2ND SUNDAY IN LENT (3)
Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7.
Source from Back to Luther with German archive reference. Back to Walther's Epistle Sermons.
Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. Amen.
Dear friends in Christ Jesus.
In our days there are certain denominations who claim that even in this life a Christian can and should become perfect. So we hear and read not seldom of perfect love and sanctification. This teaching is one of those strong delusions of which Paul writes to the Thessalonians; there he says that in the last times they would arise after men would not have received the love of the truth. This error is so easily misleading because everyone thinks that a teaching which demands perfect sanctification of men must certainly be a good, holy doctrine; only a person who does not want to follow after sanctification and is a foe of zealous Christianity would contradict it.
And we must add that in many passage Scripture itself speaks of Christian perfection and perfect Christians. If an inexperienced Christian pursues the matter no further than the words "perfect" and "perfection", he very easily believes that according to Holy Writ a person can obtain perfect sanctification and love.
But my friends, a Christian not only has the duty to read but also to search the Scripture. Anyone who lets himself be caught immediately when false prophets adduce Bible passages for their claims is not safe from any error and seduction; for there is no doctrine, no matter how preposterous, for which one can not produce passages from Holy Scripture which seem to prove it. A Christian must therefore be cautious, examine the proof passages quoted, and carefully search the real meaning and the connection in which it is used.
This applies also to passages which speak of perfection. If one examines them more closely one will find: In a few passages Christian perfection simply means Christ's perfect righteousness which God graciously imputes to every believer.
After he had declared that he had preached only Christ and him crucified St. Paul writes: "Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect." 1 Cor 2,6; he means among believers who have received the Crucified in faith and
no longer are offended at him but find in him their greatest wisdom. In the Epistle to the Colossians he writes: "In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him." Col 2,9.10. Here the apostle declares the extent to which Christians are perfect, not in themselves but in Christ, or by faith in him, that is, God graciously considers them perfe c t in Christ.
There are also passages in which certain Christians, when compared with others, are called perfect. But then they are speaking of those who are no longer novices in Christianity, who are not among the weak but who have already progressed somewhat further in knowledge, have become stronger in faith, more constant in love, and firmer in hope. At the close of the fifth chapter the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews writes: "For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness; for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, (perfect), even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." Heb 5,12-14. There we see: When Holy Scripture speaks of perfect as opposed to imperfect Christians, it means those who no longer are children in Christianity but have attained a certain degree of virility in knowledge, experience, faith, love, and hope.
In all of Holy Writ, however, we find not a word about Christians who have become perfect in sanctification or love. John speaks of those who are perfect in love; if you study these passages, you will find that John is not speaking of the love of man toward God but of God's love toward man; he is speaking of those who build completely and entirely on God's love in Christ. I challenge you to make this investigation; the subject is well worth being considered most earnestly by a Christian.
Finally, there are countless passages in Scripture which declare beyond question that all men without exception are sinners and remain sinners until their death. Moses says of the Lord: "Before whom no one is guiltless" (Luther). Ex 34,7. Solomon says: "There is not a man upon earth that sinneth not." Eccl 7,21. In the Book of Job we read: "What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of woman, that he should be righteous? Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight." Job 15,14.15. David writes: "Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults." Ps 19,12. John writes: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 1 Jn 1,8. James writes: "In many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man." Jas 3,2. Paul writes: "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing; for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not." Rom 7,18. "For I know nothing by myself, yet I am not hereby justified." 1 Cor 4,4. And again: "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.... Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded." Phil 3,12.15.
Well, what of perfect love and sanctification now? That is nothing but a pipe dream of deluded and self-blinded enthusiasts. According to St. Paul's plain teaching they, who are perfect through Christ, confess that as yet they have not apprehended it nor are they perfect. However my friends, should the teaching that in this life the Christian is never perfect cause him to, be lazy in sanctification? Far be it! Just
because the goal of sanctification always remains so far away, we should pursue it the more zealously and relentlessly. In our today's Epistle we are urgently exhorted to do that.
Quote the text here: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7.
The Epistle to the Thessalonians from which our text is taken is the very first which Paul wrote. He exhorts the Christians at Thessalonica to become more and more perfect in sanctification. Let us therefore ponder:
WHAT DOES THE ADMONITION TO BECOME MORE AND MORE PERFECT IN SANCTIFICATION TEACH US?
It teaches us that only he:
1. Is a Christian Who has Already Made a Start in Sanctification, and,
2. Remains a Christian who Tries to Become More and More Perfect in Sanctification.
Oh God, you are holy; it therefore is your wish that we also be holy. Look in grace upon us sinful people; do not reject us as we have deserved, but give us your Holy Spirit so that we may begin and continue the work of sanctification within us and change us into the image of your dear Son from one step of purity to the next. Some day take us to be among the saints of heaven, and let us serve you before your throne without sin in perfect holiness forever and ever. Hear us for the sake of Jesus Christ, your dear Son, our Savior. Amen.
I.
In our text the apostle admonishes the Christians of Thessalonica not to begin to sanctify themselves after they had received the Gospel in faith, but to become more and more perfect in sanctification. He says: " Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more." V.l. We see from this: The apostle takes for granted that all Christians in Thessalonica must have already made a start in sanctification. And so it is: To be a Christian and yet not do good works is impossible.
Many picture Christians entirely different than they are presented in God's Word. Many think that Christ is only a Teacher of virtue; the summary of his teaching is: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. They consider themselves good Christians if they live honorably, give to every man his due, and have the reputation of being hon e st.
Others think, that Christ has indeed founded a special religion and has therefore given special laws and rules; one must observe them if one wants to be called a Christian. They consider themselves good Christians, if they go diligently to church, Holy Communion, and the like.
Still others perceive that according to Scripture man is saved through faith and not through good works; so they consider themselves good Christians because they believe that Christ is God's Son and the Savior of the world, and the Bible with all its mysteries and stories of miracles the truth.
All of them err, my friends. Yes, he is right who thinks that faith in Christ makes a person a Christian; but that faith which does that is not merely regarding the Bible as God's Word and Christ as God's Son and the Savior of the world. Even the fallen spirits of hell have this faith; they can not deny that
he who with almighty power destroyed their kingdom is God's Son and his Word the truth; but dare we think that that makes them Christians?
That faith which makes a person a Christian is, on the one hand, something so easy that a child can grasp and have it; on the other hand, it is something so mysterious that many thousands of learned and sounded its depths without reaching bottom, and many millions thought they have had faith without it ever coming into their heart.
That faith which makes a person a Christian is not described in such a way that every one who hears the description knows immediately what it is; it is something which must be experienced. Many have heard sermons on faith for years on end; they thought they knew what faith is; but then one word of God entered into his heart like lightning and he admitted: I always thought I knew what faith is but not until now has the light dawned; now I notice as though from a distance what a wonderful work it is.
If I were to state briefly the essence of true faith, it is this: A person relies upon Christ from his heart; he builds upon the fact that Christ is his Savior, his Redeemer, his Mediator, that Christ has atoned for his sins and borne his guilt. Such a heartfelt, living trust in Christ is not as easy as one might think. Such a trust arises in a man only when other things no longer satisfy him, when he is finished with the world, when he finds nothing more within himself upon which he dares build his salvation.
Using the words of the Bible, living faith arises in a man only when he is weary and heavy laden, when he looks around for a helper for his soul as a deathly sick person seeks a doctor, as the hungry and thirsty hunt for food and drink, as the wanderer in the dark of night searches for the correct way. Then, Christ says, the weary and heavy laden should come to him; he says that he is the physician for the sick and the weak but not for the healthy and the strong; he calls himself the Bread and the Fount of life; he calls all the hungry and thirsty to come to him and promises that he will forever satisfy their hunger and thirst for the asking; he calls himself the only Way to God and summons everyone to follow him, and promises him that he will not walk in darkness but have the light of life.
You see, if a person is really weary and heavy laden; if he feels that he is sick; if he discovers a hunger and thirst in his soul; if he sees that he is lost not knowing how he can find the true way to heaven; and if the teaching of Christ is then preach to him, this preaching makes a deep, wonderful impression upon him; the Gospel does not merely convince his understanding; it enters deep into his soul. It seems to him as though thick scales fell from his eyes and thousands of heavy burdens from his heart. Not till then does he begin to trust Christ from his heart and without at first wanting to do that. He feels drawn to Christ with an invisible, sweet, heavenly power. Yes, just as a ship which has taken water sinks under the sea, so the person now sinks completely in Christ when he has taken the water of life from the gracious fullness of Christ.
From that moment on Christ, yes, the Triune God enter into him and make him a temple of God. Everything in and about him becomes new. He receives new thoughts and desires. Another mind, another love, other wishes and hopes than which ruled in him formerly come into his heart. He now sees the whole world and his whole life in an entirely different light. Breaking off all friendship with sin and the world he cries:
Jesus, Jesus, only Jesus
Can my heartfelt longing still.
Lo, I pledge myself to Jesus What He will alone to will.
For my heart, which He hath filled,
Ever cries, Lord, as Thou wilt. (348,1)
There, my friends, you have the reason why no one but he who has made a beginning in sanctification can be a Christian. The reason is not that a person becomes a Christian or is even saved by sanctification but because that faith which makes a person a Christian is something living and divine; something which causes him to be born anew by God, which brings the Holy Ghost into his heart, kindles the flame of love within it, and makes it heavenly minded.
Therefore let everyone examine himself carefully to see whether his faith is such a living and divine thing, which also has changed him and become immersed in Christ and his grace. If your faith is something dead, if it is perhaps only a feeble conviction of your reason, only the words of cold lips which does not give you the power to say farewell to your sins and the whole world and seek Jesus, then your faith is a pretense, a shadow without being, a phantom without life and cannot help you at all. As certainly as it did not sanctify you, so certainly will it not save you. First you must become weary, heavy-laden, sick, hungry, thirsty, and lost in your soul, then and not till then will your heart learn to believe and your faith become a power of God unto salvation.
II.
My friends, we continue and ponder in the second place, that only those remain Christians who try to make progress and become more perfect in sanctification.
The apostle writes thus in our Epistle: " For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God even your sanctification." V.2.3. Here the apostle indicates the first reason why Christians should strive to grow in sanctification: Man's sanctification is God's eternal will. It is true that God wants to take men into heaven out of grace; that is why he sent his Son into the world so that all who believe in him should not be lost but have eternal life.
But God pardons us so that he can make us holy again. Sanctification is the goal to which God wants to lead us. Since he himself is holy, he can have fellowship only with holy creatures. Through the Christians God wants to create a holy priestly people who serve him and offer themselves to him. So we read in Eph. 2: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Eph.2,8-10.
Would it be possible for him to remain a Christian who, after God has forgiven him all his 4ins, wanted to return immediately to his sins and again love the world more than God's grace? Certainly not! That person trifles with grace, calls Christ's blood an unholy thing, and turns Christ who wants to deliver from sin and who is a friend of sinners into a friend and servant of sin. That person forcibly forsakes Christ's arms which had embraced him, leaves the fellowship of God into which he had entered, casts aside God's grace, and angers him anew. We read in the Letter to the Hebrews: "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." Heb. 10,26.27.
You Christians be warned! Bear in mind what the apostle cries aloud in our text: " This is the will of God, even your sanctification." Since you rejoice at God's gracious will, never forget that this gracious will has your sanctification in body and soul as it ultimate object, as its blessed goal.
The apostle continues: " For God hath not called us unto uncleanness ’ but unto holiness." V.7. The apostle means to say: That a Christian tries to become more and more perfect in sanctification lies in the very essence and nature of Christianity. The moment a person is inwardly " called " by God's Word and Spirit, that is, the moment God works faith in him and makes him a Christian, he also immediately sanctifies him; he begins this holy work in him. Therefore Christianity should and can be nothing else but a continuation of this work.
The moment a person believes in Christ from his heart, he is born as a child of God. But at first he is a weak child. As a child dies which is not fed so that it can grow, so also a Christian soon ceases being a child of God when the new, holy nature created in him is not aided in its daily growth. The moment a person believes in Christ, he is grafted into Christ like a tree which draws its power from Christ. If as a weak twig he is not to wither, he must send his roots deeper and deeper into Christ, so that he may grow and bring forth fruit.
Many suppose that when they have become Christians, it is enough if they do not fall again into gross sins; if they remain free of them, they remain Christians. They make a serious mistake. Many more thousands fall from grace because of indolence and lukewarmness than open sins and vice.
It is true that sanctification preserves no one in grace; but it is just as true that he who. does not follow after sanctification, wanting to continue in his sins, casts away a good conscience, suffers shipwreck of faith, and loses grace, righteousness, and salvation. Therefore if you do not want to lose Christ, you must also try to become ever more free of your sins and cleanse your heart ever more from all impurity, evil desires, devotion to earthly things and all ungodly ways.
You must direct your struggle especially against those sins which in the past have held you captive and most seriously threaten you with the danger of losing God's grace. The apostle warns the converted heathen against fornication and deceit in business; for these sins were above all the chief sins in the great city of Thessalonica in Macedon. Therefore you must diligently examine yourselves to see what still generally clings to you; then you must earnestly and zealously struggle against what you discover in your self-examination as the most vicious foe of your soul, be it anger, or lust, or greed, or pride, and the like. You must not only trim off the leaves of the tree of sin but remove your sins by their roots.
You must also look at the good which you still lack. There must be no Christian virtue and nothing lovely must you see in your brother which you do not also follow after. "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things· are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Phil 4,8.
To that end diligently use God's Word and prayer; daily call upon God on your knees for his Holy Spirit; to help you make use of the fellowship of Christians; watch constantly over your heart and your every step, yes, your every thought, desire, and word.
He who does not want to show this zeal can not be helped. He forsakes
the narrow way and steps upon the broad road. Though he may always be among Christians as far as his body is concerned -- with his heart he belongs to the world and is lost with the world. The Letter to the Hebrews says: "Follow holiness without which no man shall see the Lord." Heb 12,14.
However, blessed are they who strive to enter the narrow gate! Though here they may be imperfect and far from their goal, they nevertheless receive in death that for which they sought, for which they struggled, and for which they strove. For we read: "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Rev 2,10. "He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." Mt 24,13. Amen.