CLOTHE YOURSELVES WITH CHRIST
Rev. Mark F. Bartels
Old Testament Lesson; Isaiah 2:1-5
Gospel Lesson; Matthew 24:37-44
Sermon Text; Romans 13:11-14
When we were in the seminary in a number of times our seminary professors gave us this little bit of advice. They said you should let your congregation members know that you, as a pastor, you are a sinner. In fact they said that you should lift up that rug, and show them some of the dirt in your own life. But they said don’t lift up the rug all of the way so that they can see all the dirt in your life. And so today, I am going to lift up that rug a little bit, and show you some of the dirt in my own life…or maybe I should pull back this clean white robe a little bit, and show you some of the dirt in my own life. Here underneath this robe you see a dark, black shirt, and a dark, black tie. And, that is a picture of what you would see, if you lifted up the rug of my life and could see the dirt in my life, or if you could pull back this white robe and see the dirt in my life.
If you could you go to my home and ask my wife Sherri, or my boys whether this is true or not, you would see sin. You would see someone who loses his temper sometimes, when he should not. You would see someone who is impatient, when he should be patient. You would see someone who says things with his mouth that instead of building people up, sometimes tears them down. You would see someone who has pride. You would see someone who says things about other people, or has thoughts about people, that I should not have.
If you came to my house and saw all of those things, I would be embarrassed. I would be ashamed. But that is the rug lifted up, the robe pulled back. And, that is some of the dirt. If I would pull that rug back all of the way, and open the robe all of the way, so you could see all of the dirt
-all the thoughts I think,
-all the words I say,
-and all the deeds I do,
you would sit in your pew and you would say to yourself, "What gives him the right to stand up there and be our spiritual leader? What gives him the right to tell us how to live our lives, when we see how he lives his life? What gives him the right to tell us what to think, when we see what he thinks? What gives him the right to tell us what to say, when we see what he says?"
And, I would be embarrassed before you. But, in particular I would be embarrassed before God. I would be ashamed before you. But, in particular, I would ashamed of all those sins, before God. And, I would repent before you, but in particular I would repent before God. I would say, (and I do say), "God, I wish that I weren’t like this. I wish this were all gone. And, I wish that I didn’t have those thoughts and do those deeds and say those words."
In fact, God could say, "Mark you don’t deserve to be a pastor of that congregation, and you don’t even deserve to be called my child. You don’t deserve to have a home in Heaven. You deserve to be condemned for all eternity." That’s the dirt in my own life.
Which is why we wear these white robes, as pastors. These white robes are here to remind us, as your pastors, and to remind you that even though we are sinners, just like you are, even though we have wrong thoughts, words and deeds that should condemn us for all eternity, we, (thank God) by God’s grace, are covered with the robes of salvation – the garments of salvation! We are clothed in Christ’s righteousness. Our sins are covered up. Thank God I know that Jesus came to this earth! He lived that perfect life. The Bible tells me that I am clothed with Christ.
When God looks at me,
He doesn’t see the sin that I have committed.
Instead, He sees Christ!
He sees a perfect life.
He sees a holy, spotless life.
I am clothed and covered in the garments of salvation.
I am white,
and clean,
and holy in God’s eyes,
for Christ’s sake!
When God looks at me, He sees my sins covered up by the blood of Jesus, my Savior. And, all of my sins are gone, and God no longer sees them. I am white and clean, garbed in the robes of salvation, for Christ’s sake!
And, that is why I wear this white robe. It is to remind me that my sins are covered. I am not to preach myself. I shouldn’t go by my own authority, because there is nothing but sin. Instead I must preach Christ.
And, I preach what Jesus has done for us. I must present to you the forgiveness of your sins, and the garments of salvation. Which gets us to you.
I am your pastor because I am so happy for what Christ has done for me! And, I want to share that with everyone that I possibly can! Which gets us to you.
What about you?
What if we lifted up the rug in your life?
What if we look at the dirt underneath your rug?
What if we pull back your robe,
and saw the dirt in your life?
Well, I know that you are no different than me. I know that because we all have the same human condition, called Original Sin. When I preach to myself and I talk about my sins, my thoughts, my words, and my deeds, I am talking to you, about your sins, your thoughts, your words, your deeds and the dirt in your life, and all the things that you have done wrong. I know that.
That’s why when I stand up here on a Sunday morning, and I preach to myself, and one of you say "Boy, Pastor, you were talking to me, today!"
That is because I was talking to myself. We have the same sinful, human condition. And, if we could pull back that robe all of the way, in your life, you would be embarrassed, you would be ashamed.
You would be ashamed,
especially before God.
And, God could say to you, "What are you doing, here in this church? What gives you the right to be one of my children? What gives you the right to call yourself one of my people? You don’t even deserve to be called one of my children, let alone live in Heaven with me."
Which is why you long to come to this church. Here in this church you hear what your gracious God has done for you. You long to hear that you are covered with the garments of salvation. You long to hear that your sins are covered over. You long to hear that Christ’s righteousness has clothed you and covered you up. You long to use the means of grace, God’s Word and Sacrament, by which God clothes you and covers you and distributes Christ’s righteousness to you. You long to know that Jesus’ holy life covers up your life.
God looks at you and sees Jesus!
He sees Christ!
He sees someone holy and perfect!
Christ’s payment on the cross, for our sin, covers up all of that dirt in your life. And, in God’s eyes, for Christ’s sake you are clothed with Christ. You are forgiven and you are holy.
Our text today tells us that the night is almost over and the day is almost here. In other words, this life is almost over and it won’t be long now (and it is drawing closer and closer). It says the day is nearer now, than when you first believed. It is drawing closer and closer and closer to the day when we stand before the Throne of God in Judgment. Our text reminds us that when that day comes, we do not want to be people who are unclothed. We want to be people who are standing before that Judgment Throne covered up and clothed with the holy righteous life of Christ and the forgiveness of sins that Christ won for us. We don’t want to be people who are asleep when Jesus comes.
You know that if my alarm clock rang this morning at 10 or 5 minutes after 8:00 and I woke with a start, looked at my clock and thought, "It’s 5 after 8:00!!! Church starts in 10 minutes and it takes me 12 minutes to get to church!!!" Why, I would not have had time to put on my suit and tie. I would have to jump into my car, in my pajamas. I would be embarrassed. And, you would be embarrassed.
That is the picture of the day we stand before God in judgment. We don’t want to be found sleeping, without faith in Christ and be unclothed. We don’t want to be unclothed. We want to be clothed with Christ. We want to be covered up and awake, when that day comes.
It’s possible that Christians can be lulled to sleep in their faith. Maybe you all remember the account in the book of Acts. A young man by the name of Eutycus. He was probably a teenager. Eutycus lived in a town called Troas. St. Paul had started the congregation, there.
St. Paul had come back to visit Troas for one last time. He knew that he was going to go to Jerusalem and be arrested, and probably die for Christ. And, so that whole congregation gathered to hear their beloved Pastor, St. Paul preach one more time.
They were gathered together in a room, up on the third story of some building. It was a big room. And, there you can imagine this room filled with people, perhaps standing room only. It was probably a warm, Mediterranean evening. They were listening, as St. Paul was preaching one last time to them, about Christ their savior.
Eutycus was in that room. He had found a rather precarious place to be. He was on the edge of the congregation. He was on the fringes of the congregation. In fact the Bible tells us he was sitting in a window. You can imagine a young man, with one leg dangling in the church, with the other leg dangling outside of the window, into the outside world. His back leaned against the window frame.
The Bible tells us that St. Paul preached on and on, late into the night, until it was midnight. And there sat Eutycus in that windowsill. He had one leg in the church and one leg dangling out into the world. And, then Eutycus fell asleep. And, then Eutycus fell out of that window. He fell three stories, to his death.
That is a picture of what can happen to Christians. We can be in church, we can hear God’s Word, but we can be, instead of having both feet firmly planted in the church, we can be in a rather precarious position. We can have one foot planted in the church and the other planted in the world. And, as it were, sitting in window, teetering. We could fall asleep, fall from that window and be found asleep, when Christ returns.
There was a mother who was lying in bed, late at night and she woke with a start. She had heard her little child screaming. She ran into the little child’s bedroom and there was the little boy lying on the floor. He had fallen out of bed. She picked him up and tucked him back into bed.
When she finished tucking him in, he said, "Mommy, I think I fell out because I wasn’t in far enough."
And, that can happen in the church, too. We can fall out, because we are not in far enough.
Which is why St. Paul on the back of today’s scripture reading says this, "The night is nearly over. The day is almost here. So, put aside the deeds of darkness, put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealously. Rather clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature."
Just imagine that you are on the edge of the congregation, that you are on the fringes of the church, that you are sitting there, with one foot dangling in the church and the other one dangling in the world. You know that when we have one foot dangling in the world, it is the world that calls to our sinful nature. It is the world that is very, very attractive to our sinful nature. And, St. Paul talks about some of those things, through which the world calls to that sinful nature, that is within me, and that is within you. If we have one foot dangling in the world, we have "one foot" that is interested in the things of this world in a wrong way. The world can call to my sinful nature, which is very strong.
For example, don’t behave in orgies and sexual immoralities. You know our sinful nature is very attracted to that type of thing. Our sinful nature likes that type of thing. The Bible says, "don’t think about how to gratify the desires of this sinful nature." If I have one foot dangling in the world and the world is calling to my sinful nature to be sexually immoral, I will begin to think about how to gratify that. My sinful nature begins to think, "What could I do? Who could I meet? Who could I talk to? Where can I go, to gratify those sinful desires?"
All of a sudden, what could happen? I could start to become more and more interested in those sins, following more and more after those sins, not caring that I am committing those sins and not concerned that those sins need to be covered up with the righteousness of Christ. I could fall asleep, and lose my faith in Christ as my savior.
The Bible says, "Don’t be involved in debauchery." Debauchery is the pleasures of this world. And, those pleasures of this world sure call out to my sinful nature. My sinful nature loves to hear about the pleasures of this world. It loves to think about money and how I can become rich. It loves to think about fame and fortune, and how those things can belong to me.
If I try to gratify those sinful desires and start to think, "How can I become rich? How can I become famous and popular?" Soon I become more and more attracted to those things. I may forget that I am a sinner, and that I need a savior. I may fall asleep in my faith, not trust in Christ and not be clothed with Christ anymore.
The Bible says, "Don’t be involved in dissension." My sinful nature loves that. When it comes to relationships, my sinful nature loves to hear, "What did he say? What did he do? Who did that?" It likes to hear that. It likes to be involved in wrong things. And, if I begin to think about how to gratify the desires of my sinful nature as the world is calling to me, soon I can become so attracted to those things that I forget that those things are wrong, in the first place. I could forget my need of forgiveness and forget that I want to be clothed in the robe of Christ’s righteousness.
Our scripture tells us that instead of having one foot dangling in the world, let us have both feet firmly planted in The Church, in God’s Church. Instead of thinking about how to gratify the desires of our sinful nature, let us be clothed with Christ.
You know the whole reason I am clothed with Christ is because I don’t like this. I don’t like the dirt in my life. And, I don’t want it there and I wish that it were not there. I am ashamed of it. I am embarrassed by it. And, I am repentant of it. The whole reason I am a Christian, is because I am so happy that God has covered up that dirt. He sees me, as if it were never there in the first place! He sees me as holy and perfect!
The whole reason I am a Christian is because I am looking forward to the day when God sees me as if I were perfect and holy, and He totally removes all that dirt. Because, when I am in Heaven I will be a perfect! There will be nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to be embarrassed of, and I look forward to that day!
Scripture tells us, in today’s text, that we should behave decently, as in the daytime. We should behave as if it already were daytime, as if the night was gone and now I am in Heaven. After all, that is how I want God to see me. I want God to see me, not with my dirt, but forgiven, clean and holy. That is how I want to be seen in God’s eyes. I am longing for the day when I am made perfect in Heaven. And, as a Christian I want to behave as if I were somebody who was already there, in Heaven! Striving to live that God pleasing, holy perfect life (which of course I cannot live, in this life). Which means that instead of using my body for sexual immorality,
I want to use my body to serve my savior,
to glorify Him,
to please Him.
Instead of using the pleasures of this world, drawing me away from my savior, I want to use those pleasures of this world, to the glory of God and to God’s honor. Instead of using relationships in a bad way, involved in dissensions, I want to use my relationships to God’s glory and God’s honor. And, I want to live as if I were already in Heaven.
And, thus I need to be firmly planted in God’s Word, hearing that my sins are forgiven, knowing that my goal is Heaven. And, living as a Christian, as a believer in Christ with a new life, I am on that path toward Heaven.
Thank God that our sins are all covered and that we will be in Heaven, because of what Christ did for us. That day is coming soon. So let’s clothe ourselves with Christ and let us behave decently as if it were daytime.
Amen.
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