Imitate your merciful Father.

Sermon for Trinity 4, July 14, 2019

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Luke 6:36–42  ³⁶“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.  ³⁷“Do not judge, and you will not be judged.  Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.  Forgive, and you will be forgiven.  ³⁸Give, and it will be given to you.  A good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap.  In fact, the measure with which you measure will be measured back to you.”  ³⁹He also told them a parable: “A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he?  Won’t they both fall into a pit?  ⁴⁰A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.  ⁴¹Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye?  ⁴²Or how can you tell your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck in your eye,’ when you do not see the beam in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck in your brother’s eye.”

Imitate your merciful Father.

Dear redeemed children of God,

            How much of your father lives on in your behavior?  For most people the answer is a lot.  We are by nature mimics who learned how to live and behave by watching our parents.  That can lead to either positive or negative results.  Studies have shown that children who observe their parents reading are likely to become readers themselves, but those who see their father abuse his wife will very often also become abusers too, and parental driving habits have also proven to be a major influence on the habits with which their new-driver teens operate a vehicle. 

            Therefore, if our earthly parents (and several studies have suggested fathers, especially) are such a strong influence in how we will live, consider how important it is for all of us who have been made children of God to Imitate our merciful Father.

            When you read through the sixth chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel, you will be amazed at how much of Jesus’ instruction for us also describes how Jesus honored His Father as He lived here on earth: “Love your enemies.  Do good to those who hate you.  Bless those who curse you.  Pray for those who mistreat you.  If someone strikes you on one cheek, offer the other too.  If someone takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt.  Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes away your things do not demand them back.” (Luke 6:27-30)  It sounds exactly how Jesus lived for you and me, doesn’t it?   Displayed especially vividly as Jesus went to the cross in our place.  Thus, you come to our sermon text in which Jesus told the crowd of disciples who surrounded Him on the mountain, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

            Have you considered your heavenly Father’s mercy?  Every day since Adam and Eve fell into sin has been a demonstration of God’s loving kindness toward us.  Since that fateful day, when we all became God’s enemies who deserve only His wrath and punishment, God has mercifully allowed the human race to survive, even thrive, and has provided everything needed for body and life.  Because of our inborn, inherited sin, we were born already allied with Satan.  Yet, God still provides everything we need for our bodies here, and for our souls in eternity.  He provides parents to care for us and to train us in how we should live.  God gives us air to breath, bodies of amazing complexity, talents, and abilities, sunshine to heat this planet, and rain to make our food grow.  Jesus tells us His Father “makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:45)  So, if we choose not to be merciful, what father would we be imitating?  If we should refuse to be merciful to a repentant brother or sister, Jesus would then be compelled to mark us as just more of His evil opponents, of whom He has said "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to do your father’s desires.” (John 8:44)

            Jesus also instructed the people on what being merciful truly means: "Do not judge, and you will not be judged.  Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.  Forgive, and you will be forgiven.  Give, and it will be given to you.  A good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap.  In fact, the measure with which you measure will be measured back to you."  It is an expansion on how Jesus taught us to pray: “Forgive us our sins, as we also forgive everyone who sins against us.” (Luke 11:4)

As we live in this difficult and sinful world, it is very easy to let the sinful nature take control of our behavior and to do the opposite of what Jesus instructs.  It is so easy to be judgmental when someone disagrees with us, and selfish when we could be generous and kind.  Our social media has made it incredibly easy for us to condemn those who hurt us, to clap back at and put down those who offend us.  How incredibly hard we find it to forgive the person who causes us pain. 

Whenever we find ourselves in the position of disobeying Jesus’ instruction, here, we really need to remember how great God’s mercy has been to us.  How many sins did God forgive of me already today, or yesterday, really every day of my life?  How many days of grace has God given me since I first disobeyed Him and earned the sentence of death?  When you think about it, it’s scary to self-examine, isn’t it?  Yet, in spite of our great weakness, God’s love for us shines out even greater.

So, how could anyone still want to be allied with Satan?  Because that’s what we are saying when we hastily and arrogantly judge hearts, condemn souls, or neglect to forgive the repentant sinner.  Conversely, if we are able to give mercy as our heavenly Father has given to us, then we show to Him, and to the world, that He really is our true Father.  When we give love and forgiveness as Christ has given to us, then we show that His love now resides in His adopted brothers and sisters, and if we are the members of God’s family He has made us, then truly we have great inheritances coming our way.  When you Imitate your merciful Father, you show appreciation that you have been adopted as Jesus’ brother, and that your true home is in heaven, not here on earth.

Of course, these passages have also been among the most misused words in the Bible as arrogant sinners pretend that we should never judge anything.  Our world is full of God’s enemies who want us to approve their sinfulness and make any disagreement concerning morality a form of discrimination and judgmental opinion.  For so many people, today, the only thing they will not tolerate is intolerance of their sinful behavior. 

However, Jesus wasn’t telling the world that we have no responsibility to God or to our neighbors.  In no way does Jesus approve of sin or immorality.  Remember, He also instructed His disciples: " Therefore go and gather disciples from all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and by teaching them to keep all the instructions I have given you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)  So, even when the world finds our loving instruction and care for them offensive, we simply must share both Law and Gospel.

Furthermore, in the Scriptures, we do find a proper role for judgment.  God gave parents the command to teach their children and discipline them so that they do not remain lost children of the devil.  Paul wrote, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4)  This certainly involves a proper role for humble judgment of their behavior.  Likewise, the role of judgment is given to government and to all in authority; God puts certain people in those positions with the command to judge, and even condemn, for the protection of His faithful children, so that anarchy doesn’t rule this world.  To those who insist that no one has the right to judge them, St. Paul warns that God’s earthly agent does have authority to judge, saying, “He does not carry the sword without reason.  He is God's servant, a punisher to bring wrath on the wrongdoer.” (Romans 13:4)  Let the arrogant sinner be forewarned.

At the same time, Jesus taught His followers about being merciful, “He also told them a parable: ‘A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he?  Won’t they both fall into a pit?  A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.’”  The blind in this parable are those who don’t comprehend God’s truth.  There are many people in the world who claim wisdom, even many who claim religious authority, who have no sight of God’s true Word.  Jesus is telling us that we need to learn from the true Teacher, His Holy Spirit in the Word.  People taught by those who don’t know God’s Word, or who misuse it, remain blind and will fall into the ditch that is eternal suffering in hell. 

Jesus’ proverb, here, speaks a well-known truth.  We rarely rise above our teachers even in earthly things.  No one will ever rise above the heavenly Teacher.  Yet, Jesus promises, “Everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.”  Therefore, we sit at Jesus’ feet, gladly hearing His instruction, soaking up every word that His Holy Spirit caused to be written for our learning.  We reject nothing of what God teaches in the Bible, and we look forward to the day when we are no longer bound under the limitations of our sinful flesh but forevermore enjoy the perfection of our immortal resurrection into our home in heaven.

When you consider Jesus’ eyesight illustration, it makes perfect sense.  He said, “Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye?  Or how can you tell your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck in your eye,’ when you do not see the beam in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck in your brother’s eye.”  In this picture, the arrogant, self-righteous sinner always has a wood beam of guilt corrupting his eye.  Thus, it isn’t possible for him to remove contamination from his brother’s vision. 

Sadly though, sometimes we Christians, too, suffer from this fault.  When we forget the great mercy our heavenly Father has shown to us, we might arrogantly cause even more damage to our brother should we try to correct his problems though blinded by self-righteousness.  However, when we humbly lay our guilt at Jesus’ feet, and trust that He has paid the price for our redemption, and we remember how great the mercy of the Triune God has been in our lives so that the contamination of sin that had clouded our vision is removed, we can humbly extend the healing mercy of our heavenly Father to other hurting souls. 

Now, do we Christians ever gain perfect sight in this life?  No, of course not.  Throughout our time on this troubled earth, we will carry our human imperfections with us.  At the same time, we dare not forget that in our Baptisms our sinful nature was put to death with Christ and we were raised up cleansed and connected to His holy life.  By remaining humbly in the instruction of our great Teacher, Christ the Lord, by the effort of the Holy Spirit through Word and Sacrament, we can gently assist our earthly brothers and sisters, pulling out the specks and beams that cause them such great pain, the slivers that cloud their vision.  We do this as we share God’s love and mercy with hurting children of all ages, and thereby pull them from Satan’s grasp by the power of the Holy Spirit.  We do this not in sinful judgment, nor to humiliate or embarrass anyone, but so that they, too, can enjoy the eternal life with which our heavenly Father has blessed us.  Thus, dear friends, by humbly sharing His forgiving love in a hurting and sightless world, you truly do Imitate your merciful Father.  Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto everlasting life.  Amen.