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Pentecost 15 2026 Proper 18
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud
September 6, 2026
Ezekiel 33:7-9, Romans 13:1-10, Matthew 18:1-20

Sermons online: 
Text and Audio:         immanuelhamiltonchurch.com   click “sermons”
Text:                           pastorjud.org   
Audio:                         pastorjud.podbean.com 
itunes:                         bit.ly/pastorjud
Full Service Audio:    bit.ly/ImmanuelWorship

            Immanuel Lutheran Church and School has grown over the recent years and so we have developed an organizational chart as an attempt to know who can make what decisions and who is responsible for whom.  This is a chart for the organization.  But for Immanuel as the Church, the Body of Christ on earth, what does that org chart look like?  Who is at the top?  Who is at the bottom? 

Maybe it’s pastor at the top and then principal and business director and the elders and church council and church and school leaders and influential members of the congregations and then maybe the children and needy people at the bottom.  Is that how the church is organized?  Whois the greatest in the Church?

            Matthew 18:1 (ESV) 1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”  We are not sure exactly what the background is for the disciples’ question, but I kind of think that Peter and John had a bit of a rivalry.  Peter is called the Rock, but then called Satan.  John describes himself as the disciple whom Jesus loves and makes sure we know that he was faster than Peter when racing to the empty tomb.  The two of them, plus John’s brother James, went with Jesus up on the Mount of Transfiguration.  Peter and John are both in Jesus’ inner circle, but which one is the greatest? 

            Jesus sets them straight by knocking apart whatever they thought about themselves.  Matthew 18:2–4 (ESV) 2 And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them 3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

            A helpless little child is our example of the greatest. Children have no power, they have no status, they are not good leaders, they are completely dependent upon others.  They know they cannot save themselves.  They know they need Jesus and gratefully receive Jesus’ gifts.  The greatest among us here at Immanuel are the most vulnerable, helpless and needy. Our little ones… our most defenseless…our neediest.  These are the greatest.  What a strange organizational chart.  _____________ is at the top — he/she is the greatest among us.  Also, _______ and _______ and _________ and those who are vulnerable and needy.  But then also on the top of the chart is everyone who knows that they are a natural born sinner who cannot save themselves — all those who know they need Jesus.  That’s everyone who confessed their sins this morning.  All you all are the greatest.  You are all united as the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven — knowing you are helpless and needy and vulnerable.  Jesus says…Matthew 18:5 (ESV) 5 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me,” 

            This does not make for a very useful organizational chart.  At the top there is one big group of helpless, needy, vulnerable people loving each other and protecting each other.  Our congregation is a mass of 400 some folks forgiven by the blood of Jesus, all holding on to each other, loving each other, protecting each other, trying to keep everyone safe and together as we follow Jesus and listen to Him.  Living like this, in love for one another, is messy and disorganized and inefficient and it makes us the Body of Christ… we are His Church.  We are built on the rock that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

Following Jesus and loving one another, Immanuel Lutheran Church and School is a ship of truth floating in a sea of lies and evil and sin.  This area of the church building where you sit is called the nave, from the Latin, navis, meaning ship.  Architecturally it resembles the inner hull of an upside down wooden vessel. 

As the Body of Christ in the ship of the Church, we protect one another, especially the most vulnerable, from the sin and evil that surrounds us.  In Matthew 18 Jesus gives dire warnings about the danger of sin.  Matthew 18:6 (ESV) 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”  To drown by being pulled deep into the sea by a heavy weight as you try in vain to swim to the surface is the stuff of nightmares, and yet Jesus says that is preferable to eternity in hell for causing one of the little ones to sin.  There is a special place in hell for those who use the Church to prey on the little ones.

            It is a dangerous world.  Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  If there were a hungry lion prowling around the west side of Hamilton would you let the kids go play on the playground unsupervised?  The devil is prowling around and he is wily and persistent.  He reaches out through false teachers and insidious temptations and he easily gains access to our little ones through tiny little screens. Stay alert…watch out for each other…hold on to each other to keep the devil from stealing and devouring lambs from our flock. 

            Matthew 18:7 (ESV) 7 “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!”  Immanuel is a ship of truth in a sea of temptation. There will be temptations, but do let them come from you. 

            Each one of you is in a constant spiritual battle against sinful thoughts — and that is where the battle needs to remain.  You have evil thoughts.  By the power of the Holy Spirit you recognize that the thoughts are evil and you dismiss them.  You don’t let them become words and deeds.  And I know…I know all too well…easier said than done.  This is an ongoing struggle.  You know the struggle.  You know your need for ongoing contrition and repentance in order to protect yourself and to protect our little ones by keeping sin away and not letting it fester and grow. 

            When you think about sins against the little ones often you think of sins of the flesh… horrible abuse of many kinds.  There is also the sin of false teaching that you guard against by clinging to the truth of God’s Word — by knowing the Word of God so well you can recognize a counterfeit teacher.   Another sin against the little ones is the sin of discord; the sin of breaking relationships and destroying love and peace in families and the Church. St. Paul lists some of the sins of discord in…Galatians 5:20–21 …enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, … and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (ESV).  In workplaces and school classrooms and especially in marriages and families and congregations stay on guard against letting your ego and impatience and anger cause division.  The devil wants nothing more than to break up marriages and families and to divide Jesus’ Church and School here at Immanuel and sink the ship of truth into the depths of lies and sin.  Beware of sin creeping into your life and into life at Immanuel.  Stay alert and do the hard, painful work of cutting sin out of your life.  It will hurt. It is like cutting off your hand or plucking out your eye, but you make those painful cuts to keep sin from growing from your thoughts… to your words and deeds.  Continue to cut sin from your life to protect yourself and protect others around you so you do not introduce and promote and encourage others to sin. 

            It is kind of a joke in churches that folks tend to sit in the same pew each week.  That is the case here mostly, although if someone is already in “your” pew you all are pretty good at sitting somewhere else.  Now, there is an advantage to sitting in the same spot week after week and that is that you get to know the folks that sit around you.  You get to know them and you can watch out for each other. Maybe you even sit together at breakfast or church dinners or get together outside of church.  By knowing each other, you notice if someone is missing and you can reach out with a note or call or text or email to check on them. No one is alone here in church.  As Immanuel grows and new people are added to the family, remain intentional in getting to know each other and watching out for each other.  If one of the sheep is missing from the flock, out of love, seek the lost sheep. 

            It is your ongoing work to protect one another from sin by cutting sin out of your life.  But what if one of us is caught up in a sin and is not cutting it out of our life? If you see this happening, as a brother or sister in Christ, you humbly go to that person, as a fellow sinner struggling with temptation, and tell him his fault.  You warn him of the danger of unrepentant sin.  Matthew 18:16–17 (ESV) 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”

            What is the goal of this process of patient warnings? The Church seeks to bring the brother to repentance and eliminate the sin from his life.  If he continues to refuse then he is like an unbeliever who rejects Jesus as the Christ.  He is someone whom you try to reach with God’s law and God’s Gospel. 

            The Church is messy and inefficient and burdensome. It is a motley group of helpless, vulnerable, needy people clinging to each other, protecting each other, not willing to let anyone go.  It is a ship of truth in a sea of evil and lies.

            As we approach the celebration of Immanuel’s 130th Anniversary as a congregation we have a great deal for which to be thankful.  We are in a time of declining numbers in American Christianity and in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.  The Lord has seen fit for Immanuel to buck that trend.  For this we give thanks to the Lord and we hold this blessing to be a great gift to be shepherded with great humility and care.  What was delivered to us we deliver to our children and grandchildren and great grandchildren and all those that will come after.  We treasure the truth of God’s Word and the forgiveness of sins given through Jesus’ Church to us.  What was given to us we preach and teach.  We care for the people and property and resources that were given to us so we can pass them on to the next generation better than we received them. We give sacrificially and generously to support the Lord’s work given to us in this place to deliver the forgiveness of sins through Word and Sacrament, and support the work done in this nation and throughout the world through our Church body.  In November we will have a representative from the LCMS here to share about all that is being done to bring the Good News of Jesus to areas around the world. 

            Folks sometimes will say they do not like organized religion.  Immanuel fits that bill.  We are not well organized.  We are a collection of needy, helpless, vulnerable people washed clean in the blood of Jesus shed on the cross.  We cling to each other, and protect each other as we sail through the rough waters of life toward the Day of the Lord’s return and eternal life with Jesus. Amen.