Listen to the sermon with the player below, or, download the audio.
+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
In today’s Gospel Reading, we heard Jesus continue what you heard Him start last week (Matthew 9:35-10:8), instructing the twelve apostles, before sending them out on at least a short‑term “mission trip”. Today we heard Jesus speak rather frankly about the opposition to be expected by the twelve and those who believe their proclamation, including us. Jesus said that Christians should not fear such opponents, who can only kill the body but not the soul, but Christians should fear the One Who can destroy soul and body in hell, namely, God. Yet, Jesus said that God cares for all people and so those who endure to the end will be saved. This morning we consider today’s Gospel Reading under the theme, “The one who endures to the end will be saved”.
Much of today’s Gospel Reading arguably gives a rather bleak outlook for the apostles and those who believe their proclamation. Siblings will deliver siblings over to death, parents children, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. The apostles and their successors, pastors today, will be hated by all people for Jesus’s Name’s sake. Such opposition and persecution from unnamed enemies of the Gospel that might drive the apostles and their successors from town to town is not a question of “if” but “when”. As Jesus was (Matthew 9:34; 12:24-27), so His disciples and servants will be called names and accused of being in league with the devil, for they are members of Jesus’s own household of the Church. Despite all of that up close and personal opposition and persecution, Jesus commands us generally not to be afraid.
Yet, there are lots of things of which we are afraid, things that we do fear. We might fear for our lives in our world rife with conflict, where terrorism seems to be striking closer and closer to home. We might fear for our lives in our nation with its governmental gridlock, where, even if something does pass congress and become law, we might not be so sure that it will be to our benefit. We might fear for our lives in a changing economy with its mergers and acquisitions and uncertain financial future, where jobs that are here today might be gone tomorrow, along with the food and shelter that they provide. We might fear for our lives in hostile social contexts, where we might be unjustly hated for right things we have done, or perhaps even justly hated for wrong things we have done. Add to those fear of unrest in our congregation or family and fear of some sort of physical illnesses’ afflicting our loved ones or ourselves, and we see that there are lots of things of which we are afraid, things that we do fear.
We realize that we fear things that we should not fear, and perhaps we do not sufficiently fear Him Whom we should fear, namely God (Hebrews 10:31; Revelation 14:7). Any of those other things might lead to the death of the body, but they cannot kill the soul. Only God can destroy both soul and body in hell, tormenting them for eternity, apart from His eternal presence. Such eternal separation is what, apart from faith, we deserve on account of our sinful nature and our actual sin, including our wrongful fear of things that we should not fear. As we heard St. Paul remind the Romans and us in today’s Epistle Reading (Romans 6:12-23), the wages of sin is death! As Jeremiah proclaimed in today’s Old Testament Reading (Jeremiah 20:7-13), the Lord tests even the righteous; He sees the heart and the mind. And yet, God does not want to destroy us eternally in hell, and so He calls and thereby enables us to turn in sorrow from our sin and to trust Him to forgive our sin for Jesus’s sake, so that He might forgive us and enable us to endure to the end and so be saved.
For us and for our salvation, the Son of God came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary. The sinless God-man Jesus Christ was called names and accused of being in league with the devil; He was delivered over to death by one intimate disciple, and He was denied by another; ultimately, He died on the cross—all out of love for us, so that we might be forgiven our sins. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The ones who endure to the end will be saved—saved from their sins of fearing the things we should not fear or whatever our sins might be—saved from the eternal death and damnation of body and soul, saved for the eternal life and salvation of body and soul. Such forgiveness, life and salvation are gifts given to us here in this place, gifts which we who believe receive in faith even right now, through God’s Word in all its forms.
In today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus commands the twelve apostles and their successors to say in the light what Jesus told them in the dark, to proclaim on the housetops what He whispered in their ears, and so here today God’s Word is read and preached in its truth and purity. At the Font, God’s Word is combined with water in Holy Baptism, and there God puts His Name upon us and so makes us His children. After private confession, in individual Holy Absolution, our pastors, in God’s place and by His command, in that same Name of God, forgive the sins of the baptized. Thereby, we are admitted to this Altar to receive the Sacrament of the Altar at this rail, bread that is Christ’s Body and wine that is Christ’s Blood, given and shed for you and for me, for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. This Sacrament especially is the food for the way, which strengthens and preserves us in body and soul to life everlasting. Hearing the Word of God read and preached, and being baptized, absolved, and so fed, we endure—that is, we remain under, stand firm, stand fast, persevere—to the end—for whatever limited time God in His unsearchable greatness permits us to need to endure (Daniel 12:12-13; Revelation 2:10)—and so in the end we are saved, gaining our lives (Luke 21:19).
So enduring, not only do we not fear the things that we should not fear, but ultimately as believers we do not live in terror even of God, Whom we do, nevertheless, “revere”, love, and trust. For as we acknowledge—or better, “confess”—Jesus before people, Jesus also will confess us before His Father Who is in heaven. We live in solidarity with Jesus in our actions and potentially even our deaths. Like Jeremiah, we cannot help but speak of Him, and we do not deny Him by what we do (Titus 1:16). We present our bodies and their members to God as instruments for righteousness, and we know that with the same divine foreknowledge and at least passive will that permits the sparrow to fall to the ground, God works together for our good all that He permits us to face, thereby conforming us to the crucified image of His Son, so that we may join Him as brothers and sisters (Romans 8:28-29). God not only has counted and knows the number of the hairs of our heads, but He also will not let one hair—much less the whole of our heads, bodies, or souls—ultimately perish (Luke 21:18; confer Acts 27:34; 1 Samuel 14:45; 2 Samuel 14:11). When the Son of Man comes the final time, with glory, to judge both the living and the dead, all that is covered or hidden will be revealed and known; the truth and those who stood with it will be victorious over their persecutors, who ultimately will fail.
Considering today’s Gospel Reading we have realized that “The one who endures to the end will be saved”. In Christ Jesus, God has made us of infinitely more value than even many sparrows. We really have nothing to fear! We are blessed even when people hate us and persecute us on Jesus’s account, for our reward is great in heaven (Luke 6:22; Matthew 5:11-12). As we sang in today’s Introit (Psalm 56:3-4, 10-11; antiphon: Psalm 56:13), God has delivered our souls from death, that we may walk before Him in the light of life.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +