Grace and peace to you from God the Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and from the Holy Spirit, who gives us life, Amen.
Many of you might know what this is (hold up copy of Small Catechism). Allow me read a portion of it:
The First Commandment. You shall have no other gods.
What does this mean?--Answer. We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.
The Second Commandment. You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain. What does this mean?--Answer. We should fear and love God that we may not curse, swear, use witchcraft, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.
The Third Commandment. You shall sanctify the holy-day. What does this mean?--Answer. We should fear and love God that we may not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it.
The Fourth Commandment. You shall honor thy father and thy mother [that it may be well with you and you may live long upon the earth]. What does this mean?--Answer. We should fear and love God that we may not despise nor anger our parents and masters, but give them honor, serve, obey, and hold them in love and esteem.
The Fifth Commandment. You shall not kill. What does this mean?--Answer. We should fear and love God that we may not hurt nor harm our neighbor in his body, but help and befriend him in every bodily need [in every need and danger of life and body].
The Sixth Commandment. You shall not commit adultery. What does this mean?--Answer. We should fear and love God that we may lead a chaste and decent life in words and deeds, and each love and honor his spouse.
The Seventh Commandment. You shall not steal. What does this mean?--Answer. We should fear and love God that we may not take our neighbor's money or property, nor get them by false ware or dealing, but help him to improve and protect his property and business [that his means are preserved and his condition is improved].
The Eighth Commandment. You shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor. What does this mean?--Answer. We should fear and love God that we may not deceitfully belie, betray, slander, or defame our neighbor, but defend him, [think and] speak well of him, and put the best construction on everything.
The Ninth Commandment. You shall not covet thy neighbor's house. What does this mean?--Answer. We should fear and love God that we may not craftily seek to get our neighbor's inheritance or house, and obtain it by a show of [justice and] right, etc., but help and be of service to him in keeping it.
The Tenth Commandment. You shall not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is his. What does this mean?--Answer. We should fear and love God that we may not estrange, force, or entice away our neighbor's wife, servants, or cattle, but urge them to stay and [diligently] do their duty.
Paul writes: “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.”
Earlier this morning we had a moment for confession and absolution. What list of transgressions went through your mind? Were you able to catalog all of the offenses you committed last week? When I read the Ten Commandments did you feel like you were again being convicted of something that you may or may not have done? Maybe we should all put on our orange prison jump suits and let it go at that.
“Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Free? Free from what? Free to do what? The Jews asked this very same question. “We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean we will be made free?” Maybe the question should be: “What truth?” What truth is it that Jesus is trying to impart? Is it that “everyone who commits a sin is a slave to sin”? That doesn’t sound very comforting to me. Is it that because I’m a slave and I do not have a permanent place in the household? That too does not offer a lot of relief. Jesus is speaking plainly here, “Truly I tell you.” This is truth from Jesus own lips. In the movie “A Few Good Men”, Tom Cruise plays a navy prosecutor grilling the Jack Nicholson character on the witness stand. At one point Cruise asks Nicholson that he wants the truth, and the Nicholson character shouts back: “You can’t handle the truth!” Can we handle this truth from Jesus, that we are slaves to sin, slaves with no permanent place in the household? Maybe there is a different truth being spoken here.
Paul writes: “But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. [God] did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.”
“If you continue in my word…you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.” I earlier asked from what or for what are we free. The words of the reformer are instructive here. In his treatise on the “Freedom of the Christian”, Martin Luther says this, “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.”[1] Luther summarizes this statement this way: spiritually we are truly made free, subject to none, by the sacrifice of atonement by Jesus. It is by Jesus blood that we are now free. Free from unrighteousness and made righteous through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Free from the power of sin which holds us in bondage and makes us slaves to that sin. And this freedom is given to us in our faith in God’s redemptive works.
Nevertheless in our earthly bodies, because we are now free spiritually, we are now subject to all. Martin Luther’s Small Catechism takes all of the negativity of the “thou shalt nots” and replaces them with something more wonderful. We are now free to fear and love God in all that we do and say, and we are free to be of service to our neighbor. These are not works, which make us right before God, but are works that flow out of the good work first given to us. Luther goes on to say, “Therefore, if we recognize the great and precious things which are given us, [as Paul says [Rom. 5:5]], our hearts will be filled by the Holy Spirit with the love which makes us free, joyful, almighty workers and conquerors over all tribulations, servants of our neighbors, and yet lords of all…Just as our neighbor is in need and lacks that in which we abound, so we were in need before God and lacked his mercy. Hence, as our heavenly Father has in Christ freely come to our aid, we also ought freely to help our neighbor through our body and its works, and each one should become as it were a Christ to the other that we may be Little Christs to one another and Christ may be the same in all, that is, that we may be truly Christians.”[2]
The law, that is the Ten Commandments, is good for pointing out those areas where we fall short of the glory of God. And they are very good for showing us how to have a right relationship with God and with one another. But we know that we can never fully keep all of these commandments. We can never fully love God or our neighbor. We are truly slaves to that which keeps us in bondage. However, in the end, Jesus gives us the ultimate truth. Through our faith we believe that “if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” Amen.
And may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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