july 9 2023
July 9th 2023
Old Testament: Zechariah 9:9-12
Psalm: Psalm 145:1-14
Epistle: Romans 7:14-25a
Gospel: Matthew 11:25-30
Sermon Text: Matthew 11
Sermon Title: “I Will Give You Rest”
Grace to you and peace, from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
“I thank You … You have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children”. (Matthew 11:25) “Come to Me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest … for My yoke is easy and My burden light”. (Matthew 11:28, 30) “Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord”. (Romans 7:24)
We have spent the last few weeks in Matthew chapter 10, where Jesus sent out the twelve Apostles to preach, and spoke of the persecution and suffering they would endure because of their proclamation, He told them repeatedly to have no fear of what was going to come upon them, knowing the precious promises He had also given to them; the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. The disciples saw these difficulties first hand as Jesus continued to preach and teach and to encounter much opposition.
When this happened Jesus “began to denounce the cities … because they did not repent”. (Matthew 11:20) Jesus pronounced the same judgment on those towns that He told the disciples to say to those who refused to listen to them. Jesus and the disciples spoke the same message, and yet in each case, some repented and believed and some were hardened in unbelief. This is revealed in our Gospel text today.
While all of these things were going on, “at that time, Jesus declared; I thank You Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to little children; you for such was your gracious will”. (Matthew 11:25-26) What a blessing that we are not dependent on the so-called wisdom of this world, or even our own wisdom; but rather that the God of the universe; loved us so much that He revealed these things in such a way that even the “little children” could understand it. By means of the text this morning, Jesus our Lord intends to comfort those who have received His Word as it has been proclaimed to them.
Jesus said, “all things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him”. (Matthew 11:27) Everything about our salvation belongs to God alone. As Jesus said elsewhere, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to Me”. (Matthew 28:18b) Jesus is Lord and creator of all and yet He graciously invites us to partake of His gifts in Word and Sacrament saying; “Come to Me”. (Matthew 11:28a) Come to the One through whom “every good gift and perfect gift” (James 1:17) is given. For He graciously gives us His gifts through “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17b) and the Holy Sacraments.
Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden; and I will give you rest”. (Matthew 11:28) Those who “labor and are heavy laden”, are those who are crushed by the burden of their sins, fearing the wrath of God upon them. It also includes those who are suffering in this wicked world because of their faith in Jesus. But these are also those who “sincerely repent of them” and believe that their sins are forgiven for the sake of Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross. To all in these situations, Jesus says “Come to Me”. (Matthew 11:28a)
The prophet Isaiah also declares, “Come, everyone who thirsts; come to the waters (of eternal life); and he who has no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price”. (Isaiah 55:1) Thus says the Lord, “Listen diligently to Me and eat what is good … incline your ear and come to Me; hear that your soul may live … seek the Lord while He may be found”. (Isaiah 55:2b-3a, 6a)
“Come to Me … take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light”. (Matthew 11:28a, 29-30) Come to the gentle Savior who “humbled Himself, becoming obedient to the point of death on a cross”. (Philippians 2:8) Come and hear His Word of forgiveness in the Absolution, and the preached Word, and the Holy Sacrament; for this is where Christ delivers His rest for our souls. As Zechariah declared, “Behold, your King is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is He”. (Zechariah 9:9b) Come to where He has promised to be.
The burden of trying to find this salvation in our works, in the law, is too much for anyone to bear; but when you are confident that your sins have been forgiven for the sake of Christ; from the power of sin, death, and the devil; you are free to fight against sin and keep the commandments; however imperfectly. The Apostle John declares that for those who love God; “His commandments are not burdensome”. (1st John 5:3b) In other words, we want to keep them, but it is a struggle. For in addition to the temptations of the devil and the wicked world, we have our sinful nature hanging on to us like a weight.
As the Apostle Paul described it this morning in the Epistle, it is a fight within us between the old man/sinful nature and the new creation in Christ Jesus. “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing that I hate … for I do not do the good that I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing”. (Romans 7:15, 19) Like all of us, Paul was wearied by this constant struggle. He wrote, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death”? (Romans 7:24) Then he immediately gives the answer, “thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:25a) “who gives us the victory”. (1st Corinthians 15:57a)
All of these things Jesus our Lord accomplishes through the means of grace that He Himself has provided for us. Holy Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and of course, the Word of God. Always, the Word of God; for the written and spoken Word of God are included even in the Sacraments. As you heard a couple of weeks ago, the Word is included in every part of the Divine Service. So, we find the peace and rest Jesus promises today in that very Word of God proclaimed. As the Apostle Peter declared, “You have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and abiding Word of God … which remains forever”. (1st Peter 1:23, 25a)
In the rest of the sermon today, I want to address the one chief part of the Catechism that we have not touched on yet in recent memory, and that is the fifth chief part; Confession. Now Confession and Absolution is technically not a separate sacrament, but Luther includes it under baptism; in particular under the fourth part of baptism which speaks of daily contrition and repentance.
In the Small Catechism, Confession is divided into two parts; first private confession and absolution (before the pastor) and second, the Office of the Keys. We will go over both of these briefly this morning. To begin this section of the catechism Luther declared, “when I urge you to go to confession, I am doing nothing else than urging you to be a Christian … we should regard it as a precious and comforting treasure which the Gospel offers”. Luther is exhorting all Christians to take advantage of this great gift of God, though he does add that no one should be forced to make private confession. This was the error of the Roman Church of his day.
Now, Private Confession and Absolution has two parts; “first that we confess our sins and second that we receive absolution, that is forgiveness. From the pastor as from God Himself … firmly believing that by it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven”. (What is Confession, explanation, Small Catechism) But what sins are we to confess to the pastor? Luther answers,
“Before God (and in the corporate Confession and Absolution in the Divine Service) we should plead guilty of all sins, even those we are not aware of” (What sins should we confess? Explanation, Small Catechism) for the Psalmist declares “Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent of hidden faults”. (Psalm 19:12) The Apostle John also teaches “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us”. (1st John 1:8)
Before the pastor however, we should confess only those sins which are especially troubling to us. Which sins are these? Here Luther says we should “consider our place according to the Ten Commandments” to see when and how we have broken them. This also is good to do before the corporate Confession and Absolution, as preparation for receiving the Lord’s Supper.
After confessing our sins, we receive absolution/forgiveness of sins and we should receive this absolution from the pastor as from God Himself. This is a troubling saying to many, but Jesus clearly affirms it saying “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18) and “If you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven and if you retain the sins of any, they are retained”. (John 20:23) So, the benefit of private confession and absolution is this; “God Himself, through the pastor, forgives each individual the sins that are confessed”. (Question # 268, Small Catechism)
These verses lead us into a discussion of the Office of Keys, which gets its name from Jesus’ words to Peter and the other disciples, “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it (the church). I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven”. (Matthew 16:18b-19a) According to the Small Catechism, “the Office of the Keys is that special authority that Christ has given to His church on earth” to forgive sins or withhold forgiveness.
This means that the church has Jesus’ divine command to “exclude openly unrepentant sinners from the Christian congregation and to forgive those who repent of their sins and want to do better”. Sinners who have repented are those “who are sorry for their sins (contrition) and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. For Peter declared, “Repent therefore and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out”. (Acts 3:19) Unrepentant sinners are those who have no sorrow over their sins and refuse to turn from them; for the necessary result of repentance is that “good works are bound to follow”. (Question # 276, Small Catechism)
For John the Baptist proclaimed, “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance … for every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire”. (Matthew 3:8, 10b) Jesus said to the paralytic that He healed, “See, you are well. Sin no more”. (John 5:14b) Jesus also, forgave the woman caught in the act of adultery saying, “Go, and from now on, sin no more”. (John 8:11b) Paul also wrote that “God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance”. (Romans 2:4b)
So,” how is the church to publicly exercise this Office of the Keys”? (Question # 277) Answer; “the Christian congregation, by the command of Christ, calls pastors to carry out the Office of the Keys publicly in Christ’s name and on behalf of the congregation”. Martin Chemnitz and other Lutheran fathers included this among the top 3 duties of the office of the ministry; in other words, the pastor. First, to feed the church of God with the true and pure doctrine of the divine Word of God. Second, to administer the sacraments according to Christ’s institution. Third, to administer rightly the Office of the Keys, by either remitting or retaining sins.
I was reminded of this recently at the ordination of a new pastor at Holy Cross in Vandalia. Each of these was mentioned in the rite of installation; as were many other duties of the pastor. Such as pledging faithfulness to the entire Bible as “the only infallible rule of faith and practice”. Regarding the three Creeds which we confess in the church, the pastor was asked “Do you believe these creeds … as faithful testimonies of the truth of Holy Scripture, and do you reject all errors which they condemn”?
Then the pastor was asked, “Do you confess … the Book of Concord (our Lutheran Confessions, which contain …) as in agreement with the one Scriptural faith? Do you promise to perform your duties according to these confessions; meaning that your preaching, teaching, and administration of the Sacraments will be in conformity with Scripture and these confessions? To these questions, the pastor responds, “Yes, with the help of God”.
These are the things that all pastors in the LCMS, including me, were called to do at their ordination. In fact, “by this very thing, as by a solemn vow, he who has been called and ordained becomes obligated to the church in the sight of God, to render faithfulness in the ministry that the Lord requires in His stewards”. (Chemnitz, Enchiridion, page 36) To ask a pastor to resign for an unbiblical reason, and there are only three biblical reasons, is to ask him to violate his ordination vows. (If you want to know the three legitimate reasons, we will be discussing them in Bible class this morning.)
Do you recall, the ordination service also calls upon the congregation to make promise towards their pastor? For example, you were asked, “Will you receive him and show him that love, honor and obedience in the Lord that you owe to the shepherd and teacher placed over you by your Lord Jesus Christ? Will you support him by your gifts and pray for him always … that his ministry among you would be blessed?
Will you honor and uphold your pastor as he serves Christ in all of his God pleasing responsibilities? Will you aid him as he cares for his family? Will you be diligent to put the best construction on everything, recognizing that love covers a multitude of sins? “Here, the church is reminded, that it is to recognize this pastor has divine authority to teach and to hear him in the name and place of God”. (Chemnitz, Enchiridion, page 36)
The final questions in the fifth chief part of the Catechism involve church discipline and excommunication. The first question is “what great care must be taken in dealing with an openly unrepentant sinner? The Christian congregation must carry out church discipline in love and patience; and just as a reminder, love is not the same thing as making them feel good. Here is where Matthew 18 is to be applied, according to Scripture, the Confessions, and our own churches constitution.
The first step according to Jesus is, “if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone … if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of one or two witnesses … if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church”. (Matthew 18:15-17a) This should always be done with “a spirit of gentleness, keeping watch on yourselves, lest you too be tempted”. (Galatians 6:1b)
What must the congregation finally do with an openly unrepentant sinner? They must first exclude them from the Lord’s Supper and other privileges of the church, except for the hearing of God’s Word, for Paul said, “Purge the evil person from among you”. (1st Corinthians 5:13) This is the binding key that we spoke of earlier, “whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven”. (Matthew 16:19a) Excommunication may seem an extreme option, but there are at least two clear purposes according to Scripture.
First, it is a warning to that person of the severity of their sin and the need for repentance, literally to rescue them from the dangers of eternal damnation, should they continue in a state of unrepentance; “so that his spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord”. (1st Corinthians 5:5b) Second, it is to prevent him or her from leading others into sin. If open sin is not dealt with in the church, it is essentially giving others in the church permission to join in their sin. It is a stumbling block to the faith of others.
Those who repent of their sins after being under church discipline, are to be welcomed back into the fellowship of the church, for the Apostle Paul said, “You should turn to forgive and comfort them, lest they be overcome with excessive sorrow”. (2nd Corinthians 2:7) As Jesus said, “there is joy before the angels of God, over one sinner who repents”. (Luke 15:10b)
You see, Confession and Absolution, the Office of the Keys and even church discipline, are done with the ultimate purpose of applying the Gospel, the forgiveness of sins, to poor miserable sinners, laden with guilt and in need of spiritual rest. So, hear again Jesus’ invitation this morning, “Come to Me, all that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest … for your souls”. (Matthew 11:28, 29b) Amen.
The peace of God …