Epiphany 7A - "You will be Holy"

Epiphany 7A - "You will be Holy" - Leviticus 19:2 - Matt 5:48 - I Corinthians 3:16-17
(On the occasion of Polly Bloom Guinta's adoption into the holy, catholic and apostolic church through the sacrament of Holy Baptism)
Vicar Darren Harbaugh

The gospel reading this morning is quite a well-known passage from Jesus’ sermon on the mount. You don’t have to be all that biblically literate to be familiar with some of Jesus’ sayings here: “Turn the other cheek,” “Go the extra mile,” “Love your enemies.”
These sayings work better on bumper stickers than some of Jesus’ other sayings earlier in the chapter. Like, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Anybody else find the Sermon on the Mount uncomfortable in places? You kind of wish Jesus would tone it down little a bit. For instance, Jesus is says you think you’re basically a good person because you don’t murder or commit adultery, I tell you that are in danger of hell if you get angry or have a lustful thought. Well, if all this weren’t clear enough, Jesus finally says, “You must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
How’s that working out for everybody? You all fine with your level of perfection in turning the other cheek and loving your enemy?

If we examine ourselves, we quickly realize that we are indeed not perfect. Actually, we’re pretty lousy. Ever gossiped, gotten angry, had a lustful thought? Ever cared about yourself more than others? It seems that, according to Jesus, we all deserve judgment.

We need something from outside ourselves to intervene. Because if you look to yourself to provide comfort and assurance of your salvation, you will either quickly become very depressed from the glare of your own imperfection staring back at you in the mirror or you’ll become delusional in your efforts to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees

So what do we do with this? Well, it’s helpful to see Jesus’ comment on perfection in a larger context. Jesus is referring back to Leviticus 19:2, which reads, “You shall be holy, because I the Lord, your God am holy.” There were two categories for Israel: Yahweh, the Lord God, was holy; everything else was not. This contrast is all over the Bible: I Samuel 2 says, “There is no one holy like the Lord.” Isaiah calls Israel a worm, a nation of sinful corrupt people. But Yahweh is called the Holy One.

For Israel, only God was the creator and source of holiness. God did not give his people commands for them to generate their own holiness. Israel’s holiness comes from God’s holiness. It is outside of themselves. On their own, the Israelites “did what was right in their own eyes” as it says in the book of Judges. Holiness was by God’s grace alone.

God’s laws presuppose that God makes and keeps his people holy. For the people of Israel, God’s gift of holiness was not something that happened a long long time ago and was in the rear view mirror. God’s holiness was ever before their eyes. It was something they kept on receiving.

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What’s this mean for us?

The church is the new Israel. Like the Israelites, we are called to be holy and share in God’s holiness. Each congregation is, as St Paul says, a community of saints, which means “holy ones.”

How are believers made holy today? St. Paul connects it to when God’s Spirit comes to dwell in us. This is particular importance for us today. Listen to Paul’s words to the church from 1 Corinthians 3:
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?...God’s Temple is holy and you are that temple.

This is awesome. We are not condemned, but rather are are holy.

But, how do you know that the Spirit dwells in you? How do you know that you stand holy and righteous before God? How do you know that you are saved? Think about this. If some one were to ask you, “How do you know that you will be with Christ after you die?” What would you say?

If you became mentally disabled or were in a coma, do you have assurance you would still possess salvation? What if you were physically unable to confess with your mouth that you were a Christian or lost the mental capacity to understand the Christian faith?

What about a baby? What assurance is there for parents that their child has been made holy?

Well, to answer all these questions, St Paul says in Galatians 3:27 – For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ.”

God makes us holy through the perfection of his son Jesus. Through baptism we have been clothed with Christ and with his righteousness. When the Father looks at us, he does not see our imperfections and our sin, He sees Christ whose blood shed on the cross atones for the sin of the world. We are God’s temple and the Holy Spirit dwells in us because we have been clothed with Christ at baptism.

Well, this indeed flies in the face of the wisdom of this world. Honestly, water, probably from the faucet, clothes one with Christ? But it’s not just ordinary water. It’s water combined with the command and promise of God’s Word.

What is this command? St Matthew records the words of our Lord in last chapter of his gospel:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

This command from our Lord is why many of us are here today. We believe, teach, and confess that when Jesus instructed his followers to make disciples of “all nations” he meant all. Every one, everywhere. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, color, sex, or age. And how does Jesus tell us to make disciples? By baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. He places His holy name on us.

That is the command of our Lord. What are the promises? They are abundant. Believe it or not, baptism actually does something.

St. Mark writes, “Those who believe and are baptized will be saved.” St. Peter says, “Repent and be baptized everyone one of you… for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off.” St Peter also says, “Baptism saves you.” St Paul writes, “God saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” Paul calls baptism the washing of regeneration. New birth. Not long ago, Polly was born, but today she will be born again of water and the spirit as our Savior instructs us to do in John 3.

Baptism isn’t merely a profession of faith that you make. It is God adopting you into his church and making you his child. It is physical and tangible and wet. It is an offense to reason that the creator the universe would choose to come to us in such a simple, mundane manner, but this is the foolishness of God for our salvation.

God saves us not because of what we do or think, but because of what he does for us through the Holy Spirit at Baptism. Yet we don’t want to admit that we are helpless children. We like to find our identity, meaning and significance in ourselves.

Are we holy because of our superior reasoning? No, Rather, God works by defying conventional wisdom. He offers his own son as a sacrifice for us in a cruel, shameful death. He entrusts an uneducated band of fisherman with his message of salvation. Jesus is 100% God and 100% man, at the same time. God is 3 in 1. None of this makes sense. It defies the wisdom of this world. So it follows that God’s means of grace defies that wisdom as well.

So, where do you find assurance of salvation? Do you base your salvation on what you do and what you think? If so, you had better make sure you are perfect. And that your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees.

How do you know that the Spirit dwells in you? Is it because of your ability to confess the faith or capacity to understand?

Dear Christian, turn your eyes from yourself to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are worms. He is the Holy One.

How do you know you have been made holy; that the Spirit dwells in you? Are you baptized? As we sang in our hymn, “When nothing else revives your soul, your baptism stands and makes you whole and then in death complete you.” God has given you the promise that through baptism you are his disciple. You are clothed with Christ. You are made holy because you have been given the Holy Spirit through the washing of regeneration. You are forgiven from all your sins right now.

You no longer need to be seized by a guilty conscience. You no longer need to be disturbed by sin. You are baptized into Christ. As in, you are currently in a state of baptism.

This is why we make the sign of the cross. This is the sign that will be made over Polly as Christ snatches her from the grip of the devil and proclaims her as His own Child. When we make the sign of the cross when we wake up in the morning and when before we go to bed at night, we daily remember that we have been and daily remain baptized into Christ, whose blood has set us free to be the people of God.

Luther writes in the Large Catechism, “Baptism daily strengthens the new man, always remains until we pass from this present misery to eternal glory. Therefore let everybody regard his Baptism as the daily garment, which he is to wear all the time…As we have once obtained forgiveness of sins in Baptism, so forgiveness remains day by day as long as we live.

“You will be holy, because I the Lord, your God am holy.” That's not a threat. It's a promise.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.