INI Fourth Sunday in Lent March 22, 2009

Sermon preached by Pastor Stephen Kurtzahn at Cross of Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), 9931 Foley Blvd. NW, Coon Rapids, MN 55433. Please share this with someone else after you have finished. Thank you!

Bible Text—Ephesians 2:4-10

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

Amazing grace—how sweet the sound—that saved a wretch like me! These words were written by the Englishman John Newton, who lived at the same time as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. Newton was the captain of a slaver—one of those ships that would capture Africans off the western coast of Africa and then transport them as slaves to the Americas. Once, off the coast of Sierra Leone, Newton found himself in a raging storm. He went below deck for a break from handling the wheel, and shortly after he did, his replacement was swept off the ship by a huge wave—never to be seen again. Later, Newton mentioned that this traumatic event in his life made him realize his helplessness and that only God’s grace could save him.

Because of this storm and also because of the influence of his Christian wife, Newton encouraged his sailors to pray. He also made sure his crew treated their human cargo with gentleness and concern. It wouldn’t be for another forty years, however, that Newton would openly challenge the English slave trade.

Three years after his marriage, John Newton suffered a stroke. Since he couldn’t captain a ship anymore, he was able to spend more time studying the Scriptures. He was ordained into the ministry of the Church of England. It was around Christmas 1772 that he penned the words to his hymn, “Amazing Grace.” The lyrics were based on a text he was going to preach on from 1 Chronicles chapter 17, which was a prayer by king David in which he marveled at God’s gracious choice of him as king. In this sermon he spoke about his experience in the storm.

When you know the story behind this famously popular hymn, it seems to hold so much more meaning for us. And when John Newton penned this hymn, I wouldn’t be surprised if he also had his Bible open to our second lesson for this morning, from Ephesians 2:4-10. May John Newton’s words also be ours: “AMAZING GRACE…THAT SAVED A WRETCH LIKE ME!”

We were dead in transgressions

It’s a beautiful spring day and the family decides to spend their Saturday hiking in the mountains. It’s mom and dad and three kids. At first the trail is smooth and flat, winding its way through the woods. But then it starts to lead up the side of a mountain. It’s a steep slope down to the bottom. If someone slipped, it could be dangerous. Dad tells everyone to be careful and to make sure they all stay on the trail. But one of the kids is a goof-off, and as soon as dad says that, the boy deliberately steps off the trail and almost tumbles down the side of the mountain!

This is a good picture of what a transgression is. God has told us in his Word how he wants us to live. He’s laid out for us the path of life he wants us to walk. When we go off the path of what’s pleasing to God, that’s a transgression—a false step. By nature, we make such false steps deliberately.

Paul writes in our text that we were dead in transgressions. We were spiritual corpses. There was no spiritual life in us at all. You could say we were spiritual “zombies.” We had nothing to look forward to but an eternity in hell. At one time we all followed the ways of this world and of Satan. We lived only to gratify the cravings of our sinful nature. We were the objects of God’s wrath.

These words describe every single one of us before we were brought to faith in Jesus as our Savior. Even as believers, these words describe our human nature. One of the symptoms of those who are dead is that they don’t know they’re dead. Unconverted people live life oblivious to the fact they have strayed from God’s path. Since our human nature is just as sinful as the flesh of any unbeliever, even Christians can sometimes revert back to thinking we are pretty good people and we don’t really need a Savior. How we need to stay on our spiritual guard so we don’t ever think such a thing!

We were made alive with Christ

As we move farther into the church season of Lent, the cross of Jesus looms ever larger before us. It was on the cross that the love, mercy and grace of God all reached their climax. These words from Paul to the Ephesians give us a behind-the-scenes look at what motivated God to sacrifice his Son, and what moved his Son to go all the way to the cross. But after Good Friday was Easter Sunday. Jesus rose victorious and eventually ascended to his Father. There he holds his position of power and authority until he comes again to take us home.

In the same way Jesus rose, we who were spiritual corpses—we who were dead in our transgressions—we experienced a spiritual resurrection. It was because of our sins that Jesus lay dead in the tomb. He was brought to life again because the Father accepted his sacrifice for the sins of the world. Our spiritual resurrection is the result of Christ’s rising from the dead. The life created in us by God himself through his gospel in Word and sacrament is the very life Jesus earned for us. And just as Jesus visibly ascended into heaven forty days after Easter, even so we will live with him in heaven. Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ…God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

There’s something extremely important and immensely comforting I would like to point out to you in these words. Notice how Paul writes about our living with Jesus in heaven as an accomplished fact: God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. It’s not a mistake that by the Holy Spirit’s inspiration Paul writes of a future event as though it were already a completed action. This is a testimony to God’s faithfulness as well as to the certainty of what he has promised. What God promises for our future is as good as done!

We have been saved by grace through faith.

We find the word grace and several other words like it throughout our text. Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved…

When we were spiritual corpses—dead in our transgressions and sins—God did not cast us away in anger or disgust. Certainly we deserved it. God’s love is the greatest love of all and his mercy is the richest mercy of all. The love that’s spoken of here is the agape kind of love—the highest and noblest kind of love for those who are totally detestable. Mercy is the love that goes out to miserable sufferers. Grace is love for those who are completely unworthy of it.

Grace. Now there’s a word we’re quite familiar with as Lutherans. “By grace alone”- that was one of the cornerstones of the Lutheran Reformation. Grace is God’s undeserved love for sinners. We’ve also described the word grace by turning it into an acronym, where each letter stands for a word. G-God’s, R-Riches, A-At, C-Christ’s, E-Expense. And so as an acronym G.R.A.C.E. means we have received God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. But we’ve heard these definitions so many times their significance can be taken for granted. So let’s think of it this way: Grace has unlocked heaven and has given us Christ. Grace has removed the mountain of our sin and placed in its stead the eternal love of God. Grace has taken away eternal death and has put eternal life in its place. Grace has cancelled our condemnation and has given us God’s forgiveness in Christ. Grace has rescued us from the darkness of sin and brought us into the light of life. Grace has removed our misery and filled us with hope and joy!

By grace you have been saved. Our New International Version (NIV) of the Bible brings out the sense of the original Greek beautifully: you HAVE BEEN saved. Paul doesn’t write, “You can be saved.” He doesn’t say, “You will be saved.” But the Holy Spirit through his apostle tells us: you HAVE BEEN saved. Right now we are the saved ones. There’s no waiting, no trial period, no background check. There’s no probation like when you get a new job. We possess salvation RIGHT NOW.

Paul then summarizes everything he’s said so far about God’s undeserved love for sinners: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. Jesus lived the perfect life in our place as our Substitute before God because we couldn’t even come close to living a perfect life. Jesus suffered and died for our sins on the cross, otherwise we would have suffered for eternity. His work of saving us becomes our own personal possession through faith—through simple trust in our Savior and his work. Then notice what Paul says so clearly and unmistakably: this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. The gift of God is not just our salvation but also the faith the Holy Spirit has placed into our hearts to trust that this salvation belongs to ME. Faith is not a work we do. We poor sinners are not in any natural condition to even go to God and beg such a gift from him. When it comes to being saved—when it comes to believing in Jesus as our Savior—there’s absolutely nothing we can boast or brag about!

We were created to do good works

No matter who we are—whether we’re an apostle like Paul, or a baby in our mother’s arms who has been born again of water and the Spirit through baptism—we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  Just as God made the entire universe—including Adam and Eve—during the six days of creation simply by the power of his Word, even so in Christ Jesus he called our new spiritual life into being.

This word workmanship could also be translated “creation.” It was also the word used by the ancient Greeks to describe a work of art. Just as a touching poem brings glory to the poet or a fine painting brings glory to the artist, so the new spiritual life created in our hearts is intended to glorify God. As Jesus said, ^“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit…,” John 15:8. God not only enables us to do good works by placing in our dead hearts the living gift of faith in Christ, but he also gives us the opportunities for serving him. We don’t do good works to be at peace with God. But God in his grace has already saved us in Christ and he’s given us spiritual life so we can do good works to glorify him.

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There’s going to come a time in each of our lives when we will be faced with eternity and the prospect of meeting our Maker. This happened to John Newton when he was in the middle of the storm on the ocean, and his replacement on deck was swept away. This could happen to us in a variety of ways and places: possibly in our car as we’re about to be involved in a serious accident, or maybe on the field of battle as we serve our country. This could happen to us as the doctor tells us in his office we have a serious disease or as we clutch our chest as we suffer a heart attack. During times like these Satan will whisper his distressing accusations in our ears and our own flesh will terrify us with its questions: “Have I been good enough? Is my faith strong enough? Is Christ’s forgiveness powerful enough to blot out my sins? Why should God love me? Can I really be sure of heaven?” And when we look at ourselves and our own sins, we shouldn’t be surprised at all if we’re terrified. We know what we deserve!

But when we look outside of ourselves, when we remind ourselves of the wonderful truths the Holy Spirit shares with us through Paul in our text, we can breathe a big sigh of relief whenever the prospect of death rears its ugly head. Yes, even though I am dead by nature in my transgressions, God is the one who has created a new spiritual life within me, just like when Jesus was raised from the dead on Easter. I am already saved by God’s grace. Even the faith I have is not my own doing, but it’s been given to me as a free gift. God has taken special care to create a new life within me so I can glorify him. When it comes to my salvation, Jesus has done absolutely everything. I can rest confidently in his loving arms.

When he was eighty-two years old, John Newton was quoted as saying: “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things, that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Saviour.” On his tombstone in England were written these words: “John Newton, clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy.” But probably the greatest remembrance of John Newton is his hymn, “Amazing Grace.” May these words serve as our epithet as well: “AMAZING GRACE…THAT SAVED A WRETCH LIKE ME!” In Jesus’ name. Amen.