Sermon by: Robert Austell
September 30, 2007
This week I saw the following headline: “One man’s experiment to obey every rule in the Bible.” Listen to this:
A.J. Jacobs was an agnostic before undertaking a yearlong journey to obey every rule in the Bible as literally as possible. A year later, he’s still an agnostic, but a more reverent one and a lot more thankful.
Mr. Jacobs is an editor-at-large for Esquire magazine. He was raised in a secular family but said he had been thinking about religion for a long time and wanted to explore the relevance of faith in the modern world.
So, he carried around a stapled list of the more than 700 rules in the Bible, from the well-known mandate to love neighbor to the Old Testament rule of not trimming a beard.
When it was over, listen to what he had to say:
There’s a lot about gratefulness in the Bible, and I would say I’m more thankful.
I guess I was never sin free… [but] it really structures your life. After my year I felt unmoored, overwhelmed by choice.
He also makes a point that reading the Bible literally is not always the best way to read scripture.
What Mr. Jacobs wrestled with and lived with is the tension we often face between Law and Gospel, between the words on the page and the spirit of the book.
Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? (v. 1)
Is it okay for Christians to dance… or drink?
Do you have to be baptized to be a Christian?
Is it okay to skip church when you are on vacation?
Do you have to be a Republican to be a Christian?
Is it okay for a Christian to go to war?
Is it okay for a Christian to embrace a homosexual lifestyle?
Wow – what a bunch of questions! And they are all raised by these similar texts from Luke 13-14. I will not be able to answer all of these today. What each question has in common with our text is that answering them involves the sometimes confusing interweaving of law and gospel.
What I do hope to do today is point you to Jesus’ understanding of God’s Law. He clearly said that he did not come to do away with God’s Law, but to perfectly fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). He demonstrates that in the two accounts of him healing on the Sabbath.
What I hope is that we will learn from Jesus the tools necessary to begin answering some of these questions in a biblical and godly way.
The Letter of the Law
Where we often get into trouble is with over-emphasizing the “letter of the law.” Better known as legalism, this approach to scripture and to life can turn into an unthinking commitment to follow the rules. Why do I say ‘unthinking’? It is not because the rules don’t make sense in some contexts. While human laws are limited in application and scope, God’s Word is sufficient for anything we might face. Rather, I say ‘unthinking’ because I think the problem is that we don’t always understand the rules. This was the Pharisees problem.
On one hand, there is a valid point in following “God said do it, so I will do it.” Outright obedience to God’s Word is admirable. But the weakness of over-focusing on the letter of the law or the surface meaning of the words in God’s Word is that we can miss the intended purpose of those words. We can read and hear and obey without understanding and actually deviate from God’s intent.
One of the Ten Commandments is “Thou Shalt Not Kill.” Is killing animals wrong? Some, believing that is always wrong, become vegetarians. What about killing viruses and cancers? Surely that’s good and right. Maybe it’s just talking about human beings. So murder is wrong… some say all war is wrong… we believe that abortion is wrong. How far do we want to take those words and apply them without distinction?
What about the specific case in our text of the Sabbath laws? God rested on the seventh day and commanded His people to do likewise. God commanded us not to work. It’s also one of the Ten Commandments. Growing up in South Carolina, there were still “blue laws” in effect when I was a teenager. We always had to fill up with gas on Saturdays on vacation because no one sold gas on Sundays when we drove back. So maybe the Pharisees were a little more intense about keeping the Sabbath. We can still understand, right? It’s one of the “Big Ten” commandments!
And yet, Jesus “broke” their understanding of the Sabbath law. But by definition, the Son of God could not break God’s Law… he was the very Word of God with skin on! So we should pay close attention. Jesus understood something more about the Law than the Pharisees did and than we do when we come at God’s Word with over-literal and surface reading without understanding.
The Purpose of the Law
The purpose of God’s Law and God’s Word is to train us to do what is right. It protects us and directs us to God.
God’s Law and Word is given to an errant and sinful human race so we will know what right behavior and godly living looks like.
We expect small children to obey their parents unwaveringly. This is for their health and safety. At three a child can’t comprehend why the yard is so much safer than the street. Yet as the child grows up, our ‘rules’ about playing in the street and looking both ways train them to be safe and safety-conscience young adults.
So when we grow up in faith, God’s Word trains us to internalize and live out God’s will in a deeper and more life-transforming way than just obeying the letter of the Law.
Let’s consider specifically the purpose of the Sabbath Law at stake in our text. God established the Sabbath to help order our lives into a common time and a sacred time. It establishes a pattern of work, worship, and rest, such that we give honor to God, family, community, and being productive people. If I were to tell my family that I cannot be with them during my Sabbath or to claim Sabbath rest as a reason not to be gainfully employed, I might fulfill the letter of the Law, but I would violate the purpose and spirit of the Law. The whole point of Sabbath is to honor God and build up God’s people, families, and community. Likewise, Jesus taught that to not set free someone bound up by demons or heal someone suffering greatly from sickness would violate the purpose of Sabbath far worse than refusing to show mercy because it might qualify as ‘work’. The Sabbath was made to set people free and to bring health and life.
God’s Word and Law are ‘binding’ in the sense of protecting us from sin, harm, and evil. But those bonds are freeing, like having guard rails on a mountain highway. We can err either by declaring those bonds looser or tighter than God intended.
The Spirit of the Law
That’s the real rub, then, isn’t it? How do we know if we are manipulating God’s Word to our own ends? How do we know if we’ve taken God’s Word and made it looser or tighter than God intended?
All the guidelines for studying and applying scripture apply in the area of ‘rules’ or Law just as they do in any portion of scripture.
First, we use scripture to interpret scripture. Appeals to Jesus as “love” are often more about justifying behavior than seeking God’s Word on this matter. On the matter of sexual ethics, scripture is clear, unambiguous, and full of application in just about every area we could imagine, even today.
On the matter of war, scripture certainly values human life, but also recognizes the right of human beings to defend themselves, to protect property and loved ones, and so on, such that we are able to talk in terms of “just war” and “unjust war.” Rather than first thinking about the present war in Iraq in political terms, Christians should first think in Biblical categories. Always look for multiple teachings on any subject. The Bible is consistent, but multiple passages and teaching helps us to understand the full depth and range of a given teaching and not run in the wrong direction with one verse. Jesus appealed to this when he spoke of rescuing an animal on the Sabbath (v. 5). The Pharisees were known to accept this practice; how much more so should they then have accepted the healing or freeing of a human being who was suffering.
Secondly, God’s Word is God-breathed with and by the Holy Spirit. It is most appropriate to pray for God’s help in interpreting and applying His Word. The Holy Spirit will bear witness within us of the truth, for the Spirit is the Holy Spirit of Truth. It is possible to mistake our own will for the Holy Spirit, but that does not free us from the responsibility of asking for the Spirit’s help. Examine your motives. So often, we rationalize and justify our actions to avoid guilt. Especially watch changes in interpretation of scripture after changing behavior. God’s Spirit will help convict us if our motives are out of line, as long as we don’t shut out that “still, small voice.”
Third, use your mind! We often fail to bring our minds to bear on spiritual matters. With just a little common sense and thought, some obvious misapplications of scripture can be straightened out. God doesn’t forbid dancing or drinking, but does desire modesty and moderation. After all, Jesus miraculously made 38 gallons of fine wine for a wedding banquet! And there is dancing and music all throughout scripture, both in the culture and in worship settings.
Fourth, dig a little. Look beyond the words to the purpose of the words. God made the Sabbath for health (among other reasons); therefore it was not only lawful to heal on the Sabbath, it fulfilled the purpose of the Sabbath to do so. Jesus demonstrated the meaning here of his words about coming not to abolish the Law, but to perfectly complete it.
Fifth, worship and study in community. While this is not foolproof, it is a helpful discipline to ‘check’ your understanding of God’s Word with brothers and sisters in Christ. As you worship and listen to God’s Word read and taught, the Holy Spirit will grow your understanding of that Word.
Finally, our first move as Christians should be immediate and complete obedience to God’s Word. But it is okay to follow that up with the question, “Why, Lord?” if in doing so we are seeking fuller wisdom and understanding (vs. disobedience). Godly wisdom and understanding will help us follow God’s Word and align our will ever more deeply with God’s will. That is the definition of being blessed. Amen.
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