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INJ
Romans 6:15-23
'Getting What We Don't Deserve'
Divine Service
30 July 2006 | Trinity 7
Dear Saints,
“There's no such thing as a free lunch.” This seems to be a cardinal truth that our society is built upon, that we follow, that we teach our children. “Watch out, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.” If someone is giving something away, there's something wrong, either the thing is broken, or you'll end up paying for it in another way. We know that if something is free, something is wrong.
On the other hand, we also teach our children responsibility, how to work hard and earn what they want. I remember growing up and my parents trying to teach me the value of a dollar, the value of a good days work. “If you want it, you've got to work for it, you've got to pay for it, you've got to deserve it.” “You get what you deserve.”
These two ideas are ingrained in us, deep within us, and generally they serve us well. We ought to work hard to provide for our families and our children, and we ought to beware of freebies. But when we come into the Lord's Church, when we stand before His altar, when we listen to His Word, if we want to be Christian, then we must throw these ideas out.
In the Lord's Church there is no earning or deserving or working, but only freely giving. This is what St Paul says in our Epistle text today, the last verse of Romans 6, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.”
Paul is contrasting wages and gifts, earning and giving, your pay check and your birthday party. On the one hand, death and hell are what we have earned, what we have deserved, they are the just payment for our lives and our sin. Eternal life, on the other hand, has nothing to do with working or earning or deserving, but is a gift.
“Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.” [Romans 4:4,5]
These, then, are the two religions in the world, the religion of earning and deserving and working, and the religion of giving, of grace. This first religion, that of works and deserving, is perhaps the most common, and the most damming. It is idolatry to think that God needs our works, that heaven and eternal life and fellowship with God the Holy Trinity is an item that can be purchased or earned. There is none of this in Jesus' church.
The church of the Lord Jesus is the religion of giving, of grace. For our salvation is not won for us by anything that we do. All the credit and all of the glory goes to the Lord Jesus. It is His coming in the flesh, His birth, His perfect life, His suffering and death in our place, His resurrection from the dead and ascension to the Father, and His sending the Holy Spirit who grants us faith upon hearing the promise of the Gospel that has accomplished salvation. This is totally apart from us. And all of this is given to us as a gift, a free gift, no strings attached.
But, we think, “It's too good to be true.” “Where's the catch?”
The idolatry of the religion of earning creeps in. Dear saints, this false doctrine lives in every one of us. That we think that there is some reason why God chose us to be His children, that there is something that we've done or that we are. We might not admit it, but when we look around at our neighbors, or when we see the mass of unbelievers, we think “Well it's no wonder that their not Christians.”
There is a little pride in each of us that thinks it understands why we are chosen, and why that person isn't. We might not admit it, but we think we've earn or deserved our salvation.
Repent.
The only thing that we have earned is death and hell. The wages of sin is death. If you are to have anything good from God it will come only as a gift that you don't deserve. For none of us can do anything, think anything, say anything or be anything that would invite God's goodness and grace and gifts.
But we don't have to be afraid of our lack of deserving, we don't have to hide our sinfulness or our unworthiness, for Jesus desires, more than anything He desires to give you His gifts. He came for that very purpose, to win salvation for sinners, for you, to seek and save the lost, to find the lost sheep; He died so that He might give you His gifts, lavish His gifts upon you.
That's what happens here in this church, from this Scripture and this Altar, the Lord is giving gifts, gift upon gift, the gifts of life, salvation and the forgiveness of all of your sins. Gifts that you have not earned of deserved, they are too great for that, gifts that Jesus has won and earned and deserved for you.
Dear saints, rejoice. Here Jesus is giving us what we don't deserve. He is giving us heaven and eternal life and His body and blood and the promises of forgiveness and life and the sure hope of the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting in the new heaven and the new earth. He is giving us Himself, His Father and His Holy Spirit and His kingdom and His presence and all that is His. “The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Amen.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO
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