Both faith and love are essential

Sermon for Midweek of Trinity 4

Isaiah 58:6-12  +  Romans 14:7-17  +  Matthew 5:43-48

Some people think, “God doesn’t really care what you believe, only what you do.” That’s false. God cares very much what you believe—that you believe the truth about right and wrong, and about yourself and about Him, about your desperate need for salvation because of your sins and about the free salvation He has won for you through the suffering and death of His beloved Son. God cares very much that you believe every word He has spoken to you in the Bible and that you fear, love, and trust in Him above all things.

But it’s equally false when people say, “God doesn’t care what you do, only what you believe,” as if having the right doctrine in your church or theoretically believing all the right things were all that mattered. No, if you read the Scriptures, you have to conclude that both faith and love are equally important to God. When the Apostle Paul wrote to the congregations he was overseeing, he almost always emphasized two things: their faith and their love for the saints. It’s right there in his epistles to the Corinthians, the Galatians, the Ephesians, the Colossians, and the Thessalonians. Faith and love go together, belong together. They’re twin pillars in the house of God.

In this past Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus taught His disciples some specific examples of love (or mercy or compassion). Not judging, not condemning, forgiving and giving. This evening’s readings also emphasize the love God expects His people to show.

Isaiah berated the people of Israel for pretending to serve God by faithfully fasting. He corrects them: Would you be dedicated to serving God? You don’t serve God through fasting. At best, you serve yourself, in a good way, to turn your thoughts toward God and away from yourself and your earthly concerns for a while. But the true service to God is service to your neighbor in his time of need. Take away the “pointing of the finger” and the speaking of wickedness. Replace it with service to your neighbor. With prayer. With self-sacrifice. In other words, replace it with love. And then he promises great blessings from the Lord for doing such things. But remember, He’s talking to His covenant people, not to those who would earn their way into God’s favor by their works, but to those who first repent of their wickedness and are counted righteous by faith. When believers add love to faith, as they must, then great blessings are promised.

In writing to the Romans in chapter 14, St. Paul gives us a very clear example of the love the Roman Christians were to show to one another, an example of the kind of judging God forbids, as we heard on Sunday. Not the genuine concern for someone who is clearly breaking God’s commandments, but self-righteous criticizing and showing contempt for someone who simply has a different practice than you do regarding something God’s Word neither commands nor forbids, like which foods a person chooses to eat or not eat. Some Christians, in their weakness and lack of understanding, thought that eating certain foods wasn’t proper, and so they didn’t eat those foods. The others, who “knew better,” who believed correctly, looked down on their brothers who abstained from certain kinds of food. But Paul rebukes them for such unloving judgmentalism and for such contempt. Don’t sit in judgment of your brother, but do all things to the Lord, as a thank-offering to Him, and be very careful that none of your words or actions cause offense to your brother! The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Spirit! Where those things prevail, there can be no self-righteous judging and condemning.

And finally, we heard from the Lord Jesus Himself this evening, who clearly cares very much that His people not only believe correctly, but also love sincerely. And not just your fellow Christians or those who treat you well and love you back. He expects His people to love even our enemies and those who mistreat and persecute us. He expects us to pray for them, to greet them warmly, and to treat them with compassion. Why? Because that’s what your Father does. It’s what He did for His enemies, gave His Son into death for them so that they might live. It’s what He continues to do even for the wicked, making His sun rise on the good and on the bad, sustaining this world and this universe and providing so many good things in this life even for those who hate Him and refuse to acknowledge His existence. That’s the “perfection” of your Father, the “completeness” of His love in that it extends not to some, but to all. And so Jesus calls upon the redeemed children of God to “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” to let your love spill over to all men, just as the Father’s love does.

So make every effort to be known for your faith, for believing and confessing the truth of Christ. But also make every effort to be known for your love, that flows from a genuine faith in Christ. Both faith and love are essential for the Christian, and both are the result of the working of God’s Holy Spirit in the hearts and minds of those who hear and cherish His holy Word. Amen.