The Kiss

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Human righteousness will never bring us peace. There will always be one more good work to do, one more ounce of contrition to be added. Something will seem lacking—and it is. That "something" is the righteousness that comes down from heaven, a righteousness imputed to those with faith in his faithulness instead of their own.

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“The Kiss” A sermon for the Second Sunday in Advent December 6, 2020 Mark E. Ryman There is glad news, or gospel, that comes to us in this season of Advent when we look up to the blue skies for the coming of the King. Actually, it is the best of all news but first we must deal with a bit of unhappy news. Then, once we have let grace dispense with the bad news, a special greeting will meet us with a kiss. Let us pray… Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen In the early 1980s, I was invited to a weeklong series of preaching services at Wiley United Methodist Church in my hometown. Pastor Moore and I were friends and colleagues in ministry; besides the Word was being preached and a meal served each night before the services. So, I was going to be there; and I was each night for five consecutive “Edification Services.” After the first night, it seemed like any of the revivals I had attended. I asked Pastor Moore why they didn’t call them that: revivals. He said it was because they wouldn’t know if the Spirit had brought revival until the end of the week. Each night, Pastor Moore would announce that it was time to greet one another with a holy kiss, as Paul speaks about Romans 16:16. Now we would have a serious problem with that biblical greeting in these days of social distancing. In fact, Pastor Moore noted nearly 40 years ago that many present at the edification services might be hesitant to give a biblical kiss. So, he suggested a hug might do. Now, as he announced this, I had a particular perspective of the hundreds of people present. Being one of several pastors there, I was seated in the chancel and would participate in the services each night. As Pastor Moore suggested this slight alteration of the Pauline formula, I noticed one lady in the front pew directly across the front aisle from myself. She was looking right at me, licking her lips. And smiling. It was clear to me in that instant, hugging was not for her. Nor would it be for me. Every night that week, I was greeted, not with a holy hug, but with a big, wet, kiss. I don’t think that’s what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote to the Roman church. What he meant was similar to what we think of when we see Middle Easterners greet one another in the movies with a polite peck on each cheek. This is a meeting of two friends with a kiss, and when performed by followers of Jesus, it is not merely a greeting; it is a holy kiss. In today’s Psalm, we see a picture of another kind of kiss, just as intimate and every bit as holy. It is the kiss of righteousness and peace, two old friends who have been separated by human sin, for there can be no peace without righteousness. Unless righteous, one will always feel, and yes, be separated from God. We address the problem by devising all kinds of systems to become holy. This effort is one of self-sanctification. Do this good thing and you will, by virtue of having done it, be good. One of the problems with this human system is that no matter how many of these good, usually religious, things are done over the years, you will still feel guilty. How much good is good enough for a sinner? How does one deal with the ever-present sense of guilt? This conundrum plagued both Luther and his confessor, whom he would wear out with hours and hours of daily confession, and expectations of penance to purge his sins. Nonetheless, it never worked. Another problem is that, even if you can come to ignore the sense of guilt, you are still guilty. You are a sinner. Now here is one of the things that human systems of religion do not consider: sinners do not need things to do to make themselves better or holy or righteous. Sinners need a Savior. We do not need a deliverer who’s good for an initial saving but then we’re left on our own with whatever method of sanctification makes us feel good going forward. We need a sanctifying, a holying, a righteous-izing that is permanent, eternal. We need a Savior whose saving is good for all eternity. We need a righteous kiss that brings peace on earth, as well as at heaven’s gates where we will, at last, meet our Maker. This is why, as Paul tells us, the righteous must live by faith.1 The Prophet Habakkuk said some four hundred years before the apostle.2 The only way to live before God with peace in the heart is to live by faith. This is how the mountains are brought low and the paths made straight. 3 Faith is the only way to God. This is also Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38 Habakkuk 2:4 3 Mark 1:2 1 2 how the baptism of the Holy Spirit 4 is effective. He is the seal of our salvation5, reminding us of our baptisms, of our faith in Christ Jesus—not in ourselves, in our systems of religion and self-righteousness. Indeed, this is why you must remember your baptism whenever you sin. You must be reminded that your righteousness is not apprehended by being able to avoid sin, or in doing proper penance when you do sin. Your righteousness is in Christ alone. So remember in whom you have believed. That is where the holy kiss happens; that is when righteousness and peace greet one another. 6 This hallowed kiss happens when real peace enters the human heart. That only transpires when a human being is truly righteous. We have already seen that this rightness with God is nothing we are able to accomplish on our own. For heaven’s sake! That’s why we need a Savior. That’s why the Father sent his Son. That’s why we celebrate Advent and Christmas—Advent to prepare the way, to admit we are sinners who need a Savior, and Christmas to celebrate the fact that God has given us one. The Father has seen to it. “Salvation is near to those who fear Mark 1:8 Ephesians 1:13 6 Psalm 85:10 4 5 him.” 7 Our righteousness, Jesus Christ, goes before us. His footsteps have made a way for us. 8 However, as soon as we introduce things that we must do in order to be righteous, we have stepped off the path of righteousness and are lost. This is why Luther told Melancthon to “sin boldly.” Poor Phillip was so worried that he might sin, that he was paralyzed. Luther reminded him that he could not contribute anything to his justification or righteousness with God. Jesus has done it all. Indeed, knowing that you are going to sin anyway helps; knowing that you have a Savior helps more. So, you may sin boldly. This does not mean that you are to sin with purposeful abandon. It means that you know you are a sinner with a Savior. Knowing that you will fail, that you will trespass anyway, you may be bold or confident to live without a paralyzing fear of sinning. You can only live with such bold assurance if you have faith in the blood of Christ covering all of your sins. If you are left to your religious devices, you will never be confident; you will never be at rest; you will always be troubled at the thought of God. 7 8 Psalm 85:9 Psalm 85:13 But at the thought of Jesus, one gets used to the idea of being a sinner. One becomes bold and confident. One grows in grace such that the cross of Christ is the only thing that makes any sense at all. The cross becomes the ground and center of your whole life. You have no use for anything your conscience retches up to provide comfort. It will not last; it quickly sours to the taste. Only the word of the cross will do for you. Your spirit cries out, “Let me hear what God the LORD will speak.”9 And what does the Lord say? What is written? “Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him.” 10 Do you fear him, sinner? Or do you have a ready, religious answer, some thing you imagine you can do in order to be right with God again? Put no credence in religious devotion. Fear God so that you may learn to love him, and know that you may trust him. He has not given you a Savior so that you may depend upon yourself instead. No holy kiss happens there, just the sad, perhaps half-terrifying notion that the only kiss you’re likely to get is from some aged sister in the front pew, eyeing you as she smacks her lips. 9 Psalm 85:8 Psalm 85:9 10 Yet a holy kiss does exist. It comes down from heaven and greets the earth at the horizon of the cross.11 This is where something more than edification occurs, where revival breaks out in the soul. It is at the place of a kiss, the greeting come down from heaven: that God’s righteousness is ours because of the faithfulness of Christ alone springing up from the ground of the cross. 12 Amen. 11 12 Psalm 85:11 Psalm 85:11
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