Lenten Midweek I
Christian
Questions with Their Answers: Sin and Salvation[1]
March 1, 2023
Text: Christian Questions 1-6
I
invite the congregation to turn to page 329 in your hymnal as we examine
Questions 1-6 of “Christian Questions with Their Answers”…
The
first step in our self-examination as we prepare to receive the Sacrament of
our Lord’s true body and blood, is to ask ourselves if we really understand who
we are as a result of our sin, the condemnation our sins merit, and
whether we repent of our sins, or wish to remain in them. It is only when we understand the total
separation our sin has made between us and God; that we justly merit “His
wrath and displeasure, temporal death, and eternal damnation” (Question 4);
that remaining in our sins will result in just that; and that in and of
ourselves we have no hope of salvation; that we may then understand that our
only hope, our only Savior, is Jesus Christ, our Lord, who takes away our sins,
and gives us His own righteousness by means of His Word and Sacraments. That is why we hunger for the body of
Jesus Christ, given into death on the cross for our sins; and thirst for
the blood of Jesus Christ, shed on the cross for our forgiveness. And it is that which is now given, under the
bread and wine, for us Christians to eat and to drink in the Holy Supper. Sin and salvation. You must know the sin part in order to realize
your great need for salvation and run to Christ. Repentance and faith. Seeing your sin, you are mortified, but with
thanksgiving and great rejoicing, you receive and cling to the lifeline Jesus
extends to you now in His saving Means of Grace.
Now,
this is going to be counter-intuitive, as the truth so often is, but to live a
happy, confident, joy-filled life, the last thing you need is high
self-esteem. Self-esteem is the gospel
preached by the world, and it is no Gospel.
Think about the problem with the whole idea. Self-esteem means to love yourself. It is all about being curved in on yourself. Ah, wait a minute! That is the very definition of sin. That is what went wrong in the Garden, as we
heard this past Sunday. Adam and Eve were
entirely focused on God, and, as a result, on one another; but when they
listened to the serpent, and ate the forbidden fruit, all of a sudden they were
focused only on themselves, and not on God, nor, as a result, on one another,
nor on their future children (us!). That
is the problem with self-esteem.
Think
about some of the popular phrases by which the world preaches the self-esteem
gospel. I looked some of them up. “I (heart) Myself.” “I believe in Me!” “Believe in yourself!” “I love myself.” “I am great!”
“I am amazing!” Where do these
catch-phrases direct your faith?
God? Jesus Christ? No.
The self. And in whom do
these catch-phrases boast? Who is the
object of praise? God? Jesus Christ?
No. The self! Kind of reminds me of Nebuchadnezzar,
boasting in “this Babylon” which he had built for himself by his mighty
power and for the glory of his majesty (Dan. 4). Do you remember how that episode ends? For seven periods of time (weeks… months?) he
lives like an animal in the wild. He is
utterly humiliated. But he believed his
self-esteem posters.
Here
are some more substantial quotes that elucidate this false-teaching. “You yourself, as much as anybody in the
entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” That one is actually attributed to Buddha,
which already tells you something.
Here’s one from that great theologian, Lucille Ball: “Love yourself
first and everything else falls into line.”
What should we think of this in light of the First and Greatest
Commandment: “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with
all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark
12:30; ESV)? Isn’t it actually true that
when you love God first, then everything else falls into place? If God is not in His proper place,
everything else, including you, falls into disorder. This is really a First Commandment issue,
isn’t it? When we love ourselves
first, we make ourselves gods in place of God.
Then
what about other people? Again, here are
some quotes. “Instead of wiping away
your tears, wipe away the people who made you cry.” “The biggest mistake I have made in my life
is letting people stay in my life far longer than they deserved to.” “There comes a point in your life when you
realize who matters, who never did, who won’t anymore, and who always will.” I see these kinds of things posted on social
media all the time by well-meaning Christians who don’t realize what they’re
really saying. How does this square with
our Lord’s command to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22: 39;
Lev. 19:18)? What about “love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:44). Those are both quotes from Jesus, which,
again, should tell you something. Or how
about this from St. Paul: “Live in harmony with one another… If possible, so far as it depends on you,
live peaceably with all” (Rom. 12:16, 18).
Or St. Peter: “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since
love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). He isn’t saying your love covers your
sins. He is saying your love for
others covers over their sins, forgives them, and puts the
best construction on everything.
What
we are actually doing when we hear and believe the lies of the self-esteem
cult, is seeking justification and salvation in the very sin that damns us. Self-esteem = self-justification. And self-justification is the turning away
from the justification we have in Jesus Christ, to curve totally in on the
self. Beloved, we must crucify our
self-justifying old Adam… we must destroy our self-loving, self-worshiping,
self-esteem… before self-esteem destroys us.
Self-esteem leads to sham happiness.
It is never real. It is never
dependable. Because it always has to prove
itself. Before God and others. And above all, before itself! Because even you don’t believe your
own lies.
Actually,
to live a happy, confident, joy-filled life, you don’t need high
self-esteem. You need God’s
esteem. You don’t need to build yourself
up in your own eyes and the eyes of others.
You need to see you how God sees you: A sinner… forgiven,
for the sake of Jesus Christ alone. And
therefore loved by God.
You
can’t really know God’s esteem, until you know just how utterly and completely undeserving
you are to receive it. It is only when
we know how unlovable we have made ourselves by our sin and rebellion, our
rejection of God, that we can know how astounding is our God’s love for
us, and how astounding is the manner in which He loves us and
makes us His own. You start with honest
self-examination in light of the Ten Commandments, and a true acknowledgment
and confession of your sins against them. It will kill you to do this. You won’t feel good about yourself. But the point is not to leave you feeling guilty
and bad. Trust me, I don’t want you to
have some sort of self-loathing crisis when you leave here tonight. The point is to prepare your ears, and mind,
and heart, and soul, to hear and believe this: “God shows his love for us in
that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). “For God so loved the world,” loved it
in this manner, “that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in
him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). These are much better than any self-esteem
poster. And unlike your self-esteem
posters, they are actually true.
Now
your happiness, your confidence, your joyfulness, doesn’t depend on whether you
can convince yourself and others that you are good and righteous and worth
their (and your) love. Now it depends
only and alone on Jesus. It doesn’t
depend on how you see yourself, or how others see you. It depends upon how Christ sees you. Look what He did for you. That’s how much He loves you. That’s the way in which He loves you
and makes you His own. Your happiness,
your confidence, your joyfulness, is not in yourself. “For we are not sufficient in ourselves to
claim anything as coming from us…”
No. These gifts are from
God. These are in Christ. Our “sufficiency is from God” (2 Cor.
3:5). Jesus Christ is our sufficiency,
our happiness, our confidence, our joy. We don’t need self-esteem. We need Christ’s esteem. That lifts our drooping heads from focusing
on our own navels, to focus instead on God once again, as we were
created to do, and receive from Him every good gift. And as a result, to focus on our
neighbor. To love God above all,
and to love our neighbor as ourself.
Self-esteem curves us in on ourselves. Christ’s esteem saves us, and
straightens us out to walk as His upright creatures once again. To look up, and to look out. And I promise you this: Whereas looking at
yourself will only, ultimately, bring you misery and unhappiness; looking away
from yourself, and to God, and toward others… will make you happy, confident,
and fill you with joy.
So
this drives us here to the altar. And to
the Scriptures. And to the
Preaching. And to the Absolution. It drives us to exult in our Baptism every
day. Beloved, Jesus died for you. Jesus is risen and lives for you. What an astonishing mystery. You don’t need to esteem yourself. Christ’s unfailing love and esteem for you is
so much better. Do you believe that you
are a sinner? “Yes,” you answer
confidently, “I believe it. A poor,
miserable one. But I also hope to be saved. And my hope is sure and certain. For my hope is in my dear Lord Jesus
Christ.” In the Name of the Father, and
of the Son X, and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
[1] This year’s Lenten Midweek
meditations make use of the resources at https://resources.lcms.org/worship-planning/worship-suggestions-for-2023-midweek-lenten-services/
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