Pastor Weise’s Sermon – The Law and the Prophets Hang on Commandments.
Jesus Hangs on the Cross.
I Corinthians 1.1-9/St. Matthew 22.34-46
Trinity XVIII/October 20, 2019
Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd/Good Shepherd Community Chapel, Sauk Rapids, MN
Rev. Keith R. Weise, pastor/chaplain
TEXTS
Prayer of the Day
O God, because without You we are not able to please You, mercifully grant that Your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
I Corinthians 1.1-9
1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, 5 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, 6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, 7 so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
St. Matthew 22.34-46
34 But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?”
They said to Him, “The Son of David.”
43 He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying:
44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool” ’?
45 If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?” 46 And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.
Invocation In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I Today Jesus tells us that the two great commandments of God are these—
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. (Deuteronomy 6.5/St. Matthew 22.37)
And
You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Leviticus 19.18/St. Matthew 22.39)
These are the two great commandments
because they summarize ALL God’s commandments.
When we love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind—
we have no other gods before the true God—
we do not take the Lord’s name in vain—
we remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.
When we love our neighbors as our selves
we honor our fathers and mothers
we do not murder
we do not commit adultery
we do not steal
we do not commit false witness
and
we do not covet.
II These two commandments are the great commandments of God.
When we love God—
When we love our neighbor—
when we keep these two commandments—
we keep ALL God’s commandments.
The whole Law—
every commandment God has ever made
is contained in these two commandments.
All the preaching of the prophets—
all the teaching of the prophets—
all the hope of the prophets in the promises of God—
It’s all right here—
in these few words.
So Jesus says—
On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.
(St. Matthew 22.40)
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III So
1) Love God.
Love him
with all your heart
with all your soul
and
with all your mind.
Love God with every fiber of your being.
2) Love your neighbor as yourself.
Love them
honestly.
deeply.
sacrificially.
3) AND LOVE JESUS!
Yes—
love Jesus.
All the Law and the Prophets
hang on the two great commandments of God—
But Jesus—
Jesus hung on the CROSS—
FOR YOU.
IV Praise God for that!
Praise God
for Jesus hanging on the cross.
Because our love is never perfect.
1) Even when we try our hardest—
our love for God is
incomplete
and
lacking confidence in his grace.
2) Even when we mean to love our neighbors as ourselves—
our love for them
is never totally what God intends.
3) Our love—
for God and for our neighbors—
is never
big enough
true enough
strong enough
or
sacrificial enough.
4) Our love is
scarred by our sin
tarnished by our transgression
and
inhibited by all our iniquity.
Our love is the picture of IM-perfection.
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V But Jesus’ love—
now that’s something completely different.
1) Jesus’ love for God the Father
is on display in every thing he does.
Every thought he thinks
is a thought from the Holy Spirit.
Every word he speaks
is a word the Father gives him.
Every deed he does
is a deed directed by the love of the Almighty.
2) And Jesus’ love for YOU—
his neighbor—
is plain to see in how he treats people during his earthy ministry.
Someone is sick—
Jesus heals them.
Possessed by a demon—
Jesus delivers them.
Caught up in sin—
Jesus forgives them.
Dead—in their coffin—already buried in the cemetery—
Jesus raises them up to life.
That’s Jesus’ perfect love on display.
That’s Jesus’ perfect love—FOR YOU!
By loving his heavenly Father
and
By loving us, his neighbors—
Jesus doesn’t just TELL us he loves us—
he SHOWS us.
He shows us that
The Law and the Prophets hang on the two great commandments—
and
The Son of God hangs on the cross
for the sake of his people’s salvation.
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VI 1) When you struggle to love God with all your being—
look at Christ—hanging on the cross.
What you see there is God—
in the flesh—
loving God FOR YOU
and your place.
2) When you struggle to love your neighbor as yourself—
look at Christ—hanging on the cross.
What you see there is God—
in the flesh—
loving YOU
and all your neighbors
with the greatest love there is.
When your love is
small
and
untrue
and
weak
and
selfish—
look at Christ—hanging on the cross.
Because what we see there is God—
in the flesh—
demonstrating perfect love
and
preaching heavenly love
and
revealing to us what true love really is.
VII When we look at Christ hanging on the cross—
we see the
pure and holy
love of God—
a love
as big
and
as true
and
as strong
and
as selfless
as any love can be.
When we fix our eyes on Jesus hanging on the cross—
we see the Son of God—
in OUR(!) flesh—
dying for our sinful loveless-ness—
because HE LOVES US!
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VIII No wonder St. Paul says to the Church in Corinth
We preach Christ crucified!
To the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness—
but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks—
Christ!—
the power of God
and
the wisdom of God. (I Corinthians 1.23-24)
No wonder St. Paul goes on to say in that same letter—
For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified! (I Corinthians 2.2)
IX St. Paul preaches Christ crucified—
because
Christ crucified
is God forgiving you—
and your sin-sickened love.
Christ crucified
is God saving your soul.
Christ crucified
is God fulfilling all the Law and the Prophets.
Christ crucified
is God keeping all the commandments for your sake.
1) Christ crucified
is God the Son loving God the Father with all his
heart
and
soul
and
mind.
and
2) Christ crucified
is Christ—our Lord and our God— loving YOU(!)
with all his
heart
and
soul
and
mind.
X Christ Jesus hanging on the cross
is God’s revelation
of the greatest love there is.
So we fix our eyes on Jesus hanging on the cross.
And
We show the world—
Jesus hanging on the cross.
Yes—
the image of Christ on the cross can be difficult to see—(IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE!)
but the power of Christ’s crucifixion
cannot be underestimated.
The power of Christ hanging on the cross is
the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. (Romans 1.16)
The power of Christ hanging on the Cross
is the power of divine love
at work for us
poor
miserable
love-less
sinners.
The power of Christ hanging on the cross
is the power of God
to forgive our sins
to give us life that never ends
to save our bodies and souls
and
to love us, loveless though we be.
The power of Christ hanging on the cross—
is the power of God’s love
for You and Me and all the saints.
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XI The bottom line for all of us is this:
God so LOVED the world, that he gave his only begotten Son [ TO HANG ON THE CROSS AND DIE]—that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (St. John 3.16)
The Law and the Prophets hang on the commandments of God—
that we may know the will of God
and walk in the ways of God.
Jesus hung on the cross—
that we may know the love of God—
and know it to the full.
By THAT love—
Christ saves us from sin, death, the devil, and hell—
and he saves us for everlasting life with him
in the coming Kingdom of God.
So
Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim
Till all the world adores his sacred name. (LSB 837)
Praise God.
Amen.
Invocation In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Hymn of Response: Create in Me.