The Law as Guide - March 13, 2024 - Fifth Wednesday in Lent - Text: Commandments; Ps. 119:105; 1 Timothy 1:8-11; 1 John 4:9, 11

Last week we continued our series on Lutheran Doctrine by hearing what we believe about the prayer. Today we continue our series by being reminded of what we believe about the Law as a guide in our lives.
 

In confirmation class we are taught and hopefully we learn that the Law serves three purposes, as a curb, a mirror and a guide or rule. The Law serves as a curb in that it attempts to keep order with its does and don’ts. Just as a curb on a street is there to keep cars on the street and off the sidewalk or out of the ditch, so God gives us the Law to keep us on the straight and narrow. The Law, and specifically speaking of the Ten Commandments, is intended to curb us from doing things we should not be doing and to move us to be doing the things we should be doing. Indeed, the Law is a list of dos and don’ts. When we do the things we should not be doing we sin sins of commission, committing things we should not commit. When we fail to do the things we should be doing, as Luther points out in his explanations to the commandments, “but we should . . . “ then we sin sins of omission, omitting to do what we should be doing.
 

The Law as a curb is meant to attempt to control our behavior. Now we might understand that to control one’s behavior does not mean that one’s heart can be controlled as well and that is most certainly true. Thus, we see that although the Law may be an outward control it does not and cannot change our hearts.
 

The Law also serves as a mirror, that is it shows our sins. The purpose of the Law is to show us our sins, to show us how sinful we truly are and how we cannot do anything to work off our sins or save ourselves. Although we may try to find some grey area in the Law in order to justify ourselves, our sinful thoughts, our sinful words and our sinful actions or sinful inactions, that is not the purpose of the Law. The Law as a mirror reflects our thoughts, words, and deeds so that we see how sinful we are especially compared to the sinless, spotless Lamb of God, Jesus Himself. The purpose of the Law is to move us to hear the Gospel. Please note, although we may believe the purpose of the Law is to move us to repent, it cannot do so.
 

The Law, without the Gospel never leads to repentance. The Law without the Gospel leads to works righteousness or despair. The Law leads to works righteousness when we believe we can actually keep the Law, that is that we can be the good obedient people the Law requires us to be. We believe we are good and are doing what we should be doing and not doing what we should not be doing. Or, the Law leads us to despair when we realize that there really is no way we can keep the Law so we begin to believe there is no hope for us so we despair and give up all together.
 

As you have heard me say many times before, the Law points us to ourselves. As the apostle Paul so well wrote to young pastor Timothy, “8Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9understanding 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, 10the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, 11in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted” (1 Timothy 1:8-11). Indeed, the Law shows us our sins.
 

However, as Christians and only as Christians is the Law available and useful as a guide. We might suggest something to the effect that the Law is a rule book in the game of life in order to keep order so there is not anarchy and chaos. For the non-Christian, for those without faith, the Law is strictly a set of rules intended to hamper one’s freedom. But for the Christian, for those who hear, learn, know, believe the Gospel, as King David so well stated, for us the Law from God is “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). We rejoice in the Law, not because we believe we can keep the Law, but we know the Law is a gift from God to keep us, though imperfectly, on the straight and narrow.
 

The Law is a guide only to those who have faith and thus desire to lead God pleasing lives. Without faith in Jesus or even in a god for that matter there would be no reason to need a guide. Indeed, if all life is but a survival of the fittest then the Law is seen as hampering one’s ability to survive, to get ahead. As Christians we rejoice in the Law, not because we believe we can keep the Law, but because the Law was given so that we might, with God’s help love our neighbor as ourselves, which is the second table of the Law, those Commandments dealing with our relationships with our neighbor.
 

Again, by faith, one is motivated to lead a God pleasing life. As Christians we rejoice in the Law because the Law was given so that we might, with God’s help, love the Lord our God with all our heart and all our soul and all our might, which is the first table of the Law, those commandments which deal with our relationship with God Himself. As we have most certainly heard, if we could keep the first commandment we could keep them all. The problem is we cannot even keep the first commandment. And since we, since Adam and Eve, have broken the first commandment we cannot keep any of the rest. Since our relationship with God has been broke so have our relationships with each other and the purpose of the Law is to show us this broken-ness so that we might hear the good news of the Gospel and repent.
 

What does this mean? As I said earlier, the Law without the Gospel leads to despair, believing there is no hope or to works righteousness, believing we can keep the Law. Thus, we see the importance of the Law as a curb and mirror, continually attempting to keep us on the straight and narrow and showing us our sins by reflecting our sinful lives compared to Jesus perfection.
 

We know the Law does not motivate repentance, but only the Gospel. As you have no doubt heard my illustration of the teacher in the classroom who passed out new boxes of crayons to all her students with the warning to be careful and not break the crayon. Yet, several students did break the crayons so when the teacher asked if those students that broke crayons would place them on their desks, one student decided to not get in trouble and hid the broken crayon in the box. When the teacher picked up the broken crayons and gave new crayons that student did not get one because he failed to confess his broken crayon. Such is the Law without the Gospel. However, had the teacher proclaimed the Gospel, that she would give a new crayon for the old crayon, the student, motivated by the Gospel of forgiveness would have confessed the broken crayon and been given a new one.
 

So, when Law and Gospel are confused and commingled it leads to moralism, such as Aesop’s fables. Moralism takes the Gospel and makes it into a new Law, such as if you want to be saved all you have to do is be good, choose Jesus, be obedient, dedicate your live to Jesus, and so forth rather than simply hearing the Words of the Gospel.
 

So, the Law must be preached in all its harshness and the Gospel in all its sweetness. The Law must be preached so we can know just how sinful we truly are. And the Gospel must be preached so that we can know for sure, have the certainty that the reason God created us was to love us and the reason Jesus came into the world was to do for us what we could not and cannot do. Jesus came to live for us, to be obedient for us, to choose us, to dedicate His life for ours. Jesus came to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus came to take our sins, all our sins and to pay the complete price for our sins so that nothing more need to be done. Indeed, the Gospel must predominate.
 

As we continue in this Lenten Season, we too rejoice in the Law that although it is for us Christians a guide, when we are in our sin it still continues to be a curb and a mirror showing us our sins and our part in putting Jesus on the cross. But even more we rejoice in our privilege to hear the Gospel, the Good News of God’s great love for us, of Jesus living for us, of Jesus paying the price for our sins, of Jesus giving us the forgiveness He earned and of our gift and promise of eternal life with Him in heaven. To God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.