Good morning and welcome to the broadcast of the Divine Service at Zion Lutheran Church in Chippewa Falls.
To help you follow along, the Order of Worship for today's service is available under the radio tab on our website, ZionLCMSCF.org.
The Lord bless you today through the hearing of his word.
Have you ever asked the wrong question at the wrong time, or the wrong person, in the wrong place?
Welcome to the intro to the parable of the Good Samaritan.
The question isn't who is my neighbor.
The question is, what does it mean to be a neighbor?
Please gather your thoughts around that, our first hymn.
As you are able, please rise.
Divine service setting free.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Loved in the Lord, let us draw near with a true heart and confess our sins unto God, our Father beseeching him.
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who grant us forgiveness.
Our help is in the name of the Lord.
I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord.
Well,
mighty God, merciful Father, confess unto you all my sins and iniquities.
with which I have ever offended you, and justly deserve your temporal and eternal punishment.
But I am heartily sorry for them, and sincerely repent of them.
And I pray you of your boundless mercy, and for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be gracious and merciful to me, a poor, sinful being.
On this, your confession, I by virtue of my office as a called and ordained servant of the word, announce the grace of God unto all of you, and in this stead, and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
the sheep.
you
Glory
be to God.
Almighty and everlasting God give us an increase of faith, hope and charity that we may obtain what you have promised.
Make us love what you have commanded.
In Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
Please be seated.
Interesting Old Testament reading.
The background for the Gospel for today in many different ways with many respects.
The Old Testament reading for the 13th Sunday after Trinity is from 2nd Chronicles chapter 28.
Heads up.
The men of Israel took captive 200,000 of their relatives, women, sons, and daughters.
They also took much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria.
But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Odeb.
And he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah.
He gave them into your hand, but you have killed them in rage that has reached up to heaven.
And now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, as your slaves?
Have you not sins of your own against the Lord, your God?
Hear me.
Send back the captives from your relatives whom you have taken for the fierce wrath of God, the Lord is upon you.
A certain chiefs also of the men of Ephraim.
Azariah, the son of Johanin.
Barakiah, the son of Mashilimeth.
Jezekiah, the son of Shalom and Amesa, the son of Hadly.
stood up against those who were coming from the war and said to them, you shall not bring the captives in here, for you propose to bring upon us guilt against the Lord, in addition to our present sins and guilt.
Our guilt is already great.
And there is fierce wrath against Israel.
So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the assembly and The men who have been mentioned by name rose and took the captives and with the spoil they clothed all who were naked among them They clothed them gave them sandals provided them with food and drink and anointed them and carrying all the feeble among them on Donkeys they brought them to their kids folk
at Jericho, the city of palm trees.
Then they return to Samaria.
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Please turn to the psalm on the yellow insert.
We will responsively read this half verse by half verse.
By the way, although it's not indicated at verse nine, my part is at the bottom of the page.
Yours continues at the top.
It's not indented.
It's up.
Contrational Psalm.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity.
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity.
For
when I kept silent.
My bones wasted away.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me.
I acknowledged my sin to you.
I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.
Therefore.
Let everyone who is godly,
surely
in the rush of great waters, you are a hiding place for me.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.
like a horse or a mule without understanding.
Many
are the sorrows of the wicked.
Be
glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity.
The epistle is from Paul's other to the Galatians chapter three.
To give a human example, brothers, even with a man made covenant, no one annulces it or adds to it.
once it has been ratified.
Now, the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring.
It does not say, and to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one, and to your offspring, who is Christ.
And this is what I mean.
The law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make
the promise of boy.
For if the inheritance comes by the law, it is no longer comes by promise.
But God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
Why then the law?
It was added because of transgressions until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made.
And it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.
Now, an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
Is law then contrary to the promises of God?
Certainly not.
Where if a law had been given, that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.
But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ
might be given to those who believe.
This is the epistle reading.
Please rise.
Glory be to thee, O Lord.
Turning to the disciples, Jesus said privately, blessed are the eyes that see what you see.
For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.
Behold, the lawyer stood up to put him to the test saying, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
He said to him, what is written in the law?
How do you read it?
And he answered, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.
And he said to him, you've answered correctly, do this and you shall live.
But he desiring to justify himself said to Jesus and who is my neighbor?
Jesus replied a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho And he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed leaving him half dead Now by chance the priest was going down the road and when he saw him he passed by on the other side So likewise a Levite when he came to the place and saw him
passed by on the other side.
But as Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.
He went to him, bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.
Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
The next day, he took out two dinaries, gave them to the innkeeper, saying, hey, care of him?
Whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.
Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among robbers?
He said, the one who showed him mercy.
Jesus said to him, you go and do likewise.
This is the gospel of the
Lord.
We will use the Apostles Creed.
When someone asks you what you believe, you can respond by saying, I believe in God, the Father of Almighty,
maker of heaven and
earth.
And
in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was carried.
If you send it into hell.
The
third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty.
From thence he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Amen.
Thank you.
We pray, Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight.
O God, our strength and our redeemer, our rock from of old, for that is thy name.
Amen.
Grace and peace to you from God, our Father and from your Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen.
It has got to be an occupational hazard.
Leave it to a lawyer to ask the question, what are the specific requirements, expectations, duties, demands, and legal requirements in this case to get one's name on the list of God's heirs into eternal life with all of its rights and privileges, thank you.
And then to be put on the spot with a simplistic sounding question that comes back, well, what does the law say?
How do you read it?
Only to have to answer what any third grader knows from synagogue school.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your mind and your strength and your neighbor as yourself.
That's right.
Go do it.
Then why?
You get the feeling that you just asked the wrong question at the wrong time of the wrong person in the wrong court.
You showed up for a murder trial and here we are in traffic court.
Ego's stung, you look and sound foolish.
Now what would a good lawyer do?
Of course, you justify yourself in the eye of the jury, which happens to be the crowd standing around Jesus along with his disciples.
Keep that in mind.
Deflect all the attention away from yourself with another question you know like some snarky reporter would do, gotcha type question.
And who, Mr. Jesus' teacher, is my neighbor?
Wrong question again.
It's not who is your neighbor.
What are the limits, limitations to neighbor in neighborhood?
It's rather, what does it mean to be a neighbor when you're in God's court?
And that's critical.
When you're in God's court, who judges the human heart, that makes things different, takes them to an entirely higher, much higher plane.
Now the response from Jesus yields a Bible classic, along with David and Goliath, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer.
Everybody knows the parable of the good Samaritan, Sylvester Stallone just shot a movie called the... What, don't go to the movies?
The Samaritan, obviously it rings around in the culture, but that's a Bible classic.
Now interestingly also, Jesus doesn't answer the question the lawyer asked.
He will let the lawyer answer that for himself after the parable.
But what Jesus does do is unfold in a drama what it really means to be a neighbor, what it looks like, how it works in the midst of a broken world.
And by the way, let us take this to heart as Jesus' disciples.
For in that parable and with that answer, he has told us, this is when you are most like me as a savior.
like Jesus copying me.
Now Jesus came into our world, you've got to put it from his perspective.
Jesus came into our world in flesh and blood, our flesh and blood to seek and to save the lost, to bind up the brokenhearted, give sight to the blind, ears to the deaf, to preach liberty to those who are in prison, the prison of sin and its death dealing corrosive results.
Now you won't find a syllable of that.
Not a syllable of that in any law book, because you can't write that out in the letter of the law, but certainly it is the will of God on display in the life of his son.
He came to seek and to save the, what, remember that one.
Now you can't pass a law demanding God's kind of love from human hearts, blind to God, DOA on a rival coming into this world as far as any impulse of life toward him,
and even outright hostile to God.
Now, for the record, the legal record, I need to add this.
In the perfect world of Adam and Eve, there was no need for compassion.
It wasn't necessary.
Mercy?
Totally useless word.
Have you asked them, had you asked them, what do you think of mercy?
They would have gone, duh.
What's that?
You see, everything and everyone, be it all both of them, are in perfect harmony with the will of God.
Perfection, however, vaporized in disobedience and creation perfect love and trust in God was severed.
Like a main artery severed by sin.
We live with a gut grinding.
Consequences.
We live in a world that's fragile, subject to what we call natural disasters, man-made disasters.
How about self-inflicted disasters?
You want to know what that is?
Just drive 70 miles an hour down the wrong way on a one-way street.
We live in a world where the most precious gifts of human contact and relationships are twisted and shattered.
This is my list.
You can add to yours.
Okay.
Families are in crisis.
There is hatred.
Envy, racial exclusions as in our parable.
The Jews hated the Samaritans and the feeling was mutual.
You have traffickers, human traffickers and thieves, plain and open evil.
There's envy, idolized lust, disease and death, basically all the worst parts in the Bible with hell tacked on at the end.
The world is broke because our first parents broke this world.
And we, their children, haven't quit.
We can't quit because we are also natural born sinners.
Now to be sure, also for the record of the law, to be sure the shadow of the law of God, his will and expectation is written on the human heart as Paul writes to the Romans.
It's fuzzy, it's blurry, it's almost indistinct, but nevertheless it is there even though they're darkly.
Now, God repeated his will in 10 commandments.
You know what those are?
It's your handy pocket reference guide.
He published it to Israel, but he intended it for the entire world.
You want to know what God's will is?
Pull out the 10 commandments.
There it is, repeated.
And it's for all humanity.
From those commandments, it should be just as clear.
that the measurement of God's will and righteous standing before Him won't be found in the law for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and the wages of that sin is what?
Death.
Yes, the law takes our measure, and it shoulds and should nots, the do's and the don'ts of those commandments, but Proverbs reminds us that God weighs
the human spirit.
He uses a different standard.
He uses his love and grace turned out toward us in compassion and mercy in the person of Jesus Christ.
I ask you to join me in another court of law.
It is the day of recompense, judgment day.
Christ has returned.
Do you remember what the very first thing is that happens?
There's a separation, like a shepherd dividing sheep from goats.
And that division is made on the basis of faith.
Faith in Christ or no faith in Christ.
Disciple or damned fool, you know who the fool is, the one who says there is no God.
Believer.
and unbeliever.
That takes place first, then the evidence in the form of public witness and what it means.
There is another standard, that other standard of God that he uses for measuring with that public witness, measuring faith in its presence or no faith in its absence.
You remember how it went?
The evidence, I was hungry and you thirsty and you gave me a
Naked and you start sounding like chronicles there again.
I was sick and in prison and you came to visit me.
That is the public evidence of faith in Jesus Christ or no faith in Jesus Christ.
And there's an interesting phenomena about that.
If you listen very carefully, both believers and unbelievers alike are standing there scratching their head.
Don't remember that.
Lord, when did I see you hungry, thirsty, naked or imprisoned or sick and come and visit you?
I just don't remember.
But Jesus does.
The only difference comes down to a few words.
But the ending in both is the same.
In as much as you did it unto one of the least of these, my brother's conclusion, you did it to me.
In as much as you didn't do it.
To even one of the least of these, you didn't do it to me.
All of it comes down to Jesus Christ again, and then faith in Him, and the public witness that follows.
You know why that is?
Why you're scratching your head?
Because faith or no faith belongs to our character.
And you don't sit there and reflect on your character.
Your character is your engine that drives your life.
And in this case, the driving of the life comes down to faith.
that leads to compassion and mercy.
The public witness, same in both circumstances.
The difference, however, comes down to this.
As the people of God, we believe and know God from His Word.
We believe that Jesus Christ, His God Himself, come down into our messy world to take up our sin and our severance from God and one another and take it to the cross.
We believe that he is the living, breathing reality of God's compassion for a world where the children are crying their eyes out before their father, their broken world in hand.
Daddy, I can't fix it.
But Christ finished his buddy business, shed for the sins of the world.
And here's the thought, the love of God's life.
died for the loveless, cleansed from all sin.
In that moment, we know we are received, welcomed, and loved by our Heavenly Father.
Jesus' Father is our Father.
We know that because after God's business was done through His Son, He raised Him from the dead.
And then to make things personal in holy baptism, He tied us to that death.
and that resurrection by the waters of resurrection leading to new life.
He has filled us with the promise of Christ, of life that the lawyer sought, life that comes in Christ and will not end at the grave.
We have a new sense of reality about God and our neighbor.
For we have concluded this, Paul would write to the Corinthians.
We believe that
One died for all, therefore all died.
And he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for them, for whom he died and was raised again.
Therefore, we no longer regard anyone from a human point of view.
We have, as he said to the Romans, had our minds transitioned from this world, translated into the presence of God.
We got a new brain working inside of our head, a brain that sees Jesus Christ lives and operates like him.
From God's word, we get to think our Savior's thought with him.
Regard those around us as he did.
We see them the way Christ sees all the world with the eye of the Savior God's compassion in heart and compassion in action called mercy in hand.
You remember how the Good Samaritan went?
When he saw the man that was beaten and left there, what do we say today, bleeding out?
He had, what was that word?
Oh yes, compassion on him.
But it wasn't just a passing thing.
The compassion led to action.
Bound up his wounds, put him on his animal, just like you heard again in Chronicles, took him to the end, opened his checkbook and he says here, I'm covering the day's expenses and the day after that, I gotta go away when I come back.
I give you a blank check.
I'll pay you whatever you think you need.
Compassion.
Compassion is an identity word.
The identity word has a source, empathy, not sympathy.
Sympathy is sorrow for someone in their circumstances.
Empathy.
regards the person as a human being.
Sympathy says, I'm sorry you are in pain, maybe the priest in the Levite had that as they passed by the man, but it was empathy that says, I'm here, right here with you in this dark place and I am not going away.
Empathy pulls you out of your skin, moves you under the skin of that person.
that you see in desperate need.
I use this in illustration.
You weren't feeling good in the morning so you didn't eat.
weren't feeling so good at noon, so you didn't need either.
Then you went out there in a simple task of mowing the lawn, wound up stacking wood, cutting weeds, and everything else, and you're ravenously hungry.
You come in, you put a 16-ounce sirloin on the grill, it's done, so it's a baked potato.
You turn on the news, you cut a slice, you're about to take a bite, and on the news, you see one of those refugee camps in Ethiopia.
And there's a three-year-old with a gut bloated out twice the size of the child, almost.
And you know that if you took that bite of food, could reach through the television and stick it in that child's mouth, it would do no good because that kid's digestive system has already shut down.
You're looking at a walking corpse.
And guess what you just suddenly lost?
Your appetite.
You see, empathy has a back brain thought with it.
The kind of back brain thought that says, you know that could be me.
I'm part of the human race and so is that person.
It belongs to Paul's word to the Athenians up there on Mars Hill when he said, remember that God made from one man every nation of mankind to inhabit the face of the earth, one man.
If you doubt that, go to the next reunion.
I believe they're annual.
Of those who have survived airplane crashes.
There's an odd thing about survivors.
It's called survivor's guilt.
They get together and they all share the same thing.
A common humanity because back there, whether it was a dozen or 20, 50, 100, or in one case, 253, they were the only one that walked away from the crash site.
Why am I alive and they are dead?
I should be dead, but I'm not.
The simple guilt of living because we are yoked together by a common humanity without distinction.
without variation.
Mercy is a slightly younger brother, but most visible younger brother of compassion.
Mercy is compassion in action.
In the parable we read that the Samaritan had compassion in action, and that he had translated that action into that which would truly be a benefit to the man
who had fallen among thieves.
Now, and only now, does Jesus begin to answer the lawyer's question, who proved to be neighbor to the man who fell among thieves.
And from his own mouth, he stands convicted of the one who showed him mercy, compassion, mercy.
You can't see compassion.
My friends, you can't hide mercy.
The two are the measure of what it is, means to be a neighbor.
Bible encourages do of good to everyone, especially those of the household of faith.
And the church has been applying both compassion and mercy throughout the ages down to us today seated in the pew or standing in the pulpit.
You see it as the church reached out.
to the hurting, the bleeding, the dying, with hospitals that have names like Luther and Deaconess and even Mercy itself.
They support and have always supported those community efforts that support life and provide food like, what is it?
Oh yes, hope, gospel, mission, feed my starving children, food for the poor, an apple pregnancy center.
that really shows compassion toward the mother and her unborn in a concrete act of mercy.
Here are the resources that you need and we're here to help.
We're right here with you in your dark place and we are not going away.
Then it starts to get personal.
Maybe it means you show up with a chainsaw in hand.
Here I'll help with those trees.
Maybe it's with a checkbook.
Maybe you come with both.
Checkbook in one hand, chain saw in the other.
Or was that a hot dish or a hug?
One of the most compassionate expressions of mercy I ever saw was at a funeral when I was a vacancy pastor at St.
Matthew's in Elmina.
A woman had just lost her husband and a very dear friend came up.
No long conversation, put one arm on each shoulder, from behind, and said,
I'll pray for you, and you could read the expression on the woman who received that.
She was greatly encouraged in the midst of all of her grief.
That's compassion with action.
You can't see compassion, but you can't hide mercy.
Thank God.
Now, there's no law that can command any of that, but faith brings out as its first fruit.
Remember, Paul to the Galatians, love.
And love and concrete in the concrete reality of the day-to-day is compassion and mercy as God has shown us in the person of Jesus Christ.
You can't see compassion.
You can't hide mercy.
That's what it means to be a neighbor.
Amen.
Now may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your.
Hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord, to life everlasting.
and take that thy holy spirit from me, restore unto me.
They're offering.
A trust, O Lord, from thee.
May we, thy bounties, thus the stewards, true receive and gladly as a blessed us to thee, our first fruits give.
Amen.
Let's pray for the whole church of God and Christ Jesus and for all people according to their needs.
Heavenly Father, your Son has triumphed by his cross.
Give grace to your church to proclaim his victory throughout the world.
The victory of the love that hate could not destroy and the life that death could not overcome.
Lord in your mercy, O God, you gave the Old Covenant through angels to train Israel in your law.
Bless the ministers of your new covenant to proclaim forgiveness, life and salvation to all nations.
In the stead and by the command of Christ, Lord in your mercy.
Lord, enable every Christian to learn your word and teach the faith to family and children.
Give them boldness to speak the gospel of Jesus Christ to all those within their acquaintance and care.
Lord, in your mercy, O Lord and King, you appoint our earthly rulers to urge the good and punish the wicked.
Grant both justice and restraint in their punishments that goodness and grace
may be established in our land, Lord in your mercy.
Father into your hands, we commend those who've requested our intercession, especially Vicki, Lynn, Anita, Lois, Lewis, Marlis, Tim, Greg, Grant, Doris, Matthew, Megan, Melissa, Mark, Ethel, Dave, Peter.
Fred, Harold, Joan, Jayden, Rick, Thorfinn, Lacey, Marilyn, Marlene, George, Anne, Dawn, and Florence.
Lead them out of all their troubles.
Lord in your mercy.
Lord of hosts, you have instituted and given your sacrament with the faithful to receive the very body and blood of your Son for their forgiveness, life, and salvation.
Grant us all pure hearts to receive this gift, worthily.
Lord in your mercy.
Lord of all living, receive our thanksgiving for your saints who now see you face to face.
Bless us with faith like theirs, who hear your proclamation now and persevere until we also stand with them before your face.
Lord in your mercy.
Lord God, heavenly Father, we thank you that you have granted us to live.
In this accepted time, when we may hear your holy gospel, know your fatherly will and behold your son, Jesus Christ.
We implore you, most merciful Father, let the light of your word remain with us and govern, so govern our hearts by your spirit that we may never forsake your word, but remain steadfast in it.
Finally, obtain eternal salvation.
Do the same.
Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and drains with you in the same Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
Graciously, our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Amen.
We continue with the service of the sacrament.
The Lord be with you.
Lift up your hearts.
Let us give thanks unto the Lord.
It's truly good right and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to you Holy Lord Almighty Father everlasting God through Jesus Christ our Lord who having created all things took on human flesh was born of the Virgin Mary For our sake he died on the cross and rose from the dead to put an end to death Thus fulfilling your will gaining for your holy you a holy people therefore with angels and dark angels
With all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify your glorious name, ever more praising you and saying.
Remember us in your kingdom and teach us to pray.
Our fathers, who are in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven.
Give
us this day
our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And forgive us not of temptation, but of the rest from evil.
for dying is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.
Amen.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said, Tatey, this is my body which is given for you this due and remembrance of me.
Thank you for tuning in to the Divine Service at Zion Lutheran Church in Chippewa Falls.
May the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
If you have any prayer requests, please let us know.
You may call us at 715-723-6380 or stop by and visit 110 East Grand Avenue, Chihuahua Falls.
If you're looking for a church home, we'll gladly tell you more about Zion or help you find a congregation near you.
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If you'd like to contribute, click the Give tab on our website, ZionLCMSCF.org, or send a check to Zion Lutheran Church Radio Fund.
110 East Grand Avenue, Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, 54729.
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Good morning and welcome to the broadcast of the Divine Service at Zion Lutheran Church in Chippewa Falls.
To help you follow along, the Order of Worship for today's service is available under the radio tab on our website, ZionLCMSCF.org.
The Lord bless you today through the hearing of His word.
Lord be with you.
Have you ever asked the wrong question at the wrong time, at the wrong person, in the wrong place?
Welcome to the intro to the parable of the Good Samaritan.
The question isn't who is my neighbor.
The question is what does it mean to be a neighbor?
Please gather your thoughts around that, our first hymn.
As you are able, please rise.
Divine service setting free.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Loved in the Lord, let us draw near with a true heart and confess our sins unto God, our Father beseeching him.
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who grant us forgiveness.
Our help is in the name of the Lord.
I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord.
Well,
mighty God, merciful Father, confess unto you all my sins and iniquities.
with which I have ever offended you, and justly deserve your temporal and eternal punishment.
But I am heartily sorry for them, and sincerely repent of them.
And I pray you of your boundless mercy, and for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be gracious and merciful to me, a poor, sinful being.
On this, your confession, I by virtue of my office as a called and ordained servant of the word, announce the grace of God unto all of you, and in his stead, and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old,
to the Father and to the Son.
you
Glory
be to God.
Let us pray.
Almighty and everlasting God, give us an increase of faith, hope, and charity that we may obtain what you have promised.
Make us love what you have commanded.
In Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Interesting Old Testament reading.
The background for the Gospel for today in many different ways with many respects.
The Old Testament reading for the 13th Sunday after Trinity is from 2 Chronicles chapter 28.
Heads up.
The men of Israel took captive 200,000 of their relatives, women, sons, and daughters.
They also took much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria.
But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Odeb.
And he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah.
He gave them into your hand, but you.
have killed them in rage that has reached up to heaven.
And now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, as your slaves?
Have you not sins of your own against the Lord, your God?
Hear me, send back the captives from your relatives whom you have taken for the fierce wrath of God, the Lord is upon you.
A certain chiefs also of the men of Ephraim.
Azariah, the son of Johanin.
Barakiah, the son of Mashilimeth.
Jezekiah, the son of Shalom and Amesa, the son of Hadley.
Stood up against those who were coming from the war and said to them, you shall not bring the captives in here, for you propose to bring upon us guilt against the Lord.
in addition to our present sins and guilt.
Our guilt is already great.
And there is fierce wrath against Israel.
So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the assembly.
And the men who had been mentioned by name rose and took the captives.
And with the spoil, they clothed all who were naked among them.
They clothed them, gave them sandals.
provided them with food and drink and anointed them and carrying all the feeble among them on donkeys.
They brought them to their kids folk at Jericho, the city of palm trees.
Then they returned to Samaria.
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Please turn to the psalm on the yellow insert.
We will responsibly read this half verse by
half verse.
By the way, although it's not indicated, at verse nine, my part is at the bottom of the page.
Yours continues at the top.
It's not indented.
It's up.
Contrational Psalm.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity.
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity.
For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me.
I acknowledged my sin to you.
I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.
Therefore, let everyone who is godly, surely in the rush of great waters, you are a hiding place for me.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.
Be not like a horse or a mule without understanding.
Many
are the sorrows of the wicked.
He gladdened the Lord and rejoiced, O righteous.
And shout for joy, all you upright in heart.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity.
And in whose spirit there is no
deceit.
Epistle is from Paul's other to the Galatians chapter 3.
To give a human example, brothers, even with a man-made covenant, no one annals it or adds to it once it has been ratified.
No.
The promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring.
It does not say, and to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one, and to your offspring, who is Christ.
This is what I mean.
The law.
which came 430 years afterward does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.
For if the inheritance comes by the law, it is no longer comes by promise.
But God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
Why then the law?
It was added because of transgressions until the offspring should come
to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.
Now, an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
Is law then contrary to the promises of God?
Certainly not.
Where if a law had been given, that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.
but the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
This is the epistle reading.
Please rise.
Holy Gospel, according to St.
Luke, the 10th chapter.
Turn to the disciples, Jesus said privately, blessed are the eyes that see what you see.
For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see and did not see it.
and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.
Behold, the lawyer stood up to put him to the test saying, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
He said to him, what is written in the law?
How do you read it?
And he answered, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor is yourself.
And he said to him,
You have answered correctly, do this and you shall live.
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, and who is my neighbor?
Jesus replied, a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho.
And he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.
Now, by chance, the priest was going down the road, and when he saw him, he passed by.
on the other side.
So likewise, Levi, when he came to the place and saw him pass by on the other side.
But as Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.
He went to him, bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.
Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
The next day, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, saying, they care of him.
Whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.
Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among robbers?
He said, the one who showed him mercy.
Jesus said to him, you go and do likewise.
This is the gospel of the Lord.
We will use the Apostles Creed.
The voice conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
He ascended into hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He
ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty.
From thence he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit.
the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Amen.
Please be seated.
of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts, be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our strength and our redeemer, our rock from of old forth, that is thy name.
Amen.
Grace and peace to you from God, our Father, and from your Son, our Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen.
It has got to be an occupational hazard.
Leave it to a lawyer to ask the question, what are the specific requirements, expectations, duties, demands, and legal requirements in this case to get one's name on the list of God's heirs into eternal life with all of its rights and privileges, thank you.
And then to be put on the spot with a simplistic sounding question that comes back, well, what does the law say?
How do you read it?
Only to have to answer what any third grader knows from synagogue school.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your mind and your strength and your neighbor as yourself.
That's right.
Go do it.
Then why?
You get the feeling that you just asked the wrong question at the wrong time of the wrong person in the wrong court.
You showed up for a murder trial and here we are in traffic court.
Ego's stung, you look and sound foolish.
Now what would a good lawyer do?
Of course, you justify yourself in the eye of the jury, which happens to be the crowd standing around Jesus along with his disciples.
Keep that in mind.
Deflect all the attention away from yourself with another question, you know, like some snarky reporter would do gotcha type question.
And who, Mr. Jesus' teacher, is my neighbor?
Wrong question, again.
It's not who is your neighbor.
What are the limits, limitations to neighbor in neighborhood?
It's rather, what does it mean to be a neighbor when you're in God's court?
And that's critical.
When you're in God's court, who judges the human heart, that makes things different, takes them to an entirely higher, much higher plane.
Now, the response from Jesus yields a Bible classic, along with David and Goliath, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer.
Everybody knows the parable of the good Samaritan, Sylvester Stallone just shot a movie called the... What, don't go to the movies?
The Samaritan.
Obviously, it rings around in the culture, but that's a Bible classic.
Now, interestingly also, Jesus doesn't answer the question the lawyer asked.
He will let the lawyer answer that for himself after the parable.
But what Jesus does do is unfold in a drama what it really means to be a neighbor, what it looks like, how it works in the midst of a broken world.
And by the way, let us take this to heart as Jesus' disciples.
For in that parable and with that answer, he has told us, this is when you are most like me as a savior.
like Jesus copying me.
Now Jesus came into our world, you've got to put it from his perspective.
Jesus came into our world in flesh and blood, our flesh and blood to seek and to save the lost, to bind up the brokenhearted, give sight to the blind, ears to the deaf, to preach liberty to those who are in prison, the prison of sin and its death-dealing corrosive results.
Now you won't find a syllable of that.
Not a syllable of that in any law book, because you can't write that out in the letter of the law, but certainly it is the will of God on display in the life of his son.
He came to seek and to save the lost.
Remember that one.
Now you can't pass a law demanding God's kind of love from human hearts, blind to God, DOA on a rival coming into this world as far as any impulse of life toward him,
and even outright hostile to God.
Now, for the record, the legal record, I need to add this.
In the perfect world of Adam and Eve, there was no need for compassion.
It wasn't necessary.
Mercy?
Totally useless word.
Have you asked them, had you asked them, what do you think of mercy?
They would have gone, duh.
What's that?
You see, everything and everyone, be it all both of them, are in perfect harmony with the will of God.
Perfection, however, vaporized in disobedience and creation perfect love and trust in God was severed.
Like a main artery severed by sin.
We live with a gut grinding.
Consequences.
We live in a world that's fragile, subject to what we call natural disasters, man-made disasters.
How about self-inflicted disasters?
You want to know what that is?
Just drive 70 miles an hour down the wrong way on a one-way street.
We live in a world where the most precious gifts of human contact and relationships are twisted and shattered.
This is my list.
You can add to yours.
Okay.
Families are in crisis.
There is hatred.
Envy, racial exclusions as in our parable.
The Jews hated the Samaritans and the feeling was mutual.
You have traffickers, human traffickers and thieves, plain and open evil.
There's envy, idolized lust, disease and death, basically all the worst parts in the Bible with hell tacked on at the end.
The world is broke because our first parents broke this world.
And we, their children, haven't quit.
We can't quit because we are also natural born sinners.
Now to be sure, also for the record of the law, to be sure the shadow of the law of God, his will and expectation is written on the human heart as Paul writes to the Romans.
It's fuzzy, it's blurry, it's almost indistinct, but nevertheless it is there even though they're darkly.
Now, God repeated His will in ten commandments.
You know what those are?
It's your handy pocket reference guide.
He published it to Israel, but he intended it for the entire world.
You want to know what God's will is?
Pull out the ten commandments.
There it is, repeated.
And it's for all humanity.
From those commandments, it should be just as clear.
that the measurement of God's will and righteous standing before Him won't be found in the law for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and the wages of that sin is what?
Death.
Yes, the law takes our measure, and it shoulds and should nots, the do's and the don'ts of those commandments, but Proverbs reminds us that God weighs
the human spirit.
He uses a different standard.
He uses his love and grace turned out toward us in compassion and mercy in the person of Jesus Christ.
I ask you to join me in another court of law.
It is the day of recompense, judgment day.
Christ has returned.
Do you remember what the very first thing is that happens?
There's a separation, like a shepherd dividing sheep from goats.
And that division is made on the basis of faith.
Faith in Christ or no faith in Christ.
Disciple or damned fool, you know who the fool is, the one who says there is no God.
Believer.
and unbeliever.
That takes place first, then the evidence in the form of public witness and what it means.
There is another standard, that other standard of God that he uses for measuring with that public witness, measuring faith in its presence or no faith in its absence.
You remember how it went?
The evidence, I was hungry and you thirsty and you gave me a
Naked and you start sounding like chronicles there again.
I was sick and in prison and you came to visit me.
That is the public evidence of faith in Jesus Christ or no faith in Jesus Christ.
And there's an interesting phenomena about that.
If you listen very carefully, both believers and unbelievers alike are standing there scratching their head.
Don't remember that.
Lord, when did I see you hungry, thirsty, naked or imprisoned or sick and come and visit you?
I just don't remember.
But Jesus does.
The only difference comes down to a few words.
But the ending in both is the same.
In as much as you did it unto one of the least of these, my brother's conclusion, you did it to me.
In as much as you didn't do it.
To even one of the least of these, you didn't do it to me.
All of it comes down to Jesus Christ again.
And then faith in Him.
And the public witness that follows.
You know why that is?
Why you're scratching your head?
Because faith or no faith belongs to our character.
And you don't sit there and reflect on your character.
Your character is your engine that drives your life.
And in this case, the driving of the life.
comes down to faith that leads to compassion and mercy.
The public witness, same in both circumstances.
The difference, however, comes down to this.
As the people of God, we believe and know God from His Word.
We believe that Jesus Christ, His God Himself, come down into our messy world to take up our sin and our severance from God and one another and take it to the cross.
We believe that he is the living, breathing reality of God's compassion for a world where the children are crying their eyes out before their father, their broken world in hand.
Daddy, I can't fix it.
But Christ finished his buddy business, shed for the sins of the world.
And here's the thought, the love of God's life.
died for the loveless, cleansed from all sin.
In that moment, we know we are received, welcomed, and loved by our Heavenly Father.
Jesus' Father is our Father.
We know that because after God's business was done through His Son, He raised Him from the dead.
And then to make things personal in holy baptism, He tied us to that death.
and that resurrection by the waters of resurrection leading to new life.
He has filled us with the promise of Christ, of life that the lawyer sought, life that comes in Christ and will not end at the grave.
We have a new sense of reality about God and our neighbor.
For we have concluded this, Paul would write to the Corinthians.
We believe that
One died for all, therefore all died.
And he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for them for whom he died and was raised again.
Therefore, we no longer regard anyone from a human point of view.
We have, as he said to the Romans, had our minds transitioned from this world, translated into the presence of God.
We got a new brain working inside of our head, a brain that sees Jesus Christ lives and operates like Him.
From God's word, we get to think our Savior's thought with Him.
Regard those around us as He did.
We see them the way Christ sees all the world with the eye of the Savior God's compassion in heart and compassion in action called mercy in hand.
You remember how the Good Samaritan went?
When he saw the man that was beaten and left there, what do we say today, bleeding out?
He had, what was that word?
Oh yes, compassion on him.
But it wasn't just a passing thing, the compassion that the action.
Bound up his wounds, put him on his animal, just like you heard again in Chronicles, took him to the end, opened his checkbook and he says here, I'm covering the day's expenses and the day after that, I gotta go away when I come back, I give you a blank check.
I'll pay you whatever you think you need.
Compassion.
Compassion is an identity word.
The identity word has a source, empathy, not sympathy.
Sympathy is sorrow for someone in their circumstances.
Empathy.
regards the person as a human being.
Sympathy says, I'm sorry you are in pain, maybe the priest in the Levite had that as they passed by the man, but it was empathy that says, I'm here, right here with you in this dark place and I am not going away.
Empathy pulls you out of your skin, moves you under the skin of that person.
that you see in desperate need.
I use this in illustration.
You weren't feeling good in the morning so you didn't eat.
You weren't feeling so good at noon, so you didn't eat either.
Then you went out there in a simple task of mowing the lawn, wound up stacking wood, cutting weeds and everything else, and you're ravenously hungry.
You come in, you put a 16-ounce sirloin on the grill, it's done, so it's a baked potato.
You turn on the news, you cut a slice, you're about to take a bite, and on the news, you see one of those refugee camps in Ethiopia.
And there's a three-year-old with a gut bloated out twice the size of the child, almost.
And you know that if you took that bite of food, could reach through the television and stick it in that child's mouth, it would do no good because that kid's digestive system has already shut down.
You're looking at a walking corpse.
And guess what you just suddenly lost?
Your appetite.
You see, empathy has a back brain thought with it.
The kind of back brain thought that says, you know, that could be me.
I'm part of the human race and so is that person.
It belongs to Paul's word to the Athenians up there on Mars Hill when he said, remember that God made from one man every nation of mankind to inhabit the face of the earth, one man.
If you doubt that, go to the next reunion.
I believe they're annual.
Of those who have survived airplane crashes.
There's an odd thing about survivors.
It's called survivor's guilt.
They get together and they all share the same thing.
A common humanity, because back there, whether it was a dozen or 20, 50, 100, or in one case, 253, they were the only one that walked away from the crash site.
Why am I alive and they are dead?
I should be dead, but I'm not.
The simple guilt of living, because we are yoked together by a common humanity without distinction.
without variation.
Mercy is a slightly younger brother, but most visible younger brother of compassion.
Mercy is compassion in action.
In the parable we read that the Samaritan had compassion in action, and that he had translated that action into that which would truly be a benefit to the man
who had fallen among thieves.
Now, and only now, does Jesus begin to answer the lawyer's question, who proved to be neighbor to the man who fell among thieves.
And from his own mouth, he stands convicted of the one who showed him mercy, compassion, mercy.
You can't see compassion.
My friends, you can't hide mercy.
The two are the measure of what it is, means to be a neighbor.
Bible encourages do good to everyone, especially those of the household of faith.
And the church has been applying both compassion and mercy throughout the ages down to us today seated in the pew or standing in the pulpit.
You see it as the church reached out.
to the hurting, the bleeding, the dying, with hospitals that have names like Luther and Deaconess and even Mercy itself.
They support and have always supported those community efforts that support life and provide food like, what is it?
Oh yes, hope, gospel, mission.
Feed my starving children.
Food for the poor.
An apple pregnancy center.
that really shows compassion toward the mother and her unborn in a concrete act of mercy.
Here are the resources that you need and we're here to help.
We're right here with you in your dark place and we are not going away.
Then it starts to get personal.
Maybe it means you show up with a chainsaw in hand.
Here I'll help with those trees.
Maybe it's with a checkbook.
Maybe you come with both.
Checkbook in one hand, chain saw in the other.
Or was that a hot dish or a hug?
One of the most compassionate expressions of mercy I ever saw was at a funeral when I was a vacancy pastor at St.
Matthew's in Elmina.
A woman had just lost her husband and a very dear friend came up, no long conversation, put one arm on each shoulder, from behind, and said,
I'll pray for you, and you could read the expression on the woman who received that.
She was greatly encouraged in the midst of all of her grief.
That's compassion with action.
You can't see compassion, but you can't hide mercy.
Thank God.
Now, there's no law that can command any of that, but faith brings out as its first fruit.
Remember, Paul to the Galatians, love.
And love and concrete in the concrete reality of the day-to-day is compassion and mercy as God has shown us in the person of Jesus Christ.
You can't see compassion.
You can't hide mercy.
That's what it means to be a neighbor.
Amen.
Now may the peace of God with surpasses all understanding.
Keep your.
Hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord, to life everlasting.
Amen.
Please rise.
And take that thy holy spirit from me.
Restore unto me.
you
A trust, O Lord, from thee.
May we, thy bounties, thus the stewards, true receive and gladly as a blessed us to thee, our first roots give.
Amen.
Let's pray for the whole church of God and Christ Jesus and for all people according to their needs.
Heavenly Father, your Son has triumphed by his cross.
Give grace to your church to proclaim his victory throughout the world.
The victory of the love that hate could not destroy and the life that death could not overcome.
Lord in Your mercy, O God, You gave the Old Covenant through angels to train Israel in Your law.
Bless the ministers of Your new covenant to proclaim forgiveness, life and salvation to all nations.
In the stead and by the command of Christ, Lord in Your mercy,
Lord, enable every Christian to learn your word and teach the faith to family and children.
Give them boldness to speak the gospel of Jesus Christ to all those within their acquaintance and care.
Lord, in your mercy, O Lord and King, you appoint our earthly rulers to urge the good and punish the wicked.
Grant both justice and restraint in their punishments that goodness and grace
may be established in our land, Lord in your mercy, Father into your hands, we commend those who've requested our intercession, especially Vicki, Lynn, Anita, Lois, Lewis, Marlis, Tim, Greg, Grant, Doris, Matthew, Megan, Melissa, Mark, Ethel, Dave, Peter.
Fred, Harold, Joan, Jayden, Rick, Thorfinn, Lacey, Marilyn, Marlene, George, Anne, Dawn, and Florence.
Lead them out of all their troubles.
Lord in your mercy.
Lord of hosts, you have instituted and given your sacrament with the faithful to receive the very body and blood of your Son for their forgiveness, life, and salvation.
Grant us all pure hearts to receive this gift worthily.
Lord in your mercy.
Lord of all living, receive our thanksgiving for your saints who now see you face to face.
Bless us with faith like theirs, who hear your proclamation now and persevere until we also stand with them before your face.
Lord in your mercy.
Lord God, heavenly Father, we thank you that you have granted us to live.
In this accepted time, when we may hear your holy gospel, know your fatherly will and behold your son, Jesus Christ.
We implore you, most merciful Father, let the light of your word remain with us and govern, so govern our hearts by your spirit that we may never forsake your word, but remain steadfast in it.
Finally, obtain eternal salvation through the same.
Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and drains with you in the same Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
Grace to our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Amen.
We continue with the service of the sacrament.
the Lord be with you.
Lift up your hearts.
Let us give thanks unto the Lord our God.
It's truly good right and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to you, holy Lord.
Almighty Father, everlasting God through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who, having created all things, took on human flesh, was born of the Virgin Mary.
For our sake, he died on the cross and rose from the dead to put an end to death, thus fulfilling your will, gaining for you a holy people.
Therefore, with angels and dark angels,
with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify your glorious name, ever more praising you and saying.
Remember us in your kingdom and teach us to pray.
Our fathers, who are in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And forgive us not of the temptation that deliver us from evil.
for dying is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.
Amen.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said, Tatey, this is my body which is given for you, this due and remembrance of me.
Thank you for tuning in to the Divine Service at Zion Lutheran Church in Chippewa Falls.
May the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
If you have any prayer requests, please let us know.
You may call us at 715-723-6380 or stop by and visit 110 East Grand Avenue, Chihuahua Falls.
If you're looking for a church home, we'll gladly tell you more about Zion or help you find a congregation near you.
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If you'd like to contribute, click the Give tab on our website, ZionLCMSCF.org, or send a check to Zion Lutheran Church Radio Fund, 110 East Grand Avenue.
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