From the Association of Confessing Evangelical Lutheran Congregations (ACELC.net) -- Ten Theses on God's Arrangement of the Sexes

God created us male and female. In his image he created us. Lately we have all been hearing the ungodly words of those who wish to distort the truth about who we are and what it means to be male and female. In every age, the Christian Church must confess God's truth and respond to the lies of the world and the old evil foe, Satan, which deny and attack God's truth. This statement from ACELC.net is faithful to the Bible and the Lutheran Confessions of our faith. Studying it will serve us well to review what God says about the two sexes he wonderfully made. We encourage you to read (pdf) or listen to (YouTube) this statement of Christian confession.

Ten Theses on God’s Arrangement of the Sexes

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Sermon for 4th Sunday of Easter

 Jesus said, “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me” John 16:16.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

Easter continues. In fact, every week we gather on this day, the Lord’s day, in remembrance and celebration of the Sunday resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And the believers in Jesus will continue to do so until the end of time.

“A little while” – That’s what Jesus calls this time we are in right now, the time between his first coming and his second coming – the time between when he came here to earth to die on the cross and rise again and the time in the near future when he will come again to judge the living and the dead. His disciples are expected to wait this little while with faith and the expectation of great and joyful things to come when their Lord Jesus returns. As he says, “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (vs. 22).

That’s the life that we who are his disciples have now, as we wait with joyful expectation to see him.

We have this life after Easter.

Psalm 116 gives a handy way of describing what this life after Easter is like. I am going to introduce this Psalm today, and include it in services in the weeks ahead, that by continued praying it and remembering it, the words will stick in our minds and the meaning will stick in our hearts.

Psalm 116:12 What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me?

Consider all his benefits. We are beneficiaries of a great and wondrous treasure. This treasure has been paid for, not with money, not with gold, but with the precious blood of Christ and his innocent suffering and death.

Life after Easter is given meaning when we consider this question, “What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? What do you and I, the beneficiaries of the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and all the benefits that flow from Christ, what do we do now, what love, what life do we render to the Lord?

The next verse of Psalm 116 says, I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.

This is a vivid picture of our life after Easter. We are given the bountiful benefits of our Lord’s death and resurrection in the cup of blessing that he pours out for us now, in our life time. We meditate on the great things our Lord has done for us.  He has given us pardon and forgiveness for all our sins. He has rescued us from death and hell. He has given us life – life to the fullest now and life forever with him in his Kingdom. What’s the best way to render our puny thanks for that? How can we ever pay the Lord back for his incomprehensible gifts to us? What’s a fair amount to give him in return? It’s way beyond anything we are capable of producing and giving to him. Instead Psalm 116 leads us to say, I will just keep on taking the salvation my Lord is giving. I will keep drinking from the cup of salvation. When I am at a loss to do anything that could properly, fully render my thanks, I will just take more of his benefits to me. It is a foolish and futile notion to think we can somehow repay God for salvation and eternal life.

Who among us can fully repay our mothers for all they’ve done for us? She nurtured you in her womb. She went through an uncomfortable process to give birth to you. She prayed for you, nursed you, got up in the middle of the night for you, worried about you when you were out too long, taught you lessons about earth and heaven. And in return you might give her some tokens, flowers, a nice brunch, but you can’t really give her enough to make up for it all, and that’s not what she would want anyway, is it?

So much more, the relationship between you and your Lord God. You say, “What should I do to say thanks? He says, “Here, have more. Receive again today the blessings given you at your baptism”, he says, “Where I washed your sins away and gave you new life. Come soon and often to my table and eat the body of Christ and drink from the cup of salvation. Call on my name every day, and I will be there and will bless you again and again. My Spirit will be with you, to comfort you, bless you, prosper you and guide you into the new life I have appointed for you.”

Psalm 116: “I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.”  Led by the Spirit of God, filled with the blessings of the cup of salvation you are now led to fulfill the vows you have made to the Lord. That’s your calling and vocation in life.

Today we think of this especially with the graduates we are recognizing and honoring. Katie and Grace, I’d suggest you use this time of your graduation to remember and give thanks to the Lord to all his benefits to you. And then consider your vocation.

Vocation is a noun, but it is based on a verb, an active verb with a subject and a couple of objects. God is the subject. You are the object and the things he has in store for you are the objects. He who has created you and redeemed you, now calls you to great things, this new life in Christ. With the aid and comfort of the Holy Spirit, he gives you a life to live in service to him and to others. He calls you to be his daughters and so his representatives here in this life in this world. You are called to show mercy to others as he has shown it to you. He calls you to bless others with the words you speak and the smiles you share and the work you do.

We are wishing you the best today. But of course, things won’t always go smoothly and easily. You know how life here goes. But we go forward with life in faith and trust, with the promises of Jesus our Lord who says to you, “You have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (John 16:22). Amen.

 

Sermon for the 3rd Sunday in Easter

Jesus said, “So there will be one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:16).

As we meditate on the words of our Lord today, the images of green pastures and pools of still waters, are sure to bring comfort to the soul, peace to troubled consciences, and a sense of security to frightful hearts.

The rod and the staff of the Good Shepherd comfort the sheep. The rod the shepherd has is to ward off the enemies: the lion, the wild dogs that would harm the sheep. And the staff -- a shepherd’s staff has a crook in it, like you see in the bulletin cover today. That’s to reach out and hook a sheep by the neck or leg, to pull it back in the right direction, to keep her from wondering off or falling into danger. There’s no comfort, peace, or security in just letting the sheep wander off wherever they want to go. The Good Shepherd is gentle and loving, even as he directs and sometimes even disciplines. Comfort, Peace and security comes went the enemies are beaten off, and because so often, a sheep is its own worst enemy. It takes a rod, and it takes a staff to be a good shepherd.

The Epistle reading, 1 Peter 2 talks about the Shepherd and the sheep. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25For you were straying like sheep.” As the shepherd must correct his straying sheep with rod and staff, so it is with our Good Shepherd Jesus. His word is his rod and staff to guide us and to redirect us away from our misguided attitudes and sinful desires.

That’s actually what he was doing that day when he said these words, “I am the Good Shepherd”. The audience for this sermon of Jesus included his disciples, but also a bunch of Pharisees and a formerly blind beggar man. Just before this, Jesus gave sight to the blind man and the Pharisees were all upset about the miraculous healing. You see, Jesus had done this work on the Sabbath and that was against their rules. With no mercy at all toward the poor blind guy, they were vehemently arguing and insulting Jesus. It's like they were mad because the Lord was merciful.

These Pharisees think that they themselves are the big deal. They despise others who are not like them, or who don’t meet their exalted Pharisaic expectations.  And Jesus tells them, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

Jesus was all about mercy. And with the rod and the staff of his word, he directs his listeners to show mercy, likewise. That means you have to look at others as God sees them. God shows no partiality toward souls, nor should we, his people.

There is another example of this in the book of James, chapter 2:

“My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man.”

This is one of those passages that hits the sinful heart like a rod. It has to hit to the heart because we can use outward “proper” behavior to hide the evil, unmerciful thoughts going on inside.

So hear how Jesus talks to the Pharisees when they have these unloving hearts. He says, “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my sheep.”

Is there anyone you despise, that you can’t respect because they are different than what is commonly accepted? Consider this, what if they are sheep of the Lord’s one flock. What if they, like you, know Psalm 23 and pray it? Jesus says, “there will be one flock, one Shepherd.” And he, not you, not me, he is the one who makes the call as to who is in that flock.

This is not to say that all bad behavior is excused. That’s what the world around us has got wrong with the buzz word “tolerance”. They use that word to talk about bad behavior, immoral, perverted behavior that goes against God’s word and creation. The world says tolerance means you cannot critique immorality, you cannot guide children and others away from bad, unhealthy choices and disfunctioning. When really, to be merciful toward your fellow human being means talking about, speaking up for what is good and right and God-pleasing. In mercy we Christians invite others to join us in sorrow for our sins, both sins of outward bad behavior and sins of hidden bad attitudes in the heart.

Then when we and they turn from sin and turn again to follow our Lord we hear his voice. He says “14I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.”

In what way is He our Good Shepherd? Two things: First He knows us, and we know him by faith. And second, He lays down his life for the sheep.

He is your Good Shepherd like so. He guides you to Himself and to follow in His ways, and He dies for you. He loves you and me and all sinners. He doesn’t act out of frustration with us for our intolerable behavior and attitude. No, but in mercy he guides us with rod and staff and he forgives us with his holy precious blood and his innocent suffering and death. Amen.

Sermon for Holy Thursday

33But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  Jeremiah 33:33

Remember this line from the Gospel reading for Palm Sunday? We heard this, that the “disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him” (John 12:16). Jesus teaches his disciples, including us, of course, explaining to us why he did what he did. As we, tonight, meditate on that ho ly supper that Jesus instituted on the night he was betrayed, we learn from him “these things that had been written about him and had been done to him.” Receiving the body and blood of Jesus, who has since been glorified is the best way for us to gain understanding and faith in what our Lord did for us on the Cross.

He had promised, back in Jeremiah’s day, that He would make a new covenant with his beloved people. “I will make a new covenant”, he said. Not like the old one the Israel broke in their disobedience and idolatry.

Throughout the Bible, God made covenants with people. He made a covenant with Noah and made the rainbow, promising to keep the world going now, not destroying in it again in that way. God made a covenant with Abraham, telling him to leave your home country and go to a new land I am giving you and I will bless you there and like the stars of the skies, so many shall your offspring be, and all nations of the earth will be blessed by one particular Offspring.

Covenants are sometimes made, man to man. Maybe as a business agreement, or a friendship, an alliance. The marriage of a husband and a wife is a covenant between them, sealed when they make their vows and promises to each other. A covenant from God is like that, but different in some very significant ways.   First of all, it is very one sided with God. In this covenant he is cutting with us, he is the one doing it all. He doesn’t work out an agreement with us as though he needs our contribution or our attention. There is nothing we have that he lacks. He makes a covenant with us simply because he wants to be our God and he wants us to be his people. What’s more, With God, it is an everlasting covenant. We need not fear that he will break it or change it. Even the old Covenant, it wasn’t he that broke it. But Israel, his people did. So he says, “I’ll make a new one.” So just like Israel had 12 tribes, from the 12 sons of Jacob, whom God called Israel, So now Jesus takes 12 apostles and makes a new covenant with the new Israel.

We who believe, are brought into that new covenant and it makes us new. Here’s what God does to us with this new covenant: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.” The law of the Lord is, simply put, love. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. On the night our Lord instituted the Holy Supper, he told his disciples, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another” (John 13:34). That’s why this is called Maundy Thursday, because of that commandment or mandate, all related words.

An essential result of the New Covenant, written on the heart, is a new love for God and a new love for others.

With his death on the cross, our Lord Jesus did what it took, to pay for all the sins of all the world. By his death on the cross, he redeemed all the world. Now, because of that he is ready and able to make a new covenant with you. On the cross it’s for all. In the cup, it’s for you. He says, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

Jesus serves you his body to eat and his blood to drink, because he wants to make this new covenant with you. He wants to assure you that He is your God, and you are His people.

Amen. 

Sermon for Palm Sunday & Confirmation

 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”  (John 12:19)

 Jesus says, “Follow me.” He says that to you Trice, and Grace, and Miyah, and Kendall. Follow Jesus.

 Confirmation is about a lot of things: The fulfillment of your midweek Bible lessons and catechism instruction, your joining this congregation as a confirmed and communicant member, it is a rite of passage, a sign that you’ve grown up. But most importantly, it is the public confession that you are following Jesus. Your are his disciple. He is your Lord and Savior. This is confirming what’s been true since your baptism, You are a follower of Jesus Christ. So consider now, what all that means.

 First, you are a follower of Jesus, and that means you are not a follower of other things that are against the Lord. We teach from our catechism that there are especially three enemies of the Lord and his ways, that hinder his will and don’t want his Kingdom to come: the devil, the world and our sinful nature.

 You are a follower of Jesus, so obviously you are not a follower of the devil. Now, what that will mean is you’ve been brought into an arena where the devil is fighting. He  has to work harder on you, than he does on someone who doesn’t care. He will work harder to tempt you, to lead you astray, to give you what seem like good reasons to give up and not bother with the religion and the faith of the Lord and his church. But you just have to say, nope, I follow Jesus.

 Likewise, You are a follower of Jesus, so you are not a follower of the world and its ways. You are making a public statement today, that is completely different from what the world around us says. You’re saying that the Lord God has created you. And He redeemed you from sin and death. And he sanctified you and gave you a new birth and new life of faith. The world says that nothing created you, you just came to be by chance and chaotic randomness and that’s all there is to look forward to in the future. So the world says you’ve got to take care of things yourself, and you hear what kind of things the world says, without any acknowledgement of the Lord and his law: the world says, Choose for yourself what kind of person you will be, what gender you will be, what you will think and feel, choose for yourself without a thought or care about the people around you or the God above you. To which you are saying, in your confirmation vows this morning, I follow Jesus Christ. Him alone I serve. Him alone, I trust.

 The third spiritual enemy working against you when you follow Jesus is your own sinful nature. All of us who are born of flesh and blood are by nature selfish. So we always bent on putting ourselves first, reluctant to put others first, even including the Lord Jesus Christ. To make the vows of confirmation, means you have to repent of your sins, repent of your sinful nature, repent of your self-first attitude.

 Think about what Jesus was doing as he was riding that donkey on the Palm strewn street. You know where he was riding to? He was riding into Jerusalem. And we know what was waiting for him there. There were a lot of people crazy angry toward him. These Pharisees that are watching on, were filled with anger and hatred. “We’ve got to stop him. They said. We’ve got to put an end to this or the whole world will go after him.

 Jesus was riding right into the middle of that hatred and anger. He was riding to his arrest and trial filled with false witnesses. He was going forward toward a beating, thorns, pierced hands and feet. He is riding on to his death. You’d think he wouldn’t want to do that. But he rode on, for your faith and your salvation.

 Jesus says, “Follow me.” So that means you will probably have to go where you don’t want to go, for Jesus’ sake. Here’s what I mean: Jesus will say, “Follow me; repent of your sins and your selfish sinful nature.” And that’s not the favorite place to go. It’s not the easiest, most pleasurable thing to do. The sinner in all of us wants to say, “No, I don’t want to go there. I don’t want to admit that I was wrong. I don’t want to let on that I’m not right.” Jesus says follow me, even if it’s not where you want to go. Follow me, He says, “I’m going to the cross. Repent of your sins and believe what I say. There at my death on the cross, you are forgiven and redeemed.”

 It's good to follow Jesus, despite what your human nature makes you feel about it. It’s good to follow Jesus, despite what the world says. It’s good to follow Jesus despite what the devil would try to trick into believing otherwise.

 It’s good to follow Jesus to his cross. You do that when you pray your prayers of repentance and ask for him to forgive you your trespasses. You follow Jesus to his cross as you continue to hear what he says in his word. You haven’t learned it all yet. He has more to teach you. Keep reading, hearing, learning, and believing. You follow Jesus when you come with faith and joy to the altar and receive his body and blood with his promise, this is for you, for the forgiveness of sins and where there is forgiveness, there is life and salvation.

 And when your last hour comes, follow Jesus. He’ll take you home. None of us knows when that day will be, how it will be, what it will be like. Because it’s unknown, it’s kinda scary. And we might want to say, Lord I don’t want to go where you are leading me. When we who follow Jesus reach that point, we can close our eyes in death and have peace. We can be like the Daughters of Zion who rejoice and say, "Behold, your king is coming to your righteous and having salvation is he, Hosana! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."

 Amen.

 

Sermon on February 27

 1 Samuel 16:7 For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

Don’t judge a book by its cover. You know that old saying. Well, know this: God does not judge by outward appearances. He judges by what’s in your heart.

Saul was the first king of Israel, but it didn’t go well. He was evil – evil to the heart. And his worst evil was that he didn’t listen and didn’t obey the Word of God.

In the verse just previous to the Old Testament reading today, it says this:  “And Samuel (Samuel served as prophet at the same time that Saul served as king) did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel” (1 Samuel 15:35).

So God speaks to Samuel here in Chapter 16 and says, “Let’s not grieve over Saul any longer. Go and Anoint a new king. Go down to Bethlehem and I will show you who I want to be my king.”

Now Bethlehem was not a very important town at that time, but we know it would become so. And already here God is preparing for the great event to take place in Bethlehem, by choosing a new king and a new line of kings from Jesse’s family.

So God sends Samuel to Jesse’s house in Bethlehem. And Jesse introduces his sons to Samuel. Everyone would expect that the oldest, the first born would be the choice. Eliab was by all appearances the excellent candidate. He was well-built, tall, strong.  “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” 1 Samuel 16:7.

Seven sons of Jesse, each in turn, are brought before Samuel. None are chosen. So Samuel says, “Have you got anyone else?”

And Jesse says, “Just the little one, David. He’s out tending the sheep.”

“Go get him.” Says Samuel.

David is brought in and he’s the one! And he is anointed, the King of Israel, the best King ever.

We know David yet today. We know something of his heart. We know his faith. The Holy Spirit of God was on him and led him to write Psalms that are sung and prayed by believers for 3000 years now, Psalms like the 23^rd, where the former shepherd boy, now King, David, praises “The Lord is my Shepherd.” And another, Psalm 51, which will be a prayer included in our service Ash Wednesday. It’s the Psalm that says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God.”

You see, David wasn’t without flaws. He sinned. In fact, he was guilty of some big sins. To the guilty, the notion that God sees in the heart is shocking. It incites fear, regret and shame. It’s from the heart where all sin starts. Evil thoughts and desires fill the hearts of sinful human beings.

The sinner can’t say, I’m going to change my heart. I’m going to fix it. NO, as David teaches us, the only way to pray is to ask God to create a new heart within me.

Lent is our times to prepare our hearts for Easter. How? Not by outward appearances. It’s not about outward things (like eating more fish and seafood, although that’s ok to do if you enjoy it). It’s about the inward work of God, the Creator, creating something new within us. And He does that by the Word of Christ. When we hear and believe that Jesus lived, died and rose again to save us, God creates in us new, reborn hearts.

We hear in the Gospel reading today, what great things Jesus can do. A blind beggar cries out to Jesus, “Son of David! Have mercy on me.” The beggar recognizes that Jesus is in the kingly line of David. Jesus is the King greater than his ancestor.

Jesus says to the beggar “, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well”  (Luke 18:42). How would Jesus know this man has faith? He was just a beggar along the road, annoying people who walked by. Jesus, the Lord, looks at the heart. He sees this man’s faith.

Also in the Gospel reading we hear Jesus predict his death in Jerusalem (Luke 18:31-34). Evil men would judge Jesus and find that he deserved crucifixion and death, even though he had done nothing wrong, nor was there any evil in Jesus’ heart. The hear of Jesus was pure and innocent, righteous and holy. But sinners back then. . . well, all sinners of the world, you and me, made that pure heart of Jesus stop beating.

On the third day it beat anew. In heaven it beats now for you. The Lord loves you from the heart.  He forgives your sins from His heart. He keeps you in his heart. Which is why I can now say to you: And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7). Amen.

Sermon for February 13, 2022

 The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the twentieth chapter.

1[Jesus said:] “The kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ 5So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. 6And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ 8And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ 9And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 10Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. 11And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 12saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. 15Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ 16So the last will be first, and the first last.”

 This is the Gospel of the Lord.

All of us need to learn. All of us need to be taught by our Lord – whether young or old, whether you’ve learned lessons from books or from life, or if you’re just starting out -- we all need to hear from our Lord, learn from him and believe him. And many of his lessons, we need to learn again and again, like this one he’s teaching today, about our work for him and the wages we expect. We need to learn from him because our sinful human nature always gets things wrong when it comes to good works and faith.

In this parable that Jesus told, some of those workers in the vineyard made a fuss about the pay they were getting. It wasn’t fair. Those of us with a human nature, can sympathize with them. It hurts our pride when we see someone else get more than we did, and we, by our own reckoning, deserve more than they. It’s human nature to expect to get credit. We share in the grumbling of the vineyard workers when we don’t get the credit we think we should.

The boss had to chide these workers. A denarius was a fair day’s wage. It was agreed upon beforehand. It was awarded appropriately. The boss was faithful and just to the workers. It was his choice, and his business alone, to be generous toward those who came late and worked little.

By means of this story, the Lord teaches us about our human nature. We are slow to be thankful for what God has given us. We don’t count our blessings as we should. It’s only when they are diminished or gone, that we seem to notice the blessings. And then we gripe and complain. We sinful, self-centered human beings tend to think we deserve only good from God. “We’ve got it coming”, so we assume. Thinking this way we take credit in our own abilities and strength and goodness. We fail to give God the credit for our blessings and for our life. We’d rather trust ourselves than trust God.

Faith and Good Works

Faith –believing in God and what God has done for you. It is He who has made us and not we ourselves. It is He who has saved us from our sinful condition by sending His Son to die for us on the cross. It is He who has given us faith, and is bringing us into eternal life. Salvation unto us has come by God’s free grace and favor; Good works cannot avert our doom. They help and save us never. The sinful human nature within us gets this wrong.

Arrogance

We are tempted to make too much of our own good works and inherent abilities. It is arrogant to take credit for what is not ours. The master of the vineyard was disappointed with the arrogance of those workers who thought they deserved more pay and more credit. So we are tempted to look around at what others are doing and say, “Well at least I’m not as bad as so and so. God and everybody else ought to recognize that.” No, there is no one righteous. No one good except God.

Ephesians 2 says, “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Your good works don’t count up to your credit. Your good works give you nothing good for yourself and your standing, but they are for the good of your neighbor. It is arrogant to boast about your goodness and your good works. Arrogance is the exact opposite of faith. The arrogant need to repent.

Despair

Despair on the other hand comes with great frustration when you realize that no matter how hard you try, God doesn’t notice you or award you. In despair, the sinner says, “I can’t do this.” and so gives up, gives up on God, gives up on heaven. Despair is the exact opposite of faith in the other direction.

License

You can be tempted too think to much of good works. You can also be tempted to think too little of good works. When you get a license, you have the privilege to drive. Some think that the Gospel is a license to do whatever you want in this life. The thinking goes like this, if God forgives me all my sins, it doesn’t matter what I do.

Here’s the next verse in Ephesians 2, “¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

You can’t just skip good works and carelessly, lazily go through your day without even trying. Faith without works is dead. Those guys in the parable who were just standing around all day, weren’t even trying to help out with the vineyard. They showed by their lack of work that they didn’t care about the Master and didn’t expect him to care about them. In the same way, a person who does nothing good for God or neighbor is showing that he cares little about God and doesn’t expect God to care about him.

Believers want to do good works. But they don’t put the cart before the horse by saying that their good works are what make them good Christian people. No, It’s by grace you have been saved. Believers trust in their salvation from God and then love him and love their neighbors with words and actions that show their love for God.

What are good works?

There’s this mistaken idea that the best works are great and extravagant, like giving a sum of money to fund a hospital, giving years of your life to serve the church or the poor. As if certain super good works make one a super Christian. The master of the vineyard paid all the workers the same. The Lord above gives the same salvation to all who believe. The works God has for you to do are taught in the 10 commandments. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your strength and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself.

These are the good works God has prepared for you to do:

The 1st commandment, You shall have no other gods: Love the Lord God by believing in him.

The 2^nd Commandment, You shall not misuse the name of the Lord. This is God’s command to  call on his name and pray. By the way, Lent starts next month. I’m going to ask, to challenge each of you to keep up and improve your daily prayers through Lent. Your prayers are the good works God has for you.

As is coming to house to hear His word, the 3^rd commandment, Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.

The 4^th commandment, honor your father and mother and other authorities.

The 5^th commandment, You shall not murder. Good works are most often simple. Care about others, their health and life and well-being. 

The 6^th commandment You shall not commit adultery. But love your spouse, treat others decently.

The 7^th commandment You shall not steal. Be kind and considerate to others and care about what’s important to them.

The 8^th Commandment – You shall not bear false testimony against your neighbor, but by speaking kind  words, be a good neighbor.

The 9^th Commandment – You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. Be happy with others for their good fortune, mourn with others when they have loss.

The 10^th Commandment – You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, people or animals, be content with what you get from God and don’t get all arrogant and upset because he gives others good things.

What is faith?

The hymn says it well: “Faith clings to Jesus’ cross alone and rests in Him unceasing; and by its fruits true faith is known with love and hope increasing. For faith alone can justify; Works serve our neighbor and supply the proof that faith is living” (LSB #555). Amen.