righteousness

03
Dec
2023

The Sun of Righteousness is Rising

An Advent Promise—and Warning


The Sun of Righteousness is Rising

by David Sellnow

In 1969, John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) wrote a song called Bad Moon Rising. “I see the bad moon arising, I see trouble on the way”—that was the opening lyric. The song had a very end-times theme. One stanza said:

I hear hurricanes a-blowin’
I know the end is comin’ soon
I fear rivers overflowin’
I hear the voice of rage and ruin.

Fogerty himself said the song is about “the apocalypse that was going to be visited upon us”—but at the same time wrote it with “a happy-sounding tune.” I thought of that song as I was reading the prophecy from Malachi. The prophet spoke of a time that is like a bad moon rising for many people, but like a glorious sunrise for others. “The sun of righteousness shall rise,” Malachi wrote (4:1), bringing healing, light, and warmth for those who revere God’s name. At the same time, it will burn the arrogant and evildoers. 

If you had a Bible in your hand and opened it to find the book of Malachi, you’d get a good idea of what new horizon he had in mind. It is the New Testament—the coming of the day of Jesus Christ. The words of Malachi chapter 4 are the last words in the Old Testament. You flip the page and you’re in the New Testament. The first New Testament book, Matthew, begins with “an account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah” (Matthew 1:1) and then explains how “the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place” (Matthew 1:18).  That’s a 400-year flip as you flip that one page. Malachi’s writing was the last prophetic word from God for at least 400 years before Jesus Christ arrived on the scene. The next prophet from God would not come until immediately before Jesus. Then, an angel announced the birth of a child to be named John. Echoing the words of Malachi, the angel said, “He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah” he would “turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:13-17). That child would become the preacher known to us as John the Baptist.

In the new day as prophesied by Malachi, and introduced by John the Baptist, “the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings” for all who revere the name of the Lord (Malachi 4:2).  “Revere” is an attempt to translate the ancient Hebrew word יָרֵא (yah-ra), for which we have no one-word equivalent in English. It is to fear the name of the Lord, to stand in awe of him, to be amazed at him, respect him, trust him, rely on him, worship him. Those who revere God, who know his saving name and his saving deeds, anticipate his arrival with hope. When the Lord enters our world, his coming is an answer to prayers, a day of salvation. He brings righteousness as a gift, forgiving our sins and supplying us with goodness. The day of the Lord is like bright and warm sunshine, bringing a fresh new morning. Think of the warmth and joy we feel when we celebrate Christmas: Jesus came to be our righteousness, to bring us peace with God. This dawning of the new, bright sunshiny day in Christ is the kind of thing that makes you go out and leap like young calves released from the stall, as Malachi described it (4:2). You jump for joy. You bask in the sunlight. Your spirit rejoices in God your Savior (cf. Luke 1:47). Sin and death and all that opposes the way of grace and faith in Christ “will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 4:3). God promises that all the evil which troubles us is overcome by the coming of the Christ. Both when Jesus came to this world the first time, and when he comes again, the triumph of life that is in him is made evident.

Having said that, it also must be said that the day of the Lord does not make everyone happy. Many do not revere God‘s name and do not welcome him. Their hopes are in themselves, not in the Lord. Some think they are perfectly healthy without God and feel no need for spiritual healing. Some have usurped religious authority for themselves and imposed rules that “lock people out of the kingdom of heaven” because they get wrapped up in legalisms and neglect “justice and mercy and faith” (Matthew 23:13,23). Those attitudes the Lord calls arrogance. There also are persons who do immoral deeds in darkness. They don’t want any sunlight exposing their shame. The things they do are things God calls evil. According to Malachi, for the arrogant and the evildoers, the shining of God‘s light is like scorching desert heat that burns. God’s announcement of a rising sun of righteousness is like a bad moon rising for them. The same righteousness of God that provides a refuge for those who trust in him is a burning scourge on those who trust their own righteousness or try to hide their own guilt. God’s blazing glory turns to dust everything that is not cleansed by forgiveness through faith. “All the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble,” Malachi warned (4:1).

So we see that the day of the Lord is a great joy for those who put their trust in the Lord by faith. It is a dreadful day for those who do not, whose hearts fight against God. We might well bear in mind that either of those descriptions may describe each of us at times. We are not always faithful. We have the same human tendencies as all human beings, wanting the opposite of what the Lord wants for us, thinking we know better than him. Malachi spoke to our consciences. “Remember the teaching of my servant Moses,” he said (Malachi 4:4). No one who keeps in mind God‘s laws to Moses can pretend they are righteous on their own or hide the fact that they sin. What does the law of Moses say? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5)  “Walk in all his ways” (Deuteronomy 10:12). “Have no other gods” (Exodus 20:3)—nothing that comes ahead of the Lord in your life.  Be holy. Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not deceive one another. Do not pervert justice. Judge your neighbor fairly. Do not go about spreading slander. Do not hate your brother in your heart. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge. Love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus, chapter 19). Just listening to those laws is painful, because we know we fall far short of godly ideals. We are not righteous. We are sinful. Malachi’s warning keeps us from getting too puffed up about ourselves.

So did the warnings of the prophet who came after Malachi, a voice like that of Elijah of old. John the Baptist was like a second Elijah, speaking for God. He declared: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 3:2). John the Baptist scolded those who were proud of themselves and their heritage, but were arrogant and lacked the humility of faith. “Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor,’” John told them. “For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham” (Luke 3:8). Being descendants of a religious forefather was not a ticket into heaven for them. Without faith in the Messiah themselves, they were destined to be cut down and thrown into the fire (Luke 3:9). That was John’s message to the arrogant and evildoers.

Strong prophetic warnings always aimed at shaking people out of their self-righteousness and sinfulness and turning their hearts back to the Lord. While the ministry of God’s prophets shouted out warnings, they also soothed with promises. Malachi told of healing sunshine, rays of hope for people who trusted in God. And John “proclaimed the good news to the people” (Luke 3:18). He pointed to Jesus and said, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). John’s ministry turned the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents, keeping individuals and families focused on faith and hope and love (cf. Malachi 4:6). The curse of the law would be removed by the Messiah, Jesus (cf. Galatians 3:13-14). The sunshine of God’s love, the gift of his goodness, have come to us in the person of Jesus Christ.

We are living in the Day of the Lord, my friends. His presence never departs from us. It is AD 2023. We refer to our years as AD: Anno Domini—in the year of the Lord. The ancients who set up our calendar declared every year from the time of Christ’s arrival to be “The year of our Lord.”  The Lord has come. The Lord will come again. Blessed be the name of the Lord, and blessed are all those who continue to put their trust in him. Let us continue to put our trust in him, and so be ready for the day he comes again.

Christmas gift idea:  Sermons on Selected Psalms, available at Amazon.com:

Sermons on Selected Psalms: Sellnow, David: 9798402872462: Amazon.com: Books

Scripture quotations, except where otherwise indicated, are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Posted by David Sellnow
20
Mar
2023

Jesus overcame temptation for us

During the season of Lent and in Holy Week, we ponder all that Jesus suffered in carrying out our salvation. There’s another emphasis to remember too. Not only was Jesus taking our curse away by his sufferings and death for us. He also had supplied a life of righteousness for us, as part of his role as our Redeemer.

This devotion focuses on Jesus’ active obedience to all that God has commanded of us.

The Lord is our Righteousness

“Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4:1).

See full account:  Matthew 4:1-11

********************

COL; (c) City of London Corporation; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation

I remember a teachers’ guide that our congregation’s Sunday School teachers had in the 1990s. This was around the same time that WWJD—”What would Jesus do?”—was becoming a popular phrase.  For the lesson on Jesus dealing with the devil in the wilderness, the guidebook focused entirely on how Jesus taught us to say no to temptations. Is that really the main lesson of what Jesus was doing when he was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil?  If the main thing about Jesus is what example he set for us, would he have needed to come into our world? 

Certainly, our struggles with temptation are a concern. We regularly pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” asking God to show us pathways away from sin. At the same time, though, we also pray, “Deliver us from evil.” You may have memorized an explanation of what that means: “We pray in this petition, in summary, that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to himself in heaven” (Martin Luther, Small Catechism). It’s not just this temptation today and that temptation tomorrow that concern us. Most of all, we pray for deliverance from temptations’ result—from evil, from the Evil One, and from the death and despair the devil wants to pull us down into. When Jesus went into the desert to meet the devil head-on, he wasn’t merely teaching us strategies to stay safe against temptation. Christ’s ultimate purpose was to rescue us from sin and the devil by overcoming those deadly forces for us, on our behalf. Jesus is not just our help in temptation, he is our salvation. Jesus battled the devil and his temptations as part of his work of redemption. He was doing for us what we could not do on our own. He was our substitute, carrying out atonement for us vicariously.  

Jesus overcame every temptation—those he endured in the wilderness after he’d fasted for forty days and all other temptations while he walked on this earth. Jesus did all that the law of God expects of us, and he did it for us. By the one man’s obedience [the obedience of Christ], the many of us are made righteous (Romans 5:19). Jesus’ holy life is given to us as our own.  As the prophet Jeremiah had foretold, “This is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness’” (Jeremiah 33:16).

At the outset of Jesus’ messianic work, after Satan’s multiple temptations, we’re told that the devil departed from Jesus “until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13). The wilderness temptations weren’t the only challenges Jesus would face. The devil would keep coming back, again and again. Jesus is not someone “who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,” but rather, he is “one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

Allow me to call to mind a few other examples of ways Jesus continued to be pressured and tested, and responded rightly to each test.

  • After Jesus spoke in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth and revealed himself as the one who came in fulfillment of the prophecies about Messiah, the people reacted with hostility and were ready to throw him off a cliff. Jesus had the power to strike them all dead for their unbelief, to rain down fire and brimstone on them. Instead, he simply “passed through the midst of them and went on his way” (Luke 4:30). 
  • During the second year of Jesus’ ministry, he began teaching quite openly to his disciples that “the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again” (Mark 8:31). Jesus’ disciples didn’t want to hear such things. Peter took Jesus aside and began to contradict him, saying, “This must never happen to you” (Matthew 16:22). But Jesus rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things” (Mark 8:31-33). Jesus was resolute in carrying out his divinely-ordained mission.
  • In the hours leading up to his crucifixion, Jesus was dragged before the high priest in Jerusalem. During the interrogation, one of the temple guards struck Jesus on the face, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?” Jesus answered calmly, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong. But if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me” (John 18:23)?

Throughout his whole life, Jesus acted with integrity. He did not retaliate against his enemies, and he would not shrink back from the work he came to do on our behalf. As Isaiah had prophesied about the Messiah, he gave his back to those who struck him. He did not hide his face from insult and spitting (Isaiah 50:6-7). He set his face like flint and carried on in the face of every temptation, in the face of agony and suffering and death.

All through his life, living in our place, Jesus lived a life of love in fulfillment of the law (cf. Romans 13:8-10). He showed compassion to the poor. He healed the sick. He strengthened the suffering. He comforted the bereaved. He did all that for us, as our rescuer, as our Redeemer. His saving work replaced anything lacking in our lives with the goodness he carried out in our place. That’s the most important thing as we think about how Jesus lived his life, how he took on every challenge and temptation, how he defeated the devil and sin.  He did all of that for us, as our Savior. 

That said, we certainly also can learn from Jesus’ life as an example for how to live our lives. We are urged in Scripture to “be imitators of God … and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:1-2). We will strive to follow Jesus’ example of loving each and every person—something we’re now able to do because of the love Jesus has given us. And we will follow Jesus’ example in facing temptation.

  • The devil approached Jesus when he was desperately hungry and urged him toward a path of instant gratification. We have learned from Jesus to be better than that, to look for more than that. We want—we need—something that lasts. We need not just a quick fix, a boost of something to make us feel better for the moment. We rely on spiritual sustenance, on “every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). 
  • The devil approached Jesus with the suggestion to throw himself off a roof, to risk life and limb and count on God to keep him safe, to send angels to keep him from harm. We have learned from Jesus not to twist God’s promises into permission slips. We don’t jump in front of a bus to test if God’s angels are with us. We don’t dive into sins saying, “It’s okay, God will forgive me anyway.” 
  • The devil approached Jesus with a temptation to power and ego. Sure, God in heaven says he is Lord over all things. But anybody observing the way things work down here can see that the devil dominates the way things go on earth. Even Jesus acknowledged the devil as “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31). “The whole world lies under the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19).  So, the devil in fact had something to offer when he “showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor” (Matthew 4:8), saying Jesus could have it all if he came over to the dark side and gave his allegiance to Satan as “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Jesus has shown us that apparent shortcuts to success that compromise godly, higher standards are paths that lead to destruction.  With Jesus, we will say,  “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him’” (Matthew 4:10).

As we live our lives day by day, certainly, let’s remember Jesus’ example. We can think, “What would Jesus do?” and strive to respond to challenging situations with resoluteness of character as Jesus has taught us. But most important of all, we will keep our eyes on Jesus as our Savior, our strength, our hope in all things. “Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. Think of what he went through; how he put up with so much hatred from sinners. So do not let yourselves become discouraged and give up.” (Hebrews 12:2,3 Good News Translation).

Temptations will keep coming at us day after day. Our Savior encourages us to walk in his ways and say no to sin. We can overcome temptations when we are connected by grace to Jesus.  But whenever we do sin, we also remember: We have Jesus as an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ, the righteous one, is the atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 2:1-2). 

Jesus is our constant hope and strength, our salvation from temptation and sin.

Scripture quotations, except where otherwise indicated, are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Posted by David Sellnow
07
Mar
2022

The Lord is our righteousness

A preface to this post:

Our hearts are with the people of Ukraine at this time, as they struggle to protect their country and many have been forced to flee their homes.  A number of years ago, I visited Ukraine to teach a course at a seminary there. I asked a contact of mine what, if anything, those of us far away could do in the present crisis.  He responded, “Thank you very much for your prayers and concern. Here is a link where you can donate to Ukrainian Army: https://uahelp.monobank.ua/.”  [If you go to the site, a donation of 1000 hryven’ at today’s current exchange rate is 33.28 in US dollars.]   Others may be inclined to show support via humanitarian agencies. The Guardian newspaper recently published links to charitable agencies working to alleviate suffering: “How Americans can help people of Ukraine.”

At the beginning of in Lent in 2009, I was privileged to preach to a group in Ternopil. I’ll share a version of that message for the first week in Lent here. Let us pray for and support one another in all the struggles and tests of faith that this life brings.

This is the name by which he will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6).

In the wilderness, tempted by Satan

What are your temptations in life?

Are you tempted to be greedy, to want more than you have?  Are you tempted to be lazy, to do less than you can do?  Or are you tempted to be a workaholic?  Do you never let yourself rest?

Are you tempted to be judgmental, to look down on other people? Are you tempted by jealousy and hostility?  Are there persons that make you so angry you want to hit them?  Maybe you don’t actually hit them, but you’ve got a hammer in your heart that pounds and pounds with hatred or envy.

Are you tempted to be lonely?  To feel isolated?  To feel sorry for yourself?  To feel like God has put you on a path that is too often too difficult and doesn’t give the rewards you want?

Are you tempted to be frustrated and afraid—about the state of affairs in the world or in your life or for your church?  Do you keep wishing earth would be more like heaven, even though you know it is not (and cannot be)?

We all know what it is to be tempted.  We are bombarded with temptations day after day.  The devil knows which ones work particularly well on each of us. We are attacked at every point where we are most vulnerable. 

You know your own temptations and sins.   You could pour out your soul in confession all day long.  You’d never run out of unpleasant thoughts and words and deeds to confess, because so very often temptation wins, godliness loses. You are at fault for this failure, that offense, those ugly behaviors, these unkind words, and countless shameful omissions of the many good things you might have done.

You are guilty, as am I.  We are like the man in Jesus’ parable, standing at a distance from God, not even daring to look up to heaven, acknowledging our failings and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13).  Think about it: the sins we’ve been mentioning are things that occur to us now, while we are Christians, while God’s Spirit is within us. Yet still we fall or slip or dive headfirst into sin so many times.  Imagine the bondage of sin we were in before the Spirit came to us. What great need of salvation there is for every one of us!

And what a Savior we have in Jesus Christ!  The first thing he did—the first, immediate task he took up after his anointing—was to expose himself to Satan’s every temptation and overcome them all.  He did that for us.  As soon as he was identified as the Christ by his baptism at the Jordan River, “the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.  He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan” (Mark 1:12-13). Jesus went head-to-head with Satan—and not merely for sport.  As God, Jesus could trounce the devil underfoot eternally, destroy him absolutely.  But the fullness of time had come, and God the Son, “born of a woman, born under law to redeem those under law” (Galatians 4:4,5), was working out our redemption under the law.  He was fulfilling all righteousness for us, carrying out every commandment in our stead as a human being. He deflected every temptation, proclaiming the word of God in the face of evil.  Thus, in Jesus, God has provided a record of human obedience to his will that is faultless, spotless—“one who in every respect has been tested, as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

What Jesus did in the desert is much more than an example for us to follow.  If Jesus only serves as an example to us, our situation would still be hopeless.  Who of us can follow Christ’s example and be perfect as he was and is?  Christ came not merely as example.  Christ is our substitute, our life, our salvation.  He did all that he did to atone for us, to provide us with holiness.

The confrontation with temptation in the desert was Jesus’ first official act as the Anointed One, the Messiah.  But it was not the only vicarious act he performed as atonement for us.  His whole life was lived as a substitute for ours.  Every time Jesus obeyed Mary and Joseph when he was a child, he was doing so in our place.  Every time Jesus performed an act of love and mercy for the sick, the sorrowful, the demon-possessed, the bereaved, he was doing perfectly all the things we never could do well enough. 

The forty days that Jesus spent in the desert at the beginning of his ministry were not the only occasion when the devil sought to distract Jesus, damage him, derail his mission.  When this round of temptation was over, the devil left Jesus—but only for a time (Luke 4:13). He would be back.  Satan would strike again and again at Jesus—just the same way that the devil strikes again and again at us.  As Jesus pursued his path as the Christ on this earth, he set his face like flint and marched on (cf. Isaiah 50:7, Luke 9:51).  He marched on all the way till they threw a rough-hewn wooden beam across his shoulders and told him to drag it out to the place of execution. There he was put to death in our place, just as he had lived in our place.

Jesus supplied a record of righteousness for us by his obedience to every moral duty, by his rejection of every sinful temptation.  And then he removed the record of shamefulness that stained us by his anguish on the cross.  He who had no sin was made to be sin for us—“the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6)—so that “in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Now, when we are tempted, we run for refuge into Jesus’ arms, the one who has already defeated the devil on our behalf, and we find strength in his strength.

Now, when we sin, we return to Jesus, in repentance, to be renewed by his righteousness, to be received by his love, to be revitalized for new life. 

Christ is our forgiveness and hope and source of life.  Through his victory, we live victoriously. Through his victory, we are given strength to overcome temptations.  Through his victory, we are assured a place beside him in eternity.

Thank God that Jesus went out into the desert to be tempted by the devil.  He did it for us, and he won that battle for us … just as he has won every other spiritual battle.  Because of him, we are blessed “in Christ with every spiritual blessing” (Ephesians 1:3).  Our trust, day after day, is in Jesus, who defeated all temptation for us.

Reading for the 1st Sunday in Lent
The Temptation of Jesus – Luke 4:1-13

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Posted by David Sellnow
22
Jan
2022

The Lord has redeemed you

Just published:  Sermons on Selected Psalms.

I gathered some of my past messages, meditating on key themes from several psalms.  From Monday, January 24 through Friday, January 28, the Kindle version of the book will be available for free download through Amazon, for reading on Kindle devices or online using the Kindle Cloud Reader app. Reviews of the book would be welcomed!  A paperback version is available (for purchase) also if preferred.

If interested, for the week of January 23-28, two other books available on Amazon are offered for 99 cents:

For a blog post this week, here is an excerpt from the book, Sermons on Selected Psalms.

Your sins are forgiven

An excerpt from sermon on Psalm 130:7-8

Israel, hope in Yahweh,
for there is loving kindness with Yahweh.
Abundant redemption is with him.
He will redeem Israel from all their sins.

People sometimes have asked me, “What if Jesus came back today, and caught me in the middle of a sin when he came? Would I go to hell?” My usual response to that is: “Tell me a day and a time when Jesus could come back and not catch you in some sort of sin.” We are constantly wrestling with sin in our souls, embedded with sin in our nature. We daily commit wrongdoings and omit good things we could be doing. Even our most noble deeds are typically tainted with aspects of selfishness. As Isaiah confessed for all of us, all our own righteousness is “like a polluted garment” (Isaiah 64:6). Remember that the word “sin” means to miss the mark, to come up short, to be fractured and imperfect.  It’s a description of the entirety of our lives. We always come up short. We’re never perfect. There is always something we’re lacking. Even if we were to sit in a chair and do absolutely nothing—trying to be motionless and clear our minds of all thoughts—we could not avoid sin that way.  Even the holiest of monks who isolated themselves in the desert struggled with sinful thoughts. And avoiding action could well be sinful in itself, when there are other persons in the world around us who need our action.

So the reality is, we cannot free ourselves from sin by our own power. We need Jesus at every moment. We need Jesus day after day. Only Jesus can complete us.  We are not perfect persons, but Jesus is the “author and perfecter of faith.” He keeps us from growing weary, “fainting in our souls” as we keep “striving against sin” (Hebrews 12:2-4).  Jesus makes us worthy of heaven. He fills in what is lacking for us. Jesus, who had no sin, was “made to be sin on our behalf, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).  In connection to Jesus, attached by faith to Jesus, we are made whole. Jesus comes to us and enters our hearts so that we are forgiven today and stay forgiven every day.

Since Jesus is with us every day, we can stop fearing the future. We tend to worry enormously about the future—which also is because of sin. If there were no sin, we wouldn’t worry about tomorrow. We’d know tomorrow would be good because all days were good. In a world without sin, there would be no worry. But sin is in our world and in us. That means tomorrow is never sure. We don’t know what mess might fall on our heads. We don’t know what messes we might make for ourselves. We don’t know what messes and misery others will inflict by their sins against us and around us. But we do know this for sure: Jesus will be there tomorrow, with us, just as he has been yesterday and today. That’s our constant, confident hope. The psalmist says, “Israel, hope in Yahweh, for there is loving-kindness with Yahweh. Abundant redemption is with him” (Psalm 130:7).  The Lord’s loving-kindness is unflinching, unfailing, rock-solid. The Lord’s redemption is abundant, abiding, all-encompassing.  God’s grace to us is something that never changes, never quits, never dies. He has redeemed us fully, completely. He bought us back from the evil of the world and the sin within ourselves. Full redemption, nothing left out—that’s what our Lord God gives to us. His love, his redemption, is an ironclad promise.

Bible quotations from the World English Bible (public domain).

Posted by David Sellnow
31
Oct
2021

Faith of our fathers

Reformation Day remembrance

October 31, 2021

Doing some closet cleaning, I rediscovered a box of my father’s sermon manuscripts. Donald C. Sellnow (1928-1999) served in ordained ministry from 1954 to 1998. When I think of my parents’ faith, I can’t help humming in my head the hymn, “Faith of our Fathers.”  Frederick W. Faber, who wrote “Faith of our Fathers” in 1849, was a Roman Catholic priest in England. His lyrics were penned to honor Catholic martyrs who endured persecution in the 16th century, when the Church of England was being established under Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. 

Faith of our fathers! Living still,
In spite of dungeon, fire, and sword:
Oh, how our hearts beat high with joy
Whene’er we hear that glorious word.
Faith of our fathers! Holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death.

My father and mother, who were rigorous Lutherans all their lives, might object to having a Roman Catholic song in mind while remembering them. But Protestants have adopted the hymn, too, and adapted it. Faber himself had a fondness for hymns by English Protestant writers such as Charles Wesley, John Newton, and William Cowper, and he applauded the Protestant project that produced the King James Version of the Bible. When we recall the faith of those who went before us, we understand that all men and women of faith have had strengths and weaknesses. We honor their godly beliefs and consider their foibles with a forgiving spirit—the same way we hope others will regard us in our own practice of faith. Constantly seeking truth is vital. Striving to impose one’s own view of religious rectitude onto others by force is never a gospel-oriented goal. 

An esteemed faith father worthy of remembrance is Martin Luther. Like other heroes of faith, Luther had his flaws. We don’t idolize him. We do give attention to the best of his hopes and thoughts and actions. October 31st commemorates the day in 1517 that Luther posted 95 theses expressing convictions about faith. These statements for debate sought to start a dialogue about what truth in Christianity means. They sparked a movement that became known as the Reformation. 

I’ll share here a condensed version of a sermon my father preached in October 1973, in observance of Reformation Festival.

*****************

We Cannot Help but Speak the Things which We have Seen and Heard

by Donald C. Sellnow


What do you associate with October 31st? For many people, October 31st is Halloween, the night for tomfoolery, tricks or treats, and other such activities. Certainly, some of these things associated with October 31st are not objectionable. They may even be good, clean fun. But they are not the main thing about October 31st, which is also Reformation Day, the day on which Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door at Wittenberg, touching off the great Reformation of the Christian church. By God’s grace, we continue to enjoy the fruits of the Reformation today. As heirs of the Reformation, we pray the Holy Spirit may lead us to a deeper understanding of and appreciation for the blessings and responsibilities we have as people of faith. On the anniversary of the Reformation, we are reminded that we cannot help but speak about the things which we have seen and heard.

Such an attitude of faith was expressed by the apostles Peter and John.  They had been jailed for proclaiming Jesus as the crucified and risen Savior in the temple courts at Jerusalem. On the next day, they were told by community leaders to shut up about this Jesus of Nazareth, or else. The leaders thought themselves the guardians of their culture; they knew that any concession to the apostles’ testimony would mean an overthrow of their entire religious system. They knew it would mean reformation, and the last thing they wanted was a reformation.

Peter and John answered the threats aimed at them with this courageous testimony: “Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19,20).  By the power of the Spirit, they had been led to trust in Jesus as their only Savior from sin and death. In his gospel they had found peace for their souls and strength for their lives. They had seen Jesus’ miracles and heard his teaching. They had looked and listened as Jesus lived and suffered and died, then rose from death and ascended to heaven. Through what they had seen and heard, the Spirit of God worked faith in their hearts to place all their trust in Jesus, to cling to him as their priceless treasure. And in such God-given faith, they were compelled from within to share Christ and his good news with others. They knew that is what their Savior wanted, and what he willed became their will and desire. They simply could not keep still. They could not deny the Savior who had redeemed them. They had to confess his truth and share his blessings with others—no matter what the cost. They let it be known by word and deed that they had been with Jesus.

As it was with the apostles, so it was also with Martin Luther.  In pre-Reformation Europe, the vast majority of the people understood little of what the Christian faith is all about. They were steeped in superstition. Shrines displayed what claimed to be wood from the cross of Christ, bits of hay and straw from Bethlehem’s manger, wine from the wedding at Cana. These are but a few examples of supposed relics that were to be adored by the faithful. Confused doctrines, like that of purgatory, were embedded in fearful hearts. The gospel of Christ frequently was obscured by man-made rules and regulations.

Martin Luther was born into such religious conditions, and he grew up as a faithful servant of the church as it was. In his earnest searching to find certainty about salvation, he looked to the high church authorities for guidance and direction. He gave up studying to become a lawyer in order to enter a monastery, hoping there to find relief for his troubled conscience. He tried to do diligently all the works prescribed by the church. He later reflected, “I kept the rule so strictly that I may say that if ever a monk got to heaven by his sheer monkery, it was I. If I had kept on any longer, I should have killed myself with vigils, prayers, reading, and other work.” But the more Luther worked, the more miserable he became and the more his sins tormented him. When one day his Augustinian mentor, John Staupitz, counseled him to love God more, Luther burst out, “I do not love God! I hate him!”

Luther found the love of the Lord he was missing through studying Scripture. Assigned to teach Bible interpretation at the University of Wittenberg, Luther was led into an intensive study of God’s Word. In God’s Word, Luther saw the pure and simple truth of the gospel, so long hidden and obfuscated, that a person is justified by faith alone in Christ without the deeds of the law. The answer to sin was to be found not in what you did to correct yourself but in what Christ has done perfectly and completely for you. The way of salvation is not in human righteousness, which falls far short of divine law’s requirements, but in the all-sufficient goodness of Christ. When Luther, by God’s grace, came to see and believe this central truth of justification by grace through faith, the Reformation was born.

Once Luther understood the truth, he could not help but speak about the things he had seen and heard in God’s Word. He could have saved himself a lot of trouble had he just pondered these things in his own heart. But he could not keep quiet. The love of Christ which had captured his heart compelled him to share the good news. As he continued to search the Scriptures and see God’s truth with increasing clarity, he kept on speaking out. When religious authorities, as well as kings and princes, told him to shut up and to retract everything he had written, Luther appealed to the Word of God as the highest authority. At a meeting of the leaders of the Holy Roman Empire in the city of Worms, Germany (1521), Luther boldly asserted: “Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen.”

Like the apostles, Luther was impelled by the power of the gospel to confess the gospel. He needed to share the blessings he had found with others. And share these blessings he did, through preaching and teaching, through tracts and writings, through hymns and catechisms, and through his translation of the Bible into the language of his people. Like the apostles, he also proclaimed what he had seen and heard in God’s Word by the life which he led—a life of humble faith, of thankful love, of joyful service. The life of Luther, like that of the apostles, bore unmistakable testimony to the fact that he, too, had been with Jesus.

As it was with the apostles, and as it was with Luther, dear friends, may it be so also with us. As in the apostles’ day, as in Luther’s day, truth is clouded and obscured for the many in our day. Many do not honor God or give thanks to God (Romans 1:21). “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart” (Ephesians 4:17). By the grace of God—and by his grace alone—the gospel of Christ has been revealed to us. We have seen the truth that sets us free—free in our consciences in the present time and free to live for all eternity. When the veil of spiritual ignorance is removed, we are guided by the Spirit. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17), a freedom that invigorates us to serve God in thankful love and seek to bring the same freedom to the souls of others.

God has given us the freeing truths of his gospel not just to be heard in our own hearts, but also to share. We don’t keep the gospel’s joy to ourselves but give good news also to others, so that their joy and ours may be full. Filled with the joy of Christ, we will talk about the Savior. We will demonstrate by our words and actions that we have been with Jesus. We will support Christian education in our congregations and study the Word diligently in our own homes. We will give toward the work of missions that strive to spread hope and truth in other communities and around the world. In the same spirit as the apostles and the spirit of the Reformation, we will not be timid or silent. Indeed, “we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).  God help us all to hold fast to his truth and share it richly with others, no matter what the cost. Amen.


Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Posted by David Sellnow
01
Nov
2020

Thoughts for All Saints’ Day

All Hallows’ Eve (a.k.a. Halloween) is the day that still gets attention on everyone’s cultural calendar. In the church’s history, All Hallows’ Day, that is, All Saints’ Day, was the more important festival.  All Saints’ Day (November 1) is meant to commemorate all of God’s people who have gone on to be with him in glory. It is also a recognition of our connection as Christ’s people on earth to the hosts of heaven.  This installment of The Electric Gospel focuses on our identity as saints of God in Christ.


Me, a Saint?

You may not think of yourself as a saint … but think again. The definition of sainthood is often drawn too narrowly. Sainthood is not a merit badge earned by a select few who’ve lived flawless lives. If that were the definition, no one would meet the test. The Bible itself says so:

The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind
to see if there are any who are wise,
who seek after God.
They have all gone astray …
there is no one who does good,
no, not one.   (Psalm 14:2-3)

Look further at Scripture, and you’ll see that those who are called “saints” encompass many souls. Consider the way the epistles address the members of churches:

  • “To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints … ” (Romans 1:7).
  • “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints …” (1 Corinthians 1:2).
  • “To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus …” (Ephesians 1;1).
  • “To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi …” (Philippians 1:1).
  • “To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae …” (Colossians 1:2).

You get the picture. There are not just a handful of holy people or “saints.” All who are in Christ Jesus are in the saintly category. “We have been sanctified [made holy] through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).

Martin Luther had much to say on this subject. For instance:

  • We should not deny or doubt that we are holy. It would be well to impress this deeply on people and to accustom them not to be shocked at it or hesitate to accept it. For when Christians call themselves holy after Christ, this is not arrogance; it is honoring and praising God. For thereby we do not praise the foul-smelling holiness of our own works, but his baptism, Word, grace, and Spirit, which we do not have of ourselves. He gave them to us.


As we get used to the idea that God looks at us as holy people because of Jesus, we may ask ourselves, “If Christ saved me from sin, why can’t I stop sinning?” The fact remains that we are people who have endless shortcomings. We “ fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We sin. But sin’s result (death) is no longer our final destiny, thanks to Christ (cf. Romans 6:23, 1 Corinthians 15:54-57). Sin’s stain is cleansed from us through Christ (1 John 1:7). And sin’s power over us is no longer a stranglehold because Christ now empowers us.  “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation …  everything has become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Martin Luther frequently spoke of the fact that we are simultaneously sinners and saints — made righteous through Christ but still struggling with the reality of sin. More thoughts from Luther:

  • Sin remains in the believer for the exercise of grace and the humbling of pride. For whoever is not busily at work driving out sin surely sins by this very neglect. For we are called to labor against our sinful desires. By God’s mercy, he does not charge the penalty of sin against those who know the grace of God and who by grace struggle with their failings. Therefore whoever repents of sin should not think he is laying down his burdens to live a life of ease. Each confession of sin enlists us as soldiers of God to battle against the devil and the sin within us.


So, my fellow saints, let us celebrate All Saints’ Day. We honor and remember all the saints who have gone before us, called by Christ to join him in glory. And we strive as saints here on earth — called to be holy through Christ — to live lives worthy of the calling we have received in his name (Ephesians 4:1).

This is how we would describe our path as saints on earth who are heading toward heaven:  “Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.… Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-14).

—–

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Quotations from Martin Luther taken from What Luther Says, Concordia Publishing House (1959), volume III.

Posted by David Sellnow
24
Dec
2019

Don’t go fishing with the devil

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on February 17, 2016.

Don’t go fishing with the devil

by Sarah Allerding

The devil likes fishing. He likes to take us fishing for our past sins. When he catches them, he holds up the fishing line and dangles our sins in our faces. He says, “Look what you did all those years ago. Remember doing that? That was bad, you sinned against God. You don’t deserve forgiveness. You are not good enough. You can’t be forgiven. You are a bad person.” The devil likes to put doubts in our minds. He wants us to despair about our sins. He wants us to think we can’t be forgiven.

If we were left to ourselves, the devil would be right. We would be in a completely hopeless state — on the way to hell. That is not where it all ends, although that is what the devil wishes. Jesus took every one of your sins on himself and suffered the punishment for them in your place. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). Jesus paid the price in full for our sins. When our Savior died on the cross, our sins were forgiven. When he rose from the dead, our sins remained buried. God no longer looks at our sins. He has put them far away from us. “You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19).  Picture God hurling your sins into the sea, never to be seen again. The deepest part of the ocean is over six miles deep. That is very far away. God has given us a great picture to show us that he has forgiven our sins and will no longer hold them against us.  Instead of drowning in our guilt, our guilt has been drowned.   Because of what Jesus did for us, he doesn’t see sin when he looks at us. He sees our Lord’s perfect righteousness.      

Next time the devil wants you to go fishing for your forgiven sins, tell him no. Tell him that your Savior died to pay for those sins. Tell him that Jesus rose victorious over sin — your sin. Your sins have been forgiven. For this reason, the devil has no right to torment you with them anymore. You are at peace with God.

******************

Dear Jesus, thank you for dying to take my sins away. Thank you for rising victorious over sin, death, and the devil. Next time the devil wants to take me fishing for my past sins, please remind me that they have been forgiven.  They are farther away from me than the deepest part of the sea.  I no longer need to let them bother me because you have forgotten them. In your name I pray.  Amen. 

Posted by Electric Gospel
24
Dec
2019

God Puts an End to our Pride

Friday, May 16, 2014

Originally published on the Electric Gospel on May 16, 2014.

God brought Deyi Shi from atheism to Christian faith. This message was something he wrote as a chapel devotion at a Christian college. 

Served by Jesus, we are servants

by Deyi Shi

Five years ago, I was baptized. I never thought myself to be the religious kind until God reached out to me. Prior to my rebirth, my whole life revolved around myself. The sole motivation of my life was my pride and the desire to be better than everyone else. It was a miracle that God grabbed me with his hands and plucked me away from the devil I had inside. When I was lost, hopeless and afflicted by the spiritual emptiness, God showed me the way through his word. He chose me, a guy who once thought he was his own god, to be his servant.

To this day, pride is still a big problem for me. Just a few weeks ago, when studying the 1st Commandment in a Bible class, I was asked, “What are some things that you worship other than God?” My immediately thought was myself. When I look into a mirror, I see myself as the center of the world. Although I am no longer the completely godless person I once was, I am still a sinner. I still put myself before others and even before God. I still often forget what the word “humble” means when I say and do things. I still think my way is better than other people’s ways.

How many times have you thought to yourself that you are way better than that guy? It is a great temptation for us, Christians, to feel superior to those who don’t believe what we believe. We are proud of ourselves because God has declared us his saints. We pat ourselves on our back for going to church and doing such and such in God’s name. We treat God’s gift to us as our trophy, as something that makes us better than others.

However, as we immerse ourselves in our pride, we overlook what Jesus’ taught us. We read (John 13:1-17) that Jesus, as the almighty Son of God, washed the feet of his servants. At the time, people wore sandals without socks. The road was dirty and rough, and probably with animal feces lying around. The job of washing others’ feet was done by the servant of the lowest level. Yet, Jesus, the King of kings, humbled himself and became a lowly servant of all. If there is anyone who can be boastful and full of pride, it is Jesus. As the Son of God, he deserves all the glory in this universe. Yet, he chose to serve not to be served. His servitude reflects his infinite love for all – his love for Judas who betrayed him, for the disciples who abandoned him, and for Peter who denied him.  Peter did not understand why Jesus, the Son of God, had to do something this lowly. He tried to refuse Jesus’ offer. But he did not know that Jesus would do something a hundred times more humiliating the next day, to die on the cross as a criminal. Peter wanted Jesus to be glorious and majestic. He thought he knew better than Jesus. Jesus replied to him, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” Instead of condemning Peter, Jesus invited him to be part of him. He showed him his great love for all not only by words but deeds. He loved all and was willing to be the servant of all and to die in their place on the cross.

Jesus’ life, death and resurrection supplied us the righteousness we lack. He answers our pride with his humility and love. And we, in faith, respond in love and humility. When we boast and take pride in ourselves, we think about Jesus taking off his garment, humbling himself, and washing his disciples’ feet with gentleness and respect. Now I’m not telling you to go wash other people’s feet like Jesus did, but have the servant attitude of Jesus. Next time when you think that you are better than that guy, you remember that Jesus loves him as much as he loves you. Do not despise others for who they are, but show them that Jesus’ love is in you, so that they may know how much Jesus loves them. This is what it means to be part of God’s great love. It is his love that motivates us. It is his love that he covers our sin with his own blood.

Posted by Electric Gospel