​22nd Sunday after Pentecost – A (Proper 25)                                                LSB #’s 660, 570, 917
Text – 1 Thessalonians 2:2
 
But though we had already suffered & been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.
 
IN THE MIDST OF CONFLICT
 
 
Months ago, I scheduled the stewardship sermons for the past three Sundays.  They began October 8th & ever since October 7th, I’ve been wanting to address the topic of the current war in the Middle East.  However, months ago, I also picked the sermon title for this Sunday, “In the Midst of Conflict.”  Increasingly, our world is finding itself in the midst of conflict. 
In fact, there’s so much conflict that Russia’s war on Ukraine has completely vanished from the headlines.   The eighteen people murdered in cold blood in the state of Maine, & the anti-Jewish protests going on are also reflections of the conflict erupting across the world today.  The Hamas war with Israel is obviously the hottest conflict going on right now. 
It’s the hottest conflict that we can see & hear & read about, unless you get your news from the Holy Bible.  By the time St. Paul wrote his first letter to the church at Thessalonica, the hottest conflict of all history was already over & done with.  Satan had been defeated at Golgotha as Jesus destroyed death.  Christ’s resurrection on Easter morning proved that He won the war. 
What still troubles us is that Satan never surrendered, & while God continues to create people to spend eternity in paradise, many of them are rejecting the blessings of their Creator.  If everyone accepted the lordship of Jesus Christ there would be no conflict in our world.   God is perfectly holy & good.   All of us are evil.  You & I are the cause of conflict in our lives. 
“What causes quarrels & what causes fights among you?  Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?  You desire & do not have, so you murder.  You covet & cannot obtain, so you fight & quarrel.   You do not have, because you do not ask.   You ask & do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.  You adulterous people!  Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?    Therefore   whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”   Those words about conflict are from God & they’re recorded in the 4th chapter of the book of James.  (4:1-4 ESV) 
When the Word of the Law accuses, it rubs us the wrong way.   We do not want to hear that sin is our fault.  Neither Hamas nor the Israelis want to hear that sin is their fault.  The same is true of the Russians & the Ukrainians.  All conflict has its roots in the hearts of sinful human beings.   The 1st man blamed the 1st woman,    & the 1st born son murdered the 2nd born son. 
St. Paul was no stranger to conflict &, by the time he writes this letter, he was freely admitting that he himself had been the source of much conflict & evil.    Paul understood   the nature of evil & the nature of salvation.  He had been taught by God not to be shy in the midst of conflict.   In fact, he had learned that is when the gospel of God shines the brightest. 
So, in spite of being whipped & thrown into prison at Philippi, Paul & Silas traveled to Thessalonica anyway.  They brought the Good News of repentance & forgiveness to the people there.  Apparently, some people thought they were foolish to keep going with the same message that got them arrested & beaten.  In Thessalonians chapter 2, Paul refutes their arguments:
“But though we had already suffered & been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.”  (1 Thessalonians 2:2 ESV)  Though the gospel of God is meant for our salvation, because mankind is sinful, the good news actually causes conflict.   Evil cannot take the good news sitting down. 
Cain could not take Abel’s godly offering sitting down.   The leaders of the Catholic Church in the 1500’s could not take Luther’s clear exposition of the Gospel sitting down.   He was excommunicated in January of 1521 & on April 18th he gave his famous “Here I stand” speech.  Before the holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, Luther is reported to have said, “Unless I am convicted by Scripture & plain reason, my conscience is captive to the Word of God.   I cannot & will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe.  So help me God.  Amen.”   For that, the church branded him a heretic & he could be burned at the stake. 
Fortunately for him, the emperor had granted Luther safe passage if he appeared to speak.  Though encouraged by church leaders to go back on his word, the emperor refused, noting such an act would be dishonorable.  On his way home, Luther was kidnapped by the order of powerful friends & taken into hiding to preserve his life. 
In truth, God had protected Luther, just as He protected St. Paul, that Luther also might, “…declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.”    Many of us grew up in a time & place with little conflict regarding the gospel of God.  Though churches were far from complete agreement on the gospel there was very little chance of being burned at the stake. 
That experience is what we “see” as normal, but given the context of world history, we were blessed to be the exception.  Reformers prior to Luther were burned at the stake.  Tradition says that St. Paul was beheaded.  In recent times, ISIS gained notoriety for beheading Christians.  Relative to world history, in our time & place, we still face far less conflict for the gospel. 
 If Luther could face being burned at the stake for his trust in Jesus Christ, how does our witness to the love of Jesus compare?      Relatively speaking, we have nothing to fear & little price to pay, yet our love for our neighbor does not seem to burn very brightly.  And love for our neighbor is but a reflection   of our love for Jesus Himself. 
Earlier generations of Americans have gone through world wars & civil war.  They went through the “Spanish Flu” that killed millions more than Covid & they dealt with the unrest, upheaval & assassinations of the 1960’s.  War is now raging in the Gaza strip with fearful prospects that it might spread, & the percentage of Americans who faithfully attend worship services is dropping precipitously.  There appear to be more signs that our nation is failing, yet Satan is no more free to tempt us today than he has been for the past 2000 years.  We have been under his attack for all the years of our lives, most often with the temptation to complacency. 
 Fear is not all bad if it turns us away from ourselves & back to Jesus.   On many occasions the Word of God tells us, “Do not be afraid.”  Those words always presume faith in the Triune God’s ability to save.  If not for that, you & I have every reason to be afraid.  Instantly, upon eating the forbidden fruit, Adam & Eve knew that kind of fear. 
Our nation has a lot of conflict going on today over many different issues that all boil down to how people view authority.  Do people have a Biblical worldview, which is the only accurate one, or do they have a humanistic worldview, which says that man makes the rules? 
CFW Walther, the founding president of our denomination, in 1858   concluded a Reformation sermon with these words:
My friends, the fact that the Lutheran Reformation was an actual & therefore a complete one is important for us because it comforts & encourages us in the face of the deterioration under which the church of the Reformation suffers at the present time.   For if the Reformation was a work of God, which anyone can easily see who compares it with God’s Word, why should we be discouraged?  Men may mock & despise such a work, but they cannot destroy it.  People may forsake the fortress of our church & rob themselves of their heavenly treasures, but they cannot destroy this fortress.  It stands in the midst of the ocean of the world,  exposed to the waves of unbelief & error, assailed by the most fearful weapons of the mighty & wise of the world,
hidden by the clouds of heaven, withdrawn from the eyes of men by the smoke of battle, covered with offenses, yes already seeming to totter.  But take heart!  It does not fall, because it is built on a rock which lies deeper than the ocean of the world, upon the rock of the words of the apostles & prophets, with Jesus Christ the cornerstone, upon the rock of the eternal Word of God itself.  For God’s Word is nothing else than Luther’s doctrine, & Luther’s doctrine is nothing else than God’s Word.  Why then should we despair?   For, ‘all flesh is grass & the glory of man as the flower of grass.  The grass withers & the flowers fall, but the Word of God endures forever.’  (1 Peter 1:24-25a)   Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  God’s Word & Luther’s doctrine pure shall to eternity endure!” 
It is true.  Every man, woman & child here today is evil, & we have every reason to be afraid.   In our very prayers we ask wrongly.  With our daily actions, we covet, we fight & we quarrel.   We seek friendship with the world & with its treasures.  All the while Satan laughs. 
Yet, our heavenly Father sent His Son Jesus to take on human flesh  that He might personally speak to each of our hearts,  to each of our fears,  & say to each of us, “Do not be afraid.  I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  In this world, conflict will always be with us, but take heart!  Jesus has overcome the world. 
You are safe in His arms no matter what conflict may rage about you.  Amen. 
 
 
 
Just as I am, though tossed about with many a conflict, many a doubt, fightings & fears within, without,   O Lamb of God, I come.     Just as I am, Thou wilt receive, wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve; because Thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come.  Amen.  LSB 570:3, 5. 
 
 
 

Faithful Participants in God’s Mission – 3                                                    LSB #’s 901, 783, 782
Text – 1 Timothy 6:18
 
They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous & ready to share.
 
We Are to Be Generous & Ready to Share
 
 Every generation faces challenges & obstacles that appear insurmountable.    No one before us  has had to deal with the cultural issues on sex & gender that we are.  No one before us has had to deal with the threat of global nuclear war that confronts us today.   No one before us had to deal with the threat of fentanyl overdoses that our nation is experiencing now.  
Human needs for the care of body & soul  are huge.   Cries for help multiply on every side.  We live in a world that has many people living on the fringe.  With each passing year it becomes harder to imagine that anyone can make a real difference.  The demands on time, talents & treasures to get through each day  leave people exhausted & worn out. 
The result – it’s commonly a struggle  to always be generous for others.   Yet, in the 1st week of this series, the point was made that  there are reasons to hope for light  in our times of darkness.  The chief reason,  above all others,  is that through the work of Jesus Christ,  God has reconciled all people to Himself.   Mankind & God have been reunited since The Fall. 
You & I  are ambassadors of this reconciliation.  God is making his appeal through us.  While we live in a period of constant change, we remain steadfast in the promise of Jesus Christ to be our anchor.   We are not a people drifting aimlessly by the winds of the age.   We are reconciled to God; we are not living in the darkness.  
The darkness of this age, or any other,  does not rule over us because Jesus Christ is our victory.  We shine the light of salvation in a world of darkness.  Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.  A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do people light a lamp & put it under a basket, but on a stand, & it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works & give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”  (Matthew 5:14-16 ESV)   Followers of Jesus will not walk away from the love of God, His mission, or His Word.  They will be Faithful Participants in God’s Mission;   serving as ambassadors of reconciliation in this broken world  that is full of conflict. 
In the 2nd week of this series, the Scripture reading invited us to remember that we are God’s fellow workers.  1 Corinthians 3 highlighted the job description of being a worker in His kingdom.  By God’s grace, He desires to use us for His greater glory.  The grace of our Creator is revealed when He uses ordinary people like you & me.  
We are transformed by the Holy Spirit, who works through the means of grace – God’s Word & the Sacraments – to accomplish His mission.  Our Savior honors us with the opportunity to join Him  in His mission.  The job description would be impossible if it were not for the resources that our Creator gives to us. 
The work we do, sharing the reconciliation of God, is not a job from the past that’s been made obsolete by progress.  The growth of industry & science  do not replace the trust we have that God created us, the stars of heaven, the dry land & waters of the earth.  Technology does not replace the promise that God desires to have a relationship of grace & mercy  with each of us.  
Today we do more than just survive the day or live in the past.  Right now we share in the love of Jesus Christ.  We live with confident hope  that God is at work in our time.  In the book of Esther, Mordecai tells her, “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom  for such a time as this?”  (4:14b ESV)  
Esther used her privilege as queen to speak to the king of Persia  to save God’s covenant people.   For such a time as this  she was generous with her power & position.   It is for such a time as this  that you have been blessed by God to confront these times with faith in His mission.  Have trust in God’s ability to see you through these times.  Have confidence that He who called you to faith in Jesus Christ  will carry you in times of stress & uncertainty.  God provides us with everything we need to enjoy our participation in His mission.  To each of you, God has provided gifts according to His design.  
We have not all  been given the same gifts.  God chose to gift you with your particular blessings so you can be a unique blessing to others.   According to how each of you has been gifted,  the Holy Spirit calls to use those resources  in service to His design.  The Bible tells of people who gave from their blessings  & in so doing encouraged others to be generous as well.  
King David provided gifts for building the Temple that his son Solomon would build.   When he gave the gift,  he spoke not only of what he would give,  but used the opportunity to invite others  to also give  for the building of the Temple.  King David said:
“‘Using every resource at my command, I have gathered as much as I could for building the Temple of my God.  Now there is enough gold, silver, bronze, iron & wood, as well as great quantities of onyx, other precious stones, costly jewels, & all kinds of fine stone & marble.  Now then, who will follow my example & give offerings to the Lord today?’  Then the family leaders, the leaders of the tribes of Israel, the generals & captains of the army, & the king’s administrative officers all gave willingly.”  (1 Chronicles 29:2, 5b-6 NLT) 
 
Paul wrote to Timothy  cautioning the rich not to be conceited,  nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches.  Instead of placing our trust in that which can be here today,  & gone tomorrow,  Christians  rely on God.   It is He who cares for all our needs, just as He does the sparrow.  Relying on God  gives freedom to be generous with others because we trust in God. 
During a time of drought & famine, Elijah went out of Israel to Zarephath.  He met a widow & said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”  (1 Kings 17:11b ESV)     The woman feared  that she did not have enough to be generous & ready to share,  so she answered with her fears.  Elijah replied:
“Do not fear; go & do as you have said.  But first make me a little cake of it & bring it to
me, & afterward make something for yourself & your son.”  (1 Kings 17:13 ESV)    That exchange shows a woman who found life impossible,  so a man of God invited her to live with trust.  Generosity & readiness to share allow the impossible moment to be redefined by God’s love.  The drought & famine continued, but Elijah, the widow & her son knew they were not alone.  
The Lord provided & equipped the widow  with the ability to be generous & ready to share.   The generosity that you & I share  will not be the same,  yet our Lord has also prepared opportunities for us to be generous.   In Luke 21,  Jesus saw the wealthy putting their gifts into the offering box & He saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins.  Jesus said:
“Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them.  For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”  (21:3-4 ESV)  The generosity of the woman outweighed the size of the gifts  of the rich men. 
For such a time as this you are rich in good works – generous, & ready to share.  Love does not sit still.  Love  works.   With God’s grace,  our faithful giving & God’s mission become inseparable.  He will use you,  & your money,  to equip the church to do the work of the great commission.  The funding of the great commission comes through you.  
The money you have, which comes from God, has many purposes.  Use it to give glory to God.  Care for your family,  support people in need through acts of mercy,  & importantly fund the mission of the church.  Because of God’s power & wisdom, your giving is making an eternal difference in people’s lives.  Do not be afraid.  Amen. 
 
 
Take my life & let it be  consecrated,  Lord,  to Thee;  take my moments & my days,  let them flow in ceaseless praise.    Take my hands & let them move  at the impulse of Thy love;  take my feet & let them be  swift & beautiful for Thee.    Take my love, my Lord, I pour  at Thy feet its treasure store;  take myself,  & I will be  ever,  only, all for Thee.  Amen.  LSB 783:1-2, 6.

Faithful Participants in God’s Mission – 2                                                    LSB #’s 869, 835, 662
Text – 1 Corinthians 3:9
 
For we are God’s fellow workers.  You are God’s field, God’s building.
 
WE ARE GOD’S FELLOW WORKERS
 
 
In week two of the sermon series, “Faithful Participants in God’s Mission,” we’re talking about being God’s fellow workers.   As His fellow workers, you may be wondering about your job description.     
We have the operations manual  so  we’ll look into God’s Word  & structure today’s message in the form of a job description – the what & the how.   We’ll look at opportunities for continuing education,   the work environment,   & benefits. 
As God’s fellow workers,  we are called by Christ Himself to a life according to the well-known words of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:     
“And Jesus came & said to them, ‘All authority in heaven & on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore & make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father & of the Son & of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”  (28:18-20 ESV) 
No surprises there.  As you go, make disciples.  Baptize & teach.  Be Kingdom bringers!  But what can we expect as we seek to follow Jesus?   Here’s where we can’t be sure.   The Parable of the Sower shows that we are to go & share the Gospel all over the place, with the knowledge that saving faith may take root,   & it may not. 
Jesus often taught in stories that were ambiguous.  The outcomes were not clear.   The disciples often were left wondering.  It’s the same for us.  The work God calls us to enter into   with Him can be messy, uncomfortable, strange & scary.   We may not see the results in this life.  Or we may see results   that are not what we want.   Still, we share God’s love & His Gospel.  By His grace & by His power, we do the work.  God encourages us through the Apostle Paul  to keep on   keepin’ on:      “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,  knowing that in the Lord   your labor is not in vain.” 
God’s job description for us also has a lot of information on the HOW.   The way we go about bringing the Kingdom into this world is really, really important.  
SLIDE: THE “HOW” BULLET LIST:

• Bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2)
• Have trusting faith like a little child (Matthew 18:3)
• Mercy, not sacrifice (Matthew 9:13)
• Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly (Micah 6:8)
• Be a servant of all (Matthew 23:11)
• Love God.    Love others (Matthew 22:39) 

No problem, right?   In that list we see our absolute dependence on Jesus Christ; on His indwelling Holy Spirit.   That list is why He promises to never leave us nor forsake us, because He knows that what He’s asking us to do is impossible without Him.  This is why He promises that our labor for Him is never in vain.     
We have confidence & peaceful trust because the Son of God is with us.  And because we are not alone, we are receiving resources from the Holy Spirit as His fellow workers.   We receive continuing education as we work with God.  
In many places, God reminds us that we are strengthened for our work in this world through constant communication with Him.   1 Thessalonians 5:17 says very simply, “Pray without ceasing.”    He calls us to meet together for worship, to receive the Lord’s supper,  to build each other up, as Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:11, “Therefore encourage one another & build each other up,  just as in fact  you are doing.”   Throughout Scripture, God calls us to be in His Word consistently, constantly, steadfastly,   so that we increase in knowledge about Him.  Colossians 1:10, gives a summary of how that looks: “Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him: bearing fruit in every good work & increasing in the knowledge of God.” 
Dwelling in God’s Word gives assurance of our place in His Kingdom.  He promised salvation through the Messiah, & He delivered.   We are saved.   That is the launching-off point for the work God calls us to do.  It’s a firm, immovable foundation for our working environment, which is important given the somewhat ambiguous outcome of our endeavors.  
Here’s a couple other things you need to know.      At Matthew 10:22, Jesus warns us: “You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” 
Jesus expands upon that in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.    In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.”     Hatred & trouble.  In our country it has gotten more hostile in recent years, yet,   the world has never been friendly to followers of Jesus.  So He gives us a promise. 
Jesus assures us that He’s already won the war, & we are saved by the gift of faith.   In the midst of all the trouble, we have assurance, & with that assurance comes peace in spite of our fears.   So we’ve covered the basic work,   continuing education, the challenging work environment.    Lastly, we look at the benefits we receive in this job.  
There are many benefits, of course, one of the greatest being the possibility that we will actually witness people moving from Satan’s grip into the arms of Jesus.  Human beings moving from death to life.  And even if we don’t see that transformation in this life, we can be assured that one day, when we are together in heaven, we will know in full how God used us to bring His Kingdom into the lives of others.  If that’s not enough, we also look at a promise our Heavenly Father makes to us through the letter Paul wrote to Philemon:  
“As you share the faith you have in common with others, I pray that you may come to have a complete knowledge of every blessing we have in Christ.”  (God’s Word translation)  Look at the absolute words Paul uses as he describes the benefit of sharing our faith.    COMPLETE knowledge   of EVERY blessing   we have in Christ.  
This makes it clear that there is a whole new level of blessing which God gives to us when we share our faith.  We are already blessed enough by our salvation through Christ.   Yet God, in His glorious love, chooses to give even more when we partner with Him in Great Commission work.  Don’t we all love to get bonuses?    Here’s a heavenly one. 
So that’s the job description, & all the promises that go with it.  Except for why?   WHY do we do the work?  I can give you quite a list.  We do the work only because God freely gives His grace & power, allowing us to dwell with peace in His promises.  We do the work to praise God, giving Him all glory & honor for the sacrifice He made for us at Golgotha.  
We do the work to keep that message alive, to bring this hope to others who do not know the good news.  We do the work with hope & prayer, but never the guarantee that the seed we plant grows into saving faith.  
We do the work so that in the midst of the struggles & fears of this life, God’s otherworldly peace is always present, always greater.   We do the work of passing on this legacy through our children & their children, so they are equipped to share the truth of God’s hope with future generations. 
Yet, ultimately the answer to why is love.  Why does God invite us into the work He could so easily do on His own?   The answer is love.  He loves us so much that He wants you & me to experience the power, the majesty, the glory, of His Kingdom spreading on earth.   Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,      can you believe we get to do this, to be fellow workers with the God of heaven & earth?  Amen. 
 
 
On Galilee’s high mountain Christ gave the great command in words of strength & promise which all can understand: “All power to me is given to do what I shall choose; therefore I send My children, their witness I will use.”      The Lord who, born of Mary,  came down as man & died,  who preached to all who listened,  for us was crucified – this Lord,  our living brother,  in power at God’s right hand,  has chosen us to carry  His truth to every land.  Amen.  LSB 835:1-2.  

​Faithful Participants in God’s Mission – 1                                                    LSB #’s 380, 337, 922
Text – 2 Corinthians 5:17-20
 
We Are Ambassadors for Christ
 
 
This is the first week of our three-week stewardship emphasis Faithful Participants in God’s Mission.  The sermon text leads us to see how God can enable our revival in the Holy Spirit as we become Faithful Participants in God’s Mission.  The text is 2 Corinthians 5:17-20. 
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself & gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, & entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.  Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us.  We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 
 
Give your attention to that Word of God.  Hear the promise of the Savior’s love.   You may rejoice that you are invited to be part of sharing Christ’s love to others.   In that text, St. Paul uses the word reconcile again & again.  Did you notice the number of times the word shows up in the four verses of 17-20? 
Reconcile or reconciliation is used five times: “Who through Christ reconciled us to Himself; gave us the ministry of reconciliation…  God was reconciling the world to Himself.  …entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.  …we implore you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God.” 
Reconciliation recognizes that an estrangement has happened.  We have a need to be reconciled to God.  Because of sin an estrangement between God & mankind has occurred.  The conflict between us & other people in this world is real & it’s because of sin.   We can’t reconcile ourselves because we don’t have the ability or the power to reconcile. 
When we recognize that we have hurt & disappointed God, have been an embarrassment to our Creator, we can’t rewind the clock.  We don’t have the power to make things right again.  We can envision that there is a fracture in the ground.  The ground becomes separated with too much distance between us.   We can’t reach across the fracture.  We are on one side.  God is on the other side.  There are irreconcilable differences between us & God.  He is perfect, & we are not.    He is righteous.   We are unrighteous. 
Our Creator is the Author of time.  We are the ones who misuse time.   He is the One Who has designed us to work.  We are the ones who work against it.   God has created us in our blood & every fiber of our being.  We are the ones who shed blood.   Reconciliation on our own is impossible because we are unable to reach across the great divide. 
God wants us to have loving relationships with Him & with others.  As He created the world, God made Adam & Eve one flesh, in union with each other & with Him.   Their perfect, friendly, loving relationships were very good.  They were perfectly united hand in hand.   No breaks, no fractures.  Everything was in harmony & complete unity. 
In Genesis 3, Moses recorded that this perfect unity did not last.  Adam & Eve ate of the forbidden tree & sin entered the creation.  Instead of serving God, Who loved & cared for them, instead of trusting the truth of the Creator, they made themselves more important than Yahweh.  With pride & arrogance, they disobeyed God’s loving instructions. 
St. Paul wrote to the church at Rome, “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie & worshiped & served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!  Amen.”  (1:25 ESV)  In this moment of pride, Adam & Eve’s sin changed relationships.   Instead of being on friendly terms with God, they began to see Him with shame & fear.  
When God walked in the garden in the cool of the day, they hid.  They turned away from their Creator who sought them out.  Shame & fear are poison to relationships.  That poison kills.  It destroyed the relationship we still want to imagine having with God.    It destroyed the relationship between Adam & Eve’s sons Cain & Abel.  Cain killed his brother because of the shame that his offering was not received with the same favor as the offering of Abel.  The poison of sin & shame is something you & I cannot overcome.  We don’t have the ability to bring healing & reconciliation into our relationship with the Lord. 
The wages of sin is death.  What we deserve for failing to love God, what we deserve when we fail to love others, is for God to stop loving us.  The absence of God’s love is the hell & the eternity of being separated from anything kind or good.   What hope do you have that your relationship with God is not dead? 
Our family background has the blood of Adam.  We are sons & daughters of Adam.   All of our good works have fallen short of the glory of God.   Psalm 14, 53 & Romans 3 tell us, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” 
We are a people of fractured relationships.  Some differences can be reconciled, but the irreconcilable kind of differences lead to no good end.  The righteousness of God & the unrighteousness of our sin do not blend, do not mix, do not reconcile. 
The miracle of Jesus is that in Him the righteousness of God becomes present in the flesh even in this unrighteous world.  Our Savior is the Son of God, Jesus, who was sent into this world to reconcile us to the heavenly Father.  Jesus died for all people & broke the chains of sin for all people.  God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us.  
Yes, the wages of sin is death, but He became our death.  Jesus, the 2nd Adam, died for the sin of the 1st Adam.  He died for your sin, for my sin, for the sin of the whole world.   The sinful person who is unreconcilable to God has found an advocate in the One who is sinless – Jesus Christ.  His death shattered the chains of death.  Jesus Christ is your reconciliation.  He is your peace with death.  He is the one who reconnects creation to Creator.  That good news does not stop with Christ’s death & resurrection.  Everyone who has faith in Jesus has been given a new life.  They are a new creation.  Through baptism, we are washed into the name of Jesus, into His righteousness, into the promises of God. 
In Baptism, sinners are connected to the resurrection of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit.  In baptism we enter the kingdom of the living, the kingdom of the resurrection.   By His grace our relationship with God is not dead.  By the gracious death & resurrection of Jesus Christ we are now alive as a new creation. 
Mankind had ruined our relationship with God through sin, shame & fear.   Rather than taking away His love from us, Jesus revealed the love of God by sacrificing His life on the cross.  It is fitting we begin this sermon series with the theme for this particular sermon, “We are Ambassadors for Christ.”  
Our message from God to the world is that our hope is not dead   because Jesus lives.  God implores us to share that gospel message of reconciliation.  We are Christ’s ambassadors.  God makes His appeal through us.   Though we are sinners, God sees us   in His righteousness.  He forgives, restores & uses each one of us to bring His healing to other sinners.  
Each of us has been called, gathered, enlightened & sanctified by the Holy Spirit to be an ambassador for Christ.  No one is too young or too old,   too educated or too illiterate to be an ambassador of the good news.  
Of ourselves, we’d fall flat on our face in any role as ambassador.  Trusting in our own abilities to bring the reconciliation of God, everyone would remain dead in sins & trespasses.   Fortunately, we are not on our own.  We are redeemed in Christ & used by God to share His love with those who are still lost.  With God’s strength & presence, we walk in the good works He prepares in advance for us to do.  Sharing the good news of God’s love in His Son Jesus Christ, is the greatest act of stewardship that the Holy Spirit is working to accomplish through you & through me.  Thank God that He gives us the honor of being participants in His mission to bring eternal life into the hearts of so many harassed & helpless people.  Amen. 
 
 
 
The One whom angels tended   comes near, a child, to serve; thus God, the judge offended, bears all our sins deserve.   The guilty need not cower, for God has reconciled through His redemptive power all those who trust this child.    God dwells with us in darkness & makes the night as day; yet we resist the brightness & turn from God away.   But grace does not forsake us, however far we run.   God claims us still as children through Mary’s infant son.  Amen.  LSB 337:2, 5.  

17th Sunday after Pentecost – A (Proper 21)                                    LSB #’s 868:1-4; 454:1-3; 643
Text – Matthew 21:23
 
And when He entered the temple, the chief priests & the elders of the people came up to Him as He was teaching, & said, “By what authority are you doing these things, & who gave you this authority?”
 
YOU’RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME
 
 A young granddaughter was receiving instruction from a grandparent, & she wasn’t exactly in agreement with it.   In the midst of her frustration, she blurted out these words, “You’re not the boss of me!”       You don’t need a pastor to tell you, those words come straight from the heart of a sinful human being.    You yourself know that frustration all too well. 
Struggling to be under the authority of someone else is common in our broken world.  It’s a struggle at work.   It’s a struggle at school.   It’s a struggle at home.   It’s even a struggle at church.   Our broken world is filled with broken people who make for broken leaders.   Yet, even in the perfect world of Eden, two perfect human beings struggled to be under authority. 
In the Gospel reading, the chief priests & the elders came to Jesus & basically said to their Creator & Savior, “You’re not the boss   of me!”   Granted, they put their rebellion in slightly less obvious words, “By what authority are you doing these things, & who gave you this authority?”  (Matthew 21:23 ESV) 
Adults can be adept at disguising their disdain for authority, when that authority is anyone other than themselves.  Satan knew where to attack when he slithered out these words to Adam & Eve, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, & you will be like God…”  (Genesis 3:5 ESV)    Being like God is the kind of authority we find comfortable. 
Now, our Creator’s design is that mankind should have authority over the rest of God’s creation.  We find that word in Genesis 1:26, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.  And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea & over the birds of the heavens & over the livestock & over all the earth & over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’”  (ESV)    Man’s authority was to be a blessing for the rest of creation.   Sin turns that authority into a curse, through attitudes like greed, laziness & ignorance.   Some grandchildren don’t like to help clean up after dinner.  Some parents are too lazy to raise their children. 
A recent report from King’s College London suggests that parents in the United States are not concerned with their children being civil or even obedient.  Coming in nearly dead last in the two dozen surveyed countries, only 21% of American adults said obedience was a priority for children.    What did rank near the top of priorities?    Tolerance. 
Raising children to obey proper authority is not an easy task, yet God’s commandments include these words, “Honor your father & your mother…”  (Exodus 20:12 ESV)   In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus puts things in even harsher terms, “For God commanded, ‘Honor your father & your mother,’ &, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’”  (15:4 ESV) 
That’s not the cuddly & loving Jesus that secular & liberal scholars are willing to promote.  Their Jesus, who loves all with no repentance needed, is not reflected in His words, “Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.”  (15:4 ESV)    Neither is that the tolerant attitude that is near the top of adult American priorities. 
The problem that sinful human beings have with authority stems 1st of all from the innate desire to be our own god.  Jesus addressed that by paying for the sins of the whole world when He died on the cross.  Yet, our problems with authority don’t end there. 
We have been declared righteous in God’s sight.   We call that justification, but the process of our sanctification is still ongoing.   That is where the struggle comes into play   of teaching children to obey proper authority.   It’s where the struggle with being a godly parent, spouse, employee or student comes into play.  That ongoing & daily struggle is what wears us down & drives us to surrender in one of two ways.  Either we demand to be the authority, trying to tell others what to do, or we abdicate all responsibility & do nothing unless someone tells us what to do.   Either answer relieves me of the stress involved in balancing my reactions between authority & obedience.  How much should I lead & how much should I obey? 
Living under God’s direction seldom means only one answer or the other.   As God’s child you are called to both leadership & obedience.  As a parent, you are called to hand off authority to your child as they grow older.  As a child, you are called to assume authority when your parents age & are less capable of wielding it.  Those are difficult challenges to balance. 
We see that challenge beginning in Jesus’ life when, at the age of 12, He remains in the temple while His parents leave for home.  The balance between authority & obedience begins to shift.  When Jesus assumes His ministry, begins to preach,   teach & perform miracles, the Jewish leaders struggle greatly in relinquishing their authority to Him. 
Jesus had been associating with unsavory people like tax collectors & prostitutes.  He’d regularly been challenging the church leaders for selfishness, greed & hypocrisy.  Then, He’d gone to the temple & cast out the money changers.  The chief priests & the elders resented that Jesus was assuming authority.  They were struggling to accept their role of obedience. 
As the Gospel reading begins, the sinful nature of the church officials can’t help but tell Jesus, “You’re not the boss of me!”   Being the Monday before Good Friday, the time had come for Jesus to assert His authority on the cross.   The sinful shepherds of the sheep had failed in every way.   He must move them aside & assume His role in protecting the flock. 
However, this struggle for authority takes a dramatic turn in an entirely not sinful way.   Jesus again shows the people who are rejecting Him how to accept the life that He brings: “…A man had two sons.  And he went to the first & said, ‘Son, go & work in the vineyard today.’  And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind & went.   And he went to the other son & said the same.  And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go.   Which of the two did the will of his father?   They said, ‘The first.’   Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors & the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.’”  (Matthew 21:28-31 ESV) 
Jesus is making this point – the tax collectors & the prostitutes were the son who initially said, “No.”  Then they changed their mind & their direction.  They repented of their sin & believed that Jesus came to forgive them.   The chief priests & elders had tried to exert their authority by forcing these sinners into obedience.  That use of the Law will always fail. 
It is the good news of forgiveness that is the power of God drawing & empowering sinners into obedience.  Though Jesus calls out the chief priests & elders for their unbelief, He exerts His eternal authority over them not through use of the Law.  Rather, on Good Friday, the Son of God suffers & dies for their unbelief.   Through love Jesus calls them to repentance. 
Even the Roman Centurion who would oversee Jesus’ crucifixion eventually recognized who Jesus is, “Truly, this was the Son of God!”  (Matthew 27:54 ESV)    On Easter morning, Jesus exerts His divine authority in His glorious resurrection from the dead.  This also was good news, again calling the chief priests & elders to turn around & come back to their Creator & Savior. 
Jesus’s victory over sin & death throws open the door of the kingdom of God to believers repenting of horrific sin.   He understands how difficult is humble submission to authority.   He experienced that from the Garden of Gethsemane until it was finished on the cross.  Yet, never once did He say to His Father, “You’re not the boss of me!” 
To reject our Lord’s authority is to reject His love & His forgiveness.  It is to reject the very life that He gave to us here on earth & that He offers to us for eternity in heaven.  In this text from Matthew, the chief priests & elders of the people did not recognize Jesus’ authority.  They heard what He said but did not change their minds.  They saw what He did & did not believe.  For all of that, & for all of our rebellion, Jesus took the penalty that we might be clean.  The chief priests & elders were right to be scandalized by what Jesus said & did.   He was speaking & acting as God Himself!  Where they went wrong was in denying that Jesus is God. 
The appropriate response is repentance & faith as the tax collectors & prostitutes demonstrated.  How do we respond to the authority of our Creator?  Do we double down,   look for loopholes, or defer the blame?  In Baptism the almighty God called us into His kingdom.  He gave us a seat at the banquet in heaven, while we were still sinners. 
God sends His Holy Spirit daily into this world to empower sinners to repentance.  His Word connects the dots for us to eternal life.  As Jesus has said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”  (Matthew 11:15 ESV)   The you shall live.  Amen. 
 
 
 
 
Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle; sing the ending of the fray.  Now above the cross, the trophy, sound the loud triumphant lay; tell how Christ, the world’s redeemer, as a victim won the day.    Thus, with 30 years accomplished,  He went forth from Nazareth,  destined, dedicated,  willing,  did His work,  & met His death;  like a lamb He humbly yielded  on the cross His dying breath.  Amen.  LSB 454:1, 3.