"In Christ, We Suffer ... and Endure" (2 Timothy 2:1-13)

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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:

Inspired by the Holy Spirit, St. Paul wrote to Timothy: “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3).

 

As I preached last week, it would be so easy to just feel sorry for yourself while chained in a damp room. It would be so easy to begin the blame game or just complain about circumstances. But St. Paul does not do that. Instead, he is strengthened through his suffering in Christ. He encourages Timothy to share in his suffering in Christ.

 

Contrary to popular belief, the Christian life is marked by suffering. Christians endure misfortune and persecution. Christians endure all kinds of trials. Christians must endure the evil from the devil, the fallen world, and our own sinful flesh.

 

Christians suffer because suffering is the pattern of the life of Jesus Christ. So, if your life is in Christ, you must share the same pattern. If the world hated Christ, so naturally, the world hates His followers – Christians. 

 

St. Paul suffered mightily for the Gospel. He wasn’t just ridiculed by society. Paul wasn’t just called insulting names; he was imprisoned for the sake of the Gospel. And Paul believed this current imprisonment would likely end with his death. This is why he is writing to Timothy. He is writing to Timothy to give him courage in the faith for when he would face suffering.

 

Timothy would face suffering. He would be imprisoned as recorded in Hebrews 13:23. Later Timothy would be stoned to death in Ephesus for preaching the Gospel in opposition to the pagan false god Diana.

 

As a follower of Christ, we should not expect anything less than suffering for the sake of Christ. Just weeks ago, Jesus evangelized us in Luke 14 saying, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. … Anyone of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26-27, 33).

 

Jesus evangelized us by saying if you want to follow Him, then you must first count the cost. One of those costs is bearing your own cross, which means we must be ready to die for the sake of the truth. We must all be prepared to be a martyr for Christ in a fallen world that murdered its Maker and its Redeemer.

 

The prophets and apostles faced opposition from a world that wants nothing to do with God, so the fallen world killed them. We join them in this train.

 

You see, Christian suffering is our vocation. Suffering is our calling. Paul’s and Timothy’s sufferings were specifically because of their callings as apostle and pastor. But they didn’t suffer for themselves, for their own sake. No, Paul and Timothy suffered for the sake of the gospel. They endured everything for the sake of the elect – the Christians of all time, you, as well as your relatives of the past and your relatives of the future.

 

So, today, Paul writes to Timothy and to you and me of what it means to be a Christian, a follower of Christ. A Christian isn’t to have mixed allegiances. A Christian is to have a whole-hearted and single-minded faith in Jesus Christ.

 

So, Paul writes of three illustrations to encourage Timothy as well as us here today.

 

The first illustration is that of a soldier. And to be more precise, a combat soldier. A good soldier serves his commanding officer with a singleness of purpose. A good soldier doesn’t question his commanding officer. A good soldier follows orders. A good soldier makes it his intent to please his commanding officer.

 

As a good soldier, he cannot have divided loyalties. Paul writes, “No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him” (2 Timothy 2:4). So, whether under an officer in the military or a boss in the office, we in the Lord’s service accept suffering by trusting that Jesus will not forsake us. Jesus is our commanding officer and so we are to be 100 percent loyal to Him by renouncing all our self-interests.

 

The second illustration is that of a competing athlete. Paul writes, “An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules” (2 Timothy 2:5). As it is in the Olympics, amateur or professional sports, the athlete must compete by the rules. Doctrine matters. The rules of the Christian faith is doctrine as it is bound in the Scriptures, the Old and New Testaments. 

As Christians, we cannot change the rules. We cannot change doctrine. God’s Word says: “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book” (Revelation 22:18-19).

 

So, we can’t change the rules and say that salvation is through works. We can’t change the rules and say that all people are saved no matter what you believe. We can’t change the rules and say that same-sex and polyamorous marriage is not a sin. We can’t change the rules by saying evil is good. We can’t change the rules just so that we would be praised by the fallen world. You see, God’s Word does not change even if we change it, for we are all ultimately judged by Him.

 

Likewise, “an athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules” (2 Timothy 2:5). And what is this crown that Paul writes? It is the crown of everlasting life, the imperishable wreath (1 Corinthians 9:25). So, any pastor, teacher or layperson who fails to compete lawfully cannot receive the crown, the crown of everlasting life. Paul’s point is this: any Christian who fails faithfully to hand down those things “you have heard from me” (2 Timothy 2:2), the apostolic teaching, is disqualified from receiving the crown of everlasting life.

 

The third illustration is that of a hardworking farmer. Here, Paul is not telling us what we are to do, but rather the blessings we can expect from our hard and difficult work. St. Paul writes, “It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops” (2 Timothy 2:6). Here, Paul is giving additional assurance to Timothy in his faithful preaching and teaching, since it is not in vain for the one who toils is bound to receive his reward.

 

So, what is the reward? What is the share of the crops? Well, our fruits are always spiritual. For it is our work to sow the seed of God’s Word. For me, I receive spiritual fruits from faithful preaching. You and I grow in the one true Christian faith through preaching. As I prepare sermons, my faith is strengthened. I receive comfort and joy through Christ. In fact, the sermons I prepare for you, I first preach to myself.

 

The Holy Spirit grows spiritual fruits for you, too. He does this through inwardly digesting His Word through preaching, Bible Study and your devotional life. And when you confess your faith publicly – the sure hope you have in Christ, you may face suffering, but you will also reap God’s blessing.

Paul concludes his illustrations with these words: “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (2 Timothy 2:7). Here, Paul is calling on us to ponder, to reflect on what he has written. For when we do reflect on God’s Word, the Lord gives us proper understanding through the Holy Spirit. This “understanding” is the reward of being drenched in God’s Word by holding it sacred as we gladly hear and learn it (Luther’s Explanation to the Third Commandment).

So, always remember that suffering is our lot in Christ. And being chained as a criminal, Paul sees this as a blessed identification with Jesus. Afterall, Jesus was bound and led away to His execution to be nailed to a cross.

 

Paul calls on Timothy, as well as you and me, to remember what Jesus went through. To the world, Jesus looked pitiful; Jesus looked disgraced. The world saw a man chained, beaten, crucified, dead, and buried. The world wanted that to be the end.

 

But it wasn’t the end. Jesus rose from the dead! The Word of God is not bound! We preach Christ crucified and risen for sinners! God’s Word is not chained! His preaching continues through sound preaching!

 

Because Christ is raised from the dead, we are filled with hope! Yes, we will suffer for the sake of Christ. Suffering is our lot; our vocation; our calling. But just as the chains of death could not keep Jesus in the tomb, we, too, will be raised from the dead. Jesus’ resurrection is our resurrection. 

 

So, we endure! We endure through Jesus. We endure through repentance and faith. We endure this cycle of repentance and faith. When you sin – when you aren’t loyal to your commanding officer Jesus and when we think you can change the rules – repent, turn to Jesus and receive His forgiveness that He won for you upon the cross! For this saying is true: “If we have died with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with Him; if we deny Him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, He remains faithful – for He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:11-13).

 

Jesus endured everything for you and me. He faced every trial. He faced every evil. Through His innocent suffering and death, Jesus forgave all sins. Through repentance and faith in Him, your sins are forgiven through His blood and merit. He endured so that we can endure. And He gives us the tools for endurance: His Means of Grace, Word and Sacrament. So, let us endure through Him, as we share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus, who always remains faithful to you and me! Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

 keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

"The Call of Discipleship" (Luke 14:25-35)

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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:

Jesus said: “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. … So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26-27, 33).

 

So, you call yourself a follower of Christ? How well are you at doing that?

 

Today’s Gospel reading follows Jesus’ Parable of the Great Banquet. In that parable, many were invited to just come and enjoy the feast, but those invited all alike began to make excuses. One man purchased a field and wanted to inspect it. That is, he wanted to make money. Another man purchased five yoke of oxen, and he wanted to see how they would be in the field. That is, he wanted to be busy with work. And another man had just married a wife, and so he was too busy to attend the feast. Excuse after excuse. The first pled necessity. The second, inconvenience. The third, pleasure. Each man originally invited was more attached to worldly things than going to the great banquet of God’s grace and thus, they found themselves excluded.

 

In today’s Gospel text, Jesus addresses the great crowds that accompanied Him. This is important to note. Since, Jesus was not talking with His Twelve Apostles. Today, He is talking with the masses that began following Him. Now, most in the crowd are there because they are curious. They came to watch the action of this Great Healer and Preacher. They wanted to learn, but they didn’t want to actually do. So, they are certainly interested, but they are not quite committed.

 

It is to this crowd that Jesus says, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26).

 

In other words, the life we are called to live in Christ necessitates our active and uncompromising participation. True discipleship is not a spectator sport. True discipleship cannot be done wearing your pajamas while sitting on the couch. True discipleship demands participation. True discipleship is costly and active. This is shocking to our modern ears.

 

This is the cross that is laid on every Christian. The first suffering is the call of abandonment to the attachments of this world. As followers of Christ, He calls us to surrender ourselves to Him.

 

Jesus does not sugar-coat His Christian calling for us. He doesn’t say things like: “Now, I want you to be happy. I want you to have a well-paying job. I want you to be happily married with kids. When you have achieved these things, you can come and follow Me.” No! He doesn’t say that. He never sugar-coats His calling of discipleship.

 

Rather, Jesus says, “Anyone who does not renounce all that he has – including his very own self – cannot be My disciple.”

 

This is our Christian calling. This is how Jesus does evangelism. He says, if you want to follow Me, you must first count the cost. He says, “Don’t take your Christian calling lightly.”

 

You see, being a Christian means living a completely different life. It doesn’t mean that we can keep all our old ways and just ask for forgiveness from God later. Yes, we all need forgiveness, but we shouldn’t knowingly sin and then just ask for forgiveness later.

 

To be a Christian, Jesus says that we must break from our old allegiances. We must break from and renounce our own self-interest and cling to Him with wholehearted and single-minded faith.

 

So, let’s look into further detail on what Jesus teaches us in our Gospel text. 

 

First, Jesus sets forth three conditions for following Him. The first of these three is that we must have a willingness to leave behind family ties including the tie to oneself. And this word “hate” that Jesus uses does sound harsh to our ears. This sounds so unlike Jesus. Doesn’t He say to love our enemies? Yes, He does.

 

But here, Jesus is using the word “hate” to shock us, His hearers, with this word to make us realize that nothing dare come before Him in the life of the disciple. Elsewhere in Matthew 10, Jesus says this, “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37). So, this isn’t a matter of “hate” but is a matter of putting anything – anything – before Christ. So, we are not to love family more than Jesus.

 

The second condition is to carry his own cross. What this means is self-denial. It means the sacrifice of one’s own will for the sake of Christ. It means being willing to accept whatever suffering might result from a sincere commitment to Christ and His kingdom. This means that by confessing Jesus as Christ could mean dying for that confession.

 

The third condition for following Jesus is the willingness to give up all earthly possessions. A rich ruler asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18) To that question, Jesus asked him if he had followed the second table of the Law: loving your neighbor. To that, the rich ruler said, “All these I have kept from my youth” (Luke 18:21). When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me” (Luke 18:22). But when he heard this, he became very sad. 

 

This third condition which calls for the willingness to give up all earthly possessions to follow Jesus was the demand that this rich ruler was unable to fulfill.

 

So often, people are so quick in following Jesus without first counting the cost.

 

In Luke 9(:57-62), someone said to Jesus, “I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” To another Jesus said, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” And another said, “I will follow You, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

 

Again, this is evangelism, Jesus’ style.

 

Today’s Gospel text is quite clear and straight forward. And it is troubling. This seems to be a bit much renouncing our family and even renouncing ourselves.

 

As 21^st century Americans, it does feel a bit safe to have one foot on the dock and the other foot in the boat. But at some point, we have to make a choice. What if that boat starts to move further from the dock. Am I going to put both feet back on the dock, or am I going to put both feet into the boat? If you can’t make the choice, you are going to have a very wet future.

 

But we are Lutherans, so we don’t like making choices. The good news is that Jesus has made the choice. He has chosen you! He chose you before the beginning of the world as He would come and save you from your sins through becoming man in order to suffer and die for your sins, so that you by faith in Him would live forever.

 

Jesus chose you.

 

Yes, the Christian calling is a difficult calling. Yes, every day, Christ calls on us to renounce ourselves and renounce our self-interest. Every day, He calls on us to take up our cross, suffer ridicule for His sake and follow Him. Every day, He calls us back to our Baptism to say “no” to the Old Adam and to receive the new life that He only gives.

 

This is the calling of Jesus who set His face to Jerusalem to die for you. This is the calling of Jesus who denied Himself, who took up His cross and gave His life for sinners. This is the same Jesus who through our confession to Him forgives us of our double-minded devotion. This is the same Jesus who forgives us of our casual discipleship. He is the One who calls us. He is the One who was crucified, died, rose and ascended for you!

 

In the Divine Service, Jesus forms us as His disciples. So, as you hear His Word and receive His Sacrament, as you daily return to your Baptism, in your daily activities, the Holy Spirit works on you as He forms you and changes you. Through His Word and His Sacraments, Jesus leads us to renounce our old ways and follow Him. Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

 keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

"Come, Everything is Ready!" (Luke 14:1, 12-24)

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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:

 One man said at the dining table with Jesus: “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God” (Luke 14:15).

 

Yes, it is true that everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God is blessed. But it is also increasingly obvious that not everyone really regards God’s salvation banquet as something so wonderful.

 

In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 14, Jesus is where we would not expect Him to be. He is dining at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees. He is certainly in a place we would not expect, but Jesus invites everyone to the kingdom of God, including those unbelieving Pharisees. But what happens at this dining experience is expected: they are watching Jesus carefully to see if He will again break another Sabbath rule.

 

So, while Jesus accepts this invitation to dine with leading rabbis, He also invites them to His great banquet, so to speak.

 

So, Jesus tells them about a man who prepared a great banquet. This was a banquet prepared with no leftovers, not with paper plates, and not with warm pop, but with the finest of food, the richest of wine, the juiciest of steaks, with a host who spared no expense. It was a meal of pure gift. And since the banquet hall was ready, his call went out through his servant: “Come, for everything is now ready!” (Luke 14:17).

 

In today’s world, we often send out “Save the Date” notices. This is what this servant is doing. He is sending out these “Save the Date” notices, but not for the future. He is saying, “Today is the date! Come, everything is ready!”

 

The date is set! The banquet hall is ready! The supper of rich food and well-aged wine is ready! (Isaiah 25:6). The supper is lavish! Come, everything is ready!

 

But they all began to make excuses. One bought a field. Another bought five yoke of oxen. Another just got married. They each said, “Please have me excused” (Luke 14:18, 19). Hey, at least they were polite about it. Well, for maybe the exception of the third who just said, “I cannot come.”

Now, at least two of the excuses matched legitimate reasons from the Old Testament. In Deuteronomy 20:6-7, God’s Word proclaims: “And is there any man who has planted a vineyard and has not enjoyed its fruit? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man enjoy its fruit. And is there any man who has betrothed a wife and has not taken her? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man take her.” So, the guy who bought the field and the guy who had recently gotten married may have good reasons. However, did you catch the caveat? They could only refrain from military service. So, their excuses fall flat. They weren’t going off to war. They just didn’t want to go.

 

So, under their veneer of civility and polite excuses was a cold-hearted rejection.

 

Before we get into the Parable of the Great Banquet even more, it is essential to understand the custom of first century banquets. In the Mideast, an unexpected invitation must be refused, especially when one is a foreigner or outcast. So, who would be expected? The rich, the wealthy, the well-to-do. Who would be unexpected? The poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame, the Gentile. So, it is odd that the expected refuse to come and the unexpected later are compelled to come.

 

Back to the parable. The supper is ready, and no one wants to come. Instead, they make excuses. The first pleads necessity. The second pleads inconvenience. The third pleads pleasure. So, the servant returns and reports these things to his master.

 

But guess what, today’s parable is not about proper etiquette or first-century manners. It is about the Gospel. It is about the Divine Service. It is about you and me – and the dangerous foolishness of justifying why we refuse the Lord’s gracious invitation.

 

You see, the Divine Service is a banquet. Yes, today, we are sitting outside, and it looks more like a picnic, but believe me, the Divine Service is a banquet. It isn’t work where you must clock in, or a work that you must perform. It is a banquet. The Divine Service is a feast of grace. This is where God teaches us and where He serves us His grace. He serves us. He gives. And He does not give us table scraps. He gives us His very body and blood. He gives us forgiveness of sins, which begets life and salvation to you as His guests.

 

As poor, miserable sinners, we don’t often see the Divine Service this way. Yours and my Old Adam often looks at each Sunday morning and mutters: “Do I have to?”

But the problem isn’t with the Divine Service. The problem is with you and me. The problem is with our hearts.

You see, if you view the Divine Service as an obligation, you are already down the path of making excuses. And these excuses are not neutral. They are efforts to justify yourself. Each excuse is saying to God: “God, I’m not the problem here, it’s just that I have more important things to do.”

 

We are all experts at coming up with excuses. We are all great at justifying ourselves. We are all great at playing the victim. We are all too much like Goldilocks who says, “It’s too hot. It’s too cold.”

 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us not justify ourselves by avoiding God’s gifts. That is to say; when we make excuses to justify an absence, we are not only being dishonest – we are insulting the banquet and despising the Host. We are saying, “I have better things to do than to be in the presence of Jesus.” We are saying: “This gift is no gift at all.” We are saying: “The Divine Service is a burden.”

 

So, when we make excuses like this, it is not because of a scheduling conflict. To be perfectly honest, it’s idolatry. So, when you say, “I’d love to be at church, but …” we are putting God’s gifts on a scale and weighing them against our desires.

 

And when we do such a thing, we are exchanging the grace of God for the fleeting pleasures of the fallen world.

 

So, the message of today’s parable is clear: repent. Repent for all those times you have justified your absence from the Divine Service with excuses. Repent for treating the Divine Service like a burden. Repent for despising preaching and His Word. Repent for your apathy and excuses.

 

But be sure at this: not all excuses are the same. Yes, there are those excuses born of pride, but there are other excuses that are born of sorrow. So, there is a time when “I couldn’t come” is the right thing to say. Perhaps you are sick. Perhaps your work demanded it. Perhaps you are shut-in. Perhaps you didn’t have the strength – then come and contact me. So, you said, “I wanted to be at the Divine Service. I longed to receive Christ’s forgiveness, but I could not.” Now, that is not justification. That is a lament.

 

You see, a lament says, “Lord, I missed the feast, and I am hungry.” “Lord, I long for Your Word, for Your altar, for Your forgiveness.” You see, a lament is a cry of the soul. It doesn’t justify. It grieves. 

 

So, let there be no confusion. An excuse offered in lament is not a sin, but the groaning of a repentant heart. Justifying excuses despise the gift. Lamenting excuses desire the gift.

 

So, what is the Master’s response to justifying excuses? He says to His servant, “Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame” (Luke 14:21). He fills the banquet hall with the desperate and hungry. He fills the banquet hall with those who responded positively to the preaching of Jesus. But still there is room for more. The Master sends His servant to the rural areas, into the country lanes and roads not often traveled. The servant calls in people from the far corners of the earth.

 

Those who were first invited missed their chance. The door is locked, and they will not taste of the great banquet. They refused to hear the preaching of Jesus and now they find themselves excluded.

 

But thanks be to God that the door is still open, but one day the door will close. Right now, everything is ready. And He invites you to His banquet week after week – not to perform or impress – but to receive. And He does not grow tired of inviting. Sunday after Sunday, Monday after Monday, His call rings out: “Come, for everything is now ready!”

 

And when you miss a Divine Service in sorrow, He will not rebuke you. He welcomes your lament, and He strengthens your faith through His Word and Sacraments. So, when you are absent from the Divine Service, ask yourself: was my excuse a justification or a lament? If it was a justification, repent, and receive God’s forgiveness won for you on the cross. If it was a lament, bring that sorrow to the Lord.

 

Here, in the Divine Service, either inside or outside, God gives His best to you – Christ crucified for sinners, risen for your justification, coming in Word and Sacrament for you. So, receive what only Christ can give: forgiveness, life, and salvation. These are His gifts to you. Come, everything is ready! 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 16: "All or Nothing" (James 2:1-10, 14-18)

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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:

“My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory” (James 2:1).

 

If partiality is your “pet sin” – a sin you rationalize in keeping – today’s Epistle may not be what you wanted to hear. If you’re not sure if partiality is your pet sin, this has been a recurring sin for God’s people from time immemorial. 

 

A few weeks ago, we heard about this sin. Seven hundred years before the incarnation of Christ, “The Lord said: ‘Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, while their hearts are far from Me’” (Isaiah 29:13). This sin of partiality remained a problem during Christ’s first coming. For He also said, “Well did Isaiah prophecy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men” (Mark 7:6-8).

 

So, what exactly is this sin of partiality? Partiality is favoritism. Typically, it’s never a smart idea to play favorites. Because whenever we play favorites, we are creating competition. You see, playing favorites based on outward appearances is the way of the fallen world. Now, the character and will of God starkly excludes partiality. God is one who condemns such action among people. This lack of partiality of Jesus was known by the Pharisees, even when they were plotting against Him. For they said to Jesus: “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances” (Matthew 22:16).

 

Even if the Pharisees were plotting against Jesus, their summation was true. For Christ never said, “It’s true that you are a sinner, but you are a little sinner compared to that other guy who is a murderer. That murderer is a really bad sinner. I don’t care about small sins.” You see, before God, all sins are damnable. So, if you are guilty of one part, you are guilty of it all. But at the same time, all are also justified freely by God’s grace.

 

The problem is that we are not like God. However, we are to grow up into Him by being made holy through His Word and Sacraments. So, how do we see this sin of partiality in our lives? Well, do you ever feel “split”? Do you ever find yourself trying to rationalize your personal views when they come in conflict with Biblical teachings? Do your Christian convictions only apply to a small part of your life? Sadly, for many Christians, Biblical convictions are rapidly shrinking.

 

What I am about to say may offend you, and if it does, repent and ask Jesus for forgiveness for your sin of partiality. And as it always goes, God’s Law afflicts the comfortable while also God’s forgiveness comforts the afflicted.

 

So, some examples of this sin of partiality are the following:

§  “I know Jesus taught forgiveness, but what if …”

§  “I know abortion is murder, but what about when…”

§  “I know marriage is a union of one man and one woman, but what about…”

§  “I know my Christian convictions should inform my vote, but what if…”

 

Partiality is when a Christian strips the Bible of the things they don’t like, and all that remains is a butchered book of what once was the Bible. Partiality is the Gospel, according to you. Partiality inevitably leads to a religion you’ve invented yourself. 

 

Jesus gave everything of Himself to us, so why do we struggle in remaining loyal to Him? Like God’s people of Isaiah’s time and in the time of Jesus’ ministry, too many Christians only honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him! Our modern world tears us apart as we are taught to separate our lives into independent sectors: education is education, politics is politics, science is science, and on, and on, and on. Our secular society – this fallen world – claims so much as “political,” but most often, it’s not, it’s spiritual. Remember, we are caught in a cosmic battle that we cannot see between good and evil, between God and Satan.

 

We are coerced into becoming partial Christians. And Jesus does not want only a part of us. Jesus doesn’t want split personalities. He doesn’t want us to be a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He wants all of us! In Luke 14, Jesus speaks of this saying, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. … So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26-27, 33).

 

As poor, miserable sinners, we have become partial people. For good or bad, we care how people look, dress, and speak. We even tend to divide people by age and skin pigmentation. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, James teaches us that any partiality has no place in God’s kingdom. Included in this sin of partiality are racism, quotas, and DEI: “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.” 

 

The fallen world convinces us that quotas and DEI are good, but they actually promote the division of people, and as Christians, we should have no part of this. Again, the Holy Spirit inspires James to say, “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory” (James 2:1).

 

To this sin of partiality, James reminds us of the Second Table of God’s Law: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (James 2:8). And if we remember and live by the Ten Commandments, we are doing well. But if we revert into following the world, by showing partiality to our sinful nature, we are committing sin and are convicted by the Law as transgressors (James 2:9).

 

However, this sin of partiality doesn’t just stop here. You see, what is really going on with this sin, like all sins, is a faith issue. James writes, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?” (James 2:14). That is a good question. This brings us right back to partiality. Here, we have faith put at odds with works.

 

As I said last week, Satan and his demons certainly believe in Jesus. So, simply saying that you believe in Jesus will not save you. Simply having the knowledge of Jesus does not save. This is what James is speaking about. He is discussing a false understanding of faith. A “faith” that is just mere knowledge – or just a claim – that “faith” has no effect on the person who has it. Faith is no passing matter. I hope this is not your faith! You see, faith itself cannot be seen. Faith is only known by its presence through proper confession and natural works. 

 

So, if a person declares that he has “faith,” but his “works” do not belong to such a faith, that person has no such true faith. So, if a person says, “I am a devout Christian,” and even attends weekly church services, but lives as heathen the rest of the week, is that faith able to save him? Well, what does Jesus say? He says: “You will recognize them by their fruits. … A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16, 18-20).

So, the absence of good works that flow from faith in Christ show that this “faith” is not genuine. This person has a false faith. He has the same faith as that of a demon, who certainly believes in Jesus, but will not cling to Jesus and follow Him.

 

So, without the inescapable evidence – the good works that inevitably emerge and accompany a genuine faith that grasps the Gospel of Christ alone for forgiveness, life, and salvation – then what good is that kind of “faith”? Faith with no evidence is a false, and dead faith. So, never let anyone offer you the comforting lie that such a false and dead faith counts for anything. In fact, in the end, such a dead, good-works-absent “faith” will be of no benefit to you.

 

You see, such a dead “faith” is simply not compatible with our new identity in Christ, which was bestowed on you at the Baptismal font, where, by divine grace, you became a child of God, and a brother or sister of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, a dead, inactive faith disavows the unity of Christ’s living body. Such a false and dead faith cannot stand up to the judgment of God, because once the Law is broken at one point, it is broken in all points.

 

So, how do we, as poor, miserable sinners, protect ourselves from the sin of partiality? How do we become a whole Christian? 

 

Well, we can only become whole through Christ who nourishes us with His Word. As He nourishes us with His holy Word and His blessed Sacraments, we become more like Him as He changes our hearts and our minds. For He is the Vine, and we are the branches and “whoever abides in [Christ] and [He] in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from [Christ we] can do nothing” (John 15:5).

 

It is only through Christ’s nourishment that our faith produces fruits of good works. Through Christ’s Means of Grace, your faith becomes living and active as we actually show our faith through our hearts, mouths, and hands and all in concert. As we grow in faith, we better follow Christ as our pattern of God’s grace and love and mercy to others. Just as Christ showed no partiality, we become like Him in showing no partiality. We look at every human being, even unbelievers, as fellow people who have been purchased by Jesus through His blood shed on the cross. Being forgiven, and with God’s help, we live our lives whole as we cling to Jesus and serve our neighbor in repentance and true faith. So, let us show no partiality as we hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. Amen.

 

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