative. The presupposition of seeking and granting forgiveness is the fact that a wrong has been committed and recognized and restoration is needed. Something has caused separation and reconciliation is required. Fear has been induced and trust needs to be regained. Then the work begins.

Tonight’s image is about blood and the source of forgiveness. Blood is the divine currency of our redemption. It speaks to the supremacy of forgiveness. Do we casually assume that it is easy for God to forgive? Do we think that because He is God it is a trivial and simple matter? Dear friends, procuring divine forgiveness was an excruciatingly arduous task. How exactly that is is unknowable to us. But this we do know: Jesus Christ hung upon the cross and cried “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”1 “[God] did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all.”2 “The blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.”3

Many question the need for such a strong emphasis on forgiveness. Did the people of biblical times have a pre-occupation with sin? Did they worry too much about spiritual matters? To others the historical chasm seems too great to overcome. Time and distance are thought to be barriers too large to get past. Jesus was then. We are now. Creation is past. Creatures are present. The ancients were darkened. We are enlightened. Such thinking governs the contemporary, scientific, and rational collective intellect. The prehistoric past is dismissed as the age of superstition. The present lauded as the age of reason. They had fear and fantasy. We have self-reliance and evidence.

That’s a fine illusion until you stand at the threshold of death. Call then upon your science, your humanism, and philosophy. Barter your good deeds and your selfless intentions with the consuming darkness. Convince yourself that sin and forgiveness don’t matter. Suddenly the bedrock of human certainty and accomplishment crumbles away like a child’s sand castle washed over by a gentle wave. All the components of our exalted system of human genius are pulled apart like tiny particles of sand absorbed into a vast ocean of uncertainty. Who can speak about the powers of death except Him who has conquered it? In the lower left of this painting the risen Christ is treading on death and Satan. No one else could do it. In this victory the believer participates by faith.

The gospel is always contemporary. It puts us in contact with the living Christ. Time and distance are not barriers to the Holy Spirit. If Christ lives and He is immortal than of what concern is time and space? His promise is as effective for you now as it was for the saints in the past. In this picture the artist stands under the shower of Christ’s blood. It is a unique and powerful image. The Scripture says, “This is the one who came by water and blood- Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.”4 He came that you might be cleansed from your deepest, darkest deeds.

There was a pastor named Timothy Brown who never got along well with his congregation. But they all turned out for his very last service and hope of reconciliation was in the air. In his last sermon, he quoted from John 14, "In my Father's house are many rooms…I go there to prepare a place for you." That ended the sermon and the service. It seemed to be a gracious conclusion to His ministry, an olive branch. It was not until several days later that the congregation learned that Pastor Brown had left to be the pastor at the state penitentiary. "In my Father's house are many rooms…I go to prepare a place for you."

Forgiveness is not easy. Our sinful natures always want reconciliation on their own terms just as a selfish faith wants to have the blessings of the inheritance without having a living relationship with God. This, of course, is really no faith at all. You can’t simply show up at the reading of the will. You can’t you have the blessings of marriage without having a spouse. You can’t appreciate parenthood without having a child. You can’t be snatched from the gates of hell without being transported to God’s presence in heaven.

Childish ideas about eternity must go. Jesus is not the chief tour guide of a celestial entertainment mecca. He is not there to provide the fulfillment of every indulgent request- such ideas won’t even cross our minds then. He Himself and the entire company of heaven are the all-sufficient activity of the next life. We will be more than contentedly occupied just to be in the presence of the Holy Trinity. Christ IS the enjoyment of eternal life!

We must believe that now by faith. Take Him at His word. The blood of the cross accomplished the cleansing of your soul. The guilt of your sins was buried at your baptism. Return there in humility and trust. The Holy Spirit will greet you. Bend not just your knee but your heart at His altar. There He will feed you with His own divine life. Yes, your body still needs to pass through the portal of death. But your soul goes unhindered to Him who is the resurrection and the life. Amen.

1 Psalm 22:1
2 Romans 8:32
3 1 John 1:7
4 1 John 5:6



+ in nomine Jesu +

Midweek Lenten Service 13 April 2011
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt