The LCA provides this sermon edited for lay-reading, with thanks to the original author.
Proper 26, Year B
Hebrews 9:11-14
A GOOD CONSCIENCE IS A SOFT PILLOW
The existence of conscience makes many people today uneasy and uncomfortable. It seems so out of
place in a “do-your-own-thing” age. Some people seek to silence their conscience by making witty or
sarcastic comments about it, like “conscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone may be
looking” or “conscience keeps more people awake than coffee”, or “thousands of people become hard of
hearing when conscience speaks”. Hitler believed conscience was a Jewish invention. He thought
conscience could be silenced by killing those he believed invented God – the Jews. On the other hand, the
great philosopher, Kant, was struck with awe by the existence of conscience inside us.
Conscience is no original authority. It points to something above it. “There’s no greater argument for the
existence of God than conscience (Billy Graham).” Drop the existence of God and the vitality of
conscience is destroyed. Conscience isn’t the voice of God; it is the gift of God. It is God’s deputy, and to
be accurate, must operate under God’s instructions. Yours and my consciences are a safe guide only when
God directs them and educates them by His Word. Terrible crimes have been committed by ill-informed
consciences. Some people follow conscience as we follow a wheelbarrow - we push it in the direction we
want it to go!
The American playwright Lillian Hellmann has asserted: “I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit
this year’s fashions.” Conscience is condensed character; character is never built on a neglected
conscience. Conscience is a still, small voice that gets smaller and quieter unless it is shaped by the Bible.
It tells us we ought to do right, but it doesn’t tell us what the right is. Our sins of omission, the good we
could have done but failed to do, accuse us more than the wrong we’ve done (Matthew 25:37). The guilty
conscience of many men and women keeps them away from God, and makes it difficult for them to
believe in God.
A French man named Charles came to a priest and said, “I have no faith.” The priest replied, “It is not your
faith, my friend, but your conscience that is at fault.” Charles confessed the guilt on his conscience and
received absolution. He became a passionately committed Christian and an inspiration to many men and
women. There’s no torment worse than an accusing conscience. When driven from our consciousness, it
re-emerges in our subconscious, in our dreams or insomnia. We defile our consciences when we disobey
them. A bad conscience means our past is still with us. A bad conscience keeps more people away from
God than does doubt.
The New Testament speaks of how our conscience bears witness to what’s in our hearts, to either accuse
or excuse our actions. The judgment of conscience is a foretaste of the Last Judgment. To listen to and
obey it is to now submit to the Judgment to come, and to receive Christ’s absolution now. In the
absolution in our liturgy, our conscience receives the verdict of the Last Day now. To disobey it means the
judgment still has to be faced. You see, God cannot be worshipped properly with a guilty conscience.
Today’s text tells us that the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament could only offer partial purification
and cleansing. They were unable to cleanse people’s consciences. Only the blood of Christ can do that.
The mention of blood in the New Testament fills many modern men and women with unease. They
concede that the blood of animals played a central role in Old Testament worship. So it comes as a
surprise to hear that Christian worship centres on the blood of Christ which is received by Christians and
speaks something good to them. The phrase “the blood of Christ” occurs much more often in the New
Testament than the phrase “the death of Christ”. In the last hundred years or so, it’s been possible for the
first time in history to give one’s blood for others without dying. Blood donors give their blood so that
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others who might otherwise die from loss or infection of their own blood can be restored to health. This
sheds light on Christ’s self-sacrifice, and on the matter of blood freely given for others. We rejoice when a
blood test reveals that our blood is healthy, and we’re grateful for the gift of healthy blood when a
transfusion is necessary. The blood Jesus shed on the cross in atonement for our sins, and now offers us in
Holy Communion, has become a source of cleansing and new life for all who receive it ever since (1 John
1:7). Sin has so thoroughly affected the human race that only the blood of a sinless human being can
counter its effects and cleanse us of its defilement.
Many men and women today have a sharper awareness of their impurity than of their sin and guilt. They
feel unclean, unacceptable to God. We say that “blood is thicker than water”. Blood relatives share their
sorrows and their joys. Ties of blood bind us together. We say about our relatives that “they’re of our own
blood”. Jesus is our true “blood Brother”. As His sisters and brothers, we share in His saving sacrifice. The
pervasiveness of blood, with every cell in our bodies dependent on it for life and health, reminds us of
how the blood of Christ is essential for our spiritual survival. We’re like hospital patients. Christ is our
wounded surgeon who offers us His own blood for our survival, so that we can rejoice in His gift of a good
conscience. When Luther said “My conscience is captive to the Word of God”, he restored conscience to
its proper place. From God’s Word, Luther learned how the blood of Christ enables our conscience to
function properly.
The blood of Christ makes peace between God and us, reconciling us with God and with one another.
Through His blood, we’re put right with God (Romans 5:9), and can draw near to God with all boldness
and confidence (Romans 8:1). We’ve been bought with a costly price – our Saviour’s blood, which now
blesses us and protects us from the devil. The “better things” the Letter to the Hebrews speaks of, are the
Holy Communion words “given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins”, and their enactment in the
consecration of the bread and wine which we receive bodily at the Lord’s Table. Through His blood given
to us in Holy Communion, our Saviour equips us for everything good. In Holy Communion, the blood of
Christ speaks to us of God’s grace. And we respond to His grace with endless gratitude.
The blood of Christ purifies us from dead works - from actions that are sterile and unproductive, actions
whose consequences are short-lived – to acts of worship and service whose consequences are eternal and
last forever.
People often ask, “How do I know if I believe in God?” The Letter to the Hebrews tells you the answer, “by
your desire to worship the living God.” The truest expression of trust in our Lord will always be worship.
The desire to worship and adore, thank and praise God is in itself a significant form of faith. Worship is
rehearsal for heaven; worship is where heaven meets earth and we’re united with the praise and
adoration in heaven by angels and archangels.
So then, there’s nothing trivial or inconsequential about your weekly worship of the triune God.
Wondrous things happen here. Great changes and profound transformations occur when we worship,
changes that will only be fully evident in eternity. In worship we encounter a stronger dose of reality and
renewal than we meet during the working week. The more frequent our worship of the living God, the
more everything we do will have a touch of eternity about it. Don’t listen to anyone who downplays the
eternal importance of worship. Instead, listen to the voice of God: “Today when you hear God calling,
don’t harden your hearts against Him (Hebrews 4:17)” for “in His presence there is fullness of joy, in His
right hand are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).” That’s why we say, “I was glad when they said to
me: let us go to the House of the Lord”. Amen.
And may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Amen.
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