I did preach my second sermon and I feel that it went pretty well. My delivery was not as smooth as the first one because I had less time to work with it. However, I feel the content was much deeper and better because I had more to work with in this text. So here it is, hope you enjoy:
Our text for today is from the Gospel reading but
specifically looking at verse 11 which reads, “For everyone who exalts himself
will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
Grace, Mercy, and Peace be to you from God our Father in
Heaven and the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
How many of you who walked in here today were filled with fear, trembling as you walked through those doors right back there, or bowed in reverence as you entered the pew? How many of you felt unworthy to be here in the house of the Lord as you entered today?
We live in a culture of pride. Slogans such as be proud to be American, proud to be of the land of the free. We are the BEST country in the entire world, we have the BEST standard of living, we have the BEST technology, and if anyone tries to tell us we are not the best we do not even debate it or argue it because we know they are wrong. We praise our kids for the smallest task completed. We tell our friends what good people they are and how they deserve to be happy. We build each other up and build ourselves up in order to feel better than those around us and to insure that everything will be alright. We get defensive the moment someone says something even slightly brash about us. We are pretty proud of the person we have turned out to be and we are not afraid to brag ourselves up when push comes to shove. I made sure to say we every time because I am just as guilty of this as the next person. The point is humility is not really our strong suit as Americans.
In our text for today, Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees while He is eating with them at one of their houses. He shares some brutal honesty with them. Even though He is a guest in their house, He tells them basically what they are doing is wrong. He sees these Pharisees automatically going for the best seats on the couch and reclining there to eat as if they are the only ones worthy of laying there. So Jesus tells them, “When you are invited a banquet, do not assume you are the most important person in the room and seat yourself at the place of honor. If someone more important than you comes, and the host now wants that person to seat at the place of honor, he will ask you to move and you are going to be embarrassed as you have to get up and move. Rather sit at the lowest seat and then if the hosts decides you are the one he wants to be the honored guest, he will invite you to move up to the place of honor and you will be seen by all moving up.” Really this should have happened at this very house of the Pharisees, because if they would have known who Jesus really was and fully understood that they had invited the Son of God as a guest to their banquet, the host should have asked Jesus to sit in the place of honor, forcing the Pharisees already sitting there to move and be embarrassed. If they would have understood who was present with them in their house that day, they should have been filled with awe and fear and moved without being asked. Here stands Jesus, the one and only Son of God, 100 percent man but 100 percent true God, powerful enough to heal a man with dropsy right before their very eyes. This is the same God who created Heaven and Earth, the same God who sent the 10 plagues to free His people from Egypt, the same God left His throne in Heaven to be born in the flesh in a stable, the same God who would let Himself be arrested, beaten and killed, the same God who would come back to life, walking out of the tomb resurrected from the dead. This is the person standing before them and yet they were still pompous enough to seat themselves at the place of honor. As if they are more important, more special, or better than the incarnate Son of God standing in front of them.
And yet we are no better than these Pharisees. We come into the house of God as if we belong here, as if we are the ones doing the church the favor. The church should thank us for gracing it with our presence because we could have just as easily slept in this morning. We didn’t have to get dressed in nice clothes and take the time to come to church, but now that we are here we might as well participate and say the words in bold. So we recite the words of confession from memory, but how many of you actually thought about the dirty prideful sins you have committed over the past week? How many of you used the pause of reflection to actually reflect on the disgusting state of sin you live in? If we come before the Lord in confession with an attitude of self-righteousness, if we think, yes I am a sinner, but I am not as bad a sinner as that person so I am really OK, if we merely speak the words but do not think about anything at all, we are the Pharisees who have exalted ourselves to a higher seat than we deserve. However, when our faith drives us to come to the Lord in confession in a lowly state of humility, honestly admitting to every last dirty, rotten, prideful sin we have committed, realizing that we are filthy nasty, grungy, sinners who have done nothing right and truly do deserve His present and eternal punishment, now we are in the lowest seat. When we actually comprehend how terrible sinful we are, the Holy Spirit leads us in this state of humility, graveling for His mercy because we know we have no rights, we have given Him no reason to even love us let alone forgive us, this is the humility of the lowest seat at the banquet. This is when we will be exalted. You see Luke is a very clever and smart author. He writes our verse today in a way that alludes but does not directly express his point. God is the subject of verse 11. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted should really be read as whoever exalts himself will be humbled by GOD, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted by GOD. God is the subject; God is the one doing the action. God is the one who will humble us when we will not humble ourselves, but He is the one who exalts us because in reality we cannot exalt ourselves. We try every day to exalt ourselves, make ourselves seem better than we really are, pretend like the old Adam in us doesn’t exist. However, it is God and only God who can exalt us to anything higher than the lowest scummiest sinner. He is the subject because it is by His grace alone that He exalts us to be forgiven when we come humbly before Him truly confessing our sins.
So we do come humbly before God, seating ourselves at the lowest place possible because we truly are sinners who deserve nothing more than to be condemned and wiped out. We deserve to be damned to Hell, and if you can’t admit that than you are a Pharisee exalting yourself. We do not deserve to be in the seat of honor; in fact, we should be thankful to even be invited to the banquet. The very fact that we as sinners are allowed to come into His presence to ask for His mercy is a miracle. You see we are the ones Jesus speaks of in verse 13. We are the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. We are the ones who can in no way ever repay Him. And yet we are the ones who He invites to His banquet. (walk out of pulpit to communion rail) He invites us to come to His banquet here at the communion rail. And this banquet here at His table is not only bread and wine, but the very body and blood of His incarnate Son. He is truly and absolutely present with us here.
And let me just say, that even though we as the Missouri Synod practices closed communion, does not mean we do not want everyone to come up to this rail. We do believe that communion taken in the wrong manner is to your harm, and it should be taken in unity as one confession of faith. Now we do desire everyone to be taught the truth of this meal so that we may all receive it in the right manner and in one unity, but out of our love for you and our love for our Lord, until you are taught the truth we ask that you do not partake of the body and blood of our Lord. However, just because you do not partake of the bread and wine, does not mean you are not invited to the banquet. This morning I invite everyone in the pews to come forward to the rail during the service of the Sacrament. For those who are not yet part of the unity of faith to partake of the bread and wine, simply cross your arms over your chest and receive the blessing. Come be a part of the banquet and be in the presence of your Lord. But even more important than me inviting you, Jesus invites you. None of us deserve to be up here at this rail; none of us deserve to be in His presence, but He invites all of us. (walk back into pulpit)
So we come humbly, kneeling in reverence, knowing that Christ is truly present at this banquet. If you still have your doubts, just look at our liturgy. We hear pastor say in the proper every week, with angels and archangels and all the accompany of Heaven, we laud and magnify His glorious name evermore praising and saying, Holy holy holy.” This is exactly what is happening at this rail. We truly are in the presence of angels, archangels, and all the accompany of heaven. We laud and magnify His glorious name because we are in the presence of our Lord. We are invited to the most holy of holy banquets here at this rail. This is the most holy of holy banquets because of the guest of honor. And that guest of honor is not us, so we do not think about what we have to do after church or think that we are the most important person there. But rather the Spirit leads us in our faith to come humbly, focused on the one who is seated at the place of honor at this banquet. Christ, our Savior and Lord, the very incarnate Christ who was speaking to these Pharisees. The same Lord who would was willing to go to the lowest place, His death on the cross to die for the sins of all people, and then be exalted if full glory as He was resurrected from the dead to defeat sin, death, and the devil once and for all. This is the Lord who exalts us, exalts us to be forgiven, exalts us to be His brothers and sisters, exalts us to be the children of God, clothed in His righteousness and now able to come into His presence. It is He who exalts us to the seat of honor out of His deep love for us.
So today, next Sunday, and every time we enter the Lord’s house from here on, maybe we are filled with a little fear as we sinners enter His presence. We come into His house with awe and reverence, humbly and genuinely speak the words of confession, focus on the miracle that is actually happening as we hear the words of absolution, sing the holy holy holy with the angels archangels and all of heaven with gusto, and come humbly kneeling into His presence at His banquet. What a gracious Lord we have who exalts us to be the children of God. In the name of this Christ, who does exalt us, Amen.
Now may the peace of
our Lord, given to us through His mercy, will keep and guard our hearts and
mind in the one true faith until life everlasting. Amen. How many of you who walked in here today were filled with fear, trembling as you walked through those doors right back there, or bowed in reverence as you entered the pew? How many of you felt unworthy to be here in the house of the Lord as you entered today?
We live in a culture of pride. Slogans such as be proud to be American, proud to be of the land of the free. We are the BEST country in the entire world, we have the BEST standard of living, we have the BEST technology, and if anyone tries to tell us we are not the best we do not even debate it or argue it because we know they are wrong. We praise our kids for the smallest task completed. We tell our friends what good people they are and how they deserve to be happy. We build each other up and build ourselves up in order to feel better than those around us and to insure that everything will be alright. We get defensive the moment someone says something even slightly brash about us. We are pretty proud of the person we have turned out to be and we are not afraid to brag ourselves up when push comes to shove. I made sure to say we every time because I am just as guilty of this as the next person. The point is humility is not really our strong suit as Americans.
In our text for today, Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees while He is eating with them at one of their houses. He shares some brutal honesty with them. Even though He is a guest in their house, He tells them basically what they are doing is wrong. He sees these Pharisees automatically going for the best seats on the couch and reclining there to eat as if they are the only ones worthy of laying there. So Jesus tells them, “When you are invited a banquet, do not assume you are the most important person in the room and seat yourself at the place of honor. If someone more important than you comes, and the host now wants that person to seat at the place of honor, he will ask you to move and you are going to be embarrassed as you have to get up and move. Rather sit at the lowest seat and then if the hosts decides you are the one he wants to be the honored guest, he will invite you to move up to the place of honor and you will be seen by all moving up.” Really this should have happened at this very house of the Pharisees, because if they would have known who Jesus really was and fully understood that they had invited the Son of God as a guest to their banquet, the host should have asked Jesus to sit in the place of honor, forcing the Pharisees already sitting there to move and be embarrassed. If they would have understood who was present with them in their house that day, they should have been filled with awe and fear and moved without being asked. Here stands Jesus, the one and only Son of God, 100 percent man but 100 percent true God, powerful enough to heal a man with dropsy right before their very eyes. This is the same God who created Heaven and Earth, the same God who sent the 10 plagues to free His people from Egypt, the same God left His throne in Heaven to be born in the flesh in a stable, the same God who would let Himself be arrested, beaten and killed, the same God who would come back to life, walking out of the tomb resurrected from the dead. This is the person standing before them and yet they were still pompous enough to seat themselves at the place of honor. As if they are more important, more special, or better than the incarnate Son of God standing in front of them.
And yet we are no better than these Pharisees. We come into the house of God as if we belong here, as if we are the ones doing the church the favor. The church should thank us for gracing it with our presence because we could have just as easily slept in this morning. We didn’t have to get dressed in nice clothes and take the time to come to church, but now that we are here we might as well participate and say the words in bold. So we recite the words of confession from memory, but how many of you actually thought about the dirty prideful sins you have committed over the past week? How many of you used the pause of reflection to actually reflect on the disgusting state of sin you live in? If we come before the Lord in confession with an attitude of self-righteousness, if we think, yes I am a sinner, but I am not as bad a sinner as that person so I am really OK, if we merely speak the words but do not think about anything at all, we are the Pharisees who have exalted ourselves to a higher seat than we deserve. However, when our faith drives us to come to the Lord in confession in a lowly state of humility, honestly admitting to every last dirty, rotten, prideful sin we have committed, realizing that we are filthy nasty, grungy, sinners who have done nothing right and truly do deserve His present and eternal punishment, now we are in the lowest seat. When we actually comprehend how terrible sinful we are, the Holy Spirit leads us in this state of humility, graveling for His mercy because we know we have no rights, we have given Him no reason to even love us let alone forgive us, this is the humility of the lowest seat at the banquet. This is when we will be exalted. You see Luke is a very clever and smart author. He writes our verse today in a way that alludes but does not directly express his point. God is the subject of verse 11. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted should really be read as whoever exalts himself will be humbled by GOD, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted by GOD. God is the subject; God is the one doing the action. God is the one who will humble us when we will not humble ourselves, but He is the one who exalts us because in reality we cannot exalt ourselves. We try every day to exalt ourselves, make ourselves seem better than we really are, pretend like the old Adam in us doesn’t exist. However, it is God and only God who can exalt us to anything higher than the lowest scummiest sinner. He is the subject because it is by His grace alone that He exalts us to be forgiven when we come humbly before Him truly confessing our sins.
So we do come humbly before God, seating ourselves at the lowest place possible because we truly are sinners who deserve nothing more than to be condemned and wiped out. We deserve to be damned to Hell, and if you can’t admit that than you are a Pharisee exalting yourself. We do not deserve to be in the seat of honor; in fact, we should be thankful to even be invited to the banquet. The very fact that we as sinners are allowed to come into His presence to ask for His mercy is a miracle. You see we are the ones Jesus speaks of in verse 13. We are the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. We are the ones who can in no way ever repay Him. And yet we are the ones who He invites to His banquet. (walk out of pulpit to communion rail) He invites us to come to His banquet here at the communion rail. And this banquet here at His table is not only bread and wine, but the very body and blood of His incarnate Son. He is truly and absolutely present with us here.
And let me just say, that even though we as the Missouri Synod practices closed communion, does not mean we do not want everyone to come up to this rail. We do believe that communion taken in the wrong manner is to your harm, and it should be taken in unity as one confession of faith. Now we do desire everyone to be taught the truth of this meal so that we may all receive it in the right manner and in one unity, but out of our love for you and our love for our Lord, until you are taught the truth we ask that you do not partake of the body and blood of our Lord. However, just because you do not partake of the bread and wine, does not mean you are not invited to the banquet. This morning I invite everyone in the pews to come forward to the rail during the service of the Sacrament. For those who are not yet part of the unity of faith to partake of the bread and wine, simply cross your arms over your chest and receive the blessing. Come be a part of the banquet and be in the presence of your Lord. But even more important than me inviting you, Jesus invites you. None of us deserve to be up here at this rail; none of us deserve to be in His presence, but He invites all of us. (walk back into pulpit)
So we come humbly, kneeling in reverence, knowing that Christ is truly present at this banquet. If you still have your doubts, just look at our liturgy. We hear pastor say in the proper every week, with angels and archangels and all the accompany of Heaven, we laud and magnify His glorious name evermore praising and saying, Holy holy holy.” This is exactly what is happening at this rail. We truly are in the presence of angels, archangels, and all the accompany of heaven. We laud and magnify His glorious name because we are in the presence of our Lord. We are invited to the most holy of holy banquets here at this rail. This is the most holy of holy banquets because of the guest of honor. And that guest of honor is not us, so we do not think about what we have to do after church or think that we are the most important person there. But rather the Spirit leads us in our faith to come humbly, focused on the one who is seated at the place of honor at this banquet. Christ, our Savior and Lord, the very incarnate Christ who was speaking to these Pharisees. The same Lord who would was willing to go to the lowest place, His death on the cross to die for the sins of all people, and then be exalted if full glory as He was resurrected from the dead to defeat sin, death, and the devil once and for all. This is the Lord who exalts us, exalts us to be forgiven, exalts us to be His brothers and sisters, exalts us to be the children of God, clothed in His righteousness and now able to come into His presence. It is He who exalts us to the seat of honor out of His deep love for us.
So today, next Sunday, and every time we enter the Lord’s house from here on, maybe we are filled with a little fear as we sinners enter His presence. We come into His house with awe and reverence, humbly and genuinely speak the words of confession, focus on the miracle that is actually happening as we hear the words of absolution, sing the holy holy holy with the angels archangels and all of heaven with gusto, and come humbly kneeling into His presence at His banquet. What a gracious Lord we have who exalts us to be the children of God. In the name of this Christ, who does exalt us, Amen.
I got a lot of good compliments. The coolest part to me was that there was one guy in each service that their wives are members who commune every Sunday, but they always just stay in the pew. However, this Sunday they both came up for the blessing and it was awesome to see that they understood what my message was and acted to it. The Lord works even through a sinner like me. All Praise be to Him.
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