God’s servants cleansed the Lord’s house.

 

Sermon for Reformation Sunday, October 30, 2022

Grace, mercy, peace, and the comfort of the Gospel be yours from God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

2 Chronicles 29:12-19  ¹²These are the Levites who responded: from the descendants of the Kohathites: Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah, from the descendants of Merari: Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jahallelel, from the Gershonites: Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah, ¹³from the descendants of Elizaphan: Shimri and Jeiel, from the descendants of Asaph: Zechariah and Mattaniah, ¹⁴from the descendants of Heman: Jehiel and Shimei, and from the descendants of Jeduthun: Shemaiah and Uzziel.  ¹⁵They gathered their brother Levites, consecrated themselves, and went to cleanse the House of the Lord, as the king commanded by the words of the Lord.  ¹⁶The priests entered the inner part of the Lord’s house to cleanse it.  They brought every unclean thing that they found in the Lord’s temple out into the courtyard of the House of the Lord.  The Levites took it and carried it out to the Kidron Valley.  ¹⁷On the first day of the first month, they began to consecrate the temple.  By the eighth day of the month they had gotten as far as the porch of the Lord.  They continued to purify the House of the Lord for eight more days.  On the sixteenth day of the first month, they completed the work.  ¹⁸They went in to King Hezekiah and said, “We have cleansed the entire House of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the table for the presentation of bread and all its utensils.  ¹⁹We have prepared and consecrated all the utensils which King Ahaz discarded during his reign, when he was unfaithful.  Look!  They are right there in front of the altar of the Lord. (EHV)

God’s servants cleansed the Lord’s house.

Dear friends in Christ,

            Very often, God used Old Testament events to foreshadow what was to come in the future in His salvation plan.  Our sermon text this morning, however, does not fit that model, so you may well question how it came to be chosen for reading as we celebrate the Reformation.  We cannot say that God intended this series of events to foreshadow the Reformation.  Rather, the events here reported parallel the actions and blessings that were carried out for us in the 1500s in Germany, because both involve a cleansing of God’s house.

The event recorded for us in this text comes shortly after Hezekiah became king of Judah.  Sad to say, Hezekiah’s father and predecessor, Ahaz, had been a horrible king for God’s chosen people.  Attempting to stop worship of the one true God, King Ahaz had literally barred the doors to the Temple.  Later, when Ahaz suffered defeat at the hands of the nation of Aram, he began worshipping the false gods of Aram’s capital city, Damascus, rather than turn to the true God for help, imagining that if he worshiped the idols of his conqueror, he could turn the tables on them and achieve a victory.  In that foolish delusion, Ahaz set up, in and around Jerusalem, numerous altars to those false gods and required the people to participate in his idolatry.  Tragically, that horrible, faithless king led his own people of Judah away from the true God into idol worship.

On the other hand, the Lord raised up Ahaz’s son to be a completely different kind of king.  In the first month of his reign, Hezekiah re-opened the doors of the Temple and assigned the Levites to sanctify themselves and the Temple, so that worship of the one true God could resume in Judah.  We see that carried out in our text.  Over the course of sixteen days, the Levites cleansed the Temple and its courtyard of all desecrations, and they sanctified that magnificent building so that it could again be used as God had intended.

As mentioned, this account parallels the events of the Reformation.  The situation in the Roman Catholic Church had deteriorated until it was much like worship in Israel during the reign of Ahaz.  Rather than proclaim the pure Gospel of our Lord Jesus, the church had developed all sorts of myths, false gods, illegitimate practices, and deceptive doctrines that were causing the people to trust in things other than Christ Jesus for their hope of salvation and eternal life.  Yet, God blessed us by bringing a man into this dark situation to lead the restoration of the church to its proper function.

That man, Martin Luther, became a monk out of desperation.  He vowed to become a monk out of terror in a storm, and he served in the church for several years living in fear of a God who demanded righteousness from all people.  Luther was so terrified of his inability to live a perfect life that he was convinced that he couldn’t even properly confess all his sins.  So, it was to his benefit, and ours, when Martin was commissioned to teach the Scriptures at the new University of Wittenberg.  In that assignment, the Lord led Luther to dive headlong into the Scriptures and there discover how the teaching of the church had become corrupted.  Thus, in a parallel to that of God’s servants, Hezekiah and the Levites of our text, the Lord used Martin Luther as God’s servant to cleanse the Lord’s house.

To cleanse the Roman Church, much spiritual debris had to be removed.  The church of Luther’s day was littered with various idolatries.  Worship of relics and the saints was common practice encouraged by the church.  It was taught that Rome could dole out merit of the apostles and other saints and even Christ Himself, at the papacy’s whim, to rescue poor sinners from the imagined dungeons of purgatory.  Even the altar of the Lord was contaminated by the false teaching that the Mass, the Lord’s Supper, was a re-sacrifice of Christ carried out by the priests to earn merit before God.  Yet, none of this false teaching had support in the Scriptures.

Judah’s King Ahaz led his nation into idolatry when he closed the Temple of the Lord and turned to pagan worship.  The papacy had done much the same thing by teaching that man can, and must, do something to contribute to his own salvation.  The Levites in our text had to go right to the heart of the Temple in order to purify it for worship.  Luther had to do the same.  In His study of the Scriptures, Luther re-discovered that the Bible centers on one theme—that salvation comes only through justification by faith in Jesus Christ.  The righteousness God demands of His people is not something we do but the righteousness lived by Christ Jesus for us.  This is the heart of the Gospel that the Lord led Luther to re-discover.  Therefore, like the Levites of this text, Luther worked to restore faithful worship of the true God to people who had been previously misled.

In our text, the Levites were given the task of restoring and sanctifying God’s Old Testament dwelling place.  Luther’s task was to restore and sanctify the New Testament church.  Understand that there really isn’t any difference between the Old Testament church and the New Testament church except this: Old Testament worship pointed forward to the Promised Savior, and New Testament worship looks back at what Jesus Christ has done as our Savior.  All the sacrifices of the Temple pointed forward to the sacrifice of God’s perfect Lamb, His own dear Son, on the cross.  All New Testament worship is to point to that Lamb, Jesus Christ, as the one atoning sacrifice for all sin—a one-time sacrifice for the sins of the world—to cleanse us of our guilt and impurities, so that God now dwells in us who believe.

As you consider the work of the Levites in our text, notice that they didn’t add anything to the worship of God.  They didn’t change the Temple worship to something new or alter any of the instructions God gave through Moses.  The Levites simply took away everything that had defiled the Temple and cleansed it of the filth that had accumulated from unfaithful leaders who preceded them.  This is what Luther did for the church, and for you and me.  By focusing God’s people on the Gospel of salvation through faith, alone, in Christ Jesus alone, Luther cleansed away the filthy idea that man can and must do something to save himself.  He returned us to the peace and truth of God’s Word.

As the reformation spread, people were no longer burdened with unforgiven sin.  No longer was it necessary to be in terror of misleading teachings, or an anti-Christ who held threats over the heads of the people in order to extort money from them.  Rather, the Gospel could again freely ring out the truth that Jesus died to save sinners; that Jesus’ blood was the true redemption price for the sins of the world, and that Jesus’ sacrifice brought peace between God and men. 

For hundreds of years before Martin Luther arrived, the Word of God had been largely withheld from the German people.  Luther set out to make sure that the people heard the truth and could read the Bible in their own language.  Today, we take for granted that we have God’s Word in readily available form.  For that great blessing we can thank God for the gift of Martin Luther to the Holy Christian Church.  Along with that, we thank God that we again hear the truth of the Gospel that Jesus died to take away all our sins, and that there is nothing we can do, and nothing we must do, to receive that forgiveness but simply believe in Jesus Christ for our salvation.  We give thanks that because God sent Martin Luther to clean God’s house, we again receive the body and the blood of Christ in both forms in the Lord’s Supper, because as in the time of Hezekiah, the altar of God has been restored.

When the Levites finished their work of cleansing God’s Temple, they reported to King Hezekiah, “We have cleansed the entire House of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the table for the presentation of bread and all its utensils.  We have prepared and consecrated all the utensils which King Ahaz discarded during his reign, when he was unfaithful.  Look!  They are right there in front of the altar of the Lord."  The Levites were announcing that once, again, worship of the true God could take place.  Once again, the people could hear, and see, the truth that the promised Savior would come to be the final sacrifice for the sins of all people.  The work of God’s church was restored when God’s servants cleansed the Lord’s house.

Early in the morning on February 18, 1546, Luther lay dying of a failing heart, his service to the Lord nearly completed.  He was heard repeating the words of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.”  His good friend, Dr. Jonas, then asked him, “Do you want to die standing firm on Christ and the doctrine you have taught?”  Luther replied with a firm “Yes,” and shortly thereafter, he passed from this world.  The doctrine Luther taught is that of John 3:16, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” 

God put Martin Luther in the right place and time and blessed him with the capabilities and dogged determination to restore the truth of the Gospel to the Christian Church on earth.  That sweet Gospel gives life everlasting through faith in the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who laid down His life to give you peace with God for all eternity.  That good news, my friends, is the truth in which you and I can live and die in peace, because God’s servants cleansed the Lord’s house.  Amen.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore.  Amen. 

Forgive with the compassion Jesus showed you.

 

Sermon for Trinity 22, October 23, 2022

Abundant love, undeserved mercy, and redeeming grace be yours from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Matthew 18:23-35  "Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.  ²⁴ "And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.  ²⁵ "But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made.  ²⁶ "The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, 'Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.'  ²⁷ "Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.  ²⁸ "But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you owe!'  ²⁹ "So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.'  ³⁰ "And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.  ³¹ "So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done.  ³² "Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant!  I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.  ³³ 'Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?'  ³⁴ "And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.  ³⁵ "So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses." (NKJ)

Forgive with the compassion Jesus showed you.

Dear fellow redeemed,

Peter came to Jesus asking, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?  Up to seven times?" (Matthew 18:21)  That interchange should open our eyes to Jesus’ great patience with the human race.  Like Peter, we often focus on what we must do.  Of course, Peter’s question might be totally innocent, but, so often, we find ourselves wondering how long we have to keep forgiving people who offend us so much.  It’s even been a problem in churches throughout history.  How, it is asked, dare we forgive unless we know a person is truly repentant?  And like Peter, we wonder what if he sins again, should his sin be forgiven time and time again?  Surely, that would just lead to anarchy, wouldn’t it, if someone can sin again and again yet still be forgiven? 

Chapter eighteen of Matthew’s Gospel is all about forgiveness and, how Jesus wants, so much, for His forgiveness and salvation to be shared with every person on earth.  The whole chapter speaks about the kingdom of heaven.  It begins as Jesus tells us that the greatest in the kingdom of heaven will have faith like a little child.  He then tells the parable of the lost sheep and how the shepherd will leave everything behind to find the lost one.  Jesus goes on to instruct us on restoring an erring brother, and finally in answer to Peter’s question, He tells this parable of the unmerciful servant.  Thus, upon hearing this parable, we Christians should learn to Forgive with the compassion Jesus showed you.

Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven with a human king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.  We don’t see this type of political arrangement so much anymore, but the people of Jesus’ day would have been very familiar with the picture.  In the scene before us, the king is the source of all power and wealth in the kingdom, and he has been generously assisting those who work his land and property so that they could be productive servants for his kingdom and good providers for their own families.  However, the day to payback those loans had now arrived.

One of the first servants, brought in, is found to be in a dreadful predicament.  He had somehow accumulated a debt of 10,000 talents, far more than anyone could ever hope to repay.  How he came to owe such a fantastic sum is anyone’s guess.  One estimate I found claims his debt would have been six hundred thousand times more than he was owed by his fellow servant, the one he proceeded to treat so shamefully—six hundred thousand times as much!  It’s also estimated that it would take the wicked servant sixty million days of work to earn enough just to equal this huge debt, which if your keeping track, is about one hundred sixty-four thousand years of daily labor.  There is no way he could ever repay, yet his king forgave every bit of the balance, simply because the king was merciful. 

Now, that servant didn’t really ask for mercy, but rather, for more time to pay.  He still imagined he could repay his master, so I wonder if he went out and demanded payment from his fellow servant, because he was ashamed to admit that he was forgiven?  Either that or his wickedness truly ran deep.

This newly debt-free servant went out, mistreated his fellow servant and threw him into debtors’ prison because his friend couldn’t immediately return a trifling amount.  In shock, that poor man’s friends went to the master of the kingdom begging for his intervention.  We all know how the master reacted.  In righteous anger because the man couldn’t find it in his heart to cancel his friend’s tiny loan, the king sentenced that ungrateful man, who had received such great mercy, to torment until every last penny of his debt would be repaid, in other words forever.

Now, what does all of this have to do with you and me?  Well, I could say that we are like Peter, who wanted to make sure he forgave his fellow believer enough, but maybe not too much.  Or I could say that we are like the poor man who owed a little.  Yet, Jesus is teaching us that we are the servant who had that vast unpayable debt forgiven by our king.  Does that strike you as a little hard to believe?  How could you and I have accumulated such a great debt of sin when we seem to be such good people?  God answers that “the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth;” (Genesis 8:21) and Isaiah tells us that “All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a filthy cloth.” (Isaiah 64:6)  The reality is that every day, we are doing and thinking things that are not God-pleasing.  We like to think we live pretty good lives, and in the eyes of the world we may even appear to do so, but we do not, ever, measure up to the perfect holiness God demands.  Therefore, our sin debt owed to God is accumulating every moment of our lives.

At the same time, we are also like that ungrateful servant in that we have been released from our un-payable debt by our King.  Solely because He is good and merciful, our King cancelled our debt, marking all our accounts as completely and finally forgiven and forgotten by our King, because “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.  And he has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:19)  

For us, payment was fully made for all of our filthiness.  All of our sin-debt was removed from us and charged to Christ, and because Jesus paid with His life on our behalf, our sin-debts were erased.  So, if we have been forgiven for the sin found in every moment of our lives, how could we dare think that we have the right to withhold forgiveness from anyone else? 

In one of his sermons, Luther explained that we often seek justice when we feel that someone has hurt us.  Justice is a part of the kingdom of the world, and God gives earthly government the right and authority to apply justice in this world, but the kingdom of heaven, Luther says, “is a state or government in which there is nothing but forgiveness of sins.”  Justice has no part in the Church.  Rather, the Church is here for grace.  The Church is here to share God’s mercy with sinners like you and me.

Therefore, if we would withhold forgiveness from any other individual, we are demanding justice for crimes that have already received due penalty.  Consequently, Jesus teaches, here, that in our unrighteous demand for justice, we become subject, once more, to God’s justice, from which there will be no escape.  We should realize this because we even ask that this be so every time we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  In those words, we plead for God to hold our un-forgiveness against us. 

Dear friends, how often have we been quick to judge another person as too guilty for our forgiveness?  How often do we find ourselves holding onto a grudge, if even for only a moment?  How often are we tempted to become angry with a fellow believer, rather than humbly turning the other cheek?  How often do we demand “You owe me an apology!” even though we know that all their sins were forgiven by the same God who has forgiven ours?  How often don’t we act like the wicked servant of our text who grabbed his fellow servant by the throat in a choke hold while demanding recompense?  If this doesn’t sound like you, be careful, lest you lie to yourself.  It’s natural for sinners to want justice for our hurts, but as Christians, we learn to Forgive with the compassion Jesus showed you.

God’s justice is a fierce and awful thing.  God’s perfect justice demands that every last bit of debt be paid, that every last moment of punishment earned be meted out, but thanks be to God’s love for us, every last little bit of our sin-debt has been paid for on the cross by God’s own dear Son, our One and only Savior.  It is also there at the cross of Jesus that true believers fall in abject humility, recognizing God’s great mercy that would punish His own dear Son rather than pour out His wrath on a bunch of ungrateful sinners who want justice from each other for the minor ills we inflict upon each other.

My friends, when you want justice, look to the cross.  If you want to see sin punished, look to the bloody wounds on Jesus’ head and hands and feet.  Look to the spear hole in His holy side.  From that wound poured out blood and water so that we could be washed clean by His holy water in our baptisms, and so that we could drink from His righteous blood in the Lord’s Supper. 

This sermon text hit me hard as I thought about the many times I have flown off the handle in my life, angry at someone who offended me when a word of mercy would have been more appropriate.  I saw my sin piled up on my Friend, Jesus.  Jesus took all the punishment I deserve so that His Father, in His justice, could say to me, "Friend, your sins are forgiven." (Luke 5:20)  If Jesus took that punishment so that all my sin could be wiped away, how could I not Forgive with the compassion Jesus showed me?

The wicked servant of our text wanted more time to repay his master an un-payable debt but demanded immediate justice from his fellow servant.  Ask yourself if that’s the kind of bargain you want to make with God.  Most likely each of us has at one time or another held onto some hurt for a while.  Most likely we have gone to bed angry with a spouse or left work feeling upset with a co-worker.  Most likely there are a few of us who have even stayed away from church for a time, so that we didn’t have to be in the same room with someone who hurt us. 

What about Jesus?  Did He stay away from us when we hurt Him?  Thank the Lord, He did not.  Our dear Savior entered this world, specifically, to take away everything about us that was offensive to God.  All that perfect justice we want to inflict on others, Jesus took on Himself, and because Jesus paid for sins of the whole world, He commands His followers, “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.” (Luke 6:27-29)  Jesus doesn’t want us seeking justice for sins for which He already paid.  Rather, He wants us to share His grace and mercy in a sinful and hurting world.

Earlier in this chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus said, "Amen I tell you: Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 18:18)  We call this the office of the keys.  The purpose of the Church, that is, the purpose of all true believers in Christ Jesus as Savior, is to love by releasing the sins of those who repent.  We are not here to seek justice, because justice for all sin has already been accomplished on the cross.

If you are feeling a little guilty now, about some sin you have not released, or some hurt you have not forgiven, remember that God has said, “I will be their God, and they will be my people.… ‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’” (Jeremiah 31:33-34)  We are not forgiven because we repent.  We are forgiven solely because of God’s great mercy and Jesus’ holy life and innocent sacrifice.  We repent because God has already forgiven all our sins.  We seek the repentance of others, likewise, because God has forgiven their sins for Jesus’ sake as well, and He wants them, too, to know and believe it. 

Dear friends, for Jesus’ sake, God has forgiven all of your sins and the sins of everyone else in the world.  How could we ever dare not to share His grace at every opportunity?  Rather, may we always joyfully Forgive with the compassion Jesus showed you.  Amen.

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

Conquering the grave, the Lord redeemed His beloved.

 

Sermon for Trinity 21, October 16, 2022

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father's Son, in truth and love.  Amen.

Hosea 13:14  I will ransom them from the power of the grave!  I will redeem them from death!  Death, where are your plagues?  Grave, where is your destruction?  Compassion will be hidden from my eyes. (EHV)

Conquering the grave, the Lord redeemed His beloved.

Dear beloved of the Lord,

            From the end of Solomon’s reign over the unified nation of Israel, the ten northern tribes of Israel had been in open rebellion against God.  Instead of accepting Solomon’s successor to the throne, the people chose Jeroboam to be their king.  In doing so, they allowed sin and Satan to take charge.  The people got what they wanted—a ruler who would allow their perverse nature to reign. 

Therefore, instead of worshipping the true God who loved them and had been like a husband to them, the ten tribes chose, instead, a king who set up worship apart from the temple in Jerusalem, a worship that was soon mixed with the idolatry of their pagan neighbors, with all its multiple idols, blasphemous fertility cult prostitution, child sacrifice, and focus on earthly gain and riches.  For over two hundred years, God had demonstrated His patience with His wayward beloved, yet the time was drawing ever closer when His patience with Israel would end, and judgment would end Israel.

The prophet Hosea lived at about the same time as Isaiah and Amos, and like them, he called for repentance while warning of a coming judgment against the northern tribes of Israel.  Hosea’s prophecy is largely one of impending doom, but even though God’s righteous and holy wrath would soon fall upon the people of Israel, God’s love for them still caused Him to offer hope of victory over death in the end.  Judgment was imminent, but God maintained His plan of salvation whereby Conquering the grave, the Lord would redeem His beloved.

There are many people in our times who don’t see much value in reading the Old Testament.  However, the Gospel is not merely a New Testament novelty.  God had long planned our salvation, and therefore, Jesus told the Jews, “You search the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them.  They testify about me!” (John 5:39)  Thus, we see Jesus in this prophecy, along with the Good News of Jesus’ victory over Satan, death, and the grave.

Like in the time of Hosea, there are vast numbers of people in our day who are willfully being unfaithful to the one true God.  St. Paul warned us about the times in which we live when he wrote, “People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemous, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, not able to reconcile with others, slanderous, without self-control, savage, haters of what is good, treacherous, reckless, puffed up with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” (2 Timothy 3:2-4)  You might say that our times parallel the nation of Israel in Hosea’s day.  They too had abandoned God for love of self.  Therefore, the people of Israel were headed to destruction even though God sent prophets like Hosea to turn them back to the God who loved them.

Dear friends, you and I need to take heed to the example of Old Testament Israel lest we too stray from the One who loves us.  God chose us also, like Israel, though we did not deserve it.  God rescued us out of slavery to sin and the bondage of the devil’s control.  Just as Israel was delivered through water as God opened the Red Sea to lead them out of Egypt and brought them into the promised land as the Lord divided the Jordan River, so we have been rescued by the cleansing water and Word of Baptism.  Through faith in His Son, Jesus, God made us His people, a Bride to His Son, “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people who are God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9)

Still, even in Hosea’s dark message of impending doom, we see that the Lord remained the same loving Husband He had always been.  Though Israel lived like a prostitute cheating her husband of honor and faithfulness, the Lord could never stoop to her level.  Therefore, what great joy is ours that God has loved us with an everlasting love.  For you and me and all people, this bit of Hosea’s prophecy was made true in Jesus’ life and death. 

Through Hosea, the Lord declared, “I will ransom them from the power of the grave!  I will redeem them from death!”  Death and the grave are the consequences of sin.  St. Paul wrote, “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)  Death is what we deserved for our disobedience and unfaithfulness to our Creator.  We inherited perversity from our parents but then piled up our own record of rebellion and transgressions, and anyone who would claim differently lies to his own soul.  We earned God’s wrath and judgement.  It is what we deserve by nature since Adam and Eve fell, but thousands of years after God promised Eve that a man would set her free from the devil’s deception, God sent His Son, Jesus, to pay the price.

Through it all, God remains faithful in His love, but the debt of sin had to be paid, and you and I couldn’t cover the bill except by eternal damnation in the devil’s prison.  Therefore, “God sent his Son to be born of a woman, so that he would be born under the law, in order to redeem those under the law, so that we would be adopted as sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5) Because He is always faithful in His love for His beloved ones, “God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) 

Because He was not willing for us to be separated from Him forever, God took the curse for our sin upon Himself.  The Son of God suffered the cruel agony of death at the hands of sinful men.  He bore the shame for the sins of the world, yours and mine included.  The purchase Hosea prophesied was completed when “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.  As it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’” (Galatians 3:13)

But what about death?  What about the grave?  Friends and foe alike soon pass from this world.  Even believers still die.  Death surrounds us night and day, and tragedy, murder, plague, and war still trouble the world.  Yes, but that is where the similarity ends.  You see for those who have rejected the love of God, death remains their everlasting torment.  When Jesus returns in glory on Judgment Day, those who have rejected Him as Savior will hear the tragic verdict, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the Devil and his angels.” (Matthew 25:41)

On the other hand, Jesus brings eternal life to His Bride, the Church.  Through His prophet, the Lord declares, “Death, where are your plagues?  Grave, where is your destruction?  Compassion will be hidden from my eyes.”  In his rebellion, Satan aspired to defeat God and rule in His place.  However, Jesus’ victory over the devil was never in doubt.  Though the devil’s hoard of wicked followers may have delighted in the death of God’s Son, Jesus had declared beforehand, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.” (John 15:13 NKJ)  And He said, “I lay down my life so that I may take it up again.  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.  I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it up again.  This is the commission I received from my Father.” (John 10:17-18)

God would show no mercy on the rebellious deceiver who led mankind into sin.  The Accuser was thrown out of heaven, and though he tries desperately to deceive people to trust him rather than Jesus, the Holy Spirit keeps working faith through the proclamation of the Gospel and the rebirth of Baptism, and the gates of heaven are opened to all who believe.

Jesus’ resurrection on Easter morning is the stake through the heart of Satan’s schemes.  The Holy Spirit testifies that “since Christ has been raised from the dead, he will never die again.  Death no longer has control over him.” (Romans 6:9)  Because we are united with Jesus by faith, our physical death results likewise in everlasting life, because by fulfilling Hosea’s prophecy in Conquering the grave, the Lord redeemed His beloved.  Thus, just as Jesus rose from the grave to live and never die again, so we too will be raised to life everlasting.

As I mentioned earlier, our world is filled with rebellious people who have no love for the living God.  Yet, that should not be our practice nor end.  We have been purchased and redeemed by the blood of God’s Son.  Christ Jesus gave His life on a cross so that we may now live and love as God intended in the beginning.  St. Paul wrote,

“Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were therefore buried with him by this baptism into his death, so that just as he was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too would also walk in a new life.  For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united with him in the likeness of his resurrection.” (Romans 6:3-5)

Dear friends, walk in this life with your Savior, for He has given you a gift of immeasurable worth—forgiveness of all sin, peace with God in heaven, victory over death, devil, and grave, and the sure promise of life everlasting in the glory of heaven.  Because Jesus has loved you even to the point of death on the cross, with His resurrection Conquering the grave, the Lord redeemed you, His beloved.  Amen.

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

Dress for heaven in Jesus.

 

Sermon for Trinity 20, November 9, 2022

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Matthew 22:1–14  Jesus spoke to them again in parables.  He said, ²“The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.  ³He sent out his servants to summon those who were invited to the wedding banquet, but they did not want to come.  ⁴“Then he sent out other servants and said, ‘Tell those who are invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner.  My oxen and my fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready.  Come to the wedding banquet!’  ⁵“But those who were invited paid no attention and went off, one to his own farm, another to his business.  ⁶The rest seized the king’s servants, mistreated them, and killed them.  ⁷As a result, the king was very angry.  He sent his army and killed those murderers and burned their town.  ⁸“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.  ⁹So go to the main crossroads and invite as many as you find to the wedding banquet.’  ¹⁰Those servants went out to the roads and gathered together everyone they found, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.  ¹¹But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.  ¹²He said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wearing wedding clothes?’  The man was speechless.  ¹³Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’  ¹⁴For many are called, but few are chosen.” (EHV)

Dress for heaven in Jesus.

Dear wedding guests,

            Jesus told several parables using the illustration of a wedding celebration to teach how we might have hope to enter heaven.  He does so again in our sermon text.  Again, we see many invited, but again, many of those who were invited rejected the gracious invitation.  Again, we hear of how the people God loved abused those who delivered the invitations.  Again, we see the Lord send His servants to invite others to the feast so that His banquet hall might be filled and His Son honored with a full house at His wedding celebration.  Finally, we are shown the terrible choice many make in imagining their own works and piety as suitable dress for a seat in the heavenly celebration.  Thus, we are taught to Dress for heaven in Jesus.

In this parable, Jesus compared His Father’s salvation plan to a royal wedding.  Those of you who have planned a wedding know how much work goes into that.  Even for our simple weddings, months and years are often spent in planning and preparation.  God’s plan was in the works since Adam and Eve sinned.  Promises were made of a Savior who would deliver from the slavery of sin and would open the gates of heaven to all who believe.  A nation was chosen to illustrate God’s plan for the whole world to see.  Yet, even that chosen nation often failed to operate according to God’s desire.

God’s invitation had been going out to Israel first, and through them to the rest of the world for many centuries.  Even before that, however, people had the invitation in God’s promises.  Sadly, so many rejected the Father’s gracious invitation to believe that judgment rained down upon the world in the great flood.  Later, when God’s chosen nation also rejected His kindness by worshipping idols and abusing and killing His prophets, God used heathen peoples to bring judgment and discipline on the Israelites who had dishonored God’s generous invitation, killing and enslaving many and destroying their cities and towns. 

Now, some might question when this retribution might still take place, but Jesus pictured judgment as timeless.  When the ancients rejected God’s plan, they died without salvation, such as the vast number of heathens who died in the flood, or the Egyptians God slaughtered when they rejected the invitation delivered by Moses, and the unfaithful Israelites destroyed by their neighbors.  When people of our times reject the invitation, judgment will befall them in the end.  For those who have no answer for the Judge’s enquiry, Judgment Day will be a day of great terror, because God will not be mocked by those who refuse the wedding garments Jesus has provided. 

Jesus told the Jews who were rejecting His personal invitation, “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.  He sent out his servants to summon those who were invited to the wedding banquet, but they did not want to come.  Then he sent out other servants and said, ‘Tell those who are invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner.  My oxen and my fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready.  Come to the wedding banquet!’  But those who were invited paid no attention and went off, one to his own farm, another to his business.  The rest seized the king’s servants, mistreated them, and killed them.  As a result, the king was very angry.  He sent his army and killed those murderers and burned their town.”

Though many have rejected God’s invitation to the heavenly banquet and pay dearly for their foolishness, God remains merciful in that He continues to call out to the highways and byways for sinners to come into His house and celebrate the marriage of His Son.  He calls you and me to prepare for that eternal celebration by calling us to worship around His Word.  Here, we return to the cleansing waters of Baptism as we confess our sins.  Here, the pure wedding garments of Jesus’ righteousness are put on us as the forgiveness of sins is applied to each repentant sinner.  Here, we partake in a foretaste of the peace we will enjoy with God in heaven as we eat the Lord’s Supper, and here, we sing with the saints and angels of the salvation that is ours through faith in Christ Jesus.  Here, we Dress for heaven in Jesus.

Sadly, like the Jews of Jesus’ day, we often take God’s invitation for granted.  We refuse to attend the heavenly feast when we allow other things to take precedence over our opportunities to meet with our Savior in the kingdom of heaven.  In addition, we may find ourselves with the same failing as that man the Bridegroom’s Father found dressed in clothes unworthy for such a magnificent celebration.  Each of us must examine our consciences to see if we, like the Scribes and Pharisees, think ourselves somehow worthy of the invitation.  Do we count up the days we attend church, the good deeds we do in our neighborhood, or the offerings we make and think “Oh, what a good boy am I!”?

Jesus said, “those who were invited were not worthy.”  And while that is certainly true for those who reject God’s invitation, it is likewise just as true of all of us who are called in from the highways and byways of life.  None of us have the purity and royal divinity that would allow us to stand before God on our own.  Anyone who would presume to work his way into the heavenly party or to deserve God’s invitation will hear, instead, “I never knew you.  Depart from me, you evildoers.” (Matthew 7:23)

In the parable, Jesus said, “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.  He said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wearing wedding clothes?’  The man was speechless.  Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’  For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Through the message of the Bible, the Lord God, whom Jesus calls His Father, has issued an invitation for the whole world to believe in His Son as Savior and live.  He sent His Son into the world to earn forgiveness and eternal life for all.  Jesus said, “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)  Furthermore, “God our Savior^…wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:3-4)

Because God so wants us eternally in attendance at that wedding feast in heaven, He not only issued the invitation, He prepared everything needed for the celebration.  God’s only-begotten Son entered this world to be our righteousness and the penalty for our unworthiness.  Born of Mary, the Son of God took on human flesh to live as one of us, so that the holiness we could never hope to live, the Man, Jesus, accomplished for us all.  The debt of sin we could never pay was counted to Jesus so that God could credit all of us with Jesus’ perfect obedience, and it is Jesus’ righteousness that is put on us through faith and Baptism.  By the power of the Holy Spirit working in Word and Sacrament, we Dress for heaven in Jesus.

Now, it would be easy for us to take offense at God’s plan.  Our human nature loves to imagine that we can please God by how we live.  We also don’t like to hear that we sin.  We especially don’t like to be criticized for our favorite sins, or for sins we commit when our earthly commitments, families, entertainments, and jobs take a little too much precedence in our lives.  Yet, that is exactly why we need Jesus and the precious invitation He brings.  While pointing out a long list of grievous sins, St. Paul wrote, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?…And some of you were those types of people.  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)  That, dear friends, is precisely why we can and should Dress for heaven in Jesus.

You see, Jesus loved you before you ever knew Him.  He loved you enough to live and die to set you free from sin and the devil’s deceitful control.  Jesus loved you enough so that after dying for your sins, He rose from the grave, so that the grave can no longer hold you or anyone else.  Jesus loved you so much, He committed His whole life and being to be the Bridegroom unexcelled—the one Man who could give and do everything needed so that His Bride, the Christian Church, might be purified and dressed to dwell with Him forever in a never ending wedding celebration.  Jesus then sent the Holy Spirit to make sure that you not only received the invitation, but that you believed and treasured it, and by His work with the Gospel and Baptism, the Spirit has Dressed you for heaven in the wedding clothes Jesus provided.  Amen.

May the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times and in every way.  The Lord be with you all.  Amen.

Receiving new life, put off the old.

 

Sermon for Trinity 19, October 2, 2022

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  By his great mercy he gave us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  Amen.

Ephesians 4:22–28  ²²As far as your former way of life is concerned, you were taught to take off the old self, which is corrupted by its deceitful desires, ²³and to be renewed continually in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴and to put on the new self, which has been created to be like God in righteousness and true holiness.  ²⁵Therefore, after you put away lying, let each of you speak truthfully with your neighbor, because we are all members of one body.  ²⁶“Be angry, yet do not sin.”  Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.  ²⁷Do not give the Devil an opportunity.  ²⁸Let the one who has been stealing steal no longer.  Instead, let him work hard doing what is good with his own hands, so that he has something to share with a person who is in need. (EHV)

Receiving new life, put off the old.

Dear friends made alive in Christ,

            Most likely nearly all of us had grandparents or great grandparents that immigrated to this country, and in doing so, they often made many changes in their life.  They wanted to fit in with their new neighbors, so they learned a new language, perhaps dressed in a new way, learned new laws, learned to eat (and even like) some new foods, and formerly unfamiliar customs often became regular habits.  At the same time, immigrants often clung to many of their old, familiar ways.  They brought seeds, recipes, and styles from the old country.  Dances, memories, and the old culture was celebrated and preserved so they wouldn’t forget their origins.  Thus, for every new settler, life became a balancing act between the old and the new. 

Our Lord, on the other hand, would have us be completely renewed in the new life and citizenship He gives us, for the old ways of our natural man lead to condemnation and death.  Therefore, the Holy Spirit inspired St. Paul to write telling us that after Receiving new life, we are to put off the old.

The old life that we lived before knowing Jesus was “corrupted by its deceitful desires.”  This is true for all of us, as it has been true for every person since Adam and Eve sinned.  Paul summarized what the Scriptures teach about the nature of mankind when he wrote: “There is no one who is righteous, not even one.  There is no one who understands.  There is no one who searches for God.  They all turned away; together they became useless.  There is no one who does what is good; there is not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12)  By nature, we didn’t know God and couldn’t understand His message.  By nature, every aspect of righteousness was foreign to us.  Sin was the normal.  Hatred, mockery, idolatry, and deceit were the practices we learned from our father.  In that kingdom of the world ruled by the prince of darkness, we were all destined to suffer the cruel death of hell.

Unlike immigration in our times, we didn’t enter the new kingdom because we wanted a better, safer, more prosperous life.  In fact, being dead in our sins, there was nothing we could do to escape our previous condition.  However, we had a Rescuer, one who loved us enough to come down to earth to pick us up out of the mire and destruction of the devil’s war against God, to cure the paralysis in our souls, and to give us a new life.  Hundreds of years before His Son walked among us, God promised through the prophet, Ezekiel, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit inside you.  I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh.  I will put my Spirit within you and will cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will carefully observe my ordinances.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

So, how did we become citizens of this new kingdom and new way of life?  Jesus told Nicodemus, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God!  Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh.  Whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:5-6)  Our lives were changed; indeed new life was given to us through the work of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel and Baptism.  We couldn’t go to God, so He came to us and made us alive through faith in Christ Jesus. 

Having thus been born again by the Spirit through Baptism and the Word, we have been granted citizenship in the kingdom of heaven, and with that citizenship comes new habits, new language, and a new way of life.  We had to learn the meaning of words like grace, forgiveness, justification, sanctification, omnipotence, transcendence, love, and many more.  We learned of a baptism that washes away sins and grants faith in our Savior.  We learned about a Supper that provides medicine for the soul, forgiveness, and strength to bear us up while we remain in this baren land until our new King takes us home to everlasting glory and peace.

Now, if our forefathers believed it was important to make changes in their lives so that they fit in among the citizens of this new land in the same old broken world, how much more important should it be that we live like citizens of God’s kingdom, even while remaining here on earth?

Paul’s letter answers that question.  He tells us “to be renewed continually in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new self, which has been created to be like God in righteousness and true holiness.”  With our new faith in Jesus, we are justified before God.  That means we are declared innocent and holy in the eyes of the One who created this world and everything in it.  Along with our justification comes sanctification, the process of making holy, or dedicating our lives to God and His service.  This holy living is a continual need and process in our life on earth, because until we enter heaven, we remain corrupted by our old, wicked flesh. 

Therefore, putting on the new life dare not be neglected.  If we allow ourselves to be drug back into the old habits and the old lies of the devil, we are in danger of returning to his control and abandoning our citizenship in the kingdom of God.  The image of God that Adam and Eve had at creation was lost in the fall, but it is credited to us again through faith in Jesus.  It is the same for you and me as it was for Abraham, who “believed in the Lord, and the Lord credited it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6)  Since we have been given true holiness through faith, we truly want to live as Jesus lived for He was without any sin or any lack of trust in His heavenly Father.

We don’t come by this holiness naturally.  It has to be cultivated through the regular hearing of “the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” (Romans 1:16)  To the Ephesians, Paul wrote, “Therefore, after you put away lying, let each of you speak truthfully with your neighbor, because we are all members of one body.”  Speaking the truth with love, we don’t hold ourselves up as better than anyone else, nor do we judge anyone as beyond the saving love of God.  At the same time, we dare not allow anyone to pretend that sin is approved by a holy God.  Our goal is never to elevate ourselves but to seek the rescue of those we are willing to love from the power of the deceiver who previously also controlled us.

To the Corinthians, Paul wrote, “Love is patient.  Love is kind.  Love does not envy.  It does not brag.  It is not arrogant.  It does not behave indecently.  It is not selfish.  It is not irritable.  It does not keep a record of wrongs.  It does not rejoice over unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-6)  He writes likewise here, “Be angry, yet do not sin.”  Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.  Do not give the Devil an opportunity.”  In this world of wickedness and evil ways, anger will come upon us naturally, and righteous anger may be necessary at times.  Yet, patience and love for our neighbors is far more valuable and effective.  The devil loves to use our injuries and hurt feelings against us.  If he can stir up our hearts to hate, he knows he is winning. 

However, the devil has already been defeated in the most important fight.  Jesus destroyed Satan’s rebellion by living on our behalf without ever once deviating from His Father’s will.  Living for us, Jesus kept every detail of the law.  Living for us, Jesus trusted God in heaven completely.  Living on our behalf, the only anger Jesus ever allowed in His heart was righteous anger against the evil one and against the works of those who basked in Satan’s lies.  On our behalf, Jesus died the death we deserved, yet He rose from the grave on Easter morning to live forever, so that we may live forever with Him in His heavenly kingdom.

To avoid giving the devil a foothold, we need to do everything in our power to avoid the sins that so easily corrupt.  We need to walk hand in hand with our holy Savior so that His perfection remains ours.  Then guided by God’s commands, we strive to do the things He commends and avoid anything that goes against the Ten Commandments.  At the same time, we know we daily sin much.  Therefore, we continually run back to Jesus confessing our sins.  At His gracious invitation we pour out our sins before Him in repentance, and because He has paid for the sins of the world, Jesus assures us again and again that He has interceded with His Father on our behalf and continues to do.

Paul continued his letter by encouraging his readers to remember the love God has shown us in Jesus.  He wrote, “Therefore, be imitators of God as his dearly loved children.  And walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:1-2)  This is what we need to remember as we seek to obey God.  Since we have been so loved that Jesus laid down His life on a cross to set us free from the devil, sin, and eternal condemnation, we too should serve our fellow man, and especially our fellow Christians, with the same love and forgiveness God has shown us.  For in place of our wickedness and sinful ways, the Holy Spirit brought us to repentance, holy living, and peace.  By His holy Word, He has been training us to live as the image of God both now and on into eternity.  Therefore, Receiving new life, put off the old.  Amen.

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