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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Good morning, St. Paul Lutheran Church. It's Pastor Wolf Mueller. And this is the Sunday drive to church for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost, Sunday, September 7, year of our Lord 2025. The Collect of the day starts out with a passage from Paul. Romans 8.
[00:00:17] He who did not spare his only son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also together with him, give us all things? That's a beautiful promise. And that becomes the basis of this prayer for courage and strength that we could take up our cross and follow him. That's the Gospel lesson. Jesus is saying, you have to take up your cross and follow me. Let's pray this prayer.
[00:00:40] Oh, merciful Lord, you did not spare your only son, but delivered him up for us all. Grant us courage and strength to take up the cross and follow him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
[00:00:54] Amen.
[00:00:55] The picture on the front of the bulletin is an old medieval painting showing Jesus carrying his own cross. I wonder if it's by somebody famous. Giovanni di Paolo.
[00:01:07] And it's really an interesting thing to think about because Jesus is the first one to carry his cross. But before he takes up his own cross, he gives us the instructions. If anyone does not take up his cross and bear his own cross and come after me, you can't be my disciple. And that's the first mention of cross in the Gospels is not the cross of Jesus, but the cross of the Christian. But more on that later.
[00:01:35] We have some beautiful passages on the way. The psalm for today is Psalm 1. Remember, there's three Torah Psalms, Psalm 1, Psalm 19, and Psalm 119. This first Psalm is probably written by. Well, here's the theory. I don't know if I've seen this anywhere except for my own. Old Testament professor at the seminary had this idea that Psalm 1 was a preface to the Psalms written by Solomon. And he thinks that when Solomon was collecting a bunch of unpublished psalms from David in the second collection of the Psalter, that he wrote this as a preface. So he has the idea that Psalm 2 was the original first Psalm by King David. And Psalm 1 is the preface. It's a beautiful psalm. It has the picture of the comparison of the one who meditates in the law of the Lord. It's like a tree planted by the water. His leaves don't wither, bears his fruit in season. Whatever he does, prospers. But the wicked are not so.
[00:02:37] They're like the chaff that the wind blows away. I always think that there's actually a little play on words, or play on lack of words in that Psalm 1, because remember, Hebrew poetry is beautiful by its symmetry.
[00:02:52] And so you have everything in parallel.
[00:02:55] And so what you expect is when the picture is drawn of the one who rejoices in the law of the Lord, verse 3, he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, bringing forth fruit in its season. Leaf never withers, whatever he does prospers. One, two, three, four things.
[00:03:15] And then the ungodly are not so. They're like the chaff.
[00:03:19] And then you could say it should be in parallel. It should be 1, 2, 3, 4, that the wind drives away. And it's trodden under the hooves of the oxen and it's set on fire. And you never see the end of it or something like that. But it just says this. The ungodly are not so. They're like the chaff which the wind drives away.
[00:03:38] It's almost like the ungodly, those who do not delight in the law are so flighty, like the husk of the grain, that even the words describing them were blown off the page.
[00:03:54] It's amazing. The Lord knows the way of the righteous.
[00:03:58] The way of the ungodly shall perish.
[00:04:00] So we start out with this blessing of the word of the Lord. The blessing that comes to us in God's commands, which give us wisdom and in God's promise, which gives us life and the forgiveness of sins.
[00:04:16] The first lesson after the psalm takes us to the fifth book of Moses. Deuteronomy. You'll notice that we announce the readings that way. Fifth book of Moses, commonly called Deuteronomy. Second book of Moses, commonly called Exodus.
[00:04:31] That's just a way of reminding us that these first five books are the books of Moses. This goes against all the major critical scholarship that wants to see these things as sort of political propaganda pieces put together by the J or E or D or P. If you, if you took a Bible as literature class in college or any theology class in college, they probably told you that these, these old books of the Bible are written by these different anonymous sources. That's just a bunch of nonsense. So when we announce these books, we say the fifth book of Moses, Deuteronomy. And this in Deuteronomy, chapter 30, start 15 to 20 is right at the end where Moses is preaching. And remember the context. The whole Deuteronomy is this last sermon of Moses. Moses can't go into the promised land because he struck the rock that second time when the Lord said, speak to the rock and said he smashed the rock. So the Lord says, all right, you can't go to the promised land. So the Lord's going to take Moses away to his burial, to his death and burial. And so this is his last sermon. And he says, look, the Lord is putting before you two things. Life and death, good and evil.
[00:05:42] And life and good is following the commandments, and blessings will follow. But if you turn away from the Lord, if you worship false gods, if you hand yourself over to idolatry, then it's death and evil. That's what they bring. That's what they bring to you and to your family.
[00:05:59] This is.
[00:06:01] The devil's always lying and saying that the Lord is the one who takes away life and he gives life and freedom and all this nonsense again.
[00:06:10] But we trust the Lord and we trust his word and we trust his commands. Now, it's not much gospel in the passage. It's just talking about the obedience of the law.
[00:06:19] But it's wrapped into the first commandment.
[00:06:22] And remember, while all the commandments require us to fear and love God, it's really in the first commandment that we're required to fear and love and trust in God.
[00:06:32] So it's the first commandment that also gives God to us as a good and gracious God. It's when the Lord says, in the giving of the Ten Commandments, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. He gives us a promise to cling to so that we don't just fear God and we don't just love God, but we trust in God.
[00:06:51] We trust what he says, we trust his promises, we trust his word that he will be with us, that he'll never leave us or forsake us, that he'll forgive us all of our sins. And so while this passage is a really heavy law passage, you'll hear it when we read it.
[00:07:05] We don't want to miss that whenever we're talking about idolatry. The reason why idolatry is bad is because our God, the only true God, is the only saving God, the only good God, and all the other false gods are bringing about death and destruction and corruption, so forth and so on.
[00:07:24] The Epistle lesson interesting is almost the entirety of the little book of Philemon, verses 1 to 21. There's only 25 verses in the whole book. We probably could just read the whole thing.
[00:07:37] It's a really interesting little letter from Paul.
[00:07:41] Remember, Paul only wrote.
[00:07:43] We only have letters of Paul to three individuals.
[00:07:47] So Paul wrote 13 epistles, and nine of them are to churches. Four of them are to individuals. Two to Timothy, one to Titus and one to Philemon. The two to Timothy and the one to Titus are to pastors. So he's writing to them as not only really as pastors, but also as bishops. They're overseeing the whole region. Timothy and Ephesus, Titus and Crete.
[00:08:07] But Philemon is a man, probably a well to do man, living in Philippi.
[00:08:13] And the circumstances that we can reconstruct just from this letter is that Paul, probably when he was evangelizing in Philippi, that Philemon heard the preaching of Paul, became a Christian, converted, and that Philemon had a servant or slave, Onesimus, who at some point ran away and ended up in Rome.
[00:08:38] And in Rome, Onesimus the slave comes under the preaching of Paul and becomes a Christian and is serving as a Christian, helping Paul as he's building the church there in Rome, even from he's under house arrest.
[00:08:57] So he's got to do it through a lot of proxies who are doing all these things, and Onesimus is one of them. Well, Paul now decides to send Onesimus back to his previous master, Philemon. And so he writes this letter for Onesimus to deliver to Philemon, or Philemon, with himself.
[00:09:20] And he's giving him back to you, Paul. And it's kind of an amazing thing to read and to consider and how Paul wants Philemon to receive Onesimus back.
[00:09:34] He says, accordingly, I'll read a few verses accordingly. Though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what's required, yet for love's sake, I prefer to appeal to you, I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus, appeal to you. For my child Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he's indeed useful to you and to me. I'm sending him back to you, sending my very heart.
[00:10:01] I would have been glad to keep him with me in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the Gospel. But I prefer to do nothing without your consent, in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion, but of your own free will.
[00:10:16] For this, perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, as a brother, as a beloved brother, especially to me. But how much more do you, both in the flesh and in the Lord?
[00:10:35] Now there's some risk in this, and you can imagine it. You know, Onesimus was, if he was a servant of Philemon, and he just takes off without permission, that if he's brought back, that he would be beaten, that he would be thrown in jail, that he would be even killed. Now, Paul says, no, no, no, no. None of that.
[00:10:54] I expect none of these bad things to happen to him. I expect only for you to receive him with joy. In fact, listen to what Paul says. So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me.
[00:11:06] If he's wronged you at all or owes you anything, charge that to my account.
[00:11:12] So Paul says, if there's any harm caused by his running away, you should not take it from him. Take it from me.
[00:11:20] I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I'll repay it, to say nothing of you owing me your very own self.
[00:11:28] So Paul says, I'll pay it. And by the way, remember, you owe me your whole life, but don't worry, I'll pay it. In other words, I don't expect you to treat Onesimus harshly, but to receive him with joy and to bless him as a brother. It's amazing. Confident of your obedience, I write to you knowing that you will do even more than I say, how about that?
[00:11:50] I mean, what an amazing text, but what an amazing story of redemption. And what a kind of wonderful thing for us to meditate on. How the Gospel changes things. I mean, you can imagine here in Philippi is this family of Philemon, this rich man with servants and slaves, and Onesimus, this slave, maybe a war criminal or something like this, who's working for him. They're both full of bitterness. They're both just striving away for things that won't last.
[00:12:20] And then one becomes a Christian, Philemon. But still Onesimus is burdened and laboring under this. He just wanted to get out, so he gets out, then he becomes a Christian. And now Paul says, all right, I'm going to send you back.
[00:12:37] I mean, to imagine all the things that have to happen for this, for Onesimus to say, okay, I trust you, Paul. I trust Philemon even as a Christian. For Philemon to trust Paul, for there to be this reconciliation.
[00:12:52] Amazing. It's a really amazing story.
[00:12:56] The Gospel we won't say too much about, because we'll talk about this in the sermon. But it's some tough one, some more tough words from Jesus. We're in Luke 14:25, 35, where Jesus says, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brother and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my Disciple.
[00:13:15] Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
[00:13:21] There is a way.
[00:13:25] There is a way that following Jesus is a death.
[00:13:33] It's a crucifixion, especially to our sinful flesh. Where Paul says, I've been crucified with Christ, it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Everything is taken away.
[00:13:42] And then in a beautiful way, the Lord gives us these things back. I mean, our life is not pure suffering and agony, not for most of us, but we receive them back from his hands. There's a dynamic to the Ten Commandments where the Lord says, hey, your name doesn't matter. And then in the eighth commandment, he says, okay, now I'm going to give it back or you're in the fifth commandment. Your life doesn't matter. But now he's going to give it back.
[00:14:09] If anyone of you who will not renounce all that he has, he cannot be my disciple. There's a renunciation.
[00:14:18] There's a specific renunciation that we have in baptism. Do you renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways?
[00:14:24] There's a renunciation of the world. There's a renunciation of our own sinful flesh. Faith is not simply saying yes to the Lord Jesus, but it's also saying no to all of his enemies, even our own flesh.
[00:14:38] Well, we'll talk about that in the sermon.
[00:14:42] Okay. The hymn is this marvelous but new hymn. How clear is our vocation, Lord?
[00:14:48] This gets into our Lutheran doctrine of vocation, which is a beautiful teaching. It's the teaching that our callings in life.
[00:14:56] Vocation is more than just job, but it's our station and position in life that these come to us.
[00:15:03] Not again as just a job, a job, but rather as a gift from God.
[00:15:10] That God doesn't need our service, but our neighbor does. So our vocation sets us to serve and to bless our neighbor.
[00:15:18] It starts in the family.
[00:15:19] So we recognize that vocation doesn't take us immediately out of the home and out of the family. It starts in the family and every one of us has a prime vocation. And that's the vocation of child.
[00:15:30] We have a father and a mother.
[00:15:33] I think it's amazing.
[00:15:35] I'll tell that I've taught this a number of times in always in new member class. I teach this in Sunday school. I'm sure I've preached it a couple of times and it's a mind blowing thing. And then I say it and everyone looks at me like, yeah, Pastor, that's like the most obvious thing in the whole entire world. I don't know why that's so amazing to you. I'm not quite sure why it's amazing, but I think it should be amazing that the very first, first way that the Lord addresses us in our neighborliness is as children.
[00:16:06] It's the fourth commandment where the Lord says, honor your father and your mother.
[00:16:12] It's pretty.
[00:16:15] There's something so profound that the Lord doesn't first turn to the parents. He turns to the children.
[00:16:23] You would expect him to turn to the kings and turn to the rulers, but he turns to the citizens.
[00:16:29] He doesn't start with the head, he starts with the body. He starts with the submissive side of the vocation, the thing that belongs to all of us.
[00:16:37] So that our first vocation, our prime vocation, is that of children.
[00:16:44] And then in the family, a lot of things could happen. We could be also brothers or sisters, siblings. We have aunts and uncles, we have grandparents. Then if the Lord grants it, can have a husband or a wife. We can have children and grandchildren and great grandchildren and. And all this extended family vocations. So that we have to say, okay, what is your vocation according to the family?
[00:17:07] So I am son, grandson, brother, husband, father, grandfather.
[00:17:16] I have all these different callings and vocations, and my duty in each one of them looks different. My duty as a son looks different. And that even changes throughout your life. What's your duty as a son and then your duty as a.
[00:17:27] As a husband or as a wife and as a parent, especially as the children are growing, and then as a grandfather? All these. Your vocation according to the family changes. And then what is your vocation according to the state?
[00:17:39] Some of us are rulers in the state. Most of us are citizens and neighbors.
[00:17:45] That's great.
[00:17:46] Some of us have jobs. Some of us in our work are the boss. Some of us have bosses, have co workers, have different jobs that are also our vocation. And then our vocation in the church, pastor and preacher or hearer, these are the different vocations in the estate of the church. And these all oblige us to different things. There's different duties and callings in our vocation. Now there's a lot of beautiful stuff that the Lutheran, I mean the Lutheran doctrine of vocation is.
[00:18:20] Is one of the most wonderful doctrines that comes out of the Reformation.
[00:18:24] Part of it is that because we are confessing so cleanly and clearly that we are not saved by our works and our efforts, they contribute nothing to our Justification that sets us free to work and to live and to suffer and to serve, not for the sake of our own salvation, but rather for the sake of our neighbor.
[00:18:46] So it's a beautiful doctrine, beautiful teaching and truth.
[00:18:51] It's also a way of saying, Luther had this beautiful phrase that said our vocations are the mask of God, is that God is also serving us through other people's vocations. I remember when I was learning this at the seminary, and we went out to lunch somewhere, and I realized that the waiter was God answering my prayer for daily bread.
[00:19:11] I mean, and the cook and everything else that was going on, but that. That was literally the Lord's answer to this prayer, Give us this day our daily bread. It's an amazing thing when you see that the Lord is working through all these different vocations, like masks, he's hiding behind them in order to serve us and bless us.
[00:19:28] So we give thanks to God for that doctrine of vocation, and we'll sing about it in the hymn How Clear Is Our Vocation, Lord in Sunday School.
[00:19:36] I was doing a lot of work this morning. I'm recording this Saturday. But I was doing a lot of work this morning getting ready for Sunday School, because we're Talking about Article 4 of the Augsburg Confession Justification, which is amazing. It's the heart, the beating heart of the whole deal, the whole argument of the Reformation, but really, it's the whole thrust of the Scriptures that while we are set in this world to do good works, those good works do not have any regard to our standing before the Lord in eternal life.
[00:20:04] So we'll look at the augsburg Confession, Article 4. We'll look at the Scripture that supports it. We'll look at. I've got a lot of the stuff from the Roman Catholic confutation and the Council of Trent and so forth that we can look at if we have time. And we want to take a look to see how the argument was going there as well. So make sure not to miss Sunday school. That'll be a lot of fun. All right, drive safe. We'll see you in a few minutes. God's peace be with you.
