First Lutheran Church of Little Rock

*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.

*In the Name of the Father…Amen.*

*The Gospel lesson serves as our sermon text for this morning.*

*Grace, mercy, and peace be yours from God the Father through our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.*

*Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pray:*

*LSB 659:1 *

*Lord of our life and God of our salvation,*

*Star of our night and hope of ev’ry nation:*

*Hear and receive Your Church’s supplication, *

*Lord God Almighty. *

*Text: Public domain*

*Introduction*

*Jesus declares at the end of today’s sermon text: *

*“* *Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree,
and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he
answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and
put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good’* *
(Luke 13:7–9). *

This is such a beautiful illustration of God’s patience with us for the
sake of Christ!

But do we recognize that God is patient, but never indulgent?

*Perhaps the following illustration might help:*

A teenager, just four days after he gets his license, gets a speeding
ticket. “I’m so sorry, Dad,” he says. “I just wasn’t paying attention.” Dad
talks about the importance of driving carefully, reminds him that tickets
raise insurance rates, and forgives him.

Two months later, the young driver rear-ends another car. In tears, he
phones his father.

Dad asks: “Is everybody okay? Nobody hurt?” “Everybody’s okay, Dad, but
both cars are a mess.”

Dad responds: “I’m just thankful everyone’s safe. We’ll work on this. Mom
and I forgive you.”

Freshman year in college. Underage drinking at a party, pulled over driving
back to the dorm. What will Dad do now?

*God is amazingly patient with us, but never indulgent. *

That’s because patience is an act of love for the other person, while
indulging someone else’s sin is usually indulging ourselves—not wanting to
offend the other person or not caring enough to correct the sin.

Indulging sin is not loving the other person, because, you see, unless the
sinner repents, at some point he will surely suffer punishment.

God is divinely patient with us, but he does not indulge our sin.

As Jesus says: *“If [the tree] should bear fruit next year, well and good;
but if not, you can cut it down” (13:9).*

*Turn toward Jesus, for in Him There Is Life.*

* I. Jesus calls not just the “greatest” sinners, but all of us to
repent.*

*Some people in Jesus’ following have been “reading the newspapers”
(remember, this is old technology), and they ask him for his commentary on
one of the hot stories of the day (v 1).*

Several folks from Jesus’ own part of the country, Galileans, have been
murdered by Roman governor Pontius Pilate—in a gruesome way.

a. We don’t have further details about this incident from history, but
the social tension between Jews and Romans made revolutionary activity
possible at any time. Galileans were especially likely to revolt since they
were surrounded geographically by Gentiles.

b. What is clear is that they were killed while in worship—like a church
shooting today.

Essentially, the crowd wanted Jesus’ opinion: “Why do bad things happen to
good Galileans?”

Jesus turns the tables (verses 2–3).

a. He dismisses—doesn’t even address—the idea that this was a bad thing
happening to good Galileans.

b. He goes to the next option: Well, then, these Galileans must have been
especially bad sinners. No! All Galileans—and you and me—are bad, in need
of repentance.

4. Jesus even adds another example (verses 4–5).

a. There is no historical record of this incident either, the tower of
Siloam in Jerusalem falling on eighteen people. It must have been another
recent news story.

b. But again, no, these eighteen people were not especially wicked; they
were just like you and me! In sure and certain need of repentance!

*B. Jesus refuses to lean into a theology of glory by attributing human
tragedy to individual sin, as the Jews often did (John 9:1–3). Rather,
Jesus affirms that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory and are
thus in need of repentance.*

1. Every human tragedy is a call from God to repent. The world is
irreparably dirty due to sin. Our good deeds, in any attempt to clean up
our own sin, are as “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Our rags are soiled beyond
any human ability to make them clean again.

2. Jesus always levels the playing field. He is basically saying, “It’s
just a matter of time before you all suffer the same fate. Death will come
for us all. No one gets out alive. Your only hope is repenting in faith.
Your only hope is turning away from your sin and turning to me.”

3. On May 21, 2021, six-year-old Aiden Leos’s mother was driving him to
kindergarten on the 55 Freeway in Southern California. After she became
angry at being cut off by another car—and made her anger visible—a
passenger in the other car fired a 9mm Glock pistol into her car. Aiden was
killed.

a. No one would suggest Aiden Leos was a worse sinner than countless
others on the freeway that morning.

b. As deeply as his mother might regret her own actions, no one would
suggest she any more earned such a tragic loss.

c. And there is no way to “get into the mind of God” to make sense of
why this happened. But God is not to blame. Rebellious mankind is to blame
for all manner of random loss of life, both through accidents and from
willful wickedness.

d. Every story of tragedy is a call to repentance and a moment in time
to cry out to God for redemption as only found in his Son, Jesus Christ.

* II. To all those who do repent, Jesus promises life.*

*A**. **That’s the subtle inference of the parable Jesus now tells his
hearers (verses 6–9).*

1. For years—even millennia—Israel had been God’s chosen people. He’s
been expecting fruit of righteousness in keeping with repentance and faith.

a. But instead, Israel had responded to his goodness with sin—just as
we, every single one of us, sin against God daily.

b. The time, it seems, has come to cut them down, to give us what we all
deserve.

2. But the vinedresser, Christ Jesus, steps forward and pleads patience.

a. “Let me do everything I yet can for them, and if they repent, bear
fruit, well, that’s what we’ve always wanted.

b. “If they refuse to repent, then we shall cut them down.”

3. The primary point of the parable is to display God’s patience in not
wanting any person to perish, but to repent and find life in his Son.

a. The Christian life is to be daily repentance.

b. Sin’s consequences affect all people, so now is the time to repent
and to live lives which bear fruit.

4. Turn in faith toward Jesus, for in him there is life.

*B. Jesus says elsewhere, in John 15: “I am the vine; you are the
branches. . . . Every branch in me that does not bear fruit [the Father]
takes away, . . . and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and
burned.” But “whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much
fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. . . . As the branch cannot
bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless
you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. . . . Already you are
clean because of the word that I have spoken to you” (John 15:5a, 2, 6, 5b,
4–5a, 3).*

1. Jesus’ call to bear fruit is always an invitation to cling to him.

a. Jesus understands all the tragedies and death of our sinful world in
ways we never can.

b. He knows that we can’t bear fruit apart from him.

c. That’s precisely why Jesus hung on the cross, that we might bear
fruit and live, not be cut down and thrown into the fire.

2. Notice Jesus says we are already clean right now.

a. That’s because we each are connected to him through baptismal waters.

b. We are enabled to bear much fruit.

* III. Jesus teaches that repentance unto life bears real fruit**.*

*A. In turning to Jesus for new life, we are called to lead lives that
produce the fruit that’s really made by the power of the Holy Spirit:
“love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23).*

1. This *is* the kind of life *you* live.

2. Your fruit really is the work of Jesus. God doesn’t need our good
works. We’re connected to Jesus, the vine, to bear fruit for our neighbor,
that the world may know the Father sent his Son.

*B. By the new life we have in Jesus, we can even help to be a salve to
those who have suffered the inexplicable tragedies that result from sin.*

1. The very moving film *The Guys* came out just a year after 9/11. In
it, Sigourney Weaver is asked by a New York fire captain to help write
eulogies for the eight men his unit lost in the attack.

a. One of the heroes, Patrick, was a guy everybody looked up to, wanted
to follow. He had just casually chosen to work that morning shift, rather
than the evening. He died when Tower One of the World Trade Center fell on
him.

b. His eulogy noted how others at the firehouse described him: “work,
church, and home.”

2. We who have life in Jesus, who are no greater sinners, no lesser
sinners than anyone else, will suffer death as surely, tragedy as often, as
everyone else.

3. But we can use our lives in Jesus to witness God’s incomprehensible
love to others in their tragedies.

*Conclusion*

*The tragedy of our text is that Jesus’ hearers were pridefully trying to
position themselves as “better than” those who lost their lives in random
ways. We are called to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Yet, even the
good fruit we bear is not enough to make us righteous before God. The
faithful pastor on his deathbed, the seemingly innocent child, the grieving
mother, the brave hero all need to repent; we are all sinners deserving
only to be cut down.*

*Jesus is the tree that was cut down by his Father on a Roman cross,
unjustly condemned by Pilate. Jesus is the tree that the Father
victoriously raised three days later to invite us, as Gentiles, to be
grafted into that Holy Tree. Our repentance is only possible because of our
redemption accomplished by the crucified and risen Jesus. Turn in faith
toward Jesus, for in him there is life. Amen.*

*Let us pray:*

*LSB 659:3 *

*Lord, be our light when worldly darkness veils us;*

*Lord, be our shield when earthly armor fails us;*

*And in the day when hell itself assails us, *

*Grant us Your peace, Lord:*

*Text: Public domain*

*The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.*

*In the Name of the Father…Amen.*

*In the Name of the Father…Amen.*

*The two readings from Scripture serve as our sermon texts this morning.*

*Grace, mercy, and peace be yours from God the Father through our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.*

*Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pray:*

*769 Eternal Spirit of the Living Christ*

*Eternal Spirit of the living Christ, *

*I know not how to ask or what to say;*

*I only know my need, as deep as life, *

*And only You can teach me how to pray.*

Text: © 1974 The Hymn Society, admin. Hope Publishing Co. Used by
permission: LSB Hymn License no. 110000247

*Introduction*

*Luther calls it “a miracle of miracles.” *

*That Joseph doesn’t lose hope, *

*that Joseph doesn’t lose faith, *

*that Joseph doesn’t give in to temptation and lose his virginity in a
shameful and wicked sin—*

*it is a miracle of miracles.*

*3. The devil attacked Joseph with many temptations.*

*Let’s not forget that Joseph was just a boy. *

*Or was he a man? *

*He was just seventeen years old when his brothers sold him to the
Ishmaelites. *

*We aren’t told how old Joseph was by the time he rose to prominence in the
house of Potiphar. *

*But let’s say that he celebrated a birthday somewhere along the line.
Let’s assume he’s eighteen. *

*We know that he’s a handsome fellow. *

*And we also know that he has the kind of character and faith and wisdom
that few men of any age possess.*

*The devil is attacking Joseph on two different fronts. *

On the one hand, the devil is tempting him to doubt and despair and defeat,
leading him to conclude that he’s been forgotten and forsaken by God—even
as he was betrayed by his own brothers.

*How easy it would have been for Joseph to abandon the faith he had been
taught by his father. *

*How easy it would have been to give in to despair and depression—or to be
consumed by hatred for his betraying brothers.*

*As if that wasn’t enough, his boss’s wife is trying to seduce him on a
daily basis. It would have been so easy to give in to that temptation—so
easy for Joseph to justify a illicit sexual relationship. *

*What harm would there be? Who would ever know? *

*Luther expressed it this way: “Joseph spurns and rejects an opportunity so
convenient and so full of safety, power, favor, and pleasure” (AE 7:77). *

*But Joseph does not waver. He calls adultery what it is. He calls sexual
immorality what it is. He says, “How then can I do this great wickedness
and sin against God?” (verse 9).*

*From where does Joseph (eighteen-year-old Joseph!) get this strength and
clarity of character? *

*How does he so clearly differentiate between right and wrong? *

*Please bear in mind, he’s got no Sixth Commandment to draw upon, no
catechism to consult, no pastor to preach to him. *

*(The two tablets of stone and Mount Sinai are still over 450 years in the
future, and Luther’s Small Catechism is more than three thousand years down
the line.) *

*Nor can Joseph just crack open his Bible for strength and guidance to
sustain him in his time of trial. (There was no Bible written yet!) *

*All Joseph has is the Law of God written in his heart and the promises of
God passed down from his father. *

*And yet, with only those little crumbs to draw upon—miracle of
miracles!—faith reigns in the heart of this young man. *

*Two thousand years before the apostle Paul would implore the Christians at
Corinth to flee from sexual immorality because their bodies were temples of
the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:18–20), *

*Joseph fled from sexual immorality, recognizing that his body was a temple
of the Holy Spirit.*

*2. We face many similar temptations today.*

*This has all been written down and recorded for you. *

*It’s being preached and proclaimed for you. *

*Because the temptations to sexual immorality and adultery are everywhere
today. *

*Potiphar’s wife, with her promises of sex and sin without
consequences—she’s everywhere. *

*She’s on your television screen and your computer screen. *

*She’s in your phone—your phone that never leaves your side and happily
hides all your secrets. *

*The devil never quits, never eases up, never stops seeking to violate your
chastity and destroy your faith.*

*And so this episode from the life of Joseph comes to confront us here
tonight. *

*And we know that this episode is true—that it really happened—because of
the Bible’s brutal honesty. *

*Because Joseph’s great faith and his steadfast refusal to sin did not
result in applause and accolades and promotions. *

*Instead, no good deed goes unpunished. *

*Things go from bad to worse—out of the frying pan and into the fire—and
Joseph descends into the hell of prison.*

*If that’s what happened to Joseph—*

*whose faith and life were above reproach in every way—*

*should not we expect far worse? *

*With our faltering faith and our sin-filled lives? *

*We should indeed expect nothing but temporal and eternal punishment . . .
were it not for our new and greater Joseph.*

*1. Jesus was tempted in every way for us, as our sacred substitute.*

*Jesus is our new and greater Joseph. *

*He was tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin. *

*Jesus took on the temptations of a thousand wives of Potiphar and never,
ever, took the bait—never did what would have been convenient or easy and
pleasurable. *

*Why not? *

*Because he battled temptation for you—as your sacred substitute.*

*Where you fail, he succeeds. *

*Where you stumble, he stands firm. *

*Where you are weak, he is strong.*

*And—miracle of miracles!—Jesus undertakes a great exchange with you. *

*He takes your guilt and gives you his innocence. *

*He bears your sin and absolves you of everything. *

*He drinks deeply from the cup of God’s wrath against your sin, so that you
might sample the sweet wine that is his blood once shed for you, for the
forgiveness of all your sins. *

*He takes your punishment and dies your death so that you might die to sin
and rise again to life everlasting.*

*Just like Joseph, Jesus humbled himself and made himself nothing, taking
the very nature of a slave. *

*Just like Joseph, Jesus went around doing good in all things: *

*preaching the Gospel, *

*casting out demons, *

*cleansing lepers, *

*giving sight to the blind, *

*feeding the hungry, *

*stilling the storms, *

*and even raising the dead. *

*But for Jesus—like Joseph—there would be no applause or accolades or
promotions. *

*No good deed would go unpunished for this good man. *

*Shouts of “Hosanna!” would give way to cries of “Crucify Him!”*

*He came to his own and his own did not receive him. *

*One of his own betrays him with a kiss.*

* So it goes for Jesus. *

*So it goes for Joseph. *

*And so it goes for you.*

* When Jesus, like Joseph, Takes on Temptation, It Is for You.*

*Conclusion*

*This world will little note nor long remember the times when you stand
firm against temptation. *

*When you, by the grace of God, lead a sexually pure and decent life in
what you say and do—when you say no to sin and yes to the Lord Jesus, who
loves you and gave himself for you—the angels may be rejoicing, but their
cheers won’t reach your ears. *

*Luther says, “You must never hope the world will acknowledge . . . your
faithfulness and diligence, for it does the opposite” (AE 7:97). *

*Like Joseph, your good conduct could even land you in prison, or worse.*

*But, miracle of miracles, you are precious to the Lord Jesus Christ. *

*In Holy Baptism, he has made your body to be a temple of the Holy Spirit.*

*You belong to the Lord—body and soul—redeemed by Christ the Crucified.
Amen.*

*Let us pray:*

*769 Eternal Spirit of the Living Christ *

*Come, pray in me the prayer I need this day; *

*Help me to see Your purpose and Your will—*

*Where I have failed, what I have done amiss; *

*Held in forgiving love, let me be still. *

*Come with the strength I lack, bring vision clear *

*Of human need; O give me eyes to see*

*Fulfillment of my life in love outpoured, *

*My life in You, O Christ; Your love in me.*

*Text: © 1974 The Hymn Society, admin. Hope Publishing Co. Used by
permission: LSB Hymn License no. 110000247*

*The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.*

*In the Name of the Father…Amen.*