Sixth in a series of teachings exploring the Confession of Faith from a Mennonite Perspective.
Will Fitzgerald, given at Kalamazoo Mennonite Fellowship, 2006-03-04
What do Mennonites believe about sin and salvation?
Some things seem so obvious to me that it gets to be a bit difficult to explain them—they’re like the air we breath, or the streets we drive down. Why do we need to breathe? Why do we have streets? It’s a little difficult to explain. One of the things that seems really, really obvious to me is that things in general are broken. There are lots of good things to enjoy around us—don’t misunderstand me—but don’t things seem wrong? We live in a nation that is richer than any other nation in the world, in fact, richer than any nation that has ever existed. And yet 16 million Americans live in deep or severe poverty. Where do all our riches go? Our president is prosecuting a war that has cost over $400 billion, according to figures compiled by the National Priorities Project, based on Congressional appropriations. That’s $4 billion dollars for Michigan alone. That’s $58 million dollars for Kalamazoo alone. Something is very broken.
And what is happening to those dollars? More than 3,000 of our soldiers killed. It’s hard to get accurate statistics about the number of Iraqis who have died, but even the most conservative numbers put the number at tens of thousands. And it’s hard to see that many of the war aims have been achieved, despite spending $400 billion dollars. Something is very broken.
It’s Lent, and I want to do a relatively simple discipline: fast from caffeine. My body’s hooked on it, though, and the first few days I have a headache. I’m very sleepy, and I really want some coffee. Sundays are not officially fast days, though, so I can have caffeinated drinks then. I have some after church. We go out to dinner, and order Coke. The waitress keeps bringing me free refills. I drink something like 4 glasses. That’s a lot of caffeine, and I don’t need the sugar either. I’m up much of the night in a caffeinated haze, wake up grumpy; I’m not very pleasant to be around, and my work suffers. Something is broken.
Psalm 27 has a lot to teach us about sin and salvation.
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
The scripture says the God the Lord is our salvation. Still, the psalmist seems to me to be whistling in the dark, trying to convince himself that there is no reason to be afraid—but he is afraid; God is his stronghold—but he still feels weak; he doesn’t need to fear anyone—but he apparently still does. So, he beings to consider the case.
2 When evildoers assail me
to eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
it is they who stumble and fall.
3 Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet I will be confident.
The psalmist says he has enemies that are threatening to consume him. And it makes me wonder who are enemies are.
Sometimes, these are enemies of state; just like the psalmists’. When our country was attacked in World War 2, or when the al-Quaeda attacks occurred on 9/11, we (or some of us, anyway) we under physical assault by enemies. I’m sure that many people in the world, even relatively innocent people, consider our country an enemy of this kind, including the non-combatants in Iraq and other places who are current “collateral damage” to the US assault on Iraq and Afghanistan. I’m not trying to draw a moral equality between the US and al-Quaeda; merely trying to remind ourselves that sometimes the enemy is us.
Sometimes these are _political enemies; political groups who are out to get us for one reason and another. My son Mark works as the director of communication for the student government, and I’m sure he could tell us lots of stories about “party spirit” in a bad sense of political vindictiveness and vengence.
Sometimes these are personal enemies, people who are out to get us. My daughter is in middle school, and I’m sure she could tell us about the power and abuse of cliques, and one-upmanship, and striving for attention at the expense of others. Many of us work, and may have experienced a similar thing.
Sometimes these are family enemies, people within our own families who hurt and abuse us. For some families, this forms a major way of describing the family dynamics. For all families, we have known times when, even with the best of intentions, we hurt and harm one another.
Sometimes these are demonic enemies. The scripture says that the devil is a “roaring lion” who has set out to devour us. And like the old joke about Nero sending the Christians to the lions goes, “Lions 1, Christians 0”.
Sometimes we are our own enemies. And this is experienced in different ways.
Sometimes (and I want to be careful here), we feel that God is our enemy. Where is God? Why doesn’t God answer when I call? The psalmist is here calling out to the Lord, but sometimes (as in Psalm 22), the psalms speak of God abandoning us.
4 One thing have I asked of the LORD,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to inquire in his temple.
5 For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will lift me high upon a rock.
6 And now my head shall be lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the LORD.
Do you know what a “safe house” is? It’s used in different ways. For women who are afraid of domestic assault, a safe house is a place where she can hide from and be protected from her husband or boyfriend or other assaulter. In crime parlance, it means a place where a gang member can go without fear from the police; or for the police, a place where they can hide an informant or victim from gang members. In spy novels, it’s a secret place that “the enemy” doesn’t know about, and where spies can hide out without fear.
Here, the psalmist seeks shelter with the Lord, to dwell in the safe house of his “tent,” a place where he can praise God, sing, make music, and be concealed from the enemies.
7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!
8 You have said, “Seek my face.”
My heart says to you,
“Your face, LORD, do I seek.”
9 Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger,
O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
O God of my salvation!
10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
but the LORD will take me in.
11 Teach me your way, O LORD,
and lead me on a level path
because of my enemies.
12 Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;
for false witnesses have risen against me,
and they breathe out violence.
Here we get a little sense of the psalmist’s frustrations with God. God told him to seek God’s face, and he did, but he feels God is hiding and may be angry. The psalmist’s mother and father have abandoned him, to say nothing of his other enemies. And so he continues to cry out to God for protection.
13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living!
14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the LORD!
In the end, the psalmist consoles himself, counsels himself, with the idea of “waiting on the Lord.” By this, he simply means patience, courage and perseverance. Eventually, God will deliver him.
Through Jesus Christ. The Confession says, in Article 8:
We believe that, through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God offers salvation from sin and a new way of life to all people. We receive God’s salvation when we repent of sin and accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
St Paul’s letter to the Romans is largely about this message of salvation. For example, Romans 10:9-11
9b If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.
One of the reasons Mennonites are called “anabaptists,” or re-baptizers, is that we believe that our salvation can’t come by acts of other people, but that we must personally respond to the promise of God’s offer of salvation in Jesus Christ, as in this confession from Romans. It’s not enough that our parents baptized us, we must decide for ourselves to take up God’s offer.
Let’s look at the last two verses of Psalm 21 again:
13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living!
14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the LORD!
The psalmist believed it would take place “in the land of the living;” that is, now, while we are still alive. And many of us can testify to the ways God is working in strange and miraculous ways to save us from all our enemies.
Let’s pay attention to the passage from Phillipians (3:17-4:1), too:
17 Brothers [and sisters], join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
Yes, we have enemies, but with our sure citizenship in heaven, we can know that our salvation is taking place even now, and will take place in the transforming of even our physical bodies to things of glory. So I recommend that you confess and believe, daily!, that our salvation comes through the power of God who raised Jesus from his death. So, too, will God raise us up if we believe God will do it.