Pious Lutheran

Parable of the Mote and the Beam , Domenico Fetti, 1619                From Jesus’ well-known Sermon on the Mount, in which He teaches us a great deal about Christian living, He teaches us to: “ Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. ” This commandment to be merciful towards others hearkens back to the eighth commandment: “Do not bear false testimony against your neighbor.” Or as Luther positively put it, we are to “defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.”  Why do we do this? We show mercy to others because God shows mercy to us. Today in our sermon we will consider what it means to be merciful, how we’ve failed to be merciful, and how God is merciful towards us. Jesus says: “ Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned. ” Those words of Jesus often get mangled by many people to mean that we are never to distinguish right from wrong or good from evil. But that...

Parable of the Lost Sheep , by Jan Luyken. 1649-1712 “ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you. ” Humility doesn’t usually come to many of us that naturally, and so God often has to humble us with His mighty hand. A good illustration of this comes from the life of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel.  During the time of the Babylonian exile, Daniel, Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego were deported to Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar’s pride was astounding! He had a ninety foot tall golden statue made of him for everyone to bow down and worship. Of course as you remember, Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego refused to worship it, were tossed into a fiery furnace, and Jesus rescued them.  Nebuchadnezzar praised God for that miracle, but still he was filled with pride. A year later he stood on the roof of his palace and declared of his kingdom: “ Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power a...

If you’ve ever been to a traditional Christian church service you may have wondered: “What’s with the chanting and strange clothes?” It all seems out of place today; archaic in a very modern world. We live in an age of electronic gadgets with screens everywhere. Our smart watches tell us our heart rate, we order pizza from our phones, and go to work from behind a computer. Even our tractors practically drive themselves these days! Everything is fast, casual, and modern; why not the church?! God says of His Christians in the Bible: “ But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people. ” Christians aren’t meant to be like the world around them. Christians are to be otherworldly because God is otherworldly, and so Christian churches are like nothing else in this world; they’re transcendent. When you step into the sanctuary, you’re entering a foreign embassy, belonging not to this world but to the Kingdom of God. The church isn’t lined with changing ...

Parable of the Great Banquet ,  the Brunswick Monogrammist , 1525 Wedding receptions are pretty big deals these days. A great deal of work goes into planning these receptions, which means you want to know who is all going to show up. Invitations get sent out months in advance in order to determine how many tables, chairs, and plates to prepare. The hosts do not want to run out of food or space for all the guests, because that would leave the guests disappointed and the hosts embarrassed.  For this reason, party crashers can be somewhat frustrating. People show up who you weren’t planning on, and they eat food and take space meant for someone else, and then you risk running out. In Jesus’ parable today, the issue is the opposite of party crashers, it’s people not showing up. “ A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to...