First week of Lent - March 8, 2006

Pentecost 8, July 6, 2008– Confused?= conflicted? Join the club

= &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp;

St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church, Bullhead City

Dr. Earl J. Pierce

Grace, mercy and peace - - -

We are back to our study through the book of Romans. I hope you enjoyed the break with Dave, Peter and Paul. We’ve talked about the freedom of the Gospel, but now we explore the reality of that freedom.

¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am = of the flesh, sold under sin. ¹⁵I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. <= sup>17So now it is no longer= I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that = is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability= to carry it out. ¹⁹For I do not do the go= od I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰Now if I do what I do = not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

²¹So I find it to be a l= aw that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²²For I delight in the l= aw of God, in my inner being, ²³but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ^=
24Wretched man that I am= ! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!<= o:p>

Here we are on the Fourth of Ju= ly weekend. All of the parties on the river, the fireworks and barbques, all in celebration of our freedom as a country, our freedom as a country. We are a= ll quite aware of the cost of this freedom, in battles fought and lives lost. =

But, we may not be as aware of the philosophical struggles that went on once our independence was won. Our revolution was fought in the middle of what was called the “Enlightenment.” It was a time intellectual flowerin= g. It was a time when debate and gentlemanly discussion was valued above all e= lse. One of the visions of this age was the perfectability of man. We could reach new heights of thought, of moral achievement, of goodness and wholesomeness= all on our own, or so the thinking went. While this mode of thinking lead to our independence, it also lead to the French revolution, the guillotine, and the rise of the first modern dictator, Napoleon. So much for peace and tranquility,= huh?

But, the debate in our country, once the military battles were over, was more lo= fty. The Enlightenment side held that man was basically good. And given freedom,= he or she would do the right thing. On the other side, the older, more traditi= onal view, the Biblical view, saw mankind as basically sinful. Given the choice,= he or she would put themselves above the common good. Given the choice, we wou= ld take it.

Even though our founding fathers were, by and large, from the enlightenment scho= ol and thought the best of people, they did not have the final say in developi= ng our system of government. The task of writing our constitution fell to James Madison. James Madison, as modern man as there was. The right arm of Thomas Jefferson, the ultimate Enlightenment thinking. Jefferson, history tells us, pretty much wanted no government at all, trusting in the good nature of man that would work out ok. One would think that Madison would hold to this way= of thinking, and our fledgling democracy was soon fall into chaos or dictators= hip as happened in France.

But, Madison, turned his back on the conventional wisdom of the day and came dow= n on the old-fashioned view that man was sinful and given the choice he would si= n. This is why our constitution is a maze of twists and turns, of balances and counter-balances of power. The house (based on population) and the senate (based on states) (thanks to Franklins compromise suggestion) are balanced = by the president and executive branch, all balanced by the supreme court.=

All this being done to insure that the inherent sinfulness of man would not bri= ng an end to the hard fought battle for freedom. Then, to put a double seal on= for our freedom and liberty, Madison wrote the first 10 amendments to the docum= ent he just wrote, the bill of rights.

All that so we could kick back and cook-out and send off fireworks two hundred = and 20 some years later. What better testimony to Madison could there be? After all, look around. What other system of government has lasted this long? Eve= n in those systems we helped set up through the years, there is none like our constitution. I always found it strange that as we rebuilt Europe and Japan that none of their governments ever took hold of our system. General MacArt= hur basically wrote the constitution for Japan and it came out more like the British system than ours.

Could it be that ours too closely adheres to the reality of the condition of man = as Madison saw it, as St. Paul saw it in our word of God for today? Could it be that our constitution reflects God’s view of us too well? Opps, there= I did it, so much for the separation of church and state.

Be that as it may, our word for today, while sounding somewhat confusing, tell= s us the truth that each of us knows far too well and it is not confusing at all. What it comes down to, for our democratic form of government, for each of u= s in our daily lives, is that we are stuck in this tug of war between good and b= ad, between doing the right thing and looking out for number 1, me. =

Confused? Conflicted? Join the club. You are not the only one struggling to balance y= our wants and needs with the wants and needs of your family. You are not along wanting to help out, doing something good here at church, or in our town, a= nd yet, always keeping an eye out with the question, what’s in it for me= .

You know how when you go to the doc= tor and he runs some tests and then comes back with the diagnosis – usual= ly some big long latin or greek name that you never heard of – oh, IR= 17;m going to let you in on a little secret. When you go to the eye doctor and a= fter the exam he breaks the bad news – you have presbyopia – oh, no – presbyopia – well, friends, welcome to the club. Presbyopia is greek for old eyes. Same root as Presbyterian – which means old ones = or elders. So, don’t worry about presbyopia – we’re all goin= g to have it sooner or later.

Likewise, our condition that Paul is talking about – we can diagnosis it as “simul justus e peccator.” That’s what you have. ThatR= 17;s what I have. Simul Justus e peccator. Is there a cure for it? Well, - let’s see. We need to know first what it is – it is simultaneou= sly saint and sinner. In other words – you are always at the same time, 1= 00% a saint, perfect in God’s eyes, because when God looks at you he sees= his son, Jesus, and also, you are always at the same time 100% a sinner, always willing to do the wrong thing, always willing to satisfy your selfish desir= es first.

You know, it sure would be a lot easier if we were one or the other, wouldnR= 17;t it? Just wandering around everyday – like an angel, lah, lah, lah, floating on the clouds – never doing anything wrong. Never even think= ing about doing anything wrong – never even able to do anything wrong. La= h, lah, lad. Or, let’s go the other way – let’s listen to th= at little devil that is always sitting on this shoulder. – sure, all the vices, why not? Lie, steal, cheat, why not? It’s all about me, anyway – so why not go for it. Boy, that would be great, except when I see w= hat that does to other people, except when I see what my destructive behavior is doing to me.

But, it would be better than living with this tension, wouldn’t it? Always pulled this way, then that way, then this way, then that. Pull, stretch, at what point do you reach the breaking point?

“For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,” We can sure agree wi= th Paul, can’t we. It’s pretty obvious that God wants what’s best for us. Of course, we can see he is only looking out for our best interests. Living by his laws, we are going to have the best life possible,= now and hereafter. Boy, isn’t that great! Sure is. Let’s just live = that way, ok? Everybody ready? Ok, great, now let’s great out there and be perfect! Hum, no one is rushing out. Why is that? Don’t you all want = to do the right thing all the time? Aren’t God’s laws perfect and = the best way to live? Yup. So, what’ stopping you?

Ah, the rest of the story. Is that what’s dragging you down? Paul knows exactly how you feel. “but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwe= lls in my members.”

Trapped again. Wasn’t it bad enough before Christ was a part of your life that you just felt guilty? Now, knowing that you have been declared forgiven and perfect, and you still do all those bad things !!!

No less a saint than Paul got sick and tired of living with this tension as we= ll – “Wretched man that I am!” Why should you feel any different? It is a challenge living as saint and sinner – as perfect = and perfectly fallen.

Unfortunatel= y, sometimes we give people the idea that Christians don’t have these problems. “Turn to Jesus” and all your problems will be over. Y= eah, right. It didn’t work for Paul, how can I expect it to work for me? <= o:p>

Well, friends, while we will have to live WITH the tension of saint and sinner, w= e do not have to live IN the tension of saint and sinner. Paul asks – who = will rescue me? And we have the answer: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Ch= rist our Lord!”

A Sunday school teacher was describing something for the class one day – now, children, what’s small and brown, with a big bushy tail – A boy in the front row raised his hand – I know the answer is supposed = to be Jesus, but it sure sounds like a squirrel. For us to live with the tensi= on of being saint and sinner, for us to live wanting to do the right thing, but often ending up doing the wrong thing, the answer is not a squirrel but Jes= us.

It is his power, his life, his love, present with us each and every day that s= aw Paul through all of the problems in his life, the times he wanted to turn b= ack, the times he wanted to just be a tent maker again. Jesus at his side, in his heart delivered him from this body of death even when he faced death before= the emperor. And Jesus is there for you as well –

This weekend we celebrate our freedom as American with parties and fireworks. Th= is day, Sunday, we celebrate our real freedom as sons and daughters of the most high king – Real freedom doesn’t come from the bill of rights, = it comes from our loving God who knows us all too well and loves us just the s= ame. Amen