Paul's Allegory of Law and Gospel, Sermon, Lent 4, 2010

INJ

Galatians 4:21-31
'Two Religions' or 'Paul's Allegory of Law and Gospel'
Morning Service
Laetare, The 4th Sunday in Lent | March 14th, 2010

Dear Saints,

We might think that St Paul is writing to someone else. When he begins the passage that we heard in the epistle reading from Galatians 4 with this question:
Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? (Galatians 4:21)

“What? 'You who desire to be under the law?' That's not me! In fact, I've got no idea who, in their right mind, would want to under the law. We live under the Gospel, under mercy, under the Lord's love.”

But just as Paul was an incredible student of our Lord Jesus, Paul was also a student of mankind, and he knows something about you and me that we are tempted to forget, and it is this: we are drawn toward the religion of the law. Like gravity is constantly pulling us to the earth, our flesh is constantly pulling us, pulling you, toward the religion of the law. So St. Paul gives us a reminder of what the religion of the law is and does.

But first the context. The church in Galatia was being troubled by the Judiazers. These were the supposed Jewish converts from Jerusalem who followed Paul just about everywhere he went undoing what he had done. Paul would go into a city and preach the Gospel, the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. Paul would overthrow every thought of works-righteousness, of self-made holiness. “Forgiveness of sins is found in Jesus name.” Paul was a preacher of grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone for man's salvation. And by this preaching Paul would found a church, train a pastor (or leave one of his companions to serve the church and train pastors), and then Paul was off to the next town.

And it seems that as soon as Paul would leave the Judiazers would show up. The presented themselves as “professionals” from Jerusalem, experts in the Law, children of Abraham, and they took upon themselves the task of “completing” Paul's teaching, filling in the things Paul forgot to mention.

And what were those things that Paul forgot to tell them about? Oh, things like, “You have to be circumcised; You can't eat pork and you have to observe the kosher laws; keep the Saturday Sabbath and the Jewish feasts.” For the Judiazers, the Gospel might make you a Christian, it might get you started, but it was by the law that we are made perfect.

Now you might not believe this, but the Christians in Galatia started to believe this. Maybe they thought that this is the completion of Paul's teaching. But they were wrong; this false doctrine completely over throws the Gospel, it undoes the grace and mercy of God. These two religions, the religion of the law and the religion of the Gospel are incompatible.

So Paul writes his epistle to the saints in Galatia. (Almost all of Paul's letters have similar motivation: he's left a congregation that he planted or visited and then got word of a false teaching or practice that was tempting them, and writes a letter to correct the false doctrine.) He is writing to the Galatians, and in the passage that we heard this morning he is telling them a story, painting them a picture, of two religions.

There are, remember, only two religions in the world, the religion of the Gospel (that the Lord forgives us through the sacrificial death of Jesus) and the religion of the law (that we by thought, word or deed become holy). And, Paul says, these two religions are in conflict with one another, they are opposed to each other, and they have totally different results.

So Paul tells this story of two religions, and he's going to use an allegory, that is, a picture. In his allegory there are two mothers, two sons, two covenants, two mountains, two Jerusalems, and two results: freedom or slavery. (The text is on the back of your bulletin...)

22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman.

Hagar was the slave-woman, Sarah's servant, and she bore Ishmael. Sarah, Abraham's wife, is the free woman, and she bore Isaac.

23But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.

Now Paul reminds us of the circumstances of these two boy's birth. When Abraham and Sarah could not conceive they plotted together, and Abraham went in to Hagar and they had a boy. This is the son born according to the flesh, according to man's plans and workings. Isaac, on the other hand, is called the child of the promise. Remember how the Lord came down with two angels and said that Sarah would have a child, and she laughed. But sure enough, Isaac was born a year later, according to the promise.

24Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.

Now Paul begins the allegory, the picture. Hagar is the religion of the law, the religion of works. This religion has a mountain: Sinai where the Lord gave the Ten Commandments. And she has a city Paul says: the present Jerusalem, that is, the teaching of the Pharisees and Scribes, those who teach a righteousness through obedience.

But there is another religion, another child who is born not of the flesh, but of the promise, and this is the religion of the Gospel. This is pictured by Sarah and her son Isaac. This religion has a city: the heavenly Jerusalem.

26But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27For it is written, "Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband." 28Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.

You are not born of the flesh. You are born, says Paul, of the promise. You have your life not in your works but in the Word and promise of your forgiveness. And if you go and seek life through the work of the flesh you are moving from freedom to slavery, from life to death, from salvation to damnation.

Paul is writing to the Galatians, warning them. These Judiazers are trying to make you slaves, slaves to the law, slaves to the working of the flesh. They are trying to convert you from the religion of the gospel to the false religion of the law.

And this is what the religion of the law always does. Paul finishes his picture with these words:

29But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30But what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman." 31So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.

The teachers of the law are always attacking the Gospel, always persecuting it, always troubling the true church. But Paul reminds them that only the children of the promise will inherit the blessing.

And this is true for us also. Paul knows that our sinful flesh is an expert of the law; the religion of the law is our native religion, and it is always creeping in, worming its way into our hearts and minds. We are constantly being drawn to the religion of the law; constantly being drawn into slavery and bondage.

What this temptation looks like for you is different than what it looks like to the person you are sitting next to, but it might be something like this, “The Lord will love me if, or when, I do this-and-that.” This is the slavery from which Jesus rescued. God loves you because Jesus died for you. Your sins are all forgiven, you are free, a child of the promise, born again through the incorruptible Word of God's promise.

The devil is always trying to convert you to the religion of the law, but the Lord Jesus won't have it. He will have you in His love and mercy and kindness, in His heavenly Jerusalem, in His freedom and life and light. And all of this because He has declared you to be righteous and holy and perfect in His sight.

God be praised for keeping us in His perfection, in His religion of the Gospel. Amen.

And the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO

Provoking the Lord to Jealousy, Sermon, Lent 3, 2010

INJ

Deuteronomy 32:8-18
'Provoking the Lord to Jealousy'
Divine Service
Oculi, The 3rd Sunday in Lent | March 7th, 2010

Dear Saints,

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:18) That's how St describes the sinful flesh of mankind, quoting from King David's Psalm 36. “No fear of God.” That, I'm afraid, is an apt description of our world today, and even the church today. We simply lack the fear of God.

I suspect that if I were to ask you all privately (and I've talked to some of you about this), “Are you afraid of God?” your answer would be, “No.”

Now this could be good or bad. There are generally two reasons why a person doesn't fear God. I'll give you the good reason first. A person knows their sin, they know that they have abandoned God and His law time after time, that they have been unfaithful, they they have sinned. In fact, this person knows from their life, from their conscience and most of all from the Scriptures that they are completely corrupt and unholy and unclean, and because of all this they deserve God's unmitigated wrath and anger, fire and brimstone heaped upon them eternally.

And while this thought would cause someone to fear, this person knows the story of Jesus, that He came and has God's anger stilled. This person knows that all of God's anger and punishment fell on Jesus in His place, and this knowledge casts out fear, and in fact replaces fear with love and trust. This is the first reason that we might fear God, because faith, clinging to Jesus, knows that there is nothing to be afraid of. “Pastor, Jesus, after He died for our sins and rose from the dead, told us 'Fear not!'” Amen. This is the confidence of faith, a blessed lack of fear. And this faith fears neither death or sickness or want or pain because it knows the eternal love of God and the safety of His kingdom.

If you say to me, “Pastor, I'm not afraid of God,” and this is your reason, then God be praised.

But there is another lack of fear of God, and this is bad. This is the thought that God is not a fearful God.

I've told you before that I think one of the greatest theological errors, heresies, of our age is the thought that God is a nice guy, that He is (and this is a key phrase) “harmless”, that He can't or won't hurt a thing. This is wrong, dead wrong. God is not harmless.

Have you been to see a friend or neighbor, and when you into their house their dog starts to growl or bark, and they reassure you, “Do worry, she's harmless.” And you say, “I know she's harmless, the little dog's only six inches long and it's wearing a yellow sweater.” There mighty be some harmless things in this world, but God is not harmless. In fact, the preaching that God is harmless is the preaching of the demons who do not want us to fear God above all things.

I'm afraid that most people who do not fear God lack this fear precisely because they have believed the teaching of the demons and think that God is nothing to worry about, nothing to be afraid of. “God is not troubled about sin; He's not angry with our rebellion; He has no thought our disobedience. Or even if He is He won't do anything about it. God's a nice guy, what is there to be afraid of?”

This is bad. This is the lack of fear that David and Paul are talking about when they say, “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” This, in fact, is the lack of fear that defines original sin, and in a very real and dangerous irony, the fact that we don't fear God is the reason that we should fear Him! You can think about that later, because I want to consider the danger of not having the fear of God with our Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy 32.

You know that the Old Testament readings that the ancient church read were lost in the middle ages, and that the lessons we read were determined in recent times. They were picked to match the themes of the Gospel and Epistle readings. I suspect that today's lesson from Deuteronomy 32 was chosen because of the Gospel lesson, Jesus casting the demon out of the deaf and mute man, and then the preaching of our Lord Jesus about His victory over the devil and the kingdom of the demons.

Moses also preaches about the demons, and is warning Israel about worshiping them. Hear again this preaching of Moses,

14Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs, rams of Bashan and goats, with the very finest of the wheat-- and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape. 15"But Jeshurun [that's the Hebrew word for “straight”, and here is is the ironic name that the Lord has given to Israel, mostly because they will not follow the straight way] grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation. 16They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger. 17They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded. 18You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth. (Deuteronomy 32:14-18)

The LORD has mercifully rescued His people from their slavery, from the thrashing of the Pharaoh, brought them out of Egypt with Ten mighty plagues, across the sea on dry ground, given them the Ten Commandments and the ordinances for the Divine Service, the temple and sacrifices. The LORD has fed the people from heaven, protected them for 40 years in the wilderness, just lately given them victory over their enemies and they have settled, at least two and a half tribes, on the east side of the Jordan River.

And now they are about to cross over the river and take the land that the Lord promised to them in His covenant. And Moses stands in front of the people and says, basically, “Whatever you do, do not forget God. Do not forsake God. Do not go after other idols. Fear God, and trust in Him.” Moses is pleading with the people to keep the 1st Commandment and fear and love and trust in God above all things. And Moses warns the people. “If you don't there will be trouble. After all, God is a jealous God.”

In fact, this song acts like a prophetic warning, saying that the people would forget and forsake God and provoke Him to anger and jealousy. And listen, then, to some of the things that will unfold on the heads of those who do not fear the LORD, these verses come from later in this song of Moses:

21They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. 22For a fire is kindled by my anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol, devours the earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains. 23"'And I will heap disasters upon them; I will spend my arrows on them; 24they shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured by plague and poisonous pestilence; I will send the teeth of beasts against them, with the venom of things that crawl in the dust. 25Outdoors the sword shall bereave, and indoors terror, for young man and woman alike, the nursing child with the man of gray hairs. (Deuteronomy 32:21-25)

Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly. (Deuteronomy 32:35)

See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. (Deuteronomy 32:39))

And, dear saints, we see this very thing unfolding in the entire Scriptures. If the people fear the Lord and treasure His Word, in humility and faith looking to God for all help, then the Lord comes and helps and keeps and rescues and delivers His people. But if the people start to trust in idols, in false gods, in the demons, or in the nations around them, then the Lord sets His face against them, opposes them and gives them trouble. It's that simple.

Now it is for us to consider, as Christians, and as a congregation, do we lack the fear of God? Have we forgotten or forsaken Him? Have we listened to the doctrine of the demons that said, “There's nothing to be afraid of? Nothing to worry about? God doesn't trouble with this sin or that?” Have we forgotten that we stand before God every day, and that we will be accountable to Him on the last day? This is very dangerous, for our God is a jealous God, and He does not take kindly to idols or demons or false gods of any sort.

May God grant us repentance. The only safe place from the wrath of God is under the cross of Jesus. The only safe way to lack the fear of God is to have faith in His promises. And, dear saints, He has these promises here for you today, the anger stilling broken body and the wrath-quenching shed blood for you, for your forgiveness. Come then, in fear and faith, to the supper of the Lord, and let us not forget the Lord who has given us life and salvation and the forgiveness of all of our sins. Amen.

And the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO

A True Israelite, Sermon for Lent 2, 2010

INJ

Matthew 18:23-35
'Catching Christ, or A True Israelite'
Matins
Reminiscere, The 2nd Sunday in Lent | February 28th, 2010

Dear Saints,

In the Gospel text from Matthew 15 we travel with Jesus to the region of Tyre and Sidon. This is a bit out of the way for Jesus; He leaves the confines of Galilee and travels north-west over toward the sea. And as He and the disciples are going along a Canaanite woman comes up and prays to Jesus, begging for His mercy and kindness, that He would heal her daughter from a demon.

All we know of this woman is that she is a Canaanite, the peoples that the Lord has commanded to be exterminated from the land. This woman, we learn from Luke, was a Syrophonecian, of Greek decent, so she must have resettled with her family to this place. It is astonishing that this foreigner had heard the Lord's word and believed it, that she knew who Jesus was, the promised Son of David, the Jewish Messiah, and she comes to Him for help in her hour of need.

Now what unfolds between our Lord Jesus and this woman, His dear Christian, is astonishing. Jesus, it seems, mistreats her and turns her away; after all, she is not a daughter of Israel, but in this conversation with Jesus she proves the opposite; she shows that she is a true Israelite.

Remember, dear friends, what the word “Israel” means. In Genesis we hear the story of Abraham's family. Abraham's son Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau. Esau was the firstborn, a mighty man, a great hunter. Jacob was not. When they were young Esau was out hunting and came home starving, and Jacob sold him a bowl of soup for his birth rite, his honored status as the first-born.

Now fast-forward to the death bed of Isaac. He is going to give out blessings, and the great blessing will go to the first-born. This should be Jacob (because Esau sold this blessing to him), but Isaac is still going to give this blessing to Esau. So Jacob and Rebecca plot so that Jacob will get the blessing, they disguise Jacob in Esau's clothes and put hair on his hands so Isaac, whose eyes are failing, will mistake Jacob for Esau. And the plot works; Jacob gets the blessing, and when Esau finally arrives from the fields with some food for his father, he learns of the deception and is mad. The test says that Esau hated Jacob and he plotted to kill him when the appointed time of mourning for Isaac was finished.

So Jacob flees. He heads north to Haran, a town on the upper reaches of the Euphrates River, to the house of his uncle Laban, and Jacob stays there for twenty years. He marries Leah and Rachael and has eleven children (so far). A dispute breaks out between Jacob and Laban, so Jacob gathers his household and heads south, back home, back to the land that is his by Isaac's blessing. But Jacob is still afraid, still worried that Esau is coming to kill him, so he sends two large groups of servants and sheep ahead as gifts for Esau to appease his wrath.

Now after they pass to the east of the Sea of Galilee, and all of the household, the shepherd and servants and flocks, and Jacob's wives and children pass over the fords of the Jabbok River, Jacob stays on the north shore of the river, and there, all night, Jacob wrestles with God. This is an astonishing text:

Genesis 32:22-31 The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26Then he said, "Let me go, for the day has broken." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." 27And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." 28Then he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed." 29Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. 30So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered." 31The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

Jacob wrestles with God, and so God gives him a new name: Israel. That, in fact, is what Israel means: wrestles with God, grabbing a hold of Him and refusing to let go until He gives a blessing. Now we know that the Lord who created the heavens and the earth, could have wiped out Jacob, but He didn't, He wrestled with him, struggled with him, fought with him and gave him a blessing.

This, dear saints, is exactly what unfolds in the Gospel text with the Canaanite woman, she is wrestling with Jesus with her words, and refuses to let go of Him until He gives her a blessing. Jesus delivers three blows to this woman, but she endures them all and, at last, has the Lord's favor and smile. And by this she proves that she is a true daughter of Israel.

To the text, Matthew 15.

21And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon." 23But he did not answer her a word.

This is the first blow, Jesus ignores her, He doesn't say a word. Do you know this? When it seems like the Lord has stopped up His ears to our prayers, like there is a glass ceiling and all of our cries to heaven can't get through. Jesus hears her, but doesn't acknowledge her. Now most people would say, “What I head about this man was wrong. He is not kind and good, but arrogant and rude. He doesn't want to help me.” But look, Jesus did not say He wouldn't help, He didn't say anything, and as long as He is silent she continues to cry to Him for help. She can't be turned away.

But this troubles the disciples, so they come and intercede on her behalf. Not, it seems, out of love, but out of annoyance.

And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying out after us." 24He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

This is the second blow that Jesus deals out. He answers the disciples so this woman can hear, “I came for Israel.” Now look at this, “This promise is not for you.” But this woman, by faith, sees though the Lord's words. First, He still hasn't said no, and, second, now I know that He can help me and deliver me. “If He want's Israel,” she seems to say, “I'll show Him Israel!”

25But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." 26And he answered, "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."

This is the third and final blow that Jesus gives this woman, calling her a dog. But she'll take it, that's all she was looking for, for the Lord to speak with her and give her a word. She'll take that word and run with it. Martin Luther says it like this, “She catches Christ with His own words, and He is happy to be caught.” (House Postil)

27She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."

So this Canaanite woman perseveres in the wrestling match with Jesus, and now He has blessings for her.

28Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly.

Now, dear saints, this is our same Jesus. He has for us mercy and peace, blessing and comfort, all in spite of our sins. He has His love and His cross, His ears are open to our prayers. But this comfort and peace often comes after suffering and struggle. Our Lord Jesus is pleased to wrestle with us, to struggle with us, and by this He makes us His true Israel. And this is your comfort and peace, the they Lord who seems to struggle against you is doing all of this for your good and for your blessing. And, when this struggle is over, He will bring you to eternal blessings, even the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.

So, true Israel, you who are wrestling with God, hear His blessing:

The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you.
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.


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Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO