The Curb, The Mirror, The Guide
Psalm 19:7-10
July 7, 2024 anno Domini
The Psalmist proclaims God’s Law is perfect, sure, and right, more desirable than gold and sweeter than honey. Today’s readings give us a rich and delicious helping of God’s Law. Do you remember the three perfect and sweet purposes of God’s Law? God uses His Law as a curb, a mirror, and a guide.
First the curb. In Exodus 20, God spoke the commandments to Moses. Remember what I said a few weeks ago in the sermon. God’s indicatives come before His imperatives. Before God asks anything of you, He gives you everything. God spoke all these words saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” God gave birth to Israel through Abraham and Sarah. God kept Israel alive. God sent Moses. God saved Israel from slavery. God killed Israel’s enemies. All of that comes before “You shall have no other gods before me.”
For the sake of teaching about the curb, I want you to focus on commandments 4-10. Sometimes these are referred to as natural law or common law. Throughout history all civilized people have believed these commandments. That you should respect your parents and authority. You should not take the life of another human. Marriage is between one man and one woman. You should not steal your neighbor’s property. You should not libel or slander about your neighbor. Finally, you should be happy with what you have and not desire to take your neighbor’s goods by cunning.
Every human has this natural knowledge telling him how to behave. It is called our conscience. That we all have this inborn sense of right and wrong is evidence that there is a god and He created us. However, your conscience isn’t perfect. You’ve got a little brain fog, conscience fog because of sin. This inborn law serves like a curb on the road. The curb keeps most cars on the road unless someone is drunk or speeding. The Law curbs human behavior. Most people don’t murder, don’t steal. Most people don’t cheat on their spouses. That God curbs our gross and wicked behaviors with His inborn law is good, really good.
In this election year you should ask any candidate seeking your vote, “Do you believe in the 10 commandments? Or at least the last seven? Do you believe that all authority comes from God through the family of one man and one woman in marriage? Do you believe human life is sacred because every human, even the child conceived in rape or incest is made in God’s image? Do you believe in the right to private property and that people should be able to keep what they earn? Do you think we should stop calling other people names and telling lies about them? Do you believe that society would be better if everyone would keep even those last seven commandments? If politicians do not hold to God’s Law, then they’ll play God and make up their own rules contrary to life, contrary to marriage, contrary to good.
The curb is good, but the mirror is better. Every one of you looked in the mirror this morning. You looked there for one reason. To see if anything was wrong with you before you left the house. Did you have a zit on your forehead, a hair coming out your nose, or a raspberry seed stuck between your front teeth? In today’s Gospel reading Jesus polishes the bright mirror of God’s Law so that it reflects all that is wrong with you. You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not murder” … but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, “You fool!” will be liable to the hell of fire. Makes you wonder if there’ll be any politicians in the Kingdom of God. It should make you wonder if you’ll be there. The world says murder is deliberately taking the life of another human being and then redefines human to exclude the unborn and the elderly. God says insults and name-calling are murder. God’s Law is like one of those three-panel mirrors you used to find in department stores. When you looked you saw 47 different angles of yourself and if those pants were too tight? Ouch. It showed.
God’s Mirror serves His purpose of saving you. You think you’re pretty good. You’ve never been arrested. You’ve only had sex with your wife. You haven’t walked over to your neighbor’s garage and tried to steal his car. Then you see that anger is murder – guilty. Lust is adultery – guilty. Being wasteful is stealing – guilty. Is it any wonder we try to redefine God’s Word to blur the mirror? What does Jesus say? Not an iota, not a dot, will pass away from the law. Not only does the Law show you what is wrong with you, but it also tells you how right you must be. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of God.
God’s mirror shows you your sin so that you stop looking at yourself. You need help and that help isn’t found in the mirror. It’s found in Jesus. This is another mystery of God’s Word. The same Law that humiliates you extols Jesus. Who is the One man who had no other gods? Who never misused God’s name? Who kept the Sabbath perfectly? Who honored his mother on earth and his father in heaven? Who never murdered, lusted, stole, coveted? Who lived in perfect faith toward God and perfect love toward His neighbor? Jesus. Jesus kept the Law for you. It’s a part of His saving work we often forget. He took away our sins which is amazing, but He also lived a perfect life for us and in baptism we get His life, His death death and His resurrection.
That leads to the last use of the Law which Saint Pauls talks about in the Epistle – the guide. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might abound? There have been many Christians and sadly many, many Lutherans who believe this false logic. I sin. God forgives. What a great relationship. I get to do what I want and He does what He wants. Should we continue in sin? Paul’s answer is the strongest Greek negative there is short of swearing. It’s “heck no” you cannot go on sinning, for this reason. Christ Jesus has changed your life in baptism. You get His death for your sins – so you have died to sin. If your sin is dead and buried in Christ’s grave, do you want to resurrect it? If your slave driver Pharoah and his army are dead in the Red Sea are you going to start pulling them out of the water and giving them CPR? You have been set free from sin, so don’t put its chains back on.
Once again the indicatives come before the imperatives. Christ died and rose again for you. In baptism the Holy Spirit made you a partaker of His death and resurrection. Now, as Christ lives, you also live. That’s all yours. All free. All from God. He did it, now consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God. Now you live with the commandments as a guide. This is how God made and redeemed you to be – no other Gods, praying and believing His name, in His house on His day, honoring father and mother, defend human life from conception to cemetery, one marriage in your life with a man if you’re a woman and with a woman if you’re a man, buy your own stuff and don’t steal from others, speak well of your neighbor, and don’t worry that he has more than you – God gives gifts as He sees fit. He knows what you need.
What are the three uses of God’s Law? The curb to curb gross sin. The mirror to show you your sin and need for Jesus. The guide to direct your life after you have been baptized and raised from death to life. Now you know why the Law is to be desired more than gold and is sweeter than honey. In the name of Jesus. Amen.