Calvin's Discovery
Sermon text for June 14, 2009:
Romans 3:21-26
Preached at Genesis Presbyterian Church, Littleton, Colorado
The boy was a vulnerable teen about thirteen or fourteen years old, but he seemed younger than other teens his age. Late one evening he was on a bus traveling from a Christian youth rally with other boys and girls his age. At the rally he witnessed his first ever altar call, and though he would never admit it, the experience had shaken him. “Just as I am without one plea” sang the other kids and their advisors.
As soon as the evangelist issued his call there was a line of kids extending from the back doors of the church, down the center aisle toward the altar. “Now is the time,” said the evangelist “to give your life to Christ. You must hurry,” he huffed, “because you might die tonight. Give your life to Christ so you don’t burn in the fires of hell.” Some of the kids were visibly shaken, crying and shrieking. Some fell to the ground and rolled around. One of the adult advisors told the boy they were “slain in the Spirit”. This was something that never happened in his Presbyterian Church.
The rally broke up late that night and the boy sat by himself on the bus and stared out the window at the dark streets, glad to have some time to himself. All of a sudden, he felt a strong firm hand on his shoulder and one of the adult advisors said, “Son, have you given your life to Christ?” As the boy took time to ponder the question instead of answering immediately, the man called for the bus driver to pull over and soon everyone on the bus stood around him and prayed that Christ would save his soul and spare him the tortures of the damned. When the bus finally stopped in front of his house the boy was humiliated and afraid. “Dad” he said to his father, “Have we been saved?”
“Let the little children come unto me” said Jesus, “and do not forbid them for as such is the Kingdom of God.”
This kind of story makes many of us uncomfortable. It seems unfair to ambush a child in this way. And the story may remind us of similar experiences that we have had. Maybe you were ambushed in an office or classroom, or perhaps in a gymnasium or even on a bus. When I was in seminary a more conservative classmate ambushed me in the bathroom at two o’clock in the morning. He thought he had a magical incantation which if just repeated would assure my salvation.
I think that most of us who care about being Presbyterian are not terribly interested in magical formulas. But that is not true of everyone. Several years ago I taught an adult membership class in which I spent about an hour teaching what Presbyterians call the “essential tenets of the Reformed Faith.” I taught the class the traditional understanding of the essential tenets and when I disagreed with tradition I carefully explained why. When I finished a young man said, “But what do we have to believe?” I said, “I just told you what the church believes and what I believe so now you have to make up your own mind.” “I understand,” he said “but what do I have to believe?” I repeated my answer, and he and his wife left the church.
Presbyterians care deeply about our theological traditions. We care enough that we want to wrestle with and be informed by our theology. And more importantly we want to know what the Bible says. Great Reformers like Calvin and Luther helped the Church reclaim some of the Bible’s teachings that were lost under Roman Catholicism.
In Romans, Paul tells us that we are all sinners who have “fallen short of the glory of God.” In fact, our shortcomings are so pervasive that there is virtually no way to distinguish one of us from the other. You and I might compare ourselves to others. “I know I am more faithful than he is” or maybe, “God must have a really hard time with her. Have you heard that woman’s mouth?” And occasionally, “That couple is so good I just can’t believe it.”
But God doesn’t care about these distinctions and comparisons. Because in God’s view we have all fallen short and continue to do so.
Our Fathers and Mothers of the Protestant Reformation were very concerned with the question of salvation, and they did not like the answers they heard from the prevailing Church doctrine. It did not seem right that wealthy people could buy their way into heaven. It did not seem right that someone could buy an indulgence that would forgive a sin that someone hoped to commit soon.
As Calvin searched the scripture for a different way of understanding life with God, three words seemed to jump out at him. The first word was “grace” which is defined as God’s free, unearnable, unmerited favor.” Grace is a gift we receive from God just because giving pleases God. We might say that “grace” is the first word of the Reformation. We are made right with God, because God says so. The second word is “justified” or “Justification”. Calvin believed that when someone became justified, he or she was made right with God through God’s action, not the action of the believers. And all of that because God is pleased to call us friends. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” That is an accurate diagnosis of the human condition. But that is not the end of the story. “The free gift of God is eternal life.” God does not wait until we’re good, or until we say the magic words. Or until someone frightens us to death. Salvation is ours because it pleases God. That’s grace. It is also the beginning of the story and not the end.
The third word the Reformers helped us to hear is sanctification – the process of becoming holy. Those who only emphasize confession of faith, miss the point. Christ calls us to practice our faith and make ourselves available for the work of the Holy Spirit so that we can become more like Christ himself.
Do you remember the story of the boy on the bus? The people he was riding with wanted to save him – cause him to be born again. For them, the confession of faith was all that was important. It was an end in itself, but Presbyterian folks have never believed that. The first glimmerings of faith are just that – the beginning not the end.
So now we have two important words: grace and justified. God’s gift makes us right with God which is justification. That is the beginning of the story. But Calvin helped us find another word which speaks of the rest of the story. The word is sanctification, the process of becoming holy or more like God, and that takes a lifetime.
Scripture talks about sanctification in several ways. In Romans 12, Paul cautions believers in this way, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” We have a choice. We can be like everyone else or we can allow the Holy Spirit to transform and sanctify us.
In II Corinthians Paul acknowledges that each of us is in a process of falling apart physically. And one day our physical bodies will simply stop working. But even knowing this he says, “…we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away our inner nature is being renewed day by day.” That is sanctification: the renewal of our souls day by day; bit by bit. Grace. Justification. Sanctification. Because of people like Calvin we live our lives with assurance and we praise the one whom scripture tells us is “able to keep you from falling and to present you spotless before the throne of his glory. To the only wise God be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
Copyright © 2009 by Dwight R. Blackstock
Romans 3:21-26
Preached at Genesis Presbyterian Church, Littleton, Colorado
The boy was a vulnerable teen about thirteen or fourteen years old, but he seemed younger than other teens his age. Late one evening he was on a bus traveling from a Christian youth rally with other boys and girls his age. At the rally he witnessed his first ever altar call, and though he would never admit it, the experience had shaken him. “Just as I am without one plea” sang the other kids and their advisors.
As soon as the evangelist issued his call there was a line of kids extending from the back doors of the church, down the center aisle toward the altar. “Now is the time,” said the evangelist “to give your life to Christ. You must hurry,” he huffed, “because you might die tonight. Give your life to Christ so you don’t burn in the fires of hell.” Some of the kids were visibly shaken, crying and shrieking. Some fell to the ground and rolled around. One of the adult advisors told the boy they were “slain in the Spirit”. This was something that never happened in his Presbyterian Church.
The rally broke up late that night and the boy sat by himself on the bus and stared out the window at the dark streets, glad to have some time to himself. All of a sudden, he felt a strong firm hand on his shoulder and one of the adult advisors said, “Son, have you given your life to Christ?” As the boy took time to ponder the question instead of answering immediately, the man called for the bus driver to pull over and soon everyone on the bus stood around him and prayed that Christ would save his soul and spare him the tortures of the damned. When the bus finally stopped in front of his house the boy was humiliated and afraid. “Dad” he said to his father, “Have we been saved?”
“Let the little children come unto me” said Jesus, “and do not forbid them for as such is the Kingdom of God.”
This kind of story makes many of us uncomfortable. It seems unfair to ambush a child in this way. And the story may remind us of similar experiences that we have had. Maybe you were ambushed in an office or classroom, or perhaps in a gymnasium or even on a bus. When I was in seminary a more conservative classmate ambushed me in the bathroom at two o’clock in the morning. He thought he had a magical incantation which if just repeated would assure my salvation.
I think that most of us who care about being Presbyterian are not terribly interested in magical formulas. But that is not true of everyone. Several years ago I taught an adult membership class in which I spent about an hour teaching what Presbyterians call the “essential tenets of the Reformed Faith.” I taught the class the traditional understanding of the essential tenets and when I disagreed with tradition I carefully explained why. When I finished a young man said, “But what do we have to believe?” I said, “I just told you what the church believes and what I believe so now you have to make up your own mind.” “I understand,” he said “but what do I have to believe?” I repeated my answer, and he and his wife left the church.
Presbyterians care deeply about our theological traditions. We care enough that we want to wrestle with and be informed by our theology. And more importantly we want to know what the Bible says. Great Reformers like Calvin and Luther helped the Church reclaim some of the Bible’s teachings that were lost under Roman Catholicism.
In Romans, Paul tells us that we are all sinners who have “fallen short of the glory of God.” In fact, our shortcomings are so pervasive that there is virtually no way to distinguish one of us from the other. You and I might compare ourselves to others. “I know I am more faithful than he is” or maybe, “God must have a really hard time with her. Have you heard that woman’s mouth?” And occasionally, “That couple is so good I just can’t believe it.”
But God doesn’t care about these distinctions and comparisons. Because in God’s view we have all fallen short and continue to do so.
Our Fathers and Mothers of the Protestant Reformation were very concerned with the question of salvation, and they did not like the answers they heard from the prevailing Church doctrine. It did not seem right that wealthy people could buy their way into heaven. It did not seem right that someone could buy an indulgence that would forgive a sin that someone hoped to commit soon.
As Calvin searched the scripture for a different way of understanding life with God, three words seemed to jump out at him. The first word was “grace” which is defined as God’s free, unearnable, unmerited favor.” Grace is a gift we receive from God just because giving pleases God. We might say that “grace” is the first word of the Reformation. We are made right with God, because God says so. The second word is “justified” or “Justification”. Calvin believed that when someone became justified, he or she was made right with God through God’s action, not the action of the believers. And all of that because God is pleased to call us friends. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” That is an accurate diagnosis of the human condition. But that is not the end of the story. “The free gift of God is eternal life.” God does not wait until we’re good, or until we say the magic words. Or until someone frightens us to death. Salvation is ours because it pleases God. That’s grace. It is also the beginning of the story and not the end.
The third word the Reformers helped us to hear is sanctification – the process of becoming holy. Those who only emphasize confession of faith, miss the point. Christ calls us to practice our faith and make ourselves available for the work of the Holy Spirit so that we can become more like Christ himself.
Do you remember the story of the boy on the bus? The people he was riding with wanted to save him – cause him to be born again. For them, the confession of faith was all that was important. It was an end in itself, but Presbyterian folks have never believed that. The first glimmerings of faith are just that – the beginning not the end.
So now we have two important words: grace and justified. God’s gift makes us right with God which is justification. That is the beginning of the story. But Calvin helped us find another word which speaks of the rest of the story. The word is sanctification, the process of becoming holy or more like God, and that takes a lifetime.
Scripture talks about sanctification in several ways. In Romans 12, Paul cautions believers in this way, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” We have a choice. We can be like everyone else or we can allow the Holy Spirit to transform and sanctify us.
In II Corinthians Paul acknowledges that each of us is in a process of falling apart physically. And one day our physical bodies will simply stop working. But even knowing this he says, “…we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away our inner nature is being renewed day by day.” That is sanctification: the renewal of our souls day by day; bit by bit. Grace. Justification. Sanctification. Because of people like Calvin we live our lives with assurance and we praise the one whom scripture tells us is “able to keep you from falling and to present you spotless before the throne of his glory. To the only wise God be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
Copyright © 2009 by Dwight R. Blackstock
posted by Dwight Blackstock | 8:08 AM
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