(We are working on a transcript for this sermon, please check back later).

(We are working on a transcript for this sermon, please check back later).

(We are working on a transcript for this sermon, please check back later).

(We are working on a transcript for this sermon, please check back later).

(We are working on a transcript for this sermon, please check back later).

The following is a transcript of the sermon as delivered by Rev. Tab Ottmers.

God’s grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The text for our sermon this morning is the Gospel reading that was just read, the parables of Jesus.

We many times are like, well, we many times are like a blind appraiser. Many times, we don’t value repentance and forgiveness and one another as the treasure we are in Christ. This is because of sin, because of pride. Jesus, who had no sins to confess, freely forgives you, finds you, pulls you out of your grave of sin and treasures you and his value never changes.

This week, Emily and I found ourselves watching that old favorite television show, “Antique Roadshow.” It was, of course, a rerun. People were standing right by each other with no masks, and no gloves. There was no shaking of hands. I mean, there was shaking of hands, large numbers of people indoors. It looked to be a very dangerous place.

Of course, all the shows were reruns. But what the directors did for this show, in running shows from the years past, I think it was from 2015. The professionals they would give their estimates as they did back in 2015, and then the value would pop up on the screen. But then a couple of moments later, another graphic would pop up and it would say, “value in 2020.”

Some of the values went up, some of the values went down.

In 2015, you wouldn’t even have considered spending probably the amounts of money you’ve spent on face coverings. But now they are so valuable. You can be refused medicine and food if you don’t wear one to the store. Companies that have made hand sanitizers, gloves, ventilators, they have all become very valuable companies. Their stocks have gone through the roof. Politicians, they sold large portions of their stock right before the stock market crashed. They saw the collapse of our economy coming before any of us did. Their values changed rather quickly. Politicians tend to do that; in case you haven’t noticed. Well, today Jesus preaches to us parables for us to consider the value of the kingdom of God.

We know what things we value. I could venture to say we value our family, friends, our health, our retirement funds, our church. Jesus teaches us today what and how the kingdom of God come to value; what God considers valuable.

In “Antiques Roadshow,” part of the fun of the television show is the mystery, the surprise. A German ceramic that looks nothing spectacular. It had a unique story. And so, what at first looked cheap and common was worth $20,000. That value had gone up $5,000 since 2015. Other things of course lost value. Perhaps a golden laid rotary telephone, or that high speed floppy disk drive.

Have your values changed over the years? Things that you really valued when you were a teenager, a college student, a young family? Do you still have those same desires and wants? Has what you valued changed? The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field. There’s no mistaking what this man values.

One might conclude that his values had changed once he found the treasure. That at one time he valued all his possessions, but then when he was surprised by the treasure, he changed. But maybe his values didn’t change. Maybe all along, he was working toward finding that hidden treasure. And when the time was right, he gave all that he had because his values never changed. All along the man was seeking that which he valued above all things.

He never gave up. Have you ever saved up, kept track of every penny, because of that one thing that you wanted? This is the character of God that Jesus is teaching us in this parable. His values and what he values never changes. Our values change like grass blown along this way and that way along the sidewalk swaying this way with the wind. We are on fire for God’s word and we love it one day but the next we kind of get burned out.

Our value system is sometimes not on target. Has the Coronavirus caused you to evaluate what you hold valuable? It should. For the better. Has it increased your devotional life, your prayer life? Has it helped you to hear more of God’s Word? Or has it changed you for the worse?

You know that according to polls, 32% of regular churchgoers have stopped watching church online. For 32% of regular churchgoers, their values have changed. Major life issues sometimes shake us, and our values change.

If you remember the story of Joseph and his coat of many colors, a story of value. He loved his coat. It was valuable to him it was given to him by his father. But Joseph’s brothers, they didn’t value him. They hated him. In fact, they sold their brother into slavery to Egypt. They were jealous and their values changed because of anger. They valued whatever goods or money they gained from selling out their brother. They valued material things above their brother. We too have sold out to our brother Jesus by our sin. He is our brother, St. Paul points this out in our second reading. He is our brother. But how often we love the material things, more than the forgiveness of sins. He’s one for us on the cross. Jesus is embodied in your children, your parents, your spouse, and how easy it is for us to think we’re getting ripped off when we have to serve them.

You, if you’re anything like me, your sinful nature would much rather value your alone time. Our values are backwards. Like a blind appraiser. Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive, including your most valuable asset, time. And how do we value confession and forgiveness? Not just here in our church service, but with one another. With everyone. Including our enemies. What happens in our worship service is important. With confession and absolution, the pattern of the worship service is meant to shape your everyday life. What we do here in the worship service is meant to be lived out in your life on a daily basis. We are to be regularly confessing and forgiving one another.

Sometimes that’s the most difficult though, isn’t it? Because it involves something very valuable to us. Our pride. The measure of how we value ourselves. Especially when someone doesn’t deserve forgiveness. Or we think they don’t deserve our confession.

“Pastor they’ll never change.”

“How many times must I forgive my brother?”

We make it harder for ourselves to forgive, because we value a grudge more than we do forgiveness. It’s expensive to forgive someone who sinned against you to give up your place of supposed power and say, “I forgive you.”

I recognize the great forgiveness I have received from God. And I consider myself a forgiven sinner. Just like I announced to you. But the forgiveness that you have, you didn’t buy. You did nothing to deserve God’s mercy. He found you buried in a field of sin and death. Maybe he even found you digging further. Shovel after shovel standing knee deep in the mud and muck of sin, going further down. Making yourself rich in sin.

But that’s where Christ Jesus finds all of us. He washes us, he digs us, he pulls us out of our tomb. Finding us. You are his treasure. He washes you in life giving water. He doesn’t find you to mock you. He isn’t embarrassed by your sin. He doesn’t say, “well, they’re just going to sin again.” He doesn’t first place you in front of an expert to tell him if you’re valuable enough.

No, he gives his very life. He doesn’t care. He values you. He loves you above all things. He doesn’t love your sin. God hates sin. But that’s why he finds you to forgive you and to remove every one of your sins. Like finding an odd antique that nobody appreciates.

Some of you are more antique than others, some of you more odd than others. No one expects God to find value in sinners. The God who created the stars the earth, the God who made gold, the God who forged diamonds, he gives up his son to have you. He gives up his most treasured possession, because in giving up Jesus to pay for your sins, he gets back that which he’s treasured all along.

Asking for forgiveness from one another is probably the most expensive of all. Because we give up our pride. Confessing to someone a sin in order to receive forgiveness means you value forgiveness. It means you value having God’s forgiveness spoken to you. You want the value that God places on you. You want his appraisal, you want to be declared forgiven. And so he does. Your value’s not in anything you do. It’s not the size of your portfolio. It’s not because you’ve been successful in this manner or that in life. God values you and forgives you all your sins because of Jesus.

Even when you’ve acted as if his word is not valuable. If you have hated. If you’ve treated one another with scorn. If you’ve begrudged giving your time and effort to someone else, our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified to pay the price for those sins. Every one of your sins is gone.

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure. A treasure that never loses value to Jesus because he never changes. The forgiveness that he gave so much up for. That’s for you to draw on.

And yes, we will continue to misjudge the value of these goods, the sacrament, God’s word each other. However, the love of God and Christ Jesus never changes. His blood poured out on the cross to purchase you from sin, death, and the devil. Draw on that value. Spend the forgiveness. Daily remember your baptism, taken from a watery grave and given life. Be resolved to treasure this, above all things.

Because you have this treasure in jars of clay. Like a blind appraiser, the world may not value you. The devil certainly doesn’t value you; you’re just chattel. Your friends may betray you, your family might leave you. Jesus never will. He gave his life for you. His heavenly father sees you through the perfect death and resurrection and you are most precious to him.

His value never changes. So, when we do arrive, when all the fish are gathered together, it’ll be no surprise for you.

He’s already told you, “I forgive you all your sins.”

Now may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

The following is a transcript of the sermon as delivered by Rev. Tab Ottmers.

God’s grace mercy and peace be unto you from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The text for our sermon is the Gospel reading just read. Another parable spoken to us by Jesus.

Last week we heard the parable of the sower; how the sower cast his seed in some of the most undesirable places. In the ways of the world, God is not a good nor an efficient sower. Today, again, if you evaluate God according to man’s standards or man’s logic you will never understand his mercy.

The parable of the weeds among the wheat begs the question; what kind of farmer would not pull weeds out of his field? What farmer is just going to allow weeds to grow alongside of the good wheat? Letting the weeds take away the much-needed nutrients for the survival of the crop. Doesn’t he know how much those weeds steal from the wheat?

Why let those weeds enjoy the water and the rain that falls from the heavens? Why not just take care of that wheat and let the rest just… go to hell?

You could boil this thought down to one question, and in the parable and Jesus’ explanation and the disciples asking for an explanation they kind of get to it; why are there bad people in the world and why doesn’t God do something about it?

We’ve heard Jesus’ explanation and a lot of it makes sense to us; the sower is, again, the Son of Man; the good seed the sons of the Kingdome; the weeds the sons of the evil one; and the devil is the one who sowed the bad seed.

Part of the parable that causes us to scratch our heads is, why doesn’t God just destroy the weeds as they begin to grow alongside the wheat? Just take care of it! Pull them up! It would sure make my life easier. It’s not as if God can’t see who are the weeds, who’s the bad seed. I mean, even you and I can see that. Wouldn’t the world be a better place without all those bad people?

You’ve seen the sticker that was popular – the little yellow happy face, and it sums it up rather succinctly; “mean people suck.”

That’s kind of a mean thing to say.

Where did they come from? Well, Jesus makes it pretty clear that evil has come from the devil. The angels saw that there were weeds among the wheat when they start growing. We assume we’re pretty good at identifying weeds too. All those bad people. Those who should be pulled up, cast into the fire. Thieves, drunks, liars, gossipers, dictators, murderers, those who don’t love God with their whole heart.

Would that be a good definition for a weed? People who love themselves more than their neighbor. Those who act as if God doesn’t matter.

And of course, we know what God should do. The disciples, too, expressed this thought. They knew what to do when people didn’t listen. When people didn’t listen to Jesus nor their preaching, they said, “Lord, should we call down fire from Heaven to destroy them?” This is more often than not our solution to our own selfishness.

When others have better health than us and yet they live life recklessly we wonder, “why doesn’t God just take care of them?” I wore my mask every day, washed my hands, I socially distanced, and I still got sick! Why not all those protesters? Serves them right!”

Or we, who know that every good gift comes from God, when we can’t afford what we want in this life we see unbelievers, movie stars, professional athletes – they don’t have a care in the world. Why does God give them all that great stuff? Why do weeds enjoy the same blessings that the wheat do? And then some?

He makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, and the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike. Yes, we may think we’re pretty good at seeing the weeds and how we would pull them up; to help God, of course, you heard that in the parable; “do you want us to pull the weeds up?”

But what about if you saw someone like Saul – who you know better as St. Paul. What if you saw someone like Saul running around and destroying churches, killing Christians – would you have pulled that weed?

Or what about Nicodemus in the Gospel of St. John. He wasn’t so sure about Jesus. He was so wary of Jesus at first, he didn’t even want to be seen talking to Him. Would you have pulled that weed for being embarrassed?

When everyone was disappointed with Jesus, that He didn’t destroy the Roman government, didn’t bring freedom and peace to His people – would you have even weeded Jesus Himself?

Or what about you? Weeded as a rebellious teenager when you were in college, those wild days perhaps? The day you were angry with a loved one. The day you cursed your enemy. When you yelled at your parents, you thought those evil thoughts about your neighbor, your fellow church member – “If they would just leave.”

Weeds are those who never help a neighbor in need. Perhaps you can think of a time when you were a weed. Or maybe you’ve always considered yourself a wheat. Because you’ve lived the good life.

Well, your case is worse than the weeds. We, like the servants in the story think we know what God should do. Pull the weeds, Lord. Solve the problems of this world so that we can have the reward for our good life now.

But remember, God does not desire the death of the sinner, but that all would turn. That all would repent of their sin and live. God doesn’t destroy sin by destroying sinners, for that would bring him no joy. God doesn’t pull the bad weeds because God doesn’t want to lose any of his precious wheat. And if that means that we need to suffer for a little while then so be it.

The devil is the one who rejoices over destruction. God would rather his Son die, that in him and on Jesus Christ would be funneled all the sins of the world, and at this one point the Son is destroyed for you. Because in giving up his son Jesus, he doesn’t lose any of us.

Your Heavenly Father would rather be merciful than to pull weeds with haste. Your Heavenly Father would rather than we’d grown for a little while in our lives than lose us forever.

So, we wait with patience. God allows this world to continue to exist in ways we consider; well, we think it’s a little foolish. God doesn’t conquer evil by destroying evildoers. God has another solution.

Forgiveness. Forgiveness won on the cross. Forgiveness poured out in Baptism. Forgiveness given out in Absolution. Forgiveness placed in your mouth in the very body and blood of his son Jesus. For that is what has made us who would otherwise be weeds be changed into sons of the Kingdom.

And yes, we still act like and look like weeds, so we still need this ongoing forgiveness. So, Christ gives that forgiveness in plenty. Forgiveness and encouragement for you when your sins weigh your head down. Or when you are sinned against. When false accusations are brought against you. When your body or your spirit is afflicted by the devil and it’s pretty easy to begin to lose hope.

Don’t give in to the devil. Don’t give into the devil when he wants to lead you astray. Don’t lose hope. The Lord is patient. The Lord is patient with all. The parable is about a patient and loving sower who does everything for the good of the wheat. The loving sower is willing to let the weeds and the wheat grow together for a time.

It’s a matter of fact that in this world that we are surrounded by weeds, but we have the promise that they cannot choke to death the sower’s harvest. The enemy has failed. Christ is victorious. The death of Jesus whose blood covers your sins has made you righteous. It’s made you sons of the Kingdom.

And we shine, even now in this dark world. This dark and dirty field that we call the world. Sometimes surrounded by weeds on all sides.

This forgiveness is given to you to give you hope. Hope as we wait for the harvest. Forgiveness that keeps you from getting lost in the weeds. Forgiveness through the Sprit which even prays for us when it seems as if we’re being choked out by evil.

While no farmer likes putting up with weeds, Christ does so for your sake. Christ has delivered us from evil even already now while we’re surrounded by it. Don’t be scared when it looks as if the weeds are going to grow over your head and block the sun.

Take courage in Christ who has defeated even the darkness of death! One day we will see all evil removed. In this world, sometimes it might be discouraging to be surrounded by weeds. You may feel as though you have to put up with weed, after weed, after weed, whether people or sickness. The wickedness that the devil has brought upon our world and we have do often contributed to.

Don’t give up. Stay faithful. Don’t forget you were at one time a weed too. Don’t give up, but remember to endure in this life, sometimes feeling as though the weeds will choke you out. Look what Jesus says. We will shine like the sun.

So, Christ now is content to let us live a little while among the weeds until that great day, when the Lord of the harvest returns, he delivers you from all your sins, and delivers us from evil. For every time you pray the Lord’s Prayer this week, you are asking him to deliver us from evil. And he will, in his good time, answer your prayer.

Until then, keep growing in the field. Keep your eyes fixed on him. Keep your ears fixed on the word of forgiveness and keep your lips proclaiming that forgiveness to others.

For as the rain comes to the earth and does not return to the Lord empty, so too will his word.

May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

(We are working on a transcript for this sermon, please check back later).

(We are working on a transcript for this sermon, please check back later).

(We are working on a transcript for this sermon, please check back later).