READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:
Exodus 20:1-17
Romans 6:3-11
- St. Matthew 5:20-26
Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you all from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. (2 Jn 1)
Who speaks to you today, from His Gospel heard in His Church, saying:
“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Last week we talked about the voice of God and it was imperative that we understood it as external to ourselves. As in coming from God, not inside us. Today, we begin to examine our inner voice that the world continues to tell us to listen to and obey. So how do we know if its God’s voice inside us or if it’s just the Taco Bell we had for lunch?
“I tell you”, Jesus says. This is God’s Word, not mine, for you to hear over and over. It doesn’t change no matter how many times you read it. That you are not righteous, that you do murder your neighbor, and that unless you repent and die with Christ, you will remain unrighteous and murderous. It is the External Word that accomplishes true righteousness, and not anything internal to us. Trust, therefore, in the Lord’s Word and Sacraments to create and sustain faith in you and your neighbor.
So what happens when you give a spiritual law to fleshly creatures? They get confused, that’s what. Romans 7:14 tells us, “we know that the law is spiritual.” So when Jesus says, “You shall not murder”, we’re all like, “yeah, murder like, ‘murdering’ your good vibes, man.”
When we attempt to replace the Word with our experiences, reason, or our pleasures we become Enthusiasts. We name this grave sin, Enthusiasm, because this is what “inheres in Adam and his children from the beginning [from the first fall] to the end of the world, [its poison] having been implanted and infused into them by the old dragon, and is the origin, power [life], and strength of all heresy…It is the devil himself…[who is] extolled as Spirit without the Word and Sacraments” (SA III:VIII:9, 11), says our Confessions.
Enthusiasm is the move from the certainty of God's promises to the shaky sands of one's own uncertain thoughts or feelings as to whether God is actually doing or not doing what He promises.
For example: Jesus tells us to not murder, but its spiritual. That gives us spiritual license to interpret and seek its heavenly meaning, rather than a literal interpretation. We attempt to uncover God’s intentions behind His legislation. The flesh hears “you shall not murder someone”, but the “spirit” hears “be reconciled”. Its not about murder, but reconciliation.
Thus, in our super-spirituality, we become the judge. We keep God’s Holy Law the way we want to. He may demand righteousness and “no murder”, but what that means to me is “enhancing life”. Maybe that means, if I advocate for the redistribution of goods needed for life to endure (whatever that looks like), unmoored from moral discriminations (whatever those are), with the hope—and trust—that just maybe the wrongdoer will repent, i.e. live like me, then I’ll achieve what God really meant by, “you shall not murder”.
This is spiritualizing the law, or enthusiasm. Again, while the Holy Law would prohibit violence, us spiritualizing it would involve limiting the use of violence even in situations where it's technically permitted, emphasizing peace and reconciliation and, on the other hand, authorizing violence if it produces the same, life-enhancing result.
Spiritualized legal systems would focus on fostering communion and cooperation between people, rather than just enforcing laws, rights, and obligations. Ha! Spiritual Growth would then mean ritualizing the law in order that you are simply involved with aligning your actions with your values and striving for a higher purpose. As long as my goal is met, the ends justify the means to get there.
Repent. Sounds convoluted, right? If you are above the Scriptures, you are against the Scriptures. You must reject the “fanatical men, who dream that the Holy Ghost is given not through the Word, but because of certain preparations of their own, if they sit unoccupied and silent in obscure places, waiting for illumination” (Ap XIII (VII):13) says our Confessions.
Jesus does not promise to draw all men to Himself without external means. Jesus does not promise enlightenment, justification, or salvation apart from hearing God’s Word. You may wish to wait for a heavenly revelation without preaching, but just tell me if you suffer from that and I’ll drop a Bible in your lap. (FC II:13)
Jesus rejects enthusiasm today, in the Gospel already heard. He does this by stating the Law, spiritualizing it until only God can be righteous enough to complete it, and then putting our neighbor in front of us. “You shall not murder” has no teeth without another person in front of us. “You shall not murder” gains a physical meaning with the spiritual when you see yourself in your neighbor.
Meaning, our spiritual fantasies disappear when our neighbor, whom we are not supposed to murder, stands in front of us. Same with the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. If that Righteousness were to be placed in front of us, all enthusiasm (the bad kind) would go out the window. There’d be no room for it. We’d have to deal with flesh and blood.
If the Law could save us or make us righteous, Jesus would not have endured the cross. If we didn’t need the spoken Word and administered Sacraments, then of what use is the Bible?
God comes in flesh and blood so that there is no doubt what the Word is and what His Promises are. The Word is both spiritual and physical. Jesus is both God and man. He is Judge of both, He holds the authority of both, and He comes to proclaim both. He comes to give the Law and to complete it, in the flesh. He gives spiritual truths, Who just so also happens to be the third Person of the Trinity.
Dr. Luther speaks this way:
Our teaching is that bread and wine do not avail…Christ on the cross and all His suffering and His death do not avail, even if, as you teach, they are "acknowledged and meditated upon" with the utmost "passion, ardor, heartfeltness."
Something else must always be there. What is it? The Word, the Word, the Word. (AE 40:212-213)
The solution is: the Word, the Word, the Word. Jesus shows up. The owner of the voice shows up, admits it, and gives the promise of the voice remaining with us, even if He goes away. The Word is made flesh, dwells among us, and leaves us a record of His words. Thus, our first line of defense against enthusiasm, our neighbors and our own, is His Word which endures forever.
“Chapter and verse”, is the direct reply to your neighbor’s enthusiasm and to yours. “Show me the chapter and verse”, you say when someone is speaking for God or from God or about God. Did God really say you get visions? Did God really say that all laws are in the shrine of your heart and whatever you decide and command in church is spirit and law, even when it is above and contrary to the Scriptures or spoken Word?
I don’t think so. If you are above the Scriptures, you are against the Scriptures. The Word is the antidote and we keep our noses in the Word to shield us from nonsense. And what does the Word give us?
The theologian, Gerhard Forde says, “In administering the sacraments, we do not merely say something. We do not merely impart information. We do something. We wash in water. We give bread and wine to those who come. We do not just explain Christ or the Gospel or describe faith or give instructions on how to get salvation. We give salvation flat out. There it is. In the mouth. There it is, on the head.” (Gerhard Forde, book "Theologies For Proclamation")
Hymns are useful to us in this respect, also. For we don’t just sing for singing’s sake, just because we like it. We sing difficult hymns. Difficult because we sing what it is we believe. We sing our confessions. We sing our doctrine. We sing the Son of God. So while it may seem difficult, our hymns defend us from our preferences and place us outside the box, so to speak.
Enthusiasm is rejection of the External Word. Christianity is acceptance that the Truth is outside us, that we are trying to discern it, and that we live by it even at the expense of our experience, our reason, our pleasure, our popularity, and our bank accounts.
Jesus may have promised to dwell in our hearts through faith (Eph 3:17), but not that He would save you there or redeem you there or have mercy on all mankind from there. He perfected that long before your heart was even formed and He will continue the same, long after.
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