God's Answer To The Question:

Reformation Sunday, Oct. 28, 2007

Scripture Readings

Old Testament – Jeremiah 31:31-34 “The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them”, declares the LORD. “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time”, declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying ‘Know the LORD’, because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest”, declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

Epistle – Romans 3:21-24   But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  

Gospel – Matthew 5:43-48   (The words of Jesus) “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and send rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Sermon

It happened to me thirty-sevens times this past week and it probably happened to you almost as many times. People walked up to me and said “Hi, how are you?” How do you respond to that? Despite how we’re doing, from the world’s point of view we normally say “Fine”.    But what if there would be a way that we could respond that would remind us of the good things that God has done for us? Wouldn’t that be great? What if there was a way that we could respond that could change the other person’s life forever – eternally? What if there was a way that we could respond that would lead them into the truth of God’s Word? What if there was a way that we could respond that would change their whole life around and be faithful to what God has called us to do as His people? There is a way and that’s what we want to talk about this morning.

All this gets back to looking at life from a Biblical point of view. Each Sunday in Church, we’re engaged in looking at the events in the world and the problems and difficulties in life from a Biblical point of view. The Reformation was about looking at life from a Biblical point of view. What if there was a way that we could get people to look at life from a Biblical point of view? The Biblical point of view is simply that repentance and forgiveness of sins would be preached in Jesus’ name around the world. When Jesus rose from the dead, people were confused because he said, “I’ll tell you the plan. The plan is that repentance and forgiveness of sins needs to be preached in my Name (Luke 24:46, 47). That’s the plan. No matter what you do for a living, where you live, your social circle, or the problems you have in life, everything is geared toward getting the message of repentance and forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ Name to the world that is without Christ.

This is so important as we consider the Reformation, because that’s what the Reformation was all about – getting back to the truth of God’s Word. The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod Ablaze Program has set a goal that 100 million people would have been reached with the Good News of Jesus as Savior by 2017, the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation. We have ten years left. So how can we get the word out quickly and efficiently? How can we get the word out so that it is uplifting for us and uplifting to other people? What are the right words and how do we do this, since that’s God’s plan and that’s why He put us here.

It all gets back to answering that question you are asked all the time: “How are you?” God demands that we are perfect (Matthew 5:48). God is perfect, we are his followers, and we need to be perfect. But then there’s the problem that we “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). People will say “Well, I’m not as bad as the guy who holds up the Seven-Eleven with a shotgun! I’m not as bad a Hitler. I’m not bad at all.” The trick is not to compare our behavior with other people. Getting back to the biblical point of view,    the Bible never tell us to compare our behavior to other people, the Bible always tells us to compare our behavior to God, and God is perfect. So we have all fallen short.

If two people stood side-by-side and both jumped in an effort to touch the ceiling, one may come closer than the other, but neither would be able to jump high enough to reach the ceiling. And it’s the same thing with our behavior. You may be better than I am, but for all of us, has anyone ever reached up and touched the perfection that God requires? And, certainly all of you are better than Hitler, but still you haven’t been perfect. So we all need a Savior. People have a problem with the fact that, if at the last moment before he dies Hitler, or any notorious criminal, confesses he’s a sinner and believes in Jesus Christ, will go to Heaven. Remember, if we ask “How could God take such a notorious criminal to heaven?”, we also have to say, “How could God take me to heaven?” because we all    have fallen short.

Jesus did was we could not do; He obeyed the law for us. “For just as through the disobedience of one man, many were made sinners, so in the same manner, through the obedience of one man, people would be made righteous (Romans 5:19). There is nothing in this verse that speaks about our behavior; it is all about Christ’s behavior on our behalf. Christ obeyed the law, He was perfect in our place and He paid for our sins. Romans 3:24 tells us “We are justified, declared not guilty, freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Again, nothing in this verse about our good works. And if we read further down in Romans 3:28 “Therefore, we conclude we are saved, forgiven, justified, declared not guilty by faith, and not the works of the law.” Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us “By grace you have been saved through faith. This is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God. It is not by works, so that no one can boast for we are God’s workmanship created in advanced to do good works which God prepared for us.” But does all this mean we should never do anything good? We’re supposed to be good, we’re followers of God, and we should strive to be like Him out of thankfulness for what He did for us. We should want to do good things. Our good works follow from our faith. Good works are required but they do not get you into heaven. Only faith in the perfection of Jesus Christ will get you into heaven.

And the concept of faith is really very simple. For example: you work all week, it’s the end of the week and you are owed money, you need cold, hard cash to pay your bills. Your employer gives you an envelope but there isn’t any cash in it. The only thing that’s in the envelope is a piece of paper stating that money was deposited into your account. You need money and you accept the substitute by faith. That’s what faith is all about. We know that God requires perfection; we know we haven’t been perfect, we know we can’t pay for our sins, and we accept by faith the substitute who was perfect, Jesus Christ. Faith is very simple; we use it all the time. Using your faith, accept the perfect substitute, Jesus Christ.

How do we apply this to our lives? When someone asks you, “How are you?” why do we always just say “Fine.” Why don’t we tell them like it is? Why don’t we say “I’m perfect, perfect in the sight of God, through the blood of Jesus Christ.” Just think what an effect that would have on our lives if we could apply this. What question would you be asking yourself if you lived in Southern California and your whole neighborhood, including your house, has just been burned up? “Why did this happen, what did I do wrong, what does God have against me?” The answer to that question is “Nothing, you are perfect in the sight of God through the blood of Jesus Christ”. See what peace this can bring to your life if you understand and apply this?   You don’t have to go through life thinking “God must be punishing me for something.” How many times have we heard Christians say that? Or how many times do we think “I wish I could go back to Friday morning. Friday morning I knew God loved me and He was caring for me. But then Friday night came and I went to that party and behaved badly and did some stuff I shouldn’t have done. Now its Sunday morning and I know God doesn’t love me as much as He did on Friday!” You have to remember that on Friday morning you were perfect in the sight of God through the blood of Jesus Christ and Sunday morning you’re still perfect in the sight of God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Or maybe you know someone who has self-esteem issues. You can help somebody feel better about themselves in just one statement. Because if they’re thinking “What good am I? I’m not really smart, not really strong, not really good in sports, not good in music, not really good in art; I don’t have a lot of talent”, you can change their life around when you say, “You’re perfect in God’s sight, through the blood of Jesus Christ.’

Or maybe you’re wondering if you’re going to go to heaven. You are, because you are perfect in the sight of God through the blood of Jesus Christ. It’s only sin and imperfection that keeps us out of heaven. And if you’re perfect in the sight of God through the blood of Jesus Christ, you’re going to heaven. Or maybe you think, “If only I were better, God would be more inclined to help with those difficulties in my life; if I were better, He’d be more inclined to hear my prayers.” You are perfect in the sight of God through the blood of Jesus Christ.

This week I visited a couple in the hospital. The husband has cancer and is really sick and his wife stays by his bedside. With all the uncertainties that a devastating illness can bring, that family is under a lot of stress.    I walked into the room and I asked them how they were because I wanted to know the medical prognosis. They said the cancer had spread and it doesn’t look good.  I said that we would pray and then I said, “But you know how you really are? Both of you are absolutely perfect in the sight of God through the blood of Jesus Christ.” As they were reminded of that, I saw a sense of calm and peace come on their faces; a release came over them. They said, “Yes, thanks for the reminder.” We are perfect in God’s sight through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Thirty seven times this past week I was asked “How are you?” Thirty seven opportunities to say “Perfect, in the sight of God through the blood of Jesus Christ.” Are you going to give it a try? Try it and see what happens, you’ll spread the Good News. But we want to prepare you for what type of responses you might hear because they’ll be many and varied.    My first year here, we preached a sermon similar to this. Jim Knight picked up on this phrase and uses it a lot.  Maybe you’ve heard him say it. Jim is a UPS driver and has about 75 - 100 opportunities every day to tell people that he’s perfect in the sight of God through the blood of Jesus Christ. So Jim is going to tell us about the responses he has had over the years.

(Jim speaking) “I have to start by telling you that my answer to ‘How are you?’ comes from the three verses that we read this morning; from Jeremiah 31:34 ‘For I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more’, from Romans 3:22 ‘This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus to all who believe’, and from Matthew 5:48 ‘Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect’. These verses make up the essence of my answer to the question ‘How are you?’.

In response to my statement, people in the church will say, ‘Yeah, you’re perfect, but how are you really?’ And I say, ‘I’m perfect, it doesn’t matter what garbage is going on in my life, that’s inconsequential, because I know the gift that I have and I know my eternal future. Anything that happens to me now is part of growing in my faith; it has nothing to do with my attitude towards life. It doesn’t matter what Satan tries to throw at me because I know he’s been defeated’. Some people said to me, ‘Well, my witness just isn’t that easy’. It is that easy.    Back seven years ago when I first started saying this, about two or three times a week my route included a stop at a house where both the husband and the wife were believers. I didn’t get to see the husband too often but I saw the wife a lot and she got used to my response. Occasionally when I would see the husband we would share. But the first time I saw the husband his response to me was “One time I asked someone how they were and they said ‘I’m damn near perfect!’ And then the husband said to me ‘I know I’m not dammed and I know I’m not perfect!’ And I said ‘Well, through the blood of Jesus Christ you are perfect!’ My response helped him to understand the concept of what the Bible teaches.

Back when we finished phase one of the school I    bought floor cleaning machine for the school.   I didn’t have a truck at the time so I asked Bob and Marlene for theirs and then I asked Daryl if he would go to New York with me to get the machine. So we picked it up and were on our way back and stopped at a convenience store for some junk food.   The clerk said to me ‘Hi, how are you today?’ and I said ‘Fine’ and then I glanced over at Daryl and winked and turned back slowly toward the counter and said ‘Actually, I’m absolutely perfect in the sight of God through the blood of Jesus Christ.!’ And you never saw a guy make change so fast in your life! Until someone knows God personally, they’re going to be uncomfortable.

I have the opportunity to deliver to a Christian school with the route that I’m on now and I’m there almost every day of the week. I have a good relationship with the principal and the staff and when I come in I always tell them that I’m absolutely perfect in the sight of God through the blood of Jesus Christ. They respond in kind now and it’s so uplifting because smiles come over their faces. One day the Assistant Pastor walked into the office. He wasn’t familiar with me and asked me how I was. I said ‘I’m absolutely perfect in the sight of God through the blood of Jesus Christ. How are you?’ He said ‘Fine’ and I said, ‘Not Perfect? Then I’ll pray for you’. The next time I was in the school, he saw me drive up and made a beeline for the office just so that he could respond the way he should have responded the first time.

So the responses you get will be as varied as the people you meet. Even the people who know the Lord in their heart will be taken aback because you’ve confronted them with the Truth and they need to respond in a like manner. And over time as you develop relationships with people and keep telling them how you are and that you know your eternal future, smiles will just come over their faces. It doesn’t matter what kind of circumstances or situations they’re in, you have just brought a shard of light into their life. They can focus on the truth and not the problem.”