Sermon -- 22nd Sunday after Pentecost (October 24, 2021)

ISAIAH 53:10-12

MY SAVIOR PAID THE DEBT I OWE.

 In the name + of Jesus.

     St. Matthew’s version of the Lord’s Prayer says: “Forgive us our debts,   as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12).  The word “debts” acknowledges that we something to others.  Our first reaction might be, “I don’t owe anyone anything.  I don’t owe you an answer for the way I live my life.  I don’t owe you an apology for my opinions.  I don’t owe you a minute of my time.  I don’t owe you my attention, my affection, or my energy.  I don’t owe you because you don’t own me.” 

     Oddly enough, we also believe that other people owe us.  Other people owe us respect, the benefit of the doubt, good service, and a rapid response to our text messages.  We become easily upset when we are not given what we think we are owed, and we still think that we don’t owe anyone else anything.  That degree of self-centeredness is strong enough to have a gravitation pull!

     What do you owe to God?  In fact, everything.  Psalm 24 reminds us, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1).  The Lord does, in fact, own you; you are his creation.  And to everything in the world, God freely and continually provides all things.  From Psalm 145: “The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.  You open your hand; you satisfy the desires of every living thing” (Psalm 145:15-16).  At the very least, you owe the Lord recognition for what he does.  And God does not give these blessings as a reward for good behavior.  Jesus declared, “He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). 

     God does none of this because he owes us.  As Martin Luther explained, “All this he does because he is my good and merciful Father in heaven and not because I have earned or deserved it.  For all of this I ought to thank and praise, to serve and obey him.  This is most certainly true” (Explanation to the First Article of the Apostles’ Creed).  In other words, we owe God thanks, praise, service, and obedience.  In fact, it is not only owed, it is commanded.  And when our life on earth—a gift of God—is assessed, the Lord will judge us for how we served him—if we gave him the honor and obedience he was owed or if we lived as if we owed him nothing.

     It is no wonder Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us our debts.”  We are indebted to the Lord for every time we have sinned against him.  For, we did not give him what he was owed.  What’s more, the Lord also tells us that we owe our fellow man love, service, generosity, and forgiveness.  St. Paul wrote to the Christians at Rome, “Owe no one anything, except to love each other” (Romans 13:8).  When you withhold your love from your neighbor, you sin against him, and you become his debtor.  For, you do not give him what you owe him.  You owe him better than that.

     But that is not the way it works in the kingdom of God.  Jesus told his apostles, “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:43-45).  These are not just pretty words.  Jesus lived up to this.  He generously and freely gave to others what they needed.  All those miracles of healing were done out of mercy and solely for the good of those he healed.  Their diseases and frailties are the consequences of the sin that has corrupted the whole world.  It is a small part of what we confess, “I deserve your punishment both now and in eternity.”  Sufferings and problems are the result of being a sinner in a sinful world.  Nevertheless, Jesus brought healing and relief to people who were indebted to him. 

     The Son of Man served people by delivering them from the temporal consequences of their sin.  And he is far more merciful than that.  Jesus has served you and all mankind by delivering you from the eternal consequences of your sin.  He who is greatest of all made himself the servant of all.  His chief act of service is to do what he said he would do: “to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:44-45). 

     Now, if a ransom is needed, then a price has to be paid.  Jesus has, indeed, paid the price.  My Savior paid the debt I owe.  The prophet Isaiah foretold that this was God’s divine plan from long ago.  He wrote, “It was the will of the LORD to crush him” (Isaiah 53:10).  First, Isaiah said it was God’s will to crush his Son.  God the Father is not a vindictive God who likes to smite people.  He is a loving Father who desires you to be saved.  To do it, he offered up his own Son in your place. 

     When the Bible teaches about this substitutionary atonement—Jesus suffers and dies in your place—atheists like to accuse God of divine child abuse.  But this implies that Jesus did not want to suffer for you.  The whole Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—are united in the cause of your salvation.  Our Triune God is the Savior God, and my Savior paid the debt I owe.  The Lord did not do this out of a sense of obligation.  It is his will and his delight to save sinners, even at great cost to himself.  The Son of Man came to serve and to give his life.  My Savior paid the debt I owe.

     The fact that salvation comes at a price also highlights that there was a debt we owed God for our sins.  So, Isaiah wrote, “His soul makes an offering for guilt…” (Isaiah 53:10).  The guilt offering in the Old Testament was more than the slaughter of an animal.  In addition to the sacrifice, there was a payment made to the one who was sinned against.  This is what the Lord said: “If he has sinned and has realized his guilt and will restore what he took by robbery or what he got by oppression or the deposit that was committed to him or the lost thing that he found or anything about which he has sworn falsely, he shall restore it in full and shall add a fifth to it, and give it to him to whom it belongs on the day he realizes his guilt” (Leviticus 6:4-5).  If someone stole your cell phone, would you say, “It’s okay.  I forgive you.  You can keep it”?  No, you would demand it back.  And if the thief is repentant of his sin, he would return it willingly.  In the Old Testament, the man not only had to restore what he stole, he also had to compensate you by adding 20% of the value to what he stole.

     Now, when you steal from God’s infinite majesty and give his glory to something else, what is fair compensation for that?  And if you cannot pay the back your debt to God for one sin, how could you pay back what you owe him for all your disobedience?  Fear not, dear Christians.  You can confess, “My Savior paid the debt I owe!”  For, the Lord has made his own soul, his very life, the guilt offering for you.

     My Savior paid the debt I owe.  Jesus has made himself your guilt offering.  Yes, he is slain on your behalf, but he also is the full price of restitution for your debt.  The holy Son of God gave himself up on behalf of sinful mankind.  The eternal Son of God offered himself up on behalf of all people of all time.  The immortal Son of God laid down his life so that you can live forever.  The Son of Man gave his life as a ransom for you.  Your debt has been paid in full.  The cost has been covered, and you are now free.  It has pleased God to do this for you.  It was the will of God to crush him—not because he owed it to you, but because his love for you is boundless. 

     My Savior paid the debt I owe, and he adds the extra value to his guilt offering.  Isaiah declared what God would do: “When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.  Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied” (Isaiah 53:10-11).  If he sees his offspring, he cannot remain a slain offering.  If his days shall be prolonged, then death cannot have the last word.  If the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand, then he shall live and his kingdom shall be firmly established.  If he shall see and be satisfied, he shall see the salvation of those for whom he died.

     My Savior paid the debt I owe, and he has even added value to it.  Your debt is cancelled; therefore, you have escaped the fires of hell.  But Jesus’ guilt offering comes with the added value of the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.  Jesus’ resurrection from the dead means that he owns death and the grave.  They are subservient to Jesus.  And since you now belong to Jesus through your baptism into his name, you also gain the victory over death and the grave. 

     My Savior paid the debt I owe.  Isaiah declared: “By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.  Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong” (Isaiah 53:11-12).  Jesus won the victory over sin, death, and Satan.  You are the spoils of war.  Jesus lives as the conqueror; therefore, sin, death, and the devil cannot snatch you away from him.  When you are feeling guilty or ashamed because of your sins, remember the word of the Lord.  “Whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart” (1 John 3:20).  When the chill of death seems to be coming upon you, remember the promise of Jesus Christ: “I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26).  When the devil produces in you doubt about your worthiness, ask him this: “If God is for us, who can be against us?  …Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?  It is God who justifies” (Romans 8:31,33). 

     The Son of Man has come to serve, and his humble service means your glorious salvation.  We owe everything to him, but it is such joy to give it because he so freely gives us all we need, and he gives us what is for our good.  It is no burden to thank and praise, to serve and obey the Lord.  Nor do we need to be threatened to love our neighbor.  If God loves him, so do we.  And we are free to love and to serve without fear; for God’s wrath has been put aside.  Our debt has been paid.  Our future has been secured. 

     Therefore, we praise our Lord with bold confidence: “My Savior paid the debt I owe and for my life was smitten.  Within the Book of Life I know my name has now been written.  I will not doubt, for I am free; and Satan cannot threaten me.  There is no condemnation” (“The Day Is Surely Drawing Near,” CW 207:5).

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.