Pastor Ronald Wesemann Luke 13:1-9, 3-7-10
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ
As Lutherans we have a difficult time emphasizing as a
necessity living according to God’s will, obeying God’s Law, doing good works
and so living the life of a Christian and following Jesus’ example. (You see) We
believe in the unmerited love of Jesus; we believe that Jesus overcame sin and
earned our forgiveness by dieing on the cross; we believe that we do not have
to do anything to earn God’s love and forgiveness; in fact we believe that we
cannot do anything to earn God’s love and forgiveness. So, as Lutherans, how
could we possibly require that we had to do this or that to earn God’s love and
forgiveness? Wouldn’t that suggest that Jesus’ act of sacrifice was not enough?
The dilemma that we Lutherans struggle with is that we
cannot demand moral behavior as a condition for salvation, even though we know
that such behavior should be perfectly normal for Christians, that such
behavior pleases God and that it is the best thing for humanity as a whole.
It is frustrating as a pastor to look out upon church members
knowing that there are those among us who have stopped living according to
their baptismal and confirmation vows, who have not taken seriously their
commitments of time, talents and money to the church and who see the church,
only, as a place where their needs can be met and where they can be entertained
and loved.
And yet as a pastor I find myself working (not alone, but along
with many of you) to make our services enjoyable and our programs attractive
and enriching; and I spend a good many of my working hours reaching out to
provide church members and friends with the care and comfort of the Lord.
I’m often tempted when members miss a lot of Sundays, when member
do not support church programming or when members do not bring their children
to church and Sunday school to confront them about their promises made to God; while
I do not often confront members directly I regularly challenge our members to a
fuller involvement in the life and ministry of the church.
But, as much as I feel that it is the right thing for us to
live lives reflective of Jesus’ love, it is true that it is not a requirement
of salvation and it is true that you are free to ignore me and if you ignore me
you will not lose your place in the Body of Christ.
Some times it is hard to be a pastor, but just some times;
most of the time I feel myself fortunate, for I get to witness your acts of
forgiveness, generosity and love; and then I feel as though the kingdom of God is
all around me; there can be no better feeling.
Maybe the problem is that we as Christians, rather than
ignoring God’s will, rather than refusing to love God and neighbor, have simply
forgotten (for a time) what God wants from us and forgotten what we have
promised to the Lord (our vows). Thinking along that line, curious to see just
what promises we have made to God, I went back through a couple generations of hymnals
to see what promises we made as parents for our children when they were baptized
and what promises we made when we ourselves were confirmed; I didn’t look at
wedding vows, installation of church council commitments or other related
promises; there was enough to look at in the baptism and confirmation services.
In the baptism service, while the wording is not exactly the
same from hymnal to hymnal, the promises made by the parents are pretty much
the same and relatively uncomplicated, but not necessarily easy. We are to
teach our children the Tem Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles
Creed. We are also to bring our children to the services of the church and
provide them with instruction in the Christian faith.
These promises are not hard, but they require from us a
certain level of commitment to fulfill them, a commitment that not all parents
share. In the thirty plus years serving as a pastor and teaching confirmation
classes fewer than ten children have begun these classes knowing the Ten
Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles Creed and many of these
children were not actively attending church and Sunday school. Sadly some
children are never even brought to the church to receive their Confirmation
instruction.
Most of us here were brought to church to receive our
Confirmation instruction; it is one of the reasons that we are here in church
today; we are among the fortunate ones.
Confirmed we have made additional promises; at the time of
our Confirmations we each promised to accept the baptismal vows made for us by
our parents (promising to remain active in the church and continue learning
about the Lord) and added to those we each promised to be in fellowship with
the church, to serve the Lord in word and deed and even to be a blessing to
other people.
We have not all done such a good job with these.
As a pastor I find this frustrating; I find myself questioning
my ministry and the ministry of the church in general; I ask myself what I have
done wrong, what can I do better and what I am not doing that I should be doing?
This is not as hopeless as it sounds. You see, Jesus has our
backs.
Consider the parable of the fig tree; we may be compared to
the fig tree that continually fails to bear good fruit; as the gardener in the
parable is not willing to let the owner give up on the fig tree Jesus is not going
to allow God to give up on us. As the gardener in today’s Gospel commits to
digging around the fruitless fig tree and put manure on it to enrich the soil,
providing nourishment for the tree, so Jesus has committed, with the Holy
Spirit to unearthing for us those beliefs that keep us from producing good
fruit and them heaping upon us God’s word, the sacrament of Holy Communion and
the fellowship of the faithful so that we may soon bear good fruit.
Because we have in the past failed to share God’s love and
word, because we have in the past failed to help our neighbors, obey God’s law
and support the ministry of the church, it does not mean that we will continue
in such a way.
My frustration is nothing for you to worry about; if you must
worry, worry about bearing good fruit, worry about pleasing Jesus, after all it
is Jesus who made your salvation possible.
Bearing good fruit may not be necessary for salvation, but
it sure does a lot for our own sense of worth; to open our hearts to Jesus and
remember our promises made to God can give us a good feeling inside; I
recommend that we all work to turn our lives around and live according to the
promises that we have made to God as an expression of our love for God and our
thanksgiving for all that Jesus has done for us.
