Sermon for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity - Lk 18:9-14

 

         Trinity  11                                        Lk 18:9-14

         8/23/20

                                                                                      

 

            There is a lot of righteous anger out on the street in our nations these days.  It’s all over social media as well. People are speaking out about injustices that they perceive in our country.

            But “righteous anger” is a very seductive activity.  In general, when anger is part of the mix, it is a good bet that sin is happening too.  James wrote, “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

            Righteous anger as we see it playing out in our culture today means first, that you get to choose someone to vilify.  “They” are horrible. “They” should be ashamed.  “They” must change or be done away with altogether. The old Adam finds it deeply satisfying to attack someone or something else in this way.

            But the really insidious part of righteous anger is the flipside.  If you recognize the terrible fault of the other when they don’t, it demonstrates how much more perceptive you are.  It shows how much more aware you are.  It proves how much more righteous you are.  And that is truly delicious. The old Adam just eats that stuff up. Your righteous anger shows how much better you are.

            The same dynamic is present in our Gospel lesson this morning – the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.  Luke introduces the parable by telling us: “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt.”  Now it’s not hard to figure out who the “some” are.  It’s the Pharisees with whom Jesus has been sparring again and again. And sure enough, one of the two characters in the parable is a Pharisee.

            We learn two things about the Pharisees.  First, they trusted in themselves that they were righteous. And second, they treated others with contempt.  The Pharisees were largely a lay movement in Judaism who had chosen to take on what they considered to be a more holy way of life.  They took aspects of the Torah – the Old Testament law – that were directed only toward priests, and applied them to their daily lives.  They had created a whole body of oral law – the “tradition of the elders” – that described how one was to keep the Law of Moses.

            Now almost nobody in first century Judaism forgot that God’s grace was the starting point.  But what they did do was to take credit for how they were able to live righteously in keeping the law.  St. Paul could say of his attitude while a Pharisee: “as to righteousness under the law, blameless.”

            And of course if you have chosen to be part of a group that is going over and beyond what others are doing; if you have defined your identity by the “tradition of the elders” that you do and others don’t … well, then no one else measures up.  They become people you treat with contempt.

            We see this at work in the parable that Jesus tells.  He said, "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.”  Jesus paired two people who were complete opposites.  If the Pharisee had the public reputation of godliness and righteousness, the tax collector was despised and looked down upon.  It was assumed that the tax collector was a crook, since there were many ways he could use his position to charge extra and make money for himself.  Just as the letters “IRS” probably don’t give you a warm, fuzzy feeling inside, in the same way people didn’t like tax collectors in Jesus’ day. And on top of this, in various ways depending on your location, the tax collector was ultimately a reminder of Roman rule.

            We learn that the Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed in this way: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” Prayer in the temple was said out loud. The Pharisee stood out by himself in order to call attention to himself.  He thanked God that he wasn’t like all those other sinners … including the tax collector.  He proclaimed how he lived a pious life that went over and beyond what others did.

            Now let’s be very clear: It is good and right to be able to identify behaviors that are sinful and wrong. Doing so is not “judgmental” – it is simply applying the Word of God in evaluating life. And likewise, it is good to seek to live in pious ways.  The problem – the sin – is when this slips into spiritual pride that puts others down. As he put himself on display in the temple, the Pharisee wasn’t thanking God.  He was boasting before others.

            We need to be able to identify those things in our world that are sinful. We need to call it what it is when people are living together outside of marriage, or practicing homosexuality, or when they have no place for Christ and the Church in their lives.

            But what we can’t do is to feel superior and look down on these people.  What we can’t do is focus on their obvious sins, and choose to ignore our own.  We can’t ignore the lust in our heart and the way we feed it by looking at pornography. We can’t ignore the ways we put other things before God’s Means of Grace – the ways we never think about our baptism, or never “have time” to read God’s Word. We can’t ignore the way we speak angry and hurtful words to our spouse or family members.

            Then Jesus said: “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’”  Now the first thing to note is that the tax collector did go to the temple to pray.  He could have stayed away. But instead, he went to the place where God had promised that he was present for his people.  He went to the place where sacrifices were offered for sin.

            Unlike the Pharisee, he stood far off.  He did all he could not to call attention to himself.  As he prayed, he didn’t even lift his eyes to heaven.  And in a gesture that indicated deep sorrow and repentance he beat his breast as he said one simple and brief statement: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

            The tax collector said one thing about himself: he was a sinner. He confessed before God.  And his plea was based on one thing: God’s mercy.  He made no claims about himself like the Pharisee.  Instead, he relied on what God had revealed about himself in his word. As the psalmist wrote: “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”

            Our Lord concluded the parable by saying, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”  It was the tax collector who went home forgiven and just in God’s eyes. He had repented and asked God to forgive him purely on the basis of God’s own mercy.  He had humbled himself, and so God sent him home exalted – forgiven.  On the other hand the Pharisee had boasted and exalted himself.  And he had gone home humbled – unforgiven.

            Jesus spoke these words about two men who were in the temple – they were at the place where the sacrifices described in the Law of Moses were offered. And the tax collector’s plea, “be merciful” is a Greek verb that Luke only uses here. It is a word that is regularly used to express the ideas involved in the atonement God provides for sin.

            Our sin is the barrier that separates us from God. God is holy, and sinners who sin cannot exist in his presence. There is the need to expiate the sin – to remove it.  God has done this through the death of Jesus Christ.  Sin requires God’s judgment.  God sent his Son into the world in the incarnation in order to bear your sin on the cross and receive his judgment.  Jesus humbled himself to the point of death – even death on a cross. This was the sacrifice to which the Old Testament sacrifices pointed forward. God did this because he is merciful and gracious to us. By the death of Jesus on the cross for your sins, our Lord has made atonement.  He has won forgiveness and removed the sin that separated you from God.

            Sacrifices die. But Jesus Christ was not just any sacrifice.  Instead, on the third day God raised Jesus from the dead. Having made atonement for your sin, he is also the beginning of the new life – the resurrection life – that will be yours.  The wages of sin is death.  Christ not only gives us forgiveness.  He has defeated death by passing through it himself, and then rising on the third day.

            Now, because of Jesus’ death and resurrection you go home justified.  You know that God’s verdict is “forgiven, innocent, not guilty.”  You heard it at the beginning of the Divine Service as Jesus said in absolution, “I forgive you all your sins.” That is true now. It will be true on the Last Day.

            God sent the tax collector home justified.  God sends you home justified.  But the word of forgiveness received through the work of the Spirit does not leave us unchanged. 

            When Martin Luther preached on this text in 1531 he said at the end of his sermon: “Whoever wants to remain the way he is cannot pray for grace and forgiveness; rather, whoever prays that way wishes and desires to be just and completely freed from sins.  You also must know this so that you do not deceive yourself.  There are many who only see the tax collector receives grace and forgiveness as a sinner but who do not consider that God wants to have them forget sin, and that the grace given must be powerful in them.  They try to misunderstand this, as if God wanted to justify and save sinners so that they could remain in sin and unrighteousness.”

            Like the tax collector we come before God in repentance and humility. We know there is only one thing we can say: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”  But we know that in his mercy God has given his Son into the death of the cross to make atonement for our sin.  He has raised him from the dead to give us eternal life.  He gives us forgiveness, and his Spirit works in us so that we can strive to live as his child.  As Jesus says in our text, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

 

           

 

 

             

              

 

 

 

Commemoration of Samuel

 

Today we remember and give thanks for Samuel.  Samuel, the last of the Old Testament judges and first of the prophets (after Moses), lived during the eleventh century B.C. The child of Elkanah, an Ephraimite, and his wife Hannah, Samuel was from early on consecrated by his parents for sacred service and trained in the house of the Lord at Shiloh by Eli the priest. Samuel’s authority as a prophet was established by God (1 Sam. 3:20). He anointed Saul to be Israel’s first king (10:1). Later, as a result of Saul’s disobedience to God, Samuel repudiated Saul’s leadership and then anointed David to be king in place of Saul (16:13). Samuel’s loyalty to God, his spiritual insight, and his ability to inspire others made him one of Israel’s great leaders.

Collect of the Day:

Almighty God, in your mercy you gave Samuel courage to call Israel to repentance and you sent him to anoint David as king.  Call us to repentance, so that by the blood of Jesus, the Son of David, we may receive the forgiveness of all our sins; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

 

Commemoration of Bernard of Clairvaux, Hymnwriter and Theologian

 

Today we remember and give thanks for Bernard of Clairvaux, Hymnwriter and Theologian.  A leader in Christian Europe in the first half of the 11th century A.D., Bernard is honored in his native France and around the world. Born into a noble family in Burgundy in 1090, Bernard left the affluence of his heritage and entered the monastery of Citeaux at the age of 22. After two years he was sent to start a new monastic house at Clairvaux. His work there was blessed in many ways. The monastery at Clairvaux grew in mission and service, eventually establishing some 68 daughter houses. Bernard is remembered for his charity and political abilities, but especially for his preaching and hymn composition. The hymn texts “O Jesus, King Most Wonderful” and “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded” are part of the heritage of the faith left by Saint Bernard.

Collect of the Day:

O God, enkindled with fire of your love, your servant Bernard of Clairvaux became a burning and shining light in your Church.  By your mercy, grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline and may ever walk in your presence as children of light; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

 

 

Sermon for the Tenth Sunday after Trinity - Lk 19:41-48

                                                                                                Trinity 10

                                                                                                 Lk 19:41-48

                                                                                                 8/16/20

 

            It was like a big, joyous party as our Lord entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  Following our Lord’s instructions, the disciples had acquired a donkey and thrown their cloaks on the animal.  Now Jesus rode into Jerusalem on it. As he rode along, his followers spread their cloaks on the road.

Luke tells us that “as he was drawing near--already on the way down the Mount of Olives--the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen.”  We should note that Luke focuses here on Jesus’ disciples.  It is easy to overlook the fact that the group of disciples who accompanied Jesus on this final trip to Jerusalem was much larger than just the twelve apostles.  As Jesus was making his way to Jerusalem, he sent out seventy two disciples in pairs.  They went before Jesus into every town where Jesus was about to go as an “advance team.”  Jesus gave them the instructions: “Heal the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.’”  In addition to these, there was also a sizeable group of women who supported Jesus’ ministry financially.

They had seen the miracles Jesus had done.  Now, mounted on an animal that had royal associations in ancient Israel, Jesus was entering into Jerusalem. They were rejoicing and praising God with a loud voice. And they were saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Surely they expected that now Jesus would bring the consummation of the kingdom of God – the reign of God – that he had been proclaiming.  He would act as the King – the Messiah – who would bring the restoration of Israel and fulfill all that the prophets had spoken about Israel’s future.

The disciples who accompanied Jesus were so enthusiastic; they were proclaiming such dramatic things about Jesus that it was just too much for some of the Pharisees in the crowd. They said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” But our Lord responded, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”   Jesus affirmed what his disciples were saying.  Every word was true and it had to be said about Jesus.

It was a dramatic, inspiring, and exciting moment to be with Jesus as everyone anticipated that Yahweh was about to do epic things through him.  But then, Jesus did something that seemed completely out of place. To be honest, it seemed completely inappropriate given the moment.

Luke tells us, “And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

Jesus sees the city of Jerusalem and he weeps.  He is moved to tears as laments that on that day they did not know the things that make for peace. They didn’t know them, and now they were hidden from their eyes.  Instead of peace, Jesus described a scene that had played out again and again in the Mediterranean and Near Eastern world.  He described how an army would lay siege to Jerusalem by encircling it, and that finally they would tear it down to the grown.  All of this would happen our Lord said, “because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

In our text this morning, Jesus leads us to recognize the significance of his person and ministry.  In his person was the visitation of God that brought peace. Speaking by the Spirit, Zechariah declared at the naming of Jesus’ forerunner, John the Baptist: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.” The child born in Bethlehem was God raising up a descendant of King David to redeem his people.  It was God visiting his people to fulfill all that he had promised through the prophets.

When Jesus raised from the dead the widow’s son at Nain fear seized all present, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” In this and all of Jesus’ miracles, people were seeing that God had visited his people in Jesus.

Jesus was God visiting his people, and he had come to bring peace. That was what the angels announced when he was born, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”  Jesus had come to bring peace by the forgiveness of sins.  A woman who had lived a sinful life came to Jesus, and in repentance and faith she wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” And then later he added, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Jesus Christ was God visiting his people and bringing peace.  Yet while the disciples who accompanied Jesus, had received him in faith, many others had not.  In fact, as Jesus looked upon Jerusalem he could say that as a whole the city had not known the things that make for peace. They had not known the time of their visitation.

They had not recognized Jesus for who he was.  No doubt there were a number of reasons for this, but the most common was the fact that Jesus had not done things that they wanted and expected. Sure, he had healed people and cast out demons. Yes he had spoken interesting parables and intriguing teaching.  But he had not taken on the role of the powerful and mighty victor.  If he had this power to do miracles, why was he not using it drive out the Romans and free Israel?  He was talking about “the kingdom of God” all the time, but he wasn’t doing anything to bring God’s kingdom to the nation.

            If people had been disappointed by what Jesus had done up until that moment, they would find the results of Holy Week to be proof that Jesus was a fraud.  Jesus had come do the things that make for peace.  He had come to be the saving visitation of God.  But he was going to do this by dying on a Roman cross.  Though without sin of his own, he was going to be numbered with the transgressors. He was going to bring peace with God by winning forgiveness for us.  He was going to offer himself as the sacrifice for our sins.  He was going to be the One who received God’s judgment in our place.

            Humiliated in death on a cross, Good Friday would end with Jesus’ body buried in a tomb.  All was clear.  Jerusalem had been right to reject him, for he was a false messiah. Hung upon a tree, he had been cursed by God.

            But on the third day – on Easter – God acted to show that nothing was what it seemed to be.  He raised Jesus from the dead.  And in that resurrection he showed that Jesus’ death on the cross had been God’s visitation bringing peace. Christ has won forgiveness.  He has given us peace with God.  In his resurrection the result of sin – death – has been defeated and eternal life with God is offered to all who believe in Jesus Christ the crucified and risen Lord.

            This is real peace. But if you are going to follow Jesus you must be prepared for the fact that this is not a peace that the world wants.  Jesus said, “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

            Jesus’ peace requires confession of sin and repentance.  Jesus’ peace requires faith in him alone.  And the Lord is right. This does bring division.  The question is whether we are ready to declare the truth about Jesus to our family members and friends who don’t believe.  Or does the possibility of rejection, tension and strife cause us to remain silent?  Do we crave the world’s version of peace and so say nothing about Jesus?

            The people of Jerusalem did know the things that make for peace. They did not recognize the time of their visitation.  You have been baptized into Christ.  You know and believe the Gospel.  You know the things that make for peace. Yet you must also understand your need to continue to recognize the time of your visitation.

            We do not live in first century Palestine. Our visitation does not occur by means of the incarnate Lord’s earthly ministry.  Instead our Lord’s visitation occurs through the gifts that he places in the midst of his Church.  It occurs through his Means of Grace.  Our Lord’s saving visitation continues to occur through his inspired Word.  It occurs through baptism and absolution.  And our Lord visits us in the Sacrament of the Altar as he gives us his true body and blood, given and shed for us.

            We need to continue to recognize and receive our Lord’s visitation through these means. The ongoing struggle again sin and the old Adam requires it.  The continuous effort by the devil to separate us from Christ and his peace demands it. The devil always wants us to think that we have “enough of Jesus” – that we don’t need any more of his visitation; that we can use our time for other things and everything will be just fine. But that is the path that leads away from Jesus and the loss of the forgiveness and peace we have through him.

            Instead as we continue to receive the saving visitation of Christ, we know the things that make for peace.  We know the forgiveness of sins and peace with God. And because we do, this is something that cannot stop with us.  Instead we share this with others in the way we treat them.  We forgive others, because God in Christ has forgiven us.  We seek peace with others, because God has given us peace with him.  We help and assist others, because God has visited us with his love when we had no right to expect it. The saving visitation of God in Christ has given us forgiveness and peace that defines our present and eternal future.

           

             

 

           

           

                

 

 

 

 

  

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

           

 

 

Commemoration of Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr

 

Today we remember and give thanks for Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr.  Early in the third century A.D., Lawrence, most likely born in Spain, made his way to Rome. There he was appointed chief of the seven deacons and was given the responsibility to manage church property and finances. The emperor at the time, who thought that the church had valuable things worth confiscating, ordered Laurence to produce the “treasures of the church.” Laurence brought before the emperor the poor whose lives had been touched by Christian charity. He was then jailed and eventually executed in the year 258 by being roasted on a gridiron. His martyrdom left a deep impression on the young church. Almost immediately, the date of His death, August 10, became a permanent fixture on the early commemorative calendar of the Church.

Collect of the Day:

Almighty God, You called Lawrence to be a deacon in Your Church to serve your saints with deeds of love, and You gave him the crown of martyrdom.  Give us the same charity of heart that we may fulfill Your love by defending and supporting the poor, that by loving them we may love You with all our hearts; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Sermon for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity - Lk 16:1-9

 

Trinity

Lk 16:1-9

                                                                                       8/9/20

 

            The one year lectionary is the selection of Scripture readings that has been used in the Lutheran church for five hundred years – since the days of the Reformation.  With some small modifications, it is same basic lectionary that had been used in northern Europe during the medieval period. It is a classic example of the Lutheran approach to the Reformation.  Where teaching or practice contradicted Scripture, it had to be changed. Where teaching was true, and practice taught the faith and provided unity in the life of the Church, it was retained.

            This is all great.  But once in a while you look at a Scripture text that is assigned and want to ask: “What were they thinking?”  Covering fifty two Sundays and all of the feasts and festivals of the Church, no lectionary can include all texts of the Bible. It is, by definition, selective. But out of all the parables that Jesus told that we have in Scripture, one struggles to understand why the parable of the unjust steward was chosen.  I say this because it is one of more challenging parables that Jesus told.

            Now from the outset we are going to rule out one interpretation.  Jesus is not teaching us that cheating and stealing in a clever way is good.  I think we can be very certain that this is not the point his is trying to convey.  But in the parable a manager lies and cheats in order to help himself. And the person defrauded by this praises the manager for acting in this way. It’s very strange stuff.

            In the parable, Jesus says that there was a rich man who had a manager who was responsible for overseeing his business operations.  We are not provided many details about the exact nature of the arrangement. This may have involved land that was rented to others to farm. But there is no way of knowing for sure.

            What we do know is that the manager had been doing a very poor job.  We learn in our text that charges were brought to the rich man that the manager was wasting his possessions. So the rich man summoned the manager and said to him, “What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.” The rich man fired the manager and told him to turn in the account records that would have been written on papyrus.  Paperwork and financial records are nothing new, and we have many examples from Egypt that demonstrate the care and sophistication with which this was done.

            The manager suddenly found himself in a moment of crisis. He said to himself, “What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.” Suddenly about to find himself unemployed, the manager’s prospects were bad and worse.

            We are not told why the manager’s oversight had resulted in a wasting of the master’s possessions. Perhaps it was laziness.  But whatever the cause, it apparently wasn’t a lack of intelligence and cleverness. For immediately a plan formed in his mind and he said, “I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.”

            The manager still had the financial records – he had not yet turned them in to the owner. So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he asked “How much do you owe my master?”  He then proceeded to reduce the amount owed. And we are not talking about a small amount of money.  Each of the reductions mentioned in our text equaled about five hundred denarii of value, where a denarii was a day’s wage. This was a huge benefit that he was giving to these people.  Obviously he presented himself as the source of the reduction.  No wonder the manager was confident that when he was removed from management, people would receive me into their houses.

            At some point the master learned about what the manager was doing.  We would expect him to be angry.  Surely he would try take action against the manger to harm or punish him.  But as Jesus concluded the parable he said, “The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.”

            Jesus says that the master praised the manger for his shrewdness.  In the moment of crisis, he had recognized the way he could use the resources available in order to benefit himself. And then Jesus added, “For the sons of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.” 

Our Lord makes a distinction between the “son of this age” and the “sons of light.” The good news is that as a Christian, you are in the latter group. The bad news is that that sons of this age – those who do not know God and live in the ways of this sinful world – are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation.  And after making this evaluation, Jesus adds: “And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.”

            Our Lord’s words this morning lead us to recognize the time in which we live and the status we have received.  Early in Jesus’ ministry, after he had been healing people and casting out demons a crowd of people wanted him to stay, but he said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.”  Jesus had come to preach the arrival of the kingdom of God – the reign of God in the world.  But Jesus wasn’t preaching about something.  He was preaching about himself.  When Jesus was accused of casting out demons because he was in league with the devil he replied, “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

            Jesus Christ had come into the world to bring the kingdom of God – the reign of God – that overcomes sin, death and the devil. He knew exactly how this was to be done, even if much of it didn’t sound like God reigning.  As they prepared to enter Jerusalem for the last time, he told the disciples, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” 

            Jesus, the Son of God, came to be numbered with the transgressors.  He came to take our place and receive the judgment of God against our sin.  He came to suffer and die as the sacrifice for our sin.  But then on the third day God raised Jesus from the dead. God vindicated his Servant and showed that the suffering of the cross had been the means by which Gods’ reign was present to defeat sin.  And in the resurrection of Jesus Christ God has begun the resurrection that will be ours on the Last Day.

            You have heard this good news – this Gospel.  You have been baptized and had your sins washed away.  You have received the gift of the Holy Spirit through baptism, and therefore you are sons and daughters of light.  You belong to God.  You no longer belong to this sinful age that will end when Christ returns in glory.

            These facts are not in doubt and we thank and praise God for this!  But today’s text raises the question of whether our lives show this to be case as we deal with a very important part of life: money.  This whole chapter deals with the subject of wealth and money.  In the last verse of our text Jesus says, “And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.”

            Why does Jesus describe it as “unrighteous wealth”?  It is because of the way wealth takes on the role in our life that God should.  Just a few verses later Jesus says, “No servant can serve two masters, for 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 God and money.”

            Why are the sons of this age more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light?  It is because they act in way that is perfectly in alignment with their god.  When your god is money and wealth, there is a clarity about how you make decisions and how you treat people.

            But on the other hand when the God who has redeemed and saved you through the death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ, is your God, then you are going to view and use money differently.  At least, you should.  And it is here that the inconsistency comes in – the lack of focus in us that makes the sons of this world more shrewd.  They are and do what they are supposed to be. 

            We are sons of light. But the temptation to allow money and wealth to function as a god is always present.  In the parable of the sower Jesus describes the seed that fell among the thorns as “those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.” In an earlier chapter our Lord told the parable of the rich fool who built bigger barns to store up crops so that he could have a life of leisure, but then died before he could enjoy them. Jesus introduced that parable by saying, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

            If we as the sons of light are to be shrewd – shrewd in the way that is true to our status - then we will recognize that we are to love and serve God, and not money.  Jesus says that we are to be rich toward God with our possessions.

            Fundamental to this is the recognition that God has promised to provide us with what we need to live – he has promised us daily bread.  But he has promised no more than that. And anything that goes beyond that becomes part of the cares and riches and pleasures of life that can choke faith.  It can become the reason for covetousness.  It can become the god of unrighteous wealth.

            Earlier in this Gospel as Jesus was speaking about how God provides us with food and clothing, our Lord said, “And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.”

            If we are to be shrewd in the way that sons of light are to be shrewd, then we will seek God’s kingdom.  This means that our focus will be not upon what we can get, but upon what Christ gives to us.  We will see in the Means of Grace the treasure that surpasses all earthly wealth.  For through them Christ gives us forgiveness and eternal life.   

             In that earlier discussion, Jesus said, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

            When the sons of light use their money shrewdly – when they use is in the way made possible by the reign of God that we have received – we will use our money in ways that help others. We will use it in ways that help to spread the kingdom of God – the reign of God in our community and world. We will use our money to support administration of the Means of Grace in our congregation.  We will use our money to support the mission of the Church in the many different ways that this goes on throughout the world.  We will use our money to help those in need in our community.

            Because we are sons and daughters of light, we recognize the urgency of the moment in which we live. The reign of God has come into the world through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are living in the end times as we look for the exalted Lord Jesus to return in glory on the Last Day. We know that through word of the Gospel and baptism we have received the status of being the sons of light. So be shrewd with your money by using it like a person who has received the kingdom of God.

 

              

 

 

Sermon for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity - Acts 20:27-38

Trinity 8

                                                                                                  Acts 20:27-38

                                                                                                  8/2/20

            When Lutheran pastors of our synod get together – especially those from our area - they share a unique bond with one another. First of all, they are committed Christians, which in this world today already makes them part of a minority. Then they are also Lutherans which in this far southern part of this state, as we know all to well, makes them part of a yet smaller minority.

            And then as pastors, they are part of an even smaller group that is unique in its own ways.  As the one placed by God to care for a congregation, pastors have responsibilities and experiences that only other pastors can really understand.  It is the fellow pastor who understands what is like to visit and provide spiritual care for a person dying of cancer.  It is the fellow pastor who knows the challenge of confronting sin, when some in the congregation don’t want that done – especially if it involves their son, daughter or family member.  It is the fellow pastor who understands the sense of grief and failure that is present when a husband and wife in the congregation divorce.

            When pastors get together they share with one another the challenges they are facing. They seek advice and counsel from other pastors about how to approach a particular situation.  They encourage one another, and seek to build each other up in Christ.

            But during my years in the ministry, I’ve never attended a gathering of pastors like the one in our text this morning.  Never have I heard a pastor who was retiring or leaving the area say:  “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.”  I’ve never heard a pastor tell other pastors that some of the pastors there listening were going to become false teachers who would draw away believers.  Now that would be a circuit meeting or pastors’ conference to remember!

            Yet that is exactly what happens in our text this morning as the apostle Paul meets with the pastors who had gathered at Miletus. Paul was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem and didn’t want to get hung up with a long visit in Ephesus.  So when his ship docked at Miletus, the port that served Ephesus, he didn’t go into the city.  Instead, Luke tells us, “Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.”

            Now these elders were not what we call “elders” in our church today – laymen who assist the pastor.  Instead, these were the pastors of the area.  Paul speaks a farewell to them, because as he says just before our text, “And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.”

            Paul is convinced that he is saying farewell to them, and so he wants to remind them about the ministry that he conducted in their midst.  He proclaims to them that despite the plots by the Jews against him, “I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ”.

            Repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ – that’s Law and Gospel.  Paul declares that he had not held back from calling them to repentance.  He had proclaimed God’s law.  But he had also proclaimed the Gospel – he had proclaimed faith in Jesus Christ.

            And now in our text, Paul repeats the phrase about not holding back.  He says, “Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” Why is Paul innocent of their blood – why is he not responsible if any of them are lost?  It is because he did not hold back from declaring the whole counsel of God.  He told them God’s will and truth, not matter whether it was hard or easy.

            This raises a question that we need to ask ourselves – do we really want to hear the whole counsel of God?  For if the pastor does proclaim this we are going to hear that there is salvation in no other way than faith in Jesus Christ – not Islam, or Mormonism, or Hinduism. And that includes our family and friends who have rejected Christ as Lord and God. We are going to hear that sex outside of marriage, and the arrangement to make this easy – living together – are sins that bring God’s judgment. We are going to hear that homosexuality is inherently disordered and sinful. We are going to hear that marriage is the one flesh union for life, and that apart from clear biblical grounds, to divorce and remarry is adultery.  We are going to hear that our love of sports is more often than not a false god, no matter what excuses we make.

            We are going to hear things that confront us with our own sin. We are going to hear things that will make life harder, not easier, because they will set us in conflict with our culture and world. The whole counsel of God share his ordering of the world – the way things are supposed to work.  It will share law with us.

            But after saying how he had acted as pastor, Paul then tells the pastors how they are to act as pastor. He says, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.”  Paul describes the Church of God – he describes you – as that which he obtained through his own blood.

This too is part of the whole counsel of God.  God the Father sent his Son into the world as he was incarnate by the work of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.  God became flesh and blood – true God and true man at the same time. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, did this to be the One who was wounded for your transgressions and was crushed for your iniquities.  He came to be the One upon whom the Lord laid the iniquity of us all.  Jesus Christ did this for you, and by his bloody death he has redeemed you.  He has made you his own. 

How precious are you to God?  He gave his Son into the suffering and death of the cross for you.  He poured out his judgment on Jesus in your place. And then on third day he raised him from the dead.  Jesus Christ defeated death by going through it. He left the tomb on Easter as the new Adam – the One who can never die again.  And because he has, he promises that he will give the gift of resurrection life to you on the Last Day.

While we wait, we live in the time when the risen Christ, exalted to the right hand of God, has poured forth his Spirit. Paul makes a very striking statement this morning.  He speaks to the pastors gathered at Miletus and tells them to pay “careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.” Notice that it is the Holy Spirit who has made them overseers in the place where they are pastor.

Christ has instituted and given his Means of Grace.  He has given us his inspired word.  He has given us baptism, and absolution and the Sacrament of the Altar.  He has given us his Office of the Holy Ministry to administer these gifts in our midst - to preach the word; to baptize; to absolve; to celebrate the Sacrament.  And his Spirit then works through his church to place a man in that office in the midst of each flock – each congregation.  He gives us the pastor – the shepherd – who speaks the whole counsel of God to us.  He gives us the law that we need to hear.  He gives us the Gospel by which we have forgiveness and life.

As Paul concludes his address, he says to the pastors at Miletus, “And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”  Of course what was true for these pastors is also true for you.  The gracious word of God is able to build you up.  It is able to give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified – all those who are holy in God’s eyes because of Christ. It does because through that word the Spirit of God creates and sustains faith in Jesus Christ.

But for it to do so, it also must be used.  It must be heard. It must be read. We need to recognize the incredible gift that God has given to us.   Through his word the Spirit builds us up in faith so that we can receive and believe the whole counsel of God.  He gives us forgiveness which is true now, and will be true on the Last Day.  He gives us the inheritance of sharing in salvation with all who have been sanctified - made holy – by the blood of Jesus.

In this farewell address, Paul certainly holds himself up as an example as he speaks to these pastors. And he does so in another important way near the end of our text.  Paul calls attention to his own hard work.  He describes what a life created by the Gospel and built up by God’s Word looks like.  He says, “In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

We think about our work as providing money to provide for our basic needs, and then also for the fun things we want to do.  Yet for Paul this work calls to mind something entirely different.  It is instead something that provides the ability to help the weak – to help others.  When the Gospel is the source of our life – when Jesus Christ’s service for us shapes our life – then serving and helping others becomes the way we do things.  And in order to explain this fact, Paul provides a most interesting quotation.  He says, “remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Now the interesting thing is that this statement by our Lord is not found in any of the Gospels.  Of course, Luke, the author of Acts is also the author of the Gospel of Luke.  Certainly he knew about this statement by our Lord.  But rather than include it in the Gospel, he shares it here.

Why is it more blessed to give than to receive?  It is because this action flows from the blessing that Christ has given to us.  He gave all in order to give us forgiveness and life. And because we have received this from him, living in the blessing which is Christ means giving to others. When we give we see that Christ is at work through us, and in this there is blessing. There is the blessing of being in Christ as a forgiven child of God. There is the blessing of faith active in love, and a faith active in love is a living, healthy and vibrant faith which knows that our Lord Jesus has obtained us by his own blood.”