Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our readings for today are from the books of Exodus, James, and Luke:
And God spoke all these words, saying,
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
“You shall not murder.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.”
Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” 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.” The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
"My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?
If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment."
"And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
My dear friends in Christ,
Now, you’re hearing a lot of Law in our readings today, aren’t you? You should do this, you should do that. You should be good, you should not be bad. You should love your neighbor, you shouldn’t gossip, slander, lie about them.
Good. Go and do that. Jesus says to. You want to disobey God Himself? You need to go out and obey the Law. You need to keep every word that Jesus says you should. You should be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. Jesus is your standard, He is your example. How are you doing with that?
I’ve been your pastor here for four weeks. Know what I’ve seen? Sin. Sin everywhere. Gossip. Spreading rumors, true or not. Anger. Frustration. Hurting other people physically. Hurting other people emotionally. Taking delight in making people upset. I’ve seen that here. And we’re all guilty. You. Your teachers. Even me.
And that’s because we are sinful, my friends. We are sinful and unclean. We don’t listen to Jesus like we should, and look! It causes us all manner of issues.
But Jesus says that we should listen to Him. Jesus says that if you break even one little law, you are guilty of breaking every law. How does that make you feel? When you break the law, what’s that called? Sin. And what does sin bring? Death. Death. You’re a sinner; guess what happens.
Does this make you uncomfortable? Good, I hope so. Because we need to obey all of the word of God. I know you’re going to mess up now and again. I know that. I do that. Everyone does. No one but Jesus is perfect. But should you try? You bet.
And when you fail, and you’re going to fail, I’m sorry about that, you need to confess your sin. You need to repent of it. That means to be sorry for your sin and really not want to do it again. You have to repent. And you know what, because of Jesus’ love for you, because He died on the cross for you, He’s going to forgive you. And so will I.
See, here’s the thing: Jesus died for you. He took your place on the cross. You’re a sinner, and I’m a sinner, and we all deserve to be on the cross. Jesus didn’t. He was perfect. He never broke God’s Law. But, He died on the cross as if He broke the Laws that you break. He died for your sin so that you would be forgiven.
And even more than that, He was raised from the dead, He was brought back to life, coming out of His grave, so that you can know that because your sins are forgiven, you have the promise of eternal life. That means even longer than forever will you live with Jesus.
And because of that, we want to live differently. We SHOULD want to live differently. Because of Jesus’ forgiveness, because we’re going to have everlasting life, shouldn’t we want to live like that now? Of course. So, do good. Be good. Be better. And when you sin, when you mess up, when you let a stray word slip from your lips, when you feel anger in your heart, when you just don’t want to listen, repent of your sin, be forgiven, and go back and do it again.
The good news is that Jesus is always there to hear your confession, and Jesus will always be there to forgive you. And He sent me to forgive you. So, my friends, I forgive all of your sins. You are forgiven. Be good and be better, and know that the forgiveness of Christ, and the promise of living forever with Him is yours. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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