St. John's and Grace Evangelical Lutheran Parish

Don’t Forget Me

Text: Deuteronomy 6:4-15

Today we’ve had the glad opportunity to speak together the words of the Holy Spirit through King David in Psalm 119. Psalm 119 is the great Psalm of the Word. It is an acrostic psalm, which means the lines of the psalm follow the pattern of the Hebrew alphabet. In Psalm 119 each chunk of 8 lines begins with the same letter in Hebrew. Psalm 119 as a whole focuses on the blessings of God through His Word. Psalm 119, you know is the longest Psalm. The second longest Psalm is Psalm 78, and it, too, speaks about God’s Word. Particularly, the psalmist reminds God’s people to remember His great blessings by teaching His Word to their children. Psalm 78 goes like this,

Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God.
Psalm 78:1-7, English Standard Version

Psalm 78 expands upon what the Holy Spirit teaches us in the Old Testament text. Today, the Lord calls us to remember all the blessings He has bestowed on us by teaching His Word to our children so that they, too, might receive His blessings.

Our sermon text today is the Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy 6. The book of Deuteronomy is the last book given by Moses’ pen and is largely a reminder and application of God’s Commandments to His people just before they entered the Promised Land. Our chapter today is well known for this passage, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” (v. 4) But, let’s start at the end. Moses said,

When the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Deuteronomy 6:10-12

Remember that these words were spoken as Israel was preparing to enter, well, Israel – the Promised Land. For 40 years they wandered through the wilderness being fed and cared for by the Lord. Previous to that He led them up out of slavery in Egypt with a mighty hand and outstretched arm. Now, He was about to fulfill for them a promise He made to Abraham – that the land he dwelt on would belong to his offspring long after him. At the entrance to the Promised Land, the Lord called upon His people not to forget His many blessings. He provided for their bodies by giving them food, drink, clothing, families, and so on. He provided for their souls by graciously forgiving their sins through faith in Christ, who was yet to come. Now, they were going into a land flowing with milk and honey, with cities they didn’t build and houses they didn’t fill and wells they didn’t dig. They only had to, “take care,” lest they forget their good and gracious Lord.

How shall they not forget Him? Moses said,

These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:6-9

Israel would be caused to remember the Lord by being devoted to His Word. By speaking it, reading it, singing it, and so on, they would learn to always be thankful for the Lord’s blessings. And, being thankful, they were to teach it to their children – that they might know the Lord’s mercy as well. The Scriptures say that faith comes by hearing, so the Lord commanded His people to remember His blessings by teaching them to their children.

II.

The same Lord who blessed His people then, blesses His people now. We are God’s people through our Baptism into Christ and by the working of the Holy Spirit through the Word. As His people, we have been richly blessed by God. We have a beautiful sanctuary to worship in. We came here in cars from our homes. Our God has blessed us with food and water, with family and friends. As bountifully He has and does provide for our bodies, even more bountifully has He provided for our souls by sending us His Son. Though we were by nature children of wrath, without hope and without God in this world, He had mercy on us. For us and for our salvation, our Lord Jesus Christ came down from heaven so that He might be lifted up for us on the cross. By His death, He has released us from the eternal slavery of sin and death, granting us eternal life as a gift through faith.

All this our God does out of His own divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness within us. For all these blessings, He demands nothing from us – nor would He take anything from us – except that we receive His gifts with thanksgiving. The way that we show our thankfulness for God’s blessings is by being devoted to His Word. We heard earlier how Israel was encouraged to bind the Word upon their hands and write them on their doorposts. These were practical ways by which God’s Word would be continually in their lives. In our lives, we might decorate our walls at home with Scripture, go to Bible study, go to church, teach Sunday School, regularly read a Bible app on our phones. By being devoted to God’s Word in these ways and more, the Holy Spirit causes us not to forget our gracious God. If we forget the Lord by despising His Word, He won’t forget us; but He may cause His blessings to pass from us to those who do love His Word.

The Lord binds these two things together today: remembering His Word and teaching our children. He does this so that neither we nor they forget His blessings, but that we would all receive them together with thanksgiving. St. Peter said in his Pentecost sermon that the blessing of the forgiveness of sins in Christ is not just for us, but for our children, too. God has given them to us so that they might learn and know this. How are our children to learn and know the love Christ except that they be taught? Who better to teach them than we, their parents and “parents in the faith?” Let these words of Psalm 78, then, also be our words, “We will not hide them from [our] children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done…so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God.”

We must confess, though, we have not always been diligent in the work our God has given us. We have not always devoted ourselves to His Word and we have not always been eager to see that our children (and our new members) are well-taught in the Christian faith. We have not answered the call when help in this task is needed, and we have impeded this work by placing other activities above it in importance. But, hear, O Israel, the Lord is one. The Lord is one, who has taken your sins, balled them all up, and cast them into the deepest depths of the sea. He renews you day by day through His Word and gives you – today – in the Absolution and the Sacrament of the Altar, again, the forgiveness of your sins. Through these things, He strengthens us and leads us to remember His Word. God grant us the Holy Spirit that we might treasure His Word in our hearts, remember His benefits, and teach the same to our children.

The Day of Your Visitation

Text: Luke 19:41-48

During Holy Week, while Jesus was teaching in the temple, He told a parable about a man who planted a vineyard and rented it out to tenants. When the time for fruit came, the man sent his servants to the tenants, but they beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again, the owner sent servants; this time, more than the first. The tenants did the same thing. Finally, the owner of the vineyard decided to send his son – figuring that they would respect him. However, the tenants devised a plan to kill the son and keep the vineyard for themselves. Then, they carried out their plan – kicking the son out of the vineyard and killing him. The parable ends with the master finally returning. He destroys those tenants and gives the vineyard to others. This parable illustrates what Jesus is talking about in the Gospel text today.

The Gospel text captures our Lord weeping over the city of Jerusalem as He drew near to it for the last time. For three years, He preached and taught and performed miracles. He urged the people emphatically, and often with tears, to repent and believe in the Gospel. But they would not. And now, as our Lord says, Jerusalem would be destroyed as a judgment of God against them. I said last week that we’d have one more hard Sunday before it lightens up again, and here we are. Our Lord punished Jerusalem for its refusal to recognize the time of its visitation. Yet, in mercy, He extends that time unto us.

Let us hear, again, the words of our Lord. St. Luke writes,

When Jesus drew near and saw the city, He wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes…They will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
Luke 19:41-42, English Standard Version

These are difficult words for us to hear, and they must have been difficult for our Lord, as evidenced by His tears. But to help us to understand why our Lord is weeping, we should look further at these words in verse 44, “You did not know the time of your visitation.” By “visitation,” our Lord speaks about what we normally call His Incarnation – the time, continuing now, where the eternal Son of God bears our same human flesh.

The Incarnation is what was promised throughout the prophets. Through the prophet Nathan, God promised David that one of his sons would sit on the throne forever. Through the prophet Isaiah, God promised a suffering Servant who would bear the sins of the people on the cross and thereby make reconciliation. The Incarnation was promised by many prophets, and God Himself spoke it to Adam and Eve in the Garden – that their offspring would crush the devil. These promises were fulfilled in Christ’s ministry. The promised time of refreshment and healing came through His ministry to the blind, lame, outcast, and poor. Jesus came not only with miracles, but also with the Words of Eternal Life. He came to do “the things that make for peace,” by dying for the sins of the world and rising again. The time of visitation Jesus speaks of is His Incarnation, His ministry, His death and resurrection.

Many in Israel would have none of this, however. They heard Jesus’ Words, witnessed His miracles, and they rejected them. They refused to believe. Even in the temple, we heard in the Gospel, “The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy Him.” (v. 47) The people of Jerusalem were the ones in the parable who killed the master’s servants and son. Earlier in the Gospel, Jesus lamented over Jerusalem saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing.” (Lk. 13:34)

Because of this, the people’s refusal to repent and believe the day of their visitation, God’s wrath would no longer be restrained. In the Gospel, our Lord foretold – with striking precision – what did happen to Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Because Israel did not recognize the day of their visitation nor the things that make for peace, ramparts and barricades were set against Jerusalem. Enemies surrounded it on every side and tore it down to the ground, and many perished as punishment for their unbelief.

II.

Shortly after John the Baptist was born, his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and began to sing, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old.” (Lk. 1:68-70) With these words, the Holy Spirit teaches that the Incarnation and ministry of Christ is the time so long promised through the prophets. In the Incarnation, God Himself visited and redeemed His people by the shedding of His own blood. Because Jerusalem failed to recognize and believe this, it was punished with destruction. In the Parable of the Tenants, though, it says that after the master of the vineyard punished the evil tenants, he brought new ones in. Guess who that is talking about.

St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor. 6:2) Jersualem fell because it failed to recognize its day. Yet, the Lord, out of mercy and grace, has extended that day to others, even us. Now is the time of our visitation. Now is the time where the Lord comes to us with healing in His wings. Now is the time that He dwells among us. Now is the time, because these are the things Jesus does through His Means of Grace. First, through His Word, the Holy Spirit creates faith in our hearts. Apart from Him, the Scriptures remain a closed book, but by the Spirit our hearts of stone are turned to flesh and we comforted when we hear Christ’s Word.

Today, Christ sends faithful pastors into all the world. Through these men, we hear the forgiveness of Christ. When the called minister stands before us and says, “In the stead and by the command,” it is truly Christ who stands before us and forgives. When the pastor places his hand our heads, it is not his hand, but our Lord’s. When we receive the bread and wine, it is not only bread and wine, but the true body and blood of Christ. When we receive the Sacrament, we receive Christ and all His blessings.

Now is the time, now is the day of our visitation. Now is the time in which our Lord makes clear the things that make for peace – not our works, but His. We give all thanks and praise to God for bringing us to know and believe in this day. Yet, soon, the night will come. Soon the time for work will cease and our Lord will return. The same thing that happened to Jerusalem physically, which you can read about in the historian Josephus, will happen spiritually to those who refuse to recognize the day of visitation. Our Lord is righteous, and He will punish those who refuse His grace. Or, rather, He will allow those who desire to live apart from His grace to do so eternally in hell.

I said that this would be a difficult reading, and so it is. We must confess that, the things which our Lord foretold would happen to Jerusalem, are the things we have deserved by our sinful nature. Our Lord, in His kindness, however, looks past our sins. For, in fact, He took them into Himself on the cross. By His grace, He extends the time of visitation to this very moment, in this very place, to this very people. He comes to us now, not in wrath, but with the words of forgiveness and peace which we have heard. Let us, therefore, give thanks that we have been caused to know and believe that this is the time of visitation and the day of our salvation. Let us pray that the Lord would cause this news to take hold of more and more, so that His wedding hall would be filled. And, let us pray, finally, that we would be faithful tenants of the Lord’s vineyard, laboring in love and bearing fruit when He calls.

The Secret to Being Content

Texts: Philippians 4:10-13; Matthew 6:25-34

“Not that I am speaking of being in need,” St. Paul said, “for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:11-13, English Standard Version) St. Paul wrote these words in the closing section of his letter to the Philippians while he himself was imprisoned in Rome. He found himself there for the sake of the Gospel only after being shipwrecked en route, and that after being imprisoned in Galilee for two years. His imprisonment was not due to a crime he committed, but was originally for his own safety after some had taken vows to kill him for his faith. St. Paul was also accustomed to being without a home, food, or clothing. In short, Paul was acquainted with suffering. Yet, he wrote, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.”

Name, our dear wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend also knew that same feeling. Name was born in Month 1954. She was baptized into Christ that same month. She was blessed to meet her future husband at a young age, though their courtship took a couple tries before it stuck. But, stuck, it did. The Lord blessed Names with 48 loving years of marriage resulting in three children: Names During those years, Name found many opportunities to love by serving at home, in the church, and in the community. However, as with St. Paul, suffering was known to Name, especially in these most recent years. Yet, her trials and struggles, the medical setbacks and what-have-you, she bore with patience. Every time I had the opportunity to visit her in the hospital, there was a smile on her face. She bore her suffering with patience, with faith, and – dare I say – with a sense of contentment. St. Paul said he knew the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. Name knew that secret, too.

But, what, we might ask, is that secret? Actually, it’s not a secret because we’ve already heard the answer. Jesus said in the Gospel,

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?…Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Matthew 6:25, 32-33

St. Paul’s secret to facing all things in all situations, to doing all things, is faith in Christ’s loving promise. Just a few moments ago, we confessed our Christian faith together using the words of the Apostles’ Creed. The Creed begins, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” In Martin Luther’s Small Catechism, we learn that this means that, not only did God create all things, but He preserves and provides for all things – even us. By the way, Name knew and believed this. She had the rare opportunity to take confirmation class twice, which, technically, makes her twice as Lutheran as any of us are.

Name knew that the Lord provided for all her bodily needs, but she knew His even greater provision, as well. We are here today because our sister has died. Yet, we also gladly confess that she is alive with Christ. That’s because Jesus won for Name the forgiveness of sins, and by His resurrection, secured eternal life for Name, too. We know from Scripture that death is not part of God’s good creation, but came through our own evil deeds when our first parents doubted and disobeyed God’s Word. All who are born of flesh and blood inherit the same corruption of sin, which is punished in all people by death. However, God is merciful and does not let death and the devil have the final say. God the Father sent forth His eternal Son to take on our same human flesh. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He was born without sin and did not sin. Though He alone was unworthy of death, He took the sins of the world away by bearing them in His body on the cross. Jesus died to make the perfect, full, and complete payment for sin. Then, He rose again. He gives salvation as a gift to all who believe this, as the Scriptures say, “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9)

When St. Paul said that he knew the secret to facing all things in all situations, it wasn’t some strategy for us to learn, nor was it ever really a secret. St. Paul’s secret was faith in Christ’s promise to provide all that we need – both for the body and, especially, for the soul. Our heavenly Father knows exactly what we need, and well provides. He did so for Name throughout her life. But, beyond providing for her body in this life, He has provided bountifully for her soul. The Father sent forth His Son and purchased for Name the forgiveness of sins and the eternal life which she now enjoys. Today, this secret is once again made known to us.

The Lord’s promises weren’t only for St. Paul and Name, but they are for us, too. We now know the secret to facing all things: the promise of Christ to provide. He has promised to provide for us and He does, even if we don’t always realize or believe it. But, as greatly as He provides for our bodies, He provides for us to an even greater extent by giving to us the forgiveness of our sins. He paid for all sins by His death on the cross, and He gives forgiveness freely to all who believe. Those who believe in Him will live, even though they die. When it is the Lord’s will that our last hour comes, we, too, will depart to be with Him in heaven with all who’ve gone before us in the faith. When Christ returns, He will raise our bodies – He will raise this body. Then, we will fully know the love and care of God. St. Paul knew the secret of facing all things and our sister Name knew it. May Lord grant to us that same grace, even as we await our joyful reunion in heaven and the resurrection of the dead. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Dishonest Manager(s), Merciful Master

Text: Luke 16:1-9 (10-13)

The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.
Luke 16:8-9, English Standard Version

The words of our Lord and our text for today. These are some of the most vexing words of Jesus that we hear in the Gospel; or, at least of those words we hear regularly on Sundays. When students are studying the parables in their sermon classes at seminary, they’re offered the opportunity to pick which parable they’d like to preach on. If a student should pick today’s, and preach it well, they get an automatic A in the course. Nobody picks this one. I certainly didn’t.

As we learned last week, one benefit of the lectionary is that it forces us to sometimes go outside of our comfort zone. Not everything that our Lord says is easy. The problem isn’t with what He says, but with us, who hear it. Today’s text is difficult not just because the story is somewhat strange, but also because of what it’s about – stuff, things, worldly possessions, and how to use them. None of us like to be told how to do things, or what we should do with what (we think) belongs to us. Yet, that’s what Jesus does today. The truth is, the things we have aren’t really ours, they’re God’s; we’re only the managers. Therefore, Jesus encourages us to use our worldly possessions in God-pleasing ways while also promising to forgive us when we do fail.

The first thing to do when interpreting a Biblical text is to look at the context. We must look at the verses surrounding a passage so that we learn the setting: who these words were spoken by and to whom, when, and, perhaps, for what purpose. If we do that with our text today, we find that, as the Gospel started, Jesus is speaking to the disciples. (v. 1) But, there’s a little more going on. The parable today follows in the same conversation Jesus has been having for a couple chapters. This parable follows right after the parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Prodigal Son. Jesus told those because the Pharisees and scribes grumbled that our Lord receives and eats with “tax collectors and sinners.” (Lk. 15:2) Evidently, Jesus quieted them down for a bit, but they’re still in the background listening in as Jesus taught the disciples today’s parable. St. Luke tells us that, “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things.” (16:14) The parable today might be as much for their benefit as the disciples’ and ours.

Our Lord starts the parable by saying, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions.” (v. 1) This much, we understand. A rich landowner assigns management of his property to a manager and the manager squanders it. In the Greek, the manager does the same thing the prodigal son did with all his inheritance; he wasted in reckless living. The rich man receives word of this and demands an accounting from the manager. Now, this is where the manager thinks quickly. He said to himself that he’s not strong enough to dig, and he’d be ashamed to beg; then he figured out what to do. Jesus said, “Summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ [The debtor] said, ‘a hundred measures of oil.’ [The manager] said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’” (vv. 5-6) This went on all with the other debtors, as well.

Now comes a confusing part, “The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.” The master didn’t praise him in the sense that the manager’s dishonesty should be replicated, but that the manager’s singular focus on achieving his goal with what was available to him was commendable. The manager’s goal was to continue in his life of comfort, and he used his means to make that happen. Though dishonest, he still understood how to use earthly possessions, to make friends for himself. That gets us nearer, perhaps, to what we should take away from the text today.

In the parable, the master represents God. A few weeks back, we heard the Feeding of the 4,000 and I had us speak together the First Article of the Creed. We confess that God the Father Almighty is the maker of heaven and earth. Everything that exists came into existence out of nothing by His work alone. Because He made everything, everything belongs to Him. The Holy Spirit teaches this, for example, in Psalm 24, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.” (vv. 1-2) All things belong to our God because He created them. We belong to God because He created us. Yet, as we learn from Genesis, our Lord does place parts of creation beneath our care. God cares for us and we care for others through what God gives us. In other words, we are managers of what God creates and gives.

God blesses us by giving us everything that we have. All of our stuff, our things, our earthly possessions belong to God, but He gives them to us so that we might use them in faithful ways. We use our possessions faithfully, first, when we use them to God’s glory. This happens when we give of what is ours to support the work of the Church, whether financially or though our time and talents. When we give to beautify the sanctuary and enhance the worship happening there, that is really to God’s glory. When we give to support the spread of the Gospel, that is a faithful use of our possessions. We are only managers of what God gives, and we should use what He does place into our hands for His glory.

We should also use what God gives for the help and support of those whom He places in our lives. Fathers, you are called by God to support your wives and children, and the possessions you have are to be used toward that end. Likewise, mothers. Since we all live in the world, we also have neighbors, many who are in need. When we have the means and the opportunity to do so within our vocation, we should do good to all with what God gives us. In the third place, we may use what God gives us on ourselves. We aren’t called to impoverish ourselves. We are free to enjoy God’s good creation and the blessings He gives, to have hobbies and interests; but we should devote ourselves to those things only after caring for those whom God has placed in our lives and supporting the work and worship of His Church.

The master in the parable praised the manager for his devotion to his goal. He had priorities, he stuck to them, and he used his means to achieve his goal. Do we? We are Christians. We have been called to faith by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Word and the washing of Holy Baptism. Through these things we have received the forgiveness of our sins and entrance into eternal life. We know (and are reminded today) that what we have comes from God and should be used for His glory and the support of our neighbor. Only after that should we dote on ourselves. But, is that how we always order things in our lives? Do we not, more often, reverse them? We spend our time and money on ourselves, and then on our families. Then, in only a distant third place, do we give to God. To be sure, there are times where, by the working of the Spirit, we are faithful with what God gives us. But, we shouldn’t pat ourselves, because we all feel in our hearts the temptation to act otherwise. And we have, repeatedly, and sometimes, for years. We’ve placed our wants first, God’s last.

There’s one aspect in this parable that often gets overlooked, though, and that is the reaction of the master, the rich man. When he found out what the manager was doing, he didn’t punish him. He fired him; but he didn’t throw him in jail – which would have been well within his rights. Instead, he was merciful. Remember what we said, the rich man in the parable stands for God. God, likewise, places us as managers over what belongs to Him. And, He also sees how we often mismanage what He gives, and we sin by doing so. God sees our mismanagement, and you know what He does? He forgives. He has mercy on us. Instead of demanding an accounting from us for our evil deeds, He accepts Christ’s accounting on our behalf. Christ balanced the ledger by making the full payment for our sins, and it is counted to us by faith.

This parable’s a tricky one. I didn’t pick it to preach on in seminary, but we hear it together today. In this parable, Jesus teaches us that we are only managers of what is given to us. We should use our possessions to further our Master’s goals: that His glory would be proclaimed in all the earth, that our families and neighbors would be provided for, and – in third – on ourselves in thankfulness to God. We must confess that we don’t always keep those goals in the right order, and we sin. Like the master, however, our God is merciful. Let us pray this week that He would continue to grant us to think and do those things that are right with what, ultimately, belongs to Him.

Beware of False Prophets

*Note* I record sermons on my phone and this time some noises made it through. Sorry.

Text: Matthew 7:15-23

In today’s Epistle, we heard part of St. Paul’s farewell address to the pastors of the Church in Ephesus. Shortly after, he would be leaving them to go to Jerusalem and they would never again see him face-to-face. In his final words to them, Paul said,

I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with His own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert…
Acts 20:27-31, English Standard Version

St. Paul patterned his final words to the Ephesians in part after our Lord’s words in the Gospel today.

Our Lord teaches us in Matthew 7, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” (7:15) He has in mind those who would come after Him, who would speak in crafty ways to draw the sheep away into the mouths of wolves. Our Lord warns that false teachers and preachers would come, even seeming to preach the Word, who all the while deny that Jesus is God or that we are saved by His grace without our works. Our Lord also teaches how we will recognize such false prophets, “by their fruits,” (v. 16), which is to say, their doctrine. In the Gospel, our Lord teaches us to judge all teachings by His Word so that we are not led astray by teachers who, otherwise, appear right.

This is a difficult topic to discuss. I can sympathize with that, but I do not apologize. These words are Jesus’, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits.” (vv. 15-16) Our Lord models for us here two responsibilities of faithful pastors. They must preach and teach the true and saving Word of Christ – that, by faith in Him, we are forgiven all our sins and welcomed into eternal life. They must also speak and warn against all that is contrary to the one true faith. These are both responsibilities of faithful pastors, that they teach the true Christian doctrine and warn Christ’s flock against false doctrines. This is exactly what our Lord is doing today. Our text comes at the very end of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus just taught the crowd all that they should believe and do. Now, at the conclusion, He warns them against those who would teach contrary to what they just heard.

Our Lord has to do this because, even from the Garden of Eden, where God sends a faithful preacher, the devil sends two false ones. God provided Eve with a faithful preacher in her husband Adam, but then came the devil to twist God’s Word. Adam became a false preacher for a time when he did not warn Eve against eating the fruit. In the days of Noah, he and his family alone were believers while the whole world lived in unrepentant sin. In his days, Elijah stood alone on Mt. Carmel opposite 450 prophets of Baal. After Elijah came another true prophet named Micaiah. He was imprisoned by King Ahab after he prophesied that the king should not go into battle. Ahab instead listened to his 400 false prophets and, soon after, died in battle. False prophets continued in the time of the Apostles, as we read in St. Paul, St. Peter, St. John, St. Jude, St. James, and in the letter to the Hebrews. Where our Lord causes a spring of living water to well up into eternal life, there the devil tries to poison. Satan cannot stand that the Word should be preached purely and the Sacraments administered according to Christ’s institution, so he daily rages and tears through calamities, hardships, and, especially, false teaching.

How shall we recognize false teachers and how shall we guard against them? As Jesus said, “You will recognize them by their fruits.” The fruit of a pastor or teacher is his teaching, his doctrine. We should follow the pattern of the Bereans when St. Paul came to them preaching about Christ. The Holy Spirit tells us in Acts 17 that when Paul came to Berea preaching Jesus, “they received the Word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” (Acts 17:11) They tested what St. Paul preached against the Scriptures and found it to be true. A false prophet is anyone who teaches or preaches contrary to the Gospel of Christ and the witness of the Holy Spirit through the Scriptures.

We don’t need to look for false prophets; the world is filled with them. They come to us in our lives to contradict the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Perhaps the mark of a true false teacher is that they will use God’s Word in ways that sound right, but are contrary to how Scripture speaks. For example, we know how the Devil tempted Jesus to throw Himself off the temple. Satan quoted Scripture, but then left part of it out and twisted the rest. The devil continues to use the same tactic. In the Reformation the main false teaching was that we can earn merit before God by our good works. They said that “grace,” is not God’s favor toward us in Christ, but a power that God gives us to make our good works enough to gain heaven. They would use Scripture to try and prove this, but it doesn’t hold up. Our false teachers today also use Scripture, or arguments that sound like Scripture, in false ways to lead us astray. For example, some use St. Peter – when he says that to the Lord a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day – to teach that the universe was not created in six days. Our Lord clearly teaches in the Gospel that the Creation account in Genesis is literal and factual. This is only one example; there are others.

What do we do? It seems that with every passing year the Lord’s precious flock grows fewer and that our own church body is suffering. All the while, Satan is at work seeking to devour us with lies and good-sounding arguments that appeal to our sinful nature. Jesus says to be on guard against false teachers and that happens, first, through knowing the Word. Our God, out of His infinite goodness and mercy, has given us the true, perfect testimony of His loving will. Through His Word, He sets our hearts at ease by pointing us to His eternal Son, Jesus, who made full payment for all our sins. In the Word, He teaches us what is good and right and true, what is beneficial for us, for our neighbor, and for the world. The first step in guarding against false teaching is knowing the true teaching, and measuring everything by it. Should we encounter a new teaching, we test it by the Scriptures. St. Paul encouraged the Ephesians to study the Scriptures so that they would not be tossed about like a ship on the waves by every wind of doctrine. (Eph. 4:14) If you feel ill-equipped to judge whether something is right or not, come to Bible study or ask your pastor. In the meantime, remember what you’ve learned from the Catechism – which is all the basic teachings of Scripture in compact form.

We also guard against the devil and his false teachers when we give them no quarter in our lives. We should always pray to our Lord Jesus, that, as He promised, He would continue to send us the Holy Spirit. We should pray that He would produce ever-increasing fruits of love in our daily lives. The devil hates when we, in thankfulness to God and mindful of His Word, are faithful and loving spouses, children, parents, grandparents, and workers. We also should pray to the Holy Spirit that He would create a hunger in our hearts for the Word and Sacraments. It is through the Word we recognize our sin and realize how shaky the ground is upon which we stand. But it is also through the Word and Sacrament that our sins are forgiven, our joy renewed, our faith increased, and our love for each other caused to abound.

In heaven there will be no false teachers. There will be no diversity of doctrines. We, and all Christians, will be united in the faith in greater number and to a fuller extent than we can even imagine. When we commune together, we confess that we are united now in the faith and we anticipate our joyful unity in the world to come. But, until such time as our Lord returns, the devil will continue to prowl. He and his teachers will seek to lead us astray, and may even use Scripture in their attempts. We heed our Lord’s warning and hold fast to His Word. We know that, as St. John said, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 Jn. 4:4) Amen.

Oh, How Great is Your Compassion

Text: Mark 8:1-9

In Psalm 23, King David confesses his faith in God’s loving kindness. He gives thanks to the God who leads him beside still waters, and who restores his soul by the saving Word. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” sang David, “I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” (Psalm 23:4, English Standard Version) The Lord’s Word and Sacraments – His rod and staff – comforted David in all distress. The Psalm continues, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” (23:5) Here, David continues praising God for His kindness and grace in Christ. The forgiveness David had by faith in Jesus overflowed into a wellspring of eternal life. Yet, there were other ways in which David’s cup overflowed.

For example, the Lord provided him with a wife and children. He provided a faithful friend in Jonathan. David had food and drink, a home, a throne. Even in the midst of his enemies, the Lord provided for David. He provided for his soul, by granting him forgiveness of sins through faith and He provided for his earthly needs, as well. He didn’t do all this because David deserved it – quite the contrary, as we know. God provided for David because of His own grace, His love, His compassion. In our text from St. Mark’s Gospel, we see our Lord’s compassion on display as He abundantly provides for both soul and body.

In our text from the 8th chapter of St. Mark’s Gospel, the Lord is continuing His work of preaching and teaching, even among the Gentiles. Earlier in the Gospel our Lord had said to the Canaanite woman, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matt. 15:24) Yet, by healing her daughter, Jesus showed that the forgiveness and life that are in Him don’t belong only to those who are descended from Abraham by blood, but they are given to all who receive Jesus in faith – Jew and Gentile alike. This Good News, that God freely forgives all who repent and believe in Christ, regardless of race, drew people to Jesus. Many of them travelled, even great distances, to hear the Gospel from Jesus. By faith in Him – in His upcoming death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins – they were, indeed, forgiven and inheritors of eternal life.

St. Mark writes that at one occasion a great crowd had gathered and was listening to Jesus, but “they had nothing to eat.” (8:1) Whether they had forgotten to bring supplies or whether they had run out, we don’t know. What we do know is that this crowd had remained with Jesus for three days. They were listening to Him preach and teach, and none complained about how long His sermon was. They desired only to hear from Him the Words of Eternal Life. But now they were without food.

[Jesus] called His disciples to Him and said to them, ‘I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with Me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.
Mark 8:1-3

Our Lord had been feeding them food for their souls for three days, but now they needed food for their body. Our Lord didn’t send them away to fend for themselves. Instead, He had compassion. He had the crowd sit down. Then, He took the seven loaves of bread and the few fish that the disciples did have. He gave a prayer of thanksgiving and through the disciples distributed everything to the crowd. “They ate and were satisfied,” Mark said. (v. 8) All 4,000+ of them. When they went to gather the leftover broken pieces, there were seven large baskets full. With this miracle, Jesus, again, demonstrates that He is God. What’s more, this miracle gives a beautiful and comforting picture of our savior. Jesus tells us why He did this miracle. He said, “I have compassion on the crowd.” Jesus felt compassion for His little flock and set that compassion to work by abundantly providing for them in both soul and body.

II.

The Holy Spirit teaches us in the letter to the Hebrews that, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (13:8) Because Jesus is God, there is no change in Him. As Jesus was in the Gospel reading, so He was at the creation of the world. When our first parents doubted His Word and disobeyed His Commandment, He preached to them a word of Law. Because of their sin – among other things – childbirth would from then on be painful and man would have to work the ground to eat of it. Then, because of sin, they would die. Yet, our Lord always preaches both Law and Gospel. Even there in the Garden, our Lord’s compassion was on full display. He promised to Adam and Eve that one of their offspring would defeat death and the devil. In the Garden, Jesus showed compassion by promising His own death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins.

Such as Jesus was then, so He is now. Out of compassion, He continues to daily and richly forgive us our many sins. Though we, of ourselves, can do no good thing, Jesus continues to show us His compassion. He continues to cause His Word to dwell among us. He places His Word in our hearts and upon our lips, here and throughout the week. He graciously comes to us and dwells in us, also, by the blessed Sacrament of the Altar. There, He distributes to us the same body which was broken and the same blood which was shed for our forgiveness on the cross of calvary. By His Word and Sacraments, Jesus creates faith and sustains us in it; He gives to us the forgiveness of our sins by these means, and assures us of the same.

Our Lord’s compassion doesn’t stop at providing for our souls, however. Out of His great compassion and love, our Lord also provides for all our needs of body, as well. He causes the sun to rise and the rain to fall. He makes our crops and animals grow. He gives us homes, jobs, families, and food. In short, all that we need He graciously supplies. He provides for us through others and through us provides for even yet others – those whom He places in our lives. He doesn’t do any of these things because we deserve them, for we truly are not better than King David on his worst day. Jesus provides for us because He has compassion. In the Gospel, Jesus knew what the crowd needed even before they did. Before they could ask, He was already at work providing for them. This was King David’s faith, and it is our glad confidence, as well. Our compassionate Lord Jesus Christ abundantly provides for all we need in both soul and body.

With the Old Testament, Psalm, and Gospel readings today all speaking about our Lord’s creating and providing, it’s also a good opportunity to confess together the meaning of the First Article of the Creed. The First Article, we know, is “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” Because our God is triune, though we speak about the First Article being primarily about the Father’s actions, we also know that the Son is included in the work of creation and the Spirit, too. Let’s confess together the meaning of the First Article:

I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them.
He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all that I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life.
He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him.
This is most certainly true.
http://catechism.cph.org/en/creed.html

Altogether Different

Text: Matthew 5:17-26

In John 3, the Pharisee Nicodemus came to visit our Lord under the cover of night. As a member of the Pharisees near the beginning of our Lord’s ministry, he couldn’t be seen taking a positive attitude toward our Lord; yet, he desired to hear more from Him, so he went by night. We know from the end of the Gospel that Nicodemus was brought to faith – he assisted in the burial of our Lord – but, as yet, he wasn’t quite there. He said to our Lord, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” (John 3:2, English Standard Version) If you take this out of context, it doesn’t sound so bad. But, really, what Nicodemus is doing is buttering Jesus up. He’s flattering Him. Now, our Lord saw right through this and said to Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (3:3)

This might seem an odd way for our Lord to respond, but there is a logic here. Jesus said to Nicodemus that he was trying to approach Him by human reasoning and logic. Nicodemus was relying on his own mental capacity to propel him into a position of faith, but it doesn’t work that way. Jesus later said that flesh begets flesh, while Spirit begets Spirit. One cannot approach Christ through human means and methods; one must be “born again,” Jesus said. The word that Jesus used, though, isn’t the word for again. It means, “from above;” as in, “You must be born from above.” This confused Nicodemus, which is why he wondered if an old man could go back into his mother’s womb. What Jesus taught is that, to enter God’s kingdom, something’s got to change. We must become different than we are now, we must be born (given birth to) from above. We must receive a righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees and scribes. That righteousness is Christ’s, which He counts to us by His grace through faith.

Our text this week is one that we might be familiar with. It comes from a portion of our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, just shortly after the Beatitudes. In this passage, our Lord covers a lot of ground very quickly. And so, this time, I’d like us zoom in on this verse: Jesus said, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20) Up to this point, our Lord had been speaking about His relationship to the Old Testament. His ministry and teaching weren’t the abolishment of the Old Testament, but its fulfillment. Through the lens of Christ we receive the correct understanding of the Old Testament and a new relationship to it. He also taught that the Law must continue to be preached in its full sternness, so that we might learn to recognize our sin and look to Christ for forgiveness. The fact is, Jesus said, “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Now, let’s ask the Lutheran question. What does this mean? What is the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees? To be sure, there is a righteousness associated with the Pharisees and scribes. In Jesus’ time, the Pharisees were viewed as the good guys – the holy ones. They were viewed like this because the Pharisees and the scribes had devised a system, a system by which they could keep the Ten Commandments. They took the Commandments and broke them down into 600+ little pieces so that, with each of the Ten broken down, they were easier to keep. The problem was, these smaller commandments were man made; they were in addition to Scripture. Often, they contradicted or negated it. Still, the Pharisees (or, some of them) believed that by keeping these commandments – which they believed they could do – they would be holy, righteous, and good. There’s a word for this type of thinking, this type of righteousness which Jesus condemns – works righteousness.

We ourselves are not immune to this sort of thinking, by the way. We all, by nature, bear within ourselves the corruption of original sin – the Old Adam. And, the Old Adam, well, he loves this sort of thing. See, we’re always measuring ourselves against others and saying, “Well, I’m not as bad as so-and-so.” Or, when we hear a Commandment that speaks against something we have done, we try to weasel around and find some way that we have kept at least part of it. In the text, Jesus brought up the Fifth Commandment. How many times have you heard someone say, “Well, it’s not like I killed someone?” And we do this with every Commandment. We always try to find some way to excuse ourselves from the condemnation of the Law, some way to claim that we have kept the Commandments when we stand rightfully accused. We are all Pharisees, and a Pharisee’s righteousness by works will not help us. If we try to count on our works to carry us into eternal life we will end up in hell. The righteousness of the Pharisees and scribes must be exceeded, and there’s only One to do it. Christ.

St. Paul wrote to the Philippians,

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ.
Philippians 3:8-9

The righteousness which abounds beyond that of the scribes and the Pharisees is the righteousness of our Lord, Jesus Christ. He is the author and source of all life, the creator of all that exists. For us men and for our salvation, He came down from heaven by uniting Himself to our human flesh. Though He is the author of the Commandments, He subjected Himself to them – and He kept them, fully. He made no excuses; He kept Law according to the letter and spirit. But, then, He submitted Himself to the penalty of the Law and suffered the outpouring of the Father’s wrath in place of all mankind. He is truly righteous and the Righteous One. His, alone, is the righteousness which surpasses the scribes and Pharisees, and He counts it to us by faith.

Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born from above. He must be born in a different way, become different than he had been born naturally. Same for us. We each were born with the same corruption of sin, just like our parents, and their parents before them. Knowing that we, too, needed to be born from above, our Lord made it happen in the washing of Holy Baptism. In the washing of Baptism, Christ claimed us as His own. He united to His own death and resurrection so that we, too, might die to sin. In Baptism, Christ clothes us in His righteousness. He counts His righteousness to us when we believe these promises, which He also brings about by the Holy Spirit. || This last week the funeral pall has come up in a couple conversations. When we clothe the casket of our Christian brother or sister in that white garment, it symbolizes exactly St. Paul said in the Epistle. In Baptism, we were united to Christ. His death became our death, His life our life, His righteousness ours by faith. And that is the righteousness that exceeds the scribes and Pharisees.

There’s a hymn that sums this up probably better than I can. It’s “All Christians Who Have Been Baptized.” It’s number 596 in our hymnal. Stanza 2 goes,

You were before your day of birth, indeed, from your conception, condemned and lost with all the earth, none good, without exception. For like your parents’ flesh and blood, turned inward from the highest good, you constantly denied Him.
“All Christians Who Have Been Baptized,” from Lutheran Service Book. Stanza 2.

It continues,

But all of that was washed away – immersed and drowned forever. The water of your Baptism day restored again whatever Old Adam and his sin destroyed and all our sinful selves employed according to our nature. In Baptism we now put on Christ – our shame is fully covered with all that He once sacrificed and freely for us suffered. For here the flood of His own blood now makes us holy, right, and good before our heavenly Father.
“All Christians Who Have Been Baptized,” from Lutheran Service Book. Stanzas 3-4.

Jesus said that if we would like to enter heaven, our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees. Of ourselves, we could never do this. Therefore, He gives us His own, washing us in Baptism and counting His righteousness to us by faith.

Working with the Word

Text: Luke 5:1-11

St. Paul wrote to the Colossians, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (Colossians 3:16, English Standard Version) With these words, St. Paul encouraged the Colossians in their Christian life together, as they bore the family resemblance of their heavenly Father in lives of forgiveness, love, compassion and generosity. In all things, the Word of Christ should dwell in them richly – in their hearts, in their teaching, in their admonishing each other, in their singing. St. Paul encouraged this because, of course, faith comes by hearing. The Word is the instrument of the Holy Spirit to create faith. Without God’s Word, everything fails. Faith is not created through being nice to other people, but by the Word of God. Without this, our work is in vain. But with it, faith is created and Christ’s Church is enlarged.

We are taught this from our text this week. Peter, James, and John toiled all night at the nets, but caught nothing. Yet, at Christ’s Word, they received a miraculous catch of fish. It even says, “their nets were breaking.” (Luke 5:6) They didn’t receive that catch because they found the perfect place to fish or a golden technique, but only because of our Lord’s Word. Then, the Lord commissioned them as His first disciples to carry that same Word into the world, to be, “catching men,” He said. (v. 10) Today, we learn that it is the Lord’s Word that does the work, and without it, our labor is in vain.

If you were to look at our text today in a Bible, you’d likely find the heading, “Jesus Calls the First Disciples.” The events in the text happen near the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry. The temptation of our Lord takes place in Luke 4, and after that He went up into Galilee. There, He taught, cast out demons, and healed many. As you can imagine, word about all this spread. Crowds started to follow our Lord, curious about the healings and desiring to hear His Word. “On one occasion,” St. Luke wrote by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “the crowd was pressing in on [Jesus] to hear the Word of God.” (v. 1) Our Lord had been standing beside the Sea of Galilee and, noticing a couple boats there, got into one and taught the crowd from a little bit out. Now, St. Luke tells us, the one He got into was Peter’s.

When He finished teaching, Jesus said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” (v. 4) Up to this point, Peter had been listening to Jesus’ teaching while, also, washing the fishing nets. Washing the nets was something you did after you had finished fishing and, evidently, their previous night’s catch was disappointing. Peter said, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” (v. 5) They had toiled all night and were exhausted, even catching nothing, but the Lord’s Word produced a faith in Peter, James, and John that saw them putting out the nets once again. “And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.” (vv. 6-7)

If you think back to Trinity Sunday, the Old Testament reading was from Isaiah 6. That’s where Isaiah the prophet receives a vision of the heavenly throne room. Remember how the angels were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy,” and the foundations of the place were shaking. (Is. 6:3) Isaiah concluded from all this that he was about to die – being a sinner in the presence of God. But, then an angel flew to him with a burning coal from the altar and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away.” (6:7) The same sort of thing happens with Peter in our text. The miraculous catch didn’t come from fishing in a great spot or casting the nets just right, it was all Jesus; and he knew it. He begged Jesus to go away, since he was a sinner. Jesus said to him, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” (Lk. 5:10) With these words, Jesus heard Peter’s confession that he was a sinner and forgave him. Peter was right to feel guilty over his sin, but now he need not be afraid; he is forgiven. With these words, Jesus also called Peter, James and John as the first of His disciples.

II.

In the Gospel this week we see the power of Christ’s Word. With His Word, faith was created in the heart of the crowd and of these first Disciples. With His Word, Jesus healed the sick and cast out demons. With His Word, He produced the miraculous catch of fish. With His Word, He has also called us to faith. St. James, the brother of our Lord, wrote, “Of His own will He brought us forth by the Word of Truth.” (1:18) St. Peter, likewise wrote, “You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding Word of God.” (1 Pt. 1:23) Through the preaching of the Law, Christ brings us to know and lament our sins. Through the Gospel, He teaches us that He bore our sins on the cross and made the once-for-all-time payment for them in His death. By His Word, He calls us out of darkness into His marvelous light, He brings us to and keeps us in the faith.

Just a little later in St. Peter’s first epistle, he wrote, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (2:9) Peter isn’t saying here that we are all pastors, but he does mean that same Word by which Christ called us to faith He also places into our mouths. He does this so that in our daily lives, in our vocations as father, mother, grandparent, friend, worker, we might also bear witness of His love to those around us. We give evidence of His goodness by our works, but especially by our words. The Word is what convicts of sin, it is what comforts with forgiveness. It is what creates faith and saves.

We live in a time where there’s a lot of uncertainty. There’s a lot of uncertainty about the course of the world and even, in our congregation(s). If we’re being honest, we can see that there are empty spots. There are innumerable places out there offering strategies and solutions, who promise they can fix things if we just buy their product. Do you think our situation is new? Do you think that the Colossians might, also, have had the same worries as us? I’d bet so. This was St. Paul’s (or, really, the Holy Spirit’s) encouragement, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.” It was the Lord’s Word that produced a miraculous catch of fish in the Gospel, and it’s the Word that produces miraculous catches today. Not all catches are huge in number, but they are all miracles. Jesus said a few weeks back, “There is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Lk. 15:10)

This is both our confidence and our encouragement today. The Lord’s Word does the work. It’s His Word that grows the Church. Not us. That doesn’t mean we should be lazy or lacking in labors of love. It does mean that the same Lord who worked through the preaching of the Apostles works through us. When His Word is present in our worship – through the Liturgy, the readings, hymns, Sacraments and sermons – and in our lives, there, the Lord is at work. He will grant growth where, when, and how it pleases Him. Let us give thanks that the Lord has given us His Word of forgiveness and pray that He would cause it to dwell among us richly – that it would both rest in our hearts and come out of our mouths.

Merciful Like Our Father

Text: Luke 6:36-42

In the Lutheran Church, nearly every confirmation class follows – more or less – the same course. Using Martin Luther’s Small Catechism, we first learn the Ten Commandments, which are God’s will for our lives as His people. Then, we learn the Apostles’ Creed – which is what God would have us believe – and the Lord’s Prayer, where our Lord teaches us to pray by putting His Words in our mouths. After these three come the Means of Grace: Baptism, Confession and Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper. Every confirmation class in the Lutheran Church learns these things. But, there’s one part in particular that goes well with the Gospel this week, and I want to see if you remember it.

In your mind (or in the hymnal) see if you can find the Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer. (It’s the part that goes, “Our Father who art in heaven.”) Martin Luther writes that, “With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father.” In the Our Father, Jesus teaches us to pray to God the Father as our Father; our true father. He is our Father and we are His children through Baptism and by faith. Just as in human families there is such a thing as a “family resemblance,” so also in the family of faith. In the family of faith the resemblance is this: that our heavenly Father calls us, His children, to lives of mercy and forgiveness.

These are the words that begin our text. Our Lord said, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:36, English Standard Version) You see, He’s already calling to mind the family relationship that God has brought us into through the washing of Holy Baptism. A couple weeks back I brought up the idea of “clobber passages,” which, I said, are those passages that people pull out during theological conversations which are meant to end said conversations. Sometimes our text today is turned into one of those, particularly the part where it says, “Judge not, and you will not be judged.” (v. 37) That part is used by many as an excuse to either allow others to continue living in unrepentant sin, or else to comfort themselves in their own. By others, this passage is used as a condition for being a child of God. As in, if you want to be a Christian, you must first not judge. But then, that is to make our relationship with Christ one based on our works and not His – when the Scriptures clearly teach that He chose us.

Our text today comes from a part of the Gospel we know as “The Sermon on the Mount.” These words are teaching that Jesus gave to those who already had been brought to believe in Him by the work of the Holy Spirit. If we back up just a little bit, St. Luke tells us that, “ [Jesus] came down with [His Apostles] and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of His disciples…and He lifted up His eyes…and said…” (vv. 17, 20) The words here are not conditions of becoming a disciple of Jesus, but descriptions of what the life of a child of God looks like. He’s describing the family resemblance, and He starts with mercy. And this word that our Lord uses for mercy means to be concerned about someone else’s sorry state, their misery. Such has our Father had toward us.

In the service today, together we confessed that we are all sinners. And though we said it in only a few words, the impact is profound. You see, as sinners, we deserve nothing but death and punishment. We have all disobeyed God’s Commandments. We have sinned not just by accident, but on purpose. We have spoken and lived contrary to God’s good will, and acted as if we know and want what is best. This is what sinning is, and it’s what we have done, and we deserve the full and just punishment of our evil deeds. But, God, rather than pouring out His righteous wrath on us, instead, offered up His own Son, our Lord. He saw us in our sinful state and had mercy. Our Lord, as well, had compassion on us by willingly bearing our sins on the cross. Our God saw our sorry state and had mercy so that we might be saved eternally. This salvation He gives to us by grace – as a gift – through faith. He makes us to be members of His own family.

II.

Just as our earthly families have a family resemblance, whether it’s eye color, nose, jawline or whatever, so does the family which God has brought us into. This is what it looks like. Jesus said, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you.” (vv. 36-38) Yes, it’s true, as I said: many take this passage and use it as a clobber passage or else to teach works-righteousness (that these are conditions to be met in order to be saved). To do these things, however, is to destroy the context and miss the point. God our heavenly Father saw us in our sorry and sinful state, without hope and only on the path to eternal punishment. He saw us in our misery, and had mercy on us by sending us His Son. He purchased for us the forgiveness of our sins and brought us into His family by grace through the washing of Baptism. We are His children now. How do God’s children act? With love, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, and generosity. These are the things He works in us by the Holy Spirit.

In our lives of faith, we do often fall into sin. We remain simul justus et peccator. That is, simultaneously saint and sinner. We often sin against others, and they sin against us. How should we react when someone sins against us? With harsh comments and anger? Or, with forgiveness? If someone hates us or speaks against us, should we do the same? Of course not. We have all behaved in hatred toward God (that is what sinning is), imagine if He acted so toward us? Instead, our God has called us, His children, to lives of mercy and forgiveness. He even produces these things (mercy and forgiveness) in our lives when we are regularly hearing His Word and receiving the Sacrament. Should we find ourselves lacking in generosity, love, or willingness to forgive there is a solution: come and receive the Supper. We confess in the Post-Communion Collect that our Lord gives us this meal to strengthen us in the faith and in “fervent love toward one another.”

Now, sometimes showing mercy and compassion to another is making known their sin to them – this is what our Lord brings up near the end of the text. Is it loving to allow another Christian, who may be unaware of a sin they’re committing, to continue in sin when the end result very well might be a loss of faith? It is not. When it is within our place to have mercy on a brother or sister in Christ by showing them their sin, we do it with a humble awareness of our own sin. We do not set out to condemn our neighbor and justify ourselves, but to remind them of the mercy we have all received, first, from God our heavenly Father. He stands ready to forgive all who repent, and to forgive to a greater extent than we could ever need.

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray to our heavenly Father as dear children ask their dear fathers on earth. We can pray this way because our God has had mercy on us: forgiving us our sins, bringing us into His family and, even, seating us at His table. Just as earthly families resemble each other, so we as God’s children resemble Him: in lives of mercy and compassion. May God the Holy Spirit work these fruits of faith in us all. Amen.

To Seek and to Save the Lost

Text: Luke 15:1-10

In Luke 19, just before the Triumphal Entry, our Lord passed through the town of Jericho. Now, in the town of Jericho there was a man named Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a tax collector. Or, rather, he was a “chief tax collector,” and he was quite wealthy. (Luke 19:2, English Standard Version) In Bible times, tax collectors were sort of the prototypical sinner. When the Romans took over a land they, of course, imposed taxes. Tax collectors would bid on opportunities to collect these taxes for a certain region or town. The way that they would make money back was by deception (telling people they owed the Romans more than they really did), or extortion of various kinds. For this reason, many felt that tax collectors were irredeemable. They were “unsaveable.”

Yet, when the Lord came to town, Zaccheus rushed up a tree so that he could see Him. Then, Jesus came right up to him and called him down, “for,” Jesus said, “I must stay at your house today.” (Lk. 19:6) Of course, at this, the rest of the people grumbled. How could such a man be part of God’s chosen? How could Zaccheus, a chief tax collector and great sinner, be forgiven? Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Lk. 19:10) We see this beautifully illustrated in our text this week.

The setting of our text this week is the same as it was last week. Our Lord was invited one Sabbath to break bread in the home of a ruler of the Pharisees. St. Luke’s account of this meal includes our Lord, first, healing a man right there. Of course, since this was the Sabbath, the Pharisees began to grumble. Then, our Lord gave the parable we heard last week, the Parable of the Great Banquet. In that parable those who first received the invitation to the banquet were, in the end, excluded, while the outcasts and outsiders were brought in to the heavenly feast. Many of the Pharisees were probably offended by this, but many others were encouraged by it. St. Luke tells us at the start, “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear [Jesus].” (15:1) They were encouraged by the reports and teachings of Jesus, of His promises of forgiveness and life for all who believe.

Some, however, were unhappy that Jesus should be in the proximity of sinful men and women. St. Luke writes, “The Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’” (15:2) Our Lord responded with beautiful words explaining who He is, who we are, and why He became flesh. This is the parable of the Lost Sheep:

What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’
Luke 15:4-6

II.

Our Lord often uses agricultural illustrations, and here is no exception. Shepherding was a common profession in His time. It is the shepherd’s job to take care of the sheep. In the morning, he leads them out to pasture; in the evening, guides them back to the fold. But this isn’t as simple as it sounds. For one thing, sheep wander. Although I myself have never worked with sheep, I’m told that that they will. They will wander and get lost. Then, when a sheep realizes it’s lost, it’ll sit down and not move. It will likely stay there, even at its own peril. The only solution is for the shepherd to come and save it. This is how the parable starts. A sheep wanders off from the flock and its shepherd.

Now, the shepherd notices this. He leaves the rest of the flock in the care of the other shepherds, and goes to seek the sheep that wandered off. Like a woman searching for a lost coin, the shepherd searches diligently until he finds that lost sheep. When he does find that sheep, he puts it on his shoulders, rejoicing. He carries it home and then calls together his friends to celebrate with him, because the lost sheep is found. In the parable, Jesus is the shepherd. And the thing that made the Pharisees grumble – that Jesus should associate with sinners – is exactly what He came to do.

Back on Trinity Sunday, we gladly confessed our faith – that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity. He, along with the Father and the Spirit, is the creator of all that exists – our own selves, included. In Hebrews it says, “He upholds the universe by the word of His power.” (1:3) In the Psalms it says, “We are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.” (95:7) Jesus is the shepherd, and we are the sheep. Only, we aren’t the sheep that stay put. We’re the one that wanders. All of us and each of us.

III.

The word for sin in the Greek means – more or less – “to miss the mark.” Imagine firing an arrow at a target and missing. One might also say, to go off course or to wander. That’s what sinning is, it’s wandering away from our Lord’s good Commandments. “Wandering,” doesn’t quite describe it, though, because it’s wandering while also despising the boundaries the Lord has set for our good and the good of others. And, like a sheep sitting down and refusing to move when it’s lost, we hunker down when we’re lost in sin. But Lord comes and finds us. He does this through His Word.

First, through the Law, He points out that we are in fact lost. And, by lost, we mean, sinners. He shows us by the Law how far we have strayed from His will. We have not loved Him with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbors like we love ourselves. He has revealed to us what is good, right and true, and we have preferred to create our own truths. By the Law, Jesus shows us our sin, but by the Gospel He places us on His shoulders. And, by the Gospel, we mean this: all the evil things that you have done, the wicked thoughts, the unclean words and harmful actions – against other people, yourself and God – those are paid for. By His death, Jesus paid the debt you owe. Not because you deserve it, but because “God is love.” (1 Jn. 4:8) By the Gospel, Jesus places us on His own shoulders and carries us to His home rejoicing.

That is His mission, “to seek and to save the lost.” Should you feel today that you are lost, know that you are found in Christ. The sins you’ve committed and the debt you owe were paid for by Christ. You are forgiven, and He carries you now. You are His little lamb. In fact, in a way, He has already brought you home. In just a little while, we will gather at His table to receive the food of eternal life. In the Gospel reading, the people grumbled that Jesus should associate and eat with sinners. Well, He rejoices to do so and even does it again today. For, He came to seek and save the lost. Even you. Even me. Amen.