Lent 5 Sermon “Life in Christ
March 8th, 2008 Posted in Sermons+ In Nomine Jesu +
The Rev. Evan Gaertner
Fifth Sunday in Lent
“Life in Christ”
Preachers will use a couple of techniques to figure out what to preach on each week. Sometimes we will use themes to build our sermons upon and then find scripture to support that theme. The themes might stretch across several weeks. For instance last spring I used the Ten Commandments as a theme. Other times we will use the appointed readings for a Sunday and work with that text to mine for the good news. There are strengths to both theme-based sermons and lectionary-based sermons.
The theme-based sermon can allow the congregation to find continuity across several weeks and gain a deep knowledge of a particular theme in Scripture. Life Application will often be the focus of a theme based approach.
Lectionary-based preaching is not as dependent on the whims of the pastor, but place on top of the preacher a defined set of readings that our shared by many other congregations. Each week the Old Testament and the Gospel often are connected by a shared theme. But the connection from one Sunday to the next is not always so clear. On the other hand it would be a mistake to think of lectionary based preaching absent of any theme. The basic theme of scripture is going to be found every week. Near the end of the Gospel of John we learn, “These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
What I would like to share with you today is how the readings of Lent have worked together to bring you into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
Consider first the story of Nicodemus who came in the night to talk to Jesus. Nicodemus struggled with what it meant to follow Jesus. He at first was looking for Jesus to be an upgrade to his life that was already going pretty good. Jesus set him straight that the Son of God did not come in the flesh to be an accessory to someone’s wardrobe. We must be born again by the spirit. Jesus Christ has come because without him we would be condemned. Listen to Jesus words from John 3:17 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
The next week we heard the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. If the Nicodemus showed to us that we must be born again by the spirit in order to know Jesus, the Samaritan Woman showed to us who this message is for. The message of Jesus Christ is not bound by national borders or by gender. Jesus Christ has come to rescue all of us from the bondage of sin. The Samaritan woman had five husbands and was now living with a man who was not her husband. Jesus did not tell her to become a Jew and get her life sorted out and then come back and talk to him. He offered right then and their to give to her a drink from the well of everlasting life. Jesus loves you, even though he knows all about you. Your sins cannot scare Jesus away. He was not scared by this sinful woman’s past. He was not scared off of the cross. Jesus has come to reach across all the borders that we set up to divide ourselves and make us feel more important than other people. He reaches out into our lives and offers to give to us the kingdom of heaven.
Last week we heard the story of the man that was born blind. The disciples wanted to know who had sinned, this man or his parents. Jesus responded, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God would be revealed.” Jesus showed Nicodemus that he has come to offer us the new life of salvation. Jesus showed the Samaritan woman that this life is not for the self-righteous but Jesus has come to give to the thirsty a drink from the life giving waters of salvation. Jesus shows to the blind man and to all of us that God’s desire is not put us down, but to lift us up with the good news of salvation. The disciples looked around for evidence of sin. Jesus went around looking for opportunities to reveal the good news of God’s gracious mercy.
Certainly our sin is a problem. Jesus said, “Be perfect just as my father in heaven is perfect.” Paul warned us, “The wages of sin is death.” During the season of Lent we are given an opportunity to look at ourselves and find the truth of our condition. Without Jesus we are dead. Without the work of the Holy Spirit we are asleep to God’s promises at work in this world. Even while we examine ourselves and find our sin we also our invited to look outside of ourselves and find the promise of God’s love made real in the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ.
Today’s Gospel lesson continues to show us how all these things have been written so that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God and that by believing in him we might have life. We have life in Jesus Christ because the truth is that apart from Christ we are dead in our sin. Jesus and his disciples received word that Lazarus the brother of Mary and Martha was very ill. Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, but still he remained for a few more days where he was. In the meantime Lazarus died and was buried. Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s son may be glorified through it.” Like with the blind man, Jesus finds in Lazarus’ death an opportunity to reveal the glory of God at work in this world for the good of his people.
Many Jews had comes out to comfort Martha and Mary. Martha went out to Jesus and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will given you whatever you ask.”
Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again.”
Martha knew about the resurrection of the body on the last day and figured that was what Jesus was talking about. But Jesus spoke of a different reality. We get used to putting off hope and settling for what surrounds us. We get used to our hope and our reality not being in sync together.
Last fall our local ABC channel had a problem on its High Definition programming where the audio was out of sync with the picture. This audio sync problem made it near impossible to watch a show on ABC in High Definition. In our own lives if we find our hope out of sync with our reality we will find ourselves quickly trying to look away and ignore the problem. But life becomes unlivable when we do not have hope in God’s promises.
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never did. Do you believe this?”
Jesus showed that by faith in him our hope in the resurrection is our reality right now. Right now we have eternal life in Jesus Christ. Right now you are part of the kingdom of God. Right now the truth of God’s love is for you to believe and live in.
Jesus Christ called to Lazarus, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet were still wrapped in the burial linens. Jesus said, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
All of us are invited by Jesus to take off our disappoint and fear and to put on his righteousness and grace. “Believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
Soli Deo Gloria
