Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
One of my favorite television comedies of all time is Parks and Recreation. It follows the adventures of The Parks Department in Pawnee, Indiana.
And one of my favorite characters on the show is the head of the department, Ron Swanson, played by Nick Offerman. He’s a super manly, libertarian who loves Lagavulin, Steak and Breakfast foods, and strong, independent women. He’s a master carpenter and handyman who believes in hard work accomplished by his own two hands.
In one episode, Ben Wyatt, a friend of Ron’s, is working on his will and convinces Ron to look into making a will of his own. It turns out that because of the great amount of gold Ron has acquired over the years, he has a great amount of wealth he can pass on to his children. Enough, he is told, so that they would never have to work a day in their lives.
Ron really struggles with this revelation. As he himself puts it “I don’t want my kids to be the kind of people who never work, live of their trust funds, who buy their wooden furniture.”
Ben’s response to him is “It doesn’t matter how much you leave your kids, what matters is that you teach them the right values. But if something horrible happens and you want your kids to be left alone with no safety net just so they can learn some kind of weird lesson, then go ahead.”
And Ron decides to take Ben’s advice and leave a small portion of his wealth to his children. Which given how much gold he has is still an incredibly large amount.
The point of this story is that none of us hope those who follow in our footsteps
will be lazy. We hope they will do what they can to make the world a better
place. Or at the very least, that they will do something to distinguish themselves
in this world.
And as God’s children, He feels the same way about us. As we see in the Gospel
this morning.
Because, you see, as important as the Grace we receive from our Lord Jesus Christ is, as central as that Grace is to our faith, it can be all too easy for us to take that Grace, that gift, for granted. It can be very easy for us to walk around thinking "well, I may do this or that wrong, but I have been forgiven. I'll be alright in the end."
This is a danger which Paul will address in 1 Corinthians, although we will sadly not reach that reading during this season of Epiphany. He warns the Corinthians that even though they have been forgiven, they shouldn't allow that fact to let them descend into evil ways of living. It shouldn't mean that what we do doesn't matter.
This is, in part, why Jesus says today "I have come not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it."
Jesus does not say these words because there's still something more we must do for our salvation. There isn't. Because there is nothing possible that we could do to receive it. He says this because the purpose of the law and the purpose of Grace are one and the same.
The law was never meant to be a burden for us. It was always meant to do what we say it does each Sunday with the summary of the law. It helps us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and all our soul, and all our mind. The very essence of our being. And the law also helps us to love, to be loyal to, our neighbor as ourself.
Because, you see, as important as the Grace we receive from our Lord Jesus Christ is, as central as that Grace is to our faith, it can be all too easy for us to take that Grace, that gift, for granted. It can be very easy for us to walk around thinking "well, I may do this or that wrong, but I have been forgiven. I'll be alright in the end."
This is a danger which Paul will address in 1 Corinthians, although we will sadly not reach that reading during this season of Epiphany. He warns the Corinthians that even though they have been forgiven, they shouldn't allow that fact to let them descend into evil ways of living. It shouldn't mean that what we do doesn't matter.
This is, in part, why Jesus says today "I have come not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it."
Jesus does not say these words because there's still something more we must do for our salvation. There isn't. Because there is nothing possible that we could do to receive it. He says this because the purpose of the law and the purpose of Grace are one and the same.
The law was never meant to be a burden for us. It was always meant to do what we say it does each Sunday with the summary of the law. It helps us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and all our soul, and all our mind. The very essence of our being. And the law also helps us to love, to be loyal to, our neighbor as ourself.
These two things are meant to bring us into a good and right relationship with
everyone. They are meant to bring us closer to God.
This is the very lesson we learn from the prophets as well! And we see that in our reading from Isaiah today. God doesn't want us to blindly follow Him. He wants us to have a good relationship with others. And God tells us that He won't even listen to us, He won't be in relationship with us, until we can show we can be in relationship with others, and thus in relationship with Him.
And the good things that follow, they aren't rewards for doing the right thing. They happen because instead of following our own paths, we have allowed God to be our guide, as we see in Isaiah this morning. Good things follow because that is what happens when we are in right relationship with God and with each other.
This is the very lesson we learn from the prophets as well! And we see that in our reading from Isaiah today. God doesn't want us to blindly follow Him. He wants us to have a good relationship with others. And God tells us that He won't even listen to us, He won't be in relationship with us, until we can show we can be in relationship with others, and thus in relationship with Him.
And the good things that follow, they aren't rewards for doing the right thing. They happen because instead of following our own paths, we have allowed God to be our guide, as we see in Isaiah this morning. Good things follow because that is what happens when we are in right relationship with God and with each other.
Grace too is about forming that right relationship. Because we are fallen creatures. We all continue to stumble down the wrong path away from the one God has set for us. But Grace is God being there to pick us back up and help us back to the right path. Grace is God allowing us to continue to come back to Him. To continue to allow us to come back to be in relationship with Him.
But it's not about abandoning the law. The law is still a tool to help guide us. To
let us know what a right relationship with God and with each other actually is.
It's there to help remind us to love our neighbor, no matter how much we may
tire and annoy each other. We aren't slaves to the law, because that is not where our salvation comes. Our
salvation comes from God, and God alone. But neither do we abandon doing
good works that are pleasing to God. We don't abandon living for others and not
just ourselves. We don't abandon, as Paul says in Philippians 3:24, pressing "on
toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus." Or, as
Paul also says earlier in Philippians 3, it does not ever mean that we stop striving
forward to make it our own, just as Jesus has made us His own.
We are not called to have so-called "cheap grace". We are not called to use Grace like a trust fund, being lazy as Ron Swanson feared his own children might be. But just as Ron provided his own children with a something to help them in their lives, so God has provided us with exactly what we need when we fall. When we fail. He has given us Grace so that we can be picked back up. So that we can continue to be in relationship with Him.
But to be in relationship with God means to try. To work at that relationship. To make it stronger. To help it to last. And so, we are called to strive forward, with Paul and all the saints before us, and do what we can to love God with all our heart and our soul and our mind. And also to love our neighbor as ourself. We are called not to fall into the trap of cheap Grace, but to remember that this gift was bought with the precious blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And so we are called, not to wallow in our brokenness, but to take God's hand as he gentle leads us to be in better relationship with Him and all those around us.