The Fourth Sunday after Trinity

 The Fourth Sunday after Trinity – July 13, 2025

Psalm 27; Genesis 50:15-21; Romans 8:18-23

St. Luke 6:36-42

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

“Judge not lest ye be judged,”[1] is among the most abused verses of Scripture, if not the most abused. It is taken to mean there is no place for harsh or negative words on the lips of Christians, as though we are commanded to live and let live. ‘Preach only the Gospel.’ ‘Be nice and the hearts of many will be turned.’

But no one who has read the Scriptures can come to this conclusion. The Bible is full of commandments to judge and condemn false doctrine – including sin. “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”[2] Every pastor is commanded not only to forgive sins but to rebuke and warn against them; as well as train up Christians for every good work.[3] This requires making judgements and condemning false doctrine and sin.

This task of judging and condemning is not just given to pastors in their preaching. The Prophet Isaiah says, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”[4] Psalm 119 goes so far as to command us to “hate every false way.”[5] And Christ commands the sheep to “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”[6] It would be impossible to discern between a false prophet and a true prophet if you could not judge. And how do you judge this doctrine? By comparing it to the Word of God, the only inerrant and infallible rule and norm by which doctrine can be judged.

Then what is our Lord forbidding in these words, “Judge not, condemn not”? He is forbidding judging hearts, not according to God’s Word but according to our own thoughts, preferences, or opinions. It is judging without love and mercy but according to the passions of our own flesh. The synopsis, or summary, of the Gospel text this morning is “Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.”[7] But why should you be merciful as God is merciful? What should move, or motivate, you to be merciful as God is merciful?

First, you ought to be moved by the mercy God has shown toward you. Earlier in the sermon on the plain, Christ told us to do unto others as we would have them do unto us.[8] Here, that command is taken a step further. Do unto others as you would have God do to you. Don’t get me wrong, it is not our mercy that causes God to have mercy on us. It is not our actions that cause God to grant us grace and forgiveness. However, what we do in and with that grace and mercy can certainly cause our Heavenly Father to withdraw the same.

Think of the parable of the unforgiving servant. A servant owes his master 60 million days’ wages, somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 billion, or over 230,000 years of work. The master has compassion on his servant and forgives his debt. But then the servant finds a fellow servant who owes him $16,000, about 5 months of work. Since he can’t pay the debt, the servant has him beaten and thrown in jail. When the master hears what he has done, he throws the unforgiving servant to the torturers and jailers until the debt is paid.

The servant did nothing to earn the compassion of his master but when he failed to show similar compassion to his fellow servant, the master returned his lack of forgiveness upon him with the same measure: pressed down, shaken together, and running over. That servant was forgiven 230,000 years of debt and yet you have been forgiven more. Your Heavenly Father sent His Only Begotten Son to die for your debt of sin and to rise again that you would no longer be a slave but a son, and that you would enjoy this inheritance for all eternity. You have been set free from the punishment of the Law and the sting of death. Such is the sweet mercy of God that has been shown to you. Such is the same mercy you’ve been called to show to your neighbor.

When we say that good works are motivated by the Gospel, this is what we mean. Though we are but frail mortals, incapable of the perfect mercy of God, we who have been set free by such a glorious love are to reflect that love in our mercy toward others. What would it say to God if you refused to show forth the mercy that you’ve been shown? It would tell Him that what He has done means very little to you. It would be an abuse of everything that He has done for and given to you. He gives you life and you would use it in service to death.

Rather, see your forgiveness for what it is. It is a new life, a new beginning, a new existence as a son of God. A son wants nothing more than a father he can be proud of and to be like his father. We have a Father who defines what it means to be a father. As His dear children, our hearts ought to desire nothing less than to be like Him, to walk in His ways and enjoy His favor for all eternity.

I’ve already hinted at the second motivation to be merciful as our Heavenly Father is merciful. It is because of the consequences of not being merciful. When we heard of Lazarus and the rich man, I spoke of how seriously God takes sin. He hates sin. He cannot tolerate sin to stand in His presence. He also provides the antidote to the poison of sin. His great love sends the shed blood of Jesus to be for you the medicine of immortality. As seriously as He takes sin, He equally takes your forgiveness seriously.

So then, how would you like God to consider you? Do you wish that He would overlook your besetting sins, those against which you struggle but still find yourself falling into? Of course! Then you should also be willing to overlook such sins in your neighbor. Do you wish to escape the loveless judgment of hell? Then do not judge your neighbor without love. On the last day, do you want God to commend your righteous and merciful deed to your neighbor, making no mention of your sins, as He does with the sheep at His right hand?[9] Then, whenever you can, speak well of your neighbor to the best of your knowledge. Before others and in your own heart, put the best construction on everything that he does.

Do not wish that God would remember your sins no more, keep no record of your sins nor add them up, turn His anger away from you, smile upon you, and hurl all your guilt into the depths of the sea, then turn around and keep tally of your neighbor’s sins against you so that you can use them against him at the opportune time. With the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.

The final motivation to be merciful as our Father is merciful as presented in our text is the burden of our own sin. You know the depth of your own sin. You know which temptations to which you are likely to succumb. In this knowledge, the temptation to lovelessly judge your neighbor is twofold. There is the temptation to judge those with similar sins. The man prone to anger is especially angered by another man prone to anger. One who steals is often the first to judge another thief. The opposite temptation is also true. It is very easy to judge someone who is tempted to sins that you are not tempted toward. Such self-righteous indignation boils over from a lack of sympathy.

Yet to be ever mindful of the burden of your own sin ought to move you to show compassion and mercy toward your neighbor. It is humbling to ponder your own sinfulness. This humility can then drive your attitude toward others. It is a somewhat slight example but think of the person who cuts you off in traffic or quickly pulls out in front of you. How easy it is to condemn them for driving recklessly. And it is true, what they’ve done is dangerous. What you don’t know is their child was just flown into the city for emergency surgery; or he has just learned of the infidelity of his wife; or he is a first responder who just received an emergency call that pulled him out of bed during his time off. And besides, who among us hasn’t missed a stop sign, unknowingly cut someone off, or even purposely broken traffic laws?

The point is that you know what it is to be a sinner, and you know what a sinner needs. A sinner needs to be forgiven. A sinner needs mercy. It is not your duty to determine the eternal fate of every person you encounter, but to love God and serve your neighbor. There is a time and place to judge and condemn false doctrine and sin, but there is also a time to remove the plank from your own eye first. Attending to your own sin prepares you with a humble heart to seek the reproof, correction, and instruction of your neighbor.

Your Heavenly Father has had mercy on you. By right, there is only One who may even call Him His Father, for Christ is the only True Son of the Father. Yet in His infinite grace and mercy, He has given to you everything that is His own, including your adoption as a child of God. In faith toward Him and in fervent love toward your neighbor, be merciful, even as your Heavenly Father is merciful.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] St. Luke 6:37.

[2] St. Mark 16:15-16.

[3] 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

[4] Isaiah 5:20.

[5] Psalm 119:104, 128.

[6] St. Matthew 7:15.

[7] St. Luke 6:36.

[8] St. Luke 6:31.

[9] St. Matthew 25:34-40.

Jubilate

Jubilate – April 21, 2024

Psalm 66; Isaiah 40:25-31; 1 Peter 2:11-20

St. John 16:16-22

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

From the very beginning, sin has been a rejection of God’s order; a questioning of His authority, and an assertion that we know better than He does. Satan’s temptation of Eve centered on the question, “Did God really say?” Sometimes we use that phrase as shorthand for the tendency of the sinful mind to subvert God’s wisdom, authority, and knowledge. God set all of creation in order and since that first bite of the forbidden fruit, man has gone about setting the world into disorder.

The twentieth century and on to today has fully embraced this type of thinking. Whether you agree with the statement or not, the idea that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” has dominated all western thought for over a hundred years now. It suggests that my taste is more important than something objective, something that exists outside of myself. This applies to the visual arts – paintings, sculptures, architecture – as well as music, dance, hymnody, and the worship of the Triune God. If something is pleasing to the eye, then it is valid. If you like it, then it must be beneficial, if not true.

This is the foolishness of the world, and it is sin. It is sinful to think that you know better than God. If God has said that the Body and Blood of Christ are bodily present in the Lord’s Supper, who are you to deny Him? As the Bride of Christ, we are often the object of such ridicule. The world laughs at our worship, our faith, and our suffering because it is not pleasing to the eye. At the same time, the world rejoices in sinfulness. The world rejoices because there is nothing else. There is nothing to look forward to. The world says, “Eat, drink, and make merry, for tonight we die!”

It is always amazing when we insist on something because it is the only thing we know. According to God, the only thing we know is sin. Faith is a radical departure from what we know of our own experience and the desires born in our hearts. The entire Christian life must be one of seeking the wisdom, authority, and knowledge of God while putting our own inbred thoughts to death.

The desire to seek God is born within you in Holy Baptism. It is born in you by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. But this desire does not spontaneously give you holy thoughts and liver shivers, provable only because it is something you like. Holy thoughts are born by the indoctrination of the Word of God, being steeped in the eternal truths given to Abraham, Moses, Peter, and Paul, then carried forth by Augustine, Luther, Chemnitz, Walther and more.

Such wisdom of the saints is recorded in our text as weeping and lament. How is that wisdom? It is wisdom in weeping and lamenting our sins. We cannot escape sinful desires. The Old Adam was drowned in Holy Baptism but he is a strong swimmer. We must continually put him to death by lamenting our sins. 

What does that look like? It looks like confessing. It looks like confessing before God Almighty, “I, a poor miserable sinner, confess unto You all my sins and iniquities…” And then trusting in the Word of the Almighty God that the absolution spoken by your Pastor is the very same as though God were speaking it directly from heaven.

It also looks like taking the things of God seriously. When was the last time that you obeyed the words of Saint Paul, “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup,”[1] by coming to confession before receiving the Lord’s Supper, reviewing the Christian Questions and their Answers in your catechism, or simply reciting the Ten Commandments and determining where you have fallen short and where you need the shed Blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of those sins?

These are not laws in the sense that you must dot your Is and cross your Ts before you may commune. They are an admonition of God to take His gifts seriously. This is wisdom. This is the lamentation of the Christian in this time.

And this lamentation leads to joy. It leads to joy here in time and there in eternity. It leads to joy here as your sins are forgiven and you are unburdened. If you take the forgiveness of sins lightly, then your burden will only be lightly relieved. Given great weight, the forgiveness of sins will move the mountain of sins that weigh you down.

This joy, this true joy, will then lead to the enjoyment of the right ordering of God’s creation. Weighed down by sexual sin, you cannot enjoy the bliss of the marital union. Weighed down by the sin of wrath, you cannot enjoy the bliss of company, activity, or competition. Weighed down by the sin of anxiety, you cannot enjoy the bliss of determination, purpose, and direction.

That doesn’t mean that coming to hear private absolution will make everything joyful for you. It will relieve the burden of sin, but it may not “fix” your life. That is the sorrow of a world bent out of order by sin. The whole world fell in Adam’s fall and you still live in the world. You are still effected by this disordered world.

So long as you live on this side of glory, in one way or another, you are still the woman in labor. You will have moments of joy, when you see beyond the sorrow of this world and glimpse the glory of heaven, but the labor persists. Still, the promise of Christ stands, “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.”[2]

The labor will come to completion and then you will have such joy that the danger, pain, and sorrow of labor will be forgotten. It will be forgotten in the joy that you now behold the Son of Man in your arms. You will see the face of Christ and rejoice. You will forget the sorrow and weeping that marks this life. Your lamentation of sin will come to an end. You will no longer seek the absolution because your absolution will be made complete, made whole, in the direct presence of Christ, now enjoyed by all the faithful.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] 1 Corinthians 11:28.

[2] St. Luke 6:21.

The Fourth Sunday after Trinity

The Fourth Sunday after Trinity – July 10, 2022

Psalm 27; Genesis 50:15-21; Romans 8:18-23

St. Luke 6:36-42

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

Today’s portion of the Sermon on the Plain presents the climax of the Sermon. Jesus speaks to His disciples concerning the way they are to live—that is, how they are to imitate God. Today, we will view this text as four discreet sayings of Jesus, and then unite them in a conclusion.[1]

1. “Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.” This word for “merciful” is very rare in the New Testament. It is not the request of the beggar when a powerful man comes riding into town. It is also not the word we repeat at the beginning of every Divine Service, “Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.” Rather, this word is primarily influenced by the Old Testament. It is the word used in describing God who is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”[2]

This mercy is a description of God. The simplest definition of mercy is not giving someone the punishment he deserves. The mercy in today’s reading describes first the emotion of grief or sorrow at the misfortune or death of a man and then the sympathetic movement of one’s heart to help the one in need. God not only refrains from the punishment due to man in the Fall, but He is moved by love to take on the flesh of man. In this way, He can sympathize with our low estate. This sympathy moves Him to do something about our deathly condition. He joins Himself to us such that He takes on our punishment. He sees His own righteousness and delivers it to sinful man. The God who cares for the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, sympathizes with man, and dies for him.

This is the mercy we are called to show to our fellow man and the mercy we are so terribly at showing. There is certainly generosity and kindness in the world but there is far more hatred and spite. Friendships built over decades often grow cold in an instant. Marriages that outwardly appear strong are torn apart in one night of careless anger. Human nature is not only incapable of expressing such divine mercy—it is hostile to it.

Even for the Christian, this is difficult. Think about how hard it is for someone to please you but how easily you are offended. Or how many times you expect your wife to read your mind and how quickly you are angry when she can’t. This is not mercy. It is spite, vindictiveness, and cruelty.

2. “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” These commands of Jesus are among the most misunderstood words of Holy Scripture to be found. Much like being merciful, Christ is calling us to imitate our Heavenly Father in these commands, but He is not calling us to imitate Him to the same divine degree. Put another way, do not judge the eternal fate of others and your eternal fate will not be judged. Do not condemn the eternal soul of others and your eternal soul will not be condemned. Forgive others their trespasses against you, and you too will be forgiven.

These commands are against making claims to the eternal fate of others. They are not commands against judgments and condemnations of those actions and beliefs God has judged and condemned in His Word. Rather, it is a call to remember that vengeance belongs to the Lord, not to you. Calling on your Heavenly Father to damn a man He has bled and died for just because you are angry with him is a terrible blasphemy. Such rage and spite are easy for the perverse human nature, but it will do nothing but harm your own soul. Giving in to the temptation to wish the damnation of your neighbor is giving in to Satan and slapping Jesus in the face.

But there is a strange comfort in these words as well. No matter the condition of the world; no matter the hatred shown to you and the church by the city, state, or even your relatives; no matter the harm that has come to you on account of your faith—God will have vengeance. It is not your duty to determine the eternal fate of your neighbor. It is not even your duty to determine the eternal fate of your children. That is the duty of God alone.

What is given to you is to forgive. Forgive those who persecute you and turn the other cheek such that you would imitate the God who died for you. Such forgiveness is not what grants you salvation, but it is a necessary consequence of your salvation. When you forgive, you know that you have been forgiven.

If you struggle to forgive, pray for the strength to forgive and know that even the desire to forgive is a holy thing. The struggle you feel is the struggle between the Holy Ghost and your Old Adam. This struggle will last until you draw your final breath on this side of glory. If you had no desire to forgive, Satan and your Old Adam would have already won the struggle. There would be no conflict.

3. “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” There are so many temptations in our age that it is difficult to name the greatest. We live in such prosperity it is almost insufficient to call material wealth and possessions a temptation. Rather, materialism is our default position. The frustration and difficulties we experience when the electricity goes out, the internet slows to a crawl, or the AC breaks down reveal how fragile we are.

It is this fragility that leads us to trust in material things. If we know that our electricity is prone to going out once or twice a year, it is more important to have a generator or two than to learn how to live without electricity. Internet slow? Better increase the speed (and the bill) rather than use it less. I’m using somewhat frivolous examples of modern conveniences, but the Holy Ghost who dwells within you is smart enough to find the deeper temptations of your heart—those fears you hold higher than God which prevent you from giving freely.

As for the measure, you must understand that Christ is promising to give you an unfair measure. He is promising to pack it down and overflow the cup which He will give to you. He is also comparing this to the measure which you use to give to one another. This giving is not strictly financial. In fact, it could apply to everything that has come before—mercy, compassion, patience, and forgiveness, as well as material giving. There are many in need in our world, all you have to do is open your eyes to find them. It is also entirely possible to give to someone who is not impoverished but who could use a gift—a gift of sentiment, forgiveness, patience, or mercy.

4. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” This parable is clearly hyperbolic but is not difficult to understand. Before claiming to judge the faults of your brother or sister in Christ, reflect upon your own faults. Beg for the mercy and forgiveness of God before you beg the repentance of your neighbor.

Very rarely do I use personal examples in sermons, but when my Beloved and I were going through pre-marital classes with our pastor, he told us that the worst fights in marriage occur when you are thinking about how she hurt you. This is the single greatest piece of advice we have ever received, and it is rooted in this parable. Before accusing your husband of being lazy because his shoes are in the middle of the floor, remember that you left the dishes until morning because you were tired last night. Then, remind him to put his shoes away because you both desire a tidy home.

The parable does not forbid calling your brother to repentance. Rather, it teaches us to first repent of our own sins that we might see the sin of our brother clearly and call him to repentance in love and mercy. It is a loving act to call someone to repentance because it means you are concerned over his eternal soul. Such a call to repentance is not to be made in a moment of anger or frustration but should be done in love. Therefore, you must first examine your own conscience. You must recognize that you are a sinner in need of forgiveness.

5. “Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.” There is no mistaking that today’s text is full of God’s Holy Law, that is, God’s eternal Will for our lives. Christ is instructing all who would be His disciples. This instruction necessarily carries with it the accusation that you do not live up to this standard. You are not and will never be as merciful as your Heavenly Father on this side of glory and yet that is the standard to which you have been called.

Throughout history, many have seen this as unfair. Such a conclusion leads to either disregarding God’s Law as unimportant or unnecessary. Others have concluded that God would never command something we are incapable of doing, leading to a belief that man must work his way to salvation.

The truth of the Scriptures is neither. The truth is that you have been called to become merciful, to become holy just as your heavenly Father is merciful and holy. This is done first in recognizing that you are not merciful or holy. You cannot be merciful and holy on your own. You must recognize your inadequacy before God. This is repentance. You must first receive the mercy and holiness of God. You must first receive Jesus and the sacrifice He has made in your place.

Then, you must submit to the will of the Father. By this I mean you must recognize that God’s ways are not your own, but they are in fact better than your own. Seeing the fault in your own flesh, desire and seek the mercy and holiness that reside in the Father. By the presence of the Holy Ghost, strive to imitate your Heavenly Father not to earn salvation but because of salvation. Repent of your own sins and then call your brother to repentance so that he too might enjoy eternal life.

Claiming to be Christian in word but not deed is not enough for salvation. The heart of merciful flesh transplanted for the stony heart of your birth must change the way you think, act, and feel. This is the Christian life. It is the life of all who would be saved. It is the life of the Baptized. It is your life. It is the glorious life you have been called to live in the presence of the Holy One of Israel.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] This five-fold division is inspired by Joseph August Seiss, Lectures on the Gospels for the Sundays and Chief Festivals of the Church Year, Vol. 2, 3^rd edition (Philadelphia: Lutheran Bookstore, 1888), 743-754.

[2] Exodus 34:6; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2; Psalm 86:15; 103:8; 145:8.