Delight in the Law

Pentecost 13, September 7, 2025

Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Psalm 1
Philemon 1-25
Luke 14:25-33

So, which will it be? Will you choose righteousness or wickedness? That is the choice that we are given by our psalmist. For him there is no in-between you are either righteous or wicked. No a little bit of this and a little bit of that. You are either one or the other. Our Old Testament text tells us the same thing. This is the end of Deuteronomy where Moses, after giving the Law, gives the Israelites a choice – life or death. That is, life with the Law or death without it. Jesus also tells us that if we wish to be counted as a disciple of Jesus we must choose to pick up our cross and follow him. This understanding – that you can do either one or the other- is one that the early church struggled with as well. Some of the early non-Biblical texts such as the Didache and the Shepherd of Hermas talk about this idea of the two ways. You can do either but not both and they wondered if it was possible to return to the church after choosing the way of evil. This is a bit hard for us to think about since it is not as Luther tells us – that we are both sinner and saint. That we wish to choose righteousness but, often, do wickedness. 

We have an example of what that choice may look like in Paul’s letter to Philemon. There he is writing to Philemon to forgive Onesimus for his running away and to free him (he was Philemon’s slave). Paul clearly states that he could order him to do this because of his role as a leader of the church but, instead, allows him to choose. Now we do not know what Philemon decided. We only have Paul’s letter not Philemon’s answer. Although we can guess that Philemon did as Paul asked since we still have Paul’s letter. Paul’s letter to Philemon is strong evidence that he did do what Paul asked. If he had not he probably would have destroyed the letter not wanting others to learn that he did not act as Paul desired.

The question to us is, which way is Jesus leading us? We all know that it is not easy to find the way of Jesus. We are constantly being bombarded by the world telling us what we should do, what we really need, and how we should act. Often times we are enticed by the world’s promises that we do wonder away from the path Jesus shows us. We have many times looked at the two ways and have chosen wrong. We admitted that when we began our service today in our confession. But we also received forgiveness for those faults and made clean by Jesus. God knows that we are unable to live our lives always on the path of righteousness. By the work of Jesus on the cross we have received the gift of forgiveness. Now we no longer have to do righteousness but are given the opportunity to share all the gifts that God has given us. Instead of being commanded to do God’s will you get to do it because of Jesus’ sacrifice for you.

I cannot say what it is for you – where Jesus is leading you. All I can say is pray that you will always be able to carry your cross and follow Jesus where ever he leads. I know it is not always easy. The temptations of the world often look much more appealing but the way of the Lord is always better. Pray that you will not be beset by sin but may always be able to share God’s love with all.