God Gives More Grace
“But He gives more
grace. Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the
humble’” (James 4:6).
Grace and peace to you
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
A farmer had a
wonderful, faithful dog. It was a fine animal in every way—strong of body and
of heart. The dog’s coat was shiny and well groomed. It was gentle—forgiving of
the toddler who inadvertently stepped on it tail or purposely pulled its ears,
but ferocious in defending the barnyard from uninvited visitors. Whenever any
of the family came outside, the dog would come to them eagerly bounding, its
tail wagging so vigorously that its entire hindquarters moved with it!
But, the dog had a
secret—a dark, ugly secret. It lived a double life. For you see, it acted one
way around its master, and another way when it thought that no one was watching.
Each night, after the last of the lights in the farmhouse were extinguished,
the dog would leave its station and take to the field. There, just over the
second hill, the dog would meet up with a pack of other dogs and hang out.
And no, the dogs didn’t
just lay in the grass enjoying the cool evening breeze and exchange stories of
how obedient they’d been earlier that day. No, it was nothing like that! The
dogs became as one. They reverted to their own nature and became wild, with one
intention—to kill and destroy! The pack would attack and sink their sharp teeth
through the wooly fluff into the flesh of a helpless, hapless lamb, biting and
tearing until the lamb was silent and kicked no more.
But one night, the dogs
lingered too long in their revelry. The master arose earlier than usual, and as
he walked outside, his “wonderful” dog wasn’t there to greet him. After a
couple of minutes of calling out in the crisp morning air, he saw his dog in
the distance, making its way home as fast as its powerful legs could take it. He
was very relieved.
The master’s delight
soon turned to horror, for as his beloved dog approached, he could see blood
smeared around its muzzle and chest. At first, he thought that his precious dog
had been injured, no doubt risking its own life to protect the farm. But when
he examined his dog more closely, the truth came out. The truth was there were
no wounds. The blood on the dog wasn’t its own. And then the master’s heart
sank. The undeniable evidence was found. Stuck between his panting dog’s fangs
was a bit of wool and fresh lamb’s flesh!
The dog’s master got up
and walked away. His heart was broken. His beloved dog had betrayed him! It had
been leading double life. Loyal and obedient in the master’s presence. Wild and
ravenous when it thought no one was watching.
Dear friends, you, too,
live a double life. As I do. We all live a double life. On the outside we look
like pious Christian “dogs.” In fact, some of us even wear a collar! We know,
don’t we? We know what our heavenly Master expects of us. We know the
Commandments and their meanings. If asked, most of us could recite them without
missing a word or pausing for a breath. Much like a dog, we might even hope
someone would notice us. And rather than pat us on the head or scratch us
behind the ears and say “Atta boy!” we hope that they’d stroke our ego with
their complimentary words: “Oh, what a good Christian you are!” But, much like the wayward dog that knew what
its master expected but didn’t do it, we, too leave our Lord’s side and meet up
with others on the second hill over and willingly embrace a double life. We all
so often return to those base, sinful desires within us!
And so, what is it that
beckons you to go to that “second hill over” when you think that no one is
watching? Is it bitter jealousy and selfish ambition? Is it quarreling and
fighting to get your own way? Is it lust and covetousness? Adultery and murder?
Where do you find that the world’s friendship is more appealing than God’s?
St. James provides a
list for our consideration and contemplation in our Epistle. He first mentions
jealousy and selfish ambition. Selfish ambition says, “I want better for me”—be
that better things, better friends, better stations in life, whatever. Jealousy
says, “I deserve those better things that my neighbor has.” You can see how well those two sins work
together in order to produce every sort of vile practice: “Because I want the
better things my neighbor has—and because I deserve those things, I’m going to
go ahead and take them from my neighbor.”
If you want to see
examples of this behavior, just watch a couple of toddlers for a while. One
sits at the table. Another wants to sit in the same spot. And in his mind, it
only makes sense to walk over and shove the other little guy off the chair. Of
course, the conflict only escalates from there. I mention this because we dare
not forget that jealousy and selfish ambition are part of original sin. We
don’t have to learn it, but it is simply the way we are conceived and born into
this world.
It’s not just kids,
either. Look at the disciples in today’s Gospel. Jesus tells them that He is
going to die on the cross and rise again. What do the disciples discuss instead?
They argue about which of them is greater. Each is ambitiously seeking an
important place in the kingdom of Jesus. Each of them is jealously disputing
the others’ argument. But what makes it worse is that their jealousy and
selfish ambition prevent them from hearing the Gospel, the Good News of
salvation in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection.
The same thing can
happen to us as well. If you don’t believe me, just go to a church where its
members are engaged in a power struggle. Or where the members are at odds with
the pastor. Or look at a synod that is marked with error and division. A whole
lot of evil can result. But the worst is that the proclamation and hearing of
God’s Word is hindered, for that may have eternal consequences. All sins
against God and one another can be forgiven—but only when God’s Word of Law
convicts us of our sins, can His Gospel comforts our repentant hearts.
Which leads us back to
our Epistle and St. James’ list of the vile practices that follow jealousy and
selfish ambition. He speaks of quarrels and fights, lust and covetousness,
adultery and murder. Bear in mind, James isn’t writing to a prison population
or the staff at the nearest Planned Parenthood clinic. He’s writing to the
Church, to Christians scattered throughout the nations. Even among believers
these sins take place, destroying families and lives and faith.
Regarding quarrels and
fights, consider a church where a group wishes to change the doctrine and
practice away from God’s Word for their own self-seeking purposes, perhaps the
desire to be friendlier with the world. The strife will necessarily follow,
distracting energies away from the proclamation of the Gospel.
As far as adultery and
murder, imagine a man who simply wants to indulge his own curious lust by
looking at a few racy photos, which leads to more and more as the world
encourages and markets whatever catches his fancy. The desire eventually leads
to an illicit affair, and a believer has become an adulterer, not only in his
heart, but in deed as well. Imagine further that the woman conceives in the
affair, and it seems best for all to terminate the pregnancy, rather than
endure the shame and guilt. Adulterers become murderers, professing Christians
look like hypocrites, and it just starts with a glance. The same pride at the
root of their original sin prevents them from repentance, and their faith
begins to dry up.
Can’t happen to
believers? Just read 2 Samuel 11, where David starts out as a righteous
conquering king walking on the palace rooftop and ends up a murderous adulterer
27 verses later. Such things will happen—they can happen to anyone. James warns
Christians because we are susceptible to these temptations, too. And it will
only grow worse as many churches not only condone sexual immorality and death,
but herald them as societal advancement under the seemingly innocuous names of
“alternate lifestyles,” “reproductive choice,” and “marriage equality.”
So don’t be friends
with the world. Don’t run with the wild dogs. Avoid temptation. Flee from it. As
more than one pastor has said before, draw the line where the temptation
begins, and then take a good many paces back away from it. Few people start out
the day intending to jeopardize their souls in such catastrophic sins, but it
still happens. It’s always advisable to avoid temptation, to not put yourself
in such situations in the first place. Given that you’re made of sinful flesh
to begin with, it’s just foolish to see how good you are at resisting temptation!
But here’s the next
tricky part, just in case you think you’re free and clear: Where exactly does
the line get drawn? When exactly do thoughts become sinful thoughts? When does
appreciation of God-given beauty turn into lust? When does admiring the
neighbor’s new car become coveting? When does taking care of your own things
become idolatry? When does your zeal to contend for truth cross over into
unrighteous anger against those who seek to depart from it? When does taking
care of yourself so as not to become a burden on others become selfish
ambition?
And, just to make it
even more difficult, we’ll ask this: if you draw the line and step way back
behind it, when does your stepping back become pride in your ability to resist
temptation? See, the devil never takes a day off and he doesn’t play fair. He’s
happy if you ruin your life by falling into terrible sin and resisting
repentance. But he’s also quite delighted if you grow proud that that you
haven’t sinned terribly and therefore don’t really need much forgiveness.
What’s the point? The
point is this: this text clearly warns you of sins to avoid, and you do well to
heed this Law and not disobey it. Indulge in these sins, and you stand a good
chance of great heartache in this life, if not in eternity. But even if you
think you heed this Law, don’t be deceived. You can be sure that sin still
clings to everything that you do. Even if it looks to everyone else like you’ve
never left the farm, you’ve made your way to the second hill a time or two. You’ve
tasted your share of forbidden lamb chops. You’ve been a bad dog.
When we left our story,
we weren’t told what happened to the dog. But, having been raised on a farm
myself, I know what happens to dogs like that. If that sheep-killing dog had
been on our farm, the master, when he turned to walk away from the dog, would
have returned in a few minutes… carrying a loaded rifle!
You see, the penalty
for sheep-killing dogs is death! The killer dog is given no second chance. It
doesn’t matter how good of dog it had been in the past. It can no longer be
trusted. Even if the dog lays on its back submissively, whimpering and crying,
the master must make sure that no more sheep are killed by that dog! St. Paul says
it simply and accurately: “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a).
But here’s the Good
News: Although you’ve been like the dog in our story, leading a double life at
times, the Lord God does not give you what you deserve. Not at all! God gives
more grace! In fact, it’s all grace!
This is what sets
Christianity apart from every other religion: God makes the first move… and the
second move, and the third, all of the moves, in fact. He gives grace to
you—not because of your works or good living, but because Christ has won it for
you by His perfect life, death, and resurrection. To put it another way, God
doesn’t say, “If you keep My commandments, you can be My friend.” He says,
“Because Jesus kept My Law and died for your sin, I call you friend. Because My
Son redeemed you, I call you My beloved child, and I will never leave you or
forsake you.” You have plenty of sin, it is true; God gives more grace!
So that you might know
that all this is so, God comes to you through His Word telling you over and
over of His love and grace. He washes you clean of your sin in Holy Baptism. And
He feeds you with the flesh and blood of a lamb—the very Lamb of God, who has
taken away the sin of the world. And through His called and ordained servant,
He speaks to you the Good News of salvation: For Jesus’ sake, you are forgiven
of all of your sins.
In the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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