Epiphany 5A - "THE GAME PLAN" - Matthew 5:13-20 - February 6,2011

It’s Super Bowl Sunday, practically a national holiday. And on this day, all the Cheeseheads and Terrible Towels are coming out strong. Personally, I’m pulling for the Packers. The coaches and players have been game planning and practicing for two weeks now and today’s the day we find out whose game plan will work. In our message this morning, I’m going to talk about God’s game plan was revealed in our text.

From Psalm 40, a Psalm of David: For evils have encompassed me beyond number; My iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; They are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me.

David’s desperation is evident; his sins are weighing heavy on his heart. And not as much the sins themselves, necessarily, but rather the amount of them. Beyond number . . . more than the hairs of my head . . . how could one ever make up for such a multitude of sins in the eyes of his Sovereign Lord?
Have we ever felt the same? Have we ever, in tearful anguish, beseeched our Lord, “I’m sorry! God, please forgive me. Please deliver me!”? Perhaps you’ve been there, perhaps not. David’s most infamous sin was when he was jealous for Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. The short version of the story is that he wanted her so badly for himself that he had Joab put Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting so that he would be killed. Now I’m assuming none of us have ever murdered someone so that we may have their spouse, but what about other sins? Words of the early church father, St. Augustine: “Who is there can calculate the number of the hairs of his head? Much less can he tell the number of his sins . . . You have guarded against greater ones; you do not now commit adultery, or murder; you do not plunder the property of others; you do not blaspheme; and do not bear false witness; those are the weightier kind of sins.” Now let me stop right there, if any of us say that we haven’t committed – or don’t commit – any of those sins, then we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But, Augustine’s point is well taken as he then forms the question, “You have guarded against great sins, what are you doing about your smaller ones?”
We try to live good, morally upstanding lives, but James said in his epistle that just one sin convicts us of the entire Law. So let’s start counting. Count every negative thought about a family member or friend or coworker or fellow church member, count every time you said something that you regretted later, count every grudge you have held or are still holding, count every time you passed on loving thy neighbor because you were just in too much of a hurry, count every time you chose the easy way, not the right way. I don’t know about you, but personally, I’m way past 1. Suddenly, our desperation is not so dissimilar from David’s. How could we ever make up for such a multitude of sins in the eyes of our Sovereign Lord? We can’t; we need help, we need a plan. So we look to God. He is a just God; a God of judgment, of wrath. And he hates sin. But he is also a loving God, a God of grace and mercy. He is a God who, in almost the same breath, pronounced both judgment on mankind and the promise of a Savior who would incur that judgment in our stead. He is our God who created us perfect. And it was not his will that we would sin; but when we did, he had a game plan. That game plan is just what Jesus revealed in our Gospel text today. Verse 17, Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. In recent weeks, from Advent through Epiphany until now, we have heard many times about how Jesus was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, and by that he has been revealed as the Son of God. But today we’re looking at his fulfillment of the Law, for that was his purpose; that was his game plan. But what does this mean that Christ would fulfill the Law? First, that Jesus would follow the Law perfectly, never sinning. Then, as God’s Son, holy and perfect, he would be the one acceptable sacrifice to God once and for all, atonement for our sin. Because by his words in our text, Jesus made it clear that the Law is not going away. Righteousness before our just God can only be attained by the fulfillment of the whole Law – from the dot of every “i” to every little squiggly that changes an “O” to a “Q”. But we have failed in following that Law; we can’t do it! No matter how good we try to be, our sins are more than the hairs of [our] head. And God’s wrath requires blood for our guilt. Yet God’s love provided that blood in the sending of his Son, Jesus. So are we hopeless? No! Christ is our hope! Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law. He was our substitute on the cross. And just as our sins are innumerable, so is God’s forgiveness. So the devil cannot stand as our accuser because we repent and say, “Yes, I am guilty.” And then for Christ’s sake our sins are forgiven. Every single point of the Law where we have failed, from the dot of every “i” to every little squiggly that changes an “O” to a “Q” has been atoned for by Jesus’ holy and precious blood. How beautiful, comforting, and freeing those words were that Jesus uttered before he gave up his spirit, “It is finished”! God’s game plan executed perfectly. And having fulfilled the Law in our place, Jesus then accomplished victory over the Law by his resurrection. And though we still sin and we will die, that is not the end. We know that through Christ we have victory over death. Our sins are forgiven and though we die, so shall we live. God’s game plan executed perfectly. But though our salvation has been accomplished, God’s plan is still at work in us, his Church. We also heard in our text that we are the light of the world. Well what does that mean? Well for example, on this Super Bowl Sunday, if anyone is a Packers or Steelers fan, you’ll know it today. The world is seeing them; it should see us too. So how do we accomplish that?
Well , let us remember that the Law has not gone away; it still governs our lives. But to what end? Not for our salvation, but as stated in verse 16, In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. We received The Holy Spirit in our Baptism and now, as children of the light, the world is to see Christ in us. 1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. We live by the Law of love, with Christ as our example. By his love for us, we have come to know God. By showing love for our fellow man, others will see Christ in us and come to know God also, walking out of the darkness into the light. But perhaps even greater than our good works is that we simply live differently; that people see a peace in us that comes only from the knowledge of God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness. Philippians 2:14-15 Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. We live differently, we are different. People see the peace in our hearts, even in this dark world, and want to know it as well. People see us facing trials and hardships with calm confidence that God will deliver us, and they say, “I want some of that!” And then their thirst will be quenched by Christ. So let me summarize in a manner apropos for this Super Bowl Sunday: God made us the General Manager of his perfect creation. But we messed it up. We made bad trades, our draft picks all turned out to be busts, our free agency signings were disastrous, and we couldn’t even keep the players we had happy. So we got demoted, now we’re down on the field contending with the devil who’s either trying to tackle us or accuse us of committing a penalty, which we do a lot. Now we may do pretty good at avoiding the big 15 yard personal fouls, but we’re guilty of 5 yard false starts all the time, which frustrate the Coach just as much. The devil is that defensive lineman who flinches at us and then when we move, immediately points, “He did it! Throw the flag!” We just can’t gain any yardage on our own. But God had a game plan. He sent in Jesus to be our quarterback – actually, let’s just say he played every position, ‘cause he did it all for us. He executed God’s game plan perfectly; he plowed right through that devil’s defense on his was to the cross. And by his death on that cross, he fulfilled the Law in our stead, crossing the goal line, “It is finished!” But no touchdown is complete without a victory dance. Jesus jumped out of his grave alive and danced his victory dance over death. And now the devil’s doubled over, grasping his knees back at the 20, dejected, defeated, trying to figure out how he got burned so bad. And us? Well we have new uniforms. The Lord has given us his Spirit and put us in bright uniforms as white as doves so that everyone can see us. And so we run toward the goal line following the path that Jesus cleared, inviting all in the stands to rush the field and join us in the end zone. The devil may hit us along the way, but he can’t bring us down. So we cross the goal line – we die, BUT we die in Christ, so we too will be resurrected, joining in the dance. Today, those who wear the Cheesehead may very well get to celebrate a championship, celebrate that Lombardi Trophy coming home. But those who wear the cross on their heart are already champions, and not just for a year, but forever. Because our champion is Christ and when he comes again he will give us our trophy, the crown of life. And we will go home, joining him in that eternal victory dance. Amen.