Sinner and Saint

Sins: Forgiven and Forgotten

Reformation Sunday 2011

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Romans 3:19-28

“Sins: Forgiven and Forgotten”

 

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

 

            Sin destroys. It destroys relationships. It destroys lives. Sin hurts. It hurts ourselves and it hurts others. Sin affects the lives of all of us…it even affects the Church. Maybe we know that to be more true now after the events of last weekend. Last weekend, late Saturday night to early Sunday morning, allegedly three men broke into Zion Lutheran Church, Chestnut, IL. While damage was very minimal the act was horrendous. What was most offensive was the disregard for burglarizing the Lord’s House and their disrespectful treatment of the Lord’s Altar, the Lord’s Baptismal Font, the Lord’s Sacramental vessels, and the Lord’s very body. How terrible it is to burglarize and even more terrible to “dump” the consecrated bread and wine with disregard over the Altar. Sin truly does hurt not only the sinner but those being sinned against.

            Sin is at the heart of the Reformation. Martin Luther knew that he was a poor miserable sinner. He knew that his sin was the very reason Christ died on the cross. For many years Luther was plagued by the cross. The cross wasn’t comforting but condemning. No matter what Luther did…it was never enough to “pay” for his sins. He couldn’t earn his salvation. He would go on pilgrimages, work day and night around the monastery, pray, fast…and anything else he could think of to try to earn God’s forgiveness. But it was never enough and Luther was in deep despair.

            Hear Luther’s own words: “My own good works all came to naught, No grace or merit gaining; Free will against God’s judgment fought, Dead to all good remaining. My fears increased till sheer despair Left only death to be my share; The pangs of hell I suffered.” (LSB 556)

            For Luther, God was an angry judge that could never love him or forgive him. Many of us like to think of God as an angry judge for the wrong reasons. When someone sins against us we want God to quickly judge them. When we see the evil others do we hope judgment comes quickly. When those we love are hurt we are quick to seek justice. But if we are to be consistent…do we want God to be an angry judge when it comes to our own sinfulness?

            The truth is God is an angry judge when it comes to sin. Just look at Christ on the cross. God’s full wrath was cast upon God’s own Son Jesus Christ. Christ paid the ultimate price, taking all the sins of the world upon his shoulder, and died on the cross. That should scare us! It scared Luther.

            The wages of sin should scare. We should never accept sin or expect sin. Something that has been bothering me while listening to people talk about the burglaries that have affected us or other horrible crimes that hit small towns…is when I hear people say “these things are expected to happen in Chicago or big cities…but not around here.” No! They shouldn’t be expected to happen anywhere! Sin should offend us no matter how big or how small and regardless of location. Sin is a big deal. Sin hurts all of us! Sin kills. Sin condemns.

            “For the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23a) Sin should scare us because we all will die because of our own sin. God as an angry judge should scare us…for He truly “brought us into this world and can take us out!”

            The Reformation is about sin. But it is also about something else…something that Luther would discover; something that would contribute to the Reformation. “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement,[a] through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” (Romans 3:21-28)

            Here in Paul’s letter to the Romans Luther found that while God was an angry judge toward sin and unrepentance…He was a loving God to those who believe. Luther found Faith and Grace (Sola Fide and Sola Gratia). By God’s grace through faith we are forgiven.

            Grace and Faith are God’s actions. The Reformation is all about God. Forgiveness of sins is God’s action towards us. Faith is the gift God gives to us. That is God’s love! Hear God’s Word from the Prophet Jeremiah: “The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

            My brothers and sisters in Christ. Sin has hurt each and every one of us. That’s really why we come to this place…this Church. We come as sinful people in need of God’s forgiveness. And that is what we get! Here in this place Christ comes to us. He gives us faith, forgiveness, and life through Baptismal Waters. He gives us faith and life through His very Word. He gives us forgiveness of sins and strength in His very body and blood.

            We must take a stand against sin and call sinners to repentance…and that includes our own sin and our own need for repentance. We do this because Christ died for our sins and the sins of the whole world. Out of love call others to repentance…and out of love forgive them as you have been forgiven. To those that burglarized our Lord’s Church in Chestnut and desecrated His Altar, Font, and Sacramental vessels. I forgive you. We forgive you. We pray that you, all sinners, and our very selves: repent and receive God’s forgiveness. For God promises “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34) Amen.

 

Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.

Attitude Check

Pentecost 19, 2011

“Attitude Check”

Philippians 2:1-11

 

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

 

 

            In one of my favorite movies, Bagger Vance, is the character of Hardy Greaves. One of the pivotal moments of the movie for me is when Hardy is walking in the center of town with his friends and ignores his hard at work father. It was the Great Depression and Hardy’s Father took a job cleaning the streets. Hardy couldn’t stand seeing his father work such a menial job. It didn’t help that some of the parents of Hardy’s friends refused to work jobs that they viewed as “below them.” What Hardy didn’t know…and would later learn…was that his dad was truly an honorable man. His dad worked to pay the bills…doing whatever he could no matter how menial it seemed…as others racked up debt, kept living the “high life” in order to later declare bankruptcy and pay no one back. What Hardy needed…and received…was an “attitude check.”

            Our Epistle lesson this morning also calls for us to have an “attitude check.” Listen to Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians: “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete.” (Philippians 2:1-2a)

            My brothers and sisters in Christ…our text isn’t an “if” but a “because.” Because we have encouragement from being united with Christ…because we have comfort from His love…because we have fellowship with the Holy Spirit…because we have tenderness and compassion…then make my joy complete.

            Here our Lord is calling for us as Christians who have received His wonderful gifts to make His joy complete. But how do we do that? “By being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:2b-4)

            “Humility is a virtue all preach and few practice, and yet everybody is content to hear. The master thinks it’s good doctrine for his servant, the laity for the clergy, and the clergy for the laity.” How true those words are. While all of us are called to humility…we all sit back and say that’s a great thought…and point the finger at those around us that should be doing it while ignoring our own need to be humble.

            Our text calls us to be like-minded and yet we struggle in our families, our schools, our communities, and our churches for what we think is best and right. We argue over how to spend money, what activities we should do, what role individuals should have, etc. We are then called to have the same love; to be one in spirit and purpose and yet we would all rather go in our own direction. The Epistle goes on to say that we should not look only “to our own interests, but also to the interests of others.” We talk about peace and unity…but mean that only if everyone else agrees with us. And so we think this Epistle is a lovely thought…but impossible to do.

            But our text goes on. “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5-11)

            Here is our attitude check! Here our text reminds us about who Jesus really is. Jesus is God and man. It also reminds us of what Jesus did…that Jesus, being God, humbled himself to be born of a virgin in order to overcome the sharpness of death and open the kingdom of heaven to all believers (The Te Deum Laudamus) (TLH p. 35-37)

            Even as our text teaches us about the two natures of Christ (that He is both God and man) our text points us to Jesus as our example of humility. God became man. God did whatever it took to save His people. Truly Christ humbled Himself and became man; a slave so that we would be made children of God and heirs of heaven. Christ’s humility led Him to dying like a common criminal on the cross. God in the person of Jesus died on the cross for you. “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11)

            Seeing Jesus humble Himself…reminds us that we stand convicted of our lack of humility. Truly we should seek God’s forgiveness for our self-centeredness. “For wolves to devour sheep is no wonder, but for sheep to devour one another is monstrous and astonishing.” If we as a family, a community, as a church want to live in peace and harmony then we must imitate Christ’s humility. This can and is only done by faith! When we imitate Christ’s humility by faith; when we share God’s love by faith…then by God’s grace we shall be exalted to heaven.

            We gain life by losing it in service to God and to others. We might think of the Arkansas River in Colorado. Formerly it flowed down a steep mountainside past a desert that lay parched for centuries. Year after year it deepened its own channel as it sped on its way to the ocean and oblivion. One winter a dam was built across the dry channel of the summer stream, stopping the flow of the water. Unable to follow its usual course, the river formed a lake from which the water was channeled and ditched into the desert. The former arid region now produces fields of waving grain. The free life of the stream was sacrificed, but it found itself again in the golden harvest. Those who live only for themselves are losing their lives. Those who live by faith for Christ and for others are finding real life—a full, happy, joyful eternal life of loving service.

            By God’s grace we are able to put down our self-centeredness and humble ourselves to God’s service. And what a service that is…sharing Christ, caring for those in need, showing love to those around us, having peace and unity with family, neighbors, and within our Church.

            My brothers and sisters in Christ: Christianity without joy is a betrayal of the One we follow. We are a forgiven, redeemed people, who belong to the faithful flock on the way to heaven. We are people with great joy. Amen.

 

Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.

That's Not Fair

Pentecost 18, 2011

Matthew 20:1-16

“That’s Not Fair!”

 

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

 

 

            Have you been watching the news lately? Maybe the crowds aren’t as large as the media makes them out to be...but in many large cities throughout our nation are groups of people protesting by occupying Wall Street and other financial districts in our major cities...and even in cities around the world. They say they are taking a stand against greed and corruption and standing up for equality and fairness for all.

            Without getting into the politics involved...sinful people... all those gathered to occupy Wall Street, all those working for Wall Street, those owning Wall Street and us...don’t really want equality or fairness...we want what we perceive to be equality and fairness...namely we want what we think we deserve. That is what’s at the heart of our Gospel lesson!

            “The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’” (Matthew 20:9-15)

            Did you hear that? They all got the same! It’s a scandal. Is this any way to celebrate human achievement? It goes against everything we hold dear; it goes against all our notions of what is right and fair. One of the first rules of economics is that people get what’s coming to them. If you have worked harder, longer, and more faithfully than others, you get more. It’s what our whole economic system is based on. The more you do, the more you get. If not cash at the end of the day, then influence, power, and position.

            Even in the church, where we talk about living by grace alone, we still like to think that we will receive based on what we give. Grace is for sinners. But the folks in the parable are workers. There’s no sin in an honest day’s work. We go to church; we attend meetings; we give generously; we “bear the heat of the day.” We labor long and hard, and do you mean to say that it all adds up to nothing? We reckon that it should count for something, if not here and now then in the grand scheme of things at the end of days when the Owner returns. But did you hear what the Owner said? “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with what belongs to me?”

            It’s really a terrifying thought—God does what He wants with what is His! It’s hard for us to accept this all the time. The car you drove here this morning...is it yours? The house you live in...is it yours? The clothes your wearing...are they yours? The fields you plant in and harvest from...are they yours? Listen to these verses: “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” (Psalm 24:1) “For every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.” (Psalm 50:10) “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine...” (Exodus 19:5) “If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” (Romans 14:8) Would you like to change your answer now?

            As hard as it is for our sinful nature to accept, our strivings and works count for nothing before God. Some workers do labor from dawn to dusk; they really do bear the heat of the day. Many of us know what it means to work for the Lord all day. How many of you have been Christians since you were baptized as an infant. How many of you grew up going to Sunday School and became long time Sunday School teachers, officers of the congregation, faithful givers, and attend church regularly. We strive...but none of us can say we have given it our all.

            We also don’t mind when the Master goes out and hires others later in the day.  We delight to look around in the pews this morning and see folks who’ve joined us through adult instruction, at the invitation of friends, by coming to be our guest one day and liking what they’ve heard. We even give thanks to God for those occasional deathbed conversions we hear about. We rejoice…don’t we?

            But then look what the master does. He gives the last as much as He gives the first. All of the sudden…what happens to our rejoicing? We start to think “Wait a second! I’m glad these last minute converts scrape by and get into heaven—I think—but they’re not quite the same as I am.” “And what about those freeloaders who just sit in the pew and pitch in their couple of bucks? They’re not the same as I am!” We are all for equality and fairness…but only when we decide what that is. The truth is that if God were “fair” we’d all be in a lot of trouble. If God were “fair” we’d all be found guilty for our sinfulness. If God were “fair” we’d all be damned to hell.

            But God does what He wants with what is His. And what God wants above all else is to be generous! God does what He wants instead of treating us as we deserve! Even our best work is soiled with sin. Each and every one of us is a sinner. The wages of sin is death—that is the payment we deserve. But out of His love God is generous with us. “Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.” (Isaiah 55:7-8)

            God’s ways aren’t our ways…and for that we should be thankful. For instead of destroying all of us and sending each of us to everlasting condemnation in hell…instead of pouring His wrath on us…He sent His Son…to die in our place…to take our wrath...on the cross. In Christ Jesus, God shows his love and generosity for you.

            In Christ, God does—here and now—what He wants with what is His! In Holy Baptism He pours out His generous forgiveness upon us. In His Word He speaks His abundant forgiveness upon our sins. In His Supper He feeds us generously as He fed the multitudes—not just a bit of bread and sip of wine—but His very body and blood given and shed on the cross for you.

            Listen to this! They all got the same! Did you hear that? They all got the same! It’s a blessed scandal. It goes against everything we hold dear, against all our notions of what’s right and fair. And praise God for that! He doesn’t operate according to our standards of what’s right and fair. Instead, he does what he wants with what is his! And what he wants above all else is to be generous!

            To slightly borrow from the Occupy Wall Street group: If you are truly tired of the greed, darkness, and corruption in America...if you have had enough? It's time to march. It's time to be radical by today’s standards. This Sunday and every Sunday gather in groups, take whatever transportation you can and OCCUPY YOUR CHURCH! Get there early and stay late. Ask questions. Sing. Take the opportunity to learn and discover again what real power looks like…God forgiving your sins. America, the world, is watching. Be there…where Christ promises to be…where Christ comes to you in His body and blood!

            Rejoice. No matter if you are rich or poor by this world’s standards…no matter what color your skin is or where you grew up…no matter what sin you have committed…no matter when our Lord called you to faith in Christ: your sins are forgiven. The Kingdom of Heaven is yours…for you have been made a child of God through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

 

Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.

Go to your brother!

Pentecost 16, 2011

Matthew 18:15-20

“Go to your brother!”

 

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

 

 

            “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.” (Matthew 18:12-14)

            The Parable of the Lost Sheep comes right before our Gospel lesson this morning. In it we see the love of Christ and our Heavenly Father. Jesus goes off and leaves the 99 sheep behind to find that one lost sheep. That is God’s love for the straying sinner. That is God’s love for each of you. Remember how important that one straying sheep is as we hear our Lord’s Word from the Gospel lesson this morning.

            “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony 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, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:15-20)

            This is a hard text to preach and hear. It is a hard text because it tells all of us what we are called to do as Christians. This text isn’t just for one person…but all of us. The audience for this text is the faithful believer. It tells us, both Pastors and laity, to go…to your brother that sins against you. This is not an easy task. This, like all mission work, focuses on sharing the truth of law the Gospel with others. It is something that we all agree needs to be done…and yet none of us wants to do. It is like when we sing the hymn “Hark the Voice of Jesus Crying who will go and work today…” and resound together in singing “send me send me.” And yet…when it comes down to it we’d really rather sing “send someone as long as it’s not me!”

            There are many reasons we don’t like to go proclaim Christ to the world…especially not to our own brother or sister. Even more than sharing the Gospel…we really don’t want to go and tell someone that they have sinned; that they are a sinner. Much of it is our own laziness. A lot of it is our worry for offending those we love. Often we don’t want to go just to be rejected or ridiculed. Sometimes we don’t know what to say. And of course…we don’t want to drive people away from us, the Church, or God or take the blame as being the cause of this happening.  

            This is a real problem in our Church. It is a problem here in Clinton and Chestnut. All of us are guilty of not heeding our Lord’s command. It’s all of us. God doesn’t call just one of us to go to our brother…He calls all of us to go. Notice how our text tells us to handle the situation. If your brother sins…go to him. If he won’t listen to you take witnesses. If he still won’t listen take the Church. All of us are supposed to be involved!

             We might ask: who is your brother? It’s all those around you. There is a reason we call each other brothers and sisters in Christ. Your brother is your relative by flesh and blood and your relative in Christ Jesus.

             We might also ask…“but what if they haven’t sinned against me?” If a person has sinned in front of you…if a person has sinned against the Word of God…they have sinned against you as a member of Christ and against Christ Himself. The point of the text isn’t what the exact sin was…it is in calling a person to repentance.

             A call to repentance. This is the heart of our text. This is the reason we are to go to our brothers and sisters that have sinned. The reason that all people must repent is that all sins are equal in the eyes of God. That is, all sins equally condemn us to eternal damnation. That’s why this is so important. Salvation is at stake. Eternal life is at stake. Do you care? Do you care enough about someone to tell them they have sinned? Do you care enough to go to your brother and call him to repentance?

             I know that you care. I care. God knows that we care and forgives us of our shortcomings. God knows that going to your brother when they sin isn’t easy. That is why He promises to be with you. He gives you brothers and sisters in Christ to go with you. He gives you the very Church. We are in this together.

             This is such an important, noble, and blessed task…and I know it’s not easy. I know how hard it is to be rejected when sharing Christ. I have had people ignore me and get angry with me over calling them to repentance. I have been told that I’m offensive, mean-spirited, judgmental, and un-loving. I know the stress involved…the anxiety…the fear…the sadness…the weight it puts on your shoulders.

             God gives us the strength to endure. He gives us the very words to speak. He lets us share His love. That’s also what this is all about. We call people to repentance because we love them. We share the wonderful news of Christ…His death and resurrection…because we love them. And while it doesn’t happen as often as it should…people do come to repentance and faith. That, my brothers and sisters in Christ, is an unspeakable joy. As Jesus tells us “there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:10)

             The heavenly Father has but one will, the will to save. This includes all, young and old. It also includes those who have fallen into sin, but who by loving patience and hard work might be won back. How great is the Father’s love for all people! How great is His love for you!

             “Hark, the voice of Jesus calling. Who will go and work today?” By God’s grace let us respond not with “send someone else” but with the words “Send me! Send me!” Amen.

 

Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.