Grace and Peace Episode 8

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Grace and Peace Episode 8

Presbyterian Church of Easton

October 20, 2020

Grace and Peace Episode 8

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:2

Heidelberg Catechism

16Q.  Why must the mediator be a true and righteous human?

A. God’s justice demands that human nature, which has sinned, must pay for sin; but a sinful human could never pay for others.

17Q.  Why must the mediator also be true God? 

A. So that the mediator, by the power of his divinity, might bear the weight of God’s wrath in his humanity and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life.

In ancient times your identity was tied to your family.  If the family prospered then everyone in the family enjoyed that prosperity.   If, however, the family suffered then everyone suffered.   And so it is not surprising that if the leader of the family sins, then everyone in the family must pay the price of the sin.   And since Adam sinned, all of Adam’s descendants pay the price.   We are condemned to sin and required to pay for it.

This payment must be paid by us.   No one else can pay for our sins because everyone has their own sin to pay for.   So we must pay the price, but the price is so high we can never pay it all.   So, we need a deliverer, someone who will pay for our sin.

This deliverer must be a human, like us, because only a human can pay for human sin.   This person must also be God because only God can forgive sin.   So our deliverer must be both human and God.   Our deliverer must be able to both pay for our sin and forgive us.   Who might this be?

We read in 1 John 4:2 “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.”  So Jesus is fully human.  And we read in John 10:30 “I and the Father are one.”  So Jesus is fully God.  Our deliverer is Jesus Christ. He paid the debt for our sin in his human body on the cross.   He came from heaven to earth to proclaim us forgiven and free us from sin.   Because Jesus is both fully human and fully God we receive great comfort by belonging to him, body and soul.  Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for forgiving our debts and freeing us from sin.   We thank you for sending a deliverer who paid our debt and delivered your forgiveness.   We thank you for Jesus who by being human paid that debt and by being God brought us forgiveness.  And so we pray this in Jesus’ glorious name.   Amen.