Trinity
4 – July 13th and 14th, 2019 – Luke 6:36-42
In
the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit +
“You
have every right to be angry.” I’m sure you’ve heard that
phrase before, it’s probably been said to you. You may have even
told it to a person – I have. You have every right to be angry, to
be upset. Actually, we don’t; not the way we can think of it.
Anger happens, it’s the response that we sinful folks have when we
or the people we love are wronged. But St. Paul says, “Be
angry, and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and
give no opportunity to the devil.”
Yep, we on occasion get angry, get upset – occasionally we will be
angry, but we have no right to stay angry, no right to let anger
influence our actions. This is what Jesus teaches us in the Gospel
lesson; He shows us why our anger is something we should avoid and
beat down when it flares up. Let us listen to our Lord this morning.
Be
merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
This is what you are to be – merciful. When you think about it,
mercy is as about as far from anger as you can get. I know when I am
feeling angry, when I am upset, mercy is the farthest thing from my
mind. When I’m angry, I want vengeance, I want someone to get what
they deserve, I want them to suffer humiliations galore. That’s
not what I’m supposed to do, that’s not who I’m supposed to be.
I am to be a merciful, loving person. The problem is my Old Adam,
my sinful flesh doesn’t crave mercy. It craves power and control
and respect, it wants to teach people a lesson. That’s not who we
are to be. We are to be like God, God who is merciful – and not
just merciful in general, but merciful to us. God has His way; His
way is forgiveness. That’s how God likes, that’s how God prefers
to handle sin. That is God’s plan – sin should be forgiven.
But
if we refuse God, if we demand our own way and demand that sin be
punished, if that’s how we want to be, God will do things our way.
You want people’s sin to be on their heads, you want them to suffer
for their wrongs – okay. Have it your way – but that’s how it
will work for you as well. God says, “You don’t like
forgiveness, you want judgment and punishment and condemnation to be
the way things work, so be it.” Jesus warns us of this. Judge
not and you will not be judged, condemn not and you will not be
condemned. It’s
really quite simple. How do you want it to be? Do you want to keep
a record of sins done against you? Hear the Psalmist – If
You, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O LORD, who could stand?
If you want to demand that vengeance be taken against another for
their sins, if you want to abandon mercy – guess what comes to you.
And this makes sense. I remember playing basketball on the play
ground growing up – and most of the time, we wouldn’t foul each
other, we’d pull off, we’re just having fun. But then, someone
fouls, drops the hammer on a guy. And you know what happens? Next
time, that guy gets fouled. And soon we’re all knocking each other
around. Same thing here – God wants our lives to be ones of mercy
– but if we want them to be full of judgment and condemnation –
God will play that way too. And you know what? That’s not good
for us. Growing up, I was small. I could never give as good as I
got when we started fouling – it was bad for me. Trying to play
the judging game is bad for us. Blame game, condemnation game, bad
for us. Ends up with us in hell.
You
see, that’s what we deserve. That’s what it means when we say
that we are sinners. Sinners deserve hell. By rights, sinners ought
to be damned. Period. But see what your merciful God gives you.
Christ Jesus goes to the cross and bears the punishment of sin in
your place, takes it all, takes it fully – and in return He gives
you forgiveness – and forgiveness not just for yourself, but
forgiveness for you to give out freely to all who have wronged you.
Do you know why – because that person who has gotten you upset, the
person you want to beat with a stick – it’s already happened.
Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God was already beaten with a stick for
them – in fact, He was whipped, had a crown of thorns put on His
head, and crucified. And so Christ gives us forgiveness, fills us
with it so we do not have to bear any grudge or anger. Any wrong
that has been done you, Christ has made full atonement, born the full
punishment for it already. This is why He says, “forgive
and you will be forgiven; give and it will be given you. Good
measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over will be put into
your lap.” This is how richly He has
forgiven you. This is what Jesus has done for you. And on this, on
His forgiveness, is where your focus is to be – and do you know
why? Because when you are angry, when you are upset with someone and
want them punished, when you condemn – you are denying Christ, or
at least ignoring Him. You are saying that the punishment Christ
suffered wasn’t enough, not enough for this person. “Surely,
when Christ died for sinners, He wasn’t dying for this person who
offended me.” Yes, He was. Be merciful, and show the same mercy
that you have been given. Because the mercy you show isn’t your
own mercy – it’s just the mercy that you’ve received from God,
and you are simply passing it on.
You
see, this is what Jesus is doing. He is training us and teaching us
to be like Him. A disciple is not above
his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his
teacher. Jesus trains us with His Word,
with His forgiveness, to be forgivers, to be people who gladly speak
His Word to all, even to those who have wronged us. He is teaching
us to be like Him. Christ Jesus, who died for you even as you sinned
against Him, is training you to show love and give forgiveness like
He does. And this is hard. It’s not what our sinful nature wants.
In fact, this side of heaven we never will be fully trained. We
have to wait until the last day, until we rise ourselves and share
bodily in our Lord’s Resurrection to be fully trained, to be fully
like our Teacher. But we are to strive to be like Him. We are to
struggle, to work on this, to show more and more forgiveness.
So
Jesus gives us an image to help us, to keep us in check and move us
the way we should go. “Why
do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not
notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your
brother, ‘brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’
when you do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first
take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to
take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.”
Tend to yourself and your own sin. That’s what Jesus says here.
Quit your yapping and complaining about what the fellow next to you
is doing. Why? Because your own sin is bigger – because you ought
to be able to see your own sin so much more than you can see your
neighbor’s sin. Because your own sin is great. It is big.
However much that person has done to you – you’ve wronged God
more. Plain and simple. That’s what we are to remember. When
someone wrongs you, don’t think “Oh, I can’t believe what
they’ve done. . . how could they. Well, I never.” Yes you have!
In fact, when you are wronged, it should call you to repentance. Oh
look, I’m still in the sinful world, surrounded by sin. Let me
check myself and my own sin - oh yeah, I’m still a sinner, I still
have my own problems to deal with, good night look at the size of
this log in my own eye. When someone wrongs you, take a good look at
yourself, and see your own sin. When that shoe of “he’s a
sinner” is on the other foot, on your foot, you won’t be so quick
to want to bash heads in.
Instead,
God's Word and Spirit will focus you upon Christ. And this is where
we give thanks and rejoice. None of us gets rid of the logs in our
eyes. None of us get it cleared up enough in this life. But Christ
Jesus has become our brother, the spotless lamb, without blemish or
defect, without any log or speck in His eye – and Jesus comes to
us, and He says, “Brother, I see that log in your eye. Let me
handle that. I see your sin, and I forgive you and take it from
you.” That’s what forgiveness is. It is Christ removing our
sin. This is what Christ does to us freely and over and over again.
That’s what He gives us – and what we give to others. When we
have been forgiven, we see our neighbor’s sin, we see their
struggles, we see the problems that they have, even the things
they’ve done to us – and when we dwell, when we live in Christ’s
forgiveness, we see clearly and say, “Let me get that for you
brother – your sin is forgiven by Christ Jesus our Lord.” That’s
the way we are to be. And it’s a struggle. This is why we daily
ask for forgiveness – Lord, forgive us our trespasses – because
we need that forgiveness, and we nee d His strength over and over
again so that we forgive the people He places into our lives. And so
our Lord comes to us again and again – He speaks His Word of life
to us and makes us whole.
Dear
friends – God has not condemned you. Instead, He gives you
forgiveness, and He spills this forgiveness up and over and through
you into the people in your lives. He calls us here to His house to
rejoice in His forgiveness, to receive it anew, and to give thanks to
Him. To God our Father in heaven, all praise and glory be given for
the abundant mercy He shows us through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
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