Monthly Archives: July 2022

The Worst Economy – Sermon on Romans 6:19-23 for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity

Romans 6:19-23

19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Romans 6:23 might be the most familiar verse in the whole book of Romans. Almost every evangelism class and tract you come across probably has this verse or, at least, a portion of it. “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” It’s a good verse to point to, but the danger of that verse being so familiar is that, when it is taken out of its context, it becomes little more than a slogan. It has a lot more force when we see it in its context.

When we understand this verse apart from its context – especially the phrase, “the wages of sin is death” – we most often take it to mean that when we do sinful work, the check we cash or the payment we get is death. In other words, we do sinful works and get paid with death. Now, I want to be clear. That interpretation is true, but it can lead to some serious and dangerous drawbacks. It can feed the false notion that some sins aren’t as bad as others. “Well, I only did this little sin, so I won’t get paid as much death as that other guy who did that big sin.”

The idea that sin is the work we do and the payment we get is death doesn’t actually fit the context. Consider your job. You have a boss. You have work and tasks. And a couple times each month your boss pays you for doing the work. When we think that sin is the work we do and death is the payment we get, we lose sight of who our boss is. 

What Paul is doing here puts the focus back on the boss. Sin is not just the works we do; instead, sin is the master, the employer, the boss we serve. And your boss pays with the currency of death. Talk about a bad economy. All humanity, all of us sinners, live in the worst economy where the employer is sin, and sin pays with the currency of death.

Sin is our master until Christ redeems us, buys us, and becomes our new master. Verse 22 of this text makes this clear. “Now… you,” you, Christian, “you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God.” That means that sin used to own you, and when sin owned you, the wages Master Sin paid were death. But now Jesus is your master.

Now, we might wonder, why would anyone work under such a master as sin? Why not unionize and chose a better master with better benefits? Well, it is because Master Sin is so deceptive, sneaky, and insidious. Master Sin seems harmless, but he is entirely treacherous. Master Sin makes demand after demand after demand, but all of these demands seem so pleasant. Master Sin makes working for him appear to be so appealing and satisfying, but it is all a façade.

When we are working for Master Sin, we feel free. It seems nice and natural. It doesn’t feel like work. Nobody sins out of duty. You don’t sin because you feel like you have to. Serving Master Sin means you just do what comes naturally. You gladly work for Master Sin because it feels good and seems to make life easier. For those outside of Christ, serving Master Sin feels like freedom. And it doesn’t seem like the wages we will be paid matter all that much. We might wrongly think we can simply make a quick change in our lives before payday rolls around and everything will be fine. Beware. That is not the picture that Scripture gives here. Sin is not simply the type of work you do. Sin is your employer, your boss, your master, your owner.

Every moment, Master Sin is sucking the life from you, but while he does that, Master Sin likes to inject good feelings and energy into you every time he takes more blood. Master Sin is sucking your life away while you are enjoying it. But eventually, Master Sin will leave you dead at his feet, sucked completely dry and eternally lifeless and condemned. Repent.

Christian, you ought to hate Master Sin and his slave wages. But remember, as you heard in our Epistle lesson last week, you have been Baptized. You don’t belong to Master Sin anymore. You are no longer his slave. “You must consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Ro. 6: 11).

Christian, know Master Sin for who he is and hate him. You have been bought and freed by the death and resurrection of Christ. So now, every time Master Sin calls to you from across the plantation lines, you ought to loathe him, his wages, his chains, and his whip more and more. Plug your ears to him, and run back to your new Master, your true Master, Christ Jesus, your Savior.

You have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God. Yes, the slave wages of Master Sin is death, but the free gift, the free gift, of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Ro. 6:22-23). Consider Jesus, your new Master, and how He is toward you. What does He pay? He doesn’t. He doesn’t pay anything.

God doesn’t pay you. Only those who need you and your work pay you, and God doesn’t need anything you could ever give Him. God Himself says, “Who has first given to Me, that I should repay him?” (Job 41:11). God can’t pay you wages, but He can and does give you gifts. And the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus your Lord. With Christ as your master, you leave the worst economy and enter a radically new economy. Ephesians 2:6-7 says, “[God] raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” You think you like God’s grace now? You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. None of us have. 

Throughout all eternity, God will show you the immeasurable riches of His grace in Christ Jesus. And these riches are incalculable. In this life, riches are always measurable. Even if you owned the whole world, your account would have a certain amount in it. Your net worth would always have a limit. But God’s gifts and riches are immeasurable because they are new every morning (Lam. 3:22). That is true now, and it is true through all eternity.

Think of that! For all eternity God will never have to show you a treasure of His grace and mercy a second time. Every one of them is new and one that you haven’t seen before. It will take an eternity of eternities for God to show you the riches of His love and kindness toward you. In our current economy in this country, it is easy to see the balance sinking lower and lower. But in God’s economy of gifts, He can show you the treasures of His mercy for trillions of trillions of years and all eternity is still before you, and nothing is diminished. There is just as much left as when you started. That is your life now in Christ Jesus, and that is your future.

So, when Master Sin comes knocking on your door whispering to you about his slave wages, send him away; tell him he can take his wages of death and shove them. And rejoice and hope in the gifts God has for you.

Your God desires to give you an infinity of riches and mercies delivered to you on account of the death and resurrection of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and all of it is His free gift for you. And Jesus, your God and Savior, wants to continue to show you the treasures of His mercies now. He invites you now to His table to receive the gifts of His holy and precious Body and Blood given to you for the forgiveness of your sins. Come and receive. Amen.[1]

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

[1] Reworked from 2020.

Standards – Sermon on Matthew 5:17-26 for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity

Matthew 5:17-26

17 [Jesus says,] “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

20 “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. 26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.”

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

I don’t know how well this analogy will work, but I’m going with it. Imagine you are riding a horse up a mountain. Everyone knows the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, but paths up mountains rarely go in a straight line. (I have to say that to you Red River Valley-ers because some of you might not have any idea how to get up a mountain, or even what a mountain is.) This path you are on traverses back and forth, back and forth. The incline of the path is steep, but you’re riding a horse, so that doesn’t bother you too much.

After riding for a while and navigating the switchbacks, you’ve gotten fairly high up the mountain, and you start to get a little nervous because the path is only a little wider than your horse. You took to the left, and you can see hundreds and hundreds of feet below you. If you fell off your horse to the left, you’d fall to your death. But when you look to your right, you see the mountain slope and a fall that way would result in some bumps and bruises, so you decide to lean to the right. This leaning does result in a fall now and then, but you figure the scrapes and bruises are an acceptable alternative compared to certain death. But then you come to one of the switchbacks. Now, when you look to your right, you see a deadly fall, and when you look to your left, you see the slope and a fall of only a few feet. So, you decide to lean a little bit to the left. Your leaning still means falling now and then. More bumps and more bruises. Still much preferrable to falling off a mountain. This keeps happening. Lean right. Switchback. Lean left. Switchback. Right. Left. You’re always trying to avoid the big fall, but the fall keeps changing sides. And those little falls are now leaving you bruised and bloodied.

After hours of riding, leaning, and falling, you’re nearing the top of the mountain, but you aren’t to the summit yet. You’re at the highest ridge, and there’s still a long way to the top. Now, the path is only as wide as the horse. You look to your right, and you see that a fall means death. You look to your left, same thing. Now, you have to stay directly on top of the horse. But you’ve spent hours leaning – right, left, right, left. You’ve also gotten used to falling, and you’re absolutely terrified. 

Today, Jesus is teaching us about God’s Law. (Obvious statement of the day, there.) Whenever we consider the Law of God, we Christians can quickly and easily fall into one of two errors; both are dangerous and harmful. But at times we think falling to one side is going to be less deadly than falling off the other side. But a fall is a fall. Even though those falls don’t necessarily mean death, they still harm us. And the more we fall, the more difficult it is to stay on the horse. In this text, Jesus is teaching us about the Law and our relationship to it in a way that helps us stay on the horse.

When it comes to God’s Law, staying on the horse means that you take it seriously and fear to break God’s Commandments, but it also means that you never, never ever, trust in your Commandment keeping to save you.

As you live the life of faith, there will be times when you will put more trust in your keeping of the Law. You think that by doing righteous things, God is more and more pleased with you. This was the error of the Pharisees and is called ‘legalism.’ Legalism will have varying degrees. Some legalists will figure so long as they do one more good thing than bad thing that God is obligated to save them. Other legalists think that God’s grace saves them, but once they are saved, they have to make sure they live a certain way to stay saved. Legalists take the Law seriously, and figure that not taking the Law seriously is the bigger danger. Legalists would rather fall of the horse on the side of self-justification figuring it is less dangerous. But, again, falling off the horse is always harmful.

At other times in your life of faith, you might think that because Jesus has died for and forgiven you of all your sins that the Law doesn’t apply to you anymore. And because the Law doesn’t apply anymore, you are free to do whatever you want. This error is called ‘antinomianism’ (i.e. no-law-ism). Some antinomians will go so far as to say, “You don’t know what grace is until you have done some really sinful thing and been forgiven.” They will think that the worse past you had before being saved will make you a stronger or more thankful Christian.

Sometimes, antinomians aren’t that extreme. Instead, they will hear passages of Scripture similar to the portion of this Gospel text where Jesus teaches the full meaning of, “Thou shalt not kill,” where He says that anger and name-calling is the same as murder. Antinomians will justify breaking the 5th Commandment about murder saying that their anger toward someone else is justified because, “Look what they did.” Antinomians will justify breaking the 8th Commandment about lying by pointing to the fact that the gossip they spread is true. The Small Catechism rightly teaches that to keep the 8th Commandment, we must defend our neighbor, speak well of our neighbor, and put the most charitable construction on all our neighbor does. Would you want someone sharing an embarrassing truth about you to other people? Do you like it when people assume your motives when you have done something questionable? When you gossip, you either assign false motives to someone else’s actions or you invite the person you are sharing that gossip with to assign false motives to someone else’s actions. In other words, you are being an antinomian thinking that the 8th Commandment doesn’t apply to you. And every one of us does this from time to time with all the Commandments. Repent. 

Both legalism and antinomianism are errors and false doctrine. Both are poison to the soul. It is easy to think that legalism and antinomianism are opposite errors because legalism leads to a strict keeping of the Law and antinomianism leads to ignoring or belittling the Law. But these two errors are not opposites. The two share the same basic problem. Both legalism and antinomianism lower the standard of God’s Law. Legalism lowers the standard by saying that the Law is doable, followable, attainable, and achievable. Antinomianism lowers the standard by saying that the Law doesn’t matter, that the Law doesn’t actually demand what it demands. And, again, we fall into both of these errors. Sometimes, it is in our attitude to the whole Law. Or, we might fall into legalism when it comes to certain Commandments and into antinomianism when it comes to other commandments. But every one of us, at certain times, thinks that falling into one of those errors is preferable to falling into the other error, but that is always a deception. Again, repent.

Dear saints, when it comes to the Law, God doesn’t ever lower the standard. God doesn’t smile and wink at antinomians. God’s grace and mercy does not mean that God doesn’t care about sin. Yes, Jesus welcomed sinners, but not because He overlooked their sin. He welcomed them because He forgave their sin.

And your Pharisaic, legalistic good works and piety don’t impress God. God doesn’t watch your good works and respond. “Great job. I owe you for that.” No, His standards are higher than yours. Your righteousness must, it absolutely must, exceed the best of the best, or you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

So, where does this righteousness come from? It only comes through Christ. The righteous do not live by the Law; the righteous live by faith (Ro. 1:17). Romans 10:4 says, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

Dear saints, stay squarely on the horse. Don’t lean either toward antinomianism or legalism. God does require you to be perfect as He is perfect (Mt. 5:48; Lev. 19:2; 1 Pet. 1:16). And Jesus freely gives you His perfect obedience to every iota and dot of the Law. Christ has filled and fulfilled the Law in your place. His death removes your sin, and His perfection is credited to you through faith. Jesus has attained the righteous, perfect obedience to the Law that God requires, and Jesus freely gives you the righteousness that guarantees your entrance into the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus has come, not to take away the requirements and demands of the Law. He has come to take away the guilt of the Law. On the one hand, don’t imagine you are performing before God to gain His applause, and on the other hand, don’t think God doesn’t care about how you regard His Commands. Instead, God desires to freely give you His gifts of mercy, pardon, grace, and forgiveness which He gives, not through the Law, but through the Gospel.

Dear saints, you are not righteous because you do much. You are righteous when you believe much in Christ. There is a righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the scribes, Pharisees, and every other moral person you can think of – that is the righteousness given to you by Christ. And, through God-given faith, that righteousness belongs to you. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Called – Sermon on Luke 5:1-11 for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity

Luke 5:1-11

1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 

4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 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. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

If I am ever asked to preach at a seminary graduation, an ordination, or installation of a pastor, this is the text I will use. This miracle is uniquely fashioned for preachers.

Most of Jesus’ miracles fall into one of two categories when it comes to the reason Jesus does the miracle. Probably, the most common reason for Jesus’ miracles is to bring relief when there is a great need – casting out a demon, calming a storm, healing the sick, feeding the crowds, and raising the dead. The other common reason behind Jesus’ miracles is to authenticate or initiate His teaching. Sometimes, Jesus would do a miracle in response to the grumbling of the scribes and Pharisees (Mt. 9:2-8), or He would agitate them by healing on the Sabbath. 

This miraculous catch of fish doesn’t really fit into either of those categories. Jesus doesn’t do this miracle to validate or initiate His teaching. Sure, the text starts by telling us that Jesus was teaching the Word of God to a crowd so large that Jesus has to preach from Peter’s boat a little off from shore. But the way Luke records this, the miracle happens well after Jesus’ sermon was finished. Jesus had finished preaching, and it would take Peter a while to row out into the deep parts of the Sea of Galilee like Jesus tells him to. The crowds wouldn’t just stand around and watch this whole thing take place. I looked at a depth chart for Gennesaret, and they probably wouldn’t have been able to see the miracle. The crowds would have gone home, so the massive catch of fish doesn’t fit this miracle into the category of meeting a need. This haul of fish isn’t Jesus’ way of feeding that congregation.

This miracle is directed at and tailor-made for Peter (and we could probably also throw in the other disciples). After this miracle, these fishermen, who were already disciples of Jesus (see Jn. 1:35-42 and Mk. 1:16-20 which both appear to be separate calls of the disciples), leave everything behind to follow Jesus and learn to become fishers of men.

That’s why this miracle fits so well for preachers. Peter was a successful fisherman, but his knowledge, wisdom, and expertise had its limits – even when it came to fishing. After wasting a whole night where he and his partners caught nothing despite using every trick they knew, Peter listens to fishing tips from this carpenter from Nazareth and has a catch of fish that was more than Peter and his partners could handle. That catch came in an unlikely place, out in the deep, and at an unlikely time, probably late afternoon or early evening when you aren’t likely to catch many fish.

All of this points to the fact that this miracle is teaching Peter that he is going to have to learn to simply trust Jesus’ word, especially when he enters the new vocation of preaching. In other words, this catch is a preview of what is going to happen when Peter preaches the Gospel, and that is exactly what we see. On Pentecost, Peter preaches a sermon that, honestly, isn’t that impressive or insightful, but God uses that sermon to bring a massive catch of souls into the Church. The Gospel net is cast at a place and time that is unlikely to have success. Peter is preaching only fifty days after these same people called for Jesus to be crucified. But the net of the Gospel brings in 3,000 souls into the boat of the holy Christian Church.

This is why this text would be so good to preach to seminarians, pastors, and preachers. In this text, Jesus is showing preachers that their success won’t be based on their rhetoric or skill or cunning or persuasiveness or methodology. The success of the Gospel comes by simply being faithful to Jesus’ Word and throwing out the nets. The Holy Spirit does the work. The only thing a pastor needs to do in order to be a faithful shepherd of God’s flock, and the only thing a congregation needs to do to be a faithful body of Christ, is to simply teach God’s Word, stand firm on what it says, and God will use that Word to do things beyond our imagination or comprehension.

But, my dear congregation, you aren’t seminarians or pastors. So, I won’t preach that sermon to you. Wink, wink. Nod, nod. I guess I need to come up with a different sermon, and this text does have something very important to teach you, but it isn’t, maybe, what you would expect.

If you look at this text in your Bible, you will probably see a heading over these verses in bold letters that says something like, “Jesus Calls the First Disciples.” Well, that heading is a bit misleading because, when we look at the other Gospels, we learn that this is the third time Jesus’ disciples follow after Him. Actually, John 1 is where we see Jesus first calling these disciples. There, Andrew, who is Peter’s brother, is a disciple of John the Baptizer. Andrew hears John call Jesus the Lamb of God. Andrew goes and finds Peter and they begin to follow Jesus and see Him do miracles (see Jn. 2 and Lk. 4) Later, Jesus sees Andrew and Peter and James and John fishing and calls them to follow Him, and they do (Mk. 1:16-20). So, by the time we get to this text in Luke 5, Peter, Andrew, James, and John are already disciples who follow Jesus. But notice, they are still providing for their families through their fishing business.

They are making sure their company will have a future by taking care of their nets. Even though those nets went empty that night, they still needed tending and cleaning to be ready for the next excursion. Tired after a completely unproductive night of fishing but still needing to finish his work, Peter would have had every excuse to ignore Jesus and let Him do His preaching thing over there on the shore for the crowds. Peter had other work to do, and it was good, God-given work to make a living and provide for His family.

But Peter also recognized that he needed to give his attention to the Word of God, which he did. Notice Peter leaves his nets twice in this passage. Yes, he leaves his net to follow after Jesus at the end of the text, but don’t miss the first time Peter leaves his net. The first time, he leaves his work of cleaning them to bring Jesus out a little way into the sea so Christ can continue preaching to both the crowds and Peter.

Peter doesn’t let his career be an idol. He recognizes his work of cleaning the nets can wait. In that moment, Peter was called to something more important than plucking seaweed out of a net. He was called to listen to Jesus’ preaching. And Peter is called by Jesus to let his boat be used for that same preaching. Peter uses the gifts God had given him serve Jesus and those crowds who also needed to hear the Word of God.

Dear saints, it is good to see your job and your paycheck the same way. God has given you work and money to provide you and those in your care with food and clothing, house and home. But God has also given you work and a paycheck so you can set aside time to find rest – not just for a weekend away from your desk, your boss, your coworkers, or your employees – but to find rest from the toil and sin of this fallen world. And God wants you to share those gifts with others so they can also hear God’s Word and find rest in His mercy and grace. Putting your tithe in the offering plate is the same as letting Jesus use your boat to preach. That is also why, even though there are many charities and organizations to give to – and you should give to them – don’t let that come at the expense of giving to the preaching of God’s Word. Your tithe to these plates comes first. Other charitable giving should come second. You need the preaching and so do your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Jesus’ teaching did its work in Peter. When Jesus tells Peter to put out into the deep for a catch – which, again, is the wrong place and wrong time – Peter listened to Jesus and trusted Him, admittedly begrudgingly. Peter puts out the nets, and there are too many fish. The nets threaten to break. The boats threaten to sink. Peter sees all of this and is filled with fear. He isn’t afraid of the nets breaking or the boats sinking. Instead, the sinner is afraid of the wrath of God. Peter is afraid because he recognizes that he, a sinner, is standing in the presence of the holy, almighty God in the flesh. “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 

But the nets don’t break, the boats don’t sink, and the sinner doesn’t get the wrath and punishment he deserves. “Do not be afraid;” Jesus says, “from now on you will be catching men.” Jesus’ words there are an absolution. Jesus casts Peter’s sins into the depths of the sea where the fish and boats should have ended up. But Jesus doesn’t stop with saving Peter. He has more saving to do. That’s why Peter and the apostles are given the task of preaching. Jesus desires that His work would spread to all.

A lot of sermons on this text will end by challenging you to be like Peter and leave everything to follow Jesus. Dear saints, God in His infinite wisdom hasn’t given you that calling, and that is totally fine. Maybe God will call you into the office of ministry one day. But for now, God has called you into the vocations He has put before you. Right now, you are called by God to listen to His Word being preached to you. And this week, God will put other tasks in front of you. Do them, and do them faithfully. Col. 3:23-24 says, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” Your work, your calling, your vocations are never wasted, never in vain (1 Cor. 15:58). Everything you have and everything you do is made sacred by the Word of God and prayer (1 Tim. 4:4-5).

So, hear God’s Word. Be forgiven of all your sins. Then, go and do your work. Fulfill the callings God has given to you because your work isn’t done for your paycheck or your boss. The work and calling God gives you has goodness because God uses that work to help and serve your neighbor.

Dear saints, God needs you in the stations and vocations where He has placed you. Jesus knows how He can best use you in the kingdom of God. Jesus knew what He was doing when He placed you into your family, into this congregation, in your job, in your neighborhood. He has placed you there to be a faithful husband, wife, child, employer, worker, friend, and neighbor. You don’t need to leave that in order to serve God more faithfully. God has placed you there to serve Him by serving those neighbors He has given you. Even if you think Jesus made a mistake by putting you there, just trust that Jesus knows what He is doing and that He will use you in the way that He sees fit.

All your earthly work and calling has something of eternity in it because it is done in service to God. And God will use that work to bring about His purposes. To Him alone be the glory, now and forever. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Mercy, Judgment, & Logs – Sermon on Luke 6:36-42 for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity

Sorry for the poor audio quality this week. It is a known issue that should be resolved next week.

Luke 6:36-42

36 “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

37 “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

39 He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. 41 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.”

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Some passages of Scripture are difficult. They are not difficult because they are unclear. Typically, they’re difficult because they are clear, but we just don’t want to hear them. We would rather that God didn’t say it. Today, we have a passage that is difficult because it has to do with us being merciful and forgiving to those who sin against us, and forgiving others can be very, very hard. But this passage is also difficult because of how it is wrongfully used and interpreted. Before us today is the most misquoted, misused, and abused verse in all of holy Scripture. Jesus says, “Judge not, and you will not be judged.” This is the John 3:16 of heathens. Unbelievers love these words of our Savior, but they are totally, completely wrong if they think that these words save them from having to deal with their sin.

These days, you might find yourself in a conversation about any one of the flagrant sins in our culture. If you simply state that the Bible calls that sin a sin, you’re likely to have, “Judge not, lest you be judged,” thrown in your face. People will say this and expect you to stop talking. When Jesus says, “Judge not, and you will not be judged,” does He mean that we are to never speak about what is right and wrong? Should we never mention that there is truth and error, good and bad because doing that is making a judgment? Is that what Jesus means? The answer is simply – no. If Jesus were condemning all judging here, He would be contradicting Himself and loads of other Scripture passages.

For a minute here, imagine a world where judgment is never passed. You teachers, imagine if a student completely bombed a test and scored a 30%. If that student came up to you and said, “Jesus says, ‘Judge not,’” are you obligated to give them a perfect score, or maybe should you give them a 0%? Those of you who own businesses, if an employee never came in to work or always did crummy work and messed up everything he touched, do you have to keep him on staff as an employee and pay him because Jesus says, “Judge not”? If you get pulled over for going 100 mph on a residential street, should you just tell the officer, “Judge not,” and then drive away scot free? Is that what we should take Jesus to mean here?

Absolutely, positively not. If people in positions of authority always extended pure mercy and never judged, the world would fall apart in a few days, and no one would be safe. God in His mercy has given everyone different callings and vocations where they should and must make judgments. Just a few examples:

When it comes to doctrine, everyone is to make judgments. In Matthew 7 (which is parallel to this text), Jesus warns us, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits” (Mt. 7:15-16). You can’t beware of false prophets without judging their fruit – in other words, what they teach. Romans 16:17 says, “Watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine you have been taught, avoid them” (see also 1 Tim. 6:3-5 and 2 Jn. 10). Jesus wants all people to be judges and make judgments when it comes to doctrine. So, dear saints, know what is and what isn’t sound doctrine.

Scripture teaches that parents have the right and duty to judge, punish, correct, and praise their child’s behavior (Eph. 6:4). On a larger scale, God has given us the gift of government and civil authorities. You can think of government officials as the parents of cities, states, and countries who are put there by God to make laws and judge and punish those who break the laws (Ro. 13:1-6).

When civil rulers punish lawbreakers, they are acting as God’s servants (Ro. 13:4). Imagine if mass-murderers were freed from punishment simply because they quoted Jesus’ words, “Judge not,” when they were in the courtroom. Laws, rules, and punishments exist in societies and countries to protect the weak. Now, in our country, God has given us the gift of being able to have a voice in who those authorities are through our ability to vote. So, Christian, you can and should judge and evaluate candidates for office before you vote for them. If a candidate’s views are inconsistent with what Scripture says is right and wrong, you should not vote for that person. But once a person is elected, they are the authority God has placed over you. And because God has placed them in authority over you, you must honor, serve, obey, love, and respect them because of their office – even if they are godless scoundrels.

I know there are a whole lot of ‘what if’s’ that could be addressed here, but I’m not going to go into all of them. Talk to me after the service. I’ll just say this: If you have an evil, tyrannical, ungodly, unjust person in a position of authority over you, Scripture says that you owe them the respect and honor that is due to them because of their office. And at that same time, you should also speak against evil things they are doing. Then, go ahead; vote them out in the next election, but in that office, recognize them as God’s gift to you.

I know this example is upside down from an evil person in a position of authority doing evil things, but our Old Testament lesson (Gen 50:15-21) helps guide us on how to balance mercy and judgment when it comes to our leaders. Joseph’s brothers figure he’s going to get them back for all the evil things they did to him, and Joseph is in a perfect position to do so. He’s the second in command in Egypt, and Jacob, Joseph’s father, has died. In other words, Joseph has no governmental or parental authority over him who will say he needs to be kind to his brothers. Because of this, Joseph’s brothers are scared, terrified. But look at Joseph’s response to their lie about what their dad said before he died. Joseph says, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me.” Notice that Joseph doesn’t say that their plot to kill him, their throwing him in a pit, and selling him into slavery is just fine and ok. No. Joseph calls all of that what it is – evil. Isaiah 5:20 says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.” Joseph is right to not mince words by saying what they did to him was good. But then Joseph recognizes and confesses that God was at work even behind their evil, sinful acts to bring about good and to save them all.

So Jesus isn’t condemning all judging here, but what is Jesus teaching us when He says, “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you will not be condemned”? It all hangs and hinges on what Jesus says both before and after. “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” Notice first of all that to be merciful and forgiving, there has to be a judgment – that sin is sin. But that judgment isn’t your judgment, it’s God’s judgment. You are simply confessing and saying the same thing as God says about sin. And then, Jesus calls you to extend forgiveness and mercy when it comes to that sin.

Confession consists of two parts. The first part of confessing our sins is that we bring those sins before God and say what God says about those sins: That they are sins. That they have harmed our relationship with God. That they have hurt others and ourselves. That is the first part of confession. The second part, which ends up being the most important part of confession, is that we confess that those sins are atoned for by Jesus. That Jesus, by His death and resurrection, has covered those sins, removed them from us as far as the east is from the west (Ps. 103:12), tread those sins under His foot, and cast those sins into the depths of the sea (Mic. 7:19).

Basically today, Jesus is teaching us the second great commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:19, Mt. 22:39). Every one of us has sinned, and we desperately desire that our sin would be covered up by mercy. So, if you desire mercy from someone when you sin against them, you should also extend that same mercy to them when they sin against you.

You disciples of Jesus, you Christian, are not above your Teacher, but you are to be like your Teacher. Don’t try to remove God from His seat when it comes to judging and punishing the sin of others because God Himself didn’t stay in the seat of judgment when it came to your sin. Remember, God showed His love for you in that while you and I were still sinners, Christ came down from heaven and died for us (Ro. 5:8). And please know that God’s forgiveness of you isn’t based upon your forgiveness of others. There is forgiveness even for your sins of un-forgiveness.

So, how do we go about our lives in a world that is filled with sin – both our own sin and the sin of people who hurt us? Galatians 6:1 says, “If anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him,” and you can’t restore a transgressor without calling their sin out. But please also know that verse goes on to say, “[you] should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”

Dear saints, remember that you have had plenty of logs in your eye. Repent. Confess your sins and receive the forgiveness and mercy of God. And as God has been merciful to you, extend that same mercy to others as well. When you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, make sure you tell them about the Savior who removed the log from your eye. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times, Jesus wants eyes that are free from both logs and specks.

That is why He left His throne. To remove the log in your eye, Jesus came down to be placed on the log of the cross. And on that splintered timber, Jesus shed His holy and precious blood that covers your sin and the sin of others. Go, be merciful knowing that God’s mercy is sufficient for you. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Reconsidering Repentance – Sermon on Luke 15:1-32 for the Third Sunday after Trinity

Luke 15:1-32

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

The night Jesus was born, shepherds were out in the field keeping watch over their flocks. A multitude of the heavenly host arrived praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased.” Heaven was filled with rejoicing the night of Jesus’ birth because your Savior had come to rescue you from sin, death, and the devil. Now, in this Gospel lesson, Jesus says, “There will be more joy in heaven over one winner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (Lk. 15:7).

Well, there aren’t ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance; there has only ever been One righteous person who needed no repentance, Jesus Christ. This is probably a little ridiculous and silly, but should we imagine the joy of those angels the night of Jesus’ birth is multiplied by 99 plus a bit more when one sinner repents? Well, joy isn’t measured in units, so forget about attempting the math problem. But we can know from Jesus’ own lips that heaven rejoices more at the repentance and salvation of one sinner than it rejoiced over Christ’s birth.

Because Jesus brings the topic up in this text, the question for us today is: What is repentance? The word translated ‘repent’ or ‘repentance’ simply means “a change of mind,” but throughout the New Testament, you will find that repentance refers to a complete spiritual change. In fact, many of the times you come across the word ‘repent’ in Scripture it carries the whole idea of conversion.[1] The Bible does not teach that repentance is one step in some twelve-step salvation program. Salvation is instantaneous; just like in creation, God speaks, and it is. And salvation is always an act of God’s grace. “For 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). The Bible does teach that repentance is necessary for salvation, but if we see repentance as something we do, as our little contribution, then salvation is no longer a free gift. It would be dependent on you. 

So, let’s reconsider repentance, what it is and what it looks like from this parable Jesus teaches.

The Pharisees and scribes are complaining that Jesus receives sinners. Luke tells us that Jesus’ response to their grumbling is telling them “this parable” – singular. Luke could have said, “so He told them these three parables,” but he doesn’t. “This parable.” One parable. Three sections, parts, or chapters – it’s fine to think of it that way – but it’s one parable. And I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: we typically know these three sections or chapters of this one parable as the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. But it would be better if we referred to them as the seeking shepherd, the seeking woman, and the seeking father because that would help us keep the emphasis on the right syllable when it comes to seeing what Jesus teaches about repentance.

Now, in the first two sections of this parable, it’s a little hard to see where repentance comes into the stories. A sheep gets lost, the sheep gets found, and the shepherd throws a party. A coin gets lost, the coin gets found, and the woman throws a party. Just looking at the stories, we would probably conclude that Jesus isn’t teaching about repentance. He’s just talking about salvation. But Jesus concludes both of those sections by talking about heaven’s joy over repentance, so repentance has to be in there somewhere. According to those two parts of the parable, repentance is nothing more than the lost being found and restored by the owner. Then, the owner celebrates because of the joy of restoration.

Now, you might be saying, “Pastor there’s a lot more to repentance than the lost being found and restored. To repent, you have to feel bad about what you’ve done. You have to recognize the hurt and pain you have caused. You need to be scared because of the punishment that’s coming. You need to want to do better. That’s repentance.” To which I have to say, “Well, not according to this parable.” Guilt, shame, fear of punishment, and resolve to do better are all right responses when it comes to our sin, and all of those things may accompany repentance from time to time. But they aren’t necessary for repentance to be true or genuine.

A lost sheep might be scared. I don’t know enough about sheep to know if they feel remorse, but a lost sheep might wish it had never wandered away from the flock. A lost sheep might try to find its way back to the herd. But in the first section of this parable, the repentance of that sheep is somewhere in the shepherd’s finding and carrying this sheep back to the pen. In the second section of the parable, the coin doesn’t have any feelings or sorrow. A lost coin just sits in the crack gathering dust. And the repentance of that coin is nothing more than the woman picking it up and putting it back in her purse. So, these first two sections picture repentance as something God does to the lost.

Just so you know I’m not making this up: In Acts 10-11, we are told the story about how Peter went to preach at Cornelius’ house. Cornelius was a Gentile, so a lot more could be said about the whole story, but I’m going to keep it short. Peter arrives there and preaches about Jesus’ death and resurrection. Peter’s Pentecost sermon is very similar in it’s content, but unlike that Pentecost sermon, Peter doesn’t hammer everyone with heavy Law. He just says that Jesus died and rose again, and he announces that everyone who believes in Jesus receives the forgiveness of sins. The people who hear that sermon are filled with the Holy Spirit and are Baptized. All of that takes place in Acts 10. When you get into Acts 11, Peter is in Jerusalem and is being accused of hanging out with the wrong crowd (similar to Jesus here in Lk. 15). Peter simply relays the story of what happened. And the response is incredibly interesting. The Jerusalem church leaders respond, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life” (Act. 11:18). Dear saints, repentance is a gift given by God.

Now, when we get to the third section of the parable, things are a little different. In the third chapter of the parable, it sure sounds like the younger son is repentant. But where does his repentance take place? Now, we have to set this up a little bit.

The third section of the parable has three main characters – a father and his two sons. The younger son tells his father to drop dead. That’s how you get an inheritance. Basically, the younger son tells his dad, “I want my share of your stuff, but I want it without you.” And the father gives it to him. Now, this would have meant public shame for the father because it would have involved selling off at least 1/3 of his estate to give the money to his little brat of a son. The son takes the cash and blows it all. He becomes so desperate in his effort to stay alive that he hires himself out to a pig farmer and is jealous of the slop the pigs are eating. 

Now, just a quick aside here. This also gives us a picture of what our sin does. Our sin isn’t just us getting lost. Sin is worse than a sheep aimlessly wandering away from the flock or a coin getting dropped. No, our sin makes us lower than and jealous of pigs.

Sitting there in the pigpen, the son starts crafting a speech. And that speech sounds like repentance, but it isn’t. Instead, the younger son realizes his father’s employees have plenty of food, and he’s dying of starvation. He plans to go to his father and say, and listen carefully, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.” So far, completely true and right. “I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” No duh. “Treat me as one of your hired servants.” Now, all of this, again, sounds like repentance. He recognizes the stupidity of his actions and the ramifications of his rebellion. But it’s that last part that shows the brat’s real intention. He wants his dad to give him a job so he can have some food. The interesting thing that I had never noticed is the wording Jesus uses in this part of the parable.

Jesus doesn’t use the normal word for a servant which is doulos. A servant, a doulos, would live on the estate of the master and would even eat meals with the master’s family. But the younger son uses a different word here, misthios. A misthios is someone who would commute to work at the estate. A misthios would have no relationship with the master except when it was time to get paid for work done. His speech just shows how lost and unrepentant he still is. He still wants the benefits his dad can offer, but he doesn’t want anything to do with his dad. In his despair, he’s basically saying, “Dad, I screwed up big time. Can you just help me to stay alive? I won’t bother you and you won’t have to bother with me.” That’s his prepared speech.

He starts his walk home. But as he rounds the corner, his father comes running to him, embraces him, and kisses him. The son begins his speech, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But the father, the father doesn’t care. He restores him to his rightful place as a son. “Bring the best robe and a ring and shoes; put them all on him. Kill the fattened calf and let’s throw a party. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” It is in that love and finding and restoration of the father that the son is granted repentance. 2 Corinthians 7:10 says, “Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” The son had a worldly grief that would have left him in the death of a lost relationship with his father. But the father here lets the godly grief of his lost son, that true and right realization of what he had done, produce a repentance that leads to salvation and complete restoration. The son doesn’t get to finish his speech. He doesn’t get to be misthios, a hireling. He gets to be a son again – nothing more, nothing less.

Now, I know this sermon is getting long, but I have one more thing, so please bear with me. I made a big deal about this chapter being one parable with three sections. Well, the third section has two parts. There is still the issue of the older son. The older son, who never left, was out working in the field. He comes home, hears the partying, learns what is going on, and is livid. He refuses to join the party. And even though this older son never left his father, he is just as lost as the younger son was back in the pig stye.

And here is why I bring this up. We wrongly think that God is happy when we are doing everything we are supposed to. We think God is happy with us when we are consistent, strong, and can show all the things we’ve accomplished. But that isn’t the case. Your heavenly Father is only happy when His children are forgiven and together with him at the feast. That is why the father leaves his own party and pleads with this older son to come back into the fold.

Dear saints, stop dwelling on your unfaithfulness and sin. Yes, you’ve been the rebellious younger son. But your heavenly Father has sought you out and heaven rejoices at your repentance and salvation. Stop dwelling on your obedience and work for God; don’t be the entitled older brother. Yes, go serve, love, and do your good works diligently, but don’t think that God is going to throw a party for your commandment-keeping.

Heaven rejoices with God when He brings you back into His grace and mercy where nothing is earned or deserved. Instead, it is all freely given for the sake of Jesus, your Savior. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

[1] Clear examples would include Mt. 4:17; Lk. 5:32; 13:3; 16:30; 24:47; Act. 11:18; 2 Cor. 7:10.