“And the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:9)

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A sermon for the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Philippians 4:1-9

In 1897 a book came out, In His Steps, by Charles Sheldon. It had been produced as a serial in a magazine the year before. When it came out in book form, it was instantly a best seller. For the next sixty years it was the best-selling religious book next to the Bible. Why? Because many people want to know: How are we to live? How do we follow “in his steps”?

To be sure, there are persons in extreme circumstances, especially on Good Friday particularly in places like Latin America and the Philippines, who whip themselves, carry a heavy cross, and even tie themselves up on a cross. What does it mean “to take up your cross”? What does it mean to follow “in his steps”?

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Lift High the Cross

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Philippians 2:5-11

A Sermon for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost.

A Lutheran couple was reading the Bible through in one year. They had bought what’s called a chronological Bible, which is printed in such a way that you can read it in 365 days. It doesn’t work well because we don’t know the time and date for some of the books in the Old Testament.

The couple expressed some frustration with the readings. They asked: “Why does it keep repeating itself? It says the same thing over and over again.”

There is a basic kind of poetry in the Bible, mostly in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament as well. We see it in the Psalms but also in most of the prophets. It is called parallelism. It is the same thing said again, slightly differently; this is called “synonymous.” Or when what is said is the opposite, it is called “antithetic,” or where there is progress in what is said, it is called “synthetic.” There are really about six ways that parallelism works. It is not built like our poetry, which is based on rhyme and rhythm. It is somewhat similar to the poetry of an old English poem called Beowulf.

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Mission, Folly, and Freedom

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Matthew 20:1-16

A Sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

What does “mission” mean? It means “to be sent.” We know that a majority of Christians are now in the Southern Hemisphere even though we should also point out that because Chinese Christians are being persecuted, their numbers are increasing (Tertullian: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”). Many in the Western world leave Christianity every day because they become secular. The table has also been turned over the source of missionaries. The largest number of missionaries proportionally, except for small groups, is from South Korea. The whole world of mission is different from what it used to be a generation ago.

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As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us

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A sermon for the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Matt 18:21-35

We have today a difficult text in the Gospel of Matthew. Peter asks: “Should I forgive seven times?” And the answer is: “Seventy times seven.” And that doesn’t mean when you get to 490, then it’s O.K. not to forgive.” It means totally. Then comes the parable of someone who owed ten thousand talents. In today’s terms that’s about twenty-five million dollars. The king was going to sell the servant and his family into slavery but the servant pleaded for mercy and the king forgave him his debt. This same servant then turned around to someone who owed him a mere twenty-five dollars, and when this one asked for mercy, the servant said no and threw him in prison. The point of the parable, which as usual is found in the last verse, is to forgive from the heart. The point is not just forgiving but forgiving from the heart. Lest we think that is just one verse, in one place, recall that when we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we have the sentence which says: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

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