Last Sunday, coming through the haze of the “No Kings” protests across our country, the developing war between Israel and Iran, and the shocking news of the political assassinations in Minnesota, I went to be part of an ordination service in Moorpark. Now, those things may seem like they have nothing to do with each other. But for the church, for the people of God, I found it to be the perfect thing to participate in amidst the chaos of our age. An ordination is a service where a man who has been trained, examined, and called into the ministry of the Word is officially consecrated for such service. And so he publicly makes a confession to faithfully engage in the ministry of Word and Sacrament for the benefit of God’s people.
At the heart of this ministry is the distinction between Law and Gospel. That is holding on to the truth that God’s Word works in our lives as either condemnation and correction or hope and promise. When these two are confused or mixed in such a way that the gospel becomes law, then hope and assurance go out the window. If one is going to preach and teach the Word of God, then it is crucial to properly make this distinction. God’s law condemns mankind and exposes the failure of their own works to gain them eternal life. On the other hand, the Gospel is the promise that everything has been accomplished for them in the person and work of our Jesus Christ. Through this working of God’s Word, the hearers were killed and brought forth to new life.
This rhythm of death and life, of Law and Gospel, is the rhythm of the people of God. We regularly confess our sins and receive the good news of forgiveness in the blood of Christ. Through this process, we are routinely turned from our own strength and wisdom to rely on Christ alone for our salvation. It brings us here around his gifts to hear again the promise, to be assured that you are forgiven all your sins and welcome into the eternal blessings of God. And this reality is what St. Paul is explaining to us in his letter to the Galatians.
He says, “Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.” (3:23-24) The law of God holds mankind captive; it imprisons them. There is no escape from the demands of the law. The law says that you are to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and you are to love your neighbor as yourself. There are no half measures here; no option for partial love. Love only when it is convenient to you, only when you feel like it, only when you have the time and energy. And the law doesn’t care if you can’t do it; if you’ve tried your best, you are held accountable to the demands of the law. In this way, it works as a prison that you can’t pray your way out of. There is no denying it, you are sinners one and all and guilty before the righteous Judge.
But the law is not the end of the Word and work of God. The law is only a guardian until faith comes, until mercy comes, until Christ himself comes. And Paul tells us that this work is done so that you “might be justified by faith.” By faith alone, you are given freedom from the imprisonment of the law. Faith, not in your works, no matter how wonderful they may seem in this age, but faith in the works of Christ. By faith you are justified before God, by faith in Christ you are deemed righteous before the Judge. Luther famously put it this way, he said: “The Law says, do this, and it is never done. Grace says, believe in this, and all things are already done.” All things for eternal life, for the assurance of your salvation, are completed. There is no remainder left for you to work out on your own, no piece of the puzzle that you have to fit together if you are to be saved. It is all accomplished in Christ and given to you as a free gift. A gift that you receive by faith.
And here we begin to pull back. It seems too good to be true. For you look at your life, you see reflected in the law of God the failures that mount up each passing day. And so it often happens that you begin to doubt the promise given in Christ. How could it be that you are saved? How could it be that this gift is really free? But St. Paul will have none of it. He says, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ… And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” In the waters of Baptism, you have put on Christ, you are clothed in him, covered from head to toe in the righteous garments of the Holy One of God. Baptism is not your work, but God’s. It is the assurance that all that he has done, all that he has accomplished, is now yours!
Today we are reminded that “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, (that’s you) so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” God sends his Son to do the work, to make the sacrifice, to fulfill the law on your behalf, and die in your place. In baptism, you are clothed in him, and he sends his Spirit into your hearts to cry out from your mouth and call upon God the Father. The totality of our salvation, the assurance of your life of faith, rests on the work of your God for you.
Which is why Paul says, “So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” And heir of all that is Christ’s, an heir of eternal life, an heir of the Kingdom of God. And so you are called to live in this promise, to live in this assurance, to live out your days as a baptized child of God, resting in the promises of God’s grace. You have been adopted into the family of God, and these gathered around you today are your brothers and sisters. And here the rhythm of law and Gospel shapes our lives, emptying us of our own works and filling us with all that Christ has done for us.
And this, this promise, is what we desperately need in these gray and latter days. As the world seems to be pulling apart, as fear, anger, and outrage flood our senses, remember who you are, remember who we are. In the midst of the slavery of sin, you are set free in Christ and heirs of eternal life.
