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Showing posts with the label Trinity III

Sermon - Trinity IX, 2026 - Luke 16:1-13

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The Parable of the Unjust Steward , Marinus van Reymerswaele, 1540 Christian Wisdom Seeks Eternal Dwellings Wisdom is forward thinking and focused on the goal Christian wisdom employs every treasure, heavenly and worldly, for the sake of reaching the goal If there is a hardest parable, it might be this one; throws people off every time. The parable presents a rich man with a steward who was found wasting the rich man’s possessions. The job of a steward is to be faithful with someone else’s possessions, and this guy wasn’t cutting it. So obviously, he got fired. What’s crazy is the rich man lets the steward hand in the books, and he doesn’t hunt them down and take them from him immediately. The steward does exactly what you don’t want the steward to do, which is why normally the books get taken from the steward: the steward cooks the books. He meets some of the rich man’s debtors, probably tenant farmers, and in order to ingratiate himself with the debtors he adjusts how much they owe, ...
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Sermon - Trinity III, 2026 - Luke 15

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The Return of the Prodigal Son , Pompeo Batoni, 1773 The Joy of God to Save the Sinner In compassion God atones for sinful man Yet God desires children who love Him, not servants, so He gives us freedom to get lost God’s compassion brings back the sinner crushed by sin God, the angels, and the church rejoices over every sinner saved We have no need of jealousy, for the sinner saved only receives what we have already also received by grace When the father saw his prodigal son returning, seeing his pitiable state, he had compassion for his child. Such is the compassion of God to seek and save sinful mankind. “ As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. ” St. Paul writes: “ God our Savior, desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all. ” Indeed, Jesus...
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Sermon - Trinity III 2024 - Luke 15:1-32

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The Parable of the Prodigal Son , Frans Francken the Younger, 1633 God receives repentant sinners The lost truly are lost Sinners are found / received back through repentance We rejoice with the angels over even one sinner who repents It is claimed by our adversaries that conservative, biblical, traditional Christians, such as us, don’t care for the lost and the sinner. Because we strictly hold to the word of God and we believe the Bible is correct about what is sin and what is good, we are accused of being unloving and hateful. We are accused of being like the Pharisees who grumble about Jesus receiving sinners and eating with them. These accusations are wildly incorrect, since we rejoice that God receives sinners and eats with them. But in order to refute these accusations against us, let’s explore why we believe that God receives repentant sinners. First off, it’s important to understand that the lost truly are lost, sinners really are actually sinners. Isaiah says “ All we like she...
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Sermon - Trinity III 2022 - Luke 15:1-32

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Parable of the Lost Drachma, Domenico Fetti, 1618 Since Roe v Wade was overturned, many Christians have very appropriately celebrated and rejoiced. There’s certainly more work to be done still, since each state has to make abortion illegal, but this is a positive step in the right direction. Nevertheless, even though Christians have been rejoicing in this momentous decision, many pro-abortion people have strongly gone on the offense against Christianity, claiming that since we’re opposed to abortion Christianity is hateful and fails to love. But that is absolutely untrue. Christians love sinners because Christ loves sinners. By grace Jesus and His church receive repentant sinners. We read: “ The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” ” Christ, nor His bride the church, hate sinners, instead Christ is He who calls sinners to repentance and welcomes them into His hom...
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Sermon - Trinity III 2021 - Luke 15:1-11

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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...
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Sermon - Trinity III - Luke 15:11-32

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In recent days there has been a lot of talk in the news and throughout our society about repentance. Everywhere you turn people are kneeling and calling others to repentance. Repentance is a good thing! A common refrain in the Bible is the call to repentance! Recognizing that you’re a sinner who has done bad things is a fundamental part of being Christian.  Still, as good as a thing repentance is, our society doesn’t have it quite right and is missing a few things. Without going into all of the controversial details about our current societal strife that we’re all tired of listening to, the biggest thing that our society has wrong about repentance is the lack of forgiveness. That’s a big deal, because repentance without forgiveness is worthless and in fact repenting without being forgiven is nothing more than self-righteousness!  Remember what the catechism says about Confession: “Confession has two parts. First, that we confess our sins, and second, that we receive absolution...
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Sermon - Trinity III - Luke 15:1-10

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How much worse are the sins of another than our own? If a man were to come into town guilty of murder, we would all avoid him as the worst of sinners, desiring him to be locked up in a prison cell! But when we hate our own neighbors, holding onto grudges and seeking revenge, we call it strength and pride, while the scriptures call it murder. If we were to see a poor man lying drunk in a gutter, we would disdain him as the scum of the earth. But when a rich man turns a blind eye to the poor and feasts sumptuously every day, stumbling into bed drunk each night, we consider him a great rich man who has worked hard for his wealth, while the scripture still calls him a drunk and a glutton. I tell you, whether one is engaged in manifest sins or hiddens sins, both are sinners. While the world may despise the one and honor the other, Christ looks upon both with mercy. Truly, Jesus doesn’t pass by either sinner, but instead both are lost, and Christ seeks the lost.  It’s just as Jesus ...
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