Justified by Faith: A Meditation on Romans 3 for Reformation Sunday

Now we know that what things soever the law saith,

it saith to them who are under the law:

that every mouth may be stopped,

and all the world may become guilty before God.

Therefore by the deeds of the law

there shall no flesh be justified in his sight:

for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,

being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ

unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood,

 to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past,

through the forbearance of God;

To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness:

that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

 

Where is boasting then? It is excluded.

By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith

without the deeds of the law.

 

The great Solas of the Reformation were presented by St. Paul in his letter to the Church of Rome nearly 1500 years before Luther sent them back to Rome again in the 16^th century.  The teaching is built upon the revelations that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God; that God is holy, and we are unable to achieve His holiness due to our fall into sin; that only God could rescue mankind from the hell we have justly earned for ourselves; that only Jesus has accomplished that rescue through His life, death, and resurrection as the Eternal Word and Only Begotten Son of the Father; that only Jesus sets the terms of how to receive that rescue from sin, death, hell, and the devil as a free gift of unmerited grace from Him to us; and that only a living, trusting faith in Jesus which abides in Him and His Word can receive that grace unto everlasting life.  Thus the Reformers confess with St. Paul that mankind can only and always be saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, given to us through His Word alone.

 

Much vitriol has been spilled by apologists across the ages against these simple premises, but they are the clear teaching of St. Paul, the Apostles, and Jesus, with their echoes in the Old Testament Prophets.  Some have tried to pit St. James against St. Paul, which is a losing proposition, just as it is to pit Jesus against Moses or Elijah.  In Jesus the Law is fulfilled, the penalty of our sin satisfied in His Cross, and redemption poured out to all who will repent and believe.  But just as wrong as it has been in any age to try and prop up human works or traditions as necessary for salvation in addition to, or in spite of, the grace of Jesus Christ alone, wrong also has been the impulse of some toward a kind of sterile, intellectual ascent to the truth of Jesus without loving or following Him in His Word.  The Reformers were clear that while faith alone receives justification before God by grace alone in Christ alone, such a living, saving faith is never found alone—like a tree that brings forth good fruits according to it kind and in its proper seasons, living faith is always bringing about good works of love for God and compassion for our neighbors.  As St. Paul and St. James would both agree, faith without works is a dead thing, just as Jesus described a dead branch broken off from His living Vine.  While faith alone receives the grace of forgiveness unto eternal life, it is the faith of the contrite and humble heart that lives in Jesus, abiding daily in His living Word, and shown forth in a life reflective of His.  The affirmations of the demons or the pharisees or the hypocrites in any generation have nothing in Jesus, as a mere knowledge of Him without trusting and following Him, leaves such a person cut off from saving grace.

 

This points to another truth of the Scriptural Solas—they are never efficacious apart from each other.  Faith apart from Jesus and His Word is a false confidence without hope; Grace apart of faith in Jesus is unreachable; Jesus as the Eternal Word of the Father is inseparable from the Word He has given through His Prophets and Apostles.  While the Pharisees of 1^st century Israel and the Romans of the medieval period both argued centuries apart that there is no salvation outside the physical institutions which they ruled (famously summarized in the statement that “outside the church there is no salvation,”) the truth is that the only true church is the one which is composed of those people saved by grace through faith in Christ alone.  In a sense, both the ancient Pharisee and medieval Papist were partially correct in noting the unity of the saved with the communion of the saints, yet they misidentified what the actual fellowship of the saints was and remains:  a fellowship of faith in the Word and Person of Jesus Christ.  Thus the particular churchly institution becomes a secondary effect, or a reflection of what lies beneath in its foundation.  The Lutheran Reformers did not deny that Christians could indeed be found in the congregations of Roman Catholics, but they did confess that whether they be found in Rome, Augsburg, Geneva, London, Alexandria, or Constantinople, the only kind of real Christian anyone would ever find is one that is saved by grace through faith in Christ alone.  The political particulars of human fellowships make little difference to the living reality of the individual heart before Almighty God, and wherever such redeemed hearts congregate in living faith around Jesus and His Word, there is the true Church.

 

The Reformation, at least as the Lutheran Confessors envisioned it, was never about splitting or dividing the Church, or creating a new human institution they could pretend outside of which was no salvation.  The principle aim of these Reformers was to return all people to the font of God’s Word, to hear Him speak His convicting Law and saving Gospel, and to live by grace through faith in Jesus alone.  This was a confession declared by the Prophets and the Apostles, as well as the faithful Church Fathers who came after them, handing on to future generations their biblical Creeds and Confessions.  It is in this train of faithful saints and martyrs which we stand today, continuing their witness and passing it along to our children.  They are our great cloud of witnesses who lived and died in this true confession, sometimes in eras of peace and other times in eras of persecution, knowing that regardless of how the faithless world and corrupt ecclesiastics would try to draw people away from Jesus and His Word, the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ remains the only path to eternal life.  These are the saintly witnesses once moved by the same Holy Spirit who calls and enlivens us in the Word of Jesus, to hear Him above all other earthly voices, and to abide in Him regardless of any transitory prosperity or strife.  These are the witnesses of every age who yearn to welcome us home when our earthly struggle is over, that with them we might sing the praises of our saving God and King unto endless ages of ages.

 

In that land of endless day toward which we press, there are no songs of tribute or praise for popes or reformers, for rich or poor, for scientists or engineers or politicians.  The hallowed halls of that Eternal Kingdom are not adorned with the self-aggrandizing portraits of kings or conquerors, of explorers or inventors, of captains of industry or benefactors of the arts, but rather the beatific vision of Christ alone.  For in Christ alone are the lives of all the saints held secure, where the grace of Christ alone is the glory of all who find their rest in Him, in this age, and unto all ages of ages.  Hear the Word of Jesus come to you this day, calling you to turn to Him, abide in Him, trust in Him, and live in Him, together with all the saints in light, forgiven and free, forever.  Amen.

 

 

Following Jesus in the Way: A Meditation on Mark 10 for the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost

And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho

 with his disciples and a great number of people,

blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus,

sat by the highway side begging.

And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth,

he began to cry out, and say,

Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.

And many charged him that he should hold his peace:

but he cried the more a great deal,

Thou son of David, have mercy on me.

And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called.

And they call the blind man, saying unto him,

Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.

And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.

And Jesus answered and said unto him,

What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?

The blind man said unto him,

Lord, that I might receive my sight.

And Jesus said unto him,

Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.

And immediately he received his sight,

and followed Jesus in the way.

 

The 10^th chapter of Mark began with the story of a rich young ruler who approached Jesus asking about eternal life but went away from Jesus sorrowful, then ended with a blind beggar healed, who followed Jesus in the way.  The wealthy young man was not prevented by the crowd from approaching Jesus, and the crowd was aghast that despite his apparent holiness before the Law, Jesus called him to renounce his wealth and follow Him.  That wealthy young man who approached Jesus so confidently, left in mourning because he loved his riches more than Jesus.  The poor beggar, on the contrary, was resisted by the crowds from getting to Jesus.  Once Jesus received the persistent man, He declared to him that his faith had made him whole, and that beggar followed Jesus thereafter.  Both the rich young ruler and the poverty stricken beggar made good book ends to the teaching Jesus offered in between, regarding the first being last and the last being first, that the greatest among us are those who serve others, just as Jesus came to serve rather than be served, giving His life as a ransom for many.

 

Worldly perspectives tend to prize riches over poverty, power over weakness, command over service.  We see this clearly in the spheres of politics and business, where regardless of the rhetoric spewed to gain momentary advantage, they are rarely found without their wealth and power surrounding them.  Their clothes are finely tailored, their entourage is sycophantic, their transport is luxurious, their parties are lavish… and the world upholds them up as the ideal toward which man should aspire.  But of course, what passes in the halls of political and economic power does not remain there.  Everyone has a certain sympathy for the rich and famous, which our modern cults of celebrity reflect so clearly.  Greatly esteemed actors and academics, athletes and artisans, and any shade of popularity inspired social elevation, tends to draw the attention and affection of mankind.  Outward displays of opulence and excellence tap into deep veins of covetousness and pride within us all, where we secretly idolize that which we are tempted to pursue:  power and wealth for our own glory.

 

But such challenges are not just out there in the world somewhere—they are deep within every person’s sinful heart, which is why they sometimes manifest in our churches just like they did in the people who were following Jesus.  It is tempting to look at the people in our churches and judge them by their appearance; to appreciate and elevate some because they are outwardly beautiful, eloquent, wealthy, powerful, or respected, while denigrating and sidelining those who appear otherwise.  It is the same old covetous idolatry that hopes and seeks for personal advantage through alliance with those who have power, wealth, and influence.  What Jesus taught His disciples in the first century, He continues to teach His disciples today:  the outward affectations of life are insignificant compared to the inward realities of the heart.  A rich young man whom the world adores but whose heart refuses to trust God’s Word, is a person who will dwell in sorrow without repentance or faith.  Yet a poor beggar who has nothing to offer Jesus but faithful prayers for mercy and grace, finds the boundless joy of eternal life in the gracious presence of the King of all Kings.  While the world looks on in stymied wonder, God allows the unfaithful to walk away from Him, and the faithful to walk with Him, regardless of their outward appearance.

 

And that is a lesson which is needed in every time and place, because in every age of the world, God still calls all people to Himself only and always by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  While everyone who is given life in this world is also blessed with relative gifts of talent and wealth through which they may serve others, the only approach that any person—rich, poor, or anywhere in between—can make to God is one of faith and repentance.  Faith which trusts His living Word of Law and Gospel, and repentance which turns from the ways of darkness to follow Jesus in His Way, is the only means by which we can receive the true riches of forgiveness, eternal life, and salvation from the sin, death, and hell we all deserve.  A key distinctive between the rich young ruler and the poor blind beggar is that only one of them really knew that they needed Jesus to save them, and only one of them was willing to trust and follow Jesus to receive that salvation.  No amount of worldly celebrity or infamy can hide the heart from God, who calls all people to trust in the Vicarious Atonement of Jesus for their rescue, and for all people to follow Him according to His Word.

 

As Jesus encounters you this day through His Word and Sacraments, feel His Holy Spirit open your eyes and ears and mind and heart to see yourself as the Father sees you:  as one whom He has loved from before the foundation of the world, and loved so much that He has sent His only begotten Son to save you, that you might walk, healed and forgiven, in His paths of light and truth and joy forever.  Then let your opened eyes and ears and mind and heart rest on those around you, that the love of God which has been poured out upon you, might pour through you to them.  Let go the world’s twisted and superficial judgements, and embrace the true riches of grace and mercy and life which come from Christ alone, that you might lead others into the path of joy and grace which comes only by a living faith that follows Jesus in the Way.  Amen.

 

Joy vs Discontent: A Meditation on Ecclesiastes 5 for the Season of Pentecost

He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver;

nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.

When goods increase, they are increased that eat them:

and what good is there to the owners thereof,

saving the beholding of them with their eyes?

The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much:

but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun,

namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.

But those riches perish by evil travail:

and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand.

As he came forth of his mother's womb,

naked shall he return to go as he came,

and shall take nothing of his labour,

which he may carry away in his hand.

And this also is a sore evil,

that in all points as he came, so shall he go:

and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?

All his days also he eateth in darkness,

 and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.

 

Behold that which I have seen:

it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink,

and to enjoy the good of all his labour

that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life,

which God giveth him: for it is his portion.

Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth,

and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion,

 and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God.

For he shall not much remember the days of his life;

because God answereth him in the joy of his heart.

 

As the Holy Spirit moved Solomon to write Ecclesiastes, most likely later in his life, he had much to consider.  Solomon was blessed with riches beyond the dreams of most people in history, as well as with wisdom and secular power as the King of Israel at the height of the nation’s prominence. What God had built through his father David’s faith and labors, Solomon had inherited.  David, for all his great military and political conquests, all his Psalms and musical compositions, and all the wealth and political power he had amassed, was laid in a grave at the end of his life; naked had King David come into the world, and naked did he leave.  Solomon could see the same pattern all around him, and knew he would live out that pattern himself.  For all his wealth and wisdom and power, Solomon would take none of the fruits of his labors with him when died, and if death was the common fate of all men, then the question became, “How then shall we live?”

 

Solomon concluded that wisdom was better than foolishness, though both the wise and the fool still die.  Not only did the wise have a better conduct of life in this world than the fool, securing through Divine and Natural Law better individual and communal living conditions through virtue and hard work, but to embrace God’s wisdom was to embrace God through His Word.  Thus the wise were the friends of God, walking by faith in His Word, enlightened by His wisdom, and saved by His grace.  The wise would walk and work and rejoice in this world according to the promises of God, knowing that God had sent them into the world naked, and naked to God would they return, with only the record of their faith and works to follow them into His presence.  The fool, on the contrary, would live in constant misery no matter how much wealth they acquired, because their trust was not in God but in their own works.  Such a life could not be enjoyed because it could never rest nor be content, and ultimately would become a frenetic flurry of disordered passions leading to the despair of death, where all their labors would unavoidably end.  Down deep in the heart of even the most hardened atheist, the fool knows he did not place himself into this world, and he cannot escape an eventual encounter with the One who did.  Death comes for the wise and the fool alike, but the life of each is dramatically different, marked by either friendship or war with God.

 

This is why Jesus would say that it is harder for a rich person who loves and trusts in riches to enter the Kingdom of God, than it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.  Not only would the rich fool place his trust in something that could not save him, but his misplaced trust made him an enemy of the only One who could save him.  The wise, on the contrary, no matter how much they had in terms of material blessings, be they a laborer in the fields or the king of an empire, would rejoice in the portion they were given as friends of Almighty God.  Some may be artisans, others business people, others military or police, or any shade of trade under heaven, but friendship with God through trust in the wisdom of His Word would give them both joy and contentment in the fruits of their labors, and thankful hearts to the One who gave them their lives, labors, and fruits.  While the fool would never be satisfied with what he accumulated, living in the bottomless greed and lust of his idolatry to material things, and in gnawing fear of knowing he must eventually lose that which he loves, the wise know that in God they are already the inheritors of all good things, and have no fear of losing the God whom they love.

 

And why such contentment and joy, even in the face of death?  Because what Solomon looked forward in faith to, we look back in faith upon:  the Incarnation of God’s Word and Wisdom in Jesus Christ.  The Wisdom and Word of God, who took flesh and dwelt among us, also took upon himself the death we could not escape, so that death might not be our final victor.  Only Jesus could become one of us, without the sin and weakness inherent in mankind due to our fall; only Jesus could lead His people of all times and places into the wisdom which makes men once again friends of Almighty God; only Jesus could by His own omnipotent power pass through death and return through resurrection never to die again, that His eternal life might be given to all who would follow and trust in Him; only Jesus could be both the source and summit of all divine wisdom, that those who abide in Him by grace through faith, might know joy and contentment in the shadow of hard labors and temporal death.  Jesus, and Him alone, was to be the Light which enlightened every heart to see the path to life, and to turn from the foolish paths of destruction.

 

Despite the world’s constant call to discontent, Jesus speaks a different Word of life and joy to all who will hear him.  Turn off the media and marketing and politics that tell you to search forever for the things that cannot satisfy you, and to accumulate things which you cannot take with you when you leave this world.  Forget the fevered pursuit of titles, wealth, and prestige, of trophies that will clutter your shelves one day, and another day be cast by others into the trash.  Look away from the sirens of the age who call to you in dulcet tones toward the rocks which will destroy you, knowing that idolatry of anything in this world leads only to misery and death.  Look instead to the One who loves you enough to die for you, who has loved you from before the foundation of the world, and will love you longer than the stars of heaven shall shine.  Hear the Word and Wisdom of God come to you, making satisfaction for all your failings, and ushering you into a new life which transcends the highest joys and lowest pains of our time in this world.  Know the One who has always known you, that your joy and contentment may be complete in all He has given to you, now and unto ages of ages.  Amen.

 

Take Heed Today: A Meditation on Hebrews 3 for the Season of Pentecost

Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you

an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today;

lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

For we are made partakers of Christ,

if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end;

While it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice,

harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

For some, when they had heard, did provoke:

howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.

But with whom was he grieved forty years?

was it not with them that had sinned,

whose carcasses fell in the wilderness?

And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest,

but to them that believed not?

So we see that they could not enter in

 because of unbelief.

 

The writer to the Hebrews made a strong point in chapter three of his epistle, that faith is the foundation of the covenant of God with His people in every age.  Just as those who believed the Word of God given by Moses lived through the Exodus from slavery in Egypt by grace through faith, so do those who believe the Word of God in Jesus Christ.  And since Jesus is God and not merely a servant of God as Moses was, Jesus could accomplish the greater Exodus of leading His people out of slavery to sin and death through His Cross and Resurrection.  What Moses foreshadowed Jesus fulfilled, knowing that while the tyranny of Pharoah in ancient Egypt was a terrible but passing enemy of God’s people in this world, the devil’s tyranny was so much worse, leading to misery and death in both this world and the world to come.  It was Jesus who led Moses through the waters of the Red Sea, to Mt. Sinai, and to the Promised Land so many centuries before, and it was Jesus who would lead His people through Baptism, Mt. Calvary, and the glories of Easter into His Eternal Kingdom.

 

And as God does not change from age to age, so the principles of His saving Covenant do not change.  The people of God sitting in bondage to their Egyptian slave drivers were not forced to leave their prison, but called by God unto their salvation by His Word.  He sent them Moses to affirm the even older Abrahamic covenant, one traced back through Noah and the great Flood to the Proto-evangel spoken to Adam and Eve after the Fall.  Those who sat in darkness and despair saw the Light of Christ come to them by His Word preached, with the miracles God’s Word performed through Moses attesting to His work of their salvation.  His Word called them out of darkness and into His saving fellowship, and while many believed and followed Him toward the Promised Land, many others lost their faith along the way, falling dead in the wilderness before they reached Canaan.  The faith by which they received grace to escape their Egyptian slavery was the same faith which secured the grace of their final destination, as Moses, Joshua, and the later Prophets would make clear.  What God worked out among the ancient Hebrews was an allegory written across centuries of human history awaiting its completion in Jesus Christ:  our salvation from sin, death, hell, and the power of the devil, both begins and ends by grace through faith in the Eternal Word of God.

 

Thus the writer to the Hebrews cautions his readers to beware an evil heart of unbelief.  There is no enemy of God’s people more devastating or debilitating than one’s own heart, tempted so easily toward riches, power, lust, and violence.  From within ourselves echo the devil’s oldest and most treacherous lies, the prideful desire to become our own gods, with the inescapable consequence that we become condemned slaves forever.  That evil heart is what Jesus came to renew by His Word and Spirit, to wash in Holy Baptism, and to feed with His Holy Supper.  Jesus knew that while the abominations of the ancient Egyptians, or the Philistines, or the Assyrians, or the Babylonians, or the Greeks, or the Romans, or any other wicked earthly power to come could do physical damage to His people in this world, the much greater threat was their own fallen hearts and minds which drew all people into the tyranny of the devil and the bondage of hell.  It was against this enemy that the Cross of Christ was fundamentally aimed, that His Word and Spirit might always pierce to the depths of our unbelief, and raise us up as new creations, forgiven and free in Him forever.

 

That walk for us through this world is no different than it was for the people who followed Moses 1500 years before Jesus, or the people who followed Jesus during the first century.  The walk of faith, trusting in God’s Word and being enlivened by His Spirit as we pass from death to eternal life, is a personal eternity composed of individual days.  Today, the Word calls to us just as it did in every day back to the beginning of time, offering us the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation by grace through faith in Him.  But the Word of yesterday, today, and eternity, rings for us only Today, because only Today—in the present moment—do we have the opportunity to respond in faith to Him.  Yesterday is written for our edification and our warning, and Tomorrow has not yet been fully revealed, but Today is the day the Lord has made and given to us that we might rejoice in it through faith in Him.  Today, the Word of God calls to us in whatever station and circumstance of life we might find ourselves, and Today He calls us to turn from our unbelief, to leave the evil echoes of a fallen world and fallen heart behind, and to cling by faith to His Promise that all who trust in Him receive His gracious gifts without end.

 

We cannot change Yesterday, nor can we know what has not been revealed about Tomorrow.  But by the wonderous and mysterious love of Almighty God, we have been given Today.  Today, hear Him call to you that your darkness might be enlightened and your sins washed away.  Today, hear Him call you out of hellish and destructive paths, that His Word might be a lamp unto your feet and light unto your way.  Today, hear Him call into your heart of unbelief, and be transformed by the renewing of your mind into the mind of Christ.  Do not fear either Yesterday nor Tomorrow, for the Lord God Almighty has come to you Today, and Today He called you to eternal life by grace through faith in Jesus.  Hear Him, and walk with Him, Today.  Amen.

 

Divine and Natural Law: A Meditation on Mark 10 for the Season of Pentecost

And he arose from thence, and cometh into the coasts of

Judaea by the farther side of Jordan:

and the people resort unto him again;

and, as he was wont, he taught them again.

And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him,

Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him.

 

And he answered and said unto them,

What did Moses command you?

And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement,

and to put her away.

And Jesus answered and said unto them,

For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.

But from the beginning of the creation

God made them male and female.

For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother,

and cleave to his wife;

And they twain shall be one flesh:

so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.

What therefore God hath joined together,

let not man put asunder.

And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter.

And he saith unto them,

Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another,

committeth adultery against her.

And if a woman shall put away her husband,

and be married to another, she committeth adultery.

 

In an age such as ours the sexual ethics of Scripture can seem almost jarring, and that may be compounded a bit by the succinct writing style of Mark the Evangelist.  St. Matthew adds a little more of Jesus’ words regarding adultery, noting that divorce and remarriage for any reason other than fornication (which is any sexual expression outside the boundaries of marriage defined in Genesis 2 as exclusively between a man and a woman) causes both parties to commit adultery against each other.  Jesus noted that the reality of this truth is written into the very fabric of creation and the origin of humanity, thus any human attempt to circumvent it with contrived traditions or laws, fail to negate it.  The reality of human existence as exclusively male and female, through which the marital union produces the next generation with the optimal alignment toward the flourishing of human life, is what Christian theologians would call both Divine and Natural Law.  It is as inescapable as the physical laws of thermodynamics, or the rational laws of logic, all of which persist regardless of any person’s recognition of them.  Just as gravity is not diminished by the ignorant who disregard it at their own peril, the biological realities of humanity and the fundamentals of human community found in marriage and family, persist even as people ignore them to their own detriment.

 

When it comes to the Divine and Natural Laws of the universe, our recognition or rejection of them reveals far more about us than the One who created them.  A student studying geography who insists to their instructor that the world is flat, is rightly ridiculed and failed from their studies, for who would hire a cartographer or navigator who denied the fundamental structure of the earth?  Likewise, an engineering student who refused to accept proven mathematical principles of stress transference through various media, would be flunked out of their engineering program, for who would hire such an ignoramus to build an airplane or building? And yet, when it comes to modern studies of gender and sexuality, American educational institutions have not only catered to students willfully ignorant of basic human biology, they have promoted as teachers and professors those who deny Natural Law in Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Logic.  The consequence has been a radical shift in social norms since the Sexual Revolution of the 1960’s, including the widescale devolution of healthy sexual expression within legitimate marriage, the breakdown of family structures designed to nurture children into strong and virtuous adults, degrading cohesion and rising crime within communities, as well as distrust and dissolution of civic institutions.  From a purely empirical perspective, Natural Law regarding human sexuality and family structure has broadly proved its validity over the last several generations through the consequences it has brought forth either positively or negatively in society.  From a divine perspective, we see as judgment upon us and our children the consequences of abandoning His good Law, as we watch our families, communities, and nation crumble around us.

 

Like all of God’s Law, our rejection of it is a rejection of Him, bringing about our just temporal judgment here in this world, and eternal condemnation in the world to come.  It is not enough that we manage to muddle through the physical and psychological consequences of violating the Divine and Natural Law our Creator built into us and the universe at large, but our sins against each other are ultimately sins against Him, worthy of eternal perdition.  And regardless of how well we may think we keep His Law regarding human sexuality and family inviolability, we are all complicit in the sins of our age, having deep down within us a fallen nature that resonates with the irrational self-justifications of pernicious deception.  These sins emerge in our societies because they originate first in our own hearts, where dark impulses to selfishness, greed, power, wrath, and lust seethe just below the surface of all people, revealing that both we as individuals and we as communities are not sinners because we do evil, but rather that we do evil because we are fallen, sinful beings.  Jesus’ teaching on good and virtuous human sexuality and family cohesion doesn’t grate on our modern sensibilities because there is any flaw in Divine or Natural Law, but because the flaw is in our own fallen nature, where our hearts remain in irrational and self-destructive rebellion against our Creator, and the Creation of which we are a part.

 

Yet thanks everlasting be to God, that Jesus has come to save us from such wicked hearts!  Jesus did not teach the Pharisees and His Disciples this Law in order to condemn them, but in order to show them the depths from which they must be redeemed.  Like all human sin and rebellion against God, Jesus carried our sexual perversion, our family desecration, and our community devolution to the top of Mount Calvary, where He nailed it irrevocably to His Cross.  His innocent hands and feet, His immaculate mind and soul, were pierced there for our transgressions, that the works of our hands and feet as well as the thoughts of our minds and the depths of our souls might be forgiven and absolved through Him.  There on Calvary, our Savior took upon Himself the wounds of every person despoiled through fornication, every couple violated by broken marital vows, every family shattered by divorce, every child left abandoned, abused, and alone.  There, our Lord of Glory whose Kingdom of grace and mercy and truth shall know no end, surrendered Himself as the only sacrifice worthy of our redemption, that we might arise in Him, forgiven and free, restored to a communion in Him that cannot die again.  In the darkness of Calvary and the glorious dawn of Easter, we find our beloved Jesus setting right what we had broken through our rebellion against the Law, and breathing into us His Holy Spirit that we might be healed by endlessly cascading waves of grace upon grace.

 

Thus, Jesus’ teaching is no more a terror to us, but a blessed hope and a call to life.  In Him we find the power to love as we have been loved, to forgive as we have been forgiven, to live as He has given us life.  In Jesus we find where faith meets repentance, as we bow before both the Divine Laws of Nature and the Everlasting Gospel of Grace.  With Jesus we affirm the Truth to which we aspire in Him, even as we daily seek His mercy and grace for our failures to achieve it.  We abide in Jesus, our lives mysteriously hidden in Him, empowered by His Word and Spirit to rise above our fallen natures, until our fallen natures fall finally into the earth from which they were formed, and our new natures in Him shine brightly with Him, unto all ages of ages unending.  There in Jesus we find our life, our restoration, and our hope, knowing that in Him and with Him we can stand even in this generation, and testify to the Truth which sets us free.  All glory and honor, power and might, be to our Savior and Lord, now and forever.  Amen.