Wanting What Is Good and Right Romans 7:14–25a; Zech. 9:9-12; Matt. 11:25–30

Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Today we’re going to talk about having a heart for what’s good and right.

When God made us in His image, He made us loving what’s good and right. When we chose to defy Him and go in a different direction, we lost some of that goodness of heart, and we gained a selfish heart, which is no gain at all.

Ever since the fall into sin, humanity has struggled with good and evil, not just around us, but also within us. 

Sin is something we always have to deal with. If we don’t, it’ll take over our hearts and lives, and turn us into something we don’t want to be, and that God surely doesn’t want us to be.

If we just let ourselves go, sin will take more and more control of us, and eventually drive out faith in our Savior; and force out the Holy Spirit who was gifted to us at Baptism.

Paul warns us of all this in our Epistle. And he does it in a very personal way: he admits the daily struggle he has with sin. He says, 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 

He’s talking about his weakness to give into sin, the same weakness we have.

But, Paul says, it is no longer I who does it, but sin that dwells within me. 

The real me is the forgiven baptized child of God, in whom the Holy Spirit lives. That person who wants what’s good and honors God. 

But there’s still sin residing in my fallen, human nature. It’s causes me to think and say and do things that the godly spirit in me doesn’t want.

It’s that sin in me I must daily confront, and let God wash away in my Baptism.

The word sin can create all kinds of emotion in people. We can be tempted to dismiss this word as archaic, not relevant to us today in our advanced, modern society. 

We can be tempted to rebel against the reality of sin, thinking it’s a just a word used by organized religion in order to oppress people. 

But in recognizing the true meaning of the word, and the relevance and importance of admitting and confessing that our lives are tainted with sin, there’s help for it; the power to deal with it daily so it doesn’t get control of your soul.

The word sin literally means debt. The idea is that God created us for the purpose of loving Him and His creation, and doing good, adding love and goodness to the world. When we fail to do so, then its’ a debt we owe to God and to one another.

When we fail to achieve our purpose for having been created and given life, then we forfeit our right to live, and death is our destiny. 

So from our sin, comes death, which is why Paul says in our Epistle, “wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?” Who will save me from this mess I’ve made of myself, and my life, and the world I live in?

Thanks be to God, Paul says, through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

Jesus took our debt, our failure to love Him and one another with a selfless, holy love, and He paid the price for us; He bailed us out; He suffered the punishment for our sin and failure to love and do good as we were created to do; and He offered to God, His perfect life of love to count as ours. 

God accepted His sacrifice, His holy life and His death on the cross, and counted the punishment He suffered as yours. Justice was fulfilled. All our sins and wrongs are covered by Jesus, completely forgiven.

And in Baptism, believing in Jesus, we’re given the power we need to deal with the sin that still resides in us, to tame it, to take away it’s poisonous sting, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15.

Now that we live in God’s grace, with rest for our souls, as Jesus says in our Gospel, we’re free and empowered to be more the way God made and redeemed us to be.       

Today we think about what this means for us as citizens of the nation God has given us. How can we, with the help of God, be good and godly  citizens?

The first thing is to remember who our spiritual king is and honor himself in thew way we live as citizens of our country. The spiritual king is king overall, king of heaven and earth, King of kings and Lord of lords. 

He’s promised to us in our Old Testament from Zechariah 9, Behold your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation.

In our Gospel Jesus identifies himself as that spiritual king over all: All things have been handed over to me by my Father. 

Because we have a king over all who loves, protects and blesses us, we can serve Him in the Church, and in the world, in both Kingdoms.

A second thing to remember in being godly citizens in our land is to be good stewards of the freedoms we enjoy. 

Being empowered by the spiritual freedom we have in the gospel, the forgiveness of our sins, and the promise of life everlasting, motivates us to make good use of our political freedom, including the freedom or speech and religion.

That means making the most of our abilities and resources to make Christ known in our free land, and in other lands, as we’re able -- to share the Gospel here, accompanied by deeds of kindness and love, and to support missions, local and global.

It also means to stand up for and support and obey laws that are good and just, to speak out and stand against laws that are unjust and wrong; laws that discriminate, or devalue life, or treat people unfairly; laws that would fail to protect the most vulnerable among us, including the unborn, and the disabled, 

and the poor, and the elderly. 

God wants us to be His voice, proclaiming how He wants people to be treated in our nation and our world.

Finally, having been rescued from sin and death, God would have His people pray for the nations of the earth. God cares about every person in every land. He cares about the people of all nations. 

He wants all nations to be ruled in a way that treats people right. He wants freedom for all lands, that the good news of His Son, dying and rising for all nations, would spread and grow; that many more would have the life and love He gives. 

God would have us pray for those who govern the nations, that they would be benevolent and just and wise and would rule in godly peace.

God would have us pray for our leaders and our land, that they would be good stewards of democracy and the freedoms our forefathers won for us. And God would have us hold our leaders accountable to this.

God would have us pray for all in authority and responsibility; our military, law enforcement, firemen, first responders, teachers, and more. They have a difficult job, and some may be feeling like they aren’t valued, or that we’ve turned against them. But we need to pray for them and let them know that we support and appreciate them. 

Like us all, they need to be held accountable; and like us all, they need prayer and support. God would have us give them our prayers and support; this is the good and right thing for us to do as godly citizens.

Although we struggle with sin, and we sometimes do what’s wrong, for Jesus’ sake, God forgives us; and the Holy Spirit gives us a better heart for what’s good and right. 

May He bless you with a godly heart and godly actions, and may His peace which passes understanding, guard your heart, and your mind, in Christ Jesus, our Lord, who always does what is good and right for us. Amen.