Trinity VII (31-Jul-2022)

 Service cancelled today, due to the pastor being sick.

Trinity VI [Matthew 5:20-26] (24-Jul-2022)

  

This sermon was preached at St Peter’s Evangelical-Lutheran Church, Public Schools Club, Adelaide, 9am

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

Unless your righteous exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

    

Our Gospel reading comes today from the Sermon on the Mount, which is a wonderful, and very famous, sermon of Jesus, which is recorded in Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7.

The Sermon on the Mount contains many famous passages which are well-known to Christians. For example, at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, we have the Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, and so on. Then Jesus teaches his disciples about being the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Then Jesus teaches his disciples about many of the Ten Commandments, and this is where our Gospel reading today comes from. Jesus also teaches about giving to the needy, about prayer and about fasting. He talks about treasure in heaven, and about not being anxious about our life. Look at the birds of the air. Consider the lilies of the field, Jesus says. Jesus teaches about judging, about asking, seeking knocking. He teaches the Golden Rule: Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them. He also teaches about false prophets, and about building our house on the rock, rather than on the sand. As you can see, there are many well-known passages that Jesus teaches in this sermon.

In our Gospel reading today, we begin in a place where Jesus is talking about the law, and he says: Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

And then we come to the verse which begins our reading: For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Well, in this verse, we see Jesus mention here the scribes and the Pharisees. Now, I’d like to tell a little story. A number of years ago, there was a Christian lady who was on the TV show Masterchef. One of the things they were required to do in the course of the competition was to cook a meal for the Dalai Lama. In all of this, they were instructed about how they should address him as “His Holiness”. Now, this Christian lady (who actually won the whole competition that year) had a problem with calling him His Holiness, and she saw it (rightly so) as a conflict with her Christian faith. This all played out behind the scenes of the show, and there was no big deal made about it on air. But this incident reached the press in India, where there was a headline: “His Holiness not holy enough for Australian Masterchef competitor.”

Actually, this is exactly what Jesus is doing with respect to the scribes and Pharisees. They were known by all the Jewish people as the holiest people alive. The Pharisees lived in such a way that everybody thought they lived an exemplary life. The Scribes were the expert scholars in the law of God. And yet, Jesus throws a blanket over all them, and refuses them entry to the kingdom of heaven. Their holiness is not holy enough.

In order to enter the kingdom of heaven, says Jesus, your holiness and your righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees. This statement either makes the people who hear it angry, or it makes them despair. They either say: “How dare you say such a thing about these holy people?” Or they say, “There is no way that I could be as righteous or holy, or even more so than them!”

And so, we might think of all the people in the world who are considered holy. In Buddhism and Hinduism: The Dalai Lama, gurus, monks. In Islam: the scholars and sheikhs and muftis. But even in Christianity: Popes, bishops, theologians, pastors, preachers, everyone. Jesus throws his blanket over all of them, and he says, unless your righteousness exceeds all of these people, whoever they are, whoever it is that you look up to, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Now, why does he say this? Jesus picks the scribes and Pharisees, because they are the highest standard in these people’s minds. And he says that to heaven the standard is higher. And so, he destroys the false righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, and plunges everyone else into despair.

Now, this is how the law should be preached. Jesus says: Not a dot, not an iota, will pass from the law. Jesus teaches us to do works of the law, but he also shows us that to achieve the righteousness of the law is far above our abilities. And with the law a tremendous knowledge of our sin. We look into the law like a mirror, and we see our imperfections, our sinful condition.

And so, what kind of standard is Jesus holding us to? At the end of Matthew 5, he says: You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Now, if we consider our righteousness before God, we should consider ourselves as on trial before him, in his courtroom. We have been brought there to be judged, and it is as if we have been caught out for all kinds of things that we know we had done, and many things which we didn’t know we had done. And there is a stack of fines and debts, that amounts up to a completely insurmountable amount of money, that is completely beyond our ability to pay.

The only way that we can go free is if someone else pays for the fine who is richer than us. That person is Jesus Christ. He comes before God’s throne and pleads our case, and he says, “I have paid for this person with my life, with blood and with my sacrifice on the cross.” As it says in 1 Peter: You were ransomed…not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. And when Jesus was on the cross, he stretched out his arms, and said: It is finished. In other words, everything that I have come to do has been accomplished, and done, and it is all over. Everything has been paid for, I have made a full atonement, everything that we owed to God has been nailed to the cross.

And so, Jesus takes every single debt and fine that we owed, like going through all the pieces of paper, and stamps a red stamp on each of them, with the red of his blood, which says: Paid in full.

And so, this is such an incredibly amazing thing. So many people think that nobody else can pay for or atone for your sins. So many people think that if I have “done the crime”, then I must “do the time”. But it’s not true. God shows his love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus puts himself in your place, and he makes an exchange, he does a swap. He takes all of your sin, your unholiness, your impurity, your uncleanness, your unrighteousness, and he takes it upon himself. He takes all of his holiness, his purity, his righteousness, and he gives it freely to you.

Let’s think for a moment about the thief on the cross who asked Jesus to remember him. Jesus said to him: Today you will be with me in Paradise. Jesus gives to this man his righteousness and holiness, even though this man was being justly punished for his crimes, and had no righteousness and holiness that belonged to him. And Jesus deals with him personally.

In Holy Baptism, which we read about today in our Epistle reading especially, Jesus also deals with us personally, just as he dealt with that thief. He stands alongside of us, just as the thief was crucified alongside of us. Jesus says about baptism, when he sends his apostles out into all the earth, And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. And so, when we receive baptism, this is where Jesus comes and deals with us personally, taking our sins upon himself, giving us his righteousness freely as a gift. And the gift is ours simply because we believe it. Jesus died on the cross, and we believe it, we trust in him. Jesus rose from the dead, and we believe it and trust in him. And he has received us personally into his kingdom through Holy Baptism, and we believe it and trust in him.

And so, Jesus, in actual fact, stands in our place, he takes the punishment that we deserved, the justice that should have been carried out on us is carried out on him. And the righteousness and innocence which is his is given to us, so that when God looks at us, he sees us not with all our sin, but with all our sin washed away in the blood of Jesus, because we are there with Jesus. And we are saved by faith alone. We trust in Jesus for our salvation, and we have everything that we need.

This is the righteousness that exceeds the Pharisees and the scribes, and all the holy people of the world: the gurus, the lamas, the monks, the nuns, the popes, the bishops, the scholars, the muftis, the sheikhs, the pastors, the theologians. There is only one who is righteous, and he is Jesus Christ, and the only way to the kingdom of heaven is through him, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and this is because he shares his divine, holy and perfect righteousness with us, purely by his grace and mercy, and not because of anything that we have done either to achieve it or to earn it. What a wonderful Saviour we have!

Now, in our Gospel reading today, Jesus goes on to teach us about the Fifth Commandment: You shall not murder. He is holding up this commandment to us as a kind of mirror, so that we look into it and recognise our sin. But also, he wants to show us how we should go about carrying it out in our life, even though in this life, we never really carry it out as perfectly as we should.

And so, Jesus says: You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

Now, when we look at the Fifth Commandment, we see there the wonderful way in which God has created human life, and he values it. We should value it also. However, because of sin, God also gives to each person in the world death as their wages. St Paul says: The wages of sin is death. This goes right back to the Garden of Eden, where God said to Adam and Eve: You shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. But it is God’s business to give life, and it is God’s business to take life. We cannot take the life of another person whom God has created, and we cannot murder a person for whom Christ has died. In our times, we also see many people who have successfully brought in laws in many countries, including our own, where they want to kill unborn babies (abortion, I mean) and also give people lethal injections if they no longer wish to live (euthanasia). Christians everywhere (and even we ask all people too) must always resist these things as against God’s moral law, and do what we can to support the life of unborn babies and their mothers, and to help people who are in great pain or suffering in their life, so that they do not despair of their life.

Now, for us, personally, Jesus wants to say to us something further. He says: When it says, “You shall not murder”, it doesn’t just mean that you shouldn’t break this commandment with your hands, or however a person might kill another person. Because murder is something that is premeditated, it is considered in advance. And so the outward murder where someone kills another person has already begun inside the murderer’s heart. Murder also takes place when we seek to get rid of someone in our imagination, in our mind, in our heart, in our thoughts. And so, where does Jesus say it begins? It begins with “anger”. And so Jesus, teaches us that we when we find ourselves angry with other people in our hearts, and even when our heart explodes outwards into our mouths, and wants to insult people, then we have also broken the command to murder.

Because sin is not something simply of the hands, it is not simply something that happens outside. Sin is something that has completely penetrated our whole being: mouth, heart, mind, imagination, dreams, everything. And so, we should come to Jesus, but not in such a way that we excuse ourselves, and say: Well, I haven’t killed someone, so I’m okay; but in such a way, that reveal to him our angry and vengeful hearts, and commend it to him, into the pile of things which he dies for, and which he has nailed to cross.

The wonderful thing about the Gospel and the righteousness which Christ has won for us and shares with us is that he has not just died and atone for the things we have or haven’t done with our hands, but also for our evil words, and for our evil thoughts. His righteousness extends even to all those places which we don’t even really know. So Jesus exposes our hearts before us, so that we despair of our hearts, and run to him, and trust in him, and in his righteousness.

Just one little thing. In Martin Luther’s sermon for this day, he says something very useful. Because as I have mentioned before, there are some legitimate situations where a person is able to kill. For example, the government has the “power of the sword”, as it is called in Romans. And so, police and soldiers are allowed to use weapons to protect our citizens. Sometimes, even, a judge may need to sentence a person with a very harsh and sharp sentence because of the nature of their crime. And, when terrible crimes are committed in our society, like murder, rape, and all kinds of things, we become angry. And how can a judge give a sentence to these people with a happy face? Aren’t they going to be angry? How can a policeman or a soldier shoot dead a terrorist without being angry? If a child does something bad, is it wrong for a parent to be angry? When another country wants to invade country, should people not be angry about it?

And so, there is a righteous anger that comes when our position in life, or what we might call our vocation, or our office, demands it. We are called upon sometimes, according to where God as placed us, to do something against that which is evil. We ask in these situations that God would forgive us for our own personal, unrighteous anger in all of these situations. As it says in Psalm 4, Be angry but do not sin. As a father, I know that many times, I get far too angry with my children about things than I need to be or should be. We ask for God to forgive us for this excess anger, but sometimes in our life, we must act according to our vocation against what is wrong, or someone who has done what is wrong. And this is a good thing. When Jesus is talking here in our reading, he is talking about us as equal, fellow human beings—we should not murder them, we should not hate them, we should not harbor grudges against them, we should be angry with them, and think we are right to be angry. But rather, we should love them, and do what we can to help them.

In the last part of the reading, Jesus says: So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

Jesus says here, that when we are going to serve God, and when we are on our way to worship him and do something for him, he wants us as best as we can to put away from ourselves the anger that we have with other people. Because this anger and bitterness can destroy all kinds of things, and eat away at us, and make us ineffective.

So, for example, Jesus says that when we remember that someone is angry with us—not just if we are angry with them—we shouldn’t just thing, “Well, it’s their problem. They are the ones who need to come and reconcile with me”—No. We are people who have been reconciled to God the Father through the blood of Jesus. Let’s also do our best to reconcile with each other, as a reflection of the wonderful reconciliation we have with God. Let’s also remember this each week when we confess our sins at the beginning of the service: we ask for forgiveness from God, but we also should seek genuine reconciliation with each other. Sometimes, of course, the other person doesn’t want to reconcile, and wants to keep the grudge against us. Then we must pray for them, and wait for them, but also know that we have reconciled with them in our hearts, even if with each other, things are not quite as they should be yet.

In the meantime, all of this flows from the righteousness which we already have in Christ. It comes as part of the Christian life which we have been freely given to us from God, and which the Holy Spirit leads us in and shows us each and every day. And so, we thank Jesus for sharing with us, and imparting to us, and reckoning to our account, his own divine righteousness, which exceeds the scribes and the Pharisees: the forgiveness of sins. Let’s learn from him each day and walk along behind him, following in his footsteps, and learning the Christian life from him, which for us, is only always begun but never completed. And so, we thank him for his gift, his promise of eternal life, for his eternal and sure promise to us to enter into the kingdom of heaven, through faith in him. Amen.

 

And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.    

 

Trinity V [Luke 5:1-10] (17-Jul-2022)

 

This sermon was preached at St Peter’s Evangelical-Lutheran Church, Public Schools Club, Adelaide, 9am

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

Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.

Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

    

In today’s Gospel reading, we have a very well-known passage which speaks about when Jesus called Peter, James and John to be his apostles, and also where Jesus performs a wonderful miracle where the disciples are able to catch an enormous number of fish.

But before we get to all that, let’s have a look at the first part of our reading. We read: On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, [Jesus] was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

In the first part of this reading, we see that there was a large crowd that were gathering to hear Jesus. Actually, Luke even tells us that they wanted to hear the word of God. They were there to hear him teach, and they wanted to be taught the word of God by Jesus. And so, Jesus is happy to teach them, and so he uses Peter’s boat as a kind of podium or stage, so that he can speak clearly and effectively to the people who were standing there.

Now, there are a number of passages in the Gospels, where there is an occasion where Jesus preaches and teaches, and only then, afterwards, he performs a miracle. For example, when Jesus feeds the 5000, we read in the Gospel of Mark: When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. It’s only then, after he had taught them, that he then feeds the crowd when it became late, and it was too late and too far for them to go back home or buy food.

So, in our reading today, we shouldn’t forget the fact that Jesus teaches the crowd first. Actually, it’s a bit like the way our church service works. The Divine Service, as we call it—or the Liturgy, as it often called in Greek, or the Mass, as it is sometimes called, mostly in the Roman Catholic church—has two main parts to it: the Service of the Word, and the Service of the Sacrament. So, we have the teaching of the Word of God first: we prepare to hear the Word of God, we hear the Word of God, we confess our faith, we hear the preaching of God’s word, and all that kind of thing. Then in the second part of the service, the service of the Sacrament, we prepare to receive the Lord’s Supper, it is consecrated, it is distributed and we receive it. So, just as in our reading, there is the preaching of the Word and then a miracle, so also in the church service, there is the Word, and then there is a miracle. And the Lord’s Supper really is a miracle, because Jesus actually consecrates this bread and wine in such a way that it becomes his body and blood given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins, and then feeds us with it.

But the other thing about the beginning of this reading, where Jesus is teaching the crowds from the boat, is that we don’t read there exactly what he taught. The content of this particular sermon we don’t know. The same thing we read at the feeding of the 5000. We don’t actually know what Jesus said. And in some sense, it doesn’t matter what Jesus said, because anything and everything that he would say would have been wonderful. Everything that Jesus teaches is incredibly powerful and wonderfully beneficial.

This should also give us the encouragement that when we know the Word of God is going to be spoken and taught and preached somewhere, it shouldn’t concern us greatly, whether it’s our favourite topic, or not, but the whole of the Word of God, all of its content, all of its different parts, is always of wonderful, divine, spiritual benefit to us.

And so, now we come to the next part of our reading: And when [Jesus] had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put our into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”

Now, first of all here, we see that Jesus tells Simon to do the normal thing that he does for a living. Simon is a fisherman, and Jesus simply tells him to fish. During the night, Simon had been busy with his fellow fishermen all night, and they had had a terrible time. They caught nothing. They did a lot of hard work and they got no result for it. But then, Simon says: But at your word I will let down the nets.

Simon has been there with the crowds listening to Jesus’ teaching for a while, and has been enjoying it, and was being spiritually fed and strengthened by it. And now, Jesus is telling him personally to do something, something that from a human point of view, seems like a pointless thing to do. But nothing that Jesus has said so far has been pointless, and so Simon agrees to do it, and he doesn’t refuse to do it because of his terrible experience during the night, but simply because Jesus says so, he does it.

We read: And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.

Not only did they catch something, but they caught almost too much! The nets were breaking, and the boats even started to sink!

 

And so, Jesus teaches us a few things here. Firstly, sometimes we find ourselves in a situation where we think we really need something from Jesus, or we really need his help with something. And sometimes we pray for something, whether it be something to do with our daily bread and our every day needs, or whether it be spiritual some help in our temptations, or whatever, and we ask Jesus for these things, and then it seems as though we receive the complete opposite of what we asked for. We went to Jesus, and we toil all night, and we catch nothing.

 

But then, sometimes, the question is: when we receive his help, how would we know that he had given it? Or instead of giving him the glory, perhaps we would give ourselves all the credit anyway! So, we ask Jesus for something, and then when we receive it, we either don’t notice it, or we think that we are the ones who accomplished everything.

 

And so, what happens instead, is that Jesus allows us to toil all night and catch nothing. He does this so that we can really see for ourselves what our own labour, our own efforts and our own abilities are worth. But he doesn’t do this because he wants us to struggle or be in pain or to be hungry, or whatever. He does this, because he wants to show you that he is the giver of the gifts that you need. And so, Jesus tells Peter to let down his nets, and Peter knows what happened last night. The only difference between last night and today is that Jesus told him to do this. Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.

 

And so, when they receive this wonderful catch of fish, then they know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was Jesus who had done this. It was him who had performed this miracle. This was Jesus’ word, and his word alone, that had done it.

 

Secondly, we learn something about our everyday work as Christians. Sometimes, we can see our everyday work in the workplace, or in our own business, or our work at home, or whatever it is that we do for a living, as the “practical” things we do in life, but then there is another category, which is the “spiritual” things: like praying, reading the bible, going to church, etc.

 

However, the everyday work that we do as Christians is not without the blessing of Jesus. When Jesus blesses us as his people, he does not send us out into to the world, in such a way that we simply work just like everyone else works. No—now we do our work at his command, we let down our nets at his Word, with his blessing.

 

And so, we read in Psalm 127: Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain. Unless the Lord teaches the children, the teacher teaches in vain. Unless the Lord nurses the patients, the nurse nurses in vain. Unless the Lord studies with you, unless the Lord makes a living with you, unless the Lord works with you, your studying, your working, your making a living is in vain. And so, we commend our work to him, not because we are trying to make money, and make ourselves rich. No—we are called to work, because we are called to work. We are called to help each other in our home, because we are called to help each other in our home. The Lord sends the provision, even if we don’t think we need the Lord to send the provision.

 

Many people think that if I do this work, then I’ll make this amount of money, and then, that’s the end of it. But how do you know business will go well? How do you that your employment will be there tomorrow? And all that kind of thing. No—no matter what happens, wherever we find ourselves, whatever work our hands find to do, it is God who provides what we need. The economy and the workforce don’t actually work as an independent well-oiled machine, apart from the hand of God.

 

So, for example, in 2 Thessalonians 3, there is special instruction there from St Paul, where he tells Christians not to be lazy and idle. He says: Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you… Now, as Christians, we should work and keep ourselves busy and not be lazy, even if we don’t think we’ll make much money from it. Sometimes, we have a lot of work to do at home, and we don’t get paid for it. That’s fine. We should think: what should I busy myself with?

 

Sometimes, then, when we are doing some work, but then we go through a hard time, and our income suffers, or we don’t seem to have quite enough, and we don’t seem quite to be making ends meet, or we find ourselves labouring hard, and we’re not quite sure what for, or for what purpose, that’s okay. Jesus allows us to go through a time of need, because he wants to bless us in a new way when our fruitless labouring all night has passed. He wants to show us that it has not been us who have given to ourselves our daily bread, but it has been him, who has given it to us.

 

Third, there’s something very important for us here to think about when it comes to our works. Everyone in the world, if they are not a Christian, think that they should be rewarded because of their good works. Even many Christians wrongly think that they will go to heaven because of their good works. These people think that they are good people. If you were to ask them, “Do you think you’re a good person?”, they would reply: “Yes, I think I am a good person.” However, this thinking that we are a good person is the worse delusion that we could possibly have. If we go to the Ten Commandments, and look into them, then we see God’s standard, and what a standard it is. Jesus, for example, in the Sermon on the Mount, even takes many of these commandments, and shows us how we have broken them, even when we thought we hadn’t. For example: You shall not murder. When we hate people, and want to do them harm, then murder has already begun in our hearts, and we have already broken the commandment. You shall not commit adultery. When we lust after someone in our hearts, the adultery is already begun, it is already there, because it is out of our heart that these things come, and so we have already broken the commandment, when we look a person with lust. And we could go through all the commandments like this.

 

God has given his commandments to us, but we have broken them. Our work is fruitless, our labour produces nothing good, our toil produces nothing but evil and vanity and trouble. When we stand before the judgment seat of God, then we will only be able to say something along the lines of: We toiled all night and we caught nothing! I’ve worked hard all my life, and I have nothing to show for it. I did all these things, but even my good works were evil. Even my righteous deeds were like filthy rags.

 

And so, our salvation is not accomplished by us, because we have done works of the law. It is accomplished by Jesus and by his miracles, and by his word. He stands in our place before God’s throne, he stands in our place and makes an exchange, taking our sin upon him, and giving to us his righteousness. His sacrifice and his atonement, his life and his blood accomplish everything, and our immeasurable and insurmountable debt to God is completely and totally paid for right down the last little speck of dust. And so, the gate of heaven is open for us, the doors to the kingdom of heaven are flung wide open. As it says in 1 Corinthians 2: What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him. The gifts and the joys of the Holy Spirit and of the kingdom of heaven are endless. Our earthly nets will break if they try to hold it. Our earthly boats will sink if they try to contain it. As it says in Romans 8: If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you… He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

 

Now, let’s think for a moment about the Law and the Gospel. In John’s Gospel, chapter 1, it says: The Law came through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. When Moses came, and when Jesus came, they both came with miracles. For example, when Moses was sent to Pharoah, he put down his staff on the ground and it became a snake. He put his hand in his coat and it became full of leprosy, full of this terrible skin disease. He put his staff in the river Nile and it became blood. Do you see that the miracles given to Moses, were miracles that made people frightened, and fearful, and terrified! The Law was given through Moses, and so with his miracles come all the fear and terror and frightfulness of the Law. These are the kind of miracles that make us wake up from ourselves in terror and fright.

 

But then, Jesus’ miracles are a completely different character. They are miracles that bring joy and happiness to people, because Jesus brings the Gospel. And the wonderful good news of the forgiveness of sins, won on the cross through Jesus’ death, and demonstrated through his resurrection from the dead, is news that brings us great joy, gladness, happiness.

 

This is the kind of miracle we find in our Gospel reading, today, where they catch this large catch of fish.

 

But in actual fact, Peter becomes completely confused by this joyful, happy miracle, and becomes terrified by it. We read: When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.

 

Anyone would think that they had just seen Moses make all the fish in the Nile die. In actual fact, they had seen a completely different kind of miracle. But still, what they witnesses was the power of God, the divine energy that had come straight out of heaven, the kind of power that raises people from the dead. And it terrified them, because they didn’t know where things were going. Peter thinks, “If Jesus can do this kind of thing, surely he must know that I’m not actually a good person, and that I live and find myself stuck in all kinds of sin, all of the time. If he can do this with the fish, then what if he finds out who I really am? What will he then do with me?”

 

And, so Jesus comforts him. He says: Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.

 

Jesus shows them this powerful miracle, not because he wants to show to Peter what kind of power he will use against him. He wants to show him the kind of power that his Word has, and he calls Peter and James and John here to speak this same Word, and join him in his missionary work. They will work together with him, and bring his Word to the ends of the world. They will no longer be fishermen, who fish for fish, but they will be Jesus’ own fishermen who fish for people, who are fishers of men.

 

The Word that Jesus speaks is not for the purpose of destroying sinners like Peter, but will draw them out of the world, like these fish being drawn out of the water, and Jesus will give to these people new life through the Gospel. We see here a wonderful picture of baptism, where we are drawn into the Christian church, like being caught from out the water and put into the boat.

 

And so, we have been caught by these apostles, and drawn into the kingdom of Jesus. We are called to shine the wonderful light of the Gospel in our lives, as much as it depends on us, that others may be drawn to the same divine light of Jesus. We have been saved by the wonderful miracles of our Saviour Jesus, who has died for us, and risen from the dead for us. And so, we, who are sinful people, like Peter, trust in him. He calls us not to be afraid, but to look for him for our forgiveness, our life, and for the blessing upon everything that we do.  Amen.

 

 

And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.    

 

Trinity IV [Luke 6:36-42] (10-Jul-2022)

This sermon was preached at St Peter’s Evangelical-Lutheran Church, Public Schools Club, Adelaide, 9am

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

Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

    

In our Gospel reading today, Jesus teaches us about the Christian life, and teaches us how we should behave and conduct ourselves towards other people.

Now, whenever we talk about good works, there’s always a danger that we start to think that we somehow earn our salvation before God because of works, or that we are justified before God because of our works. However, our good works give a witness to our faith, that is already there. Our good works are actually never perfect in this life, but are only begun and never finished. Our salvation, and the promise of eternal life, is always perfect in this life, because it is not only begun, but completely and totally finished by Jesus, as he said when he was on the cross: It is finished.

And so, because of our sin, we have an incredible debt and burden which we owe to God. There is no way that we can earn our salvation, by making up for it with good works. Even in an everyday human court, things work like this. For example, if a person is on trial for committing some terrible crimes, the person cannot say to the judge, “Listen, I’m not going to commit these crimes anymore and I’m going to do good things from now on.” The judge can’t let them off the hook on this basis. A crime has been committed, and it needs to be dealt with and a sentence needs to me pronounced, no matter what the person might do in the future.

What happens in God’s court is that Jesus actually stands in our place, and says, I have taken the punishment, I have paid the debt which this person owed. Jesus has actually perfected begun, carried out, completed and finished the whole law, and fulfilled it perfectly. And also, he has suffered and died for your sin, standing in your place. And so, you are free to go, and on that basis, your debt is cancelled. Nothing is owing before God by you, because of what Jesus has done for you.

And so, God pronounces in his court that our sins are forgiven, the record against us is torn up, and we are free to go. And in the church, what God has pronounced and decided in heaven, we speak on the earth. In the pulpit, the church preaches the forgiveness of sins. At the baptismal font, the church applies this forgiveness of sins to each person personally, and they are made a child of God, through water and the Spirit, and are washed with the washing of renewal, by water and the Word. At the altar, we receive the body and blood of Christ given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. In the absolution, whether it is spoken here at the beginning of the Divine Service, or privately, is the wonderful gift where in the church we speak this judgment upon a repentant sinner, which says: I forgive you all your sins, and that this word is just as valid and certain as if God himself had spoken it himself straight out of heaven.

And so, now, because of what Jesus has done for us, we are free, forgiven people. Jesus says: You are the light of the world. Let your light shine before others that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Let me explain this with a little picture. Often, at the moment, I have to drive by myself at night time, and where we live is near the hills. When we drive at night time, and we drive up into the hills a bit, we often see a wonderful view of the city, where everything is dark, but we see all the lights of the city. I remember an Aboriginal Lutheran pastor spoke to me and made a wonderful comparison. He spoke about how God took Abraham outside and made him look at the stars, and said: Thus will your offspring be. In the same way, Jesus says to us: You are the light of the world. Just as the night sky is lit up by stars, so also Christians light up the night sky of the ground, in the world, as a kind of mirror. It’s a bit like the city lights on the ground. The city lights are only a picture for us. It reminds us that actually so much of the world is in darkness, but it’s so important for us to shine our light brightly.

So, as forgiven people, freed from the curse and the sentence and condemnation of God’s law, we are called to shine our light brightly. And in our Gospel reading, Jesus gives us some instruction as to how we do this and go about it.

He says: Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.

Jesus says here: Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. There are so many situations and circumstances in our life where God has been merciful to us. There are so many times, when we might have worried about something going completely wrong, that actually didn’t, and that God turned around in the other direction. Actually, in the Lord’s Prayer, when it says: Give us this day our daily bread, the next word is: “And”. And forgive us our trespasses, or forgive us our sins. These two things are joined together.

Actually, there are so many situations where God could have easily withheld our daily bread from us, because of our sins. Even there are many things that we didn’t even ask for, and God gave them to us anyway. And when he gave them to us, we didn’t even notice, and we didn’t even thank him for it.

Luther gives a wonderful explanation in the Small Catechism, where he says: We pray…that our Father in heaven would not look on our sins, or deny our prayer because of them. We are neither worthy of the things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them, but we ask that He would give them all to us by grace, for we daily sin much surely deserve nothing but punishment. Do you see? Actually, God has given us so much by his grace, and if he only acted towards us in terms of what we deserved, we would have nothing. And so, in all of these situations, we learn to receive what God gives us, for our bodies and souls, with thanksgiving.

And so, then in the Lord’s Prayer it says: Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Luther explains: So we too will sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against us.

So, just as God has done so much good to us, and has been so merciful to us, so also, we also are called to forgive people, and to do good to them. It’s so easy for people to say things like, “I forgive, but I’ll never forget.” Or, they say, “I forgive them, but don’t expect me to do anything for them.”

That’s not actually how it works with God. He forgives us, and he is so wonderfully gracious to us, and he gives us many things, that we need and even more than what we need on a daily basis. Actually, he even does this for unbelievers too, but they don’t realise it, and they don’t thank God for it.

And so, Jesus says: Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. God has been so wonderfully merciful to us. How can we show mercy to the person that God has put in front of us? What mercy do they need? It’s like what St Paul says in 2 Corinthians: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. So, God comforts us, he leads us through the valley of the shadow of death and strengthens us. And so, then he comforts us, for what purpose? He does it so that this comfort can be shared with someone else. Sometimes, we realise that someone has gone through exactly the same situation as we went through, and we are able to help them and strengthen them with the comfort that God gave to us. This applies to all kinds of things: spiritual blessings, physical blessings. Jesus does not speak very specifically here, because he wants to leave it in a general way, so that we learn his mercy, and spread and show his mercy abundantly.

We read next, where Jesus says: Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned.

This is a very important passage, and it’s very important that we understand it correctly. Jesus tells us not to judge, but on the other hand, we are taught as Christians that we must judge certain things – we must judge between what is true and false, what is right and wrong, we must judge carefully so that we recognise false prophets when we are confronted by them, and beware of them, and all that kind of things.

Also, there are people in this world who are called to judge for a living, as part of their vocation, like judges! If you go to court, and you appear before a judge, and the judge is going to make a decision, you can’t say to them: Jesus says, judge not, and you will not be judged!

Actually, there are a number of situations where Jesus makes a general comment like this. For example, he says it one place that we shouldn’t swear by oath. But in actual fact, Jesus himself swears oaths, every time he says: Truly, truly, I say to you. It’s as if he says: I want you to know for certain that in what I’m about to say, I’m telling you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Now, everything that Jesus says is like this, but sometimes, Jesus makes a special point of reminding us. And so, if we’re asked to go to court and make an oath, and swear on the bible, that’s a good thing. What Jesus is talking about is making silly oaths and promises, and then thinking that we don’t need to tell the truth because we didn’t swear an oath. All this Jesus explains.

Also, for example, in the fifth commandment, it says: You shall not murder. But not all killing is wrong. For example, there are some people who hold a particular vocation, where sometimes they are required to kill, like police and soldiers. So, for example, if a terrorist walks into a large crowd and starts killing them, that is the sin of murder. But if a policemen or soldiers turn up, and kill the terrorist, then they have fulfilled their God-given duty. There are clear passages, for example, in Romans 13, where it explains all of this.

On the other hand, when it comes to unborn children, or old people or depressed people, they are not allowed to be killed. The sin of murder applies to these situations, for example, where we’re talking about abortion and euthanasia.

So, when Jesus says: Judge not, and you will not be judged, there are situations in this life, where people are called to judge, and where we are called upon to use our reason to make a judgment about things. But Jesus here is talking about when we are dealing with our neighbours, and people around us. We might see that they have sinned in some way. We might see that they’ve actually dug themselves into a hole. There’s an expression, where people say: “You made your bed—now sleep in it!”

Actually, sometimes, we are able to see quite clearly that someone has done something completely wrong. Sometimes, they might have even sinned against us in such a way, and hurt us, or wronged us.

There is a temptation then to say: Well, obviously, they’re going to hell. Or, to say, that person deserved what they get. Or, to say, that person is a real idiot.

Actually, if it weren’t for the grace of God, most of us would be in the same situation! And so, instead, of judging and condemning people, we’re called to forgive them and help them. God himself has forgiven us and helped us, even though we “made our own bed”, and made a complete mess of it!

And so, Jesus says: Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and your will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.

We read here, for example, where it says: forgive, and you will be forgiven. Is Jesus saying, that our forgiveness from God is only dependent on us forgiving other people? No, that’s not what he’s saying. But, when we are forgiven by God, when we are justified by faith, we are also given a new heart, and God renews in us a new heart. The fact that we are forgiven completely changes us. And so, sometimes, we might be thinking about someone, and we realise that we have a real grudge against them. We get bitter and annoyed by them. In these situations, instead of judging them and condemning them, in our hearts we should forgive them and as we have the opportunity to do good to them and help them. We are called to think about them in the way that God thinks about us: God has forgiven us, even though he knows our evil, and so we should forgive others, even when we know their evil. And so, there’s a promise for us: When we do forgive others, we know that God forgives us too. We are simply passing on to others, what God has given to us.

Then in our reading we read: [Jesus] also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he fully trained is like his teacher. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is your own eye?

Here Jesus teaches us some more about what he just said before. When we are merciful, and forgive people, and give to them, or help them, and when we refrain from judging them or condemning them, it’s all about how we look at people. It’s all about how we see them.

Do we look at people with contempt? Do we look at the people as below us? Do we look at people as if we are better than them?

Jesus is teaching us how to look at people, and he teaches us this from the way in which God looks at us. Even though God sees our sin, our wickedness, our evil, because of Jesus and his atonement and his sacrifice, God looks at us with mercy and kindness and love. For example, let’s think about for a moment the event when pregnant Mary went and visited pregnant Elizabeth. This little event was such a wonderful occasion, where despite the fact that they seemed like unimportant people—they weren’t in charge of ruling the world, or a particular country, or anything like that—God looked at them, in such a way that this little event was the most important event in the world at the time.

And so, Mary sang her little song, the Magnificat, on this occasion, and she said: For God has looked, looked, looked, on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed.

In a similar way, God looks upon you, not because you are so important, but because you belong to Christ, who died for you and rose for you, because he baptised you, he has forgiven you. He rescued you, he called you, he gathered you into his church, he enlightened you with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, he is making you holy and purifying you and sanctifying you with his Holy Spirit and with his grace each and every day.

But one of the most important things is how we look at other people. If we look at other people, and notice their sin, but don’t notice our own, then we are blind. It’s like we have a great big log in our eye. If we’re like this, then we are blind guides. The first thing that happened on the day of Pentecost after people heard the preaching of Peter was that they recognised their own sin. They were cut to the heart and said, Brothers, what shall we do?

And so: Jesus says in our reading: Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? Then he says: A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he fully trained will be like his teacher. Jesus is saying here, that we are his disciples, and Jesus is perfect. In this life, we will not be perfect like him. But he wants to train us. He wants to train us so that we learn to look at people the way that he looks at us, that is, with mercy.

And so, for us, as we deal with other people, and as we notice things about people that we know are wrong, we should first of all repent of our own sins, and acknowledge and confess them before God, so that we learn anew and afresh his mercy and his forgiveness towards us, so that we can share in a new and fresh way his mercy and his forgiveness towards others.

So Jesus says: Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speak that is in your brother’s eye.

And so let’s commend ourselves to Jesus, so that we may be trained in his school, as one of his disciples, so that we acknowledge our sin in the light of his sinlessness, and receive his forgiveness by his mercy and his grace anew and afresh each day. He is the Light of the world, and he calls us to shine his light in whatever corner of the world he places us. Let’s look to him for his mercy, for his forgiveness, for his kindness and goodness, so that we can be busy and useful in his kingdom as we deal with other people and serve them. What a wonderful gift is it to have such a wonderful merciful heavenly Father! Amen.

 

And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.    

 

Trinity III [Luke 15:1-10] (3-July-2022)

This sermon was preached at St Peter’s Evangelical-Lutheran Church, Public Schools Club, Adelaide, 9am

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

Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

In our Gospel reading, we read two very well known parables of Jesus: the Parable of the lost sheep and the Parable of the lost coin. This chapter of Luke also includes a third parable, the Parable of the prodigal son.

We read right at the beginning of our reading today, where it says: Now the tax collector and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

These parables are directed against these grumblers, these Pharisees and scribes. Even at the end of the parable of the Prodigal Son, we see the other brother who grumbles about the fact that his father put on a banquet for his returned wayward son.

In the parable, Jesus says: I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

So, let’s ask the question: why were they grumbling? Why did these righteous persons not need repentance?

Well, these Pharisees and scribes were self-righteous, and they trusted in themselves that they were righteous. These were the ninety-nine righteous persons, but they weren’t really righteous. Of course, they needed repentance, because everyone needs repentance. The reality is that they thought they were righteous, and they thought they didn’t need repentance: and this is the great danger that the Pharisees and the scribes find themselves in.

Last week, we were reading about the Parable of the great banquet, where people began to make all kinds of excuses as to why they wouldn’t come. Once again, the reason why they wouldn’t come to the banquet was that they were self-righteous. You can see that this self-righteousness is a real poison that effects our soul.

Now, in the bible, we find there two main doctrines which are completely and totally different from each other. We have the Law and the Gospel. The Law of God refers to those things in the Bible where God tells us what we should do and what we shouldn’t do, what kinds of people we should be and not be. It shows to us what God promises if we do his law and what he threatens if we don’t do his law. It shows us God’s judgment against sin, and his anger and wrath against sin. It doesn’t make us into sinners, it just finds sinners who are already there. It’s like a laser beam from God that turns in every direction until it finds us, and then it says: “I’ve got you.”

However, the Gospel doesn’t find anyone who is holy or a saint. Rather, it makes people saints. The Gospel only finds sinners, and is a message only addressed to sinners. It tells us that God has sent his only Son to die for us, and to rise again from the dead, and for those who are condemned under God’s law, it tells us that Jesus has perfectly fulfilled the law, and that he has done it in our place, and has taken the burden of our guilt and sin upon himself, and gives to us his perfect righteousness. He is condemned as a sinner, and we are set free through the forgiveness of our sins, which we receive from totally freely as a gift, by faith alone.

Now, the Law and the Gospel differ in many ways, and one way in which they differ is to whom either the Law or the Gospel should be addressed. For example, sometimes what people need to hear is the Law, and sometimes what people need to hear is the Gospel.

For example, we see two groups of people in our reading today. The first group is the tax collectors and sinners, and the second group is the Pharisees and the scribes.

So, on one hand, Jesus is telling this parable against the Pharisees and the scribes. But he also tells this parable for the comfort and benefit of the tax collectors and sinners. On one hand, he tells this parable because he wants to make the comfortable uncomfortable. But then, he also wants to comfort those who are broken hearted.

So, the Pharisees and scribes reveal to Jesus their heart. We read that the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Jesus. The Pharisees and scribes were not drawing near to hear Jesus. Instead, they were watching other people drawing near to Jesus, and they were grumbling about them, and judging them. What they saw was that these people were sinners, but they themselves were not.

The next thing they did was then to accuse Jesus. They thought that if Jesus were as holy and as righteous as us, then he wouldn’t want to be seen eating with these people. We see this in another part, where Jesus is in a Pharisee’s house, and a woman comes to him and pours ointment on his feet. The Pharisee says: If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.

Then in our reading, Jesus accuses them. They are people who are “righteous”, but only in inverted commas. They think they are righteous, but they are not. Their righteousness is a kind of complete and total blindness. They think they are righteous and they think they do not need repentance. Even so, they are people whom the shepherd has to abandon, in order to find the lost one.

Now, in John 16, we read some words that Jesus speaks about the Holy Spirit. He says: When [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Then Jesus explains each of these things, sin and righteousness and judgment, one by one: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. Now, this reading is the Gospel reading for another Sunday, so we won’t explain everything now. But let’s focus on how Jesus explains the Holy Spirit convicting the world concerning sin: he says: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me. It’s as if to say that Jesus is telling them, that there is no Holy Spirit is people don’t believe in Jesus, but also that not believing in Jesus is the most serious sin.

Of course, since Jesus is true God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, we know that without Jesus, we are breaking the first commandment, you shall have no other gods. But also, without Jesus, we have nothing. And all we have is our sin, and our complete and total unrighteousness. Jesus says: Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. So, in the same way, without Jesus’ words, then there is no eternal life, and there nothing but judgment, and passing from life into death. In John 8, Jesus says: I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.

Now, quite simply put, if people believe that they are righteous in themselves before God, then they won’t need Jesus. If they look at the 10 commandments, and think that they have kept them, then they won’t need Jesus. If they have not come to realise that they have sinned before God, then they won’t need Jesus. If they are not sorry for their sins, then they won’t need Jesus. If they do not know that they have deserved God’s wrath and displeasure, death, and eternal damnation, then they won’t need Jesus.

And this is the great and terrible destructive blindness that these Pharisees and scribes have. The reality is: they are sinners, they have not kept the 10 commandments, but have broken them, they should be sorry for their sins, and they do deserve God’s judgment and punishment.

So, what about you: are you one of these Pharisees or scribes? It is important for us to ask this question, because the vast majority of people are. Jesus says in the parable of the lost sheep, that the comfortable, self-righteous people are in the vast majority: the 99% of the world, if you like. These are the ninety-nine sheep that are left in the open country. The vast majority of people think that they are righteous, that other people are sinners (but not themselves!), and that they need no repentance.

But in actual fact, they really do need repentance. You might remember the story about a rich ruler. When Jesus tells him to keep the commandments, he says: All these I have kept from my youth. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, and follow me.” Now, Jesus is not saying that people are not allowed to own things and have possessions, or even that they are not allowed to be rich. But Jesus is showing to this man his sin. He is preaching the law to a man who thinks that he is righteous in his own eyes. We then read: When he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. He didn’t need Jesus, because he was comfortable enough with his wealth. Jesus then says to him: let me show you the reason why you won’t come to me: it’s your wealth. What is your idol? What causes you to wander away from Jesus? What is he searching for you about? What does he want you to repent of?

So many of us think that we are good people. Jesus says: No one is good except God alone. So, who is the liar? You or Jesus? We read in Romans: None is righteous, no, not one. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And so, we see how this parable is preached against the Pharisees and Scribes who grumble against the tax collectors and sinners, and who think they are righteous, who think they need no repentance.

So, on the other hand, Jesus preaches this parable to strengthen and comfort those who need to hear the Gospel. We read: The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. This is an interesting way of speaking! Why does the evangelist single out the tax collectors? Well, the tax collectors were a particular group of people who were often Jewish, but were collecting tax for the Romans. They were people who were seen as traitors to their own people. But then, it says: tax collectors and sinners. Of course, everyone is a sinner, even the Pharisees and the scribes were sinners. But these people who came to Jesus were people whose sin had become very public, and as a result, they had become famous or well-known because of their sin. So they were people who lived in public shame.

Now, what does Jesus say about them? He says: they are lost and need finding. They are sinners who need repentance.

But in all of this, Jesus shows them this lost sheep really has no idea what it has been doing. We read that these tax collectors and sinners were all coming to Jesus, but did they really know what they were coming for?

Actually, Jesus turns the whole thing around. The tax collectors and sinners, we read, were drawing near to hear Jesus. The Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling about it all, and the fact that Jesus was receiving them and eating with them. But Jesus turns the whole thing around, he turns everything upside down, because it is not them who have come to him, but it is him who has gone looking for them. Actually, Jesus like a good shepherd has left his eternal home and the comfort of his heavenly home, to descend to earth, to take on a human body and human flesh like all of us, so that he can look for us and find us.

He says: What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

And, so Jesus is telling everyone there: I receive these tax collectors and sinners, because I have found them! They have no righteousness of their own, and they have sought their righteousness alone in me. And I am happy to forgive them, I am happy to stand in their place, I am happy to carry them over my shoulder. All the shame of having run away, and being lost, is completely done away with, because I carry them on my shoulders, rejoicing.

And so, when it comes to the Gospel, the Gospel is a message for those who have been crushed by the law. The Gospel is for people who know they are sinners, who know they have broken the Ten Commandments, who are sorry for their sins, who know that they have deserved God’s punishment and condemnation. There is hope for them to be saved, and that hope is Jesus Christ. He is the one who has found you, he is the one who has carried you home on his shoulders, and he is the one who rejoices over you.

We read: When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbours, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

So, when we repent, when we confess our sin to God, when we acknowledge our desperate need and our terrible failure before God, we should not despair. Because God has sent us a Saviour, and when we trust in this Saviour, Jesus Christ, who is our holy hope in heaven and earth combined, then there is a wonderful joy in heaven over us. God has sent us a Saviour, and he gives us baptism so that we would be joined personally to this Saviour and receive from him the gift of the Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of our sins. He also gives us the absolution, the forgiveness of sins spoken through the mouth of his servant, the pastor, so that we may be comforted and encouraged in light of our failures and failings of the past. He also gives us the Lord’s Supper, for our strengthening and encouragement, his Body and Blood given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins. What is so important, when we consider our baptism, when we hear the absolution, when we come to the Lord’s Supper, is that we do not come as ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance, but we come to Jesus as his tax collectors and sinners, whom he has sought, whom he has found by his pure love and mercy and grace, and over whom he rejoices together with all the company of heaven and the angels. We have no righteousness at all in ourselves—Jesus is our everything, our salvation, our righteousness, our hope, our joy.

Now, in our reading, there is something wonderful here about the church. We are so used to thinking that a large group is a real church, and a small group is a sect. All throughout the world we see many massive church organisations talking and discussing, and often in what’s called the “ecumenical movement”, people see the great value of being together in an always increasing larger and larger group. But in actual fact, much of the time, what is really there is ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need repentance. We see so little repentance in the modern church—and if the church is to continue, and Jesus promises that it will, it is not necessarily the ninety-nine percent who are carrying it forward, but the repentant, the repentant, the repentant. So much of church politics is keeping the peace amongst people who won’t repent. But in actual fact, St Paul says: I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. Such a thing is not possible, if there is no repentance, and no need for the one shepherd, and his one voice. The church we see in our reading is the church of sinners gathered around their Saviour, and these sheep who have been found share in all the joy of heaven and the angels. Even Jesus tells us to beware of false teachers, that light has no fellowship with darkness, that the truth will set us free, not politics, not numbers. Many people don’t come to Jesus, because they look around at their fellow Pharisees and their fellow scribes, and they see their comfort in numbers, and so stay with them. And so, the important thing is our parables is not the ninety-nine sheep, not the nine coins in the woman’s pocket, but the one, the one sheep, the one coin. And the one sheep in union with the shepherd, and the one coin is in the hand of the lady. And when there is one who is found, then there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. There is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Psalm 1 doesn’t say, blessed is the 20 or the 30 or the 200 or the 2000 of the 500 million, but blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, just one.

And so it is for us when we think about evangelism and reaching out to the lost. Jesus tells about a shepherd and a woman in her home, a man character and a lady character. I think he tells these two parables, because he wants us, both men and women, to think about our salvation the same way, as something that was lost, and is now found. But also, Jesus is the bridegroom of the church and the church is the bride. And so, just as the shepherd seeks for the lost, so also the church seeks for the lost. And so we join in with Jesus, the only and most perfect evangelist, the only and most perfect missionary, and we actually join in with his work. We can’t participate in this work at all, if we are Pharisees and scribes, who look down on others, and therefore look down on Jesus for receiving them and eating with them. Actually, Jesus receives us and eats with us, and he does so because he has taken upon himself our sin, and shares his righteousness with us. So, in the same way, when we think of searching for the lost and bringing them into the church, we should think about other people’s problems and sins and failures just as if they were ours, and it should be our great desire and ambition that the righteousness which we have only through Christ, would be theirs. We can’t bring people to repentance if we aren’t repentant ourselves, we can’t look for the lost if we are really just the ninety-nine righteous persons who don’t need repentance.

And so, when we come into the banquet of God himself today, we remember that we come to celebrate with the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. This is the joy in heaven, the joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Amen.

 

And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.    

Trinity II [Luke 14:15-24] (26-Jun-2022)

                

This sermon was preached at St Peter’s Evangelical-Lutheran Church, Public Schools Club, Adelaide, 9am

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

Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.

Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Today in our Gospel reading, Jesus tells a parable about a great banquet. This reading is in Luke 14, and before we read this reading, we have a few things that happen which give us some insights into how we understand the parable. At the beginning of the chapter we read: One Sabbath, when [Jesus] went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. The Pharisees were known as the religious rulers and experts of Jesus’ time, and yet, when Jesus began to teach and do all kinds of things, they were upset about it, because all of a sudden, here was a man who taught in such a way which completely overshadowed them. And not only was Jesus’ teaching powerful, but many people would go and listen to him. Great crowds were following him, the kinds of crowds that the Pharisees would never have seen for themselves. And so, they became jealous of Jesus, and were often looking to catch Jesus out in something that he had done or said, and then they would be able to say: “Aha! We’ve got you!” And then they could discredit him.

Anyway, while Jesus was at this Pharisee’s house, we read: there was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” And they could not reply to these things.

So, we read about Jesus actually caught them out, and they were unable to say anything. Twice in this section, it says: But they remained silent. They could not reply to these things.

And so, Jesus tells a parable about a wedding feast, where a person who sits at the lower place is encouraged to come and sit in a higher place. And also, Jesus tells the Pharisee who had invited him that he shouldn’t invite his wealthy and rich relatives and neighbours, but invite the poor and needy when he has a banquet.

And so, we come to our reading for today, which begins with these words: When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

Here we read about this man, who is sitting there, and listening to Jesus. At first, it seems as though this man has something devout and pious and significant to say, but in actual fact, probably not. After all, he has been there with these Pharisees, watching Jesus carefully, to catch him out in something that he said. After a while, Jesus starts to preach, and then this man thinks: I can preach too! I’d like to say something!

When Jesus preaches the parable, it’s as if he’s addressing it against this man. The man says: Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God. At the end of the parable, Jesus says: For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet. So, it’s as if to say, that Jesus is saying to to the man, “Yes, blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God, but watch out, and make sure that you are there! You’re invited to my banquet, but will you make an excuse and not come?”

So, let’s read the parable that Jesus tells. He says: A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, “Come, for everything is now ready.” But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, “I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.” And another said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.” And another said, “I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.” So the servant came and reported these things to the master. So, we can see so far in the parable, that no one whom the man invited at first came, and this happened because they all made their own excuses. Then we read: Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, “Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.” And the servant said, “Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.” And the master said to the servant, “Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.”

So on one hand, we have the first people who were invited all refusing to come. And then the servant brings in the poor, crippled, blind and lame, and then he goes out and compels people to come in, so that the house may be filled.

Now, this parable has many layers, as many of the parables do. Now, there’s an obvious interpretation in this parable, which first of all is talking about the Jews and the Gentiles. We see how Jesus was sitting there eating in the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, with the lawyers, and all kinds of religious experts there. Jesus was their Messiah, and yet instead of receiving them, they watched him carefully, making all kinds of excuses as to why they shouldn’t receive him. And so, they are unable to enter the heavenly banquet. Instead, Jesus sends out his words and gathers in all kinds of needy people, from all nations, including the Gentiles, into his kingdom.

Now, we, who are Gentiles, are also recipients of this wonderful invitation from Jesus, and we have been gathered into the kingdom of God. In the Book of Acts, we see how Paul and Barnabas were being heckled and contradicted by the Jews in a certain place. We read: And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.”

Now, of course, there were many people in those early centuries, who were from the Jewish people, who converted to Jesus. And many Jewish people all throughout history, including in our modern times, have also converted to Jesus. However, there are many Jewish people, who have the Old Testament, they have Moses, the Prophets, the Psalms, and yet they don’t receive the Messiah which is prophesied there.

Now, also, today, there are many people in all kinds of other cultures, and countries, and nationalities, who also have heard the Gospel, and yet they don’t receive Jesus. Even, we might say, there are many churches and congregations all throughout the world, who call themselves Christians, and yet don’t receive Jesus.

Now, what we have described in this parable is the wonderful way in which Jesus himself, the man who gives a great banquet, sending out his servant to invite people to his banquet. Notice that Jesus doesn’t speak about the man sending out multiple servants or many servants, but only one servant. Actually, we read that on the day of Pentecost, that Jesus anointed with the Holy Spirit his apostles, and sent them out throughout all the world, and then all throughout history there have been many, many pastors and missionaries who have gone forth to bring the message of invitation to come to Jesus, and to his banquet.

But Jesus only speaks about one servant, which shows us that there is only one message. Even though we know that throughout history there have been many, many messengers, all of those messengers have only one thing to say. There is only one Jesus, there is only one banquet, there is only faith, there is only one word of invitation. There is only one Saviour, there is only one Messiah, there is only one Redeemer, and he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. And nobody comes to Father except through him.

Now, what is the banquet that we’re talking about? Now, some people take this to be the Lord’s Supper, but in a very crass kind of way. They say, here’s the Lord’s Supper, and we need to go out into the highways and byways, and just compel anyone and everyone to come into the church, as if we were just to go out on the street right now, and without explaining anything or instructing people, just have them all waltz up to the altar, and receive the Lord’s Supper.

But this is a complete misunderstanding of the Lord’s Supper, and the banquet, and salvation, and Jesus, and it’s a complete misunderstanding of where we fit in the story.

First of all, there are different people in this passage. There is the man who prepared the banquet. There is the servant. And there are the people who were invited who refused to come, and the people who were invited who did come.

Let’s go through each of these people. First of all, there is the man who prepared the banquet. This is Jesus. He is the true Son of God, who is equal to God the Father and the Holy Spirit, who created the world together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. At a particular time in history, around 2000 years ago, the Son of God entered into this world, descended from heaven, and took on human flesh from the womb of his mother, the Virgin Mary. This man, Jesus Christ, who is both true God and a true man, lived a perfect and sinless life on this earth, teaching and performing many miracles. Then, he endured such tremendous suffering and anguish, and was crucified and killed on a cross. Three days later he rose from dead on what we call Easter Sunday. Then he ascended into heaven and was seated at the right hand of God.

Now, there is a reason for all this. First of all, every member of the human race since the time of Adam and Eve fell into sin, has also been tainted, and completely corrupted and poisoned and diseased with sin, in such a way that all of our thoughts, words and actions are completely corrupted by sin. God has revealed his law in the 10 commandments, and we have broken them. And because we have broken the law of God, we deserve his wrath, his displeasure, his punishment, and condemnation.

However, Jesus came to earth and lived among us, and suffered and died, so that he could stand in our place. The justice that we deserved for our sin was put on him, in such a way that he took our sin upon himself and died for us. He poured out his blood and his life in such a way that it was a complete and perfect sacrifice and atonement for our sins, and so all of our sin and the guilt and punishment is completely atoned for. The debt that we owed is paid in full, and so we have everything we need, and we trust in Jesus as our only Saviour. We are free from condemnation, our sin has been forgiven, and we have been given the promise of eternal life.

When Jesus rose from the dead, he said to his disciples: Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.

Here is the banquet, who is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the man who prepares the banquet, and he is also the banquet itself. He is the Passover Lamb of God who was slain. And now, what is it that Jesus sends out his servant to say: to proclaim the repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name. This is what is means to go out and preach: Come, for everything is now ready.

Come, for everything is now ready, which the servant sends, isn’t just a message to invite people to church. There is a difference between inviting people to church, and inviting people to meet Jesus. Now, of course, the two things are connected, because we actually really do meet Jesus in the church. Jesus actually baptises us with water and the word to make us living members of his kingdom. Jesus actually speaks to us the forgiveness of our sins through the absolution spoken through the pastor. Jesus actually speaks to us his word, and preaches his word, and encourages us with his word. He actually leads us as our High Priest in our prayers, because he lives to intercede for us, at the right hand of God. He prepares for us a wonderful banquet in the Lord’s Supper, and actually gives us to eat and to drink his true resurrected and glorified body and blood, given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins.

So, when it comes to mission work, and evangelistic work, how do we invite people? What are we inviting people to? Well, as I said before, there’s a difference between inviting people to church, and inviting people to meet Jesus. For example, in recent years, I have seen some terrible things written on this topic. At worst, people think that the church is struggling in its finances, and so we need more people in, so that we will have more money on the plate, and we’ll be able to keep the institution alive. Some churches are so fixated on this, that they will do anything possible, just to get people in and sitting on the seats, and sacrifice everything good about the church service, even sometimes Jesus himself.

But people will come to church when they know what they are coming for, why they are coming, what it is that we are coming to. In Hebrews it says: You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word that the blood of Abel. We can’t even begin to imagine what it is that we participate in when we come to church, and enter into the heavenly sanctuary and throne room of God.

But in our parable, there were three people who refused to come to banquet, and made excuses. I have bought a field, I have bought five yoke of oxen, I have married a wife.

The simple reason why they didn’t come is that they didn’t know their need. Now, on a simple level, there are many people who are not Christians and don’t attend church, and they don’t come to Jesus and they don’t come to church because they don’t feel as though they need it. And how wrong they are!

But then also, all the excuses that these people made were all because of good things. There’s nothing wrong with buying a field, with buying some oxen, there’s nothing wrong with marrying a wife. They are all good things—but they can all be bad things when they stand in the way of us coming to Jesus.

Even, these Pharisees at the house where Jesus was didn’t come to him, because they thought they had everything they needed, and didn’t have a need to come to him. Can you imagine the irony of this? For centuries, they were all looking forward to the coming of the Messiah, and when he finally comes, they don’t notice him, because they don’t need him.

But then, there are also people who come to church, but have never really come to Jesus. They do all the outward things, they are part of the outward external fellowship of the church, and they think that this is all well and good, but their religious life actually makes them feel sufficiently self-righteous, that they don’t need a Saviour. Even sometimes we see this strange dichtonomy that Christianity isn’t a religion, it’s a relationship. But there’s good religion, and bad religion. There’s right relationships and wrong relationships. Either way, the Pharisees had both a religion and a relationship with God, but they still refused to come to Jesus and his banquet. And so, there are many people who have never brought their sin to Jesus, and never sought from him the forgiveness of sins.

And so, this is why Jesus sent out his disciples to preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins. When we preach repentance, we are preaching the law. We are showing to people their sin, which is new and fresh for people every day. We do this because if we are to come to Jesus, we need be shown our need for him, otherwise we will make excuses as to why we don’t need him, and won’t come to him. We won’t come to Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, if we don’t acknowledge our sin. We won’t come to our Saviour, if there’s nothing to be saved from, and we think we can save ourselves. We won’t thank Jesus for his atonement, and paying the price for of our sin with his blood, if we don’t think there was anything we needed to pay.

So, imagine going to someone and saying: “Why don’t you become a Christian! Jesus has died and risen for you.” But the person will say: “I don’t need someone to die and rise from the dead for me.” They think they don’t need a Saviour, that they are perfectly righteous by themselves, thank you very much. It’s like saying to them: “Good news! Someone has paid your speeding fine!” And then they say: “But I don’t have a speeding fine!” But then, you explain, they received a massive speeding fine, they were caught doing 100km in a 10km zone, out the front of the kindergarten at home-time, and didn’t realise it, and got caught. They realise they could have killed a child. Then we realise, but someone has paid my fine. Then we are so grateful for it! They we realise that someone has done something really wonderful for me.

This is how things are with Jesus! He invites those to his banquet like you who are needy. He brings in poor and crippled and blind and lame, and compels people to come in, the people who realise they have nothing to offer. He speaks the forgiveness of sins to those who know that they are sinners. He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds. This is how he invites you to his banquet, and what a great banquet it is! Let’s thank God for our wonderful Saviour, for the wonderful banquet, and for his wonderful invitation! Amen.

 

And the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus. Amen.