Sermon Tone Analysis

“Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem” (Luke 13:22).

Jesus knows that when he gets to Jerusalem, he is going to die.

So, if you expect Jesus to use His final teaching opportunities to share happy thoughts, you don’t know him very well.

With a sense of extreme urgency, Jesus shares truths we need to hear, even if we do not want to hear them.

As Jesus teaches hard truth, he challenges conventional wisdom.

He reverses the normal and natural order of things.

This should not surprise us, considering this Teacher’s life and work are the opposite of what one would expect.

When the truth is hard to hear, the first temptation is to deny it.

We cannot do that with Jesus’ teaching, for he never lies.

When the truth is hard to hear, the second temptation is to simply ignore it.

To do that with Jesus is to court eternal death.

Thus, Jesus’ words contain an urgent warning: Listen!

Take to heart what Jesus says!

For his Word, though it contains hard truth, gives eternal life.

Today’s readings contain Hard Truths as well.

God Gives You Worth

There is a difference between being unworthy and worthless.

Every sinner is unworthy.

No sinner deserves salvation.

We don’t deserve to be forgiven.

As we confess in the Small Catechism under the explanation of the fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer,

“We are neither worthy of the things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them . . .

for we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment.”

One of the problems people have in forgiving others is that they assume forgiveness must be deserved.

But forgiveness cannot be deserved.

Sinners don’t deserve to be forgiven.

They deserve to be punished.

This is why the Pharisees and scribes judged Jesus for associating with tax collectors and sinners.

Tax collectors were notorious cheats who enriched themselves at the expense of their neighbors.

The sinners mentioned here referred to those who engaged in some vice, such as prostitutes and other lowlifes of society.

Surely, if Jesus were a righteous man he would know that these sinners didn’t deserve to enjoy fellowship with him.

But he ate with them.

What did that make Jesus?

You know the saying, “Birds of a feather flock together.”

They stood in judgment of Jesus and convicted him by the standard of guilt by association.

They believed that if Jesus fellowshipped with sinners, that meant that he approved of their sin.

But they made a theological error.

They confused unworthiness with worthlessness.

The human race is corrupted, sinful, estranged from God, and deserving of eternal damnation.

This does not mean that the human race is worthless.

Our worth is assigned to us by God.

He who in the beginning said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness,” gave to the human race a value greater than anything else in all creation.

Unworthy?

Yes!

But we are God’s creation — the crown of his creation!

Our unworthiness doesn’t negate our worth.

We don’t determine our worth.

Our Creator does, and our Creator became our brother.

I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.

This is most certainly true.

When Jesus talks about a man looking for his lost sheep and a woman looking for her lost coin he is talking about himself looking for lost sinners.

He is answering the criticism of the religious establishment that judged the unworthy to be worthless.

Jesus answers such a judgment by redeeming the unworthy with his own blood and by that redemption establishing their true worth.

They are valuable to God.

Jesus redeemed the whole world.

He shed his blood for all sinners.

Those who wander in unbelief and in unrepentance; those who live lives serving themselves alone; who cheat, lie, commit adultery, get drunk, break their promises, and commit violence against their neighbors; abortionists, rapists, sodomites, terrorists, corrupt politicians, bullies, and murderers – Jesus loves these lost sheep.

He died for them.

He redeemed them all by his blood.

He searches for them.

He pursues them with the purpose of rescuing them from damnation in hell.

Why?

Because He loves them.

God Loves You

He loves you EVEN when you go astray.

When you misuse God’s name, ignore his word; even when you fear, love, and trust in sinful people instead of your faithful God.

Or, when you disobey those who are accountable for you, and treat your neighbor unkindly – he loves you.

He searches for you.

He wants you back where you belong.

He wants you to repent.

There is no greater event in the world than the repentance of a sinner.

If we have good government, good prices for what we are selling, and good neighbors; if we have a faithful spouse, respectful children, loving parents, and loyal friends – we are blessed.

But to be brought to repentance – that is the greatest blessing of all!

For when a sinner repents, Jesus brings him home.

When a sinner is reconciled to God and receives forgiveness of all his sins, the whole company of heaven rejoices.

That’s why Jesus seeks them out.

He seeks them.

They don’t seek him.

The doctrine of free will is a lie.

It was invented by the father of lies, Satan himself.

He loves to deceive us into thinking that our will, our choice, our decision is what saves us.

The Bible says that a sinner has by nature no spiritual ability at all.

If we teach that everyone born into this world is born spiritually blind, spiritually dead, and an enemy of God, we are speaking God’s truth about humanity’s spiritual condition.

And as far as human potential is concerned, that depends on God, does it not?

When we speak of humanity’s spiritual helplessness we are teaching God’s truth.

St.

Paul writes that those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

He writes that we were born dead in sin.

He writes that the things from the Holy Spirit are foolishness to the natural mind.

Jesus put it plainly: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.”

If we are going to repent and be saved, it will have to be by the grace of God alone.

God’s Word Delivers _________.

If God does not find you, you will remain lost forever, never to find your way back to God.

The sheep is lost.

If the shepherd doesn’t find him he dies.

He cannot find his way back to the fold.

The coin is lost.

Jesus chooses an inanimate object to illustrate how much spiritual power we have of ourselves.

A coin cannot find itself.

It must be found.