Sermon in Minneapolis 01.04.2001

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

As a text for this Sunday morning, I shall read the Gospel text set aside for today, this last Sunday before Palm Sunday, in the way of Christ as He traveled towards His crucifixion. And this text is found in the 21st chapter of Matthew, verses 33-43. And we hear these holy words of God in Jesus' name.

Here another parable. There was a certain householder who planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And when the time of the fruit drew near, He sent His servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took His servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, He sent other servants, more than the first, and they did unto them likewise. But last of all, He sent unto them His son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.

When the Lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will He do unto those husbandmen? And they say unto Him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out His vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render Him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the Scriptures the stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner? This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore I say unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. Amen.

Amen. The time of Lent is a time in the church calendar where we contemplate. It's a period of 40 days during which the text and the themes for the church calendar concentrate on the way that our Lord and Savior had to travel as He went for the last time to the city of Jerusalem where He knew that He would be crucified unto death, buried, but then would rise victorious on Easter Sunday morning.

The song which we just sang pointed out some of the things that pertain to the suffering way of Christ. And as part of that song, each verse ends with a refrain, "The way does lead to perfect bliss, but a way of pain it is." Our Savior traveled that way knowing that only by and through His suffering and His death would He be able to redeem sin-fallen mankind. As He had agreed with the Father already in eternity, He said, the Father said, I will create, and the Son said, I will come and redeem.

And as the psalm writer notes of the words of Christ, says, this is my great joy to be among people. This is the great love that Christ had for all of sin-fallen mankind. The psalm writer writes in the second psalm, "I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession."

So, Christ was given that when He fulfilled all, also all will be placed under His foot, under His control, His column. But right to the very end of His life, He never ceased from teaching, and He never ceased from forgiving. Even in this portion that we read, we hear how in spite of the rejection or the ridicule, even the persecution that He and His disciples experienced, they still taught and they still healed.

Jesus, just before this parable that we read, had been in the temple. And when He was asked by the Pharisees, by what power do you do these things? Jesus asked them, "As I will ask of you, tell me the baptism of John. Where was it from? Was it from heaven? Or was it of man?" And He said, if you can answer me this question, then I will tell you by what power I also do these miracles.

And because the leaders, the Pharisees, and the elders of the people, reasoned within themselves that if we say that the baptism of John was from heaven, then He will ask, why did you not believe? And then if we say that it was of men, we cannot say so because all the people consider Him a prophet. And so the only response they could give to Jesus was, "We cannot tell."

And so Jesus, knowing of course how they would respond, responded unto them that neither will I tell you by what power I do the miracles that He did. He pointed out to those who were watching, to those who experienced them, and of course even to those who did not believe in Him, that His power was something that was not of this earth. It was from heaven. It was godly.

As the one blind man said, when he had his eyes opened, and he was questioned, "Who was it that opened his eyes?" he said, "I know not, except that He has given me my sight." And when they attempted to ridicule Him, he pointed out that since there have been men on this earth, never has it been known that someone would restore sight to a person who was blind.

The mind, the wisdom, the rationale of man cannot comprehend those things that are of God. Even yet today, when we think of the march of the gospel in this world, we see how God effects His Spirit there, where there are receiving hearts.

And if we look at someone who is attempting to decide where the kingdom of God is, if they attempt to rationalize their decisions based upon their own understanding of the scriptures, we know that they will not find the kingdom of God. Because the wisdom of God is foolishness to men. And as Paul writes of it, "When man by his wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them, that's the least."

So it is yet today. God's order of grace has not changed, He has not removed His Spirit from this world, He has not changed His order of salvation, but yet today, there, where the Spirit of God is, where the Word of God is spoken by that Spirit, there is then power to give life. And without that power, all the words of the scripture are incapable of giving life.

The Word of God is a red word, can awaken a person to the knowledge of sin, and cause one to seek for that peace, joy, and love which is found only in the kingdom of God. But without the hearing of the gospel, one cannot find peace with God. That is God's order of salvation. This is His order yet today, and that is, it will be His order until the end of time.

Not for nothing did Jesus say unto His disciples, "I give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatsoever ye bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever is loosed on earth shall be loosed in heaven." In other words, God says, why look to the stars and the clouds seeking for peace and righteousness that is only offered here on earth? It is only offered there where my children speak the word.

It is vain for you to seek it in other ways. It is vain for you to search for righteousness from your own heart because you will not find it there. It can only be found through faith, and faith is only given as a gift by God. It's not placed on the shelf for someone to go and take it. It's not placed as a good to be bought when a person decides to go and buy it. But if God offers His grace, it is, as the scripture says, time to take heed that one would not harden their hearts when they hear the calling voice of the good shepherd.

In our scriptural effect, Jesus relates a very straightforward practical parable of a person building a vineyard, planting it, putting up the fence around it, making the wine press. In other words, everything was done so that it was usable and could be harvested. And then he rented it out.

And in a very real way, he shows how the servants of his kingdom have been treated throughout time. How the prophets were persecuted and slain. How the disciples experienced the same persecution. And only one of them, John, experienced the natural death, although they tried also to slay him.

And so throughout all time, the kingdom of God has suffered violence at the hands of mankind, of those who attempt to silence its voice. And so as Jesus pointed out to the people of his time, especially to the elders, the Pharisees, the self-righteous, that their attempts to bring forth fruit were contrary to the teachings of God. They were contrary to that which God had ordained, and their attempts at self-righteousness were nothing but sin.

And so their attacks also on him and on the other children of God were made in exactly the same way as in this parable where those who were given the responsibility for taking care of his vineyard tried to prevent its fruit from being brought unto the owner.

In other words, throughout time there have been those who have established their own gateways to heaven next to the gateway of the kingdom of God. And their main purpose is the work of the enemy of the soul to prevent other souls from entering that gate so that they would be saved.

And all of the justification is done for the glory of man. That man could by his works and his deeds and his own ways build his ladder of righteousness to get to heaven. Because it is so much more acceptable to the carnal rationale of man that one could attempt to do something of one's own to attain peace with God.

But Jesus points out to the people of his time and the warning is a very solemn warning to each and every believer even during our day that if we do not bring forth truth of righteousness, truth acceptable unto God, there is a danger that we lose the call to grace faith in the kingdom of God.

Luther warned the people of his own kind that if you do not appreciate that which you have when God has given you such a great gift of faith, that thanklessness will result in eventually that gift being taken away. And it is never such a thing that God comes to a person and says, "Well, you are thankless, you can't believe anymore."

So what happens? The enemy of the soul uses his triple attack using the own rationale of man as I've already mentioned, uses the temptations and the lusts of the flesh to entice one into sin. And when sin becomes to be a burden such that one no longer desires to humble on to repentance, then faith is lost.

For the Holy Spirit of God is such a dweller in the heart that it instructs and leads into the truth and into righteousness, but it does not rebuke forever.

Just think, dear boys and girls, of the portion that you have having been raised in a home when mother and father preach on to you the gospel. Think of the greatness of that gift compared to that which your friends, classmates in this world receive. They were raised in a home where their mother and father could not preach the gospel on to them, for even if they attempted to speak of Jesus, they did not have the Holy Spirit of God.

So if they could not reveal the love of Christ and they did not have the power to forgive sin, so these four wretched classmates of yours, friends of yours who do not have that source of strength and that nourishment that you have, eventually they die. Each and every one of them came into this world as a child of God believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ, but because of the deceitfulness of sin, they eventually lose that righteousness.

Never ever, boys and girls, allow that to happen to you. The way that you travel as a child of God is a way of pain. It leads to perfect bliss, as we said, but it is a way of pain.

As Adam and Eve were promised that the seed of the woman would come to crush the head of the serpent, but he was warned that it will bruise his heel. Satan certainly bruised the heel of Christ. He had to suffer in Gethsemane, suffer scorn, ridicule, and scourging, whipping. They smote him, they spit on his face, and he was crucified, died, and buried. He suffered much, but he did not stay in the grave. He overcame sin, death, and hell.

And because he did, you also, each and every one of you, my brothers and sisters, are partakers of the power of his resurrection victory by faith. That is the wonderful portion that you own as a child of God, that you can be a brother and sister of Jesus and enjoy already here on this earth while living a spiritual heavenly love which he will carry with you to eternity to the bliss of heaven.

And so we also as his brothers and sisters cannot expect anything different in this world. As Jesus taught his, "Is the servant any better than the master? If the master is ridiculed, scorned, and crucified, can the servant expect then to be treated honorably, respectably, and not suffer the same as the master?"

It is a dangerous thing actually if the world begins to honor and praise the kingdom of God, but throughout time the children of God have experienced that we are no different and we actually have to go and suffer with our Lord and our master outside the camp. We are strangers, foreigners in this world. The world does not know the children of God.

But here in the kingdom of God, each and every one of us experiences righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, and we thank our dear heavenly Father that he has given us this wonderful time to live, that we do not have to fear persecution and death, but rather we can freely worship, freely praise, freely gather together to hear the word of God and not have to suffer the persecution as the saints of old have done.

One of the things that apparently really bothered the Pharisees at the teachings and the preachings of Jesus was when he was healing people and teaching in the temple, the children were rejoicing and crying out, "Hosanna to the son of David, blessed be he that comes in the name of the Lord."

This Palm Sunday message was such a stark difference in the teachings and the followings of Jesus that it eventually led the leaders, the elders, the Pharisees to that decision that the whole world is going to go after and follow Jesus and we will lose our place. And so then it is better for one man to die.

The rejoicing that happens in the kingdom of God over personal and mutual salvation, they feel strange and foreign to this world that they cannot comprehend it. But there where God gives peace, there where God gives righteousness, there the spirit answers amen and fills the heart the overflowing.

This is the portion that you, your brothers and sisters have. This is the portion that is offered to each and every person who hears the voice of Jesus calling on to grace, on to peace, on to repentance from sin and unbelief. It is a message that you can lift up your heart to believe all sins forgiven in the name and in the blood of Jesus.

And in that gospel message there is the power of God unto salvation. And if that gospel message enters the heart, it is not left there as an idol teacher or does not leave one as an orphan in this world, but it joins one to the other children of God into the mother congregation, the kingdom of God, where each and every one of us is taken care of with that best of medicine, the gospel of peace.

Jesus taught the Pharisees that the fruits that must be brought to the Father have to be brought and brought correct fruits, and the fruits that come from self-righteousness are nothing but sin. But yet when Jesus taught this to his own, they looked at the Pharisee righteousness and they said, "How then is this possible? For if these people who were so self-righteous and so exacting in everything they did, if they were not acceptable to God, how is it possible then for anyone to do fruits that would be acceptable to God?"

And yet today the teaching is the same: without the Spirit of God one can do nothing to bring something acceptable to God. But Jesus teaches that if you give a glass of water to a disciple in the name of a disciple, you have served me.

In other words, without the Spirit of God one can do nothing that is acceptable, but with the Spirit of God all things are possible. Each and every child of God feels their own inabilities and their own worthlessness and inability to serve, inability to do that which would benefit the kingdom of God and benefit the other children of God and further the work of the gospel.

But through such children God does his work. Through such weak, poor, lacking ones God yet effects in this world. It is through such who have nothing of themselves to bring that God then is able to perform his work and bring forth those fruits of righteousness which you are acceptable unto him.

And so yet today the teaching applies that if the tree does not bring forth good fruit, then it is time for caretaking. It is time to ask what is the condition of the heart, what is happening, what is the situation in that life and in that heart. How are matters, dear brother and sister? Has Satan been tempting? Is the world drawing you? Is the old carnal rationale winning the victory?

The fight is an everyday battle that is where it is often fiercest and most difficult within our own selves, within your own flesh and blood, with your own carnal thinking and rationale. Dear brothers and sisters, you fight a daily battle of faith.

And in this world we have much trials and tribulations, but Jesus comforts when he says, "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. In the world you will have trials, in the world you will have tribulation and distress, but be of good cheer, I overcame all this."

Comfort that our Savior gives is that most wonderful of comfort to a speaking and struggling child of God. If you have found yourself to be weak and lacking in faith, if the enemy has conquered, if you have fallen into sin, you will not hear from the kingdom of God the message of "Go away, you are too poor, too sinful, too weak."

A Christian does not pay for you to believe. That is not the message from the kingdom of God. That is the sermon of the enemy and he has been a liar from the beginning.

But the message from the kingdom of God sounds forth yet today is the same: that you can lift up your heart to believe all things in Jesus' name and blood unto peace, freedom, and joy.

Dear young brothers and sisters, I would yet like to mention a few things which seem to be a constant struggle or an unending struggle with the flesh and the battle that you face as children of God. It is so easy for the tongue to stray.

The apostle James notes that if a person can control his tongue, he is capable of controlling his whole body. The tongue is the smallest of members but it can set great things afire. We see such things around us in this world even today.

So let those things be far from us as children of God. Let us remember that if we sow with our tongue evil speaking, we also will reap evil. But Luther teaches in speaking of the responsibility of each and every person one for another, he says, "But apologize for him," speaking of his neighbor, "apologize for the saints and speak well of him, for the best construction on all that he does."

May God give us that spirit and mind of Christ that all of our words and all of our actions would be according to his teaching and his spirit so that we would not be left as idle listeners of his word but also his doing.

Still this morning all of you say here a wonderful gospel message that just as you find yourself you can lift up your heart to the all things in Jesus' name and blood unto peace, freedom, and joy and come with boldness to the altar, partake of the body and the blood of Christ for the refreshing and nourishing of your life of faith in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

We will close this service portion of our services with the benediction: The Lord bless us and keep us; the Lord make his face shine upon us and be gracious unto us; the Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us his eternal peace. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.