Sermon manuscript:
Why do people sin? Isn’t it because sinning gives us
pleasure? It can feel good. It might be more convenient or easier than doing
what is right. It might be more interesting than plain old vanilla. Simply put,
people sin because they want to.
There is a certain view of the Christian life where this
love of ours for sinning doesn’t have to change. According to this view of how
we can live as Christians we can continue to live in sin and God’s grace will
abound so as to cover over all those sins. The way those sins are taken away is
by coming to church. Make sure that you use the means of grace, and you won’t
go to hell. So long as you know this and make use of it, you can otherwise live
your life just like everybody else.
All good lies have truth in them, and this one has more
truth than most. It is true that Christians are sinners and will remain sinners
this side of the grave. It is true that Christians continually must be forgiven
until they die. It is true that the means of grace forgive sins and thereby
prevent sinners from going to the hell that they deserve. So, then, what’s
wrong?
What’s wrong is that this false view of the Christian life
has the Christian going in the wrong direction. It has Christians pursuing sin
instead of pursuing righteousness.
In our Gospel reading today you heard him say, “Do not
think that I have come to destroy the Law and the prophets. I have not come to
destroy them but to fulfill them.” The goal is not that we should continue
to live in sin, neither is it that we should live like everybody else, and
then, at the end, get a free pass. Instead, God’s law should be fulfilled in us.
God’s Law is good and holy. Its essence is love. It protects
life so that God’s creative activity may thrive. God’s Law protects every part
of our life. He wants our souls protected, our physical bodies protected, our
spouse protected, our possessions protected, our reputation protected, our
spirits and emotions protected.
It was the devil who deceived our ancestors into thinking
that God’s Law was a drag. Ever since then our natural minds have been darkened
so that we cannot believe that God’s Law is as good as it really is. Meanness,
despair, oppression, adultery, murder, and so on, are assumed to be the spice
of life. Consider all the greatest works of art in literature or movies. At the
heart of practically all of them is either murder or adultery.
This is not just with our present-day, decayed, and decadent
culture. It’s true of the greatest ancient works. In fact it can be traced back
all the way to Lamach, a descendant of Cain. It appears that he was the first
polygamist. His work of art is recorded by Moses. In his poem he brags to his
wives about how he had killed a man for crossing him. So if anybody else starts
getting ideas, they better have another thought coming!
Ever since the fall into sin we can hardly think of anything
higher than standing on the top of the heap, or accumulating for ourselves the
greatest amount of pleasure with the least amount of pain. Paul speaks of this
ambition and greed as being enslaved to our flesh. Slaves have no choice, and
so it is with us. We can’t help it. We don’t have a will of our own. We’re
always going to choose what’s best for us. Not being free to choose for one’s
self is in the nature of being a slave. That is why Paul speaks of our Old Adam
as being enslaved. We are enslaved to our desires. Whatever they say we do.
Notice that this is pretty much the opposite of the way that
we normally and naturally think about freedom. We think that freedom is having
the ability to choose to do whatever we might want. Freedom is the ability to
watch whatever we want, eat whatever we want, drink whatever we want, charge
whatever we want, say whatever we want, and so on.
But what kind of freedom is this, where we are always only
doing what are sinful desires dictate to us? Our desires say, “Do this,” and we
say, “Coming right up.” If our desires say “Do this,” and we, for some reason,
can’t say, “Coming right up,” we are filled with sorrow. We will look for more ways
to accumulate power or money so that we can carry out whatever it is that our
desires dictate to us.
The only way to be truly set free from this slavery to our
own desires is by knowing the truth, who is Jesus, who is God. Knowing Jesus
also means that we are baptized into him and into his death. Thereby we have
died with all our sins and evil desires. Paul says in Galatians, “It is no
longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me.” We have to be set free
from our old Lord, the devil, whom we renounce with all his works and all his
ways in the baptism service. Then we are joined to our new Lord, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who gives us liberty.
With this liberty we are set free from slavishly obeying
whatever the devil, the world, or our flesh dictates to us. We no longer always
have to choose what is best for us and ours. We can be generous with our money,
our efforts, our emotions, with every part of us. We can be merciful as our
heavenly Father is merciful. We can choose to keep God’s Law. If you were to
keep the Ten Commandments in all of its dimensions and implications you would
be the most loving, upright, and helpful creature.
We are far, far too weak to accomplish this way of living on
our own. In fact, it is quite impossible for us to set ourselves free from our
slavery to our own desires. You’d find it easier to shove a camel through the
eye of a needle. Although it is impossible for us to live this new life of
choosing love, nothing is impossible for God. The Holy Spirit is given to those
who are baptized. Through his Word he teaches and leads us into the glorious
liberty that we have in Christ.
This maggot sack of our flesh is such, however, that while
we live in it we are hampered, harassed, and hindered on every side. We are
hounded by unbelief which makes us afraid of opening up and living generously
with every part of our lives. Like the Israelites in the desert we are
constantly afraid that God’s promised provisions won’t hold out. Accordingly we
believe we have to protect ourselves, take for ourselves, live for ourselves;
otherwise we will die. The Israelites were always wrong about this though. God
will provide. He’s like an endless spring that keeps on bubbling up even unto
eternal life.
Consider the very common problem
of anger and strife that Jesus speaks about in our Gospel reading. Jesus says
that not only is pulling the trigger murder, but also the evil anger of the
heart is murder. In fact, if we had to assign guilt to the different parts of
the body wouldn’t the evil heart be much more culpable than the trigger finger?
The evil heart is the root and the source of the murder. And so we are guilty
of breaking the commandment with our heart regardless of whether it gets
translated into our finger.
So what can be done against this
evil desire of our flesh? How can we be set free? Walk by the Spirit, putting
your trust in God. That is not the empty pious phrase it might appear to be at
first glace. Trusting in God is the first and indispensable step for being set
free from the desires of our flesh. Why do we need to trust God to be set free
from anger? It’s because we are vulnerable when we set aside our anger. Anger
keeps our defenses up. It prevents us from being abused—or at least not being
abused so easily. We don’t want to get hurt.
But another facet of this
wonderful liberty into which we have been called in Christ is that we can even
choose to suffer, to get hurt. Our flesh is incapable of this. Our life in
Christ calls us to this, for Christ says, “Take up your cross and follow me.”
What is the cross? Is it not the way that Christ was hurt in love for us and
for our good? He freely chose love, putting his trust in the Father’s will. The
result was the greatest, highest, most helpful and loving thing that has ever
happened.
When we take up our cross as we
follow Jesus, we also need to trust God. Otherwise we will not have the courage
to reconcile with the brother who has something against us. The pitfalls of
reaching out across the divide are so numerous and so painful that our flesh
tells us we better stay safe and secure in the fortress of anger we have
constructed for ourselves, using one grievance after another to build it.
Imagine reconciling. How can you
even begin the conversation? What words will you say? How can you put the words
just so that you will be on top and retain your dignity? What if the other
party (which is hardly without guilt in the matter) just uses the peace
offering as a way to say that they were right all along? You will look like a
weak fool! And what if they don’t say they’re sorry? Won’t that tick you off
even more? Maybe the whole thing will get worse than it already is!
All these doubts are but a small
sample of what we can come up with. And it’s not like our flesh is a complete
idiot either. If the goal is to not get hurt, to not be stressed, to not rock
the boat, then the reconciliation will probably not even start. But who says
that not getting hurt or not being stressed are the best things? Where is that
written in the Bible? Faith, hope, and love—these are the best and most
fruitful of things. Do not be afraid. That is one of the most common refrains
in the Scriptures. God is always telling his people, “Do not be afraid.”
Put your trust in the Lord.
God is at work in us, his
Christians. He is forgiving us. He is putting to death our flesh. He is raising
us with his Holy Spirit. With this work of sanctifying us it is not as though
it happens in such a way where we are a hunk of wood or a robot—unfeeling,
unchallenged. The Israelites, as they were making their way through the
wilderness, most certainly experienced feelings. So we should not be surprised
when our flesh kicks up a fuss against us doing things that are difficult or
dangerous. But you are not a slave to your flesh, where you have to obey its
desires. You can strike out on a new path, where the Law is fulfilled in us. By
doing that—no matter what may happen, how much it may hurt, and so on—you must
necessarily have 100% certainty that you will be blessed. God will see to that.
I’m sure that you have those
relationships in your life that are broken, strained, or tender to the touch. Be
reconciled. And here’s my advice: Don’t think about it too much beforehand,
otherwise your flesh will talk you out of it. Say a quick prayer for God to
help you. Then be courageous in the Lord. He will sustain you. He will equip
you.
Then see what adventures the
Lord will give you. He will make your feet like the feet of the deer. He will
set you on the heights, but you will not fall. He will train your hands for war
so that your arms can bend a bow of bronze. He has given you the shield of
salvation. His right hand supports you. His gentleness makes you great.
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