Sixth Sunday after Trinity

Exodus 20:1–21

Romans 6:1–11

St. Matthew 5:17–26

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

There’s no shortage of “Big Problems” in our time. I suppose it keeps the 24 hour news people raking in the money, if nothing else. There’s no shortage of opinions and discussions, polls and arguments and campaigns, on things like (in no particular order): Racism, Marriage, Sex and Gender, Abortion, Fake News, Government Monetary Policy (you know, taxes and how they’re spent), Government Control, Religious Liberty, Depression and Suicide, Health, Quarantines, Safety, Illiteracy and Ignorance of History, Environmentalism, Protests, Fascism, Communism, and a kind of tolerance that tolerates nothing.

That’s quite a list, and there’s more. And obviously, I’m not able to give a solution for even one of these things here today. In fact, this mountain of problems and controversies can often cause Christians to throw up their hands, turn off the TV, and say, “I’m done with it all. I give up. It’s too much for me to handle so I’m not even going to try dealing with it or thinking about it.”

Now, I actually would recommend watching less of the 24 hour news people, or Twitter, or Facebook, or whatever place you get your news. There is only so much of that a person can take, in a healthy way. And it’s likely that whatever source you use is going to have some kind of bias, so you’re never going to hear another point of view and be left listening to the echoes of your own ideas.

Plus, here’s what we really need to consider if we actually are Christians (not just say we’re Christians, but actually think and talk and live like Christians): if all we ever do is listen to and talk about all the problems on the news, that leaves us with very little time for listening to and talking about God. He has something to say to all these problems, and only when we listen to Him and let His Word inform our ideas will we be able to begin finding a solution.

And Christians really can’t just bury their heads in the sand when it comes to the problems that face our world. Christians actually do have to care about these things in some way. That doesn’t mean you have to be an environmentalist or an expert on marriage issues or racism. It doesn’t even mean you need to read lots of books and articles on history or science. But we have to care about these things, because this world is full of problems because of the sins of mankind, our sins, whether we are directly responsible or not. By our sinful nature and our individual sins, we participate in the sins of the world. This does not mean we have to confess other people’s sins, sins we didn’t commit. But it means that no one gets to sit back and say, “Not my fault, not my problem.” We have to care because this world, so full of problems, is the world given to us by God, and we have to learn what God says about all these problems.

Some good news is that none of these problems are really new, or “unprecedented” as so many people like to claim today. All of our problems have to do with the 10 Commandments. Because the 10 Commandments describe God’s created order, how God made this world to work and who God made us to be. The 10 Commandments are not just rules. They describe a perfect world. They tell us…

1. There is a God.

2. He has a name and wants you to know Him.

3. He speaks to you and with you so He can have a good relationship with you.

4. He creates order in His world and He provides us with parents and other authorities to keep that order for our good.

5. He gives us life.

6. He gives us marriage and family.

7. He gives us good stuff to use and enjoy, possessions for the good of ourselves, the good of our family, and the good of our neighbors.

8. He gives us a name, a reputation, so that you can have good relationships with the people around you.

9. and 10. He gives us everything we need, including the gift of contentment, trust that He and all His gifts are enough and we don’t need anything more.

That is a perfect world. The 10 Commandments would ideally protect that perfect world that they describe, like a nice fence around the playground that keeps us all safe and carefree.

But we sinners always think we know better. We think the fence is stupid, old-fashioned, it gets in the way of our fun. We think it would be better to play on the other side. The fence has to go so that we can be free to do what we want. We are wrong.

And all the problems I mentioned earlier fit into these Commandments because they all arise when we screw things up in this world. Racism, abortion, depression, and suicide—they all come from tearing down the 5th Commandment, for Jesus says that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Or as St. John puts it, Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer (1 John 3:15). Marriage, sex, and gender fall under the 6th Commandment, along with lust of all kinds. Fake news is a problem with the 8th Commandment. Government, taxes, and lawful authority goes with the 4th Commandment. You could also include illiteracy and ignorance of history here, since parents are the true authorities on earth and it is their job to teach their children. And concerns of health and safety fall under both the 4th and the 5th Commandments. Environmentalism has to do with jobs, possessions, greed and how to use God’s creation, which would deal at least with Commandments 7, 9, and 10. When it comes to religious liberty, what we’re concerned about is our duty as the Church to preach the Gospel and administer the Sacraments according to God’s institution. And if the government or society order us to go against God’s Word, then we must obey God rather than men. This is why the Commandments regarding God and His Word come first, numbers 1, 2, and 3. And finally, the issues surrounding many protests, and the support or accusations of Fascism or Communism, these hit on all the Commandments, because these ideologies set up their own alternatives to all of God’s Commandments.

Okay, enough of all the examples. Everything in life has to do with at least one of the Commandments. They are the blueprint for the life God wants for us. But our sin destroys that life. And so the Commandments bring down God’s wrath and judgment upon us. Look at Israel at Mount Sinai. Every Commandment from God’s own voice came down on them like an avalanche, piling up more problems, listing more ways they had done wrong or good things they had failed to do. Faced with that burning mountain of sin and judgment, with thunder and lightning and billows of smoke, they were afraid. They threw up their hands and covered their ears. “We can’t handle anymore. We are going to die.” 

But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of Him may be before you, that you may not sin.” Don’t be afraid. God does not want to destroy you or this world with His Commandments. He comes to test you, to diagnose you, to show you what’s wrong with your life so that you will trust Him to put it right. He wants you to recognize your sin so that you may turn away from it and turn to Him for salvation, and live the life He wants for you. God comes to you in the 10 Commandments to make you ready for His coming to you in the Gospel. The life that God wants for you is the very life of Jesus Christ.

And so all of those problems that I mentioned earlier—everything that’s wrong with the world—not only do they have to do with the 10 Commandments, they all have to do with Christ. Jesus is true God and true Man. He is the Holy God who gave the 10 Commandments, and He is the Blessed Man who fulfills and embodies the 10 Commandments. He is God and Man, so He unites heaven and earth, uncreated and created. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together… For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross (Colossians 1:17–20).

So, as God, Jesus is the giver of the Law. And as Man, Jesus receives the Law and keeps it. He is the pattern and exaltation of who God made us to be. If you want to know what man should do or how man should live, if you want to know what it means to be human, you can look at the 10 Commandments, or you can look at Jesus—they both tell the same story. And together, they tell the story of a perfect life and a perfect world as God intends it to be, and as God has in fact made it to be in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Savior. All the world’s problems are pointed out by the 10 Commandments. And we can at least cope with the world’s problems by learning what God wants for us in the 10 Commandments. But all the world’s problems are truly solved in Jesus.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” And He told us when it was all accomplished. While hanging on the cross, just before He died, Jesus declared, "It is finished. It is all accomplished." Jesus fulfills the 10 Commandments. They all meet their goal and purpose in Him. And if all the Commandments are kept in Jesus, if all of that perfect life and world is met in Jesus, then you also have it, because you are in Jesus. We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life… For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

By your Baptism you are united closer with Jesus than husband and wife, closer than body and soul. You are a new creation in your Baptism. You have a New Man—and that’s not sexist, it doesn’t leave out the women—you literally have The New Man Jesus Christ living in you and you living in Him. His life is your life.

There is only one perfect life, one perfect world—that’s found in Jesus. By your Baptism, you’ve got it. You ALL got it, for we all share the same life in Christ. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism (Ephesians 4:4–5). And we all participate in that one life, commune with that life, with our Lord, as we eat His body and drink His blood. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread (1 Corinthians 10:16–17).

The perfect life of the 10 Commandments begins here, in the font and at the altar. We’re not going to solve all the world’s problems. We’re not going to create that perfect world here and now before Christ’s return. But it begins here, in the water, in the body and the blood. Being truly human begins here in Baptism and in the Supper. The life that God created for us, the life that God redeemed for us, the life that God wants for world, the life that God gives to us and for the good of our neighbors, tt all begins here, in Jesus.

In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Sixth Sunday after Trinity

St. Matthew 5:17–26

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“You conservative Christians just pick and choose what to believe from the Bible. You’re inconsistent. You say same-sex marriage is wrong because the Bible says so, but you eat shrimp and bacon, even though God also forbids eating shellfish and pork in the Bible. You’re against abortion, but you wear clothes made from two kinds of material. You claim you care about love and mercy, but the Bible says that any sexually immoral people should be executed.” 

Have you ever heard these kinds of objections? Did you know that they are technically correct? The Bible certainly says that same-sex attraction and acting on those desires is sinful. It also clearly shows that human life in the womb is a gift from God and should never be taken. And the Bible definitely teaches the love and mercy of God as well as the love and mercy we should show others.

But it’s true that the Bible also says things like: You shall not eat [pig’s] flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you… [And] anything in the seas or the rivers that does not have fins and scales… is detestable to you… you shall not eat any of their flesh (Leviticus 11:8–11). And also this: You shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together (Deuteronomy 22:11). And also this: If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death (Leviticus 20:10).

So, are we inconsistent? Do we keep parts of the Bible while ignoring other parts? Do we need to throw out more of the Bible? And if we are ignoring some of God’s laws, what do we do with the part we heard today from Jesus Himself: Truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law (Matthew 5:18)?

So, Jesus says we can’t get rid of the Law. He said that He did not come to abolish the Law, nor will any of it be retracted—every “i” will be dotted and every “t” crossed. Then, why don’t we actually follow all of the Laws of Moses? Why are there so many rules and punishments in Leviticus and Deuteronomy that we conservative, Bible-believing Christians don’t do? And we have to have a better answer than, “Well, times change. That was then, this is now.” That kind of answer would not take the Bible seriously. That kind of answer would ultimately lead us to ignoring all of God’s Law and also doubting all of God’s Word. If we follow that kind of answer, like “things change and God doesn’t actually expect us to follow all of His laws,” then we are not really Christians. 

Jesus said “Whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19). So, what do we do? If we want to be consistent with the Bible, does that mean we need to stop eating hot dogs and start executing adulterers? No, but if we want to be consistent with the Bible, we should start by paying close attention to Jesus’ words.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:17–18). Jesus did not abolish God’s Law, He didn’t throw it away or contradict it. Instead, He fulfilled it, He kept it, He perfectly obeyed the Law.As a perfect Man, Jesus finally satisfied the Law’s demands. And having been satisfied, having been accomplished, the Law was fulfilled. It was finished.

This includes the totality of the Law—what we call the moral, civil, and ceremonial laws. The ceremonial and civil laws of Moses were the particular laws that God gave to His particular people, Israel. These included the ceremonial laws like circumcision, clean and unclean food, regulations on clothing and garments. These also included the civil laws of the Israelite nation like capital punishment for certain crimes and sins, and rules for the protection of the poor. These laws were given by God only to Israel for the purpose of setting apart His holy people—making them different and separate from all the other nations—until the promised Savior had come. 

This means that these laws reached their purpose in Jesus. Having been fulfilled by Him, they are no longer in effect, because the Christ has come and done His work. St. Paul explains how the Israelite laws are no longer binding on any people: Let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ (Colossians 2:16–17). The old prophetic shadows have passed away, because the Christ, the true substance of our faith has come.

Now, if the Law has been fulfilled by Jesus, why do we still care about doing other parts of it? Why are we not allowed to steal and gossip? Why is abortion and homosexuality and any kind of sex outside of marriage wrong? Why is it still important to come to church and use God’s name properly and honor earthly authorities? Because these are a different kind of Law—what we call the moral law. These are the general, universal laws for all of humanity. These are the laws that protect God’s earthly gifts of life and marriage, possessions and reputation, as well as protecting the eternal gifts of His Name and His Word.

Maybe it should be obvious that these laws are different from the very narrowly focused laws for ancient Israel. But if there was any doubt, all we have to do is read the words of Jesus and the apostles. They reiterate the moral laws. In the same reading today, Jesus confirms the Fifth Commandment against murder, and He includes in it anger and hatred as sins as well. Jesus and the apostles teach us what God’s Law is for us, which is why we still care about sexual sins and greed, idolatry and dishonesty. This is also why we still use the Ten Commandments (even though they were given in the Old Testament) because they remain a good summary of God’s will for our lives now.

But now, if the moral law still applies, does that mean we have to do the Law in order to be saved? Jesus also says, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20). How can we possibly make ourselves righteous enough? The answer is, we can’t. Then where do we get such righteousness? As we heard before, Jesus fulfilled the Law. His righteousness exceeds that of all others. And by faith in Him, He becomes our righteousness.

We are baptized, and that means we are covered in Christ’s righteousness, His perfect Law-fulfilling life is given for us. We are baptized and that makes us holy people. We are not holy by our own works, but we are holy by His works. His holy life, His holy blood, His holy death makes and keeps us as His holy people. And the only reason we now try to keep the moral law, the only reason we try to follow God’s will, is that we are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11). We are baptized. Jesus’ death and resurrection happened to us by the water and the Word. And it still happens in us by faith in His Word. The only way we could go on living in sin is if we would be dead to God.

But because we are baptized, we are alive to God in Christ Jesus and Jesus is alive in us. Jesus is the Lord our God, who brought us out of slavery to sin and gives us a new and free life. He gives us His own life, and He gives us His own WAY of life, that we might live the way God wants us to. Jesus is what makes us holy people. And Jesus is why we care about God’s Law. We are not inconsistent. We have faith in Jesus, we belong to Him. And how we live depends all on Him.

In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.