This sermon was also preached at St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church of Plymouth and St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church of Belleville on March 12 and March 13, respectively.
Recognizing Against Whom We Sin.
In
the name + of Jesus.
When we think of sins, we often limit
ourselves to the second table of the Law: “You shall love your neighbor as
yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). One
reason is because we can witness these sins.
4th Commandment: We can observe a child being disrespectful
to his or her parents. 5th
Commandment: We can witness a man killing or beating another man. 6th Commandment: There are usually
text messages to prove an extra-marital affair.
7th Commandment: Police can produce evidence of goods that
were stolen from someone’s house. 8th
Commandment: You can hear people slandering the good name of another person or
gossiping about what he or she might possibly be up to. All of these are sins, and all of them can be
witnessed. Charges can be made. And justice can be meted out according to the
severity of the offense.
But what
if my neighbor doesn’t know? What if my
actions do not affect him? You’ve heard
the mantra: “As long as it isn’t hurting anybody, who cares what I do?” If that is how sins are judged, then the goal
is no longer to refrain from doing evil.
The goal is to make sure no one knows.
If there is no evidence, then no one can fault you. And if no one can find fault with you, can anyone
really say there was any sin? “As long
as it isn’t hurting anybody, who cares what I do,” right?
Wrong. King David’s confession does not focus on the
people he hurt, although he had done a great deal of harm. The heading of the Psalm acknowledges that: “A
psalm by David. When Nathan the prophet
came to him after he had gone to Bathsheba” (Psalm 51:1-2 in Hebrew). David’s lust for Bathsheba led to his
adulterous affair with her. The
resultant pregnancy led to a cover-up.
When the cover-up failed, it led to the plot which arranged for the
death of her husband, Uriah, in battle.
David’s sins piled up and left a trail of blood behind him. David did acknowledge his sins against
Bathsheba and Uriah. “I admit my rebellious acts.
My sin is always in front of me” (Psalm 51:3). Since he had taken
Bathsheba into his house after the death of her husband, her very presence
would be a life-time reminder of who she was and how she got there.
But David’s confession in Psalm 51centered
on the first table of the Law: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). His confession was focused on the Lord: “Against
you, you only, have I sinned, and I have done this evil in your eyes” (Psalm
51:4). Repentance recognizes against
whom we sin. Repentance recognizes that
our primary responsibility is to the God who created us and sustains us. As the author of life and the source of all
that is good, God tells us what a good life is and how it is to be lived. As his creatures, we are accountable to
him. To love the Lord is to trust his
word and to do as it says. Anything that
turns away from that is sin.
What is sin but a rejection of what God
has to say to us? And if we reject what
God has to say, we reject God himself.
Consider what Martin Luther wrote in the Large Catechism. “What does it mean to have a god?
or, what is God? Answer: A god means
that from which we are to expect all good and to which we are to take refuge in
all distress, so that to have a God is nothing else than to trust and believe
Him from the [whole] heart… That now, I
say, upon which you set your heart and put your trust is properly your god.”
(Source: https://bookofconcord.org/large-catechism/#lc-i-0001) Therefore, any turning away from God’s
word is idolatry, that is, setting our hearts on something else.
David knew this. He recognized that whatever sin we
commit—whether it is known or unknown, whether people suffer because of it,
whether people are indifferent toward it, whether people congratulate you for
it—whatever sin we commit is a violation of the first table of the Law. By disobeying his word, we dishonor the God
who made us, and we honor something above the Lord. We show that we love and serve our belly, our
wallet, our ego, or our loins. Even if
no one in the world is aware or is hurt by it, God is offended, and his wrath
is stoked. Repent.
God has revealed his will in his
word. When we hear the word of the Lord,
no matter what it is, there is only one of two responses. Either say, “Amen, this is true” or we say,
“Horse fritters; this is false!” Either
we assent to that word and acknowledge that God’s word is true even when it
convicts us, or we reject that word and call God a liar. If we turn from God’s word, we make ourselves
our own gods. We exalt ourselves as the
arbiters of what is good and what is evil.
We subject the Lord to our judgment—as if rejecting God’s word excuses
us from our duty or from God’s damnation.
Repentance recognizes against whom we
sin. Therefore, we confess with King
David, “Against you, you only, have I sinned, and I have done this evil in
your eyes. So you are justified when you
sentence me. You are blameless when you
judge” (Psalm 51:3-4). Repentance
not only acknowledges that we have sinned against God, but also that God’s
judgment is deserved. I am guilty. God knows it.
I know it. So, I rightly admit it
and recognize that I deserve whatever punishment God has decreed. That punishment is banishment from God who is
the source of life and all that is good.
No one likes punishment. No one
likes getting a speeding ticket. No one
likes to pay the fine that comes with it.
But if you are clocked at 20 mph over the limit, you cannot fault the
police officer for enforcing the Law. In
the same way, we don’t want to experience God’s punishment both now and in
eternity, but we must confess with David: “You are justified when you
sentence me. You are blameless when you
judge” (Psalm 51:4).
We can speak of repentance in a narrow
sense, which is sorrow over sins and fleeing from them. We can also speak of repentance in a wider
sense, which includes turning to our Lord for mercy and for hope. Since our sins are offenses against God, he
is the only one who can pardon us for them.
And yet, if God is to be just and his word is to be taken seriously,
then there must be a punishment delivered upon the guilty.
Jesus Christ is the substitutionary
sacrifice which enables the Lord to be both just and merciful. God is just in that he condemned all sin in
the sufferings and death of Jesus.
Isaiah declared, “We all have gone astray like sheep. Each of us has turned to his own way, but
the Lord has charged all our guilt to him.” (Isaiah 53:6). Rather than slaughtering the wayward sheep,
the Lord has slain the Lamb of God; for, he is the one who bears all the
guilt. Bearing our guilt, Jesus
testified against whom he was accountable.
Jesus took up David’s confession on behalf of all mankind: “Against
you, you only, have I sinned, and I have done this evil in your eyes” (Psalm
51:3). And how true this is! For, Jesus had not sinned against any man,
woman, or child at any point in his life.
But “God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us” (2
Corinthians 5:21).
Therefore, Jesus suffered abandonment by
the one who is the source of life and all that is good. This meant death and torment. Jesus testified to this damning abandonment
when he cried out at the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”
(Matthew 27:46)? And having said
this, Jesus gave himself up into death.
Therefore, God the Father carried out the proper sentence. The guilty one was denounced, damned, and
deceased. The Father was justified in
sentencing him, and blameless in judging him.
Behold! The mercy God has had upon you as a result of
Jesus’ atoning sacrifice! He has not
treated us as our sins deserve! Rather,
God the Father has declared a full pardon for all your offenses for the sake of
Jesus who endured your punishment for you.
This full and free pardon is what motivated David to write Psalm 51. David knew he deserved death for his
sins. He had even unwittingly pronounced
his own sentence to the prophet Nathan.
But the Lord did not destroy him.
Even though he had shed innocent blood, holy and precious blood was shed
for him. That holy and precious blood
has been shed for you as well. And that
holy and precious blood marks you through your baptism. The Lord Jesus Christ has cleansed you of all
sin and guilt by waters which have God’s words and promises attached to
them. Therefore, you will not perish. Instead, God who is the source of life grants
you new life in his kingdom. Nor will
you be abandoned by the God who is the source of all that is good. Rather, he pours out blessings for your
eternal good.
When our Lord
gave both tables of the Law, he prefaced everything with these words: “I am
the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, where
you were slaves” (Exodus 20:2). The
Lord God had made himself known as a Savior and Deliverer. Therefore, when he gave his Law, it was not
given as a threat: “Love the Lord your God or you’ll burn in hell.” It was given by a loving God who yearned for
people to respond to his love with grateful lives of dedicated service. “Love the Lord your God because he has
redeemed you. He does good to you. He seeks good for you. And his word is good.” Therefore, we do not love the Lord our God to
get him off our backs. We love the Lord
our God because he is on our side. We do
not serve the Lord to make him pleased with us.
We serve the Lord because he was pleased to save us through Jesus’ life,
death, and resurrection.
As we go through life, you will sin against God and others. Repentance recognizes against whom we sin, and it is good and right to confess your sins and to seek reconciliation. Even if you do, some may never forgive you. They may slander you and curse you until the day they die. But no matter what harsh judgments people utter against you, there is only one judge who matters. Ultimately, we answer only to him. Here, we already give our answer. We confess, “Against you, you only, have I sinned” (Psalm 51:3). And in the name of Jesus, this word is proclaimed: “The Lord has put away your sin; you are not going to perish.” Because Jesus has taken away your guilt, he is justified in his sentence. He judges you as blameless; and God does not condemn the innocent.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
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