Populus Zion (Advent 2)

Populus Zion – December 7, 2025

Psalm 80; Malachi 4:1-6; Romans 15:4-13

St. Luke 21:25-36

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

The word “advent” means “coming.” Now the world treats this time as the “Christmas season,” by shopping for Christmas presents, holding Christmas parties, decorating houses, and making travel plans for the Christmas break from school and work. There is nothing wrong with participating in these things. We do live in the world even if we are not of the world. Yet the temptation is to become wrapped up in these activities of the world and to forget the purpose of the season of Advent.

Like the world, Christians use the time of Advent for preparation, but the way in which Christians prepare and the occasion Christians are preparing for are quite distinct from that of the world. During Advent, we reflect, contemplate, and prepare for the three ways in which Christ comes. First, He came in the flesh, born of the Virgin Mary. The eternal Son of God descended into the flesh of man, sharing in our humanity that we might receive His eternity. Second, He comes to us today, through the reading, preaching, and meditating on His Word. He also comes to us bodily in His Holy Sacrament. He comes in the mutual consolation of our Christian brothers and sisters, as they share with us His Holy Word. Finally, we look forward to His final coming, when Christ will reveal Himself to the nations, make His final judgment, and receive all who believe and are baptized into His loving arms for all eternity.

It is this final coming of Christ that Christ speaks of this morning in the Gospel and for which He bids us to prepare. While the world is preparing to celebrate family time at Christmas by buying presents, preparing meals, and making travel plans, the Church prepares to receive her King in the same way she has always prepared herself for God: by repentance.

When I speak of repentance, I don’t just mean reciting the words of the general confession once a week, “I, a poor miserable sinner…” though that is a good start. I mean taking a serious reflection of your heart, actions, mind, and soul. Consider your station in life according to the Ten Commandments, whether you are a father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, or worker; whether you have been disobedient, unfaithful, slothful; whether you have grieved any person by word or deed; whether you have stolen, neglected, or wasted anything, or done other injury.[1] Have you placed your fear, love, and trust in God above all things or have you feared the opinions of people or the economy more than trusting that God loves you and will provide?

Our age is filled both with security in material goods and anxiety over every aspect of life. On the one hand, we look to our stuff to feel secure and happy while constantly worrying about the opinions of others, how we measure up to their expectations. This security and anxiety are both misguided because they entirely remove God from the equation. Our security is in Him, who created and sustains all things in the universe. Our anxiety only runs skin deep, though we feel it deep in our soul. This anxiety forgets that the same God who created and sustains the universe also descended into our flesh for the very purpose of taking our cares, anxieties, and most importantly our sins, upon Himself and crucifying them. He bore your sins into death so that they would remain in the grave forever.

Both the security and anxiety of our age is also misguided because it fails to reach into the root of the problem: our sinful state. The problem is not that we don’t have enough to be secure or that we feel bad about ourselves. The problem is that these are sins against the Almighty God. They are the actions of sinners who have forgotten what the Lord has commanded. Only by a serious contemplation of the Word of God can sin be revealed. “I would not have known sin except through the law…The law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.”[2]

And yet there is a second part of repentance. Repentance is first contrition, that is, sorrow over our sin which has been brought about by the contemplation of God’s holy, just, and good law. The second part is faith; faith which clings to the promise of God that Christ has died for your sin and rose for your justification. If it were not for faith clinging to God’s promise of forgiveness, it would be unthinkable to consider your sins. It would be so overwhelming because it is obvious to anyone that they are unworthy of God. A moment of reflection over the state of your soul would either cause you to turn immediately away from God and cling to your sin in pride or fall into such despair that you would beg for death.

And yet knowledge of the promise of forgiveness makes considering your sin bearable. It becomes bearable because the Word of God has revealed that His great love caused His incarnation. His great love caused the Father to accept the sacrifice of His only-begotten Son on your behalf. His great love washed you in the waters of Holy Baptism, not only cleansing you from sin but making you a child of the Heavenly Father. And just as a child desires nothing more than to make his father proud, so too such great love of God moves your soul to desire to make God proud. It causes you to desire to be free from sin and conform to God’s holy Law.

This is what makes the Christian’s Advent preparations different from that of the world’s. When the nations see signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, they tremble with fear because they are perplexed. A sense of foreboding dread sweeps over the nations for fear of what is coming upon the world. Yet the Church sees these signs and knows that her King is coming soon. We prepare (through repentance and faith) with great joy, straightening up and lifting our heads to see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. The distress of nations is for us a sign that the end is near and we know what will happen at the end. Christ will come and gather us to Himself.

Thus He bids us to watch ourselves so that we are not weighed down with despair, drunkenness, and the cares of this life. Rather, we stay vigilant and pray that we be kept in this true faith until either we die or Christ returns, whichever should come first.

I stand before you today for the first time, charged with bringing you the whole counsel of God. The Lord has seen fit to call this sinner to serve Him in this place and at this time. I have taken vows to be faithful to the Word of God and the Lutheran Confessions, which means that it is my sacred duty to stand in the stead and by the command of my Lord, Jesus Christ, delivering to you His Holy Word and Sacraments. When Christ returns on that final day, I will stand before Him and be held accountable for my ministry to your souls. If I profane the Word of God, if I cause one of you little ones to fall away from the faith because I pervert the things of God, then I will be judged guilty and spend eternity in hell.

It is my sacred duty to pray for you and with you. It is my duty to love you as Christ loves this church. It is my duty to weep over your sins, even as I call you to account for them. Know that it is not my sacred duty to be nice. Certainly to extend Christian love and fellowship, bearing with you in all things, but there is no obligation to be “nice” simply to please men. This is a hard teaching, but it is true. I am obligated to hold you accountable to the Word of God just as you must hold me accountable to it.

Scripture calls all Christians to pray for their leaders, including their pastors. God expects you to pray for me and to pray for my family. It is also expected that you will bear with me in all things, honor the office to which I’ve been called, uphold my reputation - not hearing any accusation from others in idle gossip, and listening intently to the Word of God. You have also promised to aid me as I care for my family and to be diligent to “put the best construction on everything,” recognizing that “love covers a multitude of sins.” I expect you to hold me accountable to the Word of God and if I should sin against you, I expect you to call me to repentance.

Our Lord has promised that though heaven and earth will pass away, His Word will never pass away.[3] The time is already growing late. It has been 2,000 years since our Lord spoke these words. Though it is cold outside and the calendar shows it is winter, in the broad view of time, the trees are coming out in leaf and the end of time draws near. Together, we hope and pray that the Lord will grant a bountiful harvest in this congregation, that He will bless us with new children to baptize, adults to instruct, and families to bring into our fold. Yet it is the Lord who gives growth. It is also at the Lord’s discretion that congregations shrink. We do not measure the success of the Church in man’s terms. We measure the success of the Church in faithfulness to the Scriptures, trusting that God knows better than we do how to manage His own household.

So together, we must stay awake at all times, praying that we may have strength to escape the temptations of the world and to stand before the Son of Man in humility and faith. Together, we must devote ourselves to the things of God, to His Word and Holy Sacraments. Together, we must show ourselves to bear the Light of Christ into the world, that not by our efforts, but by the very Word of God, the world would be brought to Christ. You and I bear the priceless treasure of Jesus Christ. Let us not bear it in vain, but in boldness of faith. Let us prepare for the return of Christ in humble repentance, never forgetting that He came in our flesh to die for our sins and still comes to us today, wrapped in water, bread, wine, and His Holy Word.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] Small Catechism, Confession VI.

[2] Romans 7:7; 12.

[3] St. Luke 21:33.

The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity

 The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity – August 31, 2025

Psalm 68; Genesis 4:1-15; 1 Corinthians 15:1-10

St. Luke 18:9-14

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

After being cast out of the garden, Adam knew his wife, Eve. She conceived and bore a son named Cain. She then bore another son named Abel. Cain was a worker of the fields, like his father, while Abel tended the flocks. One day, these two sons went to sacrifice to God but only the sacrifice of Abel was accepted by the Lord. On account of this, Cain’s face fell and he grew angry.

Our first question of the text should be, ‘why was Abel’s sacrifice accepted by God but not Cain’s?’ The Letter to the Hebrews gives us the definitive answer.[1] Abel offered his sacrifice in faith while Cain did not. This is the bottom line, the fundamental truth of the differences in their sacrifices.

At the same time, Scripture presents us with a few more details. Cain offered the fruit of the fields, likely a grain offering, while Abel offered a sacrifice of the firstborn of his flock. Both types of sacrifice, gain and the blood of animals, will later be instituted through Moses, but the greater of these sacrifices is the sacrifice of an animal. Again, the Letter to the Hebrews tells us that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.[2] By this we know that the sacrifice of blood, the shedding of blood for the forgiveness of sins, is the greater sacrifice. Even Adam and Eve would’ve had this knowledge. When the Lord gave them the promise of a Savior, the Son of a virgin who would destroy death and the devil, He then sacrificed an animal and covered them with clothes of skin. By the shedding of blood, their nakedness was covered, their sins forgiven.

Our second question of this text should be, ‘why was Cain angry?’ If the difference was in the orientation of Cain’s heart, his lack of faith in the sacrifice, by what right is he angry with God? Even though we know that the sacrifice of blood is greater in the eyes of the Lord than the sacrifice of grain, both are acceptable sacrifices in the eyes of God. Therefore, Cain’s anger arises from his perception of an injustice committed by God. In Cain’s eyes, God is being unfair.

In this, we can sympathize with Cain. Our thoughts are not the Lord’s thoughts, and our ways are not His ways,[3] and all too often they seem unfair. We experience this in life when the wicked prosper but Christians suffer. We experience this in the words of Holy Scripture when the Lord rewards Abraham for pretending Sarah is his sister, or when He declares, “Jacob I have loved but Esau I have hated.”[4]

We know from the Scriptures that God cannot be unjust. Any injustice that man perceives in God is the result of a lack of understanding on man’s part, not a lack in God. He is the very definition of justice, righteousness, goodness, and love.[5]

Returning to Cain, the conflict arises not because Cain perceives an injustice in God but because he blames God for the injustice. Rather than seeking the Lord and His righteousness, Cain becomes embittered toward God. He begins to resent his Creator. Yet even in this state, we see the mercy of God. He comes to Cain and asks, “Why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”[6]

The Lord is calling Cain to repentance and guiding him into the way of truth. It is as though God was saying, “Cain, what reason do you have to be angry? No, I did not accept your sacrifice today because it wasn’t offered in faith. Learn from this moment. Learn not to trust in the quality of your sacrifice, nor in your rank as firstborn, nor in the strength of your arm. Place your trust in Me, the One who is truly Good and from Whom all good things come. If your trust is in me and not your sacrifice, then your sacrifices will gladly be accepted. But if not, then satan is waiting to consume you. Your anger will overcome you, and it will be too late to stay your hand.”

But these words did not penetrate Cain’s stony heart. He had hardened himself against the Lord. He had set his mind on killing Abel. Now, generally, Cain’s plan to kill Abel is described as an act of envy. Cain was angry at Abel because Abel’s sacrifice was accepted by God. There is truth in this observation. Cain was almost certainly envious of the attention his brother received from God. But a closer read of the text reveals something even darker. If Cain’s anger is the result of a perceived injustice in God, then who is the primary object of his anger? Is it not God? It would follow that Cain’s murderous plan was not directed at Abel but at God. He wanted to destroy the object of God’s affection, hurting God for hurting him.

When God comes to Cain and asks where Abel is (another plea and opportunity for Cain to repent of what he has done), Cain says, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”[7] In effect, he is saying, “God, don’t you know where Abel is? Isn’t he your beloved son? Since you accepted his sacrifice, aren’t You supposed to be watching out for him?” Rather than repenting, Cain is doubling down on blaming God for the current situation. To Cain, it is God’s injustice that killed Abel.

Now, horrified as we are with Cain’s actions, and you should be, consider the times in your own life when you’ve acted as Cain and not as God. Both God and Cain think themselves justified in their actions but only One of them is right. God comes to Cain seeking the latter’s repentance and a restoration of their relationship. Cain doesn’t even respond to God in the first conversation and proceeds to hurt God by attacking the object of God’s affection. When the Lord again offers the opportunity for repentance, Cain does nothing but passive-aggressively attack the Lord. He shifts all blame onto God. For this, Cain is condemned and cast out of the presence of the Lord.

It is here we also see the connection to our Gospel text. The Pharisee loudly extols all of his righteous deeds to God and expects the Lord to reward him. The tax collector humbly begs for God’s mercy for he knows that he is a poor, miserable sinner. Both believe themselves righteous but only one returns to his home justified. One finds his justification in his righteous deeds. The other finds his justification in the mercy and atonement of the Lord. One believes his righteousness is a work of his own hands. The other finds righteousness in the shedding of the innocent blood of the Lamb of God.

According to our thoughts and our ways, the Pharisee is clearly the one who goes home justified. He has done all of the righteous things. He prays loudly so that all can hear and see his righteousness. According to our thoughts and our ways, it would be a great injustice for the Pharisee to be condemned.

Now the tax collector is a wicked man. He makes a living by cheating and stealing from his neighbors. Worse yet, from cheating and stealing from his kindred, from his fellow Judahites, to support the pagan government of Rome. Yet he comes into the Temple to humbly beg for the mercy of God, that God would make atonement for his grave sins and save him from eternal damnation.

The comparison to Cain and Abel is not to think of Cain as the Pharisee and Abel as the tax collector. Both the Pharisee and the tax collector are Cain. They are the two roads laid before Cain. The Pharisee is the sin lying at the door waiting to consume him. The tax collector is the repentance to which the Lord repeatedly calls Cain – both before and after the murder of Abel. “There are two ways, one of life and one of death, and there is a great difference between these two ways.”^[8]

Since the fall of our first parents, sin has been crouching at the door for every one of you. It is waiting for the opportune time to pounce upon your soul and drag you into the depths. But the Lord is patient. The Lord is kind. He has descended into the depths of your flesh to raise you from destruction. There is no depth of sin at which point Christ cannot reach you, no crevasse of the earth into which the blood of Christ, which speaks better things than that of Abel, is not able to cover your sin.

This does require humility. It requires humility not to trust in yourself or your own evaluation of your sins. Original sin has corrupted even your conscience. Alone, our conscience cannot be trusted to rightly discern between sin and righteousness. Our conscience must ever be formed by and checked against the Word of God. The renewal of your mind which comes with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, will never be complete on this side of glory. It requires humility to submit yourself to the Word of God for His ways are not your ways and His thoughts are not your thoughts. It requires humility to trust that God is good, and He will provide for you the escape from your sins. In fact, He has provided the escape from your sins when He humbly submitted to the death of a criminal. In His goodness, He provides for the needy. He bears us up and is our salvation. Blessed be the Lord.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] Hebrews 11:4.

[2] Hebrews 9:22.

[3] Isaiah 55:8.

[4] Malachi 1:2-3; Romans 9:13.

[5] Psalm 92:15; Deuteronomy 32:4; Romans 3:4.

[6] Genesis 4:6-7.

[7] Genesis 4:9.

[8] The Apostolic Fathers, “Didache 1:1,” 3^rd edition, translated and edited by Michael W. Holmes (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2007), 345. 

The Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle

 The Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle – August 24, 2025

Psalm 89; Proverbs 3:1-8; 2 Corinthians 4:7-10

St. Luke 22:24-30

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

Scripture tells us little to nothing about St. Bartholomew other than that he is listed as one of the twelve Apostles. He is likely the same man who is called Nathaniel. Both names appear in lists of Christ’s disciples but never both names in the same list.[1] “Nathaniel” is probably a name given to Bartholomew by Christ, in the same way our Lord renames Simon to be Peter and Saul to be Paul. What we know for certain is that St. Bartholomew was among the twelve who celebrated the Passover with Christ on the night on which He was betrayed.

Immediately after He instituted the Lord’s Supper, Christ told the disciples that one among them was His betrayer. The Apostles then began to question and dispute among themselves who it was that would betray their Lord.[2] But this dispute quickly turned from “Is it I, Lord?” to arguing who among them was the greatest. How easy it is to turn from humility to pride, from repentance to self-justification.

Christ our Lord interrupts the dispute of the disciples to say, “The kings of the nations exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’”[3] We must pause here for a moment and consider what it is our Lord is saying. He is not condemning the kings of the nations nor calling them tyrants. The term “benefactor” has positive implications. He is speaking of kings and rulers who exercise their rightful authority over their subjects and for their gracious treatment, are loved by their people. Plain experience shows that it is easy to love a good and gracious ruler. He is loved for his deeds and policies.

Yet it should not be so with the Apostles. Christ says that whoever is greatest among you should be as the younger, and the one who governs should be as a servant. The younger son never aspires to be king, that is reserved for the oldest. The younger does not inherit most of the father’s wealth, it is for the greater. The greatness of kings is found in their strength, their generosity, their valor in war. It is plainly obvious that the one sitting at the table is greater than the one who serves him. And yet Christ is among the Apostles to serve them.

There is a clear and distinct pattern in the Scriptures of the younger son receiving the promises of God, especially in the Book of Genesis. Seth is younger than Cain. Shem is younger than Japheth. Isaac, Jacob, and Judah are all younger than Ishmael, Esau, and Levi. Even Moses was younger than Aaron and, of course, David was the youngest of his brothers. Each of these men prefigured Christ in being the bearers of the promise of salvation, demonstrating that God is no respecter of persons. The first shall be last and the last first.

Now when it comes to the birth of Christ, it is true that He is the Only-Begotten of the Father and that He is born of a virgin womb. He has no older brother. He is, however, born of a lowly virgin, born into poverty. He was born in a stable without even a cradle to lay His head. What’s more, the Christ is identified as the Son of David. Yet He is separated from King David by almost 1,000 years. In that sense, there are many sons older than He. Every faithful Christian of the Old Testament was longing for the birth of the Christ, so in that sense, He is a very late child, the youngest of them all. In the more immediate context, while only a cousin by our reckoning, St. John the Baptist was Christ’s senior by 6 months, his forerunner according to Scripture, the elder one who must come before to pave the way for the younger.

And so, the Apostles are not to be benefactors, but to become inheritors. They do not gain subjects by strength, valor, or lean fiscal policies. They are given a kingdom just as the Father bestowed a kingdom on Christ.[4] They do not receive this kingdom by right, as the firstborn, but by grace, as a gift, as the younger son receives a kingdom.

If we are to understand this kingdom, we must know two things: the nature of the kingdom (or what it is) and where this kingdom can be found. Regarding the nature of the kingdom bestowed upon the Apostles, we must first notice that Christ places a distinction between it and His kingdom. “I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon me, that you may eat and drink at My Table in My kingdom.”[5] All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Christ, that His kingdom governs all of creation.[6] When Christ says His kingdom is not of this earth, He doesn’t mean that His authority doesn’t extend into the physical world.[7] He means that His kingdom does not originate in this world. It originates in the Father, from before the foundations of the earth.

The kingdom bestowed on the Apostles does originate in this world, though it still originates in God. Its origin is in the flesh of the Incarnate Christ. He bestows this kingdom upon the Apostles as He establishes His church and the office of the Holy Ministry. He establishes it in their words as they are inspired by the Holy Spirit to compose the very Word of God in the New Testament. In this kingdom, they are not to govern as benefactors nor as tyrants, but as servants. They should not find greatness in earthly works of might, valor, or finances. Their greatness is in service.

And if they are servants, whose authority are they under? Who tells them to go and they go, or to come and they come?[8] They are under the very authority of Christ. You hear it every Sunday, “In the stead and by the command of Christ.” At His command, the Apostles administer the gifts of Christ within the Church.

We can understand the kingdom bestowed on the Apostles as the Church. We even confess this in the creed, “I believe in One, holy, Christian, and Apostolic Church.” But we must ask further, what do we mean by this phrase? Is it having an unbroken lineage of bishops from the time of St. Peter to the present? Is the kingdom bestowed by the Apostles via the supernatural laying on of hands, at which time men are vested with an indelible spiritual gift? No. The Apostolic nature of the Church is bestowed through Christ, the very Word of God. We are Apostolic because we believe, teach, and confess the very words given to the Apostles. It was not given to them to rule the church even as benefactors, bestowing their “supernatural gifts” according to persons. They are given to rule the church by their doctrine, that is, in rendering humble service to Christ by delivering His Words and gifts to His people.

The Apostles sit on thrones judging the doctrine of the twelve tribes of Israel, that is, the Church. We are judged according to the Word of God. Do we hold to the teachings of the Apostles? Then we are judged righteous. Do we deny the teachings of the Apostles? Then we are found lacking, wise in our own eyes and destitute of the wisdom of God.

The Church is the earthen vessel in which we have the treasure of Christ.[9] It is comprised of human beings, flesh and blood, earthen vessels, including those who have been separated from their flesh for a time, that is, the saints who have fallen asleep in Christ and await the restoration of their flesh. The excellence and the power are of God and God alone, yet it is stored in the very flesh of the earthen vessels of the Church. We carry in our bodies the very death and life of Christ.

Having just participated in the institution of the Lord’s Supper, the Apostles could not have understood these words of Christ in any other way, “that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom.”[10] Every time we earthen vessels dine on the Body and Blood of Christ, the kingdom of the Apostles is sitting at the very Table of Christ within His kingdom. All authority in heaven and earth is descending upon that altar to be given to you to eat and drink. He, the Almighty God, Himself, condescends to serve you as both host and meal.

Holy Scripture may not say much directly about St. Bartholomew, but we know everything about him that we need. We know that he stands as one of Christ’s Apostles, through whom the kingdom of the Church has come to us. Even as he dined on the flesh of Christ that first Maundy Thursday, we too stand to receive the eternal life of Christ into our very bodies this day.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] Cr. St. Matthew 10:3; St. Mark 3:19; St. Luke 6:14; Acts 1:13 with St. John 1:45-51; 21:2-3, 12-13.

[2] St. Luke 22:23.

[3] St. Luke 22:25.

[4] St. Luke 22:28.

[5] St. Luke 22:29-30.

[6] St. Matthew 28:18.

[7] St. John 18:36.

[8] St. Matthew 8:9; St. Luke 7:8.

[9] 2 Corinthians 4:7-10.

[10] St. Luke 22:30.

The Ninth Sunday after Trinity

 The Ninth Sunday after Trinity – August 17, 2025

Psalm 54; Proverbs 16:1-9; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

St. Luke 16:1-13

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

Today’s parable is the most difficult parable of our Lord to understand. It seems as though the shrewd and unrighteous steward is being praised for lying, cheating, and stealing. He is accused of wasting the master’s goods and is being fired. When the master sends him to collect the financial records, the steward quickly brokers deals with all of the master’s debtors, seeking to gain favor in their eyes so that when he is kicked out of the master’s house, he will have friends to stay with and possibly even job opportunities. The master commends these shrewd actions and the parable ends.

Thankfully, our Lord summarizes the parable with the words, “For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.”[1] He is telling us to take notice of how hard the steward worked to secure for himself a future. The master did not have to give the steward the opportunity to fetch the books. He could have had the steward immediately thrown in jail while another servant was sent to gather the financial records. The steward recognizes his golden opportunity and seizes it. He analyzes his situation, seeing that his job prospects are minimal. His body is unfit to dig ditches, and he is too proud to beg. So, he concocts the plan to forgive portions of the debts owed to the master to gain goodwill among the debtors.

This plan is not without risks. The master might become more angry and invoke his right to have the steward jailed for his crimes. The debtors might turn out to be greedy, and although the steward helped to lower their debts, they might still turn him away in his time of need. But the steward has already considered these as well. By lowering the debt of the debtors in the name of the master, he has increased their view of the master. It appears to the debtors that their master is generous and has done a kind thing for them. His reputation is improved by the actions of the steward. The steward’s plan puts the master in such a position that to punish the steward would only increase the steward’s reputation before the debtors while harming his own.

As for the debtors, it is true that some of them might turn out to be greedy and refuse to help the steward. That is why he did this for all of the master’s debtors. He wasn’t putting his eggs in one basket, to use a common phrase. The steward has carefully thought through every aspect of his plan and then put it into action.

And for what? He is planning for his future security, safety, and provision. He can’t take the physical work of digging and he is too proud to beg, so he works diligently to make for himself a future where he can provide for himself.

If we understand our Lord to be referring to the steward as one of the sons of this world, who is cunning in providing for himself in this world, then what of the sons of light? The primary distinction between the two is the goal for which they are striving. The sons of this world are looking for rewards on earth. They are looking for security for their future days in this world. The sons of light are striving for something else. They look toward eternal life. The sons of light are sons of the Light of the world, which no darkness can overcome.[2] Their source is the Light of Christ, and their goal is eternal life in the world without end.

So now, we can understand the rebuke and admonition of our Lord. He is saying that the sons of this world work diligently and think shrewdly about how to achieve their goals in this life while the sons of light are lazy when it comes to achieving their goal; lazy both in thought (or planning) and in deed.

In terms of planning, the sons of light are called to plan for eternal life through diligence in the Word of God. Notice, that as the shrewd steward is forming his plan, he is considering all the information he has at hand. For the Christian, this information is the Word of God. No matter how many times you’ve read the Bible, there is always more to learn. New insights will occur every time you open the pages of Scripture. It is an unending well of insights into God and His actions working toward your salvation.

However, if this gaining of information is kept within the pages of Scripture, then it will be of little use. As you read the words of Scripture, it also necessary to lift your eyes from the page and consider how these Words apply or affect the world around you. For instance, it would be an error to read the words of creation but look at the world around you as having developed over billions of years. Rather, take the words of creation and see how wonderfully designed the world is; how everything has been formed by the hands of God to work in concert.

More directly connected to our text would be any Word of God which concerns the fleeting nature of this world and the eternal nature of the world to come. As Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are being thrown into the fiery furnace, they tell Nebuchadnezzar that the Lord is able to deliver them from the burning fiery furnace and even if He doesn’t, the Lord will save their souls.[3] That is, they trust that the Lord is on their side and that they will endure unto life, whether life in this world or in the glory of the next. They count their temporal lives as but one step on the journey toward glory.

As for putting this wisdom gained from God’s Word into action, we have another word of Christ, “Make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.”[4] This is where Christians are called to be shrewd, to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves;[5] to use the things of this world in service to God, both for the benefit of their neighbor and the benefit of their own souls. We are called to put our time, our abilities, and our resources to the best use we can, according to the Word of God and the vocations into which God has called us, so that this mammon, the things of this world which are unrighteous by the fact that they cannot offer salvation, would be used for God’s glory. Then, when our bodies fail, we will be welcoming into our everlasting home with great rejoicing among the angels, archangels, and all the company of heaven.

Lest there be any misunderstanding, our stewardship of the things of this world does not gain, nor secure, our everlasting home. Our reading from the Proverbs makes this clear: “In mercy and truth atonement is provided for iniquity; and by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil.”[6] It is not our stewardship that provides for iniquity, nor is it our preparation for forgiveness, nor even our sustaining of righteousness. It is the Lord alone, through His great mercy and truth, who has covered our sins and paid the penalty they deserve.

Christ taking your sins upon His shoulders, dying upon the cross, and rising the third day that has satisfied the wrath of God against you. His atonement provides for iniquity, and it is the Holy Spirit who sustains you in that righteousness. Your stewardship of the unrighteous mammon of this world is the result of this atonement provided for you. The call to righteousness is what follows salvation. Even at that, it is not as though “you better do it, or else…” The admonition of Christ is the guide for the sons of light who desire nothing more than to be conformed to the righteousness of Christ.

It is the attitude of the sons of this world to look for gain, how they might work and position themselves for the greatest gains. The sons of light already possess everything they could ever need in the atonement of Christ. However, the sons of light also see the darkness clinging to their flesh and the darkness of the world around them. They need guidance in how to conquer that darkness, continuing to bring the light of Christ to those around them. Hence, Christ gives admonition into how to steward what you’ve been given so that you would continue to live within the mercy and truth which He has provided.

“A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”[7] All the shrewd planning, consideration, and actions of even a righteous man have no guarantee of results. It is the Lord who directs the outcome of our steps. It is the Lord who has guaranteed the result of our salvation. And thanks be to God for that fact, because if it were left to us in even the smallest of ways, we would stumble and fall. “He so cared for and esteemed me that the Son He loved so well, He has given to redeem me from the quenchless flames of hell…So my many sins and errors find a tender, pard’ning God…Grant me grace, O God, I pray You, that I may with all my might, all my lifetime, day and night, love and trust You and obey You. And, when this brief life is o’er, praise and love You evermore.”[8]

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] St. Luke 16:8.

[2] St. John 1:4-5.

[3] Daniel 3:16-18.

[4] St. Luke 16:9.

[5] St. Matthew 10:16.

[6] Proverbs 16:6.

[7] Proverbs 16:9.

[8] I Will Sing My Maker’s Praises, LSB 977, stanzas 2, 4, 5.

The Eighth Sunday after Trinity

 The Eighth Sunday after Trinity – August 10, 2025

Psalm 48; Jeremiah 23:16-29; Romans 8:12-17

St. Matthew 7:15-23

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

“Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord, thy God, in vain.” The Second Commandment consists of two parts: the Name of God and the proper use of His Name. The Name of God of course refers to the many ways He has given to us to address Him: God, Lord, Almighty, Father, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, etc. His name also refers to every statement that He has made about Himself. Another way we could think of this is pure doctrine. The teachings of the Scriptures are God’s own Words, and they reveal Him to you. As such, everything we belief, teach, and confess is a statement concerning God’s Name, and is governed by the Second Commandment.

The act of believing, teaching, and confessing regards the proper use of His Name and everything that He has revealed about Himself – including His will for the salvation of man and our conduct in accordance with His Word. In the Small Catechism, we state that this commandment means “we should fear and love God that we may not curse, swear, use witchcraft, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.” To curse, swear, use witchcraft, lie, and deceive in God’s name is to confess a false doctrine. The false prophets of whom Christ speaks preach false doctrine in the name of the Lord. In this, they violate the Second Commandment on top of whichever other commandments they violate with the wicked fruits of their actions.

Wolves in sheep’s clothing have plagued the church from the very beginning, when Satan donned the robes of a serpent to tempt Eve.[1] Aaron, appointed high priest by God, led the people of Israel in the false worship of the golden calf.[2] Many kings of both Israel and Judah led the people in the worship idols, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord. During Christ’s ministry, the Pharisees and Sadducees claimed to teach the word of God but, in reality, they taught the doctrines of man.[3] St. Paul taught against the Judaizers and St. John against the Gnostics. There were the heretics of the Early Church, teaching such blasphemies as denying the Trinity, that the Son of God was a creation of the Father, or that the Holy Spirit was nothing more than an emanation of power from the Father and not a Person of the Holy Trinity.

During the Middle Ages, prior to the Reformation, there were many false prophets who claimed the Name of God. The Paulicians, Bogomils, and Cathars (covering the 7^th through 13^th centuries) each preached some form of dualism in which the material world was evil and only the spiritual world was good, denying that the Almighty God was Lord of heaven and earth. Of course, there were the false teachings of the pope, including the invocation of the saints, indulgences, monasticism, and a form of Semi-Pelagianism in which man must add his righteous deeds to the work of Christ in order to receive salvation.

During and after the Reformation, we see the multiplication of false teachers, each with his own agenda and method of blaspheming God’s Name. Many of these begin with the denial of the Holy Sacraments and eventually lead to the errors so rampant today: salvation by an act of man’s choosing God, the “prosperity gospel,” salvation by equality or social justice, dispensationalism, Zionism, the denial of the orders of creation, and the denial that Scripture is the very Word of God.

Not all false teachings are equal. It is entirely possible for a person to go through life believing that Holy Baptism is an act of obedience telling God that he has accepted Him into his heart and still be saved. But to believe that Jesus Christ is not truly God or that God does not exist as three distinct Persons in One Divine Godhead, closes the door to salvation. Every false teaching is like adding some number of dead bugs to your soup. Can you eat a bowl of soup with one bug in it? Sure. But every bug, including the first, carries the possibility of adding a deadly toxin to your food. Likewise, every false teaching adds a little leaven to your faith, such that at some point, the whole lump of your soul will be leavened.

Now, we don’t have the time to describe, define, and refute every false teaching in the world. However, you likely already think of the various false prophets as falling into either doctrinal error or moral error. This morning it is important to realize that this distinction doesn’t matter. Christ says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”[4] False morality is false doctrine, and false doctrine will show itself in false morality.

After warning His disciples to beware false prophets, Christ tells them that these false prophets will be known by their fruits. These fruits are both the teachings that come out of their mouths and the actions of their lives. A good tree bears good fruit because the tree itself is good. Yet we, as humans, cannot see the inner quality of the tree. We cannot read the hearts of man. We must judge the quality, the character, of the tree by what we can see and hear, that is, the fruits which the tree produces.

And when our Lord speaks of the last day, when many will say, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” He speaks of everyone who claims the Name of Christ without holding the purity of His doctrine. They have persisted against the Second Commandment and yet claim to have done mighty wonders in Christ’s Name.

So what then of the noble pagan, the unbeliever who does objectively good things in this world. Don’t their fruits point to a righteous heart? From our point of view, the fruits of such a noble pagan look delicious. So did the apple offered to Snow White yet it was filled with poison. “Anything done apart from faith is sin.”[5] Apart from faith, all the noble works of the unbeliever are sin and a disgrace to the Name of God. If a work is done without thanks, praise, and in service and obedience to God, then it is sin before Him. So though our eyes are dulled by the sin which clings to us still, even such an appealing fruit reveals the rot within.

There is not much on the surface of this text in the way of comfort. It is a text of warning; warning against the false teachers of this world, against false belief, and the consequences of believing false doctrine.

At the same time, the circumstances of the text provide nothing but comfort. Why does a father require his teenage daughter to be home by 10pm? Because he loves her and because he knows the dangers of the world. What comes across to the daughter as strict warning and even unfair limitation is in fact an act of love. Christ warns you concerning false doctrine and the breaking of the Second Commandment because He loves you.

It is Christ who wept at the fall of Adam and Eve and death of Abel. It is Christ who longed for His people to delivered from the hand of wicked Pharaoh. And it is Christ who shoulders the great weight of your sin and carries it to Calvary. That weight was so great, He stumbled twice on His journey to death. Then, after defeating death by His own glorious crucifixion, He descended into hell to proclaim His victory over the grave. This is the victory He has won for you. He nailed your guilt and shame to the cross that it would forever be left behind in the tomb.

And having done all this for you, He wants you to receive the eternal rewards that are your inheritance through Holy Baptism. This, this great love for you is why He is warning you against false doctrine, false prophets, and sinful living. He has given you His Name as a sign and seal of your salvation when He put it on you in Holy Baptism. You have been given His Name to use it, to honor it, and to glorify it. You sons and daughters of God, who have received the Spirit of adoption and are heirs of heaven with Christ, flee every false way and seek the will of the Father.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] Genesis 3:1.

[2] Exodus 32.

[3] St. Matthew 15:9; cf. Isaiah 29:13.

[4] St. Matthew 7:21.

[5] Romans 14:23.