A, Post-Pentecost 22 Celebration of the Reformation - John 8:31–32, 36 "Truly Free Indeed"

John 8:31–32, 36 (ESV) So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

At election time there is much talk from political candidates seeking to prove their righteousness and win the seat they’re contesting. We, the voting public, are wooed with promises of justice, funding, infrastructure repairs, tax benefits and savings. It seems that those vying for our votes cannot do enough for us during the campaign. Can you blame us for our cynicism the rest of the time when our elected politicians, premiers, and prime ministers swill and sloop abundantly from the public purse while failing to follow through on the promises made? They make us all sceptics; their bellies are full while debt and potholes only seem to grow larger.

In the next month, as the state election looms, the noise will grow to a crescendo and then fall to a lull until the federal term ends and the campaigning for votes starts up once again.

Amongst the noise of human words and promises is God’s Word of promise.  Jesus says, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31–32 ESV)

We who believe are sanctified in God’s Word, made holy in it, because it is the divine, transcendent truth—second to none! Despite what the politician Pontius Pilate said to Jesus as Jesus was tried before His crucifixion, Jesus bears witness to “the truth”. Because the Word of God is the one transcendent, objective truth, Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, in His very nature must be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth!

Politicians promise us that they are telling the truth. The Roman politician Pilate said to Jesus, “What is truth?” The New Testament Greek word for truth is derived from the Greek word—lanthano—meaning “to hide”. To turn this word into a word meaning truth, a negative prefix is added. Therefore, the New Testament word for “truth” is something that’s not hidden! So, when Jesus said to Pilate that He bore witness to the truth, Pilate’s response, “What is truth?”, was political doublespeak. In the noise of political speech, Pilate scoffed back at Jesus, “What is not hidden?” when he said, “What is truth?”

As a politician, Pilate knew that everyone had something to hide! But with Jesus, nothing is hidden. All things were uncovered in His presence as He walked to the cross. All things continue to be uncovered now that He has borne the satisfaction required by God on the cross. He continues to uncover all things hidden by the darkness of our humanity now that He is at the right hand of the Father, having won the eternal victory at the cross over the darkness that leads to death!

Paul points out the great paradox between our sin and God’s grace, which is distinguished as the truth. This paradox cannot be understood. Instead, it is comprehended by faith, borne not of ourselves, but given by the Holy Spirit, Who powerfully enables you to believe despite the myriads of sinful things you and I have hidden in our fleshy selves. Therefore, to receive and believe the paradox of our sinfulness and God’s gracious gift of salvation, faith must come from God’s faithfulness and knowledge and be worked within us by the Holy Spirit.

Paul informs us, “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:22c–26 ESV)

God’s Word is the great leveller. No one can slip around the side of His truth, now or on Judgement Day. What is hidden now will be uncovered on Judgement Day. It is best for us to uncover that sin now in confession rather than to hide it and try to explain it away when our time here is ended. Those of you who are uncertain about the forgiveness you are given through the cross would do well to come and speak to me or another pastoral servant of Jesus Christ about your struggle to receive and believe that you are a sinner; that you are forgiven through the propitiation, the atoning work of Jesus at the cross to take away your sins; and that, despite your human nature with all its hidden darkness, God the Father’s work through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit is enough for eternal life and peace with God forever!

Earlier, Paul said that God’s justice given through the Law is final: “so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.”  (Romans 3:19 ESV)

Pilate said, “What is truth, what is not hidden, there’s hiddenness everywhere?” But every voice will be silenced! The truth about who and what you are, and who and what you trust, will be unhidden before God in His righteousness and justice. To some, this is too much to bear! Some cannot handle the truth! But it is my prayer for you that, by the Holy Spirit, you believe His truth, His Word! God is a God of justice, but through His love, He is also your justifier in Christ’s righteousness. Jesus has done the precise single thing that not only informs and saves us, but also constantly reforms us, makes us God’s holy people, and sanctifies us in the truth because God’s Word is truth!

So, Jesus promises, “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:36 ESV) This is a freedom that no one can silence. No politician or person, no spiritual force of darkness, no internal monologue or internal mutterings of the self can prevail when the Holy Spirit is allowed to fill God’s true unhidden confessors with faith.

We, as God’s holy church of Christ’s body, are constantly called to be reformed in submission to being informed by the truth of God’s Holy Word of Law and Gospel. You and I have departed from an institution and its teaching, that seems to hide behind the political doublespeak of human words. While it claims to be a church of God’s Word it appears to be dismissing the truth of God’s Word in favour of hiding behind words that are popular in our society today.

We must avoid becoming an institution that no longer binds sin to the cross of Christ, but wittingly and unwittingly binds sinners in the hiddenness of human feelings, legalities and frustrations; in a society of noise where no one listens to or loves the person as God does while remaining accountable to Him. We need to constantly look to the cross to carry our debt and be led by the Holy Spirit to avoid falling into the potholes of human institutions, words, and ideologies as we travel on the way towards our eternal reality.

Therefore, let us be constantly reformed in Christ. As Fred Pratt Green penned: The Church of Christ, in every age, beset by change, but Spirit-led, must claim and test its heritage and keep on rising from the dead. (LHS 804)

Our church fathers fought and suffered for God’s justice and justification in the work of Jesus at the cross.  And they also suffered in upholding the work of the Holy Spirit to create faith within us through the justice and righteousness of God and his Word.

God, his work, and his Word truly gives freedom—the only path to eternal peace with God.

Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, in the noise and clamour of these days, fill our hearts with the peace that comes from hearing the truth of Your Word. Continue to send the Holy Spirit into our hearts so that we believe and are saved from our unbelief. In our belief, give us the willing freedom to daily die to sin, to be raised to life in Your Word, and to silence the devil, the world, and the words within that keep us from our eternal peace with You. Amen.

Sermon Summary

Jesus promises that those who abide in His Word will know the truth and be set free by the Son. Unlike political promises and human doublespeak, God’s Word reveals what is hidden: our sin, God’s justice and His gracious justification of sinners through Christ’s atoning death. This freedom is received by faith, which the Holy Spirit creates and sustains within us. The Church must therefore remain under God’s Word of Law and Gospel, continually confessing its sin, looking to the cross and being reformed by the truth rather than conforming to popular human words and ideologies.

Reflection Questions

1. What does it mean for you to abide in Jesus’ Word in daily life?
2. Where are you tempted to trust human promises, popular opinions or your own inner voice more than God’s truth?
3. What sin or hidden burden do you need to bring into the light through confession?
4. How does Christ’s atoning work assure you that God is both just and the One Who justifies sinners?
5. Where do you need the Holy Spirit to strengthen your faith in the freedom Christ has already won for you?
6. How can the Church remain accountable to God’s Word of Law and Gospel while speaking faithfully within society?
7. What teaching, habit or assumption in your life needs to be tested and reformed by God’s Word?

A, Post-Pentecost 21 Proper 24 - Matthew 22:15-22 "In the Image of God"

Matthew 22:15–22 (ESV) Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle Him in His words. And they sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and You do not care about anyone’s opinion, for You are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what You think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put Me to the test, you hypocrites? Show Me the coin for the tax.” And they brought Him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then He said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard it, they marveled. And they left Him and went away.

The extraordinary simple desires of God versus the absurd desires of man are brought to light in the question the Pharisees and the Herodians pose to Jesus after taking counsel to trap Him.  Jesus continues to be tested spiritually and theologically in a bid to trap Him in an ethical or moral dilemma.  The Jews have no care for what is lawful in the Law of God in adhering to Roman laws concerning tax.  Rather, the Jews care only about discrediting and destroying Jesus, and in doing so seek to trick Jesus into condemning Himself.  But Jesus does not fall for their nonsense which is bound up in their cares, desires, and will for themselves.

We are told in the text that Jesus is acutely aware of their malice, their evil intent, and is not fooled by their nonsense for a moment. He calls them hypocrites, underhanded judges, using God and His Word as a front, to justify their evil desires and actions.  The question of whether they should pay taxes to Caesar is never answered.  Instead, Jesus asks for a coin with which they used to pay tax under Rome’s rule.

Having received the denarius, Jesus asks, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” (Matthew 22:20 ESV) Jesus asks them whose image and inscription it bears, knowing full well what they had to answer.  In seeking to catch Jesus out with a question under false pretences appealing to God’s Law, Jesus catches them out in their trick, in their nonsense, in their desire, with a call to “…render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Matthew 22:21 ESV)

What is Jesus telling the Pharisees and the Herodians to do?  What is He calling you and me to do? To give to God what is God’s!  What were these two groups of Jews giving to God, and what has it to do with Caesar’s likeness and inscription on a denarius?

For you, me, and those whom Jesus was confronting, Jesus was not really speaking about Caesar or our money, yet He uses these very things to expose idolatry in the self.  Jesus confronts the idols we make of our human image and our human words­—written, spoken, and thought.  Jesus didn’t buy into the nonsense of humanity’s corrupted image, deeds, and desires but confronted these idols on the way to the cross where He bore our corruption without being corrupt in any way, shape, or form.  Jesus bore the likeness of humanity without idolising the flesh of His humanity, the things the flesh desires, and the inscription written in His flesh is the very Word of God.  He is the Word made flesh and His desire and will was and still is to fulfil the will of God.

Jesus and His Word are still amongst us, exposing our hypocrisy, our nonsense, and self-righteousness in the face of His fulfilling all righteousness in His death and resurrection.  His call still remains, “Are you rendering to God the things that are God’s?”    

God has covered you with His righteousness in baptism and as life rubs away at you what image appears?  What likeness and inscription shows through?  God’s, Caesar’s, or your own, like the Pharisees and the Herodians?  Like stencilling and rubbing a coin under paper, what image appears to others as life wears away at you?  Like a mould being cast, what or whose mark are you leaving in this world?

Jesus knows the hidden motives humanity has for itself.  He knew it before His crucifixion, and knew it would lead to His being crucified.  It’s no different today either, Jesus still knows the nonsense with which we like to cloak ourselves having turned away from being constantly created in the image of God by His Word to glorify Him.  This is true even of you and me, who have been re-clothed with Christ in the baptismal garb of His death and resurrection!  Such is our desire to sin!  Therefore, His question still cuts to the core of our deeds and desires.

Some biblical scholars have considered the Pharisees and the Herodians as being on opposite sides of the “rendering to Caesar” debate, where the Pharisees considered it a violation of Jewish Law to pay tax to Caesar whereas the Herodians were politically aligned with Rome and thought it a crime to not pay the tax to Caesar.  You can see how loaded their question is, why Jesus didn’t answer it, and His need to turn the tables back on their motives for asking the question if it is lawful to pay tax to Caesar or not!

In the days of Covid, there was much debate within the church whether one should vaccinate or not.  Similar to the Pharisees and Herodians there were opposing views.  Jesus’ command to give to God the things that are God’s also cuts through the motives of these opposing views.  Even the ordination debate with those who have progressive motives and desires and those who have conservative motives and desires both are called through repentance to give to God the things of God.

All are called to lay down their idols.  As we’re told, “For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens.” (Psalm 96:5 ESV)  And as Paul reports about the Thessalonians, “…you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.” 1 Thessalonians 1:9b–10 (ESV)

 So, what are the things of God that we’re called to give to God? 

The other day I bought a new hard drive for my computer to store videos and photos.  It’s a twenty-four-terabyte drive.  When I first had a computer built while at seminary it was the biggest thing around at six gigabytes.  The drive I just bought is over four thousand times larger.  Digital watches today have more processing power than the computers that put man on the moon.  The point is, we tend to hang onto images and documents long after we’ve used them and they become baggage we desire to keep on carrying around with us.  I still have pictures and documents on my computer that I had on that first hard drive at seminary.

But the things we’re called to give to God do not compound at an exponential rate that temps us away from the focus God wants us to have. 

God’s will and desire for you and me is to pass through this existence without carrying that baggage, trying to take it with us.  He wants you to use the things of this world to daily sustain you, rendering to Caesar what is Caesar’s, so you give to God the things of God.  God’s will for you on earth is His will for you in heaven.  To see, “that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” (Colossians 3:9–10 ESV)

Jesus gave to God the things of God.  He exposes the nonsense of all things that see us seeking to carry our goods and chattels throughout life, like Santa Claus carrying his Christmas sack.  However, like Santa, we might see our bag of goodies as gifts to give to our neighbours to win them for the kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus does expose the inability to clear the “hard drive” of your heart and its desires.  But He has taken the hard road to save you, to “save all”, from the nonsense of humanity.  Jesus gave to God everything including His life so that you can have life.  He gave Himself so you and I can repent of our good and evil and wait on Him.  He now sends His Holy Spirit to continually cleanse you and present you to our Father conformed to His perfect and glorious image.  Amen.  

Jesus said: ‘Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and give to God the things that are God’s.’ All we have and all we are have come from God; let us worship Him with our offerings.

Sermon Summary

In Matthew 22:15–22, the Pharisees and Herodians try to trap Jesus with a question about paying taxes to Caesar. Jesus sees through their malice and redirects the issue from politics and money to worship, identity, and allegiance: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” A coin bears Caesar’s image, but human beings bear the image of God. Therefore, our lives—our bodies, minds, words, possessions, motives, and desires—belong to God. Jesus exposes the idols and self-righteousness we carry, yet He also bears our corruption to the cross and clothes us with His righteousness in baptism. Through repentance and the work of the Holy Spirit, God continually reshapes us into the image of Christ. Freed from clinging to worldly baggage, we are called to use earthly things faithfully, serve our neighbours, and offer our whole selves to God.

Reflection Questions

1. What does Jesus’ command “to give to God what belongs to God” reveal about who we are and whose image we bear?
2. Where might pride, self-righteousness, fear, possessions, politics, or personal desires have become idols in your life?
3. When life “rubs away” at you, whose likeness and inscription become visible through your words, choices, and relationships?
4. How does your baptismal identity in Christ challenge the way you understand yourself and your purpose?
5. What worldly baggage are you carrying that God may be calling you to release through repentance?
6. How can you use your money, time, abilities, and possessions faithfully without allowing them to define or control you?
7. In a disagreement, how can you examine your own motives before judging the motives of others?
8. What would it look like this week to offer your whole self to God and serve your neighbour as someone being renewed in the image of Christ?

A, Post-Pentecost 19 Proper 22 - Philippians 3:4b-11 "Effluence to Exhaltation"

In Philippians chapter two, Paul tells the church in Philippi that Jesus allowed Himself to be made nothing, emptying Himself by taking the form of a servant. He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.

In the Old Testament, we are told, “If a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God.” (Deuteronomy 21:22–23a ESV)

On that cross, Jesus served by becoming cursed by God for our sin. Jesus never went into the Holy of Holies or the Holy Place in the temple. In fact, He was the only One who could have gone in there without fulfilling all the cleansing rituals needed to survive standing before the face of God in the holiest of places on earth.

Instead, Jesus only ever ventured into the outer courts of the temple where the Gentiles could go, and outside Jerusalem, teaching all who were interested and confronting the scorn of the priestly leaders and Pharisees for doing so. In His service to humanity, Jesus was eventually humiliated on the cross outside Jerusalem, the earthly city of God. We hear in Hebrews chapter thirteen, “So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.” (Hebrews 13:12 ESV)

We have been made holy not by Jesus going into the Holy of Holies, but by His being the servant sacrifice for us, cursed outside the camp, so that we are made holy and welcome before God.

Because Jesus did this for us without sin, Paul tells us in Philippians chapter two, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9–11 ESV)

After relating the heights of God’s exaltation of His Son, Jesus Christ, in Philippians chapter two, Paul now calls the church in Philippi to avoid the dogs, the mutilators of the flesh. These are those who seek to destroy the holiness that God has won for us through the blood of Jesus. He also calls the church not to mutilate their own flesh by describing the reality of his own perceived lofty status in chapter three of his letter to the Philippians.

Paul explains to the Philippians that he could regard himself with the same grandeur as the dogs who seek to mutilate the flesh. Yet, where God has exalted Jesus Christ, Paul regards himself and his greatness in the extreme opposite, remaining humble by bowing to Jesus Christ as his Lord.

To the church in Rome, he says, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” (Romans 12:3 ESV)

What he says to the church in Rome is rather low-key compared with what he says to the Philippians. Although he says the same thing, here Paul’s measure of faith allows him to go all out in his sober judgement of himself before the Philippians.

He says, “If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:4b–11 ESV)

Paul seemingly builds himself up to demonstrate the futility of doing so: circumcised, a Benjamite, a Hebrew, a Pharisee under the law and zealous beyond compare. But then hear him strip it all down! Three times, he calls it all loss. His gain is loss for the sake of Christ! Yes, indeed, Paul counts not just some of it, but everything as loss! To burn the point into the hearers’ minds, he says a third time that, for the sake of Jesus, whom God has exalted, Paul suffers the loss of all things and counts them as rubbish.

In English, it all sounds rather sanitised, but this is anything but wholesome language. Paul relates to the Philippians the pathetic reality of his person and deeds compared with Jesus, who was treated as the excrement of Israel and is now exalted above all at the right hand of God the Father.

Paul sees himself and his works as a Pharisee as even less than the dogs, the mutilators of the flesh. He warms the hearers up with his threefold loss of prestige, person and passion, then shocks their ears by saying that he counts it all as dog poo or excrement and rejects it as filth. Our translations say rubbish, but in reality, in all its vulgarity, Paul says what he regarded as his greatness is really “dog shit!” (My apology for using this word but this is the vulgarity of regarding the self, higher than one ought.) Dogs are unclean animals under Jewish law. How much more unclean is their dung? 

Paul makes his point, and it reminds me of a few times on the farm when chaos abounded! It had nothing to do with dogs or their dung. Rather, these are a couple of stories about pigs and their poo. I can tell you that intensively farmed pigs make a lot of poo.

The first story is about one of our stud Angora goats getting out of her pen and trying to escape across the piggery effluent pond. The pond looked like solid ground but looks can be deceiving! The doe rushed out onto the crust of poo, only to crash through it into the epitome of filth. Her white locks of mohair were stained and stinking after she was pulled out with a crook, saving her from drowning in a mire of mess, pig piddle and poo.

The next incident happened some years later, when the slats in the grower shed rotted over time and a half-grown pig fell through them into the waste pit below. Thankfully, the pit was not full and the porker was alive. But how could we rescue it from the stench and filth of ten centimetres of pig pee and poo?

Let me say that the pig was not a willing participant in its rescue as Dad descended into the darkness to grab the greasy grunter from the poo. Kicking and squealing, it was raised back into the pen above. Dad and the pig both emerged covered in poo and wee. Pigs and dogs are considered unclean animals by the Jews; after Dad emerged from the pit covered in pig poo, we did not consider him all that clean either!

On reflection, what happened to the white doe in the pig pond and the porker in the poo pit stimulates our imagination and our senses, helping us understand what Paul is getting at when he compares his pride to poo. By contrast, Jesus, who was cursed on the cross and found outside Jerusalem like vile rubbish, then was highly exalted by God.

You and I are not all that different from that white doe when we try to elevate ourselves to glory at the expense of God’s glory in His Son, Jesus Christ. The holiness freely given to us through the death and resurrection of Christ becomes stinking and stained like the goat’s white fleece. Our elevation and affluence in our own eyes might seem to be an ascent, but really, it is a descent and a return to the poverty and effluence of our humanity. Without God’s help, we would drown in our filth like the goat in the pig pond.

Secondly, how much are we like immature pigs, not wanting to be rescued from the poo pit of our effluent lives, as God continually sends us the Holy Spirit to rescue us from ourselves and our darkness? Like my father, Jesus descended into humanity and became the lowest of the low to serve us and save us from the stench of our sin. Jesus became covered in the effluent of our sin to save us from sin.  Now He sends the Holy Spirit to remind us of this in His Word, so we put off our effluent affluence and allow ourselves to be covered with his robes of righteous exaltation.

Like Paul, the Holy Spirit now gives us faith to know ourselves and also to know Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection, so that, like Paul, we might count all as loss—even dog dung—and become like Him in His death. What is that? It is innocent and blameless!

So let us press on through the poo that life flings at us! Let us press on to make it our own because, despite our effluence, Christ wore our crap to make us His own.

Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, You sent Jesus to wear the stain of our humanity, and He was cast out onto the cross to bear the curse and filth of our humanity. Help us, like Paul, to go to Christ outside the camp and bear the reproach He endured, trusting that, in His exaltation, we too will be raised out of ourselves, our effluence, into the holiness He won for us on the cross. Amen.

Sermon Summary

Drawing on Philippians 3:4b–11, the sermon contrasts human pride and self-made righteousness with the humility, suffering and exaltation of Jesus Christ. Paul lists every reason he might have trusted in his religious pedigree and achievements, then counts them all as loss—even as refuse—because knowing Christ is worth infinitely more. The farm stories of the goat in the effluent pond and the pig in the waste pit picture how self-exaltation traps and stains us, while Christ descends into the depth of human sin to rescue us. Through His cross and resurrection, Jesus gives us a righteousness that is received by faith rather than earned by status or works. The Holy Spirit therefore calls us to relinquish pride, share in Christ’s death and resurrection, and press on in the holiness Christ has won for us.

Reflection Questions

1. What achievements, identities or forms of status are you most tempted to rely on for your worth before God and others as a Christian?
2. Why does Paul count his impressive religious credentials as loss compared with knowing Christ?
3. How do the images of the goat in the effluent pond and the pig in the waste pit deepen your understanding of pride, sin and rescue?
4. What does it mean to receive righteousness through faith in Christ rather than through your own effort?
5. Where might self-exaltation currently be drawing you away from giving glory to Christ?
6. In what ways may the Holy Spirit be calling you to let go of something that keeps you trapped in pride or self-reliance?
7. What might sharing in Christ’s sufferings and becoming like Him in His death look like in your daily life?
8. How does the power of Christ’s resurrection give you hope when life feels stained, humiliating or overwhelming?
9. What practical step can you take this week to “press on” toward knowing Christ more deeply?

A, Post-Pentecost 18 Proper 21 - Matthew 21:23-32 Philippians 2:4 "Authority to Repent"

Philippians 2:4 (ESV) “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Matthew 21:23–27, 32 (ESV) “And when He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to Him as He was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?’ Jesus answered them, ‘I also will ask you one question, and if you tell Me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?’ And they discussed it among themselves, saying, ‘If we say, “From heaven,” He will say to us, “Why then did you not believe him?” But if we say, “From man,” we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.’ So they answered Jesus, ‘We do not know.’ And He said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.’ ‘For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.’”

Authority is nearly a dirty word these days! It seems that those invested in retaining authority can be labelled authoritarian. Some may be wrongly accused of this when honestly seeking to fulfil their office of authority. But these accusations usually arise because of the few who abuse their office and rule in favour of their own interests.

The chief priests and elders were angry about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and His overturning of the tables in the temple shortly thereafter. The next day, they interrogated Jesus about whose authority He was teaching under and by what authority He taught. Seeing the crowds venerate Jesus as He entered Jerusalem on a donkey, saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” (Matthew 21:15 ESV), had made them indignant.

King David was a man under God’s authority. This is what makes David arguably the greatest human king, despite his terrible sins of coveting, adultery, deception and murder. Instead of defending himself when challenged by God’s prophet Nathan, King David repented. Thereafter, King David repentantly wrestled with his sinful nature openly before God. This is well recorded throughout the Psalms.

The Psalms, however, were not merely written and commissioned by David. They were given to him by the Holy Spirit in his faithfulness as he struggled with his human nature. The Psalms are the Word of God, given to David to voice his reality before God.

Jesus Christ, the Son of David, was the Author of these words before He was incarnate in the flesh to be the “Word made flesh”. Together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ Word is the Word of God. Therefore, in the Psalms, we not only get a window into David’s heart, but we also gain a full sense of Jesus’ faithfulness, servanthood and authority in His incarnation, ministry and faithful struggle to be the Son of Man on behalf of humanity as He walked to the cross and death.

Jesus’ struggle was ultimately for the priests and elders too. God had long struggled with Israel, sending prophets such as Ezekiel and others to call His chosen people to repent of their sins and live. Jesus wanted that for all in Israel—the people, as well as the priests and elders who led them. They did not understand that He had the authority to take the place of all Israel and, through repentance, to give them life through His death and resurrection, which were only days away.

When they asked Jesus by whose authority He taught and what authority He possessed, Jesus understood that they were asking whether He worked on God’s behalf or on man’s behalf. Authority is the freedom, ability or power to act. They sought to test Jesus, but He turned the test back on them, showing that they had the freedom and ability to repent but were choosing not to do so.

Considering not His own interests but theirs, He directed them back to John the Baptist’s baptism of repentance and asked whether it came from God or man. They did not believe that John spoke with God’s authority, yet they were unwilling to say that he spoke merely with human authority. By answering that they did not know, the priests and elders exposed the uncertainty of their own position and their refusal to acknowledge the authority behind John’s baptism.

In refusing to tell them by what authority He taught, Jesus asked what they thought about a man whose two sons responded differently to their father’s command to work in his vineyard. The first refused but then changed his mind—or repented—and went to work. The second agreed to go but never did. Although neither son responded perfectly, only the first ultimately obeyed his father.

Jesus then says, “For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.” (Matthew 21:32 ESV)

Unlike either of the sons, Jesus pointed out that there was neither acceptance of John’s message nor subsequent repentance. Unlike the two sons, who were partially disobedient with a yes/no and a no/yes willingness to work for their father, the priests and elders gave a no/no rejection of belief and repentance in response to John’s baptism.

You and I are still confronted with the question of authority today. Do you work under your own authority, which “does not know”, as did the Jewish elders and priests, or do you abide under the authority of Jesus Christ, trusting that He looks not to His own interests but to those of others—namely, yours and mine, our eternal interests?

There is a saying that pride comes before a fall. It is God’s will that the fall should lead to repentance. This was first taught by John as he baptised at the Jordan, continued in Jesus’ teaching throughout His ministry, authorised in Jesus’ death and resurrection, and empowered when the Holy Spirit comes to us in Holy Baptism, giving us the authority to repent with an Amen and Amen, a yes/yes: to confess that we are sinners, but also to believe that we are sinners who are being forgiven in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

God does not want your pride to be your eternal downfall. He wants each of us to take ownership of our sinful nature, hand it over to Him and allow Him to dispose of it at the cross. He does not look kindly on anyone who seeks to justify themselves by laying blame elsewhere—to say that our teeth are set on edge because our fathers ate sour grapes!

No more blaming or sour grapes! Rather, God says, “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.” (Ezekiel 18:30–32 ESV)

God has made you a new heart and a new spirit. In baptism, you have the new heart of Jesus and the new heart of the Holy Spirit. The house of Israel is now governed by Jesus Christ, and judgement has fallen on Him for those who allow Him the authority to deal with their sin.

Rather than saying no/no like the elders and priests, and rather than living a no/no life as the elder and priest of your own heart, you are authorised to say yes/yes in repentance and forgiveness. This is a God-willed authority, power, freedom and ability to repent through the work of Jesus Christ at the cross. The sour grapes stopped with Jesus! The sponge of sour wine was lifted to Jesus’ lips. First refusing wine mixed with gall to deaden the pain of crucifixion, Jesus went on to drink the sour wine and give up His spirit on the cross for you and me.  At the cross, there are no more sour grapes! Jesus now sponges up all sour grapes of sin in His death.

Jesus’ authority was, and continues to be, an authority that did not look to His own interests but to the interests of others—namely, you and me!

The proof is in the pudding! Jesus passed through death and hell and has been raised in righteousness, victorious over sin and death. You therefore have the authority to believe and repent, to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12–13 ESV)

Let us pray.

Dear Heavenly Father, continue to send me the Holy Spirit to show me that I have been given the authority to say yes/yes: yes, I am a sinner, and yes, I repent of my sin. When I say no to You through my desires, words and deeds—in what I have done or failed to do—soften my heart with Your Holy Word of Law and Gospel so that I turn back to You, repent and believe in Your forgiveness. Through Jesus’ yes/yes—His willingness to live as the servant Son of Man and to die bearing the ugliness of my sin—bind my spirit to Your Spirit through the Holy Spirit and raise me with Jesus Christ to eternal life with You, now and forever. Yes and yes! Amen and amen!

Sermon Summary

Jesus’ confrontation with the chief priests and elders reveals that true authority belongs to God and is exercised for the good of others. Although the religious leaders refused to recognise the authority behind John the Baptist’s call to repentance, Jesus exposed their unwillingness to turn and believe. Through the parable of the two sons, He showed that genuine obedience is not found merely in saying the right words, but in repentance that leads to faithfulness. Jesus, the faithful Son, placed Himself under the Father’s authority and took the place of sinners through His death and resurrection. In Holy Baptism, the Holy Spirit gives us a new heart and the freedom to say yes to God: to confess our sin, receive Christ’s forgiveness and live under His gracious authority. Because Jesus used His authority not for His own interests but for ours, we can repent, believe and live in the hope of eternal life.

Reflection Questions

1. Where are you most tempted to rely on your own authority rather than trusting the authority of Jesus Christ?
2. What does the response of the two sons teach you about the difference between words, repentance and obedience?
3. Why do you think the chief priests and elders found it difficult to acknowledge the authority behind John the Baptist’s message?
4. How does Jesus use His authority for your good through His death and resurrection?
5. What might saying “yes/yes” to God look like in your life this week?
6. How does Holy Baptism assure you that the Holy Spirit is at work, giving you a new heart and leading you to repentance?
7. Is there any sin, pride or blame that you need to hand over to God and receive His forgiveness for today?
8. How can you use the authority, freedom or responsibility entrusted to you for the interests of others?