How kind the Good Samaritan

Posted on September 3, 2023 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Trinity 13

Galatians 3:15-22  +  Luke 10:23-37

This was only the second time we sang that last hymn, “How Kind the Good Samaritan.” I found the words to it just last year, right after we celebrated the 13th Sunday after Trinity, and I liked it so much that I composed this little tune for it. We first sang it as Vespers last year. The composer of the text was John Newton, more famous for the hymn “Amazing Grace.” I was really very impressed with how well he understood today’s Gospel, which includes Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. That parable is so poorly understood by so many people, but over 200 years ago Newton captured the main idea very well in that hymn, which depicts us, not as the Samaritan going around doing good to strangers, but as the dying man who is passed by by the teachers of the Law and rescued by the Samaritan, who represents Jesus.

You have to read this parable in context, of course, as with all of Scripture. You see, the point of this parable is to show the expert in the Law who was testing Jesus, and to show all who hear this parable, that they’re doomed if they rely on doing good to earn them a place in heaven. The Good Samaritan gives us just a glimpse, a tiny picture and example of the mercy and love God demands from each of us for our neighbor—not to even mention the love and commitment we owe to God directly! That’s the degree of love that God’s Law demands, if we are to earn a place in heaven by keeping the Law. But He hasn’t found it in us. And so each of us, like a beaten and bloodied man lying half dead on the side of the road, is in dire need of a heavenly Good Samaritan to come to our aid. Because no one else can or will, especially the Law of Moses!

An expert in the Law—that is, the Old Testament Law—stood up, not to ask an innocent question, but to test Jesus. What must I do to inherit eternal life? And right away, if you’re paying attention, you see the problem with his question. What must you do to inherit anything? An inheritance isn’t given for doing things. It’s given because of the relationship that exists between people, usually family, so that when the one dies, the other receives what the deceased has left to him as an “inheritance.”

Now, the expert in the Law was right to use the word “inheritance,” which he got from his own Law, from the book of Genesis, where, as St. Paul also makes clear in today’s Epistle, it was an inheritance that God promised to Abraham and his Seed, which is Christ. It was a Testament God made with Abraham, like a Last Will and Testament, where one party promises to give something away to another. Eternal life is part of that Testament God made with Abraham, the promise to be God to Abraham and his Seed forever, even after death. And Scripture says that Abraham didn’t “do” anything to be justified by God. “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.”

But the expert in the Law got confused, as many people do. He confused the promise God made to Abraham of an inheritance, which a person can’t work to earn—it has to be simply received by faith—with the Law-covenant God made with Israel on Mount Sinai, which was established as more of a bargain, where each party agreed to “do” their part.

Jesus asked him, What is written in the Law? How do you read it? Jesus was giving the man the opportunity to cite the promise God made to Abraham and his Seed in the book of Genesis. But instead, the man cited a portion of the covenant from Mt. Sinai: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. That’s a good summary of the whole moral Law. Complete and utter devotion to God, from the heart, and devotion to one’s neighbor—doing to others what you would have them do to you—has always been God’s will for mankind. And that will of God was codified, written down, and agreed upon by the children of Israel at Mt. Sinai, where they all agreed: (1) This is what is good and right, and (2) we will do it. All the other laws proclaimed by Moses were examples of putting this law of love into practice.

So, since the expert in the Law wanted to focus on God’s moral commands, and since he believed that keeping those commands was the way to inherit eternal life, Jesus went along with him. You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live. Love God with your whole heart. Love your neighbor as yourself. That’s your end of the bargain. That’s what you have to “do” to inherit eternal life—if you get it by “doing something.”

But if you do—if you gain eternal life by doing—then there’s always a follow-up question: “And how do I know I’ve done enough?” How do I know if I’ve loved the Lord enough, or if I’ve loved my neighbor as myself? You see, the expert in the Law was left in doubt. He understood that his own law, the law he loved so much, only made his hope of eternal life more doubtful. And so he tried to “justify himself.” He asked, “And who is my neighbor?” You see what he was getting at, don’t you? If he can narrow down the list of people he’s commanded to love as himself, maybe he can at least pretend he’s done it. But if “his neighbor” includes too many other people, he knows he’s doomed.

So Jesus answers the man’s question with the parable of the Good Samaritan. A man was beaten and robbed and left for dead on the side of the road. A priest (a servant of the Law) came along and offered no help. A Levite (another servant of the Law) came along and offered no help. But then a Samaritan came by. Samaritans lived in Samaria, north of Jerusalem. They had a little Jewish blood left in them and some Jewish practices and beliefs, mixed with pagan practices and beliefs. The Jews generally despised them. But this Samaritan came along and, when he saw the injured man, went right over to help him and offered every sort of help you could think of, including caring for his wounds, taking him to an inn, caring for him there, and then paying the innkeeper to keep looking after him while he was away on his journey. How kind the good Samaritan!

Then Jesus turns to the expert in the Law and asks: Now which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell among the thieves?” And he said, “The one who showed mercy to him.” Mercy, which is nothing but a form of love. Mercy and love were at the heart of all God’s commandments. And if you read the Gospels, you know that the Pharisees and experts in the Law were characteristically low on mercy. They may have kept the commandments externally and performed all the rites and rituals they were supposed to perform. But they were cruel and condescending to their fellow Israelites, not merciful. And so, with one parable, Jesus turned this man’s religion upside down, forcing him to look at what his Law really demanded of him: mercy and love toward everyone he encountered on his earthly journey.

And then Jesus spoke those terrifying words: Go and do likewise. What must you “do” to inherit eternal life? This is what the Law of God demands. If you would be saved by that Law-covenant, by doing your part to obey God’s commands, while God does His part to pay you the wages of eternal life, then you must do as the Good Samaritan did, showing genuine mercy at every turn, in every way, with every person, at every opportunity. Not just for injured strangers you come across, but for your parents, for your children, for your husband or wife, for your coworkers, for your friends and acquaintances, for your fellow citizens whom you encounter day after day after day, and also for your enemies. Mercy. Self-less love, love that’s just like the kind of love you would have others show to you. And that’s just what God’s Law requires that you do toward your neighbor. We haven’t even touched on all the things you owe to God directly, to fear, love, and trust in Him above all things, to honor His name, to worship Him, and to cherish His Word above all things.

Terrifying, isn’t it? It should be, if you’re honest with yourself. And that’s the point. In fact, that was always the point of the Law, to reveal the sin that already lives inside each of us. As Paul wrote in today’s Epistle, “The Law was added for the sake of transgressions,” that is, that the Israelites and that all people might have God’s will spelled out for them so that they could see just how much they transgress it. Because sin is there in your heart and in your being, whether you can see it or not. The Law simply reveals it for what it is.

And then, once you’ve been beaten to a pulp by the Law, once it’s left you for dead on the side of the road, unable to lift a finger to save yourself, along comes this Samaritan—the Son of God, true God and true man, though despised by men. He comes along with the very, genuine, heartfelt mercy and compassion that He demands of us, because He made us originally in His image and wanted us to be like Him. But now, having come as a man, the Lord Jesus shows this mercy, not only as our example, but as our Substitute. He gave His life on the cross for us out of mercy, as the payment for our sins. He began to heal us through Holy Baptism, where He forgave us our sins and gave us His Holy Spirit and made us heirs of eternal life—heirs who will inherit eternal life, not by doing the right things, but by believing in the Lord Jesus, who did everything we were supposed to for us, because we couldn’t. How kind the Good Samaritan!

And then, before He ascended to heaven, He put believers into the charge of the “innkeepers,” the ministers whom He has called into His Church, to keep tending to the spiritually wounded, to keep us on the narrow path that leads to life, to spur us on to love and good works, because while we received the forgiveness of our sins in Baptism and live now under God’s grace, we are not yet what we should be, what God is healing us to become: truly good Samaritans whose hearts are as full of mercy for our neighbor as the heart of Jesus Himself was and is.

We call that aspect of healing “sanctification,” the Holy Spirit’s ongoing work of turning believers into the image of Jesus in how we think and in how we live. So the same “go and do likewise” that first was intended to strike terror into the heart of secure sinners becomes, for the believer, our marching orders, to go and be like Jesus. It begins in the heart—hearts that have been renewed and recreated by God’s mercy and grace toward us. And then it extends to our hands and to our whole life. “Go and do likewise.” Go and walk in the footsteps of Christ, with mercy toward your neighbor, toward everyone whom God places next to you on your path through life, until He determines that your time here is done, or until He returns from His “journey,” and He brings you at last into the eternal life that all who persevere in the faith will inherit, not by doing good works under the Old Testament, but by believing in Christ Jesus, who has made us coheirs with Him in the New Testament in His blood. Amen.

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The battle of Armageddon that wasn’t

Posted on August 30, 2023 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Midweek of Trinity 12

Revelation 16:12-21

John’s visions are taking us closer and closer to the end of the world. His vision of the sixth and seventh bowls filled with the wrath of God show us the “last battle” at the place called Armageddon. Except, as we’ll see, it isn’t much of a battle. In fact, there’s no battle at all. It’s the battle that never was.

The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared.

This is the second time we’ve come across the river Euphrates in John’s visions. It was the great river on whose banks the city of Babylon was built. It ran down from the north and then split around Babylon, so that part of the river flowed to the west of Babylon, while the other part flowed to the east. You have to remember your history here. Babylon was the capital city of the Babylonians, who, led by King Nebuchadnezzar, destroyed Jerusalem and took the Jews captive in Babylon for 70 years in the sixth century BC. He was a wicked king, but God used him to punish the Jews for their idolatry. Eventually, his successors became even more wicked than he was. So God sent the Mede and Persian armies to conquer the Babylonians. The Medes and Persians came from the east, and each had its own king: Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Persian. So here, in John’s vision, the sixth angel’s bowl dries up the Euphrates so that the “kings from the east” might have easy access to Babylon, to destroy it, because its days are numbered. The prophet Jeremiah had much to say about Babylon’s impending fall in chapter 51 of his book.

Here in Revelation, Babylon symbolizes the world powers that stand against God and His Church. So the message here is that, although God has allowed the world powers to threaten and mistreat His Church for a time, just as He allowed the Babylonians to hold the people of Jerusalem captive for a time, now it’s time for the hostile forces of the world to pay, just as Babylon paid at the hands of the Medes and Persians for their mistreatment of God’s people.

And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth, indeed, of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.

You recall that the dragon stands for the devil, the beast stands for world government, and the false prophet stands for the Antichrist. From the mouth of these three, John sees unclean spirits going out like frogs, croaking their lies and their deceptions to all the kings of the earth, so that all the world rulers are allied against the true Church. Now, remember, this doesn’t only mean openly anti-Christian hostility. The false prophet is involved, too, who speaks his lies from within the outward Christian Church. That means that the persecution against the Church may well have a veneer of godliness, of being pro-religion, and yet it will be hostile to the true religion taught in Holy Scripture.

It says that the demons will influence the kings of the earth by performing signs. St. Paul said that the coming of the Antichrist would be similar to this: false miracles designed to lead astray all those who refused to be led by the Scriptures themselves. So these demons will perform signs. Now, here are some things I would include in those signs that serve to confirm the rulers of the world in their rejection of Christianity: UFO sightings. The fact is, if there were actually aliens out there, then the message of Scripture really falls apart. So the claimed UFO sightings end up turning people away from trusting in Scripture, which is exactly what the goal of the demons has always been, to make people doubt God’s Word. Another demonic sign would be all the supposed “evidence” that’s asserted to “prove” that the earth is millions of years old. Now, there’s no actual evidence to support that, and yet the teaching of evolution undergirds practically all the sciences in the modern world. We might even include the climate change religion among these demonic delusions that permeate the nations of the world and end up turning the rulers of the world against the Christian religion, which teaches an entirely different cosmology and purpose for mankind and for the world. Add to that the demonic delusion of the “Pride” flag and the “Trans” flag, and most of the “isms” that have filled the world, which target both Christian doctrine and Christian history.

Yes, the powers of the world are being gathered together for a final battle against God’s people who hold to the pure doctrine of Christ. The place where they’re gathered is said to be called in Hebrew “Armageddon,” which only shows up here in the Bible. Armageddon isn’t a single Hebrew word at all. People have debated its meaning over the centuries. But it seems to be a combination of the word “Har,” which means “mountain of,” and “Megiddo,” a place in the land of Israel. Now, what is Megiddo known for? Well, King Josiah of Judah was killed there by Pharaoh Necho of Egypt. But that was in the Valley of Megiddo. What is the mountain of Megiddo? Well, the most famous one is Mount Carmel. Do you remember what happened there? There was a “battle,” of sorts, but a battle with swords. The prophet Elijah faced off against wicked King Ahab and 450 prophets of Baal. It looked like the end for Elijah. But the Lord gave him the victory that day with fire from heaven, and all the prophets Baal were put to death.

So Armageddon isn’t a scary thing at all for the people of God. It’s a symbol of God’s victory over the idolaters who threaten His people. That goes along perfectly with what John says here, that the kings of the earth are being gathered to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. What the world powers imagine will be a decisive defeat of the Christian Church is actually the “great day of God Almighty,” the day that belongs to God, not to His enemies, the great day of judgment.

And that’s exactly what we see revealed in the seventh plague.

Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!”

It is done!, says the Lord. It’s just one word in Greek. So much for a battle! There wasn’t even a fight. The world powers gather together against the Church of God, and God turns the tables on them and defeats them with a word.

And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth…Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great.

Again, this is a picture of the final destruction of the earth that will take place on the last day.

Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.

The “great city” here is Babylon. The world powers can’t stand in the presence of God. They’re broken apart, and all the cities fall—the cities which already today are becoming lost causes for every form of wickedness and violence and destruction. And God will remember all the ways in which men have threatened or harmed His people. And justice will finally be served.

“Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”

There’s an interjection from Jesus Himself in the midst of this vision, a warning and an encouragement, not for the unbeliever, but for the believer who listens to the reading of this book of Revelation. I am coming as a thief! He’s said that before. In other words, you won’t be able to predict the day or the timing of His coming. It won’t be that obvious. Things will be going on in the world more or less as they have been. So He urges His people to watch, to notice the signs, and to expect Him at any moment. Then He urges His people to “keep their garments,” to hold onto faith and to the righteousness that covers us through faith. Only faith in Christ will make us worthy to stand before God on His great day. Only faith in Christ will keep us safe at the battle of Armageddon, which won’t really be a battle at all. Amen.

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Let your ears be opened!

Posted on August 27, 2023 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Trinity 12

2 Corinthians 3:4-11  +  Mark 7:31-37

We come to this Gospel every year of the healing of the deaf man with the speech impediment. And the simplicity of it could lead us to conclude, there’s not much here worth spending sermon time on year after year. Clearly this account teaches the same two basic things as every healing miracle recorded in the Gospels: first, that Jesus is the promised Christ, the Son of God, sent by God into the world, and, second, that Jesus, and therefore, our God, is not only all-powerful, but full of compassion—compassion for sinful human beings in our misery, as we live with the consequences of our sins, whether they’re specific consequences for specific sins, or, as in the case of the deaf man, the general consequences of being sinners in a world that remains under God’s curse.

Jesus’ identity as the Christ and His compassion for sinners in their misery is certainly on display in the account before us today. But there is more for us to notice and to learn, too. Let’s walk through the text together one more time and hear what the Holy Spirit is saying.

They brought to him a man who was deaf and had trouble speaking; and they urged him to put his hand on him. This deaf man had some people who cared about him enough to bring him to Jesus, since Jesus was the only One who could help with his infirmity. What might we learn from that? Well, who else can help our unbelieving friends with their sin? Who else but Jesus can heal the breech between the sinner and God and save a person from eternal death? No one, of course. And knowing that, as you do, take the example of these friends of the deaf man and do what you can to bring the people in your life to Jesus. You do that by bringing them to church with you, if they’ll come, or by bringing them with you to talk with the pastor, or by encouraging them to watch one of our services online. You also do that by living as such lights in the world, as such good examples of Christian people, filled with the hope and joy and peace of the Gospel, that the unbelievers around you come to recognize that you have something they need.

And Jesus took him aside from the crowd by himself and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit and touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened!” There we see the compassion of Jesus and His willingness to help anyone who is brought to Him. There’s no charge, no fee, no demand. All that’s necessary is already there. A needy person who recognizes his need and who looks to Jesus for help. So it is whenever sinners are brought to Jesus for spiritual healing. There has to be a recognition of need on the sinner’s part, an acknowledgment that you’re not “doing just fine” before God. You haven’t lived according to His commandments, not really. You haven’t worshiped Him as He ought to be worshiped, nor have you loved your neighbor as He commands you to love. You regret having sinned against God. You know you deserve only His wrath and punishment. But you’ve heard that Jesus can help, that He wants to help, and so you look to Him for the help He’s promised. We call that repentance and faith. That’s all it takes for Jesus to work the healing of the forgiveness of sins.

For the deaf man, Jesus went through some visual steps to heal him personally, placing His fingers in the man’s ears, visibly spitting and touching the man’s tongue, looking up to heaven, sighing, and speaking that word that any lip-reader of Aramaic could easily understand: Ephphatha! Be opened! —all motions and signs that communicated to the deaf man that Jesus was the One sent from heaven to have mercy, not just on those sinful men out there, but on this very man who has Jesus’s fingers in his ears and on his tongue. So God has sent His ministers out into the world to preach the Gospel, not just to a general audience out there, but to individuals, to baptize individuals, and to pronounce forgiveness to individuals, and to give individual Christians the body and blood of the Lord to eat and to drink in His Sacrament. The ministry of the Spirit is carried out personally, even as Jesus performed this healing miracle personally.

And immediately his ears were opened and the bond on his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly…And the people were utterly astounded, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf to hear and the speechless to speak.” And there it is, one more piece of evidence that this Jesus, who was traveling all over the land of Israel, was the promised Christ, the Son of God, one more divinely given indicator that they should, therefore, listen to Him, take His words seriously, believe Him, believe in Him, and do what He said.

The same goes for you who have believed in Jesus. He went on to do far greater things than healing people’s deafness, using far greater sign language than He did with the deaf man. He gave Himself up to those who hated Him, allowing Himself to be tortured, unjustly condemned, and hung on a cross. He went willingly to His death and then rose from the dead. And, as if that weren’t enough, He sent and continues to send His Holy Spirit to give power to the Gospel when it’s preached, so that people actually believe it and are made children of God by it. Recognize that listening to Jesus and believing what He says is a far greater miracle than the healing of deaf ears, a miracle performed by God the Holy Spirit.

Look at the world we live in! Being a Christian in the western part of the world became “normal” for many centuries. If you lived in Europe, if you lived in the United States, you were almost expected to be a Christian. Believing and quoting from the Bible was considered normal. Going to church every Sunday was considered normal. Living according to God’s commandments was considered normal. Not that everyone did, of course, but there was nothing striking or strange about being a Christian. That’s not the case anymore. Now to do any of those things makes you the strange ones, and in some cases, can even make you enemies of the state. So if anyone actually believes the Gospel and is ready to lay down life and limb to live according to it, then recognize that for the miracle it is. It’s God who has opened that person’s ears and heart to believe with the heart and to confess with the mouth.

Likewise, if it seems impossible that anyone in this world of ours should come to faith in Jesus, should recognize the demonic lies that fill our society and turn away from them to the truth of the Christian Gospel, know that nothing is impossible with God. Faith may be rare in these last days, but the Gospel is still the power of God for salvation to all who believe.

So don’t take the miracle of faith for granted, for yourselves or for others. If you allow your own ideas, your beliefs, your earthly goals to drown out God’s Word, then you will lose the gift of hearing that God has miraculously given you. And you can’t confess clearly the righteousness of God with your mouth if you aren’t living according to the righteousness of God with your life. You need to keep hearing the Word of God, keep praying, keep reading and studying and gathering around Word and Sacrament as often as you can, because the miracle of faith is not a “once given always there” kind of miracle. Faith requires sustenance, and God will provide what your faith needs, but you need to use the gifts He provides. And even as faith has enabled your tongues to sing God’s praises here in church, so let your tongues keep speaking His praises when you step out from these doors. Let your hands and your arms and your feet and your legs also behave in a way that’s consistent with what your mouth confesses. Then the world will be amazed at what the Gospel of Christ was able to accomplish with someone like you or me.

You’ve come here again (or tuned in here from afar again) this morning because you believed that Jesus could help you. He can. And He will. Let your ears be opened to hear His Word! Let your tongues be loosed to sing His praise and to confess Him as Lord! Let the healing of the forgiveness of sins be yours! And let it produce the ongoing healing of sanctification in your lives! Amen.

 

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The first five bowls of God’s wrath

Posted on August 23, 2023 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Midweek of Trinity 11

Revelation 16:1-11

The vision of the seven bowls filled with the seven plagues of God’s wrath is actually very similar to the vision of the seven trumpets that we reviewed several weeks ago. We would need a whiteboard or something to place the comparisons side by side. If you’re interested, you can take your Bible and compare the two visions at home.

Tonight we heard about the first five bowls and the plagues that were poured out from them. But just as we did with the vision of the seven trumpets, so we’ll do here: we’ll recognize that the plagues poured out upon the earth, upon the sea, upon the rivers and streams of water, and upon the sun, are not to be taken literally. In other words, in the last days before Christ’s return, we don’t expect to see all unbelievers walking around with sores all over their bodies, nor do we expect all the waters of the world to be turned into human blood, or for all the sea creatures to die off, nor do we expect the sun to start setting people on fire, literally. That would all make for a thrilling sci-fi movie, but it isn’t what the Bible is talking about. In fact, I wonder if, the more they make movies to portray the events described in Revelation as literal, the less people will take to heart the true, spiritual meaning behind those pictures, which are meant to serve as warnings to unbelievers and as a great comfort to Christians.

The first [angel] went and poured out his bowl upon the earth, and a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.

Earlier, John saw a beast come up out of the earth. That was the Antichrist, the symbolic leader of the false Church. A plague is poured out on that Church in the last days. This first bowl is what gives it away that the plagues are spiritual, not physical. Because the only ones who receive these foul and loathsome sores are the ones who have the mark of the beast, who worship his image. That is, the unbelieving and idolaters, especially those who have attached themselves to the false Christian Church. True Christians, believers in Christ, are not plagued with these sores. So these must be sores on the conscience and on the rational part of the soul, punishments sent by God on those who disbelieve His Word and His Gospel, who are in love with the false teachings of the false-teaching Church that sits within the borders of the visible Christian Church. If the Gospel is twisted, then men no longer have the peace that comes from it, but their consciences are tormented, as by painful sores.

Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man; and every living creature in the sea died.

Earlier, John saw a beast come up out of the sea. The sea stood for the unbelieving nations of the world, out of which antichristian rulers arise. Now the sea is turned to disgusting blood. Unbelievers are already spiritually dead. But this plague seems to indicate the removal of everything that was good and wholesome among the societies of the world. Reason and rationality are gone. Good order is gone. Good will is gone. In the vision of the seven trumpets, something similar happened to the sea, except that only a third of the living creatures there died. Now in the very last days, it’s “every living creature.” The societies of the world, together with their governments, are utterly ruined. Does that sound like the world we live in?

Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.

There is nothing left to refresh and sustain the unbeliever when things come to this point. The Word of God, which is often compared to refreshing water in Scripture, no longer refreshes, because it has been so twisted and corrupted by men that the Christianity that’s preached in the world in the last days is no longer the Christianity of the Bible. The gospel that’s preached is no longer the true Gospel, but a false one that cannot save. As Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

And I heard the angel of the waters saying: “You are righteous, O Lord, The One who is and who was and who is to be, Because You have judged these things. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, And You have given them blood to drink. For it is their just due.” And I heard another from the altar saying, “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.”

These judgments of God are just. The world wasn’t willing to be instructed by God’s Word. As Paul writes to Timothy, the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. And so God said, “Fine. Have it your way. You didn’t want My Word? You didn’t want the preachers I sent to you? Then I’ll see to it that you only hear false doctrine and that you only have false teachers, so that you are deprived of the only thing that could bring you to repentance and faith. This is justice.”

Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to it to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.

The sun was given to give the earth heat and light, to be a blessing to man. This seems to be another picture of God’s Word, which is meant to be a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. But when God allows the light of His Word to be corrupted, when He allows false Christianity to fill the world with its false version of Christ and His Gospel, then it no longer serves to lead people to God. Men rejected the Gospel for centuries when it was purely preached. So now men don’t even have the wholesome witness of the Christian Church filling the world anymore, but only the false witness that doesn’t give true comfort or joy or peace but only a burning emptiness inside, because truth has been replaced with falsehood.

Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain. They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds.

The throne of the beast represents the governments of the world that oppose Christ or twist His Word. Civil government was instituted by God to be a blessing, to promote a quiet and peaceful life. But when false and demonic delusions turn governments into promoters and defenders of “institutionalized robbery, militant atheism, atheistic evolution, murder of the unborn, pornography and countless other evils, what was intended to be a blessing becomes a curse and a source of pain and suffering,” as one commentator puts it, as people trip all over themselves and one another in the darkness of the reality they’ve created for themselves. And even though men have corrupted the Word of God and the Christian religion, the same men then turn around and curse the Word of God and Christianity as they’ve corrupted them.

But Christians are spared from all these plagues. Not that it’s comfortable living in a world that is living under the curse of God’s punishment, but the curse of false doctrine doesn’t touch those who hold to the truth of Christ. We don’t have to suffer any of the fear, or bitterness, or irrationality, or despair, or guilt, or ignorance, or confusion that the unbelieving world suffers. Because, by God’s grace, we still have the light of His Word. We still have the peace of His Gospel. We still have the guidance of His Holy Spirit. Where the truth of God’s Word is still proclaimed, there the plagues cannot fall.

So watch in society for the plagues John talks about here and how they’re manifested among those who reject the pure teaching of the Gospel. Take comfort in God’s protection, even as you witness that protection being removed from the unbelieving world. For the believer who clings to God’s Word and is watching out for false doctrine, the words of David in Psalm 18 ring true: The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies. Amen.

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The justification of the penitent only

Posted on August 20, 2023 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Trinity 11

1 Corinthians 15:1-10  +  Luke 18:9-14

A few weeks ago, you heard Jesus, early on in the Sermon on the Mount, make a rather shocking statement—at least, it would have been shocking to His hearers. Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. The Pharisees appeared very righteous to the average observer. More than that, as we see in today’s Gospel, they appeared very righteous to themselves. And, of course, it wasn’t just the Pharisees. Other very religious people among the Jews at that time also thought of themselves as good, decent, honest people who had done at least most of what God had required of them in His Law, and who deserved His favor far more than the Gentiles did or than the tax collectors and “sinners” did. And yet, Jesus told them that they didn’t have enough righteousness to enter the kingdom of heaven. They didn’t have enough righteousness for God, the heavenly Judge, to declare them righteous, to “justify” them.

Justification, as you know, is a courtroom verdict in which God judges a person to be righteous, innocent, acceptable to Him, worthy of eternal life. The opposite of justification is condemnation, a guilty verdict in God’s courtroom. And God, the always-just Judge, in the courtroom of His holy Law, only declares a person innocent if a person is actually innocent. He only declares a person righteous if the person is actually and thoroughly righteous, as judged, not by our own evaluation of ourselves, but according to His commandments. But we have this underlying problem with our humanity. It’s fallen. It’s corrupt and diseased down our very souls. There is pride where there should only be humility. There is selfishness where there should only be selflessness. There is hatred where there should only be love. And there isn’t the devotion to God that should be there, all leading God to declare in His Word that, There is no one righteous, no, not one.

So the question of questions is, how can someone who is less than righteous ever be declared righteous by the God who cannot lie, cannot make a mistake, and cannot ignore the facts? Jesus shows us in today’s Gospel with the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. In the only verse in the Bible where Jesus Himself uses the word “justify” in this context, He teaches us that contrition and repentance is the only way to be justified.

Jesus spoke this parable to certain people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. That was typical of the Pharisees, that attitude of smugness and condescension. It’s the very definition of being “self-righteous.” Righteous in your own estimation, a good person in your own eyes. And these people were doing what most people do who think of themselves as “good people.” They “despise others,” look down on those whom they see as not good people. Now, it’s not wrong to recognize bad behavior as bad. It’s not wrong to notice when other people are sinning. It’s the next step after that where people tend to go wrong. They see the sins of other people, and then they start comparing, “those bad people” to “us good people,” and then they make the huge mistake of thinking that they stand in God’s favor because of what good people they are, how obedient they are to His commandments, vs. those “bad people” who are so obviously disobedient, and, therefore, must be rejected by God. This whole parable is designed to put a knife through such a false, ugly, self-righteous belief.

Jesus introduces us to the stereotypical Pharisee in this parable. He parades into the temple with his head held high. He knows he’s better than most of the riff raff around here. He has dedicated his life to his religion, and to living according to it, and to teaching it to others. He follows the Law to the letter (if not to the spirit). In fact, he loves the concept of commandments so much that he and his fellow Pharisees have added hundreds of laws and interpretations of laws to do even better than God originally commanded. He’s sure that he has the right doctrine—unlike those Sadducees, who deny the resurrection and the existence of angels. It’s time to go to God’s holy temple and give thanks.

Oh, but what does he give thanks for? O God, I thank you that I am not like other men—extortioners, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I possess.’ Jesus puts it as crassly as possible, painting this man as so full of himself that he dares to approach God with self-praise. Now, be careful! Hopefully you’re not starting to say a little prayer, “O God, I thank you that I’m not like that self-righteous Pharisee!’ We all tend to do it, and it’s a terrible, dangerous habit, comparing ourselves with others before God. It’s exactly why Jesus had to unfold the Law to the people in the Sermon on the Mount. They thought, like this Pharisee, “I’m not an adulterer!” because they had never cheated on their wives. But they were fine with divorce for any reason and remarrying as often as they wanted, which is also adultery in God’s eyes. And it didn’t even occur to them that looking at a woman with lust in their heart was also included in the sin of adultery in God’s judgment. And so on. They hadn’t committed big, outward sins, in their narrow definition of sin. And so they thought they were righteous and thus qualified for God’s kingdom, while they saw the sins of others and assumed they were disqualified.

But then Jesus gives us the example of the tax collector. Now, you remember what the deal was with the tax collectors. They were Jews who went to work for the Roman Empire, collecting taxes for the Empire from their fellow Jewish citizens. And the Empire allowed them a lot of leeway in how much extra tax they were allowed to collect, above and beyond what the citizen owed to the Empire, taking advantage of their neighbor for their own benefit. The vast majority of them did collect extra, and everyone knew it. They practiced extorsion and bribery and favoritism. They were like mafia thugs, going after someone who owed money to the mob, except that what they were doing was perfectly legal. That’s why they were so hated, and why they were seen as traitors to their countrymen. The lowest of the low.

And yet, this one wasn’t laughing it up with his friends and enjoying his wealth. He was standing off in a corner of the temple, almost hiding from the people, but not trying to hide from God. He didn’t look up to heaven with pride, or self-satisfaction, nor did he attempt to justify his sinful behavior and explain to God why he had to do it, for this or that reason. No, he hung his head in shame and beat his breast and said, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Now, clearly, it wasn’t just words. Jesus clearly implies that he means those words. He knows his sin. He isn’t proud of it. He isn’t comparing himself to anyone at all (although surely he could have found a worse tax collector than he was, or an outright murderer or rapist or something). Nor does he intend to keep stealing from people, because it isn’t genuine repentance to plan on continuing in the sin that you’re supposedly sorry for and asking forgiveness for. No, this tax collector has been crushed by the weight of his sins and by the threats of God’s judgment. That’s called “contrition.” He has changed his mind about his sins, has turned away from them in his heart, and now seeks nothing from God but mercy. That’s called “repentance.”

And you know God’s answer to his request, because Jesus tells His hearers what it is: I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted. The tax collector, the lowest of the low, was justified, received a “not guilty” verdict in God’s courtroom. How? Did God not know how bad He was? Of course He knew! But this is why Jesus came, to provide sinners with the one way to escape condemnation, to be justified before God: by contrition and repentance, which is to say, by faith in God’s promise to show mercy to sinners for Jesus’ sake.

Now, how does that work? Because the sinner is still a sinner, and the Judge has to recognize that. This is how God made it work: He gave His only-begotten Son into our humanity to be righteous in our place, and to take the punishment for our unrighteousness on Himself. As Paul said in today’s Epistle, Christ died for our sins. And as he writes later on to the Corinthians, God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that, in Him, we might become the righteousness of God. In His justice, God couldn’t let sins go unnoticed, or unpunished, nor could He ignore His own requirement for righteousness in His human creatures. So, He provided both the righteousness and the punishment in the Person of His Son. And now He’s opened up another courtroom, as it were, the courtroom of the Gospel, where He invites sinners to enter, in contrition and repentance, seeking His mercy and grace in Christ, the Throne of Grace, which is exactly what the tax collector was doing, seeking mercy from God in the place where He had promised to be merciful, in His temple, which was a type, a picture, of Christ Himself.

Now God calls out to all people, to Pharisees and to tax collectors, to the outwardly religious and to the complete pagans: Acknowledge your sins and turn away from them! Stop pretending to be righteous by your own right! You aren’t! And if you continue to exalt yourself, you will be humbled. Eternally humbled. So, everyone, learn from the tax collector to repent, to humble yourselves before God, and to hold nothing up to Him except for His promise to be merciful to sinners for the sake of Christ and the blood He shed for us on the cross. Everyone who humbles himself in that way will be exalted, will be justified, will be forgiven and accepted into God’s favor and into eternal life, not because of what we’ve done, but because of who Jesus is, in whom we trust. Amen.

 

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