Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Matthew 5:21-37
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  February 2, 2020

Martin Luther and the Roman Catholic Church disagreed about many things. But there was one thing they actually agreed upon: the ideas of Galileo. Galileo was an Italian scientist who supported the theories of an earlier scientist, Nicolaus Copernicus. Those who believed the theories of Copernicus had the gall to suggest that the earth was not the center of the universe. In fact, instead of the commonly held belief that the sun moved around the earth, Galileo held to the idea that the earth actually moved around the sun. For this suggestion, Galileo was put on trial, by the Roman Catholic Church. You can almost picture Galileo presenting his case before the pope, can’t you? He’s got two different pictures up there. One shows a picture of the sun moving around the earth and he says,  “This is what most people believe today, that the earth is still and the sun moves around it.” And then he moves to the second picture, “but contrary to popular belief,” he says, “I believe that the earth actually moves around the sun.” The church wasn’t convinced. Galileo was forbidden to teach the Copernican model of the universe. But, as we’ve come to find out, Galileo was right. Contrary to the popular belief of the time, the earth both rotates and revolves around the sun. Contrary to popular belief! We see examples like that all the time, don’t we? Examples were the commonly held belief is proved to be false. We’re going to see another one today. Only, instead of finding it in the scope of scientific discovery, we’re going to find it in our Savior’s Sermon.

“They are good people.” I heard someone say that the other day. Actually, I hear that quite often. We love to describe each other as good. It’s our nature, you know, to compare one another. “Him, he’s a good person. Her, not so much.” We love to compare. But when we compare, what standard are we using to measure the goodness? Are we comparing to ourselves? Are we comparing to the lowest common denominator? What are we comparing to? 

Last week, we heard about the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law and how they viewed righteousness. They believed that they were doing everything necessary to make themselves righteous. And it was easy to believe that because they compared themselves to the worst of sinners. In Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Jesus show us just how this would work. “The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people, robbers, evildoers, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” By doing this, outwardly, they seemed righteous. In fact, Jesus held them up as a measuring stick of sorts. In verse 20 he says, “Indeed I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and experts in the law, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” That’s a sticker shock kind of statement for everyone, but especially for the Pharisees and experts in the law! The Pharisees thought they were as close to perfect as you can get and Jesus says you have to be better than that! You better believe Jesus now had their attention! They believed they were following God’s Law. They believed that they were righteous and everyone else believed it too. But, “not so fast,” Jesus says. Contrary to popular belief…you Pharisees and experts in the law haven’t done nearly enough. Listen again to what Jesus says: “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder and whoever murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be subject to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ will have to answer to the Sanhedrin. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of hell fire.”

“You have heard that it was said…but I tell you.” Jesus is going to use that phrase four different times in this section. Four different times, Jesus is going to take one of the Ten Commandments and who how the Pharisees and experts in the law had been making false distinctions about keeping those commandments. Do you realize that, like the Pharisees, we like to make superficial distinctions about the seriousness of sins? We do it without even thinking about it. We believe a child who throws a toy at his sister is nowhere near the sinner as the criminal who sits on death row for actually murdering his sister. We believe that firing a barrage of verbal bullets at someone is nowhere near as sinful as firing a barrage of lead bullets at someone from a gun. We believe we’re not murderers simply because we’ve never taken someone’s life. But what does Jesus says? Contrary to popular belief…“but I tell you…” if you ever think evil thoughts about someone or utter a harsh word to someone, you should be tried for murder and executed eternally. And he’s not exaggerating here. He’s absolutely serious.

The heart of the problem is a problem of the heart! We have to admit: we are all murderers! We’ve thrown the toy. We’ve spoken the harsh word. We’ve harbored the grudge. Jesus says that if we fail to repent of these sins we can’t be in fellowship with God! Instead, we’ll be thrown into the eternal prison of hell! But do we even realize what we’ve done? How often do we even consider these things…sins? But it’s not just this commandment that no one thinks they break. Jesus shows us other examples, other commandments. And again, no one thinks they really break them. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ but I tell you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” The 6th commandment deals with marriage and all that violates it: not just the physical act–but lustful thoughts, coarse joking, our sexualized culture and media, pornography, many aspects of dating, promiscuity, living together, the whole homosexual lifestyle, adultery, and divorce just to name a few. “Again you have heard that it was said to people long ago, ‘Do not break your oaths, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ But I tell you, do not swear at all: not by heaven, because it is God’s throne, and not by the earth, because it is his footstool; and not by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your own head, since you cannot make one hair white or black.” The 2nd Commandment simply demands that people keep their word in God’s name, yet we can’t even do that!

How does this happen, you wonder? How can we be so mislead about sin? How can we not realize what we are doing? Ever walked into the house with dirty snow caked on your shoes? But then you walked around the house without thinking? Only after your spouse calls attention to it, do you finally look down and see what you have done? All the dirty snow melted and dirty tracks are everywhere! You can’t believe it, but there they are. Or let’s say you’re sitting down to a nice big sandwich. But halfway through the meal, a friend points out how you have mustard all down the front of your nice dress shirt. You’re baffled about how it happened, but there it is. Or let’s say you tell your son or daughter to wipe their nose with a Kleenex, but as we all know, it’s easier to just use their hands, right? So the more they wipe with their hands, the more the germs spread. The child thinks they’re keeping their nose clean, but the exact opposite is true. That’s what Jesus is doing here. He’s taking laws which everybody thinks they have kept…perhaps simply because the government couldn’t arrest them for breaking it…and he shows how no one has kept it. Not a one. Not you. Not me. No one. There are muddy tracks and mustard stains and snotty noses everywhere. You and I need help!

Yet, contrary to popular belief, we can’t help ourselves! Who of us would ever think that if we sat down at a piano without having had any lessons, we could play Beethoven…flawlessly? And especially not if we were born deaf. Or who of us would ever think that we could walk a tightrope across Niagara Falls on the first try without ever walking a straight line in our lives? And especially not if we suffered from vertigo. That’s how holy God’s Law is. That’s how impossible it is for us to fulfill it. And yet, God says be holy, just as he is, or we die. Jesus’ view is the perfect view of the Law. A perfect view which can only lead us to confess with the Apostle Paul: “What a miserable wretch I am! Who will rescue me…?”

The world will tell us that we need to save ourselves. But contrary to popular belief, the same God who demands that we be holy is the same God who saves us from our inability to be holy. The same God who demands that our whole selves…in thought, word, and deed…be in line with his will, makes us that way through Jesus! Jesus stepped into this world and from the moment he was conceived, he followed all of God’s Law in thought, word, and deed. Never did he even think a hateful thought, but when his enemies were murdering him, he said, “Father, forgive them.” Never did Jesus, a true red-blooded male, ever lust after a woman. Never did he think, “How can I use her,” but only, “How can I help her.” Never did Jesus utter a false word, but “Amen, I say to you.” In every way that we have failed to keep the Law, Jesus kept it perfectly in our place. He’s the only one to sit down at the piano and play all the divine music God demanded…flawlessly…the first time. He’s the only one to cross the abyss of death and stay perfectly straight on the hair-thin line of holiness. He’s the only one to go to war against sin, death, and the devil, who paralyzed all of us, and win. And not only did he win, but he gave us the victory by laying down his life in our place! This is exactly what Jesus meant when last week he said, “I did not come to destroy [the Law and the Prophets] but to fulfill them.” Jesus was holy for us so that we can now live a holy life!

How can we respond to what Jesus has done for us other than to be thankful! And what better way to show our thankfulness than to stay connected to your Savior through his Word and through his Sacraments. Come before his altar and confess your sinfulness. Receive forgiveness and the power to live as God has made you to be…a holy people. What better way to show our thankfulness than to strive to keep God’s Law. And we want to keep it, don’t we! Like the Psalmist says, “O Lord, I love your Law!” We have the privilege of sitting down at the piano and playing Beethoven. And whenever we play a sour tune, Jesus forgives. But whenever we play a masterpiece, we do it by God’s power for his glory. We have the privilege of walking the tightrope of holiness over hell to heaven. And wherever we stumble, Jesus catches us. And whenever we walk perfectly, God is working in us! Our Savior Jesus tells us in his sermon: Live a holy life! By ourselves, it’s impossible. But through faith, because of Jesus, we can! We can Live a holy life because we are holy in God’s eyes. We can Live a holy life because our life is Christ’s and his life is ours! Amen