The Feast is Ready, Come to the Feast by Pastor Klusmeyer

Text: Matthew 22:1-14 Proper 23A

SN: 0032 10/15/23

The Feast is Ready, Come to the Feast

If you could be invited to one party or event in your life, what would it be? Would it be the Super Bowl, the Oscars, or something that’s only happened once in many of our lives a royal coronation? How would you respond to such an invitation? Would you be filled with joy and gratitude? Would you count down the days till that event filled with anticipation? Or would you spurn the invitation and make up a lame excuse why you couldn’t go? Would you insult and perhaps even hurt the one who sent you the invitation?

That would be crazy. But that is exactly the situation Jesus described in our parable this morning. A rich king had prepared a lavish wedding banquet for his son. When the feast was ready, he sent his servants to summon those who had been invited to the feast. They refused the invitation. So, the king sent more servants to summon those who had been invited. Some made excuses as to why they could not come, while others mistreated and killed the king’s servants. The angry king destroyed the city of those who had killed his servants. He then ordered his servants to go out on the highways and byways and invite all they found to come to his feast.

In order to understand this parable, we need to understand the context in which Jesus gave it. Shortly after the Triumphal Entry of Palm Sunday, Jesus was teaching and preaching in the temple courts on either Monday or Tuesday of Holy Week. The Pharisees, chief priests, and other leaders of the people questioned by what authority Jesus was teaching these things. Jesus responded with a series of parables intended to call these men to repentance.

All three of the parables deal with the idea of disobedience towards God and rejection of his Word. In the parable of the Wedding Banquet, Jesus says that the chief priests and elders of the people are like those guests who had been invited to the banquet but had rejected the invitation. These were the same leaders who had rejected the ministry of John the Baptist and now rejected the ministry of Christ and were actively plotting to kill him. Jesus uses this parable as a reminder and a warning of what happens to those who reject God’s Word.

Throughout the Old Testament, the people of both Israel and Judah had repeatedly turned away from God. They had fallen into sin and rebellion. God, in his great mercy, sent his prophets to his people again and again to call them to repentance. Sometimes, the people would listen, but many times, the people would scorn and attack these servants of God. We see this in the story of Elijah being persecuted by wicked King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. We see this in the book of Jeremiah, where that prophet was repeatedly mocked and threatened for his message of warning. This history against God’s servants, the prophets, is summed up in the letter to the Hebrews 11, “They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were tempted; they were killed with the sword; they went around in sheepskins and goatskins, needy, afflicted, and mistreated. The world was not worthy of them as they wandered in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.”

God’s great mercy and patience are displayed in this history and the parable. Just as the king sent more servants to extend the invitation to the wedding feast, God sent his prophets again and again. God even sent his own Son to preach, witness, and call his people to repentance. But God’s patience with sinners is not infinite. There is a time when God will punish the sins of those who rebel against him and refuse to repent. We see this in the history of Israel and Judah. God sent the Assyrians to destroy the kingdom of Israel, and he sent the Babylonians to take the kingdom of Judah into captivity. We also see this after Jesus’s death when the Romans destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD.

While this parable is a warning specifically to the chief priests and elders of the people, it also serves as a warning to us today. As Christians, we are God’s chosen people. Through faith and the waters of baptism, we have received an invitation to the great wedding feast of the Lamb. The glorious feast awaits in eternity, where we will dwell in the presence of our God for all eternity. But are there times that we give other things higher priority than the invitation of our God? Do we faithfully attend worship and partake of the glorious foretaste of that heavenly feast offered in Holy Communion, or do we sometimes give work, leisure, family, or anything else higher priority? The sad truth is that we are breaking the 1st and greatest commandment to love God anytime we sin because we are saying that our sinful pleasure is more important to us at that moment than God.

Dear brothers and sisters, by faith in Christ, we have received a gracious invitation to the wedding feast of our Savior. Isaiah describes this banquet as the most lavish and extravagant banquet that has ever been prepared. “On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines.” This is an invitation of pure grace. Like the king in the wedding banquet, God sent his servants to preach the Gospel to anyone they could find. We are not worthy to receive this invitation. By nature, we are all sinners and deserve only the wrath of God. But in his mercy, he extends the invitation of the Gospel to all people.

The message of the Gospel creates faith in our hearts and makes us worthy to attend the feast of salvation. As Paul writes in Romans 1, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes—to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed by faith, for faith, just as it is written, ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” Paul is talking about the righteousness given to us because of faith. Jesus Christ offered his perfect life as a payment for the sins of the entire world.

By faith, we receive his perfection. Our sins have been washed away by the blood of the lamb. By his resurrection, he proved that God accepted his sacrifice. We can be absolutely certain that our sins have been paid for. As the words of our hymn this morning proclaim, “Bold shall I stand in that great day; who can a word against me say? Fully absolved through these, I am from sin and fear, from guilt and shame.” We are forgiven; more than that, we have been invited to an eternal banquet in heaven. The power of death has been broken, and all who believe in Christ will be raised again in glory on the last day to dwell with God in that glorious place where there is no more weeping, crying, or pain.

Dear friends, because we have received the invitation to the great feast, we are God’s children. And as God’s children, we are called to live as his children. Think of the wedding guest who was at the feast without wedding clothes. How would you feel if one of the guests showed up in filthy clothes at your wedding or the wedding of a son or daughter? You would be insulted. You would feel that this person did not appreciate the honor shown to him.

This is how God feels when his people do not live and act as his people. Our sins are an affront to God, and we want and desire to live in a way that is pleasing to our heavenly Father. We obey his commands because we know this makes him happy and shows our gratitude for the many blessings he has given us. We fulfill his commands by showing his love to others. And we can do this in many different ways. We are all parts of one body in Christ, but just as each body has a unique function and role, we, too, have been given unique gifts to serve our God.

Some of us have been given the gift of sharing God’s Word with others and teaching the truths of his Word. Others have been given hands that serve in the church by cleaning, repairing, and serving. We have all been called to support the work of his church by giving our offerings of returning to God a portion of the gifts that he has blessed us with. We all serve in a variety of ways in God’s church.

All of these help spread the message of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Maybe we can’t do that ourselves, but our gifts that we joyfully give to the service of the church help spread the message of love.

Our God has graciously invited all people to the great victory feast of the Lamb. That feast is ready, and God now calls all people to come and enjoy that feast. Some will reject this gracious invitation and be thrown out where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. But God desires that as many as possible hear this glorious invitation of the Gospel. Let us go forth and use whatever gifts God has given us to share this invitation. Amen.

Confession Instead of Compromise by Pastor Zarling

Confession instead of compromise

Daniel 1:3-21 3The king told Ashpenaz, the chief of his court officials, to bring some young Israelite men from the royal family or from the nobility. 4He was to choose young men who had no blemish, who were good looking, who had insight into all kinds of wisdom, who possessed knowledge, understanding, and learning, and who were capable of serving in the king’s palace, in order to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. 5The king assigned them daily rations from the special royal food and from the king’s own wine. He ordered that they should be trained for three years. At the end of training they were to serve the king. 6In this group of young men were the Judeans Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. 7The chief of the officials gave them new names. He gave Daniel the name Belteshazzar, Hananiah the name Shadrak, Mishael the name Meshak, and Azariah the name Abednego.

8Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the special food of the king or with the wine that he drank. So he sought permission from the chief official, so that he would not have to defile himself. 9God made the chief of the officials favorable and sympathetic toward Daniel. 10Then the chief of the officials said to Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink. Why should he see your faces looking less healthy than those of the other young men who are your age? You put my life at risk before the king.”

11Daniel said to the superintendent whom the chief of the officials had placed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 12“Please test your servants for ten days. Tell them to give us only vegetables, and we will eat them and drink water. 13Observe our appearance and the appearance of the young men who eat the special royal food. Then deal with your servants based on what you see.” 14So he listened to what they said about this and tested them for ten days.

15At the end of ten days, their appearance was noticeably better than that of the others. They were healthier than any of the young men who had been eating the special royal food. 16So the superintendent permanently took away the special royal food and the wine they were to drink and gave them only vegetables. 17As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and insight into all kinds of literature, as well as wisdom. In addition, Daniel also understood every kind of vision and dream.

18At the end of the time which the king had set for them to be brought to him, the chief of the officials brought them before Nebuchadnezzar. 19The king spoke with them, and none of the others were found to be comparable to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they served the king. 20In every matter concerning wisdom and understanding that the king sought from them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and spell casters in his entire kingdom. 21So Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.

The Lord reigns. He is clothed in majesty. The Lord is clothed-he wears strength like a belt. Yes, the world stands firm. It will not be moved. Your throne was established long ago. You are from eternity. (Psalm 93:1-2). Amen.

There they were. Four Jewish teens kidnapped from their homes and carried away by their enemies. They were now exiles living in a faraway foreign country.

That’s how the story begins in Daniel 1 for Daniel and his three friends – Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. They were from Jewish royalty or distinguished families. When the rest of the Jews were carried into captivity in Babylon, these four were brought to the palace to serve in the government. Only the best and brightest were picked to serve in the Babylonian government.

They had to immerse themselves in the study of heathen culture. They could do that without compromise. They had to learn the language and literature of Babylon without believing its

falsehoods. They could do that without compromise. They had received new names of Belteshazzar, Shadrak, Meshak, Abednego (or Rack, Shack, and Benny). They could do that without compromise.

They also had to eat “the special royal food” and drink “from the king’s own wine” (Daniel 1:5). They could NOT do this without compromise.

The Jews were permitted to only eat “clean” foods as described in Leviticus 11. They had to be sure the animal was properly slaughtered and its carcass properly drained since God had forbidden his people to eat blood. Also, the meat and wine on the king’s table would have been sacrificed to the Babylonian gods first as an offering to them (Daniel 5:4).

Daniel and his friends would not compromise. They requested permission not to defile themselves by eating the king’s meat or drink his wine. Instead, they asked to eat vegetables. Thankfully, the word for “vegetables” also means “foods sown” so it included grains and breads. (Personally, I can’t imagine living on veggies alone!)

Daniel does not rebel. He does not revolt. He is respectful in his resistance. Ashpenaz, the chief of the king’s court officials, was afraid of losing his head if these four teens lost weight. But he doesn’t become angry or impatient because God caused him to show favoritism toward Daniel (Daniel 1:9).

This had to be the first and last time teenage boys refused food.

The four Jewish teens were tested for ten days eating their special diet. God blessed Daniel’s respectful resistance. God blessed Daniel’s bold confession because he did not compromise God’s Word or will.

How can we today be like Daniel and give a bold confession instead of compromise as we interact with governing authorities?

Admittedly, this is hard to do. St. Paul tells us in our Epistle lesson: “Everyone must submit to the governing authorities. For no authority exists except by God, and the authorities that do exist have been established by God” (Romans 13:1). We want to willingly submit to governing authorities when they are acting as God’s servants. God is working through them to do us good.

We have governing authorities in America who are over us, so we submit to them. But the U.S. Constitution reminds us that “We the people” are the authorities who are also over our government. We elect them and pay their salaries. We are to give them honor and respect as our appointed authorities. They are to listen to and respect our wishes because they work for us.

It’s similar to how your pastors are over you as your appointed spiritual authorities. But you are over us since we are your called servants of the gospel.

Romans 13 reminds us to submit to governing authorities as they submit to God’s will. Then they are acting as God’s servants. Revelation 13 reminds us that governments and governing authorities can switch sides and serve the great red dragon of Satan. When governing authorities are submitting to Satan’s will, then they are behaving as the dragon’s pet as the beast out of the sea.

Jesus teaches in our Gospel lesson, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21). Martin Luther and our Lutheran confession called The

Magdeburg Confession remind us that we are not to give to Caesar the things that are not Caesar’s.

The pastors in The Magdeburg Confession call for allegiance to both God and Caesar. But when Caesar exceeds his powers, then he is attempting to exert the powers of Christ. They are clear in their writing that this is not about revolution or rebellion. It is resistance. It is holding governing authorities accountable to following their own laws and God’s laws.

God uses governing authorities to curb our sinful natures so that everything is in good and godly order. God is keeping us from anarchy. God also uses us as Christian citizens to curb the sinful natures of governing authorities so that everything is in good and godly order. God is keeping the government from tyranny.

In whatever we do, we work hard to give a bold confession of our Christian faith instead of compromise.

Imagine perfect submission to governing authorities who submit to God’s will and perfect resistance to governing authorities who submit to Satan’s will as driving down the middle of the road. As sinners, though, we will often weave to one ditch or the other along the road.

We will careen into one ditch as we care too much about who the next Speaker of the House or the next President will be. We imagine the right politician or policies will correct our nation’s problems. We fill our time by consuming CNN or Fox News. We allow the government to have more control over our lives and influence over our culture.

We allow our humble submission to become blind, absolute obedience. Absolute obedience is nothing less than worship. Jesus warns in his vision in Revelation 13 that people will worship the beast out of the sea, which symbolizes governments who wage war against God’s saints (Revelation 13:7, 8).

Or we will overcorrect and careen into the other ditch and care too little about what’s going on in government and culture. We sit on our sofa consuming Netflix and Cheetos. We do not know our civics or Constitution. We are not respectful in the way we speak about God’s appointed representatives. We resist – not because what is proposed is evil or wrong or poor policy – but just because we don’t like it.

We can easily swerve from one ditch into the other. We are not fulfilling our vocation – our godly duty – as Christian citizens.

These sinful attitudes and actions always hurt our confession of Christ.

So, what are we going to do?

Confess Christ!

Jesus obeyed and respected his family, religious, and political leaders. He submitted to his mother’s authority as her son when she came to him with an issue at the wedding in Cana. But he also told her, “Woman, what does that have to do with you and me? My time has not yet come” (John 2:4). Jesus’ answer was a little cryptic, but he was respectful in his resistance in telling his mother that she could not direct his ministry as God’s Son.

Jesus submitted to the will of the Jewish religious leaders when they arrested him. He submitted to Governor Pilate’s will when he had Jesus scourged and even crucified. But Jesus also resisted the religious leaders when they tried exercising authority over him that they didn’t have. When

Jesus was accused by the chief priests and elders, he didn’t say anything to them, though they demanded it (Matthew 27:12). Jesus didn’t answer one word of Pilate’s questions, though Pilate was surprised by Jesus’ silence (Matthew 27:14). Jesus refused to perform like a circus clown by performing miracles in front of King Herod (Luke 23:8-12).

In these ways of submission and resistance, Jesus gave a bold confession that he was the Christ.

Jesus was the only one who was perfectly respectful in his submission to God’s governing servants but also remained respectful in his resistance when authorities’ actions opposed God’s will.

Jesus is our Example. … More than that, he is our Substitute.

Jesus perfectly drove down the middle of the road. He lived his entire life keeping the Fourth Commandment perfectly toward his parents, religious authorities, and governing authorities. He perfectly submitted to God’s governing authorities. He perfectly gave to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. He never once compromised that he was the Christ.

In these ways, Jesus actively obeyed God’s Word and will. He did this to cover over our sinful attitudes and actions, our sinful disrespect and inactions, our sinful refusal to submit to God’s servants, and our sinful blind obedience to Satan’s servants.

Jesus also passively obeyed God’s Word and will by enduring the scourging and crucifixion by his religious and governing authorities. He went to the cross and out of the grave to pay for our absence of worship of the true God and our abundance of worship toward the beast out of the sea.

Staying in the middle of the road is hard. It’s like being Frodo and Sam traveling the difficult path to Mordor. Or its like being Luke Skywalker by using the light side of the Force while resisting the dark side.

I realize that only a handful of you - and Pastor Klusmeyer - understood those references. 😊

It’s like trying to know what college to attend or career to pursue. Or if you should give money to your alcoholic parent or withhold money from your drug-addicted child.

These are difficult decisions. Continue to study the Scriptures. Keep on discussing how to apply these Scriptures. Pray for wisdom. Trust one another’s sanctified reasoning when they see things differently than you do. Pray for your leaders. Become active in your vocation as citizens – perhaps active enough to be involved in the government in some way so you can serve God and your fellow citizens as their servants.

May God bless us with the wisdom and sanctified spirit to submit to our governing authorities when they are submitting to the Lord as his established servants. May God also bless us with the wisdom and sanctified spirit to resist our governing authorities when they are submitting to the dragon as the beast out of the sea. May God use his governing authorities to curb our sinful nature. May God use us to curb the sinful nature of our governing authorities.

May we repent and receive Christ’s forgiveness through his active and passive obedience. Through it all, we pray that we remain respectful in our submission or resistance. So, no matter what, we are giving a bold confession of Christ instead of compromise. Amen.

The waves have lifted up, O Lord, the waves have lifted up their voice. The waves roar loudly. Mightier than the thundering of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea, the Lord

on high is mighty. Your testimonies stand very firm. Holiness beautifies your house for endless days, O Lord (Psalm 93:1-5). Amen.

(The pastors conclude The Magdeburg Confession by quoting Psalm 93. Whether they are tyrants, antichrists, or beasts out of the sea – all allying themselves with the red dragon of the devil – the Lord on high is still mighty.)

What Will God Do? By Pastor Zarling

What will God do?

Matthew 21:33-43 33“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. He leased it out to some tenant farmers and went away on a journey. 34When the time approached to harvest the fruit, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. 35The tenant farmers seized his servants. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36Then the landowner sent even more servants than the first time. The tenant farmers treated them the same way. 37Finally, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. 38But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance!’ 39They took him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40So when the landowner comes, what will he do to those tenant farmers?”

41They told him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end. Then he will lease out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his fruit when it is due.”

42Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?

43“That is why I tell you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces its fruit. 44Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”

45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was talking about them. 46Although they were looking for a way to arrest him, they were afraid of the crowds because the people regarded him as a prophet.

Let us think the same thing and walk in line with what we already have attained. Amen. (Philippians 3:17)

The parable of the wicked tenants is a strange story. A landowner plants a vineyard, rents it out, and leaves for a faraway country. When it’s harvest time, he sends servants to collect his share of the fruit. The tenants refuse. Instead, they beat some, stone some, and kill some.

After being cheated out of his rent and having his servants brutalized and murdered, what does the landowner do? He doesn’t say, “I know what I’ll do. I’ll teach them a lesson they’ll never forget!” Instead, he says, “I’ll send my beloved son. They’ll respect him.”

Not only does the landowner give these wicked tenants another undeserved chance, he risks the life of his son with that chance.

What do the tenants do? Instead of repentance, there is rage. Instead of payment, there is pulverizing. The beloved son becomes a bloodied corpse.

This vineyard imagery represents the children of Israel. God did everything for his chosen people. He promised them the land of Canaan. He freed them from slavery in Egypt. He brought them into the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey. He established the kingdom of Israel and prospered it through King David and King Solomon. God did all this through grace. Israel deserved none of it.

In return, God desired the fruits of faith. He desired worship, obedience, and sacrifice from his chosen people. But the people worshiped false gods. They disobeyed God’s commands. They sacrificed in pagan temples. So God sent his servants – his prophets – to his people. The prophets called out, “Repent. Return to the Lord.” The people refused to listen. They rejected the prophets, mistreated, and harassed them.

What will God do? He sends his beloved Son. Do the people respect the Son? No! The chief priests and Pharisees – who know this parable is about them – had the Son of God arrested, scourged, and brutally murdered.

This vineyard imagery also applies to us. God has placed us in the vineyard of this world. He does everything for us. He provides us with clothing and shoes, house and home, and all we own. He has placed us in a nation with freedom and liberty. He gives us our Lutheran churches, grade schools, and high schools. He has freed us from the slavery of our sin.

In return, God desires the fruits of faith. He desires worship, obedience, and sacrifice from us as his chosen people. What do we do? God sends his teachers into our classrooms to teach, but our children refuse to be taught and pile up late work. God sends his pastors into our churches to preach, but our people refuse to repent and believe. God offers his forgiveness in his gifts of Word and Sacraments – in the Bible, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. But we so rarely make use of these gracious gifts. We choose kids’ sports, video games, family time, vacationing, work, sleeping in, and more to fill up our time and calendar. We want more than God offers in the spoken, sung, and written Word, in a splash of water, or in a sip of wine and a bit of bread.

What will God do? He sends his beloved Son. Do we respect the Son? No! Our sins caused the Son of God to suffer. Our sins put the Son on the cross. Our rejection of worship, our disobedience to God’s commands, and our refusal to sacrifice make us just as guilty as the Old Testament children of Israel, and just as guilty as the chief priests and Pharisees of brutally murdering the Son of God. We are the wicked tenants.

What will God do with us?

Notice how Jesus does not tell us the ending of the story. Instead, he asks his hearers, “So when the landowner comes, what will he do to those tenant farmers” (Matthew 21:40)? His audience provides an ending to the story. They told him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end. Then he will lease out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his fruit when it is due” (Matthew 21:41).

What will God do with his wicked tenants, with his chosen people of Israel, and with us?

At a certain point, you just have to cut your losses and move on, don’t you? Your vehicle has been in the repair shop numerous times this year, so you plan on selling it. Your houseplant that you keep nurturing keeps dropping its leaves, so you plan on throwing it away. Sometimes you have to cut your losses and move on.

At a certain point, you would think that any normal God would cut his losses with us, move on, and start over. Any normal God would wash his hands of us and delight in our suffering. Any normal God would send his legions of angels to bring judgment upon his wicked people.

That might be what any normal, pagan God would do. But our God is not normal, nor pagan. He is the one true Triune God. He is the God who is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in love and faithfulness. He is the God who doesn’t want anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance, faith, and salvation.

Our God does not fight against us. Our God fights for us. He fights for us by sending his beloved Son into the vineyard of this world for us. Instead of considering us his enemies and fighting against us because of our lack of worship, obedience, and sacrifice, the Son fights for us against our enemies of the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh. He does not come exalting himself wearing a golden crown and sitting on a throne. He does not come with fists swinging and feet stomping. He does not come to kill us.

Instead, the Son comes to humble himself laying on a bloody cross and wearing a crown of thorns. He comes allowing his fists and feet to be nailed to that cross. He comes to be killed by us … and for us.

Jesus said, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes” (Matthew 21:42)? With these words quoted from Psalm 118 and with this parable, Jesus is foreshadowing his own rejection and death. This rejection and death are the cornerstone of our salvation. God, the owner of the vineyard, uses the death of his beloved Son to redeem us – his wicked tenants.

Even though you deserve destruction, God sends his Son for salvation. Completely out of his grace and mercy, God uses the destruction of his Son to save you from hellish destruction. He uses the death of his Son to rescue you from eternal death. He uses the death of his Son to rescue and redeem you - to buy you back from the devil and your empty way of life.

As St. Paul says in our epistle lesson, Christ redeemed you from your destruction, the god of your appetite, your shame, and your eagerness for earthly things. He has given you a citizenship in the kingdom of heaven (Philippians 3:19, 20). Jesus buys you back and makes you worthy of being workers in his Father’s vineyard.

This redemption and salvation is yours through faith in the Father and his Son through the Holy Spirit. All God, the owner of this vineyard, asks from you are the fruits of your Christian faith – worship, obedience, and sacrifice. He desires for you children to listen to your teachers and put effort into your homework. Not to gain God’s love, but because God already loves you. He desires you people to accept your pastors’ call to repentance and believe the good news. Not to gain heaven, but because heaven is already yours. He desires for you parents to prioritize God’s gifts of his spiritual kingdom over his gifts of his earthly kingdom. Not to gain the vineyard from the Son as your inheritance, but because God has granted you the vineyard of his kingdom of heaven through the Son as your inheritance. “Let us think the same thing and walk in line with what we already have attained” (Philippians 3:17).

Christ Jesus is the cornerstone of God’s kingdom. Through him, the Lord builds a kingdom that will never be overcome.

What will God do?

Isn’t it comforting to know that you have such a loving God – a good and gracious God? A God who doesn’t cut his losses and move on? A God who hasn’t given up on you … and won’t give up on you?

Perhaps, instead of asking, “What will God do?” we can ask, “What has God done?” He has sent his beloved Son into the vineyard to rescue and redeem his wicked tenants.

Spend the rest of this day … and the rest of your days thanking God for what he has done in not giving up on you. Amen.

Our citizenship is in heaven. We are eagerly waiting for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (Philippians 3:20)

He Holds the Field Forever by Pastor Klusmeyer

Text: Revelation 12:7-12 Michaelmas A

SN: 0031 10/01/23

He Holds the Field Forever

Angels are a special blessing from God. He sends his angels to watch over his people to protect them from harm and danger. He also sends them to protect his church. For this reason, the church has celebrated a festival day each year for hundreds of years to thank God for this special blessing. Traditionally, this festival is held on September 29 because this is near the start of Fall when the days are almost equally divided with 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. This reminds us that there are forces of light and darkness waging a war for our very souls. Think of how common this concept is in our society. Think of incredibly popular movies like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. There are two forces of light and darkness waging war for the soul of the main character. A character like Luke Skywalker or Frodo Baggins needs to find the personal courage within themselves to overcome the temptation of the darkness and stay in the light.

But this concept of equally opposed forces does not match the reality of our spiritual lives. There are not two equally opposed forces of light and darkness waging war for our souls. The forces of darkness have already been defeated. Satan, the great dragon, and all his evil angels have been thrown down. Michael and his angels warred against the forces of darkness, but the battle was never in doubt. Satan had no chance at victory, and he was utterly defeated by the blood of the Lamb, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This festival reminds us that our Lord and his angels have completely crushed their enemies on the battlefield. This is why we boldly proclaim in our great Reformation anthem, “He holds the field forever!”

The section of Revelation we are looking at this morning describes a great war fought in heaven. Satan and his angels warred against Michael and the hosts of heaven. There have traditionally been two ways of interpreting this section. The first is to understand this as a description of Satan’s initial fall from heaven. We know that at some point after the first seven days of creation, Satan rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven. The fallen serpent then tempted Adam and Eve, and all humanity fell under the curse of sin. The second interpretation sees this as a great spiritual battle Satan waged when Christ was crucified.

This illustrates the foolishness of our Adversary. The Bible tells us that Satan tempted Judas to betray Jesus and influenced the hatred of the chief priests. In his great hatred for God, Satan believed that killing Jesus would somehow serve his purposes. Instead, the death of Christ defeated and broke the power of Satan once and for all. On the cross, Christ crushed the head of the serpent and destroyed the power of death and hell. By his death, Christ made full atonement for the sins of the world. This is the great victory of our Savior. Satan was forever cast down. After his resurrection, Christ marched into hell and declared complete and total victory. By his resurrection, we know with absolute certainty that our sins have been paid for. We are forgiven and will enjoy eternal life. This is why John records the great voice in heaven saying, “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ, because the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before our God day and night. They conquered him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony. They did not love their lives in the face of death.”

Satan means the Accuser. And this is precisely what he does. He accuses us of our sins before God. He repeatedly tweaks our consciences and reminds us of our sins. He constantly accuses and whispers in our years a horrible lie. He wants us to believe our sins are too great and terrible for God to forgive. He wants to burden us with guilt and make us doubt the love and forgiveness of our God. But the Accuser has been cast down. He has been defeated by the blood of the Lamb and the testimony of the witnesses. This testimony is the Word of God. It is the testimony of the Prophets and Apostles who

saw the salvation of our God with their own eyes and were moved by the Holy Spirit to write for us all that Christ has done for us. This is the Word that assures us that we have been forgiven. Our sins have been washed away in the waters of baptism, and our Lord comes to us again and again, offering his body and blood as an assurance that our sins have been forgiven. This is why the Apostle Paul boldly says in Rom 8, “Who will bring an accusation against God’s elect?” God has declared us not guilty because of the blood of the Lamb. Satan has been conquered and can bring no accusation against us, for we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense, Jesus Christ the righteous one.

But our adversary is still dangerous. He has been defeated but still “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” The Book of Revelation describes Satan as a great and terrible dragon. He is a powerful adversary who has been mortally wounded. And like any dangerous beast, we should be cautious of him. He is filled with anger and rage and wants nothing more than to condemn as many as possible to the fires of hell. He is a murderer and a liar who wants to kill us and condemn us to an eternity of torment with him.

As a liar, he seeks to twist God’s Word and use it against us. He did this to Christ when he tempted him in the desert. He twists God’s Word to convince us that we must do something to earn our salvation. Or he twists God’s Word in numerous ways to get us to ask, “Did God really say?” We see an example of this in our modern world when we are told that being loving means accepting and tolerating behavior that is clearly against the will of God. We fight against the Devil by immersing ourselves in God’s Word. We arm ourselves with the truth, as Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can stand against the schemes of the Devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. For this reason, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to take a stand on the evil day and, after you have done everything, to stand.”

As we celebrate the Festival of St. Michael, we remember the spiritual battle being warred for our souls. Satan and his evil angels want nothing more than to destroy our faith and condemn us to an eternity of hell with him. But God is on our side. Our powerful Father sends his servants, the angels, to guard and protect us. We remember the archangel Michael in particular because he is viewed as the protector of the Church. He was the protector of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, and he continues to protect God’s church today.

As we heard in the Old Testament lesson, there is an invisible war going on around us. God sends his army of invisible angels to protect and watch over us. God would not need to do this. He is with us every day of our lives, but the angels are a special blessing that God gives to his people. They defend us from the attacks of the devil and his evil angels. They thwart the plans of Satan and his minions. They rejoice when we repent of our sins and when unbelievers come to faith. They have, at times, proclaimed the message of the Gospel and the Word of the Lord to people. They are God’s servants who serve faithfully before his throne and sing his praises day and night.

Scripture also teaches us that the angels watch over us and protect us from physical danger. Psalm 91:11-12 gives us this promise from God, “Yes, he will give a command to his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” Many believers have a story of a time in their lives when they know an angel was guarding and protecting them from harm. God promises to use his angels to watch over and protect us. This does not mean we should act foolishly and take unnecessary risks, which is how Satan tried to twist this passage when he tempted him to throw himself from the temple. But God does promise to use his angels to watch over and protect us. What a comfort and blessing to know that our God loves us so much that he is using his angels to continually guard and protect us.

This Festival of St. Michael gives us a wonderful opportunity to praise God for his angels. This is one of the differences of the Lutheran church. All of our praise and worship goes to God and not to the angels who insist in Scripture that they not be worshiped. We thank God for using his angels to watch over us in our spiritual and physical lives. We know Satan is constantly raging against us and seeking to destroy us. But he has been defeated by the blood of the Lamb. We rest assured knowing that “This world’s prince may still scowl fierce as he will, he can harm us none. He’s judged; the deed is done; one little word can fell him.”

That's So Unfair by Pastor Klusmeyer

Text: Matthew 20:1-16 Proper 20

SN: 0030 09/24/23

That’s So Unfair

There are many days that I will be sitting at my house enjoying a quiet cup of coffee, and the silence will be shattered by an ear-splitting cry of, “That’s not fair! You’re cheating!” Both of my boys love video games and are very competitive, so when they feel like they are not being treated fairly, they make a big deal out of it. Or I’ll be sitting in the stands at a sporting event and hear cries of “Come on, ref,” or “Hey, that’s a foul!” And before I give the impression that I am not guilty of the same thing, I’m pretty sure that in a little bit, when I’m watching the Packers, I will be making the same complaints.

Why do we do these things? I think it’s because we are wired to want things to be fair. We want things to be equal. We don’t like it when people cheat. And we especially don’t like it when we feel that others are being given an unfair advantage. You even see this concept in some of our legal symbolism. This morning, I have a picture of Lady Justice. She represents our ideal of justice: it is blind (so she can’t show favoritism) and with even and fair scales that will judge things equally. This is how we want to be judged, fairly and equally. As humans, we have a natural desire to be judged based on our actions. We want to be rewarded for doing good, and while we don’t want to be punished for doing wrong, we understand that evil deserves punishment.

This natural tendency is one of the reasons we struggle with the parable of the workers. This story doesn’t sound fair to us because we can easily put ourselves in the shoes of the workers who were hired first. The vineyard owner went out early in the morning to hire workers. He promised to pay them a fair wage for their day of work, to which they agreed. This would have been a 12-hour shift doing hard manual labor in his vineyard. He then went out at 9, 12, and 3. Finally, he went out at 5 and hired a few more workers to help for the last hour. At the end of the day, he instructed his foreman to pay each worker, starting with the last one hired. They were paid one denarius, so the workers hired first assumed they would get more, even though that’s the sum they agreed to.

Let’s put this in a modern context. Imagine you’ve worked at a factory or a store for years. Your boss hires new workers and starts paying them the same amount of money you make. He’s not doing this to slight you; he just wants to be generous to the new workers. How would you feel? You’d most likely demand a raise or look for a different job. So, we understand the frustration of the workers who worked the whole day and received the same pay as those who only worked one hour. But what does the vineyard owner say? He says I have not been unfair, “I paid you the wage you agreed to; I have simply chosen to be generous to all those I hired to work in my vineyard and pay them the same amount of money.”

In this parable, Jesus is not giving us an example of how we should manage a business. He tells his disciples this parable to correct their misunderstanding about the kingdom of heaven. Just before this, a rich young man had come to Jesus and asked what he needed to do to be saved. Jesus replied that to be saved, he must keep the commandments. The rich young man responded that he had done this. Jesus then answered that he needed to sell all his possessions and give them to the poor. The rich young man went away sad because he realized this was something that he was not willing to do. Jesus’s point was that God is not concerned with our outward actions but with the attitude of the heart.

The rich young man loved his possessions more than he loved God. When the disciples saw this interaction, they were amazed. Peter then had the idea that because they had given up everything to follow Christ, this made them better than the rich young man. Jesus responded that it is true that those who love God and put him first in their lives will receive the gift of eternal life. This does not make one group of Christians better than another. The parable of the workers illustrates the truth that God does not deal with us fairly in matters of faith. When it comes to salvation, God does not deal with

us fairly; he deals with us graciously. And when we start examining this concept, we realize that the idea of God dealing with us fairly should fill us with terror and dread.

Because of our sinful natures, it is very easy for us to want to compare ourselves to others. It’s very easy to fall into the same attitude as workers vineyard. We know we have toiled long and hard in the Lord’s vineyard. We want to receive more than those who have not worked as hard as we have. We want to think that we are better than others in God's eyes. We like to be able to look at others and say, “While it’s true that I am a sinner, at least I’m not as bad of a sinner as those people over there.” Or do we want to be like Jonah, sitting under his vine and lamenting that God is not destroying the wicked as they deserve? We want our God to be just. We want him to punish the wicked and reward those who do the most good. This satisfies our innate desire for justice and fairness. But the point of Jesus’s parable is that in matters of faith, we should not be comparing ourselves to others. God does not judge us by comparing us with others; he judges us according to the standard of his holy law: "So then, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

And how do we measure up to that standard? We have failed. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” When we view our lives and our conduct against the standard of God’s holy law or even just against the 10 Commandments, we realize that we are sinners. We understand how foolish it is to want God to deal with us according to his justice. If God dealt with us fairly, he would punish us as our sins deserve. He would condemn us to eternal death, for the wages of sin is death.

This is the point of the parable. It doesn’t matter how long or how hard we work. We can do nothing to earn our salvation. God gives us salvation as a free gift. “Indeed, it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” Think about it this way: Adam faithfully served the Lord for 930 years, Abraham faithfully served the Lord for 175 years; after his conversion, the Apostle Paul served the Lord for about 30 years, and the thief on the cross was a believer for only a few hours, and yet they all received the same reward: salvation.

From a purely human standpoint, this does not seem fair, and yet this is how God deals with us in grace. In order to save us, God did something that was incredibly unfair. He punished his one and only Son in our place. Think of the life that Christ lived for you. Jesus never sinned. He lived his life in complete obedience to the will of the Father. He kept every commandment. He never failed to show love and mercy to others. He did nothing that deserved punishment. And yet, what did God do? He punished Jesus for our sins and the sins of the whole world. Christ willingly offered his perfect life as payment for the entire world's sins. He took all our sins on himself and paid for them with his life.

This is the great injustice of our salvation. Instead of being punished for our sins, Christ was punished in our place. By his death, he made full and complete payment for all of our sins and gives us forgiveness as a free and gracious gift. By his resurrection, he defeated the power of death and hell so that we could receive the reward of eternal life with him. This is the generous gift that our Father in heaven gives to us. We are paid the wage of salvation because our God is generous and not because we have done anything to earn or deserve that gift. This is not fairness; this is not justice; this is pure grace.

As we consider the parable of the workers, we are tempted to sympathize with those workers who felt that they were being treated unfairly. We must daily struggle against that tendency to compare ourselves to others and think that we deserve more from God. We instead place ourselves in the place of the workers who received a full day's wages for only a little work. We understand that because we are sinners, we don’t deserve any reward but only the wrath and punishment of God. But we also know that our Savior has paid for our sins. We are forgiven! We have been born again through the waters of baptism and washed in the blood of the Lamb. Instead of comparing ourselves to others, we remember

that we have been redeemed in Christ. God did not need to give us anything, but in his love, he gave us salvation. This is the truth and joy that we cling to every day of our lives. This is the hope and confidence we have that we have been fully and completely forgiven in Christ.

Dear friend, we love to have things be fair. We value justice and want to be treated equally in all things. But our God doesn’t deal with us fairly. Grace isn’t fair. Grace is a merciful and undeserved gift given to us through Christ. If God dealt with us according to his justice, we would be lost. But God has dealt with us through his love and mercy. He has removed our sins in Christ, so when we are tempted to wonder why others have received the same reward, we remember that we have been saved not by our own efforts but by Christ.

Forgiving Means Not Forgetting by Pastor Zarling

09/17/2023

Forgiving Means Not Forgetting

Genesis 50:15-21 15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and will pay us back in full for all of the evil that we did to him.”

16They sent the following message to Joseph: “Before he died your father commanded us, 17‘You are to tell Joseph, “Please forgive the offense of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ Now, please forgive the offense of the servants of the God of your father.”

Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

18His brothers also came and fell down in front of him, and they said, “See now, we are your servants.”

19Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 20You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring this to pass and to keep many people alive, as it is this day. 21Now therefore, do not be afraid. I will nourish you and your little ones.” He comforted them and spoke to them in a kind way.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ has forgiven us (Ephesians 4:32). Amen.

Jacob treated Joseph as his favorite son. He even gave him a coat of many colors to show his favored status over his older brothers. Joseph boasted about his dreams of having his father and brothers bow down to him. All of this caused the older brothers to seethe with anger and resentment.

One day, when Joseph was 17 years old, his dad sent him to check on his brothers while they were out shepherding their flocks. When Joseph came close to his brothers, they tore his technicolor dreamcoat off his body and threw him into an empty cistern. Then the brothers sold their hated sibling to a caravan of travelers heading to Egypt.

Joseph ended up as a slave in Potiphar’s house. In slavery, Joseph blossomed as God blessed his work. Joseph was well built and handsome, so he caught the eye of Potiphar’s wife. She tried to get Joseph to go to bed with her. Joseph refused her advances. So, Mrs. Potiphar falsely accused Joseph of attempted rape.

Joseph was then thrown into prison. Even in prison, Joseph blossomed as God blessed his work for the warden. After some time, Joseph interpreted the dream of the Pharaoh’s cupbearer, whom Joseph correctly predicted would go from the prison to the palace. Joseph told the cupbearer, “Don’t forget about me” … but that’s exactly what happened.

And there he sat for another two years. Think of all the grudges that could have grown so well in the damp, dark dungeon. Against the no-good cupbearer, who forgot about the favor Joseph had done for him. Against Mrs. Potiphar and her Desperate Housewives behavior. But most of all, against his brothers, for selling him into slavery in the first place.

After no one else could interpret Pharaoh’s weird dreams about fat and lean cows and fat and lean grain, the cupbearer remembered Joseph. Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams and he was elevated from the prisoner in charge of other prisoners to the second in command of all of Egypt. Joseph was immediately put in charge of storing food during the seven fat years of plenty to prepare for the seven lean years of famine.

During the famine, Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt to buy food. Eventually, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers. They were terrified that Joseph has been holding a grudge all these years and they were now going to be thrown in prison … or worse. Joseph didn’t forget what his brothers had done. He just didn’t hold it against them. He forgave them.

Forgiveness means that you’re not keep score. You’re letting it go, giving it to God instead of giving it back to them. You are leaving the scorekeeping to God.

After 17 years, Jacob died. The older brothers again thought that Joseph was going to punish them. “It may be that Joseph will hate us and will pay us back in full for all of the evil that we did to him” (Genesis 50:15). They thought that Joseph was just being nice to them while dear old dad was alive. But now they were going to get it! They sent the following message to Joseph: “Before he died your father commanded us, “You are to tell Joseph, “Please forgive the offense of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ (Genesis 50:16, 17).

Joseph was hurt by their words. He forgave them a long time ago. He forgave them – not by forgetting what they had done to him, but by remembering how God had turned their sinful actions into a way of saving many lives. Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring this to pass and to keep many people alive, as it is this day” (Genesis 50:19, 20).

Joseph did not hold a grudge. But he didn’t forget what his brothers had done to him, either. In the past, he recalled how his brothers had overpowered him, but when he was in a position of power, he didn’t do the same to them. He chose forgiveness. He blessed the ones who cursed him. He gave grain to the ones who ripped off his robe. He prayed for those who mistreated him. He warmly pressed his cheek against the faces of those who pounded their fists against his. And now, all these years later, Joseph promised, “Do not be afraid. I will nourish you and your little ones” (Genesis 50:21).

While you were growing up, your father was difficult and verbally abusive towards you. Now that you’re older and have children of your own, he is much softer and wants to have a relationship with you. But you keep him at arm’s length. He hurt you too badly to have him close to you again.

On more than one occasion your teenage daughter has stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind her, muttering under her breath. A time or two she has even said to your face, “I hate you!” You’ve had enough. You love her. But you can’t stand her.

Perhaps there are kids on the bus who give you a hard time on the way to school. Or you don’t receive recognition for your hard work in the workplace. Or your next-door neighbor is a pain in your backside.

What do you do?

The world will tell you to hold a grudge. To get even. To never let those people hurt you again.

Well-intentioned Christians, thinking they’re quoting the Bible or at least a biblical concept, will tell you the opposite. They’ll counsel you to “forgive and forget.”

So, what should you do?

The first is obviously wrong. But we all do it. We sinfully love to hold grudges. Holding a grudge makes us feel good. When we hold a grudge, the other person is the bad guy, and we are the righteous victims. We like to remember all the slights and wrongs people have done to us. We want to get even. This gives us a sense of power over that person and allows us to justify committing all sorts of other sins. They wronged me, so now I can speak badly about them to others. They wronged me, so now I don’t need to help and be a friend to them. They sinned against me, so I don’t need to forgive them.

As sanctified Christians, we know that’s a sinful attitude.

So, then we should forgive and forget, right? Not so fast. Is forgiving and then forgetting even possible? When someone hurts us, it isn’t like a bad soap opera where suddenly we get amnesia, we’ve forgotten everything, and so everything is suddenly better. We can’t forget. The scars are too deep. The hurts are too painful. The sins are too egregious. Our memory is too long.

Well-intentioned Christians are counseling us to “forgive and forget” … but we just can’t do it. It’s not humanly possible. So, now we have guilt on top of our grudges. There the unforgiveness sits – unresolved. It’s like a festering sore that never gets treated and doesn’t go away. It’s a constant source of irritation and pain. It ends up making us irritable and miserable all the time.

While many people believe forgetting an injury is part of forgiveness, it’s just the opposite. You can’t forget the hurts … but you can remember Christ’s forgiveness to apply to those hurts.

The way to deal with the hurts is to remove the debts others owe us. In the parable of the unforgiving servant, Jesus shows that forgiveness means no longer holding a person’s debt against them. A servant is forgiven an insurmountably large debt, but then he goes out and refuses to forgive another servant’s significantly smaller debt. The point of the parable is that we all owe a hopelessly insurmountable debt to God. But our heavenly King has forgiven that huge debt of our sins. Now we are to forgive the significantly smaller debts that are owed us by others.

Although it is humanly impossible for us to forgive and then forget, it is a divine promise that God forgives and forgets. The all-knowing God makes it clear, “I blot out your rebellious deeds for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25). Again, the all-remembering God says of himself, “For I will forgive their guilt, and I will remember their sins no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). How wonderful that our God has divine amnesia when it comes to our sins.

Our God is like the master in Jesus’ parable. “Then the servant fell down on his knees in front of him, saying, ‘Master, be patient with me, and I will pay you everything!’ The master of that servant had pity on him, released him, and forgave him the debt” (Matthew 18:26, 27).

Except that God does not forgive our debt by simply cancelling it. The King’s Son – Jesus Christ – paid off our debt. Not with gold or silver, but with his holy, precious blood and his innocent suffering and death. Our King has turned his mercy on us his servants, because he treated his own Son as if he was the ungrateful servant.

God unleashed his righteous anger for thousands of years of humanity’s sins – not on us – but on Jesus. Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” because his heavenly Father had turned his back on his Son, so that he might turn his face towards us in blessing. When Jesus shouted on the cross, “It is finished,” he confirmed that the payment for every sin had been made for all time. All your sins have been taken away, removed, put on Jesus. “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Your sins have been considered, counted, cleansed, and cleared.

Joseph was able to forgive his brothers because he understood the heart of God. He had experienced the mercy of God in his life and reflected that mercy by forgiving his brothers.

It’s natural for you to hold a grudge and refuse to forgive. But that only makes you emotionally - and maybe physically - sick. Refusal to forgive keeps you trapped in a prison of anger. Refusal to forgive leads to a false sense of moral superiority. Refusal to forgive poisons and embitters your spirit. Refusal to forgive motivates Christ to withhold the forgiveness you need. “But if you do not forgive people their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:15).

Here’s a better way: “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32). The forgiveness of Jesus gives you the power to

forgive others, to release old grudges, and to dismiss old grievances that you have been holding on for too long.

Because God doesn’t remember your sins anymore, now you can forgive, even when you can’t forget. You can save someone from the slavery of sin when you forgive them. You can release them from the dungeon of despair when you forgive them. And when you do, you might be surprised to discover that the one who has actually been freed is … YOU! Amen.

Therefore, be imitators of God as his dearly loved children. And walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Ephesians 5:1, 2). Amen.

A Righteous Rock of Refuge by Pastor Klusmeyer

8/27/2023

Text: Matthew 16:13-20

SN: 0028

Proper 16A

A Righteous Rock of Refuge

When I was in college, I spent a summer working for a construction company. I distinctly remember one particular project. We were renovating a lake house. We redid the kitchen, added a fireplace, and turned the garage into a master bedroom suite. We also added a huge deck onto the house that overlooked the lake. I remember digging the holes to set the corner posts for the deck. We had these cement pucks that would go into the holes to serve as a foundation for the post to rest on. Because we were so near the lake, the posts filled with groundwater after only digging down a few feet. I remember dropping the cement puck into the hole and watching it disappear with a blurp. I’ve never been back to that house to see how the deck we built held up, but I can assume that by now, it’s probably crooked because it wasn’t built on a firm foundation.

Anyone who has ever worked on a house or a building knows how important the foundation is to the structure of the building. If the foundation is weak, the whole structure is compromised. Think of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which was built on a poor foundation. Nothing built on a poor foundation will endure. The same is true of faith. Any faith not built on the firm foundation of Christ, our righteous rock of refuge, will fail. The picture I used for my sermon theme is of Edinburgh Castle. Just look at its foundation. That is a firm foundation of solid rock because the builders of that castle knew they needed a strong foundation to resist the attacks of enemies. As Christians, our faith is built on a far stronger foundation. This is the faith that Peter confessed and the faith we confess: Jesus is our righteous rock of refuge. He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God who destroyed the gates of hell and saved us from our sins.

Our Gospel lesson today comes toward the end of his public ministry. Jesus had been teaching and preaching for some time and now asks his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” The disciples responded with a variety of answers they had heard. Some claimed that Jesus was John the Baptist, others Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the other prophets. These answers reflected the disappointment that many felt about the ministry of Jesus. He did not meet their expectations. They were looking for a savior who would be the heir of David. This new king would throw off the oppressive power of the Romans and make them a great nation again. Jesus preached the coming of the kingdom of God, a kingdom not of this world. This was not the Savior the people were looking for, but it was exactly the Savior they needed.

This same attitude still exists today. Many people, if not most people, cannot correctly answer Jesus’s question. They don’t know the truth, and they don’t know who he is. They think that Jesus was a great teacher, like many other great teachers and philosophers, or that he was simply a very good person who gave us an example to follow. They don’t believe that he is the Son of the living God who came to suffer and die for the sins of the whole world. And without faith and knowledge of the sacrifice of Christ, there is no salvation. In Romans 10, Paul describes the only way to salvation this way, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Jesus next asks his disciples who they think he is. The disciples had been with him throughout his ministry. They had heard his teaching and seen his power. They were beginning to understand, so Peter boldly confesses that Jesus is the “Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter made this bold confession when he was alone with the Lord and the other disciples, but we know that Peter was not always rock solid in the face of opposition. He doubted that Jesus would protect him when he walked on the water, he rebuked Jesus for speaking about his death and resurrection, and he denied that he even knew Jesus on the night before our Lord’s death.

But before we get too critical of Peter, we need to examine ourselves. It is easy to proclaim our faith and praise our Savior within the walls of this church, surrounded by fellow believers, but how well do we confess our faith to the rest of the world? How boldly do we confess Christ when we are out in the world? Do we confess Christ by not engaging in gossip or crude humor with our co-workers, or do we go along with the crowd? Do we confess Christ by submitting to the authority of those God has placed over us, or do we grumble, complain, and rebel when we don’t get our way? Do we confess our faith by boldly proclaiming the truths of God’s Word, or do we hide, knowing that many of God’s truths are not popular in our society today?

Dear friends, we know that we have not always boldly confessed Christ. We have not made the most of every opportunity to share our faith. We have not confessed Christ when we have fallen into sins of habit again and again. When we have found it easier to break God’s commandments than to keep them. Our faith is not a solid foundation. Praise God that the strength of our own faith does not save us. Unfortunately, our faith is sometimes like that mushy sand where I built that deck. But Christ, the Son of the living God, is our cornerstone. He is our solid ground and sure foundation. He is our righteous rock of refuge.

This is why Jesus tells us to look to the example of Peter, not as a man, but to the truth he confessed. Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ. The Anointed One, the Savior from sin God had promised to send after Adam and Eve had sinned in the Garden of Eden. Jesus the fulfillment of every promise that God made to his people: to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Peter also understood that Jesus was both true man and true God. He was the only begotten Son of the Living God.

This is the Living God who appeared in fire and cloud to the children of Israel on Mount Sinai and proclaimed to Moses that he is “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and overflowing with mercy and truth, maintaining mercy for thousands, forgiving guilt and rebellion and sin. He will by no means clear the guilty. He calls their children and their children’s children to account for the guilt of the fathers, even to the third and the fourth generation.” Our God is holy and just. He demands that everyone live perfectly, one hundred percent of the time, according to his holy will. But we all have been born in sin, and we daily sin much. All of us deserve God’s wrath and punishment.

But our God is also a God of mercy who wants to forgive his people. He wants to shower his love and compassion on us. But the debt of our sin must be paid. So, God, in his rich mercy, sent his Son to suffer and die for the sins of the world. This is the truth that Peter confessed. This is the truth that we confess: Jesus offered his perfect, sinless life as a sacrifice to pay for our sins. That by his death, we have been washed and cleansed. Our sins have been removed from us as far as the East is from the West, and God remembers them no more. We have been fully and completely forgiven by the blood of Christ. By his resurrection from the dead, Jesus destroyed the power of death and shattered the gates of hell.

Jesus praised Peter for his confession and proclaimed that his church would be built on the unshakeable rock of Christ. Even the very gates of hell would not be able to overcome the church because Christ had defeated them. Satan can no longer accuse us because when Christ died, he made full payment for our sins. Christ crushed the head of the old serpent and liberated us, his people, from the chains of sin. Christ rose from the dead and marched victoriously into hell. He shattered the gates of death and hell. Death has no power for those who trust in Jesus’s name. We know that our righteous rock of refuge crushed the power of death and opened the gates of eternal life for all who believe in his name. This is why we can boldly and loudly sing in our hymn, In Christ Alone, “No guilt in life, no fear in death this is the power of Christ in me.”

Only believers can proclaim this foundational message of truth and salvation. We have the only answer to the question Jesus asks, “Who do people say that I am?” We boldly confess, like Peter, that he is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and the only way to salvation and eternal life. We proclaim the entire truth of God’s word, the Law and the Gospel. These are the keys that Christ has given to his people. We use the binding key when we proclaim that because of our sins, we are enemies of God and condemned to eternal death. No one can satisfy the demands of God’s law. This is a message that the world does not want to hear. People don’t want to hear how their lifestyle choices are offensive to God. They don’t want to hear how the constant pursuit of wealth and pleasure is contrary to the will of God. We don’t do this maliciously or with a sense of superiority. Instead, we speak the truth of God’s law in love so that we can lead others to Christ. We, too, do not want to hear how we have daily sinned and failed to keep God’s commands. But the law reminds us of our sins and shows us the need for our Savior, who alone could keep God’s law perfectly.

We use the loosing key when we proclaim the sweet joy of the Gospel. That Christ has fully and completely paid for the sins of the entire world. This gift of forgiveness is ours through grace and not because we have done anything to earn or deserve it. Salvation is a free gift. That sounds so contrary to our natures. We instinctively believe that it can’t be that easy. We need to do something to earn God’s love. But this is the sweet joy of the Gospel: whoever believes in Christ will be saved. Because we love our God and want to show gratitude for this amazing gift, we live our lives according to his will. We share the joy of the gospel with others. We practice forgiveness in our own lives by graciously forgiving those who have sinned against us. We see this in action when a father forgives a child, a wife forgives her husband, and the pastor announces the forgiveness of sins to the congregation each week.

Dear friends, we have a righteous rock of refuge. We cling to Christ as we face life's fiercest droughts and storms. Our own faith is, at times, shaky ground. We know that we ourselves are not a firm foundation. But Christ is a solid rock who crushed the head of Satan and shattered the gates of hell. Our faith is built on nothing less than Jesus’s blood and righteousness. We cling to the confession of Peter that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. We cling to the certainty that Christ has paid our debt and removed our sins. We have been saved, and nothing in all creation can move the solid rock of our Savior. Amen.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things present nor things to come, nor powerful forces, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen

The Church is for All People by Pastor Zarling

The Church is for All People

Matthew 15:21–28 21

Jesus left that place and withdrew into the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22There a Canaanite woman from that territory came and kept crying out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! A demon is severely tormenting my daughter!”

23But he did not answer her a word.

His disciples came and pleaded, “Send her away, because she keeps crying out after us.”

24He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

25But she came and knelt in front of him, saying, “Lord, help me.”

26He answered her, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

27“Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet the dogs also eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

28Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, your faith is great! It will be done for you, just as you desire.” And her daughter was healed at that very hour.

But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13). Amen.

Several years ago – BM (Before the Merger), I was leading an advent worship service at New Hope. We had a teenage boy with autism at the service. His autism didn’t let him sit still, so he was walking around the church during the entire service.

I’ll admit that I was pretty nervous when the young man kept walking around the Christmas tree in front of the church. I was concerned that the tree might fall … and him with it. But we all kept on worshiping and everything was fine.

We are going to be restarting our Jesus Cares Worship at the Cross service next month. Jesus Cares is designed especially for children, teens, and adults with special needs, and their families. I’m glad we’re restarting the services because we’ll be inviting the children and their families from the Wisconsin Early Autism Project (WEAP).

WEAP has been meeting for the past year in the nursery at our Racine campus. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, parents and grandparents drop off their autistic 3–5-year-olds for one-on-one therapy with licensed teachers. The teachers are teaching the children to be ready to go into public education in a few years. My office is right next to the nursery. For three hours, there is a lot of crying and singing, teaching and patience.

I’ve talked to some of the moms and grandmoms and shown them the sanctuary. They’ve commented that they haven’t been in church for years. Their autistic children are not quiet and don’t sit still. They mentioned that they’ve seen the looks, felt the stares, and heard the whispers.

So, they’ve stopped going to church.

We at Water of Life are working aggressively to invite these special needs families, the families at WLS and Shoreland, and the families in the neighborhoods around our campuses to worship with us. These are families who probably have not been in a church for a very long time. Their children will squirm and wiggle. Their bodies may not allow them to remain quiet. The ladies may be wearing hole-y jeans – not holy as in sanctified – but jeans with rips and holes in them because these are their most expensive pants. The guys may not own a tie or even a dress shirt. The parents may speak a different language.

And that’s great! I pray they come! I pray that you pray that they come! We pray together that our sanctuaries are filled with noise and activity.

Because a quiet church is a dying church.

After all, we see in our Scripture lessons today that the Church is for all people.

Matthew beings writing, “Jesus left that place and withdrew into the region of Tyre and Sidon.” Where is the “there” Jesus is leaving? Jesus leaves the region of Galilee because of the intense opposition he is receiving from the scribes and Pharisees.

Jesus and his crew head out west, far from Galilee to the region of Tyre and Sidon. That’s all the way to the Mediterranean coast, in the northwest corner of Israel. That’s over a 35-mile hike.

The Jews didn’t associate with the people of Tyre and Sidon. The religion between Galilee and Tyre and Sidon is farther apart than the miles. In his Gospel, Mark calls this woman a “Syro-Phoenician” woman, which was the more contemporary term in the time of the New Testament. But Matthew purposely calls her a “Canaanite” woman, which was the more historic Old Testament term for her ethnicity.

To call her a “Canaanite” brings with it a lot of baggage. The Canaanites were an ancient enemy of the Israelites. They were the people whom the Israelites were to drive out of the Promised Land 1400 years earlier under Joshua. The Canaanites were a pagan people, worshiping false gods of their own making. That’s what Matthew is emphasizing by calling here a “Canaanite” woman.

She is not the kind of woman who walks into a Galilean synagogue/church. She approaches Jesus as her life is crumbling. “A Canaanite woman from that territory came and kept crying out, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! A demon is severely tormenting my daughter!’”

This plea seems right up Jesus’ alley. This is exactly the kind of thing Jesus does – healing people and driving out demons. … But this time, Jesus puts her off. “But he did not answer her a word.”

The ones who speak are the embarrassed disciples. They sound like us when we are dealing with the unchurched who make us feel uncomfortable. “His disciples came and pleaded, ‘Send her away, because she keeps crying out after us.’”

Jesus also speaks like he is bothered by this woman. He tells her, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Here’s a woman who needs help. Jesus is very good at this kind of help. Yet, it seems like the Savior who came to help all people doesn’t want to help this woman.

Jesus is pointing out to this woman and his disciples that his primary mission is directly and specifically for the Jews. He is fulfilling his mission as the Messiah of Israel. The mission to the Gentiles would come later through these very same disciples. … Just not yet.

The woman doesn’t give up. “She came and knelt in front of him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’” He answered her, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” Jesus is saying, “I have come to bring the Bread of Life to the children of Israel. This is my Messianic ministry.”

Again, the woman cannot be deterred. “Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet the dogs also eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Ah, she’s catching Jesus in his own words! And Jesus loves it! She acknowledges his mission to Israel, but at the same time she says there will be some leftovers, some scraps off the table for the Gentile unchurched people like her. Like Rahab. Like

Ruth. Like Naaman and the widow of Zarephath. Bravo! Jesus applauds her for her faith. “Woman, your faith is great! It will be done for you, just as you desire.” And her daughter was healed at that very hour.

Did you see what Jesus is doing? By putting her off for a little bit, he is accomplishing two things. First, he is giving her the opportunity to express her God-given faith and persistence. Second, he is teaching his disciples who will soon be called his apostles – his sent ones. Their mission will be going to these Gentiles. It won’t just be the Jews who will enter the Church. The Church is for all people.

She rightly cried out, “Have mercy on me, Lord!” This is the cry of the Church of all ages. We still cry out these words. We cried them this morning in our prayers: “Lord, have mercy! Christ, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!” We fall before our Lord, bringing our needs before the only one who can help us.

We need to receive this mercy so we can share this mercy. God’s mercy is big enough for all. For we are all sinners in need of mercy – Jews and Gentiles, Israelites and Canaanites, insiders and outsiders, saints and sinners, liberals and conservatives, those in the church and those who haven’t been in a church for years. We are all sinners in need of God’s mercy and forgiveness.

We need to admit that we are all dogs who are not worthy of being seated at the Master’s table. We admit we are all dogs in need of the crumbs of mercy. We are the top dogs – the “chief of sinners.” Through his mercy, the Lord invites us to pull up a seat at the table. Not as dogs, but as children. Not drips, but the pouring of God’s grace over our heads in baptism – like Bob, Luke, and Cecelia Greco, who were all baptized on Tuesday evening. Not crumbs, but the Bread of life and the Wine of heaven in the Sacrament of the Supper. “No longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household” (Ephesians 2:19).

Jesus came to be the Savior of all people – first for the Jews and then for the Gentiles. He poured out his mercy when he was hanging on the cross – suspended between heaven and earth. Jesus won mercy between a holy Master and wicked dogs. Mercy for holy ones and those with hole-y jeans. Mercy for those who come to worship in their church clothes and those who come in their work clothes. We are all welcome in God’s Church!

Now, you who are in the Church need to go out and share this mercy with those who need it, who are crying out for it, who are lost, alone, depressed, desperate, angry, and disruptive without it.

By God’s grace, we have baptized six children and one dad already this year. We pray to schedule more baptisms with our adult confirmation classes starting next month. When God blesses his Word, we will see more families with young, squirmy, and autistic children in our pews.

How are we going to react to all the new noise and activity that will fill our sanctuaries? We will be like the disciples who said to Jesus, “Send her away”?

Will that noise and activity bother us so much that we would rather have a quiet, aging, dying church than a noisy, vibrant, and growing church?

Pastor Klusmeyer told me a story about a mom with five children under the age of 5. All five were boys. She brought them to church with her. Young children – especially boys – do not sit very well for an hour.

Can you guess what happened? I hope that you cannot.

This already struggling mother found an anonymous note in her church mailbox. It read: “If you can’t keep your children quiet in church, it’s better if you don’t bring them to church.”

That’s awful!

But our sinful natures all cause us to be equally awful. Looks. Stares. Whispers. Snide comments. Gossip. Frustration. Anonymous notes.

Do you think there’s a better way that we can handle this? A more loving, sanctified way?

As one of our members said to me the other day when talking about this subject: “We can’t be both inclusive and judgmental.” Then my former Seminary professor added: “Except Jesus. Jesus can be both inclusive and judgmental.” To which I replied: “Yes. But since we’re not Jesus, let’s just work on being inclusive and leave the judging to Jesus.”

So, what can you do to be inclusive; to help parents and grandparents who are already struggling; who feel like everyone is looking and talking about every noise.

What can you do that is loving? Caring? Supportive? That shows God’s mercy? That proves that you’ve been where those parents and grandparents are? That demonstrates that you have received the Lord’s mercy and you desire for them to be here in church to receive the Lord’s mercy?

Search them out when they come into church.

Sit by them.

Offer to help with the kids.

Give them assurance that it will get better.

Bring some healthy snacks and quiet toys with you to church.

Write a note. Not a nasty, anonymous note. A signed, good note gushing with admiration and realization that you know how hard it is. But it’s all worth it. They and their children are exactly where they need to be. They are here in God’s Church.

And God’s Church is for all people. Amen.

This is the declaration of God the LORD, who gathers Israel’s dispersed people: “I will gather still more people to my house besides the ones already gathered” (Isaiah 56:8). Amen.

Wheat with Widespread Weeds by Pastor Zarling

Wheat with widespread weeds

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 24He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25But while people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26When the plants sprouted and produced heads of grain, the weeds also appeared. 27The servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where did the weeds come from?’ 28He said to them, ‘An enemy did this.’ The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather up the weeds?’ 29‘No,’ he answered, ‘because when you gather up the weeds, you might pull up the wheat along with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the weeds, bind them in bundles, and burn them. Then, gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

36Then Jesus sent the people away and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

37He answered them, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38The field is the world. The good seeds are the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the Evil One. 39The enemy who sowed them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the world. The reapers are angels. 40Therefore, just as the weeds are gathered up and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of the world. 41The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will pull out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and those who continue to break the law. 42The angels will throw them into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Amen.

Many of you know that I’m not a big fan of vegetables. And yet, I have a large garden. Now, it’s filled with the nine vegetables I will eat. … Plus two other veggies for Shelley and the girls.

I enjoy planting the garden or certainly picking the tomatoes, peppers, snap peas, and such. What I don’t enjoy is pulling the weeds. I don’t know too many people who enjoy weeding their garden. My issue is two-fold. As a novice gardener, I’m not always confident on what is a weed and what is a plant. Although, I did hear the helpful tip that if you pull it and it grows back, it was a weed. If it doesn’t grow back, it was a plant. … But it’s a little late by that time.

Also, when I pull up the weeds, I may accidently also pull up the plants with them.

Jesus tells a parable about wheat and weeds. He taught, “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. When the plants sprouted and produced heads of grain, the weeds also appeared. The servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where did the weeds come from?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy did this.’ The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather up the weeds?’ No,’ he answered, ‘because when you gather up the weeds, you might pull up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the weeds, bind them in bundles, and burn them. Then, gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

In his story, a farmer plants wheat in his field. But during the night, his enemy comes and plants weeds in the field, too. Later, the servants ask if they should pull up the weeds. I like the farmer’s advice. He doesn’t want them to do any weeding. For the same reasons I don’t like to weed. The weeds look identical to the wheat. Even if the servants could identify the weeds, they might pull up the wheat along with them.

The weeds in Jesus’ story are tares that look like wheat as they are growing, but it is a poisonous weed not fit for eating. Tares are knows as bearded darnel, a species of rye-grass. Eating tares would make you feel intoxicated, giddy, and sick. It could induce vomiting, stomachache, and diarrhea. It isn’t until the harvest time that you can clearly see the difference between wheat and tares.

Jesus later gives the meaning of the parable of the wheat and the weeds. “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world. The good seeds are the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the Evil One. The enemy who sowed them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the world. The reapers are angels. Therefore, just as the weeds are gathered up and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of the world. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will pull out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and those who continue to break the law. The angels will throw them into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”

In this parable, we as Christians are the wheat. Jesus has planted us in the field of this world. But the Evil One of the Devil has planted sin, evil, and unbelievers into this field, too.

Living as wheat with widespread weeds can be frustrating and exhausting. It can be disturbing and discouraging. Jesus himself said that the Devil is the Prince of this world. We see his reign in the spirituality of our nation. The fastest growing religious group in America is the nones – those who have no religion or faith. At the same time, Christian churches, even in our Wisconsin Synod, are closing. Many people have not returned to the pews after Covid.

We also see Satan’s reign in the evil that is tolerated, accepted, and then promoted in our institutions. There is the Wokeness in our government and military; Critical Race Theory and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in our workplaces; and sexual sins endorsed in our public grade schools, high schools, and universities. At the same time, Christian speech and teachings are silenced, censored, and called “hate speech.” Hollywood and social media put out vile, vapid content.

This can all be discouraging. So, we are tempted to do one of two things. We might be tempted to hunker down and hide out in our little corner of the field. That’s no different from the monasteries of old. When we do that, we allow the weeds to take over the rest of the field.

Or we might be impatient and start pulling out what looks like weeds to us. That’s no different than the Spanish Inquisition of old. But there are times when unbelievers and evildoers appear righteous and upright like wheat. There are other times when Christians are acting according to their sinful nature and appear like weeds.

Jesus does not want the wheat to be harmed when the weeds are removed. In his divine providence, he allows the weeds to grow alongside the wheat.

Rather than being discouraged that you are wheat living with widespread weeds, Jesus wants to encourage you with this parable. Be encouraged that though the Evil One comes and spreads weeds into the field, notice how the farmer in the story isn’t surprised by it. Nor does he seem all that disturbed by it. He has a plan. It just involves time and patience.

When the Evil One came and spread his weeds of doubt and unbelief in the field of this world in the Garden of Eden, notice how God reacted. He isn’t surprised by it. Nor does he seem all that shocked. He has a divine plan. His plan involves time and patience. It also involves his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ – the teller of the parable.

Our Lord Jesus, the owner of the field, came to live among the weeds. He didn’t apply some kind of cosmic Roundup to the field, sanitizing it before he became flesh and dwelt among us. He immersed himself into the grime and grit of this sin-infested world. He lived flawlessly among the devil and all his demonic seeds so that his blood might turn sinners into saints, so that he could protect the wheat living among the weeds, so that he could convert and save, and so that he could raise the dead for his final Harvest.

Also be encouraged by the fact that you are wheat. The owner of this field – Jesus Christ – has purposely planted you as wheat in the world. He made you wheat through the waters of your Baptism. He continues to keep you as wheat by nourishing your faith through Word and Sacrament. When you appear worldly and weedy, he absolves your sins so that you continue as wheat for the final Harvest.

Also, looking physically across the field may be discouraging at the growth of the weeds in the world. That’s why you need to look spiritually at the field. Though there are WELS churches that are closing in some places, we as a church body are committed to opening 10 new churches in other places every year. By God’s grace, our own corner of the God’s kingdom has been growing lately through baptisms and adult confirmands.

With all the weeds around you in your workplace, you might be frustrated enough to want to quit to work elsewhere. You can certainly do that. You don’t want the weeds to choke out your faith. But it might also be good for you to remain there. The Holy Spirit might use your Christian witness as wheat to influence and interest the weeds in what God has to offer elsewhere in the field.

You might be frustrated by what you see in Hollywood and social media. Perhaps the screen actors guild and the writers going on strike is a perfect time for you to realize you don’t need anything they’re offering. Read a book. Play with your kids. Ride your bike.

Perhaps you also notice that Christians are finally beginning to push back on all the wokeness, DEI, CRT, and other ideas that have been influencing our culture. You as wheat can continue to spread the gospel, share your faith, bear abundant fruits.

No matter what the Evil One does. No matter how much the Devil tempts. No matter how Satan attacks. No matter how much influence the Prince of this world has. Jesus remains King of kings and Lord of lords. This is his field. This is his world. This is his Kingdom.

Jesus announces at the end of his explanation of this parable: “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” We are the righteous ones, the sons and daughters of the kingdom – not because of who we are, but because we have been joined to Christ. Joined with Christ in his Church, our focus is not to yank the weeds – as if we could tell the difference! – but to cultivate the field. Through water poured over heads, Word put into ears and the Sacrament placed into tongues, we have been transformed from weeds by nature into wheat by grace. It is through these same waters of Baptism, Word of God, and Sacrament of the Supper that transforms natural born weeds into spiritually reborn wheat.

The enemy tries to sow dissension and division. He attempts to separate and segregate. He sows wrath and anger. God sows unity and love, kindness and compassion, grace and patience. When we demonstrate unity, love, kindness, compassion, grace, and patience to each other and to others, the world takes notice. They aren’t seeing any of that right now in the world. But they can see it from us. God uses us, along with his Means of Grace, to turn weeds into wheat.

Not only did I plant a garden, but I’m also raising chickens for eggs. I purposely put the chicken coop next to the garden so that when I weed, I can feed the weeds to the chickens. … But they don’t eat the weeds. They are picky little ladies.

But that’s OK. I can use the weeds for mulch.

Jesus promises that the weeds in his parable will be gathered and thrown in the fire. This means that those who have opposed and persecuted Christians in their unbelief will be gathered on the last day and thrown into the fires of hell. God will bring justice for his righteous ones. We must learn patience because that justice may not come until the judgment.

The last encouragement is that Jesus is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. He has ascended into heaven. One day, the rest of us as wheat will be harvested by the angels and gathered into the barn of heaven. So, be encouraged as you live as wheat with widespread weeds. Amen.

Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear. Amen.

Water Your Faith with the Word by Pastor Klusmeyer

Text: Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23                                                                                           Proper 10C

SN: 0025                                                                                                                               07/16/23

Water Your Faith with the Word

Over the last few weeks, my family and I have spent a fair amount of time driving around Racine as we try to get to know the area. As I drive through the countryside and look at the farm fields, I always feel like something is missing. Where I grew up, nearly every field had a huge irrigation system, so fields without them looked strange to me. The region of Wisconsin where I grew up is called the Central Sands region because that is what we have, sand. Not nice soft beach sand, mind you, but harsh dry abrasive sand that gets absolutely everywhere and is not very good for growing crops. In order to grow crops in such soil, you need to have irrigation because the soil quickly dries out. Even after an extremely heavy rain, the puddles would usually be gone by the next day. Without the constant water from the irrigation systems, the crops would quickly dry out and die.

The type of soil that you plant seeds in is incredibly important if you want to have a good crop. Think of all the work that farmers and gardeners do to ensure that soil conditions are right to help the plants grow. This is the main point of comparison in the parable from our Gospel today. Jesus compares the Word of God to a seed sown in four different types of soil. As Christians, we rightly identify with the good soil where the Word of God has taken root and rejoice in our salvation. However, this parable also serves as a warning that we are in a constant battle against the temptations of Satan, the world, and our own sinful flesh which seeks to destroy our faith. Our faith needs to be nurtured and rooted in God’s living Word, which produces a harvest of salvation. And so, this morning, I encourage you to water your faith with the Word.

            The first type of soil that Christ describes is the hard and beaten-down soil of a path where the seed does not grow and is snatched away by the birds. This is the natural state that all people are born in because of sin. We are hard-hearted and hostile to God. Satan does everything in his power to keep us in this wretched state by preventing the spread of the Gospel and destroying the faith of those who hear God’s Word. Paul tells us in Eph 2 that by nature, we were dead in our trespasses and sins. We could do absolutely nothing to save ourselves. We cannot by our own work the hard soil, sow the seed, or cause it to grow because we are dead. However, God, in his great mercy, sowed the seed of the Gospel in our hearts and caused it to sprout and grow. The life-giving message that Jesus Christ, the perfect and holy Son of God, offered his own life to pay for the sins of the world. This is the power of the Gospel. The seed sown in hearts that creates faith takes us from being enemies of God to being his dear children. This is the faith that is then watered by that life-giving Word, just as our OT lesson reminds us, “Just as the rain and the snow come down from the sky and do not return there unless they first water the earth, make it give birth, and cause it to sprout, so that it gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater, in the same way my word that goes out from my mouth will not return to me empty. Rather, it will accomplish whatever I please, and it will succeed in the purpose for which I sent it.

            The second type of soil is a thin layer of dirt over rocks. The seeds sprout quickly in this soil warmed by the sun, but as the soil dries out in the heat of the relentless sun, the plant quickly withers and dies. In this parable, the sun represents persecution. And just as the sun is constant, persecution is a constant reality in our lives of faith. In Matthew 10:22, Jesus warns us, “You will be hated by all people because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved.” No one wants to be hated; we want to be liked and admired by others. Have there been times that we have failed to share our faith with others because of our fear of persecution? Have we wilted and withered in the heat of the sun? Or, when faced with hardship and trial, have we doubted God’s promises and questioned his faithfulness? Praise be to God that we have a Savior who did not wilt or wither in the heat of persecution. Think of the persecution that our Savior endured willingly for our sake. Just before the events we heard about today, Jesus was called a servant of Beelzebub, he was doubted by his own family, and many who heard his message rejected it and him. Later he would face the hatred and scorn of the Jewish leaders and be tortured and put to death. All this he did so that in love he could offer his holy precious life as payment for our sins. In this parable, Jesus warns us that if our faith is not rooted in God’s Word, it may wither and die in the face of persecution.

But just as the sun can cause our faith to wither, it can also help our faith to grow. This growth can only happen if we are regularly saturated by the water of the Word as we hear and read the Bible and regularly receive the assurance of forgiveness offered in the Lord’s Supper as we hear again and again the unshakeable truth that Christ has completely paid for all our sins and restored our relationship with God. He destroyed the power of death and hell and won for us the eternal joy of heaven that is far greater than any trial or persecution we may face. As James 1 says, “Consider it complete joy, my brothers, whenever you fall into various kinds of trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces patient endurance.”

            The third type of soil is full of thorns and weeds that choke the life out of the plant. Jesus explains that these thorns are the troubles of this life and the temptations and desires that lead us away from our faith. As Christians, we honestly confess that we let these weeds and thorns grow in our lives. Perhaps we let our favorite sins gain control of us again and again. Perhaps we let our hobbies and leisure activities have higher priority than regularly studying God’s Word. Or maybe we let our desire for wealth and material blessings dictate the priorities in our lives. All of these things are harmful to our faith. They replace the one thing that is truly needful, the life-giving water of God’s Word. Praise be to God that our salvation is not dependent on how well we keep our own gardens weeded. If it was not, one of us could be saved. Instead, we have a perfect Savior who offered his life in our place. By his death, Christ has removed our sins and given us his perfect life as payment for our sins. In joy and gratitude, we tend our garden. We seek to root out the weeds and thorns that have infested our lives and live a life that is pleasing to our Father in heaven. We do his will and keep his commands because we are his redeemed children who desire to do his will.

            As God’s holy and redeemed people, we are the good and fertile soil where his Word has produced abundant fruit. It is interesting to hear in this parable how Jesus describes the seed producing different yields of crops. This does not mean that some faith is better than others; Christ tells us that even faith as small as a mustard seed saves. As we are reminded in other places in Scripture, our Lord has given us different spiritual gifts. We have all been called to sow the seed of the Gospel in the hearts of others, but we do not all do this in the same way. In our lesson from 1 Corinthians, Paul reminds us that we are all servants of God. “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are ministers through whom you believed, and each served as the Lord gave him his role. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. “ In the same way, some of us will have different roles at different times in our lives. Perhaps we prepare the soil in the hearts of others by being witnesses of our Lord. Perhaps we help others pull the weeds in their hearts by reminding them of God’s commands and in love showing them their sins, or maybe like Apollos; we water the seed that others have sowed. No matter what role we find ourselves in, we take comfort knowing that it is not our efforts that create faith but the power of the Word that changes hearts and breaks the hard soil of unbelief.

            This is the amazing comfort that everyone who shares the Gospel of our Savior has. We rejoice that God’s Word is powerful and does not depend on our feeble efforts. As Paul says, “So then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but it is God who causes the growth.” Last week at my ordination, I promised to faithfully proclaim the Word of God to you in its truth and purity. This is an awesome and humbling responsibility that would fill me with dread if I did not remember that it is God who does the work, not me. Friends, I have a confession to make to you; like Pastor Zarling, I, too, am a bit of a sci-fi nerd. One of my all-time favorite shows is called Babylon 5. The main character in the show is Capt. John Sheridan and one of his quirks is that each time he takes a new command, he gives the same speech. In this speech, he relates an anecdote about having dinner with the Dalai lama, who asks him if he understands. He replies that no, he doesn’t understand. “Good beginning,” replies the Dalai lama,  “you’ll be even better when you begin to understand what you don’t understand.” Dear brothers and sisters, there is much that I do not know and do not understand about Water of Life. But I do know that God has planted salvation in our hearts. He has given each of us unique gifts and abilities that we will use together to proclaim his message of salvation to the world, and together we will sow the seeds of his Gospel and grow together as we water our faith with his powerful Word. Amen.