“Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.  

Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” John 11:1-15  

The Sunday School lesson for the first graders was on the plan of salvation. The teacher asked, “If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale, and gave all my money to the church, would I get into heaven?” ”No!” all the children answered. ”If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would I get into heaven?” Again, the answer was, “No!” “Well,” she continued, “then how can I get to heaven?” One boy confidently answered, “You’ve gotta be dead!”  

One of the requirements of getting into heaven, yes, is to die. It is a truth. You do not find many truths anymore in the world, but a truth you can count on is this: you have to die to get into heaven. Now, is that all we need to do to get into heaven? Must we earn our way? Do we need to have done “something” at “sometime” in our lives to have our names written in the “Book of Life?”   

There are many churches and pastors who will tell you that; “If you believe you are a sinner, that Christ died for your sins, and ask His forgiveness —turn from your sins — that’s called repentance— then Jesus Christ knows you and loves you.” Then they will tell you to pray the “Sinners Prayer”. If you do this, then you are well on your way to heaven. Others will tell you that you not only have to pray the “Sinners Prayer”, but you have to join their church, accept their doctrine, follow their practice and pay your dues, and then you will get into heaven.  

Lutherans believe that yes, we are all born into sinfulness. And to begin the process of “regeneration”, our path to opening ourselves up to the presence of the Holy Spirit, we preach a baptism for the remission of sins, whereupon we receive the Holy Spirit, the forgiveness of sins, new life and salvation. And every time we participate in the sacrament of Holy Communion, we take Jesus into us, as we continue to receive the forgiveness of sins, as we continue in our new life in Jesus, which is opening us up to the promises of salvation through Jesus Christ.   

As Lutherans we believe that it is not our work that saves us — it is the saving work of Jesus that saves us — all we are asked to do is to have faith in what Jesus Christ did for all people. When we have faith in Jesus, this leads us to do good works because Jesus has won that salvation for us.  

Pastor Dave