Sermon - 2020 - 02 - 16
Today’s gospel reading may leave you wondering, where is the gospel? Where is the good news? We hear rules and laws but not only the ancient ones that we have heard from long ago but Jesus takes them even further and declares that even if we think about doing them, we are now breaking those laws and rules that have been given to us. In doing this, Jesus highlights the idea that even if you think that just by acting like a person of the law or rules, that you would be saved. Sadly, you are not. Even one thought would separate you, would cause you to stumble and fall short so that you would be judged. But then who could be saved?
However, that is precisely where Christ wants you to realize. While sitting in the pit of anguish, despair and wondering where is God in all of it. Without grace and mercy, no one would be saved. We can not accomplish things under our own power, under our own will, or desire. This is the reason that we are in need of Jesus Christ, the need for the Messiah, and the need for us to realize that God is with us. That in the midst of our own daily journey and life, God is present.
Martin Luther talked about it in this way. We are in need of the Law and the Gospel and that we are simultaneously saint and sinner. Let’s start with the first two, the Law and Gospel. Within God’s Word given to us, we hear a message that gives order, structure but also a message that we can not truly fulfill. A message that we know we should accomplish but one that we will not complete. It is this Law then that also declares that we need God, we need to hear from God who is the giver of the law and the judge in the end to declare our sentence. Yes it is the last plea, last resort, that we turn to for help. The Gospel then is that we hear a message, loud and clear, and one that comes to us in flesh. A Gospel that lived among us, knows our struggles, knows the ways that we would say, “oh but I can still do this and be alright”, and who knows that even though we are trying our best we can not fulfill it. In realizing this, Jesus walked among us and did the work that was needed for our salvation, our saving grace, was not just another law but an action fully and completely done. The Gospel fulfilled the Law.
However, in the midst of all of this, that are people that would say that we no longer need the LAW. It has been fulfilled and thus we no longer need to abide by it. However, this is where we come to the second line of thinking from Martin Luther, we are simultaneously saint and sinner. We have the Law and we have the Gospel. Both are active, both are our reality. It is here that we are living in the tension of knowing the Law and its condemnation but hearing the Gospel that Jesus has given to us. We live in that tension so that now we have that motivation to share the Gospel to the people who are weighed down and struggling with the Law in their life. To build them up and restore them into relationship with God, God’s people and that they may also go into the world sharing the good news.
So why is all of this important? Why do we need to know this and is it really important? What we are talking about today, is the very thing that we need to realize and build now, more than ever in the Kingdom of God. The very foundation of this relationship is trust. I am talking about a trust among us as a community, a trust to reach out to others among us but above all trusting that God is with us here and now for us to hear, to know and grow into.
However, that is precisely where Christ wants you to realize. While sitting in the pit of anguish, despair and wondering where is God in all of it. Without grace and mercy, no one would be saved. We can not accomplish things under our own power, under our own will, or desire. This is the reason that we are in need of Jesus Christ, the need for the Messiah, and the need for us to realize that God is with us. That in the midst of our own daily journey and life, God is present.
Martin Luther talked about it in this way. We are in need of the Law and the Gospel and that we are simultaneously saint and sinner. Let’s start with the first two, the Law and Gospel. Within God’s Word given to us, we hear a message that gives order, structure but also a message that we can not truly fulfill. A message that we know we should accomplish but one that we will not complete. It is this Law then that also declares that we need God, we need to hear from God who is the giver of the law and the judge in the end to declare our sentence. Yes it is the last plea, last resort, that we turn to for help. The Gospel then is that we hear a message, loud and clear, and one that comes to us in flesh. A Gospel that lived among us, knows our struggles, knows the ways that we would say, “oh but I can still do this and be alright”, and who knows that even though we are trying our best we can not fulfill it. In realizing this, Jesus walked among us and did the work that was needed for our salvation, our saving grace, was not just another law but an action fully and completely done. The Gospel fulfilled the Law.
However, in the midst of all of this, that are people that would say that we no longer need the LAW. It has been fulfilled and thus we no longer need to abide by it. However, this is where we come to the second line of thinking from Martin Luther, we are simultaneously saint and sinner. We have the Law and we have the Gospel. Both are active, both are our reality. It is here that we are living in the tension of knowing the Law and its condemnation but hearing the Gospel that Jesus has given to us. We live in that tension so that now we have that motivation to share the Gospel to the people who are weighed down and struggling with the Law in their life. To build them up and restore them into relationship with God, God’s people and that they may also go into the world sharing the good news.
So why is all of this important? Why do we need to know this and is it really important? What we are talking about today, is the very thing that we need to realize and build now, more than ever in the Kingdom of God. The very foundation of this relationship is trust. I am talking about a trust among us as a community, a trust to reach out to others among us but above all trusting that God is with us here and now for us to hear, to know and grow into.
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