Sermon for the 6th Sunday after Trinity, 2020

Homily for the 6th Sunday after Trinity, July 19, 2020

Fr. Tony Melton

Central Text: Isaiah 57

Do you remember the first time you read the Sermon on the Mount for the first time? I do. Isn’t it one of the most terrifying passages in the Bible? I mean, Jesus is taking about plucking out eyes and chopping off hands, and saying that there are many who will say “Lord, Lord” who will be turned away, not know by God. One of the passages from the Sermon on the Mount that filled me with the most fear was our Gospel passage for this Sunday. “Whosoever shall say, ‘Thou fool’, shall be in danger of hellfire.” Well, I was angry plenty as a young man. I’ve said things to and about people that were a lot worse than “fool”, haven’t you? And then, when I heard that my righteousness had to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees, or else I would be prohibited from the kingdom of heaven… I knew about the Pharisees! I know Jesus had some harsh things to say about them, but righteousness was kind of their niche! How can I be more righteous than a Pharisee?

So there is a dilemma between God’s righteous requirement and my sin. When the Gospel is communicated, many often focus exclusively on God’s forgiveness of our sin, and forgetting that Jesus said things like He did in our Gospel reading.

What is so often lacking in our understanding of the Gospel is that God heals us, and perfects our nature. Our subject today is the purpose of God, not just to forgive us, but to heal us. This idea is contained in our Old Testament reading, Isaiah 57, where God says of the humble and contrite man. “I have seen his ways, and will heal him. I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him. I create the fruit of praise on the lips. Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord, and I will heal him.”

Hear me: God will heal your very being. That is Gospel truth. God’s healing work in the soul is how He closes the gap between His righteous requirement and our sinful nature. When you read the Sermon on the Mount and were so intimidated by the height of God’s requirements, wouldn’t it have been so much better if you’d have known that they were God’s plans for you. That God’s plans for you are very high. He plans to make you that holy.

I’m sure many of you have had great mentors. Two things that make great mentors are really high expectations and a readiness to walk with you as you struggle to meet those expectations. Right? And this is what God does. He made us to be perfect, to be free. He desires this for us, and He requires that from us. And there is nothing that He holds back to save us and to heal us. The Sermon on the Mount sets the bar of God’s requirement higher than our comprehension. Isaiah 57 promises that God will heal us and lift us up to a perfection of nature.

But the most important part for us to grasp is HOW God heals our nature, and raises us to the perfection He speaks of in the Sermon on the Mount. For this, we turn to our Epistle reading in Romans 6 and our Collect for the 6th Sunday after Trinity. So, open the Prayer Book to page 197 and follow along.

First, Romans 6 shows us that God heals our nature by uniting us to Christ in our Baptisms. When describing salvation, Paul speaks of baptism, as do so many of the New Testament authors. “KNOW ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.” Notice first that Paul speaks of Baptism. He is not using a code word. He is not talking about an invisible “baptism”. This is why he uses the word “baptism.” But notice also that in this baptism the Holy Spirit binds the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection to the person being baptized. It is this binding together of our soul with Jesus that causes us to be dead to sin and alive to God. To put this in the context of our Gospel reading, before we are united with Christ in baptism, we can’t even begin to attain the prerequisite of God. But for the one who is baptized, the sin nature has been dealt a death blow, that henceforth he should not serve sin, he doesn’t have to serve sin. The baptized Christian experiences the beginnings of healing and the freedom to live as God intended. This work will finally be completed when we are resurrected. We will be completely healed, but we experience the beginnings of this healing now.

So God’s plan to heal you begins in the grace of Baptism, but this grace continues throughout our whole life and beyond. What is this work that God does in us? How does He make our righteousness to exceed that of the Pharisee? How does he change us from people that murder our brothers in our hearts into His children that walk in perfect righteousness? For this, we turn to the Collect at the top of page 197. Remember, a Collect is a very old Prayer that the Church prays for the week that ties together the ideas in the Epistle and the Gospel. This prayer is from the 6th century.

O GOD, who hast prepared for them that love thee such good things as pass man's understanding: Pour into our hearts such love toward thee, that we, loving thee above all things, may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Notice how many times the words “love” is mentioned. On the Sunday that we read the frightening words of Jesus that calling our brother a “fool” puts us in danger of hellfire, and that our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisee, our prayer is not that God would give us more discipline than a Pharisee, or strength to clench our jaw before we say, “Thou fool.” Instead we ask God to “pour into our hearts love toward thee.” What is needed to surpass the righteousness of the Pharisee? Love. What is needed to avoid murder in your heart? It isn’t a tight jaw. It is a loving heart. This is God’s promise—to heal your heart by pouring in His love.

How does this come to bear upon us specifically as 21st century Americans planting a church in Northwest Atlanta? It is easy to replace the main thing with a lesser thing. “I just need to learn my Bible more. I need to stop gossiping, stop yelling, stop looking at this, or buying that. I need to pray more regularly. I need to get this person to come to church. Or, I need to plant this church.” But these things are secondary. I pray that I have not led you astray as your pastor. When we are planting a church, there is so much to do and plan and grow, and it is my job to make sure that we plan, and grow, and do. But please don’t ever think that any activity at CTK that we do is ever the main thing. Growth in the love of God is always the main thing. Only when our hearts are brimming with love of neighbor can we gather, and welcome, and invite for the sake of the Gospel. Only when our hearts are bursting with the love of God can our righteousness exceed that of the Pharisee. And so our prayer should not be, “God, help us to grow.” But our constant petition should be, “God, pour in my heart your love that I may keep your commandments. Fill me with your love, that I might love my neighbor and bring them back to you. Pour in my heart your love, that I move passed the sin of hating my brother, and I start to love him. That I don’t just avoid adultery, but love my wife as Christ does the Church. That I don’t just avoid stealing, but give generously to those who have need, for the love of God.”

Everything that we do is for the love of God, and is an opportunity for God to pour His love in our hearts, whether that’s reading our Bible and praying int he morning, or encoring a coworker, making our kids breakfast, speaking to a client, or setting up chairs, let it always be for the love of God and another chance to ask God to heal us.

Of course, the central place where God pours His love in our hearts is when He pours out His blood for His Church. When we take and eat the Eucharist, we are filled with that love. So, brothers and sisters, let us prepare our hearts to filled in hope of the promises that God has made to save us and to heal us. Amen.