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Pastor's Page |
JOHN ROTHFUSZ, PASTOR - Phone 779-901-0803; email:
Dear Friends in Christ,
What is the church here for? A pastor from another church group asserted that we are in the business of “Sin Management.” She said that our job is to get people to stop sinning, to change their ways and just be good people. Lots of people think that way, and say that the business of the church and Christians is to teach us to shape up and be good, moral people. In this thinking, moral people are good Christians, and immoral sinners are bad, destined for God’s judgement.
The more I thought about that answer, the more it bugged me. Of course, we want people to turn away from sin and to follow in God’s way. But the idea of “Sin Management” puts it all on our shoulders. It says, “Just stop it, already. Shape up, and stop sinning.”
Yet in our confession every week we confess that we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves. This isn’t a failure of character or willpower, but simply an acknowledgement that we are not in control. Our lives and our relationships, even our very best and proudest acts are warped and marred by our sin. The terrible three – the Devil, the World, and our sinful self, have got a hold of us, and we can’t get away. We may want to be good, but by ourselves we just can’t do it.
This is the season when the church celebrates our greatest hope. Jesus is risen from the dead, bringing forgiveness of sins, life and salvation to all who believe in him.
We know from Romans 6:23 that “the wages of sin is death.” Death is the only end for people who are caught in sin. So God in Jesus comes to our world, and he dies our death for us. He takes our sin to the cross, and bears the cost of it, dying the death that we deserve. And then on Easter morning, Jesus rises up from the dead, and declares God’s great victory over sin and death.
Jesus has defeated all that binds us – even the Devil, the World, and our sinful self. He gives forgiveness of sins, life and salvation to all who believe in him. It is a free gift, not because we deserve it, but because God is gracious. God chooses to love the unlovely, to rescue the hopeless, to save the lost. That is just who God is.
And we respond in hope and joy to the Lord Jesus who raises us to new life in him. We let go of the idea that we can be perfectly good and moral in all things, and strive to live lives of daily repentance. Repentance means turning away from our ways of sin and brokenness, knowing that God forgives us for Jesus’ sake every time that we fall. So our life is a daily journey, turning away from our sin, and turning to Jesus and his way. We constantly fail and fall back, and Jesus constantly forgives us and turns us again to his way of life.
The Church is where we gather to celebrate what God is doing among us. We hear God’s Word of life and share in the sacraments, where we receive the promise of forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. In the church we find a community of forgiven sinners, just like us, who are striving to repent and change our lives by following Jesus. We often fail, but we always have new hope and encouragement that God is with us, even in this struggle.
The God who raised Jesus from the dead is here to raise us up from all that keeps us in sin and death. He is ready to destroy the power of that sin in us, and make us alive and new in him forever. No wonder that every Sunday in the church is a “Little Easter,” a time to celebrate our Lord Jesus who dies and rises, so that we might find new life in him for another day, another week, and for all eternity.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor John Rothfusz
