Dearest e-votees-
Sometimes we don’t want to hear the diagnosis. We don’t want to hear that we are sick or we are needy or we are broken.
But without the diagnosis it is hard to embrace the cure.
The people in today’s text may well betray our hearts and minds too. We don’t want to admit that we are in need of freedom. But as we embrace that diagnosis and abide in the healing presence of Jesus’ word we are made well.
Peace,
Karl
-------------------
Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”
Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”
John 8:31-36, NRSV
In the “Brief Order for Confession and Forgiveness” (Lutheran Book of Worship [aka LBW] pages 56, 77 and 98) we together say “we confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves.”
I remember a woman who came to our church who could not bring herself to say these words. Her point was that Jesus forgave us from our sins so we are no longer in bondage. In the grand theological scale I want to agree with her. In the particular incarnational case of yours truly I know all too well that sin still has its tendrils wrapped around my life. When I look in the mirror I see one who has been set free yet still struggles against the chains. How about you?
Two songs of Stephen Curtis Chapman’s come to mind:
Free (which can be found on Signs of Life)
Remember Your Chains (which can be found on Heaven in the Real World)
I commend both of these songs to you.
May your worship be blessed this Reformation Sunday as you remember you are simul justus et peccator (both saint and sinner). You are both set free and still bound up. You are a work in progress and God will not stop until it is all done.
God shape us into the people you want us to be. Thank you for setting us free on the cross. Thank you for continuing to set us free daily as we stumble our way after you. Thank you for salvation by grace, not by works, so we don’t get to boast (Ephesians 2:8-9) but receive it gratefully. Amen.
Sometimes we don’t want to hear the diagnosis. We don’t want to hear that we are sick or we are needy or we are broken.
But without the diagnosis it is hard to embrace the cure.
The people in today’s text may well betray our hearts and minds too. We don’t want to admit that we are in need of freedom. But as we embrace that diagnosis and abide in the healing presence of Jesus’ word we are made well.
Peace,
Karl
-------------------
Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”
Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”
In the “Brief Order for Confession and Forgiveness” (Lutheran Book of Worship [aka LBW] pages 56, 77 and 98) we together say “we confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves.”
I remember a woman who came to our church who could not bring herself to say these words. Her point was that Jesus forgave us from our sins so we are no longer in bondage. In the grand theological scale I want to agree with her. In the particular incarnational case of yours truly I know all too well that sin still has its tendrils wrapped around my life. When I look in the mirror I see one who has been set free yet still struggles against the chains. How about you?
Two songs of Stephen Curtis Chapman’s come to mind:
Free (which can be found on Signs of Life)
Remember Your Chains (which can be found on Heaven in the Real World)
I commend both of these songs to you.
May your worship be blessed this Reformation Sunday as you remember you are simul justus et peccator (both saint and sinner). You are both set free and still bound up. You are a work in progress and God will not stop until it is all done.
God shape us into the people you want us to be. Thank you for setting us free on the cross. Thank you for continuing to set us free daily as we stumble our way after you. Thank you for salvation by grace, not by works, so we don’t get to boast (Ephesians 2:8-9) but receive it gratefully. Amen.
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