A Sermon About Nothing

In Nomine Iesu
Romans 8:28-39
July 30, 2017
Proper 12A

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus~

This is a sermon about nothing. I think, if I could summarize this sermon for you in one word, that word would be “nothing.” Later on today if someone should happen to ask you, “What did the pastor preach about today?” I want you to say, “Nothing—the sermon was about nothing.” But if you are pressed and prodded to say more than that, then say, “It was a sermon about nothing . . . and it was a sermon about everything.”

Nothing and everything. There in a nutshell you have today’s epistle reading from Romans chapter 8. “Nothing” can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing! Not tribulation, not distress, not persecution, not famine, not nakedness, not danger, not sword. Nothing. Not even death. Especially not death. Nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ. And, attached to that “nothing” is an “everything.” Everything—all things—work together for good for God’s baptized believers. Everything: the good, the bad, the ugly. “Everything” ultimately works for good for those who love God. And “nothing” can separate us from God’s love. We’ve got everything and nothing—I think we may just have something.

Let’s start with everything. We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. Do you believe it? It’s that little word “all” that makes us skeptical. It would be a little easier to swallow if Paul had written, “We know that in most things God works for our good” or, perhaps, “We know that in a very high percentage of instances God is working for our good.” We could say “amen” to that. But it’s the word “all” that gives us pause. In a few minutes we’re going to sing the hymn, “What God Ordains Is ALWAYS Good.” Really? Always? In all things? In everything, good?

I’m sure you can think of many events in your own life which, on the surface, seem to contradict God’s claim that everything is working for your good. Consider the hapless hunter who was written up in a 1947 issue of The New Yorker magazine. It seems the guy went out and bagged himself a rabbit. But apparently the rabbit wasn’t quite dead. The rabbit managed to squirm its way out of the game bag, and somehow managed to press the trigger on the hunter’s gun, shooting the hunter in the foot. Does getting shot by a bunny fall under the “everything” of Romans 8—that in everything God is working for our good?

You probably won’t face those same circumstances anytime soon; but sooner or later a time comes in all of our lives when we’re just plain up against it—a time when, despite our best efforts and a stiff upper lip, we keep sliding deeper and deeper into doubt and despair—a time when darkness is all around us and there’s no relief in sight. Can we, then and there, confidently say that in everything we know that God is working for our good?

Believing this is much easier said than done—especially in the face of real tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword. Do we actually believe that as the baptized children of God our sufferings will be vindicated—that our sufferings will be shown to have meaning—that the hardships of our lives won’t simply be erased and wiped away, but will all be eventually woven together into a tapestry of pure good? Do we actually believe that in what we suffer now, there is deep purpose, and rich meaning, and ultimately something unimaginably good? Do you believe this?

Admittedly, without Jesus, this all sounds little bit hollow. Without Jesus, we’re veering dangerously close to the kind of shallow sentiment you find on a lot of greeting cards. That’s why immediately, in the very next sentence, Paul takes us directly to Jesus, the Son of God. As soon as he tells us that God works for our good in EVERYTHING, He takes us to Jesus. He writes: For those whom [God] foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. This is how it works. This is the only way it can work. The Father looks at His only-begotten Son; and He sees in His Son you and all believers. You through faith are being made and conformed and shaped into the image of Jesus. It’s the image of Jesus that you need. Because all you have by nature is the image of Adam.

Adam blew it. Adam rebelled. Adam completely lost the image of God by His rebellion and sin. Adam launched us all on a slippery downward slide that will eventually deposit us all six feet under. Adam’s sin and our sin provokes God’s wrath, and He’s plenty angry over it. Your sin deserves death and damnation, and don’t think for a minute that you can weasel out of it with your pious prayers and platitudes. No, you need Jesus. You can’t be a child of God without the Son of God. And this was God’s plan all along. The Father sent His one and only Son into our flesh. And this is the way God loves the world—the way God loves you, sinner though you are: He gives His only Son to die on the cross, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but will have eternal life with God. And God’s great plan to save you has been in the works long before you came along. Before you had the chance to do even one good work—going back to the foundation of the world—you were predestined to take your place along with the all the other sinners who would wash their robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb.

A verdict has been spoken over your head by the blood of the cross that took away your sin. God declares you innocent. And all you dare say in response to that verdict is “amen.” So be it. If God says it, that settles it. He who called you in the water of your baptism has now clothed you with the perfect life and death of Jesus. And that’s what it means to be justified. It means that we appear before God like Jacob appeared before his father, Isaac. Do you remember that story—how Isaac was old and blind—and how Jacob got disguised as his older brother Esau so that he could receive his brother’s blessing? We’re kind of like Jacob, for we appear before God like our older brother, Jesus—conformed to His image. We receive the blessing of Jesus as we are clothed in Jesus. Only there’s no deceit involved. Your heavenly Father is delighted to bless you, for He loves you in His Son. When God blesses you for Jesus’ sake, He knows exactly what He’s doing.

So, then, the big question: Since God has conformed you into the image of His Son—since He has predestined you and called you—since He has justified you and glorified you already in His Son—what is there on earth or in heaven that could possibly mess you up? What is there that could possibly undo all that God has done for you? NOTHING. That’s what this sermon is about. If God is for you (and He is in His Son), who can be against you? If God gave you His one and only Son, then what is there He will withhold from you? NOTHING. Since you are justified and cleansed by the holy and precious blood of Jesus, what transgression can you be charged with? NOTHING.

Who can condemn you before God? Jesus was condemned on the cross in your place. Cursed for you. Damned for you. And the same Jesus appears before the Father bearing the wounds of His sacrifice, interceding for you as your Defender and Priest. Jesus never lets the Father forget about those wounds of His through which we have life and forgiveness. And He never lets us forget those wounds either, for whenever we eat the bread that is His body and drink the cup that is His blood, we proclaim His death until He comes.

What can separate us from God’s love in Christ? NOTHING. Let the worst be unleashed against us—tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword (and by the way, when you hear “sword” think “execution”). Add to that your own personal hurricane of horribles: an abusive childhood, addictions, divorces, cancers, mental illness, chronic pain, you name it. Death, devils, angels, the past, the present, the future, nor anything else in all creation. In all these things we conquer. In all these things we are winning a glorious victory. In all these things we win. In literally EVERYTHING God is working for our good; so that literally NOTHING—NOTHING in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This truth—this victory—this incredible good news—is not something that we can always see and feel today. On this side of the grave, victory masquerades as defeat. The sheep who dwell under the care of the Good Shepherd often appear more like sheep being led to the slaughter—hardly a victorious image. We can’t see this victory with our eyes, and we can’t understand it perfectly with our brains. But we can trust it. We can believe it for Jesus’ sake. Christ has conquered: He died, He rose, He reigns. And in Him you conquer too. Believe that.

It’s simple, really—as simple as a sermon about nothing . . . and everything. Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ. And in everything, God is at work for your eternal good. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.