repentance – From the Pulpit

Posted on March 23, 2025 by pastorkevinjud

Godly response to deadly tragedy

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Lent 3 2025
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud
March 23, 2025
Ezekiel 33:7-20, 1 Cor. 10:1-13, Luke 13:1-9

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It seems like the TV news often has information about people who have died and suggestions of what you can do so that you do not die. When I hear a story of someone who has perished I almost automatically look for reasons that what happened to them could never happen to me. They were on a motorcycle and I don’t ride one. They were out very late at night in a dangerous area and I don’t go out late at night. They were 90 some years old and I am not. They were driving along minding their own business…..They were in their 50s … I really like to think that I am not going to die, but I have heard that I may be just fooling myself.

In our Gospel reading today Jesus is told about some people from Galilee who were killed in the temple by Pilate. The people telling Jesus may be wondering, why did God allow something so evil to happen to people who were just doing what God commanded. Or, maybe they are wondering, what did these Galileans do to deserve to die in this way. Jesus…Luke 13:2–3 (ESV) 2 … answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

And lest the people of Jerusalem think that Galileans are more deserving of God’s wrath than the Judeans, Jesus brings up a tragedy in Jerusalem… Luke 13:4–5 (ESV) 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Jesus does not want the people to turn their focus to trying to understand God’s motives. Jesus wants the people to examine themselves.

Don’t worry about why God let this happen, worry about yourself. Are you ready to die? The harsh news of this Gospel reading is that if you sin, you will die…and if you don’t sin, you will die.

When you hear about a tragic event, don’t use it as an opportunity to examine God, but rather use it as a wake-up call for you to examine your own life. What if it were me? Am I ready to meet my maker? Use the tragedy as a reminder to repent; to turn away from sin and turn back to God. Don’t be concerned about why God is doing something. Rather, be concerned about what you are doing.

In all our readings today we see that God takes sin seriously. In Ezekiel the Lord tells the prophet that He has made him a watchman for the house of Israel and he needs to warn the wicked of their wicked ways. In our epistle reading, St. Paul reminds the Corinthians that after rescuing the Israelites from slavery in Egypt God still punished them for idolatry and sexual immorality and for testing God and grumbling against God. God takes sin seriously. 1 Corinthians 10:12 (ESV) 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

You are a baptized follower of Jesus living in a world that hates Jesus. The devil desperately wants to drag you into a life of unrepentant sin. Stay aware, and, in an ongoing way, as a humble disciple of Christ, be brutally honest about your status before God. Admit you are by nature sinful and unclean. Struggle against sin. Battle against sin in your thoughts…. before they become sins of word and deed. Do not let unrepentant sin creep into your life. Do not set up a lifestyle where you love sin more than you love God.

The temptations for the Israelites wandering in the desert are the same very real temptations today. In this land of abundance there is a great temptation to idolatry; to fear, love and trust money and possessions more than God. In this nation, sexual immorality is considered normal behavior and Christians are sorely tempted to follow the ways of the world and engage in intimacy outside the bonds of marriage. Testing God and grumbling against God is common and it is easy to fall into a life of complaint and discontent. We forget, 1 Timothy 6:6–7 (ESV) 6 …godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.”

The devil wants to keep you discontent and to ignore what God says and forget about His promises. And so you resist the devil. You gather together this morning to hear God’s promises once again. You know that God has promised to cover your sins with the robe of Jesus’ righteousness. You heard Jesus’ words to you again this morning, “I forgive you all your sins.” It is true and you can believe it. God takes sin so seriously that He sent His Son to die for you. While you were a sinner Christ died for you and rose for you. Jesus loves you, this you know, for the Bible tells you so.

In the second half of our Gospel lesson today Jesus tells a parable about a fig tree. Here we see Jesus’ long-suffering compassion on His people. The vineyard owner has a fig tree that is not producing fruit and orders the tree to be cut down so it does not use up the ground. The vinedresser protects the fruitless fig tree. Luke 13:8–9 (ESV) 8 …‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. 9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”

Jesus is the vinedresser buying the fruitless tree another year. A little more time. A sinner gets a little more time to repent. Jesus will cultivate and fertilize the tree and give the tree every opportunity to bear fruit. Will there be fruit the next year? Will there be repentance before the final judgment?

Are you ready for the judgment day? Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Battle each day against the devil, the world and your own sinful desires. Do not make excuses for your sin, do not rationalize your sin, do not compare your sin against someone else. Repent. Repent means a change of heart. Repentance is making a U-turn. Turning away from sin and turning back to Jesus. Listen to Jesus, believe His promises and do what He says. Do not resist the Holy Spirit, but let the fruit of the Spirit abound, Galatians 5:22–23 (ESV) 22 … love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control…”

Jesus is God in flesh, begotten of the Father from eternity and born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus has given His life to save you. He loves you so much He suffered the humiliation and pain of death by crucifixion. He drank the cup of God’s wrath to free you from your sin. He lifts you up out of the muck and mire of your sin and washes you clean and says, “follow me.” Repent. Turn from sin and turn back to God. Turn from death and return to life with Jesus.

St. Paul encourages those in the church at Ephesus… Ephesians 4:22–24 (ESV) 22 … to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Today’s readings are a stern warning about the seriousness of sin. They are a call to continue to stay alert against the lies of the devil. To be vigilant and not allow the busyness of life and the deceitfulness of wealth to choke out the Word of God. To remain on guard against letting the desires of your own sinful nature become your guide, rather than God’s commands.

Do not give in to the devil’s seduction that your sin is too great for Jesus to forgive. The great deceiver wants you to despair; to give up hope and just sink into sin and celebrate it. But that is not who you are. Repent. You are a child of the most high God, adopted in the waters of Holy Baptism. You are grafted into the vine of Christ. You are ready to meet your maker. Abide in Christ. Amen.

Posted on December 8, 2024 by pastorkevinjud

God’s Bulldozer

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Advent 2 2024
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud
December 8, 2024
Malachi 3:1-7b, Philippians 1:2-11, Luke 3:1-20

John the Baptist is sent by God on a mission of earth moving; a mission of roadbuilding. Fulfilling the words of Isaiah the prophet John is… Luke 3:4–6 (ESV) 4 …“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”

John is sent by God to fill valleys and level mountains. John is God’s earthmover…God’s bulldozer. His job is to prepare the way of the Lord. John is God’s bulldozer.

No, it may just be my inner six year old boy talking, but bulldozers are pretty cool. I love to watch the bulldozers on the gold mining shows. Bulldozers are incredibly powerful. A small Caterpillar D1 dozer weighs 9 tons and costs over $200,000. It is 80 horsepower and can push about 2 tons of dirt at a time. The Cat D11 dozer is a behemoth 850 horsepower, 114 tons and costs over $2 million. It can push 45 tons of dirt with a blade 20 feet wide and 7 feet high. I enjoy watching the big dozers moving tons of earth to get down to the gravel pay layer where the miners hope to find gold.

Sometimes they get down a ways in the overburden and find a rock hard layer of permafrost. The blade of even the biggest dozer cannot penetrate this layer so the miners deploy a ripper, a curved, sharp-tipped arm that extends down from the back of the dozer to rip through the permafrost and expose it to the sunlight so it can thaw.

John the Baptist is charged with earth moving, but John does not have a bulldozer. Caterpillar won’t make their first bulldozer until 1945. So, what kind of bulldozer is John? John’s blade and his ripper are the Word of God. With God’s Word John pushes people to turn from their sin and rips into their belief that they can save themselves by strict obedience to the Pharisees’ many additional commandments. John pushes and rips and exhorts folks to return to the Lord, their God. The Pharisees instituted an extensive legal code in order to avoid God’s judgment, but they lost sight of God, and His mercy, and His promised Messiah. John proclaims a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He calls people to turn from sin and self-righteousness and believe in the coming Messiah.

And like a bulldozer, John is not subtle as he pushes and rips with the Word of God. Luke 3:7–9 (ESV) 7 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 9 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” John is clearing the way for Jesus and ripping deep into the false securities of the people.

Different people react differently to his words of warning. Many hear John’s words and repent. They turn from their sin and receive John’s baptism of repentance in the Jordan River in order to be prepared for Messiah’s arrival. They ask John “What then shall we do?” John tells them to be generous with those in need and do what you have been given to do with honesty and integrity.

Some are just curious. They come out to see this crazy wilderness prophet and investigate what all the fuss is about, but they are not interested in John’s message. They resist repentance, and instead trust in their ancestry and their own works. They are the children of Abraham and they have everything under control. They do not need a coming Messiah.

Bulldozer John speaks the blunt truth to all, including those in charge. Herodias, Herod Philip’s wife who is living with her husband’s brother, Herod Antipas, hears John’s words of warning and is greatly offended. Who is this wilderness madman to tell me who I should be sleeping with? Herodias will demand that John be arrested and thrown into prison and Herod Antipas will comply.

John is in the wilderness preparing the way of the Lord. He is spiritually filling valleys and lowering mountains and straightening curves. John calls on the people to turn from their sin and believe that the promised Messiah is near. The children of Israel entered the Promised Land through the Jordan after the exodus wilderness wanderings. In the same way, the children of Israel who repent pass through the waters of the Jordan in baptism and return to the Promised Land knowing the Messiah is near.

God’s law is still proclaimed today. John’s message to repent is still being preached. When the world hears God’s Word of law warning them to turn from sin and return to the Lord their God, how is it received? When you, a follower of Jesus, hear God’s word of warning to repent…how do you respond?

Many hear God’s law and get angry and reject God’s call. Martin Luther addresses these people in his Large Catechism writings about the First Commandment. “They utterly disregard whether God is angry at them or smiles on them. They dare to withstand His wrath, yet they shall not succeed. Before they are aware of it, they shall be wrecked, with all in which they trusted. All others have perished like this who have thought themselves more secure or powerful.

Such hard heads imagine that God overlooks and allows them to rest in security, or that He is entirely ignorant or cares nothing about such matters. Therefore, God must deal a smashing blow and punish them, so that He cannot forget their sin unto their children’s children. In that way, everyone may take note and see that this is no joke to Him. These are the people He means when He ways, “those who hate Me” [Exodus 20:5], i.e., those who persist in their defiance and pride. Whatever is preached or said to them, they will not listen. When they are rebuked, in order that they may learn to know themselves and make amends before the punishment begins, they become mad and foolish. They rightly deserve wrath…”[1]

In Old Testament times…at the time of John the Baptist…at Martin Luther’s time…and still today… there are so many who do not listen to God. They have turned away from God and have become, “people with brute hearts who think that it makes no great difference how they live.” [2]

God’s law preached by John the Baptist or by preachers today is a call to repent; to have a change of heart; to turn away from sin and return to God – to know you need a Savior because you cannot save yourself.

Hearing God’s law I believe there is a danger that you can sometimes feel like you have God’s law under control and most of what He is concerned about does not apply so much to you. That God’s law is mostly about those other people, the ones proud of their sin; that God’s law is aimed at those who are proud of engaging in ongoing, open sexual immorality, or theft, or violence. And God’s law certainly is targeting those people to turn from sin and return to the Lord. But God’s law is also targeting you and your own struggles with secret temptations of thoughts and words and deeds. But sin is not just sexual sin or stealing or violence.

This is where God’s law rips deep into the permafrost of your heart. Reading the list of the works of the flesh in Galatians 5 you see that sexual sins are listed, but a much greater emphasis is put on sins of division and anger and strife.

Galatians 5:19–21 (ESV) 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

The plowing and ripping of God’s law in your life hurts. Valleys are filled. Mountains are lowered. Curves are straightened. As a baptized child of God, let the ripper arm of God’s law pull up the permafrost of stubborn sin in your life and expose it to the light of Christ’s forgiveness and love.

There are four warnings of sexual sins, two for having other Gods, one for drunkenness, and eight examples of infighting and divisions. This is a reminder that it is far too easy to fall into the sin of division and discord. This happens in families, at work, at school, in the community and in God’s family here at Immanuel. Anger and rivalries and such are the devil’s work getting you to proudly believe that you are right and they are wrong. The devil wants you to get annoyed and angry and judgmental at your fellow believers in Christ so he can use that crack of annoyance to drive in a wedge of division and tear apart God’s Church. Be on guard against the devil’s temptations of anger and division.

God’s law is for you. As a follower of Jesus, you feel the bulldozer of God’s law pushing away daily sin and ripping deep into the longstanding hardness of your heart and it is painful. It is tempting to try to justify your thoughts, words and deeds that you know are contrary to God’s will. It is tempting to reject God’s call and believe everything is just fine. It is tempting to ignore God’s law and bury your sin deeper and deeper. Anything but say those most difficult words. “I was wrong. I messed up. I sinned against God. It is my fault, my own fault, my own most grievous fault.”

The plowing and ripping of God’s law in your life hurts. Valleys are filled. Mountains are lowered. Curves are straightened. As a baptized child of God, let the ripper arm of God’s law pull up the permafrost of stubborn sin in your life and expose it to the light of Christ’s forgiveness and love.

John’s message is, “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Jesus is coming to reign, but His reign is not immediately a reign of judgment and punishment, but rather a reign of forgiveness and love — a reign of service; sacrificing Himself as the payment for all sin. John 3:17 (ESV) 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Advent is a difficult season. Advent is a time of waiting. Advent is a penitential time when you look deeply and honestly at yourself and allow the Word of God to dig up your stubborn sins and have them melt away in the light of Christ’s love. It is a time to ponder, once again, your helplessness to save yourself and the great joy of knowing that, on the cross, Jesus has already forgiven your sin and freed you from the guilt and shame.

Advent means coming and coming means preparing. Jesus is coming back and you do not know when. To stay prepared you continue to hear the Word of God’s law which convicts you, and hear the word of God’s Gospel which sets you free in the blood of Jesus. Living in the light and love and forgiveness of Jesus you bear good fruit. Galatians 5:22–23 (ESV) 22 …the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Despite the pain, let the bulldozer of God’s law do its work in you. You are God’s treasure and He loves you enough to refine you like gold into His most precious possession. You belong to the Lord Jesus. He is coming back to claim you. Stay ready. Amen.

[1] Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions—A readers edition of the Book of Concord – 2nd Edition, pg. 362

[2] Ibid, pg. 361

Posted on January 21, 2024 by pastorkevinjud

Don’t Get Distracted by the Fish

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Epiphany 3 2024
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud
January 21, 2024
Jonah 3:1-5, 10, 1 Cor. 7:29-31, Mark 1:14-20

What do you think of when you hear about the prophet Jonah? What image comes to mind? Is it that great Sunday School story about a man being swallowed alive by a great fish and living to tell about it?

Now our friend the great fish only gets mentioned in three verses in the book of Jonah, but I worry he distracts us from the greater message in this short book. Although, in a way I think we are okay being distracted by the fish because Jonah is a rather disturbing figure.

Jonah is a prophet of God living in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. God comes to Jonah and says, “Get up, go to the great city of Nineveh, and preach against it, because their wickedness has come up before me.” Jonah gets up and Jonah goes, but he does not go toward Nineveh on the Tigris River in what is now northern Iraq. Jonah gets up and goes to the port city of Joppa, modern Tel Aviv, and hops on a westbound ship headed for Tarshish which is probably in modern day Spain, as far away from Israel as he can get on the Mediterranean. Jonah really does not want to go preach to the Ninevites. And it is not because Jonah doesn’t know God; Jonah knows God. Jonah knows God too well. Jonah knows that God is gracious and compassionate. Jonah knows that God is slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness. Jonah knows that God wants Nineveh to be saved, but Jonah doesn’t want the Ninevites to be saved. Jonah would prefer they are destroyed because Jonah hates the Ninevites.

Now Jonah is not without reason for hating the Ninevites. He is not just being a bigot who only likes his own kind. Nineveh is an important city in Assyria and the Assyrians are a fearsome people bent on the destruction of Israel. The Ninevites are Israel’s enemy. They are known for being especially brutal in war and remarkably cruel to the prisoners they capture before they execute them.

This account of Jonah is probably recorded between 800 and 750 BC. God will use the Assyrians to overrun Israel in 722 BC and the 10 northern tribes will be taken into exile, never to return as punishment for their ongoing idolatry.

At the time of this account of Jonah, the Assyrians have overrun Damascus and are now threatening the Northern border of Israel so Jonah has good reasons for not wanting to help save the Ninevites.

This is why Jonah is a disturbing character. Jonah is troubling. We want to think, I would never act like Jonah, but we do not really want to look at Jonah too closely because it is a little too much like looking in the mirror. Jonah knows that God is merciful, but he does not want God to show mercy to the Ninevites.

Who are your Ninevites? Who are the people you do not want forgiven? Is it those idiots in the other political party and their media toadies spewing propaganda? Who is it that you do not want forgiven? Is it evil groups and countries and leaders like Hamas, Iran, the Houthis, Kim Jong Un? Is it the cultural influencers who want access to your children in order to push their godless, hedonistic infertility agenda that rejects marriage and babies and families in order to indulge their every perverse desire?

Or maybe your Ninevites are closer to home. Perhaps it is that former friend who betrayed you, hurt you and, you fear, will hurt you again. Or the next door neighbor that you have been feuding with for years? Or your estranged brother or sister? Or your ex-husband or ex-wife? You don’t want to forgive them. You don’t want God to forgive them. You want them to be punished and prevented from hurting you. Perhaps it is the one who abused you. You have every right to hate your abuser, and Jonah has every right to hate the Ninevites and yet God’s grace extends even to them.

Jonah receives instruction from God to go to the Ninevites. Does Jonah get on his knees and pray, “Thy will be done?” No. Jonah thinks, “my will be done,” and he high-tails it out of there figuring if God can’t find me, he can’t make me go. But that plan is flawed. God is, of course, omniscient; all knowing. You can’t run away from God.

God knows exactly where Jonah is going and once Jonah is on the boat headed for Tarshish, God sends a great storm to shake up Jonah and the men sailing with him. After trying unsuccessfully to outrun the storm, Jonah tells the sailors to throw him overboard and the sea grows calm. We see here that Jonah is not against all foreigners. Jonah is willing to die for these Gentile sailors. Jonah is brave, but he is full of hate. Jonah would rather die than have the Ninevites saved.

As Jonah is sinking, a great fish swallows him and he is inside the fish for three days and three nights. Jonah prays a prayer put together from different Psalms and in that prayer he agrees to fulfill the original mission on which God has sent him. Then the fish vomits Jonah up onto the beach.

God gives Jonah a second chance. He tells him, “get up, go to the great city of Nineveh, and preach to it.” So Jonah goes to Nineveh, about 500 miles inland and when he gets there he preaches to them this simple message, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be destroyed;” a simple message from a reluctant preacher.

And the reaction is utterly amazing; miraculous. The Ninevites believe Jonah. They immediately repent of their evil ways. They put on rough goat hair sackcloth worn during times of grief and mourning. The king declares a general time of repentance and fasting for both humans and animals. The Word of God is powerful. “Nineveh will be destroyed,” this is a harsh word of law, but it is preceded by a bit of Gospel. “Forty more days.” The destruction is not going to be immediate. There is a chance. God’s law and gospel drive the Ninevites to immediate and deep repentance. God sees their repentance and He turns from His anger and does not destroy Nineveh.

Jonah wants limits on God’s mercy and grace. He wants mercy and grace for some but not for others. Jonah wants his enemies destroyed. We see here how God’s mercy and grace…God’s love… is boundless. God’s mercy and grace is not limited to our understandings and desires. God mercy and grace is truly for all.

We marvel at the Ninevites’ immediate reaction of repentance and obedience. It is truly a miracle of God, like the people responding to John the Baptist’s preaching in the desert, or like the first disciples, Andrew, Peter, James and John answering Jesus’ call and immediately leaving their fishing boats and following Him. We marvel, because our contrition and repentance is so often slow and hesitant. Contrition is sadness and mourning over our sin, and repentance is a change of heart; turning from sin and turning back to God. We can be slow of heart and so we marvel at the Ninevites’ unhesitating obedience to a message from God.

Now, you’d think that Jonah would be happy that he is such an effective preacher with his short sermon. But he is mad. He is really mad. Jonah wanted Nineveh destroyed. He knows he is being used as a mouthpiece of God and he does not like it. After Nineveh repents and is saved, Jonah sits down outside the city and pouts. He tells God, “This is why I ran away in the first place. Why did you save them? I’d just as soon die.”

Jonah wants limits on God’s mercy and grace. He wants mercy and grace for some but not for others. Jonah wants his enemies destroyed. We see here how God’s mercy and grace…God’s love… is boundless. God’s mercy and grace is not limited to our understandings and desires. God mercy and grace is truly for all.

It is hard for your sinful side to understand how God can love someone that you hate. But when you take a genuine look inside of yourself, you have to wonder how God can love you, and yet he does. His love is beyond comprehension. He loves you so much that he turns his anger away from you and your sin, and turns all of that anger onto Christ on the cross. Jesus is your Savior. He paid the full price for your sin and took upon himself the anger of God. His grace is overwhelming and it comes to you in the power of God’s Word just like it came to the Ninevites.

So when you hear about Jonah, do not get distracted by the fish. The fish swallowing Jonah is interesting and it is a picture of Christ emerging from the tomb, but the great fish is only a supporting character in this story. When you think about Jonah think of his reluctance to bring God’s grace and mercy to his enemy and let that convict you of your own unforgiving tendencies. Then think of the Ninevites’ incredible repentance and God’s amazing grace. Remember God’s lavish gift of forgiveness offered even to the worst of sinners. The fish swallowing Jonah is amazing, but even more amazing is the power of God’s word and the miracle of God’s love and forgiveness for you. Amen.