Impractical Christianity Part 2

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern

Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. Our reading for this the third

Wednesday of Lent is taken from the epistle of 1st Peter chapter 2.

You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

But you, you are a chosen race, you are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, so that you might proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify

God on the day of visitation. Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the

Emperor Supreme, or to governors as sent by him, to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover -up for evil, but living as servants of God.

Honor everyone, love the Brotherhood, fear God, honor the Emperor. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and to the gentle, but also to the unjust.

For this is a gracious thing when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.

For what credit is it if when you sin you are beaten for it, and then you endure it? But if when you do good and suffer for it and you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving an example so that you might follow in his steps.

He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return.

When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

And by his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and the overseer of your souls."

This is the Word of the Lord, in the name of Jesus. All right, so we have to do a little bit of groundwork here, because technically the

Epistle of First Peter, there are many scholars who believe this is a sermon in and of itself. We've chopped it up into five pieces during the

Lenten season, and as a result of that we lose a little bit of the context if we don't read it in its entirety in one setting.

That being said, let me remind you that the Lutheran Confessions make a very important distinction when we talk about the law of God.

The law of God is holy, it is good, and we are not. But when we talk about God's law, it's important for us to recognize that it has three primary uses that are its legal uses.

The Apostle Paul, in the Epistle to the Galatians churches, actually talks about using God's law unlawfully.

Could you imagine using the law unlawfully? It seems like an oxymoron or some kind of weird paradoxical thing, maybe like, you know, dividing by zero.

If you do that, the whole world could probably blow up. But when you use God's law unlawfully, the way it often works out is it goes something like this.

Well, you're a bad, icky person who does terrible, bad, icky things, and if you pull yourself up by your bootstraps and you try really hard, kind of like a kid at Christmas trying to make the good list rather than the naughty list, when it comes to Santa Claus, and you improve and improve and improve and improve and improve, then at the end of that cycle

God will look at you and go, good boy, you've made it into heaven. That's an unlawful use of God's law.

The law was never given to save us. So the three uses of God's law, good to review. First use is the use used by the government, like when they pull truckers over for having too heavy of a load, right?

This is a bad thing. You don't want to do that. And so what they're doing is they are using the law to punish evildoers.

So we have laws against stealing, we have laws against murder, we have laws against fraud, we have laws against all these different things, and you notice always and again it comes back to that, you know, in one way or another, the

Ten Commandments. And so the first use of the law is used by the government. Second use of the law, primary use, that is the use that informs us of our sin.

Now a little bit of a note here. Sin, the word itself in Greek, it kind of basically conjures up, in fact it's an archery term.

Now did you all know that the word for sin was an archery term? Now let me explain what I mean. You know, we've all done the bow and arrow thing before, some of us better than others, you know, and so what you do is you take an arrow, you put it on that little notch, you pull it back, and you try to get it on the target, and I'm not sure how you aim this thing, you let it go, and if it misses the target, the judge calls out, sin!

You missed, you fell short, you sinned. So I know all about this kind of sinning.

Years ago when my son was in Cub Scouts, we went to Cub Scout camp, you know, we lived in Southern California, so you travel up to the mountains, and there's a wonderful Cub Scout camp up there, and well, when

I was a kid I had an archery set, and I would shoot bow and arrows all day long, right? So when it came time for the archery event at this

Cub Scout camp, you know, I was gonna show my son how it's done. Yeah. So we got up to the line, you know, the judge basically said you go ahead and put the arrow on, you know, on the string, put it on there, pulled that thing back,

I don't know what I was doing, and I let the thing go, and the string dragged all the way across my arm, and you can hear me cry out, like that,

I let it go, and it just, well, it didn't hit my target. It hit like the hay bales two over, and Joshua was very, very embarrassed, and I had a really bad bruise here for a while.

I sinned badly that day, like in the most literal way you could talk about sin, but what the law does is it is constantly telling us sin, sin, sin, you miss the mark, you fall short, sin, would you please be quiet, sin, even telling it to be quiet is a sin.

It's like, and see, that's poor purpose, and so you're trying to tell it to be quiet, and the whole point of it telling you sin is to get you to be quiet so that you can hear the judgment.

You have fallen short, and only then, after hearing the law scream at you, sin, sin, sin, are you able to hear the good news that Christ, who never sinned, who hit the target perfectly every time.

Is it any wonder that in the great annals of literature that one of the motifs, as it goes as far as legends go, that one of the greatest characters ever who is a type of Christ is none other than Robin Hood, right?

The great archer who can split his own arrows one after the other. That's kind of the point, right?

So he was sinless for us, and this is what frees us from our sin.

Now, third use of the law, and do not confuse it with the unlawful use, third use of the law is only for Christians, only, and it shows us what a good work is.

Once the gospel has silenced the accusing, judging voice of the law that screams out, sin, sin, sin,

Jesus says, silence. I've forgiven him. You can be quiet now. Now the law says, all right, let me show you what a good work is, so we don't invent our own, and you just think, throughout history, all these people have invented all of their own good works.

You know, you think of all of the weird Roman things. Well, a good work would be to go visit the knuckle bone of St.

James at such -and -such a basilica, and you get so many years off of purgatory if you do that, or travel to Rome, and you climb the

Scalia on your knees, and every time you go up one step, you can say one of the, you can say to our fathers and three

Hail Marys, and this is a good work, and once you've climbed the Scalia, come back down in reverse, do it all over again, and then you can earn some more time off of purgatory.

These are not good works. These are not good works at all. Good works are for your neighbor.

They're not for you, and so the law then shows us what a good work is. All of that then frames this next portion of 1st

Peter, where in chapter 1, Peter has so beautifully preached the gospel to us, has already reminded us of the bitter sufferings and death of Christ, so that we can be forgiven, and now he is speaking to those of us whom the good news has been preached to, whom the

Spirit has regenerated, who have been forgiven and stand reconciled before God, and now he says here's what our good works are.

You ready? Put away all malice. I'm going to note that this first sentence,

I mean this is going to destroy like half the free time for many people who call themselves Christians.

Put away all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and I love the modifier here, all slander.

Every last bit of it. Every breaking of the Eighth Commandment. See, none of these things are appropriate for those who've been reconciled to God.

He says instead, like newborn infants, long for, yearn after the pure spiritual milk, so that you may grow up into salvation, if indeed you have tasted that the

Lord is good. So as you come to him, a living stone, rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious.

And here's a beautiful picture of Christ, and one that we might do well to pay attention to. Jesus was the only sinless man among us in all of human history, the only one, and he was not liked at all.

There was a whole group of people who wanted him dead, and wanted him dead yesterday. They finally succeeded, and so they rejected

Christ. But see, Scripture teaches us to order the way we value things according to the way

God sees them, not according to the way our sinful flesh, human society, or the major opinion of the group would think.

Instead, although he was rejected by men, in God's sight, Jesus is chosen, and he is precious.

So you yourselves then, like living stones, and here's this beautiful picture, we are living stones, and we all together are being built into this beautiful temple, this spiritual house, each of us a brick in the edifice.

You yourselves then, like living stones, you're being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

For it stands in Scripture, behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.

That is a half -sentence that is worth repeating. Whoever believes in Christ will not be put to shame.

And that's the promise for all of us, all of us horrible archers out there who keep missing the target, and the law screams out, sin.

Oh, do not fear this stone that was rejected by men, this chosen and precious cornerstone.

He has bled and died for you, so that whoever believes in him, including you, including me, that we will never be put to shame.

We will never hear God say, depart from me, I never knew you. And so the honor is then for you who believe.

However, for those who do not believe, well, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and it is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

And how many people are today live offended at Christ? Offended by what he stood for, offended by what he preached, offended by the exclusivity of his claims, offended that if he was

God that he would die such an ignominious death on the cross. So they stumbled then,

Peter says, because they disobeyed the word as they were destined to do. And now here comes this next picture, these little word pictures in this chapter.

But you are a chosen race. Have you ever sat there and go, you know, I kind of wish

I were Jewish, because I mean, Jewish people are God's people, you know, they're the chosen people of God, they're the race, and all that kind of stuff.

Hello, have you read 1st Peter? 1st Peter says, you are a chosen race.

You see, we have all been grafted into Israel, every single one of us.

We were the wild olive branches, grafted in to the cultivated olive tree, which is crazy talk if you think about it.

But see, because of that then, Peter can say that of us, we Gentiles, you are a chosen race.

You are a royal priesthood, you're a holy nation, you are a people for God's own possession.

And listen to this, so that you, that's right, you, you, Mikey, you,

Michael, you, David, Don, Marilyn, you, Barb, you, Brenda, yeah, all of you, all right,

Gloria included, so that you can proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Every one of us, we have been called, we are God's own possession, we are a chosen race, and now we have been given the honor of proclaiming the excellencies of Jesus, the one who set us free from the dominion of darkness, who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

You see, once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

So, beloved, I urge you then, and here's a wonderful next piece of this, Peter takes two of the major big motif themes of the

Old Testament. You think of the Exodus and the wandering sojournings in the wilderness, and then you think of the

Babylonian exile at the time of Nebuchadnezzar, right? He takes the two and just smushes them together, and he says, beloved,

I urge you as sojourners and exiles, you're both, I urge you, abstain from the passions of your sinful flesh, which wages war against your soul.

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak evil against you, or speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and then glorify

God on the day of visitation. So be subject, for the

Lord's sake, to every human institution. And it's fascinating, Peter, we noted last week, that Peter goes to his death.

He's crucified upside down by the Emperor Nero, and he was subjected to the Emperor of Rome, that evil, maniacal, twisted, narcissistic, horrible man, demonic as he was, but yet Peter subjected himself to him, even to the point of death on a cross upside down, which is exactly what he was taught to do by Christ.

So be subject to the Lord's sake, to every human institution, whether it be the Emperor as supreme, or to governor's assent by him to punish those who do evil, and to praise those who do good.

And then listen to these words, for this is the will of God, comma. Now, if you hear the phrase like that, here's what

God's will is for you, we might pay attention to that, might even lean in a little bit, want to make sure we want to hear it correctly, you want to know what the will of God is for you?

The will of God is that by you doing good, you're gonna put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

Huh? We kind of know how this works, right? It's that person, they sit there and go,

I can't stand that guy, I can't stand him, but man, he's the nicest guy ever, and every time somebody does something awful to him, he just loves them and forgives them, and does good to them, and treats them kindly and stuff, and oh,

I can't, I hate him, right? That's the idea. You see, it is

God's will that by you doing good, you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

So then live as people who are free, and you truly are free. You're free from the condemnation of God's law that screams out, sin, sin, sin.

You're free from that, it's condemnation, but don't use your freedom as a cover -up for evil. Instead, living as servants of God, honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear

God, honor the Emperor, even Emperor Trump, or Emperor Barack, or Emperor Hillary, should the

Lord cause that to happen, right? So servants, and here's another wonderful picture.

Let me set this one up properly. You got to do this one justice. Have any of you ever worked for a boss who was like the worst boss ever, all right?

Every decision this guy made was the dumbest decision on planet Earth, and because of all of his ridiculous policies, and off -the -cuff decisions that he's made, nobody's able to get work done the way that it should be done, right?

You might as well be limping along at half productivity, because every time this guy opens his mouth, you know that something stupid is going to fall out of it, and your job is going to be even harder.

And to make matters worse, he treats you and all the other employees like complete garbage.

This guy is worthless, and he makes Ebenezer Scrooge look like a great guy, right?

You ever had that? Is it just me? I'm doing therapy up here. I'm, you know, getting this off my chest.

What are we to do in a situation like that? I know we're gonna walk in one day, and we're gonna do like Dolly Parton and those gals did to that guy in, you know, nine -to -five movie, right?

You're gonna hogtie him or something. Yeah, yeah, can't you just feel it, you know? You know, it's that Klingon proverb, you know, revenge is a dish best served cold, right?

No, that's not what we're supposed to do. Here's what

God wills. Listen to this one. Servants. We'll just change the translation a little bit.

Employees, be subject to your bosses with all respect.

Not only to the good and to the gentle ones, but also to the unjust.

Hang on a second here. Let me check to see if this is a typo. Nope, it's not a typo.

That's in the original. What? You want me to be subject, entreat with respect, and unjust boss?

Yeah, here's the reason why. Are you ready? This is a gracious thing. When mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.

What? This is a gracious thing to God, and when I'm suffering, do you understand how many sorrows

I've suffered as a result of this fellow? And I can't find another job.

Yeah, I know. This is a gracious thing in God's sight. And then he says this. What credit is it if when you sin, you are beaten for it, and you endure?

Now, I know what this is all about, okay? When I was a young lad, I know you're gonna find this hard to believe.

There was a couple of times, maybe only once, when I disobeyed my mom, okay?

And I may have received a beating for it, and I remember going to my bed after my spanking, and post -spanking cries go something like this.

It's ridiculous, right? It's like this involuntary, and in your mind, you're going, I know that someday that God's gonna get her for doing that to me, right?

Yeah, you're thinking revenge in these senses. But see, there's no credit to suffering when you've done something wrong.

However, if when you do good, and you suffer for it, and you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

How can that be? How can this be a gracious thing in the sight of God? And here's what he says.

You see, for to this you have been called. Have you ever had a job, or somebody worked with somebody who clearly was in their element, and you thought, surely if anyone ever had a calling on his life, it was this gal, or this guy, because they're like, they're just like fish in water.

They take to the sin, they get it, I mean they are fulfilling their calling. But have you considered what

Peter has revealed here? That when you suffer for doing good, that God himself is the one who called you to this.

This whole idea of learning how to think the way God thinks is a lot tougher than I thought it would be. You see, to this you've been called, and here's the reason why.

Because Christ also suffered for you, and he did. And not only did his suffering reconcile you to the

Father, but here Peter says that Christ's suffering now is left for you as an example, so that you can follow in his footsteps.

You see, he committed no sin, and there was no deceit in his mouth, and when he was reviled, he did not revile in return, and when he suffered, he did not threaten.

Instead, he continued entrusting himself to the one who judges justly.

You know, the hard thing about the third use of the law is that you can't read about what our good works are and not recognize just how far short of this you've come, myself included.

Who of us can say that we've lived this kind of life? Who of us can say that we have silenced the wicked with our good works and our love?

Which of us have considered it to be gracious when we have suffered for doing good, or believe it to actually be our calling and embrace it as such?

Yeah, that's the problem with that third use of the law, is that when you really see what our good works are, that second use kicks in.

It's a sin, sin, sin, and this is why

Peter then that goes on to say, but Jesus, he bore our sins in his body on the tree, and he did that so that we might die to sin, and so that we might live to righteousness.

You see, by Christ's wounds you have been healed, healed of your sin sickness.

And he says, you, you were like sheep who are going astray. And you sit there and go, yeah, but after reading what my good works are,

I feel like I'm still straying as a sheep. But don't worry about that. You have now returned the shepherd to the overseer of your souls.

In fact, that beautiful picture then recalls what Christ talked about, how when one of the sheep goes astray, he leaves the 99 up on the hills so that he can go and find it and bring it back.

It's probably better to say, you have been returned by the shepherd, to the shepherd and overseer of your souls, because that's how great his mercy is.

So again, as we consider this Lenten season, apply ourselves to true penitence.

We must over and again recognize that God's law is going to show us where we've fallen short, and the gospel is going to continue to assure us of the forgiveness of sins.

Repentance is not one or the other, it's the two combined. So, little sheep, have confidence in Jesus, that he has bled and died even for your, well, sinful lack of perfection in the good works that he has called you to.

And the day is coming when the night will give way to the dawning of a new day when Christ arrives, and on that day you'll be transformed in the twinkling of an eye, and you will no longer have a sinful nature, and you will no longer stray.

And seeing him face to face, you will finally be able to understand how it is possible that it is a calling on our lives from God to suffer evil for doing good, because this is exactly what

Christ did so that you and I can be saved. In the name of Jesus, amen.

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