First Lutheran Church of Little Rock

*Authority to do What?*

*Text:* Luke 20:9–20

*Introduction:* “No rules, just right.” “Have it your way.” “No shirt, no
shoes, no service.” For a steak dinner or a fast-food burger, we love the
two . . . and we’re just glad we can comply easily enough with the other.
The first two could, apparently, make successful themes for major national
ad campaigns. The third, well, you might see it on the restaurant door, but
never on its commercials. That’s because we all like the idea of having
everything our own way, of being our own boss, and we don’t at all care for
somebody else telling us what we can and can’t do.

Okay, that’s all pretty frivolous, but there’s a real point here, isn’t
there? We all have a certain problem with authority—even, whether we like
to admit it or not, with God’s authority. In our text this morning, that
problem has been simmering, and in the next few days—or, in our church
year, in the next two weeks—it’s going to boil over into the crucifixion of
God’s own Son. You see,

3. Sinners’ natural perception is that God’s authority prevents them
from getting what they want.

a. The tenants in Jesus’ parable of the vineyard decide that the master’s
authority over his vineyard stands in the way of them having it themselves
(vv 9–10).

b. Jesus’ authority has been persistently opposed all throughout Luke’s
Gospel.

(1) The view from 30,000 feet: 5:17–26, 33–39; 6:1–11; 11:14–16:31.

(2) The immediate context: 20:1–8, 20–26, 45–47.

c. In the parable, the authority that the vineyard owner delegates is also
challenged.

(1) The servants (vv 10–12) represent the many prophets God sent to his
people (Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, and others) whom Israel
rejected.

(2) The owner’s son (vv 13–15), quite unmistakably, represents God’s Son,
the Christ, whom God’s tenants, Israel, would kill just days later.

(3) Incredibly, they believe this will cast off God’s authority and make
them their own masters.

d. You, followers of Jesus, you, his holy priesthood, have problems with
God’s authority too.

(1) You will be challenged by those who despise God’s authority—and
therefore your faith—and by the whole world system that makes evil seem
normal or even good.

(2) You yourself challenge God’s authority, spurred by your sinful nature
operating in cahoots with the world. There are things we want that we think
he’s holding back.

2. Those who remain stubbornly opposed to God’s authority will indeed
then receive no good news (vv 15–18).

a. All that they have will be taken away.

(1) The parable foretells the death of the Son but gives no indication of
his resurrection. The same Jewish leaders, when confronted with Jesus’
resurrection, will only see it as bad news (Mt 28:11–15).

(2) “What then does this Scripture mean?” Jesus will ask in his cryptic and
ominous quotation from Psalm 118. For those who reject Jesus, it’s bad news!

b. Those in our world who continue to oppose God’s authority—including the
mission he’s delegated to his Son—will also lose everything.

(1) Easter two weeks from today will be no celebration for those who
really wish Jesus dead.

(2) Do we repent of challenging God’s authority by our sin, or will we be
crushed?

1. But how does God in fact desire us to see his authority over us?

a. Jesus’ enemies had entirely forgotten the point of millennia of God’s
authority over them.

(1) The master had planted this vineyard and entrusted it to them (v 9).
God had graciously been using and blessing Israel all along.

(2) He sent his son, even after his servants had been mistreated, begging
the tenants to repent (v 13).

(3) If they refused, he would “*give* the vineyard to others.” It’s still
always God’s desire to use his authority to give.

b. God has now given the vineyard to us.

(1) Christ Jesus died also for all the times we challenge God’s
authority—but he has risen!

(2) Therefore God holds no good thing back from us! He gives us everything
truly good as a gift.

(3) God wants us to understand that this is how he always wishes to
exercise his authority.

The Father and the Son Desire Us to See Their Authority Not as Withholding
what we want but as Giving what we need.

*Conclusion:* “Fear not, little flock,” Jesus says, “for it is your
Father’s good pleasure to give you” not just the vineyard but also “the
kingdom” (Lk 12:32). Giving is his style. Amen.

*Authority to do What?*

*Text:* Luke 20:9–20

*Introduction:* “No rules, just right.” “Have it your way.” “No shirt, no
shoes, no service.” For a steak dinner or a fast-food burger, we love the
two . . . and we’re just glad we can comply easily enough with the other.
The first two could, apparently, make successful themes for major national
ad campaigns. The third, well, you might see it on the restaurant door, but
never on its commercials. That’s because we all like the idea of having
everything our own way, of being our own boss, and we don’t at all care for
somebody else telling us what we can and can’t do.

Okay, that’s all pretty frivolous, but there’s a real point here, isn’t
there? We all have a certain problem with authority—even, whether we like
to admit it or not, with God’s authority. In our text this morning, that
problem has been simmering, and in the next few days—or, in our church
year, in the next two weeks—it’s going to boil over into the crucifixion of
God’s own Son. You see,

3. Sinners’ natural perception is that God’s authority prevents them
from getting what they want.

a. The tenants in Jesus’ parable of the vineyard decide that the master’s
authority over his vineyard stands in the way of them having it themselves
(vv 9–10).

b. Jesus’ authority has been persistently opposed all throughout Luke’s
Gospel.

(1) The view from 30,000 feet: 5:17–26, 33–39; 6:1–11; 11:14–16:31.

(2) The immediate context: 20:1–8, 20–26, 45–47.

c. In the parable, the authority that the vineyard owner delegates is also
challenged.

(1) The servants (vv 10–12) represent the many prophets God sent to his
people (Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, and others) whom Israel
rejected.

(2) The owner’s son (vv 13–15), quite unmistakably, represents God’s Son,
the Christ, whom God’s tenants, Israel, would kill just days later.

(3) Incredibly, they believe this will cast off God’s authority and make
them their own masters.

d. You, followers of Jesus, you, his holy priesthood, have problems with
God’s authority too.

(1) You will be challenged by those who despise God’s authority—and
therefore your faith—and by the whole world system that makes evil seem
normal or even good.

(2) You yourself challenge God’s authority, spurred by your sinful nature
operating in cahoots with the world. There are things we want that we think
he’s holding back.

2. Those who remain stubbornly opposed to God’s authority will indeed
then receive no good news (vv 15–18).

a. All that they have will be taken away.

(1) The parable foretells the death of the Son but gives no indication of
his resurrection. The same Jewish leaders, when confronted with Jesus’
resurrection, will only see it as bad news (Mt 28:11–15).

(2) “What then does this Scripture mean?” Jesus will ask in his cryptic and
ominous quotation from Psalm 118. For those who reject Jesus, it’s bad news!

b. Those in our world who continue to oppose God’s authority—including the
mission he’s delegated to his Son—will also lose everything.

(1) Easter two weeks from today will be no celebration for those who
really wish Jesus dead.

(2) Do we repent of challenging God’s authority by our sin, or will we be
crushed?

1. But how does God in fact desire us to see his authority over us?

a. Jesus’ enemies had entirely forgotten the point of millennia of God’s
authority over them.

(1) The master had planted this vineyard and entrusted it to them (v 9).
God had graciously been using and blessing Israel all along.

(2) He sent his son, even after his servants had been mistreated, begging
the tenants to repent (v 13).

(3) If they refused, he would “*give* the vineyard to others.” It’s still
always God’s desire to use his authority to give.

b. God has now given the vineyard to us.

(1) Christ Jesus died also for all the times we challenge God’s
authority—but he has risen!

(2) Therefore God holds no good thing back from us! He gives us everything
truly good as a gift.

(3) God wants us to understand that this is how he always wishes to
exercise his authority.

The Father and the Son Desire Us to See Their Authority Not as Withholding
what we want but as Giving what we need.

*Conclusion:* “Fear not, little flock,” Jesus says, “for it is your
Father’s good pleasure to give you” not just the vineyard but also “the
kingdom” (Lk 12:32). Giving is his style. Amen.

*Chased by a Dirty Conscience*

Genesis 42:6–24; Luke 23:1–25

*Sermon Outline*

4. Clean or dirty, the conscience is a gift from God, a win­dow through
which we view the world.

3. But only repentance wrought by God can lead to a cleansed conscience.

2. The collective conscience of Joseph’s brothers was in critical
condition, being led to repentance.

1. Our sin and guilt have been reckoned for in the blood of Jesus shed
on the cross.

The Lord Jesus Has a Gift for You: The Gift of a Clean Conscience.

*Sermon*

Dreams really do come true—at least for Joseph. It had been a good twenty
years since teenage Joseph dreamt of how his brothers would one day bow
down before him. And tonight we see ten of those brothers down on their
knees before Joseph, with their faces to the ground. They were hungry, you
see. The whole world was hungry. Pharaoh’s dreams about seven years of
plenty had come to pass, and now seven years of famine were underway. It
was all happening just as Joseph had dreamt and foreseen. Dreams really do
come true.

4.

But for Joseph’s brothers, a nightmare was about to begin. For two decades,
they had been living a lie. For twenty years, they had been hiding a deep,
dark secret. They had sold their own brother into a life of slavery and
misery. They had lied to their father—had broken old Jacob’s heart by
telling him that Joseph was dead. Their hatred had its way with Joseph, and
they smugly concealed their sin. But now they were bowing down before
Joseph, second-in-command of all Egypt, whom they did not recognize. And
soon they would be chased, hounded, and tortured by their own guilty
consciences.

I’m sure you know what a conscience is. Your conscience is not always
perfectly reliable. It is not infallible; but it *is* a good gift from God.
The Early Church was much better at helping Christians to cultivate a
healthy conscience—to give attention to the condition of their conscience.
They had this bit of wisdom that the conscience was like a window through
which you view the world around you. Your conscience is your window on the
world.

A bad, or guilty, conscience is much like a dirty window. The windows at
our house right now are very dirty. They bear the grit and grime of a
grueling winter. And spring cleaning has not yet begun. This means that
when I look out my living room window, everything looks a little darker and
dingier than it really is. Instead of a crisp, bright clarity, things are
hazy and smudgy. And maybe you’ve noticed that the dirtier the window is,
the more you see your own reflection in that window.

A bad, or guilty, conscience affects your view of the world in just the
same way. When you are concealing some shameful conduct—when you’re being
chased by a bad conscience—your whole world begins to look dirty and dark.
In fact, it looks like everything is after you. You get a little paranoid,
scared of your own shadow. And the harder you try to look off into the
distance for an escape, the more you simply see yourself—and the reflection
of your own sin and shame—as in a dirty window.

3.

“If we say we have no sin,” if we conceal and cover up our sin, “we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, [God] is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness” (1 Jn 1:8–9)*.* The key word there is* cleanse*. If a
guilty conscience is like a dirty window, then repentance is when the Lord
cleanses the window of the conscience so that we can see the world bathed
in the crystal clarity of our Lord’s light and life and love. Repentance
restores reality to our worldview. Confession and Absolution is the only
solution for a wounded, fearful conscience.

But the journey from a bad conscience to a clean conscience is not easy. In
fact, it’s a journey we cannot make without the Lord’s help. And this
“help” from the Lord is not always what you might imagine. A conscience
that’s smug and comfortable cannot be cleansed. God’s Law must do its work.
This is why Joseph initially acts so harshly with his brothers. This is why
Joseph doesn’t reveal himself to his brothers right away. This is why he
treats them like strangers and speaks roughly to them. This is why Joseph
puts them through their paces and brings their sin to remembrance.

2.

These brothers have a classic case of a dirty conscience. Luther frames it
like this: he writes, “Thus the sons of Jacob have an evil conscience.
Therefore they tremble horribly and fear God’s vengeance” (AE 7:271). But
the situation of the brothers is even more dire. Their collective
conscience is in critical condition, causing them to dread what lies around
every corner: “These brothers are not only troubled about the sin of which
they were conscious—although they took pains to cover and conceal it—but
they were also afraid of all their words and deeds, and they imagined that
there was new guilt in every action or thought” (AE 7:277)*.*

In fact, as soon as Joseph demanded that they go and fetch their youngest
brother and bring him down to Egypt, they say to one another: “In truth we
are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul,
when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come
upon us.” To all this, Reuben replied, “Now there comes a reckoning for his
blood” (vv 21, 22). The diagnosis could not be clearer. The symptoms are
manifest. These brothers are being chased by a dirty conscience.

Now, it seems to them, they are getting their just deserts—their sin is
coming back to bite them, bad karma comes calling, justice is about to be
served. Revenge and retribution are closing in quickly. But in reality,
what feels so painful to them is neither karma nor punishment. Joseph isn’t
just toying with them. They are simply being led down the road of
repentance. The pain they feel so sharply will lead to purity. Their
conscience is being crushed—so that it might be cleansed of sin.

1.

Like Joseph’s brothers, we, too, know what it feels like to be chased by a
guilty conscience—to have our view of the world clouded and smudged by the
stain of our own sin. Reuben was right. Reuben was right when he spoke
about a “reckoning for [the] blood.” Reuben’s restless conscience sensed
that a bloody reckoning was coming—that their sin would have to be answered
for by the shedding of blood. Reuben didn’t know how right he was. It’s
also true for us: *our sin* must be answered for. It can’t be covered up
forever. Either you must answer for your sin and face the fallout, *or*
your Savior must answer for it, and bear it all away.

What Reuben could only sense, we know for certain. We see it play out
before our eyes in this holy season of Lent—as we look back on the bloody
reckoning that Jesus endured in our stead. Although he was pure and
sinless, his blood was shed to pay for our sin. He endured the pain of the
cross so that you might know purity and peace. He was crushed so that you
might be cleansed of every sin. Jesus Christ has answered for all your
sins. The only question is whether you have the faith to believe that.

In tonight’s reading from the Passion according to St. Luke, we hear about
the scene involving Jesus and Barabbas. Barabbas was a rebel. Today we’d
call him a terrorist. He was a murderer who had shed the blood of innocent
people. He was guilty on all counts and was about to receive a reckoning
for all his evil acts. But at the insistence of the crowd, guilty Barabbas
goes free . . . and innocent Jesus is delivered over to death. The man who
shed innocent blood goes free, and the innocent man goes to the cross to
shed his innocent blood so that you can be cleansed of all unrighteousness.
This is God’s remedy for the tragedy of our sin.

The Lord Jesus Has a Gift for You: The Gift of a Clean Conscience.

“If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us”—“cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn 1:9). You
don’t have to be chased and hounded by a dirty conscience. You can live
each day in the bright clarity of our Lord’s forgiveness and peace. You
don’t have to be afraid of the truth. For your sins, Jesus Christ has
answered. Justice has been served on his cross, and your conscience has
been cleansed by his holy, precious blood. Amen.

*Great Joy in New Life*

*Text:* 2 Corinthians 5:16–21

There Is Great Joy for Those Reconciled to God and One Another by Jesus’
Death and Resurrection.

I. Selfish living—which is really living apart from God and others—is
not joyful living.

A. By nature, we’re all living for ourselves. Paul says that being a
Christian means “the old has passed away” (v 17), even that “all have died”
(5:14). But I don’t want to “die” or lose myself for another.

1. This is the natural worldview that our culture fosters with
advertising that promises we can always be young and beautiful, with
thinking that says I can always be what I want to be, even with technology
that isolates individuals from working together. *(Provide specific
examples.)*

2. Paul says we should “regard no one according to the flesh” (v 16), but
this is exactly what we’re doing—not seeing all people as created in the
Creator’s image.

B. As a result, we don’t think about sharing the truths of the Gospel with
others. There are many reluctant witnesses who do not see the charge of
following Jesus to include sharing the faith with anyone. “In 1993, 89% of
Christians who had shared their faith agreed this is a responsibility of
every Christian. Today, just 64% say so—a 25-point drop” (“Sharing Faith Is
Increasingly Optional to Christians,” Barna Research, accessed April 28,
2021, www.barna.com/research
/sharing-faith-increasingly-optional-christians/).

C. This is all actually a denial of the reconciliation that Christ has
secured for all creation on the cross. It’s saying that I’m on my own, not
joined together with God or other people.

D. But there’s no joy in that. See through the lie, and look more closely
at how lonely life is when we’re not connected to anybody else.

*Illustration:* It was a family occasion and one of those now-rare
opportunities for Dad and Mom to “hold forth.” Nothing planned, just dinner
conversation, but once a question about parenting came up, they always had
wisdom to share. Their children were parents now too—and their spouses were
with them here around the table while the next generation was out of
earshot at their own “kids’ tables.”

“When you guys were young, we talked with you often about how other people
might be feeling.”

“We talked about how you can forgive the class bully and invite the new kid
at school over to play to feel welcome.”

“We talked a lot about how blessed our family is and how maybe some kids
have it tougher at home, so we always want to be sensitive to that.”

II. The life reconciled in Christ—back together with God and others—is
joyful living.

A. In the cross of Jesus Christ, “God was reconciling the world to himself,
not counting their trespasses against them” (v 19). We are back together
with God because the sin that separated us from him has been removed when
Jesus died for it.

B. That makes us all new creations with a new life. We have died, and now
we’re alive, brand new.

1. God’s children are not refurbished or repaired.

2. No, they are made completely and utterly new in Christ Jesus.

C. In this new, reconciled life, there is great joy.

1. During Lent, this Sunday serves as a respite from the season’s
penitential character. Even while we weep and mourn because of our many
sins, God’s mercy is greater than our sin.

2. “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Is 12:3),
Isaiah sings—joy in the midst of all that besieges the world. In Christ, we
are righteous and completely new already now and even more fully at his
return.

3. Even though in this life many things assail us because of sin,
unbelief, the evil one, and death, we can be resolute in our joy because of
Christ.

III. A great joy of this reconciled life is bringing others back together
with God.

A. God has now entrusted to us the message of reconciliation: “We are
ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on
behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (v 20).

1. Followers of Jesus Christ are made new and are then sent to proclaim
the story, the message of reconciliation, to the world.

2. Each one of us has a unique role in this ambas­sa­dorship. *(Give
specific suggestions for oppor­tunities and training, perhaps with local
stories.)*

B. And being ambassadors of the reconciled life to others is one of our
greatest joys as Christians.

1. Speaking the Gospel is prompted by the Holy Spirit through his
promises fulfilled in Baptism.

2. We who are reconciled to God and each other in Christ Jesus have great
joy for all eternity. What greater joy can there be than seeing others
share the same joy?

*Conclusion:* The delight over at the “kids’ table” was obvious. You could
hear the banter, the squeals. The cousins loved being together. And back at
the big table, they understood why. There’s real joy in living not just for
yourself but also for others. Christ has done all the living—and the
dying—for *us*, reconciling us to God and to each other for eternity,
leaving to us the joy of living for *others*. Amen.