Howdy Well, happy Father's Day to everybody and
You know, hopefully everybody's gonna have to
have a chance to go grab some lunch or do something
and make sure He gets exactly the right tie this
year because last year's tie not nearly as good
as this year's I assure you But you know, I have
to tell you though a story from back in the day
My first vehicle was a 1981 Chevy Silverado It
was light blue, giant, boxy. I loved that truck.
One day, my sister and I were leaving Whataburger
with a couple of cokes, and whoever designed
the cup holders on the old Chevy Silverado, they
apparently thought that gravity was optional
because they put them right up on the dash. instead
of in the console so you know basically it was
like daring you to drive it with that thing and
I was still learning how to drive and at one
point the Silverado hit a curb let's be clear
the Silverado hit the curb it was not me okay
all right now the truck rocked and I saw one
of the coke starting to fall toward my sister
and in the split second I thought oh no save
the coke my sister was optional but I went ahead
and jerked the wheel, and I have no idea which
way I turned, but it was the wrong way, whatever
it was. Because not only did that first Coke
still spill into my sister's lap, the other one
came flying into mine. So in about five seconds,
both Cokes were gone, we were both soaked, and
I discovered I needed to get a little better
at driving trucks. The funny thing about driving,
most of us know that hitting a curb is bad. When
we don't realize... is often that over -correcting
can be just as bad. Sometimes the thing we do
to avoid one problem creates a whole new one.
Martin Luther used to speak of the Christian
life as a road with two ditches. Many of us think
our greatest danger is one ditch. We're afraid
of compromise. We're afraid of sin. We're afraid
of a world that has forgotten God. And so we
steer hard toward the rules and the performance
and what can become the self -righteousness.
We fall into a ditch of legalism. But you see,
others are afraid of a judgmental religion. We
don't want to be Pharisees because they're not
fair, you see. Yes, you're welcome. You see,
we don't want to be harsh. We don't want to seem
like we're intolerant. And so we steer hard the
other way, and we fall into the ditch of license,
where God's commands are just optional, and holiness
is just an afterthought. The funny thing about
ditches is that people sitting in one ditch usually
congratulate themselves because at least they're
not in the other one. And the legalist may say,
at least I'm not like those worldly people, and
the libertine may say, at least I'm not like
those judgmental Christians. and all the while
both of them have left the road that was given
by Christ. But recently I was thinking of something
that was just as bad as ending up in one ditch
or the other. You see, a week ago I pulled into
the church parking lot and realized I had a screw
in the tire. By the end of the day, as I had
plenty of errands to run, like here on campus,
I discovered it was losing air. Thankfully, our
neighbors at St. Thomas and Neighbor House helped
me get enough air in it that I could limp across
the street to go get it fixed. But then just
a few days later, one of our church members was
over at Panera and couldn't seem to leave the
parking lot because the wheel had fallen right
off of the axle. As much as we worry about ending
up in one ditch or another, sometimes the greater
problem spiritually is that we've made it impossible
to move forward at all. Some people say I never
want to become one of those judgmental boring
Christians and But they may lose truth and holiness
and others see the brokenness and immorality
of the world and say I never want to become like
that But they may start acting like the self
-righteous without grace or mercy for others
and still others the third group becomes so convinced
that being offensive and winning every argument
is the point that they make it nearly impossible
for anyone else to move forward in knowing Christ,
because they can't see the Christ of grace and
mercy in the lives of Christians. If Martin Luther
used to speak about the Christian life as a road
with two ditches, maybe we should also add a
disabled car sitting in the middle of the road
as the third issue, because the question is not
simply, how do we avoid one ditch or the other?
The question is also, how do we keep moving forward
with our Christian life and witness? And perhaps
that's part of what fathers are called to teach
us. On Father's Day, we give thanks for fathers
who teach and guide, for uncles, for grandfathers,
for older brothers, for mentors, teachers, friends,
all of those who have been in the role of leading
and guiding others, and frankly, all the parts
that go to it. Because I could almost imagine
the verse of saying, you are worth many sparrows.
I could almost imagine my dad saying that to
me and my sister. Don't worry, I love you at
least as much as many sparrows. Thanks dad, that
means a lot. But you see, we tease because those
are the ones who are strong in our lives. And
they make it easy for us to feel that we can
poke a little bit because we know they were the
ones who endured it all. Today is for saying
thank you to those who provided guidance in a
complicated world Because you see good fathers
don't simply say do whatever you want. We wish
they did sometimes but see Neither does he constantly
compare one child against another and if he does
not and also he would not Encourage those siblings
to look for reasons to fight with one another
you see a good father guides He corrects, he
humbles, he reconciles. Because the point is
not merely to obey. The point is being a family.
You see when children do something foolish and
they will say to their dads, well dad technically
you didn't say I couldn't do that specifically,
but a good father would say you should have known
better. Not because they'd written down every
possible rule, but because they expected their
children to understand what kind of people they
were called to become. And that's what we see
Paul doing in Romans. You see, at the very beginning
of the book, Paul began with things that humanity
should already know. Before Moses and the laws
were written down, before circumcision, before
being Jewish had even been a thing. But you see,
it wasn't just true for them back then about
acknowledging there are just things that typically
stand out in the world. See, the same is true
for us today. Even before our church traditions,
even before all the debates happening between
our denominations, there are things that people
typically know. Deep down, we know. We know that
greed destroys those who are not the oppressors.
We know that exploiting the poor is wrong. We
know that drunkenness enslaves those who are
in the bottle and those who love them. We know
that gossip tears people apart and hurts them
unfairly. We know that abandoning responsibilities
to family is wrong. We know that arrogance divides,
and we know that envy poisons. We know sexual
immorality and promiscuity are not God's design,
and we know that God originally designed men
and women to be together. But you see, notice
that Paul doesn't distinguish any of these as
somehow being worse. He puts all of these together.
He puts pride with the sexual sins. He puts drunkenness
with the conceit. He puts immorality with the
arrogance. Different symptoms. The same disease.
Because all of it came from the humanity that
rebelled against God since the time of Adam.
But just when religious people are sitting here
and nodding their heads and saying, that's right,
Paul, you tell those people, chapter 2, Turns
the mirror around And one of the dangers that
Paul exposes is that self -righteousness is oftentimes
a cover Because it is very easy to point out
what is wrong in someone else while quietly ignoring
what we hope that no one will ever notice in
us Sometimes the loudest voices About morality
are not the purest hearts But the most carefully
hidden lives and the tragedy is that we can become
experts at condemning the sins that we're not
personally tempted by but then we excuse the
ones that we are and Paul said you therefore
have no excuse you who pass judgment on someone
else because pride is sin too so is self -righteousness
and by chapter 3 Paul just says none is righteous
no not one not just those immoral people out
there and not just the religious not just the
pastor not just the father, not just the child.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God. And chapters four and five point to faith
in Christ alone as our only hope, because God
shows His love for us that while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us. And that's what
brings us to Romans 6. Because after all of this,
Paul asks, shall we continue in sin that grace
may abound? I mean, if we're forgiven anyway.
Shouldn't we just keep on sinning? Absolutely
not. Grace is not permission, not even for the
things we have excused in our minds. Grace changes
us. Not because we're trying to become members
of the family of God, but because we already
are. Present yourselves to God as those who have
been brought from death to life. Obedience to
God That's not the wage that's required to become
his child. Obedience is a child resembling their
father. Because we begin to look like our father.
We don't say, God forgives me, therefore I can
do whatever I want. And we don't say, look how
much better I am than everyone else. We belong
to Christ. But because we belong to Christ, we
present ourselves not as slaves to impurity.
but as servants of righteousness. Not because
we're earning a place, but because Christ has
already given us one. For the wages of sin is
death, but the free gift of God is eternal life
in Christ Jesus our Lord. And the more we pursue
things that God has given us, ways in which He
designed our lives to be, with compassion, with
equity, with purity, with courage, we start to
see how they are not actually bondage at all,
but rather opportunities to live in spirit and
in truth, with life, with joy. Now if you've
been following Paul's argument, you begin to
realize that chapters 2 through 5, they already
warned us against the danger, because the Jews
had their own works of the law that they did,
because they showed themselves to be dedicated
to God, set apart from the other nations for
centuries. the circumcision, the dietary laws,
the holy days and the festivals. But performing
those things, those were not the way that they
were made right before God. It was always by
faith. They were signs by which they showed themselves
dedicated to the God who had already saved them.
But Christians oftentimes do the same. We may
not argue about circumcision and kosher foods
and if you do Maybe I'll just leave myself out
of that conversation, but we do have our own
lists church attendance and offering envelopes
Listening to the right Christian radio station
because there are two of them and you better
listen to the better one Listening and voting
the right way and going to the right school belonging
to the right denomination. I'm looking at you
LCMS knowing the right people being involved
in the right programs. And none of those are
bad, and most of them are typically pretty good.
But none of them is what makes us right in God's
eyes. And more than that, we sometimes use them
to ignore the sin that is actually in our hearts.
And the ways in which we're actually betraying
God's commands. And all while saying, but look
at these good Christian things I am doing. I
must truly be a good Christian because if I'm
doing these Christian things, whenever we begin
trusting in those things to be our identity,
we stop being vessels of grace and we become
inspectors of everybody else's lives. And that
means something very important for how we see
one another because not every struggle looks
the same. Some people are caught in these patterns
of sin that are visible and obvious, and we can
easily look at them and say, look at that person.
But others carry struggles that are quieter.
They're more complicated. They're harder to untangle.
And neither one is helped by just sitting there
and condemning. Because what they need is truth
spoken with compassion. To say, I hear you. I
see you. I'm not here to pretend that your struggle
is easy. I'm not here to excuse what God calls
us away from. But I'm also not here to crush
you. The call of the Christian life is not just
to point people in the direction of God's will,
but to walk with them toward it. Even when it
takes time, even when it's hard, even when the
struggles are real, even when others push against
us, mock us, harm us. Because without this, people
begin to wonder whether Christianity is really
about Christ, or is it about Christians trying
to make themselves look better than others while
ignoring their own flaws. Paul asks later in
Romans, how then will they call on Him in whom
they have not believed? And how are they to believe
in Him of whom they have never heard? Brothers
and sisters, this is not a message just about
the need for more preachers, which we do need
more preachers. How are people to believe in
the grace of Christ whom they have not seen if
they do not experience grace from Christians
whom they have seen? This does not mean we stop
speaking truth. It doesn't mean we pretend that
sin doesn't matter. Grace is not permission,
but righteousness by grace is not an exclusive
club. Because how can we expect people in this
world to understand living their new life in
Christ the way He commands before they've even
understood the forgiveness that brought them
into that new life in the first place. How do
they understand sanctification before justification?
How do they understand the beauty of obedience
before they knew the mercy of the Savior? It
would be like getting upset at someone for not
knowing how to keep the car in between the lines
of traffic while telling them they're not good
enough to start practicing behind the wheel.
We can't expect them to know if we haven't welcomed
them in in the first place. And this is our joy.
This is the joy because it's not our accomplishments,
it's grace. Joy is forgiveness. Joy is mercy.
While we were still sinners, all of us, Christ
died for all of us. And that's something that
I continue to preach week after week here as
your shepherd, but frankly quite often it can
sometimes be like herding cats rather than herding
sheep. Some of you I know would love for me to
come up here every week and say, God forgives
you, now have fun, yay. Put that on the billboard
out front. But Christ never said that. He forgives,
He loves, He restores. But He never said, continue
enslaving yourselves to the impurities of your
heart. He said, present yourselves to God as
those who have been brought from death to life.
And then I know that there are those of you who
are like, now pastor, you need to make sure you've
shown the world how much you condemn all those
things about them and explain how terrible the
world is, how awful those people are, how broken
society has become. And frankly, so much of that
is true. But how can people understand new life
in Christ if I haven't started by showing them
what His forgiveness is? How can they understand
what He calls them to if they don't know the
one who calls them? How can they understand the
forgiveness of sins when frankly, how many of
us act like we've never sinned? Sometimes if
we're honest, we as Christians make it a little
harder for people to move forward. We may not
be in a ditch, but we're sitting right in the
middle of the road with the flat tire blocking
the way. Because sometimes our pride, our harshness,
our desire to prove a point, our eagerness to
win arguments and make the world suffer for all
their mistakes. We make it almost impossible
for people to even hear the gospel. Sometimes
we're not suffering for Christ like we think
we are. Sometimes we're suffering just because
we're normally obnoxious people. Sometimes we're
not being persecuted for the gospel. Sometimes
we're being called out for our own hypocrisy
and corruption. And sometimes we're not defending
the gospel. We're just defending our own biases
and what we want. Because we're all sinful humans.
And if our haughtiness makes people less willing
to hear about Christ, then we should not congratulate
ourselves when we pick every fight and then call
it faithfulness. Because sometimes, sometimes
the cross we carry may be faithfulness, but sometimes
the cross that we carry is our own need for repentance.
Because we confuse our pride for faithfulness.
Because Jesus never called us to create division
for division's sake. He never called us to become
professional arguers. He never called us to make
enemies just to prove a point. But He also tells
us in Matthew 10 that division will come. Not
because we seek it, but because truth itself
is uncomfortable. Those who want permission to
commit sin, they will dislike repentance. Those
who want superiority to other sinners, they're
going to dislike grace. Those who want conflict
itself will dislike humility and mercy. But Jesus
loves all of the repentance, the grace, the humility,
and the mercy that He brought. Because He doesn't
belong to all those other camps, even when those
camps would reject Him. Sadly, we... often reject
Jesus. Even us as Christians. Because along with
the rest of the world, we don't like how Jesus
expects us to follow Him even when we have to
be humble about it. We may find ourselves very
alone because we realize that we cannot please
the world and then we can't seem to please the
other Christians when ultimately we're just asking
them to follow Jesus. Jesus says, whoever loves
Father or Mother more than Me is not worthy of
Me. And frankly, that sounds harsh, especially
on Father's Day, right before we all go off to
lunch together, right? But you see, fathers understand
this better than anyone, especially when they
have to be the ones to do what is right, even
when their children and others don't always know
how to feel about it. Because a good Father does
not ultimately want His children living to make
Him happy. He wants His children to love what
is good. He wants His children to love what is
true. He wants His children to love what is right.
Ultimately, every good Father wants His children
to love Christ more than they would love Him.
And the children who know their Father should
know better than what others would lead them
to believe. Not because they've arrived at perfection.
They have it all figured out and all the answers,
but because they know to whom they belong. See,
there are three ways that we leave the dangerous
road, and sometimes we say, I'll do whatever
I want, but God says that our lives belong to
Christ. And then other times we want to say,
I'm better than everyone else, but God says,
no, none of you are. And then some say, I must
prove my point. But instead, God is saying, listen
to me. And make sure that everyone knows that
they matter to God and that they matter to His
people. See, Christ calls us not to any of the
pitfalls, but to Himself. Because discipleship,
just like being someone's child, is not pretending
that we have it all together. It's being corrected.
It's being humbled. It's because we're forgiven
and then we're able to survive the correction
we need. Because as children loved by God, we
can be honest that we've fallen into those pitfalls.
But then we can take joy in knowing that our
God is still transforming us and leading us home.
So, maybe you all are... Not nearly as good of
children as I am because you don't have a signed
photo of Lou Ferrigno as the Incredible Hulk
for your father. Sorry, you're just not going
to be as good today. But, in Christ Jesus, we
all have what it is that our fathers truly need.
To know that their children are following after
the True Father because of the life given in
Christ Jesus. In His name. Amen.