Sermon preached at Kramer Chapel of Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, 28 September 2012 (from a transcript)
Grace, Mercy and peace be to you from God our father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
Deep forests, vast prairies, breathtaking mountains, mighty rivers, America called to people yearning for a utopia – a good place — to show the world what society purged of evil could be like. The Puritans came across the sea just over 400 years ago and planted its city on a hill — The Plymouth Bay colony. Quaker William Penn acquired a colony, — Penn’s Woods — where anyone of any religious view could come to find a home — even Lutherans!
To America came more utopias — Shakers and Harmonists. Mormons and Amish, eventually Saxon Lutherans and Löhe’s colonies of witness in the Saginaw Valley — all trying to erect ideal societies to some extent.
In civil terms, they succeeded, but in spiritual terms they were disappointed. It seems even devout Christians are still sinners. Who would have imagined it?
God has hardwired law into all our hearts and our creation, and so from the very beginning of civilized society, people wondered: what would it be like to have a perfect society?
Plato, had his Republic, Augustine the City of God. Monastics had their monasteries and convents. As we go down through time, Thomas Moore, made fun of it. He coined the term Ευτοπία — meaning good place — but also Ουτοπία — meaning no place because there is no such place. After all, even though Luther didn’t say it, the old Adam is a good swimmer.
Yes, we can live a good life in service to neighbor. But that only goes so far. At best living according to nature, we can praise the good and condemn the evil together we can live in well-ordered societies and civil law can keep and succeed at it. Yet it cannot extinguish sin.
There is always some way that we will rebel against the rules that are made up for us for our own good.
God’s law does work as a curb and so, in good times, our societies can keep sin well under control, even though those good times really don’t last. Even though there is a measure of peace — Even in the best society, yet, sin is still there. To keep the law is extremely difficult, even if only externally.
We are tempted to think that’s all we have to do. You can run your checklist of the 10 Commandments, we think.
Look I go to church on Sunday. Check.
I don’t have any gods other than the Holy Trinity. Check.
I don’t ever swear. Check.
That gets the first table all down.
I love my parents. Check.
I haven’t murdered anybody recently. Check.
I have honored my wife. Check.
I don’t covet — at least publicly. Check.
And so you think that you have it all covered.
The new Moses, however, informs us that exterior righteousness really doesn’t work.
In the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord goes through and points out that it’s not good enough not to murder. You can’t even swear at them when you cut them off in traffic or show them the universal sign of displeasure.
It is not enough not to commit adultery, but to even look at a swimsuit model if you’re male, or the Bachelor on The Bachelor if you’re female, and think thoughts — slightly inappropriate thoughts. Even that is adultery in God’s book.
You see, Jesus pointed out it is not those things that come from the outside that corrupt a person. It is that which is in inside of us,. that we constantly think evil thoughts all the time — that is what corrupts a person. And if you can’t deal with that problem within you, there is no chance that you are going to stop sinning.
Education will not cure it. Redistribution of wealth will not solve it. Blaming the other guy just doesn’t hack it. Piety will not quench it, striving to overcome it will not work, no matter how high the standards you set, no matter how hard you work, sooner or later that old Adam and that old Eve is going to get you. That is why the works of the really good guys in the time of Jesus, the Pharisees, really just weren’t enough. They may be able to get the exterior right, but inside they are still filled with lust, sin, envy and all that goes with it.
And so if you want to enter God’s Kingdom. Your righteousness has to exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees. Good luck with that. You’re going to need it.
What we need is a completely different kind of righteousness, not one that comes from inside of us, that we can gin up, that we can achieve if we work as hard as we can.
What we need is a righteousness that comes from Jesus Christ himself.
Jesus is the blessed one, who lived the perfect life for us and fulfilled every letter of the law, every iota, accent, yod, dagesh and dash. He kept every aspect of that law for us, so that when he took our evil to the cross, he was able to break its power once and for all. Dying for our guilt and bearing our sin, he paid its punishment once and for all. When he rose again from the dead he brought to us the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.
In baptism, we receive from him this righteousness, a righteousness which exceeds not only that of the Pharisees, but describes what fulfills God’s perfect purpose. Exactly that righteousness is now ours, so that when we come before God’s throne, what he sees is his son, and not us.
Yes, we still do sin, because the world, the devil and our flesh still haunt us. But even when we find it difficult to keep more than just the exterior law. we have someone who lives in us. Saint Paul reminds us it is not we who live, but Christ who lives in us.
And so, when we have trouble keeping the law, we can turn to Christ who is within us, who has kept the law already for us and from his strength we can live good lives in this world. And as we live, we serve each other and serve our neighbors, Christian or not. We will become a light in this world where people will look to us and see Christ and wonder how is it that you can live that way. And when we tell them we can’t on our own, but with Christ alone can, they will be drawn to him.
He is, after all, the source of all light and so we will reflect his light, until the day Christ comes to bring an end to sin and death and the power of the devil. Then the true city of God will descend from heaven itself, The church, perfected in God’s glory to live in the good new place, the true utopia, forever and ever, Amen.
And now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, set watch over our hearts and minds in faith in Christ Jesus to life everlasting, Amen.
©2012, 2021 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com
