Saved by Grace. What About the Law?

Transcribed from the sermon preached February 6, 2011

The Reverend Max Lynn, Pastor

Scripture Readings: Isaiah 58:1-12, Matthew 5:13-20

We are told today in Psalm 112 in our Call to worship is that faithfulness to the God of love and justice will result in the power to stand firm and secure in resistance to evil. When we know what is right and do it, regardless of the outside circumstances, our integrity will be our reward. And eventually, integrity of faith will pay off in prosperity and honor. But this is not just a message for individuals, but a people, and there is a sense that honor and prosperity comes to a community through their commitment to justice. We benefit as individuals as we work for the prosperity and justice of our community. By the grace of God, this is the work of a faithful community.

In Postmodern America, conservative and liberal alike perceive faith as an issue of choice for the individual. Salvation or Nirvana is primarily thought of as something we reach on our own, by the path we choose. For some any tradition passed down and accepted threatens our sacred personal choice. Choice has become god.

Ironically, the idea that individuals should have choice in matters of faith and belief comes to us through the Protestant Reformation. With an assumed blind obedience to the Pope and bishops, injustice of the Medieval Catholic Church flourished. Reformers began to reread scripture, and in particular rebellious critiques of the establishment by the likes of Jesus and Isaiah. For these reformers, calling oneself a Christian, holding an ordained position in the Church was not enough.

On the one hand church leaders were free to exploit their unquestioned position. On the other hand, the church had come up with an endless list of sins, rules and expectations, and if one sinned or failed in keeping the rules, one was assured by church leaders of eternal damnation. You were expected to pay penance. Now if you died before you had paid penance for a sin you were in big trouble. But the church came up with a good money making scheme to fund its wars and build cathedrals. They created the idea of purgatory for those who didn’t go straight to heaven or hell. These were folks who still had a chance, but they had to suffer the torture of purgatory to be purified of their sins. Once they suffered enough, they could go on to heaven. But there was an out. A loved one who was still alive could pay for time off in purgatory in the form of service or a financial gift to the church called an indulgence.

Luther and other reformers noted from their reading of scripture that we are saved by the grace of God through Christ, not by our own works. Luther had a nervous breakdown trying to live a sinless life and found he was unable to do so. Yet, as he faced the fact of his inability to perfectly follow the law, he discovered God’s grace. Now since he had discovered this truth by reading scripture and not through the edicts of the Church, he determined that each individual should learn to read scripture and use their own reasoning minds to discern the truth of scripture.

Thus Protestants promoted literacy and individual discernment. Calvin then, taking a logical step, decided that educated and informed individuals should participate in the collective life and faith of the church by electing Deacons and Elders to form a representative Democracy.

Recently I was talking with woman in a mixed faith marriage. She had spoken with a Rabbi who was concerned. In his understanding of the difference between Judaism and Christianity, Jews honor and follow the law, while Christians do not feel the need to follow the law. Now this woman asked me if that was my understanding of the difference between Judaism and Christianity too. I said, well, yes. But I didn’t have the time to elaborate.

Protestants in particular emphasize what I consider a fact: humans are incapable of living perfect life, of following the law perfectly. It doesn’t even matter what law we are talking about; it could be the laws of the Torah, the law of the land, the law of our parents, or some perceived law in our own heads. We fall short; we make mistakes. But the law itself is not perfect. First, any law is culturally and historically influenced, and there are some of the laws of the Torah that simply no longer make sense, and some laws and punishments that are even inappropriate or unjust.

In addition, there could never be enough laws to cover all the ways that people may sin. Take tax law or censoring software on a computer. We all know that just because we may follow the tax law doesn’t mean we aren’t doing our best to be sneaky and pay the least amount possible. And we know that the richer one is, the more likely one is to pay the smart person who is able find loopholes. And this is after the rich influence how tax law is written in the first place.

For a while at church we had a virus on our computer, which sent us an endless stream of email advertisements for penis enlargement. Knowing that I am saved by grace of Jesus Christ and my wife, and not by the law that says you must have a larger penis, I wanted to stop these emails. I started creating laws about what words senders could use when they sent me email. So my protection software asked “don’t permit emails with the word…fill in the blank. I started with the obvious words like pickle and willy but with no luck; I was still receiving the emails. I wound up listing around fifty different words senders might use and there were still other creations that got through. The point is, just because you are not breaking the law doesn’t mean you are acting in a faithful and righteous manner. We can never have enough laws to cover the human ingenuity to sin. And at some point, too many laws become inhibitive to the good of a people and society. There were certainly decent or useful emails, which were blocked by laws. What if God wanted to email me a long lost copy of the Song of Songs?

There are other reasons why the law doesn’t save. Laws are always easier and benefit those who write them, and that goes for the laws of the Torah and the New Testament: slaves obey your master, women obey your men. Sacrificed meat feeds priests who wrote the laws on sacrifice. We know that the handicapped person didn’t write the Levitical laws, because the handicapped are considered unclean.

Now there is still another way the law fails. If we are one of those people who obsess about living up to the letter of the law, then, like those who consciously try to get around it, we will have a tendency to define that law narrowly. We need to fast like this, check; we need to sacrifice like this, check; we need to be circumcised, check. We need to go to church, check. We need to not be gay, check. We need to say that Jesus Christ is our personal Lord and savior, check. I’m saved, to hell with everyone else, check.

An overemphasis on the law makes an idol of the law. Christians, Protestants in particular, believe that since we are incapable of perfection, since in a sinful world we will sin, we are doomed unless we get help from God. God’s love and grace are not something earned. We see through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus that God’s love is unconditional and eternal, it cannot be earned, nor bribed, nor intimidated, nor bought: the price of God’s integrity is too high. Jesus shows this as he is willing to die rather than compromise on God’s love. Jesus is not willing to sacrifice his love and justice, even in the face of death. In this sense Jesus death is a sacrifice – in it we see the truth that God will not sacrifice love. And God’s love cannot be killed – it was in the beginning and will be in the end. It is the Alpha and the Omega. What we need then is faith. The law cannot save.

Now here is the trick: As we see this truth by the light of Jesus, as we experience the unconditional love of God made plain in the life and death of Jesus, and feel his love still alive for us today, we receive the Holy Spirit which empowers our heart and soul to live righteous, just and loving lives…to follow the law…but not just to follow the law, as if that were enough, but to desire the good, wherever and for whomever it might be, whether the law is specifically applicable or not, whether it will be to our immediate worldly advantage or not.

So while we firmly believe that we are saved by God’s grace and not by the law, and we are not dependent on the law but instead free of it, we are also free from the law of sin. Now sin has its own set of laws: though shalt follow your own desire for power and pleasure without regard for the spiritual well being of yourself or the material or spiritual well being of your community. Though shalt give in or kiss up to those more powerful and prestigious than yourself regardless of whether they do good or bad. Thou shalt avoid being associated with lower classes, the sick, old and outcasts who cannot help or might damage your own power or prestige. Thou shalt use religious and community institutions, clubs, government and law to establish oneself in the society and further your own interests. Thou shalt promote groupthink, jingoism, hate and fear to solidify your group, ethnicity, religion, gender, class, against all others. The law of sin is powerful and tempting, for there are clear and immediate benefits. And this is why the law of scripture was created in the first place, to show us how and where to resist the law of sin.

So the law of scripture remains as a guide and marker. So Jesus said, I have come not to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” So as Christians, or perhaps I should say progressive Christians, we do not idolize the law and treat it as petrified truth that neither adapts nor lives. Still, we do not change our interpretation of the law or toss out scripture on a whim, simply because it feels right, as we know our feelings go this way and that like the wind. Nor do we disregard the law on reason alone, as if our reason is so divine it cannot be manipulated by culture, science or the mind to narrow our vision or promote sinful self interest, division and war. Instead, we hold our 3,000-year-old scripture as sacred, and its law as a guide, and we thank our older spiritual sibling Judaism for bringing it into to the world. Then we thank Christ for adopting us into God’s family. And then, using feelings, sound educated reason, the wisdom of the Spirit of goodness, and the love visible in the life of Christ, in a community of believers for checks and balance, we work to loose the bonds of injustice, to assure that all are clothed, fed and have a safe and peaceful home.

Isaiah the prophet says that such faith and effort is the root of revival. This is an old testament, but the prophet’s truth has not passed away. What a vision! We are not isolated individuals here for a short time to avoid pain and seek pleasure, not hopeless lost souls pretending just to get along, not lemmings following the crowd of fashion and power, not saved individuals who point fingers and run for cover even as the world burns, but children of God, saved by grace, empowered by the holy Spirit to be salt and light, a city on a hill.

The Spirit moves the vision, the Spirit fulfills the law. It is our openness to the Spirit, our Spirit orientation that leads the way and brings up the rear guard. So even as we are less than perfect and less than all knowing, unsure of how we accomplish and fulfill the justice and peace of God in a violent and sinful world, by the grace of Christ we are no longer fearful, but instead delight to draw near to God. It is this delight, this drawing near to God by which we then reflect God’s light. Personally, there is a part of me that fears taking to big a bite of life. In humility I want to keep it small, claim my small personal salvation, do my little thing in a little church, maintain the little family, the little car and the big dog. What can I do? What can I expect from this little light of mine? Just a little shine would be fine.

But Isaiah and Jesus call us to aim big, to draw near to the big God, to risk embracing the world with powerful, divine love and work for eternal goals that may not be fully accomplished in our lifetime, and trust that God will make our light shine forth like the dawn, and our healing spring up quickly. Then we will call and the Lord will answer; we will cry for help and God will say, “Here I am.”