Easter 4

Jesse Jacobsen

Printed
Time-stamp: "Sat Apr 16 12:12:33 2005"

Lamentations 3:18--26

And I said, ``My strength and my hope
Have perished from the LORD.''
Remember my affliction and roaming,
The wormwood and the gall.
My soul still remembers
And sinks within me.
This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
``The LORD is my portion,'' says my soul,
``Therefore I hope in Him!''
The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
It is good that one should hope and wait quietly
For the salvation of the LORD.

God has true righteousness

It's got to be tough to be a judge. That's why the account about King Solomon deciding that famous question is so well known. You know that question. Two women both claiming a certain child as her own. But Solomon knew that one was making the claim out of jealousy and spite. ``Cut the child in half,'' he ordered, and the true mother quickly said she would rather give up her own child than have such a thing happen.

Solomon has gone to rest with his fathers, but lawsuits still arise every day. Everyone has his own, slightly different idea of how justice ought to be met. One man's justice seems unfair to another. Why is this? Good question. Some would have us believe that we disagree because there is no such thing as justice. Laws are mere conventions we agree upon so that we can all get along. So it's no wonder that many are even trying to redefine marriage, thinking that even marriage was established as a mere convention by the laws of our land.

It's obvious, though, that marriage is not a human creation. Even human psychology and physiology makes it clear: marriage is part of God's Creation, and has been from the Beginning. In the same way, justice is not of our making, but is defined by our Creator. So it's no wonder that King Solomon was a wise and just King, because he honored God and His Word. Those who must judge between men in our day would do well to follow that example.

All of this shows us an all-important difference between us and God. We don't have any righteousness of our own. We are only righteous so far as we are in harmony with God's righteousness. But He is holy and good. That's a wonderful and good thing, because our lives would truly be hell on earth if God were not good. But we are not righteous, so we would often prefer a God who is only mostly holy, a God who can overlook our faults. But that's not the kind of God we have. God has true righteousness. That's our theme this morning. He resists the proud. He gives grace to the humble.

He resists the proud

God is intolerant. He calls things sin, and hates those things. He even punishes those who do them --- even with death. No doubt there are some who would charge God with hate crimes if they could. But they can't. So instead, people pretend that He's different. It's popular to say that God loves everybody, meaning that He is willing to tolerate everything they do. But that's not the God who reveals Himself in the Bible. God is intolerant of sin.

So God resists the proud. That's easy to say, isn't it? God resists the proud. But little do we realize that in saying that, we are describing ourselves. You and I are the proud, along with every other unrighteous person on earth. What does ``proud'' mean? That we take pride in the wrong things, the unrighteous things.

But you say, ``I'm a Christian! Surely that counts for something!'' Not with God, it doesn't. To Him we are all unrighteous sinners, and that's all we are. Now, it's true that something is different for Christians. But the difference is not what we are. We are just as unrighteous as everyone else on earth.

Having our unrighteousness before God firmly in mind, it's not so surprising that we don't live in paradise. Things are hard in life, and it's different for every one of us. We deserve no better. God is resisting the proud. We all have the same kind of lot in life, though it may look very different. The fact is, we live in a world of hurt. God is resisting the proud.

Why is God allowing this? I say ``allowing'' because He never does anything evil himself. But sometimes bad things happen anyway, because He allows them to. Why? God is resisting the proud.

God allows us to suffer because He is merciful toward us. How's that? Well, remember that we deserve much worse, because we are separated from Him at heart. But He holds back the worst, and allows us to experience a life that should make us search for Him. That's why everyone on earth experiences sorrows, suffering, and the constant threat of death. Our Creator wants us to receive His mercy, and human suffering ought to help us find it.

Many do not find the mercy of God. Some die in ignorance of Him, believing that He is something He is not. Some die as His sworn enemies. But some hear the voice of His Word, believe it, and receive His mercy. They are Christians.

It was such a believer who wrote the words of our text --- a prophet of God. He was writing about our common experience in life --- even for Christians. Hear again his description: ``And I said, `My strength and my hope Have perished from the LORD.' Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall. My soul still remembers And sinks within me.' ''

If you ever feel surrounded by sorrows, with no escape, then you should know that God's prophets felt that way too. As believers, we call it the cross. We may mistakenly suppose that life as a Christian is all giggles and warm fuzzies, but it's quite the contrary. Why? Because God is merciful toward us. He resists the proud. Remember that we are all still unrighteous people. So even in His own children, our righteous God uses suffering and the cross to direct us toward heaven.

Does our suffering actually bring us to heaven? No. But it trains us in our faith by slowly putting to death the unrighteous nature within us. The cross kills us, but only the original part of us, the part that must die before we may enter eternal life. The cross we bear as Christians teaches us that we are but strangers here; heaven is our home. The cross helps to keep us from falling in love with life here, so that we wouldn't want to leave it. The cross shows us our mortality.

The cross also teaches us that our salvation is not based upon our own actions. Rather, as unrighteous people, the cross teaches us that we must be acted upon if we are to be saved. We must receive God's Word. We must have a Savior who is not us, and He must do it all. In this way, our righteous God resists us proud sinners because He is merciful toward us.

He gives grace to the humble

God is intolerant of sin, yet God is love. His righteousness is pure, and that means that all unrighteousness must die before Him. Because of this, God's love is not a tolerant love. It's a tough love. If you want to see God's love for the world, then look at the place where He killed our unrighteousness: on the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus lived a righteous man, but He died as a sinner. Because of Him, we who have lived unrighteously are now called righteous saints in God's sight.

Yet in ourselves, we are all still unrighteous people. That could make you wonder what's different between believers and unbelievers. As believers, God has given us something: a gift. He wants to give this gift to everyone, but He gives it only through His Word. Those who disbelieve His Word cannot receive His gift, even though He wants them to. Through Isaiah, God said, ``I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people.'' This free gift from God is His own perfect righteousness. He reckons as righteous everyone who trusts in it.

You can see why God resists the proud: so that He can give grace to the humble. If we came to God thinking that our actions somehow help us toward salvation, then our own pride would prevent us from trusting in the free gift. But when God's laws condemn us, and when the cross weighs heavily upon us, then we must trust in Him alone, and we are content that God is the doer, and we are the receivers. God acted for us: redeeming us through the death of Jesus. Now, He acts upon us: baptizing, preaching, and feeding us sacramentally with the body and blood of our Lord.

When you are overwhelmed by the cross God has provided you, then let your thoughts be turned away from your own works toward the things God has done for you. This is exactly what the writer of our text did. The gospel of Christ doesn't make our crosses go away, but it strengthens us to bear them with joy that we will soon reach paradise. Hear what our text says, after describing the cross of suffering: ``This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.''

Again, this may strike you as bleak or dark words. Can't we expect more from life than escaping the wrath of God? Isn't there a brighter spot than that? Well, not if we remember our own unrighteousness. Usually, though, we forget it and begin to think that we deserve more. The truth is that the only thing we deserve more of is punishment. But instead of that, God has justified and washed us in the blood of His only-begotten Son, and provided us with a rock-solid promise of eternal life to come. These are the mercies and unfailing compassions of God, the best and dearest treasure we have.

Being selfish people at heart, we are used to asking, ``What's in it for me?'' Well, there's nothing here for our pride, because the grace of God is undeserved. Paul wrote in Romans 11, ``If by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.'' God acts. God does. God teaches. God gives. We are acted upon. We receive. We hear. We learn.

So what's in it for me? Only what God gives. He gives nothing less than Himself: His Word, His Son, His righteousness. And these are all that will remain in us when the cross and suffering have finished their work. ` ``The LORD is my portion,'' says my soul, ``Therefore I hope in Him!'' '

The Lord gives grace to the humble. What a comfort this is under the cross! What a blessing that Jesus promised, ``A little while and you will see Me.'' Now, we can have patience. Our hardships in this life are not a bad thing at all, but a blessing meant to purify our unrighteousness and bring us closer in faith to our Provider of Righteousness.

So let's bear our crosses without grumbling, but do our best to thank God for His mercy toward us in Christ. ``It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the LORD.'' Our debt of gratitude cannot be paid in full, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. The best praise of God and the best thanksgiving we can offer is to learn His Word, keep it in our hearts, and speak it with our tongues. So let your soul seek the mercy of God, and trust in Christ with all confidence that His righteousness has been given to you. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Listen at www.grace-els.org
This document was translated from LATEX by HEVEA.