The sermon for November 19 was based on Matthew 22:15-22.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Here in this church, through the ministry of your Pastors, by preaching and the Sacraments, in communion with the Church throughout the world and in heaven—here, by God's command and with His unbreakable promise—here forgiveness and salvation come to you through Jesus' merit.

You should never confuse what goes on here with what goes on in courtrooms or statehouses or in Washington. For while they may show leniency and grant clemency, while they may speak of compassion, and while they may promise real help and relief—what they promise can quickly fade, what they give can quickly be taken away, what they speak can quickly be spun, and what laws they pass can quickly be revoked or ignored. Their help effects only your possessions. Their relief is short-lived. Their leniency and pardon and justice are only as good as the moral force behind it.

But here at Bethany, the help you receive is not only real, but everlasting. Here you get comfort that will not fade. Here the words do what they say. Here you receive the peace of God which surpasses and exceeds and goes beyond what you understand or expect or even believe. Why? Because these are not the promises of politicians, but the promises of the Lord God Almighty. These promises do not help you get ahead in the world, but help you in body and soul, now and forever. But most of all, what you get here is not given according to the rule of law, or of fairness, or of justice.

Here, everything goes according to the rule of forgiveness and mercy. Here, the injustice and unfairness of God is poured out abundantly on you. Here love is not just talk about or felt, but also planted into you and lived through you. For this love is the love of God, grounded in the self sacrifice of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. This sacrificed and crucified God does what no government can do, what no politician can deliver. He assumes into His own flesh all your fears and anxieties, all your afflictions and temptations and sins, and even your own death. He washes you in Holy Baptism and He feeds into your body His Body, and into your blood His Blood. With that comes the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation which is located within His Flesh and Blood. He not only tells you of good things to come, but actually and really and truly gives them to you.

All this your Lord Jesus does here within His Church, and only within His Church. Here mercy, compassion, and pardon do not simply give you a second chance; they give you eternal life. Here comfort and relief do not last merely until the next crisis; they stick to your body and soul unto eternal life.

That is the rule of forgiveness, the rule of Christ's mercy which carries the day here in the kingdom of God, within the holy Church. This rule is quite different from the rule of law that is used, and must be used, by judges and magistrates, legislators and congressmen, governors and presidents. The distinction must be clear. For the comfort you receive here is quite different.

This difference between Church and the State is something the Pharisees and Herodians, and many other religious people today, do not understand. Even you, influenced by the world, by your own, sinful desires, and by the temptations of the devil, sometimes confuse the kingdoms of this world and their rule of law with the kingdom of God and His rule of grace. Have you demanded your rights from God, not knowing that what you rightfully deserve God mercifully hesitates to give? Have you insisted on your self-determination and freedom, not knowing that freedom from the curse of the law does not mean freedom to do as you wish, neither to ignore the authorities God has placed over you nor the demands of God's Law?

Too many people insist that the Church rule like the government—not according to forgiveness but by fairness; not by mercy which suffers all for the sake of others, but by justice that demands that your rights be respected. That is how you often live with your neighbors—not enduring all things, not bearing one another's burdens, not doing all for the common good of the Church; but in selfishness, looking out for your rights, and insisting that others know their place and do as they ought. Sometimes you even insist on your own rights to the point of usurping the authority of both Caesar and God.

But whose inscription have you received? Whose mark has been placed upon you? And in response to this, to whom have you pledged in Holy Baptism and at your confirmation not simply your loyalty, but also your very life? Have you not renounced the devil and all his ways? Have you not sworn allegiance to more than a flag, or a piece of wood, or to some poorly defined faith, but to the Triune God Himself? But if I were to exhort you to be true to your pledge, I would be lapsing into the rule of law and worldly governance. Rather, I will embolden you with the Gospel. Has not God bound Himself to you in Holy Baptism and filled you with Himself in the Holy Supper? Indeed, He has! Has He not knit you into the Body of Christ, His holy Church, where you are counted as God's own son with all the blessings that belong to a son of God? Indeed, He has given this all to you in Christ Jesus. You have been bound together in Christ with all who believe, where no one is better or worse than his brother or sister in Christ. Here you are governed in mercy and grace in the kingdom of God.

Therefore, you do give to God what is God's. In other words, you live always by the light of Christ. For as you have received, so you also give, both in your worship, by which you reflect back to God His love for you, and in your life with your fellows, by which Christ lives in you and through you for the good of all. You were bought at a price; therefore, you do glorify God in your body and in your spirit, both of which belong to God.

Since you were raised with Christ, you seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. You set your mind on things above, like grace and mercy and forgiveness, not on things on the earth, like justice and rights. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

This is how you give to God the things that are God's—not by worrying about what may happen next, and not by demanding your rights, but by living peaceably and in harmony with God and man, by entrusting yourself to Him, even as He has given Himself to you; and by letting the love of Christ so rule in your heart and mind that you live for God and for others with all that you have and all that you are. In short, you give to God the things that are God's by God living His life in you.

Your Lord spared no expense in bringing you into His kingdom. He sacrificed His only-begotten Son for your sake. And here in His Church He daily and richly pours into you His life-blood, so that in Him you live and move and have your being. Here He delivers to you what no politician can give: He gives you His eternal, unbreakable pledge, incarnate in His own Body and Blood—here He gives you forgiveness, salvation, and life everlasting. Amen.

The Peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Last Updated: 5/27/2009