Rejoice with Jesus for the treasure He finds.

Sermon for Trinity 3, June 28, 2020

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from the one true God, the Savior and Shepherd of your souls.  Amen.

Dear friends treasured by our Lord Jesus Christ,

            A terrifying disease has swept across the earth separating loved ones, dividing households, causing unending worry and distress, killing thousands upon thousands, inflicting pain and suffering, even causing hatred, prejudice, riotous behavior, selfishness, and political upheaval.  And, unless I miss my guess, you are guessing that I am talking about the coronavirus which causes Covid-19.  Yet, the really terrifying tribulation that afflicts every person on earth is sin—sin which leads to death for everyone and is the root cause of every illness and every ill behavior known to mankind.

Sin separated all of us from the One who loves us more and better than any human being ever could.  Sin separated us from God.  We were the lost.  Yes, it started in the Garden of Eden, but our own sins also keep us away from God.  Guilty people don’t want God telling them they are guilty.  Guilty people don’t want others to point out their guilt.  Guilty people don’t want God to notice them.  In their lost condition, many actively try to hide from the God who loves them, even while they are likely to be blaming Him for their ills.

The holy gospel for this third Sunday after Trinity shows us the love God has for the lost.

Luke 15:1-10  ¹ All the tax collectors and sinners were coming to Jesus to hear him.  ² But the Pharisees and the experts in the law were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”  ³ He told them this parable: ⁴ “Which one of you, if you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that was lost until he finds it?  ⁵ And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶ and goes home.  Then he calls together his friends and his neighbors, telling them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’  ⁷ I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent.  ⁸ “Or what woman who has ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, would not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?  ⁹ And when she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the lost coin.’  ¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (EHV)

Rejoice with Jesus for the treasure He finds.

Here, in this text, we see some guilty people, many of whom were considered virtual outcasts by the leading teachers of Israel.  The tax collectors were despised and considered traitors by their neighbors, the poorer people were thought to have earned their lowly stations in life by offending God somehow, and many of the rest were called sinners because of immoral lifestyles or simply because they couldn’t live up to the strict standards of Israel’s finest.  Israel’s leaders, the scribes and Pharisees, looked down on all those people, judging them offensive to God, unworthy to be in their fine company, and certain to taint anyone who would be willing to associate with the like. 

But, wait a second, we need to note one other group of sinners in that scene—the Pharisees and teachers of the law.  Oh yes, they looked good on the outside, but without a bit of irony, Jesus would call them sons of the devil. (John 8:44)  Those two groups actually didn’t like each other, either, because in their self-conceits, they each considered themselves more appealing to God—in other words, better than the lowly sinners that surrounded them, better than you and me, and remarkably, even better than Jesus.

Imagine that—people so enamored of their own piety that they thought themselves better than the Son of God!  Yet, what do we see populating the world today?  Yes, there are some people who know they don’t deserve anything but God’s wrath, but at the same time, many people are so wrapped up in their own thoughts and imaginations that they don’t see a need for a Savior.  In fact, so full of themselves that they have no time for God’s Word, and many of even those claim to be members of a Christian church.

Now, understand, I am not here to preach against all those really bad sinners out there.  There are more than enough sinners right here among us—even here in this pulpit.  What I do want you to know is that sin separated all of us from God, and we couldn’t fix the problem.  We had no ability to work our way back to God.  Sin was killing us, both, here on earth and for eternity.  You and I are the lost sheep and the lost coin in Jesus’ parables.  Separated from our Creator who desired only to have us in His loving arms and in the safety of His household and flock, but lost, we had no way to go back to Him.

Now, we could speculate about why Jesus used a sheep and a coin to illustrate His point, but you know from experience that if you drop a coin in the street, it isn’t going to leap back into your pocket, and if you have no idea where it fell or even when it did, it becomes very hard to find.  Likewise, a lost sheep isn’t going to find its shepherd in the wilderness.  Separated from the main flock and shepherd, a sheep will simply wander around—sometimes contentedly grazing whatever is before it and sometimes terrified of the beasts that surround it—but always at the mercy of whatever predator comes along that might eat it up.  In both kinds of lost treasures, without the owner’s intervention, there can only be a permanent loss.

That’s where Jesus enters the picture.  To seek and to save the lost, the Son of God entered this world and took on human flesh in Mary’s womb.  There, God became one of us!  Jesus came down to earth to search for those who had been led or tossed to destruction by sin.

If you’ve ever lost something valuable, especially if a certain amount of time has passed since it disappeared, you know how hard it can be to find it again.  The Son of God needed to do some very hard work to seek and to save the lost.  It wasn’t because God didn’t know where to find His precious ones.  That wasn’t the issue, because God knew exactly what was causing His loss and that only He could fix it.   The hard work comes because, in our place, Jesus had both to live the perfect life the law demands, and He had to die so that we wouldn’t have to face the everlasting death our sins had earned.  No ordinary man was up to the task.  Only the Son of God and man could do it. 

In our text, we see Jesus seeking those lost souls, reaching out with the Good News that He was living for them and heading to the cross to die for them.  Jesus was teaching all who would listen that God had sent Him to be their Savior and Redeemer.  He was teaching them of God’s mercy, grace and love.  For people who had no hope of earning God’s love, this was the most joyous news they could ever hear.  They listened gladly and believed.  On the other hand, to those who imagined themselves equal to the demands of God’s law, it sounded like foolishness and for that reason, most of the scribes and Pharisees rejected Jesus and even determined to kill Him.

But, dear friends, I want you to listen to the words of Jesus’ parable, here, and apply them to yourself: “Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!”  Jesus wanted those teachers of Israel to rejoice that He was reaching lowly sinners with the Good News of salvation by faith.  Jesus wants you and me to rejoice that we are saved by faith in Him.  That’s what being a Christian truly is.  We rejoice that Jesus came down to earth to become one with us and to rescue us from condemnation.  We rejoice that though we were unworthy to be in His presence, God entered our lives at Baptism and washed our sins away.  We rejoice that even though we have done nothing to come to God, He came looking for us through the preaching of His Word.  We rejoice that we have believing parents or friends who loved us enough to lead us to the Shepherd of our souls so that we could live with Him forever.

Being a Christian also means that we rejoice at every opportunity to lead some lost soul to the Savior.  Every time we have the opportunity to show a sinner his need for a Savior and then open His eyes to God’s love, we are giving the angels in heaven a reason to sing.  For all eternity, we too will sing with them because we know what Jesus did for us with His holy life and innocent death.

Actually, it isn’t just the angels and saints who rejoice when a sinner turns away from his rebellion to believe in Jesus.  Jesus said, “In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  Who is rejoicing in this picture?  God Himself rejoices for every lost soul He saves.  God rejoices that He gave His own dear Son into sin and death so that we can live in His presence forever.  Now, if that doesn’t show you the greatness of God’s love for you, I don’t know what will.

To rescue us from an eternal banishment, God sent His own beloved Son, Jesus, into the world to be our Redeemer, and Jesus lived and died for you and me and for all people.  Then, after Jesus rose from the grave in victory and returned in glory to His Father’s side, the Holy Spirit brought that Good News to each of us, individually, through Word and Sacrament, whereby He worked faith in what had been stone dead hearts so that, having been made alive again, we could believe in Jesus and be carried on His shoulders to a reunion with all the flock in heaven.  Our part in that rescue was being the lost, but God has found us, and our joy in our reunion with Him will also be never ending. 

From this day forward and forevermore, rejoice that Jesus has found you, and rejoice in whatever role He gives you in finding other lost sheep.  Then rejoice forever for the faith God has worked in you, faith that gives you a place in His eternal flock.

Dear Christian friends, Rejoice with Jesus for the treasure He finds.  Amen.

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

Love like Christ loved you.

Sermon for Trinity 2, June 21, 2020

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

1 John 3:13-18  ¹³ Do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you.  ¹⁴ We know that we have crossed over from death to life, because we love our brothers.  The one who does not love remains in death.  ¹⁵ Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.  ¹⁶ This is how we have come to know love: Jesus laid down his life for us.  And we also should lay down our lives for our brothers.  ¹⁷ Whoever has worldly wealth and sees his brother in need but closes his heart against him—how can God’s love remain in him?  ¹⁸ Dear children, let us love not only with word or with our tongue, but also in action and truth. (EHV)

Love like Christ loved you.

Dear children of God,

            On the night He was betrayed, Jesus told His disciples, “A new commandment I give you: Love one another.  Just as I have loved you, so also you are to love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)  John didn’t forget Jesus’ words, so in his letter, he reminds Jesus’ followers that our purpose on earth is to love, so what does it mean to love? 

The most common definition of love is a tender affection and care that one feels for another.   Love is perhaps the most talked about, thought about emotion in this world, but the one in shortest supply.  We write songs and poems about love.  Movies are made and books are written with love as the theme.  Most people claim to love someone, and without love we find life difficult, heart-breaking, and lonely.  If we are honest, most of us would like to have everyone love us, but the present state of our world with its prejudices, abusive relationships, rebellious acts, self-loathing, and demonstrated hatred makes it obvious why the Lord commands us to show real love to our fellow man, yet true love is not just an emotion but committed, purposeful action to benefit the other person’s life.

St. John tells us not to be surprised “if the world hates you.”   The world’s hatred may shock us, but it shouldn’t.  You see there really are only two sides in this world: one side loves God and everything connected with Him, and the other side hates everything connected with God.  We see what the world thinks of God by what it did to His Son, our Lord Jesus, who was crucified on the cross without cause.  Jesus Himself warned that the world would hate those who follow Him when He said, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated me first.  If you were of the world, the world would love its own.  However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, for that very reason the world hates you.” (John 15:18-19)  There was a time when each of us stood on the side of evil, hating God and everything connected to Him, until God intervened with love for us.

Occasionally, it is hard to tell who is on which side, even which side we are on, but John tells us we can see which side we are serving by whom we love.  Do we love the things of this world, or do we focus our love on God and those who follow Him?  Our text says, “We know that we have crossed over from death to life, because we love our brothers.  The one who does not love remains in death.”   The Holy Spirit speaks bluntly here, and I am reminded of the times I haven’t loved my fellow man as well as I should.  The Lord tells us that when we don’t love our fellow believers, we don’t love Him either.  There is no way around this key truth.  The scary part is that if we don’t love our fellow Christian, we remain in the kingdom of death—Satan’s kingdom destined for hell.

So, how does our love for others stand up to the test?  As we consider our interactions with our fellow believers, how well do we love?  Have we always put the best construction on our fellow believers’ words and actions?  Have we always forgiven the hurts that we have felt from fellow believers just as Christ forgave us, which is unconditionally and completely?  Has skin color, economic background, nationality, station in life, or any other external thing limited our love for another?  Have we always had our neighbors’ best interests at heart, or do we pursue our own interests first?  Have we always encouraged the hurting with the Gospel, as well as kindly confronting those who stumble?  There are only two sides to this coin—we are either with God or against Him. 

Experience tells me that I have certainly failed, and pretty much everyone else fails at unselfish love as well.  In fact, you might find that forgiving our fellow Christians feels harder even than forgiving the unbelievers around us.  Sometimes, church members seem to have the unrealistic attitude that fellow Christians should never hurt us, as if our behaviors haven’t been stained by sin.

God wants to eliminate any thought that we can hold a grudge against a fellow believer.  He tells us, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.”  God equates a lack of love on our part with murder.  We like to think of hate as something that is actively done, but the lack of love is also hatred.  Therefore, it is hatred to condone the actions of a brother or sister wallowing in sin rather than confronting them with the truth, but likewise, it is also hatred to withhold forgiveness from one who repents.  People who display hatred against those God has loved face the prospect of eternal condemnation in hell.  Refusing or neglecting to love our brothers and sisters in the faith—God’s own dear children—is the same as active hatred for God.  And a hater is a murderer, so he is condemned.

So how do we love our brother?  The text says, “This is how we have come to know love: Jesus laid down his life for us.”  Jesus laid down His life so that we could be made children of God.  Now, the sinful nature loves to take credit for any love we show, but the Bible tells us, “God shows his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)  Jesus died for us while we were still on the devil’s side!  So, if Christ was willing to lay down His life for a bunch of disobedient enemies, shouldn’t we be willing to lay down our lives for others Jesus loved?  If we truly are on Jesus’ side, if we are believers in the God who loved us enough to die for us, as we claim to be, shouldn’t we also love those He calls His own?  Shouldn’t we Love like Christ loved you?

It’s hard to be good, isn’t it?  It feels so hard to love unlovable people which, as sinners, is what we all are.  Thus, it is a good thing that we don’t have to be the power behind our love.  You see, on our own we had no ability to love.  The sinful flesh hates what is good, but Jesus laid down His life to pay for our sins.  He loved us when we were unlovable, and He sent His Holy Spirit to transform us from haters into lovers.  Isn’t that an amazing thought?  That you and I have been changed by God’s love.  John wrote, “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)  Without Jesus, we didn’t know love, but only hate.  Yet, once Jesus enters our lives, we do know love, we have love, and we have the power to love because Christ now lives in us.  

Love like Christ loved you.  Until that day God calls us home to heaven, there will be a battle raging in us between our old sinful nature and the new man of faith.  Through John, the Holy Spirit is telling us not to let the old man win.  As true believers, rescued from sin and death, we are under obligation to turn away from our sinful nature and embrace the One who loves us and fills us with His love.  Our sinful nature loves to hold on to all the hurts we feel.  Our old man would grab everything this world offers and never share.  However, connected with Jesus, the new man of faith in our hearts willingly lays down his life for his friends. 

The new man realizes, through faith in Christ, that all sins have been forgiven.  Your sins, my sins, his sins, her sins, their sins: all sins have been forgiven.  Jesus died for all people, so how could we withhold His forgiveness from any fellow believer?  Likewise, since God gives us everything we need for our lives, how could we withhold any needed thing from a fellow hurting soul?  The Spirit’s point is that anyone in whom Christ’s love dwells doesn’t withhold these things.  In fact, the new man of faith, put in us by the Holy Spirit, gladly shares what he is able with those who are in need, and the evidence of Christian charity abounds in this world impacting millions of lives.

John wrote, “Whoever has worldly wealth and sees his brother in need but closes his heart against him—how can God’s love remain in him?”  If we would withhold compassion from a fellow believer, we would be demonstrating that our hearts are locked away from Christ.  Isn’t that a scary thought?  We go bouncing through life sure that we believe in Jesus and our place in heaven is assured, but then someone hurts us, and we struggle to forgive, or they need something that we could supply, but we don’t want to share as we find ourselves in a battle of wills with our old sinful nature.

If we let our sinful nature win, we lose forever.  Thus, the writer continued, “Dear children, let us love not only with word or with our tongue, but also in action and truth.”  He admonishes us to let Christ rule in us always—to Love like Christ loved you. 

Right now, it might seem like our world is full of unloving, unlovable, terrible people.  The world believes it is okay to try to destroy any who cause them pain, but my friends, rather than embrace the evil of the world, let’s let love for God control us and let His love shine out from us onto our fellow believers and everyone we meet. 

Jesus laid down His life, so that you and I could live and love, both here and forever.  Focus always on that wonderful Good News.  The guilt for our sins is gone, because Jesus died to pay for all of those times when you and I have failed to love.  Furthermore, Jesus lives, because He rose from the dead to share with us the love of His Father in heaven.  It is given to us to live in His love.  Now, having been made alive through faith in our dear brother, Jesus, let us live for each other.  Living, loving, forgiving, giving, and believing that Jesus really did live and die for all and for you.

Love like Christ loved you!  For our sinful nature this is impossible, but for our new, sanctified life, it is what we are redeemed and reborn to do.  Loving God, we love our brothers and sisters just as Christ loved us.  We don’t do it alone, but with Christ living in us we can’t help but live it.  My friends, live on God’s side of the fence; Love like Christ loved you.  Amen. 

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

Boast only in what delights the Lord.

Sermon for Trinity 1, June 14, 2020

Grace and peace to you from our Triune God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen

Jeremiah 9:23-24  ²³ This is what the Lord says.  The wise man should not boast in his wisdom.  The strong man should not boast in his strength, nor the rich man in his riches.  ²⁴ Instead, let those who boast boast about this: that they have understanding, and that they know me.  They know that I am the Lord, who shows mercy, justice, and righteousness on earth, for I delight in these things, declares the Lord. (EHV)

Boast only in what delights the Lord.

Dear Christian friends,

            In our epistle lesson, we were taught to love God and our brother.  In the Gospel, we saw that living one’s life focused on yourself results in eternal damnation.  Now, as God tells Jeremiah of a coming judgment against those caught up in the ways of the world, we are advised not to put our hope for salvation in ourselves, but rather to Boast only in what delights the Lord.

Modern man imagines that self-elevation is a good thing.  In fact, many experts teach the need to love yourself lest you have serious problems.  In parenting books, and in our schools, it is thought imperative to teach children to love themselves so that they develop strong self-esteem.  We are compelled to continually praise our little darlings so that they never hear a cross word, or any kind of admonition.  The idea is that we should praise what we like and never mention what is done wrong.  Repentance is unheard of, and shame is reserved for only those who oppose the crowds.

Is it any wonder, then, that many people don’t feel the need for a Savior?  Why would you need a Savior from sin when you don’t believe there is such a thing as sin?  To the modern mind, sin is only a matter of opinion, something old people talk about.  In our present culture, about the only thing considered wrong, or a sin, is to go against one’s own desires or to criticize godless immorality.  Yet, the problem with putting our own desires first is that we make ourselves into little gods.  Now maybe that doesn’t matter much to those who don’t care about anything beyond today, but what about tomorrow, especially the big tomorrow when you die, or the Lord returns in judgment?

My friends, Jeremiah was sent to a people who had put themselves above God.  So like in our times, God was too old-fashioned for the Israelites.  His Law didn’t allow them to indulge in all the carnal pleasures that surrounded them.  Abandoning the God of their forefathers, they turned to foreign gods, and for their idolatry, judgment was coming.  No not the final Judgment Day, but God’s judgment on Judah as a nation.  Because they had turned away from Him, God would turn away from them, their nation would be overrun, and the people would suffer horribly.

Honestly, the accusations against the nation of Judah sound very much like our world today: the vast majority seeking pleasure over duty, selfish desires over what God commands, and the overthrow of authority.  Many have turned to other gods, particularly the idols of self-interest and self-indulgence.  It makes us wonder what disasters God has planned for our nation. 

The truth is, however, God’s plans for us haven’t changed.  Primarily, our Lord wants us to believe and trust in Him so that we will be saved from the coming destruction of Judgment Day.  Thus, we should listen to Jeremiah, as he tells us to Boast only in what delights the Lord.

As we look at this text, notice first that it is book-ended with the idea, “Thus says the LORD.”  God wanted to make it very clear to Jeremiah, to the Israelites, and to all people that this is the only way to enter the glory of heaven.  Apart from God’s words of promise, there is only condemnation.

So, let’s look at what God says we should not boast about.  He said, " The wise man should not boast in his wisdom.  The strong man should not boast in his strength, nor the rich man in his riches.”  The Lord gives three examples of how self-centeredness leads to destruction, because none of these things will save us from the coming wrath. 

First, the wise man: each of us tends to seek wisdom, and that isn’t bad if we seek true wisdom, but unfortunately, natural man likes to view his own thoughts as particularly wise though human wisdom tends to change through the years.  We can see a great example of this in science.  At one time the smartest men were convinced that the sun, stars, and planets all revolved around the earth rather than the earth moving around the sun.  Astronomers laid out detailed and elaborate models for how that supposedly worked, and it seemed logical and wise, at the time, but today you would be laughed out of the field if you proposed something so outlandish.  At one time, scientists were sure there were only four elements: earth, air, fire and water, none of which are considered elements today.  Sadly, some of today’s great thinkers can’t even determine with certainty whether one is male or female.  So, if we would boast in human wisdom, we boast upon shifting sand.

The Lord warns also against boasting in our strength.  Physical strength is often a source of human pride.  Especially when we are young, we are confident that we can do anything, and nothing can harm us.  Yet, every day young people die.  Each day our designs fall apart.  This world is a stage on which our plans continually fail, our bodies age, we begin to feel the frailties of our human flesh, and it doesn’t take too many years before we realize that our time on earth is short. 

It’s not just individual strength that falters.  World history is littered with nations, and civilizations, that considered themselves mighty, but most of those great kingdoms lie in dust.  Lately, our nation has been considered the only superpower on earth.  We are proud that our constitution is the oldest in use, yet we see it being attacked more and more.  In the grand scope of history, our nation is still quite young, but as it continues to turn away from God, how long will He continue to bless us?

Third, we are warned that wealth can be misleading.  The more goods and treasures we accumulate, the more we assume that money can buy anything.  Yet, it won’t buy happiness.  It can’t buy peace.  It can’t bring back a loved one from the dead, and it can’t make us right with God.  What bit of gold or jewelry could we offer to God to buy Him off when He already owns everything? 

King Solomon possessed almost endless wisdom, riches, and power, yet what did he discover?  It was all meaningless. (Ecclesiastes 1:2)  Those earthly things cannot gain eternal joy.  Human wisdom and strength, and the baubles of this world leave us empty-handed when we stand before God for judgment.  They are God’s gifts to be enjoyed in this world, but they do not last. 

Because our works and wealth will never be enough to impress the Judge of all things, God has provided a better way.  He told Jeremiah, “Let those who boast boast about this: that they have understanding, and that they know me.  They know that I am the Lord, who shows mercy, justice, and righteousness on earth, for I delight in these things.” 

God certainly gives us many blessings, and He intends that we use our riches and talents to be a blessing to others, but those things are all intended for use on this earth, not to gain us heaven.  Therefore, God tells us to put our hope in what He has done on our behalf, for it is His great pleasure to provide our salvation.  Thus, we learn to Boast only in what delights the Lord. 

To have understanding and to know God is to comprehend and trust what God has declared about Himself.  It is to believe and trust in all that God reveals in the Bible.  The Bible isn’t a fairy tale, or just a history or how-to book.  It is the message of salvation for all who believe what God has done for you and me.  In the Bible, we learn how God exercises “mercy, justice, and righteousness on earth.”  My friends, this is the story of Christ Jesus and Him crucified.

Last week in our sermon for confirmation, we explored the Hebrew word, chesid. translated here as mercy.  It is God’s covenant love for all mankind; love that caused Him to win our redemption through His Son.  Love brought Jesus into this world to rescue us from sin.  Because of His love and mercy, God refused to abandon His special creation even though we all had turned against Him.  Sin no longer allowed us to live in God’s presence, nor could we please Him, so God provided what was needed to restore our relationship with Him.

In His lovingkindness, God provided judgment and righteousness.  Because of God’s mercy, Jesus came into this world to become our righteousness and to suffer the pain and death of our judgment, as well.  You and I could never live in such a way that would satisfy a just and holy God.  Neither could we suffer the punishment for our sins and return to God.  Therefore, God sent His Son to accomplish both those tasks with His perfect life and innocent death, and in His lovingkindness Jesus carried out the plan that restored you and me to God’s favor. 

As Jesus entered His ministry along the banks of the Jordan River with John baptizing Him, the Father rightly boasted from heaven, “You are my Son, whom I love. I am well pleased with you.” (Luke 3:22)  God the Father took great delight in the self-sacrificing work of His Son, because Jesus’ great labor of love restores us to God as His children.  You and I may boast in Christ’s perfection because His work is perfectly pleasing to the Father.  His atoning sacrifice is our entrance ticket into the kingdom of heaven. 

The Apostle Paul later wrote to the Corinthians, “I had no intention of knowing anything among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2)  The ancient Greeks loved wisdom, the finer things of life, and military power, but true wisdom, riches, and power is found only in the Good News that Jesus has done everything needed to give you and me eternal life. 

My friends, boast only in Jesus and His atoning work, for it is His perfection that makes you acceptable to God.  You and I must admit with sorrowful hearts that we are often tempted to make our own thoughts and desires our primary motivation.  On the other hand, the Good News proclaims that Jesus set aside His glory to come down to earth to cover our frailties and faults so that He could make us right with God.  Christ’s work truly pleases the Father.  The Son is God’s true delight.  So, let Jesus’ righteousness be your heavenly dress.  Boast only in what delights the Lord.  Amen.

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

Trust the Lord of mercy and truth.

Sermon for confirmation, June 7, 2020

To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His own blood and made us a kingdom and priests to God His Father—to Him be the glory and the power forever and ever.  Amen.

(EHV) Proverbs 3:3-5  ³ Do not allow mercy and truth to leave you.  Fasten them around your neck.  Write them on the tablet of your heart.  ⁴ Then you will find favor and approval in the eyes of God and man.  ⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding.

Trust the Lord of mercy and truth.

Dear fellow members of the kingdom of grace, and especially you who are confirming your Christian faith, Allison, Ella, Jillian, and Will,

The wisest man who ever lived (according to God’s own Word) used these words to instruct his son on the one most important thing in life.  Now, many modern commentators and more than a few pastors might use these words to say that God is telling you to be merciful and honest with those around you, and truly we are to be that for our neighbors.  Yet, in focusing on what we should do, those modern-minded teachers miss the main point.  Solomon most certainly wasn’t advising his son how to live to please his God; he was telling him and everyone to Trust the Lord of mercy and truth.

Solomon put two words at the very front of this passage, dramatically emphasizing their importance.  Literally, he said, “Mercy!” and “Truth!”  “Do not allow them to get away from you.”  The Hebrew words emphasized are hesid and emet.  They are worth studying in detail.

Hesid is a word for which English doesn’t have an exact representative.  You will see it translated as “love” or “mercy” or “loyalty” or lovingkindness.”  All of these get at the meaning of the word, but essentially, hesid is a firm, committed willingness to be mercifully kind in doing what is best for you.  As much as we might be commanded to do this for our neighbors, we could never measure up to its full intent.  But there is one who does and who did for you.

Dear friends in the confirmation class, you have grown so very dear to me these past two years, and I implore you never to let go of the mercy and love God has shown to rescue you out of this world of sorrow, trouble, and pain.  When Solomon emphasized this word for his son, he was telling that child never to forget the love and commitment God has shown for you.  “Do not allow mercy and truth to leave you.”  Never let go of the truth that Jesus lived for you and died to take away all your sins.  Never let go of the relationship the Holy Spirit established with you at your baptism, because even though you likely don’t remember that rebirth any better than you do your physical birth, God was making you His own dear child that day.  By water and Word, the Lord claimed you for eternal life and peace in heaven.

The second word, emet, is truth or faithfulness.  Our society has decided that truth is subject to the whims of the beholder—you may have your truth while someone else has a different truth.  The word in our text knows nothing like that.  God’s truth is always perfectly reliable.  It doesn’t change with the emotions of the moment, nor is it dependent upon one’s point of view.  Our God promises, “Certainly I, the Lord, do not change.” (Malachi 3:6)  When God promised to send a Savior, He meant it.  He prophesied it hundreds of times so that no one could mistake the coming of our salvation as some accidental incident of history.  God then worked the course of events so that His plan to rescue us would take place exactly as foretold.  Let it never be forgotten that Jesus fulfilled every one of those prophecies.

God’s Word remains perfectly true and faithful today.  When God commanded that we would be holy, He meant it.  And though we couldn’t accomplish it, God’s Son lived and died to make it true just as His Father had planned before the creation of the world.  Therefore, when God’s Son tells you that “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned,” (Mark 16:16) Trust the Lord of mercy and truth for His judgment is absolutely certain.

Hundreds of years before Solomon, Moses had commanded Israel “Put these words of mine in your hearts and in your soul, and tie them on your wrists as signs and as symbols on your forehead.  Teach them to your children by talking about them when you sit in your house and when you travel on the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deuteronomy 11:18-19)  Solomon paraphrases that instruction as he reminds us to “Fasten them around your neck.  Write them on the tablet of your heart.  Then you will find favor and approval in the eyes of God and man.” 

The Jews eventually took these instructions in a hyper-literal way and tied little boxes containing bits of Scripture to their wrists, but again they missed God’s point.  God doesn’t want us to wear His Word as some sort of lucky charm.  Salvation is by faith and faith comes from hearing the message and believing it.  The passage literally says to engrave God’s message in the stone slab of our hearts.  Without God’s rescuing Word, we were all dead in trespasses and sins.  There was nothing we could do about it, so God came to our rescue, both with the life and death of His Son, and with the message of the Gospel through which His Holy Spirit works new life and faith in us. 

Solomon said, “Fasten mercy and truth around your neck.”  Accordingly, having been given new life and faith, we can wear that good news as our most precious treasure.  The world we live in has been throwing terrible accusations, temptations, and trials at every believer, but we can and should stand firm in the faith, for we have God and His promises on our side.  That is our most precious treasure because it opens heaven to us, and nothing this world tries can take that away.  Martin Luther wrote, “Take they our life, goods, fame, child, and wife, let these all be gone, they yet have nothing won; the kingdom ours remaineth.”

Today, we celebrate the Holy Trinity.  What a marvelous day to be confirming your faith in the Triune God.  There is no other way to life and salvation but through Him.  As a boy, Jesus devoted Himself to hearing and learning the messages of the scriptures, and for our benefit, Luke reports, “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people.” (Luke 2:52)  Just as Solomon promised his son, God’s Word blessed God’s Son, and by faith God credits us with the perfect growth in wisdom that Jesus lived for us.  What more incentive do we need to immerse ourselves in the saving message the Holy Spirit had recorded for us?

My young friends, this fall you will enter high school, and it won’t be long until you go off to college away from home and your home church.  Soon enough you will be out of your own, starting your adult life and maybe raising a family of your own.  Jesus warned us that the world would be against us.  We have to live in this hostile place as strangers travelling through, knowing it is full of dangerous paths and deceptive enemies seeking to lead you away from the path of life. 

Now, I’m sure you’ve already experienced many challenges to your trust in the Bible.  Our whole world pretends that God’s Word is unreliable and old fashioned, because the natural man is firmly under Satan’s control in our world.  At the same time, you have the Scriptures’ assurance that you will not be alone in the battle.  Near the end of his life, Moses assured Israel, “Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid and do not be terrified before them, because the Lord your God is going with you.  He will not abandon you and he will not forsake you.”  Trust the Lord of mercy and truth.

The final verse of our sermon text is one of my very favorites.  It reminds me that I can’t, and I don’t need to, go it alone.  No matter what you or I might face in the future, we have help and salvation in our Lord Jesus.  Solomon told his son, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding.”  Solomon understood that human reason is fickle and frail.  He knew that this world can turn against us at any moment.  What is painfully obvious from Solomon’s life is that even success in this world can lead to one’s downfall, if we let it lead us away from the Lord.  When Solomon began his reign over Israel, he trusted wholly and completely in God’s grace.  However, later in his life, even mighty Solomon allowed his head to be turned by the pleasures and responsibilities of the world.  I know it might seem like a case of do as I say, not as I do, but Solomon gives us a graphic picture of how easily a man can stumble.

Dear Christian friends, we need God’s mercy and truth.  We need it more than we need food, water, and air.  We need it when we lie down, when we get up, when we go down whatever road God leads us, and we need it the day we draw our last breath here on earth, for it is God’s mercy and truth that gives us freedom to live and freedom to enter His heaven to live and praise Him forever.  Today, and for the rest of your natural lives, Trust the Lord of mercy and truth, and “you will find favor and approval in the eyes of God.”  Amen.

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