Epiphany 6 A
Keepers and Losers
St. Matthew 5:21-35
16 February 2014 – Redeemer
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What are you going to do with these words from Matthew 5? You probably wish I had never read them or Jesus had never spoken them especially if you get angry, you lust, or you’re divorced. There isn’t a part of us that Jesus does not expose as sinful. Your heart hates. Your mouth curses. Your eyes lust. Your hand touches and grabs.
So what shall we do with these words? Well, there are two ways that we handle God’s word of hammering law when it slams into our ears. The first is that we try to keep these words with all our might. The second is that we ignore these words because we are forgiven.
Answer number one looks like this – men hear these words and vow they’re going to shut the computer off when their wife goes to bed. Women hear these words and decide to watch their tongues of murderous gossip. You hear the third commandment and you make up your mind to be in the Lord’s house on the Lord day. You hear the 9th and 10th commandments and you try to work on being content with what you have. You hear these words and vow, “I’m going to be the best Christian I can be. I’m going to show God that I’m good or at least improving.”
I’m going to call this the “keepers” answer to the commandments. If you are a “keeper” you think you can keep the Law and by keeping the Law preserve your life from God’s anger and judgment.
There are some problems for “keepers;” chief is that you cannot keep God’s Law. St. Paul says it clearly in Romans 3, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (20) So if you think you can keep the Law you’re going to have to play with the Law. You’ll have to justify yourself by playing yourself against others. “Officer I was speeding, but so was everyone else.” When you hear these words of Jesus you’ll look around to find the divorced person in your pew and think, “Well, at least I’m not divorced.” You’ll remember the person who didn’t keep his word and feel good because you do what you say and say what you do. You might have daydreamed through the whole church service, but then on your way home you’ll consider how much better you are than your neighbor who didn’t even go to church at all
You cannot keep the whole law – you might get your tongue under control for a day or your eyes for a week, but keepers have to play games – adjusting what Laws you keep, judging your keeping vs. your neighbor’s keeping, rejoicing when you succeed, and ignoring where you fail. The supreme danger for keepers is despair. If you are a keeper and believe in the fullness of God’s Law you will despair of God’s love – for while you may not have shoved a knife into your neighbor’s back your words have cut him to the heart. While you may not have committed adultery in the flesh, your spirit is filthy to its core. There is no hope for keepers.
The other answer to the law is to lose the Law or ignore the Law. This approach is also a great temptation to Christians. Losers think the Law can be lost, left out, forgotten from the life of a Christian. The argument goes like this, “Since I am forgiven I don’t need to keep the Law.” Saint Paul speaks to the “losers” in the congregation at Rome. They asked, “Should we go on sinning that grace might abound?” Their argument made sense – I can’t stop sinning and God has forgiven me in Christ, therefore I might as well go on sinning so God can go on forgiving and everyone is happy.
Losers lose the Law and their favorite word is love – God loves you, no matter who you are, what you’ve done or what you continue to do. So now we have Christians churches that approve of the murder of unborn children because it would be unloving to the mother. Christians now speak of marriage between any two people because it would be unloving to limit love. Losers do not adjust the Law. The forget the Law and they adjust the Gospel – they simply throw out the price that God Himself paid for our sin, the cost of Christ’s death. They make God’s love cheap and easy, instead of costly, holy, and precious. Losers don’t really lose the Law, they lose Jesus from God’s love and mercy.
The question before you this morning is what do you do when Jesus says, “you, yes you, have committed murder and adultery, and because of your sin it would better for you to pluck out an eye or cut off a hand? What is your reaction when you hear the words of Jesus? Are you a keeper or a loser? You’re both, at the same time. Sometimes you comfort yourself because you have kept the Law that your neighbor didn’t keep. You adjust the Law to fit your deeds – I may gossip, but it’s public information or its true. My eye may wander, but what I have at home isn’t much to look at. Or you simply throw the Law out – why worry about my sin? – I’m forgiven. Either way you lessen God’s Word and wander fromGod’s way. If you’re a keeper you lessen the Law and if you are a loser you lessen Jesus’ death on the cross.
So now that I’ve been at this sermon for 10 minutes I have to admit my opening question is misleading. What swill you do with these words of Jesus? The question misleads you into thinking you can do anything about these words. Whatever you do with these words will fail you. If you think you can keep God’s Law and please Him – you fail. If you think you can ignore them you fail. If adjust them you fail. Jesus would have you do nothing with these words except repent. Repent of your sin. As I said at the beginning of the sermon there isn’t a part of you that escapes these words, not your eyes, your ears, your tongue, your heart, your flesh and the reason for that is you are by nature sinful and unclean.
Repent of trying to do anything with these words and let Jesus deal with these words. He kept the Law in your place – not by adjusting the Law, not in comparison to others, but perfectly. He dotted every i of the Law and crossed every t of the Commandments. He never daydreamed during a sermon and always stopped to help someone along the way, no matter the cost or the danger to His own life. He lived His whole life with His eyes firmly and faithfully fixed on His bride the church – on you. Every promise He made He kept. Every Word He spoke is true. Jesus is the Keeper of the Law.
He is also the loser of the Law. He does away with the threat of the Law by offering His perfect life as the payment for our sins. He redeemed us from under the sentence and curse of the Law by offering His holy and precious blood and His innocent suffering and death. He was lost to His Father for us. He was damned to hell for us. The Law had its way with Jesus. It demanded justice – the sinner must die – so Jesus becomes sin for you and dies for you. His resurrection means the Law is completely satisfied – it can no longer demand death for sin because the price is paid in Christ. That is why He rose and why you too will rise.
Jesus doesn’t get rid of the Law. He fulfills the Law. He fulfills its demand for total obedience by keeping it. He fulfills it demand for the life of the sinner by losing His life for us and our salvation. So what shall we do with these Words of Jesus? Nothing except repent – not only of our sins, but also of our games with sin, of adjusting the Law or adjusting the Gospel. Die to yourself that Christ might raise you. Be confident that He has kept the Law for you and lost His life for you. Live like one who knows the danger and death that accompanies sin. Live like one who has been brought to life. Live like one who believes in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
15 February 2014 anno Domini