In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Last week in church we talked about conversion, and how coming to faith in Jesus is entirely the work of God which takes place completely apart from anything that we do or contribute. This week in church, though, I’d like to talk about what happens after conversion and how even though we don’t do anything in order to become Christians, that doesn’t mean that we don’t anything at all once we are Christians. By looking more closely at our Gospel lesson today from Mark chapter 7, the healing of the deaf and mute man, I want you to consider with me what the details of this miracle teach us about sanctification. And for those who might not know, “sanctification” is simply the Biblical word for referring to the new way that a person lives once he or she becomes a Christian. To sanctify something means to “set it apart” or “make it holy,” and we Christians are called to live a sanctified life and holy life where we are set apart from the world.

In any case, the first thing that the healing of the deaf and mute man teaches us about sanctification is that sanctification always follows after justification.  Before we can begin to do the things that God requires of us, and serve Him as His obedient children, the Lord has to make us His children by forgiving us of our sins and giving us spiritual healing. It’s not that we live a sanctified life and then God declares us righteous in His sight and worthy of heaven, but rather that He declares us righteous in His sight and worthy of heaven through faith in Christ and then we live a sanctified life. First comes God’s grace, then comes our response to His grace.

Just look again at the account of the deaf and mute man from Mark chapter 7. When Jesus first met him, that man couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t hear and he could speak. It was only after Christ intervened and spoke to him, that the man was finally able say something in return. As our texts says, “And looking up to heaven, Jesus sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha,’ that is, ‘Be opened.” And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.” Isn’t it interesting that in order to heal the man who could not hear, Jesus did it by speaking to him? That seems completely backwards. But that is the power of the Word of God. God’s Word has the ability to create things out of nothing. Just like God made the whole universe simply by saying “Let there be” and there was, God can cause deaf people to hear simply by talking to them, and, more importantly, He can cause unbelievers to have faith simply by preaching His Word them. As we heard in our Epistle lesson today from Romans 10, “So faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of Christ.”

The point here is that just like Jesus had to physically heal the deaf and mute man before he could speak correctly, our Lord has to spiritually heal us before we can do good works. It’s not our good works that cause God to forgive and heal us. It is His healing and forgiveness that causes us to do good works. Remember what we sing at the beginning of every single one of our Matin’s services. The very first words out of our mouths are, “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise.” That is a confession that in order for us to praise God in the right kind of way, God has to open our lips. In order for us to live the kind of life that is pleasing to Him, Jesus has to intervene in our lives. He does that both by dying for our sins and by giving us the gift of faith to trust in Him for forgiveness. Then, and only then, can we begin to do the things that Jesus wants. Because again, as the healing of the deaf and mute man shows us, sanctification always follows justification.

The next thing that the healing of the deaf and mute man teaches us about sanctification is that it is a necessary part of our Christian lives. Since our good works are not the cause of our salvation, but the result of it, sometimes the impression is given that Christians don’t have to do good works at all and that they don’t even have to try and live a holy life. In the most extremes cases, some people in Lutheran circles will even argue that trying to live a holy life is actually part of the problem itself and that sanctification is really only about getting used to your justification. But that kind of attitude is extremely dangerous to our faith. 

Again, look at the account of the deaf and the mute man. When Jesus healed that man from his ailment, the man didn’t just walk away and do nothing. On the contrary, our text specifically tells us that he spoke plainly. A more literal translation of that word in the Greek would be “orthodoxly” or “rightly.” The man didn’t just speak with good grammar, he spoke accurately concerning that which had happened to him and how it related to what we learn in the Bible. Instantly, from the moment that Jesus cured him, he was able to do things that he could not do before.

This is the exact same thing that happens to us spiritually when we receive the gift of faith. After the Holy Spirit is given to us through the washing of water and the Word, and we are joined to Christ and become one with Him in our Baptism, now we are able to do things that we couldn’t do before. As Jesus tells us in Mathew chapter 7, “So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, and a bad tree bears bad fruit.” The fruit that our Lord is talking about is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It is good works, as in, true love toward God and true love for our neighbor. It is impossible to be a Christian and not do good works. Just like it is impossible for a heathy apple tree not to produce heathy apples or a sick apple tree not to produce rotten apples, it is impossible for those who have the Holy Spirit not to live differently. As Saint Paul tells us in Romans chapter 8, “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.” And as he also says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” 

Sanctification does not simply consist in getting used to our justification. It doesn’t mean that all we do is realize that we don’t do anything good at all and that everything that we do is sinful. We used to not be able to do anything at all. We used to only be able to sin. And we still can’t do anything but sin apart from Christ. But we are not apart from Christ! We have been joined to Christ through faith. And now, in Christ, we can do things. We can cooperate with the Holy Spirit and not push Him out of our hearts by being willfully and stubbornly defiant to the teachings of the Bible. We can choose to sit at the feet of Jesus like Mary did and have our faith nurtured by God’s Word and Sacraments. We can do good works.

Besides not simply being about getting used to your justification, sanctification also isn’t just about refraining from overtly wicked acts. It doesn’t just mean that once you become a Christian, you stop robbing banks, having affairs, getting drunk, or physically abusing your spouse and kids. Even those who do not have the Holy Spirit are able to keep themselves from doing these sorts of things to some extent. Sanctification, on the other hand, is about becoming an entirely different person. It’s about living for Christ and not for yourself. It’s about trying to do the things that God tells you to do in the Bible, and being upset with yourself when you fail. When people who are living a sanctified life realize that they are doing something that the Bible forbids, they don’t defend it. They confess it, and they try and stop it. They do everything that they can to avoid the things that make God angry and grieve the Holy Spirit. Likewise, and this should go without saying, people who are living a sanctified life actually want to go to Church and hear the Word of God. They don’t just go out of obligation, or because someone else made them. They do it because they want to be there and they know that they need to be there. They are legitimately concerned with the state of their soul and more invested in eternal things than worldly things. It’s hard to argue that someone is living a sanctified life and definitely has the Holy Spirit in their heart if they won’t even go to the place where the Holy Spirit promises to be present and active to forgive us our sins and keep us in the faith. On the contrary, the more that a person grows in his or her sanctification, the more that they realize that they need to be in God’s House and in His Word constantly. 

As soon as the deaf and mute man was healed, he spoke rightly. As soon as Zacchaeus the tax collector experienced salvation, he immediately wanted to give half his goods to the poor and restore what he had stolen fourfold. As soon as an individual comes to the knowledge of Christ, and knows what Jesus did on the cross for their salvation, if they believe it, they will want to hear about that salvation more and more. Again, it is not as if sanctification is the cause of our justification. But we should be clear that no one who is justified in the eyes of God will be without it.  And that is because sanctification is a necessary part of our Christian life. It is the inevitable result of our justification. 

And lastly, the healing of the deaf and mute man shows that even though sanctification is a necessary part of our Christian life, it is never completely perfect in this life. Yes, it’s true that whoever has the Holy Spirit will be filled with new and godly desires and that their life will look different than it did before they had faith. The man that was deaf and mute was different after Jesus healed him. And we are different after Jesus heals us by forgiving us of our sins. But even though we are different, that doesn’t mean that we are perfect. It’s not that we never sin anymore at all, but that our attitude towards our sin has changed. Now, we hate our sin. Now, we want to be rid of our sin and eagerly await the time when that will happen in heaven. And most importantly, now we actually trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins and believe that because of His death on the cross our sins will not condemn us to hell. But we still have sin.

When Jesus healed the deaf and mute man, we learn that those who were there and saw it happen started telling other people about it. Even though Jesus told them explicitly not to tell anyone, but to keep it a secret, as our reading says, “The more He charged them the more zealously they proclaimed it.” Now, it certainly seems like these people did have faith in Jesus. After all, they were the ones who brought the deaf and mute man to Jesus in the first place, and at the end of our text they praised Him for “doing all things well.” But even those who had faith in Jesus did not do exactly what He said. Who knows why Jesus told them not to talk about the miracle. Maybe Jesus wanted to be known by His teaching and was concerned that other people might try and treat Him like a “genie in a bottle” instead of the Savior of sinners. We don’t know. But what we do know is that Jesus told them to be quiet and they weren’t. They still struggled with their own flesh and at times thought that they knew better than God.

And that’s how it is for us sometimes too. Sometimes, we get things wrong. Sometimes, in our weakness we fail to do what God says and even have difficulty knowing what the right thing to do is in the first place. Sometimes as Saint Paul tells us in Romans chapter 7, “I do not do the good that I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” And yet, none of that necessarily means that we are no longer Christians. 

Image all of the stuff that we couldn’t do anymore if we actually believed that it was possible to stop sinning in this life entirely. We couldn’t pray the Lord’s Prayer anymore. Don’t we say, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us?” How could we pray that prayer from a sincere heart if we didn’t think we had any sins that needed to be forgiven? Or what about taking Communion? Doesn’t Jesus tell us, “Drink of it all of you this cup is the New Testament in My Blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins?” What would even be the point of going to Church and listening to the sermon at all, if we had already reached the point of perfect sanctification and there was nothing from the Bible that we didn’t already know or that we didn’t need to hear again? 

The question is never whether or not our sanctification is perfect, which it won’t be in this life, but whether or not it is real. Are we among those who mourn our sins and try to live a godly life by the power of the Holy Spirit, or have we given into our sins and stopped trying to fight them altogether? Just because no one can reach a state of complete perfection on this side of heaven doesn’t mean that we don’t strive for it. It doesn’t mean that we don’t even try. As Saint Paul also tells us in Philippians chapter 3, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me His own.” 

We strive to live a sanctified life not to merit eternal life, but in order to guard it. We pray against our sinful nature, come to Church to take Communion, and read our Bibles on a regular basis because the Holy Spirit promises to work through those things to sanctify us and keep us in the faith.  There are times when we feel as if we are progressing in our sanctification and there are times when we feel that we are not making any progress in it at all. But at every time, if we want to be rid of our sin and want the forgiveness that comes from Christ, then we can be certain that Christ has not left us, and that soon our struggles will be over. We can rest assured that God is still at work in our hearts to sanctify us completely. May the Lord grant it to each of us for Jesus’ sake. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The topic of this morning’s sermon is going to about conversion and how a person comes to saving faith in Jesus. As I’m sure many of you already know, for some time now the dominate perspective in our religious context here in America has been that conversion is an act of our own free will. Sometimes, this popular perspective has been referred to as “decision theology.” “Decision theology” is the teaching that coming to faith in Jesus is something that a person decides to do for him or herself.  For example, many churches still have a time in their services known as the “altar call,” which is when people in the pews are invited to come forward to the front of the church in order to, as they say, “make a decision for Christ” or “give their heart to Jesus.” Some of you may even remember how Billy Graham, one of the most famous preachers of the 20th century, would have a specific time for altars calls at the end of every one of his services. Many congregations today, including the Baptists as well as several non-denominational churches still do the same thing. Likewise, if you’ve ever flipped through one of those little Bibles that the Gideon’s pass out, or picked up one that was sitting on an end table in a hotel room, you’ve encountered decision theology there too. In the back of almost all of those little Bibles, there is a page that literally reads in bold print, “My decision to receive Christ as my savior.” At the bottom of that page, there is a prayer, as well a as a space for a person to write their name and the date when they supposedly made that decision. 

Once again, all of these examples are representations of “decision theology.” All of them operate under the premise that to some degree or another conversion, or coming to faith in Jesus, is an act of our own free will. To some degree or another, conversion is something that we do. To some degree or another, it is a choice that we have to make.

In response to all of that, I would like for you to consider with me what the Word of God teaches us on this particular topic and especially what we hear about it in our Epistle lesson today from Ephesians chapter 2. In Ephesians chapter 2, the Holy Spirit Himself teaches us about conversion. He teaches us about whose work conversion is, and He also teaches us about why understanding whose work it is, is so important to our faith. So again, those will be our two questions that we’ll work through in this morning’s sermon. First, whose work is conversion? And second, why is understanding whose work it is so important?

Right away, in Ephesians chapter 2, the Holy Spirit teaches us without a doubt that conversion, or coming to saving faith in Jesus, cannot possibly be a work that we do for ourselves. It cannot possible be something that we cause to happen or something that we accomplish as an act of our own free will. Saint Paul begins our text by telling us, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked.” Here the Bible describes for us the state of our spiritual condition prior to our conversion. It describes what we are like as sinners before we come to saving faith in Jesus. When the Bible describes what we are like before we become Christians, it describes us as being dead. The Bible doesn’t say that we are sick. The Bible does not say that we are wounded or hurt. It says that we are dead. To be “dead in our trespasses and sins” means that on our own we are incapable of doing anything to get ourselves out of them. The only thing that can get us out of our sins so that we don’t have to suffer for them in eternity is, of course, as the Bible says elsewhere, faith in Jesus. So, what the Bible is telling us here, is that we cannot bring ourselves to faith in Jesus by something that we do. Even though we can decide to do many other things in our life for ourselves such as deciding what clothes to wear in the morning, or what food to eat for lunch, when it comes to spiritual matters, such as believing the gospel, we do not have any power in ourselves to make that decision. Just like a person who is physically dead cannot cause himself to get up and walk out of the grave, people who are spiritually dead, cannot cause themselves to get up and leave their darkened state of unbelief.

In fact, not only are we incapable of doing this on our own, but according to what we read in Ephesians chapter 2, and elsewhere in the Bible, we don’t even want to do this. That is what makes our spiritual condition prior to conversion so utterly dead. Saint Paul continues, “we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.” Besides not having any power to convert ourselves or make ourselves believe the Gospel, in Ephesians chapter 2, we also learn that “by nature,” as in, the way that everyone is from the moment of their conception, we are actually hostile to the Gospel. As Paul says, we all carried our own desires, as in, we all did what we wanted do. It’s not as if our will was neutral like some inanimate object. Rather, it’s that our will was turned away from the Gospel. We didn’t want to believe Gospel. We wouldn’t believe the Gospel. Far from being inclined to make a decision for Christ or to accept Him as our personal Lord and Savior, prior to our conversion, our sinful nature actively fought against it.

And again, this is not just something that the Holy Spirit teaches us in here in Ephesians chapter 2, but something that He teaches us about in many other places in the Bible. For example, Saint Paul also tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, “The natural personal does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are folly to him.” Likewise, we read in Galatians 5, “The desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” And in the book of Acts, Saint Stephen tells us, “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.” Finally, the Word of God tells us plainly in Romans 3, “No one is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.” According to the Bible, every single person in the whole world, from the smallest baby, to the most mature adult, is in the same spiritual condition prior to their conversion. They are spiritually dead. They have no spiritual power. And that is why conversion, or coming to faith in Jesus, could not possibly be something that we do for ourselves. It could not possibly be a decision that we make for ourselves or something that we accomplish as an act of our own free will. According to the Bible, conversion is not our work.

So, whose work is it then? In Ephesians chapter 2, besides showing us without a shadow of doubt that conversion, or coming to saving faith in Jesus, is not our own work, the Holy Spirit also shows us without a shadow of a doubt whose work it is. It is the work of God Himself. As Saint Paul clearly says, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved.” The Bible teaches us that God makes us alive. It teaches us that God brings us from spiritual death into new spiritual life. It teaches us that conversion is not an act of our own free will, but an act of God’s gracious will, meaning that it is something that God does apart from us and even in spite of us. Conversion is something that God does for us.

As Saint Paul continues in our text 2, “By grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is a gift of God, not as a result of works.” Every single part of our salvation from start to finish is a gift that comes from God. That includes, of course, Jesus dying on the cross to make atonement for our sins, but that also includes the faith that is necessary to trust in Jesus and receive the forgiveness of our sins that He purchased there. God gives both of those things to us. And He gives both of them to us by grace. In fact, that is exactly what Saint Paul is talking about in Ephesians 2 when he says, “this is not your own doing.” The “this” that Paul is referring to when he says “and this is not your own doing,” grammatically refers back to the word “faith.” Faith is not of your own doing. Faith is the gift of God. Faith is the thing that comes not as a result of our own works but is itself the work of God that He works in our hearts. Our will is not what causes conversion, our will is what is converted by God. He changes our will. He changes our will by giving us a new will.

And again, this is not just something that the Holy Spirit teaches us in Ephesians chapter 2, but something that He teaches us all over the Scriptures. Saint Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12, “No one can say Jesus Christ is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” In the book of Acts it says, “When they heard these things, they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.” Also, from the book of Acts we hear about Lydia and how, “The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.” And Jesus, of course, tells us Himself in John 15, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” Just as God spoke the universe into existence and the whole world was created out of nothing simply by the power of His voice, so also our faith in Jesus is created by Him out of nothing too. As the Scriptures also tell us in Ephesians 4, “For God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

The Bible teaches us that conversion, or coming to saving faith in Jesus, is the work of God Himself. It is a work that He does by grace. It is something that He accomplishes for us and gives to us not because of our own merit or worthiness but according to His own mercy and love. God causes us to believe in Jesus. God causes us to have faith when otherwise we would never be able to and we wouldn’t even want to. God makes us alive, even when we were dead.

So, lastly then, why does understanding this teaching matter so much? Why is it so vitally important to our faith that we know and believe that conversion is not our work, but the work of God Himself? There are two main reasons why understanding this is so important to our faith and both of them relate to what Saint Paul says at the end of Ephesians chapter 2. After describing our spiritual condition prior to conversion and teaching us how even though we were dead in our trespasses God Himself makes us alive so that we are saved us by grace and not our works, Saint Paul adds, “so that no one may boast.” The reason why it is so important to our faith that we understand that conversion is God’s work and not our own work, is because it keeps us from boasting. 

On the one hand, it keeps us from boasting in ourselves. It keeps us from relying on ourselves for our own salvation and thinking that we are ultimately responsible for our it. And that, of course, is a good thing, because if even the littlest bit of our salvation relied on something that we do instead of what Jesus has done for us, then we would never be able to have real certainty that we were actually saved. If there was even one thing that we had to do for ourselves and by ourselves to get ourselves into heaven, then we would always doubt whether or not we had really and truly done that thing. And that is exactly what can happen to people who have been taught that in order to be saved you have to make a decision for Christ. They can begin to doubt whether or not they truly and really did make that decision. 

On the other hand, this teaching about conversion gives us the confidence to boast in Christ. Yes, the Bible tells us not to boast in ourselves, but it never forbids us from boasting in Jesus. In fact, as Saint Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” When we know that our conversion is God’s work and not our own, that alone gives us real confidence in our salvation. That alone enables us to have true peace in our hearts knowing that every part of our salvation from beginning to end relies on the Jesus who loves us and not ourselves.

When we Lutherans condemn the teaching of “decision theology,” it is important for us to be clear that we are not saying that everyone who goes to a church that teaches decision theology is automatically going to hell. Merely going to a particular church is neither the direct cause of a person’s salvation nor their damnation. Just like you don’t get into heaven simply by attending services here at St. John, you don’t necessarily dam yourself by attending a different denomination. And yet, at the same time, going to one of those churches that teaches decision theology puts a person soul in danger. That is because they are hearing false doctrine. If a person actually does believe that the reason why they are going to heaven is because they made a decision to be saved, and that their salvation relies on an act of their own will, then they will not be saved, because no one is saved by their own works. Even if many other things that the church teaches are true, just one falsehood can lead a person astray. And that is a big falsehood. It literally relates to how a person is saved.

When we Lutherans condemn decision theology we are doing so because we do not want people to trust in themselves for their salvation. We do not want people to be worried that they haven’t done something that they need to do in order to get into heaven, like make a decision for Christ, even if they already have true faith in Jesus and trust in Him for forgiveness. How can anyone even make a decision for Christ, who doesn’t already believe in Christ before that? That makes no sense. No, we want people to trust in Jesus alone. We do not want people to rely on some decision that they made for Jesus, but on the decision that Jesus made for them. We want people to rely on God’s grace.

Dear Christians, the Bible teaches us that conversion is not our work, but the merciful work of God. And what a wonderful teaching of God’s Word that is! May the Lord Jesus who teaches it to us, cause us to believe it and cherish it always. May He never let us forget and may we never doubt what we learn in the Scriptures and what we memorized from the Small Catechism, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, and sanctified and kept me in the one the true faith.” In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Of all the Apostles that suffered things for the Gospel, it’s hard to image anything worse than what supposedly happened to Saint Bartholomew. According to Church tradition, Bartholomew, also known as Nathaniel, was that disciple of Jesus Christ who got put to death by being flayed alive. That’s why when you see Saint Bartholomew’s emblem, often times it will have a picture of knife on the front of it to symbolize the way in which he lost his life. Even though the account of Saint Bartholomew’s martyrdom is not found anywhere in the Bible, so we shouldn’t speculate about it too much, there is still a Biblical truth at the center of it which we do well to pay attention to. And that truth is that there is always a cost to being a Christian. So, what I’d like to do in this morning’s sermon as we remember and give thanks to God for the witness of this incredible and faithful man, is talk a little bit more about what that cost is and why it’s worth it.

In the first place, I think it would be worthwhile for us to simply spend some time reflecting on the fact that, no matter what, every one of us should expect to suffer something if we are going to be a Christian. We live in a time where the message of Christianity has often been diluted down to vapid cliches and happy feelings. The most explicit example of this comes from those prosperity Gospel preachers who attract thousands of people to their pulpits by telling them that when they become a real follower of Christ it will automatically result in material blessing. But there are other representations of this error too. What about all of those congregations that have turned their church services into something that looks closer to a rock concert than anything resembling historic worship? How many people complain about being bored in church nowadays as if the goal of going to church is the same thing as going to a football game? Are we here to be entertained, or are we here to have our souls fed with God’s Word and Sacraments? Have you ever noticed how it seems like every new church that pops up these days picks a name as if they are trying to compete with each other for who is going to sound the most upbeat and positive? It’s always something like “Victory Life Church” or “Abundant Praise Church.” But you don’t hear of too many places being named after Saint Bartholomew. Apparently, nobody wants to be associated with the guy who got flayed alive. But that’s a shame.

Because when the impression is given that the Christian life is always easy, all that it does is make people more likely to stop being Christians whenever they encounter something that isn’t. But sometimes being a Christian isn’t easy. Sometimes it’s actually hard. Sometimes following after Christ and being faithful to Him and His Word is difficult and requires sacrifices. In some instances, it can lead to real physical and emotional pain. Just ask Saint Bartholomew. And if you aren’t convinced by his story, then listen to what God Himself says in the Bible.

Consider for example, our Epistle lesson today from 2 Corinthians chapter 4. There Saint Paul talks about how even though we have a great treasure in the promise of the Gospel, for now, we still carry that treasure in jars of clay. What he means is that our lives don’t always look as outwardly impressive as the hope that we have within us. As Saint Paul writes, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; stuck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” That’s the real depiction of the Christian life. That’s the one that you don’t often hear advertised on TV or portrayed in the movies. But that’s the one that in some way or another all Christians should expect to face. Remember what we read in Acts chapter 14. When the Christians of Antioch and Iconium were being persecuted for their faith, Paul strengthened their souls by reminding them that it is through “many tribulations that we must enter the Kingdom of God.”

Being a Christian always costs us something. It always comes with carry a cross. That’s exactly what Jesus tells us in Luke chapter 14. He says “nobody builds a tower without first counting the cost” and “whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be my disciple.”

Maybe being a Christian will cost you money. Doesn’t Christ also tell us that a person cannot have two masters and that “you cannot serve God and money.” Is it possible that you might have to quit your job and look for another one if your boss asks you to do things that you know are against God’s Word? Perhaps you won’t even be able to take a certain job to being with because that job doesn’t ever allow you to come to Church or there isn’t even a good Lutheran Church that teaches pure doctrine nearby.  Or here’s a tough one. What if following Jesus costs you strained relationships with your family or the inability to even interact with some of them at all. What does Jesus say to us in Matthew chapter 10? He says, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own house.” Sometimes confessing what God says in the Bible makes other people mad at you. Sometimes it makes them not want to talk to you anymore. Sometimes it makes them hate you. In the worst possible cases, it may even make some people want to kill you. But again, what does Jesus say? He says in Matthew chapter 16, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

These are but a few of the things that we might have to deal with if want to live as Christians in a world that is hostile to God’s Word. Only the Lord knows what kinds of trials we might have to face and we can rest assured that He also knows what they are and how long they will last. But there is no getting around the fact that each and every one of us, in some way or another, will have to face something. All of us will have to take up our own on cross and follow Jesus, because being His disciple always comes at a cost.

And yet, even though following Jesus always comes at a cost, what is equally true is that no matter what that cost is, in the end, God promises that it will be worth it. Again, what does Saint Paul say in our Epistle lesson today from 2 Corinthians chapter 4? How does he describe for us the thing that we have, which is the reason why we suffer? He calls it treasure. He says, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay.” The treasure that Saint Paul is referring to in our text is nothing other than the free gift of salvation in Jesus. He is talking about the Gospel.

There is nothing in the whole world that is worth more than the Gospel. There is nothing that is more valuable than message of forgiveness in Christ. What other thing can save us from our sins? What other thing can assure us that we have a place in heaven and that even if we die, we will not stay dead, but we will be raised to new and eternal life? What other thing can give us a clean conscience and take away the fear that regardless of whether or not everyone else stands against us, including our own sinful flesh, God is still by our side? The only thing that can do that is the Gospel. As Saint Paul also tells us in Romans chapter 1, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.”

The reason why we carry in our bodies the death of Jesus, meaning we suffer things for being Christians, is so that the life of Jesus would be manifested in our bodies too. It’s so that other people would come to know the hope that we have in Christ. We don’t endure hardship and persecution in order to earn God’s grace and favor, we do it to show others that in Jesus, we already have God’s grace and favor. We take up our cross, because Christ took up His. And it was on His cross that the real price was paid. It was there that Jesus made atonement not only for our sin but for the sins of the whole world. Every debt that we owe to God, every transgression against His Holy Law that cries out to the heavens for justice, all of our lust, all of our greed, all of our anger, cowardice, and pride, our Lord made up for and suffered for when He willing endured the death of sinner even though He wasn’t one Himself.

Yes, it’s true that being a Christian is not always easy. Sometimes it comes with a cost and sometimes that cost can be very great. It’s hard to image going through something as terrible as what Saint Bartholomew went through. Where does a man get the courage to confess Jesus as his Lord even when other people are holding you down and cutting off your skin? How on earth did he have the strength to do that? There is only one explanation. He didn’t. The power to follow Christ even unto death doesn’t come from us, it comes from God. It comes by a gift of the Holy Spirit who works faith in our hearts through the preaching of the Gospel. Again, what does Saint Paul say in our reading? He writes “We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”

Bartholomew was able to endure in the face of immense suffering only because he knew about who suffered in His place. And, not only that, he knew about how his suffering came to an end. Bartholomew knew that besides dying for our sins on the cross, Jesus also rose from the dead three days later never to die again. And as the Bible tells us, “For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like His.” If we have been joined to the death of Christ in our Baptism, and been made members of His body through faith in His blood, then one day we will share in all of His resurrected glory.

The other day I was talking about Saint Bartholomew with my little kids at the dinner table and I asked them what God was going to do for Bartholomew when Jesus came back on the Last Day. Without any hesitation, one of them said, “Jesus is going to put his skin back on his body.” “That’s right,” I said, “Jesus will make things new.” He’ll do it for Bartholomew, and He’ll do it for you too. So don’t give up. Cling to Christ. Forsake the world. Guard the treasure that is yours by faith. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.