The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity - September 12, 2010

The Church Season of Trinity
The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (September 12, 2010)

“ALL THESE THINGS”

Readings:  
    Psalm 146
    1 Kings 17:8-16
    Galatians 5:25 – 6:10
    Matthew 6:24 - 34

Sermon Form    Deductive

+INI+

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Old Testament Lesson from the 6th chapter of Matthew, especially the following verses:

Matthew 6:24-34 (NIV)

24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

For at least a couple of generations now, many pastors have been taught by the practical, seeker sensitive teachers and leaders among us to soft sell the Law and the Gospel lest they offend anyone and thus lose them to the abyss of hell.

That simply cannot and will not happen.  We know that God will not lose a single one of those whose names are written in His Book of Life.  And we also know that souls are saved precisely by the bold preaching of Law and Gospel, because the Law sears the sinful flesh, and the Gospel soothes the contrite soul.  It is not a preacher's business to flatter, amuse, or market people into heaven.  It is their call to proclaim the Word for what it is and let the Holy Spirit condemn or console according to God's perfect discernment and heart for what the sinner truly needs.

Pastors are not called to be salesmen of salvation, public relations consultants for Christ, or corporate builders of His Church.  Christ does not need or want that.  The Holy Spirit is quite capable of being the builder of Christ's Church.

But we Lutherans seem to be suffering from a desire to embrace virtually anything for the sake of "growing the church."  The people of God are persuaded into believing that it is not enough for the Baptized Christians to exercise their vocations in faith as the child of God according to the Ten Commandments, and instead must do something "special" to glorify God and win souls for Christ. It is hard even for a pastor to think or say, ‘Let the numbers come or not based upon our faithful preaching and hearing of the Word of God for the forgiveness of sins.’

Although concern for filling pews sounds loving toward the lost, hidden behind it often lurks greed.  A pastor who preaches to full pews can build his church, build his kingdom, build his glory before his fellowmen.  And the people in that larger church?  Well, they think they can count on greater security and prosperity.  So in order to build at least in our minds, bigger kingdoms and prosperity we are tempted to avoid offense and try to keep others attending in any way possible. 

Doctor Martin Luther spoke of these things in his sermon on Matthew 6:"Among the vices there is none that opposes the Gospel as terribly as does greed.  As soon as a preacher makes it his aim to get rich, he stops performing his office the way he should.  The concern about making a living traps his heart the way a snare does.  He cannot teach or denounce in the right places or in the right manner.  He is concerned about losing popularity and friendship among those from whom he can get it.  Whoever wants to do his duty as a preacher and perform his office faithfully must tell the truth fearlessly.  He must denounce anyone that needs to be denounced-great or small, rich or poor or powerful, friend or foe.  Greed refuses to do this, for it is afraid that if it offends the bigwigs or good friends, it will be unable to find bread.  So greed keeps quiet.

It is the same way with the common crowd, the so-called people in the pews  They should listen to the Word of God and help to advance the kingdom of God, each individual in his own life and station.  But if they listen to greed, they refuse to believe that they will suffer and have to sacrifice their need for the sake of the Gospel.  Above all, they see to it that they have plenty and their belly is taken care of, regardless of whether there is enough Law or enough Gospel or not.  So they scrape and scratch, getting along as well as they can without proclaiming God’s Word to their fellow man. 

Christ the Lord gives a warning to those that are His.  He prescribes in Matthew 6 a good and potent medicine called 'seeking the kingdom of God. Taking this medicine makes anxiety unnecessary, but it makes it possible for us to have enough, in fact, it is a medicine greater and more excellent than any Mammon can give us.   And by the way, mammon would be dollars and cents to us.

"By these words, therefore, Christ would like to wake us up and say: 'Seek for the treasure called "the kingdom of God."  Do not be anxious about the perishable treasure which moth and rust consumes.  You have a much different treasure which is in heaven.  This is the kind of treasure that will sustain you forever, and it cannot perish and it cannot be taken away.  Because the treasure you cling to by faith is an enduring one, you will endure, too, even if you may not have a single penny from the world.'

"What the kingdom of God is, to put it most briefly, means believing in Jesus Christ.  In this kingdom He is the Head and the only King, in whom and through whom we have everything; whoever abides in Him cannot be harmed by any sin, by death, or any misfortune, but has eternal life, joy, and salvation.

And, what does it mean to 'seek' this kingdom?  What is the method of reaching it, and what way or path leads to it?  Here people point in one direction, and Christ in another direction.  For there are many ways, but they are all departures from that one way of believing in Christ and practicing and applying the Gospel, to which faith clings.  This involves growing and being strengthened at heart through preaching, listening, reading, singing, meditating, and every other possible way, including thinking of new ways to proclaim the Gospel in this world to those who don’t or won’t hear it.  For this Christ’s children are called to be willing to risk everything they have, and they would be ready to lose it rather than to surrender the Word.  But we don’t want to surrender any of those things, we don’t want to surrender what we’ve always done, nor the way we’ve always done it.

"But our condition in the kingdom of Christ is half sin and half holiness.  What there is in us that belongs to faith and to Christ is completely pure and perfect, since it is not our own but Christ's, who is ours through the free gift of faith and who lives and works in us.  But what is still our own is completely sinful.  Yet under Christ it is He who is concealed and blotted out through the forgiveness of sins.  Daily it is put to death through the same grace of the Spirit, until we have died to this life altogether."

For this reason Jesus Christ suffered and He died.  He gave His life for us poor sinners so that, as we trust in His sacrifice for us, our trust in Hi will never be disappointed.  His Cross, will keep us safe through life and death, safe from hell and satan, and bring us finally to eternal blessedness.  Therefore, the Cross is our treasure, and Christ is our gold and silver, it is He who will lead us even out of our own graves to join Him in the resurrection life. It is His kingdom which we seek like the blind groping in the darkness.  It is Christ’s kingdom given freely to you by the Light of Christ which are the “all” things, the eternal things given to you.  Amen.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
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The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity - September 2010

The Church Season of Trinity
The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (September 13, 2009)

“Cling Tightly to the Word of God”

Readings:   
    Psalm 119:9-16
    Proverbs 4:10-23
    Galatians 5:16-24
    Luke 17:11-19

+INI+

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen

The text for today’s message is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 17th chapter of St. Luke, the following verses,

Luke 17:11-19 (ESV)

11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit

The one leper returning to give thanks to Jesus for healing his leprosy is a Samaritan. That is significant, especially when you pair this account with last week’s Gospel account of the parable of the Good Samaritan. Two weeks in a row, the Samaritans are the heroes. Why are they Samaritan half-breeds despised by every pious Jew, doing what every pious Jew is supposed to do? The answer is not one of race, but one of faith. The nine lepers who keep running toward the temple are the ones following Jesus’ directions, or so it seems. Jesus tells them, go, show yourselves to the priests. So they run to the priests. All but one keeps running. One turns around and runs back to Jesus, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet.

A Jew, hearing this account, would be full of rage. Samaritans are not supposed to run to this teacher, this troubler of Israel. They are supposed to go to their own temple and see their own priests. There is a detailed temple liturgy of recognizing a healed leper. The liturgy must be followed. Instead, this Samaritan writes his own liturgy and returns to Jesus.  We hear of a gracious response to the Savior Who heals His people, along with an ungracious response of following the rules and doing as you are told.

Truth be told, there is a little bit of the nine lepers in each of us. Sometimes we look at the church as a center of goods and services. We go to church to get something out of it. Once we get what we need out of it, we don’t think about it again until we need something. When that happens this building and what goes on inside this building becomes like Dollar General, a Meijer’s, Kroger’s, or dare I say, like a Wal-Mart. We don’t think much about what goes on there or what’s inside these places until we need something. Then we are concerned with our needs and wants until they are fulfilled. After our needs and wants are met, all those stores and places are out of sight and mind until next time.

I’m sure we all have thoughts about families who we think rarely darken the door of a church except when they wanted to squeeze something out of it.  But, it’s the old story isn’t it, while we’re thinking about those people, they’re probably thinking about us. Yet all of us are guilty at one time or another of using the church like a store. When a baby is born, you take the child to church for baptism. When a child turns a certain age, you drop the child off at church for catechism instruction and pick them up an hour later, making an appearance in church only for their confirmation. When it’s time to get married, the church is the place for the wedding of your dreams. The church building is a perfect backdrop for the perfect wedding.

And in our Gospel lesson today that kind of thought process was the way of the nine lepers too. We’re in big trouble, our health is deteriorating, our bodies falling apart, but look over there a man named Jesus, quick get His attention.  They and we react that way because you get what you ask for, you do as you’re told, and you live your life as if you expected Jesus to heal you all along. Instead of singing “What a privilege to carry/Everything to God in prayer”, you consider the privilege a right, a demand expected from a sovereign individual who makes God and His Word in their own image.  Despite Jesus’ miracle on their behalf, not even He found people to be grateful, save one.

How do you find yourself responding to the miracle of preaching and the Sacraments? Is this an hour to squeeze out what you need to keep up appearances with God? Or is this an hour that is the center of everything you say and do during the week? It is one thing to say you are a Christian; that you believe Jesus died for your sins and rose from the dead to deliver eternal life for you. It is another thing entirely to say you are a Christian, but nowadays when you say you are a Christian it’s like saying you prefer Coke over Pepsi. All the other options are crass, so I guess Christianity is my choice.

Repent. Enough of consumer Christianity. Turn around with the Samaritan leper and return to the Lord, falling on your face to worship Him. Raise your voice to the Lord. Sing praise to the God Who does wonders without ever counting the cost. Rejoice in the Savior of the nations Who saves both Jew and Gentile from sin and eternal death.

A Christian cannot help but live a gracious life in Christ. Consider Saint Paul’s words in his letter to the Galatians, “for the flesh lusts against the Spirit; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law…. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

Perhaps it’s that last sentence that keeps so many people away from the Christian faith. A Christian crucifies his flesh every day. That’s the toughest thing to do as a Christian. When you wake up, you think that you won’t sin as much as you did yesterday. Nevertheless, you fall right back into those old traps. How do you not fall into those old traps of sin? Saying you’re not going to do that and actually not doing that are two different things.

Solomon has the answer in today’s Old Testament reading, “My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” Give attention to the Word of the Lord. Give attention to His Word here as well as at home. The Divine Service is part of our walk with our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. Reading the Word at home, praying for all needs and conditions of your fellow people, meditating on last week’s sermon, this is what it means to give attention…to incline the ear to the Lord’s sayings.

The center point of our life together as Christians happens here in the Divine Service. Here is where sins are forgiven and grace is bestowed. The pastor is an instrument of grace. God’s undeserved love comes through Jesus to you. When you leave here, do not let the Word spoken to you fall out of your ears or your mouth. Among you lies the forgiving Word in preaching and in the Lord’s Supper. The Means of Grace fill you with His forgiveness, not just for an inconvenient moment, but for life. Why treat them as you would treat consumable goods and services?

When you walk weekly and daily with the Master and His Words, you find yourself always wanting to be gracious to others as God is gracious to you. Good works give evidence that faith is living and active among you. Good works are also a fruit of faith. They are a result of forgiveness, not a cause of forgiveness. The grace you show others, even those who are not known by the Lord, is a sermon on forgiveness preached without words.

We arise and go our way today once again healed from sin and death and given forgiveness and life. While we go our way, we take “firm hold of instruction and do not let go.” We cling to Jesus and His Word of forgiveness like burrs cling to our pants when we walk through the woods. Make note of the last hymn today, not just to sing, but especially to the words.  “Cling Tightly to the Word of God”, focus on the subject and the objects.  God is the center, you are His beloved, Christ did the work and you receive the miracle of salvation, the result of His love.

God’s Word is among us is a gift we don’t deserve. It is a miracle, a great mystery from God that He would save us all. You can’t help but fall down before the King of Kings and show your gratitude for all His gratitude on your behalf. Psalm 92 says “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your [mercy] in the morning, and Your faithfulness by night.”   What an amazing Savior we have in Jesus Christ! Amen.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
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The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity - August 29, 2010

The Church Season of Trinity
The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (August 10, 2010)

“Likewise”

Readings:  
    Psalm 32
    2 Chronicles 28:8-15
    Galatians 3:15-22
    Luke 10:23-37

+INI+

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The text for today’s message is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 10th chapter of St. Luke, the following verses,

Luke 10:23-37 (NIV)

23 Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” 25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” 29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ 36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

How should we understand Jesus' answer to the question posed to Him in our Gospel reading for today? "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"(v. 25) Jesus answered at first with another question, "What is written in the Law?"(v. 26) Or, to put it another way, what does the Bible say? And the man said: "You should love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself."(v. 27) Our Lord then answered: "You have responded well; do this and you will live."(v. 28)

But doesn’t the Bible say that we are justified by faith, and not by works? Yes, it does. Then why did Jesus respond with, “do this.” (v. 28)  The answer Jesus gave in today's text is always the answer given to the proud and impenitent, for those that trust in their own works stand condemned by the Law.  The man who asked Jesus, "What should I do to inherit eternal life?"(v. 25) believed in his own righteousness and that he had already done enough to earn God's favor. Without a doubt, he had observed all of the ceremonial laws and the civil laws of Israel.

But Jesus said, ‘Look again in the Bible.’ It is true that it is written, love the lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. Certainly this is the holy will of God for our lives. But it is not strictly a matter of rituals and external acts.

So we may ask, What if you “fell among thieves, who stripped [you] of [your] clothing, wounded [you], and departed, leaving [you] half dead?” Would this be a different parable if you could help yourself rather than receiving aid and comfort from a mortal enemy? Perhaps it would. If a so-called enemy, if one who does not share the same faith you do – even to the point of believing their help on your behalf is part of earning their way to an afterlife – is willing to show charity to someone who is their so-called enemy, then a Christian should show charity to everyone, even a so-called enemy, without expecting anything in return.

Please do not misunderstand, charity and love should prevail in your life. As a new creation washed clean in baptismal water and forgiven through the blood and righteousness of Jesus, you should be willing to give to those in need. You may need to give money, talent, time, effort, or merely your presence. You should not be selfish about any of the gifts God gives you. All that you have is His alone, a trust from the King of heaven and earth.

But to rightly understand this giving, you have to understand the parable and that the Jews hated Samaritans. For one thing, the Samaritans were the children of marriages between Jews and other ethnic groups. They were not of pure blood. Furthermore, the ancestors of the Samaritans had betrayed the Jews in past battles. The Jews did not consider the Samaritans their neighbors.

Nevertheless, when a Jew had fallen by the roadside far from the city, the ‘religious men’ passed him by, not wanting to lose time or money. The Samaritan, on the other hand, was moved solely by compassion, He did not have expectations of gratitude from the fallen man, only concern for his well-being. He did not look for the approval of the community. He was not focused on himself, but on his neighbor, a Jew.

You see, there are many types of evildoers in the world. One scoffs at the laws of God and men, saying, ‘I will take what I want, regardless of the needs and rights of others,’ or maybe you’ve heard it this way, ‘I know what you’re saying, I hear what you’re saying but I’m going to do it my way no matter what you say the rules are.’ Another type of evildoer is the hypocrite, the false friend, who hopes to gain something for himself by good works. He thinks he can fool even God with his insincerity, but that cannot happen, God is not a fool to be fooled.

So we start to see our own nature, instead of giving to others as God first gave to us.  But, we would rather choose our spots to give. Yes, there are those who are not deserving of charity. There are people who beg for help while smoking a cigarette, holding a lottery ticket in their pocket, or have a trace of alcohol on their breath. They have squandered charity for selfish wants. Nevertheless, what about the truly needy? There are plenty of examples of truly needy people in Midland County right now. The person needing charity doesn’t necessarily have to be half-dead on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho. That person might be sitting right next to you. That person might be a family member or a close friend. That person might even live in a nice home, drive a new car, and eat the finest foods.

And so the truly just man does good works without thinking of himself.   And why do we do such things?  Because of the forgiveness and grace of God. Because of this, every Sunday we affirm our purpose is to love God and our neighbor, but that we often fail to to do this. Thanks to Jesus Christ, His suffering and death on the cross, we have the desire to live as children of God.

Now as our new members welcomed here today well know from their Adult Confirmation classes, if I were to end the sermon right now by saying, ‘Go and do likewise’ I would be ending on the Law and not the Gospel.  But the purpose of the Law never was to save us. As the Apostle Paul says in Galatians, the promise that God made to Abraham and his Seed was not based on the fulfillment of the Law. Jesus fulfilled the Law, not us.

But for those who believe in Jesus Christ, the Law is a guide or measuring-stick to show us how we can serve God and our neighbor. We obey the Law not to escape punishment or to earn favor with God, but because of the love first shown for us. This is our answer to the love God has shown us in Christ.

The Son of God according to the flesh is the Good Samaritan. No one would ever expect God in the flesh to stop and help someone half-dead. The Son of God defies our feeble expectations. Whether we be half-dead physically, mentally, or just drained by all that life would through at us.  Whether we be half-dead like the man in our Lord’s parable or wholly dead like Lazarus in the Gospel of John, Christ’s charity knows no limits.  To our human reason it is impossible and it is truly unexpected that God should come down from heaven to die for us.  

And so He does, in Jesus Christ He does come from heaven to earth for us.  Jesus heals. Jesus raises the dead. Jesus shows His mercy. That’s the point! Our Lord has compassion on those whom He created, that is you. For Christ, compassion is more than just feeling sorry or just giving aid. Compassion goes all the way to Calvary’s cross, where Jesus was forsaken by His Father in heaven for your sake. Compassion goes all the way to blood and water which saved you from eternal death, which claims you as Christ’s precious child and gives you forgiveness and life.

Covered and washed in Christ’s blood and baptismal water, Jesus now says to you, “go and do likewise”(v. 37) because Christ first stopped on the road at the cross and died for you. Because of His grace, you have been called mercy and show compassion for the last, the least, the lost, the little, and the dead of this world. When you do so to the least of Christ’s brethren, you do so to Jesus Christ Himself. The Christian faith is more than mastering information about God, more than completing a checklist, and even more than the latest church programs. The Christian faith is about trust, it is about faith.  It is the faith which trusts in Jesus Christ, who gave His life for you in order that you may give your life to others as a living sacrifice.  

And so what of the Gospel?  Because Jesus Christ, was not half-dead on the road, but truly dead, and He rose again, therefore He has already done much more than you could ever likewise do.  In fact, Christ did everything for you, so that you, all His saints, may join Him in His heavenly kingdom.  Amen.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
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The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity - August 22, 2010

Today we had the honor of the Rev. David Andrus of the Lutheran Blind Mission proclaiming the Word of God to our congregation.  The Lutheran Blind Mission, located in St. Louis, MO, is the home of the largest Christian Library specifically focused on providing Christian readings, recordings, and information for the Blind and Low Vision community. 

In addition, Pastor Andrus advises over 50 local Blind and Low Vision outreach centers throughout the United States.  Our Savior Lutheran Church is one of those Blind and Low Vision Outreach Centers.  Our group meets from Noon until 2:00 p.m. the last Saturday of every month.  The meeting includes a free lunch,  information, and occasionally a speaker relevant to the Blind and Low Vision. Community.  For more information regarding our group please see our website, here.

Blessings

Pastor Wright

The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity - August 15, 2010

The Church Season of Trinity
The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (August 15, 2010)

“Exalting the Humble”

Readings:   
    Psalm 50:7-23
    Genesis 4:1-15
    Ephesians 2:-10
    Luke 18:9-14

Sermon Form    Deductive

+INI+

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 16th chapter of St. Luke, especially the following verse:

Luke 18:9-14 (NIV)

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Jesus said, “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (v. 14)  Jesus is talking to a Pharisee who is the typical self-made man, the one who can’t seem to get enough I’s into his words, I think, I am not like, I fast, I give, I get.  And nearby stood the dreaded and hated tax-collector, but this man knew he was not self made, because he couldn’t even bring himself to lift his eyes toward God.  One man who boasted of his good works, while the other beat himself up with the shame of his own guilt.  One of these people would be humbled, the other was to be exalted.  Pretty clear, short and to the point.  But that is not the end of the parable, nor is it the end of the story.  Something has been left out, and that is who is the who?  Who will be the one that will do the exalting and who will be doing the humbling?  Jesus doesn’t come right out and say it, but He makes it pretty clear who it is.  It is God.  God will always be the One who is the righteous judge.  He is the One who determines who is righteous and who is not righteous and that standard will be by God’s standards not human standards.

But people always want to judge themselves by what they have done.  There is a Latin term with the words, extra nos, which roughly means outside us.  In the case of the proud Pharisee, he judged himself by human standards, he could not think about what he was or what he had based on outside forces.  This Pharisee prayed to God speaking words that reflected only the things that were of his own making. He even thanked God for something that he was without the help of God. First he stated it negatively. He was glad that he was not like all those other people, those bad people,  He thanked God that he was not a robber, not a bad man, not an adulterer. But, most of all, he was so happy that he was not like the worst social outcast of his day, and that would be a dirty stinking no good rotten tax-collector. Secondly, he stated all his prayers in a positive manner.  Not only am I glad that I’m not bad, a crook or a criminal.  Do you see all the things I have done?  He fasted twice in the week, although God never said how often Jews should fast. He set apart for the Lord a tenth of everything he acquired, But God required only a tithe of first-fruits of the field. He says nothing about the Word of God. The Old Testament says, "Oh give thanks to the Lord for He is good because His mercy endures forever."(Ps. 136:1)   But this Pharisee thought he was already righteous and for that he thanked God too.  Now we could leave it there, beat up on the Pharisee and then we could have the irony and audacity to say, thank God I’m not like the Pharisee.  And I’m sure we can all think of people like that Pharisee too, because we’ve all said at one time or another, ‘boy that guy was sure full of himself.”  But I wonder  how many times people have said that about us too?  Not only are you full of yourself, your full of yourself. And what of the tax collector in the parable?  Jesus said, "This man went home justified rather than the other one."(v. 14) And he went home justified because, he did not justify himself, he was justified from an outside source.

The point of this parable is not, “You do this and you will be righteous, meaning do some good deeds love one another and you will be square with the world.”  Jesus is not giving lessons to live by, nor is he telling us the kinds of people to look our for.  No, all that would be a lesson in the Law, things which cannot be achieved by mere mortals, types of people whom you can become or not become by living on the straight and narrow. 

In fact, it is true that there are no eternal lessons to be learned which start with the words, “ a good lesson to live by is...fill in the blank”, or “I don’t know what the Bible says, but I believe.”  Actually those kind of statements or thoughts would actually put us in the category of people that Jesus was trying to teach, those kind of thoughts actually reveal that the “some” Jesus was teaching are actually us.  Or maybe it would be easier to understand this more recent revision to a quote, which show a character standing before a mirror, seeing his own image and sort of jolting backward with a surprised look, with the caption, “We have met the enemy and they are us.”

The point of this parable is not to emphasize what we do, rather that the whole story of salvation is recorded throughout the whole Bible and is summarized in one sentence: "Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness." Gen. 15:6. Righteousness, that is standing without sin, comes to sinful man, not by his own works or worthiness, but by the grace of God through faith.

The suffering and death of Jesus Christ gives us forgiveness for all our sins and reckons the righteousness of Christ to our account. That's what the tax-collector believed. That’s why he could not even bear to raise his eyes toward God because he knew of all his sin, also knew that righteousness does not come from within.  This is not of man’s standard, rather it was according to God's standard. All the prophets in the Old Testament told the people to repent of their sins. John the Baptist and Jesus both proclaimed, "Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is here."

We all live according to the principle of sin, we all live under the law, and we can not keep the law of God.  Oh, yes, we do let everyone know we do great things, that we are a Christians, that we have helped so many people, that we have led perfect and lives that everyone in our family is perfect.  We speak out in public and say we are glad we are not like those homeless people, we are glad we are not like those people who commit murder, we are glad we are not like those people who believe all the wrong things, who do all the wrong things, and lead their messed up lives.  And then when we are asked the question, what is it that you believe, Doesn’t the Bible speak out about all these things that our society so readily accepts as the norm?  Aren’t you supposed to help the sick, to love the most wretched people on earth?  And our response is typically this,  “Well, I don’t know what the Bible says...”, translated means, “I don’t care what the Bible says, because I believe, and what I believe is more important than the Bible.” 

In fact, what I believe is so important I don’t care to hear or read what the Bible says.  And then we merrily fill in the blanks about what we believe.  And when we do we step right up and take our place right next to the Pharisee who bragged about he had done.  When we raise our own opinion to exceed the Word of God, to place our thoughts and opinions as the standard above scripture, we raise ourselves, and our opinions above God  Himself.  So then you may ask, “Are you saying that we should accept all the sin and wrongdoing in this world?”  No, I am not.  But we should have compassion on those who sin, we should have forgiveness for those who repent of their sin, but we do not accept the sin.  For we all sin, and fall short of the glory of God. 

And all for those who do not repent, Jesus said, “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,”  It is not for us to humble people with our hatred and our scowling looks, because for each of those scowling hateful looks we cast upon others, they also cast them back right at us.  God in Christ Jesus will humble those who exalt themselves, it is not our task to do so.

At the same time we can be comforted in Jesus Christ who humbled Himself to be born of the virgin Mary, and He was made man, and He was crucified and He died for our sins.  In your baptism, in the water combined with God Word, you were brought forth as a humble sinful person, exited the font as Christ exalted you.  He washed away all your sins.  Each week as we begin the worship service we humbly seek God’s forgiveness, and He grants that to us, and so doing He exalts us, because He said, “he who humbles himself will be exalted.”  And when we confess our sins we no longer looking inside ourselves to measure how the world should be, rather we look to God and His incarnate Word Jesus Christ whose life, death, and resurerection makes the world as it should be.  Christ is the one who is exalted to the “right hand of the Father”(Acts 2:33), and that is the “highest place.”

So which man in the parable are we and I most like?  The answer is we are just like both, for we are both sinners and saints.  But if we confess our sins, then that which is extra nos, outside ourselves, He that is Jesus Christ who is faithful and just will forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  It is more than nice to know that Christ will humbly exalt you to be in His kingdom, in fact it is an eternal blessing that Christ humbled Himself so that we are brought into His presence.  Amen.

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

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The Tenth Sunday after Trinity - August 8, 2010

The Church Season of Pentecost
The Tenth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (August 8, 2010)

 

We had the distinct pleasure of hearing the Word of God proclaimed by Seminarian Brian Hahn.  After the service Seminarian Hahn and his wife Michelle spoke in humbleness about the gracious support they are receiving while attending Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne.  We wish Seminarian Hahn and Michelle best wishes and look forward seeing them again soon...Pastor Wright

The Ninth Sunday after Trinity - August 1, 2010

The Church Season of Pentecost
The Ninth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (August 1, 2010)

“The Shrewd Manager”

Readings:   
    Psalm 51:1-12
    2 Samuel 22:26-34
    1 Corinthians 10:6-13
    Luke 16:1-13

Sermon Form    Deductive

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the New Testament Lesson from 16th chapter of St. Luke, especially the following verse:

Luke 16:1-13 (NIV)

1 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’ 3 “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ 5 “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 “‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. “The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.’ 7 “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’ “‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. “He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’ 8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. 10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? 13 “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Today’s reading of the shrewd manager comes right after the Parable of the Prodigal Son.  The word "prodigal" means "wastefully spending".  The Prodigal Son was "wasteful" with his father's inheritance because he spent it on wild living.

The shrewd steward in Luke 16 was also wasteful because he was misusing the money and goods of the rich man for whom he worked.  And if we think about it a little while we will come to the conclusion that all sinners are wasteful, just in different ways.  Sometimes, people wastefully misuse the Name of God.  Sometimes, they wastefully misuse the Divine Service and the hearing of God’s Word, either by having distracted minds or by being distracted by their surroundings.  Sometimes, we wastefully misuse life, or property, or even a marriage.  You’ve certainly heard it before, that comment about relationships, or hobbies, or possessions, that saying is, ‘What a waste of time, or waste of energy, or just plain, what a waste.   But truly none of the things which we pursue belong to us anyhow, they are all from God's gracious hand.  We are stewards who are supposed to wisely use the gifts that God gives us. 

But it is in our sinful nature to be wasteful in various ways.  Whenever a gift is misused, it is a waste of what God has given us.  All people misuse their tongues, which is the gift of language.  The eyes God gave you are misused when you covet something that is not yours but you want it to be.

Of course I could go on and on, and truly there is not a gift that could not be wasted.  I could speak of stewardship, and whether the saints of God give their time and money in a proper way.  For instance, Do you give your time for Bible Study, both at home and here?  Do you give enough for the proper support of God's ministry?

In these and many other ways, everyone here is a wasteful steward of the treasures God has given for His people's use.  If you succeed in one area of life, you will surely fail at a dozen more. But the most surprising thing happens.  And in our parable today something surprising did happen.  The rich man does not do what you would expect him to do.  Because, when he finds out that his worker the steward is wastefully misusing his goods, the rich man does not immediately have the steward arrested and thrown into jail, although he has the right to do that.  In fact, throwing that employee into jail would be sound business practice when an employee is caught in embezzlement.  But, instead the rich man does something unexpected, he is merciful.  He warns the steward that he cannot be a steward any more.  Yet he allows the steward time to put his affairs in order.

How does he put them in order?  From a purely human standpoint, it seems that the steward engages in dishonest practices.  He seems to be stealing more from the rich man by canceling the debts of those who owe him money.  But the rich man, when he discovers what the steward has done, praises him for his shrewdness. So what the steward discovered was that his master, the rich man, was merciful.  That is the key to the parable.  In the same way that the rich man did not immediately throw the steward in jail, he also wanted to show mercy and generosity to others.  So when the steward began canceling debts, that is exactly what the rich man wanted.

That is not a good business practice.  But it is perfect practice in the Kingdom of God.  God is a most merciful Lord and Master.  He wants His servants to use their resources in a merciful way. So each and every one of you should be exactly like the steward.  Meaning, you should first recognize the mercy of your Lord and Master.  Because of your errors, your sins, the things you have done, the things you have said, the things you have left undone, God has not immediately thrown you into the prison house of death.  And make no mistake, the wasteful misuse of God's gifts, does indeed deserve eternal death.  But our merciful Lord surprises us and He gives us life.

Therefore, His incredible mercy drives you to also act in mercy toward others.  In small ways and big ways, He leads you to give up your gifts for the sake of others.  Instead of greedily holding onto what you have and using it only for your own pleasure, the Master makes you like Him.  His Spirit puts your hands in motion to give away what you think is yours.

And you can only do this sort of thing if you are not consumed by the fear of poverty or death.  That is why the Lord first showed you His mercy so that you can rest securely in His mighty hand. Here is the parable unveiled, which is the mercy of God the Master.  Jesus Christ, Himself first became a steward, under the Law.  He took the form of a servant.  But He was not a greedy, scrounging, wasteful steward, since Jesus lived without sin.  Therefore, He showed mercy in His life more than any man has ever done.  He gave up the riches and comfort of heaven to become Man and live a life of poverty.  Yet He kept on giving away all that He had.  Jesus healed the sick, He fed the hungry, He drove out demons, and Jesus even raised the dead.

But that was not enough for Him, since His mercy is greater than any of us sinners can imagine.  He gave up even His own life.  He gave His body into torture.  He gave His blood to be shed.  He gave His very soul into the anguish of hell.  He gave His last breath.

Why did He do it?  Well that indeed seems very wasteful, and not shrewd at all from a purely human perspective.  Why in the world would God throw away the life of His only Son Jesus Christ for mere sinners? The answer is not found in the why’s of this world, rather the why’s are answered from heaven.

It was all for mercy.  This was exactly what Christs’s merciful Father wanted Him to do.  Through Christ, the Father gave His mercy to mankind.  In His blood and death, Christ canceled every debt of every sinner on earth. So, Jesus Christ, is the greatest Steward of all.  For God took your account and He examined your ledger.  God looked at the record of your life, an then He looks at Jesus Christ, and says to you, "Quickly, write down 'Zero.'" And because He said it, therefore it is true.  Your gigantic debt to your Lord is canceled completely.

That is the mercy of God for you.  God does not really care about having His debts paid back.  He wants to show mercy more than He wants to do anything else.  Let all the debts go unpaid!  God would rather have you in His kingdom. Therefore He has done it through His Son, and He has declared it publicly, just this morning.  He said, "I forgive you all your sins."  True, it was some lousy steward who spoke those words.  But the steward is Jesus Christ and He represents His Master God the Father, and God has given all authority to Jesus Christ to forgive every debt, right down to the last penny.  And that is not a wasteful effort for Jesus Christ has done all that just for you. Amen.

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