by Bror Erickson
GUEST COLUMNIST
Easter, the celebration of the glorious resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, is just around the corner. In many ways, it is the birthday of Christianity, for it is at the center of Christianity. Without Easter there is no Christianity. Easter gives us the sure and certain hope that Christ has accomplished all for us, and has given us new life. It is this new life that is Christianity. It is this new life I like.
I like it because it is different. It is about the forgiveness of sins. At the center of Christianity is the fact that Christ died on the cross for all the sins of the world, and that includes all my sins and your sins. All the chief doctrines, the so-called dead dogmas, of Christianity are there to point to this living reality, that Christ died to pay for the sins of the world.
The Bible as the inerrant, inspired word of God, the triune God that the Bible reveals, whom Israel confessed in the famed Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4, the manhood of Christ, all point to the reality that Christ died for my sins and your sins. I like believing in a God like that -- a God who gives up his heavenly throne to wander the world a homeless peasant so that finally He can die in place of the people he loves on a cross. That is an awesome God. A God that does that for me makes it certain. I don't ever have to worry again about what happens to me when I die, because I know that God died for me, He suffered death, and He rose again from the dead. Sure I have sinned -- not a few of you have watched me sin -- and while I'm not proud of my sin, I don't let it bother me because I know it has been forgiven. I live for that forgiveness. It is my new life.
I watch a lot of people slink around with burdened consciences. I see other people masquerade in false righteousness. I hear people preach the law on television. I hear the law in my heart. It is unbearable. I understand the false righteous masks. I understand the depressed. I understand the drunkenness, the promiscuity, the escapism of the world. The law drives the world to these demons. I try to restrain myself the best I can. Well, maybe not the best, though I do try. But I am helpless. God's law and the Ten Commandments drive me to despair. They point and ridicule, they taunt and laugh guilty. Who isn't guilty in light of these. I don't know a soul who doesn't deserve to go to hell in light of these. The Bible confirms my thoughts.
"Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin." (Romans 3:19-20 (ESV)
I don't need the Bible to tell me I am a sinner, for I can figure that out on my own. I don't need to go to church to feel guilty, or be told to do better. I can give myself a better guilt trip than someone preaching the law. It really gets me when they don't think the Ten Commandments are good enough. I don't need any more rules. I find the speed limit hard enough to follow. Paul warned Timothy about the types who would teach the law "without understanding." Excuse me if I heed that warning myself. Leave my beer, wine, scotch and occasional cigar out of it. I consider those blessed gifts from God, to be enjoyed. "May God give you of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine." (Genesis 27:28 (ESV)
But God's gifts don't stop there with the things of this world. I have to say he has blessed me with a lot in this world -- a beautiful wife, a healthy young boy, a nice house, cars, and trips around the world. He has given me life itself. I don't know that a person could have a fuller life to enjoy. But as if that wasn't enough He forgives me too. He gives me His righteousness constantly. You see I have this bad habit I can't quit. I can't quit sinning. And I don't think I am alone in that; neither are you.
I've quit lots of things in life. Once I went for the whole of Lent eating nothing but bread, and drinking nothing but water, coffee, and tea, no sugar. I'll quit smoking and have gone years without any tobacco. I'll put down the bottle and not touch it. But I can't stop sinning, much less make up for the past sins. I don't like it, but I do it. "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing." (Romans 7:19 (ESV)
And yet whenever I go to church there Jesus is forgiving my sins, inviting me to eat with Him, to drink with Him, to kneel at His table, and receive His blessing. That is what I like about Christianity. That is what keeps me going back Sunday after Sunday -- the forgiveness of sins, the chance to eat and drink with Christ, and hear Him bless me. Would that the world would hear it. Then we wouldn't have to slink around with burdened consciences, or masquerade in false righteousness. For on Easter morning, Christ gave us all -- you and me -- His righteousness; the righteousness that pulled Him from the grave, in the forgiveness of sins.
Bror Erickson is pastor of the First Lutheran Church in Tooele. He is a graduate of Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, Ind.