Grace and Peace to you my brothers and sisters in Christ, Amen.

   Today is an incredibly special day, for today we celebrate the Confirmation of Arleigh Dackermann, and following this sermon and hymn we will proceed with her Affirmation of Baptism. Thus, I would like to give a message to Arleigh.

   On April 2nd, 2006, you were baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Through Baptism, you have been blessed with the faith in God and were received into the fold of the heavenly family of God, received into the Body of Christ. Through Baptism, an act of God and not of Man, through water and the Word, you have been truly blessed, for you were washed of your sins which originates from original sin, broken free from the chains of slavery under Satan, and was provided the promise of salvation and a seat at the heavenly kingdom’s feast, a promise that can never be broken, a promise that is gifted to you, a promise that was given through the death of Jesus Christ.

   Now through Baptism, the family of God promised to help raise you within the Church united with your parents. They have looked over you, taught you, and guarded you. It is said, “It takes a village to raise a child,” and for us that village is the family of God. We have watched you, an infant in Christ, grow in faith, and as we looked over you, we taught you through Catechism; teaching the faith so that you may come to understand scripture, the creeds, the Lord’s prayers, the Ten Commandments, as well as the sacraments. The Small Catechism was taught to you so that you may understand this faith which you have received through Baptism, so that you may understand what Baptism is, and so you may understand and have faith in the promises that God provided to you through your Baptism.

   And as the Church taught you, they saw you grow in maturity in your faith, coming to understand your faith. As they saw your maturity in Christ growing, they had confidence that you understood the true presence of Christ in the Bread and the Wine of Communion. Through their confidence, they invited you to the table to receive with the Church your first Communion. Through Communion, or the Eucharist, and through your faith in the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, you received the sustenance necessary to retain your faith. For Communion is our Daily Bread necessary to fuel or faith in Christ, to nourish not only or Body but to also nourish our aching souls which without Christ would surely fail in retaining faith in Christ. Communion is a gift that is received through faith, for without faith, communion is not communion. Thus, once your teachers and parents and congregation saw you were ready to receive, that you believed, they gladly invited you to the table to receive your Daily Bread.

   And now, as a member of the Body of Christ through Baptism, and one who is nourished through Communion, matured through Catechism, you come forward to affirm your faith, to affirm your faith which comes through Baptism, thus affirming your Baptism. For this is what Confirmation is, it is the Affirmation of your Baptism, a declaration, a confession, that you understand your Baptism and your faith which comes from Baptism. On this day you will renounce the Devil, proclaim the Creeds, and profess your faith in Jesus Christ and in all his promises.

   So a little quiz… Oh, I know, not another quiz! It’s all right; this isn’t a quiz with trick questions. In your Catechism, you learned of the Sacraments. How many are there? Two. What are they? Baptism and Communion. But where is Confirmation? Is it still a sacred act ordered by God? Yes. But is it a Sacrament? No, for in order to be Sacrament, in accordance with Catholic teaching, it needs to have the power to save or retain faith, of which Confirmation does not do. Does this mean that Confirmation is not important? Far from it, it is still a sacred act. End of Quiz.

   So what does that make Confirmation? Confirmation is not Baptism, which many confuse them to be the same and thus wait for people to affirm their faith to perform Baptism, not understanding that Confirmation is in reality the affirming of your faith which you received through Baptism. Whereas Baptism is an act of God, Confirmation is an act of Man. In Baptism, God externally gives you faith. In Confirmation, you acknowledge this faith within you which was externally given to you first from God. This acknowledgement and understanding is deeply important for the sake of holding fast onto our own faith.

   In Jesus’ parable he talks about the rocky and good soil. There is the pathway and the thorn infested soil, but for the sake of this sermon I want to talk about the rocky and good soil. In the rocky soil, the plant grows fast, but because it does not develop deep roots it withers away just as fast. Yet, in the good soil, deep roots grow, and because the plant has deep roots it is capable of weathering any storm and not wither away from the beating sun. The main difference between the two is the deepness and strength of their roots. So what are these roots? What do these roots represent? These roots represent your understanding, your discipleship, the strength of your faith, and the ability to discern your faith. The difference between the two soils is that the first is not properly discipled and, because they are not, when the world beats them off side the head with a myriad of trials and temptations and awful things such as persecution, the one with weak roots loses their faith and crumbles under the weight of the world. But the soil that is good, where roots are deep and strong, no matter what the world throws at them, they are capable of defending their own faith.

   This is why Catechism is so important and why we cherish Confirmation, for through catechism and discipleship you are lead towards maturity in your own faith, and through this maturity you have been lead towards affirming your faith which you received first through Baptism. But it should be noted, your journey has not ended. We are all in need of continual catechism, our discipleship in our Lord has never ended, and our faith in Him could always go a little deeper.

   Arleigh, for your confirmation you have provided a verse from Isaiah 40:31, “They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” As you walk in the light of the Lord, walk in faith, faith in the promises provided for you through Baptism, walk with abundant patience in Christ. Don’t be like the rocky soil whose plant grows impatiently and withers away, but be like the plant in the good soil which through patience grows deep roots, roots that will never allow the plant to die. Wait on the Lord, and keep on reflecting on Him, so that your faith in the Lord is continually renewed and given the strength and vigor to not only weather any storm but to also be mounted on eagle’s wings, to never go weary, and never faint or falter. Rely on the Lord always, have patience on Him, deepen your roots through continuous discipleship and catechism, and know this, the Living Lord, who died for your sake and has risen for your sake, will always be with you.

Let us pray,

   Dear Heavenly Father, we ask that you continue to bless Arleigh with your Spirit, protecting her faith, and encouraging her to not only profess and affirm her faith, but to continue to deepen her faith in you the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Grace and peace to you my brothers and sisters in Christ, Amen.

   I don’t know about you but this Gospel sounds very much in favor

of communism / socialism. Let us all gather together under big brother

government and labor together, letting the government take control of

all private property and determine an equal wage so that all may

receive equally whether or not you work, not determined with how

much you work, nor what you work, nor where you work. Let

totalitarianism prosper so that all may become equal under

government’s control and ungodly regulations.

   Wait, you say this Gospel is not about such? But I hear so many

use this parable to say that Christians, let alone Lutherans, must

support Socialism or Communism or Totalitarianism even though all

these structures are clearly denounced through Scripture and, most

especially as Lutherans, even though they have been very clearly

denounced by our Lutheran founding fathers in the 16th century, via

description, as heretical anti-Christians beliefs; for within the Formula

of Concord and the Solid Declaration, both found within the Book of

Concord which is the defining book that helps us understand what is

Lutheranism, it says such, “We reject and condemn the... erroneous,

heretical teaching, which is not to be tolerated or permitted in the

church, or in public affairs, or in domestic life. For they teach... That a

Christian cannot with a good conscience hold or possess any property,

but is in duty bound to devote it to the commonwealth” (Solid

Declaration, Article XII.9-22). So wait, let me get this clear, are you say

that all who preach these heretical structures are abusing Scripture, if

so then what does today’s Gospel really point us to?

  There are some who have a nasty knack for taking Scripture out of

context to mean what it does not mean. Others do not mean so and

they are forgiven, though that does not mean they are suddenly

correct, their words are still wrong. For example, the abuse of James

chapter two where several Roman Catholics takes a part of verse 24

horribly out of context to claim, “that a person is justified by works and

not by faith.” The whole verse goes as such, “You [you, a human!] see

that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone,” which is

obvious because who can see one’s faith except via their works? And

the whole chapter of James 2, not one verse taken out of context, is all

one whole gigantic pro-“faith alone” argument. Where it clearly states

that if you have true faith, and not dead faith such as the demons who

do believe Jesus is Christ, then you are saved and if you are saved then

you naturally produce works, works that cannot be produced otherwise

because you are a sinner, and because I cannot see your faith that you

claim you have then I must see your works for if you have works then

you clearly are saved and if you are saved then you clearly have true

faith which you, again, claimed to have. Therefore you are saved by

faith, and out of salvation, and only out of salvation, capable of

performing good works.

   So if we take out all of the abuses and read the Gospel passage in

its entirety, what does it tell us? Well it clearly begins with Jesus telling

us, “For the kingdom of heaven is like...”, and then He provides for us

his parable. The entire parable is about the Kingdom of Heaven. It is not

about economics, for Jesus is painting for us a very specific picture, he

is weaving together a very specific tale, he is telling us that no matter

when you become a Christian, no matter how late or how early, when

you die you will all receive the generous award of eternal salvation and

abundant pardon. His parable is all about death and how no amount of

good works or time here on earth will earn you a better seat at God’s

table. Congratulations, that means upon your death you will be equal

to even St Peter himself and St Paul! Why? Because of your faith in

Jesus Christ.

  Our late Pastor Borows lived a long fruitful life as a pastor, as a

Christian, as a laborer for Christ. He is most definitely in Heaven, and

great is his reward. If I was to suddenly go ill due to say Covid because I

chose to visit the sick, treating them like lepers, the same as how Christ

treated the lepers, and then die, would that make me lesser a Christian

than Pastor Borow’s? If I was to get suddenly called up to serve our

great nation and was killed either overseas or here by one of our

domestic terrorists would I be any less a Christian than Pastor Borows?

Would my untimely death mean that my reward in heaven is lesser

than Pastor Borow’s because I did not live such a long life in service

towards God? No, and the same applies to all of you. The reward Christ

provides for the one who converts on his deathbed is no less than the

reward received by a lifelong 90 year old Christian. The reward is equal.

What about a mass murderer who repents and proclaims Christ before

capital punishment? The reward is equal. What about the young

baptized child who dies before they even say “mama” or “papa”? The

reward is equal. What about the young man who has faith but has done

nothing in the name of Christ? If they truly believe, the reward is equal.

What about the old man who has filled his life to the brim with selfless

service and mission work all in Christ’s name? The reward is equal.

   I am reminded of the two sons in the Prodigal Son parable. One is

lost, a sinner, but once he comes back to the father, an amazing feast is

prepared. The other has never left the father and has labored hard, but

is jealous of his brother. As Christians, good works and the desire to

serve our father and help our neighbors and bear fruit the fruits of the

Spirit should come naturally to us. And we should desire to labor long

all for Christ’s sake. But we shouldn’t be like the older brother who,

though he never left his father, is jealous of his returning brother who

received a feast. Instead of being jealous or exuding hatred toward the

sinner who finds Christ before they die, we should rejoice for they have

been found. Rejoice for the reward they receive is so abundant that all

their sins have been pardoned and overwhelmed by God’s grace.

   But some of us might find it hard to rejoice. Let me provide an

extreme example, an example that some in debate may call a nuclear

statement. Hitler. If he had or found faith in Christ, true faith, upon his

death, repenting of his sins, would he be in Heaven? Not saying he did,

but if he did would he be in heaven? How do you think you would feel,

knowing full well all the atrocious things he has done, if you found out

that he might be in heaven? Outright denial? Skepticism? Betrayal?

Hatred towards God? Jealousy? Or extreme joy? This is just a thought,

but one that expresses how natural it is for us to be like the older son

when it comes to hearing today’s Gospel.

   How about Paul’s story? As Saul he was an enemy to the Christian

Jews and hunted them down and caused many of their deaths. But

through the grace of God, through his personal experience with Jesus,

he turned from his ways and was named Paul. Several of the other

disciples, to include Peter, did not believe that Paul was a true brother

or that he repented. They were skeptical of him; they were like the

older brother towards Paul who was like the younger brother.

   Just goes to show how amazingly abundant Christ’s mercy and

grace is for us, it is so abundant that it goes far beyond normal human

understanding. Christ died so that all of our sins might be forgiven. To

the Christian, forgiveness is continuously available throughout their

lives, and to the new Christian, forgiveness is available for all the sin

you have racked up to the point you converted. For under Christ, all of

his laborers are forgiven, and through him, when we meet our maker,

we all come blameless, shameless, guiltless, sinless; all receiving the

same reward, eternal life in Heaven.

   On an interesting note, you may have noticed in today’s parable

that the master only agreed to give a denarius to the first group of

laborers. He went out to them and after he, the master, agreed to hire

them for one denarius did he sent them into the vineyard. The laborers

set the terms. After that, throughout the day, the master hires more

laborers but does not tell any of them how much they will earn, only

that he will provide what he deemed was right. Then, at the end of the

day, it comes time for the passing of the wage, and the master asks the

last to come receive their pay first. The ones who only showed up the

final hour received one denarius, not knowing that would be their

wage. The next group the same and so on, until the final group, who

were the first to be hired showed up for their wage. This group, the

only one that the master agreed to give one denarius before hiring,

believes they will receive more because those who worked less also

received one denarius. But the master tells them that these were the

agreed upon terms, that they will receive one denarius, and why should

they get mad at the master for being generous with the others? Let it

be known it is only this group that agreed upon the terms to be paid

one denarius. Yet they are jealous, because the Master is willing to

provide the same for the latest of the laborers.

   The kingdom of God is for all who labor for Christ, not part of it

for those who are late to the game, but all of it and all its amazing

abundance for those who come early and for those who come late, for

those who have been a Christian since their infant baptism to those

who come to believe right before they breath their last breath. They,

and you, have all been abundantly pardoned through faith in Christ,

and to you the doors to the Kingdom of Heaven are indeed open.

Let us pray,

    Dear Heavenly Father, you are much grander than humans and

your thoughts much higher than humans and your love more vast than

humans, we cannot comprehend it, but we still adore it and ask that

you never take away this abundant love but continue to promise us all

the Kingdom of Heaven. In your name we pray, Amen.

Grace and peace to you my brothers and sisters in Christ, Amen.

   In many a great businesses and organizations there is a culture of “Lead by example”. The Army, for example, actually grades their subordinate leaders in how well they lead by example in order to better foster a desired culture. Say a company prizes humbleness, then a CEO may lead a life of humility at their company and through such actions encourage their employees to do likewise. Or say you have a Boy Scout group, and the scoutmaster wished to foster a troop culture of masculinity, just like the creator of Boy Scouts intended, then said scoutmaster would be reliable, protective, firm, a steady rock, etc.

   All of these are but examples in how groups of people would utilize their authoritative structure to not only demand a certain culture but to also initiate the fostering of said culture by leading from the top, leading by example.

   Within the Church, such a desired model exists between her people and the figurehead, God, Himself. We say what would Jesus do, or how has the Father reacted in similar situations. We don’t just listen and obey their commandments, or attempt to, but we observe the actions of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit throughout Scripture and try to model our lives after their “leading by example”. And God encourages this; be Godly, be like the “Holiest of All that is Holy”, be like He who is perfect and has done no wrong, model your life after Him so that you may be more like Him. But what has he done?

   Jesus gave himself up on the cross, died, gave up his life, so that through Him, we may receive the means of Salvation through faith in Him. For we are dreadful sinners who deserve to go to Hell and nothing we do, by our own devices, can earn us a ticket into Heaven, but through the Grace of God, Jesus died on the Cross so that he could take on our sin and shove it into Hell. Someone had to go to Hell. Jesus said he would go to Hell, so he willingly, knowingly, took on all of our sin, suffered death, and suffered Hell, so that through Him we would not suffer Hell. He took on our sins, thus, through Him, we are forgiven of our sins, and through this forgiveness we are made clean, washed of our sins, so that we may enter Heaven.

   Yet this gift was not forced on us, it is a gift. What that means is that you must accept the hand from which this gift comes from. Not all are forgiven, but all who believe in Jesus and only Jesus are indeed forgiven. For he says that if you have faith in Him and repent of your sins then He will take on your sins so that you would not have to; there are no other conditions, in fact there are no conditions at all because Jesus wants to give us forgiveness, but will not force it on us. He wants to free us from the chains of sin, not put us in new chains of forced forgiveness.

   Speaking of chains, in the past I mentioned chains a lot in reference to our enslavement to sin under Original Sin, but there is another meaning to the word chain. For the purpose of this Gospel and Sermon, I wish to use the other definition of chain in reference to what most would understand as, “the chain of authority.” In order to lead by example there needs to be a chain of authority, and within the Church this chain of authority begins with God.

   So what in today’s Gospel is Jesus trying to impress upon us? What culture is He desiring to foster through this “chain of authority” and “leading by example”? Forgiveness. Christ is instructing a culture of forgiveness, and he does so by opening our eyes to the fact that God Himself forgave you first, and thus you must do so too for your brothers.

Peter asked how many times a day should he be willing to forgive someone. When is enough enough? Is seven enough? Not seven, but seventy seven; in fact, not even that, there is no limit. If anyone is repentant then forgive them their sins. And if they keep on coming back to you, as long as they are truly repentant then you must forgive them.

Pastor please forgive me from doing this and that.

   Again!? I just forgave you an hour ago for exactly that.

I know, but I did it again. I’m terribly sorry, I promise I won’t do it again, honest to God, I mean it this time.

   You truly mean it?

I do.

   Then you are forgiven.

One hour later… Pastor I did it again.

   Ok, I’ll forgive you again.

   So Jesus tells Peter that you must continually forgive your sinner, as long as they are repentant, but continues onward with a parable. In this parable, Jesus tells us of a King who forgave the entire debt of a servant who repented and asked for debt forgiveness. Then his servant goes out to another servant who also debt, but far less. The lesser servant does the same as the first, begs for forgiveness, but instead of forgiving this servant acts wrathfully. The king is then angry at his servant and throws him into jail. The point of the parable is to show that God is forgiving and if you are repentant then he will forgive you your entire debt, but that he also expects you to act like him and to treat your brothers and sisters in the same fashion. And as Christians we know with sure certainty that God has indeed forgiven us our sins by looking at the Cross. Thus should we not also observe Jesus’ example? Should we not observe his forgiveness? And, in reference to “leading by example” and “the chain of authority”, should we not also observe this, what I would call, “Chain of Forgiveness”?

   On an interesting note, here Jesus is comparing sin to debt, which is a comparison I make very often. God demands perfection, thus a good action, in the eyes of God is a net zero; whereas sin is a net negative, where you incur debt. Nothing you do will resolve this debt back to a net zero because all perfect actions are already net zero’s, they are already required. Anything positive must be above and beyond perfection. So as a sinner, you are racking up a lengthy debt and nothing you can do will ever make that debt go away and bring it all to a net zero. Yet here is Jesus saying as long as you have faith in me, I will provide for you debt forgiveness. A lovely picture, which is present throughout scripture showing us that we are save by faith alone and not by any amount of good works, which is Pelagianism, a heresy denounced by the Roman Catholic Church during the first millennium.

   So this “Chain of Forgiveness”, Jesus has forgiven us and demands that we follow his example and forgive our brothers. How many times a day? As often as your brother repents; continual forgiveness. And what if they are not repentant? Well you may forgive them, but the requirement to forgive is attached to repentance. For if a person comes to you truly sorrowful of their sins and wishes to change their ways then you must forgive them just as Jesus first forgiven you. That is what is meant when I say, “Chain of Forgiveness”.

   For the history of Israel is a history full of God’s wrath and forgiveness. God doesn’t change his mind like humans, willy-nilly; nor does God give forgiveness like candy during a parade. Because of our sins He is wrathful, but is swift to forgiveness if we repent. Jonah went to Nineveh, well he was forced to go there, and preached that God was going place his wrath on them. The King and all his subjects repented of their sins, and, to Jonah’s dismay, God forgave them and relented of His anger.

   What am I trying to say? Let me begin with this, whereas God is gracious and merciful, swift to anger and swift to relenting of his anger, He does not cheapen His grace; he does not hand out forgiveness like some rich man who throws money at every single cause without looking up to see if the causes are good or nefarious. Now do not be mistaken, this does not imply that God does not withhold his grace to only those who are repentant, only that He does not cheapen His grace, and above all else He will never withhold His grace to those who repent.

   Because of this, we should do so too. We should be swift to forgiveness to those who repent, just like God who is swift to forgiveness when we repent. But we should not cheapen this grace. Why should we not cheapen grace? If you remember last week, I gave a plethora of examples why, but this week I’ll reflect on Bonhoeffer. When asked how the Church allowed the Nazi party to exist, Bonhoeffer, knowing through experience, said that the Church allowed the Nazis to exist because they cheapened Grace. His quote goes as such, “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” Basically, when you cheapen grace, you allow evil to flourish.

   So how do we not cheapen the grace of forgiveness? Maybe the first step is to, in a loving fashion, help each other realize our sins, and, as Christians, when we acknowledge our sins we are lead towards repentance, and because we repent of our sins we forgive each other. This does not mean we look for sins nor arbitrarily say someone committed a certain sin such as the wolves-in-sheep-clothing who preach that all white people are guilty of racism and need to repent (which is anti-Christian in of itself and is sinful for it is bearing false witness, is technically a form of racism, and breaks at least on top of my head three of the articles in the Augsburg Confession). What this means is that when a brother or sister does sin against you, you help them realize their sin so that they may repent and so that they may be swiftly forgiven and so that the weight of sin would be lifted. For even if we are not aware of our sin, the weight of our sins can still be felt and our soul will be weighed down by the Guilt and Shame of our sins, but through forgiveness, not only are we released from our sins but also the guilt and shame that comes with sin.

   So forgiveness is a beautiful thing, and know this, through your faith in Jesus Christ, you have been forgiven, and as loving Christians, let us walk in the example of Christ, forgiving each other.

Let us pray,

   Heavenly Father, through you our debt is forgiven and the doors to heaven are open. We ask that you embolden us with your loving generous Spirit so that when we approach our repentant siblings in Christ we forget not your forgiveness but act in similar fashion. In your most holy name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we pray, Amen.