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Series A – Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost – Sunday, October 22, 2017 | 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
0:28	the holy Gospel According to Saint Matthew chapter 22 verses 15-22
0:34	then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his talk and they sent their disciples to him
0:40	along with the herodians saying teacher we know that you are true and you teach
0:46	the way of God truthfully and you do not care about anyone’s opinion for you are not swayed by appearances tell us then
0:54	what do you think is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not
0:59	but Jesus aware of their malice said why do you put me to the test you Hypocrites show me the coin for the tax and they
1:07	brought him a Daenerys and Jesus said to them whose likeness and inscription is this and they said Caesars then he said
1:14	to them therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar and to God the
1:19	things that are gods and when they heard it they marveled and they left him and
1:24	went away this is the gospel of the Lord in the name of Jesus
1:30	all right let me get this out of the way right here at the beginning of the sermon is there anybody here who thinks it’s a Godly thing to not pay their
1:36	taxes nope I didn’t think so so we won’t preach that sermon so let me
1:43	throw that one away all right got another one for you all right do y’all remember Sesame Street
1:50	loved Sesame Street when I was a kid Cookie Monster Grover you know and then
1:55	Earth and Bernie and pigeons and Mr Snuffaluffagus and Big Bird it was just
2:00	the best thing ever and you’ll note it’s an educational television program and
2:06	one of the games that they would play on Sesame Street is that game where they would sing the song one of these things
2:13	is not like the other one of these things is not the same right yeah and
2:18	then your job was to figure out which of these things didn’t belong now in order to understand what’s going
2:25	on in Our Gospel texts today we’re going to have to play that game so if you
2:31	would travel with me over to the Book of Matthew chapter 12. we’re going to take
2:37	a look starting at oh go to 15. my apologies go to 15
2:44	starting at verse 29 and let’s see if we can get our first data point our first
2:50	thing to compare if you would and here’s what it says Matthew 15 verse 29 Jesus
2:56	went on from there walked beside the Sea of Galilee he went up on the mountain sat down there great crowds came to him
3:03	bringing with them the lame the blind the crippled the mute and many others
3:09	and they put them at his feet and he healed them so that the crowd wondered
3:15	when they saw the mute speaking the crippled healthy the lame walking the
3:21	blind seeing and listen to these words and they glorified the god of Israel
3:29	now that seems like an appropriate response to the miracles of Jesus
3:35	that’s our first thing to look at let’s compare that with Matthew chapter 12
3:41	starting at verse 8. in Matthew chapter 12 verse 8 we have Jesus in a synagogue
3:48	think of it as the ancient world’s equivalent of a church they’ve gathered on the Sabbath in order to hear from the
3:55	Torah or the prophets to worship and to pray and here’s what it says Jesus went
4:02	on from there entered their synagogue and a man was there with a withered hand
4:08	and they asked him is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath
4:13	hmm a man with a withered hand years ago I used to attended church there was a
4:20	fellow in that church his name was Chris I got to see Chris this week it was really nice to see him but he doesn’t have one withered hand he has two
4:28	and he is always having to use his feet to write or to type or to do anything
4:34	he’s become quite skilled in using his feet as replacements for his hands and so in this particular synagogue that
4:41	morning there’s a fellow with a withered hand and you’ve you know it kind of goes
4:46	like this right we’ve seen these people with this condition before right and so they’re concerned about a theological
4:54	question which kind of begs the question about this what is a good work
5:01	what is a good work if your understanding of good works
5:07	well require you to keep laws that are made by man
5:12	and those laws cause you to despise and not love your neighbor chances are it’s not a good work
5:19	so here the Pharisees are obsessed with Sabbath keeping they’ve written all
5:24	these other laws and rules regarding Sabbath keeping and Jesus is coming into conflict with their man-made rules and
5:32	so they think that Jesus is evil he’s up to no good because he’s been known to heal on the Sabbath and this is not good
5:41	according to them so is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath they
5:47	asked this question so they might accuse him sometimes questions are not safe so Jesus said to them which of you
5:54	who has a sheep if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath will not take hold of it and lift it out
6:01	of how much more value is a man than a sheep
6:06	so it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath then he said to the man
6:13	stretch out your hand and so the man’s hand which is all
6:19	withered up he stretches it out and it’s completely restored
6:25	it was healthy like the other and listen to this response the Pharisees went out and conspired
6:32	against Jesus how to destroy him
6:40	one of these things doesn’t belong here one of these things doesn’t make sense
6:46	and it’s important for us to understand what is driving that response because
6:52	remember the crowds in Matthew 15 they glorified the god of Israel
6:57	thank you Lord that you are healing the lame giving voice to the mute
7:04	opening the ears of the deaf giving sight to the blind we thank and praise you Lord Jesus heals a fellow
7:12	who had a withered hand on the Sabbath and their response is we’ve got to
7:18	figure out how to destroy Jesus what is this
7:24	what is this Romans 8 verse 5. I think this will help us a little bit
7:30	Romans 8 verse 5 says this those who live according to the flesh
7:35	the flesh the sarks you know following the passions of your sinful nature they
7:41	set their minds on the things of the flesh those who live according to the spirit they set their minds on the things of
7:48	the spirit to set the mind on the flesh is death
7:54	does that the mind on spirit is life and peace the mind that is set on the flesh
8:01	is hostile to God for it does not submit to God’s law indeed it cannot those who
8:10	are in the flesh cannot please God and there are those words the mind that is
8:16	said on the flesh is hostile to God and that’s what’s driving this now you’d
8:22	think Pharisees Pharisees are religious fellows they go to synagogue every single Saturday they read the scriptures
8:30	what’s the problem they have their minds
8:35	set on the flesh they have made void the word of God by their man-made laws
8:43	they don’t love God in fact the fact that they hate Jesus is proof positive
8:51	that they do not love God in fact far from it and if you want turn with me
8:58	over to John chapter five I’d like you to see an interesting exchange that Jesus has with the Pharisees John
9:05	chapter 5 and give me a second to get there it was in my notes and then I missed it
9:12	okay John chapter 5.
9:23	here it is I’ll start at verse 30. I can do nothing of my own Jesus says
9:28	as I hear I judge and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will but
9:34	the will of him who sent me if I alone bear witness about myself my testimony is not true therefore there is another
9:40	who Bears witness about me and I know that the testimony that he Bears about me is true
9:46	you sent to John and he has borne witness to the truth talking about John the Baptist not that the testimony I
9:53	received is from man but I say these things that you may be saved he was a burning and Shining lamp and you were
10:00	willing to Rejoice for a while in his light but the testimony I have is greater than that of John for the works
10:07	that the father has given me to accomplish the very works that I am doing they bear witness about me that
10:13	the father has sent me and isn’t that interesting to hear Jesus pointing to
10:18	his miracles notes that the Miracles themselves these were signs to the people that God the father had sent him
10:25	and some seeing the Miracles rejoiced and praised the Lord but others they
10:32	were hostile and wanted to destroy Jesus so the father who sent me has himself born witness about me his voice you have
10:39	never heard his form you have never seen and you do not have his word abiding in
10:45	you he says for you do not believe the one whom he has sent you search the scriptures because you
10:53	think that in them you have eternal life and yet it is they that bear witness
10:58	about me and you refuse to come to me that you might have life
11:04	so note here Jesus talking to the Pharisees talking to the Jews who do not believe him he is saying the they are
11:13	these scriptures they bear witness about me and you will not come to me you refuse
11:19	the fault is with you he goes on and says I do not receive Glory from people but I know that you do
11:24	not have the love of God within you I have come in my father’s name and you do not receive me if another comes in his
11:32	own name you will receive him so how can you believe when you receive Glory from
11:39	one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God
11:45	do you do not think that I will accuse you the father it accuse you to the
11:51	father there is one who will accuse you Moses on whom you have set your hope for if you believed Moses
11:58	you would believe me for Moses wrote about me but if you do not believe his writings
12:05	how will you believe my words so you’ll note here Jesus is literally
12:11	saying of these people these people who persist in hostility to
12:17	God that despite all of their Bible reading they’ve missed the whole point the point
12:24	is him the point is Jesus and so they don’t believe in Jesus because they
12:30	actually do not believe the word of God they are religious they go through the
12:36	motions but in going through the motions they placard themselves they seek Glory from
12:43	one another and when you read the other accounts of the Pharisees written in the gospel text these were fellows Who Loved
12:49	money they loved having the best seats at the best parties
12:54	they loved it when they were wear these rich ornate robes traveling in town in
13:01	their vestments and people saying Rabbi Rabbi how are you oh I’m good how are you yes right they were all about their
13:08	own Glory and see that’s the problem Galatians chapter 5 the Apostle Paul lays out for
13:16	us what it means to walk by the spirit as opposed to the gratify the desires of the sinful flesh
13:23	listen to this Paul says in Galatians 5 16 I say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify
13:29	the desires of the flesh the desires of the flesh they are against they are hostile they are opposed to the spirit
13:36	the desires of the spirit are against the flesh notice the conflict this hostility that exists right for these
13:43	are opposed to each other and they keep you from doing the things that you want to do speaking to you as Christians but
13:50	if you are led by the spirit you are not under the law now the works of the flesh are evident and here’s the list
13:56	sexual immorality impurity sensuality idolatry
14:04	sorcery enmity Strife jealousy fits of
14:10	anger rivalries dissensions divisions
14:15	Envy drunkenness orgies in things like these now you’ll note here that enmity
14:23	Strife dissensions divisions are in the same list as sexual immorality in things
14:29	like orgies these are all of the things together that make up the desires of the sinful
14:37	flesh and on any given day most people really only suffer from a few of these
14:43	and some major in one or two of these and not the whole list but you get the idea you have to understand that the
14:48	desires of the flesh they are Broad and fill up a whole spectrum of false evil
14:55	Wicked desires and this is the problem the Pharisees were those who followed
15:01	their own sinful flesh they sought Glory
15:06	in what they were doing for themselves they loved money
15:11	and they were into all kinds of rivalries dissensions and divisions and things like that and they considered
15:19	themselves blessed of God and looked down on those who were mute or crippled
15:26	or blind or lame and what did Jesus do he healed them he forgave them He
15:36	restored them and by doing so Jesus was obliterating
15:42	the whole religious system remember the story of The star-bellied Sneetches who
15:48	were at the best on the beaches remember that it’s a Dr Seuss book you might want
15:54	to look it up but the way the story goes that there was these creatures that were called Sneetches
16:00	and there were some Sneetches who had stars on DARS and others that didn’t
16:06	and what ended up happening was the ones that had Stars they were happy they were
16:13	proud they were celebrated and they looked down on those plain ordinary Sneetches who did not have stars on
16:19	theirs and then Mr Professor mcmonkey McBean or somebody like that came along and he had
16:26	invented a machine and he was happy to take the money from those who did not have stars on ours and gave them Stars
16:35	so that they were now all equal all Sneetches had stars and see that’s
16:42	what Jesus was doing in a very real way by healing the outcast forgiving the
16:48	Sinners feasting and dining with them he was showing the great love and mercy of
16:54	God and he was obliterating their whole religious system which was nothing more
17:00	than an elaborate Ponzi scheme designed to glorify the guy on top
17:07	well here in the synagogue this poor fellow who have been born this way who had a withered hand well as long as he
17:15	would show up to the synagogue they can sit there and say well he did something he sinned in order to have that happen
17:20	to him so I’m more blessed than he is and Jesus offending them not only breaks
17:27	their rule about healing on the Sabbath he’s now restored him and they can no longer look down on him
17:33	you see Jesus’s love upsets the Apple carts in that way
17:39	so with that kind of all running around in our head we’ve done the comparative work we see what’s going wrong here we
17:45	see the big difference between the reactions to what Jesus is saying and doing we now come to our gospel text and
17:52	here’s what it says the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his
17:58	words and you just have to sit there and go
18:03	what on Earth do you guys have against Jesus what evil has he done
18:09	he preaches the truth he heals people his signs and wonders
18:15	that he performs testify that he has actually been sent by the father but these guys cannot bear Jesus if Jesus is
18:24	permitted to keep doing what he’s doing their whole Ponzi scheme is going to come crashing down revenue is going to
18:31	decline they may not receive the glory and honor they’ve received in the past in the marketplace so they’ve decided
18:37	they’re going to plot to entangle him and this is an important little bit of History Pharisees and herodians never
18:43	got along the herodians were kind of like secular secularized Jews who totally betrayed
18:51	their people by literally kind of going along with the whole Roman imperial
18:56	system thing these were guys who rather than fight the Roman occupation said no I think
19:03	we’ll do we’re gonna do fine here let’s just go ahead and submit to them and and uh you know isn’t you know we’ll just do
19:09	what the Romans do and the Pharisees were totally opposed to that and here you’ve got the Pharisees and the
19:14	herodians together going if we let this guy do what he’s doing we’re we’re this the whole system is shot and so now you
19:22	have total enemies working together as strange bedfellows to trap Jesus and
19:28	they thought they had come up with the perfect catch-22. I had this is just brilliant on their part strategically
19:35	right because they’re in Israel at the time under the Roman occupation was
19:40	abject poverty there was no middle class at this time no middle class in Israel
19:47	at the time the reason why it was quite simple you were either part of the ruling class the people who had favors
19:53	from the government or you were taxed into literally AB poverty by the whole
20:00	tax system itself which was just riddled with all kinds of graph and evil and
20:06	people pocketing money oh it was terrible and so not only under the occupation of Rome they’re not even they
20:13	have no government of their own to speak of but the tax system is completely just
20:19	wrecked the whole economy and people hate it so if Jesus says no don’t pay
20:27	your taxes the herodians are on hand and they’re loyal to Caesar and they will
20:33	have him arrested for treason and insurrection but if Jesus says pay your taxes
20:40	then the people will turn against Jesus and they’ll hate them
20:45	it’s perfect the ultimate Catch-22 we’re gonna get that Jesus this time right
20:52	so they went there with the herodians saying teacher oh we know that you are true and you teach the way of God
20:59	truthfully and you don’t care about anyone’s opinion you’re not swayed by appearances look at how they’re
21:04	buttering him up I mean all of these just I mean they’re
21:10	giving him High Praise and honor as if somehow Jesus is motivated by these
21:15	things as if somehow that’s going to catch him off guard you know he’s going to sit there and go well it’s about time you guys were finally started coming
21:21	around like come to think of it yeah everything I do say is true yeah you know that that’s totally what their
21:27	expectation of Jesus was but Jesus is having none of it
21:33	Jesus aware of their malice
21:39	malice and there’s the problem that hostility
21:45	toward God why do you put me to the test why do you put me to the test you
21:51	Hypocrites show me the coin for the text so you can hear some guy reach into his pocket and go ding
22:00	catches it right I do my own sound effects okay [Music]
22:06	right say holds the coin up whose likeness whose image and
22:13	inscription is this they said Caesars
22:18	he said to them therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are gods
22:25	and when they heard it they marveled and they left him and went their way focus in on these words whose image
22:32	whose likeness whose inscription is this that was Caesar’s on there right now I
22:38	want you to think back when it talks we get the idea all right so we pay our taxes right
22:44	everybody gets that one but what about the render the things rendered to God the things that are Gods let me help you
22:50	with this one whose likeness and inscription is this Genesis 1 26 God said let us make man in
22:58	our image after our likeness and let
23:03	them have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the heavens of the livestock over all of the earth over
23:08	every creeping thing that creeps on the earth so God created man in his own
23:13	image in the image of God he created him male and female he created them
23:23	whose image was on the money Caesars whose image were you made in
23:31	God and now you see the difference
23:36	remember the things that belong to Caesar to Caesar but you belong to God
23:42	you were made in His image and although this image has been marred
23:48	by our sin still God’s image is on us we belong to him
23:54	right to render the things to God the things that belong to him is to
23:59	repent to be forgiven
24:05	to bend the knee and say Jesus is Lord to the glory of
24:10	God the Father rendered to God with his Gods that’s you
24:17	Ephesians chapter 2 verse 11. talks about how Christ broke down this
24:25	hostility this hostility that keeps us from rendering to God the things that
24:30	are God gods that would be our very lives
24:35	Ephesians 2 11 says remember that at one time eugentiles in the flesh who were
24:41	called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision which is made in the flesh by hands remember that you
24:47	were at that time you were separated from Christ you were alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers to
24:54	the covenants of Promise having no hope without God in the world but now in
25:00	Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ for he himself is our peace who
25:09	has made us both one and has broken down in his own flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of
25:17	Commandments expressed in ordinances so that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two so making peace
25:25	and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross therefore
25:30	thereby killing the hostility so you know we were hostile to God but
25:36	Christ killed the hostility by dying for our sins a good way to
25:41	think of it is is that if we were like coins having lost the image of God having it
25:47	been marred by our sin and obliterated to where you can’t even really quite make out whose image that is
25:53	Christ by his blood shed for us on that tree takes that blood and applies it to us so
26:01	that once again you can see the image of God in our lives
26:06	Colossians chapter 1 puts it this way starting at verse 18. Christ is the head of the body of the church he is the
26:13	beginning the firstborn from the dead so that in everything he might be preeminent for in Christ all the
26:20	fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all
26:27	things whether on Earth or in heaven Making Peace by the blood of his cross
26:34	and you who were once alienated and hostile in mind just like the Pharisees doing evil Deeds he has now reconciled
26:42	in his body of Flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless
26:48	an above reproach before him if indeed you continue in the faith and
26:54	are stable and steadfast not shifting from the hope of the Gospel that you have heard which has been proclaimed in
27:01	all creation under heaven so our gospel text
27:07	is one of these texts that reveals the hostility of sinful flesh
27:12	the hostility that it has towards Christ towards God himself this is a hostility that each and every
27:19	one of us has experienced and still experiences to one degree or another
27:25	because our sinful flesh I don’t know if you’ve noticed this about yours but I’ve
27:30	noticed it about mine really doesn’t love God my sinful flesh really loves me
27:38	and wants to look out for number one in all kinds of awful terrible ways
27:46	and your sinful flesh too is also hostile to God and we understand that this hostility
27:52	has earned Us in eternity in hell and so this text of ours highlights not the
28:00	importance of paying taxes but the importance of recognizing whose
28:05	you really are you were made by God you were made for
28:10	God you were made in His image and you were made in his likeness and when you focus on the desires of
28:18	your sinful flesh you become hostile to God as well
28:23	how many times have you experienced somebody maybe not yourself but another person who has decided to go down the
28:30	rabbit hole of their own sin and when you confront them what do they do put their fists up and
28:37	say how dare you how dare you who Do You Think You Are
28:45	usually first response to which you say I don’t think I’m anybody I’m here because I love you
28:52	and I’m telling you this because you’re killing yourself and maybe it’s been you who went down
28:58	that rabbit hole and somebody went down into that muck to pull you out of it
29:05	the reality of the situation is is that that hostility to the truth that you’ve
29:10	experienced either from somebody else or from yourself that is what our sinful
29:15	flesh does and it is Christ himself who destroys
29:21	that hostility he does it for us by taking all of our
29:27	sin our hostility the sins we commit in our sinful passions of our flesh and he
29:32	they are put on him and he bleeds and dies for our sins so
29:38	that we as Christians can proclaim the good news of peace and reconciliation
29:44	with God one of these things is not like the other
29:50	one of these things doesn’t belong the thing that doesn’t belong is the one
29:55	who is hostile to God and doesn’t recognize that he himself belongs to God
30:02	and must render to God his own life
30:07	his own desires his very being and soul
30:13	because God’s image was stamped on him when he was made and formed in his mother’s womb
30:19	and that’s the terrible aspect of sin it forces us to not recognize that image
30:27	where we try to rub it out and recreate it so that our image comes forward rather
30:34	than God’s so we must again repent
30:39	repent of those sinful Passions that make us hostile to God
30:46	repent and receive the peace that Christ gives us through his shed Blood on the
30:52	cross bear fruit in keeping with repentance and ever looking to that wonderful blood
30:59	which will over and again take our image off of ourselves and restore
31:06	the True Image that we were made in the image of God and we look forward to the day
31:13	when like newly minted coins the image of Christ is born on us
31:18	perfectly and brilliantly so there will never again
31:24	be a day in eternity where we ever question whose image we were made in
31:32	in the name of Jesus Amen [Music]

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