Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity - Gen 50:15-21

                         

                                                                                          Trinity 4

                                                                                          Gen 50:15-21

                                                                                          6/28/26

 

 

Near the end of his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul says, “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” He tells us that what was written in the Old Testament was written for our instruction. And he adds that this Scripture is a source of encouragement so that we can have hope.

These words guide our understanding when we come to a text like our Old Testament lesson for today which recounts the interaction between Joseph and his brothers after Jacob their father had died. We are instructed about how God works in ways that we don’t understand – ways that at the time make no sense to us.  We are encouraged that the God who was faithful to his promises through their fulfillment in Jesus Christ continues to be our God today. And we are instructed about the place of forgiveness in our life as God’s people.

You will be hard pressed to find a more dysfunctional family than that of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Some of these problems were caused by the manner in which they disobeyed God’s ordering found in the Sixth Commandment. When Sarah was unable have a child, she ignored God’s promise and encouraged Abraham to try with her servant Hagar. This produced the son Ishhmael. Then, when God blessed Sarah with Isaac there was strife because Sarah resented Hagar and her son.

Isaac and Rebekah were blessed by God with twins. But each parent showed favoritism toward one of the sons.  Isaac favored Esau, while Rebekah favored Jacob. In the end Jacob swindled Esau out of his birthright. Then Rebekah instructed Jacob about how to deceive his father and receive the blessing. In the end, Jacob had to flee because his brother Esau wanted to kill him.

Jacob was deceived by his uncle into marrying two women – the one he really wanted and the one he didn’t.  Once again, not following the Sixth Commandment created problems – are you noticing a theme here? Jacob favored the two sons he had with his favorite wife Rachel. In particular we learn that he gave Joseph special treatment over his other brothers. For example, he gave to Joseph alone an expensive robe of many colors. His brothers hated Joseph because of this.

And let’s be honest – the young Joseph was a punk. It wasn’t enough that his father favored him in a way that was sure to upset his brothers. Joseph couldn’t keep his mouth shut. When he had a dream that indicated that he would rule over his brothers, he told them all about it. And so they hated him even more. When he had another dream which said that his parents and brothers would bow down to him, he shared that with his brothers as well.

Joseph led a charmed life … until it wasn’t. As you know, the opportunity finally arose for his brothers to get back at him. They sold him as a slave and faked his death when they reported the news to Jacob. And then every time life seemed to be going well for Joseph, things turned bad.

Potiphar, the officer of Pharaoh, bought Joseph. God blessed everything Joseph did, and Potiphar soon realized this. In time Potiphar placed Joseph in charge of his household and everything he owned. But when Joseph resisted the repeated sexual advances of Potiphar’s wife, she falsely accused him of trying to rape her and Potiphar had Joseph thrown in prison.

In prison God continued to bless everything Joseph did, and the keeper of the prison soon realized this. He too put Joseph in charge of everything. Jospeh’s opportunity to get out of prison seemed to arrive when he correctly interpreted the dream of Pharaoh’s cup bearer about his release from prison and return to Pharaoh’s service. Joseph asked the cup bearer to help him escape his unjust imprisonment by telling Pharaoh about his situation. But when the cup bearer returned to Pharaoh’s service he forgot about Joseph.

Finally, two years later when Pharaoh had disturbing dreams  that no one could interpret, the cup bearer finally remembered Joseph. He was able to interpret the dreams and explain how God was about to bring seven years of plenty followed by seven years of lack. He counseled Pharaoh to store up food during the coming seven good years in order to be ready for the seven bad ones.  Pharaoh perceived Joseph’s wisdom and how God was with him, so he put Joseph in charge of the whole project. In the end, Joseph was second in charge over Egypt.

The events in our text are a result of the fact that the years of lack affected the whole area around Egypt. Jacob had to send his sons to Egypt to buy grain. Joseph’s dreams came true as his brothers bowed down before him. Finally, Jospeh revealed himself to his brothers. He brought Jacob and his family to Egypt and settled them in the good land in Goshen.

Eventually, Jacob died. And this caused fear among his brothers because they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.”

The brothers asked Joseph to forgive them. They fell down before him and uttered, “Behold, we are your servants. But Joseph replied, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

          Joseph acknowledged that they had acted in order to harm him. But he said that in the midst of this, God had intended it for good. He was working the outcome that was saving many people. There was nothing new about this understanding. Joseph had described how God had been at work when he first revealed himself to his brothers. At that time he said, “And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God.”

          Joseph had every reason to get revenge on his brothers. But he understood how God had been at work through what they had done. And so he forgave them.  He said, “So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” He comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

These words were written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. God’s Word teaches us this morning that his plans and purposes for us go beyond our understanding. He tells us that we need to trust in him because circumstances that we consider to be a great hardship do not evade his good purpose for us. They are still part of God’s work in our life. St. Augustine wrote, “God is so good that he does not permit evil to be done unless he can draw great good from it.”

The way God works is summarized by Paul’s statement in Romans chapter eight: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” The apostle says that for those whom God has called – that’s you – all things work together for good.

Now when you are in Joseph’s position – when you are second in charge over Egypt, and you have wealth and power – it seems easy to come to this conclusion. God meant it for good. But what about when you are in the midst of hardships that seem to have no end? That is when doubt arises about whether God really is in charge. We begin to wonder about whether God really does care. There is the temptation for anger towards God, or despair.

And so this morning we need to take a deeper look at what God is in the process of doing in our text. We see here that God is in the midst of carrying out his saving work in Christ. It is his saving work, but it takes place in ways we don’t expect.

When Jacob was fleeing from Esau he camped at Beersheba and had a dream in which there was a ladder to heaven with the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. Yahweh said to him, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

God promised to give him the land of Canaan. He promised to give him numerous offspring. And he promised that in Jacob all families of the earth would be blessed. These were the same things that God had promised to Abraham. In the last of those promises, Yahweh said that the Christ would be descendant of Jacob’s line.

In our text none of these things are true. Jacob died when he wasn’t even in the promised land. He went down to Egypt and died there. He wasn’t a great nation. His entire household was only seventy people when they went to Egypt.

But these circumstances do not change the fact that God was at work. When Joseph called upon Jacob to bring the family to Egypt God told the patriarch, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation.”

Jacob believed and trusted God’s word as he went to Egypt. It was not in Canaan that God made Jacob into a great nation. It was instead in Egypt that Israel developed into a numerous people.

They became a numerous people, and because they were a later Pharaoh viewed them as a threat and enslaved them. But Yahweh was at work in this circumstance as well. He displayed his saving power in the exodus as he brought Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground.

In our text God is in the process of working through circumstances that appear to be the opposite of what they are. What was true of his work in bringing forth Israel was all the more true of the descendant of Abraham and Jacob in whom all nations have been blessed.  It was true of Jesus Christ.

Jesus was the fulfillment of all that God had promised in the Old Testament. He was the Son of God – true God and true man. He was the One who carried out the greatest action of God for our salvation. Yet that action was, as Paul told the Philippians, humbling himself to the point of death - even death on a cross.

When Christ died on Good Friday there was nothing to see except weakness, suffering, and humiliation. As Jesus hung in the darkness and cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” it appeared that there was nothing except failure.

But in his resurrection on Easter we learned that in fact the cross was the most powerful action by God to save us.  God judged our sins in Christ so that now we can be holy in his eyes. And in the Lord’s resurrection he has defeated death and begun the life that will be ours.

Because we have seen God do this in the death and resurrection of Christ we can now trust that God is at work in our life even when nothing else suggests this.  Jesus Christ is the reason we trust that “for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” The risen and ascended Lord is the source of our hope and encouragement in the midst of any circumstance. 

The words of our text were written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.  We see that Joseph forgives his brothers.  Jesus Christ is now the reason that we forgive.

God has acted in Christ to forgive you. Baptized into Christ your sins have been washed away. You are a new creation in Christ through the work of the Spirit. And so the forgiveness you have received is the forgiveness that you share. Paul told the Colossians, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

This is the forgiveness that you speak to your spouse, children, parents, and siblings. It is the forgiveness that you share with congregation members and friends. It is the forgiveness that guides the actions of your life because God has forgiven you in Christ.

The words of our text were written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Today we are instructed about how God works in ways that we don’t understand – ways that at the time make no sense to us. We are encouraged in the knowledge that we can trust that God is at work because of the way we have seen him work for our salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  And we are instructed about the place of forgiveness in our life as God’s forgiven people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sermon for the Third Sunday after Trinity - Lk 15:1-10

                                                                                        

                                                                                         Trinity 3

                                                                                          Lk 15:1-10

                                                                                          6/21/26

 

          The Pharisees do a lot of grumbling in Luke’s Gospel. After Jesus called Levi – or as we more commonly know him, Matthew – to be his disciple, Jesus ate at a great feast in his house that was attended by many tax collectors. So the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

          Later in the Gospel, Jesus sees Zacchaeus the tax collector in a sycamore tree as he passes by and says to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” Zacchaeus hurried and came down from the tree, and then and received him into his home joyfully. Then Luke tells us, “And when they saw it, they all grumbled, ‘He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.’”

          Today we once again hear the Pharisees and scribes grumble. Our text begins with the words: “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.” Then we learn, “And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’”

          The Pharisees objected to the fact that Jesus associated with tax collectors and sinners. And so we are interested in who exactly these people were, and why the Pharisees felt this way about them. Tax collectors in Galilee did not work for the Roman government, since there was not yet direct Roman rule in this area. Instead, they worked for King Herod Antipas. They had a reputation for dishonesty because they had the ability to manipulate the tax gathering process in order to extract extra money which they kept for themselves.

          The term “sinners” probably included a range of people. No doubt it took in individuals who engaged in public sin, such as prostitutes. But it also certainly included those who did not live according to the interpretation of the Torah that the Pharisees said a person must observe – the so-called “tradition of the elders.”

          Sinners were drawing near to hear Jesus. The judgment of the Pharisees was that our Lord should have nothing to do with them. So in response, Jesus told three parables – parables about a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. The last of these is the parable of the prodigal son. Our text today includes the first two.

          Our Lord began by saying, “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?” Jesus described how a shepherd would seek out a sheep that had gone astray from the flock. Why would he do this? It was because the sheep was valuable to him. He cared about it.

          This fact is seen in the man’s response when he finds the sheep: it is one of joy. Jesus said, “And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.” When the early church father Gregory of Nyssa preached on this text, he noted the shepherd’s action and how it showed his care. He said, “But when the shepherd had found the sheep, he did not punish it, he did not get it to the flock by driving it, but by placing it upon his shoulder, and carrying it gently, he united it to his flock”

          The theme of joy continues in the parable. We learn: “And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’” After finding the lost sheep he calls people together so that they can join him in rejoicing.

          Then Jesus drives home the point of the parable.  He says, “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” We learn that God’s attitude toward the lost is that he seeks them out. There is joy in heaven when a sinner repents.

          We find the same thing in the second parable about the woman who has lost the coin. When she realizes that it is lost she lights a lamp, sweeps the house and seeks diligently until she finds it.  The coin had great value to the woman and so she exerted great effort to find it.

          Then, when she found the coin, there was joy.  She called together her friends and neighbors saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.” Once again, Jesus emphasized the joy as he said, “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

          The parables in our text this morning remind us about the character and nature of God. God is the loving God who wants to save.  He does not want to see people receive judgment and destruction. God revealed through Ezekiel, “Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.’”

          God wants people to be saved – all people. After the apostle Paul told Timothy that prayer should be offered on behalf of all people and especially rulers so that we can live a peaceful life, he went on to explain: “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

          This desire of God to save is a reflection of his mercy and love. And it is a desire that moved God to act. Paul told the Galatians, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

The Father sent forth the Son, as he was incarnate by the work of the Holy Spirit. Certainly, we are like sheep who go astray as we break God’s will. Isaiah said of Christ, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” God judged our sin in the death of Jesus on the cross. And then on Easter he raised Christ from the dead as he defeated death and began the resurrection life that will be ours when the Lord returns in glory.

God’s desire to forgive in Christ continues to be good news for us. As we live the Christian life, we stumble and fall. There are times when the old Adam gets the upper hand and directs our actions. Our feelings and emotions are fickle, and we struggle with doubt and anger.

We see these things. We know that they are wrong – that they are sin. We are moved by the conviction of the law to repentance. And the good news of our text is that God welcomes us as we return to Christ for forgiveness. Jesus says, “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

As Christians your life is one of continual return to your baptism. Your baptism provides the point of reference for all of your life. Through baptism you were buried with Christ – you were baptized into his saving death. Your sins were washed away. And God’s action through water and the word always remains ready to be grasped in faith. God did it, and that Gospel gift is always true. We repent of our sin and return to the forgiveness that is true in our baptism for God rejoices over the sinner who repents.

 When Jesus was with Zaccheus he said, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost.” Jesus is the One who seeks out the lost.  Our text is a reminder that God alone can do this. The sheep can’t find its way back to the flock. The coin can’t find itself. Only God can do this.

He does this now through his word – the word inspired by the Spirit and through which the Spirit still works. This word is a word of law and Gospel.  It is a word of law that condemns sin and confronts its presence in the lives of all people. It is a word of Gospel through which the Spirit creates saving faith in Christ. It is through the Gospel that the Spirit works faith in those who cannot by their own will or strength believe in Jesus Christ or come to him.

One often hears it said, “Well, Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners.” This fact is often deployed in the attempt to say that the Church needs to be more accepting of the culture around us.  She shouldn’t be so judgmental. The Church shouldn’t be so hung up on talking about sin, and instead she should just love people where they are.

When the Pharisees asked the disciples about why they were eating with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus replied, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”  On the evening of Easter the risen Lord said to the disciples, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

There can be no forgiveness and salvation without repentance. The Church is not Christ’s Church if she does not speak the truth of God’s word and confront sin. She calls people to repentance, even as Christians themselves continue to repent. All people are sinners. The only question is what kind of sinner you are going to be. Christians are repentant sinners and therefore we are forgiven sinners. We are saints – we are holy in God’s eyes because of Christ.

There will be repentance and forgiveness in the life of a Christian. But there will be something else as well. When John the Baptist was preaching he said, “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.” The apostle Paul described his ministry after the Damascus road experience by saying that he “declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.”

The apostle Paul told the Romans, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

The resurrection power of the Spirit is at work in us. The return to baptism in which we find forgiveness is also a return to the continuing source of the Spirit’s work in our life. Faith does not simply express relief that sins are forgiven, and then leave things there. It also now seeks to live in ways that are true to God’s will.

So don’t just confess sin in your life. As those who are in Christ, by the power of the Spirit turn away from that sin. Reject that sin.  Put to death that sin. And instead live in ways that show forth repentance as you trust in God and love your neighbor.

The good news of our text today is that God wants to save. He seeks out the lost. He found you and called to be his own. He rejoices when sinners repent. And so rather than grumbling like the Pharisees, we give thanks that Jesus receives sinners and eats with them.

He will now receive you at the Sacrament of the Altar.  As the host he will welcome you to his table and feed you with his true body and blood. Here he will give you forgiveness for all of the ways you have sinned.  Here he will give you food for the new man so that you can go forth and live the life that bears fruit in keeping with repentance.

  

 

   

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

         

 

 

 

 

 

Sermon for the Second Sunday after Trinity - Eph 2:13-22

 

   Trinity 2

                                                                                                            Eph 2:13-22

                                                                                                            6/14/26

 

           

            You have peace. That’s what the apostle Paul says this morning.  You have peace with God. You have peace with the people of God, because you are the people of God. He begins announcing this fact in the opening of our text as he says, “But now in Christ Jesus….”

            That word “now” alerts us to the fact a change has taken place. And in the previous twelve verses Paul has laid out the fact that almost all of you faced a doubly dire situation.  You were under God’s judgment. You were not God’s people.

            Paul began this chapter by saying, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—

among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

            That’s a really long sentence.  And it says really bad things. It says that you were once dead in your trespasses and sins, even as you lived in them. It says that the devil was your lord, even as he is now the lord for all who walk in sin and unbelief.  All of that is bad. But the thing that should really catch your attention is when Paul says that you “were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Paul says that you and every other person were by nature someone who was going to receive the wrath of God.

            Now that is certainly not what the world believes. Insofar as it believes in God, God is certainly not wrathful. God is loving and good. He wants you to be happy. God is not judgmental, and he’s certainly not worried about sin.

            But that is not what God has revealed about himself in his word. God is loving and good. But he is also holy and just. His will defines what is right and wrong, and the violation of his will is sin. Sinners cannot exist in fellowship with the holy God. Instead, sin evokes God wrath and eternal judgment. Paul says later in this letter, “For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”

            The apostle says that you “were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” That’s also something that many Christians do not believe. Paul says that you were dead in your trespasses and sins. He says that you were under the power of the devil. And he says that you were this way by nature.  You were people who were going to receive God’s wrath like the rest of mankind.

            Something that is by nature is intrinsic to who we are. Paul is describing the fact that as descendants of fallen Adam, we are conceived as fallen, sinful people for whom the devil is lord.  We are born and enter this world as people who cannot know and believe in God by our own powers. That’s why Paul told the Corinthians, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”

            And then, just before our text, Paul continues with more bad news for almost all of you. He says, “Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called ‘the uncircumcision’ by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

            Sin entered into the world through the sin of Adam and Eve. But God did not abandon his creation. He promised that one who came forth from Eve – a human being – would defeat the devil. He called Abraham, and through him created Israel as his people. God revealed himself as Yahweh. He took Israel into a covenant with himself and said that they would be his “treasured possession among all peoples.” He was their God. They were his people, as he worked through them to bring forth this One who would defeat the devil. Those who descended from Israel and continued to believe in Yahweh – the Jews – knew God and belonged to him.

            And in most cases, that does not describe you.  You are Gentiles. Your descendants were probably somewhere on the steppe of Eurasia as they made the long push west into Europe. They were pagans who worshipped false gods. They – and therefore you - were “alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

            Everything I have said so far is true. But then Paul continues by saying in our text, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”  You were far off from God, trapped in your sin. You were far off from God, because you were not part of his people.

But now in Christ Jesus you have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

            The first century was a time when there was great animosity between Jews and Gentiles. In Alexandria, Egypt Gentiles rioted against Jews. The Emperor Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome. But Paul says that Christ has united Jew and Gentile. He states in our text, “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace.”

            This peace between Jew and Gentile is a result of the peace that now exists with God because of Jesus Christ. Paul says in our text that Christ acted to “reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.” Christ reconciled us to God through his death on the cross. We were by nature children of wrath as we lived in sin. But the just God judged our sin in Christ. Paul told the Romans, “By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.”

            God condemned your sin in Christ. And then the working of God’s great might continued as he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. As the exalted Lord, Jesus has poured forth his Spirit. The Spirit has now given you rebirth through the water and the word of baptism. You are now a saint – a holy one – in God’s eyes because he as washed away all of your sins. As Paul says in our text, “For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.”

            In our text Paul says, “And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.” The Gospel is the source of peace for all. It is the source of peace for Gentiles.  It is the source of peace for Jews.

            As Gentiles, Paul speaks to you when he says, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.”  You are no longer outsiders who don’t know God. Instead, you are fellow citizens with the saints because you are a saint – you are holy in God’s eyes because of Christ. You are members of the household of God. You are the people of God.

            In fact, Paul draws upon language of the Old Testament as he describes the Church as a temple united in Christ. He says that Christ is the cornerstone “in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

            So what does this mean for us? Well, we start with the reason that we have peace with God and are part of God’s people. Paul says, “And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.” The Gospel – the good news about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ – brings this peace through the work of the Spirit. It has for you. But of course, the Gospel is not to be your selfish possession. It is good news for all. And Christ has commanded his church to share this Gospel that brings peace.

            Now certainly this means that you will talk about Jesus and what he has done for you if anyone asks about what you believe. But this morning I want to call your attention to something even more basic: invite them to the place of peace. Here in the Divine Service you receive this peace as you hear the God’s Word proclaimed. And then in the Sacrament of the Altar you receive the peace of sins forgiven as you eat and drink Christ’s body and blood. Later you will sing in the Nunc Dimittis, “Lord, now you let your servant depart in peace.”

            So invite them to come to church. It’s simple. And it also happens to be the reason that most people report for why they joined a church – it’s because someone invited them.  You don’t need any theology to do this. And as President Curtis has explained, if a person asks why he or she should visit Good Shepherd, all you have to say: “Because I think it’s great.” It requires nothing more than that.

            Because of Christ we have peace with God. Our text describes that through the work of the Spirt we have been joined together in Christ. Paul describes the church as a temple. Elsewhere he calls her the Body of Christ. In chapter four Paul states, “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

            This is the unity that we share in Christ, and so Paul says, “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

            Paul tells you that you are to walk in a manner worthy of your calling. You have been given God’s peace. You have been made part of the people of God in Christ. So be humble and gentle in dealing with others. Put their needs ahead of your own. Be understanding towards those who are experiencing difficulties.

            Paul says that we are to “bear with one another in love.” We can also translate this as “put up with on another.” Sinners are annoying because they keep sinning. They do dumb and thoughtless things. But the apostle tells us to put up with one another in love because we are eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

            If we are going to put up with one another, then we will have to forgive one another. And that is exactly the instruction that Paul provides in this letter when he says, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Living in Christ, through the work of the Spirit, we treat others as God has treated us in Christ.

            You were by nature children of wrath for whom the devil was Lord. You were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise because you are Gentiles. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  You have been reconciled to God through the cross.

            The Spirit of the risen Lord has called you to faith in Jesus. Jew and Gentile alike have been united through baptism in Christ. You have peace with God for you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. This is the peace that you share with others as you invite them to come to this place of peace.  It is the peace you share in your life as you bear with one another in love.