Ezekiel
33:7-11
7 So you, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the
house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them
warning from me. 8 If I say to the wicked, "O wicked ones, you shall
surely die," and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their
ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at
your hand. 9 But if you warn the wicked to turn from their ways, and they do
not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but you will
have saved your life. 10 Now you, mortal, say to the house of Israel, Thus you
have said: "Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we waste
away because of them; how then can we live?" 11 Say to them, As I live,
says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the
wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways;
for why will you die, O house of Israel?
Romans
13:8-14
8 Owe no one anything, except to love one
another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The
commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You
shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are
summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love
does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. 11
Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to
wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became
believers; 12 the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the
works of darkness and put on the armor of light; 13 let us live honorably as in
the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness,
not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
Matthew
18:15-20
15 "If another member of the church sins
against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the
member listens to you, you have regained that one. 16 But if you are not
listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be
confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If the member refuses
to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen
even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and
whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 Again, truly I tell
you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for
you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name,
I am there among them."
The commandments… are summed up in this word, "Love your
neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love
is the fulfilling of the law.
·
We love our laws, don’t
we? They let us know what we can and cannot do, what we should and should not
do and just how far we can go. We know where we can park and how fast we can
drive… although that never seems to hold on the 401.
·
Laws are good for the
most part. They keep our food and water uncontaminated. They hold many things
in check. Of course, since they are conceived, written, and enforced by
fallible human beings, the application of human laws is imperfect. There are
also bad laws, laws that oppress, steal, or demean.
·
The Law Paul is taking
about is the Mosaic Law, the Law that includes the 10 Commandments as well as
laws regarding diet, clothing, health, and personal purity. The 10 one who
studied the Law of Moses, not a barrister of civil law) as to what commandment
was the first, he responded that loving God was first and the second was “like
it”, love your neighbor as yourself.
·
That is the law that
Christians are to live under. Love as the fulfillment of the Law is less
precise and yet more exacting. The Law including the 10 Commandments is meant
to keep us from doing wrong to our neighbor. Paul says that love does that as
well and so the Law is fulfilled. Love does no wrong to a neighbor;
therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
·
To some this might seem
to be a way to escape the strictness of the Law and its tenants. To some this
sounds too loose, yet the requirement of “love of neighbor as yourself” can be
seen as a tougher law than any other. It isn’t “take care of your neighbor…
unless it inconveniences you.” It goes beyond that. Luther’s Small Catechism
takes the 10 Commandments and goes further, stating as a commentary what each
could mean. For example, in commenting on the Eight Commandment: You shall not
bear false witness against your neighbor. The Catechism says 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.
·
A list of commandments
could possibly be followed to the letter. It is possible that a person could do
that through their own will Commandments sum up the major interpersonal and
religious points.
·
Paul states that the Law
is hard; it can be exacting and precise. Stealing, “coveting”, and murder are
not fully defined in a legalistic way and Jesus had his own interpretation of
those points. For him, “Do not kill” also included “do not hate.” When
questioned by a “lawyer” (
·
and power. Admirable and
yet quite dangerous. Were we to think that we could keep the Law of God
perfectly, we might ask then what need we’d have of God, of Jesus Christ, or of
grace. Saying we love perfectly and completely in every situation would be at
least a mistake, at most a lie, in all cases, an illusion. When we are honest
with ourselves, we come to realize that we all fail in loving our neighbors as
ourselves (and in many cases, loving ourselves!) Without God and God’s grace,
we couldn’t love at all… in the best sense. Our love would be an extension of
our self-interest rather than loving so as to do no wrong to a neighbor.
As in all things, we depend on grace to see us through.
·
It is the grace of God
that we rely on. The greatest example is made real in the Cross of Jesus
Christ, for he told his disciples at the Last Supper No one has greater love than
this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John 15:13)
Paul tells us of the fulfillment of the Law and his words also show us how we
may become like Jesus.
The commandments… are summed up in this word, "Love your
neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love
is the fulfilling of the law.
I could not deliver my usual service on Sunday because of technical difficulties, so I recorded it late. If you wish to hear the "re-wind" of my service, use this link.
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