CMLC 2026-06-21 Sermon

Howdy Well, happy Father's Day to everybody and

You know, hopefully everybody's gonna have to

have a chance to go grab some lunch or do something

and make sure He gets exactly the right tie this

year because last year's tie not nearly as good

as this year's I assure you But you know, I have

to tell you though a story from back in the day

My first vehicle was a 1981 Chevy Silverado It

was light blue, giant, boxy. I loved that truck.

One day, my sister and I were leaving Whataburger

with a couple of cokes, and whoever designed

the cup holders on the old Chevy Silverado, they

apparently thought that gravity was optional

because they put them right up on the dash. instead

of in the console so you know basically it was

like daring you to drive it with that thing and

I was still learning how to drive and at one

point the Silverado hit a curb let's be clear

the Silverado hit the curb it was not me okay

all right now the truck rocked and I saw one

of the coke starting to fall toward my sister

and in the split second I thought oh no save

the coke my sister was optional but I went ahead

and jerked the wheel, and I have no idea which

way I turned, but it was the wrong way, whatever

it was. Because not only did that first Coke

still spill into my sister's lap, the other one

came flying into mine. So in about five seconds,

both Cokes were gone, we were both soaked, and

I discovered I needed to get a little better

at driving trucks. The funny thing about driving,

most of us know that hitting a curb is bad. When

we don't realize... is often that over -correcting

can be just as bad. Sometimes the thing we do

to avoid one problem creates a whole new one.

Martin Luther used to speak of the Christian

life as a road with two ditches. Many of us think

our greatest danger is one ditch. We're afraid

of compromise. We're afraid of sin. We're afraid

of a world that has forgotten God. And so we

steer hard toward the rules and the performance

and what can become the self -righteousness.

We fall into a ditch of legalism. But you see,

others are afraid of a judgmental religion. We

don't want to be Pharisees because they're not

fair, you see. Yes, you're welcome. You see,

we don't want to be harsh. We don't want to seem

like we're intolerant. And so we steer hard the

other way, and we fall into the ditch of license,

where God's commands are just optional, and holiness

is just an afterthought. The funny thing about

ditches is that people sitting in one ditch usually

congratulate themselves because at least they're

not in the other one. And the legalist may say,

at least I'm not like those worldly people, and

the libertine may say, at least I'm not like

those judgmental Christians. and all the while

both of them have left the road that was given

by Christ. But recently I was thinking of something

that was just as bad as ending up in one ditch

or the other. You see, a week ago I pulled into

the church parking lot and realized I had a screw

in the tire. By the end of the day, as I had

plenty of errands to run, like here on campus,

I discovered it was losing air. Thankfully, our

neighbors at St. Thomas and Neighbor House helped

me get enough air in it that I could limp across

the street to go get it fixed. But then just

a few days later, one of our church members was

over at Panera and couldn't seem to leave the

parking lot because the wheel had fallen right

off of the axle. As much as we worry about ending

up in one ditch or another, sometimes the greater

problem spiritually is that we've made it impossible

to move forward at all. Some people say I never

want to become one of those judgmental boring

Christians and But they may lose truth and holiness

and others see the brokenness and immorality

of the world and say I never want to become like

that But they may start acting like the self

-righteous without grace or mercy for others

and still others the third group becomes so convinced

that being offensive and winning every argument

is the point that they make it nearly impossible

for anyone else to move forward in knowing Christ,

because they can't see the Christ of grace and

mercy in the lives of Christians. If Martin Luther

used to speak about the Christian life as a road

with two ditches, maybe we should also add a

disabled car sitting in the middle of the road

as the third issue, because the question is not

simply, how do we avoid one ditch or the other?

The question is also, how do we keep moving forward

with our Christian life and witness? And perhaps

that's part of what fathers are called to teach

us. On Father's Day, we give thanks for fathers

who teach and guide, for uncles, for grandfathers,

for older brothers, for mentors, teachers, friends,

all of those who have been in the role of leading

and guiding others, and frankly, all the parts

that go to it. Because I could almost imagine

the verse of saying, you are worth many sparrows.

I could almost imagine my dad saying that to

me and my sister. Don't worry, I love you at

least as much as many sparrows. Thanks dad, that

means a lot. But you see, we tease because those

are the ones who are strong in our lives. And

they make it easy for us to feel that we can

poke a little bit because we know they were the

ones who endured it all. Today is for saying

thank you to those who provided guidance in a

complicated world Because you see good fathers

don't simply say do whatever you want. We wish

they did sometimes but see Neither does he constantly

compare one child against another and if he does

not and also he would not Encourage those siblings

to look for reasons to fight with one another

you see a good father guides He corrects, he

humbles, he reconciles. Because the point is

not merely to obey. The point is being a family.

You see when children do something foolish and

they will say to their dads, well dad technically

you didn't say I couldn't do that specifically,

but a good father would say you should have known

better. Not because they'd written down every

possible rule, but because they expected their

children to understand what kind of people they

were called to become. And that's what we see

Paul doing in Romans. You see, at the very beginning

of the book, Paul began with things that humanity

should already know. Before Moses and the laws

were written down, before circumcision, before

being Jewish had even been a thing. But you see,

it wasn't just true for them back then about

acknowledging there are just things that typically

stand out in the world. See, the same is true

for us today. Even before our church traditions,

even before all the debates happening between

our denominations, there are things that people

typically know. Deep down, we know. We know that

greed destroys those who are not the oppressors.

We know that exploiting the poor is wrong. We

know that drunkenness enslaves those who are

in the bottle and those who love them. We know

that gossip tears people apart and hurts them

unfairly. We know that abandoning responsibilities

to family is wrong. We know that arrogance divides,

and we know that envy poisons. We know sexual

immorality and promiscuity are not God's design,

and we know that God originally designed men

and women to be together. But you see, notice

that Paul doesn't distinguish any of these as

somehow being worse. He puts all of these together.

He puts pride with the sexual sins. He puts drunkenness

with the conceit. He puts immorality with the

arrogance. Different symptoms. The same disease.

Because all of it came from the humanity that

rebelled against God since the time of Adam.

But just when religious people are sitting here

and nodding their heads and saying, that's right,

Paul, you tell those people, chapter 2, Turns

the mirror around And one of the dangers that

Paul exposes is that self -righteousness is oftentimes

a cover Because it is very easy to point out

what is wrong in someone else while quietly ignoring

what we hope that no one will ever notice in

us Sometimes the loudest voices About morality

are not the purest hearts But the most carefully

hidden lives and the tragedy is that we can become

experts at condemning the sins that we're not

personally tempted by but then we excuse the

ones that we are and Paul said you therefore

have no excuse you who pass judgment on someone

else because pride is sin too so is self -righteousness

and by chapter 3 Paul just says none is righteous

no not one not just those immoral people out

there and not just the religious not just the

pastor not just the father, not just the child.

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of

God. And chapters four and five point to faith

in Christ alone as our only hope, because God

shows His love for us that while we were still

sinners, Christ died for us. And that's what

brings us to Romans 6. Because after all of this,

Paul asks, shall we continue in sin that grace

may abound? I mean, if we're forgiven anyway.

Shouldn't we just keep on sinning? Absolutely

not. Grace is not permission, not even for the

things we have excused in our minds. Grace changes

us. Not because we're trying to become members

of the family of God, but because we already

are. Present yourselves to God as those who have

been brought from death to life. Obedience to

God That's not the wage that's required to become

his child. Obedience is a child resembling their

father. Because we begin to look like our father.

We don't say, God forgives me, therefore I can

do whatever I want. And we don't say, look how

much better I am than everyone else. We belong

to Christ. But because we belong to Christ, we

present ourselves not as slaves to impurity.

but as servants of righteousness. Not because

we're earning a place, but because Christ has

already given us one. For the wages of sin is

death, but the free gift of God is eternal life

in Christ Jesus our Lord. And the more we pursue

things that God has given us, ways in which He

designed our lives to be, with compassion, with

equity, with purity, with courage, we start to

see how they are not actually bondage at all,

but rather opportunities to live in spirit and

in truth, with life, with joy. Now if you've

been following Paul's argument, you begin to

realize that chapters 2 through 5, they already

warned us against the danger, because the Jews

had their own works of the law that they did,

because they showed themselves to be dedicated

to God, set apart from the other nations for

centuries. the circumcision, the dietary laws,

the holy days and the festivals. But performing

those things, those were not the way that they

were made right before God. It was always by

faith. They were signs by which they showed themselves

dedicated to the God who had already saved them.

But Christians oftentimes do the same. We may

not argue about circumcision and kosher foods

and if you do Maybe I'll just leave myself out

of that conversation, but we do have our own

lists church attendance and offering envelopes

Listening to the right Christian radio station

because there are two of them and you better

listen to the better one Listening and voting

the right way and going to the right school belonging

to the right denomination. I'm looking at you

LCMS knowing the right people being involved

in the right programs. And none of those are

bad, and most of them are typically pretty good.

But none of them is what makes us right in God's

eyes. And more than that, we sometimes use them

to ignore the sin that is actually in our hearts.

And the ways in which we're actually betraying

God's commands. And all while saying, but look

at these good Christian things I am doing. I

must truly be a good Christian because if I'm

doing these Christian things, whenever we begin

trusting in those things to be our identity,

we stop being vessels of grace and we become

inspectors of everybody else's lives. And that

means something very important for how we see

one another because not every struggle looks

the same. Some people are caught in these patterns

of sin that are visible and obvious, and we can

easily look at them and say, look at that person.

But others carry struggles that are quieter.

They're more complicated. They're harder to untangle.

And neither one is helped by just sitting there

and condemning. Because what they need is truth

spoken with compassion. To say, I hear you. I

see you. I'm not here to pretend that your struggle

is easy. I'm not here to excuse what God calls

us away from. But I'm also not here to crush

you. The call of the Christian life is not just

to point people in the direction of God's will,

but to walk with them toward it. Even when it

takes time, even when it's hard, even when the

struggles are real, even when others push against

us, mock us, harm us. Because without this, people

begin to wonder whether Christianity is really

about Christ, or is it about Christians trying

to make themselves look better than others while

ignoring their own flaws. Paul asks later in

Romans, how then will they call on Him in whom

they have not believed? And how are they to believe

in Him of whom they have never heard? Brothers

and sisters, this is not a message just about

the need for more preachers, which we do need

more preachers. How are people to believe in

the grace of Christ whom they have not seen if

they do not experience grace from Christians

whom they have seen? This does not mean we stop

speaking truth. It doesn't mean we pretend that

sin doesn't matter. Grace is not permission,

but righteousness by grace is not an exclusive

club. Because how can we expect people in this

world to understand living their new life in

Christ the way He commands before they've even

understood the forgiveness that brought them

into that new life in the first place. How do

they understand sanctification before justification?

How do they understand the beauty of obedience

before they knew the mercy of the Savior? It

would be like getting upset at someone for not

knowing how to keep the car in between the lines

of traffic while telling them they're not good

enough to start practicing behind the wheel.

We can't expect them to know if we haven't welcomed

them in in the first place. And this is our joy.

This is the joy because it's not our accomplishments,

it's grace. Joy is forgiveness. Joy is mercy.

While we were still sinners, all of us, Christ

died for all of us. And that's something that

I continue to preach week after week here as

your shepherd, but frankly quite often it can

sometimes be like herding cats rather than herding

sheep. Some of you I know would love for me to

come up here every week and say, God forgives

you, now have fun, yay. Put that on the billboard

out front. But Christ never said that. He forgives,

He loves, He restores. But He never said, continue

enslaving yourselves to the impurities of your

heart. He said, present yourselves to God as

those who have been brought from death to life.

And then I know that there are those of you who

are like, now pastor, you need to make sure you've

shown the world how much you condemn all those

things about them and explain how terrible the

world is, how awful those people are, how broken

society has become. And frankly, so much of that

is true. But how can people understand new life

in Christ if I haven't started by showing them

what His forgiveness is? How can they understand

what He calls them to if they don't know the

one who calls them? How can they understand the

forgiveness of sins when frankly, how many of

us act like we've never sinned? Sometimes if

we're honest, we as Christians make it a little

harder for people to move forward. We may not

be in a ditch, but we're sitting right in the

middle of the road with the flat tire blocking

the way. Because sometimes our pride, our harshness,

our desire to prove a point, our eagerness to

win arguments and make the world suffer for all

their mistakes. We make it almost impossible

for people to even hear the gospel. Sometimes

we're not suffering for Christ like we think

we are. Sometimes we're suffering just because

we're normally obnoxious people. Sometimes we're

not being persecuted for the gospel. Sometimes

we're being called out for our own hypocrisy

and corruption. And sometimes we're not defending

the gospel. We're just defending our own biases

and what we want. Because we're all sinful humans.

And if our haughtiness makes people less willing

to hear about Christ, then we should not congratulate

ourselves when we pick every fight and then call

it faithfulness. Because sometimes, sometimes

the cross we carry may be faithfulness, but sometimes

the cross that we carry is our own need for repentance.

Because we confuse our pride for faithfulness.

Because Jesus never called us to create division

for division's sake. He never called us to become

professional arguers. He never called us to make

enemies just to prove a point. But He also tells

us in Matthew 10 that division will come. Not

because we seek it, but because truth itself

is uncomfortable. Those who want permission to

commit sin, they will dislike repentance. Those

who want superiority to other sinners, they're

going to dislike grace. Those who want conflict

itself will dislike humility and mercy. But Jesus

loves all of the repentance, the grace, the humility,

and the mercy that He brought. Because He doesn't

belong to all those other camps, even when those

camps would reject Him. Sadly, we... often reject

Jesus. Even us as Christians. Because along with

the rest of the world, we don't like how Jesus

expects us to follow Him even when we have to

be humble about it. We may find ourselves very

alone because we realize that we cannot please

the world and then we can't seem to please the

other Christians when ultimately we're just asking

them to follow Jesus. Jesus says, whoever loves

Father or Mother more than Me is not worthy of

Me. And frankly, that sounds harsh, especially

on Father's Day, right before we all go off to

lunch together, right? But you see, fathers understand

this better than anyone, especially when they

have to be the ones to do what is right, even

when their children and others don't always know

how to feel about it. Because a good Father does

not ultimately want His children living to make

Him happy. He wants His children to love what

is good. He wants His children to love what is

true. He wants His children to love what is right.

Ultimately, every good Father wants His children

to love Christ more than they would love Him.

And the children who know their Father should

know better than what others would lead them

to believe. Not because they've arrived at perfection.

They have it all figured out and all the answers,

but because they know to whom they belong. See,

there are three ways that we leave the dangerous

road, and sometimes we say, I'll do whatever

I want, but God says that our lives belong to

Christ. And then other times we want to say,

I'm better than everyone else, but God says,

no, none of you are. And then some say, I must

prove my point. But instead, God is saying, listen

to me. And make sure that everyone knows that

they matter to God and that they matter to His

people. See, Christ calls us not to any of the

pitfalls, but to Himself. Because discipleship,

just like being someone's child, is not pretending

that we have it all together. It's being corrected.

It's being humbled. It's because we're forgiven

and then we're able to survive the correction

we need. Because as children loved by God, we

can be honest that we've fallen into those pitfalls.

But then we can take joy in knowing that our

God is still transforming us and leading us home.

So, maybe you all are... Not nearly as good of

children as I am because you don't have a signed

photo of Lou Ferrigno as the Incredible Hulk

for your father. Sorry, you're just not going

to be as good today. But, in Christ Jesus, we

all have what it is that our fathers truly need.

To know that their children are following after

the True Father because of the life given in

Christ Jesus. In His name. Amen.