Fourth Sunday after Trinity – July 13, 2025

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our text is the Holy Gospel from Luke chapter 6.

Luke 6 · chapter mention

I'm sure you've heard of the phrase, like father, like son.

It means that the son resembles the father, not only by his appearance,

but by his words and actions as well.

Now, if you want to get to know what the Father is like, look at the Son.

So also, if you want to get to know what our Heavenly Father is like, look at the baptized.

We, as God's children, reflect our Heavenly Father in what we say and do.

Now, we don't always do this perfectly, to be sure. We fall short.

But yet it is our prayer that the mercy and forgiveness we receive from our

Heavenly Father would be reflected through us to other people.

There are four things that we will learn for today.

First, God has shown us mercy, therefore we show mercy for others.

Second, God does not judge us because Jesus was judged in our place, as guilty in our place.

God has declared us righteous on account of his Son, therefore we do not judge

others with a self-righteous attitude.

Third, God in Christ Jesus forgives our sin.

Therefore, we forgive others who sin against us.

And finally, God has been generous to us. He gives us life.

He gives us daily bread and the gift of eternal life. Therefore,

we freely give to others.

The first thing that we learn in our text for today is this, show mercy to others.

Jesus said, be merciful even as your father is merciful.

Throughout Jesus's ministry, he was merciful to others.

The 10 lepers cried out, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. And he did.

Jesus had mercy on them. He healed all of them.

And it was the blind, the sick, and the lame came to Jesus asking for mercy, and he gave them mercy.

He had compassion upon them, and he healed them.

But for us, showing mercy to others is not always easy.

In fact, it oftentimes goes against our sinful nature.

Inwardly, we are selfish and greedy.

And we oftentimes make excuses rather than helping others.

We'll say, well, we don't have enough time or we are too tired to help other people.

And when we act this way, we are not reflecting our Heavenly Father,

but rather we are reflecting our earthly father, Adam.

Because of Adam's fallen to sin, we were cast into darkness.

We were trapped in the prison house of death. Our righteousness was stripped

from us, and we stood naked in guilt and shame.

And we were even cast out of the Garden of Eden.

And so, God the Father had mercy upon us poor sinners.

He sent his only begotten Son to save us.

Jesus kept the law perfectly in our place. He paid for our sins with his precious blood.

He died upon the cross that we were supposed to die. And then he rose from the dead.

In your baptism, Jesus pulled you out of the dark pit and you now are a light to others.

He freed you from the prison house of death and he has given you your source

of life. You were naked in sin, but now you are clothed in the robe of Christ's righteousness.

So God the Father has been merciful to you.

Therefore, be merciful to others.

Love them. Help them when they are in need. Care for them when they are hurting.

And in this way, you reflect the mercy of our Heavenly Father.

The second thing we learn from our text for today is this. Do not judge.

Jesus said, judge not and you will not be judged. Condemn not and you will not be condemned.

Now these two words, judge not, are some of the most misunderstood words of all time.

When the Christian takes a stand on what is right and good and declares what

is evil according to God's word,

the world then labels the Christian as being, quote, judgmental.

When Jesus said, judge not, he is not saying that we should abolish the courts

of the law or any kind of civil judgments.

He's not saying that we need to silence parents when they teach their children what is right and wrong.

Jesus is not saying that pastors should no longer preach both law and gospel.

Jesus is not saying that we should ignore any kind of false doctrine.

What is Jesus saying? when Jesus says, judge not, he is warning us against having

a self-righteous attitude.

He is warning against finding fault in others while ignoring our own sin.

He is warning us against having petty criticisms.

He is warning us against magnifying other people's sins so that our sins look smaller than theirs.

Jesus illustrates this by saying a parable. Why do you see the speck that is

in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

How can you say to your brother, brother, let me take out the speck that is

in your eye, when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye. And this is the point.

If we are blind toward our own sin, it prevents us from helping other people.

Jesus wants us to help other people.

Jesus himself came down from heaven in order to help us who are sinners.

Jesus took our sins upon himself. He bore the wrath of God in our place.

He was judged guilty because our sins were upon him, and he made the perfect payment for our sin.

He died, and then he rose from the dead.

There is now peace and reconciliation with our Heavenly Father.

On the last day, Christ will not render us with a guilty judgment.

Rather, he will declare us to be right, righteous because of what he has done for us.

Jesus says, first, take the log out of your own eye. Well, how do we do that?

We can't reform ourselves.

Any kind of self-help programs really won't work.

Only God can help us.

First, it's the Holy Spirit that brings repentance in our hearts.

We repent of our sins. and then the gospel removes our log,

removes our sin as far as the east is from the west and God remembers it no more.

It is removed.

Jesus goes on to say, Then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye.

There are times when a fellow brother or sister in Christ needs correction need

some guidance and need some help.

So how can we help them?

Go to them privately.

Help them gently with genuine concern.

Speak the truth in love with sincere love and in deep humility.

Let them know that you are there for them and that you want to help them.

And so because Christ bore the judgment that we deserve, we do not judge others.

We help our neighbor who is in need. And in this way, we reflect our Heavenly Father.

The third thing we learn from our text for today is this, forgive others.

Jesus said, forgiven you will be forgiven. Now to forgive those who wronged

us is one of the most hardest things to do in life.

We want to retaliate, we want to hold a grudge against them,

and we want them to feel pain like we suffer.

The devil tempts us to seek revenge, to get back at them, but don't fall for the devil's trap.

Rather, forgive others just as our Heavenly Father forgives you.

Forgiveness toward those who wronged us is hard to do, but forgiving them does

not mean that the wrong becomes a right. The wrong is still a wrong.

Forgiveness does not mean that sin has no consequences. It does.

Forgiveness does not mean that we excuse what others did wrong.

Let's, for example, let's say a thief comes into your house and seals something.

Well, if he's caught by the proper authorities, he receives his due punishment.

But you don't have any right to go into his home and steal and take things.

So, what they did to you was wrong, but by God's grace, do not return evil for

evil, as we heard in our epistle lesson today.

Do not retaliate against them.

God sent his only begotten son to bear your sin and to suffer in your place.

So, repent of your sin, and God in Christ Jesus freely forgives you.

You confess your sin, and God speaks his absolution upon you,

as we heard this morning.

You confess your sins, and God removes them.

Forgiveness first comes to you from God, and then it flows out from you to other people.

You forgive because God first has forgiven you.

So when you forgive one another, you reflect the forgiveness that you have received

from our Heavenly Father.

The final thing we learned from our text for today is to give generously.

Jesus said, give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down,

shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.

These words remind us of God's generosity toward us and his many gifts toward us.

His love for you knows no limit.

His goodness toward you is abundant. It's poured out. It's overflowing.

Just think of all that your heavenly father has given you. He's given you life

in the womb of your mother's womb.

He gave you new life in the waters of holy baptism.

Every day he sustains you with clothing, food, shelter, and home,

and countless blessings. He watches over your life. He cares for your needs. He hears your prayers.

Even more, he has given you his own Son.

Jesus shed his blood to redeem you, and in Christ your sins are forgiven.

And then in this Holy Supper, Christ gives you his own body and blood,

Not only for the forgiveness of sins, but also the gifts of life and salvation,

a gift that we can touch and taste.

Christ is your refuge and strength. He is your light and your salvation.

As Psalm 27 said in our intro, therefore there is nothing to fear,

there is nothing to be afraid of.

Because God has been so generous to you, be generous in return.

Support your family with love and care.

Give to the church freely so that the gospel may continue among us.

Help the poor and the needy.

Giving is not a burden. It's a joyful response to the riches of God's grace.

So when you give, you are simply reflecting your heavenly Father.

So in summary, first, God has shown us mercy, therefore we show mercy to others.

Second, God does not judge us because Jesus was judged as guilty in our place.

God has declared us righteous in account of his Son. Therefore,

we do not judge others in self-righteous attitude.

Third, God in Christ Jesus forgives our sins, and so we freely forgive others.

And finally, God has been generous to us. He's given us life.

He gives us the gift of eternal life, and therefore, we freely give in return.

In these ways, our words and our actions reflect our Heavenly Father.

To Him be all thanks and glory, now and forevermore. Amen.