6th Sunday After Epiphany (Year A) RCL

6th Sunday After Epiphany (Year A) RCL, 2023

St. Matthew’s Lutheran, Cornwall

Matthew 5:17-37, Sirach 15:15-20

Catechetical Sermon on 2nd Table:

Which Way, Western Man?

You are not to kill. [10] What is this? Answer:

We are to fear and love God, so that we neither endanger nor harm the lives of our neighbors, but instead help and support them in all of life’s needs.

You are not to commit adultery. [12] What is this? Answer:

We are to fear and love God, so that we lead pure and decent lives in word and deed, and each of us loves and honors his or her spouse

You are not to steal.

[14] What is this? Answer:

We are to fear and love God, so that we neither take our neighbors’ money or property nor acquire them by using shoddy merchandise or crooked deals, but instead help them to improve and protect their property and income.

You are not to bear false witness against your neighbor.

[16] What is this? Answer:

We are to fear and love God, so that we do not tell lies about our neighbors, betray or slander them, or destroy their reputations. Instead we are to come to their defense, speak well of them, and interpret everything they do in the best possible light.

What then does God say about all these commandments? Answer:

God says the following: “I, the Lordyour God, am a jealous God. Against those who hate me I visit the sin of the fathers on the children up to the third and fourth generation. But I do good to those who love me and keep my commandments to the thousandth generation.”

[22] What is this? Answer:

God threatens to punish all who break these commandments. Therefore we are to fear his wrath and not disobey these commandments. However, God promises grace and every good thing to all those who keep these commandments. Therefore we also are to love and trust him and gladly act according to his commands.

As we continue our walk toward Ash Wednesday and through Lent by way of climbing up through Jesus’ sermon on the mount, - we find ourselves back again in the 2nd table of the Law. The Law – the commandments. Ethics and morality. Fun stuff? Not really. And today, it’s especially not fun, because not only are we reminded in both our OT passages AND in Jesus’ own words, that the wages of sin (that is, the result of breaking any of these commands) IS DEATH, but we hear also from the mouth of Our Lord that actually this law is even harder to obey than meets the eye. Because it doesn’t just demand an external obedience in the flesh, but an innocence that goes deeper, all the way down and into the heart and the soul of the individual. You’ve never cheated on your spouse? Not good enough, Jesus says. If you’ve looked at a woman with lust, (and you have), and women, for you it’s men, (and you have) then you are guilty of breaking this law. Never killed another person? Not good enough, Jesus says. If you’ve ever even BEEN ANGRY with someone. You’re guilty of murdering them in your heart. The hand might know the difference between anger and murder... but the heart does not, and neither does the Godwho judges us in our inward parts. Guilty, guilty, guilty, all of you. And especially me too. And so the point of it all? It’s not to drive you further into worrying about how to keep this in the heart as well as the hands. That’s a lost cause. It’s impossible. You wont do it. So let’s begin by establishing that fact first. What Jesus is saying here is not that you need to try harder its that no matter how hard you try your attempts simply will not be good enough. You cannot escape the law. You ARE a sinner, and you will be one until you die.

This law, these laws they don’t serve as an instruction manual for you to actually do, they’re utterly un-doable. These commandments don't enable you to do anything. And they certainly don't encourage you to do these things. They accuse you of not doing them, and they kill you for not doing them. The law is not meant to make you holy. Its meant to condemn you for not being holy, and drive you to the one who will by grace make you holy. The law shows you what to do, this is correct, but in doing so it also alerts you to what you have FAILED by the weakness of your sinful flesh TO DO. It has opened your eyes to how badly you need your Christ. That, is what the law was given to do. It isn’t to make you holier. It isn’t to help you become less sinful. It’s to accuse you, to threaten you, and to punish you. And if all of that makes you feel BAD, then GOOD. Then it’s done its job. It doesn't WANT you to look at it as the way of salvation. It isn’t one. It’s the thing that shows you where salvation is not, and can never be – namely, yourself, your works, your feelings, your emotions, your actions, and anything that you do, say, or ARE.

And so really, the proper purpose of the Law is to drive you somewhere other than yourself. To drive you, and your faith, trust, and hope, outside of yourself, and towards Christ! To His cross, and to His crucifixion for you, where you have the forgiveness of your sins, and the free gift of the very righteousness of God. And what you see there, is the final, and the definitive answer to the Law. Where every accusation against you. Every condemnation against you, is thrown upon Christ, and He bears it to the cross, and He dies for it, and these sins and their accusations under the law are put to death along with His flesh. The Law; satisfied. Your sins; crucified and buried, with God, who for you had died. That is where the Law leads. It leads to death. For the Law, as Paul says in Galatians, is the ministry of death, given to kill. And kill it did. And it did it by a cross.

For the law – kills. And this is the meaning of Christ’s words abouthands being cut off and eyes beingplucked out, isn’t it? If your eye causes you to sin (it will) then cut it off, (why? Because it needs to die). If your hand, cut it off, your feet, your tongue, your nose, cut it off, cut it out, and toss it away, lest your whole self be thrown into the fires of the hell. Here Jesus is trying to show us by the INSATIABILITYof the Law’s inquiries into our souls that no amount of cutting off will do us any good until we get tothe real problem, which is our heart, and cut that thing out too. The only problem is, that unlike with a hand, an eye, a leg, or a tongue, if I take your heart out of you, you die. And that’s where all of this is heading. Although you DO sins with your hands, sin starts in your heart. And ultimately, while your hand, your eye, or your tongue might have done the sin, it wasn’t your hand that CAUSED YOU to sin. It was your heart. So what needs to be cut off? What needs to be cut out?What needs to be put to death? What needs to be thrown into the fire? Your heart. And your whole self along with it. Your money’s not the problem. Your TV’s are not the problem. Your idols are not the problem. YOU (the one who has made them your idols), you are the problem. YOUneed to die.

But the good news, is that, though you need to die, die, you did. With Christ, in Baptism, albeit, but die you did nevertheless. And not only did you die, but you ROSEalso. For as God proclaims to us through Paul in Romans 6; Doyou not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. And so having died, (and risen) in Baptism, you have thus DIED TO THE LAW, THROUGH THE BODY OF CHRIST, as Paul says just one chapter later. And having died to the Law, you are no longer BOUND to the law. For the law remains upon a person only so long as they live. But you, YOU HAVE DIED. now we are FREE from the law, dead to that which held us captive.

These are powerful concepts but Paul isn’t quite done yet. Because you didn’t merely die – but you also ROSE to new life. And that new life is one not lived in the law or under the law, BUT BY THE SPIRIT, in love, WITH CHRIST. And so He says, Whatthen shall we say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? And moreover, if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For whoever has died is freed from sin, and so, we consider ourselves dead to sin, and alive with God,that is, to LIVE – in righteousness, and love, and mercy and grace FOREVERMORE. To put away the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light; 13 let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. For your flesh has been put to death through the body of Christ in Baptism, and you now have risen to new life in the Spirit. Dead to sin, and alive, in righteousness.

And so we follow in our Christian life, and in this Word that God has for us today, along this line, and this path - The Law is given, and it stirs up the sin within us, which transgresses against the law, it breaks the law, it sins against the law. And we find ourselves not only being accused by the law but actually condemned by the law because of our sins. And this opens our eyes, to the fact that we cannot save ourselves, that we need a Savior, and then – by the grace of God the Gospel of Christ is preached, and we hear that in CHRIST we actually HAVE this Savior, who is exactly what we need, and infinitely more than we could ever want. And He not only forgives us, and saves us from the PENALTY of sin, but from sin itself. And He makes us free, free from sin itself, free to live lives of love, and peace. And He fills us with Himself, and with all goodness and all good things. He restores us, and He recreates us into His image.

Law – sin – forgiveness – and restoration.

And this is the meaning of what we confess of Baptism, isn’t it? Think SC: what does such baptizingwith water indicate? It indicates that The old Adam in us (the sin in us) the “self” in us, is drowned there and dies under the law with all sin and evil desires, and the NEW MAN (that is Christ) rises withinus to live before Godin all righteousness, holiness, and blessedness FOREVER.And that is the whole meaning of this. The law condemned you. It killed you. You died, and were dead IN SIN, but then in Christ God raised you from the dead, to LIVE – in righteousness

And now? And now you are free. Now you’re no longer under the law. Now your sins cannot kill you, because where the law is not, sin is not. And so? Look again at the text before you now? What doyou see NOW? Perhaps before you only saw condemnation. Perhaps you only saw an impossible and un-doable standard. Perhaps you only saw that not externally murdering people was not enough, but that you couldn't even be angry. That your bodily desires are worthy of death and Hell, that even the silly oaths you swore as a child are sins too. But now knowing that you’ve died to the law. Now that the Law can no longer condemn you, now what do you see?

Let me tell you what you SHOULD see. Where there was (and is) anger, you shouldsee a new way. A way of Reconciliation, peacemaking, forgiveness,mercy, andcompassion. Where there was (and still is)unfaithfulness, greed, lust, disunity, fornication, divorce, and brokenness, you should see a new way. A way offaithfulness, love, family, commitment, and unity even through times of marital strife. Where there was (and still is)dishonesty, lies, deception, flattery, and endless oaths, you should seea new way. A way of honesty, truthfulness, and dependability.

Here wesee love. Wesee a new way, a better way, a pure way. We see THE way. Truly in these things we see Christ. We see His Kingdom. We see His love. Here we see LIFE.

So, my friends, put before you today are two ways. What was (and still is) in us, and around us in the world, and the new way of Christ our King, and His heavenly kingdom. We see flesh, and we see spirit. We see death, and we see resurrection. We see law, and we see Gospel. We see retribution, and we see restoration. We see slavery and we see liberation. We see two paths. Which are we walking? Which are we doing? Which are we embodying? As a church and as individuals?

In regard to anger, and hostility, and violence, and quarrelling, are we walking in the way of violence and hatred and death? Or are we on the side of life, and peace, and forgiveness? In regard to marriage, are we going the direction of disunity, and lust, and greed, and sin, and promiscuity, and objectivisation, and exploitation? Or are we going in the direction of love, and faithfulness, and family? Are we walking the way of lies, and falsehoods? Or are we a people of the truth? Which way, my friends? Which way are we to walk in this world?

You are free, you are forgiven. You are saved. That is secure. You don’t have to do anything TO BE saved, you already are saved. And now, you can do whatever you want to do. But now I ask you this; now that you CAN do whatever you want to do, without it effecting God’s promise of salvation for you, what is it (I ask you), thatyou WANT to do? To LIVE a life of love, and peace, unity, faithfulness, and truthfulness? Or do you want to indulge deeply into the things of death? The things which lead to death, and the things that come from death? Sin itself does not “un-save” you, that’s true. And thank God that’s true. Because we sin everyday.But never forget that your salvation is a salvation from sin. Not for sin. We are not forgiven of our sins, in order to do more sins. But rather, that love might be born in us, to overcome our sins. And give birth to the righteousness of the one who knew no sin. For everyone who commits sin, Jesus says in John 8, is a slave to sin. BUTthose who have been set free, have been made free indeed. And as St. Paul teaches us in his letter to the Galatians; For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. Let me say this in another, more crude way to help you grasp this; you were dead in trespasses and sins. Trespasses and sins ARE THE DEATH you were in. Being in them is death. They cause death, they lead to death, and they come from death. But Christ Jesus has risen from the grave and raised you with Him into new life – that is an objective unchangeable promise. But now being resurrected, you may if you so choose go and kill yourself with sins. You, if you so choose, may take up all of the sins your hands can find to do. You may. That is your choice. But those sins are the way of death. And your resurrection is one that is into life. And so the question that our Scriptures askyou this day is this; which of these two ways, now that you have been risen in Christ, DO YOU WANT TO GO? The way of life? Or the way of death? Do you want to finally LIVE? Or would you rather go back to being dead in your trespasses and sins? if you live according to the flesh, Paul says, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live

Let me say this to you as it’s said to us in our alternative O.T. reading for today from Sirach chapter 15:

If you choose to, you can keep the commandments

and to keep the faith is a matter of choice.

16 He has placed before you fire and water;

stretch out your hand for whichever you choose.

17 Before each person are life and death,

and whichever one chooses will be given.

18 For great is the wisdom of the Lord;

he is mighty in power and sees everything;

19 his eyes are on those who fear him,

and he knows every human action.

20 He has not commanded anyone to be wicked,

and he has not given anyone permission to sin

Life and prosperity, or death and disaster. What do we want our lives to be patterned by? What mark do we want to leave on this world around us?

Brothers and sisters you know the way. You have seen the way, the way is that of love, of light, and of life, that way is Jesus Christ.

Let’s walk in this way, as forgiven sinners. Let us walk in Christ, as He is in us

in the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, I forgive you all of your sins. So let us now put away our sins. By the grace of God we pray. Amen.