The lutheransermons's Podcast

Sermon for the 11th Sunday after Pentecost - August 21, 2022

Sermon for the 11th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:

Ezekiel 36:25-27

Colossians 2:6-9, 12-14, 16-19

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon originally delivered August 4, 2013

Preparing for Worship - August 21, 2022

The Psalm is Psalm 50, written by Asaph, a Levite working with music and song before the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem. Asaph is inspired to speak of God the Lord summoning His people for judgment. There are “faithful ones.” But He will not accept the offerings of others, who think they are earning God’s favor by what they do for God. He does not need their animal sacrifices, as He is the owner of all things. Rather, He wishes that they “glorify Him” and offer “sacrifices of thanksgiving” in gratefulness for God’s “deliverance” of them in times of trouble, when they call upon Him” in faith.

The Old Testament lesson is Isaiah 66:18-23. God predicts a time when “His glory will be declared among the nations,” and people will come in faith to Him from “all nations,” no matter their “languages.” This will be the greatest “offering” to Him, as they worship Him forever in “the new heavens and the new earth that He makes for them.” (See the fulfillment of prophecy like this in Revelation 21:1-8.)

In the Gospel lesson, Luke 13:22-30, someone asks Jesus, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” Jesus simply says that the important thing is “to enter through the narrow door.” There are not many roads and doors that lead to heaven. In another place Jesus said, “I am the door of the sheep… I am the door. If anyone enters by me he will be saved” (John 10:7,9). Jesus also said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Many people will lose out because they do not trust in Jesus and they wait too long to come to faith, until the door is already shut. Sadly, Jesus predicts that many of His fellow Jews will resist and reject Jesus as the Savior. On the other hand, many people from every direction, from all over the world, will come to faith in Jesus.

The Epistle lesson is from Hebrews 12:4-24 (25-29), written at a time when persecution of Christians was increasing and temptations to leave behind the faith were many. As a father needs to discipline his children at times, so the Lord needs to discipline us, “for our good,” and to help us, so that we can “lift our drooping hands and strengthen our weak knees” and follow in the way of “the grace of God” in Christ. We are not motivated by fearful sights and sounds and Words of Law, as at Mount Sinai long ago. Rather, we are motivated by the hope of “the heavenly Jerusalem” through the saving work of “Jesus, the Mediator of a New Covenant,” and “the sprinkled blood” of Jesus, shed at the cross, that speaks of God’s love and forgiveness. We may be “shaken” by trials in this life, but we keep listening to our Lord and “are grateful for receiving an (eternal) kingdom that cannot be shaken” and “keep worshiping our Lord Jesus with reverence and awe.”

Study of Galatians Part 11 - Galatians 4:8-20

Last week, we heard Paul saying again that God’s Law has important functions, but that we can never be saved by trying to do what it says well enough. That is an impossible task, except for Jesus, who did it all perfectly in our place. Now, no matter who we are, we can be “Abraham’s (spiritual) offspring, heirs” of eternal life, and “sons,” children of God, “through God” and “by faith” in what he has done for us through the saving work of His Son, Jesus Christ. All this is ours, personally, “through faith” that God gives us, through His Word and promises and the gift of baptism (Galatians 3:23-4:7).

Beginning with Galatians 4:8, Paul reminded the Galatians of what they had been before they “came to know God.” They had been “enslaved” to false ideas and to what are “not gods,” though they thought they were gods. (Read, for example, Acts 14:6-18, where Paul had earlier gone to Lystra, in Galatia, and had preached the “Gospel” of Jesus and also healed a man “crippled from birth.” The people were so amazed that they thought Barnabas was the god, Zeus, and Paul was the god, Hermes, as “the chief speaker.” Even the “priest of Zeus” wanted to offer sacrifices to them, as gods. Paul had to try to convince them that he was an ordinary man, but was proclaiming the One True "living God who made all things.”)

In Galatians 4:9, Paul reminded the Galatians of how they “had come to know God” - or as Paul said, “rather, to be known by God.” (See how Paul says something similar in 1 Corinthians 8:2-3 and in 1 Corinthians 13:12.) He is emphasizing that the Galatians had come to true faith in Jesus; but that did not happen by their own work or effort. God Himself had known them and loved them and brought them to that faith in Him, by His grace.

Skip ahead to Galatians 4:12-15. Paul also reminded the Galatians of how open and kind and helpful they had been in accepting him and his good news in Christ, even though he had “a bodily ailment” when he was “preaching the Gospel to them at first.” We don’t know exactly what this bodily ailment was. Some think that Paul had malaria and needed time to recuperate in the better climate of Galatia and so came there to preach, even in his weakness.  Others think that Paul had eye problems and that is why Galatians 4:15 says that the people would have been willing, if it were possible and would help, to gouge their eyes out and give them to Paul to use. Still others point to Acts 14:15-23, where Paul was stoned and left for dead by crowds stirred up by Jewish enemies of Paul. It was surely a miracle that Paul could still get up and go on with his ministry in Galatia, though he must have looked very bruised and beaten. He was a living example of what he was preaching, “encouraging the people to continue in the faith” in Jesus, even though there might be “many tribulations” in their lives before “entering the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:20-22).

Whatever the situation, Paul writes to the Galatians in Galatians 4:14, “Though my condition was a trial for you, you did not scorn or despise me, but you received me as an angel of God,” as His messenger, almost as if Christ Jesus Himself was speaking to them. The people had “felt so blessed” to hear this Good News of salvation earned by Jesus and given to them by God’s grace through faith.

Because of all this, Paul was surprised and “perplexed” (Galatians 4:20) that the Galatians had so quickly listened to the false teachers who came by. These teachers were clever, as “they made much of” the Galatians and must have flattered them, but “for no good purpose” (Galatians 4:17). They were offering new ideas, but actually taking away the Galatians’ freedom and hope in Christ alone and enslaving them in another way, not a slavery to unreal Greek and Roman gods, but slavery to worldly Jewish rules and regulations which the Judaizers, the false teachers, said they must follow if they really wanted to be saved (Galatians 4:9).

Paul knew exactly what this meant, because he had been enslaved to these sorts of Jewish laws and rules himself, before he became a Christian. Circumcision was absolutely required for all males. The Sabbath Day, sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, had to be followed strictly, with no work allowed and many other limitations. Festivals like Passover and the Day of Atonement had to be followed. There were years like the year of Jubilee and on and on.

That is what Paul was referring to when he said, “You observe days and months and seasons and years” (Galatians 4:10). He said to the Galatians, “Brothers, I entreat you, became as I am” - free from all these rules and regulations as a necessary means for obtaining salvation (Galatians 4:12). Paul had Christ Jesus as His Savior, and that was enough.

Paul was afraid that he might have “labored over the Galatians in vain.” That is why he had to tell the Galatians “the truth” again and again in this letter, even if he seemed like an “enemy” of some.  (Galatians 4:11-14).. Christ Jesus’ completed work was enough for salvation. Paul wanted the Galatians to be sure about that key truth again. He knew that only God could bring faith and new life to people, so that they become “His little children.”

But Paul also wished that he could be an instrument by which “Christ might be formed" more strongly in the Galatians and in other people, too (Galatians 4:19). That would happen by God’s Word and promises, centered in Jesus, though, and not by Jewish rules and regulations.

Next week, we will hear of another example of the difference between Gospel promises and Jewish law; and we will think about what an “allegory” really is. The Lord’s continued blessings. 

Sermon for the 10th Sunday after Pentecost - August 14, 2022

Sermon for the 10th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:

Genesis 18:20-33

Colossians 2:6-19

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon originally delivered July 28, 2013

Preparing for Worship - August 14, 2022

The Scriptures this week are challenging because they speak of the “fiery” challenges we may face at times in our lives because many are opposed to God and His will and will be a challenge to us, too

The Psalm is Psalm 119:81-88, at the very middle of this long psalm praising God and the blessings of His Word. The psalmist admits that he has “persecutors,” “insolent“ people who are against God and His Word and Law and therefore oppose him, too, with “falsehood.” The psalmist feels as worn and shriveled as a “wineskin in the smoke” above a hot fire. Yet he “hopes in God’s Word” and prays that he may faithfully “keep the testimonies of the mouth of the Lord.

The Old Testament lesson is from Jeremiah 23:16-29. The Lord sees many so-called prophets around Jeremiah, “who speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.” They create many problems and much confusion for people with their lies. The Lord commands Jeremiah to keep speaking the truth. “Let him who has my Word speak my Word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? Is not my Word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” That powerful Word of God needs to be shared, even in the midst of opposition.

Jesus is “the Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 8:9, John 14:27). Yet in our Gospel lesson, Luke 12:49-53 (54-56), Jesus says that He has come to bring “fire” and “division” on the earth. He does not wish that, but knows that many will oppose Him and His believers and that a “baptism” of “distress” and suffering is coming for Him, as He dies on the cross to pay the penalty for all sins. Sadly, people can predict the weather from signs in the earth and sky, but too many cannot see and believe that Jesus is the Promised Savior, coming to rescue people.

The Epistle lesson continues a reading from last week from Hebrews - Hebrews 11:17-31 (32-40) 12:1-3. We hear of more people who lived “by faith” in God’s promises, from Abraham and his descendants to Moses to David and the prophets, and so many more. “Some were tortured. Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment.” They kept the faith and will have life, yet did not see the ultimate fulfillment in “Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of our faith.” We can “run with endurance the race set before us,” too, with our eyes on Jesus, who “for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

The alternate Gospel reading for St. James, Revelation 21:1-8, reminds believers in Christ that they, and we, too, will enjoy eternal life with Him. Though there will be sorrows and trials in this life, in heaven there will “not be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore” and those opposed to God will be in “the lake of fire” and will not trouble the children of God any longer.

Study of Galatians Part 10 - Galatians 3:23-4:7

Last week, we heard Paul teaching again that our only hope for life, now and forever, is in the promises of God in Jesus Christ, brought by faith to those who believe in Him. The Law is important, but in showing us that everything, including us, is imprisoned under sin because of our inherited “original sin” and our own failure to keep all of that Law as we should. There is no Life in the Law - only a recognition of our sinfulness and our need for a Savior (Galatians 3:21-22).

Paul used similar terms for what the Law does in Galatians 3:23-24. He said that people were confined, held “captive,” “imprisoned” under the law, until the “coming faith would be revealed” in Christ. He said that the Law was like our “guardian until Christ came” and we could be “justified,” counted righteous, simply “by faith” in Him and what He did for us.

Twice Paul used a term that means “a leader of a child.” We get our English word, “pedagogue,” a teacher,  from this Greek word. In the ancient Greco-Roman world, though, the word meant something more like a “guardian” for a child, until he comes of age, with more adult responsibilities. See Paul’s comments a little later, in Galatians 4:1-2, about a child who is an “heir,” but is under guardianship and is little different from a “slave” until “the date set by his father” to receive his privileges as a son. A Greek dictionary defines such a “guardian,” as “usually a slave, whose duty it was to conduct the boy or youth to and from school and to superintend his conduct” - to try to keep him out of trouble and care about his physical well-being and give him a sense of right and wrong, for his own good.

The Law serves such purposes for us, too, as a sort of guardian for us. Our Lutheran catechism for children (and all of us) says that the Law of God primarily serves as a “mirror,” showing us our sins and our need for Christ. But it also serves as a “curb,” with warnings and judgments for us if we “jump the curb” and, in doing so, hurt or harm ourselves and others, by going where we don’t belong and doing what we shouldn’t do. The Law also serves as “a ruler,” showing us “the straight and narrow way” that is best for us and others and will do good - and reminding us that we sin even by neglecting to do the good that we should do.

Do you think that children of old always did what their “guardians” wanted them to do? Do you think the guardians themselves were perfect and always led in the right way? If you look in the mirror of God’s Law and compare it with the way our world looks or the way our own country looks or the way we ourselves look these days, how are we doing? All of us fall very far short of God’s expectations. The Law is about what we are to do, and we are not doing so well. The Law of God does not give us hope and comfort. When we really listen to it, we are also forced to say, with the tax collector in Luke 18:13, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

That is why Paul, in Galatians 3:25-26, then takes us back to the Gospel, the Good News of what God has done for us and continues to do. There is our hope. Paul writes, to the Galatians and to us, “Now that faith has come,” that faith brought to us by Christ Jesus, “we are no longer under a guardian. For in Christ Jesus, we “are all sons of God,” children of God, “by faith.” While we were still enslaved in sin, following the sinful “principals of this world,” and not keeping the Law as we should, “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” of God, children of God (Galatians 4:3-5).

It was by the coming of Christ Jesus and His perfect life, keeping all the Law in our place, and His death on the cross in payment for our sins, in our place, and His resurrection from the dead for us, that we “are no longer a slave, but a son, a child of God, and if a son, also an heir” of all that God promised (Galatians 4:7). Paul also added that this was all “through God” and all His grace and mercy for us (Galatians 4:7).

And how did we personally receive all these promises earned for us by Christ Jesus? Paul writes in Galatians 3:27, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” God the Holy Spirit has also been at work, through the Word of God and that Word connected with water in baptism to bring us the gift of faith in the one true Triune God. We have Christ in us, and the Holy Spirit, too (see Galatians 4:6), and we are enabled to cry out in faith, “Abba, Father” - trusting our “Father, dear Father” as His dear children.

These are promises for all of us, as we are brought to faith and baptism. For our salvation, it does not matter if we are “Jew or Greek” or any other nationality. It does not matter if we are “slave or free.” It does not matter if we are “male or female”. We are “all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). And, Paul adds, “If we are Christ’s, then we are offspring (descendants by faith)) of Abraham, heirs according to promise, counted righteous in God’s eyes, simply by faith in our Savior, Jesus (Galatians 3:29).

Notice again that there is not a word in all that Paul has written about our good works somehow contributing to our salvation. It is not faith plus works, but faith alone that saves, as the gift of God’s grace. Paul wants the Galatians and us to know that as clearly as possible, and so he keep repeating the Gospel hope we have in Jesus.

The Lord’s continued blessings to you all, as you live confidently by faith in Him.

Sermon for the 9th Sunday after Pentecost - August 7, 2022

Sermon for the 9th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:

Genesis 18:1-14 

Colossians 1:21-29

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon originally delivered July 21, 2013

Preparing for Worship - August 7, 2022

The Scripture readings for this week encourage us to live by faith and trust in our Lord’s promises and His love for us and what he has done for us in Christ.

The Old Testament lesson is Genesis 15:1-6, where God renewed His promise to Abraham to give him many offspring, many descendants, even though he and his wife were still childless. It was difficult for Abraham, but the Lord strengthened his faith, and we hear, “He believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness.” He was counted righteous, not by his own good works, but by faith in God’s promises and work for him, including the eventual coming of the Savior, Jesus.

The Epistle lesson is part of the “By Faith” Chapter in Hebrews 11:1-16. We have a long list of people in the Scriptures who lived "by faith” in God and the power of His Word and promises, from the Creation onward, including Abraham. Faith is defined as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” We have the great privilege of knowing from Scripture about Jesus and His saving work already done for us, unlike those who lived beforehand and “greeted these promises from afar”
(Hebrews 11:13).

Jesus speaks to us all in the Gospel lesson, Luke 12:22-34 (35-40), encouraging us to trust in our Heavenly Father and in Him, even about the everyday challenges we face. Jesus reminds us that worry and anxiety won’t accomplish anything. God knows what we need, and if we “seek His kingdom,” He will take care of the rest, as He knows best. Above all, He has already given us the promise of His Kingdom through Christ and by His grace, His “good pleasure.” He promises that He will return for us, one unknown day, and we need only to be ready and waiting for Him, “by faith.”

The Psalm is Psalm 33:12-22 and the Psalmist speaks about concerns we all have, about leaders and nations and sometimes their misplaced trust in themselves and their power and their wisdom, instead of trusting the Lord. The Psalmist assures us that Lord is watching, though it may not look like it, and as “we wait for the Lord” and “hope in Him,” His “steadfast love will be upon us.”

The alternate Gospel lesson used at St. James is John 20:11-18, as we hear that Jesus conquered death with His mighty resurrection, and showed Himself alive to Mary near the tomb. If Jesus could rise from the dead, He surely could take care of everything else He promised. With joy, Mary then went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” We can tell of the hope we have in Christ, too.

Study of Galatians Part 9 - Galatians 3:15-22

Last week we heard that our attempts to be acceptable to God by keeping His law put us under a curse, because we never come close to doing everything as we should. Our hope is not in our efforts, but in Christ, who “redeemed us from the curse of the law,” by taking on Himself all sins and “becoming a curse for us,” and paying the penalty for all our sins, in our place (Galatians 3:10-14).

Paul then continued to emphasize the difference between the Gospel promises of God, given to Abraham, and the Laws given 430 years later to Moses and God’s people at Mt. Sinai. Paul used a "human example” of a "man-made covenant” or agreement - for example, a Last Will and Testament that someone makes. Various promises are made about money and property and who will be given these things. Once that will is prepared and signed, it cannot be added to or changed by anyone other than the author of the will. Everything will finally be revealed at the time of death (Galatians 3:15).

This is in a sense what God did, Paul said, when He made the covenant of promise to Abraham, when He first called Abraham in Genesis 12. God promised that He would make of Abraham “a great nation” and He promised, “In you (in your seed, in your offspring) all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3, Galatians 3:16).

Paul went on to point out that in the original language, the word for “seed” or “offspring” was singular, not plural. One particular offspring of Abraham would be a blessing to all families on earth; and Paul identified that offspring, that descendant, to be “Christ“ Jesus (Galatians 3:14,16). What Abraham believed in Genesis 15:6, was that God would keep His promise and give Abraham that great nation, and give from that nation a particular descendant who would bless all nations. In effect, Abraham was ultimately believing in the coming Christ Jesus, and by that faith, Abraham was counted righteous in God’s eyes.

Paul also pointed out, in Romans 4:9-10, that Abraham was “counted righteous” by faith before, not after, he was circumcised. The call to to be circumcised came later, in Genesis 17, so circumcision itself had nothing to do with Abraham’s being called righteous. In fact, Paul explained in Romans 4:11-12 that circumcision was “a seal of the righteousness that he (already) had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.” “The purpose,” Paul said, “was to make him the father of all who believe” - whether they were circumcised or not - “so that righteousness would be counted to them all by faith” in God’s promises, not by circumcision itself.

Back in Galatians 3:17, Paul also reminded the Galatians that the 10 Commandments and other laws were not given until 430 years later (see Exodus 12:40), when God led His people out of Egypt, through Moses, and brought them to Mt. Sinai. There, God blessed them and said He loved them and had already rescued them from slavery in Egypt, by His own care and mercy. (See Exodus 20:1-2 and Deuteronomy 33:1-4.) Only then did God give them His commandments and other laws.

Paul was saying that the Law was important, but it was not a way of earning God’s favor and salvation. In Galatians 3:17, Paul made it clear that the Law did not “annul” the covenant of promise that God had already “ratified” through Abraham. The “inheritance,” the blessings of God, would still come by God’s promise, given to Abraham and fulfilled finally in the descendant, Christ Jesus, and not by keeping new laws which would make the promises of God “void.” For, Paul said, “if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise” (Galatians 3:18).

Why then the Law? Why was it given? It was not given to save us, by our obedience to it. Rather, Paul said, “it was added because of transgressions,” until the offspring, our Lord Jesus, would come, to whom and through whom the promise of God had been made and would be fulfilled (Galatians 3:19). The Law’s primary purpose was to show us and the whole world our transgressions, our sins, and that we could never be good enough in God’s eyes by our own efforts (Romans 3:19-20, 23).

Paul even went so far as to say in Romans 5:20 that “the Law came in to increase the trespass” - not that God wants sin to increase, but that we would have increasing knowledge of how great our own sins are, as we compare our lives with God’s standard, His Law. Then we stop trying to trust our own good works and efforts and know how much we need a Savior, that Offspring from Abraham, our Lord Jesus. There are other purposes of the Law, but this is the primary one, showing us how serious and hopeless our sinful condition is, left on our own.

Paul ends this section of his letter by talking about intermediaries and mediators. There is mention in the Scriptures that when the Law was given, angels were involved in some way. (See Deuteronomy 33:1-4, Acts 7:38, Hebrews 2:2, etc.) But even with all these angels around, we humans still do not always do what the law says.

Stephen preached, “You who received the Law, as delivered by angels, did not keep it” (Acts 7:53). In fact, “God is one," Paul says (Galatians 3:20). No sinful human being can mediate with God and help himself or any other person. (See Psalm 49:7-9.) Only God Himself can help us - and He does so in the person of His Son, who became man, that perfect Offspring, and did His saving work for us.

The Law is not contrary to the Gospel, the promise of God in Christ, Paul concluded. We need both, but they serve different purposes. There is no Law that can “give us life”(Galatians 3:21). Rather, the “Scripture” that is Law shows us that we and everything else are “imprisoned under sin” and cannot rescue ourselves by our own works and efforts.

We are driven by the Law, therefore, to Christ alone and what He has earned for us and gives us: “the promise by faith in Jesus Christ to those who believe,” including us (Galatians 3:22). We, along with Abraham, are counted as righteous simply by God’s promise and His gift of faith, given to us in Christ (Galatians 3:22).

That is what Paul wanted the Galatians, and us today, to believe. Being circumcised or keeping other old laws and rules cannot save us, in spite of what false teachers say. We are saved only by God’s grace, through the gift of faith that Jesus gives to us, through His Spirit, working in His Word and Sacraments.

The Lord’s blessings to you all, in the promises of God in Christ Jesus.

Sermon for the 8th Sunday after Pentecost - July 31, 2022

Sermon for the 8th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:

Leviticus 18:1-5; 19:9-18

Colossians 1:1-14

Luke 10:25-37 

Sermon originally delivered July 14, 2013