For Whom Do You Work? Who's Your Boss?

June 25, 2017

SECOND LESSON: Romans 6:12–23 [Slaves to righteousness.]
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

L: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.


C: Alleluia, Lord to whom (else) shall we go? (Only) You have the words of eternal life. Alleluia, Alleluia!

P: The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the Ninth Chapter.
C: Glory to you, O Lord.

GOSPEL LESSON: Matthew 10:5a, 21–33 [The very hairs on your head are all numbered.]
These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.
“So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”

P: This is the Gospel of our Lord.
C: Praise to you, O Christ.


Whenever we work for someone, there is some sort of contract or promise, even if informal: hours of work, salary, conditions, and length of employment. How about when we work for God, is there a contract? Yes, there is. It is the promise of God, his Covenant. It is God’s promise to be our God, to take care of us. It is our promise to be faithful workers and followers of Christ. A worker gets a salary. St. Paul wrote, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

St. Paul says that we used to be slaves to sin, but now we are like slaves to God. If you are a slave then you have to work full time for your master. If you are a believer in God, then you are expected to work full time for your Heavenly Master. God does not want you to have a side job or part time job with sin. God wants you to be a full time worker. Paul gave our job description as this: “For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.”

Paul is writing to Christians who have been baptized and who want to lead a Christian life. In these words, the Holy Spirit is speaking to us, also. We believe in Christ, we have been baptized, we lead a Christian life, and yet, we commit sin. Sometimes this is called “backsliding.” Sometimes it is called “at the same time a saint and a sinner,” or in Martin Luther’s Latin, “Simul justus et peccator.” The Old Testament Prophet Hosea said sinning was like cheating on your spouse, like adultery. In today’s Epistle lesson, St. Paul might call it cheating on your employer (“waste, fraud, and abuse”). Our Boss is God; we should not be working for the competition which is sin.

Our job is to produce righteousness. If we are working on the assembly line, then our bodies and minds are the tools to produce that righteousness. Or maybe we are in marketing. That would be evangelism. Or maybe we are in the service department. That would be love and kindness and charity and other good works of righteousness.

Why should we be righteous, faithful workers for God? One reason would be to escape hell. Paul talked about that in the first chapters of the Letter to the Romans. But now he is talking to redeemed and saved Christians. Paul is appealing to them in a different way: being faithful and loyal, “Semper Fidelis,” being committed to God, doing a good job, having pride in being a good Christian.

Paul says our old boss was sin but our new employer is God. The old wages were death and shame; the new wages are the “free gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Maybe it is like this. For example, our old job was that of a cesspool cleaner or a chimney sweep. It was very dirty, very smelly, and not socially elite. Our new job, in comparison, is to take care of a rose garden. It is beautiful, sweet smelling, and charming. But once in a while, we get a hankering to go back to our old job and spend a few hours in the cesspool. Then we come back to the rose garden. Our filthy clothes reek from the stench. It is not fitting, not proper to work in a rose garden like that. It would be even worse if our new job was working in a restaurant kitchen! We would be fired, or the boss would say to go home and take a bath. We pray that our Heavenly Boss would give us the bath of Baptism and forgiveness.

St. Paul talks about shame. He says, “When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. [“Being free” from righteousness means that you do not have to be righteous.] But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed?” In Japan, shame is very horrible. Little kids are told by their mothers in the supermarket not to cry or not to do something else because it is shameful. “Everyone will see you.” The unruly child might be more shameful for the mother than for the kid, but shame and honor are forces in Japanese morality. Shame is one reason for suicide in Japan. St. Paul reminds us that sin is shameful. It is not only shameful to the sinner, but God –like the mother in the supermarket-- seems to be ashamed of us, too. I do not think God is proud when we his children do shameful things. Of course we are not proud of our sinful actions, especially if we get caught! And God does see us!

So, St. Paul encourages people to be righteous through threats of hell, and threats of shame. But also encourages people to be good through promises of eternal life. And at the same time, he tells us that eternal life is not because of our work, but rather though the work of Jesus Christ who died on the cross for us. That was the time when Jesus took upon himself the most shameful work of all. He took the wages of our sin upon himself. Who can be proud of a sinner on the cross? Who can be proud of someone who is whipped and beaten and then dies such a horrible death? But, who is not proud of a Savior who rises from the grave on the third day? Who is not proud of a Savior who gives eternal life as a free gift?

In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus sends the Twelve Disciples out on an Evangelism tour. It will not be easy work. It can be dangerous work: persecution, imprisonment, and even death. Jesus tells his disciples not to be worried and not to be ashamed of their work. He told them “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.” That means that if the Master is shamed and persecuted, then the servants will be too. But Jesus promises that God will not be ashamed of us when we are faithful servants, loyal workers. When he says “everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven” he means he will be proud of us and speak a good word for us to the Boss!

So, for whom do you work? Let’s work for Jesus Christ our Lord!

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church


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