Lent 2

Matthew 15:21-28 - Reminiscere Sunday - March 1, 2015
Faith Desires What God Desires

The doctrine of justification is the chief article of the Christian religion.  This means that it is both the most important thing for you to know, and, in fact, the center of everything that God reveals in Holy Scripture.  The Bible teaches that God forgives the sinner, not because of any merit or worthiness in the sinner, but freely – by grace alone through faith alone. 

·       By grace alone means to say that the sinner is accounted righteous before God, not because of what he has done or left undone, but by sheer, undeserved grace.  God loves us.  Grace excludes all works of man. 

·       By faith alone means that the sinner receives this gracious reckoning of God when he believes that God accepts him into his eternal favor solely on account of what Christ his Son has done on the cross to make full satisfaction for all the world’s sins.  This is what it means to be justified by faith alone.  And so we see that faith also excludes all works of man – because faith relies on grace. 

St. Paul writes in Romans 4, “Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure” (Romans 4:16a).  He thus connects faith and grace.  Otherwise salvation is unsure.  Only if we are saved by faith alone can we say that we are saved by grace alone.  And this is because faith is not such a good work that God regards us as righteous as a reward for our faithfulness.  No.  Faith, simply put, is trust in the promises of God that extend to all sinners – it is trust in God’s grace.  God promises that our works play no role in our salvation.  And this is of great comfort!  Because we know our works.  But we also know the work of God.  Our works are uncertain.  God’s work is certain. 

Even faith is God’s work in us, and not our own.  St. Paul writes to the Ephesians:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it (that is, saving faith) is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10). 

Faith is God’s good work in us.  And it produces fruit.  But this fruit isn’t what saves us.  It glorifies God and indicates to others that God is indeed working in us.  We, in whom God has worked faith, are God’s workmanship.  He who works faith works fruit as well.  It all belongs to him.  But just as our good works don’t justify us, so also faith does not justify us because it is something we do. It justifies us because it receives the righteousness of Jesus.  It receives the fruit of Christ’s life and death.  Faith knows what it needs.  It doesn’t turn in on itself in the hour of need.  It turns to Christ.  God gives us faith by giving us what we need.  Writing to the Philippians, Paul likewise here calls faith a work of God:

“[I thank God] for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:5-6). 

This good work is faith.  The faith that God begins in us, God completes in us.  He completes it by giving us what our faith needs until the day we die.  He gives us not our own works to hold onto, but the work of him who fulfilled the law as our Substitute, who bore God’s wrath against our sin, and who defeated death by rising.  He who is our Savior is also the founder and perfecter of our faith.  In the Epistle to the Hebrews, we are encouraged to:

“run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1b-2). 

From the right hand of God, Jesus rules his Church on earth as the long-appointed King of his people.  He rules us by sending us his Holy Spirit.  He gives us his Holy Spirit though the forgiveness of our sins, which he won by bearing our guilt and dying our death.  The shame he despised was ours.  The joy he looked forward to was his.  It was the joy of his resurrection and eternal life in communion with his Father and the Holy Spirit.  He takes our shame in order that we may share in his joy.  He gives us this joy through the forgiveness of sins in the gospel and the sacraments.  He welcomes us into communion with him who lives and reigns forever. 

He does so through means.  We call these the Means of Grace.  We can also call these the means of salvation since they save us.  We could also call them the means of faith since they give us faith in God’s salvation.  It is through the word we hear and the sacraments that Jesus himself instituted that the Holy Spirit calls us to embrace what Jesus offers therein.  And it is through these means alone that the Holy Spirit keeps us in this one saving faith through life and death.  It is by making use of these means that we run with endurance the race that is set before us.  Christ has run this race and won the crown.  We run by seeking the benefit of his work for us.  We run with endurance, because we run with patience, waiting on God who is faithful to his promises. 

How do you know that Jesus is your personal Lord and King?  Because he rules through the promised Means of Grace.  You know he is your Savior because he is the Savior of all people – indiscriminately.  You know that he is your personal Lord because the forgiveness of sins is spoken to you –personally.  You personally are baptized into his death and resurrection.  You personally are invited to take and eat of the body and blood that paid your redemption price.  The means by which God is gracious to us, namely, the spoken gospel and the two sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, are the means by which the Holy Spirit calls us to live under Christ in his kingdom and serve him in holiness, righteousness, and blessedness. 

The Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts by bringing us what Jesus gives.  He rules our hearts and consciences by giving us peace that no worldly king can give.   He gives us peace with God who made us – with God who provides for all the things that we often thanklessly take for granted and abuse – with God who watches from heaven as we grow old and sick and die – with God who judges sinners and brings all men to destruction – with God whom we are not by nature at peace with.  This is peace that you need.  With this God.  Let death prove it to you.  In death you see the war. Let death be a warning to you and a gracious reminder that he who promises is faithful to complete what he has started.  He who gives peace in the moment of guilt and shame is your faithful Lord who will increase your faith and confirm his peace in your heart when the grave yawns its terrible jaws to claim you. 

This, dear Christian, is why you need to know that you are justified by grace alone through faith alone.  God, who knows what and who you are better than you know yourself, accepts you as surely as he remains pleased with his beloved Son.  He is pleased with Jesus.  This is sure.  And so he is pleased with you.  This can be no more readily doubted or denied.  When things look to be the contrary to this peace, Jesus bids us to look to the greatest contradiction there is.  Don’t look inside.  Don’t find in yourself the proof that you are acceptable to God.  Because if you do and find the smallest modicum of comfort, then you will have deceived yourself and denied the faith.  Rather, look to him who was crucified for you.  There you see, and there alone you see the peace that God has prepared for sinners.  Make use of the Means of Grace – the means by which God chooses to increase your faith and keep you in his loving care. 

The Means of Grace, as I often impress upon the catechumens of this congregation, are the Marks of the Church.  This means that we identify where the true Church is by seeing whether or not the word is taught purely and the sacraments are rightly administered.  Of course these would mark the Church.  What else would?  Jesus creates his Church by water and the word.  He clothes the Church with his own robe of righteousness and gives her new life.  If you see Jesus clothing sinners in the righteousness that they don’t deserve, you can safely surmise that he is adorning his Church, his holy bride.  If you see Jesus feeding sinners his body and blood in bread and wine for the forgiveness of their sins, then you can safely conclude that Jesus is leading his flock to good pasture.  If you see babies being baptized with the clear confession that faith is wrought by the word of God and not by the decision of sinful man, then you can identify Christ at work.  This is the Church. 

But this means that we need to identify the opposite too.  Jesus does not teach false doctrine.  The devil does.  Jesus does not refuse little babies the new life of Holy Baptism.  The devil does.  Jesus does not teach that he is absent in the Lord’s Supper.  This is what the devil wants you to believe, because the devil does not want you to be gathered by the gospel or the forgiveness of sins.  He wants you to imagine that what gathers you is your own common interests and experiences.  He wants you to identify the Church by different marks.  He wants you to imagine that faith is your work and that strengthening your faith and enduring in the race is your own labor. 

But if you identify the church by anything other than what Jesus offers, you will only be able to identify what human community can offer.  But you need what only God can offer.  You don’t need what you can muster in yourselves – call it faith, love, or whatever.  You need to be delivered from what the devil wants.  You need Christ to deliver you from your sin and from the devil who hates you.  This is what everyone needs. 

What does the church have to offer?  Oh, the question is asked and Christians rack their brains trying to give compelling answers that might attract folks to come and find themselves at home in their own particular congregation.  And it’s true that different churches might appeal to different people for different reasons – and some of these deliberations are not necessarily bad.  But what is our ultimate and most important criterion?  How do we choose a church?  How do we invite others to choose ours?  How do we encourage those who stray to come back? 

Our Gospel lesson gives us an excellent example of what the church is to offer, and what others should be encouraged to find.  Here we find a woman who is afflicted by the devil.  Her daughter is demon-possessed.  She knows her need.  She rightly identifies her daughter’s need.  The devil has got a hold of her.  So she comes to Jesus. 

She has no natural connection to Jesus.  She is a Gentile.  Not even the disciples want her there.  She is not a member of the church as far as they can see.  They’re mean and uninviting.  Even Jesus ignores her.  But she does not approach Jesus and demand that the church be more welcoming.  She doesn’t insist that Jesus treat her any differently.  Rather, she identifies the church as we too have been taught to do.  She wants one thing, and she knows that Jesus must give it.  She sees Jesus having mercy on sinners, and she calls him on it: “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David.” 

So she recognizes the church even if the church doesn’t seem to recognize her.  This does not deter her.  Jesus readily admits that he came to rescue his own little flock.  She knows that she needs to receive what his lambs receive.  “It is not appropriate to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”  — So be it.  Appropriate or not, I want it.  And I’ll get it.  She catches Jesus in his words.  And this is exactly what Jesus wants us to do.  He wants us to identify his Church and to identify ourselves as worthy recipients of his grace by latching onto his words and holding him to it. 

Our sister in Christ did not complain that Jesus treated her poorly or that his disciples were rude.  Rather, she stuck to her original request for mercy – even if it meant that she humble herself and acknowledge her unworthiness to receive anything good.  “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 

Dear Christians, we are Christ’s lambs.  He loves us.  He gives us faith by giving us grace.  He who works faith also works the fruits of faith.  This includes good works toward others in our own vocations.  It also includes patience toward God.  We are his children.  But the posture we assume when identifying the Church is as little dogs who need what they don’t deserve.  We identify our need.  The devil harasses us.  We are under his control apart from the gospel.  So we beg for crumbs.  But our Lord gives us a banquet.  We acknowledge that we don’t deserve what Christ offers his Church.  And he washes us clean and gives us new life.  He adorns us as his holy bride and praises our faith.  Why?  Because we know what we want.  And it is what God wants to give us. 

In Jesus’ name, Amen.