From the Pulpit

Posted on October 23, 2022 by pastorkevinjud

(Due to tech difficulties, no video this week)

SERMON TEXT BELOW

Pentecost 20 2022
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud
Vicar Kaleb Yaeger\
Gen. 4:1-15, 2 Tim. 4:6-8, 16-18, Luke 18:9-17

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

The earth is soaked with blood, flowing from the man’s broken head out onto the ground. Black dirt becomes red mud. The body lies on the ground, limbs splayed; his head twisted at an odd angle. His dead eyes stare accusingly at his killer. Abel, the shepherd son of Adam will never again tend his flocks.

Cain is out of breath and soaked with sweat. He wipes his brow, leaving a crimson stain across his forehead. He looks down at his hands, which are red with his brother’s blood. He whips his head around, making certain there are no witnesses. His heart pounds. His hands shake. He checks again for witnesses. Seeing no-one, he finds a big, flat rock and begins to dig a shallow grave for his brother in the blood-soaked earth.

The first murder. A grim scene. Brother turned against brother. Blood spilled on the earth. Why? Why this crime? Why this murder? To understand, we must go back to the beginning.

Adam and Eve had two sons. The first they named Cain. Cain, as the firstborn son, soon was involved in his father’s business. Adam was taken out of the ground in order to work it, so it was right that Cain should work the ground. Cain’s role was to grow food for his family. He was to plant seeds in the ground so that he and his family could live.

The second son Adam and Eve named Abel, meaning breath. In time, they would know that name to be prophetic. Abel was a keeper of flocks and herds.

Eventually the time came for both sons of Adam to make offerings to the LORD. Cain offered from what he had reaped, but Abel offered the firstborn of his flock. Abel’s offering, because it was of the firstborn, because it was of the best, was accepted by God. God looked with favor upon Abel. Cain only offered some of his crops. He did not offer the firstfruits, he did not give God the best of what he had. So God did not look with favor upon Cain.

Cain sees that God favor’s Abel’s offering and not his. He is jealous. The Bible tells us that his face fell. Cain’s reaction to God’s rejection is anger. He is not repentant, he is angry. God confronts him for his anger. God warns Cain, saying:

“…sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

God sees the danger that Cain’s fallen face poses. He warns him, exhorting him to repent, to turn from his wicked ways and do what is right. How often we receive the same warning! Anger comes easily to us as children of Adam. We have inherited Adam’s sin. As we sang in our hymn of the day, in Adam we have all been one. One huge, rebellious man. Our anger is a symptom of that sin. Often, like Cain, we are angry with our own family members.

Anger is dangerous. Things done in anger are often things regretted. Things said in anger can hurt. Anger divides. Anger turns you against your family. When you are angry, beware! For sin is crouching at your door. Rule it, for its desire is against you.

Cain didn’t heed God’s warning. In the very next verse, Cain walks out with his brother into the field. The two of them are alone. Cain strikes. He beats his brother down. The sharp crack of rock against bone sounds over and over again. Cain’s hands shake as his brother’s blood soaks the earth. Black dirt becomes red mud. Cain stands over his brother’s body, sweating. With shaking hands, he digs a shallow grave for his brother.

Cain was a worker of the field. He did his father’s work. He brought life from the ground so that he and his family could eat, and live. But now, instead of seeds, he has planted his brother’s body in the earth. He has sown death. Adam was formed from the dust, and now Abel has been returned to dust. Abel, true to his name, lived as but a breath. Cain returned him to his father’s ground.

Sin was crouched at Cain’s door. Cain did not rule it. He let his anger rule him. He heard God’s warning, but refused to listen to it. As a result, he inflicted pain upon his family, death upon his brother, and guilt upon himself. This should sound familiar. Too often, anger overtakes us. Anger, which leads to a multitude of sins. God’s law is clear. We too hear it, and refuse to listen. In Adam, we have all been one. So too in Cain. We fled God’s law, and in losing him, we lost our brother too. Each singly sought and claimed his own, each man his brother slew.

Jesus tells us that to hate our brother is to murder him in our hearts. Anger and hatred are twin siblings. Anger is a powerful force. It motivates us to move, even against our own family, even against the very word of God. In Cain, we have all been one. Murderers. We neglect our vocations and twist them for petty vengeance. Like Cain, we have sown death. What shall we reap?

What shall Cain reap? He has finished burying his brother. Some time has passed, and he has cleansed his brother’s blood from his hands, though his heart remains guilty. He thinks he has gotten away with his crime, when the LORD speaks to him.

“Where is Abel your brother?”

Cain’s heart pounds. He hears the crack of rock against bone. Blood on the dirt. Crimson mud.

“I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”

God confronts Cain. Like his father Adam, he deflects and denies. He lies to the LORD. Adam found that hiding from God was useless. Now Cain finds lying to the Almighty equally useless.

“What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.”

God knows of Cain’s crime. The voice of shepherd Abel’s blood tells God the story. His blood demands justice. It demands repayment. Blood has been shed. Blood is required. A murderer should give what he has taken. Cain deserves death. The first murderer should be the first man executed for his crimes.

“And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength.”

Like his father before him, Cain receives the curse of sin. But Cain’s curse is worse than his father’s. He has sown death into the ground, so he shall never again reap life from it. Still, this seems a punishment too small. Sin requires death. Blood requires blood. Cain’s life is in jeopardy. But God does not kill Cain. Instead, he says:

“You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”

Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

Cain, at least, recognizes what he deserves. He recognizes it, and desires to be free of sin’s punishment. But Cain does not repent. He says to God “This is too much! I will get the very thing I deserve, I will be killed, like I killed my brother. I cannot bear it!” We’d expect God to answer “Yes, O Cain, first murderer, you will get what you deserve, you have sown death and so you shall reap it!”

That would be the just answer. That would be the right thing to do. Blood requires blood. But God listens to Cain. He says:

“Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.

The first murderer is marked so that he may not die at the hands of another. Blood has been shed. Blood is not required. Cain walks free. He is cursed to wander the earth, but vengeance will not be taken for the blood of Abel. Why? Where is the justice of God? Where is His righteousness? Why does He let this murderer go free?

God desires that Cain repent. God brought Cain forth from Adam and Eve. God formed Cain in his mother’s womb. God knew Cain. God loves Cain. He does not want to see him dragged to hell by the weight of his sins. God desires Cain’s repentance.

We do not know if Cain ever repented. Later in the chapter, we are given a brief genealogy of Cain, but we are never told his age at death. The first son of Adam mentioned in the genealogy of Adam to Noah is Seth, Adam and Eve’s third son. Abel is dead and Cain has disinherited himself.

Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Like his father before him, Cain flees from God. He takes the mercy of God and runs. Where is justice? Blood was still shed. Abel’s blood still soaks the soil of the field. It still cries out for justice, yet Cain still lives. Cain is marked, protected by God, but Abel is still dead. Blood for blood. Life for life.

Blood pours out onto the dirt. A son of Adam becomes a corpse. Crimson rivers flow from His head mixing with the earth, forming crimson mud. The shepherd’s dead eyes are vacant, staring into the sky. His jaw is slack. His body limp. He breathes no more. His blood cries out. It drips from his hands. It gushes from his side. It pours out of the wounds in his feet. Vengeance has been taken, for the Shepherd dies. His blood pours onto the ground at the foot of the cross.

His blood cries out from the ground: “It is finished!” Abel’s blood accused Cain and demanded vengeance. Justice demanded blood. A life was taken, so a life must be paid. And a life was paid. A Son of Adam paid it. Not Cain. Jesus. Son of Adam. Son of God.

Justice was done that day, on the cross. The righteous wrath of God was poured out on Jesus. Cain’s death was given to Christ. Your death was given to Christ. Jesus took the death that all the world deserved and was buried with it. Death was put into the ground. Jesus was planted, like a seed, in His tomb. But He stepped forth, three days later, leaving death behind. The death of Cain. The death of Adam. The death of all children of Adam who fell in Adam’s fall.

Sin crouches at your door. You do not rule it. You deserve death. Yet God has mercy. God has mercy on you. He marks you, like He marked Cain.

Cain’s mark was temporary. It protected him from the vengeance of others while he walked the earth. But God has given you a mark much better than Cain’s. He has marked you with the sign of the cross upon your forehead and upon your heart. He has put His name on you, the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. He has washed you in the font. He has sealed you as His own. Cain’s mark lasted for his earthly life. Your mark lasts forever.

The blood of the Shepherd cries out before God. It cries out that justice is done, that wrath need not be poured out on all mankind. Christ’s blood was poured out on the ground for you, for the forgiveness of sins. It was poured out on the cross, so that it may be poured into you. Here, on this altar, we are about to eat and drink the body and blood of Jesus. The blood of the shepherd. The death which brought forth life.

Cain was supposed to bring life from the ground, but he sowed it with death. Jesus, by dying in Cain’s place, finished his work. Christ planted the ground with His own blood. Rising, He gives you the fruit of His salvation to eat and to drink. Come, dear Christian, and take the cup of salvation, poured out for you, for the forgiveness of your sins.

Amen

Posted on October 16, 2022 by pastorkevinjud

Pray always, do not lose heart

WORSHIP VIDEO LINK

WORSHIP AUDIO LINK

SERMON AUDIO LINK

BULLETIN

SERMON TEXT BELOW

Pentecost 19 2022
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud
October 16, 2022
Gen. 32:22-30, 2 Tim. 3:14-4:5, Luke 18:1-8

Being persistent can really pay off. The salesman ignores your first four objections and presses on to close the deal. Children wear down Mom and Dad until they finally relent and give in. Many dogs and cats owe their cushy lives to the persistence of children. Children get worn down by persistent parents and finally do their homework or cleantheir room. Persistence can get you what you want.

It is still dark outside when the widow gets up, lights a lamp and gets ready to make her way through the early morning streets to the courts to be first in line to see the judge. She is in a long standing dispute but as a widow she has no protection, no influence, no one to speak up for her and no money for a lawyer. All she can do is to beg the judge to rule in her favor.

She has come here many, many times before.Time after time she gets up early to be first in line so she can speak to the judge. And every time, the judge refuses to rule in her favor and sends her away. The judgeis his own man; he does what he wants. He does not care who he hurts,or whether it is right or wrong. He does not fear God or respect men. That morning he takes his seat in court and looks up and groans. There at the front of the line is that bothersome widow — again. She is again standing there waiting to be heard. He has heard it all before and he doesn’t want to have to hear it all again.He’s had enough, and so when the widow comes forward he says, “Okay, okay, I give up. I can’t take it anymore. I rule in your favor. Go now and leave me alone.” Even though he doesn’t fear God or respectmen he gives in so that the widow will causehim no more trouble.

So, what does this parable mean? When we want something from God should we just be persistent and we will receive it? It would be easy to take this lesson and say that you need to be persistent in your prayers and if you continue in persistent prayerGod will eventually give in and grant you your request.

Lord, grant me a big raise. Lord, grant me a promotion at work. Lord, give me a biggerhouse, a bigger television, a bigger car. Lord, give me an A on this test I didn’t study for. Lord, please have this girl like me. Lord, give me the newest, latest, greatest iPhone.

There are many popular churches where this is the main message. If you are faithful and pray the right prayers God will open up the storehouse of blessings and pour them out on you. They teach that the reason you do not have big things is that you don’t prayer for big things. They teach that your faith activates the power of God.

Those who reject God altogether also believe basically the same thing. In the book The Secret,The author, Rhonda Byrne, teaches that there is a law of attraction and your thoughts become things. By visualizing something you canput in an order with the powersof the universe and the universe will deliver. You don’t even need to pray to God, you can just picture what you want and it will be provided.

Is this what the parable is about? Is it teachingyou to be persistent in asking for stuff from God and if you are persistent, God will deliver?Let’s take a closer look. What does this widow want? Does this widow want money or belongings? Does she want power or privilege? No, she wants vindication against her opponent. She wants justice.She wants things to be right. She is not asking for stuff, she is asking for justice.

So, pray for justice. Pray for vindication over your adversaries. Pray for an end to sin and evil. Pray for the devil and his angels to be destroyed forever because they bring so much trouble and heartache into the world.

The evening news can feel like a report on the workings of the devil; wars and violence; threats to use nuclear weapons. A madman killing little children at a daycare center in Thailand. Serial killers on the loose. There are huge, violent, criminal organizations flooding our cities and towns with drugs. And if that wasn’t bad enough sometimes the drugs are laced with fatal doses of fentanyl. We watch coverage of trials where whole families were slaughtered. We hear about children being abused in unspeakable ways by adults in positions of trust. We hear about sin and perversion being promoted and encouraged. We see the anger of people protesting that they cannot end the life of their unborn children without restriction. We can see the devil’s work watching the evening news. Pray for restoration. Pray for justice. Pray for evil to be overcome by good.

So, pray for justice. Pray for vindication over your adversaries. Pray for an end to sin and evil. Pray for the devil and his angels to be destroyed forever because they bring so much trouble and heartache into the world.

We can see the devil’s work amongst our family and friends. We see alcoholism and drug abuse devastating families. There is anger and conflict and infidelity between husbands and wives. Two people who have pledged to love one another forever instead live in resentment and bitterness and betrayal. Far too often we hear about yet another family devastated by divorce as the devil works his evil; tearing people apart. Pray for healing. Pray for peace. Pray for justice.

The devil hates Christianity. Around the world Christians are being persecuted because they are followers of Jesus. On a recent Sunday morning 25 Hindu extremists entered Pastor Arjun’s church in India and beat him for an hour leaving him hospitalized. When the pastor’s landlord heard about the beating he evicted the pastor and his family leaving them homeless. In Afghanistan, Christians are being hunted down and killed. The Church there is now completely underground. There is open persecution in North Korea, Somalia, Yemen, Nigeria, Pakistan and so many other countries around the world. The world is hurting. Pray for freedom. Pray for righteousness.

In your life you face illness and injury;pain and disability. People you love are taken from you in death and there is so much sadness and mourning. Pray for comfort.

Life is hard and you struggle to resist great pressure to conform to the pattern of the world. You struggle against the constant messageto give in to the ways of the world and reject Jesus as your Lord and become lord of your own life. There is tremendous pressure to stop struggling and just give in to your everydesire and find true peace and happiness in self- indulgence and self-centeredness. The struggle is real and too often you give in to this pressure to conform and you indulge your desires in ways contrary to God’s will. But you do not find peace and happiness. Instead, you are left feeling empty and agitated. And the world tries to tell you that you just need more of what has left you empty. Repent of your failures. Confess your sins. Receive Jesus’ forgiveness. Pray for righteousness.

There is so much trouble and heartache in the world; so much sin, so much persecution, so much death, so much influence of the devil. When will it end? When will enoughbe enough? When will Christians get the reward promised by God? When will God give justice by eliminating evil in the world? Why does God even allow evil? How long, O Lord? How long will the devil be allowed to continue to prowl like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Come, Lord Jesus! Come now!

Come, Lord Jesus! Come back and bring justice. End all of the trouble and heartache and violence and death. Come, Lord Jesus!Bring justice for your people.As a Christian you recognize that you are a poor, miserable sinner; weak and powerless. Like the powerless widow coming to the judge, you come before God without any resources and plead for mercy and justice.

Jesus has promised to return. He has promised to bring justice.Matthew 5:6 (ESV) 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Be persistent. Be patient. Jesus ascended into heaven 2,000 years ago and you can get discouraged, you can lose heart. You can start to think that Jesus is never coming back. But He will. So pray and do not lose heart.

God has promised to conquer evil and lift up those made righteous by Jesus Christ. This is why you gather togethereach Sunday morningto confess your sins and hear the words of forgiveness and to cry out to God for mercy.

In one of the communion liturgies, I proclaim. “As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” And you cry out, “Amen, Come Lord Jesus.” You pray “Thy kingdom come.”You gather together to eat and drink the body and blood of Jesus Christ given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. You receivethe forgiveness won for you by Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross. You receive a foretaste of the feast to come. You are made right with God as you look for Jesus to return and the whole world to be restored.

Pray you remain safe in the ark of the Christian Church; pray you remain awake and faithful until the day of the Lord’s return so that He will find faith on earth. Get up out of bed on Sunday morning and come before the judge and plead for justice and righteousness to come to you and to the world. Do it week after week after week. Be persistent. Don’t give up. Continue to gather togetheras a family around the gifts of the Lord. Rememberwho you are. You are a baptizedchild of God, redeemed by the blood of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Cry out for justice. Cry out for rescue from this veil of tears. Cry out for Jesus to return to judge and destroyevil. Be tireless. Continue to cry out for your need for Jesus to come back. Stay faithful, stay together, remain in Jesus. Be persistent. Pray and do not lose heart.

Amen.

Posted on October 2, 2022 by pastorkevinjud

Forgive foolishly

WORSHIP VIDEO LINK

WORSHIP AUDIO LINK

SERMON AUDIO LINK

BULLETIN

SERMON TEXT BELOW

Pentecost 17, 2022
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud
October 2, 2022
Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4, 2 Timothy 1:1-14, Luke 17:1-10

There is a question that is so easy to ask, but which is so much the wrong question. We hear this question from the rich ruler in Luke 18, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” It is a simple question. “What do I need to do?” Just tell me what to do so I can do it, and get back to my life.

But it is not that simple, and it is the wrong question. Eternal life does not come from what you do; it comes from what Jesus has done for you on the cross at Calvary. It’s not about you. It’s about Jesus for you. You cannot just do something and get back to your life because being a redeemed child of God is your life.

Children well understand the idea of being given things that they cannot repay. It is a child’s life. Children receive everything in their lives as a gift and never think twice about trying to pay back what they receive. The older you get, however, the more you think about having to pay back anything that is given to you. But that is not how it works with God’s forgiveness. Jesus teaches Luke 18:17 (ESV) 17 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” Jesus knows it is a great temptation to believe you must do something.

There is also an opposite temptation which is to believe that since Jesus has done it all and forgiven all your sins that it does not matter what you do. You are tempted to believe that since you are a baptized child of God and Jesus forgives sins, that you should not think about sin and just sin more. You are tempted to believe that since your spirit is set free by Jesus’ that it does not matter what you do with your body. You are tempted to say, “I like to sin, Jesus likes to forgive, that is a good deal.” And so, instead of fighting temptation, you just ignore God’s law, and give in to your every lust and desire. St. Paul condemns this thinking in Romans 6:1–2 (ESV) 1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”

So two errors. What do I need to do? And, it doesn’t matter what I do.

In our Gospel reading today St. Luke covers a lot of ground. Luke 17:1–2 (ESV) 1 And [Jesus] said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.” Here the Greek word skandala in the ESV is translated “temptations to sin”, but it can also be translated as “stumbling blocks” or “traps”, more along the lines of false teaching. The root word skandalon is the origin of our English word scandal.

Is Jesus here referring to temptation to sin, or temptation to false teaching, or both? I believe it is both. I believe He is warning against anyone teaching that you can earn your salvation, and anyone teaching that as a follower of Jesus it does not matter what you do. The warning here is direct and it is harsh. It would be better for you to be drowned and die than for you to cause a follower of Jesus to stray. Why is it better to be drowned? Because false teachers are bound for hell. False teaching is an eternally big deal. False teaching leads children of God away from the truth and into condemnation.

As a follower of Jesus you have no choice but to live in the truth. Jesus has forgiven all your sins. You are a new creation in Christ. So, as a baptized child of God, struggle each day to live out your new life, loving God and loving your neighbor. Strive each day to live as salt and light in the world delighting in God’s will and walking in His ways. Live as someone whose sins have all been fully forgiven by the Lord even though you do not deserve to be forgiven.

One of the difficult things about following Jesus is that He does not act the way you would expect Him to act. We have a saying, “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.” The idea being, that you don’t let someone hurt you more than once or you’re just being dumb. But then we have Jesus who forgives you over and over and over again for that same stupid sin. Jesus forgives extravagantly. Jesus forgives recklessly. Jesus does not put you on probation and tell you that you have one more chance and if you mess up you’re finished. Instead, Jesus foolishly gives you chances to repent over and over and over. Jesus forgives you foolishly and he teaches you to forgive others just as foolishly.

Luke 17:3–4 (ESV) 3 … If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

If your brother sins, rebuke him. Don’t ignore sin or redefine sin; call sin what it is. Speak the truth in love. If you find your baby playing with a bottle of poison you don’t let her keep it just because she might cry if you take it away. You keep her safe. If your brother sins, rebuke him; warn him. If he repents, forgive him. How many times should the church forgive someone when they repent of their sins? The Church must forgive extravagantly, recklessly, over and over and over. Seven times a day if needed. Even more than that. You are to forgive foolishly, forgive even if they don’t deserve it – forgive the way Jesus forgives you.

The disciples are aghast at this teaching. You are aghast. How can you forgive like this? You cannot do it. You cry out along with the disciples, “Increase our faith!” Jesus replies, Luke 17:6 (ESV) 6 … “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

You plant your faith by forgiving lavishly; forgiving like Jesus. Others see the light of Christ in your generous forgiveness and forgiveness multiplies and grows.

What does this mean? If we turn back a few chapters in Luke we learn about mustard seeds. Luke 13:18–19 (ESV) 18 [Jesus] said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? 19 It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

Faith, like a grain of mustard seed, seems tiny and insignificant, but when planted, it grows to great size. Your faith can seem foolish and futile. What is it all about? Just words, just water, just bread, just wine. It looks like nothing and yet these words and water and bread and wine change the world. These simple things change the world. They change you. Faith planted in you by the Holy Spirit grows. These things change us as a congregation of followers of Jesus. The foolishness of faith is the light of Christ which grows and pushes back the darkness. Tiny, foolish faith causes people to reject selfishness and serve others. It brings peace in a world of hurt. It brings hope in desperation. It brings forgiveness out of sin, life out of death. Tiny, foolish faith grows and pushes back darkness and sin.

You plant your faith by forgiving lavishly; forgiving like Jesus. Others see the light of Christ in your generous forgiveness and forgiveness multiplies and grows.

The last part of our Gospel reading emphasizes again that your salvation is not about what you do. Luke 17:10 (ESV) 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” Salvation is not about what you do, but about what Jesus has done for you. Jesus is the one-time, perfect sacrifice for your sin. He did it all and gives it all as a gift to you. Even though you can do nothing to accomplish your salvation, as a saved follower of Jesus, you still do what you have been given to do. As a redeemed child of God you are set free from the curse of the law in order to freely follow the law in love and service to others. Do what you have been given to do in your various vocations as a parent, child, grandparent, sibling, worker, employer, teacher, student, citizen, neighbor. Do it well, not to earn awards and recognition but because it is what you have been given to do.

Life as a follower of Jesus is a beautifully messy life. It is a life of being, at the same time, a saint and a sinner. It is a life of wearing the robe of Jesus’ righteousness that covers all your sins. Live, with God as your Lord. Strive to do God’s will in all that you do. Live your life immersed in God’s Word and Sacraments. Cling to the truth of God’s Word and do not give in to false teaching. Live your life in repentance for sins of thought, word and deed. Live your life forgiving others recklessly. Live your life as an unworthy servant, who has been declared worthy of eternal life.

You cannot do anything to save yourself, Jesus has done that completely. But it does matter what you do. Live your life as a redeemed follower of Jesus because that is who you are. Amen.

Posted on September 18, 2022 by pastorkevinjud

The Master’s Mercy

WORSHIP VIDEO LINK

WORSHIP AUDIO LINK

SERMON AUDIO LINK

BULLETIN

SERMON TEXT BELOW

Pentecost 15, 2022
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Vicar Kaleb Yaeger
September 18, 2022
Amos 8:4-7, 1 Timothy 2:1-15, Luke 16:1-15

The parable in our Gospel text today is interesting. When you look at the actions of the steward, there’s not a lot that seems good. Not a lot that deserves kudos. Not very much that’s commendable. At the start of the story, the steward is accused of squandering and wasting his master’s possessions. The rumor says that he’s spending his master’s money, like the prodigal sons spent his inheritance. Whether it’s true or not, the master comes to him and says,

What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager

The stewards mind starts racing. What shall I do? He says to himself, I could dig but no, I’m too weak. I could beg. No, I’m too ashamed. I know what I shall do.

So then the steward, at least from what we see, it looks like he cheats his master. He calls in his masters debtors and slashes their bills, one by 50%, another by 20%. And at the end, his master commends the steward for his wisdom. That’s odd. The steward doesn’t seem to have really learned anything. He seems to have acted very dishonestly. What did he do that earned his Masters respect?

Well, you see, the master has been put in a very awkward position. He could call in his debtors. He could say to them, “Look, the steward when you talked to him, was already fired. He had no authority to slash your bills and half. I’m sorry, but I’m going to require the full amount when that bill comes due.”

If you’ve ever been shopping and grab an item off of the clearance rack, but when you bring it to the cashier and the cashier charges you full price, you might get an idea of how these debtors might feel about the master in that case. Not good. Upset. They might accuse him of being greedy.

But the master has another option, the one that the steward hopes he will take. The master could just let it lie. Take the financial hit and be regarded as a merciful and generous man. The steward wants this because he wants some of this impression of mercy and generosity to fall on him. He wants his master’s debtors to say “Ah, that master was merciful. His steward did me a favor. Now that he’s put out of house and home, I will receive him into my house.”

That is the wisdom the master commends. It’s a clever plan. The steward got one over on him.

From the Masters point of view, though, there seems little difference between the steward squandering the wealth and forgiving debts. if the steward squanders the master’s wealth, the master loses but the steward gains. If the steward forgives deaths, the master loses money and the steward gains.

But the master knows something. He knows that money and profit isn’t the point. People are. Mercy is. This is an eternal truth. And it’s what the parable is teaching. People before profits. Have mercy on others, cost yourself some money, gain some friends. It’s worth it. The steward realized this, but his gambit only works if the master is merciful. If the master is not merciful, if the master is a cruel and jealous man, then the master is going to go to his debtors and tell them to pay the full amount undermining the stewards entire plan. The steward might even be thrown in prison for fraud. But the steward recognized the master’s mercy and in so doing, he realized the truth about money.

If the accusations against the steward were true, and he was squandering his master’s possessions, then money was his master. Money was his ruler and he could not serve his master the way that his master wanted. The master’s goal was to have mercy. If the steward served money, then his goal would be to get more and more wealth. The goals of money and the goals of the master are opposed. They are mutually exclusive. In order to serve his master, in order to be a steward, the steward had to rule money, not the other way around. He had to subdue money and use it to the ends that his master wanted.

This is why Jesus says at the end: No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

We are to use money, mammon, unrighteous wealth, to serve God. Make money God’s slave, not your master. Let the Lord be the Lord. Don’t try to twist things around. Don’t put the cart before the horse and hold up money over God.

Now this parable does teach us this valuable lesson about the small things of wealth, power and money. But it also teaches us about the large things. It teaches us how God works. The earthly master in the parable realized that cutting into his profits to gain friends was a good idea; but God, our heavenly master, He doesn’t just cut into his profits a little. He doesn’t just give us a discount. He doesn’t cut the debt in half, a third or even a quarter. He erases them. He destroys His profit margins in order to gain brothers and sisters. Jesus gave up everything to gain you as brothers and sisters. He came down from heaven and became a little baby in Bethlehem. He walked the earth for 33 years. In the end, He died on the cross, giving up His very life for His friends, for his family. God doesn’t see profit margins. The true treasure that God seeks after is people. It’s you. Brothers and sisters.

And brothers and sisters in Christ, you are like the steward. You are like him in the obvious way, that God has given us his possessions to manage and we should manage those well. We should manage those to the ends of mercy and not to the ends of money. But the steward said right at the beginning of the story, right after his master fired him, that he was too weak to dig. He recognized that he was at the bottom of a pit. He was too weak to even lift a shovel. Even if he could, the only way he could go is down. We are the same. Our sinful condition is so severe that we cannot free ourselves from it.

We are also like the steward in another way. The steward went through his options and came up with the only one that would get him out. He recognized his only option, which was to cast himself on the master’s mercy. His only option was to bet everything on the fact that his master was a kind and generous man. The steward might have said he was too ashamed to beg, but he was not ashamed to rely on the mercy of his master.

The steward was dealing with small things, so he only slashed the debts in half. He didn’t obliterate them. He hedged his bets, since the master’s mercy couldn’t really extend that far, could it? Dear brothers and sisters, we are not dealing with small things. We are not dealing with small debts. We are dealing with large things. Thanks be to God that His mercy is larger than any earthly master’s could be. Like the steward, we recognize that we have only one way out. That way is the mercy of God. Unlike the steward, we are not ashamed to beg for God’s mercy.

This image is most clear in baptism, especially the baptism of a baby. Babies are too weak to dig. Whether you give them a shovel or a backhoe, they’re not going to give you a ditch. It’s a baby. Babies are weak. But just ask any parent, babies are not ashamed to beg. Begging is all they do. Their childlike faith guides them. Babies beg at all hours, day and night to be fed to be changed to be comforted. Babies cry out for mercy.

This is how we are before God. crying out for mercy. We are too weak even to lift a shovel, let alone dig our way out of our sinful condition. Our only option is to beg to throw ourselves on the mercy of our heavenly Master. God answers your cries. He answers them here. At the font with water and Word. He answers your cries in baptism where He seals you and calls you as his own. Where Jesus becomes your elder brother. Here we do no work. Here we only beg. And God answers with only mercy.

Amen

Posted on September 4, 2022 by pastorkevinjud

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

WORSHIP VIDEO LINK

WORSHIP AUDIO LINK

SERMON AUDIO LINK

BULLETIN

SERMON TEXT BELOW

Pentecost 13 2022 Proper 18
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud
September 4, 2022
Deuteronomy 30:15-20, Philemon 1-21, Luke 14:25-35

You are here. You have gathered together this morning to once again hear the Good News that your sins are forgiven by the blood of Jesus. You are a baptized child of God in the family of faith and that family [will be] is one bigger this morning as we add little Lydia Whitaker. You are in. You are forgiven. You are redeemed. You are part of the Lord’s Church. You have the gift of eternal life. You are moving through this life in the ship of the Church.

As we have talked about before, this area of the building is called the nave. It is from the Latin word Navis which means ship. It is the same word from which we get Navy. You are in the ship of the Church, the ship of faith. As a part of the Lord’s Church, as a member of God’s family, in His ship of faith you ride out the storms of life, the joys and the struggles until the day comes when you are wheeled in here one last time to be laid to rest to await the resurrection of the dead.

You are in. You are in. You know the truth of the forgiveness of sins through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. You have been rescued from the darkness of sin, death and the devil and transferred to the Kingdom of God. You are in. You are a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. You have been given unending gifts. You are blessed by God for eternity. You are destined to live forever in the Heavenly City of New Jerusalem.

You are here. You are in. So you get to ask yourself. “Should I stay or should I go?” This is a question posed by Mick Jones of the Clash in a song written in 1981. “Should I stay or should I go? If I go there will be trouble, if I stay there will be double.” The Clash is talking about a relationship with a girl. Your question is about your relationship with God through His Church. “Should I stay or should I go?”

As Jesus teaches in our Gospel reading today you have to count the cost of following Jesus. What are the costs? What are the benefits? Jesus teaches, Luke 14:27 (ESV) 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” Jesus then talks about building a tower and going to war and how you have to count the costs.

Should I stay or should I go? Being a disciple of Jesus has its costs and its benefits. Is it worth it? Being a part of the Lord’s Church has its costs. Being a disciple of Jesus….

Costs you a few hours on Sunday morning each week.

Costs you money — a sacrificial first fruits offering

Costs you time in prayer and Bible study.

Costs you your time in service to the church

Costs obedience to God

Costs you having to love people you may not like

Costs you not being able to join Sunday morning sports leagues.

Costs you the freedom to be your own master.

Costs you the freedom to follow your feelings.

Costs you being annoyed about something at church and still keep coming.

Costs you trying to keep wiggly kids quiet and still.

Costs you submission to God’s will

Costs you the option of trading in your spouse on a newer model.

Costs you having to keep intimacy inside the marriage of a man and a woman.

Costs you friends who do not want to around someone who believes the Bible is true.

It can cost you your job

It can cost you family members

It can cost you your physical freedom as many in the world are jailed for following Jesus.

In some counties it can cost you your life

Should I stay, or should I go? Is the benefit worth the cost?

Some folks, I fear, think, “I’ll stay in the church, but only if it does not cost me too much. I’ll stay in the church but not if it affects my sex life, or my money, my schedule, my business practices or my recreation.” Then the cost would be too high.

Being a disciple of Jesus has costs. Luke 14:27 (ESV) 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

Should I stay, or should I go?

Set before you are life and death, good and evil, blessing and curse. Choose life. Choose to stay in the Lord’s church. Stay, knowing there is a cost, so it is never a surprise. Stay, because. John 6:68 (ESV) 68 … “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life…” Stay, because you are the salt of the earth. You are salt preventing the rot of evil from destroying lives and leading people into the fires of Hell. You are salt — loving and serving others. You are salt — preserving lives through the Good News of forgiveness of sins in Jesus.

Stay. Resist the desire to give in to the ways of the world.

The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment is a test of impulsivity and delayed gratification where a child is seated at a table with one marshmallow in front of them. They are told they can eat the marshmallow but then they will not get any more, or, if they can wait a bit, they will get an additional marshmallow. Can the students delay their gratification?

I am relatively good at resisting impulsivity and delaying gratification when it comes to food… during the day. But once the sun sets and the clock hits 10 PM or so, something switches off and I become an expert in impulsivity and gratifying my every snacking impulse. There are times when I am strong and times when I am weak.

When it comes to the question about being a follower of Jesus, “Should I stay or should I go?” There are times when you will be strong and able to easily resist temptations and there will be times when you are weak and more prone to give in and think that the cost of following Jesus is too high. The devil knows your weaknesses and he will exploit them. Be on guard. Know your own weaknesses and protect yourself. And when you fail, do not give in to the devil’s temptation to despair, instead live out your true identity as a baptized child of God, get on your knees and repent of your sin and know that your sin has been forgiven by your dear Lord Jesus.

And if you do choose to leave do not give the Devil the satisfaction of having you slowly drift away into unbelief as if you do not know what you are doing. Be bold, declare what you are doing. Set before you are life and death, good and evil, blessing and curse. Declare, “The cost is too high. I choose death. I choose evil. I choose to be cursed.” That way you will know what you are doing. You will know what you are choosing.

There is a cost to following Jesus because it is following Jesus. Jesus is the Suffering Servant. Jesus carries His own cross and suffers and dies at the place of the skull. Jesus is God in flesh who is the Lamb of God who offers Himself as the once-for-all sacrifice for sin. There is cost to following Jesus but the benefits are eternal.

Should I stay or should I go? Weighing the costs and the benefits, you should stay. Jesus is… John 14:6 (ESV) 6 … “… the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through [Him].

You are a baptized child of God moving through life in the ship of faith; the Lord’s Church. Stay. It is worth the cost for eternity. Count the cost and know that eternal life with Jesus is a treasure beyond compare. Amen

Posted on August 28, 2022 by pastorkevinjud

No Ladders in Church

WORSHIP VIDEO LINK

WORSHIP AUDIO LINK

SERMON AUDIO LINK

BULLETIN

SERMON TEXT BELOW

Pentecost 12, 2022
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud
August 28, 2022

Justin, the new data entry clerk, pulls up for his first day of work at a fortune 500 company. Ignoring the “reserved for CEO” sign, he parks in the space closest to the building, heads inside and takes the elevator to the top floor in search for his office. As he gets off the elevator he steps onto a rich marble floors and heads to a corner office paneled in cherry with red leather furniture and a tremendous view of the city.

A secretary comes running in behind him, “Who do you think you are? You don’t belong here.” He responds, “I work here, I just got hired to do data entry. This office is great.”

“How dare you come into this office, you do not belong here,” the secretary scolds as a burly, uniformed security guard walks in. “You need to come with me,” the guard says and takes the young man by the arm and escorts him off the top floor and takes him to his windowless, basement cubicle. “Don’t let me ever catch you up there again. And also, I believe that is your Hyundai they are towing away out front.”

The clerk was aiming high and got shot down. He wasn’t obeying the rules of business. You have to earn your way onto the top floor. The top floor is for important people who have paid the price and worked their way up.

In this life we have a tremendous sense of who is important and who is not; who are the winners, who are the losers, who are the people we want to be like and who are the people we shun.

The way of the world is too often a relentless climb up the corporate ladder in which people are urged to keep pressing upward and upward not worrying about what corners you need to cut or who you have to step over or step on as you climb.

Ironically, the relentless desire to climb higher and higher at work far too often leads to the Peter Principle kicking in. The Peter Principle explains that in an organization people who are successful at their current positions will be promoted over and over again until they reach the level of their incompetence and then they will stop being promoted. Since it is difficult to admit failure and move back down one step, the Peter Principle sadly means that there are a lot of people who are in over their heads at work trying desperately to make sure no one finds out they are not very good at their job and counting down the days until retirement when they can escape their misery.

It seems that the world is all about getting ahead and moving forward and advancing in life so you can rise up above the little people and have enough money to insulate yourself from the riff raff. At a cemetery in St. Charles, Missouri, I noticed that they are selling graves in an exclusive gated section of the cemetery. I guess there are some elite folks who do not even want to rest in peace next to common folks.

The Pharisees at Jesus’ time are well tuned to where people are in the pecking order. They know the winners and the losers. They care deeply about their positions in life. When they eat a meal they are very concerned about where they sit and who gets the place of honor.

Jesus teaches them that God’s way is a different way. God does not care about your social standing. Jesus teaches in our Gospel reading today not to exalt yourself, but rather to humble yourself. Luke 14:10–11 (ESV) 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Humble yourself. Seek to be a servant to others instead of seeking to boss others around. Seek to serve those who can never repay you.

Humility is not the way of the world, but it is the way of the Lord. Our Lord Jesus came to serve, not to be served. And this is a radical teaching in Jesus time and in our time. Be humble and be content.

The writer to the Hebrews in our Epistle lesson teaches to be content with what you have in life. Be content with your marriage. Hebrews 13:4 (ESV) 4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

He teaches to be content with money. Hebrews 13:5 (ESV) 5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Be content with your place in life. Do not let the monster of envy drive you to try to keep up with others. Now, it is not wrong to enjoy the gifts of God within your means, but never as a competition with others, never to show off your status.

This is a fine balance in life. You should work hard at whatever you are given to do because this is one of the ways that you love and serve your neighbor. You should not say, “I am saved by Jesus, so I can be lazy at school or waste time on the job.” Work hard because it is the right thing to do. When my kids each began to work at Pizza Chef I would give them the same advice. “Show up on time and do what the boss tells you to do.” If you do these two things they will love you as an employee. Work hard, not so you can prove your better than others, but because working hard is the right thing to do. A nice side effect is that hard work is often rewarded.

We are sorely tempted to compare ourselves with others. This past Thursday I was helping a third grader whose shoes were untied and his laces double knotted. A second grader walked over and proudly said to him, “You need help with tying your shoes? I can tie my shoes all by myself and I am in second grade.” We all do that in different ways. It is far too easy to fall into the habit of comparing yourself with others and even announcing how you are better than someone else. I may not be perfect, but I am better than you. Sadly, this is the way of the world. But it is not Jesus’ way. It is not your way as a disciple, a follower, of Jesus.

Here at church, gathered in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, no one is better than anyone else. Together you began worship by getting on your knees, humbling yourself before God and confessing that you are sinful and unclean. You are united in your need for Jesus. You come forward and kneel together to receive the body and blood of Jesus. There is no distinction. There is no rich or poor, no winners or losers, no celebrities and nobodies, you are united together as sinners needing the blood of Jesus. You are united in receiving the body and blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins.

Now, because you live in this world, there is a strong desire to want do something to contribute to your salvation; to climb up the ladder of Christianity and be able to look down on those other people who are not as good as you; to believe that you are accomplishing something toward your salvation by your own works. You want to move up the ranks, but with Jesus there is climbing up, there is no Peter Principle. You cannot rise to the level of your incompetence because you are born into incompetence. When you confess that you are by nature sinful and unclean it is an admission that you cannot do it. You cannot save yourself. You need Jesus and Jesus gives you what you need.

Now, you should do good works. You should do good works, but not because they help you advance in life or the church. Do good works because they help your neighbor. Do good works to love and serve your neighbor. Love and serve others knowing salvation is a gift, knowing that when it comes to salvation, you can do nothing and Christ has done everything. Boast not in yourself, but in Christ on the cross for you. St. Paul teaches in Galatians 6:14 (ESV) 14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

There are no ladders to climb here in the Lord’s house. You cannot rise above others. You are equal as sinners and you are equal as saints of God redeemed by the blood of Jesus. You cannot climb any higher because you already have been made perfect in Jesus. Amen.

Posted on August 21, 2022 by pastorkevinjud

Corpses, Worms and Fire

WORSHIP VIDEO LINK

WORSHIP AUDIO LINK

SERMON AUDIO LINK

BULLETIN

SERMON TEXT BELOW

There’s one more verse after the end of the Old Testament reading. It’s the last verse of the last chapter of the book of Isaiah. It’s fitting. Here, at the end of the book, Isaiah is talking about the last things. He’s talking about heaven. Life eternal.

“For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your offspring and your name remain. From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord.

Your offspring and your name shall remain. You will not be cut off. You shall remain. All flesh shall worship the One True God. Incredible. Indescribable. The infinite majesty of heaven will be beautiful. All flesh, worshiping God.

But there’s one more verse. This picture that Isaiah has painted is a hopeful one. It’s beautiful. God will gather the faithful onto His holy mountain in His holy city, Jerusalem. There, all flesh will worship The LORD.

But there’s one more verse. We read again:

And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die and their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

This is the word of the LORD. The last verse of the last chapter of the book of Isaiah on the last things. All flesh will worship God. All flesh will see the stinking, rotting, festering corpses of those who have transgressed Him. For the truth is, there are two groups on the Last Day. Saved and damned. In and out. Those in God’s Holy City of Jerusalem, and those outside, eaten by undying worms and burned by unquenchable fire.

The worm that does not die is sin. It worms its way into your flesh. It bites and devours and resists every effort to kill it. No matter how hard you try, the infestation persists. Most choose to ignore the pain. Some choose to make the worms part of who they are, holding up their sins and ravaged flesh as part of their identity. Others struggle to remove the worms by pain and effort, but always there is one more. No matter, all have transgressed against The LORD. All have rebelled against Him and all deserve the unquenchable fires of hell.

This is the reality that Jesus has in mind in our Gospel today. He is traveling to cities and towns, on His way to Jerusalem.

And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

The door is narrow. It is mounted in the impregnable fortress of God’s law. Many have tried to enter it. Many have tried and all have failed. They scrabble at the wall, they claw at the narrow door. One by one they fall. They become corpses, eaten by the unkillable worm. Burned by unquenchable fire.

Jesus continues

When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’

The master of the house is Jesus, returning on the Last Day. The marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom is in full swing. The door is shut. The city gates are locked. The walls tower ever higher. And yet, these latecomers knock. They call Jesus Lord. They know Him, or at least they think they do. But Jesus answers them “I don’t know where you come from. You are not from the holy city of Jerusalem. Your offspring and name have died off. I don’t know your homeland, I don’t know your names. You are from outside. You are from the desolate wasteland, You are corpses, full of worms and fire.”

Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’

The latecomers say “We heard your teaching, we ate and drank with you, you taught in our streets, we went to church every Sunday. We called ourselves Christians. Isn’t that enough?”

But Jesus calls these latecomers evil. He doesn’t say “What you did was good, but it wasn’t enough.” Rather, He says “Your works, though you thought them good, were evil. You thought them righteous, but they are unrighteous. You thought to earn your salvation, but you earned only damnation.”

For by these works they tried to force their way into the narrow door. By these works they pressed themselves against the wall of the law. They scrabbled, they clawed, they climbed, and they fell. These latecomers are dead men. They have been dead a long time, but now, with the light of God’s truth clear to see, now that all things are revealed at the end of the age, they look down and see their flesh, pale, and clammy, and dead. Eaten by worms and burned by hellfire. This is what’s become of the works they trusted. The master of the house casts them out into the wasteland. Back to the land of corpses, worms and fire.

In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The latecomers will weep, for they are corpses, eaten by undying worms and burned by unquenchable fire.

Many will strive to enter and will not be able. Many will strive. Many – all – will strive to enter and will fail. All will throw themselves at the foot of God’s law, crushing themselves against it. All will try and fit through the narrow door and will not attain salvation. All will fall among the corpses. All will be eaten by their sin-filled worms. All will be burned. All. All but one.

All but one will fail to enter the narrow door. All but one will crush themselves against the wall of God’s law. All but one will try and fit through the narrow door and will not attain salvation. All but one. And that one, that one perfect man, that one man who could have vaulted the wall, entered through the narrow door. All but one. All but that One Man kept every last iota of the Law. All but One. The God-Man Jesus Christ. And what did He earn for His perfection? What crown was put upon His head? A crown of thorns. What majestic clothing did He earn? Stripes on his back. What wondrous salvation did He attain? Worms and fire. For Jesus Christ is the Crucified One. Our God became a corpse on the cross. He hung there, dead as the nails that held Him to the tree. There, beaten, bloody and dead, He became an abhorrence to all flesh.

He became sin, though He knew it not. He became dead, though He was the God of life. He became a corpse, worm-eaten and burned. He did the work. He alone entered through the Narrow Door. With arms outstretched on the cross, heaving His last breath, giving up His Spirit, He flung the gates wide open. All who strive to enter by the Narrow Door will fail, but many will be in the city of Jerusalem. For Jesus becomes the new door. The door that demands no scrabbling or clawing. The door that demands no works of your own. This door swings open. This door proclaims a message of salvation, not judgment. The penalty is paid! The worms have died! The fire is quenched! Come, dear children, enter into the Holy City, brothers and sisters not corpses.

For from the side of the Crucified One, blood and water flow. Water, to quench the unquenchable fires of hell by holy baptism. Blood, to offer Himself as the once for all sacrifice to God. God’s wrath against all who have transgressed against Him was poured out on the One Man who entered the Narrow door. In His death, He took all the unkillable worms of the world and dragged them to death.

Jesus killed the unkillable worm, quenched the unquenchable fire, took the wrath of God. And He did it all for you. For you, though you were worm-eaten corpses. For you, you though you were an abhorrence to all flesh. For you, though you once were a dead worker of evil. You are dead no more!

For Christ did not stay dead, He didn’t lie with the worms of sin and rot away, He rose again to eternity! Baptized into His death and with faith in His holy work, you too shall rise. Your once-dead flesh is made alive! You feel no heat of hell, you do not beat yourself against the wall of God’s law for Christ has passed through the Narrow Door and become the door to salvation.

He called you. Called you out of death and into life. He called you by name, for He knows it, but He gave you a new name in Baptism, a name that shall remain. The Master of the House knows where you come from, for He is your elder brother. You are no latecomer.

When the Narrow Door shuts, at the end of the age, you will be inside those walls. You will call Jesus Lord, and He will answer. All of this not because of your feeble fleshly works, not because of your striving, clawing, scrabbling effort, but only because of Christ. Christ, who is the Door. Christ, who washed you with water and word. Christ, who gives you His body and blood to eat and to drink. Christ, who pronounces to you every Sunday morning by the lips of Pastor Jud that your sins are forgiven.

Your offspring and your name shall remain. You shall not be cut off! You shall remain. It’s beautiful. Indescribable. Incredible. The infinite majesty of heaven is yours through Jesus’ glorious death on the cross.

Just as the prophet Isaiah said,

For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your offspring and your name remain. From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord.

This is the word of the LORD and thanks be to God. Amen.

Posted on August 14, 2022August 14, 2022 by pastorkevinjud

Jesus Brings Division

WORSHIP VIDEO LINK

WORSHIP AUDIO LINK

SERMON AUDIO LINK

BULLETIN

SERMON TEXT BELOW

Pentecost 10 2022
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud
August 14, 2022
Jeremiah 23:16-29, Hebrews 11:17-31, 12:1-3, Luke 12:49-53

The U.S. Navy’s Officer Candidate School tries to form young people into Officers and Gentlemen and Ladies. There is a class on how to properly eat dinner, and they teach you how to act at meals in the wardroom aboard ship. There are manuals detailing how to act at meals to avoid division.

This is from the 1968 version of “The Wardroom” published before women were allowed to serve aboard ships. “Do not discuss religion and women in the mess. When you least expect it, it will cause unpleasant feeling. Also, try to be discriminating when you discuss politics and debatable issues of the day.”

Religion, women and politics can cause division among the officers. The Navy wants the officers aboard a ship to be a cohesive group focused on the objectives of their orders, not torn apart by squabbles.

Division is rough. Division hurts. Division causes hard feelings and anger. Along with sexual immorality, idolatry and over indulgence, St. Paul warns mostly of sins of division in Galatians 5:19–21 (ESV) 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: … [including] enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy….. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” The Bible warns against divisive behavior.

Jesus is all about peace. At His birth, the angels announce, Luke 2:14 (ESV) 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” Simeon holds baby Jesus and declares he can depart in peace. The 72 disciples go out proclaiming, “Peace be to this house!” When Jesus triumphantly enters into Jerusalem the people shout, Luke 19:38 (ESV) 38 …“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” When Jesus appears to his disciples after His resurrection he greets them, “Peace to you!”

Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Jesus is all about peace. But then we get our Gospel reading today. Jesus says, Luke 12:51 (ESV) 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” He continues, Luke 12:52–53 (ESV) 52 For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

So much division…what is going on? Why does the Prince of Peace bring division? How does Jesus bring division?

Now, Jesus indeed brings you peace with God through His life, His suffering, His death and His resurrection. In baptism Jesus forgives you all your sins and brings you peace with God the Father. He washes you clean and clothes you with the robe of His righteousness. Only in Christ, can you call the Creator of the Universe, “Father.” The guilt and shame of your sins has been taken away and nailed to the cross. You have peace with God in Christ. So how does Jesus bring division?

Jesus brings division because people hate Jesus. People hate that Jesus died on the cross and hate that He rose from the dead. People hate that Jesus forgives sins. People hate that Jesus grants eternal life. People hate Jesus.

People hate that Jesus died on the cross because the fact that Jesus comes to earth and takes on human flesh in order to be the once-for-all sacrifice for sin on the brutal cross means that God really does take sin seriously. It means you are a poor, miserable sinner. It means that you are by nature sinful and unclean. It means God hates sin and it means that you need a blood sacrifice cover your sins. It means you need the blood of the Lamb of God.

People hate that Jesus rose from the dead because it means that Jesus really is who He says He is. He really is God in flesh. He really does have all authority in heaven and on earth.

People hate that Jesus forgives sins because it means sin is real and sin needs forgiving. It means you cannot just do whatever you want to do. It means you are subject to God’s law and not your feelings. It means God is in charge and you are not.

Folks hate that Jesus saves people and grants them eternal life in the Heavenly City because that means He is saving them from eternity in Hell. This means Hell is real. This means some people are destined for hell because they reject salvation in Jesus.

People hate Jesus because Jesus is God and they are not. People hate God because they want to be God. This was the devil’s temptation for Eve in the Garden of Eden; that she could be like God.

Folks hate the Jesus of the Bible and so they rework Jesus in their own image so He is not divisive. They rewrite Jesus’ truth so that it is not so troublesome. They shape a kinder, gentler, powerless Jesus who does not believe in sin and forgiveness. They invent a Jesus who embraces the ways of the world because they are friends with the world.

But Jesus’ brother James warns, James 4:4 (ESV) 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

People love the world and hate Jesus and this brings division. There are those in Christ and those who reject Christ. There is light and darkness. Good and evil. Saved and damned. Wheat and weeds. Disciples of Jesus and enemies of Jesus.

Know that our teaching the truth about Jesus will bring division. The world will hate us because it hates the truth; it hates Jesus. Despite the division we must continue to preach and teach the truth.

As a disciple of Jesus you are not called to pursue division or stoke separation. You are called to continue to make disciples of all nations by baptizing and teaching. Knowing the truth, you are called to speak the truth — in love. You are called to speak the great Good News that Jesus died for all people and Jesus wants all people to be saved. The door to the kingdom of heaven is open. Jesus is the door. Jesus died for all people and invites everyone to come into the kingdom of heaven. By God’s power in the water and the Word, Immanuel Lutheran Church and School is called to make disciples by baptizing and teaching. With the power of God’s Word we form disciples – followers — students of Jesus each day in all that we say and do. There is no graduation from being a disciple of Jesus. You remain a student of God’s Word until you take your last breath.

Know that our teaching the truth about Jesus will bring division. The world will hate us because it hates the truth; it hates Jesus. Despite the division we must continue to preach and teach the truth.

St. Paul teaches young pastor Timothy, 2 Timothy 4:2–4 (ESV) 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” So many today will not endure sound teaching and yet we must still preach and teach the truth in patience.

Jesus’ message in our Gospel reading today is very difficult. Division is hard. Division in a family hurts. My family of origin is badly conflicted because there is no unity about the authority of the Word of God. Division causes hurt feelings and anger. There is a great temptation to eliminate the division; to go along to get along and just give in to the ways of the world. This is a powerful temptation, but you cannot give up the Word of God. Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

Jeremiah warns in our Old Testament reading, Jeremiah 23:16–17 (ESV) 16 …“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. 17 They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’ ” False prophets will tell you what you want to hear, all while leading you to hell.

Reject the world and cling to Jesus. Jesus saves you from disaster. Jesus forgives you all your sins. Jesus is truth. Remain in Christ. Treasure God’s Word. Make disciples, baptizing and teaching. You are a redeemed child of God bought by the blood of Jesus. Amen.

Posted on August 7, 2022 by pastorkevinjud

Poisonous Words

WORSHIP VIDEO LINK

WORSHIP AUDIO LINK

SERMON AUDIO LINK

BULLETIN

SERMON TEXT BELOW

Pentecost 9, 2022
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Vicar Kaleb Yaeger
August 7, 2022
Gen. 15:1-6, Heb. 11:1-16, Luke 12:22-34

Two words are among the most poisonous, insidious and debilitating things that you can say. Two words can cause the best-laid plans to come crumbling down. Two little words asking one simple question – What if?

What if the stock market keeps going down and you lose your pension?

What if your car breaks down and you can’t afford to fix it?

What if food and gas and inflation keeps going up and up and up and you can’t afford to put food on the table?

What if you lose everything you have to some wicked twist of fate and end up hungry and homeless on the side of the road?

Who will care for you then? Who will love you? Will your friends abandon you? Will anyone stoop to help? Or will you die there, cold, hungry and alone?

What if? Two little words, one simple question. A lot of fear. Fear of losing everything you have. Accidents, stock market crashes, financial anxieties, the list goes on and on and on.

This anxiety is baked into the world.

You’re scrolling on social media. You come across a clickbait article, titled TOP TEN THINGS, YOU’RE DOING WRONG WITH YOUR MONEY (YOU WON’T BELIEVE NUMBER 4). Of course, you click on it. The article is, essentially, just a string of “What if?” questions. What if your money is in the wrong place? What if you made the wrong decisions?

Now that you’ve clicked on one of these articles, the all-knowing algorithm slowly feeds you more and more of them. Every lunch break at work, you are asked the question: What if?

As you scroll through social media, flip through channels, watch YouTube, or just walk down the street, you come across advertising. All ads pretty much boil down to this: “Our product is better than every other company’s product. It’s longer lasting, cheaper, and will make your life better, as compared to the other brands, which will only make your life worse.” Of course, each of those other brands all make the same claims. So after you’ve made your decision, picked one out of many options, and taken the product home, you see an ad for another brand. The ad, implicitly, asks you the question: What if you made the wrong choice?

That evening, you turn on the news, which is a great peddler of fear. The newscaster calmly recites the news of the day. “The stock market is down, inflation is up, and crime is on the rise. Stay tuned after the break where we talk to an expert who will say things could be worse – and tomorrow, they probably will be.

So of course, you stay tuned. You want to be informed. You want to keep bad things from happening to you and yours. But the news really only wants your watch time. Fear is a great way to keep your eyes glued to the screen.

So that night, you go to bed. Having been bombarded minute after minute with endless “What ifs?” you start to question. What if? What if it does happen? What if the stock market goes down, my car gets into an accident? What if the economy doesn’t get better? What if I lose everything and end up homeless and hungry at the side of the road?

Out of the fear these endless “What ifs?” have created, you seek out advice. You read the blogs, you listen to financial gurus and look at the spreadsheets. After all, no one person can know it all, so you go to the ones who claim to know. All so you can steer disaster in another direction.

But it’s not enough! Even if you do everything the gurus and blogs and spreadsheets told you, you could still lose everything. After all, the market moves in mysterious ways. The market giveth, and the market taketh away.

Truth be told, these rational spreadsheets, financial gurus and expert blogs are not so different from the pagans of old. The pagans wanted rain for their crops so they would have enough to stave off disaster. So, they went to their wise men, sages, and priests to learn the right rituals to offer at the right time in the right place. Then, maybe, just maybe, the wrath of their god would be appeased.

You look at your spreadsheets, you speak to gurus who claim to be able to divine the future. You talk with the priests of our modern markets so you know when and where you should sacrifice to appease the wrath of the market. The pagans prayed for rain, you pray for a windfall.

And before you know it, the market has become your god. Work has become your worship, spreadsheets and blogs your scripture. Go to church? Read the Bible? Are you crazy? I don’t have time for that. Don’t you know that time is money and money is everything? Help someone else? Why would I do that? The Market has decided he shouldn’t have success, so I shouldn’t interfere. Besides, I need to keep a tight hand on my moneybags because I don’t know what tomorrow might bring.

In just such a way, Satan has snatched the souls of many. Beginning with two little words asking one simple question, Satan drags another soul down to hell. It was this danger that Jesus was warning against, when He said to His disciples”

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

To someone who is struggling with endless “What ifs?” these words might sound like something you’d read off a self help book you found at the back of the bookshelf at Goodwill. It doesn’t sound helpful. But Jesus has more to offer than worldly wisdom.

Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?

All these worries don’t actually do anything. Even if you make all the right choices, you might still lose everything. Nobody can see everything coming. And you know this. You’ve seen it happen. So why do you still worry?

You worry because you are seeking our own control. You want to look to yourself for power, control, for financial success and safety. Like a good American, you want to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and carry yourself from rags to riches on nothing but your own hard work. But that’s not what Jesus is preaching here.

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!

How much more. How much more will God, our heavenly Father, give you what you need? He even does this while you are ones of little faith. He goes further than the Goodwill self-help book. He doesn’t just tell you to stop worrying, He answers your fears. What if, God, I lose everything? God answers and says: I will provide for you.

And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

Seeking after security and safety in this world is fruitless. The world has no certainty to it. The world promises many things, but its promises are false. Advertising promises fitness and safety, but it’s never a sure thing. Unlike the uncaring, cold god of the economy, your Father loves you. He cares about you. He will give you what you need. No matter what the economy does, God will take care of you.

If you have children, or remember what it was like to be a child, you know that the child and his parents often have very different ideas of what taking care of him means. Ice cream for dinner is almost always a bad idea, but you’ll have a hard time convincing your 6-year old. It’s the same way with God. When He took care of the Israelites in the wilderness with the manna and the quail, they didn’t appreciate it, but He gave them what they needed.

Maybe your life changes. Maybe those “What ifs” come true. God will take care of you anyway. He cares for the birds and the flowers, how much more will He care for you, His child? He will take care of your bodily needs. But how much more will He take care of your soul?

What shall you eat? What shall you drink? Earthly food and drink, certainly, but Jesus answers: “Take eat, take drink, this is My body and blood, given and shed for you”

What shall you wear? God will provide you with clothing yes, but He also says: “You will wear My robe of righteousness that I put on you in your baptism.”

On the day of your death, when you eat and drink no more and your body grows cold, you will be well fed and warm, for your soul was nourished on the true food and drink that Jesus gave, and it is clothed in the warm robe of Christ’s righteousness. God’s care for you isn’t just from cradle to grave, but from conception to eternity. This is why Jesus says:

Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.

God works through people. He often provides through the hands of others. If you see someone in need, help them. God will use your hands to do His Fatherly work. You don’t have to be afraid of losing what you have for helping someone else. God will take care of you.

Always remember that your treasure is fast and secure in the heavens, with God your Father. No thief, moth or devil can snatch your heavenly treasures from His hands.

Amen

Posted on July 31, 2022 by pastorkevinjud

Don’t be like a hungry pug

WORSHIP VIDEO LINK

WORSHIP AUDIO LINK

SERMON AUDIO LINK

BULLETIN

SERMON TEXT BELOW

Pentecost 8 2022
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud
July 31, 2022
Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14, 2:18-26, Colossians 3:1-11, Luke 12:13-21

When Jeannette and I first visited Hamilton after receiving placement from seminary in 2001 we had one weekend to find a place to live. No pressure. Our realtor was not really that much help, but driving around we found a messy house with padlocks on the doors and four foot tall grass. We thought, this must be the place. It was a HUD foreclosure and was up for auction on the internet. We overbid the asking price by a bit and prayed. We got the house and spent a few weeks fixing it up before moving in. Just starting out, the church helped us get financing through the church extension fund. Since then we have had at least four different mortgages as we refinanced to lock in rates and chase rates lower. The first four loans were 30 year loans. Starting over again and again with 30 year loans our monthly payment kept decreasing, but I realized I would not pay off the house until I was 80 years old. So we refinanced one last time with a 15 year installment loan. As long as I send the bank money each month I get to stay in the house, and after 180 months I will own the house free and clear.

Installment loans are one kind of loan. Another is revolving credit like a credit card where you only need to make a minimum payment each month and the bank is more than happy for you to keep a balance on the card and pay high interest. In a way, the bank hopes you never pay off the debt.

Another kind of loan is a call loan. This is generally made between a bank and brokerage firms when they need more cash. The call loan has no set time period and the bank can call the loan at any time, and when called, the borrower needs to pay off the balance of the loan immediately. I am very glad to not have my home loan be a call loan.

Your life and your money and possessions are on loan from God. What kind of a loan is it? Is it an installment loan for a fixed period of time? Is it a revolving line of credit that you can keep your life and wealth forever as long as you make a minimum payment? Or is it a call loan? Can your life and wealth be taken away from you at any time?

We learn from our Gospel lesson today that your life and possessions are indeed a call loan from God. Your life and your wealth are on loan to you from God for you to care for and use to the glory of God until He calls the loan.

In our reading from Luke 12 a man cries out from the crowd asking Jesus to command the man’s brother to divide an inheritance with him. Luke 12:14 (ESV) 14 But [Jesus] said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” Jesus is not a probate judge; He was not sent to earth to resolve family financial squabbles. But Jesus does use this opportunity to teach an eternal truth. Luke 12:15 (ESV) 15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Your life is not about how much money you have; it is not about how much stuff you have.

This is a counter cultural teaching in Jesus’ day and it is even more counter cultural today. You live in a world of abundance awash in the idea that the main thing in life is to get more, bigger and better stuff; to always pursue more and more money. This is how folks keep score in life.

Jesus then tells a parable about a rich farmer whose land produced a bumper crop. The Lord has provided this man an abundant harvest, so what does the man do? Does he give thanks to God for this abundant gift? Does he share his abundance with those in need and store his crop in the bellies of hungry people? Does he think about anyone except himself? No. The rich man does not even consult with anyone other than me, myself and I. Luke 12:17-18 (ESV) 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.”

He is all about himself and his things. He has no sense that his life and possessions are a gift from God. He is all about Me, me, me. My crop, my barn, my grain, my soul. He decides to hoard the abundant blessing given to him by God and then he continues his conversation with himself. Luke 12:19 (ESV) 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’

The rich man believes the highest pleasure and greatest form of satisfaction in life is eating and drinking. That is a lot like my brother-in-law’s old pug, Koko. Koko keeps limping along year after year, mainly just sleeping in her little dog bed. But when 6 pm rolls around there is an amazing transformation. This lazy, drowsy, elderly, arthritic dog comes back to life and becomes incredibly excited about her dinner of special Hills prescription dog food. Koko gets so excited; barking, bouncing, spinning in circles, all because she is about to eat. For Koko, like the rich man in the parable, the highest pleasure and greatest form of satisfaction is eating and drinking.

And, oh, what a great temptation it is to adopt the same attitude toward life. How many go through life just trying to accumulate enough that they will never have to work again. If only they can get enough to be able to relax and eat and drink for the rest of their lives. For so many, this is the most important thing in life. They have been reduced to the level of an animal. For what is really the most important thing in life?………..What brings true peace, true satisfaction?

The rich man basically says, “My soul is restless until I am assured of an overabundance of food and drink?” Does the man find peace for his restless soul? That very night God calls the loan on his life and wealth. The man does not find peace. So, where is true peace to be found? The Church Father Augustine once wrote, “My soul is restless until it rests in thee.” Oh Lord, my soul is restless until it rests in thee.

Jesus did not come to earth to make sure you have enough money. Jesus comes to earth to ensure your sins are forgiven. Jesus comes to gain for you eternal life. Jesus comes to serve you by giving His life on the cross to pay the price for your sins, including the sin of loving money.

The world believes true peace is found in having enough money; enough money to buy whatever you want, enough money to never have to work again. But this is not the source of peace. Whoever just hit the mega millions jackpot suddenly has more money than he or she can spend in a lifetime and yet they are still a sinner who needs Jesus. Without Jesus you have no peace. Contrary to the incessant message of the world, money does not bring peace as evidenced by so many miserable rich people. Money does not bring peace. Jesus brings peace.

Jesus did not come to earth to make sure you have enough money. Jesus comes to earth to ensure your sins are forgiven. Jesus comes to gain for you eternal life. Jesus comes to serve you by giving His life on the cross to pay the price for your sins, including the sin of loving money. Jesus did not come as a probate judge to decide inheritance disputes. Jesus did come to save you forever.

Your life and your money are gifts from God to be managed according to God’s will. Your life is on loan from God. Your money and possessions are not yours to hold in a closed fist, but rather they are God’s to be held in an open hand. Your life, money and possessions are on loan from God, and it is a call loan. Your life and your wealth could be taken away at any time.

Now, money is tricky. You need money, but the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Money is a tool to provide for daily needs of food and shelter and transportation. Money is needed to care for those you are given to care for. Money should be well managed and well invested. If possible, you should save money, for future, unexpected needs. Money is a good tool of life. But, beware, money is a tool that the devil tries to leverage into an idol. There is great temptation to become obsessed with money. It is far too easy to love money. It is too easy to let money become your god. The love of money is a great danger for rich and poor alike. Jesus knows this, so He warns of this danger in our parable this morning.

To avoid money becoming an idol, be rich toward God. To avoid the love of money, give generously. Giving money is an antidote to loving money. As a part of this fellowship of believers, give generously to the Lord’s work at Immanuel, and give generously to help other organizations and people doing God’s will in the world.

There are times in life when money is stretched pretty thin. Give what you can from your scarcity. There are times when you have more money than you need, give generously from your abundance. For me, I have found that the idea of giving 10 percent to the church is a good guideline. It is not a command in the New Testament, but it is a guide. There will be financially tight times in life when 10 percent may be too much and there will be financially plentiful times when 10 percent is too little.

Another guideline for giving is to give until it hurts; until you are missing the money. Give until it hurts, and then give a little bit more until it feels good. Giving is a remedy for greed. Giving generously helps prevent loving money and letting money become your god. Again, as Jesus warns, Luke 12:15 (ESV) 15 … “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

The rich man in the parable is all about me, me, me, my, my, my. Living in this nation of abundance, it is far, far too easy to join the rich man in his self-centered greed and think only about my life, my money, my possessions, mine, mine, mine. But, self-centered greed puts you in mortal danger like the rich fool in the parable. Be on guard. You are a baptized, redeemed child of God living as salt and light in the world fighting back against the rottenness of the world and shining the light of Christ into the darkness. Never forget that all that you are and all that you have is on loan from God for you to manage for a time until He calls the loan. Money is temporary, salvation is forever. Be rich toward God because you are God’s treasure. Your greatest need is the forgiveness given to you by Jesus. Peace comes to you from Jesus. You are Jesus’ treasure. You are more precious to Him than His very life. Jesus is your treasure, more precious than gold.

You are a forgiven, baptized, child of God — live in Christ; live for Christ. Be rich toward God. Amen.