"Confidence Is a Gift from God" (Sermon on 1 John 5:13-15) | October 19, 2025

Sermon Text: 1 John 5:13–15
Date: October 19, 2025
Event: Proper 24, Year C

1 John 5:13–15 (EHV)

I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

14This is the confidence that we have before him: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we also know that we receive the things we have asked from him. 

Confidence Is a Gift from God

What is worse—the car that won’t start or the car you’re not sure if it’ll start or not? I might argue that the one that will not start is the preferable one. You at least know what you’re getting there. You’re not going to make plans to use that car, only to have them dashed by seemingly random failures. You know that you have to do some work on it, or get it towed, or just let it sit till you have the time or money to fix it. You have confidence in that car—in this case, confidence that it will not work—rather than a total lack of certainty. At least with a totally busted car, you won’t get stranded on the side of the freeway miles from home.

Having confidence in things is something that is so easy to take for granted. You all have confidence in the pews you’re sitting on right now that they’re not going to just break and fall out from underneath you (or, at least you did until I mentioned it). If you didn’t have that confidence, some (or all) of you would probably be standing—or opting for the live stream online for today’s worship. Confidence can remain rock-solid, but one rug pull can destroy it. You can love and trust that car for years, but the moment you turn the key or push the button to start it and it just sighs at you, that might be the time that your confidence is lost.

Confidence in physical objects is one thing, though. But confidence in our relationships between people is so much more important (and in many ways, so much more fragile). How sad it is when a child doesn’t trust their parent to provide for them or follow through on any promises or obligations! How sad it is when spouses lose confidence in each other’s faithfulness or care and concern! How frustrating it is when employees have no confidence that their employers care about them! How scary it is when someone doesn’t trust another in a position of power to do right by them, but instead can’t help but feel that they will use that power to cause harm.

Today, we cannot restore your confidence in your car or your personal relationships, but we can look to the most important place to have confidence—our relationship with God. What do God’s promises and track record mean for our confidence in him? What does it mean for our confidence for today and our confidence for eternity?

Our Second Reading this morning is taken from the end of the apostle John’s first letter in the New Testament. As he writes these words, John is at the end of his life, and much like Paul and Peter did in their final letters, John is spending time in this letter “passing the baton” to the next generation of Christians. Throughout the letter, he has encouraged and refocused his readers. He has encouraged them in their walk of faith, that they should live differently than those around them in the world. He has warned them about becoming enamored with the things of this world, because such a focus may abandon the faith in the love of God. He has warned this next generation of Christians about false teachers, both on small scales and far greater scales. To fend off those false teachers, he urged Christians to “test the spirits” (1 John 4:1), that is, to examine and compare any line of spiritual thinking and teaching with God’s Word to see if it agrees.

But even in this relatively brief letter, John continues to return to the foundational and motivational truth in all of this: God’s love for us. Early in the letter, he described God’s love for us this way: My children, I write these things to you so that you will not sin. If anyone does sin, we have an Advocate before the Father: Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the whole world (1 John 2:1-2). In the next chapter, he states this love in one of my favorite passages in the entire Bible, and one that I often use to begin sermons, “See the kind of love the Father has given us that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1). Later in that same chapter, John uses words that sound very much like the closing of the letter we have before us: This is how we know that we are of the truth and how we will set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God. We also receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commands and do what is pleasing in his sight. This then is his command: that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and that we love one another just as he commanded us (1 John 3:19-23).

In chapter 4, he describes God’s love for us and the resulting love that we have for each other in famous and beautiful ways: Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love has not known God, because God is love. This is how God’s love for us was revealed: God has sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we may live through him. This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, if God loved us so much, we also should love one another. … We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:7-11, 19).

This is a small sampling of what John means when he says in our reading for this morning from the end of the letter: I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. What things produce in people the knowledge and the confidence of eternal life? The repeated themes of God’s love for us as expressed in Jesus on every page of Scripture. To “believe in the name of the Son of God” is to trust Jesus as our Savior from sin, to know that in him we are forgiven. This faith is a gift from God.

Where do we look for such confidence? We have the words of Jesus himself—who does not lie—declaring the victory complete from the cross. And even if we weren’t going to take him at his word, we go with the women into the garden, where that tomb is cut into the rock and the stone is rolled away. We hear the angels’ earnest yet almost kind-heartedly teasing question, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has been raised!” (Luke 24:5-6). How do you know that you have eternal life, as John stresses for us? Because Jesus completed everything you needed when he died for your sins at the cross and proved that victory when he rose from the dead. “It is finished,” indeed. 

Confidence in God’s love and forgiveness for us produces wonderful, cascading effects. It allows and empowers us to love each other, as John continually encourages in his letter. The love of God for us gives us the strength to love each other. We focused last weekend on gratitude for God’s eternal gifts, which is very powerful to this same end: we love to reflect God’s love and to thank God for that very same love.

An additional effect of God’s love for us is that we have no question where we stand with God. We don’t have to worry that maybe today he’s mad at us or tomorrow he won’t have time for us. Our relationship with God is not like our human relationships—even the very best human relationships—that are still flawed by sin. No, God’s love for us is perfect; along with the forgiveness of sins, he gives us confidence in him. In our Catechism class this year, we’re going through a survey of Bible history, and one of the themes we see over and over again is God’s faithfulness to his promises. In fact, by the middle of the year, the students have learned that if I ask the question, “And how faithful was God to that promise?” the answer is always “Perfectly faithful!” Over and over again, God shows himself to be trustworthy and reliable beyond what even the most rock-solid human being could ever be.

And that confidence that God gifts to us is not just focused on eternity (though that is, of course, where our greatest blessings are coming and where our highest confidence is). But in the light of our forgiveness, in the light of God be willing to sacrifice even his own Son, his own life, to save us from hell, should we have any reason to think that he will suddenly stop providing for us? No!

In the radically comforting words of Romans chapter 8, the apostle Paul encouraged his readers this way: What then will we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also graciously give us all things along with him? (Romans 8:31-32). Even in a human relationship, we can see how this would be true. If you go out to lunch with someone who cares about you very much and, in their love and generosity over that meal, they give you a check that pays off all your debts or secures for you that financial goal you’ve been clawing toward for years, what do you think happens when the check for the meal comes? You might want to pick up the check to thank him, but if he cared enough about you to give you thousands upon thousands of dollars, do you think he cares about you enough to pay the $40 for lunch?

That’s Paul’s argument in Romans about our relationship with God: if God loved you enough to save you from your sins and to give you eternal life, isn’t he also going to take care of you until you get there? We sang that in our psalm this morning in the beautiful words of Psalm 121, “I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth” (vv. 1-2, NIV2011). In times of trial or danger or fear, where can we look with absolute confidence for help and rescue? To our God who not only made the universe but also made us and is preparing an eternal place for us.

This, then, is John’s closing point in our brief Second Reading for this morning: This is the confidence that we have before him: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we also know that we receive the things we have asked from him. In any time of difficulty, in need or want, when you pray to God, you are not bringing requests to an unjust judge as in Jesus’ parable. No, you are coming to the all-powerful creator and preserver of the universe, who also happens to love you so much that he lived and died for you to save you from hell. My dear Christian, does that not fill our hearts with confidence as we lay out our concerns before him?

John reminds us that we do well to ask things according to his will, that is, we’re not asking for sinful things. And likewise, we know that God will answer in a way that is eternally best for us, even if that means that the answer is “no,” or (more likely) something different and far better than we had initially requested from him.

Not a day, not a moment goes by in this life where you are not in the shelter and care of the God who created you, loves you, and rescued you. The confidence to trust him at all times is as much a gift of his grace as anything else. Bring your prayers to him—be bold and persistent!—confident that he will hear you, answer you, and love you now and forever! Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria

Sermon prepared for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (WELS), Belmont, CA (www.gdluth.org) by Pastor Timothy Shrimpton. All rights reserved. Contact pastor@gdluth.org for usage information.

"Gratitude Is Powerful" (Sermon on 2 Corinthians 9:10-15) | October 12, 2025

Sermon Text: 2 Corinthians 9:10-15
Date: October 12, 2025
Event: Proper 23, Year C

2 Corinthians 9:10-15
And he who provides seed to the sower and bread for food will provide and multiply your seed for sowing, and will increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11You will be made rich in every way so that you may be generous in every way, which produces thanksgiving to God through us.

12To be sure, the administration of this service is not only making up for what is lacking among the saints, but it is also overflowing in many prayers of thanksgiving to God. 13By proving yourselves in this service, many people are glorifying God, as they see the obedience shown in your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity shown in your sharing with them and all people. 14At the same time as they pray for you, they also express their longing for you, because of the extraordinary measure of God’s grace given to you. 15Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Gratitude Is Powerful

Happy Thanksgiving! That might be rushing it just a little bit (unless you’re in Canada, in which case the holiday is actually tomorrow!), but this morning, as you’ve noticed in our readings and hymns, we’ve been focused on gratitude and giving thanks. So while it might be early for our designated holiday at the end of November, it is a good reminder that we’re not really supposed to relegate gratitude to one day per year, but it should be a continual way of life.

And this is not just a God-directed contentment; even the secular world recognizes the power and benefits of being actively thankful. Perhaps you’ve seen the concept of a “gratitude journal,” where you write down things you are grateful for. It can be a potent defense against depression and other mental health struggles. I, for instance, tend to “catastrophize” things, that is, to get fixated on the worst possible outcome of a given set of circumstances. It’s not a great path to go down (and in many ways ignores the promises that God has made to us), but finding even small things to be thankful for—warm sunlight on a crisp, cool morning; a cute dog on a walk or a cat in a window; the warmth of a nice cup of coffee—can help stem the tide of negativity. It doesn’t mean the struggles are no longer present or not real, but intentionally focusing our thoughts on gratitude for things that aren’t bad can help keep those more negative thoughts at bay.

Likewise, focusing on thanksgiving can help foster a sense of contentment. If I recognize that my life is a balance of good things and difficult things and can see the good alongside the bad, it becomes easier (if not actually easy) to not live in a constant sense of need, want, or even greed. Paired with God’s promises of daily bread—everything we need for our body and life—I know that I will, in fact, be taken care of in the way that I need and can find some peace even in the places I feel things are lacking.

Our focus this morning is on the power of gratitude and giving thanks, but not in the low-level ways we’ve just mentioned. Gratitude isn’t just powerful because it allows us to stave off some bad things or help us find peace in difficult situations. Gratitude is powerful because of our focus on God’s blessings—especially his eternal blessings—and because it can aid in sharing those eternal blessings with others.

If we’re going to give thanks, we need to know what for. After all, you probably wouldn’t write a thank you note for a gift you never received. How would you know what to write? How would you know what to thank the person for? How would you know they gave you the gift in the first place? Likewise, it’s a whole lot easier to thank someone for what they’ve done for you if you see the need they helped you to meet. If someone helps you load the moving truck, you know they helped you do far more than you could do on your own. If someone “helps” you by painting your kitchen neon green while you’re at work—something you neither asked for nor even wanted—well, thanking them might see just a bit off.

It never feels good to focus on places where we have failed, but in this situation it’s absolutely vital. In our Sunday morning Bible Class, we recently covered how we can divide God’s Word into two primary messages: law and gospel. The law is a pretty uncomfortable message. Anytime God’s Word points out our failures to live up to God’s standards of perfection, we are dealing with the law. The message of the law shows us our sin and our state of absolute spiritual helplessness as a result.

That’s… not a pleasant message. We don’t want to hear about what is lacking, let alone something that is lacking that we cannot solve. And so here, more than anywhere else, God met our needs. While he certainly provides for us physically here, he has perfectly met our eternal needs in Jesus. Jesus was our substitute, taking the punishment our sins deserved on himself. His perfect life and his innocent death mean that the debt of our sin is wiped out, and our account is fully funded with the perfection God demands. We are the people God expects us to be because, in his sacrifice, Jesus made us those people. Hell no longer stands as our eternal destiny; instead, we look forward to eternal life with God.

So it’s not just that we’ve been healed from leprosy, a painful skin disease that could cut us off from our families; it’s that we’ve been healed from sin, the worst disease that would have cut us off from God with painful suffering for eternity. It’s not just that we’ve been given our daily bread, enough to sustain our bodies and lives here; it’s that we will be given access to the heavenly banquet where we will eat and drink with our Savior in perfection forever.

When we truly understand and appreciate our need and what it cost Jesus to meet that need, we cannot help but be eternally grateful. In the light of the gospel, God’s law takes on a different purpose. No longer do God’s commands simply show where we have failed; now, God’s law is a roadmap for thanksgiving. Do you want to thank God? Do this good thing; avoid this sin.

And, astonishingly, God allows us to express our thanksgiving to him most often in how we treat one another. Consider Paul’s guidance to the Corinthians in our Second Reading. What would be the results of God’s goodness and blessings—especially the eternal blessings—in the lives of the Corinthians? He who provides seed to the sower and bread for food will provide and multiply your seed for sowing, and will increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you may be generous in every way, which produces thanksgiving to God through us. To be sure, the administration of this service is not only making up for what is lacking among the saints, but it is also overflowing in many prayers of thanksgiving to God.

Generosity to others is the primary way we show thanks to God. Treating others as God has treated us is a way to show that we understand and appreciate all God has done for us. We spent some time over the last couple of weeks focusing on forgiveness for other people, and that certainly looms large here in our life of thanksgiving to our forgiving God. But it goes even farther than that. Does your brother or sister in faith need a helping hand with a project, some assistance to overcome a financial burden, or some of your time to share what is on their heart? Give generously! Is there a neighbor who comes to you in need of a second set of hands or something more substantial to meet a need they have? Give generously! Is there a charity or other organization doing work that you cannot do, sharing the gospel or bringing physical aid to people in places or on a scale that you cannot? Give generously! Do you meet someone who claims a great need, but you know nothing about them because they are a stranger to you? You don’t have to be a detective to see if their need is legitimate or meets your standards—give generously!

Paul points us to what the effect of all this thankful generosity, this powerful gratitude, just might be: [This service] is also overflowing in many prayers of thanksgiving to God. By proving yourselves in this service, many people are glorifying God, as they see the obedience shown in your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity shown in your sharing with them and all people. Your generosity is a powerful confession of faith. Your willingness to give to others from what God has given you reflects God’s rich, eternal generosity toward you and all people in Jesus.

And so what does that mean? Gratitude is not just powerful because it shows appreciation or stems the tide of selfishness. No, gratitude that results in generosity is powerful because it might be the beginning of the opportunity to share the forgiveness of sins and eternal life with those who do not yet know it or have long-since rejected it. Imagine that—by giving from your finite resources, you might directly or indirectly share what is infinite, eternal life with our Savior from heaven!

So, my dear brothers and sisters, be thankful and let your life be filled with gratitude. Our lives will never be perfect on this side of eternity, but we all have blessings from God that we can be thankful for. And even if there is literally nothing here and now for which you can give thanks, the eternal love of your Savior remains a constant. You will be in eternal life because he loves you, and your gratitude for that just might enable you to share that same blessing he’s given to others—to all.

Let your thankfulness to God rule your heart and mind, knowing you are the forgiven child. As we will say at the end of our communion liturgy, may this verse from the psalms be the theme of all our days: Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His mercy endures forever (Psalm 136:1). Amen!

Soli Deo Gloria

Sermon prepared for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (WELS), Belmont, CA (www.gdluth.org) by Pastor Timothy Shrimpton. All rights reserved. Contact pastor@gdluth.org for usage information.

"God Lifts You Up" (Sermon on Hebrews 13:1-6) | September 28, 2025

Sermon Text: Hebrews 13:1-6
Date: September 28, 2025
Event: Proper 21, Year C

Hebrews 13:1-6 (EHV)

Continue to show brotherly love. 2Do not fail to show love to strangers, for by doing this some have welcomed angels without realizing it. 3Remember those in prison, as if you were fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated, as if you yourselves were also suffering bodily.

4Marriage is to be held in honor by all, and the marriage bed is to be kept undefiled, for God will judge sexually immoral people and adulterers. 5Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have. For God has said:

I will never leave you,
and I will never forsake you.

6So then we say with confidence:

The Lord is my helper, and I will not be afraid.
What will man do to me? 

God Lifts You Up

Have you ever had a coworker who seemed to make everyone around him better, or at least look better, at their job? Have you ever had a friend who always just elevated the group, came up with the best ideas for things to do or brought hightened levity or sincerity to any conversation? Do you have a family member who particularly skilled at navigating and bringing peace to inter-family strife and conflict? They can elevate the entire family dynamic.

Perhaps you’ve known and experienced all of those; perhaps none. Perhaps you fill that role in your job, or friend group, or family. Whatever your experience has been, having someone like that who lifts up a group is a blessing to everyone involved, and everyone benefits. But if you find those sorts of gifts and blessings lacking in a given group, perhaps you work to equip yourself with some of those skills—expanding what you know through professional development or gaining tools by studying conflict resolution.

That kind of growth can be good, but there are ways in which that can get out of hand and go south. You, as an employee, should not have to learn how to do your boss’s job (or your boss’s boss’s job) in order to bring competency to the workplace; that should be on those it has been entrusted to. How sad it is if a young child feels the need to do whatever she can to ensure there is food on the table because, for whatever reasons, the adults in her life are failing her. Certain tasks have been delegated to certain people, and those people should be faithful to those responsibilities for the good of all involved.

What happens if they’re not? Or if they’re perceived not to be doing what they should? Chaos can ensue. Imagine, for instance, if no one here this morning trusted that the pastor would have a sermon to share, so everyone not only worked up a message to deliver but then actively fought over each other to get into the pulpit to follow through. What a mess of a service we would have! And it would be primarily centered on the reality that preparing a sermon is not your job or your calling, and the responsibility of it should not fall on you.

But sometimes, we try to take on things that we shouldn’t or can’t. We try to lift ourselves and others up, and it can lead to trouble. It’s problematic if you put yourself in the position of doing things that are your boss’s, your parents’, or your pastor’s responsibility, but those problems are magnified when we start taking on what is uniquely God’s responsibility.

God has promised to bless you and take care of you. Last week, we heard how the material blessings we receive from God—in whatever measure—are truly blessings from him and should be used and enjoyed to his glory. We were also reminded that the best way we can use them is to wisely and shrewdly share the gospel of sins forgiven in Jesus with others.

And that is the goal of both how we use our material blessings and how we live our entire lives. In our Second Reading this morning, the writer to the Hebrews gives us a rapid-fire rundown of what the life of a Christian does and should look like: Continue to show brotherly love. Do not fail to show love to strangers, for by doing this some have welcomed angels without realizing it. Remember those in prison, as if you were fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated, as if you yourselves were also suffering bodily. Marriage is to be held in honor by all, and the marriage bed is to be kept undefiled, for God will judge sexually immoral people and adulterers. Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have.

Why do we want to live like that? Because Jesus has forgiven our sins. For all the many times that you and I have failed to be loving to those we know or to strangers; for the times we have failed to show kindness to those mistreated or downstrodden; for the times that we have misused and abused God’s gifts of sex and marriage; for the times that we have been greedy, selfish, and discontent with what we have—all of those sins are forgiven. And while different parts of that list will resonate with each of us more strongly, we can find places where we haven’t lived as we should here.

But all of those things have something in common: they are trying to exalt ourselves to something different from what God has lifted us to. If I survey the blessings that God has given me and decide, “Nope, that’s not good enough. I want something more, something different,” and don’t care what I have to do to make it happen, that will bring trouble. That’s not to say that self-improvement is bad or that pursuing a new career path or educational avenue is wrong. But if that discontent leads me to sin—to greed, to coveting, to lust, or anything else—that’s where things just fall apart.

Because in those moments, we take on the responsibility God has reserved for himself. The atrocious notion that “God helps those who help themselves” is so tempting. God might use my ambition or my hard work to bring blessings into my life, certainly, but we ought not think that my sin is justified or commendable if we think we will reap material gain from it, or that God would actually want us to do such a thing.

That was the problem the rich man in Jesus’ parable in our Gospel had. He exalted himself over everything else, especially someone like the poor beggar, Lazarus. But what good did it do him at his death? Nothing. His money did earn him favor with God, nor did it buy his way out of the punishment for his sins in hell. He wasn’t in hell because he was rich, but because he viewed earthly riches as a complete replacement for spiritual blessings—a mistake that is all too easy for us to commit today as well.

Where do we look to raise ourselves up in this life and ignore eternity? Where do we look to raise ourselves up at all costs, disregarding what God says is right and wrong? Where do we make our will or desires a replacement for God? In all of these things, there is idolatry, because I am worshiping myself as my god. Obviosuly we don’t want to be doing any of that.

So what is the solution? The writer to the Hebrews points us to it: let God do the work that he has reserved for himself, because in him we have the certainty of blessings and for things to be worked out for our eternal good. Quoting from the Old Testament, the writer sums it up this way: Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have. For God has said: I will never leave you, and I will never forsake you. So then we say with confidence: The Lord is my helper, and I will not be afraid. What will man do to me? 

So what is our takeaway here? God’s love for us means that he always has our best interests in mind. No matter what happens here, he will be by our side protecting, guiding, and working all things for our eternal good. The world can never separate us from God, nor can it ever offer an alternative to God’s loving care that will be worthwhile in the long run—the eternal run. You don’t need to exalt yourself over others or look to others to raise you higher. No, God lifts you up.

And God’s exaltation might not be peace and comfort here in this life. By his own promise, God’s exaltating you will probably involve bearing crosses and difficulties in this life. But that’s only because God continually has the ultimate good in mind—eternal life. So whatever happens to us here (what we would call good or bad), whatever we have to our name here (what we might call a lot or not enough), whatever sense of fulfillment or joy or happiness we have right now—if any—is all pointing ahead to the time where we will be perfectly provided for, perfectly lifted up, and perfectly protected from any harm that could come to us. Everything God does for you is in service of preparing you for eternal life, keeping my focus on my Savior who is my true, lasting, and eternal treasure.

That all is easy to say and much harder to live. How do we navigate this world that not only has crosses and other difficulties but also a constant barrage of temptations promising us the easier, the better, and the more comfortable, all of which threaten to pull our focus off of eternity and to instead zero in on this life alone? Again, I think we can look to Jesus’ teaching in our Gospel and the words provided to Abraham in that story: “They have Moses and the Prophets. Let them listen to them” (Luke 16:29).

God promises in his Word help to bring us peace with what is happening around us and also help to guide us toward God-pleasing decisions when we look to make changes. When we have his love, forgiveness and the certainty of eternal life in heaven in clear view, we will also have the true way that God lifts us up in view. You are his own, dearly loved child and he will being you home to himself when your time comes. Being heirs of heaven provides far greater blessings than all the money in the world or any sin-guided motivation for self-exaltation could possibly provide. Let us look forward to that day and, while we are still here, enjoy and appreciate the ways that God has chosen to exalt us even today.

God bless your walk toward peace and contentment. May it always be focused on Jesus’ eternal love and forgiveness, which means eternal life! Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria

Sermon prepared for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (WELS), Belmont, CA (www.gdluth.org) by Pastor Timothy Shrimpton. All rights reserved. Contact pastor@gdluth.org for usage information.

"Be Shrewd with God's Gifts" (Sermon on Luke 16:1-13) | September 21, 2025

Sermon Text: Luke 16:1-13
Date: September 21, 2025
Event: Proper 20, Year C

Luke 16:1-13 (EHV)

Jesus also said to his disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager who was accused of wasting his possessions. 2The rich man called him in and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you can no longer be manager.’

3“The manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, since my master is taking away the management position from me? I am not strong enough to dig. I am ashamed to beg. 4I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from my position as manager, people will receive me into their houses.’

5“He called each one of his master’s debtors to him. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6He said, ‘Six hundred gallons of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write three hundred.’ 7Then he said to another, ‘How much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘Six hundred bushels of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and write four hundred and eighty.’

8“The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the children of the light. 9I tell you, make friends for yourselves with unrighteous mammon so that when it runs out, they will welcome you into the eternal dwellings. 10The person who is faithful with very little is also faithful with much. And the person who is unrighteous with very little is also unrighteous with much. 11So if you have not been faithful with unrighteous mammon who will entrust you with what is really valuable? 12If you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you something to be your own? 13No servant can serve two masters. Indeed, 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 both God and mammon.”

Be Shrewd with God’s Gifts

“Shrewd” is perhaps not a word we use often in everyday conversations, but it is a good word. To be shrewd is to be carefully discerning, able to measure a situation accurately and act appropriately, or at least in the best interest of your primary concerns. We might describe such a trait as being level-headed, able to read a room, discerning, and able to weigh the pros and cons of each individual action in a given situation.

It’s a trait that Jesus urged his disciples (and us who follow them) to have as he sent them out in their initial missionary efforts during his earthly ministry. At that time he noted and urged them, “Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16). Going into the world with the gospel, going into an environment that would likely be set against them, would require them to be wise and discerning, shrewd to their surroundings while at the same time innocent of wrongdoing.

This morning, we have “shrewd” applied to someone who is a bit of a scoundrel. Jesus uses that word to describe the manager in his parable. If you’re feeling a bit confused by Jesus’ parable this morning, I think it’s with good reason. This is, at first blush, one of the most difficult of all of his parables to reconcile and understand the point. It’s the only parable where the “bad guy” in the story is held up as someone, in part, to emulate. Usually, it’s the downtrodden person who is abused by others but perseveres, or someone who understands the true value of what they have, or someone simply enjoying the pure, loving comfort of God’s care. But this morning, we have in front of us a lazy, deceptive cheat from whom Jesus seems to indicate we can learn a thing or two.

We should probably retrace the story here so that we’re all on the same page. Jesus introduces us to a manager who has been found negligent in his duties and is being fired. He has a very limited amount of time to do what he can to provide a “soft landing” for himself. So with that limited amount of time and access to the books, what does he do? He gets into the good graces of all of his boss’s debtors so that, perhaps, they will offer him a position moving forward. “Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write three hundred.” … “Take your bill and write four hundred and eighty.” He can then say, “Hey, remember that time I cut your amount owed by a third or half? Can you do something for me now?”

To be very clear, nothing about this is moral or ethical. And, I would question whether this would actually secure him a position with another employer moving forward when they saw firsthand his lack of scruples. But he did the best, the most, with what he had access to at the time, with the hope that it would provide a future for him. “Shrewd” is generally a positive term (although its long-standing connection to this parable in English translations of the Bible perhaps does cast a negative shade on it). Still, this manager is shrewd not because he did the right thing, but because he surveyed the available options before him and made the most of the opportunity to prepare as good a future as possible.

What are we, dear Christians, to make of this parable our Savior taught? Let me be as clear as I can be to start: Jesus’ point is not that you should cheat your employer out of what he or she is owed to try to make a better life for yourself. Nothing about this manager’s actions before or after he is relieved of his duties is commendable. Jesus, instead, would have us focus on his resourcefulness. For the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the children of the light. I tell you, make friends for yourselves with unrighteous mammon so that when it runs out, they will welcome you into the eternal dwellings.

Mammon is an Aramaic term for wealth and property. It’s a largely neutral term on its own, but Jesus describes it as unrighteous mammon for its use in this lesson. There is no sense of this being an eternal treasure or spiritual blessings. Jesus’ focus is very much on the physical wealth and treasure that we have in this life. Much like the steward was shrewd in his use of his limited access to the boss’s books, so we too should be shrewd in how we use our limited-time resources.

But our goal is not to get ourselves a cushy position after our current one falls through. Jesus is clear that this shrewdness needs to have a much bigger, longer-lasting perspective: I tell you, make friends for yourselves with unrighteous mammon so that when it runs out, they will welcome you into the eternal dwellings. Jesus is not suggesting that we buy friends, or even in the more extreme case, buy our way into eternal life. No, rather, Jesus is pointing us toward the reality that our use of the temporary things in this life can have an impact on eternity. And what is the only thing that can make eternal life better than it otherwise could be? Well, if there are more people to enjoy God’s eternal home with us. Jesus says that others will welcome us to eternal life who we have, in some way, affected their ability to be there.

Here again, we need to understand Jesus’ words in the broader context of Scripture at large. How does one get into eternal life? It’s not a life well lived, money well spent, or a focus on personal piety and meditation. No, the way to enter eternal life is exactly what we heard Jesus say it was a few weeks ago; the way to enter eternal life is through the narrow door of Jesus himself.

Jesus enables us to come into these eternal dwellings because he paid for our sins. Everything that would have naturally barred the way for us to be brought into eternal life, Jesus undid by his life, death, and resurrection in our place. Jesus was perfectly shrewd—as we needed him to be—and did everything we needed him to do during his limited time here among us. He lived a perfect life, offered that perfect life as the payment for our sins, and assured us of his victory by his resurrection from the dead.

All of that paved the way. All of that is done, and no amount of earthly wealth can have any factor into that. No money can buy the forgiveness of sins, and it doesn’t need to. That is already acquired, permanently secured in the blood of Jesus shed for each of us, shed for everyone.  

How can we shrewdly use our temporary resources in the service of eternity? Not in buying it, but in sharing it. God’s Word is the way God brings faith to others, so the more we can do to connect people with God’s Word, to use our resources to share this message of undeserved but freely given love and forgiveness, then we are applying these resources as God intends them to be used, as Jesus here directs us in our Gospel this morning.

When we support home and world mission efforts through our church body, that mammon does work to bring God’s Word to people that we’ve never met. When we, as a congregation, pay our paltry $262/year to have our website be available online, and more than 15,000 people a month are connecting with us to read our confessions of faith or sermons, mammon becomes outreach for eternal life. When we give thank offerings to God that are directed at the work of our congregation at large, ensuring that we have lights on, climate controls, internet for live streaming, a copier to print matierals, evangelism materials to be sent out into the community, and a pastor to be in the pulplit, that mammon becomes a gospel, eternal light shining in dark, temporary world. When we take the time out of our day to invite someone to church with us, or to share what we believe about Jesus as Savior, or even to show kindness to someone as a possible precursor to sharing the love of God with them, that mammon (of sorts) is doing this eternal work.

All of this sets the stage for having only one master—not ourselves, not our bank account balances, but our God. We can’t be devoted to both God and money, so we do well to put God at the top and see our financial resources for what they truly are—temporary blessings from God given to be used to his glory. When we understand proper priorities and the place that mammon has in our lives, everything else starts to line up. These are my temporary blessings used to serve God, and I can do that in many ways: I can take care of the family and other responsbilities that God has given to me; I can help those who are less fortunate than me and need a helping hand; I can use them to have some fun and enjoy the time I have here as part of a peaceful life. But the best way I can use those resources, the most shrewd way to do so, is to use the temporary to acquire something eternal, to use the perishable to acquire the imperishable.

When we use the temporary resources we have—our money, skills, time, and energy—in service to sharing the love of Jesus, we’re doing exactly that. This $20 bill will not endure past this life; I won’t take this to heaven with me. But what if this $20 was spent on a few Bibles that were put into people’s hands and allowed them to learn the love of Jesus, that temporary money, by the work of the Holy Spirit through his Word, turns into eternal treasure as more souls are brought into the kingdom.

So, my brothers and sisters, how can we be shrewd when surveying what is before us? First of all, see the limited time in front of us. We’ve been stressing in our midweek Bible class on the End Times that Jesus’ return could come at any time—even today!—so we want to be prepared. One way that we prepare is by sharing Jesus’ forgiveness with others.

So, today, sit down and consider how you might be more shrewd with the gifts God has given you than you have been. Do you have more financial resources that could be dedicated to sending this gospel message more forcefully into our communities and our world? Do you have more time to devote to sharing this word with those you know or volunteering to assist in the work of our congregation? Could more of your energy be devoted to prayer for the good of God’s kingdom, that it would continue to come to us and come to many others as well? What do you have right now that will not journey with you to eternal life that could be used to see others join us around our Savior forever?

And in the end, remember the proper motivation for all of this: not shame, or guilt, or a sense of obligation. Rather, we are motivated by joy and thanksgiving to God. This is one of the ways that we show our gratitude to God for saving us from our sins—from hell itself—and bringing us to his side. These are the ways we thank him for treating us like that lost sheep and lost coin from the parables we heard last week. These are the ways we thank God for his eternal love, which means eternal life for us.

My dear friends, be shrewd as God enables you to be. Thanks be to God! Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria

Sermon prepared for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (WELS), Belmont, CA (www.gdluth.org) by Pastor Timothy Shrimpton. All rights reserved. Contact pastor@gdluth.org for usage information.

"Found!" (Sermon on Luke 15:1-10) | September 14, 2025

Sermon Text: Luke 15:1-10
Date: September 14, 2025
Event: Proper 19, Year C

Luke 15:1-10 (EHV)

All the tax collectors and sinners were coming to Jesus to hear him. 2But the Pharisees and the experts in the law were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3He told them this parable: 4“Which one of you, if you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that was lost until he finds it? 5And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6and goes home. Then he calls together his friends and his neighbors, telling them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ 7I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent.

8“Or what woman who has ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, would not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9And when she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the lost coin.’ 10In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Found!

What is your value? Where do you look to understand your value? In school growing up, there was a whole lot of talk for us about self-esteem. You have value! You are special!  You are unique and that’s wonderful! Today’s messaging isn’t so different, though usually in the context of social-emotional learning that also tends to include empathy and care for others in a way I don’t remember being emphasized a lot when I was growing up, but I think it’s a change for the good.

Because all of those things are true, aren’t they? We should care about other people. We should see our own, innate value that comes from inside of us as a unique human being. We don’t have value just because someone ascribes it to us; we have value because we are.

But what about when that doesn’t feel true? What about when you feel worthless? Perhaps you messed up that thing at work, or let that family responsibility slide to everyone’s detriment, or you bombed that test in school, or you got caught doing that thing you knew you shouldn’t be doing. What does that do to your self-esteem, to your self-worth, to your self-confidence? It’s like a bomb, isn’t it? Or it can be. Some of us struggle with this more than others (and perhaps you’re learning too much about your pastor here this morning…), but there’s a struggle inside each of us to have an appropriate self-image.

And what is that self-image that we should have? Well, there are ditches on either side of this road. On the one hand, we can have a degraded self-image that views me as worthless. On the other hand, we have an insanely inflated self-image that results in pride and a superiority complex over everyone else.

These two extremes are, on some level, at the heart of Jesus’ conversation during his teaching in our Gospel for this morning. We meet up with him teaching the crowds, but it’s not just Jesus’ followers or those who were curious about his message that were there; Jesus’ enemies were also there, and they were incredibly irritated with what they saw. The Pharisees and the experts in the law were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” The word translated here, “complaining,” is more literally “muttering to themselves.” In other words, this is not an accusation that these men are leveling at Jesus directly or even talking to others in the crowd about him. No, this is an under-the-breath complaint about this man that they view at best as their competition and at worst as a threat to their way of living and even their very lives because of his popularity. But in hushed tones, they clearly have no actual respect for him.

In a glimmer of Jesus’ omniscience, he addresses the complaint they didn’t even clearly vocalize. And he does so with a couple of parables—a shepherd seeking out a lost sheep and a woman searching for a lost coin. But to really understand the full weight of these brief parables and the point Jesus is stressing here in love, even to those who were against them, we need to clearly understand how the Pharisees and their ilk thought of themselves and others.

What is their complaint about Jesus? He’s spending time with the undesirables of society: the tax-collecting traitors to their people, the immoral prostitutes, the thieves, the lazy, the poor dregs. There was no chance for upward momentum in spending time with these people. There was only the chance to drag your reputation down. If this Jesus was really serious about being a notable rabbi in their community, this was not the way to do it. And for the religious leaders, it just confirmed one thing: Because he spent so much time with people they knew were beneath them, they also knew that Jesus himself was beneath them as well.

But who, in this scene, really had the problem? Was it the sinners who were coming to Jesus to hear him, to have him restore them, forgive them? Or was it the people who didn’t think they needed him?

Jesus’ parables make the point plain. The sheep wanders off, but does it know it’s in trouble? Maybe, but probably not. If the sheep could identify that this course of action was wrong or dangerous, it probably wouldn’t have done it. But off it goes, seeking out its own desires, ignorant of what it means for its well-being. And what is the shepherd’s reaction? Such concern grips him that he leaves the ninety-nine still in the flock and seeks the lost one.

The lost in this parable could be seen as the “sinners” coming to Jesus. If that is the case, then Jesus’ point is that religious leaders should be concerned about all people, even (and especially) those misled by prominent sin in their lives. However, I think that Jesus’ point is more fundamental to the leaders’ problems and rooted in their misunderstandings about themselves.

If the Pharisees were looking to identify themselves in Jesus’ parables, I assume they would think of themselves as the ninety-nine still in God’s flock or the nine coins still in the purse. The reality was that they were the lost sheep out on their own and the coin hidden among the dust, but they didn’t even realize it. They thought they were fine, but their self-confidence ignored the fact that they, too, were sinners in just as desperate need of God’s forgiveness as the rabble that came to see Jesus.

How easy it is for us to hold this same, distorted view of self. After all, here we are, in church on a Sunday morning. Are we not among God’s flock? Are we not the coins carefully contained, whose location is known? Unfortunately, our sin makes that thought and confidence a mirage. We are the lost and the rebellious. We are the cheating tax collector and the self-righteous Pharisee. Our sin makes us lost, alone, and doomed to eternal death in hell.

But here is where we see God’s nature shine through so clearly. God is represented in the parables by the shepherd looking for that lost sheep and the woman tearing the house apart looking for that coin. In those moments, what is lost is of the highest priority. So, too, is it for God. We are lost in sin on our own; thus, we are his highest priority.

God saved us not by putting us on his shoulders or sweeping the flood but by offering his life in exchange for ours. Our sin created a situation far more dire—infinitely so!—than the lost sheep or coin. No, the only thing that could save us from the eternal punishment for sin was the blood of the perfect Lamb of God, who took away the sins of the world.

Jesus’ search and rescue consists of reaching out to us with his Word, having us see ourselves as we really are (that is, see our sin in all its gruesome reality), and then showing us his saving love. His death rescued us, and the faith he works through his Word brings us back to himself. His Word brings us face to face with the reality of our situation and leads us to repentance. To repent is to have a change of heart about sin, to not want to do it anymore, while simultaneously trusting God’s complete forgiveness. You and I are among those people who have been found wandering the hillside and are rescued. You and I are the ones whose God-worked repentance causes great joy among the hosts of heaven.

Why does that happen? Because that’s just how much you mean to God, how precious you are to him. I won’t ever say that self-value and self-esteem are unimportant; that’s a foolish statement. But the best measure of our value doesn’t come from within ourselves; it comes from the value God places on us. You were worth the life and death of the perfect Son of God. You were worth his agonizing suffering of hell while nailed to the cross. You were worth it all, and if he needed to, he’d do it again, because he loves you so dearly.

That love continues to reach out to us. Because the truth is, this is not a one-time lost-and-found mission. No, we are continually wandering away from the shepherd and needing to be sought out, called back to him. And that calling isn’t always pleasant; that reunion isn’t always what our heart desires. Sometimes it looks very much like the scene in our Gospel! Because even in his interaction with the Pharisees—even in the preaching of the law!—there is Jesus’ love clear as day. Why is he confronting them with their misunderstandings and sin? Because those things were very dangerous, and Jesus had love, even for them. He called them to repentance, and each day he calls you and me to that same repentance, assuring us of his forgiving love where we find our true value.

Despite how much we may want to deny it or at least ignore it, there’s a lot of opportunity in us for the same misguided self-views that the Pharisees had to blossom. You don’t have to dig too far in mainstream Christianity in the United States today to sense the “us vs. them” mentality; it is often a core part of the message coming from these groups. And, I daresay, you don’t have to look too far in the Lutheran church to find these ideas, and perhaps, if we’re being really honest and open this morning, we can even see this in our own hearts. Do I, in some way, think of myself as better than the unbeliever? Better than the “worst” sinners because, even if I’m not perfect, at least I don’t do… that!

My brothers and sisters, let’s not complain and mumble to ourselves and to each other about how much better we are than other people who commit what the world calls horrible atrocities or who engage in activities that the world praises while God detests. Let us see ourselves as we are: sheep in need of rescue and coins hidden in the dark corners of the room. Let us see our value in the seeking, searching, and rescuing work our God has done and continues to do to find us. Let us find our value in our status with God, no longer lost, but now found!

Thanks be to God! Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria

Sermon prepared for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (WELS), Belmont, CA (www.gdluth.org) by Pastor Timothy Shrimpton. All rights reserved. Contact pastor@gdluth.org for usage information.

"Show Selfless Love, Not Selfish Favortism" (Sermon on James 2:1-13) | August 31, 2025

Sermon Text: James 2:1-13
Date: August 31, 2025
Event: Proper 17, Year C

James 2:1-13 (EHV)

My brothers, have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ without showing favoritism. 2For example, suppose a man enters your worship assembly wearing gold rings and fine clothing, and a poor man also enters wearing filthy clothing. 3If you look with favor on the man wearing fine clothing and say, “Sit here in this good place,” but you tell the poor man, “Stand over there” or “Sit down here at my feet,” 4have you not made a distinction among yourselves and become judges with evil opinions? 5Listen, my dear brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom, which he promised to those who love him? 6But you dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and don’t they drag you into court? 7Aren’t they the ones who blaspheme the noble name that was pronounced over you? 8However, if you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9But if you show favoritism, you are committing a sin, since you are convicted by this law as transgressors.

10In fact, whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles in one point has become guilty of breaking all of it. 11For the one who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12So speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law of freedom. 13For there will be judgment without mercy on the one who has not shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. 

Show Selfless Love, Not Selfish Favoritism

This world is obsessed with getting ahead. Perhaps you’ve experienced a cut-throat environment at work where someone would throw you under the proverbial bus without a second thought if they figured it would get them the promotion. Maybe you’ve been tempted to or even have participated in that me-first culture at work, school, or even in your home.

But sometimes this obsession with getting ahead doesn’t result in cutting people down, but cozying up to the people who you think could benefit you. Perhaps you think of politicians who speak very negatively about their opponent in a primary but then make nice with them when it’s clear their former opponent might provide a path forward in their personal career goals.

This morning, our readings all focus us on favoritism and self-promotion. The heart of any amount of favoritism shown to others is going to be selfish gain. If I spend extra effort with you while ignoring this other person, it’s probably because I think closeness to you benefits me more than closeness to the other individual. And in the end, my selfish pride can lead me to think that I deserve whatever I can get from you and that you, and all people, are merely means to my end of getting what I want or think I deserve.

While all of our readings this morning focus on this general theme, this morning we’ll focus on our Second Reading from James. This letter was very likely written by Jesus’ half-brother, James, the son of Mary and Joseph. This James ended up being the leader of the very, very early Christian church in Jerusalem. We know that things were not easy for the Christians there in those early decades. In fact, poverty so gripped those believers that the apostle Paul would gather a special offering from the places where the gospel had been going out to take back and support the brothers and sisters back at the “mother church.”

While greed could always be a motivator, you can probably understand the temptation of the people James served to show significant favoritism toward the wealthy who came to worship with them. Someone who is poor might not be able to make up for the great deal of physical needs the church was experiencing. But one or two very wealthy and generous people could make a huge difference. So, it was tempting to roll out the red carpet for the wealthy, so to speak. And while they certainly would not have barred a poor person from coming or attending, they probably wouldn’t have had the royal welcome that the wealthy experienced.

But is that the point of the Christian life? Ought that to be the focus of the church? Undoubtedly, a certain amount of physical resources is necessary to meet our physical needs—food, clothing, and the like. But all of that is part of God’s promise to give us daily bread. As we heard Jesus a few weeks ago remind us, our heavenly Father knows we need these things, promises to provide them, and will give us all that he knows is good for us.

That is freeing because we can nip that part of us in the bud that thinks other people are a means to an end to achieve our goals—be they rescue from poverty or some other kind of upward momentum, physically or societally. Instead, we can look at all people not with favoritism, but with the selfless love that God has shown to us. We are not means to an end for God; we are the end. He shows his love to us because he loves us, not because he will gain something from us by doing so.

So the visitor to church wearing dirty, ripped clothing ought to have the same value to us as the person dressed immaculately. The members of the congregation who have a lot of physical resources to help support our collective work should have the same value to us as the people whose offerings amount to a widow’s mite given in thankfulness to God, but perhaps not funding massive programs or projects. We ought not show favoritism to anyone, but that doesn’t mean lowering the bar for how we treat one another. No, it means raising the bar as high as it can go.

Favoritism may seem relatively minor (perhaps because we might often do it without even realizing it). But James is quick to remind us what God’s standard is here. He doesn’t let us try to brush off favoritism as no big deal: If you show favoritism, you are committing a sin. James also reminds us that God doesn’t view his commands as individual items, some more important than others. No, God views his law as a unified whole; failure in one area is failure in all of it. Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles in one point has become guilty of breaking all of it. For the one who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. For God, it is not commendable to say, “Well, I haven’t murdered anyone,” while at the same time cheating on your spouse or otherwise disregarding God’s commands about sex and marriage. He expects both to be kept; he expects it all to be done. Any sin is a problem not because of what part of the law it violates, but because it is a sin against God.

So if it feels like we’re picking nits as we sit here and discuss favortism or pride all the while knowing there are, humanly speaking, far worse things out there, that feeling is just our sinful nature trying to justify ourselves and bring the empty comfort of thinking that I’m at least better than that person over there who does “worse” things than me. Pride, then, is simply favoritism shown to oneself rather than to other people.

While we need to be careful about seeing Jesus as an example for us—he’s primarily our Savior, not our example—we can learn from him in this. Jesus was the one person who could have (and from our fallen human perspective, maybe even should have) been prideful. After all, he was the one who was perfect. He didn’t fail to keep God’s rules in any capacity, in stark contrast to everyone else around him—and everyone gathered here this morning. And yet, there was no vanity or pride in him at all.

Not only did Jesus not show pride, he didn’t show favoritism either. He spent time with the Samaritan and the Gentile just as he did with the Jewish person. Doing so would often cause some amount of conflict either with the crowds, the Jewish leaders, or even, at times, his own disicples.

Jesus did not look to exalt himself or see what he could benefit by being closely associated with this person but not that one. Jesus took all humanity as equals—equally loved and cared for. And he carried that humility and that love to the cross where he, in equal measure, paid for the sins of every single person in his suffering and death. Jesus allowed God, his Father, to exalt him in his resurrection. He didn’t need to do that himself; his Father had him covered.

Far beyond just being an example, here is the solution to those times when we haven’t acted in humility but have let pride, greed, or desire for self-promotion affect the way we think about ourselves or others. Because at the cross, Jesus paid for those sins, too (even if we are tempted to diminish their severity or even their reality). Jesus’ humility had purpose, was a means to an end. And, again, that end was you.

So you don’t need to exalt yourself by taking the prime seat at the table. You don’t need to exalt yourself by trying to link yourself closely to the upper echelon of society here at church, at your places of work, or in your communities. You don’t need to do anything to exalt yourself because God has already done far, far more than you could ever hope for. Your exaltation is not just a higher rung on the socio-economic ladder; your exaltation is not having more stories to share or names to drop. Your exaltation is that you are the redeemed child of God. You have been made wealthy with eternal treasure that will never go out of style, suffer from inflation, run out, or decay. Your sins are forgiven; eternal life is yours.

The freedom that this provides is indescribable. Knowing your Savior, knowing your position in his kingdom—in his family—frees you up to show love as he showed love. You don’t ignore the poor or the wealthy person, but you love them both in a way that seeks to reflect God's universal love for all people. When interacting with people, your primary question is not, “What can they do for me?” but, “What can I do for them?” and is especially centered on sharing our Savior with them.

Your humble Savior loved you and saved you. May we, empowered by his love, also humbly love everyone else now and through eternity! Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria

Sermon prepared for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (WELS), Belmont, CA (www.gdluth.org) by Pastor Timothy Shrimpton. All rights reserved. Contact pastor@gdluth.org for usage information.

"How Does Jesus Divide Us?" (Sermon on Luke 12:49-53) | August 17, 2025

Sermon Text: Luke 12:49–53
Date: August 17, 2025
Event: Proper 15, Year C

Luke 12:49–53 (EHV)

“I came to throw fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already ignited. 50But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is finished! 51Do you think that I came to bring peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52Yes, from now on there will be five divided in one household: three against two, and two against three. 53They 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 her mother-in-law.”

How Does Jesus Divide Us?

There are seemingly endless ways to divide people. Even if we take our relatively small sample size gathered here this morning, there are plenty of division opportunities, even among us who would seem to have a lot in common. In some ways, you are self-divided today. Are you sitting closer to the front or the back? Are you sitting on the left or right side of the church? And then we can get more granular. We could divide our group by age, by gender, by music preferences, by net worth, by favorite food, by least favorite food, by ethnicity or family heritage—the list goes on and on and on.

But the place where we find unity is in Jesus, right? We are here this morning because we believe that Jesus is our Savior from sin and see value in being surrounded by his Word on a Sunday morning. The truth of Jesus’ objective forgiveness means that he is the one element that binds all of humanity together: every person on the face of the planet is someone for whom Jesus died.

And so perhaps it’s a bit disorienting to hear Jesus speak as he does in our Gospel this morning. Do you think that I came to bring peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. We often think of Jesus as the peacemaker, but here he claims the opposite role. He brings division rather than unity, conflict rather than peace.

Taken out of context, we could go wild making up reasons for this, putting all sorts of words into Jesus’ mouth. But let’s take this morning to understand what Jesus is saying and why he’s saying it, as we ponder in what ways Jesus divides us and in what ways he unifies us and brings us peace.

Let’s begin with how Jesus does, in fact, bring peace on the earth. The peace that Jesus brings is not primarily between individual people, but between sinful human beings and our just God. God’s demands for us were pretty clear: perfection. There was no wiggle room for us. God’s expectations have never been and never will be that we simply try our best, that we do more good than bad, or that we stand out from the crowd with our good, generous, genuine behavior. No, perfection was and is the only acceptable standard.

That means that you and I, who have not been perfect or even close to it, have a real problem. We actually have a peace problem, because our sin puts us in conflict, sets us at war with God. And whether you’ve ever been in a fight or not, you can understand the principle that you probably shouldn’t seek out conflict with someone unless you’re sure you can win. This would apply to nations at war or students dealing with bullies.

Yet, our sin means that you and I have picked a fight with the almighty creator of the universe. This is a poor strategy that will not end well. We’ve entered into a conflict that we absolutely will lose. And that loss is catastrophic; it is eternal. The apostle Paul tells us that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and that death isn’t just the physical death that we think of when we hear that word—as horrendous and heartbreaking as that is. No, the death that comes about as a result of our sin is eternal death, which is not merely the separation of the soul from the body but the separation of the person from the blessings of God forever. And this is something that no living human being has ever experienced. For as troublesome as our days might be, for as much sorrow and stress as a person might endure in this life, they’ve never truly experienced total separation from God and his providence. That will be hell in its most gruesome reality—suffering without relief, forever.

This, of course, was not ok with God. His love for us was so great that, even though this is what we deserved, he couldn’t sit idly by and let that happen to his beloved human race. So he promised a Savior to rescue us, and then followed through on that promise. Jesus, true God from eternity, took on our human nature in time to live in our place. Everything about Jesus’ work for us is substitutionary. He tags in for us under God’s law—and kept it perfectly. And then at the cross, he tags in for us as sinners; he endures that hell, that separation from God that we deserved, for us. As he takes our place, the payment is made, and God’s justice is satisfied; hell will never be something we need to endure.

That’s why we can say with the apostle Paul that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). The conflict is over because Jesus made this peace. Jesus’ perfection has been credited to our accounts to give us the perfect track record that God demanded. This is the peace promised to the shepherds at Jesus’ birth (Luke 2:14) and the peace that Jesus assured his disciples about on Maundy Thursday evening (John 14:27) and throughout his appearance to them after he rose from the dead (Luke 24:36, John 20:19, etc.).

This then brings us back around to Jesus’ startling statement in our Gospel for this morning: Do you think that I came to bring peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. How does Jesus divide us? He tells us that, at the last day, he will divide all mankind into two groups—sheep and goats, that is, believers and unbelievers. And this is the division that he’s getting at here. Jesus acknowledges that not every human being will flock to him; people will reject him. We saw that play out during his earthly ministry, and the same thing happens even today when his Word is shared. Faith in Jesus serves as a way to divide the human race—those who cling to him as Savior and those who do not.

And this division is not just a label, not just a little factoid about someone that makes them different from someone else. No, our trust in Jesus as Savior and all the knock-on effects that has will set us at odds with people—even dear members of our own families. Jesus doesn’t want Christians to live with the delusion that because we have peace with God, we should expect an easy-going life now, a life of constant peace and harmony. No, far from it, actually.

Jesus divides us because some trust and value what he’s done, while others do not. Some agree that placing a high value on our eternal well-being is of the utmost importance, while others find that whole concept to be utter nonsense. Some will accept, understand, and even encourage the life that a Christian faith calls us to live in thanksgiving to our God, while others will be appalled that we wouldn’t support a particular worldly cause or follow in their sin-laden path.

Where does that leave us? Yes, from now on there will be five divided in one household: three against two, and two against three. 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 her mother-in-law.” Maybe you have this dynamic in your own family—one divided along differing faith lines, or faith vs. no faith. Even if you don’t have that exact scenario in your family, you know what it is to be an outcast from the world because of your faith in Jesus. And while we certainly do not want to exacerbate the division by being obnoxious, petty, or judgmental, we also recognize that even if we are perfectly speaking about our faith or living our faith with gentleness and respect as the apostle Peter directs us (1 Peter 3:15-16), we’re going to upset someone.

And what does Jesus say to that? “So be it.” He gives us this warning so that we don’t misinterpret these divisions, to assume that because someone is mad at us, that we’re doing something wrong, that because someone is offended by our faith, we need to course-correct. Quite the opposite, actually. He gives us this heads up to know what to expect and then ensure that we do not compromise on our faith to make peace in the here and now.

Because that’s the temptation, right? If my faith puts me at odds with others, then I might want to sideline or even jetison my faith to make that relationship whole again. It’s a different expression of the same principle we dealt with over the last few weeks, considering the value of earthly wealth vs. heavenly treasure. Any trade that would have us hand over our eternal security in exchange for some temporal blessings or ease of life is indeed a poor, poor trade.

So what is the Christian to do? Hold fast to your Savior. Do not look down on others who do not hold your faith, but seek opportunities to share the gospel with them. But at the same time, recognize that your faith is not likely to be something that unifies, but rather that divides. To cling to Jesus as Savior means admitting something about yourself that no one really wants to admit—that we are sinners who deserve hell. To have a Savior, we must have needed to be saved, and that is an unpleasant thought for anyone.

But even as you face divisions because of your faith, know that you have unity where it really matters. You have peace with God through Jesus’ work in your place. That means that you are a child of God and a citizen of heaven. That peace will endure through eternity. Know that divisions are here and will continue to be present, but value our unity in the peace Jesus won for us. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria

Sermon prepared for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (WELS), Belmont, CA (www.gdluth.org) by Pastor Timothy Shrimpton. All rights reserved. Contact pastor@gdluth.org for usage information.

"Do Not Be Afraid, Little Flock" (Sermon on Luke 12:22-34) | August 10, 2025

Sermon Text: Luke 12:22-34
Date: August 10, 2025
Event: Proper 14, Year C

Luke 12:22-34 (EHV)

Jesus said to his disciples, “For that reason I tell you, stop worrying about your life, about what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. 23Certainly life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. 24Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap; they have no warehouse or barn; and yet God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds! 25And who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his lifespan? 26Since you are not able to do this little thing, why do you worry about the rest? 27Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. But I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was dressed like one of these. 28If this is how God clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will he clothe you, you of little faith? 29Do not constantly chase after what you will eat or what you will drink. Do not be worried about it. 30To be sure, the nations of the world chase after all of these things, but your Father knows that you need them. 31Instead, continue to seek the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you. 32Do not be afraid, little flock, because your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not become old, a treasure in the heavens that will not fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Do Not Be Afraid, Little Flock

How are you doing? And I know this is clearly a rhetorical question because I’m asking it in the middle of a sermon, not exactly known for its question-and-answer format. But actually, it’s a question I want you to think about and internalize and I would cherish the opportunity to hear your honest answers when we’re done here today. How are you doing? And when I ask that I mean how are you really doing? Not the standard small-talk answers of “Good… good,” or, “You know, I’m fine,” or “Busy…” but what is the realanswer?

So many things can weigh on how we’re doing or feeling at any given time. Family relationships might be strained or very energizing. Work may be a slog or a beautiful pairing of your skills to the needs in front of you. The prospect of school starting shortly can be a drag or an exciting reunion with friends and a new step on life’s path.

But oftentimes, the resources we have at our disposal can really weigh in on how we’re feeling, but a given situation or our lives in general. Is there enough money to pay the bills? The rent? Put food on the table? Is there enough time to tend to the tasks and responsibilities that you have, or are you stretched far too thin, burning the midnight oil too much, and sacrificing your health in order to try to keep your head above water? Do your teachers do a good job explaining the material in a way that connects with you, or do you feel lost, adrift on the sea of too much information without enough comprehension?

Last week, we focused on the proper place of material wealth in our lives, which often comes from the perspective of keeping greed in check. We noted that while this is not exclusively a temptation for people with greater amounts of wealth, it certainly is a danger that comes along with earthly riches.

This morning, we are looking at the same topic from the other side. How should the Christian think of scarcity? And how do we tell the difference between needs seemingly not being met and just our desires not being fulfilled (one being crucial, the other a nice-to-have)? Jesus’ words in our Gospel really center us no matter what fears, concerns, or worries plague us because they once again focus us on what is truly important: Do not be afraid, little flock, because your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.

The words of our Gospel today immediately follow the heels of our Gospel from last week and are part of the same conversation, so it would be good for us to refresh our memory of how Jesus closed that reading last week. Jesus was addressing the dangerous pull of material wealth, and told this parable:

“The land of a certain rich man produced very well. He was thinking to himself, ‘What will I do, because I do not have anywhere to store my crops?’ He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and goods. And I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods stored up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry.” ’

“But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your soul will be demanded from you. Now who will get what you have prepared?’

“That is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:16-21).

So that closing statement is what Jesus is referring to when, in the first verse of our Gospel this morning, he says, “For that reason I tell you…” What reason? That we want to have the goal of being rich toward God rather than squirreling away treasure for ourselves. Jesus’ encouragement to his disciples goes something like this, “Don’t worry about the things of this life. Look at how your heavenly Father takes care of the creation. Aren’t you more valuable to him than flowers and birds?” And he concludes this point, “Do not constantly chase after what you will eat or what you will drink. Do not be worried about it.”

Worry is that sense that there is a problem with no solution. Worry does not mean that our concerns are fake—far from it. But worry almost always ignores God’s promises to us, to take care of us, provide our daily bread, to be our guard and shield in this life.

Worry at its core is a lack of faith, a lack of trust in what God has promised. And worrying about earthly things, what you will eat or what you will drink or anything else that is a high priority in this life, forgets or ignores that truth your Father knows that you need them. If these concerns are real, if these are real needs that we have and God himself knows that we need them and he has promised to provide for our needs, why worry?

Of course, that is easier said than done. And the cure to worry is not “relax” any more than the cure to depression is “be happy” or the cure to cancer is “be healthy.” But Jesus doesn’t just leave us scolded and then move on; he gives us a battle plan for dealing with worry and keeping it in check: Instead, continue to seek the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you. Do not be afraid, little flock, because your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.

In a way, Jesus solves worry over the problems that plague us by lifting our eyes to see clearly a much bigger problem in front of us: our sin. More than debt, or poor grades, or anything else that might cause stress and worry in this life, our sin causes far greater problems, but they are difficult for you to get a hold of because we don’t see them. It’s almost like going out to dinner, and you're all excited at the start of the meal. Drinks! Appetizers! The best entrees! Dessert? Why not?! But then there is the sobering moment when the bill comes due, and now you have to pay for everything you cavalierly ordered and enjoyed.

We have some sense of the seriousness of sin. We may feel guilt, our conscience may make us very uncomfortable, but we can often put that out of our mind, ignore it, and move on. It’s like seeing the prices on the menu, knowing how this will add up, but ignoring it and doing it anyway.

So, our sin racks up a debt with God that we can never pay. And there’s no solution to it. There’s no emergency fund to dip into, no payment plan to set up, and no dishes we can wash to pay it off. Our sin creates an impossible debt that we can never pay, and the end result of that debt is eternal separation from God in hell after this life is complete.

If there was ever anything worth worrying about, it would be this. More so than anything we will ever face in this life, this is a problem with dire ramifications that we can’t even process. Eternal death in hell is so gruesome, so horrendous, that we ought not wish it on our worst enemy—and certainly not on ourselves!

Thankfully, Jesus doesn’t leave us hanging here. Not only does he provide the solution to this eternal worry, but he presupposes it in his teaching. Rather than being focused on what we will eat and drink (that is, earthly solutions to earthly problems), we should be focused on seeking the kingdom of God (that is, God’s solutions to our eternal problems).

God’s kingdom is his rule in our hearts by faith. It’s the same kingdom we pray that God would bring about in the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer. When we seek God’s kingdom, we seek faith in Jesus; for the Christian, this is a stronger, more resolute faith. We look beyond the ravens and the flowers and instead see the promises of God, that Jesus, crucified and suffering hell on the cross, is truly doing that in our place. That is suffering, and death is our forgiveness and life. He paid the debt we couldn’t touch, solved the problem that we could never address, and rescued us from eternal death in hell to bring us to eternal life with him in heaven.

What is clearly lacking in any of this is any effort on our part. We can’t work off our sin, we can’t bring about our forgiveness, we can’t even choose to believe in what God has promised. All of these are gifts from God. Therefore, like Abraham in our First Reading, our God-given faith is credited to us as righteousness, credited as a right relationship with God.

Faith in Jesus also underscores all of the other promises that he has made to us, including to provide for our daily, earthly needs. You will never find a problem that God isn’t equipped to handle, and he urges us to bring them to him. Again, Abraham serves as our model. What was happening in his life didn’t seem to be lining up with what God had promised, “LORD God what can you give me? … you have given me no offspring, so a servant born in my house will be my heir” (Genesis 15:2-3). After Abraham’s request, God addressed that concern.

So it’s not that the things that cause us to worry are foolish, and we should be ashamed of even thinking about them. Far from it! But let us approach those problems with faith and trust that your Father knows that you need them. Call on God in the day of trouble and, truly, he will answer you. Perhaps not in the way you think you need or want, but he will answer in the best way for you.

And how can you be sure of that? Look to the cross, to the empty tomb! See your Savior crucified and raised to destroy your sin and open the gift of eternal life to you! There is your hope for eternity. How will our Father not also, along with Jesus, graciously give us all things for our eternal good? He can and he will!

Do not worry, but put your trust in the eternal, all-powerful God who loves you as an individual and will bring you to his side for eternity! Thanks be to God! Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria

Sermon prepared for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (WELS), Belmont, CA (www.gdluth.org) by Pastor Timothy Shrimpton. All rights reserved. Contact pastor@gdluth.org for usage information.

"Let's Not Chase the Fog" (Sermon on Ecclesiastes 1:1-2, 12-14, 2:18-26) | August 3, 2025

Sermon Text: Ecclesiastes 1:1-2, 12-14, 2:18-26
Date: August 3, 2025
Event: The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Year C

Ecclesiastes 1:1-2, 12-14, 2:18-26 (EHV)

The words of Ecclesiastes, David’s son, king in Jerusalem.

2“Nothing but vapor,” Ecclesiastes said. “Totally vapor. Everything is just vapor that vanishes.” …

12I, Ecclesiastes, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13I applied my heart to seek out and explore with wisdom everything done under the sky. (What a burdensome task God has given the children of Adam to keep them busy!) 14I have seen all the actions done under the sun, and, look, it is all nothing but vapor. It is all chasing the wind. …

2:18I also hated all the results of my hard work, for which I worked so hard under the sun, since I must leave it all to the man who comes after me. 19And who knows—will he be wise, or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the results of my hard work, for which I worked so hard and so wisely, under the sun. This too is vapor that vanishes.

20So I changed my course, and my heart began to despair over all my hard work at which I worked so hard under the sun. 21Sure, there may be a man who has worked hard—wisely, aptly, and skillfully. But he must hand over whatever he accumulated by all his hard work to a man who has not worked hard for it. This too is vapor. It’s so unfair! 22For what does a man gain through all his hard work, through all the turmoil in his heart as he works so hard under the sun?

23Bah! Pain fills his days. His occupation is frustration. Even at night his heart does not rest. This too is vapor.

24There is nothing better for a man than to eat and to drink and to find joy in his work. This too, I saw, is from God’s hand. 25For who can eat or enjoy himself apart from him? 26Yes, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness to the man whom he considers good, but to the person who goes on sinning God gives the task of gathering and collecting, but only so that he can give it all to a person whom God considers good. This too is vapor, nothing but chasing wind.

Let’s Not Chase the Fog

This past week, I was reminded in several ways that we have entered into what is colloquially known around us as “Fogust.” Now, this might not be as true in the East Bay, but certainly in Belmont, we are getting into the time of year when the fog can be thick and prominent (which has sort of been true for this whole weirdly cold summer up here on the hill). But whether it is a reality for us where we live or something we run into as we travel around the Bay Area, we know what it’s like to be under blankets of thick fog from the marine layer. Seeing the sun here before noon is often a novelty during these foggy days.

But fog is weird. It totally obscures your vision, but unlike a curtain that you can grab and pull back, the fog disappears as you get “close” to it. So, visibility remains constant; there’s always this wall in front of you obstructing your vision, but it’s not a wall that you can ever approach. It remains a constant distance away as long as the fog’s thickness remains the same. You’re in the fog, but you can never really get to it; it surrounds you, but you never actually have it.

But this morning, our focus isn’t on weather phenomena or the properties of condensing water vapor. No, all of our readings focus on the fleeting, temporary nature of earthly wealth as a reminder to put our focus and priority on the eternal, never-ending blessings that God provides. And there’s probably no better person in the history of the world to lead us into that topic than King Solomon.

Solomon was David’s son who took over the rule of Israel after his father died. Famously, God gave Solomon a blank check to ask for blessings from him. We read about this in 1 Kings 3, right at the beginning of Solomon’s reign as king. This is a bit of a lengthy section, but I want to read it this morning in its entirety to give both Solomon’s and God’s perspective:

The LORD appeared to Solomon in Gibeon in a dream at night. God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

Solomon said, “You have shown great mercy and faithfulness to your servant, my father David, just as he walked before you in truth, righteousness, and uprightness of heart toward you. You have shown this great mercy and faithfulness to him and have given him a son who is seated on his throne to this very day. O LORD my God, now you have made your servant king in the place of my father David, but I am a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. And I, your servant, am among your people whom you have chosen, a great people, who cannot be counted or numbered because they are so many. Now give to your servant a perceptive heart to judge your people, to distinguish between good and evil, for who is able to judge this great people of yours?”

In the eyes of the LORD, Solomon’s request was good. So God said to him, “Because you have asked for this, and you have not asked for a long life, nor have you asked for riches, nor have you asked for the lives of your enemies, but you have asked for discernment to reach just verdicts, therefore I will act according to your words. Yes, I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you before you, nor will anyone like you rise up after you. In addition, I will give you what you have not asked for: such riches and honor that there will not be anyone like you among the other kings throughout all your days. If you walk in my ways by keeping my statutes and commands just as your father David did, then I will give you a long life.” (1 Kings 3:5-14)

God is clear with Solomon that he has his head and heart in the right place. He doesn’t seek selfish things—wealth, health, or even wisdom for personal gain. No, he asks for wisdom and discernment to be a good king and shepherd for the nation of Israel. He knows how much he doesn’t know and how overwhelming a task the throne is. Without the wisdom that God imparts, there’s no way that he would find any success.

The result of God’s blessings for Solomon is that he was wiser than anyone else and—at least at that time—had more wealth than any other ruler in the world. So Solomon is in a unique position to be able to examine worldly wealth with a godly perspective better than anyone before or after him.

So, what does he think of it all? “Nothing but vapor. Totally vapor. Everything is just vapor that vanishes.” He doesn’t think much of it at all. Many English translations try to translate the metaphor. You may be familiar with translations calling the things of this world “vanities,” “futility,” or being “meaningless.” But I appreciate our translation continuing to keep it as “vapor” or “breath.” What is Solomon’s primary point? Everything we value so highly in this life is truly as valuable as a single breath expelled from the nose and as worth chasing after as the mid-morning fog.

And why is that? Because it will all end. Jesus’ story in our Gospel beats us over the head with that point: “I will tell my soul, ‘Soul, you have many goods stored up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your soul will be demanded from you. Now who will get what you have prepared?’” (Luke 12:19-20). Earthly wealth has value and usefulness; the physical resources we have at our disposal are blessings from God to be used as our responsibilities direct, and are even meant for our enjoyment. But what happens when our focus is on them to the exclusion of all else, especially our soul’s eternal well-being? The “stuff” of this world can so easily become a false god to us that we worship and adore. And that leaves us in a really bad state, both spiritually and eternally.

One of the things that both Jesus and Solomon point to to show the fog-like nature of earthly wealth is the lack of control you have over it after you die. We have some blessings in our day to allow the wealth that we have accumulated to do something worthwhile. We can establish a will and trust, ensuring that anything we leave behind in this world will go places and accomplish things we value. That could be supporting friends, family, and other people who are dear to us. That could be supporting charities pursuing causes of high importance to us, such as helping the downtrodden, advancing medical research, caring for animals, or a million other possibilities. One of the highest callings we can dedicate those resources to is the spread of the gospel, whether we think locally by supporting an individual congregation or in a broader way by supporting mission efforts in North America and worldwide.

All of those are great, wonderful blessings that can help alleviate concerns about how any earthly wealth we have accumulated after we’re gone is used. But it doesn’t solve it completely. In fact, Solomon’s point from 3,000 years ago still stands: I must leave it all to the man who comes after me. And who knows—will he be wise, or a fool? While we are not required to pass along an inheritance to a family member we feel is incapable of handling those resources, who’s to say that a given charity, medical facility, or even a church will handle it well? We can do a lot to help those resources go to places that we value and are important to us, but the reality is that after we’re gone, we have just as much control over how those resources are used as Solomon did—none.

Ok, so earthly wealth ought not to be our focus. What is its place in our lives? Solomon observed, “There is nothing better for a man than to eat and to drink and to find joy in his work. This too, I saw, is from God’s hand. For who can eat or enjoy himself apart from him?” Earthly, physical blessings are not evil. They come from God! He wants them to be part of how we carry out the responsibilities that he’s given to us and to be enjoyed. But remembering where they come from is a huge part of enjoying earthly blessings. They are things that are on loan to us from God. They are temporary, not permanent, and should be treated as such.

Instead of focusing on them as of prime importance, we see them as gifts from a loving God. And that leads us down the path of seeing what is truly the most important, because God’s love not only (or even primarily) gives us daily bread and beyond; God’s love gives us eternal life.

If you’re like me, time spent meditating on texts like this can bring up a ton of guilt. We’ve all, at one time or another, prioritized gifts over the Giver, valued the creation more than the Creator. And for that, God’s love has a solution as well. God’s love not only gives temporary blessings but also gives the one thing needed: the eternal solution to our sins. Whether it is the sins of mismanagement or misprioritization of earthly blessings or anything else, Jesus’ sacrifice of everything—his very life—to save us solves those sins. In Jesus’ death and resurrection, we have the one thing that we do take out of this life and have forever, a resource that never runs out, a reserve that never runs dry.

The forgiveness of sins, for as intangible as it may seem to us, is the opposite of trying to hold onto the fog. It is the thing that endures through eternity. God’s love for you, made clear to you in Jesus, is the most important thing we have, the greatest blessing that God gives. As such, it should be our number one priority in this life. And nothing temporary should take its place of primacy in our hearts, and by God’s grace, nothing will.

This week, I encourage you to reflect on the numerous blessings that God has given you. You might not be what the world would call “wealthy,” but we all have what we need to survive and then some. Find time to give thanks for that today and every day, because truly, these are blessings from God. But then also take the time to examine how you are structuring your blessing priorities. Does the car, the phone, the computer, the game, the job, the schoolwork, the leisure, or anything else God gives for our blessing and enjoyment overshadow Jesus? If so, how can we stop chasing after that fog and dedicate ourselves to what is truly important, to what lasts forever?

Are we chasing the fog? Probably at times. Moving forward, let’s instead focus on chasing after God’s forgiveness, the gift already given to us and that we long to prioritize above all else, now and forever! Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria

Sermon prepared for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (WELS), Belmont, CA (www.gdluth.org) by Pastor Timothy Shrimpton. All rights reserved. Contact pastor@gdluth.org for usage information.

"Let Us Pray for All" (Sermon on 1 Timothy 2:1-7) | July 27, 2025

Sermon Text: 1 Timothy 2:1–7
Date: July 27, 2025
Event: Proper 12, Year C

1 Timothy 2:1–7 (EHV)

First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2for kings and all those who are in authority, in order that we might live a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and dignity. 3This is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. 7For this testimony, I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I speak the truth; I am not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Let Us Pray for All

It is often a good idea, when having a conversation with someone (especially where there’s some amount of confrontation involved), to avoid sweeping generalizations. Words like “all” or “always” or “every” or “never” can be hyperbolic and completely shut down another person’s ability to listen to what you’re saying. For example, if you’re talking to someone about how they often belittle your ideas and wishes, it is probably not helpful to say, “You never take me seriously,” because that’s probably not true. It might happen often, it might happen even a vast majority of the time, but saying that it’s the only thing that happens can distract from the point. The person you’re talking to may get defensive and be ready with counterexamples, and then you very quickly get away from what you wanted to talk about in the first place.

The one person who generally can be accurate with using those sweeping terms is God, because he has a perspective far above our own. He can actually see all things, knows all things, and is present everywhere all the time. So, for God, “all,” “always,” “every,” and “never” are not generally hyperbole but actually accurate representations of what is going on. And if he uses words like these, we probably do well to perk up and take notice rather than dismissing it as an exaggeration, because what God is saying is probably very, very important.

This morning our focus is on prayer. In our Gospel, Jesus guided our prayer life with that model prayer we’ve come to know as the Lord’s Prayer. He then also encouraged us to be persistent in our prayer life. “Keep asking … Keep seeking … Keep knocking” (Luke 11:9). In our first reading from Genesis 18, Abraham is a model of that kind of bold, persistent prayer—almost to the point of perhaps making us uncomfortable, thinking, “Abraham, you got God to say yes already… stop pushing your luck!”

In our Second Reading, where our focus will be primarily centered this morning, the apostle Paul guides us not only in what and who to pray for, but also underscores the why we do it and why we can be conifident when we do it, which just might take away some of the uncomfortableness we might have felt reading Abraham’s prayer.

Paul’s words repeat a theme. He keeps returning to the idea of universality in our prayer life; the word “all” is repeated many times in these few verses. And we’ll see how these are not hyperbole, papering over the reality with exaggeration. Rather, when God uses this term here in 1 Timothy, it will be good for us to note where and how he’s using it. Ultimately, we’ll see how prayer encompasses all people and even our whole lives.

If you see prayer depicted in movies or TV, it is often shown as a character’s last resort; every other plan has fallen apart, so now God, some other type of higher power, or the universe in general is our last hope. The desperate person then prays, hoping it will make everything okay.

But such an attitude misunderstands the nature of prayer. It’s not just a lifeline or a wishline. God is not a genie in a lamp waiting to grant our heart’s desire, nor is he the first responder from a 911 call. Nor should it be viewed as a last-ditch effort to solve some problem that we’ve encountered continual roadblocks trying to tackle. Prayer is part of a relationship with God and an ongoing conversation between a person and his Creator.

But there’s a problem. In order to have a conversation with someone, you have to be near them or at least connected to them in some way, be it via phone, text message, or even correspondence through the mail. And we have a problem with that in holding a conversation with God: naturally, we are not connected to him. In fact, because of our sin, we are as far removed from him as we can be.

The prophet Isaiah pulls no punches on this division from God and it’s effect on our prayer life. When addressing the Israelites’ unanswered prayers and unsolved problems, Isaiah brings the hammer down: Listen to me! The LORD’s arm is not too short to save, and his ear is not too deaf to hear. No, it is your guilt that has separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden God’s face from you, so that he does not hear (Isaiah 59:1–2). Sin makes it impossible for us to pray to God, or at least for those prayers to be heard. Our sins are like a soundproof wall dividing us from our Creator.

And this is where the first all we want to focus on in Paul’s words to Timothy comes into play. In the latter part of our Second Reading, Paul describes God this way: For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. Jesus gave himself as a ransom for all people, paying the price for the world’s sins on the cross. We were held captive and his payment—his life—set us free. All sin is gone for all people.

This is why we so often use the phrases “in Jesus’ name we pray” or “for Jesus’ sake” in our prayers. It’s not for God to take notice of our prayers, as if he’ll be more likely to answer if we have this tag attached to them. No, it’s a reminder for us. Why do I have the privilege to pray? Why do I have the utter audacity to bring my paltry requests to the great Creator and King of the Universe? Jesus makes me bold to do that because he opened the communication path for me to speak with God. He did that by removing my sin that separated me from my God. Formally, my sin had prevented him from hearing me. Now? Because of Jesus, that sin is gone, and thus so is the barrier to my prayers. As a believer with faith in Jesus as my Savior, I can approach God, as Luther put it, “as boldly and confidently as dear children ask their dear father” (Explanation to the Address of the Lord’s Prayer, Small Catechism).

The forgiveness of sins frees to love all people because I know what it is for God to love me. In thanksgiving to God, I love my neighbor as I love myself, and God’s Word is clear that my neighbor is not just people I know, or people I like, or who like me, or people that look like me, sound like me, or hold the same views as me. Loving my neighbor means loving the people for whom Jesus died, that is, loving all people, everywhere.

And part of that love for others is praying for them. Obviously, the family member going through a very difficult time will allow me to bring much more specific prayers to God’s throne on their behalf than the person on the other side of the world that I know little to nothing about. Jesus forgiveness is what drives that use of prayer that Paul began our reading with (and note the alls in these verses!): First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all those who are in authority, in order that we might live a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and dignity.

Paul’s list of synonyms for prayer in general or types of prayers—petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings—speaks less of a to-do list, but of a heart attitude. My prayer life should express what is in my heart—love of neighbor—and I do so by bringing their well-being to our Savior with reverence, confidence, and devotion to him.

Oh, but how Paul speaks against the current discourse of the world! Our nation is often harshly divided on political or social viewpoints, to the point that for us it is very often tempting to just sever people in our lives who don’t hold the same views or think the same things that we think! But is that God’s direction here through Paul? Instead of cutting someone off and out of our lives and perhaps even behaving in attitude and action as if they were dead to us, we ought to pray for them. If there is a brokenness in our relationship with another person, rather than letting a grudge calcify our anger, we ought to bring the situation and (more to the point) the person to God’s throne.

And that applies even to (and perhaps especially to) the leaders and others in authority. Note how there are no qualifiers here. You don’t have to agree with, support, or even particularly like whoever might be living in the White House in DC, the governor’s mansion in Sacramento, or the mayor of your town. Like them or not, agree with them or not, voted for them or not, Paul says, “Pray for them!”

What is the biggest thing that we could pray for our leaders about? Their spiritual condition. Certainly, no leader is perfect, and many will end up having very public sins on display. But what is true for the leaders you disagree with or the public figures caught up in scandal? They are people for whom Jesus died as well. So our prayers are well directed if they are aimed at our leaders’ spiritual well-being. That is, that leaders who are Christians and trust their Savior be strengthened in that faith, and that those who don’t yet believe in Jesus as Savior may be brought to that conviction and faith through the Holy Spirit’s work.

Paul reminds us what the true will of God is for leaders and all people. He says that praying for our leaders and all those in authority is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. There’s that universality again! God is not just electing some to eternal life and then forcing the others into hell. There’s a legitimate, passionate desire on God’s part that all people be saved. After all, you probably don’t like to see things go to waste. Since Jesus died for all, why would he want that effort wasted and thrown away by people’s rejection? More than efficiency, though, God’s love for all people means that he sincerely desires that all people be rescued from the hell we deserve and instead spread eternity with him in the perfection of heaven.

All of this precisely pairs with our focus from last weekend. We sat in Mary and Martha’s home, hearing Jesus teach and remind us, as he spoke to Martha, about that one needful thing: time in God’s Word. That is one half of the conversation; prayer is the other; both are important. And in fact, because our prayer lives ultimately should be asking not for what we want but for what God knows is best for us—that his will be done in our lives—time in God’s Word shapes our prayers. The more we hear and see God’s work and will as shown in his Word, the more our prayers will be shaped by that revealed will and the more our prayers will ring in harmony with God’s plans, purposes, and desires.

So, my brothers and sisters, take up that bold blessing, that privilege God has bestowed on you: to pray. Pray for yourselves and those things that are heavy on your hearts. Pray for others—all others—that they may know their Savior and find peace with God through it. Pray in confidence, knowing that you pray to the one who loves you, can do everything for all people, and wants all people to be saved. Pray that the message of Jesus’ forgiveness rings out in the world and many more are brought to faith through it. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria

Sermon prepared for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (WELS), Belmont, CA (www.gdluth.org) by Pastor Timothy Shrimpton. All rights reserved. Contact pastor@gdluth.org for usage information.

"Find a Neighbor to Love" (Sermon on Ruth 1:1-19a) | July 13, 2025

Sermon Text: Ruth 1:1-19a
Date: July 13, 2025
Event: Proper 10, Year C

Ruth 1:1-19a (EHV)

During the days of the judges, a famine occurred in the land. So a man left Bethlehem in Judah to stay awhile in the territory of Moab—he, his wife, and his two sons. 2The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were from the clan of Ephrath from Bethlehem in Judah. They entered the territory of Moab and remained there.

3But Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, so she was left with her two sons. 4They then married Moabite wives. The name of the first was Orpah, and the name of the second was Ruth. They lived there for about ten years. 5But Naomi’s sons, Mahlon and Kilion, also died. So the woman was left without her two children and without her husband.

6Then Naomi set out with her daughters-in-law to return from the territory of Moab, because while she was in the territory of Moab, she had heard that the Lord had graciously visited his people by providing them with food. 7So she left the place where she had been, and her two daughters-in-law left with her. They set out on the road to return to the land of Judah.

8But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back. Both of you return to your mother’s house. May the Lord show you kindness as you have shown kindness to the dead and to me. 9May the Lord grant that each of you finds security in the house of a husband.” Then she kissed them, and they wept loudly.

10But they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.”

11Then Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Am I going to give birth to any more sons who could become your husbands? 12Turn back, my daughters. Go! For I am too old to be married to another husband. Suppose I say, ‘I have hope, and I will be married to another husband tonight, and I will even give birth to sons.’ 13Would you wait for them until they grow up? On the basis of that hope would you give up the chance to marry another husband? No, my daughters. It is much more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has reached out against me.”

14They once again wept loudly. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth would not let her go.

15Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and to her gods. Go back! Follow your sister-in-law.”

16But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to abandon you or to turn back from following you. Because wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you make your home, I will make my home. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. 17Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely and double it if anything but death separates me from you.”

18When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

19Then the two of them traveled until they arrived at Bethlehem.

Find a Neighbor to Love

We like to find limits, or even loopholes, in the rules. “I know I set a budget for myself, but this sale is too good to pass up.” “Sure, the speed limit says 65, but I know they don’t enforce that until you’re more than 10 over, so it’s no problem if I drive 74.” “Mom only said to go to my room, so setting two feet inside the door and then turning around and coming back out shouldn’t be a problem.” Those “loopholes” won’t do much good for your bank account or your interactions with the police officer. And I don’t think I’ve ever met a parent who likes to discuss the technicalities of outlined discipline with their child.

Unfortunately, this loophole-seeking attitude also often shows up in our approach to God's commands and directions. We might think of Peter asking Jesus how many times he had to forgive his brother who sinned against him, perhaps seeking justification to refuse forgiveness on some immature, but theological, technicality.

We’re going to focus our meditation this morning on our First Reading from the book of Ruth. Ruth lived during the time period referred to as the “days of the judges.” These were the years in the Promised Land between Israel’s initial entry into the land after wandering in the wilderness and the beginning of the monarchy with King Saul. This stretch of roughly 300 years was a particularly tumultuous time in Israel’s history. There’s a refrain that echoes throughout the book of Judges, “In those days there was no king in Israel, and every man did whatever was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). There is wholesale dismissal of God as the leader of the nation and the leader of the individual people. People were looking for loopholes, or more flagrantly, just outright ignoring what God had said. If you read through Judges, you see many examples of a cycle that loops back on itself over and over again: Israel is unfaithul; God sends chastisement, usually in the form of an enemy foreign power; the people recognize their mistakes and pead to God for help; God gives his people relief, usually through some ad hoc leaders referred to as judges… until they are unfaithful again, and the cycle starts anew.

However, despite this negative cycle, the faith life in Israel during these years was not all bleak. There are snapshots, snippets of faithfulness among God’s people preserved for us in Scripture. Sometimes, the faithfulness even stands out as extraordinary. Clearly, God was continuing to preserve his faithful, his remnant, even if the nation at large was often struggling to be faithful to him.

In our First Reading this morning, we have one of those highlights from this time period: the account of Ruth. We pick up with Ruth right at the very beginning of the book, and so we hear the quick outline of her life. She was not an Israelite; she was a Gentile, a Moabite. She met her husband and his family when they moved from Israel during a time of famine. Ruth was eventually brought into this believing Old Testament family, and she joined them in their faith by the working of the Holy Spirit.

Her faith produced a dedication not only to her family but to God as well. As the years went on, tragedy struck this extended family. Mahlon and Kilion, Naomi and Elimilek’s children, both died. That left Naomi as a widow for some amount of time already, and Orpah and Ruth, her sons’ wives, as widows in the prime of their lives. Having lost all of the men in her family, Naomi decided to return home to Israel. She wanted to release her daughters-in-law from any obligation they might feel toward her, to take care of or provide for her, because she was returning home. “Go back. Both of you return to your mother’s house. May the Lord show you kindness as you have shown kindness to the dead and to me. May the Lord grant that each of you finds security in the house of a husband.” After some hesitation, Orpah followed Naomi’s direction. However, the weeping embraces make it clear that this was not an easy decision for her.

But Ruth didn’t follow Orpah’s lead. Ruth dedicated herself, latching onto her mother-in-law with a protective dedication and love. Now she didn’t have to do this; she was under no obligation to do this. In fact, a lot of people might say this decision was unwise. Why connect yourself at the hip to your mother-in-law, whom you were not officially joined to by marriage anymore? Why leave and go to a foreign nation with her and abandon your people, customs, broader family, and comfort zone? Even beyond that, Ruth was possibly dedicating herself to a long life of widowhood. Would she find another Israelite man willing to bend God’s directions and also marry her, a Gentile?

Ruth was not driven by what was best for herself; her love for Naomi drove her. This is clearly shown in Ruth’s imploring: “Do not urge me to abandon you or to turn back from following you. Because wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you make your home, I will make my home. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely and double it if anything but death separates me from you.”

In all aspects of life, only doing the bare minimum can be a tempting loophole to try to find. A child might try to figure out what is the least that needs to be done to keep the teacher satisfied and the parents off his or her back. A spouse might try to do just enough to keep a semblance of peace in the home, but nothing more. It is tempting to see work responsibilities as a minimum bar that we have to reach. And yet, when we think of our responsibility to our neighbor, to love our neighbor as ourselves, this bare-minimum approach gets expressed in the same question that the man asked Jesus in our Gospel, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29).

How many people do I have to love? How many people do I have to feel responsible for in order to meet God’s definition of loving my neighbor as myself? In Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan, while obviously a stunning example of going above and beyond in showing love, Jesus's real point is answering the man’s question. Who is your neighbor? Your neighbor is everyone, not just those who are close to you by emotion, relationships, language, faith, or location.

It is not by accident that Jesus made the Samaritan the one who went out of his way to help the Jewish man beset by robbers. The Samaritans and the Jewish people did not get along at all. That he would go out of his way to show love to an enemy speaks volumes. You could imagine many people advising this Samaritan that he shouldn’t waste his time or resources on this man. After all, weren’t there people closer to him who should be helping him? Something like, “Let the Jewish people help the Jewish people and the Samaritans help the Samaritans!”

How often don’t we consider our love for others in the same way? “Well, that person needs more help than I can offer, so I’m not going to do anything.” Or, “This person is not really my responsibility. They have family or friends who should really be taking the lead here.” Or, “This person got themselves into this mess; I’m not going to help them get out of it. That’s their responsibility.” And in those moments, we’re not even asking Jesus who our neighbor is. We’re saying to him very directly, “No, this person is not my neighbor. And God, you are wrong if you think differently.”

Outside of the situation, we can hear clearly that that’s not what we want to say to God. But that notion of trying to do the bare minimum, finding a loophole in God’s commands, applies here far too often. The reality is that, as far as God is concerned, there is no minimum; there’s only perfection. There is only love for everyone. Do everything for everyone that you possibly can. Love like the Samaritan loved the man who fell into the hands of robbers. Love like Ruth loved Naomi. Love in a way that doesn’t seem to make sense. Love in a way that might make you vulnerable, might set you up to be hurt, might set you up to be taken advantage of.

We can see this kind of love most clearly in our Savior.

If anyone could be said not to owe anything to anyone, it would be Jesus. His entire mission of mercy, his entire mission to save mankind from their sin, was something that, objectively, he didn’t have to do. There’s no reason why God should have felt compelled to do this other than baffling, one-sided love for us. Because the sin that he’s rescuing us from is our sin against him. He is the one who has been harmed; he is the one who has been taken advantage of; he is the one who has a nearly unending stream of enemies in the sinful human race. And yet still, he goes looking for someone to love; he goes digging to find people who need his forgiveness but certainly do not deserve it; he seeks out you and me.

That means we have experienced the kind of love God asks us to share with others, which goes way above and beyond what people would naturally think is reasonable. We’ve experienced love that forgives when hurt, love that seeks the good of others even at the expense of self, and love that is perhaps illogical.

Which brings us back to Ruth. She follows through on her promise. These are not empty words. She subjects herself to living in poverty with her mother-in-law when they return to Israel, to Bethlehem. Their need is significant enough that they don’t even have food; Ruth goes out into the fields, gleaning from the leftovers at the harvest. But in Ruth’s account, we see another extraordinary measure of love because she gleaned in the fields of a man named Boaz, a relative to Naomi, if a bit distantly so. Yet Boaz is a man who showed both Naomi and Ruth love and mercy that went above and beyond.

In the end, Ruth and Boaz marry. Ruth, this Gentile, this Moabite woman, is brought into a believing family through marriage yet again. God showers extraordinary mercy and blessings on them both because Ruth and Boaz will be ancestors of King David. As a result, Ruth and Boaz will also be part of the human ancestry of our Savior Jesus. God not only loves them and forgives them, but he brings them into the line of the Savior, the plan of salvation, through whom he will rescue all mankind from their sins.

The love of God for you means that your sin is forgiven. Cling to your Savior and let your Savior’s love guide and dictate the love you have for others. Let us not look for the loophole, the bare minimum, that would argue for the smallest circle of acquaintances that we could possibly show love to so that we satisfy requirements that God might have for us. Instead, in love, in thanksgiving to God for his free forgiveness, let us love in extraordinary, baffling ways, in ways that others might say are too much, but that we know are but a pale reflection of the love God has shown us. In our love for other people, whether members of our family, friends, neighbors, or complete strangers, may we be living witnesses and examples of the love that Jesus has had for us and all people.

May our love, motivated by thanksgiving for God’s forgiveness, instill in us the desire to share not only the physical and emotional needs of this life but also the true spiritual and eternal needs all people have. We do not only look to help with food, clothing, shelter, physical care, and emotional needs, but we also share the good news of our Savior Jesus with our neighbors and with the world.

Find a neighbor, many neighbors among the people of the world. Love them, just as Jesus found and loved you. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria

Sermon prepared for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (WELS), Belmont, CA (www.gdluth.org) by Pastor Timothy Shrimpton. All rights reserved. Contact pastor@gdluth.org for usage information.

"How Committed Are We?" (Sermon on 1 Kings 19:19-21) | June 29, 2025

Sermon Text: 1 Kings 19:19-21
Date: June 29, 2025
Event: Proper 8, Year C

1 Kings 19:19-21 (EHV)

So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. Elisha was doing the plowing with twelve teams of oxen in front of him, and he himself was driving the twelfth team. Elijah crossed over to him and threw his cloak over him. 20Then Elisha left the oxen and ran after Elijah. He said, “Let me kiss my father and my mother good-bye! Then I will follow you.”

Then Elijah said, “Go back! For what have I done to you?”

21So Elisha turned back from following him. Then he took the team of oxen and slaughtered them. Using the equipment from the oxen as fuel, he cooked the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he got up, followed Elijah, and served him.

How Committed Are We?

Commitment, dedication, and drive—all of these are concepts that you might hear associated with lifestyle choices. How committed are you to eating right, exercising, and getting to or maintaining a healthy weight? How dedicated are you to growing your knowledge and understanding of core subjects necessary for work or home life, or even expanding into new areas? What is your drive to be the best or do your best in competitions or personal goals?

Of course, with all of these things, commitment, dedication, and drive can ebb and flow. Today I might be very set on that exercise plan, but what about tomorrow after a rough night’s sleep?

We are not here today to discuss our commitment to physical well-being or pursuing new insights and knowledge. Today, our focus for worship is on our commitment to our Savior: our personal faith and our drive to share what he’s done with others. So today we wrestle with the question, “How committed are we? How committed am I? How dedicated am I to being Jesus’ disciple, Jesus’ ambassador, and Jesus’ witness?”

Our First Reading takes us back to the time of Israel’s divided kingdom, well after the high points of the reigns of kings David and Solomon. The prophet Elijah primarily worked in the northern kingdom of Israel, where dedication to God—especially from the ruling class—was often a real problem (though that’s not to say things were great in the southern kingdom either). So Elijah continually confronted stubborn kings and false prophets, a ministry that really took its toll on him.

In the immediate context of 1 Kings, we’ve just seen God work a great victory over the prophets of the false god Baal through Elijah. The true God consumed a sacrifice on the top of Mt. Carmel with fire from heaven, while the sacrifice prepared for the non-existent god remained untouched. But, coming out of that, the queen threatened to kill Elijah, which sent him into a depressive spiral. He fled to the mountain of God, and there God spoke with him, addressed his concerns, and got him back on the proper footing. God sends Elijah out with some tasks to carry out, including anointing future kings in the area, and a prophet to be his successor, Elisha.

In this brief account this morning, we have Elijah carrying out one of God’s tasks for him. So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. Elisha was plowing with twelve teams of oxen in front of him, and he himself was driving the twelfth team. Elijah crossed over to him and threw his cloak over him. This was the call to Elisha to follow Elijah, learn from him, and train to be the next in line.

On a surface level, it sounds like Elisha has the same request for Elijah as the last person in our Gospel had for Jesus, but with a tremendously different reaction. When Elisha says, “Let me kiss my father and my mother good-bye! Then I will follow you,” Elijah’s response is very permissive: “Go back! For what have I done to you?” But when the third man called in the Gospel said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say good-bye to those at my home,” Jesus’ response is harsher: “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 8:61-62).

What is the difference? Jesus knows the man’s heart in the Gospel. Evidently, his request to say goodbye to his family was not a one-and-done thing. He was willing to put his “hand to the plow,” that is, to start the work of being Jesus’ disciple or even his witness, but the pull of his family back home would have been strong and would have been a distraction from the work Jesus was calling him to do.

As we look carefully at the details of Elisha’s farewell with his family, while we don’t have exact insight into his heart, there’s a lot to show that Elisha considers this a hard break in his life, that little from home would have been pulling him away from his work as God’s prophet. The introduction to our First Reading makes it clear that Elisha is a man of great wealth. He’s plowing his field with at least 24 oxen (if not more, if the teams were larger than two animals) and using at least 11 employees to drive the teams he couldn’t. Even in the most conservative number, that is an extraordinary number of animals and would have covered a large amount of land and a massive amount of crops. Elisha is no subsistence farmer.

But what does Elisha do with that wealth? He leaves it. In fact, he makes it clear just how clean a break he’s making with his wealthy home life: he uses the tools of his trade to provide a farewell dinner. His team of oxen is the meal; the plowing equipment is the fuel to cook them. He’s not burning down all that his family has, but he is making it clear that his time with this work is over. He would be the Lord’s prophet from here on out.

We might say that Elisha was “all-in.” He’s not putting his hand to the plow and looking back; he’s drawing a clear line. This is the end of one chapter of his life and the beginning of another, and from here on out, Elisha will be dedicated and committed to the ministry God is calling him to. After the meal, Elisha got up, followed Elijah, and served him.

Let’s get back to our question: how committed are we? Does our heart look more like Elisha’s, or is it a little more hesitant? Is God clearly our number one priority in life, or is there some fuzziness there?

We should be clear, total commitment to Jesus doesn’t have to look like Elisha or the Twelve, dedicating nearly every moment to the gospel ministry. I can assure you that even as a pastor, that is not what this typically looks like. This commitment is less about hours spent and more about our life’s priorities.

Which would you rather have: a good friend or a Christian life clearly lived? Which would you rather have: earthly pleasure right now or eternal joy in heaven? Which would you rather have: earthly popularity or a clear conscience before God?

Now, those pairs of things are not necessarily mutually exclusive of one another. But what if they do go that way? When push comes to shove, where is your commitment?

All too often, you and I are tempted to take the immediate comfort or peace over the eternal goal, and from that temptation, we frequently choose the wrong path. I’d rather this person not think little of me, so I’ll do what I know is wrong so they’ll like me. I’d rather not have conflict between this unbelieving family member and me, so when presented with an opportunity to share the truth about God’s love and forgiveness, I remain silent so I don’t cause problems. When it comes to potentially having fun right now in a way that God says is sinful, I might take the fun now rather than prioritizing my life of thanksgiving to God. I often embrace the here and now over (and sometimes, against) the eternal.

Is that really the way we want to live our lives, though? Or would we rather seek God’s perspective, his eternal perspective, and see that trading eternity for the here and now is like trading a billion dollars in a year to get 20 bucks now, but infinitely worse? Yet, so often, we make this horrendous trade.

Because of that, Jesus took up our lack of commitment on himself. Where we have been wishy-washy at best, Jesus was fully and completely dedicated to you and me. He could not stand the thought that sin would separate us from him for eternity; he could not tolerate the reality that we deserved hell as the punishment for our sins, so he put his hand to the plow and never looked back; he made clear that saving us from our sin was his number one (and in some ways, only) priority. The intro verse to our Gospel makes that attitude clear: When the days were approaching for him to be taken up, Jesus was determined to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51). Like a man obsessed, in the best way possible, Jesus—true God and true man—went forward to accomplish our salvation, even though it meant sacrificing his life and suffering the punishment of hell on the cross.

That means that as we look at our commitment and dedication to our faith and sharing our faith, and we see it lacking, we know that even for that, there is forgiveness. We haven’t always had God as our number one priority, but we have always been his. And that is meant to bring comfort, not guilt. We have failed, but Jesus has not. We have sinned, but God has forgiven us. We often don’t prioritize our eternal well-being, but God always does.

Jesus’ forgiveness is where we find the strength to be “all-in” for him. Truly, God’s forgiveness was the thing that motivated Elisha as well and would motivate those in our Gospel to recalibrate their priorties.

What will being fully committed to Jesus look like? It will mean time in God’s Word to find strength to combat the pull of the here-and-now that so loudly shouts for our attention and admiration. It will mean seeking God’s comfort in sorrow, God’s perspective in hardship, and God’s forgiveness in sin.

We all will have different ways to slaughter our team of oxen and burn our plows. That may mean deciding not to hang out with this person or that group that often presents temptations to this path. That may mean finding our voice to share God’s love or an invitation to hear it with us at church with someone who you might not think is interested. That may mean finding peace with the ongoing, chronic problems and heartbreaks in our life, trusting God’s promises that he’s working things out for our eternal good and the assurance that he is with us as we bear the crosses in this life.

Ultimately, we want our commitment to our Savior to be complete because it is the most critical thing in our lives. Our salvation is the one thing that we take from this life into the next; that salvation will mean an eternity of perfect joy with our God, leaving behind all of the brokenness and corruption of this fallen world.

Until the day that God brings us out of this sin-stained life, find your reconciliation with God at Jesus’ cross, be dedicated to him, and structure your plans, goals, and even relaxation around him and his will for your life. Your sins and my sins are forgiven. Let’s follow him! Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria

Sermon prepared for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (WELS), Belmont, CA (www.gdluth.org) by Pastor Timothy Shrimpton. All rights reserved. Contact pastor@gdluth.org for usage information.

"Different Messengers Share the Same Message" (Sermon on 2 Timothy 1:3-10) | June 22, 2025

Sermon Text: 2 Timothy 1:3-10
Date: June 22, 2025
Event: Proper 7, Year C

2 Timothy 1:3-10 (EHV)

I thank God, whom I serve with a clean conscience as my ancestors did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day. 4When I remember your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 5I remember your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am convinced that it also lives in you.

6For this reason I am reminding you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7For God did not give us a timid spirit, but a spirit of power and love and sound judgment. 8So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Instead, join with me in suffering for the gospel while relying on the power of God. 9He saved us and called us with a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, 10and it has now been revealed through the appearance of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

Different Messengers Share the Same Message

If you ever played the game of telephone, you know how a message can be distorted as it goes through different people. Perhaps your real life was impacted by such an event. News gets passed from one person to another, but that news can get warped because someone mishears, misspeaks, strips away context, or even warps the original meaning to serve their purposes. Thus, it may radically differ from what was initially spoken when it reaches you. This is a good reminder to not engage in or trust in gossip because those things are so easily distorted to the destruction of someone’s reputation!

A message passed through a chain can get messed up, but what about a message sent through many different messengers? If there is one source but many messengers, while each messenger may put their spin on it or phrase things in a way unique to them, the message is much more likely to be reliable. An email sent from the boss to all the managers will probably allow the information to be passed down more accurately than if transmission relied on a person-to-person-to-person transmission.

Who are the messengers that God has chosen and sent? In a formal way, I suppose you could see it as those called into the public ministry—pastors, teachers, staff ministers—who publicly represent the church in the world. But it’s a whole lot broader than that. It’s all of us, in all the different places where we live and the situations that we are in, that God has called to be his messengers, his witnesses.

Obviously, because we are all different and in different situations, that messenger work is going to look pretty different from person to person. Your conversation with someone about spiritual and eternal matters might sound pretty different from a conversation I would have—and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I would say that more often than not, it’s a good thing because God is using each of us in our unique situations and with the unique set of experiences, talents, and minds to share what he’s done with the world.

In our Gospel, we saw that after the man who was released from those demons was cured, he wanted to go with Jesus and the disciples to follow him full-time. He was so thankful for what Jesus did that he wanted to thank him in that special way, to learn more, to be that much more closely tied to Jesus for as long as possible. But Jesus’ answer was perhaps a bit surprising. “Return to your home and tell how much God has done for you.” No formal training was forthcoming, no lifetime of public service to Jesus’ work. Rather, Jesus sent him to be a witness right where he was. And truly, what better place for this many to share the wonders of God than among the people who had seen with their own eyes his condition before Jesus arrived and the stark difference after?

In our Second Reading, which is our primary focus for this morning, we have Paul writing to young Pastor Timothy. Timothy was part of that first generation of Christian church leaders who were not direct followers of Jesus during his earthly ministry, but came to faith due to the apostles’ work. Timothy likely would have never seen Jesus with his physical eyes as the Twelve and even Paul did, but he was no less confident in what God had done for him. Like you and me, God worked faith in his heart through the message shared with him, and he, in turn, was the mouthpiece of the gospel through which God created faith in others.

This letter is Paul’s second to Timothy, preserved for us in the New Testament and Paul’s last letter written in the Bible (perhaps, written at all, as it was written shortly before Paul was executed). As such, this letter has a tone of finality and a sense of “passing the baton” to the next generation. So, in the letter, Paul focuses Timothy on the core, important truths in many different ways.

But here in the very beginning, Paul takes Timothy to a very personal place. We know that Timothy’s mother was Jewish and his father was a Gentile. Paul is very clear that Timothy’s faith life didn’t start when he met up with the apostle later in his life. No, it started far, far earlier. I remember your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am convinced that it also lives in you. Where did Timothy’s faith journey begin? At home, with his dear mother and grandmother, who shared their faith in the certain hope of the promises of God.

What a tremendous encouragement for the parents and grandparents, the aunts and uncles, the caretakers and guardians of children who are with us here today! I try to make a point with our families that whether we’re talking about Sunday School or Catechism class or any other youth-focused ministry, these things exist at the church to help support the family’s responsibility in bringing their children up in the training and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). The church, the pastor, the Sunday School teacher, and the Christian school are not the primarily spiritual guides for our children; we are.

And that speaks to our broad overall point—many messengers, but the same message. When the parent shares the comfort of Jesus’ love with their child, it’s not a different message than what might come from this pulpit on a Sunday morning. But might the mother have a special connection with her child to share God's intimate love with them in a way no pastor could? Might the father’s gentle, loving care be able to communicate the heavenly Father’s blessing and keeping in a way that no Sunday School teacher could present it?

And this is not limited to family connections or connecting with younger generations. All of us have contact with different people in different places. Whether at work, home, or out in public, we are messengers, ambassadors for our God. And the roles God places on us (what we often call our “vocations”) will impact who we interact with and how. But as God’s messengers, what counts is not the number of people reached or the eloquence with which we share the gospel, but that we were faithful to sharing the gospel in the places God has planted us.

Timothy’s calling would not be the same as Paul’s. Paul was called broadly to be a messenger to the Gentiles at large, traveling from place to place. While Timothy did spend time with Paul on these missionary journeys, by the time Paul writes this letter, Timothy is serving as the pastor of the Christians in the city of Ephesus. His was a more local and specific call, though no less important. Likewise, Lois and Eunice’s call was to serve the spiritual needs of their children and grandchildren, and Timothy, while growing up, was a direct beneficiary of that work.

And none of us deserves or has earned this calling or these responsibilities. Paul is clear on this when he says that God has called us with a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace. God’s mission is that all know his saving love, all know the forgiveness of sins, and he primarily gets that message out through people who have directly benefited from this, those whom he has both saved and called, people like you and me.

The work is God’s, the message is God’s, and we, as the messengers, also belong to God. All of us can look back at opportunities we had to share God’s Word in the special places God put us and regret how we rose to that task. We were silent when we should have shared, and we were loud when we should have been listening. Thanks be to God that the message we share is also the solution to our problems in sharing that message. Jesus’ forgiveness wipes away our failures and missteps. The Holy Spirit cleans up our message and works faith through what we say, even if we felt it was not the right words, tone, place, time, or whatever. Because this is God’s message, the work is his, even if it comes through our trembling, feeble lips.

Here in his Word, we hear the message we are privileged to live and share: Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again. Jesus’ work means our forgiveness and eternal life, a message we want to share with as many people as possible.

God, bless our work, forgive our failings, and help us to be your witnesses wherever you have placed us. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria

Sermon prepared for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (WELS), Belmont, CA (www.gdluth.org) by Pastor Timothy Shrimpton. All rights reserved. Contact pastor@gdluth.org for usage information.

"The Triune God Bless You" (Sermon on Numbers 6:22-27) | June 15, 2025

Sermon Text: Numbers 6:22-27
Date: June 15, 2025
Event: Holy Trinity Sunday (First Sunday after Pentecost), Year C

Numbers 6:22–27 (EHV)

The LORD told Moses 23to speak to Aaron and to his sons and to tell them to bless the Israelites with these words:

24The LORD bless you and keep you.
25The LORD make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you.
26The LORD look on you with favor
and give you peace.

27In this way they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.

The Triune God Bless You

How can you be a blessing to other people? There are as many answers to that question as there are people here, multiplied by the people you interact with. For someone, you might lend a listening ear. For someone else, you might give advice. For someone else, you might bring encouragement. For someone else, you might bring some kind of physical support—giving money, providing food, etc. For someone else, your needs might enable their love to bless you, and in that way, you are also a blessing to them, allowing them an outlet for their thanksgiving to God, their Savior.

How does God bless you? Even more so, the answers to that question are innumerable. First of all, in what realm are we talking: physical, spiritual, eternal? And in what capacity? Preserving you, strengthening you, forgiving you, making certain promises to you, listening to you, answering you… the list goes on and on and on.

But we do well not to just zone out at the innumerable blessings that God provides and lose track of the specifics because the total is so unfathomable. Even if we can’t recognize every blessing, it behooves us to notice those we can recognize, lest we fall into a pit of apathy or discontent.

The three-fold blessing that God gave his Old Testament people around 3,500 years ago, which we still use to this day to close most of our worship services, gives us a good opportunity to examine the blessings of our triune God—what he’s done and continues to do for us. So this morning, let’s spend a few minutes taking a closer look at these familiar words and see just what the Lord is assuring us of when he gives us this blessing.

The first of the three-fold blessings, God’s protection and preservation, we usually ascribe to the Father. When God promises to “keep you”, he’s promising to protect you, body and soul. The almighty God, creator and sustainer of the universe, has seen fit to make it clear to you, personally, that he is keeping you safe. He reminds you that he will provide anything you need in this life. By his hand, he protects you, he provides for you. It’s the very thing Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread… lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” That is the same “keeping” that God promises through this blessing, to provide for our physical needs, and more importantly, our spiritual needs.

The first promise, “The LORD bless you” gives a different slant on God’s protection on providence. When we pray the Lord’s prayer, we merely ask God to keep us alive, to not lead us astray and deliver us from evil things in this life, but the blessings of God go far beyond what we need. This is God the Father going above and beyond, being immeasurably generous. We should be content with just receiving what we need from our heavenly Father, but how many of us only have what we need? We may not have everything we want, we may not have all of the nicest things that our heart might desire, but who among us really has only scraps of clothing, enough to protect the body? Who among us really has only just enough food to keep us alive? God continues to pour out blessings, more than we can even keep track of!

But we’re not always content, even with the blessings God gives us above and beyond what we need, over and above the “keeping” that he promised. How often have you taken the things you have in your home for granted, wanting more? How frequently have you believed the lie that somehow you’d be happier if you have more things? How often haven’t you scorned God’s blessings by saying with your desires, if not with your mouth, “No God, this isn’t good enough. I deserve better; I demand more.”

And in these ways, we sin against our almighty Provider. We’ve act like a greedy leech who latches on to the blessings of God. Do you know what a popular (although maybe not the safest) way to remove leeches is? Burn them off. Use a flame, use harsh chemicals, but inflict enough pain, and they will release. That’s what God should do to you and me for our greed and antagonizing—burn us off from the flow of his blessings in the punishment of hell. Scripture refers to it as a never-ending fire and a lake of sulfur; that is what we deserve for our ingratitude and malcontent toward God.

Yet God continues to go above and beyond. His benediction doesn’t stop with his preservation. We move on to the second person of the Trinity, the Son, Jesus, and what his work is. “The LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you.” The end is key—be gracious. God’s grace is the love he has for us even though we do not deserve it. The Lord is rightly angered by us and by our sin, but his graciousness means that he would rather not punish us for our sins; he would rather we enjoy his blessings in the sinless city of heaven. But he can’t simply look the other way or pretend our sins are not there. That’s why we ascribe the second part of this blessing to Jesus.

Something had to be done for God to be gracious to us, to forgive our sins. God couldn’t ignore his justice; he couldn’t ignore what our sins deserved. So, the Father sent his Son to tazke out place under the punishment of hell that we deserved. Remember how he promised to “keep” us? This is something we needed; it was absolutely vital that we have a solution to our sin and protection from the punishment of our sins. Jesus, on the cross, epitomizes not only the Father’s providence for us but also his graciousness toward us. He has mercy on us because he punished Jesus for our sins. Jesus paid the price we owed; our sins are gone.

When our sins clung to us like tar, the thought of seeing God face-to-face was rightfully alarming. For a sinner to see God means instant death. The sinful cannot be in the presence of the perfect, almighty God. But now that God has been gracious to us and our sins are forgiven, the thought of God’s face shining on us is not frightening. In fact, to have Jesus’ face shining on us, watching over us, is a comforting blessing! Because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we are God’s children again, and his face shining on us is no more frightening than the face of a loving parent or grandparent loving us and supporting us.

God has demonstrated, at least twice now, in twenty words, how he goes above and beyond for us. That shockingly generous outpouring doesn’t stop when we get to the third and final portion of the benediction. As you might have guessed, the work generally ascribed to the Father was discussed first, and then the Son, and last (but certainly not least) is the Holy Spirit.

When it comes to our spiritual and eternal security, God has not left us guessing. He hasn’t set up a system that leaves us grasping at theological and philosophical straws, hoping to gain some portion of the truth. “The LORD look on you with favor and give you peace.” As if it wasn’t enough for him to just take care of us, as if it wasn’t enough for him to forgive our sins, he heaps the blessings on us by granting us that peace. The Holy Spirit is often referred to as the silent person of the Triune God. With a few notable exceptions like the first Christian Pentecost Day that we celebrated last week, the Holy Spirit does his work quietly, with very simple tools: words, spoken or read; words along with water; words along with bread and wine. He tells us the whole mystery in his Word. And even more than that, he creates the faith in our hearts to believe it through that Word and the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. He doesn’t leave us to flounder around in our own ideas, but he guides us to the truth, guides us to his true, eternal peace.

In one way of thinking, the Holy Spirit’s work is the most important of the three. Without the Holy Spirit’s work, we’d never know who provided all those blessings for us. Jesus’ sacrifice would be a waste because we’d never benefit from it; we could never just “figure it out” on our own. But through the Holy Spirit’s work, he grants us God’s peace—the peace that comes from knowing of the Father’s love for us, and the Son’s sacrifice in our place. After that is set, turning his face toward us, looking on us with favor, is the natural result. We are once again his children, bought by the blood of Jesus, believers through the work of the Holy Spirit. He’s done so much for us; he can’t help but look on us with favor.

The one thing that is key for us to remember when we hear these words is how God concludes the direction for the priests to bless the people. “In this way they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” Just as I forgive your sins here in worship or privately, not by my authority, but by Jesus’, I am not the one blessing you at the end of worship. Whether it is me or anyone else bringing these words to you, the people speaking these words are simply reminders for you of what God has promised and what God has done—far more than he ever needed to! The benediction at the end of our services is not just some quaint way to end church, nor is it some kind words that we hope might be true for someone. It is a prayer and request for the sure promise from God, the God who protects, saves, and guides you always.

Whether it feels like it or not, this blessing is yours now and eternally for Jesus’ sake. Our Triune God loves us with a shockingly generous love. May his promises and his blessings be foremost on your minds today and for the rest of your lives! Amen!

Soli Deo Gloria

Sermon prepared for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (WELS), Belmont, CA (www.gdluth.org) by Pastor Timothy Shrimpton. All rights reserved. Contact pastor@gdluth.org for usage information.

"Absolute Power for Our Eternal Good" (Sermon on Revelation 1:4-8) | November 24, 2024

Sermon Text: Revelation 1:4b–8
Date: November 24, 2024
Event: Christ the King Sunday (The Last Sunday of the Church Year), Year B

Revelation 1:4b–8 (EHV)

Grace to you and peace from him who is, who was, and who is coming, and from the seven spirits that are before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his own blood 6and made us a kingdom and priests to God his Father—to him be the glory and the power forever. Amen.

7Look, he is coming with clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. And all the nations of the earth will mourn because of him. Yes. Amen.

8“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, the one who is, and who was, and who is coming, the Almighty.

Absolute Power for Our Eternal Good

“Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” If you are watching a movie or reading a book and a character in the story has or acquires the ultimate power to rule, and they don’t start to use that selfishly, at least a little bit, your suspension of disbelief may flounder. We can’t believe anyone who had control of everything around them—all the wealth, all the political and social power—would be truly generous, selfless, and altruistic, using the power to help others rather than helping themselves. It doesn’t make sense because we know that’s not the way things work in this life.

We know what people are like; we even know ourselves. I’d love to think that if I had access to near-infinte money and could pull all the political strings of a nation, I would be kind and loving and use all of those resources for good. But I know that, like you, I have a sinful nature inside of me that would at least try to seize onto that and use it to serve myself rather than others, and perhaps even non-sensically use that large amount of power to try to get more at the expense of others. No, I’m probably good being far removed from that situation.

Sin corrupts everything. Sin is the reason that those in positions of power will often use it for their own advantage. But this morning on the last Sunday of the church year, we have the chance, the privilege, the joy to focus on the one who has literally all rule, power, and authority and yet had no sin, so that he uses that position and power for the good of others. Today, we focus on Christ as our King—the one who defeated our enemies, the one who cares for us in the present day, and the one who will return to rescue us from this life and bring us safely to himself in heaven.

Our Second Reading for this morning comes from the very beginning of the book of Revelation and is really setting the tone for the whole book. Revelation is filled with wild (and sometimes scary) pictures of events, but many of these vivid details picturesquely portray what has already happened or point ahead to what Jesus clearly promised would happen. In fact, there is no teaching in Revelation that is not taught elsewhere in Scripture, and often, we will use the more straightforward, more direct passages in the Bible to help unpack and explain the visions in this book.

But at the very start of this book, which is really one big letter, John sends greetings to those who would read what the Spirit inspired him to write—including us today. His greeting begins, “Grace to you and peace from him who is, who was, and who is coming, and from the seven spirits that are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.” Here is a greeting to God’s people from the Triune God himself. The one who is, was, and is coming—the Father, the seven spirits (or perhaps better translated, “the seven-fold Spirit”)—the Holy Spirit, and, of course, Jesus Christ.

The description of each person of the triune Godhead is worth spending a moment on. The Father is described as the one who is, who was, and who is coming. The tenses of those verbs are all very intentional: who is (present), who was (past), and who is coming (future). It speaks to God’s eternal nature. He is here; there was never a time when he wasn’t, and there will never be a time when he will not be. It’s a very similar word picture to the one God used when he revealed his name to Moses at the burning bush as “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:14), the forever-present God.

The Holy Spirit is described as being before [God’s] throne. This connects very closely to God’s promises about the Holy Spirit’s work in the book of Romans, where we’re told that he intercedes, prays for us even when we don’t know what to pray for, and even knows the very heart and mind of God (see Romans 8:26-27).

And then Jesus is described as the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Here we see the three-fold office or work that Jesus holds: prophet, priest, and for our focus this morning, king. He is a completely reliable prophet who was and is a faithful witness to God’s Word. He is the perfect priest who offered himself as the sacrifice for sin and then became the firstborn from the dead at his resurrection. And finally, Jesus is not just a king, but the King, even the ruler of the kings of the earth in that, despite all appearances, he has authority well above every earthly power.

All of that coalesces around our focus for this morning of Jesus as our King. Jesus’ work all points to his power and authority. Now, we have examples when he didn’t look like that all-powerful king. We have the example from our Gospel of him on trial before Pontious Pilate—it didn’t look like he was in charge. In just a few weeks, we’ll celebrate his birth again, and the baby in Bethlehem’s manger will not look like the King of kings and Lord of lords.

During his first time being present among his people, Jesus didn’t look the part of the king because he wasn’t here to promote his divine, regal authority. He was here as our loving King to save us from our spiritual enemies, so he humbly laid aside the full use of that divine power for a time to save us. John, thinking about that work, bursts into words of praise to Jesus: To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his own blood and made us a kingdom and priests to God his Father—to him be the glory and the power forever. Amen. The humble sacrifice of his life, the shedding of his blood, means we are freed from sins. That weak-looking man standing before Pilate, who eventually will be nailed to a cross, is still the one who has and deserves all glory and power because he is our God who created us, preserved us, and redeemed us from sin, death, and hell. Jesus’ victory was a baffling blowout, where despite appearances, our enemies never had even the remotest chance of winning.

So now we are a kingdom, his kingdom. He rules us, but not in a way that means trouble for us; he rules us in love and for our eternal good. He preserves and protects us at this very moment, but this feeling of an absentee King, or at least an invisible King, will not remain. There will come a time when he will return as he left, with the clouds of the sky, but now visible to everyone on earth. Look, he is coming with clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. And all the nations of the earth will mourn because of him. Yes. Amen.

But why the mourning from the nations? Doesn’t this speak to Jesus being scary? Doesn’t this support the idea that his rule means something negative for us rather than positive? Later in Revelation, we will hear of the massive collection of people in heaven, an uncountable number from every nation and tribe (see Revelation 7:9 and the following). There will be people in eternal life from all over the world. But these nations, these tribes themselves? They are those who, collectively, have separated themselves from the promises and work of God. They sought earthly power above all else and rejected anything perceived as standing in their way, including the King. For them, at the King’s return, they will mourn because his appearance proves all of their aspirations failed and every delusion of their mind and heart false.

But not so for us. That day for you and for me will not be a day of mourning because it will be the return of our King in visible fashion, and it will mean the ultimate rescue from this world of sin, sorrow, and pain. In that moment, we will fully experience all that Jesus did for us. Whether we are caught up to heaven directly from this life or whether that day will mean the resurrection of our bodies laid in the earth with our souls that had been safe with God in eternity, the King’s return will mean the full experience of the peace he won for us—and the final, public defeat of our enemies, especially Satan.

We can and should look forward to that day. It will come soon when we are not necessarily expecting it, and he will bring us home to heaven where we will live forever seeing our loving King’s face every moment of every day.

But what about now? What about until that time of rescue and release? What about that time until we fully experience the victory our King has won for us? Well, all of these things are still true. Our King died for us and rose from the dead victoriously for us. We are still his people, citizens of his kingdom right now, even as we eagerly await his return.

But right here and right now is difficult. There is hardship and sorrow. We see sin corrupt everything that could be good in this life and leave it, at best, as ehhhh. But in this brief introduction, Jesus has another promise for us. Listen to how he describes himself, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” and for those of us who don’t live in the Greek alphabet, we might hear him saying, “I am the A and the Z.” What does that mean?

It means precisely how he described himself—the one who is, and who was, and who is coming, the I am who I am. God is eternal, filling all time and even beyond time. For us, he is the beginning and the end of all things. Our whole lives, start to finish, are wrapped up in the care, compassion, love, and power of the Alpha and the Omega. Our King doesn’t lack anything to help us, provide for us, or save us because he is before and after everything. No matter how much the bully at school, that oppressive boss, or the terror of some world leader might make us think we are in trouble, we are not. Our God fills all things. No one else's power even comes close to God’s power—not even Satan. He’s been defeated in the lopsided victory where Jesus crushed his head, and now we are safe here and forever because our King continues to provide for us and work things for our eternal good until we see that eternal good with our own eyes.

My dear fellow loved citizens in our Savior’s kingdom: lift your heads from these miserable, trying times you are going through. See your King providing all that you need now but also keeping us ever mindful and longing for that ultimate rescue when he will bring us to himself. The Alpha and the Omega, the Lord God, is the one who loves you with eternal love. He’s won the victory over your enemies. All that remains is for us to join the victory celebration that will ring out in his kingdom forever.

Lord Jesus, quickly come. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria

Sermon prepared for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (WELS), Belmont, CA (www.gdluth.org) by Pastor Timothy Shrimpton. All rights reserved. Contact pastor@gdluth.org for usage information.

"One for All Won for All" (Sermon on Hebrews 9:24-28) | November 17, 2024

Sermon Text: Hebrews 9:24-28
Date: November 17, 2024
Event: Proper 28, Year B

Hebrews 9:24-28 (EHV)

For Christ did not enter a handmade sanctuary, a representation of the true sanctuary. Instead, he entered into heaven itself, now to appear before God on our behalf. 25And he did not enter to offer himself many times, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own. 26Otherwise he would have needed to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once and for all, at the climax of the ages, in order to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27And, just as it is appointed for people to die only once and after this comes the judgment, 28so also Christ was offered only once to take away the sins of many, and he will appear a second time—without sin—to bring salvation to those who are eagerly waiting for him.

One for All Won for All

It can be very difficult to look beyond right now to the future. If things are going well right now, it can be hard to think of a time when maybe they will be more difficult. If life is challenging and complicated right now, it can feel almost impossible to think of a time when things will be going better and easier.

This morning on the second-to-last Sunday of the church year, we are attempting to look beyond right now to what is coming. We heard the promise of Jesus in our Gospel that there will come a time when he will return and call us to himself. Daniel also pictured this final rescue and resurrection, when God will deliver his people from a life corrupted by sin to a home in heaven where we will shine like the brightness of the sky and … like the stars forever and ever (Daniel 12:3).

Our focus this morning, though, is on our Second Reading which is no less future-looking, but it also offers us some very specific direction and encouragement for us right here, right now. The last day and rescue are coming, but what do we do until then? How do we stay focused until then? As it so often is, the answer is to keep our focus on Jesus. His victory means our eternal security and even our temporal comfort and peace.

The writer to the Hebrews takes us back to Old Testament worship. There was a special day, one of the (if not the) highlights of the Israelites’ worship life. It is a holy day that is still obsereved in our day, which you probably will see marked on your calendars in the fall, Yom Kippur, or in English, the Day of Atonement.

The Day of Atonement was a celebration focusing on the forgiveness of sins and what the Messiah would provide. This was the one day of the year that anyone was allowed in the Most Holy Place, the most inner room in the Tabernacle or Temple, where the Ark of the Covenant sat. Only the high priest could enter there on this day, and only with blood. He would offer two special sacrifices: first, a bull sacrificed for his own sins, and then one of two goats as an offering for the people's sins. The goat that wasn’t sacrificed was known as the scapegoat, and the high priest would place his hands on this animal to symbolically transfer the people's sins to the goat and send it out to wander away into the wilderness (see Leviticus 16). It served as a picture of how God would send away sin, never to be seen again.

There’s a weakness to this celebration that was present from its establishment. You can even see the weakness as you find Yom Kippur on your calendars—this was an annual event. It happened over and over and over again. If it has been observed annually since it was commanded, it has been celebrated roughly 3,500 times up to this day. And that’s because this holy day is promise, not fulfillment. This was not the actual removal of sins but a picture of how God would remove the sins. And so, while it was undoubtedly important for the Old Testament believers looking forward to the promised Savior, the Day of Atonement always carried with it the idea of something that would happen later that hadn’t been accomplished yet. It was future-pointing to something bigger and better than the high priest, the temple, the sacrifices, and the scapegoat.

This is a constant theme throughout the letter to the Hebrews because it was written to Jewish converts to Christianity who were finding it challenging to stay connected to Jesus. They were tempted to “backslide” into the promises of Judaism while ignoring Jesus' fulfillments. So, the writer repeatedly points out how Jesus fulfilled and is far superior to everything that came before him.

And this idea of repetition looms large in that discussion. If you have to do something repeatedly, it means there is a continual wear and tear. There’s a decay that hasn’t been fixed and a problem that hasn’t been solved. You must do car maintenance with tires, brakes, and fluid changes because things wear out. What if you had brake pads that never wore out? What a blessing that would be! Likewise, the repetition of the sacrifices, specifically on the Day of Atonement, meant that something was still wearing out and broken. If things had been really fixed by the animal sacrifices and other ceremonies, well, then there wouldn’t have been a need to do them over and over again. But they did have to do them over and over again because they weren’t actually fixing things—they pointed ahead to the full repair that God would eventually accomplish.

The writer to the Hebrews latches on to this point at the beginning of our Second Reading and shows how different Jesus is from all that came before him and pointed to him: Christ did not enter a handmade sanctuary, a representation of the true sanctuary. Instead, he entered into heaven itself, now to appear before God on our behalf. And he did not enter to offer himself many times, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise he would have needed to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once and for all, at the climax of the ages, in order to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Jesus’ work didn’t take him into the temple in Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice; he entered God’s true temple in heaven to provide the sacrifice. And it wasn’t something done over and over again. Instead, this sacrifice was once for all, over and done.

On the cross, Jesus offered the singular and complete payment for sin before God in heaven. His life was the payment that had been promised and that we all desperately needed. And Jesus’ work is truly one for all. There is nothing left to do. No further sacrifices have to be made. We are not here this morning trying to make things right with God; we don’t go about our day-to-day lives trying to “earn points” with God. The work is done. Sin is forgiven. We have a perfect relationship with God because Jesus paid for every sin.

We can know and cherish this, but it can be difficult to remember. The problems and heartaches of this life are a constant distraction from this reality. As we slog through this life of sin, heartache, illness, and sorrow, we can start to lose our grasp of it, and the “so what?” question about Jesus’ work starts to loom large.

And then you can again sympathize with the original audience of this letter to the Hebrew Christians. The “so what?” question is especially hard to wrestle with when you are undergoing persecution for the faith, and the temptation to retreat from it. The pull to find solace and comfort somewhere, anywhere, is powerful. And because we can’t see and interact directly with Jesus on a daily basis, our human nature starts to pull us away from him to something more concrete in this life.

We’ve seen this struggle a few times in our readings toward the end of this church year. Satan is relentless in trying to separate us from what God has said, done, and promised. This is nothing new, but it is our lived reality.

And so the writer to the Hebrews encourages us with a look ahead, a reminder of what is coming: And, just as it is appointed for people to die only once and after this comes the judgment, so also Christ was offered only once to take away the sins of many, and he will appear a second time—without sin—to bring salvation to those who are eagerly waiting for him. That last verse of our reading is our theme and focus for this morning. Why is this important? What do we want to stay committed? Because while Jesus’ work was one for all, his visible, direct interaction with this world was not a one-time thing. He’s coming back. But unlike the priests dealing with the sacrifices in Israel’s worship system, he’s not coming a second time to deal with sin—that’s done!—instead, he’s coming this second time—without sin—to bring salvation to those who are eagerly waiting for him.

And the end, we will see the proof that Jesus won the victory for all through his one-for-all work. Jesus promised in our Gospel for this morning, “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out” (John 5:28-29). This Judgment Day will be the unavoidable, undebatable public proclamation of what Jesus did and who will benefit from it. Jesus said that those who have “done good” (John 5:29) will rise to live, and we know that the only way to do anything God considers good is to be perfect. So those who will rise to live, those who have “done good,” are those who cling to Jesus by faith for the forgiveness of every sin. They are those that God himself as purified in the blood of Jesus, shed for us.

This is open to anyone and everyone. Jesus didn’t pay for a limited amount of sins or die for only a special, select group of people. No, he died for all, which means the victory over sin, death, and hell has been won for all—you included!

And so on that day when he returns (or at the end of our earthly life, whichever comes first), we can look confidently toward our Savior who loves us because that will be the end of this horror show of a sin-corrupted life. Instead, that will be when Jesus bring[s]salvation to those who are eagerly waiting for him. At that moment, we will experience and enjoy in full what Jesus won. Then, we will be free from sin. Then we will be with our Savior forever.

Until that day, my dear sisters and brothers, find comfort in knowing that your salvation is complete, your sins are totally forgiven, and that Jesus finished all the work that you needed him to do. Jesus has truly won salvation for all by his one-for-all sacrifice of sin. Find comfort in that for yourself, encourage each other with that certainty, and seek to share this victory with others because no matter who they are, Jesus won it for them too. Thanks be to God! Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria

Sermon prepared for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (WELS), Belmont, CA (www.gdluth.org) by Pastor Timothy Shrimpton. All rights reserved. Contact pastor@gdluth.org for usage information.

"The Sanctified Heart Trusts God" (Sermon on Mark 12:38-44) | November 10, 2024

Sermon Text: Mark 12:38–44
Date: November 10, 2024
Event: Proper 27, Year B

Mark 12:38–44 (EHV)

He also said to them in his teaching, “Beware of the experts in the law who like to walk around in long robes and receive greetings in the marketplaces. 39They love the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 40They devour widows’ houses and offer long prayers to look good. These men will receive greater condemnation.”

41Jesus sat down opposite the offering box and was watching how the crowd put money into it. Many rich people put in large amounts. 42One poor widow came and put in two small bronze coins, worth less than a penny. 43He called his disciples together and said to them, “Amen I tell you: This poor widow put more into the offering box than all the others. 44For they all gave out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all that she had to live on.”

The Sanctified Heart Trusts God

Does life ever feel chaotic? A family conflict might do that. An election might do that. A job loss, illness, struggles in school, or falling out with a friend might do that. We have so many things that we count on for stability in our homes, our government, employment and other vocations that any changes (or even threats of change) to those things can cause you to feel like you’re standing on quicksand. It feels uncertain. s

And that can be what life feels like sometimes—or always. We’re trying to guess the future. We’re trying to weather those personal or communal storms. We’re trying to figure out how to tend to our responsibilities to self, family, and neighbor. Maybe things are severe enough that you feel a strong connection with the woman in Zerphath, “As surely as the Lord your God lives, I have no food except a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a pitcher. See, I am gathering a couple of sticks so that I can go and prepare it for myself and my son, so that we can eat it and then die” (1 Kings 17:12). There is nothing left; I might as well just give up and surrender myself to the chaos and whatever that might mean for me.

And, boy, does Satan love to hear us think and talk like that. He would love nothing more than for short-term problems to separate us from God’s eternal solutions and promises. And really he doesn’t care what does it; if something divides us from God, he’s in. He delights in it. He longs for it.

This morning I suggest we take stock of our lives, our own hurts, pains, and struggles. They are different for each of us, though we are unified because we all have them. Yours are probably different than mine, and we don’t do any good trying to compare who wins the “trauma championship.” If something is difficult for you, it is difficult for you, no matter how you rank it compared to others’ difficulties. The same is true for others; just because you might view your problems as more significant by comparison doesn’t mean their heartaches and worries aren’t real and legitimate.

Jesus, in our Gospel, uses the model of the widow in the temple courts and contrasts it with the general attitude of the experts in the law to show us where our trust should be centered. Where do we find relief, confidence, and true hope in the chaos of this life? In our God who loves us.

Our Gospel is set in the middle of Holy Week. Jesus is spending these last few days of his earthly ministry with his disciples, doing a final round of teaching and preparing them for what will happen. But he’s not just with the Twelve—Jesus’ opponents are also around peppering him with questions, hoping to get him to trip up and say something they can condemn him for or at least discredit him in the eyes of the people.

And so it is in this context that Jesus begins our Gospel for this morning. He warns against the attitude and actions of the experts in the law, the scribes, who liked to garner earthly acclimation for themselves. They felt secure in their fancy clothes, friendly greetings in public, and the best seats at different gatherings. They had everything they needed, and everything went well for them.

You and I might look at other people and still insist on playing that comparison game. We see others who don’t seem to have the problems, fears, or struggles we do and we long to be like them. Might the disciples have felt that way as they looked at the influential religious leaders while Jesus seemed constantly pushed to the side? Can you imagine the widow we’ll meet later looking at those in billowy, expensive garments and longing to have a bit of the wealth and comfort that they had? I think I might be more surprised if she didn’t.

But what does Jesus say?  “Beware!” Why? Because they are focused on the here and now at the expense of the eternal. This warps them so that they even see sin—devouring[ing] widows’ houses—as justified when it would get them ahead. Jesus warns, “These men will receive greater condemnation.” That’s not the position we would want to be in, so earthly comfort at all costs is not where we want to focus.

After making these statements, Jesus looked across the temple courts to the offering box where people were putting in their gifts—not unlike the plates we use here at church. And there were no envelopes or checks or electronic giving methods to mask the amounts; it was pretty clear who was giving a lot and who was giving less. So Jesus watched as wealthy people came and gave significant sums of money. But then a widow, who had nearly nothing, came and gave two small bronze coins, worth less than a penny. Money comparisons are a little bit difficult across 2,000 year gap, but Mark notes that this gift is worth less than 1/64th of an agricultural worker’s daily wage, and yet, this was everything—all that she had to live on.

Now, why is Jesus pointing this out? The point is not to give all we have to the church. About a month ago, in our Gospel, we wrestled with this when we heard the rich young ruler talking with Jesus, and Jesus directed him to give away all his wealth. Jesus was not pointing out that you need to have nothing in order to have saving faith or to get into heaven; rather, he was showing the man that money was his god and was distracting him from eternal blessings.

The point here with the widow is the inverse. Again, Jesus is not setting up a necessity to give away all she had, but he points out that her trust in God was so strong that she was able to take the minuscule amount that was to her name, entrust it to God, and then trust that God would provide for her needs. Jesus’ praise of the woman’s actions doesn’t lead us to think that this was done in a “this is the end of my life; I give up” kind of way as the widow with Elijah initially approached it. Instead, this gift was given in trust for what God would do for her.

Let’s consider the widow’s attitude toward this offering. First and foremost, she trusted God to do what he said he would. He did not promise daily bread and earthly care as long as you stockpile money. No, she trusted that he would do that regardless.

That trust in God’s promise led to the second aspect of her attitude: thankfulness. She didn’t have much, but she was thankful for what she did have. Did she have what her neighbors or leaders had? No. But she trusted God’s gracious hand and that what he provided was for her eternal good.

That trust and thankfulness to God led to another aspect of her giving—she would not make excuses. She wasn’t intimidated by the large gifts others gave or the meekness of her offering. No, she focused not on those around her but only on her relationship with God. From what he had given—not much by earthly standards—in joy, she gave to God.

All of these aspects of the window’s gift are good for us to keep in mind. God asks us to give out of what he has given. We want to be generous! That means if he has given us much, perhaps the gifts or time will be more significant. If he was given little, they may be smaller dollar or hour amounts. But this is not a comparison game when we talk about trust in God’s promises and stewardship of the things he’s given. You don’t give relative to those around you; you give relative to what God has provided. If you have fewer financial resources or less time, that doesn’t mean your gift is somehow lesser than someone who has more. Regardless of the amount, a gift given in thankfulness to God is a pleasant sacrifice to him.

That spirit of thankfulness goes well beyond the gifts we give to God in offerings, the amount of volunteering we do, or the time we set aside to help our neighbor. Because this trust in God is produced by the sanctified heart that he provides. We know that regardless of our earthly blessings, we all stand on equal footing with God. We are all sinners who deserve his eternal punishment in hell, and the blessings around us are not indicative of what God thinks about us. By nature, we are his enemies, wrapped up in an eternal war with God that we will lose.

But like the widows, both in the temple and in Zerphath, God’s promises and actions change that. What had he promised these two women, separated by nearly 900 years of history? God pledged to them both a Savior from sin to solve this spiritual war we were waging against God. The only difference was that the widow giving her offering was seen by the physical eyes of the incarnate God; in just a few days, he would be laying down his life to keep that promise and pay for the world’s sins.

And so God has forgiven your sins and mine. He sanctified our hearts, setting us apart, when the Holy Spirit worked faith in our hearts through his Word and sacraments. We believe in God's promises not because of us but because of him.

If we are looking for trust, confidence, and peace in the world around us—earthly blessings, human relationships, political policy—we are looking in the same place the experts in the law were looking. And if we do so, it’s no wonder the world and our lives feel utterly chaotic. This corrupted world, with its misguided messages, can never bring the comfort that God provides. But, if, as the children of God, we find our confidence in God’s promises and work, and trust him to do what he said, then every earthly prop can fall away, and we will still stand with confidence in God’s promises. We still look forward, completely sure that God will, in the end, wipe every tear from our eyes.

So, with the faith God gives, trust what he’s promised you. In that trust, support others in their times of difficulty, both to provide immediate relief and to help them see the fullness of the love of our God that provides in all times—be they times of trial or blessing. You, dear Christian, are forgiven. Stand in that forgiveness and trust God to do what he’s promised. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria

Sermon prepared for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (WELS), Belmont, CA (www.gdluth.org) by Pastor Timothy Shrimpton. All rights reserved. Contact pastor@gdluth.org for usage information.