Reformation Day

Reformation Day GOD CAST HIS VOTE! 10/28&31/04

I am confident that nearly everyone in this sanctuary has, at least, some vague indication that we are about to have an election…here in Springfield, Clark County, Ohio, and the United States of America. Evidence of election time is everywhere…signs, commercials, mailings, doorknob hangers, phone calls, sample ballots, personal appearances, and I’m sure you can think of even more. Voting is a right and responsibility we have as American citizens. For Christians though, voting and praying for our elected leaders is a matter, not just of citizenship, but also of stewardship.

More so than with any previous election, I have been receiving and reading information about what is appropriate…even legal…for a Pastor to speak about, politically, from the pulpit. There are, evidently, some things I am allowed to say and some things I’m not allowed to say…even from this pulpit within the sanctuary of the congregation where, and with whom, I serve. I will not tell you how I think you should vote, nor how I am voting. I will, though, strongly urge us all to vote. We may not discover biblical clarity regarding one particular candidate or another, but the Bible clearly declares God’s intention for human marriage as between one man and one woman…presented in the Old Testament and taught by Jesus in the Gospel!

God’s voting record…God’s choice in the process of election…is clearly revealed in Martin Luther’s great hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” and in our epistle or second lesson from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans. We sing in the hymn: “But now a champion comes to fight, whom God himself elected. You ask who this may be? The Lord of hosts is he! Christ Jesus, mighty Lord, God’s only Son, adored. He holds the field victorious.” In Romans 3: 24-25 we read: “They are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith.” Did you hear it there? “Whom God put forward”. God cast His eternally significant, death-defeating, Church-creating, sin-forgiving, life-changing vote for Jesus…and, all of this is “effective through faith.”---which, by the way, is another gift God gives to us all!

Everyone wanting to be elected makes promise after promise regarding what we can all expect from him or her, if elected. A draft, or not. A marriage amendment, or not. A coalition, or not. A balanced budget, or not. A tax increase, or not. Better health care, or not. Stronger economy, or not…and the list of promises, as you well know, goes on and on and on. I am quite certain that many of you, like me, have heard so many partial-truths that our heads are spinning nearly as fast as the information poured out upon us from more venues and mediums than ever before in history! In the midst of such “spin” of the truth, am I alone in wondering: “What is the truth?”

As a disciple of Jesus Christ, and a child of God…as a Christian by confession and a Lutheran be persuasion…I am not limited to partial truths as I face significant decisions day after day. There are no half-truths in Jesus, “whom God himself elected”! Whereas we are searching for a fully truthful word, God’s elected is the full Word of Truth! In Jesus, we are not limited to someone telling us the truth. In Jesus, we have the Truth…as Jesus said: “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life”!

You see, Jesus differs from every other man or woman who will seemingly beg and borrow in order to secure our vote. Jesus is not “running for office,” Jesus is serving as Savior! Jesus is not “stumping” to win an election. Jesus is God’s elected! Jesus differs in many other ways, too:

1- He is elected by God, not people, and His power and authority are not dependent upon our personal preferences. Jesus is the Lord, not because we say so, but because God said so!

2- Jesus is not presenting Himself as a candidate who promises to tell us the truth; but rather as the Truth itself. Truth, in Jesus, is not a promise, but a person.

3- Whatever promises Jesus makes to the listening world, He has full power and control to bring His promises to fruition…regarding the will of God, there is no one with veto power, no majority rules, no filibusters, and no split decisions paralyzing the process of building God’s kingdom. God, alone, elects Jesus King of Kings, and every human being must, then, decide if Jesus will be Lord of our lives.

4- Whereas all elected officials serve only limited terms, with even Supreme Court justices serving only until “death or disease do us part,” Jesus is God’s chosen for your life time, my life time, and forever. There are no “term limits” on this One who is, Himself, the Truth!

Whereas we are involved in earthly election procedures only every couple of years or so, we are making important decisions every day. Whereas we will cast a series of votes on Tuesday and, then election day is over…everyday we choose to follow the leadership of Jesus Christ or reject Him. One of the few similarities that might exist between our political elections next week and God’s personal election of Jesus is that once we cast our votes…once we make our personal and prayer-full decisions…the rest of the world waits to see the results. “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Jesus is the Savior of the world, and God approves of this message. May all in worship respond: AMEN.

Publish by permission only. Contact Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church 937.399.6257