Rev. Steven S. Billings
Easter 3
Sermon
4-6-2008

1 Peter 1:17-21

¹⁷ And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; ¹⁸ knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. ²⁰ He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you ²¹ who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Dear friends in Christ, in today's Epistle St. Peter says to his hearers, "you were redeemed." We hear that word a lot in Lutheran circles, but what does it mean? Well, to be "redeemed" is to be "set free by means of a payment." The concept involves someone being in a state of bondage because of a debt that is owed, but he can't pay the debt and set himself free. When someone else comes along and pays the debt for him, that is a "redemption." The word was used in the ancient world concerning a slave or a prisoner of war. Such a person could not free himself from his captivity. But if someone else paid the necessary price, he or she would be released. So "redemption" includes two parts: setting someone free who cannot free himself, and a price being paid to do this.

My friends, that is what Christ has done for us. He has redeemed us. We were in a state of bondage and could not set ourselves free. Jesus came along and paid the necessary price in order to release us. That is "redemption."

"Redemption" was the word that Luther chose to sum up the Second Article of the Apostles' Creed, about the person and the work of Jesus. It was the title he put over that section of the Catechism. In fact, it was this very passage that Luther had in mind when he wrote his explanation to it. This becomes quite clear when you listen to the way he puts it:

"I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true."

You see? It's all there in our passage today from 1 Peter - the language of redemption. Even the very phrase, "not with gold or silver," is simply a paraphrase of our text. You have been redeemed by Christ.

But redeemed from what? Peter says, "you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers." The bondage you found yourself in, and could not free yourself from, Peter calls "the empty way of life." The idea is that it is futile, meaningless, it doesn't go anywhere. Peter is talking about the way of life of the people of this world. Their lives apart from God - which is where all of our lives would be, apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ - don't lead anywhere - like a bunch of people stumbling around in the dark, bumping into each other, tripping over themselves, not knowing where they're going, falling into ditches and running into dead ends. That's the life of everyone in this world who doesn't have a saving knowledge of Christ. No matter how wild or how refined, no matter how reckless or respectable, no matter how bad or seemingly good their conduct - all people by nature are leading an "empty way of life." It always leads to a dead end - which is exactly the point: a "dead" end. It ends in death; eternal death, separated from God. The "empty way of life" is, in reality, the way of death.

That's the state we were in apart from Christ - heading down the wrong road, not knowing any better. But, thank God, that is what we have been redeemed "from." Luther puts it like this: Christ "has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil." All of that is what you have been redeemed from. Remember, redemption is a setting free from a state of bondage. And that "empty way of life" is the death-trap of slavery from which we in Christ have been set free.

But how? What was the price that was paid to set us free? Remember that redemption requires a payment in order for the prisoner to be released. It doesn't just happen automatically; there's a cost involved. So what price was paid to set us free? And who paid it?

Clearly, as slaves in bondage, there was nothing we could offer to meet the cost of payment. All our good works piled up to the sky wouldn't be enough to break one shackle of the chains that bind us. It's a crazed delusion to think that we have anything that could satisfy God's justice. Nothing we have or own or can do would pay a plug nickle toward our ransom.

So Peter writes, "it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed." And Luther echoes, "not with gold or silver." All the money in the world, stacked up to the heavens, could never buy-off God. Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Ted Turner could amass their collective fortunes, and it wouldn't mean diddly-squat.

No, something far more precious was required to set sinners free. Only one price could do the job. It took the death of the Son of God - the sacrificial death of the sinless Son of God - to pay the price to set us sinner-slaves free. "But with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." "Not with gold or silver, but with his holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death."

Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, was the only one who could set the world free from the bondage of sin. God would send His Son into the world, in the flesh, as a man, to keep His Holy Law for us, in our stead, and to die as the sacrifice for our sins. He, the Christ, "was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake." And Jesus said, when He came, "The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many."

Jesus is the "lamb without blemish or defect." No sins of His own for which to die. Spotless, faultless. And yet He is the Lamb. A sacrificial animal. The lambs of the Old Testament were offered up as a sneak preview of THE one and only Lamb to come. Jesus Christ is "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." His blood was shed on the cross to make payment for our sins. His holy, precious blood. The same blood He offers you today in His Holy Sacrament, "This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins." The precious blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. That is what you have been redeemed with.

In his book, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," C. S. Lewis tells the story of several children who travel to the magical land of Narnia. One of the children, Edmund, betrays the rest and goes over to the side of the evil White Witch. He realizes his mistake and returns to the other children, who are with the good king Aslan. However, the White Witch comes to their camp and demands that Aslan hand Edmund over to her. She says:

"You know that every traitor belongs to me as my lawful prey and that for every treachery I have a right to a kill. . . . And so that human creature is mine. His life is forfeit to me. His blood is my property. . . . Unless I have blood, as the Law says, all Narnia will be overturned and perish in fire and water."

Aslan cannot deny what she says. But he takes the witch aside privately and talks to her. It turns out now that Edmund does not have to be turned over to the witch, and she goes away.

But later that night, Aslan goes off by himself into the woods and enters the witch's camp. He lays himself down on the great Stone Table, the witch's forces bind him, and there she slays him.

But Aslan does not stay dead. He would later explain to the children:

"Though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. . . . that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward."

This story is a picture of a redemption. We were condemned to death by the Law, and there was no way to change it. But Jesus Christ stepped in and took our place, as our Substitute, dying the death we deserve. But death could not hold Him. He has broken the power of death, conquering sin on the cross. Now He is risen and has set us free. That's what it means to be redeemed.

But so what? What difference does it make? How does this effect the way we live? Peter puts it this way, "live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear." Luther says it like this, "that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him." This is the new life of Christ's redeemed people. Our lives, our conduct, will be different now that we have been redeemed. No longer that empty way of life. Now we have direction. Now we have purpose. Now we have meaning for our lives. We belong to God. We are His people.

We don't belong to this world and its ways anymore. We're just passing through like pilgrims. We belong to God. We are His holy people, set apart for Him. Our lives are to be an act of worship. We serve Him in reverent, holy fear. We take our lives as seriously as they are joyful - both at the same time. We do not take this life we have in Christ lightly. We take God's warnings against sin and unbelief seriously. We don't fool around with His mercy and grace, as if it were cheap and easy. No, Christ has paid the ultimate price for our redemption. It is very precious indeed.

So what? So we live in that holy fear. And, because of Christ, we live in faith and hope. "Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him, and so your faith and hope are in God." We live in faith, trusting in the God who loved us so much that He gave His Son to die for us. We live in hope - the hope of the resurrection. Easter hope. For God has raised Christ from the dead, and now we have the sure and certain promise of our own resurrection. We have the hope of heaven, where we will serve Him "in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity."

Beloved, you have been redeemed - set free by means of a price. Redeemed, from what? From the empty way of life that is the way of death. Redeemed, with what? Not with gold or silver, but with the precious blood of Christ. Redeemed, so what? So now we live as God's people, in holy fear and in faith and hope. And this, my fellow redeemed in Christ - this is most certainly true! In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

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