Sermon for Reformation Sunday: "Free and Not Free"

 + Reformation Sunday (observed) - October 30th, 2022 +

Revelation 14”6-7; Romans 3:19-28; John 8:31-36

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

According to recent academic research on Google, how many religions would you guess are there in the world? The wisdom of the internet says somewhere over 4,200. But in reality, the number is far less than that. When it comes to the question of Luther’s day - how is one saved before God? - there aren’t thousands, hundreds, or even dozens of religions in the world. In truth, there are only two.

 

Free and not free.

 

To be sure, there are many religious beliefs out there. An endless list of gurus, guides, and religious figures. But the end result is the same. There are only two religions in the world. Free and not free.

 

In the religions of the world, no matter the leader, text, or beliefs, the question of salvation finds its answer in what you do. You must follow the 8-fold path. You must adhere to the five pillars. You must keep the Law. It’s all up to you. You must earn. Ascend. Follow. Obey. This is the way of man’s religion, and of all the religions in the world, save one. Salvation is not free.

 

Not so in Christianity. In the Christian faith salvation is free. By grace you are saved through faith in Christ and this - the faith and the saving - are not your own doing. In the Christian faith sinners are forgiven freely for Christ’s sake, the guilty are pardoned, we who were dead in our trespasses are made alive in Christ Jesus. Christ justifies the ungodly. 

 

For there is no distinction: ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

 

This good news - which Luther rediscovered, and which launched the Lutheran Reformation - this good news was not what Christians in the 1500s knew and heard when they looked for comfort for their conscience, or sought assurance for their salvation, or wrestled with sin, shame, guilt, and death. Instead of turning to the cross, Christians were directed to their own efforts, to relics, pilgrimages, acts of penance, indulgences. Over time, much of the Christian faith had come to resemble every other religion in the world…not free.

 

Around 1,500 years earlier Jesus spoke to a group of Jews who believed in him. They too were not free. 

 

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 

 

The truth will set you free. Not “a truth,” “your truth,” or “my truth.” As we so often hear in our day. Not the subjective, squishy, jello jiggling inside of you kind of truth. But real, outside of you, objective truth. The truth. Truth that is found not in our works or wits, in our words or our feelings, but the Truth in human flesh. When Jesus says the truth will set you free, he’s declaring that he is the Truth; his word is truth; and he is the one who sets us free.

 

This is what he was teaching those Jews who believed in him. Jesus’ word makes you his disciple. Jesus’ word sets you free. Still, the Jews who were there with Jesus clung to the religion of the sinful flesh, the religion of the not free. They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

 

You can hear their pride dripping from their words. We are offspring of Abraham. That was their assurance, their get out of jail free card. But they were not free. “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 

 

Our problem is the same as it was for the Jews in John 8 and Luther in the 1500s. Sin enslaves. Ensnares. Holds us captive. Do you fear, love, and trust in God above all things? Do you use the name of God rightly in worship and prayer? Do you gladly hear and learn God’s Word? Do you honor father, mother, and other temporal authorities? Do you help you neighbor in every need? Do you keep marriage pure and encourage others to do the same? Do you help your neighbor protect his property? Do you defend the reputation of others by putting the best construction on everything? Do you desire what doesn’t belong to you? Are you content with what you have? The truth is no, we are all slaves to sin, as Israel was once a slave in Egypt. On our own we are not free.

 

But you are not on your own. You are not alone. You are no longer slaves to sin. if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. This is why Jesus was teaching those Jews in John 8, why Luther’s teaching in the Reformation spread like a viral video. Jesus in his saving word was working to set them free. Sets you free as well. Where we deserved death, Jesus died in our place to give you new life. Where we had sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, Jesus justifies us freely in his death on the cross. Jesus took our guilt to pardon you. Jesus took our shame to cleanse you. Jesus took your slavery to sin to set you free in his dying and rising.

 

The Son became the slave so that the slave might become the son. And if the Son sets you free, you are free as free can be.

 

That’s what Martin Luther discovered when He looked at the cross of Jesus and for the first time in his life saw mercy rather than merit. Undeserved kindness rather than an example to follow. When he heard that phrase “the righteousness of God” and recognized that this was not something you worked for but something given as a gift through faith. In his fear and despair, he finally heard that the Law of God, no matter how holy and good and just it is, cannot save. It can only drive you to Jesus seeking mercy, which is what it’s supposed to do. The Law is there to shut every mouth so that no one can boast before God. Through the commandment comes knowledge of sin. The Law cannot set you free.

For that, God has another word, a word of Good News. God declares the unrighteous to be righteous. God justifies the ungodly. He declares the sinner righteous in the righteousness of Jesus. All have sinned; all fall short of the glory of God; all are justified by God’s grace, a gift, given freely through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus through faith in His blood.

Remember, there are only two religions in the world. Not free, where it’s all up to you. And Free - where it’s all done, accomplished, completed, purchased, and won for you in Jesus crucified. 

In Jesus you are free. Free from the commandment. Free from the obligations of the Law. Free from the Law’s condemnation. Free from enslavement to Sin. Free from Death. Free to live before God as a justified sinner. Free to serve your neighbor in love. To be freed by Christ is to be healed. Made whole. Rescued. Redeemed. The Son has set you free. And you are free indeed.

 

A blessed Reformation Sunday to each of you…

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon for Pentecost 20: "The Pharisee and the Tax Collector"

 +20^th Sunday after Pentecost – October 23^rd, 2022 +

Series C: Genesis 4:1-15; 2 Timothy 4:6-18; Luke 18:9-17

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

As a kid I always enjoyed watching Shaggy, Scooby, and the gang set out on their capers, follow the clues, until they finally caught the bad guy. And just about every episode ended the same way: the villain was unmasked. 

 

Jesus is doing something similar in today’s gospel reading from Luke 18. Jesus is unmasking the villain of self-righteousness. Jesus is revealing….

 

“He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt…”

 

Notice the setup by Luke. Jesus delivers this parable to whom? No one called out by name. No specific group called out. It’s simply addressed… To some who trusted in themselves. If that doesn’t make us squirm a little bit already at the beginning of this parable, it should. Kind of like the old joke…”Pastor, that was a great sermon on humility. I know someone who really needs to hear that.”

 

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 

 

Jesus is setting up the parable. For his first century hearers, the Pharisee is the good guy. Religious. Pious. Admired and respected in the community. And on top of it all he fasted twice a week and gave a tenth of all he had, down to herbs in his garden. 

 

The tax collector, on the other hand, would’ve been seen as the bad guy. He was despised. A sellout. Traitor scum. He paid the tax of his region to Caesar in return for a license to collect whatever he could from his own people.

 

Now, when we hear this parable, we tend to hear it just the opposite. We imagine it almost like one of those western melodramas. When the pharisee takes the stage. We jeer: Boooo. Hissss. When the tax collector kneels down we cheer: huzzah. And applause.

 

We think we know who the bad guy, who the villain is. It’s easy. We get it. Jesus is telling this parable to those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt. We love watching Jesus go after the pharisees. Just listen to how the pharisee prays… I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 

 

Listen to this guy. I…I…I. It’s a prayer all about him. And he’s so judgmental. He’s so arrogant. He thinks he’s better than everybody else. He’s so proud of doing the right thing all the time. Pharisees are the worst. Thank you Lord, I’m not like them.

 

Do you see what our Lord has done? By telling this simple story, our Lord has unmasked us. You are the pharisee. I am the pharisee. Jesus speaks this parable against me. He reveals our own self-righteousness and our trusting in ourselves. After all, there are only two places we can really put our trust and faith in…either in ourselves or in Christ. And this was the pharisee’s problem and ours. 

 

And this is what our Lord’s parable does. It unmasks us. It reveals that all too often we place our trust in ourselves, and not in Christ. 

 

The only way to become the good guy in this story is to realize that we are in fact the bad guy. The way of life in God’s kingdom is to realize that we are dead in our trespasses and sin. The way of healing is to realize we are deathly ill and in need of Jesus the good physician. The way to becoming the tax collector is to see that within each of us there is a proud, self-righteous, self-centered, pharisee. 

 

But of course, that’s the point. Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled…by God, but the one who is humbled by God will be exalted…by God. When we are humbled, it’s God’s doing. When we’re exalted it’s God’s doing. It’s all his doing for us.

 

So, our Lord humbles us in order to exalt us. He unmasks our villainous sin so that he can clothe us in Christ’s redeeming righteousness. When all we deserve is the judgment of the pharisee, instead, our Lord Jesus gives us the mercy of the tax collector and sends us home justified.

 

When all we deserved was a guilty verdict, our Lord pardons us. Jesus took all our self-righteous, all the times we’ve trusted in ourselves, every thought and word of contempt for others and he humbled himself unto death on the cross in order to exalt you in his dying and rising. 

 

In Christ, we too, pray the prayer of the tax collector. We pray the prayer of the pardoned sinner. We pray with the tax collector, covered in the mercy and atoning sacrifice of Jesus. 

 

‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

 

Remember the location where this parable takes place. It’s the temple. The place of sacrifice. The place where God made atonement for his people. That’s what this tax collector is praying for, not just mercy, but the mercy that comes in the atoning sacrifice for sins. And that is exactly what Jesus gives freely, abundantly, graciously to you in his dying and rising. Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, for the pharisee, the tax collector, for you and me. Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for all the times you’ve trusted in yourself. 

 

Whenever we come to our Lord’s house, we come before our Lord as pharisees, humbled by his word. And yet, even though we have nothing but empty, beggar hands before God, we leave here as tax collectors.

 

Today, and every day in Jesus, you go home justified by grace through faith in Christ.

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

 

Funeral Sermon for Loren Bartels: "The Great Things of God"

  

+ In Memoriam – Loren Bartels: February 7, 1934 – September 23, 2022 +

Psalm 126; Malachi 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 15:51-57; John 11:17-27

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

Above the altar in Isenheim, Germany stands a famous altarpiece painted by Mathias Grunewald. Off to the right side of the painting stands John the Baptist, the Scriptures in one hand, the other hand is pointing the viewer to the center of the piece…to Christ crucified. Behind John the words painted in Latin read “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

 

As I thought about the life and faith God gave, and still gives to Loren, and will give to him and to all who believe in Christ in the resurrection on the Last Day, I kept coming back to that Grunewald’s painting of John the Baptist pointing the way to Jesus, and to John’s words…he must decrease, and Christ must increase. 

 

That’s the way it was for Loren as well. I must decrease. Christ must increase. In fact, on more than one occasion, Loren told me that when it came time for his funeral there would be no testimonies. He even wrote it down just to make sure we remembered. No spotlight on him. No center stage. Just tell the preacher to tell my family and friends what’s really important, he said; to know Jesus died and rose to save you. That in Jesus you receive eternal life by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

By God’s grace, that’s how Loren lived, with the Scriptures in one hand, and with the other he pointed his family, friends, church members, and anyone he had the opportunity to say it to, that Christ had died and risen to be his savior, and yours. 

 

Psalm 126 says it this way, “The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad.”

 

Yes, the Lord has done great things for Loren. The Lord called him into the Church, the body of Christ through the new birth of washing and regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon Loren in the waters of baptism. The Lord has done great things for you as well; you who are baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus. For you have put on Christ. You are covered in his perfect life, death, and resurrection. You are washed. Cleansed. Adopted by grace into God’s family.

 

And if you have yet to be baptized, I can imagine Loren saying something like, “Come on in; the water’s fine. God’s gift is free. Salvation is yours. Forgiveness, grace, mercy, it’s all here for you in Jesus. We must decrease. Christ must increase. The Lord has done great things for you too.”

 

Yes, Lord has done great things for Loren. God fed and cared for him, from those hard days working on the farm, through his time in Army, and down through the years as he raised his family and rejoiced in God’s gifts of children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren. The Lord also fed and cared for Loren as he received the Lord’s body and blood in communion with his Savior and yours. 

 

He knew and believed what the Scriptures said about him, about each of us, that we are sick and broken and dead in our sin, but that in Jesus there is true healing. In his body and blood are the medicine of immortality. In the hands of Jesus our Good Physician you are safe, secure, and saved.

 

Indeed, the Lord has done great things for Loren, and for you. And none greater than what Paul proclaims in 1 Corinthians 15. Death is swallowed up in victory. On the cross, Jesus destroyed the last enemy. Death itself is dead. On the cross, Jesus crushed the serpent and our sin forever under his feet. Loren’s sin, your sin, my sin – it’s all cancelled, washed away, and covered in the blood of Jesus. On the cross, Jesus gave his life for Loren and for you. And then three days later, Jesus rose from the dead to give new life to Loren and for you.

 

That’s where John the Baptist is pointing us in that painting, just like Loren was pointing you in your life and conversations together…to the great things that God has done for you in Jesus’ dying and rising. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 

 

Jesus’ death and resurrection is an end, the end of sin and death. And Jesus’ dying and rising is also a beginning. The beginning of new life. The beginning of the great things the Lord has done and will do for Loren and for you. As St. Paul writes…

 

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,  in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.  For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 

 

The same Lord who was born for you, lived for you, suffered, bled, and died for you, who rose from the grave for you and ascended for you; he will one day return and raise you from your grave. He will call out Loren’s name and your name as he called out Lazarus’ name at the tomb in John 11. And Loren, and you and I will rise again. Our perishable bodies will put on the imperishable gift of resurrection and new life in Christ. Our mortal bodies will be raised to life and immortality in Christ to live with him in the resurrection of the body. Our broken, sin-sick bodies will be healed, made whole, cleansed and holy to stand before our Redeemer with Loren and all the saints as we rejoice in the great things God has done for Loren, for you, and for all.

 

As Jesus said to Martha, he says to you today. “I am the resurrection and the life.^[ Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 

 

Loren did. And by God’s grace, so do you. 

 

For the Lord has done great things for us; and we are glad.

 

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen. 

 

 

 

 

Sermon for Pentecost 18: "The God of the Broken"

 + 18^th Sunday after Pentecost – October 9^th, 2022 +

Series C: Ruth 1:1-19; 2 Timothy 2:1-13; Luke 17:11-19

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

What do you usually do when something is broken? Try and find a fix…get out the duct tape and WD40? Maybe look up how to fix whatever it is on YouTube? Odds are that most of the time most of us will simply take whatever’s broken and throw it out and replace it.

 

What about our Lord? What does he do with those who are broken? Well, we get to find out in today’s gospel reading from Luke 17. We quickly see that Jesus is the God of the outcast, the lost, the broken.

 

On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance…

 

If there was anyone in the ancient world who was a picture of being an outcast and broken it was someone who had leprosy. They were considered the lowest of the low. Sick and broken beyond a cure. Not only that, leprosy rendered you ritually unclean, which meant that that you were completely cut off. No temple. No sacred festivals. Not even your own home was open to you. If anyone came near you, you were expected to move out of the way. If anyone came near, you were supposed to cry out, “Unclean! Unclean!”

 

Most folks in Jesus’ day avoided leper colonies like this one. Stayed away from those who would render them ritually unclean as well. But not Jesus. Jesus comes to them. Jesus draws near to the outcast and the broken. On his way to Jerusalem, traveling between Samaria and Galilee, Jesus intentionally walks right to these 10 lepers. Jesus is the God of the broken.

 

They lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 

 

They longed for mercy. No doubt Jesus’ reputation had preceded him. They had heard of his healing. Heard of his compassion. Heard of his power to heal. And they hoped that he would do the same for them. 

 

Jesus…Lord, have mercy. We sing and pray that same prayer as we gather together here in the Lord’s house. As we hear and receive his compassion for us in the healing, saving power of his word, water, body and blood. Jesus is the God of the broken in this place as well. 

 

When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. You can only imagine their faces as they looked at each other in amazement. AS they looked down at their hands and back again to each other. They must’ve been absolutely giddy with joy, dancing, hooting and hollering, high-gives and fist-bumps all around. And then nine of them went off to the temple to show the priest. To go through the Levitical ceremonies that would render them ritually clean again. 

 

But not all of them. One of them, upon seeing that he was healed turned around. Headed back down the road. Found Jesus. And this time he didn’t keep his distance from Jesus. He fell down on his face. He gave thanks. He worshipped Jesus. 

 

This is where we find out that not only was this fellow a leper. He was also a Samaritan. So often this is how it goes in the gospels. It’s the lowly, the outcast, and the broken who see Jesus for who he is and they believe in him. Trust him. Have faith in him. The sinners, tax collectors, and Samaritans. If lepers were lowly and outcast, a Samaritan leper had to have been even lower. He had no priest to run off to see. He could not go to the temple. He had nowhere to go to, except to Jesus. 

 

The same is true for us. True, we may not be social pariahs like lepers were in the first century. But I’m sure there are plenty of ways we find ourselves feeling outcast in this sin-sick fallen world. And I’m sure there are plenty of days when we feel helpless, hopeless, and broken. Jesus, master, have mercy on me. In our pain and suffering, in our shame and guilt of sin, in those moments when words for prayer seem to fail us or escape our lips, let these words fill your heart, mind, and mouth. Lord, have mercy. 

 

These are not desperate words. They are words of hope. Like the Samaritan, we have nowhere to go to, except Jesus. And there is nowhere and no one better to turn to in our brokenness. For you do not have an absent, aloof, or callous God. You have Jesus, the God of the broken. The God who dwells with you and for you in your suffering – whether it’s body, mind, or soul, or some whirlwind of it all – he is with you. What does God do with broken people? Toss us out? Throw us aside? No.

 

You have Jesus who runs head, hands, arms and feet first to take all the brokenness of our sin, the ugliness of death upon himself on the cross and to save you. Jesus was the only temple and priest and savior the Samaritan man needed; he is all you need as well.

 

Recognizing this, the Samaritan man returned and gave thanks. “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? ¹⁸ Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 

 

What happened to the other nine…why didn’t they return to thank Jesus? We’re not told. But we are told what happens to the Samaritan man. Jesus praises and honors the Samaritan man. “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” The better translation is your faith has saved you.

 

And in this Samaritan man we see a picture of our life and faith in Christ as well. Jesus comes to us in our brokenness. Heals us. Rescues us. Saves us. And after all that, what else is there to do but to thank and praise, worship, and rejoice in Jesus, the God of the broken. The God who is and always will be full of mercy and healing for you.

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

Sermon for Pentecost 17: "Forgiveness and Faith"

 + 17^th Sunday after Pentecost – October 2^nd, 2022 +

Series C: Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4; 2 timothy 1:1-14; Luke 17:1-10

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

If you wanted to summarize Jesus’ teaching in this morning’s reading from Luke 17, you could do it in two words: Forgiveness and Faith. Jesus shifts the focus from the Pharisees back to his disciples, and apostles. 

 

Jesus said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come!  It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”

 

Jesus begins with forgiveness. Not God’s forgiveness of us, but our forgiveness of the fellow believer who sins against us. It’s one thing to say, “I believe God forgives me, that He takes away all my sins, and doesn’t hold them against me.” And that’s true. God forgives our sins, graciously and outrageously even. The stumbling block Jesus warns against here, however, is when someone repents and there’s unforgiveness. After all, it’s quite another thing to forgive when we’re the ones sinned against. As C.S. Lewis once said, “Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea until he has something to forgive.” (Mere Christianity). 

 

And yet, Jesus says, “you must forgive him.” The only antidote to sin is forgiveness. Unforgiveness simply perpetuates and amplifies sin. When we refuse to forgive our brother or sister seven times in a day for the same sin, we’re not only hurting them by denying them forgiveness, we’re also hurting ourselves. We’re calling into question the whole notion that forgiveness is unmerited, undeserved grace.

 

Jesus is teaching his disciples that his church is to be known as a mouth-house of God’s undeserved forgiveness for outrageous sinners. That is our aim as a congregation and in our vocation. It’s our hope and prayer that when people in our community think about Beautiful Savior, or when they come into contact with you in your daily life, that one of the first things that comes to mind is that this is a place of God’s forgiveness, and we are a people of forgiveness. People who are forgiven much, love much. And forgive much. 

 

This is the way of life in God’s Kingdom. God in Christ has forgiven you, and continues to forgive you entirely without any merit on worthiness on your part. He forgives you knowing full well you’ll sin again. He forgives you recognizing that you are a justified sinner, a sinner declared righteous, one who is both sinful and righteous at one and the same time. He forgives you entirely for Jesus’ sake, on account of His blood, His death, His perfect life. 

 

Forgiveness, like faith, doesn’t come from within us. It flows from the merciful heart of Christ and flows through you to those around you. Jesus reconciles us sinners to the Father, and He reconciles us to our brother or sister who has sinned against us too.

 

After hearing Jesus’ words on forgiveness, it’s easy to see why the apostles cried out, “Lord, increase our faith.” 

 

The disciples asked Jesus to add to their faith. Notice what Jesus doesn’t say about faith. He doesn’t pull a page out of the TV preacher’s sermon and say, “Listen guys, if you just had more faith – Costco toilet paper size faith - you could do anything.” No. Jesus says the opposite: 

 

If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

 

Ironically, Jesus says we need small faith. Not big faith. Faith like a mustard seed. And the thing about seeds is that they’re small, often hidden from sight. A seed doesn’t grow by watching it. You plant it in the ground, it’s hidden in the dirt for months, and eventually it grows. 

 

So it is with faith. Jesus doesn’t give us faith so that we admire and boast in ourselves. He gives us faith like a mustard seed. Faith that is hidden in the tree of his cross. Faith that we’re buried with him, like a seed, in the dirt of his tomb, and sprung to life in his resurrection. Faith that comes by the sowing of Jesus’ word in our ears, and is planted and takes root in our heart, soul, and mind. Faith which is fed, forgiven, and nourished by Jesus’ body and blood. Faith, that by God’s grace we would grow and live in faith towards God and fervent love towards one another. Fervent forgiveness for one another. 

 

“Lord, increase our faith,” the disciples said. The disciples got it half right anyhow. They recognized what we so often recognize when we come face to face with God’s word: if faith is required, I don’t have enough. Thankfully, faith is something God works in you, not something you work in yourself. 

 

The disciples, as they usually do, also got it wrong however. Faith can’t be sized or quantified. It’s not a matter of big faith or little faith. It’s not like ordering a super-size meal at McDonald’s or leveling up with a mushroom in Mario Brothers. Faith looks to Christ, not ourselves. And the moment we take our eyes off Christ and focus inward, on ourselves, we’re like Wiley Coyote when he realizes he’s off the cliff running in mid-air. Faith in ourselves will always fail. 

 

Thankfully, faith – like forgiveness – is God’s free, unmerited, gracious gift. Hebrews says we look to Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. The faith God requires, he gives, freely and abundantly, just like he does his gift of forgiveness.

 

Jesus, our merciful master of forgiveness and faith. Jesus, who came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for you. He’s the Suffering Servant who bears our sins. He’s the sinless Son who became sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus is the merciful Master who calls His servants from the field at the end of the day and doesn’t interrogate them over what they’ve done or haven’t done. He doesn’t make them wait on Him. He serves them. He invites you to His table. He washes your feet. He feeds you with His food and drink. While we’re busy saying, “We are unworthy servants,” Jesus says to you today, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” It’s all by God’s free, unearned, unmerited, undeserved, gracious gifts of Forgiveness and Faith.

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.