From my July 20, 2025 sermon at Faithpoint Lutheran Church, New Prague, Minnesota
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Mickey Cohen (1913-1976; pictured above) was a major player in the world of organized crime in the 1940s and 50s. He spent several years in and out of prison, but when he was out, he moved about freely and became a big celebrity. Cohen was a charming guy and loved being in the spotlight.
One day Mickey Cohen announced to the world that he had become a Christian. Many people were thrilled. This big-time mobster was talking like a Sunday School boy, saying all the right things about how Jesus died for him and has now forgiven him all his sins. He joined a church, he was getting interviews on Christian radio stations, and he was referred to in sermons across the country as an example of how God can change lives. Mickey Cohen even had a highly publicized meeting with Billy Graham, though Graham wisely kept the contents of that conversation to himself.
This kind of publicity went on until it started to become clear that even though Mickey Cohen was saying he was a firm believer in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, he continued to run his organized crime ring as before. Finally, his pastor had a talk with him. “Mickey,” he said, “what are you doing? You are a Christian now. You can’t continue with your criminal behavior– robbing, killing, illegal gambling, pimping, and all that. You have to obey Jesus now. You have to change your life. You have to live like a Christian.”
Mickey became very irritated with his pastor. He said, “What do you mean I have to change my life? Everyone kept telling me all I had to do was believe in Jesus, so now I do. And you said Jesus forgives me of whatever I do, right? So that’s that. I’m not going to stop what I’m doing. Are you crazy? This is my business. There are Christian football players, Christian cowboys, and Christian politicians– why not a Christian gangster?”
This is an outrageous illustration and you might wonder how it applies to anything. I’ve never known any Christian gangsters, have you? However, I think it does apply in some important ways, even if you are not a gangster. Let me tell you how.
The central aspect of our relationship with God is summarized by the word Grace. Grace is the undeserved love of God which is given to all who will believe in and accept it; and grace opens the door to all the wonderful promises of God. And in response to that amazing grace of God, we do … WHAT? That is the question. Mickey Cohen said, “I don’t have to do anything. Jesus loves me and I am forgiven, no matter what. So don’t tell me what I have to do.” Mickey Cohen had no intention of doing anything different in his life just because of Jesus.
We can all sense there is something wrong with that. That is a despicable way to respond to God’s amazing love and grace. But is Mickey Cohen the only one who has ever disregarded God’s clear commands, thinking to themselves, ‘Oh well, I know I will be forgiven’? Yes, Jesus died on the cross to forgive us of our sins, and yes, God loves us with an everlasting love. But if we believe that at all, we will certainly want to know what God expects of us and then be determined to do it. Right? We should not become casual in our obedience because of God’s all-encompassing grace. Remember, this is God we are talking about here, and God is big and eternal and powerful, and we are little and weak and temporary. God does wondrously give his love and forgiveness freely to all sinners, including gangsters. But the Bible says God will not be mocked. He will not stand for us abusing, ignoring, or despising his word and command. God does accept you as you are, but God does not want you to stay as you are.
But there is a problem here with the possibility of misunderstanding all this. And that goes all the way back to the Bible. The first five chapters in the book of Romans contain the clearest, most thorough description of God’s love and grace in the entire Bible. It says, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” It is free, it is for everyone, it is apart from the Law, it is not dependent on our obedience. Paul even went so far as to say, as sin increases, so does Grace. And so… so what? What do we do? Some in Rome were saying, “Well, let’s sin some more, so that we get even more grace.” That was an actual response that was reported to Paul. Or as one smart aleck would later put it: “God loves to forgive sin; I love to sin; it is a wonderful arrangement.” Mickey Cohen would agree.
Would you agree? You maybe would not put it so bluntly, but does the amazing grace of God ever make you any less serious about obeying God? You might not be a champion sinner like Mickey Cohen, but how about in those daily temptations you face? —to be less than truthful, to bear that grudge, to deny that help, to hang on to that jealousy, to pay the minimal amount of attention to God, to refuse to be generous, to engage in that hurtful gossip, etc., etc. Does the thought ever enter your mind that you need not be as concerned about those many guilty areas of your life because, “Oh well, there is that amazing grace, and all that.” We preachers are always telling you that you don’t have to do anything to be saved.
Here is a story. I am in the 5th grade, at a birthday party on a Friday afternoon during Lent. There are about a dozen boys, and on the menu was the usual birthday meal– sloppy joes, potato chips, and Kool-Aid. All of a sudden, one of the Catholic boys dropped his sloppy joe and blurted out: “Oh no! It’s Friday and we are eating meat! We’re all doomed!” “Oh no, we’re doomed,” said all the other Catholic boys as they stopped eating. The Lutheran mother who had served the sloppy joes on a Friday in Lent immediately realized her mistake and was horrified. The Lutheran boys knew there was some kind of rule like that for Catholics, but we had no idea how serious it was. After a few moments, one of the Catholic boys said cheerfully, “Ah, what the hell; we can just tell it to the priest at confession.” Much relieved, all the other Catholic boys said “Oh, yeah; good idea,” and went back to eating their sloppy joes. I was Lutheran, and we didn’t have that rule. But we had rules. We had memorized the Ten Commandments in Sunday School. And we had heard all about God’s forgiveness, even without going to a priest for confession. And I remember wondering, “Is that how this works?”
Sixty years later, I still don’t have it completely figured out. Can it be that easy? (continued…)
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