Emmanuel Lutheran Church

Sermon for Midweek of Reminiscere – Lent 2

Small Catechism Review: The Table of Duties

As we consider our duties in the world as Christians, we sometimes speak of the two kingdoms and the three estates. There are the kingdoms of this world, on the one hand, with their rulers and with their rules, and there is the kingdom of heaven on the other hand. Jesus, for example, recognized the authority of Pontius Pilate as a ruler of this world. As He said as He stood before Him, You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. At the same time, Jesus said, You are right in saying that I am King. My kingdom is not of this world. God is the true King over both these kingdoms, the One who rules them both and establishes their authority, as Jesus is called in the book of Revelation, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.

Then we speak of the three estates where God has established duties for His children, either as authorities in the estates or as those under authority. We speak of the ecclesiastical estate, that is, the Church, which we talked about last week; the domestic estate, that is, the home, which we’ll talk about next week; and then there’s the civil or secular estate, that is, the kingdoms and governments and civil affairs of this world. That civil estate is our brief focus this evening.

Where do secular authorities come from? Well, they may come from a line of kings, going back generations. Or they may be elected. Or they may be conquerors or emperors or dictators. God’s Word has not set up any specific or any ideal form of government. But ultimately, the estate of “ruler” and the rulers themselves come from God, as Paul writes to the Romans, there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

God raises up earthly kingdoms and earthly rulers to carry out certain purposes for this life: 1) To preserve a degree of order in the world, mainly so that His Gospel can go out and reach the people of every nation. 2) To judge between the righteous and the unrighteous, because God knew that sinners of all times would need to be forced to work together and to get along with one another, or else chaos and anarchy and untamed violence would erupt, as it did in the days leading up to the Flood. 3) To reward people for good behavior, because, by nature, we need some incentive to do good. 4) To deter bad behavior, because, by nature, we all look out for number one. 5) To protect the innocent, who will always fall prey to the violent and to the conniving or there is no check on the wickedness of the wicked. And 6) To punish the guilty, even God’s own people when they rebel against Him, as Israel did time and time again during the Old Testament period.

The tools of the secular authorities are laws, and certain tools to enforce those laws. Threats of punishment. Fines. Imprisonment. Physical violence. Even the death penalty, as it says in the passage from Romans 13: those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For the authority does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.

Whether or not the secular authorities acknowledge God and seek to do His will, He uses them and guides and governs them. He did it with Pharaoh in Egypt. He did it with the nations that Israel confronted on their way to the Promised Land. He did it with the Assyrians and the Babylonians and the Medes and Persians and the Greeks and the Romans, as we’re learning about in our study on the Book of Daniel. The Lord remains King over the kings of the earth, and they carry out His purposes, wittingly, or more often unwittingly. Rulers do not have to be Christians to serve as God’s ministers of justice in the world.

Meanwhile, God has given His Christian people certain duties to fulfill with regard to the secular authorities, as outlined in the Bible passage from Romans 13 cited by Luther in the Table of Duties.

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.

Our duty as Christians is to be subject to the governing authorities. Now, that’s not quite as simple as it sounds, because you have various levels of authority, and maybe even competing authorities. State government? Federal government? Local government? And how far does their authority extend? Are citizens to submit to every whim of everyone who holds the office of “ruler”? Not necessarily.

What’s clear is that we are not to “resist” the authorities, that is, stand against them or rebel against them. As it affects most areas in our everyday life, it is the Christian’s duty to submit, to obey, and not to resist authority. We are not to have the reputations of hooligans or of lawbreakers, or of people who are trying to bring down the government, or as those who believe we answer to no one. Instead, we are to have the reputation of obedient citizens who honor those who govern us. And we are to be known as those who practice good and not evil.

So much more could be said about our duty as Christian citizens to the secular authorities, but these midweek services are only meant to serve as a general review of our Christian duties. Where you have failed to do your duties, where I have failed to do mine, let us repent and look to Christ, who fulfilled His duties perfectly and gladly, including His duty to His Father to suffer and die for our sins. Throughout this Lenten season, let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus fulfilling all His blessed duties for us, so that we have all the motivation we need for fulfilling our duties to Him. Amen.

Sermon for Midweek of Invocavit – Lent 1

Small Catechism Review: Table of Duties, Part 1

Now that we’ve finished reviewing the Small Catechism itself, there remains a series of Bible passages that Luther tacked right onto the end of the catechism, and we intend, with the Lord’s help, to spend this Lenten season focusing on this section.

We call this section the Table of Duties, because it lists very simply the general duties Christians have been given by God in His Word. So this is a fitting theme for the Lenten season as we double down on the Christian life, as we sharpen our focus on leading a life of repentance, faith, and love. Of what are we to repent? And how are we to love? Well, our sins are our failures to do the duties God has given us to do. But while some duties are shared in common by all Christians, others are not. You can’t fail at loving your spouse if you don’t have a spouse. You can’t raise your children well if you don’t have children. And so we break down the duties God has given us into different vocations and estates, and we apply them accordingly.

We’ll look at the Table of Duties in five parts, for each of the five Wednesdays of Lent, before Holy Week begins. The first part applies in one way or another to all Christians. This evening, let’s take just a very brief moment to consider the Word of the Lord with respect to preachers of the Word on the one hand, and hearers of the Word on the other.

The Table of Duties mentions only the preachers. The heading is: Bishops, Pastors, and Preachers, and the Bible passages are taken from 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1:

A bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence; not a novice; one who holds fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict (1 Tim. 3[:2-4, 6a; Titus 1:9]).

Those verses tell the preacher what some of his duties are. We could cite other passages as well. When Jesus says to Peter, “Feed My lambs. Tend My sheep. Feed My sheep,” He is laying out the preacher’s duty, to feed Jesus’ little lambs (both young and old) with the nourishing food of His Word, rightly handing out Law and Gospel—the Law to those who need to hear the Law, the Gospel to those who have been crushed by the Law and who need to hear the Gospel. He has put the preachers in charge of His house, not as lords, not as kings or rulers of an earthly kind, but as stewards, to give the members of His household their food in due season. As Jesus says to His apostles, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.

It’s always Christ who places preachers into their positions, who gives them as gifts to His flock, to shepherd His flock as overseers. Preachers of Christ are to be blameless, above reproach, and all those other things the Apostle Paul spelled out. In particular, they are to be able to teach, always guarding closely both their doctrine and their life, so that their doctrine is pure and sound and plain to understand, and so that they may be examples to the believers in faith, in purity, and in love.

Every preacher will have different gifts, a different personality, different strengths and weaknesses. That’s OK, as long as he faithfully fulfills the duties the Lord has given him. And if he stumbles in any way in any of these duties, or falls into sin in some other way, he needs to repent and turn to Christ for forgiveness, just like anyone else.

Now let’s turn for a moment to the hearers of the Word. What does God’s Word say to them—to you, and to me, when a preacher is preaching to me?

The first duty of the hearer is almost too obvious to mention, but I’ll mention it anyway. It’s what you’re all doing right now: hearing. Christians are to hear God’s Word. My sheep hear My voice, Jesus said. And the Father proclaimed from heaven, twice: This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!

But how do you hear Him? As Jesus said to the first preachers He sent out, “He who hears you,” says Christ, “hears Me. He who rejects you rejects Me.” So if anyone would follow Christ, he must hear, and listen, and pay attention to what he hears.

For those who hear the Word from a preacher sent by Christ, St. Paul says this, as he wrote to the Thessalonian hearers of the Word in 1 Thessalonians 5: We urge you, dear brothers, to recognize those who work among you and who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Esteem them even more highly on account of their labor, and be at peace with them.

That sums it up pretty well, actually. The writer to the Hebrews puts it this way: Remember your leaders, who have spoken the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their conduct and imitate their faith. And: Obey your leaders, and be submissive to them, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.

Finally, for this evening at least, St. Paul gives this command to the hearers of the Word: Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. In other words, the hearers of the Gospel are to provide a living for the preacher, to see that he is taken care of physically, even as he sees that you are taken care of spiritually. That’s something you here have done wonderfully and abundantly, but it isn’t always like that everywhere. And when you carry out this duty of love, whether for your pastor here or for other preachers of the Gospel elsewhere, you can know for certain that it is a pleasing thing in the sight of God, because He has given hearers this duty, and He’s pleased when they carry it out.

So much more could be said about preachers and hearers, but these midweek services are only meant to serve as a general review of our Christian duties. Where you have failed to do your duties, where I have failed to do mine, let us repent and look to Christ, who fulfilled His duties perfectly and gladly, including His duty to His Father to suffer and die for our sins. Throughout this Lenten season, let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus fulfilling all His blessed duties for us, so that we have all the motivation we need for fulfilling our duties to Him. Amen.