# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_2001_S77
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

CONVENTION SERMON
I have been in prison only once, but what a strange feeling it was! While I was serving as District President in the
Central Illinois District, one of our pastors, who also served
as a prison chaplain, arranged for the pastors during a Circuit pastoral conference to have a tour of the prison. Except
for going through airport security, it was the only time I had
been frisked. Except for my visits to patients on the psychiatric ward at the hospital, it was the only time I was locked
in. It was the only time that I have ever been behind a double set of locked doors. It was a very interesting experience.
Later that afternoon when the tour was completed and I
was back in the parking lot sitting in my car thinking of the
remainder of the afternoon, the thought ran through my
mind: “Now that I am free again, what am I going to do?”
And then my thinking went back to the men in the prison
and I wondered: “After they get out of prison and are free,
what are they going to do?” It all seems to fit in with our
text for this evening, where the apostle Paul indicates that
after we have been redeemed by Jesus Christ, we are no
longer under the Law, but we are freed to be Christlike.
What does it mean to have freedom in Jesus Christ? In
the words of our text: “You were called to be free. But
do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature;
rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is
summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Our sinful flesh, our original sinful nature, that which makes us sinful through and through, for
in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing, is our real
human nature. Of and in and by itself, there is absolutely
no good. Kind of depressing! However, the apostle indicates
that from that bondage, that incarceration of sin, we have
been redeemed, really freed, just like getting out of prison.
Free now to do not what the sinful flesh forces me to do, but
free to do what Jesus Christ wants me to do. As Jesus was
crucified on the tree of the cross, so our sinfulness has been
crucified; and since it has been crucified, let us have nothing to do with it. To crucify a person is to get rid of him as a
shame and disgrace, as an utter abomination. So we in
Christ crucified the flesh, have been declared forgiven of
the guilt of our sin, and are no longer ruled by our sinful
nature. As a result of Holy Baptism a new man can daily
come forth and arise, and in that new person we can serve
each other in love.
This implies that as new people in Christ we can love
each other as He has loved us. That’s what Jesus was asking the disciples to do as recorded in John 13, where He
gave the encouragement to love one another. This happened before the betrayal, the denial, the trials, and the
crucifixion. After the disciples experienced those things,
they would need encouragement. And this encouragement
was needed since Jesus would not be with them and they
would be in need of His love. They were to love each other
as He had shown love to them. We, too, are to love one another as Jesus has loved us. This means that by means of
love we enslave ourselves to each other. To slave for another is to make the other’s will our own, to want to work
for each other according to the will of the Lord. Christ has
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freed us from serving ourselves in order that we can serve
one another and love each other.
It is no secret that we in the LCMS at times have abused
this freedom. Instead of serving one another, we try to lord
it over one another. Academically, or mentally, we say we
love one another because we know we should. But we treat
each other poorly, sometimes like orphans, instead of as
brothers and sisters who have the same Heavenly Father.
Because of the groups we divide ourselves into, we are capable of showing frightfully little respect for those in groups
beside our own. We so seldom revere each other as people
who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. We have
been guilty of abusing the freedom the Lord has given us.
More than this, we let ourselves be filled with “partyism.” We take sides and thus have factions, another negative listed by the apostle. We surely can disagree about a
lot of things, but it is unnecessary for us to treat each other
in disagreeable ways. This can only lead to splits and divisions. As the level of disagreement rises, anger develops,
and unless it is righteous anger, there is no room for it in
the heart of a child of God.
Perhaps it is all caused by envy. Instead of being content with what and who we are, there is a strong desire to
be what someone else is or to hold an office that someone
else holds. The apostle elsewhere writes that he had
learned that in whatever state he found himself, in it he
would be content. What we think we want for ourselves or
for others too often drives us to do things that are unbecoming of children of God. One might expect it among the
heathen, but it is truly shameful among those who have
Jesus Christ as their Savior.
We have just had the privilege of confessing our sinfulness and being assured of the forgiveness of our sins. I hope
and pray that you were listening — closely — to the words
of your confession and the words of God’s absolution. To be
announced in Today’s Business you will have opportunity
all week long for private confession and the assurance of
forgiveness. Yes, even for the way we treat one another in
The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod there is forgiveness. As Jesus hung on the tree of the cross, the first words
He spoke were: “Father, forgive them, for they know
not what they do.” Ordinarily this is interpreted that He
was speaking about those who had been directly responsible for Him hanging on that cross. I think it can be applied,
though, to all who had sinned or ever would sin, because
none of them or us ever think in the process of sinning that
we are in part responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus. It is
always those other people who caused the death of Christ.
My friend, it was also you and me, for even if the others in
the world would be sinless except for the one that each of us
sees when he or she looks in the mirror, the sacrifice of the
Son of God would have been necessary. And He would have
made it willingly. Because of my sin it was necessary that
blood be shed and an innocent life be given for the righteous God to accept me as His child. In Christ that is exactly what God did.
200l Convention Proceedings