In the Name of Jesus
Luke 6,36-42 (Matthew 7,1-5)
4. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 049Marcellina, Virgin, † 397
17. Juli 2011
1. O Heavenly Father, You are merciful, gracious, and forgiving. Often we attempt to help our neighbors without first examining our lives first. As such we treat our neighbor legalistically, judgmentally, and with little forgiveness. Help us to first examine our lives by Your Holy Word, repent of our sins of legalism, judmentalism, and lack of forgiveness, so that we, by the power of the Holy Spirit moving within us may help our neighbor with a heart of mercy, a gracious attitude, and a forgiving spirit. Amen.
2. Our sermon text for this morning, dear brothers and sisters, is from the Gospel according to Luke where the holy evangelist writes: Jesus said to the crowd: „36Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. 37Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.“ 39He also told them a parable: „Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. 41Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 42How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.“ This is our text.
3. „Christ our Lord very vividly gives us this clear key characteristic of our lives as Christians, that we are not to judge others nor condemn them but treat them with mercy and with the willingness to forgive the one another. How is this possible? Christ Himself tells us: The reason is that our lives as Christians are determined by three directional points:
III. by brothers and sisters in the Church“[1] (Martens § 4).
I.
4. In the Church, everything begins at the baptismal font. By Holy Baptism, we are brought into the Church. Some of us were baptized kicking and screaming, others were silent and peaceful, but all of us needing the cleansing of the baptismal waters. Your sinful nature of original sin harbored an unmerciful heart, a judgmental spirit, and an unforgiving disposition. All of these sins clung to you and were washed away in your Baptism. Your wicked, rebellious nature was drowned when the pastor poured water upon you and spoke the powerful words of Christ: „I baptize you in the Name of God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit“. Your sins and sinful nature deserved God’s wrath, judgment and condemnation, but God was merciful and gracious to you; He forgave you of all your sins. God the Father did not give you what you rightly deserved (which is punishment and eternal damnation) but He gave you what Jesus had earned for you (which is mercy and everlasting life). 5. By Holy Baptism, the Triune God made you an heir in His family, planted you in His Church, and instilled in you His very will and attitude. As God is merciful, so are you to be merciful to others. As God is gracious, so are you to be gracious and not harshly judging others. As God has forgiven your many and great sins against Him, so are you to forgive others whose few and minute sins have burdened you.
6. If you are honest with yourself, you quickly realize that you are only grudgingly merciful, often quick to condemn and judge others, forgetting nothing and forgiving less. Every one of us is like this, for it is the sinful human nature. It is easy to rationalize such attitudes and actions by saying: such people do not deserve mercy and forgiveness. The Pharisees thought this way, too. Crass publicans and sinners were not afforded their mercy and forgiveness, but they were stigmatized and harshly criticized as sinners. Jesus calls us to a higher standard of piety and practice. He does not want us to become Christian versions of the Pharisees who shun sinners and refuse to mingle among them. Christ came to save and forgive sinners. His Church is established for sinners and is full of sinners, including you and me. Christ exhorts you to extend mercy and forgiveness to your neighbors, and if they are sinning, to gently show them their sin and lead them to a better way of living. In this, we are following the example of Jesus.
7. Jesus exhorts you to repent of your lack of mercy, your judgmental attitudes, and your condemning nature. Holy Baptism leads to repentance and confession of sin. The life of the baptized is a life of daily repentance. Martin Luther urged the German parishioners in his 16. century congregation to daily remember and apply their Baptism, for Holy Baptism „means that the old Adam in us should be drowned by daily contrition and repentance, and die with all sins and evil desires, and should daily come forth and raised a new person who eternally lives before God in righteousness and purity“[2] (Small Catechism, 4. Question re. Baptism).
II.
8. Judgment Day will finally confirm a person: you will be stuck eternally with the sinful flesh or you will once and for all be separated from that sinful flesh with a glorious, baptized resurrected body. Judgment Day issues one of two outcomes: depart from Me you wicked sinners, or welcome into My eternal fellowship. Baptized believers in Christ Jesus as their crucified and risen Savior will hear the gracious invitation of welcome. For on this last day, you will be made complete: you will be merciful, you will be gracious, and you will be forgiving – every day for all eternity. III.
9. Until you attain the perfection of Judgment Day, your lives are lived in fellowship with one another in Christ’s holy Church. As such, life in this fallen and cursed world is a life lived in sin and among sinners. This is especially true in the Church. This is a congregation that is full of sinners, and that is as God the Father would have it, for His Son did not come to this earth for righteous people but for people who are sinners, people such as you and me. 10. As such, life in this world and the Church is a life lived as sinners. Christ exhorts you to be merciful with one another, to be gracious towards each other, and to forgive one another as God in Christ forgives you. Such Christian piety is not an easy lifestyle, for it is a piety that demands constant and daily discipline in Scripture reading, praying, repentance, worshipping each Sunday, and receiving the Lord’s abundant absolution. The Word and the Sacraments give to you the forgiveness of all your sins and strengthen you to be conformed in the image of Christ by the power and will of the Holy Spirit. For in being merciful, gracious, and forgiving to one another you are bearing upon your shoulders the burdens that your fellow Christian brothers and sisters bear. You may be weighed down and overwhelmed by your burdens, but we are here to bear the burden with you. In this way we lighten your load and comfort you in your sorrows. Jesus promises that He is with you until the end of this age, and where Christ is there is His Church and His baptized believers, so that we are with you: you do not walk alone, you do not bear your burdens alone, you do not suffer alone. We all walk together, support one another, and if necessary, suffer together for our mutual strength and edification. Amen.
11. Let us pray. It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to Your Name, O Most High. „O Holy Spirit, true Leader and Guide of all the elect…. Here we are upon wild and stormy waves, in an evil world; but help us through this all, so that we may finally attain to heaven and arrive at the Fatherland with joy after all these great tribulations“ (Löhe 343-44). Amen.
One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you!
All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the New Testament Greek Manuscripts, Luke © 1995 by Reuben Joseph Swanson.
All quotations from the Book of Concord are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche, 12th Edition © 1998 by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.
Martens, Gottfried. A sermon preached on 5. July 2009 (4. Sonntag nach Trinitatis) in Berlin-Zehlendorf, Germany on Luke 6,36-43. Copyright © 2009 The Rev. Dr. Gottfried Martens. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2011.
[1] Genau darum, Schwestern und Brüder, geht es im Heiligen Evangelium des heutigen Sonntags. Da macht uns Christus, unser Herr, sehr eindringlich deutlich, dass dies ein entscheidender Wesenszug unseres Lebens als Christen ist, dass wir über andere nicht urteilen und sie verurteilen, sondern ihnen begegnen mit Barmherzigkeit und mit der Bereitschaft, dem anderen zu vergeben. Wie ist das möglich? Christus selber zeigt uns hier: Das liegt daran, dass unser Leben als Christen von drei Richtpunkten bestimmt ist: – von unserer Taufe, – vom Jüngsten Gericht, – von den Geschwistern in der Gemeinde.
[2] Es bedeutet, daß der alte Adam in uns durch tägliche Reue und Buße soll ersäuft werden und sterben mit allen Sünden und bösen Lüsten, und wiederum täglich herauskommen und auferstehen ein neuer Mensch, der in Gerechtigkeit und Reinheit vor Gott ewig lebe.
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