Sermon for the Festival of the Reformation

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Jesu Juva

“Unleashing the Word”

Text: John 8:31-36; Romans 3:19-28; Revelation 14:6-7

 

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

Si vos manseritis in sermone meo, vere discipuli mei eritis, et cognoscetis veritatem, et veritas liberabit vos.

That’s what you would have heard had you been sitting in church 500 years ago, in 1522. The Scriptures read in Latin. And you today understood as much as the people did then. A couple of you maybe know Latin. A few more of you know a little bit. Most of you could probably pick out a few words, like discipuli, disciples, or veritas, truth. But the meaning, the truth, what Jesus actually said there, no. 

What Jesus said with those words was this, which you heard (in English) earlier: If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. But how can you abide in Jesus’ word if you cannot understand it? That was Luther’s question. The people knew only what they were being told, but what they were being told wasn’t the truth. They were being told to buy indulgences. They were being told to pay to view relics. They were being told to go to confession and do the satisfactions the priest told them to do. And they were being told that by doing these things, and others, that would set them free. Free from their sins. Free from purgatory. 

But once Luther began reading the Scriptures himself, and studying them, and teaching them, he came across verses like we heard today. What we heard from John, that if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. And what we heard from Paul, that there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation [a sin offering] by his blood, to be received by faith. And this is what the people started to hear from him. The truth of the Law, that our sins cannot be paid for or atoned for by anything that we do. But even more, the truth of the Gospel, that all our sins have already been paid for or atoned for by Jesus on the cross. A gift He does not demand that we earn or pay for, but that He now gives to us freely, and we receive by faith. 

We hear that all the time and so perhaps take it for granted. But imagine how that must have sounded to those people hearing that for the first time! Some of you may even know how that feels, having been there yourself. Thinking that God is an angry, demanding judge, but then hearing that He is really a loving Father. Thinking that you have to be good enough for Him, but then hearing that you can’t, so He came to do that for you. Thinking that holiness is only for really exceptional Christians, called saints, but then hearing that holiness, that sainthood is not an accomplishment, but something given to you when you are baptized, washed clean of your sins; and when you hear those words of Jesus that do what they say: I forgive you all your sins. No wonder this truth spread so far, so fast.

But without the people being able to abide in Jesus’ word, abide in the Scriptures, nothing would really change. The people would simply be going from what one group of people told them was the truth to what another group of people told them was the truth to perhaps another group of people who told them a different truth in the future. The people would be at the mercy of those few who could read the Scriptures.

So Luther set to translating the Scriptures into German. And a German the people could understand. So that when it was read in church, they could hear it and understand it. So that with the advent of the printing press, many could purchase it and read it themselves. And education grew, too, to teach people how to read the language they spoke. So the people could abide in Jesus’ word, and know the truth that sets them free.

So it was that in September of 1522, 500 years ago, Luther finished the translation of the New Testament into German. The September issue of the Lutheran Witness was all about this. I hope you got it. I hope you read it.

Now Luther was not against teachers of the Word. He was one! Luther was not an advocate of every man for himself and every person having their own interpretation of the Scriptures. As we heard Jesus say today, to abide in His Word is to know the truth. The one and only truth. The one and only truth that can set us free. So to this end, as Paul told the Ephesian Christians, Jesus gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints, for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ . . . (Ephesians 4:11-12). But not to follow these teachers blindly, but like the Berean Christians, to hear the Word of God proclaimed by Paul, and then examine the Scriptures to see if these things were so (Acts 17:11). To know that was is being said is in accord with the Word of God.

So abiding in the Word of Jesus is not every man for himself or believing the word of one man, but the one truth proclaimed by the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers of history. It is to hear them and read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them. It is to know the Scriptures - not just a verse here or a verse there, which maybe taken out of context can be made to mean all kinds of things! It is to know Genesis as well as you know John. To know Leviticus as well as you know Acts. To know the Psalms as well as you know Romans. And to know that all of them - all of them - talk about, point to, and testify of Jesus. All of them revealing the problem of sin, and all of them proclaiming God’s solution: the atonement of the cross and the forgiveness we have that flows from it. The joining of ourselves with all our sin to Jesus on the cross, so that we are also joined to Him in His resurrection to a life made new and free from sin (Romans 6:5). For as we heard from Revelation earlier, this Gospel is an eternal gospel - the good news from the beginning and without end, unchanging; and for all who dwell on earth - every nation and tribe and language and people. That all may know. That all may believe. That all may live. That all know the truth that sets them free. Free from sin for life now, and free from sin for life forever. Maybe that verse from Revelation - and especially that part about every language - was part of Luther’s inspiration.

So what of us today, 500 years later? We who have the Scriptures in our own language? Not only in our Bibles, but in the liturgy, in our hymns, readily available on the internet in so many forms. We for whom the trouble today is maybe not hearing it or reading it or understanding it, but believing it? Believing what God says is true rather than what the world says is true. And adjusting our lives to the truth of the Word rather than adjusting the truth of the Word to fit our lives. What is it for you? What truth hard to swallow? What sin hard for you to give up? What part of your life do you really want to Word of God to stay out of? What truth of the Word . . . well, let’s be blunt, embarrassing, because it’s too old fashioned, too patriarchal, too limiting, too out of step with the times? So we just won’t speak that part, think it no longer relevant. Save face with the world. If there was to be a Reformation of the Word today, what would it be? What would it need to be for you?

Each generation has its challenges - its challenges to the faith, its challenges to Jesus. But again, as we heard from Revelation, the Gospel is eternal. The Gospel is the answer to each and every challenge, to each and every sin, and for each and every life. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16), Paul wrote to the Roman Christians - a verse which did influence Luther greatly. For, Paul goes on to say, the Gospel reveals the righteousness of God that is received by us by faith (v. 17). The righteousness we need, that is demanded by God but that we are powerless to achieve, is a gift. A gift from heaven, by means of the cross and empty tomb, through the font, the pulpit, the Scriptures, and the altar, and then to you. That by the power of the Spirit you say: Yes! Amen! Truth! And that truth of Jesus sets you free. Free from the guilt and condemnation of sin, free from death, free from fear, and free from a life of slavery to sin, to live a new and free life in Christ.

The Jews of Jesus’ day thought that as children of Abraham, they were already free; they had never been slaves of anyone. And maybe we think that, too, that as Americans, we’ve never been slaves of anyone. We live in the land of the free and the home of the brave!

But are we free? Or is our captivity, our slavery to sin that much worse because we cannot see it and do not realize it? Because we’ve been blinded by satan’s lies and our own sinful desires? Because I think that doing whatever I want is freedom and having to follow God’s Word is the real burden, the real slavery? But how utterly opposite the truth is! That Jesus sets you free from having to obey your sinful, fleshly urges and desires, and so sets you free to live a new and better life. Free from the world and its tyranny. Free from your flesh and its tyranny. Free from satan and his tyranny. Free from all that is reaching out to grab and control your heart and mind and desires, to live a life of love and forgiveness, with your heart and mind and desires filled with Jesus.

That is the life Jesus lived and showed us, and the life He now gives you. The life revealed to us in the Scriptures, and given to us by the Spirit working through them. That the Reformation be not just an historical event that happened some 500 years ago, but be a reality in your life. That the Reformation of the Church be also the reformation of your life, as you abide in the Word of Jesus, know the truth, live the truth, and live in His glorious freedom.

500 years ago, many people heard that truth for the very first time as they heard and understood the Scriptures for the very first time. How blessed we are to continue in that heritage, to continue in the Word. The Word spoken, poured, and now fed to us in the Body and Blood of Jesus, to set us free to be sons and daughters of God. And as we heard in that Word today: If the Son sets you free, you [are] free indeed!

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

Sermon for the Commemoration of Saint James of Jerusalem

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Jesu Juva

“A Most Unlikely Bishop”

Text: Matthew 13:54-58; James 1:1-12; Acts 15:12-22a

 

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

The full title for this Sunday is the Commemoration of Saint James of Jerusalem, Brother of our Lord, and Martyr. That is, James was put to death because of his faith in his brother Jesus, that He was the promised Messiah. Now, James was probably the person most surprised by this of anybody, for he didn’t start out believing this about his brother. Who would? Who could? James had the reputation of being a very pious Jew, and so what His brother preached and taught probably confused him, and with the others of his hometown, offended him. Both because of what was being said and who was saying it. But then after his brother appeared to him after being crucified and then rising from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:7), and by the work of the Holy Spirit in his heart, he believed. And if he had been writing the catechism, he would have whole-heartedly agreed with Luther, when he wrote: I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength, believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him. But then after the work of God in his heart, so sure, so steadfast was he that, according to extra-biblical sources, he was thrown off the pinnacle of the temple and then clubbed to death for his faith. For this that he had come to believe: that his brother Jesus, was the Son of God, His Saviour. The one risen from the dead, and the one who would raise him from the dead. The one he didn’t just live with in his house in Galilee, but the one he would live with forever in heaven.

So maybe it was that James was writing about himself when he wrote his Epistle that we heard from today. He was the man who had enduring testing, he was the man who doubted, he was the man who knew humiliation. But it all turned out for his good. It strengthened him. It established him in the truth. It produced in him a steadfast faith which looks beyond the things of this world and life, to the things that are eternal. For this world and life are passing away. But life in Jesus is eternal. Life in Jesus leads to the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

Again, this was no small change in James. One that probably surprised him most of all. And it is no small change in you either. One that you did not do, but like James, was the work of the Holy Spirit in you. And one that has consequences for your life and how you live it. It changes what you hold onto. It changes what you value. It changes how you look at things. So much so that people will look at you and wonder. People will be offended by you and what you say and what you believe. People might even want to throw you off . . . well, maybe not the pinnacle of the Temple, but off their social media, off their circle of friends, off the list of those honored and respected by the world. And maybe then also club you with their words and deeds. Because of Jesus. Because of your faith in Him. Because of your life in Him.

Count it all joy, my brothers (and sisters!), James wrote, when you meet trials of various kinds like these. When you meet trials in your life because of your faith in Jesus, because others see Jesus in you. That’s a good thing! Though perhaps not an easy thing. Those trials are good for you. Strengthening you. Steadfasting you. And so, James goes on to say, Blessed is the man (and woman!) who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 

Trials make us choose what to hang onto, what really matters. That’s why they’re good. Because we don’t want to choose! We want to have it all. Or at least, we want to have it both ways. I want to be slim and in shape, but I don’t want to exercise and I want to eat all I want. I want to be smart and knowledgeable but not study. I want to be successful but I don’t want to work. Maybe those things happen sometimes, but those people are the unicorns, not the usual. But, you know, maybe I’ll be one of those unicorns! Beat the odds! 

But there are no unicorns in heaven. Jesus once famously said: No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money (Matthew 6:24). Or maybe better to say, you cannot serve both God and the things of this world. You cannot hang on to God and the things of this world. You cannot live for God and the things of this world. It’s not that the things of this world are bad - they’re not. Have them, use them, enjoy them. Give thanks to God for them. But do not live for them. Do not think you can love and be devoted to both them and God. Do not hang on to them so tightly that you let go of God.

Picture it like this: you’re trying to hang onto both [arms spread wide in opposite directions], but you can’t. You have to let go of one to have the other. You have to choose. So which will it be? I know I shouldn’t say this, but [let go on one side] . . . I know I shouldn’t do this, but [let go] . . . I know this is what Scripture says, but [let go] . . . This is what I want, this is what I think, this is what I like, this is going to make my life better . . . Surely God wouldn’t want me to suffer! God wouldn’t want me not to have this! God wants me to be happy, doesn’t He? 

Well, God’s not against happiness! But what He’s really for is your eternal life. So if trials of various kinds help with that, help you turn to Him, hang onto Him, then trials it is. And as James said, we can count those times as joy, knowing that they are not purposeless or meaningless, but our heavenly Father working good for us.

One of those trials that not just James but the whole church was facing was what to do with Gentiles, as we heard in the reading from Acts, the account of the first Church Council, called in Jerusalem, to deal with this problem. For it was to the Hebrew people, the Jewish people, that God had promised the Saviour. It was to them that God had given the Promised Land. It was they that had the Temple, the priesthood, the sacrifices, the Scriptures. But they could not dispute what God was now doing among the Gentiles. Barnabas and Paul related the signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. Simeon (that is, Peter) related how God visited the Gentiles and took from them a people for his name, made them believers. And it was James who also then pointed to the Scriptures, to the words of the prophets that said this would happen. So what to do? It sounds like an easy decision to us today, but it was anything but for them at that time. The church was under pressure, just as the church today is under pressure, and many of you are under pressure, to conform. To what will we cling? To what will you cling?

So it was, at just this time, that James found himself not only believing in his brother as the Messiah, but as the head of the church in Jerusalem. He had been put into an office he had, I’m sure, never even remotely dreamed he would be in, yet there he was. He who had faced various trials in his life, and would face more in the future, including one of life and death, was now leading the church through this trial. I’m sure they prayed for wisdom! as James also wrote about. And it was the wisdom of the Scriptures that prevailed. The church didn’t try to make the Gentiles into Jews in order to make them Christians. The Holy Spirit had made them Christians, just as He had James. So the Jews let go of their separateness, and the Gentiles let go of their way of life among the pagans. 

Then once the church made this decision, they chose and sent (or today we would say called and ordained) faithful men, to go with Paul and Barnabas to tell the church in Antioch. To preach and teach, to baptize and feed, to care for the church of God which Jesus purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28). And then the church in Antioch did the same. They chose and sent, called and ordained, more faithful men like Judas (not Iscariot!), Silas, and Mark, and sent them, too. To proclaim and give the Word, forgiveness, and life of Jesus to all.

And so it has been, from Jerusalem to Antioch to Rome to this church today. Faithful men, like James, ordained to service, to serve the church of God and the people of God who are going through trials and tribulations. Some great, some small. Some quick, some lasting. Some difficult, and some very much so. People stretched to the breaking point [arms spread wide in opposite directions] between God and the world, between heaven and hell. Some making bad choices. Some distressed, some filled with guilt, some doubting. Some who think all this not such a big deal and so need to be called to repentance, and others who cannot hear the word of forgiveness quickly enough or often enough. People who need to be baptized, people who need to be brought back to their baptism and the wonderful promises made to them there, and all needing the feeding of the Body and Blood of Jesus, to nourish us and sustain us in this battle of life and faith. These are the mighty works Jesus is doing among us today. Healing us of the sickness of sin, giving us eyes to see His love, ears to hear His Word, mouths to confess His name, driving the evil one from us, and raising us to new life in Him. In Him, the carpenter’s son, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and Simon and Judas, living among us, speaking to us, and saving us.

So yeah, James of Jerusalem, brother of Jesus, is an unlikely believer, and an even more unlikely bishop and martyr. He didn’t start out as any of that, yet the Holy Spirit worked that in Him and through Him. All gift. And you and me as well. That you’re here, that you believe, all gift. The work of the Holy Spirit in you. And maybe this too: for some of you, pastor, and maybe for some of you, martyr. Those are gifts, too. To lay down your life for the confession of Christ. 

But however it turns out for you and me, this is our calling now: to let go of this world and cling to Christ. To repent of when we don’t, and receive His forgiveness. To open our mouths to confess His name and also to feed on His Body and Blood. And to look to Him in all our trials. For they will come, count on it. And they may be severe. But you have this promise and assurance, that Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 

As it was for James, may it be so also for you.

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

Sermon for the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

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Jesu Juva

“Praying to a Merciful God”

Text: Luke 18:1-8; Genesis 32:22-30

 

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

The parable Jesus tells today is a pretty simple one to understand. They’re not all like that. Some are quite challenging. But not this one. At least, on the surface. There’s a corrupt judge. He doesn’t care what God thinks about him and the job he’s doing. He doesn’t care what men think about him and the job he’s doing. He cares only about himself. What’s in it for him. He is 100% in it for himself. He is selfish to the core.

But one day a widow shows up. She can’t do anything for him, so he ignores her, sends her away. But she won’t go away. He closes the door but she yells through the door. He kicks her out but she yells in the window. She’s there when he’s trying to eat breakfast. She’s there when he dining with his friends. She’s there when he’s trying to sleep. She won’t let him go until he blesses her. This widow’s taking the definition of pest to a whole new level! Just to get him to do his job.

So finally he relents. Just so he can eat and sleep in peace! Just to shut her up and give his ears a rest. The widow wins.

It’s a story to cheer, right? We like to root for the underdog. For the team that can’t possibly win to win. For the little guy to knock off the big corporation. For the tortoise to beat the hare. We like that.

But then Jesus turns the parable around . . . in getting to its meaning and why He told it. And here’s how it would go if He retold the whole thing in that way:

In a certain city there was a judge who loved God and was devoted to the people. Nobody better. Nobody more fair. Nobody a better judge than he. And there was a widow in town who had been wronged, taken advantage of, and robbed of the little she had. The judge saw the injustice, saw the need, and burned with anger and wanted to do something about it. But the widow never came to him. The widow never asked. Instead, she tried to take care of it herself. The judge was able to help, had the means at his disposal to right this wrong, all she had to do was ask . . .

Which judge, do you think, is your heavenly Father more like? 

Luke started by telling us that Jesus told this parable so we would always pray, so we would always ask, and not lost heart. Because we have a God, a Father, who wants to give, who wants to help, who is 100% invested not in Himself, but in us. But do we ask?

This parable is often called The Parable of the Persistent Widow, which puts the emphasis on the widow and her persistence. And maybe we need to learn that. Sometimes we are persistent. Children can be persistent, nagging their parents, keep asking their parents ’til they get what they want. People are persistent in playing the lottery, even though the odds of winning are longer than the widow in the parable getting the judge to give her justice! And yet year after year they keep buying tickets, hoping this will be the year!

But really, that’s not what this parable is about, teaching us to be persistent, even if we need to, even if we’re lacking in that. This parable is really to teach us about God. That He is not like that first judge. That He is not only able to help but wants to help. So ask. Pray. Don’t lose heart. Because of who He is. Because you have a God who is not just God but your heavenly Father. Not just powerful but powerful for you. Because you have a God who is just, and while maybe not always doing what we ask, will always do what is right and best. What will help us not only in the short term but in the long run. What will help us not only physically, in this world and life, but spiritually, that we might have eternal life. Like He did with Jacob - hurting him now to save him forever.

Which we really and truly know, what God is like, because of the one telling this parable. Because before we even knew to ask, God came to us to help and save. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, and all they knew to do was hide because surely God was going to come and swiftly give them judgment for their sin . . . We’ll, God did come, and it was swift, and He did pronounce judgment, but ultimately on Himself. He had done nothing wrong. He had given only what was good. Yet He would take the sin of His children upon Himself. He would take the punishment. His heel would be bruised in order to bruise the serpent’s head. Adam and Eve had made themselves widows, cut themselves off from God, but God came to them, because that’s the kind of God He is.

And that promise He made them, to do that, that promise passed down to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was now being fulfilled in the one telling this parable, in Jesus. For very soon now, not long after Jesus told this parable, He would be up on the cross because of unjust judges who cared only for themselves. Because of Jewish leaders and worldly rulers who cared only about their power and positions and enriching themselves.

That’s the kind of God do you have! Who didn’t just have a hip put out of joint, but who was crushed under the weight of our sins and died that you might live. Because He wants only good for you. To give you blessings in this world and life, yes, but who also loves you enough not to - because your spiritual life and well-being are more important. So He comes poor and lowly to us who are poor and lowly. He is rejected and suffers for us who the world also has no use for, who the world thinks dangerous because of the truth we proclaim. And He dies and rises to life again for you, that you might die and rise to eternal life in Him.

Why wouldn’t we ask, pray, to such a God?

Well, there are many reasons, I’m sure. Not the least of which is that satan has blinded us and convinced us that’s not the kind of God we have. We Christians should know better! Yet how are your prayers? How persistent? How consistent? How often forgotten? Or put off because we think we have more important things to do? And then we never get to them . . . 

So part of our confession at the beginning of the Divine Service is for this - that I have not prayed as I should, that perhaps I have thought wrongly of God. And then God Himself forgives you for that! Not just the pastor - those are God’s words to you: I forgive you all your sins. That’s the kind of God you have.

But there’s another blessing, too, to think about here. That your God who forgives you has also baptized you. Which you know, but maybe don’t think about big enough. Because when you are baptized and made a child of your heavenly Father, that also means you gain a family. Brothers and sisters in Christ. You are baptized into a church, into a community, into a communion. Which means not only do you pray - you have people praying for you. That when your prayers falter, when your prayers fail, when you run out of time, you have others praying for you. And not just here, in this congregation, but all around the world! Christians in Africa, in Asia, in Central America, South America, in Europe, praying for the church in America. Praying for you. Maybe not by name, but your Father hears, and knows.

Which means the widow in the parable, asking at all times, never giving up, so persistent, so consistent, is not you or me, but the Church. The Church in all the world.

Which is the really cool thing about the earth’s rotation and the sun rising and setting at all different times around the world - there are always Christians getting up and praying in the morning, there are always Christians going to bed and praying in the evening, there are always prayers ascending to God, and, like the widow, giving Him no rest or peace. Always drumming our needs into His ears. But unlike the judge in the parable, He loves it! The constant prayers music to His ears.

And as part of this church, you also get to pray for them. And for people who can’t pray, who do not know what God is really like, who aren’t children of God who can come to their loving Father. You pray for them. And they need us to do so.

So we do. Here. Together. 

And think about our prayers, here, together . . . Did you ever pay attention to the words of the Kyrie that we sing? We pray for peace and salvation and help not just for us or for the church, but for the whole world. When we pray the long prayer of the church, we are praying for all kinds of people in all kinds of needs. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we don’t pray: MY Father, give ME MY daily bread, and forgive ME, and lead ME not into temptation and deliver ME from evil - it’s all US and OUR. And when we come to the Lord’s Supper at the Lord’s Table, we pray and sing with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven - which is not just people who have died, but all Christians everywhere, gathering around different altars but all of us around the same Body and Blood of the same Lord. The Lord who is gracious and merciful and here for us. For us who need - and have - His help.

So when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? He will. But not because of us and our persistence, but because of Him and His love. His mercy and love that will keep and sustain His Bride, the Church, until He comes again. He promised. 

But until that day, it is for us, the Church, to pray. To pray and not lose heart. To Entrust Our Days and Burdens to God’s Most Loving Hand (LSB #754). Because we have a God who is not an unjust judge that we have to wear down, but a merciful Saviour and a loving Father, who loves the prayers of His children, and always wanting and doing the best for you.

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

Sermon for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

We were blessed to have as our guest preacher today the Rev. Dr. Jeff Pulse from Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, IN. You may watch his preachment on our YouTube channel. A sermon from Pastor Douthwaite will be back next week.

Sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

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Jesu Juva

“Living By Faith”

Text: Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4; 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.

Violence. Iniquity. Destruction. Strife and contention. The law, the governing authorities, are paralyzed. There is no justice. The wicked are winning.

Is that a description of what we see today? What is happening in our country and world? Maybe so. But that’s what we heard today from the prophet Habakkuk. That’s what he saw. In his own country. Among his own people who should know better. So Habakkuk complained. He had a bone to pick with God. Why aren’t You doing anything, God? Why are You just letting this go on? Why aren’t You saving? Questions many - maybe you - are asking today, as well. 

God answers Habakkuk, in verses that were left out of the reading assigned for today. He didn’t have to answer, God doesn’t owe us any explanations, but He does. And God tells His prophet, I’m sending in the Babylonians. 

Wait . . . you’re what? That’s the nuclear option! The Babylonians are evil to the core. They are merciless, cruel, and bordering on the inhuman in how they wage war and treat their foes. Lord, that’s not what I meant! Seriously! You’re not really going to use a nation even worse than Your people to discipline them, are You? They just need a rap on the knuckles, not to be blown up! 

But that’s exactly what God is going to do. It will surely come; it will not delay, He tells Habakkuk. The soul of my people is puffed up, it is not right. But do not fear. Trust. Believe. In Me. The righteous shall live by his faith. Faith that trusts and believes in God not only in the good times, but the times when nothing seems to make sense and everything seems to be falling apart. Such times are not the times to turn away from God and seek help elsewhere, but to turn toward Him and trust that He is working good, even if we cannot understand how.

And God did work good. It wasn’t easy, though. The sin and corruption of His people ran deep. So they spent seventy years in exile from their land, living in Babylon. But even that was merciful. They deserved far worse. Then God brought them back. Chastened. Humbled. They rebuilt. And at just the right time, back in their land, God dealt with their sin again, for from them was born the promised Messiah. The same God who used the Babylonians to save them from their wicked ways, now came Himself to save them - and not just them, but the world - from their sins. Then, too, using the wickedness of men - betrayal, hatred, perverted justice, and a cross. A cross which didn’t look good at all! And yet God used to work the greatest good, and exactly what we need.

But Old Testament times and the Babylonians hordes are hard for us to relate to, even if Habakkuk’s description of their evil ways sounds eerily familiar to what we see today. So let’s bring it a bit closer to home . . . using the words of Jesus from the Holy Gospel we heard today, when He talked about . . . forgiveness. 

Just like in Habakkuk’s day, there is sin in our world, no doubt. You know that. It seems to be getting worse every day. You sin. Others sin against you. And maybe like Habakkuk, you have a bone to pick with God about that. About why He lets it go on, why He isn’t doing anything about it, why the wicked seem to be winning. Why God? Do something God!

And maybe, like Habakkuk, you don’t like His answer. His two-fold answer, which basically boils down to this: I am doing something about it. I’m sending you in. Wait . . . what? That’s not what we I meant! 

First, He says, yes My child, there is sin in the world, I know it. And temptations to sin are sure to come. But don’t just look at others, and point the finger at others - don’t you be the source of them! For the one who causes My little ones, My believers, to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea. Which sounds a bit like the nuclear option God told Habakkuk about, sending in the Babylonians. For a millstone!? Don’t we just need a rap on the knuckles? Is our sin really that bad? Yes, it is.

Then second, and even more than that, when you are sinned against, when you are hurt, when others trample on you and take from you and cheat you, forgive them. Rebuke them, show them their sin, but not to shame them and hurt them back, but to lead them to forgiveness, which you will give. And not just once or twice. Over and over. Seven times in a day, if that’s what it takes. And even more. For seven is just a number. Jesus said seventy times seven in another place (Matthew 18:22). The point being: forgiveness doesn’t keep count. Just forgive them.

Now it was the disciples turn to say: wait . . . what? Let us get this right. Don’t cause others to sin, and if we do, the millstone around our necks and all that. But when others sin against us, they don’t get a millstone, we have to forgive them?? Do you know what you’re saying, Jesus? What you’re asking? We can’t be that! We can’t do that! You’re asking the impossible! If you want us to do that, increase our faith!

Maybe you feel that way. For forgiveness . . . that’s just not the way the world works. If you point out someone else’s sin against you, that’s just an invitation to get screamed at and be told to shut up, sit down, and mind your own business. And to forgive, that’s just an opportunity for others to continue to walk on you and take advantage of you. But if we, as Christians, won’t do those things, those who aren’t Christians won’t do those things, and the sin and wickedness in the world continues to grow, with more necks being fitted for millstones. Jesus didn’t say it would be easy. 

Maybe the disciples had Habakkuk in mind when they said to Jesus, Increase our faith! Since, as we heard, the righteous shall live by his faith. But faith is so hard. To trust, to believe, when it doesn’t seem to be working, when nothing seems to make sense, and everything seems to be falling apart. At such times, Don’t turn away from God and look to take vengeance yourself, or harbor that grudge, or may them pay for what they did to you. Turn instead toward the Lord, who is working good, in the world, in the church, in you, even if you cannot understand how.

For He has given you the faith you need. For really what matters is not the size and strength of your faith, but the size and strength of the one your faith is in. If your faith is in yourself and what you are able to do, then no amount of faith will be enough. But if your faith is in Jesus, then even faith as small as a mustard seed is more than enough. 

For there is nothing Jesus is not able to do. In fact, far greater than a flying mulberry tree, Jesus took all of your sin, and mine, and of His people from Habakkuk’s day, and all the sin of all this horrible, no good, very bad world and hung it around His own neck, a weight bigger than the biggest millstone, and He was cast into the sea of God’s wrath against it. Taking it all and atoning for it with His own blood and death. And it is atoned for - His resurrection showing that. That there is no longer any sin, any death, any condemnation that could hold Him in the depths of the grave. He won. Life won.

And that victory and life He now gives to you. For He’s the Master who came and served His servants. Quite the opposite of God using an even wickeder Babylon to discipline His wicked people - is God using His perfect Son to serve us with the forgiveness and life we need. We may think, like Habakkuk: Oh, they just needed a rap on the knuckles. But nope, God knew they needed even more. And today, maybe we think: Oh, we just need a little more faith, a little more grace, a spiritual boost. But nope, God knows we need a lot more than that! Much more. And so He gives even more. Himself. Coming and serving us. First on the cross, and now giving us the fruits of the cross in the Body and Blood of His Son. The Master serving the servants. It’s not the way the world works! But why would God do that? The world isn’t working very well! So He does better, and what we need. Forgiving us, feeding us, washing us, absolving us, mercying us. 

And while that really doesn’t make much sense, and it’s hard to wrap our minds around a God who would do that, for people like us, thank God He does.

So that you can forgive. You can help others stuck in their sin. That’s how God’s dealing with sin today. Sending His Son for you, and sending you for them. 

Do not fear. No, it’s not easy. But the righteous live by faith. Faith not that I know everything and how this is going to turn out, but that Jesus knows. And faith that, as Paul later wrote to the Romans (1:17), that it is not the Law, but the Gospel that is the power of God for salvation, for saving. Or in other words, you are never so weak as when you exercise your power and hold someone’s sins against them, and you are never so strong as when you exercise God’s power and forgive them, and let God and His Gospel do the rest.

Maybe that shocks you and doesn’t quite make sense. That’s okay. Habakkuk felt the same way. But it did work out, perfectly, according to God’s plan. It is not for us to know and understand everything; it is for us to trust and believe. 

And when you do, and when you forgive, you may feel like you’re doing something heroic. It might seem that way. But, Jesus goes on to say, don’t expect a standing ovation from heaven! Rather, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ You see, we don’t earn or deserve anything by what we do, even something as hard as forgiving! It is, start to finish, all gift, all grace, from God to you. From the one who took the millstone with your name on it and hung it around His own neck. And instead, drowned you in the gracious water of baptism, to raise you with Himself to a new life. A forgiving life. A trusting life. The life you now get to live. A life of freedom, knowing the outcome isn’t up to you - God already has that worked out. And if He can use the Babylonians, He can use you and me, too, to accomplish His good and gracious ways.

As Paul told Timothy and the congregations he was serving, God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Therefore do not be ashamed . . . The world isn’t going to like the Gospel you speak and live, it isn’t going to like God’s kind of love, it isn’t going to thank you for pointing out their sin. What’s new? But in Habakkuk’s day and in our day and all the days before, in between, and yet to come, our loving and merciful God and Saviour is working to save each and every soul. Through His cross. Through His forgiveness given by you. Not the way we’d do it! But it is not for us to know how and understand everything; it is for us to trust and believe. And the empty tomb the evidence you can. The righteous live by faith. For faith receives that new and resurrected life. And then then lives that new and resurrected life. A life to live now. A life to live forever. 

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

Sermon for the Commemoration of Saint Michael and All Angels

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“Victory!”

Text: Daniel 10:10-14; 12:1-3; Revelation 12:7-12; Luke 10:17-20

 

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

What’s worse? The war you can see or the war you can’t? The war you know about or the war you don’t? There are wars, and then there are wars. 

We’ve all seen pictures from the war in Ukraine, the devastation, loss, and hardship. But what of other wars and civil wars in other parts of the world that go unreported and unseen, yet are no less horrific? 

There are culture wars that have been taking place in our country and world, which have also inflicted harm on many. Some of this war we knew, but some was waged under the radar until exposed during the pandemic and the shut downs. 

That there is war in our world should not surprise us. We are reaping the wages of sin and the Scriptures are clear this is how it will be. And that it will not get better as the Last Day draws ever closer, we are not progressing into a ever-better world and society - it will, in fact, only get worse. Nation against nation, people against people, culture against culture, faith against faith. 

Underneath it all, behind it all, is the evil one. Using and deceiving to get his way. All this that we see in our world is not just selfishness, not just greed, not just abuse of power, not just the failures and foibles of men and women, but evil. The evil one working in different ways, using different means, to wreak havoc. For he wants only evil. Evil that rages against the good, that will not tolerate Scriptural truth, that divides and alienates, and that wants only to annihilate Jesus and His Church. 

Which sounds very depressing and bleak, does it not?

But do not despair! Because of this, too, the Scriptures are very, very clear: who has won and who will win. And it is not evil or the evil one! No matter what it looks like or seems like in our day and age. It is Jesus. Satan has been on the attack from the very beginning, but the victory will not be his. He attempted to deceive Jesus in the wilderness and through the so-called religious leaders of the day - he tried to overthrow Him with his superior intellect and cunning, but could not. He tried to overcome Him with worldly power - the threats of Kings Herod and Governor Pilate, and then crucifixion, but could not. Even his most powerful and fearsome weapon of all - death - could not win. Jesus did. And when the Last Day comes, that will be a victory seen and known by all.

But what we see and know until that Day is what we heard in the reading from Revelation: the great dragon, the devil, who has been thrown down to the earth, is not happy about that, is not happy about his defeat, and is filled with great wrath against all good, all truth, all who belong to Jesus. His time is short, we are told. But not short enough. Short according to God’s time, not ours.

And a great dragon is fearsome! The Russian army amassed on the border of Ukraine is fearsome. The threat of nuclear weapons is fearsome. And an enormously and completely evil one, unseen by us but described as a great dragon wanting to consume you is fearsome. As it should be. You should not take him lightly. You should think no sin just a little sin, no lies just little lies, no deceptions or distortions of the truth of no consequence. They matter. They are his weapons to wear you down, lure you away, and plant in you an evil, spiritual cancer to take over in you.

But though we should not take him lightly, neither should we cower before him. Remember and remind him constantly of his defeat! When he was cast down and out of heaven. He thought he could have it all and wound up with nothing. The good angels, the faithful angels, winning that war. And protecting us still. He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways we sang in the Gradual from the Psalm. And they do. Guarding and protecting us in unknown numbers of ways and times in a war we know but cannot see. But God knows. Thank God for His angels who are faithful to Him and serve us.

And yet it is not only angels who cast down satan and overcome all his works and all his ways. We heard in the Holy Gospel today of the disciples Jesus sent out. He sent them out as lambs in the midst of wolves, it says. He sent them out with nothing - no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, it says (Luke 10:3-4). Now, we’re not told what they thought about their prospects as they went out like this, but today we heard their shock and amazement when they returned. It worked! The Word worked! The demons are subject to us in your name! To us puny humans. Who’d a-thunk it? The Word of God more powerful than anything on this earth.

We should know that. Shame on us when we don’t, when we doubt, when we forget, when we leave this most powerful weapon in the drawer, on the shelf, on the sideline of the battle, and try to fight with our own strength. And we’re shocked and amazed when we lose? Look at the mess we’ve made of marriage, of sexuality, of gender, of religion, of churches, of families, of so many things in this world because we’ve left God’s Word in the drawer, on the shelf, on the sideline of the battle. Because we’ve been told: You can’t use that weapon here. You have to use some other weapon. Well of course they’ll say that! If there’s a battle between a tank and a handgun, of course the one with the handgun will try to level the field, even the odds, and get his opponent to fight with a lesser weapon - who wouldn’t!? Yet how foolish for the one with the tank to agree. Or, how prideful and arrogant. 

But we’ve done that. Out of foolishness? Pride and arrogance? That we don’t need the Word? That we can do it ourselves? And we’re shocked and amazed when we lose? Really? And if you think satan not behind that, the great dragon not behind that, that God and satan are off fighting somewhere else and just watching us fight this one . . . well, you haven’t been paying attention. 

As we heard today, it is by the blood of the Lamb and the power of His Word that we conquer. We have no weapons that can do anything in this fight except those. And if you leave them thinking you don’t need them, you’re going to have satanic tank tracks all over you! And we all have those scars, don’t we? From our own sin and rebellion and stupidity. And from the sin so others. 

But when we are wounded and scarred in the battle, the powerful healing of God’s Word is applied. It is powerful in this way, too. This is the Word of God given us to wield today. The balm of absolution - not only spoken here, but as you forgive one another. The promises of baptism - that God hasn’t left you at the mercy of the dragon, but adopted you as His child and sends His angels to watch over you and protect you. And the nourishment of the Body and Blood of Jesus which restores our strength in this battle that goes on and never seems to end. The blood of the Lamb and the Word of God give us the life we need to go on.

So the disciples Jesus sent out were angels - not in the sense of a supernatural being, but in the other meaning of that word, as a messenger. One armed with the Word of God. And the Word they spoke no less powerful than the Word the supernatural angels are armed with. For notice: the result was the same. In Revelation, God’s angels casting down the evil angels, and in Luke the demons are subject to them in Jesus’ name. Jesus and His Word win, satan loses. That’s the way it was then, is now, and will be also on the Last Day. The Scriptures are clear: we know who won and who will win.

But this is no mere earthly victory. That would be pretty sad if we had victory and hope only for this world and life. And, in fact, Jesus tells us what really to rejoice in: do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. That there is an eternal victory and life waiting for you. That there is forgiveness for your sin means also that there is life for your death. That is what no angel could have ever done for you - only Jesus. And He did, taking your sin upon Himself on the cross for your forgiveness, and then rising to life from death for your life. That you, too, rise to live a new and eternal and victorious life. A new and victorious life you are already beginning to live now by virtue of your baptism into Jesus’ death and resurrection (what we know now), but which will be fully and finally yours on the Last Day (when we will see it). But as we know with wars that are real but not seen, so it is with our new and eternal and victorious life - it is real, even if we cannot yet see it. And it is yours, for Jesus promised. He died for you, He baptized you, He absolves you, He feeds you, and He will not lose any His Father has given to Him. No one will snatch you out of His hand (John 10).

So we have much reason for joy, even as the battle rages on. We should not be shocked and amazed, but confident. Satan wants to blind us to the truth, but we know the truth and will proclaim it. Satan wants to deceive us into thinking he’s much more powerful than he is, but we know the truth - that while we are no match for him, he is no match for our Saviour. And satan wants to bargain with us as to what weapons we should use, but we have only one and it is enough. More than enough. For by the Word the world was created. By the Word life is given. By the Word satan is cast down. By the Word we are given new life. By the Word we are lifted up. By the Word mere water becomes a flood that swallows up the dragon, and mere bread and wine the food of immortality. 

So today we thank God for the angels who protect us in this battle, but even more for the Word that saves us. The Word made flesh, the Word proclaimed, and the Word that will raise us up on the Last Day when we will be shocked and amazed, and rightly so! At the life and joy and perfection and glory of a new heavens and a new earth and a new and eternal life. The Scriptures are very clear on this. Even in the midst of this battle, that is the victory Jesus won, and the life He has provided, and the future that is waiting, for you. 

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

Sermon for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“Be Like the World? Yes! Only Better”

Text: Luke 16:1-15; 1 Timothy 2:1-15

 

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

Desperate times call for desperate measures. When time is short, your priorities change. What you would have put off, you no longer do. What you thought could wait no longer can. What wasn’t so important to you suddenly now is. You know you should have fixed your sump pump and now your basement is flooding. You know you should have stopped at the gas station and now you’re out of gas. You know you should have started that assignment earlier . . . now you’re just hoping to get something, anything, done to hand in or present. It can be more serious than that, though. Like when it comes to matters of your physical health, life and death stuff. That test, that procedure you know you should have had. But most of all, really, though I don’t think we often think like this, is when it comes to matters of your spiritual health. Spiritual life and death stuff.

So when the manager in the parable today heard these words, Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager, his life changed in a heartbeat. Desperation set in. What he thought was so important suddenly wasn’t any longer. Charges had been made against him that he was wasting his master’s possessions. And the word for wasting there is the same word Jesus had used in the parable He told right before this one, the Parable of the Lost Son, sometimes called the Prodigal Son. This situation is even worse, though, for that younger son was wasting his own possessions, but the manager was wasting his master’s. But for both, desperation made them change. The Lost Son went home. The manager now did what he could to take care of his future.

So since he was not strong enough for manual labor and was too proud to beg, he starts slashing the accounts of those who owe his master. Whatever time he has left, he’s going to use to his advantage and make friends who can help him. Now some scholars think the manager had been padding the books to enrich himself and that’s what he was slashing. Or maybe he was just manipulating the accounts in other ways. But either way, the end result was the same: friends. Friends who, he hoped, would take care of him the same way.

But I think it must have been quite a surprise to him when not just those who owed his master, but the master himself speaks well of him! When the master, who not long before this had believed the accusations made against him and fired him, now commends him! For what he did was very shrewd, or prudent or practical or wise. And the world is like that. The world knows the world’s ways. How to get along. How to get ahead. How to use the system to get what you want. We do it, too. Maybe some do it more than others, maybe some play the game better than others, but we all know the game. 

So Jesus’ question for us today is this: how come you’re not like this spiritually? 

For the day is coming when the Master of all, the Lord of all, is going to call us to account. Charges of sin brought against us. For wasting the gifts given to us. The gifts of life and health and wealth and faith and all that our Lord has so abundantly blessed us with . . . and what have you done with it? Have you loved the Giver with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? Have you loved your neighbor? Or have you loved you? Have you loved being at ease? Have you loved having a big bank account? Have you loved sinning and not really been too concerned with your spiritual health and wealth? The Scriptures in your home gathering dust. Prayers left unsaid. Your baptism a distant and oft forgotten memory. The new day gifted to you each morning taken for granted? Your husband, wife, children, parents, friends, left to fend for themselves? Your wants, your desires, your pleasures, your hopes, your dreams all that matter? 

And then what happens when you are called to account for all this? 

Now, in the parable, it might have sounded a bit funny that the manager who was fired still had time to cook the books - why would the master do that? Well, it’s not meant to be a true story, but to teach us something about our situation. And that your day of reckoning is coming. And maybe sooner than you think. So how should you be living? If you knew that day was coming for you tomorrow, or next week, or even next year, would that change how you live today? I think it would. When time is short, priorities change. When time is short, we start doing those things we should have been doing all along. If there’s still time.

We don’t know what happened to this manager after this. Were his efforts successful? Was he taken care of? Was the master so impressed with his shrewdness that he kept him on? Or did it all not work, and the manager left to live out his days lonely and broke? We don’t know. But what we do know is that’s not how our heavenly Father wants us to live - in uncertainty about our future, if we’ll have enough time to change. I can tell you right now with absolute certainty that if it were up to us, if it were on us, we don’t have enough time and our future is not a bright one. 

So how good, then, that there is someone who took our debt to our heavenly Father, and didn’t cut it by a half or three-quarters - though that would have been generous enough! But still not enough. So the faithful one, the one who came and did exactly and perfectly what His Father wanted, 100%, took our debt and paid it for us. 100%! And He didn’t dishonestly just cancel it - He paid it, with His death on the cross. And when that debt was paid, Jesus said tetelestai, which means, it is finished (John 19:30). But did you know that’s the exact same word that was used in those days to write on the accounts when a debt was fully paid off? Tetelestai. The debt is finished. Paid in full. Written on your account with the blood of Jesus, the Son of God. No matter how enormous your debt, or the debts of all in the world, the death of God’s Son and our brother, Jesus, more than enough to pay it all. You are free.

You heard it again this morning in the absolution. And you’ll receive it again in the communion of Jesus’ Body and Blood. Because our heavenly Father doesn’t want us to live in fear or uncertainty and thus selfishly concerned about our salvation. No! He wants us to live in joy and confidence in Him and His love, that our future is secure, and thus be able to live for and be concerned about our neighbor. 

You see, the manager who slashed the debts owed to his master did so hoping to make friends who would take of him. But when Jesus paid our debt in full, while He did so to make us His friends, He did not do so in the hopes that we would take care of Him. He doesn’t need anything from us! So, He said, if you’re grateful to Me for what I did - and why wouldn’t we be! - take care of your neighbor. Use all that I’ve given you in this world to make friends  - and not just for this physical world and life - but who will welcome you into the eternal dwellings. So that they’ll be there, too. Help them be there, too. For the time is short. Maybe shorter than we know.

So you’ve been richly and lavishly forgiven - forgive others! Stop selfishly holding onto grudges and bitterness and anger. Their debts tetelestai. Finished. Paid in full. You’ve been blessed in baptism to be a child of God - so pray! Pray, as Paul told Timothy and his churches, that all people be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. For that’s what your Father desires and wants than anything else. That they know their debts are tetelestai. Finished. Paid in full. And what else? What else have you been given in this unrighteous world and life - that is passing away and isn’t going to last - that you can use to help your neighbor? And especially for them to be with us in the next, righteous world and life that is eternal. Desperate times call for desperate measures. And while you aren’t desperate, they might be. And the time is short. Maybe shorter than we think. Maybe it’s time to change how we live . . . for their sake? To love as we have been loved? That our confidence and joy may be other’s, too? That when they Last Day comes, they, with us, will NOT hear the voice of a master calling us to account, but the voice of the Father welcoming home His sons and daughters, into eternal dwellings. That’s what Jesus has done for us. And so how we get to live now. Shrewdly. Wisely. Faithfully. Freely. Like the free son and daughters we are.

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