Sermon for Pentecost 15: "Confronting Sin and Gaining a Brother" (Matthew 18:1-20)

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

When you hear the phrase “Matthew 18,” what comes to your mind? Could it be the Parable of the Lost Sheep? What about the woes to the world for temptations to sin? For most of you, I bet you were thinking about Church Discipline.

 

Christ’s words, “If your brother sins against you…” are one of His most unpopular commands that Jesus ever gave. It’s so unpopular that Matthew 18 is so often ignored or even denied. Afterall, there is something inside each and every one of us that would prefer complaining to someone else instead of actually talking with the person who sinned against you, or you think sinned against you. 

§  Our sinful nature would prefer to complain to every other person, except to the one who offended you. 

§  Our sinful nature would rather spread rumors and gossip. 

§  Our sinful nature would rather pout and say, “I’m right and you’re wrong.”

It is certainly hard to talk to your brother or sister in Christ when he or she has done something against you. We all know that it is. We would rather commit to false peace than actual peace.

 

Now, Jesus here is talking about sins that your sibling in Christ has committed against you, which should be distinguished from things that you may just not like about your fellow brother or sister, such as opinions and quirks of behavior that tend to annoy you. What Christ is talking about here are violations of the Ten Commandments, things like: dishonoring your parents, not supporting your neighbor’s every physical need, adultery, stealing, telling lies, not speaking up in defense of your neighbor when he is falsely accused, having a lustful eye to another’s property or spouse.

 

But as we see in Christ’s words, the bulk of what Christ is saying here is that we shall not give false testimony against our neighbor, so that we do not hurt our neighbor’s reputation.

 

But what does our sinful nature prefer to do? Ignore the sin or attempt to cover up the sin. Afterall, who really wants to confront an unrepentant sinner? It’s awkward. It’s uncomfortable. But guess what? That is what we are called to do as Christians, so that we can gain back a brother or a sister from the hell of fire.

This is so opposite of what we want to do. Our sinful nature and the world would much rather ignore sin and move on. Act like it never happened. The world would like nothing less than to memory hole every bad thing and just move on. But do we ever really move on when sin is not addressed? No! The lies that go under the carpet will soon be revealed. The world would like us to believe that covering up sin is a good thing, but God says that covering up sin is never healthy.

 

In fact, covering up sin and avoiding confrontation is not Biblical. One of those lies that is so often perpetrated upon us – and that we often buy into – is that it’s just not nice to not make nice. The world’s lies say that we must be affirming of everything from every possible angle. And really, this seems so pleasant to us. This is what our sinful nature wants because we would always prefer a path of least resistance. It’s more cooperative. It avoids confrontation.

 

But God’s way is different than our way. God’s way is to confront sin. God’s way is to call sin a sin, which is so different than what we want to do. 

 

We would much rather use passive aggressive behavioral techniques, such as complaining to others, or sending anonymous letters to the person who offended you, or even if there were communication, our sinful self would much more prefer to hide behind texts or emails, instead of actually talking face to face. God’s way is so different than our way. This is why Matthew 18 is so unpopular. God’s way is to confront sin directly, so that He may bless us by Christ covering our sin.

 

God’s way is about reconciliation and protecting reputations. Jesus didn’t preach His words from Matthew 18 out of the blue, but they are in accord with the 8^th Commandment which is given to protect ours and our neighbor’s reputation. So, when someone tugs at your ear with a complaint, do not entertain it. Gently ask, “Have you spoken to the person who has offended you?” If they say no, then tell them that’s the first thing they should do. But if they keep complaining without telling the other party, let that complaint go in one ear and out the other.

 

Now, Matthew 18 is not out of the ordinary when it comes to God’s Word. In fact, God chose Ezekiel as His watchman to confront sin. God said to Ezekiel, “When you hear a word from My mouth, you shall give them warning from Me. If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand” (Ezekiel 33:7b-8).

 

Now, what about the wicked? Would they be the people who are obviously wicked that even the public would decry against them? No! The wicked is everyone who is rebelling against God. Well, that’s us! That’s us, all the time! This is God confronting sin, so that the one being warned would turn away from their sin and receive God’s forgiveness. This is what it means to warn.

 

But I have often heard: “Who are you to judge?” Well, who is doing the judging? Is it you? No! It’s God. To Ezekiel, God said: “When you hear a word from My mouth, you shall give them warning from Me” (Ezekiel 33:7b). So, when we as God’s people are called to speak, we are speaking what God has said and nothing more. If we don’t say anything, what will happen to the unrepentant sinner? As God says, the wicked one will die in his sins, but you will share in the blame. “But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul” (Ezekiel 33:9). 

 

God’s point in warning is not to destroy but to get sinners to turn from their sin. God could have just given up on humanity when Adam and Eve fell into sin. Instead, He continued to speak to us so to bring us back to Him. He continued to converse with humanity through His prophets, evangelists, and apostles. God doesn’t want all of us to be lost eternally. In fact, He keeps speaking to us as He sends us pastors and fellow Christians to warn us of our sin so that the sinner would be forgiven. This is the clear evidence that God wishes to save us by giving us the forgiveness that Jesus earned for us on the cross. But this only happens when the sinner repents of their sin, rather than cling to their sin.

 

This is such a challenge for us. Our society perpetually tells us to just get along, coexist, and tolerate. Today, we live in an era where certain things that were once considered sin are considered acceptable. Even the laws of this country outlawed such sins. But now the law makes so many sins legal, so that we fear even saying a word against such sins.

 

Instead of confronting sin, we would rather shy away from even mentioning the sin. We would rather not cause offense. We would rather not rock the boat. So often, we choose to tolerate sin, which shows intolerance to God and His Ten Commandments.

 

Again, God’s way is to confront sin, since He always desires to bring the sinner to repentance, so that forgiveness can be applied.

 

God is ultra-serious about sin. Sin separates us from Him and from each other. God desires reconciliation. He desires togetherness with Him and our neighbors. So, when Jesus says, “If your limbs cause you to sin, cut them off” (Matthew 18:8-9), He isn’t saying to actually cut off your limbs to avoid sin, but He is looking sin right in the eye. Sin is serious, the fire of hell is not temporary, it isn’t something that will last for only a certain length of time; it lasts forever. So, what Christ is saying is that if you would cut off your hand in order to avoid sinning, it would be well worth it in avoiding hell. Sin is that serious.

 

Confronting sin is about saving. Yes, confronting sin is uncomfortable, but there is always a good reason: it’s about salvation for the sinner. In Matthew 18, Jesus says His words carefully, “If your brother sins against you…” (Matthew 18:15a). Jesus says “brother.” A brother is not a natural enemy. A brother is family. So, there is a loving purpose to Jesus’ words.

 

Every once in a while, a fellow Christian – a brother or sister in Christ – is guilty of a deliberate sin and shows no desire to forsake that sin and make amends for it. When that happens, we must follow Christ’s example of confronting that sin by making a special effort to bring that fellow Christian to repentance.

 

And even if that person’s sin does not harm you directly, it should still concern you. It is still a sin against you in the sense that it disrupts your relationship with that fellow Christian, for you cannot simply ignore another’s deliberate sin. So, if you know about it, your Lord wants you to go to your fellow Christian in private and discuss that sin. If he listens to you and repents of his sin, you have gained a brother, and no one else needs to know anything about it. The matter is settled. There is forgiveness and reconciliation. The straying sheep has returned back to the fold.

 

But if you are unsuccessful, as Christ says, then “take two or three others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses” (Matthew 18:16). Now, these witnesses should be mature Christians who have respect of your erring brother. If reconciliation is unsuccessful, then the matter goes to the Church. Now, the Church is Christ’s family in a particular place. Our particular place is Prince of Peace Lutheran Church. Christ’s family, the Church, are all those who have been joined to Him by faith in Him through Holy Baptism. The purpose of calling attention to the Church is to impress upon the brother the seriousness of his sin and to bring him to repentance. If that fails, as Christ says, “let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” (Matthew 18:17b).

 

So, if the sinner refuses to repent, then Christ says to treat him as no longer your brother or sister, but we never give up on the erring brother as we now see him as one in need of restoration to Christ’s family. Sadly, this does mean we can no longer view him or her as a fellow Christian. But, if the sinner eventually repents, our Lord says that we must welcome him back into the church with open arms.

 

Now, Christ’s commands in Matthew 18 are not three mechanical steps, but guidelines. So, we may repeat our efforts a number of times. But all the while, we need to keep in mind that this is an exercise in Christian love so that we gain a brother.

 

So, would you confront a sinner by saying: “What’s the matter with you! I can’t believe you did this to me!” Well, if you did, you most likely lost a brother. That is not speaking well of your neighbor or explaining everything in the kindest way with gentleness and humility.

 

But what about this way: “I know that I am a sinful man, and I know that I have sinned against you, I hope you always come and tell me my sin when that happens so that I can repent and seek your forgiveness, but now I’d like to do the same with you, because I believe that you have sinned against me. Can I talk to you about that?” Do you hear the difference?

 

Matthew 18 is all about reconciliation. It’s about confronting sin and gaining a brother. Christ’s concern here is that none “one of these little ones should perish” (Matthew 18:14). If God never gave up on humanity falling the Fall into sin, we shouldn’t give up on our erring brothers and sisters in Christ. So, we must not be afraid of confronting sin, since we are all called by the Gospel to be concerned about an erring brother and his spiritual welfare, so the erring brother is brought back into Christ’s fold.

 

Through the Church, God continuously confronts sin, so that sinners would be given His precious gift of forgiveness. This precious gift was won for all sinners upon the cross. Jesus suffered and died for all your sins so that the door of heaven would be opened to each repentant sinner. Jesus died and rose to grant you forgiveness so that He would gain you as His brother or sister in the kingdom of heaven. May we follow Christ’s command as we confront sin in humility so as to gain a brother. Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen. 

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

Sermon for Pentecost 14: "Warning the Little Ones"

 To watch the Divine Service for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost, click here. Search: "The Divine Service for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost (September 6, 2020)."

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

[Intro & Ezekiel’s Doubts]

The 18^th century American statesman Daniel Webster once said: “The most important thought I ever had was my individual responsibility to God.”[1]

This may sound odd, but each Christian has an individual responsibility to God in what we think, say, and do. Or, you may be more familiar with this phrase: our thoughts, words, and deeds.

The prophet Ezekiel held himself responsible to God. Last week, we heard that the prophet Jeremiah thought of himself as a laughingstock as no one seemed to listen to him as he proclaimed God’s Word (Jeremiah 15:15-21). And, for a time, Ezekiel – in today’s Old Testament reading – thought of himself as a failure to God.

So, why did Ezekiel conclude that he was a failure?

At first, Ezekiel spoke to the nation of Judah – the Jewish southern kingdom. He spoke explicit warnings that if the people did not repent to God, they would face God’s wrath. But, the people didn’t listen and would rather live in their sin. Afterall, sinning is fun! But, this fun would end.

Babylon soon conquered the kingdom of Judah and the people he warned were exiled to Babylon. You would think that this would wake up the Judaeans. But, it didn’t. They just continued in their sins while exiled from their land. The people would rather listen to the false prophets who promised them that nothing bad would ever happen of them because of their sin. Afterall, why not live your life? The false prophets proclaimed that if sinning makes you feel good, go ahead and do it. What could happen?

For this, Ezekiel thought of himself as a failure. Afterall, the people didn’t listen. They just continued in their sins. They were taken over and exiled to a far away place. Their culture was destroyed, but the attitude of the people never changed.

As Ezekiel was down in the dumps, God begins to answer his doubts. In fact, God reassures Ezekiel that he is in fact still a watchman of God. His commissioning has not changed. He did what God called him to do. He warned the people to repent and proclaimed God’s saving message for all sinners.

God reassured Ezekiel saying, “So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul” (Ezekiel 33:7-9).

Even though the people did not listen, God was still speaking through Ezekiel. Through God’s love in desiring the sinners to be saved, God still spoke His saving Word through Ezekiel. But, as fallen human beings, we have a free will. The Jews then chose to listen or not to listen to God’s Word. Today, we have the same choice. So, are we listening to God’s Word? Are we today, who have been called by God through the Gospel, watchmen and watchwomen of God’s Word? Are we proclaiming the Truth from God’s Word?

[We Are All Vulnerable to Stumble]

Some 600 years after the time of Ezekiel, Jesus – the very Son of God – came into our flesh. During His earthly ministry, the people would still rather sin than repent.

Jesus taught the disciples: “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, 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” (Matthew 18:5-6).

Jesus begins with such positive words: “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me,” but then immediately His teaching becomes stern, and for some, His words become even appalling: “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, 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.”

Here, Jesus is issuing a warning about mistreating or neglecting the care for “one of these little ones.” Now, these “little ones” are fellow disciples who are weak in the faith and have utter dependence on being taught what is true, right, and saving from the watchmen and watchwomen, such as pastors, teachers and other Christians who are strong in their faith.

Jesus is calling us, His hearers, both then and now, not to neglect even “one of these little ones” in need, but to show such concern for one another that when a believer is lured away and begins to wander from the fold, that others will imitate the care of Jesus – the true Shepherd – and bring back the one who has strayed.

You see, we are all vulnerable to stumble into despair, ruin, and unbelief.

Jesus says, “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!” (Matthew 18:7)

Since we live in the world, temptations to sin are all around us. Afterall, Satan is able to deceive us into thinking that evil is good and good is evil. Satan has a way to make sin seem fun and pleasing. Satan has a way to make us even think that sin may even be “God pleasing.”

We all struggle with temptations to sin every second of our life. We ask ourselves: “Should I do this?” “Should I click that?” But, even in our struggle, there is no excuse for our sins of thought, word, and deed against God the Father.

[The Lying False Prophets]

Back during the time of Ezekiel, the false prophets said that no bad outcome would ever come because of sinning. Oh, how they were wrong! They were very wrong! The people were exiled, and their culture was destroyed.

Today, there are still false teachers that proclaim that sin is still not a big deal. They say, “Just live your life.” And, “What I do in my life won’t affect your life.”

Today, more than 61 million babies have been murdered due to abortion, since Roe v. Wade. Sadly, many Christian denominations have no issue with this, despite God’s Word championing the sanctity of life of every human being from conception to natural death. And, if you have had an abortion or know of a person struggling with the effects, through repentance, every sin is a forgivable sin.

Also, the Supreme Court’s ruling on gay marriage has had a profound affect upon the family, society, and upon the church. Again, sadly many Christian denominations jumped onto this bandwagon, despite God’s Word proclaiming that marriage is a holy estate between one man and one woman. Just like abortion, the sin of homosexuality is also a forgivable sin through repentance.

And, just this spring and summer, many churches have latched onto the violence that is promoted by Antifa and Black Lives Matter without ever questioning their motives. If these churches actually proclaimed the Word of God, they would know that vengeance belongs only to God, as He says repeatedly in the Old Testament and New Testament: “Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord” (Romans 12:19, Hebrews 10:30, Deuteronomy 32:35).

So, what do all these false teachings and sins all have in common? Instead of trusting in one true God, they are trusting in themselves and sinful man. This all goes back to the First Commandment: “You shall have no other gods.” This means that “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.”

To be frank, we all fail at this. Every single one of us. Instead of depending on God, we look to our fellow man – and ourselves – to bring results. We often forget to pray to God in our daily lives. We often forget that we – as sinful human beings – only deserve God’s wrath and punishment. We also often forget that – as Christians – we are to led by example in our thoughts and actions, so that we don't lead the weak and the "little ones" in the faith astray.

The Lutheran Reformers were clear that “submission and compromise in external things where Christian agreement has not already been achieved strengthens idolaters in the idolatry.”[2] This means that when the church gives in to worldly things that go against God’s Word, this only strengthens the sinful world to seep more into the Church, and thus forming a slippery slope of more and more false doctrines infecting the Church.

[The Screwtape Letters]

In C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, Satan’s minion named Screwtape writes to his junior tempter nephew named Wormwood to support his endeavor to convince “the patient” to turn from Christ and instead follow his sinful instincts, so he would be added to hell.

In his 16^th letter[3], Screwtape writes to Wormwood the following:

“You mentioned casually in your last letter that the patient has continued to attend one church, and one only, since he was converted, and that he is not wholly pleased with it. May I ask what you are about? Why have I no report on the causes of his fidelity to the parish church? Do you realize that unless it is due to indifference it is a very bad thing? Surely you know that if a man can’t be cured of churchgoing, the next best thing is to send him all over the neighborhood looking for the church that ‘suits’ him until he becomes a taster or connoisseur of churches.”

Screwtape later continued writing about sending the patient to a church that stands for nothing. He wrote:

“I think I warned you before that if your patient can’t be kept out of the Church, he ought to at least be violently attached to some party within it. I don’t mean on really doctrinal issues; about those, the more lukewarm he is the better.”

So, just because some Christian churches proclaim sins to be God pleasing, this doesn’t make it fact. The Triune God is not going to just look past sins, because a false church proclaims that that sin is no longer a sin. False teachers and false churches only lead their followers to one place – hell – eternal punishment apart from God – and to its weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This is what Jesus is warning us all about! The sinful world does its best to lead us away from Jesus. Thus, away from the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The sinful world, led by Satan, does not want anyone saved from the powers of the evil foes: sin, death, and himself, Satan.

This is why Jesus says it is better for the false teacher to “have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6). God will not take it lightly when His little ones are caused to stumble.

False doctrine, otherwise known as heresy, is dangerous. Actually, “dangerous” is too mild of a word. False doctrine – or, heresy – is the road to hell.

This is serious! False doctrine is not something to dabble in. Yes, we all make mistakes, but heresies are persistent errors for which the person or church refuses to be normed by the Word of God, the Bible itself. By refusing to be normed by God’s Word, these false teachers and false churches are proclaiming that they are more enlightened that the Triune God, Himself.

So, instead of caring for the wellbeing of the “little ones,” they neglect them and severely damage their faith, or destroy their faith altogether, and all in the name of “tolerance.”

For these false teachers and false churches, to them, I feel that they believe that being a Christian is just a joke. They say, as a follower of Christ, we can do whatever we want. Afterall, Christ died for that sin. But, do they preach repentance? No. As the Apostle Paul said, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:1-2)

For Jesus, the whole matter of causing another disciple to stumble into ruin is serious! He says: “Woe to the world for temptations to sin” (Matthew 18:7a). Sin is no joke. Sin should not be taken lightly. Sin separates us from God. Sin separates us from salvation.

[What Do We Do?]

So, what are we to do? Are we doomed? No! Jesus reminds us to live vigilantly as we follow Him by following the Commandments. As the Apostle Paul says, we fulfill the Law through love:

“For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Romans 13:9).

We will all encounter causes of stumbling. It’s all in how we deal with it. Do we just fall into sin without thinking of its consequences? Do we turn away from sin? Or, do we accidently sin, but then when we come to realize that we have sinned we then repent of that sin and seek God’s forgiveness?

Jesus teaches us that “if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.” He says that “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. 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” (Matthew 18:8-9).

So, is Jesus literally teaching us to self-amputate? No! He is teaching us that if a particular thing triggers our ability to sin, then we are to cut that thing out of our life. So, if social media, such as Facebook or Twitter, causes you to sin, cut that out of your life. If television shows and movies cause you to think sinful thoughts, cut that out of your life. Again, Jesus is saying that whatever causes us to sin to just cut out that trigger from our life.

You see, God hates sin. And, because of our sin, we all deserve to be thrown into the hell of fire (Matthew 18:9b).

[God Warns His “Little Ones” to Save Them]

God the Father sent the prophets of old to warn us of the consequences of our sin. He sent the prophets, like Ezekiel, to warn us to repent of our sins.

God also told the prophets and us today that if the wicked or unbelieving people persist in their sins, that at least they have been given a fair warning. So, if the Christian believer follows God’s directive and warns the wicked, this believer is not held responsible to the wicked person’s fate, if he persists in evil.

You see, the Triune God does not desire any one of His “little ones” to be destroyed in eternal punishment. Despite our sin, God the Father sent His only begotten Son Jesus the Christ to bear the penalty of all of our sins through His innocent suffering and death upon the cross.

He sent His Son Jesus to warn us of the destructive power of living in sin. But, also through Jesus, God the Father has given us the Way to salvation. Even though we deserve eternal death and hell because of our sin, we have forgiveness, life and salvation through Jesus Christ alone.

You see, when we repent of our sins of thought, word, and deed against God the Father, these sins are forgiven through the hands and feet of Jesus that were pierced for our iniquities and so that through His wounds, we are healed. By His wounds, precious death and glorious resurrection, we, by grace through faith in Jesus, enter eternal life. Through Christ’s death and resurrection, the powers of sin, death, and hell are defeated upon His “little ones.”

Jesus suffered and died for our every sin. Through His blood shed for us upon the cross, our sins are forgiven by grace through faith in Him! At the Lord’s Supper, Christ freely gives us His true body and blood in the bread and wine for the forgiveness of our sins. God through His Means of Grace – Baptism, the Lord’s Supper and in hearing His Word – is constantly forgiving and strengthening our faith in Him!

You see, God does not judge a person on the basis of his or her past. So, when we repent of our sins, those sins are wiped away through the merit and work of Jesus Christ alone.

Even though we sin, God is eager to save! He warns us, so that we can be saved! So, we repent and receive God’s forgiveness, we take up Christ’s cross and proclaim His saving grace as we follow Him! Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

T SOLI DEO GLORIA T

---

[1] Encyclopedia of Sermon Illustrations (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1988), 172.

[2] The Book of Concord: The Formula of Concord – Solid Declaration, Article X (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000), 638.15-16.

[3] C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (New York: Harper Collins, 1996), 81, 84.

Sermon for Lent 3: "Repent, or Perish" (Luke 13:1-9)

 

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

[Warning of Ezekiel]

I hate to break it to you, but today’s Christians are no different than the First Century Jews, or really even the Fifth Century B.C. Israelites.

We, like the Jews before us, cry out: “The way of the Lord is not just!” (Ezekiel 33:17)

Why can’t I do what I want?! I’m not hurting anybody!

So, instead of reading God’s Word as it is – God’s Word for us. Many times, Jews then and Christians today wish to “improve” on God’s Word, by making it “more friendly” to outsiders.

But, how does God respond to this?

“As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezekiel 33:11a).

As Christians, we are to turn back from our evil, sinful ways and warn other Christians against evil. If we don’t warn others against evil, we will be counted among the evil, even if we believe we are living a godly life.

Recently, our brothers and sisters in Christ of the worldwide United Methodist Church met for a special conference in St. Louis. This conference was all about interpreting God’s Word.

One faction spoke with the vigor of Ezekiel to remain faithful and penitent to the church’s teachings. This faction, which was primarily African, proposed the “Traditional Plan,” which kept with the church’s teachings on sin.

The other faction cried out like the unrighteous Jews of Ezekiel’s time: “The way of the Lord is not just!” This faction, which was primarily American, proposed the “One Church Plan,” which aimed to redefine sin and especially say that all sexual lifestyles are pleasing to God.

The vote at this special conference went in favor of the “Traditional Plan,” however the “One Church Plan” crowd said they would vigorously continue defying God’s teachings on sin and sexuality – this is two-thirds of the delegates of the United Methodist Church in the United States, including the bishop that represents the Minnesota Conference.

Sadly, the divisions within the United Methodist Church could easily happen within our own church body – the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. We are sinners, too, and many times we want to live our lives our way, rather than God’s way.

The Lord tells us all: “I will judge each of you according to his ways” (Ezekiel 33:20b), but also know that if the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he shall live. (Ezekiel 33:19)

[Call to Repentance]

Today is the Third Sunday in Lent. We are making our way throughout our Lenten journey. Throughout this journey, we are reminded that none of us are perfect on our own. We are all lost and condemned sinners. We need to repent of our sin. We all need a savior so we can be forgiven.

In our gospel lesson this morning, our Lord and Savior Jesus teaches us that each and every one of us needs to repent, or else we will perish.

And true repentance isn’t being sorry for just getting caught doing the wrong thing, such as getting caught lying or getting caught cheating.

Today, Jesus is teaching us about judgement and forgiveness for the penitent.

So, what spurred Jesus to teach about judgment and forgiveness this morning?

Well, there were some Galileans who believed that some other Galileans must have really sinned badly against God, because Pilate sent his troops into the temple area to murder them as they brought their lambs for the Passover Seder.

What happened was the blood of the people was mixed with the blood of their lambs, which is to never happen. This violated all holiness codes.

These Galileans thought this tragedy happened to those people as a divine punishment for specific sins.

So Jesus responds to their concern saying: “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:2-3).

These Galileans who questioned Jesus likely hoped to get some strong rebuke against Pilate and Rome, but instead Jesus gives them just the opposite to what they were looking for.

You see, Jesus sees this tragedy in a religious context and speaks not of the sin of Pilate, but of the sin of the Jews.

But, what did these Jews do to deserve this massacre?! They were just bringing their sacrifices to the temple!

Where is the all-loving Jesus that we often hear about in our culture? He isn’t here. In fact, Jesus loves by teaching us the truth. And sometimes, the truth hurts.

Jesus teaches us that these Galileans were no more sinners than any other Galilean, but that every one of them must repent for they all have sinned against God in thought, word and deed.

The same goes with us. We call out the speck in our neighbor’s eye, but ignore the log in our own eye. We all have sinned. We are all heading down the wrong road apart from God.

Our only way of survival is to repent and believe that the kingdom of God has come in Jesus.

[Tower in Siloam]

If the Galileans still didn’t get it. Jesus brings up another recent tragedy.

These Galileans suffered a tragedy caused by a human event by the command of Pilate. But, Jesus brings up the 18 who died in a tragedy of a natural cause.

Jesus said: “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:4-5).

The tower collapse in Siloam evidently lacks political or religious overtones, but Jesus describes it as a sign just like the deaths at the temple.

Jesus is not saying that “they must have deserved it,” but rather, “We all deserved the same.” Because of our unbelief, we all deserve destruction and death.

For the Triune God: sin is sin. There is no ranking of the worst sins to not-so-bad sins.

Jesus speaks twice in our text, “I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3, 5).

Through His repetition, He means that repentance is of the first importance as a follower of Christ.

[The Fig Tree]

The One true God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, but there will come to a point when the unrighteous will perish.

Jesus tells us this parable of a fig tree planted in the vineyard as an illustration of this.

A man said to the vinedresser, “Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?” (Luke 13:7).

The vinedresser responded saying, “Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down” (Luke 13:8-9).

Here Jesus is reminding us that God is patient with His people, but only for a little while longer.

So, there will come a time when God will cut down the unrighteous, impenitent tree from the vineyard.

With this in mind, we may ask ourselves this question: Am I bearing fruit?

Think of it this way: a plant must receive enough water and sunlight or else it will surely die. Like plants, we must receive nourishment for our faith, or else our faith will shrivel up and die. So, how does our faith bear fruit?

Our faith can only bear fruit when it is fertilized through hearing God’s Word and receiving God’s Sacraments. And, the only place this always happens is right here in the Divine Service where we receive forgiveness and strength for our weak faith through hearing God’s Word, receiving absolution and receiving the Lord’s Supper. Here is where God nourishes our faith and then our faith sprouts fruit.

From God’s nourishment, we grow in the fruits of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

This parable shows God’s patience for all of us as God gives us the opportunity to repent from our evil ways, and thus be forgiven through Christ.

The focus of this parable is on whether there will be fruit before the removal of that tree.

For those who remain fruitless will face the judgment when Christ returns. They will be cut down. They will perish.

But, for those who receive God’s nourishment in Word and Sacrament, they become the fruit of the tree! They will receive eternal joy! They will receive the kingdom of God!

[Jesus Provides a Way Out from Perishing in Sin]

Jesus is calling us to live our lives in repentance. We will step into sin from time to time, because of our fallen nature, but we are to repent of that sin and follow Jesus.

The Apostle Paul reminds us that “God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

This way of escape is only through Jesus the Christ. Without Christ, we are trapped in the bondage of sin, death, hell and Satan. But in Christ, we receive forgiveness, life and salvation.

You see, God the Father has given us a way out from our tree being cut down and thrown into the fire and that way is through His only begotten Son, Jesus.

Jesus provides us a way out through Him fulfilling the Law. Jesus provides a way out through His suffering and death. Jesus provides a way out through His resurrection and ascension.

By grace through faith in Jesus, and remaining true to God’s unchanging and loving Word, we are forgiven. We are righteous. We are children of God.

But, when we turn from God’s unchanging and loving Word, we are turning from salvation and toward damnation. However, God gives us time to repent, but how much time?

Thanks be to God that when we repent and follow Jesus as Lord. We will never perish! We live! We are immediately seen as righteous! All that we did against God prior is erased! It’s gone! We are seen as God the Father sees Jesus: perfect in every way.

And in case there are any doubts: Again, God forgives our sins and strengthens our weak faith at each Divine Service. He does this through holy absolution, hearing the Word of God and receiving the Lord’s Supper. Here is where God puts fertilizer on our faith as we grow as fruit in the one true Christian faith! Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

 

T SOLI DEO GLORIA T