• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
 
Lord’s Day 44b (also Hebrews 4:12-16)
12
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than anydouble-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
13
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything isuncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we mustgive account.
14
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascendedinto heaven,
[a]
Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faithwe profess.
15
For we do not have a high priest who is unable toempathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has beentempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
16
Let usthen approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that wemay receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Keeping the Law
Brothers and sisters,I remember when I was a kid (I should add my disclaimer here – Iwas an incredibly dense child that you young people should never,ever imitate) – I was probably about 12 or 13 years old – and welived in this old farm house outside of town. Now it was summer vacation and my Dad was at work and my mom had gone out for the day with my brother and sister and I was alone at home.So the phone rings and my best friend was on the line. He had just picked up a new video game for his Nintendo and he wanted me tocome over to check it out. Now my parents weren’t home andweren’t going to be back any time soon so I couldn’t get a ride –  but I really wanted to play this game.So I decided to bike it. I’d never made the trip to town but it wasonly about half an hour by car so how long could it take. So Ihopped on my bike and started making my way to town.
 
Ok – there are two misconceptions that need to be cleared up here.The first is that I’m allegedly good at math – apparently I can’t tellthe difference between a car going at 100 km/h and a bike going atmaybe 7 – the second misconception is that Ontario is a flat province – the hills are just stretched out.So here I am, this 13 year old kid on a poorly geared BMX bikeabout 2 hours into my trip and I’m just dying – my legs wereaching – I brought a big bottle of water so I was ok for that – but Iwas getting nowhere fast. I’d pick a point on the road and start biking to it and it took forever to get there. Each mailbox was amarathon.You ever feel like that – you’re on a trip and you never seem to getthere. Maybe hiking or driving or biking and it doesn’t feel likeyou’re getting any closer to your goal?We’ve just finished this 10 week discussion of the 10commandments and while the sermon series didn’t feel like amarathon (well – maybe it has for you) sometimes the law itself can make us feel like we are way behind in our walk with Jesusand that catching up to where we’re supposed to be seems almostimpossible.This evening we’re going to deal with that reality – that gap whichexists between God’s law which is perfection and us who as human beings are admittedly imperfect. And we’ll look to the Scripturesand to the Catechism to see how we can make up that distance – how can we get to this place that we want to go….
I. I’d like to follow the catechism’s treatment first and look atthe destination: sometimes we wonder whether we are evenqualified to talk about the Law.
 
[Illustration: Fallen Christians]In the news a few months ago therewas this story about an evangelical preacher in the US. He was the pastor of one of these very large churches with thousands of peoplelistening to him. He was connected to all the major Christian political players in the US, had a wife, a family, and greatinfluence as a Christian leader…And without going into all the details all of a sudden it was foundout that he was living a secret life – involving a sinful relationship – all the while preaching about the importance of family values.The media had a field day – all the talk shows were filled with jokes about him. The major news channels made him the featurestory. All the Christian leaders started distancing themselves fromhim. His credibility was lost.You know the sad thing is that I don’t need to name any names. Icould probably change the date from months to years – I couldchange the denomination and country – and you’d be reminded of a similar story.And the world looks at the church – shakes it’s head – and goesabout its way. What business do we have preaching the law – telling people what to do – giving moral and ethicalcommandments when we can’t even keep it ourselves.I mean, we’re not as visible as these big named Christian leaders but our reality is no different. As much as we’d like to we aresinful people – how dare we talk to people about how they shouldlive their lives.The Catechism writer’s understood this reality all to well. Let usread together from question and answer 114.
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...