What is the Law?
Commentary
One of the difficult things we do around the church is to use the same word when we mean different things. We speak of the law and sometimes mean the 10 Commandments, sometimes mean the sacrificial and food laws of Leviticus, sometimes mean the communal laws of Deuteronomy and sometimes we mean the Sermon on the Mount, and then to confuse others further we talk of the law as if it were something not written down but that which is the fabric of life, a spirit that breathes through words, the law that is approached through laws. Perhaps we would be better served if we spoke of the Law when we meant to speak of the spirit of the Old Testament and the New and to speak of rules when we mean to speak of rules.
When Paul speaks of the law he refers to all those Levitical rules and regulations that had been imposed upon the religious community. They went on forever. One could hardly hope to keep all of them. Rules were spun out for every little possible circumstance in life. Meant to tell people how to behave and to help, they became a new bondage. Such laws were a trap. They promised salvation but they only condemned since no one could ever hope to keep them all to the letter. We need to clean up our language in the church.
Paul had tried to keep all the rules and despaired.
The people coming to the temple were trying to keep the rules and were being bilked.
Still many try it and discover that even when they have approximately succeeded they have run afoul of the principle spelled out in C. S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters, and have sinned worst of all in the pride they have taken in their goodness. Watch your language.
OUTLINE I
Recipe for community
Exodus 20:1-17
Introduction: I recall once having a church member tell me that his religion was the 10 Commandments and the Golden Rule. Here was a man who was interested in the letter of the law rather than the spirit. His clan is greatly populated. There are still those who manage to conclude that either the 10 Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount are summaries of the faith and that they present all the rules one must follow in order to be approved by God.
It is helpful to remember that the 10 Commandments were part of the literature which was put together in Babylon after the exile when the people who were in despair (Psalm 137) were seeking new directions. Whether these 10 Commandments were indeed given to Moses and carried into Babylon or whether the story was first written there is of little consequence. In either case what we have here is not 10 rules, 10 commandments which are a summary of the law, but 10 starting points, 10 "words," (messages), which are best seen as a summary of the four things basic to the forming of cornmunity, (which was before both Moses and the exiles.) Take another look.
A. Commandments one, two, three. No other gods, no images, no misuse of the name. Community begins with a right relationship with God.
B. Commandment four. The sabbath. Given for us. Community depends upon a right consideration of the worth of the individual.
C. Commandment five. Honor father and mother. The family. Community depends upon a strong family structure and relationships.
D. Commandments six-10. Society. No murder, adultery, theft, lying or coveting. Community rests on respect and consideration for one another.
Conclusion: Try preaching four sermons rather than 10. See them for what they are, the bases for a new community coming into being whether at the time of the Exodus or at the time of the Exile.
OUTLINE II
Roman Christians
Romans 7:13-25
Introduction: It is always helpful to provide the hearers with some background. Link Romans with the material in Acts and the other letters, note that it is the last letter, that it is to a church which Paul did not found, that in it he is seeking to validate himself to the Roman Christians before coming there, and that because of all of this, it is in the letter to the Romans that we have what comes closest to being a theological treatise by Paul. Of course, any such treatise must deal with the relationship of the law to grace if it is to speak to the Jewish community at Rome. You can find out what happened when Paul got there by reading the last chapter in Acts. I suggest that you just let the text speak for itself.
A. The role of the law. The law shows what sin is. It is not the law that causes people to disobey. The law is a teacher, and it is a convictor when one does disobey.
B. The dilemma. No doubt Paul speaks about himself but who can read these lines without finding in them a mirror of our own condition. Most of us go with the best of intentions. We really do mean to be better than we are. There is no use getting in the pulpit every week and jumping on the people because of their sins. They know about them and they already feel badly enough about them. What they need is not a word of condemnation but a word of hope.
C. The word of hope. Who shall deliver me? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. What more needs to be said. When we are enslaved, trapped, in bondage to sin and cannot find a way to free ourselves we discover that God has made a way. In Christ he broke the power of sin and death. It has no more power over us. More than that he offers the gift of his spirit, to guide, to remind, to teach. Check out John 14-16.
Conclusion: Offer realism. Offer hope.
OUTLINE III
The angry Jesus
John 2:13-22
Introduction: Most of the time we hear Jesus presented as the gentle Jesus, meek and mild. He is always the man in control. He is the model for all of us who ought always to be listening, to be sensitive, to be open, to be kind, to be loving. Well, in today's selection we discover another dimension of love, Jesus' love for the temple as a place of worship.
A. Tell the story. Let it all hang out. Describe fully what is going on here. The precincts of the temple have been turned into a farmer's market where pilgrims who came from other towns could purchase birds and animals for sacrifice. Great profit was made not only from the sale of the animals (only perfect ones) but in the exchange of foreign monies for temple money (and there was a fee). The people were being ripped off.
B. Let Jesus be Jesus. This must have been some scene. Overturned tables, freed animals, yelling people, screaming birds. What a mess! And there in the middle of it all is a calm, angry, and active Jesus. One wonders how many in that crowd thought of what the prophet Malachi had said long before. See Malachi 3:1-2.
C. Some believed. That is the way it always is. Some will believe. In the long run it is easier to believe in a real Jesus than a namby-pamby goody goody as he is often depicted to be. Let him stand up like a man and he will become more real to the hearers.
Conclusion: I know that there are times when some in the church oppose any buying and selling in the church and use this Scripture as their backing but the circumstances are not the same. I seldom see sacrifices sold at the church. Who has ever seen money changers at work in any other place than banks these days? Don't let your hearers get sidetracked into small issues and miss what is going on here. Here Jesus addresses a real problem in his day, the exploitation of those who could not defend themselves. That is a problem that is still with us. Take that one on and you will be keeping the meaning of this text.
When Paul speaks of the law he refers to all those Levitical rules and regulations that had been imposed upon the religious community. They went on forever. One could hardly hope to keep all of them. Rules were spun out for every little possible circumstance in life. Meant to tell people how to behave and to help, they became a new bondage. Such laws were a trap. They promised salvation but they only condemned since no one could ever hope to keep them all to the letter. We need to clean up our language in the church.
Paul had tried to keep all the rules and despaired.
The people coming to the temple were trying to keep the rules and were being bilked.
Still many try it and discover that even when they have approximately succeeded they have run afoul of the principle spelled out in C. S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters, and have sinned worst of all in the pride they have taken in their goodness. Watch your language.
OUTLINE I
Recipe for community
Exodus 20:1-17
Introduction: I recall once having a church member tell me that his religion was the 10 Commandments and the Golden Rule. Here was a man who was interested in the letter of the law rather than the spirit. His clan is greatly populated. There are still those who manage to conclude that either the 10 Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount are summaries of the faith and that they present all the rules one must follow in order to be approved by God.
It is helpful to remember that the 10 Commandments were part of the literature which was put together in Babylon after the exile when the people who were in despair (Psalm 137) were seeking new directions. Whether these 10 Commandments were indeed given to Moses and carried into Babylon or whether the story was first written there is of little consequence. In either case what we have here is not 10 rules, 10 commandments which are a summary of the law, but 10 starting points, 10 "words," (messages), which are best seen as a summary of the four things basic to the forming of cornmunity, (which was before both Moses and the exiles.) Take another look.
A. Commandments one, two, three. No other gods, no images, no misuse of the name. Community begins with a right relationship with God.
B. Commandment four. The sabbath. Given for us. Community depends upon a right consideration of the worth of the individual.
C. Commandment five. Honor father and mother. The family. Community depends upon a strong family structure and relationships.
D. Commandments six-10. Society. No murder, adultery, theft, lying or coveting. Community rests on respect and consideration for one another.
Conclusion: Try preaching four sermons rather than 10. See them for what they are, the bases for a new community coming into being whether at the time of the Exodus or at the time of the Exile.
OUTLINE II
Roman Christians
Romans 7:13-25
Introduction: It is always helpful to provide the hearers with some background. Link Romans with the material in Acts and the other letters, note that it is the last letter, that it is to a church which Paul did not found, that in it he is seeking to validate himself to the Roman Christians before coming there, and that because of all of this, it is in the letter to the Romans that we have what comes closest to being a theological treatise by Paul. Of course, any such treatise must deal with the relationship of the law to grace if it is to speak to the Jewish community at Rome. You can find out what happened when Paul got there by reading the last chapter in Acts. I suggest that you just let the text speak for itself.
A. The role of the law. The law shows what sin is. It is not the law that causes people to disobey. The law is a teacher, and it is a convictor when one does disobey.
B. The dilemma. No doubt Paul speaks about himself but who can read these lines without finding in them a mirror of our own condition. Most of us go with the best of intentions. We really do mean to be better than we are. There is no use getting in the pulpit every week and jumping on the people because of their sins. They know about them and they already feel badly enough about them. What they need is not a word of condemnation but a word of hope.
C. The word of hope. Who shall deliver me? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. What more needs to be said. When we are enslaved, trapped, in bondage to sin and cannot find a way to free ourselves we discover that God has made a way. In Christ he broke the power of sin and death. It has no more power over us. More than that he offers the gift of his spirit, to guide, to remind, to teach. Check out John 14-16.
Conclusion: Offer realism. Offer hope.
OUTLINE III
The angry Jesus
John 2:13-22
Introduction: Most of the time we hear Jesus presented as the gentle Jesus, meek and mild. He is always the man in control. He is the model for all of us who ought always to be listening, to be sensitive, to be open, to be kind, to be loving. Well, in today's selection we discover another dimension of love, Jesus' love for the temple as a place of worship.
A. Tell the story. Let it all hang out. Describe fully what is going on here. The precincts of the temple have been turned into a farmer's market where pilgrims who came from other towns could purchase birds and animals for sacrifice. Great profit was made not only from the sale of the animals (only perfect ones) but in the exchange of foreign monies for temple money (and there was a fee). The people were being ripped off.
B. Let Jesus be Jesus. This must have been some scene. Overturned tables, freed animals, yelling people, screaming birds. What a mess! And there in the middle of it all is a calm, angry, and active Jesus. One wonders how many in that crowd thought of what the prophet Malachi had said long before. See Malachi 3:1-2.
C. Some believed. That is the way it always is. Some will believe. In the long run it is easier to believe in a real Jesus than a namby-pamby goody goody as he is often depicted to be. Let him stand up like a man and he will become more real to the hearers.
Conclusion: I know that there are times when some in the church oppose any buying and selling in the church and use this Scripture as their backing but the circumstances are not the same. I seldom see sacrifices sold at the church. Who has ever seen money changers at work in any other place than banks these days? Don't let your hearers get sidetracked into small issues and miss what is going on here. Here Jesus addresses a real problem in his day, the exploitation of those who could not defend themselves. That is a problem that is still with us. Take that one on and you will be keeping the meaning of this text.
