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Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
July 10, 2022

“The Good Samaritan” (Luke 10:25-37)

Our text is the Holy Gospel for today, from Luke chapter 10. It’s the parable of “The Good Samaritan.” And, as often happens, there’s something that happens in real life that leads Jesus to tell this or that parable. On this occasion, it’s an interaction Jesus has with a certain lawyer in the crowd. Now when it says “lawyer” here, it’s not talking about the kind of lawyer you see advertising their law office on a billboard or TV commercial. It’s not the kind of prosecuting or defense attorney you see portrayed on TV shows or movies. No, when it says “lawyer” here, it’s talking about an expert in the Law of Moses. This would be a Jewish scholar who knows all the moral, civic, and ceremonial laws of ancient Israel, as found in the books of Moses.

This expert in the Mosaic law asks Jesus a question: “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And, as Jesus often does, he answers a question with a question of his own: “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And the lawyer replies: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus commends his reply: “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

Notice what’s going on here. The lawyer asks, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Do you see what’s wrong with the premise of the question? It presumes there is something you can do to earn eternal life by way of your works. And that isn’t going to work. You and I and that lawyer back then–we can never do enough works to earn our way into heaven. Our good works aren’t good enough. They can’t offset or outweigh our sins.

So Jesus needs this lawyer and us to realize this, that we can’t do enough to gain eternal life. He tells the lawyer, “You know the Law of Moses. How would you sum it up?” And the lawyer responds with two verses from the Old Testament that really do sum up what God wants us to do: to love God with everything that’s in us, and to love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. And Jesus says: “That’s right. Go ahead and do those two things, love God, love your neighbor, do them consistently and perfectly your whole life long, and you will indeed gain eternal life by way of your works.”

Oh, now the lawyer is on the spot. He realizes that’s a pretty tall order, so he tries to cut it down to a manageable size. “Love God? I can put on a pretty good show for that. I can make it look like I love God by going through all the religious motions. But loving my neighbor? People might notice when I’m not acting so kind toward my neighbor.”

So, what the lawyer does in order to justify himself–that is, to make himself look good after painting himself into a corner for having just said that you need to love God and love your neighbor to inherit eternal life–“desiring to justify himself,” he says to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

The lawyer is trying to make loving my neighbor into something manageable, into something I can do a pretty good job at. Thus, if I can limit who my neighbor is, that makes my job a whole lot easier. Because I know I can love the people who love me, the people I like and get along with. Yeah, I can love my own peeps pretty well. As long as I don’t have to love those other people, the people I don’t like, the people I look down upon. So, Jesus, who qualifies as my neighbor?

And that leads Jesus now to tell a story, to make the point that the loving-your-neighbor commandment doesn’t depend on who qualifies to be your neighbor. God doesn’t put a limit on that. You’re looking at it the wrong way, son!

And that brings us to the parable itself. Jesus begins: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.” Well, those guys, yeah, the robbers–they certainly are not loving their neighbor as themselves! They’ve robbed the poor guy, beat him up really bad, and left him there lying on the road! And I, I’m not like them! I’ve never robbed anyone or beat them up half-dead. OK, so far, Jesus, I’m on board with you. I’m keeping the commandment very well compared to those guys! Good for me!

But the story is just beginning. Jesus continues: “Now by chance a priest was going down that road.” Oh, a priest! Now we’ve got a good guy entering the story. I’m sure he’ll do the right thing. I mean, he’s a priest, after all, and who can be holier than that? “Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him . . . he passed by on the other side.” Oh. “He passed by on the other side.” That doesn’t sound very good when you put it that way. But, uh, maybe he was in a hurry to do something religiously important. Or maybe he avoided the half-dead guy because he thought the fella was 100% dead, and coming into contact with a dead body would make him ceremonially unclean. Or–well, anyway, I’m sure the priest had a good reason.

Next man up: “So likewise a Levite.” Ah, a Levite! Another good guy. The Levites did all sorts of things at the temple, and they knew the Levitical laws inside out. But wait: “So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him . . . passed by on the other side.” Ugh. Now we’re oh-for-two. Two highly religious guys, and neither one of them does anything to help the half-dead guy on the road. It sounds like Jesus is making a point here.

He is. And the point is, it’s not just the robbers who broke God’s law by beating the guy up and stealing his stuff. They committed what we call sins of commission, actively doing wrong to one’s neighbor. But the priest and the Levite are breaking God’s law, by not doing anything to help the poor guy. He was lying right there in their path, and they went out of their way to not help him! They are committing what we call sins of omission, when, even if we haven’t done anything wrong, we don’t do anything right, either! We choose not to help our neighbor, when we have the opportunity to do so. That ain’t right, either.

So the beat-up, half-dead guy is still lying there, and no one is helping him. Soon he’ll be a fully dead guy in the middle of the road, stinkin’ to high, high heaven! Is there no one who will stop and help? Wait, I think Jesus sees someone coming. . . . “But a Samaritan. . . .” Oh, wait. False alarm. It’s only a Samaritan. He can’t be any good. He’s a Samaritan, after all, and we all know the Samaritans are a bunch of low-lifes who aren’t as good as us Jews. “But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him . . . he had compassion.” Huh? What? The Samaritan had compassion on him? How can that be? Well, OK, he was moved with pity. He felt sorry for the guy. Fine. But then he must have moved on, right?

Wrong. True compassion is more than a feeling. True compassion will move you into action. And that’s what this Samaritan does: “He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.” What the Samaritan does actually helps the guy. He treats the man’s wounds. He puts him on his own animal, which means the Samaritan has to walk. He takes him to an inn, where the fella can recuperate. The Samaritan takes care of the beat-up guy. This is very inconvenient. The Samaritan went out of his way, not to avoid the man, but to help him.

What’s more, Jesus says, “The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’” This is costly love! The Samaritan goes the extra mile and spares no expense to love his neighbor in very practical care and help. Jesus is saying, this is how you keep God’s law of loving your neighbor as yourself.

Friends, this is exactly what Jesus has done for us. He saw us lying there on the road, not just half-dead, but fully dead spiritually. That’s what we were, dead in our trespasses and sins. Dead, unable to help ourselves. But the Son of God came down from heaven and came to where we were, and he had compassion on us. He didn’t pass us by. No, Christ came and dwelt among us. His compassion moved him into action.

Jesus’ love is a costly love. He has redeemed us, not with gold or silver, but with his holy precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death, which are worth far more than all the denarii on earth. Christ lifts us up by raising us up to new life and eternal life in the waters of Holy Baptism. He brings us into the welcoming inn of the church, where the Holy Spirit cares for us through the means of grace, and the holy people of God care for one another. Jesus comes today with healing, the perfect and eternal healing promised in the bread and wine that are the body and blood of Christ.

The good Samaritan in the story is acting like how Jesus himself acts toward us. This is how you love your neighbor as yourself. So, now Jesus asks the lawyer, “Which of these three”–that is, the priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan–“which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” And the lawyer has to answer, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus says, “You go, and do likewise.”

Notice, lawyers, it’s not about who qualifies as your neighbor, to be worthy of your mercy. No, it’s about: Are you a merciful person? Will you be a neighbor to whomever it is who lies in your path? That’s what the loving-your-neighbor commandment means. And, all you lawyers out there, if you go and do likewise, you will soon discover you don’t do as good a job of that as the Samaritan in the story. Thus you will learn that you are not able to inherit eternal life by what you do. Your works aren’t good enough.

But there is one whose works are good enough. It’s Jesus. It’s through his good works of loving his Father and loving you, the dead guys on the road–it’s through Jesus Christ that you will surely inherit eternal life. For, dear friends, Jesus is our Good Samaritan!

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
July 3, 2022

“Peace Be to This House!” (Luke 10:1-20)

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Yes, peace to you! Peace be to this house! That’s what Jesus told me to tell you, isn’t it? He sends out his laborers into the harvest field and instructs them, “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’” So today, the first thing I want to say to you is what Jesus told me to tell you: Peace be to this house.

Friends, today I want to tell you why you need this peace and what kind of peace it is. I want to tell you where this peace comes from and how it gets to you. And I want you to know how you can be sure that you have this peace. So our theme this morning: “Peace Be to This House!”

First of all, why do you need peace? Simply put, because we all are surrounded by conflict in many ways. We have conflict in the home, conflict between husbands and wives, conflict in families. On a larger scale, as we’ve seen in our country this past month, we have conflict and division in our nation. The whole world is in desperate need of peace.

But all these conflicts are symptoms of an even deeper problem, which is our conflict with God. We fight against God, we fail to listen to his word, we refuse to walk in his ways. Our basic conflict is with God. Each of us wants to be his or her own god. We want to decide for ourselves what is right and wrong, instead of trusting our Creator’s direction for our lives. This has been going on for a long time. It’s called sin. And it’s a killer. Literally. “The wages of sin is death,” the Bible says. So, how can we have peace when we have death looming over us, like the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads? Our guilt before God is tucked away in the back of our conscience, and you can hear it if you listen closely. This, in spite of all the numbing agents we use in our guilt-free society to block that sound out. Deep down, though, we know that something is terribly wrong between God and us. And there’s nothing we can do to change it.

So we need peace. We need something real that can deal with our deep-down problem. We need what Jesus offers. Jesus tells us of a peace that will deal, effectively, once and for all, with our big problems of sin and guilt and death. A peace that will break down the wall of hostility and conflict that we’ve raised up against God. Only Jesus gives this peace.

The thing is, though, even when you have this peace, your life may not look all that peaceful. In fact, your life–the outward circumstances of your life–may look rather stressful. In our text, Jesus sends out his laborers into the harvest field, but it’s no bed of roses. He sends them out like lambs in the midst of wolves. And a lamb doesn’t stand much of a chance against a bunch of wolves. Being a Christian can be difficult, even dangerous. Not very peaceful–outwardly, at least. Even so, there is a peace that Jesus gives that can deal with our trouble-filled life. We need it. Man, do we need it!

So where does this peace come from, and how do you get it? Jesus tells us. He says, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” That’s what he tells his messengers to say on his behalf as he sends them out: “The kingdom of God has come near to you.”

You see, the peace that Jesus gives only comes with the coming of the kingdom–the kingdom of God, that is. The kingdoms of this world, the kingdoms that men come up with, cannot produce this peace. Only God can, and when his kingdom comes near to us, that’s something new and different from what the world can come up with.

The coming of the kingdom of God brings with it all the blessings of that kingdom: peace, joy, wholeness, healing. Peace with God forever. The beginnings of peace now also among us, as in the church we learn how to love and forgive one another. Peace within our souls, knowing that God is at peace with us and he accepts us and takes us for his own.

Yes, even joy, rejoicing, the kind Jesus is talking about when he says, “Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Did you know that, that your names are written in heaven? They are! God knows you and loves you and cares for you–yes, even you! He took you for his own and wrote your name in heaven when he put his name on you in Holy Baptism, the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Your name is written in heaven, written there in the Lamb’s book of life, written in the precious blood of Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

So that’s how it works: The kingdom comes to you. You don’t earn your way into it. God writes your name into his book. You don’t write it there yourself. God comes to you. He is the source of your peace. And that makes it a peace you can rely on. The direction is always from God to us. He gives us his gifts. He finds us when we weren’t even looking for him. That is the way of God’s kingdom.

“The kingdom of God has come near to you.” Jesus tells his messengers to say that, because Jesus himself has come near to you. The Son of God came down from heaven and became man. He became one of us, lived where we live. He experienced the conflict and fighting and lack of peace that this world has to give. Jesus stood where we stand. Indeed, he stood in our place. He took into himself, in his body, our sin and death. Jesus experienced the wrath of God in our place. Even though he had done no wrong, he took the judgment for us wrongdoers. Now there‘s no more judgment standing against us. Jesus took it all. He drank the cup of God’s wrath and leaves us a cup of blessing in its place.

Jesus did this for us on the cross. That’s where the kingdom of God finds its strange destiny. It doesn’t look right for a king to be hanging on a cross, but there he is: Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews–and the king of the Gentiles, too. He is your king, and the kingdom of God comes near to you in the Christ of the cross.

The kingdom of God has come near to you! That’s why Jesus came, to establish the kingdom of God here on earth. And mission accomplished! He did it! He did it all. Jesus rose from the dead, showing that the chains of sin and the shackles of death have been shattered. The serpent’s head has been dealt a death blow. Satan no longer reigns over us. We have transferred kingdoms. Christ Jesus has brought us into the kingdom of light and life, the kingdom of God.

This is for you, and God wants you to know it. That’s why Jesus says to his messengers, “The one who hears you hears me.” You see, when you get this good news from Jesus’ messenger–that is, from your pastor, the minister of Christ–it’s as good and as certain as if Jesus himself were standing right here delivering it into your ears. “I forgive you all your sins,” your pastor says–and they are forgiven! Not because there’s anything special about your pastor as a man –there isn’t. It’s just that Jesus wants you to hear it with your own ears and to know that it’s for real. So he sends his spokesman, his ambassador, here to you, just like he sent out those messengers so long ago.

You are listening to Jesus every Sunday when you come here and listen to his preacher. God wants you to know that your sins really are forgiven! The kingdom of God comes near to you–right here, where the Word is being preached! You’re listening to Jesus! Jesus comes and speaks to you, here in the preaching of the Holy Gospel and in the words that consecrate the Holy Supper. Jesus is speaking to you! He really wants you to know these things and to receive his life and forgiveness.

You see, when Jesus speaks, things happen. His word delivers what it says. When he says, “I forgive you all your sins,” it really happens. When he says, “This is my body, this is my blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,” that’s what you are receiving. When Jesus says, through his messenger, “Peace be to this house,” that is exactly what you get: real peace, peace from God and peace with God. It happens, because Jesus says so.

This is not some vague, nice wish: “Peace be with you,” as sort of a “Have a nice day.” No, this is the real deal. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you,” Jesus assures us. “Not as the world gives do I give to you.” This is the peace that comes with the kingdom of God, the peace that Jesus speaks through his word, the peace delivered by his messengers. This is the “realest” kind of peace you can have. You can bank on it. You can build your life on it. You can take it to the bank–take it to your house, take it to your school and workplace–every place where you need God’s peace to rest upon you. Take this peace even to your deathbed. Yes, the peace of God will sustain you even there.

And so today, and every time I preach God’s word to you, I always close with these words that you can count on: “The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Amen.

Third Sunday after Pentecost
June 26, 2022

“Freedom, Flesh, and Fruit” (Galatians 5:1, 13-25)

Our text today is the Epistle from Galatians chapter 5. In this text, St. Paul takes up three points that very definitely affect you and the way you live. And they are “Freedom, Flesh, and Fruit”: the freedom we have in Christ; the works of the flesh that we are to put behind us; and the beautiful fruit that the Spirit will produce in our lives. So let’s go.

Freedom is a wonderful thing. It’s a relief to not be shackled down by restrictive oppression. However, freedom can be abused. Freedom can be used as an excuse or license for wrong behavior. So the question is: What are we using our freedom for? That’s the question St. Paul takes up here in Galatians. What are we using our freedom for? And what Paul tells the Galatians–and us–is that, yes, we are free in Christ, with a true spiritual freedom. But that freedom is not meant to be used as a license for immorality or any other sin. Rather, we have been set free to live differently from what our sinful flesh would have us do, and instead, to be led by the Holy Spirit.

In the earlier part of Galatians, St. Paul has definitely emphasized the freedom that we have in Christ. No longer are we slaves under the law, bound and chained to keeping the law’s demands perfectly in order to be saved. No longer do we stand condemned and doomed by the law’s accusations. No, Christ Jesus has set us free from that slavery and that guilt.

So the freedom we have in Christ is essential and foundational. Don’t let anyone put you under the yoke of slavery again. As Paul writes: “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

You see, there were these Judaizers going around, doing just that. They were trying to get the Galatians to think that, in addition to faith in Christ, now you also had to keep the law’s demands in order to be saved. The so-called circumcision party was going around trying to convince the churches that Christians, whether Jew or Gentile, had to keep the whole law of Moses, or else they weren’t really up to snuff. Circumcision, the dietary laws, the Sabbath laws–all those laws that were in effect for Old Testament Israel were still in effect and necessary for Christians to keep. That’s what Paul’s opponents were saying, and they were having some success in deceiving the Galatians into falling for that trap.

But Paul says, No! If you go back to thinking that you are saved by works of the law, then you have missed the whole point about Christ’s coming. And you will only be condemning yourself if you want to be judged by how well you keep the law, because you will always fall short on that test.

Do you get that? Do you realize that you have broken God’s law, the Ten Commandments, in all sorts of ways–in the things you have done wrong and in the things you have failed to do right? You are a sinner. You don’t love God well enough. You don’t love people well enough. The law isn’t going to save you.

What the law can do is to show you that you have not kept it. And you need to know that. Otherwise, you would have no interest in hearing about a Savior. You would think you can make it on your own. You’d think you’re good enough on your own. And if you believe that, you would be lost forever. But God loved you enough to let you look into the mirror of his law and see yourself there as a sinner in need of a Savior. The law tells you that you need help from outside yourself. This is necessary to know, so that your ears are open when the gospel tells you that God has sent a Savior to deliver you from your sins.

And that Savior is Jesus Christ, God’s own Son, sent from God, “born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law,” as we heard last week. Christ sets you free by virtue of his holy life, fulfilling the law in your stead. He sets you free by his sacrificial death, his holy blood shed on your behalf. He sets you free by the power of his resurrection, so that now, baptized into Christ, you are God’s own child, sharing in the everlasting life of Christ. Friends, you are free and forgiven, redeemed and righteous, and heirs of heaven, all because of your Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Don’t let anyone ever take that freedom away from you. Don’t look to yourself or your own performance for assurance on how you stand with God. By that scale, you will never measure up. And if you think you do, you are only deceiving yourself. Stand fast, stand firm, in the freedom that Christ has won for you.

Yes, if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed. But at the same time, Paul says, don’t use your freedom for the wrong purpose. “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh.” Having avoided the ditch on one side of the road–the ditch of falling into the slavery of the law–now Paul adds: Don’t fall in the ditch on the other side. You are free and forgiven, but don’t use that freedom as an excuse for indulging your sinful flesh. And Paul lists a whole laundry list of works of the flesh, and dirty laundry it is: “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.”

Indulging the works of the flesh: You know how it goes, don’t you? We think: “Well, God is all about forgiveness. I know I’m forgiven. So in that case, I’ll go ahead and do things that I want to do, even though I know they’re wrong. But I’ll block that out of my mind, because God will forgive me anyway.” How many times have you let those thoughts go on in your head to rationalize doing what you know to be wrong? It’s a tired tape loop.

So we avoid the ditch of legalism and fall into the ditch of licentiousness. The trick is to walk down the middle of the road and not fall into either ditch. And this is where the Spirit will lead you. The Holy Spirit will lead you on the path of righteousness, so that you walk in step with the Spirit, in the freedom you have in Christ. Neither legalism nor license is the way of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit, given you in your baptism, will strengthen your faith through Word and Sacrament and lead you in the right direction

And the Spirit will produce in you the power to bear good and healthy fruit that pleases God. When you bear the fruit of faith in your life, you are saying no to the pull of the flesh. These two things, the leading of the Spirit and the pull of the flesh, go in opposite directions. The sinful flesh, which still clings to you, is essentially selfish. It is only interested in other people insofar as what they can do for you. The fruit of the Spirit is essentially to love, to love God and to love your neighbor. This is what the Spirit will work in your life, work in your heart, to produce the good works that you do.

In contrast to the works of the flesh, Paul now lists the fruit of the Spirit: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Notice, it’s the fruit of the Spirit–“fruit,” a collective singular. Because it’s not like the Spirit will produce just one or two of these things in you. Instead, it’s the whole thing, all the fruit coming up together. The Holy Spirit is working all these beautiful, excellent fruit in your life, in your character. It’s what he does.

Can you see the fruit of the Spirit maturing in your life? Or do you only see the works of the flesh? Then confess your sins, receive God’s forgiveness, and ask for God’s help. He will give it to you. God is committed to you. He baptized you, didn’t he? Christ died for you, didn’t he? The Holy Spirit will keep you in the faith, won’t he? Yes, to all of these. God keeps his promises. Stay connected to Christ, and you will bear much fruit.

This fruit is not just for display, like a bowl of wax fruit that looks good in a still life. No, this fruit is alive and active, producing real results in real life. The fruit of the Spirit–love, joy, peace, patience, etc.–will show up in how you live toward others. You don’t need your good works–Christ has already won your salvation by his good works. You don’t need your good works, but your neighbor does. And God uses you to be his channel of blessing to those around you. God extends his love to people quite often, quite usually, through other people. People just like you. You have been blessed to be a blessing.

When we live according to the flesh, we only seek to satisfy our own desires, and we’re not much good to others. We get into fights and conflicts, because we’re always seeking after self. But when the Holy Spirit leads us in the way of love, then we are fruitful and helpful to others. That’s exactly how God intends us to be: loving and serving, with a joyful heart, from a free and willing spirit. Which the Holy Spirit gives us.

Now if I were to go out to an orchard and tell the fruit trees, “Trees, I want you to bear peaches and cherries and apples and all sorts of delicious fruit,” guess what those trees are going to say? They’ll say: “Great! That’s what we want to do anyway. That’s what we’re designed to do. It’s in our nature as fruit trees to bear fruit.” Well, dear Christians, it’s in your nature–your new nature in Christ–to bear the fruit of the Spirit. God has arranged it so that you will produce beautiful fruit in your life and, through you, for others.

Freedom, flesh, and fruit. Our message today is this: You have wonderful freedom in Christ. Christ has set you free from the crushing burden of trying to keep the law in order to win your salvation. Only, now that you are free, don’t use that freedom as an excuse to indulge your sinful flesh. Instead, let the Holy Spirit guide you and strengthen you through the means of grace, and you will produce beautiful fruit in your life of love and good works.

Second Sunday after Pentecost
June 19, 2022

“Adopted as Sons” (Galatians 3:23 – 4:7)

Today is Father’s Day. Some of us here have a father we can honor and thank today. Some of us, though–our fathers are long gone. In my case, for instance, my father, LeRoy Henrickson, was born 103 years ago this past Friday. But he died when I was just a baby, so I only had one Father’s Day with him. I don’t know what it’s like to have a father you grow up with and have still around when you’re an adult, but I bet it’s pretty cool.

Whatever your situation is, whether you still have a dad to spend time with or not, today I want to assure you that you do have a Father to honor and thank and spend time with today and every day, really. And that, of course, is your heavenly Father. Our earthly fathers, fallible sinners though they are–nevertheless, our earthly fathers are to model and be a picture of the warmth and care we receive from our dear Father in heaven.

And so, yes, we all are being embraced today by the Father we all have in common. You and I are his dearly beloved children. We are his sons, in fact–all of us are, whether we are male or female. And because we are sons, we are also heirs, in line for an inheritance. We are sons and therefore heirs, because of God’s one and only Son, Jesus Christ. My fellow baptized believers in Christ, we all have been “Adopted as Sons.”

Our text for this day is the Epistle from Galatians 3 and 4. There St. Paul tells us that we have been adopted as sons, which in turn makes us heirs. Sons and heirs. That is quite different from what we were before. Before, we were slaves and outsiders, not sons and heirs. But all that has changed. What happened? Let’s find out.

Our text begins in Galatians 3, where Paul writes: “Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.” Captive, imprisoned–not good! That was our status under the law. Under God’s law, you and I were condemned, convicted, captive. Stuck in prison, sentenced to death, no way out. The law says: “Do this, and you will live. Fail to do it, fail to keep God’s law, break it at any point, and you will die.” That was our sad condition as sinners.

Paul says: “So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.” The law was our “guardian.” The Greek word here is “paidagogos.” Literally it means “one who leads or guides a child.” In the ancient Greco-Roman world, a rich man would assign one of his slaves to serve as the paidagogue for his son. The slave would be the boy’s guardian, his escort, to make sure he got to school safely and didn’t run off on his own. The paidagogue, though a slave himself, was allowed a certain degree of discipline over the boy, even though the son had a higher rank than the slave.

So the law acted as our paidagogue, to make sure we got to where we needed to go. It exercised a degree of discipline over us, keeping our behavior within certain bounds and teaching us the difference between right and wrong. But the goal was not to leave us with the paidagogue. The goal was not to leave us under the law. The goal is to get us to Christ. And the law has a part to play in that. The law shows us our need. By exercising discipline over us and exposing our lack of righteousness, the law helps to direct us to where we need to go, which is to Christ. The law cannot save us, but Christ can, and he does. You and I need to know our need for a Savior, and the law serves that purpose as our paidagogue.

But now that Christ has come, the law has done its job of showing us our need for him. Now when we hear the good news that Christ has fulfilled the law for us, we are justified by faith. We are declared righteous before God for Christ’s sake, through faith in him.

“But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” With the coming of the gospel of salvation through faith in Christ, we are no longer under the guardianship of the law. No longer do we need the supervision of a paidagogue, to be led by compulsion and restricted in our freedom. Now we are treated as sons, sons of God, with all the freedom that comes with that. And as I said, when God’s Word here calls us “sons,” that in no way excludes women. Rather, it’s simply a way to emphasize the inheritance we are in line for as heirs.

“For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” How so? What has happened to put us into that status? Paul tells us: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” You and I were baptized, baptized into Christ. We were united to our Savior in the waters of Holy Baptism. Something great and magnificent happened in your baptism. You were clothed with Christ. His perfect righteousness is the white garment that covers all your sin. This robe of Christ’s righteousness is your daily apparel as a baptized child of God. You share in Christ’s standing as God’s beloved Son. That’s what the Father said at Jesus’ baptism, wasn’t it? “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Well, now that you are united with Christ in your baptism, God says the same thing about you. You are God’s beloved child.

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” It doesn’t matter your background, your ancestry, or your status in the world. Whether or not you are marginalized in society, you are not marginalized in God’s kingdom. We all have equal standing before God. We all are united in Christ and his church. Our common baptism, our common faith, bind us together as one.

“And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” “Abraham’s offspring?” What does that mean? Well, long ago God made a covenant with Abraham, a covenant of blessing. God made a promise. He committed himself to Abraham and his descendants to bless them. And now, in Christ, the ultimate offspring of Abraham, we too come into the blessing, because we have been joined to Christ.

And that makes us heirs. We are heirs, receiving as our inheritance all the blessings God has promised. We receive membership in the kingdom of God. We have God’s perpetual protection. God blesses us with every blessing in Christ, and he guards and protects us from all evil. Christ will lead us into the Promised Land of heaven, to inherit eternal life. All this is our inheritance, brothers and sisters, and we’re only scratching the surface.

Continuing in Galatians: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” At just the right time in history, from God’s perspective, God sent his eternal Son into the world, in human flesh. “Born of woman, born under the law”: Born of the virgin Mary, Jesus was born a Jew, and he kept the law of Moses perfectly, even from infancy. Circumcised on the eighth day, presented in the temple, Jesus fulfilled the law, the whole thing–the ceremonial law of Israel and the moral law of the Ten Commandments. Jesus did everything the law requires. He loved God with his whole heart. He loved his neighbor as himself. Everything we fall short at, Jesus fulfilled.

Jesus then took the punishment the law requires, even though he didn’t deserve it. We did, but he took it, in our place. On the cross, Christ suffered death under God’s judgment. Now that judgment is lifted from you. Jesus took it away. Therefore, you are forgiven. Your sin is not held against you. God sent his Son “to redeem those who were under the law.” That’s us. You and I are redeemed, set free from what stood against us.

To what end? “So that we might receive adoption as sons.” God has brought us into his family. “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” “Abba” is the Aramaic equivalent of a little child saying “Papa” or “Daddy.” That’s how warm and personal our relationship with God is now. As his children we get to call God “Abba.” We have intimate access to call on God as our dear Father. Jesus even teaches us to pray God as “Our Father.” Jesus teaches us to trust in our Father, who cares for his children more than he cares for the flowers of the field or the birds of the air. What a joy it is to know that we are children of the heavenly Father!

Paul concludes: “So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” Sons and heirs, that’s who we are. No longer slaves or outsiders, now we are members of God’s family. We have a bundle full of promises and blessings. They are all ours in Christ, and it will take an eternity to enjoy them.

All because we have been adopted as sons. I mentioned earlier that today is Father’s Day, and that my father, LeRoy Henrickson, was born 103 years ago. Only, he wasn’t LeRoy Henrickson when he was born. He had some other name, and he was put up for adoption at an orphanage in Chicago. Well, a Swedish immigrant couple, Charles and Alma Henrickson, who were childless, adopted this baby boy as their son. They gave him his name, LeRoy Walfred Henrickson. They gave him a home. They gave him warmth and love and a family to belong to. They had him baptized, and brought him up in the church.

And because they had adopted him as their son, when I was born, I got the name of my grandfather, Charles Henrickson. I was baptized and brought into the church. And when my father died, when I was just a baby, I had my grandparents right next door to help raise me and take care of me. All because my dad had been adopted as a son.

Now multiply that by ten bazillion, and you’re beginning to get at the incredible blessings we have now and will yet inherit, because God has made us his sons through his Son Jesus Christ. Fellow baptized believers in Christ, members of God’s family, we all have been “Adopted as Sons.”

The Holy Trinity
Sunday, June 12, 2022

“This Is the Catholic Faith” (Athanasian Creed)

Did you know that we Lutherans are catholic? We are! In fact, you just said so. You did, just now when we all confessed the Athanasian Creed. Don’t worry. I’ll explain. And so our theme on this Holy Trinity Sunday: “This Is the Catholic Faith.”

Yes, it’s Trinity Sunday, that one Sunday of the year when we haul out that big, long creed with the funny name and say it in church. But at least I let you sit down for this one! This creed is called the Athanasian Creed. It’s named after the great church father from the fourth century, St. Athanasius. He didn’t write it, but it represents his teaching as the leading confessor of the faith during a time of great controversy. That crisis concerned the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, and that’s why we confess it on this day. By the way, we speak the Athanasian Creed out loud only one Sunday of the year, but we believe, teach, and confess it every day of the year. It is one of the three great, historic, ecumenical creeds–along with the Apostles’ and Nicene–held by all of Christendom around the world.

Let’s start with a little background on this St. Athanasius fellow. He lived during the fourth century–that’s the 300s–in Alexandria, Egypt, on the coast of north Africa. When Athanasius was a young man, there was a man named Arius, who was teaching some things about Christ that were not true–in fact, so not true that they would undermine the whole Christian faith. Arius taught about Christ that, quote, “there was a time when he was not.” That was Arius’s slogan. If you were a follower of Arius, you would have had the bumper sticker on your chariot: “Christ: There was a time when he was not.” What Arius meant by that was that Christ, the Son of God, was not truly divine in the way that God the Father is divine. No. God’s Son was a created being. “There was a time when he was not.”

And Arius gained a lot of followers. He could cherry-pick some Bible verses out of context that seemed to support his position–for instance, where Jesus says, “The Father is greater than I,” and things like that. But if you take away Jesus’ divinity from his person, the whole Christian faith falls apart. For only one who is true God could rescue us from our sins, conquer death for us, and give us eternal life. Only the precious, holy blood of God’s own Son is strong enough and powerful enough to atone for the sins of the whole world and give us perfect forgiveness and righteousness–which is what Jesus Christ, true God and true man, has done for us.

Well, Arius’s false teachings were gaining traction, but people were recognizing how destructive this heresy was. So a council of the whole church was called at Nicaea in the year 325 to deal with this issue. The result was the Nicene Creed, which confesses the truth about Christ, over against Arius’s heresy. That’s why you have phrases in the Nicene Creed like, ‘God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom”–that is, by Christ–“all things were made.” All those phrases were included to teach the true divinity of Christ.

Young Deacon Athanasius was at the Council of Nicaea, and he strongly supported this confession of the true faith against the Arian heresy. Afterward, Athanasius became the Bishop of Alexandria. But it was a long and tough battle. Athanasius suffered much in contending for the truth. Thank God, though, the truth of God’s Word prevailed.

Heresies that would undermine the person of Christ and the reality of the Holy Trinity have always been a threat to the church. They come in different forms, different packages. For instance, today we have the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses spreading their lies and denying the truth about Christ and the triune God. And so it was, after the time of Athanasius, other heretical teachings about the Trinity and the person of Christ were going around. And this is how the Athanasian Creed came into being. This creed goes into the most depth and detail to make absolutely clear the truth that we teach and the errors that we reject.

Confessing the true faith–this is what the Athanasian Creed does. And this is where the term “the catholic faith” comes in. Did you notice that as we read the creed? The phrase occurs several times. Right off the bat: “Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic faith.” Then, “And the catholic faith is this.” A little later, “the catholic religion.” And then at the end, “This is the catholic faith.” Did that make you jump a little bit? It shouldn’t. “Catholic,” in this sense, is a good word. It does not refer to the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of Rome, led by the pope. No, “the catholic faith,” in the sense that we say it in the creed, simply means the true faith, the orthodox faith, that is, the right-teaching faith. The word “catholic” literally means, “according to the whole”: in other words, that which has been held in common by the church at all times and in all places.

And so we Lutherans are catholic Christians! Don’t be afraid of that word; it’s a good one! We hold the catholic faith. We haven’t come up with anything strange or new. We confess the Christian faith as it has always been held since the beginning of the church. It’s biblical, it’s Christian, it’s historic. This is the catholic faith.

And what is essential to the catholic faith is the nature of the one true God as triune: One God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is who God is. There is no other. This is the only God who can save you–and he does! The Father, out of his great love for us sinners, sent his only Son into the world to do precisely that–to save us. Jesus, the Son of God incarnate, lived, died, and rose again to accomplish our salvation. And the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, delivers the goods to us, through the gospel means of Word and Sacrament, so that we believe in Christ and receive his gifts of forgiveness, life, and everlasting salvation. This is the catholic faith.

Now besides that word “catholic,” there may have been another part of the Athanasian Creed that got your attention and raised an eyebrow. It comes near the end, where it says about Christ: “At His coming all people will rise again with their bodies and give an account concerning their own deeds. And those who have done good will enter into eternal life, and those who have done evil into eternal fire.”

Now that may sound strange to your Lutheran ears. “Is that saying that we earn our way into heaven by our good deeds? That’s not what I was taught!” No, that’s not what you were taught, and that’s not what the creed is saying. It’s not saying that you earn eternal life by your works. Rather, it’s saying that your good works will be cited as evidence that you had a living faith in Christ. And it is Christ alone, his good works, that will save you.

What the Athanasian Creed is saying here is the same as what the Bible teaches. In fact, the creed is even quoting Jesus himself! In John chapter 5, Jesus says that when he comes again, the dead will rise, “those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” Likewise, in Matthew 25, Jesus says that at the final judgment your good works will be cited–“I was hungry and you fed me,” etc.–your works will be brought forth as examples to show that you had a living faith in Christ.

And dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this is who you are! For in your baptism, God has gifted you with the Holy Spirit, through whom you are a new person in Christ! You do have a living faith in your Savior, nurtured by your regular use of Word and Sacrament. You do live a life of love and good works. Your faith shows through in your life. Thank God for that! And you can rest secure with complete confidence that you will enter into eternal life, not because of your scorecard, but because of the merits of Christ Jesus your Savior!

So these two things in the Athanasian Creed– the word “catholic” and this part about “those who have done good”–these are nothing to be scared of. On the contrary, these are things to rejoice in! “Blessed be the Holy Trinity and the undivided Unity. Let us give glory to him because he has shown his mercy to us.”

Dear friends, today on this Feast of the Holy Trinity, “we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity.” The Holy Trinity–one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit–this is the only God there is. And thank God this is so, because this is the God who has made himself known to us through his Word. This is the God who saves us. And this is the God we gladly confess in the three ecumenical creeds, the Apostles’, the Nicene, and the Athanasian. My fellow Lutherans, this is the catholic faith!