"OUR MEDIATOR"
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 20)
September 18, 2016
Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church
Glenshaw, Pennsylvania
TEXT:
There is one God and there is one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given in the proper time.
1 Timothy 2:5, 6 (ESV)
Reformation Sunday isn't for another month or so, but the Epistle for this morning certainly addresses one of the great themes of the Reformation: the truth that the only Mediator between us and our God is the God-Man Jesus Christ--the One who brought about reconciliation between us sinners and our just God by making full and complete atonement for human sin. This principle accounts for our objection as Lutherans to the practice of praying to certain saints of the Church, asking them to intercede with God for sinners. Nearly five hundred years after the Reformation, this is an issue that still divides Christians today. On the basis of this Scripture and others like it, we maintain that our prayers can be addressed only to the Triune God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that our prayers are to be offered in the name of Jesus Christ alone in view of the atonement that He accomplished for us--that to look to others as intercessors or mediators compromises the Gospel and perhaps even borders on idolatry.
We're all familiar with those differences. We may have even gotten into arguments defending our position. But this passage also challenges us to look at ourselves. Before we become too righteously indignant about the abuses of others, we need to make sure that we aren't relying on other mediators as well. Have you ever noticed that if you ask someone a pointed question about his life in Christ, that person will very seldom give you a straight answer? He will tell you what he thinks about religion (or "spirituality," as they call it these days), but that's not what you asked. We are much more comfortable discussing our faith in institutionalized terms. We might say, for example: "I'm a member of Bethel Lutheran Church." To that God says: "Fine and good, but are you a member of Jesus Christ?" Or maybe we will say: "My grandmother faithfully went to church every Sunday and said her prayers every day." To that God also says: "Good for her, but are you a member of Jesus Christ?" This morning I'd like us to spend these few minutes looking at what is lacking in other would-be mediators between our God and us and why the one Mediator--Jesus Christ--is sufficient.
All other mediators besides Christ are lacking because they are not able to bridge the barrier of sin that stands between the perfect God and His rebellious creation. There is certainly nothing wrong with having a special love or loyalty for a particular person of faith, a particular congregation, or even a particular pastor. But keep it in perspective. That special person of faith, that special congregation, and that special pastor did not suffer and die to make atonement for your sin. They have neither the authority nor the ability to make satisfaction for your sins before God. What they can do is tell you about the Christ who has done everything for you and for them and proclaim forgiveness in His name. These people, no matter how wonderful they may be, are sinners just like you. They can't even atone for their own sin, let alone anyone else's. Even if they wanted to, any sacrifice that they might make on your behalf would be lacking, because they are debtors themselves.
To understand this it is necessary to understand what God demands for the justification of lost sinners. He first of all requires obedience to His Law. The Law of God is quite different from the laws of men. It doesn't ask you do obey most of the time. It doesn't ask you to do your best. It doesn't exempt you if have a good excuse. The Law of God is a standard of perfection. The slightest infraction nullifies the whole of it. "You must be perfect," the Law says, "as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). There has not yet lived a human being (except for Christ alone) who has done this. Our rebellious spirit is so ingrained in us that we don't even seriously think about keeping the Law perfectly. The purest model Christian still falls short in this basic requirement of God's Law. The other thing that God requires is a perfect sacrifice of atonement for sin. Our sin can be paid for only by the shedding of innocent blood. Again, since none of us is innocent, none of us is capable of offering that kind of sacrifice.
That's why God became human in Christ. He beheld our hopeless condition and His infinite love for us moved Him to do for us what we could never even begin to do for ourselves. He took upon Himself the responsibility for obeying the Law perfectly, and He did it. He took upon Himself the responsibility for offering to God the perfect sacrifice for sin--the Innocent for the guilty--and this He did also by His suffering and death on the cross. No one else could do this, for only He was able to perfectly meet all of the Law's demands and only He was innocent and therefore able to make a sacrifice for others. One of Jesus' last statements on the cross before He died was: "It is finished" (John 19:30). In this simple statement our Savior proclaimed the completion of His atoning work--the paying of our debt--the laying to rest of our sin. In this statement Jesus bore witness to the sufficiency of His sacrifice to make full atonement for all human sin.
We have further assurance that Jesus is sufficient as the one Mediator between God and men. On the third day after His death He was raised from the dead in glory. As much as we emphasize the resurrection of Christ and consider it to be an essential article of Christian doctrine, I don't think many of us fully understand or appreciate its real significance. The resurrection is not a part of what Jesus did to redeem us from sin. He had already done that on the cross. The resurrection is God's stamp of approval on what Jesus did for us. It was God's way of saying to all the world that He accepted the sacrifice that His Son offered for the sin of the world. It was God's "Amen,"--God's "Yes." Because Jesus is risen from the dead, you and I can be confident that we are at peace with God solely through the redeeming work of our Savior. There is nothing left for us to do in order for us to be justified before God. There is nothing that we can or should do to add to that once-for-all perfect sacrifice of Christ. Such attempts, in fact, are a denial of His atoning work. Don't misunderstand me: We are to do good works. These are not optional for the believer in Christ. But the good that we attempt to do must always be viewed as a response of thanksgiving for what Christ has done for us. It must never be construed as something that's going to appease God or earn His favor.
Jesus Christ is the one Mediator between God and us. Christian friends and saints of the past are certainly God's gifts to us. They offer us encouragement as we "fight the good fight of the faith" (1 Timothy 6:12). But as far as making any kind of impression on God is concerned, we must look nowhere else but to the perfect life and innocent death of Jesus Christ, for in Him and in Him alone we have perfect atonement and peace, being assured by the promise of the Word: "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV).
Amen.