Easter 2
1 Jn 5:4-10
4/11/21
Do you
feel like a world beater this morning?
Perhaps things are going really well in your life right now. However, I am guessing that most of us look
at our life and see difficulties and struggles that we wish weren’t there. For many of us there are health issues that
are constantly drawing our attention. These range from life threatening
conditions, to those that are annoying and make life frustrating and less
enjoyable.
There are
concerns about family members who are having problems. We see them struggle with physical or mental
illness, and often this impacts the whole family. We are worried about how
school or their career are going. We are
concerned about the spouse he or she will choose. We see family members drifting away from
Christ and his Church. And we have
concerns about our own schooling, career and the future to come.
As Christians
it is impossible to look around at our culture and not be concerned. The number of people who identify themselves
as Christians and attend church is declining.
The culture is antagonist to Christianity as it seeks to force
acceptance of sexual beliefs and practices that violate God’s Word. Our culture acts like faith in Christ doesn’t
matter – Sunday morning is just another day for a sport’s tournament and Marion
High School schedules a football game for the evening of Good Friday.
The
epistle lesson for today, the Second Sunday of Easter, addresses this. On the
one hand, there is no denying that the kinds of things I have just mentioned
exist. But at the same time, the apostle John tell us that what God has done
for us in Jesus Christ overcomes the world.
Through faith in Christ, we have victory.
John
begins our text this morning by writing, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.” The starting point here is what God had done
to you. You have been born of God. This
is not the way you started. Instead,
like everyone since the fall of Adam and Eve, you were conceived and born in
sin. You were not born of God. You were born of the devil. He was your lord because you were fallen and sinful. No one had to teach you to be jealous, or
selfish or angry. Instead, it was just
there in you as a sinful person.
Jesus told Nicodemus, “That which is
born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is
Spirit.” Sinful, fallen nature gives
birth to sinful, fallen nature. That’s why Paul told the Philippians, “The natural person does not accept the things
of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able
to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
But God did not leave you there. Instead, he acted in his Son Jesus Christ to
give you forgiveness and salvation.
Jesus also told Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one
is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” To be born
of God is to be born again. Jesus left no doubt how this happens when he went
on to say, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and
the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Through the water of Holy Baptism you have
been born again by the Spirit. You have
been born of God.
God’s Spirit has worked faith in
Jesus Christ, and your baptism is the source of the Spirit’s continuing work in
our life. How do you know that you have
been born again – that you have been born of God? You have been baptized!
John has said that the one born of
God overcomes the world. He then goes on
to clarify this further as he says: “And this is the victory that has overcome
the world--our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one
who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” John says that our faith in Jesus Christ
gives us the victory that overcomes the world.
John states the reason for this as
he goes on to say: “This is he who came by water and blood--Jesus Christ; not by
the water only but by the water and the blood.”
John the Baptist had come baptizing in water. Yet John tells us in his
passion account: “But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead,
they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with
a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it
has borne witness--his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the
truth--that you also may believe.”
Jesus Christ died on the cross as
the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. As the incarnate Son of
God, he had become flesh to be nailed to a cross and die for us. In death, he poured forth water and blood.
But that blood is the means by which he has given us life with God. John says in the first chapter of this letter
that “the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” Where sin once
cut us of from the holy God, now because of Christ that is no longer the case.
John tells us in this letter, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness.” The water that flowed from Jesus’ side has become the water
of Holy Baptism that washes away all our sins.
John says in our text, “And this is
the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. Who is it that
overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of
God?” Faith in Jesus Christ overcomes
the world. “The world” refers to all of the ways that devil is at work through
sin. Jesus referred to the devil as the
“ruler of this world.” Here in this
letter John says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If
anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that
is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and
pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world.”
The end result of the world is
death. It cannot be otherwise, because Jesus tells us about the devil, “He was
a murderer from the beginning.” Jesus
Christ had no sin, but John tells us in this letter, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not
for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” Jesus died as the atoning sacrifice in our
place. Our sin brought death to him.
On Good Friday, as the sun was about to set, Joseph and
Arimathea and Nicodemus hastily buried Jesus in a tomb. Yet Jesus had told his disciples that he
would rise from the dead. On the morning
of Easter there was confusion. The tomb was empty. The women reported seeing angels who said
Jesus was alive, and some had even met the risen Lord. But for the disciples
who had followed Jesus there was nothing certain and sure.
However, we learn in our Gospel lesson that on the
evening of that day when the disciples were together in a locked room, the
risen Lord Jesus appeared in their midst. He said, “Peace be with you,” and
showed them his hands and his side. The disciples learned that Jesus lives! He
has risen! And because he lives, we have
life too.
Jesus had said, “For this is the
will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in
him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” Note that our Lord said that those who
believe in him have eternal life, and that then he goes on to mention
the resurrection as well. Because you believe in Jesus who has risen from the
dead, you already have eternal life. You
already possess life with God that has no end.
Nothing can change this fact, not even death itself. If you die, your life with God will continue.
And Jesus also promises that because
he has risen from the dead, he will raise you as well. If we die before Christ’s return, on the Last
Day he will raise us up with bodies transformed to be like Jesus’ resurrected
body that can never die again. This
morning our Lord provides you the guarantee and assurance that he will do
so. In the Sacrament of the Altar the risen
Lord gives his body and blood into your body, and so you know that your
body will be raised and transformed too.
Jesus said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal
life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
In the incarnate Son of God, our Father has given us
forgiveness and eternal life. This is
what the apostles experienced in the life, death and resurrection of
Jesus. John began this letter by saying:
“That which
was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen
with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands,
concerning the word of life-- the life was made manifest, and we have
seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which
was with the Father and was made manifest to us-- that which we have
seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship
with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son
Jesus Christ.”
Because you believe in Jesus, you
have this life. Because you believe in
Jesus Christ, you have fellowship with the Father and his Son. That is why John can say in our text,
“For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is
the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. Who is it that
overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of
God?”
This victory does not mean the
absence of the kinds of troubles I mentioned at the beginning of the
sermon. The Lord Jesus told the
disciples on the night before he died, “I
have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the
world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have
overcome the world.”
Instead, in the resurrection of Jesus Christ we have the
living hope, peace, and life. In the
midst of the challenges we always have hope because we know that Jesus Christ
has risen from the dead. This reality changes the way we look at
everything. This is the source of
encouragement that carries us through all the challenges.
Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ we have
peace. The crucified Lord has risen and
so we know that we have peace with God.
We have the peace of knowing that God’s continuing love and care is
present for us through the work of the Spirit. Through the Means of Grace, he
will sustain us in the life of faith – because after all, he is the one who
created faith in the first place.
And because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ we have
life. We already have eternal life with
God now – life that will not end no matter what happens. We will have
resurrection life on the Last Day when Jesus Christ returns and gives us
resurrection bodies like his own. Yes indeed, as John says in our text today: “For everyone who
has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has
overcome the world--our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except
the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
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