Easter 6
1
Tim 2:1-6
5/14/23
On February
24 last year, Russia invaded Ukraine.
Russia expected a quick victory. They thought the “special military
operation” would last less than two weeks.
After replacing the ruling government with one more friendly to Russia
everything would be done.
Of course,
as we know, the Russians were very wrong.
The Ukrainians have put a up a fierce and determined resistance. Much to Russia’s surprise, western nations
have provided large scale military assistance to Ukraine. Not only was Russia’s advance on Kyiv
blunted, but a Ukrainian counteroffensive recaptured significant amounts of
territory.
During the
war, the Russians have shown little concern about Ukrainian civilian
casualties. In fact, such casualties
seem to be part of their goal as they seek to demoralize their opponent. The Russians have carried out large scale
atrocities against the civilian population.
Now in its second year, the war drags on as Russia continues to occupy
the eastern portion of Ukraine.
Considering
what has happened during the last year, it does not seem that any peaceful
settlement is possible. However, one
nation emerged in February of this year who tried to play the role of mediator.
China suggested a set of principles that could help end the conflict.
Now we hardly
expect China to be a fair mediator between the two nations. After all, China is
an authoritarian regime, just like Russia.
It has no interest in assisting democratic nations against other
authoritarian nations. China also wants
Russia as an energy source. So, they are
not exactly neutral.
Sure enough,
their plan gave Russia all the advantages.
It called for a cease fire and peace talks. It also called for the lifting of all economic
sanctions. Russia would have been left
controlling Ukrainian territory and would have been freed from any economic
hindrance. Ukraine would have had nothing more than the hope that Putin would
give back what he had taken – land that he has already declared is now part of
Russia.
In our
epistle lesson this morning, the apostle Paul describes how Jesus is the
mediator between God and man. When we
consider his mediation, we find that it is not fair either. Yet rather than the case of China which was
unfair by favoring one side over the other, Jesus Christ was unfair in that he
favored us over himself.
The apostle
begins our text by saying, “First of all, then, I
urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for
all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a
peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.” Paul says that prayer is to be offered for
all people, and then he notes in particular that this prayer should include
leaders in the government.
This
is something that we do every Sunday in the Prayer of the Church. Our prayer here reaches beyond the just the
Church to include the needs of others in the world. We pray for our leaders each week just as
Paul instructs. This is the same thing that we also do in Learn by Heart each
Wednesday. Paul’s words are a reminder
that our personal prayers also need to extend out beyond that narrow circle of
people that we know.
The
apostle then goes on to explain why this should be done. He says, “This is good, and it is
pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be
saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” We learn that such prayer pleases God. Why does God want prayer offered on behalf of
all people? He does because his desire
to save extends to everyone.
God
wants all people to be saved. Our text
removes any ideas that God has elected some people to be damned, as John Calvin
taught. God wants no one to
perish. He told Ezekiel, “Say
to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the
death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn
back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of
Israel?”
After making
the blanket statement that God wants all people to be saved, Paul goes on to
explain this further. He adds, “For there
is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus.” He describes Jesus Christ as the
mediator between God and man.
Now you don’t need a mediator when there
are no problems. For example, there is
no need for a mediator between the United States and Great Britain. After fighting each other in the
Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, the two nations established the closest
of relationships during the twentieth century.
We have fought together as allies in World War I, World War II, Korea,
Iraq and Afghanistan. The two nations
share the closest ties with one another in diplomatic, military and
intelligence matters.
Instead, you need a mediator when there is
conflict and antagonism between two parties.
In the case of God and humanity, the problem is not God. Rather, we learn that God created man in his
own image. He gave us a very good
creation in which to live. He blessed us as his highest creation. We could not
have asked for anything more.
However, the devil deceived Adam and Eve
into thinking that they could be more.
He tempted them with the possibility that they could be like God – that
they could be God. They disobeyed God and in so doing brought sin into the
world. They brought the sin that now afflicts
every one of us. Paul told the Romans, “Therefore,
just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through
sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.”
On our own, we are under sin’s power. Paul said, “all, both Jews and Greeks,
are under sin”. The result is the
sin that we see in our lives. This sin
shows up in our relation to God as he takes second place. It shows up in our personal relationships as
we speak angry words and share gossip that harms the reputation of others. The apostle told the Romans, “for all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Sin is the breaking of God’s law. Yet sin
is not just offense against some abstract set of rules. Sin is always sin against the holy God. David brought this out when he confessed his
sin of adultery. He said in Psalm 51,
“Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what it evil in your sight.”
We were hostile to God and completely
alienated from him. Yet God willed to
save us, and so he sent a mediator. Paul
says in our text, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” God sent Jesus as the mediator who is
both God and man. Paul told the
Galatians, “But when the fullness of time had
come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption
as sons.”
God sent forth his
Son as he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus was a real man who lived in first
century Palestine. Yet he was more than
just a man. As Paul told the Colossians,
“For in
him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.”
Jesus Christ could serve as the mediator
between God and man, because he was both true God and true man. Yet this is where things get surprising. Mediators seek to bring two sides
together. They work out negotiations in
which one or both sides have to yield and grant certain concessions. But no one expects a mediator to be the
solution. A mediator is expected to be
fair. Yet no one expects the solution to
include the mediator being treated unfairly.
However that is what Jesus Christ has done
for us. Paul says in our text about
Jesus that he “gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony
given at the proper time.” The
ransom was the price needed to redeem us from slavery to sin.
God is loving and wants to save. God is also holy and just. Neither side of
God’s nature could be denied. In order
to save use, Jesus died on the cross and received the judgment against
sin. He took all of the ways that we
have sinned against God and made them his own.
Christ himself was sinless. But Paul told the Corinthians, “For our sake
he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might
become the righteousness of God.”
The wages of sin is death. Jesus died in order to defeat sin and death
for all of us. He did so as God raised
him up on the third day. On Easter God
gave us victory over death through Jesus. Unless Christ returns, we will still
die because of sin. But Jesus Christ is
the firstborn from the dead. He is the
firstfruits of the resurrection. Because
he has risen, we will too.
This coming Thursday, we will celebrate
the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord.
The risen and ascended Lord has been exalted to the right hand of
God. But he will return in glory on the
Last Day. On that day he will raise and
transform our bodies to be like his own.
Through baptism you have shared in Jesus’
saving death. Paul told the Romans, “We
were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just
as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too
might walk in newness of life.” In
baptism we died with Christ. His saving
death became ours. Because of this we
are forgiven and freed from sin.
But baptism means more than just forgiveness. The Holy Spirit is the one who raised Jesus
from the dead. It is the Spirit who gave
us new life in baptism. This life is the resurrection power of Christ that is
already at work in us so that we can walk in newness of life.
What does this look
like? Later in this letter Paul tells
Timothy, “Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness,
gentleness. Fight the good fight of the
faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and
about which you made the good confession in the presence of many
witnesses.” Christ gave himself as the
ransom for your sin. So love and forgive your neighbor. Christ gave himself as the mediator for
you. Hold steadfast to God’s will as you
face the world around you.
We were alienated and
hostile to God as sinners. But God loved
us. He desires all people to be
saved. So he sent his Son into our world
in the incarnation as the mediator between God and man. Unlike any other mediator, Jesus himself was
the solution. He gave himself as the
ransom for all to free us from sin. By
his resurrection he has defeated death and begun the life that will be
ours. Already now through baptism this
resurrection power is at work in us through the Spirit so that we can live in
faith and love.
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