SERMON 489
LENT 111 – MARCH 18, 19, 2006
EXODUS 20:1-17, PSALM19, I CORINTHIANS 1:18-25, JOHN
2:13-22
THERE IS ONLY ONE THAT IS PERFECT!
Beloved in the Lord, grace
and peace be unto you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, and from the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life.
Our Psalm for the day tells
us that the law of the Lord is perfect and revives the soul. We do not run
across the word “perfection” very often, but we do use it once in awhile in our
vocabulary. For example, we may describe a person as, “Miss or Mr. Perfect,”
describing a person who wants to do everything perfectly.
But perfection in this life
certainly does escape us all, for who can do everything perfectly? None of us
can, of course.
But that does not mean that
self love and self adulation are very far removed from us? You may remember the
story from Greek mythology of the handsome young youth called Narcissus.
Narcissus turned away from the love of others, including Echo, the nymph, who
loved him dearly. Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of
water, and died loving the image of himself alone.
In our modern world, even
though perfection is impossible, people still fall in love with themselves. All
of us are faced with the same temptation, the temptation to narcissism. We can
easily lose contact with the rest of the world because we become so concerned
or obsessed with ourselves. The perfect life can never be found in self love.
Indeed, God has made us to
live a life with God and with God’s people. We were created to be in fellowship
with God . We were not created to stare at our own image in the reflection of a
pool of water. We were made to be loving, caring, sharing, burden-bearing,
justice seeking people who live with and for others.
But let us get back for a
moment to the word, “perfect,” Our theme for this meditation is, THERE IS ONLY
ONE THAT IS PERFECT.
That beautiful Psalm that was
read, Psalm 19, tells us about the glory of God that can be seen in the
creation. It tells us that while the creation does not have words or language
or speak out loud, the creation nevertheless proclaims, without words, the
glory of God. Who can stand outside at night and see the stars in all of their
splendor, or gaze upon the mountains, or look at the sunrise and sunset without
being filled with a sense of awe at the beauty of it all? Who can examine the
physics and chemistry and biology of the created order without gasping at the
sheer brilliance of the way that all things are made and exist?
But while we may give glory
to God for the magnificence of the creation, can we then say that the creation
itself is perfect? We have seen one natural disaster after another in these
past few months. So we cannot say that, extraordinary as it may be, that the
creation itself is perfect.
When God created all things,
God said that it was good. And we can certainly say amen to that, for the
creation does indeed provide for us the things we need for life. But God
himself has told us, through his Apostles, that the creation itself is now in
bondage to decay and that is so because God willed that it be so. Sin and decay
entered the created order through our sin and God put the creation itself into
bondage until the new creation appears. So we cannot say that the creation is
perfect.
Can we say then that God is
perfect? Yes, for if there is one that is perfect it would be God, to be sure.
But strangely enough the word “perfect” is not used very often in reference to
God. Rather, the words that are used to describe our God are the Holy One, The
Creator, Father, Redeemer; and the Scripture talks of his power and majesty and
wisdom surpassing all others. Indeed, we are told that there is but one God,
and everything else is a creation of God’s hand.
THERE IS ONLY ONE THAT IS
PERFECT. But if we are to use the word “perfect” in reference to God it would
seem most appropriate to call God perfect, above all in love and compassion and
mercy. God is not Mr. or Miss perfect filled with self love. The love of God is
from everlasting. God’s mercy, we are told, is from everlasting. God’s mercy
endures forever. God is perfect in all things, but most enduringly in love and
mercy and compassion and that love and mercy is directed toward us.
In the Old Testament lesson
from Exodus we have the Ten Commandments, given to Moses and given also to us.
When we speak of the Ten Commandments we also use the words “the Law”. And you
may remember that our Psalmist said, “The Law of the Lord is perfect and
revives the soul.”
We know from our own
experience how important the Commandments are. We were taught in our catechism
instruction that God gave us the commandments and that they are as valid today
as they were when God gave them. We were taught that there were three purposes
for the law.
First, God gave the law to us
to ensure that society held together. Our common life would fall apart if we
did not have law and order. Indeed, societies and families who ignore or
disobey this fundamental law of God will
fall apart. I am sure that you heard with horror, as did I, the arrest of the
men involved in promotion of pornography, including actual scenes of the sexual
abuse of children and babies. The sexual license of our age will catch up with
us sooner than later.
Second, God gave the law to
us to help us see our need of forgiveness. The law convicts of sin and it does
its job beautifully, as each of us know from our experience. You shall not
steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not
covet. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. The law is
given to reveal our sin and drive us to Christ.
Third, the law is given to us
to show us how we can love and serve our neighbor.
On the one hand we have the
law. On the other hand, as we read from
God in his wisdom made sure
that we have all that we need. God gave us both Law and Gospel. You can’t have
one without the other.
The law may preserve society.
The law may show us our sin. But the law cannot and will not save us. We need
also to hear the message about the cross of Jesus Christ.
While the Psalmist called the
law of the Lord perfect, for it certainly does its work beautifully, Paul
called the Gospel, or the preaching of the cross foolishness. It is folly in
the eyes of the world, but God made what is foolish in the eyes of the world,
perfect for salvation. For the cross of Jesus Christ and the preaching of the
cross is now the very power of God for salvation. Everyone who is willing to
believe in that message of the cross will be saved. Christ is the power of God.
Christ is the wisdom of God. And the foolishness and weakness of God in the
cross is all that we need for salvation.
In our Lutheran theological
tradition we have stated that the preaching of both Law and Gospel are
essential. They go together like love and marriage. You can’t have one without
the other. When God created the world, he looked at it and said that it was
good. When God gave us both the Law and the message of the cross, the Gospel of
salvation, it became the very power of God for salvation. THERE IS ONLY ONE
THAT IS PERFECT. God does all things well.
In our Gospel lesson for the
day we see something quite astonishing; we see the anger of Jesus. He became so
angry that he made a whip of cords and drove man and beast out of the temple.
He overturned all the tables of the money changers and made a real mess of
things. He yelled at them and told them to stop making his Father’s house a
market place.
Why was Jesus so angry? Moses
gave us the Law and here were the priests who were custodians of the Law, using
the temple to violate the law and take advantage of and rob the poor who wanted
to sacrifice to the Lord. And here in their midst was Jesus, the one who was to
go to the cross, so that the message of salvation could be proclaimed to the
whole world. And the religious authorities did not recognize or honor or accept
the one that God had sent to redeem the world.
We had in the temple that
day, both the Law and the Gospel, the gifts of God for the salvation of the
world, and all that the servants of God could think of that day was to make a
little more money. Jesus was angry and rightly so.
It was Jesus body, the temple
where God really dwelled, that would be hung up on a cross and three days later
be raised from the dead. In this foolishness of God, Jesus dying and his
rising, God would redeem the world. While this was happening all that human
kind could think of was making a little bit more money.
THERE IS ONLY ONE THAT IS
PERFECT! In closing let us listen to some passages from Scripture which use the
word perfect.
The law of the Lord is
perfect, reviving the soul!
Thou dost keep him in perfect
peace whose mind is stayed on thee!
Be perfect as your heavenly
Father is perfect!
My power is made perfect in
weakness!
And having been made perfect
in suffering, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him!
Every perfect gift is from
above!
We can’t be perfect. But we
were made and we have been redeemed to be
loving, caring, sharing,
burden-bearing, justice seeking people who live with and for others.
AMEN!