Sent out as sheep among wolves to save.

 

Sermon for Reformation Sunday, October 29, 2023

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

Matthew 10:16-23  ¹⁶“Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves.  So be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.  ¹⁷Be on guard against people.  They will hand you over to councils, and they will whip you in their synagogues.  ¹⁸You will be brought into the presence of governors and kings for my sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.  ¹⁹Whenever they hand you over, do not be worried about how you will respond or what you will say, because what you say will be given to you in that hour.  ²⁰In fact you will not be the ones speaking, but the Spirit of your Father will be speaking through you.  ²¹“Brother will hand over his brother to death, and a father will do the same with his child.  Children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.  ²²You will be hated by all people because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved.  ²³And when they persecute you in one town, flee to the next.  Amen I tell you: You will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.” (EHV)

Sent out as sheep among wolves to save.

Dear beloved lambs,

            Years ago, one of my young neighbors, a military recruit, was anxiously waiting to start his training when his recruitment officer told him that boot camp would be “The most fun he’d never want to go through again.”  In a similar vein, Jesus’ words to His disciples sound like something a whole lot different than fun.  Life as a Christian disciple is often difficult, even dangerous, but especially so for those twelve apostles.  They were Sent out as sheep among wolves to save.

Do Jesus’ words to His people put a shiver in your bones?  This time of year, many people like to go and be scared silly in a Halloween Haunted House or hayride.  Do Jesus’ words scare you in the same way?  To be honest, sheep don’t ordinarily stand much chance when surrounded by a pack of wolves, so what chance do we have to survive the attacks of our Shepherd’s enemies?

Of course, dear friends, our Good Shepherd promises He will never abandon His precious lambs to be ripped apart by their enemies.  He warns us about them, but then tells us how we can deal with these dangerous conditions in which we are to live and work.  "Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves.  So be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”

Notice, first, who is sending us.  In the Greek it is doubly emphasized that it is Jesus, our Savior and King who says: "Behold, I, I Myself, send you out!”  Therefore, we go out with the full authority of the Son of God to carry out the mission He has prepared for us.  You already know what that mission is because He told us before He left, "Go and gather disciples from all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and by teaching them to keep all the instructions I have given you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)  Thus, as members of the Christian Church on earth, you and I can say with full confidence and the authority of God Himself, “We are in this world to make disciples for Jesus.”

Still, Jesus warns us about the dangers we will face.  Savage wolves surround us, constantly seeking to rip and tear and consume us.  They are not worried about whether we make it home to our Shepherd.  They want us dead and in hell with them!  You know who their leader is: the same rebellious deceiver who wanted to destroy Jesus and steal His glory, Satan himself. 

What may surprise us about Jesus’ warning is that those lurking enemies are often very close to home: among our family members, friends, neighbors, and even ourselves.  Does that last one shock you?  That we each have a deceitful nature that wants to consume us?  Our natural flesh doesn’t want us serving the King of Creation—rather, it tries to draw us back into the devil’s lair.  Did you ever hesitate to get up on a Sunday morning to hear God’s Word?  Neglect to read the Bible regularly on your own?  Ever fail to share the Gospel with someone you know needs to hear about forgiveness in Jesus?  Ever spend your money, or time, or energy in ways you knew Jesus wouldn’t approve?  Or, am I the only one here guilty of these things?

Jesus said, “Be as shrewd as snakes.”  Be constantly on guard against those who would stomp out your life, but recognize that we are all sinners who need a Savior.  Hold on to what we know is true: our Savior and King, all His wonderful promises, His victory over sin and death on our behalf, and His resurrection from the grave showing what He has in store for us.  We need to be on our guard against those people and things that would tempt us to wander, and we need to be armed for the battle, not with swords or weapons of mass destruction, but with “The whole armor of God… with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith…the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:13-17)

Jesus said, “Be innocent as doves.”  The idea is to allow no evil thought or desire to possess us.  Nothing we do should give our enemies an edge or a reason to accuse or slander us.  We are to be innocent as doves with no evil intent in anything.  Naturally, that sounds awful tough for us sinners to do, but remember, we are washed in Jesus’ blood, cleansed from all sin, and strengthened by the Holy Spirit in Word and Sacrament.  If anyone can live in repentance and humble submission to God’s will, it should be us, and when we fail, or find ourselves struggling, we return to our Lord for the forgiveness He freely offers to be refreshed and renewed again. 

Jesus told His disciples, "Be on guard against people.  They will hand you over to councils, and they will whip you in their synagogues.  You will be brought into the presence of governors and kings for my sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.”  Jesus’ apostles had an especially challenging part in history because it is through their work that the Holy Spirit brought the Gospel to the whole world. 

Remember what His disciples had to face in the years after Jesus ascended to heaven.  The Jewish councils brought the apostles in and commanded them not to speak of Jesus.  When that didn’t stop the apostles from proclaiming Jesus’ name, the deceitful religious leaders whipped those first believers, tearing their flesh to shreds.  When that still didn’t stop the preaching of forgiveness and salvation in Jesus’ name, the savage wolves tried to catch and kill every Christian. 

Later, St. Paul (who himself had once been a savage wolf, but now converted by our Lord) had a long list of abuses and injuries he had suffered at the hands of those who hated Christ, and the list of martyrs for Jesus throughout the centuries is very long and growing longer every day.

We might remember how Martin Luther was attacked by the men in power: the pope excommunicating him and putting a price on his head; the emperor commanding him to change his mind or be subject to immediate death, but through all of this strife against the various followers of Christ, what is Jesus accomplishing?  The Good News of Jesus’ victory over sin and death is being testified to those who hate Him, and the Gospel is shared among His enemies despite their efforts to stomp it out, simply, because in His love for the human race—even for those who hate Him, “God our Savior…wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:3-4)

Remember Paul telling Governor Festus and King Agrippa, "I pray God, that whether in a short time or a long time, not only you, but also all those who are listening to me today would become what I am, except for these chains." (Acts 26:29)  Even in his chains, Paul preached Christ crucified for sinners, hoping that the Gospel would lead some to believe and be saved.  Later, he had opportunities to witness even to Caesar, and you and I are believers because the Good News of Jesus has been spread throughout the world.

Martin Luther, too, was able to declare the saving Gospel to the emperor’s high officials and solemnly declare to even those wolves that had invaded the church, “Unless I can be instructed and convinced with evidence from the Holy Scriptures…—and my conscience is captive to the Word of God—then I cannot and will not recant…here I stand.  I can do no other.  God help me!  Amen.”  Sent out as sheep among wolves to save, Jesus’ followers face similar enemies every day.

Jesus told His men, "You will be brought into the presence of governors and kings for my sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.  Whenever they hand you over, do not be worried about how you will respond or what you will say, because what you say will be given to you in that hour.  In fact you will not be the ones speaking, but the Spirit of your Father will be speaking through you.”  Today, most of us likely won’t be called to testify before the leaders of our state or country, yet there will be plenty of times when we will need to give an answer for what we believe.

Now, some would have us believe that Jesus meant we should rely on a special outpouring of the Spirit in ourselves to give us knowledge in every situation.  Those same unreliable teachers often then use that myth to invent their own teachings, but Jesus was really assuring us that what His disciples would be given to preach was truly His Father’s message.  Therefore, you and I must understand that what they wrote, in what we know of as the Bible, is God’s honest truth, and we should never teach or preach anything that goes against, or away from, that reliable Word. 

Jesus’ disciple, John, later wrote, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1)  How do we do this testing?  Simply by comparing every thought, communication, or message of spiritual things with what God’s Word actually says.  Anything that doesn’t line up exactly with the message of the Bible, with the promise that Jesus is our One and only Savior from sin without any contribution on our part, is of the spirit of the devil and can be from no other.

It is terrifying to be surrounded be evil forces seeking our destruction, but Jesus also delivers the sad warning that even our closest family members can be deadly wolves.  "Brother will hand over his brother to death, and a father will do the same with his child.  Children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.  You will be hated by all people because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved.”  Not everyone will believe in Jesus.  In fact, in our natural, corrupted state, we all began as unbelievers hating Jesus and His every follower.  We see this displayed in the news today, in the movies, TV shows, internet, and papers.  The more our society has moved away from following Jesus as Lord and Savior, the more has evil gone on attack.  The godless and idol worshippers have been attacking Christian believers, especially the newly converted, ever since Jesus’ day, and unfortunately, the salvation and forgiveness that is such a saving comfort to many, brings out murderous hatred in the rebellious ones.

At the same time, we have Jesus’ enduring, unshakable promise, “But whoever endures to the end will be saved.”  Every disciple who continues in Jesus’ Word until the end of his or her days here on earth has absolutely nothing to fear for eternity, because we who have been brought to faith in Jesus by the Holy Spirit already have eternal life.  St. Paul wrote to the Roman Christians:

What will separate us from the love of Christ?  Will trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  Just as it is written: For your sake we are being put to death all day long.  We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For 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 8:35-39)

In his great Reformation hymn, Luther wrote, “And take they our life, goods, fame, child, and wife, let these all be gone, they yet have nothing won; the Kingdom ours remaineth.” 

“He who endures to the end will be saved.”  What a wonderful promise Jesus gives!!  That every Christian, who faithfully clings to His Father’s promise of forgiveness of sins and life everlasting for Jesus’ sake, will be saved.  That’s also why Jesus sends out His precious sheep into a world of deadly attackers, so that many more of those that hate Him will be turned from their wicked ways and be transformed into sheep in our Good Shepherd’s eternal flock.

We know from the Bible that God works all things for the good of those who love Him.  That includes even persecution and hatred by those who despise Christ.  Jesus said, "When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next.  Amen I tell you: You will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”  Commentators can’t quite agree on what Jesus meant with the last part of this phrase, but we can be confident of the first part.  Jesus doesn’t abandon those in His care to the wolves.  Rather, when a place is infested with those who want only to kill Jesus’ precious sheep, then it’s time to move on to another place to share the saving message of Christ crucified for sinners.  We then shake the dust off our feet against those who reject Jesus and carry the Gospel to another area so that the Holy Spirit can work saving faith in other troubled, hurting souls.

Dear friends, what a message we have from Jesus this Reformation!  Because those first apostles were Sent out as sheep among wolves to save, we have the sure and certain promises of the Gospel which give us forgiveness of all sin, salvation, and eternal life.  It also gives us great confidence when Jesus sends us out so that more and more of His lost sheep will be saved even though savage attackers often surround us, for Jesus never leaves us alone to the mercy of the attackers.  Instead, protecting us every step of our way, our Good Shepherd has surely and solemnly promised, "I will never leave you, and I will never forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5)  “Whoever endures to the end will be saved.”  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. 

Honor the ultimate Authority.

 

Sermon for Pentecost 21, October 22, 2023

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

Romans 13:1-7  Everyone must submit to the governing authorities.  For no authority exists except by God, and the authorities that do exist have been established by God.  ²Therefore the one who rebels against the authority is opposing God’s institution, and those who oppose will bring judgment on themselves.  ³For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to evil.  Would you like to have no fear of the one in authority?  Do what is good, and you will receive praise from him, ⁴because he is God’s servant for your benefit.  But if you do wrong, be afraid, because he does not carry the sword without reason.  He is God’s servant, a punisher to bring wrath on the wrongdoer.  ⁵Therefore it is necessary to submit, not only because of wrath, but also because of conscience.  ⁶For this reason you also pay taxes, because the authorities are God’s ministers, who are employed to do this very thing.  ⁷Pay what you owe to all of them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, and honor to whom honor is owed. (EHV)

Honor the ultimate Authority.

Dear beloved ones in Christ,

            For at least the last two or three presidential administrations, it has been quite common for one side of the aisle or the other to exclaim, “Not my president!”  That declaration pretends that because a person didn’t vote for a particular candidate, one shouldn’t have to respect that elected officeholder.  The Holy Spirit, however, has something to say about the situation, and the instruction in Paul’s letter to the Roman congregation reminds us that to disrespect or disobey those put in authority over us is to dishonor the very Savior who expects us to Honor the ultimate Authority.

Our text this morning may bring some of us uncomfortably close to arguing about politics in church.  That is not my intention.  It remains true, however, that however how much we might despise the ruling party, or president, as an individual, his political persuasions, agendas, and even morality, we owe it to our God and Savior to respect the office and the person holding the office because it is ultimately the Lord God Creator of heaven and earth who has guided the hands of history to put that person in the office. 

St. Paul wrote, “Everyone must submit to the governing authorities.  For no authority exists except by God, and the authorities that do exist have been established by God.”  This passage was referenced by some Christians in regard to the previous administration, which provoked outrage on the other side.  We could likely find some who would argue just as vociferously against it today.  Yet, we must be guided by the words of our God.  Paul’s words, here, are in full agreement with what God said through Isaiah, “Certainly my plans are not your plans, and your ways are not my ways, declares the Lord.  Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my plans are higher than your plans.” (Isaiah 55:8-9) 

God never allows or does anything to harm His people.  However, He most certainly does use the people and nations of earth to discipline people as He sees fit.  Still, Paul’s point here isn’t to say that God is disciplining us with disappointing leaders, though that remains a possibility.  Rather, Paul is pointing us to God’s gracious care for His people in that the Lord has appointed certain individuals into their governing roles for the good of all people in a nation, state, city, or village, and God holds them responsible for ruling well.  Because sin so completely corrupts the world and all people in it, without orderly societies, and orderly rules, anarchy would reign triumphant bringing devastation to all of society but especially to the weak and defenseless, “For [as Paul writes] rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to evil.”

God has established government for the welfare of all people but especially for the good of those who trust in Him.  Thus, the warning from the Holy Spirit, “Therefore the one who rebels against the authority is opposing God’s institution, and those who oppose will bring judgment on themselves.”  If, or when, we do things that sin against God’s will in this matter, we oppose the very God who gave His Son to live and die to save us.  Now, as we examine ourselves, it likely isn’t hard to find ways we have gone down this path even if we weren’t among those who invaded a government building.  Have we neglected to pray for our leaders, even for the wicked among them?  Have we spoken ill of one or more?  Have we castigated or mocked friends and neighbors who disagree with the way we view things?  Have we ever carried out little rebellions by refusing to do things the government way?  Bent the law a little in our favor, shaved a little off of our taxes with misleading information or flat-out intentional neglect?

Of course, it is neither good nor right for me to accuse anyone of having done these things without evidence, so that is not my intention.  Rather, I throw out questions like these to encourage each of us to reconsider how we show honor to the authorities God places over us, and likewise praying that God’s instruction, as applied here, leads us to repent of all our sins, to remember that our God is in control of all things on earth, politics included, and that we Honor the ultimate Authority of our God.

The human authority of governments seems to naturally lead to fear among people.  Most prominently, that is natural law working in the hearts of people, believers and unbelievers alike.  To remove that fear Paul advises, “Would you like to have no fear of the one in authority?  Do what is good, and you will receive praise from him, because he is God’s servant for your benefit.”  As we humbly submit to God’s law in the Ten Commandments, and the ordinances and laws developed by those governing us, we will be able to live without fear for there will be nothing to condemn us.  Even when we must oppose wickedness in government, we will do so with the truth, and respect and kindness for those being misled and misleading.

Likewise, the opposite remains true; “But if you do wrong, be afraid, because he does not carry the sword without reason.  He is God’s servant, a punisher to bring wrath on the wrongdoer.  Therefore it is necessary to submit, not only because of wrath, but also because of conscience.”  The governing authorities posses the sword, that is the right to judge and even destroy those who do evil, because God desires to limit the power of evil in this world so that His people may live and worship in peace.  At the same time, we obey civil authorities, not because they hold this power, but so that we continue to honor, serve, and obey the very Savior who lived for us, suffered and died in our place, and rose from the dead to give us life and peace in heaven.  In all things, we Honor the ultimate Authority.

As our Lord Jesus walked this earth living a perfectly holy life in our place, He submitted Himself to those placed in authority: His parents, the governing councils, Pilate, and by extension even Caesar.  So that our conscience can live in harmony with our Savior, the Spirit had Paul write, “For this reason you also pay taxes, because the authorities are God’s ministers, who are employed to do this very thing.  Pay what you owe to all of them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, and honor to whom honor is owed.”  Believers submit to authority not only because we fear condemnation but in gratitude for the love God has shown us in Christ Jesus.

At the same time, there is a balancing, cautionary command to consider; if those in power should command us to go against God’s clear instruction and law, “We must obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)  However, whenever we do find ourselves in such circumstances, we will submit to their authority and suffer whatever consequences come our way because of our faithful conduct.  We can then be like the apostles who when wrongfully punished for obeying the Lord, rejoiced “that they were considered worthy to suffer shame for the Name.” (Acts 5:41)

Dear friends, this can certainly be a sensitive subject, and all of us would have to admit that we have fallen short of obeying authority as we should.  While we might like to point our accusations at others, and there definitely is agreement that our human rulers are subject to much error and often sin, focusing on these things gains us nothing.  Like all of us, they too are moved by the wicked temptations of the world, the devil, and the whims of wicked people around them.  That should not stop us, however, from living as our God desires for His people.  And as we strive to do this, still knowing how often we fall short, let us rely on the One who never fell short of perfect submission to His Father’s will.  Jesus has already accomplished holiness and perfect obedience for us.  Then, having lived perfect righteousness on our behalf, Jesus suffered the wrath and retribution of His Almighty Father for every sin, every sinner, every rebel, every dishonest and ungodly ruler, and every slave, man, woman, and child.

Therefore, as we walk in faith in Christ Jesus, trusting Him for forgiveness and salvation full and free, take the holy writer’s assurances to heart:

There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For in Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.  Indeed, what the law was unable to do, because it was weakened by the flesh, God did, when he sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to deal with sin. God condemned sin in his flesh, so that the righteous decree of the law would be fully satisfied in us who are not walking according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. (Romans 8:1-4)

Go forth with a new heart and a new spirit, encouraged and strengthened by Jesus’ willing obedience, so that whether we have good rulers or inept or wicked despots, we Honor the ultimate Authority—our Savior Jesus Christ, for “God also placed all things under his feet and made him head over everything for the church.” (Ephesians 1:22)  All glory to His holy Name.  Amen.

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and in his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and establish you in every good work and word.  Amen.

Be glad & rejoice; Jesus swallowed up death forever.

 

Sermon for Pentecost 20, October 15, 2023

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.  Amen.

Isaiah 25:6-9  ⁶On this mountain the Lord of Armies will prepare for all peoples a banquet of rich food, a banquet of aged wines, with the best cuts of meat, and with the finest wines.  ⁷On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that covers all peoples, the burial cloth stretched over all nations.  ⁸He has swallowed up death forever!  The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face.  He will take away the shame of his people throughout the earth.  For the Lord has spoken.  ⁹On that day it will be said, “Look, here is our God!  We waited for him, and he saved us!  This is the Lord!  We waited for him.  Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation! (EHV)

Be glad & rejoice; Jesus swallowed up death forever.

Dear fellow redeemed and rejoicing friends,

            Every so often, a sermon text comes along at just the right time for whatever you are dealing with.  Today is one of those days.  About three weeks ago, we learned that cancer would soon take my mother’s life.  On Monday of this past week, our Katie’s birthday, my mother died, and Friday, we laid her to rest in the ground until the Lord returns.  Along with all of that, for the last month or so, my immune system has been trying to destroy my skin, or at least to make it feel unbearably like that. 

Now, I do not tell you these things to try to generate your sympathy.  Everyone of you faces these same kinds of adversity, hardships, losses, and sorrows all the time, some of you even this week too.  We live in a world cursed with all kinds of trouble and death on account of the sin that so infests us and causes the curse of death that brings so much heartache and pain.

But then, along comes the Word of our God with just the perfect message of hope and comfort.  Words that allow us to face the sorrows and troubles of life with hope for our future and peace in our times of trouble.  Precisely so we can Be glad & rejoice; Jesus swallowed up death forever.

Far too often, far too many people view church as boring, repetitive, unnecessary, or even offensive.  I am seeing more and more articles on social media exclaiming how offensive God’s Word is for one reason or another.  Likewise, you and I have to admit that our sinful flesh doesn’t always appreciate sitting on a hard, wooden pew for most of an hour as the preacher tells us what to do, or not to do, and how we have sinned against God.  We may not like all the hymns, or they are played too slow, too fast, or too loud to suit some, and more than a few people have grumbled, “I’ve heard it all before.”

Now, no one likes to have their sin pointed out to them.  I don’t like it anymore than most of you.  Yet, sin troubles us every moment of our lives.  It causes us to take offense at other people, or at what they say or do that mistreats us.  Sin causes us to do those things to others, also, even if unintentionally.  Worse yet, sin separates us from God and causes the death that stalks us on every side, “the shroud that covers all peoples, the burial cloth stretched over all nations.”  That miserable shroud of sin and death often keeps people from seeing the God who created and loves them.

Sometimes, we stay away because someone of our fellow members offended us.  Sometimes, the attractions of this world woo us into ignoring God’s call to come to Him for rest and peace.  Sometimes, people stay away because their conscience tells them they have sinned and God won’t like that, and some stay away because they don’t think they need God’s message of forgiveness and grace.  However, the point of God’s Word isn’t to make us feel good about our behavior in this sin-broken world, nor to send us into despair.  Rather, it directs our thoughts and attentions to Jesus, who gave His life so that we might experience a life far greater and more glorious than anything we’ll ever see on earth.

Isaiah proclaimed, “On this mountain the Lord of Armies will prepare for all peoples a banquet of rich food, a banquet of aged wines, with the best cuts of meat, and with the finest wines.  On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that covers all peoples, the burial cloth stretched over all nations.”  These last few weeks, and especially, the last few days, that shroud of death has been very real for me.  The darkness of sin in this world makes every part of our lives hard and gives us much pain.  Death stalks us at every turn, and no one really knows when it might strike us down.  We hear of sudden deaths daily.  Others come only after years of suffering and pain.  Murders and accidental deaths fill the news.  Wars and rumors of war trouble our hearts, minds, and confidence.  And it’s all because of sin.

Oh, how we would like to put an end to all this trouble, but only God could do it, and only our God did.  Isaiah describes the peace of heaven as a most extraordinary banquet.  He paints a picture filled with the finest of everything prepared for us by our Lord.  My mother is enjoying her first week in that beautiful place, just as I know many of your friends and relatives are with her, there, being treated as royal guests of the Lord. 

They are not enjoying heaven because they were any better, kinder, or more loving than any of us—even if they were.  Our fellow believers, now fallen asleep in Jesus, are there in heaven only because they trusted in God’s Son, Jesus, who took on our human flesh and lived the only perfect human life there ever was.  For, after living always in absolute harmony with the will of His Father in heaven, Jesus swallowed up death by taking our sins, our guilt, and our shame into Himself so that He could destroy both sin and death with the sacrifice of His body on the cross in our place. 

There, on the cross, by suffering all the punishment we deserve for sin, Jesus ended death’s reign, and Jesus blew death’s stronghold apart on Easter morning before the angels even removed the stone from His grave.  Therefore, St. Paul quoted Isaiah and assures us, “Death is swallowed up in victory.  Death, where is your sting?  Grave, where is your victory?  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Corinthians 15:54-57) Thus, with death destroyed on our behalf, the Holy Spirit, through Word and Sacrament, works saving faith in Jesus, in the hearts of all who believe, so we never must die the death of hell.

This past week, it was easy for me and my family to cry, but the words Isaiah wrote give us amazing comfort and joy: “The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face.  He will take away the shame of his people throughout the earth.  For the Lord has spoken.”  What our God and Savior promised through Isaiah there seven hundred years before the Man, Christ Jesus, was born of Mary—God’s promise to deliver us from the curse of sin, from death, and the power of the devil—was already as good as done, because what God says He will do will be done. 

Isaiah’s words point us clearly to Mt. Zion just outside of old Jerusalem, where Jesus was nailed to a cross as the full payment price for the sins of the world, and God’s promise to take away our sorrow and shame was made true.  God took away the real pain of death by giving His Son into death so that we, connected with His resurrection by faith, will live with Him forever in the mansions of heaven. 

Therefore, what joy is ours even as we weep for the loss of a loved one.  Without a doubt, those losses hurt us, often, but who among us would ever want to deprive those we love of the joy of walking into that wedding feast of God’s Son, fully dressed as the love of His life, and perfectly adorned to spend eternity in glory?  Therefore, no matter how much hurt we feel as we say good-bye to a beloved, believing Christian, we will Be glad & rejoice; Jesus swallowed up death forever.

Isaiah’s words also point us to another great day yet to come when we will see our Savior face to face as He returns with the full host of heaven’s angels to gather His people into a glory that will never spoil or fade, an eternity in the Father’s house where for all believers in Jesus, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain, because the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)  With our lowly bodies raised from the graves and reunited with our souls that have been enjoying the blessings of heaven since our physical death, we will in our own flesh see our God as He really is in all His unending glory, kindness, and peace—another promise as good as done, right now, because God Himself has declared it.

Though the unbeliever and willing doubter will be calling for the mountains to fall upon them and the hills to cover them to hide their shame, we can and will look up with joy, for everyone who trusts in Christ Jesus, alone, as Lord and Savior and Redeemer will be rejoicing just as Isaiah foresaw.  “On that day it will be said, ‘Look, here is our God!  We waited for him, and he saved us!  This is the Lord!  We waited for him.  Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation!’”  On the day Jesus returns in all His glory to separate His people from the wicked, we will Be glad & rejoice; Jesus swallowed up death forever.  Amen.

Now may the God of hope fill you with complete joy and peace as you continue to believe, so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Produce fruit in the kingdom of God.

 

Sermon for Pentecost 19, October 8, 2023

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

Matthew 21:33-43  ³³“Listen to another parable.  There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower.  He leased it out to some tenant farmers and went away on a journey.  ³⁴When the time approached to harvest the fruit, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit.  ³⁵The tenant farmers seized his servants.  They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.  ³⁶Then the landowner sent even more servants than the first time.  The tenant farmers treated them the same way.  ³⁷Finally, he sent his son to them.  ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.  ³⁸But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir.  Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance!’  ³⁹They took him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.  ⁴⁰So when the landowner comes, what will he do to those tenant farmers?”  ⁴¹They told him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end.  Then he will lease out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his fruit when it is due.”   ⁴²Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.  This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?  ⁴³“That is why I tell you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces its fruit. (EHV)

Produce fruit in the kingdom of God.

Dear workers in God’s vineyard,

            In our text this morning, we have perhaps the most unique parable Jesus told, in that rather than explain it, He asked His audience to interpret it for Him, and they did so quite well.  Furthermore, Matthew observes in his Gospel account that “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew he was talking about them.” (Matthew 21:45)  In other words, when Jesus asked those religious leaders of Israel to explain His parable, they pronounced, upon themselves, the judgment they would face for rejecting Jesus.  My friends, Jesus’ message for those ancient people, and for you and me as well, is to Produce fruit in the kingdom of God.

The first thing we need to ask is what fruit is Jesus expecting us to produce?  Is He demanding greater works from us?  Does this parable mean we must increase our offerings toward the church budget?  Are we already condemned for past failures?  Are we guilty if this congregation doesn’t grow?  Lots of questions might pop into our minds, many of which leave us feeling guilty.  Because the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day were the hard workers of the Judean religious scene, we might wonder, how could any ordinary believer expect to do better than them, and yet, Jesus’ parable here condemns them as swindlers, thieves, and murderers.  So, where does that leave us?

As Jesus told this parable of the vineyard, the scribes and Pharisees would have immediately connected it with our reading from Isaiah.  They also would have remembered how the Lord had used Isaiah’s words to pronounce judgment upon unbelieving Judeans, the forefathers of these very men Jesus was teaching.  Through Isaiah, God had been calling His wandering people to turn from their idolatry and return to trusting in their Creator and beloved Father, who had built the nation from the ground up, planted the believing patriarchs in it, built a fence around His people to keep them protected from the pagans of the world, and had given them every tool and resource they needed to produce bountiful fruits of faith. 

What God desired of Old Testament Israel is that they would believe and trust in Him—that they would trust the Savior God had promised to send and keep their eyes and their people looking forward to that one promised Messiah.  The foremost fruit God wants of all people is faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.  Then and now, the Father seeks the fruit of repentance.  Why?  Because our works will never measure up to the holiness God’s purity demands.  Yet, through faith in Christ Jesus, sinful humans like you and me are dressed in the unblemished righteousness Jesus lived for us all, a righteousness that is alien to us, yet it covers us with His glory and makes us holy and acceptable to Almighty God.

I know you’ve heard that “God our Savior…wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:3-4)  And, I’m equally sure that you know Jesus’ words, “Love your enemies.  Do good to those who hate you.  Bless those who curse you.  Pray for those who mistreat you.” (Luke 6:27-28)  So, do you ever wonder how we can measure up to this command and produce the fruit of God’s desire?  If we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that we often fail to do those good things God commands.  Oh, occasionally, they may pop into our minds and we’ll give them momentary attention, but generally we forget about seeking good for our enemies. 

Understand, though, what Jesus is doing here; it is the last Tuesday of His earthly life, and He takes time to call His avowed enemies to repentance!  Jesus had been praying for these people to turn from their wickedness and believe in Him.  He had preached His salvation to them time and again, healed their sick brothers and sisters, raised some from the dead so all could see His divine power, quoted Scriptures they knew so well in attempt after attempt to get them to see their errors, and even while Jesus knew these men were plotting to kill Him, He reached out to them one more time, trying to turn them from their evil ways so that they might be saved in Him.  Jesus did that for His enemies, but also for you and me.  It’s called His active obedience—the perfect holiness that Jesus lived on our behalf so that you and I could be counted holy in His Father’s sight.

Now, certainly, God puts people in the vineyard of His kingdom so that they can serve His ultimate goal of bringing salvation to many others.  Still, when God looks at our desperate need for a Savior, He doesn’t demand that we earn His forgiveness, for we never could.  Rather, He offers it freely for Jesus’ sake.  And when the Holy Spirit works saving faith in us, He plants us in the vineyard of God’s kingdom, and there as branches grafted onto the vine of our Savior, we produce fruits of faith.  This comes naturally to us who are connected to Christ.  Sometimes, that means we feel an urgency to do even more than demanded.  Always, it means that the everyday things we do out of faith in our Savior are counted by God as good works, for these ordinary things are used by the Spirit to help lead others to faith in Christ Jesus.

Now, do these fruits that Jesus produces in us save us?  Not at all, for we are already saved the moment God calls us to faith.  That is God’s gift to His elect.  We didn’t ask for it, work for it, look for it, or deserve it.  And still, God takes humble people like you and me, plants us in His vineyard through faith and works in us so that His kingdom may be served by helping our neighbors, caring for fellow members of the kingdom, working to spread the Good News so that others might hear and also produce fruit in God’s mercy, and the list goes on.  Fruit is returned to our Father in heaven through souls won to faith in Christ Jesus our Savior, often without us even realizing this is happening, but it is through Christian lives that the Gospel is spread producing an ever larger harvest of believing souls.

Now, you might be asking, “Why were those hardworking scribes and Pharisees condemned by this parable?  Simply, because they were robbing God’s glory by rejecting His Son who had come to save them from their sins.  Instead of recognizing and proclaiming Jesus as God’s promised Messiah, they denounced Him, preferring rather to credit themselves for works they imagined would increase God’s glory while in reality only glorifying themselves.  They didn’t need the Savior, they thought, or maybe more precisely, they didn’t see God’s saving Son in Jesus, so they conspired to do away with Him.  Still, out of love for their souls, Jesus again called them to repentance.  At the same time, Jesus prophesied how they would kill Him, warning them again to turn away from their wickedness.  Like the tenants in the parable, the Israelite leaders would throw Jesus out of their city, strip Him of all honor, and thinking to hold His honor in themselves, they would kill Him.  Therefore, the salvation that could have been theirs was taken away from them and given to people like you and me, to peoples and nations not originally called God’s people.

So, how about you and me?  We should be safe, right?  Good believers like us surely Produce fruit in the kingdom of God, don’t we?  Do you see how easy it is to slip into self-righteousness?  We should never trust in our works, or our heritage as Christian believers, for our hope of salvation.  We are saved only by faith in Jesus and to that we need to cling.  If we ever in our piety begin to exalt ourselves for God-pleasing works, we are in danger of doing as the Pharisees did when they rejected the One who is our Head and Master and Savior.  St. Paul warned that if God is willing to condemn His chosen people for rejecting His Son, He will also condemn any of us who chose to stand without Jesus. (Romans 15:21-22)

That’s why time and again, we are urged to Produce fruit in the kingdom of God.  And when God tells us that, He means that we should trust only in Jesus giving all credit where credit is due.  Jesus paid the penalty for your sins wiping them off your record.  He lived the perfect life you need to please God’s Law.  He died for you, yet rising from the grave, Jesus also lives for you now at His Father’s side, interceding for your eternal salvation, empowering the Holy Spirit to keep you strong in the faith through Word and Sacrament, guiding all things in this world so that more and more people might hear the Word, believe in Him, and live. 

Dear friends, trust in Jesus for your salvation, for your forgiveness and eternal life.  Doing so, you will find yourself overjoyed at the promise of heaven, and sharing that powerful, joyful Gospel with those around you, no matter what this world might throw your way.  In Jesus, you will find yourself producing fruits of God’s love even when you are doing ordinary things.  God sent Jesus to save you from sin and death, from the devil’s snares, and from your own flesh that tries to elevate its own glory.  Trust God’s Son, and by that faith, you Produce fruit in God’s vineyard.  Amen.

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

Encouraged in Christ, live in unselfish love.

 

Sermon for Pentecost 18, October 1, 2023

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

Philippians 2:1-11  So if there is any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, ²then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being united in spirit, and having one mind.  ³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility consider one another better than yourselves.  ⁴Let each of you look carefully not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  ⁵Indeed, let this attitude be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.  ⁶Though he was by nature God, he did not consider equality with God as a prize to be displayed, ⁷but he emptied himself by taking the nature of a servant.  When he was born in human likeness, and his appearance was like that of any other man, ⁸he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.  ⁹Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (EHV)

Encouraged in Christ, live in unselfish love.

Dear friends serving to the glory of God,

            The whole message of the Bible is God’s love for us, and we see that again and again throughout it.  The chief commands are to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Jesus further strengthened the second command by telling us, “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)  In this, Jesus shows us that the Bible’s message is not just about law.  God does not tell us to love others, either to coerce us into being good, nor as a test to see who might be righteous.  Rather, we have the command to love “because God is love,” (1 John 4:8) and simply put, it is through God’s love that we are connected with Him.

Here, in this letter, the subject is again this unique, unselfish, wholehearted love that God has shown to us, and the Holy Spirit, through Paul, urges that Encouraged in Christ, live in unselfish love.

Paul wrote, “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and compassion.”  Though it might sound conditional, Paul was assuming his readers already grasped that all these things are already ours.  For a world of sinners, Jesus has already lived and died to make us holy and acceptable to God.  Then, by sending His Spirit into the world through the powerful Word of God delivered through the hands and lips of called apostles, prophets, pastors, and teachers, we have been brought into fellowship with the Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, and adopted as His beloved children in baptism.  What greater encouragement could we have to live in love?  What greater comfort could be ours than to know all our sins, guilt, and shame have been covered by the blood of Christ, so that we have peace with God.  Therefore, St. John testified, “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

The point Paul assumes is that we already know this great news, so he continues, “then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being united in spirit, and having one mind.  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility consider one another better than yourselves.”  Again, this is not some kind of test that would delight Paul if we pass.  He is pointing out that Christians united with Christ Jesus receive this desire for united love and compassion naturally.  Aah, but that’s the rub, isn’t it?  Even though we are united with Christ, and this desire to love unselfishly comes to us through that unity with His holiness, we remain in this sinful world and still in our naturally sinful flesh inherited from our parents, so as long as we live, we remain a work in progress that needs the encouragement and caring love of our Savior.

We are to have the same love which God has showed us.  This is the agape love that you have heard pastors speak of often, I am sure.  It is that totally other-focused love that desires and does only what is best for the other person.  It is the love God is.  This is evident because, “He did this when he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, so that we would be holy and blameless in his sight.  In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 1:4-5)

God didn’t create the world to have something to brag about.  He created the world to give us a place to live, and He made us so that He could provide for us everything we need and show us this great love that makes Him who He is.  Consider how even after mankind had fallen away from Him in sin and caused the curse of sin to corrupt His good creation, God didn’t abandon us to the fate of death and eternal separation from Him.  Instead, with love for us, God’s Son set aside His glory as God in order to take on human flesh and live, suffer, and die in our place.  All so that we could be restored into that original perfect relationship with God.  Thus, we are to make ourselves servants of all other people, considering not ourselves only, but what we can do to bring others greater peace, and especially peace with God.

Again, this is explained in Paul’s letter: “Let each of you look carefully not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Indeed, let this attitude be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.  Though he was by nature God, he did not consider equality with God as a prize to be displayed, but he emptied himself by taking the nature of a servant.”  This is the life and work of the Church, not only an individual congregation, and certainly not the work of the building, but the work of the Body of Christ which is all believers in Jesus of all time. 

It sounds so overwhelming to consider, doesn’t it?  How could we possibly ever live up to the standard?  How could we love and faithfully serve even those who hate us, despise us, and persecute us?  Yet, isn’t that exactly what Jesus has already done for us?  To the Roman congregation, Paul wrote, “But God shows his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

Now, most of us already do show this love to some extent.  Parents show their unconditional love for their children in so many ways.  Adult, perhaps middle-aged, children often return this love to their parents when age and infirmity of the parents requires it.  We show unconditional love to spouses, to neighbors, and to our communities, at least at times, but still, we know that our selfishness often creeps in.  Personal selfishness is behind most of the heartache in the world.  Therefore, on our own we could never keep the command to love as God loves, which is why Jesus lived love on our behalf and asks that we share His love as best we are able in our ordinary lives, striving to do what we can as the individual parts of His body of love.

So, as we recognize that we will struggle to love unselfishly, we continually return to Jesus.  He restores and refreshes us with His love.  He emptied us of sin, disgrace, and shame when He suffered and died in our place, and because Jesus has done this for the whole world, we know that the whole world has the same command and the same need.  The whole world needs our unselfish love just as we needed that from Jesus.  We can take comfort in the fact that God has given us this position through faith.  Therefore, Jesus assures us, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated me first.  If you were of the world, the world would love its own.  However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, for that very reason the world hates you.” (John 15:18-19) 

Living unselfish love doesn’t always feel like it is rewarded.  Yet, because Jesus has purchased our freedom from the condemnation destined for the world, we are secure in His love and assured of heavenly praise.  Therefore, the admonition, Encouraged in Christ, live in unselfish love.

Though Jesus, as the Holy Son of God, did not have any sin or guilt for which to die, He readily, willingly took on ours, so that we could be holy with Him.  Paul wrote, “When he was born in human likeness, and his appearance was like that of any other man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.  Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” 

The future of the world, here meaning all those who remain unconnected with Jesus, is a terrible fate of destruction and eternal separation from the God who is love.  The end of days for the unbelieving world is described as one of great terror and fear.  St. John was given a vision of that day about which he wrote, “And they kept saying to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come.  Who is able to stand?’” (Revelation 6:16-17)

On the other hand, St. Paul wrote the message of this letter from a prison cell, fully understanding that his life on earth was coming to an end in a most unsavory manner.  Yet, he faced that end with joy and gladness, not because he wanted to die, but because he knew that he would continue to live in the glories of heaven because of Jesus.  Furthermore, nothing could bring greater joy to Paul, or to any other member of the kingdom of heaven, than that many others would be brought into the love of God in Christ Jesus.  As Jesus declared, “I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:10)  Knowing this, imagine the rejoicing we will experience when we are gathered together with the angels and all the company of heaven rejoicing for every sinner who has entered with us by the grace of God in Christ Jesus.  Therefore, we are urged to remember the love that is ours in Jesus and exhorted, Encouraged in Christ, live in unselfish love.  Amen.

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.