Sermon for Jubilate Sunday
April 21, 2025
1 Peter 2:11-20
Rev. Rolf Preus
Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men; as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. 1 Peter 2:11-20
Jesus talks about the little whiles, but sometimes the little whiles seem like they’re lasting forever. It seems that life’s not fair. That’s because it’s not. People will despise you, not for doing anything despicable, but for doing your duty as a Christian. Sometimes the arrows come flying at you from fellow Christians. That’s not fair.
Life is not fair, and we need to know why. Fair means just and sin is the opposite of justice. Sin is the reason life is unfair. Where is this sin that makes life unfair? Listen to the apostle, “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.” “Fleshly lusts” is the sin that lies within every man, woman, and child in this world. Even Christians, who are on their way to heaven, have within themselves a sinful inclination, an unjust, self-centered, downright malicious disposition that is the root cause of every injustice in this world. This sinful flesh lies within us, warring against our souls, seeking to destroy us.
So, what do you do when you are suffering injustice? Repent! But I didn’t deserve it! It was unfair! What do you mean, you didn’t deserve it? Didn’t you learn from your Catechism?
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
What does this mean? We pray in this petition that our Father in heaven would not look upon our sins, nor on their account deny our prayer; for we are worthy of none of the things for which we pray, neither have we deserved them; but that He would grant them all to us by grace; for we daily sin much and indeed deserve nothing but punishment. So will we also heartily forgive, and readily do good to, those who sin against us.
St. Peter tells us to “Abstain from fleshly lusts that war against your soul.” That means repent. Repent means you do not intend to go back and do it again. You’re going to pray to God for the strength to avoid the sins of the flesh. When we hear of sins of the flesh, we might think of sexual sins. Sexual sins have become quite fashionable these days, the more perverted, the more celebrated. But the root of all sins of the flesh is the sin of pride. I know better than God how I ought to love, how I ought to live, and what is best for me.
So says the flesh, and the flesh is wrong. One thing my flesh doesn’t want to do is submit to the government, especially when it establishes stupid rules. Have you seen the bumper sticker about the policy of the government? “If it ain’t broke, fix it until it is.” I know better than they what they should be doing! My flesh is an anarchist. He won’t submit. God tells me to. The government is there to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do good. If you think the government is incompetent, greedy, and immoral, you are not thereby acquitted of your duty to follow the law and fulfill your duties as a citizen. When you think of the bad government we suffer in the United States, and think you deserve better, consider the people in Haiti, who have not had a workable government for over two hundred years and suffer the worst poverty and crime of any country in the Western Hemisphere. Even a corrupt government is better than no government at all.
There are practical reasons for obeying the rules. It helps secure law, order, security, safety, and the many blessings we sometimes call civilization. Among the benefits God gives us when we pray for our daily bread is the benefit of good government.
God blesses those who bless Abraham. That’s what he promised Abraham in Genesis 12:3. The Christian church is Abraham’s heir. That’s what the Bible says in Galatians 3:26-29. God blesses those that bless the church. The United States of America has blessed the Christian Church for many years, providing legal protection for the church to carry out her God-given religious duties, including the assembling together around God’s Word and sacrament. It is for the sake of Abraham, for the sake of Christ’s church in America, that God has blessed America, making her a great nation. We are living at a time when that blessing stands in doubt, as many in government seek to deny Christians the right to practice our religion. Christians in business are driven out of business by agencies of the government because they presumed to confess and act on the Christian truth about LGBTQ sins. Be sure of one thing. God will not be mocked. Jerusalem persecuted Christ’s church. God destroyed her. He did the same to the Romans, the Nazis, the Communists, and he will surely destroy America, should America continue to curse Abraham by attacking his faith. God sees when his people suffer persecution, and he will vindicate them. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, he shall reap.
So, the next time the government tells us Christians to stop gathering together in order to “flatten the curve,” we’ll tell the government that God tells us to gather together, curve or no curve, virus or no virus, and no government of men can overrule God. After all, they get their authority to rule from God and God gives no government the authority to prevent Christians from gathering together to hear God’s word, receive Christ’s body and blood, sing praises together, and by their bodily presence along side of God’s means of grace to encourage one another.
We are free. We are children of God. We put to silence the ignorance of foolish men by obeying the rules. But God rules over the rules. And the freedom we enjoy is the freedom that God grants us here in church. This is a church because Christians gather here. But you can have a Christian gathering that is not the church, like a church softball league or social club. This is a church because we are gathered here to receive from God his gospel, his absolution, the Sacrament of Christ’s body and blood, all of which establish, sustain, and strengthen faith. Faith is freedom. The true faith sets us free from reliance on every human regulation. We aren’t free by obeying the rules. We are free because Jesus has paid the debt God’s law demanded of us. Jesus has suffered the punishment our sins required. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He not only did it; he gives it. Jesus speaks to us, by his Spirit, the word that conveys this life-giving, freedom-giving forgiveness. We are here. Here our God sets us free and keeps us free.
When you’re free, you can’t be bound by anyone. When you’re a bondservant of God, you belong to no other. So, honor all people, even those who are not your brothers and sisters in Christ. Who knows? You may make a friend who will turn to you someday for what you, as a Christian, can provide. Love the brotherhood. We share the same freedom. We do not live under the judgment of the law. We live under God’s grace, his undeserved love. We share that love with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Fear God. “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” Honor the king, or whoever is the boss.
And when you’re working for the man, the man will often know less about your work than you do, but since he’s the boss, he’ll let you know he knows more than you do. So, what do you do? You do as you’re told. You may think it’s fair to be taken to task for messing up, but when you’re right and the boss is wrong, well that’s a different matter. Yes, it is. And when you submit to the boss when he’s wrong, without complaint, without badmouthing him behind his back, but out of love for the Lord who has set you free, that is what is called a good work. Putting up with things. Not making your pride the principle on which to die.
St. Peter says that “when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.” God sees it. That makes all the difference. God sees and knows and understands. The work you do for others, sometime not very pleasant others, you do for God.
One of Martin Luther’s many memorable statements comes from his tract on the freedom of the Christian. “A Christian is a perfectly free lord, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant, subject to all.” We are perfectly free lords in Christ because he is the Lord over the law, sin, and death. He is our Lord. We are taught to confess that this means that he has redeemed us. Redemption is freedom. When the ransom has been paid, the prisoner is free. It’s as simple as that. The law cannot condemn us. Jesus took away its condemnation. Our sins cannot claim us. Jesus washed them away by his blood. We have no fear of death because we died and rose from the dead when we were baptized. We have eternal life. God has in store for us lives of perfect justice in heaven, where we will live in glorified bodies that cannot sin, suffer, or die.
So, why not serve? Why not humble yourself before others, even those who don’t deserve it? What have you got to prove? Nothing. The God who laid our sin on Jesus to set us free from them, will surely vindicate our freedom before all creation at the time of his visitation, when he returns, when all knees shall bow, and all tongues confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Amen
April 21, 2025
1 Peter 2:11-20
Rev. Rolf Preus
Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men; as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. 1 Peter 2:11-20
Jesus talks about the little whiles, but sometimes the little whiles seem like they’re lasting forever. It seems that life’s not fair. That’s because it’s not. People will despise you, not for doing anything despicable, but for doing your duty as a Christian. Sometimes the arrows come flying at you from fellow Christians. That’s not fair.
Life is not fair, and we need to know why. Fair means just and sin is the opposite of justice. Sin is the reason life is unfair. Where is this sin that makes life unfair? Listen to the apostle, “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.” “Fleshly lusts” is the sin that lies within every man, woman, and child in this world. Even Christians, who are on their way to heaven, have within themselves a sinful inclination, an unjust, self-centered, downright malicious disposition that is the root cause of every injustice in this world. This sinful flesh lies within us, warring against our souls, seeking to destroy us.
So, what do you do when you are suffering injustice? Repent! But I didn’t deserve it! It was unfair! What do you mean, you didn’t deserve it? Didn’t you learn from your Catechism?
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
What does this mean? We pray in this petition that our Father in heaven would not look upon our sins, nor on their account deny our prayer; for we are worthy of none of the things for which we pray, neither have we deserved them; but that He would grant them all to us by grace; for we daily sin much and indeed deserve nothing but punishment. So will we also heartily forgive, and readily do good to, those who sin against us.
St. Peter tells us to “Abstain from fleshly lusts that war against your soul.” That means repent. Repent means you do not intend to go back and do it again. You’re going to pray to God for the strength to avoid the sins of the flesh. When we hear of sins of the flesh, we might think of sexual sins. Sexual sins have become quite fashionable these days, the more perverted, the more celebrated. But the root of all sins of the flesh is the sin of pride. I know better than God how I ought to love, how I ought to live, and what is best for me.
So says the flesh, and the flesh is wrong. One thing my flesh doesn’t want to do is submit to the government, especially when it establishes stupid rules. Have you seen the bumper sticker about the policy of the government? “If it ain’t broke, fix it until it is.” I know better than they what they should be doing! My flesh is an anarchist. He won’t submit. God tells me to. The government is there to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do good. If you think the government is incompetent, greedy, and immoral, you are not thereby acquitted of your duty to follow the law and fulfill your duties as a citizen. When you think of the bad government we suffer in the United States, and think you deserve better, consider the people in Haiti, who have not had a workable government for over two hundred years and suffer the worst poverty and crime of any country in the Western Hemisphere. Even a corrupt government is better than no government at all.
There are practical reasons for obeying the rules. It helps secure law, order, security, safety, and the many blessings we sometimes call civilization. Among the benefits God gives us when we pray for our daily bread is the benefit of good government.
God blesses those who bless Abraham. That’s what he promised Abraham in Genesis 12:3. The Christian church is Abraham’s heir. That’s what the Bible says in Galatians 3:26-29. God blesses those that bless the church. The United States of America has blessed the Christian Church for many years, providing legal protection for the church to carry out her God-given religious duties, including the assembling together around God’s Word and sacrament. It is for the sake of Abraham, for the sake of Christ’s church in America, that God has blessed America, making her a great nation. We are living at a time when that blessing stands in doubt, as many in government seek to deny Christians the right to practice our religion. Christians in business are driven out of business by agencies of the government because they presumed to confess and act on the Christian truth about LGBTQ sins. Be sure of one thing. God will not be mocked. Jerusalem persecuted Christ’s church. God destroyed her. He did the same to the Romans, the Nazis, the Communists, and he will surely destroy America, should America continue to curse Abraham by attacking his faith. God sees when his people suffer persecution, and he will vindicate them. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, he shall reap.
So, the next time the government tells us Christians to stop gathering together in order to “flatten the curve,” we’ll tell the government that God tells us to gather together, curve or no curve, virus or no virus, and no government of men can overrule God. After all, they get their authority to rule from God and God gives no government the authority to prevent Christians from gathering together to hear God’s word, receive Christ’s body and blood, sing praises together, and by their bodily presence along side of God’s means of grace to encourage one another.
We are free. We are children of God. We put to silence the ignorance of foolish men by obeying the rules. But God rules over the rules. And the freedom we enjoy is the freedom that God grants us here in church. This is a church because Christians gather here. But you can have a Christian gathering that is not the church, like a church softball league or social club. This is a church because we are gathered here to receive from God his gospel, his absolution, the Sacrament of Christ’s body and blood, all of which establish, sustain, and strengthen faith. Faith is freedom. The true faith sets us free from reliance on every human regulation. We aren’t free by obeying the rules. We are free because Jesus has paid the debt God’s law demanded of us. Jesus has suffered the punishment our sins required. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He not only did it; he gives it. Jesus speaks to us, by his Spirit, the word that conveys this life-giving, freedom-giving forgiveness. We are here. Here our God sets us free and keeps us free.
When you’re free, you can’t be bound by anyone. When you’re a bondservant of God, you belong to no other. So, honor all people, even those who are not your brothers and sisters in Christ. Who knows? You may make a friend who will turn to you someday for what you, as a Christian, can provide. Love the brotherhood. We share the same freedom. We do not live under the judgment of the law. We live under God’s grace, his undeserved love. We share that love with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Fear God. “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” Honor the king, or whoever is the boss.
And when you’re working for the man, the man will often know less about your work than you do, but since he’s the boss, he’ll let you know he knows more than you do. So, what do you do? You do as you’re told. You may think it’s fair to be taken to task for messing up, but when you’re right and the boss is wrong, well that’s a different matter. Yes, it is. And when you submit to the boss when he’s wrong, without complaint, without badmouthing him behind his back, but out of love for the Lord who has set you free, that is what is called a good work. Putting up with things. Not making your pride the principle on which to die.
St. Peter says that “when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.” God sees it. That makes all the difference. God sees and knows and understands. The work you do for others, sometime not very pleasant others, you do for God.
One of Martin Luther’s many memorable statements comes from his tract on the freedom of the Christian. “A Christian is a perfectly free lord, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant, subject to all.” We are perfectly free lords in Christ because he is the Lord over the law, sin, and death. He is our Lord. We are taught to confess that this means that he has redeemed us. Redemption is freedom. When the ransom has been paid, the prisoner is free. It’s as simple as that. The law cannot condemn us. Jesus took away its condemnation. Our sins cannot claim us. Jesus washed them away by his blood. We have no fear of death because we died and rose from the dead when we were baptized. We have eternal life. God has in store for us lives of perfect justice in heaven, where we will live in glorified bodies that cannot sin, suffer, or die.
So, why not serve? Why not humble yourself before others, even those who don’t deserve it? What have you got to prove? Nothing. The God who laid our sin on Jesus to set us free from them, will surely vindicate our freedom before all creation at the time of his visitation, when he returns, when all knees shall bow, and all tongues confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Amen
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