Becoming like our merciful Father in heaven

Sermon for Trinity 4

Romans 8:18-23  +  Luke 6:36-42

Last week we focused on God’s burning desire to find the lost, bring them to repentance, and forgive them. God delights in pardoning iniquity. He celebrates over each sinner whom He brings back into His house. Now, some people, who think of themselves as very loving, very Gospel-oriented, very evangelical Christians, would like to leave it there. “Free forgiveness in Christ! That means you no longer need to hear any instruction from Jesus about how God wants you to behave! You’re free from the law!”

But they’re confused about what that means. Yes, believers in Christ have been freed from the control and condemnation of the Law, from the accusations of the Law, from being “under the Law,” as in, being justified by keeping the Law. But to say that there is no Law in God’s house, no pattern of behavior that He expects of His children, is ridiculous, and unscriptural. The Law, given by God, has its place in bringing people to repentance, as it convicts people of their sin and of their need for Jesus as a Savior from their sin. And it also still has a place in the life of the forgiven. It serves as a constant reminder of why we will always need Jesus. And it also serves as a divinely given, Spirit-inspired guide for behavior within God’s house.

You know that the Law is often summarized with love for God and love for one’s neighbor. Well, in today’s Gospel, Jesus summarizes it this way: Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. “Be merciful.” Is that really “the Law”? Yes, every time God commands you to do something, or to not do something, or to be or not be a certain way, that’s called “the Law.” The fact that no one is, by nature, merciful just like God is merciful is the reason why we deserve God’s condemnation in the first place. No one is justified by keeping the Law, because the Law reveals, first and foremost, how far short all people fall of God’s standard of goodness. No one is justified by keeping the Law, because no one can earn God’s forgiveness, God’s favor, or a place in His kingdom, just as a child doesn’t earn his status as a son or daughter by doing all his chores around the house. First you have to become a child in God’s house through repentance and faith in Jesus. And just as chores are expected of children, so it is in God’s house, where the “chores” are really nothing more and nothing less than doing the very things your Father does, imitating your Father in heaven, becoming like your Brother, Jesus. Remember, Jesus said, “Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.” Or as St. Paul put it to the Ephesians in chapter 5, Be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. God, as the perfect Father, is the perfect role-model for His children. So imitate God. Love others as Christ has loved you. Be merciful, as your Father is merciful. That’s the chief “rule” in God’s house.

Then Jesus goes on to describe what that mercy looks like in practice. It doesn’t look like judging others or condemning others. It does look like forgiving people, and giving generously to others.

First, Jesus says, Do not judge, and you will not be judged. “Judgment” is not a bad thing. It’s a necessary thing. God expects us to judge all the time, between right and wrong, wise and unwise, good and bad. The kind of judging He forbids is the kind that doesn’t come from mercy, or compassion, or love. You judge another person sinfully when you make yourself the judge of your neighbor’s heart, when you assume his motives to be evil, when you assume him to be lying, although there is no evidence of a lie, when you interpret his words or actions in the unkindest possible way. You judge other people when you nitpick their behavior, or when you make assumptions about them based on incomplete information. You judge other people when you place yourself above them, as their superior, as their “judge,” as the Pharisees often did with their fellow Jews and even with Jesus Himself. There is no mercy involved with such behavior. Do not judge, Jesus says, and you will not be judged. In this case, God, as a wise and loving Father, would teach you the way that is right by promising (or even threatening) to treat you the way you treat others. It’s simply a different way of saying, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Treat your neighbor as you yourself would be treated, by your neighbor, and by God.

In the same way, Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. There are enough people in the world, condemning this person and condemning that person, all day long. Sometimes social media is nothing but one condemnation after another, not only declaring someone to be wrong, but demonizing them for it, writing them off because of it. Again, the Pharisees are an example for us of what Jesus tells us not to do. They condemned the tax collectors and sinners, wrote them off, wanted nothing more to do with them, spoke unkindly and condescendingly about them, and surely also made fun of them, as they condemned Jesus and ridiculed Jesus Himself. That isn’t mercy, is it? That’s not the way your Father in heaven behaves, nor is it the way you want Him to behave toward you, is it? Be merciful, as your Father is merciful.

That doesn’t mean you don’t speak against wicked behavior. Jesus certainly did that! But there was never a time when mercy was absent from Jesus’ heart. There was never a time when He walked around with His nose up in the air, looking down on those dirty sinners. There was never a time when He didn’t want to show mercy to someone, when He delighted in a person’s condemnation. No, remember how Jesus wept over Jerusalem and over the condemnation Jerusalem would receive for the people’s impenitence and unbelief. If you have a heart like that toward your neighbor, a heart of mercy, then, even when you point out their sin, it won’t be for the purpose of judging or condemning, but of leading them to God.

Forgive, and you will be forgiven. We’ve talked about the pattern of forgiveness before. Our forgiveness is supposed to mimic God’s forgiveness. He delights in forgiveness. He’s eager to forgive. That doesn’t mean that He forgives where there is no repentance. But where there is repentance, He is quick, not slow, to forgive. He expects His children to imitate Him. And He even adds this extra incentive, that when we, as believers in Jesus, forgive others, God will continue to forgive us, whereas, if we deny the mercy of forgiveness to others, we show ourselves not to be children of God at all.

Give, and it will be given to you—a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be placed into your lap. For with the same measure you use it will be measured back to you. Not only has God already given us all things. He promises to give far more when we imitate Him in giving! What greater incentive could He possibly give His children to turn away from all the stinginess that comes so naturally to our sinful nature and to practice the mercy of generosity toward your neighbor? You never have to worry about wasting a gift. You never have to worry about giving too much. Because you have God’s promise that everything you give away will be given back to you in spades, probably not in the same form, but always in great abundance.

Jesus has one more lesson to teach about mercy in the Gospel, a specific way of showing mercy: by leading others in the way they should go, by teaching others something they need to know, by helping to correct a problem you notice in other people. This would be especially important for His disciples who would be teaching others in the future, but also for parents and for all Christians as they seek to live out the Gospel in their lives. But in order to do these things in a godly way, you have to watch out for certain pitfalls.

He told them a parable. “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a ditch?” It’s foolish to try to lead someone if you yourself can’t see where you’re going. If you don’t know God rightly, how will you lead someone else to know Him? If you don’t know God’s teaching of right and wrong, how will you lead someone else to the right? If you don’t know God’s mercy, how will you be able to show mercy? So hearing and meditating on God’s Word, studying it, and praying for the Spirit’s enlightenment are essential, so that you yourself aren’t blind as you try to lead those who are truly blind to the things of God.

A disciple is not above his teacher. But everyone who is thoroughly trained will be like his teacher. It’s remarkable how many people, including pastors, try to go beyond what Jesus taught, try to improve on His teaching. Some of them end up trying to be more evangelical than Jesus. That’s foolishness. If He is the teacher, then don’t imagine you can teach better. But do strive, with the Holy Spirit’s help, to be like your Teacher, in what He teaches, in how He teaches, and in how He treats those around Him. To accomplish that, you need to use the training God provides in the Scriptures and in the ministry He has established for this very purpose, to help build the body of Christ into the image of Christ.

And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck in your eye, when you yourself fail to see the beam in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” This is a warning we all need to take to heart. Before you would become the teacher of others, before you try to correct a flaw in your brother’s thinking or behavior, you have to start by soberly evaluating yourself, to make sure you don’t have an even bigger problem in your thinking or behavior. This requires humility, and a willingness to honestly hold yourself up to the mirror of God’s Law and God’s teaching, especially His teaching about being merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful, and, if you find a glaring discrepancy, to approach it with humility, and repentance, and to accept God’s correction.

These are Jesus’ instructions for those who live in His Father’s house. But the ability to do all this, and the motivation to carry it out, flows from the Gospel itself. Because, again, God is not teaching us about mercy so that we can earn a place in heaven by doing it correctly. God is teaching us about mercy, because He first showed such great mercy toward us in sending His Son to pay for our sins by His death on the cross, and in seeking us out with His Gospel, promising free forgiveness to all who believe. Now, as forgiven members of Christ’s body, as beloved children in our Father’s house, let us seek to become more and more like our merciful God, in everything we think, and say, and do. Amen.