The Third Sunday after
Trinity, 2013
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship
The Hymn # 652 I Lay My Sins on Jesus 1.24
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
The
Gospel
Glory be to
Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon
Hymn #436 The Lord’s My
Shepherd 1.33
You Are the Lost Sheep
The Communion
Hymn # 190 Christ Is Arisen 1:52
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 # 350 Jesus the Very Thought
of Thee 1:53
KJV 1 Peter 5:6 Humble
yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time: 7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 8 Be sober, be
vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour: 9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that
the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by
Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish,
strengthen, settle you. 11 To him be glory and dominion for ever
and ever. Amen.
KJV Luke 15:1 Then drew near
unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and
scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. 3
And he spake this parable unto them, saying, 4 What man of you, having an hundred
sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the
wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? 5 And when he
hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And
when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours,
saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. 7
I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that
repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
8 Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth
not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?
9 And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours
together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.
10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner that repenteth.
Third Sunday After Trinity
Lord God, heavenly Father,
we all like sheep have gone astray, having suffered ourselves to be led away
from the right path by Satan and our own sinful flesh: We beseech Thee
graciously to forgive us all our sins for the sake of Thy Son, Jesus Christ;
and quicken our hearts by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may abide in Thy word, and
in true repentance and a steadfast faith continue in Thy Church unto the end,
and obtain eternal salvation, through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who
liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without
end Amen.
You Are the Lost Sheep
KJV Luke 15:1 Then drew
near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. 2 And the
Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth
with them.
This brief setting shows us
how Jesus taught and why. And it is good to remember that these parables are
introductions to the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the most elaborate of the
three.
KJV Luke 15:11 And he said,
A certain man had two sons:
These three parables deal
with our unspiritual tendency to welcome those who are outwardly righteous
while shunning those who do not belong for one reason or another.
The scribes and Pharisees
faulted Jesus for not being like them. He received or welcomed sinners and ate
with them, showing to everyone His gracious attitude toward them.
I used to shop at a Lutheran
bookstore in Cleveland, long ago, where the two factions of the LCMS ran into
each other. They belonged to the same synod and went to the same schools. An
owner said to me, “They won’t even speak to each other. I see that all the
time.”
This modern version extends to
those who failed to shun those who should be shunned. Punishment is applied to
those who do not participate and welcome sinners (those who question the synod
or have a slightly wrong version of certain things).
There are very few who will
admit to being friends of someone on the shun list. And they are frightened
that someone will accuse them of that crime.
Jesus addressed this problem
with the lesson for today.
3 And he spake this
parable unto them, saying, 4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he
lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go
after that which is lost, until he find it?
Jesus portrays His own
attitude toward sinners by making he audience think about their own feelings in
the role of shepherd. This not only unites all the Biblical passages about
sheep and shepherds, but also emphasizes Jesus as the Good Shepherd.
The first group are those
who are in a good and secure position. The Shepherd does not abandon them to
the wolves but leaves them in the care of others. Thus the faithful members of
the Kingdom of God are fed and watered through the Means of Grace, through
worship and spiritual fellowship. In hundreds of ways, believers are guarded
and protected by the Word.
The Savior is so anxious for
anyone who strays that He looks for and finds the one who has wandered away.
When we see one of those lost ones in our own lives, we are not so keen about
this approach. However, Jesus is the example of seeking and finding.
Probably each one of us has
had the experience of wandering lost. Those who value Lutheran orthodoxy today
have had many bad experiences. At our college, Chris and I could look back at
recent history and see faithful people at work, honoring the Word of God. I
worked in the college library and saw those histories and examples of faculty
and students at Augustana College, where my mother also went and received her
degree. No one said, “But we changed all that and took the opposite position,
pushing out all the conservatives.”
The Augustana Synod segment
of the LCA merger did not change rapidly. Only the indications were there. The
LCMS battles that developed showed that they were just as mixed up. That meant
95% of the Lutherans were in a state of free-fall in the 1960s and 1970s. All the
movement has been downward, among the Lutheran synods, since that time.
When we visited a
Pentecostal church for a wedding, we saw all the characteristics that the
“conservative” Lutherans are aping, including a big coffee bar just outside the
worship area, where they had a stage rather than an altar and chancel area. I
lost track of the giant movie screens – at least six in the worship area.
No one even admits that this
has happened to the Lutherans. The wolves took over and now scatter and
slaughter the flocks. They butcher anyone who dares to oppose them. Thus there
will be many sent wandering.
But God has provided for
all, since the Word gathers and unites people in receiving His grace. This
parable is acted out in our time as well. The Shepherd goes into the wilderness
to find the lost.
13. Such should be your bearing toward sinners; inwardly the
heart in service, outwardly the tongue in earnest. God requires this of us; and
this is what Christ, our Captain, has manifested in himself, as Paul says to
the Philippians 2:4-9: “Not looking each of you to his own things, but each of
you also to the things of others. Have this mind in you, which was also in
Christ Jesus; who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an
equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form
of a servant, being made in likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a
man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, yea, the death of the
cross.”
14. Christ was filled with all righteousness,
and might justly have condemned us all as sinners. But he did not do so. What
did he do, then?
He gave himself to be our Servant. His
righteousness has served for our sins, his fullness for our feebleness, his
life for our death. This we find illustrated, for our example, in the Gospel
before us, where he bears himself with such friendliness toward sinners that
the Pharisees murmur.
5 And when he hath found it,
he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
The Good Shepherd rejoices
in finding the sheep and taking on the burden of bringing it back home. When we
have been guided down the wrong paths, and fed with bad food and poisoned
water, it seems as if God does not care what happens to His work on earth.
Yet these experiences help
us realize how great it is to have the real comfort of the Gospel, to make us
say, “I cannot wait to read the Galatians commentary of Luther again.”
Apart from those times of
trial and pain, we would not have the hunger for God’s Word and the awe we
experience in realizing that He is speaking to us directly in His Word.
And it gives us a portrait
of us as the lost sheep. We are not dragged home. We are not led home. We are
carried on the shoulders of the rejoicing Savior.
43. Thus
too, if our confidence is to begin, and we become strengthened and comforted,
we must well learn the voice of our Shepherd, and let all other voices go, who
only lead us astray, and chase and drive us hither and thither. We must hear
and grasp only that article which presents Christ to us in the most friendly
and comforting manner possible. So that we can say with all confidence: My Lord
,Jesus Christ is truly the only Shepherd, and I, alas, the lost sheep, which
has strayed into the wilderness, and I am anxious and fearful, and would gladly
be good, and have a gracious God and peace of conscience, but here I am told
that He is as anxious for me as I am for him. I am anxious and in pain about
how I shall come to him to secure help, But he is in anxiety and worry and
desires nothing else than to bring me again to himself.
Once our little Sheltie
decided to run away after being groomed outside. I brought out Sassy and said,
“Find Precious.” Sassy bolted in the right direction and found Precious, a
fractious little dog, and made it clear – you are found, give up without a
struggle. Even when a pet has been naughty or thoughtless, we have tender
feelings when we find the animal. I doubt whether feral Shelties exist, since
their main skills are affection and yipping at every strange sound.
22. It is thus that you come to God. You are already the
sheep placed upon his shoulders. You have found the Shepherd. You are the piece
of silver in the hand. You are the one over whom is joy in heaven in the
presence of all the angels. We are not to worry, if we do not experience or
feel this at once. Sin will daily decrease, and its sting will drive you to
seek God. You must struggle against this feeling by faith, and say: “Oh, God! I
know thou hast said this, and I lean upon thy Word. I am the sheep and the
piece of silver; thou the shepherd and the woman.”
6 And when he cometh
home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them,
Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. 7 I say unto you,
that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than
over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
The Pharisees mourn over the
situation – He eats with sinners, but the believers rejoice in a lost sheep
being brought home, carried on the shoulders of the Savior.
---
8 Either what woman
having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle,
and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?
The abundant grace of God is
shown in this second parable of three, so we understand better how God seeks
out individuals for His Kingdom.
There are many famous
stories of lost objects. They often end, “I searched everywhere and never found
it.” My uncle lost a unique plant that could have started a family fortune – no
one was allowed to talk about it. One professor found a rare coin but lost it
on the trip back home. The losing and the searching are always painfully
recalled.
I had a panic loss like that
once. They were tickets to Disneyland, and I needed to find them that morning
before leaving. And I did clean and go through things and search all over. When
I was completely exhausted from worry and looking, I sat down defeated, only to
see the tickets sitting on the footstool, within sight of my desk. There was great
rejoicing.
This helps us see – we are
valuable to God. He moves heaven and earth, literally, to keep us within the
fold, to claim us if we are unbelievers.
The works-saints and the holier-than-thou
types do not see or feel this, but the open sinners do. They do not have the skills
to deny carnal sin. The Gospel teaches them that God rejoices in finding them
(or us) and shares that joy with others.
The law condemns but the
Gospel gives peace, love, comfort and contentment.
9 And when she hath found
it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together,
saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. 10
Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner that repenteth.
We have all joined in
finding that contact lens or book or other object. Even if we do not find it,
we share in the happiness of it being found.
65. And now consider, how could he preach still more friendly
and comfortingly, or what more should he do to make.: the heart joyful, and
awaken a strong confidence in him? Since we see such a Shepherd, we miserable
sinners are painted forth by him, who so unwillingly loses his sheep and so
anxiously seeks it, and when he has found it carries it with all joy, and
spreads forth such joy that all the angels and saints in heaven, yea, and all
creatures rejoice and smile over us so friendly, that even the sun must shine
much more lovely. For as it is natural that when a man is sorrowful, the sun
and everything looks dark to him; and again when the heart is happy, then man
appears twice as joyful, and everything looks to him lighter and brighter.
66.
Now he who can firmly believe this, shall also receive true consolation and joy
in and through Christ the Lord, because he has here the certain promise, that
if he cleave thus unto Christ, and permit himself to be carried on his
shoulders, that he is a dear guest in the kingdom of heaven, and will be
received with great joy.
67.
But we have altogether a different feeling in the sorrow and melancholy of the
conscience, when the heart cannot think otherwise than that every angel stands
behind us with a drawn sword, so that we can have no good cheer either from God
or angels, that even some cannot behold any creature with joy, and fear the
friendly sun itself, yea, every leaf that stirs.
All
which arises from tormenting and consuming themselves with their own thoughts,
from which they would gladly disentangle themselves, and labor so much and feel
so good that they need not fear; but by this “,-hey only make the evil worse.
68.
But if you desire to possess true comfort and joy in your soul, then only learn
to impress this lovely picture and word of this Gospel in your heart, that you
may seek it where it is to be found, namely, in Christ, and nowhere else. For
in this man you will find all things, if you only remain under his protection
and lie still upon his shoulders. But whatever joy may be sought outside of
him, never enters the heart, even if you took to your aid all creatures, and
had in one place the joy and pleasure of the whole world.
Third Sunday after Trinity
Quotations
"If the question is put, 'Why did God
ordain so many means of grace when one suffices to confer upon the sinner His
grace and forgiveness?' we quote the reply of Luther who writes (Smalcald
Articles, IV: 'The Gospel
not merely in one way gives us counsel and aid against sin, for God is
superabundantly rich in His grace. First
through the spoken Word, by which the forgiveness of sins is preached in the
whole world, which is the peculiar office of the Gospel. Secondly through
Baptism. Thirdly through
the holy Sacrament of the Altar. Fourthly through the power of the keys and
also through the mutual conversation and consolation of brethren, Matthew
18:20.'"
John Theodore Mueller, Christian Dogmatics, A Handbook of
Doctrinal Theology, 1934, p.
447. SA, IV, Concordia Triglotta, p. 491. Matthew
18:20.
"We further believe that in this
Christian Church we have forgiveness of sin, which is wrought through the holy
Sacraments and Absolution, moreover, through all manner of consolatory promises
of the entire Gospel. Therefore,
whatever is to be preached, concerning the Sacraments belongs here, and in
short, the whole Gospel and all the offices of Christianity, which also must be
preached and taught without ceasing. For
although the grace of God is secured through Christ, and sanctification is
wrought by the Holy Ghost through the Word of God in the unity of the Christian
Church, yet on account of our flesh which we bear about with us we are never
without sin."
The Large Catechism, The Creed,
Article III, #54, Concordia
Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia
Publishing House, 1921, p. 693. Tappert, p.
417.
"The second argument is that 'God
desires all men to be saved' (1 Timothy 2:4), and He gave His Son for us men
and created man for eternal life. Likewise: All things exist for man, and he
himself exists for God that he may enjoy Him, etc. These points and others like them can
be refuted as easily as the first one. For
these verses must always be understood as pertaining to the elect only, as the
apostle says in 2 Timothy 2:10 'everything for the sake of the elect.' For in an absolute sense Christ did
not die for all, because He says: 'This is My blood which is poured out for
you' and 'for many'‑‑He does not say: for
all‑‑'for the forgiveness of sins.' (Mark 14:24; Matthew 26:28)
Martin Luther, Luther's Works, 25 p. 375.
"No more splendid work exists than
receiving and hearing the Word of God."
What Luther Says, An Anthology,
3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia
Publishing House, 1959, I, p.
302. Luke 10:38.
