Sermon prepared for
by Gregory S. Kaurin, pastor
Morning Promise services,
Texts: Exodus 20:1-17 &
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Sermon:
The Extent of the Law & the Expanse
of the Gospel
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A
couple days ago, I heard a news commentator refer to this “Shock and Awe”
bombing technique in
The
word “gospel” means, “good news”—good tidings.
The angel, in St. Luke’s Gospel, said to the shepherds, “Behold I bring
you the Gospel, the good news, of…” what?
[The good news of great joy.]
Right, and of peace on the earth.
Hold
onto that, because—by the end of this message—you’ll see that the command to
rejoice, and those attitudes of joy and peace, are the clearest indicators of a
heart that understands both the Gospel, and also true obedience of the Law. Martin Luther was once preaching on Galatians
[1532] and said:
“This difference between the Law and the Gospel is the height of knowledge
in Christianity. All people who claim
glory in Christ’s name should know and be able to tell the difference. If they are not able, then one cannot tell a
Christian from a heathen…”
Well,
since I don’t want anybody to call you a heathen, I want each of you to be able
to leave worship today with an understanding of the Law and Gospel, how they
work together, and how to tell the difference.
Let’s give this a try right now.
Call out whether you think this is a Law or the Gospel.
1) Thou shalt not kill.
Law or Gospel?
2) God came in the flesh, as an infant, and lived among
us as Jesus. Law or Gospel?
3) You should protect and respect life. Law or Gospel?
4) 
Jesus Christ
died on the cross in your place. Law or
Gospel?
Maybe
you’re already catching on. Anything
that describes our action—what we should be doing or thinking or feeling—is
Law. Anything that describes God’s
actions—what God has done for us to bring us closer to him—is Gospel.
Try
a few more, harder ones:
5) Love God with everything you have and everything you
are, and love your neighbor as yourself.
Law or Gospel?
6) By your Baptism you were joined to the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. Law or Gospel?
7) Rejoice, and again I say, “Rejoice!” Law or Gospel?
8) God said, “I will write my Law in their hearts.” Law
or Gospel?
9) Jesus said, “Take this; drink of it.” Law or Gospel?
10) Jesus said, “This is my blood shed for all people for
the forgiveness of sins.” Law or Gospel?[*]
What
God wants most of all, what he wants for you, is to be in a mutual, loving, and
respectful relationship with him, and anything that God does to make that
happen is Gospel. Even when God gave us
the Law, and when Jesus gave us commands, his action was Gospel, because God’s
intention was not just to order us around.
Why do you think God give us the Law?
The real intention of the Law, the Ten Commandments, or the Two Laws of
Love, the real intention of all of these is to get us out of ourselves, to
start loving God and each other. However,
(here’s the catch) without the Gospel,
that cannot happen. I’ll show you
why in a little bit.
First, let’s
try to understand when God’s Law is our friend …and when it becomes our
executioner. First, in general society,
the Law provides a good general way of living that keeps order, and creates a
world in which the Gospel can flourish. Society
would be pretty messy, it would be hard to survive—much less spread God’s Gospel—if
it was okay to go around murdering people, or stealing each other’s cows and spouses,
right?
It’s
not going to work for me to come up and steal your house, try to seduce your
wife, and shoot your dog, and then try to say, “Oh, by the way, God loves you.” God’s world, the people, and the spread of
the gospel, all need a relatively just and respectful society. For that, the Law is our friend. It helps us.
But
when it comes to our relationship with God, if we try to use the Law to create that
relationship with God, or to prove it, or to mend it, without the Gospel, we
would be doomed. (And it’s not just the
fact that it’s impossible to perfectly obey God’s Law. It’s more than that.) If I’m using the Law, if I’m obeying God to
make myself right with God, or if I’m trying to act nice and loving in order to
climb my way into heaven, or to get a better house or car when I get to heaven,
then who am I focused on? Myself.
Right
there is the problem! The intent and goal
of the Law is to describe and order our loving and right relationship with God
and his creation, but instead, we get focused on ourselves; we end up using the
Law to try to love ourselves into heaven.
We can look
all pretty on the outside, but inside we haven’t gotten beyond our own
skin. That’s not love of God. That’s not worshipping God. That’s nothing more than self-concern and
self-worship. That’s idolatry.
But
let’s pretend that there’s a commandment that you can obey, just one. Let’s say it’s this one: Thou shalt not
murder. Now, imagine that I had all of
you stand up. Then, imagine that I said,
“If you ever murdered somebody, please sit down.” How many of you would be left standing? (I’ll pretend that you all raised your
hand.)
However,
let’s get behind the words of that commandment to the reason God commanded it,
the “spirit” of the Law. Why should we
not murder? Because we should respect…
what? It’s not enough to refrain from
killing; the reason we shouldn’t kill is because we are supposed to respect the
life that God created, all life. To
truly obey this commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” you have to respect life.
Is
it respectful of life to call people names?
Is it respectful of life to go out and poach a deer and leave it’s
carcass behind? Is it respectful of life
to needlessly squish a spider on the sidewalk, or burn ants with your
magnifying glass? (The key word here is
“needlessly.”) We are called to go out
of our way to respect and protect life.
We
might even need to take some life to do it, to feed, to house, to protect and
defend each other, but we better do it very carefully, respectfully, and only for
the sake of life, never for revenge, or hatred.
Thou shalt respect life; protect each other’s life and health, as well
as the rest of the creation and the environment. That’s the way, the only way, to truly obey
that commandment.
Now,
who’s left standing? Everyone falls
short, even with this one commandment that you probably thought was your ace. We all sin, on every command of scripture. And the Bible is clear, that “the wage of sin
is death.”
The
Law might make this world an easier place to live, but (if we’re really honest
with ourselves and the extent of the Law) until the Gospel comes along, the
only thing it does is show us how selfish and inadequate we are. Until the good news of God’s forgiveness,
we’re dead.
The
wage of sin is death,
but then, Jesus Christ came. Through him, God paid the wages of sin for us,
forgave us, and not because we earned it, but simply because God wants a
relationship with us so much that he was willing to pay the wages of sin and to
just declare us forgiven. Since you
cannot earn this relationship or earn your way into heaven, God has to give it
to you.
And
that is exactly what God chose to do.
That’s the Gospel. That’s Jesus
Christ.
Now,
let’s talk about true obedience. The
Gospel of forgiveness and salvation is the free gift, the grace of God. That Gospel was the missing ingredient. You can finally obey God truly and fully because
you actually love and trust God, and not because your worried about earning your relationship or salvation.
Now
you can trust God, and his guidance, including his commands. You can stop worrying about yourself, and about
your personal salvation. Instead, you
are able to look beyond your own skin and soul in order to share with others,
to respect life, to be patient with others, with yourself, and with God. You can do all this because you know that you
are okay. You’ve got the love of God,
forgiveness and eternal life. Even if
everything else were taken from you, you know that you get everything of real
value back, forever. You’ve got God and
eternal life!
Suddenly,
the Law is your friend again! But it’s never
the same. For those Christians who pay
lip-service to the Gospel, but slide right back into the judgmental attitude of
the Law, I’d like to ask them a question that Dr. Phil always asks. I love this question: someone will be on the
Dr. Phil Show, justifying their behavior against someone else, or justifying
their own victimhood. He’ll let them go
on for awhile, but finally he’ll stop them and ask, “So, tell me, how’s that
working for you?”
Using
the Law to make yourself feel better than someone else, or to put yourself down,
after you’ve already heard the Gospel of forgiveness, that is the devil’s use
of the Law. That is an entirely unchristian
attitude.
If
you find yourself constantly critiquing and judging others, demanding that they
meet the standard of God’s Law, when you yourself can’t even begin to touch it,
let me ask, “How’s that attitude working for you?” Are you happy; are you rejoicing in your life
with God? If you are constantly focused
on and comparing and critiquing yourself, I’d like to ask again, “How’s that
working for you?”
We’re not
called into a life of judgmentalism, or of self-pity. We’re called into a life of joy. That can only happen when you trust God’s
promises, that he really does forgive, and love, and accept you, warts and all.
Really,
all our worship, obedience, love and service, behind it all, this is meant to
be our way of rejoicing. We are saved,
so we rejoice. We are at peace, so we forgive,
and we can be patient.
Even
in the midst of the scary stuff we’re dealing with now: death, war, and violence,
as well as family dysfunction, even in the midst of other people’s sinfulness,
we can be at peace, can even find reason to rejoice, forgive, love and be
patient. We’re okay.
The extent of
the Law is this—it drives us to our knees when we realize we can’t do this
without forgiveness and help. In other words,
the Law kills us, it kills our false sense of pride and our self pity.
The
expanse of the Gospel is this—it covers all of our sins, and promises a new
heaven and earth, and eternal life.
The
Gospel puts us into God’s hands where we realize he does in fact forgive us,
and it gives us the ability to rejoice and to love, to truly love him back. The extent of the Law is death, but the greater
expanse of the Gospel is new life now, and eternal life forever. Amen.
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