Just One Thing - Sermon for the 15th Sunday after Pentecost

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 10^th, Year of Our + Lord 2023
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
Just One Thing – Matthew 18:1-20

   “Everything, therefore, in the Christian Church is ordered toward this goal, that we shall daily receive in the Church nothing but the forgiveness of sin, through the Word and Signs, to comfort and encourage our consciences as long as we live here.”  Luther’s Large Catechism, Second Part, the Creed, Article III

   I am, in most things, against “one-thing-ism.”  I think focusing exclusively on one thing as the cause of a situation, or as the only thing to be worthy of concern, is a mistake.  For example, this year’s bad forest fires in Canada, smoke from which we have enjoyed in recent days, are routinely blamed on man-caused climate change.  That may be part of the issue.  But poor forest management, driven by environmentalist concerns, or short-term weather patterns, or just regular forest cycles, all might be part of the problem as well.  But the one thing our media and federal government want to talk about as the cause of these fires is climate change. 

   Or consider the way most of the world determined in 2020 that the Covid-19 novel coronavirus was the only public health concern that mattered.  To be sure, Covid-19 was terrible.  Whether it was a freak jump from a pangolin to wet-market workers in Wuhan, China, or it was a human-modified virus from the coronavirus lab just down the street, Covid-19 rocked our world.  A new respiratory virus against which we have no immunity spread quickly around our interconnected world, and millions of people fell gravely ill, and many, many died.  On top of this tragedy, public trust in governments and media have tumbled to disturbing levels, as officials and talking heads proclaimed one thing one day, and the opposite the next, all the while denying any inconsistency, and scolding the public for asking questions.

   Worse, with the exception of the Swedes, virtually every government of the so-called advanced world lost their minds.  Do you remember: “three weeks of lockdown to bend the curve”?  This strategy, designed to help our medical systems cope with the initial onslaught of infections, quickly morphed into a Zero-Covid strategy, an effort to completely stop the virus.  Lock downs went on and on.  Only “essential” business operations were allowed to go on normally.  Schools were shuttered.  Nothing else mattered. 

   I specifically remember the moment in Cartagena, Spain, when I heard Pedro Sanchez, the Spanish president, announce that Spain was going “to defeat this virus, stop it completely.”  Under Sanchez, with draconian measures, we would end it.  What arrogant foolishness.  And news flash, it didn’t work. 

   Public leaders all over the world transformed their approach from dealing rationally with the unavoidable consequences of a terrible virus, to the magical-thinking goal of “Zero-Covid.”  This new problem became the ONLY problem worthy of our attention.  Covid-19 must be stopped, no matter what cost.  No matter the damage to souls from loneliness and social isolation.  No matter the nursing home patients who could not understand why their families stopped visiting. No matter businesses destroyed, and jobs lost.  No matter the learning loss of millions of children banned from school, and then told to plug in even more hours of their young lives to internet connected screens.  No matter the psychological effects of relentless fear-mongering across the media.  A small price to pay, we were told, because Covid must be stopped at all costs, no matter the other problems the Zero-Covid approach caused.    

   Even worse, in many places, churches were closed, forbidden by the state to gather to pray and worship.  Now, to be sure, many churches volunteered to close and stay closed, many forever, they are gone now.  But those who wished to be faithful to Christ’s instruction to gather and hear the Gospel preached without ceasing often found themselves running-a-foul of local laws.  Diabolically or unintentionally, the result was that many, far too many churches shut down.  And that is a huge problem. 

   We as a nation cannot afford to close Christian Churches.  You won’t learn this in history class anymore, but our prosperity was built on the foundation of the Christian family, and Christian values.  I don’t want to go into the argument about whether the United States was or is a Christian nation.  But the values of Christianity and the effect of many Christians in the population have had a huge effect on our culture and economy. 

   America, and the whole world, needs faithful congregations to continue doing their thing, or our societies will decline.  Which we can see all around us every day, as the decline of the Church in our land is accompanied by polarization, epidemic depression, mental illness and substance abuse.  Fractious, angry debates break out over every issue.  For maybe the first time ever, life expectancy in America has been declining recently, and Covid has very little to do with it. 

   But injury to our society, economy and public health, for all its importance, is not the real problem with governments trying to shut down churches, during Covid, or any other time.  The Christian Church must continue to do her thing in America, and the world, because human sinfulness, its just consequence, and God’s miraculous and loving work to overcome our sin-addiction must be proclaimed.  Sin and Grace, Law and Gospel, the overwhelming love of the Savior, these must be the center of our life as Church, because the Church, which is simply Christ gathering His faithful people around His Word and Signs, is the only place that one can be sure to find the forgiveness of sins.  

   As I said, I’m generally against “one-thing-ism.”  Treating Covid-19 as the only problem worthy of our concern was a colossal error.  Life is complicated, and those who propose mono-causal explanations for our various and complicated problems consistently make things worse.  But, when it comes to our souls, when it comes to men and women relating to Almighty God, when it comes to religion, there truly is just One Problem, One Need, and, thankfully, One Savior.    

    Peter seems to be slowly beginning to understand that mercy and grace are pretty important to Jesus.  Earlier, in Matthew chapter 16, Jesus praised Peter for correctly identifying Him as the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  Our Lord went on to say that He would build His Church on that confession, and that Peter would have divine authority to forgive or retain sins:   I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”  ‘Binding’ in this context means leaving a sinner bound in their sins, while ‘loosing’ means to set them free, by forgiving them.  But just a few moments later, when Peter rebuked Jesus for predicting His crucifixion, the very place where the forgiveness of sins would be won, Jesus rebukes Peter in return. “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling stone to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”  To deny God’s plan to forgive sinners is satanic, almost as if forgiving sinners is the only thing Jesus is concerned about. 

    Our Lord’s laser-like focus on sin and forgiveness continues in Matthew 18.  After praising the
greatness of a humble child, Jesus returns to warnings about sin: “whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, (literally, to stumble, like the stumbling stone in Matthew 16), it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. "Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!  [8] And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. [9] And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.”

    Jesus goes on and on about sin and forgiveness.  He tells the unlikely parable of the Shepherd who leaves 99 sheep on the mountain, going in search of the one foolish lost lamb, searching until He finds it and rescues it.  In case the Twelve begin to think animal husbandry is nearly as important to God as forgiveness, Jesus immediately follows with an explicit instruction about sin and forgiveness:  "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.  But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.  If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.  Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.  Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.  For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." 

   Note, as Luther did, that Jesus’ promise to be present with His Church, whenever even just two or three gather together, flows from and is connected to the purpose of forgiving sins.  So all things in the Church are ordered toward this goal, that sinners daily receive forgiveness, through the Word and Signs. 

    This brings us to the end of today’s Gospel.  But spoiler alert, Jesus still isn’t done talking about forgiveness.  In next Sunday’s Gospel, our reading from Matthew 18 will continue.  And Peter, thinking he is finally wrapping his brain around just how sharply Jesus is focused on forgiveness, asks his Master the famous question:  “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus will reply, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”   How’s that for focus?  But we’ll leave that for next Sunday.  When we will gather again, to receive the forgiveness of sins. 

   Really?  Seriously?  Perhaps the thought occurs to you, I must confess that it has to me, that this focus on forgiveness seems a bit much.  That even with forgiveness, “one-thing-ism” is a bad idea.  I mean, I know I’m forgiven.  If that’s all were ever going to talk about, why should I even come back next Sunday?  I’ve got it, I understand already.

    Why should you come back next Sunday?  Why has God, from the beginning, set a pattern that His people gather regularly, at least weekly, to receive His gifts and sing His praise?  What could it be about our lives that makes it so important that we have regular, ongoing access to Christ’s forgiveness? 

    Oh, yeah.  Not to be too personal or too depressing, but the Bible clearly describes the desperate state of our hearts, and we all know just how right the Holy Spirit is about that topic.  Sin is all around us, and in us, every day.  We don’t need to tie every difficulty that we face to particular sins and particular sinners, although often that is easy enough to do.  Because far too often the sinner who is responsible for my problems is… me. 

   Luther suggests that if you aren’t aware of your sin and your need for forgiveness, just examine your life using the 10 Commandments.  Think about your relationships, to husband, wife, children, parents, bosses, employees, co-workers and friends.  Think about your relationship to Christ.  Have you cheated, stolen, been lazy, gossiped, or spoken badly of others?  Have you loved things in your life more than God, made them more important that Jesus?    

    Luther’s method is very effective.  Another way to perceive your sinfulness is to get serious about living without sin.  Really try hard to avoid sin, to choose the high road, the better path, every day, all the time.  I really pray you do, and I should too.  Our earthly lives would be tremendously blessed if we all worked much harder to avoid sin.  Let’s do it!  Let’s do it, for we will enjoy better days.  And, we will also come running back to Christ for His forgiveness.  For the more seriously we take not sinning, the clearer our remaining sin, and our inability to leave it totally behind, will become. 

   It's like this:  Zero-Covid, the thoroughly unscientific goal to totally eradicate the virus from our lives, was a hopeless and harmful exercise in collective foolishness.  From the moment Covid-19 first infected humans, stopping it’s spread completely was a pipedream. 

   In this life, in this fallen world, Zero-Sin living is even more impossible.  Jesus tells us to cut off our hand and tear out our eye if they cause us to sin.  Sin kills, and we should take it deadly seriously.  But Jesus doesn’t literally want you cutting off your hand, because your hand doesn’t cause you to sin.  Your heart does.  Sin is not a virus that infects us from the outside, but rather it rises from the inside.  From the heart come evil desires, wicked thoughts, murders, hatred and adultery. 

   We Christians are called to live each day in a strange tension.  We are to try with all our strength to keep God’s Law, and pray for the strength of the Holy Spirit to flee from sin, and to do the good works God has prepared for us to walk in.  And, at the same time, we must never place our hope and confidence in our success, but rather we are to flee daily to Christ, bringing Him our sins, and eagerly receiving His gracious forgiveness, again, and again.  Overcoming sin is the one thing we absolutely need, and it’s a wild ride.  It is a human-logic and human-pride frustrating ride, that is also the best possible life. 

    And of course, avoiding sin is not the only thing.  God wants forgiveness at the center of His Church, so that then all His other blessings can flow.  Joy, love, fellowship, wonder, beauty, laughter, peace, a useful life, a blessed death, all these things and a thousand more blessings will flow, when forgiveness reigns.  When by God’s grace we keep first things first, and all things are ordered in our midst toward the goal of sinners receiving daily forgiveness, from God the Father, for Jesus’ sake.   

So, let us pray:  Gracious heavenly Father, Your Son our Savior Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary and lived on this earth for one purpose, to gain the forgiveness of sins and salvation for us sinners, that we might be reconciled to You and live in your blessing and glory forever.  Today, You send us Your Holy Spirit to deliver the grace of Jesus.  Your Son is truly present with us to teach, correct, forgive and renew us.  We thank You for this most excellent of all gifts, and pray that you would give us wisdom to always return to You to receive forgiveness, for the rest of our earthly lives, or until that blessed Day when you send Jesus to gather Your whole Church into your eternal kingdom.  Keep our eyes and hearts ever focused on this, Your goal for us, through our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.