Sidney UMC - Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost - 09/11/22 - Sermon - “Jesus Forgives Us Anyway”

                                   Sunday 09/11/22 - Sidney UMC

Sermon Title: “Jesus Forgives Us Anyway”                                               

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 14                                       

New Testament Scripture: 1 Timothy 1:12-17

Gospel Lesson: Luke 15:1-10

          One of the most central theological doctrines for most Protestant Churches is the doctrine of “Justification by Faith”. This theological doctrine asserts that belief in and faith in Jesus Christ is enough for salvation. This means that believing in Jesus as our savior and our Lord is enough to save our souls, and to one day send us to eternity with Jesus Christ. We cannot earn this, we cannot buy it, we are saved by faith and faith alone. This means that anyone who turns to Christ, who repents of there sin, and believes in and on Jesus Christ is saved. This includes the one repentant criminal on the cross next to Jesus, and a person who is on their death bed and comes to Christ. It might not seem fair, but the scripture tells us that faith in Christ in enough.

          In fact, we are starting a new book study this Tuesday September 13^th at 4:30 PM. This five-week book study is once again called, “3:16: The Numbers Of Hope”, by Max Lucado. This study of course is centered around the scripture John 3:16 that says:

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life (Jn. 3:16, NRSV).

          As Methodists, and many churches would argue, faith in Christ is indeed enough. Coming to faith in Christ however is not the end of our journeys, but the beginning of our faith journey’s. We are called to serve, to love, to pray, to read the scriptures, etc., so that over the course of our lives we can become more and more like Christ. The word most churches use for this process is Sanctification. Salvation, or heaven is a free gift in Christ, but Sanctification, or becoming fully like Christ, well this is the journey of a lifetime.

          In the United Methodist Church, many of our central teachings are codified in what is called our Articles of Religion. These were written by the founder of the Methodist Movement, John Wesley, who was an Anglican or Episcopal Priest. Some of these Articles come from the Church of England or the Anglican Church. Our Ninth Article of Religion for example, is:

Article IX — Of the Justification of Man

We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by faith, only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort (https://www.umc.org/en/content/articles-of-religion).

          Faith in Christ is enough. It is not the end of faith journey though, but the beginning of our life long walk with Christ. To know Christ, is to be forgiven, saved, and to be heaven bound one day. Our lives however, should be lived and should be reflective of Jesus Christ. We are called to live and love like Jesus.

          I say all this, to then ask us to consider this question, how many of us are worthy on our own of heaven? How many of us deserve heaven, and think that we can get there on our own merits? Further, if someone has done much worse things in this life than you have, are you then more deserving of heaven than they are? It would seem logical from a legal sense that the person who stole a pack of gum would not get the same punishment as someone who committed murder. To God though all sin is equal. The damage on earth of all sins is often unequal, but to God sin is sin is sin. So, this would mean therefore, that anyone who has sinned or done wrong falls short of the glory of God. Due to this, if we have committed one sin or one million sins, we are all in the same boat.

          I have said recently in church, who deserves to come here on Sunday morning? The answer is none of us, myself included. Yet Jesus died to justify us before God. We but turn to him and we are forgiven, and as Isaiah 1:18 says:

18 Come now, let us argue it out, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson,

they shall become like wool (Isa. 1:18, NRSV).

Faith in Christ is enough. Who deserves it though, and who does not? It is easy for us as Christians to play the game of being “Holier Than Thou,” but we are all forgiven through Christ. Given this we are all the same in God’s eyes, and we are all offered forgiveness and redemption through Jesus Christ.

For example, if Adolph Hitler repented of his sins before he died, would he be in heaven today? I personally have a really hard time with this. If I were to go to heaven today and see Adolph Hitler, or Saddam Hussein, or Kim Jung Un, or Joseph Stalin, etc., I would think that this is unfair. Certainly, the sins and the harm that we commit on this earth is not equal in the suffering and the damage we cause. Yet if we are all separated from God by sin, can anyone who repents and come to Christ be saved? I believe so, even if I think it is unfair at times. After all, am I really worthy? Are any of us?

One of the churches that I pastored in Cortland, NY for five years prior to coming here to Sidney had an older family from Holland. Some of you might remember that our dear sister in Christ Mary Braun was from Holland. This family that I used to serve as the pastor of though, had church members not only in the Homer Avenue UMC that I pastored, but also the Freeville UMC that I pastored. This family lived through World War II, and therefore, the Nazi occupation of there country. They saw what the Nazi’s did, celebrated the end of the war, and of course did not like Adolph Hitler.

Well one Sunday I preached a similar message to this, and I asserted the idea that if we are all fallen, and need the cross of Christ to make us whole, then this is an open door to all of us. As Romans 3:23 says:

²³ since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;                            (Rom. 3:23, NRSV).

  I then said, this would mean that if Adolph Hitler repented of his sins and came to Christ before he died, he would this day be in heaven. Well Johannes or “Joop” as we called him, was angered and hurt by this. I remember he came up to me after church, and said, “but pastor don’t you know what that man did to our country, to the Jews, and to the world?” I said to Joop, “I do, and this why I struggle with this sometimes”. Some weeks later, I went to visit Joop and his wife Barb, as Joop’s health had declined. As we talked and visited Joop then said, “Pastor, I have thought about your sermon where you mentioned Adolph Hitler many times since that day”. I will never understand it, but you are right, if he did repent and come to Christ then he would be in heaven”. Joop than said, “But I sure hope he didn’t, so I don’t have to look at that idiot every day”.

Every Good Friday when I am preparing to preach, it usually hits me shortly before the service. What hits me is that I am unworthy of being seen and sinless and flawless in God’s eyes, but Jesus did this for us all. We can never earn it, and yet we should not feel shame or guilt. We should not beat ourselves up for our past actions and decisions. Jesus loves us, unconditionally. I will never fully understand this level of grace on this side of heaven.  This why my sermon for this morning is called, “Jesus Forgives Us Anyway”. We do something wrong; we say something hurtful, etc. We turn to Christ over and over, and he embraces us with a hug, a kiss on the cheek, and love. We don’t deserve it, but he did this for us.

          To be a Christian then, to be a follower of Jesus Christ, this reality should make us humble, not puffed up. I have heard stories of different people being told that they are “going to hell,” or that God “does not love them”. I do not and should not have the authority to condemn anyone, for as the statement goes, “there but for the grace of God go I.” (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/there_but_for_the_grace_of_God_go_I). So, is it my role as a pastor then, to “scare the hell out of people?” I think in general, my role is “to love the heaven into people”. A love so great, that it is freely offered to us all, no matter who or what we are. For God’s grace through our Lord Jesus Christ is that amazing and that all-encompassing. He died for you, and for me, and all we have to do is say “yes” to him.

          In our reading from Psalm 14 for this morning, it says once again in 14:1:

Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt; they do abominable deeds; there is no one who does good (Ps. 14:1, NRSV).

           To know Christ is to know perfect love. It is not just repenting and coming to him to go to heaven one day. It is to be changed and changed again and again in perfect love. To be a new creation, to live and love differently.

          Out of curiosity though, has anyone here every been told by someone else that you are “going to hell?” A pretty harmful statement, as a sinner, or a repented sinner is the one who made this declaration to you. How about this my friends, you are in a courtroom, you are about to sentenced to the death penalty, and before the judge announces this sentence, someone bursts into the courtroom. This person shouts “wait!” The judge and you are startled, and the person says, “I committed the crime, not this person who is about be sentenced!” This person is able somehow take your sentence and your punishment. At once you are unshackled, released, and are free.

          The judge then asks this person who will die in your place, what his full name is. He said, Jesus Christ. The judge then says to Jesus Christ, “but this man does not even know who you are Jesus Christ!” Jesus then looks at the judge loving and says, “but I know him, and I will die in his place anyway”. Beautiful, and a show of grace that we will never fully understand on this side of heaven.

          This is why my sermon for this morning is called, “Jesus Forgives Us Anyway,” and why it is based on our reading from 1 Timothy 1:12-17, for this morning. In this scripture reading from 1 Timothy 1, the Apostle Paul is once again lamenting and feeling guilt that he had at one time harmed and persecuted the first Christians, before he himself became a Christian. Starting in 1 Timothy 1:12 the Apostle Paul says:

12 I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his service, 13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus          (1 Tim. 1:12-14, NRSV).

          Jesus Christ appeared the Jewish Pharisee Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, which is in modern day Syria. Saul repents, comes to Christ, and becomes who we now know as the Apostle Paul. Paul says he was blasphemer, a persecutor, and man of violence. Yet, Jesus showed him mercy, and his grace overflowed in Paul. Paul felt the faith and the love of Christ Jesus. Even though the Apostle Paul was forgiven though, he still sometimes had guilt and regret about what he done to the first followers of Christ.

          In fact, the Apostle Paul says picking up 1 Timothy 1:15:

15 The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost. 16 But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen                 (1 Tim. 1:15-17, NRSV).

          The Apostle Paul said that Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and he then says that he is worst of them all. As one Bible translation says, Paul says that he is “the chief of all sinners”. Nobody on this earth past or present is worse than the Apostle Paul he says. You see, we all sometimes have our guilt and shame, but we don’t serve a God of guilt and shame. We serve a God of love and forgiveness. A God of grace beyond all comprehension. Since I know Jesus Christ, my friends, despite what I have done in the past, Jesus Christ our Lord says I am worthy. Turn to him, and will make you worthy, as well.

          Further, Jesus did not just come for some, or only for certain categories of people, he came for us all. Jesus was famous not for just being among the rich, powerful, and famous. Jesus also went to the people that society rejected, did not love, or said were unworthy of God’s love and grace. Jesus makes us all worthy, whether the world says we are worthy or not.

          In looking at our gospel of Luke 15:1-10 reading for this morning once again, it says starting in 15:1:

15 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. ² And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them” (Lk. 15:1-2, NRSV).

 

          Jesus came to save us all, without any exceptions. Our gospel of Luke reading then continues starting with 15:3 saying:

³ So he told them this parable: ⁴ “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? ⁵ And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. ⁶ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.’ ⁷ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance (Lk. 15:3-7, NRSV).

          Jesus came for every single one of us, with out exception. Jesus came to know us, to change us, to restore us, and to transform us. He will leave the heard, and he will come after us. Jesus loves us all, and love us all equally.

          Our gospel lesson for this morning concludes with Luke 15:8-10 saying, once again:

⁸ “Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹ And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ ¹⁰ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Lk. 15:8-10, NRSV).

 

          Jesus came for us, died for us, rose again, and will return one day in glory, so that we might live and love like him. Imagine how he can continue to transform us, and how we can continue to transform others. Jesus loves us all, died for us, and want to be in relationship with us. So, no matter what we have done, or if you feel unworthy, just remember that if we turn to him “Jesus Forgives Us Anyway”. Amen.