Tag Archives: Saint

Blessed Wages – Sermon on Matthew 5:1-12 for All Saints’ Day (Observed)

Matthew 5:1–12

1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: 

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Dear saints, that’s you. If you are a Christian, you are a saint. A saint is nothing more than a holy person. I don’t imagine you think that you are holy in and of yourself. If you think you are, that is nothing more than pride, which is evidence that you are not holy. No, you are a saint because you belong to Jesus. He has made you holy by shedding His blood and dying for you. Christ has purchased and redeemed you and has made you holy.

Now, that brings us to the Beatitudes, but we’re going to start at the end so we can better understand the whole thing. In the last two verses, Jesus says, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.”

Jesus commands us to do something here, but it might be one of the most difficult commands in Scripture. Your Lord commands you to rejoice and be glad when you are reviled, when you are persecuted, and when people utter all kinds of evil against you falsely. This command doesn’t have to do with how you use your body. We’re used to those kinds of commands – don’t use your mouth, tongue, and lips to lie; don’t use your arms and hands to kill or steal. We can do those things at least outwardly – even though we don’t perfectly keep those commands when we don’t lie, kill, or steal. But with this command, Jesus demands that you have certain feelings. Be joyful and glad. Yes, Jesus commands even your emotions and feelings, and Christ gives the reason we are to have those feelings.

“Rejoice and be glad for,” in other words, ‘because,’ or ‘here’s why,’ “your reward is great in heaven.”This is so helpful. The reason you are to rejoice is your heavenly reward is great. If you looked up the Greek word that gets translated as ‘reward,’ the first definition you would see is ‘wage.’ In fact, it’s the same word Jesus uses in the parable about the workers in the vineyard who all get paid the same wage of a denarius, no matter how many hours they worked (Mt. 20:1-16).

We do use the word ‘reward’ in a similar way. If you win a game or a race, your reward is a trophy or medal – it’s what you’ve earned for all your work before and during the contest. But ‘wage’ puts a little more of an edge to it. Wages are what you get paid for doing something, and Jesus promises great, heavenly wages.

In the Beatitudes, Jesus lets you know that things are going to be difficult in this life, at least for a while. You will be poor in spirit. Many things will cause you to mourn. You will be meek and humble. You will constantly hunger and thirst for righteousness. You will be merciful instead of vengeful. You will be pure in heart. You will seek to make peace instead of demanding your rights. And when you do all of that, Jesus says, people will persecute you because of it. But Christ wants you to endure all of that with rejoicing because He will pay you. And He will pay you well.

And to be clear, this isn’t the only time Jesus says something like this. In Luke 14:12-14, Jesus says, and I’ll paraphrase: “When you give a feast, don’t invite your friends, family, or rich neighbors because they will invite you to repay you. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind who cannot repay you. Do this because you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” There, Jesus says that one of the reasons or motivations for you to treat people well – even those who can’t repay you – is that you will be repaid by God at the resurrection.

Shouldn’t you just do this because Jesus has been so kind and merciful to you? Yes, you should. God’s mercy freely given to you is all the motivation you should need. But Jesus gives another motivation here in the Beatitudes and in Lk. 14:14, and that motivation is that God Himself will repay you.

This is a great promise, and we should use it more often. So, take this promise, and keep it in your back pocket so you can pull it out regularly. The next time you are mistreated, pull this promise out of your pocket. When you spend hours planning, shopping, chopping, and cooking a nice meal for your kid and you place that that healthy food in front of him, but he says, “I don’t like that!” and slides it off the table so it spills all over the floor, take a breath. Remind yourself, “Jesus promises that I will be repaid.” When you are waiting in a long line and someone rudely and budges in front of you, take comfort in the fact that you will be repaid. When someone dominates the conversation and constantly interrupts you, don’t be impolite back and take your vengeance. Instead, think about those heavenly wages that Christ promises.

Of course, none of this – not one bit of it – is the basis for your salvation. You aren’t earning God’s favor or pleasure because of these works. But, again, this promise of blessed, heavenly wages can give you patience and motivate you toward good works. This is simply doing what you are called to do in Colossians 3:1-4, “Seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your Life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”

So, to go through the Beatitudes quickly:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. You are the subject of a king who isn’t going anywhere. He won’t ever be unseated. This world is not your home. You have a better one now and forever.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. That’s a heavenly reward. You will be comforted by Jesus. Yes, you have this comfort now through the Gospel and forgiveness of your sins, but there is even more and greater comfort yet to come in heaven.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. The new creation will be yours. You, dear saint, will be co-owners of the new heavens and earth. It belongs to you.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. You already have the righteousness of Christ. You don’t hunger and thirst for that. But you do hunger and thirst for the righteousness that will be yours when your sinful nature is finally done away with. That will come, and it will be paid to you as your blessed wage.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Yes, you have mercy now, but there’s still more to come. And you will be given this mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. You will behold Him and His face forever. The closest you get to that here is in the Lord’s Supper where you get to eat and drink His Body and Blood. But here, He is still veiled. Eventually, that veil will be removed.

Finally, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Yes, you are God’s children now, but what you will be has not yet appeared. But know that when He appears, you will be like Him because you will see Him as He is (1 Jn. 3:2).

The treasures of earth are going to fade and pass away (Mt. 6:19), but your blessed wages will not. Dear saints, blessed are you. Jesus promises. Amen.

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

Slaves & Sons – Sermon on John 8:31-36 for Reformation Sunday

John 8:31–36

31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” 

34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Jesus says, “If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Those words of our Lord have been rolling around in my mind this past month. What Jesus says there has a lot of implications both for individuals and, by extension, for congregations. To be a disciple of Jesus – in other words to be a Christian – means abiding, remaining, and staying in Jesus’ Word. Those who are saved love to hear their Savior’s words. And that does not only refer to the red-letter words in our Bibles. It’s the whole thing. From the words, “In the beginning,” in Gen. 1:1 through the final, “Amen,” of Rev. 22:21 are all Jesus’ Words.

And notice to whom Jesus says this – this is so important. Jesus is speaking to “the Jews who had believed in Him.” In other words, Christ is speaking to Christians (Ro. 10:17) – people who believe His words. So, what Jesus is calling them to do is to continue abiding and remaining in His Words because if they do notremain in Jesus’ Words, they will not be His disciples, they will not know the truth, and they will not be free. Dear saints, your life as a Christian is to continue to learn and grow in your knowledge and understanding of the Bible. To be a Christian is to be a student of the Scriptures.

Now, all of that is important to ponder and consider, but there is something even more profound here that I want us to consider today. Again, as Jesus speaks to people who believe in Him, He calls them to abide in His Word so that they will (future tense) be set free. In other words, those who believe in Jesus are waiting for a freedom that is still to come. That freedom is promised, and that freedom is the hope of every Christian, but it is still in the future.

Today, as Jesus’ disciples, let’s abide in these words of Jesus here for a moment because many other passages in Scripture say that we are free when we believe. Romans 6:22 says that you, believer, have been set free from sin. A little later in Romans 8:2, Scripture says that the Spirit of Life has set you free in Christ Jesus. Galatians 5:1 says that it is for freedom that Christ has set us free.

Just like the people in this reading did, we might want to ask Jesus, “How is it that You say, ‘You will become free’? Aren’t we free already?” Well, Jesus is clear. “Truly, truly. Amen, amen, I say to you everyone who practices,” probably a better way to translate this would be ‘does,’ “everyone who does sin is a slave to sin.” To do sin is to be a slave to sin.

So, dear saints, consider this: Are you a Christian? Do you believe in Jesus? Do you believe His Word? Yes. Then Scripture is clear, you are free – right now.

But also consider this: Are you perfect? Do you do things that God forbids? Do you not do things that God demands? In other words, do you sin? Yes. Then, your Lord is also clear – you are a slave to sin. And you can’t wiggle out of this. It isn’t just that you make mistakes or that you are programmed to do things that aren’t quite right. No. All of us deliberately sin. We sin on purpose, with full knowledge, and repeatedly. And by sinning, we place ourselves under slavery to sin and put our faith in danger. Repent.

Jesus knows when He says that those who do sin are slaves to sin is a devastating judgment. That’s why He continues speaking and offers us hope saying that even though, “the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

Jesus doesn’t just leave you in slavery to sin. He is the Son who sets you free – both now and in the future. Romans 6 says that you have been joined to Jesus’ death and resurrection in your Baptism, and it goes on to say, “our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin may be brought to nothing, so that,” and listen carefully here, “so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin” (Ro. 6:6-7). 

Jesus tells us the truth. The one who does sin is a slave to sin, and He sets us free from the evil master of sin. These two clear truths from Scripture have to be one of the most difficult tensions in all the world. You are, for a time, both slaves (because you sin) and sons (because you believe and are redeemed). You are free, and at the same time you are a slave to sin. You aren’t one or the other or bounce back and forth. At the same time, you are sons of God and still slaves to sin. The last half of Romans 7 talks about this tension (Ro. 7:14-25).

You are simultaneously saint and sinner, or, as Jesus puts it here, simultaneously slaves and sons. The tension between those two teachings isn’t understandable or comprehensible. But that’s ok. The Bible teaches all sorts of things that are beyond our understanding like the Trinity; the two natures of Jesus, that He is both God and man; etc. We don’t hesitate to believe those things because Scripture clearly teaches them. Well, Scripture also teaches that you are a slave to sin and a redeemed son of God. 

This tension is what keeps you running back to Jesus. It isn’t your obedience or your consistency or the fact that you feel bad about being a sinner that sets you free. Yes, you should feel bad about being a sinner, but that isn’t what sets you free from your slavery to sin. It’s Jesus, the Son, and Him alone who sets you free now and will make you free forever.

Dear saints, when – not ‘if’ but ‘when’ – when you feel the weight of your slavery, when the shackles of your iniquities rub your wrists and ankles raw, when the whip of your transgressions has shredded your back, remember Jesus came for you. He came – not for the righteous because there aren’t any righteous – He came to call you, sinner, to repentance and faith (Mt. 9:13; Mk. 2:17; Lk. 5:32). Jesus sets you free, and if He sets you free, then you are free indeed.

Child of God, abide in Jesus’ Word, and you will remain in the house forever. Amen.

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