Archive for August, 2006

Law and Gospel distinctions are not simply to be used to correct false doctrine. They also are a tremendous comfort to the Christian. The three readings assigned for the 12th Sunday after Pentecost are 1 Kings 19:4-8 (Elijah under a broom tree); Ephesians 4:30-5:2 (Grieving the Holy Spirit) and John 6:41-51 (Jesus as the Bread of life). Ephesians 4:31 is the text to discuss as it reads, “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.”

It’s fairly obvious what this passage is saying, isn’t it? The Holy Spirit is grieved by bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking and malice. Therefore, stop doing it! The Living Bible translates this as “Stop being mean, bad-tempered and angry.”

However, is such a statement Law or Gospel? We would all agree that it is Law. But if there is one thing that the Bible is very clear about, no man is able to perform the Law of God properly. That is, if this verse is saying that it is up to you to stop from doing these things or else you will always be grieving the Holy Spirit; guess what? You will never be comforted because you will always feel that you are grieving the Holy Spirit.

The problem is because most English translations do not make clear the text in the Greek. The King James has it fairly close by saying “be put away from you.” Do you sense the passive nature of that verb which is to say that this is something not that you do but is done to you. The best translation we found is from the International English version which reads, “May all bitterness…every kind of evil be taken away from you.”

Note clearly the difference between the vast majority of translations which put the burden on you to be rid of what grieves the Holy Spirit and a couple of translations which clarify that what needs to happen is something from outside of you to take away that which grieves the Holy Spirit. Under the Law you are responsible for no longer grieving the Holy Spirit; under the Gospel it is God Who takes care of the problem.

And how does God take away that which grieves the Holy Spirit? Not by getting rid of the sin in the sense that you stop from doing it but rather by forgiving it in the blood of Christ. Note how do you “let” these things be taken away? Through repentance you grieve over these sins realizing that there is nothing you can do to make up to God for your grievous sins. That delights the Holy Spirit who then delivers to you the Word of Absolution and Who also can effect change in the area of sanctification that moves you to desire to do God’s Will.

It’s a huge difference as to whether the burden is on you and you get the merit or whether the burden is on Jesus Who gets the credit. It’s the difference between actively working out your own salvation or passively receiving the work of God Who works out your salvation by grace through faith on account of Jesus Christ.

It is difficult to make a choice as to what to preach about when you have three such interesting passages assigned for thie 11th Sunday after Pentecost. They are Exodus 16:2-15 (Manna); Ephesians 4:17-24 (Don’t be like the Gentiles) and John 6:24-35 (Jesus as the Bread of Life). Chosen for this Sunday to analyze from an L&G perspective is John 6:29 as the disciples ask Jesus, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”

There are a multitude of self-help spiritual books out there attempting to answer the disciples’ question from Purpose Drivel (no error in spelling) churches and lives to decision theology to positive thinking and the list is endless. We can understand why Christians would want to pursue such works because we assume that they are pleasing to God and who doesn’t want to be pleasing to God?

However, upon closer reflection of the text, though many today attempt to answer the question of the disciples, Jesus did not. That’s right. Why? Because the Almighty God is not in the habit of answering the questions of theologians of glory who think that they can actually do the works of God. Only God can do the works of God. So Jesus answers not their question but instead reveals what is the work of God; namely, that “you believe in Him whom He sent.”

The disciples still don’t get it. They think that Jesus is telling them what they are to do in order to do the work of God. That is obvious in their response asking Jesus for some sign so that they can make a decision to believe in Him. You see, like many evangelicals of today, they think they have a free will to choose higher things above the earth. But that is impossible as Jesus tells the disciples in Mark 10 that for man “it is impossible.”

But what is impossible for man is quite possible for God without any help, thank-you, from sinful man. The greatest work man does is not a work that man can do by his own power or decision of the will. Man does not choose to believe in Jesus. As Jesus said, “You did not choose me; I chose you!” (John 15:16)

In fact, there is not sufficient evidence to show an unbeliever that would ever persuade him to believe in Jesus Christ. The only means by which a person is brought to faith is by the Holy Spirit through use of the Word of God as Romans 10 makes clear. “Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.”

Faith is not our choice but a gift from God. Faith is as impossible to choose as it is for a person to do his own heart transplant. As David reminds us in Psalm 51, we are to thank God for creating within us a new heart and a right spirit. The natural man simply can neither comprehend nor accept Jesus Christ for that is foolishness to him. (1 Corinthians 2:14)

Those who live under the Law imagine that they can make decisions and do works that are in reality only the works of God. Even after being saved, it is dangerous for a Christian to take credit for his works. If he does they are only good works in the sense of outward obedience to the commandments which even an atheist can do. The truly good work God acknowledges is referred to in the Bible as a “fruit of the Holy Spirit” which means that the Holy Spirit gets the credit for such a work, not us.

Once more we find a Bible passage that is clearly misunderstood by every other religion in the world and by even some Christians. The only way to keep the Scripture straight is to make the proper distinctions between Law and Gospel. You will have no problem doing that in heaven when asked who gets all the credit for your salvation. It’s just that here on earth, our old Adam keeps wanting to do works to please God so He will love us and save us. How sad that such individuals are not aware that God already is pleased with you in Christ and salvation is free without merit or worthiness on our part.

Among the three assigned readings for this day is most certainly one of the most important portions of the Old Testament. The readings are Exodus 24:3-11 (the old covenant); Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-16 (one body, one Spirit) and John 6:1-15 (Feeding of the 5,000). From Exodus 24 the text we examine from a L&G viewpoint is verse 7b, “And they said, ‘All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.’”

At first reading how can this statement of the people be criticized in that what the Lord has commanded they will do and be obedient? However, it can be compared to parents leaving their teenage children in charge of the house. The teenagers agree that they will take good care of the house and not do anything foolish. As soon as the parent’s car is out of sight, the phone calls go out to all other teenagers that they have a house for a whole weekend in which to party. Recall that soon after making this covenant with God, the people of Israel created a golden calf to worship.

You see, rather than demonstrate proper faith on the part of Israel, their response of being obedient shows instead their hubris and pride. For there is none who does good and does not sin. All have fallen short of the glory of God. Verse after verse shows the foolishness of every man-made created religion which imagines that a human being can earn salvation from God by obedience to His commands.

What Exodus 24 should be compared to is I Corinthians 11 which speaks of the new covenant instituted by Jesus at His last Supper. In both chapters blood is shed but only in I Corinthians 11 is God alone the One Who keeps the covenant. The difference between the Old Covenant of Exodus 24 and the New Covenant of I Cor. 11 is that the Old Covenant necessitated that man keep his side of the agreement whereas in the New Covenant, God alone makes and keeps the promises.

In fact, the New Covenant did not begin in the New Testament times. It first was heard of in Genesis 3 when God told the devil in the form of a serpent that the Messiah would come through the seed of Eve which would crush the head of the devil. The New Covenant was heard throughout the Old Testament times when God spoke to Abraham about the promised Nation which is the holy, Christian Church.

In fact, both covenants are found side by side throughout the Old Testament books. It is of some interest to note that the Bible never uses the phrases “Old Testament” or “New Testament” to refer to the 39 and 27 books respectively. Rather, the phrases refer to the two different covenants. Read the book of Hebrews which reveals that the covenant agreed to by man in Exodus 24 failed because it was based on the blood of animals rather than the blood of Christ. The Old Covenant was also based on the promises of sinful human beings who could not keep their side of the bargain.

The Old Covenant was a covenant of Law in the sense that obedience on the part of sinful human beings was necessary for the covenant to be fulfilled. The New Covenant or Testament is the only covenant of the Gospel because God alone makes, keeps and fulfills the promises of saving us in the work and sufferings of Jesus Christ. His resurrection from the dead is proof positive that the New Covenant replaces that old covenant which saved no one.

In fact, every Old Testament person who was saved was never saved on the basis of Exodus 24 but on the basis of believing the promises of the New Testament as found in Genesis 3, Genesis 12, Psalm 22, Psalm 23, Isaiah 53 and the list goes on and on and on. We today are saved the very same way in which Abraham was saved: “He believed and it was accounted to him as righteousness.”

For the 9th Sunday after Pentecost the three assigned readings are Jeremiah 23:1-6 (False shepherds); Ephesians 2:13-22 (No longer strangers) and Mark 6:30-34 (Compassion on the multitudes). The verse chosen to examine from a Law and Gospel perspecctive is Ephesians 2:15a which reads, “having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances.”

The false teaching that might be concluded from this passage is known as the rejection of the third use of the Law. The three uses which God makes of the Law are 1) Curb evil through the government; 2) Accuse of sin through the Church and 3) Provide a guide or rule when Christians ask what is the will of God for their lives.

There are those who deny the 3rd use of the Law preferring to rely on the “spirit within them” to make moral decisions. It is that kind of heresy which leads to the condoning of abortion, homosexuality, etc. It is NOT that the 3rd use motivates us to act properly; it’s only function is to inform the igorant of what is the will of God since a newly created Christian still needs instruction in God’s will.

But if Jesus has not abolished the commandments that result in sin and the divide between man and God, what has He abolished? Note that the text does not read that Jesus abolished the commandments but the LAW of commandments. That LAW refers to the curse of the Law which states that “In the day that you sin, you die!” Death is the natural consequence of sin which no man can overcome.

However, one Man did overcome that curse for you by dying on the cross and being raised from the dead. That Man was Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Trinity who took upon Himself flesh to pay the punishment of our sins. Jesus did not really take away the sins of Christians in the sense that we no longer sin. Rather, He took away the curse associated with that sin which was the middle wall of division between us and God. (verse 14)

This is a great comfort to Christians who are quite aware that they remain poor, miserable sinners deserving nothing but temporal and eternal punishment. Unable to follow Jesus as their Example, they look to Him as their Savior Who did for them what they were unable to do for themselves. He took away the curse of sin.

It is why the first word Jesus said to the disciples cowering in the upper room was the same spoken by the angels to the shepherds. “Peace” That peace broke down the middle wall of divisions between us and God not because we have changed from bad to good but because Jesus did for us what was impossible for us to achieve.

And to those who imagine that such a message leads people to not care about sin, the Bible makes clear that the more we realize how much Jesus did for us, we spontaneously respond with love towards Him and our neighbor. Such a response is referred to as the fruit of the Holy Spirit referred to in verse 22 which reminds us that “you also are being built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.”

On the 8th Sunday after Pentecost the three readings assigned are Amos 7:10-15 (Amaziah vs. Amos); Ephesians 1:3-14 (Predestination)and Mark 6:7-13 (Mission instructions). The text chosen is Amos 7:11 “Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall be led away captive from their own land.”

The difficulty with this text is not interpretation but application. The interpretation agreed upon by all is that the false priest Amaziah is telling the foreigner Amos to return to Judah and stop pestering Israel with his dire predictions of doom from God Himself. As far as can be ascertained, there is little disagreement with this interpretation.

However, how to apply this passage to a 21st century congregation becomes a problem. The normal theology of glory way of doing it is to warn the people in the pew that unless they change their ways, they also will suffer the fate of Israel in being taken into captivity by the Assyrians. Thus, the sermon would liken the congregation to the Israelites.

The problem with that is the Israelites were not being threatened by God because of their disobedience but because of their unbelief! From the point of view of the Law even Christians are poor, miserable sinners deserving nothing but temporal and eternal punishment. However, assuming the people in the pew to be Christians, they are living under grace and therefore have nothing to fear from God.

The sermon therefore would point out how we also were once alienated from God through our sin and the curse of the Law but that Jesus having died and taken upon Himself the curse we deserved, has spared us from the wrath of God. It is true that any believer could fall from faith into unbelief but the emphasis on this sermon would be the forgiveness of sins and the robe of righteousness won for us by the work and sacrifice of our only LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ.