NCC Q13: No more charades!

New City Catechism Question 13

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Q: Can anyone keep the law of God perfectly?

A: Since the fall, no mere human has been able to keep the law of God perfectly, but consistently breaks it in thought, word, and deed.

Romans 3:10-12

“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

The very simple answer to this catechism question is a resounding “No!” No one can keep the law of God perfectly, and as discussed in previous posts, this reveals out need for a savior and drives us desperately to that savior, Jesus Christ. The cross of Jesus Christ is the only beacon of hope for all of humanity who has failed miserably to keep God’s law.

But I have to admit that I struggle with this catechism answer. Not because I don’t believe it…trust me I believe this true to the core of my being! But I struggle with this because so often I see so many Christians (myself included) trying to act as if they are able to keep the law of God perfectly. As a pastor I know that I am called to be a role model and an example for the body of Christ. But it is so easy for that calling to slip into pressure (self-inflicted most of the time) to look and act perfect. It is easy to feel that we have failed in ministry and in life if anyone sees the slightest bit of our sinfulness. Certainly we don’t want to put our sin on display. We should strive for righteousness in every part of our lives. But we can’t let that goal lead us to put up a façade to the world that says we are perfect. Because we are not.

Now there could be any number of reasons why we are so prone to projecting this image of perfection when clearly we are not (both in light of the biblical witness and our own experience). It could be that too often as Christians we buy into the refrain we hear from our culture…the idea that we’re all generally good people. It could be that we fundamentally misunderstand the nature of our sin and our call to repentance; instead of seeing sin as a complete rejection of God and as pursuing a course that is the exact opposite from his will, we see our sin as a slight deviation from God’s will, and therefore our repentance is not a complete reversal of direction, but only a slight course correction. If that is our view then our sin isn’t really...well...that sinful. Or it could be that subconsciously we still insist on some form of works righteousness, even though we know that we are saved only by grace.

Whatever reason, it is critical that we stop playing Christian charades and tell the world that we have our act together. Doing so will cripple our evangelism. If the image we project to the world is that we are able to follow God’s law and that we are good people, then what need do we have for a savior? What need is there for the cross? And if having our act together, or at least looking like we have our act together is the qualification to come to church on Sundays, then the people who need to hear the good news the most will never come through the doors of our church.

The church is not, and cannot be a social club for people who pretend to follow God’s law perfectly and have their lives in order. The church is, and must be, a life saving station on the shore of a rocky, treacherous beach, ready to take in all who need to be saved. No one can follow God’s law perfectly, and the beginning of us being able to present the good news to people who are lost is the clear message that all of us have broken God’s law and universally stand in need of a savior. No one is righteous, no, not one! All of us stand guilty before a holy God in desperate need of a savior. But Jesus Christ has kept the law perfectly, he died in our place, so that we can stand before God clothed in his righteousness. And for a desperate sinner, that truly is good news.

NCC Q9-12: Summary Reflections on the Ten Commandments

New City Catechism Questions 9-12

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Summary Reflections on the Ten Commandments

Questions 9 through 12 in the catechism material go into a deeper study of the Ten Commandments, taking two or three commandments at a time. As we studied these commandments in our Sunday morning class at Clairemont Emmanuel, it seemed that there were several themes that came up often throughout these four weeks of study. So rather than go into depth on each of the Ten Commandments, it seems that it would be more beneficial to offer some summary reflections on two of these repeating themes and topics of discussion.

Heart attitudes: The study of the Ten Commandments inevitably draws you (and the catechism material explicitly draws you) to Jesus’ teaching on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. There Jesus takes well known aspects of the Ten Commandments and reveals to us that even when our heart condition behind each commandment is not right, we are breaking the commandments, even if we keep them externally. For example, even if we have not committed adultery against our spouse, when we look at another woman with lust we have broken the seventh commandment. Or even if we have not murdered someone, when we have anger or hatred in our hearts towards another we have broken the sixth commandment. So any application of the Ten Commandments must begin and end with an examination of our hearts. This of course makes the Ten Commandments infinitely more applicable (most of us have not murdered but have certainly hated!), but also much more difficult, because we cannot simply go through an external checklist of behaviors to make sure we are living in accordance with God’s law. God’s law shines a penetrating light deep into our hearts, past the walls and façades that we set up to make us look better and holier that we actually are, and reveals our true heart condition. And often that heart condition is not pretty. So rather than be like the rich young man who comes to Jesus looking to justify himself by the law, we need to allow God’s law to reveal our heart condition, come to God in faith and repentance, receive forgiveness, and begin to let the Holy Spirit do a healing work in our hearts. Then we will begin to see real transformation, and our hearts will begin to reflect true holiness that we often can only pretend that we have.

The difficulty of the positive side: The catechism material notes Martin Luther’s teachings on the Ten Commandments, that whenever there is a negative prohibition in the Ten Commandments there is a positive implication assumed in that prohibition. In other words, we cannot simply not murder, or not hate, we must also lavishly love in order to keep the sixth commandment. We cannot simply not steal, we must also be radically generous in order to keep the eighth  commandment. And this makes sense. The Great Commandment given by Christ is widely recognized to be a summary of the Ten Commandments and all of God’s law, and it is thoroughly positive: Love God, love others. Therefore Luther is right to point out that we must look at the positive side of the Ten Commandments as well. So obeying the Ten Commandments is not simply the avoidance of negative behaviors and heart attitudes, it is the incorporation of positive behaviors into our everyday lives. And when we look at these positive implications, we realize that we have significant areas where we still need to grow. We might not be murders, but we have a long way to go to have a deep lavish love for others in our hearts and deeds. So like the heart attitudes, the positive implications of these commands make the Ten Commandments both more applicable and also infinitely more difficult to follow.

Therefore the Ten Commandments set an incredibly high standard for us to follow as Christians. As the catechism material states we are obligated to keep these commandments. The Ten Commandments are not an optional part of the Christian life. But recognizing this high standard also forces us to recognize our own sinfulness and brokenness and failures with regard to these commandments. So we have a choice. We can continue to play our game of Christian charades, putting up the façade and pretending like we are good people and following the Ten Commandments perfectly. Or we can acknowledge our own brokenness, confess our sin, and turn completely to Christ who died for that sin. Acknowledging the reality of sin in our lives as we look at the Ten Commandments is not pleasant or enjoyable. I can definitely say that I would much rather look at the Ten Commandments and get a big “Well done!” from God than acknowledge my own sinfulness. But to try and justify ourselves through the Ten Commandments then makes us miss the true purpose of the Ten Commandments: They do serve as a critical primer for Christian life and ethics, but they first and foremost reveal our sin, depravity, our desperate need for a savior, and they drive us desperately to that savior. So let us look at the Ten Commandments, and then run to the cross of Jesus Christ. Only then can true obedience begin.