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Series A – Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost – Sunday, September 10, 2023 | Rev. Joel Klein

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:22	The holy Gospel
0:29	According to Saint Matthew the 18th chapter at that time the disciples came to Jesus
0:35	saying who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and calling to him a
0:41	child he put him in the midst of them and said truly I say to you unless you
0:48	become unless you turn and become like children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven whoever humbles
0:55	himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven
1:00	whoever receives one such child in my name receives me but whoever causes one
1:06	of these little ones who believe in me to sin it would be better for him to
1:12	have a great Millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth
1:17	of the sea woe to the world for Temptations to sin
1:24	for it is necessary that Temptations come but woe to the one by whom the
1:29	Temptation comes and if your hand or your foot causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away it
1:38	is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet
1:43	to be thrown into the Eternal fire and if your eye causes you to sin tear
1:51	it out and throw it away it is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown
1:58	into the hell of Fire see that you do not despise one of these
2:04	little ones for I tell you that in heaven their Angels always see the face
2:10	of my father who is in heaven what do you think if a man has a hundred
2:16	sheep and one of them has gone astray does he not leave the 99 on the
2:22	mountains and go in search of the one that went astray and if he finds it truly I say to you he
2:31	rejoices over it more than over the 99 that never went astray
2:38	so it is not the will of my father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish
2:45	if your brother sins against you go and tell him his fault between you and him
2:51	alone if he listens to you you have gained your brother but if he does not
2:57	listen take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established
3:03	by the evidence of two or three Witnesses if he refuses to listen to them tell it
3:10	to the church and if he receive refuses to listen even to the church let him be
3:16	to you as a gentile and a tax collector truly I say to you whatever you bind on
3:23	Earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in heaven again I say to you if
3:31	two of you agree on Earth about anything they ask it will be done for them by my
3:37	Father in heaven for where two or three are gathered in my name there am I among
3:43	them this is the gospel of the Lord Grace and peace to you from God our
3:49	Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ from The Gospel According to Saint Matthew chapter 18 Jesus said
3:56	truly I say to you unless you turn and become like children you will never
4:01	enter the Kingdom of Heaven whoever humbles himself like this child is the
4:06	greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven let’s pray God our Father you call us to live in
4:14	our various vocations in the world in family in church and in the greater
4:19	society and yet these areas of life can often be beset with danger and confusion
4:25	and so we pray that as we hear your word today toward the end of service to our
4:30	neighbor you would sacrifice with your truth your word is truth amen
4:37	well beginning with my Seminary journey I was taught something very very clearly
4:43	and most especially as I headed towards the preaching Endeavor towards the end
4:48	of my training and it was this never take a political stance never get
4:55	involved in politics and whatever you do don’t impress your political ideologies
5:02	upon anybody else this is fairly good advice for the
5:07	Seminary and I must say I certainly met some folks at Seminary who had very
5:12	interesting political Persuasions and if I’m really completely honest and
5:17	if we’re all completely honest perhaps our own ideas of how things ought to be run might just lead us towards our own
5:25	despotic little uh our own despotic little kingdoms
5:31	when we think about politics so often we think about well the desire within us
5:36	what we want what often we think we deserve and the way that we think we
5:42	ought to order things we can’t avoid politics when we look at our text today and as we live in our
5:48	various societies and communities we also can’t avoid politics and Jesus has
5:54	some very Salient words for us and some very Salient ideas on how we might
5:59	engage with the world around us you see the world of politics that is the world
6:05	of the civil society in which we live those orders that that we are surrounded
6:10	with whether they be the Judiciary The Ordering of law whether they be the legislature The Ordering of our
6:17	parliaments or whether they be the executive the carrying out of the various bureaucracies that keep our
6:23	societies going they are one part one estate Luther would say in which we live
6:29	there are two other Estates and these are also carried in our text today those
6:35	Estates being the estate of family and this is primarily viewed in the estate
6:40	of marriage of course that encompasses children and those that live under our roofs the other estate is of course the
6:48	church and how we deal with one another as Christians as brothers and sisters and how we render to proper Authority
6:55	within the church all of these are laid before us in the text that we have in Romans
7:02	and the key to understanding all of this is in Jesus words in Our Gospel According to Saint Matthew
7:09	but let’s first consider what we have before us in the opening of Romans chapter 13. we hear these words let
7:15	every person be subject to the governing authorities for there is no Authority except from God and those that exist
7:23	have been instituted by God therefore whoever resists the authorities resists
7:28	what God has appointed and those who resist will incur judgment
7:34	now you and I and all of us gathered in all of our different places across the
7:39	world know that this is not a matter of black and white the recent history of this Earth and perhaps as your families
7:47	have been impacted by various conflicts across the recent years as mine certainly has my grandfather served in
7:54	World War II I’ve already perhaps told you of that previously the various doings of our nations are ever before us
8:02	and sometimes well we find that government is at odd at complete odds
8:08	with what God has commanded in fact so often those authorities placed before us
8:14	seem to be in opposition open opposition even to the faith
8:21	so what do we do with this notion of being subject to these governing authorities
8:27	well it’s hinged on this notion that there is no Authority except from God
8:33	it is hinged on the fact that no matter how convoluted and how gray the lines
8:38	become how blurred our allegiances might become in submitting to the Authority’s goddess
8:45	placed before us we are indeed submitting to him and in so many ways when we suffer
8:51	persecution when we see before our very eyes governments and authorities going
8:58	against or even persecuting God’s word in our own communities we find ourselves
9:05	well turning to God In Prayer as Luther would say even the devil is
9:10	God’s devil and in so many ways even corrupt authorities even demonized
9:16	authorities to many extents well still being given by God are there in so many
9:22	ways to teach us to depend not on our own understanding or what is before our
9:28	eyes but to lead us to prayer to lead us in subjugation to God’s Will and to lead
9:35	us into a greater dependence on him that he would see the day through
9:41	this of course in most of our I don’t know every single nation that is
9:47	gathered here today but certainly for those for myself in Australia and as I
9:53	understand the representative government that you have in the United States it is
9:58	true to say that being subject to the governing authorities well means being subject to one another
10:06	in so many ways to be built up together to make good
10:11	decisions we know that in a representative government as it is supposed to be properly ordered we are
10:18	so very blessed in this day and age to be those that delegate this Authority
10:24	the authority of this of the Senate and upper house and both of our systems as I
10:29	understand it doesn’t come from the individuals sitting in those positions of authority but it is delegated by the
10:37	people for the service of the people and therein in being subject to the
10:43	governing authorities we have a great work before us to soberly consider those
10:49	who would represent us to consider what various policies are put before us to
10:57	make decisions and to discuss amongst one another and to actively participate
11:02	in the guiding of authority so that it serves the common good and rests under
11:08	God’s good and gracious will for us we are called to engage in this soberly and
11:14	to do so with eyes wide open but also with the kind of zeal that respects what
11:19	God has given and we are so very fortunate in this day and age though it does certainly appear
11:25	to be usurped so often by sneakiness and ongoing games behind the curtains still
11:33	we have something to give glory to God here we have with great joy the opportunity to give to thank God that we
11:42	participate in these authorities and the kind of despotic actions of various Emperors and rulers throughout the ages
11:50	well we’re not subject to that kind of abuse in the same way that others were
11:55	before us you perhaps have heard of I’ve spoken of how the Lutheran Church came
12:01	to be in Australia that the the there was a union forced upon the people and
12:06	the people gathered there well said we will be subject to God and this gray area we will find a different Authority
12:14	under which to to serve and toil having been tossed out of their homes and so many made their way to Australia to
12:21	subject themselves the authorities here finding a place to build church and to
12:27	build family this is a good and gracious gift of God that where Authority goes awry there
12:34	might be others provided under which we might serve however of course in the
12:39	current situation that we have we are so very blessed to be able to participate in open democracy to have our say and
12:48	according to the authorities given within the authority of the structure of
12:54	a representative democracy we are also given to protest and have our say when
12:59	we feel things going awry all of this is to be in subject to the authorities
13:05	instituted by God this of course doesn’t give us room to go about assassinating
13:11	those who we might disagree with or taking upon it ourselves to establish
13:16	our own little our own little kingdoms where we might desire to that might be a
13:22	part of the desires of our hearts but at the end of the day God calls us in
13:27	subjecting ourselves to Authority to consider ourselves less to Humble
13:33	ourselves before God’s will to participate where we can in humility and
13:38	to accept outcomes and to live under those outcomes whether they be opportunities to train Us in patience
13:45	and prayer whether they be galvanizing to drag us but to drag our communities
13:51	back to Christ so often we see when governments go awry people lose lose
13:58	faith in authorities as the little Gods above them the little providers of all good and so often when authorities go
14:05	awry well we’re LED in greater numbers to be subjected to the great provider
14:12	and his eternal provision ever before us as it is ever already ours now as we
14:19	pray for our daily bread the roof over our head the provision of good work and
14:25	the safety of our families in all these ways gods of the authorities the governing of authorities still are the
14:33	work of God for our good of course under this we pay our taxes
14:38	and we do good works according to how God has ordered society and we can be
14:45	confident then that the things that we do according to authorities before us are good works before God
14:52	it’s very easy for us as Christians to get confused about what a good work might be and let me tell you it’s very
14:59	easily easy to be taken for a ride these days there’s so very many scams and I
15:05	know when I was a parish Pastor so very often I would have all manner of different panhandlers at the pat at the
15:11	man’s door I don’t know whether you call it a rectory or a Mance but we were provided a Mance as part of the parish
15:18	and so often I would have to discern well do these people really require my
15:23	aid but for us Christians when we pay our taxes and it goes towards welfare or
15:28	programs towards health and all these other things we can be very confident that we are in fact doing God’s work
15:35	that that those monies that taxation has been provided for the greater good
15:40	that’s not to say that you shouldn’t give to the downtrodden I’ve of course discerned over the years folks that
15:46	really need our help and we’ve been able to give that help and I’m sure you’ve all been in that situation but God gives
15:52	us these overarching authorities to do his will and also to give us a means by
15:59	which we might be comforted in what we do for him and and be comforted by the
16:05	fact that it’s out of our hands we don’t have to discern every single means by
16:11	which we might do good that God gives us channels to do so this is how we live in society then
16:18	under the authorities that God has been that God has instituted recognizing that
16:24	he stands above them all and his will will be done whether we see it or not
16:29	there is great comfort in this submission the second of course is this notion of
16:36	life in the church and life in the family they’re both contained in the the
16:42	following verses verses 8 to 10 in Romans where we read of owing no nothing
16:48	to anybody except to love one another and that love that love for one another
16:53	is the Fulfillment of the law we also see the summary of the second table of
16:58	The Commandments you shall not commit adultery shall not murder shall not steal you shall not covet and any other
17:04	Commandments summed up in this word you shall love your neighbor as yourself and love doing no wrong to a neighbor
17:10	therefore is the fulfilling of God’s law this too for us as Christians can be a
17:17	cause of confusion especially as we get lambasted day in Day Out by Notions of
17:24	love that do not equate to the love that God calls us to hear and we see this
17:29	very clearly because we see in the end of the Gospel reading today an aspect of
17:35	love and an act of love that we’re called to that doesn’t appear very loving as the world would have us
17:42	understand it we hear these words in verse 15 of chapter 18 and Matthew’s
17:48	gospel if your brother sins against you go tell him his fault between you and him alone if he listens to you you have
17:55	gained your brother if he does not listen take two others one or two others along with you the charge may be
18:00	established and then take it to the church and then well make let them be to you as a gentile and tax collector that
18:07	is let them be to you as one who is in dire need of God’s law to convict and
18:14	His holy Absolution to restore too often and it is too easy for us
18:23	it’s very easy well it is actually our internal desire so very often
18:29	rather than to love our neighbor and to desire that they might in repentant
18:34	Faith live with the good conscience before God it is far too easy for us to accept the world’s view of love which is
18:42	to consider one another’s feelings first and foremost rather than one’s conscience before God
18:49	rather than one’s conscience before neighbor either too easy it’s too easy for us to live
18:56	according to the world’s understanding of love and to say well I would rather preserve my relationship with my brother
19:03	or my friend or my neighbor and allow them to continue in their sin and just
19:09	turned a blight turn a blind eye to it I’d rather not have any animosity between us but rather not have any harm
19:17	come to our relationship I’d rather not have any animosity at the Christmas dinner let’s face it sometimes that can
19:24	be a hotbed of a great danger for those that we know have stepped away from
19:30	God’s law and so often this hides our own bad conscience
19:36	trying to hide the sin of our neighbor and turn a blind eye to it so often we
19:41	do so hoping very much that others will also ignore ours that our sin might go
19:49	uncalled out that it might go hidden in the background where it might fester and
19:55	indeed it does fester but this provides no Comfort just as rebelling against
20:01	God’s Authority will only Ender end up with us in great danger so the momentary
20:06	preservation of our own selves the preservation of our own relationships or
20:12	ideals so often will only end up with a bad conscience and a festering guilt and
20:18	a festering Wonder in the back of our mind perhaps in so many ways whether we
20:24	should have addressed sin and allowed our own to be addressed in the same way
20:30	we are not called then to love one another with the kind of love the world expects which is the love that is
20:37	described in the word Eros rather we are called to love according to the love
20:43	that God has given and that is the word Agape there are three types of love two
20:49	of them were very well highlighted in our text last week they were Agape that is the self-sacrificial love epitomized
20:56	in Christ who gave himself for the world epitomized in Christ whom for the for
21:02	God’s Great the father’s great love for the world gave his only son Withholding Nothing from us this is a
21:08	self-sacrificial love and is epitomized in Christ and nowhere else this is the
21:14	kind of love we’re called to filetto is another kind of love which is the love between your brother that says well my
21:22	brother might be a pain and might be a danger to society but he’s my brother and I’m the one that will deal out his
21:28	punishment thank you very much and the love for a brother overlooks much
21:33	the third type of Love is the dominant one that the world would impress upon us and it’s the word Eros and from that you
21:41	can hear the word erotic of course it has to do with our innermost desires it
21:46	has to do with the desires of our old nature the desires of our old heart used
21:51	rightly it is well what binds a man and a woman and puts the sparkle in the eye
21:57	when a man goes and asks a a lady’s father whether he might have his
22:02	daughter’s hand in marriage it is necessary for procreation that one would be physically attracted to one’s wife
22:10	but the way it’s abused in our society and pressed upon us and the church so often is to say that feelings are
22:17	Paramount that our desires and my own way of doing things or or my own opinion
22:24	or my own standing or my own desire should be Paramount and hang everybody
22:29	else this is the the love of the world that is pressed upon us and it is a perversion of that good gift we’re not
22:36	called to this in this text but rather we are called to love one another with a
22:42	complete self-sacrificial love and this when we consider ourselves less
22:48	and our neighbor greater is the means by which we would love our neighbor with
22:54	the love that Christ has first given us but how does this work
23:00	how does this well play out how do we approach this
23:05	by what means would we humble ourselves especially how would we sacrifice
23:11	ourselves when we’re called to well point out sin in our neighbor especially
23:17	in how are we to live as one who would have our own sin called out so that we
23:23	might find ourselves in Repentance and with a good conscience before God in this life as receive his holy absolution
23:32	well Jesus sums it up for us so very perfectly in this text here in Matthew
23:37	chapter 18. his words here ring Through the Ages and place us well I’ll call us
23:45	to consider a mindset and a way of being that gives no room for ourselves and
23:51	gives no room for our desire or our our our own uh our own innermost feelings
23:58	but humbles is a way and a means in which we humble ourselves before our
24:04	great father who is in heaven and does so according to Christ and for the sake
24:09	of Christ this is why Jesus says I truly I say to you unless you turn and become like
24:15	children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven and whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest
24:21	in the kingdom of heaven and further whoever receives one such child in my
24:27	name receives me these three fundamental ways of viewing
24:34	our Lord and viewing each other and viewing Our Father a fundamental for us
24:41	to be able to love our neighbor as ourselves in this self-sacrificial love
24:49	I like to call the the at the way that I view this and the way that we can all view this is the age of usefulness I
24:56	call this in children my kids are a bit past this age of usefulness although one is still holding on to it it’s that age
25:03	that you might see between sort of eight and twelve right before the age of
25:08	willfulness takes over or is puberty and the the testing of boundaries takes over
25:13	when the Age of Reason comes upon us and our reason so often turns against God’s
25:20	God’s law and God’s good authorities but there is that beautiful age and it’s not it’s not always perfectly represented
25:27	but I’m sure you’ve seen with your own children or with your grandchildren or with your nieces or with your nephews
25:32	what I’m talking about in this age of usefulness So when you say to a young kid hey why
25:39	don’t you come and help me weed the garden and with no thought for what cartoon might be on the television or no
25:44	thought for how they might be wanting to play Play-Doh a child so often in that
25:50	that special age will say sure thing dad you know my mother might say how about
25:56	you come and make a cake it’ll be sure thing mum it’s that age where a child
26:01	knows that they are in full dependence for everything they receive and are grateful for it when this works well of
26:08	course sometimes families are broken but when this works well this picture stands
26:13	so well the idea in the child’s head is they just want to be near and to be like
26:19	their parent to be like the authority that is before them to share in the good
26:25	work that they are doing and to perpetuate what has been given to them as they’ve so often received the wrapped
26:32	cake let’s say in their lunchbox so they’d like also to make a cake for their brothers and sisters you’ve often
26:39	you often see this with little kids as their older siblings go off to school the same way they they see you doing
26:45	good things for them and providing for them and so they want to provide back and if we consider ourselves like little
26:51	children in this way firstly dependent for every good gift but then also as
26:57	those who would emulate the gift of father and of Big Brother
27:02	the the primary Authority given before us we humble ourselves necessarily
27:08	knowing that without the provision first given us there is no way that we would
27:14	continue to have life that we would no longer continue to be a part of the family that we would only face wrath and
27:22	danger rather than safety and a continuing Abiding Place in which we
27:29	live and endure so we turn and we become like children
27:34	entering the Kingdom of Heaven by the means of the will of the father who calls us to his side calls us to his
27:42	side by no volition of Our Own by no desire within ourselves we know that
27:48	when our desires become our own so often they are against they’re against what
27:53	God would have us do but in the humility of a child we receive passively and we
27:59	receive then perhaps even in confusion sometimes God’s Gift of of of discipline
28:07	when we go astray perhaps sometimes we also come to him with great
28:13	and I’ll use this metaphorically but great big runs of chocolate cake up our
28:18	faces those children who have delved into the cake mix when mum wasn’t looking with a look of guilt on our face
28:26	knowing that our father knows exactly what we have done in all these ways as
28:32	we humble ourselves like little children before the father we depend on him for his grace and mercy and above all we
28:40	depend on him for his forgiveness there’s no greater self to a child who
28:45	knows that they have done wrong than to let it out and say mum Dad I’ve done wrong and to receive that forgiveness
28:52	and that is only a shadow of the grace and the good conscience that God
28:57	restores to us when receive his absolution secondly then Jesus says whoever
29:05	receives one such child in my name receives me and when we order our lives and we view
29:11	our neighbor in the same way that we view ourselves before as in the same way
29:16	that we recognize ourselves before the father it is nigh impossible for us to
29:22	elevate ourselves above another to consider ourselves better Christians or
29:27	better providers or better actors in in towards God’s kingdom as better servants
29:34	or as as more faithful Christians there’s no way when we consider and receive ourselves in the same way that
29:41	God has received us as little children that we can consider one another anything lesser or greater than who we
29:49	are before the father and so we find perfect love that recognizes in one another in our
29:56	neighbor the same dependence the same need the same failing the same sin and the
30:05	same the same dirty Mark of stolen chocolate cake upon our face though that
30:10	is a paling metaphor for the sin that so often covers Us
30:15	and we are called to receive each other in such a way that is to recognize one another’s sin
30:23	not to Lord it over but to say do you know father forgives do you know father
30:29	will restore you do you know father’s not going to turn you out for your theft for your gossip for your murderous
30:37	thoughts for your anger for your hatred for your Rebellion against him do you know that father will restore you
30:43	because I am a child like you and he has restored me time and time again
30:50	and in doing so receiving one another in this way we humble ourselves and we
30:56	participate in the work of God here on Earth Luther sums it up in the small
31:01	called articles that the mutual conversation and consolation of the Brethren that is sharing the grace of
31:09	Christ like little children pointing to a loving father to say how great our
31:14	father is to speak of how great the gifts we have received how great
31:20	Christmas is quite literally the gift of the son given for us how great Easter is
31:26	beyond the chocolates and Beyond the Easter eggs given to us but the empty tomb the empty cross and the blood of
31:34	Christ shed for us that is our gift to one another as we receive each other as
31:40	a child pointing to those gifts first given to us and all of this then is summarized
31:48	in the fact that it is Jesus who humbles himself perfectly in this
31:55	way because if we were to consider our work with this prerequisite before us we
32:00	would understand that we have never humbled ourselves like perfect children too often we look for our haughty
32:07	desires too often we look for what should be our place above another we
32:12	look for the grand seat at the front of the village as Jesus would describe
32:17	elsewhere we seek to stand above others we seek to line our own nest to build
32:22	our own little kingdoms to see our own ideals come to fruition too often we’re not humble like these children and even
32:30	when we consider the end of this text Jesus says again I say to you if two of you agree on Earth about anything they
32:36	ask it will be done by my Father in Heaven how many times have you sat around the table and said let’s be in
32:42	agreement about my new Ute my new truck or my big win or
32:48	you get the kids to pray that hey this time we’ll get a good we’ll get a good a good deal or something like that you
32:54	know so often even we look at God’s word and put our eyes Accord our the eyes of
33:01	our sinful nature on it rather than a humble child who seeks only the gifts of
33:06	the father and only to serve according to what he has given and so we must base
33:12	all of this we must found ourselves on this very fact that the one who humbled
33:18	himself perfectly the one son
33:24	the one son who the father loves with whom he is well pleased is Jesus
33:29	he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and it is in his humility then
33:34	that we are bound we don’t humble ourselves by our own means but Jesus who
33:42	humbled himself and is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven under whose feet
33:47	rests all the powers principalities under whose feet is given all authority
33:52	and in heaven and on Earth he who humbled himself to death even death on a
33:58	cross who prayed father not my will be done but your will be done he who
34:04	humbled himself for your sake is him to whom you are bound through the waters of
34:10	your baptism through the transfusion given in his body and his blood as you receive his holy sacraments it is to him
34:18	you abound one to another in the body of Christ who is his church and so that is
34:24	the foundation from which all of this must flow from it of course flows our contrition
34:32	flomim flows his grace from him flows our Absolution from him
34:39	flows our humility where we are buried with him in baptism and from him flows
34:46	every good thing that we might do for neighbor for his sake by his forgiveness
34:52	his mercy and his work in and for us that we might serve according to his
34:59	example by his will and according to the power of his word and Sacrament given to
35:06	us for the sake of our neighbor thanks be to God Amen

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