Banner Logo

Sermon

Sermon Graphic


Twenty-second Sunday After Pentecost
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Rev. Mike Moffitt, November 5, 2017


His Delight Is in the Law of the Lord


Text: Psalm 1

Today we observe “All Saints Day” which put simply is a reminder of those who have faithfully run the race of faith and finished it well. This is a time to reflect on our need to focus on the call of the Gospel as the most important part of our lives.

Last week Jeff did a wonderful teaching about Jesus’ response to a lawyer asking about the greatest commandment. Jesus’ answer from Matthew 22:37–40,

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.

Today I want to continue to consider Jesus’ answer by looking at the importance of the law of God in our lives and how it points us towards the way to finish the race set before us.

Teresa and I tend to trade our family every car 10–12 years. I think they tend to last us a long time because I am a maintenance freak. I am diligent about regularly scheduled maintenance and follow the manufactures' recommended guidelines for the replacement of oil, filters, and other things. We usually go to car rental agencies when considering a new car because I can get a well-maintained vehicle that is around 18 months old for approximately a third less than when it was new. Our present car, a Chevy Impala, had been a rental car before we bought it. It didn’t have an owner’s manual, so I had them order one for me to read to know the guidelines for caring for our car. Besides how else can you figure how to set the clock or the levels on the radio.

When I owned big trucks, I was manic about upkeep and as a result I could get a million miles out of a motor. If I heard something that didn’t sound right I had it checked out. I consider myself an excellent driver, but I depend on those who design and make the vehicles for instruction as to how to maintain them. I was very frustrated in the early 2000’s when diesel fuel shot up to $4 a gallon, but I never considered not putting diesel in my fuel tanks in favor of another liquid that was much less expensive. It didn’t matter how I felt about the high price of fuel, if I was going to run my truck I had no other option. Vehicles are designed a certain way and if you want them to perform up to your expectations then you will need to pay attention to the details of upkeep.

Most all of us have discovered the same thing about exercise and nutrition. Our bodies are designed for healthy food and regular exercise but when we put junk food in our bodies and don’t exercise we pay the price of that. This is not just a theory of mine, but it is my experience and that of most of us. If we don’t live by the rules of diet and exercise, we feel sick and unhealthy and put on unwanted weight and after a while our bodies could respond by shutting down. Again, it doesn’t matter how you feel about nutritious food and exercise because your body needs them to survive.

Frankly for most people in our culture what I have just said would seem obvious when it comes to the upkeep of things that we own or how we care for our bodies. However, I suspect that the clear majority do not feel the same way about the law of God even though He is the one who designed and created all things. I have often heard people claim that the law of God is oppressive, unfair or unjust and they want no part of it, or that it doesn’t apply to the New Testament Christian. However, the truth is if we want to know how our lives can have purpose and meaning then we must consult with our creator who is also the creator of all things.

This morning I want us to see that the law of God should be seen as a window into the heart of God and a guide for those who would follow Him to a life of purpose, joy, and meaning. It is not oppressive but is like an owner’s manual that directs us as to how we were designed to live before God and with each other. Psalm 19:7–9 tell us,

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.

The word “Psalm” means “praise” and these songs of praise were used by Israel in their worship of God in the tabernacle and the temple. Our appointed Psalm last week was Psalm 1, and it is considered a gateway Psalm along with Psalm 2. These two Psalms function as the guideline as to how all the other Psalms are to be read and used.

Psalm 1 is called a “wisdom” Psalm, exhorting worshippers to have a right attitude towards the law of God before entering into intimate conversation with him. These Psalms draw a contrast between the response of the righteous and the wicked in their response to God and his law. Whether or not the Psalms would be understood as actual songs of praise or just poetry had everything to do with the readers view of God and his law.

With that in mind let me read to you. Psalm 1:1–3,

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

The word used for blessed is possibly better translated as “happy” because the one who chooses to obey the Lord and reject the ways of the wicked will be the object of God’s special favor and grace. Those who are righteous seek to saturate themselves in the law of God as a way of knowing more fully the one that they have come to love and worship. The righteous are seen here as those who desire to keep covenant with God by loving and obeying him, and it becomes their delight. The righteous love God’s law because it reflects his heart and desire for them.

The “law” here probably reflected all of the Scripture that was available at that time, the Torah. This law was seen to embody the will of God that was given to a people set apart for his own possession. They were to understand that this was a gift from God to them, and it would teach them how to walk before him as those who bore His image, and how they were to interact with their neighbor and with other nations.

When rightly understood this would cause the one who is blessed by God’s law to meditate and reflect upon it and allow it to shape and form his/her way of thinking. If they did this then blessings would abound, and they would find God’s nourishment in the same way that a tree planted by streams of water bears its fruit and its leaf never withers as it feeds upon the source of its strength.

This is contrasted with the wicked who are also described as a plant but one that has no root and is dead. The slightest breeze blows it away like powder. The Psalmist points out that both will be at the day of judgment, however the wicked will not stand but will fall under condemnation.

The law of God is a revelation of God’s holy and moral character and in this sense, should be seen as eternal and never changing because God is eternal and never changing. God designed all creation to operate in ways that correspond with his law, and that is why when rightly understood and applied it should be our delight and joy, and the pattern for successful living.

Upon giving Israel the law of God he instructed them in Deuteronomy 6:4–8,

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

Living by the directions given by God’s law would change how Israel treated each other and those who lived in their midst but by teaching it faithfully Israel would be strong and live into the fulfillment of what God had for them. Each generation would carry on the tasks that God had given his people because they would know and love the law of God.

Last week’s reading from Exodus 22 reflected how they were to treat the sojourner (foreigner) because they were to remember that they had been sojourner’s in the land of Egypt. They were to show kindness and compassion on the widows and orphans in their midst and not charge interest when lending money to the poor. They were to treat others with kindness and consideration because this is how they could reveal the heart of God. He promised that if they failed to obey this command his wrath would burn against them, and he would destroy them. Why? Because they were failing to show the same compassion that he had shown and they were failing to reveal God as the lover and creator of all men and women.

If you have read the Old Testament, then you will remember that Israel failed to follow the law of God and instead worshipped the gods of other nations. Once they were in the Promised land they forgot God and therefore did not train their children in the ways of the Lord through his law, and in only one generation they had fallen away and became more and more like the pagan nations around them.

We are seeing the same effect in our day as few parents are careful to teach their children the law of God and the result is that very few young people have any concept of who God is and that he is Holy, and they see no reason to submit themselves to the word of God as it is unknown to them. Unfortunately, this disrespect and misunderstanding of the law of God continues today even within many churches. I have often heard well-meaning Christians make such statements as, “we are no longer saved by the law but we are under grace” or “the law is for the Old Testament people and no longer applies to us today.”

When I hear these statements, it grieves me because it shows a lack of appreciation for the real function of the law of God. The truth of the matter is that no one has ever been saved by keeping the law. As a matter of fact, James 2:10 tells us,

For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.

Hebrews 11:1 teaches us that,

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation.

Romans 4:3,

For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.’

Salvation has always come by faith in the promises found only in the Messiah. Our forefathers were looking forward to the promise of God in Christ whereas we are looking back at what Jesus Christ did upon the cross. The law was not their salvation but God’s standard for them to live by, and because they were never able to live up to it he instituted the laws of sacrifice to show them the seriousness of their sins against the standards of God.

When Jesus came as the perfect sacrifice there was no longer a reason to continue with the laws of sacrifice because he had perfectly fulfilled it— but that did not do away with the law found in the Ten Commandments as a foundation for living. Jesus foretold what he was going to do in Matthew 5:17–20,

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

In the Gospel reading from Matthew 22:34–46 that Jeff preached from last week Jesus was pointing them to the intent of the law of God in revealing how we live through love and obedience to God our Creator and redeemer and how we live with our neighbor. All the laws of God and the proclamations of the prophets were to be seen through the lens of the Ten Commandments.

The law of God should serve an important function in our lives as the people of God if we are to be an example to those around us as to what it means to follow the heart of God. There are three ways that the law does this.

The first is that it serves as a teacher that reveals the perfect righteousness of God and our own shortcomings that drive us to Christ for our salvation. The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 3:20,

For by the works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

The law teaches us that apart from Jesus we stand condemned by the law. Paul wrote in Galatians 3:19–24 that though we were once imprisoned by the law Jesus came to set us free from condemnation and therefore we are no longer under the curse of the law if we have come to Christ by faith. However, Christians still to be taught by the law of God as a reminder that we still sin and need God’s forgiveness ,

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8–9)

Hebrews 7:25 promises us,  

He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

The law forces us to bow down at the foot of the cross admitting that we have no hope in ourselves and that only in Christ have we been set free from the curse and consequences of our sin. We should be able to use this function of the law to show unbelievers of their need for repentance, forgiveness and conversion. No one will be found righteous before God apart from Christ no matter how hard they try and how moral they live. It makes no sense to tell the unbeliever that he needs to come to Jesus in repentance and faith if he doesn’t see that he has anything to repent of.

The second function of the law is its civil use. Whether the unbeliever likes it or not, the moral standards of the Old Testament law to restrain evil were used as the standard and foundation of the laws of this land. Our forefathers saw the law of God as the best foundation for a society to function and live together. They knew that, though the law cannot change hearts, it can restrain lawlessness by threats of punishment and judgment. When used in civil codes it can bring civility to a society. The laws of God were established and used to protect the weak from unjust treatment and force those who were inclined to be tyrants to abide by rules that were civil and just for all people.

Although obedience to God out of love for him should be the motivation, often the threat of punishment is needed to maintain civil order. We are living in an age where many of our laws have turned away from the standards of Gods law whereupon our nation was founded, and we are clearly the worse off for it. Laws allowing abortion, same sex marriage, rewarding bad behavior with tax payer money and the legalization of substances that are proven harmful to the individual and to society are clear examples of what happens when men and women turn their hearts away from God and his holy law. Examples of the restraining function of the law was clearly shown in Exodus 21–23 but also Paul affirmed it in the New Testament when he wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:8–11,

Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

God had declared his standard for all people and to turn away from it is to bring chaos and injustice on all. We must be the saints who are faithful in speaking out when those who represent us fail to uphold the standards laid down in the law of God and even in our own foundational documents.

This Tuesday we have an election where we have the opportunity to speak loudly and clearly through the voting process. In the parish hall we have laid out a voter’s guide clearly defining what each candidate up for election stands for. There is a clear difference between the candidates on the issues of abortion, sanctity of marriage between a man and woman and religious liberty. We must uphold God’s law as primary on these issues and vote for the person who shows that they love the law of the Lord. We must return to the refreshment of God’s word if we would be a nation that bears good fruit and doesn’t continue to whither.

The third function of the law is its moral use or the law of standards. The moral standards of the law teach us how we are to live in humble gratitude for the grace that God has shown us. Exodus 20:3–17 reveals the entirety of the Ten Commandments, but the prologue to the commandments is,

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

Israel should have embraced the law of God out of gratitude to him for rescuing them from bondage and slavery and welcoming them as a people that he chose to love and nurture.

Our response to God should be for the same reason because in Christ he has set us free from the law of sin and death. To refuse to turn to Christ in repentance and faith is to choose instead to be judged according to the standards of Gods law, which no man can stand up under.

We should be those who embrace the law of God and see it as the standard of God for us his creatures and we should see it as the window into His heart. We must be a people dedicated to teaching and instructing how the law reveals God and our absolute need for the saving power of Jesus Christ. If our society is to turn around it will be because we have chosen to turn in obedience to the revealed will of God through his word and through faith in our Savior Jesus Christ. There is no other standard by which we must live and die. We must turn from our slothfulness and begin once again to teach the word of God to our children, grandchildren, friends, neighbors and anyone else who will listen. We must become those who let nothing stand in the way of living for the kingdom of God and being witnesses to those around us that we are the saints of God our King.

Let’s pray.

©2017 Rev. Mike Moffitt

Return to top

Sermon Archives