July 1, 2001
Vicar Rick Marrs
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

A few weeks ago we distributed among you a list of possible summer sermon topics. Many of you responded. If you have not yet responded but would like to, those forms are still on the table in the atrium. You can fill one out and put it in my family's mailbox in the atrium. Receiving such forms can help me to know what kinds of spiritual questions that most concern you, and can help me understand all of you better as a congregation of believers who trust in their Lord Jesus Christ.

From the forms I have received to date, there were four topics that were cited the most. Three of these were cited on 25-30% of the forms returned. They were: (1) Forgiveness, (2) Living the Christian life, and (3) Predestination. But the fourth topic cited was the clear favorite, cited on 60% of the returned forms: Sharing one's faith with others. I want you to know how very pleased I was that this topic was the clear favorite. This is very tangible evidence that many in this congregation want to reach out to the lost of the world with the saving message of Jesus. Today's sermon will actually be a sort of introduction to these topical sermons, touching on 3 of the 4 topics you cited on the Sermon topic forms: Forgiveness, Living the Christian life and Sharing one's faith with others. These three are heavily intertwined, in both our Old Testament and Gospel readings. We are able to live the Christian life only as we deeply trust in the forgiveness Christ has purchased for us. We are able to effectively share our faith only as we are living the Christian life. We have something to share with others only as we share that forgiveness purchased through Christ's death on the cross. Forgiveness, Christian life, and sharing the faith. Forgiveness, Christian life and sharing the faith. They come in this sequence. They are heavily intertwined. Today I will speak about their interconnection and then with different texts in ensuing weeks I plan to emphasize one topic each.

David in our Old Testament text is a clear example of the interconnection between our effectiveness in sharing our faith and the uprightness of our faith-response lives. God had shown his love for David in so many ways: Choosing him to be King of Israel while David was still a teen. Protecting him and guiding his rock into Goliath's forehead, so that God's people would be protected from an enemy. Promising to send the Messiah from out of David's family. Expanding his kingdom again and again, so that more and more foreigners knew the God of Israel was with him. David even had foreigners as important officers in his army, foreigners like Uriah the Hittite. But David sinned, breaking both the 5th and 6th commandments, murder and adultery.   He repented of his sin. David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." David received forgiveness for his sin, free and clear. Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But David's actions had earthly consequences. He would no longer be as effective at witnessing for his LORD. Nathan continued: But by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt. David had shown contempt for the wondrous blessings, the undeserved love that God had shown to him. He repented and was forgiven again, but his err hurt his ability to share his faith with other people, including his family. We pray that our errs and sins will not damage our ability to share our faith in his forgiveness to others.

Our Gospel lesson also exemplifies the connection between forgiveness, the Christian life, and sharing the faith. Jesus is eating with Simon the Pharisee and other guests. This sinful woman comes to Jesus at a time that seems inopportune in an earthly way. Can't she see that Jesus is having dinner with important, respectable people? But she can't wait. She knows of her own sinfulness before God. She has apparently heard that Jesus is a prophet and messenger sent from God, one who preaches and teaches about forgiveness that God is revealing. She comes and she throws herself at Jesus' feet crying and weeping, showing great repentance for her sinful life. She trusted that Jesus could bring her that forgiveness. She trusted in his promises. She did not yet know that he would purchase her forgiveness, her new life with him, at a very high price. Her forgiveness, and your forgiveness would cost the life of the forgiver himself. He would not just say she was forgiven, but he would sacrifice his life to the cross so that the debt of her sin would be paid. She was forgiven. Then she lived the Christian life. She loved Jesus. She shared her faith with others. And we don't even know if she ever said anything. She lived out that deep interconnection, and may never have spoken a word. But her actions spoke deeply. She repented publicly. She turned to Jesus publicly and openly. Others knew of her faith and knew that her faith was in Jesus.

Now, to be honest, her specific witnessing technique is not one that I would recommend you use frequently. In her culture, falling at someone's feet and pleading for mercy was not an uncommon occurrence. People knelt before kings and high officials frequently. If they knew they had disobeyed the king, their pleas for forgiveness might be accompanied by tears. In our culture, if someone groveled like that before our president, the Secret Service wouldn't like it much. The person would likely be jailed or put into a psychiatric hospital. But, while we might not model the sinful woman's specific behaviors, we can surely model her attitude. She knew she was a sinner. She knew the debt she had before God was huge. She knew that on her own she could never repay the debt. Even if we have lived lives that outwardly less sinful than this woman, we still know by God's Word that we cannot repay the debt we owe to God. Romans 3: 23 There is no difference for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Our debt is really no smaller than the debt of this sinful woman, even if our outward lives seem less sinful. We are not able save ourselves, to bring ourselves before the holy throne of heaven. But we have been (Romans 3: 24) justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Those seeing the sinful woman knew of how much she was looking to Jesus for new life, how much she loved him. While she never said a word, her actions allowed Jesus to tell about himself. Like the sinful woman, anytime you can communicate the passion you feel for Jesus, your neighbors will notice. That passion may not be expressed directly in quoting scripture verses (although it may). That passion may be expressed in how you speak about your fellow church members, your church's activities, Immanuel's Early Childhood Center, your church's teachings and Bible studies, even in how you speak about your lowly pastor-to-be. If friends and family hear you speaking excitedly and lovingly about church-related issues, they will notice and be intrigued. If friends and family members know that it is more important for you to worship your loving, forgiving Lord than it is to watch your favorite TV program, or your favorite sporting event, or play your favorite computer game, they will notice.

Forgiveness, living the Christian life, and sharing one's faith, they all go together.

During the next weeks we will explore a several strategies for living and sharing the Christian faith.

Here is one. I use to think that inviting people to church was only a weak, indirect way of proclaiming the Gospel. I feared that if I only invited a friend to church, I somehow had failed in an opportunity to speak to them about Jesus directly. I've repented of that fear. I know that here people will hear the Gospel. Here they will hear about Jesus. Here the Holy Spirit is at work, through the Word of God, through his sacraments and through his people, to turn people toward their Savior. That Word of God is present in our liturgy, in our Scripture readings, in the sermon. Here people are pointed toward Jesus, his cross, his resurrection, and the power of his salvation. Here people hear Jesus say "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

The grace, peace and forgiveness of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us always. Amen.