Sermon - Trinity XII - Mark 7:31-37

Do you remember the Gospel lesson from last Sunday or what the sermon was about? Last week we heard the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector. The pharisee believed himself to be righteous by his own merits and the works which he had accomplished. He trusted in himself for his salvation. While the tax collector was extremely sorrowful and repentant for all of his works, and trusted in God for his righteousness. Thus, the pharisee who trusted in himself and thought himself righteous, returned home as the unrighteous one, while the tax collector who forsook all hope in himself returned home righteous.

From this parable we heard of the most glorious and comforting teaching of the whole Christian church: justification! By nature we are all sinful and are born under the power of the devil. Our works avail us none and will no more gain for us heaven than would a filthy rag. But instead, Christ has sacrificed Himself, paying the debt of sin which we owe and taking away the Father’s wrath over our sins. Even though we are guilty sinners, He has made atonement for us through His death upon the cross! We are justified through Jesus Christ our Savior!

When we think of justification, we ought to think of it in terms of a courtroom sense. We are the guilty party on trial, caught with blood on our hands. We deserve to be condemned to hell for what we have done. But instead, Christ paid the price for our guilt with His own precious blood shed on Calvary, He’s placated God’s wrath, and given us a right relationship with the Father. We have been clothed in Christ’s righteousness; His life is now counted for ours; the verdict has been spoken: innocent, justified by Christ Jesus. 

Thus, while our works count for nothing in regards to our salvation, as we learned last week, today we learn that our works do matter now that we have been redeemed by Christ the crucified. Once justified, the Christian now lives a new life. This new and holy life the Christian lives after being justified is known as sanctification. This new life, this sanctification, is taught throughout the scriptures. In Hebrews we read: “Strive for… the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. St. Paul writes in Romans: “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.” Again St. Paul writes in Corinthians, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” St. James also agrees, “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

We see this play out in the miraculous account of Jesus healing a deaf-mute man. “And they brought to Jesus a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged Him to lay his hand on him.” This isn’t unlike how our Lord rescues us from our sins. We who are by nature deaf to the Word of God and mute to sing His praises, are totally incapable of rescuing ourselves. So we need to be brought to Jesus.

For some of us, this took place when our parents literally carried us to church as small children, where we were baptized and heard the Word of God. For others of us, someone had to carry God’s Word to us and speak it so that we might hear it. But ultimately, whether we were young or old, God the Holy Spirit endowed our hearts with faith to believe. 

After passively being brought to Jesus, God does all of the healing Himself. “And taking him aside from the crowd privately, Jesus put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”” By a miracle of the Lord, by the simple speaking of Christ, with just a plain word, the deaf-mute man was made whole and so are we!

Christ declares to us with but a word, “I forgive you,” and indeed our sins are wholly and completely forgiven. All has been done. “It is finished,” as Jesus said with one word from the cross. So indeed in an instant, in but a moment, we deaf-mute sinners are justified and declared righteous by God. 

After we’ve been declared righteous in an instant, a change takes place in our hearts, as we see from the healed man: “And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.” He became as if a new man! No longer were his ears closed to the Word, but he listened and believed! No more was his tongue bound up, but it was freed in order to praise the Lord! “In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.” So too are we! No longer are we blind, mute, and deaf but we are a new creation! We are whole! 

That’s what sanctification is all about: it’s about being a new creation. Part of sanctification does mean abstaining from sin. So as a new creation you ought to obey God’s commandments and His laws. But sanctification is more than just abstaining from different vices, even the heathens and pagans can do that. Rather, sanctification is about having a new heart. 

Instead of acting like the world and chasing after worldly pleasures, the sanctified person views the pleasures of the world as vanities. The sanctified Christian finds more pleasure in God’s Word. Thus the Christian goes to church not because of a social expectation, nor only occasionally, but because hearing God’s Word is more important than the whole world! For the sanctified Christian God’s word is always on the mind and the soul’s salvation is an absolute priority. When the sanctified Christian is busy with worldly business, they do so with a mind focused on scripture. The sanctified Christian takes watch over their thoughts and desires; when evil thoughts and temptations arise, they pray against them and think on God’s Word. The sanctified Christian hates sin and battles against it constantly. When the new Christian falls into sin, they don’t continue in it but instead feels shame and confesses that sin unto God so as to be forgiven. The sanctified Christian, when having fallen into sin, doesn’t despair, but uses this fall as a warning and so becomes more humble and watchful. The sanctified Christian seeks to dedicate their whole life to their neighbor, serving others before themself. And ultimately, in all of these things, the sanctified Christian doesn’t focus upon their good works but instead focuses upon the good work performed by God in dying on the cross. 

My dear fellow Christians, do those words describe you? If not, then repent, turn to Christ and plead for His grace and mercy, beg for forgiveness. Then once again go forward as the new creation in Christ that you are! The new life of the Christian is not a burden whatsoever, but in fact it’s freedom to live as God has designed us to live! To live under bondage to sin is a far worse burden than this new creation could ever be.

If you begin to despair that you don’t live up to your new life, then find solace in that you will never be perfect in his life. Instead, your new life of sanctification as a Christian will always be progressing and changing, and you won’t always do it perfectly. Look at our Gospel lesson again, “And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.” While their hearts were in the right place, desiring to proclaim God’s mercy to all people, they broke an explicit command from Jesus. Even having this new life as the fruit of justification, we still sin in this life. We will not attain perfection in this life.

What’s important is that we continually strive towards sanctification, like St. Paul says, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own.” If we ever reach a point where we feel we’re perfect and without flaw, and we stop striving towards sanctification, then woe to us! But so long as we continue to run the spiritual race with endurance, pursuing the treasure, then happy are we, for it’s a sign we’ve been made alive through Christ.

So I urge you on, my brothers and sisters in Christ! Be encouraged! Continue to run the race of faith until you reach your heavenly goal! Don’t feel like you have to run this race alone, but look to your fellow Christians for support. More than that, rely upon the grace of Christ, let His grace be your fuel that shall carry you to the end. Daily draw upon the mercies He has prepared for you. Find your strength in the scriptures and in God’s forgiveness, instead of yourself. God has justified you through Christ Jesus your Lord, that justification is your strength which will carry you to the end of the race where you will finally obtain the victory.