Sermon Audio

YOU BROOD OF VIPERS! You go around claiming you keep the law and have Abraham as your father, but you act like children of the devil! You present yourselves as being righteous before God, yet you don't even keep the commands and statutes of the Lord. You lift yourselves up as an example of righteous living, yet others can plainly see that you do not live in accordance with your own standards, or those of God. REPENT! PRODUCE FRUIT IN KEEPING WITH REPENTANCE. (cf. Luke 3:7-8)

These are harsh words, to be sure; but they are no more harsh than what we heard in this morning's Gospel lesson. "It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones." What could inspire such righteous anger in Jesus to utter such harsh words? To put it simply, hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy is deadly, judging by the curse Jesus pronounces. In fact, it's doubly deadly. For the one person—the hypocrite—they say one thing and do another, they believe one way and act another. For the other person, it creates mixed feelings about the first, it leads them astray, it offends them and turns them off—they believe that all people in the first person's camp are like the first, to the point that they want no part in what the first person is, even if what they profess to believe is the truth. In essence, two people suffer. Jesus is completely justified in His anger.

Jesus is, of course, referring to a believer, at least one who professes to be a believer, who would cause a little one to sin—one who passes off their teaching as the truth. Out of concern for the little one—the one of little or no faith—it would seem that Jesus would prefer to eliminate the hypocrite who would influence the little one the wrong way, that He wants to spare one life where two could be lost. Or does he?

The great concern is that a Christian struggling with hypocrisy does so when he does not repent when he is rebuked. Jesus said, "Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him." Repentance and forgiveness—confession and absolution—are the life of a Christian. A Christian, confronted with his sin, confesses it and is absolved from it; his sin is removed from him as far as the east is from the west, as the Psalmist writes. (Psalm 103:12)

Now, you know where this is going, I'm sure. This is a kind of hypocrisy we all deal with. After all, who likes to be rebuked? So, when you are rebuked, how do you react, most often? You make excuses, you deny it, you question the rebuke, but you don't confess to it. And if you rebuke someone, how do you do it? Pointedly, accusingly, judgmentally...and if the one you rebuke confesses, you don't forgive them. If anything, you might say, "It's okay," but deep down, you hold this confession over them as something you can store in your back pocket and use against them sometime in the future.

Yes, you, even you struggle with hypocrisy. Me, too. So everyone else beyond these walls sees the way we act compared to what we say, and, well..."such lies; why would I want to be a part of that?" This reflects poorly on Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith. Could He want to eliminate us in order to spare the one life? The fact that we don't have millstones tied around our necks would indicate otherwise; the fact that we are still here to be rebuked, to rebuke, to confess and be absolved certainly indicates otherwise. Jesus would rather spare both lives; He would like to keep the little ones from sinning AND keep the rest from causing the little ones to sin.

Still, to be a Christian is to be like Christ, Who gave of Himself for others. Unfortunately, we often fail. We are all too often Christians in word, not in deed. We tell others that we are members of a church, we wear crosses, we even wear shirts with Bible passages on them, but we turn right around and do things that are contrary to our confession of faith. Case in point, a "joke" a friend sent me just the other day:

A man was being tailgated by a stressed-out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.
The tailgating woman hit the roof, and the horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection with him. As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer.
The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a cell.
After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.
He said, "I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping the guy off in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, the 'Follow Me to Sunday School' bumper sticker and the chrome-plated fish emblem on the trunk. Naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car."

It's a funny story, but sadly, it illustrates the point perfectly.

That's not even the half of it. A problem affecting many congregations today (and for as long as believers have gathered together) is when someone may say, "Yeah, I'm a Christian, but I don't attend a church." Well, isn't going to church what a Christian does? People know what we do, more than we think they do. What does the non-believer or the one of little faith think when they know one claims to be Christian, but prefers to stay in bed on Sunday morning, or simply doesn't attend the gathering of the saints? Sadly, missing once can easily become a habit.

Recall, now, that Jesus would prefer not to toss any of us into a lake with a stone around our necks. "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," (1 Timothy 1:15a) and we can debate for eternity over who is the worst. He came into the world to save even those who struggle with hypocrisy. Just as with every other sin, Jesus died having lived a perfect life, doing what He said and saying what He does, to forgive us our sins—we who struggle with hypocrisy or coveting or theft or killing or adultery and every other sin.

In Baptism, we have been claimed as sons of God and coheirs with Christ of eternal life. In being claimed as sons of God, we have been given faith, a faith by which we can say, "Jesus is Lord"; a faith by which we can say, "Have mercy on me, a sinner," when confronted with our sin.

Forgiven, our cry and prayer is and continues to be like that of the apostles in today's lesson: "Increase our faith." Dear hearers, He answers that prayer each and every day as He comes to us in Word and Sacrament to forgive our sins. Even today, He gives us His body and blood hidden in bread and wine for the strengthening, the increase, of our faith.

And here's our comfort, dear Christians struggling with hypocrisy, Jesus tells us that with faith even as small as a mustard seed, we can tell a mulberry tree to be uprooted and replant itself in the sea. Even through the pen of St. Paul we are told that we "can do all things through Christ who strengthens us." (cf. Philippians 4:13)

So, why don't we see oceans full of mulberry trees? Jesus was using hyperbole to explain that with faith, no matter how small, nothing is impossible. (cf. Matthew 17:21) In other words, with faith even as small as a mustard seed, you can say, "Jesus is Lord", and "Have mercy on me, a sinner." Even more appropriately, faith, even as small as a mustard seed, is able to receive forgiveness from God because even it is God-given faith—in other words, the size of the faith is not important, it is the object of that faith that is important.

Finally this faith, no matter how big or small, is what allows us to say as Christ declared in today's lesson, "We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do." For it is by faith that you confess your sins and it is by faith that you receive forgiveness. That is the life of a Christian. When you have done this, you have done your duty—and this only by God-given faith.

You brood of vipers. Jesus loves you. You say you have Abraham as your father. By God's grace, you do. You present yourselves as being righteous before God. By Jesus' sacrifice, you are. You lift yourselves up as an example of righteous living. By the Spirit's leading, you are free to do so, because you are forgiven for all of your sins.