#31 - The Law and Gospel {Reflections}

What is up everybody?

My name is Ryan and welcome to another episode of our Reflections podcast, and today I wanted to tell you why I love doing funerals.

Now, before you think I'm some kind of a weirdo or you know, I don't know macabre, I just want to tell you.

When I first began doing pastoral ministry, I did not like doing funerals, for the obvious reasons they're sad.

I have to walk through several hours with people who are grieving and crying and it's not like it, like nobody looks forward to funerals, unless you are.

Maybe a bit like you know, I don't know odd, but I've grown, honestly, over the course of my time as a pastor.

I really do love them for many reasons, and one of which is like it's a sacred thing to usher people through an experience of death.

I think death is still one of the great enemies of human being.

I think it's still this is sacred thing.

I've been with a couple of folks when they've died and I don't know what word to use to describe other than sacred they are.

They are leaving in some way that you know they're transitioning to be with God and it's this very beautiful thing, also tragic and sad.

But here's also I love.

I love actually preaching at funerals, and here's why so okay, so when I was in Lutheran seminary, lutherans have this way of looking at preaching in almost this.

They frame it with this thing we call law and gospel, and so for many like die hard Lutherans, they want to make sure that every sermon has law and gospel.

And, briefly, so you can I can do a whole class on this and I probably wouldn't be the guy to do it because I'm still learning a lot of this and exploring it, but many people smarter than me can do a whole class on this.

And so, in fact, mike and I were just riffing the moment ago like what is what is the law exactly?

But kind of, here's how it works the law.

And Dr Stephen Paulson was my prophet Luther, he was awesome.

He's like hey, the law is like all the things in the world that sound like you should like, you should do this, you should do that.

The Mosaic law is a part of like this transcendent, like this transcendent kind of law.

It's sort of how we ought to behave, how we should behave.

But the law also, as you read in Paul's language, the law cannot save you.

The law is good.

The law does many things.

Luther would say that the law provides guardrails for life.

So you should drive the speed limit.

That is a law and that is also a part of the law.

And that's good, like it'll keep you from crashing into things.

The law also would say, it's something it would sound like hey, you probably shouldn't use drugs and alcohol to excess, because it's not going to be good for you.

Like that's good, it keeps you from getting off the rails, right, but but those are really merely and I I don't mean to say merely, but like they're, they are really just advice, like good advice.

But the trick is, this is where also and also whether the law can reveal the darkness of the human heart.

So when you tell someone, hey, you shouldn't speed, there's something in them Luther and others would say that wants to like kick against that.

That's like the brokenness or the darkness of our own sort of rebellious selves.

And whenever you feel like no one's going to tell me what to do, oh okay, that's because the law reveals sometimes our own wayward ways, or like desire to be our own masters of our own universe.

So watch, whenever someone puts a law on you or like a a boundary effect.

I'm not going to do that part of that.

Luther would say anyway and far be it from me to speak on behalf of Luther but is that?

That's your own sinful, wayward ways coming out and the law is revealing that?

I love it and it's mostly true for me.

I don't know you, mike, but so anyway, the law, it can reveal the darkness of our hearts.

It's like a guardrail over our lives.

But also the law cannot save you.

So you can do all those things, you can behave well and do the right things and be a good person, but the law that kind of like you know, climbing the ladder it will not save you.

So I often will say to folks hey, here's some good advice that I think will help you in your life, but you have to know doing that more.

It won't eradicate the your wayward ways entirely and also it won't make God love you any longer or any more any longer.

So it won't make God love you any more or any less, but it's still good advice.

Okay, so in a funeral this is why I love funerals and preaching my funeral, because at the funeral, if you can follow this, the law is already in the room.

I don't have to preach the law, um and but the the law is also.

I think that it kind of brings conviction and again it shows us our wayward way.

So I don't have to talk a lot about that at a funeral, so I don't spend a lot of time being like if you don't behave Well, you could end up like this guy in the box here.

I don't have to say that Because in the room is this definitive message that, look, none of us are going to get out of this thing that we call life, a life we all have to pass through death.

And so this glaring elephant in the room is that what's happening in this moment to this person Will happen to all of us.

God forbid anytime soon, but it will.

It waits for all of us.

So Then my only job at the funeral is to preach the good news.

And way back in luther at luther seminary, luther and seven at luther seminary With dr Paulson, he said hey, look, here's the gospel.

I mean like he made all of us look at him.

He goes here's the gospel.

He said preach the gospel, always preach the gospel, and even if nobody responds, if you don't feel like you're doing anything, you preach it anyway and let the spirit do whatever the spirit does.

But here's the gospel.

He said god loves you, god forgives you and god wants to raise you from the dead.

And who that?

I mean that that is good news, and I love saying that at funerals like, hey, listen, here's the elephant the room.

All of us are gonna die, and and, and, and and that's.

There's no way around that.

That's the law, like it's waiting for all of us.

But the good news is that that's not the end, that god loves you, god forgives you and god wants to resurrect you from the dead.

There's hope, there's a future, there's reconciliation, there's grace, forgiveness, all it's all right there, and I feel like my job as the preacher is to get up there and preach the gospel.

So, friends, today, may you know, yes, of course, one day god forbid anytime soon, but one day each of us will die.

It's the way it works, it's part of life.

We will all die, but every day, until then, we will not die.

And so go and live and be invested in every moment, be awake and Present with people and and so on, but then also know, as you live, may you know the good news, the gospel of jesus christ, that god loves you, that god forgives you and god wants to rage you from the dead.

Amen.

Hey, if you enjoy this show, I'd love to have you share with some friends.

And don't forget, you are always welcome to join us in person at central in elk river at 8 30, which is our local gathering, or at 10 o'clock, our modern gathering, or you can check us out online at clclriverorg.

Peace.