Memorial Moment: The Evangelical Difference

Psalm 32

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart! (ESV)

The Evangelical Difference

Tuesday of Lent 4

12 March 2013

The law is a horrifying hammer, crushing and destroying wherever it is swung. We wield it is so adeptly against those we consider to be gross sinners and it does its work laying low those who are struggling with their sin. Oh, I am not talking about garden variety pagans who neither fear God nor respect His law. I am talking about our brothers and sisters in Christ, who are struggling to obey the law in true fear and trust of God. If our only response to such people is the mashing power of the law, we will be like the surgeon who opens the chest of a person suffering from lung cancer, and after removing the offending tumors, declines to close the chest of his patient again, arguing, "I did what was necessary. I know it hurts, but it is good for you. You would die if I hadn't removed the tumors." Yet without a proper closure of the patient's chest he will die anyway, and probably more swiftly than the tumors would. The covering of ribs, skin and sinews, all properly stitched up, is necessary for a full and complete recovery. Removal must be followed by a covering.

This is why our Lord warns us to be careful of the log in our own eye (Mt 7:3-5). We are so blind to our neighbor's great need for the gospel that we wield the log in our own eye to poke our neighbor's eye. Often, this is a case of transference, that is, that we tend to abhor and condemn most vehemently in others the very things we most hate about ourselves. If we are ourselves gospel-challenged, we feel better by attacking others for our own sins. Wrecking someone else with the law hurts us less than turning it on ourselves. How different this goes in God's way, in which David, the fearful sinner, turns to God with the simple confession, "Have mercy on me, O God" (Ps 51:1)

Martin Luther warned us that we needed to have an evangelical approach to our use of the law. We must recognize the unfinished nature of the nature of every true Christian. Luther calls this a "truly evangelical dispensation or differentiation." The evangelical differentiation in the use of the law is that we will err on the side of the gospel as we deal with sinners, sinners just like us. No wonder Jesus says to us: 'For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you' (Mt 7:2). The evangelical difference recognizes the weakness of sinners, who feel their sin, fear God, and trust His mercy. The evangelical differences means that we apply wonderful covering mercy upon the sins that erupt in the life of every sinner (whom does this exclude?). We are to impute to others what the Lord has imputed to us, that is, the covering righteousness of Christ. This is hard to do, because it is far easier to impute sins to sinners, obviously. The evangelical difference walks backward into the tent of our neighbor and throws a cloak over his nakedness (Gn 9:23), covering his sin for the sake of Christ.

Martin Luther

"After we have said how God the righteous and man the sinner are to be reconciled, we must also take heed to consider rightly the word 'Have mercy.' If we considered it more carefully, we should have to declare that our whole life is enclosed and established in the bosom of the mercy of God. Since we are all the 'me' here, that is, sinners, the conclusion follows clearly and necessarily that whatever we are and live is all by pure grace, not by our righteousness or merit. 'What then,' you ask, 'ought not the Ten Commandments be kept? And if they are kept, is not that righteousness?' I respond: We want to keep and observe the Ten Commandments, but with a large, that is, with a truly evangelical dispensation or differentiation, because we have received only the first fruits of the Spirit (Rm 8:23), and the groans of the Spirit remain in our hearts. Likewise our flesh with its lusts and desires, that is the whole tree with its fruits, remains too. This is the reason why the Ten Commandments are never able to be fully kept. Otherwise, if the Ten Commandments could be kept whole and undefiled, what need would there be of the righteousness for which David prays in the word 'Have mercy'? What need would there be of imputation? Now, since even in the saints there are still remnants of sin that have not yet been fully mortified, two things happen: Through the Spirit dwelling in us we resist sin and obey the Ten Commandments; and yet, since we are driven to sin by flesh and Satan, we hope for the forgiveness of sins."

Martin Luther, Lectures on Psalm 51.1

Prayer

Dear Jesus, help us to exhibit the evangelical difference in our use of the law, that we might help and not hurt those who are suffering because of their own flesh and its perversity. Help us to confess that we too are in need of such mercy, that we might give what we ourselves have abundantly received from Your own gracious hand. Amen.

For Alejandro Moreno and Alex Crank, and all those who are in prison, that they might not give up hope, but commit their cause to Him who was falsely imprisoned because of our sins

For Kelvin Makangula, who was baptized into Christ, that he might live the life of Christ whose death and resurrection he shared

For the delegates, who are preparing to attend the convention of the LCMS this summer, that they might be constant in prayer that the Lord's will be done on earth as it is in heaven

Art: GRÜNEWALD, Matthias Isenheim Altarpiece (1515)