The Lutheran Hour
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"Fitting Into the Family"
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Text: Romans 8:14-17
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Because these words are true, and they are, believers are no longer slaves to the world, the devil, and their sin. Because the Son of God became the suffering servant of humanity, we, who have been called by the good news of salvation, are led by the Holy Spirit to be adopted children in the family of God, the family of faith, the family that has an everlasting future.
James the 1st of England-there are quite a few Christians who don’t know a smidge of English history, but still know the name of James the 1st. He is, after all, the monarch who was responsible for the translation of the Bible that bears his name. If he had done nothing else, for this reason alone, King James would be immortalized. But James the 1st is remembered for other reasons, too.
James, you see, was a double monarch. Not only was he James the 1st of England, he was also James the 6th of Scotland. Wearing two crowns could easily be, for anyone, a most heady station. Maybe that’s why James advocated a doctrine called “The Divine Right of Kings.” Very simply, James’ position was all kings, well, at least Christian kings, were kings because God had divinely designated them to be rulers. Now, that’s OK for the most part. But, where James’ logic went from there, is where the ice got thin. James figured, “If God is behind me, then He is also behind my decisions. If God is behind my decisions, then if somebody doesn’t like me or what I’ve done or what I’ve said or the laws I’ve enacted, then they’re really not criticizing me, they’re criticizing God. To criticize God is a very bad thing, indeed.”
Now, that kind of thinking didn’t make James the most popular kid on the block. Because of this “Divine Right of Kings” thing, James was disliked by a lot of common folk. Goodness, I’m guessing James was disliked just as much by many of the uncommon folk. I’m almost absolutely positive that James was disliked by William Murray.
William Murray? Who is William Murray? I’ll get to William in a minute. First, let me tell you a little more about the way James thought. James figured that since God wanted him to be king, God also wanted his son, who was named Charles to be the future king. If God wanted James to be respected, He also wanted Charles to be respected. If James was right, Charles should be right. This caused a problem. James didn’t want his son to be a jerk and wanted to raise him right, but he also didn’t want any commoner disciplining his boy, the future king.
That’s where William Murray came in. Since it was improper for a lowly teacher to punish Charles, they brought in a princely playmate to be smacked in the place of His Royal Highness. When Prince Charles got overly silly, sassy or lazy, William got smacked. I imagine the conversation went something like this: “Charles, you’ve been a very, very bad prince. You need to be punished. William Murray, come here.” Then there would be a series of whacks, or time outs, or whatever punishment was in vogue in the 1600’s. William got clobbered for Charles’ mistakes. When it was all over, the tutor would turn from William, the whipping boy, to Prince Charles and say, “Now, Chuck, don’t you feel bad?” I don’t know whether Charles felt bad. William did.
Today, more than 300 years after William Murray got slapped for the sins of another, the phrase “whipping boy” has not disappeared from our vocabulary. That’s probably because we still have whipping boys and whipping girls. We still have semi-innocent people being unfairly and unjustly punished for the sins and shortcomings of others. When teachers visit with parents to discuss a student’s misbehavior, all too often, they, not the misbehaving child, are reprimanded.
Has your spouse come home from a really bad day at work and spent the evening sad and surly and snippy? Were you being a whipping boy? Did your parents ever punish you for something your brother or sister did? It might have been a misunderstanding, but you felt like a whipping boy. Are you a good worker but today find yourself drawing unemployment because of someone else’s dumb decisions? You understand what it’s like to be a whipping boy.
Is your personal life in shambles? Have your friends disappeared? Are you unable to socialize because someone under your roof is drinking or gambling or drugging? You feel like a whipping boy, don’t you? You’re being punished for the sins of someone else. When we were young, we were outraged for Cinderella because she was the whipping girl for her mean stepsisters.
Now, as adults the rage hasn’t disappeared. It’s not right that anyone should ever be a whipping boy. Although you and I have probably never met, I’m sure you would never, ever make someone else your whipping boy, would you?
At this point in the sermon, Christians ought to be smiling, because they know I’ve just asked a loaded question. They know, and you should know as well, that we have a whipping boy. The name of our whipping boy is Jesus Christ, the Son of our heavenly King. That’s right, the Son of God, is our whipping boy. Of course, there are some major differences between our whipping boy and William Murray. William Murray was disciplined so the King’s Son might remain unmarked. But for all of us, the King’s Son was punished so we could be spared. It doesn’t make any sense, but that’s the way it was.
Jesus Christ is our whipping boy. Isaiah, chapter 53, describes how our whipping boy was to be punished. He said, our whipping boy would be despised and rejected for us. In the Gospels, we see how that prophecy was fulfilled. His church hated Him; His government deserted Him; His friends abandoned Him. One even betrayed Him for the price of a cheap slave. Those things should have happened to us. We’re the sinners. We’re the unworthy ones. But there is more. So that we might have peace, our whipping boy was punished. So we might be made whole, our whipping boy was wounded. Look at the week of Jesus’ passion and you will see those words fulfilled as scarlet stripes were laid with a whip across Jesus’ back; as a crown of thorns pierced the King of heaven’s head; as scornful spit streamed down His face; as spikes sliced into His hands and feet. That should have been our whip, our crown, our spikes. We are the ones who rejected God’s perfection. We are the ones who stayed selfish sinners. We are the ones who are spiritually sick. Without Jesus, our whipping boy, we would have been eternally lost.
But with the whipping boy, we are saved and spared. Isaiah said it better than I ever could. If you don’t know Jesus, listen to these words of prophecy and remember they describe what He did for you: “Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him and by His wounds, we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5). To take away our transgressions our divine whipping boy, our suffering substitute, our Savior, our sacrifice, was crucified. Why? Why would God make His own Son our whipping boy? King James and every other monarch would have thought such a thing to be, well. . . unthinkable. Supreme Court justices, along with every other lesser representative of the law, would consider such an act to be unjustifiable. We wouldn’t do it, but God did. Why? The answer is supplied by the writer of Romans. God decreed His Son to be our whipping boy, so those who are led by the Spirit of God might become sons of God. God demanded His Son be our whipping boy so that we might be released from the slavery of sin, freed from fear, so we might be adopted by God, to become children of God, so that we might become family.
At the close of a battle in the days of World War I, a young man was found dying on the battlefield. A fellow soldier stopped to render him assistance. As he moistened his lips and made his head rest easier, the dying man said, “My father is a man of large wealth in Detroit, and if I have the strength I will write him a note, and he will repay you for this kindness.” And this was the letter he wrote: “Dear father, the bearer of this letter made my last moments easier and helped me to die. Receive him and help him for Carl’s sake.”
The war ended and the soldier found it difficult to find employment. Eventually, in tattered garments, he sought out Carl’s father in Detroit. The father, seeing such an unkempt ruffian at his door, refused to see the ex-soldier. Before the door was shut, the soldier said, “I have a note for you in which, I believe, you will be interested, sir.” He handed Carl’s father the little, soiled piece of paper. The father quickly recognized his son’s handwriting. His eyes softened as he read his boy’s last message. His attitude changed. He threw his arms around the soldier and held him tight as if he were embracing his own son. The soldier was invited into his home and everything the man had was put at the disposal of the young man. Anything he could do for his son’s friend was done.
That’s a beautiful story. But it’s a poor story compared to what the heavenly Father has done for us. Not by choice, Carl died on a battlefield. If he had been given his druthers, he would have returned home, healthy and whole. But the Christ, our whipping boy, gave up his life, willingly, completely, totally. He was not ambushed. He wasn’t shot by a sniper. He didn’t step on a land mine. He entered this world for the express purpose of dying.
I like that story of the soldier, but it is a poor comparison to the love of God we have because of Jesus. Carl’s father welcomed in the soldier who had been kind to his son. Yet, the heavenly Father welcomes into bliss those very people whose sins caused the death of His Son. There are other differences as well, but none more important than this: Carl’s father invited his son’s helper into his home. God does more. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, the heavenly Father adopts us into the family. Because of Jesus’ suffering and sacrifice, the heavenly Father frees us from slavery and adopts us as His children. Because of Jesus’ care and compassion, the heavenly Father brings us into His family as His own children.
I know today, there are a lot of people who say, “family”- what’s that? Indeed, if you listen to the news, there does seem to be some question as to what a family really looks like. If you pay attention to the papers, dysfunctional families seem to be the norm, not the exception. There are fake families with absent parents, pretend families with two dads or two moms. There are families where abuse is accepted and love is left behind. With families in serious disarray, we expect to see, as we do, a society where 30% of people say they have experienced long periods of painful loneliness; where 70% of a community membership doesn’t know their next-door neighbors; where internet chat rooms are filled to capacity and bars are packed with forlorn and friendless folk who are looking for something, someone, anyone. But because of Jesus, humanity’s whipping boy, the Holy Spirit adopts believers into God’s family. We’re talking about being led into God’s family that shares and cares-that sacrifices and encourages. We’re talking about being adopted into the family of the Father. You know, when the letter to the Romans was written, when Paul talked about being adopted, there were three things that happened at that formal ceremony:
First, you left your old family and became part of a new one. That also happens for those who know the Savior. For those who believe in Jesus Christ, humankind’s whipping boy; for those who recognize His sacrifice, the Spirit leads sinners from Satan’s family of damnation and brings them into a new relationship. They become children in God’s household of salvation.
Second, in the Roman world, an adopted son became a legitimate heir to the estate. Nobody could take away the benefits that had been given to him. That’s exactly what Saint Paul says happens to us. Later on in the book of Romans he writes: ” For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). Once you had nothing to look forward to but death and the grave. But now because of the whipping boy, because you have been adopted, the Holy Spirit is fitting you into the family. You have become through faith in Jesus Christ, an heir of heaven.
Third and last, according to Roman law, when you were given a new life in a new family, your old life was wiped out. Your debts were cancelled. You became a new person. Because of the whipping boy, your sins are gone. The debt demanded by the law has been paid in full. You are adopted to a new life of forgiveness and hope. That’s what Saint Paul meant when he wrote to the Corinthian church. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5). To make it possible for you to be adopted is why Jesus was willing to be humankind’s whipping boy. God’s Son left His throne in heaven, so you could become adopted as children of God and inheritors of eternal life. If, this resurrection day, you are not part of God’s family; if this Pentecost Sunday your life is chilled by feelings of loneliness and isolation; if you are apprehensive and anxious; trembling with terror at tomorrow’s uncertainties, I have good news for you. The door to God’s family is opened. The heavenly Father waits. Do not hesitate. Do not procrastinate or postpone. The door will not stay open forever. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day to become part of God’s family. What, you don’t know how? Oh, nothing could be simpler. Call us at the Lutheran Hour. We will tell you. We will help you. We’ve been helping with spiritual adoptions for a lot of years. Are you afraid? Don’t be. The Lord will do all the work. Are you unsure of what will happen? Let me tell you, you can be sure that the love of God is waiting for you. You can be sure when you are adopted into the family of faith, there is joy in forgiveness. Be sure, the Holy Spirit is calling you, waiting to enlighten you, doing all He can to make you God’s child. Let me, if I might, in the few moments that are left to me today, also talk to you who have drifted away from the family of faith. Maybe you never intended to do that. Maybe you got upset a long time ago about this or that. Maybe…well, I can’t even guess what your maybe might be. For you, too, this is the day to come on home.
It was another century when the great evangelist Dwight Moody called upon a leading citizen in Chicago to persuade him to return to the family of the Father. They were comfortably seated in the man’s parlor. It was winter and coal was burning brightly in the fireplace. The man argued he was doing fine just as he was. To that, Moody said nothing. Instead, after a long pause, he stepped to the fireplace, took the fire tongs and picked up a large piece of burning coal. He set that coal on the floor of the fireplace, off by itself. In silence the two watched the coal lose its flame, turn from blue to orange to scarlet and then black. Then, Moody picked up that dead piece of coal, put it back with the others and it immediately burst into flame. So, it is for you and the family of faith. Away from the fire of faith, away from the warmth of God’s family, there is only darkness. But with the Lord, there is a beautiful life, both here and in eternity. Like I said, it’s time to come back.
And lastly this day, to those of you who regularly give thanks for the whipping boy, who have already been fit into the family of faith by the Spirit’s power, let me say, do not waver or wander. Friends, trust the Father. You may not see Him, but He sees you. You are in His hands. You may not see the Holy Spirit who leads you. Follow Him. You may not see the Savior, your whipping boy, but believe His love continues undiminished. Trust the Lord who has adopted you into His family of faith. Amen.LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for June 8, 2003
ANNOUNCER: “How do I explain the Trinity?” Hi, I’m Mark Eischer, here once again with Pastor Ken Klaus. Pastor Klaus, a listener wants to know, ” How should I explain the doctrine of the Trinity to someone of a different faith?” Would you care to have a go at that one?
KLAUS: Let me get this straight. You would like me to explain the Trinity in a few minutes?
ANNOUNCER: If you would, please.
KLAUS: Of course, you know the doctrine of the Trinity was a cause of controversy in the church for centuries?
ANNOUNCER: Uh-huh.
KLAUS: You also know whole books have been written on the subject?
ANNOUNCER: I do.
KLAUS: And you want it in about four minutes?
ANNOUNCER: Well, at this point, you’ve only got about three minutes and 40 seconds.
KLAUS: Well, let’s see what we can do. The word “triune” comes from two Latin words- “tri” and “uni. ” Tri means three, as in tricycle, which has three wheels, and uni meaning “one,” like in unicycle with one wheel. Although the word doesn’t appear in the Bible, the fact that there are three persons in the Godhead is clearly taught. The debate that I was talking about was caused by questions which asked, “Who of the three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost came first;” or, “who was stronger” or “who is the most powerful?” There were other such questions, but you get the drift.
ANNOUNCER: What did they decide?
KLAUS: Well, they decided, after considerable debate, that all three Persons are one God. None of these Persons is greater or lesser than the other; none is older, or younger than the other, and that they were equal in glory and majesty, all worthy of our worship. The Athanasian Creed, one of the universal statements, or creeds, of the church’s belief, says it very clearly.
ANNOUNCER: Now, having decided all of this, how do we explain it to people who are curious or whose concept of God is different?
KLAUS: No Mark, we don’t.
ANNOUNCER: We don’t?
KLAUS: No, not really. Just as it is impossible for us to understand infinity, so it’s impossible for us to understand the Trinity. Indeed, the best we can do is come up with examples to help describe such a doctrine in a way that people can sort of grasp.
ANNOUNCER: Well now, that prompts two questions. The first, “Why should anybody describe the Trinity to someone else?”
KLAUS: Partly because it’s such an important doctrine of our faith. If anyone hears us talk about God, they will, almost inevitably, ask us to define the doctrine of the Trinity. That’s especially so if we are talking to someone who is an adherent of Islam.
ANNOUNCER: Why is that?
KLAUS: Islam believes Christianity is heretical because they think it worships three gods: god the father; god the son; and god the mother.
ANNOUNCER: But we don’t.
KLAUS: No, we don’t. We believe that there are three Persons in the Trinity, but the Trinity is only one God.
ANNOUNCER: And that is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Which leads to my second question. What are some illustrations you could use to explain the Trinity?
KLAUS: Well, the first is one that many Christians have seen, but don’t recognize. Many pastors, when they make the sign of the benediction at the end of the service, do so with their thumb and the first two fingers of the right hand extended. The last two fingers are curled in. That gesture, from the earliest days of the church, was designed to describe the Trinity; three fingers, unique and individual, but all part of the same hand.
ANNOUNCER: Any other examples you can think of?
KLAUS: Well, there is one that I think we previously talked about. You, Mark, are a father?
ANNOUNCER: Yes.
KLAUS: You’re also a husband?
ANNOUNCER: Yes
KLAUS: You’re also an employee?
ANNOUNCER: Unless you’ve heard otherwise.
KLAUS: I think we’re OK. Still, there’s only one Mark here-three different aspects of him, three different jobs-but all the same person. But there’s one I like even more.
ANNOUNCER: And what’s that?
KLAUS: Coming, as I do, from Chicago, I always thought winter gave us a great example of the Trinity. You go out to a pond. After awhile, in the winter, the surface of that pond will be frozen. Quite often, there will be a blanket of snow over the top. Well, snow – that’s H20. And the ice – that’s H20. The unfrozen water underneath – that’s H20. But ice is different than water and different from snow. Water, snow, ice – all the same, all together, but different.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Pastor Klaus. I hope these examples will help our listeners as they share the doctrine of the Trinity with those who are curious or confused. The next Lutheran Hour message is titled, “You Should Know.”