Trinity 6, 2022
Rev. Thomas Van Hemert
Romans 6:1-11; St. Matthew 5:17-26
Trinity 6
July 24, 2022
In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.
St. Paul is speaking to those who are justified by grace through faith when he says, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” So it is that St. Paul is also speaking to you. You are justified. You are loved by God and have been redeemed by Him and even now as you stand, you are justified by grace, through faith, on account of what Jesus for you by laying down His life and by dying on the cross. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
How can you engage in sinful behavior, even after you have been washed clean in Holy Baptism? Well, the answer to that is because in this life, we must walk by faith. We have not come to see perfectly what awaits us, like those who have passed away with the sign of faith. We walk by faith and not by sight. Faith is the assurance of things that we hope for, the conviction of things we cannot see. And in this life that we live by faith, we still must fight against our sinful flesh, which wages war against us because we haven’t yet been made perfect. But once we die and are raised again, then our sanctification will be complete. So for now, in this life, St. Paul still asks, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! Absolutely not!How can we who died to sin still live in it?” In other words, knowing that you are justified by faith what Jesus has done for you, how can you willingly engage in sinful behavior? Repent. It doesn’t work that way. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. You cannot enjoy both of two desirable but mutually exclusive alternatives. You cannot call yourself a Christian and expect to be saved on the last day if you live in and engage in a sinful lifestyle. You must repent, even as you must believe that Jesus Christ died for sinners. And that faith will produce good works, such as turning away from a life of sin and living a life of holiness, living the life of the baptized. Because after all, it is by faith that one is counted to be righteous and justified.
When you appear before the heavenly gates of pearl on the Last Day, the question that will be asked of you will not be whether or not you were confirmed. Who cares if you were confirmed? At that point, no one will care if you were confirmed. Confirmation is not a requirement for salvation. The question will be, whether or not you have faith. And it will be quite obvious because faith will produce good works as signs and fruits of faith, just as how a good and healthy tree produces good fruit. How can you claim to have faith but continue to willingly live in sin? You can’t. “May it never be!” says St. Paul.
This is part of the whole reason why Jesus says that He did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. He did not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Jesus did not come to liberate us from the Law so that we can live a life of sin. He frees us to be able to live according to the Law so that we might find joy in the Ten Commandments as a guide for how this life is supposed to be lived. In fact, He says, “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.”
Now some people would argue that Jesus came to liberate us from the Law, because they think that the Law is somehow inherently evil. We call these people Antinomians. “Anti” meaning, “against” and “Nomos” meaning, “the Law.” Because it’s not the Law that’s evil. It’s us. We are, by nature, sinful and unclean and because the Law is holy and perfect and demands that it be kept perfectly and because we cannot measure up to those demands, we sometimes feel as though we are good and fine and actually the Law is the problem. But the Law, the Ten Commandments are not evil or bad. The Law, just like the Gospel, is a word from God given to us out of mercy. How is this life supposed to be lived? Easy. According to God’s Will, which is summarized in the Ten Commandments. And by living according to this holy standard in faith, good works happen and we all know that if we produce good works, that means we have faith because Jesus also says, “Whoever does them—that is, whoever upholds the Law—and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” And by faith is the only way can do this. We are justified by faith alone. And because we are justified by faith alone, the New Adam has been awoken in us. The new man loves the Law and is able to keep the Law with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Now of course, keeping the Law does not save us because we are saved by grace through faith, not by works. But this faith, given to us in Baptism and by hearing God’s Word preached and strengthened by the Means of Grace makes us begin to become what we were always meant to be as God’s creation before the fall into sin, not that we would continue in sin so that grace may abound, but by being united with Jesus through faith and knowing that our old sinful self was crucified with Him so that we might now walk in newness of life.
Think of what St. Paul is means when he speaks of remaining in sin that grace may about in this sense: There was a man who is awaiting trial for having committed numerous bank robberies. Now the Law says, “You shall not steal.” This man transgressed the Law, he robbed many banks—millions of dollars—and therefore, there is eternal and temporal punishment that awaits him. His eternal punishment will be that he will end up in Hell if he does not repent, confess his sins, and receive absolution. But even if he does that, he still has to deal with temporal punishment, earthly punishment. Temporal punishment for the crime of robbing a bank could be many years spent in prison and even paying back all the money he stole. Let’s say in his case, that’s the punishment that’s about to be handed down in the courtroom. But on the day of his sentencing, the judge stands up, surprises everyone, and says, “I forgive you. I care about you so much that you can go free and I will receive this punishment in your stead. I will take your place. I will go to jail and I will pay back all that money out of my own pocket.” So the prisoner goes free, while the innocent judge willingly takes on the punishment. Now this changes the prisoner. Now he is free, even from the effects of the Law. He’s no longer a prisoner but a free man. So is he now free to continue in sin and rob more banks because he thinks this judge’s act of grace will abound? Of course not. The prisoner has been redeemed, pardoned, and freed. And now he views the Law differently.
This, of course, would never happen in a modern courtroom today. But this is precisely what happened when our Lord Jesus Christ came down from heaven and took on our flesh so that He could take the punishment that is rightly ours. He loves us. He forgives us. He cares for us so much that He frees us and gives Himself to the taunts torture of the devil. He goes to the grave instead of us. Death swallows Him up instead of us. We are just like the former bank robber in that scenario. We go free.
And now, the Law does not condemn the former bank robber who has been set free. The Law does not condemn us because we have been redeemed by our God who loves us and who fulfills the Law and the Prophets. Now the Law is a guide that by which, the former bank robber knows what not to do, but now instead of not stealing, he is free to help his neighbors improve and protect his possessions and income. We also know how to love and trust in God above all things; we know how to call upon God’s name in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks; we know how to hold preaching and God’s Word sacred and gladly hear and learn it; and we learn to love and cherish all that the Law requires. The Law is still there. The commandment is still valid. For Jesus came not to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them. Now the New Adam in us, loves the Law. It is not only a curb that would stunt our sin or a mirror that shows us our sin but a guide and by it, we learn what is a necessary good work, which our neighbors need.
Keeping this Law or any other thing he had personally done in his life did not free this bank robber from being declared guilty. He was declared to be innocent by the judge, who himself who took the place of the prisoner. So it is with our Lord Jesus Christ who loves us even though we were stuck in our sin. His sacrificial love drives off all threats of punishment and condemnation because He Himself submitted to the cross and death and the grave. But none of those things could contain Him there. And so it will be for us. For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His. We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For the one who has dies has been set free from sin. And if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death He died, He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God. And so it is for you: you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
In +Jesus’ name.
