Willpower - Sermon for the 9th Sunday after Pentecost

Willpower            Matthew 13:44-46
Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
July 30^th, A+D 2023
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, South Dakota

Willpower. 

   I once had a member who taught me a lot about human will power.  Let’s call my friend Andy.  He was, and still is, a recovering alcoholic.  Andy was a great help to me, and he taught me a lot.  In particular, Andy the recovering alcoholic helped me to better understand addiction. 

   What do you think of addicts?  Of alcoholics, or those hooked on other drugs?  Would you say they have strong willpower? 

   For a very long time, I did not think so.  It seemed obvious to me.  People who become addicted to things pretty clearly lack the willpower to abstain.  I thought about addiction as a more extreme version of me not having the willpower to get out of bed some mornings, or my failures to discipline myself to use my time wisely.  But Andy corrected me.  He taught me that a person addicted to alcohol or other drugs actually has tremendous willpower, much more than most people. The problem is, unless and until they get help with their addiction, their willpower is all pointed in the wrong direction.  Their will is to use.  They regularly demonstrate a tremendous drive to get their substance. Their addiction intensely focuses their willpower on feeding it. 

   Andy taught me this surprising truth about addicts, and Diana confirmed it.  That’s also not her real name, and she also was a member I once served.  Diana struggled with addiction, while being an active member of the congregation.  At times, trying really hard, she would do pretty good for a while.  Many other times, Diana lost control.  And despite her expert efforts to cover it up, I usually knew right away if she was under the influence.  Because, whenever she was drinking, there was always the same smell.  It was a strange smell, and I never knew what it was, exactly, whether it was the alcohol she drank, or something else that she used to try to cover it up.  But I came to recognize when she was drinking by that smell. 

   One time, Diana was hospitalized, what for, I don’t remember, but almost certainly it was related to her addiction issues.  And in this time, I got a glimpse of her will power to get alcohol. 

   I didn’t find out for a day or two, but when I heard Diana was hospitalized, I went to see her.  And, when I stepped in the room, well, to borrow from Lynyrd Skynyrd, “oo-ooh, that smell.”  I don’t know how Diana managed it.  Nurses, CNAs and doctors were in and out of the room constantly.  They were very aware of her issues.  There wasn’t that much stuff in the room, nor a lot of obvious places to hide a bottle.  And yet, even though I couldn’t see it anywhere, I was sure Diana had managed to get her alcohol into her room.  I could smell it, and my olfactory assumptions were confirmed when I visited with her.  Her badly directed willpower had achieved its goal. 

   Why, you might ask, am I talking about the willpower of addicts?  To help us understand the willpower of Jesus. To help us understand the parables of the Treasure in the Field and the Pearl of Great Price.  Am I comparing Jesus to people suffering from addiction?  Well, yes, insofar as His single-minded commitment to saving us, while different because it is holy and good and life giving, does share some points of comparison with the willpower of addicts.  The drive to feed their habit that people suffering from addiction often display can help us understand, at least a little, the drive of Jesus to achieve our salvation.  For His willpower is intensely focused on having you for His very own, to live with Him in His Kingdom, in everlasting innocence, righteousness, and blessedness.  Whatever it takes.   

   The parables of the Treasure in the Field and the Pearl of Great Price are often taught as lessons of how we sinners should behave.  How a good Christian will give up everything and focus all their energy and efforts on acquiring the eternal and infinitely valuable Kingdom of Heaven.  And it is true that we should give up everything to gain access to God’s Kingdom.  God would be just to hold us to such a requirement.  But teaching this as the meaning of these parables is wicked.  And cruel.  Because we can’t do it.  It’s like telling an addict their only hope is to dig deep inside and simply quit desiring their substance.  Actually, teaching that these parables are about our obligation to give up everything to gain heaven is even worse than telling an addict to fix themselves by force of will.  For perhaps some addicts can dig deep inside and beat their habit.  I don’t know.  But no sinner can do what it takes to gain the Kingdom of Heaven.   

   Have you ever noticed how the Creeds don’t talk much about what we do?  The two ancient summaries of Christian teaching that we confess Sunday after Sunday, the Apostles’ and Nicene Creed, tell us about God’s work, of creating us and all things, and redeeming us from sin and death, and sanctifying us day by day until He comes to bring us into the new heavens and new earth. 

   In these two parables of the Treasure in the Field and the Pearl of Great Price, Jesus teaches the same thing, in two incredibly tight similes.  "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”  

   Jesus is the man who discovered a treasure in a field, and sold all He had in order to buy that field.  Jesus is the merchant who sold all He had to buy that pearl of great price.  The field is the world, as is the pearl market.  And the treasure, well the treasure is you.  The treasure is the Church, the people of God rescued by Jesus.  You are God’s pearl, His treasure.  For you, Jesus gave up His rightful place at the Father’s right hand, entered the sordid field of this world, and gave His life to purchase you and all the other sinners from Satan, who held us in bondage due to our sins.  Whatever it takes.

    It is as we hear in Hebrews 12: where we look upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.   The joy that Jesus saw before Him was the chance to present you, along with His whole Church, to His Father, to present you forgiven and restored, to live with God in perfect peace and glory, forever. 

   Paul says the same thing another way in Philippians, chapter 2: Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, ⁷but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.  ⁹ Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

     The mind of Jesus, all His willpower, is laser focused on doing whatever it takes to rescue you, to purchase and win you, forever.  His will to save was so strong that Jesus suffered all, without complaint.  He came to His own people, but they rejected Him.  He healed and taught and gave hope to the downtrodden, and for this He was said to have a demon.  He revealed Himself to be the Messiah, fulfilling all the prophecies of the promised Savior, and for this He was sentenced to death.   None of these obstacles weakened His resolve.  His will was steady and sure, all the way to the Cross, and out of that borrowed tomb.  

   Jesus’ will to win salvation made Him seem out of His mind to His own family.  His will to suffer evil and not defend Himself with His Almighty power caused His closest friends to flee, abandoning Him to His fate.  None of this even began to deter Him.  His will was and is to save sinners.  To win His treasure.  To purchase His pearl.  To have you, for His very own.

    Today, Jesus continues to will your salvation, coming to you through His Word and in His Supper, to forgive, restore, renew and strengthen you day by day, until you are welcomed into His presence forever.       

    There’s one more thing we should cover.  We started out talking about addicts.  I am an addict.  You are all addicts.  Not necessarily in the normal sense of that word.  Christians do of course sometimes suffer from addictions.  But I’m talking about being addicts in a different sense.  In our sinful nature, we, like all descendants of Adam, are addicted to sin. 

    Think about it.  We know sinning is wrong, and hurtful.  Part of us wants to stop sinning, to flee from temptation.  And yet, we cannot free ourselves.  There is something within us that is attracted to sin, drawn to it, an urge we can neither avoid nor defeat.  That sounds a lot like an addiction.  Our sinful nature wills to sin.  Our flesh is intensely focused on doing precisely those things that our new nature knows are bad, and wants to avoid.  

    But in this conflict there is hope.  The Saint in you hates sin.  The new creature born by the power of the Holy Spirit, working through Water and the Word, the “new you” wills to walk in God’s way.  And so, Christian life on this earth is a struggle.  But the fact that you are caught in this struggle is good news.  For it shows that you have been purchased and given new birth by the Pearl Merchant, by the treasure finding, field buying Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord.  

    Jesus’ will is to proclaim Good News to sin addicts.  His will is to have you and me for His very own. And so we pray, Thy will be done, Amen!  

Concern and Patience, Hope and Prayer - Sermon for the 8th Sunday after Pentecost

 8^th Sunday after Pentecost,                
July 23^rd, Year of Our + Lord 2023
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
Concern and Patience, Hope and Prayer   
Matthew 13:24 - 43 and Romans 8:18 - 27

   We’ve heard more planting and harvesting parables today.  Jesus again uses seeds and their growth to describe the kingdom of heaven.  But this time Jesus defines the seeds differently. 

   Last Sunday the seed was the Word of the Kingdom, the Word of Christ, which both
describes God's Kingdom of Grace, and is also God’s living and active instrument, his means for bringing people into the kingdom.  Some of this seed, Jesus said, fell along the path and was eaten up by birds.  Some was burned up by the sun or choked out by thorns.  But some produced a good crop.  God is the Sower, and He is extravagant with His planting, scattering the Word in many places. 

   The Father scatters wildly, because He gave His Son into death to pay for the sins of the whole world, and raised Him from the dead, in order to reveal and proclaim that forgiveness and salvation are available to all.  Desiring for all to be saved, God scatters the seed of the Word far and wide.  As precious as we rightly think this Gospel Word of the Kingdom is, God willingly sends it to places where it will be wasted or rejected.  And He does this again and again.  Our God is a relentless missionary. 

   Today’s parables focus us more on life in the Church, especially as we approach the End of this age.  Jesus tells a parable in which the Good Seed is not the Word, but rather it is the children of the Kingdom, that is, the true believers.  Jesus' new way of using seeds in this parable may make us squirm.  The missionary idea of the seed as the Word being proclaimed to all nations is very comforting.  Yes, we have to wrestle with whether the Word is growing in us, whether we are rocky soil or full of thorns and cares which choke out the Word and its growth.  But we are here in church, aren't we?  Certainly we must be good soil, right? 

   But when Jesus says the good seed is the children of the kingdom, and the bad seed is the children of Satan, and that they exist side by side inside the Church on earth, I for one think that's pretty uncomfortable.  Last Sunday's parable of the Sower spreading His Word makes us think of conversion, of justification, of the missionary moment when God converts a sinner with His Word.  We might think of life-giving waters and new birth. 

   Today's parable is much more about sanctification, much more about Christian living.  And Jesus says the visible reality of the Church on earth includes both true believers and hypocrites, good wheat and evil weeds.  What's more, Jesus warns us that the workers in the kingdom can't sort out the wheat from the weeds, lest too much damage be done to the good wheat.  This sorting task must wait for the angel harvesters, who come on the Last Day. 

   As we hear Jesus and consider this parable, we have reason for concern, and we have reason to be patient.  We have reason to hope, and we have reason to pray. 

   We have reason for concern, because Jesus paints life in the Church as a serious thing, but we very often aren't all that serious.  The reality is that the Church on earth will always be a mixed bag, full of good seed and bad, of wheat and weeds, right up until the end.  This fact should create in us in us a concern for true faith, and a concern for the eternal welfare of others.  But all too often we use the mystery of the co-existence of wheat and weeds in the Church as an excuse not to be concerned about Christian living.  The Church is full of hypocrites, many say, so what’s the point of trying to live like a Christian? 

   The reality of wheat and weeds should concern us because of what happens to the weeds at the Last Day.  They are gathered to be burned.  Jesus means they are sent to hell.  Some people who confess to be Christians are not Christians.  This should not produce indifference in us.  Some apparent members of the Church are destined for everlasting punishment, unless their unbelief and hypocrisy are driven out by true faith. 

   Jesus doesn't say how many weeds are in His Church.  Are there weeds in our congregation, or maybe they are only in those ‘other’ churches.  The troubling possibility is that some of the people in our church family, people we love, and with whom we look forward to knowing and loving in heaven, some of these people might not truly believe.   

   That’s terrible.  But to be honest, even more troubling for me is the question of my own status.  Am I of the wheat, or the weeds?  Elsewhere Jesus tells us that that we can distinguish the children of the kingdom from the children of Satan by their fruit.  Humble servants, the meek, those dedicated to God's Word, those who sacrifice for the good of their neighbor, these are the good seed.  Liars, lazy people, busybodies, the greedy and adulterers, those who listen more to the World than to the Word, these are the weeds.  But, which am I?  Which are you? 

   Do you lie?  Does your eye wander?  Do you want what isn't yours, and begrudge giving God a portion of the gifts He has first given you?  As I examine myself, I know that I look very much like a weed. 

   Our concerns are real, whether we consider the individual Christian or the Church at large.  Thankfully, Jesus also gives us reason for patience.  Jesus teaches us patience with the parable of the Mustard Seed.  As Jesus explains, the Mustard Seed starts out very small.  But despite all appearances and expectations, it grows into a large plant, large enough for birds to land in it. 

   Very often as we look for growth in the Church, whether outwardly in the number of members or inwardly in the holiness of the lives of believers, we are ready to give up hope.  We lose hope because the Church seems to be constantly losing ground, and because the Church seems so full of weeds.  Churches sometimes seem to be nothing more than societies for petty bickering and pious hypocrisy. 

   Christians, called to love one another, and even to love their enemies, are far too often found scheming and fighting amongst themselves.  Those called to be lights in a dark world are often found instead to be sneaking around in the dark, willfully sinning like pagans.       

    A close examination of the Church or of individual Christians will tend to depress
your hope.  But have patience, say Jesus, for from the smallest seed God brings forth mighty trees.  From the least auspicious beginnings, God brings forth His eternal Church.  We have every reason to be concerned for our Church, and for our friends and family, and for ourselves.  Our problems are caused by sin.  Sin is an abomination to God, and we sin.  Often.  But while we are concerned, we also have every reason to have patience.  The work of God is not over until He says it is over, and the results are in His merciful hands.  Peter denied Jesus three times on the night He was betrayed.  Paul was a persecutor of the Church.  Nevertheless, in the end God used both of them mightily to build His Church. 

   So yes, take your faith seriously, and your sin.  Fight against sin with all your might, because this is the right thing to do.  But struggle knowing that God is in control, and the results that matter take time.  Struggle by staying focused on the Mustard Seed of the Gospel, and never doubt the power of that Mustard Seed, for it belongs to Christ. 

    We have reason for patience, and even more we have reason for hope, as Jesus teaches us with the parable of the leaven.  Leaven is yeast, the little fungi that give growth to bread.  Just a little leaven spreads in the mass of dough and breathes life and growth throughout.  Jesus doesn't tell us if the leaven is the Word or if it is the believers, but it doesn’t really matter so much.  For believers have the Word on their lips.  And we know it is the Word of Christ that brings salvation. 

   We have the Gospel, the good news of forgiveness through the Cross of Christ, and so we have hope.  Even if sounding forth from our lips the Gospel seems weak and ineffectual, the truth is a little Gospel goes a long way.  When we face our concerns by seeking out the Gospel, we learn once again that despite what we deserve, God has overcome our problems, in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  Gospel leaven works, breathing forgiveness and new life in us.  Repent of your sins done in the daylight, and those hidden in the dark.  Repent, and believe that your bickering, your quarrels and bitterness toward your brothers and sisters, all of these sins are forgiven, in Christ.

    We Christians are sinners, like everyone else.  By necessity then, the Gospel Word that makes us Christians and keeps us in the faith is the Word of forgiveness, forgiveness flowing in the blood of Christ.  Forgiveness from Jesus is the leaven, a tiny and life giving spore, spreading from sinner to sinner, giving growth where we least expect it.  In fact, as Paul told us in our Romans text, the whole creation is leavened, infected with the promise of the kingdom, groaning in expectation of the End, when the Children of the Kingdom will be revealed, when the masks of false believers and the masks of our mortal bodies will be taken away, when the truth will be known, and the Children of the Kingdom will be revealed. 

    This is the promise of the Spirit's prayers on our behalf, that those redeemed in Christ will be revealed - body and soul - in the Last Day harvest.  This promise and the Spirit's prayer are reasons to hope.  Just consider what Paul teaches us.  We encourage prayer.  Sometimes, I fear, we scold about prayer.  We constantly tell ourselves and each other to pray.  But prayer can be such a struggle.  How often do you feel guilty for your lukewarm prayers, or your utter failure to pray? 

   These are legitimate concerns.  But despite all these failures, really because of them, Paul reminds you that God is praying for you: the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  It’s like this:

·      You couldn't pay for your sins, so God sent Jesus to live and die and rise on your behalf, and free you from the condemnation you deserve. 

·      You couldn't believe such good news, so God sends His Holy Spirit to teach you and correct you and forgive you, and create the faith you need to receive salvation. 

·      And even still today you can't quite get your prayers right.  So God the Holy Spirit makes intercession for you at the throne of grace, constantly reminding the Father of Christ's victory over your sin. 

   Now that is a reason to pray.  In the Holy Spirit’s intercession for us, we find the freedom we need to pray.  Because the Holy Spirit is already praying for us.  God is praying for you, within Himself, and He always prays rightly.  Since God prays for you, you know your needs are covered.  You are free to add your requests without fear, in Jesus Name, because you already know that Gods' response will be good. 

   Life as a Christian is a struggle, and we are right to be concerned.  But we also have reason to be patient, with ourselves and others, always staying focused on the Gospel Word, and remembering God is in charge of the timing.  And we have reason to hope, for the Gospel that delivers the forgiveness won by Jesus is powerful, even though it appears weak.  So we can pray with confidence to the God who has promised to make His Children to shine like the sun.  His Promise is sure, because God has completed all that we need to be saved.  So let us act on God's promise, and rise for prayer. 

God's Service - Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, July 9th, Year of Our + Lord 2023

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, July 9^th, Year of Our + Lord 2023
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, South Dakota
Served by God

Divine Service Teaching

   We’re going to take a few minutes this morning to talk about Divine Service, about worship, what it is, how it is structured, and what’s really going on.  I do need to start with a warning though.  I regularly participated in Lutheran worship for 32 years before I ever really learned what God was doing through it, what it meant,  etc.  I was quite blown away by what I learned.  And, a few months later I found myself in seminary.  So, if what we talk about this morning is new information for you, be warned, you never know where God might take you with this good news.

   Seriously, I do pray that we are able to deepen our understanding and appreciation for Divine Service, to enrich our experience of worship, and to understand how great our God is. 

   We start in Genesis chapter 3, when the LORD God was walking in the cool of the evening in the Garden, looking for the Man and the Woman.  Divine service, Gottesdienst in German, God serving us, has always been precisely this:  God seeking us out to fellowship with us, to enjoy communion, closeness, with us, in order to bless us and enjoy our company. 

 

  Now, due to the fall into sin that had just happened, God coming to the Man and the Woman was a problem.  They were afraid, and hiding. 

   But the LORD God still came, He still sought them out.  Now, because of sin, He had to confront them; He elicited a confession of their sin from them.  And then God promised a solution, promising the Serpent that the Seed of the Woman would come, and crush his head.  The LORD went on to teach the Man the Woman, and provide them with clothes, protect them from themselves by barring access to the Tree of Life, and reconciling the couple to each other, despite their sin and its consequences. 

   The same LORD God is still at it, seeking sinners, in order to bless us. 

   The New Testament Divine Service is God coming to us on the other side of the fulfillment of  that Genesis 3 promise of a Savior.  The Old Testament narrative and worship was always looking forward to that fulfillment, looking forward to the Cross.  New Testament narrative and worship flows from the fulfillment of God’s promise by Jesus on the Cross.  It is the same LORD God, still coming and seeking sinners, still confronting our sin, to forgive and restore us.  Still teaching, still protecting, even feeding us and clothing us with Christ Himself, God coming to us to bless us and have fellowship – communion, with us. 

   The essence of worship, that is, the essence of Divine Service, is God through His Word and chosen means seeking us sinners to bless us, wherever and whenever God chooses to do it.  Divine Service happens every day, in many places.  The Sunday main service, the Divine Service liturgy, is a particular form of God’s Service to His people, a form which has grown in the Church through 2,000 years, and continues to adapt to best serve God’s people.  Our Sunday main service is communal, providing a form that we can easily do together.  It is regular, and so also memorable.  This memorability was very important, since for most of those 2,000 years the Church lacked books, not to mention screens.  And it is still super valuable to know the service by heart, to carry it with you, to be able to draw on it in moments of joy or need.  A faithful Sunday Divine Service serves as the hub of Christian faith and life. 

    The main Sunday Divine Service has two fundamental parts:  Word, and Sacrament. E ach has Biblical roots, roots in Israel’s history.  The Service of the Word draws its form and function from the service of the Jewish Synagogue.  The Service of the Sacrament has its roots in the services of the Temple in Jerusalem.  And note, Jesus during His visible earthly ministry regularly participated in both the sabbath Synagogue services and the festivals of the Temple.  Biblically there are many New Testament examples of this Word and Sacrament pattern.  My favorite is in the Road to Emmaus account in Luke 24, where the resurrected Jesus, hiding his identity, walks with two distraught disciples on the evening of Easter, and teaches them from the Scripture all about the Christ and His Cross, and then, at the house in Emmaus, Jesus is revealed to them in the breaking of the bread at supper.  Teaching, then Meal.  Word and Sacrament. 

   The Service of the Word is essentially Bible reading, and then preaching on that text, to explain and apply it to the gathered hearers, today.  From the Synagogue service, the Service of the Word took an antiphonal, or back and forth form.  There are readings and responses, a back and forth call and response between the pastor and the people.  Our Service of the Word begins with the appointed Introit, or entrance Psalm for the day, followed by the Collect, the common prayer of the day, then Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel readings  The responses, including the Gradual, and the Alleluia and Verse, give the congregation voice to respond to God’s Word.  Then there is Creed and Sermon, to teach the faith and apply the Law and Gospel of Christ to the hearers, for their forgiveness and to guide their living and witness.   

 

 The Service of the Sacrament connects to the services of the Temple of ancient Israel.  In the Temple, and the Tabernacle that preceded it, animal sacrifices were made for the good of the people, always pointing them forward to the coming sacrifice of the Lamb of God.  In the Service of the Sacrament, we make no sacrifice for sin, because Jesus has finished the once for all sacrifice of Himself on the Cross.  We in the Sacrament receive the fruit of that sacrifice, forgiveness, life and salvation given to us in the Body and Blood of Christ, under the Bread and Wine.  The essential texts of the Sacrament are the Lord’s Prayer and Christ’s Words of Institution of the Supper.

     The Divine Service settings we have in our hymnal all follow this Word and Sacrament pattern, with some additional common elements developed and added through the centuries.  This pattern of worship facilitates corporate worship, allowing everyone to participate and grow in understanding.  The Divine Service promotes unity in the gathered Body of Christ.  These settings are faithful, tested by time and use in God’s Church, and they are Scriptural.  Indeed, as we can see from the notes throughout our liturgies, most of the service is Scripture, chosen to adorn and facilitate God’s service to us. 

     The Wheels on the Bus.  To understand and remember the form and function of our Divine Service liturgy, we can think of the boxes of Word and Sacrament as a bus.  And to move along, a bus needs wheels.  These wheels are the Entrance, the Preparation, and the Distribution and Dismissal. 

    The Entrance:  We begin by invoking, or calling, on the Name of God, in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  We identify the God who is coming to us, and we rejoice,  because we are reminded that we do not need to hide in fear like Adam and Eve, because the God who comes to us is the One who has claimed us as His children in Holy Baptism. 

    Next, a brief but necessary confrontation.  God confronts us in our sins, which we confess, in order to receive the Absolution, God’s forgiveness, making us ready and worthy to enjoy His presence, His fellowship.  We are ready to enter into the Service of the Word. 

    After the Service of the Word, we need to transition, both physically and spiritually, to the Service of the Sacrament.  This movement is called the Preparation. 

    In the Preparation, responding to the Word just heard, we come before God with our prayers, and with our offerings.  In the ancient church this offering included the elements for the Supper.  The table is prepared.  One other note:  in the first centuries of the Church, at this point any worshipers who were learning the faith but not yet baptized were dismissed now, before the Sacrament. 

    Finally, after the Service of the Sacrament, the gifts are distributed.  In the Distribution, we receive the gifts of Christ’s Body and Blood, and give thanks with song and prayer.  Finally, we are dismissed with the Benediction, a final blessing.  As we started in the threefold Name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the final blessing is the Old Testament blessing of the High Priest Aaron, which is also three-fold: 

1.    The Lord bless you and keep you

2.    The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you.

3.    The Lord look upon you with favor, and give you + peace. 

    We depart then, forgiven, blessed, and strengthened for a week of living and loving as God’s people in the world.  The wheels of God’s blessed bus, helping us to receive Him and all His gifts, Divine Service, indeed.   

 

Sermon: 

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

     As we have learned about the wheels of the bus of the Divine Service before the Invocation, we will reflect briefly on today’s readings, which, by God’s grace, fit very well with the theme. 

    From Zechariah we hear the promise of the coming King, the Righteous Son of David, who would bring peace to Zion, entering Jerusalem on a donkey, to end warfare, and set free the prisoners, for the sake of the blood of His covenant.  This prophecy Jesus fulfilled, riding into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, in order to set in motion the shedding of His own blood, the New Covenant, that made peace between God and mankin, and so also sets sinners free.  And so we joyfully repeat and remember and celebrate these events every Sunday, as Jesus comes to us again, riding on His Word and Sacrament, bringing peace and freedom to sinners. 

    And speaking of sinners, from Paul we are reminded why we always need to return to the Divine Service, throughout the days of our earthly life.  The Christian wisely returns, again and again, to the only One who can rescue wretched men and women.  For, like the Man and the Woman hiding in the Garden, we too know we are sinners.  Despite the miracle of salvation that we have received, sin still clings to us in this earthly life.  The Divine Service is for sinners.  Indeed, Jesus only welcomes and dines with those who admit their sin and seek His forgiving grace. 

    Finally, from Matthew 11 we hear Jesus marvel at the way of the Father, who reveals Himself and His Salvation, not to people who think themselves to be wise and understanding, but rather to children.  God comes and reveals His gentle and loving heart to His spiritual children, who set aside their own wisdom and gladly hear and trust the mystery of God.  As the baptized, we rejoice to know the Son, and so also to know the Father.  Moved by the Holy Spirit, we eagerly come to Him with our burdens, giving our sins to Jesus, and receiving from Him rest and refreshment, for today, this week, and forever and ever, Amen.    

Of Swords and Peace - Sermon for the 5th Sunday after Pentecost

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
July 2^nd, Year of Our + Lord 2023
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, SD
Of Swords and Peace – Matthew 10:32-42

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

   

I went to a class on the Gospel of John in St. Paul, MN this past week.  It was great.  Glad I went.  But such get-aways, to classes, conferences or conventions, always present a challenge to the preacher, the challenge of being ready to go for the following Sunday. 

   On such occasions, especially after almost 20 years of mostly every Sunday preaching, I often will take a look back in my computer folders to see if I have an old sermon, maybe on you haven’t heard, that I could dust off, probably punch up a little, and save some prep time.  But somehow, this week, even though I’ve preached through Year A of the three-year lectionary at least 4 times, I discovered that I don’t ever seem to have preached on these readings. 

   But no worries.  Surely there will be some simple and sweet Gospel passage within the readings, something I can grab and use to quickly pull together a joyful little sermon.  That’s always nice.  But, as you may have noticed, with today’s readings there’s really not anything gentle or easy to be found.  I’m not saying there’s no Good News in them, but you might have to squint a bit to see it. 

   The prophet Jeremiah confronts a false prophet named Hananiah, who was contradicting the word of the LORD, Jeremiah’s message that Jerusalem and Judah would be destroyed, and all the survivors taken into exile in Babylon. 

   St. Paul unpacks the uncomfortable reality of God’s good and just law colliding with our sinful nature.  The commandment comes, sin comes alive, and we die.  All this to show that sin is sin, sinful beyond measure. 

      Finally, Jesus says He did not come to bring peace to the earth, but a sword, to pit son against father, and mother against daughter.  This last bit is particularly troubling for me.  I talk about peace a lot.  Our lives are filled with strife and discord, so I love how our time together in the liturgy is filled with prayerful blessings of peace:  The Peace of the Lord be with you!  The Peace of God, which passes all understanding.  The Lord bless you and keep you, and give you peace.  And it carries over into my week.  I most often sign emails and letters with “Peace in Christ to you and yours!”  We so often lack peace in our lives, and we need peace.  So Jesus’ declaration, about not bringing peace, but a sword, is hard to take. 

   I was tempted to punt, to sidestep the assigned readings and pull together some kind of simple, peaceful message.  Sometimes the Collect of the Day is a place to look for an idea. 

   But then I read the Collect for today, the common prayer that we offer to kick off our consideration of God’s Word.  Listen again:  Almighty God, by the working of Your Holy Spirit, grant that we may gladly hear Your Word proclaimed among us and follow its directing; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen.   Gladly hear your Word proclaimed among us, and follow its directing.  My call as your pastor is to proclaim to you the whole counsel of God, not to avoid or ignore those parts of God’s Word that don’t please me.  “Following the directing of God’s Word” for me, in my vocation as a preacher, means not punting.  I should not avoid preaching the Word set before us, just because I’m short on time and don’t feel like wrestling with difficult passages.  

    Punting would seem to make me too much like Hananiah, Jeremiah’s foe who preached peace and prosperity, and promised the return by Babylon of the holy vessels of the Temple, and the kidnapped exiles.  Read on a bit in Jeremiah 28, and you will discover that didn’t turn out well for Hananiah. 

    We don’t have that bit of Scripture before us.  But we do have this, the conclusion of our Old Testament reading: As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the prophet.  The proof of the prophet is in the pudding of fulfillment.  Now, if we are squinting to find some Gospel, some Good News in this Jeremiah text, you might in this last verse hear a hint.  And you would not be wrong. 

   Throughout the Old Testament, even from Jeremiah the grump himself, there is talk of a Prophet to come, who would restore Israel, and establish a New Covenant, where the peace of God, which passes all understanding, would reign.  Where God’s people would live in eternal peace and security.  Isaiah called this Coming One the Prince of Peace.  In Daniel, He is the Son of Man, who defeats the great beast and wins safety for God’s saints, in an everlasting kingdom.  Jeremiah is pointing us to the great prophet of peace, Jesus of Nazareth, through whom, as St. Paul teaches, we have been justified by faith, and so we have peace peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

   Jesus has brought us peace.  This was His promise to His disciples in the Upper Room, earlier on the same night when He was betrayed.  Jesus said: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 

   Three frightening days later, violence had seemingly silenced this promise of Jesus.  But then, “Peace be with you” were the first words from the final Prophet’s mouth, as the resurrected Jesus appeared in the Upper Room to His cowering disciples.  Yes, indeed, peace with God, peace in our hearts, peace between the brothers and sisters in Christ, because He is our peace. 

   We have peace, true and everlasting peace, because we are in Him and He is in us, and all causes of strife and fear and fighting have been washed away in His blood.  Weapons of soul destruction, rendered inert, unable to harm us.  Violence forever defeated in His death.  Victory revealed by His glorious Resurrection. 

   And so, you might ask, why does Jesus say in Matthew 10: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”?  Why this seemingly contradictory and frightening word?  What are we to make of it?     

       Context, context, context.  Scripture interprets Scripture, and so the first thing for us to do in trying to grasp a passage of God’s Word is to see where we are.  What is the context of the words we are struggling to understand?  In our Gospel today, the context is confessing or acknowledging Christ as Savior, in this life, before men, including unbelieving men. 

   This world is naturally unbelieving, and the message of the Gospel often insults and angers unbelievers.  So, confessing Christ as the peace-giving Savior will not be received easily, and not by all.  Jesus’ words about bringing a sword and not peace apply to this situation.  The peace of God which passes all understanding is a reality of God’s Kingdom.  That is to say, for those who have been brought to faith in the Gospel, peace reigns.  The reality of perfect peace, in the flesh of Jesus.  And also the promise of future peace, revealed in the New Heavens and New Earth, a promise of a glorious and peace-filled forever and ever, the hope which sustains us in this chaotic world. 

   But, what brings peace forever may cause conflict in the world today.

 

   Jesus’ words to us today speak of pain, and promise, and they call for patience.  The pain of a loved one, a family member or close friend, who rejects Christ, and maybe also rejects you because of your faith, this pain is among the heaviest crosses we bear.  Like  Paul, who in Romans chapter 9 speaks of the pain he feels for his unbelieving Jewish countrymen, we could wish ourselves outside the Church, for the sake of our loved ones coming to trust in Jesus for forgiveness and salvation. 

    But this of course is not how it works.  The first and best thing you can do for your unbelieving family or friend is to strengthen your own faith, so that in the day of opportunity, you will be ready to speak.  And to this end, Jesus gives you a promise.  He tells the future Apostles that whoever receives them receives Him.  And whoever receives Jesus receives the Father, who sent Him.  Jesus is pointing to the promise of the Apostolic Word, the teaching that He would entrust to the 12, the New Testament Gospel, through which God calls people to faith and delivers forgiveness and salvation. 

   God’s Word is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, and it can and does convert hardened unbelievers.  It can also heal and restore lambs of God who have left the fold because of some hurt received.  The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, of which we are not ashamed.  This Word you have, and in God’s timing, He will complete His purposes through it. 

    God’s timing is hard for us.  But be patient.  Patiently look for opportunities to speak God’s Word into the lives of others, and wait for the Holy Spirit to work.      

   As we consider the strife that Christ and His Gospel create between friends and family, creating division between those who should love most easily and deeply, there is one caveat to keep in mind.  When Jesus is speaking of setting sons against fathers and daughters against mothers, Christians are never to be the one who is “against” the other.  Anger or hatred received are not justification for the Christian to hate.   It is hard not to get upset when others speak ill of Christ.  But this “setting against” is not to come from us.  We are called to speak the truth, no doubt, but to speak the truth in love, to tell of our hope with gentleness and humility.  We are also to bear with others, as far as we can without entering into sin or denying Christ.  We are not to cut ourselves off from unbelieving friends and family.   As much as it depends on us, we seek to be at peace with everyone. 

    Remember how Jesus associated with sinners, and loved them, drawing many to Himself?  As His followers, we seek to act like Jesus did.  Like Jesus did for you, and for me, sinners whom He has drawn to Himself. 

    This is tough stuff, these differences and divisions within families over the Gospel.  So we pray for strength to endure.  We pray for ourselves, yes, and for our family and friends, that by the working of the Holy Spirit, they would lose their old life, and find in Jesus real and everlasting life.  And we remember the mystery of faith at the end of our reading.   For the one who receives a prophet receives the prophet’s reward.  And the Prophet is Jesus.  The one who receives a righteous person receives the righteous one’s reward.  And the Righteous One is Jesus.  His reward is your reward.    

 

   It is the privilege of the disciples of Jesus to help each other through the difficulties of this life, knowing that the End is better than we can ever imagine.  A cup of water shared, perhaps a reminder of the power and grace of baptism, for a brother, for a sister, for me, for you.  And when opportunity arises, you are free to share that cup of water with those who reject Christ.  

   Who knows what good God could do with that simple act of love?    

    It is not always easy to confess Christ and remain with Him.  But it is always good.  Because the Good One, the Peacemaker, Jesus Christ, is with us, today, and tomorrow, and forever.  Receive His Love.  Approach His Table.  Rest in His Peace, Amen.