This coming Sunday, we draw our attention to the Sermon on the Mount in which our blessed Savior knocks a deciding blow to any thought we might have of our own righteousness before God. Jesus plucks one command out of the Ten Commandments to make this point. It is significant that Jesus chooses this particular command, “You shall not murder, ”to make His point because natural man believes that this is the one command he has never violated. We may hear, “I may have stolen or lied or taken the Name of God in vain, but I certainly have never killed another.” The awful truth is that we have all committed murder in our hearts. The apostle John tells us, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer (I John 3:15).” We are indeed selfish, self-centered and thus murderers from the moment we emerge from the womb. Selfishness is hatred, for the law demands that we love our brother as ourselves. In this command, there is no room for even a hint of selfishness. Another pastor illustrated the point that we are murderers from the time of our birth by noting that when the little child comes from the womb, he does not care for the pain he has just caused his mother, but is concerned only with the hunger that begins to gnaw at his stomach. I suppose one might argue that the little child is unaware of the pain he has caused his mother. Every illustration limps. But the truth is that we are guilty of murder by God’s definition. So you see, there is no room for self-righteousness, that is, thinking that we are better than others because we have never physically killed another. Ironically, in the midst of exposing the sin of murder in each of us, John takes us to the Gospel, “This is how we learned what love is: He (Jesus) gave His life for us (I John 3:16).” We are swallowed up in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus in our holy baptism and therefore cannot be brought up on the charge of murder or any other sin. Through the Means of Grace in Word and Sacrament, the Lord Jesus means to tell you that your selfishness died with Christ on the cross. It can no longer condemn you. Perhaps Paul says it best: “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).” If you have been baptized into Christ, God cannot and will not condemn you for any sin. Now, rest your head on your pillow and your conscience in the tender hands of Him who died and won your acquittal. Holy and righteous God. It behooves us always to turn to You in daily penitence and thus anew to seek Your grace. Therefore, remind me by Your chastening Spirit of this in which this day I have departed from You. Let me always draw near to You with a broken heart. Come to me with help in all my wretchedness; forgive me all my transgressions for the sake of Jesus’ blood. Receive me again into Your sacred protection against all my enemies; teach me to understand how it is impossible for me to be safe and content without You, and also how You are mighty to enlighten Your children and to keep them. May I keep my flesh pure and undefiled in subjection to Your holy will. Let me commit to You all that is mine and give myself into Your almighty protection. May I rest quietly in You, and with pure thoughts and holy desires again awaken to a bright and happy day of grace, in Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. Amen. (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, page 168)
Posted on: Tue, 02 Jul 2013 23:26:07 +0000
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