Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully,
understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually
immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,
in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.
In this letter to a young pastor, Paul’s interest is specifically aimed to teach that the law reveals our sin…it uncovers us, leaves us bare before God’s perfection.
The law is that which uncovers and denounces sin and the ungodly.
When Paul says that the law is not for the just but for the lawless, here is merely saying that for the one walking in righteousness, the one seeking the Lord, living
a blameless life, which remember, includes confession and repentance, for that person the law is not a threat. They are walking in its light and the law for them is a guide to pleasing the Lord.
But for the ungodly and rebellious, the law is revealing; revealing malevolence and wickedness. The law uncovers them and therefore they are either at war against that
law or will crumble in conviction and confess their violation of it. So, while the law has many purposes, here, Paul is speaking of the law in the sense that it condemns sinful behavior.
All that being the case, what I want us to wrestle with this morning is that the reality that human life, yours, mine and everyone else’s is undeniably, moral. God made
it this way. Therefore, disobedience to the morality that God established through His Word, which is a reflection of his own character, disobedience, by necessity, functions like a virus that infects the entire system…or the entire person, community, culture
and world. Our first parents chose to depart from morality as God set it forth and that, that sin is the true systemic problem of mankind.
In an article written for Touchstone Magazine, the author W.R. Blackburn wrote regarding Mother Teresa. She was speaking about abortion, but arguing that this violation of God’s
law had drastic consequences far beyond what people ever admit. Listen carefully to her logic, again, as cited in Touchstone magazine:
“I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child — a direct killing of the innocent child — murder by the mother herself.
And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? … By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And by abortion, the father is told that
he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So, abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the
people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.” [Cited in W.R. Blackburn, “The Destroyer of Peace,”
Touchstone (Jan/Feb 2013) 17-18]
Have you ever thought about the fact that Atheists and agnostics cannot argue that something is objectively evil? Evil supposes a moral standard, but who sets that standard?
How can something objectively be declared evil if there is no supreme authority to declare it so, and who gets to make that determination? By what standard? By whose standard?
As one author points out: Here is the frightening part: We live in a culture where the distinction between good and bad, right and wrong has virtually disappeared as
a means of distinction regarding people and their actions.
Think about the ways we make distinctions: Someone might be this race or that one, this ethnicity or that ethnicity. They might be rich or poor, heterosexual or homosexual…they
might be married or single, Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative etc.
But the one thing, with a few exceptions to be sure, we do not hear is whether or not a person is good or bad, just or unjust. We might say that what someone DOES is
good or bad, their behavior is acceptable or not, but rarely do we hear our culture declare that the person himself or herself is good or evil.
Again, I realize there are exceptions, but generally speaking in our culture everyone is a good person, even though their actions may not be. Everyone will go to heaven,
except Adolf Hitler and chiefly this is because we have lost any sense of moral seriousness, of right and wrong.
That is why American culture’s favorite verse and almost everyone, Bible reader or not, knows it, is do not judge. No one can judge anyone else…and if you do, then we
will condemn you in our judgment…(See what I did there?)
And then, Paul has a brief list of sins and those living in them. Again, life is moral…Paul is talking about behavior…he is talking about the way folks live their lives.
Why does he do this? To make the point that life is moral.
Lists of sins are not uncommon in the Bible. In fact, we see them throughout the texts of scripture leading right up to the gate of heaven itself. In Revelation 22 and
the description of the New Heavens and the New Earth we read:
Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside
are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
The Bible is always concerned with how life is lived, what kind of behavior men and women will embrace. How one lives their life…matters! How you and I live our lives matters!
Prayer: Father, help me to give of myself, my time, my money, my affection, my service, for the sake of Your Kingdom, the exaltation of my King and the glory of Your
name. I confess that I am selfish, and at times think to just ‘get by’ in my devotion to You. Help me to see the joy, freedom and peace that comes from trusting in You and in Your ways, the Kingdom’s ways and to give myself fully and without reservation to
my Savior, in Jesus name, Amen.
Hymn: Of The Father’s Love Begotten (Piano only, with words)
