Keep faith in Jesus your greatest treasure.

 

Sermon for Pentecost 9, July 30, 2023

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.  His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.  Amen.

1 Timothy 6:17-21  ¹⁷Instruct those who are rich in this present age not to be arrogant or to put their hope in the uncertainty of riches, but rather in God, who richly supplies us with all things for our enjoyment.  ¹⁸Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share.  ¹⁹In this way they are storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.  ²⁰O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, turning away from godless, empty talk and the contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge.”  ²¹By professing it, some have veered away from the faith.  Grace be with you.  Amen. (EHV)

Keep faith in Jesus your greatest treasure.

Dear fellow redeemed,

            When writing a sermon, one thing a pastor has to ask himself is what sin is being addressed in this text?  Here, in this short admonition to Timothy, Paul warns against several possible sins: greed, selfishness, arrogance and pride, and as with all sins, a lack of faith in the one true God.  The instruction for us this morning is to Keep faith in Jesus your greatest treasure.

In order to make this statement, we must first examine what should be our greatest treasure.  Of all the things this world offers, what can possibly compare to the great benefit that is ours through faith in Christ Jesus?  Faith in Christ, granted to us by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the gospel in Word and Sacrament, offers and gives to us the forgiveness of all sins, reconciliation with God, and the certainty of life everlasting in heaven.  What could possibly be greater than this gift of peace with God through faith in Christ Jesus?  All earthly things will pass away, but our home in heaven is forever.

Paul wrote, “Instruct those who are rich.”  I separate out these words precisely to gauge our reaction.  In our present-day politics, I keep hearing that government should make the rich pay their fair share.  Do you imagine that Paul is demanding that we force rich people to do something above what the ordinary Christian should do?  Or is it possible that Paul is explaining that Christians should naturally consider themselves rich?  When we keep our focus on our greatest treasure, we are very likely to realize that everything we possess is a gift of God above and beyond what we deserve.

Now, Paul had been trained as a Pharisee, and he had been one of the best at that.  That means he understood well the mindset of that class of people.  Here he writes, “Instruct those who are rich in this present age not to be arrogant or to put their hope in the uncertainty of riches, but rather in God, who richly supplies us with all things for our enjoyment.”  The Pharisees famously assumed that God showed His satisfaction with a person by blessing them with riches here on earth—the greater the wealth, the better the person was assumed to be.  Indeed, to be a Pharisee demanded fairly substantial wealth in order to live up to the show.

Now, most of us wouldn’t pretend to be Pharisees.  Yet, this idea that God blesses best those who please Him can lead to a self-satisfaction that works against our faith.  We might begin to think that we deserve what we get more than others less fortunate.  Sometimes, it may be that we have worked harder for our wealth, but that is far from always the case.  Before they entered the Promised Land, Moses warned the Israelites, “You might say in your heart, ‘My ability and the power of my hand have earned this wealth for me.’  But then you are to remember that the Lord your God is the one who gives you the ability to produce wealth, to confirm his covenant that he promised to your fathers with an oath, as he does to this day.” (Deuteronomy 8:17-18)  Thus, we are to reminded that God gives us many things to preserve and enhance our lives on earth, yet we must remember the needs of less fortunate neighbors and help them as we are able, for God also gives trials and hardships so that His people have opportunities to do good works.

The command continues, “Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share.  In this way they are storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.”  As faithful Christians, we understand that our good works never earn us forgiveness nor salvation.  Those are already ours by God’s grace.   Apart from anything we do, and solely because of what Christ has done for us, God forgives all our sins and grants to those who trust in His Son the blessing of eternal life in heaven.

At the same time, God leaves His people on earth for a certain time to be His hands of kindness and blessing to those around us, believer and unbeliever alike.  Jesus instructed His followers, “I tell you, make friends for yourselves with unrighteous mammon, so that when it runs out, they will welcome you into the eternal dwellings.  The person who is faithful with very little is also faithful with much.” (Luke 16:9-10)  The world doesn’t understand the eternal blessings that are ours through faith in Jesus.  One of the ways that people of the world may be attracted to the Christian faith is through the kindness we show to others, friend and enemy alike.

When Jesus described Judgment Day, He spoke of sheep who did many good things for Him and goats who claimed to do good things on their own.  Jesus’ description shows that God has wiped the record clean of sin for all who trust in Jesus, while He remembers those good deeds we did in the world through our faith in Jesus.  Conversely, those who do not believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior are remembered only as defiant haters of God, and His people, who have done nothing to help in the world.  Therefore, we can go confidently about our daily activities knowing that God is watching over us to help us in all things and to catch us doing His will in sharing kindness with those around us.  We become tools of His grace and goodness, and He doesn’t forget those who walk in His ways.

Paul then personally addresses Timothy with the most important instruction: “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, turning away from godless, empty talk and the contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge.”  By professing it, some have veered away from the faith.”  There are many religions and churches in the world that teach the need to do nice things for other people.  The golden rule is imbedded in people through the natural law written in hearts, so it is not surprising that it is stressed even among those who have no time or love for Jesus. 

There is a small industry in our country that promotes so-called mission trips to distant places to do good deeds.  Certainly, there is nothing wrong with the premise.  However, our mission in the world must, first of all, be concerned with sharing the message of God’s grace through faith in Jesus.  Repairing homes, clearing debris and garbage, and all the other good things done by so many are meaningless if Jesus’ name isn’t proclaimed in its truth and purity. 

Sometimes, people have said, “Charity begins at home.”  I am never quite sure how to react to that statement, but it is true that good deeds can be done near or far away.  They can be done personally or through helping others carry out the good works we aim to do.  Still, the greatest and most important work for Christians is to share the Good News that Jesus lived and died to take away the sins of the world.  That Jesus is our one and only Savior—a Savior we serve not out of fear of missing out but out of gratitude for all He has done to make us acceptable to His Father in heaven.

On the other hand, sometimes “Charity begins at home,” can be merely an excuse to avoid helping those we don’t know personally, or those we might find less appealing to our personal feelings.  As always, love for others doesn’t limit itself to skin color, nationality, personality, location, or familiarity.  Jesus showed His great love for us while we were still His enemies.  St. Paul wrote to the Roman congregation, “For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, it is even more certain that, since we have been reconciled, we will be saved by his life.  And not only is this so, but we also go on rejoicing confidently in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received this reconciliation.” (Romans 5:10-11)

Paul closed this letter of encouragement and instruction by saying, “Grace be with you.  Amen.”  This is more than a simple wish.  Walking with Jesus by faith, God’s grace is with us.  We bestow God’s grace on others by our deeds, our attitudes, our kindness to strangers, and our helpfulness to friends.  There will be many times when the world seems against us.  On the other hand, many of us have been richly blessed by God is so many ways, whether materially or by the talents, personalities, and faith He has bestowed upon us individually.

As we go about our days trusting in Jesus as our Savior, we can be confident that our God has put each of us in a certain place and time for the benefit of our neighbors, friends, and family, and that He gives us the tools and riches needed to carry out the work He created us to do.  We can be bold in serving and confident that our God will provide for our needs and for the good of those we serve.  More than that, we can know that our Lord will never forget the good works we do through faith in Jesus.

“Grace be with you” also means that the love of God will never depart from those of us who trust in His Son, Jesus.  As long as the Lord allows us to remain in this troubled, broken world with all its crime, hatred, cruelty, and death, we will have God dwelling in us, preserving, protecting, and providing for us.  And in the end, we will live forever in heaven, because Jesus has removed all our shortcomings, weaknesses, and sins as far as east is from the west.  Jesus paid the full price to set us free from the control of the devil and our own sinful natures.  Jesus has won for us holiness, justification—the declaration of innocence before the Almighty Judge, reconciliation with God Almighty, and the sure hope of life everlasting with our Lord and Savior in the mansions of heaven, not because we have deserved such marvelous things, but because God loved us and gave His Son to be our Redeemer, Savior, and Friend.

Dear friends, go in peace today and every day.  Walk in the joy of forgiveness of all sin granted to you through faith in Jesus, and in the sure confidence of knowing that God is blessing you eternally for Jesus’ sake.  Keep faith in Jesus your greatest treasure.  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.

Put your hope in the Rock of Life.

 

Sermon for Pentecost 8, July 23, 2023

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.  All who do his precepts have good understanding.  Amen.

Isaiah 44:6-11  ⁶This is what the Lord, the King of Israel, Israel’s Redeemer, the Lord of Armies, says: “I am the first, and I am the last.  Except for me there is no god.  ⁷For who is like me?  Let him declare it.  Let him recite for me in order the things that took place since the time I established an ancient people.  Or let them declare what is yet to come, and what is going to take place.  ⁸Do not tremble, and do not be frightened.  Did I not announce this to you, and declare it already long ago?  You are my witnesses.  Is there any god except me?  There is no other Rock.  I am not aware of any other.  ⁹All those who form an idol are good for nothing.  All the things which delight them provide no benefit.  As for their witnesses―they do not see.  They know nothing, so they will be ashamed.”  ¹⁰Who is this who forms a god or casts a metal image that can provide no profit?  ¹¹Look at him!  All his associates will be ashamed.  The craftsmen are merely men.  Let them all gather themselves and take a stand.  They will be terrified and ashamed together. (EHV)

Put your hope in the Rock of Life.

Dear friends made alive in Christ,

            Where does life come from?  Tribes and nations throughout history developed myths and stories to explain the existence of man in this world and to give some kind of order or reason to why things take place that we may or may not appreciate.  Modern man, likewise, has devised complicated scenarios that they pretend tell the story of how the world and everything in it came to be. 

Present day science needs to imagine that this universe is billions of years old in order to give their schemes enough time to have any chance of being acceptable to the skeptical mind.  At the end of the day, however, they are still stumped as to how life came to be.  Many of the most notable minds of our time have speculated on what could cause life to spring up from the lifeless.  In desperation, some deep thinkers resort to the idea that aliens somehow seeded life on earth.  In the end, though, all these wise and supposedly learned people must admit that they just don’t know why there is life. 

For the Christian believer, the question of where life comes from is easily answered.  The One we trust has told us how life came to be.  Life comes from Him who is eternal, without beginning or end, the One living God who made all things and gives life as He pleases.  Here, through Isaiah, the Lord God of heaven and earth tells all people to Put your hope in the Rock of Life.

For the last couple centuries, scientists, archeologists and others of that type have committed their time and energies into discovering the origin of the world by digging through the mud, rocks, and refuse of time’s slow decay.  Every part of this earth is wearing down, wearing out, and fading away.  It didn’t have to be that way.  God created the world to be a paradise for people, but sin ruined it. 

The great flood, that modern day scholars so often mock, caused total upheaval in the planet on which we reside.  Everything changed in the course of that year of judgment upon the earth.  Still, many people are convinced that they can decipher a different history by looking through the remnants.  We can well say that such imaginations have become gods unto themselves.  You can judge for yourselves how well they are doing by the fact that each decade of scholarship brings new imaginations into the public eye.  Even so, much of what they think they find remains darkness to the truth.

“This is what the Lord, the King of Israel, Israel’s Redeemer, the Lord of Armies, says: “I am the first, and I am the last.  Except for me there is no god.  For who is like me?  Let him declare it.  Let him recite for me in order the things that took place since the time I established an ancient people.”  If you want to know the truth, look to the only eyewitness who was there when the foundations of the earth were laid.  Before there was anything else in existence, God is there.  Before there was even a rebellious angel to tempt God’s people, God had to create everything in existence—then or now.  If you want to know the ins and outs of all that has happened in the history of man, there is no one better to ask than the One God who has been here all along.

Now, God hasn’t chosen to reveal in His Word every aspect of history.  Why?  Because you and I could never fathom the depths of that tome anyway.  What the Lord God has provided us, is the record of His work to bring the world into existence, the special place chosen for mankind in this world, the fall into sin, and the devastating results of that fall, and especially, the love God is showing to us by sending His Son to be the One who would re-establish the peace with God that man had at creation.

I am old enough now, to remember literally uncountable prognostications about the future that didn’t come close to coming true.  We hear them all the time.  “If we don’t fix this or that aspect of our surroundings, the world as we know it will end in just a few years,” the doomsayers proudly proclaim.  An ice age is coming that will make it impossible to grow corn in Minnesota.  Within twenty years the population will overcome the capacity of our world to produce food.  These, and lots of other silliness, have been shouted from the rooftops just in the last fifty years.  Yet, life goes on.

Now, I grant you, sometimes the doomsayers do move the population to do some beneficial things, but the point remains, none of them are actually predicting the future.  They take their fears and run with them much like the ancients did when they carved wooden statues, or metal figurines to worship as gods, hoping to assert some control over the unpredictability of life.  Our God tells us to pay no attention to such antics.  Those who cannot recite the history of the world as it actually came to be can hardly control time, the weather, or the political machinations of madmen and statesmen alike.  Nor can they offer any hope for a future beyond this life.

Our God challenges those who would predict the future without His input, “Let them declare what is yet to come, and what is going to take place.  Do not tremble, and do not be frightened.  Did I not announce this to you, and declare it already long ago?”  The greatest scientists and thinkers of our time have no answer to the question of what lies ahead at the end of life.  On the other hand, as soon as Adam and Eve fell into sin, our God announced exactly what would happen, and how He would turn the events of the future to our benefit. 

Though sin had caused our downfall and sentenced mankind to the cruel fate of death and separation from God, God took it upon Himself to intervene.  He promised a Savior, a Seed of the woman who would reverse Satan’s wicked rebellion.  You and I know the outcome of that promise for God’s own dear Son, Jesus, entered this world as a human infant who grew up to become the world’s only perfect Man.  Jesus lived for us in perfection we can’t even fully understand.  His trust in His Father’s will is unmatched by any other person in history.  And, to fully crush the rebellion that brought death, Jesus entered death’s portal after suffering the cruel punishment our sins had earned, and on the third day, Jesus blasted to oblivion the gates of death’s power as He rose alive from the grave triumphant over sin, death, and the devil—all for you and me.

The Lord said, “You are my witnesses.  Is there any god except me?  There is no other Rock.  I am not aware of any other.”  Name one other person in history willing to sacrifice His own glory, life, and blood, not for family and friends only, but for the worst sinners and most evil people to ever walk this earth.  You cannot name another, because there is no one else like Jesus.  Jesus alone came down from heaven to fulfill His Father’s desire to save mankind from sin.  Jesus alone resisted every temptation known to man so that we can be counted holy.  Jesus alone was perfect in God’s eyes and thus able to bear our sin and suffer our punishment, so that we could be declared righteous before God and free to live with Him and for Him.  Therefore, Put your hope in the Rock of Life. 

God said, “There is no other Rock.  I am not aware of any other.  All those who form an idol are good for nothing.  All the things which delight them provide no benefit.  As for their witnesses―they do not see.  They know nothing, so they will be ashamed.”  This is the story of man without God.  Without the Rock of our salvation, we can know or do nothing good.  Time and again the Bible refers to Jesus as our Rock.  He is the unmovable good who came to redeem us, to buy us back into His Father’s kingdom.  There is nothing in this world, or outside of it either, that could change Jesus or what He has done for us.  When Jesus declared from the cross, “It is finished!” everything needed to make us right with God was completed.  Our sins were paid for.  God’s wrath for the rebellion of the devil and mankind was satisfied.  The gates of heaven swung open to all who will believe in Jesus.

Jesus once asked His disciples, “Who do you say I am?”  “Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’  Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.  And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overpower it.” (Matthew 16:16-18) 

Put your hope in the Rock of Life.  The world is full of people who seek their way and their future in something other than the words of the Living God.  Of them He says, “Who is this who forms a god or casts a metal image that can provide no profit?  Look at him!  All his associates will be ashamed.  The craftsmen are merely men.  Let them all gather themselves and take a stand.  They will be terrified and ashamed together.”  When the last judgment falls upon this earth as Jesus returns in glory with His angels to gather His people into heaven, all who did not believe in Him will tremble in terror and try to hide just as Adam did in the garden of Eden.  However, as for Adam, this time there will be no place to hide except in the blood of Jesus.

The one Man who loved you enough to suffer the pains of death, that you deserved, has washed away your guilt by the water and Word of Baptism.  He has worked faith in your hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit coming to you through the message of the Gospel, and He continues to feed that faith that gives life everlasting through the Supper He inaugurated on the night He was betrayed.  In this simple meal of bread and wine, Jesus gives you His own precious body and blood as living proof of the life He gave to make you free of sin and free to live and serve the God who created heaven and earth.  Taste and see that He is good.  Hear and believe the promises God has made to give you life everlasting.  Put your hope in the Rock of Life.  Amen.

Now to him, who is able, according to the power that is at work within us, to do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever!  Amen.

Treasure the Living Seed (The Word).

 

Sermon for Pentecost 7, July 16, 2023

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.  Amen.

Matthew 13:1-9 & 18-23  That same day Jesus left the house and was sitting by the sea.  ²A large crowd gathered around him.  So he stepped into a boat and sat down, while all the people stood on the shore.  ³He told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen, a sower went out to sow.  ⁴As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it.  ⁵Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil.  Immediately the seed sprang up, because the soil was not deep.  ⁶But when the sun rose, the seed was scorched.  Because it had no root, it withered away.  ⁷Other seed fell among thorns.   The thorns grew up and choked it. ⁸But some seed fell on good ground and produced grain: some one hundred times, some sixty, and some thirty times more than was sown.  ⁹Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear. … ¹⁸“So listen carefully to the parable of the sower.  ¹⁹When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the Evil One comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.  This is the seed that was sown along the path.  ²⁰The seed that was sown on rocky ground is the person who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, ²¹yet he is not deeply rooted and does not endure.  When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away.  ²²The seed that was sown among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worry of this world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it produces no fruit.  ²³But the seed that was sown on the good ground is the one who continues to hear and understand the word.  Indeed he continues to produce fruit: some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times more than was sown. (EHV)

Treasure the Living Seed (The Word).

Dear fellow redeemed,

            In our area of the world, a parable like this doesn’t really need any introduction.  As you journey down nearly any road, you will see pheasants and other birds cleaning up the grains that have dribbled out of passing trucks.  With light rains so far this summer, it isn’t hard to find pockets of corn fields where the corn is flaming from the bottom up for lack of moisture.  Not so much any more with modern chemicals, but most farmers well remember the days when the tougher weeds choked out large areas of certain fields, and finally, those same farmers recognize how much a corn crop can withstand when the soil of a field is of highest quality.  So, we see Jesus’ parable vividly pictured all around us, and the message for you and me is to Treasure the Living Seed (The Word).

In this parable, Jesus is teaching us, at least partially, why some people come to saving faith and others do not.  Now, it is always risky to talk about the doctrine of election—God’s decision to choose one person or another to be saved—but the truth is, God desires all people to be saved.  He wants all of us to be the good ground in which the seed of His Word will grow into a bountiful harvest.  Therefore, the parable shows us that the fault for those who are not saved always falls on themselves.  To say that, we must first recognize that no one comes to faith on his own accord. 

Jesus’ words clearly show that the soil itself doesn’t produce the fruit.  The life, and the produce, always comes from the seed the Sower implants wherever and whenever He wills. Obviously, the Sower is the Lord Himself through the work of the Holy Spirit in Word and Sacrament.  Apart from the seed, the soil does nothing.  This too won’t surprise any farmer.  Leaving a field fallow (unplanted) brings about weeds at most, and the apostle confirms that “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:3)

Jesus clarifies for us that He is talking about valuing the power of the Gospel in His Word.  God’s Word is intended to give life and salvation through its hearing.  St. Paul wrote, “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17)  Now, we can’t say why God motivates the proclamation of the Gospel in some areas and not all, but His intention to save cannot be denied.  We also cannot say why God will sometimes make the hardest of hearts into hearts of flesh that readily hear the Good News and believe.  Remember the great persecutor, Saul, seeking to wipe out Christianity among the Jews shortly after the message of Jesus’ kingdom began to spread.  On the road to Damascus, the Lord Himself intervened and called Saul to faith and made him the great apostle to the Gentiles, Paul.  Why is outside our jurisdiction.

However, in this world, God gives the Gospel its power to save.  Paul wrote, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” (Romans 1:16)  Yet, Jesus’ message in this parable is to be aware of how easy it is for the weak sinner to lose out on the hope of salvation by his own ignorance, laziness, or carelessness.  Therefore, the encouragement to Treasure the Living Seed (The Word).

To His disciples, Jesus explained, “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the Evil One comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.  This is the seed that was sown along the path.”  This pictures what happens when the message of salvation through the life and death of Jesus Christ on our behalf is ignored or rejected.  So many people have preconceived notions that there is no God or that God would never be willing to share His good will, and thus, they ignore what the Gospel says.  Here, too, is where those who love their sin often reject the love of God who took away their guilt.  For all of these, the seed of the Gospel is wasted and stolen away by the devil’s trickery and lies.

Jesus next said, “The seed that was sown on rocky ground is the person who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he is not deeply rooted and does not endure.  When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away.”  How easy it is for some people to be swayed by the opinions of their neighbors, friends, or enemies.  When they first hear the Gospel, it is music to their ears, but as soon as opposition rears its ugly head, they abandon the faith to revert to their former way of unbelief.  Again, it is not that the seed of the Word lacked power but that the soil of the heart was too shallow to value it, so the growth and production never happen.

Likewise, is the third soil; “The seed that was sown among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worry of this world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it produces no fruit.”  Make no mistake, it isn’t the seed that fails in this case.  Rather, this hearer let all of life’s troubles, or good times, take precedence over the nurturing of his or her own faith in Jesus. 

This may be the most likely weakness we see in our own congregations.  This soil doesn’t outright deny God’s saving message, but slowly and gradually, the focus on the world, and its problems or joys, leads the person to choose other ways to spend time.  Maybe it’s multiple vacations that lead to a habit of staying away from the Word.  Perhaps it is the drive to make lots of money or to be more successful in a person’s employment.  It often comes in the form of giving children more and more opportunities to play sports or other activities, as our culture so “helpfully” schedules event after event at times that used to be reserved for worship. 

On the other hand, this person may find his love for the Lord consumed by worrying about all the troubles and dangers we may face now or in the future.  It could be someone who becomes angry at a friend or pastor who may have irritated in some way.  Forgiveness sometimes seems to be impossible to find when the offender is a fellow member of the church, or a pastor that meant no harm.  This troubled soul may desire revenge rather than mercy, justice instead of grace, but both lead to everlasting disgrace.

Jesus uses this picture to warn us that we are not immune to these weaknesses.  We dare not think this only applies to the lost.  Across our nation, churches struggle with declining membership, often because the pictures in this parable are so clearly displayed in the daily lives of our people.  Some of our own congregation, and many in the surrounding area, claim to be God’s people, but they have become so weak in faith that they are either already lost to the devil’s schemes or are in danger of allowing their faith in Jesus to be stolen away by sloth or neglect of the Word and Sacraments.

This finally brings us to the good soil.  Every farmer treasures that area of the field that always produces no matter what the weather brings.  Jesus said, “But the seed that was sown on the good ground is the one who continues to hear and understand the word.  Indeed he continues to produce fruit: some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times more than was sown.”  Once again, this is the same powerful seed that failed to produce anything in the spiritual life of the other soils.  What is the difference?  It isn’t that the soil of this person is any better by nature.  We “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)  In ourselves, “There is no one who does what is good; there is not even one.” (Romans 3:12)

What makes for valuable soil in God’s kingdom is the Holy Spirit working in us the faith to believe in Jesus, and through the continual use of that powerful Gospel in Word and Sacrament, we are kept in the faith by the same Spirit.  This soil demonstrates a gladness for God’s kindness to us, rejoicing not that we are strong, but that “The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle,” (Psalm 24:8) has chosen us out of all the refuse of mankind to be His children on whom He pours out the tremendous blessings of His grace and mercy.

The central point of Jesus’ parable is this: “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”  What message does Jesus want you to hear, believe, and treasure with all your heart?  He wants you to know and remember the love God has poured out on the world through the sacrifice of His Son.  God’s Son came to earth to live, die, and rise again so that the sins of all people are removed from God’s mind forever.  Jesus took on human flesh to live in our skin, to endure the same troubles, anxieties, hardships, suffering, and yes, even death that we face, yet to remain without sin so that we can be counted holy in God’s sight.  Jesus made Himself the spotless Lamb of God taking away the sins of the world with His intercessory death on the cross, and by His rising from the grave victorious on Easter morning, Jesus has shown the world that the victory for our souls is complete.

Dear friends, Treasure the Living Seed (The Word).  Your sins are forgiven for Jesus’ sake.  Your Father in heaven is now reconciled with you forever and ready to receive you into His everlasting care at the appointed time known only to Him.  Go home in peace today rejoicing that Jesus has made you right and holy in God’s sight and that the Spirit has caused this marvelous life-giving faith to grow in you.  Treasure the gift of that Good News for it gives you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and Satan cannot overcome it.  Make the Word part of your daily life and welcome with great joy every opportunity to receive the Gospel in Word and Sacrament.  Treasure the Living Seed (The Word in all its power and glory).  Amen.

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

Thank God for Jesus’ victory in the battle within.

 

Sermon for Pentecost 6, July 9, 2023

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  He gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father—to whom be the glory forever and ever.  Amen.

Romans 7:15-25  ¹⁵For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not keep doing what I want.  Instead, I do what I hate.  ¹⁶And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.  ¹⁷But now it is no longer I who am doing it, but it is sin living in me.  ¹⁸Indeed, I know that good does not live in me, that is, in my sinful flesh.  The desire to do good is present with me, but I am not able to carry it out.  ¹⁹So I fail to do the good I want to do.  Instead, the evil I do not want to do, that is what I keep doing.  ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who am doing it, but it is sin living in me.  ²¹So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is present with me.  ²²I certainly delight in God’s law according to my inner self, ²³but I see a different law at work in my members, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me captive to the law of sin, which is present in my members.  ²⁴What a miserable wretch I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?  ²⁵I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (EHV)

Thank God for Jesus’ victory in the battle within.

Dear friends in Christ,

            Most of us likely cannot imagine what it is like to wake up daily in the midst of a war, and the few of us who have are very likely to appreciate that we are not currently being bombarded with bombs, missiles, or other weapons of mass destruction.  On the other hand, however much we imagine we are living in peaceful times; the truth is that the Christian is always under attack in a deadly battle—a war not of politics or seeking to establish control over a portion of this country, or another, but a battle for the soul, a battle primarily fought between the old sinful nature and the new life of faith.  With St. Paul, let us consider the struggle and say: Thank God for Jesus’ victory in the battle within.

The battle between your old man and new is what Paul is examining here.  The Christian life is a paradox of sorts.  When the Holy Spirit brought you to faith in Jesus through the Word and Baptism, you were cleansed of all guilt as He implanted in you a new spiritual life that truly wants to live according to God’s law.  Therefore, those of us who believe in Jesus have the comfort of knowing that by God’s grace we have been rescued from just condemnation.  Still, as long as your time here on earth continues, you remain walking in this totally corrupt, sinful human flesh with an inherited nature that fights against your new life every day.  

Paul writes here about the spiritual battle that is, and must be, fought in the daily life of every Christian believer.  Yes, our new man appreciates the law, and as a child of God, knows it is good, because it plainly shows God’s will for our lives.  Our new man lives to do God’s will.  Yet, the new spiritual believer also feels the tormenting guilt of our sinful nature never measuring up to the law’s demands.

Naturally, the unbeliever often doesn’t feel this remorse that still troubles the believer.  To the unbeliever, God’s law is the enemy, for it accuses, convicts, and condemns the sinner’s weaknesses, his boisterous arrogance and rejection of God.  The unbeliever wants to rule his own life, make his own laws, and be the only judge for his actions, but the unbeliever is dead before God and destined for the fires prepared for Satan.

This all changed for you and me when the Lord brought us to faith in Jesus.  By implanting that new life in you, your eyes were opened to the truly wretched condition of your birth.  At the same time as you were given eternal hope through faith in Christ, you became aware of how hard it is to live perfectly holy.  The perfection you now desire often escapes you, as it does us all.  St. Paul wrote, “I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is present with me.  I certainly delight in God’s law according to my inner self, but I see a different law at work in my members, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me captive to the law of sin, which is present in my members.”  

Now, some spiritual advisors will tell you that if you are truly saved you won’t sin anymore.  Or, they might say that the only way to know you are saved is if you see Jesus’ holiness in your own life.  However, the faithful Christian readily admits with Paul, “Indeed, I know that good does not live in me, that is, in my sinful flesh.  The desire to do good is present with me, but I am not able to carry it out.  So I fail to do the good I want to do.  Instead, the evil I do not want to do, that is what I keep doing.”  This honest confession stands in full agreement with the prophet Isaiah who lamented, “All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a filthy cloth.” (Isaiah 64:6) 

What the Holy Spirit, through Paul, is teaching us here is that we can’t rely on our feelings to know we are saved, and we can’t trust our own actions to please God, not even our good intentions, because everything about us has been corrupted by the infection of sin.  However, there is something that is certain, and there is One Man who we truly can trust to rescue us from this body of death.  The Christian believer has this sure and certain confidence: that God has given us the victory “through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

For a world of sinners, God sent His Son into the bloody brawl, a fight to the death.  The Son of God and man entered this world to undo what our first parents had done.  Jesus came to live the perfect obedience we need.  The temptations that so sneakily attack us, Jesus easily deflected.  Instead, confident in the holiness of His Father, Jesus lived in perfect fulfilment of that law that we now agree is good—even excellent. 

Jesus went into battle as the hero substituting for you and me, valiantly defending against the assaults of the enemy who tried his best to deceive, tempt, mislead, and trap God’s Son.  At the same time, Jesus never gave the enemy a foothold by saying the wrong thing; He never looked lustfully at a woman or desired any property that wasn’t rightfully His.  No evil thought ever sprang up in Jesus’ mind.  So, after thirty-some years’ of the devil’s sneak attacks, subterfuge, and blatant assaults on God’s Son, it was Jesus who remained victorious, the champion of the world forcing the liar to wear the chains of an eternally defeated enemy.

But then, after Jesus had won this spiritual trench warfare of living on our behalf, and the devil had been forced into submission—mercifully, miraculously, Jesus took the guilt for all the spiritual shrapnel and bullet wounds the devil, the world, and our own corrupt flesh have inflicted upon us, and all the people around us as well, and He carried all the guilt of the world to the cross.  There, on Calvary, God meted out on Jesus all the just judgment and punishment deserved for the injuries we have caused in this troubled world, for the destruction caused by the devil’s lies, and for every foul odor of sin among the dead and dying of the world.  For winning the war against our greatest enemy, Jesus’ reward was death for the sins of the world, and that’s exactly the way He wanted it, because that was the eternal will and plan of His Father in heaven, who loved you and me with an everlasting love—even to the point of giving His life for ours.

When St. Paul considered the battle that still raged within his own life, he exclaimed, “What a miserable wretch I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?”  But, Paul immediately answered the question, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

As we examine ourselves, honestly, we have to admit with the psalmist, “Certainly, I was guilty when I was born.  I was sinful when my mother conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5)  Like everyone else, we have been selfish, unkind, greedy, and jealous, with wicked thoughts, and hurtful comments.  That corruption isn’t fully removed from us this side of the grave.  Yes, we have been given new life through faith, but our old, corrupt nature still clings.  Therefore, we can’t rely on anything we do to win us a place in heaven. 

Thanks be to Jesus, God doesn’t leave us stuck in the condition of our birth.  Rather, the Spirit put in us a new life that is sanctified to serve.  Through Ezekiel, the Lord promised, “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.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27)  Through the Gospel in Word and Sacrament, the Holy Spirit worked faith in you to believe in Jesus as your Savior.  In that new and living faith, “We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)  We know our works won’t save us, but they will work to serve and help those around us, perhaps even leading other wretched sinners to the saving faith that gives them new and everlasting life.

Furthermore, we are not stuck in this dual-nature paradox of saint and sinner forever, for the Lord has promised that our removal from this world in death will bring us the perfect holiness we believers now desire.  The Holy Spirit had Paul write:

I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.  For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.  When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."  "Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?"  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God!  He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:51-57)

As long as we remain in this world, we each must battle daily in the ongoing war against Satan’s temptations and the corruption of our own flesh, while it remains true that our consciences still so easily bruise us.  That is as it should be.  Being sinners, we know we fail to live perfectly.  However, as Christian believers, we also walk with Jesus, who lived perfectly for us.  And walking with Him by faith, Christ’s holiness now also covers us. 

You see, the battle for salvation isn’t ours.  In fact, salvation is already won for us in the conclusion of the most epic war ever waged as Jesus rose victorious from the grave.  Christ’s resurrection from the dead is the crowning victory over all our enemies.  So, dear friends, here we stand rejoicing, washed in Jesus’ blood, cleansed of all unrighteousness, sanctified to serve, dressed in Jesus’ perfect holiness, and anointed to live and reign with Him forever.  Therefore, gathered together in His name, we Thank God for Jesus’ victory in the battle within.  Amen.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless in the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, be glory, majesty, power, and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all time, now, and to all eternity.  Amen.

Stand with the Lord before all others.

 

Sermon for Pentecost 5, July 2, 2023

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

Exodus 32:28-29  ²⁸The Levites did what Moses said, and that day about three thousand men from among the people fell.  ²⁹Moses said, “Begin your service of the Lord today.  Yes, because every man among you took a stand against his son and against his brother, the Lord is bestowing a blessing on you today.” (EHV)

Stand with the Lord before all others.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

            Our lesson this morning from the book of Exodus serves as a tragic warning to all that the Lord is deadly serious about being our one and only God.  As we consider this text, we must first understand that its content is descriptive and not prescriptive.  In other words, we should not assume, in any way, shape, or form, that God wants us to kill on His behalf.  Christianity is never spread by violence, but only by the subtle power of the Gospel in God’s Word.  Yet, the message for us as we observe the Lord’s dealing with rebellious Israel is to Stand with the Lord before all others.

In our Gospel lesson a few moments ago, we heard Jesus’ surprising words, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”  Jesus was reiterating what God has always demanded.  The Israelites had received God’s commandments, the first and most important of which declares,

You shall have no other gods beside me.  You shall not make any carved image for yourself or a likeness of anything in heaven above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth.  Do not bow down to them or be subservient to them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.  I follow up on the guilt of the fathers with their children, their grandchildren, and their great-grandchildren, if they also hate me. (Exodus 20:3-5)

The nation of Israel, to a man, had agreed that God’s commands were good, and they swore to uphold their allegiance to God who had rescued them from slavery in Egypt.  Yet, a few short weeks later, as Moses met with the Lord God on the mountain, the people turned away.  Perhaps, they panicked.  Maybe, the Egyptian idolatry remained too strong a pull for them to resist.  It could be that many never believed in God to begin with.  Regardless, when they thought Moses had gone away too long, they asked Aaron to make an idol for them, and Aaron foolishly, and incredibly, obliged.

The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, but Moses interceded on their behalf.  Still, as Moses came down that mountain and observed the wickedness of his people, he too burned in righteous indignation.  His own brother had formed this idol, and Aaron’s excuse was too flimsy to believe.  Maybe, in a moment of weakness, he had feared for his life before the rebels.  Still, what drove Moses wasn’t revenge but a need to restore order and faithfulness.  Therefore, he sent those Levites out among the people bearing the sword against those who led the uprising.  Certain people were promoting this wild celebration and encouraging sin against God.  The Lord would have none of that among His people.  Thus, three thousand men died at the hands of their brothers, neighbors, and friends.

As I said, this is a tragic event.  The Levites received commendation from Moses and the Lord, but it wasn’t because either enjoyed the killing, for God has said, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked.” (Ezekiel 33:11)  Rather, the killing had become necessary to stop the revolt, and it serves as a graphic warning for all who would rebel against God that there will be a day of judgment, and those who lead God’s people astray will receive their due reward of eternal death.

Time and again, the Lord defends His name.  Through Isaiah, He declares, “I am the Lord; that is my name.  I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to idols.” (Isaiah 42:8)  The Lord is not jealous because He is capricious, weak, vain, or unstable.  Instead, God defends His holy name, because only God can save, and only God is willing to save sinful people from the condemnation they deserve.  God defends the name of the Lord, “for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

The message of our texts this morning is that the first commandment must be obeyed if we are to enjoy salvation and eternal life.  Obedience to all the other commandments flows out of the first.  If we do not love God as the only God and treasure in our lives, nothing else we do will satisfy God’s demand for righteousness among His people.  If anything, or anyone, becomes more important to us than the Lord and His Word, we have fallen into idolatry.  If God’s commands to us become too much to live with, we also commit that sin of rebellion against God and deserve His wrath.

Now, we know we are supposed to love our spouse and children.  We want to obey God’s command to honor our parents and superiors.  At the same time, God must remain number One in our hearts.  Then, if you truly and honestly consider whether we have lived so faithfully, we will with humble hearts join with the people who heard Jesus describe what it took to live according to God’s commands, when they said, “Then who can be saved?” (Luke 18:26)  To be saved according to Law requires perfect obedience and trust in God from conception to death.  It allows no option for desires of the flesh, questioning, or even perplexity as to what God asks us to do.

We look back at the Israelite nation so easily abandoning God so soon after He rescued them from slavery and torment, wondering how they could be so weak and foolish.  Yet, God chose Israel because they make such a good picture of all of us.  We too suffer our rebellious moments.  We too often question God’s love and providence.  No person on earth has ever lived exactly as God’s Law demands—until Jesus.  Jesus is the reason God demands that we Stand with the Lord before all others.

Because none of the Israelites, and no one else either, could ever live up to the righteous demands of the law, God sent His Son to do for us what we could never do.  From the moment of His conception in Mary, Jesus was serving His Father in heaven, and trusting His Father in everything.  From His birth until His death on the cross for you and me, Jesus lived perfectly in line with all law and perfectly in line with God’s will for mankind and for His own beloved Son.  It is God’s will that His Son would suffer for our sins.  It is God’s will that Jesus would redeem us from sin, death, and the power of the devil.

In this very graphic and violent picture of the Levites slaughtering the rebellious among their friends, neighbors, and relatives, God is teaching us to stand with Him alone.  No, that doesn’t mean we kill those who disobey the faith.  It doesn’t mean we go out to make believers by force.  It doesn’t mean that we bring harm to anyone.  God gives lots of instructions in the Bible for how we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, and more so, how we are to love them as Jesus has loved us.

At the same time, the Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is to remain our number One.  He is the only God we are to trust, celebrate, obey, and follow.  We find our comfort, joy, and hope in Him alone.  Then, and only then, does our love flow to those around us. 

It is not love to lead people away from the salvation found in Jesus.  It is not love to encourage people to go their own way or to seek after their own desires.  That is the way of the world and the way of the devil who so gleefully torments the world every day.  Satan likes nothing better than when we turn from God to take up the celebration of the flesh or to question God’s love and care for us.  The devil’s tricks are all old hat.  He has used the same few lies since he led Adam and Eve to sin.

Yet, Satan couldn’t stop Jesus.  Nothing the devil used to tempt Jesus made any difference.  Satan had no trick Jesus couldn’t see through; no temptation Jesus couldn’t answer with what God has given us in His Word.  Our dear Savior kept His eyes focused on His Father in heaven, trusting Him for every need, seeking His guidance and blessing in every moment of His earthly life, trusting our true God in perfect love, all so that Jesus could present His holy, perfect life in exchange for ours.  Then, in accord with His Father’s loving plan, Jesus carried our guilt to the cross and suffered the ignominious death we deserved, so that He could declare with authority, “It is finished!” (John 19:30)

Dear friends, this is why God invites and commands us to Stand with the Lord before all others.  Jesus has accomplished everything needed to reconnect us with our loving Creator.  Therefore, when God gave the command to have Him alone as our God, and threatened judgment to generation after generation of those who hate Him, He also holds open His hands promising, “But I show mercy to thousands who love me and keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20:6)  This is why we come to God in repentance and worship, because our loving God has rescued us from the darkness of death and condemnation.  He has shown mercy to all through Jesus.  “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)

Today, we are God’s people, made His, and holy in His sight, through faith in Jesus alone, a faith given to us by the power and work of the Holy Spirit alone, only through the Gospel in Word and Sacrament.  Through faith in Jesus, we are justified and declared righteous before God for Jesus’ sake.  In Jesus, we have life and peace everlasting.  God’s greatest desire is, as it has always been, that we are saved by faith in His Son, Jesus.  Therefore, our Lord invites us to live in the grace He has bestowed upon us; thus, to Stand with the Lord before all others.  Amen.

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