sanctification

Apr

2024

The power of Jesus’ resurrection

Easter this year was March 31st … but the Easter season continues into the month of May. And the impact of Christ’s resurrection continues every day, in every season. This message contemplates Christ’s resurrection power in our everyday lives.

We are not zombies. We are alive with Jesus.

You likely are familiar with the miracle when Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave. Lazarus, a dear friend of Jesus, had been ill and died. When Jesus arrived, Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. Jesus asked that the stone sealing the tomb be taken away. Then he called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” Then do you recall what happened? Was it like this?

Lazarus stood up and came out of his grave. He smelled of death, and moved stiffly from rigor mortis. When they took off the grave clothes he’d been wrapped in, they saw that his body had started to bloat, and bloody foam was oozing from his nose and mouth. …

I’ll stop with descriptions of how a human body decomposes after death. You know that is not how it went when Jesus raised Lazarus. Jesus had said, “I am the resurrection and the life.Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:23,25,26). Jesus did not promise some meager reanimation of dead bodies, a zombie sort of life. With Lazarus and others that Jesus raised from death, he brought them back full and whole. He returned them to their families as living, breathing, loving human beings. Jesus came so we “may have life, and have it to the full,” a “rich and satisfying life,” that we enjoy life “abundantly” (John 10:10 NIV, NLT, NRSV). We are not meant to be walking zombies.

The apostle John said, “Beloved, we are God’s children now” (1 John 3:2), reminding us that no one who abides in Christ continues in sin, that we pursue what is right and righteous because Christ is righteous (1 John 1:7). John went on to say, “We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death” (1 John 3:14).

John’s words cause us to examine our lives. Are we sometimes like spiritual zombies, rather than the truly raised-to-life people that we are in Christ? A zombie is a dead person that goes through the motions of life but isn’t really alive. Does that description ever fit us? Let’s think about what dead bodies do, and apply that to the life of our souls.

Dead bodies stink with a foul odor. People turn away because the smell is offensive. What would a dead soul be like? A person who gives off a foul odor emotionally, spiritually. Someone who is hard to be around. You repel people by your irritability or harshness or selfishness. Are you ever like that? Aren’t we all often like that?
Dead bodies rot and decompose. They decay. What would a dead soul be like? A person whose behavior goes from bad to worse. Someone whose bad habits grow like pus and fungus. You don’t get stronger or healthier day by day, but just the opposite—your spiritual life degrades abd gets deader. Are you ever like that? Aren’t we all often like that?
Think of the flesh-eating zombies of the movies or the fungus-infected bodies in The Last of Us video game or TV series. What do they do? They attack. They devour. They have no motive other than their own insatiable appetite. What would a zombie soul be like? Someone who lashes out mindlessly at others. Someone who tears down anyone who stands in their way. You don’t care about anything or anyone, only about what you want. Are you ever like that? Aren’t we all often like that?
Zombies, as portrayed in popular fiction, have no emotion. No feeling. No thoughts.They don’t communicate with you. You are nothing to them. What would a zombie soul be like? A person who is dead to the feelings of others. Someone who has no real relationship to those around them, who exists only for themselves. You don’t love. You don’t care. You just trudge from one moment to the next in your own mindless existence. Are you ever like that? Aren’t we all often like that?
Or think of a dead body, a corpse. What does a dead body do? It doesn’t move. It doesn’t walk, doesn’t run, doesn’t dance. It is lifeless. What would a dead soul be like? Lifeless. Cold. Callous. Inactive. You just stare at life with blank, empty eyes. You don’t move a muscle when there is spiritual work to be done in the world. Are you ever like that? Aren’t we all often like that?

We celebrated Easter a few weeks ago—the glorious good news of Jesus’ resurrection from death. We know that Jesus’ resurrection means our own resurrection one day, our bodies restored from the grave to live forever with the Lord. At our resurrection on the last day, Jesus won’t be unearthing us as the walking dead, as some sort of reanimated corpses. We will be completely alive, renewed, transformed. Death will be swallowed up in victory (1 Corinthians 15:54). Jesus resurrects his people to full, complete, unlimited life—life that will go on eternally.

And—this is important, my friends—the life which we receive from Jesus we have received already now. We have already been brought back from death to life. There is a resurrection that has already happened in you, a reviving of your soul with the life of God. Think of how that resurrection affects your day-to-day life. We are not zombies. We are alive with Jesus.

Think of the difference in the apostles who first witnessed Jesus’ resurrection. They had been cowering behind locked doors in fear. Then, emboldened by seeing Christ alive, they went out into the center of Jerusalem and announced, “You killed the one who leads people to life. But God raised him from death, and all of us can tell you what he has done” (Acts 3:15 CEV). Following his resurrection, Jesus told his disciples (and tells us today) that “repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations” (Luke 24:47), that we are his witnesses in the world. Our witness to Christ is shown by the life and liveliness, the love and committedness that we show in our lives as Christian people.

Now, admittedly, we struggle with this. Christ knows that we struggle. As he once told his disciples, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). Christ’s apostles knew that we struggle. The apostle Paul described the struggle from a personal perspective. He had written: “How can we who died to sin go on living in it? … We have been buried with Christ by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:2-4). And then, in the same letter, Paul also admitted: ““I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. … it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. … I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members” (Romans 7:15-23).

Our struggle with sin is like going through life with a “body of death” inside us, lingering there (Romans 7:24). We have been raised to new life by Christ our Savior, yet we backslide again and again into habits of sin and ick and decay. We have the power of new life from Jesus rushing through our spirits, by his Spirit … but we still struggle with being cold in our hearts, unthinking in our actions.

We have the rot, the fungus of sin living in us, yes. But Christ is stronger than sin. Christ is the remedy to sin. Christ will one day lift us above and out of all our sin into the heavenly holiness that awaits us. Even now, he cleanses us from our sins. He is life. He empowers us against the sin and selfishness within ourselves. As the apostle Paul said elsewhere, “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17)!

What I said before about how zombies and corpses function is false as applied to us now, in our resurrected spiritual lives.

We are new, we are alive, we are refreshed and full of life in Christ.
We exude a pleasant spiritual aroma, making others want to be around us because they can sense the breath of God’s Spirit in our attitudes and words.
We grow more and more alive as the love of Christ grows in us, invigorates us, and motivates us.
Just the opposite of mindless and soulless, our lives in Christ now are mindful of the persons around us, reaching out in relationship, seeking to connect with others’ hearts and souls through the message of Christ. We exist more for the sake of others than for our own appetites.
Not dead but alive, we walk, we run, we dance through life in joy in the Lord. We are active, energetic, lively for the Lord’s work and for serving one another.

That’s how living people live—and that’s who we now are. We are the living people of God, alive by the power of Christ’s resurrection. True, the new life we live is never easy. As long as we are on this earth, we still carry something of that old zombie self inside of us. We still will lapse into the stench and rot that characterizes us as sinners. But we have hope. We can have confidence. We renew our strength daily, because we have an answer. When Paul pondered the struggle within his own life and said, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24 NIV), he immediately answered his own question: “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:25 NIV)!

We are not doomed to live as zombies. “God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. … If we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:9,12). We need not succumb to sin as our master any longer (cf. Romans 6:13). We live now under God’s grace. God’s grace be with you, as you go out daily as witnesses to the living Christ and live life in his name.

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.

Additional versions used:

Contemporary English Version, copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society
New International Version, copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.
New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.

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).

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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.

Dec

2019

What the Spirit produces in us

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on October 3, 2014.

This post is a creed of sorts, a personal confession. Rachel Nitz offers thoughts in creedal style concerning what the Spirit of God brings about in our hearts and lives.

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Fruits of the Spirit

by Rachel Nitz

From the moment we received faith from the Holy Spirit through God’s Word,
he began working a transformation in our corrupt hearts.
We have been set free
and by the Spirit we receive these graces to serve one another:
Love, first for God and in turn for every person on this earth,
following the example of Christ’s perfect, selfless love for us;
Joy overflowing in our daily lives, through both happiness and hardship,
that those who observe us will see the impact of Christ’s sacrifice for us;
Peace based on the knowledge that nothing can separate us from God’s love
and that all earthly trials serve God’s good purpose;
Patience with the sinful natures of ourselves and others
not out of tolerance, but out of a desire that they, too, be transformed;
Kindness displayed through words and, more importantly,
our actions toward all people, including those who hate us;
Goodness to overcome evil in this sinful world,
and stemming from the ultimate good, who is our God;
Faithfulness to the words of the Bible and commands of our Lord,
strengthened by prayer and frequent study of the Word;
Gentleness, not giving in to selfish anger or violence,
but consciously submitting to the will of our Father;
And self-control, rejecting the sinful nature and all its desires
by living in a way that is unnatural to us
because we are looking forward to a greater hope:
becoming like Christ by the power of the Spirit.

Dec

2019

The Body of Christ

Originally published on the Electric Gospel on August 15, 2014.

During the summer of 2014, The Electric Gospel featured items written by participants in a summer writing workshop which I led. This post finished that particular series. Tracy Siegler urges us to be more open and genuine with one another in our Christian relationships.

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Body-Building

by Tracy Siegler

It is Sunday morning. In church entryways and fellowship halls around the world, Christians are greeting one another.

“Good morning!”

“Good morning! How are you?”

“Fine, how are you?”

“I’m good.”

“Do you think that storm they’re talking about is going to hit us?”

“I hope not, we have a picnic to go to this afternoon.”

That’s a pretty typical exchange. How often do the conversations in your church entryway stay at that level? Do you ever see people hugging in your fellowship hall? What about tears? Is there much exuberant laughter in the lobby of your church? Do people have a look of earnestness in their eyes as they speak to their brothers and sisters in the Lord?

Our Lord tells us, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” (1 Cor 12:27) We are the body of Christ? That sounds a little strange at first, but it’s actually quite a beautiful analogy God uses in his Word to describe how his believers on earth are connected to Jesus and to one another. Christ is described as the head, and we the members are each a unique and essential part of his figurative body. “From [Christ] the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” (Eph 4:16) What a wonderful picture! There is support. There is love. There is work. There is connectedness. All of it is from Christ, our head.

It gets even better! The head of our body doesn’t just direct and connect. He also sacrificed. “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” (Eph 5:25-27) Christ really did that for us – even if that’s not the immediate impression we get when we look around in the fellowship area. We are full of stains of sin and wrinkles of worry and blemishes of bad decisions. But by his amazing grace, even as we continue to struggle with sin and worry and bad decisions, we are radiant, holy, and blameless in Jesus! He makes each one of us a perfect, unique, essential part of his body. With that in mind, our conversations can get a little deeper and more personal. We might make ourselves a little more vulnerable. We might get a little more invested.

“Good morning!”

“Good morning, how are you?”

“I’m good – just tired.”

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine – it’s just that yesterday the kids were bickering and fighting all day long. By the time they were finally in bed we were so exhausted and frustrated that we stayed up way too late watching a movie. I hope I don’t start nodding off during the sermon.”

“Ugh. We’ve had days like that. They are exhausting. Should we sit behind you and poke you in the shoulder from time to time?”

(laughing) “Maybe you should! Hey, whatever works, right? Anyway, what about you?”

“Doing well. We are really excited to go to a picnic this afternoon. Did I tell you about that neighbor of ours who has been going through cancer treatment?”

“You did. How is he doing?”

“He’s good! He finished his treatment. His most recent scans were clear. The treatment was successful.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful! So many answered prayers…”

“Yup, so this afternoon they are having a picnic to celebrate, and we are planning to go. I just hope it doesn’t rain…”

Jesus, our head, gives us opportunities to build one another up, “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph 4:13) As we express genuine interest in our fellow believers, and as we share our own hopes, fears, joys, and struggles in a way that is more intimate than casual, we are building up the body of Christ!

When we talk to each other about how God’s word applies to the intimate details of our lives, the word of Christ dwells in us richly as we teach and admonish one another with all wisdom. (Col 3:16) Encouraging one another in our lives of faith through the Word, the Holy Spirit works in us. The body of Christ increases in unity, in knowledge of the Son of God, and in maturity. Day by day, the body of believers grows closer to attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Together we look forward to the day when we enter into our heavenly fellowship hall, and that process will be complete.

Suggestions for Prayer

… Praise God for his beautiful design for the family of believers.
… Confess times when you have not taken the time or risked the intimacy of investing yourself in your brothers and sisters in Christ.
… Thank Jesus for making you a member of his body, for giving you the other parts of the body for mutual support and encouragement, and for his sacrificing headship.
… Ask the Lord to work within the body of believers so that we grow in unity, knowledge of him, and maturity.

Dec

2019

Faith must act

Originally posted on the Electric Gospel on June 23, 2018.

Faith must act

by David Sellnow

This installment of The Electric Gospel is an excerpt from the recently released book, Faith Lives in Our Actions: God’s Message in James chapter 2. The full book is available through Kindle Direct Publishing.

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It is a central Christian truth that we are made right with God through faith, not by keeping commandments (cf. Romans 3:28, Galatians 3:11, Ephesians 2:8,9). Yet it is also true that where faith exists, doing good is to be expected. “What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? … Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself” (James 2:14,17).

Faith that generates no works isn’t really faith. True faith always has actions flowing from it. For example, the thief on the cross next to Jesus had only a few moments of life as a believer. Yet he was moved to confess Christ aloud and rebuke another man’s mockery. An elderly grandmother in a nursing home may not have ability or opportunity to do community service, but her heart regularly offers prayers from where she lies in bed.

Most of us are not confined by bodily frailty. None of us are being held down by nails through our feet. There is so much good that we can be doing. Why is it that at times we seem so inactive in serving the Lord and loving our neighbor? Is there some sort of glue that has us stuck in our recliners in front of wall-sized TV screens?

James said faith by itself—without actions accompanying it—is dead. It no longer exists. That’s because faith never exists by itself. Faith always acts. A man with faith would never say, “Look at me! I have no deeds!” He would be ashamed of his inaction. A person of faith is always seeking opportunities to put faith into practice. Having faith without works is like having fire without heat. It just doesn’t happen.

James gave a specific example of how faith connects with works. He challenged us about our attitude toward the poor and called us to a greater love. James asked, “What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, and one of you tells them, ‘Go in peace. Be warmed and filled;’ yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it?” (James 2:15-16).

Ask yourself the uncomfortable sort of question James is asking you. What do you do if you encounter someone who is destitute? That’s an uncomfortable question for many of us because we seek to avoid such encounters. We build our homes in the suburbs, out of sight of urban poverty. We teach our children that there are certain parts of town you just don’t go to. We say this in the interest of safety. But are we inferring that the poor are inescapably criminal and utterly beyond hope? Might it also be that, underneath it all, we have an aversion to dealing with the poor?

James’ example demonstrates how our aversion works. We are pious about it. We say we’ll pray for people whom we see struggling. We wish them well … but are eager to send them on their way. We are reluctant to get our hands dirty and get into the ghettos and get involved. We say to the person who can’t afford food or clothes, “God bless you, you poor dear! I hope you will be okay.” What good is that? God puts needy persons in front of us for a reason. How will their needs be met if we don’t respond to their needs?

In James’ time, a common farewell was to say “Go in peace.” It is similar to our “goodbye,” which derived from the phrase, “God be with ye.” Most of the time we speak expressions like “farewell” and “goodbye” as trifling slogans—indeed, how many of us even recall their original meaning? We even say “God bless” as a parting word in a similarly empty way. We don’t utter these words as true prayers, for that would lead to our personal involvement. We prefer to remain detached. To say, “I’ll pray for you,” is often a dodge to avoid doing something concrete. Yes, we should pray for the less fortunate, and prayer is “powerfully effective” (James 5:16). But God also wants to use us as an answer to others’ prayers, to be his agents to bring mercy into their lives. “Let’s not love in word only, or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth.” (1 John 3:18).

Let’s look at the full picture. We have Christians in our congregations who could use assistance. There are persons across town or in nearby cities whose need cries out to us in our affluence. And the world has grown closer within our reach in the centuries since James’ time. If we ask ourselves now, “Who is my neighbor?” we must include the throngs of humanity crowded into impoverished regions all around the globe. When I was a child, my mother said I should eat my vegetables because starving children in China would be glad to have such food. (I suspect everybody’s mother used some similar admonishment!) I don’t recall, though, that we ever tried to send a care package to the starving in China or India or Africa or wherever. Maybe a plateful of one kid’s green beans wouldn’t make much global impact. But in our world today, we have access and ability, through missionaries and other charitable organizations, to share shiploads of necessities with neighbors all over the world who are “naked and in lack of daily food” (James 2:15), or who need medical care or other basic humanitarian services. Do we think much about them? Do we do much to help them? James’ powerful urging is: Do something! The world’s poor are not to be viewed as a drain on the world’s economy, but as opportunities for us to put faith into action.

Dec

2019

New Year, Renewed You

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on January 14, 2018.

New Year, Renewed You!

by Dan Kleist

“What are your New Year’s resolutions?”

It’s a common question when a new year begins, and almost everyone is expected to have made some sort of promise for change in the year ahead. A new year is much more than a flip of a page on a calendar – it signifies a fresh start and clean slate, an unwritten page in which you can become your “best you” and let go of the disappointments of the past.

What drives our desire to make New Year’s resolutions? While it’s possible that too much of Grandma’s strawberry fluff and too many of Aunt Barb’s peanut butter bars could be to blame, resolutions are often characterized by what is lacking – time management, self control, personal accomplishments, discipline, feeling healthy, being healthy. Sure, there are times during the year when we can feel as though we’re doing well or at least good enough, but most times it just feels like a constant struggle to stay on top of our priorities and our quality of life suffers as a result. In the end, our only options are to buckle down and resolve to try harder this year, do our best to tolerate the problem a while longer until we can make the changes we need to, or hope things miraculously improve on their own.

A Christian’s faith life can often be similar. There can be times of joyful clarity, relishing the simplicity and extravagance of God’s love personally, and appreciating and reflecting his love for all people. Our relationship with God can be undoubtedly solid. Sometimes it can be neither hot nor cold, perhaps taking his love and presence for granted while still finding glimmers of joy and hope through his promises and blessings. At its lowest points, that simplicity and joy of God’s love can seem like a distant memory, and feel as though there is a “veil” over the eyes of our heart, which causes a longing for that solid relationship to return. Faith can feel like head-knowledge rather than heart-knowledge – and that’s when it’s easy to notice what is lacking.

So, what do we do about this? How do we move closer to God when we’re brought to the realization that we need to make a change? Is a “resolution” toward spiritual renewal the right answer?

The Struggle for Renewal

The “roller coaster” of faith is nothing new. It is one expression of the Christian’s struggle with sin since it first entered our history and created physical, emotional, and spiritual voids that every human experiences. Perhaps our struggle is the result of neglecting time in the Word or worship in our search for “balance.” Maybe we started going through the motions in our devotional and worship time. Sometimes doubts can surface, and rather than seeking God’s answers to our questions we can let them stand in the way and spend some time “figuring things out” on our own.

In any case, our sinful nature wants nothing to do with matters of the Spirit (Galatians 5:17), while the devil and the world are proactively trying to pull us away and distract us from a relationship with God. At the same time, the “new man” God has created in us longs to serve God and walk in that relationship with joy and gratitude. Paul expressed the struggle with sin clearly when he described his desire to carry out God’s will and his inability to do so. He finally exclaimed, “What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (Romans 7:24-25).

The Resolution for Renewal

Spiritual renewal in our lives does depend on a resolution – but not our resolve. The resolution was made by God, in the Garden of Eden, immediately after the curse of sin entered our lives (Genesis 3:15). God promised to send a Savior from sin – and followed through on that promise by sending Jesus to be our perfect substitute in life, and to suffer our punishment in death.

Paul saw himself as victorious over his struggle with sin, despite the sin’s manifestation (and victories) in his life. How was this possible? He understood that he was justified before God – declared not guilty by God himself, because of Jesus’ perfect life, death, and resurrection. The relationship with God we could not – and would not – pursue on our own, God freely gives to us! God has made us his own children. Even in our weak moments of faith, we retain the status of children of God in Christ. Because of this, we can rejoice with Paul, saying, “Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Corinthians 15:7).

The Power for Renewal

Our justification is done – a one-time event won for us on the cross. In Christ, we have been made new. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, and the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). At the same time, because of the struggle with our sinful nature, the life we live as a child of God is one of constant renewal. Paul said as much when he wrote, “You have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge and in the image of its Creator” (Colossians 3:9,10). Taking off your old self and putting on the new self are things that have already happened. The new self, however, is also “being renewed…” This renewal is an ongoing process. This is often our struggle! How do we go about making progress?

Fortunately, this too is God’s work! The Holy Spirit, who brought us to faith in the first place, gives us the will and has promised us the strength to live the new life we and God both desire. We are told that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6), and, “It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose (Philippians 2:12,13). He does this work through the means of grace – the gospel in Word and sacrament.

The gospel message, the source of our renewal, serves as the power for our new life in Christ. Our baptism serves as a daily reminder of our justification. In baptism, God appropriates the blessings Christ won for us on the cross to us – personally, and completely. One author states that “baptism is the giving of new life, and the new life is laying hold of baptism.” The Lord’s Supper assures us of our forgiveness – even for the times we’ve neglected the very means for our daily renewal.

Whenever we experience our spiritual lows, we have a resolution for renewal. Not our own, but the one God made for our sake, died to uphold, and for which he provides the strength we need. Through the means of grace, we see that the renewal we seek is already ours – and we will continue to be renewed through the gospel means until the day we see our perfection made complete in heaven. And so again we shout with Paul, “Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Dec

2019

Seeing through new eyes

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on June 6, 2017.

The Lens of Faith

by Maggie Frey

I don’t have perfect vision. Reading anything up close is fine, but if I want to see something far away or read a projector screen, my eyesight just doesn’t cut it. I need something to help me focus in on what it is I want to see. Like most people that need vision help, that aid comes in the form of glasses. The glasses allow me to see things from further distances with more ease. I don’t have to squint to read a line of text or try and figure out who the blurry figure across the room is; I already know.

The same thing happens in our spiritual lives. From birth, sin has clouded up our vision. We stumble through life, unsure of our steps, blindly feeling our way around, hoping that we catch onto something that might save us. Some people might say that they’re “fine”, that they don’t need any help and are okay with stumbling around unsteadily, tripping onto any and every obstacle in their path.

Thankfully, there is a solution to this blinding problem. God provided us with the best kind of “lenses,” free of charge, and they show us the only way that can save us from the obstacles in our path: Jesus. Through the lenses of faith, we are able to focus on Jesus, who shows us the way to heaven by his death and resurrection.

We no longer have to stumble our way through life, unable to see the obstacles in our path. Through faith, Jesus makes it clear that he is the way to salvation. We still may stumble or fall, with sin moving in to cloud our vision again. But through devotions, church, and other ways that connect us to God’s Word, we get a stronger prescription, still making clearer what the way to salvation is. We are able to encourage others along with the writer of Hebrews when he writes, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2).

Jesus will always be the focus through our lens of faith. We never have to doubt that he will leave or that the path of life will change. Even through our stumbles, Jesus is the one thing that will never change.

Dec

2019

New Life in Christ

Originally published on the Electric Gospel on June 11, 2016.

New Life in Christ

by Elizabeth Duff

As each of us began our physical life on earth, we were in a bad way, spiritually speaking. In fact, we had no spiritual life. All of us were born dead in sin, separated from our God. There is nothing we could do to make ourselves alive. But God, by his grace, called us to be his own, making us alive with Christ. God used his gospel message – Christ crucified for the sins of the world and raised to life for our justification – to bring us to faith, whether that be through hearing his word or through baptism. We are no longer on the road to eternal death in hell, but now have God’s promise of eternal life in heaven. This full realization of our spiritual life – being able to see God face to face and that he will make his dwelling with us – is what we eagerly anticipate this side of heaven.

This new life that God has given us compels us to live out our earthly lives in a new way. No longer are we slaves to sin. This new self in us takes delight in God’s holy law and wills us to carry it out. Our lives have becomes lives of thanks – Christ’s love overflows from our hearts into what we think, say, and do.

However, that is not the end of the story. If it were so, we would simply be doing good works all the time. Any Christian can tell you that the truth is this: we continue to struggle against the sinful nature within us. This part of us continuously rebels against God’s commands – it hates his holy law. Our two natures, the new self and the old self, continue to fight one another. If it were simply up to us, we would fail time and time again. Even as new creations, we still are weak to fight the temptations that our sinful flesh, the world, and the devil throw our way.

So where do we turn for help? We turn to our Savior. We see what he has done for us on the cross. We see how his blood has covered every single one of our sins – including those times our new self has failed and we have given into our sinful flesh. We see Christ’s work for us and take heart. We are not alone in this fight. Our God and Brother is at our side. He has conquered sin, death, and the devil for us. He now sits at the Father’s right hand, guiding all things for the sake of his church (which includes us). He continues to intercede for us, perfecting our imperfect prayers. We also see our Father, in turn, graciously blessing us with all good things. He willingly has given up his Son, so how will he not graciously give us all things? He also sends out the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us. This same Holy Spirit makes intercession for us, expressing thoughts that human language cannot contain. He equips us with the great gospel message. Our armor is God’s very Word – in preaching, in baptism, and in communion. When we fail in this life, our God picks us up in his loving arms. We already are his new creation. We continue to trust that he will help us fight off temptation in this life and bring us into the next life. We may fail in our lives of sanctification, but God and his promises never fail. We receive our energy and strength from these great promises – promises of forgiveness, life, and salvation. Our life of sanctification isn’t so much seeing ourselves become better, but learning to fully lean on the cross of Christ.

Dec

2019

A letter from home for you

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on October 27, 2014.

A Letter from Home, from your Heavenly Father

by Morgan Jacob

My dear child,

I am always with you. I know the deepest depths of your heart. I know your thoughts, your words, and your deeds. I see all of the wonderful works that you do to bring glory to me. I’ve noticed how you help your neighbor, how you proclaim my Word to others, and how you diligently study the Scriptures on your own. I do see all of the good that you do, and it pleases me.

However, I do also see the bad. Those daily sins that you struggle with? Yeah, I know all about them. No matter how hard you try, you just can’t seem to stop sinning. The laziness, the lack of love for others, the drunkenness, the judgmental thoughts. You know the sins that I’m talking about. I also see the sins you commit that you yourself aren’t even aware of. What I see, all of these shortcomings, do not please me.

However, do you not know that there is something else that I see even more than your sins? I see my son, Jesus. His perfect life and death on the cross covers all of your sins. He lived the perfect life that you are not able to, and he died the death that you deserve. He conquered sin, death, and the devil. Because you are my own dear child, whom I adopted through baptism and my Word, I look to Jesus when you sin. Because I love you as a Father loves his dear children, you can have the confidence that I have truly forgiven you because of what Christ has done. I do not hold your sins against you nor do I write a list of them and compare you to your neighbor. I keep no record of wrongs.

My forgiveness towards you, however, does not give you a free pass to sin. Do not think that because you are forgiven, you can act however you please. But rather, act in a way that will please me, your heavenly Father.

Repent, and turn from your evil ways. Avoid all sins that will lead you away from me. Do not let yourself be tempted to the point where your heart turns cold towards me and you no longer see the seriousness of your sin. Resist your sinful nature that constantly tells you, “Oh, what I’m doing isn’t really that bad” or “I certainly don’t sin as much as that person.” Satan will tempt you into thinking that your sins are not condemning, but you know from my Word and what you have learned that the one who lives a life of impenitence will not enter my kingdom.

Repent, my child, because I forgive you. Attend my supper where you are given my Son’s body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins and reassurance of my love for you. Surround yourself with those who walk in my way and follow my decrees. When you wrong someone, ask him for forgiveness, and be truly repentant. Do not just say the words “I’m sorry,” because words mean nothing without actions. As my servant John wrote to you, “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18). So therefore, my dear child, turn to me and I will help you put your words into actions and truly change your heart.

And finally, forgive others, just as I have forgiven you. This is not an easy task and it never will be. Your brothers and sisters will sin against you, and you will sin against them. A friend may betray you, a parent may neglect you, your partner may lie to you. Do not hold these sins against them. They are my precious children too. Forgive them, really forgive them. True forgiveness is more than saying the words “I forgive you” or “It’s okay, it’s not a big deal.” Forgiveness means that you will not hold your brother or sister’s sin against him or her any longer. You won’t bring it up in the future. You won’t guard feelings of hostility in your heart, and you won’t use their sin against them to cause hurt. When you forgive someone, you will set that person free.

Do not think that you can forgive on your own because you are such a good or strong person. You have the ability to forgive because I have given that to you, and I have forgiven you. Look to me when you face difficult challenges in your life. Whether you wrong someone or somebody wrongs you, look to see what my Word says, and you will be comforted. When you sin, repent, and when somebody sins against you, forgive them.

My dear child, it may not seem like I am always with you. You can’t see me, but remember that you can hear me. My Word is always in front of you to read, my angels are always surrounding you and protecting you, and I am always watching over you. Take to heart and listen to these words from my Son, Jesus, who said to his disciples—and says to you— “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven” (John 20:21-23).

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for loving us so much that you have forgiven all of our sins. Keep us close to you and motivate us to always stay in your Word. Give us the strength to ask for forgiveness and also to forgive others, as you have forgiven us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Dec

2019

Christian Life

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on June 19, 2014.

In the history of the Christian church, theological writers often have titled their works in this straightforward fashion:

On the Incarnation (Athanasius of Alexandria)
On the Trinity (Hilary of Poitiers)
On the Freedom of the Christian (Martin Luther)

This blog post takes up an assignment such as that from a New Testament course, in which students were asked to write “on the life of a Christian.”

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On the Life of a Christian

by Danica Scharlemann

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who recognize and accept Christ as their Savior from sin and those who reject Christ and his works of grace. While members of the later grouping have no permanent hope on which to drive their lives, Christians have every reason to hope and live in joy, for they are compelled by the undying love of Christ.

The life of Christians begins as the lives of the whole world—drowning in a pool of original sin. “There is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10). It was for this reason, moved by his love, that our heavenly Father gave up his only Son as a lamb without blemish to be sacrificed on our behalf. And so Christ Jesus made in the flesh, yet being in the same nature God, made his dwelling among us and lived a life of perfection under the law of God and of man. His perfect life only led to his suffering and crucifixion. On the cross, Christ bore the punishment of hell for the sins of the entire world. In doing so, our lives were redeemed and salvation was won. This is how the lives of the world were restored from their damning state.

Now we are precious children of our heavenly Father, and the Holy Spirit works in our hearts to create fruits of faith. It is this faith that determines our salvation. We are members of God’s elect–those to whom he has graciously promised eternal life to through the works of the Father, Son, and Spirit. It is not by our works, but by his works that we are granted life everlasting. This is the hope by which we live.

This hope is what defines the underlying confidence behind the life of a Christian. We walk through life, not as if our actions are meaningless and forgiveness is futile, but bearing the sign of Christ. “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, therefore all died” (2 Corinthians 5:14). It is not the old self of sin that thrives in us, but the new self in Christ, which strives to live in love and joy in every circumstance. We do not simply accept our salvation and become contented in our every action, for it is written, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17). Christians do not act in attempt to win their own salvation, for it is not their works that assure them of heaven. Instead it is God and God alone who is capable of bringing us to heaven. As Paul stated, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Our good works are surely not to be attributed to our own powers, but instead to God we give all glory. Yet our sinful deeds are still of our own doing, and we still do sinful deeds in our lives now. It is not until we reach our heavenly home that we will live in the totality of righteousness and holiness that only Christ attains.

Although Christians live with the confidence of salvation, they strive to live in the way of Christ, taking on the nature of a servant. We spend our days being models of Christ, showing through our own actions the wonders of our God. Again, it is only through the Spirit that faith is found, but we work as instruments of the Spirit to spread the love of Christ to the world. For who, with such wonderful knowledge of love and joy, would be able to keep from telling the world? This is the joy, the confidence, and the love behind the life of a Christian: Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2).

We are not zombies. We are alive with Jesus.

Me, a Saint?

Fruits of the Spirit

Body-Building

Faith must act

New Year, Renewed You!

The Lens of Faith

New Life in Christ

A Letter from Home, from your Heavenly Father

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