In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sometimes as a parent you have to use a different tone of voice with your kids depending upon the seriousness of the situation. For example, if my kid is about to bump over his drink cup, and spill juice all over the kitchen table, then, sure, I might have to raise my voice a little bit: “Watch your elbow there, son, you’re going to knock over your drink cup.” But if the kid is about to ride his bike into the road, and there’s a car barreling down the street at 50 miles an hour, you better believe I’m going to yell pretty much as loudly as I can: “Watch out, there’s a car coming! Stop!”

Today, in our Gospel lesson from Matthew chapter 7, Jesus speaks to us in that second kind of way. He warns us about something in the most serious possible tone that He can take. With a word that He only uses a couple of times in the New Testament, our Lord tells us to “beware.” Just like a parent, who sits down their little one to talk with them about why you don’t get into a car with strangers, Jesus sits down His disciples, and gives them a speech about who to stay away from. And what exactly does our Lord warn us about? False prophets, He says, those “who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

So, in this morning’s sermon, based off this text, I’d like to do two things. First, we’re going to think about why false prophets are so dangerous, and what makes them worse than anything else, and second, we’re going to talk about how you recognize them, so that you can stay away from them.

We live in a world that is filled with all kinds of dangers. There are poisonous snakes, diseases, con-artists, earthquakes, and tornados. But the most dangerous thing by far, according to God’s Word, is a false teacher. Even though they might not seem that bad to begin with, which, of course, is one of the things that makes them such a threat, they’re at the very top of the list, and it not even close. And that’s because they alone have the ability to do something to us that nothing else can. Yes, snakes can bite you, and scammers can steal all of your money, but a false prophet has the ability to destroy your faith. Through their lies and false teaching, they can lead you away from Christ, so that you lose out on your salvation. Remember what Jesus tells us elsewhere, such as in Matthew chapter 10. He says, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

There are some things in this life that you should be more afraid of. There are certain things, that you should to pay extra special attention to, so that you don’t go anywhere near them, and get away from them as far as possible. And Jesus says that its false teachers. It’s one thing to get sick and die, but falling away from the faith, so that when you die, you go to hell, is infinitely worse. Those two things aren’t even comparable. And that’s what false teachers can do to you, if you follow after their false teaching. 

It's very common, even within the church, for people to act as if what a church teaches doesn’t really matter, as long as you have some of the basics. But that is not what the Bible actually says. Listen to what Saint Paul tells us in Galatians chapter 5. He says, “a little bit of leaven, leavens the whole lump.” Just like a small amount of yeast will spread through all of the dough, and eventually cause the whole thing to rise, even the smallest amount of false doctrine can spread through the whole body of doctrine and contaminate it. Since everything in God’s Word hold together, and all of it serves the purpose of pointing us to Christ, and the total and free forgivness that we have in Him, any divergence from God’s Word, will ultimately lead us away from Jesus too. It might not do that right away, but over time it can, and it will.

I could use a lot of different examples here, to explain how this works, but let me just give a couple. What about the very popular false teaching that coming to faith in Christ is an act of our own free will, and not something that God does for us apart from our own help and assistance. Well, not only does that false doctrine undermine clear passages from the Bible, such as 1 Corinthians 2, which tells us that the natural man cannot accept the things of the Spirit of God, but it also paves the way for other spiritual problems in the future. When you teach people that coming to faith in Christ is something that you do, and that you need to make a decision for Jesus if you want to be saved, then later on, when they’re carrying their cross and struggling with the failures of their sinful nature, lots of times those people start to wonder whether or not they really did make that decision. Why do I keep falling into sin? How come I’m not getting any better at it? Did I really give my heart to Jesus? Maybe I didn’t. Maybe I’m not even a Christian. Maybe my sins really aren’t forgiven yet at all.

So, you see, by pointing people inward at the very beginning of their walk with Christ, now they can never get them looking outward later on. But when we look inside ourselves, we’re never going to find any certainty there. If we focus on the things that we do, we’re never going to have confidence in our salvation. Our faith will always be unsure, because in that instance it isn’t being built upon the sure foundation of Jesus, and His work for us. It’s being built upon our work for God, which can never be enough.

Or, here’s another false doctrine that we sometimes have to deal with. What about the teaching that it’s okay for women to be pastors and that we should let them serve in that role in the Church if they want to. Just this last week, at our Synodical convention in Arizona, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod voted once again to affirm the Bible’s clear position that only men can be pastors. I wish it would have been a unanimous vote, which is a conversation for another day, but we’ll keep working on that. Because this isn’t just a small teaching. Again, it has the ability to infect every other teaching of God’s Word too. 

What happens when you open the door to dismissing certain parts of the Bible that you don’t like? Eventually, that leads you to getting rid of all of parts of the Bible that you don’t like, even the parts that teach that Jesus is the only way to salvation. Just look at what has happened in every single liberal church body in America that has also punted the ball on male only pastors. The ELCA, the Episcopalians, the United Methodists, and the United Church of Christ, all have serious problems. They got rid of that one teaching, and now what other things won’t they teach either? Most of them wont even say that homosexuality is sinful, even though God calls it an abomination. They argue that it’s okay to for women to end the lives of their children in the womb, if that’s their choice, and some of them refuse to define what a woman even is. Did you know that a few years ago an ELCA lady “pastor” had her congregation say something called the “sparkle creed” which argued that Jesus was non-binary and that He had two dads? I’m not going to quote it out loud in church, but if you want to look it up later on the internet you can. It’s insane. But that’s what happens when you get rid of one part of God’s Word. That’s what can happen through any false teaching, no matter how small it may seem. It can lead you away from Christ, trap you in your sin, and deprive you of eternal life.

Jesus tells us in our text today that the way that you’re supposed to recognize false teachers, so that you can stay away from them, is always by their fruits. That’s means that you need to look beyond what you see in them initially, and instead focus on the outcome of what they say. I’ve never met a false teacher before, who taught one of those things that we just talked about earlier, that I didn’t think was a nice guy. They’re all nice! But that doesn’t mean that what they say is true. That’s why Jesus tells us that lots of times they’ll come to us in sheep’s clothing, even though inwardly they’re ravenous wolves. He means that you can’t trust someone just because of how they look, or how they act, what matters is the content of their preaching and teaching.

The easy false prophets to spot are the ones who won’t even give lip service to the truth and don’t even try to conform what they say to the Bible at all. This the like the Atheists and the Agnostics that openly tell you that Jesus isn’t God or that there’s no way to be sure that He is. Those guys aren’t hard to point out. But then there’s the ones who will talk about Jesus, and even call Him the Lord, but their doctrine doesn’t line up with the truth. They use religious sounding words like “sin, justice, and love,” but then then hollow those terms out and give them completely unbiblical definitions. As Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in you name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”

Just as there will be individuals, who did not have true faith, but gave the impression that they did to others, that are still kept out of heaven on judgment day, the same thing applies to the false teachers. They might have done some things that the world calls miraculous. They may have even invoked the name of Jesus at times and given the impression that they were on His side. But they did not preach and teach the true faith. They did not hold to the full doctrine of God’s Word, which is also to hold to Christ Himself. And so, when Christ comes back, He won’t acknowledge them, even though they we’re convinced that they were on the same team.

The way that you always recognize a false teacher is first and foremost through their attitude toward God’s Word. What does the guy say about the Bible? Will he admit that the Scriptures are the inspired and inerrant Word of God and that every part of them is faithful and true? Does He say that the Bible is man’s word, mingled with God’s Word, or does He say that all of it is God’s Word together? If it isn’t the second one, then you need to run away from that person or that church immediately. Don’t even stick around to hear the rest of the argument. Get out of there, and go to a place where God’s Word is actually respected. And then when you get there, evaluate whether or not it is respected in reality, or just in theory. Does this church actually teach what the Bible says, or does it only say that it does. There’s a big difference in that too. Lots of churches will tell you that they get their teachings from the Bible, but in order to know that, you’re going to have to know the Bible for yourself. You’re going to need to be like the Bereans from the book of Acts, who examined the Scriptures daily to see whether or not the things that Paul told them were true.

I made this speech to you the first time I preached in this pulpit, and I’ll say it again. Do not listen to me. At least, don’t listen just to what I say, but listen for whether or not what comes out of my mouth comes from the Bible. Because if any teaching or preaching does not agree with God’s Word, and it isn’t the product of the Scriptures interpreting the Scriptures, and clear passages being used to understand those that seem difficult, then it doesn’t matter how shiny or nice the fruit looks, inside, it’s full of worms and maggots. It will not be able to feed your faith, and if you eat too much of it, your faith is going to die.

Jesus does not want your faith to die. That’s why He warns you to beware of false prophets. The way that you recognize a false prophet isn’t necessarily by how they dress or how they act. It’s by what they teach. All teachings in the church must be derived from God’s clear Word. They don’t come from a pope. They don’t come just from Church councils or voters’ meetings. They don’t come from your feeling. And they don’t come from your reason. They come from the Bible. God has given us a great treasure in the gift of the Old and New Testament. From Genesis to Revelation, we have a perfect account of the whole council of God. Everything that we need to know to be saved is in there. And those books have the ability to guard us from every error. 

You might have to give some things up if you want to be in a church that preaches and teachings the full truth of God’s Word. I’m convinced that in this church, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, so far, by God’s grace, we still have it. We could lose it, so we shouldn’t become complacent, but right now, it’s still there. No, we might not have everything that people want. We might not have as many youth or young families in our congregation. Our worship services might not always give you the chills, or leave you feeling the way that you do when you leave a rock concert. We might not have all the programs and amenities of one of those mega churches. But we do have the Word of God. If you read our Catechism, and study our Book of Concord alongside the Scriptures, I’m convinced that you will find 100% agreement between them. You will hear the voice of your Good Shepherd, and He will protect from all of the wolves.

So, keep on listening to Jesus. Be on your guard against false prophets, and cling instead to the pure Word of Christ. Put your faith not in what is most popular or what is most profound, but in what the Bible clearly teaches. Trust in Jesus alone for your salvation, and hold to all of the doctrines of the Scriptures that back that up. Whether that’s male only pastors, or the regenerative power of Baptism, or the true presence of Christ in the Sacrament, dig your heels in on that, and you will be standing on the sure foundation that saves. Then, when Christ comes back, you won’t be told, “I never knew you,” instead Jesus will say, “Come inherit the kingdom, you who are blessed by my Father.” In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Click here to watch the video of the sermon only. 

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

When it comes to messing up God’s law, there are two different ways to get it wrong, both of which Jesus addresses in our Gospel lesson today from Matthew chapter 5. The first way is something called legalism, and the other one is called antinomianism.

Legalism, which maybe you’ve heard of before, is the idea that the way that a person gets to heaven is through their own keeping of the law. This is the belief that salvation comes not from Christ, and His atoning sacrifice for us on the cross, but by our obedience to God’s commandments. In its essence, legalism reduces Christianity simply to a list of “do’s and don’ts,” and then states that if a person wants be saved, he or she just needs to follow all the rules. But that, of course, is easier said than done. Because when a person actually reads the Bible, and takes what it says there seriously, very quickly they come to realize that keeping God’s law perfectly is a lot harder than it sounds. In fact, keeping it perfectly is impossible. As Saint Paul says in Galatians chapter 3, “For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scriptures imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” Yes, God’s law does tell us what a person needs to do in order to be saved, but that doesn’t mean that it gives us the power to do it. And so, those who try to gain heaven by their obedience, either end up giving up and despairing, or they try and change the standard so that its easier for them to meet.

And that’s what Jesus is speaking to in the second half of our text with His example of the fifth commandment. The fifth commandment is “you shall not murder.” Now, most people can actually claim that they’ve never killed someone before and broken that commandment in a literal way. But Jesus teaches us here that there are other ways to break it too. He says, “Everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” To keep the fifth commandment in its entirety doesn’t just mean that you don’t commit literal murder, it means not having any anger or animosity towards other people at all. It means always showing love to others, even including the people that don’t love you back. It means having patience and forgiveness with every friend, family member, and fellow neighbor that does you wrong. Keeping the fifth commandment, and all of God’s commandments for that matter, isn’t just about what goes on on the outside. It’s about everything that happens on the inside too. God sees the heart, and His law requires that every single desire of our heart, every thought, every feeling, every emotion, needs to be pure. 

And because legalists think that salvation can be achieved by keeping the law, you can see why they’re so quick to try and change it when it gets too hard. They always end up adding commandments that make it look like they’re actually keeping the real commandment, even though they aren’t.

But as the Bible teaches us over and over again, there is absolutely no hope for salvation through our obedience to the law. As Saint Paul tells us again in the book of Galatians, “Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law.” And as Jesus also explains in our reading, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” In order to be saved, we need to have a righteousness that consists in more than just an outward show of good deeds. We need to do more than what the scribes and Pharisees could do. They were very good at putting on appearances. If you would have followed one of them around and watched them for a whole day, it would have been very hard to catch them in the act of doing something that looked sinful. But that doesn’t mean that they didn’t sin. And God’s law doesn’t just ask us to try, it tells us that we have to be perfect. If we want to be saved by keeping the commandments, we have to keep all of them in such a way where we fulfill them in every part. And there’s only One person who can and has done that.

The real reason why legalism is so bad, is not simply because it leads people to make up laws, and causes them to become self-righteous hypocrites, but because it robs Christ of His glory, and it takes away all the true comfort and certainty of salvation that we find in Him. If we’re saved by the things that we do, then what’s the point of what Jesus did? Why did Christ even come down from heaven at all? And why did He have to suffer and die on the cross? If all that matters is doing our best, and that’s good enough, then why do we even need a Savior? We don’t. As Saint Paul once said, “if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” Real Christians put their hope in Jesus and not in their works. They trust in what Christ did them, and not in what they do for others, because what we do is never enough. Jesus alone has the kind of righteousness that truly surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees. His righteousness is the only one that avails before God, and brings us the assurance of eternal life. 

So, that’s one way to get God’s law wrong, and that’s through legalism. But legalism isn’t the only way to do that, and it might not even be the one that we usually struggle the most with as Lutheran. If we know anything in the Lutheran Church it’s that salvation is not by our works. Faith alone is our constant cry. And that’s good. But there’s also a danger waiting for us on the other side too. 

Apart from legalism, the other great threat in misunderstanding and misapplying God’s law is something called antinomianism. The word antinomianism literally means, “anti-law.” It’s the idea that because Jesus died for our sins, and won complete and total salvation for us on the cross, now we can just ignore God’s law and do whatever we want instead. An antinomian operates under the false assumption that because its impossible even for Christians to keep the law perfectly, we don’t need even need to try. They act as if since God forgives us of our sin, now our sins don’t really matter. We can do sinful things on purpose and it won’t have any effect on our faith. In fact, antinomians believe that faith can still exist even without repentance. They give the impression that after conversion, we stay the same way that we were before, and still commit sin without remorse.

But that not what we read in the Bible. Here’s what Saint Paul tells us in our Epistle lesson today: “You also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” When we get baptized into Christ, we are made new. We are joined to the death and resurrection of Jesus, so that we might walk in newness of life. Were set free from curse of law, not so that we can return to our old life of willful sin, but so that we can follow Jesus in a new life of true good works and love for our neighbor. A life that is not contrary to God’s law, but guided by what it says. 

The law always has a place in our life as Christians. Even though it’s not the thing that gives us salvation, it does shows us how we’re supposed to live as people who have been saved. As Jesus says in our gospel lesson, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

Jesus came to fulfill the law’s demands, not to get rid of them. He came to live and die for us not so that we would be freed to live in whatever way that we want, but so we might be free to live for Him. And, for that, the law still instructs us. Even and especially as Christians, it gives us encouragement and guidance. Yes, it continues to accuse us of our sins, because we still have a sinful nature and need ongoing forgivness, but it doesn’t only accuse us. When we hear Jesus speak in our text today about the fifth commandment, He isn’t just trying to show us the great depth of our sins, He’s also teaching us about forgiveness and reconciliation and how we’re supposed to do it. He's showing us what a life of faith and repentance actually looks like. As Jesus says, “if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

As Christians we are to be constantly forgiving of others just as God has forgiven us. We even pray that God would help us do that in the Lord’s Prayer. We don’t act as if just because we love God, and have faith in Him, that means that it’s okay for us hate our brother, and withhold forgiveness from people that we don’t like. That would be ignoring God’s law instead of learning from it. And if we live that way, we prove by our actions that the Holy Spirit doesn’t live within us, and we are not real Christians. As Saint John tells us in his first epistle, “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar.” Our relationship with the Lord does not exist independent of our relationship to each other. To use Jesus’ example, we can’t give our money to the church, and think that God is pleased with us for that, while at the same time we despise and hate someone else that He’s put in our life. That’s antinomianism. It’s dangerous not because it says that the law saves us, but because it says that the law doesn’t need to be observed at all. Even worse, it uses the gospel, and the free forgiveness found in Christ, as an excuse to do sinful things. It turns the message of salvation into a message of rebellion.

Antinomianism will always be a threat to the Lutheran Church. That’s because we do have the pure gospel. We know that it’s Christ alone who saves us. We know that we’ve sinned against God by our thoughts, words, and deeds. We know that we’ve not kept His law perfectly in our lives and because of that we deserve nothing but wrath and punishment. And yet, we also know that God in His mercy sent His Son to be our Savior. We know that Christ came to the fulfill the law and kept every part of it in our place. We know that He alone is our righteousness and that we receive that righteousness through faith alone. We know that that God saves us not by our works, but by the work of Jesus. And we know that Jesus has already forgiven us for all of our sins. And because we know all those things, we can be sure that the devil will constantly try and use them against us. He will tempt us to see the gospel as an excuse to break the law, and pit those two things against each other, as if they’re enemies.

But those two things are not enemies. It’s not as if one of them is bad and the other one is good. They’re both good. They both come from God. Both of them are part of His message to us in the Scriptures and necessary for our salvation. It’s just that they have different purposes, and we need to use them correctly. As our hymn we sang today said, “the law of God is good and wise it sets His will before our eyes, shows us the way of righteousness and dooms to death when we transgress.” The chief purpose of the law is to show us our sins and the great need we have for Jesus. It’s to be a hammer like Jeremiah calls it that breaks rocks to pieces and crushes the proud thoughts of our heart. The law always accuses, always condemns, and never saves. But that’s not all that it does. Not for those who put their hope in Christ. For us Christians, the law is the way that God teaches us to conduct ourselves in this world. It shows us what kind of good works to do now that we know that our good works don’t save us, because Jesus saves us.

So may God guard and keep us from abusing His law. Whether that’s through legalism or antinomianism, may the Lord protect us from every false view of His commandments, so that we would continue to trust in Christ alone for salvation, and live the kind of life that He’s called us to. In Jesus Name. Amen.

WATCH THE SERMON ON VIDEO HERE.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Ame

Yesterday was a very important day in the history of our country. In case you missed it, we celebrated the 250th anniversary of our independence from Great Britain. Now, I have to be honest with you, and tell you upfront that I’m not a real big fan of those patriot services in church. Don’t hear me wrong, I love this country, and I love a good firework’s show, but in the house of God, the focus always needs to be upon the Word of God. Our American identity, as special as that is to us, should never be something that supersedes or overshadows our Baptismal identity. After all, nobody goes to heaven just because they were born in the United States, but we do get to heaven by being born from above through water and the Word. So, that means that there’s never a Sunday where someone should be able to show up to church and leave without actually having heard the Gospel.

I remember one year I had some relatives of mine visit from France, who just so happened to be in town for the 4th of July. They came with us to church on Sunday, and rather than saying the Nicene Creed that day, we spoke the Pledge of Allegiance instead. Now, the pledge of Allegiance isn’t bad, but is that really what we should be asking people to do in worship? Some of those family members of mine weren’t even American citizens. Should we be requiring them to pledge their allegiance to a country they don’t even belong to? And what impression did that give them about the Church? Do you have to be an American to be part of God’s family? No. He builds His Church from every tribe, people, and language. 

And yet, even though the focus of our worship services, even on the 4th of July, should still put the emphasis on God’s Word and Sacraments, that doesn’t mean that we have to ignore or neglect what’s going on around us. Just like we thank God for our daily bread, part of that includes thanking Him for the country that we live in and the unique blessings that we get to have here.

So, in this morning’s sermon, as a sort of reflection on yesterday’s events, and thinking about what God has given us here in this place, I want to answer two questions based off our gospel lesson from Luke 5 and the great catch of fish: First, what is the greatest blessing that we have in this country? And second, what is the greatest threat facing our country?

If you ask almost anyone in the world, they’ll tell you that the greatest blessing that we have in the United States of America is our freedom. But even that little word “freedom,” needs more explanation. What kind of freedom are we talking about? Are we talking about the freedom to own your own home? Well, that’s a good kind of freedom to have, but there’s still something missing there. Are we talking about the freedom of democracy, to vote for and elect our own civil leaders and government officials. Again, that’s a good kind of freedom too, but does that freedom necessarily have any eternal value? This summer the United States has been hosting the World Cup for soccer. I’ve been seeing a lot of videos online of visitors from Europe gushing about what things are like in America. The number one thing that they always seem to comment on is the food, and especially the portion size. But we have something better to offer than just Texas Barbecue. We have the Word of God. And without a doubt, the greatest blessing that we have here in this country, at least for the time being, is access to God’s Word and the freedom to hear it, and proclaim it, without being persecuted for it.

Now, I know that that isn’t always the case. Sometimes Christians suffer even here for refusing to violate their consciences and do something that God’s Word forbids. Just a few years ago a cake baker out on the west coast got sued and lost everything that he had because he wouldn’t make a cake that featured two men getting married. A few years ago, a very close family member of mine got fired from his job, because he wouldn’t give testosterone to a woman who was trying to make herself look more like a man. That sort of stuff does happen. And it’s terrible. But, when you look around at other places in the world, I think it’s easy to see, that it’s not nearly as bad as it could be. What if you lived in China, where its illegal for a foreigner to bring in Bibles and pass them out to people unless it’s for your own personal use. Apparently, the government is so restrictive there that you have to register your congregation with the state so that they can ensure that you never say anything critical about them. Or what if you lived in one of those Muslim countries in the Middle East? You know, the places where women aren’t even allowed to show their faces outside, and its punishable by death to say that Allah is not God and that Muhammed was a false prophet? In Finland, just this last year, a Lutheran lay woman, who was part of the Finnish parliament, was convicted of a hate crime for publishing a book that said that marriage is between one man and one woman.

Yes, there are lots weak spots in our armor here in the United States, and we’ll see how long things will last, but for the time being, we can still come to St John Lutheran Church in Denver, Iowa, read the Bible out loud, listen to a sermon that calls sin what it is, and does not compromise the Scriptures, and no one will get arrested. We can go back to our homes after the service, have Sunday brunch, and enjoy the rest of our day. 

Is that not a profound gift from God? Should we not with all the joy that we can muster, praise the Name of Jesus, and glorify Him for giving us such a gift?

The Word of God is never bound, but here in this place, there seems to be much less obstacles for it to go around. And thanks be to God for that, because look at what the Word of God alone can do? That’s our Scripture lesson today from Luke chapter 5. Saint Peter and the other apostles were fishing all night, and didn’t catch anything. But then then Jesus showed up and told them to try one more time. In the middle of the day, right in deep water, the worst possible time and place to catch any fish, He said, “let down your nets for a catch.” And what did Peter say back, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” Peter subjected his reason and his experience to the clear words of Christ, and then there were so many fish to haul in that the nets were practically breaking. Such is the power of the Word of God. And not just to give us the things that we need for this life, but to give us the gift of eternal life too. God’s Word is the sole tool and instrument of the Holy Spirit uses to bring us to faith in Jesus. It how’s He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, so that, on the last day, there will be a magnificent harvest.  

And that’s what we have access to here in this country. We have access to God’s Word. We can read it. We can preach it. We can live it. We can pass it on to children and their children’s children too. And yes, we could do that anywhere in the world, as many Christians throughout history have, but we can do it here with relative ease. God has answered our prayers of “lead me not into temptation,” by sparing us the kind of intense testing and suffering that maybe some of us, or most of us, would not be able to handle. In His divine mercy and forbearance, He has allowed us to live peacefully here as Christians, even though that is not always the norm for the people of God.

So, yes, the greatest blessing that we have here in this country is freedom. But it’s not just any freedom, it’s the freedom to listen to God’s Word and have access to it all of the time. It’s the freedom to worship Jesus, by receiving His gifts of Word and Sacrament without having to go through hardly any trouble to get it. That is a treasure beyond compare.

And that also shows us, then, what the greatest threat to our country is too. The greatest threat that we face as American citizens is not what you hear about on the news. It’s not foreign invasion, high interest rates, leaders that you do or don’t like, or global warming. It’s apathy towards God’s Word. It’s neglecting the one thing needful, and not appreciating what we have.  

Martin Luther used to compare the Gospel to a rain cloud in the sky. He warned the people in Germany in his time that if they did not cling to God’s Word, and receive it with joy, it would go on to another place for lack of thankfulness. Just like a storm moves from one location to another, if they would not receive the blessings of God’s Word, which had been given to them, the Holy Spirit would take that blessing to someplace else. And sadly, it seems like that’s exactly what happened. Germany was the place of the Reformation. It was the spot where the Holy Spirit once again uncovered the fullness of the pure gospel, and brought it to light in a very public way. And yet, if you know anything about Germany today, how many faithful Christian churches are still there? Practically none. It’s almost completely secular. This was the center of confessional Lutheranism in the world, but guess how many confessional Lutheran congregations still exist? We in the Missouri Synod have only been able to stay in fellowship with one single church body, because of compromises to God’s Word, and even that church body is struggling right now with whether or not they are going to accept women’s ordination. 

The point I’m trying to make is that it can happen anywhere. And we should not be so naive as to think that it could not happen to us. God has given us an immense treasure and privilege in being able to have access to His Holy Word and the freedom to hear it and proclaim without the kind of persecution that we see elsewhere, but how have we used it?

I can’t imagine what it would be like to live in the fear that going to church might get you arrested. We can go to church whenever we want, but look at the church attendance numbers in our country? People skip worship for sports, and sleeping in, and who knows what, acting as if there will always be more time to go. What if there isn’t? How long do you think God will allow those sorts of things to continue, before He brings down His swift and righteous judgment upon us.

Or what about our country’s national sin? In the last 50 years, over 70 million children have been lost their lives to the heinous act of abortion. Rather than bring these precious gifts of God to term, and giving them the chance to be brought to the waters of Holy Baptism, instead their own mothers have decided to let them be murdered in the womb. And it’s not just overt examples like that. The overall attitude towards children and being fruitful in marriage is looked down upon and held in disdain by many, even in the church. God’s Word says that children are a heritage from the Lord, and blessed is the one who fills his quiver with them, and yet, how often do things like money, career, free time, and pleasure cause couples to prevent themselves from having more kids despite God’s clear Word of blessing? Did you know that at the beginning of the 1900’s we in the Lutheran church had the highest birthrate, even among the Catholics? Now, we have one of the lowest birthrates, even among all the other Protestants.  Will we listen to the Word of God, or not?

And we could go on and on. Sexual deviancy is celebrated in our streets. People refuse to tithe, but then they gamble away their money betting on games. Taking drugs that cloud the mind and impede our prayers is as common as drinking a glass of water before bed. Even so-called conservative politicians want to legalize pot in our state just so they can tax it. Lord, have mercy on us all. It is our society and our culture too. Even if we are opposed to these kinds of things with our words, we know, that all too often we not stood far away enough from them with our actions. 

When Saint Peter realized that the boat that he was standing in was sinking, and that the Son of God was right there next to him, what did he do? He cried out to Jesus for help. He confessed his sinfulness and looked to the Lord for forgiveness. We should do the same thing too. So, that we don’t sink down along with the unbelieving world, we should wrap our arms around the legs of Christ and cling to Him and His Word without letting go.

We don’t have the promise that our country will be around forever. In fact, we know for certain that no nation of this earth will last for eternity. But there is still hope for the people of every nation through faith in the Word of God. As Saint Paul tells us in Philippians chapter 3, “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” 

This land that we live in now is not our true home. Our true home is in heaven. It is the place that Christ has prepared for us through His death on the cross and His resurrection from the tomb. And the way that we come to that blessed place is through faith in the promises of our Savior. It’s through repenting of our sins and trusting in Christ for forgivness. When the people of Nineveh repented, God spared the whole city. Even before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, He was willing to spare it for the sake of five faithful people. And when God wiped out the whole population of earth in the time of the flood, still He protected Noah and His family, who didn’t despise His Word, and kept them sake in the ark. That’s God’s promise to all believers. It’s His assurance for all those who trust in His Word.

What did the disciples do after Jesus let them catch all of those fish and spared their lives? And the end of our text, it tells us that they left everything and followed Him. That doesn’t mean, as some wrongly teach, that we need to take a vow of total poverty and sell everything that we have. But it does mean that the Word of God needs to come first. What Jesus tells us in the Bible, both His law and His gospel, always has to go before everything else. That is our greatest gift, because that is the tool that Jesus uses to bring us to heaven. It is the way that the Holy Spirit opens our hearts to the gift of salvation, and causes us to receive it.

So, thank the Lord for the access that we still have to His Word in this country. May we not take it for granted, but cling to it always, even if no one else does. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.