Saturday after the Second Sunday of End Time, 12/02/00

Romans 14: 4 Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

In the name of the One Who is able to make us stand, amen.

I was traveling by airplane recently and met a lady who went on and on about her family. She commented that one of her children was a "Born Again Christian" and that her husband (she was widowed and remarried) was Roman Catholic and hadn't been Christian until very recently. I had been barely paying attention to what she was saying because it honestly was rather boring. In fact, I was praying that God would provide an out from the conversation because I didn't think I could take two and a half more hours of it. When she made the comment about her husband and her "born again" son, I blurted out, "I take real exception to that sort of teaching." Immediately I cringed because I thought I had said something really dumb. There are ways of addressing false doctrine without using a frontal attack, and I had just made the worst kind of frontal attack.

Well, the Holy Spirit was at work answering my selfish prayer according to His great mercy, because it turned out that she was very troubled by the things her son kept saying to her. She was troubled because she knew many fine Christians who were not "born again" and couldn't believe that they were not saved. When I explained that Baptism by water saves us (1 Peter 3) because it connects us to Christ Jesus' life (Galatians 3: 27), death (Romans 6: 3), and resurrection (Romans 6: 4), she was very relieved and went from a troubled expression to one of joy. Her speech became full of life. It was a pleasure to explain to her that those who rely on their own decision to believe, or their public confession of Christ, or what ever similar thing, are not relying on God's righteousness, but their own. It was a joy to show her that John chapter 3 teaches that we are born again by water Baptism, not by some decision or statement that we make.

So how does this all relate to our passage for today? We stand faithful to the end not by what we do, but by what Christ Jesus has done for us. He gave us real connections to God. Praise, thanks, and glory be to His holy name forever! Amen.

Christ Jesus our Master, You are worthy of all honor and glory because You make us stand in the True Faith. Glory be to Your name forever. Never let us be troubled by false teachers who take pride in their own words and not in the connections to God that You have given us. Strengthen our faith by Your holy Body and Blood which we receive into ourselves in the Holy Supper. Keep us faithful to the end so that we may praise Your glorious name forever, amen.

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