Emmanuel Lutheran Church

Sermon for Trinity 5

1 Peter 3:8-15  +  Luke 5:1-11

The ministry of Christian clergy is essential. And so is the witness of lay Christians, non-pastors, in the world. In each case, there is a identifiable call from God. Today’s Gospel focuses on the one, the Epistle on the other.

We turn first to the Gospel from Luke 5. Jesus had a very important lesson to teach His early disciples. Simon Peter, James and John had already met Jesus, already spent some time learning from Him, already accompanied Him to the wedding at Cana, where they witnessed His first miracle. They had learned from Him as students, as disciples, as any Christian might learn from Jesus, if He were here in person. But this account recorded in Luke 5 marks the time when these three disciples went from being part-time learners to full-time seminary students.

The Lord chose the location for His preaching on purpose, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee where Simon Peter, James, and John were docked with their boats, washing their nets after fishing all night long. Yes, He wanted to preach to the crowds. But He also wanted both to recruit His new seminary students and to teach them about the ministry to which they were being called, which, in turn, helps us to understand the office of the ministry. And if you think that doesn’t apply to you because you’re not ministers, just turn to the back of your service folder, to the top, where we confess just how vital the ministry is to the Christian Church. It is the means by which God the Holy Spirit works justifying faith. Without the ministry, there would be no faith. Without faith, there would be no Christians.

Now, what does Jesus do in our Gospel? First, He gets into Peter’s boat and asks him to put out a little way from the shore, so that Jesus can preach to the crowds on the shore without being smothered by them.

There’s already a lesson in that about the ministry. Just as Peter’s boat became the pulpit, while Jesus was the actual Preacher, so in the ministry of the Church, ministers’ mouths and brains and hands and hearts become the tools and instruments for Jesus to address both the world and His own precious sheep. But those tools, those pulpits, those men, are faulty and frail, even as Peter confesses himself to be at the end of our Gospel, a sinful man. That’s why we use vestments for the clergy, to hide the man and to mark the man as someone who has been called, ordained, and authorized to speak for Jesus, in spite of his personal sins and flaws, to remind us all that, when this ordained man speaks according to the Word of God, it’s really Jesus doing the preaching by His Spirit, just as He once preached from Simon’s boat. The man is covered up in somewhat elegant robes and especially the symbol of the stole, to emphasize his office as a minister of Christ, serving under His yoke, or, if you will, serving as the pulpit of Jesus, who wishes to rebuke sin, to call people to repentance and faith, to forgive sins, to comfort and strengthen believers, and to urge the forgiven to a new and holy life of love and obedience, who wishes to teach people about God through the minister as His pulpit.

Next, after He finished preaching to the crowds, Jesus asked Peter to put out into deeper water and to let down the nets for a catch. Peter was reluctant at first, since the best fishing was done at night or in the very early morning (as the boys and I can attest from our recent trip to Wisconsin), and even then they had come up with nothing the night before when they were fishing on their own. Still, even though Peter didn’t understand the use of fishing at this moment, even though he didn’t expect to catch anything, he thought highly enough of Jesus to listen to His word and do what He said anyway. Peter let down the net, and you know how it turned out. They didn’t just catch a bunch of fish. The boat started creaking and tipping over as it was being pulled down into the lake by the weight of the fish in the net, so that it took two boats—Peter’s and the boat that belonged to James and John—to haul the net to shore, and still they barely made it, because both boats were starting to sink from the weight.

What lessons were those first disciples to learn from those events? What lessons are there for us? First, that ministers are sent at Jesus’ own command, as Peter was. It isn’t good enough for a man to feel called by Jesus to preach. Who could ever rely on such a feeling and know for certain that it came from God? Since when do feelings qualify a person for public office, especially since that’s never how Scripture describes God’s call? No, a man has to be legitimately called to the office and installed or ordained into it. How many false teachers are out there calling themselves Christians who simply took it upon themselves to preach and teach and claim to speak for Jesus? But Peter knew he was called to let down the nets, because he heard Jesus tell him to do it, just as Peter knew by the end of this encounter that Jesus was calling him into the ministry when Jesus told him in no uncertain terms, “From now on you will catch men.” There were several other repetitions of that call, like when the twelve were designated “apostles,” that is, those who are sent. Or in the upper room on Easter Sunday, when Jesus told the eleven, As the Father has sent Me, so I am sending you. And again on that mountain in Galilee, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching.” And finally at the Ascension, “You will be My witnesses.”

Today, Jesus calls no one directly or “immediately.” The last man called directly by Jesus was a man named Saul who is better known as the Apostle Paul. Every other legitimate bishop, pastor, elder, or deacon in the Church has been called by Jesus indirectly or “mediately,” through the Church, through the clergy and the laity working together to call and ordain a man who has been instructed, examined, and approved for ministry in the Church. Ministers are called mediately, but that doesn’t make their ministry any less valid. They still preach at Christ’s command and with His authority.

Second, we learn from this part of the account that the “fishing” Jesus does through the ministry of His ministers is “net fishing,” not bait fishing. We don’t lure people in with false promises, or with fun programs, or exciting youth groups, or popular music. We preach the Gospel of Christ crucified. Period. That is, as Paul calls it, the “power of God for salvation to all who believe.” We teach God’s Word. We call to repentance and faith in Christ. We administer the Sacraments. Beyond that, we leave it to Jesus to bring people into the boat, into the Church. He has to bring them. The Father has to draw them. The Spirit has to convince them. Our own ideas, our own methods and devices may attract people to something, but it won’t be to Jesus, as we learn in the Gospel that Peter and the others caught nothing when they went fishing on their own. That was no coincidence. It was part of the lesson Jesus wanted to teach.

Third, we learn that the ministry of the Word will be successful in the world, as we see by the enormous weight of the fish in Peter’s net. What does that mean, “successful,” though? It doesn’t mean that every preaching of the Gospel will bring in more and more people. Here and there the Gospel is preached, sometimes bringing in thousands of people at once, as on the day of Pentecost. Sometimes bringing in no one at all, as when Jesus preached to the rich young man, or to Pontius Pilate, or when Paul preached to governors Felix and Festus and King Herod. There is no divine promise that churches will always grow and thrive with large numbers where the Gospel is preached. There is simply the divine command to preach, and the divine assurance that God will fill the Gospel nets where and when it pleases Him, and that the collective nets being let down around the world will bring in the full number of the elect.

So much for the call to the Holy Ministry and the role of the clergy. What about the laity, those who are not called to preach and to act in the stead of Christ? Well, the same Peter who was called by Jesus in today’s Gospel reminds us in today’s Epistle that all Christians have been called by God to a holy calling, even though it isn’t the call into the holy ministry. In chapter 2 of his first Epistle, he said this to the Christian laity: You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ…You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. And how were you called? “He has called me by the Gospel,” through the preaching of those whom Jesus has called to preach.

Then, in today’s Epistle, Peter expands on that calling into His marvelous light. You were called to this, he says. Called to what? To be of one mind. Be sympathetic. Show brotherly love. Be compassionate. Be friendly. Do not repay evil with evil or insults with insults, but on the contrary, pronounce a blessing. As surely as God called Peter, James, and John to preach the Gospel, so you have all been called to this, and to do it even if you have to suffer for it. Do you think that’s not meaningful? To be like Jesus in the world? To show people a little glimpse of what God is like through your example as Christians? Friends, this is the tool the Lord often uses to make people willing to listen to the preacher, just as the bad examples of Christians often keep people away from church. You can’t do anything about the bad examples of others. But you can determine not to be one of them.

What else are you called to? Peter says to the Christian laity, Always be ready to give a defense, with meekness and fear, to everyone who asks you for an explanation of the hope that is in you. “Why do you go to church so faithfully? Why do you work so hard at your job or in school? Why are you so kind and considerate? Why do you treat people with such patience and respect? Why do you still praise God when you’re suffering? Why do you seem to be at peace when the world is crumbling around you?” If you’re living according to your calling, if you’re living as one who has hope, it’s like a light shining in the dark place. People will see that light, and sometimes they’ll ask you, why? Or, how? At that point, the Lord Jesus has made you into His pulpit, and you have a wonderful opportunity to give a defense, even a very simple one, to explain your hope in the God who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, the God who gave His Son up to be crucified for the sins of all, that all might believe in Him and have the sure hope of eternal life.

Yes, the ministry of the clergy is essential. And so is the witness of lay Christians in the world. Together, Christian clergy and Christian laity become God’s answer to the First Petition of the Lord’s Prayer: Hallowed be Thy name. How is God’s name made holy? When God’s Word is taught purely and correctly, and when we, as the children of God, also lead holy lives according to it. Help us to do this, dear Father in heaven! Amen.

NOTE: The audio in today’s service has audio problems for much of the service.

Sermon for Trinity 2

1 John 3:13-18  +  Luke 14:16-24

Many people think they love God, think they want to be in the presence of God, think they want to spend eternity with Him. Until they meet Him in His Word. Until they get to know Him, and find out that He isn’t at all who they imagined Him to be. They thought He was a God who accepted people as they are. When they find out that He isn’t, they often walk away in sadness, or even disgust. Either that, or they continue to worship a god of their own delusions, one who will continue to accept them as they are. It’s why you can have “Pride month” celebrated even by people who call themselves Christians, because they’ve replaced the God of Christianity with a god who accepts homosexuals (and every other kind of impenitent sinner) just as they are.

But there’s an important difference here that we need to acknowledge. You see, the true God does call people just as they are. He doesn’t seek out the worthy or the deserving or the good. He calls everyone, He invites everyone to come into His presence and into His kingdom, no matter what sins they’ve been entangled in. He invites them to come in by grace, free of charge, without claiming any worthiness in themselves, without trying to atone for their own sins or buy their way in with their good works. He calls them as they are. But He calls them to come in as someone entirely different than they are, and that keeps many people away.

That was the great problem with the Pharisees in Jesus’ day. They thought they loved God, because they thought that God wanted them to come into His kingdom just as they were, as those who deserved a place at His supper table, as those who were clean and righteous and obedient, as those who were better than the dregs of society out there who hadn’t worked nearly as hard at keeping God’s commandments as the Pharisees had. But then they met Jesus, and Jesus revealed to them a different God altogether, one who didn’t invite the worthy, but the unworthy, one who defined “coming into the kingdom” as repentance and faith in Christ Jesus. That wasn’t a God they wanted anything to do with.

And so they invited Jesus to their house for a Sabbath-day supper, not because they loved Him or believed in Him, but to watch Him and to teach Him a lesson or two. In the verse before today’s Gospel begins, one of them stood up and proclaimed his love for the God he thought he knew. He thought he would impress Jesus with his piety: Blessed is he who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!

So Jesus, the invited Guest at the Pharisees’ supper and the King of the kingdom of God, tells a parable about a much greater supper, to show the delusional man and all the other Pharisees how they were the very ones who were refusing to eat bread in the kingdom of God by refusing to come in as different people, refusing to repent and to rely on grace alone for their entrance.

A certain man prepared a great supper and invited many people. God prepared eternal life in His kingdom, a banquet of the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation, a place in His family, a home for eternity. And He wrapped up all those benefits within the Person of His Son, the promised Christ. He invited the Old Testament people of Israel, the Jews, to this supper. He told them ahead of time about the coming of the Christ, and the great sacrifice He would offer for sins, the sacrifice of His own body, and that He would rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Then, when the Christ finally came, the man sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come! All things are now ready!’ John the Baptist was the first to announce it, and Jesus and His disciples soon followed. God the Father has sent His Son down to earth to save poor sinners from their sins and to give eternal life to all who believe in Him!

“Poor sinners? We’re not so poor,” thought the Pharisees. “We thought God was coming to reward the righteous, to increase the wealth of the rich, to tell us what a good job we’ve been doing! As for believing in God’s Son, we are all sons of Abraham, and we have Moses and the Law. We already have all we need.” And so, tragically, they made excuses for why they couldn’t make it to this great supper, why they neither were willing to recognize their sins nor to trust in Jesus the Christ for forgiveness.

So the servant came and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring the poor, and the crippled, and the lame, and the blind in here.’ And the servant said, ‘Lord, what you have commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ Then the lord said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and make them come in, so that my house may be filled. For I say to you that none of those men who were invited will taste my supper.’”

The master of the house, the Lord God, was angry with the excuse-makers, with the Jews who didn’t want to attend His supper through Christ Jesus. But the Lord wasn’t deterred by their refusal. His great zeal for sharing the supper of eternal life does not flow from the quality or the personality of the guests. This is vitally important. It wasn’t because the Jews were such close friends of God or such obedient children that He invited them. It was always grace, undeserved affection and love. So when they rejected His supper, He didn’t have to “settle” for others. It was His intention all along to bring the Gentiles, to bring all people into His house.

He turned to many others, to the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, to people who were obviously weak, obviously unacceptable as they were, to the people who are generally marginalized and rejected by everyone else. In other words, God calls into His kingdom the very people who are despised by the rich and the wise and the outwardly religious of this age. And He doesn’t stop with a few. He keeps sending His ministers to call more people, from the highways and the hedges, anyone and everyone, no matter who they are or what they’re like or what they’ve done. The only qualification is, they have to be unacceptable as they are. They have to be sinners. That’s the definition of grace! He keeps calling out through His ministers, calling them just as they are, until His kingdom, His Church, is full. And, of course, since God alone can see the structure of His Church, only He knows when His house is full. The fact that Jesus hasn’t yet returned for judgment means that “still there is room.”

But He won’t let them come in “as they are.” He insists on “killing” them with the Law, exposing their sins with the light of His Word, and calling them to repent, not just of this or that sin, but of the natural corruption of their whole self. Then He calls them to the new birth of Holy Baptism, where their old self is buried with Christ into death, and a new person is born and arises, so that they become entirely different people, people who still carry around a sinful flesh, people who still sin, but now as people who hate their sin and wish to be rid of it, who strive and struggle to be rid of it, now with the Holy Spirit’s help; now as people who trust in Christ Jesus, the Savior of sinners, now as people who are accepted by God only because they trust in Jesus. To come in, to enter God’s kingdom, to feast at His supper, is to repent of our sins and to trust in His promise of acceptance by grace, free of charge, through faith in Christ.

This is why so many are unwilling to come. Because they don’t want grace, that is, acceptance for the sake of Christ. They want acceptance for who they are, as they are, whether “good” or “bad.” Coming to the supper means being remade, it means denying your old self. It means the destruction of your pride, of your personal beliefs, of your personal record of works which you may think of as good, but which, apart from Christ, were only evil all the time.

You, dear Christians, have been called as you are to come to the great supper as someone else, as someone whose identity is wholly wrapped up in Christ Jesus. And having come, you have tasted how good the Lord is, how vital His continual forgiveness is. You have tasted eternal life, but just a little bit of it in this life, and even that—isn’t it worth losing your earthly life for it? You have come to know just how much strength there is in God’s Word and in His holy Sacraments, how good and pleasant and necessary it is to gather together around Word and Sacrament. You have come to know grace. You have met the true God, and you have loved Him, and you do want to spend eternity with Him, don’t you?

Now make it your first priority to keep coming to this supper, to remain in the kingdom of God by daily contrition and repentance and by using the gifts He has given, prayer and the Means of Grace. And make it your second priority to live such godly lives in the world that others may come to know God’s grace through you. The Master of the House is not yet satisfied with the number of guests. Still there is room, room for any, room for all. So show grace to people. Call them, invite them as they are, without prejudice, without hatred, without condescension. Invite them to come to the One who gave His life on the cross so that they, like you, could become different people, penitent and forgiven people, recreated by grace in the image of the God of grace. Amen.

Sermon for Trinity 1

1 John 4:16-21  +  Luke 16:19-31

The scene Jesus depicts in today’s Gospel is not uncommon: an ungodly rich person living right next to a godly poor person. In other words, a prosperous unbeliever next to a miserable believer. And contrary to the triumphalist teaching that is common in modern Christianity, their respective conditions never changed this side of eternity. The prosperous unbeliever was allowed to prosper right up until the day he died, and the miserable believer was allowed to suffer poverty, sickness, and loneliness right up until the day he died. Queue the question that so many people are prone to ask: How could a good or loving God allow such a thing?

This reminds me very much of Psalm 73, a Psalm that I turn to often, because this situation is so common, where unbelievers prosper in the world while believers suffer, where it seems like God rewards wickedness and punishes faithfulness. Let me read just a portion of it now:

Truly God is good to Israel, to the pure in heart. But as for me, my feet almost stumbled; my steps had almost slipped. For I was envious at the boastful; I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pains in their death; their bodies are fat. They are not in trouble as other people; nor are they plagued like others…These are the wicked, always at ease; they increase in riches. Surely I have kept my heart pure for nothing… For all the day long I am plagued, and chastened every morning…When I thought to understand this, it was troublesome in my eyes, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end. Surely You have set them in slippery places; You have brought them down to ruin. How they come to desolation, as in a moment! They have come to an end, utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awakes, so, O Lord, when You awake, You will despise their form.

You see, our perspective is so skewed. We see a person’s life from birth to death, and in our sinful pride, we assume that we know the whole story, and we would judge God’s goodness or love based on how comfortable or pleasant a person’s earthly life has been. That’s utter foolishness! This life is a single breath, a fleeting moment, when compared with the eternity that follows. We may see some signs of God’s justice here, some glimpses of God’s favor and love for His children. But we will never see true justice here or God’s perfect love for His children. But we will see it, in the end, in the next life, as today’s Gospel makes absolutely certain.

Jesus once asked, What good is it for a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? The rich man’s response in today’s Gospel, right up until the day he died, was, “That’s fine! Please! Give me the whole world so that I can enjoy it! My soul matters nothing to me.” How many today would say the same thing?

Now, the rich man in today’s Gospel may not have literally gained the whole world, but he gained an awful lot in this life. That wasn’t wrong. It wasn’t wrong for him to dress well, or to feast lavishly every day. It wasn’t wrong for him to be rich. But Moses and the prophets warned the rich against abusing their wealth, about failing to help their neighbor in need, about trusting in their riches, and about showing contempt for God and His Word. Over and over again the rich are warned in the Old Testament (and the New).

But the rich man in the Gospel didn’t pay attention. He didn’t listen to Moses or the prophets. He simply went about his life, enjoying his wealth and comfort and ease. He didn’t harm anyone. He also didn’t help anyone. He broke no manmade laws. But he broke God’s commandments. And yet, even that could have been forgiven. But it wasn’t. It wasn’t forgiven, because he remained impenitent and unbelieving.

How can you tell? Well, he ended up in hell. Hell is reserved, not for sinners in general, but for impenitent and unbelieving sinners.

Here Jesus paints a terrifying picture of hell, the most descriptive picture in all of Scripture, though it resembles other descriptions, such as, the “outer darkness,” where “their worm does not die, nor is their fire quenched.” Where “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” It’s referred to as “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” and “the lake of fire burning with brimstone.”

Here, it’s described as a place of torment, a place where the damned “live,” if you can call it “living,” surrounded by everlasting flames, where there is no relief whatsoever, where a drop of water would be a coveted kindness. Even his hope of relief from Lazarus, after seeing him in Abraham’s bosom, is quickly dashed by Abraham, who informs the rich man that there is no crossing back and forth. Those who end up in heaven are there forever, just as those who end up in hell are there forever.

His other hope is also dashed, that maybe there’s a way for a miracle to be done, for Lazarus to be brought back from the dead, in order to warn his five brothers who are still alive on earth, so that they can avoid the torments of hell. But Abraham slams the door shut on any such hope. They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them!… If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, then they will not be persuaded, even if someone were to rise from the dead.

Too late, the rich man learned that it would have been better to have less in this life than to have never-ending torment in hell. Too late, he realized that he had ignored the only thing that could have kept him out of the torment of hell, that is, the Word of God.

If only someone had warned him ahead of time! But, of course, they had, whenever God’s Word was read or preached in the synagogue or in the temple. If only someone would warn the rich now! And not just the rich, but rich and poor and all people, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All people are in need of repentance, and turning from the evil of our hands and of our hearts, recognizing both the evil we have done and the good we have failed to do.

And that, of course, is the purpose of this Gospel. Jesus, the One who did miraculously come back from the dead, the one who descended into hell and rose again, has sent His Evangelist Luke to record this saying and has sent pastors for the last 2,000 years to preach it. To frighten and to warn the godless, impenitent rich with the reality of hell. Yes, you may be comfortable here. You may get through your whole earthly life without any troubles. But even so, you will regret it if you failed to take God’s Word seriously, if you failed to repent urgently. Eternity is infinitely longer than your earthly life, and you will realize that 70 or 80 years of comfort and bliss on earth are like nothing when compared with the endless torment of hell.

But it isn’t all warning in this Gospel. There is some serious comfort, too, for believers whose earthly lives are full of torment and suffering. Look at poor Lazarus. He had nothing. He was poor. And not just poor. He was sickly, full of sores, unable to work. And not just sickly and unable to work. Alone. Alone, except for the street dogs who came and licked his sores. And not just alone. But within sight, within a few yards of a better life, the life of the rich man at whose gate he lay. Not that he coveted the rich man’s life or expected the rich man to switch places with him or something. He would have been satisfied with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table.

To hold onto faith in such circumstances, to keep from cursing the God who would allow such suffering for a beloved son of His, is no easy thing. In fact, it’s impossible for a person to do. But God can sustain the faith of a poor man or an otherwise suffering man and keep giving him the patience he needs to keep going, without cursing God or man, without growing bitter, without seeking to end his own life. To keep going, until he draws his very last breath and closes his eyes to the pain of this world.

Lazarus demonstrated his faith in the God of Israel by his patience and perseverance, which also demonstrates the power of God’s Holy Spirit to preserve faith and to give enough strength so that a person can keep going.

And then look what happened when he died. The angels finally came and carried him home to Abraham’s bosom. And there he was comforted. No more poverty. No more sores. No more loneliness. And not just for a while. But forever, in the embrace of Abraham, the father of the faith, with whom Lazarus will spend all eternity, feasting at the table, dressed in a white robe, together with all the saints, with all believers in Christ. He finally saw the truth, the reality, that he had been loved by God all along, not unlike Job in the Old Testament, and that, as Paul wrote to the Romans, the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

So if you’re living in repentance, if you’re trusting in Christ Jesus for forgiveness, and walking with the Holy Spirit in the new life of obedience and love, and you still find yourself plagued by all sorts of earthly trials and difficulties, don’t take it as a punishment from God or a sign of His disapproval, or worse, of His abandonment. Know that you’re in good company, that it has often gone this way for the saints in this life, but that it will all be well in the end.

Take with you today the closing words of Psalm 73, the Psalm we began the sermon with. Pray these words often, and mean them: Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For those who are far from You will perish; You destroy everyone who is unfaithful to You. But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have taken my refuge in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all Your works. Amen.