The text this morning is from Paul’s letter to the Romans, the 12th chapter:
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
First of all, let me say that none of us are perfect. And of course, you know that. People let you down every day. And, if we’re honest with ourselves, we let others down each day, too. We know that we are not perfect.
Second, your good works avail you nothing. Even if you could work to get closer and closer to complete obedience to what God demands of us in the Law, you would never earn anything towards your own salvation. Never ever ever. There is no amount of obedience that you can have that will ever work towards your salvation. In fact, even your attempts, because you are not perfect, really only would earn you hell.
Third, that’s not the end of the story for you. If one and two were all alone, and they are true, but they’re not alone, the only news I could give you today would be that you are destined to suffer in the fires of hell. But, that’s not all the news I have for you. I have Good News: Jesus Christ the Righteous has died in your place and has earned salvation for you out of His own perfect obedience.
Now, let’s talk about this. You are completely freed by Jesus Christ from the burden of the Law. When He talks about the Law being fulfilled in Him, when Paul talks about the Law being abolished, this is what they are referring to. What does this mean? The burden of the Law is that you must obey it perfectly in order to be merited eternal life. All 10 commandments for sure, not to mention then the other 603 commands of God that have to deal with the civil and ceremonial laws of the Israelite religion and culture. If you do all of them perfectly, you would live and never die.
In the first place, Israel as it was in the Old Testament is dead and gone. The people with whom God made His covenant with are gone, and the kingdom is destroyed, and the Temple has been torn down. This is nothing to mourn, because in Christ, these things are no longer necessary. Jesus Christ is the true Israel, He is the King whose Kingdom will have no end, He is the Temple that we have in the heavens who will descend upon Mount Zion on the Last Day.
So, the Israel of the Old Testament, what happened? You know the familiar refrain from the book of Judges, “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes?” That’s not good news; that’s anarchy. The Israelites never were able to keep all of the commands of God; in fact, they could not even keep one. The Epistle writer, James, says that if you broke even one law you were guilty of breaking them all. On top of that, Jesus, God in human flesh, told us that it isn’t even the outward keeping of the Law that is good, but the inward is involved, too. Sure, you may not have committed murder, but if you hated your brother you’re guilty of that. Adultery is the same when you have lust in your heart. Theft and covetousness would be the same, too, if you see something you want that someone else has.
So, the outward obedience of the Law you’ve broken, you haven’t obeyed your father and mother, you probably found Saint Mattress and Pastor Pillow more convenient than Sunday morning church some times, you’ve lied, and then add the inward disobedience and you’re in a pickle. But, Christ did obey all these things for you. He never lusted. He never coveted. He never disobeyed. He never talked back. He never cursed or swore or did anything that would be sinful. Christ obeyed it all.
Now, Christ being perfect, and Christ being the embodiment of the nation of Israel, this is Good News for you. Since you have been grafted into Christ, since you have been adopted as a child of God through the blood of Christ, you are in His obedience as much as you are in Him. Maybe this is confusing. Let’s try again here: Christ is Israel in the flesh. All that the people of Israel couldn’t do, Christ did for them. As they couldn’t obey, Christ did obey all things. He has won for Himself eternal life by His obedience. Yet, He did not want to keep it for Himself.
That’s why He rebukes Peter in today’s Gospel lesson. Peter would stand in the way of the cross. Think about this: if you are perfect, you will never die. Was Christ perfect? Of course. Then how could He die? If He gave it all to you. Christ didn’t keep His perfect obedience for Himself, but, in His words, “It is finished!,” He deigned to give you the holiness you need for salvation’s sake. With Him giving up all of His righteousness for your sake, He breathed His last. Pleased by His Son’s sacrifice, the Father raised Him from the dead on the third day for your justification, that even though you die, yet shall you live in Christ forever.
So, Christ then has taken care of the obedience to the Law required from you; He has set you free from the burden of the Law. Does this then mean you can go out and do whatever you like? Well, maybe. The question is, what do you want to do? If the answer is to sin, then, no, if you are a Christian, you can’t do that. It’s not that you can’t be forgiven, but why would you desire to go and sin if you are completely free in Christ? You can’t go to the strip club, you can’t go get drunk, you can’t beat your kids, you can’t steal money.
So, what can you do? As a Christian, what do you want to do, what should you want to do? You do that which is good and right and salutary. Redeemed in your Baptism, forgiven through His Absolution, strengthened by the Lord’s Supper, you may go forward and do freely that which would serve your neighbor, never fearing that you aren’t doing enough or doing it perfectly. And the great and fascinating thing is, that the Christian, each and every Christian, does this automatically. When we serve, it is counted to us a righteous, sanctifying, being-made-holy act from Christ. Every good thing you do, it is counted as perfect obedience because of Christ’s merit and His decree that you are righteous. You, belonging to Christ, are able to serve your neighbor, and sometimes even choosing who your neighbor is, without fear of God’s punishment for your sin. That’s so satisfyingly freeing, that you never need to fear God when you are Christ.
For instance, do you want to help the victims of the horrific flooding in Houston? Then go ahead and do that. There are over 160 LCMS congregations in the Houston area; there are your denominational brothers and sisters down there, not to mention the millions of others who have been affected. However, if you would like to help a different group, another neighbor, and not the Texans, you may do that, too. You should still pray for those who suffer, as we do here each week, but what you are required to do is care for your neighbor.
It won’t earn you salvation, it won’t get you closer to heaven, but it is bringing Christ to your neighbor through your capacity to serve. This is what we call vocation. We serve those around us, not for our sake, not so that it will go well for us, though it usually does, but that our neighbor benefits from our service. This is what Paul is talking about in his Epistle today.
Love, abhor evil, hold fast to good, love, honor, be zealous, be fervent, serve, rejoice, be patient, pray constantly, contribute, show hospitality, bless your persecutors, weep with those who weep, live in harmony, be not haughty, go to the lowest, don’t think highly of yourself, be honorable, live peaceably, never avenge yourself, feed your enemy, overcome evil with good. These are all things that are required of you, not for your sake, but for your neighbors’ sake.
When you love what is good and not evil, you are showing your neighbor the truth. When you love with affection, you are filling your neighbor’s emotional cup. When you contribute to the needs of the saints around you, you are helping them to their feet. When you live peaceably with one another, you provide a safe place for others to worship God in spirit and in truth.
You see, even though Paul gives you all of these commands in the Epistle today, they are no more commands for your salvation as the command to go out and eat grass. These commands for you to do today are so that your neighbor might see the love of Christ in you, and through you find the salvation won for them upon the cross.
After all, this is how you entered the Church and the body of Christ, is it not? By someone loving what is good, most of you entered the Kingdom of God as children through the waters of Baptism. By someone showing honor to you, you are prayed for and taken care of in your time of need. By seeking after the lowly, you exalt them to a place of high esteem and help to bring them even more responsibility in the congregation and in the world.
Paul’s words are clear for those of us who are in Christ. These things we will do and we will desire to do them the more that we depend upon Christ. You need not do them for your salvation; Christ has won that and has given it to you as a free gift, even promising that you will rise bodily as He did from His grave so that you may live forever. Through Christ, we can do all these things, not by our own strength, but by the very power of God, the power we receive through His Word and Sacrament. You shall persevere and you shall do all the good works in Christ’s name, for that is what the Christian does, redeemed, saved, and justified, we now work out our salvation with each other in fear and trembling for the great honor it is to serve others in Jesus’ name. You serve, for you are saved in Christ, through His work, His obedience, for your sake. 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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