There seems
to be great confusion in Christianity about a very simple point. Can I believe whatever I want and be a
Christian? Answer: No.
We dread
this black and white thinking, but Jesus is very and black and white. Today we live in world as President Harrison says in his latest blog post (http://blogs.lcms.org/2015/how-does-jesus-view-the-bible): It’s very safe and chic these days to say, “I’m agnostic” or “I believe
all religions have truth” or to be otherwise uncommitted.
Our Lord
gave us 10 commandments to direct our life.
The sainted ancient church fathers have passed down to us the Creed, to
teach us who God is. Our Lord, Jesus
Christ, has given us the Our Father to teach us how to speak to God. And Jesus has told us how He speaks to us and
delivers his gifts of forgiveness through Word and Sacrament.
It is pretty
simple. But….
Here is the
frustrating point: In our Christian society today (we won't even get into other
religions) we have this idea that I can believe and do whatever I want and be a
Christian.
As long as I
believe in Jesus what does it matter?
Jesus said
in John 14 "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through
me."
But what
does it mean to believe in Jesus?
We are
called to walk in the Spirit of our baptism not in the flesh of our Old
Adam. We are never completely freed from
our Old Adam. That original sin that we
inherited from our parents has most certainly been cleansed, washed clean by
the blood of Christ, but you have this covetous nature that continues to live
in you causing discontent. As Loehe
teaches in the questions and answers to the six chief parts of the catechism
this disposition towards covetousness is called natural concupiscence, which
means an inherited lust. It plagues your
life but we are taught to turn away from this lust.
Saint Paul teaches
us about this very thing in Galatians 5, "But I say, walk
by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the
desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are
against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing
the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit,
you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual
immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy,
fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies,
and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do
such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."
Notice how Paul encourages the Christians of Galatia first
to walk by the Spirit. But so that you
are not confused, he proceeds to explain what the desires of the flesh
are. To put it simply, the desire of the
flesh is to break God's Law, at any point.
That is why it is so nice that Paul ends his explanation with, "and
things like these."
So this has us freaking out about right now. I've done these. I did these yesterday. I did them today! Go back to the original thought. Is it about who you know or what you know? It's not just about what you know, but who
you know as well.
And so Paul says in Colossians 3, "If then you have
been raised with Christ (meaning: your baptism), seek the things that are
above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not
on things that are on earth."
We seek the things of Christ only because Christ, by the
work of the Holy Spirit creating faith in us through the Word, and His holy
sacraments that leads us to seek the things above. So the reality is, you do not seek the things
above. the Holy Spirit working through
you does.
So yes, you may most certainly have done those works of the
flesh, you very likely will do them again, but through the strengthening of
faith He leads you to seek forgiveness for these sins. These are the things from above. These are things that Christ wants for
you. He desires, He yearns to give you
forgiveness, to receive His blood-bought gifts, most especially through the proper
reception of the body and blood of Christ in His Holy Supper.
There is
most certainly a need to know who your Savior is. He is Jesus Christ. But just as important is to know His
Word. For by it you know who Christ is
for you. For if you do not believe that
what you do is a sin and if you live comfortably in your sin, how can you
desire to be forgiven? If you do not
intimately know what your sin is, how do you know why Jesus died? It is for this reason that you continue to
learn, now, not just what He has done for you, the Gospel, but also to know His
Law, which is why you need him, because you do not keep that which is
basic. And for this reason the Gospel
always comes last. It is the last word
you hear.
Jesus Christ
died for you, and thanks be to God he has told us the who, what, when, where,
and how of this truth for the salvation of our souls.
