Sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Easter - Rogate - Num 21:4-9

 

   Easter 6

                                                                                                                        Num 21:4-9

                                                                                                                        5/10/26

 

 

            “And the people became impatient on the way.” That’s what Moses tells us caused the event that we learn about in our Old Testament lesson this morning. They became tired of the journey and the challenges it entailed.

            Now this is an incredibly ironic statement. Because you see, the Israelites themselves had caused the journey. They had not trusted God. They had disobeyed his word. That was the reason they were on the journey in the first place.

            Our text this morning is found in Numbers chapter 21. So we need to take note of the fact that we are not in the book of Exodus. There we learn about how God rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt. Through the Passover, Yahweh forced Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave. Then when Pharaoh changed his mind and pursued the nation, God brought Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground but drowned and destroyed the Egyptians.

            Next, God took Israel into a covenant with himself at Mt Sinai. He said to them: “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;

and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

            Even when Israel committed idolatry and worshipped the golden calf while Moses was on Mt Sinai with Yahweh, God did not destroy them. Though they had broken the covenant, Yahweh renewed it with them. He gave them the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant through which he dwelt in their midst. He led them by a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night.

            Again and again God had promised to give them the promised land – the land of Canann – a place flowing with milk and honey. In Numbers chapter 13 they arrived at the edge of Canaan. Yahweh commanded Moses to send spies into the land to do reconnaissance. When they returned, all but Joshua and Caleb said that while the land itself was bountiful, the people already living there were too powerful for the Israelites. They said Israel could not conquer it. The people despaired and refused to enter the promised land.

            So God said that Israel would wander in the wilderness for forty years.  He said that those who were twenty years and older would die in the wilderness and would never enter the land. This is the journey about which our text tells us: “And the people became impatient on the way.” These were circumstances that Israel had brought upon themselves by disobeying God’s Word – by refusing to trust in God.

            The Old Testament tells us about how God worked out his promise after the Fall that a descendant of Eve would defeat the devil. We see God identify with increasing specificity Abraham, Jacob, Judah, and David as the line through which he will send the Christ. We learn that Israel is the means through which God worked to bring salvation to all people – to you.

            Baptized into Christ who is the seed of Abraham, you are now part of God’s people. And this means that Israel’s history is actually your history. This also transforms the meaning that these Old Testament accounts have for us. Paul told the Gentile church at Rome, “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” He says that it was written for our instruction. Likewise, Paul told the Corinthians, “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.”

            The account in our Old Testament lesson was written down for our instruction as the people of God. So it is helpful for us to stop and ask why the Israelites are on this journey in which they have become impatient. They are on the journey because they did not trust God and do things his way. They did not listen to his word. And the result was very bad for them.

            There is an important lesson here for us. God’s word describes how he has set up things up to work. He gives his word so that we know his ways – so that we know how to live according to his will because his will is best for us. And by contrast, breaking his will and doing things in the ways we choose is bad for us.

            It’s not hard to see this as it plays out in our culture and the lives around us. If you choose to use sex outside of marriage you end up with sexually transmitted diseases and children who have no father. When sex is part of dating and living together is what leads to marriage, the bonding character of sexual intercourse which is meant to unite husband and wife instead clouds the judgment about whether this person is a good choice for a spouse. In addition, the act of living together makes it more difficult to break up. So in what has been described as “sliding instead of deciding” people drift into marriage. But because they have not done it God’s way, it dramatically increases the likelihood of divorce.

            The same can be said about divorce itself. Jesus pointed to God’s institution of marriage when he said: “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” Then he added, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

            Since the 1970’s and the appearance of “no fault divorce” our world has operated on the assumption that if people aren’t happy for some reason, they should get divorced. They should find someone with whom they are happier and get remarried. But approaching marriage with this outlook increases the likelihood that you don’t do the things that make marriage good and lasting. And in turn when children are involved this sets in motion a pattern that harms them and their ability to form healthy relationships in marriage. The same can be said about children who have been raised outside of marriage. The sins of the fathers … and mothers … are visited upon the children.

            When you don’t do things God’s way, it causes problems. That’s where the Israelites found themselves in our text. They had put themselves in this position of wandering in the wilderness. Then they became impatient on the way and doubled down on their error by speaking against God and Moses as they said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.”

            The Israelites said that God wasn’t providing for them. What they really meant, was that God wasn’t doing it in the way they wanted. They said there was no bread. Then they turned around and said that they loathed the worthless bread that God was giving them.

            God was indeed giving them bread. He was giving them manna from heaven. As Psalm 78 says, “Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them bread in abundance.” And there was no question about his ability to provide them with water.  He had already done it twice from a rock.

            The Israelites’ words should lead you to consider whether you take for granted what God provides. The apostle Paul told Timothy, “But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.” Do you covet the wealth of others? When it comes time to give an offering do you think God hasn’t given you enough, and therefore do you give little in return?

            The Israelites’ sin brought God’s judgment. He sent fiery serpents among the people so that they bit the people and many died.  Faced with this situation, the Israelites knew that they were in the wrong. They repented. They came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.”

            They asked Moses to intercede for them. He did so and Yahweh responded, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” Moses followed God’s instruction. He made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he looked at the bronze serpent and lived.

            A basic principle of biblical interpretation is that “Scripture interprets Scripture.” And you can hardly find a better illustration of this than our text today. Jesus declared that the serpent on the pole pointed to him. He told Nicodemus, “No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

            Jesus said that the serpent on the pole was a type – it was something in the Old Testament that pointed forward to what God would do in Christ. You may have sinned sexually – through lust in the heart or through the act of intercourse. You may have sinned against God’s will for marriage by divorcing and remarrying for reasons that are not valid before God. You may have taken God’s daily bread for granted. You may have coveted the wealth of others. You may have withheld for yourself money that should have been given to God in your offering as a response to his blessings.

            But Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was lifted up on the cross because of your sin. As John the Baptist declared, he is the Lamb of God who has taken away the sin of the world. He has taken away your sin because he made your sin his own.  Christ received God’s judgment in your place. And then on the third day God raised Jesus from the dead. Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, all who believe in him have life. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

            Our Old Testament lesson today points to Jesus Christ who is the source of forgiveness and life for you.  And it also demonstrates the manner in which God works in order to deliver that forgiveness.  It shows us how God acts through his word and means to leave no doubt that it is for you.

            In our text God tells Moses to make a serpent and set it on a pole. He attaches his word of promise that all who have been bitten and look at the serpent on the pole will live.  We see here that God works through located means in order to deliver salvation. We are, after all, people who live a bodily existence at a place and time. God made us that way. And when he deals with us he does not ignore this reality of our existence.

            Quite the opposite, our salvation has been made possible by the fact that the Son of God took on bodily existence in this world. He is Immanuel – God with us – because the Son of God became flesh. His body – his flesh – was nailed to the cross. His body – his flesh – was then raised on the third day.

            As he delivers the forgiveness that Christ has won, God meets us where we are. He attaches his word and promise to located means. Baptism is water included in God’s command and combined with God’s word. The Sacrament of the Altar is bread and wine to which Christ adds his Words of Institution.

            These are now the means by which God gives forgiveness and life. The Israelites were to look in faith at the bronze serpent and trust God’s promise. Now we look in faith at what God did in baptism and do the same. We know that through baptism our sins have been washed away. We have shared in Christ’s saving death. The Holy Spirit has made us a new creation in Christ as we have been born again.

            And in the Sacrament of the Altar Christ puts into your mouth the body given for you and the blood shed for you. You come to the altar believing his word and promise that he has attached to bread and wine. In this faith you eat and drink his body and blood, and so you receive forgiveness and life.

God works in this way because it is the way he has always worked. It reflects the way he made us in the beginning. It is seen in the incarnation of the Son of God – the second Adam in whom resurrection life has begun. And it will reach its consummation on the Last Day when Jesus raises our bodies and transforms them to be like his own.

 

             

 

 

 

 

 

              

 

 

 

Sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Easter - Jn 16:5-15

 

   Easter 5

                                                                                                            Jn 16:5-15

                                                                                                            5/3/26

 

            Last Sunday, today, and for the next two Sundays, the Gospel lessons for this time in the season of Easter are taken from John chapters 15 and 16. These are words that Jesus spoke to the disciples after the Last Supper on the night when he was betrayed. We hear them during Easter because Jesus speaks about what is about to happen after his death – the time that we are now celebrating.

            Last Sunday Jesus said, “A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me.”  The Lord told them that while they would weep and lament and the world would rejoice.  He was speaking about what was going to happen in his crucifixion and burial.  But then he explained, “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” The disciples could not understand it yet, but Jesus said that after his death and burial he would rise from the dead. The disciples would see the risen Lord. They would rejoice because Christ had defeated death and demonstrated that the cross had been means by which God has given the forgiveness of sins.

            In our text for today, Jesus is again speaking about what will happen after his death. But this time he refers to something that will happen after his resurrection. He describes how he will return to the Father. And while this may sound like a bad thing, he explains that it is instead a good thing for them – and for us.

            Jesus begins our text this morning by saying, “Now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.”  Our Lord announces that he is going to be leaving.

            Christ repeatedly declared that he had come down from heaven and that the Father had sent him.  In chapter six he said, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.” Then he added, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” John frames the events of the Last Supper in terms of Jesus returning to the Father when he writes: “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”

            Christ says that he is going to the One who sent him, and he acknowledges in our text: “But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.” The disciples didn’t want to hear that Jesus would be leaving them.  Jesus speaks about his ascension that took place forty days after Easter.  In this event Christ withdrew his visible presence as he was exalted to the right hand of God.

            The disciples experienced sorrow because Jesus said that he was leaving them and returning to the Father who had sent him.  For that matter, so do we. We often think that we would be better off if Jesus was still here with us in the way that he was during is earthly ministry.

            But in our text, Jesus corrects any such idea. He says, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” The Lord says that it is actually better for us that he goes away. The reason this is so is that only by returning to the Father can he send the Helper.

            Christ refers to the Holy Spirit as the Helper. This is a difficult term to translate. Sometimes it is left as the Greek word Paraclete. It is also translated as “Encourager,” “Counselor,” and “Comforter.” All of these capture some aspect of the word. The Spirit is the One who is going to help, encourage, and comfort the Church.

            The Lord explains how it is necessary for him to go away so that he can send the Spirit. This necessity is located in the very nature of God’s working. The Father sent forth the Son as he was incarnate by the work of the Spirit. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us in the incarnation. The Father sent forth the Son in the fulness of time in order carry out his saving will.

            We now understand that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was here in order to redeem us from sin, death, and the devil. He was the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world in his sacrificial death on the cross. The holy God could not simply ignore sin. He is, after all, the just God. And so the Father sent the Son to receive his judgment against sin in our place. Jesus cried out “It is finished” as he was dying on the cross because in his death he accomplished this work the Father had given him to do.

            It was sin that brought death for Adam and for all who have followed him. Jesus was here to overcome all that sin had caused. And so on the third day he rose from the dead. Jesus had said, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” The charge – the command – the Son had received did not simply involve his death.  It also included the resurrection as he defeated death.

            Jesus accomplished this. But that was not the end of God’s saving work. Instead God’s work continued in a way that reflected his own nature. The Lord tells us that as the Son it was necessary for him to return to the Father. Then as One exalted to the right hand of God he would send forth the Spirit.

            Christ has now done this. Forty days after Easter he ascended in his return to the Father. He withdrew his visible presence. And then ten days later on Pentecost, Christ poured forth the Spirit. He sent the Helper.

            Now as I stated earlier, we are probably inclined to disagree with Jesus. We think it would be better if he had stayed here. But Christ tells us that we are wrong. Not only is his departure part of God’s plan of salvation, but it is better for us.

            We think that our experience of Christ’s work is diminished by his ascension. But as you sit here in Marion this morning, do you really think you would be better off if Jesus had not ascended and returned to the Father? The resurrection appearances of Jesus in the New Testament all continue to be located in one place at a time. He is with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. He is in the locked room with the disciples on the evening of Easter, and a week later when Thomas is present. He is with 500 believers at one time. He is with the seven disciples at the Sea of Galilee. Each time we hear about his appearance in one place.

            You aren’t located in Israel. How would we be with the risen Lord if things still worked in the way it did after his resurrection? Would we all go to Israel? Would it be necessary for everyone person in the world who believes in Jesus to go to Israel? That sounds pretty crowded.

            Instead in the economy of God the Son has returned to the Father, and sent forth the Spirit. The Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. He is the Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son. The Spirit is the presence of Christ with his Church in all places. He is the presence of the Father’s saving work in Christ.  No longer is the saving work of the incarnate Lord limited to one place.  Instead, the work of Christ goes on everywhere the Spirit is present. Christ and his saving power is present everywhere his word is proclaimed – more on that in a moment.

In our text Jesus states that when he returns to the Father he will send the Spirit. Then he says, “And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

The Spirit convicts the world of sin because to reject Jesus is to reject the forgiveness of sins. Jesus told the Jews who were opposing him, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”

The Spirit convicts the world concerning righteousness because in his resurrection and ascension, Christ has demonstrated the truth that in him the saving action of God to put all things right has occurred. To reject Jesus is to reject God’s salvation.

And he convicts the world of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. Jesus announced during Holy Week, “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” Christ defeated the devil’s rule over a fallen world by his death on the cross when he won the forgiveness of sins. To reject Jesus is to remain under the devil’s power and receive the eternal judgment that will be his as well.

Thus far our Lord’s words about what the Spirit will do are call cast in the negative. But in the remainder of our text we hear about the positive side of the Spirit’s work, and what he means for us today.  Jesus says, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.”

It was true that at that moment – on the night when Jeuss was betrayed - the disciples were not capable of hearing and understanding all that Jesus had to say. They could not yet fully understand who Jesus is and what he had come to do. They were not yet ready to understand the work in which he would use them. Only the death of Christ on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter could begin to change this.

But that time would come, and when it did the Spirit would be the One who would be at work in giving them understanding.  He is the One who would use them to reveal Christ to others – to reveal him to you.

Jesus says, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” The Lord says that the Spirit will guide them into all truth.  He will provide insight and understanding about who Jesus is; what he has done; and how he is the fulfillment of the Old Testament.

The Lord says, “He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” In this statement we gain critical insight into the work of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. His work is to glorify Jesus. It is to take what belongs to Jesus – the salvation that he has won for all – and to make it known to us.

The Spirit always points to Christ. The Spirit’s work is always focused on Christ. When people want to place great emphasis on the Spirit himself – when they want point to things they say the Spirit is doing in them such as speaking in tongues and make that the definition of a full and real Christian – they have lost sight of what the Spirit does. The Spirit never points to himself. He is always explaining Christ. He is always making Christ known.

In the previous chapter Jesus said, “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.” The Spirit’s work is to bear witness about Jesus. And then the Lord added, “And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”

Christ said that the apostles would be drawn into the work of the Spirit that bears witness to Jesus. We learn more about what this means when Jesus says, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

The Holy Spirit – the Spirit of Christ – is the One who caused the apostles to remember and understand Jesus’ words. He did this as the apostles shared them – the very thing we are experiencing this morning. In the Gospel of John we encounter the work of the Spirit making Jesus known to us. This is true of all of the New Testament for it is the inspired word of God. The Spirit guided the authors in what was written. They are the Spirit produced word through which the Spirit continues to make Jesus known to us. There is no Spirit-less word when we are dealing with Scripture. The Spirit has given it through the apostles, and the Spirit is at work through it.

This means that the Spirit is the continuing presence of Christ’s saving work in our midst. We do not have to go to Israel to encounter the risen Lord. Instead, the ascended and exalted Lord is present and at work through his Spirit whom he sent. Wherever in the world his word is read and preached, he is present giving salvation. That is true this morning in Marion. It is true in South Sudan. It is true everywhere, for the work of the risen Lord is no longer limited by place.

You may be inclined to respond: “But not everyone believes this word in which the Spirit is at work.” To which I answer: “And how is that any different from the response that Jesus received during his earthly ministry?” Rejection occurs because fallen man is able to reject the salvation found Christ. They rejected it when Jesus was present performing miracles. They reject it now when the Spirit reveals those miracles in the Gospels. But none of that changes the fact that it is the same Lord at work, both then and now. The same power to create faith and bring salvation is present.

So what does this mean for you? It means you need to understand who is present in the word of God as it is read and preached. It is the Spirit of Christ, sent forth by the ascended and exalted Lord, who is creating and sustaining faith. It is the Spirit taking what belongs to Jesus and making it known to you. So read the Scriptures at home in your devotions each day. Come to the Divine Service to hear it read and proclaimed. Understand that it is your greatest treasure because there the Spirit sent by the Lord enables you to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, so that by believing you may have life in his name.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Easter - 1 Pet 2:11-20

 

   Easter 4

                                                                                                            1 Pet 2:11-20

                                                                                                            4/26/26

 

            In our text this morning, the apostle Peter calls the Christians in Asia Minor – what is today Turkey – “sojourners and exiles.” He began the letter by addressing them as the “elect exiles” and in the previous chapter he described how they should live “throughout the time of your exile.”

            Now it is clear that the majority of people whom he addresses are Gentiles. They are people who live in these areas – they aren’t foreigners who have been displaced. They are from places like Pontus, and Galatia, and Cappadocia, and Asia. That is their home.

            Yet Peter calls them “sojourners and exiles” because through baptism and faith they are now Christians. And this means that they are different. They no longer fit into the world. They are now separate and distinct as they belong to God. They don’t belong in the world, and that is going to be seen in the way they live.

            Peter’s words apply directly to you, because as Christians you are sojourners and exiles in this world. Now we need to be clear about what we mean by the term “world.”  Peter is not saying that that we are sojourners and exiles trapped in this physical creation. He is not saying that our goal is to escape our bodily existence and this material world because heaven is our real home.

            God made this material creation and declared it to be “very good.”  He created us as a unity of body and soul, and only in that way can be we what God intends. The ultimate proof of this is the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The Son of God became flesh – he became man and lived a bodily existence in this world. He did this not only to give us forgiveness, but also to free us from what sin had done to our bodily existence and creation itself.

            Instead, the term “world” describes the spiritual power that controls things. Since the disobedience of Adam this has been a fallen world. It has been a world ruled by the devil – a place of sin and death. All people are conceived as those who are spiritually dead and enemies of God. We enter into this world as people for whom the devil is lord.

            Yet in his love, God did not abandon us and leave us there – trapped in sin and under the lordship of the devil. Instead, he acted in his Son, Jesus Christ. Conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, he is true God and true man. By his death on the cross he freed us from sin. Peter says in the previous chapter that “you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”

            This action by God in Christ is his end time saving work. Peter says, “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”

            We are celebrating during the season of Easter that God did raise Jesus from the dead. In Christ’s resurrection God defeated death and began the resurrection that we will experience when Jesus returns in glory. Peter begins this letter by saying, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

            Through the work of the Spirit you have been born again. Peter says that “you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.” He did this through the preached word of the Gospel.  And he did this through the water and the word of Holy Baptism. It is to this action by God that Peter calls our attention when he says bluntly: “Baptism now saves you.”

            And so in the verses immediately preceding our text Peter says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

            That is what you are.  You are a chosen race; a royal a priesthood; a holy nation; a people for his own possession. God called you out of the darkness of sin and the devil’s lordship. And now Jesus is your Lord. You belong to him. He ransomed you from sin by his death and resurrection.  His Spirit gave you the washing of rebirth and regeneration in baptism.

            And so, you belong to God. You are his. To die is to be with Christ. If Christ does not return first, you will die. But that will not be the end of your body. Instead, on the Last Day Christ will return in glory to raise your body and transform it to be like his.

            Because of Christ you are different. And in our text, Peter lays out some of what this now means for you. He says, “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

            Peter warns us to abstain from the passions of the flesh.  Certainly this includes all disordered desires that are contrary to God’s will. A little later in the letter we get a few more details about what this involved as he says, “For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”

            Sex and alcohol are clearly in view here. Then, just as now, they often went together. The apostle says that Christians are going to be different from the world. It’s not surprising that sexual conduct is a recurring topic of discussion in the New Testament. Christ’s apostles proclaimed an understanding of sex that was completely different from the Greco-Roman world.

            Scripture does not teach that sex is bad. Quite the opposite, it was part of the very good world God created.  He made man as male and female. He formed Eve from Adam as the helper who corresponded to him – the one without whom things weren’t very good. Jesus taught that God instituted marriage as the one flesh union of man and woman. We learn in Genesis: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

            And in fact, God commanded husband and wife to have sex.  He established the one flesh union of husband and wife to produce children and said, “Be fruitful and multiply.”  Sex is good. It is the physical expression of the spiritual reality that exists before God. We have learned that biochemically it serves God’s purpose of creating and sustaining a bond between man and woman.   It is a necessary thing in marriage. And it serves the purpose of creating life from that union.

            But the fallen world takes this blessing and perverts it in every possible way. In the first century world it was considered completely normal that a man would have sex with his female slaves. It was normal that he would have sex with a prostitute if we wasn’t wealthy enough to have female slaves. It was normal for a man to use a boy for sex. The only real limit was that it was shameful for a man to be on the receiving end from another man. The claim that the ancient world widely accepted homosexuality as it is practiced today – a sexual relationship between two men who are equals – is nonsense.

            In the face of this Christ’s apostles proclaimed that sex was only to be shared by a husband and wife in marriage. Only this was true to God’s will. And any other practice is sin that brings God’s judgment. Paul told the Corinthians: “Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

            Peter reminds us this morning that because of Christ and his Spirit we are sojourners and exiles. We are different from the world and so we look at things differently from the world. Once again, just as in Peter’s day, the world says that people can use sex however they want. The world assumes that people who are dating will have sex. It assumes that people will live together before they are married. It assumes the use of pornography. It assumes that homosexuality is normal and acceptable.

And here things today are actually worse than the first century because at least it did not accept homosexuality as it exists today. The first century absolutely didn’t believe the absurdity that two men or two women could be married. And it never would have imagined that a same sex couple would have children as a “family.”

The world doesn’t just assume these things. It expects them.  It promotes them in every possible means through what we see, hear, and read. If you don’t act in these ways, you will stand out. You will be the subject of jokes and mocking. If you speak publicly the truth of God’s word about these things you will be attacked.

Peter addressed these words to the Christians in Asia Minor because this presented a great challenge. We need to hear them because we face a great challenge as well. So I say to all of you – but especially to the young people – save sex for marriage. Don’t make sex part of dating, and don’t live together before marriage. Not only is this sinful, but when you don’t do things the way God created them to work it vastly increases likelihood that it will not turn out well for you. There is so much research that demonstrates this. It’s really hard to go against the way God ordered his creation to work.

I say to all of you – don’t use pornography. Jesus meant it when he said, “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Pornography is addictive. It rewires the brain. It will bring harm to you and to your relationships.

The need to take actions that confess the truth about God’s gift of sex occur in the setting of family. We cannot say that living together is sinful, and then interact with the couple as if nothing is wrong. More broadly we cannot say that homosexuality is sinful, and then attend a wedding for a homosexual couple. And to bring this closer to home, we cannot say that living together is sinful and then attend the wedding of a couple that is doing so. Such a wedding does not do away with sin. Instead, having a wedding in the normal fashion while living together says that there was no sin for which couple needed to repent. And remember, where there is no repentance, there is no forgiveness.

We do this because of what God has made us to be in Christ. Earlier in this letter Peter says, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” God has called us and made us holy in Christ. He has free us from sin. But as Peter says in our text, “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.”

Living in God’s way and speaking the truth of his word will bring the world’s rejection and disdain. Yet Peter offers encouragement as he says, “But keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”  The world will condemn you now for doing what is right – for doing God’s will that he has revealed in his word. But our perspective is always framed by God’s end time action in Christ that we have already received, and which will reach its consummation on the Last Day.

Peter tells us that we act in ways that are true so that as those in the world see us doing this they will glorify God on the Last Day.  They will be confronted by the truth of the Gospel and the truth of God’s will. In an act of vindication they will have to to glorify God because you did what was right.

This morning Peter tells us that as Christians we are sojourners and exiles. We are different and don’t belong to a fallen world that is ruled by the devil. Instead in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ God has given us forgiveness and called us to faith through the work of his Spirit. God has called us to be his chosen race chosen race; his royal priesthood; his holy nation; the people for his own possession.

Because God has done this, Jesus is our Lord. We are different from the world, and so we live in different ways – God’s ways. So abstain from fleshly lusts that wage war against the soul. And walk in the ways of the Lord for they are a blessing to you.