231224 Sermon on the birth of the King (Christmas Eve)

 Audio recording

Sermon manuscript:

He rules the world with truth and grace.

That line comes from the well-known and well-loved Christmas hymn, “Joy to the world.” “He rules the world with truth and grace.” Who rules the world? Jesus rules the world.

Jesus being the king who reigns and rules is a theme that is found in a lot of Christmas hymns. I’ll give you a couple examples. O Come All Ye Faithful. O come all ye faithful to Bethlehem. Why? To behold the King of angels. Or Hark the Herald Angels Sing: What are the herald angels singing? “Glory to the newborn King!” Christmas is about the birth of the king.

This king was promised to come in the Old Testament. There are so many prophecies about a great king. He would be from David’s line. He will bring light to those who sit in darkness. He will bring righteousness, justice, and peace. His kingdom will be an eternal kingdom. I don’t think it is possible to overstate the importance of this great, eternal king.

But another thing that almost all the Christmas carols point out, however, is the strange scene into which this king was born. A stable is not the normal place to give birth for any human being, much less the great king. Consider these opening lines: “Away in a manger, no crib for a bed…” Didn’t even have a crib. Or: “Once in Royal David’s city stood a lowly cattle shed, where a mother laid her baby in a manger for his bed…” Jesus being born in a barn instead of even just an ordinary house is so strange.

In fact, for me, this aspect of the Christmas story is a little hard to believe. When we read the Bible we shouldn’t think the people about whom we read are so completely different than us. There’s no indication that the people of Bethlehem were especially cruel and heartless that they would all turn away a pregnant woman. Who among us, no matter how poor the pregnant woman might be, wouldn’t gladly give up our room or even the whole house if need be?

Jesus being born in a stable, it seems to me, was not because of any meanness of the people of Bethlehem, or a matter of chance. God wanted his Son to be born there. He created the circumstances so that it came to pass. The net result is that God’s Son, the long-expected Savior, was born in conditions that were much worse than you or I were born into. Even if you were just born in a house, you were born into relative luxury compared to God’s Son. There wasn’t even a crib to lay down his sweet head.

Why did God cause his Son to be born in such lowly conditions? One thing that God may have been indicating is that all the things to which we look for happiness and fulfillment are not where happiness and fulfillment are truly to be found. We so easily believe that if only we had some more riches, some more luxuries, then we’d be happy. Or if only we had some more prestige. Or, even, for those of a more sentimental nature, if only I had that Norman Rockwell Christmas, then my heart would be full.

No, happiness and fulfillment must be satisfied by something much higher than any earthly, created thing. That thirst can only be quenched by a relationship with the uncreated Creator. And, indeed, to bring about that happy relationship is the very reason why this great king came.

And we see that this great king continues to be a strange king. He was not found in big fancy palaces. He didn’t have servants so that he wouldn’t have to work anymore or be troubled by anything. Just the opposite: he served instead of being served. And his service continued all the way to the end. He didn’t sit upon a big fancy throne. He was nailed through his hands and his feet to an instrument of torture and death.

On the cross the king suffered in our place for the sins that we have committed. With all our sins God didn’t just say, “Forget about them. No big deal.” No, the great king came to set things right, not to ignore wrongs. He came to bring about righteousness and justice. He suffered the punishment that was due for our sin. By the high and holy sacrifice of the king we have peace with God. The king has brought about righteousness, justice, and peace, reconciling sinners to God by his death and resurrection.

The work of Jesus the king is not over, however. He sits at the right hand of God the Father, reigning and ruling all things, but especially his spiritual kingdom. The way that Jesus reigns and rules in his spiritual kingdom is by sending out his Gospel, which means “good news,” so that sinners may repent and believe in the king. So that having been justified by faith, we may have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

This message that gets sent out is similar to what the angel was sent to speak to the poor, lowly shepherds: “Do not be afraid. I bring you glad tidings of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” The angel tells the shepherds that the great king has been born. Christ the Lord will save them.

In like manner the Gospel goes out in our day. Just as with the angel and the shepherds, not everyone hears it. The shepherds heard it; others did not. Likewise, not everyone is in a church tonight. And even though people might hear about the great king, not everyone believes it. Whether a person believes or does not believe does not just depend on their attendance or lack of attendance. Whether a person believes or does not believe is dependent upon the reigning and ruling of Christ the king. When and where it pleases him the Holy Spirit creates faith in those who hear the Gospel. They believe in the king. As John says, “Those who believe in Jesus’s name are children of God—born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.” Children of God

This is all to say that Jesus’s reigning and ruling right now at the right hand of God the Father is very special. If you believe in this king—if you turn away from your sins and hate them, if you believe that Jesus is the king who saves you—this is God’s doing, and it is marvelous, but how marvelous it is is only apparent to the eyes of faith. There is no outward kingdom of Christ right now with magnificent signs and wonders. He rules by his Word and the Holy Spirit. He converts. He brings people out of darkness and the fear of God’s punishment to the light, to forgiveness, to being confident before God because of what Jesus the king has done.

Although Jesus reigns and rules as king in a hidden way right now, it will not always be that way. There is more to come with Jesus’s kingdom. He isn’t done as he sits at the right hand of God the Father. He will come again to bring his reigning and ruling to completion. He will come again on the last day with power and great glory to judge the living and the dead. At that hour, when the trumpet sounds, the dead will be raised, and he will give eternal life to all believers in Christ.

Although this day will be tremendous and awesome, some might say “dreadful,” it is a continuation of all that this king has been doing since the beginning. When he comes on the last day he will accomplish yet more righteousness, yet more justice, yet more peace. Jesus will accomplish yet more of the kinds of things we read about him doing in the Gospels. Jesus went about casting our demons, healing diseases, giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, raised the dead, so on and so forth. Jesus was working to bring to nothing anything that was evil, sad, fearful, mean, painful, and so on. These will be brought to nothing once and for all on that great and final day. The king will see to it.

Thus we have a real parting of the ways depending on whether you believe in this king or not. What do we say about these evils? These evils are so easy to find, so easy to Google, so easy to do? We have evils on the outside and evils on the inside. Even if we were to do everything relatively well time marches on and our bodies get old. Things aren’t as fun as they used to be. I think we could come up with a good long list—and we wouldn’t have to work too hard to do it.

The parting of ways is with the philosophers in our midst. The philosophers throw up their hands and say, “Too bad! That’s life! There’s no changing it! Might as well just get used to it!” To which a believer in Christ should say: “The Lord rebuke you!” Because there is the king, God’s Son, things will not just go on as they always have been. There is nothing evil that is going to endure. Whatever is evil is doomed. The king is going to see to it. A great change is in store for everyone and everything.

This is good news. It’s strange good news, in a way, because the evil that the king has come to destroy is surely found also in us. You can’t keep holding on to that evil. The king won’t allow it. The king is on the march. The king is going to be victorious. As our epistle reading said, “He is going to purify for himself a people for his own possession.” Being purified is often not a very pleasant experience for the thing or the one who is being purified.

This is where I think it is important to keep in mind who is doing the purifying. Is God, who is purifying, good or evil? Is God for us or against us? Surely God is for us. That is the meaning of Christmas. God is for us. What more proof do we need than that he sent his Son to be king, being born in a barn? In addition to all the strange things I’ve been pointing out tonight, God’s love for us sinners is strange in that he gave up Son, his dearest treasure.

So if it is good news even that we should be purified, that the darkness we love by nature should be replaced by the light, then what do we have to complain about? Anything evil is doomed. Anything evil is so utterly temporary. God’s kingdom, on the other hand is eternal. His kingdom is unstoppable.

Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

231213 Sermon on Ruth 3-4 (Advent 2 Midweek) December 13, 2023

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Sermon manuscript:

I’d like to begin tonight by orienting ourselves. Last week we heard the first two chapters of the book of Ruth. The two most important people in this book are Naomi and Ruth. Naomi used to live near Bethlehem with her husband and two sons, but they needed to leave when a famine came on the land. They had to move to Moab. As they were living in Moab, Naomi’s two sons married Moabite women named Orpah and Ruth. Not long after that all three husbands died. Naomi’s husband died. Orpah’s husband died. Ruth’s husband died. The women were left alone in their widowhood.

This was an especially vulnerable situation to be in during ancient times. Men worked to provide for the family. They also protected the family. Naomi, Orpah and Ruth were poor and extremely vulnerable.

What I focused on during last week’s sermon was how Naomi and Ruth, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, loved one another. Naomi urged her daughters-in-law to go back to their homes, to marry new husbands, and allow Naomi to fend for herself. This was sensible advice. It was their best shot at happiness. Ruth, however, refused to leave Naomi. Wherever Naomi would go Ruth would go.

Where Naomi then went was back home. The famine by this time was over. When Elimelek was still living, Naomi and he farmed some land near Bethlehem. Bethlehem was home. So Naomi and Ruth went to Bethlehem.

When Naomi and Ruth arrived, they needed to have a way to support themselves. Neither of them had two nickels to rub together. Naomi was old and frail. So it fell upon Ruth to work and support them both. The job she took was very lowly—the kind of work that beggars do. She was a gleaner of the fields. Being a gleaner meant that you would go through the field after it was harvested and pick up the leftovers. If the harvesters missed some grain at the side of the field, the gleaners could harvest that for themselves. Or if some stalks fell out of a bundle, the gleaners could take that for themselves. The gleaners didn’t have a right to take what they wanted. They could only take what was left over.

The good thing, though, was that Ruth ended up being a gleaner in the right field. The owner of the field ended up being a relative of Naomi’s. His name was Boaz. He was also a redeemer, which I’ll explain in a moment. It was good that Ruth worked in Boaz’s field because Boaz treated Ruth kindly. He commanded his workers to allow Ruth to work right next to the harvesters. He even told them purposely to drop so stalks. Boaz wanted Ruth’s gleaning to be worth her time, and it was. When she came home to Ruth with what she had gleaned, Naomi was thrilled.

Now I mentioned that Boaz was a redeemer. Our reading tonight was very much about the redemption process that Boaz underwent for the benefit of Naomi and Ruth. So what is this redeeming about? To understand it, you need to know that loans and the ownership of property worked differently in Israel than how they work among us. God stipulated in his Law how the Israelites needed to handle these things.

Basically nobody owned land in Israel, according to God’s Law. God was the owner of all the land. The people leased the ability to live on the land and work it from God. Now if there came a time when the people who lived on the land came into financial difficulty, they could sell their right to work the land to somebody else, but this was always only a temporary arrangement.  

The family who sold their right to work the land could get their original land back in two ways. One way was by what was called the jubilee year. Every 50 years was a jubilee year. During that year all debts were cancelled. The selling of rights to the land was cancelled. Then the family who originally owned the land would get it back, free and clear.

The other way that a family could get their land back was by a redeemer. This is what happened with Naomi and Ruth. Naomi and her late husband Elimelek had some land near Bethlehem years ago. When the famine came, they must have sold their rights to that land to somebody else when they moved to Moab. Naomi still had a right to that land, but the debt needed to be redeemed. More prosperous relatives were able to redeem their poorer relatives to restore them to the land.

So in our reading tonight we heard about how Boaz set about redeeming Naomi’s land, which also meant that these widows would come under his wing. Ruth would become his wife. This was a big commitment. It would be expensive for Boaz. He also would be taking on the responsibility of caring for these women. But this was something that Boaz was happy to do, because, as you heard, he loved Ruth.

The real driver behind our story tonight is not the peculiarities the Law that God gave to Israel about debt and property. It’s a love story. Last week I talked about the love that existed between Naomi and Ruth. Tonight we heard about the marital love that Ruth had for Boaz, and Boaz for Ruth. For the love of Ruth Boaz redeemed Naomi and her.

He had to play his cards right to do that, because a closer relative had the ability to redeem them too. Boaz had to meet with the council, and that’s where there was that strange exchange of a sandal. Long story short, Boaz did play his cards right. They married, and in this way God provided for Naomi and Ruth—lifting them out of poverty and danger. They were even blessed for generations after them. King David would be born from this line. This also means that Ruth and Boaz are Jesus’s ancestors too.

Now as we look to how we might apply what we’ve heard to our own time and place, I’d like to talk about something that pastors don’t talk about very much—the importance of marrying a good spouse. God’s Word actually speaks about this in many places, and with many examples, both good and bad. One of the most important factors for people’s life of faith is the person they marry—either for good and for ill. A godly, pious spouse is very powerful for helping the other retain his or her faith. On the other hand, an impious spouse will be a powerful hindrance to living faithfully.

And this is not only the case for the spouses themselves. It also has its effect on the coming generations. This is easily proven. When both husband and wife are pious, faithful, church-goers, they are going to raise their children the same way. Boys learn how to be husbands and fathers from their dads. Girls learn how to be wives and mothers from their moms. As the Proverb says: Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

On the other hand, when moms and dads are not on the same page when it comes to their faith and attending church, the coming generations will have mixed signals about how to live and what to do. If mom and dad don’t attend church, the children won’t either. By the time the second or third generation is born, the children might not even be baptized and confirmed.

So we should be wise and serious about marriage. We can speak about this negatively and positively. Negatively speaking, Christians should not continue in relationships where their potential spouse is not Christian, does not want to become a Christian, or doesn’t actively live a Christian life. Being a Christian is not just saying that you believe in God or in Christ. It also means that you repent of sins, believe in Jesus, and want to do better. It means that you are active in your congregation—helping your fellow congregation members, even as they help you. If the person you are dating is not an active Christian and does not want to become one, then the relationship should end.

Positively speaking, Christians should, first of all, pray for God to give them a godly spouse. You parents and grandparents should pray for godly spouses for your children and grandchildren. There’s nothing more beneficial you could ask for them. And then, second of all, when an opportunity presents itself to marry a pious Christian, don’t just sit on your hands. Get out there and make it happen.

We see good examples of this with Ruth and Boaz. When Naomi heard about Boaz, I bet you her wheels started turning immediately. Notice how she encouraged Ruth to go to Boaz and to make known her affection for him. Naomi was a matchmaker. Being a matchmaker is no sin. Making known your affection is no sin. It’s risky, of course. Hearts can be broken. But even in a situation where things do not turn out how we would want, it is better to try and fail than to never try at all.

If I may be so bold, I’d even like to speak personally. I was captivated by Jana from the moment I first laid eyes on her. The feeling, however, was not mutual. When eventually, years later, I made known to her my long-standing affection in an email, she was not immediately on board. But, being wise, she talked to her father about it, and I’m glad she did. He basically said to her, don’t be too hasty. Give it a chance. Long story short, less than a year later we were married. I hope that she hasn’t been too disappointed; I know that I haven’t been. If it hadn’t been for my father-in-law, who knows if we would have gotten married.

So romantic relationships do not need to be only how they get depicted in movies or sung about in songs. Movies and songs can be a lot of fun, but that might not be how God would have it be for you with your spouse.

What is important to recognize are the things that were recognized by Boaz and Ruth. Each recognized in the other that here was someone who was loving, honorable, generous, pious, and so on. That said, neither was probably “perfect” in every respect. Ruth was practically a beggar. Boaz sounds like he was an older man. Maybe he didn’t have the best of looks anymore. But God gave them both the gift of love. God brought them together. The two became one flesh. The blessings carried on for several generations.

So my encouragement is that we be wise and serious about marriage for ourselves and for those whom we love. Being wise and serious does not come out of thin air. If anything, what seems to come naturally is getting carried away by the feelings that are stirred up by stories and songs.

God is the key factor. He is the one from whom all good things come. You young people, you’re never too young to pray for a godly spouse. You older people, pray for godly spouses for your children and grandchildren. There’s hardly anything more important you could ask for to help them not only in this life, but even to eternity.

231206 Sermon on Ruth 1-2 (Advent 1 Midweek) December 6, 2023

 Audio recording

Sermon manuscript:

The book of Ruth is about poor people. Being poor can lead to desperate actions. The book begins with a desperate action. A poor family leaves their homeland when they can no longer make ends meet. A famine struck the land. Naomi and her husband Elimelech have to leave their land behind in search of better conditions. They went to the land of Moab where the people worshipped other gods besides the Lord God. Naomi and Elimelech had two sons who married Moabite women.

But one bad thing happened after another for this family. Elimelech, Naomi’s husband died. Then both of Naomi’s sons died. The family that was left was made up only of widows—three widows, three in-laws. Naomi was the mother-in-law. She had two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth.

Being a widow is bad enough regardless of whether we are talking about modern times or ancient times. Being a widow carries with it sorrow and loneliness. But in ancient times being a widow also brought about impoverishment and vulnerability. Men were important for providing sustenance for the family. There was no social security during those times. Men were also important for protecting the family. Widows could be overpowered and taken advantage of. So with Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth all being widows we are talking about very weak, poor, and vulnerable people.

Normally histories do not get written about weak, poor, and vulnerable people. Wretched people live in wretchedness, die in wretchedness, and are soon forgotten. But the attentive reader is going to notice that Naomi and her daughters-in-law are not completely wretched. They have a couple of outstanding attributes that no amount of money can buy.

Naomi, first of all, was obviously loveable. Naomi was loved by her daughters-in-law. The way that a person becomes loveable is by being loving. People who love do not look out for themselves, first and foremost. They look for how they can love, serve, and sacrifice for others. Naomi must have lived this way, as can be seen in what we heard tonight.

When Naomi’s sons died she lost everything. She had no means for any income that could amount to much. The only hope she had was in her daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth. But Naomi thinks about their welfare instead of her own. She tells them that they should leave her and find new husbands. Naomi was too old to marry and have children, but Orpah and Ruth were young. They could still get married to a man who could support them and whatever children God might give them.

And a clear sign that Naomi was loveable is shown by both of her daughters-in-law’s reactions. Orpah and Ruth weep at the thought of leaving their mother-in-law. They love their mother-in-law. However, Naomi was right. If they were to have any hope for a better future they needed to marry again. With the famine and everything else that was going on, it sounds like they were living in desperate times. One daughter-in-law, Orpah, takes her mother-in-law’s advice. She leaves to find a husband and we do not hear about her again.

Ruth, however, refuses to leave. She says, “Where you go I will go, where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” Here we see someone else besides Naomi who loves in an extraordinary way. Ruth, also, is so very loveable because she loves, she serves, she sacrifices. She doesn’t look out just for herself. She looks out for the good of her mother-in-law.

And how is it that both Naomi and Ruth are able to be so loveable, so selfless, so sacrificial? Both of them have faith in God. God would bless them and keep them. Because God would bless them and keep them, they didn’t need to be their own gods. They didn’t need to see to things themselves, engineer their own happiness, taking whatever they could get. God would see them through. They believed that even though God had dealt with them in a rather bitter way up to that point. They were impoverished, after all, and God had taken their husbands from them. Nevertheless, they could afford to love, because God would bless them and see them through.

Now if we take a step back and look at these two women we can see how rich they are, even though they are so very poor in almost every other respect. You can see how noble they are, even though they would have been outwardly clothed with the rags of poverty. They were living life with a capital L, even though they had nowhere to lay their head and to call their home. They were like the birds of the air. They were getting their daily bread, day by day, without barns full of provisions.

We see several of Jesus’s sayings fulfilled in Naomi’s and Ruth’s lives. Jesus said, “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” Naomi and Ruth were loving and being loved. What more can we ask for out of life than loving and being loved? But this love does not just come out of nowhere. Love comes from God, who, as St. John says, “is love.” And so Naomi and Ruth were fulfilling another of Jesus’s sayings when he says, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” It is by faith in God’s kingdom, in his reigning and ruling, that we receive the Holy Spirit’s gift of love.

Again Jesus says in another place: “I came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly. The thief comes only to steal, to kill, and to destroy.” The way to have life and to have life more abundantly is to love and to be loved. To love one another means that you are looking out for the other. You love, you serve, you sacrifice. This is abundant life as it reflects the nature of God.

The alternative is to steal, to kill, and to destroy. This is the character of every ungodly life. It’s where a person looks out only for himself or herself. Others get used for one’s own benefit instead of being served. Instead of trusting in God to bless you, you see to things yourself, unable to be generous, because you never know what the wheel of fortune might give you.

Looking at Naomi and Ruth from a distance we see that everything that subsequently happens with them is a working out of their faith in God, and their fervent love for one another. These are their riches. Outwardly they are extremely poor. Ruth is practically a beggar and a slave. I’m sure that both Naomi and Ruth would have like it very much if their outward circumstances were different. Nevertheless, they are content. They continue to believe. They continue to love.

Faith and love can seem like small matters. History books are not written about faith and love. Nevertheless, faith and love are the truly great things. Faith and love are what prepare us for the eternal things. Heaven is the place where God is, and “God is love.” Those who do not want to love, therefore, do not belong there. Hell, on the other hand, is where everyone is an expert at not loving—that is, manipulating and torturing. They steal, kill, and destroy eternally. They are unable to do anything else. Faith and love are by no means small things. They are the truly great things.

But we don’t need to wait until we get to heaven to see the effects of faith and love. We can see the effects already in this life. What a difference Naomi made for Ruth already in this life. Ruth loved her so much! And what a difference Ruth made for Naomi. Ruth practically kept Naomi alive. And, as we’ll hear about more in the next two chapters next week, Ruth was the great-grandmother of King David, that truly great man of God. The heritage of faith and love can be passed down from generation to generation. Something of David’s wonderful, courageous faith, and his burning, passionate love, was from his great-grandmother Ruth.

We can easily apply these thoughts also to our own life. We all can probably point to someone in our life or in our lineage who believed and loved, and thereby brought that faith and love also to us. We also are presented with a challenge and an opportunity for our own lives as well. The challenge is to separate ourselves from the great horde of humanity who seeks only to steal, to kill, and to destroy—looking out only for themselves.

Or, alternatively, we can believe that God exists and that God blesses. We can trust in him. Then we can afford to love no matter what our circumstances. When we believe and love, there’s no telling what might happen. There’s no telling what can happen in the coming generations.

Think of Naomi and Ruth. Do you suppose that either of them thought that they would be the ancestors of a king while they were going from place to place, barely surviving? So also we do not know how our actions will affect our families and friends and even those yet to be born—either for good or for ill.

What we can be sure of, no matter what, is that if we fear, love, and trust in God, and if we love one another, goodness is bound to come. Naomi and Ruth are examples for how we should live and wait for God’s blessings.

231126 Sermon on Christ's Second Coming (Last Sunday of the Church Year) November 26, 2023

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Sermon manuscript:

One of the unusual features of the times we are living in is how many different beliefs there are. Perhaps you had a taste of that at your Thanksgiving gathering. Your cousins, nieces, nephews, in-laws might have very different understandings about what is right and wrong, the present state of things in the world, or what we should do about all of it. There have always been differences of beliefs. No two human beings have ever had the exact same thoughts about everything. But in the last few years the sheer number of beliefs available to be believed has increased dramatically.

Sometimes you might hear of people applauding this development. More free speech and more diversity is automatically good. But many of the new beliefs contradict older beliefs. For example, either we have been made to be male and female—and that means something, or gender is just a fluid social construct. Either male and female is something intrinsic and natural, God-given, or what I’ve just said is judgmental and hateful. It is impossible for both views to be good. They contradict each other.

So despite what people might say about diversity—that it should be welcomed, the more diverse the better—they either aren’t seeing the contradictions or they aren’t being totally honest. If they were being honest they would say that those who hold the older beliefs are deplorable and have no business holding any power or authority in our modern life. They should be run out of the government, run out of our universities, run out of our schools. They don’t go so far as to want to kill people, but they most certainly want certain beliefs and ideas to die. The reason why they are so passionate for their beliefs is because they genuinely believe that the death of these old ideas will make the world a better place.

I wouldn’t be surprised if some of you had some vigorous debates on Thanksgiving whether these newer ideas would make the world a better place. I could take up the rest of this sermon time by giving you arguments for why this or that belief is bad and will lead to worse conditions rather than better ones. That might be an enjoyable way for us to spend our time. I suspect that most of us are pretty much on the same page about the various issues. But glorying in how right we are and how wrong they are would give the impression that we—with our debating, with our fighting—we are what is indispensable for Christianity and for the furtherance of Christ’s kingdom.

This is a very common, false assumption, which is held to particularly in our circles. Being a Christian is assumed to be the same thing as being a “conservative.” Being a Christian means that you fight for the old beliefs as opposed to the new beliefs. Christianity is us versus them. We’re right; they’re wrong. And what needs to happen is that either they need to shape up so that they adopt our position, or they must be eliminated. Their beliefs and ideas need to be eliminated. They must be run out of the government, run out of the schools, run out of the libraries. Being a Christian means that you are a cultural warrior.

This is not Christianity. This is one of the devil’s tricks. We know from St. Paul that the devil likes to dress himself up as an angel of light. There’s nothing that the devil likes more than to play around in religion. What a harvest of souls the devil can collect for himself if he convinces people that Christianity is a matter of being either conservative or progressive. Then people will fight with each other over whether we should be conservative or progressive, believing thereby that they are being ever so pious, ever so religious, when in fact they will be accomplishing nothing that lasts into eternity.

There is only one way for us to last into eternity, and that is by becoming a new creation. Paul says a couple of times in his letter to the Galatians that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision—an issue hotly debated at the time—counts for anything. What is needed is a new creation. I don’t think I am going wrong by modifying that statement to say, “Neither conservatism nor progressivism is strong enough to accomplish anything. What is needed is a new creation.”

And what is this new creation? John speaks of this at the beginning of his Gospel. He says, “To those who received the light [that is, Christ,] to those who believed in Jesus’s name, he gave the right to become children of God. They were born, not of blood, or of the desire of the flesh, or of a husband’s will. They were born of God.” That’s how you become a new creation. You are born again through faith in Jesus’s name.

This is very much tied up with baptism. One of the simplest answers to the question of how to become a Christian is that you should be baptized. Jesus speaks of baptism as being “born again by the water and the Spirit.” Unless we are born again we cannot see the kingdom of God.

And why is it so necessary to become a new creation? It is because the change that is needed is too great. Neither conservatism nor progressivism can save anyone from death. Neither conservatism nor progressivism can reconcile sinners with God. Neither side can exorcise evil spirits to make way for the Holy Spirit. Neither side can make anybody truly love. If anything it seems that the more we fight the more we hate, the more we dehumanize our opponents. And to what end? For greater diversity, equity and inclusion on the one side? To make America great again on the other? However grand these ideas might seem to be to people, they are far too small and temporary. Christ our Lord operates on an entirely different plane of existence.

This is something that our readings today about the end of the world point out so forcefully that it strikes me as being almost brutal. We think the stuff that we deal with is so important, so consequential. The future of our country or the future of the world depends on us winning the cultural war. What our readings today reveal is that it isn’t about us at all. The most outstanding thing is Jesus Christ being Lord and God.

In our reading from Matthew we hear about how this King comes with magnificent splendor and power. All the souls born of Adam and Eve are gathered before him. Each and every one of you are one of those souls. The most powerful person who will have ever wielded the reins of government will be one of those souls. The most lowly—the retarded, the aborted, the slave—will be one of those souls. And how are they judged? They are judged by the presence or absence of the chief and foremost fruit of faith, which is love. Did they love? And who did they love? Did they love only their own, and to hell with everybody else or did they love the least of these?

Our epistle reading is also supremely grand. Paul speaks about the resurrection and what will happen at the end. Paul is correcting the Corinthians, some of whom didn’t believe that the resurrection from the dead was likely or possible. Paul says, no, there is most certainly a resurrection from the dead. If there is no resurrection from the dead then Christianity is a joke. It’s simply not true if there is no resurrection.

But what I find so captivating is what he says towards the end of our reading. He says that at the end Christ will bring to nothing every rule, every authority, every power. All his enemies must be put under his feet. Then he will deliver the kingdom—all those who have been raised together with Christ—he will deliver them to God the Father. Even Christ himself will be subject to God the Father. Then God will be all in all.

To be honest, I’m not sure I understand everything that Paul has said. One thing is clear though: Christ’s kingdom is what is extraordinarily important and there is no alternative. There is no alternative universe for DEIers, or for Trumpers, or for never-trumpers. “There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all.” This inclusivity is extreme! It is only in Christ that there can ever be true unity, true oneness. And there will be oneness, because either you will be in him, and one with him, or you will depart from him. This inclusivity is extreme. It seems brutal—harsh, even.

But this is where it is important to remember what kind of Lord and King Jesus was. When you are tempted to believe that this is all too extreme, nasty, brutal, and so on, you must remember the way that Jesus was in the Gospels. His disposition towards us has not changed.

What the Gospels reveal is that Jesus is an extremely strange king—so different from those who have earthly power. He did not enslave the world so that everybody would serve him. Just the opposite: He poured himself out for the benefit of all. He healed, he set right that which was wrong, he cast out demons, he forgave. And the works didn’t need to be extraordinary or grand. On the night when he was betrayed he got out a basin, put water in it, tied a towel around his waist, and washed the disciples feet. What kind of king does that?

And, of course, as you are well aware, Jesus was king in a supreme way when he was nailed to the cross, suffered God’s wrath for our sins, and died. Because he died, we will not die. Because he is risen, we will rise too. This is the stuff that Paul talks about in our Epistle reading. It is going to happen to us. We will rise at his coming. Death will be destroyed forever. We will be caught up in this whirlwind of Christ’s kingdom where all things will be brought to nothing and Christ will rule over everything. Then we will be delivered to God the Father so that God will be all in all.

In light of all of this we must all repent and believe the Gospel. Whatever improvement projects we might have for ourselves or for others are futile. They can never reach deep enough. Nothing that we do can ever change the human heart. Only God, through the death and resurrection of his Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit can make us new creatures.

This is where the extreme inclusivity, the seemingly brutal oneness, should not be seen as being as brutal as it first appears. It seems brutal because God does all this without asking for our permission or our approval. He’s going to do what he’s going to do whether we like it or not. Losing control, losing our say about what we think is good or what should happen, is frightening.

But what if none of us is good at knowing what is good and evil? What if all our hearts are evil and in need of redemption? Then it is much better for the King, who is wise and good, to take the reins. He continues to set right that which is wrong, to cast out evil spirits, to forgive. Nobody can do what he does. He does all things well.

231123 Sermon for Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 2023

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The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.

Our country has been celebrating the National Day of Thanksgiving since 1863. In October of 1863 President Lincoln called upon the nation to consider its good fortune. It had been blessed with bountiful harvests, with healthful skies, with productive mines. The president declared that these things came from a generous God. He acknowledged that there were troubles too. The country had been in the civil war for about a year and a half. But, President Lincoln said, things could be worse. Thus he set aside the last Thursday in November as the National Day of Thanksgiving.

For our observance of Thanksgiving Day we could do something similar to what President Lincoln did in his Thanksgiving proclamation. We could consider how things have been with us. God has given us a bountiful harvest. This is true nationally as well as locally. President Lincoln spoke of healthful skies. We, too, have had good weather. The mines are still being mined. Our grocery stores are all fully stocked. We’ve had our problems just like President Lincoln had his problems, but things could be worse.

It is good for us to try to see what is good in life and to give thanks to God for that goodness. The inability to see what is good and our coldness towards God are from our fall into sin. Before the fall into sin Adam and Eve had a free and easy relationship with God. After they fell into sin they were afraid of God. They were suspicious of what he might do to them.

We are like them. We’ve lost the ability to see what is good. Unfortunately, we very often don’t see how good something is until it’s gone. We don’t see how good health is until we are sick. Since we don’t see how good it is, we don’t thank God for it like we should. We haven’t had a famine for well over a hundred years. This has made many people believe that famines, food shortages, hunger—these are all things of the past. We do not see how extraordinary the abundance we enjoy is. We don’t give thanks to God for it.

And these are just the most intimate of our needs—our health, our food and drink. There are so many other good things that God heaps up on us day in and day out. He makes the sun shine. He makes the rain fall. He gives us the precious gifts of the members of our family. He gives us our community. He gives us the opportunity to serve with good and honest work. His mercies are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness.

But maybe as I mentioned just those few blessings that God gives you’ve wanted to raise some objections. The weather’s kind of cold. I hear it’s only going to get colder. The precious gifts of the members of your family? They’re not always easy to live with. The community? It’s not like it was years ago. Good and honest work? Maybe you don’t like your work. Maybe you don’t like your coworkers.

But let me remind you of what I just spoke about. It is natural for us fallen sinners to be blind to what is good. It is always easier for us to be dissatisfied with what we have and to want something better. Thus we do not give thanks. Not only is this what comes naturally to us, but the devil and his demons want to spur on these thoughts and attitudes as well. These enemies of God don’t want us to be thankful.

The devil would like it best if none of us would receive our daily bread at all. But, barring that, since God is the way that he is, and he gives his daily bread to everyone, the devil would then like it if we would not be content with what we are given or to give God thanks and praise. Instead of being content, he wants us always to be on the lookout for something better—maybe that something that somebody else is enjoying. If only I had what they have, then I would be happy.

This is called coveting. The ninth and tenth commandments say, “You shall not covet.” God gives us these commandments for our good, and we truly would be better off if we never coveted, but coveting comes naturally to us. Coveting is also a very powerful spiritual problem, and so the devil wants us to covet. The first step to coveting is to be dissatisfied with what God has given to you. This dissatisfaction can be about all kinds of different things: Your spouse isn’t good enough. Your parents aren’t good enough. Your job isn’t good enough. Your friends aren’t good enough. Your personality isn’t good enough. Your body isn’t good enough.

There are two things I’d like to point out about this poisonous spiritual fog the devil is always wafting our way. First of all, it is useful to understand that these things could be true—at least certainly theoretically. Could you have a better body? Yep. We all even know how we could do it too. Could your job be better? Theoretically. If we are considering dreams and ideals, then I suppose anything is possible.

In fact, this is just the reverse of something I’ve already said a few times tonight: “Things could always be worse.” Conversely, things could always be better. Both statements are truisms. Things could always be worse. Things could always, at least theoretically, be better. So that’s the first thing—there’s truth, theoretically at least, mixed in with the dissatisfaction and covetousness.

The second thing I’d like to point out is that this evil spiritual fog makes people miserable. Thinking about how you don’t measure up with various aspects of your life is practically guaranteed to make anybody who does it sad. This, of course, is what the devil would like for all of us. The devil likes it when others are made sad. He’d like it if we would all be sad and miserable eternally.

So the devil will waft his nasty, poisonous fog towards us to destroy any contentment and thanksgiving towards God that we might otherwise have. The devil would like nothing better than for all of us to hate everything we have in our life, and then for us to be angry at God for making our lives so miserable. But truly it is not God who has made our lives so miserable. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. Great is his faithfulness. It is not God who makes us so miserable. It is the devil. The way he does it not even so much by depriving us of what we need for this body and life. Instead he bewitches us so that we are dissatisfied, covetous, and thankless.

Shame on the devil for bewitching us so thoroughly. What dreadful misery he manages to inflict upon us. But the good news is that you can fight back. Not only can you fight back, but the real truth is on our side. That’s how it always is with the devil. The truth is actually against him. He has been defeated. It is only by lies that he holds on to any power.

So when the devil cooks up a lie that you should be miserable and ashamed at how bad things are for you, know that he’s wrong. The truth that the devil will probably try to use is that things could always be better. But the real truth is that things are already good now. We don’t need any potentialities or idealism. Things are already good.

To say that, however, requires faith. We must believe that amid all the things that can happen and do happen in this life that Jesus is Lord and God. He reigns at the right hand of God the Father almighty. He has redeemed us poor, fallen, covetous sinners. He sends his Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth and gladness, to fight against all lying, evil, and sad spirits.

Things are already good now and the truth is that the future is as bright and cheerful as we could ever hope for so long as we remain faithful to Jesus. What we know about the future is that there is nothing that is currently wrong that Jesus will not set right. There is nothing dissatisfactory about us or in us that will not be healed and perfected. Perhaps God will do this to some extent for his children already in this life, but even if he doesn’t, do not be afraid. He will surely do it when we are resurrected.

Now somebody might object: What about all those things that I still don’t like about my life? I want those changed now. My spouse, my job, my health, my wealth, my body—these haven’t suddenly changed in these last few moments have they? I want my best life now!

This brings to mind the kinds of things that the devil said to Jesus when he was tempted in the wilderness. He said, “If you are the Son of God, then change these stones into bread. Why be hungry? Fix it now.” Or, he said, “Bow down and worship me and all these kingdoms will be yours. Why go through that cross and trouble?” The devil, it seems, is a fan of the quick fix. Don’t put up with anything. Get it changed right now.

But supposing, even, that the goods could always be delivered—supposing that all your wants could be satisfied—what would that ultimately profit you? Jesus once asked, “What would it profit a man to gain the whole world, but to lose his soul?” The reason why even gaining the whole world would not ultimately profit us is because we were made in the image of God. We were made for fellowship with God. Not even all the world’s goods and accomplishments can satisfy what can only be satisfied with a relationship with God.

So do not throw away the goodness of God that is renewed for you every morning by being dissatisfied, by chasing after some ideal. Be thankful instead. What is now, what is present, is good. And even if there is something that isn’t good, it is without doubt passing away. That is what is so marvelous about what Jesus has accomplished for us. Anything that is evil, unfit, unworthy, sad, what-have-you, will not go on forever. It cannot go on forever. After the cross is the resurrection.

 

231112 Sermon on Matthew 25:1-13 (Pentecost 24) November 12, 2023

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What are you looking forward to? Is there a family gathering coming up? Christmas is around the corner. What gifts would you like to receive? Retirement? Weddings? Children or grandchildren? There are a lot of things to look forward to.

What about Jesus Christ’s second coming in power and great glory? Is that on your list? Probably not. There’s a proverbial saying: “It’s not the end of the world.” Behind that saying is a belief that the end of the world would be a bad thing, and that’s not unreasonable. The end of the world means the end of our earthly activities. This earthly life moves into the past. A somewhat unknown future rushes upon us. It is scary to think of all the things we are accustomed to failing and being presented with the unknown.  

You, who trust in Jesus, though, should not be afraid of him coming in power and great glory. This is not something you can do just by mustering up your nerve not to be afraid. That won’t work. There is only one reason why you should not be afraid of Jesus coming again, and that is the message of the Gospel. The Gospel is the good news about the relationship between God and us. The hostility between foul sinners on the one hand and a holy God on the other has been overcome by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. This means that when Jesus comes, our future with God will be different from what we otherwise would expect.

What would we otherwise expect? An honest look at what we’ve done will quickly give us the answer. We haven’t done what we should have done. We’ve done what we shouldn’t have done. Meeting our Maker, face to face, immediately thrusts before us God’s judgment. The books are opened. There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed. What we otherwise expect, apart from the Gospel, is that we will be horrified and ashamed.

There is a stupendous truth here, not often acknowledged. Paul calls it the “ministry of the letter.” The glory of this ministry of the letter is so magnificent that nobody can stand to look at the end of it unless he has first turned to Christ. The glory of the letter of the law is in the way that it brings death and eternal death to all who do not fulfill it. This stupendous truth says that based upon how I have lived, with all my sin, I should be punished by God. He should deprive me of all happiness. He should snuff out my life. I deserve to go to hell.

But no matter how glorious this divine truth is, it isn’t even close to being the most glorious—at least according to Paul. Paul says that there is the ministry of the Spirit that is far more glorious. By the term, “ministry of the spirit,” he is referring to the Gospel. The Gospel declares that Jesus has taken our place. God is well pleased with all mankind because of Jesus. All who believe in him will have eternal life.

So let’s go back to how we might feel about the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everybody has at least a little part of them that is afraid. To be perfectly unafraid would require a perfect faith. That isn’t possible in this life where we are constantly under assault from the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh. There’s an element of fear in each of us because the Law is true. The Law says that God should punish us for our sins, and we know that we have sinned.

But here we should recall something that happens so often in what has been recorded in the Bible. So often God’s people are confronted with terrible facts, terrible laws. People are surrounded by water, or by enemies, or by lions, or possessed by demons. And all these facts and laws seem to lead to one conclusion—“You’re lost! There’s no hope for you!” But into these terrible situations God steps in and says, “Do not be afraid.” God says, “Do not be afraid,” countless times in the Scriptures. It’s as though he is saying, “I understand that these laws are calling for your destruction, but I am the Lord of all laws. So be still and see how I am God.”

And so on Judgement Day we will be witness to the working of laws that are more stupendous than anything we might be familiar with from our earthly life here. Even the laws of nature will do strange and unheard of things. As Amos says in our Old Testament reading, there will be nowhere to turn, nowhere to be safe. The only one to whom we can turn and in whom we can be safe is the God who is lord over all the terrible forces. We must turn to the one who is Lord over what will be ripping this creation apart.

How necessary, therefore, is the ministry of the Spirit, the word of the Gospel, through which God says, “Do not be afraid. This Law has called out for your punishment, but I have silenced all its accusations against you when I sent my Son to die for all the sins of the whole world—including yours.”

So what we can see from all of this is that the Day of the Lord is tremendous. Nobody will have experienced anything like it before it happens. It should not be taken for granted—some future event that is nothing to get excited about. If ever we have been excited about anything, then this day must provoke our greatest excitement. There’s to be joy for those of you who believe, but, as we think of it now, there’s an element of fear too.

We see this in our Gospel reading. Our Gospel reading is a parable about the end of the world. Jesus is the groom. The bride is the Holy Christian Church. The groom is coming for his bride because he loves her. The overall mood of this parable is by no means sad. The ten virgins are not dreading the coming of the groom. If anything, they are sad that he has been delayed. But then the cry comes at midnight: “He’s arrived! Come out to meet him!” Those young women must have been roused from their sleep with great happiness. He’s finally here!

It’s like Christmas morning. You don’t have to prod the children to get out of bed. They come a-running like calves out of the stall. They can’t wait to see him.

But Jesus also has a reason for telling us about the foolish virgins as well. Their joy quickly turns to dread. They’ve forgotten their oil. They can’t appear before the groom like that. Maybe they can get some from the others, but it turns out, no they can’t. Each must believe for himself or herself. The borrowing of faith is not possible. While they are gone in search of some way to be presentable to the groom, the doors are shut. That shows that the time of grace has ended. The time of preaching the Gospel and administering the sacraments has ended.

Jesus finished this parable by saying, “Watch, therefore, because you do not know the day nor the hour.” That helps us understand what happened with the foolish virgins, and it gives us our cue as well so that we do not end up in the same boat. It is not only possible, it is easy, for people who self-identify as Christians to quit watching for Christ’s second coming. What do they look for instead? Generally, it’s all the lovely gifts our benevolent Creator gives us in this early life. They look forward to retirement, to vacations, to the good times ahead. There’s no watching or waiting for the day of the Lord. The glory of the ministry of the Spirit leaves no impression, nor do the terrors of the law. Usually they say, at least to themselves: “We know all that stuff already. There’s no need to go on talking about it.” Off to sleep they go.

So how do we keep watch? How do we keep oil in our lamps? How may we be prepared for Christ’s second coming? You might think that fear should work. However, the fear of failure or the fear of punishment will never do it alone. If you prepare only by being fearful, then you are treating God as though he were your enemy. Perhaps by fear you can prepare somewhat for battle against him, but I don’t like your chances in such a fight. Fear alone won’t do.

But, to be honest, an excessive fear of God’s judgment is hardly a problem among us. Among us, it is rather the opposite. Fear of the Day of Judgment is shrugged off. No big deal. Or it isn’t talked about. A person might wonder while hearing this parable how it is possible that these church members, these virgins, were so foolish and unprepared. Well, might it be that when they congregated as a church they never talked about Judgement Day, or it was explained away as nothing to worry about?

Do you realize how rare it is to find a congregation that takes God’s judgement seriously? Our land is littered with churches, but I don’t know if a tenth of them take such things seriously. And yet they have well-meaning people in them who are quite sure that they are as Christian as anybody else. However, it is a Christianity on their terms instead of on God’s terms. A redefined, seemingly improved or more palatable Christianity might be successful by earthly measurements, but true Christianity prepares us for Judgement Day and for the life to come.

So we dare not shrug this day off, nor the fear that it tends to provoke. Nevertheless, only that person is truly worthy and well prepared who has faith in Jesus’s words. And what are Jesus’s words? Why is he coming? You know something he says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not sent his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” Is not Jesus the groom, hastening to the bride whom he loves? These are the facts of God that overwhelm all other facts, no matter how glorious those other facts might appear to be. Jesus’s love is more glorious.

The Christian’s strength is never in fear. Fear can helpful. It can be a spur to wake us up or pull us out of ruts. However, fear can’t get us one inch closer to peace and to knowledge of God. For that we need God’s unfailing promises, in which we believe.

The Day of the Lord, the Day of Judgement, lies in the future. It could be today. It could be tomorrow. If ever we have looked forward to anything, then we should look forward to this day. It is a thrilling cry: “Wake, up! Here he comes! Come out to meet him!”

May God bless you with faith so that that day will give you the inexpressible joy that it deserves.

231029 Sermon for Reformation Day 2023

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“Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”

Today we commemorate the Reformation. One of the greatest consequences of the Reformation was that western Christendom was divided. Prior to the Reformation the Christians in Europe were united under the pope and the bishops under him. After the Reformation there continued to be Christians under the pope and the bishops, but there were also other Christians who no longer recognized the legitimacy of the pope and the bishops.

As you might be aware, this division continues to the present day. There continue to be Roman Catholics who are under the pope and the bishops. And then there are also Protestants, Lutherans included, who do not recognize the pope or bishops as having any divine authority over them.

Although the Reformation is a very large topic, and we could spend many hours going through the history and the issues involved, the fact that Christendom was split is a good way to get at what is especially important about the Reformation. Martin Luther’s rejection of the divine authority of the pope and of the bishops is what made him so despised at the time. The pope and the bishops would have been willing to put up with an awful lot, but they would not tolerate a Christendom that was outside of their jurisdiction.

And as I mentioned, Christendom remains divided to this very day. Therefore, at least among traditional Roman Catholics who have an understanding of church history, Martin Luther is the arch villain. Martin Luther broke the power of the pope over the peoples of Europe. Prior to the Reformation the pope was able to keep kings, princes, and other authorities in line by the power of his excommunication. After the Reformation, vast swaths of Europe no longer recognized his legitimacy. He never again had as much power.

And it is not like that was an unmitigated good. A vacuum of sorts was created. What filled that vacuum was the power of kings and princes. The church lost more and more power. Eventually the kings and princes were replaced by other forms of government, but, still, these governments had all the power. And today maybe it’s the corporations and hedge funds who have all the power. What power does the church have? Very little. The churches, regardless of their denomination, are very easily ignored.

So it’s not surprising that people who care about Christianity, who want Christianity to succeed, would trace the church’s seeming impotence in today’s world to Martin Luther. He broke the power of the pope and the bishops. He divided Christendom. He’s the reason why we’re in the mess that we’re in.

But Martin Luther is terribly mischaracterized if it is believed that he was some kind of revolutionary. If anything he was the opposite. He didn’t set out to destroy the power of the pope or the bishops. He was quite content to live under the pope and the bishops. The problem, though, was that he was not content to live under the pope and the bishops no matter what. If the pope and the bishops were siding against Christ and against the truth, then that was the end of Luther’s loyalty.

This was how Luther broke the system that was in place. There was a system for handling disagreements, a chain of command. If a disagreement came up that the local priest couldn’t handle, he could pass it along to the bishop. If the bishop couldn’t handle it, then he pass it along to the pope. The pope usually could handle it, but he did have the option of calling a church council made up of all the bishops. Perhaps the most important part of this system was that whatever was decided by this structure needed to be followed by the people.

And Luther was willing to go along with all of this. Again, he was no revolutionary. But if the end result of this chain of command was something false, then Luther wasn’t willing to deny the truth for the sake of keeping the peace. This is what stirred up all the trouble. Luther wouldn’t give up on what was true.

This is where what we heard in our Gospel reading applies: “Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”

It’s Jesus’s words that matter—not the church’s word, not the pope’s word, not even any Lutheran pastor’s word. Jesus’s words teach what is true. And it is the truth that sets free. It’s not lies that set free. The truth.

And this is where we can easily find much applicability to us today. This is not just some history lesson so that you can better understand the Reformation or Lutheranism. The burning issue at the time of the Reformation remains the burning issue in our time too: Is the truth going to prevail among us or are we going to be content with lies?

In fact, this has always been the issue since the very beginning, and it will remain the issue until the end. The truth that God spoke to Adam and Eve was replaced with a lie. Adam and Eve preferred the lie to the truth. God, however, was merciful to them and restored them in the truth.

But, as we see in Adam and Eve, it is always hard to come into the truth. When they heard God walking through the garden in the cool of the day they had never been more scared or unhappy. They went and hid in the bushes to try to stay in the lie. It was painful for them to come into the light of God’s judgment. They preferred the lie to the truth.

And at the time of the Reformation, Luther could have avoided all kinds of trouble if he only would have left things be as they were. If he would have left the powerful officials alone, he could have lived out his days in peace and quiet. He would have been on the wrong side. He would have been an enemy of Christ and his truth—siding instead for those in power and for personal advantage. He also wouldn’t have had peace with God. He would have had a guilty conscience, but sins and lies have a way of deadening our conscience so that it eventually doesn’t bother us too much after a while.

So it is also for each one of us. Are we on Jesus’s side or the devil’s side? Are we fighting for the truth or are we content to live peaceably with lies? Being on Jesus’s side is not easy. Jesus tells us that explicitly: “If you wish to be my disciple, then take up your cross and follow me.” That doesn’t sound like a very good deal. If you want to be his disciple, then a cross and suffering are going to be there. Jesus says more about being a disciple in our Gospel reading today too: “If you remain in my word, then you will truly be my disciple, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

So it looks like we have a choice before us. We can either embrace the way of lying or we can embrace the way of truth. The way of lying has its advantages. You can be unscrupulous. You can be extremely practical—do whatever works for you. If you’re a good enough liar you can keep doing almost anything you might want to do as nobody will find out about it. And finally, after a long life of wickedness and covering it up, we can hope in one final lie, that there won’t be any judgement at the end of it.

The way of truth is very different. It is uncomfortable. It is awkward. It can be embarrassing. It can mark you as a target for those who don’t want their lies exposed. As Paul says, “We are like sheep being led to slaughter.” Going the way of truth looks like it won’t work. It looks like it’s a bad deal. Jesus himself appeared to be a failure as he was hanging on the cross.

But, on the other hand, there’s nothing like the truth. It’s divine. It sets us free. The truth of Jesus’s words speak of a hope in Christ for a better existence—a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells. We don’t have to hide. The truth of forgiveness and righteousness in Jesus means we don’t have to lie. We know Jesus, and he has set us free.

A lot of people have blamed Martin Luther for dividing Christendom, weakening it, allowing other forces to rise up with nobody to keep them in check. These forces certainly are out there living it up, with no fear of God or man. Our churches, in contrast, look weak and miserable. We have so very little clout in the world.

But to dream of something different seems to me like the temptation when Jesus was shown all the kingdoms of the world. He could have them all if only Jesus would bow down and worship Satan. That’s not the way of truth. Salvation comes through the cross.

So we do not need to dream of something different. We are fully equipped for the kingdom of God with the truth of Jesus’s words. But we must use of it. If we reject Jesus’s word, if we reject God’s commandments, if we prefer lies and power to the truth, then we would be doing no good even if we managed to become the biggest church in Fairmont with all the trappings of success. Even if we managed to become as powerful as the medieval popes, it would be for naught, for that is not the way the Church of Christ goes forward.

The church of Christ goes forward by holding to the truth of Christ, come what may. This necessarily means that we take up our cross and follow him. When we abide in Jesus’s word we ourselves will be saved, and we will prove to be a light to others, leading them to Christ as well.

The work goes on. Luther didn’t fix things—come up with some magic formulas—so that there is no work, and he certainly didn’t wreck everything either. The words of Christ, the truth that sets free, must be presented to every individual of every generation. We must be sure that we don’t substitute what is false for what is true just because it is easier or looks like it will work better. The truth is in Jesus.

“Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”

231022 Sermon on Matthew 22:15-22 (Pentecost 21) October 22, 2023

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For better understanding what is going on in our Gospel reading, it is helpful to know the context. Our reading today is during Holy Week. Jesus entered Jerusalem a couple days before on Palm Sunday. The people hailed him as king. He then went to the Temple, clearing out the money changers, flipping over tables and such. All of this made the leaders in Jerusalem very upset. They had always believed that Jesus was no good. So in the readings for the past few weeks we’ve been hearing about the interaction between Jesus and these leaders in Jerusalem.

Our reading this morning is another of those interactions, but in today’s reading the Jewish leaders are trying to trap Jesus in what he might say.  So they come to him with something of a trick question: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

To understand why this is a trick question, we need to know something about the political situation at that time. The Jewish people had not been able to govern themselves for quite some time. They had been ruled over by foreigners for a few hundred years. The latest of the foreign rulers were the Romans, with the Caesar at the head of that government. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to that guy or not?”

I’m not aware of any people who enjoys having foreign rulers over them, and the Jews were no exception. They resented the presumption, arrogance, brutality, and so on of the Romans. They were hoping that they could get their own kingdom back. One of the hopes at the time was that the Messiah, or the Christ, promised in the Old Testament, would come and restore their kingdom. So they’d rather not pay taxes to Caesar. Plus they could add some pretty legitimate sounding excuses. The Caesar was a rank unbeliever. He even styled himself as something of a god. How could tax-payers give their hard-earned money towards something like that?

So that’s one part of what is going on. The Jews didn’t like the Romans or Caesar. The other part of what is going on with Jesus being asked this questions was that it was dangerous for anyone to say that they didn’t like the Romans or Caesar. If someone had rebellious thoughts, and the Romans found out about it, they wouldn’t think twice about killing especially non-citizens like most of the Jews. I think this is what Jesus’s opponents were hoping would happen. I think they were hoping he would say that we should throw off the Roman yoke and start building a better world. And if Jesus’s opponents heard something like that, the first thing they would have done was to run to Pontius Pilate. They’d turn Jesus in and all their problems would go away.

But Jesus disappoints them. Instead of saying “Throw off the Roman yoke,” he says, “Give Caesar’s things to Caesar, and God’s things to God.” So Jesus avoided their trap.

Now let’s think about what Jesus’s answer means. There are two parts to his answer: “Give Caesar’s things to Caesar, and God’s things to God.” We’ll take them in turns. With the first part of Jesus’s response there seems—to me, at least—to be something of a dismissal of the whole issue. The saying, “Give Caesar’s things to Caesar,” strikes me as being something like, “Let sleeping dogs lie,” or “That’s all a tempest in a teapot.” Not much to see.

To respond in such a manner is unexpected, to say the least. Maybe it would be along the lines of someone saying, “It doesn’t matter if Biden or Trump is president,” when we all know that nothing could be more important than who is president. Right? We have about a dozen cable news channels that are dedicated to nothing else than covering every last whisper and wink that comes out of Washington. Jesus just says, “Leave Caesar alone. Give to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar.”

Perhaps what Jesus’s response identifies is a false god that we easily end up fearing, loving, and trusting in. There’s no denying that those in government have power, and so we easily believe that if only we were able to get these things straight—if only we could get our guys or our party in there—then we’ll be happy. Every four years, every two years, we hear the same things over and over again. Vote for this guy and then you’ll be happy. Or, conversely, God forbid the other guy should be elected otherwise the world will fall apart. Our fear, love, and trust belong with the true God instead of in anything else. To fear, love, and trust in those who have power in earthly affairs is just as much idolatry as if we were bowing down and worshiping some statue.

In order for you to see how idolatry can be present with our thoughts about government, let me speak briefly about another kind of idolatry, the idolatry of money. Very similar things are said about money as are said about the government. “If only I have money, then I’ll be happy.” Or, conversely, “if I should happen to lose any money, then gloom, despair, and agony on me.”

Now I have to admit that there’s something going on with these things we idolize. For example, does it feel good to come into some money? You bet it does. Does it hurt to lose money? Yes indeed. So also with the government. There are good governments and bad governments. We’d all like to have a good government. Does it feel good to have your guy win on election night? You bet it does. But even though we can get some pleasure and satisfaction through these things, they are not very good gods. They don’t really deliver the happiness or blessedness that they are always promising.

So do not put your faith in this person or party being elected or not elected. A lot of people at Jesus’s time believed that if they could only get rid of that awful Caesar, then happy days would return again. Whether Caesars exist or don’t exist is not what will do the trick. What is needed is a new creation. The things of God are what is needed. We need to be born again of water and the Spirit. We need to enter into a new relationship with God where there is true righteousness, justice, peace, and so on—much purer and profounder than any earthly ruler could ever accomplish under even the best of circumstances.

So do not obsess over who is in power or not in power. God still exists in heaven above regardless of who is in power. Make it your aim, instead, to please God.

This is one thought that I believe Jesus is expressing when he says, “Give Caesar’s things to Caesar.” Leave him be. Another thing he is saying is actually the answer to their question: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” Jesus says, basically, “It is.” Pay the things that belong to Caesar to Caesar. Paul says the same thing in Romans 13: “Pay taxes to whom you owe taxes.” Why? Because government is a gift from God. They need to be supported in the work that God has given them to do.

Now I can understand why it might not seem as though government is a gift from God. There is always waste, corruption, nonsense, if not even worse things. It can seem as though government is not a gift of God at all. But just because something that is good can be abused, doesn’t destroy what is supposed to be good. Admittedly, the government does not always do what is right. Governments never have! They’ve all been run by poor, miserable sinners. But there is a lot of goodness that God accomplishes through his gift of government that is easily overlooked.

Consider how good it is that we can pick up the phone and call 911, and we don’t have to wonder about whether help is on the way. God’s gift of government defends us and protects us. God’s gift of government also prevents all kinds of evils and mischief. Because of the fact that we have laws, police, judges, prisons, and so forth, those who want to do evil have to think twice before harming their neighbor. They don’t want to get caught. They don’t want to get punished. In this way God keeps the lid on all kinds of evil that otherwise would boil over. God’s gift of government, even if it be ever-so-imperfect, allows us to live quiet and peaceable lives.

So with Jesus’s words, “Give Caesar’s things to Caesar,” Jesus is indicating that government has a God-given role to play. Taxes should be paid to whom taxes are owed, because God works through those who are in government to maintain peace and prosperity. However, we should keep our distance when it comes to our heart. Don’t give your heart or your soul to anyone or anything but God alone.

Which brings us to the second part of Jesus’s response: “Give God’s things to God.” What are the things of God? What we must think of first and foremost when it comes to the “things of God” is God’s Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Jesus did the things of God.

And what did Jesus do? Jesus became Lord over everything that afflicts us the worst. We might think that government or money could fix our problems—and maybe they could fix some of them—but these things cannot even come close to addressing our worst and most pressing needs. What makes us saddest and most miserable is our poor spiritual condition—our coveting, greed, anger, hatred, lust, meanness, fear, self-loathing, and so on. We could sum all these things up with the word, “Sin.” And Sin would like to rule us like a tyrant both now in this life, and eternally in the life to come. Jesus defeats sin. Sin is not Lord. Jesus is Lord.

And Jesus defeats the gloomy grave. Death and decay in all around I see. Wave after wave of people go away and there seems to be no stopping it. But death must let go despite its terrible, seemingly invincible, grip. We shall rise as Jesus has arisen.

The glory of these things is so magnificent! Jesus gets to the root and source. There is so much talk of happiness: “I would be happy if only I …” and you fill in the blank. Happiness is so much higher and holier of a thing than people imagine. There’s no way government, or money, or any other earthly thing can truly bring about happiness. Happiness is tied up with God.

So, as Jesus says, “Give to God’s things to God.” The way we give God’s things to God is by believing him. Believe what God has done in his Son whom he sent, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Believe that Jesus is Lord and God. Faith, simply believing God, is the highest worship. There is no substitute for faith. Either we believe that Jesus Christ is Lord—in him is my happiness. Or you will be looking somewhere else for your happiness. Lots of things seem like they should do the trick. None of them, ultimately, can, except the things of God.

Jesus’s message is therefore remarkably applicable to us today. The Jews at Jesus’s time were lost in the same kinds of things we get lost in—political intrigues, lying, meanness, and so on. A lot of the Jews believed that if only they could attain some change in the government, then we’d have our happy days. But there is finally only one way to happiness, and that is in our Lord Jesus Christ, crucified and risen for us.

231001 Sermon on how outward appearances are not enough (Pentecost 18) October 1, 2023

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“Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!”

In our Gospel reading the chief priest and elders are upset about Jesus. The chief priests and elders had never liked Jesus. Jesus wasn’t a part of their club. He wasn’t from Jerusalem. He didn’t go to the right schools. He wasn’t from the right families.

What’s more is that he also appeared to them to be a dangerous heretic. He healed people on the Sabbath, for example. That’s work, is it not? That’s forbidden. And his disciples didn’t wash their hands before they ate. Every self-respecting Jew had been washing his hands a certain way from time immemorial! And here these cheeky disciples were flaunting the traditions of their people.

So the chief priest and elders already didn’t like Jesus, but what had been going on lately was over the top. The day before our reading took place was Palm Sunday. Jesus entered Jerusalem amid shouts of joy: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Jesus is the King like King David! Hosanna, which means, save us we pray!” The people were joyously saying stuff like that, and it made these people sick. Jesus was a heretic! Jesus was no good! All their best theologians had said so.

But then Jesus did something more. He entered into their home turf. He entered the Temple. When he saw what was going on, it made him angry. Buying here. Selling there. And so Jesus kicked them all out. They had set up tables with pigeons, cash registers and such, and Jesus grabbed hold of their tables and flipped them over. Money and pigeons went flying everywhere. Jesus quoted Scripture to them: “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer.’ You have made it a den of robbers!”

Our Gospel reading today is from the day after Jesus did these things. It’s not surprising, therefore, that the chief priests and elders should go up to him and say, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” They wanted to know: had Jesus been authorized to raise havoc? They, of course, believed that they already knew the answer. Of course he didn’t have the authority, because they were the higher ups, and they certainly had not given him any such authority!

But Jesus surprises them by not immediately answering their question. He asks them a question. If they’ll answer his question, then he’ll answer theirs. Jesus asks, “John’s baptism: where did it come from? Was it from God or from man?” You heard how the chief priests and elders discussed how they should answer. If they said that the baptism was from God, then Jesus will ask why they didn’t get baptized? But if they said that John’s baptism was merely human they knew the people wouldn’t stand for it. The people were sure that John the Baptist was a prophet. So they said, “We don’t know.” And neither did Jesus tell them by what authority he did what he did.

Now let’s look a little more closely at what the chief priests and elders were doing. Notice how the chief priests and elders were dishonest right from the start. Already with the first question that they ask Jesus, they weren’t looking for an honest answer. It’s more an accusation in the form of a question: “By what authority do you do these things?” They don’t want to know what authority he has. They already know that he has no authority—at least so far as they’re concerned.

Then, when Jesus asks them his question, Jesus subtly points them towards the truth. Jesus brings up God—something that wasn’t even on the chief priests’ and elders’ radar. Jesus would have them consider: Might it be that John the Baptist was sent from God? Might it be that if John the Baptist was sent from God, then Jesus, also, was sent from God? Might it be that his authority comes from God?

This subtle suggestion is lost on them, however. It was like seed being sown on a beaten path. They didn’t think about God. They only thought of how they hadn’t liked John the Baptist either. He too wasn’t part of their club. He too said stuff and did stuff that annoyed them. No, of course John’s baptism wasn’t from God, but they dare not say that out loud. The idiotic people regarded John to be a prophet.

So notice what these church leaders are doing, or, rather, not doing. They aren’t interested in what is true. They don’t lay their cards on the table. They operate in a calculated and artificial way. Their thoughts are not on God, their thoughts are only on how their words and actions are going to affect themselves negatively or positively. Since they do not care about God or about what is true the meat and substance of what they are supposed to be about as members and leaders of the church has been lost. They are only dealing with the husks, the outward appearances of faith.

This was the very thing that Jesus reacted against so violently the day before. When he came into the temple and saw what was going on he saw that it was mechanical and empty. There was certainly a lot of hustle and bustle, but nothing of substance, nothing of faith. People were coming and going. They put in their offerings. Week after week, rinse and repeat. Jesus looks upon their bored faces and exclaims: “This house is to be a house of prayer!” That means that people are supposed to care, to think, to wrestle and to call upon God. Wrestling with God was not on the table. The husks were. The meat and the substance was gone.

That’s a good way to understand the contrast between the chief priests and elders on the one hand and John the Baptist and Jesus on the other. John the Baptist and Jesus called out for the meat and the substance. The Gospels summarize the preach of both as being the same. Both John the Baptist and Jesus preached: “Repent, for the kingdom of God draws near!”

That is a clear message. The king is coming. God is coming. That is a simple message that affects every last one of us. God can come suddenly and unexpectedly. Any one of us could die today or tomorrow and that is when we will meet our maker. That is the kingdom of God drawing near for us personally. Or today or tomorrow could be the end of this age when Christ will come with his angels in power and glory to judge the living and the dead.

In light of the kingdom of God drawing near both John and Jesus say the same thing: “Repent!” Change your ways! Let the sinner sin no longer. Paul says, “Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor partiers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God!” There’s that word: “kingdom of God.” “Those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Now I know that you’ve done such things. I’ve done such things, I’m sorry to say. John the Baptist and Jesus say, “Repent!” “Stop it!” To which we might very well say, “I don’t want to.” That might very well be the truth! After all, why have we done these things to begin with? Nobody held a gun to our head and said, “Be sexually immoral or else!” “Be greedy or else!” We did these things because we wanted to do. It might be against our will to stop.

I’ll give you another example: Your dad comes to you, as dads tend to do, and tells you, “Go outside and work!” I’ve never met the kid who unfailingly responds: “Hurray! I get to go and work!” More often than not we say, inwardly at least, “I don’t want to.”

Jesus gave the chief priests and elders a parable along these lines. He said, “What do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I don’t want to,’ but afterward he repented and went. And the father went to the other son and said the same. He answered, ‘Yes sir. I will go,’ but he never did. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John the Baptist came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward repent and believe him.”

It is not surprising that someone doesn’t want to go work. Likewise, it is not surprising that anyone who likes to sin would want to stop. The tax collectors and prostitutes were the open sinners. They brazenly said: “We don’t want to,” but later they changed their mind. They repented.

The other son, on the other hand, looked better. He looked more pious. He said, “Yes sir!” when his father told him to do something he didn’t want to do. Although he looked different as far as outward appearances and words was concerned, inwardly he was just like his brother. He had the same heart.

But, as it turned out, he ended up being worse. He had looked better, he had said the right words, but he was worse because he did not repent. Even when his brother, who had said the wrong words, nevertheless went out and worked, he still didn’t repent and go and work. He was content to have merely said the right words and to have had the right appearance.

This is a special danger for regular churchgoers like us. We can be content with appearances. We have our church machinery that runs here week in and week out. It is quite easy for us to believe that being minimally involved in that machinery is more than enough. We don’t need to repent, unless we should happen to want to.

But to this we must say, “No!” The kingdom of God draws near. Husks and outward appearances are not enough. We might fool our fellow human beings with such things, but there’s no fooling God. God’s kingdom is coming. The king is coming. How will you welcome him? See to it that you are not ashamed! Welcome him with joy!

It is not like we need to be afraid of the real substance, the reigning and ruling of God. God’s kingdom is good! Jesus is gracious and merciful. The people who greeted him on Palm Sunday were full of joy at the prospect of Jesus being their king. When Jesus appeared to his disciples after he rose from the dead, they didn’t go running in terror from him. They were glad when they saw the Lord, even though they knew that they had done much that needed forgiveness.

God’s kingdom is like our opening hymn:

As surely as I live God said,

I would not see the sinner dead.

I want him turned from error’s ways

Repentant, living endless days.

The Lord bless your communion with him today. May this house be a house of prayer! Amen.