Our gracious God is concerned about you.

 

Sermon for Pentecost 17, September 24, 2023

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

Jonah 3:10-4:11  ¹⁰When God saw their actions, that they had turned from their evil way, God relented from the disaster which he said he would bring on them, and he did not carry it out.  ^4:1 But to Jonah all this seemed very bad, and he became very angry.  ²He prayed to the Lord, “Lord, wasn’t this exactly what I said when I was still in my own country?  That is why I previously fled to Tarshish, because I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and you relent from sending disaster.  ³So now, Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”  ⁴But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”  ⁵Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city.  He made a shelter for himself there and sat in the shade under it, waiting to see what would happen in the city.  ⁶Then the Lord God provided a plant and made it grow up over Jonah to provide shade over his head, to relieve him from his discomfort.  So Jonah was very happy about the plant.  ⁷But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, and it attacked the plant so that it withered.  ⁸When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind.  The sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint.  He wanted to die, so he said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”  ⁹But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”  Jonah said, “I do have a right to be angry—angry enough to die!”  ¹⁰So the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant.  You did not work for it or make it grow.  It grew up in one night and perished after one night.  ¹¹So should I not be concerned for Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than one hundred twenty thousand people who do not know the difference between their right hand and their left—and also many animals?” (EHV)

Our gracious God is concerned about you.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

            Jonah’s attitude seems to be “good enough for me but not for thee.”  In fact, Jonah displayed the self-righteous, arrogant presumption that he and his fellow Israelites were deserving of God’s concern and care, but that others, especially people they assumed to be violent, vicious, threatening, predatorial neighbors, deserved only God’s wrath and destruction. 

The book of the prophet Jonah shows us a side of human nature that we all need to beware of.  It is natural in the human condition for people to tend to like and trust those who seem most like themselves.  We grow most comfortable with those of our own family, background, race, and nationality.  To some extent, this natural pride can be a good thing.  If it leads us to better serve our neighbors, our families, and our nations, we are doing those things God wants us to do for them.

On the downside, however, this also can lead to a deadly self-righteous attitude that assumes all others are the enemy, or at least, less deserving of God’s mercy than ourselves.  Now, because we live in a broken world, there are needed cautions when it comes to politics, civic authorities, and international relationships.  God gives the power of the sword to government to protect the ordinary person from those who would cause them harm.  Yet, control of the sinner is not the goal of the kingdom of God.  What the Lord was teaching Jonah, and by extension all people of all time, is that Our gracious God is concerned about you.

Jonah had hundreds of years of history showing God’s loving care for the people of Israel.  Furthermore, God had used Israel as an instrument of judgment on the Canaanites when His patience for their unbelief ran out.  However, what always remains true is that God is a God of love who desires primarily to rescue sinners from this world of predation, sorrow, and despair.

The Lord of mercy and grace had ordered His prophet, Jonah, to bring a message of warning to the people of Nineveh.  Now, many scholars assume that this was only a stern preaching of the law.  Yet, we know from the Bible that while the law will make people aware of their sin and need for forgiveness, only the Gospel can change hearts.  Indeed, Paul later wrote, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” (Romans 1:16)  Thus, we rightly conclude that the message Jonah was sent to deliver included both the fierce warning of coming wrath for their wickedness as well as the promise that should they repent, or turn to the Lord in repentance and faith, they would receive the merciful forgiveness of the God who declared, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6)

Now, being God’s prophet and well versed in the promises received by his forefathers, Jonah should have rejoiced to see the Ninevites show a complete change of heart.  From the king to the lowest slave, every person in that great city bowed down in sackcloth and ashes, participating in a fast of sorrow for their previous evil ways.  Do not be mistaken, this was not just a show to impress the neighbors.  Indeed, the Lord spoke to Samuel saying, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)  Therefore, in Nineveh, God was gladdened to see that His message of warning and grace was received by faith. 

“When God saw their actions, that they had turned from their evil way, God relented from the disaster which he said he would bring on them, and he did not carry it out.”  We know that this is exactly the outcome our God wanted all along.  God hadn’t changed His mind simply because those people showed repentance outwardly.  Rather, God in His great mercy and love turned their hearts in the way He wants all of us to turn.  Through Malachi, God declared, “Certainly I, the Lord, do not change.  That is why you, sons of Jacob, have not come to an end.” (Malachi 3:6)

Jonah had assumed that God was gracious to Israel because they deserved His love.  Thus, his perverse nature came in full view when He saw the Lord spare the city.  To Jonah all this seemed very bad, and he became very angry.  He prayed to the Lord, “Lord, wasn’t this exactly what I said when I was still in my own country?  That is why I previously fled to Tarshish, because I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and you relent from sending disaster.  So now, Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 

In his foolish pride, Jonah was literally angry with God because God was merciful.  Jonah wanted to see justice.  He wanted to see God’s wrath poured out on a people Jonah despised.  I ask you, does that sound like loving your neighbor?  Does it sound like something we might do?  I tell you, it is easy for us to say we would never be this way, but you might be surprised at the confessing Christians who have told me they don’t go to church because there are such terrible sinners in the building. 

Sometimes, that person has been hurt by a member of the church, but other times, they simply assume that the sins they see in others are worse than their own.  To this, the Holy Spirit has declared, “There is no one who is righteous, not even one.” (Romans 3:10)  Through James, He also warns, “In fact, whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles in one point has become guilty of breaking all of it.” (James 2:10)  As we look around this room, we know that everyone here has broken all of God’s law and deserves only God’s wrath and condemnation.  Then, as we look outside of this room, we see exactly the same thing, everyone out there is a sinner through and through, and they all deserve God’s wrath, but all of us together, both in here and out there, need God’s mercy.  We need it a lot.  We need it every day and every moment of our lives.  Furthermore, we need the special care He shows us in the worship service every chance we get.

For that reason, I invite and encourage you to make use of every opportunity you have to share God’s love with those you know.  When it is needed, indeed, call them to repentance, but never forget to include God’s loving promise of mercy for those who return to Him, just as Jonah remembered God saying before Moses: “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and overflowing with mercy and truth, maintaining mercy for thousands, forgiving guilt and rebellion and sin.  He will by no means clear the guilty.  He calls their children and their children’s children to account for the guilt of the fathers, even to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7)  Never forget that “The Lord is not slow to do what he promised, as some consider slowness.  Instead, he is patient for your sakes, not wanting anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

To put Jonah in the right frame of mind, the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant.  You did not work for it or make it grow.  It grew up in one night and perished after one night.  So should I not be concerned for Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than one hundred twenty thousand people who do not know the difference between their right hand and their left—and also many animals?”  The point the LORD was making for all of us is this: Our gracious God is concerned about you.

That promise is the message of Christianity, that God was concerned about the eternal welfare of all people.  Therefore, He sent His Son, Jesus, to live in perfect obedience, holiness, and trust, so that His life of perfection could be credited to each of us through faith.  And, because Jesus was the perfect Son of God, He made Himself the Lamb without blemish who took away the guilt and shame of the world with His sacrifice. 

Having won redemption and justification for the world with His life, death, and resurrection from the grave, our Lord Jesus wants to immerse us in His kindness.  Therefore, He sends pastors to declare to you the forgiveness of all your sins.  He comes into our worship whenever two or three are gathered together in His name, and in a personal communion, He shares His own real body and blood in the bread and wine most of you will consume at the altar rail this morning.  In that precious meal, Jesus is serving you Himself as a reminder and pledge that He died for you personally and that “As distant as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our rebellious acts from us.” (Psalm 103:12)

With His gracious mercy to Nineveh, God showed the world His love for sinners who repent and return to Him.  God’s gracious heart is so evident in the Words of Scripture that no matter what we might face in this world, we can say with St. Paul, “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things present nor things to come, nor powerful forces, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)  Walk boldly in this faith, Our gracious God is concerned about you.  Amen.

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

Show the mercy God has shown to all.

 

Sermon for Pentecost 16, September 17, 2023

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.

Matthew 18:21-35  ²¹Then Peter came up and asked Jesus, “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother when he sins against me?  As many as seven times?”  ²²Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but I tell you as many as seventy-seven times.  ²³For this reason the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.  ²⁴When he began to settle them, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.  ²⁵Because the man was not able to pay the debt, his master ordered that he be sold, along with his wife, children, and all that he owned to repay the debt.  ²⁶“Then the servant fell down on his knees in front of him, saying, ‘Master, be patient with me, and I will pay you everything!’  ²⁷The master of that servant had pity on him, released him, and forgave him the debt.  ²⁸“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him one hundred denarii.  He grabbed him and began choking him, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’  ²⁹“So his fellow servant fell down and begged him, saying, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back!’  ³⁰But he refused.  Instead he went off and threw the man into prison until he could pay back what he owed.  ³¹“When his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were very distressed.  They went and reported to their master everything that had taken place.  ³²“Then his master called him in and said to him, ‘You wicked servant!  I forgave you all that debt when you begged me to.  ³³Should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had mercy on you?’  ³⁴His master was angry and handed him over to the jailers until he could pay back everything he owed.  ³⁵“This is what my heavenly Father will also do to you unless each one of you forgives his brother from his heart.” (EHV)

Show the mercy God has shown to all.

Dear fellow redeemed,

            It became common in the last couple decades to have young children play their ballgames without keeping score.  The idea was that way they could learn the game without anyone getting hurt feelings for being the loser of the game.  Funny thing happened, however, even though there was no scorekeeper, nor even the parents keeping score, yet the kids often kept score in their heads.  They all readily recognized which team had really won or lost.

By nature, we tend to keep score.  In our games, we keep score for the joy of winning.  In business, we keep score by tallying up the profits earned.  In our daily lives, we may keep a running tally of the favors a friend has done for us, so that we can return the favor sometime in the future.  Yet, far too often in our sinful nature, we find ourselves keeping score of all the times another person has hurt us, and as that tally grows, so does our desire for revenge, or at least, to separate ourselves from that hurtful person, often even from a spouse.

Now, in this sinful world, it is sometimes necessary for the protection of the innocent to separate ourselves from those who would hurt us.  The government has prisons and jails to protect the public from those who would flaunt the laws or be a danger to others.  God allows divorce primarily to protect spouse and children from abusive mates.  We have hospitals to separate from the public, and with the hope to help heal, those whose mental illnesses have made them a danger to the public or themselves even.

At the same time, however, imagine the disaster we would face if God completely separated Himself from us when the tally of our sins becomes too high.  You might say that is what happened to mankind at the time of the great flood.  However, even then, God was mostly locking away the disobedient.  Though sin put a wall between us and God when Adam and Eve fell, He continues to provide for our needs and bless us in so many ways.  If God really separated Himself from sinners, there would be no good thing on earth—no sunshine or air, no food, water, heat, or light.  There would be no peace or harmony at all.  In fact, there would be no life.  Truly, that is a description of hell. 

At the time of our sermon text, Jesus was teaching His followers about forgiveness and He promised that the sins we forgive here on earth are likewise forgiven in heaven.  Peter then spoke up asking, “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother when he sins against me?  As many as seven times?”  To many in the crowd, this likely seemed rather generous, because some of the rabbis of that time were teaching that you need only forgive a person three times.  Sounds a little like our tendency to say, “Three strikes and you’re out!” right?

Jesus then told His parable showing the greatness of God’s love for us.  God doesn’t keep track of how much or how often He forgives us.  That king in the parable forgave a debt that could never have been repaid.  It would be comparable to you or me owing as much debt as the Minnesota state budget.  Billions of dollars owed with no possible means of recovery.  Yet, the king willingly made the decision to cover the cost himself.  The debt did not go unpaid, it just wasn’t paid by the one who owed it. 

Likewise for you and me and the debt of sin that weighed us down in the economy of the Kingdom of God.  For all the world, God had declared, “The soul who sins is the one who will die.” (Ezekiel 18:20)  God had warned Adam that to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would mean death for him.  St. Paul wrote, “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)  No matter what era or place in time one has lived, every sin we have ever committed earned us the sentence of death.  It earned us eternal separation from God.

Think about that for a minute—can you think of a single day in your life when you did not commit a sin?  Did you ever go even one hour, even an hour at church on Sunday morning, when your every thought was absolutely pure and focused on the love of God, both His for you and yours for Him?  For every one of those times we fail, for every moment of our sin-afflicted lives, the debt we owed to God was piling up.  Not one of us could ever repay the cost, so God said, in effect, “I will bear the cost.”  To Adam and Eve God promised a Son of the woman who would crush the tempter’s head.  To Abraham, God promised a seed of his flesh through whom all the world would be blessed.  And from the mouth of our dearest Friend, our Savior, we hear, “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17)

It certainly looks like the king in the parable forgave a lot of debt, but no one has ever forgiven a debt like God did in His Son.  “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)  God’s Son took our debt, and the debt of the whole world, on Himself because of love, and now, having purchased our souls with His blood, Jesus expects us to be just as merciful to those others He has set free as He has been to us.  And that is the key here; truly, Jesus has already assumed the debt of sin for everyone, even for those who still hurt us.  So, how could we possibly keep score of that?

“Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother when he sins against me?  As many as seven times?”  Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but I tell you as many as seventy-seven times.”  The way this is written in the Greek, it could also be translated seventy times seven, or four hundred ninety times, but regardless, the point is that God doesn’t want us keeping score.  He wants us to Show the mercy God has shown to all.  Now granted, it sometimes feels hard to forgive others when they hurt us, but do you suppose the Man, Christ Jesus, enjoyed suffering on the cross for sins He didn’t commit?  Do you suppose He enjoyed being torn from His Father’s loving care as He gave up His life in place of all of us who owed God this huge debt.  Jesus didn’t live for us, suffer for us, and die for us, because it felt good to His human flesh.  Our Savior did it, because this was God absorbing our debt in Himself, because He loves us beyond all measure.

Now, the forgiven servant in our text acted so much in accord with what our sinful flesh wants to do.  Maybe he was afraid the king would change his mind and decide to return to collect the debt after all.  Maybe he just didn’t like this one servant, so he just couldn’t bring himself to forgive the debt.  Maybe he was just a bully and liked to make others suffer.  Notice the king didn’t ask him why he refused to forgive his fellow debtor.  He just said, “You wicked servant!  I forgave you all that debt when you begged me to.  Should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had mercy on you?”  God wants us to show the same mercy to other forgiven sinners that He showed to us. 

The night He was betrayed, Jesus told His followers, “A new commandment I give you: Love one another.  Just as I have loved you, so also you are to love one another.” (John 13:34)  Now, we can never measure up to the love Jesus showed for us.  Jesus went to that cross of shame bearing the sins of the whole world.  He didn’t ask if we were truly repentant.  He didn’t weigh our lives in a balance scale to check whether we deserved to be forgiven.  Instead, God chose to bear the cost for our guilt right there on Golgotha, and to send those who have received His forgiveness for Jesus’ sake out into the world with the message of reconciliation.  By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, St. Paul wrote, “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)

Why does Jesus ask us to Show the mercy God has shown to all?  Simply, because the debt for all people has been paid.  God’s just anger for sin has been satisfied by the blood of the Holy Christ who died for everyone.  Consequently, because we have been united with Jesus through faith, God asks us to live with the same kind of love and mercy He has shown to us.  No matter what sins have weighed on your conscience, they are forgiven because Jesus paid the price.  No matter how badly you have struggled to forgive as we are commanded to do, Jesus paid the penalty for that too.

No one ever said being a Christian is easy.  At the same time, forgiving a repentant fellow sinner shouldn’t be so hard.  Yes, those hurts do indeed hurt our flesh.  The wrong thing said, the betrayal that catches us off guard, the fist to the gut or the nose, all those things and many others give us pain.  Yet, Jesus teaches us to seek repentance from those who hurt us, not so we can lord it over them, nor so that we can even the scales.  Instead, Jesus wants us to share His love with other sinners.  He wants them to know His mercy so that they too might believe in Him and live.

Unforgiven sin is damnable sin, so we have the command and authority to call those who sin against us to repent.  For the impenitent, recalcitrant sinner, it is commanded that we bind his conscience to that sin, but we are not to hold a grudge or seek vengeance on that person for God has declared, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” (Romans 12:19)  On the other hand, whenever a sinner repents, and as many times as repentance is found, we are to gladly, willingly, lovingly share the mercy God has shown to us.

Just before He told this parable, Jesus taught His followers, “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)  Our Savior paid the debt for the whole world.  His Father wants the whole human population to experience the greatness of that reconciliation, so He offers that mercy and grace though humble, sometimes hurting, souls like you and me.  God grant that you always know and remember the greatness of God’s love for you, a love so great and wide that He paid the whole sin debt for every moment of your life, so that you may live in glory with Him forever in the palace of His heaven.  Walking always with Jesus at your side, Show the mercy God has shown to all.  Amen.

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

Trust the Gospel; we are justified by faith.

 

Sermon for Pentecost 15, September 10, 2023

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

Galatians 2:11-16  ¹¹But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly wrong.  ¹²For before some people came from James, he ate with the Gentiles.  But when those people came, he drew back and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision group.  ¹³And the rest of the Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.  ¹⁴But when I saw that they were not acting according to the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of all of them, “If you, a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, why do you compel the Gentiles to live like the Jews?”  ¹⁵“We are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners.  ¹⁶We know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.  So we also believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. (EHV)

Trust the Gospel; we are justified by faith.

Dear friends in the One true Savior,

            Jesus once said, “Every kingdom divided against itself is destroyed, and every town or household divided against itself will not stand.” (Matthew 12:25)  In our text, we see an attempt of Satan to divide Christ’s Church against itself.  Paul recognized the error that was creeping in through actions Peter was taking, and he immediately spoke out to correct Peter’s mistake.  The message we need to take home with us this morning is to Trust the Gospel; we are justified by faith.

Today, so many years later, and after observing so many divisions in the Christian Church, it might be easy to assume that these divisions really don’t matter.  Won’t we all be gathered together when Jesus returns to claim His people on Judgement Day?  The answer to that questions is, of course, “Yes.”  However, what isn’t so easily seen is that these divisions lead many people to trust in something other than Jesus alone for salvation, and those who fall into the delusion of assuming to do something to earn their forgiveness and eternal life will find themselves cast out into the darkness of hell for trusting something other than Jesus for forgiveness and salvation.

St. Paul wrote to the Galatian congregation to oppose the errors of a group of supposed Christians who were demanding that to be saved by Jesus, you still had to follow the Old Testament Laws, as well, especially the law of circumcision.  Yet, the young Christian Church already understood that Jesus had fulfilled all those old laws and His followers were now set free from those demands.  Of course, many of the Jewish Christians continued to uphold some of their old traditions, while thoroughly understanding that it did nothing for their salvation, because Christ had already accomplished that for them.

But now, as he addresses the errors of the circumcision crowd.  Paul uses a prior example, “When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly wrong.  For before some people came from James, he ate with the Gentiles.  But when those people came, he drew back and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision group.  And the rest of the Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.”

This Antioch was a center of the young Christian Church.  The believers there had been instrumental in sending Paul, and Barnabas, too, out on their missionary journeys.  The congregation was one of the first to be made up of both Jew and Gentile backgrounds.  What brought them together was faith in Jesus, the same faith that brought them forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.  Peter had come from Jerusalem to visit this group, and all was well.  Rightly so, Peter ate meals with them in the practices of the hosts which meant that the old dietary laws of the Jews were not followed.  Furthermore, this was as it should be.  Because of what Christ has done for us, those old laws are no longer needed, nor is it required of anyone to follow those ceremonial regulations.

However, when a group of fellow Christians came who were following the misunderstanding that circumcision was still required to be part of the Christian faith, Peter made a terrible error.  Instead of correcting that visiting group, Peter separated himself from his new friends in Antioch and left the impression that he supported the divisive ways of those errorists. 

In perhaps the first recorded tearing of the fabric of Jesus’ Church, by eating with this new group and following the Jewish ways, Peter removed himself from his previous right confession and potentially hurt the faith of all present.  By joining himself with this group that demanded circumcision for salvation, Peter was affirming their mistake.  Furthermore, fellow Jewish believers who had understood things properly, now began to doubt their Christian confession, and they too fell into the false teaching.  On top of that, the Gentiles present would now be misled into thinking they might not be saved after all.  Peter’s actions had to be confronted, which Paul did, and rightly so.

Paul wrote, “But when I saw that they were not acting according to the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of all of them, ‘If you, a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, why do you compel the Gentiles to live like the Jews?’”  Peter’s mistake made it look like laws had to be observed for a person to be reconciled with God.  Yet, that could never be, or no one could be saved. 

The truth is we are either saved by faith in Jesus who has done everything perfectly well for us, or we are not saved at all.  Peter knew that.  Barnabas knew it also.  That is the insidiousness of error creeping into the church.  By allowing themselves to be swayed by this error coming from likely well-intentioned believers, the whole group became endangered.  Thankfully, Paul’s brave confrontation led the group back to trusting the truth.  Paul is able to report this incident with confidence, because Peter accepted the rebuke, the divisive error was removed, and the church could move forward trusting the good news that Jesus has done everything needed to make all of us right with God.

Paul explains their reality: “We are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners.  We know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.  So we also believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.”  Peter, Paul, and Barnabas came from a Jewish background.  They had grown up under the burden of the Mosaic laws, and they had experienced the relief of learning that Jesus had set them free from all that.  They already knew that Jesus had satisfied the demands of the law so that sinners might be saved.  They knew that Jesus rising from the dead was His declaration of victory over Satan, sin, death, and the grave.  Neither of those three men were saved by their works, and they all knew it.  Paul had to bring this truth back, primarily to Peter’s attention, so that the whole Church would understand the truth and grow in faith.

The same is true in our day.  Many would like all denominations to be joined together in one great Christian church on earth regardless of different teachings.  However, that becomes a misuse of unity when the truth of the Gospel is not maintained.  Any teaching that chips away at the Gospel message of salvation through faith alone, in Christ alone, must be confronted and corrected.  When that correction is received with appreciation and the error removed, the whole Christian Church can and should celebrate.  However, if that correction is rejected, division is caused not be the people confronting the error, but by those who insist on following the erroneous teaching.  As Paul wrote to the Roman Christians, “Watch out for those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the teaching that you learned, and keep away from them.” (Romans 16:17)

Dear friends, we live in an era in which many have strayed from the truth of the Gospel, and many are deceived by erring teachers and wicked desires.  There are many who insist on obedience to man-mad rules and many more who insist that immoral lifestyle choices are to be applauded.  We are buffeted on every side by the storms of a world sinking ever more into depravity and disobedience to God’s Word.  Now, as much as any time in history, is the time to Trust the Gospel; we are justified by faith.  Trust the message given to us by the Holy Spirit through prophets and evangelists like Paul.  Our Savior gave these men the truth of His victory over everything and anything that kept separated from His Father in heaven.

By God-given faith in Jesus, who gave His life into the cross and the grave to free us from sin and condemnation, we have the sure and certain hope of life everlasting with Him in heaven.  No contribution is needed from us to make that more secure.  Our dear Savior promises, “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17)  By the power of the Holy Spirit, St. Paul also affirms, “Indeed, it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)  Trust the Gospel; we are justified by faith.  Amen.

May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, both soul and body, be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.  Amen.

The Lord saves unworthy Christians.

 

Sermon for Pentecost 14, September 3, 2023

Mercy and peace to you all, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people.”  Amen.

Jeremiah 15:15-21  ¹⁵O Lord, you understand.  Remember me and care for me.  Take vengeance for me on those who persecute me.  You are slow to anger.  Do not take me away.  Keep in mind that for your sake I bear disgrace.  ¹⁶Your words came to me, and I devoured them.  Your words became my joy, the delight of my heart, because I bear your name, O Lord God of Armies.  ¹⁷I did not sit with the band of partygoers, nor did I celebrate with them.  I sat alone, because your hand was upon me.  You filled me with indignation.  ¹⁸Why is my pain unending?  Why is my wound incurable, refusing to heal?  Will you be as deceptive as an intermittent stream to me, like a source of water that a person can’t depend on?  ¹⁹Therefore this is what the Lord says.  “If you repent, I will take you back, so that you may stand before me.  If what you say is worthwhile and not worthless, you will be my spokesman.  They must turn to you, but you must not turn to them.   ²⁰I will make you like a bronze wall to this people.  They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, because I am with you to save you and to rescue you,” declares the Lord.  ²¹ “I will rescue you from the hand of the wicked, and I will deliver you from the grasp of the ruthless.” (EHV)

The Lord saves unworthy Christians.

Dear disciples of the saving Lord,

            Few believers have had as hard and lonely a life as the prophet, Jeremiah.  You and I may watch the turmoil our world is undergoing and wonder what lies ahead for us, but few of us will ever have to face being so despised by our neighbors as this faithful servant of the Lord.  However, like Jeremiah here in our sermon text, Christians sometimes do fall into despair and begin to accuse God of being less than faithful to His promises.  Whenever you find yourself feeling crushed by the role God gives you, remember that The Lord saves unworthy Christians.

Jeremiah had the unenviable task of proclaiming God’s wrath to a people who boldly rejected the one true and faithful God who had given them everything.  Throughout their history, God blessed them with the promise of a personal Savior.  He rescued them out of slavery, set them apart as a people loved and preferred by God, built a fence of protection around them, and delivered them from invading neighbors and powerful enemies.  Yet, in spite of God’s loving care for this people, a love so strong the Lord God describes Himself as being a husband to this people, the majority of them went whoring after the Canaanite idols and mythical gods that could do nothing at all for the Israelite people. 

There were times when Jeremiah felt truly all alone in the world.  A few friends took pity on him, at times, but most normal relationships were forbidden to Jeremiah.  This was actually an act of kindness on God’s part, because He was planning to bring merciless destruction upon this nation that had turned completely against the Lord.  Therefore, while Jeremiah faithfully carried God’s warning of the approaching doom and destruction, the prophet was hated, rejected, and abused by his fellow Israelites.

It seems that because of the unrelenting scorn of his neighbors, Jeremiah began to feel that God wasn’t carrying through on His warnings fast enough.  He complained, “O Lord, you understand.  Remember me and care for me.  Take vengeance for me on those who persecute me.  You are slow to anger.  Do not take me away.  Keep in mind that for your sake I bear disgrace.”  Jeremiah didn’t want to be forgotten.  He feared that God was being too soft on Israel.  What if God held back His wrath?  Would Jeremiah have nothing to show for his faithful proclamation of God’s words?  Jeremiah actually complains that God isn’t carrying out His promised judgment fast enough.  Jeremiah was as much as saying: “Get it over with.  Don’t give these cruel, idolatrous people time to repent!  Give me vengeance on them!  I deserve it!”

There are times when we likewise get ourselves in trouble with the Lord.  We start to think we deserve God’s action because of our faithfulness to Him.  It’s very easy, even for faithful believers, to forget that we too are saved only by God’s grace.  Listen again to Jeremiah’s painful complaining: “Your words came to me, and I devoured them.  Your words became my joy, the delight of my heart, because I bear your name, O Lord God of Armies.  I did not sit with the band of partygoers, nor did I celebrate with them.  I sat alone, because your hand was upon me.  You filled me with indignation.  Why is my pain unending?  Why is my wound incurable, refusing to heal?  Will you be as deceptive as an intermittent stream to me, like a source of water that a person can’t depend on?” 

Jeremiah had become a bit like the prophet Jonah who eagerly waited to see God bring destruction upon Nineveh.  Jonah also wanted to see God’s wrath in action, but he was bitterly disappointed at God’s mercy.  We might examine our own hearts to find times when we sinned by seeking vengeance rather than mercy.  How often have we thought God should deliver justice on someone else?  At the same time, the Holy Spirit through St. Peter reminds us, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.  He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

Now, you and I would never accuse God of being unreliable, would we?  Or do we already?  Did you ever wonder why God doesn’t just smack down on terrorists, warmongers, school shooters, and family killers, instead of letting them carry out their wicked plans?  Do you ever wonder why successful celebrities and politicians make such dumb mistakes and hurt innocent bystanders like the American people?  We hear self-righteous people spout off all the time about how bad others are, so why doesn’t God just put an end to this world so that we “good people” don’t have to deal with all this heartache and pain anymore?  Or maybe I’m the only one who has heard others say things like that.  I do know that I have been guilty of shaking my head when others fail.  God be merciful to me, a sinner.

Our sermon theme says: The Lord saves unworthy Christians.  So, why does God save unworthy Christians?  Well actually, it’s because that’s the only kind of Christian there is.  Furthermore, if we should ever start to think we are worthy of God’s grace, we will have crossed over the line into false self-righteousness and will find ourselves outside of God’s grace and mercy.  As St. Paul wrote to the Galatians, “You who are trying to be declared righteous by the law are completely separated from Christ. You have fallen from grace.” (Galatians 5:4)

Thankfully, God corrected Jeremiah, and He corrects us at the same time.  Therefore this is what the LORD says: "If you repent, I will take you back, so that you may stand before me.  If what you say is worthwhile and not worthless, you will be my spokesman.”  How these words must have cut Jeremiah to the heart.  He had thought himself so faithful to the Lord, yet God told him, “Repent!”  And if God was willing to call faithful Jeremiah to repentance, how much more our sinful hearts as well?  How could we dare stand before God saying, “See how well I have served You!”?  Not one of us will ever be saved by the strength or goodness of our actions.  As Isaiah reminds us, “All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a filthy cloth.” (Isaiah 64:6)

Whenever we look inside ourselves for righteousness, all we will find is fault, filth, evil, and condemnation.  Of ourselves, we simply cannot measure up to the holiness God demands.  It’s not that God judges us unfairly, but rather that we tend to judge God with a false measuring stick.  So, the Lord tells all who would follow Him, “Repent!  Turn away from looking inwardly for righteousness and find it in Me.”  He says, "If you repent, I will take you back, so that you may stand before me.”  Through Isaiah, the Lord declared, “Let the wicked man abandon his way.  Let an evil man abandon his thoughts.  Let him turn to the Lord, and he will show him mercy.  Let him turn to our God, because he will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:7)  Repentance means turning away from any thought of impressing a righteous God but falling fully at the feet of Jesus for the mercy and grace freely available from our loving Lord and Savior.

The Lord further admonished Jeremiah saying, “They must turn to you, but you must not turn to them.  I will make you like a bronze wall to this people.  They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, because I am with you to save you and to rescue you," declares the LORD.  Jeremiah felt tremendous pressure to follow the wickedness of his fellow Israelites.  Idolaters hate to hear that their idols are useless.  The Israelites had fallen in love with worshipping the Baals even though those idols had no power at all; they were, at most, useless pieces of carved wood. 

Jeremiah’s neighbors despised hearing what he had to say.  They even tried to get him to abandon the messages God gave him to proclaim.  However, to do so would have brought Jeremiah under the same terrible wrath God had enlisted Jeremiah to announce upon his idolatrous neighbors. 

Jeremiah felt completely abandoned and alone among his neighbors.  However, the Lord will never abandon anyone who follows Him in truth.  However much the world might fight against us, however much our idolatrous neighbors might hurl insults and threats at us, they can never really harm the believing, repentant Christian, because our God is with us to save us.

Jesus returned to heaven promising His followers, “Surely I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)  St. Paul confirmed God’s care for believers when he wrote in his letter to the Romans, “All things work together for the good of those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

Dear friends, as we hear of Christians being martyred for their faith, as we see how the world fights against the message of salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, and as members of our own families turn against the pure Word of God, it might seem like it would be a whole lot easier just to go along with the crowd and avoid all those disputes here on earth.  In fact, many false, or weak-kneed, preachers actively encourage that.

The trouble with going along with the crowd is that it leads to damnation.  Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter through it.  How narrow is the gate, and how difficult is the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it.  Watch out for false prophets.  They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” (Matthew 7:13-15)  Jesus also declared, "If you remain in my word, you are really my disciples.  You will also know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32)

The Lord reminded Jeremiah that even though his earthly task was difficult, his eternal reward will be out of this world.  God said to Jeremiah, "I will rescue you from the hand of the wicked, and I will deliver you from the grasp of the ruthless."  No matter what wicked men might think they can do to believing Christians, in the end only God’s decisions matter.  When the Lord calls us to believe in Jesus, it is because God has determined to take us to heaven for the sake of His Son, who lived and died and rose again so that we could be found innocent and holy in God’s eyes.  God counts Jesus’ perfection as ours.  He counts our sins as belonging to Jesus, but Jesus paid with His life for all the sins of the world.  Therefore, God declares to all who trust in Him, "I will rescue you from the hand of the wicked, and I will deliver you from the grasp of the ruthless."

The Bible declares that all people have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  That is a fact of life since sin broke our world.  But God doesn’t leave us defenseless or without hope.  He sent Jesus to live for us, punished His own Son with death so that we can live forever, and raised Jesus to life again as the Firstborn of many believers.  Even though not one mortal deserves a place in God’s heaven, because of His mercy, love, and kindness, The Lord saves unworthy Christians. 

Dear friends, our God reserves a place in heaven for each of you.  Believe in the Lord Jesus and live.  Trusting Him completely, repent of any tendency to turn against God, for His love for you is unending and completely sure and certain as the one way to eternal life.  Repent and believe it: The Lord saves unworthy Christians.  Amen.

The Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.  Amen.