Festival of the Reformation Sermon

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“Eleutherius”

Text: John 8:31-36; Psalm 46

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

At the time of the Reformation, it was not unusual for scholars to adopt a Greek form of their name for themselves, a pseudonym, or what we today would call a “pen name.” Luther did this. He had a name that he signed some of his writings with, and this name he chose for himself says pretty much all we need to know about him and his theology. For the name he chose for himself was: Eleutherius - the free one.

Now, if you were to ask folks to summarize what the Reformation was all about in one word, you might get answers like sola, for what became known as the three great solas, or “onlys,” of the Reformation - sola gratia, sola fide, sola scriptura; by grace alone, by faith alone, by Scripture alone. Others might think of the word indulgences - since that was a well-known problem at that time and something that Luther wrote against at the beginning of the Reformation. Non-Lutherans might say heretic, rebel, or schismatic.

But it is Luther himself who tells us what that one word really is, what the Reformation was all about: freedom. Because that is what the Gospel is all about. Freedom. Freedom from sin. Freedom from condemnation. Freedom from having to justify yourself. Freedom from worry and fear. Freedom from judgment. Freedom from having to earn God’s favor. Freedom to live. Because if you’re not free from all that other stuff, then you can’t really live. Not the life Christ has for you. Because you’re too busy trying to do what you think you have to do - to live up to other people’s standards, to live up to God’s standards, to be good, to show you’re worth something. That you’re better than most. You deserve to be a Christian. You deserve to be saved. Except you aren’t. And you don’t. 

And if that’s how you’re living your life, then you know: that’s a terribly heavy burden to bear. And even if you manage for a while, and do good for a while and look good for a while, it wears you down and wears you out and will in the end crush you.

Which is exactly how satan wants it. And so what he’ll often do . . . I heard it put this way once: he’ll use mirrors like they often have at county fairs - the ones that distort what you look like. The first one he’ll hold up for you is the one that makes you look skinnier than normal, or shorter than you really are, to make you think you’re not as full of sin as you really are. See? You’re doing pretty well. Your sin is small. Keep up the good work! Until the time is right . . . and then he’ll get out that other mirror, the one that makes you look fatter than normal, or taller than you really are, that you see not only how full of sin you really are, but magnify it. To crush you. To make you think there’s no hope for you. You’ve tried so hard, but look at you! You’re no good at all. You’re a failure. You’re a disappointment. You’re just one big fat blob of sin. 

And I think all of you know what I’m talking about. I think all of you have been on that roller coaster. One day, doing alright, the next day, sin gets the better of you. One day filled with confidence and faith, the next day filled with doubt and despair. One day strong, the next day weak. One day in heaven, the next day in hell.

Luther rode that roller coaster, too. Until he stopped looking in those mirrors. Until he stopped trying to measure how well he was doing as a Christian, and started looking at Christ. And there he saw freedom. In Jesus on the cross, He saw the free grace of the free God who makes His people free. He saw the burden he was trying to bear being borne for him by Christ. He saw the sin and guilt he was trying to atone for atoned for by Christ. He saw the judgment he was so fearful of, and the punishment and condemnation he so deserved, poured out upon Christ instead. And once he saw that, that it was all on Christ and not on him, Luther was free! Luther was Eleutherius - the free one. 

What he was unable to do, Christ had done for him. Christ was not an example for him to live up to, as he had been taught. Christ was the Saviour who had come down to him. To lift him up. To set him free. To forgive his sin and guilt. To give him life, and the promise of everlasting life. What Luther could not do, Christ did, and gave to him. Sola gratia. All grace. All gift. All free. And this was not just for others, but for him, for Luther. Because Jesus had done it for all people. And if for all, then for him, too. And so it was. Luther’s. Sola fide. By faith. By faith this promise was for him, too. This promise that is what the Scriptures are all about. Sola Scriptura. Promise made, promise fulfilled, promise yours.

And Luther was free. Eleutherius. And so free that he couldn’t not proclaim this freedom to everyone. The Son had set him free. And as we heard, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. And not just Luther. You too. An Eleutherius. A free one. In Christ. A freedom not to do whatever your sinful nature wants. That’s a fleshly freedom. That, as Jesus said, is slavery. Whoever sins is a slave to sin, not free. Rather, this freedom is a true and real freedom. The freedom of one so free that they become free even from themselves, from their urges and desires and wants, even from their own will to be free, and so become like Christ. Lots of philosophies try to attain this, by your own work and effort - and for yourself. But only Christ can, and for you.

For how did Christ use His perfect freedom? Not for Himself. Rather, He came down from heaven to serve you, to die for you, to save you, to set you free. To make you an Eleutherius. 

And that’s not only what Christ did, in the past, but what He is still doing now. Making sinners like you and me free from our sin and guilt, free from our burdens and fears, free from having to justify ourselves and make something of ourselves, through His baptizing, absolving, proclaiming, feeding, forgiving, raising, saving. His gifts, for you, to make you free.

And abiding, remaining, living in these words, His Word - proclaimed to you and poured upon you and fed to you - you are truly His disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Or in other words, you will know Jesus, and Jesus sets you free.

Free to be like Him. Because if you’re not burdened with a big, long list of things to do for yourself, then you can live for others. For imagine - or if you’re like me, you don’t have to imagine! - a big, long “to do” list. All urgent. All need to get done today. But your son, your daughter, your co-worker, your friend comes in and needs your help. What can you do? You have all these other things that you must do! So maybe you say no. Or maybe you sacrifice yourself for them, knowing that helping them now means you will have to stay up all night, or justify why you didn’t get everything done.

But now imagine that someone comes along and takes that “to do” list away from you. They’ll do it for you. You don’t have to do any of it. So now, when your son, your daughter, your co-worker, or your friend comes in and needs your help - you can help! Why? Because you are free. An Eleutherius! That’s what Christ has done for you!

Or think of it this way - this is how Luther put it: as a Christian, you are perfectly free. Your “to do” list for God has been taken away from you and done by Jesus. You are a child of God, pleasing to Him, loved by Him, and perfect for Him. There’s nothing you have to do for your life, your forgiveness, or your salvation. It’s all been done. You are an Eleutherius. 

Now, therefore, as a Christian, you are also perfectly bound. But this is something new - not a slavery-like bondage, a forced service of the God who has set you free. No! It is rather that the love that has set you free now lives in you. The love that has set you free now controls you. The love that has set you free is bound to erupt from you for others, to give to them. That’s the freedom of one so free that you become free even from yourself, your urges and desires and wants, even from your own will to be free, and so become like Christ. And do what Christ freely did.

That’s the freedom of a Son. The freedom that the Son gives to you. The freedom only He can give. The freedom that is by grace alone, by faith alone, and known by Scripture alone. The freedom that no work of yours can achieve, and no amount of money can indulgence. The freedom that the Reformation was all about.

And it is a freedom that spills into all areas of your life. For you do not live two lives: one physical and one spiritual. One earthly and one churchly. One secular and one religious. No. You have one life that Christ has set free, and set you free to live. And so now all that you do is with that freedom, confident that you are alive in the love of God, forgiven by Him, and pleasing to Him. So you are free for loving service to your neighbor - in all your vocations. At work, at school, even your chores at home - all now seen through the lens of Christ and His freeing love for you. Christ living in you to love and serve and bless the people He has given to you and given you to.

And this is a freedom that does not come and go with the ups and downs in your life, but one that lasts. One that lasts, as we heard in the psalm, though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea. One that lasts when nations rage, and kingdoms totter. Freedom because the Lord of hosts is with you; the God of Jacob is your fortress. 

So you learned a new word today - Eleutherius, the free one. That’s what Luther called himself, and that’s what you are. Which is not just wishful thinking, but truth, because Christ says so. He said it when He baptized you and made you His child, so that you are set free and no longer a child of sin and death. He says it when He absolves you and sets you free from your sin and guilt: I forgive you all your sins. All. None excluded. And He says it when He places His Body and Blood into your mouth - His Body and Blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Go, you are free. Depart in peace. 

So it is finished, Jesus said on the cross, and says to you now. What is? Your “to do” list! Jesus did it all, finished it all. So you . . . you are free. Eleutherius. 

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pentecost 19 Sermon

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Jesu Juva

“Widow’s Faith, Widow’s Prayer”

Text: Luke 18:1-8; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5; Genesis 32:22-30

Tough week. Weary. Lots of ideas for preaching, but none would come out on paper! So a gentle reworking of a sermon from yesteryear . . .

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

And Jesus told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

It’s easy to lose heart, isn’t it? Jesus knows that. He is a man in every way like us except without sin. So He knows what it’s like when bad news comes, when your life is rocked, when you have disappointment upon disappointment, when there’s no end in sight, when the future looks bleak and uncertain. When you’re weary. It is at such times that it’s easy to lose heart - to lose confidence, to lose courage, to lose hope, to resign yourself to the thought that this is just the way things are and they aren’t going to get any better. And it can happen even toward God, can’t it? We worry, we doubt, we wonder what God is doing or why it’s taking Him so long . . . if He sees and knows and cares about me.

Not always, of course. There are good times in our lives as well. Times of success, times of triumph. Days when the sun is shining, friendships and health are good, there is laughter and good times.

But this parable of Jesus is not just for those times when we lose heart - it is so that we may not lose heart. It is so that in both the good times and the bad times, we live by faith in God. In a God who loves to give, to care, and have mercy. Even when that giving, care, and mercy are not evident or obvious. So that faith be the bedrock of our lives, and nothing else. 

Like the widow in the parable. She is a nameless nobody, and what little she had seems to have been ripped off by her adversary. So she goes to the judge and issues her petition for judgment, for justice. And she won’t give up. She does not despair, she does not lose heart, for faith is alive in her. She won’t not be given to. She wrestles with the judge. She pounds on his door and his ears until she receives what she has come for. She will not let go. Faith does not let go.

That’s the parable. It’s pretty simple. But here’s the question Jesus asks: when the Son of Man comes, will he find such faith - faith like this widow’s - on earth?

Good question. Jesus is that Son of Man, but Jesus is not referring to that current time - but to when He will come again, in the end, in the final judgment. When He does, this is what He will be looking for. Faith. Faith that looks to Him, relies on Him, and cries out to Him. Faith that clings to the Word and promises of God, not our own opinions of who God is and what He ought to be doing.

So if the Son of Man came today (which He well might!), would He find such faith on earth? Well, yes and no we would say, I suppose. It’s a mixed bag. There are plenty of folks, as Paul wrote to Timothy, who have itching ears . . . faithless ears, who do not want to hear what God has to say, but who accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. But there are plenty of widows, too, I would say. Maybe you just cannot see them. Maybe they look like they have it all together. But maybe every night, that friend or neighbor or co-worker of yours is down on their knees, crying out to God like this widow.

But the question - if the Son of Man came today, would He find such faith on earth? - is better directed not at others, but at ourselves. How is it with you? Faith or unfaith? Gratitude or thanklessness? Content or discontent? Obedience or attitude? Listening or ordering? Humility or pride? What you think of God, what you believe about Him, is reflected in these things. The widow in the parable would not give up because she knew this worldly judge would do right in the end. Even if her belief was against the odds or what anyone else thought. How much more the children of a heavenly Father who has promised good.

And not just promised, but fulfilled that promise.

The judge in the parable did not want to be bothered, did not want to be troubled. Just the opposite, in act! He is our judge is so troubled for you, so concerned for you that He goes to Calvary for you. And there He gives His judgment for you. Jesus is condemned and dies in your place, for your sin, for your unfaith, for your un-widow-likeness, so that there be now no condemnation for you. Only life. Only forgiveness. Only good.

This is how God is toward us. Then and still today. Good and faithful and righteous. And when the Son of Man comes, what we may not be able to see clearly now we will see clearly then. When we stand before God we will see how tenderly He has brought us through those dark times, when everything went wrong, and we and our lives seemed widowed and worthless. We will see how generously He has provided for us so that we did not even know the danger that surrounded us or the need that threatened us. We will see how our Father’s delaying, His seeming not to care, was simply part of His wanting our good, readying us for larger gifts, the wholeness and fullness of good - His life and salvation.

So yes, God delays, at times. He patiently and lovingly puts up with us, bears with us and our faltering and little faith that doubts and fears and seeks our life apart from Him. Longsuffering is the word the Scriptures often use. For your Father is no uncaring judge, but loves you more than you know, more than we should expect. And so He is nurturing you to the bigger and better things He wants to give you. Scouring out the sin and wrong expectations . . . like with Jacob. No small wrestling match was that, that went on all night, that left Jacob injured and blessed. So too God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - is working for you.

So how can we do it? So how do we pray in this way, like this widow? How do we pray and not lose heart? Well, I would say, you do already. You do when you pray as Jesus taught you to pray.

Our Father - my father who adopted me as His son, His daughter, in Holy Baptism, not because I deserved it but because I didn’t, because He loves me . . .

hallowed be Thy Name - your name by which we cry out to you; your name by which we know you; your name by which we know that you are good and loving and merciful; your name that you have given to me and placed upon me in baptism . . .

Thy kingdom come - your kingdom come to me; keep me in this kingdom, in the faith, in the church, in your love and care . . .

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven - on earth. Yes, here and now, your will be done; your will is done. Your mercy, your gifts, your salvation given. Do to me, work in me, according to your will . . .

Give us this day our daily bread - and help me be satisfied and thankful for what you give me each day according to your will, be it what I had in mind or not, be it ease or trouble, sunshine or storm, and trust that it is good and for my good . . .

And forgive me - forgive me my unfaith, my pride, my attitude, my thanklessness, my doubting you and your love. And through your forgiveness, give me the faith to forgive others, for you are the judge, not me; you are the avenger of wrongs, not me; you died for those sins already . . .

And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil - deliver me from the evil one who would plant all kinds of false and deceiving thoughts of you in my mind, and so cause me to follow my own path and desires. Let those wicked weeds not take root in my heart and mind, but only the good seed, the truth of your Word, the truth of your love.

And praying all that, the judgment we cry out for, like this widow, is given. You do not have to wait for the last day, the final judgment. Already Jesus comes to give His judgment on earth - for the judgment rendered at Calvary is given to you here - as His Word of forgiveness is spoken to you and His Body and Blood given to you. Words that give what they say. And you are given to, mercied, forgiven, raised. For the Son of Man comes now, even as He promised. And faith receives the gifts that He comes and brings. The gifts He freely gives. The gifts He loves to give. The gifts He died to give.

If He delays, it is only for you to grow strong in this faith, in openness to His giving in ways you might not expect, and to the always more He wants to give. To make you whole and new and do, as Paul once wrote to the Ephesians, more than you expect or imagine (Eph 3:20).

[So Jesus] told them [this] parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

You see, when Jesus told this parable, He was drawing very near to Jerusalem, Very close to the cross. And Jesus knew this would be a time when the disciples would lose heart. But, in fact, Jesus on the cross is not a time to despair, not a time to lose heart. Jesus on the cross is the certainty of faith. For we do not pray to a God who is far away in power, who may or may not hear, and may or may not act - like a judge who doesn’t want to be bothered - but to a God who hung on a cross for you, has promised to hear, and promised us every good. Which means that even His cross and your cross are good.

So when the Son of Man comes, will he find such faith on earth? Yes He will! For He is working such faith in you. And inviting you to pray - to believe that He is your true Father and that you are His true child, so that with all boldness and confidence you ask Him as dear children ask their dear father (Small Catechism, Introduction, Explanation). To cry out to the Lord, in good times and bad. To Entrust your days and burdens to God’s most loving hands (LSB #754). To Beat on His door and on His ears. He loves such prayers of His children. And He will answer. And He will come. For you.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pentecost 18 Sermon

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Jesu Juva

“The Faithful One in an Unfaithful World”

Text: 2 Timothy 2:1-13; Ruth 1:1-19a; Luke 17:11-19

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

We heard from St. Paul today, in his letter to Timothy:

If we are faithless, he remains faithful—

for he cannot deny himself.

He is faithful. Christ Jesus. Faithful through and through. Not a faithless bone in His body. A man perfectly faithful. Both to His Father and to us.

Faithful. Keeping every word spoken. Fulfilling every promise. Doing everything He says He’s going to do. Faithful birth, faithful life, faithful death. Reliable. Dependable. Solid.

Even when that meant going to the cross for you. 

But we need to back up. We’re not there yet. Because long before that God was faithful to you. God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. All of them, perfectly and consistently and always for you.

Even when we are faithless. Like Adam and Eve in the Garden. Faithless. No faith in God’s Word. No faith in God’s promise. They were convinced - and they convinced themselves - that what God had spoken was not true. They weren’t going to die. It’s just a fruit, after all! But die they did. Turns out, this death wasn’t just true, but even worse that they thought. And they plunged a world into sin with them. God’s Word was not only true, but powerful.

But even if we are faithless, he remain faithful—

for he cannot deny himself.

So God did not cut ties with His children. Their less meant Him more. They were faithless, so He was faithful even more. He who had given Himself to them and made them in His own image, came to them. Pulled them out of their hiding places. Reconciled them to Him and to each other. He forgave their guilt and covered their shame and gave them life again. A faithful Father to His children. His love would let Him do no less.

But this Father was not only faithful to His children, but to His Word. Death was now in the world and it had to be dealt with. But not by His children. They couldn’t. The dying can’t defeat death - only the living can. The living one. And so He would. God Himself would take the guilt and shame and death His children had welcomed with open arms - or at least open hands and mouths. He would die, not them. He would lay down His life for his children. Faithful. 

But God, who is life in Himself, cannot die. But God must die to save His children. So another promise He makes - He commits Himself. One of Eve’s children would be the one. But not one of Adam’s children. Only Eve. He would have another father. A heavenly one. And so be both God and man. God to save. Man to die.

That’s the promise, that’s the faithfulness, a certain young woman heard about. A false-god-worshipping young woman named Ruth, when some visitors from Judah came to her land to escape a famine. She married one of them, and she heard from them of a faithful God, a God unlike hers or any other. A serving God. A promising God. A loving God. A God who keeps His Word. Not a God you have to please and appease. Not a God you have to find your way to, but a God who finds you and comes to you. A faithful God.

She heard of how this God was faithful to Abraham and gave Him a son. How He was faithful to Jacob, and brought his family out of their slavery in Egypt. How He was faithful in giving them a land of their own. And she heard the promise of a Saviour. Yes, there was a famine in that land now, but so it happens in a world plunged into sin and death. But God is faithful. He did save. He would save. He will save.

So when Naomi told Ruth and her sister-in-law to stay in Moab once the famine was over and she was returning to Judah - that land promised and given by that faithful God - how could she? This faithful God had come to Ruth. She wasn’t going back. 

And then we find out this young Moabitess not only heard about God faithfulness and believed, but was part of God’s plan and became a part of God’s faithfulness. For from her, from her descendants, came King David himself. And from King David, the Son of David - the promised Saviour.

The promised Saviour who one day found Himself walking in the no-man’s-land between Samaria and Galilee. No one much inhabited this place, this borderland which marked the place where Jews avoided Samaritans and Samaritans avoided Jews. Unless you had to. Unless there was no place else for you to live, because you were a leper. Because you were death incarnate; the walking dead. Where for lepers, death was only a matter of time. 

But that’s true for all of us, isn’t it? What we don’t realize is that this is how all of us look to God, who sees what we cannot see. You think you look good, healthy, strong. And by worldly standards maybe you are. But since the day you were born, the leprosy of sin has been eating at you. And one day it will consume you. With lepers, you could just see it. 

But for Jesus, Pharisees, disciples, kings, lepers, you, me - all the same. When he sees us, He sees what He came to be. For that’s what it means that this one, Jesus, came to take our guilt and shame and death - He becomes what we are, so we might be what He is. That was His promise, way back in the Garden, and He is faithful. Faithful for the faithless.

Jesus, Master, have mercy on us! is their cry, these ten lepers. Music to Jesus’ ears. Go show yourselves to the priests, He replies. Why would they? Because in that charge is the promise of cleansing. That’s the only reason you would go to the priests. And . . . promised fulfilled. Cleansed they are. By the faithful God who always does what He says.

Even here. Here, where we cry out the same words from leprous, sinful mouths: Lord, have mercy! And He does. Here, promise fulfilled. Here, sins forgiven, bodies and souls cleansed, by the Jesus who bore those sins and uncleanness on the cross. In mercy, taking our guilt and shame and death. In mercy, giving His forgiveness and holiness and life. For you and me, for our unfaithfulness.

For have you not heard? I know you have. The promises. The works. The cross. The promises fulfilled. And yet death is at work in us. Sin. Unfaithfulness. You see it in marriages, spouses who are unfaithful. Cheating, adultery, pornography. You see it in families, among friends. Words given, promises made . . . and then broken. You see it in pastors unfaithful to their ordination vows. Unfaithfulness we know. Unfaithfulness is all around us. Unfaithfulness is in us. Words, promises broken. Sin indulged. God doubted.

So you know, then, the joy of Ruth when she heard something different. You know the joy of the lepers when the Jesus who is life entered their world of death. You know the joy of Paul, when this faithful Jesus rescued him. You know the joy of this faithful Jesus who has come to you and rescued you, too. This Jesus you can count on. Faithful through and through. Not a faithless bone in His body. Keeping every word spoken. Fulfilling every promise. Doing everything He says He’s going to do. Reliable. Dependable. Solid.

Even when it meant going to the cross for you.

If we are faithless, - unfaithful - he remains faithful—

for he cannot deny himself.

He cannot deny Himself. That’s the key. Outside of Him is a world of unfaithfulness. A world of sin. A world of denial. A world of broken promises and death. The world we see. But in Him . . . is life. In Him is no denial. In Him is only faithfulness, cleansing, and forgiveness. In Him is only yes! 

And in baptism, you are in Him. So all of that is yours. His forgiveness yours. His mercy yours. His cleansing yours. His holiness yours. His life yours. Even in your body wracked with sin and death. Remember how I said earlier that Jesus sees us all as sin-lepers, dying in our sin? Well, baptized into Jesus He sees us all in that way now. As sons of God. Clean. Holy. Living. Dearly loved. You may not see yourself that way, but He does! When Jesus looks at you now, He doesn’t see the sinner, He doesn’t see a disappointment, He doesn’t see a failure or somebody who’s hopeless. He sees His child He loves. He sees His child He died for, rose for, and lives for.

So when we sin, He restores us. Repentance isn’t a four letter word or some sort of awful torture, it is simply us being the sin-lepers we are and rejoicing that the Lord of life has come here to us with His life. Repentance is our way of saying: we’re dying! Give us life. And He does. Faithful. Promise fulfilled.

And more. He feeds us who are hungry. Bread of life. Bread that gives life. Eternal life. Bread that is His life-giving-once-crucified-but-now-risen Body, and wine that is His Blood. To feed the life He has given. To live in the one He has saved. 

And this, Paul says, is trustworthy. Worthy of your trust. That is, your faith. In the midst of a world of unfaithfulness. Here is the one you can count on. The Jesus who is faithful. 

So maybe like Adam and Eve, you’ve doubted God Word and thought to youself: it’s just a little sin, after all! Or maybe like Ruth, you’ve been living is a land full of false gods, and maybe you’ve even had a few yourself. Maybe like the lepers you feel like an outcast from this world and life; separated from the living; living without hope. Maybe you’re like Paul, attached to the end of a chain - except for you, what imprisons you is an addiction, a sin, a bitterness, a hurt, you can’t set yourself free from. Or maybe you’ve hit some other rough patch. Maybe you’re all of the above. 

If so, good news for you! You have a faithful God. He sees your sin, your leprosy. He knows it better than you. And He says to you: I forgive you all your sins. In fact, they’re not even yours anymore - they’re mine, He says. I’ve made them so. I’ve taken them upon Myself. You are free. Free from guilt. Free from shame. Free from the tryanny of death. 

And so free to live. To live as the child of God you are. Free not to go back to your old ways, like Ruth. Free to go and show yourselves to all people as the cleansed and forgiven child you are. And free, like Paul, no matter where you are. Because you have a faithful God who has kept His Word and all His promises. For you. 

So now you - rise and go; your Jesus has made you well.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pentecost 17 Sermon

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Jesu Juva

“Three Little Words”

Text: Luke 17:1-10; 2 Timothy 1:1-14

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

Three little words. You know them. Wives long to hear them from their husbands, and husbands from their wives. Children want to hear them, as do parents, as do friends, neighbors, in fact. For these three little words can make all the difference in the world. And yet how hard they often are to say. How often they have to be just about dragged out of our mouths. Those three little words. You know them. No, not I love you! But I forgive you.

So I don’t know about you, but if someone sins against me and hurts me pretty bad and I forgive them, I’m feeling pretty good about myself. I’m looking for a pat on the back from God. Did you see what I did? Pretty good, huh? And then if that person sins against me again and again, and again and again, and I forgive them? Man, I’m looking for a medal! The medal of honor from God for outstanding forgiveness in the face of continual sin. 

For imagine a child in the back of the car, being poked and poked and poked and egged on by her brother, and yet she doesn’t yell or scream or get back, but forgives. I’m giving that child a medal! Or, someone who just continually goads you on with their words, getting under your skin, hitting those buttons which just drive you crazy, and yet you don’t escalate or retaliate, but forgive. Shouldn’t there be a little extra from God for that? 

And yet we heard these words from Jesus today: So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’

Really? Nothing? That’s it? How can you possibly please a God like that? 

But who said you don’t please Him? Jesus didn’t say that! I think we sometimes hear that in these words from Jesus, but note: Jesus doesn’t say that’s what God says to us, that we are unworthy servants. It’s what WE are to say. It’s what OUR attitude should be. To know that no matter how loving or forgiving we may be, no matter how much good we may do, we still have fallen short of doing ALL that we were commanded. And so know that we are unworthy servants. We don’t deserve a pat on the back or a medal - you love, you forgive, you do good? Right. That’s just what you were supposed to do.

And then there’s all that we’ve failed to do, and in our failure, caused our neighbor to sin. When we’re the ones doing the poking. When we’re the ones with the goading or demeaning or hurtful words. When we’re the ones who don’t love our neighbor and so cause him to cheat or steal or doubt God’s love for her. When we’re the ones who rather than a medal hung around our necks deserve a millstone instead. 

Maybe we should put that in our confession, the one we say at the beginning of the service. Instead of saying: We justly deserve Your present and eternal punishment, say: We justly deserve Your millstone hung around our necks and to be cast into the depths of the sea. That’s more like it, isn’t it? 

But then, we say, though that is what I deserve, give me what I don’t deserve! Not a pat on the back or a medal - have mercy on me, and just speak to me those three little words. I know I’ve been back here far more than seven times, or seventy times seven times. But I know Your mercy is far greater than all that, than my sin. The cross shows me that, and the one who hung there for me, with my millstone around His neck, with all my sin, all my pride, all my failure. So, please, for the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, say those three little words, that I may be renewed, that I may, as we say, delight in Your will and walk in Your ways, to the glory of Your holy name. Amen.

And He does. As often as you come, He does. As sinful as you are, He does. And these words are spoken right next to that font - you know why? Because that’s where you were drowned. Instead of casting you into the depths of the sea with the millstone of your sin, to die far away from God, you were cast into the water of the font, the water of baptism, for you and your sin to die with Christ. Because dying with Christ, you then rise with Him to a new life. A renewed life. So yes, your heavenly Father says to you! In those waters and then time and again after that! Yes, I forgive you! Yes, I forgive all your sins.

And then He has you come and recline at His Table. He does not insist on your coming here and serving Him - that’s what earthly masters do. Earthly masters who don’t care about their servants but only about themselves, and so insist that their servants serve them no matter how tired they are or how long they have worked. But your heavenly Father is not like that. For He is your Father, not your master. And so you, unworthy, grimy-with-sin servant, He washes and cleans with His forgiveness, and then seats you at His Table where He feeds you with heavenly food. And if the thought of that makes your jaw drop and hang open because it just sounds too good to be true, good! But true it is. For you. For you, child of God, with whom your Father is well pleased. Not because of what you do, but because of who you are. 

And knowing that . . . a pat on the back? A medal? That’s what I’m looking for from God? When He’s already given me far more! Like Himself! And His forgiveness! And a place in His family. Lord, increase my faith! Help me to treasure these words. Help me to see everything as a gift from You. Help me see as you see and do as you do, and never stop marveling at Your love.

This is what Paul is talking about when he tells Timothy (and so us) in the Epistle we heard today, to guard the good deposit entrusted to you. Guard this wonderful truth. Timothy as a pastor, but you, too, as Christians. Guard these words. The good news of God’s mercy and those three little words we get to hear and get to say: I forgive you. Don’t let anyone take them away from you - either from your faith or from the preaching you hear. From your ears or from your mouth. Don’t be seduced away into thinking God isn’t like that. Don’t be deceived by some other slick teaching that puts it on you. No! Guard this! 

But how often do we wind up foolishly guarding other things? Guarding our honor, guarding our position, instead of forgiving. Guarding our wealth instead of giving. Guarding our pride instead of serving. Guarding our need to be right instead of repenting. Guarding our own little kingdom instead of looking to His. And guarding . . . what else? What is it for you? Perhaps here it would be good to remember that what you guard is your god. A false one, to be sure. But why else are you guarding it, why else are you clinging to it, why else are you refusing to give it up, except that you think it is what you need, what you want, what will get you what you want. And that’s what makes it a false god - that it’s what you fear, love, and trust in; it’s what you are looking to for what you need, for all good. How confused we sometimes get!

That’s why Paul added some important words to that verse: Guard the good deposit entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. On our own, we get fooled by the devil’s wiles. On our own, we get confused by the devil’s tricks. On our own, we get seduced by the devil’s lies. And so guard the wrong things. 

But you’re not on your own. You’ve been given the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is the one who gives you Jesus and enables you to put your faith in Jesus. The Holy Spirit gives us the gifts of God. The Holy Spirit then acts as guard over your heart as well. For when you are attacked by what you can see and what you can’t see. For when you are misled and wander and maybe desire something new, something flashier, something that sounds exciting. Guard the good deposit, Paul says, which is to say: Guard those three little words. Be like a hound dog with a bone (as Luther put it) and do not let them go! Those three little words. For those words, and the one who speaks them from the cross and did them on the cross, and then rose from the dead for them, is your life. And Him alone. 

And so when you forgive, when you speak those three little words, you’re not earning anything - you are simply giving what you have received. You are clinging to Jesus by faith, and you are giving Jesus to others. You are trusting Jesus to provide for you and protect you, and to work in the one you forgive. You are looking to Him for all that is needed. Looking to Him not for what you think you deserve, but for His gifts. Which is exactly what He loves to give. Gifts that never run out.

And what about those flying mulberry trees we heard about in the Gospel? Well, I guess none of us has a faith as it should be. We are all unworthy servants. But the thing about faith - it’s not the strength of your faith that makes the difference, but the strength of the one your faith is in. And I know He can make mulberry trees fly. But even more, He can make the dead live. And He has raised you and me - who were dead in our trespasses an sins - to life in Him now. And He will raise you and me from the death of our graves to live with Him forever. Because of those three little words. Those three little words that we so need to hear, that make all the difference in the world. I forgive you. Which really is His way of saying those other three little words: I love you.

Additional ending for Hope Lutheran Church, our satellite mission church, worshiping for the first time in its new location:

And may those three little words be always what is proclaimed here, and what this church be always about - because they are the three little words that truly give us . . . HOPE.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.