Living Your Faith (A Look at the Bible Lessons for June 1, 2008)

The Bible Lessons:
Deuteronomy 11:18-21, 26-28
Psalm 31:1-5, 19-24
Romans 1:16-17; 3:22b-28 [29-31]
Matthew 7:21-29

The Prayer of the Day:
O God our rock, you offer us a covenant of mercy, and you provide the foundation of our lives. Ground us in your word, and strengthen our resolve to be your disciples, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Comments:
1. Last week, we waded deep into the themes and purposes of the Sundays after Pentecost. We mentioned that "the themes of Bible lessons appointed for the Pentecost season, are basically, living each day with Christ and growing in our faith in Christ." We see that same overarching theme in all of the lessons for this week.

2. One important theme running through all the Bible lessons appointed for this week is this: Now that God has saved you as an act of divine charity, let God's identity and character inform your every decision and action; strive to live according to the Word of God, building your life on it alone.

3. Deuteronomy 11:18-21, 26-28: Deuteronomy is a series of sermons or messages delivered by Moses as the Hebrews are about to enter the land promised to them by God. The Hebrews didn't deserve freedom from slavery in Egypt nor did they deserve the land God was giving to them. As in the New Testament, we see that a relationship with God depends not on our virtues, but God's grace and our response of submission to that grace.

4. As more than one commentator points out, the language verses 18-21 is nearly identical to that in Deuteronomy 6:4-9, known as the Shema. The Shema embodies the central theme of Deuternomy. But its repetition in chapter 11 forms an inclusio (or inclusion), meaning both that the content in between the passages relates to the themes of the Shema and that two appearances of the Shema form the beginning and the end of one sermon in Deuteronomy.

5. The call is to respond to God's grace through a life of obedience, one in which the gracious, loving will permeates the will and the daily living of believers. We offer obedience not as a way to earn salvation, but as a way of loving God and loving neighbor. We obey not for our good, but for the good of others.

6. As Jesus does in this week's Gospel lesson, God, through the preacher Moses, lays a stark choice before His people: Be blessed by obedience or be cursed by disobedience.

Today's Western culture recoils at such stark choices. We like a glut of options, particularly when it comes to allegiance to God or to various gods. We want just enough of God to feel that all is well, but not so much as to impinge on the choices we'd rather make. We like to keep our options open. God will have none of our postmodern waffling. I don't know about you, but this makes me feel uncomfortable. I repent each day for so often putting God in the backseat of my life!

7. Psalm 31:1-5, 19-24 is an expression of complete trust in God, our refuge in the face of life's difficulties. God, the psalmist, is "a strong rock," language echoed in Jesus' mini-parable in the Gospel leson.

8. Romans 1:16-17; 3:22b-28 [29-31] can well be described as a Lutheran identity statement. That's because the portion of the reading from Romans 1 played a pivotal role in transforming Martin Luther's understanding of God, setting him on the Reformation path and the portion coming from Romans 3 succinctly states what the Reformation seeks to posit (rightly, I think) as the central doctrine of the Bible: the undeserved justification of sinners who believe in Jesus Christ. This stands as a warning to all who might be tempted to erroneously conclude from the first lesson and the Gospel lesson that one can be saved by works of religious devotion or kindness. That is impossible. The person truly infected by God's grace given through Christ will live differently. Good works will spring from the Savior living in the obedient follower. This is the clear theme of Matthew 25:31-46, where the "sheep" are totally unaware of the good deeds they have done; they flowed from their relationship with Christ, not from a desire to "look good" to God or neighbor.

9. Matthew 7:21-29: My son, Philip, during a presentation at our weekly pastors' Bible study, divides this passage into three sections: (1) Judgment (vv.21-23); (2) Parable of the Housebuilders (vv.24-27); (3) Reaction of the Crowds to Jesus (vv.28-29). For great comments on this passage, take a look at Brian Stoffregen's Exegetical Notes, here. But I'll make a few brief comments on each of the sections Phil identfies.

10. Judgment: This doesn't appeal to our postmodern ears either. Shamed by Freud, Feuerbach, Marx, and others into silence on the question of hell, we postmodern Christians tiptoe around it. Much as we Christians might prefer otherwise, Jesus was not so dainty. He talked about hell. His motive was clearly not to scare people into submission, but fair warning, truth in advertising. God allows us the freedom to reject the free gift of salvation that belongs to all with faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus does not force Himself on us.

Here, as Stoffregen so well explains it, knowing Jesus or His Name isn't good enough. Having access to God through Christ is a privilege. The question is, "Does this same God know us?" Is God a kewpie doll that we pull out when it suits us? Do we invoke the Name of God when it can help us? Or is the God we know in Jesus Christ the vital center of our existences?

11. Luther, Philip reminded us today, said that whatever "signs" we may perform in Christ's Name are meaningful insofar as they adhere and conform to the "Word of God." Anything that points to us rather than God is dead and meaningless. AMEN!

12. Parable of the Housebuilders: There is no apparent difference in the craftsmanship or the quality of the houses built by the two men in this parable. But the wise one (sophos) builds on a solid foudation, while the foolish one (moros) builds on sand. The wise person, no more able than the foolish one, nonetheless knows that it's better to build on Jesus Christ and His Word than it is on the sand of impermanent things--like fashion, physical health, money, status, and so on. [By the way, the New Testament's original Greek word, moros, which means "dull or mentally sluggish" is where we get the word moron. Sophos means wisdom and appears in many English words. Philosophy, for example, literally means love of wisdom. The word "sophomore" combines these two words, connoting a person who, in the second year of their high school or college years, is slowly becoming wiser.]

Phil suggests that this section of the Gospel lesson relates to Romans 3:31, from the optional section of our epistle lesson:

Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

We are saved by God's grace and our faith in God, not by upholding God's law. But we uphold God's law when we root our lives in God.

As we teach children to sing, "The wise man built his house upon the rock..."

13. Reaction of the Crowds: Here's where it's especially important to read Stoffregen's commentary on this passage. On the face of it, the crowds seem to be applauding Jesus. But Stoffregen gives two reasons to doubt this interpretation:

(1) Usually in Matthew's Gospel, "the crowds" have an even harder time of "getting" Jesus than the disciples. They often are portrayed as following Jesus out of curiosity or to get something out of Him. They acclaim Jesus as the Messiah on Palm Sunday and a few days later, cry for His crucifixion, for example. They're fickle and skeptical and frankly, thick, apt to build on temporary, earthly foundations. They're like the unwise housebuilder of the previous verses.

(2) The New Testament Greek verb translated as "astonished" carries the implication of, "This is crazy! We can't believe it!" The Scribes taught a perverted version of the Old Testament, one that transformed a relationship with God based on God's grace into a religious system of rules. The latter they could understand. It allowed them to keep God in a box, under their control. But Jesus was pointing to the truth God had long ago revealed to ancient Israel: salvation and life belong only to those who submit to God's authority over their lives.

Do we dare to believe that?

More importantly, do we dare to live that?


[Each week, I present some thoughts on the Bible lessons for the succeeding Sunday. In doing so, I hope to help the people of the congregation I serve, Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, to prepare for worship. And because, we will almost always use the appointed lessons for the Church Year, I also hope that these thoughts can help others prepare for worship too.]