Some of you might not remember this, but there used to be a hair care product called Brylcreem. Seeing that it has been many years since I’ve had any use for hair products, I don’t know if it is still made or not.  The slogan is probably more well known nowadays than the cream, “A little dab’ll do ya.”  Just a little dab.  That's all you need.  No more, no less.

For so many of us as Christians, that slogan might apply to the way we view our faith.  A little dab’ll do you.  Our Lutheran fascination with "moderation in all things" has become a justification for not overdoing the business of Church, faith, prayer, Bible study, or good works. Nobody wants to be viewed as extremist, except for maybe sports or fun hobbies, but especially not a religious extremist.  It’s too weird, too foreign, too serious. 

The service goes longer than an hour and we rather watch the clock and rush away from God’s house as soon as possible so we can get to lunch or be home in time to watch the football game. When our identity as people should be shaped by the baptismal gift, instead we honor the event of baptism, only to moderate our view of it thereafter by mostly forgetting about it.  When we think of the Lord's Supper, instead of being overwhelmed by the gift and blessing of that table, we caution against having too much of God’s good thing.  We hear from the world and sometimes feel ourselves that it’s too extreme to be sexually pure outside of marriage, that’s it’s too much to display our faith in public, that it’s radical to think that sin – any sin – means the sinner deserves eternal damnation.

Consider Jesus’ words in our Gospel reading today.  Jesus says cut off that which causes sin, but really?  We hear the words, but we think to ourselves that this is just an overstatement. Nobody would really, seriously consider gouging out an eye because it wandered lustfully or cut off a hand that strikes out in sinful anger.  Sin can’t really be “that” bad and we shouldn’t go to any extreme because of it.

We do have a radical and extreme faith. It is so extreme that God would give up the life of His only begotten Son.  Where we discount even the possibility of cutting off a hand, Jesus would undergo beating and crucifixion, His blood pouring out of the nail holes in His hands to cover all our sin.  Where we whine and complain about the extreme difficulties living in a first world country, things like road construction, smart phones, TV, like a lamb to the slaughter, Jesus went silently and willing to the cross.  While the sinful eyes of the world watched, He closed His eyes in death as He breathed His last and gave us His spirit. Jesus doesn’t care about modern sensibilities, changing cultural norms, or whatever might be politically correct. He cares about you, about your life, about your sin, about your faith, about your eternal destination. 

Where we often try to navigate the shades of gray in life, Jesus makes things black and white – He who believes shall be saved, but he who does not believe is condemned already. Some will comment that differences in religions, or doctrine, or good works, don’t really matter, or don’t matter all that much.  There’s no such things as spiritual ambivalence, of sitting on the fence, of moderation in faith, not in our families, not in our schools, not in our politics, not in our society or world.  A person is either for Jesus or against Him. Our words either confess Christ or they confess something different. Our actions either reflect faith in Christ or reflect unbelief in Him.   

The down side of a little dab of religion, faith, Church, and piety is that get just enough to feel guilty about not doing more and yet not enough to make a real impact upon our daily lives.  When sin becomes a small matter, so does grace. For whenever we treat sin lightly, we treat Jesus’ death for that sin lightly well. 

So what are we to do with our inconstancy and our hypocrisy? And no, cutting off a hand is not the answer, for it will not solve the root problem. There is only one way to deal with the deeper issue. And it is just as radical, just as extreme, and just as likely to be dismissed, because it is so ordinary.  Repent, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. A little dab of water and the Word makes you a forgiven child of God. A little dab of bread and wine forgives sin and strengthens faith. A little dab of absolution forgives all those extreme and those moderate and those light sins. These things are too ordinary, too plain, too common.  They don’t seem extreme enough! Extreme it is to think that in big and in small, all glory is given to God in Christ. Even a little dab is more than enough to cover all of your sin. But that little dab of Jesus will always make you want more. For faith in Christ can never say, “No thank you God, I’ve had enough Jesus.”  We can never get enough Jesus. Jesus doesn’t give you just a dab of Himself, but over and over and over again your faith receives the full, majestic, holy God gives you complete forgiveness of your sins and a life that not even death can kill.

You have been called to an extreme faith, a radical faith. This will look different from the world, for different you are.  As Christ is holy, so you too are called to holy, separated from the world of unbelievers in your stance with God and with one another. Our faith and piety should be extreme, not in the sense of us going overboard on what we are doing, but in the wonderful sense of Him who has bestowed upon us great and lavish gifts of grace.  It will look extreme to the world when we teach God’s ways to our children above the world’s ways; when we stand firm upon God’s Word and not upon theories or felt needs; when we fight for the right to life for people of all ages and abilities from conception to natural death, when we stand up and say “no” to soccer games on Sunday and yes to being in the presence of God with His people, regularly and joyfully receiving all of Jesus in the dabs of Word and Sacrament. Nothing is more important than retaining faith unto eternal life through Jesus. The solution to our sin and to our apathy isn’t just to try harder, the solution is simply Jesus! There is nothing more extreme than that.