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1 Year Lectionary – Twenty-Second Sunday After Trinity – Sunday, November 13, 2022 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

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
0:27	The holy Gospel
0:29	According to Saint Matthew the 18th
0:31	chapter
0:38	Peter came up and said to Jesus Lord how
0:41	often will my brother sin against me and
0:43	I forgive him as many as seven times
0:46	Jesus said to him I do not say to you
0:48	seven times but 77 times therefore the
0:51	Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a
0:53	King who wished to settle accounts with
0:55	his servants and when he began to settle
0:57	one was brought to him who owed him ten
0:59	thousand talents and since he could not
1:02	pay his master ordered him to be sold
1:04	with his wife and his children and all
1:06	that he had and payment to be made so
1:08	the servant fell on his knees imploring
1:10	him have patience with me and I will pay
1:12	you everything and out of pity for him
1:15	the master of that servant released him
1:16	and forgave him the debt but when that
1:19	same servant went out he found one of
1:20	his fellow servants who owed him a
1:22	hundred denariai and seizing him he
1:24	began to choke him saying pay what you
1:26	owe so his fellow servant fell down and
1:29	pleaded with him have patience with me
1:30	and I will pay you he refused and went
1:33	and put him in prison until he should
1:35	pay the debt and when his fellow
1:37	servants saw what had taken place they
1:38	were greatly distressed and they went
1:40	and reported to their master all that
1:42	had taken place then his master summoned
1:44	him and said to him you Wicked servant I
1:47	forgave you all that debt because you
1:49	pleaded with me and should you not have
1:51	had mercy on your fellow servant as I
1:53	have had mercy on you and in Anger his
1:55	master delivered him to the jailers
1:57	until he should pay all his debts so
2:00	also my heavenly father will do to every
2:02	one of you if you do not forgive your
2:04	brother from your heart this is the
2:06	gospel of the Lord in the name of Jesus
2:09	amen all right you’re gonna note that
2:12	our gospel texts sure doesn’t sound like
2:14	gospel to me it sounds like a lot of law
2:16	Our Gospel text involves a little bit of
2:19	math and as I’ve stated publicly before
2:21	I think math is wicked I think it’s evil
2:24	I think it is a dark art and I I do
2:26	think that I need to make sure that I’m
2:28	not hypocritical when it comes to math
2:29	and so I’ve decided to not soil My Hands
2:32	by actually doing it but instead relying
2:34	upon the the artificial intelligence of
2:37	my phone to help here but I need it to
2:39	run an actual equation for me let me see
2:41	if we can get this right hey Siri what’s
2:44	uh 10 000 times 20.
2:48	that would be two hundred thousand two
2:50	hundred thousand wow notice I didn’t
2:52	soil My Hands by actually doing math
2:54	okay
2:55	two hundred thousand two hundred
2:59	thousand what
3:01	you’ll note that there were ten thousand
3:03	talents that this fellow this servant
3:06	lost of his master’s money ten thousand
3:10	talents well one Talent is equal to 20
3:13	years wages for the average blue collar
3:17	hard-working day laborer all right in
3:21	other words the debt that this fellow
3:23	racked up was the equivalent of two
3:26	hundred thousand years
3:30	of wages
3:32	who does that how do you pull that off
3:36	and you’re going to note something here
3:37	have you ever had like times in your
3:40	life where you were looking at the money
3:43	coming in and the required money that
3:46	was supposed to go out and you were
3:48	noting that the bigger number was on the
3:51	number that was going out have you ever
3:52	had those times I’ve had those times a
3:54	few times in my life and you know what
3:56	it creates inside of you anxiety right
3:59	that’s when you’re awake at night and
4:02	you’re running the scenario through your
4:04	head you’re figuring out how much longer
4:06	before they shut off the gas how long
4:09	before you’re going to be eating Top
4:10	Ramen every night how long before your
4:13	kids are going to go to school naked
4:15	because this is how this works in the
4:17	brain right you run the scenario and at
4:19	the end of it your family your children
4:21	everyone’s dead okay you’re just barely
4:25	alive and you’ve been shamed to become a
4:28	hobo traveling the rails of the American
4:30	West you get the idea right and so you
4:34	stay at night and you run the scenario
4:36	over and over and over and over and then
4:40	something amazing happens you get a good
4:41	tax return and you go I’m saved right
4:45	right something like this I we’ve all
4:48	had times in our life what must this
4:51	fellow have been going through
4:54	to lose 200 000 years worth of wages I’m
4:59	sure this guy wasn’t getting more than
5:01	30 minutes of sleep a night because he
5:05	knew that his Day of Reckoning was
5:07	coming that’s kind of what’s going on
5:09	here in Our Gospel text and this is all
5:12	talking about forgiveness now in case
5:13	you haven’t figured it out
5:15	the guy who owed the 200 000 years worth
5:19	of Wages that’s you
5:24	that’s me this is to give us some
5:28	perspective on our sin and the debt that
5:32	we have incurred by sinning against God
5:34	as you confessed in thought
5:37	in word
5:38	indeed by what you’ve done by what
5:42	you’ve left undone and you’ll know I
5:44	don’t know how the multipliers work at
5:46	what point yet what you know how does
5:48	the thing tick off more sin is it every
5:51	second every minute you know is it every
5:54	nanosecond I have no idea but the debt
5:57	is mind-boggling I cannot wrap my head
6:01	around this figure it’s way too big way
6:06	way too big and all of that being said
6:09	you would think that the servant who was
6:12	shown Mercy
6:15	legitimately shown Mercy that he would
6:18	have had the greatest turnaround in his
6:20	life ever all right last time I preached
6:23	on this text I talked about Ebenezer
6:25	Scrooge right we all know how the ending
6:27	of A Christmas Carol ends with Ebenezer
6:29	Scrooge opening up his pocketbook and
6:32	giving money to people and wishing
6:34	people a merry Christmas and all this
6:36	kind of stuff why well he was given a
6:38	vision of his future he was about to be
6:40	ingloriously dumped in a grave and his
6:43	life as he was shown from the Ghost of
6:46	Christmas Past and Present was miserable
6:48	he was an absolute Miser he cared more
6:52	about money than any other human being
6:53	and he even made people suffer and when
6:57	he saw that there was legitimate human
6:58	need in his presence he didn’t care at
7:01	all because he didn’t want to spend any
7:04	money of his own to help those who were
7:06	in need and many of the people who were
7:08	in need were because he was so cheap
7:10	what a terrible boss right and so he
7:14	sees his future coming and what does he
7:17	do with the Ghost of Christmas future he
7:20	begs for mercy
7:22	and he’s given it and he has a big
7:24	turnaround think about the Apostle Paul
7:26	the Apostle Paul this is a guy who’s
7:28	murdering Christians in the name of God
7:31	and he’s going about rounding them up
7:34	putting him in the synagogues beating
7:36	them scourging them putting him in
7:38	prison and he has a run-in with Jesus
7:41	Christ and talk about a turnaround
7:44	right the guy who hated the gospel hated
7:49	Christianity hated Jesus hated any of
7:52	his followers he becomes one of them and
7:55	his life is exemplified in what he
7:58	becomes one of the greatest ambassadors
8:00	of the Gospel in the history of humanity
8:03	in all of the scriptures in fact the
8:05	Apostle Paul
8:07	talks about a reality that is true for
8:10	each and every one of us who are in
8:11	Christ and here’s what he says in second
8:13	Corinthians chapter five the love of
8:16	Christ it controls us because we have
8:20	concluded this that one has died for all
8:25	therefore all have died and he died for
8:29	all so that those who live might no
8:31	longer live for themselves but for him
8:34	who for their sake died and was raised
8:38	and here we can kind of see what’s going
8:40	wrong in Our Gospel text this fellow he
8:43	is Forgiven this ginormous debt and then
8:46	when somebody owes him a hundred
8:49	daeneryi that’s that’s like that’s like
8:51	one month’s wages right he was just
8:54	forgiven 200 000 years worth of wages
8:57	and some poor fellow owes him a month’s
9:00	worth of wages and you’re going to note
9:01	the guy who owes him the money
9:03	absolutely acknowledges the debt he
9:06	doesn’t sit there and go I don’t know
9:07	what you’re talking about me owe you
9:09	money you must be mistaken right and
9:11	then turn around and Gaslight them and
9:13	produce you know and project and all
9:15	this kind of weird stuff that people do
9:16	no he he owns his debts give me time
9:18	I’ll pay him back and you know what I
9:20	believe him right when our gospel text
9:24	fellow that’s you begs for Mercy he
9:27	begins by saying give me some time I’ll
9:29	pay the debt uh-huh
9:31	right you you’re not capable of paying
9:34	this kind of debt none of us are but
9:37	then he finds this fellow who owes him a
9:39	month’s worth of wages and what does he
9:41	do he rips into this guy chokes him it
9:45	responds in violence hatred and just
9:50	blah pay me what you owe me you
9:54	know I’ll pay you give me some patience
9:57	right
9:58	and he doesn’t do it and you’ll know the
10:00	Apostle Paul says because we are
10:02	forgiven that Christ has died for all we
10:05	are no longer to live for ourselves and
10:08	that’s kind of the point
10:11	is that when you refuse to forgive
10:14	somebody not only is your perspective
10:17	way off you’ve forgotten the gospel
10:20	altogether and who’s the person you’re
10:22	thinking about
10:24	me myself and I right you’ve become like
10:29	Gollum nursing a grudge in the darkness
10:33	my precious right you’re just ridiculous
10:36	the only thing you care about is
10:38	yourself but according to God according
10:41	to the Holy Spirit the Apostle Paul who
10:44	had this big change he says we are not
10:47	to live for ourselves but for him who
10:50	died for their sake and was raised
10:54	if you ever heard the statement
10:57	God may have forgiven you
11:00	but I will never forgive you you ever
11:02	heard anyone talk this way
11:04	maybe it was you maybe you felt this way
11:07	yeah I know God forgave him but man
11:09	right
11:12	beware okay at the risk of sounding like
11:15	Greta thurnberg how dare you right
11:19	how dare you do you not understand that
11:22	when you do such a thing you have
11:25	exalted yourself above God you have
11:29	taken the mercy and forgiveness that is
11:31	in Christ and you have said not for you
11:35	my neighbor I oh you owe me you have
11:39	sinned against me and so I refuse to
11:41	even acknowledge that Christ has died
11:43	for your sins because
11:45	God May forgive you but I don’t
11:49	you think about Joseph in this account
11:51	in this in this way of thinking here
11:53	remember Joseph he was sold into slavery
11:56	by his brothers and that that was
11:58	horrible then he gets to his first
12:01	assignment as a slave and the boss’s
12:03	wife has the hots for him and is
12:06	constantly trying to pick him up and get
12:08	him into bed and he refuses so she flips
12:11	it completely around and accuses him of
12:13	coming on to her and he ends up going to
12:15	prison for 13 years
12:22	all because
12:24	his boss’s wife lied about him
12:27	and all because his brothers sold him
12:29	into slavery
12:31	and as the Klingons would say revenge is
12:34	a dish best served cold right
12:38	but was there any revenge in Joseph
12:41	none whatsoever
12:43	none when he finally revealed himself to
12:46	his brothers he comforted them and said
12:49	listen it wasn’t you who sent me here it
12:52	was God and he sent me here to save life
12:56	and then at the end of his father’s life
12:59	his father’s name was Jacob otherwise
13:02	known as Israel his brothers freaked out
13:05	thinking oh my goodness now that Joseph
13:08	thou now now that Dad is dead Joseph is
13:11	finally going to get his revenge on us
13:12	so they came up with a ruse you know
13:14	kind of dad told us something that he
13:16	didn’t tell you and we need to share it
13:18	with you kind of thing it’s a lie but
13:20	it’s really fascinating in Genesis
13:23	chapter 50. it says when Joseph’s
13:24	brothers saw that their father was dead
13:27	and they said it may be that Joseph will
13:29	hate us and pay us back for all the evil
13:32	that we did to him so they sent a
13:34	messenger to Joseph saying your father
13:36	gave this command before he died say to
13:38	Joseph please forgive the transgressions
13:41	of your brothers and their sin because
13:43	they did Evil to you and now please
13:46	forgive the transgression of the
13:48	Servants of the god of your father and
13:50	you’ll note Joseph had forgiven them
13:53	long ago forgave them even before they
13:56	showed up in Egypt to buy Grain
14:00	but please forgive your servant so
14:01	Joseph wept when they when they spoke to
14:04	him his brothers also came they fell
14:06	down before him and said behold we are
14:07	your servants but Joseph said to them do
14:10	not fear
14:11	for am I in the place of God
14:15	and there it is
14:16	when you do not forgive
14:20	you have taken the place of God
14:24	remember Christ has bled and died for
14:26	your sins and mine
14:28	he’s taken our iniquity upon himself he
14:32	has paid our sin debt to the full not
14:36	one sin is left unaccounted before by
14:39	the death of Christ on the cross and his
14:42	death not only atoned for your sins but
14:45	for the sins of the whole world when you
14:48	deny forgiveness to another human being
14:51	you are denying them the Forgiveness of
14:53	Christ
14:55	the very forgiveness that you are called
14:57	to be an ambassador for
14:59	so Joseph continues am I in the place of
15:02	God As for you what you meant for evil
15:05	against me God meant it for good to
15:07	bring it about that many people should
15:10	be kept alive as they are today
15:13	in fact
15:15	the very crucifixion of Christ what we
15:18	meant for evil killing Our God our God
15:21	shows up Tabernacles Among Us in human
15:23	flesh and what do we do to him we murder
15:26	him
15:27	but the very murder of the Son of God is
15:30	the very thing that God then uses to
15:32	forgive you of all of your sins what we
15:35	meant for evil God has flipped and has
15:37	worked for our good so are we then in
15:39	the place of God we are not
15:42	so brothers and sisters hear more from
15:44	the Apostle Paul the Apostle Paul who
15:46	had this ginormous 180 he went he was
15:50	going this way heading to hell and now
15:52	he’s heading to the New Kingdom the new
15:54	Earth and he says to us therefore we
15:58	then should regard no one according to
16:01	the Flesh and believe me your sinful
16:04	flesh is the reason why you struggle to
16:06	forgive people because your sinful flesh
16:09	is All About Me Myself and I that’s
16:11	right I have one too and I remember it
16:14	was just last week I was asking my
16:16	catechumens about you know the fifth
16:18	Petition of the Lord’s Prayer forgive us
16:20	our trespasses as we forgive those who
16:22	trespass against us one of the comments
16:24	the questions that they needed to answer
16:25	is it easy for you to forgive people
16:28	when they sin against you
16:31	answer depends
16:34	some of them getting some pretty openly
16:36	honest answers depends who it is and
16:39	what they’ve done but if it’s if it’s
16:41	somebody close to them and they’ve
16:42	really done something terrible to them
16:43	many of them said it was it’s difficult
16:46	to forgive
16:48	I always remind people that when Peter
16:50	so so gloriously offers to forgive
16:54	people up to seven times what a great
16:56	guy that guy is right and Jesus looks at
16:59	him goes no no
17:01	77 times 77 and that that’s that’s like
17:06	in just one day that is what it’s like
17:09	to be married okay that’s the whole
17:12	point of being married is that your
17:14	husband your wife is constantly daily
17:17	sinning against you sometimes by what
17:20	they do and say sometimes by what they
17:23	don’t do and say honey does this dress
17:25	make me look fat don’t answer that
17:28	question it’s a trap okay and you’re
17:31	going to need lots of forgiveness after
17:33	you give your answer stay away run don’t
17:37	make eye contact right
17:42	but the reality is this is that we are
17:47	forgiven so much that even those closest
17:49	to us who hurt us the most grievously
17:52	when our anger fires off and it does
17:56	often time that anger is not righteous
17:58	it bleeds off into sin and when your
18:03	neighbor or your spouse says to you I’m
18:06	sorry you’re right please forgive me
18:10	I know the feeling is I don’t want to
18:12	forgive you on you and you’re saying
18:13	you’re hurting and you say I forgive you
18:15	through gritted teeth
18:17	I get it
18:18	but still we absolve right
18:21	so therefore
18:22	we shouldn’t regard no one according to
18:24	the flesh
18:26	even though once we regarded Christ
18:28	according to the flesh we regard him
18:30	thus no longer therefore if anyone is in
18:32	Christ he is a new creation the oldest
18:34	passed away the new has come and all of
18:37	this is from God who through Christ
18:39	reconciled us to himself and gave us the
18:42	ministry of reconciliation the Apostle
18:45	Paul in the Book of Romans makes it
18:46	clear that Christ died for his enemies
18:51	he didn’t die for his friends
18:53	instead he reconciled his enemies to
18:56	himself and then became their friends in
19:00	so doing
19:02	so we then have been given the ministry
19:05	of reconciliation that’s our job we are
19:09	ambassadors for the kingdom of God and
19:11	you’re going to know when we represent
19:13	God what kind of God do we represent do
19:18	we represent Allah that we go out and we
19:21	with the sword kill the Infidel and blow
19:24	them up no
19:26	we represent the one true God who
19:29	humbled himself and was found in the
19:31	form of a human being and the found of
19:33	us if in the form of a servant and
19:35	humbled himself by becoming obedient to
19:36	death even death on the cross so that
19:38	you and I can be forgiven
19:40	the god that we serve the god that is is
19:45	loving and kind slow to anger abounding
19:49	in steadfast love and pardoning iniquity
19:52	that is the god that we serve and we do
19:55	not represent him well when we let our
19:58	old sinful nature bear a grudge against
20:00	another human being and we wish to do
20:03	them violent or we do them violence or
20:05	we refuse to forgive them this is
20:07	completely out of step with the gospel
20:09	it is it there’s no place for it in the
20:12	Kingdom at all
20:14	so we have been given the ministry of
20:16	record reconciliation that is in Christ
20:19	God was reconciling the world to himself
20:22	by not counting their trespasses against
20:24	them and God has entrusted to us this
20:28	message of reconciliation therefore our
20:31	actions dare not contradict this message
20:35	of reconciliation the gospel is the
20:37	power of God unto salvation so our lives
20:41	need to smell of the aroma of the mercy
20:44	and the grace of God therefore Paul says
20:47	we are all ambassadors for Christ and
20:49	God is making his appeal through us that
20:52	we implore all on behalf of Christ to be
20:55	reconciled to God for our sake God made
20:58	Jesus to be sin who knew no sin so that
21:00	we might become the righteousness of God
21:03	but the world we live in
21:06	is full of rancor
21:07	world we live in is full of people that
21:11	treat us terribly sometimes it’s
21:14	somebody close to us sometimes it’s a
21:16	co-worker sometimes it’s a relative
21:18	sometimes it’s just an ornery neighbor
21:21	always cracks me up when I’m scrolling
21:23	through Tick Tock when I have insomnia
21:25	and I find an account where somebody is
21:28	ratting on their neighbor who’s a Karen
21:31	and talking about the conflict that they
21:33	have with their neighbor these accounts
21:35	are real and the conflicts they have are
21:37	ridiculous
21:39	the we as Christians are not called to
21:41	that so what happens if you have a Karen
21:43	in your neighborhood who’s constantly
21:45	calling the police on you when your dog
21:46	barks or you have somebody at work who
21:49	has it out for you because they’re
21:51	jealous of the skills that you have and
21:53	so they’re trying to undercut you so
21:55	they can get rid of you take your dead
21:57	carcass career-wise cast it out so that
22:00	they can have your job and then get the
22:01	corner office what do you do with people
22:03	like this
22:06	you are forgiven
22:09	and you were reconciled to God when you
22:12	were still enemies of God
22:14	what do you think the gospel calls us to
22:16	do in this circumstance
22:18	scripture is very clear
22:21	we pay no one evil for evil Paul writes
22:25	in Romans 12. repay no one evil for evil
22:29	but give thought to do what is Honorable
22:31	in the sight of all but you don’t
22:33	understand how awful that person is no
22:36	really I do
22:38	really really I get it
22:41	don’t you dare tell me I don’t
22:43	understand I do we’ve all lived this
22:47	so if possible so far as it depends on
22:50	you
22:51	live peaceably with all
22:54	beloved never avenge yourselves never
22:57	but leave it to the wrath of God for his
23:00	written vengeance is mine I will repay
23:03	says the Lord so to the contrary if your
23:07	enemy is hungry feed him
23:11	if he is thirsty give him something to
23:16	drink
23:18	for by so doing you will keep burning
23:20	coals on his head and I know a thing or
23:23	two about those burning coals we feel
23:24	those burning coals when we look at our
23:26	lives in light of the Ten Commandments
23:28	and we look at just how far short we
23:30	have come when it comes to the glory of
23:32	God when we look at that 200 000 year
23:36	debt that we have racked up because of
23:39	our sin it really undoes us and God
23:43	rather than giving us what we deserve
23:45	says I love you I forgive you for the
23:49	sake of Christ I have provided the
23:51	atoning sacrifice so that you would
23:54	never have to pay
23:56	for your sins they are paid for in full
23:59	and does that not undo us
24:02	does that not warm our hearts does it
24:05	not give us Comfort does it not lift the
24:08	burden and the anxiety remember here’s
24:11	this guy he knows his Day of Reckoning
24:13	is coming and he’s not even able to
24:15	sleep because we all know how this works
24:18	and who of us can say that we have not
24:21	lost sleep considering the fact that we
24:23	are all going to die someday
24:26	and stand before God
24:29	this is the kind of thought that creates
24:31	anxiety
24:32	at least the law does generate that kind
24:35	of anxiety
24:37	but the gospel says no you are forgiven
24:40	and even when you were still Sinners and
24:42	my enemy Christ has died for you
24:46	so therefore you are now free
24:50	love and forgiveness is freedom hatred
24:54	and vengeance is slavery that’s how it
24:57	works you are now free to love and to
25:01	forgive your neighbor and to do good to
25:04	them when they are treating you horribly
25:08	and by doing so you will keep burning
25:11	coals on their head
25:12	because now you are acting as an
25:14	ambassador for the gospel
25:16	in other words do not be overcome by
25:18	evil
25:19	but overcome evil with good
25:22	so brothers and sisters here then the
25:25	words of Our Lord
25:27	to that servant who refused to forgive
25:29	the one who owed him such a small
25:32	trifling amount of money
25:34	he says to him you Wicked servant I
25:37	forgave you all of that debt because you
25:40	pleaded with me
25:41	and should you not have had mercy on
25:43	your fellow servant as I have had mercy
25:45	on you and the answer is yes
25:48	and in Anger then his master delivered
25:51	him to the jailers until he should pay
25:52	all of his debts so also my heavenly
25:55	father will do to every one of you if
25:57	you do not forgive your brother from
25:58	your heart
26:00	and so we are reminded then that this is
26:03	what we are called to to forgive
26:05	everyone from the heart regardless of
26:08	the small trifling debts that they rack
26:10	up by sinning against us it’s nothing
26:13	compared to the Forgiveness that we have
26:14	in Christ and I know it’s hard I know
26:18	it’s not easy and yet we all have the
26:20	Holy Spirit within us so let us again
26:23	confess that we struggle to forgive
26:27	as we are forgiven and let us cry out to
26:30	God to forgive us of even our
26:32	unforgiveness and ask that he would
26:34	again soften our hearts towards our
26:37	neighbor and make us even more free than
26:39	we are so that we can then freely love
26:42	and forgive and be at peace with all and
26:45	be good ambassadors of the good news
26:47	that Christ has died for the sins of the
26:49	world not only in the message that we
26:52	preach but exemplified in the life of
26:54	kindness and mercy that we also bring in
26:58	the name of Jesus Amen

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