Download 1 On Commission and Omission 2 Samuel 11, Matthew 26 Lent

On Commission and Omission
2 Samuel 11, Matthew 26
Lent Midweek III
March 26, 2014
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
In two Wednesdays, we’ve been told (1) that we’re poor,
miserable sinners – by birth and nature after the Fall, that’s who we
are! – and that (2) because of this nature, we engage in actual sin
(meaning, sinful acts – thoughts, words, deeds) as by-products of
who we are. Tonight, just in case you have any self-righteous notions
of digging yourself out of the pit – we dissect actual sin and look at it
more closely… dividing it into sins of commission and sins of
omission; and, with this description, we see just how pervasive daily
sins are in our lives and just how incapable we are of self-righteously
pulling ourselves out of the mire of sin, death, and the power of the
devil.
The very titles of these ‘categories’ should explain for us
what we are discussing: sins of commission are sins that you
commit… those things you think, say, or do that you ought not do,
but do anyway. I would guess that these are the more blatant of the
ways we sin. We often know and feel them in our heart. We often
remember these things… the wicked thoughts of hate, lashing out
with the tongue, the stealing, the cursing God and His doctrine, the
lying down with someone else’s wife.
Sins of omission, by definition, are sins we engage in by
omitting what godly things ought be done. These are sins which,
more often, do not burden us because we justify ourselves by saying,
“I didn’t do anything wrong.” The problem is, you didn’t do anything,
when God has called you to do something!
So what if you yourself didn’t think wicked thoughts about
your neighbor; what about the fact that you don’t think about your
neighbor at all… because to think about him doesn’t directly better
your life! So what if you didn’t lash out with the tongue; you also
didn’t defend with the tongue or rebuke/correct with the tongue
when necessary! So what if you didn’t steal; you also didn’t lift a
finger to protect! So what if you didn’t curse God and His doctrine;
you also didn’t bother to learn His doctrine and keep your life
grounded in it at all! So what if you didn’t lay with someone else’s
wife; you also didn’t defend your neighbor by urging his wife to
remain loyal to him.
Perhaps these examples make quite clear that sins of
commission and sins of omission are not two separate sins, but really
two sides of the same coin.
So, when Luther explains the commandments, he explains
according to commission and omission. He begins with commission
and says, “We must not commit a sin against this commandment,”
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then moves to sins of omission and says, “we must keep true love
and the proper carrying out of God’s will in this way.” We could go
through most of the Small Catechism’s explanation of the
Commandments and see this rhythmic dance, this beautiful
relationship between commission and omission, as it rightly teaches
us godly fear and holy living.
But, we can certainly also employ the Scriptures to teach us.
For example, one might think of our Old Testament reading as a
better example of “Actual Sin” (from last week) or “sins against
neighbor” (our final week), but we can see how both of those ideas
find a foundation in this reality of sin being that which commits
offense and simultaneously omits Christian love – when I commit sin
against a neighbor, I also omit love toward him/her. When I commit
sin against God, I also omit faithful obedience to Him.”
And, as we’ve said… it’s easy for us to meditate on the sin of
commission; it’s often that sin of omission that we fail to think on!
How well we know those sins we commit and how well we know the
reprimand we hear about how we should not engage in such things…
but are we not often left with the idea that as long as I don’t
proactively hate God or harm neighbor, I can fly solo? As long as I
don’t “do anything wrong,” I need not do anything at all!
In fact, some of you may remember the example I heard on a
radio show one time where a wrong-headed theologian was telling
the show’s host that he could go entire days without sinning – his
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example was that sometimes he’d sit in his hotel room and do
nothing all day but think about God. This was supposed
righteousness…
Meanwhile, this man is not going about his daily vocation;
he’s not working hard for the well-being of his family, or for the
benefit of his employer. In his mind, so long as he wasn’t committing
sin, there was not such thing as omitting righteousness. (As if we are
‘naturally’ righteous and simply need to limit “committing” sins.)
So often, we forget that sin is not just about “actively
harming,” but also about not caring for neighbor and trusting God.
I’ve occasionally asked whether it means anything to you as the
communicant that you stand before the altar with brothers and
sisters at your side, and do they mean anything to you … or are you
simply making sure that you haven’t proactively harmed them? As long
as you haven’t committed sin against them, do you simply see them and
their hurts and their needs as ‘none of my business’? That’s sin of
omission. Likewise, you may hear constantly the forewarning that if you
harbor against a neighbor or despise the Sacrament (sin of commission),
you ought not come to the Table. But, what if you simply don’t have any
self-examination at all? What if you don’t even really care what’s here
offered and simply come because that’s what everyone else is doing…
“that’s tradition”? Is such ‘omission’ of self-reflection and need for the
Sacrament really true to our Confessions which say that the Sacrament
is for consciences terrified by their sins, who know and feel their need
for forgiveness?
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Likewise, in our Old Testament reading, David had some terrible
sins of commission: He coveted Uriah’s wife. He took her and
committed adultery with her. He intoxicated his servant, Uriah. He
schemed to have Uriah killed. And, he took Bathsheba to be his wife in a
way that only appeared right.
But, through all of this, David equally had horrible sins of
omission. He failed to thank God for his own wife and for Uriah and
Bathsheba’s God-given marriage. He failed to defend Bathsheba from
temptation and her reputation from age-less scorn. He failed to protect
Uriah’s life, and he omitted any defense for that which belonged to
Uriah… and of course, through all of it, he failed to fear, love, and trust
in God above his own lusts, interests, and schemes.
Likewise, with Peter. He committed sin against our Lord,
denying him, leaving him, mocking him… but he also omitted godly and
righteous practice of the faith: he didn’t confess his Lord’s name; he
didn’t willingly suffer all, even death, rather than forsake Christ; he
didn’t fear, love, and trust in Christ above his own life, reputation, and
safety.
This brings to mind the Lord’s very words to this Peter and his
fellow disciples when Jesus said, “Whoever confesses me before men, I
will confess before my Father in heaven. Whoever denies me before
men, I will deny before my Father in heaven.” We like to hear those
words and say, “I should confess Jesus before men. But, if I keep silent,
at least I don’t actively deny Him.” But is omitting the name of Jesus
from your daily life, is running into the shadows with Peter and simply
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trying to remain neutral… isn’t that omission equally a sin? In fact, in the
parable of the sheep and the goats and Christ’s return for judgment, he
condemns the goats – why? – not for what they had done, but rather,
they cried, “When did we not do these things?” Indeed, we may focus
on the sins we commit, but we can’t avoid the burden of guilt about the
righteousness we omit in our lives.
What a web of sin into which we get ourselves entangled when
we try to make sin only about what we do, while turning a blind eye to
the guilt of not doing what we ought! How much do we leave left
undone and justify ourselves by saying, “At least I’m not a flagrant
transgressor!” In this light, one must readily admit the Holy Spirit’s
divine wisdom in recording the Lord’s Prayer twice – in Luke’s gospel,
the word for sins is “trespasses” (that which I commit); in Matthew’s
gospel, the word for sins is “debt” (that which I owe, which I have not
properly done). We might as well cry, “Lord, teach us to pray in both
ways… teach us to see both sides of the coin, both errors.”
Perhaps more than the first two weeks, tonight’s meditation on
sin shows us how much we utterly depend upon the righteousness of
Christ. The righteousness of Christ is a little different than the salvation
of Christ. Do we need him to atone for (save us from) original sin and
actual sin? Absolutely! But, in order to atone for you, He had to live
righteously for you… in a way you are not able. He had to not commit
any sins; but (the other side of the coin), He also had to be able to not
omit any righteousness. And so, this sermon can’t be about teaching
you how to live righteously, for we will always fall short (for when we
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try with all our might not to commit sins of thought, word, and deed, we
so often find the remedy to be omitting any thought, word, and deed at
all!). No, this sermon can’t be about teaching you how to live
righteously; rather it must be about pointing you to the One who lived
righteously for you.
I’m sure Peter remembered with great tears Jesus’ own words:
“Whoever denies me before men, I will deny before My Father in
heaven” and Peter undoubtedly recalled that dagger of a prophecy “You
will deny me three times!”… and so, I’m sure Peter wrote with tearful
joy at self-applying these words: “Christ died once for all, the righteous
for the unrighteous.” – that’s Peter, that’s you.
And, was it not the Father Himself who said of this Messiah,
“Behold the days are coming when I will raise up for David a righteous
Branch.” Yes, despite all the unrighteous branches of the tree of David,
the righteous would come and be our righteousness. And not only
would He be our righteousness, but He would credit us with His. This is
a huge point to be carefully understood. Christ did not die to enable you
to make yourself righteous. Rather, by His blood, He purchased your life
and the right to declare you righteous… to “make” you righteous in the
sight of the Father because, when the Father sees you, He sees Christ.
And so, the apostle writes of how this happens:
“He who knew no sin (Jesus) became sin for us that in Him we
might be made the righteousness of God.”
And again, to make sure no man tries to claim that Jesus is enabling him
to make himself righteous, the apostle says, “This righteousness is given
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through faith in Christ Jesus (Him who is righteous).” And, that same
apostle tells the Philippians, “I count all things to be loss in view of the
surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord… that I may gain Christ
and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that
comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the
righteousness from God that depends on faith. “
So then, friends, as Paul says to the Corinthians, “No human
being may boast in the presence of God. Rather, because of Him you are
in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, our righteousness
and sanctification and our redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the
one who boasts, boast in the Lord!”
Boast in the Lord, friends. Commit your way to Him; and omit all
that would tear you from him… and certain that Christ your
righteousness cannot fail you, plead boldly to the Father: “For the sake
of Jesus Christ (the Righteousness One… for Him), have mercy on me!”
In the Name of the Father
And of the Son
And of the Holy Spirit.
+ AMEN +
Rev. Mark C. Bestul
Calvary Lutheran Church
March 26, 2014
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