The Twenty-second Sunday
after Trinity, 2011
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
Bethany Lutheran Church, 10
AM Central Time
The Hymn #39 Praise to the Lord 3:1
The Confession
of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual 1 Thess 4:13-18
The
Gospel Matthew 24:15-28
Glory be to
Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #36 Now Thank
We 3.40
The Meaning of
Forgiveness
The Hymn #316 O Living Bread 3.45
The Preface p.
24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #354 In the Cross 3.84
KJV Philippians 1:3 I thank
my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 Always in every prayer of mine for you
all making request with joy, 5 For your fellowship in the gospel from the first
day until now; 6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a
good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: 7 Even
as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart;
inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the
gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. 8 For God is my record, how greatly I
long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. 9 And this I pray, that your
love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; 10
That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and
without offence till the day of Christ; 11 Being filled with the fruits of
righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
KJV Matthew 18:23 Therefore
is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account
of his servants. 24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him,
which owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his
lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had,
and payment to be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him,
saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 27 Then the lord
of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the
debt. 28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants,
which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by
the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. 29 And his fellowservant fell down
at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay
thee all. 30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he
should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were
very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. 32 Then his
lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I
forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: 33 Shouldest not thou
also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? 34
And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay
all that was due unto him. 35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto
you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY
AFTER TRINITY
O almighty, eternal God: We
confess that we are poor sinners and cannot answer one of a thousand, when Thou
contendest with us; but with all our hearts we thank Thee, that Thou hast taken
all our guilt from us and laid it upon Thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and made Him
to atone for it: We pray Thee graciously to sustain us in faith, and so to
govern us by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may live according to Thy will, in
neighborly love, service, and helpfulness, and not give way to wrath or
revenge, that we may not incur Thy wrath, but always find in Thee a gracious
Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the
Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.
The Meaning of Forgiveness
Every so often someone reminds me about using theological
terms that may not be so clear to everyone. One example is “justification.”
We may say, “Stop justifying yourself,” but we seldom use
the noun in a sentence. Every so often, someone will say, “I felt justified.”
The term comes the justice system, naturally enough. How is
someone judged innocent, forgiven of sin, in the eyes of God?
This does not happen by itself, although the Universalists
claim it does. They say everyone is forgiven because God is so gracious. The
grace of God is beyond our comprehension, but the Bible also teaches about
God’s Law and condemnation of evil.
The idea that there is no right and no wrong comes from Carl
Rogers, who claimed that he invented a new religion. He was right in a sense.
That concept prevails in our culture, across all boundary lines. However, those
who claim this lack of boundaries also severely condemn anyone who disagrees.
I had fun with two hippies in seminary. They made this claim
in their role as guest speakers. They also condemned people who had color TVs,
for reasons unknown to me.
I said, “There is no such thing as right and wrong.” They
said, “Correct.” So I added, “So why do you condemn color TVs?” That perplexed
and angered them.
Every philosophy or religion teaches some kind of
forgiveness. By default, our fallen nature likes to think we can atone for our
own sins, by doing good works to make up for the harm we have done.
But this teaches that Christ did not die for our sins. If He
did, His atonement was not sufficient for our sins. I have pointed this out to
Roman Catholics. Their system is an attack on the Gospel, and there is no
escape from that charge.
The Bible does not teach universal forgiveness or universal
condemnation, except to say that unbelievers are condemned already. That
condemnation is not universal because of the Means of Grace, the Word and
Sacraments.
Jesus is the source of all forgiveness, but that does not
make Him another Mr. Rogers. (The man who played Mr. Rogers was very much like
the character on the TV show. When he spoke at the Yale Child Study Center,
where my wife worked, he got a parking ticket while there – from the Yale
University police. Instead of blowing his stack, he said, “Well, isn’t that the
way?” In other words, he did not have to act, he was like that all the time.)
Jesus is the Gospel incarnate, but He also taught the Law,
especially when it came to lack of trust in Him and reliance on works for
forgiveness.
Therefore, this funny and touching parable shows exactly
what Jesus means, in a forceful way.
Matthew 18:23 Therefore is
the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of
his servants. 24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him,
which owed him ten thousand talents.
The king represents God and
the unforgiving servant, as he is called, is Everyman. The funny part of this parable is the debt
owed – 10,000 talents. In real money, it was all the tax revenue gathered from
the province for an entire year. In essence, the servant owed the king billions
of dollars.
25 But forasmuch as he had
not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and
all that he had, and payment to be made.
Every creditor has a right
to settle debts. In this case, it is the debt of sin. “Forgive us our debts,”
as we pray. The best way to raise money from an insolvent person was to sell
him and his family into slavery. That was just as bad as it sounded. The slave
at that time had no rights and was used however the owner wished. The Roman
Empire had a rule that if one slave in a household committed a murder, every
single slave had to be executed. That was done – they called it Roman justice.
Slavery for the whole family
was horrifying, so the servant begged for mercy.
26 The servant therefore
fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will
pay thee all.
This is ironic humor,
because no servant could pay off this enormous debt, not even the interest.
This shows us how our debt of sin looks in the eyes of God, without
forgiveness.
It emphasizes how we cannot
pay off that debt by doing good works. No one can work off the debt, and
thinking so is dangerous, hardening, blinding. The denominations like to work
this scam, so they let it be known that forgiveness comes with large estate
gifts. The rich person will make up for leaving his wife for his girlfriend by
building a new library or music building. And they will name it after him. And
he will dedicate his own building himself while they praise him into heaven.
27 Then the lord of that
servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
The king should have scoffed
at the servant, but instead He had mercy on him and took away the entire debt.
This is the Atonement, the reconciliation.
We owe God because of our
sins, and we cannot pay. Therefore, to reconcile the account, God has provided
a payment, literally a redemption for our sins.
This message can be taught
over and over, yet rude minds think of it only in the sense of being allowed to
do whatever they want at any time. They are like dogs who consume Holy
Communion and do not know what they have, as Luther wrote.
The servant heard the
message of reconciliation, his debts forgiven, but the meaning never reached
his heart. He remained unchanged by that mercy.
28 But the same servant went
out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and
he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that
thou owest.
Notice that the debt owed
him was nothing, coffee money, while the debt he owed was beyond comprehension.
His hardness of heart was shown by his violent behavior toward his fellow
servant. Surely he knew what it meant to be in debt. The king did not seize him
by the throat, but gave him mercy when he absurdly promised to work off the
debt.
Even worse, he was eager to
exact justice for that tiny bit of money, even though his fellow servant asked
for mercy and patience in repayment –
29 And his fellowservant
fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I
will pay thee all. 30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till
he should pay the debt.
Debtors’ prison seems to be
an odd concept to us. Charles Dickens lived in one with his family. It meant
that they lived in locked quarters and ventured out during the day to work. It
was humiliating, so much that Dickens never admitted to it until later in life.
He worked like a slave, as a child, in a terrible factory, to help pay down the
family debt.
31 So when his
fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto
their lord all that was done.
The forgiven servant is
unforgiving, so his fellow servants reported on him. The results were
unpleasant.
32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said
unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou
desiredst me: 33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy
fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? 34 And his lord was wroth, and
delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts
forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
The universal forgiveness
people forget two foundational concepts of the Bible.
One is the efficacy of the
Word, which means the Holy Spirit works only through the Word of God and never
apart from the Word of God.
The second foundational
concept is the Means of Grace. God gives us His grace, forgiveness, love, mercy
only through the Word and Sacraments.
These concepts are
completely integrated in the Bible, from beginning to end, everything in perfect
harmony, all heresies anticipated and defeated in advance.
The Word of God can be Law
or Gospel. The Holy Spirit works in both. For Law, most people think of the
sins of the flesh, which are obvious, and seldom about the spiritual sins that
lead to carnal sin.
For instance, coveting is
behind many sins. No one can see coveting, but they see the results of
coveting. One pastor’s wife wanted a church job, so she took it away from the
assigned worker, with flimsy excuses. Pastors do the same thing. They covet a
call and undermine the man serving that congregation.
But all sin begins with
unbelief. Lack of trust in the mercy of Christ leads us into variations upon
the unforgiving servant’s role.
KJV John 16:8 And when he is
come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
9 Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10 Of righteousness, because I go to
my Father, and ye see me no more;
To translate the parable –
the servant did not trust in the mercy of God, so in his unbelief he seized his
fellow servant by the throat.
The Office of the Keys is an
example of how people are not simply forgiven in the name of love and warm
fuzzy feelings.
The cruelest thing to do to
someone enslaved by sin is to say, “You are already forgiven. You were forgiven
and righteous before you even confessed.” That hardens the heart and blinds the
person.
The unrepentant are not
forgiven. One sign of lack of repentance is continuous lying, making excuses
(self-justification), and acting persecuted. True, we cannot see a person’s
heart, but we can see the actions stemming from the heart.
Both Law and Gospel work
against sin. The Law holds up the mirror of God’s teaching and says, for
example, coveting is just another form of stealing, if you entice another
person’s servants or another’s wife or another’s pastor’s members.
The Gospel works against sin
by providing healing medicine. We are weak, frail, and always wandering like
sheep into the wilderness. The Gospel reclaims us as forgiven because the Good
Shepherd gathers us and carries us home rejoicing. He knows His own, and we
listen to His voice.
This is continuous.
Believers feel their sin and seek the Means of Grace. They listen to the
Shepherd’s voice and no other.
This we should take to heart
– Luther’s advice about forgiveness. Those who are aware of their sin, humble,
eager for healing, trusting in Christ – they should take comfort in the
complete and free forgiveness provided in the Means of Grace.
