Matthew 26:1-27:66

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

The seven sayings of Jesus on the cross are the most important words spoken in all history. We have considered them in the past, and we will hear them again on Friday. But Jesus isn’t the only member of the Trinity speaking during the crucifixion. God the Father speaks too, but not audibly. Instead, the Father speaks through the miracles that take place while Jesus is on the cross, and we are going to give our attention to those today.

The first miracle is the darkness. In the Gospel of Mark, we are told that Jesus was crucified, nailed to the cross, at the third hour (Mk. 15:25), which would be about 9 AM. Then, the Gospels tell us that there was darkness from sixth hour until the ninth hour. In other words, that darkness lasted from noon until 3 PM when Jesus died.

Now, Matthew says this darkness was over “all the land” (Mt. 27:45). The interesting thing there is that the word ‘land’ can mean portions of a country. But most of the time, the word there means the entire earth. Matthew uses it in both senses throughout his Gospel. It could be that this darkness was localized to the region surrounding Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified, but it could have been much more than just that – even the entire earth.

This darkness was not a solar eclipse. Jesus was crucified at the time of the Passover which means there would have been a full moon, and a solar eclipse can only happen at a new moon. Plus an eclipse only lasts minutes, not hours. We also know that this darkness wasn’t the result a bunch of thick, dark clouds gathering. A Greek historian named Phlegon of Tralles, who was born shortly after Jesus’ death, records what he calls an eclipse. He wrote that it became night at noon so that the stars even appeared in the heavens. Now, Phlegon wasn’t a Christian. He might not have even been aware of the Gospels recording this same event. But the dating of his account matches up precisely with the timing of the crucifixion. Today, secular scholars have tried to come up with an explanation for this darkness Phlegon mentions, but they can’t. No astronomical or meteorological explanation can be made, but the historical accounts aren’t denied either.

This darkness happened because of God. God has the authority to turn off the sun if He wants to. Over and over in Scriptures, darkness is a sign connected with God’s judgment and anger over sin. Remember the ninth plague of darkness over the land of Egypt (Ex. 10:21-22). For three hours during the crucifixion, this darkness covered the land.

So, what was going on here; what was God the Father saying with this darkness? Well, Jesus had taken upon Himself the sins of all humanity, and God’s judgment was laid upon Christ (Is. 53:6). Think of all the sins you just heard about: treachery of Judas, the cowardice of Pilate, the blasphemy of the chief priests, the malice of the crowds. All those heinous sins were all placed upon Jesus.

But it was more than that too. The murder committed by Cain, the hard-heartedness of Pharaoh, the continual unbelief of the Israelites, the pagan practices of the inhabitants of Canaan, the adultery of David, every bit of sin in the world up to that point was all placed on Jesus. All the sins that have happened since: the sins of Nero, Hitler, Stalin, bin Ladin, and every other wicked, evil person were laid upon Jesus. Your sins were there too: your anger, lust, pride, gossip, lies, and covetousness. And all the sins that are still to happen in the future. All of it was there in that moment on Christ as He hung on the cross.

All of those sins angered God. He noticed them and was angry because of them. But know this. God only let the darkness of judgment fall when those sins were laid upon Christ and were no longer yours. So, between noon and three on that Good Friday, Jesus took all of those sins. Christ Himself bore your sins in His body on the cross, and by His wounds you are healed (1 Pet. 2:24). That’s why Jesus says from the cross, “It is finished” (Jn. 19:30). His redemption for every sin of every person who has ever lived and will ever live was paid in full. Jesus suffered the punishment of God for it all.

The second miracle was the tearing of the curtain in the Temple. The curtain was thick and heavy, so it was no coincidence that it tore from top to bottom. For hundreds of years, that curtain stood as a barrier between God and all of humanity. Only the priest could go behind that curtain into God’s presence on the Day of Atonement. Remember that both the Tabernacle and the Temple served as copies of heaven (Heb. 8:5; 9:23; Ex. 25:9). So, for generations, that curtain preached a sermon to God’s people that said, “Heaven is off limits to you.” But when the high priest would go in behind the curtain on the Day of Atonement, that yearly event preached another sermon. A very different sermon. That sermon preached that access to heaven would come, but only through a substitute.

So, when that Temple curtain tore from top to bottom, what was God saying? God was saying that you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Eph. 2:13). God is pleased with you now. He loves you, and heaven is open to you because of Jesus’ death.

The third miracle was the earthquake. The same historian I mentioned earlier, Phlegon, he wrote about this earthquake too. And he wrote about it in Nicaea which is almost 700 miles away from Jerusalem. It’s hard to say for certain what this earthquake means – especially because there is another earthquake Easter morning (Mt. 28:2). But remember how the Pharisees wanted Jesus to rebuke the people who were crying out, “Hosanna,” as He rode into Jerusalem? Jesus answers them, “If these were silent, the very stones would cry out” (Lk. 19:36-40) It could be related to that. It could be a sign that God had redeemed all creation by the death of Jesus (Ro. 8:21-23). We can’t say for sure why the earthquake happened. But creation noticed and responded to both the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Finally, the fourth miracle is that many of the saints were raised. We heard how Matthew mentions that these risen saints walked around after Jesus’ resurrection and appeared to many (Mt. 27:52-53). What this shows us is that death is no longer the enemy it was before the death of Jesus. God can raise the dead in an instant. Jesus has paid the price. Disease, death, violence, virus, plague, and pandemic are no longer your enemy. They are all defeated by Christ.

Dear saints, these miracles prove that you have nothing to fear. Christ has paid the price for your sins. God is on your side. He is risen, and so will you. Your King has come with righteousness and salvation (Zech. 9:9). He has spoken peace to you (Zech. 9:10). Return, you prisoners of hope; return to God, your stronghold (Zech. 9:12).

Christ has humbled Himself for you to death – even death on a cross (Php. 2:8). At the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord.

So, yes, “Hosanna! Hosanna to the Son of David! Hosanna in the highest!” Ride on Jesus. Ride on and save us. Welcome to Holy Week. Amen.

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

An Eternal Redemption – Sermon on Hebrews 9:11-15 for the Fifth Sunday in Lent

Mar21

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Hebrews 9:11-15

¹¹ But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) ¹² he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

¹⁵ Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

The first ten verses of Hebrews 9, which lead up to this text here, describe the décor of the Tabernacle, how it had a Holy Place with a golden lampstand, the table, and the Bread of the Presence. Beyond the Holy Place was the Most Holy Place, the Holy of Holies, where there was an altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant covered in gold.

Inside the Ark was a golden urn holding some of the manna, Aaron’s staff which had budded, and, most importantly, the tablets of stone on which was written the Ten Commandments. Standing over the Ark were the golden cherubim overshadowing the mercy seat which was the exact place where God said He would meet with His people. Only high priest could enter that Holy of Holies, and he only went in one day each year – the Day of Atonement. The high priest would actually go into the Holy of Holies three times that day. First, he would enter to fill the place with the smoke of incense creating a smoky barrier between himself and God’s holiness. He would enter a second time to offer the blood of a bull for his own sins. And finally he would enter, to sprinkle the blood of a goat on the Ark for the sins of the people.

Now, there are all sorts of details that we could go into, but for the sake of time today, we’re going to focus on the blood of the goat that was sprinkled on the Ark and the tablets of the Ten Commandments that were inside the Ark. The blood of that sacrifice created a barrier between God’s Law inside the Ark and the people outside the Tabernacle. That blood, according to God, was what was required for sins.

To get an idea of what was happening on the Day of Atonement, I’d like to give you a picture from a friend of mine. Imagine a huge stone wall before the presence of God in heaven. Every time you sin, a chisel etches into that rock recording how you have broken God’s Commandments. Every time you covet the things that God has not given you, tink, tink, tink, your sin is engraved in heaven. Every time you gossip, spread rumors, or speak poorly of your neighbor, tink, tink, tink. Every time you take was is not yours, hold back something that could help your neighbor, or act selfishly or ungenerously, tink, tink, tink. Every lustful thought, every filthy word, every unchaste deed, tink, tink, tink. Every ounce of your anger is recorded there on that wall, every time you disobey your parents or rebel against the authorities God has placed over you.

This is the record of sins against your neighbor, but your sins against God cry out even more. Missing church, despising God’s Word, neglecting your prayers, and fearing and loving and trusting in everything but God, all of this comes before the Father and cries out for justice and punishment. This is the accusing work of the Ten Commandments, they accuse us, and you and I stand guilty.

Now, it doesn’t really matter if you feel guilty. You are guilty. And in fact, if you aren’t concerned about those sins, that’s additional marks against you. When a convicted criminal has no remorse or feelings of guilt for the sins for which he’s guilty, it is good and right for the punishment to be harsher.

What the high priest was doing when he entered into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement was offering the blood of a goat for the sins of the people. Every year the blood of that sacrifice preached to the people that God accepted the death of another in their place. But the problem was that it was that blood, that sacrifice, needed to be annually refreshed and touched up with another sacrifice. So, every Day of Atonement, the high priest would go through all of it again.

But now, our text would have us imagine that Jesus, our Great High Priest, has come, not into the Tabernacle, but into the heavenly courtroom. Jesus still has the holes in His hands, feet, and side. And Jesus carries a bowl full of blood, but it isn’t the blood of a goat. Instead, it is His own blood, drained from His body as He suffered and died on the cross. He takes that blood to this massive stone wall with the chiseled record of all of your sins, and He covers the whole wall with His blood. All those marks are smeared with His blood. And now, when the Father looks there, the record of your sin is gone. instead, God sees the blood of Jesus, and not one bit of the evidence of your sins is visible. Every sin is died for. Everything you have done that deserves God’s punishment has been covered by the blood of Jesus.

That’s the picture of this text. Look again at v. 12, “[Jesus] entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” Your sins are forgiven, and the perfect righteousness of Jesus is given to you. And this transaction happened, not in a tent made by hands. Instead, this transaction took place once for all eternity in the reality of the heavenly courtroom, the temple not made with hands.

Jesus took your place. He endured the wrath of God that you and I deserve. Because He did this, He secured an eternal redemption for you. His sacrifice, His shed blood, is presented before God the Father who, according to Jesus in our Gospel lesson (Jn. 8:42-59, see v. 50), is the Judge, and God Himself declares you to be not guilty. Because of what Jesus, your Savior, has done, you have an eternal redemption. And, according to Jesus, as you keep and believe His Word, you will never taste death (Jn. 8:52).

Now, the text plainly says that you have an eternal redemption. Unending, ceaseless, endless – it’s an eternal redemption. But there is another statement here that shows the extent of this redemption. Look again at v. 13-14 and, as you hear this, think back to the sacrificial worship of the Old Testament, “For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify (make holy) for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from…” Now, look carefully at what the text says here. “How much more will the blood of Christ, purify our conscience from dead works.”

You would expect the text to say that Jesus’ blood purifies our conscience from ‘sin’ or ‘iniquities’ or ‘transgressions,’ but it doesn’t say that. The text could have said that because that is also true. The blood of Jesus purifies you from every sin that troubles your conscience. But it says that it purifies your conscience from dead works. What are those?

We know that our sins alienate us from God and make God angry with us. But we think that the opposite is true, that God is pleased with us because of our good works. We wrongly think that a few good works here and there earn us brownie points with God. No. Nothing helps us but the blood of Jesus. His sacrifice on the cross cleanses us even from our good works which are, according to this text, dead works.

Our sinful flesh is stuck on the wrong idea that we can cleanse ourselves from sin by making up for those sins by doing good works. That is a dangerous place to be. We cannot atone for our sins. The only hope we have for a clean conscience is the blood of Jesus. He died for your sins, and He died for your dead works that will never make up for the ways in which you have failed.

Because Jesus has offered Himself as the sacrifice for our sins, He is the mediator of a new covenant which He instituted in His Last Supper. When you come in a few minutes to this altar, Jesus gives you that blood which wipes away your sins. The blood that the priests offered in the Old Testament was sprinkled on the altar, but Jesus is about to fill you His life-giving blood.

Christ now invites you to come and receive this eternal redemption, and you will receive the promised, eternal inheritance. Come and receive so that you may have a purified, clean conscience now and through eternity. Amen.

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

Provision – Sermon on John 6:1-15 for the Fourth Sunday in Lent

Mar14

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John 6:1-15

¹ After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. ² And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. ³ Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. ⁴ Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.

⁵ Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” ⁶ He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. ⁷ Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” ⁸ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ⁹ “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” ¹⁰ Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. ¹¹Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹² And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” ¹³ So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. ¹⁴ When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

¹⁵ Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

All of us Christians are tempted to divide our life into two separate, distinct parts. On one side is all the spiritual things: God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, forgiveness, going to church, reading the Bible, praying, eternal life, etc. On the other side is all the physical things that we have to deal with every day: food, clothing, money, house, chores, jobs, etc. When we do this, we figure that we need God and Jesus and mercy over here and hard work, effort, diligence, and maybe a little bit of luck over here. In this mindset, God takes care of our spiritual life, but we have to take care of ourselves and those under our protection in our physical life.

We need to stop thinking that way. That kind of division simply doesn’t exist. And when we have that dividing line in our minds, we suffer both physically and spiritually. The God who richly provides you with His mercy, love, and forgiveness is the exact same God who provides you with food, gas, a job, money, house, shoes, and toilet paper. Jesus is Lord in heaven, and He is Lord on earth. He cares for your all spiritual and all your physical needs.

We got a glimpse of this in our Old Testament reading (Ex. 16:2-21). There, the people of Israel had just been brought of Egypt by God’s mighty hand through the ten plagues which brought judgment on their Egyptian masters. God had parted the Red Sea to deliver them from Pharoah’s army. But almost right away, they begin to complain to Moses, “It’s too bad we didn’t die in Egypt where we had meat and bread. Moses, why did you bring us out in the wilderness to kill us by starvation?” Which is a ludicrous thing to say. As if Moses had brought them out of Egypt by his power! I mean, had they forgotten that it was God who delivered them from their slavery? Apparently, they had! Notice how Moses and Aaron respond to the people (Ex. 16:6-7), “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, for He has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us?”

So, God provides mana for the people. The reason it’s called ‘mana’ is that’s what the people asked. In Hebrew, “What is it?” is מָ֣ן ה֔וּא (pronounced, “man hu”). You have to love the Scriptures; v. 15 is one of my favorite, “Duh,” moments in the Bible. “When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was.”

But the point we need to see is how God was providing for His people physically and spiritually. We see it in how they were to gather the mana. For five days, they were to gather just enough for that day, but on the sixth morning, they were to gather enough for the sixth and seventh day. All the other days, they were to keep nothing for the next morning. But when a few of them tried to keep some leftovers, it rotted, and got all wormy and stinky. God had promised to feed the people’s stomachs each day, but only for the day. And by taking only enough for each day, God was feeding the people’s faith. They had to trust that God would do for them tomorrow what He had done today – which, it’s important to note, is exactly what they were struggling with.

In this Gospel text, we see Jesus providing for His people spiritually by teaching the people late into the evening then providing for His people physically by multiplying the bread and fish. Every indication is that Jesus set this whole dilemma up. It isn’t as clear here in John’s Gospel, but in Mark’s account (Mk. 6:30-44) of this same event, Jesus sees the people coming and has compassion on them because they are like sheep without a shepherd. Mark tells us that Jesus begins to teach them many things, and our Lord teaches them until late into the evening (Mk. 6:35). Jesus knows what it is to be hungry (Lk. 4:2), and He could have taught them for several hours and then told them, “You know what guys it’s getting late. You should go home and get some supper, and we can pick up tomorrow.” But He doesn’t.

Another indication that Jesus set this whole thing up is His conversation with Philip (there’s sort of two of them wrapped up together, here). John tells us that Jesus, “knew what He was going to do.” But the other thing is this: Notice how Jesus words His question to Phillip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” It’s specific. “Where are we to buy bread.” There are all sorts of logistical problems with trying to feed a crowd this size. But Jesus doesn’t ask, “Where are the Sam’s Clubs and Hugo’s around here with large inventories of bread?” He doesn’t ask, “How are we going to get the bread delivered? Where will we get the carts and animals get all that food into this desolate place?” He doesn’t inquire as to how they would distribute the food to all those people. Jesus asks Phillip, “Where are we to buy bread?” In other words (and I know I’m belaboring the point) Jesus is asking Phillip, “How is money going to help us here, Phillip?”

Phillip must have had the same problem that we have in dividing up his life into two categories of physical and spiritual. And Phillip apparently trusted in money as the solution to physical problems. If you’re like me, you probably think the same way. When you think through your life and all the things that could be better and make you comfortable, there is probably a dollar amount that you have in your mind that would make all your problems go away. Will the coming $1,400 of COVID money fix your problems? Probably not. So, how much do you need? $10,000? $100,000? $5 million? But even if you got that amount, what other problems would spring up that would require more? I say this to you, and I say this to myself, repent.

Phillip throws out 200 denarii as his answer. But why didn’t Phillip say 500 denarii or 800 denarii? Let’s do a little budgeting. A denarius is equal to one day’s wage. So, for the sake of making the math easier, let’s just say feeding your family cost ¹/₃ of a denarius per meal. Back then, they didn’t have mortgages, car payments, utility bills, or student loans. The main expense was putting food on the table. There are 5,000 men and their families who need a meal. At ¹/₃ of a denarius per meal that totals 1,667 denarii. But Phillip throws out 200 which isn’t even close to a logical estimate to feed a crowd this size. So, why that number; why 200?

The best guess that I have seen suggested is that is how much money Jesus and the disciples had. Now Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, was the one who kept track of the moneybag (Jn. 12:6, 13:29). But Phillip probably kept a pretty close eye on it too. Phillip knows they have 200 denarii, and it isn’t going to be enough.

The Old Testament Israelites in the wilderness only saw the barrenness around them and figured they would starve. Phillip looks at their 200 denarii and figures it won’t be enough to feed the crowd. Here’s the thing, whenever we look only at what we have, it’s never going to appear to be enough. Instead of focusing on what we have, we need to look past that and see Whom we have.

Dear saints, we have Jesus on our side. All things were made by Him (Jn. 1:3), and He spent every drop of His blood to redeem and save us while we were His enemies (Ro. 6:8-10). Don’t think for one second that He is going to leave you in a lurch either spiritually or physically.

Jesus is your Savior who taught you to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive us who trespass against us.” Jesus Himself ties those two petitions together with that little word, ‘and.’ Your Savior wants you to look to Him as the provider of both your spiritual and your physical needs.

I have one final consideration for you today. The other three Gospels help shape this point (see Mt. 14:13-21; Mk. 6:30-44; and Lk. 9:10-17). They tell us that Jesus feeds the 5,000 in the wilderness. In Greek, the word is where we get our word ‘arid’ which means there is not enough rain there to support vegetation. It’s desolate and barren. The same word gets used to describe the place where Jesus fasted for forty days and nights and was tempted by the devil (Mt. 4:1; Mk. 1:12-13; and Lk. 4:1) – not that it was necessarily the same place.

The first temptation that the devil threw at Jesus in that arid wilderness, in that deserted place, was to turn stones into bread. Jesus refused. But now, in a deserted, arid, wilderness Jesus multiplies bread so that others can fill their bellies as full as they want. What Jesus did not do for Himself, He does for others. Christ won’t destroy rocks to put food in His own stomach. He certainly could have, but He would have been altering creation. But He will and does work within creation to multiply the bread and provide more than enough to fill the stomachs of others – even those who will reject him in the coming days (see the rest of Jn. 6).

Here’s the point, dear saints. Jesus, your Savior, came not to be served but to serve (Mt. 20:28), and He serves you. Rejoice. He has and will continue to provide for all your needs – physically and spiritually. He has and will provide everything, absolutely everything, you need for this life and the next. Amen.

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

Disarmed – Sermon on Luke 11:14-28 for the Third Sunday in Lent

Mar7

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Luke 11:14-28

¹⁴ Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. ¹⁵ But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” ¹⁶ while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. ¹⁷ But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. ¹⁸And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. ¹⁹ And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. ²⁰ But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. ²¹ When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; ²² but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. ²³ Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

²⁴ “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ ²⁵ And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. ²⁶ Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

²⁷ As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” ²⁸ But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Jesus casts out a demon, and when the Pharisees see it (see Mt. 12:22-24), they foolishly say that Jesus is only able to cast out demons by using the power of Satan. Lord, have mercy. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Is. 5:20).

When people reject God, they also end up rejecting His standards of right and wrong, and most unfortunately they reject His mercy. But they still know that there is such a thing as right and wrong. So, they will do all sorts of mental gymnastics to fill the void of the true standards, God’s own standards, of right and wrong. And when they do this they sound like a crazy person.

This plays out in our readings this week when they show these two different reactions to God’s mighty hand at work. The ones who rightly understand God’s work are the least you would expect while those who reject God’s hand at work are those who should have recognized it. In our Old Testament lesson (Ex. 8:16-24), Pharaoh’s pagan sorcerers see the terrible plague of judgment through the gnats that were swarming all over, but they rightly conclude, “This is the finger of God.” Then here in our Gospel lesson, the Pharisees see Jesus being kind and gracious, mercifully casting out a demon by the finger of God, but they reject God’s work. Instead, they attribute Christ’s power and mercy to the workings of the devil.

If they had given it two seconds of thought, the Pharisees would have seen their accusation that Jesus is an agent of Satan is absolutely foolish – not only because Jesus is doing things that only God can do – but because their conclusion is completely devoid of any sound thinking and reason. But they didn’t think their accusation through. They prefer to stubbornly deny that Jesus is God in the flesh rather than acknowledging God’s mercy which is staring them in the face.

This darkened, thoughtless, irrational mindset is what we are seeing play out in our culture today. God is always at work in this world. But people who reject God are always inventing other explanations for what happens in creation no matter how ridiculous or ludicrous or silly it sounds. When someone is diagnosed with terminal cancer but then, suddenly, the cancer is gone, some will say, “It’s a medical miracle.” No, it’s God at work, healing and restoring that person, and Christians will rightly attribute that healing to God’s action and mercy. The more we learn about creation, the more we see how wonderfully and intricately God made all things. But atheists still attribute everything to random chance – which takes a lot more faith than believing in a creator.

The other side of this coin (I’ve been thinking about this for a few weeks, and I hope my thoughts here are coherent enough) the other side of this coin is what we are seeing in the “cancel culture.” When people reject God, they also reject His holiness and purity. They lose any and all standards of right and wrong. But they know there is such a thing as right and wrong, so they look for another, false sense of holiness and purity, of right and wrong, but they have to make it up themselves out of their own design and imagination. And this leads us to a place where there is no objective standard or mutual agreement on what is right and good and what is bad and evil.

For example, our culture celebrates and awards all sorts of sinful, vile, disgusting, and, frankly, demonic things in music, television, movies, and online while they will reject and cancel Huck Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird, Dr. Suess, the Muppets, and Mr. Potato Head. It’s why some vandalism is called ‘peaceful protests’ and some is called riots and insurrection. (And please know that I’m not promoting either. I’m just pointing out the double standard.) It’s why you will have a person condemning injecting hormones into cattle (not because of dietary concerns, but because the rights of cattle are being violated). Then, that same person will turn around and celebrate injecting hormones into boys who think they are girls and vice versa. It’s why someone will call and write their representatives to protect the eggs of bald eagles and sea turtles (which is just fine), but then march for the right to kill babies in their mothers’ wombs.

So all of that is just pointing out how made up standards of right and wrong is bad enough. But let’s take it a step further. When popular opinion is the standard for right and wrong the most devastating thing that happens is that any sense of forgiveness or mercy is gone. And this is what we are seeing. If you go against the imaginary morals determined by nothing more than popular consensus, no amount of apologizing will result in forgiveness. Whatever goes against the made up, shifting, demonic morals of popular opinion has to be cancelled because there is no absolution. Mercy becomes a completely foreign concept.

The end result of all this is that people’s actions are insane. There’s no less harsh way to say it. And the scariest thing is that most people are totally at peace living in that quagmire of folly. Jesus actually addresses how they are at peace in their backwards thoughts in the little parable He tells in v. 21-22.

Again, Jesus says there, “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe;but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil.”

Jesus gives us a picture of something very important. He has us imagine a strong man with lots of armor. Picture a mountain of a man, a knight or a champion, with strong, thick armor – an imposing, dangerous, well protected warrior. And he is standing in front of a palace protecting it because the goods in that palace are very important to him. And Jesus says that this strong man’s goods are “safe.” But the Greek there is a little euphemism. It literally reads his goods are ‘in peace.’ In other words, the goods that this strong man is guarding aren’t going to walk away or escape. Instead, they are ‘in peace,’ so the strong man doesn’t have to have his head on a swivel and focus on everything going on around him. Instead, he can direct all his attention to protecting his palace and goods from intruders who would take his goods away. Everything in the palace is buttoned up and he only needs to protect what he has.

But then, suddenly, a stronger man comes and attacks the strong man, strips him of his armor, and leaves the strong man with nothing but his underwear. And the stronger man is robbed of his goods and spoil. That’s the picture.

Now, remember, Jesus is saying this in the context of having just cast out a demon that made the person mute. For some reason, this type of demon was considered especially difficult to cast out. (I don’t know why, so don’t ask.) But Jesus simply casts the demon out so the man can speak. Here, in this little parable, Jesus explains what is going on when He drives out demons.

The strong man with all his armor is the devil. And the palace that the devil is guarding is the entire world which is under his power. The goods that he is guarding are all sinners – even you and me. We were under the rulership of the devil. And the eeriest part of this little parable is when Jesus says that the goods are ‘in peace.’ It’s a false peace, but the goods don’t mind that. Those under the control of the devil, according to Jesus, are in peace, safely tucked away and quietly and contentedly lying there with no desire to leave the devil’s palace.

This is the saddest part of that text, and it shows us how serious our condition is before Christ plunders us. Jesus, the stronger man, has come and is plundering the devil’s goods which were at peace. He’s rescued this demonized, mute man. But this makes the other goods that are under the devil’s control – specifically here it is the Pharisees – uneasy. They want to remain there under the control of the devil and at peace (which, again, isn’t true peace at all, but it’s what they think of as peace). They have grown so accustomed to being under the watchful eye of the devil with his armor that they don’t like it when they see the strong man stripped of all his protection and left in nothing but his underwear while their fellow goods are being plundered and taken away.

Two weeks ago, we heard how Jesus battled the devil in the wilderness when He was tempted. Jesus already demonstrated His power there when He overcame the devil’s temptations. Throughout His ministry, Jesus cast out demons and was taking back the goods that were in that false sense of peace in the devil’s palace and giving them God’s true peace that surpasses all understanding. And Jesus completely disarms of the devil when He liberates all captive sinners by His cross, death, and resurrection.

So, Jesus has defeated the devil and has taken you, the spoil, fulfilling a familiar text, Is. 53:12. Because Jesus poured out His soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors, God says, “I will divide him a portion with the many, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong.” Dear saints, the devil is completely disarmed and utterly powerless over you because of what your Savior has done.

I promised in my sermon on Wednesday night to address this. What was the armor that made the devil seem so strong and imposing? The strength of the devil, as best as we can conclude, is our sin and our guilt. That’s his armor and strength. Every time that we sin, we give the devil power over us. The devil’s power isn’t that he can do a lot of mean, evil things. We know that the devil is limited in his evil by God from the opening chapters of the book of Job. God has to remove His protection from around Job for the devil to have any access to him. And even still, God doesn’t let the devil do whatever he wants (Job 2:6). Instead, the devil’s power is the guilt of humanity. Because of God’s Law, which we sinners have broken, the devil has a just claim to own us. That is where Satan’s power lies.

But now that power is gone. Dear saints, Jesus has come and removed your sin and guilt. He has stripped away any of the devil’s accusations against you. Beelzebul, that lord of the flies and king of the dung heap, has been disarmed. Your guilt is atoned for and your sin is taken away. The devil has no armor and is completely helpless. As we often sing, “When Satan tempts [you] to despair and tells [you] of the guilt within, upward [you] look and see Him there who made an end to all [your] sin. Because the sinless Savior died, [your] sinful soul is counted free. For God the just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon [you].” You are the treasure, the spoil, that Christ has won for Himself. God be praised!

I want to close with a final thought, then, about evangelism and witnessing today. When you encounter people who reject God and His mercy and His holiness and try to replace it with their own ideas of right and wrong, there is nothing more for you to do than to be faithful to what God’s Word says. I can’t give you specific advice on how to handle each situation. But with gentleness and love, point out the truths of God’s Word.

Show others how shallow and empty it is to be in the devil’s palace. It won’t be easy. They’re not going to want to hear it. Remember, they are in peace and totally content in the palace. But you, dear saints, can show them the peace of Christ who has disarmed and stripped the devil of his armor. You can proclaim Christ’s cross and empty tomb which gives true and eternal peace with God.

And to encourage you in this, hear again how our Epistle lesson (Eph 5:1-9) closed, “At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true).” Dear saints, you are (notice this isn’t an exhortation to become something) you are light in the Lord. Faithfully walk as children of the light as you hold fast to what is good and right and true. Amen.

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

The Canaanite School of Beggary – Sermon on Matthew 15:21-28 for the Second Sunday in Lent

Feb28

Listen here.

Matthew 15:21-28

²¹ And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. ²² And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” ²³ But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” ²⁴ He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵ But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” ²⁶ And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷ She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” ²⁸ Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

No one likes being insulted. I remember playing kickball in 7^th grade and kicking a home run. One of the 8^th grade girls on the other team complained to her teammates about not getting me out. I can still hear her saying, “Come on guys, we can’t even get string bean out!” It hurt, but, in her defense, calling me ‘string bean’ was probably accurate. I think I had just reached 6’ 2”, probably weighed all of 120 lbs. when soaking wet, and was as coordinated as a linguini noodle. And if I remember right, it wasn’t a home run because it was some high, majestic kick that cleared a fence. The ball probably made it to the outfield and they tried to throw it at me a couple times, but I was too skinny of a target. Back then, I was basically two dimensional.

Insulting words can hurt from certain people’s lips, but there are times words can feel insulting and we should not be offended because those words are simply true. A prime example of this is when God Himself doles out insults in Scripture. Jesus said that He came to call not the righteous, but sinners (Mt. 9:13). Yes, Jesus came for everyone, so Jesus is calling all of us ‘sinners.’ Jesus says that He came to seek and save the lost (Lk. 19:10), that means you and I are the ‘lost.’ When you read Ro. 3[:10b-18] there is a whole series of insults for all people. Here’s a few for you: no one understands, no one seeks for God, together they have become worthless, no one does good, their throat is an open grave, the venom of asps is under their lips, their mouth is full of curses and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood, in their paths are ruin and misery, the way of peace they have not known, there is no fear of God before their eyes.

In our text today, we have this Canaanite woman whose daughter is severely oppressed by a demon; she gets ignored, rejected, and even insulted by Jesus. But then Christ holds her up before us as an example of great faith because she continues to beg and pray to Jesus – the only One who can help her. In fact, she is only one of two people in all the Gospels whose faith is praised by Jesus. The other person whose faith is praised by Jesus is the Gentile centurion who had a sick servant (Mt. 8:5-13). Not even the disciples, who were personally called by Jesus, get praised for their faith. Because she has great faith, she has something to teach us. As Christians and disciples of Jesus, we should always learn from Christ, and here today, Jesus tells us to be learners and disciples of this Canaanite woman.

So, settle down class. Let’s all learn from our guest lecturer visiting us from the Canaanite School of Beggary.

This Canaanite woman comes to Jesus asking for mercy because, again, her daughter was severely oppressed by a demon. She is going to the right place – to Jesus – and asking Him to do exactly what He came to do. 1 John 3:8 says, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” But what does Jesus do? “He did not answer her a word.”

According to this woman’s experience Jesus is completely ignoring her. But rather than letting her experience discourage her so that she goes away, she keeps crying out. She cries out so much that the disciples become embarrassed and tell Jesus to send her away. Not only is her experience with Jesus harsh, but this foreign Rabbi’s disciples are actually praying against her. And notice that still Jesus doesn’t address her. He answers the disciples. “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

So now, this woman is not only fighting against her experience, she is also fighting against the disciples’ prayers and Jesus’ own words. When Jesus says that He’s only sent for Israel, it is reasonable to think that Jesus is saying that He was not sent for her. But she fights against what reason would say and stubbornly clings to her hope in Jesus. She kneels before Jesus and gives Him a command, “Lord, help me.” Finally, Jesus gives her some attention, but it’s devastating. He replies, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” And that is as insulting as it sounds.

I think it’s safe to say that if most people heard Jesus say this to them, they’d be looking for another god. But this woman knows there is no other help for her, so look what she does. She takes the insult, holds on to it for dear life and says, “Yes, Lord.” Then our translation, the ESV, does something weird here (so do all English translations); they translate the next word as ‘yet.’ Some other translations will use the word ‘but.’ (I think I understand why all the English translations use ‘yet’ or ‘but’ as their translation.) But the word there means ‘for.’ It’s one of the most common words in the New Testament, and of the 1,009 times it’s used in the New Testament this is the only place the ESV translates it as ‘yet.’ The problem with using ‘yet’ or ‘but’ is that it sounds like she is disagreeing with Jesus. She isn’t disagreeing with Jesus. Instead, she agrees with him. She confesses that she is a dog. “Yes, Lord, for even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

Basically, she is saying, “Ok, Jesus. You call me a dog? Then a dog is what I am. I don’t need the bread You give to Your children. You’re correct. It isn’t right to give Your children’s bread to a dog like me. Treat me like a dog and I’ll be more than content to get the crumbs that dogs get. The crumbs that the children drop without realizing it are enough for me.”

I think the first lesson we learn in the Canaanite School of Beggars is that we can be bold in our prayers.

I love what Luther says when he preached on this text. (I included this quote in your bulletin insert.) “When we feel in our conscience that God reproaches us as sinners and judges us unworthy of the kingdom of heaven, then we experience hell and think that we are eternally lost. Whoever has this woman’s ingenuity should catch God in His own judgment and say, ‘Yes. Lord, it is true. I am a sinner and unworthy of Your grace. Nevertheless, You have promised forgiveness to sinners.’”

Dear saints, have the ingenuity of this woman. When God’s Law comes to you and says, “You are lost,” we take God at His Word and cry to Him. “Yes, God. I’m lost. Find me.” When God’s Law says, “You’re a sinner,” we say, “Yes, God. I’m a sinner. Save me” (Mt. 9:13). When God says, “You’re dead,” we cry to Him “Raise me.” And we can be bold when we pray these things. God has promised to do these things for the lost, the sinner, and the dead in sin. So we can take those promises, hold them in front of God’s face, and demand that He be true to His Word.

We actually had a little debate about this in our family this past week. I ran through this idea during our Bible time, and my family had a consensus that we should add a ‘please’ to these prayers. I’m glad my family has manners, but there might be times when we get frustrated with God because He appears to be continually denying our prayers for things He has promised to give us. In this text, it appears that Jesus isn’t going to answer this woman’s prayer.

Now, this whole event with might have lasted an hour or it might have been as short as fifteen minutes. But there is no denying that Jesus puts this woman through the ringer. In our lives, there may be times where it might seem that God is denying our prayers for days or weeks or years. Don’t stop praying. Grab God’s promises and hold them in front of His face like this Canaanite woman did. That’s faith, and Jesus praises that faith.

When the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray, Jesus gives them the Lord’s Prayer. There isn’t one, “Please,” in that prayer. All the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer are imperatives – they’re commands. “Make Your name holy. Bring Your kingdom. Do Your will. Give us our daily bread.” Even the petition, “Forgive us our trespasses,” is a command. “Don’t lead us into temptation. Deliver us from evil.” Every last one of them is a command addressed to your Heavenly Father. Dear saints, be bold when you pray. Hold God to His promises. Like Jacob in our Old Testament lesson (Gen. 32:22-32), don’t let God go until He blesses you. According to Jesus, that is great faith.

Also, you can be consistent and constant in your prayers. After being bold in our prayers, I think that’s the other important lesson we should learn from the Canaanite School of Beggary. God wants you to annoy Him with your prayers. In fact, Jesus teaches two parables to this effect. The first one is in Luke 11[:5-8]. The parable is about a guy who knocks at his neighbor’s door at midnight asking for some bread to give to a guest who has just showed up. And because the guy keeps knocking the neighbor will get out of his bed, get dressed, and find some bread to give to him.

The other parable is Lk. 18[:1-7] where a widow keeps going to a judge to ask for justice. And the judge gets so tired of her asking, he finally gives her what she wants so she doesn’t beat him down with her continual requests.

This text is those two parables played out in real life. She keeps going to Jesus until He gives her what she needs.

Dear saints, like this Canaanite woman, you can take God’s insults because we are all beggars before God. And even when God seems indifferent, when He seems distant, and even when He insults you, you can keep asking boldly. You can do all this because God has sent His Son Jesus to die and rise again for you.

Because Jesus has done this, He has taken us beggars and made us His children. God is your Father, and He won’t let His reputation as your Father be tarnished. He will answer your prayers. It is His good pleasure to give you the kingdom (Lk. 12:32). He will remember His mercy and steadfast love for you. Amen.

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

Confident Repentance – Sermon on Hebrews 4:14-16 for the First Sunday in Lent

Feb21

Listen here.

Hebrews 4:14-16

¹⁴ Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

All three of our Scripture lessons today (Gen. 3:1-21; Mt. 4:1-11; and Heb. 4:14-16) deal with temptation. First, we heard how Adam and Eve were tempted in the Garden and leapt headfirst into sin. Second, we heard how Jesus Himself was tempted in the wilderness by the devil and didn’t jump into sin. And this epistle lesson brings it all together by telling you that your Savior knows your temptations, that He is sympathetic toward your weakness in the face of those temptations, and that He is always ready to welcome you to His throne of grace. Hopefully, v. 15 is a familiar verse to you already, but I want you to hear it again. Listen carefully. “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

We might hear that and just fly over it without giving it much thought. I think it is easy to have a blasé attitude toward that verse and think, “Sure, Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, but look how easily He resisted those temptations. He just quoted some Bible verses, and voilà. No big deal. After all, He’s God, and God cannot sin. The temptations I face are much more difficult.” Dear saints, be careful with that kind of thinking. To think that Jesus wasn’t tempted like we are is to essentially deny His humanity.

Jesus was indeed tempted in every way – every way – that we are tempted. And, in fact, I think v. 15here teaches us very clearly that Jesus knows what it is to be tempted even better than you and I do. Try this picture:

Imagine there are two men who are standing over a pit of sin. This pit could be any sin. It could be lust and clicking on certain websites, it could be anger toward others, it could be gluttony, it could be gossip. And I would encourage you to imagine that this pit is whatever sin you recognize most often in your own life. So, these two men are standing over the pit of sin with a cord tied around their waist. At the bottom of that pit is the devil trying to tempt these men into sin.

Neither of the men simply jump into that pit and willingly sin. So, the devil adds some weight. Satan adds five pounds to the first man’s cord. The man notices a little tug, but he knows what is at the bottom of the pit, so he resists. The devil adds another ten pounds to the cord, and the man has to compensate a bit to keep his balance, but he still resists. So, the devil adds another twenty-five pounds. The cord is digging into the man’s waist. It’s painful and difficult. And the man thinks, “Well, this is just going to keep getting harder. The struggle isn’t going to stop.” So, he simply jumps into the pit and sins. And there, please notice that I said that he ‘jumps’ into the pit. He doesn’t simply fall into the pit. Scripture does talk about ‘falling’ into sin but you only fall into sin after you jump. The man willingly and deliberately jumps in because he figures the temptation is just going to continue to get worse. I’ll explain that bit about jumping more in a bit.

Now, the second man doesn’t jump into the pit right away either. The first five and the additional ten pounds are just as noticeable to him as it was to the first man, but he doesn’t jump. The next twenty-five pounds cut into his skin just as it did the other, but he keeps fighting. So, the devil keeps adding weight. Another fifty pounds. Then, another hundred pounds. The second man is pulling with all his might against the 190 lbs. of temptation weight. He’s clutching on to a tree with every ounce of strength to keep himself out of the pit. The devil decides that a little more weight will do the trick and throws it on the end of the cord…

But the cord snaps. And the man is left there on the ground. He’s tired and sore and injured, but he isn’t in the pit. He remains on the firm, solid ground.

Now, which of those two men knows better what it is to be tempted? The second man. The man who resisted the temptation. He fought longer and harder, and by God’s grace, he prevailed.

With that picture in your mind, listen to what Heb. 2:17-18 says about Jesus, “[Christ] had to be made like His brothers,” that’s all of us (not just the men here), “He had to be made like His brothers in every respect in order to atone for the sins of the people.” Now, listen very carefully as the text continues, “Because [Jesus] Himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.”

Dear saints, Jesus suffered when He was tempted. When our text here says that Jesus was “tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sin,” that isn’t just referring to the types of sin that Jesus was tempted with. He knows every weight of temptation that you have experienced. He knows what it is to have that cord pulling and tugging Him. Yet, He endured the weight and allure of sin. Every cord and rope and chain of temptation that the devil used to try and pull Jesus into the pit of sin broke. So, your Savior is able and knows how to help you when you are being tempted.

Now, that brings me back to what I said in the picture where the first man jumps into the pit of sin. This little analogy should shed new light on 1 Cor. 10:13, which says, “No temptation has come upon you that is not common to man. But God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability.” Stop there for just a second. Jesus knows how much weight of temptation you can handle. The cords and ropes the devil would use to tempt you will all break, they will completely snap, at the exact weight that God determines. Satan can’t use ropes of temptation that are more than you can bear. The devil does not have that ability. Back to the text, “God will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation [God] will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

Dear saints, that is why we have to say that when we are tempted and sin, we don’t just fall into the pit. No, we jump. You and I too easily jump into the various pits of sin. And it is only after we jump that we fall. When the weight gets heavy and the struggle long, we simply jump and find ourselves in those pits of despair. We need to fight temptations because those cords will break. Scripture promises. Later in Heb. 12[:4], we hear this, “In your struggle against sin,” and the word there in Greek for ‘struggle’ is ἀνταγωνίζομαι (antagonizomai) where we get our word ‘antagonist.’ It’s interesting to know that word ἀνταγωνίζομαι is used outside of Scripture to describe a boxing match and even mortal combat – fighting to the death. So let’s use that idea. “In your mortal combat against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” Fighting temptation isn’t just a mortal combat for your physical life; it is an eternal combat for your soul. Yet, you and I too often do not put up much of a fight. We jump into all sorts of sins. Repent.

Maybe you noticed that I titled this sermon “Confident Repentance,” and here I’ve spent all this time talking about temptations and the need to resist them. We do need to resist temptation. We need to fight against our sinful flesh. Yet, we also recognize that we keep jumping headfirst into sins over and over again. And the thing that this text would teach us is that we do not need to hide that fact before God. So, here is why you can confidently repent: you have a merciful God who can personally sympathize with your weakness when it comes to temptation and sin.

One of the saddest things we saw in our Old Testament lesson is that Adam and Eve fled from the sound of their Creator after they sinned. Then, over and over God is simply trying to get them to repent which is nothing more than telling the truth about your sin. God asks, “Where are you?” God knew where they were, and He knew what they had done. He was just trying to get them to tell the truth about their sin. God asks Adam a second question, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree I commanded you to not eat?” In other words, God again just wanted Adam to speak the truth about his sin. But Adam passes the buck. Eve gets asked, “What is this that you have done?” and she blames the serpent. Parents wouldn’t accept these excuses from their children because Adam and Eve are both trying to put the blame somewhere else. It isn’t what we might call ‘true repentance.’

But also notice, there are little kernels of truth. Adam does say he ate – even though he blames his wife and, ultimately, God. Eve also admits she ate even though she blames the serpent. But God abundantly merciful and counts it as repentance. Notice the first thing God does. He punishes the devil and promises to send Jesus to crush his head.

God takes these sorry excuses and counts them as repentance, and this is way back in Genesis. So, how much more, now that Jesus has come and has been tempted in every way that you are, now that Scripture promises that because of Christ God is sympathetic to your temptations because He knows your struggles against them, how much more confidence can you have that when you repent and tell the truth about your sin you will also find mercy and forgiveness?

You can, with sure and certain confidence, approach God’s throne of grace and admit those times that the heavy weight of temptation got to you and you jumped into the pit of sin. You can confess the times where there was just a little weight – just measly fifteen or even ten pounds – and you jumped. You can even bring before God the times where there wasn’t any weight and you simply jumped into the pit.

Jesus knows your temptations, your weakness, and your failures. And He still goes to the cross for you. Jesus takes your sin upon Himself. Jesus has gone into every pit of sin into which you have jumped to rescue and redeem you. He suffered all the wrath you have earned by your sins. And now, He has ascended to the right hand of God the Father ready to hear your plea, “Have mercy on me.” And He does.

So, now, confidently repent. And hear His merciful invitation to take your seat at His table. Amen.

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

Dust & Doves – Sermon on Jonah 3:1-10 and Matthew 6:16-21 for Ash Wednesday

Feb18

Listen here.

Jonah 3:1-10; Matthew 6:16-21

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Tonight, you heard harsh words. They were the same words that were first spoken to your father Adam, “You are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3:19). God had said it would be this way, “In the day you eat of it, you will die,” and so it is.

God never intended to speak such harsh words of judgment over the crown of His creation. When Adam was created, God had lovingly and carefully formed him out of the mud. As a potter molds and shapes the clay (Is. 64:8), so God formed and shaped Adam. Then, God blew into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life, and Adam became a living soul. After God created Eve from one of Adam’s ribs, God blew on both of them again and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and have dominion over everything that moves on the earth” (Gen. 1:28). God wanted more and more of these creatures of dust which He had made in His image.

But tonight, we remember what we have destroyed by our sins. We need to remember because we so easily forget what our sin is and what our sin does. Your sins and my sins aren’t just little accidents here and there. They aren’t just making an occasional wrong choice. Every one of our sins is a rebellion against God. Sin corrupts and darkens and infects every part of us – body and soul. Our sin is the cause of our stiffness, soreness, tiredness, and fatigue. But even if we can hide the outward, bodily effects of our sin, we cannot hide anything before God. Eventually, sin will overtake us and we will return to dust.

Tonight, we remember what we have done to bring about our own death. We remember how we have lived as though God did not matter and as though we mattered most. We remember that our sin is every thought, word, and deed that we have done and what we have left undone. We remember that we justly deserve God’s present and eternal punishment. We remember that our heart is always turning everywhere except where true treasure is to be found. And, as we remember all of this, we repent.

As important as it is to remember our sin, our separation from God, and our mortality, there is something more important to remember and that is the fact that God remembers His promises to you.

Tonight, we heard about Jonah’s preaching and the repentance it brought to the people of Nineveh (Jon. 3:1-10). God had called Jonah to preach to that great city once before, but Jonah ran the opposite way. Jonah ran, not because he was afraid, but because he had faith in God’s Words. Jonah knew that God had promised to be merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin (Ex. 34:6-7). Jonah didn’t want that for the people of Nineveh. We heard how he went and preached a reluctant, one-sentence sermon of only Law. But despite Jonah’s reluctance and poor preaching, God’s Word was still effective. (And that, by the way, is a comfort for me.) The people of Nineveh repented and turned to the one true God whose mercy abounds.

The people of Nineveh heard and believed God’s Word (Jon. 3:5). And they took, what was for them, a shot in the dark. They repented thinking that maybe, just maybe, God would turn from His fierce anger. And it paid off. God forgave them.

A lot could be said about Jonah’s sinful attitude toward preaching to the people of Nineveh, but we’re going to leave that for another time. Tonight, know this. The same God who forgave the wicked sinners of Nineveh is also your God.

God sent Jonah, whose name means ‘dove,’ to proclaim peace to Nineveh. And even though that little dove, who now smelled of whale vomit (because that’s what he had become), and even though his sermon stank as much as he did, God’s peace arrived to those dusty sinners of Nineveh.

Tonight, God has done for you what He did for the Ninevites. God has sent the dove of His Holy Spirit. God has gathered you here tonight so He can breathe on you His life-giving words.

Your merciful God remembers that you are dust, and He has done something about it. God Himself took on a dusty, human frame when He was born. He took on your human flesh so He could draw all the poison of your sin into Himself. The same God is the One who forgives and raises the poor out of the dust to live forever in His kingdom.

Through God’s Word tonight, He is creating faith in us who were His enemies. He brings life to the dying. He opens the gates of heaven because this Word creates faith which remembers God’s promise that He will remember your sins no more.

Tonight, God invites you to His altar to hear another one-sentence sermon. “Take, eat and drink; this is the Body and Blood of Christ given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins.” He gives you this Sacrament so that we men and women of dust will live eternally. Amen.^[1]

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

^[1] I am thankful for a sermon by Pr. Ralph Tausz as inspiration for this sermon.

Love – Sermon on 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 for Quinquagesima Sunday

Feb14

Listen here.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

¹ If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. ¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Or as Mr. T would say, “Happy Balentine Day!”

Love is the highest of all virtues. Faith and hope are right near the top, but love is still the greatest. More on that at the end of the sermon.

The world doesn’t know what love is. And too often, even we Christians have a misguided understanding of love. Sometimes, love hurts as the band Nazareth said back in ’75. Our problem is that we have associated love with certain feelings, and we wrongly think we are loving when we say or do something that makes us feel good about ourselves. When our feelings become the standard of what is and what is not love, we are in a bad place. What’s even worse is that in our culture today tolerance has risen to the top of all virtues. Can you imagine getting a card from your spouse or parent or child that says, “Happy Valentine’s Day! I tolerate you”? It wouldn’t go well.

To be sure, tolerance is a virtue. There are times where we find the views of others to be strange, wrong, or even abhorrent, but we can still live peaceably with that person. That’s true tolerance, and it is good to be tolerant in that sense. But when the word ‘tolerance’ is used today, that’s not what people usually mean. Today, ‘tolerance’ has come to mean that you endorse or affirm opinions or ideas that are totally unbiblical and unnatural, and if you don’t, you are labeled as ‘intolerant.’ We could do a whole study on the hypocrisy of that mindset, but we’re not going to do that today – at least not directly. Instead, we are going to talk about love in the truest sense.

Love is what this world needs because true love is in short supply. Thankfully, the Scriptures repeatedly show us what true love is, what true love does, and what true love does not do. This text from 1 Cor. 13 is one of the best definitions of love. In v. 4-8a, we are given sixteen different aspects of love – seven describe what love is and nine describe what it is not.

Just to run through them quickly, and I will encourage you to take your Scripture insert home and use two different-colored highlighters to mark what love is and what it is not.

Here is what love is. Love is patient and kind. Love rejoices with the truth. Love is bearing all things, believing all things, hoping all things, enduring all things. When you consider the seven things that love is, you and I can quickly see that we are not loving because we are not those things.

Here is what love is not. Love is not envious, not boastful, not arrogant, not rude, and not insistent. Love is not irritable and not resentful (the Gk. there is literally love does not ‘count up wrongdoing.’ I like how other translations do it there, ‘It keeps no record of wrongs.’). Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing. Love does not end. When you consider those nine things that love is not, again, you and I quickly see that we are not loving because we are those things.

So, again, Scripture tells us what love is, and we recognize we are not those things. And Scripture tells us what love is not, and we recognize we are those things. Let us all repent.

There is One who is all the things that love is and who is not all the things that love isn’t – God. God is love (1 Jn. 4:8, 16). We see this most clearly in Jesus. 1 John 4:9-10 says, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (the ‘atoning sacrifice’) for our sins.” If we want to see the love described here in 1 Cor. 13 in action and what it looks like in real life, all we have to do is look at Jesus, God in the flesh – embodied love. So, we’re going to play a game here. Let’s consider how Jesus interacted with people and ask if He was loving. I promise there are no tricks here, but there are wrong answers. The purpose of this little exercise is to help us understand how to live a life of love.

First question. Was Jesus loving when He repeatedly taught the disciples that He must be betrayed, go to the cross, suffer, die, and rise again – even though the disciples didn’t understand it (Lk. 9:22; 9:43b-45; 18:31-34)? Yes, Jesus was loving. He was being patient, and He was bearing with the disciples’ misunderstanding.

Next question. Was Jesus loving in our Gospel text (Lk. 18:31-43) when He restored the sight of blind Bartimaeus? Yes, He was being kind. Was Jesus loving when He healed Peter’s mother-in-law of her fever (Mt. 8:14), when He forgave and healed the paralytic who was lowered through the hole ripped open in the roof of His house (Mk. 2:1f), when He cleansed lepers, cast out demons, gave hearing to the deaf, fed the hungry, and raised the dead? Yes, Jesus was loving. He was being very, very kind.

Good job! You’re doing well at our little game. Let’s keep playing and see how many imaginary points you can get.

Was Jesus being loving when He went into the wilderness to fast and be tempted (Mt. 4:1-11; Lk. 4:1-13)? Was He loving when He believed God’s Word rather than the devil’s lies in that temptation? Was He loving when He hoped in God’s provision of food at the right time? Was He loving when He endured those temptations? Yes! Jesus was loving. Remember, love believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

Let’s go to round two and make the game a little more difficult here.

Was Jesus loving when He preached the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5-7)? Jesus taught there that no jot or tittle will pass away from the Commandments. He taught that anger is the same as murder – it’s just murder in your heart. Same with lust. Lust is committing adultery in your heart. Was Jesus loving in that sermon when He teaches you how to love your enemies, how to give, how to pray, and how to fast? Yes, Jesus was loving. Remember, love does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth.

Taking a quick break from our game here to bring this to your everyday life. There are times where you are going to have to correct others. Parents, this duty regularly falls to you, but it isn’t only for parents. If you love your children, you will have to teach your kids right and wrong. You will have to teach them how to deal with people who hate them, how to be generous, how to pray, and how to give up things that are harmful to them.

Let’s step the difficulty in our game up a notch and make it a little harder. Remember, there’s no tricks in this game. For this round, think back to the list of things that love is not. Love is not envious, boastful, arrogant, rude, insistent, or irritable.

Was Jesus loving when He cleared out the Temple (Mt. 21:12-17; Mk. 11:15-18; Lk. 19:45-46; Jn. 2:13-22)? Yes! Jesus was loving. But you might wonder when He saw the sellers and moneychangers and flipped their tables, when He made a whip to drive them out of the Temple, when He was consumed with zeal for God’s house and said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” wasn’t Jesus being envious, rude, and irritable? No, He wasn’t. He was still being loving even though those acts certainly made the sellers and money-changers uncomfortable.

How about when Jesus clearly taught, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me,” (Jn. 14:6) was Jesus being loving there? Isn’t that being boastful, arrogant, and insistent? No, Jesus wasn’t being any of those things. He was loving. Again, He was rejoicing in and teaching the truth.

We need another break from our game here to apply this to our lives. I hope you all remember Abdi, the leader of the Islamic center just a couple blocks from here. A few years ago, the Islamic center had an event to introduce themselves to the community, who they are and what they do. The people there were extremely kind. They provided a good meal to everyone who came. But one of the presenters that day took a lot of time trying to say that Muslims worship the same God that Christians worship. Which is absolutely false. Sure, they will say that they trace their pagan religion back to Abraham which we do as well. They will point to passages in the Koran that say Jesus is a good teacher who should be listened to. But they deny the fact that Jesus is God in the flesh who died and rose again for the forgiveness of sins. Islam is a false, pagan religion of works not grace.

During that gathering, Abdi invited me to introduce myself, and I wasn’t really prepared to say anything. So, I had to make a split second decision of how to love these people who were being kind and generous but teaching things that are false. I don’t exactly remember what I said, but I simply thanked them for their hospitality and mentioned that I hope to get to know them better and work with them to help the people of our community. I didn’t go on a diatribe of how Muslims will go to hell unless they convert to Christianity. I didn’t rant about the evil, violence, and oppression that Islam promotes. It wasn’t the time to do that. But I was wearing this cross which confesses that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It confesses Jesus’ death and resurrection. I know some people there noticed the cross. And I hope and pray that how I conducted myself there will open the door for opportunities to talk more with those people for whom Jesus died so they too can believe in Christ who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

And I will readily confess, that may have not been most loving thing to do. I admit, there was some cowardice in that moment on my part. God forgive me if anything I did or said was misleading the Muslims there to think I was affirming their pagan beliefs. I don’t think it was misleading in that way. But I hope and pray what I said and did there will open the door to develop good relationships and grant opportunities to point them to Christ. All of this is to say, dear saints, you are, at times, going to be put into positions where you need to be loving and it isn’t crystal clear what the most loving thing to do is. For the time being, we see in a mirror dimly. But know that your words and actions must confess the truth that Jesus is the only way of salvation. That is always loving.

Back to our little game, and this is the final, and in my opinion, most difficult round.

Think back to when Jesus was talking with the woman at the well in Samaria (see Jn. 4:1-42). There are other moments that would work here. But this is my game, so I get to make up the questions. As Jesus talks to her, He offers her the water of eternal life, and the woman is extremely interested to learn more. Then Jesus says, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” But the woman responds, “I have no husband.” And Jesus comes right back saying, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” If love, as defined by Scripture, says that “love is not resentful” (and remember that literally, that means “love does not count up wrongs”), was Jesus being loving there? I mean, Jesus brought up a detailed record of her sins. Was He loving when He did that? Yes, Jesus was being loving. The woman’s adultery was a sin that needed to be addressed and dealt with. She needed repentance and forgiveness, and Jesus gives her both repentance and forgiveness (for God being the source of repentance see Act. 11:18, 5:31).

Dear saints, it is unloving to endorce or celebrate people harming themselves in their life of sin. Parents, it is not loving to allow your children to continually ignore your rules and treat your rules as though they do not matter. It is not loving to repeatedly warn your child of consequences but not follow through on them. For example, if you threaten to punish your kid for standing on the couch but never actually dole out that punishment, they will think that your words aren’t important. And when you warn them that running into the street without looking first is dangerous, they might think you aren’t serious about that either.

Another example, I don’t think any of you are dealing with this specifically – God be praised. But I want to use this example to set up something else. If there is someone in your life who is slowly killing themselves with an addiction to illegal drugs, is it loving to provide a home and access to your money (even if it is by them stealing it)? No, it is not loving. You might need to kick that person out of your house. That person might say that you are being unloving by making them homeless. They might not see your actions as loving, but know that it is not love to help feed that addiction. That sets me up for this:

The same goes for sexual sins. And I’m going to talk about the LGBTQ movement for a moment here. It is not loving to say that it’s ok for two men or two women to pretend to be married. God invented and created marriage to be a man and a woman. And don’t fall for the lie that those relationships don’t harm anyone and aren’t your concern. People who chose to live a homosexual lifestyle are harming themselves and others with diseases and depression. They are harming others by not having children who will become productive members of society. The same goes for men who think they are women and women who think they are men. The hormones they inject into their bodies and the surgeries they may have do irreparable harm. It is not loving to say that those choices aren’t the concern of anyone else and promote them. We do need to correct these things in as kind a way as possible. We do not harangue or yell. We need to let love guide the way in which we correct these things. Build relationships, look for open doors, and speak in kindest and most loving way – always.

Dear saints, I hope this little game we’ve played has been helpful to give your love direction. Know that following and keeping God’s commands and speaking the truth about what God commands is love. When Jesus summarizes the Ten Commandments, He boils it down to this, “Love the Lord your god with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself” (Mk. 12:28-31). And Romans 13:10distills it down even further when it says, “Love is the fulfilling of the Law.” How we love others in a specific situation isn’t always going to be perfectly clear. But the Commandments and our relationship with others gives us a guide as to how to love others. There will be times where you will have to use your God-given wisdom to know if you need to be patient or kind or speak harsh truths that may not be welcomed or received. And know – know beyond a shadow of a doubt – that you will fail in your love for God and your love for others.

But also know that God hasn’t failed in His love for you. Even though the disciples didn’t know what Jesus meant when He plainly told them that He would die and rise again for them, He did it anyway. Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Well, Jesus went even further. He laid down His life for wicked, unloving sinners. He laid down His life for you.

Love is not one virtue among many. It is the only virtue. The chief virtue. The virtue from which all other virtues flow. When this passage says that love never ends, know what that means for you. Christ’s love never ends, which means that Christ’s love embraces you with a love that will change your mortal body into a resurrected, glorious body. Christ’s unending love for you is why you believe in the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

In this life, our love will always fall short of the real standards of what love is. But Jesus’ love for you doesn’t. God’s love for you in Christ is perfect, complete, and whole.

And the day will come when you will also love perfectly. Your impatience, your cruelty, anger, pride, envy, and bitterness will disappear from your heart. What you now see in a mirror dimly will become crystal clear. God’s pure love will flow through you forever.

That’s why love is the greatest. Faith will cease because it will be replaced by sight. Hope will no longer be needed because it will be exchanged with experience. That’s why love is the greatest of the three. It will never end. God’s steadfast love for you in Christ never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new each and every morning. Now, and unto eternity. For that, God be praised. Amen.

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

The Seed – Sermon on Luke 8:4-15 for Sexagesima Sunday

Feb7

Listen here.

Luke 8:4-15

¹ And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, ⁵ “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. ⁶ And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. ⁷ And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. ⁸ And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

⁹ And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, ¹⁰ he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ ¹¹ Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. ¹² The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. ¹³ And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. ¹⁴ And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. ¹⁵ As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.”

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

This is Jesus’ first parable, so a quick note about parables is important here at the outset. We get some insight as to the reason Jesus teaches in parables when the disciples ask Jesus what the parable means. Jesus tells them, “I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not understand.” In short, parables are not intended to make things clearer. The parables, according to Jesus, are meant to obscure things. And here’s why:

The crowds had begun to reject Jesus’ teaching. Basically, what Jesus says He is doing is teaching these know-it-alls in riddles, so they realize just how dumb they really are (see esp. Mt. 13:10-17). You know how it is when you are around a group of people and there is a joke that you aren’t in on. You get curious and want to be ‘in.’ So you ask questions and dig deeper to be part of the ‘in’ crowd.

God be praised, the disciples fall for the bait and do exactly that. Please notice, that. These guys who have been called by Jesus to be fishers of men, even they have to ask Jesus what the parable means. When the disciples ask Jesus what He means by this parable, they are exercising and growing in their faith. They go to the right place with their misunderstanding; they go straight to Jesus. “Dude, what are you talking about?” Whenever you have doubts or questions or feel like outsiders, you do well to follow the disciples’ example here. Let’s all go to Jesus, the Word made flesh, and get things cleared up.

Honestly, this particular parable really is quite simple. And to make it idiot-proof and so we don’t get it wrong, Jesus gives us the cheat sheet. We can thank the Holy Spirit for inspiring the Gospel writers to help us dense folk today. So, since you have ears, hear what God desires you to hear.

In the parable, the seed is the Word of God. The different places where the seed falls – the path, the rocks, the thorns, and the good soil – are the various conditions of the heart. While we might be tempted to ask, “What kind of soil am I?” it is probably better to recognize that you and I are each of these types of soil at different times. And even though Jesus doesn’t explicitly say this, I think the types of soil that are presented in the parable are in a particular order. Jesus starts with what is easiest for the devil to attack and prevent fruit from being produced and moves to the types of hearts that are more difficult. So, let’s go through each of them.

First, the path, and listen most closely right now. Open your ears here for two minutes. If you don’t listen to any other part of this sermon, listen to this. The path represents those who hear the Word of God, but then, the devil comes and takes away the Word from their hearts. Look again at the end of v. 12. Our translation, the ESV, has Jesus explaining what happens to the seed on the path by saying, “so they may not believe and be saved.” Now, the ESV is a faithful translation (I wouldn’t be using it for our services if I didn’t think so), but I think the translators unintentionally mislead us a little bit here (and to be fair to the ESV, other translations do the same thing). They make it sound like there are two verbs there – ‘not believe’ and ‘not be saved.’ But, actually, there is only one verb. ‘Not believe’ is a participle and ‘not be saved’ is the verb. In other words, more literally, Jesus says, “so that having believed they may not be saved.” In other words, these people hear God’s Word, and they believe it. But before that Word can begin to grow and sprout, the devil simply snatches it away. This is the devil’s easiest attack on the Word of God. And I think we’ve all experienced this.

To my great shame, I will admit that there are times when I hear God’s Word and it goes right in one ear and out the other. For example, after I drop my kids off for school, I will listen as my phone plays one of my daily Bible readings while I drive here to work. And there are days when I get distracted by something – thinking about my day, or another driver who doesn’t come to a complete stop or use their turn signal or whatever. The reading ends, and I honestly couldn’t tell you what I heard. Other times, I’ve listened to sermons – good, solid, biblical sermons – but once the sermon is over, I couldn’t tell you what the sermon was about. Again, this is the easiest way for the devil to attack the powerful, effective Word of God. He simply snatches it away because it falls on the hard, concrete path.

People of God, when you hear God’s Word, when you read the Bible, when you sit in those chairs and hear the preaching, listen up. Do whatever it takes to pay attention. Get enough sleep on Saturday. Have some caffeine before you come. Don’t let your heart be a paved, hardened path where the devil can simply come and snatch God’s Word from you.

Now, that you’ve heard that, I hope I have your attention and you keep listening.

The second place the seed of God’s Word falls is the rock. This ground is a little more difficult for Satan. This is when we hear God’s Word and receive it with joy. But then those promises get scorched by the heat of trials. We believe the Word for a while, but when times of trouble and testing come, we abandon those promises and fall away.

How many times does God promise to be with you always, but then, when hot trials come, we think God is angry with us and has abandoned us? Trials, tribulations, and troubles are not the time to doubt God’s promises! Think about it the terms of this parable. The heat from the sun represents the trials. But it isn’t the hot sun that kills plants. If plants have good, deep roots that reach down to where the moisture is, the heat from the sun is what causes plants to grow and bear fruit.

Think of when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego faced death – they faced the hottest trial that anyone can encounter, literally! But they refused to let that trial wither their faith. They had roots that went down to the moisture and their faith prevailed and even flourished when Jesus walked with them in the burning fiery furnace. If you know even a little bit of church history, you know that the church typically grows when it is persecuted. Dear saints, when trials and tribulations come, that is not the time to abandon God’s promises. That is the time to sink your roots deep into them and find the moisture you need. Those trials will in fact cause you to grow and not wither away.

The third place the Word of God falls is among the thorns. The thorns are the cares and riches of this life. Jesus here is warning us that trials and tribulations aren’t the only enemy to our faith. Good gifts that God gives can also be bad for our faith. We are tempted to think that when we are comfortable and not facing trials that we will be left alone, but that isn’t the case. We cannot let our guard down when things are going well. The devil will still attack us, but this is also where he has the hardest time. Satan hasn’t been able to simply snath the promises of God away, and he hasn’t succeeded with his fiery trials. So, the devil has no other choice but to try and choke out God’s Word. But this attack takes the longest and is the hardest for him to accomplish. Here, the devil has to try to slowly introduce weeds to choke out God’s Word. He can’t do it all at once, otherwise we would recognize the attack and be on guard against it. So, he works slowly to choke out God’s Word from your heart.

This is just a reminder. Those weeds – the riches, pleasures, and cares of this life – will always be a threat and nuisance to you. Christian, there will be times where you will need to go out and pick weeds from your life. You can’t simply trim weeds. You have to pull them up by the root. Dear saints, ask yourself, “What has gotten in the way of the Word of God? What things keep me from hearing the blessings God would give me through His Word?” When Jesus talks here about the cares and riches of this life, He doesn’t get specific. Instead, He wants us to constantly assess ourselves and see what is hindering us from rejoicing in God’s Word and being participants in God’s family.

Now, we are ten days away from the beginning of Lent. Today is February 7^th and Lent begins February 17^th. Scripture doesn’t give specifics for each of us as to what chokes out our faith; instead, God’s Word gives us wisdom to discern what might be slowly strangling us. I am calling on you now to use that wisdom.

Lent is typically a time to remove particular hinderances to our devotion to God’s Word. The Scriptures call it fasting. Fasting is not commanded, but Jesus does assume that His disciples will fast at times (see. Mt. 6:16-18). Fasting is not a way to make God more pleased with you. God couldn’t be more pleased with you who believe that Jesus has forgiven you of all your sins. Instead, fasting is a way to uproot the thorns that the devil would use to choke out your faith. Fasting curbs your sinful, fleshly desires. Fasting, basically, tells your flesh, “You are not in charge of me.”

Lent is a time to pull out those weeds and thorns that would choke out your faith. You have ten days to consider what you might remove from your life for the forty days of Lent. Maybe, there is something that would be beneficial for you to give up in order to discipline your flesh and give extra attention to God’s Word. Again, God doesn’t command this. It’s not something you have to do, but it is a good practice. Don’t think that God will be more pleased with you if you fast. Instead, know that it is a good and beneficial discipline to deny yourself something so that thing, whatever it is, doesn’t become a choking, strangling thorn in your life of faith. Lent is a good time to pick weeds from your spiritual life.

Finally, the Word falls on good soil. Just as you, sinner, are the soil of the path, the rocks, and the thorns, you, Christian, are also the good soil. You are both and all at the same time. God’s Word comes and produces an abundance of fruit that yields a hundred-fold and provides for others.

When we hear this parable, one of the most shocking things is how the recklessly the sower throws around the seed. He throws it around willy-nilly and it lands all over the place. Well, right here at this altar, the sower is about to carefully plant the Seed of His Word deeply into you. You are about to come and receive Christ, the Word made flesh, His very Body and Blood. Let this careful, deliberate planting of God’s Word and the deliverance of God’s forgiveness of all your sins bear, let it bear the fruit of joy and love. Amen.

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

The Evil Eye – Sermon on Matthew 20:1-16 for Septuagesima Sunday

Jan31

Listen here.

Matthew 20:1-16

¹ “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ² After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, ⁴ and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ ⁵ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. ⁶ And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ ⁷ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ ⁸ And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ ⁹ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. ¹⁰ Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. ¹¹And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, ¹² saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ ¹³ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. ¹⁵ Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ ¹⁶ So the last will be first, and the first last.”

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Follow the eyes of those who worked all twelve hours of the day. These laborers woke up before the sun rose. They crawled out of bed, rubbed their eyes, had breakfast, and made their way to the marketplace hoping to be hired so they could put food on the family table. As the morning light begins to illumine the city, they see the vineyard owner coming toward them. He calls them to work in his vineyard offering an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work – one denarius. Off they go into the vineyard. When they get there, they see their tasks and get busy. They dig, and they till, and they prune, and they water, and they pull weeds, and they harvest. Whatever needs to be done in the vineyard, they get at it.

Then, as the morning sun continues to rise, these twelve-hour workers see their friends who hadn’t been hired at first, but now they are arriving in the vineyard. They had been hired just before Price is Right comes on. At this point, the guys who got to the vineyard first had been working for three hours, so they know what tasks could use a few extra hands. They all get to working as productively and efficiently as possible. A few more hours go by, and at the sixth hour during their lunch break, they see more of their buddies arriving to work in the vineyard. So, again, they reorganize and reprioritize where each of them will be laboring, and it’s back off to work.

As the day goes on and the temperature rises, they grab some water, and see more of their pals coming to work in the vineyard. It’s the ninth hour – about three o’clock. Those twelve-hour workers see that the vineyard is getting pretty full, but they welcome their friends and get back to the grind.

Then, as the sun is setting and the temperature begins to dip, they see even more workers arriving. The day is basically over, so it’s strange that more workers are arriving. But whatever. The twelve-hour workers know that they’ll soon be getting their wages, their denarius. They look forward to returning to their homes and proudly show the fruits of their labor. They anticipate the hugs from their kids and kisses from their wives. They’re ready to sit down to a nice dinner, get cleaned up, and contentedly lie down in their beds after an honest, fulfilling day’s work. They are pleased with themselves because they have done what was needed to provide for their families.

Finally, the sun begins to set, and the evening light clings to the sky. The workers put all the tools away and line up to receive their wages. But the full-day workers see that they are going to have to wait for their pay. Their buddies who came just in time for cleanup are going to get paid first. But then, they see the oddest thing. The guys who basically arrived just in time to get paid are getting a full denarius. These twelve-hour workers see that shiny denarius, a full day’s wage, landing in the clean hands of the one-hour workers. Their eyes get wide. They are so busy giving each other high fives and imagining what they are going to do with their extra windfall that they don’t even notice that those hired at the ninth hour get a denarius, same with those who came in at the sixth and those at the third.

So, there they are, standing in front of the foreman. They hold out their hand expecting to see lots of shiny coins. But they feel the weight of a single, solitary denarius in their palms. They look at that currency and despise it. What had sounded good, right, and reasonable in the morning is now detestable, despicable, and revolting in their eyes. So, they angrily look toward the vineyard owner, and the same is true of him. In the morning, he had appeared as a fair and honest man who would provide work and pay for them and their families, but now he looks like an unfair, unjust, inequitable scoundrel. And they complain.

The vineyard owner patiently listens to their protests, but they haven’t been shorted. It’s no skin off their backs. They didn’t get any less. So, the vineyard owner looks square into the eyes of those sour-faced workers and asks, “Where’s the foul? Didn’t we agree for a denarius? All those coins belong to me, so why do you think you get to decide what I do with them? Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?” And our translation says, “Do you begrudge my generosity?” But literally, the Greek there says, “Is your eye evil because I am good?”

And there it is. The vineyard owner was good – good and generous. He provided jobs and income for the people of his community. In fact, he was better than good. He was gracious. He freely gave more than the vast majority of his workers deserved. The evil eyes only pop up in those who think they deserve more than they are given. And those eyes are evil because they look more at themselves and their work instead of at the mercy and generosity of the vineyard owner.

None of these workers decided on their own to work for the master. Every one of them was called and sent only by the initiative of the vineyard owner. No one went to knock at his door to ask for a job, and no one volunteered to work for him when he came into the marketplace. Each of them was called, and each of them was called at the precise time the owner called them. He went and retrieved them.

Here’s the point, Christian: You were called by God. Period. He came. He called you into His service. He gave you work to do. You didn’t seek to work for Him. God called you into His kingdom when it pleased Him. If it had pleased God to hire everyone at dawn and have them work an entire day, he would have.

If you think God owes you better than He has given, if you think you have earned what He gives for free, you too have an ugly, evil eye. In fact, you have lifted yourself above God and put yourself on His throne. But it won’t work, you aren’t above God. When Jesus comes again on the Last Day, the first will be last, and Jesus Himself declares what that means. The last are told to take what is theirs and leave the vineyard. If this parable rubs you the wrong way, that’s the sentence you need to look at.

The true gift in the parable is hidden in that sentence. It isn’t just about the denarii that the vineyard owner graciously doles out. A permanent place in the vineyard is at stake. For those who have the evil eye of pride, there is nowhere else to go and they are sent away empty-handed. If we are really honest, we cannot claim anything as our own. Everything we have is gift. By grace we are saved, not as a result of works. No one can boast (Eph. 2:8-9).

But that sentence of judgment – when the vineyard owner says, “Take what belongs to you and go” – is a gracious statement for you, believer. You just have to open your eyes to see the benevolence, generosity, and mercy of God.

To those who don’t invoke their rights or complain about the generosity of God, they remain in the vineyard. You don’t just get a day’s wage for little work. In His mercy, God gives you the whole vineyard! Your generous God doesn’t treat you as workers, but as sons. Dear saints, God doesn’t pay you wages. He gives you an inheritance. The vineyard is yours.

Rejoice. The kingdom of heaven is the opposite of the kingdoms of men. You don’t earn. You don’t pay. The goods are given for free. It would drive any man-made business into the ground, but God doesn’t care. God isn’t out to make a living. He is out to give away His kingdom.

In the kingdom of God, there is no room for pride or arrogance or boasting in what we do because there is no doing on our part. Everything has already been done by Christ. We simply benefit because of His full and complete work. We who were dead in our sins, enemies of God, and children of wrath are raised, pardoned, adopted, and transferred into God’s kingdom. As we heard in our call to worship, God saves a humble people, but the haughty eyes He brings down (Ps. 18:27).

And look! Jesus now invites you to come have a seat at His table and taste of the joys of His finished work for you. Amen.

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

Pastorsamwise

"Don't the great tales never end?"

Category Archives: Historic One Year Lectionary

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The Seed – Sermon on Luke 8:4-15 for Sexagesima Sunday

The Evil Eye – Sermon on Matthew 20:1-16 for Septuagesima Sunday