The Sure Foundation

[Below you'll find live stream video of today's worship services with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio. You'll also see the text of the message shared. The traditional service was a wild, but satisfying ride, including a baptism!]

Matthew 21:33-46

Over the past few Sundays, we’ve listened in on Jesus’ confrontation with “the chief priests and the elders.” Today, identified as “the chief priests and the Pharisees,” that confrontation continues in our Gospel lesson. These leaders of God’s people are offended by Jesus, claiming Jesus has no authority to forgive sin, perform miracles, or claim to be the King of the world.

This morning, Jesus tells another parable, a story, the beginning of which would have been familiar to everyone around Him. You can see similar stories told by the prophet in Isaiah 5 and by Asaph, a musician in the court of King David, in Psalm 80.

In all three stories, we’re told how God graciously planted His people in Israel the land He promised to them. And in all three cases, something goes terribly wrong.

According to Isaiah, when God turned to the vineyard Israel, He “looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.” (Isaiah 5:2) In other words, God saw an Israel that had turned its back on God to worship false idols, the gods of other peoples. For its idolatry and all the sins that flowed from it, God allowed His people to be conquered and turned out of their land.

Asaph sees a nation that has turned away from God, relying instead on false idols, self-sufficiency, and military and economic power. For, this Psalm 80 says God will break “down [Jerusalem’s] walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes” and, referring to enemy peoples around ancient Israel, says that “boars from the forest ravage it, and insects from the fields feed on it.” (Psalm 80:13)

In these two passages from the Old Testament, God was reminding His people that salvation and oneness with God were not the product of their behavior, goodness, or strength. They were saved solely by God Who gives forgiveness and new life as a gift to be received by faith alone.

This is why the Old Testament says of Abraham, not yet renamed by God, “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6)

When God saved Israel and planted it in the world, just as when God saved you and me in Holy Baptism and gave us faith in Christ through the Word and sustained that faith in the sacrament of Holy Communion, it wasn’t because the ones saved were, in themselves or by their actions, holy and righteous, it’s because the God Who saves us from sin, death, and futility is holy and righteous. It’s because God gives His holiness and righteousness to sinners by grace through the faith in Him that His Holy Spirit creates in us.

In speaking to the religious leaders of first-century Judea, Jesus creates a different twist to the ancient story of God’s people.

In Jesus’ telling, the “landowner,” clearly God, rents out to farmers, clearly Israel, a vineyard, which He prepared and protected, then went elsewhere. When harvest time came, the landowner expected to receive fruits from his land and investment, just as God expects to see the fruit of His righteousness and His forgiveness manifested in our lives.

But, as you know, the landowner sent many different people to collect what the farmers owed and each of his servants were beaten, killed, or stoned, just like the prophets God sent to His people Israel to call them back to saving faith.

Finally, the landowner decides to send his son to collect the harvest. “They will respect my son,” he reasons. (Matthew 21:37)

You know what happens.

The farmers think that if they kill off the son of the landowner, clearly representing Jesus, they will be free of the owner; they will, to speak clearly what Jesus means here, be their own gods, free of the authority of almighty God.

And that friends, is the goal of all human-centered religion: to be the makers of our own righteousness, to be gods ourselves, without accountability to God.

Humanly-centered religion, whether secular or clothed in the pretense of piety, says with the poet, “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”

And it always leads to death and damnation for one simple reason: One day, we will all stand before the God we meet in Christ for judgment.

Those who try to claim a place in eternity because they think they’ve been good people or because their grandfather was involved in mission work or they gave money to the church, will stand naked in their sin and be sent to hell.

Those who can say with the saints, the forgiven sinners who trust in the God revealed in Jesus, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness,” will be welcomed to live eternally with God.

Matthew says the religious elites realize Jesus had told this parable about them, secure in their self-generated goodness and unrepentant rule-keeping as well as their descendance from Abraham.

When Jesus asks them what the landowner will do to those who killed the landowner’s son, just as they will soon join the Gentiles in killing God the Son, they say, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end…and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.” (Matthew 21:41)

Antisemitic people over the ages have used these words to say that Gentile Christians have superseded Jews as God’s people. But this is not what Jesus says. It’s what the Jewish chief priests and elders say.

Trust, faith, in the Messiah and Lord pointed to by the entire Old Testament and revealed in Jesus of Nazareth, brings salvation to Jews and Gentiles like. The apostle Paul, himself a Jew, says “it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise [that is, the promise of justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone] who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.” (Romans 9:8)

Jesus says that the landowner–God Himself–responds to those, both Jew and Gentile whose sin put His Son on the cross to die, very differently. He shows them this through Psalm 118: “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes…” (Matthew 21:42)

There are those who try to commend themselves to God for their own effort, supposed goodness, and ingenuity. Like us, such people have an inborn penchant to turning from God and doing things their own way. They turn a deaf ear to Jesus’ call to repent and believe in Him for forgiveness and life with God that never ends. Whether in this life or, absent repentance and faith, in eternity, the self-reliant will be smashed by Jesus Christ, true God and true man, who bears the full weight of a holy and mighty God.

But there are those who, like you here this morning, have heard the Gospel Word about Jesus and believe that Jesus is the cornerstone for everlasting life with God.

You know that you can build your life on Him.

You know Jesus’ promise about Himself: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life…” and so, He has become the foundation for all your hopes. Jesus has become the One Who tells you that because He died on the cross for you, all Your sins are forgiven. (John 3:36)

Jesus has become the One Who assures you that He is always with you. (Matthew 28:20)

Jesus has become the One Who tells you as He told the grieving Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die…” (John 11:25-26)

In Jesus, you and I see THE foundation of our eternal help “and it is marvelous in our eyes.”

Keep your eyes on Jesus, friends.

He brings forgiveness to sinners, hope to the repentant, life to the dead and the dying and He will never let you down.

Amen

Surprising People with Grace

Each week, members of Living Water Lutheran Church do Kindness Outreaches. Through them, the love of Christ is shared in practical ways with our neighbors.  

We give quarters for carts to shoppers at Aldi...

Hot chocolate to people picking out their Christmas trees...

Doggie treats to people out walking their dogs...

Cold water and other cold drinks to families at parks for soccer games.

When asked why we do this, we tell people things like, "God loves you, no strings attached."

Or, "We're sharing God's love in a practical way."

Today, on a chilly Autumn morning, we gave away hot chocolate.

It's clear we're beginning to get a reputation in the community.

"Are you the Lutherans?" one man asked. When we said, "Yes," another said, "You gave me a cold Coke a few weeks ago. I love the Lutherans!"

Someone else asked, "Can I give you a donation?" "No," answered one of our Living Water disciples, "we're just sharing God's love." When pressed about doing something in response to the gift, our member said, "Just pray for us." "I can do that!" the person said.

The Bible tells us that while you and I were still dead in our sin, Jesus Christ died for us, giving His innocent life to take the death sentence for sin that you and I deserve, then rising from the dead to give eternity to sinners like me and you. 

The Bible tells us: "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." 

And Jesus Himself says: "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die." (John 11:25-26)

Life with God is a gift He freely gives through Jesus Christ. There's nothing you need to do or possibly could do to earn it or merit it. It's a gift He gives that calls us to repent--that is, turn from sin and death--and trust in what He has already done for us through His death and resurrection.

It's a privilege to share God and His grace with others, alongside the people of Living Water Lutheran Church.

The Old Testament Book of Ezekiel, Part 52

The Old Testament Book of Ezekiel, Part 51

The Gospel of John, October 1, 2023

The Third Son

[This message was shared during worship with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio, yesterday.]

Matthew 21:23-32

When I look back on the messages I’ve preached about today’s gospel lesson, Matthew 21:23-32, through the years, I’ve mostly gotten it wrong.  My sermons have basically gone like this: “Be like the first son in Jesus’ parable and not like the second son. Amen.”

Now, that’s godly law, of course. It is right to honor our fathers and mothers and others in authority over us, which is what the fourth commandment tells us to do. Both sons failed to do this, whether initially or later.

It is right to not bear false witness, which is what the eighth commandment tells us not to do. The first son violated this command by saying yes to his father’s order to work in the field and then not doing so.

We certainly need to hear these and the rest of God’s Laws given in the Ten Commandments:

You shall have no other gods;

You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain;

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy;

You shall not kill;

You shall not commit adultery;

You shall not steal;

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, spouse, workers, livestock, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

These commands are still God’s will for us and as people born into sin, each of us is liable to the fire of hell for our violation of God’s Law.

The problem, of course, is that we all know the Law and the will of God is–it’s summarized by Jesus as “Love God with all your being and love your neighbor as you love yourself”--but we don’t obey God’s Law.

“In my inner being I delight in God’s law,” the apostle Paul confesses in the New Testament book of Romans, “but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.” (Romans 7:22-23)

Knowing God’s Law informs us of God’s will for us human beings.

It may even lead us to regret our sin.

But knowing God’s Law or even having regret will not fit us for life with God.

Only the righteous will be fit for eternity with God. Jesus says, “Unless your righteousness [meaning, your innocence of sin, your perfect submission to God, your complete selflessness in relationship to others] surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20)

So, what’s to become of us?

How can we possibly be that righteous?

That innocent and pure and sinless?

The chief priests and the elders of Jesus’ day were sure they had cracked that code. They thought they could make themselves righteous by obeying God’s Law.

They were so certain that they had made themselves righteous that when John the Baptizer had called people to repent–that is, to turn from sin and to turn to God for forgiveness–in order to prepare for the coming of the Savior, Jesus, they refused to repent or receive John’s baptism of repentance.

Like the second son in Jesus’ parable, they claimed to say, “Yes” to God; but when God’s call to repentance and faith came to them, they said, “No.”

Meanwhile, prostitutes, corrupt tax collectors, and other notorious sinners who had been saying, “No” to God all their lives, like the first son in Jesus’ parable, heard John’s call to repentance, recognized and turned from their sin and turned to faith in God.

All of this lay in the background of today’s gospel lesson.

It takes place on the Monday of what we call “Holy Week,” the day after Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. On that day, you’ll remember, Jesus had turned the money-changers, extortionists authorized to be there by the chief priests and the elders, out of the temple, overturning their tables and loot and freeing the sheep and birds they were selling on the temple grounds.

The next day, when Jesus and His disciples show up at the temple, they ask Jesus, “By what authority are you doing these things?...And who gave you this authority?” (Matthew 21:23)

Jesus wasn’t a seminary graduate. Nor was He ordained by them. Where did His authority, not only for His Palm Sunday temple tantrum, but for forgiving sinners, healing, casting out demons, and raising people from the dead, come from?

Jesus’ exchange with them is well known. Jesus tells them that before answering their question about where His authority came from, they needed to answer His question to them: Did John the Baptizer’s authority to repent people, that is, to turn them from sin and turn them to God, through water and the Word, come from? Was it from God in heaven? Or had John simply authorized himself?

If they said John’s ministry had come from God, they would have to answer why they had rejected John; if they said John was a loose cannon with no authority from God to preach or baptize repentance, they would anger many who had valued John’s ministry.

So, the chief priests and the elders refused to answer Jesus’ question. “We don’t know,” they said.

Jesus then says if they won’t answer Him, He won’t answer them. To these hard-hearted men, sure of their own righteousness, Jesus used what we call the binding key of the Law, instead of the loosing key of the Gospel.

He let the chief priests and the elders stand in condemnation for their sin because they refused to acknowledge what is true for all of us: They were sinners in need of God’s forgiveness.

But Jesus doesn’t give up easily on sinners. So, he tells the priests and the elders the parable of the two sons we hear in our lesson. The first son is like the chief priests and the elders, and maybe like you and me, saying yes to God, but then turning away. These are the people of good intentions: their spirits are willing but their flesh is weak. I can certainly be like this.

The second son is like willful sinners, and maybe like you and me sometimes, saying no to God, but then, when God’s Word works on us, calling us to turn to God and to God’s way, for forgiveness and life with God, saying yes to His grace and forgiveness.

But, friends, there’s a third Son in our Gospel lesson for today. This son, unlike the other two, isn’t a fictional creation of Jesus. This Son is very real.

This is the Son Who said to His Father after His Father told Him to go to a cross to offer His sinless life on a cross so that sinners like you and me can be forgiven and can have life with God, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup [of suffering and death] be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39)

This is the Son Who, though without sin, insisted that John the Baptizer baptize Him in the Jordan, where He took on the condemnation of our sin and our death in order “to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3:15)

Jesus gave up His righteousness to us, becoming sin who knew no sin, so that in the only perfect act of love and obedience this world has ever seen, rendered on the cross, He could take our guilt and give us His innocence.

He could overcome our selfishness with His selflessness.

He could take blame for our rebellion against God’s Law of love by submitting totally to God.

Jesus is the Son Who says “Yes” to God’s call to die and rise for us and then, despite the pain, the humiliation, and sorrow of it, does just that.

It’s because of Jesus and through Jesus, the faithful Son, that you and I, fickle and often faithless sons and daughters of God, can daily turn to Him, unloading our sins onto Him at the cross and be justified, made righteous and clean and eternally new in the eyes of God.

This is Christ’s promise to you, friends: the repentant receive God’s yes through Christ, no matter how many times we may have previously said, “No” to Him.

“For,” as Saint Paul writes, “ no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ.” (2 Corinthians 1:20)

Jesus, the obedient Son, has said yes to the Father and in doing so, has said yes to you!

Because of that, you can turn to Him and live forgiven and free, today and always. Amen

The Old Testament Book of Ezekiel, Part 50

The Old Testament Book of Ezekiel, Part 49

The God Who Shows Up

OK, folks, my faith in Christ doesn’t depend on my feelings or thoughts, but solely on what Christ has done for us sinners through His death and resurrection.

Jesus has conquered sin and its power to damn and kill us by taking our humanity and our sin into His sinless body and has opened eternity with God to all who live with repentant faith In Him.

That’s true whether I’m feeling it at any given moment…or not.

But sometimes, Jesus Christ gives me goosebumps.

I’ve just been reading the Old Testament book of Joshua which recounts events that took place about 1400 years before Christ Jesus, God the Son, was born at Bethlehem.

The leader of God’s ancient people, Joshua, whose Hebrew name, Yeshua, was the same as Yeshua, Jesus, is preparing for battle, when he’s met by someone.

The Bible says: “When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, ‘Are you for us, or for our adversaries?’ And he said, ‘No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.’ And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, ‘What does my lord say to his servant?’ And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, ‘Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.’ And Joshua did so.” (Joshua 5:13-15)

The text makes it obvious Who the commander of the Lord’s army is in two ways.

First, Joshua falls down and worships the Commander. As a believer in God, Joshua would only have worshiped God Himself. Joshua knows that He Is in the presence of God, though mysteriously God as a man.

Second, the Commander gives Joshua the same directive that God gave to Moses when Moses encountered God in a bush that burned but was not consumed. There, God—Yahweh, or I AM—told Moses to remove his sandals because, with God present there, the ground Moses was standing on was holy. Throughout the Old Testament, the “pre-incarnate Christ,” God the Son before He was born at Bethlehem, makes appearances to God’s people. These appearances demonstrate that the one God in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—never leaves or forsakes us, is involved with His creation, and cares for us.

The God we all now can know in Jesus Christ is the God Who shows up!

Even when the cosmos thrashes under the raging of sin, death, and the devil, the Lord fights for us. Ultimately, Jesus came into our world to save us from ourselves, bringing us peace with God, the forgiveness of our sins, and eternity with Him.

In Jesus, all your sins are forgiven. All who daily turn from sin and trust in Him can believe this promise.

Jesus tells us: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Whether that gives you goosebumps or not, you can believe it’s true and, In the believing, know that you are reconciled forever with the God Who always shows up for the cosmos (and you) He created and still loves.

Good News: God Isn't Fair!

[Below, you can find live stream video of both of yesterday's worship services with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio. Also below is the prepared text of the message shared during the services. God bless your week with faith in Christ and the certainty of Christ's presence with you now and of the eternal life with God He has secured for you through His death and resurrection.]

Matthew 20:1-16

In one of his sermons on today’s gospel lesson, Matthew 20:1-1-16, Martin Luther said, “This [lesson] is intricate, and very difficult for the young and the simple…”

But it’s not just the young in faith or the simple in thought who find the parable that Jesus tells us today difficult. In fact, I doubt that Jesus ever said anything more offensive to good church-going folks than what He says to us today.

Let’s set the scene.

Just before this parable in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus tells a rich man confident of his place in the kingdom of God that, because he relies on his wealth and his good works for salvation, he must sell all that he has, give the proceeds to the poor, and follow Him. The rich man walks away sad, knowing that he will be damned in eternity because of his unwillingness to let go of his favorite god. money, and his favorite sin, covetousness.

The disciples think, like many people falsely think today, that wealth is a sign of God’s favor. They ask Jesus if a rich person can’t enter God’s kingdom, who can? Jesus tells them that anything is possible with God; anyone who turns from their idols and sins and turns instead to Him for forgiveness and new life can have life with God.

Then Jesus tells them that in the kingdom of God, unlike the kingdoms of this world, “many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” (Matthew 19:30)

Maybe in response to the troubled looks He sees around Him, Jesus then tells today’s parable. You know it well.

At the beginning of the workday, about 6:00 in the morning, a landowner goes out, presumably to the town square, and agrees to pay a group of men a denarius, the going rate for a day on the job, to work in his vineyard. This is the only time in the parable when Jesus mentions the landowner making any agreement on the rate of pay.

There’s apparently a lot of work to do because, Jesus says, the man goes out at 9:00 AM, at noon, at 3:00 PM, and, finally, at 5:00 PM, the final hour of the work day, promising only that he will pay “whatever is right,” (Matthew 20:4) literally, whatever is just, correct, or righteous, to the late-hires.

At 6:00 PM, when the workday is over, the owner has the foreman call the last men hired, the ones who have worked an hour or less, to receive their pay. They’re given a denarius.

The anticipation undoubtedly must be rising among the first-hired. If the latecomers are getting a denarius from the pleased landowner, how much more might they be able to expect?

But anticipation turns to anger as all the workers hired at different times of the day are given the exact same pay, a single denarius.

“These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ [the first-hires in Jesus’ story say], “and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.” (Matthew 20:12) But the landowner says: “Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?” (Matthew 20:13-15)

At my first parish, a man approached me after worship when I preached on this text and told me, “I’ve always hated that parable.” “It isn’t fair,” he went on, “Is Jesus saying that someone who’s led a sinful life and shows up at church in their old age, all repentant and confessing faith in Jesus, is going to get the same reward as me? I’ve always believed. I’ve always given offerings. I’ve always helped when the church needed help.”

I was a young pastor and a bit afraid of offending this man I loved. But I silently prayed, then told him, “Yes, that’s exactly what Jesus is saying. In His Kingdom, all believers are equal.”

You see, friends, the old sinner who repents and trusts that Jesus died and rose for them is equal to all of you in the kingdom of God, no matter how long you’ve believed or how many good things you’ve done.

So, is the newly baptized baby.

So is the believer who has never been able to put much in the offering plate.

So is the believer who’s disabled.

The reason for this is simple: The God we know in Jesus Christ is NOT fair. Instead, He is righteous. In His kingdom, God doesn’t do the fair thing; He does the right thing, the good thing, the loving thing, the compassionate thing.

He gives the reward of eternal life not on the bases of what we do or how long we’ve been doing it, but on the bases of the grace He bears for all who, by the power of the Gospel Word about the crucified and risen Jesus, daily turn from sin and death and instead, turn in trust to Jesus for forgiveness and new and everlasting life.

Jesus tells us this parable in order to show us the difference between life in “the kingdoms” of this world–be it, the organizational structure of a congregation, a place of work, or a government–and life in His kingdom.

As long as we live in this world, there will be inequalities. It doesn’t matter whether as a people, we adopt the motto, “All people are created equal.” The simple fact of the matter is that in this fallen world, there are and will always be inequalities.”

Some people will be wealthier than others, some more powerful than others, some smarter than others, and some, even, more spiritually gifted than others.

But, as Luther points out, “...in the kingdom of Christ it is otherwise; there is no distinction there among believers; they are all alike, whether they be kings, princes, governors, masters or servants. All have the same Baptism, Gospel, Faith, Sacrament, the same Christ and God. They all attend divine worship in perfect equality; the servant, the mechanic and the peasant hear the same Word as the mightiest lord. The Baptism [by which] I was baptized belongs to every other child, whether rich or poor. Magdalene and the [thief] on the cross have the same faith which St. Peter and St. Paul had; yea, the [same] faith which you or I have, if we are Christians. All sinners, if converted, have the same God and Christ whom John the Baptist had. There is no difference here, though one may by far excel the other in his station in life, in his calling, or in his talents.”

If you and I are intent on nudging our ways past others in the kingdom of God, we will be disappointed. God does not bless and life with God does not come, to those with sharp elbows and unrepentant hearts, only to those who are like the repentant tax collector in another of Jesus’ parables. Jesus says the repentant man “stood a distance” from the altar of the temple out of trembling fear of God’s goodness and holiness, and “beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner..” (Luke 18:13)

There is good news, friends! God has had mercy on us sinners.

“While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

And whoever and whatever sinner who heeds His invitation to life in His eternal vineyard–all who repent and believe in Him–will, on the last day, after Jesus has returned to the earth and raised the dead, receive the same reward: life with God that never ends!

And, in the meantime, just like Saint Paul, writing to the Philippian Christians, from a prison cell, his crime being his faith in Jesus and his proclamation of the forgiveness of sins and new and everlasting for all who repent and believe in Jesus, we know that God is with us even now.

It’s hard to understand God.

Hard to understand why He loves us, why He hasn’t given up on us, why He forgives us no matter how many times we come back to Him in repentant faith.

But thank God that He is Who He is.

God is not fair; He’s only right and righteous and good.

Because the God you know in Jesus is good, you can also live each day knowing that “it is by [His] grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

No one can boast, no matter how hard or how long God allows us to work in His vineyard on this earth.

But all who turn to Jesus can rejoice, for the grace He gives us freely in Jesus.

No matter our circumstances in this life.

No matter our position.

Friends, each day, you can claim the inheritance of your baptism and trust Jesus to be with you now AND to give you your eternal reward.

Amen

The Gospel of John, September 17, 2023

With apologies for the audio.