This Sermon was written by Pastor Laura Webb who is a Seminarian at the Sioux Falls Seminary Luther House of Studies:
Sermon Texts: Jeremiah 20:7-13 ; Psalm 91: 1-10 ; Romans 6: 12-23 ; Matthew 10:21-33
Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you from God our father and our risen Lord Jesus Christ, Amen
I would like to start this week by stretching your memories all the way back to last week.
In last week’s Gospel we heard about Jesus sending out the 12 disciples. He gave them authority to cast out demons and to cure every sickness and disease. Jesus instructed the disciples to only go to the people of Israel. He warned them that not every town or house would receive them, willingly, or listen to what they had to say. Jesus also said that he was sending the disciples out as sheep in the midst of wolves and that they should be as wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
Jesus told his followers that they would be delivered to courts. They would be asked to testify before the Gentiles and the governors in these situations. Last week’s passage ended with Jesus encouraging his disciples to not be afraid during these times, and not to worry about what they should say because the spirit of God would speak through them.
That message of do not fear because God will be with you is continued in this week’s Gospel lesson.
But before we look at that wonderful promise I would like to dive a little deeper into the first part of this week’s Gospel because Jesus continues to expand on the persecution that the disciples will face as they attempt to share the gospel message.
The first part of this week’s lesson starts off on a very somber note.
Jesus tells his followers that they will be hated, even possibly by their own family, but if they withstand this hatred they will be saved. Verses 24, and 25 say that a disciple is not above his teacher and a servant is not above his master. It is enough for a disciple to be like the teacher and a servant like their master.
It may be easy to read this portion of the passage and think that Jesus is telling his followers to stay in their lane so to speak, but that’s not the case as evident by Jesus going on to say that if they have called the head of the house meaning, him, Jesus, Beelzebul, or the ancient equivalent of satin, his followers should expect the same treatment. Jesus is telling his followers that they can expect the same reception that he has and will receive.
When they choose to proclaim the gospel message we can expect persecution.
Now I don’t know about the rest of you but at this point if I was one of the ancient disciples, and even someone choosing in present circumstances to share the Gospel. I would be a little wary of the job that Jesus had just assigned me to do. In our context we do not need to fear beatings from government officials, or execution for our faith, but we are unfortunately living in a time where churches are under scrutiny about their weekly decision to meet, and practice their faith through the hearing and sharing of God’s word, and sacraments. So, the message of trusting God, that comes next, is just as relevant to us today as it was in Jesus’s lifetime.
In last week’s lesson, Jesus gave 12 of his followers amazing authority to heal suffering and cure disease, but then he tells them that they can expect to be rejected by the towns they try to minister to, turned over to the government officials, beaten, whipped, rejected by their family and friends, equated to satan himself, and maybe even put to death.
Now do these things sound familiar? These are all things that Jesus himself was going to suffer for all of us. That is why Jesus tells the disciples that soon the things he has been telling them to keep secret and to wait to share with everyone they will be able to proclaim on the rooftops.
It is very common in many Gospel stories for Jesus to take the disciples aside and reveal to them the meaning of a parable he has just told a large group, or perform a miracle in their presence. Even events as magnificent as the transfiguration Jesus instructed his closest followers to keep secret until after the resurrection. In the process of Jesus
preparing his disciples to begin their public ministry he is assuring them that soon they will be able to reveal all the things that they have been asked to keep secret.
In the next section of this week’s text Jesus tells us that we need to put our trust in God. verse 28 says; “and do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul, Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
It is easy to think here that Jesus is talking about the devil, but Just as he refers to God the Father in the rest of this chapter he is also talking about God here.
Proverbs chapter 9 verse 10 says “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy one is understanding.” Many people attempt to soften this idea by replacing fear with Love and trust, but by saying that we fear God we are acknowledging that he has created us. We are giving the respect due to the power he holds over our lives. God is responsible for every aspect of our lives, our every breath. God has control over our living and our dying.
Now, our sinful human nature iswaking up right about now and saying NO! Aren’t I in control of some part of my life? This kind of thinking, traps us in our sin and can lead to exactly what Jesus was warning against. If we have no faith we are living in hell.
The reading from Romans 6 today reminds us that Jesus has freed us from being trapped in sin, the law, and even from death itself.
In his commentary on Romans Martin Luther writes:
“In chapter 6, St. Paul takes up the special work of faith, the struggle which the spirit wages against the flesh to kill off those sins and desires that remain after a person has been made just. He teaches us that faith doesn’t so free us from sin that we can be idle, lazy and self-assured, as though there were no more sin in us. Sin is there, but, because of faith that struggles against it, God does not reckon sin as deserving damnation.
Therefore we have in our own selves a lifetime of work cut out for us; we have to tame our body, kill its lusts, force its members to obey the spirit and not the lusts. We must do this so that we may conform to the death and resurrection of Christ and complete our Baptism, which signifies a death to sin and a new life of grace. Our aim is to be completely clean from sin and then to rise bodily with Christ and live forever.
St. Paul says that we can accomplish all this because we are in grace and not in the law. He explains that to be “outside the law.”is not the same as having no law and being able to do what you please. No, being “under the law” means living without grace, surrounded by the works of the law. Then surely sin reigns by means of the law, since no one is naturally well-disposed toward the law.
That very condition, however, is the greatest sin. But grace makes the law lovable to us, so there is then no sin anymore, and the law is no longer against us but one with us. This is true freedom from sin and from the law ”
I chose this section of Luther’s commentary because I could not fathom a way of more eloquently explaining our human relationship with sin and the law.
It is our nature to not want to trust God, we want to be in control of our lives, but we must remember that we are not in control. We must daily remind ourselves that God is more powerful than any worry that we may possess.
God treasures us more than anything, He even knows how many hairs are on each of our heads. God treasures us, and in return he asks us to put our trust in him.
I would like to spend a moment here with this thought. Now that school is over, I have been trying to get into a routine that I hope will be beneficial to my knowledge of both God and the world around me. Every day this week I have been spending time, watching the news, then working through the daily devotional provided by a bible app I like.
Yesterday night, (Friday night), The verse for the day was Matthew Chapter 5 verse 44, “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
Everyone here today, Everyone you drove past on the rode to get here, everyone who we watch on the news, everyone we encounter on social media, was created by God.
God knows the number of hairs on each of their heads the same way he knows ours. We are all made and known by God.
There is so much division in our world right now. Issues about political views, racial relations and injustices, and even the best way to handle our physical health face us everywhere we look.
There are so many things I see every day that I know are out of my control. I can not make school go back to normal in the fall. I can’t stop the violence going on in cities across our nation. I can’t make the branches of government get along with one another.
The only thing I can control is my reaction to all of these things. I can love and pray for my neighbor and the world around me. I can trust God, and his control over my life and the world around me.
This is why coming together every week to share the Gospel is so important because we must hear God’s word to be reminded that we are not in control of our lives.
Being here, together, hearing God’s word is part of the lifetime of work that Luther spoke about. We must nourish our faith, keep our sinful selves in check, and remind ourselves to fear and trust God.
Not the world around us, but our God who is in control of that world.
Our gospel passage today concludes with Jesus saying, “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”
Once again it may be simple here to think, Oh! Now I know what I have to do.
If I share Jesus with others I will be able to get into heaven. It is easy to think like this, and sharing Jesus with others is something we have been called to do as Christians, but nothing we do, no work we can perform will get us into heaven, or make us worthy in God’s eyes.
Again, thinking like this trapps us in sin, and the law. Trying to justify ourselves before God through works only leads to the feeling of falling short, and thinking that you are not worthy of God’s love because you did not share the love of Jesus well enough to others.
God’s grace gives us the ability to share the gospel with the world around us trusting that God will protect us from anyone who may be opposed to the good news we have been called to share. The grace of God gives us the ability to share the Gospel trusting that we are already saved from sin, and death.
We have been promised eternal life through our baptism in Christ Jesus who came and died for our sins to release us from sin, death, the devil, and the hell that can grow within us when we do not trust in God and our baptizmal promise of eternal life. Now let the peace of that promise which surpasses all understanding keep you in Christ Jesus, Amen.
Bethany Lutheran Church, Covington MI 