“Cross Way- Confession” 1 John 1.5–10 Pent 8A, July ‘26

1.                Grace mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who fills us with joy proclaiming the “cross way” of sins forgiven for the sake of the sacrifice of Christ Jesus our Lord. Our message today as we continue our Catechism Sermon Series, “Perspectives from the Cross” is focused on Confession, it’s entitled, “Cross Way: Confession,” and it is based on 1 John 1:5-10, dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen.

2.                The cross of Jesus touches us most personally in the 5^th Chief Part of the Small Catechism, Confession, and the proclamation of forgiveness or absolution. Picture Jesus hanging on the cross. Below him are those who have cried out for his blood with the words “Crucify him.” Beside him are thieves who deserve their punishment. Around him are the soldiers dividing his garments. Missing are the disciples who earlier declared their readiness to die with him. Jesus looks at all of these surrounding him and, rather than condemning them, he prays, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Prov 14:12).

3.                On the other hand, St. Paul testified: “According to the Way, . . . I worship the God of our fathers, . . . having a hope in God. . . . So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man” (Acts 24:14–16). As Christians, we know that it’s Jesus’ cross that is the way of hope, of eternal life, and that whatever leads us away from the cross is the way of death. Maybe nothing better directs us on that way to life than the subject of the fifth Chief Part of the catechism. The Way That Leads to Life Is the Cross Way— Confession and Declaration of Forgiveness for the Sake of Jesus’ Cross.

4.                Someone has said that resentment is like drinking poison in hopes that it will kill your enemy. In other words, refusal to forgive doesn’t hurt our perceived enemy at all. It’s like a poison that resides in our own bodies and can be the source of illness, discomfort, and physiological and psychological pain. Only forgiveness sets us free from that.

5.                St. John, in his first epistle of the New Testament, our text, warns us with these words: “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (1 John 1:5–6). It is impossible to have fellowship and friendship with God our Father while standing in the darkness of sin and proclaiming that we are in the light. This is what has confused our society. Many of those who claim to be proponents of the light are walking in the darkness of sin. They may be wearing crosses. They may have fish on their bumpers and “Jesus Is My Pilot” stickers on their cars. But when we see their sinful behavior, we are confused. They say they’re in the light, but the fruit of darkness is what they’re producing. These are not confessing their sins, and they are not forgiven.

6.                I sometimes wonder about those who pastor such people and are willing to stand at the Last Day before the Lamb of God, who sacrificed his life on Calvary, rose from the dead, and called them into his service. What pastor is willing to stand and say, “Yes, that is my member who just cursed and used those hate-filled words on social media. Yes, that is my member who has no need for confession because his or her behavior is in the light”? That is the way that leads to death—away from the cross. Lord, have mercy upon us! Help us and deliver us from ourselves!

7.                John continues, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. . . . If we say we have not sinned, we make [God] a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8, 10). Maybe this is the heart of the problem. People know so little about the Ten Commandments, that they have no knowledge of their sin and feel no need to confess, repent, be forgiven, and walk in the newness of life—to walk in the light of Christ. This is the way that leads to death—away from the cross. Father, forgive them, because they don’t know what they’re doing.

8.                “But,” John says, “if we walk in the light, as [God] is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. . . . If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:7, 9). This is the victory won by our Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary. Paul says it this way: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21). To understand this blessing of the cross is of great importance for our new life in Jesus.

9.                Jesus, the sinless Lamb of God came down from heaven, landed in the manger at Bethlehem, grew in wisdom, and favor. When he was thirty years old, he began his ministry, being baptized by John and introduced as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He spent the next three years going through the region, healing illnesses, feeding the hungry, and befriending those who were convinced that they were abandoned by God. Jesus wanted to convince them that God was actually willing to accept them—not based on what they had done, but because they had faith in Him, who would take them to the Upper Room and give them the assurance of the forgiveness of their sins through his own body and blood.

10.             Jesus was scourged, denied, rejected by the world, and crucified. He died on the cross and was buried in a tomb built for another. One would think this would end the issue. But then, on the third day, women went looking for Jesus to prepare his body for burial, and he was not there. He was risen from the dead. That’s how Paul understood and wrote that “in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus takes our sin upon himself on the cross, and we receive his righteousness. All is forgiven, and we are approved as the children of God.

11.             Jesus’ journey to the cross, comes the way that leads to life, for the forgiveness Jesus won for all sin is now given to us. When we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive them. This is the blessed act of absolution, the declaration of forgiveness, the word “I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” This is the cross way that leads to life!

12.             This is a great gift of grace! We receive not only the grace of confessing our sin but also the blessing of being able to declare that in the name of Jesus sin is forgiven. We are authorized to forgive the sin confessed to us in genuine repentance and contrition. This is not a shallow “I’m sorry,” followed by a superficial “That’s okay.” It is a grace, a gift from the Father, to participate in the cross of Jesus that declares sin forgiven by baptismal grace and mercy.

13.             This means that when we sin against one another, we do not have to go through the next twenty years bearing the weight of that sin. Our Father in his love and mercy has given us a way to be freed from the burden of that sin and set free for service in his kingdom. We bear with the burdens and weaknesses of others, and in Galatians Paul says that in doing so we fulfill that law of Christ (Gal 6:2).

14.             This is the exclusive “cross way” that can be received nowhere else in all created glory. Every so often, the devil will attempt to convince you that some sin you committed in the past was too serious to be forgiven. He will try to tell you that Jesus did not die for that sin. He will attempt to wear you down with the thought that God is too holy and judgmental, so that he will not forgive such a horrible act you’ve committed. It is at such a time we are to call to mind the cross way, “Father, forgive them,” and go to the pastor or some other Christian friend, confess that sin, and once again hear the declaration of the Father’s forgiveness. The catechism reminds us that the words of absolution are “as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself” (Small Catechism, Confession, “What do you believe according to these words?”).

15.             You will be reminded that “for freedom Christ has set us free,” and we are encouraged to “stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal 5:1). Do not again be ruled by doubt and fear that God is not able to separate us from our sin and deliver us into the kingdom of his Son, our Savior, Jesus. It is for this purpose that Jesus came and sacrificed his life. Our faith in our Lord is sustained by his cross way, the words of absolution, the declaration of forgiveness. And assured of our forgiveness, we are set free to forgive the sin of those who sin against us. Amen. Now may the peace of Christ that passes all understanding maintain our hearts and minds in the assurance of the cross way of forgiveness, both now and forever. Amen.

 

“Cross Wind-Holy Baptism” John 3.1–17 June ‘26

 

1.                Grace to you and peace from God our Heavenly Father, from our Lord Jesus Christ, and from the Holy Spirit, who blew over the waters of creation and who now blows over the waters of your baptismal font. Amen. Cross words. We’re in the midst of a sermon series looking at the Six Chief Parts of Luther’s Small Catechism. And the big point in this series is that all of these chief teachings of the Christian faith are really about the cross of Jesus Christ. Today, we are focusing on the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. In our text from John 3, Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night. He's a Pharisee, a member of the ruling council, a man with a reputation to protect — so he comes under cover of darkness, hoping no one notices a teacher of Israel sneaking off to sit at the feet of a Galilean rabbi. He opens politely: "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him" (John 3:2). It's a compliment. It's also an attempt to stay in control of the conversation.

2.                Jesus doesn't let Nicodemus stay in control. "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). And then: "unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). Nicodemus wanted a theological chat. Jesus gives him a diagnosis and a cure. That's our pattern too for today, because Baptism, the Fourth Chief Part of the Catechism, is what we're after today. And the best way I know to preach it is to call it what it is: a cross wind.

3.                A cross-breeze is a pleasant thing — it slips in one window and out another and cools a whole house. But a crosswind, the kind a pilot or a sailor respects, is a different matter. It doesn't just cool you; it pushes you, sets your course, demands a correction. That's Baptism. Not a one-time refreshment, but a wind that has set your whole life on a heading. By Baptism into the Cross of Christ, the Holy Spirit's wind blows to guide our whole lives.

4.                Here's something worth knowing: the Hebrew word ruach and the Greek word pneuma both mean spirit, breath, and wind — the same word for all three. So, when Jesus tells Nicodemus, "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8), he's not reaching for a clever metaphor. He's pointing Nicodemus straight back to Genesis, where the Lord God forms a man from dust and "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life" (Gen 2:7), and straight to Ezekiel's valley, where dry, dead bones hear the word of the Lord: "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live" (Ezek 37:9). Spirit. Breath. Wind. One Lord, doing the same kind of work he has always done — taking what is dead and dry and breathing into it a life that did not belong to it before.

5.                That's the Law's diagnosis. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh" (John 3:6). King David knew it too: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Ps 51:5). You were not baptized because you were basically fine and just needed a little spiritual touch-up. You were baptized because, apart from the Spirit, you are dry bones in a valley, dead in your sin — and no amount of Pharisaic credentials, moral effort, or church attendance changes that diagnosis. Nicodemus's resume couldn't save him. Neither can yours.

6.                But the same God who diagnoses also delivers. He did not leave Ezekiel's bones in the valley, and he hasn’t left you there either. "He saved us... not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5). The wind that hovered over the waters at creation (Gen 1:2) is the same Spirit who was given to you at your baptism — in your case with water poured over your head, with your pastor's hands, with the triune name spoken over you. You did not command that wind. It came to you, uninvited and unearned, exactly the way Jesus said it would: blowing where it wishes.

7.                Here's where the wind gets its name. This isn't generic spiritual uplift. Jesus tells Nicodemus plainly where this all leads: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life" (John 3:14–15). The wind of the Spirit blows out of the cross, because that is where the Spirit was poured out for you — Christ "breathed his last" (Mark 15:37) so that breath could be given back to you.

8.                St. Paul makes the connection explicit: "We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life" (Rom 6:4). Your Baptism wasn’t a pleasant ceremony detached from the cross. It was your funeral and your birth, both at once, in the same water. Luther says it as plainly as anyone ever has in the Small Catechism: "[Baptism] signifies that the old Adam in us should be drowned by daily contrition and repentance, and that he die together with all sins and evil desires; and on the other hand, that a new man should daily come forth and arise, who shall live before God in righteousness and purity forever." Notice that word daily. Luther will not let Baptism be a museum piece you visit once. It’s a cross you carry into, under, and through, every day you live.

9.                This is also why Baptism can’t be reduced to a feeling, a decision, or a memory you have to keep digging up and reassuring yourself about. The old liturgy of the church, in the prayer Luther wrote for baptism, asks God to grant that the baptized "be drowned in the merciful flood of His holiness, and so be saved from the corrupted flood of sin, separated from the number of the unbelieving, and preserved dry and secure in the holy ark of the Christian Church." Drowned, and yet kept dry and secure — that's the strange logic of the cross. Christ's death actually puts your sin to death, not your feelings about your sin. The cross wind doesn't ask how strong your faith feels today. It asks whether you were baptized, because that's an objective, finished, outside-of-you fact, anchored in Christ's own death and resurrection, not in the weather of your emotions.

10.             If the Spirit only showed up once, at the font, and then left you to navigate the rest of life on your own instincts, that would be cold comfort. But Paul says, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God" (Rom 8:14), and "if we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit" (Gal 5:25). The wind that blew you into the kingdom keeps blowing. It’s not behind you; it’s underneath you, like the wind under a sailboat's keel, setting your heading every single day, whether you happen to notice it or not.

11.             This is why Luther, when the devil came calling with his usual accusations — you've failed again, you're not really God's, look at what you did — didn't argue theology with the devil. He simply said two words: "I am baptized." Not "I feel saved." Not "I've earned this." Just the plain fact: I am baptized. That answer ends the argument, because Baptism doesn't rest on your performance; it rests on Christ. Peter says it this way: "Baptism... now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet 3:21). The good conscience isn't manufactured by you trying harder. It's given by Christ, who is risen, and who has attached his resurrection to your washing.

12.             So when the accuser shows up at 2 a.m. with his list of grievances against you, you have an answer, and it isn't found by searching your feelings for evidence of holiness. It's found by remembering the water. "I am baptized" — the old Adam in me has already been drowned; I don't have to drown him again today, only keep him under. The new man has already been raised; I don't have to manufacture him, only walk in step with the wind that gave him life. And on the day when Christ comes again in glory and gathers his own, he will not be looking for an impressive spiritual résumé. He will recognize his own mark, placed on you in water and word, and he will call you his own.

13.             Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, in the dark, trying to keep his options open. But the Spirit blows where he wishes, not where we manage him, and he had already set his sights on a Pharisee with a guilty conscience and on you, with whatever conscience you brought here today. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). That love came to you in water, fastened itself to the cross, and now blows through every ordinary day you've got left —carrying you toward a kingdom you did not build and cannot lose.

14.             You are baptized. Let the wind do what it does. Now the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.