Sermon for Lent 1, St. Matthew's Lutheran Church, Benton Harbor, Michigan

St. Matthew’s Ev. Lutheran Church + Benton Harbor, Michigan

The 1^st Sunday in Lent, February 21, 1998

Romans 5:12-19

"Two Men Who Changed the World"

By Pastor Timothy H. Buelow

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— ¹³ for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come. ¹⁵ But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! ¹⁶ Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. ¹⁷ For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. ¹⁹ For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

We don’t like being out of control. It makes us very uneasy. It’s comforting to know you’re on top of the family budget. It’s reassuring to know where your children are and precisely when they’ll be home. Even in an automobile, most of us feel safest when we’re behind the wheel, even if our spouse is a better driver.

But the fact is we’re not always in control, try as we might to be, and we’re simply playing psychological games with ourselves if we think we are. We can’t really prevent our house from being ransacked while we’re at work, if the criminals are determined enough. Financial security in stocks, bonds, savings accounts and insurance policies can disappear almost overnight in the event of war, revolution, rapid inflation and the like. What I do next month, can be greatly affected if people in power in distant places like Moscow, Berlin, Tokyo and Washington make sudden rash decisions—and what control have I got in preventing such things?

Actually, everything we are, and will ever be or do has already been and completely changed by people much more significant than presidents and kings. Our lives have been radically affected by "Two Men Who Changed the World." What one of them did without our consent we can rightly be extremely upset about. What the other did—again without our advice or consent—we can truly rejoice over. One caused us great agony and pain, and he can single-handedly be pointed to as the cause of our death. What the other did was to undo the damage. Of these "Two Men Who Changed the World" one is the villain, the other our Hero. The villain is Adam, and the Hero is Christ.

1. Adam brought us death

When God created Adam, he was perfect. He lived in the most wonderful paradise. He ate perfect food. He enjoyed a perfect climate, better than Hawaii. And best of all Adam enjoyed perfect communion there with God, a communion that would have lasted for an eternity of perfect days and nights. And God gave Adam freedom. That’s why in the very center of the garden, God placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Luther called that tree the first church, because every time Adam passed by it and willingly obeyed God, he was worshiping God and showing him that he loved and completely trusted God’s good will. Adam had it all. A perfect world, perfect freedom, and perfect love from God.

So how did Adam respond to all this grace? Adam’s response was to give in and eat the first time he was tempted. Immediately his perfect garden was a place of fear instead of peace. Adam himself immediately became corrupted through and through. He couldn’t enjoy being naked in a perfect environment—instead shame took its place. He couldn’t rejoice at the sound of his loving God walking in the garden. Instead he was scared, because he felt the pangs of guilt making his heart pump faster and sweat pour down his forehead, as he ran to hide himself from the loving creator and Savior-God. He became defensive and even lashed out at God: "The woman you gave me caused all this."

Adam ruined everything. Through that sin in the garden, Adam’s nature became corrupted and diseased with sin—a hereditary disease, a disease far worse than AIDS, a disease which Adam passed on to his children and they to their children, and so on. We’re all infected with it. We were all born with it. And it’s fatal—physically, morally, spiritually, eternally fatal. You see the symptoms, every time you are afraid of God, every time you don’t rejoice in His presence, every time you accuse God of being unfair—just like Adam, the one who first contracted the disease.

Everyone has it, whether they admit it or not. There are a lot of folks in denial. They don’t want to face up to the cruel fact. They feel the symptoms: crankiness, anger, depression, illnesses, homosexual tendencies, lusts, jealousy, hatred, drunkenness, greed. But they tell themselves they’re isolated things. But as every cancer patient has learned, denial will not make the disease go away. Death catches up with each of us, both those who know they have the disease of sin, and those who deny it. What further proof does anyone need of inherited sin?! Therefore...sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned....

What Adam did really was literally earth-shattering. "By one man sin entered into the world and death by sin." Adam messed up big—and we’re all victims. We need a cure. We need a miracle of infinite proportions. And that’s just what we get in Christ, the second Adam. Thank heaven for The Second Man Who Changed the World.

2. Christ brought us life
^{17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. ¹⁹ For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous."}

Christ is rightly called the second Adam. Just after the fall, God promised Adam and Eve that they would have a descendant who would undo the damage. It would have to be a man, God taught, who lived on earth. He would have to be in the same situation as Adam, without sin, almost as though Adam were being given a second chance. He would have to be tempted just like Adam was, but this second Adam wouldn’t give in like the first one. Instead he would crush the Tempter’s head and destroy his power, Although he would be severely wounded in the struggle. This One Man, then Would Change the World again.

Eve understood this promise so well she expected her first born to be that champion. When he was born she exclaimed, "I have gotten a man—the Lord!" God’s Old Testament believing women all hoped that their child would be the one, the promised hero. (That’s why barrenness was considered such a curse.) And then he came. After generations of people dying of Adam’s disease, the second Adam came, born in a stable in Bethlehem, the hope of all generations for rescue was here.

Satan was furious, and Satan was scared. Every day Satan was there furiously trying to get him to fail. From the first time he lay in a full diaper more than the acceptable time, to the times when a friend hurt him while playing in Nazareth, through his teenage years and all the way to manhood, our salvation hung in the balance, as Satan tried to get Jesus to give in to temptation—just once, just a little sin.

He didn’t stop when Jesus began His ministry. He didn’t stop until Jesus died on Good Friday. After that his chance was past. Having perfectly fulfilled the law as the second Adam, Christ took care of the second part of his work by suffering and dying the agony of Adam’s disease for us.

What Adam did in the garden was totally beyond our control. He brought ruin and heartache and pain on the whole human race. What Christ did was totally beyond our control too—but that’s good! Nothing we could ever do would ever rescue us from Satan’s grip of sin and death. But what we couldn’t do—Christ did. Long before we were ever born, Jesus purchased righteousness for us—the cure for Adam’s killer disease.

We were born with sin. Like the hundreds of babies in New York and San Francisco born with AIDS or cocaine addiction, we were born dying. But now we’ve been reborn—born again to live forever without the disease of sin. In Baptism, we were buried with Christ into death. His death to sin is ours. And through our baptism we’ve been raised up as new living creatures, to serve God "in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness." And we will reign with him.

Isn’t it great not to be in control of our own destiny?! If we’d been in control, all would be lost. But Christ took matters into his own hands and now we will live forever. That’s what Christ’s temptation in the wilderness was all about. He wasn’t just there to show us how it’s done. He was there to do it for us. But because he’s broken the iron grip of Satan, now we can fight him off too. And we do it in the same way Christ did—with God’s Word. When he sneaks up on us like he did in the garden of Eden, we know what he’s up to, because God’s Word tells us. When he tries to lure us into sin with nicely worded lies, we know how to answer from God’s Word. When we see how he’s fooled others, we can really help them by letting them in on the truth from God’s Word. When we tell people the truth about Adam and what happened in the Garden, how he ruined us for life, then we can help people to see the real cause of our many symptoms. And when we point people to Christ—the second Adam we can rescue them from death and hell. God’s Word still makes Satan cringe with fear. He’s successful as long as he’s not exposed. He can win people over as long as he can disguise the truth with his clever lies. But God’s Word exposes his lies and ruins his disguise. And people who were being dragged down to hell are released from his grasp and live.

All that, because of the Second Man who changed the world. ¹⁸ Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. Be thankful that some things are beyond our control. May we all during this Lenten season fight the good fight with Satan and temptation with renewed zeal. And may God preserve us all until the final victory. Amen.