Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and from
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
[Intro]
In today’s world, you may be surprised to hear that there are
hundreds, if not thousands, of world religions. Each of these world religions
promises something. They could promise anything from economic prosperity to
eternal salvation. But, which one is true? They can’t all be true could they?
In the world of pluralism – in which we live – today’s society
would like you to think that all world religions contain truth. It’s likely
that most of us have seen those cute bumper stickers that say “Coexist” or
“Tolerance” in religious symbols. Maybe you have even thought: “Why can’t we
just all get along?”
But, again, I ask you this question: “Which world religion is
true?” They can’t all be true, could they?
[The
Truth]
In this morning’s epistle lesson, the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle
Paul to answer that burning question that the world often asks.
He writes to Timothy: “This is good, and it is pleasing in the
sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the
knowledge of the truth. For 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 at the proper time” (1 Timothy 2:3-6).
Did you notice that Paul wrote: “to come to the knowledge of the
truth?” Notice that he didn’t write: “to come to the knowledge of a
truth.” Paul is writing to us that there is one truth, not many truths. And,
this one truth is that Jesus is the one mediator between God the Father and us.
But, what about the other religions? As Paul says to Timothy,
only Jesus gave Himself as a ransom for all. So, every other false god always
comes up short. No other god has given itself as a ransom for all people so
they could be saved. Only Jesus has given Himself for all people, so everyone would
be saved through Him.
So, there is no need to search for the way to the Father,
because the Way has come to us. All we have to do is to follow Jesus and we
receive the Kingdom of God.
This may seem obvious to us today, but when Paul wrote this letter
to Timothy – who served as the leader of the Ephesian churches – Paul was aware
that there were false teachings being spoken about that would lead many in the
Church astray. In his letter, Paul is giving Timothy instructions on how to
keep Christ’s Church pure.
So, what was Timothy to do? Well, in those days, there were no
physical church buildings in Ephesus. Instead, each Christian worshipped in
house churches and each house church was led by its own pastor.
Since Ephesus became the numerical and geographical center of
Christendom, there were hundreds of churches in this city. So, Timothy’s work
was to teach these pastors the one true Christian faith and these pastors were
to teach their congregations.
So, Timothy went from house church to house church teaching
these pastors. He taught the pastors to watch out for false teachers. He taught
the pastors about prayer. He taught the pastors about Christian modesty. He
taught the pastors how to shepherd their flock.
[Exclusiveness]
In today’s epistle lesson, Paul teaches Timothy and us that Christians are to pray for all people. We pray for all people – no matter if kind or evil, Christian or not – so that we may live peaceful, godly lives. Christians are able to pray for all people, because we have received access to God the Father through the one mediator Christ Jesus.
We are only able to make requests, prayers, intercessions and
thanksgivings to God the Father through Christ Jesus who gave Himself as a
ransom for all people through His atoning death upon the cross and His
resurrection from the dead. So, outside of faith in Christ in our prayers,
there is no other way to pray to God the Father. There is no other proper way
to pray, since Jesus is the only way to God the Father.
For those outside the Christian faith, they may believe that
Christians are mean to think this way. They may say: “How dare Christians be so
exclusive!?”
Well, Christianity is exclusive, because God is exclusive. God
the Father sent His only begotten Son Jesus to be the one Savior of the world. We
can only be saved through the blood of Jesus. Jesus in fact says, “I am
the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through
Me” (John 14:6). For Christians, this sounds like pure gospel. For
non-Christians, this sounds scandalous. Non-Christians may say: “I’m a good
person, I’m nice to people and I give to charity, so why can’t I be saved?”
Yes, you may be a good person, but being good doesn’t result in being saved. We
are only saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
[Another
way to salvation?]
Now, many of you are aware that I served as a voting delegate at
the LCMS convention in Tampa, Florida at the end of July. But, you may not be
aware that the LCMS was not the only Lutheran synod to have a convention during
the summer. The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), the Evangelical
Lutheran Synod (ELS), the North American Lutheran Church (NALC) and the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) also held conventions.
Now, only one of these conventions made national headlines: The
ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Milwaukee. One of those headlines dealt with our
epistle.
Again, Paul writes to us: “This is good, and it is pleasing in the
sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the
knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:3-5).
It appears that the ELCA voting delegates focused on the fact
that God desires all people to be saved, but they forgot how God does the
saving.
In a resolution titled “A Declaration of Inter-Religious
Commitment: A policy statement of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America,”[1]
with men and women on the assembly stage representing world religions, such as
Islam, Reform Judaism, Hinduism and Baha’i, the ELCA voted by a whopping 97
percent that Jesus may not be the only way to salvation.[2]
This resolution offers the opportunity that people who believe in false gods
could be saved.
Before this vote, one delegate put forward an amendment striking
out Universalist language and replacing that section with the very words of
Jesus from John 14:6: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through Me.” But, his amendment
failed. Again, his amendment failed.
Recall the very words of Jesus: “So everyone who acknowledges me
before men, I will also acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but
whoever denies me before men, I will also deny before my Father who is in
heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33).
The very words of Jesus were voted down by the convention
delegates, because as the resolution put it, the ELCA wants a posture of
curiosity and humility as it seeks to learn from their inter-religious
neighbors.[3]
So, in their effort to be curious and “humble” toward false
religions, the ELCA has removed the exclusiveness of Christianity. In doing so,
in my opinion, the ELCA church body has ceased to be Christian. Yes, there is a
remnant of Christians within the ELCA, but the ELCA leadership is now promoting
Universalism, which is heresy – false teachings that do not lead to salvation.
With this vote, the delegates decided that the ELCA no longer
follows Jesus as Lord, but instead has chosen to follow the sinful culture as
its lord. The ELCA is no longer seeking to evangelize the lost, but to instead
say: “You are fine the way you are. We don’t need Jesus to be saved, just be a
good person.”
Paul warned Timothy of false teachers. Paul taught Timothy and
us that there is no other mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
There is no other way to be saved.
[Sinners
Need a Mediator]
Now, all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.
But, how can a person come to saving faith through teachings that are contrary
to the truth revealed in Holy Scripture?
The Church must know God’s saving gospel in all its truth and
proclaim it faithfully into all the world.
“For
there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” With these words Paul shows us why it
is so important to come to the knowledge of the truth. There are not numerous
gods, each providing truth and salvation. There is only one true God. Between
God the Father and us, there is only one mediator, the man Christ Jesus, who at
the same time is also true God.
Because of our sin, we need a mediator. You see, sin has
separated all of humanity from the one and only God.
On our own, we could never achieve salvation. We have sinned in
thought, word, and deed by our own fault, by our own grievous fault. We don’t
always look to the one true God – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – for all
our needs, but instead look inward, or to other false gods and idols that
provide temporary relief, but never eternal comfort.
But we have a mediator – our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ,
who died for our sins and rose three days later to redeem all who trust in Him
from sin, death, and Satan. Through His death and resurrection, He has
purchased us as His own! So, everyone who trusts in Jesus is now seen as
righteous and blameless by God the Father.
But, each time we sin, we are separating ourselves from God the
Father. Without Jesus, we would be lost in our trespasses. But, we indeed have
a mediator between God and men – the Man Christ Jesus – so we are able to
repent and confess our sins to God the Father. In return, God the Father
forgives our sins on behalf of His Son.
As the mediator, Jesus comes to us through the Means of Grace –
Word and Sacrament. Here, Jesus
strengthens our weak faith and forgives our sins as we hear God’s Word and
receive His Sacrament. Here, Jesus again restores us access to God the Father.
God the Father sent Jesus so humanity would be saved through
Him, who alone is the way, and the truth, and the life – Jesus, the one
mediator between God and men. Amen.
The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
T SOLI DEO GLORIA T
[1] A Declaration of Inter-Religious Commitment: A policy
statement of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America https://elca.org/Faith/Ecumenical-and-Inter-Religious-Relations/Inter-Religious-Relations/Draft-Policy-Statement
[3]
ELCA YouTube, Churchwide Assembly Plenary 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9nw4GVTPaI
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