Law and Gospel

November 12, 2017


Goal: To fear and love God.
Malady: We do not grasp the seriousness of sin and hell.
Means: Jesus did grasp the seriousness of sin when he grasped and carried his cross.

This year is the 500th Anniversary of the Lutheran Protestant Reformation, and so I have been preaching on some of the important themes of the Reformation: Faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, Scripture alone, indulgences, and “at the same time saint and sinner.” Today’s theme is “Law and Gospel.”

When I first entered seminary, it seemed that people were always talking about Law and Gospel. Not just Law, and not just Gospel, but always as a pair, Law and Gospel. It seemed to be in every class and every chapel sermon: Law and Gospel. I learned that this was the dynamic of Lutheran theology, from the days of Martin Luther to the present. The two are intrinsically linked, and yet distinctively separated. The Law makes a person to want the Gospel, but the Law never saves. And the Gospel must never be made into new Law.

To show the distinction between the two, the best explanation I know of is in the explanation of Martin Luther’s Small Catechism, Question# 85.

“What is the difference between the Law and the Gospel?”
A. The Law teaches what we are to do and not to do;
the Gospel teaches what God has done, and still does, for our salvation.
B. The Law shows us our sin and the wrath of God;
the Gospel shows us our Savior and the grace of God.
C. The Law must be proclaimed to all people, but especially to impenitent sinners;
the Gospel must be proclaimed to sinners who are troubled in their minds because of their sins.

At the seminary, Law and Gospel was the way to understand the Bible in the Bible study classes, how to understand the Confessions, and also how to preach and teach and do counseling. Not only at the seminary, but even the Sunday School Lessons by Concordia Publishing House were also built around this theme. It is not just gospel or the law, but both as a unit. Today I want to show how this is done in preaching, and if you ever have to give a talk on Sunday morning, please remember these hints for your testimony.

Sermon Class 101.
After reading the Bible text and meditating and praying and thinking about how to present it to the congregation as the Word of God from God in the form of a sermon, before making an outline, write down on paper three things.
Goal, Malady, & Means. Or Point, Problem, & Power.
Or two things: Diagnosis & Prognosis. Or Law & Gospel.

What you need to realize is that the Law of God appears not only in the Ten Commandments, but it is revealed in what happens when the Commandments are not kept. Sin, death, pain, hate, worry, etc., etc., are all symptoms, problems, or maladies that must be diagnosed before the Gospel can be effectively applied. And although the Gospel is proclaimed in a way to fix the problem, the Gospel is always the cross. The cross reveals and gives the love and hope and forgiveness and peace of Jesus Christ. And the Holy Spirit brings us this Law-Gospel message through the Word of God that is read, spoken, taught, preached, conversed, splashed, eaten and drunk.

At the top of the page for this sermon I wrote the following:
Goal: To fear and love God.
Malady: We do not grasp the seriousness of sin and hell.
Means: Jesus did grasp the seriousness of sin when he grasped and carried his cross.

Let’s give another simple sermon example. [“PPP”] Point: to love our neighbor, Problem: we fight or hate others, Power: Jesus loves us

①Yes, the Law of God says we must love our neighbor, we don’t and that is bad. ②But the problem is worse. We have been pulled away from our neighbor and so there are arguments and fistfights and even murder. ③But the problem is even worse than that. When we do not love our neighbor we do not love God, and when we are separated from God that leaves us out of heaven and in hell.　　　　　　　　　

④At that point, only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can help us. Through his death on the cross, Jesus came and found us in hell. We see the love of God. And in his resurrection, we rise, too. ⑤The prognosis gets better. Being connected with Christ means we can now be connected with other people. Jesus fought the devil and so we do not have to fight with our neighbor. ⑥And so the final prognosis is good. In the love of Christ we can love our neighbor.

If you stop at only number ③, all you have is a legalistic “fire and brimstone” sermon. A good sermon is when the bridge from number ③ to number ④ speaks to the hearer’s heart and mind and life.

At the seminary in preaching class, we studied magazine and TV advertisements as good examples of sermons. For example, what is a toothpaste advertisement selling? They are selling romance. The problem is not just yellow teeth and bad breath, the real problem is that therefore we have no friends. Just like the Gospel, the toothpaste will shine your teeth and freshen your breath, and your smile will bring you a boy friend or girl friend. What do car advertisers want to sell? You are bored sitting at home watching TV commercials; just like the Gospel, our car will give you freedom and excitement. What is the church trying to sell? What is the church trying to give you? The church has only one product. It is the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Law of God caused the cross. The resurrection is pure Gospel.

Most of you will never stand in the pulpit and give a sermon, but you will talk to people who need to hear the Word of God. When a person is suffering or grieving, they are already feeling in their hearts the effects of the Law of God, and such a person needs to hear and must be told simply about the love of God. When someone is stubborn and does not realize the consequences of their actions, then they need to hear the Law laid down. Children and parents and pastors, need to hear words of Law and Gospel spoken to them. And when it is spoken in love, when it is received in love, it sounds like Gospel.

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church


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