HYMN: Oppressors Rise to Trouble Me

Two hymn texts in a week doesn't make for a deluge, but it's an encouraging development. When I posted my metrical version of Psalm 1 last week, I said something about going in order. And I have started Psalm 2, for what it's worth. But I've hit a bit of a brick wall. I think I need to check out how others have handled their Psalm paraphrases. (Robin Fish Jr. comes to mind.)

So I moved on to Psalm 3. I had a free period during my substitute teaching assignment today, and I got a decent start on a text before I had to push myself to keep going. It's the first draft, but maybe you can help me tighten it up. It's set to the tune NUN FREUT EUCH, which we know best from the hymn "Dear Christians One and All, Rejoice." As always, feedback is love.

By the way, as I look at the Psalms, I'm endeavoring to find those places where they most clearly find their fulfillment in Christ. I hope to include that in my texts, much like Luther made Christ's presence abundantly clear in his great Psalm 46 hymn, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." It's one thing to faithfully paraphrase the source text; I'm endeavoring to interpret the source text while paraphrasing. Sometimes I'll do it fairly well; I hope you'll tell me when I've missed.

Oppressors Rise to Trouble Me

1. Oppressors rise to trouble me.

Their numbers are increasing.

They lift their godless mockery

With cruelty unceasing.

Yet You, Lord, are my mighty shield,

My glory and my help revealed.

My soul from fear is rescued.

2. They say from You I have no aid.

Their foolish claims incensed me.

By You their mindless wrath is stayed

Who set themselves against me.

So to the Lord I raised my voice.

He gave me reason to rejoice,

For from His hill He heard me.

3. In peace I lay me down to sleep.

I rise, for You sustained me.

My body, mind, and soul You keep;

In Christ have You obtained me.

I will not fear the evil horde,

For I belong to You, O Lord.

I rest in Your protection.

4. Arise, O Lord, and hear my cry!

Arise, my God, to save me!

Salvation comes from God on high.

No more may foes enslave me,

For You have struck my enemies

And drove the godless to their knees.

You bless Your chosen people.

87 87 887

NUN FREUT EUCH (LSB 556)

Psalm 3; oppression

Sermon for 9/20/26: Proper 20a

CLICK HERE for the sermon audio.

Heaven Is Not Fair
Matthew 20:1-16

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

The Kingdom of heaven is not the kingdom of men. That may seem as if it should be a “no-brainer,” as they say. But the way these two kingdoms are often confused tells us that we don’t understand this as well as we should. The Kingdom of heaven is not ruled by fairness, or equity, or even normal common sense. The fair thing, as the kingdom of men sees such things, is that you get what’s coming to you; you get your fair share. The world is enamored with the idea of karma. But the Kingdom of heaven doesn’t work that way.

Now, there is a place where everything is fair. There is a kingdom that is ruled with total equity. In Hell there is punishment for every sin. The fair wages of sin is eternal death; the Bible teaches that, doesn’t it? And so in Hell, things are always fair and equitable. In Hell you always get exactly what you have earned. And if that is what you demand, if that is the kind of kingdom and lord you desire, then that is what you will get.

This brings us to the parable of the vineyard owner and his laborers. The strange thing that happens here is that the vineyard owner pays more than his employees actually deserve. What wise employer ever paid his workforce, even if they were his own family, so foolishly? But that is precisely the case in this parable. And it is typical of the characters in our Lord’s parables, especially those who represent Him or the Father: they tend to behave in seemingly outrageous and even foolish ways. And that is because the wisdom of God confounds the wisdom of man. But however foolish he may appear, the owner of the vineyard is no fool. He knows exactly what he is doing. His actions are deliberate. It is not foolishness that causes him to overpay; it is generosity.

The lesson of the parable, the point of comparison, is that God is generous; He is merciful and gracious. He does not give us what our labors deserve. Instead, He gives us His own Son. He lavishes upon us that which we have no right to demand or even expect; though He is the Father’s beloved Son, His most precious possession, nonetheless the Father gives Him to us so that we might live. The Father is not foolish. He knows full well the cost of our salvation. He pays it willingly. He pays it deliberately. Indeed, this is His good and gracious will. He pays us, He rewards us, not according to the work or the deeds which we have performed—for it is not by works of our righteousness that we are saved. No. He pays us, He rewards us, according to His mercy. He pays us with His own abundant love, with boundless grace. After all, it is His to do with as He desires. And He desires you to have it and live it. And this is no exaggeration, as outrageous or foolish as it may seem. God forgives you in Christ Jesus, and He loves you as His own.

Let us consider ourselves under the terms of this parable. When the time comes for you to be paid, what will you have earned? What have you deserved? Will pay-day be a day of reckoning? Shall you, at last, be responsible for paying for your sins? No, it will be a day of grace. It will be day of reconciliation with your Father in heaven because of the death of His Son. Do not be troubled by this, as the world is troubled with what it considers foolish behavior on God’s part. Do not be scandalized by this, by the fact that God welcomes the worst and most notorious of sinners. Rather, be glad to join in! God is merciful, loving, and kind. He is patient, steadfast, and generous. He is gracious and faithful. He loves to love; that is His very nature. He loves to forgive. And so, look not to your own works. Do not look at the sins of others. Make no comparisons. Look only to the mercy of the Almighty God who came in human flesh, who loves to love you. Rejoice and take delight in the company of your brothers and sisters, a sinful-but-forgiven people, who have been brought out of the bondage of sin to freedom in Christ. Revel in the joy of grace that is not fair. Bask in the wages paid, the reward given, which you have not earned but have received from His lavish and unfailing love. Yours is a cup that is full to overflowing! There is nothing left to be concerned with, nothing left to complain about. What you have is better than fair!

Consider these things as you should come to the altar today. Come and receive what He desires to give you: the very body and blood of Christ. It is now the eleventh hour; no one knows when the clock will strike twelve. We are all beggars, as Luther said. We cannot save ourselves, and we have no right to make demands. But His love is His to do with as He pleases, and He wants you to have it. In grace and mercy, He treats you not as a hired hand, but as His own beloved, holy child. He pays you the wages owed to His perfect and worthy Son: life and salvation, the forgiveness of sins, and unity and peace with Him. These are the wages He has set apart for you even from eternity. So come and eat. Receive grace that you have not earned and do not deserve. Be joined to Him. You are the chosen. This is the inheritance of your Baptism. You are not your own, for you were bought with a price; you belong to Him. So come. Eat and be satisfied. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen.

 

HYMN: How Blest, the Man Who Finds Delight

You would think that, with all the free time with which I find myself afflicted, I would be writing hymns constantly. Sadly, that has not been the case. My mind has been whirling lately with all sorts of not-useful thoughts, and that's not exactly conducive to good writing. 

Nevertheless, there's something in me that wants to write, even if my brain and heart have not been particularly cooperative. I've got a Psalter sitting on the shelf next to my recliner. While I haven't opened it as much as I should, I opened it recently to the logical starting place: Psalm 1. I was tempted to turn to others--Psalm 25, for example, though it seems my "enemies" have been winning victory after victory lately--but my obsessive compulsive tendencies sometimes make me take things in order.

I don't know that it's particularly good, and it doesn't really say anything new. But I wrote a metric version of Psalm 1, and I share what I write, good and bad. So here's Psalm 1. We'll see if this is the start of a long-term project. 

Feedback is love.

How Blest, the Man Who Finds Delight

1. How blest, the man who finds delight

And meditates both day and night

In God's great Law. He will not stand

With sinners, that ungodly band.

2. He stands, unwithered, as a tree.

His work shall prosper gloriously.

Refreshed in that baptismal stream,

With sweetest fruit his branches teem.

3. The godless shall be blown away

Like chaff upon the judgment day.

They perish there before the Lord,

While saints receive their great reward.

LM (88 88)

Tallis' Canon

Psalm 1

Sermon for 9/13/26: Proper 19a

CLICK HERE for the sermon audio.

Forgiven
Matthew 18:21-35
 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

It seems like Peter always knows what is truly in the sinner’s heart, and he is never afraid to say it boldly. This time he says, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?” In other words, how long do I have to put up with my neighbor? What is the bare minimum I have to do to love my neighbor as myself? Yeah, I know that God is merciful to me, but how long must I be merciful to my brother? This is a dreadful way of thinking! And yet we all debate within ourselves hoe much to forgive our brothers. We must all learn some repentance today, before we are thrown into hell’s prison forever.

That’s what Jesus says. But don’t try to make Him say that God’s forgiveness really depends on how well you forgive your neighbor, as if you could forgive your neighbor as much as Jesus forgives you. Jesus knows that God’s mercy rests entirely on the Father giving His Son over to death, and He applies that work to you through Word and Sacraments. God has paid the penalty for sin by killing Jesus on the cross. All your debt is paid. What you owe, Christ bought with His innocent blood as the price. Though you deserved to be cast into the fires of hell until you’ve paid every last cent, Jesus bore the punishment in your place. He paid the whole amount of debt for every man, woman and infant: from the vilest murderer to the meekest child. Jesus rescued you from ever thinking there is anything you have to do or give or show to gain a place in God’s kingdom. So do not believe for a moment that your Savior will withhold God’s grace until the sinner makes full repayment for his sins. That’s already been made.

But also don’t believe that He wants you to cast off a repentant brother or make someone suffer even a moment longer before you give them forgiveness. Jesus speaks today the way a king would if, having forgiven one servant an incredible amount of money, he then finds out that that same servant turned around and had a fellow servant put in prison for a debt far less than what was owed the king. If you tell a repentant brother or sister in Christ that you cannot be reconciled to them, in essence, you’re saying that one of you belongs in hell. Be careful who you say that to, because it might not be your brother who belongs there.

It is the pastor’s lot to stand in the middle of these two errors. Pastors hear the sins that people confess. They watch the lives of God’s people fall apart because of sin. They hear criticisms and accusations and complaints, sometimes against the pastor himself, against his family, against the ways in which he faithfully performs the duties God sets before him. Still, a pastor stands before the altar and says: “I forgive you all your sins.” He hears your sins and he forgives, admitting poor sinners like himself to Christ’s altar. By the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ in bread and wine, your sins are done away with, forgiven and forgotten by God. Learn from the Ministry our gracious God provides for you! Pastor Williams will faithfully speak those words to you, as I did this morning. Learn from how God deals with you; learn from Him how to act toward one another, how to love one another, how to forgive one another. Learn from your Savior as He takes your sins, dies for them, and pours out His forgiveness.

Pay attention to the Gospel that has been set before you. Has there ever been a time when a sinner comes with repentance and confesses and does not receive absolution from God? If you don’t know the answer to that, you have not been paying attention. Every pastor who has served you—both those who have served you full time and those who have filled in during vacancies and illnesses—every pastor has promised to forgive repentant sinners, and a pastor should and must be removed from the Holy Ministry if he doesn’t forgive repentant sinners as Jesus has commanded him to do. So come and learn the Gospel of Jesus. Learn that, when you sin, the Lord will use your pastor to hear your confession and speak forgiveness. He will use your pastor’s mouth to preach to you that Jesus died so that you will live. Your sins now belong to Jesus, and He calls them all forgiven. He will feed you with His body and blood, bringing forgiveness, life, and salvation to your lips. From these, you learn to use your lips to forgive others.

Like Peter, your pastor is under orders to forgive as often as you come repenting. And if you are not yet strong enough to let go of the sins someone has committed against you, confess your weakness and your lack of faith and love. For the sake of Jesus, and in His stead, your pastor will say, “In the stead and by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins.” He will urge you to receive the Holy Supper. And with such forgiveness, we, who ought to pay forever, will “sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against us,” no matter how many times we have to do it. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

 

Sermon for 9/6/26: Proper 18a

CLICK HERE for the sermon audio.

Greatness in Weakness
Matthew 18:1-20
 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

“Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Last week, we heard Jesus tell His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer and be killed, and on the third day be raised. Shortly after, Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James, and John, His face shining like the sun, His clothes as white as light. A few verses before today’s Gospel begins, we have another Passion prediction, when Jesus said, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.”

After all that, one would be tempted to think that the disciples would have questions about His upcoming suffering, death, and resurrection. But that is not what they asked. Instead they asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Some of them had seen Jesus shining brighter than the sun, talking with Moses and Elijah. All of them had heard Jesus talk about His coming suffering, death, and resurrection. And this is the question that comes to their minds?

Jesus knew a good teaching opportunity when it happened. Calling to Him a child, He said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus took the opportunity of their question to teach them that greatness in the kingdom of heaven is totally different than in the kingdoms of this world.

You might be tempted to think, “Ah, the innocence of youth. That is what Jesus is teaching. He is pointing to a child because children are so innocent.” When they are all decked out in their Sunday best, children can look pretty innocent. But any parent will tell you that you must teach children to tell the truth because children are natural liars. You must teach children to share because they are selfish by nature. Children may look innocent, but they are not. As King David wrote, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”

So why did Jesus use a child as an example of the greatest? What is so special about them? What can they do for the kingdom? What can they do for Jesus? The answer of course is nothing. That’s just the point, isn’t it? Children have no capacity for entering the kingdom of God. We think of Jesus with the children, but those children never came on their own. Scripture tells us that people brought even infants to him that he might touch them. Someone brought the infants. They didn’t crawl up on their own. And that’s the point. When it comes to the Kingdom and a right relationship with God, there is no room for human initiative, effort, self-promotion, or self-justification—none at all!

So Jesus taught His disciples that the one who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is the one who needs the most help. The one who is totally helpless is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. This is the opposite of this world, where the one who gives the most help is the greatest. The one who is the most helpless comes under God’s protection. Jesus said, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!” The holy angels themselves defend God’s children. Our Father gladly answers says, “Yes,” when we pray with Luther, “Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.” So the helpless are the greatest; they are perfect candidates for grace.

This sinful world seeks greatness through power. Jesus Himself said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.” That is the way of the world: get power and use it to control others. The one who uses power most effectively is the greatest. But Jesus points to a helpless child as the standard of greatness. The one who is the most helpless, the weakest, the humblest, the lowliest, the most reliant on Jesus: that one is the greatest.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, beloved of our Father: last week we heard that followers of Christ bear the crosses set before us. And there are and always will be times when the burden beats you down. The flaming darts of the evil one are especially fierce. Those who suffer these attacks are the little ones of whom Jesus speaks, the ones who are the greatest in the eyes of our Father. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Yours is the kingdom of heaven.

So how do you become like a little child? You are born from above, born anew, in the waters of Holy Baptism, where God makes you His own child, where the Spirit works faith in you. He restores your childlike faith: faith that relies on Jesus alone instead of on your own reason or strength. And our Father gladly feeds that faith with the body and blood of His Son for the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of that faith. In this way you are able to bear your burdens with courage and patience. As the Lord said to St. Paul in the midst of Paul’s suffering, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” And Paul answers, “When I am weak, then I am strong.”

When you were at your most helpless, when you were dead in trespasses and sin, our Lord treated you as the greatest in the kingdom. He took on your weakness, carrying your sin. He died so that you would live. And He rose so you would have eternal life with Him forever. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.