15TH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In this same Savior, dearly beloved hearers.

That everyone is obligated to serve God is a truth which is engraved on the heart of every person with letters which can never be completely erased. True, in our day the number of those who do not want to recognize even this truth grows greater from day to day; however, if these miserable people would only admit it, they would soon see that even in their heart there is a voice, which they vainly try to silence,crying with increasing intensity, There still is a God and him you should serve.

Though the stream of, atheism may now roar ever so fearfully even through Christendom, thank God, it still has not even in this our day carried everything before it; there still are not a small number of people who today confess in words and deeds that they believe in God and confess that they are obligated to serve him. Thank God, there still are millions who are not ashamed to come streaming into God's house every Sunday, there to bow their knees before God's holy majesty, to lift their voice to call to him and to praise him, and to listen attentively to the words of this King of all kings and Lord of all lords. There still are millions who believe that some day they must appear before God's judgment in order to give account of their whole life and to receive according to that which they have done, whether it is good or evil; who, therefore, also fear to open their mouth against God and to act openly against his holy commandments. Do not. all of you also who have assembled here belong to this number? Certainly; if you did not want to serve God, you would not have appeared today in his house.

My friends, as many as there still are in. our time who profess and confess in words and deeds that they must serve God, that he is their Lord and that they are his humble subjects, his servants in his employ, experience nevertheless teaches that most serve God but do not want to serve him alone. It is most apparent that the majority wish to divide their heart between God and the world; true, they want to have God as their friend (that is why they serve him) but to sacrifice the friendship of the world for it, that they do not want to do; of course, they do not want to lose heaven, but to deny the treasures and joys of earth for it, that they find impossible; naturally they want to assure a good place for their soul in the world to come, but to renounce a good comfortable life for their body here, that seems to be too much.

Or is that not so? Do not very many think that piety can be carried too far? Do not many think that the Sunday has been appointed for worship, that during the week the laboring man has no time for worship, during that time he must attend to his daily work? Yes, do not very many think that if they were in church on Sunday, they have more than enough offered the service which they owe God, then no one can find fault with them if they during the remaining hours of the Sunday allow themselves a few pleasures as other people do? If they are admonished to serve God always and entirely and. alone, do not many say that no one can demand that much from them? they could not day and night sit before books, or be on their knees? Do not most young people, even those who otherwise do not want to refuse all service to God, say: Should we not enjoy the most beautiful time of our life? Should we pass the time of our youth, which we experience only once, in mourning? Do not most business people say or

at least think: How would we exist if we do not side with the world, if we offend our customers? do we not have to live from the world? Yes, do not most Christians think: Why would faith in Christ be necessary and profitable if it were so necessary, as many preachers tell us, to be so concerned about our salvation? what is the use if one would have to follow after sanctification so anxiously, be so exact about every sin, and must shut himself out so completely from the world and its joys? No, they think, that one does not forget God completely, that one serves God also, that is right; but always to have nothing else in the world in one's mind except God, to serve him always, completely, and alone, that is demanding too much; whoever would do that could finally be gripped by a deep melancholy! In short, most Christians think that even in serving God, as in all matters, there is a middle road, consisting of not surrendering oneself completely to the world nor to God, rather serving God but also not being completely indifferent to the joys and treasures of the world, in a word, most wisely uniting service to God and the service to the world.

Of course, those following this principle think they are acting in true wisdom and are sailing happily between piety and enthusiasm, and going the best, safest, and easiest way to heaven; however, are they really right? Alas, no! The thought that there is a middle road which leads to heaven is an empty dream, and those who comfort themselves with it and remain in it are lost beyond hope of deliverance. Among the ways which lead to eternity is the middle road - the highway to hell. He who wants to serve God and be saved must serve him alone or else his whole service is in vain. Christ testifies to this in our today's Gospel, and of this let me, etc.

The text. Matthew 6:24-34.

Of all the Gospel lessons which are publicly read and treated on the Sundays of the churchyear, without a doubt the one just read is one of the most earnest and the most stern. It contains a reprimand, not for those known to be godless, but for those who want to be pious and because of their piety suppose they deserve not reproof but commendation. It does not show that the godless should be converted but this, that many of those who think they are already converted must first be converted if they want to be saved. Thousands who regard themselves good Christians will, therefore, be judged and condemned by this Gospel. In short, it is a Gospel especially for us who still want to serve God, and it tells us that we should serve either God alone or spare God our half-service. Permit me to show you:

THE FOLLY OF THOSE WHO SERVE GOD BUT DO NOT WANT TO SERVE HIM ALONE

The reasons are mainly twofold:

I. Because thus They Undertake Something Absolutely Impossible, and

II. Because thus They also Undertake Something Definitely Fatal.

God, you are not only our Creator, our Lord, our God, but also the only source of all joy, all happiness. Therefore, we are not only obligated to serve you, to serve you only, but we also can be happy only if we serve you only, for to serve you and only you is happiness indeed. Alas, we must lament and confess to you that we are so deeply ruined and blinded that we are afraid to serve you; that we want to give only half of our years to you. Therefore, you would be completely in the right if you were to hurl Us away from your holy presence forever as faithless servants. But oh, God, you have given your Son also for us; we beseech you, have mercy on us for his sake. With the sword of your Word sever all cords with which our poor heart is still bound to the service of the creature,

and incline our heart which has turned away from you toward yourself, so that we may serve you, serve you alone, and be happy in serving you. To that end bless also the present preaching of your Word for the sake of Jesus Christ your Son, our Mediator. Amen. Amen.

I.

That they act foolishly who undertake something which is absolutely impossible all of you will certainly grant. For example, if.a person wouldwant to go two ways at the same time, one to the.right and at the same time another which goes left; one which goes up and forward, and at the same time another which goes down and to the rear, surely everyone would regard him as a fool; why? because he is undertaking something impossible.

Now what if those who serve God but do not want to serve him alone were doing the same? Would it not be plain that such people are acting most foolishly? Without a doubt.

How does Christ speak in our today's Gospel? He begins with the noteworthy, plain, unambiguous statement, "No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." V. 24 Clearly and plainly the mouth of eternal Truth states the fact: as impossible as it is for a per

son to sell himself as a slave to two masters and render both the service due them at the same time, just so impossible is it to serve God and to serve another master at the same time.

But is this actually so absolutely impossible? Are there not thousands upon thousands who know how to combine this very well? who indeed serve the world, mammon, and many sins, yet who never forget God, yes, who in their worship are so much the more diligent, diligently go to church, diligently come to confession and the Lord's Supper, diligently hear and read God's Word, and also diligently pray and sing at home?

It is true, my friends: if God actually were served by such outward, so-called religious works, one could by all means serve God and mammon, Christ and the world, the Creator and the creature at the same time. But they deceive themselves. If a person would do such so-called religious works, he does not really serve God but God rather serves him. To serve God is something entirely different.

To serve God means to surrender oneself to God, to give God his love, to give God his fear, to give God his trust, in short, to give God: his heart. What God demands as service he shows us in the First Commandment where he says, "I am the Lord, thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me," Ex 20:2,3; therefore, we should have God as our God; and what this means, to have God as his God, cannot be more clearly and definitely expressed than as Luther has expressed it in our Small Catechism in the words of the explanation, "We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things." God himself has also explained the First Commandment, when for example he says through the wise Solomon, "My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways." Prov 23:26. Therefore, ourselves with all which we are and have, our heart, our heart we should give God, that, that is the service which God demands of us and with which alone we can serve him.

Now who is so wise .that he can serve God and at the same time serve another lord in addition? To do this not even the wisest are wise enough; for this is something absolutely impossible.

True, many a one serves mammon, that is, he seeks to become rich, or he places his trust in earthly property, and thinks that only then is he secure and can look calmly into the future if he has a fair amount of capital laid aside; or he worries himself out with fretting about temporal matters and not: clinging to God's providence he asks daily in unbelief, "What shall we eat? what shall we drink? wherewithal shall we be clothed?" v.31, or he regards the loss of his earthly property a misfortune over which he can scarcely be comforted. And yet such people think that because they go diligently to church they in spite of their worship of mammon still serve God. But they deceive themselves; God demands their heart and their heart with which alone they can serve God they have long since taken from God and given to mammon!

Moreover, many another serves the world, that is, he still goes with the world, still takes part in the empty pleasures of the world; or he still seeks the favor and friendship of the world; or he is afraid of the mockery and the contempt of the world, and because of such fear he fails to confess his faith, yes, denies his faith in plain fact and by express deed. And yet such suppose that because they perhaps hear and read God's Word diligently they in spite of this service of the world still serve God. But they deceive themselves; God demands their heart, and their heart with which alone they can serve God they have taken from God and given to the world!

Finally, many openly serve sin, that is, they let this or that known sin still rule over them; the one lets the thirst for honor rule him, another envy, wrath, and irreconcilableness, a third greed, a fourth lust, a fifth vanity, a sixth drunkenness, a seventh usury and secret deceit, and the like. And yet such suppose that because they associate with Christians and take part in their divine services and customs they in spite of their service of sin still serve God. But they deceive themselves. God demands their heart, and their heart with which alone they can serve God they have long since taken away from God and have given it to sin and thus to the devil.

Oh, all of you who have wanted to serve God in the past, but who have also served mammon, or the world, or a sin, recognize that you have undertaken something absolutely impossible. Believe the mouth of Truth who speaks so clearly and plainly in our Gospel, "No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" or any other lord. As little as it is possible for a soldier to be enlisted with two kings warring with each other and be able to serve them both; as little as it is possible for one to sell himself as a slave to two masters at the same time and be able to serve both; as little as it is possible for a man to be engaged to two brides and be able to be faithful to both, so little is it possible for one to serve God and at the same time be able to serve still another lord. He who does not serve God alone does not serve him at all; his service with a half, divided heart merely looks like service therefore is no service; everything which such a half-hearted servant of God does, and if he at times seems to tire himself out ever so much in his sham service is nothing but lost labor for which he can expect: no other reward than the one that soldier must expect who in addition to serving in his own army also served the enemy, hence: the reward of a traitor. Therefore, when the nation of Israel once served Jehovah but wanted to serve Baal as well, the Prophet Elijah cried to them in divine fiery zeal, "How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him." 1 Kings 28:21. And at one time when the bishop of the church at Laodicea also wanted to serve Christ and the world at the same time, the Lord had John write to him, "These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God, I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither : cold not hot, I will pure thee out of my mouth." Rev 3:14-16.

Listen to this, all of you who want to serve God but do not want to serve him alone; this terrible threat of the Lord is directed not only against the bishop of Laodicea but also against you. If you do not wish to be warm and happy in the love of God, you might at least be cold, or God will spue you out of his mouth. If you wish to serve mammon, or the world, or a sin in addition to God, save yourself the trouble, forget your service, God has no pleasure in it, God does not look at it, he says the great: Either - or, to you, "Either be completely mine, or completely not at all."

But if you wish to serve God, that is good!, then serve him alone! "Seek ye." as the Lord says in our text, "FIRST the kingdom of God and his righteousness." V. 33. Carefully compute the cost! Do not promise more than you can fulfil. If you wish to serve God, it must be as though there were only one God in heaven and only one God in your heart. You must decide to tear your heart completely free from mammon, that is, from temporal treasures; you must forever break with the world and write a farewell letter to sin. You must come to the point where you have only one purpose on earth: to live to God's honor and to use everything which you have to God's honor. Yes, you must finally come to the point where you forever renounce a calm and comfortable life, in short, the so-called happiness of life, and learn to say with Asaph, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever," Ps 73:25,26; that you are ready for God's sake gladly to be poor as well as rich, gladly despised as well as honored, gladly sick as well as healthy, gladly dying as well as living.

Oh, grant that nothing in my soul

May dwell but Thy pure love alone!

Oh, may Thy love possess me whole,

My Joy, my Treasure, and my Crown!

All coldness from my heart remove;

My every act, word, thought, be love. (349,2)

II.

My friends, now that we have seen that those, who indeed want to serve God but not serve him alone, act most foolishly because they undertake something impossible, let us secondly ponder on the fact that this is most foolish because they also undertake something definitely fatal.

Those who indeed wish to serve God but not serve him alone are, of course, so minded because they suppose that if they would serve God alone they would become most unhappy people who could no longer enjoy a single happy hour in this world; but if, in addition to God, they served also other things, mammon, the world, sin, they could enjoy the advantages of serving both, here lust in serving the world, there salvation in serving God. Alas! how entirely different is that what they find from that which they seek! In our Gospel Christ sketches for us a picture of the state of those who wish to serve God besides mammon and shows us how miserable those people are. A continual anxious concern for body, life, food, and clothing dwells in their heart. .Their one anxious, constant question is, "What shall we eat? what shall we drink? wherewithal shall we be clothed?" V. 31. It is not enough that they, as everyone, must carry a burden every day; they are also wilfully preoccupied with the whole heavy burden which the coming days might bring them. They do not possess their temporal treasure, but their temporal treasures possess them. They have no joy but only a burden from them, not delight but vexation. In the same way all those are rewarded who in their hearts wish to serve another lord in addition to God.

Such people are much more miserable than those who do not ask about God and unashamedly serve the world and sin. Because they want to serve also the world, and sin, they enjoy none of the happiness which a person tastes who serves God alone; and because they also want to serve God but not spoil it with God, they spoil for themselves the delight which he enjoys who serves only the world and sin. Their fear of God and his judgment embitters their joy in earthly things, and their clinging to earthly things robs them of their comfort in God, his. grace, and fellowship. They hover between heaven and. earth. They feel that they do not stand right with God, and they see that the world regards them with a suspicious eye. In their inmost soul, in their heart and conscience they have no peace, but unrest, doubt, fear, and in physical things they also find no freedom. Above all, such Christians who straddle the fence have terrible thoughts about death. They can never conquer their fear of it. Their conscience tells them that perhaps their real unhappiness will first begin with death.

And alas! my dear friends, if this fear of those who want to serve two lords were an unfounded fear, if at least they could expect a good reward in the world to come for their supposed service which they rendered God, they might anyhow endure a little misery for their unfaithfulness and half-heartedness; they would still at last be eternally happy and joyous. But the most terrible thing is this: He who does not serve God alone does not serve him at all, and, therefore, he who does not serve God at all has also no Christ, has no faith, no,grace, dies in his sins, cannot be saved, is lost, his reward is - the punishment of an enemy of God - hell.

Oh you unfortunate people who indeed serve God but at the same time serve also mammon, the world, and this or that sin, and do not serve God alone, and do not want to give him your whole heart, remember, oh remember, how wretched you are. Here you never are at rest either in God or in the world; and there the bleakest fate awaits you. Even if you imagine you are, because of your half-service to God you still are no Christian, no spiritual priest, no child of God; you are no longer under the covenant of grace of your holy baptism, for you have constantly trampled upon your baptismal covenant according to which you have denied the devil and all his works and all his ways.

Therefore, do not try to combine what cannot be combined. If you do not want to forsake mammon, the world, and sin, well and good, then also serve these gods only and don't make any efforts to serve God also; all your trouble will be in vain and lost anyhow; yes, you merely increase your temporal and eternal misery.

But if you want to serve God - and oh, that you would decide to do so! - then serve him alone. You will never regret it. The only things you lose are misery, restlessness, worries; you receive the certainty of God's grace, peace, and joy here in the Holy Ghost, and in eternity there awaits you the eternal reward of grace which God has promised to his faithful servants. Oh, dare to take the bold plunge and finally give up your service to all other lords.

My friends, before I close, I must mention one more thing so that no one who admits I am right may still deceive himself in regard to his salvation. No one should think if he now says: Well, then, I will from now on serve God alone, that, this finishes the matter. Alas, countless have made the same decision and still were lost. They wanted to serve God alone by their own power; they thought that if they had the good intention, they would also be able to carry it out. But behold! in a short time that warmed and kindled heart was again cold, they again fell back into the service of mammon, the world, and sin, and finally were lost.

Therefore my dear hearer, if you actually want to serve God alone from now on and be saved, you must follow the order which God has made; first of all,

you must try to learn clearly from God's Word what a poor, miserable, lost sinner and unfaithful servant of God you have been in the past. To receive this knowledge you must unceasingly cry to God upon your knees. If you will do this honestly, God will also hear you; God will give you his Holy Spirit and he will give you divine light, so that you clearly and distinctly and with terror recognize your unsuspected ruin and misery and bitterly and honestly bewail it. But do not stop there; then if your sins oppress you, you must also flee to Christ the Savior of sinners; in his blood and death, in his grace and merit you must then seek comfort and rest in faith. The gracious promises of the .Gospel you must then appropriate to yourself and then live, fight, suffer, and die completely in Christ and in his Word.

Oh, if you will do this, then you will no longer want to serve Gbd and mammon, Christ and the world, divine grace and sin at the same time, then you will gladly surrender yourself body and soul, your whole heart and all which you are and have to your God and Savior alone. Then even here you will discover unsuspected blessedness in him and there you will enjoy them forever in their fullness. For when the sun of divine grace arises in a person's heart, all the flickering stars of the lust of sin and the world will set; here then follows a brighter, fairer morning of grace and peace, but there an eternal day of an inexpressibly happy life. Amen.

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