230625 Sermon on Matthew 10:21-33 (Pentecost 4) June 25, 2023

 Audio recording

Sermon manuscript:

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand.”

Our Gospel reading last week, our Gospel reading this week,
and the reading that you will hear next week, is all from the same section. It
is from when Jesus sent out his 12 apostles. He told them what they were
supposed to do. They should tell people that the kingdom of heaven had drawn
near. The kingdom of heaven has at its core the word kingdom. With kingdoms
there is reigning and ruling. So with the kingdom of heaven drawing near that
is another way of saying that the reigning and ruling of God is near.

That could be good news or bad news depending on what you
think of the reigning and ruling of God. If you want God to come and rule over
everything, then that message is good news. If you don’t want God and his ways
to be uppermost, then this would be like hearing that a very powerful enemy was
coming to get you.

This message that the apostles were given to preach was not
unprecedented. It is very similar to the message that Jesus himself preached
and John the Baptist preached. Jesus said, “Repent, for
the kingdom of heaven is near.” John the Baptist preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” They all
said, “Repent,” which means, “Change your ways.”
All people everywhere must change their ways. You must change your ways because
you are not holy and perfect. God is coming.

But not everybody wants to change their ways. That’s an
understatement, actually. The truth is that nobody wants to change their ways.
The very reason why we have the ways that we have is because we like our ways.
Nobody has to hold us down with our arms tied behind our backs so that we forget
to pray. Nobody has to force us to roll our eyes at our parents. Nobody has to
punish us and whip us so that we are forced to look at dirty things or gladly hear
and learn dirty things with the latest dirty gossip. We do these things
precisely because we want to do them.
Nobody forces us. We even usually know what’s right and wrong, but that doesn’t
always stop us, especially if no one is looking or if nobody will ever find
out. We do what’s wrong because that is exactly what we want to do.

True Christian and apostolic preaching fights against what
we want to do. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand,” is a declaration of war. The kingdom of heaven is opposed to all
evil, no matter where it might be found. “Repent, for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” is the most serious declaration of
war that has ever been spoken, cosmic in its proportions.

The declaration of war is so serious that Jesus even says
outrageous stuff like: “Go, sell all that you have and
give it to the poor, then come, and follow me.” Or, on another occasion
he says, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it
out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than
that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to
sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your
members than that your whole body go into hell.”

The extremeness of statements like these (and there are more
I could give you, by the way), the extremeness of statements like these shows
how dire the situation is. Take what Jesus says about money. What good can
millions or billions do you if all is coming to an end? Or take what he says
about your body. What good can your eye or your other members do you if you should
be cast into hell? From hell you might wish from the bottom of your heart that
you had torn your eye out, that you had cut your hand off. God is coming. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

There were some more extreme statements that you heard in
our Gospel reading. I’m sure you noticed them. “Brother
will hand over brother. A father will hand over his child. Children will rise
up against their parents so that they are killed.” Jesus says that this
kind of thing is going to happen as a side effect of preaching the good news
that Our Father who art in heaven’s kingdom is coming. Households will be
divided. The closest social bonds will be broken.

Jesus says it. It’s all there black on white. But if we are
being honest, I think this all sounds quite strange to us. Really? Families
divided? People handed over to be killed? Isn’t this all too overheated? Isn’t
the situation much more mundane?

I can understand folks thinking that way. It’s quite common.
People don’t think that religion is very important. A myriad of things seems
more important. Plus, even in churches—those places where you’d expect
Christianity to be taken seriously—it isn’t too hard to find churches and
preachers that promote an unserious Christianity. Don’t get to upset about
anything.

And I’m not talking just about other church bodies. I’m also
talking about our own circles. It’s not hard to find promoters of Christianity
as a kind of side light to one’s life, as a hobby, as fundamentally optional. Their
preaching can sound pretty good too. It might be a little boring, but it does
at least have this saving grace: It sounds a lot more reasonable than Jesus’s
teaching. No extreme statements. They don’t see preaching as a declaration of
war against evil no matter where the evil might be found. For them, the
customer is always right. You won’t have to quit doing what you want. You
should do whatever would make you happy. After all, doesn’t the good book say God
wants you to be happy? Sounds plausible enough.

But misleading people in spiritual things is the worst possible
breaking of all of God’s commandments. It’s the worst because misleading people
with spiritual things not only affects them in this life, but eternally. Any
preacher can say easily enough that this or that is not a sin to make people
happy. A church can just mimic whatever their chosen audience might want to
hear, whether they might be targeting a liberal audience or a conservative
audience. But let’s not forget what this is all about. Neither liberalism nor
conservatism will do anything for you when you stand before God in the
judgement. If a pastor says that this is that is not a sin, that you can do
what you want, even though it is against God’s Law, that pastor’s reassurance
won’t do anything to stave off God’s righteous judgement. You are responsible.

What’s helpful is Jesus’s preaching: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” What’s
helpful is Jesus’s preaching even if his preaching sounds to you unreasonable
or implausible. With Jesus’s preaching of the Gospel comes the Holy Spirit—and
that’s no small matter. The Holy Spirit convinces us to believe that God is
well pleased with us for Jesus’s sake. The Holy Spirit fights against our
sinful flesh so that we do not always helplessly do whatever our sinful desires
dictate, but we begin to live a life of righteousness. God is the one who takes
hold of our will instead of being helplessly ridden by the devil from one evil
to another until he rides us all the way down to his intended destination in
hell.

When Jesus declares war against evil—including, especially,
the evil in ourselves—this is God’s reigning and ruling. What is amazing about
God’s reigning and ruling is that he doesn’t simply destroy us or obliterate us—evil
though we are. He redeems us so that we may live and not die. God’s reigning
and ruling is for our benefit, even as he crucifies us together with Christ.
The more God takes over the better. The more that what we want is set aside,
and what God wants is worked within us, the better.

God’s reigning and ruling is what is most important. It’s at
the heart of the Gospel. God’s reigning and ruling is why Jesus says two times
in our reading, “Do not be afraid,” even though
he says stuff that probably was frightening to you if you were paying attention
and believing what Jesus was saying. After all, Jesus says that divisions will
take place all the way down to those who live under our own roof—and that these
divisions can even be deadly. And yet Jesus says, “Do
not be afraid.” The only reason why a person is able not to be afraid in
otherwise very frightening situations is because God is in control.

This is of great comfort if you have the courage to accept
it. When the apostles went out to preach God’s declaration of war against evil,
God was in control. And when they were unjustly punished and denounced as
evildoers, God was in control.

This is applicable to the preaching of the Gospel that has
been given to us to do in our times too. It is enough for a disciple to be like
his master. So we must simply speak the things Jesus has given us to speak.
What he has given us to speak might not always sound nice. What he has given us
to speak might not always appear as though it is going to work. It will work,
though, because all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus.
What Jesus speaks truly is helpful. If we believe him, take up our cross and
follow him, then we will find that we can stand in God’s judgement. The
reigning and ruling of God will make it so.

Of all possible things that could ever possibly happen,
there is nothing more profound or good than this reigning and ruling of God in
the souls of those who hear Jesus speak. Eternal life breaks in to this
sin-sick, loveless world with the preaching of the Gospel. If it meets
opposition, so what? If it is opposed even within ourselves, by our flesh,
should we really be surprised? We, who are evil, are blessed by Jesus, who is
good. Do you really think that this is something that should be easy?

Jesus tells us beforehand in our reading that it won’t be,
but that’s alright. God will prevail.

Even the hairs of your head are all
numbered. Fear not, therefore. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.