(Sermon by Pastor Michael D. Schultz 06/03/07)

INTRODUCTION:

Some things don’t matter, some things do.  Whether you pay through the nose for gasoline at Chevron or Shell doesn’t matter, but going to heaven or hell obviously does.  Do your clothes match perfectly – not that big a deal, but does your behavior match your beliefs – that matters.  Whether or not your team wins this year, well… but whether or not you win out over the devil’s attempts to destroy your faith, that will matter.

I’d like to call your attention to something that God put in place that matters more than anything.  On the basis of how Jesus lived and died as our replacement and then rose again, God the Father issued a decree based on what his Son had done and the Holy Spirit has been broadcasting it since Adam and Eve first sinned.  God’s decree says that everyone has been cleared of all guilt, and I mean everyone.  Because Jesus was the substitute for everyone, God has counted everyone innocent.  That’s true whether a person believes it or not. 

Among the things that truly matter in this life, in fact, what matters most, is believing it, trusting that what God says is true.

Trusting God's Decree Makes A Hugh Difference

It makes a difference in every facet of your existence.  Whether you’re standing in front of a washer and dryer or traveling across the country, lying down to go to sleep or waking up for a madly busy day, rejoicing at a wedding reception or crying your eyes out at a funeral - trusting God’s decree makes a huge difference.

But we all face this temptation to think that the biggest deal in the world is no big deal at all.  Let’s call it “the sin and grace conversation” – God rid us of sin by crushing Jesus for it – does that put food on the table or pay your bills or fix your air conditioning or get you out of the latest jam you’ve gotten into?  It’s awfully tempting to think that this decree of innocence through Jesus which God made is lacking in practical value.

One way to gain the proper perspective, though, is to see where you’d be without it.  If God took back his decree, or on a more personal note, if it simply failed to make your top ten list of most important things, your monthly calendar would have “unrest” written in on every day, because you wouldn’t know how God feels toward you.  If your sin isn’t resolved by God’s grace, then God has to treat you as you deserve. You want that?  If the “innocent through Jesus” decree is no big deal, then you and I are covered with shame and we eternally keep dying apart from God.

We’ve thought that way – that a mortgage, of all things, is a bigger deal than sin and grace, that our family outranks “innocent through Jesus,” that the worries of this day and the obligations of this week take precedence over God declaring us righteous.  Damning proof of that – how often do I thank God for declaring me innocent through Jesus compared to how often do I get lost in the little world of my own concerns?  We have to be cursed and damned for thinking and acting this way.

Wanna hear something strange?... That already happened.  You were cursed and damned for your sins on Good Friday.  You were condemned and killed for thinking little or nothing of God’s love.  You were dead and buried in the grave.  And you were brought back to life.  This all happened to you when it happened to Jesus.  God’s decree stands – innocent through Jesus.  There is no bigger deal.  Believe it.  Believe God.

Trusting God’s decree makes a huge difference when you’re evaluating what you have.  Listen to these words and take inventory.  The miserable unrest of not knowing what God thinks of you has given way to peace, the peace of hearing God himself tell you that through Jesus he thinks the world of you.  God not treating you as you deserve but loving you and helping you like you could never deserve is a door that’s open to you and that will not close.  Sin-free, ecstatic and holy in heaven with God, you are going to shine with the glory of Jesus.  Peace, grace and glory – yours, yours, and yours – because God has gone on record as saying you are innocent through Jesus.  There is cause for rejoicing.

At the same time, there will be troubles along the way that will make you think you cannot possibly be joyful.  It’s at those traumatic times that trusting God’s decree will make the biggest difference of all, when you feel like you’re in the garbage disposal with Han Solo and Luke and Leia, and the walls are closing in, but it’s not a Star Wars movie.  The Bible’s word for troubles is the word for pressure, when you’re being scrunched, when you’re being squashed. 

How many things – other than rejoicing – have we done when pressure-filled troubles are squashing us?  Whether it makes sense or not, whether it seems helpful or not, those are the times we need to go running to God’s decree. Trusting God’s decree makes a huge difference when you’re being squashed.  If it was through enduring everyone’s hell and at the cost of his holy life that Jesus earned you God’s declaration of innocence, then there’s something you can know for a fact, because God says it’s a fact.  The very God who redeemed you by slaying his Son uses your troubles to make your confidence in him stronger.

Like the runner who pounds out miles of training every day, continuing troubles build endurance.  God gives the ability to persevere, not in one dose but over time.  Gaining that endurance is how God changes you from a rookie into a veteran – someone who has learned from God what to do and where to turn when the pressure is on.  That’s when what lies before you changes from bleak to bright – my Savior Jesus will never fail me till troubles are a thing of the past. 

As crushing as your troubles may be, that trust (Jesus will not fail me) will never disappoint you, not if the Holy Spirit has anything to do with it.  He’s drenching you with God’s love for you when he tells you this: If Christ died for you when you were his sinful enemy, what’s God going to do for you now that you are his forgiven friend?  That’s the card you’re holding when the pressure’s on.

The Father decreed it because the Son won it for you and the Holy Spirit keeps saying so – innocent through Jesus.  Holy Trinity!

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