By Whose Authority?

Sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost based on Matthew 21:23-32

Dear children of God: grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

As Jesus was teaching in the Temple, the chief priests and elders of the people questioned Him saying, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”

The question of authority is an important one. Not just anyone can show up in the Temple to teach. Not just anyone rides into Jerusalem to the shouts of “Hosanna” as Jesus had done earlier in the week. Not just anyone throws out money changers and salesmen from the Temple as Jesus had also done that week.

The chief priests and elders of the people were questioning Jesus’ authority to do what He did and say what He said.

In answer, Jesus asked them a question in return, “The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” Jesus asked them this question, because it has the same answer as the question they asked Him.

If Jesus’ authority is from man, then His forerunner’s authority is also from man. If Jesus’ authority comes from God the Father, then His forerunner’s authority is also from God the Father. If the chief priests and elders would have answered Jesus’ question correctly, they would have also answered their own question correctly. But they refused to answer.

When John came preaching a baptism of repentance, the tax collectors and the prostitutes repented and received the forgiveness of sins. They stopped living in their sin. They turned from sin and produced the fruit of repentance (Mt. 3:1-6). The chief priests and elders, on the other hand, did not repent of their sin. They presumed to say that Abraham is their father as if that is a substitute for repentance. They were saying, “We are God’s children, so we don’t need to repent. We don’t need to do the will of the Father.” Thus, Jesus told the chief priests and the elders of the people, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.”

The chief priests and the elders of the people had rejected John’s baptism of repentance. Sure, the tax collectors and prostitutes need to repent, they thought. They thought that they themselves were so good and so righteous that they didn’t need to repent of sin. They thus rejected the Saviour. They rejected the Saviour as preached by John the Baptist, so they rejected the Saviour standing before them, teaching in the Temple.

Of course, it makes sense that if you reject Christ’s messenger, you reject Christ who sent the messenger. Christ says to His ministers, “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” (Luke 10:16)

Thus, you are stuck with the same question about your minister. Is my ministry to you from God or from man? If it is from man, then come to church when you feel like it, and don’t come when you don’t feel like it. If my ministry to you is from man, then take what you like from the things that I say, and discard those things that you don’t like. If my ministry to you is from man, then I am speaking my own opinions and ideas, and you really lose nothing if you don’t hear what I say.

However, if my ministry to you is from God; if I have been called by God to serve you here in this place, then you better be here, hearing what God has called me to say. If my ministry to you is from God, then take what I speak to you from God’s Word to heart, whether you like it or not, because it is not my opinion, but the Word of God. If my ministry to you is from God, then it is He Himself who is speaking to you through His Word, it is He Himself who absolves you, it is He Himself who gives you the body and blood of His Son to eat and to drink.

By what authority am I doing these things, and who gave me this authority? When Christ sends His ministers, He tells them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:18-20)

Christ has all authority in heaven and on earth. So when He sends His ministers to preach His Word and administer His sacraments, He has the authority to do it, and His ministers do what they do and say what they say by Christ’s authority, not their own.

That is why you can trust in the forgiveness of sins received in Baptism. It is Christ who has all authority in heaven and on earth, and it is Christ who sends His ministers to baptize. That is why you can trust in the forgiveness of sins received in Absolution. It is Christ who has all authority in heaven and on earth, and it is Christ who sends His ministers to absolve you. That is why you can trust in the forgiveness of sins received in the Sacrament of the Altar. It is Christ who has all authority in heaven and on earth, and it is Christ who sends His ministers to distribute to you His true body and blood for the forgiveness of all your sins.

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Christ, and He sends His ministers to preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins in His name. Repentance, because we are all sinful and must turn away from our sins. Forgiveness, because salvation does not come from our own work or efforts to save ourselves.

If forgiveness of sins comes from our own work or efforts to save ourselves, the chief priests and elders of the people would have been in good shape because of all the good that they did. However, good works cannot avert our doom, they help and save us never. Faith looks to Jesus Christ alone, Who did for all the world atone; He is our one Redeemer (LSB 555 st. 1).

Faith looks to Jesus Christ alone. Nothing else. Jesus is the one who fulfilled the demands of God’s Law for us. Jesus is the one who suffered and died for us. Jesus is the one who rose from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity.

Faith looks to Jesus Christ alone. Nothing else. Faith does not look to our works. Faith does not look to our sins. Faith does not look to how successfully we have managed to avoid the sins of our weak flesh.

Faith looks to Jesus Christ alone because we don’t need anything else. In Him we have the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. In Him we have salvation full and free. Faith looks to Jesus Christ alone because in Him we have the promise of health after illness, of joy after sadness, of life after death.

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus, so as He has promised you, He can and will bring you to where He is, so that where He is, you may be also. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Generous Wages

Sermon for the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost based on Matthew 20:1-16

Dear recipients of generous wages: grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Do not run your vineyard, or your farm, or your business like the master of the house in Jesus’ parable. If you pay the labourer who works for one hour in the day equal to the one who works twelve hours in the day, you will not find many labourers willing to work twelve hours, but you will find many willing to work one hour.

It simply is not fair to give equal pay for unequal work. If one labourer worked twelve hours, it is not fair to pay him the same as to the labourer who worked only one hour. We have a sense of what is fair and right, and that’s not it.

If you want to run your farm or business profitably, you have to reward the behaviour in your employees that helps you make more money. You have to pay the employees more that do more work and pay the employees less who do less work. That’s how you stay in business. That’s how you don’t lose the farm. It’s just good business. Equal pay for equal work, right? You get paid for the work you do, but not for the work you don’t do.

The Church, which is the kingdom of heaven on earth, is not a business. Sure, we have to do some business-like things, but the Church is not a business. We have to pay the bills. We have to maintain the building. We have to give enough to balance the budget or this congregation will close. However, the Church is not a business. Equality in the kingdom of heaven is not the same as equality in business.

In one sense, we are all equal. We are all sinners deserving temporal and eternal punishment. That is where the equality stops. Some members of the kingdom of heaven spent a lifetime living in sin before entering the kingdom of heaven, while others were baptized into the kingdom of heaven the day they were born. Some members of the kingdom of heaven have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat, working on the church council, as treasurers, as trustees, while other members simply show up and reap the benefits. Some members support the church through sacrificial offerings to the congregation, to seminaries, to missions, while other members contribute next to nothing at all. Despite these differences in labour, we all get equal wages – eternal life in the kingdom of heaven.

This doesn’t seem fair. It doesn’t seem right. That’s even before we start comparing ourselves to those who have worked as missionaries in dangerous places, sacrificing the comforts of this life to bring the Gospel to others, sometimes even sacrificing their very lives. Yet, we all get the same wages that we were promised.

The kingdom of heaven is not a meritocracy. We don’t get what we deserve in God’s kingdom. If we got what we deserved as our wages, we would all get eternal death. As Scripture teaches, “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).

Rather, everyone in the kingdom of heaven receives the same undeserved wages – “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).

God does not give out varying amounts of forgiveness. In Jesus, He always gives us full and complete forgiveness. Regardless of the amount of sin in your past, Christ covers them all with His righteousness. You cannot be more righteous than Jesus, so when Jesus gives you His righteousness, there is no one more righteous than you. Before God’s judgment throne, you are as perfect and righteous as Jesus, since He has given you His righteousness. The same is true of everyone who is God’s child, no matter what they’ve done or left undone.

Now, we can look at those who we deem to be more sinful, or those we deem to have worked less or given less than us, and say that it’s not fair that they get the same wages as us. God responds to us, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Are you not getting the wages that I promised you? I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?”

We need to stop looking at others and look to ourselves. We are all guilty before God and deserving nothing but hell. Out of His great love and generosity, He forgives us all freely and gives us wages that we do not deserve. How dare you begrudge God’s generosity to others! Is God not allowed to give His forgiveness to everyone as He sees right? Is God not allowed to give all His children His overflowing, undeserved forgiveness like He gives it to you?

God is so generous and overflowing with His forgiveness so that we all know that it is for us. The kingdom of heaven is not a business. Forgiveness is not sold. Forgiveness is not earned. Forgiveness is given freely because Jesus has paid the price of the sins of the whole world.

Through His life and death, Jesus earned the wages of eternal life for us. He is the one who earned and accomplished what we cannot. He alone earned salvation for us and gives it to us freely, as a gift.

Christ gives salvation freely through Baptism to the infant just newly born. He gives it freely to the sinner who finally on his deathbed recognizes and confesses his sins and is absolved. Christ gives His salvation freely in the Sacrament of the Altar, where all we do is receive His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins, and yet we receive the wages of eternal life that Christ earned for us.

None of us has accomplished the work necessary to save us, but Jesus has. None of us has laboured to the point of earning eternal life for ourselves, but Jesus earned eternal life for us. None of us deserves eternal life, but Jesus gives it to us freely. His Church is not a place of business, but a place where forgiveness is given freely, abundantly, and generously. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

…As We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us

Sermon for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost based on Matthew 18:21-35

Dear forgiven debtors: grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

The unmerciful servant was thrown into jail for eternity because he did not forgive his fellow servant. Jesus says, “So also my heavenly Father will do to everyone of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

That’s a scary statement. It is found elsewhere in Scripture also. After Jesus taught His disciples the Lord’s Prayer, He said, “if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses.” (Mt. 6:14-15) In other words, if you do not forgive those who have sinned against you, you are going to hell for eternity.

These are not easy words to hear. They’re not easy to hear because we know how much we struggle to forgive. We have been sinned against. Those close to us have betrayed us. Evil things have been said about us. We’ve been cheated. Precious things have been taken from us. Our families have suffered because of things done by others, and we are the ones who are in danger of hell if we don’t forgive?

We must understand correctly what this means. First, we must understand that it is not our forgiveness of others’ sins that earns us forgiveness for our sins. We are not forgiven because we forgive others. We are forgiven freely because of Jesus’ death in our place which paid the debt of our sins. There is no payment made by us for our sins.

Consider the servant that was forgiven his debt of ten thousand talents. He pleaded for time to pay it off, but this was a delusion. He could never pay it off. In today’s dollars, based on the price of gold, ten thousand talents would amount to over ten billion dollars. This servant didn’t have a hope to pay off his debt.

The king forgave the debt. The king took it upon himself to pay the debt because he knew only he could pay such a debt. The king took it upon himself to pay the great debt because he had mercy on his servant; he had compassion on his servant. Rather than throwing the servant into jail for eternity, he forgave the debt freely with no cost to the servant.

That is how God forgives us. God took it upon Himself to pay the debt of our sins, because our debt of sins is too large for us to ever pay off. Jesus paid our debt with His holy and precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death. God had mercy and compassion on us and forgave us, because our debt has been paid by Jesus. Rather than throwing us into hell for eternity, He forgave our debt freely with no cost to us. Thus, we are not forgiven because we forgive others. It is not our forgiveness of others’ sins that earns us forgiveness for our sins. We are forgiven because Jesus has paid for our sins.

The next thing to understand is that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, so the debt of every single sin, including those committed against you has been paid. You have no right to refuse to forgive a sin that has been paid by Jesus’ death. If you do not forgive someone who has sinned against you, it means that you do not believe that Jesus’ death has paid for the sins of the world. Refusing to forgive someone is saying that the payment of Jesus’ most holy obedience, suffering, and death is not enough to pay for that sin. Thus, someone refusing to forgive shows that he is not a believer, that he does not believe in the forgiveness of sins.

Christians forgive. Christians forgive because we have been forgiven. Christians forgive because we know that Jesus died for all sin – our sin and the sin committed by others against us. Christians pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Christians confess in the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.”

If Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, why is everyone not going to heaven? Why does anyone end up in hell? Why was the unmerciful servant thrown into jail for eternity even though the king had forgiven his debt?

Let’s go back to the text. The servant did not ask the king for mercy. He didn’t ask the king for compassion. The servant didn’t ask for the king to forgive the great debt that he could never pay. No, he asked for patience. He asked for a little bit of time to make the payment. He didn’t want the king’s forgiveness. He wanted time to earn the billions of dollars that he really had no chance of earning to pay the debt.

The unmerciful servant did not believe in forgiveness and mercy, thus, even though the king offered it to him, he rejected it. That’s why he went and choked his fellow servant and threw him in jail, refusing to forgive him. This man who did not want to be forgiven, did not want to forgive.

God offers His forgiveness freely to all. If you don’t want it, then He won’t give it to you. If you reject His forgiveness, then you don’t have it. God will take it away from you.

Refusing to forgive others is refusing to be forgiven by God. It is rejecting forgiveness. If you do not forgive your brother, then you do not want God’s forgiveness.

Do not ask God to just be patient with you. Asking for patience is not a confession of sin. As long as you ask for time instead of forgiveness, you remain under the burden of sin. As long as you think you have something to offer, you reject the forgiveness of sins God offers to you freely.

Thus, we go to God with nothing to offer. We don’t approach Him making promises to do better. We approach God confessing our sin. We don’t look at our mountain of sin and say if we had some time we could pay it off. We confess our sin, and God forgives our sin.

The mountain of debt that we had has been forgiven. Jesus paid for it. Jesus paid for the debt of all sin, including our brother who sinned against us. With our sin forgiven, we therefore also forgive our brother. Seven times? No. Rather seventy times seven. We keep forgiving.

We keep forgiving, because God keeps forgiving us. God does not count how many times He forgives us. He doesn’t have a quota for absolutions. He doesn’t ration the Lord’s Supper and say that you’ve had enough. God’s forgiveness in Christ is always offered to sinners.

God even forgives those times in our past when we held a grudge and did not forgive. He forgives us and strengthens us to forgive them now. God’s forgiveness even enables us to let go of angry feelings and pray for those who have sinned against us.

God’s forgiveness has wiped out all of our sins. Our mountain of debt that we could not pay off was paid by Jesus’ blood. God has had pity and compassion on us. He has shown His mercy to us and saved us from hell. We will not be cast into hell for eternity because God has forgiven us and continues to forgive us, so we can forgive our brother who sins against us. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Sin is Serious

Sermon for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost based on Matthew 18:1-20

Dear recipients of forgiveness: grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

The world laughs at sin. To them, sin is just a big joke. Everyone does whatever he wants, and any suggestions that God has given us His Commandments to follow with threats of punishment for not following them is laughable to the world.

This is reflected in today’s media. What sin is not laughed at? It is thought to be hilarious when children are defiant to their parents and even curse at them. It’s funny that someone keeps stealing from his neighbour or keeps doing stupid things when he’s drunk. It’s a joke that someone keeps cheating on his wife. Movies and shows often are based entirely on such “humour” to the point that we get immune to even thinking about how disgusting and sinful such actions are. We get immune to the point that when we see such things in our own families, we don’t even think of them as sins. We are in danger of sin becoming as big of a joke to us as it is to the godless world.

Sin has certainly become a joke to some churches already. The “bishop” of the other Lutheran church body, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, just declared this past week that God does not condemn sin. She said if there is such a thing as hell, it is empty. Sin is just a big joke to that church body. That is one of many reasons we are not in fellowship with them.

To God, however, sin is no joke. You heard what Jesus tells you to do, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone.” Go confront your brother if he sins and rebuke him. Jesus doesn’t tell you to laugh at your brother’s sin. He doesn’t tell you to ignore your brother’s sin. He doesn’t tell you to go tell your pastor about your brother’s sin or to gossip to anyone else about the sin either. Jesus tells you to go confront him. Rebuke him. Correct him.

Why? Because sin is not a joke. Sin is a breaking of God’s Commandments. Sin is rebellion against our creator. Sin is turning away from God’s good and perfect will to the devil’s evil and wicked will. Sin breaks communion with God and separates the sinner from God. Sin most certainly can damn a sinner to eternity in hell, that place of torment and gnashing of teeth which God’s Word tells us is not empty. That is why Jesus tells you to go confront your brother who sins. Jesus does not want to be separated from communion with your brother. Jesus does not want your brother condemned to hell.

Don’t tell me you’re too timid or shy to correct your brother who sins. If someone tells you that it is good that our Prime Minister pays out $10 million of our tax dollars to a terrorist murderer, you will voice your disagreement. If someone tells you that your favourite television show is a waste of time, you will speak up and defend it. If someone mocks the Roughriders, I hardly think you’d keep quiet. So why keep quiet when your brother sins?

We can only conclude that politics, television shows, and sports are more important to us than God’s Word; that they are more important to us than our brother’s salvation. We’ve bought into the devil’s lies about what is important to stand up for and defend and what is not.

We need to repent. We need to repent because neither our sin nor the sin of our brother is a light matter or a joke. That’s why Jesus says if your brother doesn’t listen to you, take one or two others with you to call your brother to repentance. If he doesn’t listen to you still, tell it to the church. If he refuses even to listen to the church, then he is to be treated as someone outside the church, outside the kingdom of God. He is to be treated as someone on the way to hell.

So many steps. So much hard, stressful, difficult work. That’s how much God loves our brother who sins. God wants to give him every opportunity to repent. That’s how much God loves us. He wants to give us every opportunity to repent.

Repentance has two parts. First, that we are sorry for our sins, fear God’s wrath, and grieve that we have sinned when God’s Word condemns our sin. And second, that in the midst of grieving over sin, we believe and trust that our sin is forgiven freely on account of Christ.

Our sin is forgiven freely because God takes sin so seriously that He gave His only Son to die for sin. Sin is so serious that God punished all sin in Jesus. Sin is so serious that Jesus was mocked, beaten, tortured, and killed because of it. Sin is the reason God the Father forsook His Son and would not listen to His cries, moans, or prayers as He suffered and died.

You have been bought with a price – the holy, precious blood of Christ, and His innocent suffering and death. You have been redeemed – God has bought you back for Himself and rescued you from all the weight of your sins.

Sin is not a light matter or joke, but forgiveness is an even greater matter. Forgiveness of sins brings sinners from darkness to light, from death to life, from hell to heaven. Forgiveness of sins snatches us out of the grasp of the evil foe and into the hand of our heavenly Father, from whose hand no one can snatch us.

It doesn’t matter how many people take sin lightly and laugh it off. Great numbers do not sway the truth, and they don’t sway God. Jesus promises to be present where two or three are gathered in His name.

Where one baptizer baptizes one person, there is Christ among them. Where one penitent is absolved by one who pronounces absolution, there is Christ among them. Where just one shut-in or hospitalized member celebrates the Sacrament of the Altar with one celebrant, there Christ has promised to be.

Baptism, Absolution, and the Sacrament of the Altar are no light matter either. They are the means by which God gives you the forgiveness of sins.

If I told you that there is a bank account with a million dollars in it, it would do you no good if you cannot access it. The money is sitting there, but if you cannot receive it, it is useless to you. But if I gave you a cheque book, a bank card, and an online banking password, all of a sudden you can benefit from the money in the bank account. You can receive what is there for you to receive.

Just so, there is forgiveness of sins and eternal life which has been bought for you by Jesus’ death. It does no good to you if you cannot access it. If you do not receive it, it is useless to you. Thus, Christ instituted Baptism, Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper. These are the means Christ instituted so that you can have access to His forgiveness and receive it. There’s not even a limit on the account! You can keep receiving forgiveness over and over. You can keep accessing and receiving forgiveness, given and shed for you. God gives it to you in unlimited supply.

Sin is such a serious matter, that God will continue to forgive you so that you will not end up in hell. Sin is so grave a matter, that God will continually forgive your sins all the way to the grave so that you will enter eternal life. Sin is such a big deal, that God gave His only Son to die for sin, so that you can receive unlimited and unending forgiveness over and over, day after day, to eternal life. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

 

Commitment

Sermon for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost based on Matthew 16:21-28

Dear saints to whom God is committed: grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

It is easy to see commitment. If someone is committed to his career, it is obvious to everyone around him. He puts in the time, day and night, weekday and weekend, holidays included. Whatever it takes to get the job done. He keeps up to date on industry trends and participates in continuing education. He doesn’t give 80% or 90%. The standard business slogan is to give 110%. Do what it takes to get the job done.

Commitment in sports is similar. If someone is committed to a sport, it is obvious to everyone around him. Late night practices trying to perfect that shot. Early morning games far from home. From a few years old, great sums of money must be invested into equipment and lessons, team fees and travel. Scraped knees, bloody noses, and some broken bones are the price you have to be willing to pay. Do whatever it takes to get it done.

So what does commitment to God look like? Coming to church here and there when you feel like it and when it is very convenient? Reading the Bible to the family perhaps on a special day like Easter or Christmas, if at all? Giving God an offering of the excess cash you don’t need for something else? That’s not what Jesus says.

Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Denying yourself is giving everything to God. Not just your time, talents, and treasure, but your soul, your life, your all. Denying yourself is not holding anything back. It is praying, “Not my will, but yours be done.” Denying yourself is throwing everything you want out the door and entrusting yourself to God and His will.

The disciples didn’t do so well with this. When Jesus was arrested in Gethsemane, not one of them stood by Him. They all fled. Not one of them denied themselves and picked up their cross to follow Jesus. They all wanted to save their lives rather than lose them.

We see it further with Peter and His denial of knowing Jesus during His trial. Today we also heard it when Peter’s idea of how Jesus should save us did not line up with Jesus’ plan of salvation. Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked Him. Jesus told the disciples that it is necessary that He go to Jerusalem to suffer and die, but Peter thought that was a bad idea. He didn’t deny himself and his will but he denied Jesus and His will. Peter said, “God be merciful to you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.”

Jesus replied very sternly and sharply, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Peter was not denying himself and his will. He was not submitting himself to God’s will, which of course is not just far better, but is perfect. Peter’s will was that Jesus would not die. That is Satanic! That is why Jesus responded so sharply.

As Jesus explained, He must go to Jerusalem to suffer and be killed. There is divine necessity in that word “must.” It was divinely necessary that it happen. Jesus didn’t fall into a trap made by the elders and chief priests and teachers of the law. He wasn’t tricked into suffering and dying. Jesus intentionally walked right into it. It was God’s plan of salvation from before the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8).

Peter thought that God should be merciful to Jesus, but that was not the way to save us. In order for God to be merciful to us, He was not merciful to Jesus. Jesus was charged with the sins of the whole world. Jesus was given the punishment that our sins deserve even though He was innocent of sin.

Jesus was committed to die for us so that God would be merciful to us. Jesus was committed to the reason He came to earth, thus He knew it was necessary that He suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed. Jesus was committed to His plan of salvation, because He is committed to us.

It is easy to see Jesus’ commitment to us. He left the joys of heaven to come save us. He lived a life of humble service and fulfilled God’s Commandments which we cannot fulfil. He was committed to the point of death on a cross to save us.

Jesus had to do it all for us to save us because our commitment to do what is right is so fragile and wavering. Our inability to be committed to God is proved by the sins that we fall into over and over. Our inability to be committed to God is proved by our laziness and indifference to hear and read His Word. Our inability to be committed to God is proved by our small offerings to God despite His rich blessings to us.

We are not committed to God. No one would ever accuse us of giving God 110% or doing whatever it takes to spread the Gospel. We do not show the commitment to God that we show the many other things in our lives.

Thus, we need to be asked, “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?” What will it profit if we have millions in the bank and we die and go to hell? What will it profit if our children play in the NHL or major league baseball but they die eternally?

Jesus points Peter and us to the eternal things that actually matter. He tells us to set our minds on the things of God, not on the things of man.

When Jesus asks, “What shall a man give in return for his life?” we know the answer. There is nothing we can give in return for our lives. All the money in the world will not buy us eternal life. All the good works in the world will not buy us eternal life. All our commitments to God will not buy us eternal life.

The only thing that can be given in exchange for our lives is the life of Jesus. Jesus willingly and gladly gave His life in exchange for ours. If Jesus had been merely a man, the payment would not have been enough. Since Jesus is God, the payment was complete and perfect. His perfect, innocent life for our miserable, sinful lives.

Our commitment to God cannot save us because it is woefully inadequate. Jesus’ commitment to us has saved us because it is perfect and complete. He died for us and rose from the dead to reign at the right hand of God the Father almighty. He committed Himself to us personally by putting His name on us in Baptism. He committed Himself to us by instituting His holy Supper for us, giving us His true body and blood to eat and drink for the forgiveness of sins.

It is easy to see commitment. In everything God has done and continues to do for us, we see that He is completely committed to our salvation. He puts in the time and the effort. He has done and continues to do whatever it takes to save us. God is committed to you, to save you, and you can see it in everything that He has done and continues to do for you. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.