Look! The Lamb of God!

Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him (Colossians 2:6). Amen.

Two weeks ago, I was on a mission trip in Gilbert, Arizona. I was learning how to evangelize to Mormons – members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

On Tuesday, we went to visit an LDS temple. Our mission team was Pastor Parsons – who is the Executive Director for Truth In Love Ministries – his wife, Molly, Pastor Nitz from Cheyenne, and his wife, Katie, and me. The mission team also had a dozen students from Martin Luther College and Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary.

Pastor Parsons organized an hour conversation that our mission team was able to have with Mormon missionaries, who are all 18 to 20 years old. Caleb, who is a second-year student at our Seminary was paired with me. He introduced me to Elder Young, a young missionary we would be speaking with. Caleb pointed to me and said, "Elder Young, this is my grandfather." Elder Young replied, "Really? That's cool. Pleased to meet you."

I replied, "No. Not really, you young whippersnappers!"

The LDS missionaries can never be alone. They must always have a partner. Elder Young's partner was the President of the Temple.

During our conversation, I said to the President and Elder Young, "Let's say a member of my church named Joe, comes into my study. He admits he has an addiction to alcohol. He knows it's wrong and harmful to him and his relationships. He's been battling this addiction for years, but he can't overcome it. So, I lead Joe to the cross of Christ and to his open tomb. We open our hymnal and go through the order of Private Confession and Absolution."

For your knowledge, that confession goes like this. The penitent confesses: Almighty God, merciful Father, I, a troubled and repentant sinner, confess that I have sinned against you in my thoughts, my words, and my actions. I have not loved you with my whole heart; I have not loved others as I should. I am distressed by the sins that trouble me and am deeply sorry for them.

The minister says: Jesus says to his people: "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven." His death paid for the guilt of your sins and the sins of the whole world. Do you believe this?

The penitent replies: Yes, I believe.

The minister says: Because of the promise of our Savior Jesus, I forgive you all your sins. Be assured that you are a dear child of God and an heir of eternal life. Go in peace. The Lord be with you.

I continued with the President and Elder Young. I said, "I then use a Bible verse you quoted on your screen earlier, Jesus said, 'Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven' (Matthew 16:19). It's like the chains on Marley's ghost in Charles Dickens' novel, 'A Christmas Carol.'"

The President replied, "I've read 'A Christmas Carol'."

I said, "Great! Do you know what those chains represent?"

"I do," the President answered. "They represent Marley's sins."

"Exactly!" I said. "Those sins were bound to Marley for all eternity because he didn't accept Jesus' forgiveness for them. In my study, I absolved Joe of his sins. By Jesus' perfect life, atoning sacrifice, and glorious resurrection, I could announce to Joe that his sins were absolved. They were paid for. He was released from his chains. That forgiveness would be the power to combat his addiction."

Then I asked the President, "If one of your LDS members came to your bishop to discuss his addiction, what he say?"

The President admitted, "We don't have absolution like you do. The man would speak to the bishop. The bishop would give him a list of things to do to combat his addiction. He would try harder. Because he's trying, Heavenly Father would accept him."

We'll be doing a Bible study at this time next year on evangelizing to Mormons. Pastor Uhlhorn will be taking over the position of executive director for TILM from Pastor Parsons. Pastor Uhlhorn is already scheduled to do a workshop on outreach to Mormons for us in spring of 2027.

Did you catch one big difference between the Christian Church and the LDS church? It's Jesus! In the LDS church, there is no absolution – no forgiveness through Jesus Christ as Savior. In the Christian Church, you and I are given the authority to loose and bind people's sins based on their repentance or unrepentance. The difference is absolution through the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

John the evangelist writes that the day after Jesus was baptized, John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29)!

"Look" is an epiphany word. "Epiphany" means "reveal," "appear," "look here, I want to show you something." John had already received an epiphany from God the previous day. That's when John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River, the heavens opened, the Father spoke, and the Spirit descended like a dove. Now John is proclaiming this epiphany in the water to his disciples and audience.

"Look, the Lamb!" Throughout the Old Testament, animals were used for sacrifice. Bulls, goats, and birds, but especially lambs. These sacrifices were plentiful – morning and evening sacrifices, purifications, sin offerings, guilt offerings, burnt offerings, and so on. Then there were special festival sacrifices – the Feast of Tabernacles, Pentecost, Passover, and the Great Day of Atonement. The blood of lambs was continually flowing from Jerusalem's altar. When John calls Jesus "the Lamb" all these images come to mind.

All devout Jews knew that they were the ones who should be allowed to die, not all these lambs. The blood flowing from the lambs only emphasized how sinful they really were. Hebrews reminds us, "Those sacrifices were an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats (and sheep) to take away sins" (Hebrews 10:3). The people knew they had earned God's eternal wrath with their sins. Just as they knew that sheep are amazingly clueless animals regarding the things of this world; they also knew that they themselves were amazingly clueless regarding the things of God. This image was so strong that God often referred to the people as his sheep with himself as their Shepherd. They understood that the sacrificial lamb was taking their place. Now John was pointing to this Man who was the Shepherd who had become a Lamb to lead by becoming a sacrifice. Like we just sang, "You, Lord, are both Lamb and Shepherd."

"Look, the Lamb of God." I've learned that in the LDS church, their god – Heavenly Father – appears to me as being remote, aloof, and distant. Do you ever feel that way about the true God? That your Heavenly Father is remote, aloof, and distant? That he's out of touch? Unknowing? Uncaring? That he sees the unrest in our nation, but isn't doing anything to quell the violence? That he sees your hurt, but isn't doing anything to give you peace? That he sees your illnesses and injuries, but allows you to keep suffering?

If you feel this way, then join John the Baptist on the shores of the Jordan River. Look at where he's pointing. "Look! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" St. Paul explains the importance – and complexity – of the incarnation when he writes, "For all the fullness of God's being dwells bodily in Christ" (Colossians 2:9). In his incarnation of the divinity taking on human flesh, Jesus proves that our God is not remote, aloof, or distant. He is Immanuel. He is God right here with us. As we'll confess today in the Nicene Creed, Jesus is God from God and Light from Light. He is the Son from eternity who entered time by taking on human flesh to become a bridge between sinful humanity and a holy God. The Son of God also became the Son of Man so we could be adopted as sons and daughters of God. He became the sacrificial Lamb of God to lead us to God as our Savior Shepherd.

"Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away sin!" The words "take away" in the Greek mean to "lift up and carry to another place." This means the Lamb takes the load, the curse, the damnation of the total massive amount of sin upon himself. He lifts the awful burden from us and carries it to the cross. There our sin is crucified with Christ. Blood flows. The Lamb is slaughtered. The Savior is sacrificed. The Substitute takes our place and takes our sin away.

Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! Sin which has plagued and plundered creation since the Fall of Man is removed. Jesus takes away sin, not just of the Jews who sacrificed lambs on Jerusalem's altars. Isaiah says of Christ, "The Lord said: It is too small a thing that you should just be my servant to raise up only the tribes of Jacob and to restore the ones I have preserved in Israel, so I will appoint you to be a light for the nations, so that my salvation will be known to the end of the earth" (Isaiah 49:6). Salvation is not restricted by race, place, culture, wealth, or age. There is no sin anywhere by anyone that this Lamb of God does not take away.

"Lamb" speaks of sacrifice. That's what lambs were good for. Their throats were slit, their blood poured upon the altar, sprinkled on the ark of the covenant or painted on doorframes. Their bodies roasted in the fire, sometimes consumed entirely, sometimes shared in communion for the fellowship offering. The lamb was their substitute, their vicarious victim. They owed everything to the lamb.

Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! We respond to John's declaration in the Divine Service. As John baptized Jesus in the Jordan one day and the next day pointed to him as the Lamb who would ultimately lay upon the altar of the cross, so too our Baptism now leads us to the altar, to eat the body and drink the blood of the crucified Lamb of God. We sing John's song as we approach the altar, "Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us." The life we are given through water and Word is fed and strengthened and sustained through the forgiveness and life of this eating and drinking. If Baptism washes us from the outside in, here is the food that changes us from the inside out. If Baptism puts us into Christ, then here Christ is put into us.

We owe everything to the Lamb.

I've learned that the LDS church is all about what they must do for Heavenly Father. That's why LDS members won't smoke or drink alcohol or drink caffeine. That's why they have good paying jobs and lots of children. They must keep doing good works to gain their god's favor. When one of their members admits he is struggling with sin, he is told to do more, try harder, and be better. They are taught the Devil's lie.

By God's grace, you have been brought into the Christian Church. You are taught God's truth. You can't ever do enough to earn God's favor. Doing more, trying harder, and being better doesn't work. The only thing that works to remove your burdens, release your guilt, and forgive your sins is Jesus Christ. He did the good work of living perfectly in your place. The good work of overcoming the Devil's temptations in the desert. The good works of paying for your sins with his sacrificial death, crushing Satan's power under his bloody foot, sacrificing himself on the altar of the cross, and rising from the dead to defeat Death once and for all. Jesus dies as the Lamb of God to rise to be your Good Shepherd. As the Lamb of God, he absolves your sins in private confession, in public worship, and in your daily lives as spouses, family, and friends. He then releases you from the chains of your sins to shepherd you to the green pastures and quiet waters of paradise.

Look! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise (Revelation 5:12)! Amen.