Confess, Believe and Live: Jesus is Lord - September 17, 2023 - Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 19) - Text: Romans 14:1-12

When I did my student teaching a couple years ago in college (smile), my cooperating teacher continued to remind me that the best way to teach was to teach and re-teach, in other words, to repeat the same lesson over and over until the children got it. When I began the Doctor of Ministry program one of the books I read reminded me that as children we like to hear the same old familiar stories, over and over again. As we grow older, too often we want to hear something new and exciting. That is the way I am, I do not necessarily like to watch the same move twice, especially not twice in a row. Although my children are now pretty much grown, I do remember that when they were little I cannot tell you how many times we watched the same movie or read the same book, over and over and over again. Interestingly enough, however, as Christians, we are very much God’s children and we do want to, like to and need to hear the same old stories over and over and over again. Yet, the same old stories we hear are not just “old” stories, but they are the message of life and salvation, from Christ’s birth, through His life and to His death and resurrection.
 

The reason I bring this up is because for the first twelve or thirteen weeks of this Pentecost season we were following along as Paul and sometimes Peter were telling us about our being saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, faith given and strengthened through our making regular and diligent use of the means of grace. For the past two weeks we have moved from these words of justification to hearing Paul speak to us about living lives of faith, that is about living the sanctified life. And again, like the last two weeks I am compelled to remind you that while we are hearing Paul talk about living the sanctified life we want to continue to remind ourselves that our sanctification has its roots in God as the prime mover just as our justification has been completed by God. So, as always we are reminded of who is running the verbs and the fact that we get it right when we remember that God is the prime mover and anything and everything that we do is done for our good only as the Lord stirs in us and motivates us, as He works the good works that He has planned for us to do in advance, in and through us and so they are done to His glory. Again, this morning Paul continues giving us lessons in sanctification.
 

Today is one of those Sundays when all three of our lessons work well together. Our Old Testament lesson reminds us of the proper understanding of forgiveness, that is that we are to forgive and forget. Joseph had forgiven his brothers many years earlier, I would suggest even before they entered Egypt to buy grain because I believe Joseph realized his greater importance in God’s plan before his brothers arrived. Yet, here, after Jacob’s death the brothers have not forgotten their sin and guilt against their brother which was still bothering them and so they ask, again, for forgiveness. Joseph, on the other hand, knew and understood the meaning of forgiveness because he had forgiven and had “forgotten,” their sin and moved on. Certainly, now he had the opportunity to remind his brothers, again, of their forgiveness.
 

The Gospel reading also reminds us of the proper understanding of forgiveness, that is that we are to forgive as we have been forgiven. Certainly we are like the first debtor in Jesus’ parable in that our sins amount to the fact that we owe our very lives to God. And the debt of sin of our fellow human beings is certainly nothing compared to our debt to God, so certainly we will even more be moved to forgive the tiny debt of others as our good and gracious Lord has forgiven our huge debt. And I would add, from the Old Testament lesson, to forgive and move on, no longer dwelling on the past because such dwelling reveals either a lack of true repentance or true forgiveness.
 

And finally, in our text for today, the Epistle Lesson reminds us of the proper understanding of forgiveness, that is that we are to forgive those weaker in faith because of their weakness. And sometimes, even though we might think more highly of ourselves, we may be the ones who are the weaker in faith.
 

Paul begins by speaking of those weaker in faith. He says, “1As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. 4Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand” (v. 1-4). Very often, most of us, when we hear Paul speaking about those who are weak in faith, our first reaction is to think that Paul is speaking about others, not us. We never like to think of ourselves as being the ones who are weak in faith, and maybe that is true. So, if we are not the ones who are weak in faith, then certainly we will want to pay attention as he speaks to us about being strong in faith.
 

When it comes to living lives of faith; when it comes to living lives as Jesus would have us to live our lives; we know that in our world many people do many things in the name of “faith.” Some people do good things, some people do maybe not so good things; yet ours is not to judge, at least we are not to judge the motive behind a persons actions. Paul reminds us that the Lord will be the judge in the end.
 

Paul goes on to speak about church traditions. He says, “5One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living”(v. 5-9). Now please understand, Paul is not speaking about rightly preaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments. He is speaking about rites and ceremonies in any particular place, in other words, how we do a wedding, or how and when we do confirmation, and the like. Each congregations celebrates certain traditions according to their own reasoning and these can be good or not so good. If we have a tradition of having confirmation on Palm Sunday, then that is good for us and we are not to think less of a congregation who celebrates confirmation on Pentecost Sunday.
 

The “bottom line,” according to Paul, is that we do whatever we do to the glory of the Lord. And here we might remind ourselves, as with sanctification, we can do good things to the glory of the Lord only as we are motivated to do them by the Lord and as He works them in and through us.
 

Finally, Paul speaks about the final judgement. He says, “10Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; 11for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” 12So then each of us will give an account of himself to God” (v. 10-12) Ultimately, God is the final judge. And in the end, on the last day, on Judgement Day, every knee, believer and unbeliever alike will confess Jesus as Lord. So, it is not important, and it does not necessarily matter what we may judge in our own minds at this time.
 

Again, the “bottom line,” if you will, then, is forgiveness. When I speak to couples getting married I usually remind them of what is the most important thing in a marriage. Many people talk about love as being the most important thing, yet that is too often too much of a vague topic, from a feeling to a state of mind or whatever. Some people talk about communication as being the most important thing in marriage and I suggest that communication is important, yet I can communicate how much I do not like you and that would not be a good thing to communicate. I suggest that forgiveness is the most important thing in marriage, that is to be able to say to each other, “I’m sorry,” and “You’re forgiven.” As we have heard here before, true peace is only that peace which is ours when we are free from guilt and we are free from guilt only as we are forgiven. And we have also heard here before how the most beautiful words we hear are those we hear every Sunday morning after we confess our sins and those words are, “Your sins are forgiven.” Our readings for this morning remind us of the importance of this forgiveness which is what shows our faith and opens the doors to eternal life.
 

What does this mean? We want to admit, if we have not done so yet, that no one is perfect, except Jesus. We are conceived and born in sin. We daily sin much adding to our sinfulness. We sin in thought, word and deed. We sin sins of commission, doing the things we should not be doing. We sin sins of omission, not doing the things we should be doing. We sin daily and are in constant need of forgiveness. And so we need to constantly repent and confess our sins.
 

We are also to encourage and educate each other. Perhaps our neighbor is the one who is weak in faith and perhaps it is simply because he or she has not been taught what is or is not good, bad or indifferent. Perhaps we are the ones who are weak in faith and perhaps it is because we need to be more regular and diligent in our making use of the means of grace, perhaps we need to be in Bible Class and in Divine Service every Sunday so we are strengthen in our faith.
 

We are to forgive each other. How can we not forgive even as we have been forgiven by God? The law motivates us through guilt. The Gospel motivates us through love. As we hear and hear again of the great love our Lord has for us, the great love He has shown us, His giving up the glory that was His in heaven, taking on flesh and blood, living the perfect, obedient life for us in our place, taking our sins and giving His very life, suffering hell for us in our place, so that we have forgiveness of sins and eternal life, how can we not help but love and forgive others?
 

Because, finally, God will be the final judge and all will confess Jesus is Lord. Here again we go back to God as the prime mover, the beginning, the middle and the end. God is the beginning, He created all. God is the middle, He redeemed all. God is the end, He is the judge of all. “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.”
 

We all have opinions, according to our own understanding or misunderstandings. Some opinions are stronger than others. The same is true of convictions. And so we are to not quarrel over opinions or over things neither commanded nor forbidden by God. We are, however, to encourage one another, knowing that in the end, Christ will be the judge of all and all will stand before Him and rightly confess Him as Lord. And we do this as our Lord works in us and through us so that our lives are lived in such a way that they say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Owe No One Anything Except to Love - September 10, 2023 - Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 18) - Text: Romans 13:1-10

Last week we began listening to Paul give us some instructions in living lives of faith. We call this sanctification. We also made note of the difference between justification and sanctification and we want to do that again this morning to make sure we hear Paul correctly. Justification is what God has done for us. It is a completed act. Justification is that by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus, faith which is given to us, we are declared innocent in God’s eyes, that is we are declared just and right. We are declared just and right because Jesus paid the price for our sins on the cross and by grace through faith we have what He earned, forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Sanctification, on the other hand, is defined as a response to justification. Yet, sanctification also has its beginning with God. We are sanctified, that is we respond to our justification, by doing the good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do, but we do them only as we are motivated by the Holy Spirit; as they are worked in and through us by the Holy Spirit; and as they are done to the glory of God. This distinction is important, because this morning Paul encourages us again in our sanctified lives to be subject to those in authority over us as well as he encourages us to live lives of faith by loving one another.
 

Paul begins with authority and the purpose of government. We begin at verse one, “1Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed” (v. 1-7). The purpose of government is simply to maintain order and I would add so that we might rightly worship God. God is the ruler behind every government, whether that government be good, bad or indifferent. But please do not misunderstand, although God is the ruler behind every government that does not mean that He approves of corrupt governments. Just as a bad marriage in no way takes away from God’s good gift of marriage and just as a bad church (a Christian church gone bad) in no way takes away from God’s good gift of a Christian congregation, so a bad government in no way takes away from God’s good gift of government.
 

Because government is from God, when we disobey the government we disobey God. The only exception would be when the government would tell us to do something contrary to God’s Word, then and only then are we permitted to disobey the government, but we must also then be prepared to suffer whatever punishment may be meted out for such disobedience. This punishment is what is often referred to as being persecuted.
 

So it makes sense that when we are doing what is right, according to the law of the land, we do not need to be afraid of the government. It is only as we disobey the law of the land that we need to be afraid. When we drive according to the speed limit we do not need to be afraid of getting a ticket. When we go beyond the speed limit and disobey the law, then we do need to be afraid of getting caught and getting a ticket. When we respect others life, property, possessions, family and the like then we do not need to be afraid of the government. When we take another’s life, property, possessions or family, then we are disobeying the law and we do need to be afraid of the government.
 

God is the ruler behind every government, thus one purpose of government is to mete out judgement and punishment on behalf of God.  Here we see how God does not rule us directly, but indirectly, through other persons, institutions and agencies. In the Fourth Commandment we are reminded that this is how God rules us as we are reminded that this commandment is the basis for all authority. God rules us not directly as a theocracy, but indirectly, through governments, through our parents, teachers, pastors, employers, police departments and the like.
 

Because God rules us indirectly through these other agencies, especially through government agencies, it is important that we support these agencies especially that we support them as we pay our taxes. Our taxes are what make it possible to have the protection we need so we are to support our government by paying our taxes.
 

Yet, not only are we to support our government financially, we are also to support those in authority by giving honor to them. We are to be respectful to those who serve in the various law enforcement fields as well as to our elected representatives, all the way up to our president. We are to be respectful to those who serve in authority over us in various other places, including our employers, our teachers, pastors and so forth. And even if we may not agree with certain persons in authority, we are still to respect the position of authority, in other words, I may not like the mayor as a person, but I must still respect him because of the office of authority in which he resides. From time to time some of us may disagree with the president of the United States and that is okay, yet we must still respect his office of authority. In giving such respect, to all those in authority, we obey God.
 

What gives us the ability to respect government? Paul goes on to remind us of love. Love is the summary of the commandments. We pick up at verse eight, “8Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (v. 8-10). Very often we think of the commandments as legalistic rules, yet even Jesus reminds us that the summary of the commandments is love. The first three commandments, which deal with our relationship with God can be summarized as, “love God.” If we could love God, then we would never break any of the other commandments. Of course we know, because of our nature, we are unable to “fear, love, and trust in God above all things,” and so because we fail at this starting point, we fail with the other commandments as well.
 

The last seven commandments, which deal with our relationships with each other, can be summarized as, “love your neighbor.” If we could love our neighbor as ourselves, we would not disobey those in authority over us, we would not kill, nor would we in any way hurt nor harm our neighbor, we would not lust after our neighbor’s spouse, we would not try to steal anything from our neighbor, nor begrudge them of any of their possessions, we would not speak evil of our neighbor nor covet anything that was our neighbors. Rather, if we could love our neighbor as ourselves we would seek to help our neighbor in any and every way to protect their life, their family, their possessions and their reputation.
 

Again, love is the fulfilling of the law. If we could love, that is if we could love as God loves us, we could fulfill all the law. The problem is that we cannot love as God loves us. God has shown His love for us in the giving of His Son and the life of His Son for us. Jesus shows His love for us in that He gave up the glory that was His in heaven and took on human flesh and blood to do for us what we are unable to do. Jesus subjected Himself completely to all authority even and including the death penalty although He was without sin. Thus, Jesus lived for us, doing for us what is demanded of us yet what we are unable to do and Jesus died for us, paying the price, the eternal death penalty of hell for us in our place.
 

What does this mean? This means that we are reminded once again that the beginning is God, that is that God is the prime mover. God does, God gives, and we are done to and given to. God gives us life at conception. God gives new life, eternal life through faith given through His Word and the waters of Holy Baptism. And God gives and cares for us while we live in this world. God gives government for the sake of order, to keep the peace. With order and peace we are able to live without fear, as long as we obey the laws of the land.
 

God has given us here in America a place where we may worship as we see fit to worship. We have the freedom of religion, which for too many has become not freedom of worship, but freedom from worship. Yet, we do have the freedom to gather and to worship as we see fit.
 

Our freedom also affords us the opportunity to practice our faith. Although we may be persecuted somewhat subtly in our land, our persecution is nothing compared to the overt persecution of Christians in other countries where they are punished, maimed and even killed for being Christians.
 

God has provided for us, here in America, many good things. He has provide a place for us to live and worship in freedom; to be able to worship as we see fit to worship; to be able to share our faith with others without fear of reprisal. And so we will, with the help and by the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through us, be respectful and supportive of those in authority over us. We will seek not only to love God above all things, but also to love our neighbor as ourselves. We are able to keep the paradox in tension, that is we are able to pay off our debts, yet, at the same time we are able to continue owing this, that we love one another.
 

Please continue to keep in mind the order of Paul’s words. First, as always, is what God gives and does. God gives, God does and we are given to and done to. Justification is completed. Christ has taken care of everything. Our sins have been paid for, completely. Forgiveness is ours. Sanctification is our response to justification and yet the beginning of sanctification is also God. The Holy Spirit working through the means of grace moves in us to do the good works which God has for us to do, He works these good works in and through us and they are done to His glory. Thus, with the help and by the power of the Holy Spirit we are able to love one another and to be subject to the governing authorities. And our living our lives in such a way says, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Love - September 3, 2023 - Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 17) - Text: Romans 12:9-21

Let me begin this morning by reminding you of the difference between justification and sanctification and I will do so by reminding you that we know we are getting it right when we get right who is doing what, or as you continually hear me say, when we point to Jesus. Simply stated, justification is that we are justified, that is we are made just and right in God’s eyes, even though we are sinners and remain sinners, we are made just and right in God’s eyes by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, faith which He has given to us. We are made just and right because of Jesus living the perfect life demanded of us, for us in our place and then taking our sins upon Himself and paying the price for our sins on the cross. We have no part in justification except that it was done for us and it is given to us. When it comes to justification we know we are getting it right when it is all in Jesus’ hands. Now as for sanctification. Sanctification is the process of being made holy. We speak of sanctification in terms of our response of justification. However, I would remind you that our sanctification also has its beginning outside of us, in other words, we do the good works which God has prepared for us in advance to do, but only as He motivates us to do them, as He works in and through us to do them and that they are done to His glory. So notice, the beginning of justification and sanctification is God. In justification God is doing all and we are being done to. In Sanctification God is working in and through us to do the doing. This distinction is important, because in our text for today Paul is speaking in the area of sanctification. Paul is exhorting and encouraging us to live lives of faith, that is to live lives of sanctification, which we can only do as we are first justified and made right in God’s eyes. It is true that once we have been justified we may indeed make good decisions, but only with the help and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
 

Paul begins with love. We read beginning at verse nine, “9Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality” (v. 9-13). Paul urges us to outdo one another in loving each other. Paul’s words remind us of the “Golden Rule,” “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This “Golden Rule” was first given by Jesus and the emphasis is placed on our loving others  first, as we would have them to love us. Yet, notice again who is the prime mover. We love because Christ first loves us.
 

We are encouraged to love others and to rejoice in hope. Here again, we have mentioned this before, the hope we have as Christians is not an iffy, maybe hope, but is a certainty. We do not merely have an iffy hope of heaven, we have the certainty of heaven. Heaven is ours, right now, at this time. It is ours because it was earned for us by Jesus.
 

We are to rejoice in our hope and we are to be patient in tribulation. When trials come upon us we are to be patient and wait for the Lord. At the same time we are to be in constant prayer. Certainly times of trials and tribulations may be difficult, yet during these times our Lord would draw us closer to Himself so that He might give us comfort and aide, healing and strength. Interestingly enough, Paul begins with love and the word love that is used here is the word “agape,” which is that selfless concern for others. Unfortunately, because of our sinful nature, in and of ourselves we cannot agape others. This love is the type of love that God has, the type of love He demonstrates in the giving of His life for ours. Thus, the prime mover, again, is our Lord who agapes us and who works in and through us to love others.
 

Paul moves from instructions in love to instructions in blessing. We pick up at verse fourteen, “14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be conceited. 17Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” (v. 14-18). Paul speaks some difficult words, yet words which echo the “Golden Rule.” We are to bless and not curse, even those who persecute us. And we see again how we cannot do this ourselves. This is one of those agape love things where in we can only bless and not curse those who persecute us as the Lord stirs in us to do so.
 

Even more, Paul says we are to have true empathy for others. This means not only are we to rejoice with those who rejoice, which is pretty easy. But we are also to weep with those who are weeping. The cliche of the world says, “Laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone.” Certainly we could attest to this happening in the world, but God tells us, through Paul, to be truly empathetic, to not only rejoice with those who rejoice, but also to cry with those who cry.
 

Paul says we are not to be haughty in other words we are not to be a snob, but we are to associate even with those we believe to be the lowly.
 

And we are to live at peace with one another. Here is another indication of the fact that Paul is speaking about agape love, because true peace can come only from forgiveness. Thus, we are to continually forgiven each other as Christ has forgiven us. So, notice again, as well, who is the prime mover. We do only as Christ has done for us and as He works in and through us.
 

Which brings us to Paul’s last bit of instruction and that is to let God be God. We continue at verse nineteen, “19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (v. 19-21). Paul encourages us to go against our natural instinct. Our natural instinct is not to “do unto others as we would have them do unto us,” but rather our natural instinct is to do unto others as they do unto us, as they first do unto us. Paul encourages us never to avenge, but to leave vengeance with whom it belongs, namely to God, alone.
 

Instead of being vengeful, we are to be nice, good, and so on to our enemy. Interestingly enough, if we are nice, good and so on to our enemy, that is the worst thing we can do to him, because in so doing we will put him to shame and put burning coals on his head. Perhaps you have heard the cliche, “Kill them with kindness.” I believe this text is where this cliche comes from. We all know how it is. When someone is being purposely mean, they expect us to retaliate, which, in their mind, vindicates their meanness. Once we have retaliated to their meanness, then there can be an escalation of the battle. However, by retaliating with kindness, by retaliating in an unexpected and even kind way, this turns one’s meanness to shame, thus their pain is increased. Kill them with kindness is not just an expression, but a possibility.
 

And so we are to overcome evil with good. It is amazing how often a tense and difficult situation can be defused with a kind word. And yet, we must keep reminding ourselves that this behavior is what we can do only as God is the prime mover. We can only overcome evil with good as God works the good in and through us.
 

What does this mean? Paul’s words of instruction, exhortation and encouragement are good words, good sound advice. Yet, Paul knows as we know that in and of ourselves we are unable to heed his advice. It is only as God gives us the ability to act and react in such a way that we can attempt to heed Paul’s advice. And God gives us that ability even if only inadequately. God is the prime mover. He is the one who’s love is genuine and we see His genuine love, His agape love in His Son, Jesus. Jesus is the one who has accomplished all that Paul encourages us to do. This message is the fullness of the Gospel message, not only that Jesus died for us, but also that He lived for us. Jesus has accomplished all that Paul here encourages us to accomplish and yet Jesus did it all, perfectly. What we cannot do, Jesus has done, for us, in our place and by faith in Him His life and work is credited to us.
 

Jesus has accomplished perfection for us and now God stirs in us to respond to all that He has done and all that His has given. We live lives of sanctification, we do the good works He has prepared in advance for us to do. Yes, we do them imperfectly, but with Him stirring in us, we do them.
 

And in our doing, we glorify God. We glorify God as He lives in and through us. Yet, we are always pointed back to Him as the prime mover. And so, we see that even in terms of sanctification, God continues to do it all and He continues to get the credit and the glory. God gives, God does, God moves in us, and we are given to, we are done to, we are moved in and through.
 

And so, I exhort you as Paul exhorts you, I encourage you as Paul encourages you. First and foremost, be given to as God gives. Make regular and diligent use of the means of grace so that the Lord can work through these means to give, strengthen and keep you in faith. Then, continue to be given to as God continues to give. Be given to as the Holy Spirit works in you to respond to all that the Lord does for you and gives to us. Be given to as the Holy Spirit works in you to do the good works which God has prepared in advance for you to do.
 

Let me leave you with Paul’s words because I cannot say it any better than he can: “9Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. 14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be conceited. 17Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” To God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Our God Is a Big God - August 27, 2023 - Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 16) - Text: Romans 11:33-12:8

Perhaps you have heard the phrase, “God is good.” I have to admit, usually I do not get too warm a feeling when I hear that phrase, because it is usually uttered by someone who really does not understand how good God really is. Let me explain. To those who believe that God has promised and will give us only good things and a lot of good things in this life; to those who believe that if you just believe enough and ask God and expect from Him then He will be good to you; these are usually the people that I hear express this sentiment (we call this a theology of glory, or for some a prosperity Gospel). Of course, I would agree that God is good, but I believe He is good because I am so bad! It is only as I recognize my sin, the greatness of my sin and my ineptness and my inability to do anything about my sinfulness and my unworthiness to have God do anything about it for me and then realize that He has already done everything that needs to be done for me, in my place, then and only then can I really say, “God is good.”
 

Paul begins, this morning, by helping us, or at least trying to help us to understand the mind of God. We begin at verse thirty-three of chapter eleven, “11:33Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34'For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?’ 35‘Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’ 36For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (v. 11:33-36). About God we know that His judgements and ways are inscrutable, in other words, we better not attempt to scrutinize God’s decisions. Well, that should be obvious, but how often it is that we do attempt to scrutinize God and His decisions. How often we find ourselves wondering, if not aloud, at least in our own hearts, “I wonder what God is trying to do?” “I wonder why God did this or allowed that to happen?” Yet, God is so much wiser than we are or could imagine ourselves to be. As a matter of fact, in his first letter to the Corinthians Paul reminds us that God’s foolishness is so much wiser than our wisdom. Yet day in and day out we continue to try to be smarter than God. How often do we find ourselves playing God in our own lives, working to make our own decisions and leaving God out. One of my favorite ways of doing this, and please, I am not trying to pick on anyone, but the whole question of “What would Jesus do?” is an example of this. When we have a decision to make, we ask, “What would Jesus do?” and then respond appropriately. That sounds great. But what about a difficult question, one which God does not directly address. What we end up doing is making our own decision and then blaming it on Jesus, because, of course, Jesus would always do what we think He would do, right? Anyway, when it comes to understanding God, let me say that I never want to get to the point where I believe I completely understand Him, because if my little brain can completely understand God, then He is not very big. I am glad He is so much bigger than me!
 

But Paul is not done. Not only are God’s judgments inscrutable, we must recognize that He is the prime mover in all things. How many of us think we are doing God a favor by coming to visit Him here in church once a week, or by bringing Him our offerings, especially if it is our leftover change instead of our first fruits and tithes? What is our attitude in bringing our offering? Paul points out the fact that there is nothing we can give God that would make Him indebted to us. Yet, we guard our finances as if they are ours to do with as we please and think God has nothing to do with our amassing our nest egg. The fact of the matter is that we have nothing with which to repay Him and He has given us everything we do have, one way or another. And He has paid it all, including and most importantly His life.
 

Paul expresses God’s giving as, “From Him and through Him and to Him are all things.” He is the one who does all and gives all and we are the ones who are given to. Did we choose to be conceived? Did we choose to have certain gifts, talents or abilities? Did we choose to have good health in order to be able to work? Did we choose God or Jesus to be our God? Did we choose to whom we would be born? Certainly not. We are always and always have been at the mercy of our great and good God who does all and gives all. To Him be the glory forever, Paul says.
 

Now, with this understanding as the backdrop, Paul moves on to give an appeal to sanctification. Remember sanctification? Sanctification is the Holy Spirit working in and through us to do the good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do. We begin with the first two verses of chapter twelve, “12:1I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (v. 12:1-2). Paul begins where we are to begin, with God as the prime mover. He says, by the mercies of God, live lives of faith. We cannot do it ourselves. Because of our sinful nature, we sin and we sin some more. When it comes to good and doing good, God is the prime mover. It is only as He fills us with Himself and works in and through us that we are able to live lives of faith as He would have us to live.
 

The difficult part is that he tells us not to conform to the tolerant society as many are doing. Our tolerant society says, “Live and let live.” “Do whatever you want as long as you do not hurt anyone else.” “It does not matter what you believe as long as you believe sincerely enough.” “There are many gods and many ways to enlightenment.” And we buy into this. We forget that God is not tolerant, that He abhors sin and that He tells us what is sin and what is not sin. We forget that apart from God there is only eternal death and hell and yet we go on living life as if God might have an alternative plan for all those who do not believe in Jesus. Yes, day in and day out we acquiesce to the thoughts and ways of our society. Instead of standing up and saying, “No,” God’s Word is His Word and it us just and right and true and the only rule and norm for all.
 

And so we would do well to be discerning. I would encourage you as Paul encourages the Corinthians, be as the Bereans, who were of a more noble character and who checked everything Paul said with Scripture to make sure what He was saying was true. Do not believe everything you see on TV or read in the newspaper or in books or hear or read in the media. Please do not believe it. Instead, check everything against God’s Word. In this way you will be able to “discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
 

Finally, Paul outlines our role as a member of the Church. We pick up at verse three, “3For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness” (v. 3-8). Paul’s first bit of instruction is probably the most difficult. He says that we are to give sober judgement to the gifts, talents and abilities God has given us, yet how many times do we think more highly of ourselves, perhaps we are a legend in our own minds of how gifted and talented we are and how much God needs us. As if God needs anything from us.
 

Instead, we are to come together as members of the Body of Christ and individually use our God-given gifts, talents and abilities to His glory. There may even be times when we are to do things that we believe we are not gifted to do, but understand that even then, as the Lord works in and through us we can do all things as we do them to His glory. Yes, Paul does bring up the issue of stewardship this morning, but he is not side tracked by simply talking about money. Our stewardship is not a one issue topic, but our stewardship is a life topic. In other words, it is not whether we return a portion of our time or our talents or our treasures to the Lord, but that we return a portion of our time and our talents and our treasures recognizing that these are first given to us by the Lord and so we give or return a portion to Him in service to Him and His kingdom. Thus, we are to work together as individuals for the good of the collective body.
 

What does this mean? God is far wiser than we are and we are so grateful that this is so. I pray that we never get to the point that we believe that we are wiser than God, and we have examples of that in our world today as people constantly question the Bible, asking the question Satan asked Eve in Eden, “Did God really say?” Perhaps you have heard of the Jesus Seminary from a few years back. These smart men, or at least men who believe themselves to be smart, voted on such things as which words of the New Testament are really Jesus’ words and which miracles, if any, did Jesus really perform. In other words, anytime we place the Bible, God’s Word, below our intellect and reason, we are placing ourselves above God and we become our own gods. Thanks be to God that He is so much wiser than we are.
 

And there is more. We also recognize that God does everything for us and we are grateful. In and of ourselves we can do no good thing. The fact of the matter is our free will or what was our free will has been tainted by the fall into sin and so our will is subject to sin. Left to ourselves and our own free will we would be eternally condemned, actually we would be like many people in our tolerant society as we have made note earlier. Thanks be to God that He has done, does and will continue to do everything necessary for us, for our salvation. Thanks be to God that Jesus took care of the one thing needful, giving His life for ours on the cross. Thanks be to God that Jesus is, as Peter recognized in the Gospel reading for today, the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And thanks be to God that He stirs in us to recognize Jesus as such as well.
 

Remember, as I constantly remind you, who is running the verbs, who is doing what. We get it right when we point to Jesus, when God is doing the doing and we are being done to. And when God is doing the doing and we are begin done to, then God is glorified. He is glorified  in all that He does for us and we are grateful.
 

Because God is so much greater than the world, with His help we are not conformed, but transformed by His gifts of faith, forgiveness, life and salvation so that we live lives of faith in response to His gifts of grace. And of course, our response is to rejoice and say, to Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.