Trinity 4 Sermon

 

Trinity 4 - 26^th and 27^th, 2021 – Luke 6

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit+

They are off by one verse. It seems as though everyone and his brother, even the worst, most despicable lout on the planet knows a verse from this morning’s gospel, or at least a quarter of the verse. “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” Oh, how wonderful, how neat – and don’t you ever, ever even hint or insinuate or suggest that I’m doing something wrong. . . cause then you are judging, and that means you are a bad, bad person! We all know that this isn’t the point of our Gospel lesson. In fact, if there were one verse from here to have memorized, one verse that puts all of this into perspective, it is the very first verse of our text today – “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” There it is, there is the key. Be merciful, just like God is. That’s the key to understanding everything in the Gospel.

When we think, when we talk about God – we need to remember and understand that He is merciful. We need to understand that God’s desire is not to condemn, not to damn, not to punish, but God's desire is to save, to restore, to heal, to bring growth. God is not petty. God does not enjoy tormenting people or showing them who’s boss – He’ll show you that He’s boss if you demand it, if you insist, if you mess around with Him – but that’s not what He wants to do. Think about this – why did God make Adam and Eve in the first place? Was it so He could be mean to them – or was it because He loved them and wished to give them a wondrous garden in which to live? Of course it was because of love. And even when Adam and Eve fall, yes, there are consequences, but before God even addresses the consequences, He promises a Savior. Yes, I will send a Savior for you, but in the mean time, you’ve messed up the world a bit Adam and Eve, and things will be rough. Seriously rough. But for right now, let Me make you some clothes. Mercy abounds. Luther would call this showing of mercy God’s proper work – how God prefers, first and foremost to act. Punishment, stuff like that, is called God’s alien work – that which is foreign to Him, that which comes about only because on occasion we need to be kept in check, we need to be reminded of our sinfulness. But overwhelmingly, God wants to show mercy, and even if He does punish, does show us our sin, it’s so we will repent and receive mercy.

With this in mind, hear what our Lord teaches us today – “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give and it will be given to you.” Or in other words – your approach to life is to mirror that of God’s approach – you are to strive for mercy. Judging here doesn’t mean simply seeing that something is wrong, simply observing, but rather placing yourself in a position of authority over another. When I consider my neighbor, shall I seek to be merciful to him and aid him, or shall I set myself above him and say, “You are lousy and horrible”? Which of these is Godly? Shall I pray earnestly that my neighbor be forgiven, or shall I call upon God to damn him? Which of these is Godly? Shall I strive to forgive my neighbor, or shall I say, “No, your wickedness is too great, too big even for Christ on the Cross to handle, I will not forgive.” Which of these is Godly? Shall I be generous with my neighbor, freely helping and aiding him with the blessings God has given me, or shall I turn a blind eye to him in his need, thinking God will fail to support me if I use my stuff to help my neighbor? Which of these is Godly? The whole point of the instruction here is about our attitude and approach – are we to seek God’s mercy, both for ourselves and for others, or are we going to instead delight in pride and condemnation?

Christ teaches us that we are to be Godly, that we are to be merciful like our Father in heaven, that we are to be people of forgiveness – and if not – well – “For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” God desires mercy. God desires forgiveness. God becomes man and suffers and dies so that there is plenteous forgiveness. Christ and Him Crucified should be the focus, the center, the approach of our life, and when it is, when we confess our sins there is always overflowing forgiveness for us. However – if we choose that we prefer to angrily judge, God can be the angry Judge too. If we want to damn our neighbor, God can be the great Damner too. If we want to withhold forgiveness, withhold aid and care, God can withhold forgiveness and aid and care too. This is the warning Christ gives us – do not reject the God of mercy and love, for that is folly.

And the key to this, the way in which we are kept from falling into sins which reject and despise God’s mercy, sins of pride, of arrogance, of hatred and disdain is two fold. Listen – “He also told them a parable: ‘Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they both not fall into a pit?’” The first thing to remember as a defense against your pride and arrogance is to remember that you are just as blind, that you are just as foolish, that you are just as lousy as your neighbor. Now, do we believe this? Think about the person this week who annoyed you and upset you the most – do you really believe that you are just as lousy and blind and foolish according to your sinful nature as they are? Cause that’s what Scriptures say – and it’s the truth. There is a beauty to understanding this truth – it frees us from pride and animosity – it lets us have compassion. When we get dumped on by someone, we shouldn’t become hateful or angry – we should remember that we too are blind, we should think, “Is this what it feels like to other people when I act the fool - Good Lord, have mercy upon me.” We must know our own blindness first and foremost – and we must tend to it. After all, does not our Lord say, “Why do you see the speck that is in your neighbor’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 that is 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.’”

The second key is to live a life where you receive forgiveness. The only way the log in our eye is taken away is because Christ Jesus Himself took up that log, and was nailed to it and crucified upon it. It is there upon the Cross where Christ wins forgiveness, it is there from the cross where the streams of forgiveness which cleanse us flow from. Christ here is encouraging and instructing you to focus on forgiveness, to see that you yourself receive it, that you delight in it, that you rejoice in it – and when you have, then and only then will you be prepared to help your neighbor rejoice in God’s forgiveness as well. Then you will be able to speak the forgiveness that you have received from Christ to your neighbor. Do we understand that, do we realize how wondrous and how powerful this is? What we have received from Christ, the forgiveness that He has piled upon us, richly, a good measure of it – He has given us the power and authority to speak it, to give it to others. The same flood of love that God used to wash the log out of our eye, the power of His Word and Spirit, He gives to us to use to cleanse and forgive the speck that is in our neighbor’s eye. We get to be like Christ – we get to be Christians – we get to be little-Christs speaking the Word of forgiveness and life to our neighbor.

Did you not hear what Jesus said? “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.” You are by no means above Christ your teacher, but when you are trained, when you learn to see things like Christ sees things, when you learn to look at the world through His love, when you desire to show mercy as your Father in heaven shows mercy – then you will be like Christ. You will do Christ like things – you will speak forth Christ’s powerful Word of life and forgiveness. What we learn here in this service, what we receive here, we take out with us and bring to the world. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved – that Word of Christ was given to us, applied to us – and then this week, wherever we go, it is with us, and we may speak it to others so that the Holy Spirit might bring them to belief and forgiveness as well. We complicate so many things in our folly, when we in our sinful blindness try to take charge of things. Dear friends, you need no plan, no program, no massive funding campaign to save the lost. Listen to Christ – by the power of His Word be forgiven, and then you will see clearly to reach out to those suffering from sin, and speak to them the same Word to forgive and restore them.

Be merciful, for your Father in heaven has been merciful to you – for this mercy and love which He has for you shapes and colors everything in your life. It defines you – you are one who has received the Word of life and forgiveness – you are one who now may speak that same Word. This is the reality of your life – do not neglect it for the sake of anger or pride or the desire to rule over your neighbor. Rather, delight in God’s love and mercy to you always, especially throughout this week in the life God gives you to lead this week in the world. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

Trinity 2 Sermon

 

Trinity 2 – June 11^th and 12^th, 2021 – Luke 14:15-28

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

Oh goodie! Did you hear that Gospel lesson? Did you hear how Jesus talked about how important it is to come to church – oh, it is time for Pastor Brown to just rip into the people who aren't here today, all those people with their stupid excuses. Whew, he'll put a boot up their backside and how! I hope, my friends, that that wasn't the sermon you were expecting today. I mean, it is true that this text does tell the story of people who give incredibly foolish reasons not to come to a wedding feast – and the wedding feast is the emblem, the image of the Church, God's Kingdom, the altar and the Supper and the eternal feast of life everlasting. And it is good on occasion to think of what excuses we might make for not attending church, but this text is a bit more cutting and ironic than that. It hits a little bit closer to home, it hits a bit closer to the pews and the folks sitting in them (or at the picnic as the case may be) than just a harsh finger wagging at those people who aren't here today.

Now, are you sure Pastor – because those three jerks in the parable don't show up. “Please have me excused, Please have me excused, I cannot come.” Seems to be about skipping church – naughty naughty naughty. Yes, I know, but we really need to back up and start at the beginning of our lesson. Too often we want to rush and run to the punchline – slow, back up. The very first verse of our Gospel – listen again. When one of those who reclined at table with [Jesus] heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” We actually jump in mid-story here. This happens when Jesus has been invited to a feast by some Pharisees, and He shows up, but there's the man with dropsy – is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, Jesus heals the guy, rescue your Ox if it falls in a well, and don't sit up front in front of the King, sit in the lowest place. We will get that text later on this summer. But a lot has gone on at this meal... and what is people's reaction?

So there's this guy there at the meal – he is reclining with Jesus – eating with Jesus. That's what reclining at table means, it means that you are in the middle of dinner with someone. And this guy has seen Jesus heal, he's heard Jesus preach – he's heard the things Jesus has said. And yet, what is his response? Oh, yes, someday it will be great to be in the Kingdom of God and at that feast. Yeah, it would sure be cool someday to be at that feast... not like this strange and awkward feast where Jesus keeps escaping from the traps we set for Him and then lecturing us. What this man says is supposed to be a conversation shifter away from something that is controversial and upsetting (like Jesus healing and Jesus preaching) onto something safe and dull where everyone can agree: “Bread in heaven, oh, bully bully – quite right, quite right.” It's the Pharisee's equivalent of “Boy, we've had some strange weather lately, haven't we?” But the problem is that Jesus is right there – the Kingdom of God is literally at hand, for there is Christ Jesus the King. And you are literally eating bread with Him, and the King is speaking. Yes, the weather has been strange because I calmed a storm, now let's get back to business here. Quit dodging and deflecting and ignoring My Word.

And that's why Jesus tells the parable. You see, in the story, the folks who refuse the invitation to the feast aren't “bad people” who skip service and the like. The people in the story who make excuses to ignore the feast, to not be there are in fact the ones who are there with Jesus as He speaks. You're here with Me at this feast – but you wish you weren't. You're hearing My word, but in your head you wish you were somewhere else. I've preached to you, but you've got some excuse for why it doesn't apply to you. And so, my friends, while there are plenty of texts that focus directly upon those who blow off coming to Church, this parable, it's context, when it was preached – it was directly at the people who were there with Jesus. It was preached directly at us.

Ewwww. That's not any fun. It's much more fun to be the good guy, the nice, upstanding members of society who do all the right things. Yeah, that sort of plays in too. Listen and hear the excuses again. But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, “I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.” This is an utterly polite and proper way to decline an invitation. There's nothing rude about it at all, and it's plausible, we all know business must go on. Same with the oxen. And as for the third – And another said, “I have married a wife, therefore I cannot come.” Jewish custom excused all newly weds from all social obligations for a year – if you were newly married the king couldn't even draft you for war. All quite polite and proper. All doing the right thing, looking good and well off and like nice members of society. Of course, the reality is that they were hiding behind the veneer of their primness and properness to simply ignore the man and his banquet. The politeness is just a shield to fend off that silly banquet.

The danger for us, my dear friends, especially in a day and age when the world is getting crazier and more openly wicked, is that we will hide behind our primness and properness, that we will hide behind the fact that we are good little Christian boys and girls. Unlike... them. And then we can become smug and arrogant and proud in ourselves. There's only one problem with that. Jesus, His feast, His story and His salvation – it's for sinners. Real sinners. People who know that they need Jesus, not people who think that Jesus ought to consider Himself honored that they bothered to show up. And no, we wouldn't be that crass about it, because again, prim and proper – but this is the temptation that eats away at Christian faith. The temptation towards self-righteousness. The temptation towards aggrandizing the self, to thinking that compared to all those “bad” people you really are all that an a bag of chips.

Jesus is a forgiver. He is determined to be a forgiver. The way that Jesus insists on relating to people is by being their Savior. Jesus is God Himself become man to die upon the Cross to win forgiveness for His people, who has risen to bring life and immortality to light, who is the Lamb who was slain and has begun His reign. That is what His Kingdom looks like. And when we know our lack, that we are in need, that we are not worthy of this feast, that Christ's goodness is so far beyond us – well, then we let Jesus remain a forgiver and things go well. We hear His preaching that points out our sin, and our reaction is “Ugh, God be merciful to me, the sinner.” And then He is merciful, then He does forgive without fail. Take and Eat, take and drink – shed for you for the forgiveness of all your sins, and there is nothing left for us but to say Amen and sing His praise. And that's actually being at the feast, being in the kingdom of God.

But your flesh will fight against that – because sinners would rather talk about other peoples' sins than their own. And the world will fight against that – the world tries to paint the church as either a moral club for “the good people” or a gathering of blithering idiots. Both miss the point – the Church, Christ's feast, is where sinners receive forgiveness. In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives my sins and the sins of all believers. That's the point of the Church. But if you start to think that you don't really need forgiveness – well, you'll excuse yourself. Maybe it will be spectacularly where you stomp out of the doors of the Church all in a huff, or maybe it will be hypocritically where you go through the motions each week but couldn't care less – after all, one must keep up appearances. Here but not here – that's how plenty of people have handled coming to Church – it's what the Pharisees were doing in our Gospel text, and there are tons of other examples of it throughout the Scriptures.

So, what now? Well, once again Wisdom has built her house, and the call for the feast goes out. Forgiveness in Christ Jesus is proclaimed. Forgiveness for you, because God remains merciful, and Jesus deigns to eat with sinners – whether they are open sinners that everyone knows are bad or whether they are sinners fighting off hidden sins like hypocrisy and arrogance and disdain. Doesn't matter the sin, forgiving it is Jesus' specialty, and He is precisely where He has promised to be – in His Word wherever two or three are gathered in His Name, in His Church, in His Supper. And He is here for you, for your good, and for your salvation. He who has ears to hear, let Him hear. Let him hear the forgiveness of Christ Jesus. Amen. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

LeRoy Gerberding

 

LeRoy Gerberding – June 10^th, 2021 – John 3:16-21 and Romans 5:1-8

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

Mark and Jill, family and friends of our brother in Christ LeRoy, grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. For God so loved the world. This is a verse that we are familiar with, perhaps the most familiar verse in the world. And it's one that we actually misunderstand. We hear that “so” and we think of it in terms of “so much” - that God loved the world SO MUCH... and it's true that God really does love the world, but this isn't talking about so much, but the how, the how so of God's love. God loved the world – well, how so. This is how God loved the world – He gave only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. If you want to know what God's love looks like, how God shows love, the answer is Jesus dying upon the Cross, taking up our sin and sin's punishment, and Jesus rising to give us His life and His righteousness, to ensure that we rise.

LeRoy understood this. LeRoy understood that God loved him, and that even though he was a sinner and far from perfect, Christ Jesus died for LeRoy to rescue LeRoy from sin and death and Satan. And this knowledge, this grounding, this faith permeated Leroy's life, and it shaped the love that He showed. You see, God loving the world by sending Jesus to the Cross is a practical sort of love, an “it needs to be done” sort of love. Without Jesus going to the Cross, things go badly, so Jesus does what Jesus needs to do for your good, and that's just what He's going to do. And LeRoy received that love, and that love shaped LeRoy. Now, I am not going to presume to tell you all how LeRoy showed love to you, but I will mention one example of how LeRoy showed love to me and my family. Oh, how so? This way. Just a touch over six years ago I moved up here, and it's the first day in the parsonage and the moving van is here and I've got two toddlers and my wife and I are running around like chickens with our heads cut off, and the doorbell rings. And it's LeRoy. And he's got a bag of groceries. Figured we wouldn't have had time to go shopping yet and we'd need to eat, so here you go Pastor. And that was that. Simple, practical. Nothing flashy, nothing dazzling – but utterly kind and loving and thoughtful. LeRoy received God's practical loving care, and God saw often enough that we received God's loving care through LeRoy in utterly simple, quiet ways.

And there was that same simple, quietness that I'd see when LeRoy would be here with us at Church, and I know it was the same simple, quiet love he got to show to you down south when he went that way. Quiet and simple doesn't mean easy, though – and increasing frailty and age makse things harder and brings frustrations. But for a man of faith like LeRoy, that's okay. Didn't change God's love for LeRoy – For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. We are weak, but He is strong. And even though LeRoy's weakness grew, indeed grew too strong for him to bear, we shall see the strength of Christ Jesus for LeRoy, because LeRoy belongs to Jesus, and LeRoy was redeemed by Jesus, and LeRoy will rise with Jesus. And the next time we see LeRoy, we will see him risen and refined, with the same love that we have known, but its strength renewed, and the dross of sin and the hardship of frailty all gone, and man, if I'm not actually eager to see LeRoy in his full flower. We've missed him up here these past few years, but that's the thing about being in Christ. We do miss people, and there are absences and separations – just the reality of life in a fallen world. But God shows love. God shows love to rescue His fallen children and to redeem them and restore them, to overwhelm death with His Life Everlasting. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. This is what our brother LeRoy sees in full now, face to face with Jesus, and because God indeed loves the world, loves His LeRoy, loves you, we will see it face to face with Jesus and with LeRoy and with all the saints who have gone before us and who will follow after us, because God's love is utterly practical, and we shall delight in it forever, all thanks be to God in Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.

Trinity 1 Sermon

 

Trinity 1 – June 5^th and 6^th, 2021 – Luke 16:19-31

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

What does sin look like? We spoke last week about the idea that we are sinful, that we are corrupt and in need of redemption – well this sinfulness breaks out in our lives, corruption creeps out. What does that look like? Well, to show us what sinfulness looks like when it spills out in our lives, Jesus tells us the story of the Rich Man. You want a depiction of sin, what sin can turn us into – behold the Rich Man. Listen.

There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. So, what do we learn about this Rich Man, the villain of the story, just from this set up? Well, first we learn that he's well off – purple dye was insanely expensive in the ancient world, and their idea what one could afford to eat was much less than what we would expect today. This guy is loaded. “Does that mean being rich is a sin?” No, not necessarily. But what does this man do with his riches? Are they a tool for him, whereby he can serve his neighbor, where he can do good for others? Well, given the fact that he lets Lazarus starve on his doorstep, that he won't even let the beggars go through his trash, no, he doesn't use his wealth for his neighbors. Street dogs treat Lazarus better than this rich man does.

Remember that we are commanded by God to love our neighbor – and love here means to be charitable to them in our thoughts and actions. We are to serve them, help them, put the best construction on them. We are not to be our neighbor's master but rather one who helps them as best we can. And the Rich Man here – that's not his concern, even though he has both the ability and opportunity to help. And this is something that should resonate with us – because America has rightly been called the land of opportunity. I'd wager that every one of us in this room has a more lavish lifestyle than this rich man would have had. In Jesus' day it would have been utterly wild to have 10 changes of clothing; I'm guessing most of our closets are more full than that. And as for feasting sumptuously, that basically meant they could eat meat everyday – we don't find that luxurious, we find that normal. And thus we have something to consider – how do we view what we have? With gratitude and a desire to help our neighbor, to deal fairly with them, to help them protect and improve their possessions and income (as the catechism says), or are we discontent and obsessed with more? Do we cling on to our possession – dare I say does the love our of stuff possess us and turn us loveless and cold? And this is not just a “put more money in that plate” appeal – I am glad for how generous this congregation is, but we're called to love our neighbors, not merely tithe. An envelope a weekend doesn't entitle you to be a jerk the rest of the week. So, ponder – what love and care does your sinful flesh want you to not show – and fight against your flesh.

But you see, the Rich Man's problem wasn't just that he was greedy, that he wasn't generous. That's not the heart of sinfulness – that's a symptom, that's something that spins out from being sinful. No, the root is much worse, and it is exposed when the man dies. I'm going to reread this conversation that the Rich Man has with Abraham – and as I do, I want you to pay attention to how the Rich Man listens to Abraham. And he called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.” But Abraham said, “Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things (cause you wouldn't give him good things), but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us. Alright, so Abraham has laid out the rich man's selfishness, the justness of his punishment, and that there's nothing that Abraham could do anyway. Does the guy reflect on how bad he was, how he was in the wrong? And he said, “Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house – for I have five brothers – so that he may warn them lest they also come into this place of torment.” Does the Rich Man listen? Take his lumps? No, he doesn't. Oh, Abraham, you know, my brothers are grade A jerks, you better talk to them. He doesn't reflect upon his own sin, he thinks about what his neighbor does. I'm not the donkey, don't pin the tail on me – they are the real donkeys. That's another way sin breaks out – not me – them, they are the bad guys. And still the bossing around, still the desire to be in control – send that beggar boy Lazarus.

We're coming close to the root, but we aren't quite there. Almost – keep listening. But Abraham said, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.” And he said, “No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead they will repent.” [Abraham] said to him, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.” Did you catch it? The root of all sin? Hear the Word of God – pshaw, what good is that? Moses and the Prophets – the Old Testament – meh. Catechism time – What is the Third Commandment? Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it. This is what you see in the Rich Man, a grade A despising of the Word of God. A despising of God's commandments, but more than that, for the Word of God is more than just commandments and threats for what happen if you break them – the Scriptures are more than just finger wagging warnings. The Scriptures contain the promise, the Gospel, the truth that God Himself would come to rescue and redeem His people and save them from their sin. And the Rich Man and his ilk – no use for that at all. He's all talk, he's all bluster – back-talking Abraham from hell and giving him sass. He is full of disdain and arrogance and no love whatsoever.

But you see, the Scriptures aren't just Law – the solution to the sinfulness of the Rich Man isn't just “don't do what he did.” It's not “be generous and it's all good.” No – what of the Christian life – what of the life of faith, what does that look like? Well, it looks like Lazarus. What defines Lazarus in this story – what does he do? We never hear him talk – we never even see him move. He's laying on the Rich Man's doorstep hoping for some food; then he's at Abraham's side – and the image here would be laying at his side, his head on Abraham's chest – that's why one of the old terms for heaven was “the bosom of Abraham”. At a feast in the ancient world you reclined, you laid down at the table. Waiting for food in life, and then at Abraham's side in the afterlife. But what does Lazarus do? What is the essence of what a Christian does?

I'm sorry, I set you up a bit. That's the wrong question. While Christians do in fact do many things, while we show love and care, and while we fight against temptation and while we praise God, that's not the heart, the essence of what it is to be a Christian. A Christian is not defined by their doing – a Christian is defined, is made by receiving. We are defined by faith, by hearing. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. To be a Christian is to be one who receives, who takes in and receives what God gives them. Who hears the Word of God – both the Law and most especially the Gospel. They have Moses and the Prophets, let them hear them? Okay – this is why when we heard from Moses in Genesis, the first book of Moses, y'all all said, “Thanks be to God.” Because to be a Christian is to be one who hears, who receives the Word of the LORD. To be a Christian is to be one who recognizes all their stuff as daily bread, given to them by God – we've received. Of course we can be generous; others can receive good things from God through us, and God will continue to give us our daily bread so we don't need to horde our stuff or be stingy... because we receive good things from God. And most importantly – well, someone did rise from the dead that we listen to – Christ Jesus, God Himself. Jesus went to the Cross and took away our sin and rose to give us His life and righteousness – and Christians receive that. You're forgiven – great! Amen. Jesus gives you His Body and Blood for forgiveness, life, and salvation – to strengthen you in faith so that you continue to hear and to strengthen you in love so that you fight against sin in the week to come – great! Amen.

We are not defined by what we do. If we honestly examine our actions, and we ought, we will always find places where our own love is a bit cool, a bit on the short-shrift side. And indeed, we ought fight against that. But the Christian faith is not “I'm a good person and those people are jerks.” The Christian faith is that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us – and Christ Jesus brings all that He has done to us in His Word and in His Sacraments, and the Holy Spirit makes us to be receivers, receivers of His good gifts, and we are given life, and we delight in it now, even in the midst of the sin and chaos of the world, and we look to the time when we will delight in life everlasting in full. Hence we pray come quickly, Lord Jesus. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +