Religion Is The Enemy Of The Gospel

22 Pentecost A

October 29, 2023

M. Anthony Seel, Jr.

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church

Matthew 22:34-40

Religion is the Enemy of the Gospel

Over 500 years ago, Martin Luther started a movement that now surrounds the world. When Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Church, Luther to start an academic conversation. No one showed up. However, thanks to the printing press, his words spread, first to all of Germany, and within 60 days, to the rest of Europe.

Martin Luther called the church back to the basic gospel message of God’s free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ His Son. On October 31, 1517, Luther ignited a movement that would change to course of human history. As our own Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod says,

The Reformation was, first and foremost, all about the Gospel of

Jesus Christ. It was then, and it still is now. And person in

every generation, needs to hear the Good News of their Savior

from sin and eternal death. [LCMS Calendar online]

In that spirit, we come to our Savior and Lord, recognizing that apart from Him, there is no salvation. Apart from Him, we are dead in our sins, and separated from God for eternity. Without Jesus Christ, we are without hope.

Despite His good news message, in His earthly journey, Jesus faced opposition. One day, after Jesus had put the Sadducees in their place, another religious group gathered around Him.

vv. 34-36 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

The Sadducees weren’t able to discredit Jesus, so a group of Pharisees gave it a shot. The Pharisee who questioned Jesus was an expert in Jewish law. So was Jesus.

vv. 37-40 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

William Quayle, a Methodist bishop of the 19th century, was traveling by train when he engaged a group of businessmen in a spirited conversation. Qualyle wasn’t dressed in clerical garb, and the businessmen mistook him for a salesman. The group was impressed by the bishop’s charisma and enthusiasm. They decided he must be a great salesman, whatever he sold.

Finally, one businessman had to know, so he asked, “What’s your line? What do you sell?”

Instantly, Quayle answered, “Horizons! I sell horizons!”

What a great response. Visionaries do sell horizons. They broaden the perspective of others; they expand the range of what others see and can become. [Robert Dale, p. 14]

Jesus did that. He cast a vision of total dedication to God which flows into how we treat others. Before and after He named the Great Commandment, He lived the Great Commandment.

Every Sunday that our family attended church, I heard the two great commandments. They were spoken in every worship service. Those two commandments cast a vision for life for all who can see it. They draw a horizon that draws us to God, and closer to others.

The two great commandments are necessary for us because we are so easily seduced and subverted by substitutes. The biblical work for anything that takes the place of God is idol. Some substitutes would be good if they were properly placed under God.

I think about how for some people, family is everything. Or health is everything. Or work is everything. There are plenty of substitutes, and some of them are incredibly destructive. All of them are ultimately destructive if they are placed above God.

Author Eugene Peterson notes,

Without diligent, clear-sighted watchfulness, congregations

relapse into golden-calf idolatries, much as cultivated fields

without care relapse into weeds and brambles. Religion is

the enemy of the gospel.

You remember the story of the golden calves. When Moses was up on Mount Sinai receiving the law from God, the Israelites down in the valley got nervous. They wanted some religious action, and Moses’ brother Aaron obliged them with two golden calves to worship. Religion is what happens when we take our eyes off God.

The Reformation was about restoring the church’s vision of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Religion can motivate us to love our neighbor without even a thought about loving God. Some of the best lovers of neighbor will never enter a church, except maybe in a box for their funeral.

On the other hand, you cannot love the Lord your God with all you heart, soul, and mind, and not fulfill the second commandment. The book of James tells us,