VIGÉSIMOSEGUNDO DOMINGO DESPUÉS DE TRINIDAD
Lo que es costoso para Dios, nunca debe ser tratado como barato por nosotros.
Resumen del sermon predicado por: Rev. James Neuendorf
Textos: Miqueas 6:6–8, Filipenses 1:3–11, Mateo 18:21–35
IHS:
Lo que es costoso para Dios, nunca debe ser tratado como barato por nosotros. La gracia es gratis, pero no es barata. De hecho, la gracia y el perdón de Dios son el regalo más precioso y costoso del universo. Confesamos en el catecismo: "Cristo me ha redimido, no con oro ni con plata, sino con su santísima y preciosa sangre." Sin embargo, a menudo, como el deudor implacable, convertimos este costoso regalo en una excusa barata, una gracia que nos concedemos a nosotros mismos, que justifica nuestro pecado en lugar de justificar al pecador. Convertimos el evangelio en una excusa y la ley en una broma. Escuchamos la liberación de nuestra esclavitud al pecado que Cristo promete y nos consideramos "liberados de seguir a Jesús." En el fondo de este grave error está la falta de comprensión del coste del gran perdón de los pecados que hemos recibido en Jesús. El problema no es "demasiada gracia", sino que hemos minimizado la cruz. No entendemos realmente lo alto que es el salario del pecado, ni cuánto de él nos hemos ganado (¡muerte eterna!) No puedes pagarlo, ni siquiera una parte.
Quizá resulte sorprendente que tanto los errores de justificación por las obras (intentar ganar o contribuir a nuestra salvación por nuestros propios méritos) como el 'antinomianismo' (tratar la ley como algo no importante o relevante) provengan del mismo lugar, subestimando el coste de la deuda que tenemos con Dios. Considera la deuda en la parábola, no solo era alta, la deuda que este hombre en la parábola debe al rey es mayor que la totalidad de los ingresos fiscales del propio Imperio Romano. Es una deuda que alucina el cielo. Suficiente, no solo para arruinar sus propias finanzas personales, sino para sumir toda la civilización en un colapso total. Jesús pone un número tan alto en su parábola que no nos queda ninguna duda; No va a haber un plan de pagos, no va a haber una segunda hipoteca, lo único que se puede esperar es una condena de muerte. Sin escapatoria, sin excusas, sin salida. ¿Y quién crees que asumió el coste de la deuda cuando el rey perdonó al deudor? Era el propio rey. Es el rey quien sufre la mayor pérdida, es costosa porque es gracia, y es gracia porque es costosa, nunca podría ganarse. Su generosidad solo se entiende cuando entendemos el coste. Y este deudor no entendía cuánto costaba. Esto se nota en su comportamiento con el hombre que le debe una deuda, no está dispuesto a perdonar porque no entiende cuánto le han perdonado. Pero tú; Mira la cruz. Esto es lo que costó, lo que tu pecado exigió. Esto es lo que pagó por tu redención. Lo que es costoso para Dios, nunca debe ser tratado como barato por nosotros.
Sin embargo, Él pagó esto por ti. Eres libre. Libre para perdonar y libre para vivir en el perdón. Libre para vivir por gracia y por fe, no porque sea barato, sino porque es caro, y Dios ha gastado tan generosamente en tu nombre.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity
That which is costly to God, must never be treated as cheap by us.
By: Rev. James Neuendorf
Texts: Micah 6:6–8, Philippians 1:3–11, Matthew 18:21–35
IHS:
That which is costly to God, must never be treated as cheap by us. Grace is free, but it is not cheap. In fact, God’s grace and forgiveness is the most precious and costly gift in the universe. We confess in the catechism “Christ has redeemed me, not with gold or silver, but with His Holy and Precious Blood.” Yet often, like the unforgiving debtor, we turn this costly gift into a cheap excuse, a grace which we bestow on ourselves, which justifies our sin rather than justifying the sinner. We turn the gospel into an excuse, and the law into a joke. We hear the liberation from our slavery to sin that Christ promises and consider ourselves "liberated from following Jesus." At the heart of this grave error is a failure to understand the cost of the great forgiveness of sins that we have received in Jesus. The problem is not “too much grace” but rather that we have minimized the cross. We do not understand just how high the wages of sin really are, and how much of them we have earned for ourselves (eternal death!) You cannot pay it, you cannot afford even a part of it.
It is perhaps surprising that both the errors of works righteousness (trying to earn or contribute to our salvation by our own merits) and ‘antinomianism’ (treating the law as not important or relevant) come from the same place, underestimating the cost of the debt that we have towards God. Consider the debt in the parable, it wasn’t just high, the debt that this man in the parable owes to the King is more than the entire tax revenue of the Roman Empire itself. It is an eye-wateringly high debt. Enough, not only to ruin his own personal finances, but to plunge all of civilization into complete collapse. Jesus sets a number so high in His parable that we are left without any doubt; there is not going to be a payment plan, there isn’t going to be a second mortgage, all that could possibly be expected is a sentence of death. No escape, no excuses, no way out. And who do you think assumed the cost of the debt when the King forgave the debtor? It was the king himself. It is the king who suffers the greatest loss, it is costly because it is grace, and it is grace because it is costly, it could never be earned. His generosity is only understood when we understand the cost. And this debtor did not understand what it cost. We see this in his behavior with the man who owes him a debt, he is unwilling to forgive because he doesn’t understand just how much he has been forgiven. But you; look at the cross. This is what it cost, what your sin demanded. This is what He paid, for your redemption. That which is costly to God, must never be treated as cheap by us.
Yet He did pay this for you. You are free. Free to forgive and free to live in forgiveness. Free to live by grace and by faith, not because it is cheap, but because it is costly, and God has so lavishly spent on your behalf.
Amen.