Sermons

In the Name of Jesus our Savior, Dear Christian Friends, The summer is almost over and another year of school is about to start. For three happy months our young people have tried to forget about the three Rs of education. You know, of course, what I’m talking about when I say the three Rs – Reading, ‘Ritting and ‘Rithmatic. The three Rs are considered fundamental in any educational program. There is, however, another set of three Rs that is absolutely necessary to any program of Christian education. The time for formal Christian education is about to begin. Monday morning will usher in the first day of the 2003-2004 school year or the 42nd year of existence for Faith Lutheran School. Winnebago Lutheran Academy will also be beginning its school year soon and in September our Sunday School program will hold its annual kick-off, many Bible classes will begin and confirmation classes for our young people will resume. These three Rs at the center of our programs of Christian education are vital for winning souls to Christ for eternity. Paul, in the words of our text, speaks of the continuing task of instruction in the three Rs of Christian education and so for our consideration today the Word of God spells out the meaning of those three Rs 1) Ruined by the fall 2) Redeemed by Christ 3) Renewed by the Holy Spirit. The first R of Christian education is represents that fact that our chances of getting into by ourselves were ruined by Adam and Eve’s fall into sin. In the Garden of Eden God first made Adam and Eve sinless and holy in everyway. He placed them into paradise where they knew no sorrow, or loss, or death, or crying or mourning. They were set for life and for eternity. All God requested of them was that they love him by obeying his will. In order to offer them an opportunity to demonstrate their love for God, he gave them the freedom to eat from any fruit in the Garden except the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Many have thought that if God really wanted Adam and Eve to enjoy paradise forever, he would have never made the command not to eat from that tree. But the exact opposite is really true. God did love Adam and Eve with a perfect love and provided them everything they needed to show their love for him. That’s why Luther once called this tree Adam and Eve’s church because by not eating from it they were loving God, worshipping and obeying God. Something every believer has a desire to do. Since Adam and Eve had everything they could ever want, their love for God was demonstrated by loving his Word more than the fruit from the forbidden tree. The devil, however, used their perfect gift in the middle of the Garden as an opportunity to tempt Adam and Eve to love themselves more than God’s Word. Satan used the alluring nature of this fruit to tempt Adam and Eve to distrust God. The Bible tells how both Adam and Eve then ate from the forbidden fruit and disobeyed their loving creator. In taking this action Adam and Eve’s perfect nature was ruined by their fall into sin. Never again would they or any of their descendents be perfect as God had first created them. The immediate consequence was that Adam and Eve were now sinful. They were mortal – subject to death – and worst of all, they could never, of their own accord, get back into paradise or heaven. They were ruined by the fall. And so are we. The Bible says, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all have sinned.” The consequence of the fall into sin is death, both physical and spiritual. Everyone’s body grows weary and dies. Physical death is the separation of body from the soul. On the other hand spiritual death means a separation from God in the depths of hell. The Bible describes hell as a like of fire completely and totally separated from God and his grace. The fall into sin, the sins we commit each day, the sin that lives in our hearts, the anger, the impatience, the coveting heart, the discontentment, the jealousy, the greed, the lust, all give evidence that we don’t deserve God’s paradise of heaven. Every day Satan puts before our eyes the “forbidden fruit” tempting us to love ourselves more than we love others or our God. And time after time we give into the temptations of the devil deserving only God’s wrath and anger. While this first R (Ruined by the fall) of Christian education is a hard lesson to learn and accept, it is the first lesson we need to learn and learn well because the second R tells us what God did about our ruined condition. The second R in God’s lesson plan of salvation assures that while our chances of getting to heaven by ourselves were ruined by the fall into sin, God has made it possible for us to get heaven by the redeeming work of Christ. The Bible says, “When the time had fully come God sent his Son born of a woman, born under law to redeem those under law.” The word “redeem” means to “buy back.” By our fall into sin we have become children of Satan and are controlled by his evil and deceitful ways. In order for us no longer to be controlled by Satan’s self-centered desires, it became necessary for us to be bought at a high price and made children of God. The high price tag for rescuing us from the control of Satan was set by God. God demands perfection; Perfection from every single person. Jesus says, “Be perfect therefore as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Everyone of us realizes that what God demands of us we are not able to give him. Daily we sin against God in thought, word and deed. We loose our temper, we get angry, we become jealous, we are guilty of unfounded suspicion of others, we jump to unsubstantiated conclusions. Yet in spite of the fact that we could not give God what he demands of us, his high level of expectation has never changed. God still demands perfection. But in light of our inability to meet God’s high standards, he sent his Son Jesus to live a perfect life in our place. Jesus came into the world as a true human being, born of the virgin Mary. He lived and grew like any other child. Yet there was one difference. Jesus never sinned. Oh yes, he was tempted in every way as we are yet he was without sin. Jesus never lost control of tempter, never became jealous, never jumped to unfound conclusions about others. Jesus always loved, always demonstrated compassion, and always revealed his servant-like attitude. In spite of Jesus’ perfect life, God chose to make his one and only Son guilty of the sins that we daily commit. The Bible says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Our redemption, our being bought back from Satan to God, required that Jesus offer himself as a sacrifice of atonement; a peace making sacrifice to God. And Jesus did just that. He willingly lived for us. He willingly allowed the guilt of our sin to be place on him. He willingly paid the high price of perfection for our imperfect lives. He willingly died and suffered hell so that we would never be separated from God in the fires of hell. When Jesus cried out from the cross, “It is finished” our salvation, our redemption was made complete. Nothing more needed to be done. Jesus had done it all for us. The Bible says, “The blood of Jesus purifies us from every sin.” And God the Father in heaven accepted the payment for every sinner made by his Son Jesus. God’s demands were now meet on our behalf and Jesus did it. He did it once and for all. He did it for you and for me and for all people. No more payment for sin is needed. Since Christ made full payment for sin, our redemption is now complete and that brings us to the third R of Christian education. The third R of Christian education stands for Renewal by the Holy Spirit. To be renewed by the Holy Spirit means to be changed, to be converted, to be born again as a child of the heavenly Father. By nature, as we are from our physical birth, we are not believers, we are not children of God, we don’t know God and we don’t love him. We are inclined to do only that which is evil because we have no faith in Jesus. We are helpless to do otherwise. But by God’s grace we have been changed. God’s love for us in Christ touched our unbelieving hearts and changed them. Through the work of the Holy Spirit God made our unbelieving hearts now believing and trusting in Jesus. Jesus himself explained this renewing work to Nicodemus when he said, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit….You must be born again.” Many of us first received this renewing work of the Holy Spirit in our baptism. In baptism the Holy Spirit takes our hearts who do not know God and changes them. In Baptism the Holy Spirit gives us saving faith in Jesus. The Spirit makes us believers. The power in baptism to change our hearts from unbelief to faith comes through the Word of God. The Bible says, “Christ loved the church … cleansing her by the washing with water through the word.” But the renewing work of the Holy Spirit is not limited to the power of the Word in Baptism. Every time we hear God’s Word, listen to it taught or preached, or read it at home, the renewing power of the Holy Spirit is strengthening us in our faith in Jesus as our Savior and God. Every time we receive the Lord’s Supper the renewing power of the Holy Spirit is at work in our hearts and lives. This renewing work of the Holy Spirit changes how we look at things in our lives. Instead of looking through eyes of unbelief and doubt we now by God’s grace look through eyes of faith. The renewing work of the Holy Spirit empowers us to forgive others when they sin against us. It empowers us to practice self-control when we are tempted to loose our cool. It enables to be content with God’s blessing in our lives and not covet what he has given to others. Being renewed by the Holy Spirit allows us to leave the guilt of our sins at the foot of the cross. It gives us the privilege to come before God in prayer with every need and know that he hears our prayers and promises to answer them for our good. While this weekend marks the opening of our school for our children, it also serves as a good reminder that the three Rs of Christian education apply to all of us regardless of our age. It is a wonderful blessing from God to have qualified and trained teachers to instruct our children the threes Rs of learning: Reading, ‘Ritting and ‘Rithmatic. But what an even greater blessing it is to have Christian teachers who daily, by word and example, instruct our children in the three Rs of Christian education. Our children, like each of us, need to know that we are ruined by the fall into sin. But more importantly they, like us, need to know that we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus. And finally, through the renewing work of the Holy Spirit, may we with our children live lives that give glory to our God who has given us so much in Christ Jesus our Savior. May our Lord’s encouragement to continue in what you have learned and become convinced of every day guide and keep us in the one true faith for time and eternity. Amen