Outer Rim Territories

Sermon: Matthew 22:34-46

Vicar Christopher Gillespie Immanuel Lutheran Church of Frankentrost Saginaw, Michigan Trinity 18 (October 7th, 2007) Matthew 22:34-46

Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

[From the beginning of the world the proclamation of Law and Gospel have always been taught alongside each other in God’s church, with proper distinction... [The Patriarchs] know that through the fraud of the Serpent, Adam transgressed God’s command, became a sinner, and corrupted and cast himself with all his descendants into death and eternal condemnation. They encouraged and comforted themselves again by the preaching about the woman’s seed, who would bruise the Serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15)... The doctrines of the Law and the Gospel may not be mixed or confused with each other.] (Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Article V, 23-27) Let us pray: Dear Heavenly Father, your are faithful to your Word. Your Law shows us our sin, calling us to repentance. Your Gospel gives us your Son who kept the Law perfectly and who died for the forgiveness of our sins that we might live eternally. May we by your Spirit never confuse your Law and your Gospel and gladly hear and learn it. Amen. The stage is set. The players are in place. Jesus stands in the temple courts on Tuesday of Holy Week. Last Sunday was Palm Sunday and his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. This Friday is His crucifixion and death. The Messiah has come to Jerusalem. The age-old Battle of the Pharisees and Saducees rages on. The Saducees keep the Law to a tee but deny the resurrection of the dead. The Pharisees have created a scheme of 613 new commandments in addition to the Law and the Prophets. The great rabbi Jesus has arrived. As with any great teacher, the multitudes gather around him, asking him questions, and hanging on his every word. It reminds us of catechism class, when the young catechumens play “stump the pastor.” A lawyer of the Pharisees asks “which is the great commandment?” In other words, which commandments are the most important and which ones can we neglect? Jesus says “Love the Lord your God with your whole being” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The Law must be kept, fully and completely. The first and second tables of the Law are inseparable. You can’t weasel you’re way out, saying this commandment is more important. No exceptions. No leniency. No grace period. No half-baked schemes of new commands like the Pharisees. The lawyer of the Pharisees asked a Law question... and he got a Law answer. “Which commandments must we keep?” Jesus says, “Every last one of them. You can’t believe in God without loving your neighbor. You can’t love your neighbor without faith in God. ” God the creator has set his Law in the hearts of man and he gave them again to Moses on tablets of stone. This is His Word. God’s Word hangs upon the Law and the Prophets. Without the Law, there is no need for the Gospel. He will not abide by you seeking to twist and turn it into something new. He does not abide by those make new commands were there were none. Sin ruined mankind, destroying our lawfulness. The Law remains good and wise, despite our inability to keep it. We struggle. But we must not take away or add to it. No, not a jot or a tittle. It is God’s Word and we must hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it. Law is the command for you to be who God intended you to be. His Law does its work. It commands and in our inability to keep it, it kills. As Paul wrote to the Church in Rome, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:7-8) You try, fail, and so will receive death. The Law must be kept. God is faithful to His Word. Do you wish to put confidence that your works of the Law will get you to heaven (like the Saducees)? Or do you add to it with new legalist requirements (like the Pharisees.) Both are attempts at freedom from the Law and both leave you bondage to your sin. “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy,  drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Romans 5:19-21) You see? There is no way out. No cleverly crafted scheme of new laws can free you from the declaration of guilt the law brings. “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in God’s sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20) You may keep some of the Law but you always fail at some point. Repent. At this point in this sermon we’re back to where past left you last week with his first sermon. You asked “How must we serve?” You heard exactly what you must do. This is the Law. You must, you shall, you will. Do this, do that, do. This is Saul, the king you desire. He is the lawmaker, the enforcer, the judge, and the condemner. You inability to obey Saul leaves you in utter despair and condemned to death for your trespasses. You like the Pharisees ask the wrong questions. “What must I do to be saved? Which laws must I keep?” Instead ask the Gospel questions, “what has God done to save me? How has He fulfilled the Law for me?” This is the question that leads you away from new Laws or trust in your own ability. For the Gospel is not a command, it is a gift! Jesus traps them in their own deadly game, for death comes by King Saul. “How can the son of David also be David’s Lord?” They believe David spoke these words and they were God breathed. Jesus’s question leaves them speechless. Why? Jesus tells them, “You are turning the promise into something it is not. I promised through my servant David a God-Man, a savior not for your earthly kingdom but a savior for your souls and for heaven. I promised not a Law giver but a Law fulfiller.” “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) These Pharisees let the Law replace the Gospel promise. Their theology is all Law. They have their works but no faith. Their unbelief has blinded them from the Gospel. They are unable to see the Gospel incarnate standing before them. But we of faith can see. The Messiah is here. That’s the Good News! The Son of David came, riding on the colt, the foal of a donkey. He has come to his people to redeem them. The Messiah was promised as the Son of David and also David’s Lord. David knew his offspring would be the God-Man Jesus. He said so in the Psalm 110. What beautiful Gospel! Freedom from the slavery of sin; A free gift of God. We cannot boast for this is not our own doing. God sent his Son as promised to free us from the hand of our enemies of sin, death, and Satan. He has come to release you from bondage to spiritual enemies. Do not fear what moth and rust can destroy but fear the one who can snatch away your soul. He comes to deliver us from that which will kill us for eternity. Sin is the real bondage. Satan is the real enemy. Our earthly life has not been promised to be full of wealth, health, or prosperity. Our earthly life is lived as sinners. Under the condemnation of sin we experience poverty, sickness, and ultimately death. Jesus came not to guarantee release from the latest crop disease, cancer, or to extend our life when our organs fail. Jesus came first and foremost to guarantee the promise of heaven. “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.” (Acts 3:19-21) The dangerous game of the Pharisees is one of confusing Law and Gospel. They turned the promise of the Gospel, a Messiah into something different. They wanted an earthly king, freedom from earthly pain and suffering, release from the bondage of earthly rulers. They are confusing Law and Gospel. We must not add to them, mix them, or confuse them. The Law of God is good and wise. It is his Word. Me must not add new Laws where there is none. We must not ignore Laws and give preference to others. The Gospel runs the same risk of being confused. We dare twist God’s promise to mean anything other than the forgiveness of sins and life eternal. We must not turn the gift of Christ into something your must do or accept. The Holy Spirit instills faith in us to believe. This he accomplishes in His Divine Service. Here you were batpized into his death; your sins washed away at the font. Here you confessed of your lawlessness and were absolved by Christ in His servant, your pastor. Here you hear his words of Law in their full sterness and the Gospel in full sweetness. In the Divine Service the Gospel always predominates, whether in liturgy or in hymnody. Here you receive faith by the Holy Spirit. This faith tells us that God sent himself as His Son Jesus to suffer the punishment we deserve for sin. His death is the death we deserve. He kept the Law perfectly for you. Where you fail, there is forgiveness. For the sake of Jesus, your guilty verdict has been forgiven. You are free to enter heaven. Come to His table and receive this forgiveness. Here you receive His body and blood for you. This is the body and blood crucified for your transgression of the Law. It has suffered all so that you may suffer none. God gives you this gift freely. This is the Gospel for you. This is forgiveness. So come, taste and see that the Lord is good. Amen.