Preacher: Pastor Tim Redfield
Date: August 22/25, 2019
Text: Exodus 20:4-6
Why do you follow the rules? There is a part of us that hates following rules. And I suppose there are plenty of times that we try to bend and break the rules just a little bit. But for the most part, we are people who follow the rules. Why do you do that? What is your motivation? This is what I am getting at: Do you obey out of fear or joy? Think about something simple: why do you try to get to work on time? Is it because you understand you would have consequences if you don’t show up on time? Or is it because you are so joyful to work every day that you love to be there bright and early? Most likely, the first reason is probably more accurate. Today we are going to explore why following God’s laws is actually fantastic. Today we see that Living God’s Way Brings Pure Joy.
Part 1: Living otherwise is the ultimate devastation
The first part of our text might be a little surprising. When I was growing up, I didn’t realize that the conclusion to the ten commandments doesn’t come at the end of the commandments section in the book of Exodus. When Luther was putting together his Small Catechism, he used the verses before us as the conclusion to the ten commandments. Luther made a good choice because the verses summarize well why we obey. I will expand on that as we meditate. The first thing to note is that these words are connected to the first commandment. It is an explanation of why we should honor God above all things. He is God over all. He created all things. He is perfect and he absolutely detests evil.
What God says is not what we as 21st century Americans like to hear. He says that he is going to hold us accountable for our sins. He says, “for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ iniquity, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me” (Exodus 20:5). He doesn’t want us to dishonor him by giving ourselves over to sin. He holds us accountable. He continues to be angry with our children if they also hate him through sinful lifestyles. Think about that. God says that sin is hate toward him. Those who continue to hate God through unrepentant sin will receive the ultimate devastation in Hell.
In our epistle lesson Paul says it this way, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (Romans 1:18). God doesn’t always reveal to us how he is showing his wrath upon this world but we do see a world that is suffering the consequences of sin. We see all sorts of strife and conflict as sinful human beings interact with each other. Our world is full of natural disasters, diseases, and death. Sometimes we see the wicked living pretty good lives here on earth but we know that will not carry over into eternity.
Our gospel lesson talked about the eternal consequences. On Judgment Day, Jesus will speak these words to unbelievers, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). At that point, there will be no second chances. Scripture says, “Then they will go away to eternal punishment” (Matthew 25:46). This is a punishment that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy in this life. I don’t want anyone to end up in hell. And yet, many people don’t think this is going to happen. For whatever reason, many people want to ignore the reality of hell. Perhaps they have been convinced by others or their own wishful thinking that hell isn’t real. Perhaps they think that God doesn’t exist.
The truth is that hell is real and God is real and those who don’t believe in God will end up in hell. God’s threats are not empty promises. When he says that unbelievers will end up in hell, he means it. Perhaps you have seen a mom or dad trying to control misbehaving kids. Perhaps they say something like, “If you don’t stop on the count of three, then we are going home right now.” What happened when they counted to three? Did they drop everything and go home or did they try something else? We don’t always follow through on our threats. God follows through. God will punish those who hate him through their sin and their unbelief.
God’s threats should terrify us. Psalm 119:120 says, “My flesh trembles in fear of you; I stand in awe of your laws.” We should be terrified at the prospect of hell. There are plenty of things that terrify us in this world. Some people are very afraid at the possibility of natural disasters. Perhaps you or someone you know gets pretty worked up when the tornado siren goes off. They want to get down to the basement right away just in case a tornado rips through our city. The punishment of hell is much worse than a tornado.
The threat of eternal punishment should drive us to want to follow God’s commands. Think about how the threat of punishment can make us behave in this world. Have you noticed how just about everyone slows down on the road when a police car is parked on the side of the road? People are nervous about getting a ticket. How would you react if a police officer pulled you over and then approached the window with his gun drawn and asked you to get out of the car? You would be terrified. Even if you had not done anything wrong, fear would motivate you to do exactly what the officer said.
Fear can lead to obedience but it is not the best kind of obedience. Fear motivated obedience is not really what God wants from us. He doesn’t want his law to feel like a burden. He wants us to be free to live for him. Fear motivated obedience can lead us to understand how bad our sins truly are. But fear motivated obedience isn’t truly going to lead us to heaven. We will probably strive to obey because we are thinking that we have to appease an angry God so that he doesn’t smite us by sending us to hell. While the result may be a pretty good way of life on the outside, it is not a heart that is truly repentant.
Part 2: Living in repentance is joyful service
The repentant heart is one that lives in joy. We see that God loved us so much that he sent his Son to be our redeemer. That is the best love. Exodus 20:6 says God is , “showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love” him “and keep” his “commands.” This love wasn’t anything that we earned. Our love and obedience didn’t earn God’s love toward us. Rather his love for us motivated us to love him and live in obedience. His love caused him to send his Son to die for us. This is incredible. We did not deserve that. We have broken every commandment in one way or another and he still wanted to save us. That is pure love. That is love that chooses to love people that have proven themselves to be unlovable.
That is why we live in repentance. We acknowledge all the ways that we have sinned against God and we marvel at our God who loves us anyways. Our human minds can’t really fathom why he would send his Son to die for us. We wouldn’t give up our children to spare the life of a serial killer on death row. God gave his Son for our sins. This love and this forgiveness motivates us to lay our sins at the cross. Now we want to obey. We don’t obey out of fear. We don’t think we have to obey to earn a spot in heaven. Jesus already obeyed the law. We obey out of love and thankfulness.
God’s promise of forgiveness and eternal life is awesome motivation. Think about how a child is much more likely to do something if there is a promise of reward. If we tell a child to clean their room or they will be grounded, what is the reaction? They might do the task but there will be lots of grumbling and complaining. However, if we tell them to clean their room and then they will get ice cream, there will probably be a better reaction. I am not saying that we always have to give rewards in every situation but they can be quite helpful.
God’s promise is very different. We don’t earn the reward. It is ours through faith. He gives us forgiveness and eternal life. We receive this wonderful reward simply by believing. That isn’t even something we do. He works that in our heart. Now, we could lose the reward by sinfully rejecting the gift and turning back to a sinful lifestyle. That would be our fault. But if we believe, that is all the work of God in our hearts. Everything about salvation is a gift of God. He gave his Son to die and rise for us and he gives us faith to believe it.
All those gifts motivate us to want to live for God. We are thankful and joyful for all he has done. We are motivated to share this love with others. We know the eternal danger that is possible if people don’t believe so we want them to know the truth of salvation through Jesus. We want people to know the love of Christ. Now, I suppose that a person might say this, “But pastor, I don’t always obey God’s law because I am happy to do so. Sometimes I grumble about coming to church. Sometimes I complain about paying my taxes. And there are other times when I might do the right thing but I am not joyful about it.”
The reason for this is that we all have that sinful nature which is fighting our heart of faith. Our sinful nature never wants us to obey God out of love, joy, and thankfulness. We do need to keep coming back to the gospel encouragement so that our sinfulness can be pushed down by the love of Christ. We need to meditate on that awesome love that loves us in spite of our sinful motivations. Again, that is fantastic. God knows that we don’t always obey for the right reasons and he keeps showering us with his grace. Basking in that radiance, we live and serve God with joy.
Conclusion
Obedience to the commandments may not always feel like it is being done out of pure joy. This is an area where we have to be careful about our feelings. The devil likes to make us feel down because of our guilt over our sins. He wants us to feel like God couldn’t possibly love us. Push aside those feelings and trust the knowledge that we have. Luther found the gospel joy when he realized that the righteousness of God is a gift to us. Jesus earned that righteousness and he gives it to us through faith. Even when we don’t feel joyful, we are loved, we are forgiven, we have a place in heaven. That is the best kind of joy. This joy motivates us to serve our God.