Sermon --7th Sunday after Pentecost (July 24, 2022)

GALATIANS 6:1-10,14-16

WE ARE DEVOTED TO GOD IN SERVICE TO EACH OTHER.

In the name + of Jesus.

     When you were brought into the kingdom of God, you were brought in individually.  While many were likely present at your baptism and rejoiced to see it, only you benefited from it.  Just as a birth happens to only one child at a time, so also you were born again as an individual. 

     While your salvation happened to you personally, you are not called to go it alone in the Christian faith and life.  You have been brought into a family of believers.  Your faith is yours alone, but you are part of THE faith.  You have all received the same Holy Spirit who has brought you into one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.  There is only one kingdom of God, and you are all in it. 

     Being devoted to God also means being devoted to all of God’s people.  You have been joined not only to Christ, but to all who bear his name.  Since we are a family of believers, we are joined together to serve for the good of each other.  We don’t know the saints of God who are scattered around the world, but we are still devoted to them.  We include them in our prayers.  We support them with mission offerings.  We provide aid when it is needed, such as when Christians suffer from famine, war, or natural disasters.  But we are especially devoted to the family of God whom we do know, namely, those who are members of this congregation.  Being devoted to each other means that we seek the good of each other.  Above all, that means that we watch over one another so that no one slips away from the faith.  St. Paul wrote, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.  Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.  Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:1-2). 

     We live in a society which tells everyone to mind their own business.  I suppose that is sensible in some areas.  It is not my business what your income is, how you decorate your house, or what direction you mow your lawn.  On the other hand, I can use “Mind your own business” as my excuse to ignore you, your sorrows, and your struggles.  The Savior who has compassion on sinners teaches us to care for one another.  St. Paul says: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).

    We are devoted to God in service to each other.  Some might refuse your loving concern, especially if it is about one’s sins.  Some may tell you to back off by saying, “Do not judge lest you yourself be judged!”  They may insist the Bible forbids you to make judgments on others.  But that is impossible.  You cannot go through life without making judgments.  What do you think about the shooter in Uvalde, Texas who killed grade schoolers?  When you heard the reports, did you say, “Well, who am I to judge?” 

     All judgment is to be in line with God’s word.  Our Lord tells us what is right and wrong, good and evil.  In this way, God remains the judge.  So, when we see our fellow Christians who are falling into sin or drifting away from Christ, we cannot mind our own business—not if we love them.  If you saw your brother or sister or child doing something that would bring great harm to them, you would not mind your own business and say nothing, would you?  If we are devoted to God by serving each other, that includes admonishing a brother or sister who is straying from the Christian faith and Christian living.

     But do this “in a spirit of gentleness” (Galatians 6:1), St. Paul says.  We deal with one another in mercy.  I should humbly recognize that I myself face temptations.  I, too, am attracted to sins and am susceptible to being deceived.  The goal is not to prove that I am morally superior.  The goal is to love my fellow Christian and to see that he or she remains my fellow Christian.  So, if my brother or sister in Christ is struggling with sin, love compels me to bear the burden with him or her so that he or she will not be overtaken by sin, overwhelmed by guilt, or overlooked because I am going to mind my own business.  Love calls me to devote my time, my money, my energy, and my prayers for a brother or sister who is engaged in a spiritual struggle.  You and I do this for one another because we love and care for one another.  Being devoted to God means serving each other as God’s people.

     The devil is devoted to our destruction, but the Lord is devoted to our salvation.  Therefore, we are devoted to God and his word.  And therefore, we are devoted to God’s people.  We band together to fend off the devil’s attacks.  We rally to the Divine Service because here Jesus Christ strengthens, encourages, and sustains us.  We remain stronger when we are together.  Our Lord has great concern for sheep who stray from the flock.  He knows that a sheep is in danger on its own.  Jesus calls us to bring each straying sheep back to the fold where it is safe.  This we do because we regard each other as saints who are precious to our Lord.  Therefore, we are devoted to God in service to each other.

     St. Paul encourages you, “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.  So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:9-10).  In loving our neighbor, and especially in loving our brothers and sisters in Christ, we seek each other’s good.  In this way, we are fulfilling the law of Christ.  In other words, we are acting like Jesus.

     The Lord Jesus Christ was completely devoted to your good—in fact, to the good of all mankind.  He demonstrated compassion on the diseased and disabled—even the dead!—by restoring them to health.  These acts of mercy are glimpses of the heavenly kingdom where everything will be restored to perfection.  But Jesus does not merely seek to relieve your aches and pains.  He delivers you from fiery torment and endless death.  He does not mind his own business.  His business is to save you and to restore you to God.

     Jesus is devoted to doing good for all people.  He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  It is a tremendous comfort to know this!  Jesus did not select a special few for whom he would live and die.  He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  If you are in the world, Jesus has suffered and died for you. 

     Sadly, many do not know or care that Jesus has won their salvation.  They will not benefit from Jesus’ saving work, but it is not because Jesus failed to pay the price for them.  It is because they do not believe in him.  If they do not know him, we are to seek their highest good and declare to them how Jesus loves sinners and saves them.  We want everyone to know that salvation is found only in Jesus.  If they refuse to listen, they will perish—and we pity them all the more.  But that does not change the fact that Jesus lived and died for their highest good.

     You are brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.   You enjoy the benefits of all of Jesus’ works.  Your sins are taken away.  You are children of the heavenly Father.  You will obtain a glorious resurrection.  Jesus became man to make himself one of us.  He lived, died, and rose from the dead so that we could be one with him.  If you are brothers and sisters of Christ, then you are brothers and sisters of one another.  He has brought you together to serve one another, to encourage one another, to comfort one another, and, if need be, to admonish one another.  The Lord has arranged this so that you can benefit each other. 

     We are devoted to God in service to each other.  St. Paul exhorts us: “As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10).  Just as Jesus has done all things for our good, so we serve for the good of others.  In doing so, we show that our faith is not just a matter of talk.  We put into practice what our Lord says.  Our Lord gives freely to us, so we give freely to others—whether they honor God or not.  We need not concern ourselves to whom good is done; our concern is just that we do good.

     Granted, some will abuse this.  Some will be ungrateful.  Some will even try to scam you.  If that happens, then you will be like Jesus who suffered for people who mocked him as he died for them.  You will be like your Father in heaven who “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).  St. Paul urges us, “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).  Your works don’t save you, but they are evidence that you are saved.  You may not see any rewards for doing good in this life, but God sees the good you do.  He will bless you for it. 

     We are devoted to God in service to each other.  “As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10).  If your good works are devoted to any and to all, how much more are they devoted to your brothers and sisters in Christ!  Our Lord Jesus Christ is pleased to call us his brothers and sisters.  If it brings joy to Jesus to acknowledge this, we have all the more reason to rejoice in this.  Therefore, we give to each other freely, knowing that our true treasure is Jesus Christ, and our true home is heaven.

     We are devoted to God in service to each other.  “As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10).  These opportunities do not have to be invented.  God presents them to you every day.  It is offering a kind word to someone who is having bad day.  It is sitting and listening to one who is grieving or mourning.  It is a word of welcome to the stranger or the outcast.  It is a word of encouragement to one who is struggling.  It is compassion for those who are weak, downtrodden, or neglected.  It is being patient and kind to all, understanding that people are carrying burdens that you don’t know anything about.

     Our God is devoted to us and to our good.  He provides all that we need in this life, and he has done all the work to secure our place for eternal life.  He gives freely and faithfully.  Since we bear his name, we long to be like him.  We are devoted to the neighbor he has given us, especially to our brothers and sisters who are united in his name, in his work, and for his glory.  We serve as our Lord does—not because it is deserved, but because it is beneficial and because it is needed.

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