Sermon on LD 40
Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Of all the Ten Commandments, the sixth one is the one that everyone will agree with, Christian or not: You shall not murder. Everyone of sound mind realises that no-one has the right to just take another person’s life. On the other hand, when you dig a bit deeper than the obvious, all of a sudden you find quite a bit of disagreement on certain related questions. Just think of the discussions about euthanasia, abortion and suicide. Also think of the discussion about the death penalty. But I also think of issues like genetic engineering, cloning and other scientific technologies that concern the beginning of life. These examples show that we will all agree on the basic command that we must not murder. But as soon as we dig a bit deeper we find that Christians are miles apart from those who do not believe in God. And so our question is: what is the specific Christian interpretation of this command and how must Christians obey it?
That question leads to another which comes up as soon as we dig a bit deeper. The sixth commandment goes beyond the actual act of killing. Is it enough not to take someone’s life? No, it is not. The Catechism leaves no room to doubt that. The sixth commandment does not only address the outward act of murder, but also our hearts where feelings of hatred and anger are cherished and plans to kill are born. On the outside this command perhaps looks like the easiest one to obey, beause we do not go around killing people. But in reality it is not that simple. The sixth commandment asks obedience of the heart, not just obedience in actions. This says a great deal about how serious God takes this command. It also tells us a lot about ourselves because in our hearts we know that none of us can deny the sins that are exposed by the sixth commandment.
And this is not all. From q/a 107 we learn that God does not only condemn murder, but on top of that commands us to love our neighbour, including our enemies! The negative wording ‘you shall not murder’ can be positively worded in ‘you shall love’. We are not only commanded not to murder or hate or injure, but we are also commanded to love, to be patient, to do good even to our enemies.
Indeed, it is not easy to obey the 6th commandment. But still we shall obey it. Not half-heartedly because deep in our hearts we know that we cannot anyway. Not just out of a mere sense of duty because we know we should. No, we shall love our neighbour as ourselves because God loved us first! We must do so, for if we are God’s children we will act like our Father. John says in his first letter: God is love. Love is the essence of God’s being. Therefore, we also, as his people, created in his image, must love our neighbour. This doesn’t all of a sudden make it easy to obey the 6th commandment, but it does tell us about the necessity of love and of the source where we can find the strength to love. This we find in our God and in our Lord Jesus Christ. And so we come to theme and points for our sermon this afternoon:
God is love, therefore we must love
- The necessity of love < li >The character of love < li >The durability of love
The necessity of love
The three points we use to speak on the subject of Christian love are taken from 1 Corinthians 13, the chapter we read together. This chapter is well-known because it is a beautiful and appealing chapter, in itself a poem, a love song about love. Therefore I believe it is very suitable to discuss it in a sermon about the 6th commandment. But we should realise that this chapter derives its specific meaning from the immediate context. So before talking about the actual contents of this chapter and the relevance for the 6th commandment, let us first consider this question: in what context does Paul write these memorable and beautiful words about Christian love?
Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthians to address several issues and situations that occurred in the young congregation in Corinth. One of them for instance was the existence of several parties in the church there. Some people considered themselves to be followers of Paul, others of Apollos (ch 3). Another issue was marriage and separation (ch 7). Yet another the eating of food sacrificed to idols (ch 8). And then, in the chapters 12-14 Paul discusses the issue of the special gifts of the Holy Spirit. So it is in the context of these special gifts of speaking in tongues, the gift of prophecy, the gift of healing, and others, that Paul finds it necessary to focus the attention of the Corinthians on love.
Now why does he do that? Well, the Corinthians found these special gifts and especially the gift of speaking in tongues very important. That was a gift given to the church by the Holy Spirit which enabled certain persons to speak or pray or praise God with sounds and words which no-one could understand. An interpreter was needed to explain these mysterious words. This in turn, the interpreting of tongues, was another special gift of the Holy Spirit. Now the problem was that the Corinthians wanted so badly to be a spiritual church, that they overestimated the special gifts of the Spirit. Especially the speaking in tongues was considered to be evidence of a rich spiritual life of the one speaking in tongues and of the church itself. And those who spoke in tongues boasted in their special gift.
It is in this context that Paul focuses on Christian love. He says: no matter how many people speak in tongues and how often, no matter how many impressive special gifts of the Spirit are evident in the church, if there is no love, all of those gifts are useless and you can not be a Spiritual, a Christian church. A Christian church without love is a contradiction in terms, it cannot exist. It is impossible for the Christian church not to show love. This is what Paul brings home in the first three verses of chapter 13. Love is necessary for the Christian church.
Yet, we must read carefully. Paul does not disapprove of the special gifts. On the contrary. He even says in 14, 1: ‘Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.’ But you must realise the order in that command: first love and then gifts. The outward signs of faith are to be appreciated indeed: obedience to God, prophecy (that is preaching), prayer. We do not have speaking in tongues any more, but we do each have our own gifts and place in the communion of saints. We are called to be living members of the church. And the use of our gifts is indispensable to the Christian church. But all our involvement in the church, all the time and energy we put in the church, and use of our gifts is useless and pointless and worthless if they do not come from a heart-felt sincere Christian love.
That is why in the 6th commandment God not only commands us not to murder. For that is not such a hard command to obey. Fortunately most people will never really kill another human being. But you can still think about it! You may even never call another person any names. But you can still want to do so! And that is in particular what God forbids. Our hearts should be free of thoughts or desires to hurt anyone with words or actions. Instead our hearts should be filled with the love of God for each other. It is the heart that counts before God. Without a loving heart our spiritual life is not spiritual at all. It is like a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. Without love we and the church sounds hollow and empty. We would make a lot of noise, but no music.
It may be hard to live up to this command of love. But it is necessary to the Christian church and to every individual Christian. Love is the all-encompassing aspect of Christian life. Love constitutes Christian life. Therefore it cannot be missed. This is what Paul wants to make clear in the first three verses of chapter 13. But there is more he wants to bring forward. This brings us to our second point.
The character of love
Paul speaks of the character of love in the verses 4 to 7. The list of short statements he gives here, speaks more of love in general, and not so much about love in relation to the special gifts of the Spirit. It answers the question: if Christian love is that necessary to Christian life, then what does this love look like? What does it consist of?
To answer this question Paul gives the Corinthians a short list of 11 statements. In these statements he personifies love, i.e. he speaks of love as a person: she is patient and kind, she is not rude and she does not keep records of wrong. What is so striking about this list and about this personification is that you can fill in a name in each statement in the place of ‘love’. And the first name then to comes to mind is the name Jesus. Jesus is patient and kind, he is not rude and does not keep records of wrong. He does not seek himself, is not easily angered. In other words, speaking of the character of love we are unmistakably directed to our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the ultimate example of love and he is the source of our Christian love for each other. If we ask: what is love? the answer must be: Jesus, our Lord.
I will give you two examples of his love. First: while our Lord was nailed to the cross on Golgota he prayed for his executioners. In Luke 23:33-34 we read: ‘When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals, one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’ By praying for his enemies Jesus gave us an example of the command he himself gave in Matthew 5, 43-45. There he says: ‘You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.’ This example shows us that Christian love in humility considers others to be better than yourselves (cf. Philippians 2, 3).
The second example is not an event in Jesus’ life in particular, but it is the whole of his suffering and pain and death. Jesus’ life and death on earth showed us his selfdenial. Paul writes of this in Philippians 2: ‘Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross!’ That is love. In John 15, 11-12 the Lord Jesus says: ‘My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.’ That is in the end the character of Christian love: to acknowledge that your neighbour’s life and well-being is more important than your own and to act accordingly.
And this is of course what makes loving your neighbour so hard. God asks for our hearts. Outward Christian acts is not what God wants from us. He wants our sincere faith and love. But this is completely contrary to our sinful nature! If it were up to us, we would seek our own benefit in everything that we do. If it were up to us, we would be our own gods. We would not choose to be our neighbour’s servants, but our neighbour’s lords! Our old man does not wish to serve, but to rule.
But thankfully it is not just up to us. Thankfully our sinful nature is still present, but it does not rule our lives. God rules our lives. We have received the Spirit of God who turns us around and makes of us children of our heavenly Father. We are set free, we have been brought out of the house of bondage, out of the slavery to Satan. God has given us freedom, the freedom to serve him. He has given us his commandments to keep us on the road of freedom. The 6th commandment guides us on the way of love that Jesus Christ cleared for us. He has done away with our sins, so that we might walk in love for our neighbours. And so, our Lord Jesus did not only set the example for the way in which we are to love one another, he also gave us the Spirit to in fact do so. He enables us to love the way that he did and still does. In the strength of the Spirit of God we can deny ourselves and think our neighbour more significant than ourselves. It is a struggle sometimes to love each other, even our enemies. But if we trust in God and take from the endless source of love of Jesus Christ, then we are able to love our neighbour as ourselves.
But we should also realise this: our Lord showed us how to love, but he also showed us what kind of reaction this love can prompt from people. Jesus’ love cost him his life. The consequence of love, the response to love, is not always love. People will not always love you in return. This is perhaps what sometimes makes us hesitant to love and reach out to our neighbour. Loving others leaves you vulnerable. Hatred is like a clenched fist, ready to strike. Love is like an open hand, ready to give. We are sometimes afraid that people will respond to our open hands with clenched fists, take advantage of our loving approach. We are afraid to get hurt. And Jesus’ life assures us that this indeed can happen.
But if you are sometimes afraid to get hurt when showing love to your neigbour, remember this: will he who gives you the strength to show love, not also give you the strength to deal with the response to this love? Will he who commands you to love, let his command backfire on you? Jesus’ love cost him his life, yes, but effectively it gave us life. Similarly our love will bring about good, even though we might not see it or experience it in that instant.
The durability of love
In the verses 8 to 13 Paul comes back to the special gifts of the Spirit which he put into perspective in the verses 1 to 3. You will remember: there he said that these gifts were worthless if they were not used within the greater context of Christian love. In verses 4 to 7 he elaborated on the nature, the character of love. And now he wants to show why love is more important than the special gifts of tongues, prophecy or healing.
We find the reason why in verses 8 and 13: love never fails, love remains forever. That’s what I mean with ‘durability’. The special gifts will once disappear because they will be needed no longer. But love is here to stay forever. Paul compares his day to the day of the coming of the perfect kingdom of God. Now, in the last days, he says, there are prophecies and tongues and the instruction in the will of God. But when Christ has returned these means of revelation and proclamation will disappear because we will know and see God as he really is. This time is like childhood compared to the life of the adult who has grown up and knows what life in reality has to offer. This time is like a mirror. We use a mirror to see our reflection, from a mirror we receive knowledge indirectly. But then we will see God face to face, we will have knowledge of him directly. There will be nothing left to separate us from him. The special gifts therefore will no longer be needed.
That is why love is more valuable than spiritual gifts. Love is fundamental to the Christian faith. It is the life-line between these last days and the time yet to come, the time of perfect glory and majesty of God. This also underlines the destructive power of murder and hatred that God forbids in the 6th commandment: murder cuts the life-line. The only thing that prevents us from drowning in a world of darkness and bloodshed is the life-line of love that ties us safely to our God in heaven who himself lives in heavenly light. When love is destroyed by hatred, the life-line to God and eternal life is broken and we are left to the raging seas of Satan’s malice.
That is why love is so important. It remains, and it’s durability guarantees our safety in our Lord Jesus Christ. That is why the call to love each other is emphasized so many times in the Bible. We read a section from 1 John 4. There John writes: ‘Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.’ So love is also a sign of our connection with God of the life line to eternal glory. If we love in our lives, it means that God is in our lives. The love we have for our neighbour is proof of God’s love for us and thus a guarantee of our salvation in Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
We must and we can love because God loved us first. We can for God’s Spirit lives in our hearts. Remember that we said in the second point that the name ‘Jesus’ could be filled in instead of ‘love’ in verses 4 to 7? Brs and srs, could you also fill in your name in those verses? If you believe in Jesus Christ the risen Lord, you should and you can. That doesn’t mean that you will not sometimes fail to obey the commandment to love. For we are called to be like Christ, not be Christ himself. He was without sin, we will never be without sin in this life. But if you believe in Jesus Christ, you have received his Spirit. And the first gift of the Holy Spirit is love as it says in Gal 5:22. From that promise we take courage. God gives the strength to love and he is the source of love. Therefore it is not impossible to obey the 6th commandment. On the contrary: when we believe in Jesus Christ the Son, we will love because the Holy Spirit has taken away the hatred and God the Father has given us his love instead. Amen.