Sermon August 29

May the words my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you O Lord, our strength, and our redeemer. Amen

I know this is not Reformation Sunday, but in order to get at what is being taught in these verses we read today I think we must take a short look at salvation and what God has done for us. Martin Luther began a movement beginning in 1517 that rocked the foundations of Christians in western Europe.

Luther came to the conclusion that the “righteousness of God” is revealed from faith, to faith as it is written in Habakkuk 2:4. From Romans 1:17, Paul refers to this verse, “For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from the first to the last, just as it is written, ‘The righteous will live by faith’”.

This “righteousness of God” was not God’s active, harsh punishing wrath demanding that a person keep God’s law perfectly in order to be saved, but rather that God’s righteousness is something God gives to a person as a gift, freely, through Christ.

Luther explained justification like this in his writings (the Smalcald Articles). Jesus Christ died for our sins and was raised again for our justification (Rom. 3). He alone is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1), and God has laid on Him the iniquity (wickedness or sin) of us all (Isaiah 53). All have sinned and are justified freely, without their own works and merits, by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, in His blood (Rom. 3).

This we believe. This cannot be otherwise acquired by any law, work, or merit. Therefore, it is clear and certain that this faith alone justifies us!

But then we have our readings today. The writer of Deuteronomy tells us that we must observe all the commandments of God diligently.
James, the half-brother of Jesus tells us to be doers of the word, and not merely hearers only. In fact, those who hear the word and do not act deceive themselves.

There’s a story told about a man in Nashville who bought a new 1918 Dodge Touring car. The two brothers, sons of the car’s owner got into an argument over who would get to drive the car into town on Saturday night. Their father simply drove the car into the garage and shut the door. The car remained there for almost 40 years until it was found covered with dust and chicken manure with less than 2000 miles on the odometer.

As parents, we probably all done the same. “Okay, neither of you two will have it!” and the two children went on to argue about something else, and then something else, and so on. The car wasn’t the problem. The problem was the jealousy that lived in the family and in the brother’s hearts. They didn’t need rules and judgement—they need reconciliation. They needed compromise and understanding—between themselves.

We need the same. Our problems lie within our hearts. Healing starts there. Jesus is telling us it’s not about the rules—it’s about relationships. The relationship between us and God and between us and others.

The Jews had more rules about food and the eating of it than they did anything else. They were amazed that the disciples were eating without first washing their hands. Therefore, they didn’t live according to the rules and traditions of the elders. Jesus quoted Isaiah, “This people honors me with their lips,   but their hearts are far from me.” They say they love me, but their hearts are not in it. There is nothing that comes into a person from the outside that makes a person bad. But it is the things that come out is what defiles, or corrupts, the person. It is from within, from the heart that evil intentions come.

The law tells me I am human. The law tells me you are human. The law tells me we all have hearts and souls that belong to God. Jesus reminds us to remember our dealings with each other and that we share in a common brokenness. Jesus reminds us we cross over those rules in the name of love.

No rules or regulations or guidelines can change our hearts. Only God can do that. Only the Spirit can move us in that way. Only the Cross of Christ; only the broken body and spilt blood of Jesus can break our hearts enough that we will let the love of God flow in to change and reshape us.

God loves us so much he gave his only son to die for us. So the question becomes how do we respond to his call? How do we live with each other? What is in our hearts?

And God calls us—calls us to do his work. It is our hands that get his mission accomplished. We have that duty and responsibility. He calls each of us with the various talents we all have. So, we go about doing those things joyfully, cheerfully knowing that it is for God’s glory we do. We belong to God. We obey him as best we can and beg forgiveness when we can’t. All glory be to God!

Amen.