Category: Trinity 3

The Value of a Sinner

6/21/2024

Trinity 3
Luke 15
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
June 16, 2024

What does it mean that a shepherd leaves his ninety-nine sheep in the open country to look for the one lost sheep? It means that he values that sheep. What does it mean that a woman sweeps her whole house looking for a lost coin? It means that she values that coin. What does it mean that a father waits for his rebellious son, and when he sees him, runs to him, falls on his neck kissing him, and throws a party for his return? It means that that father values his lost son. Why does Jesus tell these three parables after the Pharisees and scribes grumble at Him for receiving sinners and eating with them? He is telling them that as the shepherd values his sheep, and as the woman values her coin, and as the man values his son, so also God values these sinners. Yet, where do we find the value in sinners?
Certainly not in their sin! Jesus is not proud of their sin. And He does not preach that these sinners should take pride in their sin. Rather, He preaches that they should repent. That is why these tax-collectors and sinners are coming to hear Jesus. They come to hear Him teach them to repent and receive forgiveness, and to mend their ways. Well, if God does not value a sinner because of his sin, why does God value the sinner? God finds the value of the sinner in Himself, in His own love for the sinner. And out of love for the sinner, God sent His Son to suffer and die to make atonement for the sins of sinners. This is the Gospel. The Gospel declares that God finds the value of a sinner in Christ’s atonement.
God does not find your value in your sin. God does not find your value in your brilliant opinions. God does not find your value in how much money or possessions you have acquired. God does not find your value in how well you have fulfilled His commandments. God finds your value in Christ Jesus, who suffered and died for your sins and grants you His own righteousness as a gift to be received through faith.
This Gospel message brings great comfort to those who recognize their sin and it causes anger and annoyance to those who think that they are righteous. The scribes and Pharisees grumble against Christ, because He shows that God values sinners. They hate this, because they think God should value them for their own righteousness, and therefore, He should not value these sinners. Yet, what Jesus teaches them is that they are not righteous. God does not value them for their self-righteousness. They too must repent of their sin and trust in Christ.
Yet, the fact that God finds the sinner’s value in Christ is of great comfort to sinners, because it means that the sinner does not need to lose hope! Your value before God is not lost because of your sin. Now, this does not mean that your sin does not harm you. The Prophet Isaiah warns in chapter 59, “Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or His ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” (Isaiah 59:1-2) Your sins are worse than you think they are. They separate you from God; they earn you death and eternal condemnation in hell. Your sins forfeit your salvation. The Apostle warns, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
The Gospel tells the sinner that however bad your sins are, no matter how far you have been separated from God, however much you deserve eternal damnation for your sins, God still finds your value in Christ, who has made atonement for all your sins. And this comforts the sinner, because Christ’s righteousness always remains the same and endures forever. If your value is found in Christ, then your value never changes. It cannot be taken way. It cannot be diminished, for Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
This is why Jesus praises repentance so highly. The Gospel declares that God finds the value of a sinner in Christ’s atonement. Repentance is when a sinner finds his own value in Christ’s atonement. In other words, repentance is when a sinner forsakes his own false righteousness and sin and trusts in Christ and His work of salvation instead. Repentance literally means to return or to change one’s mind. As sin separates us from God, so repentance brings us back again to Him. But without repentance, we remain alienated from God.
Repentance has two parts. First, when you recognize your unworthiness on account of your sins, and you feel true remorse over them, when you recognize that you have done evil and that you deserve to be punished by God. Second, faith, when you recognize that God values you for the sake of Christ Jesus, who made atonement for your sins on the cross. What does it mean that God sent His Son to live under the law in our place, to suffer the punishment for our sins, to die and rise again? It means that God values us despite our sin. It means that we can find our value nowhere else but in Christ.
Only those who recognize their sin and unworthiness before God rejoice that their value before God is found in Christ Jesus. That is why these tax-collectors and sinners gathered to hear Jesus, while the self-righteous grumbled. This is why the starving rebellious son returned home to his father, while the elder brother refused to come in. But for a sinner to find his true value in Christ, he must first recognize the evil of his sins. This is why the angels in heaven rejoice over one sinner who repents. Christ labored to save sinners from their sins. A repentant sinner is the fruit of Christ’s labor. Angels in heaven rejoice over the work of Christ.
Yet, we still sin. We don’t simply return like the prodigal son and then live happily ever after as dutiful children of God. We still go astray. We daily sin. And so, we must daily repent. We must daily find our sin harmful and our own righteousness worthless, and find our true value in Christ and His atonement for us. You are not saved because you once upon a time repented. You are saved because you are currently living in a state of repentance. And so, like the tax-collectors and sinners, we continue to gather to hear Jesus, to eat with Him, and to find our value in Him.
The Gospel declares that God finds the value of a sinner in Christ’s atonement. Repentance is when a sinner finds his value in Christ’s atonement. Reconciliation is when you find your brother’s value in Christ’s atonement. Why did the scribes and Pharisees grumble that Jesus receives sinners and eats with them? Because they hated the sinners. Why is the elder brother angry that his father throws a party for his brother? Because he hates his brother. Reconciliation is when you stop hating someone and love him instead. Reconciliation is when your enemy becomes your friend. How can this be done? It can only truly be done if you find the value of the one who has sinned against you, not in him, but in Christ. When you find your brother’s or sister’s value in Christ, then you rejoice like the angels when your brother or sister repents and returns to Christ.
John the Baptist told the Jews to bear fruits worthy of repentance. Fruits of repentance are things done to show that a sinner is truly sorry for his sins. A thief stops stealing, does honest work, and provides for the needy. A tax-collector stops cheating and pays back all whom he has defrauded. An adulterer stops committing adultery, a fornicator moves apart from his girlfriend until they are married, a drunk throws away the booze, an apostate comes back to church. And it is the job of the church to teach what fruits of repentance are, so that sinners do not continue in sin without repenting.
Yet, it is also good to note that God does not find your value in your fruits of repentance. He finds your value in Christ’s atonement for your sins. The fruits of your repentance simply give evidence of your repentance and faith in Christ. Fruits of repentance are never perfect in this life. The one who turns from sin often continues to struggle with the sin he turned from. The younger brother probably did not become the perfect brother when he came home. Yet, his older brother was not to find his brother’s value in the fruits of his repentance, and neither are you to find the value of the one who has sinned against you in their fruits, but always in Christ’s atonement.
Just as the fruits of your repentance are not perfect, so you must ask for forgiveness over again, so you may not be perfectly satisfied with your brother’s fruits of repentance. Perhaps, you want him to express his sorrow more or do more to make up for what he has done. Surely, the older brother would have been glad to see his brother become as one of his father’s hired hands. But we cannot find the value of our neighbor in their fruits of repentance, but only in Christ, just as you can only find your value in Christ. When you do that, you become more willing to meet with those who sin against you, to forgive them, and be patient with them.
The holy angels rejoice at the repentance of a sinner, because the repentance of sinners is God’s will and the angels rejoice at God’s will. Unrepentant sinners are outside of the angels’ protection, so angels rejoice when sinners repent, so that they may minister to them. We join in fellowship with the saints and angels in heaven when we repent, so angels rejoice at our fellowship with them. When we reconcile with one another, we imitate the good example of the angels by rejoicing in the repentance of others. When we come to church to hear Jesus, we not only come as sinners in need of forgiveness, who find their value and forgiveness from God in Christ Jesus, but we also rejoice with the angels and saints in heaven for our fellow sinners, who find their value in Christ. May we rejoice that Christ receives them as we rejoice that Christ receives us. Amen.

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A Father’s Love

6/21/2021

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"Return of the Prodigal Son," Guercino, 1651. Public Domain

Trinity 3
Luke 15
Pastor James Preus

Trinity Lutheran Church
June 20, 2021

Our Lord Jesus is the greatest teacher who ever walked the earth. And his parables about the lost sheep and the lost coin are among his most well known and loved lessons. If a man has one hundred sheep, but loses one, he’s going to be much more concerned over the one lost sheep than over the ninety-nine safe ones in the fold. And when he finds it, he rejoices with his friends and neighbors. So also, God rejoices more with the hosts of heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine who need no repentance. If a woman has ten silver coins, but loses one, she is going to light a lamp and obsess over finding that lost coin. And when she finds it, she will celebrate with her friends. So also, the Church shines the light of the Gospel in search of sinners to return to God and the angels of heaven rejoice when a single sinner is saved. These are simple stories that succinctly teach God’s love and mercy for sinners.
But does a shepherd leave his ninety-nine sheep in the open field in search for the lost one? I suppose he would. If you lost one percent of your flock every day, you’d soon be impoverished. Then again, leaving ninety-nine sheep unattended in the open country is risky. They could fall prey to wolves or thieves. And besides, the ewes will birth more lambs in the spring. If one bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, how much are ninety-nine sheep worth compared to one lost sheep that may already be eaten? Likewise with the coin, losing money is bad. But while it is certainly worth a woman’s time to scour her house in search for lost money, at some point, if she doesn’t find it, she’ll have to call a loss a loss and make sure that she doesn’t lose what she still has.
Our Lord, being the great teacher that he is, thought about such barriers to understanding his parables, so he provided us with another parable to complement the first two, this time about a lost son and his father who loves him. The younger son asked for his inheritance early, pretty much telling his father that he’s tired of waiting for him to die. He then runs off to a faraway country, again telling his father that he wants nothing to do with him. He lives contrary to how his father taught him. He put his father to shame. Yet, his father continues to love him. He waits for him. And while he is still a far way off, he runs to him, embraces him, kisses him, clothes him in his best clothes and throws a party with the fattened calf for the main meal. In short, the father welcomes back his son with rejoicing.
I’m not a sheepherder, but I imagine I’d be pretty upset if I lost one of my sheep. I imagine I’d look pretty hard for it, but I can’t say how long I’d leave the other sheep. I know I’d look for lost money, but I also know what it’s like to lose money, and you know, you get over it. But I am a father. And I tell you, if one of my sons or daughters were to abandon me like the boy in Jesus’ parable and go off and live contrary to how I’ve taught him, I wouldn’t be able to focus on anything else. I would long for my child to come home. I would be like the father in Jesus’ parable, watching far down the road, anxious for his son’s return. I would do anything to have my child back, give up my wealth, become a servant, even die. And if my child returned, I would hug him, kiss him, and celebrate. And I think the fathers who first heard Jesus tell this parable thought much the same thing.
A common error made while interpreting the Bible is to say that when Scripture says that God is our Father or that Jesus is our Good Shepherd, or the Door, or the Vine, that it means that God is like a father, and that Jesus is like a good shepherd, a door, and a vine. But this is wrong. Jesus is not like a vine. He is the Vine (John 15) and we are his branches. No, Jesus is not a wooden plant that pushes out leaves and grows grapes. But he is that to which we must be joined through faith, or we have no life in us. Jesus is not like a door; he is the Door (John 10:9). No, he is not a slab of wood on hinges with a brass knob. But he is the only portal into eternal life. Likewise, Jesus is not like a good shepherd. A shepherd does not lay down his life for his sheep. But Jesus does. Jesus is our Good Shepherd (John 10:14). He lays down his life for the sheep, so that he may take it up again and win for us eternal life. Only the Good Shepherd does this.
God is not like a father. God is our Father. We are his children. And he loves us more than any father could ever love his own children. In Luke chapter 11, Jesus asks, “What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” We fathers are but flesh and blood. We love our children, sure. We want what’s best for them. Yet, we’re sinners. And we’re tried by the sins of other. And we don’t always know what’s best. But our heavenly Father does. The Psalmist says, “For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in.”
Our God is our heavenly Father. And he loves us so much that he sent his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ to die for our sins. That is why Jesus is eating with tax-collectors and sinners. He has come to seek and to save the lost. The father in Jesus’ parable said that his son was dead, but is alive again, he was lost and is found. That certainly is true about us. We were by nature children of wrath, dead in our trespasses (Ephesians 2). So, God sent Jesus to die for us and to come to life again, so that we who were spiritually dead and headed toward eternal damnation could be brought back to new life with Jesus through the power of his resurrection.
Because Jesus ate with sinners, he is sometimes portrayed as someone who does not care whether a person sins. He’s cool with sin. He’s accepting of your vices and lusts and would likely march in a pride parade. But that is a gross mischaracterization of Jesus. Yes, Jesus eats with sinners. Yes, he loves sinners. But Jesus does not condone sin. Jesus tells us that there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. To repent means to change your mind. It means to be sorry for your sins and to believe that God forgives you for Christ’s sake.
One of the saddest things is when people says that the Church rejected them and said that, because of a particular sin they’ve committed, that they were not welcome in church. This is the common perception. People think that they must change in order for God to love them. And I know that for many who are trapped in sin, whether in drug or alcohol abuse, adultery, homosexuality, pornography, or just being a total mess, they think that they must first fix themselves before God can love them. But they keep failing. They fight against their feelings, but they lose. They become exhausted and frustrated. And so, they listen to those who say that they don’t need to change; that what they know is wrong is actually good. And they instead embrace their sin as their identity. And so, you have people identifying themselves with their sin.
But God does not wait for you to change before he loves you. In fact, you are not able to change yourself. Only God can bring you to true repentance. You’ll notice that the lost sheep doesn’t find his way home. The coin doesn’t find the woman. And even the son wanted to be made a servant. It was his father who ran to him and made him his son again. God brings you to repentance through the proclamation of his word. He preaches the law, which is what he commands of us. This shows us that we are sinners and that we need to change. But the law gives us no power to change. Then he preaches the Gospel. The Gospel declares God’s love for us and how he saved us from our sins through Jesus’ death and resurrection. It is through faith in God’s love and forgiveness that we are truly repentant. That is when we are born again, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And having been born again from God, we then are able to fight temptation and sin through the aid of the Holy Spirit. But all the while, we remain God’s children, even when we are tempted, even when we sin.
God does not identify you by your sin. He doesn’t call you an adulterer or a lecher. He doesn’t call you gay or an abortionist or a gossip or a thief or a liar or a drunk. God calls you, his child. He seeks to save you from your sins. He desires to forgive you, to cast your sin into the depths of the sea. You cannot change yourself. Only God can change you. And he does this by forgiving you and making you his child.
This lesson warns against self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is when you think that you are already righteous before God, that you aren’t lost, that you don’t need to be forgiven. But we are all sinners. No one is righteous of himself. Without Jesus we are all lost. But this lesson doesn’t focus on us fixing ourselves. Rather, it focuses on God our heavenly Father having compassion on us and forgiving us. When God forgives us for Christ’s sake, he is calling us his children whom he loves. When God forgives us and we believe it, the choirs of heaven sing.
Jesus received sinners and ate with them, because God loves sinners. Jesus is God, the Father’s Son. His dining with the most hated sinners is a message to you that your sin cannot separate you from God’s love for you. However you’ve soiled yourself, Jesus desires to wash you clean. However far you have removed yourself from God, your heavenly Father wants you back home.
Jesus still receives sinners and eats with them today. The father in our parable killed the fattened calf, which would have been the most expensive meal reserved only for a special occasion. In Church every Sunday, we feast on the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the most precious meal reserved for the most special occasion. That occasion is sinners returning to their heavenly Father in repentance. The Lord’s Supper is a meal for sinners, because it gives forgiveness of sins to all who believe it. And the Lord’s Supper is a meal only for God’s children, because its benefits can only be received through faith. As we receive this meal in faith today, the hosts of heaven rejoice with our Father in heaven. And by God’s grace we will hear their cheers when we are finally united with them in eternity. Amen.

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Jesus Seeks and Saves the Lost

6/27/2020

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The Lost Sheep (The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ), Sir John Everett Millais, 1864. metmuseum.org. Public Domain

Trinity 3
Luke 15:1-10
June 28, 2020

The Pharisees grumble against Jesus saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” They mean for this to be an indictment against him, yet, they inadvertently speak the sweetest words of Gospel and describe Jesus as the kindest Lord and dearest friend of sinners. It is as St. Paul says, “whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.” (Philippians 1:18) Jesus receives sinners! No more comforting words have ever been spoken. Indeed, this is the heart of the Gospel! St. Paul writes, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am foremost.” (1 Timothy 1:15) This is why he descended from his throne in heaven and was found in human form. He came into the world for this purpose and this purpose alone: to save sinners.
Yet, these are exclusive words. Jesus came to save sinners and sinners alone. He did not come for anyone else. Earlier in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is likewise confronted by the Pharisees for eating and drinking with sinners and he responds, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31-32) If you are not a sinner, then Jesus did not come for you. If you want to eat and drink with Jesus, you must be a sinner!
Now, this does not mean that you need to go out and commit heinous crimes or live like a pervert, thief, or vandal in order for Jesus to take notice of you. No, you commit enough sins already even without exerting any special effort. Rather, you must become aware of your sin. Christianity is not about earning your seat at God’s table. Christianity is about recognizing your need for salvation; recognizing that you are a poor, miserable sinner, who deserves nothing from God but temporal and eternal punishment, yet seeing Christ Jesus as your salvation. It is only when you recognize your lost condition that you can see Jesus alone as your hope.
This is why Jesus says that there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. The angels in heaven, whose sole joy in life is to please God, rejoice with exceeding joy to see sinners become aware of their sin and their need for Jesus. They rejoice to see Jesus’ work bear fruit. The word, “repent.” means to change one’s mind. This is a change from a mind that does not know God, to a mind that knows God; a change from a mind that does not know grace, to a mind that knows God’s grace through Jesus.
The first part of repentance is to realize that you are a sinner and to mourn your sinful condition. The way you realize that you are a sinner is through the preaching of the Law. The Pharisees thought that the Law showed the way to eternal life, but they were wrong. St. Paul writes, “If a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” (Galatians 3:21-22) and again, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20) The Pharisees tried to justify themselves by their own works of the Law and remained purposefully ignorant of the sin of which the Law accused and condemned them.
These tax-collectors and sinners who gathered around Jesus are aware of their sinful condition. The Law has struck hard and exposed their wounds. They don’t come to Jesus as worthy lords to eat with their equal. No, rather they come as beggars, naked, who know they’re naked; dirty, who know they’re dirty; stinky and aware of their stench; hungry, and aware of their hunger. They know they are dying and they look to Jesus as the only one who can make them live.
The preaching of the Law seems unkind. It’s impolite to point out faults in others or to question their lifestyle. Yet, preaching the law is about as unkind as a doctor telling a patient he has cancer. It is necessary in order to get the necessary treatment! And Jesus is the necessary treatment to all who have the disease of sin. When you hear that you are breaking God’s commands, you should respond with sorrow for your sin. Do not be like the Pharisees and lie to yourself.
Repentance is not complete without faith in Jesus. The Law makes you aware of your sinful condition, but it give you no remedy. Only the Gospel, which reveals to you a gracious God, who sent his Son to die to take away your sins, can save you. Only the Gospel can complete this change of mind from one without hope, to one with certain hope of salvation.
Jesus tells a few stories to explain how this repentance is accomplished. I want to focus on the first two about the lost sheep and the lost coin. In these first two stories, Jesus is the shepherd and the woman. We sinners are the lost sheep and coin. You’ll notice with both of these stories; Jesus doesn’t talk a whole lot about what the sheep or the lost coin does. Rather, it is the shepherd and woman who do all the work. The Shepherd searches the lost sheep and when he finds it, he picks it up and carries it home on his shoulders. The lost sheep is completely helpless. It can’t find its way home. It is vulnerable to every predator from bears and lions to wolves and jackals. I once even saw a report of so-called carnivorous bushes, so named by shepherds, because of how lost sheep would get their wool stuck in the thorns of bramble bushes and would only get more entangled the more they struggled and would often die of thirst in the plant's clutches! Sheep are helpless. Jesus describes only the work of the shepherd to save the sheep; not the sheep to save itself. And the coin is even more pathetic than the sheep! It can do nothing but sit and wait until the woman finds it!
Jesus describes the work of repentance as his work, not the sinners! This conflicts with how we naturally think of it. We think of repentance as something we do to change our hearts. Yet, how can a sinful heart change itself? It cannot. Rather, God must change our hearts.
Just as it is God’s work alone, which sent Jesus to pay for our sins on the cross and rise from the dead, so also it is God’s work alone to turn our unbelieving hearts dead in sin to believing hearts alive in Christ. We look at the preaching of the Gospel as a work of men. But it’s not. Sure, men labor in studying the Word of God and proclaiming it in easy to understand words. That is a lot of work. It is a difficult task. But no human being can bring another to faith. It is God alone, who works through the preaching of the Gospel to create faith. God alone makes alive.
Yet, this does not mean that God works apart from the words of Christians. Faith comes by hearing and hearing from the word of Christ. No one ever came to saving faith apart from hearing the Gospel. Pastors preach the Gospel to their congregations; fathers and mothers teach the good news of Jesus to their children and bring them to church; Christians confess Christ before their friends and neighbors; this is how God creates faith in the hearts of sinners. The woman lit her lamp and swept the house, searching diligently for the lost coin. This is the work Jesus does through his Church to find what belongs to him. The lighting of the lamp and sweeping is the proclamation of the Gospel.
This great effort of the shepherd and woman shows to us how precious we are in Jesus’ sight. We are not worthy of God’s forgiveness, but that does not mean that we are not valuable to Christ. He paid a dear price for us. Knowing the cost, he paid the price to set us free with his bitter pain and death. And knowing every one of your sins, he seeks you with his promise of forgiveness and salvation. Jesus wasn’t ashamed to eat with tax collectors and sinners, cheats and fornicators. He wasn’t ashamed to clothe himself in their sins and wash them away in his own blood. And he is not ashamed to seek out sinners, to forgive them, to tell them that he knows their sins and he has covered them forever.
It might seem that since only one of the one hundred sheep and only one of the ten coins got lost, that this parable is about just a few individuals, but probably not you. Wrong. This parable is about you. You are the lost sheep; the lost coin. One thing that really bothers Christians is the fact that they still sin. You renounce your sin. You confess your love for Christ. You promise yourself and God that you will live a better life, but then you fall. Perhaps it’s a sudden slip into selfish anger or filthy lust; perhaps you’ve strayed away from God’s Word, fell from the faith, and lived as if God does not matter in fornication, greed, or violence. Or perhaps you’ve come to realize that the pretty exterior you’ve built up for yourself is really just whitewash on a tomb, and that nothing really good dwells in you.
This is painful and embarrassing; to call yourself a Christian, yet know that you don’t deserve that title. Yet, God doesn’t call you a Christian, because you deserve it. He calls you a Christian, because he bought you at a great price. You are his. The woman looked for a coin. Coins usually have the image of the head of state. Since our nation is a republic, we have dead presidents and founding fathers. But in nations with monarchs and emperors, it is the king whose likeness imprints every coin. You are God’s coin. His image is imprinted on you. This was done in your Baptism when you put on Christ. This means you belong to God. You are precious to him. He is going to seek you out. And he does this by proclaiming his forgiveness for Christ’s sake.
We gather every week to confess that we are poor, miserable, sinners, who deserve nothing by punishment. And every week Jesus receives us and forgives our sins. Jesus is not ashamed to be found with us. He rejoices that he has found what belongs to him. And the angels in heaven rejoice with him. Amen.

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Trinity 3 Rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents

7/5/2017

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Luke 15:1-10

"What does God say about all these commandments?", asks Martin Luther at the close of the Ten Commandments in the Small Catechism. The answer comes from Exodus 20:5-6, "He says, 'I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.'"

And St. Paul writes to the Corinthians, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

And this is by no means the only place that Scripture condemns these wicked sins and the sinners who do them. And to top this all off, the very first Psalm begins, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;" and the Psalm concludes, "Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish." (Ps. 1:5-6)

And yet here we find Jesus receiving sinners with favor and eating with them! To eat with someone, especially in first century Israel, is to join in fellowship with them. This is why the scribes and Pharisees are so upset. Is Jesus accepting tax collectors and sinners? Yes, he is. Jesus accepts sinners, just as they are!

How can this be? Is Jesus contradicting the rest of Scripture by accepting sinners? Is Jesus some type of liberal theologian, who dismisses the moral demands of God's Word? By no means! "I have not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them!" Jesus says. In fact, Jesus preaches the law more strictly than any other teacher sent by God. "You have heard it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment..." (Matt. 5:21-22) "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (vss 27-28) "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery." (vss 31-32) Thus does our Lord Jesus preach God's Law! And as we heard last Sunday, Jesus does not shy away from preaching about hell either.

And yet, here we see our Lord Jesus accepting and eating with tax collectors, adulterers, divorcees, yes murderers (whether in thought or deed). Does Jesus have a split personality?  Isn' t this a contradiction? No, here we meet the two main teachings in the Bible: the Law and the Gospel. The law is the love God commands of us. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. And if you do not love, the law condemns you to death and hell. The Gospel is the good news that Jesus died on the cross to wash away the sins of the world, so that sinners can be accepted by God. These two teachings do not contradict each other. Rather they serve each other. A sinner confronted with the law must fear God and despair of his own righteousness. The Gospel rushes in to comfort the broken sinner with God's acceptance and forgiveness. But if the law does not do its job, the sinner will not accept the Gospel. Rather it would be like throwing pearls before swine.

And so there are two types of sinners, those who are comforted by the Gospel of Jesus and those who receive no comfort from it; those who draw near to hear Jesus and are welcomed by him and those who will not listen and therefore will not join Christ at the table.

Notice that I did not say the two types of sinners are the really bad sinners and the not so bad sinners! No, Jesus accepts the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, swindlers, and every type of sinner. See how gracious Jesus is! The scribes and Pharisees hate these tax collectors and sinners so much. Why? Because they know or think they know their sins. But they don't know the half of it. They don't know their wicked thoughts and motives, the evil words they've said in private, and much of what they think they know is probably conjecture! Jesus actually knows!; not only their outward sins, but their private ones, done under darkness, in secret, even in the privacy of their own minds. If Jesus wanted to, he could expose every one of these sinners' most horrendous and secret sins. But instead he chooses to cover them. To hide their sins in his own flesh, as the Prophet prophesied, "He bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors." (Is. 53:12)

And so it is with you. Christ knows every single one of your sins. Not just the sins you know or others know about you. He knows the sins you think are secret, which no one else knows about, perhaps that you have even forgotten about. Yet instead of expose them and cast you into hell in shame and guilt, he covers them with his own blood and he covers you with his own righteousness. And it is this promise of grace that draws you, a sinner to Jesus.

It is not the severity of the sin that determines whether or not the sinner will sit at Jesus' table. It is whether the sinner repents, as Jesus says, "There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance." To repent is not only to be sorry for your sins, but to turn to Christ and listen to him, as these sinners in our text did. They came to listen to his words of grace, to believe in this forgiveness, and to learn from him how to live a life pleasing to God.

Last month, I recently learned, was so-called, "LGBT Pride Month," refering to lesbians, "gays," bisexuals, and transsexuals. Now obviously sexual perversion is not something to have pride in. Yet, there appears to be an even greater threat to Christians than the acceptance of sin, which is condemned in the Bible. Those who encourage pride in sexual behavior condemned by God himself are considered loving! People are even invoking Christ and his command to love as a reason to accept and embrace sinful behavior. And even so-called Christian church bodies have embraced homosexuality and other sexual immorality, refusing to condemn it, even performing "same-sex marriages" in direct defiance of God's command and some are even ordaining openly unrepentant homosexuals as pastors to shepherd Jesus' flock! And our children and young people are pressured everyday to accept these sinful behaviors as good and right and equal to the relations God has given to marriage between husband and wife.

So let me be clear: it is not loving to accept homosexuality or to encourage a person suffering with these temptations and sins to embrace or have pride in their sin nor does it in any way resemble our Lord's behavior toward sinners. Those church bodies that encourage people to continue in their sin are not doing the work of Christ, but the work of Satan. They are confirming poor lost souls in their sin and preventing them from joining Christ at his table. And God will hold them accountable, as the Prophet Ezekiel records God's command to his watchman, "Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand."(Ez. 33:7-8)

Those who struggle with homosexuality like all of us need Jesus. They are no different in that regard. And so as Christians we are to treat them with respect, be polite, and put the best construction on everything. But that does not mean that we encourage anyone to continue sinning or join in their sinning. Rather it is loving to encourage repentance and belief in the free forgiveness of sins won by Christ Jesus for everyone. You too need to repent every day. And as often as you repent and believe in the Gospel, your sins are forgiven before God in heaven.

Jesus did not walk in the counsel of the wicked nor sit in the seat of scoffers when he sat and ate with sinners. Rather, they listened to him. He corrected them in their sin and tenderly preached forgiveness to them. Jesus does not encourage anyone to continue in sin. Rather he rescues from sin, as God spoke in Ezekiel chapter 33, "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." (vs 11)
And Jesus, who is the Lord God himself, continued this same ministry when he proclaimed, "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Luke 5:32) Jesus never encouraged anyone to continue sinning. Those who do so do no favors to the sinner. They are like sham doctors, who refuse to tell the patient he has cancer, because he's afraid of his reaction. Jesus not only tells you that you have a disease, but he heals you. And this is why these sinners flock to Jesus. Not because he turns a blind eye to their sin, but because he cures them of their sin by forgiving them, no matter how grievous or socially unacceptable  their sin is.

It's no fun being a sinner. You do the things you know you shouldn't and the things you know you should do you fail to do. The demands of God's law are too much for us to bear. It's no wonder that so many have completely given up trying or have redefined what good is to comfort their own guilty consciences. Being a sinner makes you feel unworthy, even worthless. Well, each of us is certainly unworthy of God's love and affection. But no one here is worthless. You were bought with a price. Jesus determines your worth by what he paid for you: his very own suffering and bitter death. And this is why Jesus calls the entire heavenly hosts to rejoice with him over one sinner who repents. Every single one of Christ's sheep is important to him. You are important to Christ. As the woman could have no rest until she found the coin she lost, so Jesus can have no rest until he has you. And Jesus rejoices along with all his angels and all the saints in heaven, because he has brought you into his fold.

There is no sin so great that Jesus' blood cannot wash it away. And so there is no sinner for whom Jesus did not die. And so there is no one unwelcome in Christ's Church. Tax-collectors, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, murderers, child-abusers, gossips, slanderers, blasphemers, Jesus died for them all. And so he wants them all to join him at his table, to repent and receive the forgiveness of their sins. There is no place so welcoming as the Christian Church, no place so welcoming as this congregation, not because of how nice we are, not because we exchange eternal joy for temporary happiness, but because Jesus, the head of his Church, accepts all sinners. He forgives every sinner no matter their sin. And so you know he forgives you!

Let us pray:

"Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
And passing over transgression
For the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
Because he delights in steadfast love.
He will again have compassion on us;
He will tread our iniquity underfoot,
You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea."
In Jesus' Name.

Amen.

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"For faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." ~ Romans 10:17

The Value of a Sinner

A Father’s Love

Jesus Seeks and Saves the Lost

Trinity 3 Rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents

Rev. James Preus

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