The First Article: God's Fatherly, Divine Goodness And Mercy
Sermon
What's That Supposed To Mean?
Using The Catechism In The 21st Century
Object:
The Apostles' Creed -- The First Article
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. What does this mean? I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still preserves them; also clothing and shoes, meat and drink, house and home, wife and children, fields, cattle, and all my goods; that He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life; that He defends me against all danger, and guards and protects me from all evil; and all this purely out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me.
The fact that many, many years have passed since the first advent of Jesus and we don't know how many will pass before His second advent can cause us to get lost in the worries of the present. The good news is that the same heavenly Father who sent Jesus, His only-begotten Son, to this world to save us from sin, death, and the power of the devil, is still our heavenly Father today. We focus on how this heavenly Father takes good care of us while we wait for Jesus to return, as Dr. Martin Luther summarizes in our catechism, "all this purely out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me."
We get this idea from Bible passages like the one in Matthew's Gospel where Jesus says this about the heavenly Father: "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." What a miracle Jesus describes about the heavenly Father!
How do people usually act when they have an enemy? Do we want to do good for our enemy or do we want somehow to make him suffer for being our enemy? At best, we usually have the idea, "Stay away from him." But that's not how our heavenly Father works. "He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." What good news is found in these words for sinners! God doesn't look on a farm and ask himself, "Does that guy go to church? Is he a disciple of my Son, Jesus? Does he deserve good things?" No. He looks down and says, "How much rain does that guy need to go with the sunshine I am sending today?" God didn't look on the whole history of humankind and ask, "Is anyone worth saving?" Instead, He sent His Son into human flesh to bear all peoples' sin, and be all peoples' Savior. All this, as the Apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, "while we were yet sinners"! Yet this is the greatest act of the Father's divine goodness and mercy!
Jesus challenges us to show the same kind of goodness, especially to people we don't like. He reminds us that divine goodness and mercy isn't shown to people who deserve it, but is shown equally to all. If you deserve something good, then it's not mercy that you get it. Mercy is shown only to those who need it. God shows no mercy to those who deserve it, but shows it equally to all who need it. After all, who really deserves God's love? Us, because we are Christians? We are Christians because the Father showed us divine goodness and mercy in the first place, not because we had anything to do with it! The Father that takes care of us, even though we still sin, takes care of those people we don't like. If He takes care of His enemies, how much more will He take care of us while we wait for Jesus to return! How silly it is, then, to worry about how much money is in the checkbook, what the economy is going to do, where the next meal is coming from, and all the other things people worry about! Our Father in heaven will take care of us.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, source of all divine goodness and mercy, we thank You that You do not wait until we stop sinning before You will take care of us. We admit that we do not deserve anything from You but eternal punishment for our many sins. Help us believe that the same mercy You show to all people (without first checking to see if they believe in You or not) will surely take care of us who do believe in You with the help of Your Holy Spirit. While we wait for Jesus to come again, give us more faith than ever before to trust Your care. And help us to be as merciful to those around us as You are to us. Amen.
Object lesson: How many of you have ever been naughty? Do your mommies and daddies ever say, "Since you have been naughty, we have decided not to give you any more food, and you can't stay here with us anymore?" Do mommies and daddies only do good things for children when the children act nice, or do mommies and daddies take good care of you even when you have been bad?
You have a heavenly Father who will take care of you whether you are good or whether you are bad, because He loves you. He likes the good things you do, but when you are bad, He forgives you for Jesus' sake and sends you His Holy Spirit to help you be a better boy or girl. But even if you didn't ever do what was right, your Father in heaven would still take good care of you.
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. What does this mean? I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still preserves them; also clothing and shoes, meat and drink, house and home, wife and children, fields, cattle, and all my goods; that He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life; that He defends me against all danger, and guards and protects me from all evil; and all this purely out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me.
The fact that many, many years have passed since the first advent of Jesus and we don't know how many will pass before His second advent can cause us to get lost in the worries of the present. The good news is that the same heavenly Father who sent Jesus, His only-begotten Son, to this world to save us from sin, death, and the power of the devil, is still our heavenly Father today. We focus on how this heavenly Father takes good care of us while we wait for Jesus to return, as Dr. Martin Luther summarizes in our catechism, "all this purely out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me."
We get this idea from Bible passages like the one in Matthew's Gospel where Jesus says this about the heavenly Father: "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." What a miracle Jesus describes about the heavenly Father!
How do people usually act when they have an enemy? Do we want to do good for our enemy or do we want somehow to make him suffer for being our enemy? At best, we usually have the idea, "Stay away from him." But that's not how our heavenly Father works. "He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." What good news is found in these words for sinners! God doesn't look on a farm and ask himself, "Does that guy go to church? Is he a disciple of my Son, Jesus? Does he deserve good things?" No. He looks down and says, "How much rain does that guy need to go with the sunshine I am sending today?" God didn't look on the whole history of humankind and ask, "Is anyone worth saving?" Instead, He sent His Son into human flesh to bear all peoples' sin, and be all peoples' Savior. All this, as the Apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, "while we were yet sinners"! Yet this is the greatest act of the Father's divine goodness and mercy!
Jesus challenges us to show the same kind of goodness, especially to people we don't like. He reminds us that divine goodness and mercy isn't shown to people who deserve it, but is shown equally to all. If you deserve something good, then it's not mercy that you get it. Mercy is shown only to those who need it. God shows no mercy to those who deserve it, but shows it equally to all who need it. After all, who really deserves God's love? Us, because we are Christians? We are Christians because the Father showed us divine goodness and mercy in the first place, not because we had anything to do with it! The Father that takes care of us, even though we still sin, takes care of those people we don't like. If He takes care of His enemies, how much more will He take care of us while we wait for Jesus to return! How silly it is, then, to worry about how much money is in the checkbook, what the economy is going to do, where the next meal is coming from, and all the other things people worry about! Our Father in heaven will take care of us.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, source of all divine goodness and mercy, we thank You that You do not wait until we stop sinning before You will take care of us. We admit that we do not deserve anything from You but eternal punishment for our many sins. Help us believe that the same mercy You show to all people (without first checking to see if they believe in You or not) will surely take care of us who do believe in You with the help of Your Holy Spirit. While we wait for Jesus to come again, give us more faith than ever before to trust Your care. And help us to be as merciful to those around us as You are to us. Amen.
Object lesson: How many of you have ever been naughty? Do your mommies and daddies ever say, "Since you have been naughty, we have decided not to give you any more food, and you can't stay here with us anymore?" Do mommies and daddies only do good things for children when the children act nice, or do mommies and daddies take good care of you even when you have been bad?
You have a heavenly Father who will take care of you whether you are good or whether you are bad, because He loves you. He likes the good things you do, but when you are bad, He forgives you for Jesus' sake and sends you His Holy Spirit to help you be a better boy or girl. But even if you didn't ever do what was right, your Father in heaven would still take good care of you.
