William H. Willimon - "Being Good" (February 11, 1990)

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	(organ music)	0:00
-	Welcome to Duke Chapel on the sixth Sunday after Epiphany.	1:09
	Our lector for this service is Mandy Rowe,	1:14
	who is the newly elected president of Duke Campus Ministry.	1:17
	Duke Campus Ministry is the consortium	1:22
	of all the campus religious groups,	1:24
	and this is a way of beginning her tenure	1:27
	as our new student president.	1:32
	Tomorrow evening at 7 P.M.	1:35
	we begin a series on medical ethics.	1:37
	The series will consist	1:42
	of a Christian practitioner of medicine	1:43
	and a Christian ethicist, or pastor,	1:47
	speaking to some of the pressing biomedical issues	1:51
	that we have in our day.	1:55
	All are invited and that will be at York Chapel	1:57
	at the Divinity School at 7:00,	1:59
	beginning this Monday evening and running throughout	2:02
	successive Monday evenings this month.	2:05
	And now let us continue our worship of God.	2:09
	Stand.	2:14
	(organ music)	2:16
	(congregation singing)	2:51
	(organ music)	4:43
	(choir and congregation singing)	6:14
-	Oh God, the strength of all who put their trust in You,	6:56
	mercifully accept our prayers.	7:01
	And because in our weakness,	7:04
	we can do nothing good without You,	7:06
	give us the help of Your grace	7:09
	that in keeping Your commandments,	7:11
	we may please You, both in will and deed.	7:13
	Through Jesus Christ, our Lord,	7:17
	who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,	7:19
	one God forever and ever, amen.	7:22
-	Please join me in the prayer for illumination.	7:38
All	Open our hearts and minds, oh God,	7:43
	by the power of Your Holy Spirit,	7:46
	so that as the word is read and proclaimed,	7:48
	we might hear with joy what You say to us this day.	7:52
	Amen.	7:56
-	The first lesson is from the Book of Deuteronomy.	7:58
	See, I have set before you this day	8:03
	life and good, death and evil.	8:06
	If you obey the commandments of the Lord, your God,	8:09
	which I command you this day, by loving the Lord, your God,	8:12
	by walking in God's ways and by keeping God's commandments	8:16
	and statutes and ordinances,	8:21
	then you shall live and multiply,	8:23
	and the Lord, your God, will bless you	8:25
	in the land which you are entering	8:27
	to take possession of it.	8:29
	But if your heart turns away and you will not hear,	8:31
	but are drawn away to worship other God's and serve them,	8:34
	I declare to you this day that you shall perish.	8:38
	You shall not live long in the land	8:41
	which you are going over the Jordan	8:43
	to enter and to possess.	8:45
	I call heaven and Earth to witness against you this day	8:48
	that I have set before you life and death,	8:51
	a blessing and a curse.	8:53
	Therefore, choose life that you and your descendants	8:56
	may live, loving the Lord, your God,	8:59
	obeying God's voice, and cleaving to God,	9:02
	for that means life to you and length of days	9:05
	that you may dwell in the land	9:08
	which the Lord swore to your ancestors,	9:10
	to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob to give them.	9:12
	Here ends the first lesson.	9:17
	(organ music)	9:30
	♪ Teach me, oh Lord, the way of thy statues ♪	9:47
	♪ Teach me ♪	9:56
	♪ Teach me the way ♪	9:58
	♪ The way of thy statutes ♪	10:02
	♪ And I shall keep it ♪	10:06
	♪ And I shall keep it ♪	10:10
	♪ Unto the end ♪	10:17
	♪ And I shall keep it ♪	10:21
	♪ And I shall keep it ♪	10:26
	♪ And I shall keep it ♪	10:31
	♪ Unto the end ♪	10:37
	♪ And I shall keep it ♪	10:42
	♪ Unto the end ♪	10:48
	♪ Teach me, oh Lord ♪	10:55
	♪ Teach me, oh Lord ♪	11:00
	♪ The way of thy statutes ♪	11:05
	♪ And I shall keep it ♪	11:10
	♪ And I shall keep it ♪	11:15
	♪ And I shall keep it ♪	11:21
	♪ Unto the end ♪	11:26
	♪ And I shall keep it ♪	11:31
	♪ Unto the end ♪	11:37
	♪ Unto the end ♪	11:47
-	Please stand as we join together in singing responsively	12:12
	Psalm 119:1-8 and 33-40,	12:14
	found on page 841 in your hymnal.	12:20
	(organ music)	12:24
	♪ Blessed art those whose way is blameless ♪	12:31
	♪ Who walk in the law of the Lord ♪	12:35
	♪ Blessed art those who keep the testimonies ♪	12:39
	♪ Who seek God with their whole heart ♪	12:44
	♪ Who also do no wrong ♪	12:49
	♪ But walk in God's ways ♪	12:52
	(congregation singing)	12:56
	♪ Or that my ways may be steadfast in keeping Your statutes ♪	13:02
	(congregation singing)	13:08
	♪ I will praise you with an upright heart ♪	13:18
	♪ When I learn Your righteous ordinances ♪	13:22
	(congregation singing)	13:27
	♪ Teach me, oh Lord, the way of Your statutes ♪	13:36
	♪ And I will keep it to the end ♪	13:40
	(congregation singing)	13:44
	♪ Lead me in the path of Your commandments ♪	13:55
	♪ For I delight in it ♪	13:59
	(congregation singing)	14:02
	♪ Turn my eyes from looking at vanities ♪	14:11
	♪ And give me life in Your ways ♪	14:15
	(congregation singing)	14:19
	♪ Turn away the reproach which I dread ♪	14:28
	♪ For Your ordinances are good ♪	14:32
	(congregation singing)	14:36
	(organ music)	14:47
	♪ Glory be to God Creator ♪	14:55
	♪ Praise to our Redeemer Lord ♪	15:02
	♪ Glory be to our Sustainer ♪	15:09
	♪ Ever three and ever one ♪	15:16
	♪ As it was in the beginning ♪	15:24
	♪ Now and ever more shall be ♪	15:31
-	The second lesson this morning is taken from Paul's letter	15:51
	to the Corinthians.	15:54
	But, I, sisters and brothers, could not address you	15:57
	as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh,	15:59
	as children in Christ.	16:03
	I fed you with milk, not solid food,	16:06
	for you were not ready for it.	16:08
	And even yet, you are not ready.	16:10
	For you are still of the flesh.	16:13
	But while there is jealousy and strife among you,	16:15
	are you not of the flesh and behaving in human ways?	16:17
	For when one says, I belong to Paul, and another,	16:21
	I belong to Apollos, are you not merely human?	16:25
	What then is Apollos?	16:30
	What is Paul?	16:32
	Servants through whom you believed	16:33
	as the Lord assigned to each.	16:35
	I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.	16:38
	So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters	16:43
	is anything, but only God who gives the growth.	16:46
	The one who plants and the one who waters are equal	16:50
	and shall receive wages according to their labor,	16:53
	for we are God's coworkers,	16:56
	you are God's field, God's building.	16:58
	Here ends the reading of the second lesson.	17:02
-	In our gospel lessons, we have been reading	17:14
	through the Sermon on the Mount.	17:17
	Hear the gospel for his day.	17:20
	Think not that I have come to abolish	17:24
	the law and the prophets.	17:26
	I have come not to abolish them, but to fulfill them.	17:29
	For truly I say to you, till heaven and Earth pass away,	17:34
	not a yod, not a dot will pass from the law	17:37
	until all is accomplished.	17:41
	Whoever then relaxes one of the least of the commandments	17:44
	and teaches others so, will be called least	17:48
	in the kingdom of heaven.	17:51
	But he who does them and teaches them,	17:53
	shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.	17:56
	For I tell you, unless your righteousness	18:00
	exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees,	18:03
	you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.	18:06
	You have heard that it was said of old,	18:10
	you shall not kill and whoever kills	18:13
	shall be liable to judgment.	18:16
	But I say to you that everyone who is angry	18:19
	with brother or sister shall be liable to judgment.	18:22
	Whoever insults his brother or sister	18:25
	shall be liable to the council	18:27
	and whoever says, you fool, shall be liable	18:29
	to the hell of fire.	18:33
	So, if you're offering your gift at the alter	18:36
	and there remember that brother or sister	18:39
	has something against you, leave your gift there	18:41
	before the alter and go.	18:46
	First be reconciled and then come and offer your gift.	18:48
	Make friends quickly with your accuser while you	18:53
	are going with him to court, lest your accuser	18:56
	hand you over to the judge and the judge to the guard	18:59
	and you be put in prison.	19:01
	Truly I say to you, you will never get out	19:03
	till you have paid the last penny.	19:06
	Here ends the gospel.	19:09
	In the Sermon on the Mount,	19:16
	Jesus speaks about the way of righteousness.	19:17
	And let's say that all of us are here this morning	19:22
	pursuing righteousness, we want to be good.	19:26
	Because after all, that's one of the major functions	19:31
	of religion, whether it be the Christian religion	19:33
	or any other, to help people become better	19:36
	than they would be if left to their own devices.	19:39
	And let's agree that even if we have not arrived	19:44
	at goodness, we're on the way, so to speak.	19:47
	After all, you did get up and come to chapel this morning.	19:53
	That shows that you're on the way,	19:57
	which is in no way meant to disparage those of you	20:01
	who will watch this service later on cable	20:03
	because, in a way, you're on the way to righteousness, too,	20:06
	though you're your traveling on your sofa.	20:09
	(congregation laughing)	20:12
	Yet, the trouble with being good, I mean,	20:13
	the trouble with being Christian good	20:17
	is that good people were often the very ones	20:21
	who caused Jesus so much grief.	20:24
	A lot of good people, scribes and Pharisees,	20:28
	people who never cheated on their taxes or their spouses,	20:32
	people who knew the Bible and lived by the book	20:37
	were the very people who eventually yelled crucify Him.	20:42
	And why?	20:50
	Well, I think one reason was the rather confusing way	20:53
	Jesus lived and taught.	20:57
	Because shortly after saying, in the Sermon on the Mount,	21:01
	that He did not want to abolish the law,	21:04
	Jesus appears to have done just that.	21:08
	Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?	21:12
	A clear violation of Torah, the law.	21:18
	The Pharisees fast and they offer long prayers,	21:23
	but your people eat and drink and go to parties.	21:26
	Look, they said to Jesus,	21:32
	look what Your people are doing on the Sabbath.	21:33
	Master, heal my daughter, plead the Canaanite woman.	21:39
	And Jesus replied, well, I'm the Messiah	21:43
	and I'm supposed to be going only to the lost sheep	21:46
	of the House of Israel, but what the heck,	21:49
	sometimes you gotta break a rule to do right.	21:52
	He heals the daughter.	21:54
	Rabbi Moses said that a man could get out of marriage	21:58
	by simply writing his wife a certificate of divorce.	22:02
	It's in the law.	22:06
	And Jesus replies, it was a dumb law.	22:08
	Stay married.	22:12
	Repeatedly He says, you have heard it said of old	22:17
	in Torah, in the law, but I say unto you.	22:21
	That's our Jesus.	22:27
	It would appear sometimes it's possible to be so right,	22:32
	so good, that you're wrong.	22:36
	Or as Paul said, the law, the law, the law kills.	22:40
	Dry, dead jot and tittle legalism can just suck the life	22:45
	out of religion until it is a cold,	22:50
	dry, dead calculating thing.	22:52
	Mark Twain once described a man as a good man	22:57
	in the very worst sense of the word.	23:04
	And John tells a story.	23:09
	Matthew doesn't tell the story,	23:13
	but let's say that maybe Matthew would approve.	23:14
	A story of a woman caught in adultery.	23:17
	They had gathered to fulfill the law,	23:21
	namely to stone her to death,	23:25
	that's how Torah handled adultery.	23:27
	What do you think of our version of People's Court, Jesus?	23:31
	A law is a law is a law, right?	23:34
	And you know the story.	23:38
	You remember how Jesus replied?	23:39
	Okay, let him who is without sin through the first stone.	23:41
	Quietly they all dropped their stones and walked away.	23:48
	Now, scholars do not believe that that story appeared	23:54
	originally in John's gospel.	23:57
	It was added later.	24:00
	But let's imagine that there was good reason to add it later	24:02
	because by the time John's Gospel was written,	24:05
	the church had had plenty of time to do what the church	24:09
	is so good at, namely, confusing Jesus' earlier religion	24:11
	of grace and acceptance with the old down the rules	24:17
	and regulations righteousness path we go.	24:23
	And here is heroic Jesus standing against	24:27
	legalistic self-righteousness.	24:30
	Jesus standing against the cruelty	24:33
	of misguidedly good people.	24:36
	And yet, I don't think that's our problem	24:42
	with today's gospel.	24:46
	The message that rules and regulations cannot save,	24:52
	if once interesting material for a sermon,	24:58
	has become conventional wisdom.	25:03
	Most of us, I fear, today are in greater danger	25:08
	of antinomianism than legalism.	25:12
	Can you say antinomianism?	25:15
	We've moved from the awareness that just obeying a few rules	25:18
	doesn't necessarily make you right,	25:24
	to the conviction that no rules are right.	25:27
	Learning that sometimes that a rule has got to be broken,	25:32
	we now say anything goes in a fight between legalistic	25:36
	scribes and Pharisees on the one hand,	25:41
	and harlots and tax collectors on the other,	25:44
	you know who's side we would be on.	25:48
	Big deal	25:53
	that occasionally Jesus abrogated a few religious laws	25:55
	about how to keep the Sabbath holy and how to prepare	26:00
	ourselves for worship, and how to forgive somebody	26:04
	who's wronged us and how to keep the marriage bond firm.	26:08
	Big deal.	26:12
	We never worried about keeping those rules anyway.	26:13
	So the story might go in John's gospel,	26:20
	they had gathered to stone a woman for adultery	26:24
	and Jesus said, let the one who is without sin	26:29
	throw the first stone.	26:32
	And silently they dropped their stones and they walk away.	26:34
	And Jesus reaches down and picks this person up and says,	26:39
	see they don't condemn you, neither do I condemn you,	26:43
	go, sin no more.	26:47
	And she replies, wait a minute, what gives you the right	26:52
	to be accusing me of sin?	26:57
	And Jesus responds, well, I mean, adultery, that's sinful,	27:00
	it's not right.	27:04
	And she says, how can you say that to me?	27:07
	You don't even know my situation with George.	27:09
	And then Jesus says, but you're living with George	27:14
	and you're not married.	27:18
	And she said, but it's a loving, fulfilling, trusting,	27:20
	open, caring relationship.	27:22
	What gives you the right?	27:24
	And earlier, my three years with Bill,	27:27
	it was also wonderful.	27:29
	And Jesus said, another?	27:30
	And she says, yes.	27:32
	And then there was Joe for two months,	27:33
	and then Sam for a couple of weeks	27:35
	and the story ends with Jesus looking around in the dirt	27:37
	for a large stone.	27:42
	(congregation laughing)	27:44
	Hear the gospel.	27:50
	Do not think that I have come to abolish	27:51
	the law and the prophets.	27:53
	Till heaven and Earth pass away, not a dot will pass	27:55
	from the law until it is accomplished.	27:58
	Whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments	28:01
	and teaches others to do so shall be called least	28:05
	in My kingdom.	28:08
	Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees	28:10
	and the scribes, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.	28:14
	And if you go through the rest of the sermon,	28:21
	Jesus takes and older command, already difficult enough	28:24
	to keep, even if you were a scribe or a Pharisee	28:30
	and He intensifies that command.	28:34
	You know that you're forbidden to kill.	28:41
	I forbid you even to be angry with your brother or sister.	28:43
	Call him a fool, you'll go to hell.	28:48
	You know that adultery is a no-no.	28:52
	I say, you look at another person lustfully,	28:55
	it's the same as adultery.	28:59
	Fortunately, that is the text that the student preacher	29:02
	will be preaching on next Sunday.	29:05
	If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off.	29:08
	Remarry after divorce, I don't care what the law calls it,	29:13
	I call it adultery.	29:16
	Somebody hits you on the right cheek,	29:19
	you offer them the left as well.	29:21
	Love your neighbor, invade your enemy.	29:25
	I say, love your enemy	29:27
	and pray for those who persecute you.	29:31
	Enter by the narrow gate.	29:35
	Matthew reports when Jesus got through with this sermon,	29:41
	the crowds were astonished at His teaching.	29:46
	You wanna be good, don't just keep the law	29:54
	like the scribes and Pharisees,	29:57
	you go beyond the law.	29:58
	Duke's W.D. Davies in his classic commentary on the sermon	30:02
	says that these verses opening the Sermon on the Mount	30:09
	stand as guardian against every immoral or antinomian	30:13
	understanding of the gospel.	30:17
	And what a guardian they are.	30:21
	Here we encounter the bracing unsentimentality	30:24
	of Matthew's Gospel.	30:29
	It challenges us to be good, to be really good	30:31
	if we would be God's, to enter by the narrow gate.	30:35
	Yet, I fear that we are accustomed to coming to church	30:44
	and if we should happen to stumble over a difficult passage	30:48
	like this one,	30:52
	it usually takes no more than 20 minutes	30:54
	for a skillful preacher using the tools of historical	30:58
	criticism and pop psychology to explain it away,	31:02
	to reassure us that a nice person like Jesus	31:07
	would never have said something like this	31:11
	to good people like you.	31:14
	But sorry,	31:18
	I just know of no way out of this text.	31:20
	You think I have come to help you weasel out of the law,	31:27
	forget it, says Jesus, I have come to deepen,	31:30
	to intensify the frontal assault of the law.	31:34
	And all our sweet Jesus sentimentality and gushy grace	31:39
	just crumbles before these searing commands.	31:43
	We are as Matthew said of Jesus' first congregation,	31:49
	astonished.	31:54
	You wanna be good,	31:59
	keep all that I have commanded you, Matthew 28:20.	32:00
	There is the arrogance of the rule-stressing legalist,	32:07
	but there is also the arrogance	32:12
	of the rule-ignoring antinomian.	32:13
	Paul showed us the delusion of thinking that fallible,	32:18
	limited humans beings like us could ever save ourselves	32:22
	by thinking that we had the resources to attain	32:28
	such high righteousness.	32:31
	Goodness comes as a gift of God's grace,	32:33
	not through our determined human effort.	32:36
	Grace assaults the legalist.	32:39
	But I'm saying that I don't think legalism	32:44
	is our particular problem.	32:46
	The peculiar brand of contemporary arrogance	32:51
	is antinomianism.	32:55
	I am the only one who knows what's right for me.	32:58
	My opinion is the measure of all things.	33:04
	The rules are just made up as we go to suit the situation.	33:08
	Don't bother me with your judgements,	33:13
	can't you see I'm doing the best I can.	33:15
	What right has Jesus or anybody else to tell me what to do?	33:18
	Such antinomianism arises not out of an appreciation	33:24
	for the limits of the law, but rather out of a lack	33:28
	of appreciation for any limits upon my own ego.	33:33
	At least the scribes and the Pharisees studied God's law,	33:40
	pondering its implications for their lives.	33:44
	We have no object of study other than our own feelings.	33:48
	And against such modern parochialism Jesus hurls	33:54
	these demands for higher righteousness.	33:58
	He refuses to back off in deference to our human frailty.	34:02
	He will not pander our ethical sentimentality,	34:06
	patting us on the head saying, there, there, there, now.	34:10
	I know you're doing the best you can, which after all,	34:13
	is certainly enough for me.	34:15
	He refuses to withdraw one dot, one iota.	34:19
	Now, how can Jesus, knowing our frailty,	34:25
	our arrogant moralism and our arrogant antinomianism,	34:29
	how can Jesus intensify exceed the law,	34:33
	knowing our inability to keep the law?	34:38
	What's Jesus up to here?	34:43
	About 15 chapters later, Matthew tells a story of Jesus'	34:48
	encounter with someone called a rich young ruler.	34:53
	And I think you know that story.	34:57
	There's this rich, successful young man.	35:00
	He comes to Jesus saying, good teacher,	35:02
	what have I got to do to inherit eternal life?	35:04
	This successful yuppie has been so successful	35:08
	at getting everything he wanted in life,	35:12
	he assumes that that's the same way	35:16
	you get what you want religiously.	35:17
	Jesus, what are you selling?	35:20
	I want a deal.	35:22
	Now, first thing Jesus says is	35:27
	hey, what's with this good business?	35:29
	Don't you know nobody's good but God?	35:31
	But then Jesus says, you wanna be good,	35:36
	well then do what the good book says.	35:39
	Obey the commandments of God, all of them.	35:42
	Then you'll have eternal life.	35:47
	Now, in telling this rich young man this,	35:49
	I think Jesus probably hopes that this smart young man	35:53
	is gonna say something like gosh, Jesus, when you put it	35:58
	that way, I guess, gee, maybe I haven't been such a success	36:02
	at righteousness after all.	36:05
	But that isn't what he said.	36:09
	I told you this guys, a hard core success.	36:10
	And so he says, hey, no problem, I've obeyed all that stuff	36:14
	since I was a kid in Sunday school.	36:18
	How about giving me some really tough moral assignment?	36:19
	So that an upwardly-mobile, competent, well-educated,	36:22
	righteous person like me can sink his teeth into.	36:25
	So then Jesus comes back at him with one of the greatest	36:29
	understatements in all the New Testament.	36:33
	Jesus says, okay, okay.	36:36
	I need you to do just one tiny, weeny-teensy little thing	36:39
	for me, could you do this?	36:43
	Go, sell everything you've got and give it to the poor.	36:46
	That outta knock you off this righteousness kick.	36:53
	And Matthew says with that, the young man slumped down	36:58
	and got depressed and went away.	37:01
	And isn't that typical of Jesus in Matthew?	37:07
	I mean, here you've got all these commands,	37:12
	which are already burdensome enough.	37:16
	And then he turns around and lays	37:19
	an even tougher command on you.	37:21
	On that occasion, his disciples spoke for us all	37:27
	when they said, God, who can be saved?	37:30
	And Jesus responds with good news.	37:35
	Hey, with you, it's impossible,	37:39
	but with God, everything's possible.	37:41
	Even the salvation of people like you.	37:46
	With God, it's possible.	37:52
	The Law, this excessive righteousness which Jesus	37:56
	demands of you and me is a means of making us good.	38:00
	But not as if goodness were the result	38:05
	of our own earnest efforts because goodness	38:08
	consists of being driven into the arms	38:15
	of a merciful and just God.	38:18
	And these commands are the means of taking us there.	38:24
	That's why in the Psalm today the psalmist could speak	38:31
	of the commands of God as a great gift.	38:35
	And so John Calvin spoke of three uses of law.	38:41
	First, Calvin said, we got to obey God's laws, all of them.	38:48
	And thereby we will be given something	38:54
	that doesn't come naturally.	38:56
	Namely, humility.	38:59
	You go out Monday morning and try to live truthfully.	39:03
	You try to live non-violently.	39:07
	And you'll be humbled.	39:11
	And second use of the law is because God always requires	39:15
	more of us through the law than you and I will ever be able	39:20
	to do, the law is wonderful instruction in how to pray.	39:23
	Because you go out and try to obey these commands,	39:30
	before long, we'll be down on our knees	39:33
	praying to the Lord for more strength	39:37
	than we've got on our own, teaching us that we	39:39
	are more guilty of sin than we like to admit.	39:43
	And thirdly, Calvin said, the law is sort of like the bridle	39:49
	of a horse, keeping us under the rein of God.	39:53
	As Calvin said, if God demanded only easy, little things	39:58
	of us, then we could be good by our own effort.	40:03
	We wouldn't need Jesus to die for us and God to save us.	40:07
	But the beautiful thing is, God always demands	40:12
	excessive things of us,	40:14
	responding to our excessive failures	40:19
	with excessive forgiveness.	40:25
	And that's why Luther says that Jesus	40:30
	begins His Sermon on the Mount with the first beatitude,	40:32
	blessed are the poor in spirit.	40:38
	Blessed are the poor in spirit, because maybe when you	40:43
	came here today, you felt a little rich in spirit.	40:46
	But after Jesus gets through with you in this sermon,	40:51
	everybody feels spiritually poor.	40:55
	And that's good news because that transforms you	40:59
	into exactly the kind of person that Jesus	41:03
	just loves to love, the poor.	41:05
	The foundation for goodness that is Christian is this.	41:13
	It is not the mere mastery of God's rules	41:20
	or their skillful reinterpretation,	41:24
	but it's a relationship with Christ who both commands us	41:28
	to keep God's holy law and gives us the resources to do so.	41:33
	Namely, His presence among us.	41:40
	At the end of Matthew's gospel, after the sermon	41:47
	has been preached to astonished disciples,	41:51
	after that rich young ruler has gone away sorrowful,	41:56
	and the disciples have wondered who could possibly be saved?	42:00
	Jesus tells his people, us, to go out	42:06
	into the whole world	42:13
	and baptize and teach them and the disciples said,	42:14
	well, how much do you want us to teach them?	42:18
	And Jesus said, I want you to teach them all	42:20
	that I have commanded you.	42:23
	And the disciples said, all?	42:26
	I mean the stuff about turning the other cheek,	42:30
	not calling your brother and sister a fool, I mean.	42:32
	Jesus said, I said all of it, every jot and tittle,	42:35
	every, all of it.	42:38
	Yeah, even the bit about turning the other cheek	42:40
	and giving away all you have	42:43
	and not remarrying after divorce, all of it.	42:44
	But then comes the punchline that makes the fulfillment	42:49
	of these commands possible,	42:54
	the burden of the law bearable,	42:57
	and our miserable moral failures forgivable.	43:02
	Lo,	43:08
	I am with you always.	43:11
	Amen.	43:17
	(organ music)	43:28
	(choir and congregation singing)	44:08
Reverend Nancy	The Lord be with you.	47:46
Congregation	And also with you.	47:48
-	Let us pray.	47:49
	Once again, oh God, we have gathered to praise thy name,	48:02
	that with all it's hypocrisy and self-centeredness	48:07
	and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world	48:10
	in which we live.	48:14
	We thank thee for the blessings of the week just past,	48:17
	for the daily reminders of thy continuing presence	48:21
	in our lives, for the sun and the rain and the promise	48:24
	of springtime, which the budding trees foretell.	48:29
	We thank thee even for the cold and bleakness of winter,	48:33
	without which the splendor of spring could never be,	48:37
	so too, we bless thee for the bitter medicine that heals,	48:41
	for the misfortunes, without which we could never grow wise.	48:46
	Hear now our prayers of intercession	48:52
	for those who are in need this day.	48:55
	That there are people who hunger for thy grace	48:59
	and who search their minds and hearts for words of prayer,	49:02
	yet having they love fail to find it's presence.	49:07
	Lord, help us to remember that there are people who hunger	49:11
	for food, for decent clothing, for a place to call home,	49:16
	for a job to provide the resources on which to live.	49:21
	Lord, help us to remember that there are people who long	49:26
	to be free, to stay upon their land,	49:30
	to voice their convictions as they believe them.	49:35
	Especially we thank thee for the release of Nelson Mandela	49:38
	as we pray that this may be a sign of thy promise	49:42
	for peace and justice for all the people of South Africa.	49:45
	Lord, help us to remember that there are people who seek	49:50
	to offer their talents to the world, yet are held back	49:53
	by confusion, self-doubt, or lack of opportunity.	49:57
	Lord, help us to remember that there are people	50:03
	who are helpless before torture, sick with disease	50:07
	and with loneliness, who are prisoner to the walls	50:11
	of tyrants and to the world of indifference.	50:14
	Lord, help us to remember.	50:19
	Oh, eternal God, thy mercy is infinite	50:22
	and thy pity inexhaustible.	50:25
	Graciously look upon us and teach us the way of thy statutes	50:28
	so that we may never, even in our greatest trials, give way	50:33
	to despair, but shall keep thy commandments to the end.	50:38
	This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.	50:43
	And now as a forgiven and reconciled people,	50:51
	let us offer our gifts and ourselves unto God.	50:55
	(organ music)	50:59
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	52:19
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	52:22
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	52:26
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	52:29
	♪ Unto God's almighty Son ♪	52:33
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	52:41
	♪ Unto God's almighty Son ♪	52:45
	(choir singing)	53:00
	(organ music)	56:36
	♪ Praise God from whom all blessing flow ♪	57:33
	♪ Praise God all creatures here below ♪	57:38
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, ♪	57:44
	♪ Praise God above ye heavenly host ♪	57:51
	♪ Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost ♪	57:56
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	58:02
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	58:07
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	58:13
-	Eternal God, praise be to thee for thy unwavering goodness	58:25
	to all thy children, for mercies that fall like rain	58:29
	on the just and the unjust, for songs thy love	58:33
	has taught us to sing, for good memories, true hopes	58:37
	and inspiring words.	58:41
	Most especially we thank thee for thy promise	58:43
	to be with us always as we strive to live	58:45
	by thy commandments and to follow in thy footsteps.	58:49
	This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ	58:53
	who taught us to pray with confidence,	58:55
All	Our Father who art in heaven,	58:58
	hallowed by thy name.	59:01
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth	59:03
	as it is in heaven.	59:06
	Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us	59:08
	our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.	59:11
	Lead us not into temptation, but deliver from evil.	59:16
	For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever.	59:20
-	And now go forth in peace and be of good courage.	59:28
	Hold fast that which is good, rejoicing in the power	59:31
	of the Holy Spirit and may the blessings of God,	59:35
	Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be with you all,	59:39
	now and forevermore, amen.	59:41
	(organ music)	59:46
	(choir and congregation singing)	1:00:17
	♪ Amen ♪	1:03:24
	♪ Amen ♪	1:03:28
	♪ Amen ♪	1:03:32
	♪ Amen ♪	1:03:35
	♪ Amen ♪	1:03:42
	♪ Amen ♪	1:03:44
	♪ Amen ♪	1:03:48
	♪ Amen ♪	1:03:57
	(organ music)	1:04:10

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - "Being Good" (February 11, 1990)

Description:

Sermon start time: 19:16. Sermon end time: 43:18.
The preacher argues that both the rule-stressing legalist and the rule-ignoring antinomian are arrogant. He argues that Jesus does not come to abolish the law but to intensify the law that fulfills the commandments of love, a law that can only be obeyed by relationship with Christ through grace. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “The Law, this excessive righteousness which Jesus demands of you and me is a means of making us good. But not as if goodness were the result of our own earnest efforts, because goodness consists of being driven into the arms of a merciful and just God. And these commands are the means of taking us there.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r49w09d98

Date:

February 11, 1990

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Epiphany

Biblical Book:

Matthew

Chapter and Verse:

Matthew 5:17-20

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0167
ref8737_jd0
uachapelsermaud
duke:321597
dcrmv001162
ark:/87924/r49w09d98
30066b52-82d5-4639-854e-a30ed5ac64b8

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Related Resources:

See below

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the Creative Commons license indicated here. For more information see https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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William H. Willimon - "Being Good" (February 11, 1990)

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1. William H. Willimon - "Being Good" (February 11, 1990)

Duke University Archives

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William H. Willimon - "Being Good" (February 11, 1990)

Transcript

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Duke University Archives

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