The Lord’s By Rev. Brent W. Kuhlman
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ou, the baptized, are HOLY and royal (1 Peter 2:5, 9)—holied with Christ’s righteousness in that sweet swap of His taking all your sin as He atoned for and died for you on that Good Friday cross (2 Corinthians 5:21) and then buried it in the black hole of His tomb. Now the Holy Spirit rolls up His sleeves and goes to work on you and FOR YOU by delivering through the Word and Sacraments what Jesus achieved and won in His very good Good Friday dying. Martin Luther faithfully preached it this way: “the Holy Spirit effects our being holy through the following: the community of saints or Christian church, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting” (The Small Catechism, Third Article). Through the Gospel word of Baptism, Absolution, preaching, the Lord’s Supper and the consolation and conversation of the brethren, Jesus bestows His holiness on you. His holiness counts FOR YOU before God. Faith, of course, which is the divine miraculous new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) trusts this to be true according to Christ’s promise.
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So now what? Glad you asked. Really I am! The Lord has good use of you, His holy people. He gives you holy work to do. You want to do that, don’t you? Of course you do! However, I give you fair warning. What God expects you to do and enables you to do via the power of the Gospel as His holy one may just blow your mind. Let’s get started. For the sake of the discussion I will focus on six of the Commandments as the beginning template for our learning. Yes, that’s right! I go to the Commandments! After all, the Ten Commandments, while they don’t save anyone, are “the most salutary doctrine of life” (Heidelberg Disputation, #1). With the Commandments there is holy work and holy living— the most salutary doctrine of life—in relationship to God (First through Third Commandments) and in connection to others (Fourth through Tenth Commandments).
