LESSON: MATTHEW 22:15‒22

When they heard it, they marveled; and they left Him and went away. Matthew 22:22

This is written for our consolation, so that those of us who believe in Christ should know that we Christians are in possession of a wisdom that outranks all other wisdom, and that we have a strength and righteousness with which no human strength or righteousness can stand comparison. Against the Holy Spirit no human counsel is of any avail. Through Christ we have the power to tread sin underfoot and to trample upon death, and a wisdom that exceeds the wisdom of the whole world. If Christ dwells in us by faith, He is ours and will attend to all this in us. But in the hour of trial and temptation, we do not always feel this. Therefore, when I need it, He comes to me and enables me to make my way through my difficulties with renewed strength.

We should never be apprehensive that our doctrine will go under and be disgraced. No matter whether all the learned and wise men of this world rise up against God’s Word and make a merry sport of their opposition to the Word, they are doomed to ultimate failure. It can happen that they bark against the Word and bite it to such an extent that people think that the Gospel will be overwhelmed. But when they set themselves to overthrow the Gospel, it is quite certain that they will fail in a disgraceful manner, and they themselves will be caught in the trap by which they hoped to overthrow the Gospel. This is what happened here in this Gospel to the men who tried to trip up Jesus. They thought themselves smart enough to outwit Christ in every way, but their wisdom and smartness let them down.

SL.XI.1806,8‒9

PRAYER: Grant us a full measure of Your Holy Spirit, O God, the Spirit of truth and understanding, that we may always cling in firm faith to the teaching of Your Word, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil–Gospels, 5:293-306.

LESSON: PSALM 119:57‒64

God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8

When we believe that we have a gracious God and that we need nothing further, it would, presumably, be time for us to die as soon as possible. But if we are to continue our life here on earth, it must not be directed towards gaining God’s favor by our works.

Anyone who holds such a view makes a mockery of God and blasphemes God. Yet this is what was taught for such a long time in the Church. We were informed that we must keep on pestering God with our good works, prayers, fasts, and the like, until we obtained His grace. We did obtain grace, not by our works, but from God’s mercy.

In your life of faith, you certainly have to get busy and do something, but, as Christ informs us, everything we do must be done for the interests of our neighbor. The servant in the parable, we are told, “went out.” He “went out” in love. Faith leads men from people to God. Love leads them out to people. Our faith must break out and prove itself in action before our fellowmen. God does not need your works; He has enough in your faith. But He wants you to do works as fruits of faith, to demonstrate the reality of your faith before the whole world in works.

This servant (Matthew 18:23‒35) is an example or a picture of all who should serve their neighbor in faith. But what does he do? He does what most of us do. We imagine that we have faith, and in part this is true. We rejoice at having heard the Gospel, and we may even be able to talk a great deal about it. But only too few really live in accordance with the Gospel. There are even those in our midst who seem to become worse after hearing the Gospel.

SL.XI.1796,21‒24
AE. 79:255-265

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, give us at all times a true and genuine faith, which proves itself in works of love to our neighbor and becomes ever stronger and more willing to walk the paths of your choosing, in and through Christ our Savior. Amen.

LESSON: PSALM 119:33‒40

With the Lord on my side, I do not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is on my side to help me; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in man. Psalm 118:6‒8

Because this servant (Matthew 18:23‒35) is humbled by the knowledge of his sins, the Word becomes a source of mighty consolation to him. The lord absolves him and forgives him his debt and punishment. Hereby we should note that the Gospel does not touch profligate hearts, nor those who are openly insolent in their wickedness, but only those whose conscience is terrified, whose sins oppress them, who would gladly get rid of them if they could. On such God has mercy. He grants them full remission.

In accepting the Word, this servant became God’s friend. If he had not accepted the Word, it would not have helped him; there would have been no remission. Hence, it is not enough for God to offer us the forgiveness of sins and to proclaim a jubilee year of grace; the Word must be accepted and believed.

If you believe the Word, you are free from your sins and all is simple. This is the first part of a Christian life which this Gospel and all others teach us. It consists basically in faith, by which alone we have dealings with God. In addition, however, we are shown here that the Gospel cannot be grasped unless conscience has been previously afflicted and is in distress.

SL.XI.1794,17
AE. 79:255-265

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, Your assurance to us is that we have the full forgiveness of all our sins by Your grace alone through faith alone. Keep from us all trust in our own works and merits as we cling to Your grace alone, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

LESSON: ROMANS 4:9‒12

If it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. Romans 11:6

In his mercy, the lord in the parable of Matthew 18:23‒35 pities the wretched situation of the servant before him. He sets aside and gives up his rights and says no more about selling his servant “with his wife and children and all that he had.” He could certainly have insisted on his rights, declaring, “You have to pay up; I have my rights and have no intention of giving them up for your sake.” No one could have found fault with him on this score.

But he does not want to deal with his servant on the basis of rights. He exchanges rights for grace and has pity on his servant. He sets him free, together with his wife and children and all that he has, and forgives him his whole debt. This is also what God proclaims through the Gospel, saying to us, “He who believes shall not only have his debt forgiven but also the punishment he has merited.”

Works must never come into consideration here. Anyone who suggests that one can get rid of the guilt and punishment for sin through works has denied the Gospel. That God should have pity on you and that you should earn or merit His favor cannot be harmonized in any way. Paul’s argument is unanswerable, “If it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace” (Romans 11:6). If you pay what you owe, there is no need for His mercy. If you are the recipient of His mercy, you are not paying for it. Hence we must allow Him to initiate His dealings with us and to act quite alone; we must receive from Him and believe in Him. That is what the Gospel is all about, as we see also from this parable.

SL.XI.1794,16
AE. 79:255-265

PRAYER: As lost and condemned sinners, without any righteousness or merits of our own, O God, we have no other recourse but to throw ourselves on Your mercy and love. It is the glory of Your Gospel that it assures us that Your grace alone is our effective means of salvation, in and through Christ our Savior. Amen.

LESSON: HEBREWS 9:11‒14

“Out of pity for him, the lord of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.” Matthew 18:27

The lord has pity on this servant in his wretched condition. The servant is securely caught and entangled in his sins and foolish enough to suppose that he can help himself out of his hopeless plight. He does not look for mercy. He knows nothing about grace. He feels nothing but his sins which oppress him sorely. There is no one to whom he can turn for help. Even while he is in this wretched plight, the lord turned to him in pity and released him.

In this action of the lord, there is portrayed to us what the Gospel in its nature really is, and how God deals with us. If you are entangled in your sins and are afraid that you can find no help to rescue you from your sad plight, the Gospel comes to you and says, “No, not so, my dear friend, it does not help you to martyr yourself to the point of distraction and to become alarmed. It is not your works but God’s mercy alone which moves Him to have pity on you in your wretched situation. He sees that you are in the grip of fear, that you are throttling yourself in the mire of your sins, that you cannot extricate yourself from your plight. He can see that you cannot pay your debt. In pity and mercy, He forgives you your whole debt. Therefore, it is a case of pure mercy. He forgives you your debt, not because of your works or any merits. He has pity on your cries, entreaties, and the requests you have made on your knees.”

This means that God regards a humble heart, as David declares, “The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Psalm 51:17). A heart that is broken, he says, and contrite, that cannot help itself and is quite content to have God reach out a helping hand to it, is the most acceptable sacrifice before God and the right way to heaven.

SL.XI.1793,14‒15
AE. 79:255-265

PRAYER: Eternal praise and thanks be Yours, heavenly Father, for Your mercy and grace and the rescue from all sins available to us in Your Gospel of salvation, as revealed to us in and through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

LESSON: 1 JOHN 2:1‒6

“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the reckoning, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents; and as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’” Matthew 18:23‒26

The message which this servant heard from his lord and master was anything but joyful. In all seriousness and deadly earnest, the master delivered a most startling and shocking judgment. The servant becomes so distressed that he falls down and begs for patience. He makes a promise exceeding all his power of fulfillment, saying, “Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.” Here we have a picture, a portrait of those for whom the Gospel really has a message.

This is also how matters stand between us and God. When God wants to settle accounts, He sees to it that His Law is preached through which we learn to know our indebtedness. For example, He tells our conscience, “You shall have no other god but regard Me alone as your God, love Me with your whole heart, and place all your trust and reliance on Me alone.” This is the account, the register, in which what we owe Him is written down.

What does the servant do? He makes an offer, fool that he is, to pay his debt. He falls down and asks his lord to have patience with him. Nothing can save this man but the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness.

SL.XI.1791,8‒11
AE. 79:255-265

PRAYER: Lord God, when we look at our lives in light of Your holy Law, we see nothing but sin and condemnation. Our sins are truly many and great. Our one and only consolation is that as our loving heavenly Father You do not look at our sins according to Your Law, but that You regard us in accordance with the righteousness offered us in Your Gospel, in and through Christ our Savior. Amen.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XXII - MONDAY

LESSON: MATTHEW 18:18‒22

“Out of pity for him, the lord of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.” Matthew 18:27

“Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you besought me; and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’” Matthew 18:32‒33

In the Gospel, there is nothing but sheer forgiveness. The lord of the servant forgave him his whole debt, and the lord expected that servant to forgive his fellow servant and release him from his debt. This is how God wants matters to stand in His kingdom. No one should ever be so displeased with his neighbor or angry with him that he cannot forgive his neighbor.

As Christ points out in the context immediately preceding, even if your neighbor incurs your anger not just seven times “but seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:22), that is, as often as it would be possible to do so, you should drop your rights and feel remit him everything. Why? Because Christ has also done this for you.

He has initiated and set up a kingdom in which there is nothing but pure grace, a kingdom which will never end, in which everything will be forgiven you as often as you have sinned. He has sent out His Gospel which proclaims not punishment but pure grace alone. As long as this regime stands, you can always rise again, no matter how deeply and how often you have fallen away from it.

One thing Christ expects of you, that you forgive your neighbor the sins he has committed against you. Otherwise you cannot hold your place in His kingdom of grace or enjoy the good news that your sins are forgiven you. This, in brief, is the gist and meaning of this Gospel.

SL.XI.1789,6
AE: 79:255-265

PRAYER: We thank You from the bottom of our hearts, O God, for the full and often repeated forgiveness of our sins which we enjoy in Your kingdom of grace. May we always be found ready, in the enjoyment of Your forgiveness, to forgive our neighbor his sins, through Jesus Christ our Savior.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XXII - SUNDAY

LESSON: MATTHEW 18:23‒35

Rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Romans 13:3

The Gospel, or the kingdom of God, is nothing else but the estate or regime in which there is nothing but the forgiveness of sins. Where there is a regime in which sins are not forgiven, there is no Gospel or kingdom of God. Therefore, the two kingdoms must be kept clearly apart: the one in which sin is punished, the other in which sin is forgiven; the one in which rights are demanded, the other in which rights are given up. In God’s kingdom where He rules through the Gospel, no rights are demanded, nor does one operate with rights. In God’s kingdom there is nothing but forgiveness, remitting, and donating, no wrath or punishment, nothing but brotherly service and benevolence.

This does not, however, abolish secular law and justice. This parable teaches us nothing about the secular realm; it teaches us only about the kingdom of God. When a secular prince rules his people in such a way that he allows no one to perpetrate an injustice and punishes evildoers, he does well and deserves praise.

We need such a regime, but we cannot get into heaven thereby. The world cannot be saved by its secular government. But secular government is necessary to prevent the world from becoming worse than it is, and to ward off and hinder evil. If there were no secular government, one man would simply swallow up the other man, and no one in the end would be able to retain life, property, wife, or child. To prevent universal destruction and ruin, God has set up the authority of the sword so that evil might be in part restrained, and that the secular authority might establish peace and prevent men from doing each other injustice and wrong. This order of things the Christian must also accept.

SL.XI.1788,4
79:255-265

PRAYER: We thank and praise You, heavenly Father, for all the blessings which we have been privileged to enjoy in our earthly lives through good government and good rulers. Keep us ever mindful of our duties in the secular realm, for Christ’s sake. Amen.