The Idolization of the Will

     We have a problem with our will.  We think our will is important.  We think our will is what defines us.  Even though we are instructed to pray against our will in the Lord's Prayer (Thy will be done: God's will is done when He breaks and hinders every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature...)  - God's Will is to be done, not mine!

    But surely, once we are redeemed, we must bring our will, our reason, our thoughts, our decision making in line with God - we must improve our will, we must train it better!  Hence we love a nice, "corrective" use the of the Law, thinking it's just nudging our will back into shape, like honing a knife.  No big deal, this will just keep you sharp.  Then we will be better Christians!

    There's a problem with this.  The Law doesn't give life or make alive.  Nor does my will make me alive or better.  The Christian life is not "make better choices". The Christian life is one of fruit.

    Consider the fruit of the Spirit.  What "choice" does the tree have regards to the fruit?  It has none.  The tree doesn't have to will to make fruit, it doesn't have to choose to make fruit, it doesn't have to will it; if the tree is healthy, it will simply produce fruit because that is what God has created it to do.  No choice required, and no ample sermons yelling at the tree will make it produce better fruit (except humanly speaking that the Carbon Dioxide expelled as you yell at it is plant food).  It is the tree that God has made it to be; it will bear fruit as He gives it to bear fruit.

    Now, there are things that get in the way.  If the tree is diseased, it bears bad fruit. The solution here isn't a matter of the Tree's will, but it's curing the disease.  Make the tree good (justify it), and the fruit will be good.  If the tree lacks water - it must be watered by another (extra nos) - the refreshing streams of life must be poured upon it.  

    None of that growth hinges upon the will.  Neither do my works hinge upon my will, my making better decisions, my choices.  I am who I am in Christ.  He does it all through me.

    Now, I DO see, when I am made to look at myself by the Holy Spirit using His Law, to see that there is a war within myself.  That my own flesh hinders and keeps me from doing the good.  Like a dam in the river, my sin repeatedly stops the flow of the good, clean river through me, making everything a muddied, swampy mess.  The solution is not to exhort the river, but to clear out the dam.  To remove the log so that the eye sees clearly. To mortify the flesh and to receive again the forgiveness, LIFE, and salvation of Christ.

    We notice that from the Small Catechism, right?  That my life is not a "choice" - that it is not a result of my will, nor is it the summation of my choices.  It is a gift, given to me, something I receive from outside myself right along side of and exactly at the same time as I receive forgiveness, for "where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation."  Life is tied not to my choice, not even my being better guided by the law; it is tied to forgiveness.  It's tied to Christ who is indeed the Life of all the living.

    We make an idol of our will.  We think our will improves things (or even can improve things).  We're not impious enough to say that our decisions justify us, and maybe we won't say that they sanctify us (although a lot of us like the Shake and Bake approach to Sanctification where we like to talk about our help... as though one who who is made Holy can help in being made holy!), but man, we do slide into that idea that our will will in fact make our lives better.  We think we "vifify" ourselves... but our lives, our works, our new obedience isn't from us.  It's all from Christ Jesus!
   
    But what if I'm not being used well enough?  Well - who told you that you were naked?  Who told you that you weren't a "good enough" instrument?  Have you been listening to accusations again?  Has the Accuser risen up against you?  Guess you need to Gospel to drive those accusations away.  Because you are Christ's, and He will use you as His own instrument whom He loves and cherishes dearly, loves even more than His own life.

    Everything else is sinking sand.  Let us fix our eyes upon Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our Faith, the Alpha and the Omega.

    

Two Theses on My Theological Enemies

     One always has theological enemies.  This is just the reality of life in this sinful world. There will be people who come to an aspect of theology and just don't get this. Sometimes this is just a matter of having a theological blind spot, and sometimes they are pernicious, wicked tools of Satan. (As an aside, if you think you know which one they are, there's probably a 50% chance you're wrong.)  

    Suffice it to say, there are, and always must be opponents.  Enemies.  Villains. And the world has given us some sage advice on how to deal with any enemy.  You crush them.  You crush them by villainifying them, by breaking them down utterly.  Destroy them completely, by any means necessary.  Hence the old adage that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

    Yet the wisdom of the world does not play out in full with the wilds of church theology, and so I will posit two theses, both of which are true, even though seemingly in contradiction:

1 - The enemy of my enemy, though useful against my enemy, is still wrong elsewhere.

2 - My enemy is quite often right about a great many things.

    We fall into trouble with the first one quite often in the Church.  A semi-recent example (that probably won't offend too many Confessional guys) would be the way that we cosyied up to the Neo-Evangelicals during the battle for the bible.  Indeed, they were enemies of our enemy de jour - the Higher Critic.  And in terms of Scriptural innerancy, they most certainly weren't bad allies to have.  However, we forgot that they would be our enemies on other fronts, and we got too close, and we forgot to guard ourselves on those other fronts... and then we start producing things like "Evangelical Style, Lutheran Substance" or "Everyone a Minister".  Did we win the battle for the Bible... sure, at the cost of unleashing the Worship Wars.

    We still fall into this same temptation.  We see an issue that is BAD (note my all caps).  And I will even concede that it is BAD (see with what large letters I am writing to you).  There are many people who will attack that BAD thing, and even with excellent argumentation.  However, that does not make them... good.  It does not justify them.  And quite often they come with extensive baggage.  Be careful how close you keep them.

    Of course, this plays into the second point.  My enemy is often right about a great many things.  See, part of the reason why I can be leery so easily about that person you've saddled up to in your quixotic fight against that BAD idea is that I'm much more concerned about BAD2 - a second bad idea over here.  For what ever reason, I've got a different focus - and here I see something else.  Your primarily villain isn't so bad when it comes to discussing BAD2 - in fact, he's quite good.  And you new ally, well, when it comes to BAD they might be okay, but on BAD2 they are utterly terrible and dangerous.

    This is the reality of life.  It's why Lutheranism at it's best is the Lonely Way.  There are times we ally with people, but then times when we must oppose them.

    We ally with Rome on many life issues, but must oppose them on Justification and faith.
    We ally with Conservative Protestants on Scripture, but must oppose them on worship and the Sacraments.
   We ally with Calvinists on election unto Salvation, but must oppose them on election unto damnation.
    We ally with the Arminian on the faith comes by hearing, but must oppose them on making a decision for Christ.

    Depending on the fight at hand, we have different allies.

    We forget this.  And we get tempted to get to close to one specific ally, especially when one specific fight calls to us.  And we can utterly forget that even the people whom we are fighting with now can indeed be our ally on other issues.

    So it might be good that someone is dead set against social justice stuff, doesn't mean that they are right on everything.  Be on guard.  And that crazy social justice guy - they might be on to something good elsewhere.

    And that Wisconsin guy might be good on somethings, but not on others.  And even Paulson has a few chestnuts that are spot on. And Biermann has some valid points even while others I would quibble with.

    Things seem so simple when we can boil all of our energy, our zeal, for focus onto one issue de jour, and then simply evaluate things along those lines.  But, of course, if we're boiling all of our zeal and focus into something, we've turned it into a hobby horse, and idol.  Hence, the beauty of the Lectionary that makes us look at different things all the times.
   
    This is also why quests for incessant doctrinal purity always will break your heart - you dig enough and push enough, and there's always an error somewhere.  Including within yourself.  This is why the "statis est" of the Confessions, of the Concordia are utterly wise.  It's why Luther even acknowledged in Smalcald that there were places we agreed with Rome, and even places where we could have reasonable debate.  That's hardly the simplistic monolithic constructions we find such comfort in.

    But we don't pay that much attention to Smalcald, anyway. Ah well, oh what of that, oh what of that!

Trinity 13

 

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

    What shall I do to inherit eternal life? That's the question that Jesus gets confronted with today. What shall I do? What's the sort of stuff I need to be doing to get myself to heaven, what do I need to be doing to prove that I'm better than everyone else? Because that's the way sinful man tends to read the bible. That's the way sinful man reacts when there's talk about judgment. Well, what do I have to do? How do I make sure I get myself out of trouble? Who's palms do I have to grease to get this thing done? What shall I do to inherit eternal life?

    To be a sinful human being means that, in your gut, in your base reaction, you will misunderstand the Law of God and why it was given. Well, that's not earth shattering there Pastor – of course we break God's Law, we're sinners! Wait, wait, wait – I'm not talking about “breaking” the Law here, I'm talking about completely misunderstanding what the point of God's Law is. Consider the question again – what shall I do to inherit eternal life? There's an order implied – I act, and then God is happy and gives me stuff. And the hinge is assumed to be on my action. If I do X, God gives me stuff; if I do Y instead, God gets mad. So tell me, teacher, what X to do to make God like me and what Y not to do. That's what this lawyer, this “expert” in the Law thinks the Law is for. The Law for this lawyer is simply a guide for getting himself out of trouble, a guide for making God like him more. Now, humanly speaking, this is the way a lot of laws or rules work in this world. Lawyers today specialize in the bizarre rules and regulations of the legal system and how to navigate them – lawyer, what shall I do to not get sent to jail for 5-7 years? Or just staying out of trouble - if I want to do some project, what government regulations do I have to pay attention to and how do I jump through them? Or even more basic - if I want my cake that I'm baking to come out, I better follow the recipe, and by the by, what's the best cake recipe out there? These are all good, fine, important things. But, they aren't the point of God's Law.

    See, those examples I gave hinge upon my action; they presume that there's something I do to bring about some sort of positive outcome. I can make this cake. I can wade through government red tape. My lawyer that I hire can find a loophole. But God's law isn't focused on what you can do. It isn't about what you need to do to get to a happy ending. Listen to Paul from Galatians: Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the Offspring should come to Whom the promise had been made. Why was the Law given? Because we were transgressing, because we were going all over the place, ignoring the Promised Savior, ignoring the promises of God's salvation – and so the Law was given to hem us in. The law was given to be a fence, a curb, a baby gate. My backyard fence isn't there to teach my dogs how to get more treats from me, it's to keep them from running off down the street. That's what God's law is – it's designed to slow our crazy sinfulness down. It sets limits for our own safety because in our sinful stupidity we hurt ourselves. And often we growl at those limits, and bark at them, and sometimes try to weasel through them or dig under them.

    Like this lawyer is trying to do. Jesus knows this lawyer wants to do stuff. Well, if we are going to look at the law not as a fence, a curb, and instead look at it for what we should be doing, what do the Scriptures say you should be doing? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. Alright, understand, this is a basic answer – this is something you'd expect a 6 year old to be able to answer. And it's right – this is what we are supposed to do. And [Jesus] said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” Well, you want to know what you have to do to live – there it is. Good luck with that. Be sinless, and you will live. Live without sin, and you will actually live.

    This is the second great misunderstanding of God's Law. We forget that for us sinners God's law is always impossible for us to do, to fulfill. God's law is not merely giving us a check list of good actions and bad actions, or stages of progression. It's not the instruction manual for an IKEA table where if you just follow the steps you'll have a lovely end table in no time. God's law is impossible, and it is meant to be impossible for you, O sinner! The purpose of the law is to show you the utter impossibility of earning life, of making or forcing God to love you, because you don't get to make or force God do anything, because He's God and you're not. Of course, that's really want the essence of sin is – not wanting God to be God. I want to be the one “in charge” - and everyone will do things my way – including God, and God will sit when I tell Him to sit and He will give me treats when I tell Him to give me treats.

    That's not the way it works. We are not God. We are not sinless. And we can't make ourselves sinless. And we yammer and make excuses and complain and wail, and all of it does no good. And here is where the Law of God comes in to show us our sin, and why? Paul in Romans says, “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.” God's law is given so that you would just be quiet, that you would stop with your excuses, with your self-justifying plans, and rather listen to God. Because you need God.

    But what if you keep talking? What if you still want to justify yourself? We get an example. But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” This guy knows he's caught, but he won't shut his trap. So let's dance around the issue – who is my neighbor. Note how he deftly avoided all that loving God talk, that with all your heart and soul and mind stuff. Just, who is my neighbor. Who do I actually have to love as well as I love myself. Later on in Romans Paul says, “Now the law came in to increase the trespass.” The law spells it out in detail so that you see clearly your own sinfulness. And that's what Jesus does with the story of the Good Samaritan. So bub, you think you're going to earn God's favor somehow? You think you'll impress God and make God give you goodies He's been holding back apparently? Alright – there's the story, and the only guy who cares for that beaten man isn't the priest, isn't the levite, and it's not a lawyer – it's a Samaritan. And the Samaritans were hated, despised. It would be like a Packer fan today, or the person who watches that other news channel that you don't like, or whatever other stupid reason you want to blithely hate and dismiss someone. And this disdained Samaritan, he goes all in. He doesn't just help the guy, he puts his life at risk, he spends his own money, writes a open check to the innkeeper – this is just top of the top. This is better than that lawyer's ever treated anyone in his life, and certainly better than how he's ever treated someone guy who hated him. How are your actions, how's your attempt to strut your stuff about your good works looking now, pal?

    That, my friends, is what God's Law is designed to do. It's designed to keep you from running around all over the place, it's designed to keep you from running your gibs about how awesome you are, it's designed to pin the tail of sin right on the donkey, and you're the donkey. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin. That's it's job. And we hate that job. And we constantly try to water down God's law, we try to avoid it – we desperately try to find some way to aggrandize ourselves, praise ourselves, make ourselves out to be better than the other guy. And the law says, “Nope – even with all that, you're still just a sinner, beaten, broken, and doomed to die, and there's not a thing you can do about it.” You have as much agency, as much power as the beaten guy in the story. Hey, what's the guy who got robbed and beaten got to do to inherit eternal life? What's he going to do, bleed?

    Now, if the sermon ended there, it would be a right depressing sermon, wouldn't it? And something to remember is that for people apart from Christ, people without faith, that's where they are left. Either in delusion about how they can fix everything (and then it doesn't work and they get crushed) or they become utterly embittered and angry at the world. But remember how Jesus started the whole Gospel lesson off: Turning to the disciples [Jesus] said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!” You guys get to see – you see Jesus! There is One who is without sin – Jesus! And there is One who not only loves the Father, but who loves you, His Neighbor, completely and fully – Jesus! And yes, Jesus was despised and looked down upon, but He finds you, beaten, broken, unable to earn life, unable to live rightly now, and Jesus rescues you. Jesus dives on in and goes to the Cross to pull you out of the powers of sin and death, He brings you to His Church where He continually washes you and tends you, He sets up Pastors and says to them, “Take care of him – here's My Word, there's more than enough.” And what shall you do to inherit eternal life – you don't do anything; but Jesus does. He dies, and He gives you eternal life as your inheritance – take and drink, this is the new Testament, the last will and testament in My blood. Jesus has died, and thus you inherit forgiveness and life and salvation. Paul again in Romans:  Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,  so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Or Paul from Ephesians 2 - But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.

    That's the point, that's the story. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And we earn nothing, but we are given everything by Christ simply because God loves us. But your sinful flesh will forget this, will try to run off from this, and the world will distract you from this, and on and on and on. So God, with His Word of Law, will check you, will slow you down on your runs into trouble, and He will show you your sinfulness so you remember your need for Him. But then, God shows you Jesus, the Holy Spirit puts your eyes on Jesus and gives you life, gives you faith, works this through the Word of God, so that you know what you inherit. You inherit eternal life because Jesus has done it all for you already. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

Trintiy 12 Sermon

 

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

    Think for a moment what Jesus would be seeing as He enters into our Gospel lesson today. He returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. While ancient Geography might not be your thing, this is an important set up. Jesus has been off Northwest in Gentile country, on the coast of the Mediterrean, and he's made a big northward loop over Israel, over Galilee, and now he's on the east side of the Sea of Galilee in gentile territory. Foreign lands. Jesus has been a Stranger in plenty of strange lands. And He's been there, because things in Israel have been bad. Herod had just killed John the Baptist, the Jewish crowds are getting more and more pushy after the feeding of the 5000, the Pharisees have been on His case, so Jesus went and got out of Dodge. Went to the coast and laid relatively low.

    And here Jesus is, coming back to Galilee the back way, taking the long way home. Going through rival territory. And we hear this: And they brought to Him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged Him to lay His hand on him. You've been hounded out of your home, and as you come quietly back in, Gentiles, foreigners, strangers – they've basically been on the lookout, hoping to see You. You arrive and they know automatically to bring the most worst off guy in the town right to You, please do something because You are the One who can do something. These are people who just want Jesus to be Jesus! How refreshing!

    And now there stands before Jesus a deaf mute, surrounded by a crowd of nervous, excited, bustling onlookers. Gentile onlookers. What does Jesus see? He sees something utterly absurd. That crowd – those aren't the people whom one would think would be there. Jewish folks looked down on them, and really most of Roman society did too – they were on the very borders of the Roman Empire and kind of strange. But there's something even more absurd, something even more ridiculous. Jesus Christ, the Word of God by Whom all things were made, sees a man, one of His creations, standing before Him. And this guy has ears, but they don't work. And this guy has a mouth, but it doesn't work, the tongue is all tied up. And this is Jesus standing there, the Word, the God Who fashioned ears and Who fashioned tongues, Who gave to man the wondrous ability to hear speech so that He could talk to them, Who gave man a mouth so that man could use the Word himself – and this guy has ears and a tongue, but they don't work. What Jesus had created to work, to be a gift – doesn't. How utterly absurd!

    Um, actually pastor, I don't know how absurd that is. There's plenty of people in this room who have bits of electronics in their ears right now, and we have this spiffy sound system to help us all hear. And not to be the one to put too fine a point on it, but you don't exactly speak spot on with that lateral lisp you got there. To say nothing of the glasses or contacts, or the aches or pains. Isn't this sort of bodily frailty just typical? Well, no, you are right, what we see in this text is utterly typical – we see body parts failing all the time, and if you live long enough stuff is going to slip. It is typical, it is normal – but you and I, we're sinful human beings, and we've grown accustomed to sin and it's impact. We've grown accustomed to death, and so the idea of bits and pieces of us breaking even before the great, big, total break down of death is just utterly normal to us. But this is Jesus, this is the God who created that man, who gave him his eyes, ears, and all his members. And sin has messed with Jesus' creation. Sin and its impacts mean that what Jesus had created isn't doing what Jesus had created it for. Those ears were created to hear – and sin has messed with that. That mouth was meant for speech – and sin has messed with that. And it's absurd – ears that don't hear, lips that don't speak. It's absurd, and Jesus will not have it! Jesus will get rid of this absurdity and make it right.

    And taking him aside from the crowd privately, He put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. Yeah, this is absurd. Jesus is going to take care of this fellow, but instead of just being able to have a normal conversation where Jesus can simply say, “Hey friend, I'm going to help you out” - Jesus has to do this absurd pantomime. This poor guy probably had very little clue as to what was happening – a crowd just came and grabbed him, all excited – and he can't hear, he can't ask questions, he's probably confused and frightened. Jesus calms things down, Jesus gets his attention – Jesus sticks His fingers in his ears and grabs his tongue. I'm going to take care of these things. And Jesus doesn't just speak, He acts it out loudly so the guy can understand. And looking up to heaven, He sighed and said to Him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And his ears were opened and his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. There, that's better. Those ears I made can hear again, that mouth I made can talk again. And I don't have to jump through a bunch of hoops – And Jesus charged them to tell no one. Jesus tells them to keep quiet – and He doesn't have to do charades to get his point across. Let's not make too big a deal of this, I don't want to ruffle any feathers back home, but they don't listen. But the more He charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond all measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

    A few things very quick. Why doesn't Jesus want them talking? Well, Jesus' quiet return home, sneaking in the backdoor, that's all torn to shreds now. Now there's going to be big crowds, He's going to have to feed the 4000 in a bit, and everyone back home is going to hear about it and be annoyed at Jesus for helping the Gentiles and all that. This is just a practical thing. But more importantly, did you note what the Gentiles picked up on, why they were so excited? He has done all things well – He has made everything good – and it was good. This is creation restored language. And the deaf hearing, the mute speaking, that's Messianic language, that's the the promises of God fulfilled language. These gentiles get and understand who Jesus is, that He is God come back to restore and rescue and redeem this fallen creation, to make it good again.

    So here in our text Jesus has seen the terrible, absurd impacts of sin – and He does something absurd to fix it. I mean, this is a text where Jesus grabs a tongue. I asked the other week about pictures of Jesus – any of you have a picture of Jesus grabbing a guy's tongue like this? No, of course not, because it's absurd. But when sin has made His creation go all crazy, Jesus will do crazy things to fix it.

    This applies to you. If we care to look this week, or ponder on the days past, I'm sure we can think of and see all sorts of absurdity that goes on in our lives. There's physical things breaking down in our lives, the wages of sin manifesting themselves. But there's all just the normal, typical sin that we've accustomed ourselves to. Consider your place in life according to the Ten Commandments: Are you a father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, or worker? Have you been disobedient, unfaithful, or lazy? Have you been hot-tempered, rude, or quarrelsome? Have you hurt someone by your words or deeds? Have you stolen, been negligent, wasted anything, or done any harm? God has put you in various vocations, given you various duties, and sin has you do the exact opposite of what you are supposed to do. Oh look, here's a person I'm to love and support, and yet I yelled at them, or left them on their own. You know, the exact opposite of what God put me in this situation to do. How backwards, how absurd and stupid is that? But that's what all sin is, stupid, foolish, absurd, moronic – and you know what – we're all going to play the fool again this week in various ways, because that's what it is to be a sinner. It is to be trapped in world of absurdity, where things fall apart, where what God has joined together man puts asunder, where the breath of life that God gave to the body He formed ultimately leaves and we die. What absurdity!

    And so, to save you, to rescue you from this crazy, messed up world wracked with sin, Jesus goes and does the most absurd thing in all of History – He goes to the Cross. Jesus going to the Cross is absurd, it is backwards, it is utterly bonkers. The Lord of Life... dies. The One who is innocent takes up guilt. The Lord of Hosts (of the heavenly armies) lets Himself be pushed around and captured – the legions of angels stand down and let this Cross happen. The Almighty God dies... of weakness. That's what the Cross is – it's being weakened unto death. Almighty God, weakened to death. Utterly absurd.

    But Jesus on the Cross, diving on into that absurdity of sin, destroys sin. He wins forgiveness, He wins life, He wins salvation. And you know what – He gives this forgiveness and life to you in ways that to the world, to people who don't know the wild and wondrous love of God, seem foolish and bizarre. Here, o sinner doomed to death – I'll take water, and the Word of God will be attached to that water, and now you are not just a sinner doomed to death but you are declared a forgiven child of God, bound for the resurrection, and in that resurrection as a forgiven child of God you will be a co-heir with Christ Jesus, a prince or princess of the New Creation that is coming. All that, with just a little splash of water and God's Word. Yep – because that's how Jesus rolls. And when you are living your life, O baptized child of God, and sin still swirls around you, Jesus takes other sinners and has them speak His Word to you – be it this sinner here preaching here in this place, or be it your family, your friends, or be it you proclaiming Jesus' love and forgiveness your family and friends – and there will be actual forgiveness and life worked there. What? Sinners forgiving other sinners with Jesus Word? Yep – because that's how Jesus rolls. And if you thought Jesus grabbing a tongue was strange – well wait for this – He's going to grab your tongue today as He comes in bread and wine and gives you His own Body and Blood – your own tongue, grabbed by Jesus today to loosen you from the bonds of sin. And this strengthens you in both faith towards God and love towards your neighbor, shatters the power of sin in your life. All this from that? Yep – because that's how Jesus' rolls.

    Thinks what Jesus sees as He sees you. Yeah, He sees the absurdity of sin – but Jesus deals with that. Jesus diving on in a dealing with sin is actually His specialty, and He tends to you directly, comes to you in ways that you can understand and grasp, and He gives you healing, life, forgiveness – now in the face of sin and eternally in the New Creation when all sin and its remnants will be long gone and forgotten. He sees you now as His brother, His sister, redeemed and ready to go, to be His instrument of love in this absurd world even until He comes again and finally delivers us from it all and we will finally understand how He has indeed done all things well . Come quickly Lord Jesus! In the Name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit

Trinity 11 Sermon

 

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

Well, the last few weekends we have heard some direct Law from Christ. He weeps and gets angry. You cannot serve God and money. There was the warning about a tree and its fruit. An intense few weeks – lots of Law, trust me, I know. Y’all hear it for 12, 13 minutes in a sermon, but I get to stew over it the whole week. We've heard some blunt preaching of the Law from our Lord Jesus Christ. The why is shown today. The reason why we Christians need to hear God’s Law, why we need to have frequent times of clear self-examination is shown in today’s Gospel lesson – the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. It is introduced by a simple sentence of profound import – “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous.” Our Lord speaks this parable to people who trust in themselves. Jesus speaks this parable to those who are full of pride.

This parable today is about the dangers of pride – for that is what the Pharisee is guilty of – he is proud over all the things he has done; he is confident and secure in how wonderful he is. And he’s lost. Jesus says at the end of the parable – “For I tell you, this man [the tax collector] went down to his house justified, rather than the other, [the Pharisee}.” Pride goeth before the fall. We know the old adage. That is what Christ warns us of today. You see, just as sin in general twists us, turns us away from Christ, pride twists us as well, twists all that we think, twists all that we do, until we no longer see Christ, no longer see our Savior, but rather we are left worshiping ourselves. Let’s listen for the pride in what the Pharisee says, and see how it has shaped him, how it has turned him into something twisted and vile.

Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. So the Pharisee begins his prayer – and it’s almost okay. . . he starts by thanking God – sort of. Let me ask the question. How to you respond when you see other people sin? When your neighbor falls flat on his face, how do you respond? There are times where, when seeing your neighbor, you might be grateful to God that He has spared you from dealing with those temptations that your neighbor had to face. There are times when you see the struggles of another and think, “I don’t know if I could stand up in the face of them, thank you Lord for sparing me.” This is right and proper – there is nothing wrong with thinking, “There but for the grace of God go I” – nothing wrong with praying “Lead us not into temptation.” But – that’s not quite what the Pharisee is saying, is it? Oh, he sees that he hasn’t fallen into the sin of theft or adultery – but instead of being humble towards God, what does he say? I am not like other men. He’s proud. He has pride in himself – he thinks that it is only because of his strength that he hasn’t succumbed to sin. He thinks himself stronger than King David, who fell to adultery, he thinks himself stronger than St. Matthew, who himself was a tax collector. It’s pride – and it’s twisted what should be sincere thanks to God into self-worship and self-praise.

And it just gets worse. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get. Here are two things that the Pharisee does – and they are fine things. He fasts. He denies his body’s desires, he has learned self-control and discipline. I’m sure that there are plenty of us here who could stand to learn that a little bit better. And he is generous – he tithes, a tenth of all that he has is given away. Again – a good thing. But yet. . . there’s something wrong here. His pride has gotten in the way. Instead of understanding his self-control, his generosity as fruits of the Spirit – he has become prideful – and suddenly the Pharisee thinks that because of his self-control, because of his actions, God must be pleased with him. He approaches God thinking that he himself is worthy of praise. What would have been good works, pleasing in the sight of God, have become vile sins. His pride has destroyed them – and that fasting, that tithing has become a sin, worthy of damnation. All because of pride.

Pride is a danger to us, dear friends. The Pharisee should remind us of that. Pride is the snare that Satan uses to catch even those people who come to the temple to pray, what he will use to try to catch us here today. When we start looking at our lives with pride, when we start feeling pride in our actions – we forget about God and His mercy towards us. Rather, we approach God in arrogance and receive from the Lord only condemnation.

This is why God sends His Law, His pure, unfiltered, unwatered-down Law to us. To break our pride. It is easy for us as well to become prideful. We go to Church. We are blessed. I suppose that if we were vilely to compare ourselves to others, well, we could easily overlook our flaws and simply focus on the blemishes of our neighbors. And we could easily become full of pride, we could easily become cocky. But God speaks His Word of Law – He calls us to examine ourselves, not on the basis of what others are doing, not on the basis of what we do well, not on the basis of how healthy, wealthy, and wise we are. We are called to examine ourselves on the basis of God’s Law – we are called to examine whether we have been perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. And when God’s Law is applied this way – our pride is broken. Our pride is shattered. When your pride is gone, what are you left with?

But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. When your pride is shattered, when your trust in yourself is broken – you are left humble and ready to rely upon Christ and His mercy. When you are not elevating yourself and your own works, you are ready to be lifted up to heaven by the forgiveness of Christ Jesus. When you are humble, you are ready to see and receive God’s mercy.

Think about it this way. How many of you dislike going to the doctor? When I am sick, I hesitate to go, I want to just slug through it on my own – until whatever it is that I have has laid me low enough where I abandon that foolish pride and go see the doctor, normally because my wife makes me – and then my doctor can give me treatment, then I can be healed. Until I get over myself – I just keep getting worse and worse. There is a reason that we refer to Christ as the Great Physician of both body and soul. The simple fact is that we are never spiritually as healthy as we ought to be. The fact is we are always hounded by temptations – maybe not the temptations our neighbor is faced with, maybe not by sin that is broadcast throughout the community – but we all struggle with sin, we all fail, we all fall. If we, in our pride, ignore that – we’ll just fall deeper and deeper into sin, even to the point where we lose faith. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Our pride can cost us our faith, drive Christ Jesus, He who is the Truth, away from us. But when we see our sin – we confess it, we go before the Great Physician for healing – and we receive forgiveness. But if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God is ready and willing to forgive, indeed, he desires that we be forgiven. That is why Jesus went to the cross, that is why He suffered and died, simply so that He could lavish forgiveness upon us.

Yet, why is pride so appealing – why can Satan so easily tempt us with pride? Probably because we want to feel worthy, we want to see value in ourselves, see how good, how worthy I am! We want to feel valuable – and so we trick ourselves into seeing only the “good” that we do – and take pride in that. But dear friends – you don’t set your value – and your value in the sight of God is not merely your utility, not merely what you can do for Him. Your actions don’t determine your worth – and thanks be to God that they don’t, otherwise none of us would be worth much. Your value to God isn’t determined by you, but God determines it. God has declared you valuable, precious in His sight. You have no need of trying to build yourself up – for God has declared you to be worth more than anything else in creation. How do you know? Catechism time! 2^nd article of the Creed – “who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious, blood and with His innocent suffering and death.”

Do you hear the value-related words? Christ has redeemed – He has purchased you, you are a prize that He has won. And what with? Not mere gold, not mere stuff – but with His precious blood and His suffering and death. Christ Jesus, the Lord of Life Himself, out of His great love for you, even while you are still a miserable sinner, says that He values you more than His own life. Is that not wondrous, is that not mind-boggling? What need have you of pride in your own works – behold the value that God gives you! Indeed, He values you so much that He calls you to His table today to partake of that very same Blood which He shed for you so that you might be redeemed, forgiven of your sins. This is Christ’s love for you – and it comes solely from Him – solely a free gift, not based on works, so there is no need for your boasting, no need for your pride. God loves you completely already.

Dear friends in Christ – be wary, be on the guard against pride, for pride would lead you away from trusting in Christ and rather into trusting in yourself. Flee from pride, and rather delight in humility, and gladly receive the mercy and love that God gives you. He has won your salvation, not to get something from you, but simply because He is the God who loves you and desires you to be with Him for all eternity. Thus, He is merciful to you, O sinner. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit + Amen.

Sermon Trinity 10

 

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

    Think for a moment on all the pictures of Jesus we have around this building. I'm going going to say there are countless pictures, because while I could count them, I'd probably miss some of them. Or think of the pictures of Jesus at home or on books. In the vast majority of them, Jesus is smiling. Maybe on some He looks serious and a little stern – probably painted by a German. But now, out of all that art, out of all those pictures, how many of them can you think of with Jesus crying? With Jesus weeping? Because that's where we start off our Gospel lesson today. When we come across Jesus He isn't having a good time – He's weeping.

    And it stands out all the more strongly in contrast when you remember that our Gospel lesson is on Palm Sunday. Jesus is drawing near to the city on the back of the Donkey, with the crowds surrounding Him – shouts of Hosanna, Hosanna! And yet there is Jesus... weeping. 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.” The praise of God is echoing all around Him – blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the Highest – and Jesus weeps. You don't get it, you don't see what is going on! You do not know the things that make for peace.

    Oh, Jerusalem knew there was a king coming, but what sort of king were they wanting? Were they wanting a king of peace? Not really. They were wanting a King of “fix things now the way I want them.” They were wanting a King of kicking the Romans out of town. They were wanting a King of the glorious revolution – and let's face it, you can't have a glorious revolution without some wanton bloodshed and destruction first, but don't worry, only the bad people will get it. That's what we want here, Jesus – you to slaughter the bad guys and then pat us good guys on the back and give us stuff. Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!

    It goes badly for Jerusalem. Jesus told them it would. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation. By the end of this week, Jesus is crucified. But that's not what brings Him to tears. No, Jesus knows how this is going to play out. If Jerusalem persists in rebelling, in wanting to fight, as she will, she will be destroyed. It had happened in the past with the Babylonians, and Jesus knows it will happen with the Romans, but even worse. In 66 AD, Jerusalem rebels. In 70 AD they are surrounded by Rome and besieged – and it's one of the most brutal sieges in the ancient world. 5 months of people crowded in because they had come for passover, and when Rome finally takes they city, they level it. The temple is destroyed, blown apart by superheating the limestone and exploding it. The temple is never rebuilt – that's why modern Jews today don't even mention sacrifice – the temple's gone, there's no longer a place for sacrifice to take place. It's utterly devastating... and it happens because Jerusalem didn't want the truth and final sacrifice – Jesus! Jerusalem didn't want a king who makes for peace.

    This text, my friends, is a warning and a reminder to us today. It makes us ponder the question of whether or not we desire the things that make from peace. Do we desire peace, or do we crave our own way, our own wealth, our own power? Do we want to see our enemies forgiven, or do we want to see them crushed and defeated? We are surrounded by so much anti-peace today. Politics doesn't seem focused on peace, business doesn't seemed focused on peace, education half the time seems like it's more focused on creating future protesters to stir up never ending cycles of agitation and disdain. Do we desire peace? And more importantly, do we desire, are we focused upon Christ's peace?

    Think on how often Peace is proclaimed here in Church. After hearing the sermon, after the truth that Christ Jesus has died and risen for you and that your sins are forgiven and everlasting life is yours – I will say, “therefore the peace that surpasses all human understanding....” After the consecration, I will point to Christ's Body and Blood for you and proclaim, “the Peace of the Lord be with you always.” Christ Crucified for you for the forgiveness of sins is what is Peace. The Word of Christ's Forgiveness, His Supper – these are the things that make for peace, true, lasting peace, peace in the face of sin and death. Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! Do we recognize Christ Jesus and His peace as the most important thing in the universe, or do we push Christ into a corner, squeeze His peace out of our calendar, and instead get focused on the issue of the day, be it politics, money, power, or whatever petty thing comes down the pike?

    Because these distractions of Satan can come fast and furious, and they can attack the church, too. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, “It is written, 'My house shall be a house of prayer,' but you have made it a den of robbers.” John notes for us that Jesus actually makes a whip of cords and lashes the moneychangers out of the temple. The next time someone drops an offhanded “what would Jesus do” remember that literally whipping people who try to mess with His Church is a legitimate answer. Because Jesus wants His peace to be known – He wants His House to be a place of prayer, where prayers for mercy are heard and answered by the preaching of the Word and the giving of His gifts of salvation. And when a Church, when a congregation ceases to be a place centered on Christ Jesus and His peace, it will fall. Of course it will, because Christ and His Word build the Church, support the Church, sustain the Church – and if Christ and His Word of forgiveness and life are tossed aside for the sake of worldly power – well, you turn the foundation to sinking sand, you see what happens. And sadly, we do see it, if we look around – we see what Satan is trying to do, to ever squeeze out Christ and His peace from our lives and from the Churches of the world.

    Boy, Pastor, this is a kind of gloomy-doomy sermon – I think think we want you going to any more synodical conventions. Nah, it's not that bad. But we should recognize the dangers, the ways in which Satan attacks us, because they are serious. Satan desperately wants you to ignore Christ and His peace, His forgiveness. And that is a deadly problem. However, even with all the sorrow, the anger we see from Jesus in this text, how does it end? And He was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy Him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on His Words. How does the text end? With Jesus preaching, and the wicked of the world unable to do a single thing to stop it. In fact, they even kill Jesus – doesn't stop Jesus from preaching. Jesus rises from the dead and He sends out His apostles who preach throughout the world, and they send out more, and on and on even to this day. And in His mercy and love to us, Christ Jesus had preserved this place, this congregation, this house as a place where His peace is forgiven.

    And that's literally my job. My call document, the official document denoting me as your pastor, spells this out. In the name of the Triune God and by His authority, in order that we might carry out His mission to the world, we hereby authorize and obligate you: To administer to us the Word of God in its full truth and purity as contained in the Sacred Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and as set forth in the confessional writings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church as found in the Book of Concord. To administer the holy sacraments in accordance with their divine institution. That's how my standing orders begin – to preach the Word and administer the Sacraments – or in other words to see that this House remains a House of Christ's peace and prayer. And that's what you are to hold me to, what you are to demand of me – preach Christ and Him crucified. It's the plaque on the pulpit that Pastor Royer put up here and all over the area – Sir, we would see Jesus.

    But it's also what I'm to hold you to. The call document also notes that you as members of the congregation obligate ourselves... to make faithful and regular use of the means of grace. Together we are to be focused upon Christ and the things that make for His peace. Why? Because Jesus doesn't like crying over Jerusalem. He doesn't like getting angry over His house being corrupted. Because Jesus actually wants you to know His peace. Because Jesus rode into Jerusalem not to receive the praise of the crowds but to go to the Cross to win you peace. He rode into Jerusalem to institute the Supper, to seal your forgiveness with the New Testament in His Blood. And this is what He has done – He has won you a peace that goes beyond anything we can think of in the world. He's won a peace that forgives you, that forgives your enemies, a peace that undoes death and raises to new life, a peace where the Apostle Paul stands side by side with Stephen whom he had put to death and together they praise Christ and rejoice in His mercy forever. Sin will seek to distract you, but Christ still today proclaims His forgiveness, His life, His salvation, His peace to you. The peace of the Lord be with you always! In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

Trinity 9

 

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

    Today in our Gospel we hear the parable of the Dishonest Manager. I don’t know of many texts that cause more consternation than this one. I mean, this dishonest manager is sleazy. First off, he wastes the master’s possessions, and then when he finds out he is going to be fired, he basically makes himself a nice little golden parachute. And then this dishonest manager is. . . commended? In fact, he’s not just called “dishonest” – in Greek he’s the unrighteous manager. How can this unrighteous man be commended? He is commended not because he is unrighteous, but because he is shrewd, because he is “wise” – because he sees what is going on and acts accordingly. Jesus doesn’t want you to be dishonest– but He wants you to see and understand what is going on in your life.

    Listen. He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him to him and said, “What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.” There’s the situation. The manager, the bookkeeper, the lawyer running the show is caught wasting, caught squandering, caught messing things up. He gets called to account – tomorrow is be justified or fired day. So what happens? “and the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.” Right here, this manager is using his head – he’s thinking clearly. Trouble has come – what is he going to do? Does he plan to try to talk his way out of it – never even crosses his mind. He’s shrewd, he knows he’s guilty and he’s not going to be able to talk his way out of it. Does he try to get some other job – decides not to really quickly, and why? Because he’s shrewd, he’s realistic, he knows his own strengths, and his weaknesses. He’s not the manual labor type – he’s a weakling, and he knows it, he admits it. He could beg, head out to the streets, but he’s not going to do that. He’s too ashamed – everyone knows that he was the manager for this big, powerful man – who’s going to sympathize with him? His begging would only bring scorn and shame, not sympathy, and a beggar who doesn’t generate sympathy is a beggar who goes hungry. This man sees his situation, understands his situation perfectly.

    Now let’s pause and apply this. Compare this manager to Adam. Who is Adam? Adam is the man put by God Almighty into the Garden to tend it. He’s a manager – that’s what Adam is. And God says, “Adam, all this I give to you to care for.” And what does Adam do? He squanders it. Ruins it. Wastes it by his sin. The garden is gone, and now he has thorns and thistles and eating bread by the sweat of his brow. Eve’s helping of Adam means she gets pain and suffering and strife. The management, the care of the earth that Adam was given, was an utter disaster. And when God calls Adam to account, what can Adam do? Can he talk his way out of it – he tried, “It’s the woman you gave me, it’s her fault.” Doesn’t work. God doesn’t buy it. So what is left to Adam? Is he going to be able to fix things by his own strength? Is he able to say to God, “Don’t worry God, I’ll fix it!” Not really. Is Adam going to be able to be all sympathetic, bat his eyes at God and say, “Oh, I didn’t mean it, give me another chance”? He’s not going to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes. He’s guilty, and that’s that.

    Now let’s consider you, for you are Adam’s son, Adam’s daughter. You too squander the things that God has given you. Your time, your talent, your treasure – anyone here want to make the case that they have used these gifts like they ought? This is the truth of sin – sin is squandering God’s blessings. God gives us strength – do we use it to serve our neighbor, or do we waste it in vain pursuits? God gives us a Church – do we take advantage of worship and learning like we ought, or do we run off after other things? God gives us wealth – do we use it to provide for our neighbors, or does the love of money become our master? To sin is to waste and misuse the gifts that God gives you – every and any sin can be described this way. Wasting a gift God has given you – and the simple fact is, every one of us here has squandered and wasted God’s good gifts to us.

    So, what should our response to this be? When God calls us to account for our sin, what shall we say? Shall we pretend that we aren’t all that bad? Oh, no God, I haven’t squandered stuff. . . well, at least I haven’t squandered it as badly as that fellow over there! That isn’t going to cut it. . . but how often are you tempted to compare yourself to your neighbor and feel smug because you are “better” than him? Not good. Doesn’t work. Or shall we try to make things up to God? Oh God, I know I’ve been bad in the past, but I’ll work really hard and I’ll make it up to you? Really? How? What are you going to do that is going to make up for your sin, for the pain you’ve caused the people in your life? We can’t – we don’t get to make up for things, we don’t get to take it back. That doesn’t fly either. Or shall we try to generate sympathy – oh poor little old me? Really? Do you think God, who knows everything, is going to buy a sweet little ol’ innocent me act? No. When it comes to sin we need to be shrewd and say simply, “I am guilty, and I can’t get out of this on my own.”

    That’s what this unrighteous manager realizes. He knows that he is unrighteous, he knows that he is unable to by his own strength fix anything. So what does he do? “’I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their homes.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and sit down quickly and write down fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ And the master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.” Here’s the plan – he is going to cook the books. Here you, you owe 50 measures of olive oil less. A measure was right around 875, 900 galleons. That’s over 40,000 galleons of olive oil. Quite a sum, isn’t it? Here, have that much free. Or the measure of wheat – that was around 1200 bushels – here, have 24,000 bushels of wheat. Even with today’s lousy prices, that’s a pretty hefty sum. This generosity will be repaid to this manager – if I save you $200,000 and then ask, “Hey, I’m having a hard time, can you help me out,” are you going to say no? Of course not.

    There’s only one catch. Will the master let it stand? Will the master follow after this manager and say to these people, “That man was acting illegally, pay me the full amount”? And the answer is no – and here’s where the shrewdness comes in. This unjust manager knows the rich man, and knows that the rich man will be merciful with this, and will let it stand. That’s the key – this unrighteous servant is able to live, able to survive because of one thing and one thing only – the rich man is merciful – and the unjust steward knows this and lives.

    Now, again, what of Adam? What of you? No strength of your own to stand upon? So what happens? You have no righteousness whereby to justify yourselves, you have no strength to save yourselves. But Who does? Christ Jesus our Lord. And what happens? He is merciful. Christ Jesus, true God and true Man comes down from heaven, and He is holy and righteous – and what does He do? He offers you His own righteousness to save you. You don’t even have to come up with a plan like the manager – God Himself says, “Here you go, I will be your Savior, I will take up your sin, your debt and crucify it, and in exchange, I will give you life in My name.” A good deal. And it was no accident that in this parable, Jesus uses oil and wheat. Oil is associated with Baptism and Wheat with the Lord’s Supper. In the Early Church, even in many places today, when you baptized would also anoint the head with oil, rich and fragrant. And then wheat – you turn wheat into bread, and then you have the Supper. And what do both Baptism and the Supper have in common? Those are places, those are means by which Christ Jesus erases your debts and gives you blessings and forgiveness and salvation. God is merciful to you, and because of this, you live.

    So what happens now? For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. Christ here is calling for you to be honest spiritually – to be honest in looking at yourself. Be shrewd, see your sin for what it is – sin. Vile sin. But more importantly, true shrewdness, true wisdom and intelligence and smarts is this – see Christ Jesus Himself, see that He is merciful, see how He has come to be your great and wondrous friend, see how by His being put to death upon the Cross you are given wealth beyond compare, you are made for His sake to be welcomed into the eternal dwellings of the life of the world to come, you are given complete and full pardon and forgiveness for your sin, all on account of Him. This is His mercy. This is the wisdom of God, this is the love of God for you, that Christ Jesus has won salvation and forgiveness for you. Your sins are blotted out, and gifts are given instead. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

Trinity 6 Sermon

 In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit +

    Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.  With those words our Lord set up what Peter would be doing.  And that phrase catching men is interesting.  We must be caught, rescued, pulled in – because apart from Christ Jesus we are trapped, trapped in sin and fear.  And there's a method, a pattern to how we are caught by Christ Jesus.  It is “Law and Gospel” - the Law shows us our sin, and the Gospel shows us Jesus our Savior who says, “Do not be afraid.”  Now, there is a problem with all this right off the bat.  As sinful people, we don't understand the point of God's Law.  When God speaks His law, it’s primary function isn’t to give us guidelines for life.  The law’s main purpose isn’t to tell us how to all get along and play nicely.  The law kills, the law shows us our sin, the law shows us that we have not been the people we were created to be.  But the temptation for us Christians is to forget this, and instead to look at God’s commands simply as a checklist of things to get done or as a yardstick to compare ourselves to our neighbor with.

    Jesus today shows us how to apply the law rightly.  This is part of the sermon on the mount, and Jesus is teaching those who thought that they were good people, people who slowly but surely began to trust in their own righteousness rather than the mercy and love of God.  So Jesus quickly and bluntly destroys all pride and arrogance.  Jesus looks at one commandment, the 5th Commandment, and shows them and us how we break it all the time in thought, in word, in deed.  Let us hear again His Word.

    You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.”  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.  I’m guessing that not many of you here today live in the fear that someday the cops will break down your door and arrest you for the murders you committed in your past.  Does that mean you get off scot free as regards the 5th Commandment?  Does that mean you get to stick your thumb in the pie of morality and say “What a good boy am I?”  Jesus says no.  When you are reading the bible and you hear Jesus say, “But I say to you” you need to pay attention, because then Jesus is going to point out something important.  The 5th commandment isn’t just about putting a dagger in someone’s heart or bashing their brains in, it’s about your thoughts and attitude.  Everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.  Your thoughts matter.  When God says that we are not to murder folks, that isn’t just about playing nicely, it speaks to our thoughts.  So often we rage and roar at our brother, our neighbor.  How is our anger showing love and compassion for our neighbor as we ought?  Does your anger help you love them, or are you withholding love and service because of that anger?  Doesn't that withholding harm them?

    But Jesus warns not only against sins in thoughts here, but also our words.  Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council.  Words have power, words have definite power to harm, to injure, to kill.  We know this, we’ve been insulted before, we’ve all crept out of a room in shame, someone’s harmful words echoing in our ears.  Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.  We all know that’s a lie – maybe that’s why we repeat it so often, so that we can pretend that we don’t feel the pain, so that we can pretend that we don’t cause pain with our words.  But we do.  Jesus simply points that out here.

    And finally, Jesus also says and whoever says “you fool” will be liable to the hell of fire.  Now this is an interesting example.  The word here is an ancient Hebrew swear word, a base insult, and when this was said in anger, it generally would be accompanied by a crude and obscene gesture.  So what Jesus is talking about here is letting anger be shown in action.  He’s talking about the equivalent of flipping someone the bird or shaking your fist in anger – those moments where our anger is so strong that it even boils over into our gestures and actions.  Where it affects our deeds.  And we might try to whitewash our actions – so I got a little hot, at least I didn’t beat the guy up.  Well, that’s good.  Jesus says gritting your teeth and clenching your fist at him is worthy of hell, I hate to think what striking a person in anger is worthy of, to say nothing of actually seriously injuring him. 

    And so, with these few verses, you have Jesus pointing out very simply how we break the 5th commandment all the time in thought, word, and deed.  This is why we say “I have sinned in thought, word, and deed” in our confession – it’s to remind us that our lives are filled with sin, filled with ways in which we don’t think, speak, or do as we ought.  And this is just one commandment.  Actually, in the next few verses after our Gospel Jesus deals with the 6th Commandment.  We could sit here and look at any of the 10 we heard in the Old Testament and look at them this way. But this is sufficient for today.  The Law of God, when used properly, will always show us our sin, will show us that we are worthy of punishment.

    Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets.  I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them.  No, Jesus doesn’t do away with the law, in spite of what some Christians want to say.  The fact that there’s a Jesus doesn’t mean now we do whatever we want.  The fact that Jesus loves the woman at the well doesn’t mean adultery is okay, the fact that Jesus loves Peter doesn’t mean that blasphemy is okay.  Jesus doesn’t do away with the law.  There still is right and wrong, and we in the Church must be bold and blunt in saying what is right and what is wrong.  We are to be on the guard against sin at all times – Jesus reminds us of this – the law is not abolished.

    But my friends, it is fulfilled.  Christ Jesus has fulfilled the law in thought, word, and deed.  He is the One who does precisely what He is supposed to.  Christ Jesus, True God and True Man lived and lives perfectly and without sin.  God has seen to it that Man does fulfill the law in the Person of Christ Jesus.  Philippians 2.  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  There it is.  The simple fact that we can talk about Jesus, the fact that the Son decides to become Man shows us that His every thought is focused on fulfilling the Will of God.  But Jesus’ fulfillment is not just one of thought, but also word.  Jesus is the one who truly loves His neighbor in His Words.  He is the One who speaks to Lazarus, Lazarus, come forth.  He is the One who says to love your enemies.  He is the One who cries out upon the Cross “Father, forgive them.”  With His every Word Christ Jesus, the True Word of God fulfills the Law, says what is right and God pleasing.  And Jesus is the One who does what is right – He feeds the hungry, He heals the ill – and of course the great example.  He goes to the Cross not for His own benefit, not for His own good, but for your benefit.  There upon the Cross Christ Jesus fulfills the law for you.  He takes your sin upon Himself and He fulfills the Law – there upon the Cross He suffers the punishment of the law.  The Law is fulfilled when Christ becomes guilty in your place and dies.

    And as that happens, Christ becomes your righteousness.  Christ Jesus gives to you His own holiness and righteousness and says, “See, this is yours now, it belongs to you.”  Now, when God sees you He no longer sees a law breaker – That's what God sees upon the Cross – the One who knew no sin become sin for us.  And so God calls you to Faith, puts into your minds and thoughts Christ Jesus and Him alone, teaches you to cling to the Cross and Christ’s righteousness alone.  And How does God do this, how does God build up this faith in you?  By Word and Deed, or, as we normally say, by Word and Sacrament.  This is why we have the Gospel preached, dear friends – to create and sustain faith.  That your hearts and minds would be on Christ Jesus our Lord.  By His Word God grasps a hold of your sinful minds and turns them towards Him, brings you to look at the Cross.  This is the work of the Holy Spirit, coming through the Word, keeping you in the One true faith.  This is the work of the Holy Spirit in His gift of Baptism.  Did you hear how Paul talks about Baptism what it does?  It buries you to sin, it unites you to Christ, it sets you free, it gives you new life in Christ.  Baptism is God at work, God doing stuff for you.  God attaches His Word to a few drops of water and works faith and forgiveness in you.  To sustain and renew that faith, Christ calls you to His Table to feed you with His Body and Blood – see what Christ does for you – see how tireless He is in bringing you the forgiveness that He won upon the Cross.  He gives you His own Body which was broken upon the tree for you, His own Blood shed when the spear tore His side.  Here, at this altar, God connects you to Calvary; you are partakers in Christ’s death so that you will be partakers also of His resurrection.  This is what God does to give you forgiveness, to keep you in the One true faith.  His righteousness for you far surpasses any human righteousness indeed!

    And so know what happens in this life.  You are going to be attacked by sin, by temptations, by anger and disdain.  And your own sinful flesh will be tempted to downplay God's Law and to justify yourself and your own sinful actions.  Jesus will have none of that.  His Holy Spirit will use the law rightly upon you, to show you to depth of your sin and bring you to repentance.  But then the Spirit will show you Jesus, that His love for you is deeper than your sin, and that His righteous life, suffering, and death has covered and removed all your sin, and that in Christ your righteousness abounds because it is Christ's righteousness.  You are caught up in Christ's righteousness now and for all eternity.  Your sins are strong, but Christ is even stronger for you. Amen.  In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

   

Trinity 5 Sermon

 

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

There's a beautiful little transition in our lectionary – the set of readings that we go through in the Church year. Last week we heard Jesus say, “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.” And then this week we get the calling of the first disciples. In the Old Testament lesson we even get Elijah the great prophet calling forth Elisha to be the next prophet. So the theme of the day would appear to be making disciples. Now, normally what I do when this week comes around is I spend a lot of time looking at the disciple – at Peter. However, rather than pondering Peter and His reactions (which often are like ours), let's ponder this – everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. Let's look specifically at Jesus in this text and see what we learn about Him.

On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on [Jesus] to hear the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and He saw two fishing boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, He asked him to put out a little from the land. Alright, so what do you make of Jesus here? What's He like? Well, we come across Jesus in the middle of a sermon, and there's a problem – people are pressing in, it's getting crowd. The simple, practical reality is that it's getting hard for people to hear. Now, I know this might be hard for you people of Trinity to believe, but 2000 years ago people would have been fighting to sit up front – well, to stand up front. It was a crowd milling around, jostling – and when you have a crowd pressing, it's just harder to hear. So, Jesus is preaching, and He wants to be heard, so He hops in a boat – Jesus turns that shoreline and crowd into a natural amphitheater so that everyone can hear.

What is Jesus like? Well, He wants people to hear the Word of God and believe. That's His focus, that's His priority. Jesus isn't hopping in the boat because He loves boat rides. He isn't hopping in that boat because He likes annoying Peter and giving Him more work. The focus is upon giving the Word of God to those that hear. Do you see how Jesus accommodates the crowd that has gathered – He acts in such a way so that they all would hear and believe. Or in other words, Jesus loves His neighbors – He thinks about the good of that crowd. Fair enough.

But what of loving Peter? Poor, tired Peter. And when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep, and let your nets down for a catch.” Yes, Jesus had focused on the crowd, but now His attention shifts to Simon Peter, to one person. Even as Jesus had focused on the crowd, He also sees the individual. And there's Peter, tired, worn, frustrated – we toiled all night and took nothing! There's a frustrated cry, if ever there was one. And what comes next – the miraculous catch of fish. Do you see what Jesus is doing here? He is tending to Peter, He is providing for Peter. Jesus provides for Peter in a way that Peter cannot expect, isn't aware of, and possibly doesn't think is a good idea. Yet that doesn't stop Jesus – the fact that Peter doesn't understand (yet) doesn't stop Jesus. Jesus just remains patient and kind, directing, instructing, tending to Peter.

Then, of course, comes the miraculous catch. The boat is swamped, Simon Peter's co-workers begin to rush out to help pull in the catch – there's going to be an abundance, there's frantic energy, but in the middle of this Peter stops – But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, 'Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.' Peter is terrified – He has just seen the finger of God at work, worked by this man Jesus whom Peter had been perhaps a little short with. This is the sort of situation that would get people killed in the Old Testament even accidentally – therefore leave me, go away Jesus, this isn't safe for me. And now our Lord's reaction – Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men. So what is Jesus like? Well, He remains calm, and Jesus is comforting, but Jesus doesn't placate Peter. He doesn't follow Peter's requests to leave – instead Jesus knows what He is going to do, and even what He is going to have Peter do. All throughout this Jesus remains focused on the task – the task will be the catching of men – the task will be delivering the good news of the salvation that Jesus Himself will win with His death and resurrection unto the world. And Jesus will spread this Gospel not just by using Peter's boat, but by using Peter himself, his own life, and through Peter Jesus will have His Gospel preached throughout Judea, even to Rome, and through the Epistles that Peter wrote, even unto us this very day.

What do you see when you see Jesus here? You see your Lord and Savior who is determined to make disciples, who is determined to see that the Gospel is proclaimed. Yes, Jesus overcomes lack and bad days at work; yes, Jesus provides abundantly – but that's all just a matter of course. That's just evidence that He is in fact God made Man, the Messiah. The point for Jesus is always winning salvation for you and seeing that salvation delivered unto you. Or in other words, you see Jesus's steadfast love, His forever-enduring mercy being acted out here.

Now to ponder. We see who Jesus is – what stops us from seeing this Jesus always? What tries to get in our way, what tries to obscure Jesus from us, from hearing and remembering and speaking that Good News that He has spoken to us? Well, what was hindering Peter – what was getting between Peter and hearing Jesus – because Peter's right in the middle of the miracle here, and he doesn't see right away. Peter is frustrated, for work, for life in the world hasn't gone well. It's been hard and not all it's cracked up to be, and the simple tasks of life distract him and keep him away from Jesus – at least until Jesus literally pulls Peter back onto his boat. Isn't this the same way things go today – isn't this the same sort of trial you see and live all the time? The week goes on, things go poorly, there's even just general busy-ness – and in the midst of that, Jesus and His preaching get pushed off to the side, maybe not utterly forgotten but just overlooked, not applied to the moment? And understand that Satan would have Jesus be pushed ever more and more to the side, and further and further away – yet what has Jesus done? He's pulled you back into the boat – literally, look up – you're sitting in the part of the church building called “the nave” - the boat, the ark. Jesus pulls you away from the busy-ness of your life and brings you His Word again.

And then there's the work that Jesus sets Peter to. It's a normal, typical thing Peter is asked to do – to fish. He is a fisherman. Perhaps the time is strange, but the action wouldn't be. And Peter laments and whines – as frankly we so often do when we are called upon to live our own vocations that God has placed us into. The Catechism instructs that we are to consider our place in life; dimes to donuts you complained or lamented something normal and typical to your life this past week. And yet, what does Jesus do – He blesses Peter. He blesses you. He provides for Peter; He provides for you. Simply, straightforwardly, in and through the vocations that He has given you. Even this miracle is accomplished in a typical fashion – you fish, I'll bless you via fishing. Whereas we can disdain the simple things of our lives, our normal callings – Jesus doesn't. Jesus knows that your vocations, your callings, your stations in life, these are all gifts to you where by He provides for your needs and also gives you opportunities to serve God in God pleasing ways. Our flesh would forget this fact, but Jesus doesn't, and even when you're grumbly He still uses your vocations for your good and for the good of the neighbor.

And then there's the end – Jesus will not depart from Peter. Jesus won't leave Peter alone. When Peter is aware of his own sinfulness, when Peter becomes aware that he is not worthy to receive such great and marvelous things from God, Peter becomes fearful. And Jesus forgives him. Away with that fear – “Do not be afraid” is a word of forgiveness. Yes, your sins are great, Peter – but so is My forgiveness and salvation. No, Peter, you are not worthy of these things, but Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, and He chooses to be with you and bless you because of His love for you. Likewise, fear can drive you – fear of your sin, fear of death. And these are fearful things – but they don't stop Jesus from being Jesus for you. Instead, even to this day, here in this place Jesus declares your sin forgiven, declares peace unto you, gives Himself to be with you in His holy Supper. The sins, the fears that would keep you from this place and from the presence of Jesus – Jesus forgives those.

That is who your master is, O disciple. And know what Jesus is doing. In His forgiving of you, in His mercy, He is making you like Himself. His peace makes you to be full of peace, His mercy to you makes you to be full of mercy, His patience makes you to be patient – and indeed, we could go through all the fruit of the Spirit and see that these are all things Jesus gives to you and then works in you through the Holy Spirit. Yes, in this life you still struggle with sin and your flesh – yet Jesus still is working for you. And come the day when you die, when the scariest threat snaps shut – so be it. Christ the Crucified will be there, and He will give you new life, and you will be raised, and lo and behold you will be fully trained, fully like your teacher Jesus for all eternity. In the meantime, we live in Christ's word, over and against the tricks of Satan that would wrest you away from the Word of God. Jesus catches you, brings you back to Himself again and again – He will even open your lips so that He catches other people through you – and together we live in Christ's love even until He comes again and we see Him face to face freed from fear and sinning. Come quickly, Lord Jesus! Amen. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +