"Your Righteousness Exceeds"

Have you ever gotten into one of those conversations where a friend or neighbor or somebody you’re sitting next to on the plane finds out you are Lutheran and the person says something like, “Oh, yeah? You’re the ones say good works aren’t important and you can do whatever you want and still go to heaven, right?”

Or maybe you’ve even gotten into an argument with a fellow Lutheran—maybe even a be...loved family member or friend--about faith and Jesus meaning that you don’t have to go to church or give offerings; or that we ought to tolerate and even commend and welcome people who openly and willfully live contrary to the Word of God.

Hear again the Word of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ from our Gospel reading today:
[Jesus said:] “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them...."

To hear and/or read the entire sermon, "Your Righteousness Exceeds," preached for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity, click on this link. http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=3839

"They Left Everything"

Peter labors and labors--and finally is given more than he knows what to do with because he is not a fisherman for himself, but for many.

 This is a powerful and comforting lesson to us. The Lord is always near to us. And though it seems by our reckoning that He may delay for a time, finally the nets burst forth. As we continue to let down our nets according to our vocation, abiding in His Word, He will not only give us what we need, but what He wishes to deliver to others through us.

To hear and/or read the entire sermon preached for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity, "They Left Everything," click on this link. http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=3834

"Your Father Is Merciful"

"Your Father is merciful." [Luke 6:36]

This is the good news of today's Gospel text for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity.

The fact that you are here reading or listening to this today is evidence of God’s mercy. It tells you that He... has been and is now giving you everything you need for body and soul even though you have done nothing to deserve it and everything to be grounded from it.

Our Father in heaven has every right and would be perfectly fair if He grounded us for life and sent us to bed without our supper. But He doesn’t do that, does He?

To hear and/or read the entire sermon preached for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity, "Your Father Is Merciful," click on this link. http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=3829

 



 

 

 

"This Man Receives Sinners"

According to our Gospel of St. Luke for this Third Sunday after Trinity, "the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear [Jesus]. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, 'This man receives sinners and eats with them.'” [15:1-2]

Does this mean that Jesus tolerates your sin, even joins you in your sin? Certainly not!

But this is how the Pharisees and scribes saw it, and why they grumbled,...

But nothing could be further from the truth.

Jesus "the Christ, the Son of the Living God," calls sinners to repentance, strips each sinner of his own self-righteousness and brings them in repentance to dine with Him at His Table alongside other repentant, sinners at a most heavenly feast of His body and blood for forgiveness, life and salvation.

So there’s no need to grumble! There is always room at the table for one more sinner. God the Father is always ready to welcome one more stubborn Pharisee who has finally admitted to being among the lost....

To hear and/or read the entire sermon preached for the Third Sunday after Trinity, "This Man Receives Sinners," click on this link. http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=3825